217 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 islam and tradition in nanga jajang: social and religious practices of the malay community ibrahim ms pontianak state institute of islamic studies abstract islam basically brings noble values in managing human relationship with god (hablumminallah). with these noble values, islam teaches the way for humans to worship god. meanwhile, traditions which are the rituals and customs of a society, is also an attempt to build a relationship with something other than human. therefore, it is clear that islam and traditions that are present in people’s behavior also bring certain values that are different from each other. in the malay community of nanga jajang, islam as a religion and religious rituals are inseparable from the traditional rituals. in fact, there are no clear boundaries between traditions and religious rituals in practice, as seen in ma`syiral jum`atan, acara begunting rambut (hair cutting ceremony), sunatan (circumcision), barobat kampung (traditional healing), etc. in social traditions, religion practices also run simultaneously such as reading the qur’an and shalawat to the prophet. on the other hand, religious practices are also incorporated into elements of local traditions such as the hair cutting ceremony for infants, circumcision, etc., with a set of materials that are also found in social traditions. similarly, the prayer used in the traditional healing appears to have the process of completion, even accommodation of islamic values and traditions in the practice of the life the malay community in nanga jajang. keywords: islam, traditions, religious rituals, accommodation of values. introduction this article is an introduction to the study of islam and tradition in nanga jajang. as an introductory study, this article still requires more serious efforts in analytical work to make it better, and therefore it is also very open to be explored and developed further. nonetheless, i hope that this basic research will initiate passion to conduct a more in-depth, real and comprehensive study, especially for me, myself. as a field study, this work was based on the phenomenon that i observed over the years, especially with regard to social and religious traditions of the malay community in nanga jajang which are very complex but quite open. being complex here means that there are various forms of social and religious traditions that live and thrive in the community, [ 218 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 in this case, particularly the combination of the values of the local culture and religion that can be seen clearly. being open means that there is never a real problem to the differences that arise in the community, including differences in the cultural and religious practices in society. in contrast, the presence of muslim communities in the interior of the kapuas has an important value of its own in this study, especially regarding the theses proposed by many experts that identified the spread of islam (the muslim community) only in coastal areas. deep in the interior of the kapuas, there is a muslim community characterized by social and cultural characteristics. they go through life with very different characteristics in the form of a mix of values of local social culture with religious norms (read: islam). the blend of values of life is what is interesting to study, in this case, that i refer to as the study of islam and tradition. for me, the social and religious life of the malay community in nanga jajang which is complex and open, not only is it an interesting subject to study, but it is also interesting to understand and learn the social and religious traditions of the community itself (in this case the malay of nanga jajang). with all the limitations of data and depth of study, this article seeks to address some of the islamic values and traditions practiced by the malay community in nanga jajang, including ma`syiral tradition on friday, the tradition of plain flour, traditional circumcision, baby hair cutting, prayer, etc. to see the values of islam in the whole tradition, this paper discusses in more detail the analysis of prayer recital in the malay community of nanga jajang. nanga jajang as a muslim village nanga jajang, is a small village at the hamlet level, located in the interior of kapuas hulu, west kalimantan. the village is located just off the coast of lintas selatan road which connects the city of pontianak to putussibau. the distance of the village of nanga jajang to pontianak city is about 650 km, while to putussibau city is approximately 100 km. with the ease of current transportation, it is not too difficult to visit this village, because it is situated on the main road that connects pontianak to putussibau. the name of this village, nanga jajang, is closely related to the traditions and customs of the people of kapuas hulu in particular, and west kalimantan in general who prefer to name a place after the river or estuaries. nanga in the local malay language means estuary of a river. so, nanga jajang is the estuary where of the jajang river (see in ibrahim, yusriadi & zaenudin, 2009). nanga jajang village lies along the the shape of the jajang river and pengkadan [ 219 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 river, which is where the estuary of the rivers is located. however, at this time, the residential area tends to follow the path of lintas selatan road. the change in settlement pattern like this is very common in kapuas hulu, especially in a village which is situated by the highway. the old village is even almost abandoned, because people prefer to build a new settlement on the coastal highway (a new village). as a small village at the hamlet level, nanga jajang is inhabited by the majority of malays with approximately 345 residents. islam in nanga jajang as the followers of islam in the archipelago in general, the malay in the interior of the province are adherents of ahlussunnah waljamaah (sunni) in theology, and followers of syafi`i in fiqh (see study hermansyah, 2008). similarly, the malays in nanga jajang, are sunni muslims and followers of syafi`i school of thought. this is evident in their religious practices of islam which refers to a religious belief which makes the sunnah or the habits of life of the prophet as the legal basis and guidelines for religious life, in addition to the direct provision of the qur’an. in the socio-religious organization in indonesia, sunni islam is a religious spirit developed by nahdlatul ulama (nu). the religious ideology is also often referred to as traditional islam (barthon, 1999). as followers of sunni islam, ahlussunnah becomes the characteristics of the religious practices of the community in nanga jajang. this is shown in the religious behavior of the community, including the patterns of thinking, behaving and worship. in thinking and behaving, for example, the muslim community in nanga jajang believe that the sunnah (the good habits practiced by the prophet) becomes a solid legal basis and should be followed in religion. likewise in the case of worship, the usual ways exemplified by the prophet (sunnah) are the main guidelines in performing religious teachings as can be seen from the way people perform religious rituals such as friday prayer still using ma`asyiral, tahlilan in death ritual, hair cutting accompanied by sacred procedures, barzanji, etc. several forms of the religious practices characterize the close relationship between religion (the command of syara`) and the religious traditions in the community at nanga jajang. in general, such religious characteristics which become the traditional islamic religious identity (sunni), in indonesia has always been seen vis a vis with the modern islamic religious rituals (muhammadiyah). the characteristics of sunni islam practiced by the community of nanga jajang can be observed in their religious activities. therefore it is easy to find [ 220 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 some of the typical religious rituals performed by the sunni community of nanga jajang such as ma`syiral and adhan (call for prayer) that is delivered twice prior to friday prayer, tahlilan as part of the death ritual, practice of reciting the barzanji and sacred procession in the hair cutting ceremony, etc. such traditions would not be found in the muslim community who follow modern islamic school of thought (muhammadiyah), although in many cases, the differences in ideology of traditional islam and modern islam from the viewpoint of the amaliah could no longer be used for labeling a society as sunni or muhammadiyah2 (see ibrahim, 2013). in the case of nanga jajang, at least such characteristics of islamic religion (traditional) are still significant to give them the religious identity of sunni muslims because such religious practices allow for the existence of social traditions of behavior and religious life in nanga jajang. tradition in the nanga jajang community in this section we will discuss the social traditions of the nanga jajang community. first of all, we must of course be able to sort out between the religious rituals and traditions, because religion is different from tradition. similarly, tradition is not religion itself. as a matter of fact, it is not easy to give a clear boundary between the ritual traditions and religious rituals that have run for years in the history of the community life. however, we do not then simply generalize between the two. we must always strive seriously and consciously to see which are religious rituals (religious activities ordered by syara’) and which are ritual traditions (social/cultural activities) of a society because, only with this can we guarantee the preservation of religious values so as not to mix with others. discussion of the traditions of society in nanga jajang means discussing some social activities done by the community for generations. in the context of this study, the tradition meant here is public rituals that accompany the implementation of religious orders such as friday sermons, hair cutting, traditional healing, building houses, farming, abstinence, etc. friday prayer for example, with two raka’at and delivering a sermon, is actually a very clear command of allah in the qur’an (see surah 62: 9), and several hadiths of the prophet. however how that is done by the religious community 2 for example, the taraweh prayer is communly done in 20 rakaat by those affiliated to nahdlotul ulama (nu), but those affiliated to muhammadiyah do it in 8 rakaat only. muslims in nanga jajang do it following the practice by muhammadiyah but they are not necessary to belong to muhammadiyah group.in fact nu traditions characterize the way the pople in nanga jajang practice their religion. [ 221 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 to accompany the command is what i refer to as a tradition. one of them is ma`asyiral.3 based on several sources, including the hadith of the prophet, ma`asyiral was originally a tradition that was practiced by the prophet, in the form of an introductory speech to the congregation to carry out obligations properly and attentively in friday prayer. moreover, even when the preacher would rise to the pulpit, he was also given an iron stick and a robe/scarf as a marker giving a mandate to deliver a sermon. the tradition (especially holding a stick) could heve been done by the prophet with a particular purpose. however, with the current conditions, it seems that such practices are merely a tradition whose meaning is no longer known. however, the tradition is still maintained by the community. even for the most part, they regard such practices as something that must be performed (required). if the procession is not done, then it is viewed as errors in worship (not allowed). cutting a baby’s hair is also an explicit command by the prophet through his hadith. but how to do it, that’s what raises many differences in the practice among the people. as an example of reading barzanji and syarakalan to accompany the practice has become a requirement in some communities, including that of nanga jajang even though barzanji and syarakalan are a tradition that came later (after the prophet died). thus, the barzanji and syarakalan are not the only part of this ritual. not to mention when viewed from a set of properties in the ceremony hair cutting which is filled with traditional practices of local communities. son what value is understood by the muslim community in practicing the tradition of hair cutting of their infant? there is a concern from those who practice these traditions as to find it difficult to distinguish between religious deeds and traditions. their understanding of sunni islam indeed gives space to the flourishing of this tradition, because it is the preservation of the traditions of the prophet. therefore the chanting of praise and invocation to the prophet become a key feature of the ritual tradition4, in addition to understanding the history of the struggle of the prophet when spreading islam. it is also the case with the traditional healing. islam simply instructs its followers not to be desperate of allah’s mercy and help, including in the case of illness. even the qur’an gives a guarantee that the disease is part of allah’s 3 the word ma’asyiral is originaly to convey message from the prophen muhhamad to begin the jum’ah prayer. and the ma’asyiral is not an obligatory within the jum”at prayer. but the people of nanga jajng seem to believe that ma’asyiral should be done in the performing of jumat prayer. 4 where is the point of local tradition in the hair cut ritual? among others is reciting al-barzanji. shalawat is recited within the ritual of barzanji performance. this is not eambaded to the ritual but is as a sunnah by the prophet muhammad which needs to be practiced by muslims. [ 222 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 creation, and allah also created a cure to heal it (qur’an 26: 80). therefore, man is told to ask (pray) to him (sura 2: 186). however, how is the practice of asking/praying for that? that is why people eventually invented traditional healing (plain flour/prayer/spell). in nanga jajang, traditional healing is still an important option in the community. with the traditional healing, they believe that a cure will be found, and that’s why there are two models of this tradition in the history of their life; first, the traditional healing in the form of an intermediary prayers being said to allah for healing the sick. in this model, it usually contains very simple ritual properties such as water or rubbing one’s thumb or index finger on the forehead, abdomen or the affected part. second, traditional healing in the form of mediation of spells or specific chanting that is believed to provide healing. in this form, there are a lot of ritual properties, ranging from natural ingredients to objects that are hard to understand its relevance in the common sense (irrational). this tradition is also found in nanga jajang, although it has been somewhat uncommon due to the people’s shifting belief in supernatural powers to modern medical methods (doctors and paramedics). other traditions that are still preserved by the muslim society in nanga jajang are related to activities when they build houses, prepare land for farming and even in many forms of abstinence (see in ibrahim, yusriadi and zaenudin, 2012). so the question is, is there a tradition they practice that violates the teachings of the religion? or are there any religious values inherent in the social traditions of the community? this will be elaborated further in the following sections. islamic values in the traditions of the community when talking about the islamic values, first we need to understand some basic provisions of islam as a religion, in this case the concept of monotheism. tauhid in islam understood as the oneness of god in all his nature. with this tauhid, islam requires every community to realize and acknowledge that allah as the only place of origin and return for humans. therefore on allah everything rely (qs 1: 5). allah is where all the creatures shall return (sura 2: 156), master of the judgment day (qs 1: 4; sura 67: 1), because it is allah who owns everything (sura 34: 1). tauhid is the basis of the teachings of islam, because a person is recognized as muslim when he/she pledges the tauhid (shahadah). meanwhile, the malay in nanga jajang have a religious history like most [ 223 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 muslims in the interior of borneo, whom king (1993) referred to as the nonmalays who later became malay because of embracing islam. although not known for certain when this religious conversion occurred in nanga jajang, it is certain that this process did occur to the malay community nanga jajang, because of the history of the spread of islam to the interior of west borneo. we also could not confirm the name of the community group in jajang nanga before becoming malays and embracing islam. as a local community (before the coming of islam), of course, there were many life habits practiced by the community at the time, and some may still be maintained for generations to generations of the malays today. some local traditions in the malay community are still in existence due to several factors, as follows. first, when islam entered carrying the values that accommodated between the teaching of islam and local traditions, with the philosophy of “accepting the good of something new, and maintaining the good of something old”. with such views, then when islam came, it did not immediately remove all (good) traditions in the community. islam came by utilizing (good) traditions to simplify the process of dakwa, as carried out by the wali songo who used the puppet tradition as a method of preaching the religion in java (see azra, 2002). secondly, islam was accepted by the people of indonesia rather a form of adhesion according to nock (in azra, 2002) who defined it as a process of acceptance of islam as a religion without leaving the beliefs and practices of the old culture. third, islam came by slowly influencing the way of people’s life for the better (more islamic), as the prophetic meaning of islam which requires adherence and commitment as the only way of salvation. despite the fact, islam came not by just giving orders and prohibition, but based on the understanding and awareness of the better (a gradual process). an example in this case is the magic tradition which is still very strong in the malay community of kapuas hulu (see in hermansyah, 2010). in the context of the study of islam and tradition in nanga jajang, i would like to provide an analysis of the accommodating values in such tradition of magic (prayers or spells). here are some examples of spells in the science of magic, which reveal the process of islamization or accommodation between the values of local tradition (pre-islamic period) with the values of islam (which came later), as can be seen in the following example of prayer/spell. [ 224 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 snake spell urat pusat mamang kunin raja mungkar dalam tanah menyengkung seperti akar berdiri seperti kayu mati yang kunin idup yang putih tabar bisa nait tawar berkat doa la ila ha illlallah berkat muhammad rasulullah the navel’s nerve is yellow the cruel king is in the ground holding on like roots standing like a tree dead is the yellow alive is the white poison is defeated by spell thanks to the prayer la ila ha illlallah thanks to muhammad rasulullah source: hermansyah, 2010: 151. the spell is read to treat someone who is bitten by a snake. the lines of the prayer show that the core is in the last verses (before the words, because of the prayer), namely “tabar bias nait tawar” (poison is defeated by spell). it means that the poison of a snake bite will be gone, and the person bitten by the snake will survive. from the above examples it appears that the original lines of prayer were pure practice of tradition, and local language was used. then the coming of islam, the prayer was not necessarily discarded, but was still practiced by adding islamic nuances to the lines, although in general the local language is still a feature of the prayer or spell. apparently, it is an accommodation of local and islamic values in the expression of because of the prayer la ilaa ha illallahu, because of muhammad the messenger of allah. another example can be seen in the excerpt of the following prayer/spell: spell for the sick: bismillahirrahmanirrahim cuka apa cuka itu cuka ada dalam pasu luka apa luka itu luka pantap utan semolih antu berkat doa la ila ha illallah berkat muhammad rasulullah [ 225 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 bismillahirrahmanirrahim vinegar, what vinegar is it vinegar is in a container wound what wound is it stabbed wound of the forest slaughter ghost thanks to the prayer la ila ha illallah thanks to muhammad rasulullah source: hermansyah, 2010: 154. the spell is read to treat people with a sudden illness, because the belief of the malays in nanga jajang that a sick person is caused by ghost interference. that’s why it is called tekonak (meaning being disturbed by supernatural beings). almost the same as the first example, where the four main lines in the prayer showed characteristics of long tradition in the community, and expressed in the local language. then islam gave better color to the tradition of the spell / prayer. that is evident from the opening words of prayer with bismillahirrahmanirrahim, and ends with a prayer la ilaha illallah, muhammad rasulullah as a form of accommodating islamic values and traditions. compared with the first example, the second example is a clear accommodation of islamic values in the tradition of the prayer / spell, and still practiced in the malay community in nanga jajang. below is another example of the spell that is still practiced by the malays in nanga jajang, which has been more accommodating of islamic values. pelias berjalan prayer allah payung ku jibril kota ku malaikat empat puluh empat pagar ku aku berjalan dengan kuasa allah aku melenggang dengan lenggang muhammad bukan kata ku, kata allah berkat do`a la ilaha illallah berkat muhammadurrasulullah allah is my umbrella gabriel is my city angel of my forty-four fences i walk with the power of allah i stroll with the stroll of muhammad not my word, the word of allah thanks to la ilaha illallah thanks to muhammadurrasulullah source: ust. saleh kamaruddin (the late) [ 226 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 from the example above, it seems that islam values (the terms in islam) have influenced most of the lines of the prayer / spell. even as a whole (in the form of sentences), the prayer already illustrates the values of monotheism in religion. while local values, in this case the local language, is no longer visible, due to a change or influence of the language of education (indonesian language). for sure, these changes become one of the refinement of islam against the traditional values of society, that is accommodating in its nature. in addition, the accommodation of values in the tradition of the malay community of nanga jajang can also be seen in the form of lyric poetry as shown in the following bargaining topung tawar5 do`a. topung tawar prayer topung tawar si topung jati, topung asal mula menjadi, amay-amay pucuk mali-mali limau purut si limau lelang tegak dengan limau melaka air surut penyakit ilang tegak dengan sial celaka sumber: uju unui (alm), interviewed in november 2009 the lines of the prayer are recited by a traditional leader on fresh flour water before it is splashed to someone being prayed for. regarding the matter of splashing water to those who are treated, according to him, may be done three, five or seven times. however most people choose to do it three times only. after splashing the water of fresh flour, the ritual of sowing yellow rice to the person who is prayed for, by reading the following prayer. kuu.. semongat rezeki murah apa dicinta lalu ada apa diniat lalu didapat manis muka senang hati kuu .. semongat easy sustenance what desired, then it comes to existence what wished, then it is obtained sweet face joyful heart source: uju unui (alm), interviewed in november 2009 5 tepung tawar or topung tawar in local dialec is a ritual of prayer accompagnied by local tradition ceremonials to support many different event including wedding, circumsition ang other traditional rituals. see ibrahim (2010) and compare to erwin and andi gidang (2010) for more details. [ 227 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the lines of this prayer are usually recited while sowing yellow rice to a person who is prayed for. this tradition is performed by putting some yellow rice over the heads of people who intend to do something, or on the forehead, on the back of the hands and feet. most people also sprinkle yellow rice around the place where the ceremony is perfomed. so is the ritual of giving strength (semongat) to the person who is prayed for while reciting the following prayer. kuu... semongat korin bosi korin semongat panyang aik panyang penyawak tinggi tayak tinggi tuah baka tanah na tau susur baka batu na tau pupur source: uju unui (alm), interviewed in november 2009 this prayer is recited when the handing a piece of iron to be bitten by a person who is prayed for. biting a piece of iron (mengecap besi6) in the malay tradition means giving strength or spirit to those who are prayed for to have the rigor of iron. in the tradition of the local communities, iron is a symbol of strength and spirit. this is the last series of the process of fresh flour prayer in the malay community in nanga jajang. that is the meaning contained according to many sources in the field. in addition, in the form above is still commonly found in some spells of traditional healing, and carries local content in nature, so that it seems difficult to understand the values contained in it. in other words, the possibility of the pattern is closer to the actual shape in old traditions (animism), before islam came in the social history of the malays. here is an example of the lines of prayer intended as quoted from hermansyah (2010), about pedora’ spell. perdora’ spell: mpurung sibang sibu ngelayang batang kepuas puki inai ikau bebulu butuh apang ikau pulas source: hermansyah, 2010: 153 the lines of the prayer in the local language of the malay community of nanga jajang not only had a clear sense, but it also illustrates one form of verbal abuse, humiliation and even tends to have obscene meaning (using taboo 6 the mengecap besi is done by biting a pice of iron in a smoot way. the point is that the teeth touch the iron as it is a symbol of ritual. [ 228 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 words), especially in line 3 and 4. saying such words in social relationships of the malays in nanga jajang is viewed as unethical and violates moral norms (social and religious norms as well). so, why is it used in the lines of a prayer and believed to be able to “cure” diseases? this is where the power of tradition and belief of the people who practice it in the form of suggestion. this is what tradition look like with all the values in the social and religious history of the malay community in nanga jajang. in other words, a strong belief that it has the power to cure in the traditional healing makes it still exist in society. finally, it is a belief that actually brings the power of healing in the traditional treatment of disease. meanwhile, the examples above indicate the accommodation of islamic values in the traditional healing in nanga jajang village, both of which still have form magic and islamic elements especially in the lines of the prayer recited. such conditions can provide insight to some people that islam and traditions are just the same. meanwhile others can still see the differences between islamic values and local traditions in some forms of prayer used in the traditional healing practiced in malay society of nanga jajang. closing remarks the above discussion indicates that the practice of cultural traditions is still common among the muslim community in nanga jajang. even in some parts, traditions that accompany religious practices (worship) seem to resemble the worship itself. it seems that traditions are something that should exist in worship, as in the practice of ma`asyiral in friday prayer. in most of the parts, traditions practiced by the muslim community in nanga jajang have already been influenced islamic values in the form of the addition of the words bismillah, allah and la ila ha illallah, muhammadur rasulullah. the above discussion also proves that islam came and was accepted by the people in nanga jajang who were very accommodating, maintaining the fine tradition while continuing to add the islamic values in the all practices of the traditions. finally, i hope that this simple review will be useful for all readers, amen. references azyumardi azra. 2002. islam nusantara: jaringan global & lokal. bandung: penerbit mizan. barthon, greg. 1999. gagasan islam liberal di indonesia. jakarta: paramadina. erwin dan andi gidang. 2010. tradisi yang membelajarkan: mengurai un[ 229 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 sur-unsur pendidikan dalam tradisi tepung tawar melayu sambas. dalam ibrahim (ed.) 2010. tradisi dan komunikasi orang melayu. pontianak: stain press. hal 205-226. hermansyah. 2008. islam orang embau. yusriadi yusriadi & ambaryani (eds.). islam dan etnisitas di kalimantan barat. pontianak: stain press. hermansyah. 2010. ilmu ghaib di kalimantan barat, jakarta: kepustakaan populer gramedia. king, victor t. 1993. the people of borneo, oxford, blackwell publishers. ibrahim. 2010. tradisi dan komunikasi di nanga jajang. dalam ibrahim (ed.) tradisi dan komunikasi orang melayu. pontianak: stain press. ibrahim. 2013. kaum nahdliyin: antara identitas kultural, ideologi keagamaan & kepentingan politik. makalah untuk diskusi dosen tahun 2013, p3m stain pontianak. ibrahim, yusriadi & zaenuddin. 2009. kearifan komunikasi pantang larang pada masyarakat melayu nanga jajang. laporan penelitian kompetitif. dipa stain pontianak. ibrahim, yusriadi & zaenuddin. 2012. pantang larang melayu kalimantan barat. pontianak: stain press. [ 139 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 is susila budhi dharma subud a religion? watini center for religious and cross-cultural studies, gadjah mada university email: watini@mail.ugm.ac.id abstract  e government of indonesia has recognized six offi cal religions based on certain categories by law. susila budhi dharma known as subud is not included as one of them.  e debate on the inclusion of subud as a religion has existed since its existance.  is work attemps to explore the experience of subud in dealing with the acknowledment both by people and the schoolars in religious studies and the discource on it. richard king believes that subud is a religion since there is mysticim in it (submission to god) with latihan kejiwaan. he may say that it is constructed like what laso is prascticed in christianity. subud is not a religious teaching claimed by subud’s members but subud is as a religion since the latihan kejiwaan is from god and appropriate with god’s will. in the discussion of marxian, durkheimian and freudian, subud is considered as a religion since it tends to promote dependance and can disturb economy. while in the views of both weberian and eliadean, subud is considered as a religion because it is related to sacred intities and is traditonalism.  e works suggests that deeper information would be bene� cial for the people within religious studies to accommodate subud as a religion based on theories in the � eld. talal asad’s theory can develop subud terminology that it is as a religion since it is categorized as an organization that have structures of leaders and people. indeed, subud has proven to separate from the states for its growing and developtment in european countries and the usa. keywords: subud, religious studies, java, religion. introduction aliran kepercayaan is a federation of about 353 javenese mystical sects and has been recognized by the indonesian government as a formal institution since 1987. as quoted by patty, samuel writes that it was put under the charge of the ministry of education and culture instead of the ministry of religious aff air (mora) as the one dealing with religion in indonesia. and the muslims do not agree to the idea of subud to be accepted as a religion and included in the mora. he also mentions that political instability and socio-economic [ 140 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 deprivation have played a major role in the growth of the movement. subud is not recognized as religion because it is an aliran kepercayaan or a mistical belief sect. but subud is a new religious movement (patty, 1986, iv-v). although subud is not recognized as a religion, it vontinues to grow until today. patty also describes that aliran kepercayaan is a term to refer to groups of people who draw upon javanese culture traditions, trying to de� ne their own belief system outside of indonesian’s offi cial religions like islam, christianity, hinduism and budhism (patty, 1986:1). a er the independence day, indonesia takes the vive principles known as pancasila as a foundation of the country that includes; believing in one god, humanism, nasionalism of indonesia, democracy and social justice. believing in one god means that the government would give freedom for all religions to express their doctrine and the government would also � nally support all religions which had been accepted as “offi cial religions” in the country: islam, catholicism, protestanism, hinduism, buddhism and later on confucianism. because of that, the ministry of religious aff air proposes an offi cial de� nition of religion. groups that need acknowledgement as a religion should have particular requirements such as having a prophet, a holy scripture and international recognition (patty, 1986:1). in colonial era, islam became the object of bureucratization and administration so kantoor voor inlandsche zaken was made.  e � rst director is snouck hurgronje. native indonesian call that institution as “  e offi ce of religion (kantor agama) and then later became department of religion (sihombing et al 2008: 73-74). today it is known as kementrian agama or the ministry of religious aff air (mora). kantor agama’s establishment was intended to manage the administration of people and their religious aff airs. yet, in that time, kepercayaan or kebatinan has existed. for this special group of kebatinan, the government established what was called pengawas aliran kepercayaan masyarakat (pakem).  e members of the pakem was legalized pasca independence day but the essence of the idea had existed since the colonial era.  e initiator was snouck hurgronje (sihombing etc, 2008, 73). pakem is mentioned in pokok-pokok pola pelaksanaan tugas pakem (the duties of pakem) and that aliran keagamaan is a sect of a religion, religious movement, group of religious community. pakem was also recognized by kejaksaan agung republik indonesia mentioning that “aliran keagamaan teaching is based on a constitution as a holy book.  e holy book of aliran kepercayaan includes spirituality (kerohanian) that grows and is embodied in a society as a result of ciptarasa, karsa, and hasil karya manusia (result of human’s creation) (jakarta:kejaksanaan agung ri, 3 in [ 141 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 nurdjana 2009:20). nurdjana states that aliran kepercayaan is coming from all branches (madzhab, sect, ordo, ism et cetera) of faiths in a society either coming from a religion or non-religion.  e group would have activities related to mistic, javenesse, forecasting, paranormal and metaphysic (2009, 21).  is paper employs nurdjana’s term to explain aliran kepercayaan in yogayakarta that is called subud (susila budhi dharma). subud and wilfred cantwell smith according to smith (religion is something (noun) that is rei� ed from religious (adjective) which comes from large thing to very limited thing. many scholars believe that the term of religion comes from “religio” such as st.  omas aquinas. he states that scholars do so by omitting not only the vitality but the most signi� cant of all factors in that vitality, namely its relation with transcendence (smith, 124).  e diff erences between religion and religions is that religion is a belief in god but religions is what a diff erential all religion is. “religio” until now becomes so limited that makes it very limited and materialized and standardized. zainal abidin bagir (2016) agrees with smith that word “religion” refers to christian faith then is rei� ed and applied in religions which is found in the west. it is a shaping new entity from that reality through the uses of one category.  erefore it shapes the ontology of religion. for instance, hinduism is a tradition from india which is very kind and it is called by england imperialism by ‘hinduism.’ yet, it is not the case for islam by calling it “mohamedanism.” jerome agrees that religion refers to “believe”, experience and related to god. rei� cation is standardized with criterias of rei� cation and � nds the essence of the truth of a religion. criteria of rei� cation is sacred “sui generis” that is “divine” and have a sacred and profane (spirit). for example, hinduism is rei� ed by the scholars that it is not invented by hindus.  e implication of rei� cation in indonesia is the existence of six religions which are the cumulative religions.  is view is in� uenced by snouck hurgronje who separated religion from adat.  e bene� t of rei� cation is to make the de� nition becoming easier (bagir 2016: 26).  e impact of rei� cation initiated by smith is that many kepercayaan or kebatinan can be categorized as religion. rei� cation have requirements in religion. kepercayaan can be categorized as religion if coming with prophets, holy books, believe in one god and so forth. based on smith’s theory, subud is not a religion because subud is not aff ordable to reify as a religion.  e [ 142 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 fourth congres of bkki (the groups of kebatinan), in malang east java, in july 1960 � nds that there was no essential diff erence between “religion” and kebatinan because religion emphasizes the ritual while kebatinan stresses in inner-experience and the perfection of man. if using the terms from the state of indonesia, subud is not a religion because in 1960, the ministry of religion proposed a de� nition of religion with the purpose of denying kebatinan as a religion (patty, 1986: 4). to the ministry, subud is not a religion because subud doesn’t meet some requirements to be called as a religion. a group should have a prophet, worship the almighty oneness of god and has a holy scripture and a system of laws for its follower to be recognized as a religion.  erefore, in 1960 there was an establisment of an organization called pakem that is an acronym for mystical supervision (pengawas aliran kepercayaan masyarakat) to protect the existing religions from the in� uence of negative aspects of the mystical sects (patty, 1986: 4). in 1978, aliran kepercayaan including subud was accepted offi cially by the government throuh the proples’ representativese assembly (majelis permusyawaratan rakyat or mpr) as a formal institution but not as a religion.  e government acceptance to aliran kepercayaan as a formal institution is a very important point. it means that the government supports the group along with the other religious groups in the country although part of muslims in the department of religion opposed subud as a formal institution with strong opposition of the islamic group and the dominance of the muslims in the department of religion (patty, 1986: 11). in 1961, there was the �  h congress of bkki.  ey built the federation of congress kebatinan indonesia (the gabungan musyawarah kebatinan indonesia or gmki) that is concerned in education, information and politics. in that period, the bkki was in� ltated by communists (patty, 1986:71-72). based on patty’s writing (1986:115) we can conclude that subud has diff erent concept from other groups of aliran kebatinan because as its founder claims that it is only a method to help people achieve the truth of god in all religions and its role is to bring harmony to diff erent religions. subud has members that come from diff erent religious backgrounds who live together with harmonious relationship.  e implication to subud member is that member’s of subud is investigated by neighborhood that subud is heretical action especially in branch of subud in yogyakarta. in checoslovakia, subud is investigated by police (sullivan 1991: 36 ).  us, organization of subud is monitored by state. subud as religious practice subud is the � rst and the only indonesian spiritual brotherhood that has gained [ 143 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 extensive in� uence and a great number of followers in indonesia as well as abroad.  e founder of subud is bapak subuh sumohadiwidjojo. he was born in semarang. subud had been acknowledged by the state on 19 october 1964 in jakarta. muhammad subuh remains in semarang then move to yogyakarta and the last move to jakarta until he died (batubara, 1999). “latihan” or practice is a commonplace word in indonesia meaning any form of exercise such as physical exercise or learning lessons at school. “kejiwaan” means spirituality. subuh sumohadiwidjojo explains that the � nal goal of latihan is menunggalkan.  e term menunggalkan is a transitive verb derived from the noun tunggal that means single or singular (kafrawi 1970: 147). latihan kejiwaan is a method or way to submit to god. it is a manifestion which we obey to the merciful of god (ari� anto, 2012: 2).  e occasion when new member join subud and do the latihan for the � rst time is referred to as your “opening”, and is generally understood by subud members to be a direct contact with the power of god which initiates and guides this form of worship. men and women do the latihan separately. to practise the latihan, members stand relaxed theirself, or with a group, and follow whatever arises spontaneously from within theirself.  e experience is diff erent for each person and diff erent for a particular person at diff erent times. some people report an inner vibration, or a feeling like electricity running through their bodies. some feel an impulse to move, utter sounds, to laugh, cry, sing, dance or pray. at other times the latihan can be a very quiet inward experience.  e latihan usually continues for about thirty minutes and is usually done twice a week with the group. a er experience has been gained, some people do an additional latihan by themselves once a week.  e eff ects of doing the latihan also vary greatly. for some, it brings about a peaceful, gradual development. for others, it initiates a process of dramatic change in their lives. sometimes, diffi culties must be faced as the process of puri� cation begun by the latihan takes its course. people usually have a feeling of relaxation and well-being immediately a er doing the latihan. in the longer run, they may come to trust the guidance received through the latihan as it permeates every aspect of their lives including personal relationships, family life and work. people also need helps for doing the latihan. helpers give explanations about the basis and aims of the latihan kejiwaan of subud for those who are interested in joining.  ey open people who have completed the waiting period and attend their latihan until they are really able to feel and receive the latihan.  ey come to the latihan place whenever there is an opening of people who have completed the waiting period. symbol of subud is also unique. within the circle are also depicted seven [ 144 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 inner circles, which illustrate the existence of forces, or spirits (roh), which also return to their origins. and it is these circles within the symbol, seven in all, which depict the existence of certain forces, which are, beginning from the material force (roh kebendaan); the vegetable force (roh tumbuh-tumnuhan); the animal spirit (roh hewani); the ordinary human force (roh orang); the spirit of the perfect human being (roh rohani); the spirit of higher than that which is called roh rahmani; and the spirit higher than all the rest, the roh rabani spirit. in a talk on december 14 1957 in england, bapak susilo gave an explanation about the meaning of the subud symbol. he said that the meaning of subud is “originating from its source and returning to the same source”. and this is represented in the subud symbol as something round, a circle, meaning “limitless and forever returning to its origin”. and in this symbol something else is represented as well: that we do not stop on the way, but rather we go on without limit.  is means we do not hold anything back, but everything is for god, from god.  e doctrin about merciful god in seri pembinaan penghayatan kepercyaan kepada tuhan yang maha esa number 26 p&k department states includes god is the one, the great, the creator. according to events that is done in latihan kejiwaan, only god that have to be submitted and only god that can lead and repair and treat body and soul of human. all nature is creates by god, the one. all creature in the world and place a er the world is wished of god. (p&k department, jakarta: 46 in nurdjana 2009: 92). implementation of subud is a leading by god but the goal of subud is to submit to god through latihan kejiwaan. subud as latihan kejiwaan is taught and led by god (alif, 1988:2-3). subud and the discussion of religion and social theories according to tylor, subud is a religion because there is monotheism that includes the development of animism-polytheismmonotheism. taylor states that the origins of religion is animism (tylor, 29-30). frazer theory recognizes subud as a religion, it is because subud has experience suas as magic (illogical) because the experience of bapak muhammad subuh is similar to prophet muhammad that he went to somewhere in the night and he received something like light. frazer states that the origin of religion is magic. frazer says that the principle of magic is based on two things; something that like produces like, or that an eff ect resembles it causes; that things which have once been in contact to act on each other (frazer, 40). in this case, the magic is supposed as blac magic or klenik as a part of javanese mysticism. in the third badan [ 145 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 kongres kebatinan indonesia (bkki), the congress thereupon reiterated that kebatinan was not a black magic or klenik but supernatural power and white magic (patty, 1986:3).  ere are diff erent argument from durkheim and mircea eliade, and even oppositing each other. durkheim states that something which is sacred is contructed by people not by individual. anything individual is profane. mircea eliade claims that daily activities of human is profane.  ere are diff erent perspective from other scholars. eliade states that epyphany is real of the religion and axis mundi (eliade, 273) is center of the world (connect others). he also mention that “sui generis” is something tremendous fascinating and it could be many places. weber provides the typology of religion into two categorizes; modern and traditionalism (weber, 260-263). he also concerns in terms of charisma. charisma is very revolutionary that can change suddenly. weber describes that charisma is categorized as a defender. its concerns perspective phenomenon in diff erent time. weber focuses on the essence of religion, not on “what the religion is”. mircea eliade and weber defend religion as a “sui generis phenomenon” (maarif 2016: 5). weber sees religion as the “cause.” in contemporar time, eliade improves her theory in modern world that is not only discuss in the historian of religion but also politic and social historian such as psycholigist and philospher. according to both weber and eliade, subud is a religion because it is related to sacred and it is traditonalism. subud has latihan kejiwaan, and latihan kejiwaan has relations with god. people who do latihan kejiwaan receive movements that come from god and are appoprite with god’s will.  e other schoolars; frued, durkheim and marx; are some of those holding theories on religion.  ey seem to believe that the category of religion is constructed. religion is a constructed reality (not exactly from society) (marx, 143-144).  ey see religion as an “eff ect” (maarif, 2016). marx argues that religion is if anything the chief off ender and religion employs its skills to de� ect the anger (marx, 144). freud describes that trauma is one of symptom that consequences from the phenomena of religion (freud, 94). marx, durkheim and freud de� ne religion in diff erent ways because they see that religion has no bene� t to people, and even religion tends to create dependency (durkheim, 15). durkheim argues that religion is like an aggreement of certain groups of people.  ey decide a value and name it as a religion that contain rites and beliefs.  e other component of religion is magic. religion is a system which balances between belief and practice (durkheim, 29-30).  us, based on this theory subud is not religion. as discussed earlier, subud then is considered as [ 146 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 kebatinan, not black magic or klenik but supernatural power and white magic (patty, 1986:3). formations of secular -christianity, islam, modernity is written by talal asad which is published in stanford university in 2003. talal asad quotes his writing in jose casanova’s book which is explained development of modernity since weber era.  ere are three elements: 1). increasing structural diff erentiation of social spaces resulting in the separating religion from politic, economy, science and et cetera. 2) privatization of religion within its own sphere. 3). declining social signi� cance of religious belief commitment and institution. casanova states that element 1 and 3 air viable.  e legitimate entry of religion results in modern “hybrids”: the principle of structural diff erentiation, according to which religion, economy, education, and science are located in autonomous social spaces. element 1 and 3 as secularization thesis is falls. asad argues that nation is said to be under god. nature and culture is two essence things which is used by nation. if nature and culture (socity) is separated, so it is called modernity as bruno latour said (blok and jensen 2011:52). asad also writes about islam that islamism and arab nationalism concern in modernizing state. both asad and latour use anthropology method. another interesting arguent comes from talal asad. asad notes that secularism aff ects the study on religion. religion has produced in� uences on politics and likewise.  e role of secularism is the construction of religion where religion is studied in academia.  e notion of secularism is that there is relatoinship between religion and nationalism. asad believes that secularism and religion is not necessary to collide like what has happened in indonesia. he criticizes taylor that secularism is close with nation state (asad 2003: 2). secularism is separation bertween religion and state but in public (morality) and in religious law there is a phenomena as normally called as hybrid. religion could appear in many domain including politics and education.  e needs is to bring the study of religion to that context.  is asad theory can develop subud terminology to become apart of the practice of a religion.  e last scholar i would like to discuss here is richard king. he writes that orientalism occurs because of the sitiation of politic, economy, cultural power of english and english language in the world. in the early time of orientalism, many people in india stand against english. indians say that their country is theirs.  ey did not accept orientalists. king quotes in many place from chakrabaty, it is interesting because religious studies contributes to the construction of its object of its analysis (orintalism) (king,1999, 82). king quotes edward said that orientalist is everyone who teaches, writes and [ 147 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 research the orient.  e impact of orientalism is that english has become a powerful international language (king 1999: 217). king states that there is mysticism in india. mysticism is one of religious studies that has de� ned the way of religion. king wants to see how orientalism is placed in india. how mysticism de� ned is same as the way how religion de� nes. mysticism is also about experience.  e construction of mysticism in the east is made by the west somehow.  e way that christianity is de� ned is used to represent the religion in the east. king looks everything universally see it in essence. religius studdies tend to see phenomena as universal phenomena. orientalism is about interaction between east and west. it is real problematic things if de� nition of religion is universally applicable.  e essence eff ect is same thing with smith that religion is true of right. because of orientalism so subud grows and develops in europe and the usa. subud it is not a religion although according to king subud has a mystical aspect embedded on it (submit to god) with latihan kejiwaan so that some may say that it is constructed like misticism in christianity (el-ha� dy 1982: 63-64). subud in religious studies bourdieu, as quited by wijsen, claims that he does not see the distinction between theology and science of religion in the prespective of insider or outsider. if the essential notion of religion from a postmodern perspective doesn’t use a certain boundary, both of them become blurred. it is not about the distinction about engaged or disengaged but the diff erences is about the research perspective or view of science, empirical or hermeneutic, or explanatory versus interpretative science. wijsen (2013) sees that what makes a theologian a theologian is the practice of methodological conversion as distinct from methodological agnosticism. according to wijsen, theology has important position in religious studies.  eology is emic but religous studies is ethic and theology is insider but religous studies is outsider. wijsen supposes that the study of religion should employ methodological agnosticism or conversion but the most applicable methodology is methodological agnosticism.  e total methodological agnosticism is done by snouck hurgronje.  eoloogy and religious studies are to complete each other. both of religious studies and theology cannot be separated becausee religious studies put theology and theology is part of religious studies.  ere is no point bertween theology and religious studies but both of them is about methodological of theology, religious studies and comparative religion (wijsen, 2013). according to frans wijsen, there are two alternatives that african and european epistemologies can be reconcited or where this proves imposible [ 148 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 they can exist in mutual acceptance of their diff erences.  is paper will discusses: 1.  e distinction between theology and and religious studies, 2.  e distinction between insider and outsider perspectives in the study of religion, 3.  e distinction between seminary and university of theology, 4.  e distinction between simplex and duplex ordo system, 5.  e distinction between empirical and hermeneutic studies of religion. 6.  e distinction between methodological agnosticism and methodological conversion. for example, st. anselm states that theology is faith seeking understanding.  ere are diff erent perspective from academic study of religion which religion as social (tylor, durkheim), economic (marx), psychological (freud).  ose all are very suitable theory to analyzed subud, so researcher have deeper information. so subud can be accommodated with that theory. one of the importances of religious studies is that it provides concepts to explain action of human beings such as mystic in east tradition. in this case of subud, barbara categorizes subud as moe of mystical movement and a typical product of the javanese cultural environment (barbara 1999:95).  e leader of the javanese mysticism group (kebatinan) which organized the javenese mystic federation or bkki was asked to become a member of golongan karya (golkar) in suharto era.  us, the aliran tried to unify all the javanese mystical groups in a broad single organization striving for legal recognition that culminated in the national symposium on kebatinan mysticism, science of the soul and science of the spirit in indonesia (symposium nasional kepercayaan-kebatinan, kejiwaan dan kerohanian indonesia) in yogyakarta in 1970. a er that, the kebatinan mystical group was accepted as an offi cially recognized institusion as a member of golkar, the gobvernment dominated political organization in december 1970.  en, the name aliran kebatinan was changed to become aliran kepercayaan (patty 1986:10). in religious studies, we can see that subud is a religion based on the theories from some scholars that concern in relgious studies and try to de� ne what religion is. in fourth congress also, they discussed and tstated that there were no essential diff erence between kebatinan and religion, namely that religion focuses on worshiping god in a formal ritual while kebatinan focuses on the “inner-experience” of the individual and the perfection of man (patty 1986, 71). religous studies is important in this case because it is related to religion and can be explained as a reaction to the dogmatism and ritualism of the established monotheistic religions (patty 1986: 73). aactually, all of the aliran kepercayaan groups are worshiping god as people of other religions do. in term of religious studies, it is iportant to see that subud as javanese mystical sects pursuing inner-tranquility (ketentraman batin) and peacefulnss [ 149 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 through meditation (patty 1986: 158). one the helpers of subud said that she joins subud to control the inner power to solve his problems in daily life and to get hakikat which is spiritual needs. conclusion  e discussion of subud and its relevant to the de� nition of religion is intersting and becoming important to the studies of religion, perticularly with regards to the teaching of misticism within religion. subud as a unique phenomenon has taken us to the debate of wheter it is religion. some argues that subud is not a religion and some other do not so.  e government of indonesia uses the category of rei� cation to see religion so that subud is excluded from the terminology of a religion. in contrast, some scholars argue that subud is religion since it carries out the teaching of mysticim with latihan kejiwaan. according to marx, durkheim and freud, subud is a religion because it can create dependancy. according to both theory of weber and eliade, subud is religion since it is related to sacred things. it is the important poin in this conclusion that the discussion of the de� nition of certain practices of believe is being studied in the � elds of religious studies.  e case of subud has shown to readers that the relation of nation and religion is still urgent to the discussion of the pratice of religion and or what it is called as kepercayaan kepada tuhan yang maha esa in indonesian case.  e sociological and anthropological aspects of religion are among other signi� cant in� uences in the context of the studies of religious practices such subud. bibliography alif, m. r. 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(2016). syllabus of academic study of religion, yogyakarta: universitas gadjah mada. marx, k. (2009). religion as agent of economic oppression in pals, d. l. introducing religion: readings from the classic  eorists. new york oxford: oxford university press. mulder, n. (1978). mysticism & everyday life in contemporary java. singapore: singapore university press. nurdjana, igm. (2009). hukum dan aliran menyimpang di indonesia yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. patty, s. a. (1986). aliran kepercayaan a sosio religius movement in indonesia. unpublished dissertation. washington state university. sihombing, u. p. et al. (2008). menggugat bakor pakem jakarta:  e indonesian legal resource center (ilrc), 73-74. smith, w. c. (1962).  e meaning and end of religion. united states: first fortress press. tylor. e. b. (2009). animism and the origin of religion in pals, d. l. introducing religion: readings from the classic  eorists. new york oxford: oxford university press. wijsen, f. (2013). editorial: discourse analysis in religious studies. in journal religion. vol(43). issue(1). 1-3. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 93 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 ethnic relations in the city of pontianak a study of inter-ethnic relations at gang damai, kota baru, pontianak ibrahim ms pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract peace and harmony in life is one of the goals of the communities at gang damai in their social relations. th is condition becomes very special when, in other places at the same time, confl icts and hostilities oft en occurred in the history of inter-ethnic relations in this region. th is is the underlying reason of the naming of the place of this research i.e. “gang damai” (peaceful alley). th is study found four key factors underlying the harmony and good relations between the ethnic groups; fi rst, a positive outlook on the ethnic communities; second, distinctive eff orts undertaken by the community members in order to continue to maintain good social relations, security, peace and harmony; third, awareness practiced by all communities in an eff ort to build and maintain social relations in the spirit of solidarity; fourth, diff erent ethnic communities manage to minimize all forms of issues that could potentially become a trigger for confl icts by building intensive communication and social relations among themselves. in addition, unique social relation patterns built and inter-ethnic marriages have also become a model in building peaceful ethnic relations at gang damai until today. keywords: peace, harmony, social relations, ethnicity introduction th e reality as we know it indicates that indonesia is a plural nation comprising diverse ethnic, religious, tribal and cultural groups (tomagola, 2006). zulyani hidayah in the encyclopedia of ethnic groups in indonesia, reported there are about 656 ethnic groups in the entire archipelago from sabang to merauke (see in tomagola, 2007: 274). th e diversity of ethnic, cultural, religious and tribal groups in indonesia can also be found in the communities of west kalimantan. nevertheless, research conducted to study social, ethnic, and religious groups in west kalimantan is indeed not too satisfactory. as collins (2001) argues that we have very little knowledge about the people, history, and culture on the island. th erefore, the writer believes it is important to continue to do research and investigations to identify and understand the ethnic community and culture in the area very well, especially in the context of social relations and human relations. [ 94 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 studying west kalimantan with all its complexities that characterize all aspects of life is a must. in terms of religion, for example, in west kalimantan, there are communities that embrace islam, christianity (catholics and protestants), hinduism, buddhism, confucianism, and even traditional beliefs. in terms of ethnicity, west kalimantan has various ethnic groups such as malay, dayak, madurese, chinese, javanese, bugis, minang, etc. (bps, 2008). similarly this province also has complex and diverse social, economic, and cultural aspects. th e complexity and diversity of this region cannot be separated from the history of its society, and even this factor has also infl uenced social relations until today. th erefore, a careful and thorough study should be carried out continuously in order to fi nd an objective view and knowledge of west kalimantan and the people. as the provincial capital, pontianak city is inhabited by people of various ethnic backgrounds, religions and cultures. th e city has also became the melting pot of people, cultures and religions. th e diversity of social, ethnic, religious and cultural background of the communities particularly in the city of pontianak is indeed inevitable (conditio sain quo non). th erefore, there is only one social attitude to adopt in the context, i.e. to accept the diff erences while continuing to build understanding and tolerance. with this attitude, there is no reason to make diversity a barrier in establishing social communication and humanity relations, let alone wipe out the diff erence “on behalf of the harmony of social relations”. as a place inhabited by various ethnic groups, it is interesting to see how ethnic relations are built there. gang damai in the context of this study gang damai is part of the administrative subdivisions of the kota baru kelurahan (urban village), subdistrict of south pontianak, pontianak city. it is located bina jaya street, kota baru. to reach this place, one can enter through gang rukun on perdamaian street, district kubu raya, or through harapan jaya street. it can also be reached through kesehatan street. before pemekaran (creation of a new administrative region), the village which became part of kota baru kelurahan, bina jaya street was part of kesehatan street, as can be seen in the certifi cate of land ownership in the area. gang damai is located approximately 250 meters perdamaian street, or 300 meters from harapan jaya stree, or 500 meters from purnama street 2. to be precise, this settlement is located between perdamaian and purnama street 2. referring to the city’s development plan, gang damai 2 will connect kota [ 95 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 baru and purnama street 2. gang damai consists of 6 alleys namely, damai 1, damai 2, damai 2a, damai 3, damai 3a dan damai 4. th ese alleys are joint in one neighborhood association (rt), i.e. the rt 4 rw 12. in general, the area was opened as a civilian settlement (village) approximately 10 years ago, precisely in 1999/2000s when it was inhabited by 2 – 3 households. in the aft ermath of ethnic violence in sambas in 1999, it started to be inhabited by ethnic madurese who moved here from sambas. it was a process in which more and more madurese people came to live in the area until 2003. later, following ethnic madurese, other ethnic groups such as javanese and malay also came to settle down here. in general, the majority of the ethnic groups living at gang damai are ethnic madurese. th is ethnic group stated to come to this area around 10 years ago. generally the madurese inhabitant here moved from sambas when ethnic confl ict occurred in 1999. of the total number of residents who live in gang damai (235 people or 57 households), approximately 75% of them are ethnic madurese. th e rest (25%) are ethnic malay, javanese, bugis, dayak and chinese. however, in general residents in the alley mingle with the other ethnic groups. except for the gang damai 1 and 3 where the majority of the inhabitants are madurese. in other parts of gang damai, they simply blend in with each other. in terms of the economy, it can be described that generally gang damai is inhabited by mostly middle class people. th is is related to the economic resources of its inhabitants, i.e. ethnic madurese. most residents in this area work as farmers and laborers. only some of them are working in private companies and government agencies (civil servants). social relations between ethnic groups to see how social relations between the ethnic groups at gang damai are built, four main aspects will be examined, i.e. the way each group views others, how they build communication in social relations, eff orts made in maintaining relations between the ethnic groups, as well as the factors that aff ect the relations between the ethnic groups. th e four aspects will be discussed in depth in the following review. inter-ethnic view th e view between the ethnic groups in the social communication is called perception. perception will essentially generate conception. if the perception and conception that are toward oneself, it is referred to by the term perception [ 96 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 and conception of the self. but if the perception and conception in question are toward others, then it is called perception and conception of others. perception and conception can be defi ned as behavior that cannot be separated in the social communication (deddy mulyana, 2001: 168). th e correlation between the two patterns of communication behavior is equal to correlation between perception and conception toward oneself and the perception and conception toward others. as perception generate conception, and conception will ultimately form the communication behavior built into social relations (ibrahim, 2005; 2009) th us it is clear that inter-ethnic perception (defi ned as views or judgment) has a major infl uence in building communication behavior that takes place in the social relations of ethnic groups at gang damai. view on oneself and on one’s own ethnic group based on the data obtained during the course of conducting research in the fi eld, it can be concluded that people generally realize that they and their own ethnic group are basically equal to the general human disposition in which each has advantages and disadvantages. th erefore, people must live together to be able to complement each other. in order to co-exist, they make a variety of agreements in the form of social relations, be it complementary or open, primordial or constructional, as maintained by rizka ar (2009) as follows: “th e intensity of the socio-economic interactions occurring between ethnic groups can turn one ethnic group that was primordial to become more constructional with awareness of the pluralism as well as the social and political state of the economy at the time. th is inter-ethnic encounter will create complementary relationship between the two. th e ability to meet the needs of other ethnic groups leads to the existence of relations between ethnic groups. th is can be seen in urban communities who have removed the ethnic construction ideas that separate between “me” and “them”. meanwhile, in traditional communities that still hold on to ethnic and cultural boundaries, when one ethnic group meet with the other and there is an economic activity between them, they will make up a rule considered common by both sides without leaving their respective ethnic characteristics behind. whereas in an open society, they will abandon their respective ethnic characteristics and blend in a mutually agreed rules “. a positive outlook on oneself and one’s own ethnic group makes it possible to create good social and ethnic relations at gang damai as reported by many of the informants in the fi eld. [ 97 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 view on other people and other ethnic groups another aspect quite infl uential in shaping the behavior of social communications is the view on other people and other ethnic groups. how one views others and other ethnic groups will largely determine the patterns and forms of communication and social relations built between ethnic groups. in addition, ethnic confl ict depends on the form of this view. to examine this, rizka ar (2009) revealed that there are at least two approaches that can be used namely paradigm approach and structural approach. th e paradigm approach is adopted not only to change the view that a certain ethnic group should be ‘ powerful ‘ and other ethnic groups just become proletarians, but also to change the view that an ethnic group poses a threat to another ethnic group. because of the socio-economic interaction, the ability of an ethnic group to complement the other ethnic group’s needs is needed in order to create the harmony and continuity of social interaction that can build this nation. whereas the structural approach holds that a rule issued by the constitution can protect an ethnic group from other group’s threats or from the threat of extinction of a certain ethnic group. state protection is needed to create social relations between ethnic harmony so as to support national development “( rizka ar, 2009). th us any individual diff erence from any ethnic group can be seen as a reasonable social disposition, in which each has advantages and disadvantages. th erefore to know and understand each other must be done in building social relations. other positive view towards people of other ethnic groups at gang damai can be seen from a statement made by the neighborhood secretary who is a malay. he said, “th e residents here are very kind although most of them are madurese. i have been living here for many years living, and they (madurese) help a lot both with my personal matters as well as my position as the secretary of the neighborhood “ (interview: oct 14,2009) th is sort of view has proved that harmonization in social and ethnic relations at gang damai can be built by the community because there is a positive view toward other groups. th is is because a good perception of will create a good conception to build the appropriate social communication behavior between ethnic groups. observations made by the researcher in the fi eld show that a lot of people that come from diff erent ethnic backgrounds also hold a positive view toward other ethnic groups, and it has become a milestone in building a harmonious social relations in the alley. [ 98 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 building communication and social relations in certain regions, the views that holds that in ethnicity should be classifi ed on the basis of shared customs is not suitable to be applied in a community with various backgrounds so that its homogeneity can be retained even though there are many diff erent ways of life and social forms (barth in iqbal jayadi, 2004 on how communication and social relations between ethnic groups are built). th e statement hinted that communication and social relations are determined by ethnic patterns and interlacing forms of communication that are built and created by each ethnic group in their social relations, both created in the group alone as well as together. in the context of this study, the results of the study in the fi eld indicates that there are several ways of building communication and social relations carried out by the community at gang damai, such as participating in neighborhood activities together, holding neighborhood meetings, involving in joint activities in the village, promoting togetherness in the village through pengajian (qur’an lessons) for children, yasinan (recital of a chapter in the qur’an), religious activities at the surau (a smaller mosque), youths activities such as martial arts, gotong royong (joint work to clean up the drains, etc) on sunday, as well as continuing to build togetherness in social communication. th e description of each activity is as follows. doing more joint activities within the community one of the ways the people at gang damai build communication and social relations is to participate in more joint activities within the community. th ese activities allow for the involvement of many people in the community. examples of the joint activities are holding yasin recital every friday evening, doing gotong royong every sunday, celebrating the islamic holy days, celebrating the national holidays such as independence day, getting together, qur’an lessons for children, learning martial arts and so on. holding more neighborhood meetings as mentioned above that gang damai is a settlement within the area of rt 04 rw 12, kota baru urban village. with a good awareness to build social relations within ethnic relations, rt (neighborhood association) serves as an important forum for the residents of gang damai, particularly the its administrators. [ 99 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 according to sdm (head of the rt), the people involved in administration of the rt are representatives of the existing ethnic groups. th e purpose is to take care of the village as well as to build an atmosphere of friendliness and brotherhood. with these common goals, everyone can help each other and make use of all their potential to buil the village. (interview, december 10, 2009). th erefore, in his opinion, rt always holds a meeting even though the discussion is not serious and formal; with these meetings we can build better relations can resolve a lot of problems; and we will happy to welcome anyone who want to come here even they are not a member of the rt administrators (dec 10, 2009). participating in yasin recital activity joint activities at gang damai serve as one of the eff orts made by the residents to establish sense of togetherness in social relations. th ese joint activities include pengajian and yasin recital held each week. yasin recital is held every friday evening with each household taking turns as a host, or upon request, as the researcher saw for himself during participatory observations. togetherness and awareness in building the village togetherness in building the village is the vision of mr sudi’s leadership head of the rtat gang damai. as the fi rst head of rt since it was established over 5 years ago, his vision in building the village has won the support of the community. th is is proved by the magnitude of the public confi dence of the head of the rt. with that confi dence, the community continues to prepare itself to support all policy issued by the rt. th ese conditions reminded the researcher of social relations theory expressed by iones rakhmat (2009), one of which is a model of charismatic authority, where social relations can be well established because a leader someone who has charisma. pengajian (qur’an reading lessons) for children and other religious activities at the surau one of the activities that serves as a gathering event for residents of gang damai is pengajian. in this activity, children gather at the homes of ustadz mul and mr lili to learn to read the qur’an together. th ese children come from various ethnic groups such as madurese, malay, javanese and so on. th is pengajian activity has removed the boundaries of their ethnic identity in the interaction. referring to the theory of communication, the activity [ 100 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 has become a place for ‘us’ not ‘me’ or ‘you’ (ibrahim, 2010; & www. keluargabahagia.com). youth activities in addition to religious activities, pengajian and so on, the researcher in the fi eld also found that there are still other activities carried out by the residents, and it seems that those activities are also quite important as an eff ort to build communication in social relations of the community. one of the activities is martial arts (pencak silat) for teenagers. gotong royong gotong royong (cooperation among people to attain a shared goal) is indeed a local wisdom in building a sense of community, solidarity and care for one another. local wisdom grows with the consciousness of others, to help each other and to work together. in the mapping of sociology, such activity is rare in the city, where an individualistic lifestyle is more emphasized. as a form of collectivism and social life, gotong royong is only possible in the village, the place where the social care is still important. gang damai, which is only 5 km from the mayor’s offi ce, or 6 km from the governor’s offi ce, or just 3 km from the provincial government offi ce complex, still has local wisdom of the village people, a tradition of community and social care emphasized through gotong royong regardless of whether the tradition is born purely within the soul of the ethnic groups, or there certain conditions that require them to practice such mutual aid, this has also formed social relations in the community. th e atmosphere of brotherhood and familiarity among themselves is also visible during a gotong royong activity. it was obvious when the researcher participated in the gotong royong. building closeness in social communication one of the characteristics of a good social relation is when there is closeness in communication. in the ethnic community at gang damai, closeness in social communication is visible from the habit of people to greet each other, both while in the homes of the residents, on the streets and in the form of visiting each other at home. in the context of visiting each other’s home at gang damai, this can clearly be seen in the aft ernoon to evening. close communication in this form is usually [ 101 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 common among males. th ey usually get together to have a friendly chat on the terrace of the house belonging to head of the rt, or the other residents. th is reminds the researcher of social relations culture of the madurese which ali usman (2008) called bala and taretan or kanca. bala, in addition to being defi ned as a friend, also means to have kinship (taretan). to have a taretan, one only needs to be a kanca, be it kanca biasa or kanca rapet. th e women are also commonly seen getting together. th is kind of gathering involves residents of various ethnicities that live in the area. it is not uncommon to see them share many things such as food, vegetables, side dishes and so on. efforts in maintaining inter-ethnic relations a good social relation between diff erent ethnic groups is highly associated with social attitudes and communication indicated by the ethnic community. social attitudes are related to several social aspects as quoted from www. keluargabahagia.com: 1. self-acceptance is important to build trust (being trusted or trusting others) in social relations. 2. we will feel comfortable socializing if we do not discriminate people based on social class. 3. make social relations as a place to learn, not a place to compete negatively. 4. do not push your own interests for the sake of the interests of the surroundings, but also do not ignore the interests of the surroundings just because you want to indulge your own interests. 5. understand the importance of networking as well as making it an actualization of self development. in building good relations and harmony between diff erent ethnic groups, there are at least two important categories have always been used by the ethnic community at gang damai, i.e. perceptual (perception of communication) and a practical (the behavior of social communication). perceptual eff orts are conducted in the form of awareness of self and social group (internal) about human nature, togetherness and mutual respect over any diff erences. th e history of the confl icts that have occurred in west kalimantan indirectly involving the ethnic groups of the residents at gang damai has provided lessons to them regarding the necessity to understand any diff erences with sincerity, appraeciation and mutual respect for each other, and in the end is manifested in togetherness creating a good social relations and harmonious. [ 102 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 it is this consciousness that the older madurese generation exemplify for their descendants at gang damai. according to them, the eff orts to maintain good and harmonious social relations must continue to be made intensifying joint activities among themselves such as gotong royong, yasinan, and so on. th e practical eff orts are related to mending the structure of social communication in ethnic relations in their daily life; opening wider space for communication to resolve issues together, promoting mutual trust and respect for each other. in the communication theory, this this structure is what ibrahim (2010) called kita (see also www.keluargabahagia.com). in addition celebrating red letter days such as warning the independence day, celebrating islamic holy days such as sa’benan (the month of sa’ban), maulid (prophet’s muhammad’s birthday) and so on, serves as forum of an important communication and interaction between people at gang damai. th is is one of the practical eff orts made to maintain the harmony of ethnic social relations there. th e chairman of the rt at the alley who is an ethnic javanese has a charismatic leadership in building a good social relation. when referring to the theory of social relations, the pattern is closer to the model of the client patron relation model (ioanes rakhmat, 2009) even though in the case of gang damai it is not fully a patron (the ruler) and client (his servants) relation. th e pattern of “semi” patron-client (if it can be called so) that exists at gang damai is the utilization of a position of the head of the rt to build closeness and togetherness. th is is in line with a statement made the head of the rt about the need to build a solid cooperation in the community to keep the order in the village. th at is why he thinks a good policy is needed in the form of society potential empowerment (nov 10, 2009) in addition to his various eff orts in building good social relations, mutual understanding between one ethnic group and another is a must, including equitable development based on social justice. th e eff orts above indeed prove to have created a form of good, safe and harmonious at gang damai to this day. th is, in researcher’s opinion, is also supported by the attitude of residents who are always open in their communication. such attitude is very relevant to the theory of building good communication as follows: ”..to improve harmonious relationship in social relations, it requires the ability to build openness in communication, among others with the following attitudes: fi rst, avoid assumption but look for clarity to discuss it; second, communicate openly based on the ‘us’ concept not ‘me’ or ‘you’; third, learn [ 103 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 how to express something appropriately and positively; fourth, train yourself to be able to be a good listener; fi ft h, think ten times before passing on negative words “ (quoted from www.keluargabahagia.com). a similar theory is proposed by ibrahim, especially regarding the building of communication that should be realized together in the form of our forum not ‘my’ or ‘your’ forum (ibrahim, 2010). factors affecting inter-ethnic relations life is indeed a dynamic and ever-changing (ibrahim, 2010), and so is the case with social relations in the society which are sometimes good and full of warmth, and sometimes full of confl ict and tension. th e dynamics of real life in such a case involve several other factors, both external and internal. th e external factors that can change the form and quality of social relations of diff erent ethnic groups are political policies, economic interests, social infl uence of diff erent culture from outside (culture shock/culture gap) and so on (ibrahim, 2005). meanwhile, the internal factors that can change the form and quality of social relations are ethnic identity and sense of self that tends to be ethnocentric (ibrahim, 2009) i.e. an antipathetic attitude towards diff erences which is known in the local term as “katak dalam tempurung” (a frog under the coconut shell, meaning viewing other cultures according to preconceptions of one’s own culture). in addition, other internal factors that can threaten the form and quality of social relations are inter-ethnic stereotype and prejudice. regarding prejudice (even close to stereotype) against the ethnic madurese, a respondent (chairman of the rt) reported that there was a concern when the madurese people settled in this village. “a lot of people out there think that living close to the madurese is defi nitely unsafe and so on. but i feel quite the opposite. here i feel safe and have a quiet life, far from the noise of city vehicles. even aft er i hung out almost 10 years with the madurese here, i never feel there is a problem “(sdm, nov 10, 2009). similar statement was also confi rmed by several other respondents in the fi eld like mly (religious fi gure), sdm (chairman of the rt) and pd (public fi gure) that said that there is no big social problem in this village, and hopefully people will continue to get along forever. the pattern of social relations th e pattern of social relations built by the ethnic community is an important factor in keeping and maintaining the relations of peace and harmony between [ 104 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 the ethnic groups at gang damai. from this concept of togetherness, the community members take part in developing the village together. th e social relation such as this seems to be more complex and far-reaching than that off ered in the contemporary approach. th e contemporary approach divides social relations into three models: charismatic authority model, explorer leadership model and patron-client model (ioanes rakhmat, 2009). in contrast, the pattern of social relations at gang damai is closer to the concept of brotherhood and kinship in the tradition of the madurese society (ali usman, 2008). in the madurese society, brotherhood is not only synonymous with blood relations of kinship, but also with friendship. brotherhood could turn to hostility because there is a problem that cannot be solved by a family. such a relation collectively is commonly referred to as friend (kanca) and enemy (moso) (ali usman, 2008). th erefore, the two forms of social relations are within a range of familiarity level, each basically is at its extremity. th at is, a friend is a social relation with the highest level of familiarity, and vice versa, an enemy is a social relation with the lowest level of familiarity. in the context of the ethnic community at gang damai, the fi rst form serves as a social identity in building social relations, where a sense of brotherhood and togetherness is growing in society regardless of ethnic, cultural and religious diff erences. such condition is closely associated with the theory of communication and social relations found in the following site (www.keluargabahagia.com): ”.. the attitude of mutual acceptance would bring the impact of unifying, strengthening, and supporting the integrity and respective functions in social relations. when you decided to live together, without exception, you should be ready to mutually accept each other “ according to the theory, communication and social relations can be built in the following ways: first, positive thinking and being open to other people’s opinion as it can help us to better identify ourselves; second, realizing that nobody is perfect, so do not push yourself or someone else to be perfect; th ird, assuring ourselves that it is never too late to learn to accept ourselves and others for what they are; fourth, being aware that confusion is humane, so learning to forgive yourself and others is the attitude that should be adopted; fift h, avoiding excessiveness toward weaknesses and strengths of your own and others (quoted from www.keluargabahagia.com). [ 105 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 marriage as a form of ethnic social relations another factor that plays a role in realizing the harmony of ethnic relations at gang damai is inter-ethnic marriages. marriage as one of the most sacred family bonds can only be realized if there is an attitude of mutual acceptance of the couple. th is attitude becomes a starting point in building life together in matrimony as suggested in the happy family theory above. mixed marriages as a form of ethnic social relations at gang damai can be seen in the number of couples coming from diff erent ethnicities. marriage has become one of the options for the community there to establish better relations regardless of whether it is done to expand the family relationship and build a more harmonious social relation or simply a call of human nature, but in fact the social relations between diff erent ethnic groups are harmonious to this day. th e following table shows couples who come from diff erent ethnic backgrounds in the ethnic social relations at gang damai. tabel married couple of diff erent ethnicity no. name (initial) husband’s ethnicity wife’s ethnicity 1 ahm (pa) madurese sambas malay 2 ynt (pn) chinese javanese 3 mly (ust. m) madurese javanese 4 frd syarif malay dayak 5 sry (ps) balinese madurese 6 tgh (pt) javanese madurese 7 alg (abd) madurese sambas malay 8 tr malay banjar source: observations and interviews, 2009. with the rise of inter-ethnic social relations in the form of bonds as a family through marriage, it would further strengthen the social relations within the community. in other words, social relations which are established safely, peacefully and harmoniously are not only bound by kinship, as in the madurese tradition of friendship or kanca (ali usman, 2008), but also can take a form of inter-ethnic marriage relationship. in addition to the mixed-ethnic marriages as evidence of the rise of the social relations at gang damai, many other things can also be made proof of the same thesis about social relations within the community. among other things is the naming of the village (street name) which refers to a form of a peaceful [ 106 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 social relation. th e name ‘gang damai’ (meaning the alley of peace) can be understood as a prayer and hope from local society that their settlement will always be peaceful and safe, even though it is inhabited by diverse ethnic groups. each person can pray and make an eff ort, as shown by the people at gang damai. to support the eff orts and prayers, we need an attitude in building better communication and social relations, i.e. by avoiding assumption and prioritizing discussion; being open to communication in a concept of ‘us’, not ‘me’ or ‘you’; learning to express your opinions appropriately and positively; training yourself to be a good listener; and being careful before passing on negative words conclusion th is study has proved that the diff erent ethnic communities at gang damai, pontianak, is capable of creating social relations that are safe, peaceful and harmonious in the midst of issues of ethnic confl icts elsewhere in west kalimantan. th is is evidenced by the existence of a positive outlook among diff erent ethnic groups in which they are capable of building communication and social relations through joint activities, eff orts that continue to be made to maintain a good and harmonious social relation and several other factors that aff ect ethnic relations, one of which is in the form of inter-ethnic marriages. th erefore, the well established social relations at gang damai should become a model for eff orts to build communication and social relations between ethnic groups in other areas in the city of pontianak. finally, the outcomes of this study are based on the data, information and knowledge obtained during the research process (descriptive). with this subjectivity, this study is certainly not the only answer to the question of the social relations of diff erent ethnic groups in pontianak city, because there are many other possible answers generated from other subjectivity as well. references ali usman. 2008. relasi sosial dalam budaya carok madura: aliusman.wordpress.com/…/relasi-sosial-dalam-budaya-carok-madura/; diakses tanggal 10 agustus 2009 azyumardi azra. 2003. pendidikan islam tradisional dalam tradisi dan modernisasi. jakarta: logos. bps. 2008. kota pontianak dalam angka. pontianak: bps kota pontianak. collins, j.t. 2001. ketungau and ibanic: some observations in the sekadau val[ 107 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 ley, unpublished manuscript. deddy mulyana. 2001. komunikai antarbudaya. bandung: rosda karya ibrahim ms. 2005. problematika komunikasi antarbudaya. pontianak: stain press. ibrahim ms. 2009. komunikasi antarbudaya. pontianak: stain pontianak press. edisi revisi dari buku problematika komunikasi antarbudaya, cet.2. ibrahim ms. 2010. hidup & komunikasi. pontianak: stain pontianak press. ioanes rakhmat. 2009. tiga model otoritas dan relasi sosial dalam gereja perdana. blogspot. com…/tiga model otoritas dan relasi sosial, diakses 10 ogos 2009. iqbal jayadi. 2004. kekerasan etnik dan perdamaian etnik: dinamika relasi sosial antara dayak, melayu, china dan madura di kalimantan barat. www.preventconfl ict.org/portal/main/issuedetail.php? akses, 10 agustus 2009. rizka ar, 2009. pengembangan potensi etnik untuk pembangunan di indonesia. http://rizkaarr.wordpress.com/2009/06/08 akses, 15/12/2009. tamagola, tamrin amal. 2006. anatomi konfl ik komunal di indonesia: kasus maluku, poso dan kalimantan, dalam revitalisasi kearifan lokal, editor alpha amirrachman, jakarta, icip dan european commission. bahagia dalam relasi sosial; diakses tanggal 10 agustus 2009. www.keluargabahagia.com. [ 108 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 77 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 the development of islam in the kubu kingdom (1768 – 1944) erwin mahrus pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract th e origin of the kubu kingdom was previously marked with the establishment of a village at the junction of three rivers and the construction of a fort in 1768. in other words, kubu was a checkpoint to secure the waters from pirate attacks (djunaidy, 2001). th e new village was offi cially named “kubu” in 1775 (yosep, 1995). later on, it became a kingdom because of the massive migration into the new territory. th ey embraced islam and made it an islamic kingdom in west borneo. th e territory of kubu kingdom was very limited merely to include padang tikar, terentang, kubu, and teluk pekadai. originally this area was empty. it means that the kubu kingdom initially did not consist of densely populated villages. as a new region, it is thought that the establishment of this kingdom coincided with the advent of islam brought by syarif idrus alaydrus. th us, there have been long dynamics of islamization in this kingdom, and reached its peak when syarif abbas was in power. during his reign, the institution of the muft i was created and a number of religious works were written. th is paper looks at the process of early entry and development of islam in the kubu kingdom, its religious scholars and their works as well as its religious institutions that once existed in the kingdom. keywords: islam, kubu kingdom, religious works and religious institutions introduction: the process of entry and spread of islam in the kubu kingdom th e process of islamization that took place in the kubu kingdom can be explain using the following theories: fi rst, the arrival. second, the spread. th ird, its institutionalization. at this stage of the arrival of islam in this region was in conjunction with the opening of the village of olak-olak kubu and continued to the terentang river by syarif idrus (see syarif abdullah, 1937). syarif idrus indeed established a village at the junction of three rivers, but he still lived in the region of dabung. islam was present in this region but not yet spread intensively. in addition, the activities of piracy carried out by pirates (lanun) made syarif idrus pay more attention to eff orts in maintaining the security of the waters of this region. th e spread was eff ective when this village was inhabited by many residents and offi cially became kubu village in 1775. syarif. idrus was a muballigh (preacher) [ 78 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 played an important role in the spread of islam (see manuscript of the genealogy of muballigh in indonesia, tt.). aft er a fi ve-year process of the spread of islam, about 1780, islam began to enter the stage of institutionalization marked by the establishment of the kubu kingdom and the ascension of the syarif idrus alaydrus as the fi rst king with the title of tuan besar raja kubu (lord of the king of kubu. with the establishment of the kingdom, the position of islam was increasingly well-established and the number of believers had increased. here goes the theory put forward by ibnu khaldun, al-nas ‘ala din al-malik that people follow the religion of their king (see ibn khaldun, 1967) to support the activities of islamization, a surau (smaller mosque) was built which now sits next to the cemetery complex of syarif idrus. based on its functions, in addition to serving as a place of worship, the surau also became the center of islamic learning. th ere is no information that mentions the names of scholars who taught the religion of islam when syarif idrus was in power. however, the name of one of his ministers, sheikh ahmad fallugah (see syarif saleh, tt.) might have been a cleric who assisted tuan besar raja kubu in handling the islamic religious aff airs in the kingdom. th e fact that ahmad fallugah was an ulama (islamic cleric) can be traced for example from the title ‘sheikh’ in front of his name. th e institutionalization of islam reached its peak during syarif abbas alaydrus’ reign (1900-1911) which was marked by the creation of the institution of the muft i (a scholar with the authority to issue legal opinions, or fatwa, on islamic law) and appointed ismail mundu as his muft i in 1907. th e existence of this institution opened the opportunities for the development of islam in the kingdom as it will appear in the next discussion. islam became the religion of the kingdom and the rest of the policy should be based on the teachings of islam. based on a variety of historical data successfully collected, it can be classifi ed that there are various ways of the islamization in the kubu kingdom. th e classifi cation made was based more on criteria of activities and forum, or tools and media used in the activity of islamization. th e classifi cation is not absolute, meaning that a preacher could have used more than one way of islamization. several methods used in the process of islamization are among others: (1) preaching by muslim immigrants (2) education (3) writing and translating books, (4) using the mass media. 1. da’wah through muslim immigrants th e da’wah (preaching of islam) here was intended as one of the activities to [ 79 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 spread knowledge of islamic teachings conducted by the muslim immigrants, especially those from the middle east. in fact, in the past, the arrival of these immigrants was related to trade activities, but oft en they also simultaneously became a da’i (a preacher) who was instrumental in the spread of islam. in many cases, a number of middle eastern immigrants specifi cally came to the indonesia for a mission of da’wah. one of the muslim immigrants instrumental in the process of islamization in the kubu kingdom is syarif idrus alaydrus, tuan besar raja kubu. he was born on the night of th ursday 17 ramadan 1144 (islamic calendar) (1732 ad) in tarim. he left his hometown and before leaving he performed istikharah prayer to god almighty. he visited many countries on his way until it was reported that he cruised along terentang river and then established a kingdom there. 2. educational method th e educational method included all educational activities, whether formal or informal, used as a means to spread the teachings of islam. informal education activities were usually in the form of knowledge transfer activities between teacher and students in an informal, unplanned and unsystematic atmosphere. th e formal educational activities were usually in the form of learning activities in a planned and systematic, offi cial atmosphere. th e establishment of madrasah (islamic school) during the reign of syarif saleh was an example of formal islamization eff orts. haji syarif abdullah (locals usually called him syarif abdullah haji) played an important role in an attempt to set up islamic education especially in kubu territory. meanwhile, pengajian (qur’an exegesis) held by ismail mundu in teluk pakedai, kuala karang and pontianak was among the informal islamization eff orts. 3. book writing and translation method th e activities of book writing and translation were the most common in transmitting islamic teachings as the way islam was spread in the middle east and europe. regarding the entry of books written in arabic into the kubu kingdom, it appears to be through a variety of channels. centuries ago, which might still go on to this day, pilgrims from the regions of the present day indonesia in saudi arabia oft en brought home books from the middle east. some of the books they brought with them were later used for teaching. th ese books were mostly written by classical sunni scholars. th ere are reports that ismail mundu had a collection of books that came from [ 80 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 mecca. th e collections are stored at his home in teluk pakedai. unfortunately these collections are not well maintained and thus almost the entire manuscripts and books were heavily damaged. some were eaten by termites and the remaining portion is not readable. th ese books served as references when writing papers or books that were later printed by the ahmadiyah, singapore and drukkerij phin min, pontianak. it is said that when towards the end of his life, ismail suggested that his books be handed over to the islamic court in pontianak, so that they can be read and studied. if these books could not be examined, then he would suggest that they be sent to mecca where there are many students who can read them. in addition to the pilgrims, religious books also came through a number of publishers such as drukkerij phin min pontianak who knowingly sold and spread the religious books especially those written by ismail mundu. although the activities of the translating arabic language books have started since the 16th century and continues to the present day, in those days these books were in the form of manuscripts circulated only among limited people. reproduction of the manuscripts was still done by manual copying. th is is understandable as at the time the printing technology had yet to develop in indonesia. it was in the 19th century that some translation texts were published, by printing them in foreign countries, such as singapore and pulau penang. translation of works by ismail mundu, such as jadual nikah and so on were among the translation manuscript that is “touched” by the printing machine. th e publication of religious books in arabic-malay language actually also began to fl ourish in the early 20th century. th e author fi nds many of the manuscripts were published, but it was not done in mass publication because the number of publishers was limited. in addition, the economy at the time was still bad and it also had an eff ect on the purchasing power of the community. 4. th e mass media in addition, islamization was also propagated through the mass media such as magazines, journals, and newspapers. in pontianak for example a magazine called cahaya timur (eastern light) was published in 1930s. although the coverage was not specifi cally on religious issues, many articles provided people with enlightenment. th e use of print media such as magazines, journals, and newspapers had somehow shift ed the traditional role of the ulama in the formation of islamic discourse in indonesia, and this cannot be separated from the trend of reform ideas based in cairo at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. some of the communities of jawi in mecca became interested in the reform of [ 81 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 islam in egypt. at the beginning of the 20th century, the magazine al-imam in singapore (1906-1908) and al-munir in padang (1911-1916) was published as a funnel for the reform movement in southeast asia. th erefore, the infl uence of cairo (through al-manar journal) was very strong particularly on the alimam journal. th is can be seen in the structure of its editorials which was written by the cairo alumni, as well as the substance of the pattern (abdul munip, 2010: 145). later on, the process of islamization took place peacefully either through marriage, art and literature, mysticism, and mix between the local customs and beliefs with the teachings of islam. ulama and religious works th roughout the search, perhaps ismail mundu was the only prominent ulama with the most powerful infl uence in the kubu kingdom. th is cleric came from south sulawesi. he was born in 1287 h (1870 ad) from the marriage of a qadiriyah tarekat (islamic religious order) teacher with a princess named zahra (wak sora) originating from the region of sungai kakap, kubu raya. his father was daeng abdul karim. his lineage shows that he was descended from one of the nobilities of a kingdom in south sulawesi (baidillah, 2008: 7). during his youth, approximately at 7 years of age, he was student of his own uncle named haji muhammad ibn haji ali. th anks to his intelligence, it was reported he was able to memorize the holy quran in seven months. later on, his father sent ismail mundu to learn from one of the great scholars in his time named haji abdullah ibn salam who was popularly known as by the name abdullah bilawa (baidillah, 2008: 8). th is is where young mundu ismail acquired the basics of religious studies. by the age of 20, ismail mundu performed pilgrimage and studied with arab and malay scholars in the holy land. among his teachers was sheik abdullah al-zawawi, a muft i in mecca. in addition, he also learnt from two teachers i.e. umar sumbawa and makabro, also known as puang lompo. from puang lompo, ismail mundu studied books containing the islamic religious studies (baidillah, 2008: 8). upon completion of his studies, ismail mundu returned home circa 1904 ad/132 h, and lived in the sub-district of teluk pakedai. th is is where he practiced what he learnt from his teachers. th e eff orts made by ismail mundu worked to straighten and improve people’s religious understanding as can be seen in his works. th en, three years aft er that, precisely in 1907 ismail mundu won the trust of the kubu kingdom to become a muft i (see baidillah, 2008: 13). seen from the year of his appointment, ismail mundu was appointed muft i during the reign of syarif abbas (ruled from 1900 to 1911), the sixth king of kubu. aft er kubu kingdom no longer [ 82 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 existed and it became part of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia in 1951, the fi rst kubu wedana (district head) whose name was gusti jalma held an election to occupy the offi ce of judge. several scholars appeared to be prospective candidates among others were haji ismail mundu, haji abdul syukur badri (h mukhlis) and habib husin al-habsy. aft er an inquiry by observing a few terms as a judge, it was decided that haji ismail mundu as the person who deserved to be the judge of the supreme court of kubu. with this appointment, ismail mundu was responsible for a wide range of religious issues in the territory of the kubu kingdom. in addition to teaching his students, ismail mundu also wrote books. even some of his works were written while he was in the holy land of mecca. ismail mundu also wrote sermons to be read by a khatib (person who delivers a sermon) on every friday and on the holy days of islam. during his time in teluk pakedai, he was visited by a number of clerics. for example, in the 1930s, ismail mundu got visits from medina clerics namely sayyid nasir and sayyid abdul sattar. th ey were imams (person who leads prayers) of the mosque in medina who were once ismail mundu’s students. not long aft er that, ismail mundu was visited by three great scholars sayid hasan japri, a muft i of hadral maut (hadrami); sayid alwi, yemen cleric; and ahmad jablawi, a cleric in a city of egypt. in 1937 ismail mundu set off to the holy land the third time with the family. with his departure, the offi ce of the muft i was submitted to haji hasan bin haji muhammad who was born in teluk pakedai. during his time in mecca, ismail mundu briefl y taught at the haram mosque next to safa and founded an association named jami ‘ al-tanasuh. eleven years later, in 1948, ismail mundu returned home (baidillah, 2008: 14). considering a relatively long time being in the holy land and having an association with a large number of members and students, ismail mundu had played an important role in reforming in the network of scholars in west borneo, even in the malay world. a number of his letters prove that he had correspondence with a number of scholars in the malay and islamic world. first, a letter of recognition of the extent of ismail mundu’s knowledge presented by alwi bin tahir bin abdullah al-haddad alwi as the muft i of the kingdom of johor malaysia on 7 rabiul awal 1358 h. second, a letter of commendation over the ismail mundu’s accuracy in writing books sent by abbas bin muhammad taha, head of the qadi-qadi (qadi qudat offi cial) of singapore on 7 rabiul awal 1358 h. th ird, a letter sent by muhammad al-zawawi from mecca dated 15 safar 1340 h. th e tradition of giving diplomas to students was one of the eff orts related [ 83 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 to the transmission of knowledge, which not only happened in the middle east but also in indonesia, including in the kubu kingdom. in one of the manuscripts, it is described that ismail mundu gave diplomas only to his students who were qualifi ed to continue his teachings. aft er a careful search, there are more than 29 works written ismail mundu. his works were largely the original texts in the form of manuscripts and some of them were printed, especially by al-matba’ah al-ahmadiyah singapore. th e reviews of his books will be described as follows. 1. a collection of stories of isra ‘ mi’raj. to facilitate the understanding and to make the lessons interesting, ismail mundu divided the story of isra ‘ mi’raj (ascension of prophet muhammad) into several parts (juzu’). th ere are 16 (sixteen) juz of stories that explain the stages of isra mi’raj. his works are described briefl y as follows: th e fi rst juzu’. in this fi rst manuscript, mundu describes the identity of the author and the purpose of this little manuscript writing. “th e story of sahibu al-taji fi alisra’wa al-mi’raj translated by al-‘alim al-fadil syekh ismail bin abdul karim al-bugisi al-puntiani is divided into sixteen juzu’ so kids who want to read it on the eve of the glorious ascension.” mundu also explains about the time and the event of isra ‘ mi’raj, which happened with the spirit and the body at once. th e second juzu’. in this part, the prophet traveled by riding a buraq, a whitecolored animal larger than a mule  and smaller than a donkey . upon arriving at a village, the prophet performed two raka’ah (unit) of prayer. th e third juzu’. th e prophet is said to continue the journey and had to stop several times one of which was at the hill of tursina, the place where moses received the revelation. th en he performed prayer in the place where prophet isa ibn maryam was born. it was narrated about people sowing the seeds and later on that same day reaping the results. in the next part, the prophet smelt fragrance and questioned where it was coming from. th en gabriel explained that the source of the fragrance was siti masyitah, the girl who combed the hair of the pharaoh’s daughter. th e sixth juzu’. th is section deals with the prophet entering the baitul maqdis mosque performed tahiyyat al-masjid prayer. th en came the angels who fi lled up the mosque. th e prophet was asked to become the imam, and performed two raka’ah of prayer with them. later, the prophet was off ered by gabriel two or three diff erent kinds of drinks. th e prophet was asked to select one of the drinks. th e seventh juzu’. th is section describes the stairs in the event of ascension and levels of heaven that the prophet ascended through.th e eighth juzu’. th is part tells about prophet muhammad meeting prophet adam. th ere [ 84 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 are two doors to the right and the left of adam. when he looks at the right side, he is happy because his descendants are in heaven, and when he looks at the left he weeps because his descendants are in hell. th en the prophet ascended to the second heaven and met prophet jesus and yahya. th en continued up into the third heaven and met prophet joseph. th e tenth juzu’. th is section describes prophet muhammad and gabriel ascending to the seventh heaven. here the prophet met prophet abraham who was sitting near the door of heaven on a chair made of gold along with a number of people from his own family. th e prophet greeted him. during the meeting, prophet abraham gave advice to prophet muhammad. on the other part there is a dialogue between gabriel and the prophet (peace be upon him) about a group of people having a face like white paper but some were dullfaced. th e twelft h juzu’. in this section the prophet tells a story about seeing a person near arsy, but it was not clear whether it was a prophet or an nngel. th en gabriel explained that the man was a human being that who constantly wet his lips to praise god, his heart was always close to the mosque, and he never said rude words to his parents. at the end of the section it is said that the prophet received command of prayer as many as 50 (fi ft y) times a day. th en the prophet met with abraham, but no dialogue occurred between the two. th e thirteenth juzu’. it is described in this section the prophet (pbuh) met moses. th is is where a dialogue was made between the two. in the next section, the prophet fi nally got the command of prayer as many as 5 (fi ve) times. but moses continued to suggest that the prophet (pbuh) go up to god in order to reduce the number of salat. th e fourteenth juzu’. in this part, the prophet descended onto the earth. on the way home, he said to gabriel that everyone prayed for him and smiled at him except one. th en gabriel replied that it was the angel of malik, the guardian of hell. since he was created by god, he had never smiled. th en, by dawn the prophet was already in mecca among his companions. th e next section mentions that a lot of people don’t believe the news delivered the prophet. th is section describes the diff erence of opinion between the faithful and among the quraish in response to the event of isra ‘ mi’raj. th e pagan quraysh thought that the prophet had told a big lie. some of the questions were asked to attack the prophet such as characteristics and number of columns of bait almaqdis. but these questions could be answered by the prophet precisely and satisfactorily. however, doubt persists. in the middle of the dialog, abu bakr fl atly stated that what was delivered by the prophet is a truth. th e sixteenth khatimah mi’raj: mi’raj juzu’. at the beginning of this section, ismail mundu [ 85 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 mentions the virtue of commemorating the birthday of the prophet. in the closing section, mundu reiterated the importance of reading the story of the mawlid of the prophet, peace be upon him. “i expect all that are present in this council to celebrate the honor of our prophet by reading the mawlid everywhere ... hopefully allah the most high will bestow upon us great rewards … and we all will get safaat at the last judgment”. 2. collection of sermons th e next works of ismail mundu is a collection of sermons that he arranged by interests and under certain conditions. th e number reached 14. it is written in arabic, but accompanied by the translation of the malay language. th e following is a brief overview of his sermon manuscripts. sermon of the month of muharram. in this manuscript, ismail mundu narrated the events of karbala in which sayyidina husien ibn ali ibn abi talib was killed. other parts also contain advice for fasting in the month of muharram. sermon of the month of safar. ismail mundu wrote about the importance of remembering death and staying away from the greedy actions. in the next section, he wrote down the events of the death of the prophet muhammad and the compassion enveloping the departure of the best being in the universe. sermon of the month of jumadil awal. in the early part of this manuscript, it is written: “th is is the sermon of the month of jumadil awal, and it may also be given in other months.” th is manuscript describes the sanctions addressed to people who leave the prayer. sermon of the month of jumadil akhir. at the beginning of the manuscript it is written: “th is is the sermon of the month of jumadil akhir, and it may also be given in other months.” th is sermon contains warnings from ismail mundu about actions that cause people to get into perdition. he cites the hadith that the prophet cried because he predicted that there will come a time when rulers are unjust, traders dishonest, and drinking liquor becomes a habit, cohabitation occurs everywhere, and so forth. th en he comes close with recommendations for immediate repentance. sermon of the month of rajab. th is manuscript contains advice to always keep away from prohibited deeds and fi ll life with good conducts. sermon of the month of dzulqaidah. th is paper describes the importance of remembering the death. every living creature will end with death. and in the day of judgment, every person will be collected at the mahsyar to be brought to account. one will not be allowed to move on a day of judgment before being [ 86 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 asked four things: what his life is spent for, what his physical health is used for, what has he done, and where his wealth comes from and what he spends it for. sermon of the months of hajj. th is manuscript describes the way of performing pilgrimage and the virtue of each mandatory pillar the hajj. it also contains the virtue of those who perform the hajj. at the end of the sermon, mundu recommends that the month of dzulhijjah be fi lled with good deeds. sermon of the hajj holy day. th is sermon talks about the virtue of the city of mecca. sermon for building a new mosque. th e original manuscript title reads “th is sermon shall be read upon completion of a mosque or renovation of a mosque, and there is also a fi nal sermon.” in this sermon mundu talks about the motivation for building a new mosque and a number of deeds that shall be rewarded eternally even though the person has died. sermon of the solar eclipse. th e content of this manuscript discusses the solar eclipse prayer. mundu explains how this eclipse prayer should be performed in detail, ranging from intention to greetings (beginning to end). sermon of the lunar eclipse. in the early part of this manuscript it is written “th is is an initial sermon of the lunar eclipse and there is also a fi nal.” th e entire text of this sermon is in arabic except for a little description in malay. sermon of marriage. th is manuscript contains readings and prayers which must be read in a matrimonial ceremony. sermon for each friday. th is manuscript contains guidelines for conducting friday prayers such as how to praise god and to read salawat upon the prophet (pbuh). 3. zikir tawhidiyah th is booklet was printed at matba’ah al-sayyid ali alaydrus, keramat 38, jakarta. th is type of printing is still in the form of blue print (lithograph). one version of the manuscript obtained by the author has been transliterated to malay by riva’i abbas. with the transliteration, this manuscript expanded its spread not only among ismail mundu’s students but also to the various areas and west kalimantan. th is manuscript achieved wide circulation since it was printed outside of west kalimantan, i.e., batavia (jakarta). 4. kitab mukhtasar al-mannan ‘ala ‘aqidat al-rahman th is 20-page book was printed at matba’ah al-sayyid ali alaydrus keramat 38 jakarta. th is type of printing is still in the form of blue print (lithograph). in general, it contains the teachings about the 20 attributes which are divided [ 87 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 into a number of attributes of god, which are the attributes of obligation, impossibility, probability for god. in the next section, it also outlines the lessons about the nature of the prophet which is divided into the nature of obligation, impossibility and probability. at the end of the book, mundu wrote: “... i have fi nished writing this book, mukhtasar al-mannan ‘ ala ‘ aqidat al-rahman on th ursday the 25th of the month of safar 1375 hijrah of the prophet ...” (p. 20-21) 5. kitab mukhtasar aqaid th e book was completed in teluk pakedai on friday, at 5 p.m., 18 rajab 1351. it contains theological lessons for children to memorize and was printed by annashar & co. of pontianak. th e information about the book is obtained through the writings of datok abang zahry abdullah al-ambawi and m. natsir. 6. faidah istighfar rajab th e original title of the book is: “faidah istighfar rajab translated guru haji ismail muft i of the kubu kingdom, with malay translation accompanying it”. th e book obtained by the research team is in the form of photocopy and printed by drukkerij phin min pontianak 1417-24. th e book consists of 17 pages, without any information on the date of writing, and on the back there is a text that reads: “haji ismail, muft i of the kubu kingdom has presented a diploma to anyone who holds this book”, as well as his photograph attachment. 7. jaduwal al-nikah on the cover of this manuscript, it is written: “this is the book called jaduwal nikah, questions and answers in the malay language compiled and translated by al-haqir haji ismail bin abdul karim, muft i of the kubu kingdom ghafara allah lahu wa liwalidaihi wa li jami’i al-muslimin.” th e book was printed by the printing offi ce and bookstore al-sayyid ali al-salibiyah alaydrus, keramat no. 38 batavia, sentrum telepon 1655, wiltff riden. th is book consists of 32 pages. broadly speaking, this book contains a discussion of the notion of marriage and the law, causes of li’an, requirements for a guardian of marriage, requirements for ijab qabul, name of the female guardian, requirements for the tahkim guardian and iddah for contemporaries. two pages of which contain advertising of the printing of al-sayyid ali alaydrus batavia sentrum. [ 88 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 8. majmu’ al-mirats fi hukmi al-faraid th is manuscript serves as a guide for the division of inheritance especially for beginners. at the beginning of the manuscript, it is written: “th is book called majmu’ al-mirats fi hukm al-faraid, malay translation, with a schedule so as to make it easy to fi gure out the problem for the beginners, a an heirloom and asabah, translated by al-shaykh ismail ibn abdul karim, the muft i of kubu kingdom al-bugisi alpontiani jaza allah ta’ala khairan wa ajra lahu ajran amin tammun. one of the unique religious works is a book written by syarif saleh. its uniqueness lies in its author, who was none other than the eighth king of kubu. th e book is entitled nashihat al-zaman. th e purpose of writing this book is explained on the front page. syarif saleh also wrote another book entitled nashihat al-awlad. however, the information on this book can only be obtained from an arabic-malay manuscript written by syarif saleh himself. religious institutions as the islamic kingdom, kubu had several religious institutions that were part of the kingdom, such as the offi ce of the muft i held by ismail mundu. no description that mentions the structure of the offi ce like that of the kingdom of sambas. sambas explicitly mentions religious offi ces ranging from maharaja imam, imam maharaja, khatib, penghulu, lebai, and modim. each religious offi ce has its respective duties and functions. th e kubu kingdom was diff erent from sambas kingdom in which the offi ce of the muft i included all religious duties and functions in the territory of the kingdom. th is among other things was caused by the smaller number of population of the kubu kingdom as compared to that of sambas. to deal with the religious aff airs, ismail mundu appointed some of his students to become imam and granted them the right to marry. th is designation is usually accompanied by a diploma (interview with haji riva’i, sept 21, 2012) according to sood ja’far (interviewed on sept 27, 2012) marriage certifi cates before japanese occupation were the yellow piece of paper written in arabicmalay issued by the kingdom with the king’s stamp seal. based on historical data, the offi ce of muft i of the kubu kingdom was only assumed by two people, namely ismail mundu and haji hasan. in addition to the offi ce of muft i, the mosque also played an important role in the teaching of islam in the kingdom. although no defi nite data found regarding the construction of the mosque, it was obvious that it had stood there not long aft er the sultan built capital. th is royal mosque site can still be found today. even though it has undergone renovation several times, the [ 89 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 original architecture of the building has not changed. in addition to the royal mosque located in kubu, ismail mundu also built another mosque in teluk pakedai. th e mosque is called the nashrullah mosque or better known as masjid batu (the rock mosque) because the main building materials are rock (concrete). while at that time, most buildings only used material from wood. th e mosque had become a place for ismail mundu to teach his students. in his instruction process, mundu used the following places: to date the nasrullah mosque has undergone three renovations. th e fi rst mosque, when built by ismail mundu, has the following words (ma sya allahu kana, wa man lam yasya’ lam yakun’) at the entrance gate of the mosque. th e renovation was fi nanced by a benefactor named haji doing who lived on gg. camar, pontianak (interview with haji riva’i, oct 10, 2012). th ere is no data with regard to the establishment of the formal education madrasah (islamic school) in this era. in 1936, however, a madrasah, was founded especially when the kubu king syarif saleh was in power. all the lessons were about the qur’an and the arabic language basics. haji syarif abdullah was assigned to teach here. th e madrasa was originally reserved for the children of the offi cials of the kingdom. th anks to the infl uence and the number of pupils, the name syarif abdullah is remembered until the 60 ‘s in kubu. th e sixth king of kubu, syarif saleh, always celebrated his birthday which was on 11th day of dzulhijjah. during he usually held mass marriages that took place in the palace. all costs were paid by the king and the entire citizens of the kingdom starting from kubu, padang tikar, terentang and teluk pakedai were invited. another thing king syarif saleh did was that he always invited a sheik from the middle east every ramadan to teach islam. one of the clerics invited was syekh taisir. during his visit in kubu, the sheik was lodged at the house of son-in-law of the king named syarif yusuf. for ease of communication, a translator was employed (interview with sood ja’far, sept 27, 2012). conclusion th e process of entry and spread of islam in the kubu kingdom is unique. its uniqueness lies in the integration of islam which directly came from the middle east with the locals. th ere are a number of pathways that encourage the entry and development of islam in the kubu kingdom among other things: fi rst, through dawah by muslim immigrants; second, through education. th ird, through writing and translation of books. fourth, through the mass media. [ 90 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 works by islamic religious scholars in the kubu kingdom have contributed to the dynamics of the development of islam in the southern region of west kalimantan. th ere are at least three aspects of infl uence from the inception of the religious works, among others: fi rst, the scientifi c aspect; these works have intensifi ed the spirit of islamic scholarship in the kingdom. second, the social aspect of the religious works has managed to straighten out the practices of islam; and third, the political aspect; it is undeniable that politically religious works have strengthened the position of islam in the region. th ese religious works were not only produced by scholars, but also by the kings of kubu. references h. riva’ai bin h. abbas. 1984. riwayat hidup al-mukarram al-hajj al-fadhil ismail mundu. naskah irwin, graham. 1986. borneo abad kesembilan belas: kajian mengenai persaingan diplomatik. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka kementerian pelajaran malaysia ismail mundu. jadwal al-nikah. percetakan singapura ----------------. jadwal al-nikah. percetakan batavia ----------------. kumpulan khutbah jilid 1-14. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang pertama. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang kedua. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang ketiga. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang keempat. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkelima. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkeenam. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangketujuh. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkedelapan. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkesembilan. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkesepuluh. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yangkesebelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang keduabelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang ketigabelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang keempatbelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang kelimabelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mi’raj juzu’ yang keenambelas. unpublished manuscript ----------------. majmu’ al-mirats fi hukm al-faraidh. unpublished manuscript ----------------. zikir tauhidiyah. unpublished manuscript ----------------. mukhtatasar al-mannan fi ibadat al-rahman. percetakan singapura. [ 91 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 lisyawati nurcahyani. 1997. pendataan sejarah kerajaan kubu. balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional. laporan penelitian mahmud yunus. 1962. sejarah pendidikan islam di indonesia. jakarta: sumber widya pasifi kus ahok, dkk. 1983. sejarah pendidikan daerah kalimantan barat. pontianak: dapartemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan kalimantan barat pasifi kus ahok, dkk. 1992. sejarah revolusi kemerdekaan (1945-1949) daerah kalimantan barat. pontianak: dapartemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan kalimantan barat pijper, g.f., 1984. beberapa studi tentang sejarah islam di indonesia 19001950. diterjemahkan oleh tudjimah. jakarta: ui press sendam xii/ tanjungpura. 1970. sejarah kodam xii/ tanjoengpoera berjoeang. pontianak: sendam xii soedarto, dkk. 1979. sejarah kebangkitan nasional daerah kalimantan barat. jakarta: departemen dan kebudayaan soedarto. 1986. deskripsi peta sejarah peta kalimantan bara. pontianak: balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional soedarto. 1986. peta sejarah peta kalimantan bara. pontianak: balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional sy. djunaidy. 1997. menyingkap sejarah kerajaan kubu. naskah ketikan manual sy. saleh. nasihat al-zaman. batavia: kantor cetak dan toko kitab sayyid ali alaydrus veth. p.j. 1584. borneo’s wester-afdeeling. victor t. king. 1993. th e peoples of borneo. oxford uk dan cambridge usa: blackwell yoseph. 1996. selayang pandang kerajaan kubu. unpublished manuscript [ 92 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 [ 87 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 religious practices and local magic of inland malay society in west kalimantan hermansyah state institute of islamic (iain) pontianak hermansyahii@yahoo.com abstract belief and practice as part of culture which exists in society is the result of a dynamic process that is growing and developing, and affected by both internal and external aspects of the society. all of this is a manifestation of a continuity of the treasures of humanity. derivation and transfer of a culture toward forming a new more complex culture is natural and inevitable. there is no culture and civilization in the world built without relationship and interchange with other cultures and civilizations. it is also the case with the religious life of the rural community in west kalimantan which is the subject of the study in this article. this continuity shows that local communities have a vibrant culture passed down from one generation to the next. the existence of tradition heritage recorded in magic called ilmu in inland islamic societies of west kalimantan shows that their peaceful process of accepting islam since its spread, to a certain extent, accommodates local culture. the dialectic process of islam and local culture serves as an example of religious acceptance in a massive fashion in a region far away from the coastal area. keywords: ilmu, magic, islam, local culture, introduction even though islam does not formally teach magic, it is undeniable that some followers of the religion practice magic. in fact, since the end of the 19th century until the early 20th century, the practice of magic of indonesian islamic communities has attracted the attention of colonial officials and western scientists. a great deal of works about the practice of magic in indonesian islamic societies have been published through journals and books. the most phenomenal book about the magic of indonesian islamic societies, particularly in peninsular malaysia, written by skeat was first published in 1900. over the span of 100 years since the publication of the book, there have been a variety of works about magic in the malay world, in the form of books [ 88 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 and journal articles. these works were written among others by maxwell (1883), winstedt (1920, 1985), hamilton (1926), shaw (1972, 1975), werner (1986) endicott (1991), laderman (1991), hopes (1997), haron david (2001), and hermansyah (2005). this paper specifically addresses the practice of magic in the inland communities of west kalimantan, especially in the area of embau. this paper discusses the relationship between belief and practices of local communities before and after islam. as a compative work for this paper, hasse j. (2011) did a great work of the dynamics of islam and local belief in which some challenges are found especially in the issue of bargaining values between the two. i have found in the community that the practice of magic, as it had already existed, does not necessarily disappear with the coming of islam, and even partially shows syncretism between islam and local magic. embau area this research was carried out in the area of embau which is the name of one of the tributaries of the kapuas river –-the longest in indonesia. from 1800 through 1857, the embau area, an administrative area (see map 2) was under the semitau colonial rule with an administrative name embau. later in 1858, embau was separated from semitau and governed directly by the ruling king of jongkong under dutch colonial rule. according marzoeki (1939) in 1882 jongkong became a landschap ruled by king sulaiman suria negara. in december 1899, abang alam whose royal title was pangeran muda gusti alam succeeded his father as king of jongkong. in 1917 the landschap government of jongkong was abolished and changed to a gouvernementsgebeid; pangeran muda gusti alam received £ 1,000 compensation and ceased to be king. at that time jongkong was made under the rule of embau districtshoofd located in gagak village, while jongkong was only governed by a village elder, raden nata, a former royal minister of jongkong. in 1920 there was a grootkamponghoofd or complexhoofd and raden nata who ruled at that time was successively replaced by gusti hamzah and ade m. dahlan and aris bin kebuk. meanwhile, the entire area of embau was led by a demang until the middle of 1952. by the end of 1952, embau was led by a district assistant officer until 1960 (abdullah 1988). later, embau was divided into two subdistrict administrative areas, i.e.: subdistrict of embau and subdistrict hulu gurung until january 1997. since the creation of new district policy, the embau area was divided into three subdistricts. subdistrict of embau was divided into two subdistricts i.e. [ 89 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 jongkong subdistrict jongkong with jongkong as the capital and batu datu subdistrict -which is a division of the embau subdistrict with menendang as the capital.1 meanwhile the subhulu gurung subdistrict whose capital is nanga tepuai has not changed. map 1. embau area source: hermansyah 2010 : 2 1 the north of the embau region is bordered by batang lupar subdistrict and suhaid subdistrict, the east by bunut hilir and boyan tanjung subdistricts, the south by the silat hulu subdistrict, and the west by the seberuang and selimbau subdistricts. [ 90 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 despite the fact that the embau area or even the kapuas hulu regency as a whole is an inland region often perceived as the areas of wilderness, it can be reached by traditional means of river transport called mutur and tempil (yusriadi, 1999). all regions in kapuas hulu can be accessed through the river, especially the kapuas river and its tributaries. nevertheless, the assumption is not quite wrong as until the end of the 19th century, this area was still a ‘white area on the map “(sellato, 1994). it prompted the dutch colonial government to conduct an expedition to the region by sending doctor a.w. nieuwenhuis2 in 1893. the expedition itself was intended to set up a real territorial control based on the structure of the administration and the military. map 2. embau area from 1800 to 1857 source: cribb 2000 2 see sellato (1994: 13-22) for description of nieuwenhuis and other pioneer colonial officials. [ 91 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the total area of embau is 1386.60 km² or 138,660 ha, which is 4.65% of the total area of kapuas hulu (29,842 km²) covered with plains and hills. the lowlands are mainly situated on the riverside in embau subdistrict, while the batu datu subdistrict and hulu gurung subdistrict generally consist of plateaus and hills. most of the available land has generally been used by residents for rubber and oil palm plantations, rice farms and fields. additionally, in embau subdistrict there is also a lake which is also where upstream tributaries are located. when the dry season comes, this lake is a place to fish for local fishermen. like the other regions of borneo in general, embau has a tropical climate with temperatures ranging between 22.9 ºc and 31.05 ºc with average daytime temperature of 29 ºc. the rainfall rate in this region is quite high i.e. between 4,437.5 mm and 4,727 mm with 313 rainy days a year. the number of rainy days which is quite high accompanied by very heavy rainfall has caused the forests in this area to be quite dense and lush. however, now due to the policy of the forest concession (hph) a few years ago, the forests in the embau region have very much been cleared. meanwhile according to the census report of central agency of statistics of kapuas hulu (bps 2004) at the end of 2003 there were 29,034 people in the area of embau or 15% of the total population of kapuas hulu (193,616 people) made up of 14,727 males (50.72%) and 14,307 females (49.28%). embau’s largest population resides in the region of hulu gurung subdistrict with 10,704 people (36.87%) occupying an area of 432.90 km² with an average of 25 people per kilometer. the population of jongkong subdistrict amounted to 9,803 (33.76%) with a total area of 422.50 km² and with an average spread of population 23 people per kilometer. menwhile, batu datu subistrict residents amounted to 8,527 (29.37%) with a total area of 531.20 km², or an average of 16 people per kilometer. embau’s population density is much lower when compared to the population density of java where every kilometer is inhabited by 779 people or population of the island of sumatra where every kilometer has a population of 93 people. the population density in embau is even far below the average of indonesia, which is 114 people per kilometer (bps 2003: 65). embau’s residents, in terms of ethnic and religious affiliations, are unique, especially when compared with residents of other areas in kapuas hulu. in contrast to the prevailing circumstances of kapuas hulu which reflects a diversity of ethnicity and religion, the entire population of the natives (indigenous people) of embau embraces islam and claim to be ethnic malay.3 3 for example, in subdistricts to the east of embau, i.e. bunut and nanga suruk there are non-muslim community groups called ‘dayak’ suruk and mentebah. on the north side [ 92 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 followers of other religions such as catholicism, protestantism and buddhism are the chinese who came to jongkong approximately one hundred years ago4. for details about the religions in embau, see table 1. table 1. population based on religion religion number of followers percentage islam catholicism protestantism buddhism 28,731 281 12 10 98.96 0.97 0.04 0.03 total 29,034 100 source: adjusted to kapuas hulu ministry of religious affairs office 2005 in general, the researcher simply divided the ethnic inhabitants of this area into two categories, i.e. malay and dayak. however, such ethnic distinction has yet to have a solid foundation since there are groups of people who do not fit in both categories such as pekaki (pengaki), senganan and mmayan. pekaki people, a transitional community, are classified into neither malay, even if they are muslims, nor dayak (see bouman enthoven 1924 and 1903).5 meanwhile, the senganan are an indigenous group who were assimilated with the malay people through trade and then converted to islam.6 the mmayan there is another non-muslim community group, the iban, and on the west there are suhaid and mmayan tribes. compare with hermansyah (2004). 4 in addition to embracing catholicism, protestantism and buddhism they also have houses of worship for confucianism called pekong. they, to this day, settle only in jongkong (embau river estuary) and live in their own group and do not blend in the local community. this kind of pattern placement actually occurs because there are a lot of government regulations that prohibit them from living in places other than subdistrict towns. 5 king (1993) wrote “... there were peoples called the pengaki or pekaki malay, who were islamized dayaks. these too remained in longhouses, and apparently continued to follow some dayak customs, including drinking rice-wine and eating pork. “what was stated by bouman and enthoven approximately 100 years ago is not found by the researcher. they already live like muslims. no more longhouses found in kanung suli lake and unang lake (pengaki village in the west of jongkong). also there were no longer habits of eating pork or drinking rice-wine. 6 this community before converting to islam also did not know the term dayak but nangkut; see sutini ibrahim (1995). the term nangkut is not known in the embau region. meanwhile there are similar opinions that explain the existence of senganan which mention that senganan or also known by the title “bird islam” is a group of local people who no longer eat pork, circumcise and get married by islamic ways and to not drink liquor. they have formally professed to be muslims but have yet to practice islamic teachings. many traditions and rituals before islam are still practiced. the current findings also explain that they are also not familiar with the term dayak. the reference to dayak is not preferred because it gives the [ 93 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 refer to community groups residing in the subdistricts of selimbau and suhaid partly muslim and partly christian. similarly, there is also a phenomenon of masuk melayu (literally meaning to become malay’ or ‘to enter malaydom’) or turun melayu (‘to come down [and become] malay)7 and dayak islam.8 history of islam in embau even though in some demographic maps, it is stated that the people of the inland west kalimantan are non-muslim dayaks, the existence of the malaymuslims in the region has been mentioned since hundreds of years ago. several scientists who argued that the malay-muslim is a tribe that inhabits this region in addition to the dayak are among others van kessel (1850), veth (1854), nieuwenhuis (1994) and bouman (1924). bouman (1924: 173-195), for example, made a quite detailed report about this ethnic group. he stated that there are three ethnic groups in this region, i.e. the malays, dayaks and the foreign asians.9 however, the presence of muslim-malays who first occupied this area is not yet known. king (1993) and sellato (1994) argued that the muslim-malays in west kalimantan originated from dayaks; thus they are the natives also, together with other tribes in kalimantan. veth (1854: 54) reported on embau population. according to him one’s islamic identity means they hold the title impression of a low level of civilization. they are happier to be called orang darat (eople of the land) or the name of the sub-tribes such as iban, mmayan, kantuk, etc. (compare with moh. haitami, et al, 2000). sellato (1994: 40, 43) mentioned senganan as a term referring to a type of dialect of malay and muslim community groups in nanga balang in the upper kapuas river. meanwhile, sellato (2000) in another work stated that senganan are the dayak community groups that have converted to islam in putussibau, the capital of kapuas hulu. 7 this phenomenon is very common to date. diversion of religion in this area also requires one to perform redirection of culture to shift the tribal name they bear. islam has become synonymous with malay and the other way round. this is in line with the findings by sellato (1992): “gradually over time religious conversion would result in a reclassification of the dayak converts as malay; the local malay term for this process is masok melayu (‘to become malay’ or ‘to enter malaydom’) or sometimes turun melayu (‘to come down [and become] malay’.” 8 at the end of 2000, there was a colloquium which discussed the theme of muslim dayak in west kalimantan. the colloquium did not produce scientific agreement about the relationship between religion and ethnicity. previously, an organization called the association of the muslim dayak families had emerged (ikdi). no clear criteria for “muslim dayak”. are they natives who were previously animists or who have embraced other religions and converted to islam or those who were indigenous people born with the religion of islam. this ambiguity was once an important issue in the case of two brothers called amir and amin (pseudonyms), one was an executive member of malay adat and cultural assembly of west kalimantan (mabm-kb) while the other an executive member of the association of muslim dayak (ikdi). 9 “de bevolking der gouvernementslanden in de boven-kapuas, omvattende der onderafdeelingen, semitau en boven-kapoeas, wordt onderscheiden in drie groepen: dajaks, maleijers en vreemde oosterlinge”. [ 94 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 name of the malay. veth (1854: 54) purposefully noted; “daar zij voor eenige jaren den islam hebben aangenomen thans tot de malaijers kunnen gerekend worden.” it means, “a couple of years before, they (residents of sungai embau) had converted to islam, then they should be regarded as the malays.” recognition of the embau as malay ethnic group, either by themselves or by outsiders, the has long been made, around 200 years ago, i.e. when islam came and was embraced by the locals. a manuscript written in the year 1241 h or approximately 1827 ad by pangeran ratu idris which tells about the spread of islam in kapuas hulu, including embau, was carried out by islamic kingdom of sintang, when the kingdom of sintang was ruled by ade rahman a.k.a abang pikai and who was styled sultan abdurrahman muhammad jalaluddin usually referred to as sultan aman who ruled from 1150 to 1200 h (± 17371785 ad). a little different from this manuscript, according to king (1993: 32) the process of islamization in embau began in the early 19th century by pangeran haji mohammad abas and when the kingdom of bunut became strong, and it was abang barita from selimbau who continued this effort. however, both of these sources of data are not much different. perhaps, initial attempts to spread islam were carried out by islamic preachers from sintang to embau region since the end of the 18th century, but it was more intensive when the kingdom of bunut became solid. furthermore, this effort reached its peak when the islamic kingdom of jongkong was founded in the middle of the 19th century (http://www.manic-raven.com, 2005). now, there are 47 embau malay villages in which all the indigenous populations converted to islam. practice of magic in embau in daily language, the embau people use the word ilmu to refer to expertise whose anthropological term is magic. the use of the term ilmu is not only prevalent in the community of embau, but also popular among the people of the indonesian archipelago. people are familiar with the term ngelmu in java for example to refer to similar capability. the prevalence of its use can also be compared with the entries of this word in the dictionary compiled by wilkinson (1959) to refer to roughly the same meaning. the practice of ilmu in the embau community can be traced to the history of the community. traces of pre-islamic beliefs can be recognized in the practice of ilmu of embau people, either in the form of mantra and so on. before embracing islam, the embau people believed in animism. however, other faiths such as hinduism and buddhism can also be traced in the ilmu [ 95 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 of embau people. hindu-buddhist influence is a common phenomenon to be found in rural communities of west kalimantan, although no evidence of this society embracing the religion can be found, except in some areas such as sintang and ketapang. regarding the hindu influence on the practice and belief of the communities in interior of kalimantan is presupposed by some authors to originate through a relationship with java, possibly through the majapahit kingdom, though difficult to prove. with regard to this, king (1993: 112) stated: “various dayak also populations are reputed to have links with java, although the precise of reviews these connections and when they occurred are difficult, to determine. the kedayans of brunei are said, in some popular reports, to have originated from javanese immigration, as have the dayaks of the tayan village area of western borneo. certain elements of dayak cultures more can definitely be connected to indian influence, probably via javanese majapahit.” in addition, king (1993: 110) stated: symbolic representations of supernatural beings were also adopted by some borneo peoples from indianized south-east asian sources, but these appear to have been merged with or superimposed on earlier pagan motifs. for example, the ancient bornean image of serpent or watersnake as a symbol of the underworld seem to have incorporated the hindu-javanese dragon-serpent motif; it is often referred to as naga. the hindu-buddhist influence on people’s faith in kalimantan may have been earlier than the king’s assumption, because since approximately 800 ad the western part of the island had become a transit for traders on their way from india to china. it means that the relationship was 500 years earlier than the rise of hindu majapahit dynasty in java (approximately 1300 ad) (see irwin 1986: 3). meanwhile, bellwood (1995) and collins (1996, 2005c) provided an early age with the discovery of agate beads from india with a bronze drum from the dongson, southeast asia, dated around the 4th century ad. in fact, kutai kingdom which was a hindu kingdom had already been in existence on the island of borneo since the 4th century ad (abdul rahman 1985: 28). even so, the hindu-buddhist influence was not really prominent in the interior of west kalimantan when compared to the influence of religion on society both [ 96 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 malays in peninsular malaysia as reported skeat (1900, 1967), shaw (1975) and winstedt (1985). culture always changes so its nature is usually called dynamics. cultural changes occur continuously. tradition as a part of culture also changes from time to time; or at least culturally adaptable. such changes may originate from within the tradition practitioners or result from the outside influence. usually, the changes within the tradition holders take place rather slowly when compared with influence from the outside.10 in malay society, such changed can be seen in the cosmology of some people who previously believed in the myth and then replaced it with a new cosmology of tradition which is more empirical in nature. however, this situation does not always apply to the entire malay community. the beliefs and practices contained in the ilmu of the embau society reflect a form of long tradition that goes side by side with new elements which suggest a change in addition to the continuity of tradition. it even applies to the individual i.e. the connection of both of these elements, i.e. the old and the new, are continuous and not dichotomous.11 the presence of islam has brought many changes to the people who then chose islam as their religion, including in terms of culture. before islam came, embau people had already been familiar with the tradition of bbamai which is similar to chanting mantras used for ceremony of bedewa-besirang. with the changing times, especially with the improvements in education and strength of islam, this tradition is gone. however ilmu which contains the old belief is still in existence. in other words, most of the old traditions are still existent without significant changes (hermansyah, 2010: 47). a number of ilmu texts suggest the embau people’s relationship with islam in the early stage. they may even have absorbed islamic elements before they accepted islam as their religion. some examples can be presented as evidence to support this assumption. in the text of ilmu na belawan, the practitioner mentions ‘astarpirli’ [forgive my sins]12 followed by tagapirli, whose origin of the word and its meaning is unknown. it suggests a word derived from arabic as if for the sake of the ‘i’ rhyme at the end of the word.13 it may also 10 changes of tradition are in line with changes in other elements of society. for example, see cultural changes described by malinowski (1961). 11 in embau society, ilmu is not only possessed by ordinary community members, but it is also owned by informal leaders such as village heads, adat leaders or imams. 12 zikr is recited as a statement of confession and asking forgiveness to god [astaghfirli or astaghfirullah]. 13 haron (2001: 24) who conducted a study on the malay mantra using the malay literary approach concluded that one of the characteristics of the malay mantra is in the form of a recital text built from words or verses in a poem or rhymed prose. [ 97 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 be the recipient of this ilmu could not capture the original arabic letter. this condition may be compared to the word neraman in the text of ilmu asar which is practiced by tunjung and benuaq dayak who are christian as follows: bismillah neraman arahim sang putih raja manak asal orang putih tak belawan in the name of allah, the merciful and compassionate white lord, king [of] children because of a man’s white origin, he shall not resist (hopes 1997: 112) of course, as hopes responded that the first three words in the text are derived from the verse ‘bismillahirrahmanirrahim’ meaning ‘in the name of allah most gracious, most merciful’, but according to hopes’ informants the three words, i.e. bismillah, neraman, arahim are the names of three prophets.      as an open community --the indigenous people of west kalimantan in the early stages had a contact with the outside culture—it was easy for them to accept foreign culture without considering the religion of the foreigners. for example, a christian taman dayak in west kalimantan refers to the name of their god as ‘alatala’14, accept the role of muslim shamans and practice the ilmu taught by these shamans.15 one can imagine this condition during embau people’s first encounter with islamic proselytizers over 150 years ago. therefore, it is not surprising that the deeds and beliefs contained in ilmu show a link between islamic culture and previous culture, including the hindu-buddhist.    another example of a blend of islamic faith with tradition appears on the alignment of count of four in ilmu sahabat empat16. four sides seem to have a special value in the minds of the malay. this belief illustrates the concept of space of the malay who assume that the nature consists of four sides (endicott 1991:122).17 perhaps it is the concept of space that the embau people make 14 the name of god ‘alatala’ in the taman community which y.c. thambun (1998: 77) considered the real name of the god of the taman people is definitely a loan word of the name ‘allah ta’ala’, god of muslims. the lending process and transition is from ‘allah ta’ala’ to ‘[h] alatala’ --see gonda (1973: 218). the ngaju dayak people call the name of their god mahatala, hatala or lahatala. in this regard wilkens (scharer 1963: 14) wrote,”the first of the arabic expression is allah ta’ala. a corruption of this name is hatalla, lahatalla.” mahatala is a similar corruption. 15 see (bernstein 1997). 16 namely the four companions present at birth, the four companions of the prophet (abu bakr, umar, uthman and ali and four angels (gabriel, michael, israfil, and azrael) in islamic tradition. 17 according to endicott, the peninsular malay believe that all four sides of the world [ 98 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 mpalang bonih18—that rice is grown with four sides of boundary guarded by umar, abu bakr, uthman and ali. this concept should also be compared with sufi belief about wali quthb zaman that became the axis of the universe. in addition both names of the guardian above, the name of ahli kutub zaman is also mentioned in ilmu i.e. ilmu zikir wali (hermansyah, 2010: 129). according to schimmel (1976: 200) in the belief of the sufis and followers of the tariqa, qutb is a guardian who becomes the axis of the universe. this guardian at god’s blessings is supreme among the other guardians.19 likewise, the space of protection for humans recorded in the ilmu sahabat empat (four companions) above --israfil on the left, azrael on the right, michael at the back, and gabriel in front, while muhammad as an umbrella (hermansyah 2010: 129). muhammad’s position is not above or below but as a protector, as if as an axis. in a ritual of planting paddy seeds, it is explained that when sowing the four sides with mpalang bonih, the names abu bakr, umar, uthman and ali are mentioned. when sowing hole in the middle, the name muhammad is mentioned. this concept may also be seen in the alignment of ‘four’ --uri’ (lawi ‘), temuni’, tutup and tuban (ntuban) parallel to umar, abu bakr, uthman and ali and parallel also to israfil, azrael, michael and gabriel in ilmu sahabat empat (four companions). in fact, a theme or an emblem of four images or metaphors arise repeatedly in the data corpus of the embau people’s ilmu (hermansyah, 2010: 129). another example, though islam teaches that man was originally created from soil and the first man was adam20, as recorded in ilmu pakai bepantap and ilmu asal badan manusia, according to a folklore, the embau ancestors were ini’ are guarded by four sheikhs in a circular wall of white iron. this concept, according to endicott, replaces the belief before islam of the gods, i.e. the god shiva’s children who reside in the same position. according to skeat (1967: 100) the names of the sheikh who keep the world’s four sides are abdul kadir, abdul muri, the third child’s name is not mentioned, and the fourth is abdul ali. 18 miniature of huma is made of wood that serves as a starting place for planting rice. 19 the concept is based on tirmizi’s thought (died 932 ad), author of the book khatamul anbiya’ [the seal of saints], who said that qutb or ghauts is an unseen supreme authority. he was surrounded by three nuqaba’ guardians, four autad guardians, seven abrar guardians, forty abdal guardians, three hundred akhyar and four thousand hidden guardians (al-hujwiri 1980, see also schimmel 1976: 200). although tirmizi’s thought did not describe the four sides, yet it gave an impression that the world is guarded from many sides. in shia, qutb is associated with the highest spiritual leader that is a hidden imam and some call him imam mahdi (schimmel 1976: 200). 20 adam’s creation story in the qur’an among others is contained in surah al-hijr verses 28 and 29. [ 99 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 demang nutup.21 ini’ demang nutup was where the tribes descended from22 and was also a supernatural being that guards the nature 23 (hermansyah, 2010: 130). as already indicated, some old traditions and beliefs still exist without any influence of the teachings of islam. there is also a tradition that blends with islamic elements. there is also ilmu that only contains islamic elements. in practice, even though there is a living system, gradually islamic elements show ‘victory’ over tradition. for example in the case of human origins, a lot of ilmu texts have already demonstrated that the theory of creation is heavily influenced by the teachings of islam. however, at the same time, there is also a story of human origin that comes from the tradition i.e. ini’ demang nutup. however, the origin of the story is more directed to the origin of the name of a place, not the origin of man. another example, belief in ghosts also ‘competes’ with belief in the devil, demons and jinn. the encounter between traditional belief and islam is the secret of success of islamic propagation in embau or even in the indonesian archipelago (see lapidus 1991: 468, bellah 2000). the existence of the elements of sufism in ilmu is not so strange because certain sufis do practice specific mantra that can be associated with magic. for example, some followers of the sadziliah tariqa in egypt believe that certain zikr has magic power, such as hizb al-bahr which is used as a protection spell 21 ini’demang nutup’s wife was sunta bonang. ini’demang nutup comes from kayangan in heaven. they both fell to the earth through the ampan hill located on beluan hill –the two hills were previously one. at that time, the top of the hill was just a few inches from the sky. to get down to the top of ampan hill, they use bruru roots (a kind of forest root that creeps on the tree). at one time, the roots were cut by ini’demang nutup because siang burung ghost also used the roots to descend to earth to kill humans. similarly ampan hill, which was previously located on the summit of beluan hill in the south of landau kumpang village (see map 1) is now located on the west of nanga pedian village (see map 1). ampan hill is in its current position because it was kicked by ini’demang nutup’ was angry because his child ate fish obtained from the pond on the hill. 22 the ethnic groups mentioned by the narrator are only the malay, chinese, bugis, taman and tebidah. perhaps, the names of these ethnic groups are so well known by the narrator. all of the ethnic groups mentioned are native to the interior of west kalimantan, except chinese who were immigrants having already in settled in jongkong since approximately 100 years ago in quite a large a number. some of them are married to local people (see hermansyah 2002). 23 according to (leha kp 08/15/2004) ini’demang nutup’ had 20 twenty children, some became humans, and some became puaka guarding specific areas in kapuas hulu. ini’demang nutup and sunta bonang’s children who became humans were the ancestors of various ethnic groups: malays, chinese, bugis, taman and tebidah. according to the informant namely uju (kp 25/06/2004), ini’demang nutup’s children did not all became humans but some became puaka -that is, spirits that resemble certain animals that guard the river. the children who became puaka namely: ripung, guard of tawang river in nanga suhaid; kiyai sendi arak belingang, guard of the river in selimbau; and patah golik pribang tamang in the embau river, jongkong. [ 100 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 when taking a trip (schimmel 1976: 178). likewise, the propagator of islam in indonesia, especially sufis, who are also believed to have the ability to heal by supernatural means that attracted the attention of local people who then became sympathetic to embrace islam. to them, the sufis can answer their pragmatic interests. thus, in the early days of islamic conversion, the embau community and like many other muslims in the archipelago, still lived with a mentality inherited by the local culture and gave birth to islam with syncretic character.24 (see lapidus 1991: 469, 488).25 in this respect, lapidus (1991: 487488) stated: while many muslims adhered to the high tradition defined by ulama and sufi teachings, many, if not most lived in a mental world defined by the heritage of local cultures. for most southeast asian villagers, islam was an element of a more complex social and religious identity and not the exclusive symbol of personal and collective life. this condition is not the same as pictured by winstedt (1982: 71-73) that the influence of islam was very limited and mixed with hindu-buddhist beliefs. in the next stages, islam greatly influenced the lifestyle of the malay in the indonesian archipelago. in fact, as stated by al-attas (1969: 4-7) that the shift of the indonesian malay from the system of hindu-buddhist tradition equals to the shift of the western world’s view that was previously influenced by greek mythology to the world of logic and enlightenment. concluding remarks belief and practice as part of an existing culture in the embau community now is not something that grows and develops in an empty room. all of these manifestations serve as a continuity of the treasures of humanity. derivation and transfer of a culture toward forming a new more complex culture is natural and inevitable. there is no culture and civilization in the world built without relationship and interchange with other cultures and civilizations. 24 in this paper the term refers to the process of syncretic islamization not yet perfect, where the encounter between the teachings of islam and local culture occurs. the term is commonly used by researchers of islam in the archipelago such as geertz (1961), (lapidus (1991) and abdul munir (2000). 25 similarly, the role of islamic religious leaders ‘kiyai’ in java with regard to things that are superstitious such as the determination of the day of marriage (vredenbregt 1990: 62); as well as groups of students who use the verses of the qur’an for the purpose of healing as reported by geertz (1989: 118-119). [ 101 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 this continuity shows that local communities have a vibrant culture passed down from one generation to the next. the existence of tradition heritage in inland islamic societies of west kalimantan shows their peaceful process of accepting islam because islam accommodates local culture. such process of islamization enabled the religion to be accepted in a spectacular manner in the enbau area, a region located 700 kilometers from the coastal area. references abdul munir mulkhan. 2000. neo-sufisme dan pudarnya fundamentalisme di pedesaan. yogyakarta : uii press. abdul rahman haji abdullah. 1985. asia tenggara tradisional. kuala lumpur: teks publishing. attas, syed m. naquib al-. 1969. preliminary statement on general theory of islamization of malay-indonesia archipelago. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. bellah, robert n. 2000. beyond belief: menemukan kembali agama, esei-esei tentang agama di dunia modern. terj. rudy harisyah alam. jakarta: paramadina. bernstein, jay, h. 1997. spirit captured in stone: shamanism and traditional medicine among the taman of borneo. colorado: lynne rienner publisher. bps kalbar. 2005. kalimantan barat. http://www.kalbar.bps.go.id/.15 januari. bps kapuas hulu. 2004. kapuas hulu dalam angka 2003. putussibau:bps cribb, robert. 2000. historical atlas of indonesia. honolulu  : university of hawai ellen, roy. 1993. anger, anxiety, and sorcery: an analysis of some nuaulu case material from seram, eastern indonesia. dlm c.w. watson & roy ellen (pnyt.). understanding witchcraft and sorcery in southeast asia, hlm. 81-97. honolulu: university of hawaii press. endicott, k.m.1991. an analysis of malay magic. singapore: oxford university press. enthoven, j.j.k. 1903. bijdragen tot de geographie van borneo’s wester-afdeeling. jilid 2. leiden: e.j. brill. geertz, c. 1961. the javanese family: a study of kinship and socialization. new york: free press of glencoe. geertz, c. 1989. abangan, santri, priyai dalam masyarakat jawa. jakarta: pustaka jaya. gimlette, j.d. 1971a. malay poisons and charm cures. kuala lumpur: oxford [ 102 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 5 number 1 june 2016 university press. gonda, j. 1973. sanskrit in indonesia. new delhi: international academy of indian culuture. hamilton, a.w. 1926. malay love charms. dlm. journal of the malayan branch of the royal asiatic society. 4 (1): 136-138. haron daud. 2001. mantera melayu: analisis pemikiran. pulau pinang: penerbit universiti sains malaysia. hermansyah. 2002. magi ulu kapuas: kajian atas ilmu masyarakat melayu embau. tesis ma program pascasarjana iain walisongo semarang. hermansyah. 2005. magic pengasihan melayu pedalamanan kalimantan barat. dlm james t. collins & hermansyah (pnyt.). prosiding persidangan antarabangsa the languages and literatures of western borneo: 144 years research, hlm. 147-158. bangi: institut alam dan tamadun melayu, universiti kebangsaan malaysia. hermansyah. 2010. ilmu gaib di kalimantan barat. jakarta: kpg, efeo, stain, kitlv. hopes, michael. 1997. ilmu magic and divination amongst the benuaq and tunjung dayak. jakarta: puspa swara. hujwiri, ali ibn usman al-. 1980. the kashf al-mahjub: the oldest persian treatise on sufism. terj. reynold a. nicholson. lahore: islamic book foundation. j. hasse, 2011. dinamika relasi islam dan adat: pengalaman towani tolotang di sulawesi selatan. unpublished disertation at crcs-ugm. laderman, carol. 1991. taming the wind of desire: psychology, medicine, and aesthetics in malay shamanistic performance. berkeley: university of california press. lapidus, ira m. 1991. a history of islamic societies. cambridge: cambridge university press. malinowski, b. 1961. the dynamics of culture change. new york: yale university press. maxwell, w.e. 1883. shamanism in perak. journal of the straits branch of the royal asiatic society. 12: 222-232. moh. haitami, hermansyah & yusriadi. 2000. islam di pedalaman kalimantan barat: studi kasus atas keberagamaan masyarakat embau. laporan pengkajian pada sekolah tinggi agama islam negeri (stain) pontianak. pals, daniel l. 1996. seven theories of religion. new york: oxford university press. schimmel, annemarie. 1976. mystical dimension of islam. chapel hill: the university of north carolina press. 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[first published 1900] sutini ibrahim. 1996. senganan. makalah seminar sehari dalam rangka festifal istiqlal ii-1995 daerah kalimantan barat. 29 agustus. tylor, e.b. 1974. primitive culture: research into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art and custom. jilid i. new york: gordon press. veth, p.j. 1854. borneo’s wester afdeeling. geografisch, statistisch, historisch. zaltbommel: joh. noman en zoon. vredenbregt, jacob. 1990. bawean dan islam. jakarta: inis. werner, roland. 1986. bomoh poyang: the traditional medicine and communal art of the aborigines of malaysia. kuala lumpur: penerbit universiti malaya. winstedt, r.o 1985. the malay magician being shaman, saiva and sufi. kuala lumpur: oxford university press. winstedt, r.o, 1920. malay charms. dlm. journal of the federation of malay states museum. 9: 129-159. [ 133 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 cakalele dance: religious and social ethics in islamic and environmental education abdullah latuapo institut agama islam negeri (iain) ambon email: abdullahlatuapo@iainambon.ac.id abstract the cakalele dance is widely recognized as a “war dance” deeply rooted in maluku culture. it involves dynamic movements such as jumping, turning, stomping, and sword-slashing, reflecting its historical significance in war strategies. however, cakalele in banda showcases its distinctiveness. from the elaborate costumes to the formation of the dancers, and the specific dance movements, it conveys a profound connection to islamic religiosity and ethical values prevalent within the banda coastal community. this study used a qualitative analysis approach with a phenomenological perspective, focusing on the cakalele dancers and their characteristics, movements, and performances in the traditional village of namasawar, banda naira sub-district. the research reveals that the traditional cakalele dance incorporates essential islamic educational values, including aspects of sharia and ritual worship. in addition, it also emphasizes environmental ethics, promoting harmony between humans and the coastal and sea environment. through this research, it becomes evident that the cakalele dance carries a strong message regarding islamic education, social ethics, and the preservation of the environment. keywords: cakalele, religious and social ethics, islamic eduction, environment introduction historically, cakalele has been a significant tradition of warfare between villages and islands in maluku. according to aveling (1967), this tradition was practiced across various islands in maluku and involved symbolic “headcutting” rituals between rival clans (aveling, 1967:356). the primary purpose was to demonstrate the authority and power of different ethnic groups within the region. consequently, possessing a cakalele troop became a symbol of greatness in warfare for a village or tribe. due to its focus on aggressive and defensive movements, cakalele earned its reputation as a “war dance” or “war training” that exemplified the skills needed for combat. phillip winn (2003), traced the origin of cakalele to a story from 1865 involving an american shellfish collector who witnessed a captivating performance in a bay near [ 134 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 saparua on the island of nusalaut. the tale goes as follows: “… there are a dozen natives, wearing the war costumes of their ancestors. [they are carrying a machete or large sword in the right hand, a narrow shield about four feet long in the left. on their heads were large crowns with feathers, on their shoulders and elbows hung bright red calico. their war dance involves jumping forward and backward, and spinning rapidly” (winn, 2003:53). the story continues with the portrayal of the customary movements intrinsic to the cakalele dance: jumping, advancing, retreating, turning, and stomping their feet. these dynamic movements correspond to the quick beats of a tifa or drum, accentuating the rhythm. the dancers wield their shields and swords aggressively, at times adopting a defensive stance, epitomizing the dance as a symbol of violence and power. these bare-chested troops further embellish their appearance with red headbands, signifying their anger and courage. in banda naira, however, the cakalele dance takes on a distinctive character, varying from the formation of troops (dancers) and their attire to the specific status and roles of each participant, each having unique meanings. in these small islands there are two formations of cakalele dancers: a five-person formation and a nine-person formation, originating from the patalima (or ulilima) adat [customary] group, as noted by des alwi (2007) in his book “history of banda naira.” typically performed in traditional houses, also known as “rumah kampong” [village house] cakalele stands as a significant traditional ritual. this ceremony holds a sacred status, bestowing customs with a profound sense of sanctity. rituals, in essence, construct and uphold myths, religious practices, and social customs, representing religion in action. these rituals may be conducted privately or within a group setting, shaping the participants’ individual positions according to their respective customs and cultural norms. embracing the encompassing nature of rituals, they span various religious ceremonies, including those commemorating birth, death, marriage, and daily routines, signifying an individual’s reverence for the sacred aspects of life, thus necessitating special attention and observance. customary ritual holds symbolic significance in both religion and human culture. symbolic actions during religious ceremonies play a vital role and are indispensable. they represent a means of communication with the divine, allowing individuals to express their devotion and connect with a higher power. moreover, customs also carry prominent symbolism, with traditional ceremonies being passed down from older to younger generations (budiyono 2016). [ 135 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 regarding cultural artifacts such as the cakalele dancer’s attire, it reflects the assimilation of diverse social and cultural influences from both within the archipelago and across the globe. the vibrant display serves as evidence of the island’s historical status as a hub for international trade, attracting visits from various nations in the past. however, the significance of the dance movements extends beyond depicting mere war maneuvers; it also imparts essential teachings on islamic law, social ethics, and the preservation of the coastal environment. employing a phenomenological approach, this paper endeavors to describe the traditions of banda island’s inhabitants while highlighting their close connection to islamic education and their commitment to safeguarding the natural marine ecosystem, inherent to the region’s topography. through an examination of symbols and meanings, the author aims to unveil the profound essence behind the cakalele dance, a cherished tradition of the bandanese. cakalele and the history of banda banda island, situated in the banda sea, is a cluster of small islands in maluku known for its deep-sea trough. this island group boasts a rich and extensive history, once serving as the focal point of the spice trade during the colonial era. its past is marked by contentious encounters involving spain, england, and the netherlands, leaving a lasting impact on the collective memory of the local inhabitants. these memories persist through generations, preserved and commemorated in numerous folk traditions, including the cakalele dance (amsi and muhammad, 2021). in banda naira, two models of the cakalele group exist, historically known as the five and nine alliance groups, which were commonly adhered to by the people of maluku and seram. frank l. cooley identified these major groups with different names: ulisiwa and ulilima in north maluku, patasiwa and patalima in central maluku, and ursiuw and urlim in southeast maluku (cooley, 1987). according to francois valentijn, this grouping originated from the division of territories by the two major kingdoms in north maluku, namely ternate and tidore (valentijn, 1721). however, an oral tradition presents a different narrative, attributing the separation to three brothers residing on mount nunusaku (seram) who became divided after a significant flood. these brothers settled in three distinct regions: the eldest ventured to west seram, giving rise to the group of nine; the second brother settled in east seram, forming the group of five, while the youngest brother inhabited the small islands of southern seram, forming the uliate or uliasa group (alwi, 2005: 7). [ 136 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 in banda naira, traditional villages are categorized into two major groups known as orlima (group of five) and orsia (group of nine). among the seven customary villages in banda, six villages belong to orlima, namely namasawar, ratou, fiat, selamon, waer, and sairun, while only one village belongs to orsiwa, namely lonthoir. des alwi (2005) explains that the separation of these clan groups was prompted by political competition between the king of ternate and the king of sahulau. in the pursuit of power, the orlima group came under the control of ternate’s influence, whereas orsiwa fell under the rule of sahulau (alwi, 2005). according to the oral history of the bandanese traditional elders, each traditional village maintains kinship ties. for instance, ratou village shares brotherly connections with three other siblings: namasawar, sairun, and selamon. on the other hand, fiat village holds brotherly ties with lonthoir. nevertheless, other oral records mention the brotherhoods of these villages under different names, such as maulana kun fayakun (king lewetaka/namasawar), maulana rasudin (king waer), maulana safiuddin (king selamon), maulana sahiudin (king rosengging), and nerr boi rattan (princess/queen of ratou village). in each of these traditional villages, the kings had a set of bodyguards who eventually came to be known as cakalele troops. among the villages following a five-group system, the cakalele troop comprises five individuals. however, the lonthoir traditional village stands out with nine cakalele troops. for the purpose of this paper, the author will focus on reviewing cakalele orlima from the namasawar traditional village in banda naira sub-district. the cakalele ritual in the namasawar custom the namasawar customary village is situated within the nusantara administrative village area in banda sub-district, central maluku regency, maluku province. the namasawar customary petuanan comprises three administrative villages on the island of neira: nusantara village, merdeka village, and rajawali village. namasawar’s customary house, commonly referred to as “rumah kampong,” resides in an archipelago village that follows the group of five (ulilima or patalima). this traditional house serves as the venue for the customary buka kampong procession and cakalele dance, celebrated every few years. the ritual procession preceding the buka kampong usually takes place a week before the event, though sometimes it occurs over a shorter duration, ranging from 2 to 4 days. the following is the expalanation of buka kampong procession. [ 137 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 1. namasawar customary meeting in the initial stage, the namasawar customary village community invited guests from the three administrative villages that belong to the petuanan, namely nusantara village, merdeka village, and rajawali village. they also invited traditional leaders to convene for a meeting to determine the buka kampong ceremony, marking the start of all customary activities. the meeting was scheduled one week ahead. the process of buka kampong entails extensive preparations, including the creation of tempat sirih [betel leaf baskets], crafting gates, and various other tasks. the purpose behind these invitations is to foster collaborative efforts among the customary workers and ensure the success of the event through collective work. 2. task division in the buka kampung process the division of tasks, pre-arranged by the five traditional elders, known as orlima dalam, allocates orlima 1 and 2 with the responsibility of preparing all aspects concerning the cakalele for kamar puang. meanwhile, orlima 3, 4, and 5 handle the equipment and consumption department, yet all members continue to support each other throughout the process. the orlima luar also plays a role in assisting this stage, typically managing equipment and consumption preparations and contributing to the revival of rumah kampong affairs. 3. buka kampung preparation the customary meeting begins at 4:30 (afternoon), signaled by the obligatory sounding of lot-lots (beating the tifa) at the namasawar village house. this marks the time for everyone to gather and initiate all forms of preparation. activities include training and preparing for the cakalele dance, cutting bamboo for gate construction, maruka dance practice for women, and arranging coconut leaves (janur) for the ritual of putar tampa sirih. tampa sirih, a basket-like structure made from woven young coconut leaves (janur), is used to hold flowers, lime, gambier, tobacco, and betel nut during the pilgrimage to the graves of the ancestors of the banda community before the buka puang procession. the materials and tools prepared for the process of preparing the buka kampung event include: (1) young coconut leaves for making tempat sirih [betel leaf basket] and tempat sirih anak, (2) contents of tempat sirih for betel nuts, gambier, tobacco, frankincense, and kapur [slaked lime], (3) bamboo tree trunks and coconut leaves for building gates, (4) tiwal and gong sembilan to invite people to come and chanting the kabata on the night of buka puang, and (5) machete, spears, and salawaku used during the cakalele. [ 138 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 4. putar tampa sirih (making the betel leaf basket) after all forms of preparation have been completed, it proceeds with beating “lot-lot” to call on the community for the putar tampa sirih activity. the negri elders as the leaders of the namasawar custom lead the “putar tampa siri” activity at 07.30-08.00 in the kamar puang [puang room] of the namasawar traditional house. the puang room is a room where various kinds of equipment and traditional objects of the namasawar village are kept. due to its relatively small size, the puang room is only allowed to be entered by less than ten men consisting of “orlima” and people who are considered to have the ability to assist in the process of the putar tampa sirih activity. putar tampa sirih is performed in front of the rumah kampong [village house]. the putar tampa sirih activity begins with making 17 pieces of tampa sirih from coconut leaves, which are similar to “baskets” and tampa sirih anak [smaller betel leaf basket] as many as required for the activity. while the male elders are making the betel leaf baskets, in a different room, the women are busy preparing the contents of the betel leaf baskets. among them, flowers, betel, lime, tobacco, incense and gambier. after the 17 betel leaf baskets have been made, the women are also welcome to enter the puang room to fill the baskets that will be used for pilgrimage the next day. 5. contents of tempat sirih there are two types of tempat sirih [betel leaf basket], namely tampa sirih anak [smaller betel leaf basket] and tampa sirih besar [bigger betel leaf basket] which contains 5 ingredients, namely; gambier, tobacco, incense, lime and betel. meanwhile, the contents of the larger betel leaf basket are: 25 pieces of betel leaves, banana leaves, cigarettes or tobacco rolls, all tied with banana leaves and betel leaves called sirih lele 5 pieces in total, then put back betel leaves called sirih amba 6 pieces in total, then cover them with banana leaves decorated with flowers edit the betel nut which is 11 in number, then close it and put in the cotton, wax and the 5 ingredients that are in the tampa sirih anak. finally, flowers are sprinkled on top of the tampa sirih. 6. taking the betel leaf baskets to the tomb (ziarah) one day after the putar tampa sirih is carried out, people gather at 06.00-07.30 or no later than 08.00 to take the tampa sirih to the tomb (sacred). the number of betel leaves that have been prepared is seventeen. as many as sixteen betel leaves are taken to the tomb (sacred), while there is one betel leaf basket left in the village for the buka puang night event. before leaving, a prayer or tahlil is recited according to islamic teachings. prayers are intended to ask for safety on [ 139 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 the way and returning from pilgrimage and there is no shortage of anything. the men, both young and old from the three administrative counties that were included in the namasawar ritual, numbering approximately 30 people, are ready to take part in the pilgrimage. the group of pilgrims is divided into three groups, namely groups 1 and 2 for the land route, group 3 for the sea route. the first group is led by an orlima whose job is to visit graves in the following places: rumah adat, mesang jadi, gunung manangis, gunung tujuh, batu lanang, parigi laci; this group is called the “mountain of seven”. the second group was led by orlima head and an imam to make pilgrimages to five tombs namely; rumah adat, kebun kelapa, papan berek, boy kerang, kubor gila, kota banda, batu masjid, and parigi laci. the third group is a group led by an orlima using the sea route, namely; rumah adat, gunung api, and parigi laci. after dividing into groups, they converge at a place known as parigi laci, an ancient well situated along the coast at malole beach. they open the lid of the well and collect water while also gathering white sand for the traditional house’s necessities. once all the containers are filled with water and sand, the pilgrimage group proceeds to the dapur pala lautaka for their pilgrimage. subsequently, the entire group boards a pre-arranged boat provided by the sea route team. on the return journey before reaching the traditional house, the boat takes the entourage to their final pilgrimage site, the batur basar pante kasteng. upon arrival at kasteng pante, the sound of “lot-lot” resonates, warmly welcoming the group of pilgrims who have successfully completed their pilgrimage. 7. buka puang the buka puang stage is usually carried out at 12 at night, it cannot be done later or before that hour. in the seconds approaching the buka puang event, the orlima will turn off the lights around the traditional village and sound the lot-lot to signal that the bamboo carriers will come down and enter the village house. the bamboo is cut into 5 pieces, which are used for flagpoles. each bamboo has 13 to 17 segments. the cakalele dancers will hold the bamboos. the bamboo with 17 segments is held by hulubalang, the bamboo with 15 segments is held by kapitan 1 and kapitan 2, while bamboo with 13 segments is owned by “malese”. meanwhile, the bamboo is cleaned or bathed and each tied using a “traditional cloth” at both ends. after all the preparations have been made, at 10 pm the “buka puang” procession begins where the orlima who are on duty in the cakalele puang [ 140 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 room prepare the cutting of coconut in half for the “buka puang” event. the sign that the buka puang has started is when the coconut is cut in half. then from the cakalele puang room, the bell rang 3 times indicating that the preparations in the puang room has been completed. next, the sound of lot-lot from outside will be heard and the process of installing bamboo (flag poles), erecting gates, installing the naga namasawar symbol, flag cloth, coconut leaves on each house pole, tiwal and gong will begin, accompanied by scattering sand on the ground in front of the village house must be completed quickly. then, cakalele dance performances and maruka dances are staged. 8. cakalele namasawar dance the cakalele dance of the namasawar customary village consists of five dancers, namely: 2 kapitan, 1 hulubalang, and 2 malesi. the cakalele dancers usually wear make-up like a woman, namely face powder and lip coloring; the red color on the lips is not from lipstick, but from the sirih lele which consists of betel leaves, areca nut, and lime rolled in betel leaves and eaten or chewed for lip coloring. in the cakalele dance, different outfits are worn to distinguish between the kapitan, malesi, and hulubalang, whose differences can be seen from the color of the clothes and accessories used in war. captain’s outfit is for the commander who wears a green shirt, yellow pants, red sash, red belt, holds two white handkerchiefs in both hands, and as a decoration the captain uses a capsete decorated with a bird of paradise on top. one fruit edit, one fruit machete and salawaku (shield). hulubalang outfit is for the commander’s bodyguard, wearing red clothes, yellow pants, orange sash, and orange belt, holding two white handkerchiefs in his hand, decorated with a jester or crown on the left side of which there is a lusi bird, one my salawaku and one machete. malesi outfit is for the adjutant of the commander, wearing yellow clothes, red calana, yellow sash, and green belt, in his hands he wears two white handkerchiefs, the head is decorated with a jester or crown and on the left is decorated with a bird of paradise, a spear, and one machete. the musical instruments used for the cakalele dance are tiwal, gander and nine gongs, but during rehearsal the musical instruments used are tiwal, and gander. in the cakalele kampung ratu dance, the types of movements that are often performed are only five types of movements. according to the parents, there used to be many movements in the cakalele dance, but what was only taught were five movements: flying movements, carrying movements, jumpot movements, ordinary carrying movements. there are also two movements that are prohibited in the cakalele dance if the movement being perfomed [ 141 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 at that time coincides with a relative who is also performing buka kampung, namely the slep tumbak movement, the jumping movement similar to that of a bird. the attribute on the cakalele bamboo pole is called “patola cloth”, which is tied in five folds. the distance between the cakalele pole and the other pole is 3 adult steps. 9. maruka dance the maruka dance is one of the stages in the traditional buka kampong ritual. maruka is the personification of the queen lewetaka from the “kingdom of namasawar”. maruka is surrounded by 5 “cakalele commanders” who dance together the night after buka puang. the maruka dance is performed during “natu” (people who sing kabata/traditional songs). when natu chants the kabata accompanied by the sound of tiwal and the nine gongs with kabata, the queen will come out of the rumah kampong followed by 5 cakalele dancers that perform in front of the rumah kampung, then kapitan 1 enters to call 5 “mai-mai” (ladies-in-waiting) to come out and dance with queen maruka along with 5 cakalele dancers. religious ethic and islamic education the cakalele banda dance and its attributes embody profound islamic teachings and educational values. this phenomenon illustrates the characteristics of indonesian islamic traditions, formed by the acculturation of islamic values with people’s customs and the surrounding natural environment (rizal, 2012). according to azyumardi azra (2000), islamic education values conveyed through tradition emphasize three vital aspects. firstly, it highlights the pursuit of knowledge, mastery, and growth grounded in worship to god. secondly, it recognizes and nurtures human potential and abilities, fostering personal development. lastly, it underscores the practice of knowledge with a sense of responsibility towards god almighty and humanity. this phenomenon demonstrates that islam in indonesia, particularly in the maluku islands, holds not only artistic appeal but also practical ease, as it seamlessly integrates with the beliefs and lifestyle of the island’s inhabitants. this creates a cultural model that, as anakota and andries (2021) note, flourishes and evolves among the maluku people, reflecting their unique values and diverse characteristics. these aspects are evident in the traditions and symbols of the people of banda island. the patola cloth tied to the cakalele pole symbolizes the five daily prayers and the victory of religion and custom over the invaders (infidels). that is why the [ 142 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 bamboo pole must be held in high esteem, which symbolizes the upholding of religious principles. the cakalele bamboo poles consist of 17 segments. according to community leaders in banda, these 17 segments represent the number of cycles in the five daily prayers, while the 5 segments signify the five daily prayers themselves. this serves as a reminder for the people of banda to consistently engage in prayer as a source of inner strength. meanwhile, the 5 segments of bamboo without leaves symbolize the importance of maintaining the practice of five daily prayers throughout one’s life. in the ratu traditional village’s cakalele dance, there are 3 types of cakalele: ordinary cakalele, cakalele flag poles, and cakalele cabu flag poles. the first cakalele denotes the war dance, the second is called salwir, and the last signifies closure or victory. the dance and attributes of the cakalele banda dancers hold a profound significance in islamic religious education. the cloth tied fivefold to the cakalele bamboo, known as “patola cloth,” symbolizes the five daily prayers. additionally, this cloth represents the triumph of religion and custom over invaders (infidels). this underscores the importance of upholding the bamboo poles, as it signifies the preservation and strengthening of religious principles. the distance between cakalele poles from one pole to another is three steps for an adult size. the white sand placed on the cakalele pole and the traditional house signifies the red carpet symbolically. the bird used on the head of the cakalele personnel represents the glory or rank of a victorious or affluent person. the cakalele personnel jester also has five folds, representing the five daily prayers, akin to the patola cloth. the belts of the cakalele personnel are also counted with five folds. before performing the cakalele dance, a discussion is held by the traditional elders to choose an auspicious day, as the cakalele dance is a war dance that carries significant importance. because this dance is full of religious values, it is understandable that this dance is sacred and magical. some historians call cakalele a “spirit possessed” attraction. caka means ghosts, spirits, and suanggi (similar to a witch’s spirit). lele means angry. cakalele seems to involve a spirit to possess the human soul so that it dares to fight the enemy. however, the spiritual meaning in the cakalele banda dance is not singular; it is subject to various interpretations. according to farid (2020) in his book titled “tana banda,” several banda figures perceive the “spirits” in cakalele banda not as ghost spirits (suanggi) but as the spirits of datuk or individuals who were killed during the colonial period. prior to the performance, the dancers are required to visit specific graves considered sacred, making the cakalele dance an endeavor to “seek” missing bodies or commemorate those killed without a trace. the upright [ 143 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 bamboo poles feature a bunch of red cloth symbolizing wounds from severed body parts, adding to the dance’s significance. consequently, the dancers are forbidden from uttering any words during the performance. therefore, it can be stated that the cakalele banda traditional dance fulfills the values of islamic religiosity including; physical importance values (‘ahdâf aljismiyyah), spiritual values (‘ahdâf al-rûhiyyah), intellectual importance values (‘ahdâf al-’aqliyyah) and social values (‘ahdâf al-ijtimâ’iyyah) (latuapo, 2020). the significance of the body is evident in the dancing procession, which heavily relies on physical strength, aligning with the essence of islamic teachings that prioritize physical health. the traditional elders diligently oversee the health rules of the cakalele dancers, including checking their physical well-being, ensuring they wear clean clothes, and strictly prohibiting drinking before and after the cakalele dance. the spiritual values are intimately connected to islam, serving as the core teachings of faith and obedience to allah and his messenger. the intention (nawaitu, motivation) plays a central role in the cakalele dance procession, with each dancer intending solely for the sake of allah swt while avoiding arrogance and pride. the narrative in the cakalele dance imparts spiritual education, encompassing teachings about the pillars of islam and faith. the ultimate goal of this dance is to foster good character (al-’akhlâq al-karȋmah), shaping individuals who believe and embody the teachings of the quran and the moral guidance of prophet muhammad. intellectual importance involves reasoning to discern god’s signs of power and extract the messages from his verses, instilling faith in god. the wealth of historical content preserved in the cakalele dance and kabata strings (poems, traditional songs) resembles a grand book created by god, encouraging contemplation of the human mind to gain knowledge beneficial to humanity, moving away from the destructive and usurping nature practiced by colonialism in the past. social values manifest in the formation of a wellrounded personality, encompassing spirit, body, and mind. individual identity in cakalele banda reflects a human being living in a diverse, pluralistic society. the formation of a “human banda” encompasses mental exercise (faith), physical exercise (physicality), and intellectual development (intelligence) amid coexisting with a diverse mix of ethnicities, religions, and races in banda naira until the present day. the cakalele dance seems to serve as a platform where religious teachings transform into a series of metaphors and symbols. as defined by turner (1967), “a symbol is anything that is regarded by popular convention as naturally symbolizing or representing or remembering something by having an analogous quality or by association in fact or thought.” in studying the [ 144 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 ritual symbols depicted in the cakalele dance, it becomes essential to explore the reciprocal relationship between these symbols and their meanings for the bandanese, as described by eriksen (2009). from the perspective of islamic education, four vital values emerge, especially spiritual values. social and environmental ethics in addition to the educational values inherent in cakalele, their profound love for the marine environment and natural coasts holds equal significance. fishing not only serves as a primary source of income for many bandanese but also represents an essential part of their cultural identity, entailing boat building and traditional songs that bind their community, environment, and history together. one such traditional song called kabata recounts the ancestral history of banda. furthermore, visiting sacred sites, utilizing bamboo poles, birds, and banda fauna symbols all play a pivotal role in conveying the intrinsic message of adat. these elements collectively encompass the social and environmental ethical values present in the namasawar kabata. 1. respect for the ancestors it seems clear that the bandanese really respect their ancestors which are enshrined in traditional rituals in the form of poetry and songs which they call kabata. some kabata verses read as follows: “gong seng gong seng namasawar gong seng. namasawar sawar liling sawar liling ee” meaning: (greetings and respect for the ancestors of the namasawar customary village. this sentence marks the start of the traditional buka kampung ritual, which is followed by the cakalele traditional dance. this act of reverence is deeply rooted in the respect for the namasawar king’s ancestors who have passed down their traditions and customs to this day. 2. respect for women in addition to the king, the banda poem also shows respect for queen naira, known as queen maruka, which is enshrined in the couplet as follows: “boy e, boy e, aku somba boy e. maruka namasawar aku somba boy e” meaning: we pay our respects. to the reigning queen of namasawar, we pay our respects. [ 145 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 the term “somba” literally means “to worship,” but its significance lies in paying respects not to a deity, but to the queen of namasawar, from whom the lineage of banda’s children and grandchildren originates. an intriguing aspect is that the word “somba” is directed towards the banda woman (mother) and not the king, highlighting the crucial role of women as the sole successors to the banda generation following the voc genocide against banda in 1621. historically, the banda war, which spanned from 1609 to 1621, resulted in the tragic massacre of 14,000 banda inhabitants out of the original 15,000. the aftermath of the genocide left only 1,000 banda residents, all of whom were women, including mothers and daughters (joella & farid, 2020; farid, 2018). women as symbols of honor, dignity and self-esteem of the bandanese are also shown in the following kabata couplet: “rete rete, rete ratu nairan. nairan sunting bunga kambang campaka e” meaning: … that saved queen naira’s honor. there is also an epic about a woman who was expelled from her homeland, but because of her glory, later on she was highly respected and became a queen, as in the story of the following kabat poem: “boi rattan timbang tana timbang apa lelekala. tarusauh kelemuri angka raja ole” meaning: exiled because of honor and dignity. until she arrived in the land of exile, and henceforth a just ruler she became there. the tale of boi ratan in the banda oral tradition recounts the story of a revered woman from banda who faced unjust accusations and was subsequently banished from her homeland. she found herself on a distant and mysterious island (referred to as ambon by some) already ruled by a king. captivated by her beauty and nobility, the king chose to marry her, and together, they became the ancestors of the moluccan people, whose legacy endures to this day. over time, the woman assumed the role of the king’s successor and skillfully governed the islands of maluku with fairness and dignity. 3. respect for the inhabitants of nature in the banda kabata, there are poems that also highly praise a number of animals such as the mention of doves, and local birds that are unique (endemic) to banda. some kabata verses read: [ 146 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 “walange walange marapati walange. marapati lewetaka, lewetaka ee” meaning: lewetaka kingdom, home and gathering place for the doves. these verses show the area of the lewetaka kingdom as the place or home for all doves to gather. images of doves can be found in a number of traditional attributes, such as traditional boats and cakalele dancers. it shows how close and harmonious the customs and fauna are. in addition, there is also mention of the names of local birds, namely the baikole bird, as in the following stanza: “ole-ole burung baikole, tarabang sini sana burung baikole” meaning: being courageous in battle, jumps at the enemy like the baikole bird dancing on the ground. the baikole bird, also known locally as “kipasan kebun” [garden fan] or scientifically willie wagtail, is commonly found in coastal areas, river banks, and lowland regions. the name “baikole” derives from “ass wiggle,” highlighting its distinctive habit of wagging its tail while singing melodiously, especially during sunny mornings or just after rainfall. this bird’s cheerful singing continues throughout the day. its plumage is predominantly black from head to tail, with a white underside, chest, and tail, complemented by a long white stripe above its eyebrows. the baikole bird constructs its nest in the shape of a bowl, measuring 8-10 centimeters in diameter, meticulously woven from grass to provide a secure and sturdy abode. bold and daring, the baikole bird fearlessly hunts for prey and frequently perches on branches and other precarious locations. in the kabata banda, the philosophy of “baikole” signifies beauty intertwined with strength, courage, and solidarity. there is also a type of dragon mentioned in the kabata poem, as shown in the following verse: “nairanbese besetiris tirise. tiriso yo malela ular naga nairan” meaning: respect for the dragon boat, symbol of the ruler of the naira sea. the dragon snake is a symbol of glory and the ruler of the sea. in the namasawar custom, the dragon becomes the main emblem enshrined in the dragon boat (kora-kora) which denotes the ruler of the banda naira sea. 4. respect for the inhabitants of the sea kabata banda also treated the sea area as a territory of power that must be guarded. a number of poems even mention that the rulers of the sea were actually “headquartered” in banda waters, as indicated in the following verse: [ 147 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 “lusi ooo ronda laut yo tantara nairaaan” meaning: the army of the rulers of the sea that surrounds the entire waters of the naira island. this includes marine biota such as sharks which are the life relations of the bandanese. sharks are referred to by the locals as “yo” or “eyo”, as in the following verse: “dua yo kapitang kora-kora lewetaka. siku-sikuruma ke belang urulima e meaning: two yos (warlords) who lead the troops on the battleship of the lewetaka kingdom. perhaps, the use of the name shark as “commander” is to show the greatness of the two commanders (illustrated in the cakalele and striped/dragon boat personnel) who led the battle troops on the battleship of the lewetaka kingdom. even the rocks on the coast are also mentioned in the kabata stanza as follows: “batu kapasete batu gong gai e” meaning: these are the kapala rocks of the people who witnessed the might of the namasawar commanders the rocks on the coast are an attempt to show how important the relationship between humans, coastal nature including rock, sand (in the cakalele ritual one has to sprinkle sand on the ground where they dance), fish and the sea have become one in the harmony of the life of the bandanese. conclusion the cakalele dance, initially a war dance, holds profound significance for the bandanese, encompassing crucial values. although it no longer serves as a war dance, the cakalele has evolved into a welcoming dance that embodies strong islamic educational values. this captivating dance is frequently performed at various cultural events, where the queen’s signature attire symbolizes a woman adorned in bright clothes, lipstick, eye shadow makeup, and an umbrella to shield herself from the sun. in the context of islamic education, the cakalele dance imparts essential values that are highly relevant for the present bandanese generation. it serves as a physical, spiritual, and mental training, promoting harmonious coexistence among diverse ethnicities and religions. this alignment with the main objectives of islamic religious education is very importance. furthermore, the [ 148 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 cakalele dance offers a beautiful expression of the bandanese people’s love for the marine environment and its natural coast. engaging in cultural practices such as constructing traditional houses, arranging flowers, and visiting sacred sites accompanied by traditional songs, the bandanese demonstrate their deep connection with the marine, forest, and coastal environments. the traditional song “kabata” not only narrates the ancestral history of banda but also conveys a significant message on the preservation of forests, endemic animals, oceans, fish, as well as sand and rocks along the coast. this study highlights the interplay between islam and community traditions, leading to cultural symbols rich in religious values and reverence for the environment, which forms the natural cosmology of society. however, it is essential to acknowledge that this study does not dive further into the practical implementation of islamic values or the manifestation of love for the marine environment in daily life. further research is needed to unveil these aspects in a more comprehensive and profound manner. bibliography amsi, n. & rafita, m. (2021). prosesi dan makna tarian cakalelekampung adat ratu (dwiwarna) kecamatan banda naira. in paradigma; jurnal ilmu pendidikan dan humaniora, volume 7. alwi, d. (2005). sejarah maluku: banda naira, ternate, tidore, dan ambon. dian rakyat alwi d. & farid, m. (2007). sejarah banda naira. malang: penerbit pustaka bayan. anakota, e. (2021). false consciousness: the cultural identity construction of cele and batik within moluccan scholars in ambon,” al albab: volume 10 number 1. azra, a. (2000). renaisans islam asia tenggara: sejarah wacana dan kekuasaan, bandung: rosdakarya aveling, h. g. (1967). seventeenth century bandanese society in fact and fiction:’tambera’assessed. bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde, (3de afl), 347-365. budiyono, d., & soelistyari, h. t. (2016). evaluasi kualitas visual lanskap wisata pantai balekambang di desa srigonco kabupaten malang. jurnal lanskap indonesia, 8(2), 81-90. [ 149 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 cooley, f. l. (1987). mimbar dan tahta, hubungan lembaga-lembaga keagamaan dan pemerintahan di maluku tengah. jakarta: pustaka sinar harapan. eriksen. h. t. (2009). small places, large issues an introduction to social and cultural anthroplogy (translated by florisen m yosep. antropologi soaial budaya: sebuah penegantar). yogyakarta: ledalero. farid, m. (2021). tanabanda: esai-esai tentang mitos, sejarah, sosial, budaya banda naira. penerbit prenada media, jakarta -------. (2018). genosida 1621: jejak berdarah jp coen di banda naira. in prosiding-seminar nasional banda naira (pp. 105-113). -------. (2018). fenomenologi: dalam penelitian ilmu sosial. prenada media. overgaard & zahavi. (1996). phenomenological sociology the subjectivity of everyday life. in hviid, jacobsen, m (ed.), 2009. encountering the everyday: an introduction to the sociologies of the unnoticed. palgrave macmilan basingstoke, p.93-115. rizal, n. (2012). kedudukan seni dalam islam. tsaqafa:jurnal kajian seni budaya islam. vol. 1no. 1(juni, 2012). schutz, a. (1967). the phenomenology of the social world. george walsh. northwestern university press. turner, v. (1967). the forest of symols: aspects of ndembu ritual. ithaca and london: corenell. university. valentijn, f. (1856-58). oud en nieuw oost-indiën. ‘s-gravenhage: h.c. susan, h.c. hzoon. three vols. van donkersgoed, j., & farid, m. (2022). belang and kabata banda: the significance of nature in the adat practices in the banda islands. in wacana: journal of the humanities of indonesia, 23(2), 415-450 wilson, t.d. (2002). alfred schutz, phenomenology and research methodology for information behavior research. isic. winn, p. (2005). tanah berkat (blessed land); the source of the local in the banda islands, central maluku. in thomas reuter (ed.), sharing the earth, dividing the land: land and territory in the austronesian world. pp 113133. canberra: anu press watloly, a. (2010). filsafat masyarakat kepulauan. ambon: pascasarjana unpatti. [ 150 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2758 [ 221 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 “islam” in the global village: post-tsunami dialog and negotiation of aceh identity ibnu mujib, irwan abdullah & heru nugroho gadjah mada university abstract this paper highlights the perspective of dialog in the negotiation of aceh identity. if observed, the context of the tsunami followed by the development of aceh is not without impact at all on the acehnese entity, but in fact it has triggered a strong clash especially between local identities and influences of global construction. among the important things offered in this paper is an attempt to reproduce and create “public space” as a productive social capital, that is, a space that is expected to build an atmosphere of openness, egalitarianism, inclusivism of many diverse groups. therefore, in responding to the wider variety of cultural plurality which penetrates through ethnic clusters, religions, political parties, and all forms of interests, it can be managed through the deliberations of dialog. therefore, the “public space” that can serve to discuss, hold dialog, and even negotiate the clash of the acehnese identity forms the modus operandi of the discussion of this article, especially in the context of the development of aceh that is currently taking place. keywords: islam, locality, globality, public space, dialog, negotiation of identity, diversity of islamic groups, the other. introduction islam in the “global village” can be understood as a claim, social fact, or portrait of social practices that is inherent in the sociological perspective of a community, including local islamic order that is encountered with global cultural construction (kurtz, 1995). the depiction of the dynamics of identity in aceh is also an inseparable part of the influence of global culture’s insistence (brubaker, 2004, 49) which is now becoming widespread practices in aceh. the shifting social practices, such as the weakening of bonds, as well as traditional communalism that have long been fractured are also part of the indicator attached to the heart of the development of cultural behaviors in aceh (abdullah, 2005). in fact, the emergence of a new identity that is developed through the practice of primordialism or imposed by the laws of modernity on the latest developments, has come to question the authority of the various agencies and actors involved in the rehabilitation and reconstruction program after the tsunami in aceh. the question then is “how has the aceh local identity [ 222 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 which is under contestation of various agencies been reproduced and become the value of local wisdom in favor of the people of aceh, especially its islamic values that has long been a popular ideology for its people?” aceh as an icon of globalization expansion in the local domain should be referred to as a global village. the influx of global culture should not become “threats” for the development of local culture and knowledge (geertz 1983), but it should be able to define itself in the context of efforts to strengthen the local identity. in fact, confrontational patterns of the encounter between the two identities (“global-local”) are now taking place in a critical fashion (woodward, 1997:84) and appear to be face to face. the basic principles of the conflict of two identities in aceh is not like the clash of civilization (1996) as huntington described when referring to the clashes between islam and the west at the time, but the context of aceh now seems to indicate a different way, that is by looking at the paradigm used. so the clash between sharia islam and sufic islam for example, is a conflict that boils down to two different paradigms: the “substantive islam” and “formalistic islam”. this social fact is considered to be one of the factors that triggered conflict between the two islamic groups. interestingly, the phenomenon has now added a row of a new social practice called “revivalization of islam” in aceh for the last 5 years (aspinal, 2009, 76) in the wake of the 2004 tsunami tragedy, i.e. the return of the islamic movement of sufism which had been the practice of the early generations of muslims in aceh. signs like the rise of the study of sufism and the sufic practices in various corners of the city in aceh have also become an indicator that should be noted in the history and dynamics of islam in aceh (mujib, 2010,8). in addition, such phenomenon also must be seen as part of a social backlash over a new order that does not support the local order based on local wisdom. therefore, various actors and agencies are also responsible for the birth of new social practices that have been evolving in the acehnese community lately. this study attempts to point to some opportunities and models of dialog in the ongoing identity negotiation in aceh, which in reality have been contested by various agencies in aceh in the last 10 years, either through the international ngos, world economic institutions, political interests of various countries enter that spread fast and systematically, or pressure of a global culture that could not be contained. therefore, the facts about the identity contestation have inspired me to map out the other perspective on aceh in a variety of identity contestation, covert conflict between islamic diverse groups, and the emergence of the movement of “islamic revitalization” in aceh that has become one of the icons of social change transition in the post-tsunami aceh. [ 223 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 in this light, this study will begin by showing the islamic group polarization of the motives of the clash to the conflict of identity among islamic groups, followed by mapping a discourse and conflict between islamic groups that are taking place, that brings us to the end of the discussion in which this study will show various opportunities of dialog as the urgency of the growing “public space” for the dialog community (mujib and rumahuru, 2010) in aceh. polarization of islam in aceh: encounter and conflict of “global-local” identities in the literature of islam in aceh, for example, the views of islam in aceh, besides having similarities to other places such as in java, also have typologically similar variants that exist in java. the depiction of the political schools of thought indicated by clifford geertz (1981) in java through three major typologies, namely: santri, abangan, and priyayi was the depiction of the division of social groups through the identity of political schools of thought. such patterns when compared to the context of aceh also have almost the similar typological roots, although the epistemological framework is different. there are groups that base their religious ideology on the lines of priyayi, santri, as well as abangan. the only difference between the religious polarization in aceh and java is that “islam” in aceh has become a popular ideology that has not been equaled by any other ideology (ali, 2006: 10). therefore polarizing the political schools of thought in aceh remain under the umbrella of islam. for instance, geertz referred to it a group of santri (students). in aceh, this is a group that has a base or a strong dayah or boarding schools. the group that was born from the dayah and pesantren (boarding schools) are relatively able to perform worship as other muslims do, such as prayers, fasting, alms and hajj that have been mandatory for adherents of islam since the beginning. the group, that was also born from the ulamas (tengku), also has a strong relationship with islam in the middle east and several boarding schools in java. the practice of that relationship can be seen in school programs or lecture exchange to the middle east. they have to send their santri to java when the students concerned want to continued their studies in egypt. the strong foundation of dayah or traditional pesantren also affects the various principles of life and religious understanding of the society, as well as actions in responding to the reality of difference against “the others”. religious fanaticism occurs at various levels or classes in the community. there are at least two forms of fanaticism indicated by the group. first, religiosity or islamic fanaticism over non-muslims. fanaticism in this form is shown with [ 224 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 a conviction that islam has become the only ideology for the people of aceh. second, sectarian fanaticism or islamic schools of thought in aceh. as we know that the schools of thought in islam generally vary although the source comes from the quran and hadith. however, it needs to be recognized that the fanaticism of each school of thought can be caused by several factors, such as books, descendants, socio-political affiliations, networking, teachers and other factors. it is these factors that determine the attitude of religious groups or the polarization among diverse society. therefore, the difference of schools of thought has also given rise to clashes between groups in aceh. in addition to the religious background with polarization based on the dayah or boarding schools, there are also pluralist groups or commonly referred to as the moderate. these groups are those who have the middle to high educational background, such as those trained by islamic based institutions, like ar-raniry institute of islamic studies, syiah kuala university, and other islamic colleges, as well as those who study outside of aceh particularly in yogyakarta. the islamic thought they got from the dayah, for example, will not only change once they go to college, , but it will also experience the transformation on aspects of the mentality, perspective, and analysis tool to see the reality of difference, diversity and islam in aceh. of course not all the islamic colleges have a moderate point of view, but at least a touch of views about a more democratic, pluralistic and multicultural islam in campus debates has somehow contribute to an understanding over the others for them. as defined by a lecturer and a researcher below: “the plurality of understanding islam in aceh should be viewed as a cultural reality and identity of acehnese that has lived long enough in aceh”. (interview, 2009 with qomarudin, lecturer at iain ar-raniry). “the people of aceh should be aware that aceh is not born from a single ethnic group, but they have a pretty rich ethnic backgrounds, such as the names of acehnese that have arabic, chinese, european and indian origins (interview, 2009 with musri musman, head of the research department, univ. of syiah kuala). in addition to those with islamic college education, moderate groups also appear in some of the local ngos and social institutions, such as the aceh institute, an-nisa’ center, aceh peace resource center (aprc), kontras aceh, kata hati, and demos, and several others from both individual and institutional. keep in mind that level of moderate thought of these groups is not only shown through thoughts on the interpretation of islam, but also on other thoughts related to the attitude and behavior of religiosity, openness toward peace processes, shifting awareness of the acehnese identity, and also on gender and women’s participation in public space and pluralism, where this latter [ 225 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 issue--at the time this research was conducted-is now being discussed in the campus forums, ngos and other social organizations, not to mention the involvement of various international ngos that are also contributing to how moderate islamic movements also currently have a place in some religious groups in aceh despite the relatively limited quantity (mujib, 2009.52). however, it is interesting that this polarization appears in a society that has a strong islamic background like aceh, although such community culture is historically different from that of java with its macro multicultural diversity. aceh, with all the polarization that exists there has shown a social construction that not only can be viewed as the uniqueness of identity, but also the experience of identity that transforms on its elements. hence, debates about transformation on aceh’s identity could be understood as a social polarization that will always have a redefinition of social changes in the society with a set of global culture emerging in aceh. in line with it, examining the islamic roots in aceh, in addition to the demands of history, is also an important part to mark the dynamics islam in aceh and its social changes. nevertheless, sometimes the dialectical relationship between local and global identity cases diverse historical burdens in aceh. what i call the clash of paradigms in managing diversity of islamic groups in aceh is a fact of the limited “public space”. the conflict between the “sufic islam” and “ sharia islam” recently was a small part of the identity conflict that lacks a touch of public space to its full potential, so to the extent that the identification of the diversity of islamic groups has yet to be established neatly and comprehensively. at this point, a society’s social system is experience social dysfunction as a result of social clusters that are growing massively in a limited management of public space. therefore, the uncontrolled growth of islamic groups should be managed by bringing them together into the public space, so as to take advantage of cultural spaces, creating a more open space for inclusiveness as opening the boundaries of exclusivity of the islamic groups is part of managing the group differences. further discussion of the above will be examined in detail in the final part of this study, namely how to manage diversity in various islamic groups in aceh by opening a network between actors and agencies, while exploring opportunities of dialog which can be done as an effort to expand more open public space. prior to the discussion of the latter issue, this section will try to map the discourse of islam in aceh in 3 basic principles: based on the ideology of the religiosity, the orientation of the movement, and the community’s attitudes and lifestyle trends of muslims in aceh. the need to map islam in the local context is to easily identify the islamic groups, the agencies involved, as [ 226 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 well as the methods used, vision and movement, etc. so as to be able to explain publicly how the perspective of dialog will be created. the map of aceh’s islamic discourse in the context of local socio-political history through the complex ideological background of acehnese religiosity at least-on the impact brought about by the transition of the tsunami--can be shown through two typologies in society, where they always generate negotiations that will bring up the ideology of popular integration expressed lately. the two typologies are: first the religiosity based on the ideology of the disciplines and practice of sufism. second, the ideology of the religiosity based on the patterns of “islamic sharia”. therefore, the war against the dutch, indonesia gam conflict, and the tsunami are three essential conditions of the turning point of development and dynamics of religiosity in aceh. first, what i call the sufic islamic ideology; this ideology of religiosity tend to lead to sufism. it was born as a gesture that returns on islam that flourished in the early days in aceh that was inherited by the early generation of scholars in aceh. the leading sufi figure such as hamzah fansuri, nuruddin ar-raniri, and many other important figures have become icons of religiosity in aceh. the description of this sufic islam can we shown in the model of sufism developed by nuruddin arraniri with the rhythm of a tambourine. tambourine is a thriving islamic art passed down widely through generations, but the recitals contained in it are related to the tariqa --a school or order of sufism—(as described by nasir waly, meolaboh), the tambourine is not understood by the society as a creation of sufism, but rather as an ordinary islamic art which has undergone a redefinition in accordance with the times. this is where the branches of sufism developed. slowly but surely in the tradition of sufism has been deep rooted in the cultural religiosity in aceh in the early days. the development of the branches of sufism is not only ritualistic --such as those developed by the tariqa groups-but it is also done through public sermon of sufism in villages. the second model is loosely developed in aceh. in addition, naksabandiyah, tauhidiyah, and nasiriyah tariqa also appeared with a different approach in aceh. one of the names of the sufic groups is “jawiah rumoh aceh” and many groups of this sort in aceh particularly in villages are growing widely. the most powerful base to develop the ideology of religiosity is through traditional boarding schools called dayah aceh. usually, the actors that develop it are scholars who are in non structural lines such as (muna). in addition to the scholars, this kind of religious ideology is also followed by qur’anic recitation groups in villages and also the elites and [ 227 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 customary figures. with regard to the tsunami, groups of islamic sufism are more likely to respond to the tsunami disaster more wisely. it means that as religious people they must view the tsunami as a test that must be accepted. as a form of response, they immediately rose from the tsunami crisis, and also in receiving assistance, both from within and outside the country they accepted without suspicion, even when it came from religious organizations. even in an interview with one of the religious figures in the meolaboh named muslim has (leader of babussalam pesantren and a follower of naksabandiyah tariqa) the following statement was made: “we must not have suspicion about donor agencies; they come to help build aceh. therefore we do not want to be picky. if there is such intention, (christianization) that’s a small part of their mission, yet we also know what is good for us,” he said. in this way, the construction in their areas tends to be faster and easier to run. in addition to the influence caused by the ideological diversity that they believe, such condition is also indicated as a direct result of the basic ethos created by other social practices, such as stronger communality values which they culturally form, so that mutual aspects, the return to traditional values that got loose at the time of the conflict, now have started to return. interestingly based on common commitment between them as both feel the transition of the tsunami reinforced by cultural systems that was previously attached, they can imagine the development process in aceh can be created in a conducive manner. armed with such social capital, at least the conflict created over the interests of individual initiatives, as well as attraction between groups also look quite limited. therefore, the tsunami on the one hand becomes an indicator of a real crisis in a variety of spaces such as social, political, economic, religious, and cultural aspects that require a lengthy process to restore normal conditions. however, interestingly a group affiliated with the religious sector based on sufism or congregations interprets and reformulates the orientation of the tsunami to serve as a media designed to restore islam to its early heritage that is islam of the early scholars. so it can be understood that islam in aceh is basically constructed over the paradigms and mysticism, not formalistic islam or that which is now being attempted to be practiced in the life of a new islamic generation of aceh lately. second, it is the group with a religious ideology of sharia islam. this trend was growing not long after the treaty of helsinki was declared in aceh. as a new religious model in aceh, it should be understood as a narrative of cultural change that happened lately after the tsunami in 2004. in this light, the growing islamic schools in aceh also differ substantially from the model of islam at the [ 228 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 time of the early generations. more political elements dominate the islamic practices rather than as cultural practice that appears naturally in aceh. the groups which are affiliated on such religious pattern or ideology are characterized by metropolitan islam and supported by regional officials, and appear to be affiliated to institutions such as islamic jurisprudence court, enforcement of religious law, etc. in addition, they are also in the line of structural ulama (mui), public and institutional groups, students, and political islamic institutions such as the pks. these groups have a lot of interaction with this model of ideology. the rest are those who give support morally even though not many of them get involved in the implementation of the islamic law. thus the practice of the ideology of islamic law can only be seen from other forms of the enforcement of islamic jurisprudence. some interesting things are concerned with reaction to the 2004 tsunami and a wide response to the widespread global culture emerging in aceh after the tsunami. the emergence of diverse backgrounds from international funds became capital of independent thinking for these groups. the paradigm that is used, among others, is religious or ideological background of the donor agencies that will affect theologically on the victims in aceh such as the emergence of “christianization”. second, the diverse backgrounds of donor agencies will also interfere with the enforcement of islamic law, for instance many acehnese women now participate in international ngos which contributes to widespread practices of free association in meolaboh, especially in banda aceh especially at specific spots such as mobile phone stores where acehnese women can be seen hanging out with male foreigners who are also working as ngo members in aceh as accounted by a religious figure, t faizal ali (chairman of the rabithah taliban of aceh who is also a member of mpu banda aceh). even at coffee shops now, acehnese women also can be seen hanging around late into the night. third, the globalization network came to aceh will be getting stronger. here we can indicate several ideological considerations regarding the influx of global culture in aceh. however, when we try to observe the response to the influx of global culture in the development of important parts of aceh which is now still in progress, several things we can take into account such as the slow process of rehabilitation and reconstruction, the difficulty in enforcing islamic law as a result of diverse institutional attitude toward the religiosity of this group, as well as the limited public space being created. in addition, the institutional orientation of this religiosity frequently deals with the matter of institutional policy direction toward supporting rehabilitation and reconciliation programs. because of the complicated process with regard to the assistance, the development of aceh [ 229 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 is very much hampered. the impact is not merely caused by this attitude of religious ideology, but it has also become a real indicator of a symptomatic response to the rigor of global culture in aceh. so it can be understood that such diversity of formalist attitude in some ways affects the structure of orientation in understanding the disaster response, i.e. putting the tsunami as a position that gave birth to the islamic media and cemented a formalist islamic law. in meolaboh, it is undeniable that the practices of this kind of religious ideology emerged, especially at johan pahlawan sub-district, where besides as city with strong islamic practices, meolaboh has also become one of the areas in aceh that serves as a pilot project for the application of islamic law, as reported by a religious figure, waly nasyir. however, based on the observations of the researcher in this area, the application of islamic law increasingly shows that it is difficult to do, due to the factor of islamic cultural history in aceh which tend to be on the sufism —face to face methodologically with islamic law- meolaboh also has experienced the transition period in a variety of aspects so the management system of islamic law still has its own constraints. therefore, the ideology of this kind of religiosity is valid only at the level of the existing islamic transformation in some specific classes in aceh primarily and by some institutional support from outside aceh that does not describe the context of the history of islam in aceh. opportunity for dialog and negotiation of identity: the urgency of the growing “public space” in aceh although physically conflict between islamic groups in aceh does not emerge significantly in the discussion above, the difference between both islamic groups will result in interpretation, perception, and even the imagination of what is called “the others” in the literature of social science. the perception of a group within the heterogeneous society will result in the boundaries or territorial identity of other groups. therefore, the chance of conflict will be more open when different forms of perception arise to justify other groups, not to mention the fact that gave rise to the claims deliberately reproduced without any popular clarification. so, learning to understand the identity of the other group is an important part to eliminate the negative perception by developing a tradition of dialog between community structures, diversity of culture, or even between different political parties. in aceh various opportunities of dialog can be identified and it needs to be demonstrated, such as the relationship between the state and the ulamas who [ 230 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 should have an important role in reconstructing aceh. however, both do not seem to be notable actors that can bridge the differences between islamic groups, but in fact that position has been replaced by other agencies and actors. so, should the negotiating opportunities in a variety of local policy require many roles in maintaining traditional values and local wisdom in aceh, now even the function of the ulamas as a reference for the acehnese is increasingly fading away. while the state is not able to understand the local world more openly, so the policies created sometimes clash with the spirit of local people. in addition to the state and the ulama, there are many other potentials in aceh can serve as contestation between the actors and the agencies in representing and making room for dialog between different religious groups, such as nongovernment agencies and agents of globalization, cultural spaces such as “coffee shops” in aceh which have become important to be identified as an opportunity for a dynamic public space. what happened in aceh recently, both conflicts caused by economic factors – new forms of political conflict in aceh--, a widespread so-called crisis of culture and identity, as well as other forms of moral crises that weaken the traditional system, in addition to the traditional systems caused by the international mobility that is taking place in aceh after the tsunami which is also an integral part of a social change in aceh or what experts called by the term ‘deterritorialization’ of culture (abdullah, 2006: 136). therefore, the problems encountered in transformation of the people of aceh are a kind of definition of the context which is not formed by a single agent, but by a variety of agencies with different interests. the prevalence of various institutions, ngos, government agencies, both local and international is a real example of agents involved in the various processes of defining the values created. the era of freedom and openness in the post-transition of conflict and the tsunami in aceh is the symbol of a new civilization of the acehnese people, as well as an indicator of a shift in the supra-structure, including the acehnese values that are now being encountered during the crisis. various forms of structure of traditional, religious, customary, values to the subculture of the acehnese are currently undergoing a redefinition or what is often referred to as widespread transformation. freedom is also understood as a post-conflict culture of that sometimes stumbles upon the indigenous values). the tradition of “coffee shops” in aceh for example which not only serve as a medium for communication, but in turn they also could become a social agent of cultural process capable of moving people in aceh, including marking the era of openness and freedom in the region. if we map them out, on the one hand, the communication patterns designed [ 231 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 in the structure of this coffee shop become loose and very central, and the limits of culture seem to melt, various forms of negotiation, conflict resolution, business transactions, and even the consolidation of political parties can be done within the space of this kind of coffee shop culture. it is relatively capable of doing not only in formal spaces but also in an informal framework that would probably be a new asset for the growing portraits of local wisdom that is important to the life of the people of aceh (brubaker, 2004: 67). local wisdom built as a cultural ideology in aceh requires the identity symbols is not only accepted by the people of aceh with moral consensus being created, but also capable of bridging the diversity that comes from various subcultures developing in aceh. viewed from the historical roots of its culture, coffee shops serves as a place for entertainment, hangout, as well as for sharing information among the people of aceh. through such natural processes, in each of its space, it delivers forms of a sturdy communality in aceh. therefore, the process of developing a culture that is so natural should be valued as a cultural narrative has an important role for the transformation of the space which can now be found in the land of rencong (aceh). these forms of public space have become a sign of consolidation of a new identity, through the merging of different people, institutions, social status and multicultural identity. at this level of shifting mode, the creation of cultural narratives that cross the boundaries of the territory of aceh culture, on the one hand, coffee shops are even capable of being cultural adhesive that can be accepted by a variety of different social levels. on the other hand, public space creation is also part of the process of changing the cultural escalation which has now started to crawl in search of a new identity, especially in the most active generation i.e. young people of aceh. correspondingly, this stage should be coupled with finding new forms of more critical cultural changes. in addition, public space that shaped this coffee shop should also be seen as part of a subculture that brings together different cultures and a new identity. it can be imagined that the emergence of a global culture that is widespread in aceh, slowly but surely has shaped the orientation, mentality, lifestyle, and even the formation of a structure of a new history that will bring the people of aceh to the symbols of political culture of this kind. so, it’s no wonder, this kind of public space, in time will become a new agent for the emergence of a culture of openness in the aceh province after a long conflict years that trapped the local acehnese intelligence. thus, it must also be utilized as a cultural space that is productive and encourages the spirit of innovation for local capacity. as a space of freedom and openness, coffee shops also bring out what is called [ 232 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the advent of “political space”, where public space like this in turn will also become power contestation in aceh. the widespread cultural spaces like coffee shops can be seen through several important things as a change process in aceh, among them. first, coffee shops have confirmed the new acehnese identity (friedmen, 1995), even though it is also a cultural pattern that has become entrenched, however, in the context of post-tsunami and development in aceh, now that the coofe shop character is increasingly strong. even in another perspective, coffee shops now have become a wide discourse toward what i would call “beyond the coffee shop”. in banda aceh in particular several coffee shops have particular names such as, de helsinki, ayah solong-ulee kareng, chek yuke, dapukopi, and so forth. this indicates that the identity of the acehnese has begun to shift toward a productive subculture and should be developed and maintained to be more a communication medium with cultural bargaining values. second, coffee shops have expanded the cultural space (appadurai,1994: 193) in aceh. on the one hand, at first women in aceh did not participate in the cultural process, now they have begun to fill the cultural spaces of coffee shops. on the other hand, the influx of global culture in the post-tsunami aceh also has marked various changes at various levels, ranging from lifestyle, outlook on life, mentality, imagination, even materialization of values has been extended in the heart of the life of the people of aceh. the most striking thing to describe in this pattern is when most national and international ngos have started construction of aceh, a result that also brings light to the changes in society, such as the dependency which is starting to affect the aspects of the mentality of the people of aceh, consumerism is beginning to take root in the realm of the young city of aceh, unemployment is also beginning to expand in various levels in the city or in the countryside. this fact shows that the space of aceh culture is not only created by the acehnese themselves, but it is also part of the wider global culture that has deliberately been widened in this kind of cultural spaces. therefore, it is no wonder coffee shops someday will replace the spaces of “culture carriers” that had been established earlier. its existence has even been a part that does not just become a medium of consumerism of some specific class, but he has shown characteristics of culture that is able to dominate the other cultural roots in this islamic province. no wonder, the islamic law which has recently been applied in aceh for example, has virtually been unable to operate in such cultural spaces, the court system is also being called into question of its existence. third, in addition to having expanded as a cultural space, coffee shops someday will also become a model for the merging of cultural diversity (green, 1995: [ 233 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 34) particularly on the development of a culture that is undergoing a lengthy transition period like aceh. it can be seen as other forms of local wisdom we cannot find easily elsewhere. for supporting the system that applies in every room of the culture, they do not always have the same character, so that at least the fundamental characteristics of a pattern of behavior, whether individual, institutional, cultural symbols, values, and even life choices built must have similarities (fatherstone, 1995). thus, coffee shops have become a place of reference that has cultural and historical values not only in limited areas or on the individual resident of aceh, but also on local party elites, intellectuals, researchers, even academics who have been losing space to immerse all forms of debate in formal classrooms. therefore, even though his presence does not affirm a message or a particular mission, but in time inevitably, such public space will experience a redefinition that will continuously be in line with the growth of global culture. the so-called political spaces --in a political anthropology perspective--even will also occur in social spaces of this kind of coffee shop. where coffee shops are built with local characteristics, roots and in time will be filled and replaced by a cultural space that even supports a pattern of power relations that is developing there. so coffee shops will be built, maintained, preserved, even modified according to the tastes of thriving cultural politics to ensure the sustainability of elite groups who are currently in power. as a cultural space, coffee shops are positioned as a narrative of culture that will always experience a shift in orientation as well as its meaning. so there is a need to encourage a more critical way of seeing symptoms of this kind of space transformation. moreover, in recent years the momentum of political competitions at the local level is competing. in line with that, with the development of socio-cultural spaces like coffee shops called public space in aceh in this study, it is expected that it will restore the acehnese values that have started to disappear, where traditional bonds are weakened, including the reference of important figures can be found again. therefore, we can imagine an acehnese resistance when the process of enculturation is no longer dominated by traditional agents such as parents, religious leaders, and custom. the construction process of these values that have been done in a very competitive manner by different agencies, ranging from state agents, markets, and society itself should become a more decisive pattern developed as a narrative that is created through the local genius of the acehnese society. the question is how these forms of public space such as coffee shops can be managed to serve as a cultural change agent capable of restoring the aceh transition periods. [ 234 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 conclusion dialectical relationship between local and global identity brings diverse historical burdens in aceh. a clash of paradigms in managing diversity of islamic groups in aceh is a fact of the limited “public space” created. the latent conflict between islamic groups recently is a small part of the identity conflict that lacks a touch of public space to its full potential, so to the extent that the identification of the diversity of islamic groups have not been established effectively. it is at this point that a society’s social system is experiencing social dysfunction as a result of social clusters that grow in massive way and in limited management of a public space. therefore, the free growth of islamic groups should be managed with by bringing them together in the public space so that, as in the case of taking advantage of cultural spaces, creating a space that is more open, inclusive capable of opening the boundaries of exclusivity in the islamic groups is part of how to manage the differences. the symbolic conflict between islamic groups is not the stressing point in this discussion, but rather the difference between islamic groups is the important discussion, because it will create the source and the potential for a larger conflict through interpretation, perception, imagination against “the others”. the perception of a group within the heterogeneous society will create the boundaries or territorial identity between one group and another. therefore, the chance of conflict will be more open when different forms of perception arise massively to justify other groups, even giving rise to the claims reproduced continuously without any popular clarification. therefore, learning to understand the identity of other groups is an important part to eliminate the negative perception by way of fostering dialog tradition in various layers of cultural diversity, community, and even among the political parties. relation between the state and ulamas should be an important icon in reconstructing the “development” of aceh; at present the relationship does not seem to be a notable actor who is able to negotiate between the diversity of islamic groups, but in fact the position has been replaced by other agencies and actors. the opportunities for negotiation in a variety of local policy requires a lot of roles in maintaining traditional values and local wisdom in aceh, but now even ulamas as reference figures for the acehnese are increasingly fading away in their role. while the state is no longer able to perceive the local domain in a more open and balanced way, the results of the policies created sometimes clash with the spirit of local citizenship. in addition to the state and the ulamas, there are many other potentials in aceh that can serve as contestation between the actors and the agencies to represent and make room for dialog between [ 235 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the existing differences, such as non-government organizations and agents of globalization, media and cultural spaces such as “coffee shops” in aceh that need to be identified to public promote the openness and opportunities for dynamic dialog. in addition, the creation of public space in aceh is not merely as a medium of communication, but in turn it also becomes an active social agent capable of moving the community’s cultural process, including marking the era of openness and freedom in aceh. moreover, the inclusion of global culture in the wake of the tsunami also has marked various heritage changes at various levels, starting from the idea, views of life, mentality, imagination, even the consumptive lifestyles that have been prevalent in the heart of the life of the people of aceh. so the public space in time will become a new agent for the emergence of a culture of openness in aceh. thus, public space must also be utilized as a cultural space that is productive and promotes spirit of innovation for local wisdom. therefore, the existence of public space, first, will affirm the identity from the possibility of inclusion of a wide range of interests that tried to accomplish their mission, either through the hands of the power, the strength of the global economy, or the political media. second, public space is also created to expand the cultural space. the acehnese cultural space is not created only by the acehnese themselves, but it is also part of the wider global culture that, deliberately or not, has been extended in cultural spaces like coffee shops that are developing extensively and even getting rooted in aceh. therefore, it is no surprise that someday coffee shops will replace the main cultural spaces established earlier, including religion and custom. third, public space has also become a model for the merging of cultural diversity especially in the development of a culture that has been undergoing a lengthy transition period like aceh. therefore, the social capital owned by the people of aceh will help the formation of a more open, inclusive and democratic society. thus, aceh as the icon of islamic civilization (the terrace of mecca) will be able to create new awareness of life that builds interconnections with one another in a multicultural life, as propose in the global village above. bibliography abdullah, irwan, 2005. realitas politik, deteritorialitas sosial, dan redefinisi penelitian budaya: aceh sebagai field of study. dipresentasikan pada seminar dies natalis fakultas ilmu budaya ugm, ke 59, ali, fachry. 2006. interiorisasi dan eksteriorisasi: refleksi sejarah sosial politik [ 236 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 aceh, banda aceh: fakultas hukum universitas syiah kuala. aspinall, edward. 2009. islam and nation, separatist rebellion in aceh, indonesia. stanford, university press. beyer, peter. f.1991. privatization and the public influence of religion in global society, dalam mike featherstone (ed), global culture: nationalism, globalization and modernity. london: sage publication brubaker, roger. 2004. ethnicity without groups. london: harvard university press. delanty, garard. 2003. communinty. london and new york: routledge. fatherstone, mike. 1992. cultural production, consumption, and the development of the cultural sphere, dalam richard munch dan neil j. smelser (ed). theory of culture. barkely: university of california press. ............ 1995. undoing culture: globalization, postmodernism, and identity. london: sage publication, friedmen, jonathan. 1995. cultural identity and global process. london: sage publication geertz, clifford. 1983. local knowledge: further essays in interpretative anthropology, new york: basic book. green, james w. 1995. cultural awareness in the human service: a multi ethnic approach,. boston: allyn and bacon. harris, marvin. 1980. cultural materialism, the strunggle for science of culture. new york: vintages books. …………,. 1997. culture, people, and nature, an introduction to general anthropology. new york: wesley education publisher. kertz, lester e. god in the global village, london: pineforge press, 1995. hal 4 mujib, ibnu. 2009. warkop: transformasi ruang politik kebudayaan, sebuah catatan etnografis, the aceh institute, 1 april ........... 2009. pudarnya tali-tali tuhan, “superstruktur masyarakat aceh dalam transisi” dinamika perilaku ideologis dan keagamaan pasca tsunami aceh, laporan penelitian, hibah penelitian agama dan bencana, crcs, graduate school. universitas gadjah mada. desember. ............ 2010. islam lokal, perspektif sejarah dan politik, memetakan narasi islam aceh dalam konteks global. disampaikan dalam konferensi tahunan studi islam (acis x), kementrian agama ri, banjarmasin, 1-4 november. sadiqin, sehat ikhsan. 2008. tasawuf aceh. banda aceh: bandar publishing. siegel, james t. 1969. the rope of god, universitas of california press, woodward, kathryn. 1997. identity and difference. london: thousand oaks/ new delhi: sage publication. [ 225 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 religious construction in decision making of indonesian customers for financial transactions on syariah banks mustaqim pabbajah universitas teknologi yogyakarta email: mustaqim_pabbajah@uty.ac.id ratri nurina widyanti universitas teknologi yogyakarta email: ratri.nurina@uty.ac.id dato’ sudin harun kuala lumpur business school, malaysia email: datodrsudin@gmail.com muh. darwis institut agama islam negeri palopo email: darwis@iainpalopo.ac.id widi fajar widyatmoko universitas teknologi yogyakarta email: widifajarpsi@uty.ac.id abstract this study aims to explain how islamic concepts, symbols and values have implications for people. especially when they must make decisions to make financial transactions in islamic banking. likewise, the religious trend accompanied by the spirit of city has resulted in the enthusiasm of the community to transact with institutions labelled religion in practice. data collection used in this study was carried out by observation and distributing questionnaires to respondents (customers). documentation studies are also conducted to find literature related to this study. there are three findings described in this study. first, the conception and symbol of religion is an essential element in the existence of islamic banking in indonesia. second, the understanding of the religious community has been constructed in the decision to make economic transactions in islamic banks. third, the religious trend accompanied by religious zeal makes sharia banks in indonesia have bright prospects to attract the interest of the public to transact. the enermous potential of islamic banks in indonesia will experience an increase if the religious values and symbols are implemented correctly and adequately. religious construction of economic behaviour has resulted in a shift in the pattern of community transactions in the name of religion. this shift certainly provides not only positive expectations in the religious society, but also [ 226 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 provides broad opportunities for the banking business world. keywords: construction; religious; economic transactions; indonesian workers; syariah banks introduction the current economic system tends to be forced to adapt to capitalist financial goals, in contrast the capitalist financial system according to weber is a financial system aimed at market interests to reap higher profits (holton & turner, 2010). therefore, a balance is needed so that the economy is not only to generate profits, but also to pay attention to social interest. one of which is through an ethical approach. in this case, the religion which is only believed to be a set of rituals and spiritual matters, but also needs to be seen to become an essential reason for someone to behave commercial (coleman, 2012; shwed, 2019; swedberg, 2018). even, belief is considered capable of becoming a solution to the ongoing economic crisis (hien, 2019; itçaina, 2015; rothholz, 2020). one form that is shown by the community in religious considerations in economic transactions is people's trust in the service of economic transactions as practised in islamic banking in indonesia, especially in yogyakarta. indonesia is one of the countries with the most islamic banks in the world. according to data released by the financial services authority (ojk) in sharia banking statistics (sps) as of july 2019 the number of sharia banks in indonesia currently amounts to around 198 sharia banks (ojk, 2019). the existence of islamic banks in indonesia has now entered the 3rd decade. since it was first pioneered in 1992 by bank muamalat indonesia (bmi), other islamic banks have also emerged. this is inseparable from the bright prospects in the indonesian sharia financial sector. therefore, the study of islamic banks, especially in indonesia, needs to be studied as economic development supported by a high religious attitude. so far, the study of religious construction of economic practices has received much attention from researchers and observers of the relationship between religion and economics. there are at least three existing study trends related to the study; first, religion and economic behaviour (teak, 2018; sohrah, 2014; schneider et al., 2015; shwed, 2019), second, religion as a spirit in analyzing social welfare (jawad, 2018; macarov, 2014; rommelspacher, 2017), as well as religion considered able to overcome the problems of the economic crisis (rama, 2015; azwar, 2016; arruñada & krapf, 2019) and practised in religious communities (pabbajah, 2017), and third, the concept of religion in islamic banking (finance, 2018; lely shofa imama, 2014; rokhlinasari, 2016), and people's perceptions and comparisons of islamic banks and conventional [ 227 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 banks (choliq, 2016; kamayanti & wardhani, 2008). of the three trends are the basis in seeing how religion is an essential consideration for customers who are safer and more comfortable with financial transactions at islamic banks. this survey is a response to the existing studies by completing a study of religious construction on the customer's decision to make economic operations in islamic banking, especially in yogyakarta. accordingly, three questions can be formulated. first, how is the conception of religion used in islamic banking services? second, how is the perception of the customer's religion effectively in the selection of financial transactions in islamic banking. third, how the construction of religious understanding can attract customer interest in transactions in islamic banking, these three questions discussed in this study. this paper is built on three assumptions that underlie customers choosing to do economic transactions in islamic banking. first, islamic banks have great potential in indonesia because of the use of religious concessions in services, also supported by the muslim community in indonesia as the majority with the highest muslim population in the world. second, the correlation between religion and economic behaviour are inseparable. therefore, religiosity has a vital role in influencing the customer's decision to transact economically in sharia banking. this is the same as the conceptions and symbols of religion practised in the business services of islamic banks. third, the existence of the shari'ah bank has a system and financial management with a religious label so that it can maintain the trust of the community, especially muslims in indonesia as a potential market. this is the most significant capital for a financial institution accompanied by high religious trends and enthusiasm. religion and economic behaviour they are considered complimentary and complementary. this study tries to look back at the correlation between the two by choosing a survey of the practice of sharia banking able to become an attraction for adherents of religion, especially muslims in indonesia. this study is a qualitative descriptive study by taking a sample of syariah bank customers in the yogyakarta region. religious construction the construction theory approach has seized the attention of academics in seeing social, political and economic change. however, construction theory will be vulnerable to accusations of self-satisfaction if not accompanied by noble goals (2014: 2). then, front matter (2012) explains that the critical path for conceptual innovation in social becomes a theoretical construction on empirical data. construction theory can be structured through research that [ 228 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 is not just gathering data to imply contributions in the explanation of causal relationships (walby et al., 2017). correspondingly, construction theory can be widespread in science with the practice of intellectual dissemination to all who play an essential role in empirical discovery (haig, 2013). improper theoretical construction can cause school districts and other government institutions to spend resources (brian et al., 2015). hill (2012) suggests that vague theories or inability to decompose formulations be improved by systematic validation efforts, especially related to critical assumptions, concepts, and propositions. in this objective fact, berger and luckman see and highlight the community in social construction, as a physical entity, formed by the reality of the surrounding environment (forssell, 2019). society, also seen as an "artefact" in which the concept of society itself, is constructed by humans and developed into human products (forssell, 2019). then, the reality that conceived was explained by berger and luckman, which could form subjectivity and materiality that socially constructed with legitimacy and objectification (bosančić, 2019). the social construction that was initiated by peter berger and thomas luckman, is a comprehensive theory based on a subjective understanding of the world through daily interactions, and understanding and interpretation of the world becomes a fact that builds the way things operate in society (berger & luckmann, 2016). roibin explained the subject of construction religion is the two compromising forces between god related to the representation of revelation and man as a representation of the results of its interpretation (2010: 87). in line with that, yani et all. (2018: 175) divides religious construction into two categories, namely inclusive or moderate and exclusive, where the difference between them caused by variations in the book used as a reference and with whom one learns. a general religious construction can provide peace and peace for all beings, which in islamic terminology often referred to as "rahmatanlil 'alamin" (yani et al., 2018: 175). in contrast to this, praticular religion is more intolerant and radical in terms of religious visions related to and rejects the reality of the plurality of society (yani et al., 2018: 175). on another occasion, some muslims took up exclusive and inclusive construction positions in turn (jubba et al., 2020). according to santosa (2011), the construction of certain religions cannot be changed or modified — in contrast to cultural identities that are very likely to be revised or redefined in social interactions. in christianity, a cathedral is a symbol of the religious construction of a closed christian order, but it has a more positive connotation than a prison (toraiwa, 2013: 63). according to çakır et al. (2017: 2), semireligious construction can be related to semi-mythical development where the unconscious can be stimulated by images that used intensely. [ 229 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 the concept of religion in islamic banking an islamic bank is a banking system whose implementation based on islamic law (sharia). the formation of this system is based on the prohibition in islam to lend or collect loans by charging interest (riba), as well as the prohibition to invest in businesses that categorized as forbidden (haram) (er, 2018). the difference between islamic banks and conventional banks is as follows. islamic banks: 1) only make halal investments according to islamic law 2) use the principle of profit-sharing, buying and selling, 3) have profit and falah oriented (world happiness and akhirat according to islamic teachings) 4) have relationships with customers in the form of partnerships 5) apply the collection and distribution of funds following the dps fatwa, whereas conventional banks: 1) invest in both halal and haram according to islamic law 2) use interest rate instruments 3) have profit-oriented 4) have relationships with customers in the form of creditors and debtors 5) apply the collection and distribution of funds which are not regulated by similar boards (budisantoso & sigit, 2011). the concept of islamic banking is banking activities based on islamic sharia, whose characteristics are rejecting the interest system because it is considered usury. however, islamic banking uses a profit-sharing system or commonly called al-mudharabah. mudharabah is a type of financing in islamic banking whose principle is the distribution of profits from a business based on agreement (saputro, 2015). among the fundamental principles of sharia banks is not to conduct stealing, gharar, maisir, and illicit product transactions. sharia banks in the collection of demand deposits and savings funds use the principle of wadi'ah and deposits using mudharabah agreements (najib, 2017). wadi'ah is an item that someone entrusts to another party to be looked after properly (hayati & sri sudiarti, 2022). this concept is based on the islamic principle of trust and ethical conduct in financial transactions. wadi'ah is often used for safekeeping purposes, allowing individuals or entities to store their money in a secure manner without engaging in interest-bearing transactions, which are prohibited in islamic finance. on one side of sharia banking makes mudharabah as the main icon of sharia banking, at the practical level the mudharabah model is still a debate among scientists, so mudharabah in sharia banking seems to be even burdensome and the same as conventional banking (jalaluddin & pangiuk, 2016). one of the sharia banking products that are in high demand by the public and mutually beneficial between the customer and the bank is financing with a musyarakah contract. musyarakah contracts nowadays tend to be often done by entrepreneurs where they want to develop their business. because the [ 230 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 musyarakah contract is a loss carried by each party, capital is jointly borne, and the manager can be one party or both parties. it depends on the initial agreement. the profit is divided following with the initial deal (susanto, 2016). likewise, the concept and application of the murabahah contract in islamic banking in indonesia. murabahah, which constitutes all types of sales of amânat in islamic law, is the leading contract scheme used in sharia banking practices in indonesia. however, in preparation, murabaha has undergone many changes compared to the basic concepts of classical muamalat fiqh. ulama do not reject adjusment that do not conflict with the basic principles of islamic law. however, many models for modification have sparked debate, because they are done exclusively to meet the requirements of formal justice, to review the effectiveness and efficiency of banking administration (lathif, 2013). the existence and development of the sharia banking industry, the concept of murabaha was adopted as one of the contracts for islamic bank financing products (lely shofa imama, 2014). with the religious ideas utilised in the service of islamic banks, so that the islamic banking industry can develop rapidly, which is followed by the high potential of the religious community. islamic thought and financial transaction economy is the central pillar in every development of a region or country. a developed nation is characterized by a stable economy with the state of middleand upper-class people. the economic pace is also accompanied by high commercial transactions, including public confidence in the services of financial institutions (widyanti, 2019), such as banking. the excellent services offered by banks will have an impact on the trust and interest of the public in dealing, including paying attention to the religious conditions of the community. therefore, in dealing with the economy, it is not only focused on service, security and comfort, but banks consider the condition of customer religiosity (widyanti et al., 2022). there are three trends of reasons for customers in choosing economic transactions through islamic banking. first, an excellent religious understanding leads people to choose to transact according to the teachings of the religion they believe. this is indicated by the high perception of customers in selecting economic transactions in islamic banking. sharia economic activity is currently increasing, both in terms of quality and quantity. the indication is the growth of islamic banking which has provided the stimulus to the public about alternative financing that is more equitable and distributive (rofiani, 2009). second, increasingly open interpretations of understanding of religious teachings influence customers in transacting in financial institutions with islamic or sharia labels (sudrajat [ 231 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 & sodiq, 2016). the principle of sharia compliance can be implemented based on a detailed and comprehensive understanding of sharia principles. third, high public trust in industries with religious labels, for example in islam there is a halal and sharia label however the emergence of sectors with a halal name, according to ali & al-aali (2015), needs to be continually studied practices and processes that take place in the community. from the existence of religious labels, barro and mccleary assess the influence of religious participation and beliefs on the level of economic progress of a country. the presence of stronger religious beliefs can stimulate economic growth because it helps maintain individual behaviour by increasing productivity (campante, 2013) hence, religion influencing economic development activities as explained by jerotijević & hagovská (2019) that corporate meetings in religious rituals can have a positive impact on individual welfare. noland (2005) added, religious activities can affect economic performance at the level of individuals, groups, or countries, where religion can affect economic outcomes such as economic growth. however, religion can also set rules of behaviour, or practice that restrict followers. therefore, religious exercises become informal institutions that impose constraints by arranging economic, political and social interactions, in which religious practices impose direct exchanges in the production process that affect productivity (darwis et al., 2023)"mendeley":{"formattedcitation":"(darwis et al., 2023. the practices also form beliefs and values that determine economic decisions. however, since religious behaviour tends to be endogenous and influenced by economic growth itself, campante (2013) believes that there is a causal effect that drives these relations challenging to understand. religious conception in economic practices in islamic banking at present, the growth of sharia banking in indonesia is entirely developing. as stated in the 2019 financial services authority report, in indonesia there are 198 sharia banks consisting of 14 sharia commercial banks (bus), 20 sharia business units (uus), and 164 islamic people's financing bank (bprs). even, indonesia is one of the countries that have the most islamic banks (ojk, 2019). this shows that islamic banking is a potential institution that grows and develops well in religious communities in indonesia. the existing islamic banking spread in several regions in indonesia, one of which has the potential to be the special region of yogyakarta (diy). yogyakarta special region province (diy) is a special region that has a good and positive development of sharia economy. chairman of the regional [ 232 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 leadership council (dpw) of the indonesian sharia bank association (asbisindo) of the special region of yogyakarta (diy) sukma dwie priardi said that in 2019 "overall the diy islamic banking industry experienced a positive trend and succeeded in having higher growth compared to the average national banking industry growth. he further said that the overall growth in assets of the national sharia banking reached 10.97%. in terms of financing it also grew by around 7.5% and in terms of third-party funds (dpk) also rose 9.5%. "diy islamic banking assets grew around 11.36 per cent, with the portion of financing, experiencing a significant growth, which amounted to 19.5 per cent. meanwhile, dpk grew around 11.93 per cent" (jogja daily, january 2019). the existence and growth of islamic banking in yogyakarta is inseparable from the acceptance of heterogeneous society with a high level of religiosity. most people of yogyakarta are muslim. the growth of the banking business based on islamic teachings is proliferating. even, today many conventional banks are interested in expanding the business wing that is considered potential in islamic banking. this condition will undoubtedly be an open rivalry in the banking world, which will then encourage each bank to innovate to see the cultural-religious potential of the region to maintain the maximum quantity and quality of service. thus, the bargaining power of islamic banks will become a potential market which will undoubtedly have an impact on the growth of islamic banking. variables of religiosity, service quality, satisfaction, and trust on islamic bank customer loyalty through a study on islamic the special capital region (dki) of jakarta (wahyoedi et al., 2021). the customer's decision to transact at a sharia bank cannot be separated from the context of indonesian society, which is predominantly muslim (nugroho et al., 2017). this also happens in a number of countries with a muslim majority, such as malaysia (haron & nursofiza wan azmi, 2008; haron & wan azmi, 2005). this proper development is inseparable from the enthusiasm and trust of the public to conduct financial transactions in islamic banks. in line with that, weber in his thesis, explained the relationship of religion and work ethic initiated by max weber in his study entitled protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism (pabbajah, 2017). in the weberian perspective, religion plays an important role in developing work ethics. rationalism, asceticism, and "calling" encourage humans to work hard in the world to obtain economic needs and materialist benefits (teak, 2013). the work ethic in the name of religion can also be done through community empowerment or community groups to answer the challenges of the global economy (pabbajah et al, 2019). thus, business institutions with religious labels can be an alternative in the [ 233 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 ongoing development of the worldwide economy. this potential is due to the concept and approach of religion used in islamic banking services. religious communities have a high enough interest to transact business or economy with ethical guarantees that accompany it. in this case, islamic banking has an excellent opportunity to see the potential that exists in the community. based on the results of a questionnaire conducted in this study of 52 customers in several islamic banks in yogyakarta, religious perceptions and conceptions have an essential influence on the transaction decisions in islamic banks. from the results of the questionnaire conducted to 52 customers, and it shows that the most influencing factor in financial transaction decisions is the conception of religion applied in islamic banks. it shows that 47 customers see the concept of religion in islamic banks. then it is followed by a religious understanding of the customer, it also becomes a reason for customers to make transactions in islamic banks with the result that 46 customers have spiritual perceptions and understanding. meanwhile, customer service and trust are the comparison variable under the conception and understanding of the effects of 41 customers, while 31 customers see the physical islamic bank as a reason. therefore, this study shows that the majority of customers decide that financial transactions cannot separated from the concept of religion attached to islamic banks. implications of customer's religious perception in transactions in islamic banking islamic banking has varied customer characteristics both in terms of gender, age and profession. this shows the existence of public confidence in financial transactions in islamic banking. the data collected, although it is still a small scale, can already be used as a representation of customers. before describing the religious perceptions of customers having significant significance in conducting transactions in islamic banks, the following data presented about the identity of material objects to provide a description of respondents as shown in the following table: [ 234 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 table 1 respondents characteristics no. respondents characteristics frequency percentage (%) 1 gender male female total 24 28 52 48 52 100 2. age 20-30 y.o 31-40 y.o 41-50 y.o >50 y.o total 4 18 21 9 52 4 35 47 14 100 3. occupation civil servants private sectors entrepreneur retired total 8 17 22 5 52 11 29 52 8 100 source: compiled by researchers, 2022. the description shows that the number of female islamic bank customers in yogyakarta is more significant than male. the number of female is 28 respondents (52%), while the number of men is 24 respondents. likewise, the age of most customers is between 41-50 years, with 21 respondents (47%). the types of occupations most respondents are entrepreneurs as many as 22 respondents (52%). the description of the results shows that the number of customers who choose to make financial transactions in islamic banking tends to be more than those of entrepreneurs with an age that is still productive. therefore, the government through the financial services authority focuses on increasing financial literacy, especially in the productive age population, so that the influence of financial literacy, risk tolerance and overconfidence can be measured in investment decision making (dewi & krisnawati, 2020). the perception of religion for some people is something that needs to be used as a reference in socio-economic practices. worship and socio-economic activities are two things that complement and supervise one another. in islam for example, there is a lot of literature that discusses the relationship between islam and economics commonly referred to as islamic economics (toth & toth, 2013; visser, 2019) or islamic finance (al-jarhi, 2017; marketplace, 2015). the ongoing development of the islamic economy is identical to the development of islamic financial institutions. one of the fundamental philosophies of islamic teachings in economic and business activities is the [ 235 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 prohibition of cheating and wrongdoing. all transactions carried out by a muslim must be based on the principle of being willing on both parties, and no party may be wrong, or in the opposite may be wronged. this basic principle has vast implications in the economic and business fields, including in banking practices (rasulong, 2011). with these principles, a muslim tends to prioritize religious considerations in social and economic practices, including in the division of transactions in islamic banking. it shown in the description in the following table: table 2 descriptive results descriptive statistics respondent agree/ person disagree/ person % religion conception in sharia bank 52 47 5 96 service and trust 52 41 13 91 perception and understanding of religion 52 46 6 94 quality of service 52 23 29 47 valid n (listwise) 52 source: compiled by researchers, 2022. religious (islamic) construction of economic transactions religion is a device that regulates all activities for adherents. with faith, a person will interact socially by showing an adaptive phenomenon and tends to vary, depending on where located a person. correspondingly, durkheim argues that religion is a social phenomenon which in its process has a correlation that is continuously interacting interactively with other social aspects (douglas et al., 1996; sutcliffe, 2011). the phenomenon of religion has always been an interesting issue to study in seeing the continuity of a changing social life. various forms of changes caused by religious construction can be witnessed in almost all aspects of community life, among others, cultural, political and economic issues. this study looks at one of the elements that exist with the construction approach of ethical (islam) in commercial practice. there are three trends in the construction of faith (islam) over a muslim's decision to make economic transactions in an islamic financial institution, as discussed in the previous section. first, the conception of religion used by financial institutions with the name of religion has an appeal in attracting the interests of the muslim community in indonesia. in the view of religious communities, the label of religion considered as a reference in transactions. the relationship of faith and economy has long been a concern of the western world, [ 236 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 where the study of the relationship between religion and economics referred to as economic of religion (schneider et al., 2015; shwed, 2019). this study views faith as a variable that has a causal relationship with various variables, and one of which is an economic variable. in this case, religion can be studied and measured through individual and group religious behaviour (rama, 2015). the study models is correlative, according to rehman and askari has two patterns, namely religion is placed as the dependent variable (which influenced) and as an independent variable (which influences) (rehman & askari, 2010). under these conditions, religion is easily constructed and constructed following with the term underlying it, so can religion be constructed with economic interests. second, the paradigm in religion that usually sourced from one's religious understanding results in economic practices. in islam, there is knowledge about understanding called fiqh, as a source of law for muslims in their daily practice. islam based on sharia law, which based on the qur'an and hadith. the ethical system in islam derived from this shariah law. whereas, trade and business are the main subjects in the islamic moral tradition because the arabs historically have these traditions, and after becoming muslims, they continue the tradition (iqbal & mirakhor, 2017). in the concept of islamic economics is called muamalah fiqh as a fundamental paradigm in the practice of islamic economics (azwar iskandar & khaerulaqbar, 2019). in connection with this study which shows a person's understanding factor can make decisions in economic transactions. in other words, the construction of religious understanding causes one to choose to transact in islamic banking institutions. the paradigm of islamic economics is not solely related to perceptions of thoughts, ideas and final products, but instead includes underlying assumptions about human nature, motivation, and effort, which form the economic and institutional basis on which economic activity is practised (yusuf, 2014). in practice, one's understanding of religion has been constructed into economic behavior that shows financial transactions in institutions with religious (islamic) labels. third, the religious community trend in indonesia is currently experiencing a relatively high increase. this is inseparable from the religious enthusiasm of the community which has recently shown a positive direction. the opening of space for religious expression has led to an increasing number of media that provide religious studies, both offline and online, so that religion can be consumed by the public openly. the new media has changed the tendency of religious education by opening public participation in the production of religious knowledge. in other words, the centre of power shifts from the religious elite to the media that are present within the framework of political [ 237 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 economy interests (abdullah, 2017). the formation of religious behaviuor determined by the overall experience that is realized by each person. personally, awareness is the action, meaning that what is thought and felt by the individual determines what will be taught (supriyanto, 2018). thus, economic transactions on the consideration of religiosity constructed by the ongoing religious tendency. conclusions the correlation between religion and economy has stimulated the birth of various studies with social, cultural, political and economic approaches that are taking place in the community. that is also an essential reason in seeing the construction of religion (islam) in the customer's decision to make an economic transaction with an islamic bank. significant findings of this study show the high public interest in financial transactions in islamic banking, specifically in indonesia. based on the results, there are three forms of religious construction so that customers prefer financial transactions in islamic banks. first, the concept of religion that used in islamic banking makes priority the reason for a customer’s economic transactions. the religious symbols in implemented in islamic banks have a relatively strong influence. second, the construction of theological understanding that is believed by the customer has implications in deciding economic transactions, in other words, the spiritual attitude of the customer has a correlation in economic behavior of choosing an institution with a religious label (wdyatmoko et al, 2020). third, the religious trend that is increasing at this time is accompanied by a communal religious zeal. likewise, other supporting factors, namely easy access to religious learning through various media, further strengthen religious trends in the community. from the three constructions, this study provides two important notes for financial institution managers, especially those with religious labels. first, the enormous potential of the banking world cannot separated from the socioreligious conditions of the community, so a business approach is needed that is not only looking for profit, but also how to empower the community. second, the concepts and religious symbols used in banking practices certainly have positive values to support the existence of islamic banks which are expected to be alternatives in global financial competition. however, stakeholder attention is needed not to misuse religion in the banking system, so that it can damage the image of faith and the bank itself in the rising religious attitude of the people. this study is only a complementary study of existing studies, so it is still very possible to do further studies by looking at religious and economic correlations [ 238 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 comprehensively. likewise, this study certainly still has limitations and weaknesses in analyzing the construction of religion, especially islam over economic transactions. one limitation of this study is that the object used as a sample is still small scale, so a more comprehensive follow-up study with broader scale data coverage with sharper analysis is needed. therefore, it is recommended to develop the variables studied and the presentation of specific data. thus, the world of banking and financial institutions, especially those that have religious labels can take strategic policies to respond to the challenges of the global economy that continues to move simultaneously. bibliography abdullah, i. 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(2011). pemahaman nasabah tentang konsep mudharabah (studi pada bmt ditha anugerah makassar). jurnal ekonomi balance, 7(1), 44–59. rehman, s. s., & askari, h. (2010). an economic islamicity index. global economy journal, 10(3), 1–37. rofiani, n. (2009). perilaku nasabah dalam memilih produk pembiayaan pegadaian pada pt. bank syari’ah mandiri tbk. al-iqtishad: jurnal ilmu ekonomi syariah, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.15408/aiq.v1i2.2467 rokhlinasari, s. (2016). perbankan syariah dan manajemen laba. al-amwal : jurnal ekonomi dan perbankan syari’ah, 6(1), 80–94. https://doi. org/10.24235/amwal.v6i1.250.g220 roibin, r. (2010). agama danmitos: dari imajinasikreatifmenujurealitas yang dinamis. el-harakah, 12(2), 85-97. rommelspacher, b. (2017). religion and welfare. european journal of social work, 20(6), 795–800. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2017.131826 2 rothholz, w. (2020). the political/civil role of religion: what narrative is appropiate for the eu? review of ecumenical studies sibiu, 10(2), 266–281. https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2018-0020 santosa, n. e. t. i. (2010). strengthening cultures of peace. universitasmuhammadiyahsidoarjo. saputro, a. (2015). sistem perhitungan bagi hasil pembiayaan mudharabah pada pt. bank syariah mandiri cabang malang. jurnal administrasi bisnis s1 universitas brawijaya, 21(2), 85837. schneider, f., linsbauer, k., & heinemann, f. (2015). religion and the shadow economy. kyklos. https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12075 shwed, z. (2019). theoretical approaches to the study of the economy of religion. future human image, 11, 83–90. https://doi.org/10.29202/ fhi/11/9 sohrah, s. (2014). prinsip ekonomi dalam islam. jurnal al-qadau, vol 1, no, 9. sudrajat, a., & sodiq, a. (2016). analisis penilaian kinerja bank syariah berdasarkan indeks maqasid shari’ah (studi kasus pada 9 bank umum syariah di indonesia tahun 2015). bisnis : jurnal bisnis dan manajemen islam, 4(1), 178. https://doi.org/10.21043/bisnis.v4i1.1688 [ 243 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 sugiyono. (2016). metodologi penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan r&d. in cv alfabeta. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000238666 supriyanto, s. (2018). trend busana muslimah dan perilaku keagamaan di kalangan karyawati. yinyang: jurnal studi islam, gender dan anak, 13(2), 327–347. https://doi.org/10.24090/yinyang.v13i2.2018.pp327347 susanto, h. h. (2016). konsep syirkah pada perbankan syariah. justicia islamica, 13(2), 283. https://doi.org/10.21154/justicia.v13i2.612 sutcliffe, s. j. (2011). new age, world religions and elementary forms. in new age spirituality: rethinking religion (pp. 17–34). swedberg, r. (2018). the economy and religion. in max weber and the idea of economic sociology (pp. 108–145). https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv346nqx.10 toraiwa, n. (2013). portals between here and there: sinéad morrissey's uses of visual imagery. journal of irish studies, 28, 56-67. toth, j., & toth, j. (2013). the islamic economy. in sayyid qutb (pp. 179–191). https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790883.003.0009 visser, h. (2019). the islamic economy. in islamic finance (pp. 27–69). https:// doi.org/10.4337/9781786433503.00011. v.wiratna& poly e. (2012) statistikuntukpenelitian. penerbitgrahailmu: yogyakarta wahyoedi, s., sudiro, a., sunaryo, s., & sudjatno, s. (2021). the effect of religiosity and service quality on customer loyalty of islamic banks mediated by customer trust and satisfaction. management science letters. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2020.8.016 walby, s., towers, j., balderston, s., corradi, c., francis, b., heiskanen, m., strid, s. (2017). coordination. in the concept and measurement of violence (pp. 145-158). bristol, uk; chicago, il, usa: bristol university press. retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv47w5j0.11 widyanti, ratri nurina. (2019). student perception of the quality of service in the master of management study program of universitas teknologi yogyakarta. jurnal manajemen bisnis, 10 (2) https://doi.org/10.18196/ mb.10179. widyanti, r. n., pabbajah, m., & darwis, m. (2022). online marketing sebagai strategi kualitas layanan pada perbankan syariah. al-buhuts, 18, 658–672. https://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/ab/article/ [ 244 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2828 view/3115%0ahttps://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/ab/article/download/3115/1616 widyatmoko, w. f., pabbajah, m., & widyanti, r. n. (2020). the character of leadership in human resources development: a critical review. international journal of management, innovation & entrepreneurial research, 6(2), 01-09. https://doi.org/10.18510/ijmier.2020.621 yani, m. t., haidar, m. a., warsono, w., &sadewo, f. s. (2018). the religious construction of kiai on pluralism and multiculturalism. el harakah, 20(2), 175. yusuf, a. (2014). paradigma kontemporer ekonomi islam. studi islamika, 11(2), 215–244. [ 207 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 state failure and the sunni-shia conflict in sampang madura akhmad siddiq universitas islam negeri sunan ampel surabaya email: a.siddiq@uinsby.ac.id lely shofa imama institut agama islam negeri madura email: lelyshofa@iainmadura.ac.id muhammad febriansyah school of social sciences, universiti sains malaysia email: febrian@usm.my muhamad ali hisyam universitas turnojoyo madura email: hisyamhisyam@trunojoyo.ac.id abstract this paper attempts to explain the process of conflict reconciliation within the sunni-shia conflict in sampang, madura. the research tries to analyze the process and progress of the sunni-shia conflict through the discourse of state failure. it will not only figure out the discourse through political or security perspective, but also tries to view the failure and the weakness of the state from the conflict-transformation and social perspective. this research aims to look at how religious identity has been played within the process of conflict reconciliation and how the state failed to solve the shia-sunni conflict in sampang. in doing so, the paper explains the history of shia in sampang madura, the chronology of the conflict and its escalation, and the absence of the state within the long process of reconciliation. keywords: state failure; conflict reconciliation; religious identity; sunni; shia introduction after more than 10 years of awaiting moments at the refugee camp in sidoarjo, in may 2023, around 265 shia refugees were finally returned to their homeland in sampang.1 this is the second stage of the return of shia refugees which is considered as the successful achievement of the local-government in 1 https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20230504193301-20-945418/265-orang-ekssyiah-kembali-ke-sampang-setelah-10-tahun-mengungsi [ 208 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 resolving shia-sunni conflict. the conflict has ever become an international appeal because to some extent it was identified as the conflict between two muslim-majority-group representations in the world. the role of the state in managing and resolving the conflict has always been criticized and questioned in term of peace-building and conflict reconciliation, until the local regent of sampang finally succeeded to make a religiously and culturally putative solution to return most of the refugees except for a few remaining people. besides the successful return of the refugees to their homeland, through the discourse of state failure and weakness this paper attempts to analyze the process and progress of the sunni-shia conflict reconciliation in sampang. it attempts to explain (1) the history of the shia community in sampang, (2) the socio-religious conflict of sunni-shia in sampang and its escalation, (3) the process of conflict reconciliation, and (4) the absence or weakness of the state-government during the conflict. this research aims to describe the process of conflict reconciliation of sunni-shia in sampang through in-depth interview, observation, and literature or document research. the interviews documented in this paper include the past and current interviews in order to capture gradual progress concerning the conflict. in addition, the research also refers to the past and current news of the conflict published in the newspapers or investigation reports. this research is meant to follow what geertz stated as a “thick description” method which involves a researcher to understand particular descriptions of social life through which broader cultural interpretation can be made (geertz, 1973). this paper refers to the discourse of “fragile state” and “weak state” that elucidate the government fail in organizing, controlling, and providing security among the citizen. it is known that peacemakers, activists, and intellectuals have been discussing and criticizing the absence of state in the process of conflict reconciliation for long time. in hand with civil society organization engaged in peacebuilding, development and human rights, peacemakers tried to improve governance structure, poverty reduction program, development, democratization and peacebuilding strategies (fischer & schmelzle, 2009). the government, according to ghani, has to accomplish several features of statehood to overcome weakness and fragility, such as (1) a legitimate monopoly on the means of violence, (2) administrative control, (3) sound management of public finances, (4) investment in human capital, (5) the creation of citizenship rights and duties, (6) provision of infrastructure, (7) market formation, (8) management of the assets of the state, (9) effective public borrowing, (10) maintenance of rule of law (ghani et al., 2005). questions on whether a state has accomplished those principles or not remain [ 209 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 a challenging topic for evaluating and reckoning legitimate power. the case of ahmadiyya and shia group in indonesia to some extent denotes the absence and failure of the government. setara institute stated that these two cases have become a real test for the indonesian government relating to state presence, citizenship, and human-rights enforcement (satriani et al., 2019). for more than a decade, the shia refugees have been excluded from their homeland in sampang and placed in a shelter in sidoarjo. they were expelled from their homes and families in madura, because of religious differences. this phenomenon is kind of social reflection on looking at religion-based violence that still occurs in indonesia today. the government has gradually maintained several chains of approach to solve the conflict, but in the end, it needs a very long time to return the shia refugees back to their homes. the shia community in sampang when kiai makmun, the founder of shia community in karang gayam and blu’uran sampang, introduced the teaching of shia for his family in sampang, he reminded them to make the shia teaching as an “exclusive” and “closed” ideology among them. he asserted not to teach and spread out the teaching to other people, especially the madurese sunni community, outside his family. he remarked the teaching of shia as hubb li ahl al-bayt (loving the family and lineage of the prophet muhammad).2 he considered not to use the term of shia demonstratively because it could drive deep resistance and controversy among the sunni muslim majority in madura. kiai makmun has been interested in the teaching of shia based on his admire to the religious leader of the islamic republic of iran, ayatullah khomeini. in 1980, when the islamic republic of iran competed the islamic revolution, kiai makmun read and studied several books and papers relating to the revolution and khomeini’s movement.3 from this attention and curiosity, kiai makmun 2 kh ali karrar, interview, 15/2/2013; tajul muluk, interview, 2/4/2019. 3 muhammad haji wrote, “it has been suggested that many shias in indonesia were heavily influenced by the iranian revolution in 1979, which is said to have contributed to their rise in population. there remains no consensus on the number of shia muslims in indonesia. according to muhammad jawad mughniyya, a lebanese shia scholar, the number of shias in the country in 1979 numbered approximately one million. andi muhammad assegaf, head of the fatimah foundation in jakarta, cited the same number in 2003, whilst dimitri mahayana, former chairman of the national shia organization, ikatan jamaah ahlubait indonesia (ijabi), estimated there were three million shia muslims in indonesia. regardless of the exact figure, it is certain that shias constitute a very small proportion of indonesia’s total muslim population. one of the main organizations that represent shia muslims in the country is ijabi, which is a national organization that was given legal status in 2000. ijabi has 14 provincials, 48 district and 25 sub-district branches, including offices in south sumatra, west java, and south sulawesi. the organization has organized several short-term programs that are focused on religious education, career development, and youth empowerment, whilst [ 210 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 sent three of his children (tajul muluk, roisul hukama and ummu hani) to the shia-affiliated islamic boarding school, yayasan pesantren islam yapi (yapi),4 bangil, east java. graduated from pesantren yapi, tajul muluk, one of makmun’s sons, continued his study to the kingdom of saudi arabia in 1993 and resided under the fellowship of sayyid muhammad alawi al-maliki. during his study in saudi arabia, tajul muluk dealt with and read many books of shia. he was indeed fascinated with shia ideologies and doctrines. in 1999, tajul returned back to sampang. two years before his father’s death, supported by people around him, tajul muluk built an islamic boarding school (pondok pesantren) and named it “misbahul huda”. along with his brother and sister—which are also the alumni from yapi, he managed and developed this pesantren. unlike his father, tajul muluk called the people around him to learn and practice the teaching of shia. tajul muluk was known as low profile and humble leader. he succeeded to persuade and influence people around him into learning and practicing shia. the followers of tajul muluk have been gradually increasing. chronology of the conflict there was no crucial tension between sunni community—as majority—and shia community in karang gayam and blu’uran sampang, at least during kiai makmun’s life. the madurese ulama and kiai (the local muslim leader) respected kiai makmun and avoided to challenge or argue against him. the first tension between them happened in 2006, when tajul muluk and his followers initiated to conduct an islamic festival of maulid nabi (birthday of the prophet muhammad). he supposed to invite shia community from the outside city. this festival has also been performed to remember the 40th day of his father’s death (ahnaf et al., 2015). the sunny community in karang gayam and other districts objected, resisted and threatened this festival. along with the police and the local government of sampang, sunni community asked tajul muluk to cancel the festival and not to invite shia community from establishing autonomous institutions such as the association of indonesian ahl al-bayt students, the board for advocacy and development of law and human rights and ahl–al-bayt women.” read muhammad haji, the shia muslims of indonesia (the center for the academic shia studies), 9. 4 located in bangil, east java, yapi was established in june 21, 1976. ustad husein bin abu bakar al-habsyi is the founder of this pesantren. he offered two cluster of islamic boarding school: for male and female. today, this pesantren formally has secondary and high school both for male and female, madrasah diniyah (islamic school) in three classes: mutawassit, tsanawi and tamhidi, and hauzah. https://yapibangil.org/yayasan/ (accessed november 21, 2021). [ 211 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 outside village. in sunni muslim view, tajul has been trying to teach and spread a heretical teaching of shia for sunni people around him.5 he and his followers were not only practicing shia among themselves but also aiming at attracting and calling sunni muslim to pursue. tajul’s approach, according to the sunni muslim, has attacked sunni feeling and its essential doctrine. several islamic organizations, such as badan silaturahmi ulama madura (bassra: the association of the madurese ulama), mui (the council of indonesian ulama), and nahdlatul ulama (nu) ulama, attempted to mediate the tension occurred between shia community and sunni people. under supervision of the local police, sunni ulama and tajul muluk discussed several points of ideological differences between shia and sunni. they aimed to have such agreement to solve the tension. on the one hand, the sunni ulama wrote at least 22 indictments to prove crucial mistakes of tajul muluk,6 on the other hand tajul muluk responded these indictments by reading several references of kitab kuning to explain and answer those prejudices. as a solution, ulama of sampang asked tajul muluk to sign in an agreement not to publicly teach and spread shia teaching again. in 2009, tajul muluk tried to conduct the same festival of maulid nabi which eventually created the same tension as well as in 2006. tajul muluk, according to the madurese ulama, tended to disregard the agreement: he had been teaching shia publicly. for a second time, the madurese ulama (represented by the council of indonesian ulama, nahdlatul ulama (nu), and the ministry of religious affairs) invited tajul muluk to a forum and asked him to sign an agreement. at least there are five points signed in that forum. first, tajul muluk should stop preaching, calling, and provocating others to learn and practice the shia teaching. what he did, the madurese ulama said, produced unfriendly condition among sunni people. second, tajul muluk has to stop planning to perform shia ritual and festival in sampang. third, if the second agreement was disappointed, the ulama will register the case as a religious and civil circumstance. forth, mui, nu, the local division of the ministry of religious affairs will observe and scrutinize tajul’s activities and his followers. fifth, mui, nu, and the sunni ulama will manage and help the local government to build harmonious and peaceful condition in the grass root level.7 5 kh ali karrar, interview, 15/2/2013 6 adian husaini, (2012), “kisah tujul muluk dari sampang”, catatan akhir pekan, radio dakta 107, http://www.hidayatullah.com/kolom/catatan-akhir-pekan/ read/2012/09/01/3822/kisah-tajul-muluk-dari-sampang.html (accessed november 21, 2021). 7 ibid. [ 212 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 in 2011, tension between shia community and sunni majority happened in its physical appearance. several houses of shia community were burned and numbers of shia members had been injured. the sunni ulama insisted to separate tajul muluk with his followers and he was finally displaced to malang. the ulama hindered to call tajul followers back to the teaching of sunni islam. the pick of this tension happened in august, 2012. tens of shia houses were destroyed and burned by sunni people. one of shia followers was dead and many others were injured. the police that came lately to the area of conflict could not stop people anger. in the end, the local government evacuated the shia community to sport centre in the city of sampang. escalation of the conflict conflict between sunni and shia community in sampang heightened steadily. the sunni ulama and the people in madura perceived that the present of shia in sampang could offend the purity of sunni teaching. on the one hand, for sunni people, tajul muluk has been assumed to intensionally call the people of karang gayam and bluuran sampang to learn and practice shia ritual. on the other hand, tajul and his followers insisted that the way they practiced shia is a part of islamic teaching. furthermore, it was, according to them, supported by the principles of religious freedom. in june 2012, tajul muluk was jailed on charges of religious blasphemy.8 previously, he has been sentenced to two years in jail, but laterly after his appealing it was increased to four years.9 in september 2012, the whole refugee of shia community living in sport centre in sampang were relocated into rusunawa jemundo, sidoarjo, east java. the vice governor of east java at the time stated that “it is temporary action and they will be brought back soon to their homeland, when the situation is getting normal.”10 in fact, until today the shia refugees are still living at rusunawa jemundo. the case of tajul muluk and his followers has increasingly become a very interesting topic relating to religious violence discourse. media, intellectuals, and ngos have been giving their support: psychologically and financially. many ngos gave their hand to accompany and manage their daily needs. just to mention few of them were abi (indonesian ahlul bait), ijabi (the association of ahlul bait indonesia), kontras, and cmars. however, sunni people has also influenced media, intellectuals, and ngos to exclude and reject the existence of tajul muluk and his followers in sampang. 8 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/12/indonesia-jails-shia-cleric-blasphemy (accessed november 21, 2021). 9 http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/34816/ (accessed november 21, 2021). 10 read http://daerah.sindonews.com/read/670816/23/pengungsi-sampang-akan-direlokasi-sementara-ke-rusunawa-1346996624, (accessed november 21, 2021). [ 213 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 in this conflict, sunni and shia community seemed to use islamic teaching as a cover of their standing position and “ideology”. since for marx ideology is “always something false, a distortion of the truth for the sake of social interest, a symbolic framework of the mind that legitimates the power and privileges of the dominant groups and sanctions the social evils inflicted on the people without access to power,”(baum, 2001). it is logic that both sunni and shia community have been insisting that what they have done is an islam-based practice and religiously true. in the idea of pierre bourdieu, sunni and shia people had been playing with their practical reason of action during the conflict (pierre, 1998). it is a critique of suspicion which remind that there is always a distance between practical reality and theoretical thought. in other words, it is needed to examine the practical truth behind the reality of sunni-shia conflict. bourdieu discerned that there are two kinds of truth which should be undoubtedly classified: the lived truth of practice and the objective truth. inside the boundary of cultural or social capital, religious capital occurs as a dominant domain whereby the agents occupy to achieve a benefit in the social fields. religious tasks are occasionally deemed as a medium of exploitation masked in the name of god, in the name of religion. religious symbols are permanently treated as one of euphemism’s instruments to gain benefits for the agents (pierre, 1998). euphemism denotes a tactful action that veils the main interest behind the “exterior” reality. sunni and shia community have been standing on their own needs and interests, without considering what the others need. arguing that religious freedom (including for conducting shia festival in sampang) and equality of being indonesian citizen, shia community tend to push the government to make a significant decision to bring them back to their homeland. in doing so, some ngos have been supporting this effort and urged the government to encourage shia community as a victim of violence. while sunni community in sampang argued that the existence of shia is heretic and avoidable. according to bassra, there are at least ten points of shia (tajul muluk) deviations: (1) reducing the five pillars of islam and the six pillar of iman; (2) believing in heretical doctrine outside ahl al-sunnah wa al-jamaah; (3) believing in the revelation after the quran; (4) distrusting the authenticity of the quran; (5) interpreting the qur’an based on non-authoritative basis; (6) unbelieving the prophet muhammad sayings (hadith); (7) harassing some of the prophets; (8) denying the position of the prophet muhammad as the last prophet; (9) reducing and adding basic rituals on islam; and (10) accusing other moslem as infidel without any reason.11 11 as-sunnah  magazine, sixth edition, edisi 06/tahun x/1427h/2006 (surakarta: yayasan lajnah istiqomah). [ 214 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 to empower sunni movement for avoiding shia community in sampang (and east java in general), in september 2013 bassra called madurese ulama to declare a sunni-affiliated body called faas (front anti aliran sesat/the anti deviant-school front).12 the main goal of this organization is to clean up and sterilize east java from religiously heretical and deviant sects. the sunni and shia community in sampang have been sthrengthening their religious position by taking islam as a legitimating idea and doctrine. they realized that such social acts and movements require religious legitimation where muslim leader or islamic constitution can provide it (hasenclever & rittberger, 2000). in this context, religious identity has been played as a blocking factor to solve the conflict. appleby described relational logic between religion and violence in three level of understanding: strong religion, weak religion, and pathological religion. strong religion means that there is a close and inseparable relation which binds the notion of violence with religious conviction. it is appealing that appleby start his point of view by naming religion. it shows that he concerns with religious value and implicitly considers violence as an outside influence or effect of understanding religion. in this point, people believe that religious teaching is socially constructed and imaginatively created without any direct relation to the reality (appleby, 2012). referring to mircea eliade, people suppose religion as “the sacred” which orders and regulates some circumstances, including violence. religion has been fundamentally placed as a basis of cruelty and violence (eliade, 1078). the weak religion assumes that religion is likely seen as subordinate reason compared with other factors: politics, economy, culture, prestige, etc. this perspective excludes religion as main source in some explanations of conflict. different from the first, people in this level perceive religion as a “weak” because it could be simply and easily illuminated from the arena of violence. the objective measure on analyzing causes of violence in this point is not constantly religion. however, religion cannot be totally excluded from violence consideration because it clearly is a piece of human experiences (appleby, 2012). and the third is ambiguous relationship between religion and violence. appleby entitles this level of understanding as “pathological religion”. to solve this fundamental perspective, it is necessary to recognize hans kung’s idea that violence and peace begin in the mind of men. accordingly, we should basically construct and build the idea of peace instead of cultivating the idea of war in violence (kung, 1991). however, to solve the conflict and increase 12 http://www.koranmadura.com/2013/09/30/deklarasi-syiah-menyimpang/ (accessed november 21, 2021). [ 215 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 the idea of peace building require a long process of conflict reconciliation and social network. conflict reconciliation and state failure in 2012, being part of the national reconciliation team of sunni-shia conflict in sampang, uin sunan ampel surabaya announced a center to support data collection, research, and observation. at the time, the central government—alongside with local bodies—has made some strategic plans to solve the conflict. what the center has been doing is to continue, evaluate, and strengthen the plans. the center eventually invited sunni community for sharing and discussing the basic needs and their standing points of the conflict. they also invited shia community to share and discuss the same thing: what they feel, experience, and expect relating to the conflict reconciliation. in the end, the center invited both of sunni and shia people in one forum to discuss and solve of the conflict. the ministry of religious affairs and the ministry of social affairs have also engaged in the forum.13 there was no significant agreement acknowledged by these two groups at that forum. both insisted to stand with their basic need and interest, and their position of how to solve the problem. they insisted to argue and maintain their ideological position and keep their political, economic, and cultural aims. there were too many considerations that affect the process of conflict reconciliation. moreover, the conflict has been seen as a part of trans-national issues between the global shia (especially of the islamic republic of iran) and the sunni-wahabi (represented by the kingdom of saudi arabia).14 according to sunni ulama in madura, the relocation of shia refugee at rusunawa jemundo has been perceived as the best solution. shia community would not welcome come back to their homeland, unless they re-embrace sunni teachings.15 while for the shia community they have their it is their right to come back because they deserve to return back to their home without any considerations, including ideological shifting.16 the conflict between sunni and shia community in sampang is multifaceted. it emerged not only because of theological differences but also because of sociocultural, political, economic, and personal issues. the family crisis between tajul muluk and his brother, rois, was revealed as a trigger of this conflict. at the beginning, rois is a skillful assistant of tajul that is always supports the 13 these activities were conducted during the end of 2013 until the midst of 2014. 14 kh. lailurrahman, interview, 7/5/2015. 15 ibid. 16 iklil, interview, 20/10/2014. [ 216 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 teachings and practices of shia. personal tension between these two brothers drove rois to break out from shia community (afdillah, 2013). eventually, rois transformed himself from the believer of shia (tajul muluk’s follower) to the hater of tajul. the center for peacebuilding of uin sunan ampel proposed some recommendations to the ministry of religious affairs (as a leading sector) for intensifying and solving the conflict. the center insisted that returning back the shia refugee back home is the only solution. however, the center suggested at least four stages that must be accomplished. first, building a deeply understanding among two groups especially on how to deal with cultural and religious differences. second, if the first step was completed, the government has to rebuild destroyed houses of the shia community and replace them back in the homeland. this process could be implemented gradually. third, relocating and scaling the conflict. the government must prevent other groups (the third parties) not to involve into the conflict. forth, conducting the process of trauma healing for the victim and empowering their life skill (cpb, 2013). besides the long process of the conflict reconciliation, until today the shia refugees has been still wedged and immovable at the rusunawa, sidoarjo. the hopes of returning back home remains unfeasible. tajul muluk said that relocation to another land such as sumatera or kalimantan will not solve the conflict. he insisted that the only resolution is returning the shia community back home.17 papers, researches, and recommendations concerning the sunnishia conflict in sampang have been published and discussed within last five years18 but the process of reconciliation and returning back the refugees to the home-land seem to be “going nowhere”. in 2014, when joko widodo was inaugurated as a new promising president of indonesia, hopes, expectations, and conflict resolutions emerged. many individuals and organizations expected that the conflict of sunni-syiah sampang, that has been going on for years, can be presently solved. in fact, 17 tajul muluk, interview, 2/4/2019. 18 just to mention a few of them: syukron mahbub, “konflik dan kekerasan sunni-syiah sampang prespektif kultur kekerasan dan hak asasi manusia (conflicts and violence of sunni-syiah sampang prespective of violence cultures and human rights),” voice justisia: jurnal hukum dan keadilan, volume 2, nomor 1, maret (2018): 92-101; cahyo pamungkas, “mencari bentuk rekonsiliasi intra-agama: analisis terhadap pengungsi syiah sampang dan ahmadiyah mataram (looking for intra-religious forms of reconciliation: an analysis on shia and ahmadiyya refugees in sampang and mataram),” epsiteme: jurnal pengembangan ilmu keislaman,  vol 13, no 1 (2018): 113-147. https://doi.org/10.21274/epis.2018.13.1.113147; nasrullah ainul yaqin, “menagih hak beragama muslim ahmadiyah dan syiah sampang dalam perspektif nalar maqâṣidî,” religi: jurnal studi agama-agama, vol 16, no 2 (2020): 208-227, doi: https://doi.org/10.14421/rejusta.2020.1602-05. [ 217 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 the conflict has still prevailed throughout susilo bambang yudhoyono to joko widodo’s era. more than 260 persons of shia community are still living in the refugee camp at rusunawa sidoarjo, approximately 150 km from their homeland. they are separated from their houses, their land, their family, and their past. religious conflict disconnected them away from their families and brothers, the sunni communities. political, economic, and cultural interest has also taken part of in this conflict. there are many obstacles which surface on dealing with the conflict reconciliation process. among them is the power relation contested by two different religious identities, sunni and shia, in karang gayam and blu’uran sampang. religious identity becomes a euphimical term that conceals a really-contested interest within the two groups. in addition, the absence of the government for mediation and conflict reconciliation has continuously happened.19 siti hanifah stated that the way how conflict resolution within sunni-shia conflict has been performed shows the weak of the government role in protecting freedom of religion and belief in indonesia.20 referring to call’s classification of three different gaps on describing “failed state”, the sunni-shia conflict articulates at least two different gaps: security gap and legitimacy gap. the first gap elucidates the weakness of the state to establish a minimal level of national security within its territory and to solve the social conflict which happens between different religious, ethnic, or racial groups. the second, the legitimacy gap, denotes a significant rejection of society toward an established authority. this kind of social denunciation could create social opponent of the government which eventually undermine the legitimacy of the governing body (call, 2011). the third gap is the capacity gap that represents the lack of the state capacity to provide minimal public needs and services (call, 2011). inaccessibility of aid and lack of job drive the shia refugees in rusunawa sidoarjo to look further for their future. it is not easy for them to survive through difficult life in the refugee camps. khoiri and chamankhah described that there are at least three approaches performed by the shia refugees to survive. first is reducing their daily expenses, second is having an alternative subsystem of working as coconut shelling labor, farming the surrounding land, and raising goats and chickens, third is getting financial support from the government or persons or certain organization (khoiri & chamankhah, 2021). 19 kh nurut tamam, interview, 26/5/2015. 20 raja eben lumbanrau, “ratusan pengungsi syiah sampang dibaiat menjadi suni di tengah keinginan pulang kampung: pemerintah dituding mengalahkan minoritas demi keinginan mayoritas,” https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-54550918 (accessed 11/12/2021). [ 218 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 in november 5, 2020, more than 270 shia refugees pledged allegiance to reembracing sunni teaching. they read the pledge in kota sampang in front of the madurese ulama, witnessed by the local leader and the local government.21 tajul muluk, the shia refugee leader, expressed his hope for having all shia refugees back to their homeland in sampang. even though, he realized that the process will be challenging because it involves the local ulama, the local government, and the national bodies.22 slamet mulyono, director of center for peacebuilding uin sunan ampel, expressed his doubts on political attention behind the process of conflict reconciliation. according to him, the government seems to be captured by a political concern in making a certain policy.23 the efforts of returning shia refugee back to their home require stronger political-will from the (local and central) government. although miichi argued that in jokowi’s era the government has made a gradual change compared to yudhoyono’s period through “empowering refugees by providing assistance for the institutionalisation of their rights,” but the fact shows that the state body failed to guarantee shia refugee’s right to return back to their homeland (mijchi & kayane, 2019). in his article, “the politics of religious pluralism in indonesia: the shi’a response to the sampang incidents of 2011–12”, miichi criticized president yudhoyono for doing nothing with regard to sunni-shia conflict in sampang. he stated that many of reconciliation plans initiated by the reconciliation tema (lead by abd a’la) and the housing project (promised by the ministry of public housing) were poorly executed. it differs from jokowi’s approach to the conflict which provided assistance to facilitate infrastructure and institutional arrangement for shia refugee’s rights. according to miichi, this political act was made because of advocating activism directed by pluralist activists that possibly influenced the jokowi’s administration (mijchi & kayane, 2019). in fact, what miichi said as “gradual change” in jokowi’s era has not reached a final goal of the conflict reconciliation intended by the shia refugees. their hope of being returned bac home could not been easily achieved yet. although jokowi’s government has a longer time (from 2014 to 2024) to solve the conflict compared to yudhoyono which only obtained two years of reigns (from its appearance in 2012 to 2014), it does not successfully build effective and productive connection with the local sunni ulama in sampang. in addition, the absence of the government during this conflict has become a point of criticism. faiq, from solidaritas untuk anti kekerasan (solidarity for anti21 https://news.detik.com/bbc-world/d-5242909/pengungsi-syiah-sampang-dibaiat-jadi-suni-di-tengah-keinginan-pulang-kampung (accessed 11/12/2021). 22 https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-54550918 (accessed november 19, 2021) 23 slamet mulyono, interview, november 20, 2021. [ 219 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 voelence), stated “we strongly demand the head of the indonesian national police to conduct an internal evaluation of the failure of the sampang police to ensure a sense of security for shia congregations. we ask the national police chief to instruct the sampang police chief to handle this incident quickly and professionally.”24 in line with this critics, kontras surabaya concluded that “the sampang regional government, including the police, do not have the perspective that every citizen has the right to have a belief, religion and worship according to their religion and belief, and the government is obliged to carry out legal and political protection of this right as regulated in the 1945 constitution, law no. 12 2005 concerning the ratification of the iccpr, and law number 39 of 2009 about human rights. the right to believe is a right that cannot be reduced or eliminated under any circumstances.”25 another example of having state security as a source of insecurity could be more precisely taken from the case of papua. anderson wrote that in papua “as the rest of indonesia, security forces are often more concern with income generation than security” (anderson, 2015). however, he argued that the state failure in regard with papua is not an intentional result of the government policy but a result of “morass of policy failures over time, aggravated by limitations to state capacity and competence.”26 the case of sunni-shia in sampang has comparatively the same problem concerning the absence of the government, where the state is not fully present to solve the problem. the conflict requires more “personal connections” and “cultural approaches” to bridge the local government, the local ulama, and other socio-political bodies in the region (mijchi & kayane, 2019). in 2002, years after the economic crisis attacked several countries in southeast asia, including indonesia, wanandi questioned whether indonesia a failed or not in his article, “indonesia: a failed state?” he wrote that indonesia is not a failed state but it becomes weak. one of the measurements he used to look at is regional conflicts. according to him, “regional conflicts are the most visible sign of the breakdown of the central government's authority, and no clear strategy to overcome these problems seems to exist” (wanandi, 2002). by looking at religious conflicts happening among the indonesian people, someone could remark on how the presence or absence of the state reflected within society. in this regard, it is not easy to deal with the conflict and make a peaceful 24 https://www.voaindonesia.com/a/serangan-atas-kelompok-syiah-di-sampang-tuaikecaman/1496881.html. (accessed november 19, 2021) 25 kontras, “laporan investigasi dan pemantauan kasus syi’ah sampang,” surabaya, 2012. 26 ibid., 2. [ 220 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 agreement between sunni and shia refugees. this research acknowledges at least two attentions that should be considered as a state-failure condition. first, not all the shia refugees have been returned back home, although most of them are re-embraced the sunni teachings in 2020. second, as a minority group in indonesia, shia community has still been placed in a fragile pot which could be broken up when the social or political tension emerge. third, it should be noted that the successful return of the shia refugees to their hometowns in sampang was not the result of structured government work, but rather due to the personal initiative of the local head and the intensives of the local government. the long-lasting efforts of the central government as the representation of the state, for approximately 10 years, did not have much impact on solving the sunni-shia problem in sampang. referring to goldstone, we should look at two general qualities that remain stability of the state: effectiveness and legitimacy. the first reflects how the state function its authority to provide security, promote economic growth, and deliver social services. the second reflects whether state action is perceived by elite and lay people as “just” and “reasonable” in term of prevailing social norms (goldstone, 2008). the state’s delay to resolve the sunni-shiite conflict in sampang can be examined from these two perspectives. on the one hand, the state did not make effective efforts to resolve the problem, on the other hand, the government’s efforts are considered unjust and unreasonable in developing a conflict solution to the sunni-shiite conflict in sampang. the initiative to take preventive measures in resolving sunni-shiite conflicts should be politically taken by the state. krasner asserts that conflict prevention must become a routine element of policymaking. he wrote that “anticipating, averting, and responding to conflict require a greater, more comprehensive level of planning and organization” (krasner & pascual, 2005). alissa wahid, national director of gusdurian, said, “favoritism and majoritarianism are getting stronger in indonesia. the government is not doing enough to enforce the constitution, and more and more conflicts are being solved by local agreements, which often represent the interests of the majority.”27 the wahid’s statement is kind of general criticism for the central government that has no serious attention to solve the conflict. the initiative to solve the problem arose from the sampang regent, the local government, who is dealing the conflict through religious and cultural approaches. this local strategy flourished the agreement between sunni and shia in sampang to build a better relation in the future. 27 office of international religious freedom, “2020 report on international religious freedom: indonesia,” may 12, 2021. https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/indonesia/ (accessed novermber 19, 2021). [ 221 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2824 conclusion conflict reconciliation between sunni and shia in sampang has stunned several phases from its emergence in 2012 to our present life. this reconciliation touched convincing attentions from governmental (such as the ministry of religious affair, the ministry of public housing, and the ministry of social affairs) and non-governmental organizations (such as abi, ijabi, bassra, cmars, and kontras) as well as grasped broadly social networks in its processes. recommendations were produced to solve and end the conflict which to some extent reduced the escalation of conflict gradually. however, the lack of returning back shia refugees to their home signified the difficult process of that reconciliation. this research found that the absence of the state in this conflict has become one of the most socially criticized-elements which hinder the process of reconciliation. peace activists and ngos look into the absence of the state involvement within the process of reconciliation. questions of political tenace of the government during the process of arose as a public discourse conversed among the parties involved in the conflict. it means that the government has not succeeded yet in resolving the conflict profoundly. in the case of sunni-shia sampang, the keywords of the conflict reconciliation depend on local agreements or individual networks between sunni, shia, and the local power. however, the local government of sampang have finally succeeded to commence an agreement between sunni and the shia refugees: the later signed an ideological agreement, a theological pact, to revert to their old belief as sunni muslims. this study limits itself to discuss the escalation of the conflict, the resolution process, and the failure of the state on addressing the root causes of the sunnishiite conflict in sampang. however, this research has limitations in revealing the network of non-governmental organizations that are also engaged in the context of resolving the sunni-shiite conflict in sampang. this topic could be another interesting research, at least to clarify the process of conflict resolution and non-governmental parties intensively involved in resolving the conflict. bibliography afdillah, m. 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[ 141 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 being chinese christian in the totok chinese churches in surabaya: continuity and change of identities linda bustan inter-religious studies program, graduate school of university gadjah mada, yogyakarta petra christian university, surabaya email: bustan.linda@gmail.com fatimah husein islamic state university sunan kalijaga, yogyakarta email: fatimahhusein@yahoo.com paulus sugeng widjaja universitas kristen duta wacana, yogyakarta e-mail: pauluswidjaja@staff.ukdw.ac.id abstract this article explores the identities of chinese christians in the totok chinese churches in surabaya. the chinese christians refer to those who arrived in surabaya from mainland china as protestant christians in the 1900s. they established the first chinese church the tiong hoa kie tok kauw hwee (thktkh) in surabaya. the thktkh has become two independent synods, namely gereja kristus tuhan (gkt, or the church of christ the lord) and gereja kristen abdiel (gka, or the abdiel christian church). the totok chinese churches refer to churches that conduct the church services in the chinese language or mandarin (guoyu). the article examines the culture, language, and origin of the chinese christians. after almost a century in surabaya, there is some continuity and change of the chinese christian identity. they still regard themselves as totok, but the meaning of totok has changed. they embrace not only chinese culture; but also mixed chinese culture with western culture and indonesian culture, which results in the so-called hybrid culture. mandarin is used in church services, whereas indonesian language and english are also employed. the originality of the congregations is no longer mono-ethnic, which is chinese. the chinese churches have become multi-ethnic churches consisting of various ethnicities in indonesia. keywords: protestant christianity, totok chinese, social identity, chinese christian. [ 142 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 introduction chinese christians have had a long history in indonesia, existing for more than a century since the colonial period (soleiman and steenbrink, 2008). indonesia’s number of chinese christians is relatively small, only 1.2 percent of the total country’s population regarded themselves as chinese descendants in the 2010 census (arifin et al., 2016). of this number, it is estimated that about 42.8 percent are christians, with 27.04 percent protestants and 15.76 percent catholics (chong, 2019). surabaya is the second-largest city with the chinese indonesian community in java after jakarta, with approximately 5.19% of the country’s total chinese-indonesian population (arifin et al., 2016). there is no official data on how many chinese-indonesian christians are in surabaya. even though they have been living in indonesia for a long time, chinese christians face challenging dis-identification, negative perceptions, and stereotyping about their ethnic identity as chinese and religious identity as christians. they are regarded as homogeneous, not heterogeneous (chong; 2016; suryadinata, 2005; widjaja, 2010). last year, i presented about chinese christians heterogeneity in an islamic university in surabaya. the participants, mostly muslim lecturers and students, responded to the presentation by stating that they have previously regarded chinese christians as homogeneous. in reality, the chinese population is highly heterogeneous with diversity in dialect, culture, and economic backgrounds. many of them speak hokkien, cantonese, teochiu, and hakka. this anthropological evidence shows the disidentification of chinese ethnicity. however, the assumption that chinese is homogeneous still exists today. in may 2017, the indonesia national survey project (insp), sponsored by the yusof ishak institute of southeast asian studies (iseas) and the indonesian survey institute (lsi), conducted a survey with 1,620 respondents from various ethnics, economic, educational, and religious background from 34 provinces in indonesia. charlotte setijadi (2017) presents the result, showing that ethnic chinese are still negatively perceived in terms of their economic privilege and national loyalty and are suspected of being chinese loyalists. they are also perceived as being exclusive and distant with indigenous indonesians. most survey respondents stated they do not want ethnic chinese leaders in governmental positions. after two decades of reformation, stereotyping towards ethnic chinese still exists (kuntjara and hoon, 2020). however, racialization has decreased towards those who are ethnically different compared to the pre-reformation era. christianization is the biggest obstacle for other religions’ acceptance of christianity (husein, 2005; mujiburrahman, 2006). furthermore, christianity [ 143 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 has been viewed as a colonial religion due to the memory of the past that the dutch colonists were christians and most chinese were christians (husein 2005). the negative perceptions of ethnic chinese and christianity make chinese christians vulnerable to violence and ‘othering’ in relations with other ethnic groups and religions. identification and recognition of ethnic and religious identities are essential to building harmony and equal relationships in the context of multiculturalism like indonesia. there are limited studies on chinese christians, particularly regarding totok1 chinese churches. the few existing ones were mainly conducted in jakarta. the term totok  chinese churches refers to those that still have bilingual (mandarin/ indonesian) or exclusively mandarin services (hoon, 2016). chang-you hoon (2016) and susy ong (2008) researched gereja kristus yesus (gky, or church of jesus christ), representing totok chineseness, the largest chinese church in jakarta. hoon’s findings show that most totok chinese churches belong to the evangelical movement, which regards “the promotion of christian fellowships and to spread the gospel” as its objective. susy ong notes that in the gky, services are conducted in the chinese language for the elderly. meanwhile, for the younger generations, services are held in the indonesian language because the youth are not fluent in their cultural language of chinese. susy ong also studied chineseness in the chinese church in gereja reformed injili indonesia (grii, or indonesian reformed evangelical church) in jakarta. even though ong (2008) uses the term ‘indonesian,’ the church’s orientation is more chinese than national (indonesian) as its ministry focuses on chinese culture and language. despite ong’s findings, grii’s focus is also on nationbuilding through the establishment of the reformed center for religion and society (rcrs) in 2006 (reformed-crs.org). meanwhile, markus dominggus l. dawa studied gereja kristus tuhan (gkt, the church of christ the lord) in surabaya and malang from a historical perspective (2017). in his opinion, the new order regime’s assimilation program failed to change the chineseness of the gkt either towards being local or towards having an indonesian identity. chineseness is still wellpreserved in gkt. this paper aims to enrich the currently scarce publications on the subject of chinese christians, particularly in surabaya. the chinese christians who originated from mainland china came to surabaya nearly a century ago. how have they constructed their ethnic and religious identities in the chinese church in surabaya? what is continuous and/or changing in their identities? this paper attempts to answer these questions by 1 totok refers to china-born chinese, pure-blood, and speak dialects or chinese daily (chong, 2016; hoon, 2015; ong, 2017). [ 144 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 examining the culture, language, and origin of the chinese christians in the tiong hoa kie tok kauw hwee (thktkh) surabaya. thktkh is currently breaking into two independent synods,2 namely into gereja kristus tuhan (gkt, or the church of christ the lord) and gereja kristen abdiel (gka, or the abdiel christian church). some identities of the totok chinese christians in surabaya have changed. others have continued to respond to government policies that have impacted interaction within-group (with other chinese dialects) and out-group (with muslims, the biggest population in surabaya and indonesia). it uses the theory of social identity, which is the main idea of jenkins’ 2008 work. it also employs the concept of ethnicity being “with a shared cultural identity, language, and origin” (kim, 2011). the primary data was collected through in-depth interviews with ten chinese church leaders and activists who are familiar with the history and activities of their churches. they are the first, second, third, and fourth-generation3 members in totok chinese churches. the participant-observation method was used to understand the chinese christians’ social and cultural contexts. it additionally used magazines and documents published by the chinese churches as primary sources. secondary data was gathered from books, journals, and literature reviews from previous researchers on totok chinese christians. the findings will be explained through a historical overview of thktkh, hybrid culture, language, and origin – regarding first, second, third-generation in totok chinese churches (gkt and gka) in surabaya. this paper uses the terms totok chinese churches and totok chinese christians interchangeably to refer to chinese christians of gkt and gka in surabaya. the tiong hoa kie tok kauw hwee (thktkh) surabaya: an historical overview chinese christians in indonesia are two groups regarding conversion to christianity. the first group consists of those who became christian after they arrived in nusantara, which was later termed indonesia. this group was evangelized and ministered by western, chinese, and local missionaries (soleiman and steenbrink, 2008). they founded peranakan4 chinese churches, such as the gereja kristen indonesia (gki, or indonesian christian church) 2 synod is a council of the church 3 the first-generation is the migrants from china. the second-generation and so forth are those born in surabaya. 4 peranakan refers to local-born chinese. they have mixed-blood from one side of their ancestors, or their father was from mainland china, and their mother was local javanese. they are of chinese [ 145 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 (ong, 2008; setiabudi, 1994). the second group consists of chinese who were christian before they arrived in indonesia, the so-called totok chinese christians (daulay, 1996; dawa, 2017). the totok chinese christians from mainland china have been present since the 1900s (dawa, 2017). they originated from the fujian and guangdong provinces as the part of the third wave of chinese immigrants in the early 20th century until the 1940s (handinoto, 2015).5 this first-generation, china-born chinese christians were from various sub-ethnics or dialects and church denominations (dawa, 2017; pitcher, 1893). they were hokkien, cantonese, fuzhou, hinghwa, and hakka. in their homeland, they were members of baptist, presbyterian-reformed, lutheran, anglican, methodist, and other denominations. ethnicity and religion are important for migrants because they give meaning, identity, and a sense of belonging (kim, 2011). nevertheless, ethnic identity is challenged by their being away from their homeland (yang, 1999). according to the theory of assimilation (kim, 2011), the originality of culture declines due to assimilation with the host culture. ong hok ham (2017) identifies that migration in groups or individuals either strengthens or weakens ethnic identity. it explains why the chineseness of chinese in java is different from chineseness of chinese in sumatra and kalimantan. chinese immigrants ttoo java usually came individually or in small groups. as a result, they greatly interacted with the local people allowing them to fuse more easily with the local culture, which eventually depreciated or even removed their original culture. they lost the ability to speak their ancestors’ language as they adopted the local culture and married local women/men. this group is referred to as peranakan, unlike the chinese in north sumatera, bangka, belitung, or pontianak called the totok. their chineseness is stronger than chinese in java. they came to those cities in groups and large numbers to work in the farming or mining industries that belonged to dutch entrepreneurs. with their arrival, they brought along structure and social organization from their homeland. due to their large numbers, these communities still practice chinese culture in their groups. however, the chinese christians from mainland china in surabaya, even though they came in individual or small groups, maintain and even have strong chineseness. the reason for this was the colonial government’s policy of wijkenstelsel law (1836-1917) which divided the population by race and residential areas by ethnicities. the chinese lived on the east side of jembatan 5 the first wave of chinese immigrants arrived in surabaya in the early 13th or 15th century till the end of the 17th. the second wave came from the period of the 18th to the end of the 19th century (handinoto, 2015). [ 146 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 merah, around kembang jepun, kapasan, and pasar atom in the so-called pecinan (basundoro, 2009). the arabs lived around masjid ampel. the dutch and europeans mostly lived around jembatan merah and simpang. meanwhile, the indigenous lived in a kampung (village) located behind the tall structures belonging to the europeans. thus, their ethnic identity strengthens when they solely interact with members of the same ethnic group. instead of losing their religiosity, the first-generation of chinese christians in surabaya founded houses of worship based on their dialects: hokkien, cantonese, fuzhou, and hinghwa (dawa, 2017). bhikhu parekh (2008) notes while significant life changes are taking place, people turn to religion. for migrants who had undergone many changes in life in this new land, religion became especially important. according to fenggang yang (1998, 1999), who studied chinese christian migrants in the united states, the christian fellowships were the place where immigrants found social belonging, psychological, and spiritual peace. these places were similar to totok chinese christians in surabaya. peter (pseudonym) a hokkien male 81 years old was a first-generation indonesian, initially born on gulangyu island in the fujian province.6 he came to surabaya with his mother and his four brothers in 1949. his family was a member of thktkh, where he along with his brothers, joined the church choir. the church was a place he could develop his singing talent and leadership skills as a church activist. the hokkien’s house of worship developed into a church by the united states episcopal methodist church in 1909. afterward, the other dialect groups joined the church. it was first joined by the cantonese (1910), followed by the fuzhou, and hinghwa (1918). in the beginning, the services were held in hokkien. as the number of speakers of each dialect increased, services were held in their respective dialects at different hours. the church is located at samudra street, north surabaya where it is still used in services. in 2009, the surabaya city government decreed the church building part of the city’s heritage. the united states episcopal methodist church ended their working-term in java, including surabaya, in 1928. the world economic crisis in the decade of the 20s and early 30s led the methodist church to reorganize its mission strategies in 1927 (daulay, 1996). they closed ministries in java and kalimantan, focusing only on sumatra. the methodist church mission was replaced by the nederlandsch zendeling genootschap (nzg). nevertheless, nzg tended to ministry among peranakan chinese churches more than totok. the methodist 6 interview with peter (pseudonym), the first-generation of the hokkien, a church leader, on february 24, 2020. [ 147 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 church’s decision to leave surabaya was the beginning of the chinese church’s independence. in 1928, the totok chinese church, with the last supporting act from the united states episcopal methodist church, registered the totok chinese church to the dutch government under the foundation of tiong hoa kie tok kauw hwee (thktkh) surabaya. the thktkh became the first ethnic chinese church in surabaya. (daulay, 1996; dawa, 2017; koentjoro, 2013; soleiman and steenbrink, 2008). the thktkh church leaders were chosen based on their respective ethnic groups (dawa, 2017). they also invited preachers from mainland china. after some time, those preachers went back to china and were replaced by others. they arranged and paid for these religious meetings. this explains why lay-people leadership is still a distinctive characteristic of chinese-speaking churches today.7 the teachings that prohibit the practicing of chinese traditions, such as ancestor worship, have made christianity categorized as a western religion by the chinese. the saying “one more christian, one less chinese” was frequently used to quip converted chinese-christians, implying that they are “traitors to the nation” (hoon, 2013; yang, 1999). in the united states, tension that regarded christianity as a western religion was overcome by many chineseamericans through integrating confucianism into christianity (hoon, 2013). confucian values align with the weber concept of protestant ethics or a worldly asceticism, such as success, hard work, being thrifty, and delayed gratification. in surabaya, the tension of being identified as western teaching dissipated when a chinese preacher, a 38-year-old hingwa man by the name of john sung and the son of a methodist pastor in mainland china, came to the archipelago after receiving an invitation from a local hinghwa community. in 1939, sung undertook spiritual revivals among the chinese christians in surabaya and several other cities (batavia, bandung, medan, makassar, and many others) (sung, 2012). he came to surabaya four times, with the first visit in 1937. the subsequent visits were in january, september, and november 1939. the attendees who came to these meetings numbered between one to two thousand people. chinese people were willing to close their shops to attend to the service every day. bibles in surabaya were out of stock, and 5000 hymn books were sold out and reprinted. on his next visit, he held a bible study conference and many chinese converted to christianity. the numbers of chinese christians increased significantly, with about 700 chinese converts 7 the interview with harianto (pseudonym), the second-generation of the hakka, a church leader, on may 18, 2019, and february 13, 2020. [ 148 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 to christianity (gunawan, 1989). the meetings were held at the stadstuin, the city theatre and gardens (today is known as the bank of indonesia’s building). in his ministry, sung used the chinese language and wore chinese clothes. sung was an example of the chinese being christian while incorporating elements of chinese culture as well. today, the thktkh has become two independent synods, namely gereja kristus tuhan (gkt, or the church of christ the lord) and gereja kristen abdiel (gka, or the abdiel christian church). the gkt synod currently consists of ten churches; meanwhile, the gka synod has five churches in surabaya. their number, which was initially only ten people (1909) regarded as probationary8 members, increased to 11 people (1911), 47 people (1912), 49 people (1916), 249 people (1925), 315 people (1937), and 434 people (1939). in 1970, adult members of gkt in malang and surabaya were 3,399. the data was collected by indonesian churches in cooperation with the research and study institute of the indonesia council of churches (cooley, 1977). not all the totok chinese churches have complete data of numbers of congregations. from the church newsweekly of ten churches of gkt and five churches of gka in surabaya, collected on june 23 until july 2, 2019, the adult participants were 6,084. hybrid culture the totok chinese churches in surabaya have been influenced by western culture, indonesian culture, and chinese culture. the mixture of cultures has made “in the between spaces… that initiate new signs of identity,” which homi bhabha (1994) called a hybrid. chang-yau hoon quoted laclau (2006) saying, “hybridization does not necessarily mean decline through the loss of identity. it can also mean empowering existing identities through the opening of new possibilities. the negotiation of different cultures creates a characteristic of “neither… nor”, “the same but not quite” (bhabha, 1994). western culture influences occurred when western missionaries embedded western culture in addition to bringing religious teaching. the clothing style, musical instruments (piano), and the liturgy of worship, including the choir’s formation, adopted a western-style after being exposed. the hymnbook used is a western hymn, which is translated into chinese and indonesian languages. the hybrid culture can also be seen in church buildings with several former church buildings belonging to western missionaries (dutch, armenian). the western-style was retained, but chinese style was added, such as the church’s 8 ‘probationer’ is the internal policy of the methodist church before people could be a full member. the people went through a series of teaching classes, such as discipleship training and being baptized to be a full member (daulay, 1996). [ 149 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 name “tiong hoa kie tok kauw hwee” written in chinese characters. the building’s inauguration plaque was also written in indonesian and chinese language. the church bell’s loud chiming can be heard surrounding the first chinese church at samudra street, indicating the service hour started. church bells chanted as a sign of the service hour are practiced by many churches in the west. in some churches, pictures of western missionaries with quotes in english are displayed to encourage the congregation regarding the mission. celebration of the chinese new year in totok chinese churches showed the hybrid culture. chinese new year has been celebrated openly again in churches post-1998 when abdurrahman wahid was president (1999-2001). i had a chance to participate in a chinese new year celebration in one of the chinese churches in surabaya. the service was bilingual in which the chinese language was translated into the indonesian language. the worship leader saidit was a welcoming spring celebration in china. however, as chinese descent, they do not fully embrace chinese tradition. the celebration of chinese new year was to express the gratitude of god’s blessings. they asked god to help them be faithful christians in the following year. they provided empty angpao (red envelopes usually filled with money as a gift). the congregation filled the angpao with money. it was given to the church as a thanksgiving, an offering to god. most of the congregation wore red clothes. it was not connected to the gods as in chinese beliefs but as a symbol of happiness. the way they celebrate chinese new year has shown that it is “the same but not quite” with authentic chinese culture. dialects, chinese language and bilingual as previously mentioned, the totok chinese christians in surabaya founded houses of worship based on hokkien, cantonese, fuzhou, and hinghwa dialects. they did not understand other dialects, only their own. for totok chinese, other chinese dialects were like a foreign language (nio, 1961). they prefered to use malay or indonesian language to communicate with other dialect groups. further, the chinese generation born in surabaya did not fully understand their families’ dialects anymore. for instance, most of the cantonese children could neither read nor write cantonese. the cantonese raised funds to assist cantonese schools in 1921. however, the school was eventually closed after four years due to the lack of teachers since most of them returned to china (dawa, 2014). according to nio joe lan (1961), after the second-generation of chinese indonesians, chinese descendents would lose their ability to speak chinese. however, the tiong hoa hwe koan (thhk) that was established in surabaya, [ 150 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 in 1903, helped the chinese to maintain the chinese language. the totok chinese mostly studied at thhk. meanwhile, the peranakan chinese studied at the hollands chinese school (hcs) established by the dutch colonial government (sai, 2016). when the chinese language or mandarin (guoyu) became the “national language” accepted as a lingua franca a commonly used as a medium language to communicate among chinese, church services changed the usage of dialects to the chinese language. in the new-order era, the government initiated an assimilation program that forbade the use of the chinese language in public. chinese schools were forced to close down in 1966. these policies affected chinese christians’ ability to achieve fluency in the chinese language especially those born after the 1960s who did not have the chance to study in chinese schools. as a result, some chinese christians continued to study in indonesian schools. some of them discontinued their studies hoping chinese schools would reopen. usually, the generation who did not studied in a chinese school could not speak chinese anymore, as experienced by maria (pseudonym), a member of gka.9 afterward, the church services were not only conducted in chinese, but also translated into indonesian (mandarin/indonesian) post 1970s. the number of indonesian-speaking congregations increased compared to the chinese-speaking congregations. later on, the chinese churches added fully indonesian-language services. even though the chinese language was prohibited from being spoken in public, it was still allowed in chinese churches.10 to preserve the ability to gain fluency with the chinese language, one of the chinese branches, gka started a mandarin course in 1973 (elyonpedia magazine, 2017). the highest number of attendees in the mandarin course was 400 participants, consisting of both chinese and non-chinese, and christian and non-christian backgrounds. those interested in learning the chinese language were not only of chinese descent but various ethnic groups and religions.11 anybody could learn and speak the chinese language by taking mandarin courses. the ability to speak chinese was no longer exclusive to those of chinese descent. even though “language is the most visible marker of identity” (sai, 2016), however, nowadays, speaking chinese daily cannot identify ethnic identity as totok chinese anymore. therefore, for halim, a totok is a person who still knows his chinese family roots and has a chinese family in mainland china even 9 conversation with maria (pseudonym), the second-generation, activist in gka, on june 28, 2019. 10 the interview with surya (pseudonym), 70 years, the second-generation of the hinghwa, a church leader, on february 27, 2020. 11 the interview with halim (pseudonym), 64 years, the third-generation of the hinghwa, a mandarin teacher, on february 11, 2020. [ 151 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 though he or she is born in indonesia.12 male harianto (pseudonym) is 73 years old and a second-generation leader in gka, who is fluent in chinese. he stated that even though his children took mandarin courses since they were young, the children preferred to use the indonesian language when conversing with him. benny, 24 years, the fourthgeneration, a member of gkt, experienced similar. he uses the indonesian language when conversing with his parents. he stated: [saya] pakai agak formal [indonesia], karena bahasa surabaya kan lebih agak bahasa gaul gitu. jadi saya agak kurang enak kalau ngomong sama orang tua dengan bahasa jawa. ([i] use rather formal (indonesian) language because my surabayan javanese language is somewhat colloquial. i feel it is not appropriate to use when conversing with parents).”13 benny has mastered english better than mandarin. his parents asked him to study mandarin in china, but he preferred to study another subject in singapore. however, his interactions with international people opened his eyes to the importance of fluently speaking the chinese language, so it motivated him to study mandarin. halim (pseudonym) a 64-year old man, and third-generation of hinghwa conveyed the same thing. even though he is a mandarin teacher, he and his children use the javanese or indonesian language rather than the chinese language in daily conversation. furthermore, he said that having a chinese name or speaking chinese after taking chinese language courses cannot identify someone as totok. instead, a person who still knows his chinese family roots and has a chinese family in mainland china even though they were born in indonesia can be categorized as totok. for this reason, he regards himself as totok although he was born in surabaya. the dynamics of chinese language usage indicate that mastering the chinese language is no longer a representation of ethnic identity. the importance of the chinese language is related to globalization, not solely to ethnicity. albeit, chinese church services have been conducted in the chinese language for almost a century; the younger generations are not motivated to master the language. they prefer to perfect english skills instead. english songs are sung in the youth services frequently. thus, the languages that are used are a mixture of chinese, indonesian, and english. the need to learn chinese 12 idem. 13 interview with benny (pseudonym), 24 years, the fourth-generation of the hokkien, on march 20, 2020. [ 152 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 has risen when facing the need to use chinese to communicate in the global community. mono-ethnic churches to multi-ethnic churches the origin of totok chinese churches (gkt and gka) was mono-ethnic – chinese – that consist of various sub-ethnics or dialects. they were mostly hokkien, cantonese, fuzhou, and hinghwa. other dialects were hakka and teochiu. among dialect groups, there was a dynamic relationship, stereotyping, and contestation. stereotyping is not just an individual interaction process, but also a collective process that results in a collective identity (jenkins, 2008). for instance, hokkien were regarded with the highest status and nonhokkien were second in the community (salmon, 2009). the hokkien’s firstgeneration brought financial capital to trade. they could trade well, and many succeeded in business. according to skinner (1979), the southern part of the fujian province where the hokkien came from is an important region in china’s foreign trade history. however, not all hokkien were wealthy people, like peter an 81-year-old hokkien church adherent. he came to surabaya with his mother and four brothers at age ten looking for a better life. his relative, who settled in ambulu village in east java, encouraged his family to migrate to indonesia. they were helped by his father’s family when they first arrived in surabaya, as they were not materially wealthy. another example is hakkas are stereotyped as cunning people who like to take advantage of others.14 skinner (1979) writes that the hakka used to live in the non-fertile hills in guangdong’s inland areas. a hakka informant explained that hakkas had to work hard to be able to survive in a difficult condition which gave them a bad reputation. nevertheless, when they first came to the archipelago, not all of them were poor. harianto’s mother was a professional midwife when she came to surabaya and helped many people give birth safely. his father did some trading jobs. harianto is currently a very successful entrepreneur who passed on the business to his children. he is an activist in the chinese christian community and supports the church and the community in many ways. stereotyping is just one aspect of cognition and identification. understanding the moment when the stereotyping started will help us understand them (jenkins, 2008). for first-generation chinese, kinship matters because it helps them survive in a foreign land. chinese christian first-generations were helped by their families, who settled in surabaya first. according to steph lawler (2014), the identity of the non-west is based on kinship ties. consequently, a family name 14 the interview with cornelius (pseudonym), a church leader, on june 3, 2019. [ 153 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 is important for totok chinese as it provides a sense of belonging and even passing down business is preferable to those who are related by blood. lawler quotes david schneider (2014) saying kinship can go through “the order by blood (children and parents, siblings, cousins)” or “the order by law (spouse, in-laws).” nevertheless, for chinese christian first-generation indonesians, the meaning of kinship was not limited to the traditional concept through blood ties, but also tied to people who have given a significant contribution to their life. for those who did not have a family by blood ties in the new land, they were helped by the same dialect group. surya’s grandparent, the hinghwa’s firstgeneration, ran away from the japanese invasion. his grandparents migrated to surabaya in the 1930s. they did not have a family or blood ties in surabaya. his grandfather was helped by the hinghw and he opened a little grocery store. for surya and his family, the unfamiliar hinghwa who helped them became akin to new family. furthermore, the first-generation could have two family names, their father’s family name and the given name belonging to the host who adopted them in the new land. during the dutch rule many hosts accepted newly-arrived immigrants into their families to ease administrative requirements (oei and sari, 2012; wu and ngo, 2015). the kinship changed in a broader sense to how “people create similarity or difference between themselves and others” (lawler, 2014) like the first-generation experienced. afterward, the congregations of mono-ethnic churches were no longer based on the same dialect groups as they were first founded. the usage of the mandarin, not dialects, allows interactions among different dialect groups. the inter-dialect group marriages caused the existence of mixed dialect groups in chinese churches. not many still belong to pure dialect groups. when the indonesian language was used in the church services, chinese churches become more accessible to other ethnic groups. the church leaders of gkt and gka estimate their congregations and pastors are 90% from chinese descent, and ten percent from various ethnicities, such as batak, javanese, manado, nias, and sumbawa. the non-chinese congregations joined the chinese churches for pragmatic reasonseither living near the church buildings, working at the church, or with encouragement from their chinese friends. in chinese churches, identification of similarity is not by ethnicity but by occupation and roles in the community. chinese and non-chinese christians get along well when they have the same business or the same social status, [ 154 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 regardless of ethnicity.15 non-chinese christians, although their number is small, do not feel inferior. they can be accepted very well by the chinese christians, as stated by yusuf (pseudonym), a 51-year old manadonese.16 yusuf and his family were members of the chinese church for more than ten years. a similar experience was shared by 48-year old sumbawan ruben (pseudonym)17 who married a chinese church member. ruben experienced that acceptance into the chinese christian group is not by ethnicity, but by the same value of life, such as hard work, or politeness toward the elders. conclusion understanding the identities of chinese christians in surabaya cannot be separated from the process of identification they experienced in history. identity is the result of social construction that never ends, but also by everyday life experiences. for the older generation, ethnic identity is more dominant than religious identity. on the contrary, religious identity is more dominant for the younger generation. it can be known from the election of a wife or husband. the same ethnicity or dialect matters for the older generation. however, for the younger generation, the similarity of religion is more important than ethnicity. moreover, they still perceive themselves as chinese, but each generation gives a different meaning to it. the older generation still carries a strong chinese identity which is not the case with the younger ones. their identities are embedded in being chinese-indonesian. it can be seen in badminton games between china and indonesia. the older generation supports china’s team, but the younger generation takes side with the indonesian’s. the younger generation no longer emphasizes their ethnic identity because they already experienced global cultural exchanges. this means there is no more depth in meaning regarding chinese identity among the present generation compared with the previous ones. however, religious identity is still important to them. there have been continuity and changes of chinese christian identities in the chinese churches, namely the meaning of totok chinese. these are seen from the way they carry out chinese culture, the usage of chinese language, and their originality of ethnicity. the meaning of totok chinese is constantly changing, not identified by the place of birth in mainland china, the chinese 15 the interview with simon (pseudonym), 61 years, the third-generation of the fuzhou, a church leader, on may 18, 2019. 16 the conversation with yusuf (pseudonym), 51 years, a manadonese, a church leader, on may 18, 2019. 17 the interview with ruben (pseudonym), 48 years, a sumbawa born, a church leader, on may 23, 2019. [ 155 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 language they speak daily, or a chinese name, like chinese in manado. a person who knows their chinese roots, and still has relations with their family in mainland china without a mixed-ethnic marriage, can be considered as totok. as an institution, the chinese churches, though they conduct services in mandarin, due to the mixed-ethnic congregations and some services usage fully of the indonesian language, are more appropriately referred to as mandarin-speaking churches or chinese-speaking churches rather than the chinese churches. the culture embraced by the chinese churches is not only chinese culture, but is mixture of western culture, chinese culture, and indonesian culture – a so-called hybrid culture. the process of becoming a hybrid culture cannot be separated from the influence of the western missionaries who ministered among chinese christians. the interaction of chinese christians with congregations from other ethnic groups in indonesia also affect the richness of hybrid cultural development within the chinese churches. languages used in the chinese churches are no longer based on dialects, but a combination of languages – mandarin, indonesian, and english. likewise, the congregations of the chinese churches are not only mono-ethnic groups the chinese, but various ethnics in indonesia. henceforth, the chinese churches change to be multi-ethnic churches, even though mostly the congregations are chinese descent. bibliography arifin, e. n., hasbullah, m. s., & pramono, a. (2017). chinese indonesians: how many, who and where? asian ethnicity, 18(3), 310–329. basundoro, p. (2009). dua kota tiga zaman: surabaya dan malang sejak kolonial sampai kemerdekaan. malang: penerbit ombak. bhabha, h. k. (1994). the location of culture (routledge classics). new york: routledge. chong, t. (2019). independent churches in indonesia: challenges and innovations. perspective, 8, 1–7. chong, w.l. (2016). rethinking the position of ethnic chinese indonesians. sejarah, 25, 96-108. cooley, f.l. (1977). the church in indonesia. occasional bulletin, 1(4). daulay, r. m. (1996). kekristenan dan kebangsaan. yogyakarta: taman pustaka kristen. [ 156 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 dawa, m. d. (2014). gereja kristus tuhan dari masa ke masa: dari thktkh classic oost-java menjadi gkt. malang: sinode gereja kristus tuhan. dawa, m. d. 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(2006). assimilation, multiculturalism, hybridity: the dilemmas of ethnic chinese in post-suharto indonesia. asian ethnicity, 7(2), 149166. husein, f. (2005). muslim-christian relations in the new order indonesia. bandung: mizan. jenkins, r. (2008). social identity (third). new york: routledge. kim, r.y. (2011). religion and ethnicity: theoretical connections. religions, 2, 312-329. koentjoro, s. (2013). sinode gereja kristen abdiel dalam lintasan sejarah. surabaya: sinode gereja kristen abdiel. koning, j. (2011). business, belief, and belonging: small business owners and conversion to charismatic christianity business. in j. koning, m. dieleman & p. post (eds.), chinese indonesians and regime change (pp. 23-46). leiden: brill. [ 157 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 kuntjara, e., & hoon, c. y. (2020). reassessing chinese indonesian stereotypes: two decades after reformasi. south east asia research, 28(2), 199–216. lawler, s. (2014). identity: sociological perspectives. cambridge: polity press. nio, j.l. (1961). peradaban tionghoa selajang pandang. jakarta: keng po. mujiburrahman. (2006). feeling threatened: muslim-christian relations in indonesia’s new order. amsterdam university. ong, h. h. (2017). migrasi cina, kapitalisme cina dan anti cina. yogyakarta: komunitas bambu. ong, s. (2008). ethnic chinese religions: some recent developments. ethnic chinese in contemporary indonesia, pp. 97–116. parekh, bhikhu. (2008). a new politics of identity. new york: palgrave macmillan. pitcher, p. w. (1893). a history of the amoy mission, china. board of publication of the reformed church in america. sai, s. m. (2016). mandarin lessons: modernity, colonialism and chinese cultural nationalism in the dutch east indies, c.1900s. inter-asia cultural studies, 17(3), 375-394. salmon, c. (2009). the chinese community of surabaya, from its origins to the 1930s crisis. chinese southern diaspora studies, 3, 22-60. setiabudi, n. (1994). christian chinese minority in indonesia, with special reference to the gereja kristen indonesia: a sociological and theological analysis. boston college. setijadi, c. (2017). chinese indonesians in the eyes of the pribumi public. perspective, 73, 1-12. skinner, g. w. (1979). golongan minoritas tionghoa. in m. g. tan (ed.), golongan etnis tionghoa di indonesia: suatu masalah pembinaan kesatuan bangsa. jakarta: gramedi, pp. 1–29. soleiman, y., & steenbrink, k. (2008). chinese christian communities in indonesia. in j. s. aritonang & k. steenbrink (eds.), a history of christianity in indonesia (pp. 903–924). brill. sung, j. (2012). the diary of john sung. singapore: genesis books. suryadinata, l. (2005). pribumi indonesians, the chinese minority and china. marshall cavendish. [ 158 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1828 widjaja, p. s. (2010). character formation and social transformation: an appeal to the indonesian churches amidst the so-called chinese problem. vdm verlag dr. müller. yang, f. (1999). chinese christians in america: conversion, assimilation, and adhesive identities. pennsylvania: the pennsylvania state university press. -------. (1998). chinese conversion to evangelical christianity: the importance of social and cultural contexts. sociology of religion, 59 (3), 237-257. website: http://www.reformed-crs.org [ 199 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 modern religious counseling model in the ancient manuscript of lontara attorioloang ri wajo hesty nurrahmi iain pontianak, kalimantan barat, indonesia email: hestynurrahmi@iainptk.ac.id patmawati iain pontianak, kalimantan barat indonesia email: fwati1974@gmail.com labi hadji sarip riwarung chairman folklore division, mamitua saber research center, mindanao state university email: labiriwarung@yahoo.com abstract lontara attorioloang ri wajo is one of the ancient manuscripts of bugis found in sambas, west kalimantan. although ancient manuscripts have long been recognized as being important sources of physical and spiritual life for indi­ genous peoples, they have not been properly researched in academic discourse. the study of ancient manuscripts is still rarely done by historical researchers in west kalimantan. in fact, the texts cover many issues including important as­ pects of human life such as religion, nation, and other human needs. this study focuses on the counselors, themes, and model of religious counseling presented in the manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo. content analysis is employed to discuss the text with regard to counseling figures, themes of religious counseling, and counseling model. the data indicates that the arung matoae (king) in wajo kingdom was an important counselor in the region. he practiced religious coun­ seling that covered monotheism, leadership, human relations, and relationships to the universe. the king applied individual and group counseling for his reli­ gious counseling activities. this study offers new insight into religious counseling science as it has been practiced by people in the past as recorded in the manu­ script. past cultural track records can be restored with in­depth studies of the text which may lead to multi­disciplines that involve counseling experts, philologists, and historians collaborating to reveal further research findings. keywords: religious counseling, lontara attorioloang ri wajo, west kalimantan. [ 200 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 introduction indonesia is known as a home of ancient manuscripts, spread throughout several regions, such as java, bali, madura, lombok, bima, aceh, north sumatra, west sumatra, south sumatra, south sulawesi, west sulawesi, and west kalimantan. there are varied estimates of the exact number of the total manuscripts; among them are estimates of 5000 manuscripts (ismail husen, 1974), 4000 (chambert loir, 1980), and 10,000 (russel jones in amin, 2012: 50), with some being found not in indonesia itself, but overseas, in countries such as netherlands, germany, france, malaysia, singapore, and brunei darussalam (amin, 2012: 50). as for manuscripts found in west kalimantan, they are not only stored in the museum and historical research center, but also kept by various manuscript aficionados, common folk, disciples, and descendants of the manuscript authors. however, these manuscripts have not been neatly catalogued, unlike the manuscripts in aceh, sulawesi, and java. this is due to several factors, such as the vast area of west kalimantan, the loss of several local thrones, and the historical dark chapter of bloody mandor, when numerous intellectual figures of old west kalimantan (whether from among the royal courts, religious circles, or merchant classes) were slaughtered by the japanese occupiers. the manuscripts presented in west kalimantan have varying origins, some brought in by diaspora from javanese, sundanese, bugis, banjar, acehnese, pattani arabs, and various other diaspora migrants, while some others were written by local ulemas, scholars, statesmen (including kings like sultan muhammad syafiuddin of sambas, syarif saleh al-idrus of kubu, and syarif abdurrahman al-qadri of pontianak), and disciples of the ulemas. these manuscripts cover various topics, such as religious matters (tauhid, sharia, morals, even the stages of death encountered by men), history (chronicles of the prophets, royal genealogies, and history of the religious orders), art, and politics (patmawati & zakirman, 2019). lontara attorioloang ri wajo is a manuscript originating from wajo, an ethnically bugis region of south sulawesi. the bugis are famed as explorers, migrants, diaspora, or pasompe, seeking a better life elsewhere. in their journeys, they bring lontaras (manuscripts), proving the literacy of the bugis society. one of the regions visited by these bugis diaspora was west kalimantan. their literary traces in this region can still be found in places like the west kalimantan museum, private manuscript collections (such as ones belonging to abdurrahman pallogah and andi syafaruddin), and manuscripts still in the hands of the bugis descendants themselves, as in the case of this lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript (patmawati dan besse wahida, 2015). until recently, the exact whereabouts of this manuscript was hard to locate, as its owner had passed away several years ago. the researcher [ 201 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 only managed to discover the manuscript thanks to the help of a speaker and organizer of a manuscript seminar in brunei, who revealed they had said manuscript when the researcher presented a photograph of it. the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript has been studied by patmawati and besse wahida (2015), to learn about the history of wajo with topics including: leadership in the wajo kingdom, marriages among the wajo royal family and government officials, messages (pappaseng) of arung matoae ri wajo, and the wajo territorial control. in 2017, these scholars wrote about the communication model expressed in the manuscript. this study focuses on three aspects: first, a one-way and a two-way communication model; second, message and content dimensions including agreement, peace, brotherhood, conquest, invitation, gift, treaty, information, warning, pappaseng (messages), help, oath, rebellion, and orders. third, the dimensions of the relationship between communicators and communicants including the relationship between kings; kings and envoys; as well as kings and their people. in 2019, they studied the manuscript, producing a book entitled “konsep ketauhidan dalam naskah lontara attorioloang ri wajo’’ in which they discussed the oneness of god in his attribute and the oneness of god in power. however, these three studies have not yet covered the topic of religious counseling found in the manuscript, which includes the counseling model, examples of counselors and counselees, and the religious topics they counseled about. in general, studies about religious counseling in the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript is important to reveal, as part of the national intellectual treasure. the manuscript of lontara attorioloang ri wajo is different from the lontara script found in west kalimantan since the lontara manuscripts are generally presented in dialogue between all the actors, except during large group guidance. meanwhile, other lontara manuscripts are presented in a descriptive form. more specifically, this study will hopefully give insight in order to develop religious counseling based on manuscripts present in west kalimantan, thus producing a new generation who knows and has an interest in studying these ancient manuscripts they inherited from their ancestors, feeling pride in what their ancestors have achieved. the qualitative approach is used with the descriptive method. the manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo is examined to reveal the counselor figures, religious counseling themes, and sort out the counseling models. the content analysis by fraenkel and wallen (2003) is employed in the study that includes setting specific goals to be achieved; defining important terms that must be explained in detail; specifying the units to be analyzed; searching for relevant data; building rational or conceptual correlation to explain how data relate to objectives; [ 202 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 sample-selection planning; and category-coding formulation (jumal a, 2018: 6). the latin transcription of the parts of lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript concerning such practices of religious counseling is reproduced in this paper, to preserve the bugis language in its diaspora, particularly the west kalimantan bugis community, and also to help readers to make corrections and/or critiques. religious counseling the work of counseling started to be publicly known in 1908 in the united states, marked by the foundation of the vocational bureau by frank parsons, also known as the “father of the guidance movement” in the us (ina, 2017). the development of counseling was affected by several factors, such as the immigration wave coming into the us in search of jobs, the christian view of the world as a battlefield between good and evil, and also the appearance of syekh ali mahfuzh’s 1918 book, titled “hidayah al­mursyidin ila thuruq al­wa’zh wa al­khithobah” or guidance for those given guidance towards techniques of giving advice and speeches (aziz, 2017: 71), in which religious counseling, in the context of islamic counseling, is placed as part of the rise of the psychological inspection movement. as time goes, counseling grows to become a scientific discipline. however, counseling in this religious counseling context has been practiced by many religious practitioners since the very beginning. this became the basis for the birth of religious counseling as a scientific study. according to amin (as quoted by nooraeni, 2020: 131), religious (islamic) counseling can be defined as “… the process of providing targeted, continuous, and systematic assistance to each individual so that he can develop his religious potential or nature optimally by internalizing the values contained in the qur’an and as-sunnah into himself, so that he can live in harmony and in accordance with the quran and sunnah”. the spreading of specific religious teachings among certain target demographics requires a personal relationship between the counselor and counselee. these religious counselings are oriented more towards solving individual and/or group problems faced by the counselees, with the counselor giving aid in said problem-solving process. aunur rahim faqih (in dulhadi, 2017: 144) stated that religious counseling is the process of giving assistance to individuals to be aware of their existence as god’s creatures to always have their thoughts and actions in harmony with divine guidance so that the happiness of the afterlife can be achieved. religious counseling means the internalization and transmission of divine teachings. the internalization here means that a counselor, before carrying out their practice, has first practiced [ 203 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 and implemented divine teachings, or carried out nafsiyah counseling, which is a self-counseling process carried out in individually by internalizing religious teachings in the functioning of their human nature, which is shown in religious behavior in accordance with divine guidance, maintaining mental enlightenment and self-reflection. whereas, transmission is the process of delivering and guiding individuals or small groups in order to provide solutions to the problems they face (kusnawan, 2020: 22). counselors in religious counseling are demanded to forge strong ties with both god and their counselees in addition to having comprehensive religious knowledge, living their lives in accordance to said knowledge, and having acute empathy to understand their counselees (aziz, 2017: 188). according to syukriadi sambas (as quoted by patmawati and sukmawati (2018: 214), a counselor has to perform oral and bodily activities. oral activities are symbolized by language while the bodily activities are through the morals and behavior of the counselor. it is true that a counselor has to first perform irsyad nafsi, or a self-counseling, where the person of a counselor and counselee becomes one, in the would-be counselor. thus, before giving any counseling to the counselees, the counselor first has to match their words to their actions. the successes of prophets ya’qub as, isa as, and muhammad saw as religious counselors cannot be separated from their personal striving towards honor and their fear of committed to unblessed-by-god acts. they preserved themselves from allah’s punishment, both in this world and the afterlife, and improved their piety, worship, and fear only reserved for the all-powerful. thus, the religions they brought to this world (judaism, christianity, and islam) still have many followers today. without focusing on specific religious labels, all religious counseling has the exact same goals. they all try to help individuals prevent problems in their religious life, solve problems related to religious life, and help those individuals in preserving, or even improving the quality of their religious life. thus, the counselees of religious counseling include those individuals and/or groups who are not yet convinced of the importance of religion, those who want to believe in religion, but are still unsure of which religion to believe in, those who start to doubt their religion, and those who experience religious conflicts due to incorrect information or lack of understanding concerning their religion, and those who have not entirely applied the teachings of their religion (dulhadi, 2017: 145-146). religious counseling is related to humanity’s nature, because each individual has a spiritual side that pushes them to be religious, pious, loving of justice, and hating evil and injustice. it is this drive that distinguishes humans from other creatures. abraham maslow stated that [ 204 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 this spiritual need of humans is a natural need which fulfillment depends on individual personality and maturity (najati, 2010: 31). all religions lead humans to love good; forge strong ties with both god and fellow humans; foster the spirit of brotherhood regardless of labels; cooperate in pursuit of fastabiqul khaerat; and be loyal and build a society based on said loyalty and solidarity, where each feel like they are fingers of one hand. religious counseling serves to guide humans to develop a universal love of others; prioritize the common good; be good to other people, the society at large, and to nature; weaken the feelings of hate and anger; eliminate injustice and enmity; and curb the tendencies of self-aggrandizement and egocentrism. there is no doubt that the ability to love other beings, whether fellow humans, animals, or nature will cure the feelings of isolation and calm both body and soul. in essence, religious counseling helps the counselees solve their religious problems, whether related to god, fellow creatures, or nature, both in the present and the future. religious counseling helps develop a healthy mentality, attitude, and behavior. lontara attoioloang ri wajo and model of religious counseling the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript is a manuscript found in the possession of ancient manuscript collector, mul’am husairi, a bugis descendant residing in sambas region of west kalimantan, indonesia. the manuscript was photographed, because the papers can no longer be photocopied. those photos were then handed to yahya natsir, a bugis and senior lecturer at stain pontianak. the manuscript was then handed to his daughter and fellow stain pontianak lecturer, nely mujahidah, before any study was done. it was from nely mujahidah that the manuscript was handed to the researchers, for further research. the manuscript consists of 52 pages, written in both bugis language and script. the manuscript is no longer complete, missing several parts at the beginning and middle, and the edges of the pages are no longer readable. this causes the information contained in the manuscript to be rather incomplete and incoherent. to supplement this, the researchers use literature about the kingdom of wajo, to understand the figures/counselors and the conditions duringreligious counseling. the text lontara attorioloang ri wajo talks about leadership; the kingdom of wajo did not base their leadership on to manurung, but rather on individual intelligence and capabilities. from the founding of the kingdom in the 14th century until its fall in the 20th, there were 45 arung matoae in total who ruled wajo (kesuma, 2004: 42), but only 22 were mentioned in the manuscript. [ 205 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 among them, only the ones who practiced religious counseling, either as counselor or counselee, will be discussed by the researchers. they are arung matoae iv lataddampare puangrimaggalatung, arung matoae v tonampe, dan arung matoae xi la mungkace toudamang. others mentioned in the manuscript are tomaddualeng (betteng pola), a king of gowa referred to as karaengnge, and matoae ri mario. besides talking about leadership, the text of lontara attorioloang ri wajo also contains pappaseng (messages) given by arung matoae and tomaddualeng to their children, their people, and to messengers from other kingdoms such as gowa, bone, and luwu. these messages are the ones given through counseling. the model refers to a systematic and abstract image, illustrating certain potentials related to various aspects of a process. in this context, the process refers to the process of religious counseling. this section discusses models of individual and group counseling as mentioned by hafied cangara (in patmawati & wahida, 2017: 88). individual or fardiyah counseling is a faceto-face interaction between counselor and counselee, in the format of a dialogue, so that the counselee’s response to the counselor’s message, whether positive or negative, can be found immediately. shaqr (in kusnawan, 2020: 93) mentioned that fardiyah counseling is a delivery of a message done faceto-face, which does not necessarily require prior planning. the characteristics of individual counseling include private contacts that can be done every day, everywhere, and in accordance with their habits. these habits include private contacts not being restrained by any protocols, being free to cover various types of transactions, and can be done in secret, thus free from the factors of popularity and riya. it also does not require many facilities and can be done freely and openly, thus allowing one to express even private problems, making it easier to form a psychological bond between counselor and counselee. in individual counseling, a special, dynamic relationship is formed, because in this relationship, the counselee can feel accepted and understood by the counselor. the counselor accepts the counselee privately, without passing any judgment. the counselee feels as though someone can not only understand their personal problems, but also wants to help them solve it. both counselor and counselee can learn from each other, in a special and private relationship (nurihsan, 2005: 10). the operational procedure for counselors in individual counseling involves the counselor acting tolerant and gentle to the counselee; appreciating and respecting the counselee as fellow servants of god who has their own feelings and thoughts; inspecting and understanding the counselee’s personality in full, along with their psychological and social problems; choosing the most urgent of those problems as a priority to solve; stressing the [ 206 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 introduction of the truth of religion to the counselee; fostering an atmosphere of equality between the counselor and counselee, avoiding blatant appearances of status difference; and avoiding forcing opinions and subjectivity that would burden the counselee beyond their capabilities. the counselor serves to foster the potential of the counselee, which includes assam’a, al­absyar, and al­afidah (the potential for listening, seeing, and feeling). these three potentials need to be developed to achieve manunggalin kawulo lan gusti. meanwhile, group counseling refers to counseling involving 4-8 counselees with 1-2 counselors. they discuss problems such as the ability to forge relations and communication, developing personal abilities, and methods to face problems wisely. this small group of counselees is guided to trust, treat warmly, understand, accept, and support each other in the group. counselees in group counseling can use their interactions in the group to improve their understanding and acceptance of certain values and goals, as well as eliminating unsavory attitudes and behaviors (pauline harrison as quoted by kurnanto, 2014: 7). group counseling is a form of help for individuals in a collaborative situation, which serves as either a preventive or curative measure, aimed to aid their growth and development. this means that group counseling serves to push and motivate the counselees to change themselves by utilizing all their potential. thus, the information given in group counseling is tailored to help fix and improve self-understanding and understanding of others, accompanied by a change in the counselees’ behavior (nurihsan, 2005:17). individual and group counseling approaches thus aim to guide counselees to change themselves to become insan kamil by finding all the divine potential in themselves. counseling is more continuous, simultaneous, and intensive, done on a casuistic basis, on aspects that affect individual, familial, and social life (sukayat, 2015: 23). counseling can be done through various methods, such as: first, mauidzah hasanah, or a good teaching, where the counseling is done without any element of force, hurt, or offense, but done sympathetically, focusing on humanitarian values (abdullah, 2018:141). second, dialogue or two-way conversation between counselor and counselee gives a feeling of equality between them (aripudin, 2011: 126), where the counselor and counselee are the main actors, so that the counseling process can begin and end anytime and anywhere. third, advising, where the counselor gives constructive advice to the counselee, guiding them to act morally with kind, easy to accept, and straightforward words, avoiding being rude and blaming the counselee, so that the counselee can openly and willingly follow advice. ali musthafa yakub (as quoted by amin, 2009: 100) explains that good advice consists of words that are useful to those who hear it, and satisfying arguments [ 207 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 so that the counselee accepts the words as truth. important persons in religious counseling religious counselors mentioned in the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript include the names of arung matoae puang rimaggalatung, and arung matoae lamungkace toudamang, alongside tomaddualeng. arung matoae puang rimaggalatung was the 4th king of wajo, ruling for thirty years (1491-1521). in his era, wajo experienced a territorial expansion, to the point that some neighboring kingdoms annexed themselves into wajo willingly, such as timurung, soppeng, enrekang, batulappa, and larompong. these kingdoms were gifted by the kingdom of luwu to wajo. besides being known as a statesman, arung matoae puang rimaggalatung was also known as a law philosopher and an economist. as a statesman, arung matoae puang rimaggalatung declared the criteria needed for a would-be leader to be elected by the people of wajo as arung matoae would be malempu (honesty), macca (intelligence), malabo (generosity), and warani (courageousness). the kingdom of wajo did not recognize hereditary succession of office, even though many children of arungs became arungs themselves, due to neighboring kingdoms asking for the descendants of arung matoae to become their arung, as illustrated in the following dialogue found in the manuscript: “nasetaung nawwanuwa libukangnge ri lapeneki to marioe. nauttama ri wajo milau arung. naiyya napoada iyyamai kulaoang puang. ammaseangnga muarengnga seuawwae kialai arung. naiyya napoada arung matoae puangrimaggalatung. arung maneng anakku matoa. apa iya tonampe iyae nakuelorang tolawa. naiyya wepabbata arung penrang parigi napolakkai. nakkeda matoae ri mario iyamuna mai anetta tonampe. nakkeda arung matoae nalengngi aga matoa arungnge ri wajo kuwerekko. seuwwapi pale anakku tengngarung lamaddaremeng piiyanaro mulao muala arung. narekko mucaccai gau’na parewekengnga mai anakku. kuwerekko laingnge arung apa teawa sianre uno anekku. nakkeda matoae ri mario. maukucacca anetta gau’na tekke teai to. nakkeda arung matoae. iyanaritu adammu matoa nasabbi dewata seuwwaemau mucacca gau’na anekku temmutai to. nakado matoae ri mario. nasitinro’na lao surona arung matoae to marioe lao ri kera malai lamaddaremeng nawawai ri peneki napatettongi arung.” “a year after libukkangge to mario resided in lapeneki, he came to wajo asking for a ruler. they said, ‘our visit here is to beg your willingness, to give one of your children to be our arung’. then arung matoae puangrimaggalatung said, ‘all my children are already arungs; [ 208 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 tonampe is the one i have intended to be my successor; wepabata is married to arung pinrang, and wemallaka is married to arung parigi’. matoae ri mario said, ‘please give us your son tonampe’. arung matoae then said, ‘then who would be arung in wajo if i give him to you. there is still one of my children who has not become arung, lamaddaremeng, he will be the one you will raise as arung. if you do not like him, then return him to me, and i will give you another to be arung, because i do not want my children to be enemies.’ then said matoae ri mario, ‘even if i do not like your child, that i will not do.’ arung matoae said, ‘your words has been witnessed by god the one.’ then the delegates of arung matoae and mario went to kera to fetch lamaddaremeng and bring him to peneki to be arung”. the dialogue demonstrates that the children of arung matoae puangrimaggalatung, both sons and daughters, were wanted by other kingdoms to be kings in their kingdom, because the of arungs in wajo were paragons followed by their people. the people of wajo would just leave their lands if they dislike their arung. according to brooke (in patmawati and besse wahida, 2015: 229), “all offices of the kingdom, even including arung matoae itself, are open to women, and they really have filled important positions in the government.” arung matoae lamungkace toudamang was the eleventh arung of wajo, and the manuscript told a story of arungs/kings of other kingdoms coming to visit him in order to ask for guidance concerning religion and how to manage a kingdom. arung toudamang continued the messages of previous arungs, such as arung puangrimaggalatung about honesty, courage, intelligence, and economic success. as for tomaddualeng, he was datu renring betteng pola who was very intelligent. he was the one who defused tensions between the king of gowa, who accused wajo of betraying a treaty between the two kingdoms. the religious counseling found in the text that was done by arung matoae ri wajo and betteng pola, with all the prerequisites they had, are in line with the requirement for religious counselors to include nafsiyah characteristics. these characteristics were perfect personality (both mentally and physically), physical characteristics (having healthy body condition and functions and free from diseases), and ijtimaiyah characteristics (behavioral perfection in interaction with others) (kusnawan, 2020: 55-56). religious values as the basis of the counseling the themes discussed in religious counseling in the text of lontara attorioloang ri wajo include the issues of the oneness of god, leadership, interpersonal [ 209 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 relations, and relationship with nature. the theme of oneness of god can be seen in a dialog between arung matoae lamungkace toudamang and karaeng matoae ri gowa, recorded as such: “namalasa arungmatoae naengkasi karaengnge matoae muttama ri wajo. mitai lasanna arung matoae. nakkeda karaengnge maserro ritu lasammu ancaji amasseangnga mupoada adangnge seaga majeppu dewata. nakkeda arung matoae seuwwamua ritu dewata suronamua ritu dewata maega. nakkeda kaaenge iyyaga dewwata seuwwae tekkeina’na tekke ammana. nakkeda arung matoae iyyamuanariaseng dewata seuwwae tekke ina’ga tekke amma;ga”. “the arung matoae have fallen ill, thus the karaeng matoae came to wajo again to visit him. said the karaenge,‘your illness seems severe, thus please take pity on me and pass on to me messages concerning the one god’. then said arung matoae, ‘there is only one god, the one god, and it is only his messengers that are plenty’. the karaeng asked,‘is the one god either begotten or can beget?’ answered arung matoae “the one god is a god who neither begets nor begotten’”. the passage shows that arung matoae lamungkace toudamang had reached the stage of witnessing the presence of the one god (dewata seuwwae), the god of all the universe. he found his god by relying on his mind. a muslim philosopher, al-farabi (in patmawati and besse wahida, 2018: 177) stated that philosophy, in the sense of using a rational mind, generally and widely predated religion, both temporally and logically. temporally predated because the beginnings of philosophy can be traced back to the era of ancient egypt and mesopotamia, far before the era of prophets ibrahim and musa as. logically predated because all truths of religion must be initially understood and stated through rational means, before the advent of the prophets. the message in the religious counseling between arung matoae lamungkace toudamang (counselor) and karaeng matoae (counselee) concerns the matter of god’s oneness. the counselor delivers their message to the counselee in accordance with the counselee’s problem, here regarding the counselor’s understanding of the one god. this counseling is an example of individual counseling. as stated by muhammad surya and winkel (in cecep maulana: 2016), the aspects of individual problems that require individual counseling are such as: (a) an individual’s ability to understand themselves, (b) an individual’s ability to make their own decisions, (c) an individual’s ability to solve problems concerning their personal spiritual condition, such as matters concerning their relationship with god. [ 210 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 religious counseling in matters of leadership can be seen in the saying from arung matoae puangrimaggalatu who said, “natelloppulo taunna arung matoae puangrimaggalatung. namalasana nataro sirina pasipulungngi to wajoe. nakkeda arung matoae. maserro lasakku to wajo. rekko matea iyaya muala arung matoae rimunrikku bolaiyengngi gaue eppae. seuwwani malempue, maduanna maccapi, matelluna malabopi, maeppa’na waranipi” translated as: (after thirty years ruling as arung matoae, puangrimaggalatung fell ill, he then gathered the people of wajo. arung matoa said ‘my illness is very severe. if i die, then the one who will become arung matoa after me is one who has four traits: firstly, honest; secondly, intelligent; thirdly, generous; and fourthly, courageous). religious counseling is not solely concerned with ritual relations with god, but state matters too. this matter of leadership was also reiterated by arung matoae lamungkace toudamang when he gave counseling to his people in the form of paseng (a message). in said message, he asked his people to not forget the message of arung matoae puangrimaggalatung about the criteria needed in a leader while choosing a subsequent leader. this involvement of the common people in the selection of the next arung shows that wajo is a democratic society, able to choose their own representation in the government. thus, even though wajo is a kingdom, its people do not blindly obey the kings personally. they rather obey their ade’ (customs), which they have agreed upon among themselves (kesuma, 2004: 46). in effectively controlling a state, arung matoae lamungkace toudamang believed there were three things that would ruin a state, as expressed in his saying; “iyato kupoada­adakko towajo aja’ mupogau solaingngengi tanamu. telluritu solangi tanae seuwwani dekkua tannia ade’na tanae ri pogau. maduanna dekkua matau’ki mappainge’ ri arungnge. matelluna arungnge nalao saro mase ri wanuwa laing ri padanna arung” translated as (and i want to tell the people of wajo, do not commit acts that can ruin your land. there are three things that will ruin your land, which are: commiting things in violation of your own customs, fear of advicing your arung, and an arung begging the mercy of another arung). it can be understood that the society of wajo is a very open society as they are free to travel to any kingdom, watching and observing other lands. however, they are also reminded to not easily imitate foreign customs that might ruin them, either as an individual, as a society, or as a nation. the highest authority in wajo society is the people, and they choose the best among them to be arung, who they view is capable and able to handle state affairs. the king does not reject critiques, and rather encourages the people to advise them if they are about to commit actions that might harm the kingdom. in the lontara attorioloang ri wajo, it is mentioned that a certain paddanreng betteng pola (high official of the kingdom) named [ 211 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 la pattedungi tosamallangi, the third batara wajo, was a depraved man, who violated customs by kidnapping someone. at the end, he was exiled from wajo and executed by the people (patmawati and besse wahida, 2015: 225). if an arung no longer possessed the essential traits to be a just arung, it would lead to the destruction of the kingdom. the kingdom of wajo proudly and doggedly held onto their independence. the arung, as the highest leader of the kingdom, was discouraged from begging the mercy of foreign arungs, because that would weaken wajo itself. this statement of arung matoae lamungkace toudamang would ultimately be proven by the history of various kingdoms in indonesia, who lost their independence after various dependant treaties with colonial powers voc/ netherlands, reducing them to mere vassals and even colonies, no longer free to enact their own policies. this can be clearly seen in the various kingdoms in west kalimantan, especially in pontianak, sambas, kubu, and mempawah, excluding the kingdom of piasak who stubbornly defied voc attempts to make them sign contracts. in those vassal kingdoms, the king was only a ceremonial throne, with control of politics and economy fully in the hands of foreigners. this is what needs to be taken as a lesson in nationhood, where a great nation is one that can stand on their own two feet, without the support of foreign powers who ultimately aim to reduce the nation into dependents, even with “soft” methods of control such as long-term foreign loans. once a nation became dependent on foreign powers, their policies no longer put their own people’s interests first, prioritizing the interests of foreign powers instead. conversely from stating the three matters that would ruin a nation, arung matoae lamungkace toudamang also revealed things that would lead a nation to greatness in the following saying: “dua to ritu pedecengi tana. seuwwani tessi attampu’ tampukengnge dekkua sisalai. masseajing. maduanna simallaparengnge dekkua purai sisala. masseajing” translated as (two things that would make a land good; not holding grudges against each other and not quarrelling, and forgiving each other after a quarrel cannot be avoided from happening). this matter of conflict attracted arung’s attention, because endless conflict would weaken the social unity and internal defense of the kingdom. one only needs to look at the recent history of nusantara in general and west kalimantan in particular for the impact of conflicts. west kalimantan history has recorded some cases of violence conflicts since the independence of indonesia including the one occurring in 1952 (conflict between madurese and dayak), in 1967 (expulsion of chinese by dayak), in 1979 (madura – dayak riot), in 1983 (madura – dayak conflict), in 1997 (sanggau ledo dayak – madura riot), in 1998 (madura – dayak in samalantan) and in 1999 [ 212 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 (open warfare between the madurese and malaysian sambas) (saad, 2013: 8; prasojo, 2008). all these conflicts stem from friction due to lack of mutual understanding between the groups, and each incident always ended with only a formal apology between the public figures, without real reconciliation on a grassroot level. thus, a new round of conflict can easily restart with merely the tiniest of sparks. statesmanship in wajo is deeply linked to belief in dewata seuwwae (the one god). this can be seen when arung matoae puangrimaggalatung gave religious counseling to tonampe (heir to the position of arung) and the people of wajo, recorded the following: “aja’ to tonampe mupegau bicarae tellue. dodongie tana. seuwwani bicara gillie. maduanna bicara rioe. matelluna arungnge. apa’ deritu gau tennaita dewatae, dettoritu ada tennaengkalinga dewatae” translated as: (tonampe, don’t you do three actions that would weaken this land. first, do not insult others; second, do not be arrogant; third, do not rule unjustly. there is no action unseen by god, and no word unheard by god”). this guidance given by arung matoae puangrimaggalatung to his son tonampe and witnessed by the people of wajo, contains a message of humbleness in running a state. an arung should have morals befitting of their responsibility, and maintain their relation with god, because all their actions and words are witnessed by dewata seuwwae. this humbleness should be inherent in tonampe, so that he becomes a person and leader who is polite, humble, and not insulting of others (sukayat, 2015: 104). relations between fellow humans are also discussed in the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript, as seen in a dialog between arung matoae lamungkace toudamang and karaeng matoae (king of gowa). when he asked about the relations between fellow humans, arung matoae lamungkca toudamang answered: “naiya lempue ri padatta tau dekkua nasaalai witaddampe’ngnge tapaolaiwi pangaja” (be honest with fellow humans; if they do wrong, forgive them, and advice them, as neither wishes evil for each). in forging relations with other people, wajo people know the motto,“malilu sipakainge, mali siparappe, rebba sipatokong” (if one forgets, let us remind each other; and if one falls down, let us raise each other up) (patmawati and besse wahida, 2018: 196). this motto is still followed by bugis people, including the diaspora who have migrated to various lands, including west kalimantan, thus minimizing conflict in society. the last theme discussed in this study is the relationship with nature, which still derives from belief in dewata seuwwae, as expressed in a saying in the text: “iya lempue ri dewata tettagau bawangngi winru’na apa iya tagau bawangngi winruna nagelliwi dewatae” (honesty to the one god is not acting cruelly to his creatures; if one acts cruel to his creatures, he [ 213 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 would be enraged). all these themes discussed in the lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript shows the harmonious relations between dewata seuwwae, humanity as users of the universe, and the universe itself. this harmony is what led to wajo becoming a prosperous realm, respected by other kingdoms. modern counseling models in an ancient manuscript the models of counseling found by the researchers in the text include both individual and group counseling. individual counseling happened between the ruling class, with king of wajo arung matoae lamungkace toudamang as counselor and king of gowa as counselee. the position of counselor and counselee are equal and the counseling takes the form of a dialog, where the king of gowa expresses his problems, then the king of wajo answers all the questions given by the king of gowa. the counseling proceeded freely, with no clear rule on where and when the counseling began and ended. this religious counseling led to a strong brotherhood between wajo and gowa, where wajo remained as gowa’s ally during their war against the dutch. even the massive migration taking place in the aftermath of gowa’s defeat and the signing of the treaty of bongaya mostly involved wajo people who refused to be under dutch rule, especially after the fall of tosara (kesuma, 2004: 58). individual counseling also took place with matoae ri mario, when they asked matoae puangrimaggalatung to give one of his children to be raised as arung in mari. this counseling takes the form of dialog, where both counselor and counselee expressed their opinions. models of group counseling found in the text include the counseling done by arung matoae puangrimaggalatung and arung matoae lamungkace toudamang to their people. the counseling here is only one way, with the counselor delivering their advice and the counselees only listening and carrying out the message. the illustration of the counselors, counselees, themes, and models of the counseling is clearly seen in figure 1. figure 1: the illustration of religious counselling found in the manuscript. counselor counselee theme counseling model arung matoae lamungkace toudamang karaeng matoae oneness of god relations with other people and nature individual (dialog) [ 214 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1846 arung matoae puangrimaggalatung people of wajo leadership/ statesmanship group (advice) matoae ri mario leadership/ statesmanship individual (dialog) tonampe and people of wajo leadership/ statesmanship group (advice) source: manuscript oflontara attorioloang ri wajo conclusion the study of this manuscript aims to reveal the activities of religious guidance and counseling. the study found that the religious guidance and counseling activities that have been found in the ancient manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo contain specific themes of religious guidance and counseling that include materials on monotheism, the relations between human and nature and the relations between leadership and the state. in this manuscript, a counseling model was also found, namely explaining individual and group counseling. in fact, the counseling model is now being practiced in this modern world. guidance and counseling were also found between the king and his children, as well as the king and his people, and had been carried out directly to the counselee or congregation in a group. the work suggests that further research is recommended to elaborate religious guidance and counseling on other ancient manuscripts. it is also important to consider islamic historical events that can serve as new inspiration for the development of religious guidance and counseling. research can be conducted with clear explanations along with the stages in religious guidance and counseling, and linking it with the most recent and more complete counseling theories since manuscripts are always viewed as a rigid event without seeing how the process of the event occurs, which is also the case with religious guidance and counseling. bibliography abdullah. 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(2015). ilmu dakwah perspektif filsafat mabadi’ asyarah. bandung: simbiosa rekatama media. [ 265 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 religious harmony based on spiritual and intellectual journey of rené guénon yulafa hinggis universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta, indonesia email: yulafa.hinggis.psc22@mail.umy.ac.id aris fauzan universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta, indonesia email: mas_arisfauzan@umy.ac.id norhayati binti haji abdul karim universiti sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam email: norhayati.abdkarim@unissa.edu.bn abstract this article explores the intellectual and spiritual journey of rené guénon, who traversed the spiritual experiences of various religions in the world such as catholicism, hinduism, taoism, and ended up in islam. it seems that guénon did not see the conversion of religion as a contradictory process, but rather as a continuous stage that enriched his search for the true truth. the position of this research is one of the testimonies of rené guénon's important role in developing religious harmony. although many writings talk about religious harmony, the presence of rené guénon emphasizes ideas and works about the life of religious harmony. this article seeks to answer the question of the urgency of rené guénon’s spiritual and intellectual journey in crossing and upholding the essential values of the religion studied. this type of qualitative research focuses on library research, with a biographical approach. furthermore, the sources in this study refer to direct works written by rené guénon and other authors who discuss rené guénon. the results of this study show that the essential values of each religion supported by spiritual and intellectual maturity are an important foundation for living a harmonious life between religious people. keywords: religious harmony; spiritual and intellectual journey; rené guénon introduction spiritual journeys are often triggered by dissatisfaction with worldly problems that drive people to seek answers to fundamental questions about their existence and purpose in life. religious conversion is often part of this [ 266 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 process. however, in the social context, religious conversion has always been seen as a contradictory act that causes pros and cons debate among religious believers. rené guénon, as one of the figures and undergoing conversion from one religion to another, displays an attractive charm to be used as a model in the process of peaceful religious conversion. in fact, the rené guénon phenomenon gives the impression that every meeting of one religion to another becomes stages in building the maturity of the spiritual journey. so far, the essence of human spiritual journey is understood to contain a deep meaning about the existence of life in the spirit of religion (mustaqim, 2023). the spiritual journey will go through the process of finding answers to the big questions about the nature of life's meaning. this process will lead individuals to conduct a deep exploration of various traditions in order to find new spiritual paths that suit their inner search and understanding (bagir, 2017). rené guénon, hereinafter called guénon, is one of the figures who took a spiritual journey that crossed various religions, namely: born as a catholic, then deepened hinduism, and finally established islam as its estuary (taj, 2023). dickson explained that guénon's presence as an important figure in the revival of islamic spirituality in the modern world is still not widely known (dickson, 2021). guénon's spiritual and intellectual travels made important contributions to modern religious thought and shaped the idea of interreligious harmony. this is revealed in his works such as the crisis of the modern world (guénon, 2001d), introduction to the study of hindu doctrines (guénon, 2001a), the reign of quantity and the signs of the times (guénon, 2001e), and man and his becoming according to the vedanta (guénon, 2001b). through this series of works, guénon conveyed profound ideas about the universal spiritual tradition. these works provide a keen and critical view of the relationship between modernity and spirituality, and emphasize the importance of understanding the essence of tradition as a path to religious harmony (guénon, 2009). guénon did not treat conversion as a process of “ascension” or “descent”, but rather as a continuous journey in a whole. this phenomenon is interesting to study because guénon shows a unique pattern of religious transition, which is not to contradict the religious teachings that were previously adhered to, but to consider them as steps that enrich his spiritual journey. in fact, in a social context, religious conversion is often colored by a critical view of the religious teachings that are abandoned or even the justification of the religion they embrace (abidin, 2005; bielefeldt & wiener, 2022). however, guénon took a different approach by still glorifying these religions as part of his spiritual journey. [ 267 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 articles and writings related to spiritual journeys, especially guénon, have not been revealed much in the study of islamic thought in indonesia. in fact, studying the spiritual journey and thoughts of great figures in islam, especially from muslim intellectuals, is an important task for a muslim (fauzan, 2019). this understanding is inseparable from the lives of muslims from time to time. in addition, other sources explain that islam explicitly encourages its followers to study spiritual and historical journeys as key in understanding the future. by studying the spiritual and historical journeys of previous figures precisely and deeply, we can take valuable lessons and lessons from the values of goodness left behind, which can be a guideline in achieving glory both in this world and in the hereafter (amiruddin et al., 2021; as-sirjani, 2011; belhaj, 2023; laude, 2020). it is therefore crucial to uncover guénon's spiritual and intellectual journey as the cornerstone of his thought on religious harmony, which connects the world's great traditions to build a deeper understanding of universal truth. this is qualitative research focuses on library research, with a biographical approach (khilmiyah, 2016; saefullah, 2024) which focuses on guénon's personal life. the steps in this research are to explore the background of life, the spiritual transformation he experienced through his encounters with various religions such as catholicism, hinduism, and islam. rené guénon's early life: catholic tradition rené jean marie joseph guénon, better known as rené guénon, was born in blois, france, on november 15, 1886. guénon grew up in a very strict catholic family environment and guénon received his early education under the guidance of the jesuits. this traditional catholic education provided a solid intellectual and spiritual foundation, which later became the foundation for guénon's future thought. growing up, guénon moved to paris to pursue his undergraduate studies in philosophy and mathematics at collège rollin (chacornac, 2005; karimov & bekbaev, 2022). however, in 1905 guénon decided to abandon his studies and began exploring the world of occultism that was then thriving in paris. during this time guénon was also an active member of a number of secret organizations, including theosophists, spiritualists, freemasonry, and gnostics. in june 1909, guénon founded a journal called la gnose, which became the main forum for most of his writings during that period. this journal has been operating for approximately two years. however, in the later days guénon criticized the occult movement that he had studied (arnold, 2018, p. 279; hatina, 2022). born and raised in the catholic tradition, guénon did not only delve into the teachings of the catholic tradition, but also expanded his journey to [ 268 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 various eastern traditions, including hindu philosophy, taoism, and islam (guénon, 2009). this trip led guénon to view western and eastern traditions as complementary elements in his quest to seek and reveal universal truth. this view is reflected in his life and works, which build bridges between the two worlds and make him a key figure in cross-cultural and religious dialogue (guénon, 2004). in the end, this shaped guénon's identity as a global, traditionalist figure. as a traditionalist, guénon had emphasized in his early writings the need for the restoration of the roman catholic-based intellectual tradition in the western world. despite embarking on his spiritual journey in a disciplined catholic tradition, guénon nonetheless criticized some aspects of modern catholicism, such as rationalism and the loss of esoteric elements. even guénon envisioned a form of catholic religion that could be renewed, enriched, and strengthened through the restoration of its esoteric tradition (oldmeadow, 2024). however, in the midst of his criticism, guénon still respected the symbolic and spiritual dimensions of the catholic tradition, which guénon saw as part of the core of primordial truth (belhaj, 2023). guénon launched his criticism because he considered that the philosophical and historical foundations used by certain teachings were wrong. guénon called these teachings false spirituality and compared them to true traditional esotericism. in addition, guénon strongly opposed the direction of the development of european civilization in his time, because according to him, the civilization had lost its deep spiritual values, more oriented towards materialism and rationalism (quisay, 2023). guénon believed that these two aspects not only damaged the human soul but also disturbed the balance of the order of the universe. based on this view, guénon consistently opposed the development of european civilization. this rejection was likely influenced by his experience of receiving initiation in the tradition of taoism, islam, or even both. whitall perry in his writings argues that guénon's critical attitude can also be attributed to his contact with the representatives of the advaita tradition in vedānta philosophy (guénon, 2009: 275; oldmeadow, 2024; perry, 1991: 7–8). it should be underlined that for guénon the great traditions of the world, including catholicism, share the same spiritual core that connects them on a transcendental level. the catholic education that guénon received not only built his spirituality but also formed the basis of his universal thinking. the catholic tradition prepared him to explore the esoteric teachings of various traditions, including hinduism, taoism, and islam. guénon's reverence for catholic symbolism and esoteric elements remained an integral part of his [ 269 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 thinking, even after guénon converted and devoted his life to the islamic tradition. hindu tradition: struggling with vedānta ideas with his critical thinking, guénon finally began to take a break in the hindu tradition. guénon's interest in the hindu tradition emerged when guénon began to explore more universal metaphysical teachings. in his book introduction to the study of the hindu doctrines, guénon explores the vedānta philosophy and the principles of hindu metaphysics, which he says is one of the most complete systems of thought (dickson, 2021; waterfield, 2005). guénon considers hinduism as a tradition that has managed to maintain spiritual continuity despite the challenges of modern times. the teachings of absolute unity (brahman) and symbolism in hindu rituals became an inspiration for him to understand the esoteric core of the spiritual tradition. guénon used the concept of cosmic cycles from the hindu tradition to interpret the course of human history. guénon describes the transition from the golden age, which symbolizes spiritual splendor to the dark age (kali yuga), a period marked by moral and spiritual degradation (guénon, 2001a; laude, 2020). for guénon, the modern idea of historical evolution that has always led to progress is an illusion of a materialistic nature. in his work introduction to the study of the hindu doctrines, guénon argued that the hindu tradition is one of the most authentic sources of eternal wisdom historically. guénon viewed the hindu tradition as something more comprehensive and pure than other traditions, and sought to restore civilization to traditional values (guénon, 2001a). guénon believed that this tradition was indispensable to the west, which he thought had suffered significant deviations. this book also shows guénon's skill as a sharp critic of modern civilization (arnold, 2018; taj, 2023). guénon also views modernity as a phase of decline from the true spiritual essence of man (piraino, 2021). guénon in some of his works shows the complexity and complexity of defining religion, especially when trying to find a single universal definition that covers all religious traditions. guénon acknowledged that the commonly accepted definition of religion in the western world is more suitable for abrahamic religions, such as judaism, christianity, and islam, which have relatively uniform belief structures, ritual practices, and institutions. however, this approach faces major challenges when applied to traditions such as hinduism, which has tremendous diversity in both its doctrines, rituals, and social structures, including its strong links to the caste system (taj, 2023). [ 270 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 in rené guénon's book the essential: metaphysics, tradition, and the crisis of modernity, it is explained that after his brief interaction with the hindu community, who most likely returned to india, rené guénon did not continue further contact with them. on the other hand, guénon had been initiated into the sufi order, which became his spiritual path throughout his life. guénon was very concerned about the phenomena that occurred around him, especially the anti-religious prejudice that was growing rapidly among french intellectuals at the time. guénon believed that despite this attitude becoming more widespread, most intellectuals still had the ability to accept the truth (guénon, 2009). according to guénon, this anti-religious prejudice arose because many religious leaders, especially in the catholic tradition, increasingly lost intellectual intelligence and focused more on a sentimental approach. rené guénon's works before converting to islam guénon's efforts to unravel the principles of the primordial tradition occurred in his early writings, namely in 1909. guénon focused his work on uncovering and applying the timeless principles that underlie all traditional doctrines. guénon explores various traditions such as vedānta, taoist tradition, christianity, islam, gnosticism, and kabbalah. guénon sought to excavate and reveal the fundamental principles of these traditions, which he said were formal manifestations of a primordial tradition (dickson, 2021). in his work, guénon puts forward consistent key themes, such as the view of metaphysics as a principle that transcends all doctrines. guénon also made a sharp distinction between exoterism as the external dimension of religious tradition and esoterism as the inner dimension, emphasizing that esotericism is the path to a deep understanding of spiritual truth (guénon, 2009). rené guénon emphasized the importance of intellectual knowledge rooted in metaphysical principles as a way to understand deeper realities. in his criticism of modern civilization, especially europe, guénon stated that the western world has suffered a spiritual decline due to the loss of connection with traditional values. he saw the dominance of materialism as the main feature of modern civilization, which was in sharp contrast to the traditional eastern civilization which, according to him, still maintained primordial wisdom (guénon, 2009). early contributions at la gnose in the early period of his career (1909–1912), guénon founded and edited the journal la gnose, which became the medium for his articles on esoterism, [ 271 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 symbolism, and metaphysical philosophy (arnold, 2018, p. 9; sedgwick, 2020). as early as 1909 before embracing islam, guénon had written about the concept of primordial tradition. according to guénon, primordial tradition is relevant to all humans. guénon believes that primordial tradition can be continued and applied by mankind from the present to the future. guénon is not focused on the specific details of a particular tradition or a particular historical event, but rather on the core of the tradition itself, that is, the sacred and eternal knowledge that can be accessed by man through the channels still available in traditional doctrines (eaton, 1995: 188–189; sedgwick, 2021a, 2023). the articles that guénon wrote in la gnose reflected his early interest in various esoteric traditions before eventually directing his thinking entirely to traditional doctrine (dickson, 2021). some important articles published in la gnose such as symbolism and esoteric tradition. guénon's articles in the la gnose era deal extensively with the universal symbolism found in various esoteric traditions (sedgwick, 2020), including the kabbalah and the esoteric christian tradition. related to the relationship between freemasonry and gnostic tradition. rené guénon's writings in la gnose became an important foundation in the formation of his intellectual and spiritual thought. in the journal, guénon began to develop his early ideas that later became the basis for his later works (guénon, 2009). through la gnose, he explores symbolism, metaphysics, and criticism of modernity, which are central themes in books such as the symbolism of the cross and the crisis of the modern world. in the symbolism of the cross, guénon deepens the idea of universal symbolism, while in the crisis of the modern world, he criticizes the shift in spiritual values in the modern era. both works reflect the profound influence of the early ideas he formulated in la gnose, demonstrating guénon's consistency in exploring the metaphysical tradition and universal symbolism. through his writings in la gnose, guénon laid down the philosophical framework that became the basis of his intellectual journey later (guénon, 2009). rené guénon's meeting with sufi figures after experiencing a struggle of thought related to his spiritual quest, rené guénon met ivan aguéli in 1912. rené guénon's meeting with ivan aguéli was a pivotal moment in guénon's spiritual and intellectual journey. ivan aguéli was an artist, philosopher, and central figure in the world of western sufism, known as sufi ʿabdul hādī al-maghribī. aguéli became one of the main intermediaries who introduced the esoteric tradition of islam to guénon. [ 272 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 aguéli was born in sweden in 1869 and showed a deep interest in eastern art, philosophy, and spirituality (beglerović & sedgwick, 2020; efendi et al., 2022). aguéli also had a spiritual journey to the middle east, in egypt, and began to join the syadziliyah sufi order under the guidance of shaykh ʿ abd al-rahmān ʿillaysh al-kabīr, a great scholar and leader of the syadziliyah order in egypt. aguéli played an important role in introducing sufism doctrines, especially the metaphysical teachings of ibn ʿarabī (1165-1240) to europe through his writings (hatina, 2022; hulya, 2008: 298). as an artist, aguéli creates works inspired by eastern and western mystical traditions. however, its main focus is on the study of philosophy, religion, and mysticism. ivan aguéli is known to be critical of modernity and colonialism, as well as calling for the importance of spiritual liberation through the esoteric tradition. his articles on sufism, art, and eastern culture emphasize the need to restore human connection with authentic spirituality (efendi et al., 2022). ivan aguéli became a great inspiration for rené guénon, especially through aguéli's role as a spiritual teacher and guide. through their discussions and interactions, aguéli introduced the idea that sufism is an esoteric form of islam that is in harmony with other metaphysical traditions, such as hinduism and taoism. after going through a long intellectual and spiritual journey, guénon decided to embrace islam in 1912 and took the name ʿabd al-wāḥid yaḥyā. his decision to become a muslim was not because guénon considered islam superior to other religions, but because islam, through sufism, offered a spiritual and metaphysical framework that included many elements of other traditions that guénon had studied (efendi, 2020, p. 168). guénon further explored sufism by joining the syadziliyyah order and spending his time writing down his ideas and thoughts. one result of his critical thinking is to criticize modernity and offer islam as a solution to the spiritual crisis of humanity. according to him, islam provides a perfect synthesis between the esoteric and exoteric dimensions, allowing one to live an authentic spiritual life in the context of the real world. this view reinforces guénon's belief in the importance of tradition as a path to metaphysical truth. after aguéli's death in 1917, rené guénon continued his work in introducing sufism in the west (efendi et al., 2022: 167–168). guénon not only expanded his understanding of sufism in european countries such as france, spain, belgium, and italy, but also deepened his spiritual knowledge through his involvement in the syadziliyyah order. through his works and contributions, rené guénon became a central figure in the traditionalism movement (dickson, 2021: 593). guénon introduced many people in europe to the sufism tradition, expanded the reach of islamic [ 273 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 esoteric teachings, and encouraged cross-cultural and religious dialogue rooted in primordial wisdom. his influence extended beyond the western esoteric community, encompassing intellectuals and spirituals from a wide range of backgrounds, making guénon one of the most important figures in the bridge between east and west (efendi et al., 2022; marino, 2022). guénon was also an important figure in introducing sufism to the western world, especially through its relationship with traditional muslim communities, namely the tarekah syadziliyyah order in various parts of the world. rené guénon's conversion peak the process of rené guénon's conversion to islam is inseparable from the influence of ivan aguéli (ʿabdul hādī al-maghribī), an artist, philosopher, and important figure in the world of western sufism. this choice is not just a personal decision but the culmination of a long spiritual quest through an indepth study of various religious traditions. for him, islam, especially through sufism, offers a perfect balance between esoterism and exoterism, which guénon did not find in its entirety in other religions or traditions. for guénon, islam is not only a religion but also a traditional framework for understanding and actualizing the principles of universal metaphysics. guénon views sufism as an esoteric path that can be applied universally, although it is still rooted in the islamic tradition. in guénon's view, islam uniquely unites metaphysical doctrines, spirituality, and divine law coherently (efendi, 2020: 168). guénon's initiation into the syadziliyyah order provided a spiritual foundation that strengthened his beliefs. in this institute, guénon found a practice that was not only spiritually profound but also emphasized the critique of modernity, which was considered a deviation from the traditional principles that had long been the spiritual foundation of mankind. in his work, guénon asserts that modernity has forgotten the esoteric dimension, thus creating a spiritual void that can only be filled by returning to its traditional roots, as offered by islam. although guénon acknowledged the metaphysical superiority of the hindu tradition, especially advaita vedānta, guénon argued that hinduism was difficult for westerners to access due to the limitations of the caste system and cultural distance. in contrast, guénon sees islam as the last form of the primordial tradition that has doctrinal completeness and flexibility to be applied in the modern world (taj, 2023). through his works, guénon became one of the main figures in the traditionalism movement, which carried the idea that all the world's major religions originated from the same metaphysical source. his critique of modernity and materialism became an important foundation for his followers, [ 274 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 such as frithjof schuon (behvand et al., 2022; schuon, 1985; sedgwick, 2021b), martin lings (fitzgerald, 2005; nisok & resa, 2023), and seyyed hossein nasr (fauhatun, 2020; hidayatullah, 2023; nasr, 2002), who then expanded the teachings of sufism to the western world (bano & ahmed, 2020). guénon's influence was also seen in the establishment of sufi branches in europe and north america. his students succeeded in introducing the teachings of sufism in the western context, making it a relevant and profound spiritual path for modern society. the period of 1927-1930 was an important transitional period in guénon's life, marked by his move to cairo in 1930 and his deepening dedication to openness to islam (oldmeadow, 2024). in january 1928, guénon experienced deep grief due to the sudden death of his wife. in 1930, he decided to move to cairo, where he was accepted as a member of the syadziliyyah order and adopted a new name, abdul wahid yahya, as a form of his spiritual identity. according to ibrahim kalin in his article entitled "rené guénon," published on the website of the center for islam and science, after settling in cairo, guénon remarried in 1934 to fatima, the daughter of sheikh muhammad ibrahim, a prominent sufi (kalin, n.d., : 8). guénon lived in a house located near al-azhar university, where he was often associated with 'abd al-halim mahmud, the great cleric and president of al-azhar who was also known as a sufi figure. after settling in cairo, guénon began to receive visits from several prominent intellectuals, such as titus burckhardt, frithjof schuon (bano & ahmed, 2020; schuon, 1984; sedgwick, 2005), and martin lings (ghanbariahmadabad, 2024; hakiki & idrus, 2018; minnaar, 2007) during his stay in cairo, he spent much of his time in solitude, which he used to write major works in the form of books and articles. however, towards the end of his life, guénon's health condition deteriorated until he finally died on january 7, 1951(arnold, 2018, p. 9; kalin, n.d.; nasr, 2002, p. 8). one important aspect of guénon's thought was his inclusive view of various religious traditions. guénon never disparaged the religions he had left behind, such as catholicism or hinduism, but saw them as an important stage on the road to universal truth. for him, every religion has an esoteric dimension that connects humans with metaphysical reality. guénon emphasized that differences between religions are more exotrial, while the esoteric core of each tradition shows the same unity. thus, he proposed the concept of perennialism (sotillos, 2020), the idea that all the world's major religions have the same spiritual core, although they differ in their formal form (astutik & khojir, 2023; olyaee, 2021). [ 275 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 mark sedgwick writes that guénon developed a traditional approach to perennialism with distinctive characteristics, namely through the combination of perennial thinking with a sharp criticism of modernity. in guénon's view, the concept of primordial tradition is the root of all religious traditions of humankind as well as the key to understanding metaphysics and metahistory. on the one hand, this primordial tradition serves to formulate the universal principles that exist in each religion, while on the other hand, this concept is also the basis for tracing the process of spiritual decline in the modern world (sedgwick, 2021c: 3). rené guénon's conversion to islam marked the culmination of his spiritual and intellectual journey, in which he found the path that best suited his belief in the importance of tradition and esoterism. islam, particularly in the form of sufism, gave guénon a framework that not only answered his spiritual needs but also became a means of critiquing modernity and reviving traditional principles in the western world. through the thought of perennialism and traditionalism (karimov & bekbaev, 2022), guénon offered a critique of modernity and proposed a harmonious model for understanding the relationship between religious traditions, making him one of the most influential thinkers in modern spiritual discourse. rené guénon's post-conversion works rené guénon was a very prolific writer, with seventeen works published throughout his life and eight others published posthumously. his works are centered on the concept of "tradition," which is at the heart of his thought and reflects the results of his spiritual journey. all of his works are intertwined, forming a deep framework of thought about traditionalism and metaphysics (oldmeadow, 2024). here are some of rené guénon's works: introduction to the study of the hindu doctrines in the introduction to the study of the hindu doctrines, guénon presents an in-depth analysis of the hindu tradition as one of the purest and most comprehensive systems of metaphysics. guénon identified the vedas as divine revelation and the supreme source of knowledge, as well as the vedānta, particularly the advaita vedānta, as the apex expression of non-dualistic metaphysics. according to guénon, hinduism goes beyond the categories of modern religion, philosophy, or science, with the core of its teachings resting on the principle of absolute unity (brahman). guénon's main goal in writing this book is to introduce readers in the western world to the concepts of eastern [ 276 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 metaphysics and spirituality as understood and experienced by eastern peoples themselves. in addition, he also tries to correct various misconceptions that he thinks often appear in the study of western orientalism (guénon, 2001a). the symbolism of the cross in his work the symbolism of the cross, guénon expresses a deep appreciation for the symbolism of the cross. guénon interpreted the cross not only as a symbol of a particular religion but also as a metaphysical representation of the cosmos and the principle of transcendence. for guénon, the cross reflects the relationship between the horizontal (the material world) and the vertical (the divine dimension). this approach makes the cross a universal idea that reflects the unity, duality, and relationship between the divine and the earthly. as one of the most universal symbols, the cross is found in various spiritual traditions around the world, transcending the boundaries of christianity. in this work, guénon uses the symbol of the cross to explain metaphysical concepts such as unity, cosmic structure, and the principle of transcendence. this symbolism is a tool for a deep understanding of the universal metaphysical doctrine (guénon, 2001f). the crisis of the modern world in the crisis of the modern world by rené guénon, he discusses how the modern world has experienced a serious spiritual crisis due to a shift in values. guénon highlighted that modern civilization focuses too much on the material aspect to forget the spiritual dimension on which human life is based. guénon criticized the contemporary view that tended to reject tradition and replace it with individualism and superficial rationalism. in his view, modernity has brought humans to a spiritual void, which leads to an imbalance in life (guénon, 2001d). guénon offers a solution by inviting humanity back to the values of the universal tradition, which respects metaphysical wisdom and esoterism as an essential part of life. guénon presented a sharp analysis of the causes of the spiritual crisis facing the modern world, namely the shift of attention of the western world to materialism and rationalism. the spiritual wisdom underlying the great tradition has been marginalized. according to him, this crisis affects not only individuals but also the entire social and cultural order. therefore, guénon called for the importance of returning to traditional teachings derived from eternal metaphysical knowledge to overcome this crisis. in his view, a tradition that maintains deep esoteric teachings is the answer to overcoming the spiritual and intellectual [ 277 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 problems the world is facing. this book provides an in-depth perspective on how modernity needs to be balanced with spirituality to create harmony in human life. insights into islamic esoterism and taoism in his work, guénon produced several important works that dealt with islam, particularly through its esoteric dimension, namely sufism (sufism), as well as his criticism of modernity. in insights into islamic esoterism and taoism, guénon describes the relationship between islamic esoterism and taoism, two traditions that he sees as having spiritual harmony. guénon described the idea of tawhid (the oneness of god) as the core of the sufi spiritual journey, which reflects the universal path to understanding metaphysical truth (markwith, n.d.,). the reign of quantity and the signs of the times in the reign of quantity and the signs of the times, guénon outlines the decline of modernity through an esoteric view of various traditions, including islam. guénon identified the dominance of materialism as the main cause of the spiritual crisis, which reduced traditional values to mere quantity. guénon views sufism as an esoteric path of islam that is relevant to answering the challenges of modernity, offering an alternative rooted in spiritual wisdom to address the existential void in the modern world (guénon, 2001e). east and west in his book, guénon criticizes the rational and materialistic western way of thinking, which he considers to have neglected life's spiritual and metaphysical dimensions. guénon explained the fundamental difference between the western approach, which adheres to rationalism and materialism and the eastern approach, which prioritizes spiritual unity and esoteric principles. for guénon, western civilization has been cut off from its spiritual source, and this is the root of the existential crisis that has plagued the modern world. meanwhile, the east, with its rich traditions, such as hinduism, taoism, and islam, maintained a closer relationship with deeper metaphysical principles, which guénon said could help the western world to overcome spiritual decline (guénon, 2004). [ 278 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 man and his becoming according to the vedānta in his work, guénon used advaita vedānta to describe a metaphysical view of the origins and purpose of man. in this view, man is essentially part of a larger unity, which is brahman (absolute power or principle). the concept of atman (true self) in vedānta is a reflection of brahman, which shows that each individual has the potential to achieve unity with higher principles. through deep spiritual knowledge, humans can understand that everything that appears as an individual is a mere illusion (maya), and the attainment of this wisdom allows one to break free from the cycle of birth and death. this book shows how the teachings of vedānta, although derived from the hindu tradition, contain universal truths that are relevant to understanding the human condition as a whole (guénon, 2001b). the esoterism of dante guénon discusses the work the esoterism of dante from an esoteric point of view. guénon interprets dante's journey through inferno (hell), purgatorio (purgatory), and paradiso (heaven) as a symbol of man's inner journey to oneness with god. here, guénon sees that this work is more than just a religious journey; it is a metaphysical quest that describes the stages of spiritual transformation. using initiative symbolism, dante describes the process of soul purification, self-purification, and spiritual enlightenment. guénon argues that the symbolism in this work reflects the traditional principles that exist in various spiritual traditions, such as sufism and hinduism, that connect humans with the divine dimension (guénon et al., 2005). studies in hinduism in this work, studies in hinduism, guénon presents his view of hinduism as one of the purest and most profound spiritual traditions. he criticized the misconceptions that often arise in the west about hinduism, which is often seen as a polytheistic religion without metaphysical depth. in contrast, guénon points out that the essence of hinduism lies in the doctrine of vedānta and other esoteric teachings, which contain profound metaphysical insights. through this book, guénon also emphasizes the relevance of hinduism as a source of spiritual wisdom that can provide enlightenment to a world that is being hit by a crisis of modernity (guénon, 2001c). overall, rené guénon's works make a major contribution to highlighting the spiritual crisis of the modern world by offering solutions rooted in more profound and universal traditional teachings. guénon invites us to return to authentic metaphysical [ 279 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 knowledge, which exists in various spiritual traditions, in order to address increasingly complex existential and social problems. the meaning of rené guénon's decision to cross various religious traditions rené guénon's decision to cross the various religious traditions reflects a profound and unique spiritual journey in which each religion he studied became an important stage in the search for truth. guénon did not treat conversion as an act of rejection of his previous beliefs but as a process that enriched his spiritual understanding. this approach shows that for guénon, the essence of every religion lies in essential values that transcend formal differences. through his exploration of catholicism, hinduism, taoism, and ultimately islam, guénon highlights the metaphysical unity that underlies all spiritual traditions. his choice to switch from one religion to another was not a sign of dissatisfaction with his previous religion but rather an expression of his desire to dive into the deepest essence of universal spirituality. it also expresses its commitment to perennial philosophy, which asserts that true truth is one, even though it is expressed through various forms of religious tradition. in addition, rené guénon did not give an assessment of the shortcomings and humility of the religions he previously adhered to but instead used them as a foothold in maximizing his spiritual experience. although rené guénon has set his heart on islam, not a few academics in the world from various religious backgrounds make rené guénon an inspiration and reference for their work on the themes of perennial philosophy and religious harmony. based on the description above, it is known that guénon's peaceful approach to his spiritual journey provides an important lesson about interreligious harmony. he does not see religious differences as a source of conflict but as a window to understanding the greater truth. this attitude is especially relevant in the modern era, where interreligious tensions often arise due to a lack of deep understanding of the core of religious teachings. guénon pointed out that respecting and studying other traditions allows coexistence and enriches one's spiritual experience. in a social and intellectual context, guénon's travels are an example of how individuals can bridge eastern and western spiritual traditions. his decision to embrace islam was ultimately not just a religious change but the culmination of his long spiritual exploration. this choice affirms guénon's commitment to teaching, which he believes can answer his spiritual needs while harmonizing the world's great traditions into one overarching spiritual framework. [ 280 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 conclusion guénon's spiritual journey shows that he sees each religion as part of a complementary whole, not as a contradictory entity. guénon's spiritual and intellectual unrest did not cause him to denounce or denigrate the religions he had professed. instead, guénon placed the values of kindness and wisdom of each religion in a deep perspective and respected the spiritual path it offered. guénon understood that every religion contains an esoteric dimension, a spiritual depth that goes beyond formal or ritualistic aspects. therefore, he does not only look at religion from an external point of view but also seeks to explore the deepest essence of each tradition. this is what prompted him to delve into symbolism, metaphysical doctrine, and esotericism in the various religions he studied. his works reflect guénon's respect for the spiritual path of the great religions, and his views on religious diversity become so inclusive, even transcendent, that they transcend formal differences. by finally choosing islam, guénon realized that he had found the spiritual integrity he had been looking for. islam, with its concept of monotheism (the oneness of god) and the teachings of sufism, provides answers to its spiritual anxieties and unites its search in a system that he considers the most comprehensive. however, the choice of islam does not make his claim that other religions are less correct or irrelevant; rather, he considers that every religion he adheres to is part of a long journey toward an understanding of universal truth. guénon's attitude can be a lesson for today's spiritual seekers who may experience indecision or anxiety in their search. through guénon's approach, we learn that a spiritual journey can be a way to understand religious plurality more deeply and appreciate each tradition as a valid path to god. it provides a new perspective on interreligious tolerance and respect, as well as how religious differences can enrich one's spiritual pursuit without having to favor or demean one path over another. research on rené guénon, particularly regarding his spiritual journey and relevance in the indonesian context, still faces a number of limitations. one of the main obstacles is the lack of primary sources in indonesian, which causes the understanding of his thought to tend to rely on secondary interpretations or limited translations. in addition, the focus of research is often only on the intellectual aspects without exploring the spiritual dimension in depth. with these recommendations, it is hoped that future research related to rené guénon can develop further, broadening intellectual horizons and encouraging harmony across cultures and religions. guenon's involvement in the syadziliyyah order is an opportunity for researchers to explore more broadly the relationship between the development of the syadziliyyah order [ 281 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3281 in egypt, europe and indonesia in the classical and modern eras. acknowledgements we acknowledge this work has been funded by the directorate of research, technology and community service directorate general of higher education, research and technology ministry of education, culture, research and technology of the republic of indonesia ( direktorat riset, teknologi, dan pengabdian kepada masyarakat-direktorat jenderal pendidikan tinggi, riset, dan teknologikementerian pendidikan, kebudayaan, riset, dan teknologi republik indonesia), contract number 0609.7/ll5-int/al.04/2024 under the programme of drtpm 2024. the opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency. bibliography abidin, z. 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[ 65 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 interreligious engagement between indigenous religion and christianity within the huaulu community in maluku vikry reinaldo paais gadjah mada university, indonesia email: vikryreinaldopaais@mail.ugm.ac.id abstract the arrival of western christianity in the archipelago, alongside european expansion, solidified christian dominance and asserted superiority over indigenous religious practices. european supremacy did not merely bolster this dominance but also fueled theological narratives that portrayed indigenous religions as “dark” and “heretical,” necessitating their conversion to christianity. this framework shaped interfaith discourse, marginalizing indigenous religions and excluding them from meaningful engagement. this article aims to analyze the socio-religious engagement between the adherents of memaham (an indigenous religion) and christians in the context of interreligious relations. this research was conducted within the huaulu indigenous community, north seram district, central maluku regency, maluku province. this study employs a participatory qualitative research methodology, using interviews and observations as data generation methods. the findings reveal that memaham, as the indigenous religion of the huaulu, experienced a complex and dynamic engagement with christianity, such as harmonious collaboration, ongoing negotiation, and even direct confrontation. those findings provide an empirical contribution to interreligious relations within a postcolonial context, by aiming to avoid the romanticization often oriented towards harmonious relationships. keywords: interreligious engagement; indigenous religion; christianity introduction interreligious relations are frequently constrained within the world religions paradigm (paais, 2023a). engagement among adherents of islam, protestantism, catholicism, buddhism, hinduism, and confucianism are commonly regarded as interreligious dialogue. in contrast, relationships with adherents of indigenous religion are often framed as interaction with primitive culture, irreligious society, and animistic practices (see tylor, 1871). this paradigm is deeply rooted in the socio-theological construct of western supremacy, which perpetuates the triumphalism of world religions as inherently superior [ 66 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 to indigenous religion (cox, 2007; smith, 1964). christianity exemplified this dynamic with its extensive history of missionary activities—including proselytization, evangelization, or christianization—on a global scale (patty 2019, p. 14). by emphasizing exclusive doctrinal creeds such as “jesus is the only way of salvation and life”, alongside the great commission, christianity has established a hegemonic and dominant presence. these same creeds have often been employed to legitimize efforts to christianize adherents of indigenous religion in various contexts (paais, 2022). although indigenous religions in indonesia were granted formal-legal recognition through constitutional court decision number 97/puu-xiv/2016 in 2017 (mubarok, 2019), the prevailing status quo continues to marginalize their adherents in social, religious, and political spheres (anggraeni et al., 2022; marshall, 2018; nenohai, 2023). numerous studies have analyzed the relationship between indigenous religions and christianity in various contexts. junsal efendy duan, focusing on tobelo community, argues that the adoption of gikiri moi (tobelo’s conception of the highest supernatural being) and its identification with the christian god constitutes a practice that diminishes the intrinsic meaning of gikiri moi itself (duan, 2019). a similar observation is made by jear nenohai in his study of the liturgi bulan budaya (lbb) in the evangelical christian church in timor (gmit). lbb is intended as an effort to contextualize christian faith through dialogue with cultural practices. however, nenohai critiques the lbb practice for perpetuating discriminatory narratives against indigenous religions. according to him, lbb merely associates indigenous religious practices as “culture” that enriches christian theology, without genuinely incorporating the perspective of indigenous religious adherents (nenohai, 2023). these subordinating christian narratives are historically rooted in the methods of christian proselytization, which systematically marginalized the indigenous religion. elifas maspaitella highlights various missionary approaches, from portuguese catholic missionaries to dutch protestant zending in maluku. protestantism had the greatest influence on maluku’s christian religiosity by employing coercive methods, referred to locally as main larang (imposing prohibition). such prohibition included banning the use of local languages, forbidding visits to old villages (kampung lama), prohibiting practices such as chewing betel nut, and others (maspaitella, 2020). in africa, practices such as “witchcraft”, often associated with notions of primitiveness, persist and exhibit a correlation with modernity. the emergence and growth of pentecostal churches across africa, particularly in malawi, have been implicated in efforts to eradicate these practices. pentecostal theology [ 67 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 often reinterprets local spiritual beliefs as satanic, leading to the organization of large-scale services aimed at expelling or “releasing” these perceived evil spirits (dijk, 2001). moreover, the actors discriminating against indigenous religions are nor limited to adherents of world religion, but also include the state, which exerts control through various bureaucratic regulations (abdillah & izah, 2022). furthermore, scholars have sought to engage indigenous religion in various discourse. for instance, krisharyanto umbu deta endeavors to position indigenous religion within the religious freedom (deta, 2022); vikry paais reconstruct christians exclusive narrative towards indigenous religion and propose a pluralistic approach (paais, 2022); similarly, kristno saptenno encourages for the inclusion of indigenous religion in interreligious dialogue (saptenno, 2021). after reviewing the various studies, the author finds that these studies have not adequately navigated the relationship between adherents of indigenous religion and christianity in daily life. therefore, this article will analyze the relationship between memaham (indigenous religion) and christianity, with a focus on the perspectives and practices of huaulu indigenous communities, in seram island, central maluku regency—the place where this research is conducted. grounded in the socio-religious relations of the people, this paper explores the dynamics of their engagement based on intersubjective, egalitarian, reciprocal, and dynamic relationships. this article seeks to avoid the romanticized language which tends to elevate interreligious relations within a discourse of harmony, such as the discourse of “interreligious dialogue” that often masks conflicts (wijsen, 2007, p. 45). therefore, it emphasizes that interreligious engagements are dynamic, not merely characterized by harmonious experiences, but also generating resistance and conflict in response to hegemony and domination. in short, this article seeks to go beyond the post-colonial study of interreligious relations that tends to avoid conflict. consequently, the correlational dialogue proposed by paul knitter (2008) will be employed as an effort to emancipate indigenous religion as a subject within interreligious discourse, while also bridging its relationship with christianity as a correlational one. this article employs a qualitative research methodology, combining several data generating methods, including in-depth interview, semi-structured lifeworld interview, active participant observation, and literature study. each method applied proportionally and contextually. additionally, this article utilizes phenomenological analysis. phenomenological analysis is used to understand and explain the meaning and structure of a phenomenon, as well as the essence of an individual’s or a community’s experience (patton, 2002). [ 68 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 in this context, the engagement between memaham and christianity will be associated with the interaction between the people with different religious affiliation. their engagement generates a complex socio-religious dynamic, including reciprocal negotiation and resistance that intertwine. the structure of analysis in this article is divided into three sections: (1) exploring memaham as an indigenous religious identity; (2) examining the existence and nature of christianity; and (3) analyzing the dynamic engagement between the adherents of memaham and christianity. the research reveals that memaham, as indigenous religious practices predating islam and christianity, is referred to as hindu in administrative context for socio-political and recognition purposes. over time, memaham adherents encountered christian (asaranyam) and islamic (laufaha) communities. in the context of christianity, its arrival in huaulu reflects a dialogical social relationship between huaulu (insider) and other people (outsider), with practices like interfaith marriage and religious conversion playing a key role in shaping these dynamics. this interaction enables hybridization and assimilation of identity between memaham and christian adherents. for instance, memaham adherents who have converted to christian do not entirely abandon memaham practices and knowledge; conversely, christians who convert to memaham do not entirely relinquish christian practices and knowledges. in addition, in social interaction and collective work, both are in an intersubjective relationship. christians and memaham both occupy strategic positions, both in adat government and village government. while such harmonious exchanges are evident, christian evangelization efforts (christianization), legitimized by exclusive creeds, provoke resistance from memaham adherents. this resistance underscores their resilience against coercive conversion and the subordinate nature of christianity. thus, the encounter between memaham and christianity is dynamic, characterized by both harmonious engagement and conflictual rejection. religious practices among the huaulu huaulu is an indigenous village situated on seram island, in the mountainous region at the foothills of mount binaiya, and surrounded by tropical forests. administratively, huaulu is part of north seram subdistrict, central maluku regency, maluku province. the settlement consists of four main areas: (1) kampung lama; (2) kampung baru; (3) kilo lima or transmigration settlement; and (4) alakamat, which is located along the northern coast of seram island. for the purposes of this study, the term “huaulu” refers collectively to kampung lama and kampung baru, which the huaulu people [ 69 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 call mutulam. kampung lama and kampung baru are adjacent, with a paved road marking their boundary and passing only through kampung baru. kampung lama maintains its traditional architectural style, characterized by stilt houses constructed with wooden planks and gaba-gaba (sago palm fronds), bamboo or nibong flooring, and sago leaf roofs. in contrast, kampung baru exhibits features of modernity, such as concrete houses that imitate urban architectural designs. nevertheless, traces of modern influences, including electricity, televisions, solar panels, and motorized vehicles, are present in kampung lama1; while traditional stilt houses can still be found in kampung baru. a defining feature of huaulu culture is the red cloth headgear known as asope (ambon malay: kain berang), exclusively worn by adult men who have undergone the puheli ritual, a rite of passage. daily practices among the huaulu include chewing betel nut, which accompanies various activities such as socializing with neighbors, farming, or hunting in the forest. in huaulu, there are three religions or beliefs coexist: memaham (indigenous religion), asaranyam (christianity), and laufaha (islam) (see paais, 2023a; valeri, 2000). the majority of huaulu people adhere to memaham, followed by christianity, and islam as the smallest population. figure 1 the map of seram island, maluku province source: earth.google.com memaham as (indigenous) religion following the 2017 constitutional court which recognized indigenous religions, several scholars have sought to reconstruct various indigenous religions as an integral part of religious discourse in indonesia (deta, 2022; 1 during my visit to huaulu in october 2024, i found that the huaulu people had prohibited vehicle access to kampung lama, marking it with a plaque clearly stating this prohibition. [ 70 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 nawangsari & adnin, 2022; saptenno, 2021; tera & palar, 2018). this reconstruction forms a part of an emancipatory effort to assert the equality of indigenous religions with other official religions. similarly, the author cautiously engages this effort, recognizing the need to critically interrogate how religious discourse is constructed and reproduced. wilfred cantwell smith (1964) elucidates how the term “religion” has been reified, particularly under the influence on monotheistic traditions, most notably christianity. this process of reification has not only obscured the multifaceted nature of religious experiences but has also fostered reductive definitions that dominate global discourse. within the indonesian context, this phenomenon is further accentuated by the imposition of monotheistic paradigm (conducted by islam) as prerequisites for religious recognition (maarif, 2017). such prerequisites—including the necessity of a prophet, a sacred text, and international recognition—reflect efforts to impose monotheistic framework onto belief systems that are not intrinsically nonmonotheistic. recognizing this epistemological problem, categorizing indigenous beliefs as “religion” risks reifying its practices that are inherently fluid and dynamic. to circumvent this conceptual impasse, a more inclusive definition of religion is essential. this study adopt james l. cox definition in from primitive to indigenous, which posits: “religion refers to identifiable communities that base their beliefs and experiences of postulated non-falsifiable realities on a tradition that is transmitted authoritatively from generation to generation” (cox 2007, p. 85). by focusing on religious experience as transmitted within a community, cox’s definition eschews theological-essentialist justification. this conceptual framework provides a foundation for integrating memaham into interreligious discourse more inclusively. memaham, as a belief system predating the arrival of formal religions, is often referred to as hindu. however, this hindu does not correspond to indian hinduism but is instead understood as adat or ancient hindu (ambon malay: hindu tua). in the social imagination of the maluku people, hindu frequently serves as a term to denote indigenous religions outside the six officially recognized religions. aholiab watloly (2013) identifies this as hindu kultural, a form of hindu intertwined with the tradition and culture of maluku, making it unique and absent elsewhere. administratively, memaham is not listed as a religious option in the identity [ 71 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 card (kartu tanda penduduk—ktp); instead, hindu is used. some sources suggest that this practice stems from the political upheaval and mass killing of indonesian communist party members and sympathizers in 1965 (damm, 2015; paais, 2023a). at the moment, indigenous religions were not officially recognized, leaving their adherents vulnerable to accusations of being atheist or communist affiliates (maarif, 2017). as a result, labeling their belief as hindu became a strategy for negotiating religious identity during this politically volatile period. there are, however, suggestions that the identification of indigenous religions with hindu predates 1965, stemming from the historical influence of hindu-buddhist religious-culture in nusantara (bartels, 2017). this historical context extended into the dutch colonization period, during which the term “hindu” was often used in the administrative affairs by the colonial government to refer to groups of people outside the major world religions (ellen, 2015). amid this complexity, the use of hindu serves an essential function for memaham adherents, enabling them to navigate the challenges of administrative identity, political rights, and public service accessibility. the religiosity of memaham adherents is oriented toward the internalization of earth and sky as spiritual values. they are known as ina puhum (mother earth) and ama lahatala (father sky), collectively referred to as ina-ama (mother and father) (valeri, 2001, p. 94). in huaulu cosmology, ina puhum and ama lahatala represent entities believed to influence human life, providing protections, fertilities, and even calamities. rituals and prayers are therefore directed toward these entities. practically, ina puhum is mentioned first, followed by ama lahatala. this sequence underscores the ecological relationship between the huaulu and their surrounding environment, particularly the forest and land. according to local narratives, the ground they walk on, the soil they cultivate, the forest that provides sustenance, and the flowing rivers that sustain life are all representations of ina puhum. this worldview reflects a perception of nature as a nurturing mother (see merchant, 1980). by highlighting ina puhum, the huaulu emphasize the ecological harmony while asserting that humans are not the sole subject inhabiting the earth, but are part of an intersubjective network with other entities, including nature. thus, memaham cosmology encourages ecological relations as intersubjective, highlighting the interconnectedness between human, nature and ancestor within a framework of mutual existence (see maarif, 2019). the intersubjective relationships are further regulated through prohibitions known as maquwoli (taboo). these taboos not only regulate human-to-human relationships but also the relationship between humans and nature, and humans [ 72 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 and their ancestors. in human-to-human relationships, a younger sibling is prohibited from marrying before an older sibling. in relation to nature, the huaulu are strictly forbidden from consuming domesticated animals (such as dogs and cats)2, including wild animals that have been domesticated. even hunters are not allowed to consume their game animals. in the relationship with ancestors, the huaulu have a tradition of nama hindu. a nama hindu is an ancestral name passed down to subsequent generations. if descendants inherit this name, the taboos practiced by the ancestors automatically inherited as well. for instance, lafale is the name of an ancestor who refrained from eating pork. therefore, any descendants who carry the name lafale are also forbidden from consuming pork. the entire practice of memaham rituals is centered in lumapotoam (ambon malay: baileo). lumapotoam is a larger structure designed to accommodate numerous participants, as it functions as both a space for deliberation and the central venue for ritual activities. the architectural design and construction of the lumapotoam preserve local knowledge and traditions. the use of tools, other than machetes, is strictly prohibited in the construction of the building. the wooden joints are fastened using rattan ropes, as the use of nails is not permitted. traditionally, building is overseen by an elder known as tua adat. the elder serves for a specific term and the position is rotated among members of different clans. as of 2024, mahuleti tamatae holds the position of elder for the huaulu lumapotoam. in this context, the role of the elder is distinct from that of the raja (village leader). while the raja is responsible for administrative matters within the village, the elder is tasked with overseeing religious and customary affairs. accordingly, some informants suggest that the position and duties of the elder within memaham resemble those of a pastor in christian contexts. additionally, in matters pertaining to land or territorial rights, the huaulu recognize the latunusa (land king) as the individual most responsible. the division of roles and responsibilities is, therefore, a crucial factor in the functioning of memaham within the huaulu community. in recent decades, various external pressures have posed serious challenges to the existence of memaham adherents. these challenges include the state’s unequal recognition of religions (maarif, 2017), which has led to the stigmatization of memaham as an animistic belief and its followers as primitive or even irreligious. this recognition bias has resulted in various imbalanced policies, such as the ministry of social affairs’ program that categorized the 2 valerio valeri (1992) notes that chickens were also considered domestic animals that should not be consumed. however, over time, the huaulu community has shifted to consuming chicken meat. [ 73 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 huaulu community as an “isolated tribe” (suku terasing) requiring relocation. this policy, however, eliminated the customary order of the huaulu society (topatimasang, 2016). furthermore, the implementation of transmigration programs and the reclassification of customary forests into national parks have created equally complex issues. transmigration, which was claimed to boost regional income, has instead exacerbated social disparities between indigenous populations and migrants. additionally, conservation efforts have excluded forest-dependent communities from accessing essential resources derived from the forest (sasaoka, 2018). the existence of christianity (asaranyam) the arrival of christianity in huaulu is inextricably linked to the social encounter between the followers of memaham (insiders) and those of christianity (outsiders). the earliest record of this encounter between both in huaulu was documented by italian anthropologist, valerio valeri, in the 1980s (valeri, 2000). valeri notes that christians were referred to as asaranyam. this term was used to distinguish the religious identity of christians from that of the followers of memaham, who were regarded as the mountain dwellers and the original settlers of the area. during the period of valeri’s research, christians were a distinct community living in proximity to the huaulu. over time, their interaction has become more widespread and intensive. today, the presence of christians has become an integral part of the huaulu collective identity. through marriage and migration, christian adherents have settled in the region and formed social cohesion alongside the memaham adherents. several christian informants explained that they settled in huaulu primarily due to marriage, while others cited owning land in the area as their reason for relocation. these individuals originated from various villages such as maneo, maraina, kanikeh, roho, hatu, selumena, and others. christians in huaulu are affiliated to the protestant church in the moluccas (gereja protestan maluku—gpm),3 and most of them are the member of oping congregation (jemaat oping). in church administration, the oping congregation is one of the congregations in the classis of seram utara barat, located on the northern coast of seram island and is in close proximity to one of the huaulu settlements, alakamat. this congregation is gathered by the congregational council, which is led by a priest and assisted by several 3 maluku protestant church in the moluccas, or known as gereja protestan maluku (gpm) is calvinist church which introduced by dutch zendeling. gpm territory include maluku and north maluku. [ 74 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 elders (penatua) and deacons (diaken). as of 2023, two members of oping congregational council are huaulu people who reside in kampung baru. in the context of ritual practice, the oping congregation operates two buildings designated as centers for worship. the first is the church building situated in the central area of oping village, while the second is a spiritual hall constructed in the kilo lima area. the establishment of the spiritual hall in kilo lima differs from the church in the village center, as it aims to provide more accessible opportunities for christians residing in kilo lima and huaulu to engage in worship. however, not all huaulu christians participate in the worship services. during the author’s participation, only five to six people were present, none of whom were huaulu residents from kampung lama or kampung baru. this limited attendance can be attributed to the considerable distance and prohibitively high transportation costs. the journey from huaulu to kilo lima spans approximately 15 kilometers southwest, and due to the absence of public transportation, huaulu residents are required to pay around rp25,000 for a one-way trip via motorcycle taxi. consequently, the round-trip cost amounts to rp50,000, a significant sum when compared to the incomes of the community, which relies on the unpredictable yields of natural resources. in addition to issues of cost and transportation, the time of worship, which is sometimes not punctual, also contributes to the lack of participation among christian members. the author has observed on several occasions that worship services often begin later than the scheduled time of 9:00 am. as a result, some individuals prefer to go to the garden to work rather than attend the worship service. this phenomenon indicates that participation in christian rituals is not considered a mandatory routine. in contrast, during traditional ceremonies, christian huaulu living far from huaulu tend to make an effort to attend and participate. this pattern reflects a clear distinction between the religious practices of memaham and christianity. christianity, with its fixed and scheduled rituals, demands more consistent participation, while in memaham, religious practices are more flexible and not bound by strict routines. despite the various contemporary dynamics surrounding christianity in huaulu, the author also seeks to highlight how the adherents of memaham are not exempt from the influence of global christianity, which emphasizes exclusive creed, orthodoxy, and soteriology (see aritonang & steenbrink, 2008; ellen, 2015; end, 1999; maspaitella, 2020). the textual affirmation of creeds has made christianity one of the most expansive missionary religions, particularly as the arrival of western christianity in the indonesian archipelago coincided with the process of colonization, european imperialism, and white [ 75 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 supremacy. valeri notes that in the 1980s, several american missionaries from the new tribes mission settled along the northern coast of seram island, near alakamat. their settlement in alakamat was due to the huaulu people’s refusal to allow them to live in the mountain villages (valeri, 2000, p. 41). however, the conflict between them and the indigenous people forced these missionaries to leave huaulu. the huaulu people of the 1980s still have vivid memories of them. muhammad damm also recorded political efforts to instill christian influence in huaulu. in his research conducted in 2015, damm noted several efforts made to “religiousize” the huaulu people. he recounts: “... pada bulan juli 2015 beberapa orang perwakilan dari sebuah organisasi kristen di ambon berkunjung ke huaulu. mereka menemui kamara untuk melaporkan bahwa mereka berencana mengadakan kegiatan sosial di negeri huaulu, yang diperuntukkan khususnya bagi anak-anak huaulu yang menjadi siswa sd kecil huaulu. pada tahun sebelumnya mereka juga pernah melakukan kegiatan serupa. menanggapi permintaan izin mengadakan kegiatan tersebut, kamara secara tidak langsung menolaknya karena beberapa kali telah mendapatkan laporan dari sebagian besar masyarakat huaulu sendiri yang menyatakan bahwa mereka tidak berkenan dengan kegiatan sosial organisasi itu lantaran terkesan disertai misi-misi keagamaan” (damm, 2015, p. 47). [in july 2015 several representatives from a christian organization in ambon visited huaulu. they met kamara to report that they were planning to organize social activities in huaulu, specifically for huaulu children who were students at huaulu primary school. in the previous year they had also conducted a similar activity. in response to the request for permission to hold these activities, kamara indirectly rejected it because he had received several reports from most of the huaulu people themselves stating that they were not pleased with the organization’s social activities because they seemed to be accompanied by religious missions]. in addition, damm also noted similar issue suspected to be related to structural government intervention: “... adanya rencana dari dinas pendidikan kabupaten maluku tengah untuk menugaskan empat orang guru sd mengajar di sd kecil huaulu. salah satu dari keempat guru tersebut merupakan guru agama islam. beberapa waktu sebelumnya, pernah pula seorang guru agama kristen mengajar di sd itu dan akhirnya mendapatkan penolakan dari [ 76 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 masyarakat. kamara sendiri mengungkapkan, masyarakatnya memang membutuhkan tenaga pendidik tambahan. akan tetapi, jika yang ditugaskan adalah guru agama islam atau pun kristen, maka akan siasia mengingat anak-anak huaulu yang menjadi siswa di sd kecil huaulu tak seorang pun menganut islam atau kristen” (damm, 2015, p. 48). [there is a plan from the central maluku district education office to assign four elementary school teachers to teach at huaulu primary school. one of the four teachers is a muslim religious teacher. some time before, a christian teacher had also taught at the elementary school and eventually received rejection from the community. kamara himself revealed that his community really needs additional educators. however, if the teachers are assigned to teach islam or christianity, it will be useless considering that none of the huaulu children who are students at primary school adhere to islam or christianity]. this reality illustrates that the existence of christianity in huaulu is shaped by the dynamics of interreligious relations. christianity presents two opposing yet intertwined sides. on one hand, christianity is represented by individuals with a pluralistic character who embody an accommodative and nondiscriminatory relationship. this form of christianity neither forces nor is forced, nor is it determinative or justificatory. the relationship with memaham adherents is based on daily practices without attempts at conversion. on the other hand, christianity emphasizes its exclusive soteriological aspect. this character is dominated by outsiders who view memaham practices as heretical, dark, and unsaved, thus needing to be converted to christianity. this form of christianity becomes entangled in a messianic imperialism, seeing itself as a savior, while perpetuating a narrative of european supremacy that subordinates indigenous religions. correlational intersubjective relationship in satu bumi banyak agama, paul knitter emphasizes “correlational” as an alternative approach to address the excesses caused by christian exclusivism (knitter, 2008, p. 41). although he does not explicitly refer to indigenous religion, in an interview, knitter affirmed that the correlational approach holds significant potential for incorporating indigenous religion into interreligious dialogue (paais, 2023b). instead of being in an exclusive paradigm, knitter proposes a correlational approach to avoid absolutist language which is often tied to exclusive soteriological claims, and ultimately fostering global responsibility. this approach provides christianity with a new perspective: to perceive the world as a shared home and embrace a shared responsibility [ 77 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 for cultivating relationships with the other. thus, global responsibility is the way christians contribute to address the dynamics and challenges existing on earth without regard to religious identity. historically, the primary reason for the extensive encounters between memaham adherents and christianity was the spread of christian missions on seram island. christianity expanded its reach to mountain regions, even venturing farther than huaulu. consequently, the huaulu people frequently interacted with their neighboring christian villages. this argument does not intend to negate encounters with islam. encounters with islam occurred in a different dimension, considering the spatial and dietary differences between the two. in this relationship, memaham adherents associate christians as part of the memaham community. during the research period, an elder in huaulu asked the author, “what is your religion?” the author replied, “i am a christian!” the elder immediately responded, “oh, ita memaham!” (oh, we are both memaham). this phrase, ita memaham, underscores two possibilities. first, it suggests that highland christians were once memaham adherents, like the huaulu people. they shared the same geographical space: forests and mountains. consequently, even though some neighboring villages have converted to christianity, their former religious identity underwent hybridization with christianity, one example being the conception of god as lahatala. second, both christianity and memaham share a common dietary practice: the consumption of pork (valeri, 1992, p. 159). as mountain dwellers, their diet primarily depends on forest resources, including pork, as well as other animals like deers, cassowaries, and cuscuses. this shared dietary pattern creates a cultural similarity between christians and memaham adherents, distinguishing both from islam. thus, diet and spatial dynamics emerge as two interrelated factors shaping the identity of both local christian and memaham communities. why, then, is islam absent from this discourse? the primary reason lies in the theological narrative that regards pork as forbidden. additionally, some memaham informants expressed reluctance, stating they felt compelled to hide pork when hosting muslim guests. moreover, muslim settlements are predominantly located along coastal areas (valeri, 2000), as muslims in these regions are often traders with an economic orientation centered on the exchange of goods and services. consequently, the spread of islam did not extensively reach the highlands but remained focused on coastal zones. this geographic separation resulted in less intensive [ 78 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 encounters between memaham and islam compared to christianity.4 valeri observes that interactions with islam were often marked by conflict, framing the relationship between memaham and islam as a tension between the mountains and the coast (valeri, 2000, p. 23). in recent decades, the intensity of encounters between memaham adherents and christians has significantly increased. while earlier interactions were shaped by distinct territorial identities, today, some residents of huaulu identify as christians. in fact, certain huaulu families now include members of different religions, specifically memaham and christianity. despite forming interfaith families, neither memaham nor christianity recognizes interfaith marriages. both emphasize the necessity of a conversion ritual—titinufu for memaham and baptism for christianity—prior to marriage. nevertheless, some families choose not to undergo conversion, opting instead to retain their respective religions. as a result, they cannot formalize their marriages, either through christian or indigenous marriage (kateha). in the other context, some memaham adherents convert to christianity, while conversely, some christians convert to memaham.5 this process of conversion unfolds in a reciprocal dialectic, with both memaham and christianity practicing inward and outward conversion (tylor, 1999). individuals who undergo conversion rituals—titinufu or baptism—do not entirely sever their ties to their previous faith. in short, religious conversion in huaulu fosters religious hybridity (ruparell, 2013), multiple religious belonging, or what raymon panikkar (1999) refers to as intrareligious dialogue. memaham adherents who convert to christianity often remain connected to memaham traditions, such as the prohibition against consuming dog meat (paais, 2023c). similarly, christians who convert to memaham continue to participate in certain christian practices. additionally, children in interfaith families occasionally engage in the rituals of both religions, a phenomenon referred to as interrituality (moyaert & geldhof, 2015). the encounter between memaham and christianity is marked not only by harmonious relations but also by significant social dynamics, one of which is the resistance of memaham adherents to christian proselytization efforts. as previously mentioned, huaulu resistance was documented by valeri when they opposed the presence of five american missionary families from the 4 nonetheless, in contemporary times, memaham adherents have experienced significant encounters with islam, particularly due to the growing number of muslim transmigrants who have settled in huaulu territory, kilo lima. 5 it is important to note that the practice of conversion into or out of memaham, marked by the titinufu ritual, is exclusively applicable to women and not to men. conversely, conversion to christianity, signified by baptism, is applicable to both women and men. [ 79 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 new tribes mission. similarly, damm recorded their rejection of a christian religious teacher appointed by the central maluku regency government to serve at huaulu’s elementary school. in another instance, the huaulu community recalls the death of an elementary school teacher believed to have occurred because he conducted christian worship in the school, despite the students not being christians. these various efforts at christianization provoked resistance from the huaulu people against the influence of christian propagation. this response manifested in restrictions on christian worship within kampung lama. in essence, christian rituals could be performed in huaulu but were prohibited within the boundaries of kampung lama. these restrictions were not instituted formally but emerged from individual awareness, passed down through collective narratives. the community associates kampung lama as the territory of memaham and the center of indigenous ritual practices. in contrast, christian rituals are perceived as a threat to the authority of memaham. although this resistance may seem exclusive or even anti-christian (christianophobia), it represents the huaulu people’s strategy for resilience against the expansive christian missionary efforts. a similar pattern can be observed among the boti community, adherents of halaika, who exercise great caution in engaging with christians due to fears of forced conversion (nenohai, 2023, p. 267). christians are not excluded from social or structural relationships within the huaulu community. in daily interactions, some christians reside in or frequently move between kampung lama and kampung baru. in the village governance system, both memaham and christian adherents are appointed based on meritocracy, ensuring equal opportunities. as of 2024, kamara (chairperson of huaulu village) is a muslim, the village secretary is a christian, and several village staff members are also christians. similarly, in customary governance, christians can serve as saniri.6 beyond structural inclusion, memaham adherents also permit christians and followers of other religions to participate in various rituals, such as puheli, titinufu, kahua, and others. this phenomenon demonstrates that the resistance of memaham adherents is not tied to religious identity but rather to intention or motive. those who come with proselytizing intentions are inevitably rejected. this response underscores the prerogative right to determine both individual and collective religious identity (self-determination), while affirming the discourse on religious freedom as practiced by memaham adherents. therefore, in the context of human rights and freedom of religion of belief (forb), proselytizing 6 saniri is an indigenous legislative body at the village level. in maluku, saniri comprises representatives from each soa (clan) or mata rumah (lineage). [ 80 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 efforts are perceived as a violation and disruption of their religious freedom (lindholm, 2010; sharma, 2011). this dynamic reveals a complex interreligious relationship. unlike the interreligious dialogue often aimed at fostering harmonious relations in response to religiously motivated violence (swidler, 2013), the reality in huaulu demonstrates that the relationship between christianity and memaham is negotiative, collaborative, and even confrontational. the negotiative relationship correlates with the practice of hybrid religious identity at the individual level. this reflects how the huaulu community negotiates their memaham identity with christianity. memaham adherents who convert to christianity do not necessarily abandon their memaham attributions, nor vice versa, thereby creating a hybrid identity (ruparell, 2013). furthermore, collaborative relationships are closely intertwined with shared interests. in this context, both christians and memaham adherents demonstrate a strong commitment to collective interests, despite their differing religious identities (knitter, 2008, 2013). conversely, the confrontational relationship represents an antithesis to exclusive christian dominance. exclusivist proponents often associate indigenous religions as passive recipients and their religion as the determining agent (azumah, 2013). therefore, when memaham adherents demonstrate resistance to conversion attempts or prohibit christian worship in kampung lama, such actions constitute an effort to assert their often-subordinated religious identity. this confrontational dynamic frequently characterizes the relationship between indigenous religions and christianity. in some societies that are now predominantly christian, adherents of local religions in the past actively resisted efforts to spread christianity (mawuntu, 2020). this fact underscores that interreligious relations are a dynamic phenomenon. such relationships are marked not solely by harmony but also by confrontation. the above discussion highlights the dynamic and complex nature of interreligious relations. the huaulu people accept christianity, yet in certain contexts, they negotiate its presence when it poses a threat to their identity. the form of christianity that is accommodated is non-discriminatory, noncoercive, and free of conversion-driven tendencies. conversely, the type of christianity that is rejected is exclusive, justificatory, determinative, coercive, and oriented toward conversion. conclusion the dominance of the world religions paradigm in interreligious discourse [ 81 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 tends to exclude indigenous religions. nevertheless, the interaction between adherents of christianity and indigenous religions has a long history, unfolding alongside the global spread of christianity. in this context, the relationship between indigenous religions and christianity exhibits a dynamic character. for instance, in huaulu, the representation of memaham as an indigenous religion holds profound significance for the community’s existence and the preservation of their distinct religious-cultural identity and values. furthermore, the advent of christianity has introduced novel dimensions to the socio-religious landscape of the huaulu community. the relationship between memaham and christianity can be categorized into three principal aspects: negotiative, collaborative, and confrontational. the negotiative aspect indicates that christianity is not merely excluded but rather is openly negotiated. moreover, adherents from both traditions engage in collaboration to achieve shared interests. however, despite its acceptance as part of the collective identity, in certain particular contexts, christianity is indeed confronted by the memaham identity. this confrontation arises from the exclusive behaviors of individual christians, driven by theological imperatives to convert memaham adherents. consequently, the resistance demonstrated by memaham adherents constitutes a strategic and significant measure to counteract various attempts at forced conversion, whether direct or indirect. this form of resistance is not aimed at eliminating the presence of christians within the huaulu community; instead, it seeks to assert the equality of identity between memaham and christianity and to reject the dominant nature of christianity, which often tends to act as a determinant agent. ultimately, this study carries significant implications for the comprehensive development of interreligious relations, specifically by avoiding the romanticized bias that often prioritizes harmonious interreligious engagements. bibliography abdillah, a. n., & izah, s. a. 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[ 86 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3289 [ 55 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 dayak and malay brotherhood in the malay collective memory of post independence indonesia 1 hermansyah iain pontianak email: hermansyahii@yahoo.com abstract each community in the world has a past in which their existence is commonly determined by things happening in their past. to preserve their past a community needs means of transmission, among others, through oral traditions such as stories, mantra, and way of life. they inherit stories, mantra, and ways of life with values that have related meanings to their life. the heritage of these things is very important to preserve and develop the collective identity of the community. as they continue to be passed down, they become the collective memory of a community. the west kalimantan malay society has collective memories that are relatively inherited in the form of oral traditions and other life practices such as cultivation. part of the collective memory has awakened them to the brotherhood with the people called dayak today. nevertheless, the collective memory is confronted with challenges both coming from within themselves and from the outside that may eliminate them without a better replacement. keywords: collective, memory, dayak, malay, local tradition, belief, heritage, social relations introduction before europeans came to west kalimantan, the terms dayak and malay had not been used to identify local people. popular local identification was the traditional tribal names which can be associated to the place of origin such as the name of the village or the name of the river and language. within certain limits, this identification is still used today as a marker of the origin of a person. the dutch came and provided a new identity construction for the 1 the article is absed on a peper presented at the dialog borneo-kalimantan xiii held on 27-28 desember 2018. the first basic draft of it is posted at http://teraju.id/berita/persaudaraan-dayak-melayu-dalam-memori-kolektif-orang-melayu-4454/. the terminologi of pasca independence era is given to explain the situation of ethnic relation in west kalimantan barat which is not being discussed within available otoritative resources such as works of western scholars and the colonial reports that mosltly give more attention to the ecsotism of the people in the region such as head-hunting tradition and other local culture aspects. [ 56 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 local population of kalimantan with two main categories namely: dayak and malay. meanwhile the main marker of the construct of ethnic identity was religion. local people who observed traditional beliefs were called dayaks. while those who had converted to islam had a new ethnic identity as malays. later, dayak not only became the identity of local people who embraced the original belief but it was also used to identify those who followed the christian missionary religion. the most popular terms for the transition of identity to local people who converted to islam are ‘‘to become malay’ or ‘to enter malaydom’ or ‘to return [and become] malay’ (veth, 1854; king, 1993; chalmers, 2007; heidhues, 2008, hermansyah, 2010; 2018). the name dayak itself is actually a ‘umbrella name’ for hundreds of sub ethnic groups with relatively different languages and cultures. the issue of islamic conversion as an entry into malaydom for local communities in west kalimantan has emerged at least 160 years ago. for example veth (1854: 54) reported on the inhabitants of embau.2 according to him, a person’s religion means holding a malay name. veth (1854: 54) firmly noted: “daar zij voor eenige jaren den islam hebben aangenomen thans tot de malaijers kunnen gerekend worden.” (meaning,”there, a few years before this, they (the inhabitants of the embau river) have embraced islam, they may be counted as malay.”) 3 the malay-dayak identification process to local communities based on the beliefs adopted by dutch colonialists among others is intended for administrative purposes other than of course divide et empera politics. from a colonial point of view, the dayaks were considered primitive4 with their exotic image. while the malay were considered more cultured because they were religious, became rulers of several kingdoms, and some of them were immigrants. this image slowly but surely affected the local people. the people who were given a new identity as malays were flattered. those who were called malay felt that they had a better social status. therefore the identification process that distinguishes malay and dayak was getting stronger. the further consequence of the kinship between the two --which is actually very strong because of the blood relationship—was increasingly tenuous. in fact, since then there has been negative image of the ‘brothers’ called dayak. 2 a name of a river in kabupaten kapuas hulu. the region consits of three lover levels of administrative regions including kecamatan jongkong, kecamatan hulu gurung, and kecamatan pengkadan. 3 such identification process is also found within local people who converted to islam in the past in west kalimantan (see enthoven, 2013). 4 a colonial terminology commonly used by europeans to lebel the people in their collomies which is associated to primitive, pagan and living in small groups of clan contrasted to modern europeans [ 57 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the separation grew stronger when in later times most of the so-called dayaks then chose christianity as their formal religion. in contrast, some dayaks who converted to islam were still considered malay. in this context the colonial concept continues to be used. later researchers are still reporting the same thing as sellato (1992) who wrote: “gradually over time religious conversion would result in a reclassification of the dayak converts as malay; the local malay term for this process is masok melayu (‘to become malay’ or ‘to enter malaydom’) or sometimes turun melayu (‘to come down [and become] malay’.” 5 the malay and the dayak are the two largest ethnic groups in west kalimantan. before becoming part of the republic of indonesia, these community groups were under the control of local leaders. the relationship between these two ethnic groups has been very dynamic. in some cases the two constructs of colonial identity are faced so as to cause tension. this condition is exacerbated by a handful of people making the malay-dayak identity a political tool. the use of ethnic identity as a means of winning the sympathy of the masses is increasingly widespread after the reform era especially in the elections of regional heads of government. the dayaks began to have the awareness that kalimantan is a dayak land and they are the most entitled to inherit and lead on this island. while among the malays also they developed the same thing that they are natives as well. this situation affects the bureaucracy, when one of these two groups is in power, it will be considered6 there is dominance in government and in related sectors. meanwhile, several violent conflicts with ethnic backgrounds have occurred here. although some of these conflicts do not involve dayaks and malays directly, it has caused deep historical wound to the people of west kalimantan. however, it is not impossible that a conflict involving ethnic dayaks and malays will occur if both ethnic groups continue to be exposed to the pragmatic political interests of a particular person or group of people. the potential for conflict vulnerability in west kalimantan has been hypothesized by prof. syarief i. alqadrie (2007) which in its history happened every 30 years. one example of tension involving ethnic dayak and malay-muslim members who almost instigated an open conflict, for example, occurred when the first parade 5 lately the condition has not been found animor in the region of landak. the kanayatn dayak who convert to islam in the region keep their ethnic identity (see hermansyah (2013). for further reference, see also prasojo (2011) who discusses the similar pgenomena for katab kebahan dayak in melawi of west kalimantan. 6 the word is used for inavilability of research finding with regards to whether the statement is true. in fact, people massively keep the notion within non-formal conversation in their daily life. there is also an understanding about unjust meaning within the term. [ 58 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 of gawai dayak on may 20, 2017.7 previously, there were incidents at gang tanjung harapan and gang landak pontianak in november and december 1999 which also almost spread into conflict between the two ethnic groups.8 amid fears of a conflict that may involve two of the largest groups of people in west kalimantan, there is a real sense of brotherly feelings toward the dayaks among the malays that have been recorded in their common memories. very likely that consciousness is also present among the dayaks. this kind of awareness has, among other things, succeeded in maintaining a relatively good relationship for so long between the two largest ethnic groups in west kalimantan. this is a ‘capital’ for the people of west kalimantan to maintain social harmony. there are various things that still remind local malay of their dayak origins into their collective memory, among others: aspects of trust, heritage, social relations, and cultural similarities. this collective memory has been passed down by generations. unfortunately, behind this collective memory begins to be erased slowly either intentionally or not. this article will describe the collective memory of the malays that may serve the bond of the two large communities in west kalimantan. in addition, this paper will also present challenges or even threats to the existence of the collective memory. collective memory there are various terms used to refer to “collective memory”. some scholars prefer the term “cultural memory” (erll, 2008), whereas most social historians and scientists use the term “social memory” (olick, 1998; fentress and wickham, 1992) and “collective memory” (lipsitz, 1990). in practice, this terminology differs due to different approaches to study it. memory is an individual phenomenon that begins with the activity of remembering in a person’s head. every meaning and symbol is born from individual human beings. we create symbols, and then interpret them. however, the process of interaction between individuals who create each other’s symbols and interpret them will produce a certain collectivity which durkheim refers to as a social fact, or collectivity itself. the process of creating and giving meaning to the symbol, and then passing it on to the next generation, requires memory. the process of remembering so many people on a certain time scale, and then being passed on to the next generation, will form a specific collective memory structure. this collective memory will 7 https://suaranasional.com/2017/05/20/hampir-terjadi-bentrok-saat-pawai-gawaidayak/ akses 2 mei 2018. 8 see also djajadi (2016). [ 59 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 remain, and passed on to the next generation, although times are changing, and tradition disappears (wattimena, 2012: 2). according to confino (1997: 1389) memory as a study of collective mentality provides a comprehensive view of culture and society that is often lost in the history of memory. each community in the world has a past. in fact, as robert bellah claimed, the so-called communities are determined by what happened in their past. he argued, that a true community is a community of memories, a community based on a past, and never forgetting it. to preserve its past, a community, according to bellah, needs a story. they create stories that contain meaningful values for the community. such stories are very important to preserve and develop the collective identity of the community. however, not only are stories told about the good and success of the past, but also stories about painful events, and failures that can be learned. stories of negative events from the past can actually become the bond of a strong collective identity, and create a deep sense of togetherness. “and if a community is completely honest,” as bellah wrote, “they will remember stories not only of the suffering it receives, but also the suffering it causes --dangerous memories, because it invites the community to transform the ancient evil” ( wattimena, 2012: 6). olick (widjaja, 2010: 15) mentioned about the three principles for analyzing memory and processing the content in it. first the collective memory is not monolithic. collective warning is a very complex process, involving many different people, practices, materials, and themes. secondly, the concept of collective memory will encourage us to see memory as an authentic residue of the past or vice versa as a dynamic construct in the present. the complex recall process is always a fluid negotiation process between today’s desires and relics of the past. third, it must be remembered that memory is a process, and not an object. collective memory is something we did, not something we had. therefore a sensitive analysis tool that is sensitive to diversity, contradictions, and dynamics is required. thus the memory first forms in the present as well as in the past and is something that is not fixed. memory is something that lives in dynamics at both the individual and collective levels. for the purposes of this paper, the term collective memory refers to the collective memory among the malays in the form of past stories, beliefs, practices, and which have become traditions such as farming. belief although belief / religion –in addition to language and culture-as a major marker of the malay and dayak differences, traces of old beliefs can still be traced in the daily life of the malay and the dayaks. this trust trail shows the [ 60 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 collective memory of the malays. some of these will be described below. in the malay community, especially in the interior, there are people who still perform the ancak ritual. ancak is woven trays for offerings to supernatural beings (gimlette, 1971: 2). the offerings are usually made up of food ingredients. it is believed that performing the ceremony can affect the luck and misfortune of a person in addition to treating the sick. this ceremony was prevalent among the people of the archipelago in the past. among the rural communities of west kalimantan, this ceremony was performed by the dayaks as well as by malays. there is also a tolak bala (prevention of misfortune) ceremony. the ceremony is performed with certain ceremonial devices in the form of food that will be placed on the border of the village. the purpose of this food disposal is to feed the magical powers in order to persuade them not to disturb the peace of the village. along with the ceremony was reading prayers according to islamic beliefs (hermansyah 2002). the malays continued their ancestral traditions before islam in the form of feeding the supernatural beings believed to affect their lives along with the recitation of islamic prayer. in addition, there are also beliefs related to the livelihood. in lan-clearing for farming, for example, it should start on certain days or based on instructions through dreams or listening to the instructions that come from the sound of birds. likewise the determination of the day begins to sow the seed and during harvest. in fishermen communities, they also develop certain beliefs for example one should not whistle or say dirty words at the time of looking for fish associated with the catch and the safety of fishermen. there is also a belief called kempunan sometimes called kepunan or mpunan. kempunan is a dangerous situation caused by a person’s desire to eat and drink that has been declared or an offer to eat or drink that is not met.9 this situation causes a person to be threatened or bitten by certain animals such as snakes, centipedes, scorpions or accidents such as falling because of being driven by supernatural beings. usually a person who does not fulfill the wishes or take offers to eat or drink, he will get misfortune like a wound, falling off or being bitten by a venomous animal which is believed to have occurred due to a kempunan. to avoid the situation, someone must eat or drink, or at least does mlopus.10 evidence that this kempunan being part of the collective memory of the malay can be traced to the dayak society. according to bernstein (1997: 67) kempunan is an integral part of daily culture in the upper kapuas river, 9 compare to the definition of kempunan by kamus dewan (2002: 535) and wilkinson (1959: 553). 10 touching food and baverages with your finggers and put the left over food and or baverages in them to your mouth (hermansyah, 2010: 82, 94). [ 61 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 including in the dayak taman community, which became the focus of his study. apparently such a belief not only belongs to the kapuas river upstream community, the kadayan dayak community in brunei also has a similar belief (maxwell 2005). the belief in the “spirit” of many living and dead objects is another example of the existence of the dayak and malay origins. another example is associated with pantang larang (prohibition). traditional people of west kalimantan believe that rivers and lakes should not be poisoned because it will lead to natural events that threaten human safety such as rain accompanied by thunder and lightning. pantang larang is related to keeping the water ecosystem and the water itself from pollution (hermansyah, 2016: 351). respect for the right to living freely is not only given to humans. some west kalimantan people believe that animals should not be laughed at or tortured, especially for prospective parents. if breached, it will result in the same fate that befalls the baby to be born. this belief is called kenawa’. besides kenawa’ malays also believe that, hurting animals and laughing at them can lead to lobur. lobur is the occurrence of storm accompanied by lightning and thunder that turns a person who hurts animals and laughs at them into a rock (hermansyah, 2010: 58). the fact that this belief is a form of malay collective memory of the ancestral heritage prior to islam is seen in similar beliefs among the dayaks. beliefs about this lobur for example is similar to the dayak kayan belief called adat dipuy. in this custom the dayak kayan people believe that treating animals, especially monkeys, frogs, pigs and dogs arbitrarily and laughing at them can cause strong winds and thunder. the difference is, in the strong wind and thunder does not turn a person into a rock (rousseau 1998: 105). heritage in the collective memory of the malays, they have long claimed to have a kinship with the dayaks. to prove it, they usually have a tembawang inherited from their ancestors. the owner of the tembawang consists of dayaks and malays. tembawang is an old farm planted with various fruit plants such as durian, mangosteen, rambutan, mango, and so forth. in the fruitful season, the dayaks will tell their malay relatives to take some fruit or sometimes send the fruits to them. likewise, if the dayaks go to the malay village, they will be accepted and treated as relatives. in the past, many dayak people sent their children to school and entrusting them to the malays. the malay host is even responsible for providing food, drink, and tuition for the dayak children. in addition to tembawang, the malay (and possibly dayak) inherited the same story as the dayak. according to wattimena (2012: 4) stories about the past [ 62 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 usually settles into a kind of folklore that contains moral values going to the next generation. the story becomes meaningful, because it contains the past wisdoms that need to be inherited and interpreted by the next generation. in the stories of the past, and the moral and wisdom values contained therein, collective memory plays an important role in giving meaning and context. folklore becomes a tool for collective memory to give a social identity to a particular community. in kapuas hulu, there is a famous demang nutup story as their ancestors. here is a version of the story (hermansyah, 2010: 211-212): “grandfather demang nutup came from the people of heaven. his wife was sunta bonang. they had sixteen children who then became the chinese, kantu, iban, taman, tebidah, punan and bugis. the one who became malay was in our place [embau]. grandfather demang nutup always went to the top of beluwan hill --which was then still connected with the ampan hill-to see the tree of a thousand branches growing on top of the hill. the tree of a thousand branches was wrapped in the roots that end up in the sky. the roots were used by the grandfather demat nutup to come down from heaven to earth. apparently the roots were also used by the siang burung ghost to descend to earth to kill humans. one day grandfather demang nutup went to see a thousand branchwood trees to watch if the daylight ghost descended to earth. because of concern for the safety of his children, the roots were cut off by grandfather demang nutup. from then on, no man could climb to the land of heaven anymore. after cutting the roots, he felt hot. to cool his body, grandfather demang nutup bathed in the klawan bluwan pool. during bath, grandfather demang nutup got a tambun fish which is big as an adult gurami fish. when he finished bathing, he went back to the village with the tambun fish wrapped with a bathing cloth. arriving at home, the fish was immediately given to his wife for cooking. when his wife opened the wrap, all she found were the bones of fish because the meat had been eaten by the tuma. even so, the fish bone was still cooked with cucumber leaves. after the fish one and cucumber leaves was ready, his son immediately ate it. during the meal, his son had a bone stuck in his throat. grandfather demang nutup was furious. he immediately went to the foot of the hill and kicked the hill. “seves you right! the fish that i got from your pond caused my son to get bone stuck in his throat,” he said. the ampan hill at the top of beluwan hill was finally separated. ampan hill then floated in the air. seeing the ampan hills floating in the air, other hills asked him: [ 63 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 “ampan hill, where are you going?” “i want to cover the embau river,” said ampan hill. hearing the conversation, lokan11 maram replied, “wait, let’s cover the river together. please drop by here first. i still have unfinished work.” when ampan hill stopped there, half the hill plunged into the ground and could not move anymore. that’s where the ampan hill stopped so it’s now downstream of the nanga pedian village.” the story above is actually a legend about the origin of a hill. but in that story, the central figure believed by them as their ancestor was also the ancestor of the people of other tribes. in addition to the story, the malays and the dayaks inherited a number of similar folklore. the story of pak saloi --or in some places called pang aloi-is an ancestor’s folklore about the humorous figures shared by the malays and the dayaks. furthermore there is a legacy of the same farming system among the two ethnic groups. overall, the cultivation system among the malay cultivators / activities which is the main activity of rural communities in the interior is mostly the same as that of the dayak. the time-consuming farming activities of the malays were reported hermansyah (2010: 25-27) as follows: the first activity is ngabas tanah. this is an activity to check and review some places planned to be used as a field or huma. at the time of examining this land sometimes they also got a burung-biu (signs)12 whether the land should be used as a huma that year or look elsewhere. the sign can be a dream, a feeling or can also be a state that can be used as a guide like a sick family member. if during the search for a suitable field and no unfavorable burung biu is found, the next stage is nobas. this activity takes place around may or june. nobas, is the activity of cutting the grass on the sidelines of a large tree located on the land to be used as a huma. for those who will farm in mpalai13 which is rather new, usually this activity is take place later than those who will take on the old mpalai or open a new land. this 11 lokan means swamp 12 similar belief to dayak people. within the dayak people, a bird has an important role for giving hints for human life as reported by van hulten (1992: 218-219). in addition, the dayak people also believe that forest is also inhibited by supernatural beings that must be respected so that when starting the work of new land for a farm in the forest, for example, they need to ask for a permission. this kind of belief within dayak people is also repoted by radam (2001: 328-337) and fatmawati (2011: 133). 13 a piece of land that has ever been used as a farm in the past years. mpalai means smal bushes and woods. the level of work to spend to the bushes and woods depends on the length of the mpalai being left for unsed. [ 64 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 farming system is commonly known as shifting cultivation. although the farming land shifts, they have traditional wisdom to preserve the forest. instead of believing in certain forces that govern nature, they are also accustomed to taking advantage of the mpalai after being left for several years. so they do not clear a new land every year. for land that is not productive because of reduced fertility if used as a field then the land will be used plantation, especially rubber. in contrast, old rubber gardens that are less productive are cut down and used as fields. this shifting cultivation system proves to be not only an appropriate answer to the ”struggle” for sustaining life on infertile soil, it is also a major alternative and appropriate mechanism, at least in transition to a fully settled agricultural system. in the last ten years it has been very rare for malays to clear new forests for agricultural land. the following illustrates the cycle of land use for malay people: chart of land cycle for farming after finishing nobas, the next activity is nobang, which is cutting down wooden trees. this activity is only done on a new land or an old mpalai. after being cleared, the land is left for about a month waiting to dry before the next activity. nunu, i.e. burning the uma, is done after the trees and grass have been cut down and let to dry. if the land is adjacent to the forest or farm, then before the burning, the land should have a doda’14 of 3-5 meters wide. before burning the land, the owner of the field will tell the owners of the surrounding land to keep the fire from spreading. after completion the nunu, the next activity is ngokas, that is activity to clean 14 means clearing dried grass/bushes and woods on the land bordered with forest and farm so that help protect the fire to escalate to unwanted area when the burning work takes place. [ 65 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the remains of burning. the length of time for this ngokas depends on the first burning result. if the season is less hot, usually it is not good and the time to do ngokas will be longer and vice versa. unburned woods in the nunu period will be cut and stacked for re-burning.  when finished with ngokas, the next activity is nugal, that is planting rice with tugal. between the rice plants, people usually grow vegetables, such as mustard greens, jawa’, pare, spinach, corn, chives, chili, eggplant, cucumber, and pumpkin. the next two months came the mabau period, which is clearing the grass that grow on the sides of the rice and vegetables. at this time some types of vegetables can be picked, such as spinach, chives and young corn. approximately a month after the mabau, for those who plant the pulut (glutinous rice), came the time for ngompin. ngompin is the activity to make ompin (emping) from sticky rice. a month after the ompin season came the harvesting season (ngotam). rice stems are harvested one by one, collected and then threshed to remove the grain. after that the grain is dried in the sun, it is burned with a bushel. after that, some of the rice is separated for seeds for the next planting season, some are ground to be used as rice and some are stored inside kujuk15, if they need it, they will take the rice from the kujuk to be ground or sold. the whole series of farming activities are usually done by way of bebung, which is doing the huma en mass with a roll from one huma to another. the most frequent activities by way of bebung in berhuma are nobas, nugal, and ngotam. in addition, there is also magic called ilmu among the malays that is inherited from their ancestors prior to islam. hermansyah (2010) reported that a number of ilmu shows the heritage of the ancestors.16 in addition to the islamic element in ilmu, there are also local elements that show the heritage of tradition, among others, similar or even the same beliefs with those among the dayaks. here are some examples; semati anak mati anak mati ditingang tanah tamak totak buluh panyang panak pakai nyuman porut simati anak 15 a peace of work in the form of a box made of wood to store padi (rice). kujuk is normally in 1.5 x 5 meters and placed in a room between kitchen and main body of the house. 16 it is also the same as the people of dayak lawangan who have converted to islam as reported by mallinckrodt (1974) [ 66 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 (dead child [ghost] died of landslide cut baboo long and short to stab the stomach of dead child [ghost]) (hermansyah, 2010: 145) this mantra indicates a heritage of the ancestral belief of the malay prior to islam that the bleeding that occurs at the time a mother gives birth is caused by the ghost of a dead child. to treat it, then the mantra is recited. this belief is clearly a belief of an unknown tradition in islam. another example of another mantra used to treat children who cry a lot as follows: to bathe a crying child kuak kabak cencang dade dulang daging dan tulang tekerambak buang luge dalam tulang nek uyuk merang kajang teparang kamunie antu buyuk antu bajang sahabat manusia (lala, 2007: 93) tawar sawan serabi kaciku secangak secingar ngacip kaki babi ambik kencor dengan jeringau aku menawar nenek rerabi (lala, 2007: 94) in contrast, the dayaks were influenced by the malays in their spells. although they do not convert to islam, they have been influenced by the malays, more precisely by islam in their mantra while maintaining the local elements. here are some examples of mantras that show the influence of islam practiced by the dayak kanayatn in landak area. tawar api/air panas (burn treatment) bismillahirahmanirrahim turun jaki naik jai makan rokok sirih sakabat bukan aku nawari’ kena’ api/air aku nawari’ hujan yang lebat (apan in hermansyah, 2013: 349) [ 67 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 tawar mata (eye treatment) bismilah ya rahman ya rahim ambun ijau ambun kuning ambun manikam raja manawar aku nuruntan tawaran saribu anak ikan putih dari lautan panas sajuk barat ringan tajam tumpul bisa tawar sah tawar (maria ate, in hermansyah, 2013: 349) tawar kempunan (kempunan treatment) bismillah ya rahman ya rahim pariu’ si parunggu barisi’ ruman padi turun dato’ petara guru nawari’ kempunan ku tadi’ jilat makatn (alau akbar in hermansyah 2013: 349) this situation also occurs among the dayak tunjung and benuaq people who are christians in east kalimantan practicing mantras with those influenced by islamic beliefs such as in the following ilmu asar text: bismillah neraman arahim sang putih raja manak asal orang putih tak belawan in the name of allah, the merciful and compassionate white lord, king [of] children because of a man’s white origin, he shall not resist (hopes 1997: 112) from some of the above examples it is evident that the islamic element in the dayak mantra is the mention of bismillahirrahmanirrahim which means ‘in the name of allah the most beneficent, the most merciful’. this sentence is the first verse in the first surah of the quran that is al-fatihah. it has become common knowledge among muslims to make this sentence a greeting to start a good work to be of value before god. [ 68 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 social relations in order to maintain social relations and respect for their dayak relatives, the malays chose to call themselves orang darat (land people). even this is very common when they are talking about a dayak as a third person. the term darat (land) refers to a marker of direction among the people of kalimantan other than the laut (sea), hulu (upstream), and hilir (downstream).17 laut refers to the river, and land is in the opposite direction. “hulu” refers to a water source or upstream of the river and “hilir” points toward the mouth of the river. the direction of the wind is unknown in the traditional direction system of the people in kalimantan. even if using the sun as a sign, they just call the direction of the sun lives and the sun dies to refer east and west. the north and south directions are completely unknown. they do not want to call their relatives dayak. for in the beginning the name of dayak was an insulting term for non-muslim indigenous peoples in the interior of kalimantan (sellato, 1989). in the perspective of scholars of colonial anthropology at that time, the term dayak was always depicted in the western world as an underdeveloped group of humans who like to wage war between tribes and move from one region to another (isman 2016: 364). while among the dayaks in melawi and sintang, they call their muslim brothers as “senganan” (fatmawati, 2011: 167) which means the right side in the sense that they still are close relatives. in fact, these muslim ‘senganan’ still continue their dayak customs that are modified and adapted to islamic teachings. by doing so, the muslim ‘senganans’ realize that they are actually dayaks or at least have the same ancestors as the dayaks. in contrast, the dayaks recall that they also have brothers who subsequently turned their ethnicity into a ‘senganan’. in the context of relations between ethnic groups there are good habits and continue to be maintained until now, especially in the interior. in certain dayak villages, there is a special custom of serving muslim guests. in order to respect the muslim guests they prepare special cutlery and cookware that they do not use.18 in addition, sometimes guests are also served with food that has not been cooked. that way, muslim guests can process their own food without feeling anxiety. therefore, muslims who come to a dayak village will feel at 17 maunati (2006: 178-179) mentions that the dayak use direction terms as hulu (ulu) or upper area and hilir (ilir) or lower area since most dayak settlements are located in the river sides so that they understand the direction as associated to river flow. in addition, the ulu-ilir terminology also has important simbolic meanings for the dayak. ulu also means life and ilir means death. ilir is also associated to city or more deceloped area or urban. maunati doest over an explanation on the concept of darat and laut. 18 as commonly understood, islam has a specific concept of law with reagrds to food and baverage, some of them are allowed to be consumed by muslims and some other not. [ 69 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 home.19 in regulating social relations, the traditional communities of west kalimantan have customary law. customary law is still applied by some malay communities, very closely related to the dayak customary law. for example, in rural communities of west kalimantan, particularly in hulu gurung, kapuas hulu district, they recognize the term of the customary law namely pamar darah. the pamar darah penalties apply to a person or group of people who create a rowdy atmosphere and shock people; for example someone walking in the middle of the village carrying a machete or other weapon while shouting. the perpetrator will be subject to certain customary sanctions. these customary laws have prevented fights or vigilante actions. among the dayak landak people, they have a similar custom called pamabakng custom which is made to resist various acts of violence (kristianus, 2009: 121). challenges the malay collective memory lives in a vibrant sphere of life. therefore, changes due to external influences or the drive from within is inevitable. there are many things that affect the collective memory of a community. at least there are four things that are very influential on the collective memory of malays in west kalimantan namely, social segregation, modernization, politics, and religion. for a long time, local muslims who converted to islam –and gained a new identity as malay--made new settlements separate from the original. thus geographically the dayaks and the malays have long been separated from each other. almost no more heterogeneous villages exist --in terms of a relatively balanced number of dayaks and malays-in west kalimantan. although there are some, but one can hardly find villages inhabited together by the malays and the dayaks. there are indeed dayak villages in which some malay people live or vice versa. the social separation of the dayaks and the malays has begun during the dutch colonial era, as mentioned in the previous section, for the purposes of running public administration and daily social communication of the general public, and to support the spread of christianity to indigenous people labeled as dayak people. it must also be stated that there are other situations among dayaks who convert to islam in kalimantan. for example, dayak bakumpai people in central kalimantan and south kalimantan still maintain their dayak identity even though they are moslems (nasrullah, 2014) as the case of the benuaq people in east kalimantan (yusriadi et al., 2012: 55). likewise in brunei, in the country’s constitution it is stated that the malays consisted of the original 19 compare to fatmawati (2011: 145-146) [ 70 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 brunei friars of belait, bisaya, brunei, dusun, kedayan, murut and tutong, regardless of their religion and belief (hermansyah, 2015: 2 ). based on such circumstances, especially in east kalimantan, maunati (2006: 85) asserted that the boundaries between dayak and malay are not very strict, and the limitation of one’s dayak identity is always changing. thus according maunati the use of ethnic terms in the context of religious differences is misleading. modernity that brings nature to rational thinking has transformed people who believe in supernatural and mythology to something logical and empirical. the process of modernization is channeled through education and cultural literacy. education and cultural literacy has brought a new cultural element among people of kalimantan. the stories in the textbooks come mostly from other cultures. while the oral tradition speakers who remind their past are diminishing. in everyday life the use of modern tools and technology among the malays is increasing. this has improved efficiency and reduced their dependence on nature. by itself, some of the collective memory that bridges them in touch with nature with its various beliefs is also eroded. another factor that also greatly affects the collective memory of the malays is politics. strong ethnic politics has influenced the malay ways of thinking and acting. when the election of competing regional head candidates is malay and their political opponents are dayaks then identity politics is strengthened. the strengthening of ethnic identity --in this case malay and dayak-is needed to attract the sympathy of each group. the rivalry of political elites involving ethnic identity has had an effect on the lack of harmonious political relations among some dayak elites and the malay in politics (isman 2016: 362). in this context the collective memory that reminds them of their brotherhood may be forgotten, as opposed to the political interests of the elites. the collective memory here is seen as the subjective experience of a social group that can basically support power relations (confino, 1997: 1393). this situation will get worse if there is dominance control of government bureaucracy --ignoring the competence and professionalism-when members of one ethnic group wins the election of the regional head of government. this political competition has also affected their collective memory. because of the competition, some people find it unnecessary to maintain a collective memory that reminds the similarity of their origin. differences of interest can make memory a captive of reductionism and political functionalism (confino, 1997: 1395). religion is also a factor that greatly affects the collective memory of the malays. the presence of islam has brought many changes to west kalimantan malay people who choose to embrace this religion, including in terms of culture. although the malays do not entirely abandon local traditions, the [ 71 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 malay reasoning slowly supersedes the old ways that al-attas (1969: 4-7) aligned it with the transition of western worldviews previously influenced by the greek mythology to the world of reasoning and enlightenment. as islam gets stronger, some of the traditional beliefs and practices are abandoned. the elements of abandoned local culture are especially contrary to the teachings of islam. in this perspective, practicing local culture can disrupt their islamic “purity”. moreover, lately there is the behavior of religious fanaticism of some muslims under the banner of islamic fundamentalism which is trying to suppress everything they call un-islamic. with this kind of religious approach, the malay collective memory that reminds them of their origins and their brotherhood with the dayaks is also affected and even gradually eliminated. nevertheless, the islamic teachings on the equality of human origins and human degrees before god can be the bond for these two ethnic groups (surah hujurat: 13). nevertheless, the similarity of the fate of the dayaks and the malays is a factor that can strengthen their collective memory. the removal of local people (read dayak and malays) from land ownership in the name of economic growth, development and modernization on the worst side has slowly made them lose their livelihood. at the same time the power of capitalism has eliminated their cultural roots which are very close to nature. if collective memory of the same origins is preserved by them, it is not unlikely that it will be a trigger to rise up against the forces that eradicate their history. conclusion the relationship between the dayaks and the malays in west kalimantan is relatively harmonious. this good relationship has a strong historical roots in the people of west kalimantan. as many researchers have noted, the vast majority of people who are now called malay in west kalimantan are actually local people who have been muslim since hundreds of years ago. the awareness of being brothers to a local community now called “dayak” is in fact an entirely historical consciousness. therefore, the consciousness of a more genuine relationship because they come from a common ancestor is commonplace. in fact, recently the awareness has been disrupted by the interests of a handful of elites who take advantage of ethnic and religious issues for specific purposes. the relationship is recorded in the malay collective memory --and possibly also among the dayaks. memory is formed in the present as well as in the past and is something that is not fixed. memory is something that lives in dynamics at both the individual and collective levels. memory is maintained or removed depending on the needs. the collective memory is maintained or eliminated [ 72 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 by various factors. among the important factors that may accelerate the loss of collective memory include: social segregation, modernization, politics, and religion. bibliography alqadrie, s. i. 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(1993). the peoples of borneo. oxford: blackwell. kristianus. (2009). kisah penting dari kampung: orang dayak & madura di sebangki. pontianak: yayasan pangingu banua, cordaid, dan stain pontianak press. lala, a. (2007). magic tanah kayong: studi atas ilmu pengobatan masyarakat dusun pedalaman kendawangan ketapang. skripsi stain pontianak. lipsitz, g. (1990). time passages: collective memory and american popular culture. minnesota: university of minnesota press. --------, (1990). “front matter.” in  time passages: collective memory and american popular culture, i-iv. university of minnesota press http:// www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.cttttz1b.1. maunati, y. (2006). identitas dayak: komodifikasi dan politik kebudayaan. yogyakarta: lkis. maxwell, a. r. 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(2012). pengetahuan tradisional masyarakat dayak: studi atas masyarakat benuaq di tanjung isuy kalimantan timur. pontianak: stain pontianak press dan bpnb pontianak. ht tp : / /w w w. t r ibunne ws .com/reg iona l /2016/11/05/ j e l angtengah-malam-kelompok-massa-di-pontianak-berjalan-sambil-bersholawat. akses 2 mei 2018. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 3 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih universitas tanjungpura, indonesia email: sri.haryaningsih@fisip.untan.ac.id elyta universitas tanjungpura, indonesia email: elyta@fisip.untan.ac.id abstract covid-19 has become a pandemic causing the condition of business income from business actors to decrease drastically. this phenomenon is in contrast to the conditions in indonesia during the 1998 crisis, where business actors became the most substantial sector to adapt to the monetary turmoil at that time. this article discusses the covid-19 handling through digital-based islamic political economy and human security on business people in pontianak city. the work is based on a quantitative research project conducted in pontianak, employing a set of questionnaires to collect the data. the findings of this study indicate that in dealing with covid-19, the indonesian government has produced important policies to ensure the availability of economic opportunities for the population so that people can adapt rationally sound state policies. the handling of covid-19 through a digital-based islamic political economy is carried out by providing digital technology training and mentoring digital business incubators to small and medium enterprises to improve human security. islamic teachings have been important to the policy making as indonesia is a home of predominantly muslims. keywords: digital-based; islamic political economy; human security; covid-19 handling introduction the country’s economic development in indonesia substantially contributes to the business sector strengthening its industrial growth framework (elyta & sahide, 2021). this sector has significantly contributed to this country’s social-economic development (elyta & martoyo, 2021). as an economic transformer, the contribution of businesspeople is bold (sipahi, 2020). without proper emphasis and significance on companies in the business [ 4 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 sector, the economy will not transform from a new agrarian economy to a large industrial model. the essential roles of business actors include creating a solid infrastructure investment atmosphere, ensuring the availability of employment opportunities that are balanced with the needs of workers, and supporting the development of skills and competencies of workers. these benefits the national economy, namely suspended regional development, reducing the number of disadvantaged areas, and creating economic independence through import substitution. however, in facing covid-19 pandemic conditions, the business sector has encountered decreases in business income for business people, so it is hard for them to pay expenses and workers’ salaries (kartikasari & elyta, 2021). according to amin a. k., a member of commission vi of the house of representatives, the covid-19 has caused an increase in the potential for a significant decline in income for entrepreneurs (republika, 2020). moreover, this sector is said to no longer support the economy, such as during the 1998 economic and financial crisis. when indonesia experienced the monetary situation in 1998, the business sector became a mainstay for the community in supporting the national economy. similarly, when the global financial crisis hit indonesia in 2008. business players remained resilient in facing it so that the indonesian national economy was not affected. nonetheless, this sector still could not hold on to the situation caused by covid-19. the covid-19 crisis’s impact on employment and working conditions in sample companies shows that in industrial activities in which most action has been sustained, there is an emergency for employment measures have been more widely adopted. working hours reduction policy, the reduction of employees, and wage-cutting made the consumer service sector the second most affected. large companies generally kept most of their occupation, primarily by reducing working hours. among companies that were able to maintain their activities through telework, there was a decrease in the number of employees (31%), working hours (45%), and a high reduction in wages (50%). since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, more than 70% of new businesses have terminated full-time employee contracts (cuyper et al., 2020). this percentage can be seen in figure 1 below. [ 5 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 figure 1. total layoffs of employees due to covid-19 source: (genome, 2020) many business people turned their business to provide new goods and services because of the crisis. during the covid-19 pandemic, a model and entrepreneur’s approach adapts to survive and develop. the government worldwide has stated new regulations and norms to try giving economic survival, including digital-based islamic political economy. islamic political economy is a system that aligns comprehensive aspects of nature, islamic aspects, and current social lives that develop through digital media and correlates with covid-19 handling and human security strengthening inside. based on that background, the problem in this research is how it is the covid-19 handling through digital-based islamic political economy and human security on business people in pontianak city? employing quantitative method, this research is sourced from the results of taking field questionnaires to business people as respondents, as many as 155 people spread across six sub-districts in pontianak city, indonesia, carried out from april-november 2020. informants were selected using a purposive sampling technique, namely the selection of informants. deliberately based on their ability to explain specific themes, concepts, or phenomena. religion and public policy making in covid-19 handling as religion plays a very important role in indonesian human life context, it has been significantly influential in policy making. in the case of the covid-19 handling, especially in terms of economics, the people need appropriate public policies to solve the effects of the spread of covid-19. the government has implemented extraordinary breakthroughs in the economic field by applying [ 6 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 the main principles of islamic economics, —namely, one tawhid (unity of god). one of the manifestations of divine nature is the realization of the religious spirit in the human aspect. second, al-adl (justice) is a condition that is fair to a character, action, or treatment of something, in this case, to the community. third, nubuwah (prophecy), being honest in carrying out the mandate, being responsible for the problems faced, being competent in determining solutions, and building communication and cooperation in determining a solution and policy is an embodiment of islamic economic principles in the form of prophetic nature. fourth, the khilafah (government) principle of governance in islamic economics is intended to control the direction of evenly distributed policies and benefit all people. fifth, ma’ad, the meaning of a return of a government is accountability later before god. this principle of islamic economics is given the indonesian government’s steps and the role and the government’s responsibility for its mandate (adlan,2021). islamic political economy issues are still considered new to the muslims, including the current muslim economics. muhammad baquir ash-shade developed this concept to ensure the application of islamic law in public economic activities. islamic political economy guarantees to fulfill general basic needs and capability to provide their secondary and tertiary needs matching their ability. muslim political economy aims to increase someone’s living standard and achieve communal economic welfare (maghfur, 2016). islamic political economy, in general, is a political economy framework that makes a country a law power and fairness that protects all citizens with authority in religion, life, wealth, honor, and descendants. this is related to the sharia purpose (ubaidillah, 2018). the difference with other muslim countries, such as malaysia, our ally and neighbor country, is the growth of the islamic economy before the reform was considered slow. the situation cannot separate the government responsible for the islamic economic growth from the political economy. islamic malaysian bank was established to support this action with regulation from the malaysian government, the islamic banking act of 1983. this thing is clear. on the other hand, sharia banking in indonesia began in 1992 with the establishment of bank muamalat indonesia without the necessary regulations (kholis, 2011). therefore, the core of the islamic political economy is an economic growth strategy made by the government that fulfills public needs and focuses on sharia principles as a benchmark. this rule governs the interaction of the state and society, citizens and individuals, and culture in economic transactions with the community (ulhaq, 2019). the indonesian government has participated in the islamic political economy in some ways: [ 7 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 (a) macroeconomic stability in indonesia which is positively influenced by the islamic finance industry; (b) strong resilience/strength of the islamic finance industry; (c) a productive, transparent and equitable economy as a result of the regulator and the function of supervisor; (d) islamic economics will save the business world and economic vulnerability; (e) islamic finance industry needs an infrastructure that supports its growth in theory and practice (siamat, 2009). islamic political economic structure provides economic stakeholders such as the government, business, and society the broadest possible incentives for economic activities, including income for every economic activity. the growth and development of group economic institutions prove that the islamic economic system applied in indonesia is increasingly developing and developing. over time the development of islamic financial institutions is increasingly seen as empirical practices of islamic economic and political activities in indonesia (nasrullah, 2018). islamic political-economic structure is a set of instruments that direct people to show mistakes (glory in the world and the hereafter). it is like sharia, but it cannot realize this idea with the immense power in the common ideology that hinders the islamic economic system and wants to be destroyed by various strategies, such as education, culture, economy, society, and politics. these ideals are difficult to understand. so, a government policy that encourages the inclusion of an islamic economy and a positive community response is needed because government policies will not achieve maximum results without positive reactions from society. meanwhile, the emergence of armed conflict or war, generally known as warfarin human security, carries new ideas regarding the approach to security studies (martoyo & elyta, 2021). fresh thinking is currently running with different features of warfare, which convey the appearance of generations between first and fourth world wars or hybrid warfare. the object of research has a variety of approaches, both traditional (military) and non-traditional (non-military) defense. therefore, threats to citizens of the country become the main objects of security studies that are independent of the dichotomy of state security through the traditional (military) and non-traditional (nonmilitary) security areas. the element of human freedom from various threats and pressure thus constitutes a change in the object of security studies which represents the current shift in armed conflict. in the modern world, only in the 20th century was “human security” recognized during the cold war. after the war of the 1990s, this discourse continued with various conversations—ten years from the end of the war (2000). years before the world order answered the question of human safety, [ 8 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 which it later illustrated in the millennium development goals (mdgs) and sdgs policies, islam had a concept of human safety since 14 centuries ago. the perception of human security in islamic sharia, maqashid sharia, is integral to the goal. maqashid syariah does reveal not only the perfection of islam as a ceremonial religion (ubudiyah) but also an essential religion that regulates human-environmental and human relations (rahmatan lil’alamin) (muhaimin, 2020). in a particular understanding of national security, the media can also assess national security and defense in this study (gunawan et al., 2011). for example, the state is legally responsible for protecting against natural disasters, including the covid-19 epidemic. states must also ensure safety from natural hazards. therefore, the concept of national security should explicitly emphasize human or community security rather than protection or state legitimacy. this concept is based on the idea of human security. covid-19 and its impact on businesses covid-19 has common symptoms such as coughing, runny nose, and shortness of breath but is quite deadly (djalante et al., 2020). this pandemic has challenged the multisectoral global society in many countries because it created health, economic, security, and even political crises. this spread has affected the entire world, including indonesia. as a result, the spread of infections is rapid and widespread across multiple countries. the first covid 19 case was found in indonesia on march 2, 2020 (harirah & rizaldi, 2020). meanwhile, the statistic recorded a positive number of covid-19 in west kalimantan as of september 2020 as having experienced an increase of 122.4%, which can be seen in the following graph. figure 2. cases of covid-19 in west kalimantan in september 2020 source: (satuan tugas penanganan covid-19, 2020) [ 9 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 the governor of west kalimantan signed a letter of sanctions established on august 4, 2020. these penalties include alertness, written warnings, and social service for 15 minutes, up to a fine of rp100.000,00 (detik, 2020). in principle, the government cannot prevent the death of the coronavirus and its economic impact (anderson et al., 2020). however, through policies, the government remains committed to maximizing the efforts to protect its citizens against the covid epidemic 19. the government has a crucial role as a policymaker, focusing on the institutional model to say that the policy output of the government is a public policy. responding to the dangers of covid 19 by establishing its descendants, the government has taken it as quickly as possible (telaumbanua, 2020). the regional restrictions (lockdown) policy has increased the poverty rate because many business people have lost their income due to layoffs (rahman et al., 2020). furthermore, the covid-19 impacted business people, resulting in lockdowns and the closure of transactions. as a result of these challenges, many parties are encouraged to advocate for alternative treatment, particularly in providing a supportive response for business people’s survival. however, a regulatory gap exists in the impact of the coronavirus on business people. therefore, it is crucial to have actions that will overcome the effects of covid-19 (amuda, 2020). the widespread and influential spread of the pandemic over most of these continents proves that consumer expectations have dimmed and exceeded the limits of human intelligence and the reach of nuclear and world technology. for economic factors, including business people, economic growth and profit prospects during the pandemic depend on adaptability. the lack of resources, income per capita, and weak global economic opportunities in developing countries have resulted in financial resilience. these countries are very vulnerable to the consequences of covid-19 (godbless, 2020). the results of the questionnaire on 155 business people in pontianak city of this research found that 97.4% of them felt a decrease in demand for their business products, and 60.6% of them experienced a decline in the cost of production due to the reduced need for this can be seen in the following graph. [ 10 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 figure 3. demand and production costs of businessmen in pontianak city during covid-19 source: (processed by researcher, 2020) in response to the negative impacts of covid-19 experienced by these businessmen, the questionnaire results were a large part of them stating that they needed financial assistance to maintain their business. apart from that, they also said they needed training in digital technology and the provision of online media for their business. the percentage of these needs can be seen in this graph. figure 4. business people’s needs in facing the pandemic source: processed by researcher, 2020 [ 11 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 entrepreneurs need to take digital technology training for business (elyta, martoyo, & herlan, 2021). based on the questionnaire results, it is known that the training material needed most by business people is the promotion of products through social media and using e-commerce as a media for product promotion which is 95%. the importance of a digital-based islamic political economy there has been rapid progress in the growth of the islamic political economy. this is indicated by the development of islamic financial institutions in line with social efforts to accelerate economic growth. islamic financial institutions, including banks and non-banks, are considered the primary resource that encourages economic growth and supports small and medium enterprises and their partners. furthermore, the islamic political economy contains positive ingredients to accelerate the economic empowerment of business people, which impacts indonesian society’s economic growth in general. the islamic political economy has a significant role (sudiarti, 2016). islamic political economics thus constitutes a study of the complementary (participatory) socio-scientific relationship system, which, as a representation of the unifying systemic knowledge, is governed by the principle of universal complementarity (haqqi, 2015). in some cases, applying political-economic principles to a combination of these disciplines has been studied, for example, sociology and philosophy alphabetical social philosophy. the research focuses on the impact of societal and governmental progress (salleh & rosdi, 2014). islamic economics is viewed as a study of the economic impact of political action and the impact of politics on economic activity in an islamic country. it was emphasized that the social and political environment, micro and macro, should facilitate the functioning of the islamic financial system. islamic political economy is also related to the state’s welfare (prainsack, 2020). in this way, the internet, which is a part of the current digital environment, is not only a means of campaigning for political parties but is also a tool of islamic economic and political communication to form a growing opinion in society in addressing this issue, including the covid-19 epidemic from various sectors of the business sector. electronic products and services produced by the electronics business and exchanged through electronic trading are the basics of the digital economy or the digital economy. companies communicate and carry out transactions via the internet and web technology through electronic production and management processes. in the last decades of the 20th century, the idea of a digital economy emerged. digital transactions, including online [ 12 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 shopping, are overgrowing in indonesia. this online shopping operation enables business people from indonesia to interact directly with producers (sianturi, 2017). digital transformation will encourage everyone’s needs from birth to death between the public and private sectors. digital transformation will also be carried out in all areas of development, including human development, economic development, regional development, infrastructure development, and governance development, law, and defense, and security development. without some trusted customers, the e-commerce climate cannot be expanded. consumer trust is essential because e-commerce transactions do not require direct face-to-face purchases. consumer rights are included in: regulated aspects of consumer protection, safety, and security when using the product; accurate, transparent and honest product details; listening to their views and complaints; and protection and resolution of disputes (bachtiar et al., 2020) consumer security is essential in building customers’ interest in safety and security. covid-19 has multiple times changed the digital market. citizens had been moving to online consumption now and expected it to become a norm in public to always be in the household economy. the most affected sectors are the small and medium enterprises (smes). as we see, consumer habits in public, e-commerce, or online marketing now become a choice for the smes that we cannot argue could manage their products under the covid-19 safety protocols. those developments also affect e-commerce sellers and consumers. digital-based islamic political economy from human security perspective the handling of the covid-19 pandemic has created very complex difficulties in various related fields such as health, economy, politics, social culture, and human security. currently, two lots, namely health and economy, are closely associated with the covid-19 pandemic. both require considerable attention and become important agendas for world countries, including indonesia. the two most difficult choices for the government are preventing disease growth or an economic crisis that can impact business people’s survival, especially businessmen (sianipar & tangkudung, 2021). the state is an essential condition for the security of individuals because, without a state, it is not too clear which agencies (or bodies) can act on behalf of these individuals. because the state holds this position, the condition can claim its survival rights against its citizens’ rights. various versions of human security try to reduce all forms of protection at the personal level instead of facing their dilemma, which in fact, cutting the state eliminates the role of this vital security agent through [ 13 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 which individual security can be guaranteed. e-commerce is a transaction tool used by internet communication networks used by developed and developing countries to limit operations to regional borders and increase the productivity and speed of companies. according to the minister of communication and information, in 2013, e-commerce transactions reached idr 130 trillion, which is an astounding number because, according to mckinsey’s figures, only about seven percent of internet users have shopped in indonesia online (mahatma, 2014). one of the uses of digital technology in developing the islamic political economy is creating an islamic marketplace. these business platforms are more stable to the covid-19 than traditional businesses (erdoğan et al., 2020). during the era of democracy, the internet plays a role in revolutionizing relevant democratic frameworks, structures, and processes, creating terms for digital democracy that describe how political life takes place in the internet world. now, digital technology is a political arena easily accessible by all people, from the government to political parties to increasing electability and visibility. civil society generally uses social media (elyta & darmawan, 2021). knowledge is currently being developed, social media usage is now widely accepted as a norm for modern technology and is accessible for legal assistance (wahyudi, 2018). this potential can be seen from the increase in personal transactions (digital payments) and the increase in over-the-counter transactions to the internet. by then, digitalization was very familiar to all generations, especially millennials. today’s society has various kinds of local to international e-commerce, social media applications, payment service applications, ticket applications, entertainment applications, logistics applications, finance, and virtual meeting conference for buying and selling digital things (redaksi9, 2020). the digitalization of the market economy has proven to produce many changes. therefore, at least in the digital economy, the digital economy must be used as an alternative solution for economic growth to achieve productivity, efficiency, cost reduction, cooperation, and linking the situation with others. the digital economy can significantly contribute to indonesia’s gdp, which reached 7.3 percent in 2017, even if indonesia’s economic growth was only 5.1 percent. as a result, if exemplary implementation is made, the digital economy in indonesia has promising future possibilities (sugiarto, 2019). few entrepreneurs make e-commerce media a place to sell their goods, along with the convenience of shopping through online media. the next benefit of opening a booth in the online market is the amount of comfort that companies get when they set up a kiosk online and the number of visits that keep increasing all the time [ 14 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 (mutiarasari, 2019). based on the findings of field research conducted by researchers through the distribution of questionnaires to businesses in pontianak city regarding the efforts made by companies to keep their operations running during the covid-19. according to the survey, 55.5 percent of businesspeople will place orders using digital technology through e-commerce, which can be seen further in the graph below. figure 5. the effort by the businesses to face the covid-19 source: processed by researcher, 2020 there are also types of sharia marketplaces that are developing in indonesia at the moment, which are tokopedia salam, lazada amanah, bukareksa, and shopee barokah. tokopedia salam can be accessed starting from september 2, 2019, by all tokopedia users through the page https://www.tokopedia.com/ salam. however, all services at tokopedia salam can also be obtained through the www.tokopedia.com page because tokopedia salam is not a separator but only a grouping of products with islamic nuances and by sharia rules by providing benefits in the form of convenience for users to explore various product choices and nuanced islamic service at tokopedia. from the perspective of islamic law, tokopedia salam’s promotion strategy has met the selling and buying criteria according to the law. the promotional system does not contain elements of fraud, manipulation, and so on that are detrimental to the parties because the quality of the goods provided by stalls in tokopedia is always what the consumer wants. suppose buying and selling orders on tokopedia salam are associated with the construction of fiqh law, then in general. in that case, the contract used is a salam contract, which is [ 15 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 buying and selling to deliver goods at the end. payment methods at tokopedia salam, such as tokopedia, generally be done via bank transfer, virtual account, ovo application, tokopedia payment, linkaja, outlets, installments without a credit card, kredivo, cod (cash on delivery), alfagroup, indomaret, and pos indonesia. shopee barokah is an online marketplace or exchange platform specializing in buying and selling transactions that facilitate various items, fashion, cosmetics, electronics, vehicles, and other goods. shopee barokah facilitates interaction between sellers and buyers through its live chat feature. the transactive group has all its contracts to check islamic business people when buying and selling online on the official site of shoes for online ordering and selling. they need to be responsible, especially for companies, for purchases and sales, but the buyers must be respected (alfarizi, 2019). this feature is a channel that curates a wide range of sharia-compliant products and services, including muslim fashion and beauty, zakat, and donations. according to handhika jahja, director of shopee indonesia, to provide an optimal shopping experience, shopee barokah has curated sharia products and services and partnered with various well-known brands. shopee barokah also collaborates with baznas (national zakat amil agency), dompet dhuafa, act (aksi cepat tanggap or quick response action), rumah zakat, and other humanitarian organizations to make it easier for shopee users to donate and pay zakat (pratomo, 2019). shopee reaffirmed its commitment to increasing digital literacy in marketing and product development for students and the islamic boarding school community, developing the shopee barokah feature to become a one-stop muslim lifestyle destination. this effort is part of the national strategy for financial inclusion’s implementation. bukareksa offers a fast and safe online shopping and sales outlet that guarantees 100 percent repurchase if the goods are not shipped via pelapak. the general objective of bukareksa is to help businesses develop businesspeople companies in indonesia and support their businesses. however, bukareksa has not been able to protect consumers for their rights as a whole. based on previous studies in the enforcement of the maqashidsyariah from bukareksa, the four places of protection have been introduced, including the security of religion, soul, mind, and origin, but in the protection of the ground (wulandari et al., 2017). lazada amanah is a simple and secure online marketplace that offers customers a 100% money-back guarantee unless the goods are sent via lazada. com. the ethics of the lazada amanah e-commerce marketplace are by the sharia economic policies implemented by lazada.com in indonesia and the specialized techniques illustrated by the prophet muhammad. however, some things are not fulfilled by reckless parties, such as fraudulent sellers, sellers [ 16 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 who do not protect the consumers, buyers who are not polite or use impolite language, buyers who do not save the seller, and lazada, who fails to respond to complaints and customer customers quickly and correctly (ariyanti, 2019). threats in the use of e-commerce or marketplaces, including the sharia marketplace, are (1) credit card fraud or carding, namely the activity of purchasing goods on the internet using pirated credit cards; (2) dos (denial of service attacks), which is a nuisance to the internet network that causes computer resources not to function correctly because they are manipulated by it; (3) social engineering that steals the information carried out by reviewing it by calling the buyer and pretending to be represented on the website where he purchased the item; (4) malicious code that infects viruses, worms, or trojans into the system intending to pirate id/passwords (wajong & putri, 2010). the market has become a target because it is one of the most public information managers. of the 17 companies’ activities, most of them were financial operations. a total of 2.9 million user data was obtained from membership card, credit card insurance. therefore, a full investigation through digital forensics is needed wherever the security gap is causing data leakage (librianty, 2020). the increasing number of thefts of personal data in e-commerce lately is unfortunate, considering the digital economy should be the right solution for business people handling the covid-19. the situation with covid-19 has undoubtedly affected the online purchasing policy. call to call makes people use e-commerce sites to meet their needs, which contributes to increased product sales of e-commerce sites. blibli has also developed in other product categories, including computers, smartphones, electrical equipment, homes, family spaces, cellphones and tablets, and growing food and daily cleaning items consumers are looking for (republika, 2020). as a result, one of the steps that business owners can take to maintain human security in their organizations is implementing the information security management system (isms) for creating, enforcing, implementing, tracking, maintaining, and improving information security as part of the management system. one marketplace that has implemented sni iso / iec 27001: 2013 is blibli.com (badan standardisasi nasional, 2020). when emergency standards or concerns for humanity arise, disasters and sufferings are accompanied by an epidemic, the consciousness of humankind and the nation can grow enormously. at times like these, philanthropists and politicians try to help find solutions for the common good (the good of the public). the element of religion appears strong (as a social initiation that reinforces the religious identity for charity) to carry out this movement. the human part is substantial (a social initiation that unites differences). [ 17 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 characters that bind and bridge are both critical. both are the social aspects of religious philanthropy as civil society organizations. it cannot separate the emphasis on civil society from the state body, the political authority that oversees the state society. without any changes by changes in circumstances and times which depend on the nature of the ties of the state or religious civil society, the indonesian nation benefits from having the traditional strength of philanthropy which can bring about central financial disputes and build balance. at times like this, the government becomes one of the leading players in balancing civil society relations and enhancing them to foster inclusive human values (fauzia, 2018). thus, the sharia marketplace in digital form can support the business when businesspeople face the pandemic of covid-19. however, business people need to pay attention to human security aspects in their implementation, which can be done through digital technology facilitated by the government, the non-government / business sector, academia, or others. based on the research results on business questionnaires in pontianak, as many as 40.6% of workers who have these companies do not understand digital technology, and 44.5% only have some workers who understand digital technology. this data can be seen in this graph. figure 6. level of understanding of workers, business sector, and digital technology source: processed by researcher, 2020 the presence of the security team in each stage of development is significant in understanding the limitations of this data security. security is not limited to technological security considerations when digital goods are ready to be produced. still, even if they are designed according to the best practice guidelines, they must enforce security. apart from training, assistance through business incubators is also stated by the information needed to strengthen their business when facing covid-19. the business incubator is [ 18 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 a term that refers to pioneering organizations or entrepreneurs who provide physical work, management assistance, access to finance and technical support services, and other too young companies and help them survive and grow at an early stage (darmawan, 2019). a business incubator can help people develop more rapidly and overcome threats such as the covid-19 pandemic. however, as many as 81.9% of businesspeople in pontianak city have never joined the business incubator, as shown in the following data. figure 7. business people in pontianak city on business incubators source: processed by researcher, 2020 the application of e-commerce is one of the requirements that a company or organization still developing or maturing is necessary to compete globally and improve its performance. it is hoped that players in the e-commerce business can realize the importance of security in transactions and be aware of the various threats that may occur through the training given to business workers, including the scale of business people. this enables business people to increase their understanding of digital technology through training and helps human security utilize the sharia market to implement the islamic political economy. based on the discussion of the research results that have been discussed, a model of the covid-19 handling: the economy of digital-based islamic politics on businessmen to strengthen the security of enthusiasm is as follows: [ 19 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 figure 8. model of handling covid-19: digital-based islamic political economy at businessmen to strengthen human security source: processed by researcher, 2020 conclusion the response to handling covid-19 through digital-based sharia political economy and human security for business people in pontianak city focuses on risk assessment, prevention, and protection. the human security perspective recognizes that the state actor (government) is significant. human security focuses more on people-centered and human freedom so that humans become actors (subjects) to create security for themselves so that humans can gain independence from all forms of threats, freedom to be something, and freedom to get better. his dignity will be wide open. the researcher then refers to the concept of human security, which refers to the sustainable response to covid-19, namely the certainty and guarantee of sustainable welfare. this paper shows that the public’s reaction to the procedure determines the success of a policy. regarding handling covid-19 in indonesia, rational-reasoning state policies will also be accepted rationally by the community if the government also issues policies to ensure the availability of economic resources for the community. the handling of covid-19 is carried out through sharia political economy and human security by applying several islamic economic indicators such as tawhid (oneness of god), al-adl (justice), nubuwah (prophecy), khilafah (government), and ma’ad. furthermore, strengthening the digital-based islamic political economy in handling covid-19 is carried out by providing: digital technology training for business workers and assisting business [ 20 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 incubators to enhance human security in handling it. there are two research contributions, namely. firstly, academic contributions are helpful for the development of the repertoire of political science, especially those related to politics and religion. the second contribution of practice is to help micro, small and medium enterprises improve their business. the limitation of this research is that the scope of distributing questionnaires to respondents is not evenly distributed because it only involves a small number of micro, small and medium business actors in the pontianak area. hence, the level of representation is still low. in addition, the number of respondents who participated was only 155, who had not been able to represent the level of expression of micro, small and medium enterprises. bibliography adlan, m. a. 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[ 23 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 accessed from https://journal.uii.ac.id/millah/article/view/16946. librianty, a. (2020). kebocoran data cermati.com, ada potensi celah keamanan wfh. liputan6. accessed from https://www.liputan6.com/ tekno/read/4398337/kebocoran-data-cermaticom-ada-potensi-celah-keamanan-wfh. maghfur, i. (2016). peran politik ekonomi islam dalam melaksanakan globalisasi masyarakat ekonomi asean (mea). jurnal hukum islam, 27. accessed from https://doi.org/10.28918/jhi.v0i0.744. mahatma, r. (2014). data statistik mengenai pertumbuhan pangsa pasar e-commerce di indonesia saat ini. majalah marketing. accessed from https://buattokoonline.id/data-statistik-mengenai-pertumbuhan-pangsa-pasar-e-commerce-di-indonesia-saat-ini/ martoyo, & elyta. (2021). model of human security-based policy of business increase income prosperous family indonesia. review of international geographical education online, 11(6), 855–865. access from https:// doi.org/10.48047/rigeo.11.06.103. muhaimin, r. (2020). ramadhan dan konsepsi ‘human security. fakultas ekonomi universitas al azhar indonesia. accessed from https://uai. ac.id/ramadhan-dan-konsepsi-human-security/. mutiarasari, a. (2019). implementasi bisnis online syariah melalui e-commerce dalam meningkatkan penjualan di yukshijab pasuruan. in universitas islam negeri sunan ampel surabaya. institut agama islam negeri bengkulu. accessed from http://digilib.uinsby.ac.id/29465/. nasrullah, a. (2018). ekonomi politik islam: pemikiran, pergerakan dan perkembangan nya di indonesia. ahkam, 6(1), 125–148. accessed from http://ejournal.iain-tulungagung.ac.id/index.php/ahkam/article/view/2470. prainsack, b. (2020). the political economy of digital data: introduction to the special issue. policy studies, 41(5), 439–446. accessed from https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2020.1723519. pratomo, h. b. (2019). dukung pengembangan ekonomi syariah, shopee luncurkan fitur shopee barokah. merdeka. access from https://www. merdeka.com/uang/dukung-pengembangan-ekonomi-syariah-shopee-luncurkan-fitur-shopee-barokah.html. rahman, h. z., et al. (2020). livelihoods, coping, and support during covid-19 crisis. accessed from https://bigd.bracu.ac.bd/publications/livelihoods-coping-and-support-during-covid-19-crisis-report/. [ 24 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 redaksi9. (2020). inovasi berbasis digital solusi bangkitkan ekonomi saat pandemi. redaksi9. accessed from https://www.redaksi9.com/read/3359/ inovasi-berbasis-digital-solusi-bangkitkan-ekonomi-saat-pandemi#!. republika. (2020). tren belanja online, blibli catat 4 kategori terlaris. republika. accessed from https://www.republika.co.id/berita/qaebol6017000/tren-belanja-online-blibli-catat-4-kategori-terlaris. republika.co.id. (2020). agar ekonomi tumbuh pemerintah wajib prioritaskan umkm. republika. accessed from https://www.republika.co.id/ berita/q6tubv380/agar-ekonomi-tumbuh-pemerintah-wajib-prioritaskan-umkm. salleh, m. s., & mohd rosdi, m. s. bin. (2014). islamic political economy: a special reference to the use of tahaluf siyasi in the state of kelantan, malaysia. american international journal of contemporary research, 4(5), 118–130. accessed from http://www.aijcrnet.com/journals/ vol_4_no_5_may_2014/12.pdf. satuan tugas penanganan covid-19. (2020). analisis data covid-19 indonesia update per 20 september 2020. in satuan tugas penanganan covid-19. accessed from https://covid19.go.id/p/berita/analisis-data-covid-19-indonesia-update-20-september-2020. siamat, d. (2009). intervensi pemerintah dalam penguatan sistem keuangan islam: pengembangan pasar keuangan syariah merupakan prioritas. simposium nasional ekonomi islam, 4, 8–9. accessed from https://islamicmarkets.com/publications/pengembangan-pasar-keuangan-syariah-merupakan -prioritas. sianipar, b., & g tangkudung, a. (2021). tinjauan ekonomi, politik dan keamanan terhadap pengembangan food estate di kalimantan tengah sebagai alternatif menjaga ketahanan pangan di tengah pandemi covid-19. jurnal keamanan nasional, 6(2), 235–248. access from https://doi.org/10.31599/jkn.v6i2.479. sianturi, p. (2017). peran ekonomi digital dalam mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi nasional. jurnal inspirasi, 8(2), 51–55. accessed from http:// inspirasi.bpsdm.jabarprov.go.id/index.php/inspirasi/article/view/102. sipahi, e. (2020). covid 19 and msmes: a revival framework. research journal in advanced humanities, 1(2), 7–21. accessed from https://royalliteglobal.com/advanced-humanities/article/view/146. sudiarti, s. (2016). strategi politik ekonomi islam. human falah: jurnal [ 25 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 ekonomi dan bisnis islam, 3(1), 52–73. accessed from http://jurnal. uinsu.ac.id/index.php/humanfalah/article/view/147. sugiarto, e. c. (2019). ekonomi digital: the new face of indonesia’s economy. kementerian sekretariat negara republik indonesia. accessed from https://www.setneg.go.id/baca/index/ekonomi_digital_the_new_ face_of_indonesias_economy. telaumbanua, d. (2020). urgensi pembentukan aturan terkait pencegahan covid-19 di indonesia. qalamuna: jurnal pendidikan, sosial, dan agama, 12(01), 59–70. accessed from https://doi.org/10.37680/qalamuna.v12i01.290. ubaidillah, a. (2018). ekonomi politik islam: pendekatan maqashid alshari’ah. jes: jurnal ekonomi syariah, 3(2), 244–258. accessed from https://jes.unisla.ac.id/index.php/jes/article/view/51. ulhaq, m. z. (2019). politik ekonomi islam era globalisasi. ekonomi syariah, 2(2), 29–41. access from https://jurnal.iainambon.ac.id/index.php/ amal/article/view/1709. wahyudi, v. (2018). politik digital di era revolusi industri 4.0 marketing & komunikasi politik. politea: jurnal politik islam, 1(1), 149–168. accessed from https://journal.uinmataram.ac.id/index.php/politea/article/view/819. wajong, a. m. r., & putri, c. r. (2010). keamanan dalam electronic commerce. comtech: computer, mathematics and engineering applications, 1(2), 867–874. accessed from https://doi.org/10.21512/comtech.v1i2.2623. wulandari, d. n., et al. (2017). etika bisnis e-commerce berdasarkan maqashid syariah pada marketplace bukalapak.com. jurnal magister manajemen universitas mataram, 6(1). accessed from https://doi. org/10.29303/jmm.v6i1.21. [ 26 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2176 [ 123 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 rituals for harmony: exploring the bersih dusun local genius  behind rubber tapping hasse j. muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta abstract differences have long been a natural marker of the dynamics of the relationship of society. differences often become obstacles in creating social stability. diversity can be a strength if managed properly, but may become a source of conflict in case of faulty management. this short article addresses the issue of how to manage diversity so as to produce harmony in society that has different beliefs. there are three basic things defined in this paper. first, a society is capable of being integrated through commonly shared events. second, providing room for all of the elements of society gives rise to collective solidarity which allows differences --even conflicts-- to be turned into unity. third, the typicality of ritual that continues to be practiced in society can be optimized to serve as the medium that manages the differences and turned them to peace. keywords: management of diversity, relations, local genius introduction in the teaching of any religion, there is a doctrine which asserts the truth of each religion.  it is then  shifted  into  claims of  religious truth that aims to show  the faith  and  constancy  of the religion one believes in. however, conflict often emerged from such a claim because it tends to take sides. the difference  of perspectives  in understanding religious  truth makes  followers of religions  exclusive because  there is always  presumption that  their religion  is  the most correct, while  others  are wrong.  it is closely related to the religious teachings (especially  islam)  that no  existing  religion  (will be accepted)  by  allah  except  islam  and thus  muslims  strongly hold on to  this belief and practice. people of other faiths also have similar belief  so they  have  comparable  tendency, namely  claiming  their religion  to be the best and most correct. religion is in fact the perfection of human existence, the source of vitality that embodies the changes of the world and preserves them. religion is also one of the sources of value, role, significance, and even the highest contribution in [ 124 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the life of human beings. religion,  if seen in the context of  the function,  is capable of being the power of integration for its adherents. apart from that, religion  sometimes also plays the  role of  disintegration, becoming one of the factors in the occurrence of conflict among humanity, although this is still a debatable case. in the name of religion, people can come together and become strong, build a  civilization  and  advance together.  nevertheless, also in the name of  religion, people can  kill  each other  and  destroy the existence  as well as the roles and functions of each other. diversity  should be seen as the uncontested  reality  that becomes one of the  important  conditions  that must be  addressed  openly  and thoroughly.  diversity  which  definitely  contains  differences  should  not  be considered a factor that triggers a conflict. differences of identity (religion), often  triggers  the occurrence of  disharmony  among  a diverse  society, even war  such as  the crusade  involving  islam and christianity. socioreligious  conflict  can be  minimized  when  religious  followers are  willing to appreciate and respect the existence of others who are different. as a matter of fact, not only do religious followers need to appreciate each other but at the same time they also have to acknowledge other groups who have their own creed. recognizing the existence of other religions is not in order to state that all religions  are the same,  but to acknowledge in terms of difference  as something that we definitely have to live with. cooperation  among  religious followers  can be reached  if it is done without any  prejudice,  suspicion  and when each  does  not stand on  his own  religion,  ethnic  group,  or  other  self-interest.  the presence of  religious groups  with each  attributes  could in fact open the opportunity for  the occurrence of  conflict  with each other. religion  which is believed to be a factor of integration, on certain conditions, tends to create conflict involving many parties. however, in one of the rural areas in yogyakarta, two religious groups,  while continuing to  compete  with each other,  can still  get along well side by side. one of the questions closely related to this condition is how do they manage their differences? to be more specific in this case, how is the process of unity running amid diversity that accompanies the two faiths? conceptual framework there are two  important concepts  used  in this paper,  namely  dialog and ritual. the concept of dialog and the ritual used to view any relation established between muslims and buddhists who are united by a routine rituals they hold together in a hamlet inspired the writing of this paper. [ 125 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 concept of  dialog.  this concept  is  used in order  to see  what kind of communication has been established among the residents of pedukuhan sonyo to date. dialog is often understood solely as conversations between people. the focus  is only  on the method,  rather than on  a more substantive  level or what lies behind that dialog. in the tradition of a society, the dialog takes place not only in daily socilization, but also in various forms of activities. up to now, we can still find a variety of routine activities of the residents of the hamlet in which there is a lot of dialog among them such as in festivals, rituals, and implementation of various activities that involve a lot of other people. in the context of  religion, dialog  is not  meant to  unify  the perception  of differences  because  every religion  has  a  point of  difference that  must be emphasized to differentiate it from other religions. dialog in the context of  religion is in the form of interreligious dialog. the  dialog is  underway to  build peaceful  hearts and minds  between various  religious groups.  it is the  communication  between  two or more persons  in a religious  level.  the dialog is the way that leads to the truth. the dialog is also a form of cooperation in  projects of  common interest  which are not  afflicted with  hidden political objectives. one thing to note related to inter-religious dialog is the nature of the dialog itself. dialog is not a debate in which each side insists on who is right and superior. the dialog is nevertheless a way of affirming one’s own faith in the religion itself and  also a way of enriching  their knowledge and  understanding of the truth found in religions other than his own. such dialog will affirm the belief of the religion and give space to other followers of faiths to practice their own belief.  information about  other religions  is very  important  in order to build  better perception regarding  the existence of  other religions.  the dialog also should never be an attempt to unify different religions, but it should be a form of cooperation between adherents of different religions. dialog is not a charity, mission, or an activity aimed at inviting other religious group to embrace a certain religion. related to  inter-religious  dialog,  four different  typologies  are offered.  first, the replacement model. this dialog model is born from the spirit of there is only one true religion. this spirit triggers exclusive views among the adherents of a certain religion because of the claim that only one’s own religion is the most correct. no the truth is out there except in the religion one embraces the truth can be found. salvation only exists and can be found in one’s own religion. second, the  fulfillment  model. this dialog  models  originates from  the view that  the one fulfills  the  many.  this dialog  model  is actually  almost identical to the first model; the only difference is that it still provides room [ 126 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 for the  presence of  truth for  other  religions.  truth in  one’s own religion  becomes the source of truth for others is a simple view of the model of this dialog. there is salvation in one’s own religion that spreads to the others so that the salvation of other religions is found. third,  mutuality  model.  this dialog  model  is more open  to the truth of other religions. out there there is a lot of truth so that it requires a dialog to find it. this model assumes that many true religions called to dialog. on a more philosophical and mystical level,  the truth can be found everywhere. truth is not focused on  one religion,  but it can be found  through dialog.  so is salvation. there are many paths that can be taken to reach it. this model of dialog  does not  impose  the will to  say  that one’s own religion  is  the most correct. fourth,  acceptance  model. this dialog  is almost the same  model  as the third  model above.  the difference  is  in the assumption that  there are many true religions; so be it. this dialog model is considered the most open. the dialog goes from the assumption that there is a lot of truth. to achieve salvation is not  only through  one  particular religion,  all religions  allow  it.  dialog  will be much better  if based on an assumption  like this model because there is no  will to  impose  on other  religions  to change.  all  religions (followers) remain at their respective beliefs, without propagating religious truth which may bring harms to other religions. rituals. the second concept used in looking at the buddhist-islamic relations in pedukunan sonyo is the ritual. this concept  is used to understand more about the  ritual  performed by the village  residents  twice in  three years’ period. the routine rituals are performed to ask for salvation to the almighty so that  all  activities of the residents of  pedukunan sonyo will be blessed and safe. how is the ritual performed so that both religious followers can be involved in it. this concept is more directed at how the ritual functions and how they perceive the ritual itself. a ritual according to victor w. turner (1967:19 in abdullah, 2002) is “ … prescribed formal behavior for occasions not given over to technological routine, having reference to beliefs in mystical being or powers”. it is done at a predetermined time and has a reference to something that has mystical powers. it is an expression of religious ceremonies that reflect the system of the human relations with the spiritual world.  meanwhile  according to  helman  (in  mudjahirn  thohir, 1999) essentially the ritual  has three  purposes:  psychological, social,  and protective. having a psychological purpose means that any ritual organized is intended to acquire ways of expressing and receiving in the sense of unpleasant emotions. having a social purpose because it is capable to reunite at least the [ 127 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 public perception  of the importance  of  the ritual  performed.  similarly, the protective purpose of the ritual is that it is organized to protect those performing it from any kind of danger. similarly, by performing rituals, anxiety, worry and other negative feelings can be reduced at least in terms of disease, death, and so forth. for the performers, the ritual has a very important function. through a ritual, an expression of  obedience  and  submission  can be found.  for the residents of pedukuhan sonyo, and for other residents and communities, rituals are not just  a  blank  expression.  it is a  medium  to show  the position  of humans  in the presence of  the almighty  where humans  are humble creatures.  the ritual is also a medium to ask for salvation as well as expressing gratitude for everything that  has been enjoyed  and  acquired.  similarly,  through  a ritual, humans acknowledge the existence of power that exists outside of themselves. by performing a carefully planned ritual, humans can negotiate with the spirit (some refer to it as the supra-natural being) so as not to interfere with their activities and life. a ritual serves as the space for human beings to communicate with the invisible, with fellow human beings, and with nature. both of  the above  concepts  are used  in order to  see the  dynamics  of relationship of  citizens pedukuhan  sonyo.  the concept of  dialog  is used  to see  the dynamics of the relationship and  communication of  the two groups in social practices and religious ritual. as for the concept of the ritual, it is  used to view  how far the ritual of bersih dusun  forms the  residents’ perception about the role of the other group. through the ritual, all elements and the residents involved are united in a common purpose. the ritual perceived here is not focused on the symbols performed by the community members, but on how it functions as a medium to build togetherness in the presence of differences. in this paper, the author uses a structural functionalism perspective to analyze the problem. this perspective views society as functionally integrated into a form of  equilibrium.  this perspective  is  also known as the  integration  approach, equilibrium approach, or structural-functional approach. the structural functionalism perspective developed by talcott parsons has several basic assumptions, namely (1) the community should be seen as a system of parts which are interconnected with one another; (2) thus, the influence of the relationship  between  these  parts  is  double and  reciprocal; (3)  even though social  integration  can never be  perfect, it  is  fundamentally  the social  system that always tends to lean toward equilibrium which is dynamic; (4) even though dysfunction, tension, and deviation always take place,  these conditions will naturally be resolved by itself through adaptation and institutional[ 128 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ization processes, (5) changes in the social system in general is happening gradually, not revolutionary; (6) essentially, social changes arise from three kinds of possibilities: adjustment carried out by social system of adjustments coming from the outside; growth takes place through a differentiating and functional process; and  new discoveries by members of  the community;  (7)  the most important factor in the power of the social system integration is the consensus among members of the public about certain societal values. diversity management strategies the community  of pedukuhan sonyo is  simple, still  basing  their life  on subsistence patterns, they believe the nature has given them everything, for that they have always been  friendly with  nature, and  are always trying to communicate with it with a variety of expressions. their harmony with nature is reinforced by the new religion that came to them not long ago, hopefully full of teachings of love (islam and buddhism). when morning comes, the routines keep recurring in the life of the pedukuhan village. this is  truly a beautiful stagnation for them, but of course will probably give the impression of being ‘old-fashioned’  for those who fond of modernization and globalization  that are all fast-paced, stylish and new. as a pedukuhan that cannot be categorized as traditional, it will be important to tell how individuals in the community can maintain and strengthen each other in dealing with various issues of neighborly life, up to the more complex life in a  village.  when  the ‘invasion’  of information through  print  and  television media that illustrate the violent character of a particular religion because of different symbols, or news about the sectarian violence that occurred across the archipelago, between individuals, between groups,  tribes, even between  the races, but it does not affect the community of the pedukuhan. admittedly, there are  some  issues  in everyday life,  between individuals,  between  families, even  between groups  also happened in  this pedukuhan, but it  did not involve physical  clash, and all  could be resolved  through  a  simple mechanism  that is run  and believed  by the whole  members of the community.  the mechanism is simple  because it is complicated and consists of a variety of rules, but every citizen strives to do what is called consensus,  and in addition, the residents  of the village  also  know the  5  basic foundations  in the  community  (1)  one shall not  violate any applicable state law, (2) one shall not hurt fellow human beings (3) one shall not lie (4) one does not expect to have enemies and shall not necessarily try to find friends, and (5) one shall always look for true virtues. the five basic rules  is  the implementation, or  perhaps  part of the  essence  of pancasila [ 129 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 that becomes the basis of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia today that seems  increasingly  not  so strong anymore to be  the  philosophy of indonesia. looking at the harmony of people’s life at pedukuhan sonyo of course will raise the following question: what is  the main factor  that encourages  those community members to be able to endure  the hardship of  their lives  amid the hustle and clash of globalization that go hand in hand with the changing environment and  the invasion of  pop culture  from many unexpected sources. in real life, society constantly changes and moves towards that in line with the more modernist community. in the past, every home had a joglo (a gathering place) which is usually separate from the main house. now things have changed. we no longer see a joglo for guests but instead spaces inside the house are used for people to gather. they no longer sat on the floor cross legged but instead on modern chairs or sofas. it is in fact a big change. classes  among the community  also  have gradually  been created although it does not stratify people based on ownership of objects or wealth. many of the youths at pedukuhan sonyo have higher level of education. some even have a college degree and managed to work in government offices. the changes that occur  in such a massive and sporadic manner of course require values and norms or at least a guideline in which the whole community will be able to maintain harmonization of relations between community members without discriminating  each other by judging on the basis of status and  identity of every individual in the community. this is certainly  not an easy thing  to realize since  identity is  not  singular in nature, but  it  is something that  is constantly changing, adapting to time, place  and circumstances (context); it is the fact that  identity  is composed of  a set of  relations, but it is  equally important  to  affirm that  identity  can also be  a single entity, something that is  natural  in  a whole.  similarly  the status of someone that is normally obtained through hard work or efforts, is also something important to appear, assert and maintain in the community. the fact that strengthening identity will not (temporarily) replace the values that have been  instilled  so long  by  community members.  the community of pedukuhan  sonyo  has applied the basic  values in which they believe in the shared understanding of ways of life,  and that the whole  family  of the community is the nuclear family without having to look at identity, religion, status, and gender of its members. community members who see themselves as a nuclear family always have to take care and protect each other. of course there will be  a lot of  problems that might occur, but  all sorts of  issues  can be  resolved through  a family  mechanism that has been passed down from [ 130 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 older generations which is intertwined with the basic values of public life. bersih dusun ritual: creating a room for community integration social relations  that have been strongly established in  pedukunan  sonyo can never  be separated from the  involvement of all  elements of  the community itself. although the village is situated behind a mountain, pedukuhan sonyo has demonstrated a potential for wisdom developed in a broader sphere. in the dynamics of their daily life,  the residents of sonyo are not stuck on the question of conflict based on differences of belief, especially in terms of the distribution of roles each group in the community plays. in any activity, with no exception to religious activities, the involvement of all the elements of the community is very visible. both buddhists and muslims engage in one form of cooperation in order to facilitate the festivals. on a three-yearly cycle, the residents of pedukunan sonyo  hold a shared ritual participated by all members of the community. every three years’ period, there are two rituals in the village which are filled with a series of events. in fact, in the ritual, prayer is conducted together. similarly, in the ritual that takes place in this hamlet, the main event is praying to the almighty so that the residents are given  salvation and  blessed  throughout  their activities.  in addition,  the purpose of this ritual at the same time is to serve as an expression of gratitude for what they have achieved in previous years. the ritual is performed every friday  kliwon  (javanese calendar) in the month of december. the  bersih dusun ritual held on december 27, 2013 took place at the home of the hamlet head. the ritual  performed  by the  residents  in this hamlet has a lot of  unique features. among the uniqueness in the series of ritual  is the way the prayer is performed. as mentioned earlier that  in pedukuhan sonyo there are two groups  with different  beliefs,  and each  would like to  contribute to the hamlet.  one of the forms of  the  contribution  is  praying  to god  for the safety of the residents in the days to come. in this ritual, both buddhists and muslims pray according to their own beliefs. it is a prayer event and is carried out in the same room, which is at home of the hamlet head where the event is centered. muslims  pray  with  interspersed  praises to  allah and  blessings on prophet muhammad.  in addition,  tahlilan (recital of the oneness of allah)  is recited by  adult males.  their clothes  were  distinctive; those often worn when doing activities of worship such as wearing skullcap, sarong, and islamic prayer beads as well as other attributes. they solemnly pray, led [ 131 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 by a religious  leader  (imam). the ritual of praying  is performed at about 8 p.m.  at night  after  isha  prayer time.  the  male  adults sit  with  their mouth busy chanting a series of prayers of salvation. not far from these muslim men, sat some adult males but were not included in the group reciting the prayer. they are buddhists who also had the same purpose. they also  joined the activity of performing a ritual prayer  for the salvation and harmony of the pedukuhan sonyo residents. when the muslims started praying, they did not leave the room. they took the position of sitting in the corner of the room because the same room will be used for prayer by them (the buddhists). they pray in accordance with their own belief which also asked for salvation. the ritual was also filled with other activities held by the village residents especially activities related to  entertainment.  jatilan and  wayangan  were  two  events organized between prayer events. kelompok jatilan (the jatilan entertainment group)  is a  group  that originates from  pedukuhan sonyo  and all the instruments are played by  the local residents).  before the performance  in each event, they always do a series of rehearsal. they have a routine practice each week. the owner of the musical instruments were also locals and happen to be a devout buddhist. the practice is done at night to avoid interfering with their regular jobs  during the  day.  the residents  involved were  composed of men and women. the voice artists also come from the hamlet. the group’s music is often played during events held both at pedukuhan sonyo, and outside the hamlet. the wayangan (javanese puppet show)  is also shown as part of the entertainment  in a series of rituals  in the hamlet of pedukuhan sonyo. the puppet  shown is usually held  night  which takes place  after the  events  of common prayer is completed. sometimes, a puppeteer in a wayangan show comes from outside the hamlet, in addition to the available puppeteers. during the entertainment, there is no  divider  between  buddhists  and muslims.  they  share the joy of the entertainment together.  in addition, the players  are never segregated because of the difference of religion. they play musical instruments and perform together to entertain residents of the hamlet all night long. the phenomenon of the rituals conducted in the hamlet as outlined above can at least  demonstrate first,  the effort to  build  mutual  understanding  among the residents, especially  between the buddhist  and islamic followers. both buddhists and islamic adherents come together in a forum called a ritual. rituals in other places usually do not involve groups outside of one’s own. what happened at pedukuhan sonyo is a reflection of how the [ 132 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 residents put forward a sense of humanity without being blinded by sentiment in which one often considers their own group to be the most correct. second, the  ritual  conducted in the hamlet  is the  medium for  unification of  different  groups.  this ritual is  not  claimed by  a certain  group with a certain belief, so as to allow the creation of a sense of shared responsibility in developing the hamlet for all people  in the broad sense.  both the  muslims and buddhists have a sense of belonging of the hamlet they live in. they (the two groups) do their best to contribute  in accordance with  their respective  capacities  without getting  rejection from the other.  here, the ritual performed in the hamlet serves  not only as a medium to ask for salvation  to the almighty, but also  as the room  that brings together  both groups to reach the same goal with their own way.  tensions, however,  at the very least  can be  minimized  and even  reduced  so that it  is no longer a belief difference as a factor that triggers conflict. third,  through  the bersih dusun  ritual,  recognition of other groups  can be established.  the involvement of  both groups  in the ritual has  confirmed us that  in the community (especially in rural areas)  people still  have very high appreciation  of the existence of  human beings or other  groups.  the existence  of  other groups  in the context of  buddhist  and muslim relations  in  pedukuhan sonyo  is not only  found in  theory,  but it is  also manifested in a variety of shared activities such as  the involvement of each member of the  groups in  a ritual, including religious one. the bersih dusun ritual, however,  is not  based on religious groups, but rather it is based  on a  common  vision  about  the importance of  the ritual  so that it becomes  a collective  activity of the residents  in general. it is at this point that the brotherhood between the residents is becoming more powerful. the ritual  requires each other’s participation  and  gives each other  a chance to do and contribute in various  forms on every opportunity they can share together. the above discussion of the harmonious relation between the muslims and the buddhists, if  traced  back, shows that islam  is actually very  open and  respects  other people’s existence.  in  the  non-theological  or social  development area, islam  is so very  accommodating  to the existence of other groups, unlike  the case with  other  areas, especially  with regard to  the theological  aspects  (aqida/creed).  with regard to  islamic  theology (creed), islam draws a clear line of demarcation. in this matter, islam appears to  be  very  exclusive.  this  affirmation  of islamic creed is  enshrined  in the qur›an surah al-ikhlas and surah al-kafirun and reflected in the sahadah (two sentences of profession).  this  is  the central doctrine  of islam [ 133 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 called the tawhid, which is the profession of omnipotence and absolute god and  assertion that  muhammad  being the last prophet  sent by  god  to mankind on earth. the exclusive  claim  of islam  as reflected in  the  theological  doctrines  does not mean muslims  should become  exclusive  and deny  pluralism.  because islam  also  emphasizes  inclusivism, as stated in  islamic  primary  sources  (e.g.  q.  s  al-kafirun: 6,  q.s.al-hujarat: 13) and  also  as  practiced  in  the early history of  the formation of  the islamic community. description of the ideal of harmony between muslims and nonmuslims, as exemplified by  the prophet and which later became the model for the behavior of islamic state and community life can be seen in the details of  the “charter of  medina”.  in  the charter, the  rights of  the followers of judaism  to coexist  peacefully  with muslims are explicitly stated.  , with the charter, the status of the jewish people was lifted from tribal clients into the legitimate  residents along with  the muslims.  there is no  difference in  treatment  between the two.  such a  position  was never  owned by  jewish people since the invasion of babylonia in 586 bc. in the state of medina, the jews could observe the teachings of their religion in accordance with  the teachings of  the  torah.  in addition, the state  of medina also guaranteed and assumed the responsibility related to the jewish people. the medina state provided such fair treatment without discrimination, in particular, against the jewish community. it was during this period that the jewish civilization with a variety of its aspects reached its «golden age» under the rule of islam. the  condition was  also  enjoyed by  the  nazarenes, especially  during the post-”futuhat” mecca. the christians of najran yemen went to the prophet to clarify their position vis-à-vis the islamic state. their delegation was well received by  the prophet. some of them  later converted to islam. while the other remained on their religious beliefs within the framework of the islamic state. the prophet then solidified their position as the special ummah, a status enjoyed by the jews. the practice of harmony as exemplified by prophet muhammad was succeeded by the companions of the prophet, as did omar bin khattab when expanding into byzantine  christian  territories.  when the region  was conquered, umar made an agreement with the local bishop in which it was described that islam would guarantee the existence of christians in the reign of islam under the principles of equality, justice and freedom granted by the rulers of islam to these peoples, that later led the christians to grow and develop. even in the first century of the hijrah, the majority of the population in the muslim political [ 134 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 entity  were  christians,  the condition which was not found in  previous periods such as during the christian reign of byzantine, rome, or greece. the noble principles of the unity can also be found in most areas of muslim rule, such as  in the subcontinent of india. the region›s adherents, the hindus and buddhists have the same rights as the jews and christians. when islamic  rule  came to an end, the followers of other religions  remain in  their original belief. this proves that the principles of tolerance or harmony remain the grip for the muslim rulers. even  the development  of islamic civilization  which  reached its peak  during the abbasiya (caliphate), among others,  was caused by  the development of  the theology of  this harmony.  it would be inconceivable  to imagine the advances  of science  and civilization  of islam  without participation from other religious adherents. in this stage of the development of islamic culture with all its aspects almost always rests on a root of unity. the development of science and technology at the time of the abbasiya that gave birth to various branches of science began with the involvement of experts from non-islamic society  starting with  the massive  translation  process  as from the nazarenes and the persians. in  the smallest  scope,  the brotherhood established  shows  how  the practice of tolerance and respect for differences take place in pedukuhan sonyo. the ritual  is just  one of the  events in which  the practice of  tolerance  by the residents  can be found. the ritual  serves as a room  or medium  capable of uniting  various  differences.  the differences  in both  the  habits  and  beliefs of  the groups (islamic and buddhist) are reduced and even united by  the ritual.  all  people  have a common perception  regarding the  essence of the ritual conducted without looking at the origins and identity inherent in each group. what takes place at each performance of ritual in sonyo provides some clues  about how  interest  groups  are able to accommodate  aspiration to minimize the potential conflict. the differences that are often seen as a source of tension  have thus  become a new strength  to create  harmony.  departing from the ritual, social  integration of the community in sonyo remains strong. social integration  in society  can be achieved  when  elements  in it have the opportunity to interact  socially.  in addition,  social norms  and customs  are also among other important factors in achieving  social integration.  this is due to  the fact that social norms  and customs  that govern the  behavior of the community members  by upholding the imperative  about  how  people should  behave.  nevertheless, the achievement of  social integration  in society  requires  sacrifice, in terms of both immaterial and material [ 135 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 sacrifice.  the basis of  sacrifice  is  the  adjustment between  the difference  of feelings, desire, the size and the assessment in the community. therefore, social norms of reference  to act and behave  in society will provide  the guidelines for a way to socialize within the community. portrait of unity backed by growing social integration can also be seen in the relations between muslims and other groups in several other places. in south sulawesi,  for example, while  the bugis-makassar  community  is often identified with islam, in terms of social contact, they are very open to other groups.  this happens  in  makassar sidenreng rappang  where  there is encounter  between  islam and the  towani  tolotang (hinduism).  both groups live and unite in a settlement. the towani  tolotang  settlement  which is situated next to the other community groups  has enabled mobility and  social relations  between the two  communities.  the pattern of  the  relationship  between  towani tolotang and the muslims in the vicinity is not only limited to neighborhood matters, but it could also take the feeling of kinship. at the neighborly level, the relationship is  based on intensity of  the  encounter  can happen  at any time because the groups coexist. helping each other in some daily activities serves as one of the main factors that strengthens their relationship. when the help each other, they no longer display concerns about different conviction they believe in but sense of brotherhood based on the neighborly relationship is more important to them. settlement patterns of the towani  tolotang and the muslims that happens to be side by side has allowed intensive communication to occur. the frequency of their encounter also occurs intensely. at amparita, the homes belonging to the towani tolotang or the muslims other do not have a significant difference. the architectural construction and  is the same, which is a  typical house of the  bugis.  the distance  between  one house and the other is not far away, usually only  separated by  a fence  and the  yard  which  is  approximately  5 meters.  the towani  tolotang,  despite living in the same  hamlet, are not exclusive. in between their houses, there is also the home of the muslims. the condition at  pedukuhan sonyo  is also not far different.  people of both  religions  mingle and  communicate well.  on  other  issues, such as appreciating and respecting each other  (recognition of  other groups)  are also carried out by residents with the exchange of foodstuffs such as during lebaran (islamic holy day)  can be seen during  both eid al-fitr  and  eid aladha. after celebrating the eid al-fitr, muslim residents  for example, hand out alms  (zakat) collected. the alms are distributed to those entitled to receive them. [ 136 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 one interesting phenomenon that occurred among the muslim residents at the time of zakat distribution (where there was plenty of rice  left) was that it was distributed to the buddhists. it also occurred after the feast of eid aladha.  when  the distribution of sacrificial  meat  took place, the  buddhists also received coupons just like the muslims. according to suparno (39), the gift coupons were intended for anyone to pick up the meat in person. suparno reported that up to now, they have always come take sacrificial meat provided by the committee. the above  view  shows that  at least  in practice,  socio-religious life  of  the people  has  a very intensive  and dynamic relationship.  segregation  does not occur  in particular concerning  religion  among  them.  both  religious groups under certain conditions are very exclusive but in other conditions they are very open to the existence of other groups. it does have a direct impact on the already established communication that occurs where various activities demonstrate the success of positioning one group in the presence of another so that conflict can be avoided. the solidity  shown  and group  solidarity  built are  getting stronger  because it  is based on the mutual understanding and commonality of vision related to the needs  or position of the groups respectively.  they managed to  sort and select appropriate actions done without denying the existence and each other’s role. ritual and  other social  activities  do not  scramble the role, but instead  serve as adhesive and  reduction of tension among residents.  in the end, the existence of different groups thus increasingly provides opportunities for  the  harmonization of  life  among the people because it is  based on the principle of openness and respect for others. coclusion the relations between  buddhists  and  muslims  in pedukuhan sonyo show how communities in a  small hamlet build solidarity  that goes beyond  religion.  what this  study  demonstrates is  how different groups of people manage  diversity  that is  built on the difference itself  and gives birth to  cohesion  between them.  the difference, as  can clearly be seen  in many places,  thus  often became  justification  to blame  the other.  the case in this study  shows  the opposite,  both groups  live together in harmonious situations that even penetrate the boundaries of belief. at this level, the diversity is no longer a question of beliefs that are considered urgent among groups. with similar culture, different groups have been able to show understanding of sublime  cultural  values  which are relatively  the same.  here, they  no longer stress on the polarization of  non-muslims  and [ 137 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 muslims, but the  similarity of  the javanese  culture.  it  confirms  that the  commonality of  culture  that  eventually gives birth to  a bond that is important in establishing a good relation among members of different groups. here, social capital serves as a reinforcement of social solidarity. solidarity is formed because people do things together, not because the individuals are of the same value or belief. this research  confirms  that solidarity  demonstrated by  the community of pedukuhan sonyo  is a  portrait of a community that is successful  in overcoming group’s selfishness  and ego.  there are three  important things responsible for managing diversity based on the findings of this research. first, diversity is not always a trigger for conflict, on the other hand, it should serve as the adhesive to form a society despite different beliefs. in spite of difference in  belief,  it turns out that intensive  and  balanced  communication without involving  the interests was able to  reduce  the tension  in the middle of  the community. the difference of belief is just one of the many differences which, if  managed well,  will deliver  a secure  and peaceful  condition.  this kind of  paradigm shift  is also found  in the middle of  the community  of pedukuhan sonyo, both buddhists and muslims have to continue to develop themselves without bothering the other›s existence. second, in a society there is a lot of potential that can be developed in order to create harmony. the bersih dusun  ritual  still practiced and preserved  to this day  turned out to be  an important  contribution to the  good community  relations  and communication  in the hamlet of pedukuhan sonyo.  the ritual  not  only concerns  how to build  a good relation  with god, but also creates harmony with our fellow human beings that exceeds the interests of  each individual.  the ritual  not only  builds connection between humans and  god, but also  becomes a tool  to  bond  people  far beyond  the differences  of  religion. in  this condition,  the ritual  has been  able to show a function that works to reduce potential for tension. third,  the involvement of  all elements  of society  is important  to be continuously encouraged  in order to  provide a space  that is  capable of accommodating  all  interests.  the involvement  and engagement  of all parties without labeling provide wider room for different groups to take part in any collective activity not only enjoyed by members of a particular group, but also by members of the other. the distribution of function to all elements in society will have an impact on trust in the presence of other groups. integration will later appear in the spirit of respect for the existence of others. both the buddhists  and  muslims  lived side by side,  and are not  clustered based on their conviction, in particular with regard to settlement, so they continue [ 138 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 to integrate and mutually need each other. in the future,  it  is crucial to  always  accommodate  a wide range of  community discernment  as an attempt to  minimize the  hostility  that often triggers conflict. what is indicated by the community in a remote hamlet in yogyakarka can serve as an example of how to manage diversity and brought to a much wider area. the pedukuhan sonyo community has exemplified a good lesson on how collective solidarity can be built on differences without denying the  existence of other groups (minorities).  they  have been able to allocate  their respective  roles  so as to avoid  conflict  which  interferes with the harmonious relationship they worked hard to establish. this, in fact, reflects that they have succeeded in managing difference and diversity  into a  strength  although it is only  practiced within  the small  scope of  the dynamics of indonesian government. as a pluralist nation, it must be noted that we should never split just because of the difference of beliefs. the difference should become a precondition for the formation of an open society. the spirit of appreciation can at least spread to penetrate all aspects of life. the existence of other groups outside one’s own will add dynamics to the relationship that tends to move toward an increasingly complex pattern. what is indicated by the community of pedukuhan sonyo is that social life is full of  meaning.  their  steadfastness  regarding  the implementation of the ritual is not only limited to the normative-practical level, but it also arrives at substantive-applicative by continuing to cultivate the sense of togetherness by acknowledging differences exist among them. this is the true spirit of democracy, where differences are managed and used as a force to establish unity and a sense of togetherness. references abdullah, irwan. 2002. simbol, makna dan pandangan hidup jawa: analisis gunungan pada upacara grebeg. yogyakarta: balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional yogyakarta. ali, as’ad said. 2009. negara pencasila: jalan kemaslahatan berbangsa. jakarta: lp3es. azra, asyumardi. 2003. “merajut kerukunan hidup beragama antara cita dan fakta, dalam jurnal harmoni: jurnal multikultural dan multireligius, vol ii no. 7, juli-september. jakarta: puslitbang kehidupan beragama, badan litbang agama dan diklat keagamaan departemen agama ri. baidhawi, zakiyuddin. 2006. kredo kebebasan beragama. jakarta: psap. daya, burhanuddin. 2004. agama dialogis: merenda dialektika idealitas dan [ 139 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 realita hubungan antaragama. yogyakarta: mataram-minang lintas budaya. hasse j. 2012. “keberadaan towani tolotang di kabupaten sidenreng rappang sulawesi selatan: studi tentang konstruksi negara terhadap agama di indonesia”, disertasi. yogyakarta: agama dan lintas budaya, sekolah pascasarjana ugm. ismail, arifuddin. 2012. agama nelayan: pergumulan islam dengan budaya lokal. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. knitter, paul f. 2004. introducing theologies of religions. maryknoll, new york: orbis books. kompas, 29 mei 2013. kung, hans. 1991. global responsibility in search of a new world ethic. new york: crossroad. misrawi, zuhairi. 2007. al quran kitab toleransi. jakarta: fitrah. nasikun. 2006. sistem sosial indonesia. jakarta: rajawali press. nasr, seyyed hossein1968. science and civilization in islam. massachusetts: harvard university press. qodir, zuly. 2012. sosiologi politik islam: konstestasi islam politik dan demokrasi di indonesia. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. thohir, mudjahirin. 1999. wacana masyarakat dan kebudayaan jawa pesisir. semarang: bendera. turner, victor w. 1967. “symbols in ndembu ritual”, in victor w. tuner, the forest of symbols: aspect of ndembu ritual. ithaca: cornell university press. [ 245 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 the ingenious citizenship of the paguyuban ngesti tunggal (pangestu) in indonesia laela fitriani sahronie center for religious and cross-cultural studies, universitas gadjah mada email: laelafitrianisahronie@gmail.com abstract this paper examines the practice of ingenious citizenship of an indonesian spiritual group called paguyuban ngesti tunggal (pangestu), between their politics of religion (agama) and belief (kepercayaan). with the passing of the constitutional court decision no. 97, 2017, the indonesian government recognizes belief as another form of religious expression besides religion. therefore, spiritual groups that are unable to be accommodated by religious or belief institutions have had difficulty accessing organizational rights, as they are considered ‘abject’ citizens. even so, pangestu has emerged as a spiritual group considered ‘abject citizens’ in the eyes of the state that has managed to survive. this paper will focus on two main questions: 1) how does the indonesian government regulate citizens through the definition of religion and belief? 2) how does pangestu respond to limited space for spiritual organizations between the recognition of religion and belief, by practicing ingenious citizenship? with these two formulations, this paper shows the relationship between the indonesian government as an institution of control, and the spiritual organization of pangestu as ingenious citizens. there will also be elaboration on strategies and unique tactics practiced by pangestu to cope with the limited space given by the government. keywords: paguyuban ngesti tunggal, politics of religion, governmentality, abject, ingenious citizenship introduction religion in indonesia has been used as a tool of political control since the colonial period. it started with the agenda of colonization to divide the people of indonesia through the dichotomy between religion (agama) and customs (adat) (maarif, 2017). after independence, the word adat experienced a redefinition. adat no longer was equal to religion, but became something that only represented local traditions, and had no religious elements at all. after narrowing down the definition of adat, the indonesian government, which continued to control the politics of religion of the colonialists, placed the belief (kepercayaan) in its polarization with religion (agama) instead of [ 246 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 adat. this is evidenced by the use of the term agama and kepercayaan in the 1945 constitution as separate categories. furthermore, to reinforce this polarization, tap mpr iv/1978 in the gbhn emphasized the recognition of only five religions (islam, christianity, catholicism, hinduism, and buddhism) as officially recognized religions in indonesia (sihombing, et al., 2008: 32). with the issuance of the mpr tap above, religious groups and beliefs outside of these five official religions experienced discrimination in the service of citizenship administrative rights, such as the management of ktp (indonesian id card) and family cards. in the same year, the government of indonesia transferred the management of aliran kepercayaan from the ministry of religion to the ministry of education and culture by presidential decree 40/1978 (picard and madinier, 2011: 1516). this decision indicated that aliran kepercayaan could not be part of agama, and the government did not give penghayat kepercayaan the same rights as those of an acknowledged religion. previously in 1966, when there was a mass massacre of members and sympathizers of the indonesian communist party (pki), aliran kepercayaan also became victims because they were suspected of being affiliated with the pki (sihombing, et al., 2008: 30). as a result, massive numbers of aliran kepercayaan believers were forced to register themselves as adherents of one of the legal religions to save themselves. in 2009, the central government which was initiated by the ministry of home affairs, the ministry of education and culture, and the ministry of culture and tourism issued a joint decree (skb) which recognizes and facilitates the fulfillment of the civil rights of penghayat kepercayaan, although they are still unable to formally state their beliefs on identity card (maarif, 2017). most recently, on november 7, 2017, the constitutional court issued a ruling supporting the fulfillment of the citizens’ rights to penghayat kepercayaan and acknowledging the equality of aliran kepercayaan and agama. since then, penghayat kepercayaan have been able to include their belief status in the religious column of their ktp, which simplifies their registration process for marriage, school, employment, insurance and other government processes. but unfortunately, the constitutional court’s decision also caused new problems. after the recognition of equality between agama and aliran kepercayaan, the government made specific requirements and definitions for the recognition process of aliran kepercayaan. the requirements being: forming an organization and registering it with the ministry of education and culture, directorate of belief to the supreme god, with identity as an assembly or organization of kepercayaan. before forming an organization, the community also needs to fulfill the essential characteristics of aliran [ 247 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 kepercayaan set by the government. these characteristics include belief in one almighty god, having prophetic or messianic concepts, scriptures, and more, which have been the typical characteristic of world religions. such an adjustment process mentioned before is similar to what is described by picard (1992), asad (1993), smith (1963), geertz (1960) and hefner (1993) that religion has pressed belief groups to conform to their identities. departing from the politics of religion and belief, this paper aims to state that the separation of agama (religion) and kepercayaan in indonesia is a form of government control over citizens, which is then referred to as governmentality (foucault, 2007). agama and kepercayaan are considered as ideal scripts of religious expression of indonesian citizens, which later on cause the exclusion of other expressions, including spirituality. those groups of citizens with different forms of religiosity will have the lack of access to citizenship rights, become apolitical, and invisible, also called “abject” or “nonexistent citizens” (lee, 2016). therefore, regarding the discussion of the abject and the ‘nonexistent citizen’ category, this paper focuses on a spiritual group called paguyuban ngestu tunggal (pangestu). pangestu is a spiritual community born in 1949 that rejects the identity of belief (kepercayaan, kebatinan) and/or religion (agama). its special identity then made pangestu warrant a different legal status within the ministry. while other aliran kepercayaan organizations are generally recorded under the auspices of the directorate of belief in god almighty and tradition, pangestu chose to exclude itself from the directorate in 2008. as previously stated, the government of indonesia has limited recognition only to agama and kepercayaan, along with the two institutions that sheltered them, the ministry of religion and the ministry of education and culture. a spiritual organization such as pangestu is not recorded in ‘the script,’ and does not have a particular institution to accommodate. but rather than trying to adjust to the government’s standards to become recognized citizens, pangestu as an abject group chose not to negotiate with one of the identities. they instead sought unique ways to access their organizational rights. the paguyuban ngesti tunggal (pangestu) paguyuban ngesti tunggal (pangestu) is one of the spiritual organizations established in solo, java 1949 based on the revelations received by soenarto mertowardojo. the experience underlying the establishment of pangestu was soenarto’s dissatisfaction with islamic teachings, which he had embraced previously because islam was taught in the arabic language which he did not understand. soenarto then began his spiritual journey, found his way to god, [ 248 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 and fortunately, on february 14, 1932, he received a “revelation” which later inspired him to create a new spiritual community. before pangestu was formed as an organization, its members often held meetings that they called “olah rasa” – the process of training emotions and spirituality through preaching and contemplationunder soenarto’s leadership. the meeting was held as a medium “to exchange their thoughts and experiences about their spiritual life and also to worship or pray jointly. all of this was done with the aim of training ‘feeling’, making it nobler and more refined” (indrakusuma, 1972: 32). from these small but frequent meetings, the idea to establish a formal organization emerged. in terms of teachings, pangestu tends to be similar to kebatinan, which emphasizes mental and soul education, because the soul is the source of all lust and sin. in general, the main points of the teaching of sang guru sejati (the title of its founder, soenarto) can be divided into three parts, namely: hasta sila (obligation of eight cases), jalan rahayu (panca dharma bakti) and paliwara (five prohibitions). hasta sila first consists of consciousness, which means awareness of the existence of god almighty and devotion toward him. the second is the belief in god. the third is to obey all orders and stay away from prohibitions. the fourth is the willingness to surrender all property, rights, and works to god. the fifth is narima in the sense of having a peaceful soul by always being grateful for what is owned. the sixth is honesty and keeping promises; the seventh is patience, and the last is budiluhur or compassion with others. furthermore, paliwara consists of five prohibitions: 1) do not worship to anyone/anything other than allah, 2) do not indulge in lust, 3) do not eat/drink things which damages the body and spirit, 4) do not violate state laws and regulations, 5) do not fight. those five basic teachings then became the primary source for each lecture held in olah rasa weekly. concerning membership, pangestu can be identified as an inclusive organization. people can easily join as a member without gender, religion, or social status limitation. pangestu is also a non-missionary-group, in the sense that it will only accept members who voluntarily have the will, and are old enough to be able to make the decision. to be formally accepted, people who want to join are expected to participate in the seven enlightenment lectures (ceramah pepadangan), according to the needs of each member. the lecture includes an introduction to pangestu, basic teachings, the biography of soenarto sang guru sejati, and a brief explanation of the organizational system. then, after completing the enlightenment lecture, members will be appointed to the inauguration ceremony of the new members held by the local pangestu branch management. [ 249 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 agama and kepercayaan as the act of governmentality the word ‘government,’ which comes from ‘to govern’ according to foucault, has several meanings. “to govern an individual or group means” to act on the possibilities of actions of other individuals, “a mode of action on the action of others” or “to structure the possible field of actions of others (foucault, 2007). foucault positions the word “to govern” itself as a transitive verb and places an object after it; an individual or a group means that the government itself needs an object to govern. the meaning of the word also means regulating, controlling, and positioning boundaries or specific spaces for individuals and groups to act. in practice, the government, aside from its function as a servant institution, also presents itself as an institution of community-control that seeks to limit space for movement, especially in matters of religious expression, specifically the topic of discussion in this paper. religion in indonesia is defined, created, and regulated by the state. as has been written by some academics (sudarto, 2017; subagya r., 1981; hefner, 1993; picard and madinier, 2011; maarif, 2017), religion in indonesia becomes the political product of power from the colonial era to the present. religion is one of the government’s tools to regulate its citizens, like how the indonesian government from the beginning made a minimum definition of religion, which originated from a combination of christian understanding brought by colonizers and islamic teachings of ad-diin (religion). investigating the history of the state’s governmentality through the politics of religion, samsul maarif (2017) saw the inclusion of the word “agama” in the 1945 constitution article 29 as the beginning of the infiltration of the politics of religion to the state. but if it refers to how the state and the government have a role to “regulate” citizens through various aspects specifically religion it can also be interpreted if the state is not only a tool for implementing the politics of religion, but the government itself is the subject of regulation. for example, the government makes certain religions administratively recognized and has the right to get full right service and make the ministry of religion regulate the religious life of citizens. the ministry of religion (departemen agama) was established on january 3, 1946 to initially function to accommodate, divide the religious section, and control the political movements of religious organizations. but now, the ministry of religion also has become a symbolic forum for “legal” religions in indonesia. the ministry of religion provided not only political support for the recognized religions but also financial support for religious activities, such as da’wah, worship facilities, and formal religious education (bagir and hefner, 2016: 201). [ 250 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 the presence of the ministry of religion also reinforces the polarization between agama and kepercayaan. religious expressions that do not fit into the category of agama according to the ministry of religion fail to receive their recognition and are forced to merge into the category of kepercayaan under the auspices of the ministry of education and culture. groups that reject fitting in with the standard will remain excluded. but even though aliran kepercayaan has received recognition, its status has not been considered equal to religion until the issuance of the constitutional court decision no. 97/2016. the inequality makes it difficult for followers of aliran kepercayaan who are not affiliated with any religion to access the principle rights of citizenship such as education, health, employment, marriage, and even death burial. as is the controlling nature of the state, the indonesian government makes ‘religion’ the basis for the legality of carrying out activities, such as the rules of marriage and burial. in law no. 1 of 1974 concerning marriage article 2 paragraph (1) for example, it is written that “marriage is legal if carried out according to the laws of each religion and its beliefs.” although the law refers to religion and belief in general, the law still refers to religion defined by the ministry of religion and does not provide space for the management of marriage for followers of the belief group (penghayat kepercayaan) in its implementation. the law was later strengthened by the issuance of the circular letter of the minister of home affairs no. 477/74054 dated november 18, 1978 concerning instructions for filling in the “religion” column in the attachment to the minister of home affairs decree no: 221a / 1975 concerning marriage and divorce records at the civil registry office (subagya, 1981: 276; sudarto at.al, 2017: 38). besides marriage, death burial is also regulated according to religion. in 1978, the minister of religion issued a circular letter no. b.vi/11215/978 dated october 18, 1978, which was addressed to all governors in indonesia declaring that “death burial is part of religious concern, so there is no known burial procedure according to beliefs (aliran kepercayaan), and even no known for the word “aliran kepercayaan” itself (subagya, 1981: 276). although the burial rules are only listed in the circular letter which can be changed at any time, the issuance of the cl further confirms that the government can use various legal tools to verify the limited definition of religion in indonesia. after the constitutional court decision, when equality between religion and belief was recognized, the government has not necessarily stopped its tendency to continue to control. with a vast and varied aliran kepercayaan in indonesia, the government tries to limit the recognition of the belief (aliran kepercayaan) by requiring the formation of organizations for the groups [ 251 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 that want to be accommodated. through the presence of the directorate of belief to the almighty god, the government requires several rules for aliran kepercayaan to register, such as including ad/art which lists the history of aliran kepercayaan and the biography of elders and teachings. furthermore, the directorate will conduct further surveys of the teachings of the group. if there are several teachings, symbols, names, or other elements that are considered similar to the recognized religion, then the group is expected to adjust and change them according to existing rules. the constitutional court’s decision (2017) became a symbol of progress for the recognition of beliefs in indonesia, though it confirmed the limited definition and categorization of beliefs, as well as the polarization between religion and belief. aliran kepercayaan can be recognized through some requirements that must be fulfilled. therefore, spiritual groups or other religious expressions not following religion or belief still do not get a place in recognition. not only marginalized groups outside aliran kepercayaan, but also those different versions of aliran kepercayaan that do not desire to form an organization and do not want to be recognized also become abject and overlooked from the influence of the policy. as a follow-up to the implementation of the constitutional court, the 2018 circular letter from the ministry of home affairs concerning the separation of family cards for followers of religions and beliefs also caused new problems for citizens. the separation of the new family card format for penghayat kepercayaan is carried out because according to article 28 e paragraph (1) and (2) of the 1945 constitution, religion (agama) and belief (kepercayaan) are regulated as separate matters. following these rules, the ministry of home affairs also places agama and kepercayaan in separate but equal spaces in regulation and service. with this separation, penghayat kepercayaan who affiliate with a particular religion are forced to choose one of their religious identities, which were previously flexible. in conclusion, i tried to re-examine various kinds of governing practices of the government through the politics of religion in indonesia. the indonesian government uses state institutions such as the ministry of religion, the ministry of education and culture, the attorney general’s office, and even non-formal institutions such as the mui as tools to implement the rule of religion. additionally, various kinds of laws were raised, and the government even used security institutions as a means of controlling the implementation of the rules and regulations. such government efforts, in my opinion, are in line with what foucault (2009: 108) defines as a governmentality, namely “an ensemble formed by institutions, procedures, and tactics that allow the use of [ 252 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 specific powers, has a population as a target, political economy as the primary form of knowledge, and security forces as important technical instruments. “ according to foucault, the government has the power to regulate citizens, although citizens are not objects of government. the government can only regulate directly a country, and citizens are regulated indirectly because as the subject of life in an abstract country (foucault, 2009: 123). in the case of the definition of religion in indonesia, it can be understood if the government creates certain rules, definitions, and conditions related to diversity and belief for the sake of creating a sovereign state. but in practice, the government made the citizen as the object of governing, and not the state itself, because as previously written, the definition of religion created by the government has a significant influence on the life and principle rights of citizens related to social, economic and cultural aspects. performing ingenious citizenship in his book, charles t. lee (2016: 27) explains what is meant by “ingenious citizenship” as “an illustration of how ‘the abjects’ are excluded from the script and have a lack of status, strength, and resources to access juridical rights to that full and social recognition as normative citizens, emerged with original and creative ways to put themselves back into the script.” lee also called it “nonexistent citizenship” where the inclusion, belonging, equality and rights are not formally guaranteed or codified. lee also uses the word “ingenious” to describe “an unexpected agency from an abject.” according to lee’s description, the ingenious citizenship practices tend to be carried out by abject groups whose existence in the political sphere is not recognized by the state. associating with the practice of governmentality discussed before, the state has tried to regulate and control its citizens through rules, written laws, and implementing new policies. those state rules and definitions became ‘the script’ which serves as a tool of state control. because the script also functions as a basis of rules, it always has a limiting tendency. for example, in the politics of religious and belief recognition, government texts only recognize these two definitions, especially after the constitutional court decision no. 97 when the beliefs (aliran kepercayaan) gain recognition of equality with religion. as a result, other groups outside of religion and beliefs were removed from recognition, while being neglected by administrative services in the government. one group that was eliminated from the script definition of religion and belief was the pangestu group. as a spiritual organization, pangestu is not recorded in government scripts, as they are neither agama nor kepercayaan. the incompatibility of pangestu’s identity [ 253 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 with the government’s script made pangestu end up as “abject”. judith butler, an american philosopher and gender theorist, defines “abject” as a densely populated zone of social life that is “uninhabitable” by those who cannot enjoy the status of the subject (butler, 1993: 3). in contrast to lee, who defines the abject as an entity, butler considers being abject a form of social life, in which those in it do not get complete social rights. engin f. isin and kim rygel (2007: 181-183) also appear with the theory of “abject space” to show groups that are not considered subjects or objects, and their existence is considered to be non-existent insofar as it cannot be heard or seen. politically, abject groups tend to “suffer from a form of purity of citizenship that requires them to become silent victims, invisible and apolitical” (nyers, 2003: 10731074). although the abject can be seen as a condition or an individual, the whole explanation emphasizes it is untouchable, invisible, apolitical, and lacks the status of rights. citizens who become politically abject do not have legality and citizenship rights, and their existence is not recorded in the “script”. therefore, these groups are often called those with nonexistent citizenship. in the case of pangestu, the form of spiritual organization was not recorded as an expression of religiosity recognized by the state, because the state only recognized the existence of agama and kepercayaan. as a regulating institution, the state presents two ministries as big houses and places of accommodation for agama and kepercayaan, namely the ministry of religion and the ministry of education and culture. the presence of these two institutions indeed functions to facilitate the service, while also becoming a symbol of limitation. as a result, pangestu, which cannot be institutionalized into the two ministries, became an “invisible” organization in the eyes of the government. pangestu is thus abject because it is neither known by the ministry of religion nor the ministry of education and culture. for comparison, i will present several examples of citizen groups that became abject in the eyes of the government. charles t. lee (2016: 85-90) shows how immigrant housemaids from west india and the philippines who work in canada try to build a social life and a sense of belonging by renting apartments with other workers. as domestic immigrant workers, they are often excluded from other groups of workers who work in the public sphere, do not get guaranteed rights and protection from institutions that shelter, and cannot even socialize freely like other citizens. even though they have not been able to access rights as other workers, they attempt to fulfill their social needs by gathering together on holidays, enjoying a dignified personal existence as individuals by cooking their food, and fulfilling their belonging desire to rent apartments. [ 254 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 another example is how commercial sex workers (csws) have become the object of public abjectivication. csws are seen as ‘dirty’ and amoral women who do not deserve to live in the community, so are largely excluded from social life. not only is their existence abject, but the prostitution itself is also in abject zone, as the work is always seen as lower than other works. prostitution is work which gives money, but not honors to the workers. despite being abject, csws can produce enough or even much money to survive in a capitalist country. through that money, they can buy and fight for a ‘normal life’ for their children and families (lee, 2016: 107-108). not much different from the group of sex workers is the category of transgender people, has also regarded as an abnormal group whose existence is often ignored and exiled. in the standard of heteronormative citizenship, people are still recognized based on their gender identity in general, namely the binary: men and women. some countries such as india and australia have indeed acknowledged the existence of a third gender through the mandate of the constitutional court, but similar rulings have hardly been replicated in other countries. donita ganzon, a filipino transgender person who lives in the united states, changed her sex from male to female to obtain a ‘normal’ life. ganzon is indeed trapped in the binary categorization of men and women, and wanted a heterosexual life like other couples, building families and given birth to children. but by doing a sex change operation, ganzon received the right to get legal marriage recognition in america, having a ‘normal man’ husband and enjoying the life she dreamed of. conversely, if ganzon naturally had an interest in men but did not carry out transsexual operations, she would live as a gay person who cannot claim marriage rites as she wishes (lee, 2016: 150-152). refugee groups located in border areas, war zones, or refugee camps are also part of the abject communities where they are often considered invisible and do not even exist. according to engin f. isin and kim rygel (2007: 184), the absence of their existence is not due to their absence, but because they are living in the abject zones. based on these examples, abjection can occur either purely towards the individual or because of the influence of the existing abject zone. after reading those examples, i tried to highlight that both the abjection that occurs to individuals or those in the abject zone is caused by the existence of the script. in the context of prostitution and sex workers, for example, the ‘neoliberal script’ of the market and the world of entrepreneurship suggest that individual entrepreneurs should have the ability to fulfill personal needs and serve their ambitions (lee, 2016: 128). on the contrary, prostitution is [ 255 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 often considered forced labor, where victims of poverty are ‘forced’ to become prostitutes or simply become money machines and objects from pimps. csws are considered to have no personal freedom, low-ranking, and be despicable workers who “sell” their bodies for money, do not have honor, and become a waste of society. although in many contexts the csw group failed to put themselves into the ‘script’ of normal social life, they tried to minimize their abjection in other ways. sex workers in san francisco, for example, try to follow the logic of capitalist work by regulating “regular work schedules” like office workers. they try to not only minimize their abjection but creatively attempt to obscure the boundaries between abject and normal by using the advertising strategy of “being a girlfriend” for their sex clients. doing this allows the sex worker to position herself not as a sex object that can be controlled by the client, but as an entrepreneurial subject who can control the types, terms, and standards of service offered (lee, 2016: 129-130). furthermore, war and border areas are beyond the jurisdiction of the government. as a result, the government cannot guarantee rights to the people in the zone. a refugee camp is also a place where someone’s identity and subjectivity become blurred as most refugees are victims of war or riots who come from other countries to obtain a normal life in the destination country. engin f. isin and kim rygel (2007: 197) refer to these camps as places where subject rights are temporarily suspended, because the zone is a transition area between one subject to another. individual refugees are initially subjecting, who can receive full recognition as citizens and rights in their homeland. but the rule that someone’s citizenship needs to be obtained through an official process puts refugees into the abject citizen group, even considered as nonexistent citizens. the ingenious citizenship of paguyuban ngesti tunggal as mentioned in the previous section, pangestu is a spiritual organization that rejects the definition of religion and beliefs provided by the government. pangestu’s organization was founded on may 20, 1949, in the city of solo, java. initially, pangestu was only an informal community as a place to gather sonarto’s students who wanted to deepen spirituality and cultivate their souls and minds (olah rasa dan jiwa) to become a better person. as it is inclusive and universal, pangestu openly accepts members from various religious groups and backgrounds, both muslims and christians became the majority during this time, as well as groups claiming to be abangan or other religious groups. [ 256 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 for instance, a 1972 report recorded in dwija wara magazine shows the list of catholic members in each branch reached 600 people, although pangestu was founded by a muslim. 1 this data validates the claim that since the beginning, pangestu has been an inclusive organization. in may 1949, per the words of the sang guru sejati, pangestu decided to establish itself as a formal organization. pangestu began to systematize the constitution and bylaws, the organization’s vision and mission, and its management structure. here is the following statement of soenarto written in sabda khusus peringatan no. 1 paragraph 16 which instructs the establishment of an organization that brings together all subjects: “gather all of my students to become familiar, gather the, as it is with the usual ordinances of the organization. as the chairman, decide it for yourself. and regarding your brother soenarto, you can only consider him as a paranpara (advisor). “ apart from that statement, pangestu needed to establish their organization to gather more diverse members, as their mission was to spread enlightenment (pepadang) helping humans better understand and appreciate their religious teachings. compared to the non-structural community, formal organizations were more suitable for pangestu to support their teachings. with the organizational system, pangestu was also able to set up a supporting foundation called andana warih that helped pangestu members collect funds and social support. although pangestu was established after indonesian independence, the city of solo, the birthplace of pangestu, was still occupied by the dutch who banned associations involving more than five people. but voluntarily, seven students of pakde narto: soeratman, goenawan, prawirosoeparto, soeharto, soedjono, ngalimi, and soetardi offered themselves as the first members of the pangestu community. based on consideration of the word (sabda) and the need to organize, the seven students then formulated the first administrator of pangestu. those administrators were, chief: goenawan, secretary: soetardi, finance: soeratman, general assistant: soedjono, soeharto, ngalimin, and prawirosoeparto. soenarto, as the founder, received the position as advisor. the formation of the management structure later became the initial indicator of the establishment of the pangestu organization. according to this history, it is evident that pangestu was born as an organization before the establishment of the bkki (indonesian kebatinan congress council) which accommodates other belief and mysticism groups.2 pangestu formed 1 soenarto, sang guru sejati and founder of pangestu is a muslim. however, due to the limitations of language to study islam (as islam is known to use a lot of arabic), soenarto tried to deepen spiritualism through other avenues, such as attending kebatinan associations, trying various kinds of ascetism, until finally gaining revelation to establish pangestu. 2 bkki was built on august 21, 1955, precisely at the first kebatinan congress in [ 257 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 a formal organization years before bkki. but after the establishment of the bkki, pangestu which emphasized its identity as a spiritual only organization (not belief or mysticism) refused to join bkki because of several reasons. one of the reasons was because of the political status of the bkki as part of the joint secretariat of golkar (golongan karya, the ruling political party in the indonesian new order era). that political position was considered not strategic to support pangestu’s future, and being politically neutral is a good strategy to survive, is also identified as one of the ingenious ways practiced by pangestu. not only utilizing neutral preferences in politics, but pangestu’s identity as a spiritual group also became its strategy. in 1966, many aliran kepercayaan groups were accused of their affiliation with pki. many of them were disbanded and even killed, but pangestu remained safe, as pangestu rejected the identity of aliran kepercayaan from the very beginning. additionally, many pangestu members were part of the tni (indonesian army), polri (indonesian police), and the prosecutor’s office, such as lieutenant general i putu soekreta soeranta, maj. gen. (tni) hendardji soepandji, younger brother of hendarman soepandji, the former general attorney (9 may 2007-24 september 2010) and chief of national defence agency. during the period 1959-1970, prof. dr. soemantri hardjoprakoso3 served as the leader of pangestu. in 1966 when the existence of aliran kepercayaan group was threatened by the government, as aforementioned, soemantri introduced pangestu teachings to the representatives of bakorpakem (the monitor of community belief and religion) of the high prosecutor office in jakarta. by providing various explanations and lectures, pangestu succeeded in maintaining existence through its clean image despite various threats toward the kepercayaan/kebatinan group. previously, on july 31, 1962, a delegation from the ministry of religion, ghozali sulamulhadi, conducted an interview with the head of pangestu for solo branch, subroto, regarding the teachings of pangestu. before, pangestu was initially suspected of being a new religious movement. after conducting several dialogues and explaining the basic principles of teaching in accordance with the words of sang guru sejati, the ministry of religion decided that semarang. 3 soemantri hardjoprakoso has been the chair of the army psychotechnical institute (lpt) since june 15, 1950. he is also the initiator of the establishment of the faculty of psychology at padjadjaran university and chairman of the preparatory committee for the establishment of the faculty of psychology, padjadjaran university in august 1961. his name is now used as one of the building names in the faculty of psychology, unpad. unpad psychology. http://psikologi.unpad.ac.id/sejarah-psikologi-unpad/, accessed on 06/16/2019, 10:35 p.m. [ 258 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 pangestu was not a heretical group that threatened religious life. in response to the restlessness of the ministry of religion, the head of pangestu issued the decree of pangestu central executive board no. head/08/v/1978 confirming that pangestu was not a new religion. the decree continues to be issued every year, and eventually became the subject of the pangestu national conference which is held every five years. besides the ministry of religion, pakem, which is a kepercayaan monitoring agency, also continued to supervise pangestu’s activity, particularly in jakarta, bandung, and semarang. however, after conducting several examinations of teachings and articles of association, pakem stated that pangestu was not an organization that threatened the integrity of the state nor had elements related to the blasphemy of religion. pangestu notes that affirming its status to the government is very important, because one of its main teachings stated that pangestu members must always be loyal to kalifatullah (state authorities and laws). as a result, the central executive decree was made as a testament to pangestu’s obedience to the state. these ideological reasons have also become the consideration for pangestu to not show direct resistance to the government despite experiencing limited access to rights and recognition. on the other hand, pangestu tries to creatively utilize the empty spaces between policies that can be used to ensure its survival. pangestu does not negotiate with the ‘script’ of agama and kepercayaan created by the state, but also does not reject it in a confrontational manner. as a solution, pangestu continues to conduct dialogue and respond to the government without having to change their spiritual identity. regarding the status of the organization within the government, pangestu has also shown a unique way to position the organization. while other groups of aliran kepercayaan register themselves in mass to the directorate of belief in god and tradition, pangestu expelled itself in 2008 after being registered once. since then, pangestu is no longer registered under any ministry. especially for the diy branch, a permit for organizational activities has been obtained from the yogyakarta police with the number no. pol b/skep.13/018/ix/ interpam. until now, this police license has been the only legal principle for the running of the organization’s activities. in addition, pangestu always tries to build relationships with religious leaders to provide an understanding of the organization’s vision and mission. through this method, pangestu can avoid the negative stigma as a cult or associations that blaspheme religion. recently, i find the pangestu’s defense strategy unique because, according to the law of staatsblad no. 84 no. 1933, the government requires several rules for a non-legal association to be recognized, and one of [ 259 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 them is “obtaining specific recommendations from the ministry of religion (for religious associations) and the ministry of education and culture (for non-religious associations), as well as registered documents by the ministry of home affairs.” as pangestu was not registered under any aforementioned ministry, pangestu decided to use internal relations to the attorney, police and religious leaders of every region to access its organizational rights. for the construction of the dana warih meeting building and fundraising as well as social support, pangestu members collaborated to build the andana warih foundation which was approved by the ministry of law and human rights in 2008 with the number ahu-3387.ah.01.02. the foundation then handled the building permit management process, as well as supporting the social activities held by pangestu. pangestu recognizes that the status of an organization unrecognized by any ministry will lead to limitations in accessing rights. so they tried to establish a legally licensed foundation to deal with the problem, without having to make pangestu negotiate with one of the identities provided by the state. conclusion the definition of religion and belief is a form of indonesian governmentality to regulate the religious expression of its citizens. power relations between the government and citizens are established through the formation of laws, limiting definitions and their implementation through policies, especially those related to religion and belief. these laws and policies can be seen from how the indonesian government created the ministry of religion to accommodate agama, and the ministry of education and culture as a house of aliran kepercayaan. in addition to utilizing state institutions, the government also controls religious expression by creating a minimum definition of religion by the ministry of religion, also an ideal characteristic for aliran kepercayaan to be legally recognized. as a result, the previously mentioned definition created ‘the script’ as an ideal description of a citizen, and ended up excluding another group of citizens with different religious expressions. ingenious citizenship is understood a condition where abject groups are excluded from the script and lack the status, power, and resources to access full juridical rights and social recognition as normative citizens, appearing in original and creative ways to get themselves back into the script. in the context of indonesian governmentality which is shown through the definition of agama and kepercayaan, pangestu is considered as an abject citizen as its spirituality is outside the state’s ideal script of agama and kepercayaan. due to being an abject citizen group, pangestu encountered many obstacles in [ 260 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 accessing several administrative rights, such as permission to construct a meeting hall and making organizational deeds. additionally, pangestu could not register itself at the ministry of religion and the ministry of education and culture. responding to the situation, the pangestu has made various initiative to restore its rights. in anticipation of public suspicion and rejection, pangestu built relationships with religious and community leaders in each region, utilized internal connection with the police force to permit activities in exchange for an organizational deed, and actively held a dialogue with the ministry of religion to maintain a clean image in front of the government. regarding civil action, pangestu established the andana warih foundation, which is officially registered at the ministry of law and human rights as an intermediary for carrying out social activities. by setting up a separate formal foundation, pangestu does not have to sacrifice its spiritual identity or merge into a religious or belief group as some other spiritual organizations do, but can still fulfill its organizational rights and needs. in conclusion, it is important to emphasize that groups of abject citizens like pangestu were present due to the limited government ‘script’ containing rules, regulations, and definitions that are used as a means of control. the abject also appears as a logical consequence of ‘governmentality’ where the government does not fully see the aspirations of the citizens. bibliography atkinson, j. m. 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[ 264 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1477 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 245 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir iain langsa email: zubir@iainlangsa.ac.id abdul manaf iain langsa email: abdulmanaf@iainlangsa.ac.id abdul mugni iain lhokseumawe email: abdulmugni@iainlhokseumawe.ac.ic noviandy iain langsa email: noviandy@iainlangsa.ac.id abstract this article examines the cultural resistance and sharia-based environmental management in the fishing community in aceh timur raya, indonesia. aceh is a fascinating indonesian region as the country’s implementer of islamic law. to date, aceh’s environment has yet to become an issue that needs to be immediately addressed. this study is classified as field-library research with a qualitative analysis. the data were collected using interviews, documentation, and observations of fishermen’s environment in aceh timur raya. these data were analyzed using a sociological approach, social theories, power-knowledge relations, and habitus. this study found several important reasons why there could be damage to aceh timur raya’s ecosystems. this article has produced several vital findings; first, the absence of the role of religion in maintaining and building an ecological culture in the fishing community. second, the attitude of indifference among the fishing community towards the environment. third, the politicization of environmental care. these three pieces of evidence state that cultural resistance and sharia-based environmental management in aceh threaten the community’s survival, especially fishermen who rely heavily on nature. islamic law has not been able to base its teachings on the environment that must be preserved and developed. keywords: cultural resistance; ecological sharia; aceh timur raya [ 246 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 introduction culture and ecology based on sharia have not been part of aceh’s formalization of islamic law. since its preparation in 2000 and its declaration by governor abdullah puteh in 2001, the implementation of islamic law in aceh—with its various instruments— has not made culture and sharia-based ecology part of islamic law. the positivization of islamic law in aceh is still stuck with the implementation of mahdhah [pure] worship but does not or has not accommodated ghairu mahdhah [impure] social services, which have a more significant impact than religious ritual worship. concerning the fishermen’s ecosystem, for example, no less than 60 trawlers operate on the north-eastern coast of aceh today (walidain, 2022; randi, 2022; inews.id, 2021), not to mention the damage to various marine biota caused by trawling. in addition, the destruction of the mangrove forest should be the primary support for fishermen living on the east coast of aceh. the large-scale logging of mangrove forests not only reduces the income of fishermen in the coastal areas but also diminishes the amount of land and threatens the existence of fishermen (agency 2021; fitri dan iswahyudi 2010) politicians also disagree with the use of trawls, which has been part of the demands of the fishermen (toke [business owner]) who have been running the illegal fishing business (r 2021; www.monologis.id 2021). however, such demands cannot legalize the use of trawling ships in catching fish. on the one hand, the existence of panglima laot [the customary body that deals with marine affairs] is highly expected to help maintain the sustainability of the ecosystem for fishermen’s needs. however, on the other hand, panglima laot must also face the demands of releasing fishermen who were arrested while working in the illegal fishing business. mangroves are supposed to be one of the sources of sustainable natural resources and higher income for coastal communities. for example, a mangrove park can serve as a tourist attraction and an educational site; it also serves as a place where marine life can be caught by fishermen, produce food and drinks that can be sold, and maintain the amount of inhabitable land for fishermen. meanwhile, in a different case, logging of mangrove trees is common among the fishermen, as they use mangrove trunks to be sold as charcoal for additional income. studies on coastal community ecosystems in aceh tend to focus on two aspects of discourse. first, the study of the culture of coastal communities regarding the existence of panglima laot; keliat et al. argue that the existence of panglima laot is currently faced with various challenges and obstacles in maintaining the local community’s culture in managing natural resources on the coast of [ 247 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 aceh (keliat, amirudin, dan luqman 2021). in the same tone, nazaruddin and gurning view panglima laot as a ‘figure’ that will guard the continuity of managing natural resources on the coast (gurning, 2017). meanwhile, mahendra et al. view that the existence of panglima laot continues to change, both in terms of roles and responsibilities that have developed from a long history of 400 years (utama et al., 2020). second, many have also examined the roles and responsibilities of the panglima laot in aceh. the role of panglima laot as the guardian of the ecosystem in aceh, especially in banda aceh (mustaqim dan reni 2018; rahmah, salmarika, dan miswar 2021). similarly, the works of fazriah et al. examine the role of panglima laot in sabang (amfar, 2015). panglima laot also still plays the same role after the 2004 tsunami and other actors who supported the recovery period in aceh (boyland, nugroho, and thomalla, 2017). although in its journey, the panglima laot institution continues to experience role developments (mujiburrahman dkk, 2021). this article aims to complement previous research and, in addition, also to examine the extent to which the role of the positivization of islamic law in aceh works for environmental protection (hifdzul bi’ah). in particular, it also sheds light on whether the culture of loving the environment as a place of life and livelihood for fishermen is maintained or neglected. in addition, it also provides an overview of whether the attention of the government and politics leads to the preservation of nature, especially on the east coast of aceh. in connection with this, two questions must be answered in this article; 1) what are the roles of islamic law and the community’s culture in maintaining the sustainability of the fishermen’s ecosystem in aceh timur raya? 2) why is the sustainability of the fishermen’s ecosystem in aceh timur raya currently at a very concerning threshold? this article stems from an argument that environmental protection (hifdzul bi’ah) has yet to become an essential part of the positivization of islamic law in aceh. even environmental damage tends to be ‘driven’ and ‘backed up’ by religious leaders. this will not only deplete the natural resources on the east coast but, even worse, will threaten the balance of nature, both biologically and socially. on the other hand, from a political and cultural perspective, it has not yet become an influential agenda for the politicians and the people in the area. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology experts agree that resistance tends to be interpreted as action by certain groups to make changes. the opposition does not have to be on a large scale but rather the significance of an action. these actions can also be taken at any [ 248 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 time in community activities. on the one hand, islamic law in aceh, through its qanuns [legislation], does not address the important things in maintaining the fishermen’s ecosystem on the coast of aceh. this is also the space for the resistance of the fishing community to islamic law, which tends to dwell on the mahdhah [pure] worship only. various fishermen’s activities currently do not favor the ecosystem, in addition to people’s lack of knowledge aceh’s islamic law also does not regulate the importance of ecosystems. the paradigm that is built tends to be: ‘nature is considered and intended to be used as widely as possible for mankind’ without the obligation to care for and maintain its sustainability. marine natural resources on the east coast of aceh are essential not only for aceh but also for indonesia (wilson dan linkie, 2012; yulindawati, 2018). nationally, one of the known natural products on the coast of aceh is the windu shrimp commodity—despite its scarcity nowadays (tjahjo dkk, 2019). this shows that the existence of nature in this area is very different from other places, so aceh’s natural products, especially tiger prawns, are highly sought after by various entrepreneurs as export commodities. it is time for these commodity products to regain their ‘prima donna’ status, with various policies, cultures, and fishermen’s activities that have disappeared all this time. various other commodities from the nature of the east coast of aceh are natural products and products that various policies must support community culture and fishermen’s activities, especially about preserving and caring for nature there. in light of the above, culture and islamic law should play an essential role in sustaining coastal natural commodities in aceh timur raya. ecology, one of the sciences about nature and natural ecosystems, should be integrated as an essential part of the culture of the coastal communities in east aceh. people’s lack of knowledge about protecting and caring for nature can be answered when an ecological culture is embedded in the coastal community. in addition, the islamic law in aceh should also not only deal with matters of worship that are mahdhah in nature but also regulate and promote cultural worship that is ghairu mahdhah in nature—in terms of economic needs, and the survival of this ghairu mahdhah worship is much more necessary. implementing islamic law in aceh has yet to get an ecotheological perspective. it also builds an understanding of islamic law in aceh that only focuses on forms of religious rituals. abdullah argues that protecting the environment must be in maqasid ash-shariah [purpose of applying a law according to sharia]. furthermore, he stated that the environmental crisis would hinder other maqasid ash-shariah’s achievements (abdullah, 2010, 2012; ahmad, [ 249 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 2015)race, religion, or group.it has been a common problem and requires global cooperation to overcome barriers regardless ofreligion and race. within this framework, every religion and traditions required to contribute in jointactions to overcome the environmental crisis. this is so, because the efforts of political and secular laware considered no longer sufficient to resolve the tragedies of today’s ecological problem on earth.therefore, this paper will explore the perspective of environmental fikih in the context of a globalmovement in overcome the environmental crisis.”,”container-title”:”ijtihad : jurnal wacana hukum islam dan kemanusiaan”,”doi”:”10.18326/ijtihad.v10i2.157173”,”issn”:”2477-8036, 1411-9544”,”issue”:”2”,”journalabbreviation”:”ijtihad : jurnal wacana hukum islam dan kemanusiaan”,”page”:”157”,”source”:”doi. org (crossref. this means that protecting the environment must exceed islamic law’s other goals. zubir, in his research, proposes the eco-ushul theory in making every decision and policy of islamic law in aceh. as a strong foundation in making legal decisions in islam, usul fiqh must first consider eco-ushul. the concept of ecotheology is the main structure before constructing other structures (zubir, 2021). when we look at nature and its potential in aceh timur raya, we wonder why the ecological culture of the people of the east coast of aceh is currently experiencing resistance? this can be seen from the fact that many trawls are used in fishing (randi, 2022). concern for mangrove growth is almost nonexistent (agency, 2021; fitri dan iswahyudi, 2010). fishery culture and sharia-based fishery are natural resources at stake for coastal communities in the future. as for the hypothesis of this research article, why is the ecological culture of fishermen met with strong resistance on the east coast of aceh? first is the absence of religion’s role in preserving and caring for ecological culture in policy and fishing communities along the coast of aceh. second, the community’s low awareness of the environment; and third, the marine environment, especially east aceh, which tends only to become a political area that needs to remember natural resources that should not be politicized for the benefit of certain groups. these three big problems are crucial to address immediately—perhaps future generations will never know the types of fish commodities of the aceh coastal communities, or it is even possible that the eastern coast of aceh will turn into the next bagansiapiapi city of riau province. the absence of the role of religion in preserving the fishermen communities’ environment islam has become inherent in every walk of life in society in aceh, meaning [ 250 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 all people are familiar with religion. this is in line with the motto of the hadih madja in aceh, islam ngon adat, lage zat ngon sifeut. kiban adat menan hukom, adat ban adat, hukom ban hukum, meusahoe adat ngon hukom, nanggroe teuga hana goega (mujiburrahman dkk. 2021; nurdin, 2016:8). this hadih madja has become a civilization of acehnese life from generation to generation so that islamic values will continue to live in each existing system and governance. in the current era, islam in acehnese society has begun to be undermined by the influence of modernism which tends to be secular. this is also the highlight of this research in viewing the position of islam in protecting and preserving the ecosystems needed for the survival of fishermen in the future. there are at least three crucial things that contribute to the lack of the role of islam in protecting and preserving the ecosystem of fishing communities on the east coast of aceh; first, the lack of values of sharia-based ecology contained in aceh’s qanuns [legislations]— values to be included tend to be practical, pragmatic, and punitive. second, the ulemas [islamic scholrs] have not made ecology a religious study in coastal communities in aceh as current conditions prove that the role of natural and human resource development has not been successful. third, fishermen lack the knowledge and understanding of the importance of protecting and preserving the ecosystems that fishermen rely on. lack of values of sharia-based ecology in aceh qanun qanun is local legislation that can regulate matters in a more detailed manner, or that has yet to be regulated in the hierarchy of the law above it. the special status of the qanun in aceh is a special derivative of law no. 11 of 2015 concerning the government of aceh. the aceh government can use this legislation to implement islamic law in aceh. qanuns in aceh have regulated many things —just like regional regulations in other regions—but in aceh, they can be drafted based on the values of the islamic law that apply there. this should be an essential input in formulating and enacting qanuns in aceh. the following are some of the qanuns related to fisheries and maritime affairs at the provincial and district levels in aceh, and other policies: 1. aceh qanun of number 7 of 2010 concerning fisheries 2. east aceh district qanun number 10 of 2010 concerning fishery business license fee 3. aceh qanun number 9 of 2008 concerning the guidance of customary life and customs 4. aceh tamiang district qanun no. 3 of 2016 concerning the protection of [ 251 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 tuntong laot species 5. aceh qanun number 11 of 2019 concerning wildlife management 6. aceh qanun number 2 of 2011 concerning environmental management 7. aceh qanun number 1 of 2020 concerning zoning plans for coastal areas and small islands of aceh 2020-2040 8. aceh qanun number 10 of 2008 concerning customary institutions (panglima laot) 9. aceh qanun number 7 of 2016 concerning aceh forestry in plain view, the qanuns formulated as political products or the fishing community’s needs lack sharia values. some important things are required by the qanun or government policy; 1) administration that fishermen, 2 must fulfill) retribution or related to state income, 3) protection of mangroves and certain species in tamiang, 4. settlement of conflict that occurs among fishermen by custom, 5. roles and responsibilities of related parties. the five things above are the qanuns formulated in aceh and the districts/cities in the east aceh region. so far, islamic values have yet to be included in the points of the qanun. the values of protection and preservation contained in the qanun are also part of islamic values. the nuances of islam, divine values , and monotheism are not attached to and felt by officeholders, fishermen, or the readers of these qanuns. the punitive aspect of these qanuns is greater than the spirit of protecting and preserving the ecosystems needed by fishermen on the east coast of aceh. the punitive spirit is different from the spirit of protecting or preserving the natural ecosystem. it is case-oriented, and the state officers take pride in the achievement; the more cases handled, the better the performance is. in fact, protecting and preserving nature should not be oriented to the officers’ performance in handling cases but to the achievement of developing natural resources located on the coast, beach, or sea. similarly, the spirit is built on the punitive aspect such as imposing a fine for violation according to the applicable provisions. very few potentials of natural resources and human resources can be adequately empowered—especially in protecting nature. compensation for paying a fine is not included as a spirit in protecting nature and the environment where the perpetrator commits a violation. fines will only be burdensome and feared by the lower-middle-class fishing community—while to the upper-middle class, fines concerns making amends, especially with bribery that is quite common there. these two aspects: punishment and fines, certainly have the desired impact on preserving natural resources throughout the years. policymakers should consider some things, considering that aceh is an agricultural area where [ 252 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 people have powerful islamic beliefs from generation to generation. these islamic values , which are not stated in the qanuns concerning fisheries and marine affairs, let alone the ecological values in natural ecosystems in coastal communities, are not part of the mahdah worship that scholars frequently communicate. on the other hand, the qanun also tends to refrain from involving fishermen in preserving natural ecosystems as their life necessities. it can be seen in the existence of panglima laot that it is nothing more than resolving conflicts that occur among fishermen (iwan, 2022; saifuddin, 2022; walidain, 2022). there is no qanun mandate to involve panglima laot in various program activities to protect and preserve the fishermen’s ecosystem. when panglima laot is involved in various program activities, it will be seen that the fishing community’s understanding and responsibility will grow through panglima laot. moreover, if the qanun contains islamic values, it will always be observed and guarded by panglima laot and the fishing community. ulemas have not made ecology a religious study ecology, in general, is the study of the relationship between organisms, as well as between organisms and their environment. this science is not part of religious studies—even in certain studies other than religion, but it is fardhu kifayah [obligation] to study it in depth. the existence of ecology is a non-negotiable necessity for human life—especially for fishermen’s lives. protecting the environment is not part of a worship ritual that must be carried out at any time following established guidelines. protecting the environment, dealing with the government, carrying out education, and various other social and cultural works are not included in the mahdhah worship, but the ghairu mahdhah worship. protecting and preserving natural ecosystems for the future needs of the nation’s generation is ghairu mahdhah worship. even though this is not a regular mahdhah worship where the management of natural resources will continue to be ignored, it is possible that mahdhah worship can no longer be carried out (ahmad, 2015; mudhoffir, 2011). the ghairu mahdhah worship, in this case, studying ecology and protecting and preserving natural ecosystems in the eastern region of aceh, is now mandatory for all parties. the mahdhah and ghairu mahdhah worship also cannot be separated from each other. all people, especially coastal communities, are obliged to carry it out. the mahdhah worship, especially protecting ecosystems among coastal communities, should be driven by the ulemas, especially those who constantly [ 253 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 interact with the fishing communities. in addition, the government considers that the role of the ulemas is to pursue and spread the message of the importance of performing mahdhah worship, not ghairu mahdhah. this can be seen from government programs, which have never facilitated the ulemas in socializing the importance of preserving the ecosystem in studying islamic law. for example, the head of the office of maritime affairs and fisheries (dkp) of east aceh district admitted that he had never involved the ulemas in socialization and raising awareness about protecting and preserving natural resources (intan, 2022). the same is also the case in langsa city and aceh tamiang district; in addition to not involving the ulemas, these two heads of office also complained about the behavior of the people who did not protect the natural resources for future generations (banta, 2022). the government does not involve the ulemas in socializing the importance of protecting and preserving the fishermen’s ecosystem because they need to gain scientific knowledge of ecology based on islamic law. aceh’s ulemas constantly interact with the community, at least in every recitation, friday sermon, wirid yasin recitation, friday night recitation, etc. in addition, the ulemas also interact with various social rituals in coastal communities; keunduri laot, peusijuk bot, peutron bot, peu ubat bot, takziah, etc.1 these various rituals have yet to be used by ulemas as a medium to propagate the importance of the natural resource ecosystem in life. basyaruddin, an environmental ngo activist in aceh timur raya, reported as follows; “since i was a child until i have my own family, i have never heard of any study of islamic ecology. teungkus from the past until now, from various types of fish, there are rivers and mangrove until now we have experienced difficulties and lost various types of fish. teungkus still continue and only teach prayer, fasting, zakat, and teaching the qur’an. teungkus come and go, but the themes they raise in religious studies are always the same. protecting natural resources does not seem part of islamic studies” (basyaruddin 2022). 1keunduri laot is a religious thanksgiving ritual performed by fishermen every year in each sub-district, which is supervised or coordinated by panglima laot lhok. rabu abeh is also a religious ritual that aims to ward off evil carried out by coastal communities on the beach on wednesday at the end of the month of safar. peusijuk bot peutron bot is a ritual of plain flour or thanksgiving and prayer upon completion of the boat/fishing boat construction or when the boat is launched to catch fish in the sea. peu ubat bot is a religious ritual performed on boats or ships that have been considered “unhealthy” or unable to provide enough catch for fishermen. [ 254 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 the panglima laot2 of aceh tamiang district had a similar view, depicted here: “the ulemas do not have the knowledge, let alone attention to natural resource ecosystems. these ulemas receive alms from the prayers they recite. that’s what they do all the time. they don’t know that these natural resources must protected, if it is not cared for then we will sin. if people cut mangroves in aceh tamiang, it is purely to meet their daily needs. but the ulemas have never played a role in conveying the message that the use of trawls is a big sin, why do they not convey it. because first they don’t know the laws and regulations; second, they receive a lot of alms from the toke [business owners] who use trawls” (muhammad 2022). the ulemas play a crucial role in the life of the acehnese. obedience to the ulemas is a characteristic of the life of the acehnese, especially given that aceh has been designated as a special region for implementing islamic law (indonesia, 1999). the community’s life should always be close to the ulemas in various aspects. the ulemas must also continue to improve their knowledge, not only of science and classical books that examine mahdhah worship. otherwise, people will believe that ulemas cannot solve the problems people face—they even consider that protecting the environment is not the responsibility of islam and muslims. of course, such a view is detrimental to natural resources and the muslims in aceh. lack of understanding of sharia-based ecology among fishermen sharia-based ecology is not part of other sciences but the equivalent of the words that the author summarizes to understand that ecology is a part of the study of sharia that should be considered and remembered. if we refer to the provisions of islamic law, both the qur’an and hadith, these two sources are sufficient to explain that islam has a high concern for natural resources. even in war, the messenger of allah forbade his troops to destroy plants (abdullah, 2010; basyar, 2020). this shows that islam has a strong message to protect the environment. without a healthy and comfortable environment, human life will be far from the blessings and grace of god. 2 panglima laot is a traditional structure that lives in the midst of a fishing community in aceh province. its existence has been known for more than four centuries, since the time of sultan iskandar muda to be precise. structurally, panglima laot is the leader of pawangpawang (boat owner/captain) in his area of authority, who is responsible to the sultan through the uleebalang intermediary. panglima laot then became part of a customary government structure called a mukim, a combination of several gampongs (equivalent to villages or kelurahans [urban villages]). the structure of panglima laot in aceh is institutional formed from the provincial, district/city to sub-district levels. [ 255 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 the question is, why do fishermen who rely heavily on renewable natural resources not understand the sharia-based ecology? understanding and awareness of protecting natural ecosystems should be the root of fishermen’s understanding and “doctrine” in their daily activities. religious understanding is rarely the subject of discussion in any religious activities. understanding the natural resource ecosystem for fishermen is a secular science that tends to be considered separate from islam as a religion and theology in their activities. when this science is considered secular, knowledge and understanding of ecology are not important for religious people who live on the coast. furthermore, understanding ecology considered secular will only relate to state law and the violations committed. using trawls, mangrove logging, etc., is only considered a violation of state law, not islamic theological doctrine (asykari, 2022; zubir, 2021:233). with such understanding, the fishermen do not feel guilty. they have become more savage in exploiting natural products as it does not violate religious law and will not be punished in the future. this impacts the boat owners’ fear of losing the crew. likewise, charcoal business owners will continue to have people stealing mangroves—after all, they are not stealing on the community’s land but state-owned land (walidain, 2022). the fishing communities do not understand sharia-based ecology well. as far as this research is concerned, eco-theology (ahmad, 2015; aman, 2016; saddad, 2017) is one of the perspectives that should be discussed in the broader scope. the eko-ushul idea, proposed in zubir’s 2021 dissertation, should also be considered. lack of environmental responsibility among the fishing community the environment is all external elements that affect organisms. these elements can be living organisms (biotic factors) or non-living (abiotic factors). this means that the environment as a unitary space with all objects, power, and conditions of living things, including humans and their behavior, affects nature itself. in ecology, nature is seen as a network of living systems that are interrelated with one another. this shows that every living thing is in the process of adjustment in the living system, which is affected by the principles of the sustainability of ecological life. fishermen are professional figures that depend on the environment they live in. living side by side with the environment is a must to protect and preserve the environment. however, if one visits this fishing village, one will see the opposite. fishermen’s villages tend to be seen as slums—not because of poverty, but because of the fishermen’s lifestyle that is not environmentally [ 256 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 friendly. there is an attitude of ‘ignorance’ toward the environment among fishing communities, especially in the aceh timur raya region. this condition is a manifestation of the attitudes and behavior of the community towards the environment. the environment should be able to continue to provide for their lives; at least it does not harm them and their families. one of the informants made a quite distressing statement: “in the past, for daily meals, it was very easy to catch fish or shrimp around the house or in the river. now it is very difficult, even if you want to get a little fish or shrimp in a fishing environment” (basyaruddin, 2022). another informant reported: “nothing can be expected anymore from the sea in langsa; the middle-lower class fishermen never get sufficient catch from their work” (asykari, 2022). this shows that serious problems occur between fishermen and their ecosystems. although in various expressions, the fishing community does not really believe in bad attitudes and behavior so far, which has caused a decrease in the catch. the fishermen believe that this is the destiny of allah almighty that determines their daily sustenance. this could be one of the causes of the indifferent attitude commonly adopted by the fishing village community in aceh timur raya. the fishermen’s ecosystem: between the demand and responsibilities of fishermen marine ecosystems can be maintained sustainably if fishermen use environmentally friendly ways of working. this means that fishermen are not only concerned with the catch, but also prioritize the sustainability of the ecosystem and its resources. according to yulia a. hasan in her book, law of the marine conservation of fish resources in indonesia (2020), preserving marine or aquatic ecosystems is the responsibility of users of marine resources. it is the right of fishermen to capture and utilize natural resources in the sea, in the form of fish or other marine catches (hasan, 2020). as a form of responsibility, fishermen must preserve the ecosystem and its natural resources. fishermen are not only a profession that catches fish or collects other marine natural resources, but also serves as guardians of nature from various damages. fishermen often report the presence of foreign trawler ships entering indonesian sea areas to the marine police, but on the other hand many fishermen also work for toke or boat owners where they work using trawling ships to catch fish in the sea. this means dispelling or reporting trawling vessels that plunder fish in indonesian seas to perpetuate their livelihood, so that they can catch more fish with their toke’s trawling ships (asykari 2022; rusyidi 2022; zulkifli 2022). [ 257 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 fishermen have many needs, including families to support. being a fisherman and working with a trawler boat owned by a toke is hard to resist. on the one hand, fishermen feel obliged to protect nature to ensure its sustainability. on the other hand, they must meet their needs. if they refuse to work for the toke, other fishermen will take the job. even one of the fishermen, let’s call him iwan, was bullied by fellow fishermen. in addition, the crew will not be detained even though the toke’s boat is caught by the security forces while catching fish at sea (saifuddin, 2022; walidain, 2022). the fishermen also have good relationship with the toke, as some of toke do not consider these crew members only as workers, but as part of their big family. the toke is like a parent to them. he gives loans, makes donations when there is a disaster or when there is a family celebration. it is difficult for fishermen to avoid working for the tokes who have trawlers. the toke and the fishermen are like a coin with two faces that cannot be separated from each other, because both will lose value if separated. but if such circumstances continue, the nature will lose its resources. obviously, we all do not want aceh timur raya to become the next bagan siapiapi due to the collaboration between the toke and the fishermen. fishermen have no responsibility to the ecosystem the fishermen do not seem to understand the importance of protecting the ecosystem where they get a livelihood. many fishermen use explosives or fish poison. these fishermen used to work on the toke’s trawler to catch fish. they have needs to fulfill despite the destruction of natural ecosystems. in the end, it will make their own lives difficult. understandably, they prioritize their needs. such ‘construction of needs’ is not the only contributor to the environmental damage, the government, ulemas, also gives eaqual contribution especially the point of view that is adopted by fishermen today (ahmad 2017; muhammad 2022). the role of religion, in this case the ulemas in aceh timur raya; east aceh, langsa city, and aceh tamiang, has yet to improve the situation. the ulemas do not yet have a strong and clear view of the destruction of natural ecosystems both at sea and on land. they never talk about prohibition of destroying natural ecosystems in their religious gatherings. on the other hand, there is also a complicated problem, namely the government that do not have many programs at the grass root level of fishermen. the existence of the panglima laot institution tends to be used as a scapegoat in resolving conflicts between fishermen. the panglima laot reported the following in aceh timur raya: [ 258 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 customary institutions, such as the panglima laot, are not institutions designed to involve the community in protecting and preserving natural ecosystems. the existence of the panglima laot institution tends to be politically motivated; various parties carry out many programs without informing the panglima laot institution. at the same time, the existence of panglima laot will have very different roles and responsibilities if it is involved in various roles and programs in society. at least panglima laot can be asked or controlled regarding how the economic development of fishermen, the fisherman’s ecosystem to the success of government programs. such circumstances show that internal factors do not only cause the fishermen who seem irresponsible toward natural ecosystems. external factors are also very influential in shaping the attitude of fishermen toward protecting and preserving the natural ecosystem as a place for them to live. currently, the state of nature in aceh timur raya is still relatively good in certain places. however, the fishermen’s lack of ecological awareness will inevitably turn the ecosystem into the next bagan siapiapi in indonesia. politizing the environmental preservation fishermen are one of the sources of authority in creating a culture of protecting the environment, especially in coastal areas where they and their families live. fishermen’s concern for their environment is a non-negotiable necessity, and fishermen have a major interest there. even though the coastal area is a tourist attraction, it should aim to improve the economy of the fishing community. the improvement of the fishermen’s economy should always pay attention to the environment despite the presence of tourists. the coastal area that is clean of various plastic wastes before the arrival of tourists should be more well-organized because tourists will return to an environment and places that are well-organized and well-maintained. tourists should not be scapegoats for the dirty and unmaintained coastal areas where fishermen live. the local government sometimes fails to notice this, as in sungailiat belitung (putri, 2022). also, identity politics or electability is rejected en masse due to halal tourism framing (makhasi dan rahimmadhi, 2020:373–74). the government should develop the potential of the community in protecting and preserving to the environment. if the community has the potential to protect the environment, the government must play the role in supporting and assisting the community. head of the office of food, agriculture, fisheries and marine affairs of langsa city, banta ahmad, reported that he had done this in empowering coastal communities. however, he has difficulty because he needs a budget for supervision, so that many programs given to the [ 259 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 community are not successful (banta 2022). the secretary of panglima laot, langsa city, denied what banta had stated, that the program activities carried out by the office of fishery and marine affairs were not on target. the office of fishery and marine affairs has never coordinated with us, so the program rotates without monitoring (saifuddin, 2022). this condition should not have happened, given the existence of coastal communities as guardians of natural resources and ecosystems on the coast and the sea. on the one hand, the existence of coastal communities needs serious attention from many parties. a culture of environmental care must thrive in the community there. coastal communities sometimes need to get attention. politicians then politicize this. as we can see in the two offices of marine affairs and fisheries in langsa city and east aceh regency, there is no budget for activity programs from the city and district other than for the salaries of employees and administration. the programs of these two offices come entirely from the state budget. this shows that the district/city’s budgeting is not allocated for coastal communities. who should care about the environment? an environment is a place where all creatures can live. fishermen are one of the professions that highly depend on the nature in which they live. the question is, today, who has concern for the environment? do fishermen have concerns for the environment? then, who should care about the environment? most people are aware or will be aware if they understand how important the environment is for their lives. zubir argues that hifdzul bi’ah is more important than other elements of maqasid al sharia. how is it possible that hifdzul mall, hifdzul aql, hifdzul nafs, hifdzul nasb, and hifdzul din can take place and be prioritized if hifdzul bi’ah is not prioritized earlier (abdullah, 2010, 2012; zubir, 2021). this means that a safe and comfortable environment must be the basis for constructing life in maintaining religion, guarding reason, protecting offspring, protecting souls, and protecting religion. several searches about aceh timur raya showed that environmental concern does not arise organically in fishing communities. concern for the environment tends to grow and develop and is brought in by people from outside the fishing community; even the existence of fishermen at first was more of a figure who only exploited the nature where they are located. exploitation here tends to use the potential of nature without caring for the development of the natural environment in the future. recently, fishermen have begun to understand the importance of the environment in their lives. it is difficult for fishermen to [ 260 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 escape the trap between needs and environmental destruction. the existence of fishing communities is in dire need of a sustainable program that is monitored at all times. concern for the environment tends to come from outside the fishing community, not even from the government. local governments tend to need programs to empower fishermen or maintain and care for the fishermen’s environment. the government of langsa city, aceh tamiang, and east aceh regency have yet to allocate budgets for programs for the fishing community. the programs under the marine affairs or fisheries office are based on the state budget. this indicates that the district/city government has no responsibility for the fishing communities. work programs for fishing communities tend to come from non-governmental organizations whose donors are foreign nationals (wijayanto, 2018). these foreigners that provide donations are interested in preserving nature and maintaining the world’s sustainability, where their country is starting to be threatened by the destruction of the world’s ecology. for the government, such programs have not been deemed necessary—they have not directly impacted the community’s survival in general, except for the fishing community. therefore, the fishermen are more responsive to the work programs of the ngos. it can be seen that the development of mangrove forests, the largest donor, is still dominated by ngos from abroad compared to state funds, as is the case with the empowerment of coastal communities in aceh timur raya. who is being empowered, and who is being used? these are political questions that this research raises in this article. considering these questions concern the existence of the fishing community. in fact, who empowers the fishing community in aceh timur raya? or, on the contrary, is the fishing community in aceh timur raya more likely to be deceived by empowerment programs? why are these questions raised? it is because government programs cannot empower the existence of this fishing community in aceh timur raya. this means that there are issues that should be taken seriously by all parties as to why various programs have failed to address issues in the fishing community, which are related to poverty, health, religion, and ignorance. basyaruddin, an ngo activist in east aceh and langsa city, stated: “there is no serious program from the government other than wasting money. we know that the institutions already have all the rules and responsibilities—but they are not implemented as they should be.” (basyaruddin, 2022) a member of the panglima laot, birrul walidain, reported as follows: “we, as panglima [ 261 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 laot, do not know anything about government programs in developing fishing communities. we often find out that the assistance provided by the government is not intended for fishermen.” (walidain 2022) perhaps it is common knowledge that the panglima laot institution is nothing more than a gathering place for fishermen and, at the same time resolving disputes (amfar, 2015; wilson dan linkie, 2012). thus, it is not surprising that it is not an empowerment narrative constructed in the fishing community. conceptually, the narrative aims to develop fishing communities—but in practice, it is nothing more than deceiving them. the narration reflects that the fishing community is difficult to communicate with; typically violent and unruly; uneducated community; untrustworthy; does not understand rules; challenging to accept new things; (banta, 2022; intan, 2022) and various negative narratives, all of which concern the profile of the fishing community. these narratives do not empower fishermen but rather deceive them, despite programs to empower coastal communities continuing to be created. conclusion the fisherman’s ecosystem should be a concern for all stakeholders. in addition to these stakeholders, culture also contributes to the root of the problem regarding the sustainability of natural ecosystems, especially in fishing communities. this research examines how the existence of a fisherman’s ecosystem should be a predictor of community life on the mainland. among the discussions in this study is the role panglima laot and various government agencies and other institutions play in protecting and preserving the fishermen’s ecosystem. furthermore, it also examines how culture and shariabased ecology play a role in the management and development of fishermen’s ecosystems in aceh timur raya. this research generated several significant findings, such as why the fishermen’s ecosystem on the east coast of aceh is going through a high resistance caused by culture or islamic law currently in effect. first, protecting and preserving the fisherman’s ecosystem has yet to become part of islamic law aceh’s law still focuses on matters of mahdhah worship. in addition, scholars have yet to make sharia-based ecology part of scientific studies in fishing communities so that the culture built in society is that this universe belongs to allah and humans are free to use it without any law to protect and preserve it. second, the growth of a culture of indifference among fishermen towards their environment. on the one hand, fishermen are responsible for maintaining the ecosystem’s sustainability. however, on the other hand, they must also meet their needs and demands of working on the trawl belonging to the toke. over time, that sense [ 262 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 of responsibility diminishes, and they prioritize life’s demands over nature’s survival. this also makes the fishing environment unfriendly to fishermen in terms of economy, health, social affairs, to the continuity of education for the next generation. third, resistance to a culture of caring for the environment is also caused by the politicization of environmental issues. who really cares for the environment and the sustainability of the fisherman’s ecosystem? it should be the fishermen themselves who care. however, those who seem to care are the politicians who allow trawlers to continue exploiting aceh’s marine resources under the pretense of welfare for the fishing community. who is actually empowered? alternatively, maybe the fishing community is more likely to be deceived by politicians who only take a pragmatic advantage. the existence of panglima laot should be central to maintaining the fisherman’s ecosystem. it turns out that what happened is still far from reality. the government, politicians, and security forces have yet to make panglima laot a suitable stakeholder. the existence of panglima laot is merely used for the needs and interests of certain groups rather than for the benefit of the ecosystem and the fishermen. the east coast of aceh will suffer heavy damage, in addition to the absence of the role of the government and related parties, cultural resistance, and the lack of understanding of the sharia-based ecology in the community about the protection and preservation of the fishermen’s ecosystem. the power relations in coastal communities with the toke and the rulers tend to construct a discourse on ‘reaping’ marine products. the discourse was not only justified by the attitude of the toke and the fishermen regarding the fishermen’s catch but is also supported by the ulemas and politicians. thus, it is widespread for trawlers to be found on the east coast of aceh. such a situation should not be allowed to continue any longer, especially on the east coast of aceh. aceh timur raya should not be the next bagan siapiapi that no longer has marine products. the government must conduct an in-depth evaluation of the various programs implemented so far. in addition, the existence of sharia in aceh must make the environment an essential basis for implementing islamic law, and the paradigm of islamic law must change, not merely focusing on mahdhah worship and religious rituals. aceh’s islamic sharia must move forward in responding to various future needs in the form of ghairu mahdhah worship, social worship, and the cultural and political needs of the people. the research still has many shortcomings and will be very useful if future research includes several other dimensions. what is essential is to continue this research by examining in depth using the ecotheological study appropriate to be applied in the culture of aceh. considering several previous studies that [ 263 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 examined the environment in the book of bustanussalatin, aceh in the past had a socio-cultural construct based on eco-theology. it would be great for future researchers to examine this theme in depth to protect environmental ecosystems in aceh for years to come. bibliography abdullah, m. 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(2022). dua kapal pukat trawl di perairan aceh timur ditangkap. kanal aceh. diambil 9 agustus 2022 (https://www.kanalaceh. com/2022/02/09/dua-kapal-pukat-trawl-di-perairan-aceh-timur-ditangkap/). saddad, a. (2017). paradigma tafsir ekologi. kontemplasi: jurnal ilmu-ilmu ushuluddin 5(1):49–78. doi: 10.21274/kontem.2017.5.1.49-78. saifuddin, t. (2022). merawat ekosisitem nelayan: panglima laot, kebijakan pemerintah dan budaya ekologis masyarakat pesisir aceh timur raya. tjahjo, d.w.h., hedianto, d.a., suryandari, a., nurfiarini, a. fahmi, i. indriatmoko & haryadi, j. (2019). konservasi sumber daya udang windu (penaeus monodon) di pantai timur aceh, kabupaten aceh timur. jurnal kebijakan perikanan indonesia 11(1):39–51. doi: 10.15578/ jkpi.1.1.2019.39-51. utama, m. p., rochwulaningsih, y., sulistiyono, s.t & mujiburrahman. (2020). transformation of panglima laot in aceh: from punggawa to customary institution. edited by b. warsito, sudarno, dan t. triadi putranto. e3s web of conferences 202:07031. doi: 10.1051/e3sconf/202020207031. wijayanto, x. a. (2018). peranan ngo lingkungan hidup dalam upaya pencapaian keberhasilan sdgs indonesia. doi: 10.13140/ rg.2.2.32087.32164. wilson, c. & linkie, m. (2012). the panglima laot of aceh: a case study in large-scale community-based marine management after the 2004 indian ocean tsunami. oryx 46(4):495–500. doi: 10.1017/ s0030605312000191. www.monologis.id. (2021). nelayan aceh timur pertanyakan legalitas pukat harimau. monologis.id. diambil 25 agustus 2022 (https://monologis. id/nusantara/nelayan-aceh-timur-pertanyakan-legalitas-pukat-harimau). [ 266 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2433 yulindawati, y. (2018). hukum adat laot (laut) sebagai kearifan masyarakat nelayan dalam upaya melestarikan potensi sumberdaya perikanan tangkap. dusturiyah: jurnal hukum islam, perundang-undangan dan pranata sosial 7(1). doi: 10.22373/dusturiyah.v7i1.2333. zubir, (2021). harmonisasi hukum islam pada masyarakat pesisir di aceh timur raya. banda aceh: uin ar-raniry press. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 137 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 good to great: why some companies make the leap…and some others don’t by jim collins reviewed by: zaenuddin hudi prasojo (pontianak state college of islamic studies) th e book consists of nine chapters explaining the concept of good to great. starting from emphasizing that “good is the enemy of great”, jim collins provides great explanations as well as arguments of why his concept is very important for leaders who want to be successful in their eff orts of building “enduring results” of their companies, organizations, or institutions. he in detail explains four principles underlining the framework of good to great. th ere are disciplined people (level 5 leadership and fi rst who, then what concepts), disciplined thought (confront the brutal facts and the hedgehog concepts), disciplined action (culture of discipline and the fl ywheel concepts), and building greatness to last (clock building, not the time telling and preserve the core/stimulate progress concepts). for further analysis of the good to great, i will shortly summarize the concept of how to make something good to be great explained in the book in the following section. i will also conclude this paper by commenting on the concept as my critique toward the theory of good to great. th e main concept of the book is the explanation of a series of principles for how to achieve greatness. good is diff erent from great. great is distinguished from good. and to make a company or institution or organization become great, there some input variables that should be provided and passed through. th is is what collins calls “what inside the black box.” besides other concepts as shown at diagram-a in the end of this paper, the fi rst and foremost requirement of great organizations, according to this book, is to have great leaders. th e good to great framework strongly focuses on the roles of leaders in running organizations. based on the empirical data and the discussion on theories about leadership and other aspects related to it as the fi ndings of his research project, jim collins proposes a concept of leadership that is “the most provocative of the whole study”: “level 5 leadership.” level 5 leadership level 5 leadership is a new concept discovered from the research fi ndings. [ 138 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 th e name is given aft er jim collins and his colleagues do not have a term that can represent best of the concept. finally they decide to add one more level of leaderships aft er level 1 to 4. leaders in this level are not high-profi le people with big personalities leading them to become celebrities. th ey are also not those without ambition and self-interest. but level 5 leaders are those who “blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.” th ey channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. th ey are incredibly ambitious, but their ambitious is fi rst and foremost for the institution, not themselves. level 5 leaders should be the top level of hierarchy of capabilities, setting up their successors for even greater success in the next generation, displaying a compelling modesty, self-eff acing and understated, fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results, acknowledging that success is the results of other factors than themselves and taking full responsibility when things go poorly. although most people are in the level 1, many people have the potential to become level 5 leaders. lessons from the book jim collins spends fi ve years working with his colleagues on his research project and fi nishing this book. th is is to say that the idea of good to great is not only based on theoretical analysis but also comes from empirical data taken from various experiences from the fi eld. th e combination between theory analysis and empirical data has given this book a strong basic assumption to the readers of the validity of good to great theory. moreover, although it is based on “american companies contexts” the book also shows readers that good to great is a grounded research theory that to some extends can be applied to other cultural contexts besides the contexts of business companies. th e general theory of leadership is applicable not only for organizations in western context abut also for those in eastern context. in general, the concept of good to great is very good. it has very strong basic elements of developments and innovations. th e core idea is about understanding, recognizing, and knowing resources of ourselves as leaders and what we need to be successful not only for smaller goals-individual interests, but also bigger and larger scale of goals-organizations. in this context, i agree with jim collins that leadership is one among the key variables of the successfulness of organization. he even puts the leadership as the fi rst and the most important aspect in creating great organizations. he has shown us how good to great companies gain their success under their great leaders and those succeeding aft er them. th e level 5 leadership concept covers a lot of great aspects of leadership [ 139 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 that are great. for organizations with strong power on the top leader’ hands, the concept will work excellent. it is because the top leaders have absolute power that gives them authority to fully manage and “own” both all assets of the organizations including the people. moreover, they can easily fi re those cannot work together with them. th is style of leadership requires absolute authority to take wrong people off from the bus. however, this leadership concept will not work in organizations with less hierarchy. cultural context also determines the style of management of organizations. for example, governmental offi ces in indonesia have civil servants with their rights and duties. if level 5 leaders fi nd a wrong person in their departments, they have to follow the rules of fi ring the person that sometime do not allow the head of the department to fi re the person directly. in short, this concept will not well work in bureaucratic organizations until it takes consideration of the cultural context of the organizations. th e concept of hedgehog is also great but not at all the time. sometime leaders should have not only one expertise but more. organizations need managers who can lead people within organizations to work well supporting the goals of the organizations. and great leaders also need other knowledge to support their goals. i would argue that great leaders should have some expertise so that they can supervise and control their right people to work on the right paths. leaders also function as role model, teacher and “parents” who can give shelters to their right people. th e more the knowledge, skills, and expertise the leaders have, the better. another point of critique for the hedgehog concept is that the leaders or individuals live in time and space. a leader should really think about the “change” of the time in away that competitions shift from time to time. although apple is great in “ipod” now, for example, it needs to have other great products in the future. its leaders should think about the time change that means the opportunities and the challenges are also diff erent and they need more than one best thing to deal with those challenges and opportunities. in this context, the fox (the enemy of hedgehog) gives me ideas of a hardworking person. a fox always thinks how to attack the hedgehog. it is a fi gure that never gives up achieving its goals. it likes to experience and does trial and error. it just needs to organize itself in order to get better results. discipline is another point that i also strongly agree with the good to great framework. moreover, i would argue that discipline is not only important for the successful of individuals and leaders in an organization, but also crucial for every individual who want to be successful. th is is very important issue i want to emphasize here since every individual is a leader. prophet muhammad says, “everyone is a leader responsible to lead themselves.” th e successfulness [ 140 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 of organization is also based on the successfulness of individuals within the organizations. th is book even emphasizes that discipline should be in tree aspects: disciplined people who have disciplined thoughts that can be discipline is their actions. culture of discipline becomes the fi rst key variable not only for leaders of organizations but also for every individual within organizations. th e culture of discipline also supports the theory of good to great to build to last. if everyone is discipline in keeping the great results and successful in sustaining the disciplines in the three aspects—people, thoughts, and actions, the organizations will reach built to last level. hardworking needs to be emphasized for built to last level. however, the culture of discipline needs to be supported by consistency and coherency. th ese two aspects are very crucial in sustaining successfulness, even for transforming from great to enduring results. for great leaders, the question then is “how to create a culture of responsibility?” i believe that responsibility is the underline of the productive relationships among individuals. th en great leaders will have to add a serious attention in creating the culture of responsibility within the culture of discipline. th is book really needs to talk deeply about how to educate individuals within organizations to build responsible relationships within organizations. th e discipline for people in the organizations in dealing with other people out of the organizations also needs to be addressed seriously. th is is to answer the question “how to build credibility of organization among its partners and competitors. finally, this book does not really talk about the concept of solving problems by great leaders in organizations except “getting the wrong people off of the bus.” in other words, great leaders just need to have the right people and get rid of the wrong people. how if the right people they have chosen become the wrong people on the way? how to deal with confl ict with other people outside of their organizations? th ese questions really address the theory of human nature. human being is a unique creation. every single person has their own uniqueness. human life is not as simple as what we think. life is complex. in short, human relationship is not stable and it depends on many aspects of life. leaders should have the capacity of problem solving and confl ict transformation. as the nature of confl ict that can occur at anytime and everywhere and to everyone, having skills of confl ict resolution, confl ict management, and confl ict transformation is a must. remember, besides other leadership roles, leaders in an organization also functions as supervisor, parent, supporter, encourager, and problem solvers (mostly with the involvement of others). [ 157 ] al-albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 book review kritik nalar arab: muhhamad ‘abid al-jabiri. yogyakarta: lkis. 2018 by abdul mukti rouf reviewed by: achmad tidjani iain pontianak critique of arab reason; epistemology of islamic awakening reading the book critique of arab reason of muhammad abid aljabiri from the writings of abdul mukti ro’uf requires sufficient intellectual energy. this book is classified as fairly serious research. its material objects that touch the historical and philosophical aspects that are integrated together make the reader trapped and faced with the arguments of the great figures of the islamic world with various dynamics that take place in it. perhaps the involvement of the great figures of the islamic world is an inevitable choice. even not only the great figures of internal islamic community, but a number of large external figures who concentrate in islamic studies are also involved to present sharp analysis with sufficient weight in breaking down al-jabiri’s great thought. broadly speaking, the weight of the analysis selected by the author above is equal to the big issue raised, namely about turats and modernity. the author began his writing with a “provocative” argument in the form of a simple argument “kaifa nata’ammal ma’a turats”. this sentence is chosen from the simplicity of his words, but has a spirit of continuity which breaks through especially those related to the trend of contemporary islamic thought. next, the weight of the analysis of the study in this book is also equal to the figure of al-jabiri himself who has an intellectual position as a philosopher who often gets praise on one side and also often gets sharp criticism on the other. in fact, abdul mukti’s study can be classified into three large segments. first, regarding al-jabiri’s thought on turats issues as a contemporary arabislamic discourse. second, the position of al-jabiri’s thought in mapping up contemporary islamic thought. third, the contribution and implications of al-jabiri’s thought on the issues of turats toward the ideas and movements of the contemporary arab-islamic revival. discourse on reading turats [ 158 ] al-albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 reading al-jabiri’s thought cannot be separated from the reading of arab reason in his magnum opus, naqd al-‘aql al-‘arabi. the term aql becomes the starting point of a very serious conversation that is connected to the question of the identity and existence of the arabs who are confronted with the achievements of the modern west. al-jabiri suspected that the arab system of reason was too dependent on past authority (turats) which later caused the arabs to bow before the west, especially in the 1967 war. abdul mukti in this study was very ambitious to uncover the fundamental issues of the arab-islamic slump as a representation of the islamic world. on the other hand, the empowerment of the west is the trigger for the emergence of the idea of resurrection (nahdah) which is also a consideration that cannot be excluded. these two sides seem to signify the present and past realities of arab-islam. the past is a tradition (turats) while the present reality is western advancement. self ciriticism and the spirit of islamic resurgence are two manifestation movements of the discourse of self-reading and the reflection of the advanced west. between criticism and discourse, turats has been as an important component to unravel criticisms, while modernity in this context is the starting point toward awakening. the direction of the movement and foothold led to the change and reconstruction of the world of arab-islam after arab defitism in 1967. this is where scholars have a variety of views on the issue of turats and modernity in the context of the arab-islamic awakening. mapping the views of scholars regarding turats and modernity can be divided into three major groups. first, a group that offers ideal-totalistic discourse. the main feature of this group directs consciousness to the glory of the past and is presented in total to the present. the debate of authenticity (al-ashalah) has become the main axis and flag by overriding all views of modernity. sayyid qutb, hasan al-banna and al-maududi are often categorized as central figures of this group. the thought principle developed by a number of these figures is to place islam as a complete ideology for every muslim both personally and in communal life. so the issues related to the paradigm of thinking and behaving in private and public spaces, individuals and society must fully refer to islam without the possibility of other alternatives. next, the qur’an is placed as the basis of life in a literal sense and ignores aspects of the context both in the past and the current needs. this glimpse of the ideal of totalistic thought is similar to that developed by traditionalists who use the model of al-fahmu at-turats li al-turats (a literal and traditional understanding of tradition). the general characteristic of this [ 159 ] al-albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 model involves only the past issues as an established reality without making criticism at all by presenting tradition as part of historical construction. the next consequence is that this group will narrate the negative stigma of all things that are new and foreign by always being melancholic about the past. second, the transformative group. this group wants liberalization by using western traditions as a measure to define turats. taha hussein (1889-1973) and salamah musa (1887-1958) were in this group. the most prominent theory used by this group is historical heretagial dialectics. simply put, the theory is that turats itself exists in the historical arena, so dialectical relations in social issues such as economics and politics must be involved in understanding turats. the extreme fundamental features of this group are truly in the west’s domination with the utmost marginalization of tradition for the sake of modernity. third, the reformistic group. hasaan hanafi is one of the leaders of this group with a discourse proposed with a number of sufficient considerations. hasan hanafi views that turats and current needs are two elements that cannot exclude each other. turats and its relation to tradition has become a force that cannot be eliminated by the presence of the character of the arab-islamic community. next, the western spirit which gave birth to the modernization of thoughts and challenges of the muslims themselves is also a consideration to reinterpret turats. in the same spirit, this is the group where al-jabiri is also part of, of course with different characters and discourses, such as linearity lines that compliment each other from the reformistic discourse and spirit. abid al-jabiri’s epistemic interpretation of turats using the term episteme in the context of the study of al-jabiri’s thought is a consequence of all the discourses presented by al-jabiri, which directly really concentrates on arab-islamic reasoning. its clarity with modernity and the number of contexts of arab-islamic backwardness as compared to the west are not urgent to leave the turats at all. indeed, al-jabiri made turats the root of consciousness, culture and the most authentic identity. the deterioration in al-jabiri’s assumptions is caused by the way to understand and enforce turats. here lies the assertion that al-jabiri concentrated on the philosophical episteme elements. it is not easy to elaborate a system of thought (episteme) that moves toward reform. the historical concern over the bacwardness and the direction of the goals which are the ideals are two considerations to clarify what has happened and where to move. so on that consideration, al-jabiri began his project of [ 160 ] al-albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 he critique of arab reason. this is where an encounter between reflection of failure and resurrection ambition takes place. thus, the critique made by aljabiri is a big agenda that seeks to reconstruct the basic principles by rereading history and relativity and progressive views to build the future. in the process of elaborating the episteme of the turats intepretation, al-jabiri carried out a series of criticisms not only at epsiteme which had already proceeded in the midst of muslims, al-jabiri took very basic criticisms starting from tahlil takwin al-aql arabi which contained historical critique of analysis, epistemological and ideological processes, and then in the tahlil al-bunyawi which contains explanations and criticisms of epitemological models that once lived in the arab-islamic tradition. in examining the thought of al-jabiri that is very complex, abdul mukti succeeded in explaining together the dynamics of each stage. for example, at the bunya aql arabi stage there were a number of sharp criticisms on bayani, irfani and burhani’s reasoning, even though al-jabiri had to take sides with the burhani reasoning model with its influence on the ideas developed by western muslim thinkers, such as ibn hazm, as-sahtibi, ibn ruayd and ibn khaldun. these alignments are implicit alignments with respect to ratios and sensory experiences that do not contradict with revelation. this is where objectivity serves as one of the most possible measures to bridge the divine ideological elements. simply put, the basic construct of epsiteme is based on reality to text. alignment to the ratio cannot immediately place al-jabiri part of a transformative group. al-jabiri prefers reformative patterns while still giving appreciation to turats as a historical achievement. on the other hand, al-jabiri also takes input from the insights of liberal contemporary interpretation from outside (alfahm alhhariji lil turats) in a very selective manner through the process of harmonization and dialectics between modernity and turats. as a key method in taking the old and adopting from the outside, there are at least three methods offered by al-jabiri, namely, hermeneutics, critique and deconstruction. presumably abdul mukti here did not only succeed in understanding in detail the epsiteme of interpreting and using al-jabiri turats, but he could simplify it in one argument on one popular adage i.e. al-muhafadhah ‘ala qadimi al sholeh wal akhdzu biljadidil ashlah. one simple argument has two meanings at the same time, one being the episteme of understanding turats, while the other a bridge between the past, reality and ambitions of future awakening. [ 301 ] al-albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 book review dynamics of ancestral religious recognition in religious politics in indonesia yogyakarta: crcs ugm, 2017 by samsul ma’arif reviewed by ach. tidjani pontianak state instutute of islamic studies ancestral religious recognition an effort to build indonesia without discrimination juridically indonesia has identified itself as a religious country. an important element which states that it is manifested in pancasila as the foundation of the state in the first principle, namely the belief in the oneness of god. the formalization of the element of belief in all of the nation’s history is not a flawless one. one of the criticisms that is not taken seriously by most components of the nation is a derivative form of the first polarized first principle in the birth of official religions recognized by the state. polarization is arguably very exclusive, which eventually, will deny the existence of other beliefs that grow in the community. as a consequence, there arises a pejorative narrative in all its forms to those outside the official state religions. even the most unnecessary things happen, as violent acts which very likely result from the exclusive polarization. we must honestly admit that the polarization of the principle of the oneness of god in the form of official religions is the blemish behind the religious image of this nation. in practice, many people are converting in a forced way from the belief of their conscience to those of the country’s choice. the camouflage lasted decades and it was not categorized as part of intimidation. samsul maarif as a religious observer in religious studies program and cross cultural in his book dynamics of ancestral religious recognition in religious politics presents a comprehensive segmentation of the view of religion and politics twist as well as historical development from old order government until today. the polarization of religion in its exclusive form is part of the dutch political [ 302 ] al-albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 heritage. it is related to the dutch interest to know for sure the existence of contestation among its colonies, not to mention that there has been religious clustering adopted by society. historically the clustering of religions stems from a contradiction between islam and adat (customary law) and the second is the contestation of santri and abangan. the conflict continued until the time of indonesian independence, including during the period when the state constitution was formulated. as a climax, the words religion and belief are included in the 1945 constitution or constitution. this section explicitly begins as the advent of religious politics. as the first result of the religious politics, it emerges to form a new understanding in the midst of society that puts islam as the protocol of official religion recognized by the state. as a further consequence, religion and adat become two sides to obtain a legal definition of the intent of religion itself. nowadays, the society is also divisive, one group has a modern orientation that puts religion as an enforcement effort based on scripture without any slightest compromise with anything outside the scriptures, including the custom. the second group is a community that has a traditional-contextual orientation that puts religion and adat side by side. as long as adat does not contradict religious principles, adat is placed as an enriching element of religion. both the first and second community groups, in fact, have entered the trap of the dutch political policy. as a climax, custom and religion are then polarized exclusively and are completely different between the two. the sanctity of religion and indigenous wisdom which is actually part of the wealth of this country has gradually become two things that continue to be hostile against each other. ultimately driven by political forces, the official religion forcibly annihilates all forms of wisdom that are found in adat. where the category of adat is a religion that is degraded by political interests into customary definition, so that constitutionally it does not have a place in this country. in syamsul maarif language the degraded religion is called the ancestral religion. the concentration of the ancestral religion is the main material fact studied by syamsul maarif with the historical approach. it is intended to measure the patterns of constitutional acceptance and discourse over the course of the seventy years. therefore, in his book dynamics of ancestral religious recognition in religious politics in indonesia syamsul maarif divided it into three parts. the first part, is the early discourse of the emergence of religious politics beginning with the filing of the official religious protocol which in this case is islam as the majority religion at the time. as the initial discourse that accompanies religious politics is the discourse of islamic puritanism. attempts of thought and movement that stick out in the form of thought of true and [ 303 ] al-albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 false islam on the basis of the theological and sharia, without any attempt to accommodate the wisdom of the existing local religions. the strife of santri and abangan increasingly brought about the birth of political movements. the revitalization then spurred on the discourse of the islamic state and the secular state. the idea of an islamic state is driven by santris who insist that the state’s construct is the integration of religion and politics without separating from each other. while the secular state is the idea of the abangan group that presupposes the construct of a state is a government that separates between politics and religion. luckily ideological tensions could be brokered by sukarno through his speech on june 1, 1945. soekarno proposed a compromise, independent indonesia is not an islamic state, not a secular state but a pancasila state. the proposal was received positively by many circles, so that on june 22, 1945 the organizing committee of the principles and the purpose of the indonesian state submitted its work, which then the work is known as the jakarta charter. the jakarta charter seems to have been entirely independent of the efforts and influence of the ideology of the islamic state. because in the charter there is an exclusive expression on the seven most popular words in the jakarta charter; “the divinity, with the obligation to observe the islamic shari’a for its followers”. the seven-word phrase according to supomo potentially created negative impact on inter-religious relations and existence of customary laws. based on the objection, then pancasila was born as we know it today. the rejection of the jakarta charter does not necessarily lead to santri to stop there. as a further effort, the santri proposed the establishment of the religious department as compensation for the removal of seven words in the jakarta charter. on january 3, 1946 the department of religious affairs was officially formed. at that time, the department of religious affairs was a form of islamic identity in this country. the next inevitable consequence after the establishment of the department of religious affairs is the kosntitusional consequences which led to the establishment of civil registration law such as marriage registration conducted in the office of religious affairs, not in the office of civil registry. implicitly the religious department is a special institution that serves the religious rights of muslims, although in its development the religious establishment has provided directorates for religions other than islam. tensions and group antagonism especially between santri and abangan continue to roll. in other segments, the possible assumption is inevitable that the religious department is an institution that often serves the interests of the santris. in some cases religious deposition is often used as an institution to suppress abangan [ 304 ] al-albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 movements by restricting religious activities beyond constitutional definitions issued by the religious department. syamsul maarif explicitly mentioned that the state has been infiltrated by institutionalized religious politics. from then on public opinion has been controlled institutionally, so that the society easily says which is religion and which is not. all the abangan efforts related to beliefs are rawly attributed to non-religious elements. at the same time, the government explicitly distinguishes its citizens in religious and non-religious categories. in the second part, in this section syamsul maarif described the abangan attempts to maintain the existence of wisdom and belief by sheltering on some other political forces, including shelter under the auspices of the indonesian communist party (pki). the choice is certainly not the right choice, but also cannot be blamed for it. because the constitutional abangan group with its various beliefs does not have the space for expression, so once they get a better choice, the abangan group that originally belonged to the muslim category converted to christianity and even became a communist. a boomerang for santris who constantly suppress the abangans. so there was an inevitable violence, which was later widely understood historically as the savagery of the pki. implicitly, this historical notion is not entirely communist, but it is the accumulation of abangan saturation that loses its existence due to formal and non-formal pressures. the choice to be a communist is the only option that makes the abangan more comfortable, for only the pki at that time was close to adat, at least formally the pki as the only party that revived the folk arts such as ketoprak, ludruk, reog, etc. in response, the santris in the new order period compromised with the government, so that the revival of the abangan movement together by students and the government could slowly be crushed. on the other hand, culturally the santris continue the islamic movement by continuing to lead muslims to become orthodox muslims, not only culturally. in 1968 the santris again voiced the jakarta charter, but unfortunately the effort was intertwined with the government at that time. but at least, the santris still get a better room than the abangan. the new order led by soeharto at that time did not want to make mistakes like the old order led by sukarno. therefore, a concrete effort successfully undertaken by soeharto was to place the ancestral religions equivalent to the official religions with the appropriate conversion of symbolism. for example as one of his instructions was, changing the term kebatinan into belief. the idea is quite constructive, and then the new order created a new political machine with the golkar party being a formal umbrella of the growing ancestral religions. on the other hand, the new order continued to conduct political provocation by defending the issue of pki and communism, it was intended to maintain [ 305 ] al-albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 harmony with the santri who could not be marginalized. the issue of the pki and the formation of the golkar party are two interconnected fortresses to affirm the continuity of the new order which then ran for up to 32 years. the third part, syamsul maarif described the efforts of the ancestral religions that find a new foothold called human rights. the effort explicitly emerged in the reform era of 1998 precisely after soeharto stepped down. a surprising statement from the group on behalf of the indigenous peoples alliance of the archipelago (aman) stated “we do not recognize the state, if the state does not recognize us”. this statement is the accumulation of disappointment against the policy of the new order that is still considered halfhearted to accept the existence of the ancestral religions. but on the other hand, reforms not only open the faucet of freedom for abangans that are identical with adat, but also open opportunities for the santri to rise again freely. at the same time, human rights discourse has also become a significant footing ground leading to religious organizations and conservatism agendas. even then, the conservatism agenda was successfully managed to get overwhelmingly dominant among muslims. such insistence and domination slowly and surely succeeded in pushing the mui (majelis ulama indonesia) to issue a fatwa of haram against leberalism, pluralism and secularism. in this case, the fate of the ancestral religions is again at stake, for it has been attributed as a forbidden part. constitutionally, a new regulation containing the requirement of the ancestral religion must always be supervised by law no. 16 of 2004 concerning the prosecutor’s office on article 30 verse 3. next comes other formal regulations that implicitly narrow the space for the ancestral religions. a simple government awareness to recognize the ancestral religions is gradually improving, although in syamsul maarif ’s words it is still half hearted. because in reality some ancestral religions still have difficulty in obtaining public services. even to the discourse of omitting the religious identity in the citizen identity card column is still classified as a half-hearted policy discourse. in conclusion, the existence of religion and its legitimacy should not be led to the discourse of the santri, abangan, pki, muslim and infidels. but beyond the political sentiments there is a more noble objective that is the issue of discrimination that should disappear from this country. [ 103 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 religious-based higher education institution and human resource development: a case study of universitas pesantren tinggi darul ulum jombang (unibdu) samsul ma’arif universitas islam negeri sunan ampel surabaya email: samsul_jombang@yahoo.com abstract the role of higher education is very crucial in developing human resource because it is a future investment which has great effect on the improvement of real sector. higher education is proven to be an effective agent of social change. in human resource management, the role of higher education is embodied in community service program which is more known as “tri dharma perguruan tinggi” including acquisition, transmission and application. human resource management is basic administrative description or educational management based on a series of interrelated processes in guiding the behavior of individuals as the member of an organization in order to achieve its goals. the process can be identified as follows: planning, compensation, recruitment, selection, induction, appraisal, development, maintenance, performance, security, integration, and information. keyword: higher education, education, human development introduction islamic higher education constitutes one of human civilization forms. civilized society tends to develop varied institutions to excavate, develop, transform and apply science for public prosperity, and in this context, higher education has the most important role. besides, it is an institution which develops social development knowledge as a part of science and technology. previously, higher education is only a community of experts and students which focuses on teaching moral and humanity, but later it is named as modern university by kerr according to organism model of abraham flexner’s research (keer, 1982; 2). by the presence of this modern university, science replaces the role of philosophy; research replaces teaching; and specialization replaces generalization, flexner. higher education is an institution which [ 104 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 serves science, finds solution, and appreciates critically to achievement and high training (keer, 1982; 4). further, islamic higher education is an institution consisting of various communities and activities: community of diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate degree, community of humanities and social science, community of professional academician, and community of non-academic and administrative staff. in indonesia, the nature of higher education is mentioned in the constitution number 20, year of 2003 regarding the national education system article 1, verse 19: higher education is further level of senior high school which is held to prepare students in order to be a member of society who has academic ability, and is professional to apply, develop, and create science, technology, and art. it is an institution which has three main missions; they are education and teaching, research, and social service. these missions, according to perkins, are based on three aspects of knowledge: acquisition, transmission, and aplication. knowledge is obtained through research process, and is taught to future generations in order to survive. it is then transformed and applied so that it will be useful. meanwhile, social service programs are a right place to apply the knowledge in order to develop the society. the three missions are popular as tridharma perguruan tinggi. islamic higher education is an organization that assists children or group of people to have good personality, think, decide, and act according to islamic teaching and law (zuhairini, 1995). it is also defined as an educational institution in which its learning programs are based on islamic perspective and values (buhori, 1989). it means that islamic educational institution is all activities of an organization or institution to internalize islamic values to islamic students. one of islamic education institutions is pondok pesantren led by kyai. it teaches, develops, and spreads islamic knowledge (zuhairini, 1995). it has been existing for long time and is very influential especially among villagers in indonesia. it is also a home stay for santri, and is usually near to kyai’s house or mosque. the word pesantren is derived from word ‘santri’ which is added with prefix peand suffix –an then turns into pe-santri-an, and eventually becomes pesantren or a place for santri. meanwhile, the word santri is derived from tamil word means the expert of hindu holy book. nowadays, the term ‘santri’ is student who stays at boarding house (pondok), except those who live near pesantren. further, santri is considered as a religious group, and is the opposite of abangan (geertz, 1981;172). [ 105 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 wahid states that pesantren is a separate place from its surroundings (wahid, 2001). it consists of residence for the caretaker (known as kyai in java, ajengan in sunda, nun or bendara/ra in madura), mosque, and dormitory. the fundamental elements of pondok pesantren are kyai, santri, pondok, and mosque, while modern pondok pesantren also provides formal education/ school. types of pesantren include traditional and modern pesantren. according to sudjoko there are four types of pesantren namely type i: mosque and kyai’s house; type ii: mosque, kyai’s house, and pondok; type iii: mosque, kyai’s house, pondok, and school; and type iv: mosque, kyai’s house, pondok, school, university, hall, sport center, and so on. type iii and iv are more likely able to deal with global competition (sudjoko, 1974:47).. generally, based on its educational form pesantren comprises salafiyah and khalafiyah. salafiyah only exposes religious teaching, while the latter is considered as modern pesantren which not only teaches religious knowledge but practical skill as well. pesantren along with its elements is an educational, da’wa, and social institution coloring the life of villages. it grows and develops with society for centuries (hasan, 1989: 49). its presence is in accordance with the dynamic development of society, and is a solution to social problems. meanwhile, the existence of higher education cannot be separated with the presence of pondok pesantren since it is an embryo of islamic higher education in indonesia, particularly java. the role of higher education in community development one of the three higher education’s missions is to educate students in order to be able to improve their reasoning, knowledge, science, dedication, and responsibility which are developed through research, and is aimed for social benefit. meanwhile, community service program is the implantation of science and technology in developing community, and is a proof of higher education’ concern as a reflection of social dynamics. rifai affirms that higher education, in the context of community development, is center of creativity according to sense of purpose, sense of mission, and sense of commitment, and gives contribution to social intellectual modernization (rifa`i, 1996). further, it does not compromise with conservative ideas, intellectual conformity center or soulless building. community development should be followed with the reform of social culture and economics along with quantitative and qualitative aspects. the process of community modernization includes social and psychological changes are more suitable with new political, [ 106 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 economic, and social structure condition. therefore, islamic higher education must play active role, and be able to create change designer and pusher as entrepreneur and innovator. the role of higher education in long-term development planning the role of higher education in long-term development planning is as a center of science and social development, and organizer and developer of higher education, science, technology and art. campus as scientific community aims to create well-educated people and conducts beneficial research for community life standard improvement. hence, higher education is expected to be a qualified and professional center of community development in order to deal with the needs of complex high development. almost all campuses constitute center for potential professionals in developing the surrounding people through research, collection, and data analysis. for that, higher education can be an active center of community information and development. higher education is a center of culture which is in accordance with the main guidance of culture of un (1986): 1) strong national cultural values awareness is marked with the development of technology and global economic order; and 2) firm national identity awareness is marked with the legacy of upright values, historical consciousness, and creative power. higher education has instrumental role to achieve the goal for it is a guiding place for intellectual community to learn science, technology, and art. therefore, the community should have both social professional and intellectual competence. social professional competence consists of concept, behavior, and science and technology applicator, while the intellectual competence includes awareness of social and environmental problem and truthful concept and common interest of society. developing human resource indonesia has huge problems in developing human resource in which this country must face globalization and also economic crisis that leads to political and social crisis and even disintegration of the nation. national reform movement has changed the policy of national development into democracy, admitted human equity, and implemented decentralization. the change has caused micro and macro problems of education. micro problem is quality of [ 107 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 education while macro problem is related to decentralization and management of education. the main character of indonesian people is that they are democratic, and uphold values of humanity, equity and justice, tolerance, and law enforcement (fadjar, 2001;24). hence, individual and community need developing because independent society requires motivation, strong capability and active participation. in this case, education is believed a most influential factor to empower the individual and community. the factors comprise 1) holistic human development including adaptive survival skill; 2) community education development that grows historical perspective: the awareness of needed values to create indonesian independent society; and 3) mass education development through the use of mass media: printed or electronic media. during the transformation process, education must be able to give optimum contribution in creating independent community. therefore, complete philosophy is required to balance between education and community dynamic change. in this case, education includes three processes of learning, economics, and socio culture. meanwhile, global environment is marked with open market system based on rapid change and advanced information technology application. besides, the need of qualified human resource is increasing in line with fast transformation of environment. further, national crisis consists of four aspects: economic, politic, law, and socio-cultural reform. therefore, the new paradigm and development goal in national education system is required. previous paradigm is centralistic, top down, partial, economic development, politic stability, and assembling technology oriented, government dominant role, and low non-school institution role, while new paradigm is autonomous, bottom-up, holistic development oriented, varied cultural tolerance, upholding moral value, enforcing humanity and religion, creative, productive, and juristic (jalal & dedi s, 2001). the principles contained in the new paradigm is a) equality between education sector with other sector, b) social reconstruction oriented, c) national development, d) social infrastructure empowerment, e) qualified independent culture, f) good condition for tolerance, consensus, and diversity, g) integrated horizontal and vertical planning, h) learner centered, i) multi-cultural education, and j) education according to global perspective (castetter, 1991; 316). [ 108 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the effect of human capital investment on income salary or income of a person is decreasing according to his age in every sector. in the future, human will be more productive and skillful, and will be paid based on his capacity. meanwhile, those who are unskillful will only become marginal spectators. education and human resource training education and training is a medium to improve working productivity which leads to better profit. the good productivity is caused by education and training, and skillful workers will be paid higher than who are unskillful. the unskillful workers will be trained by job training bureau. the training is believed to give rate and return of investment in certain period. education provided by the school is a more comprehensive human of investment. it is very time consuming, and requires high tuition in the form of opportunity cost. in this case, higher education is more able to prepare welleducated individuals to deal with working market with higher salary than those of secondary school graduate. so that, it must have better basic capital such as age and cost. human capital and family human empowerment through education cannot be separated from family economic support. better economic level tends to enable one to have better education level. further, economic level is influenced by various factors: job, parent, number of children, and education quality. hence, family has crucial role in human empowerment. qualified human resource as education investment rate of return is an approach often used in education investment research. some aspects as the result of education are income, productivity, and economic change. becker even groups the intelligence according to graduate level in three percentage groups: 18, 16, and 20% (becker, 1983). the intelligence of elementary school graduate is different from those of junior high school, while senior high school graduate is 30 % than the graduate of junior high school. this result is reflected from prosperous level according to education investment level and qualified human resource. education investment leads to the improvement of qualified human resource supply, and it requires qualified academic staff. [ 109 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 academic staff is a determinant component in empowering human resource according to national education system1. his professional capability and performance will contribute not only to quality of graduate (output) but also the performance of the graduate (outcomes). many studies and research show the central position of academic staff in every educational institution. castetter stated that staff development is closely related to institusional change, so that education development qualitatively related to the quality of academic staff (castetter, 1981; 316). meanwhile, the managerial function of education is to design, implement, and evaluate teaching and learning result holistically. it is associated with the planning made by academic staff since it is a milestone to get good result, and constitutes one of determinant factors of the success of learning. besides, planning is one of fundamental managerial functions. therefore, good education management changes bad situation into good condition, and on the contrary, bad education management turns good condition into bad situation (uwes, sanusi, 1999). academic staff management is also known as personal management, personal administration, and human resource administration. it is a part of human resource development and a core of administration and management of education. next, the role of human resource in the process of education is very important because the productivity of education depends so much on its contribution thought its function and activity. human resource is basically a description of education management or administration in an interrelated sequence of functions. morphet et al. identify the functions in following processes: human resourches planning, compensation, recruitment, selection, induction, appraisal, development, maintaining and improving performance, security, union relation, and information. meanwhile, randall mentions the functions as follows: planning, staffing, appraising, compencation, and training (randall, 1987; 29). methods this was a descriptive qualitative research, and aimed to depict the role of higher education in developing human resource based on facts found in the research field (lexy j moeleong, 2001), a multi cases study at universitas pesantren darul ulum jombang. moreover, this research exposed the reality of the role of higher education in developing human resource, and was conducted at universitas pesantren tinggi darul ulum jombang. 1 (pp. no. 38, 1992) [ 110 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 meanwhile, its research subject was the foundation of pesantren tinggi darul ulum (yapetidar) and darul ulum, rector, vice rector, dean, vice dean, departments of the university, general chief of the foundation, caretaker assembly, chief of bureau and unit, head master, vice head master, teacher, and staff. next, the data of the research was collected through interview, observation, and document review. then the data were analyzed using interactive model data analysis: data collection, data reduction, data display, verification or conclusion drawing. to assure the trustworthiness, the researcher conducted triangulation and focus group discussion (fgd). the profile unipdu is the abbreviation of universitas pesantren tinggi darul ulum. it is one of accredited private universities; its level of accreditation is b. it was established in jombang, west java in 2001 by a charismatic islamic scholar, k.h. muh. as’ad umar who is also known as an islamic nationalist. even it was built inside the pesantren, it is not only good at religious knowledge but also scientific studies. it has reached many achievements in the field of education, research, and community service. the student of faculty of science and mathematics of unipdu once became a finalist in pekan ilmiah mahasiswa nasional (pimnas). the organization structure of the university is rector, prof. dr. h. ahmad zahro, m.a., vice rector i, ahmad zakaria, s.k.m., m.kes., vice rector ii, dr. dr. zulfikar as’ad, m.m.r., and vice rector iii, m. imsin al mustofa, s.e., m.p. at present, unipdu possesses a hospital “rs unipdu medika” inaugurated by vice president of indonesia, drs. h. muhammad jusuf kalla in september 2007. it proves that unipdu concerns people health. even, former rector of unipdu, prof. dr. h. ahmad zahro, m.a., stated that the campus will have faculty of medicine. besides, pondok pesantren darul ulum consists of islamic and public elementary, secondary, and tertiary level of education. discussion this research focuses on a) “how does unipdu face the future?” and b) “what is the role of unipdu in developing human resource?” unipdu is a center of human resource development. this is shown by its program of community service in which it helps schools around the campus to manage their curriculum, students’ activity, learning facility, and achieves. as the result, the schools under the authority of the foundation of pesantren [ 111 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 darul ulum become role model of other schools. this is in line with rifa’i’s statement: the role of higher education in developing human resource is a center of creativity to face the future according to the sense of purpose, sense of mission, and sense of commitment (rifa`i, 1986). therefore, unipdu forms several centers of study: center of qur’anic study, center of language, center of computer technology and internet, and center of asean study. furthermore, it also actively participates in international forums such as association youth interfaith camp, and is one of 20 asian leading universities. the role of unipdu in developing human resource through caturdarma perguruan tinggi: 1) education and instruction, 2) research, 3) community service, and 4) islamic study. the university involves the nuance of pesantren in instructional activity. it has 2 diploma/d3, 11 undergraduate/s1, and 1 postgraduate/s2 programs which are accredited by badan akreditasi nasional perguruan tinggi (ban-pt) or national accreditation board for higher education: 1) faculty of islamic studies, department of islamic education, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘b’); department of islamic elementary teacher training, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘b’); and department of ahwal asy-syakhsiyah undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘b’); 2) faculty of technique, department of information system, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’); 3) faculty of administration science, department of commerce administration, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’); faculty of language and letters, department of english letters, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’), department of japanese language, diploma/d3 program (accreditation ‘b’), and department of english education undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’), and 4) faculty of medicine, department of nursery undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘b’), department of midwifery diploma/d3 program (accreditation ‘b’), and department of nursery diploma/d3 program (accreditation ‘b’); 5) faculty of natural science and mathematics, department of mathematic education, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’); department of mathematics, undergraduate/s1 program (accreditation ‘c’); and 6) graduate program of islamic education (accreditation ‘b’). next, unipdu has 6 lecturers having master degree, and some lecturers with ph.d. degree. this in line with castetter’s statement: staff development is closely related to institusional change so that the development of education qualitatively related with the quality of the academicians (castetter, 1981; 316). academic and non-academic activities of the university is according to standard operating procedure (sop) such as lecturing activity, community [ 112 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 service, research, scientific paper writing (guideline of script and thesis), and financial management. those activities are under the supervisory of quality insurance unit. meanwhile, in promoting human resource the campus holds following workshops: workshop of performance, lesson plan design, and field trip. besides, it also cooperates with other institutions and individuals based on the sense of brotherhood and tolerance. in order to maintain the health of its all members, the university conducts several programs: a) gymnastics, b) health guidance, c) maintenance of environment cleanliness, and d) lunch gathering. for the financial transparency, it uses networking application. further, it gives reward for good performing staffs, and provides training to teachers of public and islamic elementary and secondary schools. it also provides 25% scholarship for teacher who has working at the institution for 5 years and 50% for those who has working for 10 years. this is in accordance with kepmendiknas no. 13 year of 2007 which states that the academic degree standard of headmaster is master degree/s2 (permendiknas, 2007). moreover, unipdu develops students competence through workshops based on the concept of tafaqquh fiddien. it means that the graduates of the university will have professional competence and behave according to islamic teachings so that they can manage to get suitable job and position. besides, such a competition is required by companies as the user of the graduates. further, as a pesantren based university, unipdu provides higher education as comprehensive human investment. even it requires students to pay tuition as opportunity cost, yet when working, its graduates will be paid higher than those of elementary or secondary school. the research focus of the university is on science and technology development, and is conducted according to the principles of cooperation, way of thinking, active and creative work, and sustainable contribution. the campus provides research funds, 5 million rupiahs for beginner, and 40 million rupiahs for intermediate researcher and 100 million rupiahs for advance researcher. meanwhile, community service program conducted by the university is based on islamic studies therefore it can be accepted well by the people such as the program of youngster counseling, imam training, quranic learning center management, al-qur’an recitation training, and so forth. the community service program is intended to create agent of change to achieve short, middle, and long term goals. therefore, it is implemented based on the principle of community development or social design aimed at enabling people to be independent. it includes religious guidance or da’wa and entrepreneurship. the fourth dharma is having qur’anic recitation at 12.00 a.m. after zhuhr [ 113 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 prayer and delivering islamic speech. the function and role of caturdarma perguruan tinggi of the campus are interrelated. if one of them is missing it will be less qualified. thus, all members of the university must actively participate in improving academic quality of the campus. the function and role of higher education is to guarantee the students’ quality in order to satisfy the stake holder. to assure the quality of lecturing performance, the university involves students to audit and assess lecturers’ performance when teaching. this assessment is used to identify teaching weaknesses and then find its solution. usually the assessment is objective for students experience instructional process so that they can give their real opinion about the process; whether or not it is satisfied. conclusion unipdu (universitas pesantren tinggi darul ulum) as a higher education constitutes a center of creativity which is expected to prepare students to face the future by contributing in intellectual and social development based on following senses: sense of purpose, sense of mission, and sense of commitment. the role of unipdu in developing human resource is by creating independent and innovative change designers and pushers who have good behavior according to akhlaqul karimah. hence, the campus implements the fourth darma: pesantren based islamic studies. bibliography becker, s. garry. 1983. human resources development: a theoretical and empirical analysis with special references to education. bukhori,1989. pendidikan islam di indonesia; problem masa kini dan prspektif masa depan, dalam islam indonesia menatap masa depan. jakarta: p3m. castetter, william b. 1981. the personnel function in educational administration. new york: mac. millanpublishing co. fadjar, a. malik. 2001. paradigma pendidikan islam menuju masyarakat madani”. mimbar kampus, jurnal pendidikan dan agama. bogor” stai laa roiba, geertz, c. 1981. .abangan, santri, priyayi dalam masyarakat jawa. jakarta: rujukan jaya. hasan, n. 1988. karakter dan fungsi pesantren. dalam dinamika pesantren. jakarta: p3m. [ 114 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 jalal, fasli & dedi supriadi. 2001. reformasi pendidikan dalam konteks otonomi daerah. yogyakarta: depdiknas, bappenas, adicita karya nusa. keer, c. 1982. the use of the university 93 rd ed). cambridge: massachusetts: harvard university press. peraturan menteri pendidikan nasional no. 13 tahun 2007 tentang standar kepala sekolah. moleong, lexy j., 2001 metodologi penelitian kualitatif, bandung; pt remaja rosdakarya, pusposutardjo, suprodjo. kebijakan pengembangan pendidikan tinggi di era kehidupan mendunia. jakarta: depdiknas. raharjo, md, 1983. pergulatan duniapesantren, membangun dari bawah, jakarta: p3m. schuler, randall. 1987. personnel and human resourches management. st. paul usa: west publishing companny. uwes, sanusi. 1999. manajemen pengembangan mutu dosen. jakarta: logos. wahid, 2001, bunga rampai pesantren, jakarta,darma bakti. zuhairini, 1995. sejarah pendidikan islam di indonesia, proyek pembinaan prasarana dan sarana perguruan tinggi agama islam/ iain [ 157 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 islamic manuscripts of meranaw muslims in mindanao: an inquiry of the richness of the intellectual heritage1 labi hadji sarip riwarung chairman folklore division, mamitua saber research center, mindanao state university email: labiriwarung@yahoo.com abstract this inquiry on the islamic manuscripts intends to illuminate the rich artistic and intellectual writing traditions of the meranaw muslims in the philippines. these meranaw manuscripts play an important role in guiding people’s lives as a source of religious knowledge that reflects people’s thoughts and aspirations. moreover, these manuscripts are additionally an important source of knowledge in understanding people’s culture, history, and relationships with other nations, such as malaysia, indonesia, saudi arabia, brunei, and more. these manuscripts are handwritten in arabic script called batang a arab or in jawi or kirim. some of these manuscripts are the handwritten qur’an, kisas (islamic stories), prayer scrolls, medicinal manuscripts or mga bolongs, book of kakasi (book of charms), and the ilmo extreme unction and other islamic manuscripts of importance to the meranaw. there are also islamic manuscripts that are written in stencil and printed like the parokonan, the introductory guide to prayer, alipalipan ( a book for beginners of the arabic alphabet), mawlid/ barsindi (the devotional song about prophet muhammad (p.u.h)), taabir mimpi (the book of prophecy), qira’a, sarf, and tajwid. to the meranaws, manuscripts are family belongings with great personal value. they are a family treasure handed down from generation to generation and strictly guarded with great care. families cover the manuscripts with cloth or skin of an animal for protection and lock them in a chest so 1 this paper is based on the research undertaken by the researcher in the different archival libraries that were mentioned earlier. it is also based on the paper that i presented in the 2019 majlis ilmu in brunei darussalam. it is supplemented by interviews with ustadz, imam, and other individuals knowledgeable in islam. i would like to express my thanks and gratitude to the following: to the msu system president habib w.macaayong, dpa, vice-chancellor for research, extension and development, dr. cesar de la seῆa, and director of research dr. fema m. abamo for allowing me to attend this conference of seminar majelis ilmu in which i got some valuable comments for the paper. to dr. eugene torres, assistant dean of the college of social sciences, who patiently edited my paper. to prof. midori kawashima, my project collaborator in studying islamic manuscript. to the custodian of the different archival library. to the ulama, ustadj, and imam whom i interviewed, especially to my uncle, aleem abdullah abubacar, for explaining to me the meaning of some of the kitabs. to the conference organizers and convener for inviting me to present a paper, thanks to all of you. allah bless us all. to the three professors of the mindanaao state university: prof. adam acmad, prof. tirmizy abdullah. and prof. shaha dianalan mustapha thank you for the peer review of this paper. [ 158 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 that they will be accessed only by their family. this research paper presents the islamic manuscript of the meranaw, describes its characteristics and contents to explain the tremendous value to the meranaw society, hence the richness of the archival libraries mentioned. keywords: islamic manuscript; meranaw; mindanao; intellectual heritage. introduction meranaw refers to the people inhabiting the lake lanao area, in the island of mindanao in the southern part of the philippines. meranaw, as the people are called, is also the name of the language that they speak. they are one of the largest among the thirteen muslim ethno-linguistic groups in the country, with an estimated population of 1,142,000 (1.2% of the philippine population). historically, the meranaw were the last major philippine group to embrace islam in the late 14th century, and the most successful in resisting the spaniards. they are sunni muslims, with evidence of minor shiite and sufi influence. there are also a considerable number of shia in the province of lanao del sur and part of lanao del norte (mackaughan, 1996). the meranaw have an important writing tradition indicated by the existence of numerous prized handwritten manuscripts found within the community. as other handwritten manuscript found in the history of human life, the meranaw manuscripts are very unique. it is also understood that almost every manuscript carries a different sense of heritage within (sintang et.al., 2020). the meranaw manuscripts are also different from the manuscripts of other ethnic groups in the philippines. these manuscripts refer to those materials written by hand in the arabic, malay, and meranaw languages using arabicbased script such as batang a arab (arabic alphabet), jawi, and kirim (system of writing of the meranaw using the arabic alphabet because there are classical meranaw that cannot be translated to arabic). lack of studies have been published on these collections of the manuscript. this paper intends to provide a close look into the collections of the manuscript in which intellectual heritage of muslim meranaw is being the focus of the analysis. this article is based on a research project that describes the contents and characteristics of the islamic manuscripts of the meranaw found in the archival materials of guro sa masiu in taraka, lanao del sur, the collection of sheik muhammad said bin imam sa bayang at the al-imam as-sadiq (a.s.) library barangay biaba, marawi city, the collection of kamilol islam society, [ 159 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 mapandi, marawi city, and the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center at dansalan college in marawi city. hence, these archival materials enhance our understanding of islamic civilization, reaffirming its richness. meranaw islamic manuscripts the study of islamic manuscripts is very important in the history of the people and society, including its relationship with neighboring countries (mahrus et.al., 2020; rahmi et.al., 2020). meranaw manuscripts are precious gems and important cultural heritage of mindanao people to be preserved for future generations. these manuscripts are an important source of knowledge in understanding their culture, history and their relationship with other countries such as malay, indonesia, saudi arabia, brunei, and other islamic countries. manuscripts also guide the development of their lives as well as their communities both for the present and incoming generations. they are a treasure of the family that cannot be bought by money because they are works of their forefathers, which are irreplaceable. some of the most important islamic manuscripts of the meranaw which are covered in this study include the handwritten of the quran, prayer scroll, ilmo (manuscripts for extreme unction), bolong (medicinal manuscript), book of kakasi (the book of charms), mawlid (barsindi), and taabir mimpi (book of prophesy). those manuscripts carry religious and cultural insights of the people of the meranaw muslims in mindanao. this study tries to explore intellectual heritage covered by those collections of islamic manuscripts and each’s detailed content where readers can understand the text and context of the collections in relation to the basis of community in which they are produced. this article also provides the detail of each manuscript to better understand the root of the intellectual claims contained within. islamic manuscripts as the source of intelectual heritage to understand the intellectual properties of a manuscript, looking closely to the formal objects being discussed within the thorough detail of the manuscript is the required first step (patmawati & wahida, 2018). and manuscripts also carry important materials that become human heritages as they are originated from human cultures (amin, 2014; syarif, 2020). in the following session i intend to provide explanations for eight important manuscripts from the meranaw muslim collection in mindanao. [ 160 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 1. handwritten qur’an. the qur’an is very much respected by the meranaw because they believe that it is the word of allah and believe in the barakah of the qur’an. according to hadji amer guro sa masiu2, large copies of printed qur’an were brought to the people of lanao in the past. there used to be four handwritten qur’an in lanao, one in each pengampong (riwarung, 2012).3 they are mokadam for the unayan pengampong; maradika for the masiu pengampong; dibolodan for the bayabao pengampong; and kiraat for the baloi pengampong. one of these handwritten qur’ans is owned by guro sa masiu in the municipality of taraka, lanao del sur. this qur’an was written by maayod (riwarung, 2012a)4, the second guro sa masiu. maayod copied the text of the qur’an from another qur’an manuscript, written by abdul carim tuan si sa balabagan. the scriptorium in copying the qur’an was in wato lombayao, because he was married to a lady from lombayao while writing the manuscript. this handwritten manuscript is part of the cultural heritage of the descendants of guro sa masiu. whoever gets enthroned with the title of guro sa masiu, will be entrusted as the new custodian of the manuscript set. the manuscript is estimated to be more than one hundred years old, based according to estimates from muhammad amer guro sa masiu, the fifth guro sa masiu. the qur’an is 28.8 cm long and 18.7 cm wide. the number of pages is approximately 870 with 13 lines per page. two types of paper are used the first 710 pages are made from karatas a probinsiya (provincial paper) and the remainder is made from locally produced paper. the paper used has no watermarks. the qur’an is bound by thread though some papers have fallen apart. there are illuminated pages that use black and red ink. another handwritten qur’an manuscript is the qur’an of bacong, marantao, named dibolodan. according to tirmizy abdullah (2012),5 dibolodan was the name given to the qur’an by the community, which implies that it is recognized by the people in the area. before the marawi siege, the qur’an is kept under the custody of the former bai a labi sa bacong,faridah tanggo abdullah. in the 2 guro sa masiu, the fifth guro sa masiu, the custodian of guro sa masiu archival materials. he is 74 years old and an arabic teacher in taraka, lanao del sur. 3 pengampong is the social unit in the traditional ruling system in lanao, consisting of four geographical areas, each of which is governed by four dynastic family. see labi riwarung (2012: 29). 4 maayod, the second guro sa masiu who scribed the qur’an of guro sa masiu. see labi riwarung (2012a: 29). 5 tirmizy e. abdullah. “dibolodan: the qur’an of bacong, marantao,” in midori kawashima(ed). “the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao,monograph series no.10 (tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university, 2012), pp.27-28. [ 161 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 olden times, the qur’an dibolodan was used to settle disputes over land, both in bacong and in other communities. whichever of the conflicting parties swore in the qur’an that their claim is true then, they assume the ownership of the land. however, if that person is lying, and he swore in the dibolodan qur’an, it is expected that person will receive the curse of the qur’an. people believed in the barakah that the qur’an possesses (institute of asian, african and midle eastern studies, 2019). the third handwritten qur’an is the maradika, the qur’an of bayang. the term maradika is a meranaw word meaing freedom. midori kawashima (2012)6 undertakes research on this qur’an. based on her research, the qur’an is written by sayyidna, an islamic ulama in lanao who studied in mecca for seven years. sayyidna was popularly known as hajj sa binidayan, a municipality in the province of lanao del sur. the qur’an does not indicate the date it was written, but according to alim usman imam (kawasima, 2011a)7, it is between the 18th century and the 19th century. it is also said to have been copied by hajj muhammad sayyid, or sayyidna, during his sojourn at palembang on his journey home. the paper used in the qur’an is european and in relatively good condition, though some parts are brittle. kawashima (2012a) also mentioned that most of the pages are intact. the watermarks found on most of the pages, include fleur-de-lis, the inscription pro patria, and the words c & i honig zoonen (riwarung, 2012).8 the cover is made of same type of paper that is used for the main text. the illuminated pages use black and red ink. gold powder is also used in some of the illuminations. the maradika qur’an was confiscated as a triumph trophy of the victory of the soldiers during the battle of bayang, occurring may second and third1902, when the people of bayang and other meranaw datus in the nearby municipalities in the lanao del sur province joined and fought the invading american forces headed by col. frank d. baldwin. however, this qur’an was returned to the philippines and its photocopy is now preserved at the national museum of the philippines. please refer to figure 3 for the picture of the qurán of bayang. aside from the aforementioned handwritten qur’an there are also other qur’an that have not been researched yet. guro sa masiu made mention of the 6 midori kawashima, “maradika: the qur’an of bayang,”in midori kawashima(ed). “the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao,monograph series no.10 (tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university, 2012), pp.5-17. 7 alim usman imam. the informant in the qur’an of bayang. he is a direct descendant of sayyidna. see kawashima p. 6 8 labi hadji sarip riwarung.” the qur’an and prayer scroll of guro sa masiu”.in kawashima(ed). “the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao, monograph series no.10 (tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university, 2012), pp.29-31. [ 162 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 qur’an named istanbul which is under the custody of the family of makalawan. the dunam, stanbul, makasiran, and lokusamama. kawashima (2011) made mention of a printed qur’an named “ganassi” which sayyidna presented to his wife bai sa ganassi. aside from those aforementioned qur’ans, there is also the qur’an of sheik ahmad basher, a famous ulama in the province of lanao del sur. he is a graduate of madrasa saulatiya in mecca, saudi arabia. he led an islamic reformist movement and founded the madrasah majlis alshura islamic school, run by the council of the agama society. the school uses arabic as the medium of instruction. it also uses the same curriculum and textbooks of islamic schools in the middle east. manuscripts of sheik ahmad basher are housed at the school named jamiatu muslim mindanao, founded by sheik ahmed basher. 2. prayer scroll. this islamic manuscript is in the archival materials of guro sa masiu hadji muhammad amer in the municipality of taraka, lanao del sur. the scroll contains an elaborate illustration of a building, flagpole, parasol bird and seven layers of umbrella pole with a bird atop. it depicts the different layers of the places in paradise. the other side depicts the mythical serpent dragon (monkar), a creature associated with the day of judgment. this is rolled and placed in a bamboo tube, so that it is well preserved. please, refer to figure 4. 3. kissa or the islamic stories. these islamic stories are important to the meranaws because the manuscripts can be an important source of knowledge in understanding their culture, islamic history, and their relationship with the other parts of the world such as malaysia, indonesia, brunie darussalam and the middle east (fathurahman at.al., 2019). one very popular kissa among the meranaws is the baraperangan (kawashima, 2012).9 this is an arabic story about the martyrdom of amir husain, the son of fatima (peace be upon her), the daughter of prophet muhammad saw, and ali (r.a.). this islamic story was translated into meranaw by ustadaj abdulhalim pengginagina amboloto and guro alim sa bayang. this is a printed manuscript, but i included it because the two ulamas copied them from the original context. baraperangan means fighting in the path of allah. this manuscript enhances our understanding of islamic thoughts, teaching the value of struggle in the path of allah. it also teaches 9 kawashima, m. (2012). “baraperangan: a commentary with excerpts, in midori kawashima(ed)a catalogue of the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center, monograph series no. 6. pp. 65-85. [ 163 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 the concept of social order. this refers to the rewards given to those who fight in the path of allah. this motivates them to propagate the importance of defending the muslim community against outside aggression. another popular kissa of the meranaw is ama i sumpa (riwarung, 2012)10, or the father of beard (abu lihiya). this became popular among the meranaw, the maguindanaon, and the tausug in the 1970s. the story was translated by sheik guro a alam. he purchased the story from mecca when he was assigned by the philippines pilgrimage authority as a member of an advance party in order to make arrangement for the accommodation of philippine pilgrims. while waiting for the philippine pilgrims, he usually bought some stories in a store near masjid al-haram, including this one. on their way home to the philippines on a boat named lydia, guro a alam narrated the kissa in three different language: maguindanao, meranaw and tausog. hence, the kissa become popular. the kamilol islam society or the ma’ahad kamilul islam, were publishing a series of kissa in meranaw at that time. their objective in publishing islamic stories is to provide the muslim masses with books that were easy to understand and entertaining. it also aims to instill islamic values and in their readers’ minds. moreover, reading and listening to the kissa of ama i sumpa develops a good moral character in people, that would serve as model from which the maranaw could learn. another popular islamic story is the samer, popularized by aleem kunug pumbaya. he translated the islamic story of joha to the meranaw version called samer. there were around 33 titles and 220 volumes of these islamic stories at the gowing memorial research center in marawi city but many were destroyed during the marawi siege. there are also other collections of kissa owned by private individuals. all these islamic stories teach moral lessons both to the leaders and the people. these also teach the value of education and patience. 4. ilmo or manuscripts for extreme unction. in the olden times, there were only few ulama or educated persons in islamic teachings. thus, people were very eager to pay a visit when they heard the arrival of an ulama in a certain place. it is because meranaw are very much concerned about life after death. this manuscript about dying is extremely private, and the owner takes extra care to ensure it is studied appropriately 10 riwarung, l.h.s. (2012) “ama i sumpa: the background and synopsis, in midori kawashima(ed). a catalogue of the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center, monograph series no. 6. pp. 53-64. [ 164 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 by those who interact with it. this is the one they would search for when an ulama or learned person in islam has arrived from mecca. the ilmo contains the text of the words they want to utter at the last breath of a person. when the ulama is asked to impart this ilmo to a certain individual, they must look for most auspicious day. this is usually done at night, when people, dogs, and cats alike are asleep. they will pull down mosquito net so that there will be no distraction. the guro can properly impart the knowledge to the learner. 5. bolong or medicinal manuscript. according to the meranaw, there are people who are possessed by an evil spirit and cannot be cured with medicines only. there are manuscripts that need to be recited to drive away evil spirits. an example is the manuscript that drive away rats so that rice fields will not be infected with rats. the practice as indicated by the manuscript is commonly found with the meranaw. 6. book of kakasi or the book of charms this refers to a manuscript of becoming charming and lovable to the people. 7. mawlid or barsindi. there is handwritten mawlid manuscript copy and there are also some printed copy. this refers to the manuscript that guided the chanter of dikir during the birthdate of prophet muhammad (s.a.w). this is a literary form of the kitab mawlid or homage. 8. taabir mimpi or book of prophesy this is a collection of knowledge regarding the interpretation of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, lunar eclipses, good days, bad days for travelling, good colors for certain occasions, names of animals assigned to the days of the week and each month in the traditional meranaw calendar, names to be given to the newly born babies, prophecy on the meaning of dream, and others. the meranaw use this manuscript when somebody is going to be married, building a house and enthronement ceremony. taabir mimpi is consulted for the best and lucky day. they always aim for the best, by the grace of allah. this is owned by hadji muhammad sarip. he reproduced it by stencil and printed it in mimeographing machine owned by sheik abdulgani, one of the guro in kamilol islam society. all the other manuscripts such as the alipalipan, parokonan, qira’a, sarf, and tajwid are intended for the education [ 165 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 of the meranaw. characteristics of the manuscript scholars agreed to the notion that manuscripts have their own characteristics including character of writing, pattern, model, tendency and art (asna, 2019; amin, 2014). in the olden times, meranaw had no system of writing, and why the meranaw epic called darangen has not been transcribed. when islam was introduced in mindanao in the first quarter of the 16th century, the meranaw learned the arabic script (riwarung, 2017; churchill and borrinaga, 2017; kawashima, 2011). the meranaw have a style of writing called kirim, patterned after the arabic alphabet or the batang a arab. they use the kirim in writing meranaw stories and cultural manuscripts. for the islamic manuscript the system of writing is the batang a arab. the common characteristics of islamic manuscripts are written in jawi or batang a arab. the meranaw manuscripts use the meranaw language and the islamic manuscripts use arabic and malay languages but translated into meranaw language. important manuscripts are covered with yellow cloth (sometimes in layers or the skin of an animal), and kept in a kaban (chest) and locked. they cannot be accessed without the permission of the owner or his authorized person. to assure the owner that the contents of the manuscripts are kept confidential, the pages of the manuscripts are purposely disarranged to confuse the reader. furthermore, the owner uses also a non-grammatical language which they call as balig. thus, it cannot be understood without the guidance of the owner. some of the manuscripts, especially the islamic stories originated from saudi arabia or in other malay countries, are translated to meranaw language so that it will be easily understood by the masses. this implies that muslim countries are related to each other in terms of religion specially on islamic manuscripts. every person wants to documents in good condition, enjoying a good life in this universe with a long life. that is why islamic manuscripts are kept in excellent care by the owner (riwarung, 2019). conclusion based on the data presented, the meranaw in mindanao in the southern part of the philippines have rich cultural and islamic history that is reflected in their written manuscripts. they are original manuscript, though some of them have not been translated yet (many of which were from saudi arabia and other islamic countries). they are primary sources of information that reveal the history of a certain society. hence, they are handed down from [ 166 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 generation to generation. islamic manuscripts mirror the past, and are important sources for the history of mindanao and its relation to the other islamic countries. the owner guarded them jealousy because they are the work of their ancestors which are irreplaceable. they value it very much because it marks the islamic civilization of the people in mindanao. this is shown in the archival materials of the mentioned libraries in the province of lanao del sur and marawi city. islamic manuscripts of the meranaw are rich because they cover all aspects of life from childhood up to the day of their last breath. i recommend that further studies on islamic manuscripts should be undertaken. bibliography abdullah, t. e. (2012). dibolodan: the qur’an of bacong, marantao. in midori kawashima(ed). the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao. monograph series no.10. tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university. p. 27-28. amin, f. (2014). religion and heritage: the islamic manuscript of the quran by abdurrahman husin fallugah (w.2010). al-albab, 3(2). doi:https:// doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v3i2.766 asna, h. (2019). characteristics of the qur’anic manuscript from menoreh magelang. wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya, 4(2), 202-213. doi:https://doi.org/10.15575/jw.v4i2.5957 churchill, b. r. and borrinaga, r. (2017). mindanao history in the context of national history. the journal of history. quezon city: philippine national historical society, inc.vol.lxiiijanuary-december 2017. fathurahman, o. (et.al). (2019). the library of an islamic scholar of mindanao: the collection of sheik muhammad said bun imam sa bayang at the al-imam as-sadiq (a.s.) library, marawi city, philippines: an annotated catalogue with essays. tokyo: institute of asian, african, and middle eastern studies, sophia university, occasional papers no.27. institute of asian, african and midle eastern studies. (2019). annotated catalogue with essays: occasional papers no. 27. tokyo: sophia university, kawashima, m. (2011). a catalogue of the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center. monograph series no. 6. tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university, 2011. --------. (2011a). baraperangan: a commentary with excerpts. in midori [ 167 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 kawashima (ed.). a catalogue of the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center. monograph series no.6. tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university. p. 65-85. --------. (2012). the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao. monograph series no.10. tokyo: institute of asian culture, sophia university. --------. (2012a). maradika: the qur’an of bayang, in midori kawashima (ed). the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao, monograph series no.10. tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university. p. 5-17. mackaughan, h. p. and macaraya, b. (1996). a maranao dictionary. manila: de la salle university press. mahrus, e., prasojo, z., & busro, b. (2020). messages of religious moderation education in sambas islamic manuscripts. madania: jurnal kajian keislaman, 24(1), 39 48. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.29300/madania. v24i1.3283 patmawati, p., & wahida, b. (2018). the concept of tawheed of buginese people in the ancient manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo of west kalimantan. al-albab, 7(2), 177-186. rahmi, h., patmawati, p., & riwarung, l. (2020). modern religious counseling model in the ancient manuscript of lontara attorioloang ri wajo. al-albab, 9(2), 199-216. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v9i2.1846 riwarung, l. h. s. (2012). the qur’an and prayer scroll of guro sa masiu. in midori kawashima (ed). the qur’an and islamic manuscripts of mindanao. monograph series no.10. tokyo: institute of asian cultures, sophia university. p. 29-31. -------. (2012a). ama i sumpa: the background and synopsis, in midori kawashima(ed). a catalogue of the maisie van vactor collection of maranao materials in the arabic script at the gowing memorial research center. monograph series no.6. p. 53-64. --------. (2017). the meranao manuscripts: their contents and characteristics. in churchill, b. r. and borrinaga, r. (ed). the journal of history: mindanao history in the context of national history. vol. lxiii. p. 86108. --------. (2019). local materials used by the maranaws for writing and storing manuscripts. in fathurahman, o. (et.al). (2019). the library of an islamic scholar of mindanao: the collection of sheik muhammad said [ 168 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 bun imam sa bayang at the al-imam as-sadiq (a.s.) library, marawi city, philippines: an annotated catalogue with essays. tokyo: institute of asian, african, and middle eastern studies, sophia university, occasional papers no. 27. sintang, s., onga, r., lukin, s., & idris, a. (2020). the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript. al-albab, 9(1), 55 68. doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 syarif, s. (2020). the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan. al-albab, 9(1), 123 140. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/ alalbab.v9i1.1563 [ 169 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 attachments of pictures: picture 1 showing the qurán of guro sa masiu of taraka, lanao del sur and the other side is the surah al-fatiha of the qurán of guro sa masiu. picture 2 showing the qurán dibolodan. picture was taken from the article of dr. tirmizy abdullah. [ 170 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 picture 3: the qurán of bayang. the collection of the author taken at the national museum of the philippines during her trip to manila, november 20, 2019. picture 4: prayer scroll of guro sa masiu, copied from my article in sophia journal [ 171 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.2010 picture 5: some other manuscript of guro sa masiu with the bamboo tube were the manuscript were kept for them to preserved. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 55 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang centre for the promotion of knowledge and language, universiti malaysia sabah, malaysia email: surayasin12@gmail.com rosdiana onga centre for the promotion of knowledge and language, universiti malaysia sabah, malaysia email: rosdianao@yahoo.com.my siti aidah hj lukin centre for the promotion of knowledge and language, universiti malaysia sabah, malaysia email: sitiaidah@ums.edu.my asmady idris faculty of humanity, art and heritage, universiti malaysia sabah, malaysia email: asmady@ums.edu.my abstract borneo island is the third largest island in the world, rich in natural resources, biodiversity and cultural diversity. the uniqueness of borneo is that it is home to three countries; malaysia, indonesia and brunei darussalam, each with their own valuable cultural heritage. one of the unique aspects of the borneo archipelago is the shared wealth of civilizations derived from the dissemination of islam. treasures known as the “borneo islamic heritage” are not only valuable as cultural artefacts that need to be preserved, but they can also be elevated and commercialised as regional economic drivers. this paper discusses the idahan manuscript written in jawi script as one of the treasures of islamic intellectual legacy in borneo. the method of study is based on content analysis which depicts the descriptive history of the discovery of the idahan jawi manuscript. this manuscript not only serves as evidence of the early embrace of islam in sabah, but also as a reference to matters pertaining to religion and the laws of islamic jurisprudence. this factor leads the idahan community be considered as the first native people embracing islam at the east coast of sabah. the contribution of this study is to enhance understanding of the development of islamic heritage in borneo island and to inculcate the spirit of solidarity among the people living in the region. keywords: islamic; heritage; idahan; borneo; idahan; jawi; writing. [ 56 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 introduction efforts to preserve the borneo islamic heritage have arguably only been of recent concern in academic discourse. with regards to the studies on borneo, there have been several researches conducted since the 1940s by western scholars, especially anthropologists and have been mostly concentrated in sarawak. king et al. (2017) argued that the study of borneo can be early traced from the research findings on iban carried out by george n. appell and this could provide the basis for a borneo-wide arrangement of research. the survey proceeds from ethnographic studies which have been conducted since the 1960s-1970s involving several ethnic surveys in kalimantan (conley, 1976), brunei (brown, 1970), sabah (apell, 1960) and sarawak (conley, 1973). the 1980s study focused more on policy development issues carried out by local researchers, while research in the 1990s focused on cultural issues and identities involving various themes and disciplines. the research on borneo has become more specialized through the study of islam in sabah when the early spread of islam at the eastern coast of sabah has been traceable back to 1408m (johari, 1998; mokhtar, 1988; muhiddin, 1990; jamdin, 2003; suraya, 2018). brunei played an important role in promoting the spread of islam in borneo particularly sarawak which link to the brunei sultanate’s entry around 1500m and the islands of maluku (al-sufri et al., 2001; ibrahim, 1998) . based on this premise, it can be said that the early studies of borneo’s heritage have been of particular interest to western researchers, especially to those involved in socio-cultural studies conducted through ethnographic approaches. the tendency of western researchers to carry out research in borneo is due to the apparent lack of exploration of the island with its uniquely diverse culture emanating from malaysia, indonesia and brunei. although the study of borneo has long been discussed from various socio-cultural perspectives (and it has been a trend for local researchers to attempt to explain the development of islam in sabah and sarawak), the current study does not emphasize the historical anecdotes of borneo islamic heritage as a bond of cultural unity among the three countries in the malay archipelago. instead, this paper aims to shed light on the intellectual legacy of borneo islamic heritage by focusing on the idahan jawi manuscript, a relic which provides evidence of the origins of islam specifically in sabah. the borneo islamic heritage the borneo islamic heritage is a historical legacy that seeks to highlight the privilege this island possess. beside having this kind of advantage, the island has also been known for several aspects such as the value of harmony in diversity, various local wisdoms and muslim-friendly tourism-oriented [ 57 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 economic potential. for the purpose of writing this paper, the focus of the discussion is on specific aspects of history highlighted through the idahan jawi manuscript. this manuscript was selected on the basis that it is written proof of the early founding of islam in sabah and one of the most valuable treasures from the borneo islands. the presence of this manuscript belonging to one of the idahan community members in lahad datu also indicates their traditonal expertise in in the field of jawi writing. the borneo archipelago is less prominent than it used to be despite its unique privileges. borneo is one part of the malay archipelago that embraced islam without war, but rather as a result of trade activity and inter-marriage (hamka, 2016; arnold, 2012). compared to other regions, such as the continents of south asia, central asia, africa and europe or the western world in general, the advent of islam faced many obstacles and challenges that led to war to defend the purity of the religion and also to liberate humanity from any form of slavery. arab traders and preachers were the first to spread islam in borneo. prominent arab individuals such as pu-ali (abu ali), sharif ali, sharif awliya karim al-makhdum, sheikh syamsuddin, sharif abdurrahman alkadrie (pontianak) and others (mohammad, 2011; hamka, 2016; muhiddin, 1990); ismail, 1997) are synonymous with the islamic development of the island. as a result, there is a muslim community called “malai” which arose as a result of inter-marriage within the local community, as well as through their contribution to the construction of islamic institutions such as mosques and religious schools. it is arguable that inter-marriage was a major factor in the development of islam in borneo in the past that continues to this day. however, this factor is discussed in less depth due to the lack of information and studies focussing on islam in borneo. the influence of islam in borneo can also be seen in the extent of the islamic empire under the rule of the malay sultanate of brunei, encompassing the sulu sultanate, the sultanate of sambas, the pontianak sultanate and the sultanate of banjar hole-tarakan (hamka, 2016; arnold, 2012; amin, 2014; patmawati & wahida, 2018). the presence of this sultanate that once conquered all and ruled borneo island shows that not only has islamic dominance resulted in a significant historical legacy, it has also left behind treasures of civilization that can be recognized as belonging to the world heritage. however, this empire did not prove to be known as the melaka malay sultanate, the sultanate of patani or the islamic empire in peninsular malaysia. the existence of islam in borneo was first detected in brunei, one of the oldest countries in the malay archipelago. suraya (2018) cites a number of historical studies (cesar, 1973; fatimi, 1963) which refer to records from the sung [ 58 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 dynasty stating that there was a government ruled by muslims somewhere along the west coast of sabah. this place was known as pu-ni in the 10th century. among other sources, “in 977 the pu-ni government sent pu-ali (abu ali) as envoy to china (;). some historians argue that pu-ni is another name for brunei, while others think it is located somewhere else on the west coast of borneo island. in chinese historical records, brunei is known by the names po-li, po-lo, poni or puni and bunlai, while arabic records say brunei is known by the name dzabaj or randj. archaeologically, evidence of islam’s early existence in brunei comes from the discovery of a tombstone in a cemetery located in jalan residency. on the tombstone is written the name of the deceased, makhdadra binti ali with the words, ta, mim of the hijratun of the prophet sallah allah ‘alayh wa sallah and at the time, “sultan abdul majid .... son of muhammad syahal-sultan”. based on the date on the tombstone of 440h / 1045m and the sultan’s name, it is probable that the people of brunei embraced islam earlier than the date suggested in this study (jamdin 2003). similarly, a tombstone was found at rangas cemetery, bandar seri bengawan, brunei. the inscription is written in chinese and concerns a chinese ancestor who is believed to have embraced islam and died in 1264 (the time of the south sung dynasty), called “p’u kung chih-mu”. if you look at the name “p’u” as described, it comes from the arabic word meaning abu. the use of “p’u” refers to chinese descendents who are muslim. according to his tombstone, p’u kung chih-mu is from chuan chou and this reinforces his predictions of his islam (muhammad’s intent, 2007). islamic teachings are said to have spread to the country around the seventh century through arab traders and preachers. awang alak betatar was the first king of brunei to convert to islam in 1368, when he took the title of his majesty sultan muhammad shah. he is well-known as the founder of the islamic state in brunei and borneo. the chinese trader who came to brunei later called him ma-hamo-sha. this prominent sultan died in 1402m. through the role of the brunei sultanate, islam began to spread to sabah, sarawak and kalimantan. records pertaining to the muslim, awang khalak betatar of limbang, marks the beginning of islamic development in sarawak in 1476m. the past history of sabah (north borneo) shows that the idahan (or ida’han) was first converted to islam even before the malays of malacca. based on the manuscript evidence of the ida’an tribes in madai, islam was practiced in the lahad datu area from approximately 1408, only eight years after malacca purportedly opened up in 1400 (ahmat, 2013). harrison (1971) argues that the date of islam’s arrival in west kalimantan and north kalimantan is not significantly different from ming’s record. his research is [ 59 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 based on three sources; first, the manuscript from sabah; second, tarsilah brunei and third, iban or genealogical studies. the idahan manuscript is a genealogy dedicated to abdullah, who was said to be the first convert to islam in 1408m. indeed in the tarsilah brunei as harrison argues that the brunei government had embraced islam in 1350m. according to him, the iban people began with merom pangai based on the beliefs of the iban people from western sarawak. starting from merom pangai in tusut, the line has persisted for 27 generations. the third generation of merom pangai was named abang musa, who lived in sumatra and carried his trading activites as far as brunei. this proves that brother moses lived around 1380m, a date that harisson identified as “the first significant muslim impact in brunei” based on the brunei idea and tarsilah manuscript. jawi writing in the malay archipelago and borneo jawi script was introduced from writing letters to spell words in the malay language of kawi and nagari letters then replaced with arabic letters. the word jawi is closely related to the arabs, especially in mecca amongst the malays of malaysia, indonesia and thailand. these are the adjectives attributed to the people of malay origin from java. the javanese word is derived from the arabic word al-jawah that refers to the island of sumatra, based on arabic records dating to the middle of the 14th century. this opinion is supported by ibn battuta (h.th., 617) in the first muslim voyage (1304-1377) that the jawi script may be associated with the word java, which is the result of naming the arabs as people on the island of sumatra from the malay community who use jawi writing on artifacts and in literary works (berhanundin et al., 2012). thus, the jawi script was said by the arabs to refer to the letters and spellings used by those on the muslim malay archipelago and speaking the malay language. jawi writing had been introduced by muslim missionaries to enable members of malay society to read the quran correctly as it refers to the correct malay adjustable language by using the arabic terms for certain words as well as those used in the study of various fields of science. in other words, jawi is a script introduced by arab preachers which resembles arabic writing. it is believed that the malays received instruction in jawi script directly from the arabs. the arabs began to use this text to write a new version of malay known as jawi. according to findings on the early history of jawi in terengganu, the malays are thought to have been using jawi writing in religious studies since 1303. jawi writing is a valuable addition to malay heritage. it has played an important role in the development of knowledge and specifically the malay [ 60 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 culture. various fields of knowledge, such as islamic studies, history and medicine have been written about in the malay language using jawi script. the malays highly regard jawi writing as it is a gateway to the understanding of islam and its holy book, the quran. the uses of jawi is one of the main factors contributing to the rise of the malay language as a regional language in addition to the spread of islam. jawi has been widely used in the sultanates of malacca, johor, brunei, sulu, patani, aceh and ternate since the 15th century for royal correspondence, creature-order, poetry and also as the main means of communication among merchants at the port of malacca. an overview of ancient jurisprudence shows that the laws of malacca, johor, pahang, kedah and brunei are all written in jawi script (abd. jalil, 2012). according to the historical literature on the development of islam, the idahan manuscript was the first text found in sabah to use the jawi script. it has been a major source of evidence of early islamic dissemination in sabah since the 13th century (1408 ad). the manuscript is also one of the most important forms of heritage not only to the idahan people, but to the whole muslim community in sabah. this manuscript is considered important because it has played a role in preserving the heritage of borneo and sabah’s islamic heritage. the idahan manuscript the idahan is an ethnic group residing in the lahad datu district in a region stretching from the kinabatangan river to sandakan (jusman 2016). idahan or ida’an is a term used by outsiders to refer to the indigenous people or native people who inhabit the borneo islands. shim (2007) considers the ida’an to be the first group to migrate from nunuk ragang (with the dusunik and paitanik groups) before moving on to kinabatangan and finally settling in the gulf of darvel. shim (2007) estimates the date of arrival of the ida’an to have been around 1200m, while their move to the new settlement in darvel bay, is considered to have been around 1300m. these estimates are based on a mythical story that briefly summarizes the history of the ida’an ancestors as recorded in the ida’an manuscript. this theory contradicts idahan oral records which claim that the in-fighting began in the tingkayu valley, located between the kunak and lahad datu border. at present, the idahan people live in several villages located in the vicinity of lahad datu. their main settlement is sapagaya village situated 10 kilometers from lahad datu city. the lahad datu district is on the east coast of sabah under the tawau residency bordering the kunak and kinabatangan districts. with an area of about 2,510 sq km, the district has 199,830 residents based on the 2010 census. [ 61 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 map of lahad datu district when the british took control of the darvel bay area, the idahan people were divided into groups of large families and placed in new settlements. these include binuang village, segangan village, bikang village, tabanak village and segama village (jusman, 2012). it is believed this break-up was facilitated to allow the british to monitor and control the locals more easily. the idahan manuscript in jawi as borneo’s islamic heritage the original manuscript of the idahan tribe is believed to have been written after the coronation of abdullah in the 15th century. while the manuscript is still preserved by his heir it is only a copy of the original. based on water marks on this manuscript it is believed to have been written around the 1880s. it contains 140 pages some of which have been damaged by age. the manuscript was written using a bamboo pen and black ink which is now fading. at this time the manuscript is still kept by the current heir, haji imam injir bin panjang, who believes that part of the idahan genealogy and records have been preserved for the next generation of idahan writers (suwaid, 1988). [ 62 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 idahan manuscript in jawi writing this text is also believed to have been used as a religious book since it contains principles of faith (aqidah) and islamic jurisprudence (feqah), and at the time of writing there were no printed books on islam. according to the owners, the contents of this document are divided into islamic teachings and matters pertaining to everyday life. from the final clauses of this document it appears that the practice of animism gradually diminished due to the influence of islam through prayer and matters of faith such as calling to allah. matters relating to islamic teachings in these final clauses are believed to have been communicated by external preachers and were added later to the document. the handwritten jawi manuscript represents an important genealogy of the idahan tribe in sabah. although it is primitive in nature and a copy of the original document, it is still nevertheless a very valuable source of pre-muslim chronicles. the document reveals how the idahan people converted to islam from animism over several decades. the contents in this section can be divided into two sections: 1. ten generations (descendants) before islam. abdullah was the first convert to islam. the names of such individuals from one generation to the next are recorded, as well as magical events shaped and influenced by the religious influence of hinduism, such as myths relating to eagles, golden deer and magical dogs. [ 63 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 2. six to ten generations after abdullah. this document records that abdullah embraced islam in 1408m. in other genealogical studies, it can be generally assumed that each generation or line of descent is an average of 25 years. then we will find: a. starting from abdullah 10 x 25 = 250 years = 1400m                                                      -250 years = 1150m b. abdullah to 1900m 20 x 25 = 500 years = 1400m 500 years = 1900m based on the above assumptions, we can say that the year 1150m was the earliest date at which the idahan community was ready to accept a new teaching or faith, namely islam. they embraced islam due to the influence of abdullah and to this day he is considered a guardian. abdullah was converted to islam in 1408m after being islamized in the gulf of darvel by sharif karim aulia makhdum of sulu, and he was clearly a prominent individual according to the document. thus, based on the evidence of the manuscript, it is believed that islam was established as a religion on the east coast of sabah in the early 15th century. the discovery of an idahan manuscript in jawi script owned by an idahan family in lahad datu district was highlighted by harrison & harrison (1971) when conducting a prehistoric study in sabah to uncover the story of abdullah and the idahan people as the first natives to embrace islam. although some of its content is primitive, its origin is clearly not contaminated by any element of addition. it also contains a very valuable pre-islamic chronicle as well as idahan genealogical records covering about 25 generations. the manuscript not only relates decades of conversion to islam from animism (and even there the content is written using jawi in malay), but also serves as the reference book of religious affairs and islamic jurisprudence (suwayd, 1988). this manuscript is believed to have been copied several times since it was first written. the muslim preacher or imam would have been responsible for this manuscript and would have usually taken the initiative to copy faded or worn parts to ensure that their contents were always preserved (harrison & harrison, 1988). the roles of the copyist, translator and owner of the manuscript were important as they were responsible as the heirs and disseminators of knowledge. based on the researcher’s observations, the first manuscript was written in the idahan language using jawi script, while the second manuscript was recorded in the malay language. the first part was probably carried by the preacher who claimed to be abdullah, whereas the second was believed to have been carried out by outside preachers who came to the darvel bay area and copied [ 64 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 it immediately from the manuscript owner (suwaid, 1988). no mention of the author’s name or date is to be found in the entire manuscript. however, it is the nature of malay manuscripts driven by the malay community to be heavily influenced by islamic values such as humility or humbleness (tawadu’), which govern their writing practice (amin, 1980). therefore, it is not surprising that this manuscript does not mention any author’s name because the main purpose of writing was to record and pass on the knowledge to the next generation. harrison & harrison’s (1988) study divided the content of the manuscript into three parts: 1. information on paddy cultivation and other crops and astrological observations. 2. the story of idols that led to accounts of several generations of idahan. 3. information on islamic teachings copied from various sources. the discovery of this idahan manuscript not only reflects the existence of the muslim community on the east coast of sabah but also reflects its commitment to the islamic teachings. it also shows the capability of the idahan people in terms of jawi writing, as evidenced by the fact that they managed to write the manuscript using the local language of idahan. such a process must have been a slow and painstaking one. this further supports the opinion that the islamic teachings have long been accepted by the idahan people. in addition, there are other manuscripts of the book of feqah written based on the translation of the feqah scriptures in arabic. the content is written in jawi and an arabic translation of a book published in hadramaut in the early 14th century. while the author’s name is not stated, the manuscript is believed to have been written by muslim preachers who came to darvel bay area from sulu. the existence of these two manuscripts seems to be sufficient proof of the early emergence and development of islam on the east coast of sabah, and the practice of its teachings by locals. the arrival of the preacher from sulu illustrates the ongoing process of preaching and scholarly activity in the area, especially in relation to islamic teachings. the number of idahan converts to islam at this time is uncertain, but the study does not rule out the idea of conversion in phases, as is evidenced elsewhere in the archipelago. the arrival of the sulu datu in the darvel bay area in the 17th century was significant, as not only did they dominate trade, but they also brought with them a religious mission. it is likely that the arrival of the people from sulu marked the second phase of islamic development on the east coast of sabah. unity is a term derived from the title datu, and one that originated in the sulu archipelago located in the southern philippines. [ 65 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 the spirit of leadership of the sultan and the datu, who always adhered to islamic values led to good relations with foreign communities including those in north borneo. some of these can be seen in tom and barbara harrison’s (1971) article in the prehistory of sabah which speaks of the friendship between the suluk and idahan that dates back to the 17th century. in fact, this good relationship is said to have been established during the islamic conversion of the idahan people, long associated with the sulu. mutalib m.d. (1995) argues that if the relationship between the two groups had never occurred, the idahans would have retained their animist beliefs to this day. the string of religious interactions led to significant trade relations between the two to the extent that idahan are now strongly bonded to the people from the sulu archipelago, especially through mixed marriages. in the gulf of darvel, it is believed that marriage to a local will imbue the spouse with special powers over areas where birds choose to nest. conclusion thus, it can be concluded that the legacy of borneo islamic heritage has been realized through the discovery of an old idahan manuscript in sabah which constitutes a cultural treasure of considerable historical importance. jawi writing has played a significant role in the accumulation of malay heritage and specifically in the development of malay culture across various disciplines. this jawi-scripted idahan manuscript is important because it has bolstered and strengthened both the heritages of borneo and islam in sabah. furthermore, the manuscript has the potential to be a catalyst for the continued preservation of local wisdom. in fact, the description of borneo’s islamic heritage also reveals the bond of cultural unity among the three countries which form the borneo archipelago: all embraced islam not as a result of war, but through trade, religious teaching and intermarriage. it is hoped that this research will enhance understanding of the development of the rich islamic heritage to be found in the borneo region. further study needs to be carried out to provide greater insights into this valuable heritage, the source of which will be local knowledge and wisdom acquired through the ages. acknowledgement my completion of this article could not have been accomplished without funding support from the ums great research grant gug0432-1/2019. [ 66 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 bibliopgraphy abdullah, b., abdullah, z., yusoff, z.m., omar, n. 2012. sejarah penulisan jawi di terengganu sebelum 1957. jurnal islam dan masyarakat kontemporari. jilid 5 (julai), 13-22. adam, a. 2013. melayu, nasionalisme radikal dan pembinaan bangsa. kuala lumpur: penerbit universiti malaya. al-sufri, h. a. m. j. 2001. tarsilah brunei: sejarah awal dan perkembangan islam. kementerian kebudayaan brunei. apell, g. n. 1966. the ethnography of the dusun-speaking peoples of sabah. sarawak museum journal, 14: 376-388. amin, f. 2014. religion and harritage: the islamic manuscript of the quran by abdurrahman husin fallugah (w.2010). al-albab, 3(2). doi:https:// doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v3i2.766 arnold. t. 2012. the spread of islam in the world: a history of peaceful preaching. london: goodword books. borham, a. j. 2012. tulisan jawi: tulisan serantau. kertas kerja ucaptama seminar tulisan jawi dan teknologi peringkat kebangsaan. dewan astaka university malaysia pahang pada 18 oktober. brown, d. e. 1970. brunei: the structure and history of a bornean malay sultanate. brunei museum journal, monograph 2. conley, w. w. 1976. the kalimantan kenyah: a study of tribal conversion in terms of dynamic cultural themes. nutley, nj: presbyterian and reformed publishing co. hamka. 2016. sejarah umat islam. selangor: publishing house. harisson t. & harrison. 1971. the prehistory of sabah. sabah society journal monograph, vol. 6,.23 ismail, z. ahmad, w.i.w & abdullah, w. a. r. k. w. 2009. cabaran ulama borneo dalam penyebaran agama islam di sarawak. borneo research journal, vol. 3, 173-186. king, v.t. 2017. some preliminary thoughts on early anthropology in borneo. in victor t. king, zawawi ibrahim, noor hasharian hassan (eds). borneo studies in history, society and culture. singapore: institute of asian studies. masnon, h.i . 1998. islam di brunei, sabah dan sarawak. kuala lumpur: penerbitan asiana. [ 67 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 mutalib, m.d. 1995. gua madai warisan suku kaum idahan dalam utusan borneo 3 mei. patmawati, p., & wahida, b. 2018. the concept of tawheed of buginese people in the ancient manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo of west kalimantan. al-albab, 7(2), 177-186. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v7i2.1115 rahman, p. h. m. a. 2011. islam di brunei darussalam zaman british (17741984). kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa & pustaka brunei darussalam. setia, j. a. 2012. idaan. (dlm) kntayya mariappan & paul porodong. murut dan pelbagai etnik kecil lain di sabah. kota kinabalu: universiti malaysia sabah. shim, p.s. 2007. inland people of sabah: before, during and after nunuk ragang. kota kinabalu: borneo cultural heritage publisher. sintang, s. 2018. sejarah penyebaran dan perkembangan islam di sabah. (dlm). mohammad redhuan othman (ed). islam dan masyarakat melayu di malaysia: sejarah dan perkembangan. kuala lumpur: institut kajian sejarah dan patriotisme malaysia (iksep). sweeney, a. 1980. authors and audiences in traditional malay literature. berkeley: center for south and southeast asian studies, university of california, tapah, t. 1988. sejarah perundangan islam di sabah. disertasi sarjana, akademi islam, universiti malaya. (tidak diterbitkan). warren, j.f. 1981. the north borneo chartered company’s administration of the bajau, 1878-1909: the pacification of a maritime nomadic people. the centre for international studies. athens: ohio university. yusof, i. 1997. politik dan agama di sabah. bangi: penerbit ukm yusin, m. 1990. islam di sabah. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka [ 68 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1597 [ 131 ] al-albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 book review tasawuf amaliyah. jombang: februari, 2018. by moch. djamaluddin ahmad reviewed by ahmad masfuful fuad uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta practicing ihsan with tasawuf amaliyah as islam is spread out by the prophet of muhammad (peace be upon him: pbuh) for the seeks of becoming the blessing for the universe (raḥmatan lil ‘ālamīn), islam offers three main pillars namely iman, islam, and ihsan. the first pillar of iman consisting of its principles (rukun) is the manifestation of the belief of a believer which is known as theology (akidah). the second pillar of islam together with its five principles is the manifestation of the practice of islamic teaching (syariat). and the third pillar of ikhsan is the essence of the practicing of the values of allah the almighty god and the values of the worshipers as later known as hakikat. in order to be able to better practice the three pillars of islam in daily life, every muslim is obligated to have the required knowledge prior to understanding them including the knowledge of tauhid (iman/akidah), islamic law or fikih (islam/syariat), and tasawuf (ihsan/hakikat). the three required kinds of knowledge are supposed to be mastered together so that they may prevent muslims from miss practices of islamic teaching as meant by allah the almighty and muhammad his messenger. imam malik mentions in his important work that: “those who learn the fikih without leanring tasawuf may become a fasik. those who study tasawuf without studying fikih may become a kafir of zindiq. and those who learn fikih together with tasawuf are those who walk toward hakikat.” what is meant by imam malik is also supported by another great and well-known imam as well, imam syafi’i. he mentions that every [ 132 ] al-albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 muslim should practice islam in a comprehensive way or kaffah, not only having understanding of islam using fikih (syariat) but also studying tasawuf (hakikat) to support their efforts of understanding the teaching. the book written by moch. djamaluddin ahmad is aimed at becoming a guidance for muslims in their practice of islam. the book provides a good guidance to practice ikhsan through tasawuf which is not only offering theories and concepts but also showing the details of how to practice or known as amaliyah. therefore, the title of the book of tasawuf amaliyah is very appropriate as supported by the aims of the book and the intention of the author. the book consists of 9 chapters. the author provides comprehensive explanations on how to understand the basic tasawuf (chapter i), steps of practicing tasawuf toward closing to allah the almighty (chapter ii), building appropriate friendship and the right hospitality of students to their theachers (chapter iii), the genealogy of the prayer or berzikir (chapter iv), the variety of appropriate hospitality (chapter v), requirements of becoming the teacher of the leader in sufism of mursyid (chapter vi), wali (chapter vii), nafsu (chapter viii), and sufi leaders from time to time (chapter ix). bu quoting sayyid abu bakar muhammad syatha ad-dimyati, the author of the book explain that the knowledge of tasawuf is the knowledge to understand the variety of nafsu and its symptoms, both the positive and negative parts of the nafsu (page 1). practicing tasawuf means making efforts to keep human hearts from being contaminated by negative values and habid so that they can transform the good norms into daily practices both physically non physically. ihsan, as also being mentioned in the hadist by abu hurairah, is being defined as “worshiping to allah as he can see him, and if he cannot see himso he should understand and be aware that allah sees him.” practicing ikhsan is impossible without having the knowledge of tasawuf. it is because the knowledge of tasawuf is needed since when someone does the amaliyah he should pray toward allah the almighty. this is also found in the qur’an q.s. aż-żāriyāt (51): 56). one of the important elements in the knowledge of tasawuf is the politeness and hospitality, especially to allah, parents, teachers, and to human beings. sayyid ali al-khawwas mentions that those who misbehave they are like behaving to betray toward the knowledge of [ 133 ] al-albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 hakikat and the secrets of allah the almighty (page 191). al-khawwas mentions the important of the politeness and hospitality. what alkhawwas means is that all the values are being taught by the prophet muhammad to mankind as he said that “i am the messenger of allah and being sent to you to guide human being to have good behavior.” allah the almighty gives human beings both mind and nafsu. the mind is intended to guide human being to able to control and manage their nafsu. the nafsu is not meant to be removed from human beings since it is impossible to do so. human beings are expected to control it. the question is how to do so? the book provides the tips in doing so as being done through practicing riyāḍah (practice) and mujāhadah (fight). in order to be able to do so, human beings are required to understand the level and kinds of nafsu within them. the nafsu is not always being connoted to negative judgment since sometimes it is also positive. the book elaborates carefully about the levels of nafsu consisting of 7 (seven) kinds including ammārah, lawwāmah, mulhimah, muṭmainnah, rāḍiyah, marḍiyyah, and kāmilah (page 255). it is important to understand the variety and level of nafsu carefullyso that every muslim know exactly who is friend and opponent within themselves. the prophet muhammad said that the fight against the infidel or kafir is a small war (aṣgar), but the fight against the nafsu is the one being called as the big war (akbar). in the end of the book the author explain about the important to know the history of the sufi leaders. he provides the profiles and sufi leadersfrom time to time starting from the second hijri to the 14th hijri. the explanation about the sufi leaders is meant to provide knowledge and information for those seeking the knowledge and information about tasawuf so that they can take a lesson (‘ibrah) and good (uswah ḥasanah) from selected people who had been able to improve their quality of life through having great practices of iman, islam, and ihsan. they are the examples that can guide them in doing tasawuf and becoming their role model for sālik (the wlak toward allah the almighty) in doing the practice required by the teaching of islam as allah the almighty has guided human beings. as for the scientific responsibilities by the author, the book is also equipped by footnote) and bibliography for references (marāji’) from appropriate books of tasawuf of mu’tabarah (standardized). the book is also written in a very careful intention with appropriate diction, words, sentences and paragraph. the author intends to help readers [ 134 ] al-albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 to understand easily about the tasawuf, especially to those who are new in the world of tasawuf. (*) profil reviewer nama : ahmad masfuful fuad afiliasi : mahasiswa program doktor (s3) pascasarjana uin sunan kalijaga no. telepon : 089633815504 email : aeymanusia@yahoo.co.id [ 121 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 islam and bugis in west kalimantan patmawati & nurfaidah m. pontianak state institute of islamic studies & manado state institute of islamic studies abstract the bugis people generally have tough character because of maritime and competitive traditions, as well as sufferings as a result of the colonialism. they also strongly  uphold their honor.  in west kalimantan, the bugis  are also  identical with islam. the history of the arrival of the bugis people in west kalimantan can be traced, at least, to three stages which will be covered in this paper, namely  in 1667  during  the treaty  of bungaya, and in late1946 through early 1947 when there was mass murder where 40,000 people were killed, and in 1950  when there was a  revolt of  dii/tii  led by  kaharmuzakkar.  a year later, the migration happened because they were looking for a job as a civil servant (pns). the role of the bugis in the spread of islam in west kalimantan is known through education conducted by to-panrita, to-sugi, to-warani, dan to-sulasena. keywords: islam, bugis, west kalimantan introduction west kalimantan  is one of the  provinces  on  the island  of borneo.  the eastern part of this province  is bordered by east kalimantan,  the western part  by the  south china sea,  the southeastern part by  central kalimantan,  the northern part by sarawak (malaysia)  and  the southern part by the java sea. west kalimantan has an area of 146,807 km2 or 7.65% of the  total area  of indonesia  (pontianak,  stain  research team  2010:  1). geographically,  this position  puts the  west kalimantan  on  a strategic position,  i.e. on  the trade route of the south china sea. the malays as  the indigenous people were tenacious traders, scattered through the archipelagic trade cities since malacca was captured by the  portuguese  in 1511.  they often had their own settlements in the cities called kampung melayu. their relations  with  the authorities and  the society  were good  and  they could fit in with the life of the indigenous peoples, so that their safety and work were safe from the unruly actions. in the 17th century, west kalimantan held trade relations  with  johor,  palembang,  java, south kalimantan,  mataram, bugismakassar and so on. bugis-makassar traders, in particular, did more trade in this region after they signed the treaty of bungaya on 18 november 1667 (christian [ 122 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 pelras, 2006, andi ima kesuma, 2004. according to patmawati in yusriadi et al.  (2005:  114-115)  the presence of  the  bugis  in west kalimantan  can be divided in  three stages.  first,  during the year  1667  in  south sulawesi, especially in the kingdom of gowa, war occurs between hasanuddin and the netherlands led by speelman. this war ended with the defeat of the kingdom of gowa, so the treaty of bungaya. second, the late 1946 through early 1947, mass  murder  happened  during the rampage of captain  westerling  that claimed 40,000  lives. third,  during the 1950’s  insurgency  of dii/tii led by kahar muzakkar. the three conditions mentioned above resulted in massively migration from south sulawesi to west kalimantan. they settled in coastal areas, such as the city of pontianak, pontianak district, kubu raya, sambas and ketapang district. according m.d. la ode the number bugis people, especially in pontianak in 1994 was the third largest (49,666 people) after the ethnic chinese and malay. in pontianak district, the bugis people also rank third with 129,027 people after the dayak and malay (md la ode, 1997: 84). the interesting thing about this ethnic is their ability to adjust to their new surroundings. until now there has not been a single clash with the locals or among themselves. in the newly-settled area, this ethnic group involves themselves in politics, economy (trade), education, islamic da’wah, plantations, fishery, agriculture and so on. in politics, the role of opu daeng manambung and his brothers, still can be seen up to now, particularly with regard to the existence of the kingdom of mempawah. in the economic sector, bugis migrants play an important role and they have been known as inter-island traders, and once a there was group of bugis merchants led by h. amin latif. he was also active in the masjumi party, once a member of the house of representatives (dpr) of west kalimantan province, and one of the founders of the school daru al-da’wah wa al-irshad (ddi) together with h. abd rahim said (h. beddu) in 1957 at sungai ambawang. in the spread of islam, haji ismail mundu as mufti of the kingdom of kubu was very well known until now, and one of the staunch supporters of the construction of the mosque in the teluk pakedai area. as the pioneer of plantations, in fact, it can still be seen in the third generation that is still in control of the plantations inherited from the previous generation. they are well known also as the “landlord”, and live a prosperously from the results of the plantation. another fact also shows that in west kalimantan, the pioneer would also name the territory after their own places of origin, for example, jl. ujung pandang, jl. selayar, parit wak gattak, wajok, parit wajok, parit bone, jl. ambo tien, etc. [ 123 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 general description of the bugis according to christian pelras, the population of the bugis is more than four million. they inhabit the southwestern part of the island of sulawesi. they belong to the great austronesian family groups (christian pelras, 2006: 1). the ancestors of the bugis used to roam the seas by boat to china, malaysia, west kalimantan, the philippines, and australia. in malay literature, there are several sultans and princes malaysia and west kalimantan are bugis descent, such as the sultan of johor, selangor, trenggano, abundance (abu hamid, 2004: 1), and mempawah in west kalimantan. mattulada, in an international seminar on society, history and culture of south sulawesi indonesia held at the national archives branch of south sulawesi, makassar, 16th, and december 17, 1996, said that the south sulawesi must be understood within the framework of its cultural diversity. bugis four million people, two million people and half a million people makassar mandar (almost entirely muslims). muslim groups, because they live in the coastal region, known for their orientation to the sea. because of its long coastlines, and its orientation to the sea, south sulawesi is never isolated from the outside world. the sailors and traders of south sulawesi always brought goods and ideas from other areas (kathryn robinson and mukhlis paeni, 2005: 7 & 12). sulawesi sailors, according to tome pires, are called the strait people, as quoted by lapian who said that loyalty the strait people to the sultan had started since they were in palembang: “nos tambem somos de teu scnhorio antiguo de palimbam sempre amdamos comtiguo” (we are also the servants of the king since we were in palembang, we will always accompany his majesty). portuguese sources revealed how much contribution of the strait people in helping the sultan at the time of establishing the kingdom of melaka. there were 30 people accompanying him bodyguards, and when parameswara moved from singapore to muar (adrian b. lapian, 2008: 104). sulawesi sailors’ proximity to the palace can also be seen in the sultanates in west kalimantan, tanjungpura sultanate such as: daeng mataku, tuan haji hupas (hapix), and opu daeng manambung and his brothers, opu daeng manambung as the successor of the sultanate of mempawah (j.u. lontaan, 1975: 85-90). the pontianak sultanate was founded by syarif abdurrahman al-qadri along with his wife, utin candramidi, daughter of opu daeng manambung (zulkifli abdillah, 2010: 228). until now there are a number of villages in the city of pontianak whose names are taken from the name of region or ethnicity. during the reign of sultan syarif yusuf al-qadri namely in 1872-1895 ad, many immigrants came from outside the region of west kalimantan. the bugis people of south sulawesi migrated to pontianak and settled in villages [ 124 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 near the qadariah palace later known as kampung dalam bugis. in addition the city, they also spread to other coastal areas which are the now within the district of pontianak (sungai kakap, teluk pakedai, siantan, rasau jaya, padang tikar). generally they spread in coastal areas and became farmers or owned palm plantations. at that time and until now coconut or copra is one of the commodities in the market (zulkifli abdillah, 2010: 235-236). according soedarto, “the bugis people inhabit the suburb area of sungai jawi, pal v and so on. in 1898 the bugis became head of the village, they worked at sea and the garden.” according to christian pelras, the bugis characteristics are associated with tough and honor. to defend the truth, if necessary, they are willing to commit acts of violence. however, behind that tough nature, the bugis are also known as friendly and highly appreciative of others as well as having a very high sense of solidarity (christian pelras, 2006: 5). baidhillah also revealed that “among the characters of the bugis are that they like to wander, are very tough, resolute in dealing with problem.” the bugis tough character, according to zainal abidin, as quoted by yusriadi (2008: 192-193), is influenced by three factors: first, maritime traditions; second, competitive traditions; third, long suffering as a result of colonization. one of the characteristics of the bugis is their ability to change and adapt. this is the trait that allows them to survive everywhere for centuries (christian pelras, 2006: 5). according soedarto “the bugis are easy going, and hold the principle of “dimana bumi dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung” which literally means “wherever ground is stood on, the sky is hold high, meaning: wherever we live, we must observe the local custom (equivalent to when in rome, do as the romans do), open, flexible, sociable.” the same was thing also expressed by yusriadi who said, “the bugis people can be regarded as an open society, ready to accept others.” the ability to survive as mentioned above may also be supported by the bugis cultural values . according h.a. rahman rahim, the bugis cultural values include honesty, scholarship, decency, determination, and endeavor (ha rahman rahim, 1992: 144). history of arrival the word ‘migration’ means the movement of people from one place to another. this concept might be seen from the following aspects: a. internal migration, i.e. moving within a political area, usually a country. b. external migration, moving from one country to another. c. immigration, moving into a region or country, and those who move are called immigrants. [ 125 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 d. emigration, moving out of a region or a state and those who move called emigrants. e. voluntary migration, namely moving at the will of a person without being forced by other people or circumstances. f. forced migration, namely the displacement of people due to politics and discrimination or natural factors such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods (norazit selat, 1993: 96-97). in light of the above concept, the movement of the bugis from south sulawesi to west kalimantan falls into in the concept of migration as it is still in the same region, namely the state of indonesia, and they are referred to as migrants. migration of the bugis people was also done voluntarily, especially for those working in the formal sector (civil servants), such as the placement of teachers from south sulawesi in west kalimantan in the 1970s. some of them had a permanent settlement in west kalimantan. some moved back to south sulawesi after serving decades in west kalimantan. forced migration also occures to the bugis particularly those involved in political issues (refusing to be governed by dutch colonizers). at the end of 1670, the total destruction of tosara and systematic destruction of suburban wajo gave rise to the flow of refugees leaving south sulawesi. the number of migrants from wajo in 1670 was larger than the flow of refugees from makassar, and it caused significant change to the population of south sulawesi and its neighboring islands (leonard y. andaya, 2004: 261), even in west kalimantan alone there is an area called wajo located in pontianak district. leaving the state to be free of oppressive governments has been a common practice in south sulawesi society until now. in the past, a person had several options; they could go to live in neighboring communities and put themselves under the neighboring rulers, or they could join outlawed groups or groups that acted in the system of their own behavior. there were some specific differences in the large-scale migrations in the late 17th century. they were mostly led by nobilities, which means they often had many followers. in south sulawesi, the leaders always gathered followers of relatives, commoners, slaves, and other individuals bound by the ties of “patron client” (leonard y. andaya, 2004: 261). an example of the members of the noble family who left the area was opu daeng manambung brothers. opu daeng manambung whose royal title was prince mas surya negara originated from the luwu sultanate, son of opu daeng tenri borong ri la’ga bin lamadoe salat or la maddusila (la patiware daeng parabbung a.k.a patiarase), was the first luwu king who converted to islam in 1603 (ellyas suryani bin soren et al., 2001: ix). the trip of opu [ 126 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 daeng manambung brothers showed that their wanderings were supported by three tips, i.e. the tip of the tongue (signified by the ability of diplomacy), the tip of the badi’ (well known for their courage, so they were often asked for help by sultanates), and the tip of the ‘water’ through marriage. besides the factors described above, security which resulted in famine (rationing of rice) also triggered them to leave the area. the central bureau of statistics (bps) recorded migration between regions in 1978, 1983 and 1985 as cited secha alatas and edy priyono (1993) showed that in the area of java and sulawesi out-migration was higher than in-migration, while in sumatra and kalimantan in-migration exceeded out-migration (kamanto sunarto, 2004: 171). a variety of existing works showed that most of the bugis migrated spontaneously. as proposed by sudagun (2010: 15), the migration was normally financed by the migrants themselves or other non-government parties. this opinion is in line with the findings of the authors in the field through observations and interviews with nahrin who reported that they moved to west kalimantan, especially to the city of pontianak, pontianak regency and kubu raya, at their own expense, followed by the family. they came with a long boat journey which took about one and a half months to get to pontianak. some also traveled to jakarta and then to pontianak. in the decade after world war ii, according to cristian pelras (2006: 73), many bugis people were constantly moving out, so the number of southsulawesi population was far below the average growth of the population of indonesia, between 1969 and 1980. the number of the population of south sulawesi even decreased by 8,762. this happened in 1930’s before luwu and polewali were separated into west sulawesi) and became a destination area for transmigration of the javanese. this proved that the migration waves of the bugis were not merely due to overpopulation or lack of land that could be cultivated in their hometown. their migration is also an effort to find solutions to personal conflicts, to avoid humiliation, unsafe conditions, or the desire to escape from the unsatisfactory social conditions, as well as things that are not desirable due to acts of power committed by the authorities. however, the reasons mentioned seem inadequate to serve as a foundation for understanding why so many bugis people have been migrating to establish settlements throughout the country since the late 17th century. nor can it explain the fact that in spite of changing circumstances, their activities in the new settlements become the permanent characteristics of the bugis until now (christian pelras, 2006: 370-371). [ 127 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 bugis role in islamic dakwa the bugis in south sulawesi society in ancient times had 3 classes of society namely anakarung (nobility), to-maradeka (free man), ata (slave) (mattulada, 26-27). such classes are no longer found in coastal areas such as west kalimantan. immigrants and their descendants comprising anakarung, tomaradeka, and ata attempted to show social achievements as follows: 1. to-panrita, namely scholars, religious leaders and wise men working for the welfare of society. 2. to-sugi, rich people who because of their tenacity became rich business people and respected in regulating the welfare of society at large. 3. to-warani, brave men who appeared to defend the interests of the country / sultanate in the battle against the enemy. 4. to-sulasena, skilled people, a kind of technocrats who seek to improve the society and state enterprises (mattulada, 1985: 35). to-panrita, to-sugi, to-warani and to-sulasena were all involved in proselytizing and educating the people of west kalimantan through education when the region was still a kingdom. in the kingdom, the role of opu daeng manambon as to-warani was so important that he was crowned king in the kingdom of mempawah. during his reign in the kingdom of mempawah, islam thrived as he invited habib husain al-qadri, a distinguished scholar in the kingdom matan (tanjungpura) to settle in mempawah and teach people about islam. while opu daeng manambon’s role as to-warani, haji ismail mundu had a role as to-panrita, because he was the mufti of the kingdom of kubu. haji ismail mundu teacher was a student of the two teachers named tuan umar a.k.a sumbawa and makabro puang lompo. puang lompo was a bugis scholar. from his teacher, haji ismail mundu learnt a lot about the books that contained islamic religious sciences. during this period, there was also a scholar named ismail bone, a cleric who preached in the area sungai kakap. puang lompo and ismail bone were less known because they were not close to the palace. according soedarto: “the level of religiosity of the bugis is remarkable, so they were well respected before the arabs came. they were made community and religious leaders. they built settlements close to the palace, but did not becaome bureaucrats. they had a principle that “power is temporary and someday we will fall”. so, they did not joined the cronies of the kingdom because they sought to maintain self-esteem not positions. “ in 1904, haji ismail mundu returned to indonesia from mecca, and lived in the village of teluk pakedai that was in the territory of the kingdom of kubu, west kalimantan. this was where he was called to practice and develop the knowledge that he received. as a pious man, [ 128 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 he always strived to spread islamic teachings to differentiate between truth and falsehood which was at that time began to be rampant. haji ismail mundu’s presence in the teluk pakedai could change the situation where religious life gradually improved. his success in alleviating kubu society of ignorance won the sympathy of the king, so in 1907 haji ismail mundu received the trust of the kingdom to hold the post of the mufti of kubu kingdom. as a mufti, haji ismail mundu served as a person to answer about religious issues that came from various backgrounds in the kingdom as well as from the wider community (baidhillah, 24). in addition to teluk pakedai, haji ismail mundu also taught in pontianak, at the home of wak kudak, in gang perindra, gertak dua. haji ismail mundu did it because his students continued to grow, especially in the area of tanjung bunga, kuala karang, sungai bembang timur and kubu (baidhillah, 45). according to jamnah, her mother was a student of haji ismail mundu. he wrote many works to be read and learnt by his students, such as tafsir kitab suci al-quran, ushul tahqiq, jadwal nikah (already certified by mufti of johor malaya/malaysia) (baidhillah riyadhi, 2010). the book on marriage schedule has been studied by didik m. nur haris from universiti malaya (didik m. nur haris, 2010). according rasmi sattar, haji ismail mundu built a madrasa in the area teluk pakedai. until now in telukpakedai, there is a tradition that when a child has not completed the recitation of the koran, he cannot be circumcised. every fasting month, parents and children recite the qur’an in turn while improving the recitation. after indonesia’s independence, and west kalimantan became part of the unitary republic of indonesia (nkri), the bugis people in west kalimantan still took a role in education. one of the the most important educational and cultural movements among muslims in west kalimantan, led by the bugis was a movement called daru ‘da’wah wal irshad (ddi). ddi was founded by haji abd rahim said (haji beddu) in sungai ambawang in 1957. throughout its history, the ddi movement has shown itself as a unique phenomenon in the religious life in west kalimantan. as an organization, the ddi has proved that it is a social movement in religious education, which actively encourages the rise of the muslim community in west kalimantan. basically, the ddi play two important interrelated roles: as a reformer movement and as an agent of social change. as an organization that is oriented to religious reform, the ddi aims to purify the teachings of islam based on the principle of sharia corresponding to ahlusunnah wal jama’ah. as an agent of social change, the ddi aims to advance knlowledge and human civilization, and convey those teachings to the people and lead them toward the implementation of these [ 129 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 teachings. maintaining unity within the muslims, and peace in crowded public is one of the paragraphs in its statute (statute of ddi, 1968). in addition to the ddi madrasah and the one built by ismail mundu, the bugis and people of bugis descent also built several other madrasa and schools, among them: madrasah bawari in pontianak city, madrasah in parit wak gattak, madrasah tsanawiyah nurul iman in sungai pandan, islamic boarding school assalam in pal v (border area between pontianak city and kubu raya). the main task of the teachers in madrasa and boarding schools is to be a teacher and to serve as a person that explains about of islam. according to soedarto, “the bugis people contribute to the religion by becoming a preacher indirectly through the provision of examples, the caretaker of the mosque as in mempawah and sengkubang.” the bugis, in carrying out their duties, both as an educator and a teacher, have implemented the concept of education. according to harun nasution, education aims not only to fill the educated with knowledge and develop their skills, but also to develop the moral and religious aspects. this concept is in line with the concept of man that is composed of body, mind, and conscience (saiful mazani ed., 1998: 289-290). the bugis people in playing a role as a da’i establish and manage educational islamic institutions. they have shown their identity as people who willingly make sacrifices for the sake of islamic education. the proof, in the provision of land for school building, was exemplified by haji ismail mundu, haji abd rahim said (haji beddu), haji jamaluddin and many others. conclusion the bugis people migrated to free themselves of oppressive or tyrannical government. when migrating, they armed themselves with three tips: the tip of the tongue, indicated by the ability of diplomacy; the tip of the badi’, their well known courage, so kingdoms often asked for their help; and the tip of the water through marriage. the propagation of islam by the bugis people in west kalimantan consisted of to-panrita, to-sugi, to-warani, and to-sulasena. these people have played an important role in preaching and educating the people of west kalimantan through education since the region was still a kingdom until it joined the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri). [ 130 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 references abu hamid. 2004. pasompe pengembaraan orang bugis, makassar: pustaka refleksi. adrian b. lapian. 2008. orang laut bajak laut raja laut sejarah kawasan laut sulawesi abad xix, jakarta: komunitas bambu bekerjasama dengan ecak frencaise d’extreme-orient. anggaran dasar dan anggaran rumah tangga ddi, 1968. baidhillah riyadhi. 2010. “guru haji ismail mundu tokoh pendidik kerajaan kubu” (makalah yang disampaikan pada seminar konferensi antarbangsa islam borneo iii di stain pontianak), tanggal 4-5 oktober. ----------. 2011. guru haji ismail mundu (ulama legendaris dari kerajaan kubu), kubu raya: dinas kebudayaan pariwisata. christian pelras. 2006. the bugis. terjemahan abdul rahman dkk. dengan judul “manusia bugis”, jakarta: nalar. didik m. nur haris. 2010. “kitab jadual nikah karya guru haji ismail mundu: teks dan analisis” (makalah yang disampaikan pada seminar konferensi antarbangsa islam borneo iii di stain pontianak), tanggal 4-5 oktober. ellyas suryani bin soren dkk. 2001. sejarah mempawah dalam cuplikan tulisan, kabupaten pontianak: bina ilmu mempawah. h.a. rahman rahim, 1992, nilai-nilai utama kebudayaan bugis, ujung pandang: hasanuddin university press. hendro suroyo sudagung, 2010, mengurai pertikaian etnis: migrasi swakarsa orang madura ke kalimantan barat, institut studi arus informasi (isai) bekerjasama dengan yayasan adikarya ikapi dan the ford fondation. j.u. lontaan, 1975, sejarah-hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan barat, jakarta: bumi restu. kamanto sunarto, 2004, pengantar sosiologi, jakarta: fakultas ekonomi ui. kathryn robinson dan mukhlis paeni (peny.), 2005, tapak-tapak waktu kebudayaan, sejarah dan kehidupan sosial di sulawesi selatan, makassar: ininnawa. leonard y. andaya, 2004, warisan arung palaka sejarah sulawesi selatan abad ke 17, makassar, ininnawa. mattulada, 1985, latoa, yogyakarta, gadjah mada university press. m.d. la ode, 1997, tiga muka etnis cina, yogyakarta: bigraf publishing. norazit selat, 1993, konsep asas antropologi, kuala lumpur, dewan bahasa dan pustaka kementerian pendidikan malaysia. saifullah muzani (ed.), 1998, islam rasional: gagasan dan pemikiran prof. [ 131 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 dr. harun nasution, jakarta: mizan. tim peneliti stain pontianak, 2010, “sejarah kesultanan sambas kalimantan barat”, laporan hasil penelitian lp3m stain pontianak. yusriadi, 2008, memahami kesukubangsaan di kalimantan barat, stain pontianak press. ----------dkk., 2005, etnisitas di kalimantan barat, pontianak: stain pontianak press. zulkifli abdillah, 2010, kepingan-kepingan sejarah umat islam, pontianak: stain pontianak press. [ 132 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 [ 287 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 culture, religion, and english teachers’ contribution in indonesia andini linarsih tanjungpura university pontianak abstract as culture and religion are indispensable part of the indonesian society, understanding students’ cultural and religious background constitutes one of the important factors in the success of foreign language teaching, particularly english. non-native english speaking teachers can improve students’ english competence because they are capable of bridging the cultural and religious differences between the source language and the target language as well as providing an easy-to-understand explanation regarding the vocabulary and grammatical aspects of the source language. in addition, they can better understand the students’ needs and design a more realistic syllabus to overcome students’ language barriers. however, the role of native english speaking teachers (nests) can also fill the weaknesses non-native english speaking teachers (nnests) face in increasing the communicative competence. therefore, better instruction is not merely related to the native or non native concepts. it lies on the personal qualities of the teachers to apply proper language teaching methods to boost students’ communicative skills. keywords: native english speaking teachers (nests), non-native english speaking teachers (nnests), student, culture, religion. introduction culture, language and religion inter-relate with one another. language is not only the product of culture, but also the symbol of culture itself (gleason, 1961). many cultures are closely related to a particular religion. the arab culture, for instance, is heavily influenced by islam. the indian culture can never be separated from hinduism. in many traditional communities in indonesia, religion has been mixed with the local cultures and values. english, as the official language of the united states and britain as well as several other western and commonwealth countries, brings with it the cultural values of its speakers wherever it spreads. english has spread rapidly around the world. according to crystal (2002, p. 2) english speakers nowadays range approximately between 700 million and 1 billion compared to an estimated to be 4 million in the year of 1500. kachru (1985) divided the spread of english in the world into three concentric circles namely the inner circle, outer circle, and extending circle. english is the primary language of the society in inner circle countries such as britain, new [ 288 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 zealand, australia, canada and the united states. outer circle countries, including singapore, india, nigeria and malaysia, are countries where english plays important role as a ‘second’ or ‘additional’ language. they were under colonization by members of inner circle countries. extending circle countries such as indonesia, japan, china, and laos do not have the history of inner circle countries colonization and english is not their native language. they consider english important but they only perceive english as a foreign language. people in the inner circle countries are defined as the native speakers of english while the ones in outer and expanding circles are non native english speakers. according to kachru (as cited in mcarthur, 1998, p. ) inner circle countries are ‘norms-providing varieties’ , on the other hand; outer circle countries are ‘norm-developing varieties and expanding circle countries are ‘normdependent varieties’. all norms applied in english language system come from the inner circle countries as standard. it makes speakers coming from those countries considered to be good model of english teachers. there are many english teaching vacancies across the world widely welcome native english speaker teachers over non-native speakers. the definition of native speakers is problematic but in this paper native english speaker teachers (nests) in this paper are people who come from the inner circle countries, acquire and use english since early in their childhood, and have the physical appearance as the inner-circle countries people. non-native english speaker teachers (nnests) are those who share the same first language and cultural background, have a high level of english proficiency, and have graduated from teacher training institute. this paper will argue that having nnests may benefit students, more over nests, in expanding circle countries because of the following reasons. first, nnests can explain the linguistic systems and rules well. second, nnests can be motivators for students to learn english. the third, nnests can make realistic syllabus. finally nnests also understand the importance of preserving local language. as rampton (1990) points out, ‘being born to a group does not mean that you automatically speak its language well”. he also added that english proficiency should be evaluated by ‘what you know’ rather than ‘who you are’. nness can be a good at explaining english lessons well because they must have completed their education from a teacher training faculty where they learn english linguistics systems from basic to advance. in indonesia, students in the english teachers training department learn about each linguistic elements such as phonology, morphology, and syntax. they are trained how to produce each english sound, construct and understand the meaning of sentences [ 289 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 correctly. they also learn to study how to apply strategies to increase the four language skills listening, writing, speaking, and reading. furthermore, nnests are obliged to do three-months of teaching internship at schools before completing the study. rampton (1990, p. 98) states that “expertise is learned, not fixed or innate”. the sufficient linguistic knowledge enables nness to understand difficulties to reach the near-native competence. they can teach students how to overcome the difficulties based on their own experience. cook (1999) as cited in oka (2004, p.6) proposes that nnests are valuable sources to the learners since they can share learning experiences to overcome the problems and difficulties. chen and wang (2004) as cited in nakata (2010, p. 77) points out that language teachers should first have practical command of the target language to develop efl learners’ language proficiency. with their three-month teaching experience at school before completing the study, nnests, indonesian teachers for example, can learn how to transfer the theories into the practical command of teaching and learning in the classroom. native english speakers (ness) who have undertaken similar tesl training in their countries may also be good at explaining the theories to the efl students. however, there are some english (l2) concepts which cannot be found in students’ l1 such as tenses, pronouns and pronouncing certain sounds. if nnests have limited knowledge in students’ l1, they may find it difficult to explain to the students how to understand the differences because they do not undergo similar inter-language process to handle the l2 inputs with the students. americans or britons may find it easy to understand tenses but japanese or indonesian students may experience some developmental errors, for example in the overgeneralisation of the rule of –ed for the verb in simple past tense, in understanding tenses. further, nnests can use l1 to ensure that the knowledge has been perceived properly by the students by re-explaining the theory into l1 if the students still look confused, asking students to re-explain the theories or instruction in l1, using l1 structures in comparison with english to understand the distant linguistic system. however, nests are ideal teachers to promote communicative competence in the classroom because they will make english the sole medium of instruction in the classroom. english-speaking atmosphere created by nests might force the students to use english all the time. nests may also explain all materials and the culture implied in the context well. however, this only works well with students in advance level who are not still struggling with limited vocabulary and already have sufficient english knowledge. nnests sharing similar language and cultures with the students can make [ 290 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 realistic syllabus. they are more sensitive to their students’ difficulties in understanding the language. they can measure how long and how many times certain concepts should be taught. they can also measure the appropriate level of task difficulties. those measurements can be their basis to choose effective teaching strategies that can be used. for example, they may use code switching to make their explanation easier to understand. harmer (2001p. 131) points out the use of l1 in the classroom is almost inevitable since it shows that students try to make sense of a new linguistic form through the linguistic form that they are already familiar with. moreover, nnests can teach lessons with the adjustable speaking pace to the pace, speaking at a pace that their students can understand. however, nests needs some years of experience in the target country to slow down their speaking pace in order to efl students understand. they can read from the students gestures or body language to know whether the students understand the explanation or not. they can approach the students outside the classroom to find out the problem and discuss the problems in their mother tongue. moreover, eldrigde 1996 as cited in harmer (2001,p. 131) states that ‘codeswitching between l1 and l2 is naturally development and not some example of misguided behavior”. nnests can take advantage over this situation because they understand the language. they can analyse the difficulties the students encounter to reevaluate their teaching styles, approach and materials to become more effective teaching. during the class nnests can use students l1 to ensure whether the students understand the materials of not. in indonesia where grammar-based test is applied, understanding of tenses is imperative. conversely, linguistic system in bahasa indonesia (students’ l1) does not have such a system. on the other hand, nests may be less sensitive to the values that the students have such as that teachers are always right, they cannot contradict the teacher, and making eye contact with teachers means rebellious actions. they must understand the culture in the classroom that indonesian students have been living with. nests grow up with the culture that during the class students’ eye contact to teachers symbolise good attention; on the other hand, in indonesia casting down students’ eyes when teachers are speaking are culturally taught. if nests do not know this, they will consider indonesian students impolite and may reprimand the students. silence means students respect the teachers and can also mean they understand the lesson. if nnests do not have the understanding of these beliefs they can misinterpret the students’ behaviour in the classroom which can make huge gap between teacher and students. [ 291 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 cultural and religious awareness teaching english in a predominantly muslim country, such as indonesia, is challenging for both nests and nnests. that being said, they should be aware of the sensitivity regarding cultural and religious values, as these values are embedded in the society. a better understanding of differences in culture and religion may bridge a communication gap between teachers and students. this might seem trivial, but to a certain degree, any activities and approach used in teaching the language should well-planned. nests should have the knowledge that religion is indispensable part of education in indonesia. religious values are embedded in every teaching. they should carefully pick any topics or culture that is not contradictory to students’ religious teaching. since indonesia is the biggest muslim country in the world, it is suggested that all nests should be aware of actions that are prohibited by their students’ faith. taken for example, if the topic is about family, nests should be careful of not asking students talking about what they do not like about their parents. students in indonesia will reluctantly answer that question because it is against their religious teaching. for muslim students, they are taught to respect their parents, never say bad things about them especially in public. even say ‘ah’ to what their say is prohibited and considered as an insubordinate action. the quran says: “and your lord has decreed that you not worship except him, and to parents, good treatment. whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], “uff,” and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word. (al-israa’: 23). nnests on the other hand will not face difficulties to choose insensitive topic to talk about. moreover, nnests who have learnt english and experience living in an english-speaking country will make use of the culture shocks to strengthen students’ faith. they may tell their students of how they adapt to culture shocks, what lessons they learn from that situation, and how culture clashes with their belief that only strengthens their faith when nnests are discussing a topic related to their experience in the classroom. lack of motivation is always an issue in efl countries. teachers have a big role to providing extrinsic motivation their students. nnests can be a good motivator for their students because students can see real examples of people who have the similar linguistic knowledge who can successfully learn english. according medgyes (1992, p.347) nnests are imitable models of successful learners of english. they serve as living proof of how people in same english proficiency are possible to achieve only by studying in their own country. nnests’ effective teaching strategies, followed by a reasonable speaking pace, [ 292 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 can make each lesson easy to follow. if english is easy to follow and to understand, the students will consider it as an achievable lesson. according to atkinson and raynor (1974) as cited in dornyei and ushioda (2001, 14) one of students achievement motivation is based on the fear of failure. if the students feel that the subject is too difficult to understand and they also experience with low marks most of the time, they will become de-motivate to study the lesson. nnests can understand this fear of failure that they student feel because they may have experience the same feeling as well when they learn. so they will tend to set more realistic goals and lesson plans for their teaching. they may know what kind of effective teaching strategies to make the lesson achievable for the students. in practical classes, one of the strategies that nnests usually use when they face lower to intermediate proficiency students is by explaining the lesson using mother tongue (zacharias, 2003). shishavan (2010) also shows that male iranian students prefer their teachers who explain the lesson with mother tongue as effective english teachers. as canagarajah (1999) proposed (as cited in zacharias, 2001, p. 36) that l1/mother tongue used in the classroom may promote a relaxed learning atmosphere since it diminishes students hesitance, fear and nervousness. relaxed learning atmosphere will benefit to low level of anxiety so that students can participate more in the classroom. knibbeler (1989) as cited in zacharias (2003) points out the language learning which can provide lower level of anxiety is the best situation for language learning. nunan (p. 235, also supported the precondition of effective motivation in classroom as the teachers’ ability to manage the classroom so students will not feel anxious and will feel comfortable to take risks. cross-cultural understanding both nests and nnests should have better insight into understanding different a culture. therefore, in this case, cross cultural understanding should be among the crucial issues teachers (both nests and nnests) learn before departing on their efl teaching journey. to have the first hand experience with the culture of the source/target language, it would be a privilege for language teachers to have an opportunity to study and live in the community where the language is spoken. this can be done through exchange programs or overseas studies which are provided by many countries in the form of competitive scholarships. so, teachers should inspire students to pursue overseas studies to gain the knowledge and experience that cannot be found in their home country. [ 293 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 nnests can be good motivators for their students in term of instrumental orientation for their students. instrumental orientation according to gardner and lambert (1972) as cited in brown (2007, p. 88) is the desire to learn a language to attain certain education goal. they are many scholarships given by usa, australia and britain through foundations such fulbright, iief, ausaid for people in developing countries such as indonesia, laos, vietnam, and bangladesh to experience learning, teaching and living in those inner circle countries. nnests who receive that experience will share their experience to live and travel overseas because of their english ability to their students. their stories may give some students another reason why they need to study english harder. for students who are interested to pursue the same experience as the teachers, they will be extrinsically motivated. on the other hand, nests can also be good motivators for students in advance level because they use ‘real language’ and bring the real culture (medgyes, 2006, p. 435). advance level students usually aim to higher level of proficiency and to have near native. for those students the native speakers can excite them about the language, by introducing the related culture of the native speaker. by explaining the cultural background, the students can envisage exploring these new realms, exotic from their own experience. they also remind the students of the real life application of the language. the level of fluency can also provide a real challenge for the higher level students, to really develop their language to the point of near native fluency. nnests can benefit the english language teaching in term of preserving local language. local language can be preserved by the use of students l1 as the tool to understand l2. in practical classroom nnests may sometimes use comparison and contrast analysis between l2 and l2. for example, nnests may compare or contrast local language sentence construction to l2 sentence construction as part of their teaching strategies. they are also being able to link the certain sounds in english with the similar sounds in local language in comprehending the listening tasks. these strategies make students value their local language as the bridge to comprehend the foreign language. according to ringbom (1987, p. 52) language transfer from l2 to l1 assists the learners to analyse the knowledge to cope with a gap of knowledge. seidlhofer (1999, p. 235) also supported this idea by stating that non-native efl teachers are ‘double agents’ sharing similar language and culture to facilitate learning by bridging different language and culture of l1 and l2 through appropriate pedagogy. understanding students’ l1 and l2 can help nnests understand how to explain the l2 in line with students’ ways of thinking. nnests can also prevent language loss. the issue of language loss in [ 294 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 expanding countries may be the result from the neglecting the local accent in speaking and having standardized pronunciation, mostly british or american accents, by the efl learners. it is because they speak english they still carry their local accent. having local accent is the other issue efl teaching which speaking is the main parameter in judging learners’ english competence. the speaking ability that the learners have are considered not only from how myriads vocabulary they have but also from how close their pronunciation or accent to standardized english pronunciation. some parents who feel that their distinctive mother tongue accent in speaking english inhibits them to reach near native proficiency will then try not to teach their local language to their children. they may not speak their local language at home with their children. they prefer to use english at home as much as they can and enrol their students to bilingual or international schools. this condition endangers local language. according to grenoble (2006) the primary cause of language loss is speakers are in favour of speaking the other language which can benefit them for economical or political reasons, and as the result they cease to speak their own native tongue or local language. schaefer and egbokhare 1999 as cited in mckay (2002, p. 21) states that indigenous minority languages were abandoned because of the important role of english in nigeria. there are also some endangered indigenous languages because of the presence of english as the policy of the government such siletz dee-ni in canada and yuchi in u.s.a where the teaching of english has made many local languages disappear because the next generation do not use them anymore like irish gaelic, for example, has shifted the first language to become the second language. nnests can become a good model for their students that the most important thing in english speaking in international communication is the intelligibility. mckay (2002, p. 52) states that intelligibility is the recognitions of the uttered sound. to make the sound is intelligible does not always mean that you have native pronunciation. nnests will tell the students that english conversation with the other international people can run smoothly even though they have imperfect accents. however, nests may not be pay much attention to preserve the local language. to sum up, non native english speaking teachers can increase students english competence in english because they can explain the knowledge well, they understand the students more to make the more realistic syllabus and they can preserve local language to extinct. however, the role of native english speaking teachers (nests) can also fill the weaknesses nnests face in promoting the communicative competence. therefore, the best teacher is not related to the [ 295 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 native or non native concepts. it lies on the own personal qualities of the teachers to keep on improving their qualities and understanding learners better. conclusion language, culture, and religion should be treated as inter-connected elements that one cannot be taken away from the others. each of them complements the rest, and therefore both nests and nnests should be sensitive to cultural and religious issues in their teaching. as most indonesians are traditionally religious, designing activities for use in an english language classroom setting should take cultural and religious values into consideration. native english speaking teachers are certainly needed for teaching linguistic aspects that non-native english speaking teachers may find difficulties with such as pronunciation and natural speech. however, being able to present the material in a manner that fills the gap of cultural and religious differences between the source language and the target language is not to be ignored. thus, successful language teaching is not a matter of being a native or non native of a particular language. it is heavily related to both the teachers’ use of well-planned teaching methods and sensitivity or respect toward traditional values embedded in culture and religion bibliography brown, h. (2007). teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. new york: pearson education. harmer, j. (2001). the practice of english language teaching. england: person education limited mcarthur, t. (1998). the english languages. cambridge: cambridge university press. mckay, s. (2002). teaching english as an international language. new york: oxford university press. medgyes, p. (2006). when the teacher is a non-native speaker. in m. celce-murcia (ed.) teaching english as a second or foreign language (pp. 429-442). beijing: foreign language teaching and research press. mizuno, c. (no year). non-native english speakers of english teaching in japan – critical perspectives on tesol in an educational context. retrieved november 4, 2010 from: http://www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/paal9/pdf/mizunoch. [ 296 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 pdf. nakata, y. (2010). improving the classroom language proficiency of non-native teachers of english: what and how?. relc journal (41)1 76-90. nunan, d. (1999). second language teaching and learning. boston : heinle & heinle. oka, h. (2004). a non-native approach to elt: universal or asian?. retrieved november 4, 2010, from: http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/images/04_ho.pdf. pasternak m, and bailey km (2004) ‘preparing nonnative and native english-speaking teachers: issues of professionalism and proficiency’. in kamhi-stein ld (ed.) learning and teaching from experience: perspectives on nonnative english-speaking professionals. ann arbor: the university of michigan press, 155-75. rampton, m. 1990. displacing the ‘native speaker: expertise, affiliation, and inheritance. elt journal 44/2, pp. 97-101. seidlhofer, b. (1999) double standards: teacher education in the expanding circle, world englishes, 18(2):233-244. shishavan, h. the relationship between iranian english language teachers’ and learners’ gender and their perception of an effective engliah language teacher. english language teaching. english language teaching journal 3(3) www.ccsenet.org/elt. retrieved on november 4th, 2010. zacharias, n. (2003). a survey of tertiary teachers’ beliefs about english language teaching in indonesia with regard to the role of english as a global language. http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/thesis.php. 20 october 2010. [ 215 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 religious harmony within ahmadiyah community: (study of living qur’an and the peace construction in the village of gondrong kenanga adrika fithrotul aini)1 stai sunan pandanaran yogyakarta email: adrikavenny@gmail.com abstract in the midst of intolerant attitudes toward ahmadiyah, the community of ahmadiyah in gondrong kenanga present as a villagers that value diversity. not only ahmadiyah followers but also many other groups live in the village, such as muslims affiliated to nu, muhammadiyah, and other groups of religious believers. interstingly, in everyday life they are able to protect themselve from getting involved in conflict and creating a peaceful and harmonious life. harmony in the village gondrong appears in at least two forms including in the pattern of inter-community relations in the environment and in daily life interction of people reflected in the social environment. gondrong ahmadiyah community is actively involved in various social activities that promote tolerance, cooperation, and solidarity. the work aims at getting the concept of peace in the ahmadiyah community in gondrong kenanga. this study also examines the living qur’an regarding the understanding of the concept of pluralism and harmony within ahmadiyah members. this work is based on a field research project on the phenomenon of living qur’an studies that examines the understanding of the islamic teaching on diversity by the jamaah ahmadiyah indonesia of gondrong-kenanga (jaig), and also the construction of peace which is practiced in their daily life. keywords: peace construction, harmony, living qur’an, ahmadiyah, gondrong kenanga. introduction an adherent of a particular religion can usually take the attitude of its followers depending on the depth of their belief and religious understandings, whether are moderate, conservative, radical or liberal. a religious believer will say that the truth of a religion is absolute because it comes from god. the shifting of 1 the author would also like to credit the annual international conference on islamic studies (aicis) 2017 organized by the ministry of religious affair of the republic of indonesia in which the author was invited to present the paper. it was held in jakarta on 22-25 november 2017 [ 216 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 a truth claim begins when any religious revelation has been in contact with humans. the point is that the exoteric aspect of religion is separated from the esoteric aspect.2 in islam, for example, the esoteric aspect is called as sufism, an ethical form coming from ihsan, while the exoteric comes up in a the form of aspects of human creation including science which can be recognized by everyone. both forms of the mentioned aspects are as the results of cultural process that should be reinforced as a reflection of human servitude to god. the cultural process within a group of people practicing a religion is expected to adapt to the issues of diversity relations among the people. therefor both objectivity and historicity are needed in the count of seeing them, not merely normativity, especially issues regarding the efforts to reinforce the construction of peace and harmony among religions. some of the statements above are a reflection of the phenomena occurring lately, in which a religious emotion, truth claim, a clash among religious communities, as well as political versus religious friction happen today in the globe, particularly in indonesia in the case of this project. thus, it is necessary to use a paradigm shift that is able to manage and maintain the peacebuilding that the community can run well. peaceful construction efforts will further clarify that islam provides resources for peace and muslims are able to work with other groups to build peace.3 the idea of peacebuilding in islam is to create the conditions in which life is without violence (nonviolence). relations between religious groups are basically another form of human relationships. social reality has proven that humans have influenced each other with specific values developing in certain area wherever they live. the values exist in the mindsets and patterns of human behavior (local wisdom).4 the values are obtained from a public understanding of the interpretation of the qur’an. this perspective implies that members of religious groups in society are in a system of interaction that is integrated into a form of equilibrium.5 the role of religion shows its function when religion gives a change in the community and provides a new color in the community. believing in the truth of a religion 2 frithjof schuon, mencari titik temu agama-agama, (jakarta: pustaka firdaus, 2003), h.10. see also abdullah idi, bangka: social history chinese malay, (yogyakarta: tiara discourse, 2011), p. 160 3 robert c.johansen, “radical islam and nonviolence: a case study of religious empowerment and constraint among pashtune,” journal of peace research 34, no. 1 1997, p. 67. 4 local wisdom can be understood as local ideas that are thoughtful, full of wisdom, good-value, which is embedded and followed by members of the community. see the john m. echol and hasan shadily, kamus inggris indonesia (jakarta: pt. gramedia pustaka utama, 2003), p. 649. 5 see in nasikun, :sistem sosial indonesia (jakarta: pt. rahagrafindo persada, 1995), p. 9, and also in thomas f. o’dea, sosiologi agama suatu pengenalan awal (jakarta: pt. rajagrafindo persada, 1996), p. 3. [ 217 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 would encourage people in the community as an essential element that will behave according to their doctrins. of course this will affect the way of life and culture, which will be expressed in the conduct of life. the phenomenon of living peacefully within the community of ahmadiyah followers who live togther with other groups of religious believers in the village of gondrong kenanga tangerang banten in this aspect is interesting to be further explored. a couple of questions arrise; how religion is premised on a harmonious life and how construction efforts of peace which is based on understanding the verses of the qur’an they practice in their daily lives? gondrong kenanga is not only inhabited by members of ahmadiyah but also by other communities or groups of intra religious affiliation who live in peace together, such as those affiliated with nahdlotul ulama (nu), muhammadiyah and fron pembela islam (fpi). the gondrong ahmadiyyah community has the ability to establish ukhuwah basyariyah (brotherhood of human) within the society consiting of other groups of muslim having different affiliation of organizational background. accordingly, this study focuses on religious beliefs that the people apply in their daily lives, which is called the living qur’an, namely how the understanding towards religious verses within ahmadiyah society in gondrong (jaig)? and how is the reaction and internalization of the understanding that is being implimented in their everyday lives? from understanding the verses of the qur’an there is impact on the pluralism of social institutions in society which is one of the relevant media to strengthen the relationship among community groups. their strong understanding are materialized in the construction of social integration, where integration is control towards conflicts and irregularities in a social system.6 social integration is intended as a unification of the groups that were previously separated from each other through efforts to eliminate social differences. the process of integration through interpersonal communication and social contacts is an absolute requirement for integration. when social contact and communication between individuals occure, it will continue to respond to each other between groups. in view of the structural functional theory, there are two things that underlie the integration of a social system including an integrated community in the growing consensus among societal norms which are universal and fundamental and the one integrated because of the various members of the community as well as a member of various social unity (cross cutting loyalities). 7 6 soerjono soekanto, beberapa teori sosiologi tentang struktur masyarakat (jakarta: rajawali press, 1983), p. 157. 7 nasikun, p. 69. [ 218 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 stephen k. anderson (1993)8 explain that there are some important points with regards to integration theory. a community is a complex system which consists of parts which are interconnected and interdependent, and every part of each other significantly affects the other parts. any part of a society exists because the part has an important function in maintaining the existence and stability of society as a whole. all people have a mechanism to integrate himself, ie a mechanism that can be taped together. one important part of this mechanism is the commitment of members of the public to a series of the same beliefs and values. people tend to lead to a unity equilibrium or homeostatis and disturbances and the other tends to cause adjustments in other parts in order to achieve harmony and stability. social change is an unusual occurrence in the community but if it still happens then it will generally lead to consequences that benefit society as a whole. those mentioned explanations make this study very interesting to elaborate what happen within people in gondrong kenanga. ahmadiyah community in gondrong kenanga at a glance the ahmadiyah community in indonesia is divided into two, namely qadian and lahore. the ahmadiyyah qadian in indonesia was brought by muballigh maulana rahmat ali as believed to be the envoy of caliph ii, mirza basyiruddin mahmud ahmad in 1925 in banda aceh. this information is adopted from the demand of the youth of west sumatra who were conducting studies in qadian.9 while the lahore ahmadiyyah came first brought by maulana ahmad and mirza wali ahmad baiq in 1924. 10 from there, ahmadyyah started to grow in indonesia. the ahmadiyyah group in gondrong kenanga, tangerang, banten started in 1946. h. supena was to be believed as the founder. then in 1948 haji sidiq was recognized as one of the leaders although his contribution is still in controversy. 11 ahmadiyah congregation did not get well attention from the public of gondrong kenanga. in the beginning was only a few people joined the congregation and became followers in 1950 under the leadership of h. sidiq as for the gondrong village ahmadiyah community with ahmadiyah center located on the rahmat ali road, cipondoh tangerang, banten. the community has grown up and today is lead by margani.12 8 stephen k. anderson, sosiologi makro: sebuah pendekatan terhadap realitas sosial, trans. farid wajidi, s. menno (jakarta: rajawali press, 1993), p. 9. 9 iskandar zulkarnain, gerakan ahmadiyah di indonesia, p. 312. 10 iskandar zulkarnain, gerakan ahmadiyah di indonesia, p. 180. 11 video of ahmadiyah history in gondrong, viewed on 23rd may 2015. 12 interview section from mr. asep, 23rd may 2015. [ 219 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 following the discourse of inter-religious relation in indonesia with regards to ahmadiyah, there was a case in 1989 that the ahmadiyah community in gondrong kenanga suffered from massive resistance. the mosque they build was burned and there was a conflict between the followers of ahmadiyah and other groups of people in the village who were not followers. the conflict remained there until in 1994 when the mosque was rebuilt. the case of conflict has become a starting point to rebuild better relationships among the different religilously aviliated groups living in the village. it is the case that today the people have better social interaction and the ahmadiyah community live tothegether with others communities peacefully. the ahmadiyah community continues to grow and develop some important public services and infrastructure such as the establishment of ahmadiyah mosque, maternal & child health centre (posyandu), education instituions, branch offices, houses of mission, ahmadiyah special funeral service, as well as islamic education institutions (madrasah). the number of the ahmadiyah members has significantly increased to more than 1008 people. living qur’an and the harmony of gondrong kenanga society the discussion of the forms of living qur’an that is developed in the community is important with regards to the definition of living qur’an explicitly. living qur’an can be interpreted as symptoms appearing in public in the form of patterns of behavior that comes from al-qur’an. the pattern of behavior here is part of the responses of muslims in their interactions with the verses of the qur’an. living qur’an is a study or scientific research on a variety of social events associated with the presence of the qur’an or the existence of the qur’an in a particular muslim community. 13 the text of the qur’an that lives in society which takes place sustainably, or the meaning and function of the real qur’an, is understood and experienced by the muslim community, where such understanding is to be the basis of society in carrying out their daily life. in the study of living qur’an, there is a term that is used to parse reception of meaning. the qur’an can not be separated from the history and civilization with a variety of events following the process of the revalation to the prophet muhammad. the history of the revelation process the qur’an gives a new empty space to think of relevant meaning in accordance to the conditions of the time of the revelation. this fact has been understood of why qur’an is recepted by muslims as an agent of culture. the reception is divided into three types namely hermeneutical, aesthetic and cultural. 14 13 m. mansur, et all., metodologi penelitian living qur’an dan living hadis, (yogyakarta: teras, 2007), p. 8. 14 because, from this reception will occur new meaning that leads to that “piety”. [ 220 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 hermeneutical reception is understood as an attempt to understand the content of the qur’an that is mostly done with the interpretation of the verses of the qur’an.15 the meaning generated by the hermeneutic process depends on certain aspects of the interpreters when doing the interpretation of text including experience and knowledge. the other important aspects are also the condition of the process of hermeneutical interpretation which is related to the influence of space and time.16 aesthetic reception also proceeds from the reception of the qur’an and is called the aesthetic reception because the scripture aesthetic reception is expressed for aesthetic purposes.17 in other words, the definition of aesthetic reception is the beauty of the language of the qur’an thai is expressed in various forms.18 this will open up opportunities for the inclusion of other forms of text interpretation other than the meaning explanatory of the qur’an. and the cultural reception is a reciprocal process in which the qur’an is trying adapt to the cultural elements by the muslims with regards to their socio-cultural facts. the qur’an is interpreted as the meaning given by the people who will implement the teaching of the qur’an in their daily lives.19 beyond textual condition. there are several systems to be considered within the view of cultural values namely a system of idea, social systems and artefact systems. system of idea is a form of knowledge system that includes belief systems, value systems and ideal systems. belief system is a supernatural form of belief and the human relationship with the form. while the value system is something that is appreciated; it is not just an act which is produced but also things that support any actions. the system of ideal is something desired. the social system is a pattern of behavior that makes up a community. and the artifact system is a form of material culture artifacts. therefore, the reception of the qur’an in the living qur’an means a description of how a person receives and reacts to the qur’an by receiving, responding to utilize or use it. the qur’an is regarded as syntactic composition containing text or a manuscript, which has its own meaning or set of words that have loose particular meanings.20 from the living understanding of the qur’an, the ahmadiyah community in gondrong 15 ahmad baidhowi, “resepsi estetis al-qur’an”, esensia, viii, januari 2007, p. 19. 16 nyoman kutha ratna, estetika sastra dan budaya (yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar, 2007), p. 2. 17 ahmad baidhowi, “resepsi estetis al-qur’an”, esensia, volume viii, januari 2007, p. 20. 18 ibid, p. 22. 19 heddy shri ahimsa-putra, “the living al-qur’an: beberapa perspektif antropologi”walisongo, volume 20, nomor 1, mei 2012, p. 235. 20 ahmad rafiq, “ sejarah al-qur’an: dari pewahyuan ke resepsi (sebuah pencarian awal metodologi)” in sahiron syamsuddin (ed.), islam, tradisi, dan peradaban (yogyakarta: bina mulia press, 2012), p. 73. [ 221 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 kenanga internalize their understanding of verses of the qur’an to realize the value of peace in a society based on verses of the qur’an including al-baqarah 257. “there shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. the right course has become clear from the wrong. so whoever disbelieves in taghut and believes in allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. and allah is hearing and knowing.” based on the mentioned verse, the ahmadiyyah community understands that the verse is a command not to force aomeone to believe in any religion. the community respects the other various religions.21 they also believe that the members should not impose the ahmadiyah faith to others, to avoid any conflict. although there is an order to sperad the faith, it should be without imposment, as the understanding that they hold from the qur’an at an-nahl 125. from the verse, it can be understood that it is required to convey the value of diversity. wisdom is the key to confront the differences. thus, the way to ensure peace is to run humility, justice, sincere, devout, and return to god in which a man will become a trully human. sagheer, as being interviewed, give an explanation that faith is a human bussiness with his lord, and you can not interfere in this matter. everyone is welcome to live according to their faith and carries out their religious rituals. if there is a ritual practice in the name of religion that hurt others and against the law, then the legal power is to act, because the cruel ritual practices were never taught by any religion”22 a couple of verses of the qur’an are used to support his argument for the realization of peace building; al-maidah 3 and 9: “and do not let the hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-masjid al-haram lead you to transgress. and cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. and fear allah ; indeed, allah is severe in penalty.” “o you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for allah , witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. be just; that is nearer to ighteousness. and fear allah ; indeed, allah is acquainted with what you do.” the verse is understood as a clause for creating peace by people in gondrong kenongo. it is percieved as a command to act wisely and to allow reciprocal hostility among humans.23 thus, in the community, although thet live with many differences they always foster a sense of peace as a human duty. this is what is called the hermeneutical reception in the living quran. it gives an 21 interview section from mr. shaghir, tanggal 25th june 2015. 22 inteeview section from mr.shaghir, 25th jun3 2015 and see in abdul bashit, krisis dunia dan jalan menuju perdamaian (jakarta: neratja, 20 13). 23 ahmadiyah community team, al-qur’an terjemah dan tafsir singkat, terj. dewan naskah jemaat ahmadiyah (jakarta: neratja, 2014), p. 417. [ 222 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 understanding to ahmadiyah society concerning to establish peace in society. there is a prohibition to run away from. they take a lesson from the prophet muhammad who did not retaliate to those who had tortured him, but forgave them and allowed them to describe their faith they believe.24 according to an ahmadyah member in gondrong kenongo, to achieve harmony people need to create some actions. people need the convenience of social interaction namely the creation of social harmony, human nature. social empathy needs the awareness of social identity of each individual in increasing the actual empathy capacity. and people also need to add self-awareness (self-aware autonomy) and reduce the tendency of truth claims.25 the jaig in gondrong kenongo try to do good to others based on the teaching of the mentioned verses although some people around them see them in negative views. the verse is also understood as the basis of sincerity and obedience in good deed.26 this is manifested in various social activities such as the humanitarian programs like donor programs. there are some jaig residents who have been donating their eyes for later donated after death. while the aesthetic reception which can be seen in the creation of a harmonious society is the jaig slogan of “love for all, hatred for none”. the slogan is internalized from the verses of the qur’an that upholds the values of love rather than hatred. the slogan is a way to revive the qur’an that would be no violence in religion. from the incident of gondrong kenanga conflict in 1989 the community take a serious standpoint to the principle that no more conflict should accour. they convey the message to all members in a variety of activities. as a result, up to now there has never been a conflict between them anymore. harmony and mutual respect manifest in every individual within the community. for cultural reception they believe that the religion of god is a grace. the community members should not get into conflicts due to the differences but find common understanding from the similarities that can strengthen peace. the understanding toward the ahamadiyyah teaching has a meaningful value within jaig members.this understanding makes jaig members perpetuating the concept of peace and avaiding hatred among human beings as people should provide assistance and cooperation to each other.27 finaly the jaig community believes that can meet their dreams which is manifested in the values of peace throughout the world as god has commanded human beings 24 see in explanation of mirza masroor ahmad in abdul basit, krisis dunia dan jalam menuju perdamaian (t.tp: neratja press, 2014), p. 16. 25 interview section from mr.shaghir, 25th june 2015. 26 mrs. mira’s explanation, 23rd may 2015. she told: “we were trained since our childhood to do qurban and help human.” 27 interview section from mrs.shaghir, 25th june 2015. [ 223 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 to do so in the qur’an. construction of peace in gondrong ahmadiyah religious belief has a high degree of value in the minds of the ahmadiyaah community. they believe that religion is a human expression to the god. mohammad iqbal (as quoted by m. damami, 2002) explains that religion is an expression of the whole man and is therefore religion is a very valuable and precious.28 it is intersting to see how gondrong kenang community maintains and builds a balance of interaction within the different religious groups in kenanga village. strong social cohesion of ahmadiyah community is seen when they spread the awareness for the community of the importance of living in harmony and harmonious (guyub rukun). they have an understanding that religion has one function as a source of morality. the leader of the commmunity as known by the caliph iv mentions the mentioned slogan as the foundation of th community to perform good deeds to other groups of people. a peace symposium held by the caliph is based on the understanding of the qur’an of al-maidah 3 and 9 that become the spirit of the life of the community. the internalization of the mentioned verses becomes the soul foundation of every gondrong ahmadiyah community member to always bring peace. in an interview shaghir mentions that the qur’an has provided some golden principles to create peace in the world. conveying the message is one way toward the efforfs of building peace. i need to provide the explaination of the factors that make gondrong kenanga community can reduce the the tension of intra religious conflicts or sentiments within the diversity of social dynamics. some of the factors that support the peacebuilding within the community are the kinship or genetic relationship, social system, social activities that become public space for gondrong community, the roles of the elite community or religious leaders in the village and governance structures that can create cohesion by producing peaceful policies for gondrong communities. those factors are highly influential in bridging the social activity or interaction that lead to solidarity and harmony in the society. various activities and forms of solidarity affect the quality of the relationship among members of the group in the community. below is the detail of the mentioned factors supporting the peacebuilding efforts within the community. the kinship of the members of the community has proven to support their understanding of tolerance and encourage an inclusive attitude in their lives. 28 mohammad damami, makna agama dalam masyarakat jawa, (yogyakarta: lesfi, 2002), p. 2. [ 224 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 again, the gondrong kenanga village is not only inhabited by ahmadiyah community but also by various group having different religious ideology backgrounds. yet the people are in family ties. the strong family relationships can be seen from the statement of maria as interviewed. se said that people in gondrong can live in harmony and peace although having different religious backgrounds, some of us are still islam although having different affiliation of thought. what can unite us to always live in harmony is a family tie. my own family belongs to ahmadiyah community and my enching is nahdlotul ulama (nu). we recpect each others and respect differences.29 such kinship ties show the existence of interaction based on respectfullness to individual actions.30 mutual respect between religious groups of gondrong kenanga villagers has become an important foundation in the social life. the awareness to socialize the attitute to their fellow citizens supports the development of solidarity among the people of gondrong kenanga. the people of gondrong kenanga also has a local practice to visit their family members. the practice has become apart of the culture of the people. they would visit to a neighbor’s house and relatives no matter what belief they belong to (ahmadiyah community members of other). this social interaction is a dynamic relationship which involves awareness of the importance of establishing social life in society. an nu leader mentions in an interview that people do have different belief here, but in relation to man (hablun min an-nas) we could not be separated. we may be different in terms of inter-intra religious group affiliation, but we understand that we need to build peace. moreover we still have family relations. the ahmadiyyah community often greet us with social activities. when they have a program such as jalsah salanah, we are also invited. i am proud to live in this village. we belong to different religious groups but harmonious.31 the social system is not only a collection of individuals, but also is a social act in which individuals interact with each other. the values of living together in a common enviroenment is very important. working together with the village leaders (the govermnet), the ahmadiyyah community innitiate social activities to provide a public space for interaction among people who belong to various inter-intra religious groups. the ahmadiyah community comes with a name as the jema’at ahmdiyah gondrong (jaig). they would welcome all villagers to the programmes they innitiate such as blood donor and health care for mothers and children. not only to villagers, the jaig would invite the 29 interview section from mrs.maria, tanggal 23rd, may 2015. 30 george ritzer, sociology: a multiple paradigm science, trans. alimandan (jakarta: cv. rajawali, 1985), p. 60. 31 interview section from figure of nu, 23rd , may 2015. [ 225 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 village government officials as they want to show their sincere openness to other groups. in this public sphere, dialogues within the gondrong kenanga community happens so that they understands the reality of the plurality of religious life in the village in indonesian government system, there is what is called as pemerintahan desa (village government) that consists of village government structure headed by kepala desa (the head of the village) and village consultative body (bpd). bpd members consist of neighborhood leaders, professional groups, religious leaders, and smaller community leaders 32 in the structure of village government, bpd can be considered as the parliament of the village. both institutions are structurally an element of village administration. village government is an institution that is close to people’s lives. in this context the role of the village administration is very significant in maintaining order, harmony, harmony among the villagers as well as the coordination of existing social-religious institutions. therefore, the relationship or society interaction should be built on conventional norms and formal legal, and the harmony of public relations can be assured in social life.33 although the kepala desaeader does not belong to ahmadiyah community, he welcome and respect ahmadiyah community activities in the gondrong kenanga village. sagheer mentions in is interview that when we have programmes we always invite pemerintah desa and the kepala desa always meets our invitation. perhaps, it is one manifestation of sense of peace and tranquility between ahmadis and non-ahmadis.34 the kepala desa also support the ahmadiyah activities. for example, there will be soup kitchen run by the ahmadiyah members, and the village government provides fund to assist these activities. in addition, the members of the gondrong kenanga ahmadiyyah community also get involved in handling the affairs of the village, for example those involved in regeneration in the village administration. the role of the elites have been very important to understand ahmadiyah religious activities. the elites have functioned as the control of the community in terms of communication and dialogue that can foster tolerance and mutual respect in the village. the social control supports the effors of peacebuilding.35 32 indonesia, undang-undang tentang pemerintahan daerah, no. 32 tahun 2004, pasal 200. 33 moh. solekhan, penyelenggara pemerintahan desa (malang: setara press, 2012), p. 41. 34 interview section from mrs.shaghir, 25th june 2015. 35 jalaluddin rakhmat, psikologi komunikasi (bandung: remaja rosdakarya, 1996), p. 101. [ 226 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 conclusion the concept of peace has become an inspiration of the ahmadiyyah community life in fostering harmony in gondrong kenanga village. this is a phenomenon of living qur’an based on the reception hermeneutical, aesthetic and cultural for fostering harmony and peace that the people understand based on the understanding of the verses of the qur’an. the verses of the qur’an as the basis of understanding of harmony, among others, include al-baqarah 256 and al-maidah 3 and 9. based on their understanding of the verses of the qur’an, the gondrong ahmadiyah community members establishe a pattern of interaction that aims to build a peaceful construction. peace building construction of the gondrong kenanga ahmadiyah community is manifested in several factors, namely in social activities, the role of the elite of village government, as well as family relationships between. understanding of the qur’an towards the concept of peace will strive to be done with a pattern of intense interaction between them. public service activities have become a public space to provide emotional bonding between people which can lead to reduce destructive conflicts. understanding of the qur’an on peace is embodied in the slogan that became the principle, namely “love for all, hatred for none”. bibliography anderson, s. k. (1993). sosiologi makro: sebuah pendekatan terhadap realitas sosial, (translated into indonesian by farid wajidi and s. menno). jakarta: rajawali press. baidhowi, a. (2007). resepsi estetis al-qur’an, in esensia, volume viii, januari 2007. bashit, a. (2013). krisis dunia dan jalan menuju perdamaian. jakarta: neratja, damami, m. (2002). makna agama dalam masyarakat jawa. yogyakarta: lesfi. echol, j. m. & shadily, a. (2003). kamus inggris indonesia. jakarta: pt. gramedia pustaka utama. idi, a. (2011). bangka: sejarah sosial cina melayu. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. indonesia, undang-undang tentang pemerintahan daerah, no. 32 tahun 2004, pasal 200. [ 227 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 johansen, r. c. (1997). radical islam and nonviolence: a case study of religious empowerment and constraint among pashtune. in journal of peace research 34, no. 1 1997. mansur, m. 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(2012). islam, tradisi, dan peradaban. yogyakarta: bina mulia press. tim jemaat ahmadiyah, (2014). al-qur’an terjemah dan tafsir singkat, (translated by dewan naskah jemaat ahmadiyah). jakarta: neratja. zulkarnain, i. (2011). gerakan ahmadiyah di indonesia. yogyakarta: lkis. [ 228 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 87 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari center for religious and cross-cultural studies universitas gadjah mada email: alan.kuero@gmail.com mohammad iqbal ahnaf center for religious and cross-cultural studies universitas gadjah mada email: iqbalahnaf@gmail.com abstract this paper begins by questioning the sustainability of civic engagement with the notion of ‘social capital’ as the key concept of peace and conflict studies. the main question is: to what extent does socio-political tension affect forms of civic engagement? this paper examines interethnic relations (dayak, malay, chinese, and javanese) developed in the stella maris credit union (smcu) in pontianak, west kalimantan, indonesia under the context of ethnic tension. smcu is a microfinance association where people with various backgrounds (religion, race, and ethnicity) interact in an economic community, sharing benefits and values. in the beginning, smcu was initiated as an economic program of stella maris catholic church in north pontianak. this church did not only serve the church members, but also for all ethnicities and religions through pontianak. as a site drastically impacted by ethnic conflict in the post-suharto era, pontianak recently has been growing as a city of ethnic diversity. however, the recent rise of ethnic tension has contested this growing multiethnic coexistence. it is important to see the strength of civic engagement in responding to issues of conflict in a multiethnic society. this study explores smcu members and their personal experiences, wondering whether the tension may or may not affect the forms of civic engagement. it argues civic engagement can sustain under the moment of socio-political tension. developing economy and peace education are the main reasons for interethnic relations among smcu members. moreover, although there are treats for the plural society, experiencing diversity in the form of associational and neighborhood relations contributes to social coexistence. this study finds that forms of civic engagement among the members shape expressions and attitudes of resilience in facing social tension. keywords: civic engagement; tension; interethnic relation; credit union; pontianak [ 88 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 introduction discourses on civic engagement refer to the participation of civil society in responding to social issues. on one hand, civil society is significant for bolstering peace relations among communities. in cases of post-ethnic violence, it plays the main role in preventing conflict escalation. for instance, varshney (2002) argues that civil society is the ‘focal point’ in shaping societies of non-violent conflict. he observes hindu-muslim relations in indian society where the violence rises throughout a decade. the religious conflict is a part of ethnic conflict where religion, language, and race are seen as ascriptive identity (horowitz, 1985). varshney’s argument reconstructs frameworks of peaceful relations among religious and ethnic groups using associational engagement such as game community or cross-community engagement. it is useful mainly in reducing ethnic tension. from the case of ethnic and religious conflict, varshney found that engaging civil society is the key aspect of building intercommunal relations. therefore, it is important to promote civic networks such as a socio-economic movement to create better interethnic relations. on the other hand, it is crucial to have a good understanding of civil society aspects specifically in the reconciliation of ethnic violence. paffenholz and spurk (2006) suggest that support for civil society does not automatically lead to peacebuilding. moreover, studies on intergroup relationships have shown that civic engagement and coexistence are not necessarily stable. bartels in his study on ambon society, for example, shows the decline of civic engagement and social cohesion because of greater socio-cultural changes (bartels, 1977). the social changing phenomena led the society into polarization which followed by ethnic conflict. moreover, others view that the potential conflict among civil societies in the grass-root level is triggered under the momentum of the political situation (bertrand, 2004; van klinken, 2007; koodoh at.al., 2018). within this point, it is important to reexamine forms of civic engagement in a different context. this paper examines how the existing civic engagement may be sustained in the context of communal tension. it is based on fieldwork of interethnic relations developed in the stella maris credit union (smcu) pontianak, west kalimantan. smcu is an economic association where people with various ethnic backgrounds (dayak, malay, chinese, and others) interact by sharing benefits and values to improve the socio-economic condition for the other members. the study investigates the civic engagement roles of smcu and their impact on the social cohesion among ethnic groups during rising tensions in the 2018 west kalimantan elections. it explores the personal experiences of smcu members and staff to understand their roles in civic engagement and their responses to the tension. [ 89 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 this paper argues that civic engagement can sustain under circumstances of ethnic tension. although the recent rise of socio-political tension in pontianak has created a potential conflict that threatens ethnic diversity, civic engagement developed in credit unions, in this case, smcu pontianak, contributes to preserving a positive interethnic relation. economic engagement and developing peace education for members significantly impact shaping peace expressions and attitudes of resilience toward rising social tensions. the personal experience among the smcu members illustrates norms and values are considered as a form of social capital in encouraging the members to engage in interethnic relations. these forms of civic engagement are significant to promote community resilience in facing the rise of socio-political tension. in other words, norms and values of smcu have a significant role to create forms of interethnic engagement in preventing conflict escalation during the tension. this paper mainly discusses civic engagement and social capital relationships as a conceptual framework for understanding interethnic relations developed through smcu pontianak. this paper will explore social capital and civic engagement of interethnic relations, built from multiethnic neighborhood relations then practiced in forms of economic engagement initiated by smcu. the result shows that smcu has impacted the extension of interethnic relations. the social capital is based on the multiethnic neighborhood relationship around pontianak society. smcu uses this capital as values and norms in engaging the members. in other words, the social capital is manifested in civic engagement that solidifies the members. smcu could be seen as part of a civil society association. an important characteristic of civil society is how it works to support the state in which those works are in line with public service or making the demands of the state (diamond, 1994). in other words, civil society takes part in social improvement. it takes the position between the grassroots level and state actors. although there is no single definition of civic engagement, it can be defined as various methods of citizen participation to improve the social condition of their community members (adler & goggin, 2005). with the civil society framework, smcu focuses on improving socio-economic equality. it promotes a developing economy through offering financial loans to all members. the loans help them to build capacity within their industries or farms (interview with pak kristianus, an smcu staff). however, smcu is not merely an economic matter, and thus it is interesting to look at the impacts on interethnic relations developed in smcu as the form of civic engagement. smcu has facilitated conversations between members to [ 90 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 improve their economic conditions such as microeconomic activities either as individuals or as group empowerment. the members’ participation in smcu has an interesting impact on strengthening the attitudes of living coexistence among different ethnic groups. it is formed through peace education, neighborhood interaction, and economic activities among smcu members. the form of interethnic engagement could be found in the fish group village (malay, chinese, and madurese ethnicities), initiated by smcu. moreover, peace education in member training material tightens the norms and values of multiethnic coexistence among the members. expression and attitudes of receiving others are shown in the personal experience of the members after they join and participate in the training. within this context, this paper suggests social capital and civic engagement are strongly interconnected. some literature (putnam, 1993; schneider, 2008) has shown that civic engagement and social capital are similar, but essentially different. each of the terms has a significant role in building human relationships. scholars discuss social capital as referring to “things” that closely attach the level of idea or value (putnam, 1993; fukuyama, 2001). in short, social capital could be seen as a shared value that leads people to live together. for instance, becoming native people of ambon could be seen as a social capital that unites them even with religious differences. they are affiliated with pela-gandong, the shared tradition of ambonese (ernas, 2016). it is significant in building interreligious relationships among them to gain social capital. from this example, social capital is a significant intrinsic value that promotes inter-communal relations. moreover, civic engagement is the best way to understand social capital manifested in practice. the practice of economic association among hindu-muslim relations is a sufficient example of civic engagement (varshney, 2002). in this sense, the use of civic engagement refers to social engagement as an integral link between the structure of civil society and specifically the role of civic engagement in the reconciliation of communal violence (varshney, 2002). thus, social capital could motivate the practice of civic engagement. as aforementioned, social capital is essential to peacebuilding. however, some studies have investigated the decline of social capital, thereby reducing forms of civic engagement that lead to inter-communal conflict. the rise of ethnic conflict and violence, in the indonesian context, is escalated by political and capital resources in the post-suharto era (van klinken, 2007; aspinal, 2011; aragon, 2001). it has degraded social cohesion mainly at the grass-root level. tadjoeddin (2004) reveals that ethnic conflict in indonesia mostly occurs in rural areas such as the muslim-christian communities in ambon and poso. [ 91 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 the religious and ethnic conflict between 1999-2002 has damaged their social capital as the indigenous people of ambon (jong ambon) (rumahuru at.al., 2012; rumahuru, 2016). since the colonialization era, muslim-christian relationships have been shaped in a segregated area as the impact of colonial politics (bartels, 1997). the segregation has challenged the relationship among generations who did not experience ethnic conflict (sholeh, 2013). the process increasingly crystallized communicative channels, thereby producing narratives of conflict and violence (bunbandt, 2009). this case illustrated that tension among communities is triggered by reducing social capital and various shared values. in the other case, south kalimantan has experienced ethnic tension between dayak and banjar communities. this conflict is unique, because the two groups have used the same language for centuries and even share a common ancestor who upholds meratus mountain in south kalimantan. thus, the tension has developed alongside broader socio-cultural change (mujiburrahman at.al., 2011). the cases notably warn that the weakness of networks probably lead to the absence of social cohesion among communities. in a broader sense, the strong relationship among communities is contested by socio-political dynamics, as they consider the changing phenomena that degrade social capital. there are at least three reasons for social capital and civic engagement could be weakened or even broken. first, there is the decline of local culture. it has steered society into an alienated division. an anthropological finding of bartels (1997) on the erosion of local culture in ambon provides a cultural explanation of how the christian-muslim relationship for being in ambon has become more distant. he notes the reduction of everyday language as what so-called bahasa tanah, used in the song kapata (a traditional song of ambon) following the religious conflict among them. with the other context, hyung jun (in ahnaf at.al., 2017) reports that old religious traditions like kenduri and tahlilan among the javanese community in yogyakarta gradually have been left. this new trend, according to ahnaf, links to the high tension on religious intolerance in yogyakarta today. second, there are demographic changes that trigger tensions among communities in terms of socio-economic competition. mcgibbon’s finding (2004) might assist with the competitive relationship that contributes to escalating ethnic tension. when investigating inter-communal tension in the context of papua, indonesia, he raises attention to critical features that contribute to changing the society such as modernization (well-educated settlers and extractive industrial projects) and immigration (migrant labor along with transmigration programs). in the case of papua, the ethnic [ 92 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 tension is mostly constellated with the rivalry, not only between the local community and the new settlers, but also internally among the community through competing economic opportunities. this instance reminds us that the potential tension rises interdependently with the economic growth and the changes in the socio-economic structure. third, the seasons of local campaigning and the ensuing elections shape societal polarization. the temporary tension during local elections has furthered segregation by imposing further ethnic and religious barriers. the report series of religious and cross-cultural studies (2017) found that local elections have contributed to the reproduction of intolerance by mobilizing social power in the name of the ethnic and religious causes. cases of religious intolerance in sampang, bekasi, and kupang during the regional election prove this. the findings show political competition using identity politics that impact the dynamics of ethnic and religious relationships. lingkar survei indonesia (lsi) found that in some territories, the same ethnic and religious identity is an important aspect of how the voter is involved in the regional election. as aspinall (2011) explains, voters are less willing to vote for candidates from different ethnic backgrounds in gubernatorial or bupati elections. in this matter, the potential conflict in the 2018 west kalimantan election became a significant warning in the context of interethnic and interreligious relationships. the elites from the majority ethnicities (dayak and malay) were in rivalry (ipac, 2017), while in the previous election, they equitably shared power in the local government with equal representation for their groups. although there is not brief evidence explaining the relation between the current tension and the gubernatorial election, this paper attempts to identify social and political issues that impact ethnic and religious tension. furthermore, it shows the interethnic engagement among smcu members in response to the current day events. forms of civic engagement developed in smcu pontianak established in 1995, the stella maris credit union (smcu) is one of 12 credit unions (cus) in west kalimantan under the cu network association, the kalimantan cu coordinating board (puskopdit kalimantan). based on the 2017 report, it has 10,015 members with total assets of 120 billion rupiahs. every year the assets and the number of members from various ethnic communities increase by an average of 10%. smcu has 4 service offices (2 in pontianak city, 2 more in the suburban border area between pontianak city and mempawah district). on their website, smcu defines a credit union as [ 93 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 an economic association of trust within each other, unifying people to save their money as the shared capital which distributed as loans for the members in need with an approved bank interest due to productive income (puskopdit bkcu kalimantan, 2018). the presence of a credit union, in this case, stella maris credit union (smcu) pontianak, has created two important points in how it develops civil society, that impacts interethnic relation. there are interethnic economic mutual relationships and the involvement in strengthening multiethnic neighborhood relationships. smcu facilitates their members to improve their economic condition. for example, bu nurul badriah, a 40 years old malay muslim woman, shared her experience and reasons why she was interested in joining the smcu; gali lobang tutup lobang saya alami sampai 3 tahun. awalnya saya mengajukan pinjaman ke koperasi ini sejak 2014. baru satu tahun ini saya lancar nabung disini. sejak dua tahun ini usaha saya sudah agak lumayan alhamdulillah. saya tidak lihat cu ini dari agamanya. awal mulanya dengar ada isu kata orang ada hipnotis untuk masuk kristen jika masuk disini. dari awal saya masuk sini, isu tersebut tidak benar. karena saya masuk kesini karena ingin pinjam untuk usaha saya. saya ikut juga pelatihan untuk menjadi anggota. jika kita mau pinjam kita harus ada yang menjadi penjamin. nah, waktu itu saya ambil nomor hp anggota dari suku jawa, dayak, dan lain-lain. mereka sebagai penjamin waktu saya pinjam uang di cu. (i experienced borrowing money to pay my debt for three years. initially, i applied for a loan from this cooperative in 2014. only a year ago, i have been able to save here fluently. for the past two years my business has been rather good, thank god. i do not see this cu from religion. at first, there were rumors that people said there is hypnosis to convert to christianity if they entered here. from the beginning i entered here, the issue was not true. i joined this cu for my trading. i also participated in training to become a member. if we want to lend money, we should have other members as the guarantor. well, at that time i took the cellphone number of members from the javanese, dayak tribes, and others. they were guarantors when i lent money at this cu). this form of engagement is not limited to individuals. smcu also provides networks for members to engage in group-centered collaboration. it facilitated the establishment of micro-economic groups such as usaha ikan asin or salted fish group in a malay village in jungkat, pontianak, and a farm group in a dayak village. the former group consists of malay, bugis, and [ 94 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 madura women producing salted fish and selling them through networks in smcu. the other group is a dayak-chinese collaboration in a farming fork. the economic engagement in smcu conditions members to help each other. for example, the experience of a chinese couple, pak asang and bu nina is very telling. pak asang uses a soft loan from the credit union to sell kites in his village, while his wife, bu nina, using a similar loan, can sustain her business of selling beef and chicken steaks in street stalls. the economic relationship in this multiethnic neighborhood has created fostered positive economic interaction. nina says that usually her customers buy her cake in the morning for breakfast. by becoming an smcu member, pak asang and his wife can fulfill their daily needs. following their experience as smcu members, pak asang tells (an interview with pak asang and bu nina in smcu office): saye asang asal pontianak sini. saye berjualan layang-layang. dah 10 tahun jualan. kadang di rumah, kadang saye keliling. disini dah biase dah hidup macam-macam suku agama. mau die cine ke, melayu ke, dayak ke same jak. yang penting kite mau bekawan jak terus kite baek same orang. di cu juga, kami jadi lebih sering ketemu lain-lain suku agama terumame pas kite ade pelatihan anggota. jadi, sejak gabung di cu ini, saye same istri lebih sering jualan keliling. langganan jadi tambah banyak hahaaa. cu ini bantu masalah ekonomi kami umpame kami sedang kepepet soal keuangan, kami bise pinjam dan bayar dengan mencicil. dengan adenye pinjaman ini jualan saye dan istri lebih lancer.” his wife adds “langganan saye banyak orang melayu same dayak. mereka rate-rate anggota di cu.” (i am asang from pontianak. i have sold kites for 10 years. sometimes i sell them at home and sometimes i sell them around the streets. it is a common life here with various ethnicities and religions (chinese, malay muslim, and dayak). the important thing is that we desire to have friendship and be kind people. in this cu, we have much interaction with other people from different ethnic groups and religions, especially when we joined the membership training. so, my wife and i have traded with street vendors more frequently since we joined this cu. we have more customers than before, hahaha. this cu helps to solve the problem of the economy mainly when our trades are in a financial crisis. we can apply for a credit loan. with this loan, we can trade more fluently than before). his wife adds: (i have many customers from malay and dayak and mostly they are also cu members.) the other impact on interethnic engagement, smcu has encouraged the [ 95 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 multiethnic neighborhood relationship. bu maria1 recognizes that smcu facilitates the interaction among the members by involving them to the religious great days such as lebaran day or christmas. she tells: saya pikir selama ini (credit union) punya dampak yang bagus, misalnya lebaran. biasanya ada anggota yang ngundang kami untuk datang ke rumahnya ketika lebaran, maka kami datang. kami kadang-kadang keliling juga ke rumah anggota walaupun tidak semua. itu hal-hal kecil yang kami lakukan. ketika imlek, staf-staf juga datang. lebaran kita datang ke yang madura, natal kita datang ke yang kristen. kita juga terlibat ketika ada acara 17-an dan acara robo-robo juga. atau kadangkadang kami juga datang ketika ada pengajian ibu-ibu muslim. (i think credit unions have had a good impact. for example, in the moment of eid, usually there are members who invite us to come to his house when lebaran, so we come. we sometimes also go to members’ homes, despite not all. it’s the little things we do. during the chinese new year, the staff also came. on eid, we come to madura, on christmas we come to the christian. we are also involved when there are 17s (national independence day) and robo-robo events too. or sometimes we also come when there is islamic recitation (pengajian) of muslim mothers). the tradition of visiting each other during religious holidays in west kalimantan, especially in pontianak has been experienced in neighborhoods. the presence of smcu strengthens this form of relationship. this practice is related to what prasojo (2017) explained as the symbol of interethnic relationships in west kalimantan which is popular with what so-called tidayu (chinese, dayak, and malay). it mentions the local people or indigenous people of west kalimantan. this pattern of relationship was evidenced when i visited bu ratna2 in north pontianak where malay, chinese, javanese, and madurese ethnic are living together in a neighborhood. she recognizes that by joining cu “stella maris”, the multiethnic relations among members are more active than before. through direct observation, i found that malay, chinese, and javanese work together as a fisherman team in bu ratna’s village in jungkat, north pontianak. some of them have a night in the sea to catch fish, while others bring the fish from the boat to the market in the morning. 1 ibu maria is the general manager of cu “stella maris.” the interview is arranged on january 7th 2019. 2 bu ratna is a malay muslim member of smcu. she and her friends produce ikan asin(salted fish) and trade their product through smcu networks. they are from diverse ethnic backgrounds such as malay, bugis, maduranese, and chinese. according to her, they have been living in a neighborhood relationship. on every religious day, they visit each other as not only the attitude of the neighborhood, but also as the attitude of respecting others. [ 96 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 from my observation, i saw there are no ethnic barriers. besides that, family relations in this village are supported by cross-ethnic marriage as the other factor in how diversity is experienced in this area.3 the practice of economic engagement in smcu reflects what fukuyama (2001) urged in building social capital as well as building socio-economic development. in a similar reflection, varshney (2002) suggests that: “if vibrant organizations serving the economic, cultural, and social needs of the two communities exist, the support for communal peace not only tends to be strong but it can also be more solidly expressed. everyday forms of engagement may make associational forms possible, but associations can often serve interests that are not the object of quotidian interactions.” the rising tension in pontianak in 2012, tension involving the ethnic and religious community in pontianak mainly emerges as the disputes between the two major ethnic and religious groups; a group dayak people and muslim community represented by islamic front defender (fpi), an extremist muslim group (jakarta post, 2012). the tension creates fear in both the dayak community and also the malay community, assuming here that malay is automatically the muslim community as the native of west kalimantan. the situation in pontianak was unstable, although the two communities were going calming post escalated tension. however, this incident is unforgettable among the two ethnic and religious groups. five years after that, in 2017 tensions repeated until the 2018 governor election. in contrast to previous tension, this incident involved the former governor of west kalimantan, cornelis who is the dayak elite and the leader of majelis adat (tradition) of dayak association. data show that the incident in the two major rallies (a group of dayak people and fpi) created serious tension among ethnic groups. it started with the protest against cornelis who delivered a provocative speech that, in the view of some muslims, invites a religious tendency and could be considered blasphemy against islam. the muslim rally, represented by fpi west kalimantan and pom (persatuan orang melayu) the malay muslim association, reported cornelis to the regional police chief. this tension triggered by the expulsion of sobri lubis, the national head of fpi, by west kalimantan security forces that sparked a wave of protests from the malay muslim group. some media described the incident as a situation of tension4. notably, the incident has led 3 the interview with ibu ratna on january 13th 2019. 4 some of the media include tempo.com, kompas.com, and detik.com. [ 97 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 a similar pattern with the jakarta 212 rally that indicates the racial politics during the head election where the politics of identity raises in the name of religion (ipac; 2017). differently, the power of the muslim community is challenged by the native community, dayaks (bbc indonesia, 2017). on one side, a group of dayak people as the indigenous community condemns the presence of fpi in west kalimantan. instead, a group of dayak people intercepts tengku zulkarnain, deputy general secretary of indonesian ulama council (mui), from leaving a plane at sintang airport. they urge to campaign for anti-fpi in west kalimantan (nasional tempo, 2017). on the other side, the protest wave of the muslim community is coupled with aksi bela ulama 205 in pontianak. there is not a shred of adequate evidence to conclude the incidents are part of the ethnic and religious conflict that links to the 2018 governor election. however, the situation has led to tension between malays, as well as the muslim community, and the dayak people. both are considered indigenous communities of west kalimantan. the religious issue extends the tension. fpi supported by persatuan orang melayu against the group of dayak people who are responsible for the expulsion of ulama. dayaks and malays were living in harmony, although there was an ethnic conflict against chinese and madurese in the post-suharto era (prasojo, 2011). however, the current situation involves the issue of religion and the issue of intolerance at stake. ema, the chief of the sociology master program of tanjungpura university, mentions that there is a pattern of ethnic radicalism attributed to the dayak community (populicenter, 2017). meanwhile, the group of dayak people claims that there are intolerant and radical ways of fpi delivering the dakwah. pak kristianus, in an interview, confirmed that this is clear as the political situation where political elites attempt to use the religious and ethnic issues for political goals. the issue of ethnicity and religion triggered the incident into tension (populicenter, 2017). it is centered in jalan gajah mada, pontianak where the two major rallies happened. however, some media polarized the incident as part of ethnic and religious tension. this incident becomes a source of anxiety because it correlates to case aksi 212 in jakarta (ipac, 2018). fortunately, the tension does not widely impact societal life. the local security and peace activists represented the ethnic and religious groups initiated to prevent a large escalation by organizing a peace agreement (pontianak post, 2017). moreover, it is important to note the tension is reminiscent of post-ethnic conflict in west kalimantan 1966-2008 (kristianus, 2017; asriati & bahari, 2010). since the reformation era, west kalimantan has witnessed ethnic identity politics, in this case, the competition between malay and dayak elite in [ 98 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 a bargaining position in national bureaucracy and the local government. cornelis, a dayak elite who was elected west kalimantan governor from 2008-2018, has not had an ethnic malay vice-governor. an investigation has shown, under the cornelis regime, the number of ethnic dayak bureaucrats has increased by 50% in 2013 (hartriani, 2014). the finding is not without historical notes. davidson (2002), who has done research since the break of this ethnic conflict, suggests that ethnic identity politics plays a crucial role in shaping the local politics of west kalimantan. in his political analysis, ethnic conflict is important as the keynote to look at the political maneuver of dayak and malay elites involved in the political competition including the elite competition in the west kalimantan election 2018. there is no significant evidence whether or not the ethnic and religious issue is part of the political constellations during the 2018 election. however, notes on the political competition of ethnic identity and incidents during the 2012 and 2018 elections provide space for the competition between dayak and malay elites in the regional government. the incidents have created tension. this pattern is quietly similar to what ahnaf (by citing antonio gramsci) said as the war of position in looking at the bela islam movement in jakarta (crcs ugm; 2016). however, the tension is locally concentrated in pontianak as the capital arena for political competition. some of the most recent incidents have also become evidence of threats to widen the escalation of the ethnic conflict. in this regard, according to alqadrie (2002), the second ethnic problem is increasingly complicated because ethnic and religious identification is integrated into ethnic groups. as a reflection of this conflict, the incident in pontianak represents the potential for latent conflict between dominant groups in west kalimantan. the question is: does the increase of rising tension contribute to reducing the social capital of interethnic relations in pontianak? the information shows that there is no significant physical violence, including the recent rise of social tension, involving ethnicity in west kalimantan. it could be the indicator that nowadays, west kalimantan is in a peaceful situation wherein the multiethnic society coexists. then, what are the keys to peace sustenance preventing conflict escalation in times of tension? participants of smcu and their roles in civic engagement this part interprets responses of the smcu members practicing an economic engagement in the context of ethnic tension. as has been identified previously, the recent situation shows a potential conflict involving two major groups; [ 99 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 the dayak group and the muslim community. from the incident, there is a crucial note in how ethnic polarization in the incident on may 20th, 2017 has had a similar polarization of ethnic affiliation in the election as shown by the institute for policy and analyst or ipac (understanding conflict, 2017). however, the tension does not significantly impact the interethnic relations in smcu. interestingly, the interethnic engagement in smcu exists in facing the tension. the concept of social capital and civic engagement are adequate in reasoning the sustainability of interethnic relations. this study finds that civic engagement in smcu is strengthened by the social capital existing in society. for instance, participants of smcu in jungkat, north pontianak have experienced multiethnic neighborhood relations. bu ratna, a member, and her muslim family live in a neighborhood with chinese, dayak, and javanese people. she said that thereby the important aspect of social capital is trust and openness. these principles are also portrayed by the multiethnic fishery group in the village where malay, chinese, and javanese collaborate in fish trading. this value is accommodated by smcu to engage them in the economic community. pak yusuf, a javanese muslim member, said that smcu does not only give financial support for them, but also encourages them in training and education to become official members. in this forum, as confirmed by pak kristianus (one of the smcu founders), the members are facilitated with training materials such as financial management and peace education. he is also one of the trainees. he gives training material about living peacefully in multiethnic society as the fundamental value to become a cu member. in an interview, he describes multiethnic peace relation to members with heterogeneity in the training forum; “kalau saya yang memberi pelatihan biasanya saya tambahkan juga dengan karakter etnisitas yang seolah-olah menjadi stereotype dan kita bantah bersama, apakah benar madura itu pencuri. itu apakah benar atau tidak mari kita cek. apakah ada orang dayak yang mencuri? jawabannya ada. apakah ada orang china yang mencuri? jawabannya ada. nah kalau begitu ungkapan orang madura pencuri tidak benar. karna karakter mencuri itu ada pada semua suku. jadi mereka (anggota) yang membongkar steretipe tadi. itu bagian dari materi harmonisasi dalam pelatihan anggota.” 5 (if i give the training, i usually speak about the character of ethnicity that becomes a stereotype to a certain ethnic group in society. in the forum, i suppose they respond to my question; is it true that madurese are always thieves? to know the answer, come to learn. are there dayaks 5 interview with pak kristianus in january 10th 2019 [ 100 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 who steal? the answer is yes. are there chinese who steal? the answer is yes. as such, the phrase madurese thief is not right. stealing exists in every ethnic community. so, they (members) confirmed the madurese stereotype is incorrect. that is a part of the harmonization material in member training). within this forum, smcu promotes the values of trust, openness, and togetherness that have existed in the multiethnic society of pontianak. these values are also manifested in the principles and vision of smcu. by encouraging these principles, smcu runs to manage financial capital collected from the members and further to improve their economic condition. related to their responses on the issues of ethnic tension in pontianak, pak yusuf, convinces; “sekarang kan orang udah dewasa ndak macam dulu. jadi kejadian tu ndak ade pengaruh…kalau karolin yang jadi kite tetap ke laut, kalau pak miji yang jadi kite pun tetap ke laut kan..hahaha. mau siapa pun yang jadi yang penting aman jak.” (nowadays, people are mature. they have not been like this in the past. so, the incident does not influence us. if karoline wins, we maintain fishing and if pak miji wins, we maintain fishing, hahaha… whoever wins the election we expect the peace situation). the response that reflects a resilient attitude to social tension is indirectly tied to his experience as a part of the credit union. for 4 years, he has organized a fisherman group from different ethnic backgrounds (malay, javanese, and chinese). he recognizes that the credit union has provided them interethnic contact, not only through formal meetings, but also through interactions in the fish trading. almost every day, he must interact with people from different ethnic groups like malay and chinese. recognizing the role of the credit union he said, “ya kan kita sebelum menjadi anggota kan dikasih pendidikan dulu. jadi adanya cu ini untuk mensejahterakan masyarakat di lingkungannya. bahkan ada anggota cu yang pergi umroh dengan pinjaman dari cu. malah cu ini semacam syariah dah.” (to become an active member, we are required to participate in membership education. so, the presence of the credit union is to increase the social welfare of the surrounding society. even, there is a member who uses the loan for visiting mecca. i look for a credit union such as shariah islamic law). [ 101 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 through this economic engagement, the members interact without ethnic barriers. moreover, participation in smcu creates progressive economic development and shared values in neighborhood relations. it promotes interethnic cohesion that can be essential in preventing the community from taking part in socio-political tension. interethnic networks in smcu indirectly improve interaction in both formal and informal contact. smcu does not have a specific program for building interethnic solidarity, but obviously, it facilitates the social cohesion naturally. bu dwi (a dayak manager of smcu in wonobaru, pontianak) realizes that the interaction happens intensively. she explains that when the new member brings on two other members as guarantors to apply for a loan. as a personal response to the rising tension in pontianak, she said, “saya ndak ada sangkut pautnya, itu urusan orang yang berpolitik, mungkin tidak puas dengan apa yang diinginkan. yang penting ndak mengganggu kita ya karena kita juga ndak paham apa tujuan mereka. ya saya termasuk orang yang trauma dengan kerusuhan sih, saya korban kerusuhan tahun 1997 kami diungsikan. tapi ya namanya kita adalah lembaga keuangan yang memiliki anggota yang beragam, jadi kita harus netral, agama apapun dia, suku apapun dia. (i am not part of the political business. it is the business of politicians who do not satisfy their expectations. the important thing is that they are not annoying us. we do not understand their goal. i am among those who are traumatized by the 1997 riot. i was a victim. we have to be neutral to the matter of religion or ethnicity because we organize financial institutions whose members are from different backgrounds). participation in credit unions has a significant role in strengthening peace attitudes to express the disapproval of rising conflict. the interaction and contact among different communities in the economic community become an important reason in ways to keep a conducive situation. this means a lot for building community resilience to conflict during the tension in pontianak. it is clear from here that the presence of a credit union affects potential conflict. in the context of rising tension, smcu is an important institution to solidify interethnic relations in facing a potential conflict. it is also an important practice related to the context of west kalimantan that has a record of ethnic conflict in 1997 to 1999 (de jonge & nooteboom, 2006). moreover, multiethnic society in pontianak opens the chance for potential clash and friction along with the emerging ethnic and religious identity politics in west kalimantan (tanasaldy, 2007; prasojo, 2017a). the participation of [ 102 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 smcu members reflects conceptual frameworks and ways to reconstruct the interactive spectrum for the interethnic peace relationship as the counterpractice to avoid the escalation of tension in pontianak. conclusion to see the role of civic engagement in smcu, it is important to consider interethnic relations solidified by social capital that have existed in the context of pontianak society, and further smcu promotes the shared value for building trust and openness among its members. this capital is important to improving civic engagement practiced in economic development. from this practice, social capital and civic engagement are the key conceptions to construct peaceful relations. in short, interethnic relations and peace practiced by smcu members are the results of social capital and civic engagement correlations. this paper shows the important role of a credit union and an economic community to maintaining social cohesion. the main instrument of developing social cohesion for interethnic relations in cu is the economy. beside developing mutual economic relationships among diverse ethnic communities, the credit union improves its role of civic engagement through peace education for its members in formal meetings. in other words, it develops the economic value instead of providing spaces for connecting multiethnic society. the benefits are not only limited to sharing the economic benefit for personal interest, but also to facilitating interethnic relations by creating multiethnic groups to encourage ethnic diversity in neighborhood relationships. bibliography adler, r. p., & goggin, j. 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[ 106 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1414 [ 179 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 wasathiyyah islam as the road to moderatism in indonesia abdurrohman kasdi iain kudus email: abdurrohmankasdi@iainkudus.ac.id abstract the article aims to explore the implementation of al-wasathiyyah concept as a way towards achieving moderatism, as well as to see the discourse of islam and moderation in indonesia. the method is qualitative with religious sociological approach. religious sociological approach is used because the wasathiyyah concept is tightly tied to the religion and society. the results of the research show that wasathiyyah islam has the correlation to ethics and moderate traditions which are considered as a form of virtue. moderate tradition in islam in indonesia includes several aspects of life, including: first, moderate in its thought and movement, which is reflected by the belief that is in line with the nature and ibadah that promotes world prosperity. second, moderate in aqidah that is in line with the fitrah or nature of mankind, including in tolerance, consistence, and balance. third, moderate in practicing islamic teachings that is in accordance with human ability and not burdensome. fourth, moderate in its method (manhaj). fifth, moderate in reform and ijtihad. through wasathiyyah islam, indonesian muslims are accustomed to a set of thoughts, behaviors, and actions that promote the spirit of moderation. moreover, indonesian muslims are willing to consciously let go of their primordial religious bonds in favor of moderation. therefore, waasathiyyah islam is a concrete realization of a socio-political structure that is deeply rooted since the beginning, not a new diction that is used to describe the mindset of a certain group. keyword: wasathiyyah; moderatism; inclusive; muslim society. introduction socio-religious relationship between muslims and non-muslims has been becoming more complex recently. this relationship is not always good. some issues and misunderstandings often occur. oftentimes, this issue creates misunderstanding and conflicts that test the social relationship between muslims and non-muslims. these conflicts also occur between people from different ethnicities, tribes, races, and groups. after observing this phenomenon, it becomes apparent that the wasathiyah islam paradigm is one of the most important school of thought in indonesia. this is in accordance [ 180 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 with the increase in shift towards far left or far right ideals of islam among indonesian muslims. the shift towards the left extreme gives birth to liberalistic and secular movements in religion, while the shift toward the right extreme allows radicalism and strict fundamentalism in religion to appear. the issues faced by muslim society that are caused by radical groups must be addressed immediately. this is the responsibility of all mankind. moderate islam should eradicate radicalism and those who support violence in the name of islam. the concept of wasathiyyah islam is hoped to be the middle path for the issues faced by muslims. bringing islam to the way of wasathiyyah completely is indeed not an easy feat. apart from the persistent spreading of wasathiyah concept, justice must also be actualized. this is indonesia’s chance to show itself as the largest muslim country in the world that is also able to combine moderation, democracy, and global cooperation. this is also the appropriate moment for indonesian muslims to show off islam’s true face and promote it to the whole world. many ulama also agree to uphold wasathiyyah islamic value as a lifestyle individually and collectively, by putting forward the spirit and values of islamic civilization history. they become an important part to show the world that all muslims are practicing the wasathiyyah islam paradigm in all aspects of life. they also commit to help muslim countries and communities to take the initiative to promote wasathiyyah islam paradigm, in the effort to build ummatan wasathan, a just, prosperous, peaceful, inclusive, and harmonious society, based on islamic teachings and morals. the work is based on research project employing qualitative method with religious sociological approach. religious sociological approach is used because the study of al-wasathiyyah concept is tightly related to religion. the basic concept of this sociological perspective concerns the social structure, the construction of human experience, culture, and religion (berger, 1993, p. 1). religious sociological approach used in the research is the one created by emile durkheim. because religion has a very significant social function, it is closely related to historical cultural issues that is part of human nature (durkheim, 1995, p. 62). therefore, according to joachim wach, religion is humanity’s response to wards divine appearance that occurs in men’s religious experience (wach, 1969, p. 10). the research about the implementation of al-wasathiyyah concept and discourse of moderate islam is a research field that may uncover the history of indonesian people’s thought and life. as for the steps taken to perform the research are reinterpretation of the studies about wasathiyyah islam alongside the cultural roots that cause its emergence, as well as examining discourses [ 181 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 of islam and moderation in indonesia. the study is done systematically and objectively by collecting, evaluating, and tasting evidences that support the data and obtaining a strong conclusion. therefore, the study is holistic in nature by placing the object of the research in an integrated construction (muhajir, 1994, p. 13). wasathiyyah paradigm and moderate islam wasathiyyah islam is closely related to the muslim society mentioned in alqur’an as ummatan wasathan. this type of society is able to be the witness of truth for other people (qs. al-baqarah: 143). ummatan wasathan is a society that always maintains its balance, not falling into left extremism or right extremism, and not pulled into radicalism and violence. the word wasathiyyah etymologically can be translated into middle ground and modest. it comes from the arabic word wasatha which means middle. therefore, wasathiyyah means to make something to be in the middle (zakaria, n.d., p. 108). it has similarity with al-tawasuth or al-wasath (moderation), al-qisth (justice), al-tawazun (balance), and al-i’tidal (harmony) (hilmy, 2013, p. 25). meanwhile, in english, it can be translated into moderation, mainstream, intermediacy, middle path, midpoint, reasonable, rational, acceptable, and common (baalbaki & baalbaki, 1999). in short, the term wasathiyyah means “moderate attitude”, by avoiding or reducing extremism in practicing religion (bull, 2010, p. 283). the term has two meanings: avoiding extreme behaviors or expressions and having the tendency to choose the middle path (team kbbi, 2014). al-waath is a method of thinking, interacting, and behaving in a tawazun (balanced) manner in responding to two situations, so that an attitude suitable with islamic principles and society’s traditions is achieved. in other word, a balance between aqidah, ibadah, and akhlaq is struck (hanafi, 2013). the term wasathiyyah also implies justice, which is the key to creating a heterogeneous political society. a just society, which is the main aspiration true muslims trying to actualize, is free of ethnic fanatism, group fanatism, ideological sectarianism, or even religious differences. that’s why the principles of wasathiyah islam is often related to universal religious views, devoid of ideological sectarian barriers. it tends to be more open, tolerant, moderate, and avoid violent methods because it’s motivated by the need to achieve justice and common interest. for that reason, the following ayah illustrates the meaning of ummatan wasatha as khaira ummah (the best ummah) (qs. ali imran: 110). allah created muslim community since the prophet’s era up until now as the best community. however, this praise is not absolute and [ 182 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 permanent. instead, it depends on the people’s willingness to; first, practice wasathiyyah behavior by taking the middle path and being moderat. second, having the spirit and being consistent in carrying out the task of amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (enjoining good and forbidding evil) (rahman, 1979). the significance of ummatan wasathan in the aforementioned ayah is the chosen and just community. in other words, the islamic community is the best in its religion, morals, and deeds. allah has blessed them with wisdom, mercy, rightiousness, and kindnes that are not given to any other people. they become the ummatan wasathan, the perfect community that is just and will become the witness for all mankind in the judgement day. consequently, nearly all tafsir expert state that wasathiyya means the best, the most ideal, the most balanced, and the most proportional (ibnu asyur, 1984). one of the main traits of ummatan wasathan is that they strive to practice moderate islamic values in their life as a believer, a member of the community, and a citizen of the nation. this moderate behavior is the manifestation of the teaching of islam as rahmatan lil ‘alamin; mercy for all creations. the moderate attitude must be preserved to create the best community (ibnu asyur, 2001, p. 268). every islamic community that implements wasathiyyah islam is said to have served humanity (shuhadaa ‘ala an-naas). with wasathiyya islam, all muslim communities will become the best communities along with its civil advancements compared to their predecessors. wasathiyyah islam is interpreted as a school of islam that is accommodating, tolerant, violence-free, and progressive (bakti, 2005). therefore, wasathiyyah islam is the general view of islam itself that is par eclence, without being dichotomized by sectarianistic interests. wasthiyyah islamic attitude is shown by the religious behaviors that avoid violence and extremism. in this context, wasathiyyah islam is analogous with middle path attituted (tawasut) which is neither extremistic nor fanatic in responding to modern issues. the true significance of wasathiyyah is illustrated by the condition of the community at the time prophet muhammad was building madina with madina constitution. the constitution was a document compiled by prophet muhammad saw as a formal agreement between the islam community with other tribes and significant people in yathrib (later known as madina) in 622 ad (serjeant, 1964: 4). the document was compiled as clearly as possible with the goal of putting the conflict between bani ‘aus and bani khazraj in madina to an end. for that reason, the document defined several rights and responsibilities of the muslim, jewish, and pagan communities in madina; uniting them into a single community, also known as ummah in arabic. madina constitution also shows that islam is a religion that brings mercy for all creation. [ 183 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 islam is a religion that brings salvation, and at the same time promotes moderate attitude which is neither excessive (ghuluw) nor reckless and indifferent in practicing its teaching. islam commands us to perform ishlah (improvement and peace) towards mankind, because peace among mankind brings good to the universe (ibnu asyur, 1979: 103). there are also ayahs explaining the concept of brotherhood, understanding among each other, being fair, prohibition towards prejudice, insult, evil, hostility, and forcing one’s will including forcing one’s religion towards others. wasathiyyah islam school of thought and movement has some principles including but not limited to: first, being open minded. this is shown by the tolerant, open attitude that regards other group. islamic teaching has room for everyone so that anyone can see that islam brings good and mercy for all creation. in realizing this principle, islamic teaching contains instructions that are constant (tsawabit) in nature and those that are conditional (mutaghayirat) in accordance with the current condition. second, justice. the core concept of islam is tauhid and justice. justice is the soul of society. ushul fiqh scholars even consider justice as the main goal of sharia (maqashid al-syari’ah). in this context, islam is more than just a formal religion. islam is a great treatise of social transformation, liberation, and challenge for personal interests. all islamic teaching in its essence aims to realize a just society. third, equality. islam is at the front line of the fight to bring equality to mankind. equality describes a condition in which all humans appreciate the commonality of their origin as mankind and commonality in freedom where each of them has reason to think.. equality is a paradigmatic basis in realizing wasathiyyah islam’s vision. one of the main mission of islam is to eradicate social systems that are discriminative and exploitative towards the weak. fourth, tolerance. wasathiyya islam is tolerant and open to differences in vision. this attitude is based on the fact that differences among mankind is a certainty (qs. al-kahfi: 29). in accordance with sunnatullah, differences among mankind will always exist. hence, using force in dakwah towards those with different views, whether in the same religion or not, is not in line with the spirit of mutual respect taught by al-qur’an. fifth, liberation. all religions are in essence aim to bring mankind towards prosperity (li mashalih al-ummat). therefore, religion should be understood productively as a mean of social transformation. any kind of islamic discourse should portray religion as gentle and not frightening. this discourse aims to liberate thought, behavior, and ethics which can form social piousness. therefore, religion should be used as a critical power, not on the contrary, anti-criticism. sixth, humanity. since [ 184 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 its inception, islam shows that its mission is to build a just society that upholds humane values. in wasathiyyah islam view, al-qur’an taught us that mankind in general has been honored by allah swt, without differentiating between religion, ethnicity, race, skin color and so forth (qs. al-isra: 70). seventh, pluralism. as shown by its name, islam is a peaceful and peace loving religion. in this peace framework, al-qur’an views the diversity of religion among mankind as allah’s will, just as prophet muhammad was chosen as one rasul among several that was sent for mankind. the difference in religion is caused by millah differences believed by islam, christianity, and judaism. all those religions come from the same source; god. eighth, non-discrimination. since its inception, islam has firmly opposed oppression, marginalization, and injustice. the exemplary practice of the prophet in madinah who created an agreement on equal rights and responsibilities among different ethnic and religious groups shows equality and non-discrimination. this is a central principle in islamic teaching. through the principle of equality and non-discrimination among different elements of society, the prophet built a societal order that is very modern relative to its era. in certain contexts, the term wasathiyyah is often interpreted as moderatism. however, moderatism itself is difficult to define. it is a highly contested concept both among muslims or non-muslims. people understand this concept in different manners, depending on by whom and in what context it is approached and understood (esposito, 2005: 12). by some group of islam, the term moderatism is used to refer to a religious practice that disallow violence in solving theological issues in islam. because moderatism is relative and can be understood subjectively, it tends to bring controversies and subjective biases (zainuddin & esha, 2016: 63–64). the moderate attitude in religious understanding is a middle path attitude that decisively elaborate religious thoughts that are firmly based on al-qur’an and hadiths, by establishing ijma’ (consensus) of ulama as islamic scientific treasure and consistently performing ijtihad towards humanity’s modern and contemporary issues (huda, 2010: 178–194). muhammad ali states that moderate islam are “those who do not share the hard-line visions and actions” (ali, 2007: 198). he elaborates that moderate islam in indonesia refers to islam communities that put emphasis on normal behavior (tawassuth) in implementing religious teachings that they’re trying to establish; tolerant towards differences in views, avoid violence, prioritize thinking and dialogue as their strategy. they are indonesia’s mainstream islam, even though its strategic movements for modernizing religion and politics are still limited. ideas such as “indigenous islam”, “rational islam”, [ 185 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 progressive islam”, “transformative islam”, “inclusive islam”, and “tolerant islam” that appear since the 70s can be categorized as part of moderate islam models in indonesia. some ideas of islam reactualisation, nationalization, and desacralisation of its cultures, or contextual ijtihad can also be included in this category (ali, 2007: 199). wasathiyyah islam as the road to moderatism islam teaches and takes us to follow allah’s way, by using wise manners, good examples, and dialogues (qs. al-nahl: 125), and by avoiding hostility and hate caused by differences. this is the concept that should have been applied by the best community among all communities of mankind. islam always emphasize the importance of respecting and loving each other without differentiating between believes, and prohibits its believers to force their will, let alone using violence in responding to differences in belief. hence if a muslim hates others because of their religion, therefore that muslim is said to have defied islam’s teaching. wasathiyyah islam is often interpreted as middle path islam that is neither extremely fundamental nor extremely liberal. the motto of this genre of islam is islam rahmatan li al’alamin. wasathiyyah islam first appeared in rasulullah’s era, based on the madinah charter’s articles. the articles can be summarized into five points; first, the relationship between muslims (ukhuwwah baina al-muslimin). second, the relationship between muslims and the jews, nasrani, and sabi’in. third, nationalism and patriotism of muslims and non-muslims to defend the city of madinah from any threat. fourth, being alert of any type of infringements that might damage their unity. fifth, realization of nationalism through security and protection. the fundamental of islamic moderation can be seen during fathu makkah (the liberation of mecca) by rasulullah. he ordered the return of those who had been expelled back to their homes, liberation of an enemy of islam named abu sufyan along with his family, protection of women and children, caring of crops and plants, and prohibition of harassing other religions’ worship house. the liberation, protection, and preservation effort done by rasulullah touched the hearts of abu sufyan, his family, and the citizens of mecca, so that they flock to embrace islam. the model of islam offered by rasulullah as described above is the realization of wasathiyyah islam and shows islam as rahmatan li al-alamin. the method is then used as the basis for dakwah strategy done by wali songo in transmitting islamic teachings in indonesia (sofiuddin, 2018: 30). wasathiyyah islam has close relation to ethics and moderate tradition that is a form of virtue. in this view, behaviors that are based on the middle path (the [ 186 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 golden mean) avoid evil and excessive extreme behavior. moderation tradition in islam is not limited to a certain aspect of life, but instead include all life aspects, neatly structured in all aspects and spread as wide as life itself. among the aspects of moderation tradition in wasathiyah islam are: first, moderate in thought and movement. this can be seen from the belief that is in line with fitrah and ibadah that strives for the prosperity of the world (ibnu asyur, 1979: 23). second, moderate in aqidah. islamic aqidah (creed) is an aqidah that is compatible with the nature of humanity, in tolerance, consistence, balance, and the difficulty level. islamic aqidah is free of the deviation of those who state that allah’s hands are tied; those who state that isa al-masih is allah’s son; and those who deny the existence of the ghaib (al-qaradhawi, 1981, p. 123). third, moderate in practicing islamic teachings. the obligations in islam are suitable with human’s ability and are not burdensome. islamic teachings do not conflict with life needs. there is time for work to fulfill one’s life needs, and there is also time for worship. a leader has the right for privacy while also having to sacrifice himself to lead the people to build the civilization. the moderate attitude in performing islamic teaching can also be seen in the principles of fiqih. for instance, in fiqh there are the principles of al-masaqqah tajlib al-taysir (difficulties demand ease), al-dharurat tubih al-mahdzurat (emergencies permit the forbidden), and istikab akhaf adh-dhararain (in emergency situation, it is allowed to do something forbidden (haram) with the least disadvantage) (al-qaradhawi, 1981: 27). fourth, moderate in method (manhaj). islamic teachings spread to cover all ages and govern all people’s life. the correct view of islam gives birth to the understanding that not all commands in islam have the same level of urgency. some of them are obligatory, and others are optional; some are beneficial to many people, others only benefit the doer; some are comprehensive, others are partial. moderate view dictates us to prioritize obligatory deeds over optional ones; those that benefit many over those with limited benefit; those that are universal over those that are partial. in other word, we should know which one is more important, and then perform and prioritize it over the ones with lower urgency (al-qaradhawi, 1981: 61–62). fifth, moderat attitude in reform and ijtihad. wasathiyyah is the main character of islam because it always connects muslim with their basic principles. their current living condition is not disconnected from their history, and related closely to the history of the pious generations before them. however, the pious generation of the past had only done ijtihad to solve their contemporary issues. therefore, we should not burden them with something that is not their business, which is to solve our current issues. in wasathiyyah islam view, life constantly changes. so, the moderate islam will not isolate itself from its contemporary era and ignore [ 187 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the issues occurring within them. the law must evolve in accordance with the change in situation and condition in every age and region, so that it is always relevant with the sharia of that time without abandoning its correlation with the original law. syaikh al-azhar, also stated that there is a similarity of ethics between islam and moderation tradition. in his view, the similarity lays on the fact that islam is situated in the middle, not excessive and not extreme (al-thayyib, 2018). extremism is forbidden in islam because it is reckless, foolish, and excessive. he further stated that in reality, when someone leave the moderate position and shift towards one extreme, whether it’s liberal or radical, it results in division among islam. therefore, the concept wasathiyyah is urgently needed to be applied to prevent this divide. the wasathiyyah attitude might be the middle line between two opposing extremes. the middle line is claimed to oppose not only radical view in religion, but also the effort to ignore al-qur’an as the main source of law. therefore, the wasathiyyah concept tends to be more tolerant but not too slacked in interpreting the teachings of islam (zainuddin & esha, 2016: 64). the moderation tradition built by wasathiyyah islam can be the solution of the global issues. global unrest, uncertainty, and the accumulation of global damage, worsened by poverty, illiteracy, injustice, discrimination, and many forms of violence, can be stopped with the implementation of wasathiyyah islam. using wasathiyyah islam, muslims can be accustomed to a set of thoughts, behaviors, and actions that emphasize the spirit of moderation, and even willing to consciously let go of the primordial ties of its religion. in other word, wasathiyyah islam is the realization of a socio-political structure that is rooted from the beginning, not a new diction that lately often used to describe the mindset of a certain group. discourses of islam and moderation in indonesia all religions are born as social response. they all come from and struggle with social issues. when religion, which is a holy command of god, develops with social issues in mind, it becomes part of history. history, space, and time are the main tests of a religion’s truth and robustness. the mediums with which the tests are performed are local cultures, new cultures and phenomena, and rationality. the social context of every region has significant role in forming the people’s understanding of moderatism concept. moreover, the development of a concept always evolve with the advancement of the society in which the concept is understood (roff, 1987). as the interpretation of the concept is varied, the framework of the application of moderatism is also varied. various [ 188 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 social, political, and economic conditions forces it to vary. the same thing also applies to the level of moderation or wasathiyyah. however it is still necessary to strive to achieve the perfect islam. from this, we may claim that the transformation of islamic teaching into indonesian socio-cultural context gives birth to indonesian islam that is rich in understanding, interpretation, and appearance. this is in contrast with the condition in arab where islam is so rigid toward tradition, culture, and modernity. on the contrary, indonesian islam becomes flexible toward traditions, culture, or modernity, as long as they are not threatening and destructive toward the essence of islam. this also requires the use of some sort of filter to be able to behave in accommodating but also selective manner. islam in indonesia is tolerant and moderate. the diversity and pluralism in indonesia will always exist by putting importance to unity. in fact, with this condition, indonesia keeps advancing toward a better future.(30) in his most recent visit to indonesia, the vice president of the united states of america, mike pence, praised the modern islam tradition. he also stated that the tradition is very good and inspiring to other nations in the world (liptak, 2017). this shows that the indonesian government has succeeded in promoting the identity of the nation as a good face of islam (umar, 2016: 399–434). this effort should be maintained, considering that indonesia has an important role in global politics. the discourse regarding islamic moderation in indonesia starts to spread among muslim groups after the 1998 reformation (bakti, 2016), and becomes increasingly popular after the bali bombings in 2002 (umar, 2016: 399–434). the discourse encourages indonesian people to be dynamic and active in promoting rationality, developing open mindedness, and prioritizing common interests over the interest of a certain group (sholihan, 2008: 53). islamic moderation in indonesia is proven by the convergence and compromise between islamism, nationalism, and modernism. even though islam is the major religion of indonesia, many islamic figures who were also involved in the fight for independence support the idea of democracy (republic) instead of islamic state. the state still pays attention to the development of religion. even though muslims comprise the majority of indonesian population, the idea of islamic state has always been rejected (yatim, 2010: 271). this acts as a middle path of ijtihad and historic experimentation that does not pit islamism with nationalism. pancasila is a common ground (kalimatun sawa’) to accommodate and protect the ethnic and religious diversity of the very plural nusantaran people. the state always take the middle path and avoid formal religious expression in both domestic and foreign policies, because the state maintain the non-theocratic identity and therefore obliged to reject exclusive [ 189 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 religious factors (rizal sukma, 2010). for indonesia, moderate islam is one that is not extreme or radical, that always prevents violence and avoid hard line in implementing its islam-ness. liberal islam or islamist groups are not considered moderate as long as they don’t choose the path of mercy. therefore, moderate islam can be identified by the following characteristics: behaving in normal (tawassuth) manner in implementing religious teachings, tolerant towards different views, avoid violence, prioritize dialogue, accommodate modern concepts that are beneficial in its substance, think rationally based on the revelation, interpret nash contextually, use ijtihad in interpreting those that are not stated in al-quran or sunnah. moderate islam in indonesia is an implementation of islam that is not excessive, especially in religious practice, supports democracy, pancasila, and nkri (unitary state of the republic of indonesia). therefore, the concept of wasathiyyah islam is very suitable for indonesia because it is the middle path and moderate way. indonesia has even implemented the concept of wasathiyah islam itself. pancasila, uud 1945, nkri, and the motto bhinneka tunggal ika is an implementation of wasathiyyah islam in indonesia. therefore, islamic moderation in indonesia comes from the common realization among muslims instead of enforcement from a ruler or a certain group. with these characteristics, moderate muslims in indonesia are those who behave in tolerant, peaceful, and cooperative manner with other religious groups. this is the merciful characteristic of moderate islam of indonesia, which is more theological in essence, instead of political such as those devised by the united states when interpreting moderate islam (burhani, 2012: 564 – 581). conclusion thinking in wasathiyah manner and behave moderately in accordance with alquran is done by consistently follow the guidance taught by allah through his prophet and transmitted by the pious ulama. the more we obey and submit to allah’s guidance, the more we should become moderate. this is because islamic teaching itself has brought its moderate characteristics since it was given to prophet muhammad. those who follow the moderate teachings consistently are worthy to be called ummatan wasathan (moderate community). with this character, wasathiyyah islam are those who are tolerant, peaceful, and cooperative with those form different religious groups. this is the true nature of indonesian moderate islam, which has more of theological significance than political. islam wasathiyyah for indonesia is islam that is neither extreme nor radical, and do not emphasize on violence or not choose the hard line in implementing [ 190 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 islam. liberal islam group, or islamist group, as long as they do not choose the merciful way, are not considered moderate. therefore, moderate islam is characterized by normal (tawassuth) behavior in implementing religious teachings; tolerance toward differences in views, avoidance of violence, priority towards dialogue, accommodating towards modern concepts that are beneficial in its substance, rational thinking based on revelation, contextual interpretation of nash, and the use of ijtihad in interpreting issues not covered in al-qur’an or sunnah. the implementation of moderate islam in indonesia is an implementation of islam that is not excessive, especially in religious practice, supports democracy, pancasila, and nkri. bibliography al-qaradhawi, y. 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[ 161 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 prophethood in abrahamic traditions: a comparative analysis iymen nazir research scholar, central university of kashmir, india email: iymennazir@cukashmir.ac.in abstract abrahamic religions—judaism, christianity, and islam—are all prophetic religions. these religions share a common lineage of prophets with shared prophets. prophets are the medium of communication between the divine and humanity. although the faiths share the same lineage of prophets, starting with adam, the description of the prophetic institution varies significantly in terms of the prophetic mission, authority, and finality. the paper aims to explore the prophetic mission of the abrahamic religions, the link connecting them on a common platform, and the differences in the understanding of the prophethood in the three faiths. a systematic comparative framework is needed to explore shared roots and distinctive developments. the paper examines the concept of prophethood in the three faiths. it utilizes primary texts alongside secondary scholarship to identify the similarities and differences in the prophetic mission and its legacy, employing a comparative-theological approach. judaism holds its roots in the teachings of moses, christianity in the teachings and resurrection of jesus christ, whereas islam derives from the life and mission of the prophet muhammad. the three religions share a standard list of prophets with significant differences in the concept. it intends to evaluate and draw a comparison of the shared notions and differences between these faiths. keywords: abrahamic faiths; covenant; divine revelation; infallibility; prophethood introduction the three faiths—judaism, christianity, and islam—adhered to the covenant of abram (later called abraham in the biblical context and ibrahim in islam), worshipping one god called by different names, yahweh or elohim, god or lord, and allah, in essence, the same god of all, are abrahamic faiths (peters, 2004, p. 1). jews, christians, and muslims are called the people of the book since the covenant of abraham unites them all, recorded in their divine scriptures. the common link between the abrahamic religions is their chain of prophethood, which started with adam. this shared heritage serves as a unifying force in drawing judaism, christianity, and islam onto a common platform. all three religions reveal their tradition of prophethood from [ 162 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 abraham as their father in faith (rom. 4). the shared legacy draws its roots from the old testament and concludes with the birth of the prophet of islam. the abrahamic religions also have momentous doctrinal differences, notwithstanding these similarities. christianity recognises jesus’ divinity and his role as the saviors, while judaism rejects accepting him as the messiah. islam, on the other hand, regards jesus as a prophet rather than a god or second person of the godhead. despite their differences, all three religions share a common belief in abraham’s importance and covenant with god. islam is similar to judaism and christianity regarding their prophets, books, and acknowledgement of religious truth. prophets are a medium of direct communication between god and human beings. in other words, prophets are individuals to whom god spoke directly and who, in turn, could interact with god in a way that an average person could not (lewis, 2005, p. 3). prophets act as a link between god and people and manifest divine decisions. in his work, sa‘d ibn manṣūr defined a prophet as someone who gives information about the lord without having any human intermediary between him and the lord. it includes the one who receives the word of allah directly or by other means, i.e., an angel, or celestial soul, or intellect from the intellects, and so on (ibn manṣūr, n.d, p. 91-92). all the abrahamic religions have a definite system of the institution of prophethood, ingrained in the belief that god communicates his divine will to humankind through chosen individuals, i.e., prophets. the abrahamic faiths share the concepts of divine revelation and prophethood, which take on distinct potentials in the biblical and islamic frameworks. each faith has its scriptures, prophets, and interpretations, leading to different perspectives on the nature and role of prophets. nonetheless, the central idea of god communicating with humanity through chosen individuals remains a unifying element among these faiths. this belief highlights the significance of prophets as intermediaries between god and humankind, conveying divine guidance and messages to navigate the challenges of their era. in judaism, prophets are regarded as divinely appointed messengers of yahweh who call the people of israel to the covenant of god. the prominent jewish prophets are abraham, moses, isaiah, and jeremiah, who play dominant roles as judges, leaders, visionaries, and elaborate messianic prophecies (deut. 3:10, book of isaiah, and kings). christianity is based on the jewish institution of prophethood (matt. 5:17) but considers jesus christ as the fulfillment of prophecy, the only begotten son of god (john 3:16 and mk. 1:1) and his ultimate revelationthe second person of the godhead. (nicene creed) islam considers prophethood (nubuwwah) as a basis of their faith and prophet [ 163 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 muhammad as the last prophet, enduring the chain of prophets including abraham, moses, and jesus (al-qur’ān 33:40 and 61:6). prophets are supported by the miracles and by god’s consent to confront the challenges of their time. in the case of moses, he was confronted by skilled egyptian magicians. however, through god’s power, moses could perform miracles that surpassed the magicians’ abilities. similarly, jesus’ contemporaries were skilled physicians, and thus jesus raised the dead and cured lepers and those suffering from incurable diseases. the contemporaries of prophet muhammad were talented poets; the qur’ān revealed to muhammad by allah was a literary and linguistic miracle that no other poet could match or surpass. the miraculous nature of the qur’ān served as a testament to the divine origin of the qur’ān and the prophethood of muhammad. prophets generally arise during cultural and economic tension when people feel threatened, deprived, unsure, or ill at ease (s.v. 1984 (22), p. 663). prophets restore humanity to the turbulent society of their day. prophets are endowed with the mission and power of a word not their own but from a divine will, preaching a universal message to the audience. prophets clearly state that whatever they speak is not their manifestation but from their lord for the betterment of humankind. they confirm what was revealed before them and what will be revealed after conveying the message entrusted to them from the lord. thus, the word of god is reverberated in a man’s voice. “the prophet’s theme is, first of all, the very life of a whole people, and his identification lasts more than a moment. he is one not only with what he says; he is involved with his people in what his words foreshadow” (heschel, 1962, p. 6). this paper explores the concept of prophethood as a shared institution among the abrahamic faiths, highlighting their theological commonalities and key doctrinal differences. this paper will employ a qualitative methodology integrating comparative, historical, and theological approaches to examine prophetic institutions in judaism, christianity, and islam. textual and discourse analysis of primary sources—including scriptures and traditional literature like the talmud and hadith—is used to compare the prophetic mission, attributes, and authority. this study ensures theological fidelity and critical engagement from an interdisciplinary perspective by situating each tradition within its socioreligious landscape and drawing on modern scholarship. prophethood in judaism in the biblical tradition, the word “prophet” derives from the greek term [ 164 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 prophētēs, meaning one who speaks on behalf of god. it originates from the hebrew term navi, which comes from the akkadian nabū, meaning “to proclaim” (schwartz, 2011, p. 583). jewish prophethood is based on the belief that god chooses specific individuals to be prophets before birth. the old testament recounts, “before i formed thee in the belly, i knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb i sanctified thee, and i ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (jer. 1:5). the bible mentions various titles for the prophets, such as roeh, meaning seer (1 samuel 9:9), hozeh, also meaning seer (2 samuel 24:1 and amos 7:12-13), and ish ha ‘elohim, meaning man of god or holy man (1 samuel 9:6 and 2 kings 4:9). the prophets serve as direct vessels of divine communication to the people, revealing god’s mercy and establishing his covenant with the israelites. the prophetic writings, which are divinely inspired, manifest the divine and embody the concept of an ever-present, living, and self-determined god, the foundation of the spirit of prophecy (davidson, 1903, p. 78). referred to as men of god (1 samuel 9:6 and 1 kings 12:22), prophets are more closely associated with god than others, illustrating the moral and ethical concerns surrounding the institution of prophethood in judaism. hebrew prophecy aims to uphold yahweh as the eternal, living god, providing spiritual guidance to the chosen nation, specifically, the israelites. consequently, the prophetic mission is spiritually religious, focused on instilling ethical ideals among the people (könig, 1956 (10), p. 387). the jewish prophets condemned social inequalities and injustices faced by the poor and oppressed while rejecting idolatry. their primary concern was the upliftment of ethical covenants, regardless of social class (amos 5:2124). the biblical prophets acted as reformers, advocating for repentance and cautionary measures against idolatry and injustices. the primary purpose of the prophets was to emphasise the fulfilment of the obligations of the mosaic covenant for the spiritual and moral development of the israelites, as well as their faithfulness to divine law. the institution of prophethood in jewish tradition forms the social fabric of israelite society. however, there is a belief that the prophethood was specially reserved for the israelite nation; only israelite prophets were chosen to establish the divine covenant between yahweh and the people. the israelites were specially selected to be the deliverers and depositaries of the revelation. only seven people among the gentiles were deemed prophets, but they held a degree lower than the israelite prophets. the talmud elaborates on the parable of a king. when the king wished to interact with his friend, he lifted the curtain (in case of israelites), but talked to the people behind the curtain (when conversing with gentiles). similarly, the parable of a king having a wife and a concubine. the king visits his wife publicly (in the case of the israelites) [ 165 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 and secretly with his concubine (gentiles). this shows that the judaic system of prophethood holds special love and holiness for the israelites over the gentiles (cohen, 1995, pp. 121-22). moses ben maimon, commonly known as maimonides (1138-1204), a jewish philosopher and a rabbi, discussed the different opinions and levels of prophethood. first, to attain the prophecy, a prophet must have moral perfection, intellectual perfection, and a sound imaginative faculty. it is the capability based on divine selection. secondly, a prophet must have a higher level of human intellect to interact and understand the people best. third, the hierarchy of the prophetic experience is divinely selected. it lays down the importance of divine acceptance and approval for the prophethood (maimonides, 1904, pp. 219-21). a peculiar feature of the judaic and christian notion of prophethood is the recognition of the female prophets. in the judaic tradition, seven prophetesses of the israelite nation were identified namely sarah (gen. 11:29-23:20), deborah (jud. 4 and 5), miriam (ex. 15:20), hannah (1 sam. 1-2), abigail (1 sam. 25), huldah (2 kgs. 22:14), and esther (est. 4) (rodkinson, 1916, p. 36). in judaism, prophetic utterances are the principal experiences of a prophet, denoting a feeling of fellowship with god and a communion with the divine consciousness, as well as sympathy towards the divine pathos. “the prophet’s theme is, first of all, the very life of a whole people, and his identification lasts more than a moment. he is one not only with what he says; he is involved with his people in what his words foreshadow” (heschel, 1962, p. 6). the prophetesses served differently from prophets in the biblical tradition, but their presence marks the importance of gender equality in the prophetic tradition. the jewish prophets are categorised into former and later prophets in the section of the hebrew bible called nevi’im. the former consists of the book of joshua, samuel, and kings, containing the narratives of the journey of the israelites in the promised land, the rise and fall of the kings, the establishment of their monarchy, and the teachings of the pre-classical prophets, including nathan, elijah, and elisha. the themes of the warning, repentance, and the message of hope and restoration are the key concepts of the prophetic books. the later prophets include the 12 minor prophets, including hosea, joel, amos, obadiah, jonah, micah, nahum, habakkuk, zephaniah, haggai, zechariah, and malachi, addressing the issues of social justice, faithfulness to yahweh, and the restoration of israel. the classical period of prophecy, which extended from amos to malachi (9th to 5th century bce), featured prophets from diverse social backgrounds who boldly challenged national leaders and often faced persecution. they used symbolic actions to convey their [ 166 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 messages, emphasising moral integrity over mere ritual observance. though they acknowledged the temple cult, they condemned those who neglected ethical conduct. tradition holds that prophecy ended with haggai, zechariah, and malachi (dan and sherbok, 2004, p. 124). in judaism, the cessation of prophecy was with malachi (mal. 1:1). since then, no new prophet has come to the israelites, and they have been waiting for the messiah for their ethical transformation and salvation. however, they denied the prophethood and messiahship of jesus christ. prophethood in christianity in christianity, a prophet is defined as a “christian who functions within the church, occasionally or regularly, as a divinely called and divinely inspired speaker who receives intelligible and authoritative revelations or messages which he is impelled to deliver publicly, or in oral or written form, to christian individuals and/or the christian community” (hill, 1979, pp. 8-9). christianity follows the judaic system of prophethood, culminating with jesus christ, the only begotten son of god, and an atonement for people’s sins. the basis of prophethood in christianity is rooted in the jewish notion of prophets. however, they regard jewish prophets as the foretellers of jesus christ, the only begotten son of god and second person of godhead. jesus is described as the promised prophet of the old testament, as promised in deuteronomy 18:18, asserted in john 1:45, 5:39, and acts 3:22. jesus christ is not considered just a prophet in christianity; his blood is the remission of the sins of mankind, begotten from adam. in the christian tradition, jesus is considered the greatest prophet (lk. 7:16) in the line of hebrew prophets (acts 3:22). however, his presence is not limited to a prophet only delivering the message of the lord; he acts as a mediator between the lord and the human world by offering himself as an atonement for the sins of mankind. the concept of prophethood shifted in emphasis in christianity. jesus christ is regarded as the ultimate prophet, the son of god, and the messiah. he is seen as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the old testament and bringing a new covenant between god and humanity by his salvation on the cross. the crucifixion on the cross elevated his status beyond prophets and existed before prophets (abraham), according to the christian belief (john 8:58). jesus is considered the foundation of the unity within the church. in the apostolic age, the three characteristic features of jesus’ description are expounded in the work of harnack. firstly, jesus was recognised as the living lord; secondly, the followers of jesus recognized the experience with jesus and the consciousness of the lord; and thirdly, the return of christ, that is, the second coming of [ 167 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 christ, was awaited by jesus’ followers (harnack, 1902, pp. 164-65). according to christian belief, jesus is said to have the same substance (homoousios) as the father. the core belief of christianity is that jesus is fully god and the second person of the godhead, not a created being, but existing since eternity. only then can the son be the true revelation of the father. the son is consubstantial and co-eternal with the father, as established in the council of nicaea. however, there has been a dispute about the person of christ since the first century. the existence of different sects of early jewish christianity raised questions about the person of christ. the ebionites rejected the divinity of jesus and considered him a prophet, whereas docetists considered jesus to be god. another heresy, the alogoi, rejected the concept of the divine logos. the issues jumped and erupted fiercely in the first three centuries and were resolved in various ecumenical councils (priestley, 1871, pp. 11). further, in pseudo-clementine literature, jesus and the early christians are depicted as jewish christians upholding jewish laws and following the rites of baptism. in the writings of clementine homilies, jesus christ is depicted as a true prophet, stressing the commandments of moses (homily 8:6-7). concerning jesus as god, the homilies refuted christ as god but as god’s son since the father is unbegotten and jesus is begotten and cannot be of the same substance. he emphasises that jesus is of the same substance as everyone else, clothed with the breath of god (the clementine homilies, 16:15-16, 252-53). the issue persists in modern times in the writings of critical writers. in the works of weigall, the teachings of jesus were suppressed by the hellenistic wisdom of paul, for he was more concerned with the sacrificial death of christ rather than his earthly teachings. paul preferred the ecstatic picture of the divine christ instead of jesus the man and prophet. paul’s revelation of the sacrificial lamb of god for the remission of the sins of humanity dominated the teachings and the wisdom taught by jesus christ (weigall, 1928, pp. 276-77). in christianity, the prophethood is not limited to the jewish prophets and jesus but extends to the apostles. the apostles were filled with the holy spirit on the day of pentecost (acts 2:4). the second pentecostal blessing was received by all who heard the message (acts 10:44 and 19:6). thus, those people were chosen and endowed with this spiritual gift (1 cor. 14:1). the ongoing prophecy involves the divine guidance, spiritual enlightenment even after the completion of the bible. it is considered one of the everlasting gifts of the holy spirit. the spirit of prophecy is revealed by christ to the apostles when he breathes upon them, allegorically conveying divine vision. the prophetic leadership is confirmed when christ guarantees that the holy spirit will guide them to the truth. their decree to prophesy is conveyed in the knack: “what [ 168 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 you hear in the ear, proclaim from the housetops.” prophets are considered in the book of acts as recognised teachers in the early christian community, and paul includes them among the ministries of the church. according to paul, the minister’s faith is both the basis and the degree of prophetic exclamation (abbott, 1896, pp. 11-12). regarding the ongoing prophecy in christianity, irenaeus, a second-century scholar, asserts that since man was created in god’s image, prophecy is a spiritual gift declared by the apostles (1 cor. 2:6). the people receive the spirit. those who accept that spirit possess spiritual gifts and mysteries of god (saint irenaeus, book v, chapter 6). the verse in the revelation of john states, “then i fell at his feet to worship him. but he said to me, ‘do not do that; i am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of jesus; worship god. for the testimony of jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (rev. 19:10). it emphasizes the essence of the ongoing prophecy centered around the testimony of jesus christ. this statement was used in the early church as the standard criterion for distinguishing between true and false prophets. true prophets exhibited a deep connection with the message of jesus, establishing the discernment for the authenticity of the individuals claiming prophecy (andrews, 1920, p. 940). thus, the prophethood in christianity starts with the hebrew prophets to the birth of a son of god, jesus christ, expelling the original sin of humanity and ongoing prophecy for those having faith in the blood of christ as the remission of sins. prophethood in islam in islam, there is a specific institution of prophethood starting from the judaic and christian prophets and culminating with the birth of the prophet muhammad. the institution of nubuwwah forms the backbone of islamic belief and practices. the arabic word nubuwwah is derived from the root word naba’u, which means news or to announce (ibn manẓūr, 1984a, s.v. “naba’a” p. 162). alternatively, the word risālah is also used. the word risālah is derived from the root word rasala, which means to send or to deliver (ibn manẓūr, 1984 (11), s.v. p. 281). a prophet is someone who has received a revelation from allah and then communicates that revelation to others. he qualifies as a messenger if he is sent to those who disobey allah’s commands to deliver a message from allah to them. a prophet is a messenger when he delivers the unseen message of allah to the people. however, a prophet is not considered a messenger if he is sent as a successor of the former prophets to preach the message proclaimed by them already. every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger (al-ʿizz, 2000, p. 85). in the [ 169 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 works of ibn taymiyyah, prophethood is defined as a mediation between the creator and the creature in conveying his law, an embassy between the king and his servants, and a call from the most merciful to bring them out of darkness into light and transfer them from the narrowness of this world to the spaciousness of this world and the hereafter (ibn taymiyyah, 2000, p. 19). in islam, the chain of the prophethood starts from adam and incorporates all the judaic and christian prophets, culminating with the birth of the last prophet of islam, the prophet muhammad, the seal of the prophets. the qur’ān recognises the prophets of the old and new testaments and names explicitly the 25 prophets, most of whom are shared by all the abrahamic traditions. however, the biblical and islamic narratives differ greatly in narration and emphasis. the role of a prophet is understood in the fact that most people are made in a way that prevents them from understanding their rights and obligations without a mediator confirming allah’s proof (ḥujjah) for his servants in sending the prophets. instead, their capacity is weak, allowing the prophets’ messages to strengthen it, or there are evils among them that can only be stopped by force against their will because they will be held accountable in this life and the next. allah’s grace requires that when certain higher and lower causes come together, he will motivate the most upright individuals to lead them to the truth and beckon them to the right path (dahlawi, 2005, p. 157). without the community’s support, the prophet’s message may struggle to reach others; even if it does, it can be easily distorted. the qur’ān acknowledges this responsibility placed on the prophets, stating that on the day of judgment, the messengers and the people to whom they were sent will be questioned about their actions and interactions (al-qur’ān 7:7). while upholding the duty of a prophet, it is necessary to proclaim the message of god loudly and without compromising the truth (al-qur’ān 5:67 and 15:94) without having any reservation in their minds (al-qur’ān 7:2). thus, a prophet is chosen to convey this divine message to the people. in the works of ibn khaldūn, he highlights the prophets’ efforts in conveying this sacred message. he states that, “god has chosen certain individuals. he honored them by addressing them. he created them so that they might know him. he made them connect the links between himself and his servants. (these individuals) are to acquaint their fellow men with what is good for them and to urge them to let themselves be guided aright. they are to make it their task to keep (their fellow men) out of the fire of hell and to show them the path to salvation. the knowledge that god gave these individuals, and the wonders he manifested through their statements, indicated that there exist things beyond the reach [ 170 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 of man, that can be learned only from god through the mediation of (these individuals), and that (these individuals themselves) cannot know unless god instructs them in them” (ibn khaldūn, 1958, p. 184). the fundamental principle of islam lies in the belief in all the prophets without distinguishing between any of them (al-qur’ān 2:285). the key belief in the institution of prophethood in islam is that the message of all the previous prophets has been distorted, and to renew that message, allah sent down his last prophet in the chain of the people of the book. prophet muhammad is referred to as the khātam al-nabīyīn or khatam al-anbiyā’ (the seal of the prophets) as mentioned in the qur’ān: “muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the messenger of allah and last of the prophets” (al-qur’ān 33:40). in his works, imām qurṭubī (1214-1273) states that all the traditional and contemporary scholars of the ‘ummah agree that the words khātam al-nabīyīn are entirely general (i.e., understood in their apparent meaning). these words demand no prophet after muhammad as a clear textual stipulation. refuting those who interpret the words khātam al-nabīyīn in a manner that runs counter to the finality of prophethood is heresy and a cunning attempt to undermine muslim belief in that concept (al-qurṭubī, 2006 (17), pp. 65-67). thus, the core doctrine of islam is the finality of muhammad being the last of the prophets, and no prophet will follow him. this belief is so essential to islam that to deny the prophets’ finality is to deny the qur’ān. further, the prophets are free from all sorts of sins, whether major or minor, and never worship idols or assign partners to allah. prophets are divinely shielded from disobeying any of the commandments of allah as they are sent on a divine mission. therefore, a muslim’s belief about the prophets is what the qur’ān teaches about their lofty and sublime status. abrahamic faiths: a comparative analysis fundamentally, abrahamic religions believe that god communicates with humanity through prophets. the prophets provide god’s commandments and spiritual direction, and this belief is ingrained in the spiritual teachings of these faiths. although abrahamic religions follow a standard notion of the prophetic institution, they significantly differ in their prophetic descriptions. the significant difference between the biblical and islamic institution of prophethood is the fallibility/ infallibility of prophets. the biblical prophets recognize the high standards and virtues of prophets divinely appointed for yahweh’s mission, but consider them as other individuals capable of making mistakes and committing sins. the case of david having affairs with bathsheba [ 171 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 and arranging the killing of his husband (2 sam. 11), elijah’s fear and doubt and questioning his prophethood (1 kgs. 19), solomon’s worship of foreign god’s (1 kgs. 11), daughters of lot having conceived by her father to continue the lineage (gen. 19: 30-38) and jacob tricking his father issac for receiving the blessing (gen. 27). this flawed nature is due to the potentiality of human imperfect naturethe need for the forgiveness and repentance. christianity strictly adheres to the sinlessness of jesus christ, while other previous prophets were fallible. on the other hand, islam strictly adheres to the infallibility of the prophets from any kind of sin or mistake. the islamic belief of prophethood rejects the israelite narratives of the prophets as fabricated narratives. islamic tradition presents prophets as morally exemplary for the people, divinely protected from every type of major sin. regarding the prophets’ message, the israelite people shared yahweh’s covenant, which was reserved for their nation alone. this covenant was not meant for any other country or tribe. the talmud references where israelite prophets held a more favorable position than non-israelite prophets. on the other hand, christianity shared the universal message of jesus christ for all nations. this message held equal importance to the gentiles as that of the jews. jesus was sent for the universal salvation of all humanity. jesus is seen as the scapegoat for the sins of humanity, and his two advents mark the importance of the fulfillment of jewish prophecies. the suffering and the crucifixion of jesus mark the first advent. the second advent glorifies the power, judgment, establishment of the kingdom of god, and fulfillment of messianic hopes in jesus (martyr, 1930, pp. 79-81). however, the jews reject his messiahship, and his presence is not mentioned in any of his contemporary jewish writings. except in the writings of jewish historian flavius josephus (37-100) in antiquitates iudaicae and tacitus (56-120) in annals, no other jewish writer mentions him. on the contrary, the islamic message of monotheism had a universal appeal upheld by every prophet. the qur’ān stresses the universal messenger of the prophethood that to every nation a prophet was sent (alqur’ān16:36). the prophets’ message in the islamic narrative transcended every race and tribe, and every muslim shared equal reward with god. in the writings of orientalists, the universal message of the prophets was the reason for islam’s success, accepted by all, especially the vulnerable class of society (armstrong, 2001, pp. x-xi). in judaism, yahweh had a special covenant with the israelite people. in contrast, the christian belief holds that a new covenant was established in the blood of jesus, offering redemption for all those who believe in him (lk. 22:20). in the letter to the corinthians, paul expounds on the exceptional splendour of [ 172 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 jesus’ new covenant to the law of moses (2 cor. 3:7-18). the description of jesus changed after the transfiguration event. jesus, at that point in history, is supposed to fulfil all the prophecies of the old testament. the alignment does not concentrate on the suffering of the messiah and the coming glory. this event represents jesus as the splendour of the kingdom of god and his messianic declaration (liefeld, 1974, pp. 178-79). islam rejects all the claims of christians as being distorted. the qur’ān mentions the pledge taken from the prophets to believe in the finality of the prophethood of the prophet muhammad. “and [recall, o people of the scripture], when allah took the covenant of the prophets, [saying], “whatever i give you of the scripture and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and support him.” [allah] said, “have you acknowledged and taken upon that my commitment?” they said, “we have acknowledged it.” he said, “then bear witness, and i am with you among the witnesses” (al-qur’ān 3:81). in abrahamic faiths, different prophets uphold the prime identity according to the tradition’s theological framework. in judaism, moses is considered the foremost prophet for his ability to communicate directly with yahweh for the reception of the torah (ten commandments). further, biblical prophecy began with moses as a prophet, deeply rooted in his close connection with god, performing extraordinary signs and liberating the israelites from egypt. moses was blessed with the ability to perform miracles, such as turning the river nile into blood, parting the sea, and is thus considered a prophet par excellence. moses is portrayed in the bible in three ways. firstly, as a leader for liberating the israelites into a cohesive society. secondly, as a promoter of the religion of yahweh, he revealed his name (yahweh) and introduced them to the new aspect of religion by revealing commandments and laws. thirdly, as a prophet and a law-giver, it was moses who taught the israelites the method of worship, and all the later prophets upheld the law of moses (neile, 1909, pp. 633-34). in christianity, all the prophets preceding jesus christ serve as foretellers of the coming of christ, who existed before all the prophets as the son of god. jesus christ is considered the greatest and foremost prophet in christianity. with the arrival of jesus and his new covenant, all the prophecies of the old testament were fulfilled with the blood of christ. (2 cor. 3:718). the orientation now focused on the suffering of the messiah and the coming glory. the last supper, also called the lord’s supper (matt. 26:2630; mk. 14:22-26; lk. 22:14-20; 1 cor. 11:23-25), holds prime importance in christianity, that is, jesus’ historical reconstruction of the old covenant. it gave rise to the new covenant by the body and blood of jesus for the forgiveness of sins, that is, the atonement of the sins of all who believe in him as predicted [ 173 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 in john (the sacrificial lamb of godjn. 1:29). jesus’ ransom serves as the cornerstone of the new covenant, emphasising harmony and reconciliation for those who observe the lord’s supper. in islam, prophet muhammad, the final and last prophet, culminates the chain of prophethood (al-qur’ān33:40). his teachings surpass the teachings of all the previous prophets. the islamic belief is that the earlier prophets’ writings and teachings cannot be traced back reliably, making it difficult to determine the original teachings. furthermore, the message of prophet muhammad was intended for the entire humanity, unlike earlier prophets who were sent to a specific nation. the life of prophet muhammad is the only prophetic description with complete detailing and written in the light of history (mawdūdī, 2018, pp. 153-58). the abrahamic religions have a peculiar feature: man has been created in the image of god (imago dei). however, this concept differs in the faiths based on the theology and the understanding of the nature of god. judaism draws likeness of man in the image of god based on the divine spirit. the spirit (ruach) breathed into man directly from the divine specifically makes a person a self with the power to determine his actions and control his nature, and above all, an ethical being able to direct himself towards god or move away. in christianity, the original sin damaged the image, and the universal restoration of the image is offered in jesus christ. if any man is in christ, he is a new creature, and the old things have passed away. thus, jesus christ is seen as the image of the invisible god (col. 1:15). the image of god in the sinful man is renewed in the image of jesus christ, with the belief that christ is all and is in all (col. 3:11) (davidson, 1956, pp. 160-63). in islam, the image of god is not explicitly used. it rejects all the anthropomorphic descriptions of god in the verse, “there is nothing like unto him” (al-qur’ān 42:11). however, there are references that allah created adam in his image (ṣaḥīḥ bukhārī 6227 and ṣaḥīḥ muslim 2841). in islam, it refers to man as an honored creation, as man was the last of the creation of allah, and there is no likeness in the essence of man with that of allah. the muḥadithūn have rejected any anthropomorphic comparison of god with man. suggestions and relevance the paper explores the comparative analysis of the prophetic institution in the abrahamic faiths. it holds significant relevance in contemporary times’ changing religious and social contexts. religious misunderstandings, innocent killings, interfaith tensions, global religious issues, and the most recent and ongoing religious tension between nations have impacted the whole world. the recent decade has witnessed countless innocent killings in [ 174 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 the name of faith and political pressure. all are witnessing the global moral vacuum, and there is a need for a renewed and amplified framework of ethical and faith-based guidance. by exploring the theological foundations of the abrahamic religions and the portrayal of their prophetic institution, all of them share the values of justice, truth, compassion, and above all, a shared prophetic legacy. the prophets’ shared ethical teachings, spiritual values, and their shared moral responsibility can foster mutual respect and interfaith understanding among the faiths in times of global tension. this research offers an insightful contribution to the future dialogue among these faiths. awareness of the convergences and divergences in prophetic teachings can assist in removing stereotypes, opening the doors of empathy, and building a platform for addressing contemporary moral and religious challenges. the prophetic model of bringing all the religions to a common platform will lead to the ethical reformation and the peaceful coexistence of the religions. the scope of trialogue is not a new concept in academics. it has been done in the past also, but there is a need for the renewed model to encourage violence-free religious preferences. from an academic viewpoint, the research enriches the developing subjects of comparative religion, theology, and hermeneutics by employing a comprehensive methodological approach that creates avenues for applying traditional theological ideas to contemporary issues, thus connecting the divide between historical religious scholarship and current realities. conclusion all the abrahamic religions—judaism, christianity, and islam—fundamentally believe in the institution of prophethood, in which god speaks to people through prophets as divinely appointed messengers to convey god’s word. this belief forms the foundational doctrine of these religions, deeply rooted in their scriptural teachings. the abrahamic religions are united by their reverence for prophets and their central role in mediating the relationship between god and humanity. however, the significance, nature of the revelation, and understanding of prophethood are interpreted differently in biblical and islamic terms. sharing the common prophets, especially abraham, moses, and others, the role, status, and interpretation of these prophets vary significantly in these faiths. while judaism highlights the role of a prophet as a moral teacher and a reformer for the israelites and the ability to predict future events, convey divine revelation and guidance, prophecy ceased with the destruction of the second temple in 70 ce, marking the end of the biblical era of prophets. christianity, while acknowledging the old testament prophets, considers them as foretellers of the greatest prophet and the son of god, jesus christ, who served as a messiah and a savior of humanity from the destruction [ 175 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 of the original sin by offering himself as a sacrificial lamb, restoring the divine relationship of god and people. he is seen as a universal savior instead of focusing only on jews. on the other hand, islam recognises the biblical chain of prophets and considers them the people of the book, culminating with the prophet muhammad, the final and the seal of all prophets. despite the difference in the interpretation and the understanding of the prophetic mission, all the abrahamic faiths adhere to the belief that god sends divine guidance, upholding the law, and spiritual direction via prophets, focusing on the shared veneration and sacred communication between god and the whole of humanity until the end of the world and the hereafter. all the abrahamic religions share the same roots, tracing back to abraham. history has witnessed the unending conflicts and tensions among the sister religionspolitical, social, territorial, and economic concerns. all the conflicts are deeply rooted in the religious doctrines despite sharing a common lineage. the israel-palestine war, christian-muslim conflicts, israel-iranian conflict, the rising antisemitism and islamophobia in the west have intensified the scope of reconciliation. religion can be a binding force among these faiths, sharing a similar ethical and social message. thus, interfaith dialogue is needed in contemporary times to restore peace and harmony. the renewed efforts are needed for conflict resolution as a mutual responsibility of these faiths. the study is primarily limited to the theological and textual analysis of the canons of the faiths and their understanding of the prophetic institution. although it employs a doctrinal framework, it does not count the sociopolitical dynamics and their impact on the prophetic institution in the changing times and the contemporary reinterpretations. the research prospects can incorporate the ethnographic fieldwork in diverse religious and cultural contexts. the interdisciplinary approach, incorporating theology, sociology, and politics, can reinterpret the prophetic institution to combat the modern-day challenges. bibliography abbott, l. (1896). the prophets of the christian faith. macmillan. abdullah, o. c., & ishak, m. s. h. (2011). commonalities and differences among the abrahamic faiths. journal of islam in asia (e-issn 22898077), 8, 325-343. al-qurṭubī. (2006). al-jāmiʿ li aḥkām al-qur’ān. al-resalah publishers. armstrong, k. (2001). islam: a short history. wiedenfeld and nicolson. [ 176 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 berlin, a. (ed.). (2011). the oxford dictionary of the jewish religion. oxford university press. cohen, a. (1995). everyman’s talmud: the major teachings of the rabbinic sages. schocken books. cohn-sherbok, d., & cohn-sherbok, l. (2004). an encyclopedia of judaism and christianity. darton, longman & todd. dahlawī, s.w. (2005). ḥujjah allah al-bālighah. daraljil. davidson, a. b. (1903). old testament prophecy. t. & t. clark. demichelis, m. (2020). the khatim an-nabiyyin (the seal of the prophets) and its inclusive abrahamic perspective: muhammad and ‘isa ibn maryam in dialogue. religions, 12(1), 4. flavius, j. (2023). the antiquities of the jews. simon and schuster. hastings, j. (ed.). (1956). encyclopaedia of religion and ethics: vol. vii. t. & t. clark. hastings, j., selbie, j. a., lambert, j. c., & mathews, s. (eds.). (1909). dictionary of the bible. c. scribner’s sons. heschel, a. (1962). the prophets. harper & row publishers. hill, d. (1979). new testament prophecy. john knox press. ibn abī al-’izz. (2000). commentary on the creed of at-ṭaḥāwī sharh al›aqidah at-ṭaḥāwiyyah. translated by muhammad ‘abdul-haqq ansari. al-imam muhammad ibn sa’ud islamic university. ibn khaldūn. (1958). the muqaddimah: an introduction to history (franz rosenthal, trans.). routledge & kegan paul. ibn manṣūr, ʿa. (n.d). tanqīh al-abḥāth lil-milal al-thalāth. tehran. ibn manẓūr. (1984). lisān al-‘arab. nashru adab al-ḥawzah. ibn taymiyyah. (2000). kitāb al-nubuwwāt. maktabah azwā’ al-salaf. irenaeus, s., & dillon, j. j. (1992).  st. irenaeus of lyons against the heresies (vol. 1). the newman press. könig, e. (1956). prophecy (hebrew). in j. hastings (ed.). encyclopedia of religion and ethics: vol. 10. t&t clark. kustiadi, u., sani, a. & wildan, f. (2024). comparative study of the concept of prophethood in the holy quran and the deuterocanonical bible. jurnal studi agama, 8(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.19109/jsa.v8i1.21598 [ 177 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3820 lewis, d. (2005). introduction to the prophets. diakonos. longenecker, r. n. (1974). new dimensions in new testament study. zondervan. maimonides, m. (1904). the guide for the perplexed. translated by m. friedlander. 4th ed. e.p. dutton & company. martyr, j. (1930). the dialogue with trypho. translated by a. lukyn williams. the macmillan co. mawdūdī, a.a. (2018). islāmī tahdhīb aur iss kay aṣūl wa mubādī (6th ed.). markazi maktaba islami publishers. mellor, r. (2010). tacitus’ annals. oxford university press. peters, f.e. (2004). the children of abraham: judaism, christianity, islam. princeton university press. priestley, j. (1871). a history of the corruptions of christianity. british and foreign unitarian association. raza, a. a., saeed, a. f. i., & tul kubra, k. (2024). prophethood in the abrahamic faiths: a comparative study of the divine missions and moral teachings of moses (as), jesus (as), and muhammad (pbuh). islamic research journal {ۃودقلا}, 133-126 ,(04)2. rodkinson, m. l. (1916). new edition of the babylonian talmud: vol. 3, 2nd ed. new talmud publishing society. rubin, u. (2017). prophets and prophethood. the wiley blackwell companion to the qur’ān, 248-261. solihu, a. k. h. (2009). revelation and prophethood in the islamic worldview. journal of islam in asia, 6 (1), 167-167. von harnack, a. (1902). what is christianity? sixteen lectures delivered in the university of berlin during the winter term, 1899-1900. g.p. putnam’s sons. weigall, a. e. p. b. (1928). the paganism in our christianity. gp putnam’s sons. yunus, s. (2016). prophets of peace: a comparative study of abrahamic religions. journal of sociology and education, 1(16), 1-20. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 37 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective1 mohamad yusuf department of anthropology, universitas gadjah mada, indonesia email: myusuf@ugm.ac.id abstract this work aims to investigate the preference of the indonesian for a specific type of religious education model, and to provide a theoretical understanding of this preference. in particular, this study aims to answer two research questions: how do indonesian practice mono-religious education model? how should this practice be understood from durkheim’s concept of mechanical solidarity? three models of ethnographical study were conducted to answer the research questions: analysing the state’s law on education, particularly with regard to religious education, in-depth interviews with school’ managers (kepala sekolah) and religious education teachers as well as the students. this study found that indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model, as shown in the state’s laws on education and the practice of religious education in schools. unlike previous studies that mainly describe the practice of certain model of religious education, this study offers conceptual understanding of the practice of religious education by durkheim’s notions of mechanical solidarity. the mono-religious model is a social fact because it consists of the norms and values that are practised by and commonly found in all members of society. comparative studies on the practice of religious education in muslim countries might be needed as this mono-religious education model is a common practice by muslim societies. keywords: education; indonesia; mono-religious; model; solidarity; durkhemian. introduction considering the important role of religion, and particularly religious education, in identity formation in indonesia (hefner ed., 2009; pohl, 2006), there have 1 this article is based on my doctoral thesis, conducted at radboud university nijmegen, the netherlands. the author would like to thank prof. chris hermans and dr. carl sterkens for their gratitude and support during the study. the author is also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments prior to the final version of this paper. despite their priceless commentaries, however, any shortcoming in this study is the author’s responsibility alone. [ 38 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 been attempts from both muslim and secular (together with non-muslim) groups to influence the state’s law-making processes concerning religious education2. on the hand, muslim-majority groups fight for their interests to be accommodated by state laws, including those regarding the national education system. on the other hand, secular and non-muslim groups have enforced the state’s position of impartiality towards all religious communities and attempted to secure it from muslim influence. the first regulation concerning religious education passed after indonesia’s independence was law no. 4/1950, article 20 of which stipulates that “religious education is provided in public schools and parents shall decide whether their children attend such instruction.” several studies (hing, 1995; azra, 2007; raihani, 2014) have investigated that the implementation of law no. 4/1950 was suspended due to political instability. in 1954, the state passed law no. 12/1954 on the implementation of law no. 4/1950 (pernyataan berlakunya undang-undang no. 4/1950), which included additional elucidation of law no. 4/1950. this law clarifies that: “[…] a. whether or not a school provides religious education is determined by the age and the intellectual level of its students; b. mature students have the right to decide whether or not to attend religious education; c. the nature of religious education and its relative proportion in the curriculum should be regulated in a separate act of parliament, relating to different types of schools; d. religious education should not influence the promotion opportunities of a child.” this explanation of article 20 clearly affirms that religious education was an option for students. how was religious education organised? according to the law, the provision of religious education in public schools was entrusted to the ministry of religious affairs – even as the general administration of public schools was handled by the ministry of education and culture (murrray, 1988). for religious education, the ministry of religious affairs prepared materials, curricula, and textbooks for religious education. the elucidation of article 20.2 of law no. 12/54 mentions that “how to organize the teaching of religion in state schools is set in regulations enacted by the ministry of education and culture, together with the ministry of religious affairs.” kelabora (1979) showed that the state presumed that religious education had something to do with religion, and therefore should be managed by the ministry of religious affairs. 2 there were also some muslim groups supported secular groups, but their number were quite small. [ 39 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 the early suharto period, beginning in 1966, was characterised by state attempts to abolish secular and communist ideologies through the use of the pancasila ideology, replacing nasakom (schröter ed., 2010). the only state law concerning religious education enacted in this period was a decree passed by the provisional people’s consultative assembly (majelis permusyawaratan rakyat sementara, or mprs), tap mprs no. xx, mprs/1966, concerning religion, education, and culture. article 1 of the decree holds that “[…] religious education is a subject in schools ranging from elementary schools to public universities.” the decree eliminated the optional character of religious education provided by law no. 4/1950. since then, religious education has been a compulsory subject in public schools. the government replaced law no. 4/1950 with law no. 2/1989 in september 1989. this law introduced three important changes in state policy on religious education. the first concerned the obligation to enforce religious education. according to the 1989 law, religious education should be a compulsory subject for all students, at every study level. while this obligation was first mandated by tap mprs no. xx, mprs/1966, law no. 2/1989 strengthened it, requiring private and non-religious schools to teach religious education. article 39.1.b of law 2/1989 stipulates: “the curriculum content of basic education consists of materials and subjects of pancasila education, religious education, civic education [...]” the second change was that the state acknowledged the existence of religious schools in the national system of education, though it did not provide funding for these schools. article 11.6 stipulates: “[a] religious school is an institution that prepares students to be able to master specific knowledge about their own religion.” the third change is related to the aim of national education, “[…] to develop the intellectual life of the nation and to develop a moral indonesian human being, namely one who believes in and is devoted to the one and only god; people of immaculate character, blessed with knowledge, skills and personality […]” (cf. article 4 law no. 2/1989). hefner (2000, 98) and others scholars like liddle and baswedan (liddle, 2000; baswedan, 2004) have observed that the growing role of muslim power in law-making, particularly in educational system that began in the last 10 years of president suharto’s administration was triggered by at least two connected events. first, christians were replaced by muslims in the state’s bureaucracy, which implied a new composition that would benefit muslim groups in accessing political decision-making processes. second, since the late 1980s, the golkar party – i.e., the government political party – has accommodated muslim intellectuals, such as alumni of the muslim students association (himpunan mahasiswa islam, or hmi). according to hefner (2000) and [ 40 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 liddle (1996), hmi alumni are currently found in all political parties, but golkar is practically dominated and led by them. several studies have attempted to understand the practice of religious education in indonesia post reformasi 1998 from political (eddyono, 2018; sirozi, 2004) historical (suwignyo, 2014; elson, 2009) pedagogical (azra, 2007; qodir, 2018; buchori and malik, 2004), and sociological (pohl, 2006; hefner, 2009; mujiburrahman, 2019) perspectives. few studies, however, have attempted to conceptualise the practice of religious education in indonesia. therefore, this study aims to investigate the practice of religious education in indonesia and to understand this practice from conceptual framework. in particular, this study aims to answer two research questions: how do indonesian practice mono-religious education model? how should this practice be understood from durkheim’s concept of collective solidarity and social fact? before providing answers for the research questions, in the following discussion is introduced two theoretical concepts, namely mono religious education model and mechanical solidarity. the mono-religious education model we describe the mono-religious model of religious education based on its pedagogical aspects (goal, cognitive, affective, attitudinal, and teaching methods), normative basis, and societal context. the goal of the monoreligious model is to construct a religious identity that is in-line with one’s own religion. through this model, students can grow deeper in their faith and in their sense of belonging to a specific religious community. cognitively, the mono-religious model provides students with knowledge of, and insight into, their own religion. although this model focuses primarily on one religion, it does not necessarily imply a complete disregard for other religions. other religions might be discussed, albeit from the perspective of one’s own tradition, and with the aim of affirming that tradition (sterkens, 2001). affectively, the mono-religious model aims at increasing students’ interest and involvement in a particular religion. as for the attitudinal aspect, the mono-religious model is meant to encourage students to accept the values and beliefs of their own religion and live in accordance with their own religious values, and to inculcate students with the motivation to participate in religious practices such as prayer. the monoreligious model is also known as the transmission model, because it aims to transmit a particular religious tradition. according to hermans (2003), ‘transmission’ means an appropriation of religious values, which implies personal interpretation of the meaning of religious tradition in relation [ 41 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 to students’ existing knowledge. the normative basis for this model is the particular religion’s claim to absolute truth. according to sterkens (2001) and hermans (2003) this truth claim has two variations: exclusivism and inclusivism. exclusivism perceives other religions positively only if these other religions show similarities with one’s own religion, as one’s own religion is held to be the only religion that can claim truth (subagya, 2015; jackson, 2016). inclusivism, meanwhile, evaluates other religions positively as long as they display signs of divine revelation; other religions mediate salvation through general grace. according to hermans (2003), the mono-religious model is a traditionalist concept in which religions are seen as self-contained phenomena. each religion has its own rituals, stories, symbols, and customs that are unique. there is no need to contextualise, since context adds nothing to these rituals, stories, and symbols. sterkens (2001) states that one of the weaknesses of the mono-religious model is its lack of recognition of religious plurality. a monoreligious society is a segmented society, one not yet characterised by religious plurality. this model is found in places in which there is social uniformity and unquestioning acceptance of the exclusive truth claims of a certain religion (sterkens, 2001). however, as küng (1991) has indicated, this situation has never existed in a global society. the mechanical solidarity we begin with durkheim‘s concept of society. durkheim offers a concept of analysing how collectivity works in a society, and the extent to which an individual is bound by said society. he studies how a society affects the way that individual persons perceive the world (allan, 2011; jones, 1986). for durkheim, society is not only a group of individuals who occupy a particular geographic location, but an ensemble of ideas resulting from the fusion of individual consciences and the product of individual interactions (jones, 1986: 60). what is interesting in durkheim‘s concept of society is that his emphasis on the role of collectivity makes his approach different from that of other sociologists, such as marx and weber. the role played by social collectivity in a society is influenced by the social relations between individuals, and the kind of moral influence they have over the individual (ceri, 1993: 146). durkheim is considered a social realist because of his belief that society is an objectively real entity that exists independently and autonomously of any particular individual. his notion of objectivity, which underlines the importance of the roles of collective solidarity, has been criticised by other sociologists, such as giddens (1972) [ 42 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 and turner (1993), who perceive durkheim as being anti-individual, leaving no place for the individual or for subjective interpretations of social phenomena. this critique is probably adequate for current modern western society, where there is strong differentiation of tasks and individuals are more autonomous. in contrast, the specialisation of people in indonesian society is less dominant, and individuals are less autonomous. therefore, we think that durkheim’s concepts of objectivity and collective solidarity can help explain the mechanisms of the preference for the mono-religious education model at all levels of indonesian society: students, politicians, school leaders at religiously-affiliated schools, religious communities, and the government. durkheim introduces the concept of ‘social fact’ to analyse society objectively (thomson 1985, p. xiv). he aims to study human behaviour through observable cause-and-effect relationships while eliminating subjective bias. in so doing, durkheim strives to find general laws to measure objectivity in the social sciences that are universally applicable (allan, 2011: 110). his goal is to find commonalities between different societies and their social facts. durkheim defines social facts as “[…] ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside individual consciousness, that are diffused widely within a group, and that exert a coercive power over the activities of individuals, recognizable by the resistance that it offers any individual action that would violate it” (durkheim, 1961: 2). there are two key points in durkheim’s definition of social fact; a fact is perceived as a social fact because it is external to and coercive of the individual. according to jones (1986), durkheim’s concept of social fact is often misunderstood, especially with regard to the externality aspect. indeed, a social fact is sui generis, which means that it is both exterior and interior to individuals. externality, in this case, means interior to individuals other than the individual subject (jones, 1986: 66). the second important characteristic of social facts is their external coercive power. social facts can be recognised by the existence of predetermined legal sanction, or – in the case of moral and religious beliefs – by their reaction to those forms of individual belief and action they perceive as threatening (jones, 1986: 60–61). according to jones, social facts might not be limited to ways of functioning (e.g. acting, thinking, feeling, etc.), but can also be extended to ways of being (jones, 1986: 62). because social facts are a thing, people can never succeed in understanding them except by going outside themselves through observation and experiment. [ 43 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 mono-religious education model as the preference law no. 20/2003 expresses the preference of the indonesian government for a mono-religious model. article 12.1.a of the law stipulates that every student deserves religious education in accordance with his or her own religion, to be imparted by an educator from a similar religious tradition. in fact, law no. 20/2003 uses the word ‘deserve’ [berhak], referring to the student’s rights, which implies an obligation to be fulfilled by the school.3 however, these are not individual rights, but rather the rights of the community. the state demands that students be committed to their own religious communities by holding and practising similar normative. the law clearly indicates that muslim students need only learn islam; christians need only study christianity; and hindu students need only study hinduism. in other words, religious education need not provide an opportunity for students to learn about other religions, come to mutual understanding, or have dialogue with other religious believers. article 2.2 of government regulation no. 55/2007 stipulates that: “religious education aims to develop the abilities of students to comprehend, embrace and practise religious values […]” this article lists three important activities involved in studying religion, namely, to comprehend, to embrace, and to practise religion. to comprehend [memahami] refers to the cognitive aspect of education. to embrace [menghayati, a typical indonesian term] implies the affective aspect of education. to practise [mengamalkan] implies a continuous activity, referring to the attitudinal aspect.4 according to the state, religion should play a role in building the nation. this can only be achieved if students have knowledge about their own religions, embrace their own religions, and practise their own religious rituals. religious values should be the foundation of every individual’s noble, moral character, as seen in each individual’s personal life, family life, and life in society as good citizens, as mandated by ministry of religious affairs regulation [peraturan menteri agama] no. 10/2010 – particularly article 6.c, which states: “the standard formulation of the content of religious education stated in article 5, verse 1 is: (a) to deepen and to broaden students’ knowledge and religious insight; (b) to encourage students to practise their religious learning in daily life; (c) to position religion as the foundation of a noble character in personal life, family life, society, and national life.” 3 the law stipulates: “every student at every education unit deserves to receive religious education in accordance with his or her religion, imparted by a teacher from a similar religious background.” 4 cf. article 6 of ministry of religious education regulation no. 16/2010 concerning the formulation of the content of the religious education curriculum. [ 44 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 religiously-affiliated schools in indonesia predominantly favour a monoreligious model. schools expect students to grow into their own religions. religious education teaches only one religion, with the aim being for each student to interiorise the teachings of his or her own religion and to practise the rituals of that religion. in line with the mono-religious model, religious education is delivered by way of transmission. students are expected to memorise holy scriptures and identify the teachings of their own religions. the curriculum content consists of the teachings, values, and practices of the religion with which each school is related. some religiously-affiliated schools also admit students with different religious backgrounds. this is the case for hindu schools in bali, where hinduism is the majority religion. it is also the case for christian schools in bali, where christians are a minority group. these schools provide mono-religious education for students with other religious backgrounds.5 mono-religious model as a social fact how can one explain this congruence in the preference for the mono-religious model in indonesian society? we will reflect on this finding using durkheim’s notions of mechanical solidarity, consisting of collective solidarity and social fact. the concept of collective solidarity is discussed extensively by durkheim in his division (1964), while the social fact concept is explained in rules (1961). in addition to these two major sources, we employ three authoritative interpretations of durkheim’s works, by jones (1986), allan (2011), and turner (1993). we will focus on three questions: (1) how do individuals and groups within society come to think and act in similar ways? (2) to what extent can the concept of social fact help us understand this congruence in the preference for the mono-religious model in indonesia? (3) what mechanism can explain how certain practices and norms in indonesian society become social fact? how does the concept of social fact explain the preference for the monoreligious model in indonesia? we can understand the mono-religious model as a social fact because it consists of norms and values that are practised by and commonly found in all members of society. in indonesia, there is clear agreement with regard to the practice of religious education by the policymaking body of the state (politicians, government); the educational system of religiously-affiliated schools (school leaders, teachers); and student ideas on religious education. in our research, we did find some differences in the mono-religious model employed at some religiously-affiliated schools, notably 5 this is the case for hindu schools in bali, where hinduism is the majority religion. it is also the case for christian schools in bali, where christians are a minority group. these schools provide mono-religious education for students with other religious backgrounds [ 45 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 where schools introduce students to the teachings of other religions using an outsider’s perspective, or the school provides mono-religious education for students not belonging to the religion with which the school is affiliated. but these differences are within the same social order, or as durkheim says, “within the narrow limit of variation” (jones, 1986). they all practise religious education in such a way that students (should) develop knowledge based on their own religion, are committed to their own religion, and become pious and moral persons based on the teachings of their own religion. from the aforementioned framework, this model of religious education can be understood as a social fact not only because it is accepted by the majority of society or sui generis, but also because of its relationship with two other social facts: (1) the regulation of behaviour, and (2) religious group attachment (allan, 2011; ceri, 1993). first, the obligation to practise the mono-religious model was stipulated by law no. 2/1989, passed by the new order regime in 1989. durkheim defines the state as the agent of sovereign authority and political society (vogt, 1993). according to vogt, durkheim perceives the state as a representation of society’s consciousness, where deliberation takes place regarding the policies with which society needs to comply. the character of the state is determined by the extent to which decision-making is open to and in communication with society. the elucidation of article 39.2 of law no. 2/1989 states that “religious education is an effort to strengthen religious commitment and religious devotion to the one and only god, according to the religion professed by the student […]”. moreover, article 28.2 of this law stipulates that religious education must be taught by a teacher from a similar religious background.6 from our theoretical framework, this law shows a preference for the monoreligious model; it is only regulated in the explanatory part of the law. the current state laws on the national education system – law no. 20/2003 and other regulations – affirm law no. 2/1989, particularly with regard to the obligation to practise the mono-religious model. for instance, the state formulates manuals and curriculum content for the implementation of the mono-religious model to ensure that schools’ practice of the mono-religious model is consistent with state laws. second, when parliament members enacted law no. 20/2003, they represented another social fact – that is, the fact that they were part of their own religious communities. this is illustrated by the fact that the arguments of the parliament members in support of the draft law were very often derived from the teachings of their own religions. their agreement with law no. 20/2003 should also be 6 cf. the elucidation of article 28.2 of law no. 2/1989. [ 46 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 seen as a form of community loyalty. the christian community was in favour of the mono-religious model, but disagreed with islamic parties regarding the need to provide religious education that differed from their christian religious background and to hire teachers from other religions. mulligan and lederman (1977) observe that a certain practice and norm becomes a social fact when it is brought under the governance of rules and imposed by sanction. in our study, both the state and religious communities have established the mono-religious model as a standard for teaching religion, one imposed by sanction and complied by school policies. the state supports schools through funding, curricula, and textbooks, and sends people to observe religious education in the classroom to ensure that the mono-religious model is implemented consistently with state laws. schools, thus, can immediately feel the objective influence of the state on the practice of the mono-religious model. in addition, schools take into account their religious group’s attachments, because these schools belong to certain religious communities. in fact, indonesian religious communities’ vision of religious education is similar to that of the state. sharing the same values as the state in the teaching of religion, they are likely to affirm and strengthen state laws by providing additional time for teaching religion. religiously-affiliated schools will not contradict the social fact of law (the state) and the practice of their religious community to educate the next generation in the teachings and moral character of their own tradition. according to allan (2011) and jones (1986), durkheim distinguishes between material and non-material social fact. in our study, material facts might include the curriculum content and textbooks from the state and from the religious community, as well as the inspections and financial support from both the state and the religious community. school headmasters – who represent the religious community in the school – formulate school policies on religious education through discussions with the state’s apparatus, who inspect the implementation of the mono-religious model. teachers in religious education produce their syllabi within the framework of the mono-religious model based on the state’s curriculum and preferences of their religious community. also, the school conducts examinations, which aim to ensure that students’ knowledge and moral character are in accordance with the objectives set by the state and the religious community. the non-material facts are the normative teachings themselves, as well as the values that are inherent in the mono-religious model. religious education aims to enhance knowledge of their own religion and create pious students [ 47 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 based on the teachings of their own religion to ensure students construct a religious identity based on their own religion. students are expected not only to understand the way religion is practised in accordance with certain normative teachings, but also encouraged to practise religious rituals often. according to durkheim, religious rituals should be repeated in order to reaffirm the collective unity of a society. religious rituals are important in maintaining social cohesion and preventing conflict. religious rituals might serve “[…] to sustain the vitality of [common] beliefs, to keep them from being effaced from memory, and in sum, to revivify the most essential elements of the collective consciousness. through it, the group periodically renews the sentiments which it has of itself and of its unity; at the same time, individuals are strengthened in their social natures” (durkheim, 1965, p. 420). indeed, when schools oblige students to practise religious rituals, this expresses the importance of the fact that students are members of the state and of the religious community. one of the most critical issues for teaching religion in school is the transmission of values. through socialisation processes, schools promote certain normative values to their students and ensures that students appropriate them. students behave in accordance with the directives supported by the school. for students, mono-religious education is a social fact. students do not question, for instance, why they only learn their own religion; why they have to pray before class begins; what the reasons are for certain religious instructions; and what are the meanings of every religious practice (e.g. why do they pray this way, and not the ‘other’ way). for students, the continuous religious education in school practices is a social fact (durkheim, 1961). by which mechanism is this congruence of social facts created? using durkheim’s distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity, we might perceive that religiously-affiliated schools in indonesia, particularly in the practice of religious education, are likely to be considered to belong to the mechanical solidarity model. unlike organic solidarity, where the distinction between social and individual differences produced by the division of labour is obvious, mechanical solidarity is based on likeness. society is characterised by a weak division of labour; or rather, homogeneity, where sentiments and beliefs are shared in common, where individualisation is minimal, and collective thinking is maximal (ceri, 1993). of course, this might only be the case in the matter of religious education; in other issues, there might be different examples. in this type of solidarity, we assume three important characteristics: (1) individuals are related by collective consciousness; (2) people are joined by common beliefs and sentiment; (3) punitive law is applied more often than restitutive law (allan, 2011). [ 48 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 first, individuals are directly related to the collective consciousness. in the mechanical model, society is built on the foundation of shared values, and people are emotionally bound to their society (allan, 2011). individuals are immediately related to the collective consciousness by being part of their group. this is the case when members of parliament produce laws on the national education system. they are directly integrated in the collective consciousness of their own religious community, and they feel obliged to convey the intentions of the religious community in state law. similarly, when a teacher employs the mono-religious model, he or she does it as a part of the collective consciousness of the religious community. teachers perceive the practice of the mono-religious model as being obedience to the norms of the state and of their own religious community. students are also not able to choose a certain model of religious education. they follow the mono-religious model of education and take this model for granted. according to allan (2011), collective consciousness is an important element in the mechanical solidarity model. individual consciousness does exist, of course, but individual consciousnesses are actually very similar to one another (allan, 2011). through the collective consciousness that is created by the state and socialised by religiously-affiliated schools through the mono-religious model of religious education, individuals become aware of themselves being part of a bigger social fact (e.g. a religious community, and the state). for durkheim, the aim of education is to create social beings connected to their society. durkheim sees the education system as a good mechanism for establishing social facts. education is a continuous effort to socialise students’ ways of seeing, feeling, and acting, which do not come spontaneously (thomson, 1985). it may be claimed that educational institutions should allow students to act in freedom and develop themselves as responsible, autonomous persons, but the social facts in indonesia are different. second, individuals are bound by common beliefs and sentiments. people have an emotional sense of something greater than themselves. this feeling is what underlies morality. according to allen, when durkheim discusses morality, he does not refer to something that people might think of as being good. a group is moral if its behaviours, beliefs, feelings, and so forth are controlled by a strong group of norms and are viewed in terms of right and wrong (allan, 2011). in the mechanical solidarity model, people act socially because others do, and because it is moral to do so. while they can always give reasons for their actions – especially social actions – they generally occur because of feelings of [ 49 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 responsibility. it is because, as durkheim believes, human beings are not purely rational. durkheim considers humans to be emotional creatures (durkheim, 1961). according to him, at the heart of morality is a central moral authority that commands the individual to follow the moral instructions of the collective. through this central authority, the individual feels an external constraint to conform to his or her society’s moral code. therefore, for durkheim, obligation is a fundamental element of morality. third, the punishment is punitive, rather than restitutive. the function of punitive law is not to correct; rather, its purpose is expiation, making atonement. punitive law deals with moral outrage and clarifies moral boundaries. in punishing deviances, it aims to draw a clear line that demarks those who are in the group from those who are outside the group. although punishment proceeds from a totally mechanical reaction, from passionate emotions that are largely unconscious, this does not prevent it from playing a useful role. however, this role is not the one that people ordinarily perceive. its real function is to maintain social cohesion by preserving the vitality of the collective solidarity. according to durkheim, regulations are enforced because upholding them is considered a duty. duty means the imposition of behavioural regularity, the adoption of impersonal codes of behaviour. it follows that deviants do not do their duty: they set themselves outside morality (durkhiem, 1961). durkheim analyses the autonomy of will as a function of the moral order, as moral order means duty and duty means obedience to norms. thus, individual autonomy cannot negate duty. individual autonomy should be perceived as voluntary and self-conscious acceptance of duty (ceri, 1993). according to this framework, schools that do not implement the monoreligious model might potentially be socially isolated and experience social resistance as an indirect sanction, even if the state does not execute its powers directly. however, this situation does not exist in indonesia. sterkens (2015) have investigated that even the catholic school that offers a different type of religious education (i.e., uses the inter-religious model) is not considered totally deviant. even though students are not studying their own religion and not growing into their own religious traditions, the fact that teachers do not teach a religion different from the students’ own indicates that the school does not break the law. conclusion this article aimed to answer two research questions: how do indonesian [ 50 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 practice mono-religious education model? how should this practice be understood from durkheim’s concept of collective solidarity and social fact? the results confirm that indonesian society prefers a mono-religious education model. using durkheim’s framework on a mechanical solidarity model, we might argue that mono-religious education is a social fact because it consists of the norms and values that are practised by and commonly found in all members of society. in indonesia, there is clear agreement with regard to the practice of religious education by the policy-making bodies of the state (politicians, government); the educational systems of religiously-affiliated schools (school leaders, teachers); and students’ ideas of religious education. however, the practice of the mono-religious model contradicts the fact that indonesia is a religiously pluralistic country. according to many scholars, the mono-religious model has at least two weaknesses: (1) its recognition of the dynamics of religious interpretation, and (2) its recognition of religious plurality (sterkens, 2001; hermans, 2003; ziebertz, 2007). first, with the mono-religious model there is no need to contextualise, because context does not add anything to the teaching of religion (e.g. rituals, stories, etc.) (sterkens, 2001). in some religious traditions, contextuality in religion is perceived as imperfection and as deviation from mainstream traditions. for instance, ideas of religious purification confirm religious communities’ resistance to new ideas and insights.7 this idea is reflected in the aims of the mono-religious model, where the identity of each new generation is perceived as a repetition of what is considered to be the ‘original’ religious identity. second, with regard to the recognition of religious plurality, the monoreligious model does not provide students with the opportunity to learn about different religions and from other religious believers. students are only able to enhance their knowledge of their own religion while pretending to live in a mono-religious situation that does not actually exist in our global society (küng, 1991). recognition of other religious traditions is a problem for the mono-religious model, as it does not approach other religions in terms of their own self-understanding. other religions are interpreted and evaluated entirely from an outsider’s perspective, i.e. from the seeker’s own frame of reference. there is a possibility that the mono-religious model could lead to ethnocentrism or religiocentrism (anthony et al., 2005). the model runs the risk of strengthening positive in-group attitudes and negative attitudes towards religious out-groups. as predicted by contact theory, a consequence 7 the jargon ‘back to the qur’an and the prophet’s tradition’ leads to the understanding that the only sources of truth are those written in the old traditions. people are imagined to have lived in a ‘golden era’ during the time of the prophet muhammad. 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(2018). multicultural education practices and socio-religious values: the study of trans-dalam community in central kalimantan of indonesia. al-albab, 7(2), 221-236. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v7i2.1102 raihani (2014). creating multicultural citizens: a portrayal of contemporary indonesian education. london, new york: routledge. schröter, s. ed. (2010). christianity in indonesia: perspectives of power. münster: lit. sterkens, c. (2001). interreligious learning: the problem of interreligious dialogue in primary education. leiden: brill. sterkens, c. & anthony, f-v. (2008). a comparative study of religiocentrism among christian, muslim and hindu students in tamil nadu, india. journal of empirical theology, 21(1), 32–67. doi:10.1163/092229308x310731 sterkens, c. & hadiwitanto, h. (2009). from social to religious conflict in ambon: an analysis of the origins of religiously inspired violence. in religion, civil society and conflict in indonesia, edited by carl sterkens, muhammad machasin, and frans wijsen, 61–88. münster: lit. sterkens, c. & yusuf, m. (2015). religious education and the inter-group attitudes of indonesian students. journal of empirical theology, 28(1), 49–89. doi: 10.1163/15709256-12341324 subagya, y.t. (2015). support for ethno-religious violence in indonesia. yogyakarta, nijmegen: universitas sanata dharma and radbound university suwignyo, a. (2014). indonesian national history textbooks after the new order: what’s new under the sun? bijdragen tot de taal, land, en volkenkunde, 170(1), 113-131. turner, s.p. (1993). emile durkheim: sociologist and moralist. london: routledge. vogt, p.w. (1993). durkheim’s sociology of law: morality and the cult of the individual. in emile durkheim: sociologist and moralist, edited by stephen p. turner, london: routledge, p: 69–92. [ 54 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1555 ziebertz, h-g. (2007). a move to multi empirical research concerning the attitudes of youth towards pluralism and religion’s claims of truth. in interreligious learning, edited by didier pollefeyt, leuven paris: dudley ma. p: 3–24. [ 125 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 building pluralist attitude in doing islamic education at hight school and madrasah moh. haitami salim graduate school of the pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract the pluralist attitude is often associated with acknowledging and appreciating ethnic and religious differences which are, in fact, plural. the plurality of ethnicity is a natural process because no one can choose to be born into parents of a certain group. meanwhile the plurality of religion is the result of someone’s choice of faith and is part of the human rights. a person cannot change their ethnicity but it is possible for them to change their religion. nor can religious conversion change a person’s ethnicity, as in the case in west kalimantan where a christian ethnic dayak converts to islam to become a malay, for example. it is why religion and ethnicity are plural, so appreciating and acknowledging the plurality as inevitability is known as a “pluralist” attitude. in islam, especially in the instruction of islamic education at school, or madrasah, pluralist attitude should be extended to include not only the attitude of acknowledging and appreciating ethnic and religious differences, but also the awareness of the existence of variants of the plurality in a religion, ethnicity and even in a family. building a pluralist attitude among people with the same faith and ethnicity is often overlooked, that later led to an attitude of ambiguity, thus being friendly towards people of a different religion or ethnicity, but being hostile when dealing with fellow religious or ethnic members. the phenomenon is clearly visible in the dispute between the followers of sunni and the shi’ite in which the leaders are brothers. to ensure that the instruction of islamic education is able to build a pluralist attitude on learners, we need to start building the ability of teachers to develop the curriculum, prepare the lesson plans, develop contextual learning materials and use varied learning strategies and methods. keywords: instruction of islamic education, pluralist attitude, school, madrasah introduction the indonesian society is known for its rich human and natural resource potential because it has a very high degree of plurality. the plurality of indonesia can be seen from the various religious beliefs, not only the official religions (recognized by the state) but also other beliefs, and even “other religions” (in the statistical term), as well as various ethnic groups, languages, skin colors, [ 126 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 cultures and so forth (moh. haitami salim, 2009: 1). it is a reality that we live in the midst of diversity, particularly in indonesia which is famous for it, ranging from ethnicity, race, national origin, ancestry, religion, language, customs, to the level of education, and social and economic background. as an illustration, indonesia now has a population of more than 200 million, made up of hundreds and even thousands of ethnic groups and more than 525 languages and dialects spreading along approximately 17,800 small and large islands, stretching 5,150 km between the continents of asia and australia, and across the pacific indian and oceans. according to the statistical data collected in 1995, the population of the country based on religion is as follows: muslims, 87.21%; protestants 6.04%; catholics, 3.58%; hindus, 1.83%; buddhists, 1.03%; and animists 0.31%. (moh. haitami salim (a), 21: 25). the diversity of indonesia is a reality that must be accepted as a gift from allah almighty, most wealthy and most perfect. it must also be understood as the will of allah, so that people can get to know each other, compete in virtue and so on. to understand the plurality, either as a gift from or as the way of allah almighty, the children of this nation need good and right insights that should be instilled as early as possible at all levels of education so as to promote a positive attitude toward the plurality of the community. a positive attitude should be able to keep two aspects of interest, that is the faith or belief that should not be sacrificed for the sake of plurality, and the other the plurality itself as a reality of society should not clash with the faith. therefore, the proper mentoring is needed so that the pluralist attitude will not disregard or sacrifice one of the two aspects of interest. effective coaching to build the right pluralist attitude can be done through a formal education process in schools or madrasahs because the process is carried out in a systematic, planned, controlled way, and has adequate supporting facilities. among the subjects relevant for establishing the pluralist attitude is the islamic education. this article will talk about understanding the meaning of plurality, the pluralist attitude, the islamic perspective on plurality and the importance of instilling the pluralist attitudes through the instruction of islamic education, and the instruments needed to instill such attitude. understanding the meaning of plurality and pluralist attitute in social studies, diversity could be a cohesive factor between different groups, and could also be a factor that causes conflict (al qadrie, 2002: 163; barth, 1988; haitami et al., 2007: 2). diversity will be a unifying as long as it is [ 127 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 managed into harmony, without having to force uniformity. however, if these differences cannot be managed properly, it will be become a factor triggers conflict between different groups (moh. haitami salim, 2012). from a religious perspective, diversity is the inevitability which is impossible to reject because it is part of the permanent way of allah. thus, diversity itself is predestined by allah with the intent as a test to the degree of human faith and gratitude for the gifts given by him by turning diversity a competitive capital. in addition, the inevitability of diversity is also a medium for people to study social life so they will get to know one another. this is simply because no human being is perfect, hence the existence of others becomes sine qua non. nurcholis madjid (2000: 159) argued that no society is exactly singular, and one exists, according to the qur’an, it merely exists on the surface and hides the “divided hearts” (qur’an al-hashr (59): 14). the development of science and technology has turned the world into a global village which then results in heterogeneity at the corners of the world, in terms of economic, cultural, ethnic, racial, religious differences. this reality, on the one hand, may encourage interaction, cooperation, accommodation and acculturation between various community groups, but on the other hand, can give rise to tensions and even conflicts between them, because each group at the same time will attempt to preserve its identity, including ideological views on religion (m. atho mudzhar in moh. soleh isre, 2003:1). conceptually, there is primordial plurality (taken for granted) and there is also plurality that arises as the logical consequence of pragmatic choices. primordial plurality is the difference which is already predestined allah upon his creatures. no one can deny the fact of differences such as race, members of certain ethnic groups, nations and, to a certain degree, religions (being plural, religion is taken as a legacy not through conscious and rational choice). meanwhile, pragmatic plurality is the differences that arise later as a consequence of differences in the point of view, interest and group affiliation. when the two come together, the common sense that differences are inevitable will begin to collapse, and then various attempts will be made to exploit the issues of primordiality, such as religion, ethnicity and race, as an instrument to justify certain pragmatic interests (moh. haitami salim, 2012). to avoid misinterpretation, this article needs to define the meaning of pluralist attitude. according to the dictionary of the indonesian language (ministry of national education, 2011), attitude is defined as way doing things based on the formation of opinion or belief, while the word pluralist is derived from the word plural which means diverse (http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/pluralistme, accessed july 1, 2013). so the pluralist attitude in this article is the attitude of [ 128 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 accepting and appreciating differences as the reality of life, both in religion and in the life of a nation. this attitude grows from a basic awareness that besides ourselves there are others who are basically not the same as we are, because of different religions, way of thinking, ethnicity, social status, economic status etc. it is an affirmation of faith plurality is real evidence of the nature of the supreme power of allah. philosophical view of islam on plurality islam as a religion that i (we) believe to have given the number of philosophical guidance, found both in several verses of the quran and the hadith. the first philosophical view; the most fundamental reminder that we, human beings, came from the same origin and type, as allah said in surah ar-rum (30): 20: “and of his signs is that he created you from dust; then, suddenly you were human beings dispersing (throughout the earth)”. also in surah an-nisa ‘ (4):1 allah said, “ o mankind, fear your lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women.” then in surah al-hujurat: 13 “o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of allah is the most righteous of you.” this view will bring awareness to us that all human beings should realize that they are brothers and sisters as they are descended from the same origins. the second philosophical view; with respect to diversity of ethnicity, skin color and language. in surah al-hujurat: 13 above, it is clearly stated that: “. .. and made you peoples and tribes ...”. in surah ar-rum (30): 22 it is explained: “ and of his signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors ...”. the awareness built through the second philosophical view is that plurality is the grace, the power and the will of allah almighty, the creator. it is more assured in other verses as in surah almaidah (5): 48 which goes: “ had allah willed, he would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [he intended] to test you in what he has given you; so race to [all that is] good ... “. similarly, in the hud (11): 118, “ and if your lord had willed, he could have made mankind one community; but they will not cease to differ.” the third philosophical view; the plurality of allah’s creation has positive potential inherent in the sense of the uniting factor, and the negative potential in the sense of the dividing factor. the potential contained in the above verses is to know one another (qs. al-hujurat: 13), to race to [all that is] good (qs. al-maidah (5): 48) and to have disagreement (q.s. hud (11): 118). on which [ 129 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 potential man sees plurality will depend on his understanding of the plurality itself and the tendency of his choice. the fourth philosophical view; the nobleness of a human being in the sight of allah is not determined by the tribe, nation, differences of language and skin colors, but by the level of devotion to allah. in addition to the above verses (qs. al-hujurat:13; al-maidah:48), it is also emphasized in the hadith of the prophet which goes “there is no superiority of an arab over a non-arab except in whoever fears allah the most.” the four philosophical views have indeed undermined the feelings of superiority of ethnicity, race, descent or religion. the islamic values, as indicated above, are not merely normative, but have become empirical exemplified by prophet muhammad in the community of medina and then manifested in the declaration of the charter of medina (moh. haitami salim, 2012 (a): 27-29). the importance of instilling the pluralist attitude in islamic education as discussed above, that the plurality of a nation is a reality and even has become the will of allah almighty. therefore, the pluralist attitude is also an inevitability. this attitude is not something that can appear automatically, but has to go through the process of understanding, coaching, guidance and training and education. similarly, it has been said previously that effective coaching to build a good and true pluralist attitude is through a formal education process in schools or madrasahs since the formal educational process is carried out in a systematic, planned, controlled way and has adequate supporting facilities. among the subjects relevant for establishing such attitude is the instruction of islamic education. the relevance of the cultivation of the pluralist attitude in the islamic education learning can start from the objectives of the education itself, the content of learning materials and strategies, and the methodology that is able to develop the attitude. in addition, the sources of books selected and the instructional media used also serve as an important factor. with regard to the 2013 curriculum that emphasizes on nationalism-based character education, the subject of islamic education is highly relevant to serve as one of the means to build the pluralist attitude, either in schools or madrasahs in each level of education. thus the urgency to build the pluralist attitude through the learning of islamic religious education in schools and madrasah becomes very significant. [ 130 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 instruments needed to establish a pluralist attitude in islamic education the instruments that need to be prepared in an attempt to instill the pluralist attitude through the instruction of islamic education at school and madrasah, are as follows: 1. the availability of educators who understand the learning objectives of islamic education as set forth in the 2013curriculum; 2. lesson plans that are relevant to the character that will be built with regard to the pluralist attitude; 3. the implementation of a learning process that is in accordance with the required instructional steps; 4. the development of learning materials in the context of the plurality of the nation; 5. the availability of the books and instructional media that are relevant to the character of the pluralist attitude to be built; 6. the availability of instruction evaluation tools that emphasize on attitude (affective domain). all of the above instruments should be understood by every educator and carried out in accordance with the lesson plans formulated. closing remarks the fact that indonesia is a plural and multicultural nation should be addressed wisely by its people. otherwise, the plurality will bring great disaster for the country and the people, as it could potentially become a dividing factor that undermines unity the nation. therefore, the pluralist attitude should be taught to the children of this nation since their early childhood. the pluralist attitude will be effective if it is built through a process of formal education in schools and madrasahs in each subject, particularly the islamic education. the 2013 curriculum that emphasizes on character education with nationalism insights is possible to build the pluralist attitude. in addition, it has also provided significant room for the development of instruction, especially on subject of islamic education and civics education. in this context, the teachers as educators have very important duties and responsibilities to carefully and precisely prepare the lesson plans, learning materials that are relevant to the life of plural society, as well as to choose strategies and appropriate learning methods that promote the pluralist attitude, using sources and learning media that support the purpose of the lesson, performing the steps of learning consistently, and conducting the assessment with an emphasis on the affective domain. to carry out all the responsibilities effectively, teachers as educators [ 131 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 should be able understand their professional duties. therefore, hopefully, efforts to increase teachers’ professionalism should be made by various parties continuously. bibliography barth, fredrik (ed). 1988. kelompok etnik dan batasannya. jakarta: ui press.. departemen pendidikan nasional, 2011 kamus besar bahasa indonesia. jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama. gaus af, ahmad. 2006. kekaisan nurchalish madjid dan dinasti-dinasti pluralisme islam kontemporer dalam menembus batas tradisi: menuju masa depan yang membebaskan. jakarta: universitas paramadina dan kompas. salim, moh. haitami, 2009. pluralisme: suatu tinjauan fakta sosial. makalah disampaikan pada seminar naasional membincang pluralisme perspektif agama, sosial dan budaya, diselenggarakan oleh p3m stain pontianak, pada sabtu, 16 mei 2009 di pontianak. tt. ......................................, 2012 (a). ikhtiar membangun kalimantan barat yang maju dan bermartabat, stain press. pontianak ..................................., 2012 (b). mempererat kerukunan etnis dan umat beragama dalam tatanan masyarakat pluralis-multikultur di kalimantan barat, bulan sabit press-pontianak ..................................., 2012 (c). pembauran bangsa dengan penguatan empat pilar kebangsaan dengan mensinergikan peran tri pusat pendidikan, makalah diskusi disampaikan dalam diskusi pembauran kebangsaan pemerintah kota pontianak, 31 oktober 2012. tt. ..................................., dkk. 2012, mengukuhkan kerukunan umat beragama di kalimantan barat. kerjasama fkub kalbar, caireu stain pontianak, kanwil kementerian agama kalbar dan forum peduli ibu pertiwi (fpip) kalbar-pontianak. salim, moh. haitami, eka hendry, dulhadi, 2007. prasangka antar kelompok etnis di kalimantan barat. pontianak: stain press. al-qadrie, syarief i. 2002. factors in ethnic conflict, ethnic edentity and consciousness, and the indications of disintegrative. dalam chaedir s. bamualim dkk. (ed). communal conflicts in contemporary indonesia. konrad adenoauer stiftung dan center for language and culture. jakarta. taher, tarmizi, 1998. menuju ummatan wasathan. jakarta: pusat pengkajian islam dan masyarakat (ppim)-iain jakarta. http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/pluralisme, akses 1 juli 2013 [ 3 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 ‘we are from the same ancestors’: christian-muslim relations in contemporay aceh singkil muhammad ansor state college for islamic studies (stain) zawiyah cot kala langsa abstract the following paper discusses the muslim-christian relations in aceh singkil regency as well as the process of religious identity formation in the context of the debate over the islamic sharia in aceh. first of all i will present the overview of the socio-political context of the regulations of islamic jurisprudence in aceh and the position of non-muslims in such regulations. next, i will trace the impact of the regulations on the format of the muslim-christian relations. based on the goffman theory of dramaturgy, this paper found that muslim-christian relations in singkil were a complex narrative, often opposite between the appearance of the front stageand the backstage. amid suspicions of the majority of the aceh singkil muslims and the local government of the existence of christians, interfaith communities at the grassroots level are precisely trying to build harmony and co-existence. i conclude that the consciousness about the similarities of ethnic origins has so far contributed effectivelyto suppressing the conflict between the two religions in aceh singkil. keywords: ethnicity, muslim-christian relations, aceh singkil introduction aceh singkil is an inalienable land of the society of pakpak suak boang inhabited the majority of pakpak society and other newcomers. the pakpak people living in aceh singkil are mostly muslims, but there are also christians who worship at the pakpak dairi christian protestant church (gkppd). in the daily life of the society, both muslims and christians live side by side in custom events as well as in other forms of social life. they come from the same tribe, pakpak silima suak. the current people’s lives especially the christian community is disturbed by the behavior of a handful of people who are supported by the singkil district government to seal in the church so that it can no longer be used as a place of worship (letter of gkppd to aceh provincial police chief, no. 115/pp/v/2012, dated may 5, 2012). historically, there are two great islamic scholars from this area, namely sheikh abdurrauf singkil and hamza fansury. we don’t know if aceh singkil becomes [ 4 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the target of christianization to weaken the influence of the two scholars so that this place can be used as “the vatican area”. i am sure that singkil becomes the target of the christianization, because geographically this district has a cultural and political border with central tapanuli and sibolga: the centre of christianity in the region. singkil also borders west pakpak dairi, wich also is a christian center. so our problems are very serious. many churches here have given us a blow. (interview with hambalisyah sinaga, chairman of the fpi singkil, january 08, 2013). the above account is one of the portraits of muslim-christian relations in contemporary singkil. there are opposing diametral viewpoints between the two sides in looking at each other. the batak people believe that aceh singkil is their ancestral land, although the majority of the people of batak have now become muslim, and partly christian. batak people think the harmony between muslim and christian communities in aceh singkil have lately been disturbed by the provocation of a group of people who unfortunately had the support of state authorities or local government. on the contrary, the muslims, represented by chairman of the fpi (islamic defenders front) singkil, see christians as a threat because they intended to make the singkil as christian base. the widespread increase of the christian population and the number of churches in singkil are believed to be the indications. but interestingly, despite the above difference, the two groups encounter a sense that “each feels threatened by the other (mujiburrahman, 2008), and the fact the majority of those are aware that they are the same descents (interviewed by rahma, 2013). in contrast to the above narrative which implies tension of relation,the academicconstruction of the relations between muslims and christians in aceh today often shows a relative harmony. safrilsyah, for example,said that muslim-christian relations in aceh are harmonious and the majority of non-muslims are in support of the implementation of islamic sharia in aceh (safrilsyah, 2012). non-muslims were initially worried by the islamic jurisprudence, but after witnessing the implementation, the concerns have now disappeared (marzuki, 2010, p. 165). however, discrimination against christians is obvious. restrictions on the construction of the church, demands that they respect and adapt to the regulation on islamic code of clothing, or restriction of access to justice for non-muslims in the public sphere of education that frequently appear in the mass media proves that the academic construction of christian-muslim relations in aceh are not as simple as expected. social context faced by christians in aceh somehow affects their collective identity formation process. this paper show that the construction of the muslim-christian relations is a [ 5 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 complex dynamics. the focus of the writing is the process of the christianmuslim identity formation in singkil in the context of the debate on contemporary islamic jurisprudence in aceh. i will show that a certain group of mainly muslims in singkil attempts to draw a line between the collective identity of muslim-christian, while the rural community there is struggling to build harmonious relations between different religious communities. to sustain this argument i would use the dramaturgy concept that erving goffman presented (1959) in tracing the dynamics at the front stage and backstage coloring the everyday dynamics between muslims and christians in aceh singkil regency. singkil was chosen as a subject of study for several reasons. first, although it is not a region with the largest christian population, muslim-christian relations in the singkil has been the most dynamic in the last few years. second, the sealing of more than 20 churches in singkil in mid 2012, became a national discussion regarding the relation of islam and christianity indonesia. singkil was noted as a region with the largest number of events of sealing of church conducted simultaneously. third, the phenomenon of the construction ofthe front stage of the muslim-christian relations in this district is in contrast to the everyday situations that occur (back stage) in the community. while most of the elite muslims portray the image of sentiment and suspicion against christians in singkil, muslim-christian grass-roots build harmony and coexistence. in this paper i will elaborate on the conceptual framework used. then, i will present an overview of the implementation of islamic sharia law in aceh as well as the position of non-muslims in the islamic sharia discourse. next i will elaborate the impact of the implementation of islamic jurisprudence with respect to the establishment of the muslim-christian relations in the everyday practice in singkil. this section will elaborate the tension and conflict that have occurred in recent decades. next i will elaborate on the everyday practice of muslims-christians in rural singkil in trying to build a mutual co-existence and harmony. in the end, this paper concludes that due to their common origin, christians and muslims in rural singkil effectively overcame religious conflicts from spreading in the area. theoretical framework it is important to elaborate here the dramaturgy theory of erving goffman used in the following discussion. goffman emphasized that self does not belong to the actor, but rather as a product of the interaction between the actor and the audience dramatically. self is a dramatic effect emerging ... from [ 6 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 a scene presented (goffman, 1959, p. 253). because self is a product of the interaction of dramatic, it is fragile against the chaos that occurs during a play (mitzal, 2001). goffman’s dramaturgy is concerned with the prevention and mitigation of such disturbances. although the set of his discussions focused on dramaturgical contingency, goffman pointed out that most of the play was successful. the result is that in the daily atmosphere, self is staunchly aligned with the play, and he “seemed” to be derived from the showman (ritzer, 2012, pp. 637-638). goffman’s theory of dramaturgy talks about the front stage and the back stage. the front section is part of a play that is generally served in a somewhat formal manner and to define the situation for the people who watched it. goffman argued that since people in general are trying to present an image of themselves that they play which is supposed to be ideal at the front of the stage, inevitably they feel they must conceal various things. the back is the place where facts suppressed in the front part of the stage appear, or various types of informal action can be seen. a back stage is usually inseparable from the frontstage, but also isolate from each other. the actor can expect that there is no audience member can see them in the back stage (ritzer, 2012, pp. 638-642). goffman’s discussion about the front and back stage is likely to have implications that anything ‘hidden’ expresses the real feelings in those who play the role ‘in the front stage.’ giddens (2004, pp. 154-155) said that if the players on stages hide their real self behind masks they wear, the social world would constitute a mere emptiness. giddens offered a way out that the differentiation between the front stage and backstage as a division between the containment (enclosure) aspects of oneself and his disclosure. the back may be a ‘performance on stage’ as happens on a regular life activities and ordinary decency (giddens, 2004, pp. 155-160). while the front stage is the appearance with a scenario, the back stage allows individuals to express themselves as a social agent (p. 160) and to break away from the restrictions that apply on the front stage. as written by geertz (1980), the reality of the world is basically about the drama world with all the applicable rules of the game in it. in he case of muslim-christian relations in singkil, when viewed between the appearance on the front stage, is visible in the way muslims position the christians in the regulation of islamic jurisprudence. in addition, the front stage condition can also be seen from the attitude of the religious social organizations or the elite aceh muslims who encourage restraint of christians. however, according to goffman, stage appearance often is not the actual reality. the actual reality is precisely visible on the back stage. the back stage is the everyday dynamics of both communities at the grassroots level. [ 7 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 goffman (1963, p. 8) affirmed that a search for the dynamics of everyday life in the grassroots level is very useful for understanding the social order in the community. social order for goffman is the consequence of any set of morals that regulates the way in which the person pursues objectives. aceh as the stage for islamic sharia the stage play about aceh has only one ornament: islam. islam has been a core feature of aceh politics and society since at least the twelfth century when archeological evidence at kuta lubhok in aceh besar suggested the existence of an islamic community in the south of capital banda aceh (mckinnon, 2006, p. 30). by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, aceh had attained a period of imperial greatness marked by its political and spiritual dominance in the region. by 1950 it was known as “the intellectual and spiritual center of islam in the malay world” which reached its height in the seventeenth century (syed m. nuguib al-attas in riddell 2006, p. 40). the strategic importance of aceh as the islamic center of southeast asia, indeed as serambi mekkah (the terrace of mecca), during this time, reflected its flourishing reputation for islamic scholarly excellence and the dynamism of doctrinal debates. the latter had tremendous impact on religious groups in aceh and the rest of the region (riddell 2006, pp. 43-49). the dutch occupation of aceh in 1873 shaped what would become aceh’s core identity feature, i.e. an islamic identity based on a passionate and vigorous reaction against non-believers, oppression and colonization. the “holy war of faith” (militant jihad or prang sabil) is resonant in its history. it was first pursued by acehnese sultans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries against the portuguese in melaka, including non-bataks, the ducth from 1873 to 1930s, the japanese from 1941 to 1945, and against javanese oppression starting 1945 to the present (milallos, 2007, p. 292). within an independent indonesia, aceh officially became an autonomous province in 1950. this was abolished in 1951 following mounting political tensions. then aceh governor daud beureu’eh quickly seized the opportunity to launch a darul islam military campaign against the central government (aspinall, 2006, pp. 153-156). the justification for the revolt as jihad (holy war) was two-fold: to establish an over-arching pancasila ideology, and to demonize those who oppose the first objective as enemies and thus are kafir and apostates (aspinall 2006, p. 154). as a response, starting with soekarno’s government and most notably during soeharto’s new order, the military followed sustained counter-insurgency campaigns. this has resulted in aceh’s systematic political and economic retardation, and the strengthening of its [ 8 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 peculiar brand of identity. in 1976, the gerakan aceh merdeka (gam, or the free aceh movement) was born. demands for the establishment of islamic state became synonymous with calls for political independence (milallos, 2007, p. 292). as the great economic crisis that struck asia in 1997-1998, the government of the new order fell and the reformmovement hit indonesia. one of the effects of the reform is the advent of an islamist group, who for more than three decades suffered repression of the new order, then suddenly played an important role in the transition process. in the case of aceh, opening the pandora’s box of democracy had an impact on the rise of the free aceh movement with a militaristic form. during the administration of president megawati, aceh was even made an area of military operations. these political changes had a significant impact on the dynamics of the social life of the people of aceh. jakarta responded to aceh by issuing law no. 44/1999 on aceh special status and its implementation of islamic jurisprudence through the state approach. aceh in the aftermath of the reform underwent fundamental changes in terms of the position of islam as the source of formal setting of the social order. the majority of muslims in aceh believed that the application of islamic sharia in aceh in 2001 was a form of repayment of rights in aceh that had been lost since the colonial era. arskal salim (2008, pp. 156-159) noted that the special status of aceh and the implementation of the islamic jurisprudence followed by the issuance of a number of islamic sharia regulation, have set the establishment of a new institution and social life. this can be seen in the issuance of perda (regional regulation) no. 3/2000 concerning the establishment of a consultative assembly of ulemas (mpu), and law no. 10/2003 on sharia court, law no. 9/2003 on the functional relationship between the mpu and the legislative, executive and other government agencies in aceh. regarding the arrangement of islamic jurisprudence in the community, the government of aceh, among others, issued law no. 11/2002 on the implementation of islamic sharia related to islamic faith, worship and rituals; law no. 12/2003 on prohibition of liquor; law 13/2003 on prohibition of gambling; law no. 14/2003 on prohibition of seclusion; as well as law no. 7/2004 on arrangement of alms. non-muslims in the islamic sharia stage the position of non-muslims in the islamic shari’a regulations in aceh can be traced from the law no. 05/2000 on the implementation of islamic sharia law. the law asserts that “other religions outside of islam will continue to be recognized in this region, their religious teachings can be practiced by their [ 9 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 respective followers” (article 2 (2)). this paragraph normatively recognizes the existence of non-muslims in aceh. they are respected, protected and given the freedom to worship according to the teachings of their religion (marzuki, 2010, pp. 164-165). although the dictum is quite firm, non-muslims have concerns about their position in the islamic sharia in aceh discourse. these concerns are especially associated with equality and justice as citizens who embraced a non-mainstream religion. these concerns are well-grounded considering some of the laws in aceh deal directly with the limitations of their religious rights. at least this can be seen in law no 11/2006 on the governance of aceh. it is mentioned that the construction of a place of worship in aceh requires the permission of the provincial aceh government and the city/regency government (article 127 (4)). this provision is an attempt by the acehnese government to assert its authority over the permit application process. it was anticipated that a law on places of worship would provide more details at the later stage (article 127 (5). the first step towards this occurred in july 2007, when the governor of aceh passed regulation 25/2007 on places of worship. this required applicants for a place of worship to obtain the signatures of at least 150 members and the approval of at least 120 local residents (article 3 (2)) (see. crouch, 2010, pp. 410). the aceh government policies to restrict houses of worship has quite an impact on the dynamics of non-muslim religious life. this rule makes it difficult for them to build houses of worship and their population has increased both because marriage and birth. sometimes, their place of worship was raided because it was considered to have no license. for example, in peunayong banda in mid 2012, the indonesia bethel church (gbi) which wast hought to have no permit was attacked by vigilantes. a similar case also happened to gbi community in langsa. tetsan, caretaker of the gbi langsa told researchers that what the residents accused as a real church was actually not one, but it was a place where they do worship as they do not have a church of their own. the gbi does not intend to build a church in langsa, but only need a place where the gbi congregation can perform worship. table 1: number of places of worship and congregants in aceh place of worship number congregants 1. mosque (muslims) 3.991 4.413.244 2. meunasah (muslims) 7.816 3. church (protestants dan catholics) 154 53.624 [ 10 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 4. vihara (buddhists) 14 7.062 5. temple (confucians) 2 318 source: bps province of aceh, year 2010 another issue facing aceh christians is associated with law no. 11/2002 which regulates the code of dress for muslim women in public places such as schools, government institutions, private or the like. non-muslim women are expected to (sometimes) or required to adjust to the dress code. clothing has lately become one of the significant issues in the format of the muslim-christian relations in aceh. news coverage of the mass media about requirement from officers of the wilayatul hisbah to non-muslim women to wear a hijab became headlines in the print or electronic mass media (jakarta globe march 2013). non-muslim women in langsa, for example, due to fear of raids would wear a hijab or specified dress. their confession as a non-muslim may not necessarily be trusted by the sharia police when they are raided in the middle of the road due to not wearing a hijab. this has resulted in about 50 out of 108 family members affiliated with the hkbp church in langsa wear hijab or at least sometimes wear a hijab on certain occasions. in addition, out of 21 christian female teachers, as many as 16 of them wear headscarves at the school where they work (ansor, 2013). feelings of being discriminated because of islamic jurisprudence are also expressed by the students in public schools. in aceh singkil, norim brutu, a school teacher complained about the absence of teachers who teach the subject of christianity. further, norim brutu said that all non-muslim students got 6 as their passing grade, whereas if they study the subjects of their own religion, it is very likely they will get better grades in the report book (interview with norim brutu, 2013). discrimination in public places was also experienced by yuli, a teacher at a vocational schoolin aceh tamiang. yuli often feels the suspicion of some fellow muslim teachers regarding her teaching strategies that she applies at the school. the english subject that she is teaching is suspected to lessen the students’faith due to the fact that she is a christian (interview with yuli, 2013). in langsa, mayesty, a university student felt that certain lecturers in her campus often discredit her religion when giving a lecture (interview with mayesti, 2013). grace, a student told me that she always thought of finishing school as soon as possible and go to college outside of aceh in order to be freed from situations that place them as second-class citizens just because of her being christian (interview with grace, 2013). other issues that form the relation between muslims and christians are [ 11 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 related to christianization and apostatization. the development of christian populations during the last 14 years for example is believed to be not only due to birth but also because of a religious movement. the issue arose when in 2011 vice governor muhammad nazar in a lecture on religion said that about 20,000 residents of aceh have become non-muslims (www.inilah.com, 2011). nazar’s statement represents a long discourse that develops in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami event; apostatization has always been an issue of discussion in public spaces. the figures mentioned by nazar were unfounded due to the increase of the christian population in aceh, the bps data in 2010 does not show that number. in 1994, the balitang of ministry of religious affairs stated that the non-muslim population in aceh was 51.586 (mubarok, 1994, p. 99), while the 2010 population census showed that the christian population was 53,624 (bps aceh, 2010), in which there was an increase during 14 years of 2,038 people. this growth seems to me as still relatively normal if not sluggish. however, regardless of the accuracy of the data, the issue of religious conversion in aceh has become a crucial conversation that forms tension in the relations between muslims and christians in contemporary aceh. tensions between christians and muslims in aceh singkil aceh singkil lies at the southwestern tip of aceh and is bordered by north sumatra. it is a newly created district of the south aceh district in 1999, and since 2006 aceh singkil district has become subulussalam city. the ethnic groups inhabiting aceh singkil are quite diverse, among others, ethnic aceh, singkil, batak, minangkabau, nias, and some other minor ethnic groups such as javanese, bugis, arabs, and keling (www.acehsingkilkab.go.id). this ethnic diversity is correlated with the diversity of the religious background of its people. aceh singkil districtis, as the second after southeast aceh, is as a region with the largest christian population in aceh. according to the bps aceh 2010, of 53,624 christians living in aceh, southeast aceh has the largest (33,483), followed by the district of aceh singkil (11,461), banda aceh (2,002) and subulussalam (1,496). in addition, the christian population in other districts/ citiesis is a few dozen to hundreds in each district. the percentage of christian population in aceh singkil district is 10 percent of the total residents of singkil, which amounted to 107,781 people (bps singkil, 2012). astia gajah, a caretaker of the gkppd (christian church) at kuta kerangan estimated that the population of christians in aceh singkil is much larger than the official [ 12 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 figures from bps, i.e. 15,000 (interview with astia gajah, 2013). its geographical location bordering north sumatra makes social life, especially regarding muslims and christian relations, in aceh singkil quite dynamic. tension and harmony have been part of the dynamics of religious life of the communities in the area. the tensions between muslims and christian at least can be traced since the case of burning six churches in 1979. it lasted until the early 1980s. the conflict reemerged in 2001 when a number of church burnings took place again five years later (2006). it culminated in 2012 when at least 20 churches were sealed and a church in bener sub-district was attempted to be burnt. church-burning incident in 1979, according to astia gajah–caretaker of kuta karangan church, began with the loss of timber that would be used to build a catholic church in mandumpang. the timber was brought from siatas floated down the river. however, when passing through the village of bulu duri, a muslim majority village, the timber was gone. the loss of this timber was a hot topic among members of the community. the christians suspected that the loss was due to the act of sabotage of the muslims, because it disappeared when passing through the muslim village. however, muslims could not accept the allegations due to lack of evidence (interview with astia gajah, 2013). at that time this area was still part of the area of south aceh district. in local government offices the story about the loss of the timber that would be used to build a church in mandumpang was a hot topic of discussion. it should be noted that the employees of the government offices of the district come from many different religious groups. while the talk was in progress, there was a christian person in the district blaming muslims for the loss of the timber. christians believed that since the village was an area of predominantly muslims, it was impossible for christians to get there to steal the timber. muslims were offended by the remark. while returning home from work, this christian man was intercepted on the road and beaten by vigilantes. he was beaten because muslims thought he was trying to pit christians against muslims. the incident occurred in lipat kijang with muslim majority population (interview with astia gajah, 2013). the beating did not stop there. more incidents of the beating of christians occurred. according to astia gajah, at that time there were christians who were sought after by muslims. “my name was one who was sought to be killed,” he said. the list of names of people sought after includs his name. he said, when a muslim in lipat kajang who knew him read the list, the muslim man said, “we will kill this guy? he is our children’s teacher. what kind of people are we? go home!”astia gajah was widely known in lipat kajang because he [ 13 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 was a teacher in the village. according to him, it is estimated there were 50 christians listed in the search. this event resulted in the majority of christians sought refuge and got out of singkil. they fled to the dairi, sidikilang, sibolga and other places in north sumatra province. the evacuation was necessary because at the same time a number of lists of names of christians were circulating around the area. people who were sought after their families then took refuge (interview with astia gajah, 2013). there was no retaliation from the christians. however, the beating turned into a source of sentiment. a number of churches, both catholic and protestant were burnt. according to astia, there were six churches burnt, four belonging to the protestants and two belonging to the catholics. the protestant churchesburnt were in siatas, gunung meriah, sangga beru, and mandumpang (interview, with astia gajah 2013). the catholic churcheswere those in madumpang and gunung meriah. the church in siatas was completely burnt down. it was no longer usable. before burning the church, people first tore it down. other churches were also in such condition. since the materials were mostly of timber, the church was easily set on fire (interview with norim brutu, 2013). the conflict was later successfully mediated by the governments of aceh and north sumatra. muslims and christians lived side by side again for quite a long period of time. however, the conflict arose again in 2001. the period from 2001 to 2006 was a period of the rise of identity struggle in aceh as islamic territory. in this period, the government began sending the dais (islamic preachers) at the border areas and in villages. this time, the harmony between christians and muslims started to get into trouble again. the village preachers at the border areas began to play a role to include values that later became the seed of hatred towards people of other religions. nevertheless, no conflict occurred during this period. the issue revolved around the instruction of village preachers to muslims not to give the signatures required to build a church. my informant told me that he often heard the preachers at the border areas or the mosque imams saying that giving support to the construction of the church is sinful and contrary to islam. things like this then strengthened in the following years. an example of this was the attempt of burning the church in sangga beru and gunung meriah in 2006 that failed, as the information was quickly responded to. the second attempt occurred on february 19, 2007, or the day after the inauguration of the regent of singkil, makmur syahputra. hartono berutu, a teacher at gunung meriah suspected that the attempt to burn the church was a message that the regent appointed should not be too close to the christians because in the election he got absolute support from [ 14 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the christian voters (interview with hartono berutu, 2013). in 2007, the government of aceh issued gubernatorial regulation (pergub) no. 25/2007 on the guidelines for the establishment of houses of worship. in this regulation, the establishment of houses of worship must include signatures of 150 congregants’ and 120 of the local community members. this rule differs from the pbm (joint ministerial regulation) of 2006 governing the number of signatures required i.e. 50 of the congregants and 60 of the local community. the church management at siatas had to fix the file to get a permit for the renovation of the church, because the files sent contained only 50 signatures of the local community members and 90 of the congregants. however, they felt that there was a change in the attitude among local muslims who were no longer willing to give their signatures after hearing the advice of mosque imam and border area dai who came to preach in their village. the year 2012 was a stressful year for christians and muslims. this year was marked by the establishment of islamic organizations such as fpi (islamic defenders front) and fui (forum of muslims). these organizations even started to enter into the policy makers and peripheries of society. this could be noticed when the local government formed a team to monitor and evaluate churches. this team aims to monitor the development and renovation of each church. the team then showed the data of the increase in the number of churches without a permit and the renovation of several churches, also without a permit. this resulted in islamic organizations taking peaceful action in aceh singkil district. the village preachers called on muslims to join the demonstration. peace action was gaining widespread support from the church monitoring and evaluation team. on may 1st and 3rd the sealing of churches began to take place in singkil. they sealed 16 churches deemed to have permit problems. in fact, on may 2nd, three village chiefs in which there were five churches in their villages sealed and nine churchmen met with the local government to express objections and asked for a dialog on the matter. the local government opened the dialog, regardless of the aspirations of the three village chiefs to stop the act of sealing and permit the churches to perform their activities. on the 3rd of may, the sealing action continued by the monitoring team. the churches that were sealed included gkppd siatas, gkppd kuta tinggi, gkppd tuhtuhen, gkppd dangguren, gkppd biskang, gkppd siompin, gkppd mandumpang, gmii siompin, gmii mandumpang, rk mandumpang, rk napa galuh, rk lae mbalno, rumah ibadah aliran kepercayaan pambi mandumpang, jki kuta karangan, jki lae mbalno, dan hki suka makmur (letter no 115/pp/v/2012). the sealing action still continued into the [ 15 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 following days, making a total of houses of worship sealed off as many as 21. the case of sealing churches in singkil shows that local governments became the dominant actor. the fpi then acting on behalf of the fui (forum of muslims) held a peaceful action on april 30, 2012 in order to enforce its demand to the government to quickly regulate churches. the government who already had a monitoring and evaluation team immediately responded by sealing churches in many locations. the team successfully sealed 16 churches on may 1 and 3, 2012. the police and the ulema consultative assembly (mpu) also became the party that approved the action, or at least allowed it to occur. the local government, the mpu, and the police did not attempt to facilitate a dialog with the church or christians (baqir, 2013, pp. 41-42). other crucial actors includ the dais at the border areas and the village preachers. although not directly involved in the action, their role was considerable in sowing views that resulted in the emergence of the distance in the relation between muslims and christians. this role appears in the message to muslims not to give permission if asked to approve church construction. other role was to encourage muslims to participate in demonstrations against the houses of worship (church). the role of these actors could be noticed because before they were stationed at their respective posts, relations between muslims and christians was harmonious (baqir, 2013, pp. 42). mediation and religious elite harmony pledge mediation is an important position in the process of resolving conflicts between believers in aceh singkil district. with regard to conflicts of 1979, on july 11, the two sides signed a joint statement which consisted of the following agreement: (1) muslims and christians in the area of simpang kanan shall guarantee public order, security and stability of the region and the realization of harmony of religion; (2) requesting the government that the perpetrators of the disturbances of order and security from both the muslim and christian sides to be dealt with according to law; (3) construction/repairing of churches and other related matters shall not be carried out before a permit from the government of south aceh district is obtained–this is in accordance with the joint decision of the minister of religious affairs and minister of home affairs no. 1/1969; (4) violations of the points mentioned above shall be dealt with according to applicable law; (5) no visits from pastors or priests or clerics from the outside who give lecture/training/sacraments to people in the simpang kanan sub-district unless with a permit from the local government (document of joint statement, 1979). [ 16 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 to strengthen the joint statement, on 13 october 1989, the local government facilitated the two sides to sign the pledge of harmony in an effort to build understanding and to resolve conflict between each other. each side wrote down their pledge. the christians had 11 points of pledge and muslims wrote down 8. the pledge in principle contains five major points that include rules on religious proselytization, foreign aid, houses of worship (construction and renovation), keeping order by not triggering conflict and incitement, and eliminating things that could cause religious sentiment. in the pledge, muslims help regulate mass action of muslims so that similar incidents do not reocur (pledge of harmony, 2013). norim brutu, one of the curial teachers in siatas said: “the agreement stated that christians shall not build worship houses, bring evangelists from outside, and the only christian house of worship allowed is the church of kuta kerangan at simpang kanan sub-district. and as the tolerance of muslims, the christians are given four undung-undung (a kind of small mosque). the undung-undung were for a few places only, i.e. gunung meriah (gkppd gunung meriah, gunung meriah sub-district), di kerras (gkppd kerras, suro sub-district), in sosor (gkppd sosor), and in biskang (gkppd biskang) (interview with norim brutu, 2013).” this agreement lasted long enough. a prominent conflict between muslims and christians had not emerged until 2001. in 2001, the gkppd church kuta karangan conducted some renovations. astia gajah said that the increase of the number of congregants required the gkppd church kuta karangan to be renovated. they had communicated orally with regent makmur syahputra to ask for permission of the renovation. but this renovation was considered to have violated the agreement in a joint statement and harmony pledge in 1979. the muspida and islamic figures had a meeting without involving the christians. they had objected to the renovation. the christian figures were disappointed because they were not involved in the meeting, particularly when the issue was about the church. the results of that meeting were then communicated to the christian people in the form a decision. tensions then reappeared. norim brutu said that christians signed the 2001 deal under pressure. one informant said, “we feared for our lives, so we signed the agreement.” the discussion above shows that the role of key actors in the construction of houses of worship in aceh singkil district is very important. they always respond to the tension with dialog. the meetings between the parties are always aimed to obtain the best solution for each party. the government [ 17 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 facilitates meetings between representatives of muslims and christians to look for solutions and agreements. they turn the agreement into the form of a statement, pledge, and written deal. this kind of agreement can effectively quell the potential of violence (baqir, 2013, pp. 42). openness of dialog is an interesting phenomenon in the settlement of muslimchristian tension in singkil. when referring to the church-burning cases which occurred in 1979, the dialog was done to quell the violence. after the situation was conducive that same year, muslims and christians facilitated by the local government made a pledge of harmony in an effort to build mutual understanding and not to incite conflict. a joint statement and pledge of harmony was a form of mediation which, in the long run, can reduce religious conflicts in aceh singkil district. since 1979 until 2001 there had not been a single case of church burning. new tensions arose in 2001, when the christians intended to renovate the church gkppd kuta karangan. muslims argued that the renovation had violated the agreement in a joint statement and pledge of harmony in 1979 (the baqir, 2013, pp. 48-49.). to anticipate the impact of tensions, again a meeting was held to make arrangements between muslims and christians which was better known as the mutual agreement on october 11, 2001). this agreement contained five points that strengthened an agreement made in 1979. similarly, when there was violence in 2012, the muslims and the christians returned to dialog to resolve the problems. something that ought to be appreciated is that the christians preferred to have dialog, meet with the governor and send an objection letter to the government, rather than other possible steps that would add to the tension. in addition to the concern, baqir referred to the church conflicts in singkil as providing a message about the importance and significance of mediation and dialogue in resolving the problem (baqir, 2013, p. 49). ‘we are from the same ancestors’ although the muslim-christian relations in singkil have often been tinged with conflict and tension, locals never fell for it. in contrast, the relations between christians and muslims in religious life in the countryside are harmonious and peaceful. in this section i will present ethnographic notes concerning the life of everyday life in three villages namely kuta karangan, pandan sari and siatas. kuta karangn has almost one hundred percent christian population while its neighbor, pandan sari, the entire population is muslim. these two villages were previous one village but later was separated due to the creation of a new district. as for the muslim majority village, siatas, christian population reaches one-third of the total. while kuta karangan where the gkppd [ 18 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 church is located, is the only church that the local government recognizes in singkil. as for the village of siatas, gkppd church siatas grabbed the most spotlight due to the resistance of the citizens during church sealing activities conducted by the monitoring and evaluation team of singkil in 2012. although the majority of the inhabitants of the village of kuta karangan is muslim, in the everyday life of the cooperation between the two communities runs harmoniously. this is visible from the social interaction between the two communities in various dimensions of life, such as gotong-royong, transaction services, celebration of marriage, and so forth. when i came to the home of astia gajah, one of the curial teachers in kuta karangan, he is working on building a home. he said that the home was prepared for his children. all four people working on his home, the builders, were all muslim, and came from the neighboring village, pandan sari. according to astia, the village, formerly pandan sari and kuta karangan were the same village. cooperation between muslims and christians in singkil is also visible from the process of the church construction. norim brutu recounted that the builders who are currently working to build and renovate the gkppd church come from the village of muslim majority, siatas. in this construction process, cooperation-between muslims and christians in the singkil is not hampered by the different religious restrictions. search for builders or architects, according to norim brutu, focuses the persons who can work professionally in accordance with the requirements of the job, not based on religious background. similar things also happen when people share a mutual-home development to help other villagers. it is the custom of the villagers in siatas, pertabas, pandan sari, and kuta karangan or other places in singkil in which the people share work to help residents build their homes. mutual cooperation in building homes is done jointly involving muslim communities, without being restricted by religion. wedding is one of the social processes that allows the encounter of people from different backgrounds. during a wedding reception, the community members in the villages invite each other although they have different religion. each group always respects the values and social codes that apply in each religion. when the wedding reception is held by a christian family, the host specifically provides food in boxes ordered from a muslim restaurant. this is to respect the muslims who have particular obstacles when eating food cooked bythe christian family. astia gajah said: “we invite each other and come to each other’s wedding party. if there are muslim guests, we prepare catering, special box provided with rice [ 19 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 inside for them. it has generally been accepted. if someone has muslim relative, they will take food from the caterer. the food is also prepared for muslim neighbors. in this village, it is no longer the issue. this is our neighboring village, pandan sari. all are muslims. we can work together. i’m building a new home and all the workers are muslims. there is no problem for us. i never look for christian men only when searching for workers. our mutual goal is also the same, it makes no difference. here, the issue of religion is no problem for us in our daily socialization” (interviewed with rahma, 2013). food so far is in fact a form of muslim-christian relation format in aceh singkil district. similarly elsewhere, halal foods for muslims have different definitions and values according to christians. some muslims think that they may not eat food cooked by christians. adlin, an administrator of the fkub singkil and ex-member of singkil dprk (district house of representatives), said that he is always careful in choosing foods provided by christians. but he also never rejected certain types of foods that are served by christians. adlin further said that during his working visit to a church at kuta karangan, he was served with durian and mineral water. for adlin, eating durian or drinking mineral water provided by christian is not prohibited, since the food is wrapped. similarly, the attitude of the church which provided mineral drink and durian, not tea or coffee which is very common among the people of singkil to serve guests, was also done based on consideration of the difference in understanding of each group in defining halal food. i am going to write down my experience while doing interviews at the home of astia gajah. i came to his house at 10 am and finished the discussion at 1:30. we had discussion in a gazebo in his yard. during the discussion astia did not serve drinks. in fact this is the second time i interviewed him and during this time, i had mineral drink. when lunch time came, astia was careful enough to offer me lunch at his home before i went on a trip to meet the other informants. in order not to break the ice, i said to astia that i am used to the interaction between muslims and non-muslims, including food. i said, in islam there are people who are selective in matter of food served by non-muslims, but i am not like them. upon hearing my answer, astia invited me to get into the house, and his family then prepared lunch. astia told me about his brother who was unwilling to eat food or drink that he had prepared because he has converted to islam. however, according to him, many muslims who came to his house would welcome the food that was served by his family. anita, a resident in the village of siatas admitted that she took it easy when it comes to the difference of food and beverages [ 20 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 between muslims and christians. she admitted it is haram for example to eat pork for muslims. however, she believed when he drops by to a neighboring house belonging to christians, surely they will not serve food that is haram to muslims. both communities understand the limits that they learn from their respective faith, and seek to actualize those limits in social interaction in society despite different religions. rahma, for example ask me if muslims are allowed to enter the church when invited to attend a wedding of a relative or neighbor who is christian. she said she always attended the ceremony, since attending an invitation is required in islam. rahma heard an imam at the mosque say that it is forbidden for muslims to enter a church. she asked what if the bride is her sister whose religion is different from hers. christians hold weddings in the church. rahma continued, she went into church not convert to another religion, but merely to honor her sister’s wedding. she further said that the community members here attended wedding ceremonies in the church even though they are muslims. however, people became confused when the mosque imam banned them from entering the church. the above case shows the complexity of muslim-christian relations at the grassroots level. basically they have no barriers to interacting even though they embrace different religions. therefore, the villagers that i interviewed said that they were concerned over the disaster that befell their relatives and neighbors especially when their churches were sealed. they could not believe that people from outside came to their village to seal the church. rahma said, when the church in siatas was being sealed, she could not witness the incident, because she just could not see her relatives to lose their right to worship. in our discussion, rahma said: “problems like this are in fact should be communicated to the muslims. if you go to see the non-muslims, they will not say what i said because they are afraid of telling the truth. if you get there later, write and convey to the government there, please let them build the church and give them freedom of religion, because it doesn’t bother us, the muslims. we want to live in harmony and side by side. what we say is what they really want to say. this is their goal. we are brothers and sisters, though different religions, our ancestors were the same. maybe they did not dare to tell the truth like this, so we are here to help them to say what they want to say. spread the words that the community and village figures in siatas want their aspirations fulfilled. please allow the christians to build the church. our message is to convey to the central government, not only to the district or the provincial.” [ 21 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the narrative of the communities in the villages regarding muslim-christian relations in aceh singkil district is often contrary to the construction of the elites. meanwhile, the elite community members of aceh singkil try to draw a line of demarcation that separates collective identity between the muslims and the christians, as well as separating them in the space of social interaction; on the contrary, the communities in rural areas show the opposite attitude. instead of questioning their religious differences, muslims and christians in these areas are more concerned with how their fellow citizens can interact harmoniously in everyday life. rahma was quoted as saying, “as we did not want to be banned to worship in the mosque, we also should not ban them from worshipping in the church”. conclusion the above discussion reveals that discrimination, tension and harmony often tinge social relations between muslims and christians in aceh singkil district. discrimination against non-muslims, among others, triggered by the efforts of the elite of society and local governments in aceh who are doing whatever they can to make islam the only collective identity in the terrace of mecca. non-muslims, especially christians, are placed as citizens who have limited access in showing their collective identity in public spaces. however, on the other hand the fact that the aceh communities in singkil have various background cannot be challenged. because of this, social relations between religions and collective identity formation of the christian and muslim communities are complex and dynamic. muslim-christian relations format in the debate over the islamic jurisprudence in aceh singkil displayed by the elite of society especially muslims in aceh singkil district, in some respects, the everyday dynamics, are in contrast with the rality in the community. while the elites are trying to draw a separating line, the communities have done their best to live in harmony. while the elites are concerned with restrictions against christians, the community membersare giving their support. the awareness that they are from the same ethnic group encourages more attitude of humanism than a narrow religious ideology. the result is shown in the above studies; this research shows that the muslim-christian relation is a dramaturgical process whose appearance in the front stage different from that outside the stage. the roots of muslim-christian relation tension are low understanding of religious tolerance. therefore, to end this article, i recommend the importance of rethinking the concept of islamic jurisprudence in aceh, at least regarding the relations with non-muslims. discrimination experienced by non-muslims [ 22 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 in aceh singkil and aceh, among others, is triggered by low awareness, especially religious tolerance of the majority against the minority group. therefore, we need to gain insight into tolerance and awareness of diversity among muslim communities in aceh, be it through education in colleges, schools, islamic boarding schools, qur’anic studies and the community in general. bibliography ali-fauzi, ihsan et.al. 2011. kontroversi gereja di jakarta, yogyakarta: crcs universitas gadjah mada. ansor, muhammad. 2013. yang bersalib yang berjilbab: politik representasi dan negosiasi identitas perempuan kristen langsa, puslitbang kehidupan keagamaan kementerian agama, jakarta. unpublished research report. baqir, zainal abidin, moh. iqbal ahnaf, marthen tahun, budi asyhari. (2013). laporan kehidupan beragama di indonesia 2012, yogyakarta: crcs universitas gadjah mada. crouch, melissa. 2010. ‘implementing the regulation on places of worship in indonesia: new problems, local politics and court action’, asian studies review, december 2010, vol. 34, pp. 403-419. geertz, clifford. 1980. negara: the theatre state in nineteenth-century bali, chichester, west sussex: princeton university press. giddens, anthony. 2004. the constitution of society: teory strukturasi untuk analisis sosial, malang: pedati. goffman, erving. 1959. presentation of self in everiday life, garden sity, new york: anchor. goffman, erving. 1963. behavior in public places: notes on the social organization of gatherings, new york: the free press. ikrar kerugunan beragama muslim dan kristen di wilayah kecamatan simpang kanan, aceh singkil, 13 oktober 1979 kesimpulan rapat tindak lanjut pengaduan masyarakat tentang pembangunan gereja di kabupaten aceh singkil, 27 september 2011. kingsbury, damien. 2007. ‘the free aceh movement: islam and democratication’, journal of contemporary asia, vol. 37, issue 2. pp. 166-189. doi : 10.1080/00472330701253759. kyimlicka, will. 1995. multicultural citizenship: a liberal theory of minority right. new york: oxford university press. laporan hasil pelaksanaan penertiban rumah ibadah (gereja/undung[ 23 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 undung) dalam wilayah kabupaten aceh singkil, kementerian agama kantor kabupaten aceh singkil, 12 mei 2012. kronologi rencana pembongkaran gereja-gereja di aceh singkil 28 april 2 mei 2012, gkppd kuta karangan aceh singkil, 2 mei 2012. marzuki, ‘kerukunan dan kebebasan beragaman dalam pelaksanaan syariat islam di aceh’, jurnal harmoni, vol. ix no 36. pp. 157-170 mckinnon, e. edwards. 2006. ‘indian and indonesia elements in early north sumatra, in anthony reid (ed.), verandah of violance: the background to the aceh problem, singapore: singapore university press. milallos, ma. theresa r. 2007. ‘muslim veil as politics: political autonomy, women and syariah islam in aceh’, cont islam 1, pp-289-301. doi : 10.1007/s11562-007-0028-5. mistzal, barbara anna. 2001. ‘normality and trust in goffman’s theory of interaction order’, sociological theory 19, pp. 312-324. mubarok. 1994/1994. rengkuman peta kehidupan keagamaan indonesia edisi ii, jakarta: balitbang dan pengembangan agama kementerian agama. mujiburrahman. 2006. feeling threatened: muslim-christian relations in indonesia’s new order. leiden: amsterdam university press. parekh, bhikhu. 2008. rethinking multiculturalism: keberagaman budaya dan teori politik, yogyakarta: penerbit kanisiun dan impulse. peraturan bersama menteri agama no 9/2006 dan menteri dalam negeri no 8/2006 tentang pedoman pelaksanaan tugas kepala daerah/wakil kepala daerah dalam pemeliharaan kerukunan umat beragama, pemberdayaan forum kerukunan umat beragama dan pendirian ruamah ibadat, jakarta 21 maret 2006. peraturan gubernur nanggroe aceh darussalam no 25/2007 tentang pedoman pendirian rumah ibadat, banda aceh, 19 juni 2007. pernyataan bersama muslim dan kristen di wilayah kecamatan simpang kanan, aceh singkil, 11 juli 1979 ritzer, george. 2012. teori sosiologi dari sosiologi klasik sampai perkembangan terakhir postmodern, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. safrilsyah, ‘non-muslim under the regulation of islamic law in aceh province’, paper presented ini aicis xii surabaya, 5-8 november 2012. salim, arskal. 2009. challenging the secular state: the islamization of law in modern indonesia, honohulu: university of hawai press. smith, jane idleman. 2007. muslims, christians, and the challenge of interfaith dialogue. new york: oxford university press. stenbrink, karel. 2006. dutch colonialism and indonesian islam: contact and conflict 1596-1950, amsterdam: rodopi. surat perjanjian bersama umat agama islam dan kristen kecamatan simpang [ 24 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 kanan, gunung meriah, dan danau paris kabupaten aceh singkil, 11 oktober 2001. wahid, yenny zannuba. 2012. laporan akhir tahun kebebasan beragama dan intoleransi 2012, jakarta: the wahid institute and tifa foundation. [ 39 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religious education and community development: a study on the pondok and its efforts  to realize the philosophy  of islamic education  abdul razak @ abdulroya panaemalae lecturer, asean studies program, school of liberal arts, asean studies program, school of liberal arts & director, islamic study and muslim community development for peaceful social integration project, walailak university abstract the work is trying to show how relevant the pondok education is with the philosophy of islamic education itself. the research recognize that there are still many weaknesses that need to be changed in the education system of the pondok, so that they continue to stand and live to provide the religious spirit to every muslim as has been proved before. yet these benefits outweigh the weaknesses. it should not be repealed. it is important to find new formulas to empower this institution in line with the changes in time. it is something which has been proven to be good and useful to mankind, so there is no need to bother to change it. although there are wooden frames and a roof that need to be replaced, and water wells that should be constructed to ensure the water flows, but again there is no need to destroy what has been strongly built. the good values of each item are fixed. it is also the role of pondok education in religious education that has played an effective role in order to form a noble personality and civilized humans in accordance with the islamic principles. keywords: religious, education, pondok, philosophy, islamic and community. introduction this paper tries to explain and prove how the pondok (islamic boarding school) education system is closely related to the philosophy of islamic education. this paper  is based on the author’s observations on the educational  situation  in south  thailand.  the author’s  wish  to provide  the answer and  correct  the perception  of  some parties  including  the thai  authorities  (read: the armed forces) on the so-called pondok education system as a ‘camp’ for militants and violence will be proved in this paper. to date, the author believes that there [ 40 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 are people who still have a negative perception on the system and educational institutions  of pondok or  religion.  the average  view  of the system and  this institution is no longer relevant to the globalized modern world. this paper will attempt to to provide clarification in this regard. however it is not going to discuss the concept and development of the pondok in southern thailand in more detail. on the other hand, it will focus on the discussion of the concepts and philosophy of islamic education and its connection to pondok education. the pondok education covered in this article does not focus only on the traditional pondok education (including the pesantren, a term commonly used in bahasa  indonesia) but it includes a wider purpose, namely modern  pondok education or more accurately referred to as the madrasah. even in a specific context as well as the form of religious education in other forms such as religious education in surau (small mosque), mosques, kindergartens, colleges and universities. nevertheless,  this discussion is more about the traditional education called ‘pondok ‹ and religious education of modern trend called madrasah’. although the two educational institutions, the pondok and the madrasah, have differences  in terms of  terminology, concepts, methodologies and structure, the writer put them under the same category, based on the topic in the context of this discussion, into a single name, i.e.  the ‘pondok education’. in fact,  the name  is not uncommon  in the context of modern society. this is because when referring to the religious educational system,  it brings the connotation of understanding to the pondok and madrasah. it is the habit that when people mention  ‘pondok education  or  ‘pondok  school’,  it directly gives connotation to islamic religious educational institutions. more importantly, the author is trying to show how relevant the pondok education is with the philosophy of islamic education itself. education as a development mechanism education is the mechanism of human development towards the most practical perfection of life. human achievement in science and technology now is very commendable. such achievements have never been accomplished in the history of human civilization. humans now live in a world full of various manmade technologies. they live rich and more comfortable compared to the primitive society. the achievement of this development represents that humans are at the top of  the  civilization.  as  dr.  hasan  langgulung  (1998)  was quoted as saying:“education is an important mechanism in building human civilization.” achievements in development will not be accomplished by humans if without going through proper and systematic education system. only  through education can human reach development and build new civilizations. this prem[ 41 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 ise is agreed upon by the entire human community in the world. anyone of different religious and cultural background would all agree in this regard. in other words, no one rejects the truth and importance of education in the lives of modern times. in the process of construction of countries around the world today, the field of education is the most important agenda preferred by the authorities. generally, people have similar oponion, that is,  if you want create a state, make sure every citizen receives adequate education. this is  evidenced by  the emergence of  giant countries  in the world today  such as the united  states, britain, france,  germany, japan and korea which  are very  influential  in the  world  due to  their achievement  in science  and technology. this condition occurs in line with the educational process carried out  in those countries.  undoubtedly,  if  you want to  develop, you  must be educated. education is  the most important  mechanism  in an effort to  develop  a nation. the question is “what kind of education is meant here?” and if it is true that education leads to development, why does the advanced world as we see today cope with various life crises? if we now are highly developed, why do more and more people have moral degradation? we see more and more cases of  corruption,  breach of trust, robbery,  murder,  rape  and so forth.  such cases  often  happen  among  the  elites  who are highly educated  such as politicians, government officials, medical doctors, teachers and others. in the history of modern human civilization, there were  two great world wars that claimed  millions of  lives.  many lives  were lost  as a result of  the two  world  wars.  this does not include  a series of  small  wars  erupting  in some countries  in the world. even  there is no  indication that  this  series of wars will end soon. on the other hand, there are signs that new series of wars will probably be greater than the past. so when a situation like this occurs, it is appropriate that we ask, “are really developed?” or are we actually in the process going backward? why is it that the more the sophistication of modern equipment and the achievement of science and technology we had, the more increasingly we are in a dilemma? where is wrong? a famous malaysian culture activist,  datuk dr.  hassan ahmad  discussed the matter and said: “within a  long period of time  until  the 21st  century,  mankind  has not advanced, but is still primitive. advanced on the outside, but not in the inside. his knowledge advances but his manners and his heart are not. his reasoning is growing but his morality is not. in many respects, he is not different from animals that live in the wild, without morals, without manners, without civilization. humans are not developing in [ 42 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 accordance with the will of his creator. “ (dewan budaya, disember 2002). based on the  quotation  from  datuk dr.  ahmad  hassan  we can say that  humans  are caught in  the myth  of progress  and development of  their creations because the aspects of progress focusing on the process of human development  is not  balanced,  i.e. putting more  emphasis on  the external (physical) aspects and  ignoring  the  internal or  spiritual.  such development and progress as argued by prof. dr. wan mohd nor wan daud (2001) as a zerosum development which is a development based on physical and not spiritual progress, which eventually  fails to  provide  a balance  to human  life  in  the real sense. in short, we do not reject the premise that says that education is a mechanism of development.  however,  at the same time  we  should also be aware  that education can also act as a ‘two-bladed’ sword that may bring trouble to us and society if it is not based on proper educational philosophy that brings wellbeing.  therefore, we might say  that education  is the  root of  all problems.  as dr. prawet watsri, a thai scholar, in one of his lectures at the thai christian center  in  december 2005,  proposed to  turn back the  currently practiced education system. he is confident  that if  the education system is correct, it could solve all the problems. human nature and development concept man  in  islamic religious  tradition  is also  referred to  as al-insan  that is  the most special god’s creature. it is the most perfect creature of god as revealed in surah al-tin  verse 4, which means “we created human  beings  in the best  possible  form”  because man  is formed from  three  key components, namely  the body, spirit  and  intellect  which distinguishes  him  from animals which only possess the body but has no common sense. so is the case with the angels who only posses the spirit and common sense but without flesh. however, man has all the elements which enable them to develop in the form of the best creature, particularly the sense that enables him to think towards building civilization in the world. by virtue of his own rational  intellect, he is called  the ‘rational  animal’  or  in arabic  ‘al-hayawan  natiq  ‹. man is created  in such a way  to serve as  a khalifatullah  (vicegerent)  on this earth. he is entrusted with the role and duties as god’s creature responsible for completion of  life  on this earth.  these heavy  duties are unable to be carried out by other creatures of god such as the hill, mountain, jungle, sea, ocean except humans. in realization of this effort, man needs knowledge to [ 43 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 illuminate  the darkness  and drive  him towards  the right path  and not  the wrong way. in other words, he needs true knowledge that enables him to know himself and who created him. man, in fact, does not have any privileges without assistance and help from his creator. syed muhammad naquib al-attas described man as “…an island set in a fathomless sea enveloped by darkness, and the loneliness his self knows is so utterly absolute because even he knows not his self completely.” (1993: 81). thus, without  the guidance of  god,  man  will definitely get lost and  eventually  fall  into  sin. moreover,  human nature  itself  is  forgetful  (nisya’) therefore he is encouraged to be guided with revelation in order to get lost. without guidance, man is just like animals as god said in the quran: “those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. it is they who are the heedless.” (surah al-a’raf : 179). therefore,  in the principle  of the philosophy of  development,  according to islam,  should not ignore  human development.  human development  is one of  the key elements  in  the development concept  of islam.  development system  in islam  is not only the emphasis on economic growth  in the form of profits and financial returns as shown by the secular west. however, excellent personality should also be prioritized in addition to other aspects. this is because the concept of islamic development includes aspects of moral, spiritual and material. development becomes a value-oriented activity and has a goal of the completion of human well-being in all aspects. aspects of moral, material, economic, social, physical, and spiritual cannot be separated from each other.  the goal  is not only  the welfare  of the world, but  also toward the prosperity  in  the hereafter. such dimensions are missing in  the current development concept. as a result of the concept of development emphasizes the external aspects have resulted in humans’ failure to reach real happiness.  instead they are caught up in  the drama of the tragic  life and hypocrisy. although the world enjoys progress in science and technology, there is no doubt that the progress of human creation is now accompanied with deterioration in other areas. in fact, in the stunning globalization of prosperity also comes with the globalization of poverty which is so pathetic. as a result, this achievement has failed to liberate man from the backwardness and povert y and achieve social justice as expected. as syed muhammad naquib al-attas said, even though they managed to take control of the nature; they have transformed the face of the earth; they have changed the river flow, tamed hydraulic energy; they have penetrated space and climbed the mountains that have never been touched by others; but they have not been able to take control of themselves, to know themselves, to bring peace to themselves (2001: 44). [ 44 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the concept of true knowledge and confusion within the meaning of knowledge according to syed muhammad naquib al-attas (1993) the endless dilemma of life, especially among the muslims, is confusion of the concept of knowledge. due to the mistake in giving the interpretation of the concept of knowledge, the core of some various problems and disasters of humanity on the environment is inevitable. the cause of this confusion is due to the efforts of people trying to separate the religious teachings from life, or even undermine the system of religious  life.  finally,  symptoms of  confusion  of knowledge  spread among them.  as a result  of the  confusion  of knowledge,  there are many false intellectuals, false leaders, and false scholars that have dominated the walks of life. they have good positions, and placed in a comfortable and dignified place based on the knowledge they possess as well as their contributions to the country’s development and progress of the nation. however, they are no more than  confused  people  who were born  under the  educational system  based on confusion of knowledge. this situation  is a  phenomenon  that is harmful  and  most critical  faced by all human beings nowadays. therefore  to avoid such phenomenon from continuing to dominate  our minds,  an effort  and  action to  return man to  the original concept  of knowledge  should be taken  immediately  so that the man will not be caught in a deadly trap.in fact, the problem of the epistemology  of knowledge  was  explored  by  syedmuhammad  naquib  alattas in describing the concept of true knowledge. he was among the figures of contemporary  islamic scholars  who continued  to explain  the  concept of knowledge  that is true  according to  the islamic  code.  a lot of works  has been produced by him that lead to  discussion  about  the meaning  of knowledge and  philosophy of  education from  an islamic perspective.  to prove  how  much  he  is committed to knowledge and educational philosophy, we can read his book called “the philosophy and practice of islamic education  of syed  muhammad  naquib  al-attas: an  original  description of concept  of  islamization”  by  wan  mohd nor  wan  daud  (university of malaya: 2005). in one of  wan  mohd nor  wan  daud’s works,  guidance for  muslims  (2001),  syed  muhammad  naquib  al-attas  described the meaning of true knowledge in detail. the author is pleased to quote him as saying: “knowledge is a process or motion-force of acquiring knowledge and refers to a characteristic in a living creature (man), allowing himself to know what is known. knowledge is also the recognition of what is known as the way it is. the recognition that believes in the truth, [ 45 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 and refers to wisdom. it is something reassuring and provides real understanding. recognizing and knowing something is to recognize and know e reasons of existence and condition of something known and unknown. knowledge is an intuitive force to acquire or produce something by common sense that sees the fact as the way it is. knowledge is also acquired by our heart about something, that reflects the fact clearly and accurately, be it something tangible or in the invisible world. knowledge is personal or heart setting about the truth of something we have a doubt about it. the knowledge is a strong and unchanged conviction in the heart. knowledge is a force toward explanation, decision and determination. knowledge should revisit to the truth. knowledge is the pledge of about the truth. knowledge is something like the intention of the nature of something as the way it is. knowledge provides personal tranquility. knowledge is a reminder, an overview of common sense, contemplation, inner views. knowledge is a property that wipes out ignorance, suspicion and prejudice. knowledge is a reality in itself. knowledge is the light placed by allah almighty in the heart. knowledge is the description of the heart, understanding of the mind and the force that forms all the things mentioned. knowledge is internal matters, not external things. knowledge is science or fixed identification that denies the possibility of science and recognition otherwise. knowledge is the secret that is inserted into oneself and settles there, and knowledge is the passion and the will of oneself. (m.s. 51-52). the description by syed muhammad naquib al-attas is very precise and clear. it can be summarized that the concept of knowledge is divided into two major categories, that is, illuminative knowledge and scientific knowledge. illuminative knowledge (ma’rifah) is self-identification, because ‘anyone who knows himself will know god.’ in other words, the knowing oneself leads to knowing god. this knowledge  is  the primary  knowledge  and is the  highest  knowledge  that  is required on  every  muslim.  without  this knowledge, this  muslim person will be imperfect.  thus,  this type of  knowledge  becomes the  obligation on  each  person  to  seek  or  claim.  as  the messenger of allah said,  «seeking knowledge is obligatory  for  every  muslim,  male and female”.  thus, it is not  surprising  why  syed muhammad  naquib  al-attas  asserted “… why knowledge (al-’ ilm: ma’rifah: ‘ ilm) occupies the most important position in islam» (1993: 78). as for  is the  scientific knowledge  that is  given  by god  to man  and can be accessed through rational research efforts. scientific knowledge could help us to achieve perfection, as long as it is always controlled, evaluated and directed by illuminative knowledge.  in other words, if  scientific knowledge  is [ 46 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 not  guided  correctly  by illuminative knowledge,  it  could lead to damage, destruction and fraud to the system of human life. this is the position of knowledge  which  is not  required  on all individuals  but  only  on  certain people  who are  qualified  and  capable of mental  and physical strength, especially brain intelligence. modern education system and divergence of concept of knowledge culture before further discussion leads to the definition and philosophy of education in islam, the author felt that the philosophy of modern education sponsored by the western secular beliefs should also be discussed. thus, we should review the concept of  modern  secular  education  and see  its implications  on human development. this is intended for comparison between the philosophy of islamic education and that of the secular west. this is important because on average the world’s  education  now  leads  to and  adopts the same  education system, i.e. the system that is no longer related to religion. education now emphasizes more on scientific knowledge rather than illuminative knowledge. secularism is the original  philosophy  that  tends to  separate  between religion and  all  worldly matters. as a result, knowledge has become merchandise that has economic value.  in  seeking knowledge,  students  have to  pay  to  gain  a  certificate. when  students  have to  pay  expensive to  get  education,  they plan on getting back  what has been  spent  in the  academic  world.  according to wan  mohd nor  wan  daud  (2001),  the result of  education  being stuck with market ideology and industries then “knowledge has lost its values and spirit of humanity, and has be restricted economic and political commodity.”in other words, we now understand that knowledge in modern times is no more than individual socio-economic mobilization tool to achieve the comfort and luxury  of life in  the world.  as a result, ronald  dore  referred to it as the “diploma disease”, which is a phenomenon of race especially among students to get a certificate not because of high educational values but merely because of the economic values and social dignity which may be obtained through it. this disease  has  changed the  position of  knowledge culture  into  exam culture. the value of knowledge is no longer needed but passing the examination with high grades is more important.  the students are oriented  on  passing the test  sometimes  through the wrong way.  this is a  crisis  not only  faced by modern countries but muslim countries were  also already stuck together in  it.  syed muhammad  naquib  al-attas  said that “the secular scholar and intellectuals among the muslims derive their inspiration mainly from the west.”  (1993:  124).  muslim  students  studying religion  are said to  have  the same  dilemma.  they are not  studying  religious  knowledge to find the [ 47 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 truth and pleasure of god but they consider the learning process as a “stepping stone” to rank and position in the field of career that eventually lead to success in life. according to rosnani hashim (1996), “…students were learning religion only for examination purpose rather than for moral development and practice.” obviously, current educational system  has failed  to produce  a  truly educated  person  who  really  knows  himself.  the general  goal  of education is to produce good human beings that will be able to produce an atmosphere of  harmony.  however,  because  the education system  has now been conquered by ideological market and industry, it has resulted in worrying occurrences. for example, a report in the newspaper matichon on 9 january 2006 uncovered issues about fraudulent activities among students. they asked for  money  for  living  expenses as well  as  tuition fees  from their parents  by giving  false  receipts  to claim  the fees  in excess  of the  limits set  by the university. such behavior at least provided us with a picture of morality among students. it seems that the system is teaching to cheat or to be ‘corrupt’  even when they are still in school.  imagine what  would happen  if  one day  they become professionals working in the community. such concerns have been voiced by j. krishnamurti in his book “education and the significance of life: if we are being educated merely to achieve distinction, to get a better job, to be more efficient, to have wider domination over others, then our lives will be shallow and empty. if we are being educated only to be scientists, to be scholars wedded to books, or specialists addicted to knowledge, then we shall be contributing to the destruction and misery of the worl (1997 : 11). this symptom  should be immediately addressed  by all parties  before  it spreads wider, and to ensure that the value of educational knowledge can be placed back at the right position according to the concept of knowledge and education. meaning and purpose of education in islam in view of the  modern  education system  failure  and  the emergence of  social  problems among  mankind,  some  muslim  scholars  agreed  to hold a special international conference to discuss education and reassess the concepts and  philosophy  of education.  finally,  the international conference  on  islamic education  was successfully  held in  mecca  in 1977,  which was attended by  313  islamic scholars  from  40 countries.  as a result, muslim  scholars  agreed to  formulate  the definition  and goals  of [ 48 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 education  in  islam  as  to produce  «a good  and  righteous  human”, who  worships  only allah, establishing  sharia-based  civilization, and  living with  guidance of sharia. muslim  scholars’  effort  here is not  aimed at changing the  original  philosophy  of islamic  education  in another form to meet  the suitability of  the ummah today.  it is not necessary because  the religion of islam has  provided complete guidelines about the philosophy of education. it is simply intended to renew and commemorate the return of the original  philosophy  of education  according to  islam and  thus  as  a  noble effort  to show  commitment  toward  the establishment of  the educational system based on the concept of tauhid. the outcomes of the decisions made do not conflict with what is contained in the qur›an and sunnah. all of which are directed to the formation of the noble human character that obeys god. the values of virtues and standards set out in the religious teachings do not need to be changed according to the changing times and circumstances. thus, nobody should change the values as changing them would only cause confusion. so is the case with islamic religious values that have been enshrined in the qur’an. our task is simply to practice what has been set out by the creator. for example, usury is forbidden so it is always forbidden.  there are no  exceptions  in the case of  the law. religious  educational  institutions  either  in the form of mosques, surau, pesantren, schools, religious schools, colleges, universities or in any other form all have a common goal, namely to educate human beings to become good and righteous. a good man is synonymous to a civilized human. any education system that set religious education aside will certainly fail to produce a civilized human as religion (al-din) cannot not separated from the aspects of spiritual or faith. faith is the basics of the education in islam. when humans have faith, they will become a good and civilized human. a good man is someone who has adab. this is the essence of real education in islam. the question of  a civilized  human  is what  is  expected by everyone  including parents and the rulers in all countries. this is because a good man naturally should be a good servant to god, good father to his children, a good husband to his wife, a good child to his parents, a good neighbor and a good citizen to his country (wan mohd nor wan daud, 2005: 129). strictly speaking, a good human is the core of citizenship. the concept of good man is in contrast to the concept of a good citizen. good citizens, which become an important agenda in modern countries do not necessarily consist of good people. good citizens probably just are made up of human with competence, high skills in the field of professional expertise in specific areas and with high education. however, a good man has responsibility to his god, maintaining justice in the com[ 49 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 munity; man in his behavior always nurtures himself toward perfection as a good human (syed muhammad naquib al-attas, 2001: 43). the educational purpose in islam is not only to produce people who have a degree, it also has the purpose of further than that. this is because knowledge from the perspective of islam is “... infinite since it originates from and ends in god...” (wan  mohd nor  wan  daud,  1989:  113).  so, the purpose of  islamic education  is seeking  values of  spirituality,  religion and  tauhid  as the main agenda  in  the framework of  education.  to  see  more  clearly  about  the purpose of  this  education,  the author  is pleased to  quote s. h. nasr  in his book traditional islam in the modern world, as saying: “not only  to train the  mind,  but  also  to train  whole  potential  as human beings. that’s why,  it is not just  teaching  or  propagation of knowledge (ta’lim), but also to train the whole personality of the students (tarbiyah).  teachers  are not only  an instructor (mu’allim) who spread knowledge, but also an educator (murabbi), who trains the soul and  personality.  it is true, in  particular, the term  mu’allim  itself  can  reach a meaning  of murabbi;  but  it  must be given the meaning of moral character in the modern world which has been  transformed into  something that is  separated  in total  of the teaching and dissemination of knowledge, particularly at the level of higher education.” for this purpose, religious education institutions, as well as pondok,  should practice the  above  ideology  to  achieve  the original purpose  of islamic education. muslims have never been questioned about the issue of the form of learning institutions. universities and madrasah or pondok all have a role and a common goal, which is to educate people to be good and righteous. what is importantan is that the institution is responsible for spreading the spirit of religion into students’ lives as well as muslims. pondok: the role and contribution as well as its relation to the philosophy of islamic education pondok has undergone transformation as times change and as a result of the occurrence of a change in the leadership of the thai government from time to time. the ‘pondok ‹ turned into ‹people’s religious school’ and then turned into ‘madrasah  ‹  in the end.  despite the  changing  in pondok  education  from time to  time,  the philosophy  of islamic education  does not  change.  the only  difference is that in the form of  traditional pondok education the system of  ‘book study’ to  deliver  and  pass down knowledge to  students is commonly used. while in modern education, the school system has classes [ 50 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 and examination and issuance of a certificate as a proof that the student has passed the tests of the examination. however, the importance of the role and contribution of  pondok  education  does not  move away  from  basic  islamic education. in other words, despite the different education approach, the goal remains the same which is to produce a good human. the contribution of eduction in an effort to expand the sharia and empower islamic religious culture is huge and indisputable especially to muslims in the region and  the islamic world  itself.  this can  be proved  with the advent of some great local scholars such as sheikh daud bin abdullah al-fatani, sheikh ahmad bin muhammad zain al-fatani and zainal abidin bin muhammad al-fatani (just to mention a few names only), who not only have contributed to the muslims in the malay world only but have also contributed their knowledge to muslims outside  the malay world. their works until now are still under review, examined  and  made  a mandatory  religious  learning material  in some pondok or pesantren. they are scholars who have great contribution to the malay civilization particularly, and  islamic civilization  generally. the author did not mean to speak more about heroes and the personality of local scholars, but just wanted to show how important the contribution of pondok education to the muslim malay in the region. the report from the selection committee of the malaysian financial assistance to nongovernment islamic religious schools in 1957 said that “the pondok played a great role ‘in building up a peaceful and well organized society among the people of this country and in combating illteracy and producing alim ulama and wise men.” to view the existence of pondok education in the malay civilization, i would like to quote a researcher who did research on the pondok, mr. zaidi hassan (2001), who explained that traditional  islamic  education  including  pondok education has demonstrated its success which stands out in our region. it is the backbone for the malay civilization and islam. this kind of education has led to the malays to appreciate islam not only in terms of rituals, but also have been able to distinguish between clean and dirty, such as feeling queasy when seeing a  pig,  take care  of the  dirty clothing and  making sure food is clean and hygienic  as  such habit is required before prayer.  important  custom  in life of many malays have based on islam. beginning with the azan whispered when celebrating a child birth.  when this baby has become a kid, he is circumcised  and  taught  to pray  and read  the quran.  when he reaches adulthood, he is married in a wedding ceremoby. when he is wrapped in white cloth, prayed and buried, followed by the recitation of talqin, then the tahlil is held for him. the pondok has strengthened the existence of all this practice in the community from generation to generation. [ 51 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 thus,  we  could say  that, in the context of southern thailand, pondok  education  is a  malay  version of  islamic  education. pondok  is born  based on the  religious  mentality  of the malays.  it is  born  from the intellectual awareness of the local malay community who feel responsible to learn  and delve in  religious  sciences  (illuminative knowledge).  it is the only educational institution that is the foundation and has been influential to the religious life in the context of the malay community since the beginning of islam in the malay archipelago until now. it is suitable to the taste and the climate of muslims in the region. pondok as an open university pondok education has become the religious strength among the muslim-malay community. it is a pride to the malay itself. for example, traditional pondok education is very unique. its uniqueness in contributing religious education to the  natives is irreplaceable.  there is  no educational institution  similar to pondok that is really open and free to enthusiasts of knowledge. “education in pondok was free and open to muslims of all ages”(rosnani hashim, 1996: 21). students do not need to pay a fee; they just need to pay a little for electricity and water as well as the requirements that do not burden the students and their parents. “the pupils did not pay fees, but donated money to buy kerosene for the oil lamps that were used if classes were held at night. more often the pupils assisted their teachers with such chores as carrying water from the well, carrying firewood, or growing and harvesting rice in the fields.” (rosnani hashim, 1996: 20). in addition, they are free in the study. it depends on the comfort of the students because their learning is not assessed in the examination but is for the good of themselves and the community. “there were no examinations, and promotion to higher level was determined by students’ capabilities. thus, the length of study depended on the students themselves” (rosnani hashim, 1996:21). while the teacher is called tok guru or tok lebai and do not expect sympathy from others because it is based on a sense of obligation to provide knowledge to those who want to learn. “the teachers were not paid a salary. they led simple lives, made great sacrifices in time and energy, and worked from a sense of duty “ (rosnani  hashim, 1996: 21). it has become a mandate to those who know to tell to those who do not know. they expect the divine pleasure alone. in fact, they expect rewards in the hereafter. another  uniqueness  and pride  of pondok  education  that is also  worth mentioning  here  is  the application of  independence  among the students. all students are required to stand on their feet during their study at the  pondok.  pondok  does not provide any  facilities for  food, clothing  and [ 52 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 even  shelter,  so  students  have to build  their own.  the education  world  in the  pondok  is open  wide  for them to  learn  during the  study  period and during their stay at the pondok. the minutes and life during their stay in the world of pondok are the most valuable chapters of education. norms of life  like this  actually  is  the initial  setup  to the  students  before  they enter the  world of  adulthood  which is full of  twists.  it  is a training  that  enables them to know themselves in all fields of life. they grow up with  maturity as a human being. thus, the phenomenon of unemployment hardly ever occurred among students graduating from religious educational institutions, and this includes the pondok education itself. concluding remarks it is recognized that there are still many weaknesses that need to be changed in the education system of the pondok, so that they continue to stand and live to provide the religious spirit to every muslim as has been proved before. yet these benefits outweigh the weaknesses. it should not be repealed. we just have to find new formulas to empower this institution in line with the changes in time. it is something which has been proven to be good and useful to mankind, so there is no need to bother to change it. although there are wooden frames and a roof that need to be replaced, and water wells that should be constructed to ensure the water flows, but again there is no need to destroy what has been strongly built (hassanzaidi, 2001: 16). the good values of each item are fixed. the value of a piece of gold, even a thousand years have passed by, will remain the same. in fact, as it gets old, gets  better in terms of its value.  similarly, it is also the  role of pondok education in religious education. it has played an effective role in order to form a  noble  personality and  civilized  humans in accordance with the  islamic principles. references hasan langgulung, “islamic education and human resource development in moslem countries” in kesturi jan-jun 1998 published by asasi (akademi sains islam malaysia). hasan madmarn, 1999. the pondok & madrasah in patani’, bangi : ukm press. hassan ahmad, datuk dr., “tanda manusia maju di luar” dalam dewan budaya, december 2002. j.krishnamurti, 1997. education and the significance of life, madras: krishnamurti foundation india. [ 53 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 matichon, 18 doisember 2005. matichon, 4, 5, 6 dan 9 januari 2006. misran rokimin at. all (eds.), 2002. falsafah dan peradaban pembangunan, bangi: ukm press. mohd. affandi hassan, 1992. pendidikan estetika daripada pendekatan tauhid, kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. muhammad syukri salleh (eds.), 1990. konsep dan pelaksanaan pembangunan berteraskan islam, pulau pinang: usm press. rosnani hashim, 1996. educational dualisme in malaysia: implications for theory and practice, kuala lumpur: oxford university press. syed muhammad naquib al-attas, 1993. islam and secularism, , kuala lumpur: istac. ________, 1999. the concept of education in islam. kuala lumpur: istac. ________, 2001. risalah untuk kaum muslimin, kuala lumpur: istac. wan mohd nor wan daud, 1989. the concept of knowledge in islam and its implications for education in a developing country, london and new york: mansell. ________, 1995. penjelasan budaya ilmu, kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. ________, 1996. “insan baik teras kewarganegaraan” dalam pemikir, january-march. ________, 2001. pembangunan di malaysia : ke arah satu kefahaman baru yang lebih sempurna, kuala lumpur: istac. ________, 2005. falsafah dan amalan pendidikan islam syed muhammad naquib al-attas: satu huraian konsep asli islamisasi, kuala lumpur: istac. zaidi hassan, “institusi pondok: keberadaannya dalam peradaban melayu”kertas kerja yang dibentangkan dalam kolokium peradaban melayu kawasan timur laut, pada 18-20 september 2001 di kota bharu kelantan, malaysia anjuran dewan bahasa dan pustaka wilayah timur. [ 54 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 [ 91 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the phenomenon of (islamic) religious fundamentalism in a non-‘religious’ campus: a case study at hasanuddin university makassar taufani university of eastern indonesia, makassar abstract this research aims to describe and examine the phenomenon of islamic fundamentalism on the campus of hasanuddin university (unhas). islamic fundamentalism is a phenomenon that emerged after the reform and it is commonly encountered in the campus world. the trend shows that the phenomenon of islamic fundamentalism is growing in the campus that has no particular religious affiliation and is often driven by the propagation of the campus dakwah organization (ldk). this research would like to test the thesis that whether it is relevant to the context of the hasanuddin university that in fact is not a religiously-affiliated campus or the contrary. the method of collecting data was done through observation of the activities of the ldk activist at the hasanuddin university (unhas) campus dakwah organization’s musholla lovers (ldkmpm), in-depth interviews, documentation/review of previous research and papers. this research shows that islamic fundamentalism led by ldk-mpm is growing at the hasanuddin university. this phenomenon emerged as the implications of the post-reform freedom, so that these opportunities are exploited by activists to channel their euphoria, because at the time of the new order, their propagation had a fairly limited space. another factor that led to the rise of islamic fundamentalism and growing at hasanuddin university is because the students did not have comprehensive islamic references, so that they had no checklist for critiquing and examining the ideology of islamic fundamentalism. in addition, the emergence of modernity considered to bring the negative excesses also serves as another factor being the cause of islamic fundamentalism. therefore, the ideology of islamic fundamentalism emerged as an alternative to counteract the negative excesses. keywords: islamic fundamentalism, ldk-mpm, hasanuddin university. introduction after the devastating fall of suharto’s leadership in 1998 led by civil society, particularly the university students, there have been a lot of significant changes in indonesia. at the time of the new order led by suharto, there [ 92 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 was almost no freedom of speech and expression, because the ruling regime was authoritarian. anyone who dared to criticize government policy or held demonstrations in public spaces, they will be arrested and thrown in jail because they were considered a barrier to development, anti-pancasila, or non-pancasilaists. however, after the advent of the era of reform which is the antithesis of the new order era, the civil society movement is flourishing, marked by the birth of various civic organizations in different areas. the movement focuses on the educational process in the community with a variety of contemporary themes --such as human rights, democracy, and pluralism-through seminars, training, and publications. the fall of the new order regime also brings positive aura to the rising euphoria of activism on campus because at the time of the new order, movement of students was restricted through regulation of the normalization of campus life (nkk) 1978. new order regime did not hesitate a militaristic ways for fighting against student activists who had a strong tendency in practical politics and government opposition. after the reform, the campus is no longer allergic to discussion of political themes. a variety of student movements, driven by the visionary and idealistic youth, emerged with certain identities and ideological reasons. one of them is the growing movement using the campus islamic religious label (read: islam) as the main spirit of their struggle. the inherent characteristics of the movement are focused on activities in mosques, such as the recitation, islamic book reviews, tarbiyah (dakwah and education). in general, the physical characteristics of the male muslim activists (ikhwa) are as follows: growing beard, wearing pants above the ankles (cingkrang), koko shirt, and usually having a black mark on the forehead. whereas, female activists (akhwat), usually have a longer scarf that almost covers the whole body like afghan and saudi women. they also typically use a variety of the arabic language terms in communication, such as antum (you). these movements tend to take the form of activities through social and cultural activism that is far from the formal political arena (hilmy, 2010: 101). within the community, they often play an important role in the spread of ideology. in spreading its ideology, they are usually supported by the established islamic organizations such as hizbut-tahrir, wahdah islamiyah, etc. the pattern of religious thought that they promote is the pattern of islamic fundamentalism that tends to see things in black and white. nowadays, there is a tendency to suggest that islamic fundamentalism today is flourishing on campuses that have no specific religious affiliation and are usually driven by propagation of the campus dakwah organization (ldk), [ 93 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 as described by erham budi wiranto (2010) in his study that examined the natural and social science students at the university of gadjah mada (ugm). in addition, various studies that have been carried out by scholars show that the advent of islamic fundamentalism in the campus, started with ldk based on campuses that have no religious affiliation, i.e. at the bandung institute of technology (itb) and then developed in other large campuses. instead, the pattern of religious thought which is liberal and contrary to islamic fundamentalism, even thrives in religiously-affiliated campuses, as was the case at the state islamic university (uin) of sunan kalijaga and syarif hidayatullah. the view then created the image that the campus was the second funnel, the birth of liberal islam, where uin syarif hidayatullah known as ciputat school of thought and uin sunan kalijaga as sapen school of thought (zuly qadir, 2007). in this study, i would like to test the thesis that shows a trend of islamic fundamentalism at a campus that has no religious affiliation. in this case, i chose the hasanuddin university (unhas) as the location of the research because it is one of the largest in makassar and eastern indonesia, which is not affiliated with a particular religion. in this campus, there is a student religious organization called the campus dakwah organization’s mushalla lovers (ldk-mpm), which has a fairly strong and significant influence on the students of unhas. this study attempts to examine whether the ldkmpm has the tendency of fundamentalist religious thought as commonly found in other campuses with no affiliation to religion. if so, then what are the characteristics of the fundamentalism? and what factors have strong influence on it? framework fundamentalism is a term first coined by the protestants in the 20th century, which was marked by a religious resistance against the products of modernity that are considered to have destroyed the sanctity of religion. this view assumes that religious teachings gathered in the bible are something that is final, so it must be executed with full obedience because the bible does not contain errors at all (james barr, 1996: 1). further, barr said that christian fundamentalism, also put a deep hatred in modern theology because the framework uses the epistemological method of the study of modern criticism against the bible. karen amrstrong (2011) argued that one of the traits of christian fundamentalism is that its supporters have always had a sense of danger on a variety of new things because of fear of attacking the sanctity of their [ 94 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 religion, therefore they tend to be very defensive and closed to any new idea. to counter any belief considered wrong, they willingly take various strategies such as campaigning to ban the teaching of evolution in schools and condemning democracy, feminism, and the practice of abortion since the latter is considered to be the product of modernity. they even do not hesitate to use violence to enforce the doctrine and views, i.e. by killing the doctors and nurses who work in abortion clinics. their actions are motivated by the belief that the doctrine of the bible is final and each paragraph on the scripture should be interpreted literally. the other characteristics of christian fundamentalism are opposing diversity and labeling others are different from them negative, for example muslims and the jews are regarded as dwellers of hell and some of them consider that the followers of hinduism, buddhism, and taoism are followers of satan (armstrong, 2011: 470). further, armstrong, said that in defending their beliefs and views, christians fundamentalists are selective in reading the scriptures, so armstrong (2011: 470) explicitly said that, “in all its forms, fundamentalism is a very reductive faith.” they only quote the teachings that can justify their actions, but ignore ideas that brought on the kindness and peace, such as jesus’ sermon on the hill that tells his followers to love their enemies, give the other cheek, and not judge others. the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism is not only found among the protestants, it also occurs in the islamic world. islamic fundamentalists sometimes ignore the teachings of the koran which encourage every muslim to spread love, tolerance and peace. instead they only cite verses that can justify their violence. when traced back, the islamic fundamentalism first appeared in the 1960s, after the arab community lost the six-day war against israel. the failure of the ideology of nationalism and socialism in the west got a place in the hearts of the arab community, and also encouraged the birth of religious zeal into identity and also inspired the birth of a struggle that led to the movement of islamic fundamentalism the policies of western countries which are considered to intervene the sovereignty of countries in the middle east have also triggered the rise of islamic fundamentalism. the united states and the united kingdom had conspired to overthrow the existing governments, and then changed them to a puppet government in order for the us and uk to smoothly secure their interests in the middle east. the overthrow of muhammad mosadeq by shah muhammad reza pahlavi who was backed by the cia and the british intelligence is a real example of american and british intervention. the [ 95 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 intervention has destroyed morale, self esteem and pride of the people of the middle east on their land, because they are helpless against such intrusion. the failure of the international community to help the palestinians make the most of them disappointed and lose confidence in the conventional political process. the double standard practiced by the west with the boast of democracy and freedom, but on the other hand supports the government of dictators, like saddam hussein and shah gave rise to radicalization of islam, so the ideology of islamic fundamentalism is growing increasingly strong. islamic fundamentalism also emerged because the government of gamal abdul nasser who led egypt at that time held thousands of muslim brotherhood activists led by sayyid qutb and imprisoned them without going through court proceedings. in prison, these activists received extremely bad treatment but it did not change their determination. instead, they were growing increasingly radical and stood against what they deemed as ignorance such as nasser, the west, jews, christians, capitalists, and communists. in recent years, we have been familiar with a wide range of violent acts committed by supporters of the ideology of islamic fundamentalism. they bombed and destroyed numerous public facilities, such as embassies, tourist spots, and places of worship on the pretext of jihad to uphold islam. they also condemned the modernity because it is considered as a product of the west that only brings negative excesses on muslims. islamic fundamentalism is in fact one of the global phenomena emerging in recent years, in which it often uses the label of religion in its action, but the issues it brings stresses more on political ideology. they argue that a world order shaped by the west, have failed to organize the world, so it needs to be replaced with a new order, the order of islam that is based on their political interpretation. according to ahmad jainuri (2003), the emergence of islamic fundamentalism aims to revive islam in the past, in response and reaction to the decline of the muslims in various fields of life, as well as the antithesis of the west’s failure to answer the problems of muslims. indeed, when talking about fundamentalism, many scholars recognize that the term is very problematic, since this term literally refers to the importance of every follower of religion to be subservient and obedient on basic principles and tenets of the religion. however, nowadays, the meaning of fundamentalism has narrowed the meaning which is defined as the restriction of the holy book against various new interpretations. in order not to get caught up in the complexities of fundamentalism, the designation of fundamentalism is necessary because the pattern of fundamentalism has a lot of varieties. there is a fundamentalist movement that does not hesitate to use an aggressive and radical approach towards those [ 96 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 whom they considered different. i refer to it as extremist fundamentalism. however, there is also a fundamentalist movement that uses a pragmatic approach and tries to avoid street violence in responding to the difference. i refer to it as gradualist fundamentalism. both are different in terms of models and methods of struggle, but they complement each other in epistemic communities that have the same goals and agenda, i.e. the purification of religion from various non-islamic ideas, interpretation of the text of scripture textually, and implementation of islamic law at the state level. in the context of ldk-mpm, their pattern of religious thought can be categorized as the gradualist fundamentalism because they prefer to use a pragmatic approach that prefers the process of a tiered education through its cadres. in their action, they avoid harsh approach against the system, but instead chose a more pragmatic approach to take advantage of a variety of devices to achieve political goals. the history of the emergence of ldk in 1945, there was a heated debate between nationalists represented by sukarno-hatta and the stronghold of the islamists represented by natsir with the masyumi party who attempted to enact the jakarta charter into a formal legal system in indonesia. the debate took place quite a long time and reached its peak when masyumi was dissolved by president sukarno in 1960 (anwar, 2006: 765). during the new order era, the masyumi tried to resurface and take a role. however, the fate of masyumi was unchanged because it was still considered a threat second only to the communists as natsir said that “the new order regime treated us like an ‘ugly cat’ (badly)” (mcvey in anwar, 2006: 767). over time, natsir never got frustrated and discouraged against the forces of the regime the government that has destroyed the power of his party. he then changed his movement’s strategy, namely by taking part in the dakwah field. he then founded the board of dakwah islamiyah indonesia (ddii), and was also one of the founders in the establishment of institution of islamic and arabic sciences (lipia) which was a branch of the islamic university of muhammad ibn sa’ud in riyadh. lipia received a lot of fresh financial assistance from saudi arabia. lipia gave a lot of important contribution in introducing the ideas of the muslim brotherhood in indonesia through its teachers which have a strong background of the translation of the books of intellectual works of the muslim brotherhood. in addition to promoting the ideas of the muslim brotherhood, the curriculum in lipia also widely [ 97 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 promoted the idea that ibn taimiyah is the main reference figure in islamic doctrine in saudi arabia (fealy and bubalo, 2005). natsir had a very close relationship with saudi arabia because he was a member of the world moslem league sponsored by saudi arabia (van bruinessen, 2008, 2009; burhanuddin, 2007). from the membership, natsir later facilitated the indonesian students to study in the middle east with the help of a scholarship from saudi arabia, before the role was taken over by the ministry of religious affairs (rahmat, 2008: 91). indisputably, natsir was the major pioneer of the islamic movement in campuses, which was later developed by actors who had taken part in the activity of ddii and lipia. it is well known that the ddii has three main targets in its dakwah, i.e. the boarding school, the mosque, and the campus (rahmat, 2008: 26). ddii supported the activities of several boarding schools such as gontor, al-albab and ngruki. however, ddii was disappointed by the ddii gontor because the latter produced liberal muslim thinkers like nurcholish madjid, but on the other hand ddii successfully introduced salafi thought at ulil albab in bogor and the ngruki in solo that makes them different from other religious schools that generally have traditional style (van bruinsessen, 2008). the ddii also served as the manager of fund provided by the middle east in the construction of mosques in indonesia. therefore, the ddii was given full responsibility for the development of various activities of dakwah in the mosques. in addition to religious schools and mosques, the ddii also expanded its influence in campuses by recruiting cadres for dakwah activities called training of dakwah mujahid (lmd). this event originally started at salman mosque of itb bandung in 1974 and later gave birth to the movement of tarbiyah, hizbut tahrir and salafi movement (rahmat, 2008). because of the strong government repression against political activity on campus in the mid-1970s until the late 1980s, then campus dakwah activists chose to perform their dakwah covertly, often called usroh. this activity was divided into several groups consisting of 6-10 people and led by a supervisor (murabbi). their activities were often camouflaged as regular student activities, such as study groups that discuss thought-provoking islamic figures such as, hasan al-banna, sayyid qutb, ali syariati, and murtadha mutahhari. it had to be done because they worried about the repression of the regime of the new order that scrutinized religious movements and various political activities on campus as a result of the promulgation of the rules of normalization of campus life (nkk) 1978 (damanik, 2002: 354; hwang, 2011: 82). however what makes these activists more excited and confident in continuing their activism in dakwah and cultivating political islam amid threats of repression [ 98 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 is the momentum the success of iran’s revolution in 1979 which brings the spirit of islam. as stated previously, campus dawah activities called lmd was first held at the salman mosque of itb bandung. the dakwah activities were instructed by imanuddin abdurrahim. before becoming an instructor at lmd, he was trained by ddii in his capacity as one of the instructors through community development activities at the hajj dormitory in kwitang, jakarta. imanuddin was one of the pioneers who gave many contributions in introducing the movement of the muslim brotherhood to the activists of the campus dakwah. thoughts about the movement were gained while he was active in the international islamic movement (rahmat, 2005: 85). lmd event at the salman mosques of itb at that time was attended by not only students in the vicinity of the city of bandung, but also students coming from other cities such as students of the indonesia university jakarta, ipb bogor, and gadjah mada university yogyakarta. students who took part in the whole series of activities of the lmd then became preachers, both in their own campuses and in others. after that, they developed the usroh that once they got at the salman mosque of. to develop islamic propagation in the campus, the ddii was the precursor to the lmd, doing various activities of the strategic approach with a variety of campus constituents in order to push the construction of mosques so as to serve as a place to conduct dakwah activities. over time, several mosques were constructed, both in and around the area of the campus. the mosques later became the base for the struggle and the spread of islamic discourse by the campus dakwah activists through various activities such as religious instruction, discussion about the thought of islam, and book reviews. these religious activities then became the forerunner of the inception of propagation of the ldk. the ldk is increasingly growing because the cadres who were trained at the salman mosque have penetrated into almost all corners of the campus in indonesia and in general, they are very active in dakwah activities. studies conducted by rahmat (2008) revealed that almost the entire campus dakwah activities at several public universities in yogyakarta, such as gadjah mada university (ugm), yogyakarta state university (uny), indonesia islamic university (uii), and university of pembangunan nasional veteran (veteran upn) were conducted by the alumni of the salman mosque came from the ugm campus. campus dakwah activities also grew in jakarta at the indonesia university, where the centers for research and islamic studies integrated in some faculty were increasingly growing. meanwhile, in bogor the campus [ 99 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 dawah activities successfully controlled the campus mosque at the bogor institute of agriculture (ipb), namely al ghifari mosque which later became the birthplace of the movement of the hizbut tahrir indonesia (hti). the ldk’s at the itb, ugm, ui, and ipb were successful early generations shaped by campus dakwah activities which later on successfully expanded their institution by training and educating activists from other campuses. their efforts paid off because they apparently managed to create a lot of new cadres that later spread to reach large public universities, such as unair surabaya, undip semarang, unhas makassar and usu medan (rahmat, 2008: 29). since then, the campus dakwah activities have increasingly grown and developed from aceh to papua and penetrated public and private universities and several religiously-based universities (rahmat, 2008:29) to corroborate the existence of the ldk in the campus, the ldk activists used a variety of strategies and approaches. one of them was by taking part in important positions in the intra-campus institutional structure so that their activities could get support and legitimacy. the ldk had also become more powerful because it was supported by the alumni in the middle east who routinely provided important contribution in the development of islamic teaching materials. the islamic teaching materials developed were ideas that they got while pursuing an education in the middle east, one of which was the idea brought in by the muslim brotherhood movement, which was the islamic discourse that was popular in the late 1980s (rahmat, 2008: 88). the alumni of the middle east also spent a lot of their time serving as a supervisor and murabbi for lectures, studies, and seminars related to religious issues that are regularly held by the ldk. nowadays, the ldk has a national network of dakwah followed by various campus dakwah institutions in several universities in indonesia. the campus dakwah organization hospitality forum (fs-ldk) and the indonesian student dakwah circle (lidmi) are national network of dakwah owned by ldk. the network always holds regular annual meetings in various cities and in their meetings they usually discuss contemporary issues, consolidation of power, and the future of islamic propagation. history of establishment of the ldk-mpm according to its official site, ldk-mpm was founded on december 15, 1988. ldk-mpm is a unit of student activities of the campus dakwah institutions focusing on social, dakwah, and educational activities. ldk mpm unhas was founded to answer the challenges of the globalization era in order to [ 100 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 realize a shared vision to embody the hasanuddin university (unhas) into a college with islamic atmosphere. an (22), one of the activists of the ldkmpm said that at first the ldk-mpm was present on the old campus of the hasanuddin university in the area of baraya, before moving to a new campus located in the area of tamalanrea. the birth of this organization began when several students that wanted to say prayer often had difficulty finding small mosque for the ritual. they then use the attic at the campus for a place of prayer. at first, they said prayer there quietly, but over time, they eventually were given permission to turn the attic into a small mosque. from the small mosque, they then held a variety of activities such as islamic religious instruction, discussion, and prayer in congregation, but not openly. when the old campus of hasanuddin university was moved to the new one which is located in the tamalanrea, the students who had enthusiasm in the activities of dakwah, took the initiative to find a place that was unused in the campus area to be used as a small mosque. in short, starting from the small mosque in the new campus, gradually, ldk-mpm tried to stretch their influence by recruiting and training students who have a great interest in the activities of islamic propagation. this was aided by several activists who had also previously been in the field of dakwah. at that time, the new order government issued a policy that prohibits students to get involved in practical politics, so the campus activities were deserted. the ldk-mpm became an oasis amid the vacuum of student activities at that time. campus dakwah activities emerged as an alternative for students. since the campus dakwah activities were solely considered purely religious in nature to help students improve themselves and that religiosity was thought as having no political pretensions to oppose the government, the campus dakwah movement received considerable support in the campus (muhtadi, 2012: 103-104). one of the ldk-mpm activist said that due to the increasing number of students of the hasanuddin university who came from different parts of eastern indonesia, the university steak-holders realized the importance of the presence of a bigger mosque because small mosques that had been there before were no longer able to accommodate worshipers who were increasingly growing day by day. several lecturers then initiated to set aside a portion of their income to help with the cost of construction of the campus mosque. students also contributed by setting aside some of their money to speed up the construction of the mosque. finally, the construction could be done quickly after the committee for the construction of the campus mosque at that time received a sizable donation from south sulawesi governor, h.z.b palaguna [ 101 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 and also from bj habibie, who at that time served as the general chairman of the indonesian muslim intellectuals (icmi) and the minister of research and technology. finally, on september 13, 1997, b.j.habibie as the chairman of icmi officially opened the mosques as the campus activity center of worship and preaching. the campus mosque today serves as one of the main bases for the ldk-mpm activists’ dakwah activities. in addition to the campus mosque, ldk-mpm activists also had a lot of dakwah activities in smaller mosques run by the ldf (branch at the faculty level), which is a wing of their movement. dakwah activities were chosen because these activities are regarded as a strategic way to spread the ideology of islamic fundamentalism. in their activities, one-way communication patterns tend to be very prominent, so the process of ideology instillation can run easily. zuly qadir (2007) showed that the activities of religious propagation conducted by the campus dakwah body were a mere camouflage. at first, they only appeared as a dakwah movement, but today they have shown their ideological face. traits and characteristics of islamic fundamentalism carried by ldk-mpm hasanuddin university a public campus that is basically does not have a specific religious affiliation, so ideally this should be home to students of various religions, ethnic groups, race, gender or ideology. however, it would be gone instantly because lately, the ideology of islamic fundamentalism led by ldk-mpm was growing strongly at hasanuddin university. adherents of these ideologies have always wanted uniformity, something they believe to be the absolute truth. it can be seen from several indicators as follows: 1. rejecting modern views in view of the ldk-mpm activists, the modern world is always seen as something synonymous with the west. they argue that the west is a wily enemy, so they must remain wary, because the west is considered to have a specific agenda to destroy the faith of muslims. according to them, most muslims today have left the values of islam and prefer to exalt the western values in everyday life, such as the freedom of sex and alcohol consumption. the negative excesses arising out of the penetration of western civilization have made the dakwah activists feel the need to fortify the muslims so that they will not go astray. with the spread of the ideology of islamic fundamentalism, they believe it will provide solutions to the decline of muslim morality. according to the i.m., one of the west’s views that contradicts the teachings [ 102 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 of islam and had to be abandoned by the muslims is democracy. i.m. further revealed that: “democracy is not a product of islam, since the legal basis taken in it is based on the secular law that does not have a strong foundation in the qur’an and hadith.” however, the ldk-mpm activists realize that it takes a long process to implement the application of sharia islamic law in the country. to make it happen, then they shall not give up in searching for and educate new cadres. they assume that the cadre recruitment is a necessity, because it is the right and realistic way to prepare the best cadres in the fight for the aspirations of muslims, namely the total and complete application of islamic law at the state level. for them, to reach their goal, the campus is the initial starting point, because it is a conducive place in which each ideology can develop. to manage that, then the ldk-mpm activists employ a variety of strategies, one of which is to consolidate all of their resources to strengthen the work of the ldf, in order to achieve the vision to embody the hasanuddin university as a campus with islamic atmosphere. the definition islamic atmosphere in their views is when any student can literally talk about islam, occupy themselves for islamic rituals and dress according to islamic values, especially for women. in addition, the islamization of public space is also occurs another strategy for ldk-mpm activists to promote islamic values at the micro level before stepping into the application of islamic sharia at the state macro-level. one example of islamization of public space is applying certain norms in areas that become their main base, such as the on-campus mosque, the park and the lake. when we set foot in those areas, we will see a wide banner that reads “courtship is prohibited” which features a quote from one of the verse in the quran, i.e. surah al-isra verse 32 which reads “and do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse. indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way.” in carrying out the norms in the area, the ldk-mpm activists do not hesitate to remind and give spiritual sermon on couples who are discovered being alone. this step is a way to counter the negative excesses of modernity, which is thought to have destroyed the morality of muslims. in addition, the islamization of public space is intended to strengthen the image of ldk-mpm as guardians of moral values. 2. anti diversity the term pluralism nowadays is one of the many terms that sparks controversy [ 103 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 in the islamic world, especially in indonesia, due to the fatwa of the indonesian ulema council (mui) in 2005 that banned secularism, pluralism and liberalism or often referred to as sepilis. regarding pluralism, in the views of the ldk-mpm activists, this is considered a heretical doctrine it considers all religions are the same. for ldk-mpm activists, the true religion of allah is islam, so it is feared it would undermine and destroy the established islamic teachings. to prevent the development of pluralism among students, the ldk-mpm always counter the opinion of the liberal islam network (jil), which is deemed as a motor of the growing movement of pluralism through a variety of activities such as socializing in social media, education, publications, and seminars. the ldk-mpm activists assume that jil is group to watch out because its followers were minions of the west and the jews who purposely want to destroy islam through the war of thought (al ghaz wal-fikri). for them, the jil have destroyed the established islamic foundation. jn (23), one of the activists of the ldk-mpm stated disagreement on the presence of jil, because it is considered as one of the masterminds behind the inception of bill justice and gender equality (ruu kkg). to ldk-mpm, the bill is problematic and does not need to be defended, gender equality is the western idea. they are very resistant to the concept of gender equality, as it provides a large space to the existence of gays and lesbians in the future. jn further said: “supporting the bill justifies the existence of gays and lesbians, because islamic teachings strongly condemn their existence because they have belied the nature given by allah.” in addition to countering the jill, the ldk-mpm activists are also actively involved in the movement of religious purification of the sects regarded as ‘perverse’, i.e. the ahmadiya and shia. in their views, the ahmadiya is heretical, so they must fortify the muslims from the sect. however, preaching against the ahmadiya is not as big an issue that discusses the shia heretics. im asserted that, “my friends and i do not worry too much about the ahmadiya because a sane muslim will surely not ask critically about the teaching that recognizes a prophet after prophet mohammed, who in fact has clearly been said in the quran as the last prophet and apostle.” in the view of ldk-mpm activists, the shia needs to look out for because the teachings are thought to have damaged islam and tend to be double[ 104 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 faced. they have the perception that the followers of shia often promote their teachings as part of islam, but in fact they are deemed to have deviated far from the doctrine of ahlusunnah wal jamaah which they believe. jn, one of the activists of the ldk-mpm, assumed that the ta’qiyah which becomes the cornerstone of creed for the followers of shia, is considered problematic and a misleading doctrine, because it gives opportunities to the followers of shia to justify lies in order to smooth the spread of shiite teachings. the ldk-mpm activists consider the shia as apostates as their teachings have deviated from islam, and its followers are considered to have wounded the sanctity of the prophet muhammad’s wife, aisya, whom they accused of adultery. for ldk-mpm activists, aisya is one of good examples in islam, because historically she narrated the hadith of the prophet, so she must be defended. in addition, the shia are considered to laud ali ibn abi talib too much and humiliated the companions of the prophet, such as abu bakr, umar ibn al-khattab and uthman ibn affan. the shia also legalize contract marriage that ldk-mpm activists believe to have been removed by the prophet, so it should be abandoned by muslims. to combat the teachings that are considered astray, the ldk-mpm activists strive to utilize the medium of propagation to purify islam from various things regarded as un-islamic. they utilize the media as effectively as possible because the communication pattern in their dakwah tends to run in one direction, so that the ideology instilment can run easily. it is not difficult for ldk-mpm to spread their ideology, because basically, almost all mosques and small mosques located in different faculties at the hasanuddin university have been dominated and controlled by them and the ldf which becomes a wing of their movement. the ldk-mpm activists can designate a trainer/ presenter whose agendas and objectives are the same as their ideology for a talk at religious gatherings. therefore, in its action, the ldk-mpm often involves speakers from wi (united islam), lppi (institute for islamic studies and research) and miumi (assembly of young intellectuals and scholars of indonesia) because these organizations are concerned with the issue of the war thought (al ghaz wal-fikri). in addition, ldk-mpm uses (intensive study of the qur’an) media to transmit their ideology and socilize to muslims with regard to the sects labeled as heretical. sains media is one of the most effective media for those running the mission because this activity was followed by a lot of new students whose mind is still plain, so that they become objects of prospective cadre recruitment. the ldk-mpm activists appeared as a mentor in charge of providing guidance regarding the procedures for the correct reading and [ 105 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 also thematic discussions in which the ideology of islamic fundamentalism is often instilled and taught in the discussions. 3. rejecting new interpretation the text the text is something that is dynamic and flexible since no text is dropped in space without meaning, so text reinterpretation is inevitable. islam is the teaching that rests a lot on the text, especially the quran and hadith. in the view of the ldk-mpm activists with fundamentalist tendencies, the interpretation of the text in the qur’an is final, sacred, and can no longer be contested. for them, islam is a complete teaching and being a complement to the teachings of the previous religions. to preserve the sanctity of holy scripture, they strive to purification efforts. purification in question is anything practiced by prophet muhammad should be maintained and preserved by the muslims as the prophet is model for muslims. to carry out the purification, they implement everything that is considered islamic prophetic tradition, such as growing a beard and wearing pants above the knee (cingkrang). these ldk-mpm activists reject everything of foreign nature to islam, particularly the influence of the west. one of the things that they reject is interpretation of the text by using the hermeneutics method which is nowadays widely used by the muslims who have a pattern of liberal thought. for them, islam is a doctrine that has been perfect and suited to a wide range of ages, so no longer need to be interpreted with the method of hermeneutics. they criticize the hermeneutics method because it is often used by westerners to criticize the gospels. for them, in terms of content, the bible and the quran are very different. the authenticity of the bible is questionable because the content has been revised by humans, whereas the quran has always maintained its authenticity. for them, the use of the method of hermeneutics for the qur’an will only harass the grandeur and authenticity of the holy book. factors that led to the rise and growth of islamic fundamentalism at hasanuddin university the campus is a place that is conducive and convenient in which various ideologies can grow fast. the intellectual climate of the campus that provides maximum space of freedom of thinking and academic freedom becomes a major factor why an ideology can be developed easily. high curiosity towards new thing among students makes the campus a strategic place to the spread of an ideology. the campus hasanuddin university is one of the campuses in [ 106 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 makassar where various ideologies are growing. each ideology is contesting each other for the realization of their main agenda, namely making their reference values as dominant (taufani, 2012). one of the prominent and dominant ideologies propagated at unhas is the islamic fundamentalism transmitted and reproduced by ldk-mpm. this ideology strives to implement islamic values as they argue that islam is taught by the former salaf, i.e. prophet muhammad, his companions, and scholars of the past. for them, islam is the doctrine that is final, complete and capable of managing various aspects of life, so whatever we want to do, everything has been arranged in the quran and hadith. “we do not need to follow the interpretation of islam by those who like to interpret the qur’an according to their own sense and their lust,” said one of the activists, im (23). for him, the modern interpretation of islam is a perversion of islam. the thought pattern of islamic fundamentalism grew rapidly at hasanuddin university due to the climate of freedom after the reform. as we know it, the new order regime under suharto outlawed all activities of practical politics in the campus through the law of normalization of campus life (nkk) 1978 (damanik, 2002: 354; hwang, 2011: 82). the new order regime also gave no space on any movement to spread any ideology other than pancasila which was regarded as final. therefore, the ldk-mpm activists try to avoid the ideological nature of the propagation and select activities dakwah that its study and discussion, so that they get acceptance on campus, since their activities are considered to be solely aimed at improving students’ religiosity. other factors that cause the pattern of fundamentalist thought to thrive at hasanuddin university are a lack of references to islam and poor arabic language skills of the students, so that various discourses offered by ldk-mpm activists have been difficult to stop, because students have no comparison in critiquing and reviewing the notion of islamic fundamentalism. the limited portion of the islamic religious education course (pai) which is only 2 credits in the entire period of the studies has further caused the students to fail to enrich their reference regarding diversity in islam, because the pai course stresses more about aspects of ritual and fiqh, while the subjects of islamic philosophy, kalam, sufism, and history of islamic culture are rarely touched. most students who join the activism of fundamentalist islam are those from the faculty of natural sciences, especially the students of the mathematics and natural sciences department. there are also students of the faculty of social sciences joining this movement, but are outnumbered by the quantity of students of the faculty of natural sciences. the cause of this trend is due to the fact that the activists from the natural sciences department often play [ 107 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 an important role in the management of the faculty senate, so that they can master the political tools in it to launch a process of ideology instilment. unlike in the faculty of social sciences, particularly in social and political sciences, the dakwah body tends to be stagnant and the system of cadre recruitment does not run well. in addition, the emergence of the ideology of islamic fundamentalism in the faculty of natural sciences, particularly the department of mathematics and natural sciences, is caused by the viewpoints of students who are accustomed to something that is mathematically measurable and rational, so that it is correlated to the viewpoints that they interpret holy texts to be black and white, without critical examination. on the contrary, the ideology of islamic fundamentalism is not popular among the students of social sciences because basically they have a tradition of critical thinking that is a tradition in the study of the social sciences, so they are always skeptical of new ideas. social science students also come into contact with a lot of cross cultural studies and multiculturalism, so they always analyze things from a variety of perspectives (erham budi wiranto, 2013: 111). another factor that led to the growth of islamic fundamentalism at the hasanuddin university is modernity that is always associated as western culture and considered to be negative, so the ideology of islamic fundamentalism, in this respect, appears to be an alternative to counteract the excesses of the negative influence of the west. the ldk-mpm activists assume that there is a shift in the values that occur to muslims, especially among the younger generation of today. they assume that most of the younger generation of muslims nowadays cannot adapt to modernity. they tend to get carried away, so they ignore moral values. im gave examples of what is going on in the campus where a female college student is not dressed in accordance with islamic norms and the lack of confidence when they do not have a boyfriend. im argued: “dating is prohibited because of the negative effects, for example when two people of different sex are being alone, the devil will be in the middle of them and persuade them to do bad things.” the above discussion shows that the presence of ldk-mpm that brings the ideology of islamic fundamentalism inside the campus aims to identify themselves as the antithesis of the moral corruption brought on by modernity. [ 108 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 conclusion islamic fundamentalism has become quite familiar and is commonly encountered today. the phenomenon essentially resulted from the excesses of the post-reform freedom. the pattern of thought that is typical of islamic fundamentalism is a narrow and textual understanding of islamic teachings. they believe that whatever has been formulated in the text of the holy qur’an, must be interpreted literally. the hasanuddin university campus is not affiliated to a particular religion, but religious tendencies are growing strongly here in the form of islamic fundamentalism. islamic fundamentalism at the hasanuddin university is led by ldk-mpm. traits and characteristics islamic fundamentalism brought by ldk-mpm are among others, rejection of modernization as it is always associated with the western culture, rejection of diversity, and rejection of dialogue and new interpretations of the text. basically, the islamic movement with a fundamentalist thought pattern did not emerge spontaneously. this movement basically had existed since long ago, but political conditions at the time of the new order, did not give enough room for them to spread the ideas because pancasila was considered the final ideology of the state. therefore, the ldk-mpm activists tried to avoid the ideological nature of propagation and selected activities related to discussions and religious instruction, so they could be accepted on campus due to their activities solely considered to improve students’ religiosity. however, the post-reform freedom contributed to the growth of islamic fundamentalism since the reform era allows for considerable space for individuals and groups to freely associate, assemble, and express argument. the students’ lack of comprehensive islamic references has given the ideology of islamic fundamentalism to thrive at unhas as students do not have enough resources to critique and review the notion brought by islamic fundamentalist actors. the emergence of modernity that is always associated with the western culture is considered by many to be bringing negative influence, so that the ideology of islamic fundamentalism emerged as an alternative to counteract the negative excesses. the pattern of thought brought ldk-mpm which is gradual fundamentalist in nature is a means of accommodating the students’ concern and at the same time avoiding extreme ways of violence. however this sort of thought has created a nature symbolic violence. symbolic violence is essentially dominant because it works under the most fundamental tools in human, i.e. through symbols of communication and knowledge, such as language, lifestyle, way of thinking, speech, and action, traits, and stigma, which in the end will create compliance (bourdieu in [ 109 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 haryatmoko, 2010: 13). symbolic violence is a catalyst that is capable of creating the psychological and physical violence that results in actual nature (haryatmoko, 2010: 130). physical violence is actually becoming the main purpose of symbolic violence. the thing is that we cannot sensitively realize the long term effects generated by symbolic violence, because it is traditionally wrapped neatly in the subconscious structure of the human. bibliography anwar. m. syafii. 2006. “gerakan muslim modernis: pergumulan wacana dan politik pasca orde baru”, dalam komaruddin hidayat dan ahmad gaus (eds.), menjadi indonesia: 13 abad eksistensi islam di bumi nusantara. jakarta selatan: penerbit mizan-yayasan festival istiqlal. armstrong, karen. 2011. masa depan tuhan: sanggahan terhadap fundamentalisme dan ateisme. bandung: penerbit mizan. barr, james. 1996. fundamentalisme. jakarta: pt. bpk gunung mulia. burhanuddin. 2007. “the conspiracy of jews: the quest for anti-semitism in media dakwah”, dalam graduate journal of asia-pacific studies 5:2 (2007), 53-76. damanik, ali said. 2002. fenomena partai keadilan: transformasi 20 tahun gerakan tarbiyah di indonesia. jakarta selatan: penerbit teraju. fealy, greg dan anthony bubalo. 2005. jejak kafilah: pengaruh radikalisme timur tengah di indonesia. bandung: mizan. haryatmoko. 2010. dominasi penuh muslihat: akar kekerasan dan diskriminasi. jakarta: penerbit gramedia pustaka utama. hilmy, masdar. 2010. islamism and democracy in indonesia: piety and pragmatism. institute of southeast asian studies (iseas). hwang, julia chernov. 2011. umat bergerak: mobilisasi damai kaum islamis di indonesia, malaysia, dan turki. jakarta: freedom institute. jainuri, ahmad. 2003. “fundamentalisme islam: asal usul dan karakteristik”, dalam jurnal akademia vol. 13, hlm 1-14. muhtadi, burhanuddin. 2012. dilema pks: suara dan syariah. jakarta: kepustakaan populer gramedia. qodir, zuly. 2007. islam liberal: paradigma baru wacana dan aksi islam indonesia. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. qodir, zuly. 2009. gerakan sosial islam: manifesto kaum beriman. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. rahmat, m. imdadun. 2005. arus baru islam radikal: transmisi revivalisme islam timur tengah ke indonesia. jakarta: penerbit erlangga. taufani. 2012. ideologi islamisasi vs kekerasan: studi respon gerakan dakwah kampus terhadap ideologi kekerasan di senat fakultas teknik universitas hasanuddin. tesis: center for religious and cross-cultural studies [ 110 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 graduate school gadjah mada university yogyakarta, indonesia. van bruinessen, martin. 2008. “traditionalist and islamist pesantrens in contemporary indonesia”, dalam farish a. noor, dkk (ed.), the madrasa in asia: political activism and transnational linkages. amsterdam university press. van bruinessen, martin. 2009. “modernism and anti-modernism in indonesian muslim responses to globalization”, paper dipresentasikan dalam workshop islam and development in southeast asia: southeast asian muslim responses to globalization, diselenggarakan oleh jica (japan international cooperation agency) research institute, singapore, 21-22 november 2009. wiranto, erham budi. 2010. islamic fundamentalism among students at natural sciences and social sciences faculties of gadjah mada university. tesis: center for religious and cross-cultural studies graduate school gadjah mada university yogyakarta, indonesia. [ 79 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 natural disaster managements in indonesia: perspective of local wisdom and heidegger hermeneutics idaman alwi faculty of law, halu oleo university email: faris.rumi.elqunawi@gmail.com rizal mustansyir gadjah mada university p. hardono hadi gadjah mada university abstract natural disaster managements in indonesia carried out by the government seemed centralized, slow and is not well prepared. even the government seems to ignore the management of natural disasters that has long been entrenched in the pulse of local community knowledge systems. considerations in decision-making mitigation of natural disasters is too scientific-positivistic and ignores the philosophical aspect of the work. this paper attempts to offer a perspective of natural disaster management with support of indonesian local wisdom and heidegger hermeneutics. most of the ethnic groups in indonesia have already had a set or system of knowledge in the management of natural disasters. this knowledge system exists since the long experience of indonesian society in dealing with natural disasters. this system is then passed on and transformed from many generations through oral hystory. some studies indicate that local knowledge systems on the management of natural disasters so far are very effective in minimizing the number of dissaster victims. in addition, martin heidegger hermeneutics offeres a concept of natural disaster management with the starting point of the idea of being-in-the-world. the idea is one of the basic principles of hermeneutics-facticity martin heidegger who supposes that a real human living being has awareness of this universe. in the ‘living earth’, man does not necessarily accept the fate thrown into the earth, but he has the ability to exercise the creativity for survival. as a result of the awareness of the throwness into the universe, in turn, human beings have awareness that they have a relation to one another, empathy and sensitivity as human beings. keywords: natural, disaster, managements; victim, local, knowledge, hermeneutics-facticity, being-in-the-world. [ 80 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 introduction disaster is a phenomenon faced by humans every time. it will continue to occur as a natural phenomenon. there is a disaster that can be prevented (strived to not happen), but there is also a disaster that can not be avoided, so that human beings can only be trying to anticipate so that no victim of wealth and soul (kuswanjono, 2012: 291). variety of ways have taken by people to avoid disaster, but they often do not help the people either in seeking to escape or to save lives and property. this is what we need to pay more attention further. according to sudibyakto and haroonah (1997: 37), natural disasters often occur in indonesia, among others, are landslides, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and the shallow sea earthquake that caused the tsunami. disasters have double impact, the positive and negative effects depending on the type of disaster; location and intensity. to minimize the negative impacts of impending disasters should be managed in order not to affect the development process of the affected countries. disaster relief efforts should be planned, directed, continued, and integrated in order to achieve its objectives. urgency philosophy, hermeneutics considered particularly significant in solving the problems of mankind. hermeneutics as a method of understanding the text, symbols, reality, and so on can be served as the basis and direction of development of science. if there was an assumption that philosophy, or specifically, hermeneutics often is not in touch with reality, especially related to the natural sciences, it turns out in practice can be used to deepen understanding. in the context of disaster, hermeneutics with its set of methods which can be an important contribution to the development of studies of disaster, in line with the contributions made by modern sciences today. at the same time, local wisdom in various regions in indonesia has a significant contribution in the mitigation of natural disasters in indonesia. natural disaster mitigation in this locality perspective ingrained in pulse science diverse ethnicities in indonesia. natural disaster mitigation undertaken by the indonesian government often ignore local knowledge aspect that has long been developing. so far the management of natural disasters that have been undertaken by the government are not running effectively and efficiently. this paper is one way to adequately prepare a set of concepts and the contribution of natural disaster management by combining local knowledge and hermeneutical aspects of heidegger. the discourse of disaster still raises fundamental questions, in particular how the disaster should be limited. although the brink of disaster has been much debated, but the researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have made it clear [ 81 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 that there are limits on the conception of a natural disaster (national research council, 2006: 16). disasters come in many forms. most experts use the term agent to distinguish between catastrophic events. the storm is separated from a chemical explosion, plant, earthquakes, plane crashes, railway accidents, and so forth. other experts use the term disaster. el (henry) quarantelli asserted from the outset that the concept of disaster is very complex (quarantelli, 1998: xiv; perry and quarantelli, 2005: 19-20). meanwhile, with little simplified, disaster meant as actual events, or threat of an event, which interferes with the normal routine of a community significantly. disasters bring danger and severe losses in humans and properties so that the resources of a community that is subject to heavy loads (drabek 2010: 27-28). generally, disasters divided into three categories, namely natural disasters, technology and conflict (drabek, 2010: 28-29). the relatively adequate conception of the disaster is presented by naomi zack who stated that the disaster as an event or series of events that harm and kill large numbers of people who spoil and disrupt their daily lives. disasters can happen by accident or on deliberate human, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, chemical spills, leaks infiltration of toxic substances, terrorism, nuclear, epidemics and so on. disasters always sudden and shocking unwanted affect victims physically and psychologically. disasters also produce narrative and media representations of heroism, failures and losses of those affected and respond to disasters (zack, 2009: 5). another scholar who also responded to the disaster discourse, among others, are claude gilbert (1998: 3) that considers disaster as social vulnerability and as something that is uncertain. natural disasters are events or accidents that often coused by the human. various natural disasters that occurred for decades in turn elicit responses, experiences and knowledge of the indonesian people about natural disasters. the response, experience and human knowledge are results of long struggle of humanity to natural disasters. natural disasters are the realities faced by mankind. efforts to understand the reality of man vis-à-vis natural disasters within the framework of the hermeneutics of heidegger called hermeneutics facticity. heidegger often emphasizes two aspects of human existence, namely ‘throwness’ into the world and being itself as a throwness or projection possibilities (heidegger, 1972: 181; gadamer, 1972: 249). both of these aspects seem to be a tension between the possibilities in which human existence was thrown and the possibilities of the human itself is a projection, and even at the same time understand (projection and understand the metonymy in the existential analysis of heidegger). [ 82 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 throwness that experienced by human existence in this world became the core of the hermeneutics of facticity martin heidegger. the term faktizitat (noun) is derived from the adjective faktisch, which shows the real as given, created, constructed facts. latin language, sober, fatum, facio. this term has actually emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. this term has been used by dilthey and developed by neo-kantian, which draw a distinction between faktizitat and logizitat (kisiel, 1986-87: 91-120). but in the period 1919-1923, heidegger then used the term “life” (leben), “existence” (existenz), “facticity” (faktizitat), and dasein as the same terms (synonyms). furthermore, at the end of the period, due to the re-emergence and gradual dominance survey of ontological, hence the term “existence” and “dasein” then conceptually replaces the term “life” (life) and “facticity” (faktizitat). even in being and time heidegger abandon the concept of “life” and therefore called it “does not necessarily ontologically” (ontologically undetermined) and this is an attitude of distancing from dilthey and his life philosophy (heidegger, 1962: 72-73, 252-253) , facticity (faktizitat) show staple, the reality of individual existence that can not be reduced, in which every authentic philosophy should declare it to be the foundation and starting point. the discovery of factum and the fundamental reality of life can never be ignored, because it can not be reduced or deduced from everything. therefore, this factum is the full meaning, humans endlessly perceived and understood. the meanings of these facts were produced by themselves by articulating and arranging them into a “unity fact of life” understanding the meaning is never without presuppositions (voraussetzungslos); but presupposes a pre-understanding (vormeinung) certain “ist nie ein auslegung voraussetzungsloses erfassen eines vorgegebenen” (interpretation never an understanding without pre-assumption about what is) (heidegger, 1967: 150). words presuppositions or pre-understanding here is not interpreted cognitively alone, but existentially, ie as a mode of existence. preunderstanding is formed from what is called heidegger bewandtnisganzheit, i.e the totality of human involvement in the practices of a life well lived, and it is “silent”, ie non-thematic, pre-predicative, non-verbal. humans simply engaged in the practices, and involvement grows the understanding. in this context, understanding is not understood transitive, but understands that man is talking about to understand something. moreover the understanding achieved as the mode of existence-the-world (being-in-theworld), as the fundamental way in which a person lives or cognition precede by any intellectual activities. one issue is how to position the hermeneutics of heidegger with the reality of human life. heidegger calls this the “being[ 83 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 in-the-world”(dasein). dasein is an entity acting on their own with regard to being. based on these words, heidegger gave attention to the formal concept of existence, dasein exists (heidegger, 1962: 78). compound expression “being-in-the-world” indicates that this term plays on a unitary phenomenon. singular primary data should be seen as a whole. even as being-in-the-world can not be undermined in the content that may be sorted at the same time, this does not prevent the being-in-the-world of the ownership of some items constitutively in its structure. according to heidegger, the actual expression is an indication that the phenomenon can be seen in three ways. if someone learn, by first firmly maintain the entire phenomenon in mind, the following items may be a good solution. this work is based on a qualitative research project which describes and analyzes the data pleasing to the management of natural disasters in indonesia. the method used to analyze data is hermeneutics. through the method of data analysis, data were collected, read and interpreted in accordance to the rules of hermeneutics as intended by gadamer (1989: 291). natural disaster management: engaging local knowledge every phenomenon of natural disasters can be known through the structure of human understanding and experience in the disaster area. since long time ago, the local communities in indonesia had a profound knowledge of the symptoms associated with natural disasters that will happen. this knowledge, which is inherited from generation to generation, also developed throughout the experience dealing with natural disasters. thus, people who have experienced a disaster in a long time will have a self-defense mechanism in response to any disasters. unless the people who recently suffered from natural disasters will feel commonly shock and panic. these communities do not have adequate mechanisms to respond disasters. abdullah (2008: 2) argues that a disaster is considered as a new experience, something that is unprecedented, so that taken as something that has become the collective knowledge and experience. the series of catastrophic natural events, if examined closely, are actually a common natural process that plagues mankind. various natural disasters that occurred recently affect many places in indonesia, with a different intensity. the number of casualties and property losses due to disasters should be decline, because the community has experienced the disaster. in fact, the number of casualties and property losses is progressively increasing. the situation is made possible because of the time lapse between a disaster and the next one [ 84 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 is long enough, so the people are quickly forgotten. the area is vulnerable to potential disasters remain uninhabitable, even more and more dense, coupled with the public’s knowledge of the disaster is still very low (sudibiyakto, et al, 2012: 22). the series of catastrophic events actually give awareness, that however difficult for men to stave off the threat of disaster, because a lot going beyond human control. while on the other hand, humans actually have the ability to recognize the symptoms and understand the potential for disaster. it is this ability that is regarded as one of the efforts to minimize the impact of disasters on people and the environment, both the physical environment and social environment. natural disasters often can not be manipulated. so that the problem lies on not only in natural disasters, but also rooted in imbalances and vulnerabilities that exist within the community itself. warning, protection, knowledge, expertise, good access to material resources and knowledge, networks, and other sources of help must be promoted to mitigate the impact of natural events and improve the human ability to recover the effects (blaike, in indiyanto, 2012: 32). human beings are most often harmed by any catastrophic events that occurred. therefore, any persons who are in disaster-prone areas should be aware of living in an environment that has the potential for disaster. humans must coexist harmoniously with the environment in exploiting its resources, yet always increasing vigilance. society must know the existence of hazards, hazard level, and natural phenomena that occur before the threat becomes a disaster (sudibyakto et al, 2012: 22). the most important is that people should have the durability against any disasters. of course, this durability comes from understanding and life experience, developed through cultural adaptation and include knowledge of the symptoms of natural disasters, to organize themselves and recuperate the time decided to return to locations affected by natural disasters. durability or resilience encompasses three abilities. first, the ability to absorb pressure through adaptation to the environment is vulnerable. second, the ability to maintain certain basic functions during a disaster is vulnerable. third, the ability to recover or “bounces back” after a disaster event is vulnerable. (twigg, 2007: 14). the term of resilience can be traced to the latin word resalire, which is defined as a “walking or warpage behind”. in several different disciplines, it denotes the capacity to bounce back or recover after a shock or an event. even some scholars use these terms to describe the amount of time it takes to recover due to a external pressure or interference. (gunderson, 2010: 19). “resilience” on [ 85 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the natural disaster refers to the ability to protect the people who live, from the destruction of life and infrastructure. this term also refers to the ability to repair areas after a natural disaster. on this basis, the ability of the public response to face natural disasters also relies on the capacity of viability or resilience. this concept, at least not spread on a wide scale in the disaster literature in the 1990s and still the object of a conceptual debate surrounding the meaning and application among social scientists (klein et al., 2003). pelling (2003: 48), for example, looked at the durability of this as a component of a principal vulnerability or capacity to deal with or adapt to the pressure of danger. in this respect, basically it is preparing the endurance of planned and spontaneous changes or planned to do in the face of natural disasters. another scholar (folke et al., 2002: 13) argues that in terms of durability as reversing the vulnerability or the holding capacity of the damage and changes in the event of natural disaster incidents. this approach is used to break away from the previous scholars who define resilience as the capacity of a system to absorb and recover from incidents of a hazard event (timmermann, 1981: 21). goes beyond scientific calculations, the local communities in indonesia already has a set of sufficient knowledge to understand any symptoms of natural disasters. according to marfai and khasanah (2012: 40), a society that survives for a certain period can not be separated from the process of distribution of knowledge that existed from one generation to the next. the transfer of experience will provide a reference of action that may be taken in dealing with a problem. based on research of marfai and khasanah (2012: 40), transfer of knowledge and experience is applicable to coastal communities. the community is able to adapt to floods and tsunami inundation. regions of kemadang coastal communities, kramas and passo have undergone several flood inundation, or tsunami. hence, the historical record should not be broken from one generation to the next, as a medium which gives a warning that the society coexist with disasters that pose a risk of inflicting damage. departing from this awareness, an understanding of the natural conditions into a matter must be known by the public for generations. the knowledge of society is expected to prevent the occurrence of disasters, or to adapt when a disaster occurs. since the 1990s, local and indigenous knowledge get the most attention in terms of natural resource management, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. in the area of disaster risk reduction, the earthquake and tsunami in the indian ocean in 2004 was recognized as a starting point, when specialists and scientists began to show attention to such knowledge. [ 86 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 in fact, local knowledge and indigenous subsequently incorporated into the policy on disaster risk reduction or climate change adaptation, and a wealth of knowledge and practices that documented it is not yet the effort is inadequate to take advantage of this knowledge that allows the community to improve the durability (hiwasaki, luna, syamsidik, shaw , 2014: ii). in ambon, local knowledge on natural disasters through the experiences gained over the years. this knowledge and experience transmitted from generation to generation through songs or art. marfai and khasanah (2012: 40-41) argued that the emergence of a variety of songs and art in ambon can also be interpreted as an effort to provide a warning for the future generations about the history of disasters that have occurred in the region. ambon song tulehu and flood of galala is one example of local wisdom that can serve to disaster reduction. in the view of marfai and khasanah (2012: 41), other than through transfer of experience, the knowledge of disasters and natural phenomena that are owned by the community is often framed in a consensus. the agreements are mutually recognized by the people in a particular area. the emergence of the agreements and consensus indirectly stimulating the emergence of social control in society, both institutionalized norms formally and simply values that must be adhered together. various parties can play a role in the process, not only a particular mandated figure of authority but also a social control which often done directly between community members. it is based on the belief that human life in nature and the environment are alike. violation of any nature will not only affect individual people who abuse, but also to be experienced by society as a whole. the description indicates that the control key community of members and leaders is instrumental in determining when natural disasters existed. in responding to and dealing with natural disasters, the role of leaders or elite society seems important to provide information on disaster. this centralized information can avoid the issues that allow uncontrolled people to face the disasters. another interesting point of this description is a violation of nature that not only affect the individual, but also to the community at large. therefore, some local communities work to restore harmony to the universe throughout certain rituals. among a number of local people who gave special attention to the ritual in order to restore harmony to the universe, tolaki people in southeast sulawesi also be considered to be still going through the rituals of this kind. tolaki people in southeast sulawesi call this ritual as mosehe (restructuring domestic) or ritual starting reinforcements (tarimana, 1993, gunawan, 1986, [ 87 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 koodoh 2007, koodoh and idaman, 2013). a few studies that have been done showed clearly how local people in indonesia understand the realities of natural disasters on the environment. in this context, local knowledge can appear as an alternative source of knowledge, which enrich the human perspective in preparation against disaster risks. local knowledge of the phenomena of nature, such as the decline in the animals from the slopes of the mountain, the air temperature rises, the withering of certain trees, clear indications is important to change the natural characteristics that led to the eruption. therefore, ethnographic materials of this kind should no longer see the system of local knowledge as something separated. local knowledge should no longer be seen as something that is bound and covered, but a hybrid and have some sort of connection terminal that allows him to connect with the outside world. the boundary between local and global knowledge; traditional and modern should be mutually integrative and influence (nygren, 1999: 268). exceed calculations science all modern, local knowledge also has power, especially in the understanding of the context and is also effective in the mobilization because it is directly related to daily life, the power, and the structures that exist in society (fischer, 2006: 25-26). local knowledge has become part of people’s lives for many years and has been a close experience that settles in the public memory ribbons. related to the natural disasters, predictions and forecasts made by local communities based on their experience and knowledge can be used as an alternative one in terms of disaster mitigation. local wisdom in the past decades was very much discussed. talk of local knowledge is often associated with the local community and with the understanding that varies. local knowledge is the ideas of local wise, full of wisdom, good-value embedded and followed by its members (sartini, 2004: 111, 2009: 11). according to the formula issued by the ministry of social affairs, local wisdom is defined as a view of life and knowledge as well as various life strategies that intangible activities undertaken by local communities in addressing the various problems in the fulfillment of their needs (in permana et al, 2011: 67). the fulfillment system definitely covers all elements of life, religion, science, economics, technology, social organization, language and communication, as well as the arts. another definitions that match for local wisdom conception is expressed by zulkarnain and febriamansyah (2008: 72) in the form of principles and specific ways embraced, understood and applied by local communities to interact and interrelate with the environment and transformed into value systems and customary norms. meanwhile, kongprasertamorn (2007: 2) argues that local knowledge refers to knowledge that comes from the experience of a [ 88 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 community and an accumulation of local knowledge. local wisdom existed in society, communities, and individuals. thus the local wisdom and traditional knowledge is a view that the reference in the act and has been practiced by generations to meet the needs and challenges in the life of a community. local knowledge has meaningful function in society, both in the preservation of natural and human resources, customs and cultural preservation, as well as beneficial to life. in recent years, more and more people are interested in studying the relationship between indigenous and natural disasters. in the treasures of disaster risk reduction, there are four basic arguments that support the importance of local knowledge. first, practices and specific strategies in the local wisdom, which proved invaluable in dealing with natural disasters, can be transferred and adapted to other communities who face a similar situation. second, the integration of local knowledge into practice and existing policies will encourage the participation of the affected communities to take a leading role in all disaster risk reduction activities. then, the third, the information contained in local knowledge can help improve project implementation by providing valuable information on the local context. lastly, how the dissemination of local knowledge that is both non-formal set a good example for other educational efforts in disaster risk reduction. being-in-the-world: heidegger on natural disasters martin heidegger’s philosophical hermeneutics problem pleased with the ideas that seem too theoretical, so it seems a bit difficult to use in interpreting human behavior on natural disasters. in addition, at the level of methodological, martin heidegger hermeneutics does not apply universally in analyzing the problems of humanity. the idea of martin heidegger’s hermeneutical is an attempt to observe and interpret reality, especially the reality faced by humanity. moving on from this assumption, the idea of martin heidegger hermeneutics can be used to understand the disaster. according to the author, there are three keywords to understand the hermeneutics of martin heidegger in connection with studies and natural disaster management in indonesia. first, being-in-the-world. analysis of heidegger on being-in-the world (in der welt sein) based on a very sophisticated descriptions of the condition or of human existence in the universe. analysis of martin heidegger of the human subject is closely related to self-awareness about self dasein. for heidegger, “dasein ‘stands out’ in the various moments of the temporality of care, being “thrown” out of a past and ‘projecting’ itself toward a future by way of the present. “(heidegger, 1977: 204). [ 89 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 heidegger’s idea, not a historically specific and socially, but in fact is the traits of universal human ontology. moreover, heidegger’s work can be seen explicitly oriented to the individual as a whole. he analyzed the situation only on single man who fell into the world and forced to tackle this situation. social condition which is mere backgrounds and relationships among people is still secondary. moreover, because heidegger is interested in the question of the essence there is dasein. dasein so it is always an individual who has a central role. heidegger found the reality of man as essentially a being-to (being-towards), because there is only alone can not bring the whole idea of dasein. the key to understanding this issue is the heidegger argument being in : being in presenting being dasein, so the appearance will never be considered in the light of something (heidegger, 20 0 8: 79). thus, the heideggerian human existed in a world where people were thrown into it. the basic condition of dasein is beingin-the-world (in-der-welt-sein), but without a concrete and specific way to appear-and the result is the subject of a different situation, and also self-projection that tends to be different possibilities in the future. even through being-in-the-world , human beings are destined to live side by side with each other and share the world, namely the condition of dasein every day is there-along. second, being-with-others. being-with-others is a condition of dasein is aware of the process of ‘making her’ in this world. in other words, being-with-others is a consequence of awareness of dasein about being-in-the-world . from here, there or coexisting with others will bring up a concern (sorge), although there are-there dasein it will not affect each other or dominate the other. third, being-toward-death . as dasein is the embodiment potentialities-tobeing, one can not ignore the death, which is an essential way of there and thrownessas as essential part of a person. this means that beingtowards death universally belongs to dasein. in the language of heidegger, “in the first instance, we must characterize being towards death as a being towards a possibility indeed towards a distinctive possibility of dasein itself. “ (heidegger, 2008: 305). furthermore, the death is what makes dasein was an individual as well as deaths that are likely to own, not just relational, in the sense that other people can not keep dasein of death, even he should not be ruled out ( heidegger, 2008: 303). even so, death is not believed to be authentic for the possibility of a future that is abstract, but in contrast to last to the death that is used as a way of existing that can not be circumvented. death is not apparent in an abstract future. more than that, it is one’s understanding of the different mortality among other [ 90 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 human every day, especially for those who reject the constant state of mortal. problem is, heidegger said, “ our everyday falling evasion in the face of death is an inauthentic being toward death, “ and in re-evaluating one’s existence one is opened to feeling anxious ( heidegger, 2008: 303). this is because, “being towards death is essentially anxiety,” as dasein becomes anxious for being in the world in general when being faced with itself (heidegger, 2008: 310). only through experience anxiety would confirm the existence of dasein factually in this world, showed being of dasein to the world essentially as attention (concern), in the sense, that there is dasein itself is made visible as a concern (heidegger, 2008: 8 384). in this sense, there is dasein authentic that means to make oneself an issue against yourself. furthermore, this concern bind simultaneously being -already-in, being amidst and being ahead of itself . on the basis of heidegger’s ideas, understanding of disaster can be attributed to the process of ‘making his’ man in this world. in this context, there is an awareness of ‘living together’ with other people or other communities stricken by disasters which in turn gave rise to a concern to deal with the disaster together. although humans ‘thrown’ into the world and be forced to face and overcome all the problems of the world, there-along-with-the-other may be ‘oasis’ in the middle of anxiety, especially anxiety facing death. being-towards-death is wise perspective to cope with any shocks of life, especially the disaster. silence and inaction in times of disasters often lead to disaster and death. through self-awareness of dasein concerning beingtowards-death, then there will bring creativity and mitigation measures before and after disasters. thus, being-towards-death is not stagnation, but the creativity and vitality of the face of death, although death is coming from. through the perspective of hermeneutics heidegger, then the disaster will be considered as part of the dynamics of human life. in fact, the disaster itself will be seen as something positive, not just the evil that destroys human life. furthermore, the notion of martin heidegger hermeneutics was able to see a disaster in some perspective, that is the first, able to move massive community solidarity and spontaneous with his own conscience. second, able to inspire social consciousness and values of universal humanitarian grounds. third, being the only events where the public without being asked, implies participation and sacrifice. fourth, it can encourage people’s creativity, so it is likely to deliver on its former glory. fifth, it can foster togetherness among the parties, even for a moment. [ 91 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the relevance of martin heidegger’s thinking to disaster management in indonesia can be seen from his offer of self-awareness of dasein (human) about himself and his reality (the world), especially the reality of disaster. from the beginning, it was pointed out that man has a special affinity with the universe, with the world. it is a fate that humans are thrown into it and forced or forced to face and overcome all the difficulties of life in the world. through self-awareness, man will eventually understand his existence in this world. natural disasters are not the absolute finitude of mankind. but it gives a new awareness of the need to build togetherness and caring. it also gives people the ability to predict and manage any disaster-related events or processes. so that way, the man can organizes his life better, not only in relation with among each other but also in relation with his environment. for heidegger, human life is never complete. humans are always in a state of ‘not yet’. during his lifetime, man has always been intact, because the end of his life began exactly at the beginning of his life. the end of this life can not in itself be expressed as ‘fulfillment’, because often life just becomes withered without a solution. for heidegger to close age should not only be interpreted as the cessation of life, or in the process toward the end. the process of death is a way of being accepted by humans immediately after birth. death is not only an affair in the future, but it is always present at the present time. so now, according to heidegger, it should be understood as a point in the process. it is only in the light of death that leads humanity to annihilation that human life gets its fulfillment (hadi, 1996: 175). the important of heidegger approach is imperative to face death as a real possibility. how does man have to understand death? according to heidegger, man must consciously and in personal decisions prepare himself best for death so that man will find himself whole and real. understanding natural disasters in turn lead to understand the human existence in the light of being-in-theworld and being-toward-death. in some contexts, natural disasters seem no longer to be a mystery in human life. but it can be digested and examined deeper meaning through the searching of human situations and conditions, in this case an ontological understanding of the way humans exist in the universe. hermeneutics ontology in the context of observing relationships of natural disasters, humans and death is usually associated with the fundamentals of dasein, i.e sorge or concern. this concern includes the three things, as noted earlier, namely, the existence, the fact, and the fall of man. heidegger’s hermeneutical theory can be served as an initial standpoint for disaster policy controllers, stakeholders, and disaster-affected parties to act by putting more priority on human victims in the disaster area. self-awareness of [ 92 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the victim is not something that can be understood by outsiders. but it takes time, through waiting, to uncover and describe that self-awareness. therefore, it is necessary to develop and intensify communication, empathy, and intense relationships with potential victims and disaster victims. in addition to martin heidegger’s hermeneutical theory, the local wisdom of indonesian people in disaster management needs to be appreciated and accommodated by the handling of natural disaster management controllers, in this case the government. however, local wisdom in the mitigation of natural disasters is still relatively adequate and efficient in the face of any natural disaster events. this is done in order to minimize the impression, that the government does not fully appreciate and accommodate local wisdom that has long lived and developed in indonesia. in other words, the government puts forward a scientific-specific approach to natural disaster management and ignores the approach of local wisdom. local wisdom and hermeneutics of martin heidegger are two important contributions for the government in handling natural disasters. in this sense, local wisdom with its offerings in local-level disaster mitigation will undoubtedly synergize with martin heidegger’s hermeneutical offerings in the effectiveness of natural disaster management in indonesia. the implications, in an ever-present and faced life of natural disasters, indonesians can ‘celebrate’ natural disasters and deaths in the space of empathy, mutual concern, interconnectedness, and in turn seek to overcome every event of natural disaster and death. conclusion experience is the best learning to deal with the reality of living in the present and the future. various natural disasters faced by the people of indonesia provide important lessons to face any disasters that may occur at any time. through early warning, adaptation and preparedness for disasters, the people of indonesia may be more resilient, and in turn be wiser to face any natural disaster. resilience or durability is not merely the ability of communities to cope with disasters and post-disasters. resilience is not just an initiative of communities affected by natural disasters. but it is needed to involve all parties, both government and stakeholders. durability is associated with mental and physical condition of the public when dealing with natural disasters and postdisaster. in addition, the durability is also closely related to the reconstruction of physical infrastructure, economy, education, culture and so on. thus, the [ 93 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 disaster resilient communities are not something difficult to do, if all parties work together in doing concrete action, both in the pre-disaster, when the disaster occurred, until after the natural disaster occurred. indeed, some ethnic groups in indonesia have set up a set of methods in the management of natural disasters. this method, of course, has been obtained throughout long experiences dealing with natural disasters. it makes up, in turn, the structure of knowledge inherited and transformed from generation to generation. so far, the methods used by local communities in the management of natural disasters are relatively adequate and effective enough to minimize casualties and victims in large numbers. in addition, the heideggerian hermeneutics framework provides a kind of new awareness of how to read and interpret the natural disasters with a point he stressed on the man and his reality. in this context, people are being given a new understanding, or already have awareness of it, that the human being ‘living the earth’ and keep moving and pass creativities in it. thus, the management of natural disasters in indonesia by relying on local knowledge and heideggerian hermeneutics can be considered by the government, that in fact there are other drafts that can be used to complete the 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(2005). what is a disaster? new answers to old questions. usa: international research committee on disasters. quarantelli, e. l. (1998). what is a disaster? perspectives on the question. london and new york: routledge. sartini, (2004). “menggali kearifan lokal nusantara: sebuah kajian filsafat”. jurnal filsafat, 37, 111-120. --------, (2009). mutiara kearifan lokal nusantara. yogyakarta: kepel. sudibyakto & haroonah, n. (1997). “natural disaster mitigation and management in indonesia. the indonesian journal of geography, vol. 29. no. 73, june 1997, pp. 37-48. sudibyakto at.al. (2012). “menuju masyarakat tangguh bencana: tinjauan dari fenomena multi-bencana di indonesia”, in agus indiyanto & arqom kuswanjono (ed.), konstruksi masyarakat tangguh bencana. bandung: mizan-crcs ugm. tarimana, a. (1993). kebudayaan tolaki. jakarta: balai pustaka. [ 96 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 timmerman, p. (1981). “vulnerability, resilience and the collapse of society: a review of models and possible climatic applications”, environmental monograph 1., institute for environmental studies, university of toronto, toronto. twigg, j. (2007). karakteristik masyarakat yang tahan bencana: sebuah catatan panduan. jakarta: dfid. zack, n. ( 2009). ethics for disaster. usa: rowman & littlefield publishers, inc. zulkarnain, a.ag., & febriamansyah, r. (2008). “kearifan lokal dan pemanfaatan dan pelestarian sumberdaya pesisir”. jurnal agribisnis kerakyatan, 1, 69-85. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 103 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: arif_hlw@yahoo.co.id lukas ahen stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: ahenlukas66@gmail.com cenderato stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: cenderato67@gmail.com abstract catholic churches highly appreciate human customs and cultures to recognize ways for humans to express and develop their humanity. they often include elements of art and culture in liturgical symbols as a form of expressing faith in god. many liturgical songs use ethnic songs, images and building form with certain traditional and cultural motifs. this study aims at examining the use of catholic religious symbols by a group of catholic youths in west borneo in practicing invulnerability. the practice actually experienced a mix that creates a religious syncretism and is contrary to the catholic faith. the work focuses on the use of catholic religious symbols in the preservation of dayak customs in west borneo, the view of the leadership of the catholic church on the use of catholic religious symbols to preservate dayak customs in west borneo. this study used a qualitative method with the instruments of interview and questionnaire. some people used church symbols in invulnerability rituals, especially during dayak cultural activities, such as the cross symbol, the rosary, statues of jesus/mother mary in various sizes. in addition, they also used catholic prayers to open with the sign of the cross, the lord’s prayer, the hail mary and the prayer i believe. from the church’s perspective, invulnerability knowledge is local wisdom that needs to be apreciated. however, it is contrary to the teachings of the church and is inappropriate to the intent and purpose of their existence. keywords: syncretism; catholic symbols; invulnerability rituals; west borneo introduction the catholic faith syncretism with local culture has received in-depth and sometimes controversial studies. it happened because the catholic church [ 104 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 claims to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, whose teachings came from sacred tradition, scripture and the magisterium. adherents believe that catholic faith as a religion that maintains the purity of its teachings. meanwhile, in the development of human culture, the catholic faith encountered different cultures. the catholic faith encounter with a local culture, consciously or not, has led to syncretism. syncretism means to unite differences and conflicting beliefs regardless of whether they are right or wrong (emanuel gerrit singgih, 2000: 83). in this study, we tried to describe the results-based obtained data from several regencies and cities. this might have never been explored by the previous researchers, so this was the only case of syncretism that occured between religion and culture in dayak communities. one of the dayak community traditions practiced by a group of catholic youths (omk) in west borneo (also known as west kalimantan in indonesian government administration) is the preservation of dayak customs. preservation of dayak customs is a form of social activity in the form of traditional ceremonies. the results of the preliminary study showed that there was a syncretic ritual in which omk used catholic religious symbols such as crosses, candles, rosaries, the statues of jesus and mary and offerings. those objects used the ritual aim to get supernatural beings such as spirits of ancestors, creatures to guard certain places or for other purposes. from the theoretical point of view, the preservation of dayak customs includes syncretization in terms of forms of worship, customs and religious practices (petrus citra, 2007:41). this traditional ritual activity using catholic religious symbols to gain invulnerability (can be categorized as syncretism) is carried out by a group of (several) young people in west kalimantan, some of whom are catholic. using religious symbols in the practice of invulnerability violates the primacy of worshiping god. those who are involved in the ritual have been baptised catholic, meaning that theey have violated the baptismal promise to god and the church. a catholic catechist (kgk 2117) teaches us:“all practices of sorcery, by which people wish to subdue supernatural powers so that they may serve them and to gain some supernatural power over others – even if it is only to give them health – grossly violate the virtue of worshiping god. such acts need to be condemned even more seriously if they lead the intent to harm others or to try to enlist the help of an evil spirit. in addition, talismans do not need to be used . spiritism is often associated with divination or magic. therefore the church warns the faithful not to follow this custom. the application of so-called natural healing powers does not justify the appeal to evil forces nor the exploitation of other believers.” [ 105 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 life problems will lead us to depend on god and rely on him. it is that we do not rely on our own strength, even not on supernatural powers. if we act like that, we will turn away from god, and god is really displeased (cf. jer. 17:5). actually, the catholic church highly honors human customs and culture because it recognizes that they are a way for humans to express and develop their humanity. in fact, they often include elements of art and culture in liturgical symbols as a form of expressing faith in god. there are a lot of liturgical songs with ethnic songs, pictures and building shapes with pure traditional and cultural motifs. integrating cultural elements into religious practice in the catholic church is called inculturation. according to artantio, inculturation is: “the integration of the christian experience of a local church into the local culture in such a way that this experience not only expresses itself in the elements of the culture concerned, but also becomes a force that animates, directs, and renews the culture concerned, and thereby creating a new unity and ‘communio’, not only within that culture, but also as an element which enriches the universal church.” in fact, the inculturation practice occured in religions other than the catholic church, for example, the shapes and styles of a worship house with a strong motive and power. from earlier descriptions it is understood that the preservation of dayak customs is a syncretic tradition because it is contrary to the catholic faith and should not be followed by the baptized people. however, people combined cultures with religion. nevertheless, the solid traditions and culture are still maintained today. the dayak community still lived in an environment of high customs and culture. the presence of catholicism does not certainly erase the strong religious beliefs of dayak tribe, including the belief in the existence of ancestral spirits. in the dayak thinking concept, customs and culture are almost impossible to separate, because these two things bind a person from birth to death. therefore, it is interesting to discuss how syncretism occurs in the preservation of the dayak customs from the point of view of catholic theology. the main focus of this research is the mixing of catholic religious symbols with magical or animistic elements. in line with the explanation in the introduction, a group of catholic youths in west kalimantan have been practicing invulnerability using catholic religious symbols. this practice involves a mix that created a religious syncretism against the catholic faith. based on this, we drew the following formulation of the problem: how are the catholic religious symbols used in the preservation of dayak customs in west kalimantan? what were catholic church leadership’s perspectives on the use of catholic religious symbols in the preservation of dayak customs in west kalimantan? this study aimed to analyze and describe how this group of catholic youths in west kalimantan preserves dayak customs by [ 106 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 using catholic religious symbols and explains how the catholic church leadership’s perspectives on the use of catholic religious symbols. this study used the qualitative method. qualitative research presents the social world and perspectives in the world in terms of concepts, behaviors, perceptions, and problems faced by humans. it aims to understand the phenomenon experienced by the research subjects, such as behavior, perception, motivation, and other actions. it was also used to analyze in detail the social problems of people in 7 (seven) districts/cities: pontianak city, kubu raya, landak district, mempawah district, sanggau district, sintang district, and sekadau district. formerly, dayak tribe lived in nomadic farming land, adapting to their natural surroundings. a sense of togetherness is built through mutual assistance to each other in the work of land-clearing by slashing, burning shrubs, slaughtering animals until the harvest. after the harvest, dayak people held a thanksgiving party called “gawai”, a thanks giving to their ancestors or petara/jubata. this party is held in may every year taking a big meal from house to house in one village. dayak people had held fast to their local customs long before the arrival of religion, even until now these customs are still well preserved. the entry of religions such as catholicism and christianity brought its own nuances by slowly changing people’s behavior. however, customs can be maintained if they do not conflict with the teachings of religion. dayak tribe maintain them because they are the ancestors’ heritage that shoud be respected and protected. according to kbbi, “adat adalah suatu aturan (perbuatan dan sebagainya) yang lazim dilakukan sejak dahulu kala, cara berperilaku yang sudah menjadi kebiasaan, wujud gagasan kebudayaan yang terdiri atas nilai-nilai budaya, norma, hukum dan aturan yang satu dengan lainnya berkaitan menjadi suatu sistem”. as mentioned above, part of ancestral heritage of the dayak tribe is invulnerability. invulnerability in the dayak tribe is needed to maintain life. in the past, the power of the dayak depended on how immune they were to sharp weapons, especially when they wanted to do “ngayau”, looking for 7 (seven) human heads. even though they already have a religion, dayak community still preserve their customs and traditions, so in certain moments, they are often use religious ornaments that give rise to pros and cons. the catholic symbols in invulnerability rituals in a religion, the presence of religious symbols has an essential meaning. a religion has the hallmark of it. the religious symbols convey as a sign with various forms according to the culture and beliefs of each religion. a religion needs symbols to show the existence of its religiosity so that it becomes visible [ 107 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 to the people. for example, the ka’bah shows islamic identity, the shape of the cross indicates christianity, and so on. the symbols produce a certain religious imagology as a fundamental religion. catholics, for example, refer to the cross of jesus, the rosary, the sign of the cross, statues of jesus and the virgin mary. they are part of catholic values, not cultural values. the symbols have become part of a distinct catholic tradition. in addition to religion, symbols are also closely related to culture. geertz said that a culture is a pattern of meanings embodied in symbols passed down through history (sobur, 2006: 178). a culture is a system of inherited concepts and expressed in symbolic forms. this symbol is a form of communication, perpetuating, and developing knowledge about culture and attitudes towards life. driyarkara defines culture as the result of humans in processing or following the cosmos/universe (driyarkara, 2006:717). in summary, a religious symbol is a sign that provides an overview of the identity of a particular religion, giving birth to certain connotations that lead to teachings, places, times, materials related to that religion. meanwhile, cultural symbols are signs of cultural forms that are products that come from humans themselves, in contrast to religion, whose sources come from god’s revelation. cultural symbols here are synonymous with locality or culture as local products. symbols are a characteristic of religion, born out of a belief, from various religious rituals and ethics. a symbol conveys meaning as a sign and forms according to the culture and beliefs of each religion. this cult then generates a system and structure of symbols that can shape humans into homo symbolicum in their religious type or pattern (hazrat: 2003, 263). as a cult sign, symbols have a deep meaning or literal meaning to a sacred and deep meanings. meanwhile, as a structured system, symbols have a coherent logic (interrelated) that can be universally interprated. one of dayak community traditions practiced by a group of catholic young people (omk) in west kalimantan is the ceremony of invulnerability. this invulnerability is a social activity in the form of traditional ceremonies. in ceremony, in addition to preparing platar, they also use some catholic religious symbols. the symbols used in ceremony are a cross, a rosary, a statue of jesus, and a statue of the virgin mary. then, before doing the ritual, people are engaged in the main catholic prayers such as opening with the sign of the cross, the lord’s prayer, the greeting of mary, candles, the penance, and the prayers of i believe. they believe that the rituals carried out do not conflict with the catholic religion. the catholic church respecte human customs and culture because it recognizes that customs and culture are a way for humans to express and develop their humanity such as the ritual of one of the dayak [ 108 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 cultures. the informants reported that, catholic religious symbols are used only by them, because not all who participated in the ritual are catholic, a few of the are protestants, followers of kaharingan beliefs and other religions except muslims. the muslims in particular, cannot attend this ritual because the served meat or food is forbidden in their religion. they are just as sympathizers. the use of catholic religious symbols and the catholic prayers is an inculturation in which religion and culture cannot be separated. dayak people are cultured and religious people, so in expressing their personality they must show it to others. the offerings in the rituals in traditional rituals, equipments are needed to achieve the goals. the various supporting facilities or ritual equipment are in the form of offerings. offerings play an important role in the ritual of invulnerability because it is a means of introducing human prayers to the jubata (god). in indonesian dictionary, offerings come from the word serving which means dish (food and side dishes that have been prepared in a place to eat). moreover, the offering means offering dishes in religious ceremonies by communicating with supernatural powers and offering food and other objects that symbolize the purpose of the communication (kbbi, 1988: 786). an informan indicates that actually “there is no such thing as a ritual to get invulnerability, but all is an activity to preserve the ancestral traditions of the dayak community”. it means that it is not solely to gain invulnerable knowledge but to preserve ancestral traditions. if someone gets a strong power, it’s just a bonus, a gift from jubata (god) because he has a strong belief in what he believes in. since not all who do it get invulnerability. it is an ancestral tradition that must be passed down from generation to generation as a form of gratitude to jubata and honored the ancestors. by doing this, someone keeps away from danger, reinforcements, and provide good harvests. platar needs to prepare in regarding the offerings required to perform these traditional rituals (crock, pulut rice, ordinary rice, yellow rice, eggs, chicken, lime, betel, pork, areca nut, palm leaves, and also nails/metal). this ceremony illustrates the welfare of the dayak community living in abundance due to the blessings of jubata (god). times, places and prohibitions of ritual there is no special place for this ritual to be performed. because this [ 109 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 invulnerability is obtained by carrying out customs and worshiping god. god will bless them wherever they is. however, based on the informant’s account, the place where this ritual was carried out should be a place suitable for prayer, meaning a quiet place away from the noise. this can be done at home or also in the forest. if this activity is done at home, it is usually done by individuals by providing a special place such as in a room. even though the ritual is carried out at home, all necessary mats are still fully prepared such as crock, sticky rice, ordinary rice, yellow rice, eggs, chicken, lime, betel, areca nut, palm leaves, nails/metal, and also catholic spiritual objects such as the cross of jesus, the rosary, the candle. if the activity is carried out outside the home, usually by visiting the forest to plant the pantak statue in the area. pantak is a medium that can create a relationship between ancestral spirits (pama) and their living descendants, as well as a means to honor ancestors (pama). this shows that pantak which is a medium for communicating with ancestors is part of the symbol because every communication that uses language or other means is part of the symbols. the manifestation of respect for ancestors (pama) cannot be separated from the will of the almighty, because it is part of their belief system. this media is based on the belief system of the dayak tribe itself, namely the belief in ancestral spirits and one god. the dayak people have a belief that humans have a soul and spirit that cannot escape death. this belief is based on the belief in the origin of their life, which comes from nature and will eventually return to nature. dayak people distinguish between soul and spirit. the soul is the core force of the body, so it can think, feel, and act. meanwhile, the spirit of humans will go to subayatn/heaven (place of divinity) upon death. for the dayak tribe, giving a mark of honor to those who have contributed and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the community is an important thing and needs to be actualized and remembered. dayak tribe have abstinence that people must comply with or it will be fatal otherwise. not everyone can have invulnerability knowledge because the taboos are so difficult for ordinary people except for those who have strong determination. people have to keep 5 (five) senses from doing negative things such as eyes (keeping eyes from not looking at indecent things such as porn), nose (not using drugs), ears (not listening to gossip), tongue (not drinking alcohol, not saying dirty words or insulting others), skin (not committing adultery, not stealing from others, not destroying the nature). this prohibited things are usually applied in the life of the dayak if they want to be a good person. the body’s invulnerability from sharp weapons is also used by the community, not as an act of valor or showing off to others. this ritual serves [ 110 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 as a provision for self-defense if one day they encounter an unavoidable fight. keeping traditional customs and self exixtence the customs and wisdom of the traditions take place in the community. they preserve and carry out traditional rituals according to customary provisions and as a form of maintaining the customs and wisdom, to enforce the existing tradition to the next generation. it does not fade with time. they present the form of preserving traditional customs in every sacred event, such as a ritual to gain invulnerability, the matters surrounding their traditional procession and fulfill the traditions that applies in the local community, namely the dayak community. in addition, traditional wisdom in the dayak invulnerability that has a relationship with etiquette issues has become a model, especially for the lives of the people around them. as stated by the informant, each member knows their respective rights and obligations in accordance with the rules and customs, which are called rules, and norms or standards that serve as guidelines. the norms have two kinds according to their contents, namely 1) an order that is a must for someone to do something because the consequences are considered good and 2) a prohibition which is a must for someone not to do something because the result is considered bad (zulkifli, 2010:18). norms are binding provisions used as guidelines, arrangements, and controls for appropriate and acceptable behavior (kbbi, 2016:203). in today’s era, the influence of globalization has spread to our country, indonesia. the entry of globalization can bring a positive or negative effects. as we know, in this era of globalization, there is freedom of relations between nations so that it brings foreign cultures that can slowly shift the local culture of the indonesian people. it is very worrying that the younger generation is starting to follow current things that are very deviant from civilized character and nature of indonesian people. in this regard, every individual or society certainly does not want to lose its identity from its cultural roots. talking about national identity or ethnic group seems to be traced from the traditions possessed by the ethnic group concerned (giddens, 2003). in this regard, the understanding of ethnic culture is rich in local wisdom values and discussion of local collective awareness issues that reflect the identity of an ethnic group or nation need to be improved. the catholic leaders’ perspectives catholic leaders argued based on the official teachings of the church. official [ 111 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 church documents that are the source of church teachings do not specifically discuss the church’s attitude towards traditional rituals and other religious rituals (beliefs), even about invulnerability rituals. the documents of the church contain the perspectives and attitudes towards beliefs and customs (culture) other than the catholic church. the informant stated that the church is very open to existing beliefs, traditions, customs and culture that have been practicing from time to time. this attitude and perspectives of the church stems from and refers to jesus christ attitude” who did not come to abolish the law but to perfect it.” “do not think that i have come to destroy the law or the prophets. i did not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it” (matthew 5:17). continuing the spirit and positive attitude of jesus towards the belief of israel that recognizes the law as a guide for his life, the catholic church respects and upholds what is good from human belief and culture for the sake of his nobility. the informant further quoted the document of the second vatican council in nostra aetate £24: “the church does not reject anything, which in religion is all true and holy. with sincere reverence, the church contemplates ways of acting and living, principles and teachings, which indeed differ in many respects from what she herself believes and teaches, but not infrequently reflect the rays of truth, which illuminate all people. however, the church continues to proclaim and is obliged to proclaim christ, namely “the way, the truth and the life” (john 14:6); in him man finds the fullness of religious life, in him also god reconciles all things to himself. thus, the church urges her sons to wisely and lovingly, through dialogue and co-operation with adherents of other religions, while bearing witness to the christian faith and life, to recognize, preserve and develop the moral wealth and socio-cultural values. the church responses by respecting local beliefs, customs and culture as an attitude reflecting a high sense of tolerance, respected each other and allows other faiths to carry out worship (rituals) as an attitude of worshiping the almighty. the church has genuine respect and acknowledges that “it is not uncommon to reflect a ray of truth, which illuminates all people” of beliefs held outside the catholic church. the church recognizes, maintains and develops the wealth of moral, socio-cultural values found in people of other faiths. so the church always encourages catholics to dialogue and cooperate with adherents of other religions for the sake of progress and interests. regarding the practices and invulnerability rituals in the dayak communities, the catholic church, based on the findings, regarded them as a local wisdom that is highly respected. each community group has customs that characterize and distinguish it from other communities. in dayak, one of the wisdoms that has been undergoing from generation to generation is invulnerability. [ 112 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 traditional rituals with the intention to attain invulnerability, might be taken as long as it is the way to pass on local wisdom and communicating with their ancestors. however, the informant further said that the trend of demanding invulnerability should be out of date. invulnerability means little if the people are not prosperous. strive for the welfare and advancement of dayak community was far more necessary and urgent than pursuing invulnerability. particularly, if the interest was to seek and practice invulnerability, to the detriment of family, by leaving work and neglecting their responsibilities to provide for their family. another informant added that the preservation of customs, including attaining invulnerability, was alright but not something absolute. the respect in the dayak community is not determined by how much they have invulnerability, but rather the extent to which dayak community contributes to the progress of the wider community. the more dayaks participate in various fields of life for the advancement and general welfare the more the dayak community values and respect. dayak catholic youth should empower themselves. inculturation in catholic churches anthropologists define inculturation as the adjustment of a human into a particular culture to become part of that culture. meanwhile, according to ansgar j. chupugco, inculturation is a combination of two different cultures in such a way as to produce a new christian culture. in this context, the catholic church wants to adapt to the local culture and customs based on the area. here inculturation is a high transformation of indigenous cultural values integrated with catholicism into different human cultures. since catholicism entered and was accepted by the dayak community, the religious expression of catholic dayak community included elements of dayak culture in it. catholic church inculturated many cultural elements in dayak communities. the inculturated elements are church building that incorporates typical dayak carvings, liturgical clothing (clothing for catholic religious rituals) with dayak motifs, liturgical music with dayak nuances, and dance presentations in the dayak style. incorporating elements of dayak culture in catholic rituals was in line with the church’s teaching as stated in the constitution sacrosanctum concilium art 123: “the church does not regard any artistic style as unique to itself. but for taking into account the temperament and people situation and the needs of the various ritus, the church welcomes the artistic forms of ages, and the carefully managed treasures of art. also, the arts of time, nations and regions should be allowed to exist in the church, provided that they serve the sanctity of churches and rites [ 113 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 with reverence and respect. in this way, the arts could combine the voices in a wonderful hymns, in which the accomplished artists lauded to the catholic faith.” based on the finding, referring to the teaching, informant said : “in cultures, there are seeds of salvation so that the church appreciates the existing customs/ cultures.” it is the reason the church that lives and develops in the dayak lands incorporates elements of dayak cultures into the practice of worship and religious expression of catholic. for example, the church appreciates the “naik dangau” which is an annual ceremony as a “thanksgiving feast” for the harvests obtained during a year of farming. the thanksgiving ceremony celebrated by the dayak community every year by the church is given the meaning of “more” and having a “new” element with a catholic religious ritual, namely the thanksgiving mass (which is official worship in the catholic church). it contains gratitude for the fortune and blessings from god in the form of abundant harvests asking for blessed farming for the coming years. it raises cultural ceremonies to a higher and nobler level: they are signs and expressions of gratitude to mercy, inclusion, blessings, and protection from lord during this one year. “customary and cultural values” were given a new meaning, blessed, and given a new name by the church: “naik dangau” which then became “annual thanksgiving” as an expression of gratitude for his blessings, especially in the form of fortune from the harvest. at first, naik dangau or gawai dayak was celebrated with parades by walking around the streets of the citiy. nowaday, it is observed with the worship of thanksgiving with a meal togethering in an atmosphere of brotherhood and harmony. the symbols, in a certain sense, were outside of dayak customs in traditional rituals, including the impact/effect on invulnerability. to a group of dayak, it was a reflection of the openness from dayak people to other people along with their customs, culture, and beliefs. to dayak, any good thing that comes is accepted. the symbols by a group of catholic youths are considered good tools that prevent invulnerability. there is an assumption that catholic symbols in the ritual of invulnerability can increase the belief in invulnerability. the catholic symbols and the invulnerability ritual the existence of religious objects is a must to support religious expression. the catholic symbols are means and tools to express respect and worship of god, which consist of among others: (a) crosses (in various shapes and sizes), used in a public church service and private worship to help draw attention on crucified jesus on the cross. (b) jesus and virgin mary statue are a means of worship to help the prayer focus on the personal figure depicted in the statue. [ 114 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 (c) the rosary necklace is a way to devote to mother mary as a model in terms of faith. (d) candles as a means of worship that symbolize the light of christ that illuminates life in prayer. it is like a lit candle for a person to be aware of the surrounding environment, they are intended that the person who prays through life will shine with the light of goodness that radiates in attitude and example of life, becoming self-brightness for others. the catholic symbols are contrary to the nature of their existence and obscured their true meaning. according to the leader of the catholic church, the symbols such as spiritual objects, catholic prayers, the cross, body postures that reflect surrender, and the attitude as a catholic are a means, infrastructure, and way of expressing his faith in god. it becomes a problem when traditional ceremonies, such as invulnerability rituals, apart from the typical offerings of the dayak people wear religious symbols. furthermore, the invulnerability rituals use and combine symbols and offerings that reflect traditional dayak symbols as a form of worship to jubata (god) and respect for ancestors (to teach good” relationships” with the ancestors). the combination of them with offerings is traditional dayak culture that leads to “deviation” from the nature of the existence and purpose of these symbols. the symbols originally used to glorify and worship god have lost their meaning, serve “only” as objects to gain invulnerability. moreover, using religious symbols combined with traditional offerings for worship (to jubata and his ancestors) is considered as a practice of syncretism (a blending of various religious traditions and different beliefs). in this case, according to the informant, the catholic church considers this a “problem” that is not “justified.” using the religious symbols coupled with traditional offerings to gain invulnerability reduces the noble meaning for practical purposes. the church’s attitude towards this syncretistic practice departs from the teachings of the holy scriptures. for example, the attitude of the apostle paul as written in his letter to the colossians, who responded and addressed the practice of mixing faith in jesus christ with beliefs and false teachings and superstitions, which seemed to assume that faith of christ was not sufficient for their salvation. the apostle paul asserted that: “jesus christ is the fullness of the godhead and we are filled in him, rooted and built up in him. therefore keep living in him, taking root and being built up in him” (col 2:6-7). paul asked his congregation to hold fast and have faith in christ. there should be no doubt in the power of the saving power of jesus christ. turning to other teachings, not to mention superstition and heresy which also means doubting the salvation that comes from god through jesus christ. referring to the teachings of the bible, the informant emphasized that as [ 115 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 one of the catholic leaders concerned with invulnerability knowledge. “i ask especially catholic youths not to join in attaining invulnerability knowledge because there is no catholic teaching delivering such thing. it is not important that dayaks should be invulnerable because they have been already empowered.” furthermore, the informant emphasized that the catholic youth must strive to get out of ignorance with a high education, get out of poverty by developing a creative and economically independent, and get out of physical fragility due to illness by maintaining physical and mental health. the situation has now changed. people live in harmony, no more wars between tribes or physical/body invulnerability as a show of strength. the respect of the strong community for the dayak is not based on it because all humans will die. appreciation for the dayak community actually occurs when many members of the dayak community contribute to bringing progress and prosperity together. the harmony and the unity of the believers the catholic church leaders explicitly forbid dayak catholic youth to participate in the practice of invulnerability. however, the catholic church does not expressly prohibit it. it is understandable that it strives for and prioritizes a humanist approach. based on this point of view, living in harmony among people is far more important than holding an open “resistance” against those who engage in “deviant” practices. pastoral considerations (pastor = shepherd, pastoral = shepherding the people) to continuous guidance, through a humanist approach, sincere, selfless service, and awareness should be the main choices to be taken rather than strictly prohibiting the practice of invulnerability, which may lead to a formidable resistance. the church refers to what jesus christ did as a good shepherd. “i am the good shepherd. the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. so when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. the man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.“i am the good shepherd; i know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the father knows me and i know the father—and i lay down my life for the sheep. i have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. i must bring them also. they too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. the reason my father loves me is that i lay down my life—only to take it up again. no one takes it from me, but i lay it down of my own accord. i have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. this command i received from my father.” (john. 10: 11-18). [ 116 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 regarding the case of invulnerability practice using catholic religious symbols, the church refers to the text of the bible above, namely be a good shepherd who wants to save all his sheep and unite them into one flock. the church welcomes those who took the rituals, imitating the great shepherd, who is even willing to sacrifice his life for the salvation of his sheep. having people on the right path and uniting them into one flock was useful compared to scattering them with a criticizing attitude and language, which results in division. furthermore, pastoral considerations prioritized the theological reasons and adherence to church doctrines. hopefully, through a sustainable approach and development, the violated practices will slowly be corrected and straightened out. the produced fruits, not the sown the church is quite tolerant of those who use the symbols in the rituals. it means the church does not forbid harshly and decisively because of the produced and good attitudes among dayak catholic youth. regarding the developing attitude among dayak people, it needs the maintenance of customs with traditional ceremonies, including the ritual of invulnerability, noble and commendable attitudes, and behavior of dayak catholic youth. for example, they must refrain from being greedy, care for and be sensitive to the needs of others (help each other and be in solidarity), defend and fight for customary rights, stay away from drugs and alcohol, and be more active in prayer and worship. the church sees the positive behavior and attitude displayed by the dayak catholic youth in the ritual of invulnerability by combining catholic symbols in it as good-produced fruits. invulnerable power as a goal is not to damage or even show off the strength. it is not a final goal to pursue. all traditional activities directly foster a love for local culture, exploration the values of customs and as an expression of local wisdom. in reality, for example, young people dare to appear united in defending the rights of indigenous peoples. in several cases of injustice experienced by indigenous peoples, these youths dared to be the pioneers to voice it. this youth group fought to free farmers imprisoned in sintang city, accused of being the perpetrators of the forest burning and shifting cultivation. what happened was that the palm oil companies were the perpetrators because they considered it the easiest and cheapest way to clear land. in another case, the youths urged one of the politicians to apologize and express his regret for being deemed to have insulted dayak customs. finally, the church felt the need to open dialogue and cooperation with dayak youth groups, who tried to pursue physical invulnerability with the ritual of invulnerability. the church and the group need to have the same perception [ 117 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2215 about the invulnerability rituals. the church realizes that the way catholic youths preserve customs, including seeking physical invulnerability is part of the local wisdom of the dayak community. on the other hand, they need to realize the church teachings are based on the doctrines. it only allows the symbols to be worn for the beneficial purposes. conclusion the use of catholic religious symbols in invulnerable rituals involves preparing the platform, the typical offerings and the catholic symbols. the catholic religious symbols are the cross, the rosary, the candles, the statue of jesus and the virgin mary.the rituals bigin with the prayers of the catholic church for opening with the sign of the cross , the lord’s prayer, the greeting of mary, the repentance and “i believe”. the dayak people believed the rituals do not conflict with catholicism.the invulnerability ritual is an inculturation of religion and custom. they are human beings who are civilized and religious, so in self-expressiopn, they must show people that they are civilized and religious. the church leader stated that catholic symbols in rituals are reflected in the attitudes. to combine them with offerings regarding the use of the traditional symbols in an invulnerability ritual is a form of “deviation” of the nature of the existence and purpose of these symbols. religious symbols originally used to glorify and worship god have become lost in meaning, where they serve “only” as objects to gain invulnerability. above all, using religious symbols combined with traditional t offerings for the purpose of worship (to jubata and his ancestors) is regraded as a syncretism practice (a blending of various religious traditions and different beliefs). however, in order to maintain harmony and unity, the church does not expressly prohibit it. hopefully, the continuous guidance and assistance will be able to provide awareness for catholic youths to avoid practicing syncretism. as believers of jesus christ, combining the culture with the catholic faith is forbidden becaase the ceremonies or events welcome other spirits (jubata and ancestors spirit) besides holy spirit. the ritual with the catholic symbols, services and offerings is not allowed by jesus words because it tends to invite another power or spirit. the catholic symbols or catholic prayers in traditional rituals are not advisable for the catholic youths (omk) because they contradict the nature of their existence and obscure their true meaning. it is hoped that there will be guidance for omk from an early age to anticipate the misuse of the symbols. there must be dialogue between catholic church leaders and conservationists of dayak culture, especially practitioners of the rituals, to straighten out how the catholic symbols should be used propoerly. 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[ 45 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 harnessing social media for religious peacebuilding: faith in the digital age francis neil g. jalando-on central philippine university email: fnjalandoon@cpu.edu.ph abstract this study explores social media’s potential as a tool for religious peacebuilding, focusing on its capacity to foster harmony through faith-based values in a digitally connected world. with 5.24 billion users globally and 90.8 million in the philippines, where religion shapes cultural identity, social media offers unprecedented opportunities to connect faith communities, amplify sacred narratives, mobilize action, and educate for peace. drawing on global and philippine examples, we examine how platforms like facebook, x, and tiktok channel religious teachings to promote reconciliation, while addressing challenges like polarization, misinformation, hostility, and slacktivism. historical narratives, including hong kong’s yellow umbrella movement and the philippines’ #faithfortruth campaign, illustrate faith’s role in digital peacebuilding. eight strategies, grounded in religious ethics, propose harnessing social media’s strengths: global reach, real-time engagement, education, and community-building to counter division. by embedding values like forgiveness and truth, religion transforms social media into a sacred space for peace, offering a model for conflict-affected regions like mindanao. keywords: social media; peace; facebook; youtube; instagram. introduction imagine a world where billions of voices, united by faith, leverage digital platforms to foster peace rather than discord. as of early 2025, social media dominates global connectivity, with facebook commanding 3.07 billion monthly active users, youtube engaging 2.5 billion, instagram reaching 2 billion, and x connecting 436 million people worldwide (datareportal, 2025). these figures, projected from 2024’s 5.24 billion social media users, represent nearly 65% of the global population. in the philippines, with a population of 116 million, 90.8 million social media user identities account for 78% penetration, reflecting deep digital engagement in a nation where religion— predominantly christianity, alongside islam and indigenous faiths—shapes [ 46 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 cultural and social life (datareportal, 2025). this intersection of faith and digital connectivity offers a transformative opportunity for peacebuilding, yet it also poses risks that demand careful navigation. this study addresses a critical question: how can social media, as a tool for religious communities, promote peacebuilding by amplifying faith-based values, and what challenges must be overcome to prevent it from fueling division? the aim is to explore social media’s potential as a platform for religious peacebuilding, focusing on its ability to connect believers, amplify sacred narratives, mobilize faith-inspired action, and educate about peace, while mitigating risks like polarization and misinformation. religion, with its emphasis on compassion, forgiveness, and community, serves as a mediating force, guiding social media toward peace rather than conflict. previous research on social media and religion highlights its dual role. ellison et al. (2015) found that social media strengthens religious communities by fostering online prayer groups and spiritual discussions, yet campbell (2017) notes it can amplify sectarian divides when religious rhetoric fuels polarization. for example, studies on india’s religious conflicts show social media spreading both interfaith harmony and communal violence (udupa, 2018). in the philippines, research by cornelio (2016) explores how catholic youth use social media for spiritual expression, but little attention is paid to its peacebuilding potential in conflict zones like mindanao, where christianmuslim tensions persist. these gaps—limited focus on social media’s role in religious peacebuilding and its application in diverse religious contexts— underscore the need for this study. this research is vital because religion remains a powerful force in shaping values, particularly in the philippines, where 86% of citizens identify as catholic and 6% as muslim (psa, 2020). social media’s reach can amplify religious teachings of peace, such as christ’s call to “love your neighbor” or islam’s emphasis on salaam (peace), to counter conflict. in a world with over 110 armed conflicts in 2023 (uppsala conflict data program, 2023), harnessing social media for faith-based peacebuilding could transform divided communities, making this study both timely and impactful. this article examines social media’s role in religious peacebuilding through global and philippine lenses, analyzes historical narratives, and proposes strategies to leverage faith-driven digital engagement. by addressing polarization, misinformation, and hostility, we aim to illuminate how religion can steer social media toward peace, fostering a digital landscape where faith unites rather than divides. [ 47 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 the potential of social media for religious peacebuilding social media’s promise as a peacebuilding tool lies in its unparalleled ability to connect, amplify, mobilize, and educate, particularly when infused with religious values. as pope francis noted, “the digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people” (francis, 2014). this vision underscores social media’s potential to channel religious feelings—compassion, forgiveness, and hope—into peacebuilding mechanisms, fostering dialogue and reconciliation. below, we explore these dimensions, emphasizing their religious significance and mechanisms for promoting peace. connecting faith communities social media transcends borders, uniting religious communities in shared spiritual goals. a 2023 pew research center survey found that 62% of users felt more connected to global events through platforms like instagram and whatsapp (pew research center, 2023). for religious communities, this connectivity fosters virtual congregations. the 2022 #peaceday movement, with 500,000 posts on x and facebook, included interfaith prayers led by christian, muslim, and buddhist leaders, creating a digital space for shared worship (sprout social, 2024). in the philippines, social media bridges urban-rural and ethnic divides, a cornerstone of peacebuilding. platforms like facebook, used by 80% of filipino internet users (datareportal, 2025), enable dialogue between communities in metro manila and those in remote provinces. the bangsamoro youth network, for instance, uses whatsapp and facebook to connect young leaders across conflict-affected areas in mindanao, fostering collaboration on peacebuilding initiatives like community dialogues, cultural exchanges, and vocational training programs. these digital connections build trust and mutual understanding, essential for reconciliation in post-conflict regions. mark zuckerberg captured this potential at the 2017 facebook community summit, stating, “social media has the power to shrink the world, turning strangers into neighbors” (zuckerberg, 2017). by humanizing distant conflicts and fostering cross-cultural empathy, social media lays a foundation for peace. the mechanism here is digital communitas (turner, 1969), where shared religious experiences online create a sense of collective identity. for example, livestreamed masses on facebook during the covid-19 pandemic reached 10 million filipinos, reinforcing catholic values of charity and peace (cornelio, 2020). these connections reduce prejudice by exposing users to diverse faiths, [ 48 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 aligning with the contact hypothesis (allport, 1954), and foster peace by emphasizing shared humanity. amplifying religious narratives social media amplifies religious voices, giving believers a platform to share sacred teachings. in 2023, instagram posts tagged #peace or #humanrights, often tied to religious themes, generated 50 million interactions (hootsuite, 2024). globally, figures like the dalai lama use x to share buddhist principles of nonviolence, reaching 19 million followers. in the philippines, indigenous groups like the lumad use facebook to highlight their struggles against land displacement and violence. their posts, often featuring videos of community gatherings, traditional dances, or peaceful protests, have garnered international attention, pressuring policymakers to address their concerns. similarly, women’s groups in mindanao use tiktok to share stories of resilience, challenging stereotypes and advocating for gender-inclusive peace processes. for instance, the mindanao women’s peace network posts short videos of women mediators negotiating local ceasefires, inspiring others to join peacebuilding efforts. this amplification is not just about visibility but agency; social media hands the microphone to those on the margins, enabling them to shape narratives of peace and justice. the impact of amplification extends beyond awareness. social media’s viral nature can influence policy. in 2023, lumad advocacy campaigns on x led to a un human rights council resolution calling for investigations into their displacement (un human rights council, 2023). such outcomes highlight how digital platforms empower marginalized voices to drive systemic change, a critical component of sustainable peace. this amplification leverages narrative theology (hauerwas, 1989), where religious stories shape moral behavior. by sharing quranic verses on rahma (mercy) or bible passages on reconciliation, believers inspire peace-oriented actions. for instance, a 2023 jesuit-led campaign on x, #prayformindanao, shared stories of christian-muslim cooperation, influencing 500,000 users to support peace talks (philippine star, 2023). this mechanism transforms digital spaces into platforms for spiritual advocacy, fostering peace through shared values. mobilizing faith-inspired action social media mobilizes religious communities for peacebuilding action. sparked by outrage over police brutality, young nigerians used twitter to [ 49 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 organize protests, share evidence of abuses, and crowdfund over $2 million for victims (bbc news, 2020). the movement’s momentum led to the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad, a rare victory for digital activism. a 2023 morning consult survey found that 70% of gen z have taken action – donating, volunteering, or protesting – after encountering a cause online (morning consult, 2023). in the philippines, the 2021 #freeleila campaign on x, backed by catholic bishops, mobilized 100,000 signatures for senator de lima’s release, citing christian justice principles (rappler, 2021). the mechanics of mobilization are rooted in social media’s ability to create “networked publics” (boyd, 2010), where individuals coalesce around shared goals. hashtags like #endsars or #freeleila create virtual communities that sustain momentum through shared content, from protest schedules to fundraising links. the religious authority also inspires collective action. for example, the philippine catholic church’s “caritas online” campaign on facebook raised $1 million for mindanao peace projects in 2023, driven by gospel calls to serve the poor (caritas philippines, 2023). these efforts show how faith-based social media campaigns translate spiritual values into tangible peacebuilding outcomes. educating through religious wisdom social media serves as a global classroom, disseminating knowledge about peace and conflict resolution to diverse audiences. on youtube, ted talks on topics like nonviolent communication and reconciliation have collectively surpassed 100 million views by 2024 (ted.com, 2024). channels like peace direct, which shares stories of grassroots peacebuilders, have grown exponentially, educating audiences about innovative solutions to conflict. former google ceo eric schmidt noted, “the internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, but it can teach us empathy if we let it” (schmidt, 2014). in the philippines, educational campaigns on platforms like tiktok have gained traction among youth. short videos explaining the bangsamoro peace process, created by ngos like the institute for peace and development in mindanao, have reached millions, demystifying complex agreements and fostering public support (mindanao peacebuilding institute, 2023). for example, a viral tiktok series featuring animated characters discussing autonomy agreements garnered over 2 million views, making peacebuilding accessible to gen z. online webinars hosted on zoom and streamed on facebook have trained thousands of filipinos in conflict resolution, covering topics like mediation and restorative justice. these efforts demonstrate social [ 50 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 media’s role as an educational hub, engaging younger generations critical to sustaining long-term peace. social media’s educational power lies in its accessibility and interactivity. unlike traditional media, platforms like youtube allow users to comment, share, and create derivative content, fostering dialogue. in the philippines, facebook groups like “peace educators network” connect teachers to share curricula on peacebuilding, reaching thousands of students. yet, the effectiveness of these efforts depends on combating misinformation, as false narratives can undermine educational goals. this educational role aligns with religious pedagogy (freire, 1970), where faith-based learning empowers communities. online webinars by peacetech, streamed on facebook, train 5,000 filipinos annually in mediation, using parables like the good samaritan to teach reconciliation (peacetech, 2023). by making religious wisdom accessible, social media fosters a culture of peace, countering narratives of division. the challenges of social media in peacebuilding despite its potential, social media is a double-edged sword. its design and usage patterns can exacerbate division, making peacebuilding more difficult. below, we explore four key challenges, supported by global and local evidence, and analyze their implications for peacebuilding. echo chambers and polarization social media algorithms prioritize content that aligns with users’ existing beliefs, creating echo chambers that deepen societal rifts. mit research shows users are 30–70% more likely to engage with like-minded content, reinforcing biases and limiting exposure to diverse perspectives (vosoughi et al., 2018). in polarized societies, this entrenches divisions. during the 2022 brazilian elections, whatsapp groups amplified partisan narratives, with 60% of users reporting exposure to divisive content (reuters institute, 2022). these echo chambers stifle dialogue, a cornerstone of peacebuilding. in the philippines, political polarization on platforms like facebook has intensified. supporters of opposing political camps inhabit separate digital bubbles, sharing content that vilifies the other side. for example, during the 2022 presidential election, rival groups spread memes and posts that deepened mistrust, undermining efforts to foster national unity (rappler, 2022). in post-conflict regions like mindanao, where trust-building is essential, these digital divides complicate reconciliation. the psychological mechanism here [ 51 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 is confirmation bias, where users seek information that validates their views, reducing openness to compromise – a critical barrier to peace. misinformation and propaganda misinformation spreads faster than truth on social media, with dire consequences for peace. during the 2020 u.s. election, false claims on facebook spread six times faster than accurate posts, reaching 35 million people (mit media lab, 2021). in conflict zones, misinformation escalates tensions. in myanmar, fabricated posts on facebook incited violence against the rohingya in 2017, contributing to a humanitarian crisis that displaced over 700,000 people (un human rights council, 2018). these lies, often spread by coordinated networks, exploit emotional triggers like fear and anger, amplifying conflict. the philippines has grappled with this issue acutely. during the 2016 and 2022 elections, troll networks spread disinformation on facebook, manipulating public opinion and fueling distrust. in 2022, 67% of filipino social media users encountered election-related fake news, with 40% believing it (pulse asia, 2022). this disinformation polarized communities, eroded trust in institutions, and incited election-related violence in mindanao, where disputes turned deadly (rappler, 2022). for instance, false claims about voter fraud in maguindanao sparked clashes, delaying peacebuilding efforts. addressing misinformation requires robust moderation and public education, as unchecked lies can turn digital platforms into weapons. online hostility and harassment social media often amplifies hostility, drowning out constructive dialogue. in 2020, 41% of u.s. social media users reported harassment, with 75% of incidents occurring on platforms like x and facebook (pew research center, 2021). globally, this trend has worsened, with women, minorities, and activists facing disproportionate abuse. on x, hate speech frequently overshadows calls for peace, discouraging participation in online peacebuilding efforts. the anonymity of platforms exacerbates this, enabling trolls to act without accountability. in the philippines, online hostility is a growing concern. political debates on facebook often devolve into personal attacks, with users reporting doxxing, threats, and cyberbullying. for example, peace advocates in mindanao have faced online harassment for promoting dialogue with former combatants, stifling their efforts (rappler, 2022). women mediators, in particular, report [ 52 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 gendered attacks, such as slut-shaming, which deter their participation. this toxic environment undermines open discourse, making it harder to build consensus on issues like peace agreements or reconciliation. social psychology suggests that deindividuation – losing personal identity in online crowds – fuels such hostility, requiring stricter moderation to restore civility. slacktivism and superficial engagement while social media can mobilize action, it also fosters superficial engagement, or “slacktivism.” liking or sharing a post feels impactful but often lacks follow-through. according to nonprofit tech for good’s 2023 report, only 10% of online cause supporters take offline action, such as volunteering or attending events (nonprofit tech for good, 2023). evgeny morozov critiqued this phenomenon, stating, “clicking ‘like’ is not a revolution; it’s a sedative” (morozov, 2011, p. 184). slacktivism dilutes impact, as users mistake digital gestures for meaningful change. in the philippines, campaigns like #peaceformindanao have garnered thousands of likes but struggled to translate into sustained community involvement. for instance, while online support for peace rallies is high, attendance at physical events remains low, limiting their impact (rappler, 2022). this gap is partly due to the “empathy-action disconnect,” where emotional engagement online doesn’t lead to tangible commitment (slovic, 2007). bridging this divide requires strategies that convert digital enthusiasm into real-world action, a challenge we address in the strategies section. historical narratives to ground our analysis, we examine seven historical narratives illustrating social media’s role in religious peacebuilding, focusing on faith-driven successes and challenges. hong kong’s yellow umbrella movement (2014) the yellow umbrella movement, a 79-day pro-democracy protest in hong kong, showcased social media’s power to amplify christian and buddhist calls for nonviolence. sparked by beijing’s restrictive electoral policies in september 2014, protesters adopted yellow umbrellas as a symbol of nonviolent defiance. social media fueled the movement’s reach, with #umbrellamovement trending on twitter, garnering over 1.2 million mentions in its first month (hong kong free press, 2014). live streams on facebook and instagram reached millions, showcasing the protesters’ commitment to peace. over 70% of hong kongers [ 53 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 followed the protests online, with 40% reporting that social media shaped their views on democracy (the guardian, 2024). the movement inspired solidarity protests in over 30 cities, from london to sydney (ap news, 2014). activist joshua wong told time magazine, “the umbrellas were our shield, but social media was our voice” (wong, 2014). this case illustrates how authentic, visually compelling messaging can unite communities and inspire global support. social media’s real-time nature allowed protesters to counter state narratives, ensuring their message of peace and democracy resonated worldwide. however, the movement’s long-term impact was limited by government crackdowns, highlighting the need for sustained offline strategies. philippines’ election disinformation (2016–2022) in contrast, the philippines’ experience with election-related disinformation reveals social media’s darker side. during the 2016 and 2022 elections, facebook became a battleground for political propaganda. troll networks spread fabricated claims, from fake endorsements to smear campaigns, reaching millions. in 2022, 67% of filipino social media users encountered election-related fake news, with 40% believing it (pulse asia, 2022). this disinformation polarized communities, eroded trust in institutions, and fueled violence in mindanao, where election disputes turned deadly (rappler, 2022). facebook removed over 200,000 pieces of false content in 2022, but the damage was done (meta, 2023). nobel laureate maria ressa warned, “lies laced with anger and hate spread faster and further than facts” (ressa, 2021). this case underscores the need for proactive moderation and fact-checking. unchecked disinformation can destabilize societies, making peacebuilding an uphill battle. the philippines’ experience highlights the importance of media literacy to empower users to discern truth from lies, a strategy we explore later. colombia’s peace agreement campaign (2016) colombia’s 2016 peace agreement, ending a 50-year conflict with the farc guerrillas, offers another positive example. social media played a pivotal role in building public support for the agreement. the #pazcolombia campaign, led by the government and ngos, used twitter and instagram to share stories of reconciliation, featuring former combatants and victims working together. the campaign reached 10 million users, with 65% of colombians saying it influenced their vote in the peace referendum (el tiempo, 2016). [ 54 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 despite initial rejection, sustained online advocacy helped secure a revised agreement. the campaign’s success lay in its human-centered storytelling, which countered divisive narratives and fostered empathy. this case highlights how strategic, inclusive campaigns can use social media to bridge divides and sustain peace processes. by focusing on shared humanity— stories of ex-combatants rebuilding lives—the campaign neutralized opposition narratives, offering lessons for other conflict-affected regions like the philippines. ethiopia’s tigray conflict (2020–2022) the tigray conflict in ethiopia illustrates how social media can exacerbate violence. during the 2020–2022 war, x and facebook became platforms for hate speech and propaganda. posts inciting ethnic violence spread rapidly, with 80% of inflammatory content originating from diaspora communities abroad (cnn, 2021). this digital hostility fueled real-world atrocities, complicating peace negotiations. by 2022, the conflict had claimed over 500,000 lives (acled, 2023). efforts to moderate content were slow, highlighting the challenges of managing hate speech in conflict zones. this case emphasizes the urgency of addressing inflammatory content. platforms must act swiftly to remove harmful posts, and governments must collaborate to regulate diaspora-driven propaganda. ethiopia’s experience underscores the need for global cooperation to prevent social media from amplifying division. south africa’s #feesmustfall movement (2015–2016) south africa’s #feesmustfall movement, a student-led campaign against university fee increases, demonstrates social media’s role in fostering dialogue and nonviolent protest. beginning in 2015, students used twitter and facebook to organize protests, share demands, and highlight socioeconomic inequalities. the hashtag #feesmustfall trended globally, with over 1 million mentions in 2016 (news24, 2016). social media enabled students to engage policymakers directly, leading to government concessions on fee hikes. the movement’s emphasis on nonviolence, amplified through live streams and infographics, inspired similar campaigns in nigeria and kenya (al jazeera, 2016). this case shows how social media can empower youth to advocate for systemic change peacefully. by combining online organizing with offline protests, students achieved policy reforms, offering a model for engaging young people [ 55 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 in peacebuilding globally and in the philippines. india’s #metoo movement (2018–2019) india’s #metoo movement, which gained momentum in 2018, illustrates social media’s power to amplify survivor voices and foster societal dialogue on genderbased violence, a key aspect of peacebuilding. women used x and instagram to share stories of sexual harassment, sparking a national conversation. the hashtag #metooindia trended with over 1.5 million mentions, leading to resignations of prominent figures in media and politics (the hindu, 2019). social media platforms enabled survivors to connect, forming support networks that pressured institutions to adopt anti-harassment policies. by 2019, over 20% of indian companies had implemented such policies, citing public pressure (economic times, 2019). this case highlights how social media can drive cultural shifts essential for peace. by giving survivors a platform, #metooindia challenged patriarchal norms, fostering inclusivity. the movement’s success offers lessons for the philippines, where gender-based violence remains a barrier to peace in conflict zones. ukraine’s #standwithukraine campaign (2022–2023) the #standwithukraine campaign, launched during russia’s 2022 invasion, showcases social media’s role in global solidarity and resource mobilization. ukrainians and supporters used x, instagram, and tiktok to share stories of resistance, document war crimes, and crowdfund humanitarian aid. the campaign raised over $500 million globally, supporting refugees and medical supplies (unhcr, 2023). posts featuring civilians rebuilding communities went viral, with #standwithukraine garnering 2 million mentions in 2022 (sprout social, 2023). the campaign also influenced nato’s aid policies, amplifying ukraine’s call for support. this case demonstrates how social media can unite global communities around peacebuilding. by combining emotional storytelling with actionable appeals, #standwithukraine sustained international attention, offering a model for mobilizing support in conflict zones like mindanao. strategies for harnessing social media social media’s strengths which are: global reach, real-time engagement, narrative amplification, education, and community-building offer immense potential for religious peacebuilding. to maximize this, we must address [ 56 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 challenges and leverage faith-based values. below are eight strategies, supported by examples, to promote peace through religion. promote faith-based positive content religious stories of reconciliation outperform negative content. positive storytelling can counter negativity and inspire peace. platforms like humans of new york, with over 20 million followers, share stories of reconciliation that resonate globally (sprout social, 2024). in the philippines, initiatives like grassroots peacebuilding mentors training program, which highlights peacebuilding efforts in mindanao, have engaged thousands since 2018 (mindanao peacebuilding institute, 2025). positive posts often outperform negative ones, with 30% higher engagement rates (sprout social, 2024). governments, ngos, and influencers should invest in campaigns that celebrate unity, using compelling visuals, videos, and narratives. for example, short films showcasing interfaith collaborations in zamboanga could go viral, fostering empathy and dialogue. storytelling workshops for community leaders can enhance content quality, ensuring authenticity. build interfaith digital spaces creating digital spaces that foster dialogue across divides is critical. in sri lanka, the interfaith youth network, supported by search for common ground, uses facebook and whatsapp to unite buddhist, hindu, muslim, and christian youth. since 2020, it has hosted virtual dialogues and workshops, reaching over 2,000 participants by 2023 (search for common ground sri lanka, 2023). in the philippines, peacetech uses technology to connect students from conflict-affected areas, fostering mutual understanding through moderated discussions (ieee, 2022). these initiatives counter polarization by emphasizing shared values. platforms should implement stronger antiharassment policies, such as ai-driven moderation and user reporting, to ensure safe environments for dialogue. combat misinformation with fact-checking and media literacy misinformation undermines peace, but fact-checking and media literacy can mitigate its impact. tools like snopes and rappler’s tsek.ph have proven effective in debunking false claims. in the philippines, tsek.ph identified over 1,000 pieces of election-related disinformation in 2022, reducing their spread (rappler, 2022). unesco’s 2023 report found that countries with high media literacy see 25% less belief in fake news (unesco, 2023). governments, [ 57 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 schools, and platforms should invest in media literacy programs, teaching critical thinking and source verification. for example, the philippines’ department of education could integrate media literacy into high school curricula, reaching millions. social media companies must enforce stricter content moderation, using ai and human moderators to flag propaganda swiftly. encourage faith-driven offline action to bridge slacktivism to overcome slacktivism, campaigns must bridge the gap between online engagement and offline impact. peace one day, which organized 2023 events in 50 countries, uses social media to promote local peace initiatives, encouraging followers to volunteer or donate (peace one day, 2023). its founder, jeremy gilley, said, “peace begins when we move from screens to streets” (gilley, 2020). in the philippines, #peacewalkph organizes community walks alongside online advocacy, ensuring tangible outcomes (rappler, 2022). partnerships with barangay councils and ngos can amplify these efforts. gamification, such as rewarding offline actions with digital badges, could incentivize participation, as seen in apps like mybarangay, which promotes civic engagement. leverage religious influencers and grassroots leaders influencers and grassroots leaders can amplify peacebuilding messages. in kenya, boniface mwangi used instagram to promote peace during elections, reaching millions (quartz, 2017). in the philippines, celebrities like kathryn bernardo have supported peace campaigns, leveraging their millions of followers (cybersmile, 2017). grassroots leaders, such as teachers or imams, can use tiktok to share localized stories. for example, a maguindanao teacher’s videos about interfaith projects inspired 10,000 local youth to join dialogues (mindanao peacebuilding institute, 2023). training these leaders in digital storytelling, through workshops by ngos like peacetech, can maximize impact, ensuring messages resonate with diverse audiences. foster cross-platform religious collaboration peacebuilding efforts are more effective when platforms collaborate with each other and external stakeholders. a joint campaign by facebook, x, and youtube could promote global peace initiatives, pooling resources to reach billions. in the philippines, a 2023 partnership between meta and the office of the presidential adviser on peace, reconciliation, and unity launched a [ 58 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 facebook campaign to educate filipinos about the bangsamoro peace process (opapru, 2025) such collaborations can standardize anti-hate speech policies, share best practices, and fund peacebuilding content. for example, a global “peacehub” platform, backed by tech giants, could curate verified peacebuilding resources, creating a unified digital ecosystem for peace. empower youth through faith-based digital peacebuilding programs youth, as digital natives, are key to sustainable peacebuilding. programs that empower young people to create peacebuilding content can amplify impact. in the philippines, the youth for peace movement, supported by unicef, trains students to produce social media campaigns on conflict resolution, reaching 1 million users in 2023 (unicef philippines, 2023). globally, the un’s #youth4peace initiative encourages young people to share peacebuilding stories on tiktok, with 500,000 participants in 2024 (un.org, 2024). these programs teach skills like video editing, storytelling, and fact-checking, equipping youth to counter hate speech and promote dialogue. schools and ngos should expand such initiatives, offering microgrants for youth-led projects, such as podcasts or virtual peace summits, to sustain engagement. promote religious values for peacebuilding religion can steer social media by embedding values like compassion and forgiveness. in the philippines, the catholic “laudato si” campaign on x promotes environmental peace, citing papal encyclicals, reaching 2 million users (caritas philippines, 2023). muslim scholars share wasatiyyah (moderation) on whatsapp, countering extremism. religious institutions should partner with platforms to prioritize peace-oriented content, using algorithms to amplify interfaith posts and hosting virtual summits to draft peacebuilding guidelines. conclusion social media’s strengths: global reach, real-time engagement, narrative amplification, education, and community-building offer immense potential for religious peacebuilding, yet its challenges demand faith-guided solutions. historical narratives, from hong kong’s faith-driven protests to ukraine’s interfaith solidarity, show how religion leverages social media to unite communities. the philippines’ disinformation crisis and ethiopia’s hate speech highlight risks, but religion’s mediating role, through truth, compassion, and service, counters these. by promoting faith-based content, building interfaith [ 59 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 spaces, combating lies with ethics, encouraging action, leveraging influencers, fostering collaboration, empowering youth, and embedding religious values, social media can become a sacred space for peace. in the philippines, where faith shapes identity, social media amplifies religious calls for peace, uniting christians, muslims, and indigenous believers. religion’s mediating role, rooted in shared values of love and justice, transforms digital platforms into tools for reconciliation. my challenge: hashtag #faithchallenge, is this: use your next post to share a religious teaching on peace, challenge division, or start an interfaith conversation. in a connected world, peace is a click away. let us sow these #seedsoffaith, building a digital sanctuary where religion fosters harmony. bibliography allport, g. w. 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(1969). the ritual process: structure and anti-structure. aldine publishing. udupa, s. (2018). enterprise hindutva and social media in urban india. contemporary south asia, 26(4), 387–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584 935.2018.1545007 un.org. (2024). #youth4peace initiative report. https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/youth4peace unhcr. (2023). ukraine emergency funding report. https://www.unhcr.org/ emergencies/ukraine-emergency un human rights council. (2018). report of the detailed findings of the independent international fact-finding mission on myanmar. https:// www.ohchr.org/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/ffm-myanmar/a_hrc_39_crp.2.pdf un human rights council. (2023). resolution on indigenous rights in the philippines. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/resolutions/ahrcres522-resolution-human-rights-and-indigenous-peoples uppsala conflict data program. (2023). conflict data. https://ucdp.uu.se vosoughi, s., roy, d., & aral, s. (2018). the spread of true and false news online. science, 359(6375), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science. aap9559 weber, m. (1947). the theory of social and economic organization. free press. [ 63 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 wong, j. (2014). interview with time magazine. https://time.com/3482556/ hong-kong-protest-teenagers zuckerberg, m. (2017, february 16). building global community. https:// www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-global-community/10154544292806634/ [ 64 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3570 [ 201 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 religion, culture and local wisdom in the death ritual of pontianak malay society sumarman muhammad djar’ie and zaenuddin hudi prasojo pontianak state institute of islamic studies abstract death is inevitable and will occur to every living creature, including humans no mater what religion or belief they have; however, no one knows for sure when it happens. humans can only predict death based on indicators that can be seen before it occurs. still until now, there are many people who attempt to oppose death, even though in the end they have to admit that allah is the almighty. therefore, no wonder if the death is still considered a tragedy rather than the culmination of happiness when humans finally harvest of deeds they have done all their life. in this light, death rituals are often accompanied by the tears of the family of the deceased, even some cry hard to express their pain as someone they love is gone, coupled with the arrival of relatives and acquaintances who mourn, and condolences as well as the phrase “inna lillâh wa inna ilaihi raji’ȗn”. a day of joy has turned into a day of sorrow, although it always ends with kendurian (gathering for remembering the dead), whose excitement is like that of selamatan (communal feast) and syukuran (celebration of thankfulness). this paper tries to present the infiltration of religion and culture in the death ritual in pontianak malay community as an object of discussion of local wisdom by using mafhȗm mukhâlafah approach, to provide a new understanding of the meaning of death. keywords: local wisdom, death ritual, malay culture introduction the idea of writing this paper originated from a conversation between two middle-aged men that i accidentally heard at a coffee shop near the junction of jalan perdamaian – jalan karya (sl 0003’57.8” el 109018’04.4”) pontianak. one of them said that “if you don’t have 10 million, don’t die first! you’ll be sorry for the family that you leave behind”. the next conversation, a detailed description of what was said, it came across my mind about a new understanding of death that appeared to have profit value that provides many opportunities for various parties to engage in a ritual of death and take advantage of the family of the dead. a new understanding of death was reflected on october 2013, when my uncle (my father’s brother) died because of old age in kampung kapur parit mayor, [ 202 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 sub-district of east pontianak, pontianak city on monday october 28, 2013 at 9 pm at the age of 73 years. two days later my cousin (child of my mother’s sister) also died of chronic disease in the soedarso hospital, pontianak on wednesday october 30, 2013 at 8 pm at the age of 45 years. within 40 days after the death, the family of the deceased had spent tens of millions, far exceeding the target costs i accidentally heard at the coffee shop. for my cousin’s family, such expenses are not a major problem for the death ritual, because the deceased was an only child whose childhood was already accustomed to a life of luxury, and the deceased’s father is a rich arowana fish breeder in putussibau. however, it was not the case for my uncle’s the family, who moved from one city to another, in order to find a decent living and sometimes they had to ask for help from the relatives just to meet the daily needs. socio-economic condition of the family of the deceased is not the main goal in this discussion, because whoever they are and whatever they have, they will have to spend expenses in amount of tens of millions of rupiah, and they bear all such expenses sincerely. what happened to my relatives’ family, may also happen to other families of the malay community, especially those living in pontianak. as long as they hold the same ritual of death, then it is also the case with the ritual expenses that they must bear. perhaps even more, given that a person’s social status in society is often retained by the family, whether the person is still alive or dead. besides, the value of profit in death, i also found a new understanding of social status in death. based on the survey conducted on several locations of the malay community cemetery in pontianak, i found some social stratification in the cemetery, as a result of the malay community treatment to the family member’s tombs for the purpose of expressing the identity of the deceased during their lifetime in the form of, among others, the different shape of the tombstone for men and women; different economic status in the form of material for tombstones and cover of the grave; different social status in the form of tomb; different events experienced by the deceased during their lifetime in the form accessories installed on the tomb. based on the phenomena and facts mentioned, i am interested to know the process that applies the death ritual among the pontianak malay. therefore, it is expected to know which death ritual that should be done and maintained, and which should be discontinued. pontianak malay society and ritual death according tjahjono as quoted by budiman, local wisdom is a term often used among scientists to represent a system of values and norms that are [ 203 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 developed, adopted, understood, and applied to local communities based on understanding and experience in interacting with the environment (budiman, 2012). in this case, the local wisdom under discussion here is the system of values and norms in the ritual of death compiled, shared, understood and applied by the malay community of pontianak based on understanding and experience in interacting between themselves and with the environment. the ritual of death is part of the traditional customs carried out by the pontianak malay community, in the moments before death, time of death and after death. based on the lexicology, the words mati (die) and kematian (death) are derived from the arabic word “maut” (الموت) which mean silent, quiet and/or lonely and anything that is silent means death (ibnu mandzur, n.d), which are then assimilated into the indonesian language i.e. mati (v) and kematian (n) meaning “already losing life; no longer alive; does not have life; never lived; unable to do anything; unable to change; no motion or activity; silent or quit; not moving (dendy sugono at al., 2008). the words mati and kematian are often equivalent to the word “wafat” (الوفاة) and ajal (األجل), which are also derived from arabic. the word wafat means the fulfillment of the lifetime (day, month and year) of someone in the world as may be prescribed (ibnu mandzur, n.d); and the word ajal means death and the time limit within the period of validity of something (expired) (ibnu mandzur, n.d). in addition, the word mati in the vocabulary of the pontianak malay language is also equivalent to the word tewas (die), and pass away and return to the blessing of allah”. based on the terminology, death is the end of life, the absence of life in biological organisms. medically, death is the state of a human who is believed by medical experts to have no more brain function, breathing and/or heart rate, which is punctuated with an indicator that a person is declared dead when the function of the heart-circulatory and respiratory system prove to have stopped permanently, or if the death of the brain has been proved.2 based on the thanatology, death is divided into two stages: (1) somatic death, which is marked by respiratory and blood circulation that have stopped, and (2) cellular death, which is marked by the death of the cell level. ibn mandzur described a person who sleeps with the term light death (اخلفيف and (الموت those who died with heavy sleep are called (انلوم اثلقيل), which states that there are similarities between the condition of the person sleeping and the dead (ibnu mandzur, n.d.). 2 see: pasal 1 huruf g peraturan pemerintah ri nomor 18 tahun 1981 tentang bedah mayat klinis dan bedah mayat anatomis serta transplantasi alat dan/atau jaringan tubuh manusia (lnri tahun 1981 nomor 23; tlnri nomor 3195). see also: pasal 117 undangundang ri nomor 36 tahun 2009 tentang kesehatan. [ 204 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 according to the tradition of the pontianak malay community, the families of a deceased person are siblings and relatives. relatives are the ones who still have a family relationship with the deceased. these relatives are descended from a parent resulting from different gametes. as we know that pontianak is inhabited by the ethnic malay majority. based on population census data of 1990, 2000 and 2010; and a survey of the population in 2005 census by the central statistics agency (bps) of west kalimantan province, it was known that in the next 20 years, there has been a rapid increase in the population of the city of pontianak, i.e. by 7905 people per year, or 1.43%. this indicates that the city of pontianak is growing and developing, and it is possible someday it will become a cosmopolitan. in addition, the composition of the population is heterogeneous, with the population of the malay reaching 26.05% of the total population of pontianak city or as many as 144,516 people. assuming that 100% of the population ethnic malay are muslim, then there are 267,541 people 64.93% or of the population of pontianak are muslim, in addition to other muslim ethnic groups such as bugis, javanese and madurese. however, the word melayu/malay itself is synonymous with the islamic religion, in which a dayak who converts to islam, will be declared as malay, as in the case of my father-in-law who comes from ethnic dayak punan of the bungan jaya village in the upstream kapuas hulu, as he has embraced islam since childhood because he was raised by muslims, he is regarded as an ethnic malay, even his son is currently the chairman of the malay youth of kapuas hulu. therefore, basically no matter to which ethnic group a person belongs, when he embraces islam, he will be considered malay, and if he comes from the city of pontianak, he can declares himself as part of the pontianak malay society (ita syamtasiyah ahyat, 2006). local wisdom before death the desire to find out when death will come is reasonable for every human being because he believes that every living creature will surely die. therefore, there is local wisdom before death among the pontianak malay community that i classified into two groups, namely the physical and non-physical signs. a. physical signs physical signs before death are empirical signs experienced or perceived by a person who will die, which are as follows3: 3 see: pesantrenawliya.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/tanda-tanda-100-hari-menujukematian-kita/; lihat juga http://shafiqolbu.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/tanda-tandakematian-bagi-orang-islam/#more-7623 [ 205 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 1) on the 100th day prior to death after ashr time, the whole body from head to toe will vibrate as if he were shivering; 2) on the 40th day prior to death after the ashr, the navel of the dying person will twitch, and it is believed when the leaf with his/her name the written on it will fall from the tree located in the arsy, the angel of death will pick it up and prepare everything related to the death that has been determined. the angel of death will follow this person throughout the rest of his/her life, and sometimes even show his face to the person which will puzzle him/her instantly. 3) on the 7th day before death, for the dying and sick, so he/she does not have the appetite to eat, suddenly he/she will be fond of eating. this is commonly referred to by the pontianak malay community with the term “buang tabiat/change of habit”. 4) on the 3rd day before death, the dying person will feel a twitch in the middle of the forehead; and the light of his/her eyes begins to disappear; for those who are sick, the nose will slowly flatten; the tip of the ear will become soft and gradually drawn in; and the soles of his/her will slowly soften and difficult to straighten up. therefore, it is suggested he/she start fasting, so the stomach does not contain feces, making it easier for people to bathe him/her later. 5) on the 2nd day before death, the dying person will normally see and meet with the spirits of those who have died, especially those he/she cares about. he/she will feel a twitch in all parts of the forehead; the light of his/her eyes has vanished; for those who are sick, the nose has flattened; the tips of the ear are already soft; and the soles of the feet have softened and difficult to straighten up. therefore, it is suggested he/she start fasting, so the stomach does not contain feces, making it easier for people to bathe him/her later. 6) on day 1 before death after ashr time, the dying person will feel a twitch in the back of the head, especially on the crown. this indicates that he will not have time to meet ashr time of the next day. b. non-physical signs 1) dreaming of broken or loosing teeth in the aura bulletin4, it was stated that the dream of loosing teeth is one of the most common dreams but also the most difficult to interpret. many theories about dreaming of losing teeth are circling around. starting from the dream of teeth falling out one by one or falling on the hand. this dream 4 see: http://www.aura.co.id/life/2-uncategorised/99-menerjemahkan-maknamimpi-yang-paling-umum-2.html [ 206 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 is not only frightening and shocking, but it often makes people continue to recall it. interpretation of the meaning of this dream is different. one theory said that a dream of losing your teeth shows that you are very worried about your appearance and the views of others on you. in today’s life that gives a high value on beauty, teeth play an important role to create the image. teeth are also used in seduction and get the attention of the opposite sex. ranging from a charming smile or fun laugh. therefore, the dream of losing teeth may reflect the fear of sexual impotence, fear of aging, or other anxieties. teeth are an important part of the appeal and appearance especially to those concerned with beauty. therefore, pay attention to the appearance is natural and healthy. another interpretation of the tooth loss is likely to come from the fear of embarrassment or fear of looking silly in certain situations. thus, the dream of tooth loss in this case because you exaggerate your anxiety and restlessness. teeth are used for biting, tearing and chewing. the role, in this regard, of the teeth symbolizes strength. tooth dream is likely to come from a sense of helplessness. are you less powerful lately? perhaps you have trouble expressing your feelings or your thoughts. you feel frustrated because your voice is not heard. you may feel weak and do not believe in yourself in a particular situation or a particular relationship in your life. this dream indicates that you need to be more assertive and trust on the opinions and self-assessment. recent research indicated that menopausal women often dream of teeth. this is related to the possibility of growing old and/or feel unattractive and less feminine. the dream has no teeth or toothless symbolizes malnutrition and can be applied to most people. in greek culture, dreaming of broken teeth, cavities, or loss of teeth could mean that a family member or close friend will be very ill or even likely to die. according to the chinese, you will lose your teeth will if you lie. another assumption said that teeth dreams can symbolize money. this commentary comes from an ancient fairy tale about tooth fairy. if you lose a tooth and put it under the pillow, the tooth fairy will bring money to you. 2) seeing a crow around the house crows are considered a sign of difficulties that will arise. because the mystery circling around in the society. a black crow can also be interpreted as a sign of death. when a crow is circling the house, supposedly will be someone dying. black crow like the carcass so much. so when there is a carcass, the group will immediately flock there. the arrival of a crow in a village or around a house is a sign that in that place there will be a creature that will become a carcass, meaning there will be a person who dies around the place. [ 207 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 3) change of habit, where a person who will die often does unusual things. “change of habit reveals a person’s behavior that is odd or remarkable; in the view of many people, sometimes he/she behaves strangely, sometimes he/she talks about something remarkable; sometimes without conscious he/she tells old stories. 4) consciously meeting deceased close relatives (not in a dream) a common belief among the malay community is that 2 days before the death of a person, he/she will be picked up by the deceases close relatives (son, father, mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather and/or grandmother). at this time, usually a person will be able to see and meet with the spirits of people who have died, especially those of their loved ones. local wisdom at the time of death a. sakratul maut (last moments before death) during sakratul maut, a dying person will feel cool in the navel and that feel will come down to the waist and climb to the adam’s apple. at that time, that person must continue to recite the shahada (sentences of creed), then be quiet and await the arrival of the angel of death. if another sentence is spoken, because they are invited to talk and / or because they want to leave a will, then they must repeat saying the two sentences of creed. if they are unable and / or difficult to pronounce the two sentences of creed, because the pain of sakratul maut, the relatives who are around should guide the person to say the two sentences of creed as commanded by prophet muhammad (syaikh abdul aziz, 1418h). once a person has gone through the sakratul maut, those who are alive are required to do the following things: 1) rub their right hand on the deceased’s face from forehead to chin; when passing by the eye, their palm should be in contact with the deceased’s eyelids so as to keep them closed, and when their palm reaches the chin, they should push the chin upward so that the mouth of the deceased can be closed tightly. if the chin is going down again, it must be tied with a cloth (handkerchief) and knotted at the top of the crown. 2) clean the body of the deceased from dirt and replace the deceased’s clothes with clean ones. 3) tighten the feet of the deceased by tying the big toes together. 4) laying the deceased’s body in a position where the hands are crossed above the navel (as in prayer), and exposed to the direction of qiblat when the body is laid for prayer (syaikh abdul aziz, 1418h). 5) cover the entire body of the deceased with a long cloth to cover the private [ 208 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 parts. 6) write down the full name of the deceased with his/her parents’ names on a piece of paper, and place it next to the body so that the guests who come to mourn can pray for him/her. 7) remember and talk about all the good things that the deceased ever did during his/her lifetime. what is done by the pontianak malay community, in my analysis, turns out merely to prepare the corpse so that people can proceed with the funeral. to die in a state husnul khotimah (good end) is the dream of all muslims. therefore, the signs of death in husnul khotimah often becomes a topic of conversation among the pontianak malay community, while taking care of the body of the deceased. among the signs of death in husnul khotimah, as occurring to prophet muhammad’s body when he died, namely: 1) sweating on the forehead. this sign can be seen when someone has just died. 2) tears. this sign is also seen when when someone has just died as the tears will dry eventually. 3) eyes remain closed. the deceased’s eyes are closed and do not need to be closed by others. sometimes, there are dead people who cannot close their eyes tightly after death. 4) lips tightly closed. the deceased’s mouth is not open and no saliva coming out of it. 5) little smile on the face of the deceased. not a big smile, but the face looks sweet. 6) bright face. the face does not change in terms of shape and color. sometimes, the face of a dead person turns black or looks like an animal’s. na’uzubillah. 7) the body does not harden even after a few hours of death. when touched as if the corpse had just died. the joints are supple and easy to bathe. b. spreading news of death the news of deaths among the pontianak malay community is spread through verbal announcements delivered at the nearest mosque from the funeral home, by the deceased’s family or the priest and / or administrators of the mosque as well as head of rt. it is announced to the congregation of the mosque and other local muslim community through the sound system facilities of the mosque. for the relatives, it is usually passed from mouth to mouth, and for those who live far, it is delivered through communications media such as the telephone and text messages. in the jakarta betawi community, in addition [ 209 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 to doing the same as the pontianak malay community, they also use a piece of yellow cloth tied around the front of the aisle, and / or the entrance to the funeral home, the place where the body lies in state. until now, spreading news of death through the mass media, especially the print media, is only done by the chinese community (iwan awaluddin yusuf, 2005). basically the pontianak malay community never identify for the bereaved family. the only identity that indicates a deceased family member is the clothes used during prayers and/or feasts in islamic holy days; and for those who have some money, usually set up tents and provide a chair in front of the house to accommodate the guests who came to mourn. this is somewhat different from the custom of the people other than the malays, such as chinese society with a small piece of black cloth pinned to the sleeve or betawi people who use black clothes, dayak people wearing lugik cloth belt and sword (dzulfawati hassan, 2006). c. ‘displaying’ the body of the deceased the pontianak malay community has the habit of ‘displaying’ the body of their deceased family member in the family room or living room. the body of the deceased is treated as if it were ill, lying on the cushion and pandanus mat, as well as covered with a thick blanket. the difference is when the person is ill, the qur’an and yasin book are hidden (placed under the pillow), whereas at the moment after death, the quran or the yasin book are displayed (on the stomach or on the side of the body). apart from that, the family also provides a label to the body of the deceased with the full name and the names of his parents (fulan, son of fulan). therefore, do not be surprised a person’s full name is in fact known to the neighbors just after they die. the purpose of displaying the body in the family room or living room is to give an opportunity for guests to meet the deceased for the last time, so it seems as if the deceased were the host receiving guests at the time. the display process takes place until people responsible for the fardhu kifayah (communal obligation) came to prepare for funeral, because after the body is washed and wrapped in white clot, then there is no more opportunity for the guests to meet the deceased in order to keep deceased’s ablution from being nullified. d. delaying the preparation of the deceased for funeral delaying the process of the preparing the body for funeral often occurs in pontianak malay for various reasons as follows: [ 210 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 1) lack of equipment and materials required for the preparation process. 2) lack of people who are expected to lead the entire process starting from bathing the dead, wrapping the body with a shroud, praying for the dead, until reading talqin after burial. 3) waiting for the family members and relatives of the deceased to attend, especially the parents and / or siblings and / or a biological children who live in another city. with regard to the desire of the family that is left behind to see the deceased for the last time, they will make every effort to be present at the funeral home within 24 hours, and the delay usually takes no more than 24 hours. e. preparing the body of the deceased for funeral preparing the body of the deceased for funeral in the guidance of islamic law is fardhu kifayah, which means that every person shall have competence in the practice, even though the realization is only held by a few people. over time, preparing the dead body finally becomes a profession carried out by people who are trained for the tasks and they get paid at different rates, depending on the condition of the dead body. in the community of pontianak malay, the undertaker is usually the caretaker of a nearby mosque. they are the people who seriously study the fardhu kifayah, while many others only have the knowledge, even some do not know at all. similar practice is also prevalent in the chinese community, where preparation of the dead body for funeral is taken very seriously, which is characterized by the formation of foundations of death, which organizes the care of the dead body in accordance with the amount of savings the deceased had, so as not to burden the family members left behind (iwan awaluddin yusuf, 2005). the preparation of the dead body for funeral is fardhu kifayah (communal obligation) for muslims in general and for the people of the pontianak malay in particular. the preparation process according the teachings of islam, includes: 1) bathing the dead body; 2) wrapping the body with a shroud, praying for the dead, and burying the body. preparing the body of the deceased for funeral in the community of pontianak malay contains some local wisdom as follows: 1) bathing the body at first, the process begins with bathing the dead with equipment and materials available in the house of the deceased along with some fragrance ingredients. at that time when they were still living along the bank of the kapuas river, the houses were built of wooden floor boards, so that the deceased could be [ 211 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 bathed in any room that had been cleared of household furniture. those who bathe the body were usually relatives and the closest relatives of the deceased with their legs sticking out side by side as many as 5 to 7 people. the body is laid on top of their thighs and covered in fabric, each person washes the body parts in front of them while the undertaker of fardhu kifayah prepares water and pours water over the entire body. along with the change in the housing material now usually made of concrete (without space under the house), the process of bathing the corpse is no longer done on the thigh of the family members/relatives but it is performed on a table baths (shaped like a boat hull) which is specially constructed to facilitate the process of bathing the corpse. however, there are also several households that are still trying to maintain the process of bathing the corpse using old culture, in which they build wooden floor within their home that will be used for bathing the corpse. 2) enshrouding the body based on the provisions set by prophet muhammad, the number of sheets of fabric to be used by the corpse is 3 pieces of white cloth for men and 5 pieces of fabric for women, not cut to form clothes. it turns out that among the pontianak malay community, these provisions developed as follows: a) the body of the male is enshrouded with 3 pieces of white cloth, which consists of 1 sheet as the first layer cut to resemble the robe; and 2 sheets as a blanket, folded per ply by laying a cloth on the right side on top of the cloth on the left side, tightened and held together with rope made of pieces of white cloth. b) the body of women is enshrouded with 5 pieces of white cloth, which consists of 1 sheet as the first layer in the form of the robe; 1 sheet as mukena / headscarf; 1 sheet as a sarong; and 2 last sheets as a blanket, folded per ply by laying a cloth on the right side on top of the cloth on the left side, tightened and held together with rope made of pieces of white cloth on seven spots, namely the head, chest, abdomen, waist, thighs, calves and feet. after the body is enshrouded, if there are family members who wish to see the deceased, the practice common among the pontianak malay community is usually to display the dead in the living room, and then take it to the mosque / prayer rooms for prayer. 3) praying for the deceased despite the absence of legal provisions, the family left behind by the deceased [ 212 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 among the pontianak malay community, usually gives money in sealed envelopes to some of the elders (minimum 10 people) who are involved in the process praying for the deceased. 4) burying the dead body although there are no legal provisions, the family left behind by the deceased among the pontianak malay community, usually provides a some money in a sealed envelope to the grave digger and the caretaker of the cemetery, with hope that the grave will be taken care of properly. although according to the legal provisions, the dead body should be laid in the grave covered with very thin wall, the pontianak people tend to use a coffins as the grave, with the following considerations: a) the position of the grave is not aligned with the location of the tombstone; b) the possibility of excavating the grave for various purposes, such as forensic or moving to a new location, etc. apart from that, the pontianak malay community also treat the family grave like the home of the deceased, which includes as follows: a) the gender of the deceased is retained by differentiating the type of tombstone, in which the round one is for male and the flat for female. b) on the 100th day, the family of the deceased will replace the tombstone installed with one that is better in accordance with the economic status of the deceased during his/her lifetime, in which the rich will install tombstone made of alabaster or marble decorated with inscription. in fact, some people try to buy land around the grave of the deceased in order to build a home like structure complete with seats, a place for washing feet, and the floor coated with anti-scratch tiles. they do this because they have a culture to visit the grave one day before eidal fitr and one day before eidal adha. during the visit, they will apologize to the deceased through the mediation of the tombstone. local wisdom after death a. buffet after the funeral is done, the family of the deceased normally will invite the guests who come to mourn and participate in the burial process to stop by the funeral home, because food has been prepared. at first, i was surprised, because contrary to the applicable law where the guests who mourn should not burden the bereaved family, because the grief they feel alone is very sad, so is it necessary to serve the guests some food and drink? after conducting [ 213 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 several interviews and surveys, finally i found an answer to why the family is pleased to provide food and beverage for the guests it is as a sign of gratitude from the family of the deceased to the guests who mourn, for the sympathy and condolences shown by them; and the hope that they will come again on the nights of kendurian (gathering for remembering the dead) and tahlilan (gathering to pray for the deceased by reciting the verses of the qur’an) to be held on subsequent nights. b. tahlilan in the community of pontianak malay, there is culture of tahlilan (gathering to pray for the deceased by reciting the verses of the qur’an) held in the evening after isha prayers for three nights in a row after the deceased is buried, in order to accompany the spirit of the deceased to join the new world in the barzah where the spirits gather, followed by tahlilan on the seventh night, with the intention of asking forgiveness of allah for the deceased at the time when his/ her stomach is broken and reunited with the origins of man, i.e. earth. then tahlilan is held on the fourteenth night which aims to convey gratitude for the receipt of the deceased spirit among the spirits in the barzah. on the fortieth night, the family hold tahlilan again with the aim to deliver the farewell for the deceased, marking the end of the period of mourning for the family left behind. the last tahlilan held on the hundredth night is a reminder to the bereaved family to replace the tombstone installed at the grave of the deceased with a better one, according to the socioeconomic status of the deceased during his/her lifetime. the tahlilan event is attended by the families of the deceased and their nearest neighbors and acquaintances, beginning with reading surah al-fatihah, surah yasin, tahlil, prayers for the spirits, and ended with dinner. c. haulan (remembering the day of death) in addition to festivity that has been implemented since the first day the death until the 100th day, the pontianak malay also hold haulan repeated every year on the date and month of death of the deceased, by holding tahlilan after evening prayers at the bereaved family’s home and it ends with a kendurian. conclusion the islamic religion is believed by its followers as a religion that is suitable (acceptable) in every age and place, so it can be assimilated and acculturated with local culture that has been understood by the local community before. this principle is used by the wali songo and other preachers in an effort to [ 214 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 preach the islamic teachings in the archipelago, especially among the malay community. based on historical studies, it is known that in the period before islam spread in the archipelago, the dominant religion was hinduism. therefore, it is not surprising that many people found the teachings of islam are somewhat have a nuance of practice of the hindu community, especially the malay community and it has finally rooted and entrenched in the community’s culture until today. one of them is the ritual of death. the ritual death in the malay community is essentially based on the islamic law (fardhu kifayah), which includes: (1) bathing the dead, (2) enshrouding the dead, (3) praying for the dead, and (4) burying the dead. even if there are some additions to the rituals of death during the preparation for funeral, it is the result of assimilation and acculturation with the local culture without diminishing the pillars of the fardhu kifayah, and it is developed and preserved within the framework of mutual respect among fellow followers, and with the guests who come to mourn, with regard to providing food and beverage for guests, providing tents and chairs for the guests who are not accommodated in the home, providing an envelope containing money for those involved in preparing the dead for the funeral as a sign of gratitude, providing fragrance in the room to reduce bad smell, writing the full name of the deceased on a piece of paper and placing it next to the corpse because the deceased is often only known by their first names, and a few other extras that aim to speed up and simplify the process of taking care of the deceased. i personally have yet to find the legal basis either in the qur’an or hadith for the death rituals performed by the pontianak malay community from the beginning until after the fardhu kifayah process is completed. therefore, many scholars have been trying to recommend to the muslims not to continue certain rituals (syaikh abdul aziz, 1418h), such as reading yasin and tahlil for three consecutive nights on the grave; and continued at the bereaved family’s home on the fourth to seventh night; then on the fourteenth, the fortieth, and hundredth night, as well as once a year on the day of the death of the deceased. references ahyat, ita syamtasiyah. 2006. dinamika dan pengaruh budaya melayu di kalimantan barat. prosiding 4th international conference on indonesian studies: “unity, diversity and future”; algozi, agus m., (n.d.). buku ajar dalam bentuk slide tentang tanatologi pada bagian ilmu kedokteran forensik fakultas kedokteran universitas airlangga. [ 215 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 aziz, syaikh abdul. 1418h. 148 fatwa-fatwa seputar jenazah. riyadh: maktabah abusalma al-atsari. budiman, 2012. keberadaan kearifan lokal dalam pengelolaan hutan mangrove: studi kasus di desa peniti luar kecamatan siantan kabupaten pontianak, tugas akhir program magister, program pascasarjana universitas terbuka, jakarta. hassan, dzulfawati haji. 2006. upacara kematian melanau likow di serawak. samarahan: university malaysia serawak. ibnu mandzur, (n.d.) lisaan al-arab., kairo, daar al-ma’arif. peraturan pemerintah ri nomor 18 tahun 1981 tentang bedah mayat klinis dan bedah mayat anatomis serta transplantasi alat dan/atau jaringan tubuh manusia (lnri tahun 1981 nomor 23; tlnri nomor 3195). sugono, dendy dkk., 2008. kamus bahasa indonesia, pusat bahasa departemen pendidikan nasional, jakarta. undang-undang ri nomor 36 tahun 2009 tentang kesehatan. yusuf, iwan awaluddin. 2005. media, kematian dan identitas budaya minoritas: representasi etnik thionghoa dalam iklan dukacita. yogyakarta: uii press, 2005. online sources: amoli824.net/maklumattambahan1/amalankhurafat.htm; http://abihulwa.blogspot.com/2012/12/isu-bahasa-apa-itu-buang-tabiat.html http://bahasa.kemdiknas.go.id/kbbi/index.php http://dininoviartichairlis.blogspot.com/2012/11/suku-melayu-kalimantan-barat_17.html; http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/kematian http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/suku_melayu. http://kalbar.bps.go.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271&itemid =376 http://kamusbahasaindonesia.org/mati. http://shafiqolbu.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/tanda-tanda-kematian-bagi-orang-islam/#more-7623 http://www.aura.co.id/life/2-uncategorised/99-menerjemahkan-makna-mimpi-yang-paling-umum-2.html http://www.pontianakkota.go.id/?q=tentang/letak-geografi-kota-pontianak http://www.pontianakkota.go.id/?q=tentang/suku-bangsa http://www.pontianakkota.go.id/?q=info/agama http://berkah2013.blogspot.com/2013/03/7-tanda-kematian-yang-baik-atau-khusnul.html http://dear.to/abusalma [ 216 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 h t t p s : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / g i u s e p p e m e z z a . p r a n a c i t r a / posts/503743923025153 https://www.facebook.com/muhammadidrusramli/posts/117823991726182; https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.155870187870830.10292.142741209183728&type=1; pesantrenawliya.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/tanda-tanda-100-hari-menuju-kematian-kita/; wahonot.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/fatwa-imam-syafii-tentang-kenduri-arwah-tahlilan-yasinan-dan-selamatan; [ 251 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 socio-religious movement of religious affiliated student organizations after social conflict in ambon yance zadrak rumahuru sekolah tinggi agama kristen protestan negeri ambon email: rumahuru@yahoo.com abstract this article examines student social movements with a focus of student activities in extra-campus organizations, especially the islamic students association (hmi) and the indonesian christian students’ movement (gmki) at the campus of the pattimura university, state college of islamic studies of ambon and the state college of protestant christian studies ambon, which aims to describe forms of student social movements in responding to social issues and development in the city of ambon and maluku after the conflict. the data of this study were collected using a qualitative method approach through observation, interviews and document study. therefore, this study is qualitative, the data were analyzed qualitatively and presented descriptively. this study found that first, cadres or members of hmi and gmki always strive to master public spaces on campus through the distribution of their cadres to occupy strategic positions in the executive bodies or the student senate, even the seniors who have become lecturers in structural positions on campus, which in turn can affect campus policies. second, the activities in the movement of hmi and gmki have similarities in terms of responding to social issues, by paying attention to a few aspects including socio-religious issues, local political issues and post-conflict community development. keywords: student social movements, hmi, gmki, campus, identity introduction in the history of many nations, students always pioneer various movements that lead to the changes in society. in the indonesian context, several important events were led by students, such as (1) may 20, 1908, when students and youth united against the colonists, and became the awakening moment of students, youth and community groups that are now the indonesian people to free themselves of colonialism. this event became known as the national awakening day. (2) october 28, 1928 student organizations and youth pioneered the oath of youth. (3) the events were still fresh in indonesian people’s [ 252 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 mind which was may 21, 1998, when students brought down the second president of the republic of indonesia, general suharto from power, and is an important moment for the development of better democracy in this country. this event became known as the era of reform, which inspired the entire governance and organization of the state to this day. along with the discussion about student social movements in indonesia, both nationally and regionally, two student organizations, namely the islamic students association (hmi) and the indonesian christian students’ movement (gmki) can be said to be a representation of a social movement among students which is an interesting topic to study. it is known that both student organizations have a long historical background along with the existence of the republic of indonesia. the focus of this study is the student social movement in the city of ambon regarding the activities of off-campus organizations, in this case the hmi and gmki. therefore, this study was carried out at the muslim students’ association at the pattimura university and state institute of islamic studies at ambon and the indonesian christian students’ movement at the pattimura university and the college of christian religious studies at ambon. the issues to be discussed in this article are the kinds of social movement activities of the students in responding to issues of community development in post-conflict in ambon and maluku in general in the last 15 years. research on the social movements of students in ambon city can be seen as part of a study of social movements in indonesia in general, and is important because after the 1998 reform, which had implications for the fall of the new order regime, there is a tendency of strengthening social movement activities at a number of campuses in different regions. in the context of the city of ambon and maluku overall, student movements have gained a strong hold since 1998 in line with the overall student movements in indoneisa to bring down suharto, and further strengthened during the conflict of 1999. the phenomenon of student social movements in ambon city experienced post-conflict changes, the more leading to religious movements that have been growing at the campus and many feared that they may have negative impacts on campus activities and the community at large. youssef m. choueri (1997), who studied islam as religious movements found that the phenomena of religious movements become a development which he calls the revivalism, reformism, and radicalism. [ 253 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 each term is a separate entity and has a historical background, socioeconomic and conceptual framework of its own. in line with this study, flavius floris andries (2012), examined the campus mosque movements at ugm and uin sunan kalijaga in the understanding of national politics, and found that religious movements that emerged in the campus is a response to the social dynamics that swept the nation. takmir masjid is one of the forms of religious movements that emerged at ugm and uin sunan kalijaga, with different goals and missions between the two campuses. the difference is largely determined by the theological views held by each of these movements. in this research, it has clear differences in theological opinion between the two campuses in understanding political issues. for religious movements at the mosque of uin sunan kalijaga, discussing political issues is part of the responsibilities of the campus mosque, while the movement of the ugm, political issues are outside the responsibility of the campus mosque. with regard to the reality in the city of ambon, it is expected that this study is an attempt to map out the forms and activities of student social movements in the city of ambon and explain how social and religious movements affect the activities of college students and the community in maluku. said ernas (2016) gives a background of the curent situation of architecture of peace in ambon that is related to the social movement studies by this work. this study is expected to add a reference about social movements and religious movements, particularly among students in indonesia. the results of this study are also expected to be input for colleges and universities, government and other institutions in formulating policies that benefit students in ethnically and religiously diverse communities. the discussion in this study uses the theory of social movements, so it will put forward the concept of social movements. giddens (1993) argued that social movements are an attempt collectivity to pursue a common interest, or movements to achieve common goals through collective action outside the established scope of institutions. unlike gidens, robert mirsel (in berger, 2004) observed that social movements are not merely studying the collective actions that are not only institutionalized as in the classical studies, but also shifted the movements toward being organized and institutionalized not merely spontaneous movements. religious movements in the world of colleges can be categorized as a social movement, which aims to show [ 254 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 and maintain religious identity among both christians and muslims as a filter for the community. therefore, a social movement aims to promote a change in values and norms in society in order to manifest a purification (peter berger, 2004: 325). to undertake the study of social movements, the role of actors or individuals occupies a very important position, because it is essentially a social movement which is a collection of individuals. ignoring the fact that the a social movement is made up of people will be at risk of treating it as single empirical data. the fact that those individuals acting together need to be explained and should not be considered as something that just happens (rumahuru, 2013). in other words, it should be noted that social movements are more than just a single phenomenon, because only on the level of analysis of individual can it be explained why some people are involved to participate in a certain social action and not another. by using this view, then we will be able to collect individual resources, such as self ideology, the values of subjectivity, opinions or individual perspectives, the actor’s motives, actor’s purpose, the subjective meaning of the actor, the reality around them, etc. specifically regarding social movements associated with the religious movement itself, there appeared various terms used by scholars to describe religious movements. tibi (1998), azra (1996), choueri (1997), burrell (1995) and karyono, (2003) used the term fundamentalism. in addition, for indonesian case, burhanuddin (2016) gives an explanation of the root of the term of fundamentalism. and sivan (1985), roy (2005) and turmudi, et al. (2005) like to use the term radical. the issue is a complex movement that sometimes stops at the level of labeling. however, labeling does not bring a better understanding. each movement has its own background, because its birth cannot escape from the religious, economic, social, cultural and political influence. zaenuddin hudi prasojo (2016), for example, argues that some aspects including ethnicity and religion can also give influences to movement and social identity. the orientation of these movements depends on which aspects are the most prevalent among the factors above. general context of student social movements in ambon ambon city as the center of the province of maluku, and an educational center, has become an arena of growing religious movements which started from college [ 255 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 students. therefore, this study focuses on the student religious movements on campus, where two student organizations become representational activities of religious movements in ambon i.e., the islamic students’ association (hmi) and the indonesian christian students’ movement (gmki), respectively at the pattimura university (unpatti), state institute of islamic studies (iain) ambon and the state college of christian religious studies (stakpn) ambon. unpati is a national campus categorized as a large secular campus in the city of ambon and maluku, while iain is categorized as a campus with islamic religious background, and stakpn ambon categorized as a campus with christian religious background. with regard to socio-religious movements of hmi and gmki, both have a long history, and their activities can be seen from their existence in the new order era to the era of reform. in each period, both organizations had experience of history and dynamics of relations with different countries. however, hmi and gmki and their movement activities have militancy and continuity of movement that never diminished or extinguished in guarding every government policy and polices within the campus. although hmi and gmki are partners labeled as campus religious organizations, their socioreligious movements emerged in the form of social activities. regarding militancy and continuity of religious social movements, both hmi and gmki have close links with activists involved in the movement. therefore, aspects of the formation and regeneration as expansion and an increased number of mass is a major factor in driving the sustainable existence of the organization as well as their entire agendas. formation and regeneration are an important and strategic factor because the campus is an intellectual or academic community with well-educated people, and actors involved in the organization have an important role in developing the mission of the movement both within internal campus and in the community. since the beginning of hmi and gmki’s presence on campus, the two organizations are a strategic means to carry out the regeneration and development of activists. it is understandable that students as educated people would have legitimacy in a movement compared to other social groups who are not educated. therefore, hmi and gmki positioning themselves as partners of the campus is an important thing. this study found that as campus partner organizations, cadres or members of hmi and gmki ensure that they can occupy strategic positions in the executive branch or the student government body which in turn can affect campus policies. [ 256 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 forms of student social movements in ambon city students as a college community are always identical to the designation of future generations, so it is often found that colleges have organizations that pay attention to the development of character, and leadership cadre. concrete examples of such organizations are hmi and gmki. the presence of such student organizations, besides carrying the issue of nationalism, also pay attention to religious issues, because it cannot be denied that social and religious background is important in the presence of these organizations. therefore, the activities of gmki and hmi cannot be separated from socio-religious aspects in a society that starts from the campus. student activities on campus as a religious social movement serve as a process of self preparation from the campus to get involved in every process of development through contribution of thought to be critical of any policy for the advancement of the nation. the available space is for the formation of self-awareness, understanding, skills and abilities of students on campus, resulting in many people from outside the campus to be able to take advantage of student attendance as a new intellectual community to encourage the ideals of social groups outside the campus. it is known that the hmi is an organization of cadres among students at the national level, therefore the hmi at the campus iain unpatti ambon has the same goals as the hmi at other universities. the main goals of the hmi are to prepare academic people, devotees and creators with islamic spirit; and to create a fair and prosperous society with the grace of allah. implementation of these objectives by each cadre of hmi is by improving academic skills of the members and specific skills that help its cadres to be able to compete on campus and off campus. the hmi as a student organization with an islamic background also instills spiritual doctrine, where the implementation can be seen in various activities of religious-oriented social movements in two aspects including uluhiyah (belief) and ubudiyah (social worship). like hmi, gmki is also a national level student organization aimed at the development of intellectual abilities and character, with the goal of coaching students not only intellectually but also to have leadership skills based on christian values. the gmki in the socio-religious movement has three principles of science, faith and devotion. tripanji or three pillars can be explained as follows: the cadres of gmki should be intellectually powerful, master of science and technology, and having unwavering faith. through science and technology capabilities, gmki cadres will be able to perform community or church service. dedication to the community or the church on one side is the actualization of the gmki tripanji, in addition, it indicates the existence of gmki as: church incognito “which is doing service to all [ 257 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 denominations and to society in general. the existence of hmi and gmki has stood the passing of time and has a long history with various dynamics of the organization, especially in relation with the state, with varying dynamics since the new order era to the current reform era. hmi and gmki movement activities have militancy and continuity of that never diminished or extinguished in guarding the government’s policies, as well as internal affairs on campus. hmi and gmki are both partner organizations labeled campus religious, with religious social movements emerged in the form of social activities. militancy and continuity of religious social movements both hmi and gmki have close links with activists involved in the movement. therefore, the aspects of the formation and regeneration as expansion and an increased number of mass base are a major factor in driving the sustainable existence of the organizations. formation and regeneration are an important and strategic factor because the campus is a place where educated actors are involved in the organization, have an important role in developing the mission of the movement both internally and externally, or in the community outside the campus. since the beginning, hmi and gmki presence on campus is a strategic means to carry out the regeneration and the formation of activist movements. the existence hmi and gmki despite having muslim and christian religious background, their movements are beyond the boundaries of religious, social aspects in each community without looking at the background of ethnicity, religion, and region. it is an attitude of openness practiced by hmi and gmki as a cadre organization, which since its inception is very sensitive and concerned with social issues. social issues as student movement focus religious discourse referring to the goals of hmi which are to prepare academic people, devotees and creators with islamic spirit; and to create a fair and prosperous society with the grace of allah, then religious discourse becomes an important thing discussed at the hmi. the religious discourse discussed in the context of the hmi in ambon and iain unpatti at the macro level is associated with the cultivation of human values, human rights, justice and honesty. internally, such religious discourse associated with the various activities of the organization is based on two fundamental aspects of the faith as a muslim i.e. aspects of uluhiyah and ubudiyah. the aspect of uluhiyah is knowledge of god as the command in the quran, allah says “keep your duty to allah and [ 258 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 help each other to virtues and prevent vice”. the aspect of uluhiyah is associated with the duties of every individual given by allah to obey his command that appears in worship (rituals). uluhiyah aspects of the daily activities of each individual in its implementation as the qur’an commands, is for example, when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of allah (social worship). implementation of the uluhiyah concept in the context of hmi arises in the celebration of islamic holy days, spiritual sermons, friday prayers even though it is the consciousness of every individual muslim, it remains a concern for hmi. implementation of the concept ubudiyah in social reality appears in forms of social relations, for an example hmi has good relations with gmki and the cadres are actively involved with youth organizations such as knpi, as a medium to carry out social worship, a place for sharing and discussion to find solutions on how to build a paradigm among different communities. on the other hand, through the social relations, hmi can perform a variety of social worship addressing various social problems in society, thinking critically about any social change in society and take concrete actions as the solution. religious discourse discussed at the hmi is not only related to the issue of theological doctrine but also includes social issues as the implementation of islamic values in totality in the community. implementation of islamic values is a fundamental issue and of serious concern for hmi at the unpatti on grounds that the question of faith associated with the theological and dogmatic values are personal matters and the responsibility of the individual, therefore, hmi does not preach on campus. similarly, the affairs of religious rituals like friday prayer, or anything else that is ritual, is considered a private matter and not a matter of the organization because it is a matter of concern for the mosque takmir in campus which organizationally has no hierarchical relations with the organization of hmi. the importance of the implementation of islamic values of peace is the values of islamic theology discussed in the context of the hmi at unpatti and iain ambon. in fact, the people of maluku over all are traumatized by the conflict, experiences of conflict with all forms of action and violence in the collective memory of the people of maluku that shape new bigotry, resentment, and hatred among the citizens of the muslim and christian communities. in this context, hmi views that religious discourse is inappropriate to question the contribution [ 259 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 of religion to social issues that are rife with corruption, poverty, terrorism which are always associated with islam. so islam being not a religion of peace but a terrorist religion by society, and the fact that media always bring news of violent acts in the name of religion and the events terrorist will legitimize the thesis of gregory baum, who said that “religion is ambiguity” (baum, 2001) and appleby (2000) who said that religion is ambivalent. in accordance with gmki motto, ut omnes unum sins which means that all to be one, then, the religious aspect remains one of the important part of the discourse and discussed at gmki. the gmki at at unpatti and stakpn ambon has a regular agenda to discuss religious issues through regular worship. like hmi, regarding the religious discourse, gmki has more discussions and studies of the bible focusing on social issues, for example the problems of poverty, environmental crisis, cultural crisis, the crisis of education, etc. in this light, it appears that religious discourse discussed in the context of gmki has shifted from the discourse of dogmatic theology toward praxis. gmki as an intellectual community with christian identity within the meaning of religion being more directed at social aspects of a shared reality. it needs to be viewed in this context regarding the attitude of gmki in view of issues of injustice in churches and church internal bureaucratic problems. it seems that gmki does not give special attention to discuss the issues of the church in the way they discuss social, economic, political, cultural issues of the community hit by the impact of government policies that are not in favor of the community. this is because gmki position itself as the church in terms of incognito church, so gmki directly involves itself in solving problems that afflict people without criticism of the church as if it did not care about the people but persisted in building the solid walls of bureaucracy. local political discourse regional autonomy the issues of regional autonomy received attention from both hmi and gmki in ambon city. hmi and gmki in the city of ambon view that regional autonomy as the implementation of a decentralized system will ultimately lead to new problems where there is land domination and the emergence of warlords. in this case, local autonomy does not resolve a number of problems in the area, but instead creates new issues. creation of new districts does [ 260 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 not reduce poverty but opens new opportunities for political infidelity and corruption as a form of abuse of power. on the other hand, peoples’ rights are eroded or displaced and taken over by the center and those who possess capital. in other words, decentralization does not provide protection for the rights of indigenous peoples of their ancestral lands because of the reality is that customary lands have been used as an arena of contestation in this case by both central and local governments and capitalist groups. the consequence is that society as customary rights of land owners are becoming victims because their limited resources make it difficult for them to process the matter legally. clearly we can see this case in buru island and on the island of seram. in two large islands in maluku, with the expansion of a dispute of land owned by the community because there are mines as the source of many people’s interests as well as the source of power contestation arena where capital and social capital are contested. election changes in the political system of the democratic stage in the post-new order era in indonesia are among others the introduction to direct elections of the president, governors, mayors and regents, as well as legislative members. in other words, the changes in the political system of post-new order no longer adhere to the representative system but through participatory system. the applicability of the participatory system on the one hand is good, because every member of the society has the opportunity to freely use their right to vote for their representative by anyone or any political party. in this context, every individual has the freedom to choose so that the life of democracy is increasingly better. in contrast with the expectation that each individual has the freedom to choose, public awareness about the importance of democracy education is not properly implemented. therefore, the democratic process through legislative elections is loaded with political transactions, where money, family, ethnicity have become a campaign tool as a strategy to gain power as the main objective so that the democratic process is not healthy anymore. this phenomenon when using bourdieu argument about the arena, then it is a strategy, because for bourdieu it is not possible for actors to be present in the void when entering the arena of contestation (bourdieu, 1977). money, family, ethnicity are economic, social and cultural networks (bourdieu, 1977) that can be observed and seen as forms of relations that can help the actors in the struggle for power. in this context, a healthy democratic process or a clean and honest way is not a goal, but the expectation to be successful as a winner is the [ 261 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 actors’ objective. therefore, various methods and strategies are used to run elections although their impact is not democratic, legally flawed, etc. security and peace building discourse the maluku conflict that took place from 1999 to 2004 left a long trauma for the people of maluku. psychological conditions of maluku have yet to be safe for both communities. therefore there is need for enlightenment for the people of maluku about real peace. one approach that can be used to enlighten the people of maluku is through the cultural approach. generally when talking about a cultural approach, most people refer to local wisdom practiced by the people of maluku as pela, gandong, lavul ngabal systems and so on, but hmi activists also sought another cultural discourse. according to hmi activists, maluku society must be enlightened and awakened through the story “patimurah” and the spirit of patriotism for the people of maluku to rebuild their lives in entirety. patimurah history is something real and not the result of a historical fact that there is a cultural construct of the political elements. with patimurah historical stories and patriotic zeal, the maluku people can learn to develop. a word that needs to be underlined is “patriotic spirit”. in this context it is universal and can be used to build any terms. dimensions of a strong desire or a strong will to change life, establish oneself as an individual, group or society as a whole behind the values contained in the statement. discourse of peace, security and development has also received attention from gmki activists in ambon city, because it becomes a prerequisite for the maluku community to develop completely. concentrating on issues of security and peace-building in the context of the city of ambon, maluku overall can be also related with the integration of efforts to maintain the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri). gmki activists consider that keeping the integrity of the republic is the absolute responsibility of every citizen, which is done in a simple start to maintain security and order in society, safeguarding of the state assets, guarding against infiltration of ideology that diminish the state ideology of pancasila, and efforts to disrupt the boundaries of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia/nkri. [ 262 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 education issues the issues of education in the context of maluku are a matter of concern, as maluku is categorized as low in terms of the quality of education. both hmi and gmki in ambon view that good education is indispensable for a change in society. in this regard, they recognize that education is becoming a serious concern especially related to knowledge about information technology (it) among educators, students and the community. it suggests that one of the challenges today and in the future for education in maluku is related to the use of information technology. the basic problem is the faculty of human resources (teachers) in the it field is limited, and facilities and infrastructure are not a representation, including the lack of nonformal education facilities outside of school. responding to the contexts, hmi conducted it training in schools with the goal of introducing the world of it. this is one step in the journey of hmi in response to problems related to the it world in particular among students and teachers. hmi’s involvement in the improvement of it skills in the school environment is one of the concrete steps of the hmi goals in community service. on the other hand the activity is a socio-religious movement as a manifestation of religious values that are implemented in social action. gmki views that the educational backwardness in maluku is related to elements of teaching staff (teachers) in accordance with the competence fields of study as well as a library and its facilities in particular in rural areas, due to lack of government attention to the problems of education. the achievement of the purpose of education is not limited to the eradication of illiteracy in the community, but public education is expected to change lives for the better. so far, it has not been seen in the implementation of the education policy in maluku. against all odds, gmki is trying to do some concrete measures by plunging into the village performing daily teaching activities, as well as building a public library. gmki has shown concern to the community that gmki not only is synonymous with the demonstration, but it also has social sensitivity and responsiveness to social problems. on the other hand, it is a criticism of the government on the functioning and role of government as a representation of the state on one hand that serves the nation, living on the terms of the mandate of the [ 263 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 constitution, and on the other hand fulfilling the rights of the public through education which is also mandated in the constitution. conclusion the description above has pointed out to the following conclusions: first, cadres or members of hmi and gmki always strive to dominate public spaces on campus through the distribution of their cadres to occupy strategic positions in the body of executive branches or the student senate, even those seniors who are lecturers have structural positions on campus, which in turn can affect campus policies. second, the activities in the movement of hmi and gmki have similarities in terms of responding to societal issues, by paying attention to several aspects including socio-religious issues, local political issues and development of post-conflict society. in the context of ambon city which is building itself after the 19992002 conflict, and continuing to experience the dynamics up to now, the social movements of students who view extra-campus organizations to be important in terms of performing the functions of community control over the entire development process in a broad sense. on the contrary, there is another phenomenon that is indisputable which is the strengthening of the construction of religious identity in the public sphere on campus, whereas if not managed properly may have an impact on the formation of understanding of the the exclusive religion that is at the root of radicalism, which has the potential to trigger conflict in ambon and maluku overall which is striving to progress out of devastation in the wake of the bloodshed a few years ago. references ahmed, akbar s. (2003). islam sebagai tertuduh. bandung: arasy mizan. andries, flavius floris. (2012). gerakan masjid kampus ugm dan uin sunan kalijaga dalam memahami politik nasional. in jurnal analisa. p: 137-145. appleby, r. scott. (2000). the ambivalence of the sacred: religion, violence, and reconciliation. lanham, md: rowman and littlefield. azra, azyumardi. (1996). pergolakan politik islam: dari fundamnetalisme, modernisme hingga postmodernisme. jakarta: paramadina. [ 264 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 burhanuddin, n. (2016). akar dan motif fundamentalisme islam:reformulasi tipologi fundamentalisme dan prospeknya di indonesia. wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya, 1(2), 199-210. doi: http://dx. doi.org/10.15575/jw.v1i2.831 baum, gregory. (2001). religion and alienation: a theological reading of sociology. new york: orbis books. berger, peter. (1991). langit suci, agama sebagai realitas sosial. jakarta: lp3es. bourdieu, p. (1977). outline of a theory of practice. cambridge: cambridge university press. burrel, r. (1995). pendahuluan: fundamnetalisme islam di timur tengah: penelitian tentang asal usul dan keanekaragamannya. in r.m burrel. fundamentalisme islam. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. choueri, youssef m. (1997). islamic fundamnetalism. london: books ens ltd. royston hert. ernas, s. (2016). architecture of peace in ambon: reading dynamics of peace after ten years of conflict. al-albab, 5(2), 217 233. retrieved from http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab/article/view/504 giddens, anthony. (2003). the constitution of society. london: sage publication. karyono, ribut. (2003). fundamentalisme dalam islam-kristen. yogyakarta: kalika. prasojo, z.h. (2016). social change and the contributions of the tionghoa, dayak and melayu (tidayu) in west kalimantan. in victor t. king, zawawi ibrahim &noor hasharina hassan (eds.). borneo studies in history, society and culture. singapore: springer. p: 427-442. roy, oliver. (2005). genealogi islam radikal. yogyakarta: genta press. sivan, emmanuel. (1985). radical islam: medieval theology and modern politics. new haven: yale university press. tibi, bassan. (1988). the chalenge of fundamentalism: political islam and the new world disorder. barkeley: university of california press. turmudi, endang & riza sihbudi. (2005). islam dan radikalisme di indonesia jakarta: lipi press. rumahuru, y.z. (2013). fenomena gerakan keagamaan mahasiswa di kota ambon dan relasinya dengan konstruksi identitas agama di kampus: studi kasus di kampus unptti, iain ambon dan stakpn ambon. (unpublished paper). stakpn ambon. [ 263 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 religious values and aspects of teacher empowerment management imron muttaqin iain pontianak email: imron.muttaqin@gmail.com abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae walailak university email: pabdul.razak09@gmail.com abstract this article describes the religious values and aspects of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory. literature studies was conducted, relevant research published on the online journal identified using mendeley and google scholar database. the study selection, data extraction and synthesis were carried independently. thematic analysis was used to summarize religious values and aspects. the findings reveal religious values on the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory are religious, social, professional, humanist, kinship, and cooperation values. and there are six religious aspects in this theory; ideological/aqeedah aspect, syari’ah, experiential, intellectual, professional, responsibility and harmony aspects. the implications of this study suggest effectively and harmony of all religious values and aspects for empowering teacher. keywords: religious; values; aspects; teacher; empowerment; self-actualization. introduction many studies have investigated the impact of leadership on the religion-based school influenced by religious values. for instance, michelle reveal religious values as its dimension (michelle striepe, 2014), he’s research show religion based educational institutions are correlated with religious values. other have to attempted to reveal religous content in social work (edward r canda; 1989). arniika kuusisto (2003) analysed the conditions that support the successfull transmission of parental religious values to the next generation. mitchell j. neubert and matthew s. wood (2018) investigated the relationship between an organization’s religious values as espoused by the founder or in media messaging and applicant intention tu pursue a job. so, it is very important to determine the religious values applied by an educational institution to [ 264 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 empower the teacher. islam is a religion based on the quran, hadith, ijma’, and qiyas values.  this article discusses the religious aspects in the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory. the identified values and aspect analyzed and classified into the previous values. besides discussing religious aspects, it also discusses the discipline integration related to the value concept and its implementation in islamic educational management. quran requires discipline integration. the purpose is correlating and interacting between one discipline to another disciplines holistically. philosophically, there are a few indonesian islamic educational institutions synergize and integrate islamic disciplines. for instance, the state islamic university (uin) sunan kalijaga yogyakarta and the state islamic university (uin) maulana malik ibrahim malang,. they have their own characteristics and metaphors. the state islamic university (uin) sunan kalijaga has a scientific paradigm of the “integrationinterconnection” also knows as “spider-web” integration model, and “the tree of knowledge” model as scientific paradigm of uin malang, and the tam model by ali sukamtono (imron muttaqin, 2014). these models are well-practiced exemplary for islamic educational institutions. discipline integration is aimed at discipline development does not separate from the main source, the holy qur’an.  spirit in this theory (tebosa) comes from islamic values as the basic teaching and guidance for the teacher. it is very interesting if these values are analyzed and classified into religiosity values and aspects.  teacher empowerment management theory based on self-actualization is factually teacher as the most strategic element must be paid attention and one of the efforts for enhancing their power is empowering. nation conceives the importance of teacher roles to enhance the teachers to be professional and responsible in improving themselves because of teachers are the main source that influences education quality and change. the teacher must become well-practiced exemplary for the student’s achievement (budi harto, 2011). so, the teacher must have internal driven to improve better and continuously.  research on empowerment reveal teacher power can be maximized. the empowerment paradigm is proper to increase teacher power. but the indonesian teacher problem faced are quality, carrier, salary, and welfare  (alivermana, 2014). in the implementation, an educational institution is the teacher’s place to carry out teacher role and related to teacher quality as fatkhul said that teacher has a role in increasing the educational institution quality (arief efendi, 2008) so that azumardi azra emphasizes the mainstreaming of educational institutions (azra, 2005). [ 265 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 empowerment rooted in the philosophy of existentialism will be discussed and adjusted to islamic teachings so that it is interesting to be studied because there have been several meeting points between them. islamic spirit in people’s acts of ihsan can be the strongest factor in the success of empowerment. based on this thought, two focus of issues are determined in this study, what values that drive the realization of empowered teachers and what aspects of islamic religiosity in the theory of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization. values are the basic foundation that will encourage someone to do something, so the internalization of values which is the driving factor for empowerment that needs to be discussed further.  teacher empowerment the word “empowerment” comes from the word “power”, meaning “control, authority, dominion”, the prefix “emp” which means “to cover with” or “on put on to” and more clearly the meaning is “more power” or “more empowered” (priyono, 2012). empowerment can be interpreted as an effort to provide freedom to a person or group to actualize them to achieve the goals. ruth alsop is the capacity of individuals or groups to make effective choices and transform those choices into actions and expected outcomes. it means giving authority for the empowered person or groups so that their abilities can be implemented for the public interest. according to rappaport, empowerment is the process of developing skills so that the empowered person or groups become a problem solver independently (rappaport, 1977).  thus, empowering is maximizing people’s potential power to be manifested into reality. the potential power possessed by teacher will be very useful if it is successfully developed and directed based on the goals of the educational institution. psychologically, a person will be eager to do something if it is followed by the desires and motives, personal aspirations, collective and goals that becomes important in empowerment through multiple access to resources and acquiring the independence to determine their desires (totok mardikanto, 2008). teacher empowerment can also be interpreted as an effort to maximize power to be more qualified, more professional and competent. empowerment means seeking more values that can be carried out with improvement, growth and development. randy wrihatnolo explained empowerment is a process consisting of the awareness, the capacity building and the empowerment (wrihatnolo, 2007). at the stage of awareness, it is given an explanation or training in the form of cognition, belief and healing, because teachers need to understand they must build “demand” to be empowered where the process starts from themselves, then the capacity [ 266 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 building and finally the empowerment process. empowerment is the people’s mentality development to carry out their duties by increasing their abilities until a reciprocal relationship happened between individual and school goals (sunaryo, 2019). empowerment is carried out by efforts to improve capacity continuously by developing and enlarging the influence of individual competencies in areas and functions that affect total performance and organization (kinlaw, 1999). therefore, it can be said that empowerment is a process consists of stages need to be carried out continuously. empowerment means a process of giving individuals authority to think, act and control their work or decisions autonomously, and has better energy, because this energy must be developed in the organization. leaders of educational institutions must have a mindset that empowerment is an investment of teacher with the right to participate in the school goals and policies and carry out professional judgments about what and how to teach and educate, because the teacher has direct interaction with their students. empowerment is not the leader of educational institution’s effort to give power to teacher, but it would rather be directed to the process of mutual respect, mutual discussion, and teacher involvement that implies recognition that everyone has talents, competencies, and strengths that can be practiced creatively and responsibly in the school environment for the children goodness and young people  (starrat, 2007).  based on this definition, the mean of empowering teachers is an effort to help the teacher to be able to develop themselves for achieving their competence and be able to overcome problems related to their duties and responsibilities independently. concept of teacher empowerment kinlaw (1999) mentioned that empowerment is a process of getting continuous improvement in an organization by developing and expanding the influence of individual competencies in areas and functions that affect performance and the organization holistically. although there are similarities in the process, improvement, development, and objectives with the concept of teacher empowerment actualization, there is a difference as kinlaw has not mentioned the foundation of values and the principles used in empowerment. another opinion stated by ruth alsop that teacher empowerment needs to be directed towards the capacity of individuals or groups to make effective choices for the organization and run it. this opinion needs to be followed up by giving both individual and group opportunities to be able to realize their choices so that they should be given opportunities to actualize themselves. giving opportunities for self-actualization is the mean of empowerment [ 267 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 management theory based on self-actualization encouragement. teacher empowerment is a process where a teacher get the energy allows them to expand their abilities/capabilities to have greater bargaining power, make their own decisions, and have access to resources for a better life. the teacher who is given the opportunity to self-actualization will show a good performance, as muh imran said that teacher self-actualization influences teacher performance  (muh imron, 2012).  ismiati also mentioned that a student’s trust in the teacher starts from how the teacher actualizes themselves in front of the student (cicillia, 2003). therefore, the self-actualization of the teacher is needed to empower teachers. educational institutions have a large role with support to the teacher. the human soul according to islam can only be realized perfectly in the devotion to its creator (cicillia, 2003). providing opportunities for the teacher to actualize themselves in islam means helping the perfection of the teacher in worship and devote themselves to allah swt. kanter explained empowerment guarantees the access of information, resources, support, and opportunities to make employees learn and develop, in addition, kanter suggested the effective communication to empower employees (kanter, 1993). kanter empowerment is better known as organizational empowerment because it is related to the structure and willingness of the organization to share its resources. kanter empowerment is also called formal empowerment because it comes from the organizational structure, especially the top leadership, which needs to provide formal access to organizational resources. kanter believed that the power of a leader can develop with the shared power, this shared power includes organizational resources, information, and opportunities for growth. barling said empowerment consists of two parts; macro and focus oriented on the social structure (or context) of empowerment at the workplace and micro-oriented empowerment that focuses on psychological experiences at the workplace (barling, 2008). the theory of empowerment most often used in macro empowerment is kanter’s theory, this theory is based on his book entitled men and women of the corporation. kanter empowerment provides a framework for understanding employee empowerment and positioning the empowered employees (alegandro, 2014). kanter empowerment theory consists of four types; access to information, support, access to resources needed to carry out work, the opportunity to learn and develop, this theory is widely used in research, including by laschinger in research for the health field (laschinger, 2010). another opinion expressed by  randolph (1995)  who said there are three keys to empower the organizations and people; 1) share information, 2) create an autonomy through boundaries and [ 268 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 3) hierarchical teams. on the other hand, timothy provides four elements in empowerment that must be present; 1) power, 2) information, 3) knowledge, and 4) rewards (timothy, 2009). the teacher empowerment management based on self-actualization theory is one of the theories specifically aimed to empower teacher, this theory consists of teacher empowerment concepts, patterns, and evaluations (imron muttaqin, 2016).  it is basically because of research in islamic educational institutions, this theory must have values as the basis of every program, activity, and school climate. although it is mentioned that the value foundation used in this theory, according to the latest research, it needs to be reviewed based on developments. teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory the pattern of teacher empowerment has six integrated dimensions; a) access to information, b) access to resources, c) support, d) opportunities, e) readiness and willingness, and f) commitment. teacher empowerment strategies with formal and informal communication, empowerment of sustainable professional development, task delegation, and the use of external opportunities. the steps used are identification, analysis, and determination of programs/objectives. figure 1. dimension of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory [ 269 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory also develops david fetterman’s empowerment evaluation, especially the evaluation concept consists of harmonizing between action and use, while this theory harmonizes action, use, and impact at the same time, as the following table; table 1. comparison of fetterman empowerment evaluation and tebsa evaluation david fetterman empowerment evaluation teacher empowerment based on self actualization evaluation action action use use impact this theory is based on religious values (islam) become internally driven for the teacher can be used by the principals to empowering teachers. religious values according to gibson, value is an awareness, effective desire or people’s desire who show their behavior, personal values of individuals which is showing the behavior inside and outside of work, if a set of value is important then people will show and develop consistent behavior within situations. the designation [ 270 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 and development of this behavior are in line with robbins’s opinion that values imply certain preferred behaviors or results. robbin also revealed that values cover the objectivity and rationality. the agreed values will determine the organization culture because the dominant values will guide the determination that is allowed and forbidden in the organization. the values that exist in the theory of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization are the faith values. these values become the first foundation that underlies all values. faith is one of the factors that make people can achieve their individual and organizational goals. byron’s research stated faith and prosperity are related to people’s goals (byron, 2009). teachers who have a basis of faith values in their activities can achieve goals because they have self-confidence. therefore, it can be said faith is the first aspect as a basis. the religious values of self-actualization based empowerment theory are indicated in the following explanation. faith values the faith values are one of the important values in the theory of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization. many research mentions the importance of using faith approaches to help people. orji stated the faith based assistance is used to provide an assistance in nigeria (orji, 2011)  olarinmoye’s research showed the faith based organization is an important organization and decisive hidden actor (olarinmoye; 2012). faith is an important factor to empower people. the value of people’s faith is the foundation that uphold other values in religion and society. ikhlas values furthermore, to strengthen ikhlas value, an explanation of  ikhlas  concept and its zones as indicators are made by erbe sentanu, people in ikhlas zone feel gratitude, patience, focus, calm, happy and free from obstacles, while those in the zone of self-desire feel fear, anger, anxious, complaint and full of obstacles (erbe sentanu, 2007). ikhlas is one of the elements of spiritual entrepreneurship consist of ar-ridho, gratitude, tawakkal, ukhuwah, totality, and  ikhlas  (widji astuti, 2010). improving the quality of life is built from awareness, the foundation of our awareness needs to be built first, awareness is not just referring to the intelligence quotient, but also the emotional and spiritual quotients based on the transcendental divine intelligence (erbe sentanu, 2008). [ 271 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 ihsan values ihsan means “perfection or the best” in the arabic term, ihsan is a verbal noun (masdar) which refers to what one should do in the best way (muhammad hisham kabbani, 1998). literally, a teacher who do his best in carrying out his duties and obligations is terminologically equal as if he saw allah swt, if he cannot imagine it, then he must be able to believe that allah swt always sees his deeds in carrying out his duties. imam ibn khatir explained that ihsan is the best deed rather than many deeds  (danial zainal abidin, 2009).  the concept of ihsan is related to the quality not the number of one’s deed. islam demands  ihsan  for everything, especially for a teacher. the teacher must apply  ihsan  in his lesson plan, curriculum-making, syllabus, strategy used, assessment, and analysis. teachers must do their duties as well as possible because they have clear goals and worshipping to allah swt as the ultimate meaning of their life. togetherness values the value of togetherness contains several moral values including empathy, respect, self-control, and fair  (dian ibung, 2009).  empathy is a person’s mentality to feel what is thought, felt or experienced by someone both in terms of cognitive and affective. this ability will affect the presence of togetherness in the organization. social values in the social life at school, the empathy value and respect are very important social values and supports self-development, a teacher with lower social abilities absolutely have difficulty with peers. social value is a value that has several distinctive features, including the result of the social construction as a result of an interaction, shared with members, part of social satisfaction, influencing the development of social life, and has a tendency to form patterns in society. social values can be taken from god through religion, society, and individuals as members of the community. exemplary values the term “exemplary” derived from “example”, which means something that is worth emulating or good to emulate (about actions, behavior, traits, etc.), while exemplary is something that can be imitated or emulated (language center, 2008). exemplary has major implications for teacher empowerment. people who have an exemplary character have a strong influence on their [ 272 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 environment. quraish shihab (2001) divides values into several types, namely values that are fundamental, universal, local and temporary, in the islamic concept of universal and fundamental values called “al-khair” while local values are called “ma`ruf”. based on quraish shihab’s opinion, the values used as a foundation for empowering teachers consists of fundamental, universal, local, or temporary value. ikhlas, ihsan, and exemplary are part of al-khair values while the togetherness values, kinship, professionalism and humanity (basyariyyah) are ma’ruf values. al-khair and ma’ruf ’s values are used as the foundation in the teacher empowerment because they lead to the attitude formation and teacher attitudes, so they have the power within themselves, they can carry out their duties and responsibility independently. this article discusses religious values in the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory which there is a process based on religious, social, professional, and humanist values with an internal spirit to worship as internal driven. in contrast, ruth alsop said empowerment is defined as the capacity of individual or group to make effective choices; making choices and transforming those choices into desired actions and outcomes. many values are articulated in the process of activities in both islamic educational institutions. religious and cultural values by constantly reminding the importance of values in the educational institution empowerment; ikhlas, ihsan, exemplary, discipline, and worship value. the ikhlas value will greatly affect the motivation and meaning of teacher activities as well as ihsan value held by the teacher. the worship value is the ultimate goal or meaning of the teacher activities, that is worshipping to allah swt. the teacher’s sense of belonging in educational institutions is one of the empowerment results, this sense of belonging can emerge from a supportive school climate so that teacher feels the school like at home, feel comfortable and meaningful. if it happens, then the teachers will have self-determination that become a guide in their work and whatever is needed to complete their work, gretchen called it as self-determination. teacher empowerment in islam is not only based on physical prosperity aspects but also it is balance with the fulfillment of spiritual needs (mental), each teacher must have a strong mentality to teach knowledge even without any reward because they must believe that god will manage his servant’s rizq (nanat fatah natsir, 2007) spirit of religious values according to quraish syihab, some values are fundamental, universal, local, and temporary. in universal and fundamental values of islam called “al-khair”, while local values are called “ma`ruf”, among al-khair values are sincere, honest, [ 273 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 trustworthiness, cooperation, and togetherness, (quraish syihab, 2001). for seeking the spirit of religious values used, it can be seen on the characteristics of the curriculum used, whether the curriculum shows the characteristics of an islamic curriculum or not. the characteristics of the islamic curriculum are; 1) curriculum system and development are in harmony with human nature, 2) directed to achieve the final goals of students, that is  ikhlas  and worship to god, 3) paying attention to the periodization of the development of students, typology, nature, and gender, 4) keep looking after the needs of real community life while relying on the spirit and idealism of islam, 5) avoid conflict in public, 6) in accordance with the situation and conditions, 7) flexible in various local conditions and situations by also remembering individual civilization factors concerning the students’ talents, interests, and abilities 8) effective in conveying and inspiring a set of educational values that produce positive behavior, 9) paying attention to the student development (religious faith and language growth), 10) paying attention on the islamic deeds (an-nahlawi). based on an-nahlawi’s opinion, the theory of teacher empowerment management based on self-actualization is based on islamic values, including ikhlas in carrying duties and performing congregational prayers in mosques. evidence of this value can be internalized and seen in the teacher exemplary. figure 2. tebosa religiosity values [ 274 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 religiosity aspects previous study reveal many aspects of religious, for instance charles y. glock used five major dimensions of religiosity; belief, experience, practice, theology/ knowledge and ethics/consequential, davidson (1975), other researcher viewed islamic religiosity consisted of five aspects; 1) aqidah or ideological aspect, 2) ritualistic or worship aspect, 3) ihsan or experiential aspect, 4) intellectual or science aspect, and 5) consequential aspect or religious impact. this article discuss seven aspects as its finding. ideological/aqeedah aspect aqidah or ideological aspect is the first aspect, it is an ideology aspect associated with people’s beliefs. the term “ideology” from the word “idea” which means “to see”, while the word “logia” means “science”. the idea is something in the mind comes from the inference of thought or planning (sobur, 2004). ideology is the final result of understanding as a consequence of thought. the existence of faith value in the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory is an indicator of aqidah or ideological aspect. syari’ah aspect etymologically, worship is self-servitude, while terminologically, worship is self-servitude to allah swt to get his blessing. worship is a human medium to get  ridho  from allah, generally, worship is divided into two kinds; mahdhah and ghoiru mahdhah. mahdhah is worship whose procedures have been determined by the shari’a, such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage, while ghoiru mahdhah is worship whose procedures have not been determined by the shari’a, but it is intended to become worship. teachers must intend to worship start from making a lesson plan until evaluation, it must be carried out as well as possible with the worship intention. the worship emphasis on empowerment theory is an evidence that the worship aspect is one of the aspects that gets priority in the operationalized theory. this worship consists of inside and outside aspects. inside aspects can be in the form of personality and coaching continuously which is eventually become behaviors of a person, while outside aspects are the form of applicable law. both of these aspects must be integrated into a person so that they can synergize and built people’s morals. become a teacher is a noble duty because teaches knowledge to the [ 275 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 next generation, it is explained further in the hadith that the best charity is the charity in teaching knowledge. so, a teacher who teaches well has worthy and high worship. experiential aspect this aspect is a direct experienced by a person associated with religious while teaching occured at the beginning, amid or at the end. this experience can establish the faith of one teacher and often started with religious values such as the value of the faith, value sincerity and ihsan. teacher who have a high level of confidence this value can feel the true meaning of devotion implemented ideally and fully sincerity as all activity motivation. intellectual aspect the intellectual aspect will supports all existing religious aspects because it needs knowledge. intellectual aspects in this theory identified from the efforts to improve teachers quality and competence. the effort is visible on the support dimension increase knowledge of the seminar and workshop, working groups and improvement of the teacher worship. islam appreciates both religion and science because its integral part of the islamic teaching. without high intellectual, teacher can’t learn the religion well. professional aspect kunter (2013) investigated teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and reveal core elements of teachers’ professionalism, it’s mean important for professional aspect from directly resouces access for teacher. malikow (2005) reveal that professional aspect also shown by flexibility in terms of the appearance of students, sense of humour, fairness, patience, enthusiasm, creativity, care and interest in the students. this is part of professional support. maria liakopoulou (2011) investigated the qualifications considered essential professional teacher, research findings are professional knowledge reguired for the successfull performance. these professional knowledge include subject knowledge, knowledge of learners, teaching methodology, curriculum knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of contexts, and knowledge of “self”. responsibility aspect faith and fear of allah guided by the qur’an and sunnah should be lead teacher motive, the leadership style of character teachers produce competent [ 276 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 believer and responsibilities teacher dacholfany (2015). korkmaz (2007) investigated teachers’ opinion about responsibilities and shown that teachers should know, be role model, respect and care about students, using veriety of teaching methods, motivate the students, prepare lesson plan and good communication and practice fairness. its’ mean the teachers responsibility is important aspect of teacher empowerment. harmony aspect the evaluation model of the teacher empowerment based on self-actualization theory reveal of all harmony aspects, its’ shown by the synchronization theory of action, use, and impact together. this evaluation model intentionally designed for harmonize teachera action, use action for teacher and impact for enhacning career. the three-part of harmony are balancing conceptual, epistemic, and social learning goal (richard duschl; 2008). conceptual balancing of this theory use integrity of conceptual framework of all aspect. conceptual harmony also revealed on the empowerment values such as ikhlas, ihsan and social values. conclusion this work reveals the values in the teacher empowerment based on selfactualization theory. it has a foundation of religious, social, professional, humanist, kinship and cooperation values. the principle of work spirit is worship, self-improvement is making creation and development is a devotion form. there are six aspects of religious aspects in the theory of teacher empowerment based on self-actualization; ideological/aqeedah, syari’ah, experiential, 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[ 280 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 [ 141 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 revealing the mystery of death in adat: a factual study of sudden death in kedang rofinus pati center for religious and cross-cultural studies of gadjah mada university profinus@ymail.com samsul maarif center for religious and cross-cultural studies of gadjah mada university anchu75@yahoo.com abstract this paper discusses the persisting kedangese “indigenous religion” of lembata. it begins with the discussion of a case of sudden death through which responses of the kedangese are analyzed. responses of kedangese to the case of sudden death consist of ritual, consultation with ancestors, and animal sacrifice. the three kinds of responses show the characteristics of kedangese worldview. their worldview characterizes “inter-subjective” cosmology, an understanding that “subject” is not limited to human beings, but extends to non-human beings. relations between the two are then “inter-subjective”, as opposed to “subject-object” relations. this paper finally argues that “inter-subjective” cosmology characterizes kedangese indigenous religion, different from world religions. keywords: mystery of death, worldview, intersubjetive introduction this writing begins with the utterance of an illiterate father named basirun hamzah as follows: “if hospitals have sophisticated diagnosis facilities and excellent doctors and nurses, why must many of patients who come and visit the hospitals die? even,many of those are still young and productive patients? hospitals have bunch limitations to solve problems. adat can present its own answers for those problems”. as a father in remote area in lembata island, hamzah was not satisfied when listening to the elaboration of the doctors regarding the dead patients that “the disease is already very serious or terminal” or “the patient is too late to come to the hospital”. for him, all the sick people who stay in the hospital are in hope of recovery, not death. that many people spend plenty of money paying the bill of hospitals, it is not without any [ 142 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 intention. nevertheless, the way and place in which a man dies is absolutely uncertain. the certainty is absolutely that man must die. mors certa, hora mortis incerta (death is certain, the hour of death is uncertain). but why must a man accept his own death in a sudden situation? does this only deal with one’s own carelessness? is it just merely accident? first of all, this article presents a fact of sudden death of timoteus hobong in kupang. even though hobong lived in kupang, his origin was from mampir village, sub district of buyasuri, kedang. after that, the way in which kedangese people unveil the mystery of death in an indigenous ritual (consulting the ancestral spirits) is presented along with references to opinions of some scholars who willingly get involved in researches on indigenous society. a simple analysis in this article is also offered regarding to the indigenous position, particularly in dealing with death. a conclusion will close this short writing. death and dying is an intersting issue as apart of religious and cultutal studies. the studies on the sudden detah of the of timoteus hobong in kupang is an important work as death and dying is an important aspect in human life in which people pay a great attention on the issue. all groups of people living in this planet have given their important and significant attention in the issue of death and dying. the work by sumarman djar’ie and zaenuddin prasojo (2015) is an example of how people who belong to a certain group in west kalimantan society pay a serious and significant attention on death and the rituals following the death. however, i provive the analisys of the sudden death case happening in kupang for the important attention of academic work to the issue of death and dying for human life. a sudden death of timoteus hobong for kedangese people, a sudden death which strikes a person is certainly not a good death (mate dien), but a bad death (mate daten). in kedangese cosmology, such a death is expressed as “the greedy mice that suddenly eats the ear of fresh corn” or it is perceived as “the storm in rainy season which suddenly destroys the plants” (tiu keteq, waraq rapu). in an analogy of a tree, the kedangese call the sudden death as “the sudden falling twig on to the ground” (limaq hepuq, lapan balaq). such above expressions are due to hobong’s death which was not normal. a normal death in kedangese perspective has to start with illness in a rather long period, family’s members should take care of him, his close friends and relatives should make a visit to him. when the terminal illness is finally [ 143 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 impossible to recover and the patient passes away, the family’s members are pleased on account of their services to him until death. there is a sufficient time for them to assist the patient and deliver the last honor to him. therefore, the sudden death as undergone by hobong rised up something not normal and must be traditionally searched for the reasons. hobong was a teacher at junior high school of sint gregorius, buraen, sub district of amarasi, kupang. he suddenly passed away on june, 28, 2015. he did not ever have any medical record of heart attack. the death quickly turned him off when he took a nap after lunch. medically speaking, many people concluded that he had a heart attack. some others assumed that he was poisoned by his own wife but this was not provable since the saliva did not come out of the mouth. he and his wife did not get involved in any kinds of dispute. daily relations with the neighbors had also been harmonious during his life. his families, friends and relatives in lembata decided to perform a customary ritual to search for and find out the reasons of his death. an indigenous priest whose charisma was acknowledged by the whole or many people was invited. this indigenous priest was believed to have a capability to tap into the ‘world’ of the death and link it with the living families, friends and relatives. the priest became the medium through which the ‘two worlds’ were able to encounter and overcome the unexpected situations. ritual of “keu rapeq” or “te’elotequa”. the ritual of “keu rapeq” or “te’el oteq ua” began with the family’s intention or initiative of hobong to customarily know the causal factors of the unexpected death. to gain the cause of his death, kedangese people usually use the things through which they are able to analyze the causes of death. those things must be the properties of the dead, although his corpse is already buried. a piece of hobong’s shirt was to offer to the priest. if not, a sheet of his hair was to cut down for this purpose. this also included some pieces of ‘sarongs’ or dress he used to put on. after that, the traditional priest privately conducted his service based on traditional procedures. first of all, the priest was to sleep on the things of the dead for one or couples of nights. secondly, he received symbols or pieces of facts transmitted from the dead side. thirdly, the priest informed the results of his communication with the dead to the living families. fourthly, he consulted the opinion or considerations of the ancestors to certify one of the symbols or pieces of facts as the main cause. to certify it, the priest attuned to the direction of rooster’s leg. sometimes the priest used the egg in which the egg would automatically break in the palm of the priest when uttering the [ 144 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 right or proper cause. the automatic break of the egg justified the cause. in this case of hobong, the priest received those gifts and put them beneath the pillow. at night, the indigenous priest slept and put his head on the pillow. in the middle of the night, hobong came in the vision or dream of the priest and hobong explained why he underwent the unexpected death. sometimes one or two nights are not sufficient for the priest to catch the trans-mission of information from the ‘other’ world. nevertheless, the reasons of death were not directly informed but those reasons were transferred in symbols or pieces of facts. accordingly, the indicators (symbols and pieces of facts) should be analyzed again by collaborating or working together with the ancestral spirits through the medium of animals (roosters). this was intended to get the certain causal factors regarding the ‘bad’ death. after spending two nights of collecting the info from the world of the dead, the indigenous priest waited for the families to come (on august, 8, 2015) and got the results. there were three symbols or pieces of facts in the vision of the priest regarding hobong’s death. they were (1) in his dream and vision, the priest saw a half-naked woman. (2) the priest saw the dead (hobong) appearing to him with a stick of rattan in his right hand. hobong then broke the rattan into two. he took a half of the rattan to his realm and left the other half to the priest with a particular message that the rattan was for his elder brother: stefanus. (3) in his vision, the priest saw a garden or a land in the time of wet season. a man entered the garden or land and began planting corns. not too long after the first man went, the other man arrived and took over the garden to occupy. consulting the ancestors to properly interpret the symbols or pieces of facts above, the priest asked for indicator and opinion of the ancestors to certify the cause of hobong’s death. the indicator was apparently witnessed on the right legs of the roosters after being throttled. the roosters were primarily ‘consecrated’ by the priest in a specific chanting with hope that these animals became the drain of opinion or will of the ancestors. having been throttled, if the right leg of the rooster was in front of the left one, it would indicate the ancestors agree with the interpretation proposed by the participants. conversely, if the left leg of the rooster was in front of the right one, it would mean the ancestors disagree. if both of the legs were not in such regular positions, it would mean they truly disagree. in this attempt, all the roosters or hens throttled by the traditional priest might [ 145 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 show the irregular or unexpected positions of the legs. the same other animals should be prepared again to consult the ancestors until they agree. each of those roosters represents one interpretation and the legs of the roosters become the indicator whether the interpretation is right or wrong. in the vision of the indigenous priest that a woman appeared to be half-naked, that suggested that a man in the family should have committed sexual intercourse with a woman, but punishment based on their customary law was not yet applied. when confirmed to the members, they confessed that it was correct. morally, kedangese people believe that amoral actions would bring about grave risk of death because the norms of adat are stronger than the norms of religions. people can explicitly argue that religious norms punish people after people die in the hereafter, but customary norms punish people during living until dying. ==== regarding the second cause in which the priest in his vision saw hobong coming and holding a stick of rattan in his hand, then he broke it and left a half of it for his elder brother stefanus and brought the other half to his realm. in this case, the throttled-rooster’s right leg sustains the interpretation that stefanus was involved in a familial dispute and wanted to depart or separate from the other family’s members and stay or live alone. rattan symbolized or was a tool of punishment which contributed to hobong’s death due to familial conflicts. a half rattan left behind for stefanus signals that he himself would die in a short coming future if he did not seriously repent and changed his whole life. the third vision of the priest was that he saw a garden or land. a man firstly came to occupy the place. after that, the other, in turn, came to do the same. the rooster’s right leg affirmed the interpretation of the participants that the dispute, hatred and anger in competing to occupy the inherited land had already become a grave cause of hobong’s death. kedangese people believe that land or soil is not only the main source of life of the farmers but also the material from which all human beings derive. consequently, the land or soil must be respected or honored. competition to win the land or soil does not show the respect towards it so that it gets angry and becomes the hidden strength or power to destroy hobong’s life on this earth. sacrifice of animals sacrifice of animals [roosters] culminates in a communal meal. before the meal, the ancestral spirits are firstly fed by the priest. the site of the meal for [ 146 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 ancestors is placed on a small stone or leaf of a tree at the western direction of sunset. it is assumed that the meal will go with the rolling sun to the west and reach the ancestors there. they believe that they live in two contrast ‘world’. when they are in the day, the ancestors are in the night. they take rice on a plate, but the ancestors on a stone or leaf of tree, the meat for ancestors consists of the end of wings, mouths, claws, and others which are commonly believed that they will accept the best. the logic of sacrifice is based on the view that blood sacrifice is one of several ways to offer something to a deity or ancestral spirits. a sacrifice may also be an event that foregrounds a certain idea of social relation. in sacrifice, humans give themselves through the substitution of an animal in order to pay the debt of life. this is a mutual “taking and giving” process in which each party plays the essential role for the good of all beings. besides, the sacrifice is the prime activity that allows people to fulfill the aspiration of ancestral spirits. the aspiration of goodness which should be put into practice and the aspiration of the not-goodness which should be avoided in the frame of inter-subjective relations. communal feast ornamented by the baked meat in kedangese view includes some aims such as a thanksgiving to the ancestors for assistance in finding out the causal factors of hobong’s death; yielding for protection of the ancestors from the misfortune or sudden death in families for now and in the future; intention of all the participants to reconcile and preserve the harmony through the sacrifice of animals and this requires a total or radical change in attitudes of daily lives. viewing the worldview of kedangese people the world view of the kedangese needs to be taken into consideration in order to capture and express their local religion. each community has particular characters relating to its attitudes. as accentuated by maarif (2016, 47) and redfield (1952, 30), a worldview is linked with how a ‘world’ in the eyes of those who have different perspectives. this is in accordance with the diverse characters owned by “the other being”[sang liyan] and the ‘self ’. in brief, it absolutely relates to the idea of cosmos. a human being, when asking about himself of who he is, where he originates and where he will go, he definitively refers to the cosmos. in spite of the self, it correlates with others of who else be with me, who shares with me, to what extent a relation that “i” and “the other” should have, etc. all these components collaborate for the balance of cosmos. “keu rapeq” or “te’el oteq ua” is also a practice of indigenous religion in [ 147 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 kedang, eastern lembata. the kedangese people, in their own ways, attempt to cope with the mystery of death (concretely in the death of hobong). in this context, they do not need to blindly refer to the world religious teaching or medical paradigm. they are not in the position of judgment whether or not their tradition is more appropriate. at least, they have their inherited practice of overcoming the mystery of death as the unavoidable existential fact. they want to live with “the other” (non-human being) in a mutual contribution. the kedangese are totally aware of their presence with the ancestral spirits and with the garden / land which continuously grants them their daily bread. in spite of that, the kedangese also have an indigenous paradigm (maarif, 2016, 49) which accentuates the intersubjective relations. the ancestral spirits, the spirit of hobong who comes in the vision of the priest, the disputed land or garden are equally located in the position of “subject-subject”. they are in inter-dependence and inter un-separable correlation. the non-human beings/ creatures (in this exposition, namely. ancestral spirits, spirit of hobong, the land) have desire, want, and power as what humans do. their response to the humans’ world may be in the human control or prediction, yet sometimes it is out of it (maarif, 2016, 50 and hallowell 1960/2000, 168). subject-subject relation is also apparently witnessed in the kedangese attempt to unveil the death of hobong. ancestral spirits who are believed present in a partly naked woman in the first vision of the priest assist hobong’s family to promptly interpret the intention behind it. a stick of rattan held by hobong in the second vision enables the living family to connect it with their behaviors in daily life of family’s members. furthermore, the disputed garden or land in the third vision also has inter-subjective relation with human beings. the land is treated as a subject. in the hamlet, almost each family has a granary in which all the harvest of corn is kept until the subsequent rainy season arrives. when it arrives, the seed of corn to plant is taken out of the granary and people sow or throw them down everywhere on the ground. all people do this in the house yard as the memory of land which gave them good harvest last year while hoping the same result in the rainy season. like humans, land also has power and it is totally perceived that the land is able to give certain response to those who dispute or compete with each other for taking over it. that is why, the land (which is regarded as the origins of human beings) suddenly snatched the life of hobong away. subjective relation also occurs within the communication between the dead hobong and his living family. this contact is bridged by the priest. hobong is a subject coming in vision via the means of his shirt and sheet of hair under pillow. this also means that hobong is dead but still alive in the heart, in the shirt and hair as memories. the living families are able to meet again with [ 148 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 hobong through the priest in order to manage and overcome their common problems for the genuine harmony. inter-subjective relations in communal meal as previously highlighted, ancestral spirits are totally considered as subjects who are worthily treated. the ancestral spirits are honored and sincerely granted for the first occasion to consume the meal. in communal meal, it points out to a fact that they are not easily separable and they ultimately get involved in a mutual relation and contribution. through a sacrifice of animals, ancestral spirits as ‘subjects’ are invited to symbolically eat together and renew the relation. in human beings side, they hope of ancestral protection in the coming days. both the sacrifice of animals and communal meal affirm a main point that kedangese people (i.e. after the death of hobong) intend to get rid of present or future evil by offering the animals and consume their meat together with the ancestral spirits (cfr pritchard 1956: 197-230). here is a conception of “take and give” promoted by each party. from the hobong’s family, they give the sacrifice of animals to the ancestral spirits and yield for protection and safety. conversely, the spirits of ancestors receive or take the sacrifice and grant protection and safety to the family. furthermore, sacrifice itself means that each party should have a good will to attain the imagined union laying above all the personal interests. treating all states or beings of the world as ‘subjects’ enable each party to confess that, in the world of “becoming”, there is a common destination to gain, a common ground to live on, and finally a common reason love one another. briefly speaking, communal meal indicates a collegial atmosphere of those who partake in it. in the context of hobong death, communal meal symbolizes that the persons are sisters and brothers. they are aware that they can do wrong as humans. they can forgive and forget the mistakes of their fellow humans. each of them should erase all the anger, hatred or revenge in the heart to recraft the cosmological balance (harmony). that is because the family realizes that when the harmony disappears (in the loss of hobong life), they presently need the harmony indeed. conclusion then, how about the pessimism of basirun hamzah in the beginning of this writing towards the capability of hospitals to save the souls of the patients? it is not possible to chase away all the doctors and nurses and shut the hospitals. similarly, it is impossible to stop all the religious leaders from speaking of [ 149 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 “heaven” and “hell”. facing the sophisticated medical technological facilities which are not capable in saving human lives, hamzah has his own reason to hold his adat tradition. facing also the religious teachings which proclaim that the salvation is promised for those who bear the burdens of life until death, hamzah is strictly triggered to tap into his adat. this is also due to the fact that the salvation offered in the world religions is in, and for the future. conversely, kedangese people accept the death of humans as the problem of “now and here” which they should search for the answers that hopefully can satisfy them. the loss of one member in a ‘bad’ death is considered annoying or bothering the balance of society (harmony). that is why, kedangese people, in the conception of intersubjective relation, perform the ritual of “keu rapeq” or “te’el oteq ua” in order to pass over all kind of hindrance and sustainably pursue and preserve the sustainable harmony or balance. in front of the mystery of death, kedangese people want to reveal in their own local strategy. they are curious to immediately know the answers, because they live out their lives for “now and here”, not for “the future and there”. and they also live in unity with cosmos, not in the “surga” (future heaven). on the one hand, they do not live for a future promise as guaranteed in abrahamic religions. and, in the other, they are not fully satisfied with the powerless sophisticated hospitals which fail in recovering the young and productive bodies of sick people. nevertheless, they do not have the position to underestimate or judge other teachings as right or wrong. they just search for their own solution to comprehend the meaning of life. in, and through the ritual of “keu rapeq” or “te’el oteq ua”, kedangese people show their local wisdom and alternative of solving the mystery of death in inter-subjective relations among fellow-humans and “non-human beings” such as spirit or soul of hobong, spirits of ancestors and inherited garden / land. all these beings of the world have a common and mutual responsibility and reciprocity to contribute to the balance of cosmos. *** references ammerman, n. t. (2007). everyday religion: observing modern religious lives. oxford : oxford university press. djar’ie, s. m. & zaenuddin h. prasojo, (2015). “religion, culture and local wisdom in the death ritual of pontianak malay society.” in journal of al albab. eliade, m. (2000). “kronologi studi agama sebagai disiplin ilmu.” in ahmad [ 150 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 n. permata (ed.). metodologi studi ilmu agama. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. maarif, s. (2016). “kajian kritis agama lokal.” in samsul maarif (ed.), studi agama di indonesia, refleksi pengalaman. yogyakarta : crcs. redfield, r. (1952). “the primitive world view.” in proceedings of the american philosophical society. p: 30-36. subagya, r. (1981). agama asli di indonesia. jakarta: sinar harapan dan yayasan cipta loka caraka. [ 281 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the symbolic power of sleeping without mattress practice in kasuran village of yogyakarta saifuddin zuhri qudsy uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: saifuddinzuhri@yahoo.com irwan abdullah universitas gdjah mada yogyakarta email: irwanabdullah6@gmail.com zuly qodir universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta email: zuly_qodir@yahoo.com abstract the work aims at exploring the practice of symbolic power of sleeping without kapok (matress) in a hamlet of kasuran. it explores the process of reproduction of symbolic power and how it becomes a ritual practice preserved by the people of kasuran. for many kasuran people, sunan kalijaga saying is final. they understand and believe in his textual meaning by practising sleeping without matress ritual. the study finds that the reproduction of meaning of sleeping without mattress happens in the hands of agents that actively promote the myth about the saying of sunan kalijogo. they include wartilah as the head of the hamlet (believing and promoting sunan kalijaga statement), suharso as a pious man from hindu tradition, secretary of the forum of harmony among religious blievers (believing that this myth is supposed to happen far before sunan kalijaga era), juremi and suwardi, the takmir (board management of mosque) that represent religious mass organization of muhammadiyah and nahdlatul ulama (nu). although the agents have different points of view in understanding the phenomenon, they actually maintain and preserve this kind of symbolic power to gain symbolic capital. this work also finds that the dynamic process of engineering and modification of living without mattress becoming living with spon mattress/springbed has been the results of the new interpretation by the people in the village. the latest is associated with spiritual, social and political engineering aspects of the practice. keywords: sleeping, without, mattres, practice, symbolic, power, kasuruan. [ 282 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 introduction kasuran is a small village, which has once become a place of killing of dutch-javanese troops by diponegoro’s troops in july 28, 1826. according to louw and de klerck’s reports in 1894-1909, ii: 497 as quoted by peter carey (2008:123) after an ambush in kasuran, sleman in july 28 1826, leaving seventeen people alive out of fifty members of a dutch-javanese platoon were killed. diponegoro described the event and told how he rode a horse through (the battlefield) and was so conscience-stricken over those who had been killed and gotten injured. it was so tragic event that diponegoro chose to close his eyes when facing the fact. dusun kasuran kulon (or western kasuran), a village located in margodadi area, and dusun kasuran wetan (or eastern kasuran), located in the area of margomulyo in seyegan subdistrict, are two villages in sleman district of yogyakarta. this village, reported in many mass media, is regarded as one of the most unique villages in the world. of around 828 inhabitants of kasuran kulon, as is claimed by wartilah, 90% of them are sleeping without mattress, by using mats in place of it (dppm uii, 2010). the above claim is also made by wartilah and noor sidiq, the headwoman/man of kasuran kulon and wetan. this work intend focus on how kasuran’s citizens have produced and reproduced the practice of sleeping without matress and maintained it up to now. as a consequence of various folklores passed down from generation to generation, kasuran residents choose not to use kapok-mattress as their sleeping pads. however, when the oral tradition is examined, the above passage on the absence and prohibition of sleeping on mattress comes from a passed-down story saying that one day sunan kalijaga, at the time of the rule of demak, dropped in the area of grogol located not far from the kasuran village. when the dhuhr times came, he wished to perform the prayer and searched for water to take an ablution. however, he didn’t find any water in the surroundings. finally sunan kalijaga sticked his staff into the ground and the water came out of it which later known as tuksibeduk. after performing the prayer, he felt tired and went to kasuran village. in this village he asked the headman/woman, kyai and nyai kasur, for kapok-mattress to sleep on. having recuperated, he advised kyai and nyai kasur that their villagers should not be negligent, even more to sleep on kapok-mattress. in times of the story, mattress is one of many symbols of luxury, material abundance, and idleness. it is one of many indications of the possession of economic capital at the time, meaning that if one has a mattress, it means that he lives in abundance. it is obvious from this fact that sunan’s advice “my descendants should not sleep on mattresses. they may do it if their spiritual power equals or surpasses mine” is interpreted literally, and not catch the true spirit and meaning of the [ 283 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 message that, to some, discourages sluggishness. sunan kalijaga’s words, being passed down from generation to generation, have a serious implication. non-mattress sleeping as a practice is a social phenomenon related to the structure of a society. it is why the non-mattress sleeping can be seen in its relation to social, cultural, and religious structure of kasuran people. the study pertains to three important elements including the historical genealogy of non-mattress sleeping emergenve since its beginning as a mythological practice and the practice of non-mattress sleeping itself as seen a habituation. this work is based on qualitative reseacrh, which in some respects is one of the most natural and challenging methods of qualitative data collection. it connects the researcher with the most basic human experience, by engaging deeply in order to reveal how and why human behavior happens as it is in certain contexts (spradley, 1980: 23). the practice of sleeping without mattress as is common to indonesian folklores in general, no one knows for sure who was the first one who told the taboo or prohibition of sleeping on a kapokmattress in village kasuran. there is also no one who is capable of confirming the beginning of the story of sleeping without kapok-mattress itself, either empirically or genealogically. the story flows spontaneously from generation to generation orally. it reminds us of an oral tradition being related quite often to folklore. folklore also pertains to a tradition within certain segments of a society or a community. its spread and endowment are done through mouths or orally (dananjaya, 1986:5). it lives and exists as it is and spontaneously in the society, being accepted and lived by without much critical evaluations against it. kasuran people, either kulon or wetan, lives it through with a complete nrima (fully accept it) attitude. this uncritical acceptance of the practice is what is called bodily hexis by bourdieu (bourdieu: 1977:93-94). the practice is hexis because it is believed, practised, and becomes a permanent disposition that occurs continually until it finaly becomes a kind of feeling or thought taken for granted. this mythological practice involves a “societal body” which is called a site of incorporated story by bourdieu. that is, upon their body, a body that continually practise the attitude, way, or form of belief of sleeping without mattress that the story of village kasuran is formed. as a result, in kasuran, the mattress becomes a sacred object and thus forbidden to use by its inhabitants. borrowing durkheim’s words, kapok-mattress becomes a sanctified items, i.e. items protected and singled out through a prohibition or taboo. (1995: 38). sleeping without mattress tradition in dusun kasuran comes from several [ 284 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 different sources including from a religious saying by sunan kalijaga. sunan kalijaga’s stopover in kasuran and then his taking a rest by asking villagers to provide him with a mattress to sleep on, it is from here that the story is misrecognized into ‘never ever sleep on kapok-mattress’. this version of sunan kalijaga is maintained by the village authority of one of whose pioneering members is wartilah as a headwoman, and subsequently followed by many who regard her as an influential and esteemed figure. this is coupled by her active involvement in many activities, mainly pertaining to farmings. another source is from hinduism. the development of hinduism in kasuran is inseparable from the role of pura srigading, located in kasuran kulon, plays. according to hindus’ authorities, this practice of sleeping without mattress has existed far earlier than the coming of islam. to avoid an open conflict with islamic authorities’ version, suharso, an adherent and senior figure of hinduism, a native of kasuran kulon, states that he doesn’t affirm nor negate islamic version of the story (myth or practice). however, he asserts that the practice has indeed existed far earlier than the coming of islam. he asserts that it took place at the time of majapahit rule. the tradition also comes from prince diponegoro’s men. diponegoro war, also known as java war, does indeed drains the energy of diponegoro’s troops as well as the dutch. a defeat has forced some of diponegoro’s men to hide and launch a guerrilla war. one of their hiding places is dusun kasuran. the sufferings they undergo along with their families in their hiding place make them to swear not to live luxuriously and comfortably before the war ends. one remainder of such oaths up to now is the taboo of ‘sleeping on mattress’. mattress was, at the time, a symbol of luxury and idleness, hence they avoided it. an active agent who promotes this version of the story is noor siddiq who is a headman of dusun kasuran wetan. these three sources of the story have been actively accumulating the taboo of ‘sleeping without mattress’ in dusun kasuran and have been reproducing it continuously, especially done by the predecessors of dusun kasuran up to the present generation. it is then becoming a practice and a habitus passed down and reproduced from generation to generation. the sleeping without mattress practice as a social recognition contestation sleeping on mattress prohibition, as far as understood as a myth, is in fact representative of people structure of thinking. levi strauss (as quoted by morford & lenardon, 1999: 9) states that a myth is not merely of an illusion, but more of an internal structure representative of the state of the people [ 285 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 who believe the myth in question, as previously explained by the author. strauss sees a myth as a mode of communication, like that of language or music. there is no right or wrong for a myth because a myth, like society, is a living organism whose whole parts contribute to its existence. the life of a society and its or their structure of thinking seems to be the same as what the author infers from their internal structure, that is, live honestly, full of sincerity, and simple. however, unlike strauss, bourdieu tries to bring myths into a sociological (political) arena, in which there is an agent (individual) and a structure (social) who control why and how the myth should be treated. the practice of sleeping without mattress, for instance, shows a correlation between language and reality, which again a subject to be discussed in this paper. to bourdieu, language doesn’t merely possess a generative ability to make an unlimited number of sentences, but also an originative power to create what it says (bourdieu 1995a: 37-38). bourdieu asserts that which possess symbolic powers are not merely certain utterances supported by institutions, but he goes further that, to some degree and with varying effects, all utterances are performative. the prevailing practice and belief of sleeping without mattress takes on life and continues from generation to generation. it is accepted and narrated continuously to the next generation. during the last few years, it has become a trending topic either on television or virtual media. it is through a language manifested in a story, which subsequently forms an opinion and later on makes up a social reality of a society, that the belief of sleeping without mattress is born. so, it might be said that language possesses a strong power to be able to create a new reality in a society, which automatically gives birth to (language) new vocabularies about something not found previously. even after that, there occurs various forms either in the form of a resistance or of a modification of the practice, which, again in bourdieuan terms, is a structuring structure and, at the same time, a structured structure (bourdieu, 1984:170). so powerful an influence of the language upon reality and, later, so strong a generative power of reality over new vocabularies that, according to sobur, they could move the world with merely speaking up utterances through the words in question. it is through the meaning of the words that human may run and direct his life meaningfully, either in a positive or a negative way. a language is even like a boomerang to human life as it could destroy the established order of reality (becoming a tyrannical language) (alex sobur, 2001: 16). if the prohibition is understood as a myth, then, according to bourdieu, it has to be put in its relation to culture, stratification, and power. in it, there is a struggle for social recognition. in this strruggle for social recognition, [ 286 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 resources, processes, and cultural institutions place individuals and societal groups into a hierarchy of dominance. regardless of whether it is a taste, clothing style, or eating habit or food according to religion, science, and philosophy—including the language itself—it is always surrounded by certain interests that, not rarely, create social stratification. sunan kalijaga’s dawuh can be interpreted as a myth, as far as it discloses the structure of thinking of kasuran people. however, there is a social contestation upon the meaning of mattress itself. like a myth, it occurs as a kind of discourse, and every discourse—foucault says—contains a power within. it is exactly on this point that the contestation doesn’t merely work in the level of meaning, but also of praxis in a symbolic productive system. a pedukuhan (a village or subvillage) as an institution places the headman, wartilah, as an important agent in distributing the discourse. wartilah, although not a native of kasuran, holds a central position from where the distribution of prohibition, myth, or taboo of sleeping on mattress is taking place. as mentioned in previous chapters, a discussion about the prohibition of sleeping on mattress always includes wartilah as its main sourceperson or informant. one interesting fact is that how the discourse of hers (wartilah) unconsciously puts aside other marginal perspectives, such as those of noor siddiq, suharso, suwardi, and juremi, who have their own versions of the story and viewpoint. in marketing calculations, whether or not a product or a service is marketable is not only determined by how good is the quality of the myth (which is of course influenced by the ‘magical’ factor of sunan kalijaga), but also by how much and intensive is the distribution performed by wartilah as the main supplier of the myth in question. pedukuhan institution enables wartilah to force the myth to be appropriated by kasuran people. what is meant by ‘appropriation’ here is to make something, which is in fact alien, into our own possession or, borrowing paul ricouer, into aneignung (ricoeur, 1981: 185). pedukuhan institution is in fact the most powerful institution in terms of administration. moreover, it is to be admitted that wartilah is indeed a kind of amiable and friendly woman who possesses such various skills as pioneering organic farming activities, e.g. organic rice, and even popularizing blackrice farming in village kasuran. she has been frequented and consulted by many farming groups or researchers. lecturers of farming and agriculture have even invited her to explain farming practices to students. in addition to pedukuhan, other institutions such as nu, muhammadiyah, fkub, pura sri gading, and principals of other communities have been struggling for positions to ensure the prevalence and equality of ‘myth distribution’. in a [ 287 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 larger scale, there is indeed a concerted effort to cooperate and fight for a joint cause: prohibition of sleeping on a mattress. however, according to bourdieu, in the last analysis each institution turns out to be pursuing their own interest. this can be seen from the discourse they are trying to establish. it is clear in previous discussion about how wartilah tends to base her version on sunan kalijaga’s dawuh. whether aware or not, she is making up a myth through a mythological historicity of the much revered sunan kalijaga among muslims. equipped with muslim’s support in kasuran, kasuran myth of sunan kalijaga version receives a bigger social recognition from the public than, for example, a hindu version of the myth. this huge support from a much bigger populace becomes a potential market for the distribution of islamic version of the myth, and it means that wartilah, as a headman, is categorized as “secure”. the case is completely different, for example, from the myth suharso, as a vice-head of fkub and a hindu adherent, tries to propagate. while history reveals that the coming of hinduism took place hundreds or even thousands of years prior to islam, its potential market is limited. hindu’s appropriation of the myth is far smaller than muslim’s. meanwhile, another group such as the headman of kasuran wetan, noor siddiq, seems to be less supported by the public, especially from among the youth who regard it as old-fashioned because ‘sleeping without mattress’ can be interpreted as ‘sleeping on springbed’ and, thus, the myth be sidelined. in another way, noor siddiq seems not to use the myth of sunan kalijaga as his story justification. he is more inclined to the version of prince diponegoro as it is closer in terms of time and more reasonable. the struggle for social recognition between wartilah and suharso is indeed obvious from their statements. for instance, when suharso says that sleeping without mattress existed far more earlier than the coming of islam, wartilah counters it indirectly with her own version of the story based on sunan kalijaga. on this point, although they apparently work together to distribute the myth, they in fact struggle for discursive positions for their own prestige among kasuran people concerning which version is the correct. sleeping without matress practice and intersubjective-negotiation in (political) sociology, bourdieu may qualify as a hardliner in opposing a demarcation between the two notions (subjectivist and objectivist) while proposing a theoretical betterment through a “practical theory”. this theory highlights virtuosic interaction inter-individuals in a habitus construction in certain cultural arena/field. through a notion of habitus, bourdieu enables us [ 288 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 to see a relation of body-society from a collectivist base (an approach generally ascribed to durkheim) or bodied-individuals (an approach usually attributed to weber) (mellor & shilling, 2013:349). bourdieu’s thesis about field of struggle, for example, facilitates a continuous dialectic between subjectivism (agent) and objectivism (structure) in dusun kasuran, involving the agency of certain figures (such as, wartilah, noor siddiq, and so on) influenced by the internal structure of symbolic production of sleeping without mattress. the issue of, after securing its theoretical ontology, making habitus as a base is that bourdieu seems to be entrapping himself in a biased predilection: more of objectivist than of subjectivist. when he asserts “think with a thinker against that thinker” (bourdieu, 1990b: 49), this assertion of his will reveal how bourdieuan way is employed to criticize-back its notion of “habitus” in the context of sleeping without mattress in dusun kasuran. to classify, there are at least two perspectives to criticize bourdieu. first, as above explained, those focusing on the notion of habitus as they are considered to categorize bourdieu as an objectivist thinker, something bourdieu has rejected himself at the outset. second, those viewing bourdieu too engrossed in explaining his “practical theory” in such a way that he neglects the implication of structureagency dualism which has been his main undertaking from the start. in “bourdieu and the logic of practice”, evens (1999) criticizes bourdieu’s objectivism which he considers too sophisticated. to evens, bourdieu is a materialist who fails to see the intersubjective aspect of inter-individual relations. bourdieu sees the practice of a ritual as a site of power and evens perceives it as an issue of ethics instead. to evens, intersubjectivity indeed does not assume a philanthropic action, for instance a virtuous gift, but it can explain why one needs to give something to another, not for his/her admittance in a social hierarchy, but because she/he—as a subject—is inseparable from his/ her relation to other subjects around him/her. this intersubjectivity relation is not always based on certain social structures, which determine inter-class division, but because he/she has existed in a social circumstance primordially, one in which the subjects interact one another. in kasuran people, for example, giving something to someone is not always based on or motivated by a class-consciousness (proletariat and bourgeoisie), but also on a cooperative social consciousness (interclass cooperation). the bourdieuan power-relation does works on giving acknowledgment and/or social appreciation to wartilah as a headwoman, but it is powerless in the context of visiting sickly relatives. is this visitation, even if it is done voluntarily and in a virtuous manner (a term frequently employed by bourdieu), always power-based? such practices as these are overlooked by [ 289 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 bourdieu through his habitus. and this is more noticeable when giving and visitation are done differently by different individuals. does a visit to wartilah and a gift to her in her role as a neighbour, for example, have to be understood as a power exercise? can such a practice be regarded as a habitus, even if it is practised differently among different individuals? if a habitus is understood as a continuous reproduction of a practice, stable and constant in nature, it means that the practice of visitation and giving—even if apportioned to such a cultural specialist as wartilah—makes the habitus no longer relevant. many villagers have come to wartilah with gifts, and this is common, even though they subsequently discussed things pertaining to farming, organic rice, and village issues. bourdieu also criticizes those anthropologists who explain a social reality based on a “cultural map” they construct themselves. to bourdieu, a society does not act according to certain rules, but they have been engaged from the start in their interaction with the circumstances without their being aware. i need to touch on heidegger’s concept (1999) about “factity”, which is similar to bourdieuan notion of “sense of game”. to heidegger, this factity occurs when a man/woman is not aware of why he/she is in the world, and why she/ he is amidst the other beings, among material objects. they are frequently not able to explain why they need to go to school, to go to work from 07:00 am to 05:00 pm, and do other daily chores without posing further questions. they just run the day without reserve, and, as such, they feel being in the world. the notion of similarity of bourdieu to that of heidegger lies on the fact that a structure forms and is formed by an unconscious agent, one who no longer needs to learn about prior rules, who goes with the flow without reason. a comparable example would be a professional football player, who no longer needs to learn about function of lines in soccer field, offside line, sideline, rule of fairplay, penalty, yellow and red cards, and so on. they are being (as) a player without basic knowledge about prior principles. to make a comparison to three schemes of gidden’s awareness (2010:10; priyono, 2002:28), they have possessed—what is called as—practical consciousness, a kind of intimate comprehension about an object and a situation they run daily, without further questions. in the context of kasuran people, bourdieu will assert that sleeping without mattress is performed by the people because they not only realize the rule of sunan kalijaga, of prince diponegoro or that of hindu’s version, but they also perform it unconsciously. they sleep without mattress because such is the sense of game (1990:63) which directs them, such is the practical consciousness that guides them, a sort of awareness they are unable to explain why and [ 290 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 wherefrom. in bourdieuan terms, that consciousness is already embedded in each individual, which means that this consciousness is what determines how the structure works to influence the agent. being only equipped with a practical consciousness, a kind of ‘unconscious consciousness’ (misrecognition), it is this existence of thing, material, and object (i.e. ‘sleeping without mattress as material structure’) that influences the performativity of the agents. this is what makes the action of the agents social, because they are tied by one single material structure: ‘sleeping without mattress’. in this regard, there are three points overlooked by bourdieu. first, kasuran people do not have a complete practical awareness in performing sleeping without mattress. that is, there are some who perform it on their own initiative; they have their own reasons why the tradition should be followed. as explained previously, some sleep without mattress for being told to do so by parents, for fear of mythical curse, for being influenced by wartilah et al., and even just “go with the flow”. now, these reasons do show that it is not merely structure that influences the agent’s performivity, but also inter-agents intersubjectivity that determines the practice. second, this is also what makes bourdieu, in author’s view, lagged behind compared to giddens, as the latter promotes—besides practical consciousness—what he calls discursive consciousness, i.e., an active ability to verbalize surrounding social circumstances. unlike bourdieu who places an agent always in a state of factist and ideological unconsciousness, giddens mentions the possibility of a discursive awareness in the agent to realize what he is doing as a social actor. a football player, even though he gets used to—and becomes unconscious of—rules, does possesses a discursive awareness of what he is doing in a soccer field. so is kasuran people, even if they are accustomed to sleeping without mattress, it doesn’t mean that they are not capable of explaining the reason behind the practice. some even realize that they have been being ‘indoctrinated’ by an ancestral tradition passed down for hundreds of years. third, as a consequence of the above discursive consciousness, kasuran people is eventually not genuinely ‘social’ (in the sense that they are completely influenced by material structure of ‘sleeping without mattress’), as they always negotiate one another to determine their attitude towards the tradition. as a result, as will be explained later, this negotiation enables an individual to manipulate common understanding about the practice of sleeping without mattress (king, 2000: 421). bourdieu’s habitus indeed implies a static and anachronic social structure (the reason: it is not other individuals who influence an individual preference for a practice, but the structure that is fixed and stable) that it doesn’t work in intersubjective level (in which the individual [ 291 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 defines his/her preference, not because of the surrounding habitus, but of others’ influence). in the first section of outline of a theory of practice (1977), bourdieu indeed succeeds in merging objectivism and subjectivism into a notion of “individual as a virtuous agent”, one whose action/practice always influenced by surrounding other agents (intersubjectivity—social structure as dynamic structure, not static—etc.). however, in his later work, the logic of practice (1990a), bourdieu admits openly instead his more objectivist tendency rather than subjectivist, mainly when he appeals us to return to ‘practice’ as the site of dialectice of “opus operatum” and “modus operandi”; of objectified products and incorporated products of historical practice; of structure and habitus (bourdieu, 1990a: 52). change as an utopia: hysteric effect in dusun kasuran bourdieu (1996: 219) once refers to hysteric effect which seems to employ to legitimize social change on his notion of habitus. hysteric effect is understood as a situation in which habitus lags behind the objective material condition which occurs at the time (bourdieu, 1984: 142). the example bourdieu offers is the division of an academic institution between, for example, humanities and science. to bourdieu, scheme of education must change because material conditions change. if an education was monogeneralist in the past, now the education starts to implement specialisation. educational specialisation is a form of novel habitus as a response to material conditions of old-fashioned and altered monogeneralist education. in this work, sleeping on sponge-mattress is a hysteric effect of sleeping without mattress which is considered as already altered. as the material objective condition is altered (previous: sleeping without mattress whatsoever), the habitus is also altered (now: sleeping on sponge-mattress). meanwhile, in kasuran kulon, as there is no alternation of objective material condition, the habitus remains the same until now (sleeping without mattress whatsoever). now, it is clearer that hysteric effect is only a utopian effect which doesn’t respond to any kind of change, not merely that it attaches ‘effect’ on novel conditions and abandons old ones, but also that—inside—we dimly hear bourdieu’s voice so persistent from the start in claiming that habitus is the predeterminant structure over the agency. thus, all must begin with objective material condition, not with agent intersubjectivity. as long as material condition doesn’t change, as long as the change is only measured out of interagents interaction, the habitus will never occur. that is, so long as ‘sleeping on sponge-mattress’ is regarded as a result of inter-agents interaction—even if such is the case—it can not be considered as a habitus. ‘sleeping on sponge[ 292 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 mattress’ can only be regarded as a habitus as far as material condition at the time positioned the sponge as a common sense in kasuran. the problem is, how do we measure the alteration of material condition in a village, in which a whole area are using the sponge, while another still use matress? can the existence of ‘sponge’ be considered as a parameter of material change in a community some of which still use matress? hysteric effect is also incompatible with bourdieu’s initial assumption of misrecognition. the rationale is, if hysteric effect is determined by material condition which requires the alteration of the practice of agents, doesn’t it, by definition, also require the awareness of agents to make the change itself? it is not the widespread use of ‘sponge’ that influences the practice modification in kasuran wetan, but more of the ‘active consciousness’ of the people there in responding to the sponge itself, an awareness which is absent from among kasuran kulon people. the use of ‘sponge’ is not relatively so influential to kasuran kulon people that its use as a material objective alteration is problematic. that is, the modification of practice is more influenced by the consciousness of kasuran people, and this consciousness is, of course, not practical consciousness—taken for granted without further questionings (or in bourdieuan terms, misrecognition)—but discursive consciousness. rancière (1986: 28; pelletier, 2008: 4) formulates the logic of bourdieuan argumentation of education in two forms. first, working-class is marginalized from the universities because they do not understand the rational reasons behind their marginalisation. second, the unconsciousness of those rational reasons is a structural effect produced by the university system itself. to ranciere, instead of advocating an educational reformation, bourdieu maintains status quo instead. this criticism of ranciere is relevant dan comparable to the context of kasuran people. first, who is the working class? they are the laypeople, who do not understand why they are regarded as common folks in social-class division, in which wartilah et al. are the elite. second, when they do not understand the matter, they are in fact being enslaved by the structure they themselves and are not aware of from the very beginning. hence, it is clear how objectivist is bourdieu in placing the structure as the controller of status quo with misrecognition as the potent ideological tool to prod and move the working class voluntarily. this analogy is even clearer when wartilah et al. are positioned as a teacher—a reference of the practice of sleeping without mattress in kasuran—who have discursive consciousness, but abandon the repressive structure in question instead. meanwhile, laypeople act as pupils, possessing practical consciousness (misrecognition), but who don’t realize the structure alienating them. [ 293 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 we can learn from ranciere about how emancipation that should be born of proletariat, of the laypeople in question. bourdieu’s slippage, as a materiaist, lies on the way he regards everything that should always begin with injustice, in such a way that emancipation is only generated as a temporal issue. emancipation is never obtained factually, as we always step and depend on the said injustice, from assuming, affirming, to providing it with epistemological basis to verify its existence. so long as we are convinced that kasuran people are divided into social-classes, that they are not aware of this class division, we will then only see a cultural status quo. for this, it is important to position laypeople as ‘civilized’ masses, ones who have ‘discursive consciousness’, who rebel against the power of culture, so that—what we envisions as—social change and emancipation are possible to grab and realize. in fact, this point of view can be used to see the phenomenon of ‘sleeping without mattress’ in dusun kasuran, as long as the laypeople is taken into account within. in previous section, the author has discussed about how bourdieuan workings covertly only affirms the position of cultural specialists, such as wartilah and noor siddiq, by providing them with more rooms to talk, especially after the introduction of journalistic field. there is almost none of laypeople’s views or opinions about the tradition. if there is any, it is supportive, because such is the case—to bourdieu—that they are a group of people who misrecognize the structure curbing them. actually, the fact of the matter is quite different or, to be more accurate, not as previously supposed. during the interview, the author finds that many of their arguments—to some degree—are different from those of cultural/religious specialists. a local, who is a lay person in his daily routine, for example, is convinced that the tradition is brought into kasuran by an outsider or immigrant, and has no connection at all to sunan kalijaga. some locals even suspect the wartilah’s involvement, who is not a native of dusun kasuran, in propagandizing ‘sleeping without mattress’ again. in fact, before her coming into kasuran, there were many locals who had been using mattresses and generating no mythical ‘curses’. others are convinced that the tradition is maintained just for commertial purposes: promoting dusun kasuran to the larger public, in order to get more financial support from the local government. this is evidenced by a demand for more village fund whenever an individual or an institution wish to do a research in dusun kasuran. even to some degree, the relic of sunan kalijaga, tuk si beduk site, has now become a place for annual cultural event, with financial support from sleman local government, which promotes desa margodadi as one of the many tourist destinations not merely recreative, but also, and especially, spiritual. [ 294 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 conclusion the issue of sleeping without mattress is more of spiritual in nature. the ways people express their faith of sleeping without mattress tradition are heterogenous. spiritual capital can be a stronger exchange rate than religious capital, and the people may capitalize on spiritual power through a symbolic capital they have accumulated from other arenas/fields. emphasizing spiritual capital over religious capital enables the spiritual capital to be shared by all people, regardless of their positions in certain religious infrastructure. in the context of sleeping without mattress and symnolic power, kasuran people are divided into several hierarchical categories including the cultural elite, the organisational elite who hold structural positions but oppose the practice and semi-peripheral group who are fanatical but hold no position, such as nu members in kasuran, and the peripheral or marginal group. sleeping without mattress is performed by the people unconsciously. they sleep without mattress because the consciousness is already embedded in each individual. some sleep without mattress for being told to do so by parents, for fear of mythical curse, for being influenced by wartilah et al., and even just “go with the flow”. these reasons do show that it is not merely structure that influences the agent’s performivity, but also inter-agents intersubjectivity that determines the practice. the practice of sleeping without mattress is eventually understood as a material dialectic. sleeping without mattress is considered as opus operatum as far as understood as a product of culture (tradition) long existed. however, it can also be defined as modus operandi as it implies a strategy (practice) adopted by individuals. bourdieu does not give a space for ‘agency’, for intersubjectivity; all must begin with material basis. sleeping without mattress as a cultural habitus is not produced by a continuous and dinamic dialectic between an agent and a structure, but by a dialectic between a practice and a structure. finally, kasuran people is not of a community based on inter-individuals interaction, but of a community based on a practice and a structure. the tradition of sleeping without mattress is not a result of individual negotiation but of a cultural product long existed and performed unconsciously up to now. bibliography abdullah, i. 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(2014). buku panduan riwayat desa kasuran dan pura sri gading. yogyakarta: tp [ 147 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 demazhabization of islam, divinity economy and narratives of conflict of the tablighi followers in samarinda east kalimantan saipul hamdi samarinda state polytechnic of ugriculture abstract tablighi jamaat is one of the world’s largest and most successful transnational islamic movements with established branches built on the business of dakwa (proselytization) in approximately 180 countries. tablighi’s strong commitment to a style of dakwa based on their reformist attitude and � exible practice of mazhab (schools of thought) through a process of ‘demazhabizasi’ (demahzhabization), has attracted interest from a range of people. tablighi guarantees the freedom for its members to embrace their choice of mazhab, and prefers its proselytizers to follow the mazhab of the communities in which they preach in order to avoid religious debates.  is article aims to understand the concept of ‘demazhabisasi’ that has developed in tablihgi and the ways in which tablighi members work to overcome and prevent con� ict due to the diff erent understandings of each mazhab.  e material sacri� ces tablighi proselytizers make together with their reliance on and submission to god for their economy, has led this research to examine the concept of a ‘divine economy’ that has developed in tablighi communities. yet, behind tablighi’s apparent success, con� ict has emerged internally among tablighi members, as well as externally among locals in the communities in which tablighi proselytizers work.  is research uses an ethnographic approach to explore narratives of con� ict that have emerged as a result of tablighi proselytizing practices in samarinda, east kalimantan. keywords:  e tablighi, demazhabization, economy of divinity and narrative con� ict introduction  e transnational political-dakwa movement led by the tablighi follower group, hizb ut-tahrir, wahabis, ahmadis and the muslim brotherhood has been growing in the last four decades and had a strong in� uence ideologically in many countries. among the transnational movements, the tablighi group has been the most ‘successful’ for a while as it is capable of existing and being consistent with their militant dakwa movement, ‘sala� ’ and globalized. despite having a clear organizational structure like other community organizations, [ 148 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 institutions or political parties, the tablighi movement is very well organized, disciplined and orderly, using consensus to make decisions (abdurrahman ahmad as-syirbuni, 2010).  e tablighi has branches in 180 countries spread across the continents with approximately 80 million members.  e tablighi’s success as a global dakwa movement is controversial in the community.  e tablighi has also been aff ected by the political movement of global terrorism in which it, by some western researchers, is seen as sponsor of jihadists in the bombing cases in britain, united states and france (muhammad amira rana, 2009). even fred burton and scott stewart claimed that  e tablighi had a secret latent network with terrorist groups in pakistan (joshua w. hedges, 2008).  is claim requires further proof because the tablighi’s culture and discourse are diff erent from country to country so it should not be generalized. during my � eld study in samarinda and balikpapan, for example, i never heard of a member of  e tablighi discussing political issues, violence or racism campaign against the west that became the parameters to decide whether or not it was part of a terrorist group.  e headquarters (markas) is a center for the tablighi activities, in which all members gather to attend the bayan religious lecture once a week and hold a meeting to discuss the dakwa agenda and evaluate its opportunities and challenges.  e place used as the headquarters is usually a mosque which is designed not only for worship but also for the tablighi dakwa center.  e mosque plays an important role in the practice of  e tablighi religious rituals; without it, the tablighi would be unable to perform preaching activities (fikri rivai, 2010).  eir mission is to strengthen the faith and deeds of muslims through prayers in mosques.  e mosque grandeur is not important to the tablighi, but enlivening the mosque for religion.  e tablighi mosque also serves as a pesantren (islamic boarding school) for quranic studies ranging from children to teenagers.  e tah� z pesantren is one of the tablighi pesantren education identity.  e latest trend among  e tablighi families in samarinda is to send their children to the tah� z pesantren with leaving formal education. tablighi is growing rapidly in southeast asia, including indonesia, singapore,  ailand, brunei, and malaysia.  e tablighi’s presence in southeast asia has given a new color in the pattern of local asian religious communities (faris a. noor, 2012).  e tablighi movement has become an ‘alternative’ dakwa movement to bring new interpretations and patterns of more egalitarian and non-hierarchical dakwa between clerics with worshipers (ariesta, 2009). tablighi provides more space for the community to develop the potential of their teachings, so that everyone is not only a loyal listener, but also plays [ 149 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 an active role as a preacher inside and outside the tablighi.  is is what distinguishes the tablighi to other community organizations, where only clerics are entitled to hold the authority to teach in their communities. seeing new patterns and systems, people from the outside of tablighi claim that the tablighi preachers are ignorant because they do not know the science of islam (abdurrahman ahmad as-syirbuni, 2010).  e tablighi group makes a new step in the recruitment of members by putting aside diff erences in sects and cults of each member.  is concept is what the author refers to as ‘demazhabization’ of islam, i.e. releasing islam from the grip of the culture of schools of thought.  is article explores the concept of ‘demazhabization’ of islam that developed within the tablighi and how they accommodate diff erences of schools of thought internally and how they manage con� icts arising from these diff erences.  e issue of schools of thought has become a global issue because it is positioned as a doctrine or ideology to be followed as a whole and should not be mixed with other schools. problems arise when a group with a particular school of thought blames the others.  ey desperately defend their schools as the ‘most right’. as a result, friction and con� ict cannot be controlled, even it is not uncommon to end up with violence and sectarian war (saipul hamdi, 2011). con� ict of schools of thought may turn increasingly sensitive when political and economic interests are involved, especially as it is used as a school of thought adopted by the state to legitimize the rule as in saudi arabia and brunei darussalam (tim ahlul bait indonesia, 2012). demazhabization pattern by the tablighi in addition to receiving a positive response from the muslim communities in indonesia (nu, muhammadiyah, persis and nw), it also got a strong criticism from the wahhabis because it disclaims discourse and theology in their academic culture.  is arises because the tablighi avoid the discourse and debate containing khila� yah, but prioritize worship and dakwa.  e tablighi dakwa challenge is not only related to the issue of school of thought, but also in the approach of dakwa they adopt. some residents feel uncomfortable with their visit, knocking at the door to deliver one or two verses.  is, to some people violates the privacy and freedom of religion as prayer is personal responsibility.  is approach o en results in con� ict with local communities. another issue that arises is related to the tablighi’s responsibility in ensuring economic prosperity of their family because of the need to dakwa. financial constraints force members of the tablighi to sell the property in order to meet the needs of preaching, but they continue to remain committed to allah. for them, allah is the source and giver of sustenance.  e [ 150 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 concept of not caring about the material and submit all economic problems to allah brings further questions about the economic concept of ‘divinity’ built by members of the tablighi and economic impact on families. tablighi followers in samarinda before discussing the description of tablighi followers in samarinda, the author will give a brief pro� le of the city of samarinda. samarinda is derived from the word ‘equal’ and ‘low’, which means there is no diff erence in social status in public life in this city both for migrants and natives.  e word ‘similar’ and ‘low’ then changed the spelling to samarinda.  e city was named by the king of kutai to maintain the stability and harmony of the whole tribe, language, and religion in this town.  e city of samarinda was a bugis wajo village built in order to seek political asylum from the king of kutai in 1668 as a result of the defeat of the king of gowa from the dutch.  e king of kutai initially gave the agricultural land of karang mumus with an agreement that daeng mangkona and his followers will help the king against the dutch who began to enter into the kingdom. samarinda is the capital of the province of east kalimantan which is directly bordered by kutai kertanegara regncy. samarinda has an area of 718.00 km with an entrance through the mahakam river. at the end of 2010, samarinda was divided into 10 sub-districts with the highest population density in east kalimantan which reached 805.688 followers, 416.975 men and 388.713 women. samarinda population was dominated by the trans-migrants from java (29.55%), bugis (18.26%), banjar (13.94%), dayak (9.91), kutai (9.21), toraja (1.96), madura (1.24) and chinese (1.16). the indigenous majority (dayak) live in the upstream region inland away from the life of modernity. only a small proportion lives in cities and take part in the elections of governor or regent / mayor. one of the dayak � gures, syahari ja’ang, was elected mayor of samarinda in the period of 2010-2015 (bps, 2014). based on data obtained from samarinda religious ministry offi ce, religions in samarinda include islam with 700.234 followers (90.94%), protestantism 40.086 followers (5:20%), catholicism 17.290 followers (of 2.25%), buddha 8.295 followers (1:08%), and hindu 1,052 followers (0:14% ).  e relationship between religious groups in samarinda is quite harmonious, away from the issue of con� ict and social violence. each of these religious communities coexists freely to practice tolerance.  e lempake area that serves as the headquarters of tablighi followers consists of three centers, namely almubarok (headquarters tablighi), catholic center and buddhist center.  e three religious groups compete fairly with no friction or sectarian con� ict. [ 151 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 local governments have an important role in establishing harmony between religions by providing worship facilities proportionately. in 2009, the number of mosques in samarinda was 810 and the number of churches 71.  e islamic center mosque samarinda is the largest mosque in east kalimantan with an area of 43,500 meters. religious activities go hand in hand with the development of industry and modernity in samarinda. modernity and religion need no con� ict, but can go along together and complement each other in public life of samarinda. mosques and prayer rooms are never devoid of religious activities, as well as shopping malls and entertainment places. islam in samarinda consists of various sects carried by the clerics of banjar, javanese, bugis, lombok and madura.  e banjarese domininate the mosques in samarinda as ta’mir and preachers. one characteristic of islamic clerics of banjar is that before the sermon, habsi traditional music is performed (singing and shalawat accompanied by kasidah music). islamic organizations from outside the region are also growing rapidly in samarinda like nu, muhammadiyah, ldii, hizb ut-tahrir indonesia and the tablighi.  e tablighi followers in east kalimantan were brought in by the preachers of java and sulawesi in the 1980s. the development of tablighi doctrine is signi� cant in east kalimantan, where members are approximately 8000 people from all walks of life ranging from academics, employees, merchants, offi cials, farmers and thugs.  e tablighi followers in samarinda are approximately 1,000 people spread in 20 mahallas (mosque).  e activity centers at the headquarters of al-mubarok mosque, on lempake road, northern samarinda, where all ahbab or karkun gather to listen to the bayan every friday night. a er the bayan, they discuss the activities that will be carried out primarily khuruj program, then continue with dinner.  e headquarters of al-mubarok also has tah� z al-quran boarding school for female students coached by ustaz maulana arif, whereas for male boarding school, it is built in the area pampang, tanah merah approximately 5 km from the headquarters. in addition, tah� z al-quran of the tablighi has also been opened in the residential area of bukit pinang under the guidance of ustaz nizar.  e new headquarters built for the area samarinda is the tablighi mosque of sungai siring an area of approximately 6 ha.  e tablighi headquarters in the mosque al-mubarok will be moved to the mosque in sungai siring because of its bigger capacity. building a new thareqat for social awareness each mazhab in islam has a speci� c methodology of interpreting the teachings of islam. wahabism is known for their ‘sala� ’, hti ‘for the khilafah’ [ 152 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 muhammadiyah for ‘renewal’, hidayatullah for ‘qur’an’ nu for ‘azwaja’, ahmadiyah for ‘mesiah’, shiites for ‘imamah’ and the tablighi for ‘preaching’.  e tablighi founder, sheikh ilyas formulated a new methodology known as  areqat nabawi.  areqat nabawi is a thareqat that emphasizes on preaching exempli� ed by the prophet and his companions in the early history of islam. to revive  areqat nabawi, the outlines of the rules of preaching known as ‘orderly’ should be made so as to regulate the activities of both dakwa and technical concepts that must be followed by the congregation when becoming a member.  is ‘orderly’ rule is a general agreement that must be executed with sincerity, discipline and total submission in order to obtain a perfect result (abdurrahman ahmad as-syirbuni, 2010).  e new methodology of which is constructed by the tablighi is not widely understood by the public.  e thareqat nabawi dakwa method popularized by sheikh ilyas has a clear lineage from prophet muhammad, companions and scholars of su� . i argue that the dakwa movement the tablighi is part of ‘neoconservative’ su� sm, the movement that strives to maintain the old traditions, but at the same time creates new contextual elements. muhammad amir called rana ilyas sheikh dakwa movement as reform su� sm (muhammad amir rana, 2009). many old traditions are preserved until today, for example the prophet’s militancy in preaching and how to position religion as a business area, and they also create new patterns such as khuruj � sabilillah which takes 3 days, 40 days or 4 months (husen usman kambayang, 2009; christopher deliso, 2007).  e  areqat nabawi introduced by sheikh ilyas is a combination of four thareqats i.e. al-jistiyah, naqsabandiyah, qadariyah and as-sharowardiyah, which was then modi� ed to emphasize on dakwa. sheikh ilyas did not agree with the concept of the ‘conventional’ thareqat, where members just sit doing wirid, tafakkur and heal themselves instead of helping the community. he saw the importance of preaching while practicing the teachings thareqat together in mosques through khuruj � sabilillah program. muslims need to sacri� ce for the religion, not just sitting alone while the communities are in a state of weak faith. da’wah should be sustainable even if only done brie� y (yonginder sikand, 2007).  e slogan used is ‘deliver about religion even if only one verse’.  is is the reference used by the tablighi in building their epistemology of dakwa methodology. in order to maintain continuity in the public dakwa, the tablighi design a khuruj � sabi lillah program. khuruj is one of the methods of the program of the tablighi dakwa. khuruj comes from the arabic meaning going out, this term is then used in the context of preaching out in the community. khuruj [ 153 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 spirit is drawn from the event of prophet muhammad’s migration to medina when spreading islam (marloes janson, 2014). all members of the tablighi are encouraged to do khuruj in order to establish the character of religiosity. khuruj can be done for 3 days, 40 days and 4 months with the basic concept that 10% of the time is used for religion.  e 10% count covers three days in a month, 40 days a year and 4 months for a life time. khuruj of 3 days is performed at the level of khalaqah in mosques in the village or district level, and 40 days in mosques across the province, while four months is usually in one of the tablighi centers, namely india, pakistan and bangladesh (ipb). if you’ve been out to one of ipb, the members of the tablighi is deemed spiritually mature and could be preaching to the distant land. khuruj activity is equal to ‘solitude’ in the concept of su� sm that is alienating oneself from the life of the world and focus on running the worship of allah. although the term khuruj is diff erent from the ‘solitude’, it essentially has similar nature, alienating the heart and soul away from the worldly life. in the al-quran it is told that ‘solitude’ was done by ashabul kah� for hundreds of years in the cave, the prophet moses on the hill of tursina for 40 days, the prophet muhammad in the cave hira and the su� scholars to the mountains to seek the truth (muhammad sholikhin, 2009).  e tablighi do not use the term ‘solitude’, but instead use khuruj � sabilillah where they do not retreat to the cave, but to mosques and still establish communication with the outside community around for the sake of dakwa. during my three days of khuruj in the mosque palaran, samarinda, all members had to pray in congregation at all times and should not be out of the mosque without permission of the amir. we woke up in the middle of the night to perform tahajjud prayer, dawn prayer and to listen to the bayan for 15-30 minutes. in addition to bayan, the congregation also held a book study on fadhoilul amal written by sheikh maulana zakaria essay.  e taklim was delivered alternately by reciting certain chapters in the book fadhoilul amal. in the late a ernoon before sunset some members did jaulah, traveling to homes to perform dakwa.  ey knocked at the door, introduced themselves and delivered the purpose of preaching.  ey invited people to evening prayers in congregation to listen to the bayan until evening prayer (abdurrahman ahmad assyirbuni, 2010). not all members participate in the jaulah, mostly staying in the mosque doing study groups, remembrance and pray for success of jaulah.  ose who did the jaulah divided the role as a dalil, a guide, usually the tablighi members of the local village, mutakallim, spokesman, and makmur. before leaving for jaulah, the group prayed in front of the mosque standing in a circle. each visit took only 3-5 minutes to catch the quantity and [ 154 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 avoided talking about topics outside religion. during khuruj the tablighi also had a program to meet scholars around the region. silaturrahmi aims to pay homage to the scholars and build ukhuwah islamiyah network. when a khuruj entourage from sri lanka in balikpapan visited ar-rahman mosque, i accompanied the group to visit al-mujahideen pesantren.  e delegation of the tablighi began to introduce themselves and delivered the preaching mission to leader of the pesantren. what is interesting was that the tablighi leader and the kyai was of the same aljistiyah thareqat. both of them could match the deeds of each other, although there were diff erences because of diff erent versions practiced.  e kyai invited the group to take a photograph together as a memento, but was respectfully rejected because it is not part of sunnah.  e next day, we had silaturrahmi to pesantren of syekh muhammad arsyad al-banjari under leadership of al syarwani zuhri al-banjari in balikpapan.  is pesantren is one of the largest boarding schools in samarinda with students numbering in hundreds.  e pesantren leaders are alumni of madrasa shaulatiyah of mecca and madrasa in khadramaut yaman.  e dakwa of the tablighi was welcomed by the kyai, even if they could not participate directly because of their busy schedule at the pesantren. for two hours they were sharing experiences as a leader of pesantren using arabic. during khuruj, the entourage also visited hospitals and prisons.  is program aims to promote hospital visit and pray for their dakwa in order to quickly recover from illness or die in a state of being a faithful muslim. when i joined khuruj for 3 days in the mangku palas mosque, samarinda seberang, i visited the abdul muis hospital. when we arrived, we asked for permission to visit the in-patients. we were divided into 2 groups and visited patients in diff erent rooms. we introduced ourselves and prayed for the patients’ recovery. a visit to the hospital was temporary according to local needs, not the teachings of the tablighi center.  e case in samarinda, for example, the congregation was concerned with the dakwa movement in the catholic hospital, where the pastor prays for dying muslim patients.  e followers of tabligi worry that unconscious patients may be persuaded to abandon their faith by the clergy.  erefore, to � ght the dakwa movement in this hospital, the tablighi consistently visit the hospital. another social program is visiting prison inmates for preaching.  e presence of members of the tablighi in the prison is quite interesting because not many preachers go directly to the correction center.  e tablighi see a big opportunity to preach in prisons.  e entourage at the time visited prison class ii a on awang long street, samarinda. we were welcomed by prison offi cers and were provided an opportunity to meet [ 155 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 and preach to the prisoners. “demazhabization” of islam: integration of the of lo cal and global schools of thought  e emergence of the dakwa movement, the tablighi, in the early 20th century in india has brought major changes to the development of islamic dakwa movement.  e tablighi have been able to reach the rapidly growing number of 10 million followers in 180 countries  e tablighi’s existence not only initiates a new approach to dakwa, but also emerges as an alternative movement that off ers an alternative in the midst of tension and rigidity of the relation between islamic mazhabs in which they are trapped in the war and prison of mazhab (school of thought) (george abraham maksidi, 2000).  e phenomenon of mazhab has shackled the muslims a er the schools of thought became dogma and doctrine in the early 10th century.  e results of the ijtihad were regarded as ‘sacred’ and ‘taboo’ to be criticized. sincretization of mazhab is deemed as a deviation of religion, but mazhabs are not more than a product of ijtihad interpretation of the scholars of islamic theology, law and politics.  ere are 8 schools recognized in islam; hana� , maliki, sha� ’i and hanbali (sunni) and ja’fari, ibadi and zaidi (shiite) (charles mwalimu, 2007).  e problem is that each of the mazhab adherents believes that they are the most correct.  is attitude is not only growing in the discourse, but also in social practices that lead to con� ict and violence.  e phenomenon of prison of mazhab in the islamic community has been a tradition, ingrained and diffi cult to remove. diff erences of mazhab o en lead to con� ict and social violence, let alone ridden with political and economic interests such as sunni and shiite con� ict (iraq, iran, afghanistan, syria, and pakistan), and political con� icts of the muslim brotherhood (egypt, lebanon and jordan). in indonesia, the con� ict between adherents of the mazhab is latent and continues to reproduce and escalate such as con� icts between nu and muhammadiyah, nu and wahabi, ahmadiyah and fpi (saipul hamdi, 2014).  e existence of mazhabs with diff erences of identity does not mutually reinforce each other, but rather mutually weakens each other. i found the concept of ‘demazhabization’ developed by the tablighi has given a new color in the construction harmonious social relations and also as an alternative to unite muslims at a local and global level.  ere are two meanings contained in an eff ort of ‘demazhabization’, i.e, � rst, that the tablighi does not recognize the existence of other mazhab. secondly, the tablighi acknowledge all mazhabs but should not be discussed and handed it to each congregation.  e movement of ‘demazhabization’ can unite muslims in the frame of a more [ 156 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 universal and also free them from the mazhab prison because they prioritize individual freedom to choose schools of thought which � t them and do not force others to follow their mazhab. attempts of ‘demazhabization’ are implemented in the teachings of the tablighi that should not be touched, one of them talking about ‘khila� yah’, let alone talking about their mazhab in front of other congregations (maulana muhammad yusuf alkandhalawi, 2008). when becoming a member of the tablighi, the congregation must ‘undress’ their mazhab and receive the clothes that the other mazhab. plurality of mazhab and sects in islam is a social reality that must be accepted gracefully and does not need to be questioned. moreover, prophet muhammad had predicted a split in islam in his hadith as many as 73 groups (saipul hamdi, 2011). muslims biggest homework now is how to manage and accommodate groups of mazhab in order to integrate and work together to promote dakwa of islam. poor management of mazhab has a major impact on social friction and con� ict, especially the grassroots who do not understand the depth of the discourse and the origin of mazhab or known ‘blind fanaticism’. founder of the tablighi was well aware of the major issues and off ered a middle way to resolve it.  ere are four things that should not be touched in order to defend the islamic ummah, i.e. to discuss political issues both inside and outside the country, to discuss khila� yah, to discuss the abominations of society, and to discuss the status and funding. to the tablighi, discussing the diff erences of mazhab has no meaning, and simply divides the ummah, and leads to islamic dakwa never reaching its full potential (husen usman kambayang, 2009). sheikh ilyas seeked to eliminate discourse ‘khila� yah’ in the tablighi by promoting basic teachings such as prayers, studying, respect for others, and preaching.  e basic teachings of islam are summed up in six properties i.e. the sentence of toyyibah (shahada), shalat khusu’ wal ‘khudu’, ilmu ma’a dzikir, ikromul muslimin, tash-hihun niyyah, da’wah wat tabligh (maulana muhammad yusuf alkandhalawi, 2008).  e toyyibah sentence ‘asyhadu alla ilaha illallah’ aims to bring con� dence to the human heart and put faith only in allah.  is toyyibah sentence in the tablighi’s view is a sentence that is as strong as a uni� er of human beings, especially the muslims. when one says the toyyibah sentence, then no screen, hijab or the distance between them.  is sentence can unite the whole tribes, nations, languages, classes, community organizations, mazhabs and classes in the frame of humanism and surrender to allah.  e uni� cation of the various mazhabs in the tablighi is not as easy as it looks, in which each member must adapt to patterns of relationship and interaction of new and accepting diff erences without asking or questioning the members [ 157 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 of other mazhabs.  e adaptation process takes a long time because it has been an entrenched practice of debate and con� ict discourse of mazhab. for example, when one member of the tablighi of mecca perform khuruj at the headquarters of al-mubarok samarinda performing the bayan, he is not aware of discussing the khila� yah by issuing the view of wahhabism and blames other teaching practices.  is action lead to scolding by the local congregation who would ask him to stop the discussion of ‘khila� yah’ as it is uncomfortable and may create con� ict.  e sensitive issue of mazhab diff erences among muslims, including among the tablighi, will only takes up energy to argue and justify each mazhab to be the most correct. negotiations of socio-religious space within the tablighi are naturally and culturally constructed within the frame of brotherhood.  e tablighi emphasize ‘ikromul muslimin’, in honor of fellow muslims by grounding the toyyibah sentence. whenever they perform jaulah, congregations greet the public with toyyibah sentence. as did sheikh muhammad taslim of sri lanka, when he met residents in balikpapan he hugged and kissed his le cheek and right while smiling and saying the toyyibah sentence. “assalamua’alaikum, subhanallah we are brought together by allah here. we are brothers and united with the toyyibah sentence “la ilaha illallah”. we came all the way from sri lanka to preach and encourage fellow muslims to establish the religion of allah with the � ve daily prayers in congregation and listen to the bayan a er sunset. insha allah, our meeting has been recorded by allah and there will be later in heaven exactly what is happening today. insh allah together we pray in congregation a er sunset, insha allah insha allah. granting freedom to all members of the tablighi in the practice of mazhab and following local mazhab in the preaching gives a big advantage for the smooth dakwa process.  e society, getting fed up with the con� ict as a result of diff erences in the interpretation of mazhab, seems to � nd something new in the tablighi. a phenomenon that arises is the strong currents of integration and interconnection between the ‘local’ and ‘global’ mazhab. tabighi dakwa activities across the region and the country are part of the globalization and localization of islam. every week, month and year, the congregations visit each other (khuruj) alternately from one region or country to another. meanwhile, i met with congregations from saudi arabia, sri lanka,  ailand, bangladesh, and the congregation of samarinda performed khuruj to malaysia, japan, india,  ailand and pakistan. in their dakwa, the tablighi not only integrate the mazhab, but also the culture, traditions, and local and global languages. no stranger to the local congregation to hear the bayans in urdu, arabic, sri lankan, and english, but they remain focused’. [ 158 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 ‘divinity’ economy and wife independence in the tablighi  e tablighi dakwa eff orts through khuruj � sabilillah is the toughest program that generates a lot of controversy in the community. khuruj requires con� dence and sincerity to sacri� ce much more not only time, labor, family, but also the economy. khuruj requires considerable cost for transport and meals during the dakwa. meanwhile each member must provide their own costs, including transportation and meals.  e tablighi do not have a sponsor and do not collaborate with any institution, including the government, so it is incorrect to say that the tablighi dakwa is free. when there are members who help other members to bear travel costs, it is only in certain cases. however, senior members are so concerned about new members who want to go out for dakwa and usually they will provide a way out.  e accommodation during dakwa is not a problem because they sleep in mosques.  ey will move from one mosque to another. congregations from abroad will receive free meal, all borne by the local congregation alternately.  e provision of food for the congregations from abroad is because it has a lot of sacri� ces that need to get help from another congregation. in contrast to the congregations who travel out of districts or provinces have to pay dues for meals between idr 10,000-20,000 per day according to the results of deliberations. khuruj is not only done once, but repeatedly and will have an impact on the existence and stability of the family’s economy.  en the next question is the extent of khuruj economic impact on the family and how the concept of economic development of families is constructed in the neighborhood the tablighi? khuruj will not increase property or materially bene� cial, but in reality it will reduce the wealth and family income because of decreased work productivity dramatically.  e husband who was once so productive and had high obsession to collect money, a er joining the spirit the tablighi would change completely because they put religious matters above everything. religion for the tablighi is not a mere ritual, but the business � elds that need to be worked out and disseminated sustainably so that people gain insight and spiritual transformation. one can imagine that members who perform khuruj could come from the lower classes do not have enough resources to face economic hardship for themselves and their families le behind. i argue that khuruj � sabilillah has a major impact on the economic condition of the family of the tablighi. most members have experienced decreased � nancial income, some families even experienced economic crisis. several cases in the � eld interesting to see are among others how they negotiate [ 159 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the socio-economic conditions of their families with dakwa mission. adnan, a member of thetablighi congregation of balikpapan explained that he did not have enough money to pay for his khuruj trip. he then borrowed money from his family in order to cover the costs and expenses of meals during khuruj in east java. as for the money le for the family at home was not enough so his wife had trouble, but he was con� dent that allah will help them. fortunately, the other congregations helped with the family’s daily needs at home, such as rice, spending money, etc. ihsan, a new member of the tablighi samarinda directly went out for dakwa leaving his business behind. his wife who was not ready to accept this condition was quite stressed out having to handle the business and taking care of the children. ihsan’s business was on the brink of collapse because it was not taken cared od properly. akrom, a congregation from sulawesi said that he had to sell household appliances for khuruj. his wife who was not ready to accept the fact, immediately attacked him. however, facing severe problems in the family did not stop akrom from his struggle in path of allah. a er being le for 40 days doing dakwa outside java, his wife survived and began to accept her husband’s decision. jumadil, a congregation from lombok sold beef cattle to meet the costs khuruj abroad. another member, rahman, mortgaged his rice � eld for dakwa abroad because he had no money for travel expenses. of all these cases, it shows the principle that they were ready to sacri� ce for allah and what is sacri� ced shall be rewarded multiplied in number.  e tablighi adhere to the verse ‘if you help the religion of allah, then allah will help you’.  e belief that serves as the principle and ideology of those who are not worried about the economic conditions and surrender all matters of family life only to allah is what i call “divinity economy”. “divinity economy” is an economic concept that centers on allah. although not all members of the tablighi have the same view of ‘divinity economiy’, but most informants i interviewed held the concept of ‘divinity economy’ as their family’s economic design. extreme views in the economic concept of divinity contend that god will provide sustenance for them even though they have no job.  ey believe that allah will give them an easier path and suffi cient livelihood if they perform khuruj. allah will ensure their families le behind during khuruj will have good health, safety and economy. to the tablighi, allah is the source of everything, a source of pleasure, happiness, and property (abdurrahman ahmad assyirbuni, 2010). however, they do not negate the existence of the trials and challenges from allah.  e next question is whether the concept of ‘divinity economy’ is a form of escape from their inability to seek sustenance or even a solution to the economic crisis by the tablighi family when perfoming khuruj. [ 160 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 in the teachings of su� , attitude that does not care about the worldly material is called the ‘zuhud’ (ro� atul ulya, 2003). humans do not have the strength to resist or refuse the provision of the will and power of allah. allah will li anyone he wants and let fall whom he wills. from this concept the tablighi gave their life totally to the religion and sacri� ce in the path of allah. despite the fact that there are some who have to sell his property for khuruj, and some who borrow from the family, it is all considered a path or the trials of life that must be faced.  ey believe the more they go out for dakwa, the easier the matters with material or worldly aff airs.  e concept of ‘divinity economy’ has been ingrained in most members of the tablighi doctrine and is diffi cult to change. to minimize the economic issues at the level of families le behind during dakwa, the tablighi create a program called ‘nusroh’. nusroh comes from the word nasharo meaning ‘to help’, in this context helping people abandoned by their families. nushroh pattern is modeled on the prophet’s dakwa that divided the role of muslims as the ansor (helper) and as muhajirin (khorij). each member of the family le behind during khuruj will be a shared responsibility for the tablighi members in their area to provide assistance. each week alternately congregations who do not go out will visit families to help their needs. usually congregations bring rice, money and other food to provide for the family le during khuruj. nushroh program can be a quick solution to help families economically strapped because of being le for khuruj. new perspectives established by the tablighi in conjunction with khuruj is to straighten faith of the community that has not recognized or deviate from the teachings of islam.  e growing belief in the community is that property and other needs come from a husband, not allah.  is indirectly aff ects the excessive dependence of the wife on the husband, and not on allah.  is deviation to the tablighi can only be changed through khuruj, where the wife le during khuruj must be trained independently and should be capable of running her own life with her children at home without being accompanied by her husband.  e wife is required to adapt to her husband’s new life by removing dependence on him.  ey take care of their own children to school, keep the farm, earn money and are responsible for everything during her husband’s khuruj. conflict narratives of the tablighi followers in addition to bringing peace in their message, the tablighi also bring con� ict and discord in the family and society.  is is a consequence of the mission of dakwa movement brought to the middle of a family tradition and a pluralistic [ 161 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 society of multi-culture. in the internal family, for example, con� icts between husband and wife is no longer a public secret when a husband joins the tablighi, without telling his wife in advance. total changes shown by the husband a er joining the tablighi usually shocks his wife.  e wife has to adjust and change the pattern of her life to compensate for the new lifestyle of her husband who is more focused on religion. a wife who understands will usually be happy to see the change in her husband who has received guidance to learn religion.  e husband who used to worship less, a er joining the tablighi, worship more o en and have stronger faith.  is is the � gure of an ideal husband a wife is expected to have to guide them to the straight path.  is subsection will focus on the narratives of con� ict and social friction that occur in the family and society. diverse narratives appear related to the con� ict they face. rahmat, one of the members of the tablighi said that it had been nearly three years since he was dumped by her wife’s family for joining the tablighi. since joining the tablighi, he showed a change in attitude, and he was expelled by his in-laws out of his home and had to sleep in the mosque with the a few pieces of clothes.  e resistance of the wife and the family could be stopped as the change in rahmat’s attitude that no longer cared about his family. since joining the tablighi, he had to change his appearance from clothing (wearing gamis), way of eating, taking care of the body, growing beard to imitate the sunnah of the prophet. despite resistance and protest, rahmat believed that his wife and family had not received guidance from allah so it was normal that they resisted him. he believed if his wife had received guidance then her behavior would change.  ey will accept a new lifestyle and join him later. his wife did not dare to sleep alone because she was not accustomed to. for three years, the household never got along and almost broke up, slowly she regained consciousness and began to accept his dakwa activities. another narration of imron, who burned his wife’s clothes because they looked ‘sexy’ and exposed private parts. he did this a er entering the tablighi and thought of his wife’s behavior being the behavior of the devil that is not in accordance with the teachings of the religion of allah. he started from the change in himself, then his family in order to revolutionize their mentality. he began to � x the clothes, the nature and character of his wife that violate the rules of islam. seeing the change in the attitude of the husband, his wife immediately responded that she could not accept her husband’s actions. she was screaming, rolling on the streets and depressed, while he tried to hold back and not too bothered by his wife’s action because in his view she was possessed by satan.  is event caused the people in the village shocked and wondered why his wife suddenly acted like that. imron let these things happen and still went out for khuruj � sabilillah with con� dence that allah will change the attitude and behavior of [ 162 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 his wife at any time if she gets guidance. he believes all of this is a result of not opening the door of allah’s guidance. a er four months of dakwa in east java without giving news to his wife, someone called him and said that his wife had worn a hijab. he could not believe it how she could change drastically, while he had not preached on her. however he was convinced that his prayers were answered by allah. not long a er that he got news that she started to wear a purdah. he saw this phenomenon as a miracle, all of this could not be forced and all arranged by allah.  e dakwa activities of imron are getting easier because his wife began to support him. once returning home to his wife, the intensity of ‘makomi’ dakwa performed by imron further strengthened his wife’s belief to join the tablighi.  ey are both now very active and o en go out for dakwa (masthuroh). another narrative concerns the family of ahmad as his wife asked for a divorce if he continued the dakwa in the tablighi. his wife was very depressed to see the changes in his behavior that was no longer concerned with the employment and education of children. her husband was only concerned with dakwa. during her husband’s khuruj, she had to handle all her husband’s duties and responsibilities including taking care of business and taking the children to school. she gave an ultimatum to the husband to quit the tablighi or to have a divorce. another story that emerged was a � ght between husband and wife because the husband sold their assets for dakwa needs. zainudin, another member of the tablighi who originated from lombok mortgaged his land to preach abroad. his wife could not bear the economic pressure, so divorce was the only way out for this couple. abu nizom had a diff erent experience where all his family opposed and pressed him against going out for dakwa. he planned to perform khuruj for 10 days as scheduled, but had to accept the fact that at the time his wife was sick and the tobacco harvest from his farm had not been completed. his decision to go out for dakwa had caused his parents to be angry as his wife was sick and the tobacco harvest neglected. his father then went out to � nd abu nizom and found him in a mosque. he challenged his son to � ght if he insisted on continuing with the dakwa. seeing his father’s attitude, abu nizom could only asked for forgiveness from allah. finally he relented and returned home to leave the arena of dakwa. he did not have much choice because of family pressures that forced him to return home. external con� icts with the public are also a major problem faced by the tablighi. con� icts arise when they are dealing with people who do not understand the religious culture of the tablighi.  e story of the rejection of the presence of the tablighi in mosques is a common story that happens everywhere. local [ 163 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 communities reject the use of mosques in their area as a center of the tablighi dakwa activities as it is deemed to ‘contaminate’ the mosque. to carry out the mission of dakwa, the tablighi not only make the mosque as a place of worship, but also as a place to stay for dakwa.  ey sleep, wash, cook and eat in the mosque. local people worry that sleeping in the mosque will have an impact on the cleanliness of the mosque, and could then cancel the validity of prayer as their saliva may fall on the praying mat. although the tablighi always keep clean, not all can accept their presence. cooking in the mosque with a stove gives an impression of the mosque being used as a ‘religious camping’. likewise, eating in the mosque is considered less suitable. people who are not accustomed to seeing this scene may feel uncomfortable. in addition, washing and drying clothes make the atmosphere of the mosque unpleasant to look at.  e issue whether to accept or reject the tablighi who wish to deliver khuruj in their mosque is quite dilemmatic. in samarinda, some mosques shut down their door to the tablighi movement, including the grand mosque and islamic center of samarinda which serve the center of social and religious activities of muslims in east kalimantan.  e mosques belonging to certain organizations such as muhammadiyah mosque and sala� mosque also � rmly reject the tablighi.  e jaulah method of dakwa of the tablighi by knocking at the doors of homes also became a hot issue in the community. some residents on jl. suryanata samarinda for example, close the door of their home when the tablighi come to preach on them.  ey feel that there is coercion and interference with the free exercise of religious worship practices.  ey are also considered to interfere with the stability of the activities of citizens as the group members suddenly come to preach.  e tablighi were attacked by the villagers when they performed khuruj in an area in east java. a group of residents were not happy with their mission as it was seen to disturb the tranquility of citizens.  ey were besieged inside the mosque and intimidated, but because of the help of allah they survived.  ey relented and were immediately evacuated from the mosque.  e bombing case that occurred in the tourist island of bali in 2002 directly had an impact on the tablighi. some residents claimed that they were part of a terrorist movement because of their clothes and appearance that look like a terrorist.  e tablighi followers had diffi culties to go abroad for dakwa.  ey were intercepted and interrogated intensely at each airport.  eir passports were con� scated and not allowed to continue � ying abroad.  is accusation was exaggerated because not everyone involved wearing big clothes and growing beard are terrorists.  e tablighi members just fall victim to local politics a er [ 164 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the attacks in bali in 2002 and 2005 that killed tourists from foreign countries.  e tablighi tried hard to recover the image and accusations directed to them through the teachings of anti political campaign and just focusing on religious dakwa. con� icts between the tablighi and the wahabi also occurred in several regions in indonesia, including samarinda.  e wahhabis accused the tablighi of doing bid’ah.  e khuruj pattern with a certain period of time, such as 3 days, 10 days, 40 days and 4 months, in the views of the wahhabis, has no basis in the quran and hadith. abu mussab wajdi akkari, wahhabi � gure in his speech said that the pattern of dakwa of the tablighi has been categorized as heresy, even the tablighi has become a new religion because members must follow with urgent situations.  e wahhabis also view the tablighi as not having adequate intellectual culture because they negates the discussion of mazhab and theology. science and religious discourse of the tablighi are shallow as it approaches the anti mazhab.  e tablighi also claimed to not follow the practice of companions of the prophet and misunderstood the motion dakwa. akkari also regarded the tablighi as not appreciating the diff erences, and their kindness is gone when they disagree with other groups. sheikh assim al hakim, a wahhabi cleric claimed that the tablighi had no clear reference when performing khuruj � sabilillah.  ey are considered heretical because they created their own practice of worship not based on the quran and hadith. “ e book they use among others, fadoilul amal, is less quali� ed because many hadiths quoted are invalid,” said al-hakim.  is piece of works is not comparable to the previous works of the imams.  is debate has triggered a lot con� icts with the wahhabis who always attacked them with regard to the religious basis used.  e tablighi are also considered deviant because they do not care about their families and too busy doing dakwa outside their neighborhood, while the congregation around them are not involeved in their dakwa. conclusion  e tablighi play an important role in the dakwa movement at the local and global level as a middle path in the midst of the cold social relations between muslim groups because they are stuck in the mazhab debate. muslims split due to diff erences in mazhab, sects and ideological diff erences in the organizations, sometimes even ending up with con� ict and social violence. in addition, a con� ict of mazhab is intervened with political and economic interests which will certainly add to the complexity of the problems.  e tablighi’s constructive eff orts of ‘demazhabization’ of islam by taking the religion away from the [ 165 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 context of the debate is a breakthrough of solution.  e tablighi do not look at the background of mazhab, sects or ideology of their members, but on the contrary, they accommodate and integrate them into a universal movement.  e tablighi opened the door wide and seek to bring together all the elements of muslims to join in their dakwa movement.  e tablighi at times act as a large umbrella for groups that are members of community organizations or institutions that participate in their mission.  e tablighi are not part of the sala� or wahabi which has been widely claimed by the community.  e tablighi also are not mass organizations, institutions, or organizations but an embryo of the dakwa movement which is a modi� cation of the various thareqats namely al-jistiyah, naqsabandiyah, qadariyah dan as-sahrowardiyah.  e four thareqats have been developed, reconstructed and reformed to be  areqat nabawi which emphasizes on dakwa. according to sheikh ilyas, thareqat is meaningless if it only brightens the individual spirituality, while the other muslim societies are still in the dark.  erefore, the only way is to preach to the society.  e tablighi through  areqat nabawi focus on dakwa activities at home and abroad.  ey positioned the religion as an endeavor and dakwa as an activity that need to be done continuously. dakwa is one of the activities of prophet muhammad and his companions who never stopped preaching and at any time and any place. full concentration on religious dakwa programs such as khuruj � sabilillah has given birth to the concept of ‘divinity economy’ within the tablighi. although they use only 10% for the activities for dakwa (3/month, 40/year and 4/lifetime), but the impact is huge on the existence of economic families where the tablighi are no longer productive in � nding sustenance and submit economic matter entirely to allah.  e tablighi are not so concerned with the family’s economy because they are sure that allah will guarantee and give sustenance to those who fought in his path. worldly obsession to the tablighi is a disease that must be removed and transformed into the obsession of the herea er.  e world is only temporary and does not need to be glori� ed, in contrast to the herea er is lasting and tangible. if the intention of the struggle and dakwa has been made, money and one’s own family’s needs will come from allah. allah will send help through other people.  is tablighi argument serves the basis for me to coin the term ‘divinity economy’ in the tablighi ideology that only relies on allah’s power.  e tablighi dakwa is a mission of peace and uni� cation of muslims. however, in reality, they face a variety of con� icts both in the family and community. most families of those who joined the tablighi had diffi culties due to economic problems and the principle of family life that had to adapt to the pattern of [ 166 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the tablighi dakwa. family economic crisis cannot be avoided in the family institution as the tablighi do not have an obsession to pursue the world, while the needs of their own families and the needs of dakwa are quite demanding.  ey have to spend money on transportation costs and meals for dakwa outside the region and abroad.  e dakwa needs are quite demanding for the tablighi, let alone providing for the family. unlike the tablighi members who are richer, they are not diffi cult to cover the family’s needs.  e nushroh program is one solution to overcome economic hardship of families during the trip, where ther members who are not doing dakwa will help them. however, nushroh is only temporary because a er khuruj a husband must think of his family’s economic life. in addition to family con� icts, the tablighi also face a con� ict with the community which becomes the object of their mission. people feel uncomfortable with the pattern of dakwa of the tablighi where they knock at the doors of their homes because it is regarded as coercion and intervention in the private area. residents also do not want them use the mosque as a place to stay for dakwa because it can contaminate and disrupt the residents’ worship activities. islamic organizations, especially the wahhabis, are very keen on preaching that the tablighi are misguided because they have created new rules of worship that did not exist in the days of the prophet. provisions of time in dakwa never existed in the days of the prophet, if you have the opportunity to preach anywhere and anytime.  ese con� icts for the tablighi only a trial from allah that must be faced. the tablighi sure that this problem occurs as people have not blessed with guidance from allah. references ariesta, 2009. alasan-alasan bertahannya masyarakat ekonomi kelas bawah dalam keanggotaan jamaah tabligh (studi di nagari ampang kuranji kecamata kota baru dharmasraya), skripsi universitas andalas. as-syirbuny, 2010. abdurrahman ahmad, kupas tuntas jamaah tabligh 1, jakarta: pustaka nabawi. bps samarinda, 2014. samarinda dalam angka 2014, 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[ 53 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 kampung beting: family resilience against religious radicalism suhardiman fakultas syariah iain pontianak email: suhardiman84@gmail.com eka hendry ar fakultas tarbiyah dan ilmu keguruan iain pontianak email: ekahendry77@gmail.com muhammad nizar fakultas tarbiyah dan ilmu keguruan iain pontianak email: nizarbbid225@gmail.com abstract the work cuptures the rise of terrorist movements involving families. the studies of family involvement in acts of terrorism in indonesia have not much been done. the work is based on research conducted in kampung beting of pontianak city, which is stigmatized as a drug trafficking village. it explores family parenting patterns and family responses to live problems especially on community literacy about religious radicalism. the findings include, first, the pattern of instilling religious values in families is relatively vulnerable. family parentings have shown physical resilience, social resilience and psychological resilience. the work finds the important roles of parents in instilling religious values and building communication with their children and the ability of families to solve problems they face. education has been found very important within the community. second, with regard to the existing conditions, people choose to “make peace” with the reality. the attitude of the people is split from pessimistic, pragmatic and optimistic. third, public literacy about religious radicalism is quite good among ordinary people and religious and community leaders. being radical in society’s point of view is an act of violence, while adhering to religious principles is considered not being radical. defending the honor of religion is a matter of principle, thus encouraging them to fight. fourth, four factors fortifying the community include the open and straightforward attitude of the community, the community involvement into the city security network, the high community mechanical solidarity and the effective role of religious leaders in fostering society. keywords: family resilience, religious radicalism, kampung beting. [ 54 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 introduction in recent times, the issues of religious radicalism have surfaced again, in addition to being part of political issue, the acts of terror are attributed to certain groups of religious organizations. as a political issue, when the president appointed the minister of religious affairs, fakhrurazi, the first task the ministry of religious affairs was expected to do was to carry out ‘deradicalization’ efforts. this issue continued to roll around, in pros and cons, from its definition to attaching a label of ‘radicalism’ to a particular religion (in this case islam). apart from this polemic, it is clear that indonesia is currently facing the threat of radicalism (manace of radicalism) both in the context of socio-religious and socio-political life. radicalism is not only in the context of ideas or ideology (cognitive radicalization), but violent radicalism continues to occur (violent radicalism). a few cases of the the latter were the attack carried out by a family against coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, wiranto, and the terrorist attack in medan, north sumatra. the issues of radicalism, especially those that have transformed into acts of violence is of course contrary to the spirit of national and state life. and should a messure not be taken, it will threaten the unity and integrity of the nation. however, what we need to realize is that the issue of radicalism (especially violence) does not occur due to a single factor, namely ideology (or ideas) alone, but, it is also related to socio-political variables (structural factors) such as injustice, poverty (underdog state) and social discrepancy. with the above assumptions, as long as social problems are not properly addresseed, the issues of violent radicalism will continue to haunt the nation. therefore, to overcome these problems, a comprehensive approach is needed, both culturally and structurally. the vulnerability of the spread of ideology and acts of violent radicalism does not only hit the public space, but can also enter personal and family spaces. the spread of radicalism or commitment to commit acts of violence occurs not only in an exclusive work organization, but also in the family institution. there are several recent facts showing that the family is one of the approaches or ways to build militancy and resistance. for example, the attack on the coordinating minister for political, forestry and security affairs, where the executors were a husband and wife and their children. although the child lacks the guts to attack. then the attacks on the pentecostal church, the santa maria tak bercela church and the indonesian christian church in surabaya were carried out by a family that was said to be related to the jama’ah ansharud daulah network. (ninis chairunnisa, 2018) the phenomenon of family relations in an act of violence has in fact been [ 55 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 going on for a long time. as in the case of the 1st bali bombing, it turns out that the amrozi brothers did it. mohammed m. hafez (2016; vol.9) in his article the ties that bind: how terrorists exploit family bonds (the jakarta post february, 2016) states that, based on publications from new america in 2015 there is a family relations between the perpetrators of the attack. in the case of the september 11 attacks on the world trade center (wtc), usa, it turned out that 6 of the 19 hijackers had family relations with each other. then, a study of the italian red brigades from 1970 to 1988, almost 25 percent of the perpetrators of terrorism were related (or had family ties). realizing this, various efforts have been made to fortify families from radicalism, as was done by the european union through the 2019 radicalization awareness network (ran) program and the positive parenting program (the triple p) initiated by the university of queensland. a collaborative program between the faculty of health and behavioral sciences and the family support center, faculty of psychology, university of queensland, uin walisonggo semarang and the indonesian ministry of religious affairs (mora). so, the family can take on the role of fortifying radicalism, as well as deradicalization efforts (especially in the context of exposure to radicalism). strengthening the family ties has become a major, important and urgent issue lately, in order to tackle the issues of radicalism and acts of violence. has this become the consensus of our society? this is an important question that must be answered. in this case, we sought to understand how family literacy is related to this role, as well as the family’s resilience in an effort to fortify family members from the influence of radicalism. another variable that is also crucial to this research is the existence of a family institution in a structural context. this is related to the idea that thought radicalism and violent radicalism occur due to various factors, including socio-political factors. the people of kampung beting in pontianak city have a tough choice because this area has its own socio-economic, religious and culural characteristics. the beting community is often identified with a negative stigma, such as a place for drug trafficking and other social issues. however, the bond of community solidarity is quite strong and the existence of kampung beting is in the center of the pontianak sultanate and the center for the spread of islam. these unique characteristics will make it more interesting to examine especially regarding the resilience of the family institution in fortifying the spread of religious radicalism. this research focuses on the resilience of the family institution of the kampung beting community in pontianak city to the spread of social and religious radicalism. in light of the issues discussed above, this research also focuses on [ 56 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 the pattern of instilling religious values among the families in the kampung beting, the views of the beting residents on social and religious issues in their neighborhood, and the literacy of the kampung beting families regarding radicalism, along with the factors that fortify the beting community from the spread of radicalism. the method used was the field research, namely research that seeks to construct a theory based on data and facts obtained in the field. according to roye singleton (1988:308) field research originates from two related research traditions, namely anthropology and sociology. ethnography is related to culture, then ethnomethodology is concerned with understanding human daily activities and behavior. garfinkel (in george ritzer, 2007: 322) states that ethnomethodological research focuses on the objective reality of social facts as a socially fundamental phenomenon because the reality is created and organized by the community. through this method, this research sought to understand and analyze the explanations provided by the informants based on their perspectives. infiltration of radical doctrine targeting family institution there are many studies regarding family and radicalism, both at home and abroad, such as research by ervi siti zahroh zidni (2018), a. syafi’ (2017) and elga sikken, et al., (2017). ervi focused her research on the role of the family as a means of early education for the children and the ability of the family institution to counter radical movements. ervi’s research shows that a pattern of equal and harmonious partnership between husband and wife in the household, as well as good literacy by parents regarding an inclusive understanding of religion will have an impact on the education of children in the family. this includes efforts to prevent radicalism. the research conducted by syafi’ as is more or less the same as ervi’s research, where the role of the family is to make efforts to prevent radicalism. shafi’ is of the view that one of the causes of radicalism is alienation. the alienation in question is the individual’s response in the family towards the moral decadence of their environment, the alienation of the individual from the underdevelopment of the family’s economic conditions and the alienation in the field of education. syafi’ wanted to test his hypothesis that a sakinah family (where there is love between members, harmony with the environment, able to live and practice the values of faith and noble character) will be able to play a role in fortifying against the spread of radical ideology. [ 57 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 meanwhile, elga sikken’s (et al.) research focuses on former extremists and their families in perceiving the influence of parents on radicalization and deradicalization. the specificity of elga’s research is in families whose family members have been exposed to or participated in acts of violence (extremists). from these three studies, there is no link between the role of the family in fortifying against the spread of radicalism with the environmental context of the family institution in their social sphere, not to mention, the social sphere with special characteristics. 1. family concept and role the family is the smallest institution in the social system, where parents and children live. the role of the family is vital as a means of achieving prosperity and happiness. the family plays a role in at least two aspects, namely being the first social environment that introduces love, religious morals and social culture, and at the same time as the main defense against various negative influences of social development. (kp3a and bps, 2016: 5) the ministry of women’s empowerment and child protection (kp3a) together with bps compiled a catalog containing the family resilience development strategies. in the catalog, it is stated that there are 4 family characteristics, namely; (1) composed of several people by marriage, blood or adoption; (2) live in one place together; (3) interactions between family members, communicating and creating social roles for each family member; (4) maintenance of shared cultural patterns in family member relationships based on the general culture of society. as for family functions, in accordance with government regulation (pp) number 21 of 1994 there are 8 clauses namely; religious functions, social culture, love, protection, reproduction, socialization and education, economics and environmental development functions. ibnu miskawaih (in ervi siti zahroh zidni, 2018: 41) argues that the family plays a very important role in the formation of a child’s character model. the environment will have an impact on child development, if it is good then the child’s growth will be good as well; if it is the other way around, then the results can be negative. therefore, ibnu miskawaih emphasizes the importance of parenting by both parents. the family is one of the social institutions currently targeted by radicalism, in addition to other institutions such as religious organizations, educational institutions and correctional institutions. in fact, these institutions play a dual function, on the one hand they can act as a breeding ground for radical ideology, but on the other hand they can also be a means for carrying out the function of deradicalization. [ 58 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 mohammed m. hafez (2016; vol.9) that, based on publications from new america in 2015, it shows that there is a tendency for perpetrators of attacks in the west to have family ties. in the case of the september 11 attack on the world trade center (wtc), usa, it turned out that 6 of the 19 hijackers had kinship with one another. then, a study on the italian red brigades from 1970 to 1988, almost 25 percent of the perpetrators of terrorism were related (or had family ties). these data show us that family relations (kinship) have an important role in the spread of radicalism. there are several reasons for this, including; first, acts of violence (terrorism) require a high level of solidity. they should feel intimate with the other. second, acts of violence also require high trust between the perpetrators. due to the high need for confidentiality among the perpetrators. third, in terms of instilling ideology, it is easier with people who have kinship than those who do not. fourth, the process of instilling radical ideology is relatively difficult to detect in the domestic sphere of the household because the family institution is very closed, compared to society in general. on the basis of these considerations, recruiting family members will be very easy, both in terms of spreading ideology to carrying out acts of violence. figur 1 institutions that are vurnerable to the spread of radicalism [ 59 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 the religious institutions here are religious associations or organizations, where education and cultivation of religious ideology is carried out. so far, much attention has been paid to these institutions. in the indonesian context, several religious organizations were popular such as jama’ah islamiyah (ji), indonesian mujahidin council (mmi), jama’ah anshar tauhid (jat) and jama’ah anshar daulah (jad) for the local context, and al qaida and isis for the international context. (asman abdullah, 2018:215) in addition, educational institutions are also considered vulnerable to the emergence of radical ideology because in these institutions, an intensive teaching and learning process is carried out. when there is a teacher who has been exposed to or is deliberately affiliated with a radical movement, then it is very likely that he will instill similar ideas and views on his students. at least, he will teach cognitive radicalization. therefore, to anticipate this, it is necessary to develop education (peace education), both in formal and nonformal educational institutions. (eka hendry ar) so far we have considered penitentiaries as places to punish people or to deter people from committing crimes, but now they can become grounds for indoctrination of radical ideology. based on a report from the international center for the study of radicalization and political violence (icsr) (2010: 7) that prisons are often described as hotbeds of terrorism. the report says, according to harvey kushner (american criminologist) that western prisons are al qaeda’s main recruiting ground. therefore, in 2006, the us issued an american policy report based on the opinion of a panel of 15 experts who came to the same conclusion that the radicalization of prison inmates is a serious (and undetected) threat of unknown magnitude to the security of the united states. 2. family resilience concept according to frankenberger (in kp3a and bps, 2016: 6) the concept of family resilience (family strength) is a condition of sufficiency and continuity of the family in accessing income and resources to fulfill basic needs such as food, clean water, health services, education, housing , time of participation in society and social integration. pp ri 21 of 1994 emphasizes family independence as a definition of family resilience. a family is considered independent if it has perseverance, strength, as well as physical, material and mental abilities. the opinion of sunarti and walsh (in kp3a and bps, 2016: 6) emphasizes the family’s ability to manage resources and problems to achieve welfare. walsh emphasizes the ability to adapt to changes that occur and a positive attitude [ 60 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 towards life’s problems. kp3a and bps (2016: 6) emphasize the ability of families to prevent or protect themselves from various problems and threats, both internal and external (including in the context of the environment, community and country). the indicators for the level of family resilience are as follows: mutual service, closeness between husband and wife, parents who teach and train children to face various challenges, leadership of both parents with love and obedience of children to parents. (kp3a and bps, 2016:6-7) in addition, there are at least three indicators for families with high resilience, namely; (1) physical resilience which is marked by the fulfillment of food, clothing, housing, education and health needs; (2) social resilience which is marked by being oriented towards religious values, effective communication, and high family commitment; (3) psychological resilience which includes the ability to deal with non-physical problems, positive emotional control, positive self-concept, and husband’s care for his wife. (kp3a and bps, 2016:8) 3. understanding the substance of radicalism and relations with the family institution etymologically radicalism comes from the word radic which means roots. meanwhile, in terms of terminology, there are various definitions of radicalism, and there is almost no universally applicable definition that can be accepted in both academic and government circles. (alex p. schmid, 2013:5). furthermore according to alex p schmid radicalism is now becoming more politicized. there are so many definitions, although there are also many that are not quite right. “in recent years the term ‘radicalisation’ has, like the term terrorism, become very politicised, i.e. it has been used in the political game of labelling and blame attribution. academics too have come up with multiple definitions that often lack precision”. (alex p. schmid, 2013:17) according to neuman (in elga et.at., 2017: 194) radicalization does not actually exist, but it is merely a term constructed by the media, government and security agents. therefore, it is distinguished between cognitive radicalization and violence. (bartlett, birdwell and king, 2010; vidino and brandon, 2012 in elga, 2017: 194) experts distinguish between radicalism and violence (or terrorism). being radical does not necessarily mean that someone becomes a terrorist, but radicalism is the forerunner of escalating acts of violence. regarding the term [ 61 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 used by the indonesian national counterterrorism agency (bnpt), it is said that radicalism is the embryo of the birth of terrorism. bpnt in its report entitled strategy for dealing with terrorism-isis radicalism (n.d.: 1) defines radicalism as an attitude that yearns for total and revolutionary change by overturning existing values drastically through using violence and extreme actions. meanwhile elga sikken et al., (2017: 194) define radicalization as a dimension of increasing extremity of beliefs, feelings and behaviors that support inter-group conflict and violence. while there are also those who define radicalization as a process that moves individual beliefs from moderate to extreme views, they differ in the use of violence to achieve ideological, political and social interests or religious change. (attorney-generals department, 2014; striegher, 2015) or religious change (striegher, 2015) (yulina eva riany, n.d. : ) based on the definitions mentioned above, it can be concluded that radicalism is not violence or terrorism, but radicalism is an initial condition that can escalate into violence or terrorism. in addition, radicalism is not always related to religion, because radicalism can also occur in a socio-political context. this means that radicalism can relate to social change, political change and even ideological struggles. therefore, in this study, we did not mention religious radicalism alone, because radicalism is a form of reaction to existing problems. therefore according to bartlett et al. and vidino and brandon (in elga et al., 2017: 194) most scholars distinguish between violence and cognitive radicalization. cognitive radicalization according to vidino and brandon (in elga et al., 2017: 194) is a process in which individuals adopt ideas that are contrary to the mainstream, reject the legitimacy of the existing social order and try to put this legitimacy back in a new structure based on a different belief system altogether. based on the various categories and definitions above, several indicators have been developed to identify those who are exposed to radicalism. bnpt said there are 4 indicators of radical attitudes and ideologies, namely: (1) intolerance, namely attitudes and beliefs that do not respect the opinions and beliefs of others; (2) bigotry, namely the attitude of always feeling right and considering others wrong; (3) exclusiveness, namely distingushing oneself from the general muslim community; (4) revolutionariness, namely using violence to achieve goals. yulina eva riany et al (n.d. 1) stated that there are 3 characteristics of people who are identified as radical, namely: (1) implementing islam in a complete and literal context based on the qur’an and hadith without a flexible [ 62 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 understanding of islam; (2) being reactive in responding to violence regarding something that is considered secular and materialist and often uses violence through language, ideas, physical action or even war; (3) fundamental islamic teachings as the basis for rebuilding society and the state. the indicators stated above are inseparable from the fact that radicalism occurs in the context of religion. because perhaps the focus of attention is from the radicalism referred to in the religious context. however, this does not mean that radicalism only occurs in the context of religion, but has the potential to occur in various other fields such as in social and political contexts. with regard to the relation with the family, according to maccoby and mertin (in elga sikken et al., 2017: 199) that family or parents have at least 2 roles, namely parental warmth and control function. if this role can be maximized then it will be able to produce positive results for children (the most positive child outcomes). a similar opinion was expressed by smetana (in elga sikken et al., 2017: 199) that effective interaction between parents and children will greatly help the moral development of children. in fact, according to hoffman (in elga sikken et al., 2017: 199) it can build pro-social moral internalization. on the other hand, according to hoeve et. at. (in elga sikken, 2017: 199) if support, supervision, discipline is too harsh, parents’ inconsistent attitudes, delinquency of family members and problems that exist in the family, then this can cause children to develop deviant behavior. meanwhile, what is the relation between family and radicalization, according to elga sikken et al. (2017:199-202), there are several roles of parents related to radicalism. first, parents have a direct influence on radicalization; second, parents have an indirect influence on radicalization. third, there is no parental influence on radicalization. fourth. parents influence deradicalization efforts. this relation is based on various empirical studies that have been carried out. parents who are exposed to radicalism have the potential to influence their family members with radical views. meanwhile, social and the family’s economic conditions can contribute indirectly to radicalization. however, the fact also shows that there is no direct influence of the nuclear family on radicalization, but there is a relation with the family in a broader sense. finally, it turns out that the family can also function to carry out deradicalization, especially for families who have been exposed to radicalism or have participated in acts of violence. with regard to prevention methods, the radicalization awareness network (ran) (2019: 5-6) compiled guidelines for preventing radicalism from turning into terrorism and violent extremism, with family support. the [ 63 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 guidelines describe the methods used in the context of empowering families to overcome radicalization. there are three levels of family support methods. this approach adjusts the level of family exposure to radicalism and violence. the three levels are primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention. primary prevention means that the majority of the families can apply early prevention methods by providing support interventions to prevent radicalization and violence. the form of intervention could be public awareness courses in schools and community centers (such as interfaith organizations). secondary prevention means that smaller families are at higher risk and require greater efforts to reduce radicalization and violence. many factors influence family conditions such as unstable family dynamics, frustration and disappointment, history of abuse, communication and cultural issues. families like this need support to improve the ability to prevent their family members from becoming perpetrators of violence. for families at this level, it is necessary to build communication about life experiences and problems encountered and the need for assistance and counseling. meanwhile, the tertiary prevention level is an even smaller family group that needs special intervention and support because the process of radicalization has taken place in the family and there are family members who have been involved in acts of violence. forms of intervention that need to be carried out include intensive family counseling and deradicalization programs that involve all family members. figure 2 escalation of radicalism and de-radicalism based on what was stated by elga sikke et al. and the ran draft provides guidelines that each family can play a different role in instilling radical ideology on the one hand (both directly and indirectly), while on the other, [ 64 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 they can also be empowered to carry out deradicalization. efforts made to reduce radicalization depend on the level of family position related to radicalism. it can be in the form of prevention and can also be in the form of deradicalization. prevention is done especially for families who have not been exposed to radical ideas, are vulnerable to such exposure, or have a family member who has been exposed. meanwhile, deradicalization is carried out for families who have been exposed to, are involved in radical actions or come from areas of war (both as perpetrators and victims of war). kampung beting: a portrait of a “marginalized” society. beting is the name of an area at the junction between the kapuas river and the landak river. administratively, it belongs to the dalam bugis village, east pontianak sub-district. dalam bugis village is bordered by tanjung hilir village to the north, tambelan sampit village to the south, tanjung hulu village and saigon village to the west. in the east it is bordered by kapuas river. there are several opinions with regard to the origin of the name of this area. some said that beting is aek nyorong, the ground surface which is getting shallower due to waves. when the tide is high, the land sinks. if the water recedes, then the surface arises. (zulkifli abdullah, 2014:11) while there is another opinion that says beting means there is a niche at the four junctions between the kapuas river and the landak river. originally, the people lived in lanting [floating homes], so during the dry season the lanting were stranded on the ground and tilted. according to mr e.d., the tilted position of the lanting is called beting. beting means that there is a niche at the junction of the kapuas river and the landak river, because at that time the houses of the residents stood on stilts, and during the dry season they tilted. the area that causes the lanting houses to tilt is called beting. at that time, to pass or walk through the area, [people] used a footbridge made of a few pieces of wooden boards. (interview with e.d, june 13, 2022) in addition, administratively, the beting area is in fact not known, but it is called dalam bugis village. the term beting is only the informal name given by the community. pontianak people in general are more familiar with the name beting, rather than the dalam bugis village. in the beting area itself there is also a kind of demarcation between masjid village (kampung pulau) and beting. this boundary, in fact, is more imaginary and carries stigmatization, that is, it wants to emphasize each other’s position and identity. kampung masjid is in the vicinity of the kadariah mosque, and the residents do not [ 65 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 want this place to be identifed as a place for drug trafficking. the boundary marked by a ditch. “officially it doesn’t exist, the mosque village and beting village are just the names given by the people. in fact, beting and the mosque village are included in the dalam bugis village area. so there is no definite boundary between masjid village and and beting village. but as far as i know, the ditch to the right of the sultan syarif abdurrahman mosque marks the boundary between the beting village and the mosque village.” (interview with sc, august 2022) based on the 2020 dalam bugis village profile, the population was around 19,244 people. this data must have changed, but the village office itself has not updated the data. the education level of the community was mostly high school graduates/equivalent, around 3,745 people. while college graduates (with a bachelor’s degree/equivalent) were only approximately 383 people. (dalam bugis village profile, 2020:18). based on ethnicity, no written information was found. however, based on the information obtained from the residents of beting, most of the population are ethnic malays. there are also some from the syarif / syarifah (arab) lineage and now other than that, especially migrants who married local residents. but overall, the characteristics of the community are quite homogeneous in terms of ethnicity and religion. the majority of the residents of dalam bugis kelurahan are muslim (18,436 people), including in the beting area, the majority of the population is muslim. the specific population data for beting village has not yet been obtained. based on information obtained from the dalam bugis village, there is no special population data for rw [ward] and rt [neighborhood association]. this shows that population data is still “scarce” in the bugis dalam village. the religious life of the people can be seen from various religious activities, such as worship activities at the kadariah palace mosque, religious activities both carried out at the mosque and those held at qur’anic assemblies, such as the al hijrah assembly led by ustads mawardi and the lbtq council under the care of ustads al haidar, who is originally from beting village. the children’s religious activities were seen at the qur’anic learning center at the kadariah palace mosque, and also at the islamic teachers’ houses where children learn to read the qur’an. [ 66 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 table 1 dalam bugis village residents based on religion religion male perempuan jumlah muslim 9.269 9.167 18.436 buddhist 205 219 424 catholic 97 99 196 christian 94 66 160 konfucian 11 17 28 hindu 0 0 0 source : dalam bugis village profile, 2020 as for the occupation, most residents are casual daily workers (1,784 people), and around 1,718 people work as private employees. meanwhile, there are more than 6,000 residents who are not [yet] working (6,598 people). these figures show that there is a large potential “social burden” facing the community. in addition, the conditions for developing the dalam bugis area, especially the beting area are quite challenging. in this relatively large area, it turns out that there are no public high schools. there is only 1 public junior high school (smpn 4) and several public elementary schools. for the beting area, there is only one public elementary school, namely sdn 25. this condition has not changed much for several decades, forcing children to leave the area to continue their studies. most of them continued their high school at tanjung raya 2, or at other schools in pontianak city. the beting community feels the same way, most of their children have to go to school far outside the village, especially to get junior and senior high school education. therefore, there was an attempt by the beting community itself to establish a school in the beting area. according to one of the religious leaders there, mawardi, this plan has yet to be achieved. even though an approach with the pontianak city government has been made, with the intention of using the green area. the hope is that with a school in existence in the area, it will improve the somewhat negative image of beting. related to the negative stigma of beting being a drug trafficking area is common knowledge among the pontianak people, and even west kalimantan. like kampung bahari in tanjung periok, jakarta, beting is considered a black market, where drugs and [ 67 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 crime circulate. the people who are native to beting are actually uncomfortable with this stigma. they think that this stigma comes from outsiders who don’t understand what this area really is. then, if it is true that beting later became a place for drug trafficking, it was due to the arrival of outsiders into the area, and that there are certain people who want drug trafficking to continue. this problem is what many residents complain about, when this research was being conducted. for them, the negative stigma is a “burden”, especially when dealing with outsiders. like getting access to work in various companies for beting residents (especially men) is quite difficult, not to mention trying to get loans from the bank. the beting community is still waiting for the government’s attention, especially in helping to erode the negative stigma, in order to build trust in the beting community. the community does not expect much from the government to build various infrastructure in the area, because the rsidents here are quite independent. from the government’s perspective, they have tried to “open” the beting area, with various programs such as building facilities such as water fronts, water tourism, women’s welfare activities, integrated health centers, family planning, and formation of the beting mining group. however, for the community this is not sufficient, because what they need is indiscrimination. the beting community feels that all this time without government assistance they can survive, so they still can stand on their own feet, even though they are only boat taxi drivers, parking attendants or small traders. this attitude actually depicts insinuation or subtle innuendo to the government which is considered to be ignorant of their circumstances. meanwhile, the people of beting also want to be remembered and known for positive things. in the past, the historical role of beting for the kadariah palace, and the role of preachers that had lived and thrived in the beting area (kradesajid masjid). jmd as a native of beting recalls his childhood when there were a lot of religious activities in the area. rd and rs told me that in the past beting had an artist (named wak nambon) who was quite famous in east pontianak. now this art is continued by his son (a violinist). there also used to be a well-known doctor (dr. bakhtiar) who originated from beting. he practiced at the tanjung pura healthy pharmacy. he was also known as the doctor who was in charge of health examination during a police entrance test. this means that the beting people want to be remembered for the positive sides, not just the dark ones. until now, the hope is that the normal and positive social side of their lives should be understood by outsiders. they also have hope, they also want a better life. in fact, ustads mawardi, a young islamic teacher who is now dedicating himself to his hometown, believes that [ 68 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 one day islam will rise from beting. his prophetic prediction is not without reason, but based on current conditions where awareness of the importance of education has emerged among the beting community members. 1. building empathy for beting residents. based on the results of the data collected from the field, a construction of the reality of the beting community is illustrated as follows. a society that is always looked down upon by the majority of outsiders. the people are always blamed for being the trouble makers in pontianak and west kalimantan in general. after this research was conducted, we should see the reality by keeping things in proportion and with empathy. the beting society basically illustrates a society that is trapped in a labyrinth of dilemmas, where they are aware of the reality around them that must be negated, but on the other hand they are powerless, and then forced, finally have to “make peace” with reality, try to define reality and give a more positive meaning to it. to understand the reality in beting village, its relation to how they maintain the function of the family institution in overcoming the existing problems, including in fortifying against radicalism. this research was originally based on the hypothesis, “where there is social pathology (or anomaly), the potential for developing radicalism will be greater”. it turns out that through this research, we are presented with a complicated social reality, fighting with all the shortcomings and trying to find a better future. with their various social capitals, the beting people form their own defense mechanism in dealing with the infiltration of values and beliefs that are considered radical or contrary to what they perceive. to understand the beting community, we can use the deconstruction approach proposed by jacques derrida and the theory of power relations by pierre bourdieu. for derrida (2005: 79-80), our society tends to be hegemonic by a structuralist style of thinking, where there is a binary position in every reality, where there is one value that is more important (superior/ordinate) compared to the others (inferior/subordination), such as rich vs poor, educated vs uneducated, urban vs rural, essential vs symbolic, cause vs effect and so on. in this binary position, it is as if the cause is more important than the effect, so that being educated is more important, superior to being uneducated. for derrida, this view is not quite right, because all sides must have their own advantages and truth. therefore, he put forward an antithesis called deconstruction, namely destroying the hegemony of certain values or sides. derrida’s theory of deconstructionism is suitable for understanding [ 69 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 marginalized community, such as beting. the hegemony of negative stigma against beting is already very strong. there is even a researcher who used the title of “the crime nest”, completely overlooking the good dimension of the village. while on the other hand, the community is indeed powerless to defend themselves, because as stated by bourdieu (2020: 234-240), this is a result of ‘symbolic violence’ (dominant culture) which is basically unbalanced. according to bourdieu, symbolic violence occurs through the domination of the dominant class that seeks to impose its habitus on the class that is controlled, one of which is through language instruments, because language is not merely a means of communication, but also ideology. language conveys not only messages, but also intention. violence occurs in narratives, in body language as well as spoken and written language. symbolic violence commonly occurs due to those who have power (dominance) over narrative or discourse. labeling it as a ‘crime village’ or ‘drug village’ is a form of symbolic violence through language and stigma. of course this labeling is made by those who are dominant, both economically, politically and culturally. the beting community is actually trying hard to get rid of this stigma, but it still sticks with them. law enforcement actions in the area seem to confirm that beting is indeed what it is labeled. the community hopes that the government will step in to help clear up the situation, because they feel powerless to do so. the people really hope that the government will help them, because this stigma has had an impact on their everyday lives. they have difficulty getting a job, because companies refuse to employ them because of their residence in beting. for society, this is not fair; this is discrimination. why does this assumption grow, because they suspect that there are (dominant) powers who deliberately allow it. they know that illegal drugs do not simply enter the area without the intervention of certain “forces”. 2. society forced to “make peace” with reality however, even though there is anger, there is disappointment with reality and the stigma attached to the community. at the end of day, life must go on. in the end, society must behave, either being apathetic, pragmatic or remaining optimistic. the first thing society is forced to do is to try to “make peace” with reality. making peace is actually a dilemmatic choice, but on the other hand, this option is considered “safest” and the most “reasonable” way to deal with difficult conditions. these community actions can actually be categorized as instrumental-rational actions and value-rational actions, like mark weber’s theory of social action. [ 70 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 weber (2012: 115) categorizes four forms of social action based on the motive and purpose of the action, namely; (1) traditional actions, actions determined by habits that have taken root and have been practiced for generations; (2) affective actions, which are actions determined by the conditions and emotional orientations of the actor; (3) instrumental rationality, which is an action aimed at achieving goals that are rationally calculated and pursued by the actor concerned: (4) value rationality, namely rational action based on values, carried out for reasons and purposes related to values, especially personally-held values regardless of the success or failure of the action. the people’s choice to make peace with reality actually reflects instrumentalrational action because there are pragmatic considerations for a particular purpose. and it can also be categorized as a value-rational act, because there is a value base that underlies the choice. in the context of the beting community, the values that are held here are religious, social, educational values and values of hope for a better future. acts of instrumental rationality and values appear in the choice of people’s attitudes. the attitude of society is divided, between pessimistic, pragmatic and optimistic. those who are pessimistic and hopeless, then often become part of the crime. but those who then think pragmatically, how to take practical benefits from the existing reality legally, such as taking advantage of the crowds by selling food, becoming water taxi driver and parking attendants. those who are optimistic believe that there is still hope for a better future. they choose how to prepare a better, more educated young generation so that their standard of living will improve because only in this way can the existing evil be “fought”. figure 1 range of public attitudes of making “peace” with reality [ 71 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 3. vulnerability of family resilience regarding the role of the family in dealing with the problems that occur around them, based on the data collected in the field, there are fundamental problems in society related to the parenting role for their children. ideally, the family plays two crucial roles, namely being the first social environment that introduces love, religious morals and social culture; and second, being the main defense against various negative influences of social development (kp3a and bps, 2016: 5) these two minimal roles relatively do not function optimally in the beting community. the non-optimal functioning of the family institution is inseparable from the conditions of the community itself, especially the economic conditions. basically, parents are aware of the urgency of the family’s role in parenting, but there are circumstances that force this role to be not optimal. the big question is, what causes the relatively low standard of living of the people in beting? what factors contribute to poverty? is it due to the cultural or structural factors? because, it is common knowledge that the people in beting and dalam bugis village feel that they have been left behind in development. although the government has the pretexts to deny this reality. this research shows that the low economic level of the beting community is not due to the culture or attitude of the people. this phenomenon is disputed, because the majority of the community are hard workers, both as water taxi driver, speed boat owners, traders, coolies at chinese shops, small-scale food sellers and parking attendants. we suspect that the cause of the low economic level of the community is more due to the slow development in the dalam bugis village area in general, and beting in particular. data on labor in dalam bugis village in 2020 showed that there were more than 6,000 (3,437 men and 3,161 women) who were unemployed. there were more than 1,700 people (1,771 men and 13 women) working as casual daily laborers and around 1,600 (1,485 men and 233 women) as private employees (dalam bugis village profile, 2020). from the data above, even though there is no specific data for beting, it shows there are problems with employment, so that more than 6,000 people are unemployed. this number is almost unbelievable, and at the same time raises the question whether it will lead to social issues. our analysis shows that the low level of society can be explained through at least 2 major paradigms, namely neo-liberalism and social democracy. (syahyuti in sayifullah and tia ratu gandasari, 2016: 242) the neo-liberal paradigm holds that poverty is an individual problem, everyone’s business. in this view, poverty can only be overcome by these individuals themselves, [ 72 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 without dependence on the government. this paradigm develops in capitalist countries. this paradigm is considered to have failed to capture the complete phenomenon of poverty. meanwhile, the paradigm of social democracy holds that poverty is a structural problem, that is, it can be caused by injustice, social inequality in the midst of society. or to borrow dom helder camara’s term as structural violence, injustice that results in poverty. such poverty, according to camara, has the potential to create a cycle of violence. with regard to poverty being an impact of the non-optimal role of parenting in the family institution, it must be seen from the cycle of violence caused by uneven development in the dalam bugis village and beting area in particular. however, even though the community is aware that the parenting function for their children is not optimal, the community then “hands over” the function of coaching and protecting their children to islamic teachers at mosques, at home and islamic learning centers, teachers at schools and islamic boarding schools. this is the reality in beting; the role of islamic teachers and public school teachers is very important. such conditions are in fact quite concerning, because the family should have resilience, where it meets the standards of sufficiency and continuity in accessing resources, so that their basic needs are met. (frankenberger in kp3a and bps, 2016: 6) according to the concept of family resilience is a condition of sufficiency and continuity of the family in accessing income and resources to fulfill basic needs such as food, clean water, health services, education, housing , time of participation in society and social integration. according to kp3a (bps, 2016: 8) a family is considered to have resilience with at least three indicators, namely; physical resilience, by meeting basic needs, education and health (social security), social security with religious values, effective communication and high family commitment. finally, psychological resilience, such as coping with psychological problems, emotional control, self-concept and caring in the family. therefore, with the weak functioning of caring for the family institution in beting, it could be because the community does not have adequate family resilience as a result of limitations in accessing various resources to fulfill their needs. this condition is actually quite worrying, as it will become a vulnerable factor, so an appropriate and fast solution is needed. sociologically, this phenomenon is a kind of substitution process from one role to another, namely the role of parents to the role of islamic teachers and public school teachers. however, it does not mean people have no role at all. based on research by elizabeth harvey from the university of massachusetts in 1999 [ 73 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 and a team from the university of texas in 2005 as quoted by itabiliana and hadiwidjojo (muhammad rizky afif zakaria. (2018: 4) shows that, there is no significant impact on children whose parents work (especially mothers). at least this research provides an answer that, with working parents (especially mothers) actually does not always have a bad impact on children. however, it cannot be denied that there is an opposite view that when parents work outside the home, negative impacts on children are inevitable. in the perspective of structural functionalism, society and social institutions are systems whose all parts are interdependent with one another and all of which seek to achieve equilibrium (i.b. wirawan, 2012:42). in other words, when one institution (social structure) does not function as it should, society will have an impact on other structures. in fact, according to ritzer (in i.b. wirawan, 2012:42) changes in one part will bring changes to other parts of the institution. the family functions the smallest institution of society, in which there are functions played by father, mother and children. when one of these actors does not function properly, then in the view of structural functionalism it will have an impact on other actors. so, when parents are not optimal in their parenting role, it will certainly have an impact on the fulfillment of the parenting function for children and also on the balance in the family. this means that the family will potentially face problems, such as disharmony and lack of education and moral issues. 4. literacy and the role of family institutions in fortifying radicalism as discussed in the previous section, there is great concern about the weak resilience of the family institution. this condition can be the entry point for various problems, such as the involvement of children in criminal acts or opportunities for radical views to infiltrate. trying to test these assumptions in the field, is it true that the vulnerability of the functioning of the family institution will become the entry point for various issues of social pathology. based on the data obtained in the field, it shows that even though the community’s literacy is not very good about the issue of radicalism, the resilience of families who are also relatively vulnerable does not mean that the community is easily infiltrated by radicalism. so far this research has never been found a case of spreading radicalism in society. this information was conveyed by almost all informants and so was the data recorded in dalam bugis village. after the we examined the factors that caused radical ideas not to develop [ 74 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 in society, the data showed that, one of the characteristics of the beting community is the high level of solidarity and commitment to islamic values. the beting community and its surroundings are very sensitive to the issue of blasphemy against islam. if this happens, the community will act reactively, such as taking to the streets. it’s different in the case of crimes, such as in cases of fights, the public will not react, because for them it is their own business, and the community also thinks that it is a personal business. what factors prevented radicalism from entering, and moreover, developing in kampung beting? there are at least 3 factors that keep radicalism away from the the community, namely; the presence of a defense mechanism in society in the form of an open attitude and straightforwardness. in addition, there is also the factor of involving the community in being part of the network of security forces. next is the factor of community solidarity. lastly, the role of religious leaders in fostering the local community. the self-defense mechanism factor is that the beting people have the characteristics of an open culture, especially in terms of responding to something new and coming from outside. this attitude of openness is manifested by an attitude of building communication, making confirmation and being straightforward. when a group of people who are suspected of being christian missionaries enter their area, the community immediately budges, by calling on them, asking them and making confirmation. they would tell them that such activity is in the wrong place, because if one wants to spread religion, they should not do it to people who already have religion. this action turned out to be effective, and did not lead to acts of violence. the second factor is the involvement of the community to be part of the security network. even though this is an old style religious approach by making the community as agents of the security forces, like banpol in the past, it is not entirely bad. in addition, this practice is consolidated through a formal institution called the kodim coordinating body. it means that the detection process is carried out in a formal and open manner, so that it does not seem like a secret operation. this involvement turns out to be effective, as a form of public participation in early and rapid detection of various social problems in society. this involvement also makes the community more proactive in maintaining security and order in society. based on the experience at beting, the role of the coordinating body is felt to be beneficial. what’s more, those involved in the coordinating body are community leaders such as mr. edy who is known as a village elder, leader and also the head of the local neighborhood association. as a local figure, he also cleverly builds communication and information network cells [ 75 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 under his coordination. thus, all information is quickly accessible. the next factor is the high level of social solidarity among residents. solidarity according to doyle paul johnson (1994: 181) is a state of relationship between individuals or groups based on a state of morals and beliefs held together and strengthened by shared emotional experiences. according to johnson, this bond is stronger than a contractual bond that is built with rational considerations. in the context of the beting community, their solidarity is built from the same place of domicile, the same religion, the same social burden they receive and the emotional similarities related to facing negative stigma. the form of solidarity formed among the beting community is called mechanical solidarity. emile durkheim (in george ritzet, 2012: 145) divides solidarity into two forms, namely mechanical and organic solidarity. mechanical solidarity emphasizes collective consciousness, which relies on the totality of shared beliefs and sentiments that, on average, exist among the same members of society. shared awareness rests on the totality of beliefs and sentiments shared by members of the same community. meanwhile, organic solidarity arises because the division of labor increases. this solidarity is based on a high degree of interdependence. the solidarity that is built in the beting community is more in the form of mechanical solidarity, as a result of the shared domicile area, the same religion, the same social burden they receive and the emotional similarity related to facing negative stigma. the manifestation of this solidarity can be seen in gathering mutual support in every social-religious moment, such as death, marriage, religious activities, culture and including solidarity in protecting religion. this strong mechanical solidarity is also a strong capital in fortifying society against various radical religious views and movements. the final factor that also contributes to fortifying the beting community against infiltration of radical views is the role of the ustads [islamic teachers] who are active in fostering the community. it is recorded that there are several ustads who come from beting that are active in fostering the community, from children, youth to the elderly. their role is not only to teach people how to recite the qur’an, but they also play a role in increasing people’s awareness of various existing issues. when people encounter problems, they can directly ask the ustads, so the problem can be quickly solved. meanwhile, most of the ustads who teach religion adhere to the ashari school of thought (ahlus sunnah wa jama’ah) and the shafi’i school, which the community follows. another role of these ustads is to foster religious morals for children. they replace the role of coaching that [ 76 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 should be carried out by parents. together with the ustads, children learn to recite the qur’an and learn about religious sciences. it is hoped that they will be fortified against the bad influences of the surrounding environment. so indirectly, the role of these religious leaders can be a catalyst to keep society (the younger generation and parents) from various possibilities of infiltration by radical religious ideologies. conclusion strengthening the role of family has become a major, important and urgent issue lately, in order to anticipate the issues of religious radicalism and acts of violence. this work suggests that family literacy is an effort to fortify family members against the influence of religious radicalism. the existence of family institution in a structural context matters in promoting better family education. this is related to the idea that cognitive radicalism and violent radicalism occur due to various factors, including socio-political factors, especially for the marginalized people like the beting village commuunity members with their specific socio-economic, religious and cultural characteristics. the pattern of instilling religious values in families in beting village shows that families are aware of the importance of their surroundings. the family resilience is quite vulnerable with indicators of poor economic conditions (physical resilience), social resilience (the role of parents in instilling religious values and building communication with their children) and psychological resilience (the ability of families to solve problems). in addition, the views of beting residents on socio-religious issues in their environment show that they hope to get empathy from others. the kampung beting community basically rejects and opposes the negative stigma towards their village. however, people realize that they are not capable to fight the existing conditions, so that the most appropriate rational choice is to “make peace” with reality. finally, the high solidarity among the community members is a result of the shared culture and religion, and there is a common awareness of the negative stigma attached to their area. the role of religious leaders in fostering the local community has been importantly mattered. the role of these local religious leaders is very dominant, both in religious and in social lives. bibliography abdillah, z. 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(2018). kemitraan keluarga dalam menangkal radikalisme, dalam jurnal studi al quran vo. 14, no. 1, tahun 2018. (doi:doi.org/10.21009/jsq.014.1.03). universitas indonesia. hafez, m., mohammed. (2016). the ties that bind: how terrorist exploit family bonds. diterbitkan koran the jakarta post, berjudul (februari, 2016) hendry ar, e., (2017). api damai islam: konstruksi penidikan damai dalam pandangan al quran, pontianak, iain pontianak press. icsr. (2010). prisons and terrorismradicalisation and de-radicalisation in 15 countries. london, icsrking’s college. johnson, d. p. (1994). teori sosial klasik dan modern. jakarta, gramedia pustaka. kp3a and bps. (2016). katalog pembangunan ketahanan keluarga 2016. ran collection. (2019). preventing radicalisation to terorism and violent ekstremism, family support. uni europe riany, y.e, et.al. (n.y). does parenting play a role in the development or prevention of radical beliefs? indonesian case study. parenting and family support centre, the university of queensland, australia, the state islamic university of walisongo, indonesia and funded by indonesian ministry of religious affairs (mora) ritzer, g. (2007). teori sosiologi modern, jakarta, kencana.. schmid, a. p. (2013). radicalisation, de-radicalisation, counter-radicalisation: a conceptual discussion and literature review. the haguethe [ 78 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2419 netherlands, icct – the haguekoningin julianaplein. sikken, e. et.al. (2017). parental influence on radicalization and de-radicalization according to the lived experinced of former extrimist and their family. journal for deradicalization, fall 2017. nr. 12. issn: 2363-9849. singleton, r. et.al. (1988). approaches to social research. oxford university press. new. syafi’, a.s. (2017). radikalisme agama (analis kritis dan upaya pencegahannya melalui basis keluarga sakinah). sumbula : volume 2, nomor 1, januari-juni 2017, 352-376 turner, b. s. (2012). teori sosial dari klasik sampai postmodern. yogyakarta, pustaka pelajar. wirawan, i. b. (2012). teori-teori sosial dalam tiga paradigma (fakta sosial, defenisi sosial dan prilaku sosial). jakarta, kencana prenada media group. [ 199 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 textbooks of islamic education in indonesia’s traditional pesantren: the use of al-zarnuji’s ta’lim al-muta’allim tariq at-ta’alum and hasyim asy’ari’s adab al-‘âlim wa al-muta’alim laily hafidzah stainu jakarta abstract dalam paper ini, penulis melakukan studi komparatif atas kitab ta’lim al-muta’allim tariq at-ta’alum karya al-zarnuji dan kitab adab al-‘âlim wa al-muta’alim karya hasyim asy’ari. kajian ini mencoba membandingkan dengan mengeksplorasi secara mendalam dari aspek sejarah, sistematika penulisan, isi, dan posisi kedua kitab tersebut di kalangan pesantren. sebagai sebuah kajian teks klasik dan pertimbangan otentisitas karya, yang digunakan oleh penulis adalah naskah klasik yang tersimpan di perpustakaan universitas leiden, belanda. dari hasil kajian komparatif ini dapat ditemukan beberapa kesamaan dan perbedaan. namun juga bisa disimpulkan bahwa keduanya menjadi saling melengkapi terutama karya hasyim asy’ari yang memang ditulis jauh setelah karya al-zarnuji. di kalangan pesantren, kitab ta’lim al-muta’allim merupakan kitab yang sangat penting dan sangat popular. sehingga hampir di setiap pesantren terutama di pesantren salaf, kitab ini pasti diajarkan. namun demikian, kita adab al-‘âlim wa al-muta’alim juga memperoleh posisi sejajar dengan kitab ta’lim al-muta’allim sebagai karya ulama yang mempunyai perhatian terhadap pendidikan islam. bagi kalangan pesantren yang berafiliasi dengan nahdlatul ulama, membaca dan mengkaji kitab adab al-‘âlim wa al-muta’alim di samping merupakan bentuk penghormatan dan penghargaan terhadap hasyim asy’ari sebagai pendiri nu, juga sebagai bentuk kebanggaan menggunakan karya lokal ulama indonesia di mana saat ini masih sedikit pesantren yang menggunakan naskah karya ulama lokal sebagai bahan rujukan dan kajian. keywords: al-zarnuji, hasyim asy’ari, naskah klasik, naskah lokal, pendidikan pesantren. introduction the traditional system of islamic education today cannot adopt all the points contained in the ta’lim al-muta’allim, but they should be adjusted to the modern context. because, in my opinion, the use of the ta’lim al-muta’allim in some pesantrens is not always in the appropriate form. moreover, its use is only limited to pesantrens; in madrasah, it is relatively rare, though it is also yusniardi stamp yusniardi stamp yusniardi stamp [ 200 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the place for acquiring islamic knowledge. the significant changes in the present-day’s condition of pesantrens contribute to how vast the use of certain texts taught is there. the reformation of the way of thinking of modern people is clearly able to influence the system. the ta’lim al-muta’allim is the only patron which has to be followed or used as a guidance for islamic education system. some elements existing in the ta’lim al-muta’allim are not considered as appropriate theories, since the concept of modern education can also be adopted by islamic institutions without neglecting the traditional one. they can combine it with others in order to find an ideal pattern for better islamic educational system in indonesia. some pesantrens use combination of the traditional system which is represented by al-zarnuji’s work with the modern one. it is important for us to know the reasons why al-zarnuji wrote this phenomenal book and how great the influence of its use has been in pesantren and other islamic institutions in indonesia. hasyim asy’ari, the founder of nu, also wrote the similar work as al-zarnuji. what are his reasons to write it? the intention and purpose of its composition is indeed not to compete with al-zarnuji’s work. the aim is to reemphasize the students concerning the importance of what al-zarnuji already mentioned in his work. asy’ari’s work is only to make complete and to add perfection to the prominent one by adding some points in his sub-chapters as i will mention below. in this paper, i will try to explain and explore more deeply in comparing both works. starting from this point, i have found some questions that need to be answered including connection between these two texts, their similarities and differences, the uses of hasyim asy’ari’s work in most pesantrens as well as that of al-zarnuji, and islamic education in pesantren and its curriculum. islamic education in indonesia: pesantren the basic sources of islamic education are the qur’an and hadith. a.l. tibawi writes “…because the mosques became the first schools in islam, it would be equally to say that the qur’an was the first textbook.”1 they have become the substance and the evolution of muslim education. that islam’s position vis a vis education and modern science has always been favourable can be understood more clearly if we look at the most important characteristics of education today and then compare them with the islamic teachings. every human being is considered to have the same right for learning and acquiring knowledge in accordance with the prophet’s saying ‘the quest for 1 tibawi, a.l, islamic education: its tradition and modernization into the arab national systems, london: luzac, 1972, p. 24. [ 201 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 knowledge is obliged upon every muslim man and muslim woman’ (thalab al-ilmi faridhoh ‘ala kulli muslimin wa muslimatin); it means he or she has the absolute and unquestioned right to acquire as much knowledge as he or she can. indonesia as the largest muslim country is well-known for its various islamic educational institutions, such as pesantren, madrasah, and so forth. islamic teachings are usually taught in those places. one of the institutions called pesantren (a kind of traditional islamic boarding school) has become the main pivot of religious education. classical subjects of islamic studies such as al-qur’an, tafsir, hadith, akhlaq, ilm al-hadith, fiqh, and arabic grammar are taught in almost all pesantrens. pesantren, in most parts of indonesia, is generally associated with nu, that is a conservative religious organization established by the east javanese ulama (religious teachers)2 in 1926 to check the march of islamic reformation or modernization in indonesia.3most of the pesantrens are located in rural areas, because pesantrens were historically created by muslim leaders to avoid the colonialists pressure upon their traditional education system. pesantren is different from madrasah (private or state schools associated with the teaching of islamic subjects) in some aspects, for example there is no uniformity in curriculum among all pesantren.4. there is also no single pesantren that provides the complete curriculum for all texts given and taught at that time. hence, for the santris, in the first time of establishment of pesantrens, had to adventure from one pesantren to others in order to get complete knowledge about islam or about what santri generally wanted to enrich their knowledge.5 as one of some islamic institutions in indonesia, most pesantren use ta’lim al-muta’allim as a guidance book how to attain knowledge in appropriate conducts. it is used in almost all pesantrens still maintaining the instruction of kitab kuning. 6 van bruinessen classified it as an advanced text on ethics. 7 it has also an important position within the “curriculum” of pesantrens. as a text on ethics, the ta’lim al-muta’allim is taught to provide santris with the basic morality of learning. among similar texts and similar themes, the ta’lim 2 one of the figures is hasyim asy’ari whose one of the works i discuss in this paper. 3 rais, amin, muslim society, higher education and development in southeast asia: the case of indonesia in ahmat, sharom, and siddique sharon (ed), muslim society, higher education and development in southeast asia: institute of southeast asian studies: singapore, 1987 p. 13. 4 van brunissen, martin, kitab kuning, pesantren dan tarekat: tradisi-tradisi islam di indonesia, jakarta: mizan publishing, 1995 p. 146. 5 ibid 6 ya’qub, ali mustafa, etika pelajar menurut al-zarnuji, pesantren 3/iii, 1986, p. 79. 7 van bruinessen, martin, kitab kuning, p.163. [ 202 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 al-muta’allim is the most widely used.8 as i mentioned above, in most pesantrens, there is no exact formulation of their curriculum. the religious instruction is carried out by means of kitab kuning as textbooks and is organized in accordance with the grades of kitab kuning. the texts dealing with basic religious teachings are mainly texts of fiqh, ‘ilmu kalam (islamic theology) and akhlaq; each of these subjects have three grades: basic, advanced and high grade. this means that these sciences are taught in all levels. from this point of view, it can be assumed that pesantrens give priority to the knowledge of basic religious teachings. the instruction of this basic knowledge is intended in the first place for the daily religious life of santris, rather than for making them experts in religious knowledge.9 expertise is only for the high level of santris and only for certain high level texts. in my observation, if the kitab of ta’lim al-muta’allim is not taught in pesantren, parents will feel worried about the development of character of their children. however, the parents who send their children to islamic boarding school (the pesantren) have high expectation of the educational system there. it is hoped that the institution can give the best for the children. thus, the kitab of al-zarnuji has still been considered to play an important role in shaping the noble character of the students in pesantrens. the contents of the kitab are assumed to be suitable to teach the students good morality and because of this, it has become a good basic subject for every student in pesantren in the beginning year before they receive other subjects. the influence of the ta’limal-al-muta’allim on the educational system of pesantren can be seen in the goal of education, the curriculum, the learning process, and the teacher-student relationship. the goal of pesantren can be said as the goal of education in accordance with that explained in the ta’lim al-muta’allim. the author of the ta’lim al-muta’allim considers that learning should be intended for “the good will of god, the future life, the removal of ignorance from one’s self and from the rest of the ignorant people, the revival of religion, and the survival of islam, for the survival of islam depends on knowledge.” 10 when we talk about hasyim asy’ari, he explains that his educational thoughts focus on ethical matters in acquiring, spreading and practicing the knowledge. 8 ibid, the list of similar texts and themes can be seen in this book. 9 hasan, muhammad tholhah, “metode pengajian kitab di pesantren: tinjauan ulang”, in pesantren 1/vi, pp. 29-35. 10 al-zarnuji, burhan al-din, ta’lim muta’allimtariq at-ta’allum, (instruction of the student: the method of learning), trans by. von grunebaum, g. e, and abel, m. theodora, new york: kings’s crown press, 1947 p. 36. [ 203 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 first of all, a student has to be honest in his intention to attain knowledge, that is only to obtain god’s favour; and for that purpose, one should control his ego from doing bad things in order to get perfect intention of acquiring knowledge.11 nevertheless, the combination of experience (in acquiring and applying the knowledge) and thought in science needed for observation and systematization of scientific knowledge has been recognized universally. actually, it will cause the arrogance of human kind that can master everything in term of knowledge, since human reason is placed in the first rank. regarding the significance of education in human life, islam is in obvious position. it is strongly encouraged by islam: education is considered as human’s efforts to develop science for the welfare of mankind. another concept of islamic education which only refers to the qur’an consists of methodology and technique and the creation of akhlak al-karimah (noble character). education in islam means not only to educate, but also there are some other meanings such as to take care of, to look after, to nurse, to rear, to raise, and to feed. despite these meanings, education also can be defined as ta’dib (to discipline oneself and to be acquainted). thus, in brief, we can say that education in islam trains people to be polite, pious, respectful, ethical and honourable. 12 in stating the etiquette as operational morality in education, asy’ari argues that the concrete etiquette which is the obligatory for the students is to respect the teacher during the process of transforming the knowledge. he mentions two aspects of etiquette related to morality and etiquette related to practicing steps. in sub-chapters, he states that to gain honourable character, one must have at least these features: ikhlas (sincerity), sabr (patient), wara’ (abstaining), tawadhu’ (submissiveness), tawakkal (trust in god), and istiqama (steadfastness)13 al-zarnuji the figure behind the popular work is al-zarnuji, the full name of whom is burhan al-islam al-zarnuji. the other said burhan al-din al-zarnuji. his last name was taken from the place from which he came, i.e. zarnuj, which 11 asy’ari, hasyim, adab al-‘alim wa al-muta’allim, jombang: maktabat al-turats al-islami, n.d, p. 27. 12 muhaimin, yahya, muslim society, higher education and development in southeast asia: the case of indonesia in ahmat, sharom, and siddique sharon (ed), muslim society, higher education and development in southeast asia: institute of southeast asian studies: singapore, 1987, p. 30 13 asy’ari, adab al-alim wa al-muta’allim, pp. 28, 30-31, 66, 69, 70 [ 204 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 is stated as his famous nickname.14 plessner, in the encyclopaedia of islam stated that the original name of this figure has not been known until now, as well as his career and his life.15 according to plessner, al-zarnuji lived between 12 th century and 13 th century. he was a hanafite scholar and lived in persia. plessner tries to approximate the year which is relatively closer to al-zarnuji’s life. he also refers to data which are provided by ahlwardt in berlin library’s catalogue no iii, that al-zarnuji lived around 640 h (1243 m), this presupposition was based on information from mahbub b. sualeman al-kafrawi in his work, a’lam al-akhyar min fuqaha’ madzhab al-nu’man almukhdar placed al-zarnuji in the 12th generation of hanafite scholars.16 then, plessner tested ahlwardt’s estimation by collecting some biographies of ulama who were identified as al-zarnuji’s teachers, or at least had direct relation or connection with him. among them were imam burhan al-din ali ibn abi bakr al-farghinani al-marghinani (d.1195), imam fakhr al-islam hasan ibn mansur al-farghani khadikan (d. 1196), imam zahir al-din alhasan ibn ali al-marginani (d. 1204), imam fakhr al-din al-khasani (d. 1192), and imam rukn al-din muhammad bin abi bakr imam khwarzade (d. 576).17 the story behind composing the ta’lim al-muta’allim was that al-zarnuji had found many people who study and learn about islam and islamic knowledge diligently, but unfortunately they did not succeed to acquire the knowledge, or if they succeeded, they could not benefit from what they had got. what he meant by the people who could not take benefit from it was due to their inability to transfer the knowledge to others. al-zarnuji observed that the factors that could make one not succeed to learn the knowledge or if one does, he could not get the benefit and the fruit from it, are mainly because they have chosen incorrect path when they were in studying process and also because they leaved acquired requirements. departing from the apprehension, he wrote the ta’lim al-muta’allim the sources of which are taken from books he 14 al-zarnuji was from zarnuj city, is a city according to al-qarasyi located in turkey, and according to yaqut, located in turkistan beside tigris river. both cities clearly were part of transoxiana. however, there is another opinion said that he was from zarandj city, a city located in persia which was capitol city of sidjistan in south of herat, see. ahmad, muhammad abdul qadir, ta’lim al-muta’allim thariq al-ta’allum egpyt: cairo university, 1986, p. 10. 15 plessner, m, “al-zarnuji” in the encyclopedia of islam, vol. iv, leiden: e. j. brill, 1913-1934, p. 1218 16 unfortunately, there is no clear statement about the connected year which was given by ahlwardt with regeneration done by al-kafrawi. see. ahmad, muhammad ibn abdul qadir, ta’lim, p. 13. 17 ahmad, muhammad ibn abdul qadir, ta’lim, p. 14. [ 205 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 had read and attained from his teachers.18 the ta’lim al-muta’allim gained tremendous popularity which has continued until today. its popularity can be attested by the following: ‘abd al-qadir alqurashi, a 14th century scholar, though it was rare but he was glad when he was finally able to secure a copy.19 during the 16th century, there were at least three commentaries on it.20 one of the commentaries was composed by ibn ismail in 996 h. it is the only surviving commentary text at present. ibn ismail presented the text to murad iii, an ottoman sultan who reigned in 1547. in an introduction to the text, he states that the ta’lim al-muta’allim was favoured and accepted in the palace school of the sultan in his time.21 the ta’lim al-muta’llim, as a guidance hand book for learning (teaching and studying) particularly for students, contains introduction and 13 fashls or chapters. in his introduction, al-zarnuji stated that in his period of time, there are many diligent murids (students) who did not succeed and took benefits from the knowledge they had got. they failed in applying the knowledge. the reasons were that they could not fulfil requirements of acquiring the knowledge. al-zarnuji in his muqaddima stated this work was written to “straighten” the etiquette in attaining knowledge. the popularity of the ta’lim al-muta’’allim was acknowledged by western and eastern scholars. muhammad ibn abd qadir ahmad appraised the work as a monumental one, since an ‘alim like al-zarnuji who had many activities related to educational world during his life only had one work during his whole life.22 however, another opinion said that some of his works were burned in invasion of mongol led by jenghis khan (1220-1225), had destroyed and conquered east persia, khurasan and transoxiana (the most prosperous and richest regions).23 hasyim asy’ari kyai haji hasyim asy’ari is his full name, he was born from a kiai family in jombang, east java, indonesia, in april 10th 1875 and died in july 25th, 18 mukti, ali, ta’lim al-muta’allim versi imam al-zarkaysi, gontor: trimurti, 1991, pp. 14-15. 19 rosenthal, franz, knowledge triumphant the concept of knowledge in medieval islam, leiden: e.j. brill, 1970, p. 259 20 the lists of the commentaries of the text can be seen in carl brockelmann, geschichte der arabischen literature, supplement i, leiden: e.j. brill, 1943-1949, p. 837. 21 ibrahim ibn ismail, sharh bi-ta’lim al-muta’allim tariq ta’allum, indonesia: karya insan, nd. 22 ahmad, muhammad ibn abdul qadir, ta’lim, p. 24. 23 for further, see. khan, muhammad abdurrahman, sumbangan umat islam terhadap ilmu pengetahuan dan kebudayaan, bandung: rosdakarya, 1986, p. 60. [ 206 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 1947. he was the most important of the founding fathers of nahdlatul ulama (nu) – one of the biggest religious organizations in indonesia – who was also concerned with islamic education in pesantrens in java, especially in east and central java. pesantrens were built by many kiais in indonesia in order to fulfil ummat needs on islamic education. amongst many kiais in east java, asy’ari was one of the famous ones and he was one of the teachers for many ulama in java land. in addition to his dedication and concern to islamic educational system in indonesia, he was an active figure and writer. he wrote some works in various themes such as tasawwuf, fiqh, and hadith, some of which have still been studied in some pesantrens. amongst his works in arabic are: ziyadat ta’liqat, al-tanbihat al-wajibat liman yasn’au al-maulid bi al-munkarat, al-risalah al-jami’ah, al-nur al-mubin fi mahabbati sayyid al-mursalin, attibyan fi an-nahi an muqatha’at al-arham wa al-aqarib wa al-akhwan.24, qanun asasi and adab al-‘alim wa al-muta’allim are the most famous works within society.25 from historical background, he played important role to help and join in combating against dutch colonial in indonesia during pre and post independence of indonesia with his famous fatwa concerning the battle, it was called ‘fatwa jihad’ against dutch colonialization. hasyim asy’ari was known as one of great admirers of muhammad abduh’s tafsir. however, he did not allow and discouraged his students to read or learn the tafsir. his main objection was not abduh’s rationalism but the contempt abduh showed towards traditional ulama.26 the use of both works in pesantrens in indonesia the ta’lim al-muta’llim probably began to spread in indonesia as late as in the last decade of the 19th century, when the great number of printed texts from the middle east entered indonesia. the text of the ta’lim al-muta’allim that spread widely is the text with commentary work by ibn isma’il. the position of the ta’lim al-muta’allim and its use in pesantren are like those of fiqh texts, because for some pesantrens and most santris; fiqh is a subject which is considered as the favourite one among other subjects. according to them, fiqh is more important than other subject because of its significant contents. 27 24 this work now only can be found in photocopy edition, which was re-write by muhamad isham hadziq published in jombang, matktabat al-turats al-islami bi ma’had tebuireng, 1984. 25 this work is also re-write by muhammad isham hadziq, but no date or year found on the original work. for more details about asy’ari’s works, see. lathiful khuluq, fajar kebangunan ulama, biografi k.h. hasyim asy’ari, jogjakarta: lkis, 2008, pp. 53-55 26 van bruinessen, martin, kitab kuning, p. 18 27 van bruinessen, martin, kitab kuning, p. 112 [ 207 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the use of the ta’lim al-muta’allim, even though it is considered as a work on ethics, as i mentioned above, is taught for advanced students, but martin in his book, categorized the ta’lim al-muta’allim as the kitab for madrasah tsanawiyah (junior high school-level).28 despite the ta’lim almuta’allim, there are some other works on ethics taught in pesantren such as akhlaq li al-banin wa akhlaq li al-banat. although there are some choices of works on ethics, ta’lim muta’allim occupies an important position within the “curriculum” in most pesantrens. the use of al-zarnuji’s work can be found in most pesantren salafiyah i.e. pesantren specially focused on kitab kuning in which santris study, understand and practice islamic teachings by emphasizing the importance of religious morality as a patron of daily life and the sources are the yellow kitabs.29 however, al-zarnuji’s work is not used in every pesantren, because the curriculum of pesantren is usuallycombined with other subjects. the use of adab al-alim wa al-muta’allim of hasyim asy’ari in pesantren krapyak, pesantren wahid hasyim both located in jogjakarta, central java, pesantern lirboyo, kediri east java, and pesantren tebuireng30, jombang, east java, and even though the work of asy’ari is not as popular as the work of alzarnuji, but some pesantrens (which have nu background) still use this work. the reasons why they still use it are that they want to perpetuate the works of nu’s founding father and nu’s ulama, and the works are considered to be relevant with the conditions of the teaching system, particularly in pesantren’s teaching. in general, the use of both works in some pesantrens, pesantren with nu background or not, remains widely used by them, as long as the teaching in both texts are good and relevant as well as can create better noble character of students after learning them. the kyais in pesantren will keep both works as the useful teaching’s material. the use of both works in islamic institutions (pesantren) in indonesia is in relatively similar condition, as i have mentioned above. though the work of al-zarnuji is mainly taught, the sharh of the ta’lim al-muta’allim by ibn ismail and asy’ari’s are also widely used in pesantren. 28 van bruinessen, ibid., p. 163 29 h.m. abdan syukri, pengkajian pergeseran literatur pada pontren salafiyah sidogiri pasuruan jawa timur, in “pergeseran literatur pondok pesantren salafiyah di indonesia”, ed.by bafadal and syatibi, jakarta: puslitbang lektur keagamaan badan litbang dan diklat departemen agama ri, 2006, p. 206 30 this pesantren is founded by hasyim asy’ari since 1900, when he came back from mecca. the dutch government at that time admitted this pesantren in february, 6 1906. see lathiful khuluq, in biografi k.h. hasyim asy’ari, pp. 35-39. [ 208 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the similarities and differences of the two books al-zarnuji divides his treatise into thirteen chapters, which are given titles as follows: 1. on the nature and merit of knowledge and learning 2. on the purpose of study (having good intention to study) 3. on choosing the subject matter of learning, one’s teacher, one’s fellow students and one’s permanent connection (how a student chooses the subject of learning, teacher, and friends during his studying) 4. on respecting knowledge and those who possess it (how a student respect knowledge and the owner of it= teacher) 5. on industriousness, perseverance, assiduity 6. on the beginning of study, its amount and its organization (the etiquette in commencing the study, its contents and its associations) 7. on placing one’s faith in god (student’s faith in god) 8. on the time for the acquisition of knowledge (the proper time to acquire knowledge) 9. on helpfulness and good advice (the aim and good advice for students) 10. on the means useful to the attainment of knowledge (the good means to achieve the knowledge) 11. on abstinence during the pursuit of learning (the factors which a student has to avoid during the learning process) 12. what creates memory and what brings about forgetfulness (the matters related to memory) 13. which things bring, and which prevent earning a livelihood, and which things augment, or diminish, the years of one’s life (what are do’s and don’ts in life)31 hasyim asy’ari divides his work into nine chapters. in most of the chapters he puts some sub chapters: 1. the eminence of knowledge and who possess knowledge and its eminence to study it and teach it to others. 2. all the matters related to eminence of knowledge and who possess it, it belongs to ‘ulama and ‘alimin with their knowledge. 3. the etiquette of studying for students (consists of 10 adabs/ sub chapters) 4. the etiquette of student with his teacher. (consists of 12 adabs) 5. the etiquette for student, with his teacher and friends (consists of 13 adabs) 6. the etiquette of teacher in his rights (consists of 20 adabs) 7. the etiquette of teacher in studying knowledge 8. the etiquette of teacher with his students (consists of 14 adabs) 9. the etiquette in treating books/ kitabs which are the means of knowledge and all related to it (consists of 5 adabs) 31 al-zarnuji, burhan an-din, ta’lim muta’allimtariq at-ta’allum, , p. 2 [ 209 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 10. some taqrizs 32 (given by sa’id ibn muhammad al-yamani, abd hamid sanbil hadida, hasan ibn sa’id al-yamani, muhammad ‘ali ibn al-sa’id alyamani. after doing deep analysis, i found some similarities and also differences between both works by al-zarnuji and hasyim asy’ari. among the similarities which can be found in different chapters of both works: (1) both authors described chapter ‘on choosing the subject, one’s teacher, one’s fellow students and one’s permanent connection’ in almost similar way; but asy’ari prefers to write some more details to explain further about each chapter, he put thirteen adabs in the subject. al-zarnuji in chapter three, and asy’ari in chapter five (2) in the chapter of ‘on respecting knowledge’. al-zarnuji mentions it in chapter four and asy’ari in chapter nine. (3) in the chapter ‘on respecting who possess knowledge’, both authors put it in the same chapter, (chapter four) but on some parts, asy’ari put it on chapter two. (4) in the chapter ‘on the beginning of study, its amount and its organization’, al-zarnuji places it in chapter six and asy’ari explain it in chapter three. (5) in the chapter ‘what creates memory and what brings about forgetfulness, al-zarnuji situate it in chapter twelve, meanwhile asy’ari interpose it in some in chapter three and some in chapter eight. the differences from both works can be seen in some parts: (1) if we see from the title of both works, we can see the difference between them obviously, al-zarnuji’s work is specially intended for students, while asy’ari’s work which is entitled almost the same as al-zarnuji, in fact, is written not only for students, but also for teachers. (2) we can find in al-zarnuji’s work the chapter about ‘on the purpose of study’ but unfortunately, in asy’ari’s work, we don’t not find it ; in my opinion, this missing theme is the important chapter for students. (3) al-zarnuji explains one chapter about ‘on placing one’s faith in god’ (tawakkul), and asy’ari does not atttend to it specifically. (4) for the proper time to acquire knowledge, al-zarnuji puts his attention by giving one chapter to explain about it, and asy’ari does not explain it in special chapter. (5) in the chapter ‘on helpfulness and good advice’, asy’ari does not put one chapter to dwell on it, only al-zarnuji includes that in chapter nine. (6) concerning the role of the teacher, asy’ari also writes specifically about it in one of his chapters. a teacher plays an important and significant role in shaping the students to become a clever and good student. this task is not easy one for the teacher, because he has to face various characters of the student in the class. works of 32 asy’ari, hasyim, adab al-‘alim wa al-muta’allim, pp. 109-110. the taqrizs given by names above in the work showed that the work was acknowledgeable. [ 210 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 al-zarnuji and asy’ari, probably, can help the teacher to control the student’s attitude in the class, because they are related to many aspects of education, for example explaining how the students are supposed to behave in class, how they should choose their friends, how they should respect the teacher and how to treat the books they are studying as a means to attain knowledge. all those kinds of knowledge can be found in al-zarnuji and asy’ari’s books. from asy’ari’s chapters on this work, it seems that al-ghazali is the main source of his reference. al-ghazali’s works are very popular in pesantrens, considered as achievement of knowledge containing the highest spirituality. the traditionalists love him much through his works. in contrast, the modernists and the fundamentalists choose ibn taimiyah as their idol, works of whom are, however, banned in pesantrens. nevertheless, most of kyais only teach kitab kuning, but not few of them add some variants of their own works to be taught to their students. in this case, hasyim asy’ari also does the same; he taught popular kitab kunings written by the ‘ulamas outside indonesia and he also taught his own work in his own pesantren in tebuireng, jombang, east java. however, there are some differences between the traditionalists and the modernists in term of writing or composing their works. the modernists ulama write the works in indonesian language with latin letters. they read the ulama arab’s works through the translation. on the other hand, the traditionalist ulamas choose to write their works in arabic language; their argument is writing in arabic will add the value of the honour of the works or the books.33 closing pesantren as one of the islamic institutions where islamic classical text books are taught has placed the work of al-zarnuj as a favourable work. the conclusion which we can take from the paper is that the phenomenal work cannot always be used as the only work without other better books that can replace it or used in the same time. the role of the ta’lim al-muta’allim is so significant that most kiais in some pesantrens consider it as one of the most important kitab which have to be taught. in fact, some pesantrens do not choose the ta’lim almuta’allim due to some reasons. they prefer to use asy’ari’s work rather than al-zarnuji’s, for instance, specific reasons are attached. though in term of the contents both works are relatively the same, but they decide to use asy’ari’s as the form of reverence and appreciation and also be proud of using the local product of indonesian kiai, where the use of indonesian islamic scholars’ works is still rare in almost all pesantrens in indonesia. 33 van bruinessen, martin, kitab kuning, pp. 19-20 [ 211 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 nevertheless, pesantrens that use both works can be categorized as the traditional one, not the modern one. as we know that the pesantren is frequently associated with nu (where asy’ari is one of the founding fathers of establishment of nu), the use of asy’ari’s work shows that the product of local islamic scholar can be considered to be entitled to have the same position with the great prominent islamic scholars like al-zarnuji. the concept of education according to asy’ari is to accommodate to morality problems in the process of the very effort to attain knowledge. he builds the point of view that education is for the attainment of god’s favour, then places good characters (akhlaq) as the basic of appropriate morality for the learners; so that they are hoped to be able to operate the two basic values along with the morality practice in the way to acquire knowledge. bibliography ahmat, sharom, and siddique sharon (ed), 1987, muslim society, higher education and development in southeast asia: institute of southeast asian studies: singapore. ali, mukti, prof. dr., 1991, ta’limu al-muta’allim versi imam zarkasyi, gontor: trimurti publishing. al-attas, syed muhammad al-naquib (ed), 1979, aims and objectives of islamic education, jeddah: king abdulaziz university. asy’ari, hasyim, n.d, adab al-‘alim wa al-muta’allim, jombang: maktabat alturats al-islami. alzarnuji, burhan al-din, 1408/1984, ta’lim muta’allim tariq al-ta’allum, ed. by salah al-khaymi and nadhir hamdan, beirut: dar ibn al-kathir. al-zarnuji, burhan an-din, 1947, ta’lim muta’allimtariq at-ta’allum, (instruction of the student: the method of learning), trans by. von grunebaum, g. e, and abel, m. theodora, new york: kings’s crown press. brockelmann, carl, 1943-1949, geschichte der arabischen literature, supplement i, leiden: e.j. brill. hasan, muhammad tholhah, 1989, metode pengajian kitab di pesantren: tinjauan ulang, pesantren1/vi: 29-35. khuluq, lathiful, 2008, fajar kebangunan ulama: biografi k.h. hasyim asy’ari, jogjakarta: lkis. plessner, m, 1915-1934, the encyclopedia of islam, vol. iv, leiden: e. j. brill. rosenthal, franz, 1970, knowledge triumphant the concept of knowledge in medieval islam, leiden: e.j. brill. tibawi, a.l, 1972, islamic education: its traditions and modernization into the [ 212 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 arab national systems, london: luzac. van bruinessen, martin, 1995, kitab kuning, pesantren dan tarekat: tradisi-tradisi islam di indonesia, jakarta: mizan publishing. ya’qub, ali mustafa, 1986, etika pelajar menurut al-zarnuji, pesantren 3/iii. [ 249 ] al-albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 book review resistance and change in west kalimantan the kingdom of sintang (1822-1942) yogyakarta: penerbit ombak, 2015. by helius sjamsuddin reviewed by bibi suprianto (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) the presence of the book written by helius sjamsuddin shows the important of the studies of history in the academic atmosphere, not only global history but also local history in the studies of global history. by publishing the book entitled resistance and change in west kalimantan the kingdom of sintang (1822-1942 the author tries to tell the world that such a remote area in the middle of the borneo jungle has something very important to learn and share, the history of the kingdom of sintang in the context of indonesian history of colonial time. the support by the toyota founation that the author got for the very important research project also indicates that the history of the kingdom of sintang has a significant influence in the indonesian history, especially on the issue of resistance to the colonialism and social change within the indonesian society. the author has provided a very interesting analysis and data collection supporting the book publication. as mentioned by the author in chapter one page 3, the book is intended to provide studies on understanding social and political changes happening in the long history of the kingdom of sintang. it is important to provide the history of the kingdom of sintang without neglecting the existence of the neighboring kingdoms in the area since they must have had very important influences of the social and political changes. the author also mention in his book that the book is intended to get a more visible historiography of the kingdom of sintang based on a serious research project. the author tries to employ the descriptive-narrative approach in collecting the data and providing historical analysis. this 467 page book, despite its richness with historical data, is a very readable book for those who have interests in history studies in relation with the struggle of people who have religious background in doing struggle for their independent. this book is also based on socio-political perspective research [ 250 ] al-albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 project that emphasizes on the participation of local people to the dynamics of political movement in indonesia. as an important note, tthis book is part of a writer’s perspective (helius sjamsuddin), a scholar who as a strong interest in local history in indonesia from the perspective of political sciences. [ 55 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 the concept of mysticism in islam and christianity sahri institut agama islam negeri pontianak email: sahri@iainptk.ac.id abstract judging from its origin, there is an opinion that sufism originates from islam. some say that sufism is influenced by the practices of other religions, such as the practices of christian priesthood and of other religions. this article aims to examine the comparison between the concepts of zuhud (asceticism / detachment) and wahdat al-wujud (the unity of existence) in islam and the concepts of asceticism and hypostatic union in christianity. in christianity there is a clerical structure, but islam does not recognize or implement it. islamic sufis did not transform sufism from christianity or other religions because sufism is related to human instincts. additionally, the human soul is the same despite different societies and nations. the similarities of the practice of asceticism cannot be sufficiently used as the reason that it stems from christian asceticism. there are in fact similarities between the concept of wahdat al-wujud and hypostatic union in christianity. the differences between the two lies in the esoteric and exoteric dimensions. however, according to al-junaid and al-ghazali, mahabbat and ma’rifat are the limitations of the maqam of sufism, a level of maqam where man is still in a state of understanding of his own existence. so, between man and god, there is still distance. in this modern era, there is a need for a re-interpretation of sufism in which sufism is not only oriented to be purely transient to be in union with god, but it is a form of fulfilling our obligations as god’s caliphs who should improve things for fellow humans and other living beings. in other words, sufism not only contains a theophanic dimension of transience, but also a profane dimension in which there are of fellow human interests worldwide. keywords: sufism; concept of mysticism, islam, christianity introduction dialectics related to sufism (mysticism) will never be obsolete with the times. in addition to being a natural human need (thabi’iyyah) for peace of mind, the human need for god is inevitable, even for an atheist. among the things that promise peace of mind is mysticism. the essence of the materials contained within is centered on self-knowledge of the almighty. understanding it will free humans from the shackles of worldly interests, leading them to peace. [ 56 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 substantially, mysticism is an integration between ethical, aesthetic, and esoteric values, which are a perpetual reality from time to time. the concept of mysticism is not the final product of the process of scientific study, because mysticism is not merely a sensory pleasure; it is a gift from the provider of grace. mysticism/sufism is not engineered by al-baghdadi, al-ghazali, or albasri, nor is it a christian product. mysticism is a teaching and practice in order to get closer to god, even to unite oneself with god through the maqam and ahwal techniques. today, mysticism is facing obstacles and contradictions. some are of the opinion that mysticism does not originate from islam, but was influenced from the teachings of other religions, especially christianity. with regard to its origin, mysticism is much debated. some experts argue that mysticism does originate from islam, because sufi teachings are in fact based on the sunnah of the prophet muhammad. always drawing closer to allah alone was the doctrine of the early muslims, even though at that time it was a rule that was not called sufism, and then evolved into its own scientific discipline when islam began to develop and progress. there are also experts who claim that islamic mysticism was initially influenced by other teachings and religions, such as the priestly practice of christianity, hindu-buddhism, etc.1 nicholson argued that mysticism in islam is not purely derived from islamic teachings, but stems from other religions, especially christianity. nicholson identified the lifestyle of islamic sufis with the following characteristics: zuhud (asceticism), often staying alone in silence, wearing wool attire, doing dhikr, etc. according to nicholson, the pattern has similarities with christian teachings. in addition, islamic mysticism is influenced by neoplatonism, because of the contact between arabs and greeks, and the teachings of neoplatonism affected some islamic mysticism thinkers.2 however, according to nasution,3 the validity of opinions or theories that reveal islamic mysticism originating or being influenced by other religions cannot be proven, because many texts of the qur’an and the hadith teach about the relationship between humans and allah, as well as ways to approach him.4 for example, the hadith qudsi by imam buhkari states: “whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to me, i shall be at war with him. my servant draws not near to me with anything more loved by me than the religious duties i have enjoined upon him, and my servant continues to draw near to me with supererogatory deeds so that i shall love him. when i love him, i am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his 1 abdul qadir ‘isa, haqaiq al-tasawuf…, 98 2 r.a. nicholson, the mystic of islam, (canada: world wisdom, 2002), 9 3 harun nasution, filsafat dan mistisisme dalam islam, (jakarta: bulan bintang, 1973), 58 4 read qs. al-baqarah: 186, 115, dan qs. qaf: 16. [ 57 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. were he to ask [something] of me, i would surely give it to him, and were he to ask me for refuge, i would surely grant him it.”5 previous studies, which analyzed several theological problems between islam and christianity, particularly divinity, revealed that according to the qur’an, the concept of the trinity in christianity is a form of polytheism (surah 4:171, 9:30, 5:73), which is opposed by this doctrine is the designation of the ontological nature of the trinity.6 the trinity here is defined as one substance and three persons, namely believing in one god who reveals himself in three persons. believe in god; father, son and holy spirit.7 the doctrine of the trinity is in fact only found in the new testament8. confirmation of this can be studied in matthew 28:19, and corinthians 12:4-6, 13:13. from a christian perspective, the trinity is eternal and the three persons work together in re-creation with different tasks.9a similar study was also conducted by sri dahlia, who emphasized the comparison between islamic and christian theology, particularly on the trinity and the attributes of god. she revealed that the teachings and theological doctrines of both islamic and christian traditions have similarities, like in the aspect of god’s attributes. several schools of theology in islam have different interpretions of the existence of god’s attributes. there are those who claim to be qadim, and those who affirm the hadith (such as the mu’tazilah ideology which contrasts with the asy’ariyah ideology). similarly, the christian tradition has teachings that are in line with the mu’tazilah ideology, particularly regarding the humanness of jesus.10 taftazani emphasizes that islamic sufism is not derived from the christian priesthood system. even though there are similarities in customs between islamic sufis and christian clergy, it does not mean they are both islamic. the pattern of life of mysticism is a universal tendency in every religion, as the source of religion is one, although different in formal aspects. so, the similarity between islamic sufism and christian mysticism is logical.11 in this case, i agree with taftazani’s argument. 5 see in dewan redaksi ensiklopedi islam, ensiklopedia islam vol. 5, (jakarta, pt. ichtiar baru van hoeve, 1993), 80 6 f. schuon, memahami islam, translated by anas mahyuddin (bandung: pustaka, 1983), 85 7 olaf schumann, pemikiran keagamaan dalam tantangan (jakarta: gramedia, 1993), 212 8 abujamin roham, pembicaraan disekitar bible dan qur’an dalam segi isi dan riwayat penulisannya, (jakarta: bulan bintang, 1984), 173 9 waryono, “beberapa problem teologis antara islam dan kristen”, esensia vol. xii no. 1 2011, 97-116 10 sri dahlia, “trinitas dan sifat tuhan: studi analisis perbandingan antara teologi kristen dan teologi islam” jurnal penelitian, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017, 299-330 11 abu al-wafa al-ghanimi at-taftazani, tasawuf islam; telaah historis dan perkembangannya, (jakarta: gaya media pratama, 2008), 26 [ 58 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 analyzing the aforementioned studies, it seems that none of them have focused on this theme. therefore, this study aims to present a new element of this research topic – a comparison between the concepts of zuhud and wahdat al-wujud in islam and the concepts of asceticism and hypostatic union in christianity. this study uses a descriptive method and a comparative analysis, collecting and analyzing data from various valid sources which were connected. much data was collected using library research. this study ensures authenticity of the data contained in the works of islamic and christian thinkers. islamic thinkers attributed in this study include abu al-wafa al-ghanimi at-taftazani, ibn khaldun, imam al-ghazali, ibn arabi, abu nasr as-sarraj ath-thusi, abu al-qasim an-naisabari al-qusyairi , muhammad ghallab, harun nasution, seyyed hossein nasr, said agil husain al-munawar, muhammad hisham kabbani, and abu bakar aceh. meanwhile, the works of christian thinkers include those by nicholson, gershom g scholem, frithjof schuon, donald guthrie, william c. chittick, olaf schumann and bernard mcginn. mysticism as a comparative context the terms sufism is more suitable to be used specifically for islam, while mysticism is more inclined to non-muslims, including christians. bernard mcginn, professor of historical theology and christian history12 stated that although the main idea and purpose of mysticism may be understood as a special god-human encounter and everything about the process of that encounter in his introduction to the 1991 five-volume work on the history of christian mysticism, entitled “the presence of god.13 by considering the relationship between goals, processes, and effects caused by mysticism, mcginn states that mystical elements in christianity are part of faith and practice related to self-awareness and one’s reaction to the direct presence of god.14 in this broad definition, mcginn also agrees with some followers of catholic theologian bernard lonergan (1904-1984) who specifically proposes using “consciousness” rather than “experience” to describe certain situations such as witnessing (vision) and hearing (locution) to supernatural phenomena and conditions of inner pleasure (raptures) that come from the substance of his encounter with god.15 in addition, partly inspired by the work of joseph marechal (1878-1944), a philosopher and expert in the field of psychology, 12 to date, four volumes of this series of works appear as: the origins of mysticism (1991), the growth of mysticism (1994), the flowering of mysticism (1998), and the harvest of mysticism in medieval germany (2005). 13 bernard mcginn, the presence of god: a history of western christian mysticism, (new york: crossroad, vol. i, 1991), xvi 14 ibid., xvii 15 ibid., xvii [ 59 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 mcginn declared “presence” is the main requirement and an urgent matter in understanding mysticism rather than “union” which is but a small part of the many metaphors, models, or symbols that mystics have used in their presentations.16 etymologically, syekh hisyam kabbani17 explains that tasawuf (sufism/ mysticism) comes from four root words: first, the word shafa or shafwun, which means clean or holy. in an-nihayah dictionary, ibn al-atsir defines this word as “the best of things, the essence, and the cleanest part”. second, the word ahl as-shuffah (inhabitants of the veranda), which means those who lived in the veranda of the prophet’s mosque while he was still alive. therefore, tasawuf is also associated with ahl shaff (people in the first row). third, the word alshuff, which means fleece, because the sufis living in kufa used to wear clothes made of fleece. fourth, the word shuffah al-kaffah (fine sponge), is associated with the sufis who are clean with soft hearts. however, al-qusyairi criticized the idea because some of the meanings did not match the intended meaning regarding sufis. in his work, he asserted the root of the word sufi is al-suf (wool or cloth with coarse hair), so one is said to be a sufi when it turns out that he is wearing woolly clothing (a robe). there are several views regarding the etymology of sufism, and it is clear that it is not only associated with people wearing woolly clothing. therefore, some people claim that sufis are identified with ahlusshufah (friends who like to sleep on the front of the mosque). there are also people who say that the sufis are people who purify themselves. many others claim the word sufi comes from the word shaf (line in prayer) which is likened to the hearts of the sufis who come in the first row in facing god. some of the definitions that have been stated are not in accordance with what is meant by the word sufi itself. al-qusyairi’s explanation can or cannot be justified. it can be justified because it is impossible for a person wearing clothes made of rough, wrinkled material to be called a sufi, because even poor people who cannot afford luxurious clothes are very likely to wear rugged clothes. likewise, in the case of the ahlusshufah (residents of the veranda of the mosque), it is impossible for each of them to be called sufis, because perhaps among them are people who are merely lingering around. second, it could not be because it could be people who wear rugged clothes, or also the ahlusshufah, and people who like to isolate themselves are really sufis, namely those who give up the worldly pleasures in order to seek better life, namely ma’ rifah ilallah. therefore, 16 the fact that all mystics never represent their mystical experience as union with god is emphasized by other scholars such as gershom g. scholem, major trends in jewish mysticism, (new york: schocken books, 1954), 5 17 muhammad hisyam kabbani, tasawuf dan ihsan; antivirus kebatilan dan kedzaliman (jakarta: published by serambi, 2007), 24 [ 60 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 shaykh abdul qadir al-jailani argued that sufism comes from the word asshafa which means holy. that is, the sufi who applies sufism seriously seeks to keep and purify his heart only with allah. efforts to purify oneself are not just by wearing rugged clothes, letting his face turn yellowish, blackening the forehead, speaking words of wisdom, or moving fingers with tasbih and tahlil. it is much broader than that, only achievable through sincerity and honesty in worshiping allah, with true detachment from worldly desires, by purifying oneself for allah.18 however, according to ibn khaldun, not all the wearers of coarse woolly clothes are sufis, because it is only part of the attributes attached to the sufis. 19 so, it can be concluded that the word “sufi” is a term that describes pious people, who are sincerely standing behind allah almighty while facing the realities of life in the world. they always detach themselves from the worldly mortal interests, while the main goal is ma’rifatullah. whether or not one is a sufi cannot be judged by the attributes one wears, but by the sincerity of one’s heart which is called ‘af ’al alqulub (activities of the heart) which can only be judged by allah. meanwhile, terminologically, tasawuf has many interpretations. al-junaid al-baghdadi revealed that tasawuf is “cleansing the heart from animal-like traits, showing holy morals, emphasizing the nature of basyariyah, staying away from lust, making room for spirituality, holding on to the knowledge of truth, practicing something more important and immortal, giving advice to the people, and keeping promises to allah.”20 imam junaid al-bagdadi, quoted by al-mahdili in his book “al-madkhal ila tasawuf ”, firmly states that what is meant by sufism is “the truth is what kills you and the truth also brings you to life.”21 abu qasim abdul karim al-qusyairi has different perspectives than the aforementioned. he argued that “sufism is practicing the guidance of the qur’an and sunnah, striving to control lust, avoiding heresy, staying away from worldly desires, and avoiding making worship less important.”22 abu yazid al-bustami maintained that “sufism includes three elements, namely: kha (getting rid of despicable character), ha (adorning oneself with commendable character), and jim (getting closer to allah).”23 abu bakr al-kattani quoted by al-ghazali in ihya ‘ulumuddin, asserts that “sufism is character; whoever equips you with character, he provides you with sufism. as for the worshipers, 18 muhammad sholikhin, 17 jalan menggapai mahkota sufi, syaikh abdul qadir al-jailani, (jakarta: published by mutiara media, 2000), 83 19 see ibn khaldun, al-mukaddimah, (beirut: darul fikr, tt), 370-371 20 dewan redaksi ensiklopedi islam, ensiklopedia islam…, 73 21 al-mahdili, al-madkhal il al-tasawufi…, 79 22 dewan redaksi ensiklopedi islam, ensiklopedia islam…, 73 23 ibid., 73 [ 61 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 their souls accept to do good deeds, because they purify themselves with the light of islam. meanwhile, those with pure souls accept to do good deeds because they purify themselves with the light of faith.” 24 based on several descriptions of sufism terminology, it can be concluded that sufism is purifying the heart from everything that interferes with the self towards god, attempting to eliminate the influence of human origin, removing the character of weakness as a human being, avoiding all inclination to lust, drawing closer to the sacred nature based on knowledge of nature, using useful goods, giving advice that leads to virtue, and keeping promises to allah. in the midst of the different expert interpretations of sufism, abu al-wafa alganimi at-taftazani notes the characteristics of sufism in general. according to him, sufism has five characteristics: moral elevation, absolute essence instead of transience, direct intuitive knowledge, tranquility and happiness, and symbolic expression.25 according to sahib al-samahah, sufism in islam is not derived from any ideology or culture, including the teachings of hermes and neo-platonism, although objectively, arab-islamic civilization has never denied the al-tathir (influence of) and al-taaththur. (influenced by) other parties. however, when islamic mysticism is thought to be synonymous with the teachings of kabbalah (jews), hesychasm (orthodox christianity), and charismatics (protestantism) or religious syncretism, then this can be regarded as “blasphemy” against the sanctity of islamic teachings, because the theological basis between religions is very different.26 in the view of sahib al-samahah, the existence of sufism began long before the birth of humans. sahib al-samahah quoted the verse of the qur’an which reads: “verily, allah has chosen (purified) adam, noah, the family of abraham and the family of ‘imran over all people (in their respective times).”27 this concept is what ibn ‘arab called wahdah al-adyan, or unity of religions, (islam as the center point of all the abrahamic religions). it is undeniable that all abrahamic religions were initially hanîf religions and could be called islamic. however, these religions have since merged into the form of islam brought by the prophet muhammad (p.b.u.h). this notion does not mean that islam does not recognize and respect other religions. thus, sufism becomes the essence of islamic teachings, widely embodied in islam: faith, and ihsan; or shari’ah, tareqat, and hakikat; or ibadah,’ ubudiyah, and ‘ubudah. the three teachings are holistic and cannot be separated. the incorrect assumption is that islam is limited to carrying out the five pillars of islam. therefore, the practice of 24 al-ghazali, ihya’ ‘ulumuddin, (semarang: maktabah usaha keluarga, tt), 376 25 at-taftazani, tasawuf islam..., 4-5 26 lihat husni hidayat, “tajalliyât sufistik: dialektika nilai-nilai religius-humanistik”, in teosofi: jurnal tasawuf dan pemikiran islam, vol. 2 no. 2 december 2012, 223 27 see qs. ali imron: 33 [ 62 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 the five pillars of islam must be refined as a comprehensive religious building through perfecting faith and ihsan. on the other hand, although ihsan is the highest stage in religion, islam and faith are inseparable. the concept of zuhud (asceticism) in christianity, the practice of seclusion from society has been carried out by many monks since the beginning of the birth of christianity. in islamic history, sufism begins with zuhud (ascetic) life by the companions, tabi’een, tabi’u al-tabi’een, etc. ascetic behavior is considered an attempt to isolate oneself from the glittering world. this is thought to have much in common with the behavior of monks, of which christian teachings advise to abstain from indulgence and isolating oneself in the monasteries. this is compared to the lamps at night (in the arabian desert) illuminating the way for passing caravans, their tents being a haven for travelers who are starving. therefore, the similarity of ascetic behavior 28 is thought to be influenced by these christian monks.29 scientists who agree with this notion include goldzhiher. he classified mysticism into two parts. first, asceticism (zuhud), according to him, despite being influenced by christian clergy patterns, is more rooted in islamic teachings. second, sufism in a broad sense such as ma’rifah, hal, wijdan, and dzauq, is influenced by hindu teachings and neoplatonism.30 other scientists such as von kreamer, asin pacsios, o’leary noted something similar. von kreamer said that ascetic life in islam has been influenced by christian teachings that existed before the arrival of islam in syria and sinai. according to him, the ascetic life of muslims is inspired by the life of christian priests.31 according to at-taftazani, those who say that sufism originates from christianity utilize several arguments. first, the arab community and christians have interacted since the time of jahiliya. second, there are similarities in the life patterns of the sufis regarding the application of the teachings and practices of riyadhah (training the soul) and khalwat (seclusion) with the patterns of life of christian monks, as well as their appearance.32 meanwhile, according to abu al-’ala al-afifi, there are four factors behind the emergence of zuhud 28 every sufi is an ascetic, but not all ascetics are sufis. some people think that sufism is only synonymous with zuhud (asceticism). ibn sina emphasizes the differences between sufis, zuhud, and abid, namely: (1) people who stay away from worldly pleasures are called zahid, (2) people who engage in mahdhah worship are called ‘abid, (3) people who focus themselves and their minds for his lord and draw closer to him until the light of al-haq rises is called al-arif or al-sufi. abdul halim, tasawuf di dunia islam, (bandung: cv. pustaka setia, 2002), 24 29 harun nasution, falsafat dan mistisisme dalam islam, (jakarta: bulan bintang, 1973), 58 30 muhammad ghallab, at-tashawwuf al-muqarin, (mesir: maktabah al-nahdah, tt), 42 31 at-taftazani, tasawuf islam…, 28 32 at-taftazani, tasawuf islam…, 6 [ 63 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 (which is considered the origin of sufism) in islam, namely: (1) the teachings of islam itself; (2) islamic spiritual revolution against the social order and the ruling regime; (3) monasticism in christianity; and (4) the revolution against the experts islamic jurisdiction (fiqh) and the kalam.33 taftazani refuted the opinion that there is a christian influence by saying that the similarity of the practice of zuhud, for example, is not enough to be a reason that sufism originates from christianity. nicholson stated that the sources of sufism could not have come from values outside of islam. he also thought that even though christianity influenced islam, it was not a source for islam, because the asceticism they were arguing about was none other than islam itself.34 to conclude the discussion on the origins of sufism, it is interesting to reveal taftazani’s statement by making a reasonable hypothesis that islamic sufis have not only transformed sufism from christianity or other religions. that’s all because sufism is related to human instincts.35 the similarity between islamic mysticism and that of other religions does not necessarily indicate that islamic mysticism is derived from other religions. what is correct is that islamic mysticism comes from islam itself, because sufis have knowledge in the form of intuition and direct testimony, not from reason or argument.36 the same thing was also expressed by nicholson, as quoted by taftazani, who initially argued that sufism is not purely from islam. furthermore, he revised his own opinion by saying that every thought claimed to be foreign in islam and born in foreign cultures outside of islam, is actually born of asceticism and sufism that emerged in islam.37 a more detailed explanation was also revealed by massignon who divided four sources of terms in sufism: (1) the qur’an and this is the most important; (2) islamic arabic sciences, such as hadith, fiqh, nahwu, etc.; (3) the terms of the early kalam scholars; and (4) the scientific language formed from other languages such as greek, persian, etc. that became the language of science and philosophy in the sixth century eastern civilization.38 these are some of the different views on the existence of sufism. it is interesting to compare the views of scholars who attempted to find positive explanations about the nature of sufism. ibn al-jauzi and ibn khaldun classify the pattern of spirituality in islam into two aspects, namely: tasawuf (sufism) and zuhud (asceticism). although these two terms did not exist in the era of the prophet muhammad and are not explicitly mentioned in the qur’an, except for zuhud which is 33 ibid., 69-70 34 at-taftazani, tasawuf islam…, 29 35 ibid., 36 36 ibid., 36 37 ibid., 37 38 ibid., 38 [ 64 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 mentioned in surah yusuf verse 20.39 nasution revealed that the pattern of living to isolate oneself and stay away from worldly pursuits is also found in christian teachings. many arabic literatures tell about the lives of the monks who exiled themselves in the desert. their lamps guide the passing travelers, their camps are a refuge for the lost, and their generosity is food for the hungry.40 among the ascetic teachings originating from christianity are: (1) selfsufficient attitude, because prophet jesus was a self-sufficient person, and the bible was delivered to the poor as in matthew’s gospel: “blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of god. blessed are those who are hunger for they shall be filled.”; (2) the attitude of tawakkal (reliance on god), because the priests have practiced it in their life history as it is said in the bible: “look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them. are you not of more value than they?”; (3) the purpose of the christian priest is similar to that of the murshid in the islamic tariqat, except that the priest has the authority to erase sins, while the murshid does not; and (4) refrain from marrying. marriage is considered a barrier and can even distract from god, because for a sufi forgetting god for a moment is a sin.41 this is different from the concept of zuhud in islam which has a broader meaning. zuhud is divided into three levels: first (lowest), abstaining from worldly indulgence in order to avoid punishment in the afterlife; second, staying away from this world by weighing the rewards in the afterlife; the third (highest) isolates the world not out of fear or out of hope, but out of love for allah.42 when imam al-junaid was asked about zuhud, he said, “zuhud is considering the world as small and removing its scars from the heart”.43 abu sulaiman ad-darani said, “zuhud means leaving what keeps you busy from allah”.44 ibn al-qayyim said, “the wise people have agreed that zuhud is removing the heart from the world, and bringing it to the hereafter”.45 according to ibn al-qayyim, the qur’an is filled with suggestions for detachment from the world, the humiliation of the world with all its shortcomings, its end and the immediacy of its destruction; and contains suggestions for longing for the 39 ibrahim, muhammd zaki,   abjadiyyah al-tashawwuf al-islam,  (translation) abdul syukur and rivai usman, tasawuf salafi, (jakarta: hikmah, 2002), 29 40 harun nasution, falsafat dan mistisisme dalam islam…, 63 41 jamil, m., cakrawala tasawuf, (ciputat: gaung persada press, 2004), 89 42 see rosihon anwar, akhlak tasawuf, (bandung: pustaka setia, 2010), 200 43 muhammad bin abi bakar ayyub al-zar’i abu ‘abdillah, madarij al-salikin, jilid 2, (beirut, dar al-kitab al-‘ilmiyyah, 1973), 11 44 ibid., 11 45 ibid., 12 [ 65 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 hereafter, news of its glory and eternity.46 there are three signs of zuhud that must exist in a person’s mind, namely: (1) not to be excited with what one possesses and not to be sad with what one has lost; (2) it is the same on the side of the one who criticizes and the one who abuses him. the former is a sign of detachment from wealth while the latter a sign of detachment from position; and (3) he should be with allah and his heart should be dominated by the grace of obedience. for the heart cannot be completely free from love; love of the world or love of god. these two forms of love in the heart are like water and air in a glass. when you put water in a glass, the air comes out. the two cannot be one. everyone who is ‘familiar’ with allah will surely be busy with him and will not be busy with anything other than him.47 the concept of wahdat al-wujud regarding the concept of wahdat al-wujud (the unity of existence), in the theology of the new testament, it begins with a belief, namely god exists that he created humans and continues to care for them.48 in john 4:24 it is stated that “god is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”. the teachings of christian theology are indeed very close to the term “union of the spirit of god and the spirit of man.” therefore, for later we know the term trinity in christianity. the concept of god’s relationship with man in christianity is that man was created in god’s likeness, therefore man is his image and praise. the similarity between man and god is in his holiness and righteousness, even though this is actually spiritual. knowledge of god appears in the revelation of his word through the holy spirit, then in the reality of belief and obedience. christian belief is rooted in sanctifying the personal meaning of jesus who is seen as christ the savior. obedience to christ’s call is faith; in faith it is god’s justice and his grace that can be known. faith is the determination of human action through the essence of the church (religion) taught by jesus christ through the “human god’’ approach”.49 man’s relationship with god’s creatureliness is expressed only through the wholeness of christ’s message. with the position of human god as a being in the kingdom of god, and the position of god as king, humans must obey and submit to his commands. obedience to god is an absolute condition for man’s repentance to him. it can happen only if a servant traverses the path of god and desires to identify himself with god. the relationship between man 46 ibid. see qs. al-hadid 57:20-23, ali ‘imran 3 : 14, asy-syuuraa 42: 20, an nisaa’ 4: 77 47 said hawwa, mensucikan jiwa (konsep tazkiyatun nafs terpadu: intisari ihya ‘ulumuddin al-ghazali), (jakarta: robbani press, 1998), 329 48 donald guthrie, teologi perjanjian baru i, (terj.) lisda t gamadhi, (jakarta: bpk gunung mulia, 1995), 43 49 ajat sudrajat, tafsir inklusif makna islam, (yogyakarta: ak group yogya, 2004), 128 [ 66 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 and god with the most climax of sacrifice is found in the personality of jesus. jesus sacrificed himself for the salvation of many people through atonement for sins. during his life, jesus founded religion on the principle of love. this principle is used as the basis for reinterpreting the laws of the law (mark 12:31; 2:23-28; 7:1-23, matthew 22:40; 23:23; 5:17-58, and luke 10:2537). the most basic is found in mark 12:31, namely: “jesus answered: the chief commandment is; hear, o israel, our lord allah, the lord is one. love the lord, your god, with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. and the second is; love your neighbor as yourself. there is no other law that is more important than these two laws.”50 this is the essence of christian religiosity, monotheistic values, and the pattern of relations between humans and god. it is also between humans themselves which is also similar to islam. so, the meeting point of these three religions is an understanding of the meaning of al-islam itself which means submission, obedience and complete surrender to god.51 in christianity, there is the concept of hypostatic union. it is the term used to describe how god the son, jesus christ, took on the form of a human, while a perfect god at the same. jesus is forever god,52 but when incarnated, jesus took a human body and became human.53 the combination of the human nature with the divine nature becomes jesus, man-god. this is the hypostatic union, jesus christ as one person-perfect god and perfect man. the two natures of jesus, his humanity and divinity, cannot be separated from each other. jesus is forever man-god; perfect god and perfect human; two distinct natures in one person. the humanity and divinity of jesus do not mix, but unite without losing their unique identity. sometimes jesus functions with human limitations,54 but at other times by the power of his divinity.55 this doctrine of hypostatic union is an attempt to explain how jesus is both god and man at the same time. however, this doctrine is certainly not fully understood by humans. it is impossible for a finite and sinful human being to fully understand the workings of god. in short, hypostatic union teaches that jesus is both god and a perfect human, that there is no mixing or subtraction of any of these natures. he is a unified person, forever. whereas in islam there is the concept of wahdat al-wujud (unity of existence), starting from the basic assumption which states that the essence of existence is substantially one (jawhariha) and is counted in terms of attribution and 50 ibid., 133 51 see qs. ali imran: 83, 85 52 see john 8:58; 10:30 53 see john1:14 54 see john 4:6; 19:28 55 see john11:43; matthew 14:18-21 [ 67 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 identity (al-sifat wa al-asma).56 in this case, it must be distinguished between wujud (existence) as a pure ontological attribute and maujud (existent being) as existing or existing objects. wujud is also called “ens”, which is the metaphysical act of existence, which is full of mysterious veils and mawjud as “esto”, or something that exists.57 the former ‘existence’ is transcendent, while the latter becomes immanent. therefore, the doctrine of ibn ‘arabi is called wahdat al-wujud, not wahdat al-mawjud. according to this notion, there is only one existence, god, and nothing else. the things that seem to exist are merely manifestations or theophany (tajally) of god’s existence. it is at this point that the pantheistic nature of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud is questioned. in this case, pantheism is meant in the sense that god has an immanent cause; does the unity of existence then make god immanent? in fact, this notion is understood in two ways; some are of the view that ibn ‘arabi’s wahdat al-wujud style is indeed pantheistic and some say otherwise. nevertheless, the concept of sufism which was later raised by al-junaid al-bagdadi and al-ghazali is a criticism that challenges the radicalism and liberalism of sufism that had been developed by ibn ‘arabi, abu yazid al-bustami, and husain ibn mansur al-hallaj. the radicalism and liberalism of their sufism denied the concrete reality of man himself in the concepts of maqam (levels), fana (destruction), and baqa (eternity),58 ittihad (unity), dan hulul (incarnation).59 the process of spiritual awareness maturation, according to these academics, begins with the elimination of human concrete consciousness (fana) to reach eternal metaphysical consciousness (baqa), and then to a higher level, unity (ittihad). there is no longer any existence except the existence of god, because god has already taken the incarnated (hulul) place in humans after their human nature disappears. this concept is known as wahdat al-wujud and eventually led to the killing of al-hallaj with the death penalty, and albustami was considered a madman whom people abandoned. al-junaid and al-ghazali’s criticism of the concept attempted to realign the concept of sufism by remaining grounded in the concrete reality of man himself. they limited the maqam of sufism only to mahabbah and marifah,60 a stage of maqam that places humans in their own concrete consciousness. according to al-junaid, the highest consciousness is to accept suffering (mulim) or favors (ladzdzah). thus, there is still a distance between man and god. 56 ibn ‘arabi, fusush al-hikam, vol. 1 (beirut: dar al-kitab a’araby, t.t.), 24. 57 seyyed hossein nasr, knowledge and the sacred (new york: state university of new york press, 1989), 124 58 abu al-qasim an-naisabari al-qusyairi, ar-risalat al-qusyairiyah, (terj.) m. lukman hakiem, risalatul qusyairiyah: induk ilmu tasawuf. (surabaya: risalah gusti, 1999), 67 59 abu nashr as-sarraj ath-thusi. al-luma’. (cairo: dar kitab al-haditsah, 1960), 541 60 nasr, sayyed hossein. living sufism. (london: paperbacks, 1980), 65 [ 68 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 again, the subject of wahdat al-wujud in religions, including christianity, is interpreted as a doctrine of ibn arabi in the unity of being or unity of transcendence which is also known as pantheism.61 with his concept of wahdat al-wujud, ibn arabi is considered a figure who believes in religious pluralism, where there is unity of religions. in this view, ibn arabi allegedly rejected the external rituals and dogmatic forms of each religion.62 this was not much different from the form of the wahdat al-wujud approach, but this time it became more specific to the esoteric-exoteric dialectic, because ibn arabi seemed to be more inclined to look at the ‘deep’ and ‘universal’ esoteric dimensions than rituals or dogmas that are in the exoteric dimensions.63 ibn arabi’s view was misrepresented by william c. chittick, because he misinterpreted ibn arabi’s poetry in al-futuhat al-makiyyah chapter 339, noting chittick said there is no limit to the universality of the abrahamic religions that came before islam. chittick said that muslims guaranteed the freedom of other religions based on surah qs. al-shaff: 6, qs. al-anbiya: 25, qs. al-nisa: 171, and qs. thaha: 123-124.64 thus there should be no self-claim on the universality of the prophethood of muhammad. chittick wrote: “it is true that many muslims believe that the universality of guidance pertains only to pre qur’anic times, but others disagree; there is no ‘orthodox’ interpretation here that muslims must accept”.65 chittick also wrote, “even ibnu ‘arabi who was not afraid to attack the limitations of the juridical and theological mentalities, often defends a literal reading of the people of the book, without suggesting that by ‘christian’ or ‘jews’ the qur’an means anyone other than the contemporary practitioners of those religions.”66 in fact, chittick was inspired by ibn arabi’s poems. but did ibn arabi approve it? no, in fact, the explanation has been summarized in the book which turns 61 despite the fact that the parallelization of the concept of pantheism with wahdat al-wujud found many contradictions between scholars, including seyyed hossein nasr himself, wahdat al-manifest is believed to be a substantial continuity between god and nature, so that if it is read critically, it will be understood that wahdat al-wujud can be a fundamental difference between the identification of the ontological essence of divinity and the continuity of the substance and identity of god. seyyed hossein nasr, three muslims sages, (lahore: suhail academy, 1999), 105. in ibn arabi’s own work, the term wahdat al-wujud is not even found. quoting syamsuddin arif, the term wahdat al-wujud was first introduced, most likely by sadruddin al-qunawi, a student and stepson of ibn arabi. this concept was then continuously popularized by later writers such as ibnu sab’in (w. 646 h/ 1248 m) and afifufin al-tilmisani. in conclusion, wahdat al-wujud is just a fragment of interpretation that is not objective and actually written in the name of ibn arabi. syamsuddin arif, orientalisme & diabolisme pemikiran, (depok: gema insani press, 2008), 267 62 seyyed hossein nasr, three muslims sags…, 116 63 ibid., 117 64 ibid., 117 65 william c. chittick, imaginal worlds: ibnu al-‘arabi and the problem of the religious diversity, (new york, state university of new york press: 1994), 124 66 ibid., 125 [ 69 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 out to be used by sophia perennis followers.67 in that work, ibn arabi explained the relationship of other religions with islam. he stated that the abrahamic religions that were revealed before the message of prophet muhammad must be believed to be true in their respective historical contexts.68 even in volume 3 chapter 36, ibn arabi explains if jesus descended now, he would not lead us, but would follow the sunnah of prophet muhammad. so, ibn arabi is not a ‘pluralist’. it turns out that ibn arabi still agrees that jews and christians who convert to islam are not considered as apostates, because their teachings purely oblige to follow the teachings of prophet muhammad.69 those are some examples that can still be investigated further regarding the manipulation of ibn arabi’s thoughts, not only limited to the legitimacy of perennial philosophy 70, but also other concepts of religious pluralism.71 thus, it appears that the concept of the trinity in christianity means that there are three eternal persons in the essence of the one god: the father, the son, and the holy spirit. these three persons are known as the three personalities of god. in christianity, this belief should not be called polytheism, but a model of monotheism, because the second and third persons are part of god the father. in other words, the three are in oneness or oneness in three. meanwhile, the concept of wahdat al-wujud in islam signifies that allah used to be in his absolute solitude. then, he thought of himself so that his names and attributes appeared, then he created the universe. so, the whole universe contains allah, so that allah is the only real existence and the universe is only his shadow. based on this opinion, a sufi can get out of the aspect of a creature and can unify with allah. criticism and re-interpretation of sufism in the name of sufism, many of the scholars, who are generally sunni, reject the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud and the attainment of spiritual experiences that are in line with this doctrine such as al-ittihad and al-hulul because they do not understand it. the scholars who claim to defend sufism denounce the sect 67 according to al-taftazani, there are two great works written by ibn arabi; al-futuhat al-makiyyah and fusush al-hikam, al-taftazani, tasawwuf al-islami…, 200. these two works are in fact closely related to the perennial philosophy’s point of view with sufism. the first is fusush al-hikam with the concept of wahdat al-wujud and al-futuhat al-makiyyah with the concept of transcendent unity of religions. 68 muhyiddin ibn arabi, al-futuhat al-makiyyah, jilid 6, (beirut: dar sadir), 301-302 69 ibid., vol. 7, 149 70 one of the famous perennial philosophy figures is frithjof schuon who gives a view on the unity of religions in the transcendent realm. perennial philosophy believes in the existence of a universal eternal unity that relies on the esoteric dimensions of religions. this esoteric dimension is conceptually different from the esoteric dimension, where the esoteric dimension is an inner spiritual dimension; the esoteric dimension is the external dimension of religions in the form of rituals, or other secondary branches of religions. for more details, read frithjof schuon, the transcendent unity of religion, (illinois: theosophical publishing house, 1984) 71 syamsuddin arif, orientalisme dan diabolisme pemikiran…, 262 [ 70 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 which teaches the teachings of wahdat al-wujud and beliege it deviates from islam. they divide sufism into two types: “sunni sufism’’ and “philosophical sufism.” the first type of sufism is sufism considered to adhere to the qur’an and the sunnah. this type of sufism, often called “akhlaqi sufism” or “amali sufism,” fences itself off with the qur’an and the sunnah while staying away from deviations that lead to heresy and disbelief. the second type of sufism is said to not adhere to the qur’an and the sunnah. this type of sufism incorporates into its teachings the philosophical elements from outside islam, such as: christianity, greek, persina, and expresses its teachings by using philosophical terms and special symbols that are difficult to understand by many people. sunni sufism, as it is usually recognized by many scholars, reached its peak of perfection in al-ghazali. he is considered a hero who contributed to the building of sunni sufism. he is considered successful in reconciling sufism and orthodoxy, or between sufism and shari’a, so that sufism can be accepted by shari’a experts. the assessment that al-ghazali was a supporter of sunni sufism and not a supporter of philosophical sufism is incorrect. alghazali personally adhered to very radical esoteric and philosophical views as revealed in the mishkat al-anwar, which was intended for a limited circle of his students.72 the sufism that he personally professes is philosophical sufism, or specifically called “theosophical sufism.” it is not surprising that people accuse al-ghazali of being two-faced while outwardly teaching moderate sufism which is seen as sunni sufism, while personally adhering to philosophical sufism. the classification of sufism into these two types, sunni sufism and philosophical sufism, needs to be addressed with a critical note. this classification views sufism derived from the quran and the sunnah is only sunni sufism. according to this classification, philosophical sufism which reached its peak in ibn arabi is considered sufism that deviates from the qur’an and the sunnah, brings bid’ah and heresy, because it is incompatible with islam. obviously, the supporters of philosophical sufism reject the accusation that their sufism is deviant. they view philosophical sufism still being in line with the qur’an and the sunnah. the accusation arises because of a misunderstanding or inability to understand this type of sufism. even william c. chittick and michel chodkiewicz, honestly argued that all of ibn arabi’s works were, in fact, none other than interpretations of the qur’an. ibn arabi mentioned that the highest saints of allah are ahl al-qur’an and ahl al-haqq. this classification is at the same time a reflection of the dislike of sunni scholars for philosophy. this distaste has killed, or at least hindered the development of philosophy in the islamic world. 72 see abu hamid al-ghazali, misykat al-anwar, (cairo: al-dar al-qawmiyyah, 1964) [ 71 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 another criticism of sufism is the tendency to commercialize the implementation of sufism studies and practices. in the past, sufism was criticized because it was considered to ignore worldly life and material pleasures. now sufism is criticized because it is misused to seek business-economic benefits. in the past, the sufism that was criticized was ascetic sufism, while now the sufism that is being criticized is business sufism. in fact, sufism does not forbid business for sufis. even business is a respectable job to earn a living. many of the sufis and members of the tareqat conduct business activities. it is clear that business sufism is not the same as the business of sufis and members of sufi tareqat. the business conducted by sufis and members of the tareqat is an honorable act as long as it is carried out in accordance with the shari’a and is intended for worship and spiritual improvement. in the perspective of sufism, the most urgent thing is to restore the sanctity of religious studies and its implications on life.73 for this reason, i assert it is necessary to re-interpret sufism in which in the modern age sufism is not only purely transience-oriented to unite with god, but also the fulfillment of our responsibilities as god’s caliphs who must improve fellow humans and other creatures. in other words, sufism does not only contain a theophanic dimension of mortality, but also a profane dimension in which there are worldwide interests of fellow human beings. efforts to develop spiritual values should not only survive the negative influences of modernization, but also be able to affect and provide direction for the formation of a creative and dynamic religious community life. therefore, efforts are needed. first, to develop an anticipatory attitude as an implementation of the principle of almuhafazah ‘ala al-qadim al-shalih wa al-akhzu bi al-jadid al-ashlah (maintaining the old good and adopting the new which is good). second, foster a creative attitude in accordance with the principle of iqamat al-maslahah (building welfare). third, combining amali sufism and philosophical sufism so that there is a balance (tawazun) between the practiced values and an understanding of these values. fourth, combining monotheism, shari’ah, and sufism as a unit that cannot be separated so that understanding of religious issues can be fully achieved. fifth, bringing into practice the meanings contained in the teachings of sufism and providing precise understanding of terms that can cause misunderstandings such as zuhud, hubb al-dunya (love of the world), etc., and making new interpretations. thus, in the future when talking about sufis, it will no longer imply traditional people, but there are “rich sufis and sufis who wear a tie”.74 re-interpretation and contextualization of the spiritual values of sufism will be more significant 73 al-ghazali, ihya’ ulum al-din, juz i…, 9-10 74 “rich sufis and sufis wearing a tie” is the term used by said agil husain al-munawar, alqur’an membangun tradisi kesalehan hakiki, (ciputat pers, jakarta, 2002), 356 [ 72 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 if they are conducted at an applicable level in people’s lives. the concept of sincerity and love, for example, will be meaningful if these sufistic values are practiced in all aspects of social life, in the domains of politics, economy, culture, etc. corruption, collusion, and nepotism, horizontal conflicts, disputes among the nation’s offspring, as well as various other social ills will naturally decrease if this concept is socialized from an early age. how beautiful it is for the ummah to start a job with sincerity, and to establish relationships between fellow humans with a sense of love as the qur’an and the hadith recommend loving each other. however, it would be more reasonable if the application of sufistic values in modern life was strengthened with systematic institutionalization and movement. one thing that should be emphasized here is that sufism in islam is not derived from or influenced by other religions, especially christianity. even though there are similarities in the practices between islamic sufis and christian monks, it does not mean that islam adopted them. in the islamic texts themselves, many implicitly teach about sufism. the concept of asceticism in christianity is different from zuhud in islam. asceticism in christianity teaches more about self-sufficiency and reliance on god; the purpose of the priest resembles the murshid in the islamic tareqat, but the priest has the authority to erase sins, while the murshid does not; and christian monks refrain from marrying. meanwhile, zuhud in islam has a broader meaning, namely: staying away from worldly pursuit in order to avoid the punishment in the hereafter; stay awaying from worldly indulgence by considering the rewards of the hereafter; and isolating oneself not because of fear or because of hope, but because of love for allah. similarly are the teachings of hypostatic union in christianity and wahdat al-wujud in islam. in the teachings of hypostatic union (trinity), god’s relationship with humans (humans being created in the equality of god) are strongly opposed in islamic teachings. jesus is forever man-god as two distinct natures in one person. the humanity and divinity of jesus do not mix, but unite without losing their unique identity. however, from a christian point of view, this belief should not be called polytheism. meanwhile, wahdat al-wujud in islam teaches that allah is one and absolute. allah is the only real existence and the universe is only his shadow. so a sufi can even get out of the aspect of creatureliness and can unite with god. conclusion sufism is a conscious activity that aims to create a direct relationship with god, which leads a person to get close or even unite with him. sufism is the essence of the islamic faith, which is often extended to include islam, faith, and [ 73 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 ihsan; or often referred to as shari’ah, tareqat, and hakiqat; or called ‘ibadah,’ ubudiyah, and ‘ubudah. in islam there is no clerical system as in christianity. islamic sufis did not transform sufism from christianity or other religions because sufism is related to human instincts. in addition, the human soul is one despite different societies and nations. the similarities of the practice of zuhud do not serve as the reason that sufism is rooted in christianity. the concept of wahdat al-wujud or transcendent unity in christianity also has similarities with islam. the differences between the two lie in the esoteric and exoteric dimensions. however, al-junaid and al-ghazali limited the maqam of sufism to only mahabbah and marifah, a stage of maqam that still places humans in their own concrete consciousness. thus, there is still a distance between man and god. in this modern era, there is a need for a re-interpretation of sufism, in which sufism is not only purely oriented towards transience to unite with god, but also the fulfillment of our responsibilities as god’s caliphs who must improve fellow humans and other creatures. in other words, sufism not only contains a theophanic dimension of mortality, but also a profane dimension in which there are worldwide interests of fellow human beings. bibliography abdillah, m. a. b. a. z. a. (1973). madarij al-salikin, jilid 2. beirut: dar al-kitab al-‘ilmiyyah. aceh, a. b. (1984). pengantar sejarah sufi dan tasawuf. solo: ramadlani. anwar, r. (2010). akhlak tasawuf, bandung: pustaka setia. arabi, m. ( ). al-futuhat al-makiyyah. beirut: dar sadir. arabi, i. ( ). fusush al-hikam, vol. 1. beirut: dar al-kitab a’araby. arif, s. (2008). orientalisme & diabolisme pemikiran. depok: gema insani press. ath-thusi, a. n. s. (1960). al-luma’. kairo: dar kitab al-haditsah. at-taftazani, a. w. g. (2008). tasawuf islam; telaah historis dan perkembangannya. jakarta: gaya media pratama. chittick, w. c. (1994). imaginal worlds: ibnu al-‘arabi and the problem of the religious diversity. new york: state university of new york press). dahlia, s. (2017). “trinitas dan sifat tuhan: studi analisis perbandingan antara teologi kristen dan teologi islam” jurnal penelitian, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017. dewan redaksi ensiklopedi islam. (1993). ensiklopedia islam jilid 5. jakarta, [ 74 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 pt. ichtiar baru van hoeve. ghallab, m. ( ). at-tashawwuf al-muqarin. mesir: maktabah al-nahdah. ghazali, a. h. ( ). ihya’ ‘ulumuddin. beirut: dar al-khair. ---------. (1964). misykat al-anwar. kairo: al-dar al-qawmiyyah. guthrie, d. (1995). teologi perjanjian baru i, (translated by lisda t gamadhi). jakarta: bpk gunung mulia. halim, a. (2002). tasawuf di dunia islam. bandung: cv. pustaka setia. hawwa, s. (1998). mensucikan jiwa (konsep tazkiyatun nafs terpadu: intisari ihya ‘ulumuddin al-ghazali). jakarta: robbani press. hidayat, h. (2012). “tajalliyât sufistik: dialektika nilai-nilai religius-humanistik”, in teosofi: jurnal tasawuf dan pemikiran islam, volume 2 nomor 2. jamil, m. (2004). cakrawala tasawuf. ciputat: gaung persada press. kabbani, m. h. (2007). tasawuf dan ihsan; antivirus kebatilan dan kedzaliman. jakarta: penerbit serambi. khaldun, i. ( ). al-mukaddimah. beirut: darul fikr. munawar, s. a. h. (2002). al-qur’an membangun tradisi kesalehan hakiki. jakarta: ciputat pers. mcginn, b. (1991). the presence of god: a history of western christian mysticism. new york: crossroad. nasr, seyyed hossein, knowledge and the sacred (new york: state university of new york press, 1989). nasr, s. h. (1980). living sufism. london: paperbacks. -------. (1999). three muslims sages. lahore: suhail academy. nasution, h. (1973). filsafat dan mistisisme dalam islam. jakarta: bulan bintang. nicholson, r.a. (2002). the mystic of islam. canada: world wisdom. qusyairi, a. q. n. (1999). ar-risalat al-qusyairiyah (ttranslated by m. lukman hakiem) as risalatul qusyairiyah: induk ilmu tasawuf. surabaya: risalah gusti. roham, a. (1984). pembicaraan disekitar bible dan qur’an dalam segi isi dan riwayat penulisannya. jakarta: bulan bintang. scholem, g. g. (1954). major trends in jewish mysticism. new york: schocken [ 75 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 books. schuon, f. (1983). memahami islam (translated by anas mahyuddin). bandung: pustaka. -------. (1984). the transcendent unity of religion. illinois: theosophical publishing house. schumann, o. (1993). pemikiran keagamaan dalam tantangan. jakarta: gramedia. sholikhin, m. (2000). 17 jalan menggapai mahkota sufi, syaikh abdul qadir al-jailani. jakarta: penerbit mutiara media. siswoyo, e. (2016). meditasi dalam tradisi kristiani”, kelompok meditasi gereja st. yakobus, jakarta, dalam http://www.meditasikristiani.com/, diakses tanggal 19 juni 2016. sudrajat, a. (2004). tafsir inklusif makna islam. yogyakarta: ak group yogya. waryono. (2011). beberapa problem teologis antara islam dan kristen, esensia vol. xii no. 1, 2011 [ 76 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1804 [ 287 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 religion and philanthropy: islamic teaching during the israel-palestine conflict anis farida uin sunan ampel, indonesia email: anis6872farida@gmail.com sulaiman university of dundee, united kingdom email: 2623895@dundee.ac.uk ahmad rahmatullah airlangga prio handoko universitas gadjah mada, indonesia email: ahmadrahmatullahairlanggaph@mail.ugm.ac.id azizah rizqi mufidah universitas gadjah mada, indonesia email: azizahmufidah@gmail.com yazid imam bustomi universitas gadjah mada, indonesia email: yazidimambustomi@gmail.com abstract religious teachings are essential to note in seeing the phenomenon of massive islamic social movements that occur around the world and awareness of a humanitarian movement based on dogmatic values and moral foundations. previous studies have not explored the aspect of religious teachings on islamic social movements in the context of armed conflict, so this research must be carried out. previous studies have focused more on antitheses to misinterpretations of islamic teachings and less on accommodating philanthropic perspectives in war analysis and macro implications in the digital age. this study covers the interpretation of islamic teachings that encourage philanthropy, islamic social movements, and morality-based solidarity in response to the israeli-palestinian conflict. the desk research method is used to collect data through the quran, hadith, social media, and library research. the stages of analysis include the interpretation of the postulates that encourage philanthropy, the perspective of social movements, and fundamental moral theories to provide a holistic picture of the phenomenon of islamic philanthropy in the digital era. the findings of this study include the conclusions of islamic religious teachings that invite muslims to do philanthropy, the internalization of religious teachings as a driver of islamic social movements, and moral encouragement that influences an actor’s action in doing philanthropy. the resulting recommendations involve the collaboration of state institutions [ 288 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 with all levels of society to ensure security and increase legitimacy in conducting fundraising and providing assistance to victims of armed conflict in palestine. keywords: islamic teaching; philanthropy; israel-palestine conflict introduction the teachings of islam are often negatively stigmatized by the global community. the negative stigma attached to islam is in the form of a religion that promotes theism, violence, and domination of women’s groups (ali, 2015). the prolonged negative stigma against islam can shape an unfavorable global character for muslims in the long run. islam has become a scapegoat in every international conflict. muslim communities experience discrimination to this day due to terror events in the name of islam. hatred against muslims in the united states still occurs today (amrullah, 2023). as many as 3.35 million muslims in the united states experience discrimination by groups outside islam, 74% of the us muslim population said president donald trump was unfriendly towards muslim groups (bbc, 2017). the negative stigma against islam has led to polarization in the global community and acts of violence by islamophobic groups (narasi, 2023). the re-promotion of islamic teachings that encourage philanthropy should emphasize the internal solidarity of muslims, highlighting how philanthropy fosters a sense of unity among the muslim community itself. rather than solely framing philanthropy as a means to support non-muslims, such as in palestine, this approach strengthens the narrative against the stigmatization of islam. it makes the connection between islamic values and common welfare more concrete. so far, studies have paid less attention to islamic teachings that encourage philanthropy. there are very few studies that examine the position of islamic teachings in promoting human welfare amidst conflict in the digital era (kadri, 2022; muzayyin et al., 2021; safei, 2021). the existing studies do not accommodate the perspective of digital society in showing the implications of islamic teachings in ensuring social welfare. firstly, studies emphasize the antithesis of misinterpretations of islamic teachings that encourage violence (abdillah & innayah, 2022; abdullah alamshani & abdulrazaq aljoufi, 2022; sadiq & ahmad, 2020). second, existing studies do not accommodate philanthropic perspectives in war analysis; philanthropy is given less attention in an armed conflict (austin, 2018; horowitz-rozen & gilboa, 2018; tamanoi, 2023). third, studies on the reinterpretation of islamic teachings do not show the macro implications that concern the global community system in the digital era. instead, many studies map the issue of reinterpreting islamic [ 289 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 teachings to clarify misperceptions of islamic teachings (afifah & hakiemah, 2022; osborne, 2020; rady & verheijde, 2015a). based on the three trends above, the study of promoting islamic teachings to encourage philanthropy during the israeli and palestinian conflicts in the digital era has not been studied thoroughly. additionally, findings from law enforcement suggest that philanthropy and fundraising in conflict areas are sometimes exploited to finance terrorism movements (bauer & levitt, 2020). research indicates that in conflict zones, funds raised for humanitarian purposes can be diverted to support terrorist activities, as highlighted in several case studies by law enforcement agencies (jofre et al., 2024). this study aims to fill the gap of previous studies in looking at the reinterpretation of islamic teachings that has been done so far. the implicative question for this study is that the lack of a globalized understanding in the digital era has not been thoroughly examined. three questions were formulated to provide an overview of the global muslim movement. firstly, what is the form of islamic teachings that encourage philanthropy? second, how is the implementation of these teachings in the context of defending the welfare of the palestinian people in armed conflict in the digital era? third, what are the implications of the philanthropic actions of the muslim community in the digital era for war victims? the answers to these three questions provide a map of understanding of islamic teachings in the islamic community movement in the digital era that can be used as a model for the formulation of action plans to ensure the welfare of war victims. this paper is based on an argument that the existence of islamic teachings on philanthropy encourages islamic social movements in defense of palestine in armed conflict. the narratives and arguments in islamic teachings cannot be separated from the behavioral patterns of the global muslim community in providing support to palestine. at the same time, the international muslim movement occurs through digital media platforms as a form of modernization in interpreting religious teachings. islamic teachings that encourage philanthropy are able to give rise to a global islamic social movement in the form of philanthropic action. this is a collective awareness that arises towards a value. the massive philanthropic movement by muslims carried out through social media platforms is a response to the moral basis between people structured by dogmatic forces in the teachings of a religion. from this description, it can be seen that the teachings of islam are a precondition for the philanthropic movement of a community group. islamic teachings are a set of values that guide the lives of muslims. studies show that muslims view islamic teachings as a guide to life based on beliefs and noble [ 290 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 life goals (rady & verheijde, 2015b). in line with that, there are two primary sources of islamic teachings: the qur’an and the hadith (wildani & nahriyah, 2022). the qur’an, the holy book of islam, is believed to be the revelation of god received by the prophet muhammad saw, it contains values in the form of aqidah, worship, morals, law, history, and science (masitah & rosana, 2019; nurhadi, 2020). on the other hand, hadiths are all the words, actions, and agreements of the prophet muhammad (umayah, 2023). furthermore, the teachings of islam as a whole include arrangements regarding human relationships with the creator and fellow humans (arif, 2021). based on the belief in the values contained in the qur’an and hadith, islamic teachings are not only a comprehensive guide in aspects of muslim life but also lead to the regulation of spiritual and social relationships that are lived in an effort to achieve noble life goals. there are characteristics that describe the teachings of islam. the study found five trends. firstly, tauhid is a concept in islam that teaches about belief in god; this includes the idea that only god is worshipped and nothing else is equal (siradj, 2014). second, the message as a concept refers to the prophet as god’s messenger to deliver revelation to humanity; the message includes guidance and teachings of god (echevarria, 2023). third, the afterlife in islamic teachings refers to the afterlife that comes after the day of judgment. islam teaches the existence of life after death and the day of judgment for mankind (turan et al., 2020). fourth, sharia is an instruction on the rules of islamic law, which contains commands and prohibitions taken from the qur’an and hadith to regulate muslims’ religious and social life (hasanah et al., 2021). fifth, worship in islam refers to a form of worship that includes prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj, and dhikr, through worship, one can get closer to allah (begum et al., 2021). the above description is the main principle in islamic teachings. existing studies see philanthropy as the practice of volunteering resources to improve well-being. the study by powell (2019) shows the importance of philanthropy as a solution to social problems. in line with that, philanthropy is key to community development due to moral motivation for humanitarian purposes (liu, 2020). philanthropy plays a role in improving the quality of people’s lives not only through material support but also through community empowerment (sabar et al., 2022). in line with that, philanthropy is able to create equal access to public facilities in a community group by building and procuring infrastructure (tang et al., 2022). philanthropy stimulates innovation to stimulate economic growth (azhar et al., 2022). overall, philanthropy is not just about providing material assistance but also a driving force for positive social and economic change, playing a key role in realizing [ 291 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 community welfare and creating long-term impact. there is a wide range of philanthropic practices that can be used to improve well-being. studies have found three trends. first, the most common form of philanthropy is making cash donations to groups in need or through foundations or institutions engaged in the humanitarian field (ferguson et al., 2018; jia & zhang, 2014; takashina et al., 2023). second, in addition to material philanthropy, it can be done by mobilizing time by volunteering to participate in a charity activity (tupper et al., 2020; wiepking et al., 2023). third, on the other hand, community empowerment by conducting training and mentoring is also a form of philanthropy that can be useful for the welfare of a community in the long term (bahjatulloh, 2016; roli. a & anis, 2021). so, it can be understood that philanthropy can be in the form of providing material and non-material assistance. the conflict between israel and palestine is a political and territorial issue that has been going on for decades (eliandy et al., 2023). the study by atanasiu (2021) shows the complexity of the roots of the conflict, which include historical, religious, political, and social factors. the conflict is rooted in territorial claims between israel and palestine on jerusalem, which is considered holy by islam, christianity, and judaism (atshan & galor, 2020). the religious aspect plays a role in this conflict, adding to the complexity of the conflict and tensions between groups (wuraafi, 2020). the absence of intervention from external parties, such as the un, has an impact that maintains the conflict (louwerse, 2020). in line with that, the socio-economic disparity between israelis and palestinians creates dissatisfaction on the israeli side (kreitem, 2020). the conflict between israel and palestine is a complex issue that encompasses history, religion, politics, and social issues, with territorial claims in jerusalem considered holy by the three major religions. religious factors and economic inequality complicate the resolution of the conflict, while external involvement and international policies contribute to the continuation of tensions. the conflict continues to be a political and territorial challenge that requires a holistic approach to achieve a peaceful and sustainable solution. the primary sources for this study are the qur’an, hadith, social media platforms, and secondary data, including journal articles. the search for qur’anic verses that discuss philanthropy was conducted using the “al-qur’an indonesia” application by entering keywords such as “alms, infaq, and helping.” data sources derived from hadith were collected by entering keywords on the google search engine with the keywords “hadith about infaq and the virtue of alms.” data related to digital philanthropy and the response of palestinians were taken through social media platforms such as tiktok, youtube, and [ 292 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 instagram. after all the data was collected, content analysis was conducted on the postulates and content of social media posts. the drivers of philanthropy the qur’anic command provides a moral and spiritual foundation for muslims to respond to the phenomena that occur around us. in this case, the phenomenon of the humanitarian crisis that occurred between israel and palestine. by referring to the qur’anic guidance, muslims are given clear direction to engage in positive actions in the form of solidarity to support welfare and justice worldwide. solidarity actions carried out by muslims, especially in indonesia, in helping victims in palestine have a strong basis. the following are proofs that encourage muslims to donate some of their wealth. table 1 verse meaning orientation source wa yurbiṣ-ṣadaqāt(i) allah nourishes charity inner peace and tranquility of life qur’an 2: 276 q innallâha yajzil mutashaddiqîn indeed, allah rewards those who give in charity indeed, allah rewards those who give in charity qur’an 12: 88 walladzîna yu’tûna mâ âtaw wa qulûbuhum wajilatun annahum ilâ rabbihim râji‘ûn and those who give what they give (knowing) that they will indeed return to their lord. the wealth that is given in charity will return to the person who gave the charity qur’an 23: 60 innal-mushshaddiqîna wal-mushshaddiqâti wa aqradlullâha qardlan ḫasanay yudlâ‘afu lahum wa lahum ajrung karîm indeed, those who give in charity, both men and women, and lend to allah with a good loan, will have their reward multiplied for them, and they will have an honourable reward. the reward for the one who gives alms is a reward and a multiplied return. qur’an 57: 18 a asyfaqtum an tuqaddimû baina yadai najwâkum shadaqât are you afraid of becoming poor because you give alms? a reminder charity will make one poor that not qur’an 58: 13 wa anfiqû mimmâ razaqnâkum ming qabli ay ya’tiya aḫadakumul-mautu and spend some of what we have given you before death comes to any of you. encouragement to give alms to those around us who are in need qur’an 63: 10 [ 293 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 mā min yaumin yuṣbiḥu al-‘ibādu fīhi illā malakāni yanzilāni fayaqūlu aḥaduhumā: allāhumma a‘ṭi munfiqan khalafā. wayaqūlu al-ākharu: allāhumma a‘ṭi mumsikan talafā. there is no day when a servant passes his morning unless two angels descend. one of them will say, ‘o allah, give a substitute for those who spend their wealth’, the virtue charity of hr. albukhari dan muslim ittaqunnāra thumma a‘raḍa wa asyāka guard yourself from hellfire even with a single date. the virtue of giving charity (even if it’s just a date) in the hereafter hr. al-bukhari as-shadaqātu tasuddu sab‘īna bāban mina as-sū’. almsgiving closes 70 doors of evil the virtue of charity to ward off bad luck hr. thabrani kullu imri’in fī ẓilli ṣadaqatihi ḥattā yufṣala bayna an-nās. every person will be under the shade of his charity (on the day of judgement) until it is decided between people the virtue of giving charity on the day of judgement hr. albaihqi, alhakim dan ibnu khuzaimah source: author compilation (2024) the mentioned arguments encourage muslims to give some of their wealth to anyone in need. in his book entitled “tafsir al-mishbah: pesan, kesan, dan keserasian al-qur’an,” quraish shihab explains that the arguments that advocate for alms highlight the importance of the universality aspect in helping, which implies that any differences between individuals should not limit this associative interaction. the concept of “whoever is in need” means that solidarity and mutual assistance demonstrate the unity of humanity regardless of religious differences or backgrounds. at the same time, the above arguments can represent the way muslims express their solidarity with the victims in palestine. muslims are not only committed to helping fellow muslims but also carry the responsibility to help all communities facing difficulties in the region, including non-muslims. if we look at the other countries, islamic centers in colombia provide welfare services such as food distributions to both muslims and non-muslims, demonstrating the inclusive nature of islamic philanthropy (brodard, 2023). this inclusivity is fundamental to islamic charitable practices, which aim to promote human welfare regardless of religious affiliation. the specific admonition in the above proposition serves as a reminder to [ 294 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 muslims of their moral and social responsibility to help their neighbors. this creates a spiritual and moral impetus for muslims to actively participate to the best of their ability to help those in need, in accordance with islamic teachings that emphasize solidarity, justice, and kindness. this includes being actively involved in efforts to help victims in palestine, reflecting the care and justice taught by islamic teachings. based on the results of observations, the forms of solidarity actions shown by the indonesian people are very varied, especially in the virtual realm. starting with open donations, sharing the latest news about palestine, enlivening the #standforpalestine hashtag, and making filters whose profits will be channeled to palestine. digital philanthropy for palestine in the growing digital age, forms of philanthropy have undergone a significant transformation, especially in the context of supporting palestine. digital philanthropy has become an innovative channel for individuals and groups around the world to provide support and humanity in addressing the challenges faced by the palestinian people. digital philanthropy for palestine also reflects the evolution of how people participate in humanitarian action. by harnessing the power of global connectivity through the internet, individuals can contribute quickly and efficiently, rally support through online campaigns, and voice messages of solidarity through social media. in this introduction, we will explore the various forms of digital philanthropy that are evolving to support the palestinian people, creating a picture of how technology and kindness can work together to bring positive change amidst humanitarian challenges. table 2 no coding figures sources 1 raising funds through live streaming on the tiktok platform. https://vt.tiktok.com/ zsn3teadq/ [ 295 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 2 posts about the palestinian conflict on the instagram platform. https://www.instagram. c o m / e y e . o n . p a l e s tine?igsh=mxfwzmdrmhd1nta4zw 3 online donation campaign on tiktok platform. https://www.tiktok.com/@dompetdhuafaorg?_ t=8izs2ovtubc&_ r=1 4 create a filter for palestinian donations through the tiktok platform. https://www.google. com/amp/s/www. jawapos.com/komunitas/amp/013295767/ terkumpul-rp-192-jutakenali-filter-game semangka-di-tiktok-yangdigunakan-untukmembantu-palestina source: author compilation (2024) [ 296 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 in table 1, khaled, a tiktok account owner, acts as a live-streaming host who enthusiastically distributes foodstuffs to the people of gaza, palestine. during his live session, khaled embedded a message in the comment section, “come on, you who love kindness, i offer the price of the food for 1000 coins,” offering his viewers to donate through gifts sent during the live session. the profits generated from this live stream will be allocated to help victims in palestine, especially in the form of foodstuffs. khaled’s donation method is unique in that viewers who want to give a gift must first have coins. the coins can be purchased for a certain amount of money. for example, 13 coins are sold for rp. 3200, while 70 coins are sold for rp. 17000, and the highest is 17,500 coins for rp. 4,121,000. the variety of gift shapes and prices also depends on the options that viewers choose to give to live hosts. the gifts provided by tiktok itself have varying values, ranging from 1 coin to simple gifts such as roses, nasi uduk, football, coffee, ice cream cones, and others. each coin has a conversion value of rp. 250 (when converted to rupiah). it is important to note that the highest form of gift in this livestream is tiktok universe, which has a coin value of 34,999. when converted, the value of tiktok universe reaches rp. 8,749,750. this live session created a new way to donate, combining digital platforms, creativity, and direct audience participation to make a real contribution to the victims in palestine. in table 2, the @eyeonpalestine account to this day consistently updates the latest conditions in palestine. both about the attacks launched by israel, the condition of the victims after the launch of the attack, the damage in gaza, and many more. the content uploaded by the @eyeonpalestine account is often reposted by other charity-based accounts, such as dompetdhuafa, kitabisa, semangatbantu, and many more. not only the @eyeonpalestine account, religious figures who are in favor of palestine also make broadcast messages and upload videos that they get about the current conditions in gaza, palestine. the posts that are widely circulated on social media are also affixed with the hashtags #freepalestine #standwithpalestine as a form of support for palestine. with posts mediated by social media platforms such as instagram, twitter, facebook, tiktok, and youtube, the global community can quickly gain access to the latest information in palestine, including the urgent needs faced by the local community. activists, influencers, and ordinary individuals use social media as a tool to convey messages of solidarity, raise awareness, and raise financial support to help victims in palestine. the existence of social media has played a crucial role in delivering up-to-date information on the conditions in palestine, influencing the accuracy of the type of aid being [ 297 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 channeled to local communities. as a result, the global community can quickly respond to developments in the situation, allowing aid organizers to adjust the type of assistance that is more targeted and in accordance with the current conditions on the ground. this shows that social media is not only a source of information but also an effective tool in directing philanthropic efforts to provide maximum impact for those in need. in table 3, in an effort to campaign and invite the public to donate, charitybased institutions and crowdfunding platforms have effectively utilized content that is widely spread on social media. they combine creativity and message accuracy with up-to-date information on the situation in palestine. as the content evolves, these institutions not only highlight the urgent need but also embed arguments that have a motivational impact on social media users. these arguments, which may be rooted in humanitarian values or a moral calling, effectively strengthen the intention and motivation of social media users to donate and share a portion of their wealth. by aligning messages with the context and values believed by the community, charities and crowdfundingbased institutions can create more impactful and profound campaigns amidst social media dynamics. table 4 shows a new initiative that combines augmented reality (ar) technology and awareness of the problematic situation in palestine. an ar effects designer named jourdan johnson created a special filter on the tiktok platform. the filter, called “filter for good i,” was designed as a virtual reality experience depicting a watermelon as a symbol of resistance and solidarity with palestine. jourdan johnson then campaigned for this filter on 6 november 2023 through his personal tiktok account, stating that any profits generated would be donated to help the brothers and sisters in palestine. the filter’s achievements were impressive, reaching over 6.3 million uses by 15 november 2023. the filter has not only received attention from the general public but has also been used by a number of international celebrities and influencers. the success of this filter is not only limited to its popularity aspect but also to its significant financial impact. filter for good: i raised usd 12,442, or around rp 192,726,580. this amount reflects the widespread support of tiktok users and shows the great potential of utilizing digital platforms for humanitarian fundraising. furthermore, jourdan johnson wisely chose humanitarian organizations as recipients of the donations, ensuring that the contributions would reach those in need and have a meaningful impact on improving lives and addressing critical issues such as poverty and healthcare. doctors without borders, palestine children’s relief fund, and human appeal were thoughtful and carefully considered [ 298 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 choices. this decision was made by considering the speed and accuracy of the target in distributing aid, especially considering the involvement of volunteers and medical professionals in gaza. thus, jourdan johnson’s initiative is not only an example of creativity in fundraising but also has a real positive impact on our brothers and sisters who need help in palestine. implications for survivor the content above provides a concrete illustration of how the solidarity actions of indonesian citizens significantly impact the palestinians. the action not only focuses on improving physical conditions but also positively affects the psychological aspects of the palestinians. the solidarity actions mobilized by indonesian netizens involve various forms of participation, including fundraising through various digital platforms, awareness campaigns through social media, and the creation of creative content to attract the attention of the wider community. in this picture, it appears that netizens are not just spectators but are actively involved in shaping public opinion and producing positive change. table 3 no coding figures sources 1 reaction of palestinian civilians when indonesian muslims read a prayer for palestine (january, 2024). https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=0kzodckr_yo 2 palestinian lecturer’s response to indonesia’s #standwithpalestine solidarity rally on the road (december, 2023). https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=wafor0vo4rm [ 299 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 3 thank palestine for indonesia (november, 2023) https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=rdznjpp5gx4 4 palestinian response when given clean water aid by indonesian volunteers (november, 2023) https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=w6cqvgfd1xo 5 gratitude to indonesia for the establishment of the indonesian hospital from the children of gaza (2021) https://www.youtube. c o m / w a t c h ? v = p wy-jfzo_3u 6 palestinians refuse to burn the indonesian flag (2021) https://www.youtube. c om / w at c h ? v = k r l 7h5efmt4 source: author compilation (2024) [ 300 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 table 1 reflects an emotional moment among palestinian civilians when they were prayed for by an indonesian netizen who is also the owner of a particular youtube channel. in the video, the palestinians’ expressions of grief are clearly depicted while recounting their life experiences, who managed to escape from israeli oppression, currently living as fugitives from the israeli army. the prayers uttered contain hopes and wishes for safety and success for the muslims in palestine. the prayer, with words full of meaning, describes the desire to glorify islam and muslims, asking for help for muslims and mujahideen fighters in palestine. the prayer also invites allah to strengthen their faith, send tranquility to their hearts, and unite their ranks. furthermore, the supplication also contains a request to allah to destroy the disbelievers and polytheists, as well as asking for victory for the mujahideen fighters against the enemies of islam. the prayer reflects the solidarity and sympathy of indonesian citizens towards the suffering of the palestinians. the expression of sincere prayers demonstrates the concern and hope that justice and peace can be realized soon in the conflict-ridden land of palestine. this shows that support through social media is not only limited to the material dimension but also includes a deep spiritual and moral dimension. table 2 illustrates the moment of admiration and emotion of two gazans who witnessed the massive solidarity rally of the madurese people to support palestinian independence on sunday, 26 november 2023. the two figures highlighted in this table are dr. ahmad muhammed omar al-madany, an extraordinary lecturer who teaches islamic political history at universitas airlangga (unair) and comes from palestine, and sheikh dr. ahmed abu al-atta, head of the foundation for friendship and civilization studies from gaza. both figures shared stories about the alarming conditions in palestine, where palestinians face difficulties and shortages in various aspects of life. dr. ahmad muhammed omar al-madany emphasized that the outstanding contribution made by indonesia through its solidarity actions has a significant impact on palestinian civil society struggling in the midst of challenging conditions. this point is a reflection of how crucial international support, including from indonesia, is for the palestinian people. seeing such a high level of solidarity, both dr. ahmad muhammed omar al-madany and sheikh dr. ahmed abu al-atta feel proud to have brothers in indonesia who not only support symbolically but also with concrete actions that are able to provide hope and strength for palestinians. this reflects how global solidarity actions can create strong emotional and moral bonds among the world community, especially in the face of humanitarian crisis situations such as those experienced by palestinians. [ 301 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 table 3 shows the expression of gratitude by zubair al-shun, palestinian ambassador to indonesia. he expressed his highest appreciation to the president of the republic of indonesia, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of defense, and all the people of indonesia without exception. zubair al-shun also expressed palestinian pride at the level of solidarity shown by the people of indonesia, a country that is considered beautiful in their eyes. in his words of thanks, the palestinian ambassador also highlighted the commitment held by the indonesian government. he was touched by a commitment that includes active support, taking a frontline position for palestine, and a promise not to let palestine struggle alone to gain its independence. zubair al-shun emphasized that in the future, palestine will become an independent and prosperous country like indonesia, with its status as the country with the largest muslim population. this statement reflects the hope and trust in indonesia’s strategic role in the palestinian struggle for independence and sustainability in the future. table 4 is a video content uploaded by al-ummahat peduli that shows the distribution of clean water in palestine. this video also illustrates the condition of palestine, which is now devastated by the attacks launched by israel. the impact is felt not only in the shortage of foodstuffs, damage to public facilities, and loss of life but also in the lack of clean water supply. in this situation, alummahat peduli, as a distributor of donations, managed to distribute the first batch of aid in the form of 100,000 liters of clean water in gaza, especially jabalia. the clean water aid that arrived for palestinian civilians became a significant moment. it can be seen that they happily and gratefully rushed to the aid trucks carrying clean water by carrying a large amount of water containers for each person. the enthusiasm shown by the palestinians reflects an intense expression of gratitude for the donation. this incident illustrates how valuable the contribution of the aid given in alleviating the burden of their lives in the midst of difficult conditions faced by palestinian civilians. slightly different from the previous tables, table 5 shows children smiling cheerfully and thanking indonesia for the assistance provided by indonesia in the form of the establishment of a hospital in gaza named “rumah sakit indonesia.” this project received financial support from various levels of society as a form of humanitarian contribution. the name “rumah sakit indonesia” was given as a sign of appreciation for the outstanding contribution of the people of indonesia. in the design process, the hospital involved volunteers from indonesia, including members of the merah-putih volunteers. the establishment of the indonesian hospital in gaza is responsive to the health emergency caused by the war in the region. with the presence of [ 302 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 this hospital, it is hoped that it can provide fast and efficient medical services amid the challenges faced due to conflict. the words of gratitude uttered by the gazan children were not in english or arabic but in the local languages of the provinces in indonesia. they expressed their appreciation in sundanese (hatur nuhun), minang (tarimo kasi), papuan (amanai), kutai (makaseh), balinese (suksema), madurese (sakalangkong), acehnese (teurimong gaseh beh), batak (mauliate), jawab (maturnuwun), and toraja (kurrusumanga). table 6 shows the positive reaction of palestinians towards indonesia despite the current conflict with israel. a video shows how palestinians deeply respect indonesia. in one, the content creator offers usd 100 to a palestinian on the condition that he burns the indonesian flag. interestingly, the palestinian flatly refused the offer, stating that he would rather receive the money without burning the indonesian flag. this reflects the strong emotional ties between indonesia and palestine. the reaction of the palestinians who refused to burn the indonesian flag shows that the emotional bond is not only superficial but has been embedded in the hearts and minds of the palestinian people. the palestinians’ willingness to accept financial aid without damaging indonesian symbols indicates a deep and respectful relationship with indonesia. this emotional bond is not new, but the result is the support and solidarity that indonesia has long given to the palestinian people in various contexts. philanthropy studies in islam this study shows that islamic teachings strongly encourage the practice of philanthropy. invitations and orders to do philanthropy are present in the qur’an and hadith. islamic teachings have a substantial value in fostering solidarity and care among human beings (fahm, 2020). this solidarity is not limited to fellow muslims but includes all communities in difficult situations. the emphasis on the inclusiveness of islamic solidarity means that the values of humanity and peace advocated by islam are universal and apply to all humankind. this representation reflects that islam views solidarity as a principle that involves all of humanity and not just the confines of a particular religious community. therefore, providing aid and support to victims in palestine, including non-muslims, is a concrete implementation of the universal values and peace advocated by islamic teachings. these proofs also describe how allah judges the behavior of muslims, especially with regard to helping and responding to their brothers and sisters who are in difficult situations (shihab, 2016). the islamic dogma in fostering awareness of philanthropy comes from the qur’an and hadith, giving muslims legitimacy to the authenticity of islamic [ 303 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 teachings. allah judges the attitudes and actions of his people with wisdom and justice. in this context, reluctance to provide assistance according to one’s ability to brothers and sisters who are experiencing difficulties is not in line with the values of solidarity and justice emphasized in islamic teachings. allah loves positive actions and condemns immoral or inhumane behavior. therefore, muslims’ unresponsiveness in providing assistance to others can be considered a violation of islamic moral and ethical values. when muslims show reluctance or unresponsiveness in offering assistance to those in need, it is classified as behavior that disobeys his command to do good and help each other (maulana & syam, 2019). furthermore, muslims’ unresponsiveness to this call may result in allah’s dissatisfaction (shihab, 2016). islamic dogma encourages muslims to be philanthropic as an integral part of religious teachings, and unresponsiveness to that call is considered a violation of islamic moral and ethical values. philanthropy as islamic social movement in the digital age islamic social movements in the context of empowering victims of war in palestine occur in various forms. technological advances offer new ways to connect the global community in helping palestine. through social media, crowdfunding campaigns, and other digital platforms, digital philanthropy creates an international bridge that enables more involvement in efforts to defend palestine, not only from a financial point of view but also through information dissemination, digital solidarity, and collaborative actions that can have a direct positive impact (binsaeed et al., 2023). the ongoing philanthropic movement is inseparable from the digital society’s collective awareness of the importance of defending human rights (stammers, 2016). the use of technology and social media by utilizing social media platforms makes it easier for actors to seek global support. the international community can participate without geographical restriction (miller et al., 2021). digital philanthropy allows a rapid response to the crisis that occurred in palestine so that it can quickly raise funds to help victims. netizens widely carry out content related to fundraising through social media platforms. in line with that, the emergence of innovation to make donations through the use of a filter from the tiktok platform, which every use can be converted into money used to help palestine, the development of digital technology transforms the form of social movements (pavan & felicetti, 2019). the islamic social movement for the empowerment of war victims in palestine has transformed through digital philanthropy, where technological advances [ 304 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 provide broader access support not only financially but also through digital solidarity, information dissemination, and collaborative innovation, creating a rapid and global response to the crisis and demonstrating the collective awareness of the digital community of the importance of defending human rights. philanthropy as solidarity based on morality the impact of this solidarity action is not only limited to the results of fundraising that help improve physical conditions in palestine. the global community and humanitarian agencies play a role in humanitarian activities in palestine (al-modallal et al., 2023). through moral support and social media awareness, indonesian netizens contribute to the psychological wellbeing of palestinians. they receive material assistance, emotional support, and concern from the international community, including indonesian netizens. in line with this, it can be seen that the solidarity actions of netizens have a broader and more complex dimension. it is not just an effort to raise funds but also a social movement that is able to embrace and give hope to palestinians, proving that solidarity through cyberspace has excellent potential to create positive changes on a larger scale (haugbolle & olsen, 2023). thus, it can be concluded that indonesian citizens’ solidarity actions towards palestine not only provide material assistance but also have a positive impact on the psychological well-being of palestinians, showing that solidarity through social media has a transformative power that can create broader changes and provide hope for a better future (cervi & marín-lladó, 2022). islamic social movements on digital platforms that are happening are inseparable from responses to the moral basis between people structured by dogmatic forces (airlangga ph et al., 2024). islamic philanthropy towards palestine is inseparable from moral obligations based on the qur’an and hadith, and philanthropic actions are oriented towards the fulfillment of islamic religious teachings (makhrus, 2018). this action is also inseparable from the aspect of benefit, namely for the achievement of community welfare both from the economic, health, and education dimensions (anwar & muniruddin, 2023; hidayah et al., 2022). moral considerations are a precondition for the implementation of the islamic philanthropy movement on social media, and the high connection between moral emotions and public interest encourages philanthropy (haidt, 2003). in this case, the human rights perspective plays a vital role in islamic social movements; apart from being a teaching that promotes the concept of human relations, there is a value in upholding the right to life and the right to fulfill basic needs (stewart, 2014). [ 305 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3222 so, it can be understood that the moral basis encourages the islamic social movement to defend palestine. conclusion this study confirms that islamic teachings consistently encourage the practice of philanthropy, with the qur’an and hadith providing a strong moral basis for acts of solidarity and care for others, particularly in the context of helping palestine. philanthropy in islam is not limited to fellow muslims but encompasses all humanity in distress situations, reflecting the inclusiveness of islamic solidarity, which is universal and involves all communities. the implementation of islamic teachings in social movements and philanthropy is seen through digital philanthropy, which utilizes technological advances to connect global communities, create global bridges, and have a direct positive impact. islamic social movements in the context of empowering war victims in palestine illustrate transformation through digital philanthropy, which not only supports financially but also involves digital solidarity, information dissemination, and collaborative innovation. the impact of indonesian netizens’ solidarity actions towards palestine is not only seen in fundraising results but also includes aspects of the psychological well-being of palestinians, showing that solidarity through social media has the potential to create broader positive change and provide hope for a better future. this study suggests further, more in-depth research. the methodological limitations in this study have not been able to reveal more deeply whether there is a causal relationship between islamic religious teachings and the islamic philanthropic movement in supporting the palestinian people who are victims of war. the findings of this study recommend collaboration between the community and state institutions to ensure security and provide legitimacy in the distribution of humanitarian aid. bibliography abdillah, m. t., & innayah, d. s. 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[ 67 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 religious and multicultural education: introducing interfaith dialogue in the indonesian educational system nina mariani noor and ferry muhammadsyah siregar international consortium of religious studies yogyakarta abstract religious education which is taught in schools has a significant role in forming religious exclusivism and inclusivism, especially in indonesia. it influences student’s views on others. it also depends on the way those religion educations taught. there is also a need to have more efforts to bring the idea of interfaith dialogue into educational system including in higher educational level. there are some educational institutions which already involved in inter-faith dialogue in their curriculum such as the crcs (center for religious and cross cultural studies) and the icrs (indonesian consortium for religious studies) at gadjah mada university. however, the number of primary educational institutions which involves interfaith dialogue is still limited. this work suggests that, for today’s situation in indonesian multicultural society, a need for reforming religion education curriculum in primary education is emerging. to make interfaith dialogue real in schools, the ministry of education in collaboration with ministry of religious affairs is in a front line to arrange a new curriculum on religious education to be more pluralistic and affirm religious diversity in indonesia including multi-religious education or inter religious education. key words: religious, multicultural, education, interfaith. introduction indonesia is a multicultural society which consists of many different ethnics, races, religions that spread out in thousands islands. the people have been living side by side for centuries and respecting each other regardless their ethnicity, religion, gender, and political preferences. therefore, the indonesian founding fathers, when the independence was declared, decided to establish a nation state based on pancasila that affirms the diversity so that all indonesians could be included in the nation state. historically, religious tolerance has existed in this country for years although sometimes there were tension and conflict happen which cause violence in the name of religion that were committed by people who think that they are the only true. it shows that religions can trigger or make the conflicts even bigger and caused more victims. looking back at religious harmony in indonesia, the government has decided [ 68 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 three aspects of religious harmony, harmony among people of the same religion (internal religious harmony), harmony among people of different religions (external religious harmony) and harmony between religious people and the government. to make the harmony in real, education plays very significant role since education touch everyone in every level. furthermore, for children and youth as the future generation, school education is the place where they get the education. however, school education models in indonesia have not contributed much on establishing tolerance among different adherents. moreover, sometimes religious education brings about exclusivism and fanaticism among students (yunus, 2007: 10). this religious intolerance threats indonesia as the pluralistic society. therefore, this paper attempts to examine religious education in indonesia and discuss the possibility of implementing multicultural education as a way of introducing interfaith dialogue to students in schools. it would like to answer question such as how religion education in indonesia do and how the future of implementing multicultural education in indonesia based on the existing educational system do. education in indonesia since our founding fathers have decided that indonesia nation state is neither secular nor islamic state but pancasila state which support religious life, the education system is highly influenced by pancasila. in general, there are two kinds of education institution available in indonesia, secular and religious ones. secular education institutions do not mean that those institutions do not teach religions at all rather they mainly focus on secular subjects in their curriculum but still teach religions as one of the subjects. in these institutions, students come from different religious backgrounds and they get religious education base on their own religion. while religious education institutions mainly focus on one religion teaching in their curriculum such as madrasah, islamic universities for islam, seminari or christian university for christianity. although they have their own specialties, both those institutions have to apply the national curriculum made by the government. talking about the contribution of those institutions in tolerance teaching, it can be said that secular institutions have bit more contribution than the religious ones since the nature of religious diversity among the students so that they have opportunities to interact with other religious adherents in their real life. however, actually in religious education institutions, there are still chances for us to maximize their contribution to elevate tolerance. it would be explored further in the last part of this paper. [ 69 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the model of religious education as i have mentioned before that all education institutions in indonesia teach religion in their curriculum made by the government through ministry of education and ministry of religious affairs. in the new order era, it seemed that relationship among different religion adherents was at the best situation in which there was very few conflict that happen because of religious issue. pancasila was successfully playing its unifying rules and the government made a top-down policy to control the harmony. however, those top down policies have lost their significance after the fall of new order. the diversity that exists in indonesia cannot be homogenized anymore. each culture asks for its own role and influence. during new order era, education in indonesia only paid limited attention on how we appreciate and respect religious and cultural diversity. homogenization process and internalization of cultural hegemony was taught through civic education like pancasila and citizenship, training of p4 (guidance for internalization and externalization of pancasila) and even through religious education (baidhawy, 2007). according to suratno (2006), religious education in indonesia partly contributes on intolerance among religious adherents because of some mistakes made. first, the process of religious education tends to be the process of indoctrination in which religion is looked as a dogmatic thing and critical thinking is absent. second, it mostly emphasizes on normative aspects only not other related aspects such as socio-historical and moral aspects and another aspects related to the concrete social life that is plural, include the plurality of religion. third, generally, teachers of religious education exclusively only know their own religious teaching and do not have enough knowledge about other religious teachings. therefore, it only concerns on one side perspective. fourth, religious education only emphasizes on cognitive aspects in which its evaluation only base on students’ ability to memorize the materials. the last one, the government’s policy also leads to the failure of religious education. baidhawy in his observation found out that religious education in both public and religious schools tends to be exclusive in which they only teach “their own systems of religion or belief as the truth and the only path to salvation and regarding other religions as inferior”. as a result, when the state or the schools teach about official religions, it means that education has failed to advance the values of democratic pluralism (baidhawy, 2007: 19). discussing religious education, hermans (2003) divides three approaches to religious education in a religiously pluralistic context. they are mono-religious education, multi[ 70 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 religious education and inter-religious education (hermans, 2003: 337-349). mono-religious education only focuses on one religion and it is well known as transmission model. the aim of this religious education is appropriation of particular religion. in this model, when students are taught about other religions, it is not about concerning on those religions rather on the insight of that particular religion to others. in social uniformity context, it aims to internalize of religion as an important system of values and norms. absolute truth claim is always invisible in this model (sterkens, 2001: 49-51) hermans further argues that there are two kinds of mono-religious education. the first version does not allow sufficiently for change either within religions or within religious people. religion is seen as self-contained phenomena and there is no need to contextualize the rituals, stories, symbols and customs of the religion. the second version of religious education based on an open concept of tradition and certain forms of contextual theology. in this version allows students to experience religion, not only to memorize it. both those two version of mono-religious model do not allow religious diversity (hermans, 2003: 339). unfortunately, based on explanation above, religious education in indonesia can be included in this model. multi-religious education focuses on the diversity of religions in society. unlike in mono-religious model, in this model religions are seen from their own auto perspectives not from other religions’ views. the theology of this model is pluralism on the equality of different religions. therefore, salvation is not only can be gained from one single religion, but through other religions also. the aim of this model is to introduce students to plurality of religions so that affectively it will instill an interest in religions and cultivate a respectful attitude towards people from other religions (hermans, 2003: 341-342). inter-religious education covers both mono-religious and multi religious education and recognizes the religious pluralism in society at large and in schools in particular but also on dialogue between them (hermans, 2003: 337-349). to make dialogue happen, there is a need of knowledge about other religions. there are two kinds of dialogic models based on the religion and its aims. if the dialogue is based on a particular religion and aims at developing a particular religious identity such as a muslim identity, it is a simple dialogic model. the second one is a parallel dialogic model in which it is based on different religion and aims at developing different religious identities (hermans, 2003: 344). this inter religious model of religious education deals extensively with changes and innovation in religion. the inter-religious education deals positively with [ 71 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 religious pluralism. it also offers the opportunity to develop the religious self more fully. in addition, interreligious education only leads to students to understand a particular religion “from the inside” (auto perspective). therefore, it can be said that only inter religious education which gives students insight into a religion other than their own and which uses encounter with the other for the development of the religious self. after reviewing models on religious education, religious education in indonesia which still mono-religious model have to be transformed into interreligious education model, or at least multi-religious education. there is a high possibility of implementing inter-religious education model in public schools since the students are coming from diverse religious background. to start with, the government could establish a curriculum in inter-religious education and it is not a big deal since there are a lot of academies and religious leaders who concern on inter religious dialogue. while, although there is also possibility of implementing inter-religious education in religious schools but since its lack of diversity on religious background, multi-religious education is most proper to practice in these schools. however, it also important to invite students in these schools to have a real dialogue with other religions adherents. multicultural education and its significance for interfaith dialogue besides we can change our religious education into inter-religious education, there is still one model that can be implemented in indonesia education system. therefore, this part explores multicultural education that might be applicable in indonesia. in the sociopolitical context, nieto says that multicultural education: “is a process of comprehensive school reform basic education for all students? it challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers reflect. multicultural education permeates the schools’ curriculum and instructional strategies, as well as the interactions among teachers, students, and families, and the very way that’s schools conceptualize the nature of teaching and learning. because it uses critical pedagogy as its underlying philosophy and focuses on knowledge, reflection, and action, (praxis) as the basis for social change, multicultural education promotes democratic principles of social justice” (nieto, 2000: 305) from the definition, there are seven characteristics of multicultural education, [ 72 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 which are multicultural education as antiracist education, basic education, important for all students, pervasive, education for social justice, a process and critical pedagogy. defining antiracism, antiracism is opposition of racism. racism is defined as the denial of the moral equality of all human beings and refers to an institutional or social structure of racial domination and also to individual actions, belief, and attitudes consciously or not which express and justify the superiority of one racial to another, so antiracism means a value consists of striving to be without racist attitudes oneself and also being prepared to work against racist attitudes in others and racial injustice in general. antiracist education includes three components. first is non racist moral consciousness. it is the belief that all persons have equal worth regardless race in intellectual matters and also in attitudes and emotions. students have to be taught understanding racism, particularly as psychological and historical phenomenon. the second is understanding racism. there are three components. one is the psychological dynamic of racism such as scapegoating, stereotyping. second is the historical dynamics of racism in its particular forms such as slavery, nazism, and colonialism. third is the role of individuals in accepting or denying racist institutions, patterns, and system. in studying historical dynamics of racism should involve teaching the victimization of some groups by others. the third component is opposition to racism. in terms of opposition to racism, students need to avoid racism in actions and attitudes and also to develop a sense of responsibility concerning manifestations of racism in other persons and society (blum, 1998). in multicultural education, antiracist is the core of the education. and for being antiracist and anti-discriminatory schools have to pay attention to all areas such as the curriculum, choice of materials, sorting policies, and teacher’s interactions and relationships with students and their families (nieto, 2000: 306). in indonesia, racism may be not so popular since we are all asian, but ethnicity is a crucial issue. since indonesia consists of many different ethnics and there is a growing number of conflicts which are caused by ethnicity, i think, antiracism is still relevant to be taught in school but we can contextualize it into anti-ethnocentrism. we have to emphasize that all ethnics in indonesia has the same rights to live and develop in indonesia. no single ethnicity is superior that others. multicultural literacy as a basic education means that it is indispensable for [ 73 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 living in today’s world like reading, writing and arithmetic literacy. most curricula do not consider excluded groups’ contribution on the history and also other subjects like the arts, literature, geography, science, and philosophy on their own terms. unless their students develop multicultural literacy, schools have not already done their complete or proper job. through multicultural education, students are expected to develop social and intellectual skills that would help them understand and empathize with a wide diversity of people (nieto, 2000: 310-311). in indonesia, since javanese is the majority, it seems that they contribute more than other ethnics that can be seen from historical text book taught in school. there is a need of correcting or comprehending our history to take all ethnicities contribution into accounts. multicultural education is important for all students since education that is available now mostly only give a partial and biased education that make some parties are invisible like females and other minority groups. multicultural education means an inclusive education which covers all people and for all peoples regardless their ethnicity, language, religion, gender, race, class, sexual orientation or other difference. moreover, students from majority groups need more multicultural education because it is often that they are the most uneducated about diversity. in indonesian context, for example, javanese are the dominant group and many javanese students may still think that their group as the norm and see others as deviation since they only get limited information about other groups through schools. consequently, children from dominated groups may develop feeling inferiority whereas children from javanese mostly develop superior feelings. furthermore, multicultural education encourages students and teachers to put their learning about diversity into action for social justice. in multicultural perspective practiced in the classroom should not only allow discussion that focus on social justice but also welcome them. the discussions can be on topics such as poverty, discriminations, war, the national budget that might affect differently among different communities and what students can do to change them. by encouraging students to learn about diversity and then promoting action for social justice, in my opinion, it will be very valuable in indonesian context. the discussions which may happen will make students realize that besides religious issues, actually, there are many more important things that have to be dealt with. for example, social justice is much more important than going to “jihad’ to defend religion by doing suicide bombing which make other people suffer. since education is a process, multicultural education is a process also. [ 74 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 multicultural education is ongoing and dynamic and it involves primarily relationships among people. this process should be supported by other policies and practices like teacher education programs to increase teachers’ knowledge, skills, and roles in multicultural education, and enhance families’ roles to make the insights and values of the community more persistent in school. this process, therefore, is complex, problematic, time consuming and controversial. finally, in multicultural education, students are encouraged to view events and situations from varied point of views using critical thinking, reflection and action. in other words, multicultural education is a critical pedagogy which empowers students based on their own experiences and perspectives (nieto, 2000: 305-318). concluding remarks education has been proved effective in building and influencing the way of thinking, behavior and attitude of children and youth. especially religious education which is taught in schools has a significant role in forming religious exclusivism or inclusivism, depends on the way those religion education taught. religious people have already succeeded in introducing interfaith dialogue among different religion adherents to reduce the number of conflicts flamed by religious issues. however, since those attempts are mostly effective at the elite level not in the grass root level, it need more effort to bring the idea of interfaith dialogue into educational system. there are some educational institutions which already involved interfaith dialogue in their curriculum like the crcs (center for religious and cross cultural studies) and the icrs (indonesian consortium for religious studies) at gadjah mada university. however, the number of primary educational institutions which involves interfaith dialogue is still limited. therefore, for today’s situation in indonesia multicultural society, a need for reforming religion education curriculum in primary education is emerging. to make interfaith dialogue in real in schools, the ministry of education in collaboration with ministry of religious affairs can arrange the new curriculum on religious education to be more pluralistic and affirm religious diversity in indonesia like multi-religious education or inter religious education. besides that, it is not only religious education curriculum that can be reformed, but also broader educational system by implementing multicultural education. supported aspects of multicultural education are already there since the nature of indonesia as a multicultural society. what to be need is only willingness [ 75 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 and hard effort to make it real. hopefully, in the future, when indonesia is able to implement a multicultural education there will be no more conflicts that cause many losses and threat the unity of indonesian nation-state. since a multicultural education affirm the diversity among students and treat them equally in education so nobody claims superiority among others. bibliography baidhawy, zakiyuddin. 2007. ” building harmony and peace through multiculturalist theology-based religious education: an alternative for contemporary indonesia.” in british journal of religious education. vol 29, no, 1, january 2007, pp. 15-30 blum, lawrence. (1998). “antiracism, multiculturalism, and interracial community: three educational values for a multicultural society”, in larry may et.all (ed), applied ethics a multicultural approach, new jersey, prentice hall. hermans, chris a.m.2003. participatory learning; religious education in globalizing society. leiden, boston: brill nieto, sonia. 2000. affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of multicultural education. new york: longman sterkens, carl. 2001. interreligious learning; the problem of interreligious dialogue in primary education. leiden, boston, koln: brill suratno, 2006. “intolerance and the failure of religious education” retrieved from http://suratno77.multiply.com/calendar/item/10005. retrieved may 14, 2010 yunus, abd rahim. 2007. “pendidikan toleransi dalam konteks indonesia.” paper presented in international workshop on teaching for tolerance in the indonesian context (the contribution of school education) organized by alauddin state islamic university (uin) makassar in collaboration with the oslo coalition on freedom of religious belief [ 76 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 [ 151 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 book review sharing the role of peace pontianak: iain pontianak press, 2016 by eka hendry ar. reviewed by andry fitriyanto pontianak state institute of islamic studies  e tragedy of habil’s death in the hands of qabil shows that from the very beginning of human life on earth, it has been � lled by con� ict. it is a necessity in our lives. just like crime and good, peace and con� ict are also two things that continue to � ll human life.  en, can we materialize true peace where there is no con� ict in it?  is book, sharing role of peace begins with a very philosophical study. it is like inviting the reader to re� ect again on the meaning of peace and con� ict. both are a paradox. in contrast to each other, but they need each other. con� ict is caused by the realization of a peace which requires the non-existence of con� ict. if there is a con� ict, then peace will be gone. but on the other hand, they also need each other. peace requires con� ict as a driver of change for the better. con� ict requires peace as the ultimate goal. from theis paradox, the author sends the implicit meaning of con� ict.  ere are constructive and destructive con� icts. constructive con� ict is the opposite of contestation towards a better change. while the destructive con� ict is any con� ict that brings bad impact like con� ict with violence.  ere are at least two basic premises which should serve as the basis of thought to reach the ideals of peace. first, in true peace there is a con� ict management process to minimize its destructive impact. second, true peace means not only the absence of violence in it, but also the non-existence of all causes and residual violent con� ict in the future. so, con� ict is something we cannot avoid in an eff ort to realize the ideals of peace. it is how we deal with and manage the con� ict so that it brings a positive impact that is useful for change to a better direction. con� ict which should be eliminated is destructive violent con� ict. eff orts to [ 152 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 realize reconciliation must also touch all potential causes and residual con� icts such as injustice and social imbalance and negative stereotypes inherent in the community. conversely, the management of constructive con� ict should be a priority in encouraging the change of society to the better.  e main spirit of this book is to change the common paradigm we normally encounter. first, the work to achieve peace is not only done in the event of violent con� ict, so the work is not totally � nished when violent con� ict stops.  e “� re brigade” approach is deemed not to resolve the root of con� ict and is not eff ective in realizing long-term peace. so, “prevention is better than cure” should be the principle we must adopt in bringing about peace. second, the responsibility for the realization of peace is not only the responsibility of the government and the security apparatus, but all elements of society must also play an active role in safeguarding environmental conditions and suppressing potential con� icts. realizing the ideals of true peace is a job that requires a long process and must involve various parties.  e awareness of many parties to this task of peace that ultimately gave birth to what the author referred to as the siege of kindness.  is will bring the community closer to the ideals of peace.  ere are at least seven components that can be mobilized either as agents or the media to realize true peace. starting from education, mass media, women, religious institutions, government, young generation, and even the empowerment of local wisdom. so, the approach taken to realize peace becomes more comprehensive. because the core of this approach is collectivity and collective movement of all components of society that move systematically and simultaneously.  is is the essence conveyed by the author in his book. to change or awaken awareness of an issue, then education is the keyword. similarly, with the awareness of the importance of reaching the ideals of true peace, education is the most eff ective way. although it takes a long process to instill these seeds of peace, yet in the future we will certainly reap the harvest of tolerance and inclusiveness of the younger generation as peace agents.  is book is neatly reviews how education (especially religious education) can be instrumental in shaping a religious attitude of love for peace. under the title of the mainstreaming of peace education in islamic religious education (pp. 65-83), the author off ers concrete steps on how to transfer awareness of true peace in the teaching and learning process at school.  is is so important given the many con� icts that occur in the pretext of religious sentiments. in addition to religion, the theme that is crucial in the realization of peace is democracy. both variables must be recognized to reveal a double face. although [ 153 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 both are used in the context of seeking the bene� t of human beings, on the other hand it can not separate itself from the short overture that follows. in fact, violent con� icts o en occur in societies that have embraced democratic systems, and many con� icts are suspected of using religious motives. questions arise here: is violent con� ict something inherent in democracy and religion or do we misunderstand both? it is this misunderstanding that leads to the implementation of actions that make room for violent con� ict.  ere are at least � ve mistakes in the interpreting the meaning of democracy according to the author, namely the simpli� cation of the nature of democracy, democracy is considered a goal, democracy is considered merely an instrument, a democracy that lacks human rights and the rule of law, and democracy without ideological identity (p. 11-15). so there needs to be a kind of reinterpretation and reactualization of democratic values in our society.  is aims to restore the meaning and application of democracy in accordance with its basic values. on the other hand, we can � nd other motives such as economic and political motives in violent con� icts in the name of religion. religion is o en only made camou� age for the sake of other interests. even on the occasion of a crusade which is a violent con� ict in the name of the greatest religion of all time can be interpreted an indication of the content of political, cultural, economic interest that places the religious motive on its surface (pp. 19-44). however, religion is still the way of good for humanity. although it also has a unifying potential and media resistance to conditions that are considered unpro� table. so it takes the wisdom and intelligence of religious people to manage all the potential that belongs to a more constructive direction.  e interesting part of this book is about media relations and con� ict (pp. 8597).  e media in question here is not only print and electronic mass media, but includes social media and other messenger media. media actually serves as a window of information and enlightenment for society, a vehicle of criticism and social control, and entertainment. however, we also o en see the media play a provocativen function in violent con� icts. one should admit that economic, political, and ideological interests also cannot be separated from the managers of information. lately, we have been surprised by the arrest of groups organizing themselves to spread false news, hate speech, and vile slander.  is group uses social media as a medium of information to form public opinion. such things may trigger violent con� ict in our society. given the importance of the role and function of the media in the work of [ 154 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 peace, it requires a kind of awareness to build a common good.  is awareness will bring ideological alignments to the peace processes. of the ten points that should be developed by the media as agents of peace, at least three things must be underlined. first, one of the fundamental tasks of the media is to give space to con� icting parties to voice their aspirations. second, the media should try to explicitly convey some of the theory or intellectual references and paradigms to understand the con� ict.  ird, the media should strive to take a clearer picture of the bene� ts of peace.  is puts the media as a conveyor of both parties’ con� icting aspirations to the government and the public. it is important to establish dialog and con� ict resolution solutions. with this idea of peace journalism, it is expected to bring enlightenment to the community and support con� ict reconciliation. in general this book illustrates that each of us has an equally important role in realizing the ideals of peace. it stresses on the importance of building such an awareness to unite perceptions and movements in overcoming any potential destructive con� ict that can arise at any time. [ 263 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 polemic on church construction in jakarta yogyakarta: center for religious and cross-cultural studies, 2011. by ihsan ali-fauzi at all. (paramadina foundation research team, master’s program of peace and conflict resolution, gadjah mada university and the indonesian conference on religion and peace (icrp)) reviewed by syamsul kurniawan (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) embracing religion and performing worship in accordance with one’s own preference is the right of each citizen, and is guaranteed by law. however, the ugly truth is that the indonesian society’s tolerance is relatively low, especially in addressing the beliefs or religious differences that become an issue in the fulfillment of those rights. as a result, religious reasons often become the cause of conflicts at the grassroots level. for example, in the construction of churches, as described in the book entitled kontroversi gereja di jakarta (church controversy in jakarta), which was written by the research team of paramadina foundation, master’s program of peace and conflict resolution of gadjah mada university (mprk ugm) and the indonesian conference on religion and peace (icrp), where in the case of jakarta, the construction of churches also often causes polemic. this book presented some data of destruction of churches obtained by the team of writers. in 2008 there were 15 cases of violation of church construction while in 2009, there were 12 cases. these violation ranged from acts of extortion, intimidation, to acts of vandalism. in addition, there were also government official dysfunctions characterized by the cancellation of permits, mainly due to the pressure from the community. similar cases deteriorated in 2005 in which the number of cases reached 50 cases, and more than 1,000 cases between mid 1969-2006 (pp. 21-22). however, these data are no more than the figures that show that there have been violations, especially regarding the destruction of houses of worship. these data need to be presented, especially in describing the polemic on the house of worship. in fact there are often reports that only presented the destruction, while the cause was not fully revealed. furthermore, the focus of these data was only about matters of church destruction, as if denying that there were many churches established without issues (p. 22). undeniably, the construction of the church was often accompanied with social issues around it. so, it is necessary to discuss the roles of the government and [ 264 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 community elements regarding the issues of church construction, such as the forum for religious harmony (fkub) which occupies the position of mediating between the government, the community and the church. fkub’s presence is very important especially related to the awareness of religious tolerance in society. also discussed in this book is the dynamics of the church in the midst of the economic and social conditions surrounding the community, including the negative initiation and the dialog on conflict solution on church construction. in addition, the “uninvited guests” (read: provocateurs) who often turn the flames of conflict to take advantage of the post-conflict situation were also among the subject of discussion. these provocateurs usually have ideological or practical goals to achieve. there are four types of cases of polemic presented in this book including the cases of church construction that did not encounter significant obstacles, the cases of church construction that had problem but now is not problematic or deliberately disputed by certain elements anymore, the cases of churches that previously had no problem in the construction but are now facing problems and the cases of churches that had problems from beginning of the construction until now. those mentioned cases specifically happened in jakarta including the catholic church (kwi) and the christian church of pgi members. from my point of view, this is one of the weaknesses of this book because major cases involving churches outside of the pgi or kwi were not touched. the are several conditions of church that became the object of study in this book including the churches that had no problems, i.e. st. aloysius church and st. valentino chapel (pp. 42-45). the churches whose problems were resolved include st. michael catholic church (pp. 46-53); pasundan seroja church (pp. 53-57); indonesian christian church of terang hidup (pp. 57-62); cathedral church (pp. 62-68); st. albert catholic church (pp. 68-73), and nehemiah javanese christian church (hlm.73-79). the churches that previously had problem but are now problematic includes st. bernadet catholic church (pp. 79-84), yasmin indonesian christian church (pp.84-91), and hkbp pangkalan jati (pp. 91-97). the last is the churches with unresolved problems such as hkbp filadelfia (pp. 97-103), st. john the baptist catholic church (pp. 103-111), and the church of mary vianney (111-123). there are several recommendations to overcome the polemic on church construction presented in this book. first, to the state, as described in this book, the police should be able to act decisively in the face of groups that initiate provocation or vandalism. base on the results of the author’s research, these groups are afraid of the law enforcement officers. local governments should better understand the entire chapter in the pbm 9 and 8 of 2006. the case in [ 265 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 jakarta, for example, the local government until this study was completed used the governor decree no 137/2002. while we understand, the law is no longer valid. in addition, is also important for the central government to create effective mechanisms to minimize the possibility of conflicts regarding construction of churches or other houses of worship. the forum for religious harmony (fkub) should help mediate before and during the polemics and conflicts. (pp. 137-138). second, to religious figures and organizations such as nu, muhammadiyah and mui, they should be able to mediate the conflict. the nu, muhammadiyah and mui should do more, especially with regard to the right to religious freedom. these organization sdould continue to support the government to take legal action against anarchist groups that act in the name of religion. christian religious organizations such as the pgi and kwi should always seek interfaith dialog and establish close relations with other religious organizations. the pgi and kwi also need to train church leaders on how to build relations with the community (pp. 138-139). thrid, to those involved in the church construction, the potential for conflict should be handled as early as possible such as the signatures and id cards required for the construction. in addressing the problem that arises, the church construction committee should consider carefully the decision on the use of media. on the one hand, it can be very useful while on the other hand it can also be counterproductive. this book suggested that the media should not be used when the scale of the problem is still small, as the main actors are usually people around the construction site, and there is no much involvement from the outsiders. the use of the media in such case will only deteriorate the situation (p. 139). the conclusions of this book could be an important lesson to understand conflict or polemic of church construction in this country, even though the case studies were conducted in jakarta. this book can be an important reference for many people, especially for students who are engaged in the study of comparative religion, or those who are interested in the study of pluralism and similar issues. [ 21 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 capitalism and religious behavior: the case of tumpang pitu gold mining in banyuwangi anang gunaifi alfian center for religious and cross-cultural studies, gadjah mada university e-mail: ananggunaifialfian@gmail.com abstract in the discourse of globalization, religious agency plays an important role ranging from supporter to the opposition of the globalization. however, the understanding of globalization should involve its encounter with localities. in religious studies, religious responses can be an entry point to see how global issues impact the practice of religion. selecting the case of the conflict over gold mine at tumpang pitu near banyuwangi, east java, as a place of conflict and encounter between capitalism and religious behavior is significant in portraying the dynamics within religious agency. here, capitalism is discussed as the popular term among the rejecters of the mining, together with religious behavior as expression, logic, attitudes of religion. therefore, this research is aimed to investigate the effects of gold mining project tumpang pitu toward religious behavior. to emphasize the study on the working of global issues and religious locality, the research employed ethnography of global connection proposed by anna l tsing (2005) added with religious account. the result shows that the conflict within traditionalist religious affiliation as seen in the debate over its position on the mine, a conflict extending from the grassroots to the highest level, reflects the struggle within indonesian islam over effective and ethical relations with global capitalism. keywords: tumpang pitu; mine; religious; behavior, capitalism, traditionalism, global; local; capitalism. introduction this paper is based on a field research project on the interconnection between business practice and local empowerment in tumpang pitu gold mining project in banyuwangi, east java, indonesia. the gold mine has become an arena of conflict because some local communities have rejected it as natural exploitation which negatively affects their social and environmental livelihood. meanwhile, the government has supported the gold mine for the benefit of national development. in this case, the local religious institutions tried to formulate a response against the mining with religious legitimation. thus, the conflict lies in the contestation of ethical responses to the impact of the mine on the surrounding environmental and societal life. my interest is to develop an approach to this question of religion and globalization. in religious [ 22 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 studies, in which the religion as the locus, the existence of globalization opens a wider possibility to see features of religion as a globalized entity. the interest of scholars to see this encounter between religion and globalization has been quite pervasive. scholars have studied this commonly accepted word such as vasquez (2003: 35) who saw the work of globalization on religion as reattachment in a new space-time configuration after unbinding it from its traditional references to the extreme imagined trajectory of samuel huntington (1996) in his shocking work clash of civilizations. religion also plays a role in rejecting evil globalization and turn it to a new global world order as what the pope john paul ii stands for the anti-debt movement against neoliberalism and calls for “global” human rights instead (lechner, 2005: 110-123). thus, the attachment of religion on global conditions and global configurations is what inspired me to observe the global connection of religion with, particularly capitalism. in particular, the theoretical framing is inspired by anna l. tsing’s work friction: ethnography of global connection (2005) that studies what she calls “friction” works in global setting. her work in the meratus mountain of south kalimantan in indonesia is inspiring because she proposes an alternative way to expand ethnography to global scale. she found out that the interconnection between local empowerment and struggle and the business practice is what characterizes the rainforest in indonesia. as opposed to the single-mindedness of cultural explanation, her ethnographic approach is as found in clifford geertz’s idea “the importance of cross-cultural and long-distance encounter in forming everything we know as culture (2005: 4). the reason she develops “friction” as the central concept in her analysis as she argues is that friction is what makes motion possible. thus, locality, behavior, belief as a constituent of culture is in motion only with the presence of friction. thus, differing herself from classical ethnographer, she takes the travel of this “friction “as the object of her research. however, i will use the idea of tsing’s friction specifically to analyze religious behavior in relation with capitalism to signify the religious narrative of my research. this work, therefor, attempts to see the connections of many interests especially with the presence of religious involvement and global capitalism in the issue. the example of religious presence can be seen in the issue of ‘fatwa haram’ (religious determination of the forbidden status of gold mining) by lajnah batsul masail of nahdhatul ulama (nu) of banyuwangi in which it has not worked well because of frictions and conditions that cause religion and capitalism to negotiate productive perspectives. this insignificance of the fatwa, as i analyzed, has to do with the dynamics of religious behavior in [ 23 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 dealing with capitalism. i also analyze another form of religious aspiration to the mine, that is pengajian (religious preaching) conducted by an affiliatednu youth activism which condemned the mine as ecologically destructive and capital-oriented. three questions are being discussed here in this work. (1) how has indonesian traditionalist islam offered an ethics of acceptance and/or resistance to tumpang pitu gold mine project?; (2) what kinds of religious behaviors have traditionalist muslim communities used in their responses to the project and why?; (3) how does traditionalist fiqh analyze capitalism especially in its relation to ecological exploitation? and how does traditionalism understand the interaction of local-global capitalism? the discussion encompasses the literature of religion, capitalism, and globalization as well as traditionalist behavior toward the state in the historical record. first of all, it is important to involve two prominent figures, karl marx and marx weber, to see the intersection between religion and capitalism. these two thinkers of the 19th century give a great contribution to this discussion. karl marx concerns deeply on capitalism in his works while max weber contributes to the sociology of religion. for the need of this research, their views on religion can be a starting point. the famous phrase of marx “religion is the opiate of the masses” is responded by john raines on marx on religion (2002), by saying that what marx refers in his view on religion is exclusively to the state religion of lutheranism germany and the church of england in great britain (raines, 2002: 9). he summed up that religion for marx is both the voice and the protest of the oppressed and the suffering itself (2002: 6). hereby, we can understand that what marx fought is actually a kind of religion that trapped only in the illusionary world without an ability to understand how human being works. raines continued to argue that what marx said is actually his criticism toward religious uncritical view on the instinctive value and human dignity. therefore, when religions do not become the fighters for human dignity, they will turn into the merely opiate of the masses unless religions are able to recontextualize marx’s idea of social power of production into global context (2012: 13). on the other hand, marx weber comes up with different view in seeing religion not as an “effect” but as a “cause” of economic and social lives as documented in what is called “weber thesis”, attributed to him from the essay the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism first published in 1930. in contrary to marx who says that all human institutions are basically based on economic principles, he argues that modern capitalism is created from developing human rationality of worldly religious duties which had a precedent in benjamin franklin’s use the bible’s verse to luther’s idea of [ 24 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 “calling”, as well as through its calvinist interpretation. here weber criticizes karl marx as he said; manner of life so well adapted by peculiarities of capitalism.... had to originate somewhere. and not in isolated individuals alone, but as a way of life common to whole groups of men. this origin is what really needs explanation. concerning the doctrine of the naive historical materialism (the creed of marx and engels), that such ideas originate as a reflection or superstructure of economic situations... in the country of benjamin franklin’s birth (massachusetts), the spirit of capitalism was present before the capitalistic order (weber 2001: 20). the argument is somehow supported by his analysis of how new england has developed capitalism faster in 1632 with the presence of religious preachers rather than other southern parts of america with large capitalist for business motives (2001: 20). thus, the difference between weber and marx can be known for their different use of cause and effect perspective toward religion and capitalism. another recent scholarship on capitalism comes from a historian, joyce appleby, who see capitalism from a historical perspective. in her work the relentless revolution: a history of capitalism. she argues that capitalism is a cultural system where its definition cannot be separated from its encounter with custom, politics, and cultures that impinges its development (appleby, 2011: 24). as she put it, the history showed how cheng he under ming dynasty of china initiated the trade travel to atlantic nations but could not last from more than three decades, while portugal and the rest of european countries rushing its expedition in search of global trade. this is, among other reasons, because the chinese had been politically more strict and lack of evangelical spirit than the european countries (2001: 14). in short, her opinion on the development of capitalism as culture and its relentless revolution through contact with varieties of cultures and politics is what made capitalism continuously define its existence and does relentless revolution. therefore, her study of how cultures and global interaction define the ever-changing capitalism meets my research discussion on capitalism and religious behavior. as the research takes an exploratory study on the relation between local religion and global issues, the discourse of religion and globalization helps to understand how they are related to each other. as there are enormous perspectives of the characteristics of globalization and how it relates to religion, the work of william stahl (2007) elaborates the real impact of modern globalization on cultures as well as causes of religious opposition [ 25 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 toward the force. he mentioned five common dimensions of globalization which are: first, the revolution in communication and transportation technology which begun in 1950s’ invention of television and jet-travel and intensified by the appearance of internet, computers, cellular telephones in 1980s and 1990s. second, political and military dimension stated by the fall of the soviet union and the end of the cold war sustains american hegemony leading to an attempt to control world oil reserves, the rise of china and india as major economic and military power, and iran strengthened their power too. third, the establishment of international infrastructure such as the international monetary fund, the world bank, the world trade organization gave birth to the washington consensus in the 1980s to foster free market ideology. fourth, the environmental exploitation by industrial needs. fifth, on the effect of religion and cultures. however, stahl argues that the modern globalization emphasizes the “congruences and over-determination of all five of these dimensions on a planetary scale” (2007: 339). furthermore, the variety of religious responses to of globalization can be seen both negatively and positively. negative responses range from softer rejection, opposition, and, to the most extreme, resistance. the anti-debt movement is the example of religious rejection to globalization. it is initiated by the church. basing it on the interpretation of leviticus 25:10, the pope john paul ii wished to restore human harmony and to relieve burdens of poor countries (lechner, 2005: 120). an extreme resistance even takes form in public terror like the spread of jewish protocols in japan media which affected a religious sect aum shinrikyo in 1995 to release poison sarin gas on the tokyo subway, killed twelve people and sent thousands to the hospital (goodman, 2012: 146). meanwhile, positive responses from a brighter hope for its cooperation with global development goal because some faith representations have involved in a partnership with world bank and international monetary fund to discuss the economic models for developments to end poverty and fight for social justice (marshal, 2008: 225). in addition, the author also takes the categorization of nu’s behavior by fealy in his work ijtihad politik ulama (2003), regarding the relation between nu versus the state. the behaviors are divided into two: accommodative and militant. it is based on his specific period of study during soekarno’s presidency. in the first period of 1957-1961, nu carried out accommodative politics especially for being a political party and occupied an important position in soekarno’s parliamentary cabinet known as kabinet gotong royong as advisors and supporters of soekarno’s guided democracy. meanwhile, militant behavior showed up by the following period of 1963-1967 as a criticism of the negative impact of accommodative behavior. according [ 26 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 to fealy (2003), among the negative effects of accommodative behaviors are the rise of corruption among nu leaders because lack of professionalism and a great amount of maladministration, as well as the rise of moral degradation among ulama as seen in the phenomenon of hubbul jah (prioritizing personal interest to get a social and political status higher than the organization’s goal for social welfare), and some ulama’s relation with communist figures, and entertainment artists (2003: 255;309). on the other hand, the militant behavior initially appeared because some nu ulama and youth felt threatened by the growing political influence of the communist party. thus, militant behavior was meant to show physical strength of nu that was prepared for any threats and confrontation with their enemy: indonesian communist party. one of the nu’s bodies created for that purpose is banser (barisan serba guna ansor). this is a paramilitary organization in nu whose duty is to give physical protection for the party and all their members. thus, while the dynamics of the organization cannot be simplified, the study has identified two tendencies of nu’s behavior which are accommodative and militant. besides, other studies on the characteristics of the nahdlatul ulama (nu) vis-à-vis the state has inferred tow points: fiqh is important as religious argumentation in traditionalist behavior, and nu’s involvement in the political and social sphere is for religious purposes. the former can be found in the woks of bruinessen in a chapter on the function of fiqh in nu (994: 196-204), fealy in her constructive discussion on religious political thought of nu (2003:57), and bush’s argument that the uses of politics by nu is to pursue its religious ends and saw that the spirit of khittah (making nu as social activism, community empowerment, and social economic welfare) has been confirmed by nu’s civil society discourse and activism (2009:198). feillard (1999) acknowledged a strong concern of nu to work for the prosperity of the people based on the religious ideology when he said, “their purpose (nu) is not at all to leave all forms of political role, and nor to support the government political party, golkar” (1999:236). the second point of the characteristics is found in bruinessen (1994) when he saw the lack of discipline inside the organization in which is because of its decentralized power characters where some local figures and groups within nu might have a greater influence than the higher hierarchical structure of the organization. therefore, it relies on the consolidation among the bodies in each level and it requires the independency to the state. the consolidation, then, involves religious motives in both political and social action. fealy (2003) also saw that the nu’s behavior during soekarno, that is, to compromise communist involvement in the soekarno’s cabinet, is a strategy [ 27 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 to secure traditionalist interest, while bush (2009) specifically argued that all the political behavior of nu is targeted to counter the modernist influences. according to her, nu has used politics for religious ends (2009:14). by this, she intended to contrast traditionalist religiosity and modernist religiosity. feillard (1999) also argued that nu’s apoliticism in the khittah declaration was actually a form of its return to the initial pragmatism in which it did not necessarily leave politics. instead, it is a strategy to defend their identity from government repression (1999: xiii). therefore, in relation to the political participation through history, the militant and accommodative behavior of nu is actually based on the religious purposes derived from the concern of traditionalist fiqh and their strong religious motivation. then, this study looks at the two behaviors in the case of the mine and relate it to the discussion of traditionalist’s ethical response in two forms i.e nu’s activism and the reasoning of fiqh. the discussion over these questions is based on three key points as theoretical framework to give direction of the research discussion and to answer the research questions including tsing’s concept of “friction”, the behavior, ideology, and ethics as well as authority and resistance. to foster the ethnography of global connection, friction is used as the metaphoric concept of the analysis. tsing (2005) defined friction as the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference (2005: 3). she comes to this definition after rethinking the messiness of interactions in her case result from questions like; what happened when japanese traders buy indonesian trees, when army officers make deal with nature lovers, or when university students sit down with village elders. then, he argued that “the messy and surprising features of such encounters across difference should inform our model of cultural production” (2005: 3). and the friction is those encounters and interactions that made cultures always co-produced. moreover, the concept of friction is significant in two things; first, the friction can lead to a new arrangement of culture and power through heterogeneous and unequal interactions. second, it tells the importance of interaction in defining movement, cultural form, and agency (2005: 5-6). in accordance with the research question on the relation between capitalism and religious behavior, the concept of friction will serve more as an approach of this research to explore some issues happening around the interactions between local empowerment and the global capitalism represented by the gold mine such as the issues of development and an ecology, and local and global capitalism in the field. while the metaphor of friction is intentionally used as the approach to look [ 28 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 at the relations of capitalism and religious behavior in its global connection, the weberian concept of verstehen is used to look at the religious motivation behind religious action. hence, the term religious behavior is proposed here for its sociological significance. the term verstehen, as derived from a german word, means “understanding”. the concept is a conceptual scheme used by weber oriented toward the explanation of the nature and determinants of social conducts (tucker, 1965: 157). then, the understanding of the social conducts or social behavior can be gained by acknowledging its social significance and its motivation of the actions. however, not all behaviors or action belong to the social conduct. the social conducts here refer to any social action or social behavior which is of a social nature and is sociologically meaningful (1965: 158). as emphasized by tucker, the concern of sociologist as indicated in weber’s work is the behavior which results from relationships with other individuals as opposed to unsocial behavior of an individual, such as behaviors that are strictly reflective, mystical behavior, and those from psychophysical processes, rather belongs to psychological or biological analysis (1965: 159161). thus, the religious behavior used in this study is to indicate a social action which results from and uses religious motivation in their action as well as to indicate its participation in a social condition. in this study, the religious behavior is aimed to be rationalized not by making ay categorizations but by learning the social situation and religious motivation that affect that behavior. furthermore, the rationalization of religious behavior can be considered from its practical implementation of ethics as a perception of what is good and evil conduct. as this study aims to point out the ethical responses resulted from the religion’s encounter with global issues, traditionalist ethics is necessary to discuss. in this context, we see ethics as an extension of morality of islam and a method of discernment of the moral value. islam as a religion has distinguished the good from the evil. for instance, it upholds the value of humanity, freedom, and social justice and is against destructive behavior, arrogance, ignorance of the poor. however, some interpretations of whether certain action such as the gold mining activity is good or evil needs an ethical analysis. according to daniel c. maguire (1991: 34), “ethics is the art/science that seeks to bring sensitivity and method to the discernment of moral value.” to bridge the enormous number of moralities that can be different and conflicting to one another –which usually termed as relativism—as religions, traditions, cultures differ in their perspectives over a problem, he emphasized the definition of ethics as sensitivity and method to discern the moral values. the sensitivity is addressed presuming that every human behavior is ethical because a certain behavior affects other human so that a moral dimension in each behavior should not be avoided. while as a method, ethics is made up [ 29 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 by certain consideration of its inquiry albeit there is no guarantee that the agreed decision is the true ethical choice (1991: 35). in regard to traditionalist islam, the ethics is a discernment of the morality of islam, while the morality simply means the way of life and the principles of good and bad in islamic teachings. furthermore, in the islamic tradition after the life of the prophet, the ethics has developed in the body of fiqh often referred as a space for the exercise of intelligence because the practicalities of the ethics involve a process of rationalizing the moral values. furthermore, the account of religious behavior, when put as the local empowerment to the gold mine existence, implies its resistance to the appropriation of the mine by the government. it also depicts the power relation between the authority of the government and the subordination of local resisters. to analyze the power relation beyond the resistance, we use the study of “everyday forms of resistance” by james c. scott (1989), with the thesis argument as follows; much of the politics of subordinate groups fall into the category of everyday forms of resistance, that these activities should most definitely be considered political, that they do constitute a form of collective action, and that any account which ignores them is often ignoring the most vital means by which lower classes manifest their political interests (1989: 33). by this definition, scott analyzes less-noticed patterns of resistance into a unit of category. and he urged to consider them as much political as the obvious form of resistance like revolutionary movement and an armed rebellion. according to him, the everyday forms of resistance, despite its diverse manifestations, are characterized by their aim to thwart some appropriation by superior class or the state, invariably in a quiet, disguised, anonymous, often undeclared form of resisting claims (1989: 37). some of the everyday forms of resistance are such as actions like poaching, foot-dragging, desertion, arson, sabotage, as well as any other possible forms of resistance that have the same purposes. in this study, i use the concept of every day resistance to argue for the existence of two authorities in relation to the local resistance especially in the event of pengajian where religious aspiration was used as both a criticism to the authority of the government and a call for loyalty and being disciplined in the traditionalist way of being religious and ethical including in form of resistance, or in other word, to defend the authority of traditionalist islam as the practiced religion. another important concept to delve into what makes people resist to an [ 30 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 exploitative project is moral economy. furthermore, scott (1976) also studied that in any pre-capitalistic society, they have a concept of moral economy. his observation on peasant life of south east asia especially around the issues of exploitation and rebellion is actually a question of peasant conceptions of social justice, rights, and obligations, reciprocity. then, he argued that the study of moral economy should begin with the domains of economics and ended with looking at the people’s culture and religion (1976: vii). this concept of moral economy will be more relevant when used not only to reductively argue that the subsistence ethic which characterized the moral economy of the peasant is rooted in the economic practices, and social exchanges among peasant societies (1976: 6)—which what scott defended for and inspired by marxist economic determinism —, but to use it to explore the power relation between the moral authority of the people, and the government authority of related resistance. this way of looking at the moral economy of the local resistance is able to explain the trajectory of this study, which is to see the traditionalist ethical response— representing the authority of the local’s practiced religion— to the gold mine and the government supporting it and also to put the local impacted people under the influential interaction of global connection which takes place in the middle of two authorities: the traditionalist islam and the indonesian government. in this context, religious authority works as ethical response to the mining in form of its institutionalized decision conducted by the fatwa board representing the moral economy of the people and strengthen the local empowerment against the extractive mining when the mining is supported by the government and fueled by global economic mechanism. rather than measuring how significant is the religious authority in bringing the ethical response to seize majority intention and intervene the economic policy which is related to the political realm of religion and abstract ides of the religion-state discourse, this study chooses to focus more on the interconnections on the practice of religion as its entanglement with the government, the local empowerment, the ecological damage, and global issue of capitalism. this is based on a qualitative exploratory research as explained by cresswell (2007: 24). in this light, this research explores the power relation as well as comprehending the historical and social values of the traditionalist islam and the discourse on capitalism, and also put the concept of ethnography of global connection in the analysis. chronology of gold mining in tumpang pitu the problem occurred during the given period. there are three distinct political and social periods through which the conflict has developed. this 30-year history can be divided into three periods; (1) potential of gold containment in [ 31 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 new order regime, (2) local resistance and opposition through fatwa, and (3) the birth of religious-based environmental activism. the plan of gold mining was initiated around 1980-1986 when a group of geologists called lebong tandai group mapped the potential and prospect of mineral resources in jember as well as in many other areas of bali, lombok, sumbawa, flores, and timor (qodim, 2012: 216). under the new order regime, the government supported the plan by issuing a permit called kuasa pertambangan (kp) to hakman group including the allowance to conduct surveys and exploration of the potential. the benefits are such as building infrastructures, and increasing pad (local budget income), and creating job opportunities for local people. on the other hand, the damage of the environment can be a serious impact because the location is in the areas of national conservation land (2002: 221). however, the government will increase local income has to deal with the resistance from the villagers around the areas of mining who feel that the mining will endanger the environmental stability in which they live. moreover, there had previously been a demand from the villagers to grant them rights to access the natural resources as their source of living. these existing problems create a complicated situation that later influences the resistance of gold mine in banyuwangi. in 2009, a response came from nahdlatul ulama organization of banyuwangi. it was attended by two hundred religious figures and resulted in a declaration that gold mining in banyuwangi was religiously forbidden because it brings more harm than good. the discussion was conducted on march 15th , 2009 through formal religious board called lajnah bahsul masail in ponpes (islamic boarding school) of nurul huda, muncar. (ningtiyas, 2019: 66). however, it was not delivered to the local government as an aspiration and thus could not influence the government policy toward mining. there are reasons behind this failure such as the result was not supported by all religious figures, and there is a national political interest to support the mining. this position of religion in this situation is uncertain. the uncertainty is seen in the official local nu who were agreed to oppose the establishment of mining. meanwhile, some of its members supported and personally benefitted from mining. thus, this ambiguity indicated uncertainties and multi-layered interpretation toward the mining. some nu members in pesanggaran district rejected the mining while the rest of them support it. the inconsistency toward the result of bahsul masail in 2009 became an objection to some people and activists that questions the religious role in this case. in 2013, religious environmentalist was created by youth movement. it is called fn ksda. the name is abbreviation from nahdliyin front of sovereignty over [ 32 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 natural resources. the emergence of this organization is basically because the concern of nu about sovereignty over natural resources and land issues as discussed in its national conferences cannot give significant voice. then, some nu youth initiated to form an organization outside the formal structure of nu and being active in environmental and agricultural movement. fn ksda is a grassroots organization which have increasing followers from many cities in indonesia. through coordination line, they become front men in land and resources conflict such as in kendeng, new jogjakarta airport, and also in tumpang pitu gold mining. what differentiates fn from other organization is that they bring with them religious ideologies to the problem of environments. when this research was written, the religious authority seems to be in a dilemmatic position. on one hand, the religious position is politically supportive to the government, but on the other hand, the religious committee attempted to draw a clear limit in the legitimation of mining based on religious reasoning. in relation to dynamics of power relation between nu and the state, the presence of fn can be traced historically as an outcome of transformative interpretation of khittah ’26 of which is caused by the nu’s behavior during soekarno regime. the khittah ’26 is a historical event held in 1974 at situbondo national congress as a declaration of nu to get out from practical politics and return to the spirit of the initial khittah 1926 i.e to make nu as a social-religious organization. khittah itself means the foundation of thoughts, attitudes, values, and action of nu that are to be implemented by its members and the organizational decisions. the khittah has been regarded as the revolutionary path in internal dynamics of nu. the making of the khittah has preceded by various problems within nu in relation to its position to indonesian politics in indonesia. the khittah influenced the birth of fn in some ways. first, fn was born from a progressive youth intellectual forum in lkis yogjakarta. the community that saw khittah as a renewal in islamic thought to cope with social problems. bush (2009: 95) identified them as born from the effect of the spirit for renewal in khittah decree of nu. meanwhile, ideologically they adopted leftish islam, not in form of marxist but purely as a phenomenon emerging from the oppression of the muslim, whose aim is to reconstruct the teachings of islam to become a liberating force. second, they integrated the spirit of militancy and projam’iyyah at the same time. the militancy is obvious as they call themselves ‘front’ of nahdliyin which implies their concern to become front liner in matters of sovereignty campaign, while pro-jam’iyyah spirit has shown in their transformative interpretation of the khittah adopted by lkis and the use of contextual fiqh and its manhaji approach. the main interpretations of contextual fiqh are to see it as social ethics rather than governmental positive [ 33 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 law, and introduction to philosophical methodology of thought in cultures and social problems (mahfudz, 1994: xxxvi). the fatwa on the gold mine the fatwa about gold mining in banyuwangi was issued in 2009. it was decided by involving two hundred religious leaders in the city in a discussion held in islamic boarding school of nurul huda muncar by bahsul masail board (ningtiyas, 2019: 66). the intention of the fatwa occurred when people around pesanggaran district were worried about a plan of gold mining establishment near their living environment. many ngos had researches and analysis on the impact on the environment. on the other hand, the government was passionate to support the mining and saw that it would bring a great income to the regency. in this situation, some people were worried that its existence will affect the environment. this research found out that there are two motives why lajnah bahsul masail (nu commission dealing with discussions over legal status of social and religious problem) conducted the work on the religious law of the gold mining. first, there is a demand from local people that the problem should be discussed in bahsul masail, and the second is the government asked for religious consideration toward the establishment of the gold mining to lajnah bahsul masail (syafaat, personal communication, march 11, 2018). there are five questions proposed in the forum; (1) what is the law for gold mining? (2) how is the law of the mining activity in tumpang pitu with the given context? (3) how is the law for banyuwangi government to recommend the mining? (4) if forbidden (haram), can local income for government be the conditional reason (mujawwiz) to allow mining? (5) what is the measurement of harm/benefit of the mining?. however, the attempt to make fatwa regarding the mining activity has not yet answered all the question due to the delay of the meeting. this delay of the decision is commonly named mauquf meaning not yet fully solved. only three of the five questions were answered in the document of the fatwa which are; the first, the second, and the fifth question. these answered questions are about the measurement of the negative and positive side of the mining. some keywords such as common good (maslaha) and preventive action are a priority in the religious logics conducted by lajnah bahsul masail. while the two remaining questions, the third and the fourth question, are related to whether the government ought to support and take benefit from the company profit share for the sake of the local government income. answering the first group of questions about the general law for mining, the bahsul masail studied the similar events happened in the past. in this context, they refer to a classical [ 34 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 book asna al mathalib fi syarh raudhah al thalib by zakariya bin muhammad bin zakari al anshari from 926 hijriyah (equivalent to ad 1520) volume 1: page 385, stated that “ if one does mining in his own land or public land which bears a payment or tax ( zakat), then the tax is counted with measurement of gold or silver and not that of gemstone, iron, and copper”. and the second reference is based on the book called bugyah al murtasydin volume 1; page 291. it tells about an activity in a country that involves digging or kind of mining should be allowed as long as it does not disturb the neighboring area. these two references are taken to argue that the mining is initially allowed in islam as long as it does not negatively impact the neighbors. this approach is typical of bahsul masail argumentation, that is taking a saying or opinions from the students of imam syafi’i or the elders who follow syafi’i school in their works. however, after the manhaji approach introduced in 1992 to the logic of the traditionalist, the board of fatwa has attempted to contextualize the problem based on the generalization of common principle that is often found in the work of a more modern scholars such as in the book al fiqhu a’la madzahib al arba’ah volume 5: page 193. the book explains that “if a case is too difficult to the answered with classical argumentation, then contextualization is necessary by referring to the saying of the prophet: “la dhoror wa la dhiror” meaning that it is forbidden to do something that can endanger one’s self and the larger people. according to the author, here are two points shown in the prophet’s saying “that a muslim should avoid any danger to other muslim, or that a leader should avoid any danger in his policies and prefer the law that contains larger benefits.” then the first answer is continued by finding a measurement of harm and benefit to the mining in tumpang pitu banyuwangi. in short, the measurement consists of three points which are: (1) the defined common good (maslaha) is that of an obvious common good and not that of estimation and opinion, (2) the existence of common good is for the public interest not for any private and community interest, (3) and that should not be contradictory to the syaria law regulated by referent text and consensus (ijma’). these three principles are taken from the book irsyadul fukhul ila tahqiqi al haqqi min ‘ilmi al usuli volume 2: page 185 stating “if the maslaha (common good) is urgent, obvious, and public interest, then it is allowed. but, if only one point fulfilled, then it is not allowed.” furthermore, we find two aspects of the fatwa. transactional matters as capitalism and environmental consideration. the fatwa does not refer to capitalism per se but it does evaluate the case of the gold mine in terms of a kind of business ethics. here, we argue that the traditionalist islam defines capitalism as an ethic rather than a taken-for-granted assumption. the reason [ 35 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 is the word capitalism cannot be understood in traditionalist islam’s vocabulary without its attention to reciprocal relations aimed as practices of ethics in human activities. in this case, the clarity of government role in the mining is ethically important because the idea is to respect all parties in the transaction and to create a fair, open, and healthy business that no one would feel cheated or aggrieved. in this light, the traditionalist islam also believed the priority of the common good over individual concern. not only the transactions that matter, but also the environment considering the impact of the transaction to common people. the transaction over the gold mine by both the business corporatation and the government is thus valued through its righteous ethic of the business and its righteous environmental consideration for the greater good. hence, capitalism is actually a business ethic in islam that should include ecological consideration of its impact, and the fairness of its operation and benefit distribution. meanwhile, when it is referred as a world economic system based itself on economic determinism philosophy, the religious understanding of capitalism is actually cannot be secular since they value the term based on theological determinism through an ethical lens unlike that of the economic determinism. in this case, the ethical lens of the fatwa makes possible of a distinction between what is good and bad capitalism. good capitalism is when the business practice includes the ecological considerations mentioned in the arguments of the fatwa and the people’s well-being, while bad capitalism is simply understood as the business practices that do not fulfill the requirements, of the environmental and societal well-being, to be called ethical. the transactional matter concerns on the clarity of government role in the mining. the government role in the year where bahsul masail was held had not been clear in term of profit share and the benefit for the local regency. in the early conduct of bahsul masail up to 2009, the agreement that the government would receive 10% percent of the mining profit had not been decided (lestarinigsih and kumalasari, 2015). thus, the early occurrence of the mining plan puts the government in an unclear position. gus makky is one of the nu leaders in banyuwangi who argues for the lack of clarity of government position in the mining transaction yet he is convinced that the mining gives a great amount of benefit for the regency. in transactional matter, he said that the committee was agreed, based on the classical references, that the mining can be built only when it is run by the government as the central controller while the private company is put under it as the partner of the government (ali makky, personal communication, march 20, 2018). [ 36 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 meanwhile, environmental analysis is another consideration of discussion in bahsul masail besides the transactional matters. the consideration showed that the traditionalist implemented their renewed methodology on seeing the environmental side by not only seeking legal perspectives form existing classical references by using qauly approach, but also utilized the principle of fiqh such as maslaha (common good) to discuss the ecological relation by using manhaji approach. hereby, i argue that by implementing manhaji approach, the bahsul masail discussion is able to cope with the more contemporary social and environmental issues. the use of manhaji approach is seen in their references to modern work such as that of al fiqhu a’la madzahib al arba’ah volume 5: page 193. in this situation, they use the guidance of the author to base the decision on the common good principle when the case is hard to find in the past reference. in the case of the gold mine, bahsul masail implemented the manhaji approach not only by including principles of fiqh as the solution to the lack of ulama commentaries on the problem, but also involved local environmental analysis on the possible impact of the gold mine. nevertheless, the allowance of natural exploitation by islamic fiqh is seemingly contra productive with the environmentalist movement that perceive natural exploitation is bad. this perception basically derived from the concept of anthropocentrism that put human as the cause of the natural damage. an early scholar who noticed the relation between religion and ecology is lynn white (1967) in his work “historical roots of our ecological crisis”. in the book, he argued that the cause of the natural damage is religious (christianity) presumption of nature as the object of human’s exploitation, which actually has much similarity in islamic concept of khalifa which means god’s steward in the world. the story of adam who was educated by god to name the rest of creatures gives impression that humans are the ones that see the nature as the object in which it is meant to be exploited by human to fulfill their needs (bagir and martiyam 2017: 81). this perception that put religious teaching and mythology as the cause of human behavior should instead be understood differently. according to bagir and martiyam (2017), “islamic anthropocentrism” is in fact does not necessarily lead to destructive exploitation of nature, because in some interpretations human can be called as effectively a khalifa only when the human being remains the obedient servant of god (2017: 81). therefore, the language of the fatwa does not necessarily ignorant of the environmental concern but put it as one dimension that related to other parts of human life such as social order, economic prosperity, and other things as well. in this case of the gold mine, the fatwa has related the environmental issue with economical (transactional) consideration as well which in some ways tells us that environmental concern is related other parts [ 37 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 of human dimensions. as stated in the background of the fatwa, there are two reasons behind the rejection of the mine; the waste of mining can damage the communities of fish in the sea around tumpang pitu that it effects to the possible loss of the fishermen and there is no balance between the gaining income from the mining for the locals and the government and the environmental damage created from the activity. here, the environmental concern of the fatwa is related to the issue of the prosperity of both the community of fishermen and the larger banyuwanginese. the environment is understood as a part of the dimension of life that can influence the other aspects of human life. therefore, the damage of the sea around the area can harm the prosperity of the fishermen. nevertheless, the reason also sees that natural exploitation can be conducted for the greater benefit of the people. by this, the tolerable exploitation of nature did not mean to be destructive, but to be utilized for the greater good. this motive seems to make sense that fiqh in traditionalist islam is not to forbid the exploitation of nature but to critically put restrictions to the activity with such questions like what makes us want to exploit nature, who is supposed to take benefit for it, and is the activity urgent enough to be conducted. moreover, the traditionalist islam has their own mechanism and procedures to deal with the issues of ethical and legal judgment that made other constructions and philosophical influences are hard to get involved in the discussion. yet, there is potential as the development of religious logics within the traditionalist has widened the room for wider participation from science and philosophical thought, albeit at practical level some obstacles become the barrier for its implementation. pengajian by front nahdliyin and the critique of capitalism fn, in such natural resource conflicts, has an important role because of their position as the only environmentalist organization that derived from, yet moved outside, the formal structure of nahdlatul ulama. in addition, the role of leader in fn is very central as it moves on the same culture of nu whose leader is respected as ulama or kiayi for their religious authority and charisma to its followers. this chapter analyzes the pengajian addressed by al fayyadl, one of their intellectual leaders in front of people in pesanggaran who mostly oppose the mine, on february 25, 2018, and argues that pengajian is a form of indirect public protest used by fn. then, the discussion concluded the response of islamic ethics towards the environment in relation to capitalism. despite the fact that it is a consistency of nu to focus on the social sphere of [ 38 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 people since its ‘returning to khittah 1926’ is declared, nu allow its followers to participate in practical politics and activism outside the organization. the example is such as the establishment of pkb political party as an independent political party but is supported by many nu ulama in 1989 and lead abdurrahan wahid as the fourth president of indonesia under the party, and pmii (pergerakan mahasiswa islam indonesia), an islamic student movement which formed in 1960 to the present that affiliate to nahdlatul ulama. under this historical fact, the pengajian toward gold mine is a form of youth activism outside the formal organization of nu. as will be seen in the following description, the pengajian contains a criticism toward the government’s policy in gold mine banyuwangi. moreover, the pengajian is also a form of public protest to minings. it is a way to seek alternative medium for public protest especially after previous contentious events, that are, destruction of mining facilities by protesters in 2015 and the arrest of an activist, budi pego, for bringing communist symbol. somehow, pengajian by fn is a safer medium to protest and at the same time to educate people to use objective criticism rather than direct demonstration. therefore, the role of fn leader, al fayyadl, here is very central because of his position as also a young kiyayi in pesantren nurul jadid probolinggo. in this pengajian, fn activism carried out is strengthened with al fayyadl’s capacity as a religious figure or young ulama. in the pengajian, al fayyadl made some points of interpretations to the relation between islam and ecology as follows: first, he stated that the resistance toward mining should not be based on merely the sense of belonging to nature, but it is more as an act to thank god’s given creation to human by keeping it from destruction. in this position, he makes a distance to common environmentalists who dedicate their effort to love nature, but he shares the same struggle and solidarity to protect nature from human excessive exploitation. moreover, his affiliation with environmental activism is basically a criticism toward the incapability of formal nu organization to address problems of environment. the second is an example of how the ulama of the past build pesantren (a traditional sort of islamic boarding school) on or nearby natural resources such as pesantren watu congol built on the water area and sunan muria built one on the muria mount. he argued that the existence of those pesantrens is a form of natural preservation from people and colonizer who planned to exploit nature. furthermore, he gave a contrasting picture of indonesian today that most of his natural resources are owned by some groups and foreign investors. this act of preservation and nu historical role in defending their communities from invasion and colonization from outsider are translated by fn as the ‘sovereignty problem over natural resources’ and has to be prioritized [ 39 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 for the benefit of the nation. the third thing is the distinctive feature of nu tradition, that is basing every problem on fiqh consideration. in the last part of the preaching, al fayyadl invited the audience to be rational by using religious consideration including the use of knowledge of fiqh in seeing the gold mine. in this sense, al fayyadl quoted the thought of bahsul masail after previously visited the leader of bahsul masail. his realization that fiqh is an important aspect of traditionalist nu is its position as the anchor of religious behavior including in the act of resistance. concluding remarks the traditionalist behavior which is manifested in the transformation they made in logic (using manhaji approach in legal judgment), and activism by fn (in form of pengajian) shows their engagement with global issues (i.e. capitalism). their engagement is by adaptation to globalization through transforming their instruments, that are, fiqh and informal activism. the former is through the inclusion of manhaji approach in 1992 aimed to update the tool used in the exercise of intelligence known as fiqh. by this approach, they can see new problems with its wider possibility and thus shifting the approach from being a follower of the past scholarship to being the producer of a new insight. in a global-local relation, traditionalist religiosity has obviously shown its positive and critical engagement to global issues. rather than showing radical break to globalization as what is done by sect aum shinrikyo in japan, they adapt to it by updating logical means in fiqh to be more capable of coping with global issues. although, at the same time, they make a defensive wall from the global stream through holding on to identities such as nationalism, sovereignty, traditionalist brotherhood, et cetera. secondly, in regard to capitalism and religion, the traditionalist in the case of gold mine acknowledge its positive potential to create people prosperity and social justice. in this case, the weberian view can help better to answer that religion is a cause of capitalism which means capitalism is natural as it inherently part of human and religion gives a bigger role in giving motivation to generate wealth and to exploit nature for proportional human need. in this case, the religious logic of traditionalist religion revealed that there is not any avoidance to exploit nature since it is made to fulfill human need. what is forbidden by religion is a condition behind it such as when it socially harmful to the neighboring environment, when it affects to the personal psychological aspect of human e.g when human accumulate wealth for personal greed. all these reasons obviously put human as the center of above all creatures. this traditionalist islamic fiqh that is used by indonesian traditionalist muslim [ 40 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 do not actually understand capitalism as similar to socialist-communist but more as an ethical misconduct. therefore, capitalism for traditionalist is a matter of ethics. as analyzed in the previous section, both bahsul masail and fn activism are proved that they understand problems of capitalism through the same logic, that is ethical problem, and they turn to the same solution by the exercise of intelligence through fiqh procedure. the latter is an innovation in traditionalist activism that is characterized by their concern on natural preservation. the innovation lies in its distinguished position from those common green movements who takes side on nature per se. as for them, nature is considered as a god’s gift to human being to be exploited proportionally (taisir). in other word, fn sees ‘ethical’ human as the center. the ethical means a wise and good behavior to nature that is contradicting to bad and greedy behavior (ifsad). in other word, fn put human as the center or what is commonly labeled as anthropocentrism. while common environmentalist put the negative impact of human behavior to nature with the idea of environmental justice, fn sees it as an ethical project to build not only environmental justice but also social justice, and what is relatively new to such movement is their use of traditionalist instrument of fiqh. thus, the research on capitalism and religious behavior in globalization setting unfold three findings. first, the religion is adaptive to globalization in form of its logic and activism. second, capitalism can be regulated in cases of ethical misconduct or potential harm. third, through frictions around the case of tumpang pitu gold mine, the recent movement of fnksda and the transformative logic within traditionalist islam can be well understood as the result of the interaction among global connections where the religion is urged to rethink their ethical stance. references appleby, j. (2011). relentless revolution: a history of capitalism. new york: w.w norton & company. bagir, z. a. and martiam, n., (2017). “islam: norms and practices”. in jenkins, willis; tucker, mary; grim, john (eds) routledge handbook of religion and ecology. new york: routledge. bruinessen, m. v., (1994). nu tradisi, relasi relasi kuasa, dan pencarian wacana baru. yogyakarta: lkis. bush, r., (2009). nahdlatul ulama and the struggle for power within islam and politics in indonesia. singapore: iseas publishing. [ 41 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 creswell, j. w., (2007). qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. usa: sage publications. fargnoli, m., (1991). on moral ground: the art/science of ethics. new york: the crossroad publishing company. fealy, g., (2003). ijtihad politik ulama: sejarah nu 1952-1967. yogyakarta: lkis. feillard, a., (1999). nu vis-à-vis negara. yogyakaeta: lkis. goodman, d., (2012). the paranoid apocalypse: a hundred-year retrospective on the protocols of the elders of zion. katz, steven t., landes, richard allen. usa: new york university press. huntington, s., (1996). clash of civilization and the remaking of world order. usa: penguin book. lechner. (2005). “religious rejection of globalization” in mark juergensmeyer [ed]. religion in global civil society: religious rejection of globalization. usa: oxford university press. lestariningsih and kumalasari. (2015). kontribusi pengetahuan lokal dalam tata kelola sumeber daya alam di kabupaten banyuwangi. draft ksi. mahfudz, s., (1994). nuansa fiqih sosial. yogyakarta: lkis. marshall, k., (2008). “religion and global development: intersecting path” in thomas banchoff (ed) religious pluralism, globalization, and politics. usa: oxford university press. nasr, s.h., (1968). man and nature: the spiritual crisis in modern man. london: goerge & unwin ltd. ningtiyas, i., (2019). menambang emas di tanah bencana. yogyakarta: resist book. qodim, a., (2012). ekologi politik pengelolaan taman nasional meru betiri kabupaten jember dan kabupaten banyuwangi era reformasi politik nasional. graduate thesis , institut pertanian bogor. raines, j., (2002). marx on religion. usa: temple university press. scott, j. c., (1976). the moral economy of the peasant. london: yale university press. ____________ (1985). weapon of the weak: everyday form of peasant resistance. london: yale university press. stahl, w., (2007). “religious opposition to globalization” in beyer, peter and beaman, lori (eds) religion, globalization, and culture. boston: brill publishing. [ 42 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 tsing, a. l., (2005). friction: ethnography of global connection. uk: princeton university press. tucker, w. t., (1965). marx weber’s verstehen. taylor & francis, ltd. the sociological quarterly, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 157-165. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/4105245. vanquez, a. m., (2003). globalizing the sacred: religion across americas. usa: rudgers university press. weber, m., (2001). the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. new york: routledge classics. white, l., (1967). the historical roots of our ecological crisis. american association for the advancement of science. science new series, vol. 155, no. 3736, (mar. 10, 1967), pp. 1203-1207. [ 145 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 southeast asia: history, modernity, and religious change sumanto al qurtuby university of notre dame’s kroc institute for international peace studies abstract southeast asia or southeastern asia, with more than six hundred million populations, is home to millions of buddhists, muslims, confucians, protestants, catholics, and now pentecostals, as well as many followers of local religions and spiritual beliefs. notwithstanding its great historical, political, cultural legacies, however, the region has long been neglected as a site for religious studies in the western academia. aiming at filling the gap in asian and religious studies as well as exploring the richness of southeast asian cultures, this article discusses the dynamics, diversity, and complexity of southeast asian societies in their response to the region’s richly political, cultural, and religious traditions spanning from pre-modern era to modern one. the article also examines the “integrative revolutions” that shaped and reshaped warfare, state organization and economics of southeast asia, particularly in the pre-european colonial era. in addition, the work discusses the wave of islamization, particularly since the nineteenth century, as well as the upsurge of religious resurgence that shift the nature of religiosity and the formation of religious groupings in the area. the advent of islam, with some interventions of political regimes, had been an important cause for the decline of hindu-buddhist traditions in some areas of southeast asia, especially indonesia, the coming of pentecostalism has challenged the well-established mainstream protestantism and catholicism, especially in indonesia and the philippines. keywords: history, modernity, religious change, southeast asia pre-modern southeast asia: the power of hinduism-buddhism it is imperative to note that based on archeological sources, people living in the regions of today’s southeast asia1 who were skilful in “casting metals and making pottery” were as early as 3000 years bce (osborne 2002: 21), signifying that the history of southeast asia’s civilizations is as old as that of egypt’s, greece’s, india’s, and china’s. although the region has prolonged historical records, however, it is not until the first centuries of ad that the region’s cultures and civilizations become visible. known as the southeast 1 southeast asia is a sub-region of asia consisting of the countries that are geographically south of china, east of india, west of new guinea, and north of australia. [ 146 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 asia’s golden age, this classical era had been marked by the appearance of great cultural achievements crafted by the early actors of the indic states. these remarkable accomplishments, achieved by the “indic” courts that were scattered across southeast asia, were later followed or replaced by what the noted historian of southeast asia anthony reid (1988, 1995) has called the “age of commerce” typified by the dynamics of global trade involving foreigners of various professions such as, among others, merchants, teachers, gurus, sufis, travelers, and priests coming from around the world: china, india, persia, bangladesh, arab and the middle east, ceylon, and madagascar, to name but a few (see also lombard 1996). the region of “pre-modern” southeast asia was divided into two main categories: mainland / inland and maritime, each of which has special characteristics in terms of its people, along with their cultures, divisions of labor, social living, organization, traditions, technologies, and system of beliefs. later, as i will discuss below, such distinctive features of the mainlandmaritime influenced the forms and characteristics of the region’s traditional states or courts. moreover, the mainland region, known as indochina comprising cambodia, laos, burma (myanmar), thailand, and vietnam, was divided into two major areas, namely upland and lowland. historian milton osborne (2002: 65; 2000: 53) calls it “hill-valley division.” people living on the upland territory have also different features from those who lived on the lowland. while peasant farmer was part of the dominant society of the lowland, the nomadic farmer who practiced “slash and burn agriculture,” in addition to hunter-gatherer, composed the striking marks of the “hill people” in traditional southeast asia. most minority highlanders did not share the dominant lowland society’s values and cultures. additionally, most majority lowlanders often considered the peoples of the highland as savage, barbarian, primitive, and uncivilized groups. such stereotyping suggests that the split of upland-lowland is not merely a geographical separation, but—this is the most important thing—socio-cultural division. the people of the lowland who controlled the governments also did not involve the uplanders in their decision-making process and other governmental-political issues. as a result, the highlanders became “out-groups,” albeit they played a variety of significant roles across the regions of southeast asia such as a source of slaves, trade of forest products, and magical power. unlike the mainland of traditional southeast asia in which its inhabitants were divided into upland and lowland dwellers, the real division in the maritime regions (such as indonesia, brunei, malaysia, the philippines, singapore, east timor, among others) was, to borrow osborne’s phrase, “those who followed [ 147 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 a pattern of life related to a permanent base” (e.g. for fishing, trading, and farming) and those who pursued “a nomadic life combining hunting and slash and burn agriculture.” whereas in the mainland the nomadic farmer was highlanders, that was not the case in areas of the maritime. apart from the details of differences between the mainland/inland and the coastal areas, it is common to acknowledge that the mainland was marked by agrarian societies while the maritime areas were typified by trading and fishing-based economic systems (see also sardesai 1997). it is significant to note that there were no massive state-based societies in the region until the arrival of indian buddhist priests and hindu brahmins, which later drove the establishment and transformation of local small states to, a sort of “indic” courts/states across the southeast asia’s interior and coastal areas. the word “state” highlighted here, it should be noted, is not in the sense of modern-nation states, but rather in the term of old-fashioned state/government that was characterized by (1) no clear physical boundary since it was not a territorial state (as a result, rulers fought and controlled over followers not territory); (2) lack of bureaucracy, and indeed there was no bureaucrat in the sense of today’s modern-state; (3) patrimonialism in which the relationship between the rulers and the ruled was not built based upon professional ties but “patron-client” and personal connection with a ruler; (4) lack of government structure so that no bureaucratic continuity; (5) no standing army; and (6) no mechanism or rule of succession, so that the process of transformation of power could be violent. vietnam was the only country in southeast asia’s early history that had a sort of “modern” government typified by bureaucracy, structures of governments (from central to village level), education, professionalism, and a written code as the law. while in the “indic” states (in burma, thailand, cambodia, or java) the officialdom was a quasi-hereditary affair, in vietnamese state bureaucracy was open to all citizens who could meet the tests of scholarship. vietnam’s “uniqueness” can be understood, in part because it was the only region in southeast asia that was “sinicized” rather than “indianized” (see osborn 2000: 35-41). furthermore, the legacy of those “indic” states in southeast asia’s classical history can be traced back to the foundation of a number of great classical kingdoms scattered from angkor of cambodia to tarumanegara of west java, from champa to kutai of kalimantan.2 perhaps only sulawesi and maluku 2 examples of these early “indic” empires stretching from early centuries ad to 13th and 14th centuries included angkor of cambodia, pagan of burma, champa (in southern vietnam), srivijaya of sumatra (its center is believed in today’s palembang), gangga negara (located in today’s perak, malaysia), langkasuka (located in the malay peninsula), pan pan (situated in modern kelantan or terengganu, malaysia), salakanagara (sited in today’s pandegelang of west java), tarumanegara (its power scattered from modern banten, bogor, [ 148 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 had not been influenced by hinduism-buddhism. there are no temples and other indian artifacts so far in both eastern regions of indonesia. apart from sulawesi and maluku, most, if not all, the greatly classical kingdoms in southeast asia were associated with buddhism (especially mahayana buddhism), hinduism, or both (and in some cases mixed with indigenous beliefs). effected by southeast asia’s features and physical environments, these classical empires can also be characterized into two main streams: land-based states centering agricultural systems and agrarian societies, and maritimebased empires focusing on trading or a sort of “mercantile state.” while angkor of cambodia was one of the mightiest examples of the land-based empires, srivijaya of sumatra was the main powerful maritime-based kingdom in southeast asia’s classical stage that built its enormous power based on the networks of international trade and china’s sponsorship (tan 2009). with the exception of vietnam, which was deeply-rooted and influenced by chinese-confucian traditions and politics; thereby extensively differed from other territories of southeast asia in terms of state organization, as well as the philippines (and perhaps brunei?), which was never touched by indian cultures, southeast asia’s regions in the classical era deeply experienced a process of what so-called “indianization.” indeed, there has been a debate to how indian cultures and politics come to play its part in the early stages of southeast asian history and about the degree of its significance. such debate can be understood in part because there was never any major or waves of huge migration of people from india to southeast asia. instead, only a limited number of people, some of them were brahmins (hindu priests), buddhist monks, scholars, and traders searching for routes,3 did travel to southeast asian regions that were famous as the lands or islands of gold. once the indian priests-scholars landed and reached the small-scale “states” just appeared in the region, they found that their religions—hinduism and buddhism—proved attractive to the local rulers and their inhabitants (see e.g. lockard 2009). some scholars have argued that a primary reason of the attractiveness toward indian cultural ideas attached in buddhism and hinduism partly because these religions fitted perfectly with the local religious beliefs and worldviews existing in (some) areas of southeast asia. to put it differently, the indian and jakarta), kutai martadipura (in east kalimantan. its founder, kudungga, was a buddhist from the royal family of champa court), kalingga (located in today’s keling of jepara, and its popular king, ratu shima, has been called “the classical srikandi of javanese society”), and mataram kuno in central java (either related to wangsa sanjaya or wangsa syailendra which were the actors of the formation of central java’s great temples: borobudur, prambanan/lara jonggrang, and kalasan). 3 the traders travelled to the east from india because of a decision made by the roman emperor vespasian who banned the export of gold to india. [ 149 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 cultures, traditions, and knowledge were absorbed by the local rulers and populations, and were joined to their existing cultural patterns. local spiritualcultural concepts of the cosmic duality, for instance, resembled those of indian “dewa-dewi” (lit. god-goddess). local beliefs toward “sacred mountains,” along with its guardian spirits, as a source of the balance of universe (see e.g. geertz 1976; beaty 1999) also nicely fitted hindu-buddhist idea of mount meru (also called “sumeru” meaning the “great meru”), a sacred mountain in hindu-buddhist cosmology (as well as in jain mythology). for local believers in java, the mount meru is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes. for indian hindus, it is believed that the mt. meru is to be the adobe of brahma (the hindu god of creation) and other gods (devas). as well, indian veneration of the lingam, an image in stone of the hindu god shiva’s phallus and so symbolizing both divine and earthly generative powers, is believed to have fitted well with a similar veneration in southeast asia of erect stones as fertility symbols (cf. schrieke 1957). another reason of why buddhism and hinduism were eye-catching local rulers and their subjects was the “custodians of knowledge” hindu brahmins and buddhist monks brought and offered to them. nothing to do with religious concepts, these “custodians of knowledge” that the brahmins and monks carried out during early phases of southeast asian history related to those of astronomy and astrology, of architecture, and of statecraft. in the eyes of local rulers, all these things were very useful to be used as a means of governing societies, of crafting a temple, court and building, of expecting a major astronomical event, etc., along the way of religious symbolism. local histories and oral traditions scattered from cambodia to sunda telling the meeting and relationships between brahmins and monks with local rulers confirmed the influence of these indian priests to local kings. however it is central to notice that whatever the significance of imported indian knowledge and cultures and their meeting with the existing local religious beliefs, cultural patterns, and worldviews, there were some vital aspects of southeast asian life that never took roots within indian cultures. in addition, in some cases, a number of fundamental indian religious systems and cultures were never adopted by southeast asian hindus such as the strict caste system (i.e. brahma, ksatria, waisya, sudra, and paria). as well, while in india temples function as a congregational life, southeast asia’s temples were dedicated to courts and kings. although indian religions, art forms, and systems of government had been at the center of southeast asian life and cultures, these “cultural endowments” had been localized in accordance with “local tastes.” in brief, southeast asians, indeed, borrowed and absorbed indian religious [ 150 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 beliefs and knowledge but they also adapted these cultural gifts in accordance with local cultures and traditions. this is to say that southeast asians were neither “active givers” nor “passive recipients.” the process of “indianization” hence should be viewed as neither southeast asian total acceptance of indian cultural values nor the complete transformation of southeast asian cultural and political features into indian nature. in fact, there were a number of cultural patterns that still unique southeast asia such as, among others, gender relationships, female peasants, and wet-rice cultivation techniques. the age of commerce and the advent of islam the glory of hinduism/mahayana buddhism-based classical empires had come to an end sometime in the 14/15th century after the downfall of cambodia’s angkor and sumatra’s sriwijaya. the angkor was replaced by powerful thai peoples while sriwijaya was transformed into a new dominant islamic sultanate of malacca, which later sponsored “islamization” to malay regions, brunei and borneo, and eastern indonesia such as sulawesi (e.g. the kingdom of gowa) and north maluku (sultanates of ternate, tidore, bacan, and jailolo). the collapse of the great kingdoms of angkor and sriwijaya had been followed by the rise of the new era so-called the “age of commerce” that marked southeast asia’s pre-european colonial history, as well as the end of southeast asia’s classical era. this particular phase was very dynamics in terms of cultural and commercial flow since there were various social agents and peoples in the region coming from different part of the world. the driving forces of this “age of commerce” included, but not limited to, first, spices which were far more expensive than gold that had been at the core of foreigners travelling to southeast asia in the “classical” period; second, military or political expedition of china-mongol from the yuan dynasty. sometimes in the 1289s, the emperor kublai khan (r. 1260–1294) sent some 20.000 armies to java to defeat the king kertanegara of singasari in east java and forced it to be a tributary state; and third—and this is the most remarkable one—the contact establishment between the ming dynasty and southeast asia regions. born in 1370, cheng ho (zeng he), it was believed to be a hui muslim, was the main legendary figure of this contact who led huge expeditions to the coastal areas of southeast asia since the early fifteenth century. the ming shi (“the history of ming dynasty”) recorded that cheng ho’s fleet was involved 62 big ships and 225 junk (boats) along with 27.550 marines, astronomers, politicians, map makers, doctors, traditional healers, preachers, ethnographers, etc. (tan 2009; nio 1952). from 1405 to 1433, cheng ho had [ 151 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 conducted the expedition for seven times4 and visited more than thirty seven countries: from indonesian seaports, notably palembang, banten, cirebon, semarang, gresik, and surabaya to ceylon, kocin, kalikut, ormuz, jeddah, magadisco and malindi, from campa to india, from persian gulf to red sea and the coast of kenya. cheng ho’s expeditions were not only for the economic and political purposes, but cultural and religious concerns as well. as a result of the influx of peoples and merchandise from various parts of the world, southeast asia from fourteenth to sixteenth century, just about the coming of european colonials, had been the world’s most prosperous trading centers. witnesses and records of early travelers who transited to southeast asia’s coastal areas in the 14th to 16th centuries such as marco polo, ibnu battuta, ma huan, loedewicks, de houtman, to name a few, can be used as evidence of the dynamics and advancement of southeast asia throughout those centuries. accordingly claims have been made by some specialists of southeast asia that the period between the 13th and 16th century was a stagnant/static era separated from the glorious classical “golden age” resulted in the mightiest cultural monuments and the heroic colonialism beginning in the late sixteenth century need to be reevaluated. the emergence of the “age of commerce” was indicated by a number of fundamental features: (1) the growth of urban cities (it is said the increase was three times much bigger that european cities); (2) the plurality of ethnicity and religion; (3) the growth of personal wealth (malay/indonesian: “orang kaya”) that marked the emergence of a new class of wealthy people (indicated by the ownership of merchant fleets and ships); and (4) contractual package of government distinctive from the “old” fashioned raja-centric states. here, the appearance of a new class of rich people and merchant groups had been able to change the nature of politics and state government as well as the patterns of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. while in the “old” states the status of “elite people” was only determined by hereditary system, i.e. only those inherited the blood of kings, princes, courters, or brahmins (indonesian: “darah biru”) who were able to reach the elite class, during the “age of commerce,” the new class of rich people and merchant groups could 4 the first expedition (1405-07) was from nanjing to calicut, champa, java, srivijaya, sumatra, and ceylon; the second expedition (1407-09) was a voyage to india and to install the new king of calicut; the 3rd expedition (1409-11) was to champa, temasek, malaka, sumatra (samudra and tamiang), and ceylon; the fourth one was (1413-15) was a voyage to champa, java, sumatra, malaya, maldives, ceylon, india, and hormuz; the fifth trip (141719)’s destination was champa, java, palembang, aden, mogadishu, brawa, and malindi on the west coast of africa; the sixth voyage (1421-22) was to africa and all over the world including america (menzies 2003); and the seventh expedition (1431-33) was to southern vietnam, surabaya, palembang, malaka, samudra, ceylon, calicut, africa, and jeddah (see e.g. widodo 2003) [ 152 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 achieve such status and negotiated or bargained power/authority with local rulers. in some cases, many princes’ daughters were also married to these wealthy merchants, a tradition that was alien in the time of “old” states. furthermore, the transition from hinduism and mahayana buddhismbased states to the new “age of commerce” had been marked by a massive conversion to theravada buddhism (especially in the mainland of burma, cambodia, laos, thailand, and southern vietnam) and islam (esp. in the malay peninsula, brunei, sumatra, and northern coast of java). such rapid collapse of hinduism and mahayana buddhism was partly because these religions were (1) lack of deep social roots, and (2) king-centric religions. as a result when the kings and courts collapsed their religions disappeared. it happened in the mainland of southeast asia like burma: the real spread of theravada buddhism since the 13th centuries was because its kings embraced this new form of buddhism and built temples around their kingdoms. this is to say that the spread of theravada buddhism from sri lanka to burma was by courts, not trade or conquests. apart from the role of princes and empires in the proliferation of the theravada, this new “reformed buddhism” differed significantly from the “old” mahayana in term of the principles of religious knowledge, doctrines, and cultures that might be contributed to the development of this new theravada buddhism. in addition, unlike the mahayana which was lack of social roots the theravada built sangha, a religious establishment surrounded around the kings, through which this religion became deeply rooted. the theravada was also seen to be more “democratic” than the mahayana, and women could become a priest leading rituals and religious liturgy. whereas in burma, cambodia, thailand, laos, and southern vietnam had undergone the process of top-down “theravada-ization,” southeast asia’s coastal regions such as today’s malaysia, sumatra, and northern java had converted to islam through a vehicle of trade, sufism/mysticism, art performs, etc., a sort of “bottom-up” conversion through cultural means of knowledge productions. southeast asia’s conversion to islam since the 13th to 17th centuries was through multiple channels of religious actors. however, the main carriers of islam in the region were sufi-mystics and traders coming from china, arab and the middle east countries, india, bengali, persia, etc. steadily but surely this new forces of muslims were able to transform southeast asian peoples and established small, but significant islamic kingdoms centered in demak (central java), giri (east java), and cirebon (west java) (all located in northern coast of java). by the end of 15th and early 16th centuries, these new muslim movements had successfully toppled the last powerful java-based [ 153 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 hindu-buddhist kingdom majapahit. the description and analysis i sketched above suggest that the “integrative revolutions” occurred in pre-colonial southeast asia were primarily due to the waves of religions and civilization. worldviews, beliefs, and ritual practices before the arrival of the new world religions, to borrow max weber’s (1993) phrase, especially islam, theravada buddhism, and christianity, in the fifteenth century, southeast asian societies practiced a sort of traditional religious beliefs and hinduism (or hindu-buddhist traditions as those of singasari and majapahit kingdoms). as i briefly described in the previous paragraphs, southeast asia’s traditional and indigenous religious practices were characterized by, first, the worship of guardian and ancestral spirits (javanese: danyang or roh mbahu rekso) by offering meals and other things (flower, incense, water, etc.) needed for the rituals. later these ritual practices of guardian and ancestral-spirit veneration had been absorbed and practiced by local rulers and palace’s elites. indeed, local kings and its courts sponsored these indigenous religious events such as the javanese and malay rulers’ annual offerings to spirits of the sea (e.g. nyai lara kidul for the spirit of south sea or dewi lanjar for that of the north/java sea). not only rulers (or “states”) that have practiced such religious festivals, muslim societies also still preserve such rituals like the nyadran traditions in northern coast of java. the javanese literature expert from the netherlands theodore pigeaud (1962) also noted that majapahit’s successors maintained ritual ceremony of pre-islamic courts, and cultivated an aesthetic and mythical tradition influenced by earlier traditions. the second characteristic of “indigenous” religion was animism5 (from latin word anima meaning “soul” or “life”). the late american anthropologist clifford geertz (1976: 5) once noticed that the sort of animism was not only common in java but also in many of the pagan tribes of malaysia prior to the coming of the world religions. however, this tradition, geertz continued, has proved, over the course of the centuries, remarkably able to absorb into “one syncretized whole elements from both hinduism and islam,” which follow it in the fifteenth century. before the “incursion” of reformed islamic religion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, southeast asia’s muslims still practiced a syncretic form of religious beliefs. as in the case of java, the village religious system commonly consisted of a “balanced integration” of animistic, hinduistic, and islamic elements, a basic javanese syncretism which is the 5 animism is a philosophical, religious, or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans or animals but also in plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, etc. [ 154 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 island’s true folk religion. religious practices of the javanese abangan resemble cambodia’s imam san who has claimed to be the keepers of ancient cham rituals, language, and traditions. rites of life passage in tengger, as hefner remarks, are also celebrated in a “syncretic form” combining various elements of ancient javanese traditions. third, another common theme of southeast asia’s religious practice prior to the advent of the new world religions dealt with the concept of cosmology, or more precisely, the worldview of the sacred duality, that is a sort of belief (or wisdom) that preserve the significance of the integration of opposing entities: land-water, male-female, sea-mountain, earth-sky, micro-macro cosmos, and so forth to keep the harmony of social order and cosmos. indeed, preservation of “cosmos balance” such as the harmony of male-female, dewadewi, gods-goddesses, water-mountain (read, cosmic duality) through certain ritual performances had been the central theme of pre-indic southeast asian societies. this is to say that creation and recreation of the world through harmonious ways had become a primary concern of these traditional peoples. the practices of exorcism (a spell), artistic performance, and spirit cultism which still survived into the twentieth century are other features of pre-world regions southeast asia. in addition to the above indigenous religious traditions, southeast asia prior to the entrance of the new world religions was colored by hinduism. the historian of southeast asia oliver wolters (1993) said that the dominant impulse in hindu religious beliefs was a “devotional” and personalized one (bhakti), organized around popular cults in honor of shiva and vishnu. no doubt, hinduism (and mahayana buddhism-hinduism) had been at the core of classical southeast asian traditions. classical empires such as gangga negara, langkasuka, and pan pan (all located in modern malaysia), salakanagara, tarumanegara (sited in today’s west java), kutai martadipura (east kalimantan), kalingga (jepara), as well as the great singasari and majapahit had been strongly influenced by hinduism. the term “indianization” of southeast asia as wolters once used it referred to the influence of indian hindu, and therefore religious or cultural rather than political conceptions that brought ancient and persisting indigenous beliefs into sharper focus. in other words “indianization” of southeast asia took roots in the forms of culture, art, language, scholarship, and above all, religion. historical records, epigraphs, writings, archeological sites, classical monuments, etc. all confirmed hinduism (or hindu-buddhism)-driven southeast asia’s great cultural achievements. unfortunately, unlike in india, where much of the non-islamic infrastructure survived the muslim conquests, southeast asia’s temples and monasteries of [ 155 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 hindu-buddhist worship as well as historical sites (epigraphs and learning centers included) experienced a near-total collapse in the centuries following local rulers’ conversion to islam. hefner (2009: 14) noted that before the islamization of its courts took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, java’s kingdoms had some two hundred centers of hindu-buddhist monasticism and learning, none of which survived into the modern era except a small hindu javanese enclave of east java’s tengger! in the centuries following the fall of the last “siwa-buda” kingdom of majapahit, java’s hindu-buddhist priestly communities and elements of indic heritage slowly disappeared except in some isolated areas of the eastern salient and tengger (cf. hefner 1989). again, this historical evidence shows the fact of “raja-centric” religious traditions so that when the courts collapsed, peoples would follow new rulers’ religions. although the role of courts in the process of the spread of religion (islam included) was significant, it does not mean to diminish the contribution of other agents. as i will describe below, besides priyayi elites of the court, the role of kiai, haji, habib, sayid, dukun, pastor or priest (e.g. kiai sadrach), and other non-courtly local leaders as a transmitter of knowledge, religiosity, and cultures was very significant. this phenomenon did not only happen in java or indonesia, but all-across southeast asian regions. in the philippines, for instance, the role of pandita or guru in the transmission of knowledge and learning process was also very central (see e.g. mckenna 1998). hefner (2009: 11) also noted that the role of religious experts like dukuns, bomohs (malay), and shamans scattered across the southeast asia regions before their position had been taken place by religious teachers and ulama. modernity and the rise of islamic reformism furthermore, it is central to acknowledge that although since the 14th or the 15th century parts of southeast asia had already begun to be islamized, especially in the areas of mercantile ports, it was only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that the process of islamization and the creation of islamic public culture took its deep roots and experienced a vast impact through, among other things, the development of broad-based institutions for intermediate and advanced education in the islamic sciences, including jurisprudence and islamic canon. this is also the case in south asia. as muhammad qasim zaman, a professor of near eastern studies and religion at princeton university, has argued in his recent book modern islamic thought in a radical age, the establishment of the muhamamdan anglo-oriental college, founded by sayyid ahmad khan (d. 1898) in 1875 in the north indian town of aligarh, [ 156 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 as well as the darul ulum of deoband in 1866, both became a primary channel for the process of islamization and the shape of south asia’s islamic public culture (zaman 2012: 4-6). this analysis, however, does not suggest that there was no islamic public culture in southeast asia prior to the 19th and 20th centuries. indeed islamic public culture had existed before these centuries, but it was produced and reproduced by or through sultans or kings-sponsored religious rituals, and not institutionalized religious schooling. as well, although madrasas-based islamic education began to take place in the late 18th and 19th century, it does not mean that there was no islamic learning in the region. in the malay peninsula, for instance, the earliest form of islamic education since the arrival of islam in the region was qur’anic recitation, held in mosques, prayer houses (javanese: langgar), or in the homes of learned muslims (hefner 2009: 112). prior to the “invention” of modern schools, the introduction and dissemination of islamic knowledge were conducted in, particularly in java, the prayers houses or in the homes of sufi-mystics and dukun (or shaman, a traditional healer), a sort of egypt’s syaikh ummi, an uneducated religious teacher who claimed to attain his islamic knowledge from visions of the prophet and the depths of his heart, and not from the reading of islamic texts (see hefner 2009: 11). as other regions of southeast asia, java in the nineteenth century also underwent an enormous change that contributed to the development of islam. java’s rapid change, more specifically, was triggered and caused by the deadly java war from 1825 to 1830 and the massive famine that hit central java in the 19th century. such poverty and landlessness were also widespread in east java and madura during that period. this tragic event had caused tens of thousands of people died, causing the drop dramatically of java’s population, while others migrated and fled to east java. the dutch administration itself also encouraged the migration for coffee cultivation purposes (hefner 1989: 242). accordingly it is understandable why much of the labor required for coffee agriculture in the tengger highlands and other places of the eastern salient, as hefner noted (ibid: 33) was provided by central javanese and madurese immigrants. that coffee cultivation, a product of the dutch-imposed cultuurstelsel or cultivation system whose architect of which was the governor-general van den bosch, was triggered by the bankruptcy and economic/financial crises of the voc (the dutch east india company) at the end of the 18th century after nearly two centuries in the indonesian archipelago without significant outcomes in terms of economic benefits. in particular, the prince diponegoro-led five-year java war (1825-1830) had caused a major devastation.6 6 triggered by such lost money and economic crises, van den bosch (1780-1844) proposed to king willem i (1813-40) to extract agricultural products such as indigo, sugar, [ 157 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 a century-long movement of migration from central java and later from the island of madura to the areas of east java, including those of tengger, a bit by bit had colored and transformed this eastern salient area’s local cultures and traditions as well as had changed its society’s economy. the madurese, originally came as migrant workers on dutch-owned lands, have set two distinct social classes: first is a small group of wealthy entrepreneurs who acted as labor managers and coffee agents for the chinese and dutch, and second is a much larger class of landless laborers who were brought by the entrepreneurs to work the land, known as santri in the sense of both “workers” and “orthodox” muslims. the influx of muslim migrants had pushed back the followers of buda religion into the interior of rural villages and mountains (e.g. hindu tenggerese). nonetheless the islamic population continued to grow significantly in the 19th century “as a result of government policy giving land titles to both the coffee lords and their previously landless dependents” (hefner 1987a: 59-60). one of the key factors underlying cultuurstelsel output, according to the historian m.c. ricklefs (2007), was the investment of javanese labor, not land, into agricultural production for the government. it is central to remember that since the cultuurstelsel needs the involvement of labor to make it successful the idea of how to mobilize labor became crucial. in an attempt to achieve this goal, the dutch collaborated with the javanese elites: priyayi. in a stratified society with feudal political system like java, the role of priyayi who held “traditional” authority at the time was central in organizing javanese labors and peasants to grow coffee, sugar, indigo, tea, pepper, tobacco, cinnamon, etc. hence it is understandable that the contribution of priyayi was fundamental to the entire system of cultuurstelsel. during the period of cultuurstelsel there were two contrasting views, on one hand, many of the priyayi elite and village landowners prospered. officials also received good salaries, percentages on crops compulsorily produced by the peasants under their authority. the system, furthermore, stimulated the rise of a nascent middle class society who was able to build better houses, to advance their businesses, to educate their children, to go to mecca to do hajj, and to some degree, to embrace islamic reform movements. they often had businesses and religious links with the arab communities found especially in the coastal towns and cities of java (known: kampong arab). however, on the other hand, as a result of the cultuurstelsel, many peasants suffered and died due to devastating famines and and above all, coffee from java in a volume and at a price that would be enable the netherlands to become one of the world’s greatest suppliers of those tropical products and, by definitions, brought the lost money back. and this task would be successful, van den bosch suggested, in a way that would benefit the javanese themselves (ricklefs 2007: 12-3). [ 158 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 outbreaks of epidemics (c. 1846-50). thus, to sum up, in the mid-nineteenth century javanese society had polarized into three social groups: the priyayi elite (bupati and government officials included), a promising muslim bourgeoisie, and peasants. these social groups are not only a matter of class differences, but they also differed in fundamental ways: cultural and religious orientation, aspirations, and the relationships to the dominant colonial power (ricklefs 2007: 12-29). furthermore, the introduction of coffee in east java, particularly in the region of “besuki” had not only changed “the village’s ethnic and religious composition but had also introduced a new mode of production in which the buda population was a distinct disadvantage” (hefner 1987: 60). in other words, muslim immigration and coffee cultivation—and sugar in areas of pasuruan—not only changed the economy of the mountain terrain and rural villages but brought about the first stage of its islamization as well. as a result of the economic advances and the growth of muslim population, by the midnineteenth century, most of hindu tenggerese had been pushed further up into the highlands or assimilated into the economically dominant immigrant muslim population (hefner 1989, 1987b) so did local people of other regions outside tengger. as well, due to this economic development, these muslim communities were able to build religious institutions: schools (pesantren), mosques, and prayer houses (mushalla or langgar) which did not exist in the areas of tengger prior to the final quarter of the nineteenth century or early 20th century. these islamic institutions, on one hand, had enormously played major contributions to the development of islam and the decline of “hindubuda” religion on the other. indeed, seen from islamic perspective, the nineteenth century of java and southeast asia in general had been marked by a number of crucial changes: (1) the increase of the number of muslims who took pilgrimage to the holy land as an impact of the opening of suez canal; (2) the spread of islamic boarding schools (javanese: pesantren) across southeast asia’s regions, particularly indonesia and the malay peninsula; (3) the growth of sufi tarekat brotherhoods, and (4) the growing of orthodox, fundamentalist, and reformist muslims. all these factors had contributed to the development of reformed islam, the decline of “traditional” religions (including hinduism), the tensions among muslims sub-groupings (e.g. traditionalists versus reformists, sufimystics vis a vis legal-minded muslims, among others), and the emergence of anti-colonial movements that challenged colonial authority. no doubt haji and kiai in the nineteenth centuries had enormously played significant role not only as a charismatic religious figure directing religious ceremonies and [ 159 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 islamization processes but also a political leader taking the lead socio-political movements against the dutch and the colonial-backed local aristocrats as in the cases of the banten war in 1888 and the resistance of kiai ahmad rifa’i, along with his rifa’iyah in central java (kartodirdjo 1973, djamil 2001). due to the influx of a sort of purified islam, ricklefs (2007: 252-3) characterizes the nineteenth century java as the era of the rise of islamic reform and revivalism. he argued that islamic reformist notions evidently began to have an influence in java in the 1850s, about half a century after “islamic reformation” took place in minangkabau of sumatra. arab communities of java’s pasisir (coastal areas) towns seemed to have a leading role as carriers and transmitters of islamic reform ideas. one of the arab leaders was hadharami sayid uthman bin aqil bin yahya al-alawi (d. 1913), who became a leading voice for reformist islam. his publications of more than 100 titles remained influential among java’s arabs and reformist muslims. likewise the increasing numbers of haji before and after the opening of the suez canal in 1869, the growing numbers of pesantren, and the spread of printing media, ricklefs has noted, had played a major role in transmitting and spreading ideas of purified and reformed islam (cf. hefner 2009). the forms of reform islam and reformist muslims themselves varied ranging from puritanism (purification-oriented islam), anti-sufism faction, shari’ah-minded groups, shari’ah-based sufism, and reformed traditionalists, to name but a few. although they might differ from one to another in their focus and objective, however, the basic ideas of the muslim reformists mostly the same, namely the eagerness to make islam more pristine as it was performed by the salafus-salih (lit. the “pious forebears”, namely the early generations of muslims) by avoiding non-islamic aspects of local traditions, cultures, and practices. accordingly these reformist muslims, sometimes called the “salafis”, would never tolerate religious practices and communities that opposed their strict islamic conviction and beliefs. as a result of the purification movement, the “syncretic muslims” such as java’s abangan (nominal muslims) or cambodia’s imam san had become one of the main targets of the reformists’ islamization and proselytization (da’wa) movement. it is worth noting that in contemporary parlance the term salafi has come to acquire many different connotations. it has been used to refer to some groups who consider it obligatory to take up arms against all those—muslims and non-muslims alike—who are deemed to challenge or contravene the dictates of the islamic foundational texts—the qur’an and the normative example of the prophet muhammad (the sunna). the term also refers to a politically quietist trend, typified by the saudi religious establishment, that rejects all [ 160 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 beliefs and practices seen as compromising the ones of god (tawhid) while leaving politics largely to the ruling elite. the term salafi, moreover, is also used for, and by, those who reject the authority of the medieval schools of law and insist on an unmediated access to the foundational texts as the source of all norms. the common use of the term salafi or salafism, however, is, in zaman’s phrase, “to denote an approach to islam that was anchored in the foundational texts and in the example of the “pious forbears” as contrasted with understandings of islam “distorted” by centuries of legal, theological, and mystical debates, self-serving ulama, and despotic rulers” (zaman 2012: 6-7). equally important, apart from pros and cons of the rise of the salafis or the reformists, they played a central role in the establishment of islamic education institutions, particularly modern-type madrasas, for intermediate and advanced islamic learning through which became one of the main channel of the process of islamization throughout the regions of southeast asia. as some historians have noted these islamic schools began to emerge in substantial numbers only toward the end of the 18th and became widespread in southeast asia, particularly java, sumatra, southern thailand, and the malay peninsula, only in the final decades of the 19th century. only in the southern philippines, cambodia, and sulawesi did the madrasas appear in the first half of the 20th century (see e.g. hefner 2009: 16-7). these islamic schools had been founded by kiais and ulama upon their return from their studies in the middle east and arab countries, especially the “harramain” (mecca and medina). the opening of suez canal in 1869 and steamship technology had made southeast asian muslims more easily reaching arabia. as a result, by 1885, southeast asian muslims in the arab lands composed the single largest community in mecca and medina, and by 1927, pilgrims from the british malaya and the dutch indies comprised 42% of the foreign total pilgrims (see e.g. laffan 2007, 2011). the effect of heightened travel to the middle east, particularly saudi arabia and egypt, toward the southeast asia’s islamic reformation, schooling, and social movement during the nineteenth century was obvious. wahhabism and salafism had been the one of the primary driving forces of the reformist movements. in thailand, for instance, reformist islam was also rooted in the 19th islamic reformism of the salafi movement inspired by egypt’s muhammad abduh. this movement was brought by ahmad wahab, who established ansor al-sunah, thailand’s first reformist organization. thus, it is clear that in southeast asia, the nineteenth century was a “tipping point” for a massive islamic education and the process of islamization as a whole. the noted historian of java merle ricklefs said that prior to the growing emergence of these islamic reform movements in the 19th century, in java [ 161 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 actually there had already been significant numbers of professionally religious peoples: mosque officials, religious teachers, guardians of holy sites, students of pesantrens, among others who were known collectively as kaum (“the religious folk”) or putihan (“the white people”) since the 1840s. on the northern coast of java, these particular groups sometimes were called santri while the dutch called them geestelijken: clericals, religious. there is no clear evidence whether such groups formed a force for islamic puritanism, fundamentalism, or revivalism. however there are some similarities among those groups in the way they perceived the javanese abangan as ignorant, backward, impure, and impious. some puritan groups also sometimes called themselves kaum putihan. at the same time, the abangan (sometimes called abritan) responded negatively to the pressures for a more purified form of religious life advocated by the putihan. it is interesting that the tensions between the abangan and the putihan was not unique phenomena of javanese religious society but also other parts of southeast asia such as the case of imam san and chvea in cambodia or the community of “islam tua” and “islam muda” in the islands of sulawesi’s sangihe-talaud. while the abangan since the late nineteenth century appeared as the majority social category and opposed the putihan’s ideas of “the proper understanding of islam,” a tiny minority of javanese rejected islam and became christians for the first time in the javanese history, led by some extraordinary figures such as kiai ibrahim tunggul wulung, and above all, kiai sadrah surapranata, who converted thousands of javanese peoples to christianity7 prior to his death in 1924 and then established the javanese christian churches (gereja kristen jawi), a mixture of european-christian beliefs and javanese cultures and concepts. another faction of javanese society was priyayi who enthusiastically embraced european learning and life style but still regarded themselves as muslims, not christians. not all priyayi were happy with, and pragmatically embraced islam, however, some priyayi rejected islam altogether and wanted to return to the “buda age” (i.e. an era of hindu-buddhism in pre-modern java). for this particular group, the islamization process of javanese society was viewed as a great historical mistake; accordingly they advocated anti-islamic movements and supported budi-buda teachings by tracing back to periods of the pre-islamic java. the emergence of anti-islamic javanese literatures such as babad kedhiri, suluk gatoloco, and serat dermogandhul in the 1870s can be seen from this point of view. 7 today’s javanese/indonesian muslims very often have blamed the dutch as the primary agent of religious conversion of local peoples to christianity. ricklefs (2007: 255) argued that the role of european missionaries in the conversion process was much less important than that of the indo-european and indigenous javanese proselytizers who successfully bridged the cultural gaps between christianity and javanese culture. [ 162 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the historical facts i depicted above suggest that the process of encounter of two or more different cultures on one hand could color and enrich each culture and tradition of societies, but on the other hand could cause conflicts and tensions. it is understandable because religion functions not only as a “social cohesion” as emile durkheim (1995) nicely asserted in his classic book the elementary forms of religious life, or a “social integration” as clifford geertz (1976) wrongly concluded in his the religion of java, but also serves as a vehicle of social conflicts. in the process of encounter, javanese societies were not “passive recipient” so were muslims and other “outsiders.” they, instead, were active and influenced each other. to put it differently, each society has contributed in the process of interaction and encounter. this “creative tensions” have been well described in several javanese texts and oral traditions: aji saka tale, serat centhini, and javanese texts, commonly known babads, such as serat kandaning ringgit purwa, babad cerbon, babad tanah jawi, and serat bental jemur. such creative tensions have produced the form of “salad” islam of javanese societies. java’s islamic conversion and southeast asia’s religious resurgence as other parts of southeast asia, in java, a critical turning point that marks the vitality of islam—and, by definition, the collapse of hindu-buddhist influences—also happened in the 19th century. one of the great examples or illustrations of such took place in the region of “besuki” (not a real name) in east java when in 1872 the wealthy muslim entrepreneur and the grandson of a tengger priest by the name of haji muhammad saleh was elected by the villagers to be the village chief (hefner 1987a: 61; 1989: 244). although he was a muslim, hajj muhammad saleh was quite moderate and even utilized a famous tale of aji saka, a javanese-pluralist cultural symbol that preserves the harmony between islam and javanese cultures and traditions to reconcile and bridge tensions between muslims and buda adherents. the critical junctures that mark the abrupt decline of “hindu-buda” religion influence mostly took place in the era of post-haji muhammad saleh in the late of nineteenth and the twentieth century. there were several critical moments that signified islamization, conversion processes, and great sociocultural changes in this region. the first crucial moment was when the annual karo festival had been replaced with annual village rite led by, not a buda priest, an islamic modin. the second moment was when the local muslim community established a first mosque (c. 1922) in a former ancestral shrine that made the followers of buda religion shocked. in the village of [ 163 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 wonorejo village, furthermore, the reformist muslims cut down a tree where local people believed as the site of nyai po, the guardian spirit of the village. the third factor was about in the 1930s when muhammadiyah reformists launched a program of reformed religious education in besuki and several neighboring villages. the fourth was during the indonesian independence struggle, especially when a village leader of a devoted modernist muslim and progressive administrator launched road-building programs, a drinking water project, home reconstruction, and religious reforms by banning public consumption of alcohol, public dancing (e.g. tayub), and the recitation of aji saka story (hefner 1987a: 66; 1989: 246). finally the big wave of conversion to islam occurred in the aftermath of the bloody the new order-led anti-communist events of 1965-1966 when the new regime of indonesia obliged its peoples to embrace one of the indonesia’s official religions: islam, catholicism, protestantism, buddhism, and balinese “reformed” hinduism. at present, confucianism becomes the state’s official religion. although there was no physical violence in the region due to no communist members and organizers had been found in it, the besuki people were scared due to rumors spread throughout the region that persons not professing one of the state’s recognized religions could be accused of being communist. this moment had been utilized by the village’s muslim chief to offer buda followers of besuki in order to identify themselves as muslim with a compensation of protecting the karo rite tradition. while buda followers of besuki had been offered to acknowledge islam, the hindu followers of tengger preferred to merge to balinese hinduism. the peak of islamization and conversion process in besuki and other part of java and indonesia was absolutely during the new order in which through the department of religious affairs, the regime had sponsored islamic dakwah movements by building mosques, religious schools, madrasas and other religious institutions across the country as well as by sending islamic preachers (da’i, mubaligh) and religious schoolteachers to indonesian towns and villages. these facts have proved that the new order was not “anti-islamic” as some observers might think. indeed, the regime pushed back muslim political parties by prohibiting masyumi and other radical muslim groups, but the new order greatly sponsored those islamic dakwah activities. the phenomena above have pictured well the lengthy process of java’s islamization and conversion from local religions—hindu, buddha, animism, “javanism,” etc.—to islam. there were various patterns and dynamics of java’s islamization, transformation, and conversion processes through period of time. at different times islamization within modern javanese history has [ 164 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 been channeled to very different sociopolitical forces. in the 19th and early 20th centuries for instance islamization process went hand in hand with the increase of pesantren institutions, religious schools, and economic structures. while during the old order islamization was linked to aliran (lit. “streaming”) pattern of party mobilization, in the time of the new order it strongly related to educational programs and dakwah movements. in addition, the cases illustrated above capture the dynamics of java’s islamization and lengthy conversion processes from local and “small-scale” javanese religions to the “transnational” and “world” religion, notably islam. this “great conversion” to new world religions, as i noticed in the previous paragraphs, had been common view and widespread phenomena in southeast asia since the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and this conversion continues nowadays. the term “religious conversion” used in this essay refers not only to a religious or theological change, but also to include a shift from a particular religious identity within a single religious tradition. contemporary southeast asia and asia, more generally (except japan or north korea), has been marked by, among others, this later sort of conversion and religious resurgence, namely an unprecedented upsurge in religious ritual, association, and observance. in the once securely catholic philippines, the past generation has been dramatic conversion to evangelical and pentecostal christianity (howell 2008). vietnam, since the doi moi reforms of the late 1980s has also witnessed the resurgence of ritual practice (malarney 2002). the ritualist surge includes not just the revival of long-suppressed household rites, but also the expansion of public cults such as the lady of the realm goddess in southern vietnam (taylor 2004). in the theravada buddhist lands of burma, thailand, and cambodia, the past generation has also witnessed a steady expansion in lay devotion such as meditation movements that square off against a regime-backed buddhism. the theravada movements share a characteristic with pentecostal and charismatic christians across southeast asia, namely the prominence of women in their ranks. over the past generation, muslim southeast asia has also experienced a dramatic religious revitalization. whereas two generations ago, southeast asia was renowned for the home-grown varieties of islam, today, saudiinspired salafiyyah conservatives, hizbut tahrir internationalists, indiabased jamaah tabligh, and the middle east-typed muslim brothers move effortlessly across the region. although southeast asia’s islamic resurgence shows clear global influences, the universalized influences find their meaning in “concrete engagement” not in “abstract principles of knowledge and power” (tsing 2005: 67). [ 165 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 to some degree, this immense religious change from “traditional” and “indigenous” religions to new religious beliefs as well as a shift from established world religions to new variants within the same but internationally-linked world religions resembles the collapse of small home industries by the emergence of transnational corporation (tnc) in the economic world. the analyses depicted above suggest that religion is not simply a matter of individual belief and personal faith but, at some point, also a social institution which—like other institutions—depends upon a particular social and political configuration for its reproduction as well as religious agents as the producer of religious discourses. moreover, the historical facts and analyses i sketched above suggest that religious conversion—whether in the sense of a change of religion or a shift of particular religious identity within a single religious—is not simply a matter of individual choice and personal evaluation toward certain religion or religious groups but a social problem linked to the construction of political institutions under which some meanings would be shared and others denied. the political economy of religious culture, hence, ensures this massive conversion and transformation process and asserts the nature, existence, and function of religion as both belief system and institution in the social-cultural field of southeast asia. bibliography beatty, andrew. 1999. varieties of javanese religion: an anthropological account. cambridge: cambridge university press. djamil, abdul. 2001. perlawanan kiai desa: pemikiran dan gerakan k.h. ahmad rifai kalisalak. yogyakarta: lkis. durkheim, emile. 1995. the elementary forms of religious life. new york: free press. geertz, clifford. 1976. the religion of java. chicago, il: the university of chicago. hefner, robert w. 2010. “religious resurgence in contemporary asia: southeast asian perspectives on capitalism, the state, and the new piety. the journal of asian studies 69 (4): 1003-1047. _____. (ed.). 2009. making modern muslims: the politics of islamic education in southeast asia. honolulu: university of hawai’i press. _____ . 1989. hindu javanese: tengger tradition and islam. princeton, nj: princeton university press. _____. 1987. “islamizing java? religion and politics in rural east java.” the journal of asian studies 46 (3): pp. 533-54. howell, brian. 2008. christianity in the local context: southern baptists in the [ 166 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 philippines. new york: palgrave macmillan. kartodirdjo, sartono. 1973. protest movements in rural java. oxford, uk: oxford university press. laffan, michael. 2011. the making of indonesian islam: orientalism and the narration of a sufi past. princeton, nj: princeton university press. ______. 2007. islamic nationhood and colonial indonesia: the umma below the winds. new york: routledge. lockard, craig. 2009. southeast asia in world history. new york: oxford university press. lombard, denys. nusa jawa silang budaya. jakarta: gramedia. malarney, shaun kingsley. 2002. culture, ritual, and revolution in vietnam. new york: routledge curzon. mckenna, thomas. 1998. muslim rulers and rebels: everyday politics and armed separatism in the southern philippines. california: california university press. nio, joe lan. 1952. tiongkok sepandjang abad. djakarta: gunung agung. osborne, milton. 2000. southeast asia: an introductory history. australia: allen & unwin . _____. 2002. exploring southeast asia: a traveler’s history of the region. australia: allen & unwin. pigeaud, theodore g. th. 1962. java in the 14th century. new york: springer. reid, anthony. 1988/1995. southeast asia in the age of commerce, 2 vol. new haven, ct: yale univ. press. ricklefs, m.c. 2007. polarizing javanese society: islamic and other visions (c. 1830-1930). singapore: nus press. schrieke, b. 1957. ruler and realm in early java. the hague and bandung: w. van hoeve ltd. sardesai, d.r. 1997. southeast asia: past and present. boulder, co: westview. tan, ta sen. 2009. cheng ho and islam in southeast asia. singapore: iseas. taylor, philip. 2004. goddess on the rise: pilgrimage and popular religion in vietnam. honolulu: university of hawaii press. tsing, anna lowenhaupt. 2005. friction: an ethnography of global connection. princeton, n.j.: princeton university press. weber, max. 1993. the sociology of religion. boston, ma: beacon press. widodo, johannes. 2003. “admiral zheng he and pre-colonial coastal urban development in southeast asia”. inaugural lecture organized by friends of zheng he society. singapore (unpublised manuscript). wolters, oliver. 1993. history, culture, and region in southeast asian perspectives. itacha, ny: cornell university press. zaman, muhammad qasim. 2012. modern islamic thought in a radical age: [ 167 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 religious authority and internal criticism. new york: cambridge university press. [ 168 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 21 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 religion in freud’s approach mukrimin iain sultan amai, gorontalo. abstract th is article aimed to examine the essence of religion by using sigmund freud’ psychoanalysis. it looks at the freud’s theories: “the ontogenic” and “the phylogenenic”. th e origins of religious and belief traditions, as freud had mapped, are neurosis, precarious future, and religion’s masculine roots. freud’s realist approach on religion brought a controversy on the study of religion, i.e., by associating his patients and order cultural phenomena (art, literature, and philosophy). his falsifi cation over religion mad freud as the most controversial man in his time. for freud, the truth-value of religious doctrines does not lie within the scope of the present enquiry. it is enough for us, as freud asserts that we have recognized them as being, in their psychological nature, illusions. key words: religion, freud, philosophy, psycho-analysis. introduction “what is the psychological signifi cance of religious ideas and under what heading are we to classify them?”1 to quote sigmund freud, when he began to explain psychological aspects in religion. he insists that “if we want to fi nd the origin of religion,” we need look no further than these grim events and deep psychological tensions.” according to freud, “the birth of belief is to be found in the oedipus complex,” which was divided emotions that “led humanity to its fi rst great crime.” th erefore, in “the powerful emotions it produced, we fi nd the origin of religion, as he remarked.”2 th e classical-based theories of religion, many derived from “psychological or it’s analytical and object relations branches,” continue to spawn an immense literature. generally, “interpretative of religion” (as in the case of psychoanalysis), or “interpretative of spirituality” (as in the case of object relations), promises to measurement-based into two ways. first, it “provides hypotheses which can be subjected to measurement-based test.” second, as contending qualitative methodologies, “approaches emerge and infl uence sociological social psychology.”3 for example, every day the mass media report 1 sigmund freud, “from th e future of an illusion” in freud and freudians on religion: a reader, donald capps (ed), yale university, new haven & london, 2001, p.51. 2 sigmund freud, “religion and personality” in seven � eories of religion, daniel l. pals, oxford university press, new york, 1996, p.70. 3 bernard spilka, et al., “� e psychology of religion: empirical approach,” � ird edition, [ 22 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 instances of religious confl ict throughout the world among those who adhere to diff erent faiths. g.w. alport has said, “th e role of religion is paradox. it makes prejudice and it unmakes prejudice.” concurrently, religion is also “inextricably tied to altruistic” and helping “personal behavior.”4 furthermore, the call for good theory remains important within the psychology of religion. “religion,” as matter of fact, “is no longer a marginal concern of psychology” as it is forced to confront religious issues. mainstream psychology will begin to confront religion in terms of its theories, if no other reason than to show the meaningful relevance of psychology to the interests of a culture that supports and in the process seeks guidance from the science, natural, and so on. some areas, such as transpersonal psychology, blur the boundaries between psychology as a science and as a spiritual discipline.5 th is paper tries to answer these questions: 1) what is the relationship between religion and personality? 2) how freud examine religion trough psychoanalytic theory? it is focused on to map philosophy of religion through freud psychoanalysis. th is paper is organized into four sections. first, the discussion recounts biography of sigmund freud. th e journey of his intellectualism and groundbreaking research is mentioned. second, it elaborates the psychoanalysis of freud’s theory. in this part, i critically look at the freud’s initiation of “the ontogenic theory” and “the phylogenenic theory”. it also looks at the source of religious tradition which had been mapped by freud. th e next section deals with the correlation between religion and personality. here, i show why freud doubted and contended the truth of religious beliefs. sigmund freud sigmund freud was born on may 6, 1856, in a small moravian town of freiberg (what is now czechoslovakia). his given name was sigismund schlomo, but he never used this name and defi nitely adopted the fi rst name, sigmund in the early 1870s. jacob freud, his father, was an impecunious merchant; and amalia, his mother was very beautiful, self-assertive, and young. jacob freud had two sons from his fi rst marriage who were about amalia’s age. one of these half brothers had a son, john who was older than his uncle. life in freud’s family was intricate enough to puzzle the clever and inquisitive youngster. inquisitiveness, the natural endowment of children, would provide ample opportunity to satisfy it.6 � e guilford press, new york, 2003, p.538-539. 4 g.w. alport, “� e nature of prejudice”, addison-wesley, cambridge, 1954, p. 444. 5 ibid. 6 peter gay, “sigmund freud: a brief life” in � e future of an illusion, ww. norton [ 23 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 in 1860s, when sigmund freud was almost four years, he moved with his family to vienna. th roughout his school years, he was an outstanding student. born in a jewish family, grew and lived in severely oppressed minority in the roman catholic town.7 in explaining his family’s religiosity, he writes: “my parents were jews, and i have remained a jew myself. i have reason to believe that my father’s family were settled for a long time of the rhine (at cologne), that, as a result of a prosecution of the jews during the fourteenth or fi ft eenth century, they fl ed eastwards, and that, in the course of the nineteenth century, they migrated back from lithuania through galicia into german austrian.”8 in 1873, freud entered the university of vienna. he had planned to study law, but matriculated in the faculty of medicine, intending to embark, not on conventional career as physician, but on philosophical-scientifi c investigations that might solve some of the great riddles that fascinated him.9 and in 1881, he got his medical degree at the university of vienna, for eight years-three more than the required minimum-to earn his md, which he received not long before his twenty-fi ft h birthday. 10 it was during these years of study; freud became taken with the philosopher ludwig feuerbach, famous for his critique of religion. “among all philosophers,” he said to his friend, “i worship and admire this man the most.” th ough, he later denied that feuerbach had had lasting eff ect on his own thinking. and another signifi cant fi gure in freud’s life was ernst brucke, in whose physiology laboratory freud was to work for six years. brucke, for him, was a model of scientifi c discipline and rectitude and a representative of the movement in science. freud’s work at brucke’s institute seemed to open up for him the possibility of a theoretical career. being a competent and brilliant researcher, freud cultivated the habit of close observation and the congenial stance of scientifi c skeptic-national reputations, almost all german imports and thoughminded positivists who disclaimed metaphysical speculations. aft er he modifi ed their theories of the mind-he recalled his teachers with unfeigned gratitude.11 in 1885, he won a modest medical scholarship that allows him to travel to & company, new york, 1989, p.ix. 7 william e. deal & timothy k. beal, “� eory for religious studies”, routledge, new york, 2004, p.3. 8 sigmund freud, “an anthropological study” in standard edition, vol. 20, 1959, p.7-8. 9 william e. deal & timothy k. beal, op cit. 10 david m wulff , “psychology of religion: classic & contemporary”, second edition, john wiley & sons, inc., 1997, p. 262. 11 ibid. [ 24 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 paris, where he worked under jean-martin charcot (1825-1893) at the salpetriere hospital. freud was fascinated with charcots’s work on hysteria, which he treated as a disease. in 1886 freud began his practice as a physician in vienna, where his focus was likewise on nervous disorders. it remained his home until 1938, when he was forced to fl ee austria for england following the nazi anschluss.12 in 1895, freud managed to analyze fully his own dream. he would employ this dream, known as “irma’s injection,” as a model for psychoanalytic, and he planned to publish in his interpretations of dream, but neither completed nor published, he changed to be the project for a scientifi c psychology. it anticipated some of his fundamental theories.13 in 1896, freud, for the fi rst time, used the term “psychoanalysis.” unfortunately, in october in the same year, his father passed away. th e time was “the most important event, and the most poignant loss of a man’s life.” it supplied a powerful impetus toward psychoanalytic theorizing, stirring him to his unprecedented self-analysis.14 in 1905, freud buttressed the structure of psychoanalytic thought with the second pillar of his theory: the th ree essays on the th eory of sexuality. it outlined perversions and development of man from childhood to puberty. and in the following decades, he enriched the technique of psychoanalysis with three more sophisticated case histories-“analysis of a phobia in a fiveyear-old boy”; notes upon a case of obsessional neurosis”; and “psychoanalytic notes on an autobiographical account of a case of paranoia.” and during these years, he also published papers on religion, literature, sexual mores, biography, sculpture, prehistory, and so forth.15 in 1933, the catastrophe periods came to freud’s life. hitler was appointed chancellor in germany, and from then on austrian nazis was active. in the morning of march 12, 1938, the nazis invaded austria. th en, freud left to paris on june 4, welcomed by his former anal sand and loving disciple, princess marie bonaparte. on june 6, he landed in london, preceded by most of his family, “to die in freedom.” aft er completing “moses and monotheism,” he died bravely on september 23, 1939, and asking his physician for a lethal dose of morphine. sigmund freud did not believe in personal immortality, but his work lives on.16 pschoanalysis 12 william e. deal & timothy k. beal, “� eory for religious studies”, routledge, new york, 2004, p.3. 13 peter gay, “sigmund freud: a brief life” in � e future of an illusion, ww. norton & company, new york, 1989, p. xiii. 14 peter gay, “sigmund freud: a brief life” in � e future of an illusion, ww. norton & company, new york, 1989, p. xiv-xv. 15 ibid. 16 ibid [ 25 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 freud’s psychology of religion consists of two distinct though related theories. th e fi rst is bearing on the rise of individual piety, namely, “the ontogenic theory.” he locates, fi rst of all, the origin of individual piety in the experience of infantile helplessness and the longing for protection by the omnipotent father. because the superego become a substitute for the father and is supposed to be more severe in the male, men are postulated to play the primary role in the shaping of religion, which they then pass on to women. “religious rituals,” for example, is thought by freud to be “akin to obsessional neurosis.” it is said to be “a defensive maneuver against a variety of sexual and egoistic impulses.” 17 th e second is on the origin of religion in the human beings, or “the phylogenenic theory.” in fact, a casual glance at the history of religion might tempt us to assume that men are “the originators of the religious traditions.” it cannot be denied that almost all the founders of some religions are male: lao tzu, gautama buddha, confucius, jesus chrsit, and muhammad; or the reformers; such as, martin luther, ramakrishna, and mahatma gandhi; are also from this sex. and if we quickly look at the more ranks of priests and other religious leaders in any tradition, we again fi nd overwhelmed by a masculine overlooks.18 gardner murphy states that freud off ers us “an epic view of human nature,” that is, “a vision in which artistic congruity and power” are even more important than “internal consistency or detailed conformity to a fact.”19 although, freud claims that psychoanalysis is based fi rmly on observation and that is shares the old world-view of positive science. his science-as-epic also has “elements of tragicomedy.” on the one hand is the bondage to primordial and destructive passions, over which civilization’s victories are the best temporary. on the other hand, the root of all cultural and individual aspiration is in the embarrassingly mundane and muddled preoccupations of early childhood.20 freud was not simply to banish religious observance from his household. he undertook an analysis of it as well, in the context of his general theory. according to one his familiar statements on the matter, “religion is at bottom nothing but psychology projected into external world.”21 one may be venture to explain the myths, god, evils, immortality, and so on. precisely, he makes 17 david m. wulff , “psychology of religion: classic & contemporary,” second edition, john wiley & sons, inc., danvers, ma, 1997, p.309-313. 18 ibid. 19 gardner murphy, “� e current impact of freud on american psychology” in freud and the 20th century, pp.102-122. 20 david m. wuff , “psychology of religion: classic & contemporary”, second edition, john wley & sons, inc., 1997, p. 269. 21 sigmund freud, “� e psychology of everyday life” in standard edition, volume 6, 1960, p.258-259. [ 26 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 explicit what in the psychological matter is projected.22 in addition, freud has made a mapping of the origins of the religious traditions into three main sources,23 as follows: o religion as neurosis he points to certain parallels between neurotic ceremonials and ritual. both action, he says, are carried out with scrupulous attention to every detail; they are conducted in isolation from all other activities and brook no interruption; and their neglect is followed by anxiety or guilt. in contrast to neurotic rituals, sacred rites are performed in concert with other community members. religious ceremonial is meaningful in every detail; whereas the neurotic’s private observances seem utterly senseless. yet, ordinary worshipers give little thought to the signifi cance of the actions they carry out. th ey may be as unaware as the neurotic of the motives impelling their participation. from this, freud has concluded that the compulsive rituals of neurotics originate in the repression of a sexual impulse. th e formation of a religion, too, seems to be based on the suppression and the renunciation of certain instinctual impulse. th us, religion, according to him, may be viewed as a universal “obsessional neurosis,” just as neurosis may be described as a distorted private religion. o religion’s precarious future th e second source, the personal origin of religion, receives renewed emphasis in the most widely read of freud’s writings on religion. in his notorious branding of religious as illusion, he did not mean to say that religious persons are necessarily deceived or misled (though he clearly thinks they are). rather, by means of this epithet he sought to emphasize the preeminent role of human wishes among the motives prompting religious belief and practice. according to him, the personal roots of religiousness lie in the infantile past of the individual, in the periods of terrifying helplessness that were relieved by the mother, the fi rst love object, and later by the protective love of the stronger father. o religion’s masculine roots: sons and fathers although, both sexes experience infantile helplessness, freud’s psychology of religion is clearly centered in-masculine reactivity. it is the male’s ambivalent relation with his father, both in his own and in the race’s childhood, that lays at the core of religion as freud views it. according to him, the male sex seems to have taken the lead in the acquisition of religion, morality, and a social sense. and it seems to have been transmitted to women by cross-inheritance. 22 david m. wuff , op cit., p.277. 23 ibid, p.279-85. [ 27 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 religion and personality th e issues of freud’s personal identifi cation with the religion of his forebears had been a matter of continuing controversy, ranging from suggestions that psychoanalysis was deeply imbedded in the jewish mystical tradition and was a sort of secularized version of his self-identifi cation as a “godless’ or “infi del” jew are accurate self-appraisals. what is beyond controversy, as his own writings on religion make clear, is philip rieff ’s observation that freud had the same “analytic attitude” toward religion as toward his patients and order cultural phenomena (art, literature, philosophy, and so forth). th is means that freud approached religion as realist. rieff says, therefore, “to be analytical is to be a realist. it is not required of a realist to be hopeful of hopeless, but only truthful. a strategy that freud employs in his analytical approach to religion is to draw an analogy between a religious phenomenon and what he has discovered in the clinical setting.24 freud, furthermore, applies the same test to teachings of religion. when we ask, for example, on what their claim to be believed is founded, we are met with three answers, which harmonize remarkably badly with one another. firstly, these teachings deserve to be believed because they were already believed by our primal ancestors. secondly, we possess proofs which have been handed down to us from those same primeval times. th irdly, it is forbidden to raise the question of their authentication at all. in former days anything so presumptuous was visited with the severest penalties, and even today society looks askance at any attempt to raise the question again.25 freud states that to assess the truth-value of religious doctrines does not lie within the scope of the present enquiry. it is enough for us that we have recognized them as being, in their psychological nature, illusions. but we do not have to conceal the fact that this discovery also strongly infl uences our attitude to the question which must appear to be the most important of all. we know approximately at what periods and by what kind of men religious doctrines what created. if we, in addition, discover the motives which led to this, our attitude to the problem of religion will undergo a marked displacement. we shall tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there were a god who created the world and was a benevolent providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an aft er-life; but it is very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be. and it would be more remarkable still if our wretched, ignorant and downtrodden ancestors had succeeded in solving all 24 donald capps, “freud and freudians on religion: a reader”, yale university, new haven & london, 2001, p.9-11. 25 sigmund freud, “from � e future of an illusion”, in freud and freudians on religion: a reader, donald capps (ed), yale university, new haven & london, 2001, p.52. [ 28 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 these diffi cult riddles of the universe.26 generally, social psychology sees the domain of individual diff erences as having two sub-domains within it. 27 th ese are the realms of cognition, by psychologists divide into: “beliefs and “values,” as follows: a. beliefs. to make sense of people’s personal experience, we know what they consider is their belief. for instance, the ideas of god did (or did not) create the world. beliefs provide information about the physical and psychological surroundings to which people must adapt. and beliefs here solely as cognitive constructs. th ey do not contain emotions such as liking or disliking. th e saying “the devil believes in god and shudders” shows the distinction between a belief and understanding the implication of that belief. it also suggests possible approval of that belief. b. values. th ose values are cognitive construct of the good, and consist of the ideals, principles, and moral obligation held by a personal or group. to consider values broadens the defi nition of beliefs beyond the criterion of apparent truth. and values diff er from beliefs in that they motivational, which beliefs, in and of themselves, are not. values acquire motivation when the observed belief describing “what is” diff ers from the valued situation of “what should be.” specifi cally, it would be true for personal decisions as to whether positive or negative event outcomes are a result of their own actions or those of others; are due to fate, luck, or chance; or are attributable to the involvement of god. 28 furthermore, psychologists divide the individual characteristics may be termed “dispositional,” and these fall into three categories: a. background factors. it is a truism to state that people are largely products of their environment. th e overwhelming majority of us are opposed early in life to religious teachings at home and by our peers and adults in schools, churches, mosques, temples, and communities. it is commonly believed that the stronger a person’s spiritual background, the greater the chance that the person will have intense religious experiences and undergo conversion. b. cognitive/linguistic factors. th ere is a reason to believe that the presence of a language designates an experience as religious instead of aesthetic or some other possibility. c. personality/attitudinal factors. it is a wide variety of depositional factors that 26 sigmund freud, “from � e future of an illusion”, in freud and freudians on religion: a reader, donald capps (ed), yale university, new haven & london, 2001, p.57. 27 bernard spilka, et al., “� e psychology of religion: empirical approach,” � ird edition, � e guilford press, new york, 2003, p.34-36. 28 bernard spilka, et al., “� e psychology of religion: empirical approach,” � ird edition, � e guilford press, new york, 2003, p.45-46. [ 29 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 almost seem to defy classifi cation. th e “multivariate-motivation theory of religiousness” in an eff ort to integrate the oft en scattered ideas and research notions that associate traits and attitudes with religion. d. self-esteem. it does not stand by itself. it is enmeshed in a complex of overlapping personality traits and religious concepts and measures, such as sin and guilt, as well as the nature of religious tradition. e. locus of control. although belief in supernaturalism affi liates with external control, people who are more involved in religious activities perceive themselves as having more control over what happens to them.29 in addition, winnicott states that the qualities of the god-representation and their relationship to the believer’s self-representation become immediate. th e god he prays to is not ultimately the god of the theologians or of the philosophers, nor is this god likely to be in any sense directly reconcilable with the god of scripture. rather, the individual believer prays to a god who is represented by the highly personalized transitional object representation in his inner, private, personally idiosyncratic belief system. th us, all the unconscious and preconscious as well as conscious and refl ective elements of the individual’s relationship to god and the characteristics of his godrepresentation come into play. th ese may be include elements that are more consciously mature and self-refl ective but also elements that stem from earlier developmental levels and have a more infantile, dependent, and even narcissistic quality. one might say that in prayer the individual fi guratively enters the transitional space where he meets his god-representation. prayer thus can become a channel for expressing what is most unique, profound, and personal in individual psychology. all the elements of transference that have become familiar to psychoanalysts can enter into the prayer experience and come to shape the individual’s experience both of god and of himself in its context. indeed, a great deal more can and should be said about the psychology of prayer, but our purpose here is only to indicate the extent to which it shares in the quality of transitional experience and expresses another aspect of the illusory dimension of religious experience.30 in the introduction to th e future of an illusion, freud makes an important point: “…in past ages in spite of their incontrovertible lack of authenticity, religious ideas have exercised the strongest possible infl uence of mankind. 29 ibid. 30 w.w. meissner, “transitional phenomena in religion”, in freud and freudians on religion: a reader, donald capps (ed), yale university press, new haven & london, 2001, p.224. [ 30 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 th is is a fresh psychological problem. we must ask where the inner force of those doctrines lies and to what they owe their effi cacy, independent as it is, of the acknowledgement.” (p.51) clearly, freud assumed that religion is false. th erefore, he asked why people are religious when it is irrational to be so. it is because they believe in nothing that is real; there must be other foundations for these beliefs. in his history, religion is reduced to infantile projection of the parental fi gure, a form of neuroticism.31 in addition to beliefs, motivations found in aff ect and values may be important bases of religiosity, proponents of faiths have always held that these faiths are helpful because they encourage people to come to them for extrinsic gratifi cations, such as solving personal problems or developing a clear set of moral values. th ese are very important reasons why people turn to religion. furthermore, freud interpreted the god’s image as “a father fi gure”, a kind of projection of one’s real father in the context of the resolution of the oedipus complex. th ere is some projection of one’s early father into one’s god image, but he felt that archetypes, i.e., images/symbols with biological roots, also play a role in concepts of god. although such analytic theories of the origins and development of a god image are diffi cult to test directly, psychologists suggest that there should be a fi rm links how children see their real fathers and their images of god.32 freud, furthermore, argued that religious beliefs are illusory-the product of wishes-rather than responses to the reality of the world. although, later on he respond to a criticism of roman rolland that he only focused upon religious belief and had underestimated the value of religious experience. rolland found the essence religion is in what he termed “the oceanic feeling,” was a state of unity with the world. freud, in this case, responded in civilization and its discontents that “this feeling is not originally religious,” but later becomes “attached to religious beliefs.” according to him, the actual “oceanic feeling” is only a recollection of an infantile state, perhaps of unity with the mother. th us, mysticism is a regression to an earlier infantile state. for him, mystical experience does not provide evidence for “unity with the world or even with god;” it is simply a feeling attached to religious beliefs that god exists and can be experienced. “th e religious beliefs themselves are not simply illusion, but delusional as well,” he added. in short, freud was one of the fi rst theorists who argued that there is no essential relationship between mystical experience and religious beliefs.33 31 bernard spilka, et al., op cit, p.48-49. 32 bernard spilka, et al., op cit, p.86. 33 ibid, p.296. [ 31 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 conclusion th e outcome of applying psychoanalysis theory of religious phenomena depends on interpreter’s fundamental attitude toward religion. if we assume from the outset that religion has no objective validity, that it is in no way points to a transcendent reality, we will probably conclude that religious experience, ideas, and rituals are simply a product of human needs and desires. if we perceive behind the panoply of religious phenomena, a reality larger than human invention, we may see psychoanalysis as a means by which to comprehend the extraordinary variety of responses to the transcendent. th us, it could become a means for purifying and deepening religious faith. although freud, as a therapist, would naturally be interested in the religiousness apparent in personal lives, it was larger question of religion’s origin in the human race that was of consuming interest to him. th e bulk of freud’s work in the psychology of religion is directed to this problem. and fi nally, freud has pointed the certain parallels between neurotic ceremonials and religious rituals. as freud argues that religious beliefs are illusory rather than responses to the reality of the world. although, later on he respond to a criticism that he only focused upon religious belief and had underestimated the value of religious experience. according to him, the actual oceanic feeling is only a recollection of an infantile state, perhaps of unity with the mother. th us, mysticism, or say religion is a regression to an earlier infantile state. for him, mystical experience is simply a feeling attached to religious beliefs that god exists and can be experienced. th e religious beliefs themselves are not simply illusion, but delusional as well. reference archer, margaret s. et al. 2004. transcendence: critical realism and god, routledge taylor & francis group, london. alport, g.w. 1954. th e nature of prejudice. addison-wesley, cambridge. capps, donald 2001. freud and freudians on religion: a reader. yale university, new haven & london. capps, walter h. 1995. religious studies: th e making of a discipline. fortress press, minneapolis. daniel l. pals, seven th eories of religion, oxford university press, new york, 1996. deal, william e. & timothy k. beal. 2004. th eory for religious studies. routledge, new york. [ 32 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 freud, sigmund. 1959. “an anthropological study” in standard edition, vol. 20. freud, sigmund. 1961. die zukunft einer illusion, “th e future of an illusion” (james strachey, trans), ww. norton & company, inc. freud, sigmund. 2000. civilization and its discontents, “peradaban dan kekecewaan” (apri danarto, trans), penerbit jendela, yogyakarta, 2002 gay, peter. 1989. sigmund freud: a brief life. ww. norton & company, new york. helm, paul (ed). 1999. faith and reason, oxford university press, oxford. jonte-pace, diana and william b. parsons. 2001. religion and psychology: mapping the terrain, contemporary dialogues, future prospects. routledge, new york. morris, brian. 1987. anthropological studies of religion: an introductory text, cambridge university press, new york. preus, j. samuel. 1933. explaining religion: criticism & th eory from bodin to freud. yale university press, new haven. rabinow, paul and william m. sullivan (edt). 1979. interpretive social science: a reader. university of california press, berkeley. spilka, bernard et al., 2003. th e psychology of religion: empirical approach. th ird edition, th e guilford press, new york. turner, bryan s. 1991. religion and social th eory. “agama & teori sosial” (inyiak ridwan muzir, trans. 2003), ircisod, yogyakarta. wulff , david m. 1997. psychology of religion: classic & contemporary, second edition, john wiley & sons, inc., danvers, ma. [ 55 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 women political participation in the era of prophet muhammad: study on the hadith transmitters of the women companions zunly nadia staispa yogyakarta email: zunlynadia@yahoo.com abstract most of moslem societies define the role of woman in the purely domestic sector. some people consider that islam stands against women’s role in public sectors believing that it has roots in the context of the prophet’s time. this work shows that there is no prohibitation for woman to take parts in the public and social affairs including in the area of political role. it was the case that some women companions of the prophet participated in the political role including aisyah the wife of nabi saw, asma binti abu bakar, ummu athiyah, ummu hani’ and rubayyi’ bint mu’awidz. in this paper, the writer focuses on woman companion hadith transmitters who are directly wrapped up in the missionary work with the prophet. in addition, this paper also shows the relation between woman companion transmitter activities and their hadith transmission, under assumption that the role of woman would influence the texts of the transmitted hadiths. it is because, as a text, hadith was transmitted in the certain context and condition. accordingly, every transmitter had different hadith transmission based on her context, status, profession, and even gender construction. therefore, this paper discusses the woman companion transmitters who play their role in the field of politics and also their influence in their transmitted hadiths. keywords: politics, role of women, transmitter, hadith. introduction women have at least two roles regarding the roles of women i.e. social or public role and domestic role. social role refers to the functions in a society for example earning a living or being active in many fields such as social, economy, politic, religion etc. on the other hand, women also have a domestic responsibility in a household as being a wife or a mother. in a society, those of roles related to the gender mainstream. everyone who was born as a man or woman will be a man or woman as the society construction. 1 therefore, 1etymologically, a role means a behavior or an act. a role is defined as a set of behaviors expected from an individual to be performed based on the certain social status formally or informally i.e. a set of rights, duties, expectations, norms, and behaviors of an individual to be accepted and performed. http//kbbi.web.id/peran2. [ 56 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the society determines what compatible roles for man and woman. then, the role of both man and woman in the gender construction is an expectation for man and woman behaviour based on their identity in the society gender construction. moreover, the domestic role is more compatible than public role for woman and on the contrary the public role is more compatible for man than domestic many noted that islam brought many changes in the culture and social practices of arabic society, much more than simply a change of beliefs. islam was not only as a new religion that had changed the society belief, but also as new social life that was differ from previous period. mohammad also had serious attention to the issue of slavery, and all of people who were oppressed. some of his policies solved these social problems and became revolutionary action at that time. for example the inheritance issue for women; previously women were properties to be inherited. islam changes this position by making women as inheritor (although they were only given a half portion compared to the inheritance received by men). mohammad also gave opportunity to woman to join war. there were some woman such as ummu athiyah, 2 rubayyi’ binti mu’awwizh3 who participated in the battle. those examples showed how women were involved in public and social affairs. muhammad also once commanded a woman (umm waraqah) to be a praying imam in her family.4 those examples showed how women were involved in public and social affairs. therefore, it was expected that many women companions were listed as proactive women as they transmitted many hadiths. this paper aims to show the public women’ roles in early muslim era focusing on women companions’ political role because they were directly involved in the da’wah delivered by muhammad. considering the term “companion” (shahaba) has a broad range of meanings, in this paper, women companions (shahabi) will refer to the female companions who transmitted hadiths,5 this position is take due to the assumption that the role of these women can be seen in the hadiths they transmitted. a hadith which is a narrated “text” derived from the prophet would certainly emerge in a certain situation and context. therefore, the hadiths transmitted by one companion might be different from 2ibnhajjaj muslim, shahih muslim, volume v, (kairo: al-halabiwa auladuh, t.th), p. 199 3muhammad ismail bukhari, shahih al-bukhari, volume 6, (t.tp: dar wa mathabi’ alsya’b, t.th), p. 460 4imam abu dawud, sunan abi dawud, volume i, hadith no.500, (beirut: dar al-kutb al-ilmiyyah, t. th), p. 396-397. see also ahmad ibn hanbal, musnad al-imam ahmad ibn hanbal, volume vi, hadith no 26023, (beirut: dar al-fikr, t.th) p. 405 5subhi al-shalih, ulumul hadis wa mushtalahuhu, (beirut: dar al-ilm li al-malayin, 1977), p. 351-2. see also muhammad ‘ajjaj al-khathib, ushulu al-hadisulumuhu wa mustalahuhu, (beirut: dar al-fikr, 1989), p. 387. [ 57 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 those transmitted by other companion. even the status and occupation of a companion could be a factor in determining a hadith. conclusively, this paper will cover the women companions who had played significant roles in political affairs and how they were related to the hadiths that they transmitted. identifying the hadith transmitters of the women companions the term companion comes from an arabic “al-shahabah” which means a friend, an acquaintance, an accompanying person, an assistant, and a follower. the definition and the concept of the companions of the prophet is not merely a single concept but to be precise there are some definition that can be derived from the term companion. the definition of “companion” widely used by imams is the one proposed by ibnu hajar al-asqalani that is someone who ever saw the prophet (laqiya), believed in him (amana), and died as a moslem (wa mata ‘ala islamih).6 the term laqiya already includes seeing the prophet and attending his congregation. amana does not include those who believed in allah after the prophet’s demise (al-muhadramin). the term mata ‘ala islamih refers to those who became forever apostates.7 the number of female hadith transmitters mentioned in the hadith al-kutub al-tis’ah is 328 transmitters. the highest female transmitters is recorded in the companion thabaqah compared to the following thabaqahs who were only 133 among 1046 transmitters.8 then the number of female hadith transmitters in senior tabi’in period (second thabaqah) is 30 among 438 transmitters. in the transitional tabi’in period (third thabaqah) there were 93 female among 1467 transmitters and in the post-transitional tabi’in period (fourth thabaqah) there were 36 female among 875 transmitters. there were 10 female among 576 transmitters, 15 female among 1.119 transmitters, and 11 female among 943 transmitters in the junior tabi’in period (fifth thabaqah), in the sixth thabaqah, and in the senior atba’ tabi’in period (seventh thabaqah) respectively. in the transitional atba’ tabi’in period (eighth thabaqah), the ninth thabaqah, the tenth thabaqah, and the eleventh thabaqah, there was no a single female hadith transmitter recorded.9 the number of women hadith transmitters of the companions was the most, 6ibnu hajar al-asqalani, al-isabah fi tamyiz al-sahabah, (mesir: al-maktabah al-tijjariyah, 1358), volume i, p. 10. 7fuad jabali, the companions of the prophet….p. 86-87. 8this number is different from what agung danarta state in his dissertation which is 132 of hadith transmitters of the women companions. see agung danarta, “perempuan periwayat hadis dalam al-kutub al-tis’ah”, dissertation, pasca sarjana program uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, 2007, p. 186 9ibid., [ 58 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 compared to the next era. that fact may be an indication and explanation on how women in the prophet era had been involved in the society. the women actions and roles in the society (read: in public) during the prophet era were significantly greater compared to those in before and after the era. this alteration and transformation in the muslim society between the first and third century of hijr were the factor causing the decreasing of women accomplishment in transmitting hadiths. regarding the quality of hadith transmission, female hadith transmitters are indisputable. most of them are considered positive by jarh wa ta’dil imams. this is mentioned by az-zahabi in his book that he did not find any woman had been accused of dishonesty and whose hadith had been abandoned. even if there were female hadith transmitters they were considered unconvincing, due to insufficient information concerning their background. in the book of aldu’afa wa al-matrukin, which contains information about dhaif transmitters, an-nasa’i explains that among dhaif transmitters there is only one female transmitter whom an-nasa’i does not use critical expression to address. the similar information is also found in jarh wa ta’dil books written by other hadith imams. this shows that regarding hadith transmission, female hadith transmitters’ quality and credibility are acknowledged. especially concerning the equality requirements for hadith transmitters, there was one condition stated that hadith transmitters must be male.10 initial identification of the 133 female transmitters confirmed that among ten female hadith transmitters who transmitted the most hadiths, five of them were the wives of the prophet i.e. aisyah bint abu bakar transmitted 5965 hadiths, hindun bint abi umayyah transmitted 622 hadiths, maimunah bint haris transmitted 172 hadiths, hafsah bint umar transmitted 147 hadiths, and ramlah bint abi sufyan who transmitted 147 hadiths. in addition to the list, there were also other female hadith transmitters who were not the wives of the prophet i.e. the prophet’s sister in law asma’ bint abu bakar who transmitted 209 hadiths, the prophet stepdaughter zainab bint abi salamah who transmitted 177 hadiths, the prophet’s cousin fathihah bint abi thalib who transmitted 87 hadiths. among the ten transmitters who transmitted the most hadiths, only two of them were not the relatives of the prophet i.e. nusaibah bint ka’ab (ummu athiyah) who transmitted 119 hadiths and shafiyyah bint syaibah who transmitted116 hadiths. concerning the habitation, medina was the domicile of the majority of female hadith transmitters, 65 transmitters. other places were maru al-radh where 6 10ali muhanif (ed.), perempuan dalam literatur klasik, (jakarta: gramedia, 2002), p. 50. [ 59 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 female hadith transmitters lived in, basrah where 3 female hadith transmitters lived in, syam where 2 female hadith transmitters lived in and other unknown places where other female hadith transmitters might live in. this is reasonable since medina at that time was the central transmission of hadiths. medina was the central city of muslims since the prophet emigrated from mecca until his last breath. medina was also the city where the government located during khulafaur rasyidin era and thus many companions lived there. there were some companions who lived in a city and deceased in a different city such as maimunah bint haris who lived in medina and deceased in sarkhas, asma bint abu bakar who lived in medina and deceased in maru al-radh, zainab bint abi salamah who lived in medina and deceased in maru al-radh, ummu haram bint malikan who lived in medina and deceased in kufah, and fatimah bint qais who lived in medina and deceased in fiid.11 regarding the ethnicity of the companions, most female companions were from ansar (an-ansariyah) which were 28 women and the second most female companions were from quraisy (al-quraisyiyah), 12 women. the dominance of female companions from ansar who were native to medina related to the fact that medina was the central city of muslims at that time. on the other hand, the female companions from quraisy were immigrant women from where the prophet muhammad came from. political role of hadith transmitters of the women companions and the transmitted hadiths politics had been considered as a field that was not suitable for women. even now, women’ involvement in politics is considered low. 14 centuries ago, the presence of the prophet muhammad in mecca proved that women could also be taking part in politics. there were several women companions in the prophet era that held important role in politics.12 their actions included supporting the instigation of muslim community in mecca, contributing in the emigration seeking political asylum from the authority outside mecca, participating in the formation of muslim community in medina, self-understanding in the enemy’s assault, and determining the community management policy in medina.13 in this section is provided some explaination of the women companions that played important role in politics and the relation with the hadiths transmission. 11cd rom: mausu’ah al-hadis al-syarif al-kutub al-tis’ah. 12according to kamus besar bahasa indonesia, politics has several meanings: (1) knowledge of governance (like government system, basic goverment), (2) any issue and action (policy, strategy, etc.) about the government or of other country, and (3) the way to act (in dealing with problems), policy. http://kbbi.web.id/politik,   13yusuf al-qrdawi, min fiqh al-daulah fi al-islam, (beirut: dar al-syuruq: 1997), pagem 161-162, see also abu syuqqah, tahrir al-mar’ah, juz i, page 60. [ 60 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 1. asma bint umais her full name was asma bint umais ibn ma’d ibn taym ibn haris ibn malik ibn quhafah ibn ‘amir ibn rabi’ah ibn mu’awiyah ibn zaid ibn malik ibn nasyr ibn wahb allah ibn syahran ibn ‘ifrisy ibn aftal. her mother was hindun bint khaulah ibn auf ibn zahir ibn haris ibn hamathah from jusyar. asma was a woman companion who became a muslim and took an oath to the prophet before the prophet entering darul arqm in mecca. she was also a companion who with other 3 women companions went with the army to emigrate seeking the political assembly to save the fight so that the few muslims at that time would not be devastated by the power of infidel quraish. the first emigration to habasya was not an easy journey. there were a lot of struggles faced by the companions during the journey.14 asma headed off to habasya with her husband ja’far ibn abu thalib and gave birth to 3 sons –abdullah, muhammad, dan ‘aunan—there.15 in a narration, the prophet muhammad stated that asma had emigrated twice i.e. emigrating to habasya and emigrating to the prophet. in 8 hijr/630 masehi her husband passed away in a war. then asma bint umais got married for the second time with abu bakar al-shiddiq and gave birth to a son muhammad ibn abi bakar. when abu bakar passed away, asma herself washed the deceased abu bakar’s body as he asked before he passed away. after the decease of abu bakar, asma got married for the third time with ali ibn abi thalib and gave birth to two sons, yahya and ‘aunan.16 one of the hadiths transmitted by asma bint umais which shows that asma is a woman fighter of habasya is provided below. narrated by ‘abdurrazaq: ma’mar from az zuhri said: abu bakar ibn ‘abdurrahman ibn harits ibn hisyam said: asma’ binti ‘umais said: “the first time the prophet was feeling ill, he was in maimunah’s house. when the illness was getting serious and he was unconscious, the wives considered to cure him by giving medicine through the side of his mouth. then they did so. after the prophet getting conscious, he asked: “what is this?” we answered: “this is the doing of the women who come from here – then she pointed out habasyah – and at that moment asma’ bint umais was with them. then they said: “we believe that you suffer from tbc, the messenger of allah.” the prophet said: 14mahmud al-mishri, 35 sirah sahabiyah, trans. asep sobari and muhil dhofir, (jakarta: al-i’tisham cahaya umat, 2006), volume i, page 299. 15muhammad ibn sa’ad ibn mani’ al-zuhri, kitab thabaqat al-kabir, juz x fi al-nisa’, (madinah: 2001), page 265-266. 16ibid, page 268-270. see also aisha bewley, muslim woman:a biograhical dictionary, (london: ta-ha publisher, 2004), page 25. [ 61 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 “truly, it is a dangerous disease, allah ‘’azza wajalla would not make it infectious to me, then no one shall stay in this house unless he must take a medicine, except the uncle of the messenger al abbas.” abu bakar ibn ‘abdurrahman said: truly, that day maimunah took the medicine while she was fasting because of the suggestion of the prophet.” asma bint umais transmitted 24 hadiths from the prophet. several transmitters who transmitted hadiths from her were abu bakar ibn abd rahkab ibn haris, ummu ‘aun bint muhammad ibn ja’far, zaid ibn ‘athiyah, sa’id ibn musayyab, abdullah ibn ja’far, abdullah ibn syaddad, ‘ubaid ibn rafa’ah, urwah ibn zabir, fatimah bint ali, qasim ibn muhammadm mujahid ibn jabar, and ma’mar ibn mutsanna. 2. asma bint abu bakar asma was the wife of zubair ibn awwam, one of the companions who are guaranteed paradise. asma was also known to be a woman companion who was active in politics. this is shown in the hadiths she transmitted, one of them discusses about the attire that the prophet used during wars. asma bint abu bakar transmitted 209 hadiths from the prophet. she transmitted a lot of hadiths because she was close the prophet. the hadiths she transmitted varied from fiqh, public subject, to politics. several transmitters who transmitted hadiths from her were abu bakar ibn abdullah ibn zubair, bakr ibn amr, shafiyah bint syaibah, ‘ibad ibn hamzah, ‘ibad ibn abdullah, abdullah ibn ‘ubaidillah, abdullah ibn kaisan, urwah ibn zubair, fatimah bint mandzur, mujahid ibn jabar, muhammad ibn muslim ibn ubaidillah, muslim ibn abi ‘aqrab and muslim ibn mikhqar. the daughter of abu bakar dealt with many struggles during the early muslim era. she took an oath to the prophet muhammad in mecca and was the eighteenth became a muslim. she was married to zubair ibn awwam ibn khuwailid ibn asad and gave birth to children including abdullah, urwah, mundzir, muhajir, khadijah, ummu hasan and aisyah. her son abdullah was born in quba during the journey to medina for emigrating with the prophet muhammad. the little abdullah was then directly given a prayer by the prophet muhammad and was declared as the first baby born muslim. the accomplishments of asma bint abu bakar were narrated in history books. this is because asma was one of the companions who were given a long lifespan, 100 years. asma became a member and a witness of early muslim historical journey until the sovereign of bani umayyah. according to al-dzahabi, asma [ 62 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 was the last companion living from muhajirin. her political role was shown by how she was always involved in the da’wah and the fight of the prophet muhammad. for instance, delivering foods for the prophet muhammad in tsur cave, preparing the stocks for the journey of emigration the prophet and abu bakar so that she was called “dzat al-niqathain” (she who has two waist shawls). this epithet is given as when she was preparing foods for supplies she only had a waist shawl to bind the foods. then abu bakar said. ‘cut your shawl in half to be used to bind the foods for the prophet and his father.’ asma followed his words so she was then called “dzat al-niqathain”.17 asma bint abu bakar was also known as a courageous companion. she was a woman companion who joined the battle of yarmuk18 along with her husband zubair.19 her courage made asma to be the respected among the companions. asma passed away after the decease of her son abdullah ibn zubairin in 73 hijr. among hadiths that asma bint abu bakar transmitted is ahmad ibn hambal, kitab baqi musnad al-anshary, hadith asma bint abu bakar, no. 25753. “narrated by nashr ibn bab from hajjaj from abu umar, the step brother of atha’ said: asma has showed us a robe with silky-like embroidery. asma said: “truly, the messenger pbuh was wearing this when he faced enemies in wars.” 3. aisyah binti abu bakar aisyah bint abu bakar who was also the wife of the prophet muhammad, who was also the sister of asma was the daughter of abu bakar. aisyah was listed as a qualified politician. history will never forget her accomplishment when she once was a leader of jamal war against ali ibn abi thalib. this proved that women at that time were also involved in practical politics. aisyah was known for her title ash-shiddiqah and frequently called as ummu abdullah.20 the prophet muhammad occasionally called her humaira, the only epithet given to aisyah that was not given to any of the prophet’s wives. this was a sign that aisyah was a very special wife for the prophet muhammad. 17muhammad ibn sa’ad ibn mani’ al-zuhri, kitab thabaqat al-kabir,..... page 240 18the war of yarmuk is the war between arab muslim and roman monarch in the 13 h/634 m or 4 years after the prophet passed away. the war of yarmuk is known as a historical war during the expansion of islam as the sign of the beginning of muslim subjection outside arab in umar ibn khatab era. see abu ja’far muhammad ibn jarir al-thabari, tarikh althabari, juz 3, (t.t: dar al-ma’arif, t.th). 19muhammad ibn sa’ad ibn mani’ al-zuhri, kitab thabaqat al-kabir,..... ibid., 20sunan abu daud, chapter al-mar’ah takni, no. 4970 and musnad imam ahmad, no.26285. [ 63 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 aisyah was courageous, strong and rigid figure. she frequently joins the battle. in uhud war, when the muslims were defeated, she along with the women gave drinks to the wounded and carried water container to be filled and given to the mujtahid. in khandaq war, she moved down from the fortress covering the prophet muhammad, the wives and children towards the front line.21 aisyah was one of the companions who transmitted the most hadiths. it was recorded in the nine of hadith kitab (kutub al-tis’ah) that 5965 hadiths were transmitted by aisyah ra. among her students were ismail bin thahman bin syu’bah (abu sa’id), ibrahim bin amru (abu ishaq), ibrahim bin muhammad bin haris bin asma bin kharijah (abu ishaq), ahmad bin abi bakar alqasim bin haris (abu mush’ab), ahmad bin ismail bin muhammad (abu khudzafah), ahmad bin abdullah bin yunus bin abdullah bin qais (abu abdullah), ishaq bin sulaiman (abu abdullah), ishaq bin muhammad bin ismail bin abdullah (abu ya’qub), ismail bin ja’far bin abi katsir (abu ishaq), ismail bin abdullah bin abdullah bin aws (abu abdulah), ismail bin ja’far (abu mandzur), and etc. among the hadiths transmitted by aisyah related to politics are book of shahih bukhari, no. hadis 2467. narrated by abu ar rabi’ sulaiman ibn daud and ahmad: fulaih ibn sulaiman dari ibnu syihab az zuhriy dari ‘urwah ibn az zubair dan sa’id ibn al musayyab dan ‘alqamah ibn waqashsh al laitsiy dan ‘ubaidullah ibn ‘abdullah ibn ‘uqbah: the wife of the prophet, aisyah, when the slanders said to her what they hah said then allah clean her name from this vile slander. az zuhry said: they all told me a set of aisyah’s stories, some were more precise and stronger than others. then i observed every hadith that they told me from aisyah. each of the hadiths were strengthening. they assumed that aisyah said: “whenever the prophet intended to go on a journey, he would draw lots amongst his wives and would take with him the one upon whom the lot fell. during the ghazwa of his, he drew lots amongst us and the lot feel upon me, and i proceeded with him after allah had decreed the use of the veil by women. i was carried in a howdaj (on the camel) and dismounted while still in it. we departed and then the prophet finished the war, we returned home. when approached the city of medina, the prophet ordered us to proceed at night. when the order of setting off was given, i walked till i past the army to answer the call of nature. after finishing, i returned (to the camp) to depart (with the others) and suddenly realized that my carnelian necklace over my chest was missing. so, i returned to look for it and was delayed because of that. the people who used to carry me on the camel, came to my howdaj 21sulaiman al-nadawi, aisyah: sejarah lengkap ummul mukminin aisyah ra, trans. (jakarta: qisthi press, 2007), page 169 [ 64 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 and put it on the back of the camel, thinking that i was in it, at that time, women were light, and thin, and did not used to eat meat, and did not eact much. so, those people did not feel the difference in the heaviness of the howdaj while lifting it. at that time i was a young lady. they set the camel moving and proceeding on. i found my necklace after the army had gone, and came to their camp to find nobody. so, i went to the place where i used to stay, thinking that they would discover my absence and come back in my search. while in that state, i felt sleepy and slept. sofwan ibn al mu’aththol as-sulamiy adz-dzakwan was behind the army and reached where i was at and he saw a sleeping person. he came to me. he used to see me before veiling. so, i got up in surprised when he stopped his ride and made it knell down, and i sat over it. then he set out walking, leading the camel by the rope till we reached the army who had halted to take rest at midday. then whoever was meant for destruction, fell into destruction, and the leader of the false accusers was ‘abdullah ibn ubai ibn salul. after that we returned to medina, and i became ill for one month while the people were spreading the forged statements of the false accusers. i was feeling during my ailment as if i were not receiving the usual kindness from the prophet which i used to receive from him when i got sick. he would only come, greet and asked about my condition using only signals. i did not know anything of what was going on till i recovered from my ailment and went out with ummu misthoh to the place where we used to answer the call of nature, and we used not to go to answer the call of nature except from night to night and that was before we had lavatories near to our houses. and this habit of ours was similar to the habit of the old arabs in the open country (or away from houses). so, i and ummu misthoh bint abu ruhum went out walking and stumbled because of her long dress and on that she said, ‘let misthoh be ruined.’ i said, ‘you are saying a bad word. why are you abusing a man who took part in (the battle of) badr?’ she said, ‘oh my lady, didn’t you hear what they said?’ then she told me the rumors. my sickness was aggravated, and when i returned home, the prophet came to ‘s house’. aisyah said: ‘at that moment i wanted to be sure of the news through them.’ then the prophet allowed me, and i went to my parents and asked my mother, ‘what are the people talking about?’ she said, ‘oh my daughter! don’t worry much about this matter. by allah, never is there a charming woman loved by her husband who has other wives, but the women would forge false news about her.’ i said, ‘glorified be allah! are the people really talking of this matter?’ that night i kept on weeping and could not sleep till morning. the prophet called ‘ali ibn abu thalib and usamah ibn zaid when he saw the divine inspiration delayed, to consul them about divorcing his wife. usamah ibn zaid said what he knew of the good reputation of his wives and added: ‘oh the messenger of allah, keep you wife, for, by allah, we know nothing about her but good.’ ‘ali ibn abu thalib said, ‘oh the messenger of allah, allah has no [ 65 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 imposed restrictions on you, and there are many women other than she, yet you may ask the woman-servant who will tell you the truth.’ on that the prophet called barirah and said: ‘oh barirah, did you ever see anything which roused your suspicions about her?’ barirah said: ‘no, by allah who has sent you with the truth, i have never seen in her anything faulty except that she is a girl of immature age, who sometimes sleeps and leaves the dough for the goats to eat.’ on that day the prophet ascended the pulpit and requested that somebody support him in punishing ‘abdullah ibn ubay ibn salul. the prophet said: ‘who will support me to punish the person who has hurt me by slandering the reputation of my family? by allah, i know nothing about my family but good, and they have accused a person about whom i know nothing except good, and he never entered my house except in my company.’ sa’ad ibn mu’adz got up and said: ‘oh the messenger of allah, by allah, i will relieve you from him. if that man is from the tribe of the aus, then we will chop his head off, and if he is from our brothers, the khazraj, then order us, and we will fulfil your order.’ on that sa’ad ibn ‘ubadah, the leader of the khazraj and before this incident, he had been a pious man, got up, motivated by his zeal for his tribe and said: ‘you have told a lie; you cannot kill him, and you will never be able to kill him.’ on that usaid ibn hudhoir got up and said: ‘you are a liar. we will kill him. you are a hypocrite, defending the hypocrites.’ the two tribes of aus and khazraj got excited and were about to fight each other, while the prophet was still standing on the pulpit. he got down and quietened them till they became silent and he kept quiet. on that day i kept on weeping so much so that neither did my tears stop, nor could i sleep. in the morning my parents were with me and i had wept for two nights and a day, till i thought my liver would burst from weeping. aisyah said: ‘while they were sitting with me and i was weeping, an ansari woman asked my permission to enter, and i allowed her to come in. she sat down and started weeping with me. while we were in this state, the prophet came and sat down and he had never sat with me since the day they forged the accusation. no revelation regarding my case came to him for a month.’ aisyah said: ‘he recited tashahhud (i.e. none has the right to be worshipped but allah and muhammad the messenger) and then said, ‘oh aisyah, i have been informed such-and-such about you; if you are innocent, then allah will soon reveal your innocence, and if you have committed a sin, then repent to allah and ask him to forgive you, for when a person confesses his sin and asks allah for forgiveness, allah accepts his repentance. when the prophet finished his speech my tears ceased completely and there remained not even a single drop of it. then i requested my father to reply to the prophet: ‘reply to the prophet about me.’ my father said: ‘by allah, i do not know what to say to the prophet.’ then i requested my father to reply to the prophet: ‘reply to the prophet about me.’ my mother said: ‘by allah, i do not know what [ 66 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 to say to the prophet.’ aisyah said: ‘i was a young girl and did not have much knowledge of the quran. i said. ‘i know, by allah, that you have listened to what people are saying and that has been planted in your minds and you have taken it as a truth. now, if i told you that i am innocent and allah knows that i am innocent, you would not believe me and if i confessed to you falsely that i am guilty, and allah knows that i am innocent you would believe me. by allah, i don’t compare my situation with you except to the situation of yusuf ’s father when he said: (‘be patience with the good patience and it is allah (alone) whose help can be sought.’) (qs. yusuf:18) then i went to my bed hoping that allah would prove my innocence. by allah i never thought that allah would reveal divine inspiration in my case, as i considered myself too inferior to be talked of in the holy quran. i had hoped that the prophet might have a dream in which allah would prove my innocence. by allah, the prophet had not got up and nobody had left the house before the divine inspiration came to the prophet. so, there overtook him the same state which used to overtake him. he used to be (on being inspired divinely) sweating so much so that the sweat dropped heavily. when that state of the prophet was over, he was smiling and the first word he said: ‘oh aisyah, thank allah, for allah has declared your innocence.’ my mother told me to go to the prophet. i replied: ‘by allah i will not go to him and will not thank but allah.’ so allah revealed: “verily! they who spread the slander are a gang among you…” (qs. annur: 11) when allah gave the declaration of my innocence, abu bakar ash-shiddiq, who used to provide for misthah ibn utsatsah for he was his relative, said: ‘by allah, i will never provide misthah with anything because of what he said about aisyah.’ but allah later revealed: “and let not those who are good and wealthy among you swear not to help their kinsmen, those in need and those who left their homes in allah’s cause. let them forgive and overlook. do you not wish that allah should forgive you? verily! allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.” (qs. annur:22) after that abu bakar said: ‘yes ! by allah! i like that allah should forgive me,’ and resumed helping misthah whom he used to help before. the prophet also asked zainab bint jahsy about me saying: ‘what do you know and what did you see?’ she replied: ‘oh the messenger, i refrain to claim hearing or seeing what i have not heard or seen. by allah, i know nothing except goodness about aisyah.’ aisyah further added “zainab was competing with me (in her beauty and the prophet’s love), yet allah protected her (from being malicious), for she had piety.” it is narrated from fulaih from hisyam ibn ‘urwah from ‘urwah from aisyah and ‘abdullah ibn zubair like this hadith. it is also narrated from fulaih from rabi’ah ibn abi ‘abdurrahman and yahya ibn sa’id from al qasim ibn muhammad ibn abu bakar. [ 67 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 4. ummu hani another woman companion who transmitted hadiths was ummu hani. she was a cousin of the prophet muhammad. she ever guaranteed safety for several non-muslims (safety guarantee was an important aspect in politics). her action was justified by the prophet. ummu hani’s full name was fakhitah bint abi thalib. she was born in medina. her father was abu thalib ibn ‘abdul muthalib ibn hasyim ibn abdi manaf ibn qushay. her mother was fatimah bint asad ibn hasyim ibn abdul manaf ibn qushay. she was married to hubairah ibn abi wahab al-mahzumy.22 the family relationship with the prophet made her transmit many hadiths from the prophet, 87 hadiths. some transmitters who transmitted hadiths form here were abu shalah, ju’dah, abd rahman ibn abi laily, abdullah ibn haris, abullah ibn abbas, abdullah ibn abdullah ibn haris, ‘urwah ibn zubair, atha’ ibn abi rabah, mujahid ibn jabar, muhammad ibn ‘aqabah, harun ibn ummu hani’, yahya ibn ju’dah, yazi ibn maula ‘aqil, yusuf ibn mahik. among hadiths she transmitted were those that explain the safety guarantee for non-muslims as found in abu dawud, kitab jihad, chapter fi amani al-mar’ah, no.2382. narrated by ahmad ibn shalih: ibnu wahab said that ‘iyadh ibn abdullah from makhramah ibn sulaiman from kuraib ibn abbas said: ummu hani’ bint abu thalib has protected a non-muslim man during the subjection of mecca. the he came to the prophet and told him about it. then the prophet said: “we protect the people you protect and we guarantee safety the people you guarantee.” 5. nusaibah binti kaab (ummu athiyah) another woman who played a role in politics was nusaibah bint ka’ab. nusaibah bint ka’ab or ummu athiyah alanshariyah was one of the women companions who were not from the family of the prophet but was included in the list of ten women companions who transmitted the most hadiths. there are 119 hadiths in kutub al-tis’ah that are from her. nusaibah bint ka’ab or ummu athiyah was also one of the women companions involved in wars along with the prophet. she was responsible in preparing foods for the muslim fighter, treating the wounded, and nursing the injured. ummu athiyah was also one of the women companions from basrah. therefore she was one of the main resources of hadiths of the prophet in basrah.23 22muhammad ibn sa’adbin mani’ al-zuhri, kitab thabaqaat al-kabir, (kairo: tp,t.th) page 47-48 23ibnu hajar al-asqalani, tahdzib al-tahdzib, juz xii, page 455, see also al-isabah, jilid iv, page 477. [ 68 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the hadiths transmitted by ummu athiyah were directly sourced from the prophet and some other parts were sourced from umar ibn al-khattab. the transmitters who transmitted hadiths from her were anas ibn malik, muhammad ibn sirin, hafsah binti sirin, abdul malik ibn umayr, ismail ibn abdurrahman ibn athiyah, ali ibn al-aqmar, dan ummu sarahil. a total of 119 hadiths transmitted by ummu athiyah consist of several topics including fiqh and war. almost all of the hadiths transmitted by ummu athiyah related to fiqh like: wudhu, menstruation, prayer, hajj, accepting gifts, and thalaq. several hadiths she transmitted are related to the path of women and 5 hadiths about wars/jihad. provided below is one in the shahih muslim, kitab jihad wa siyar, about war, hadith no. 3380. narrated by abu bakar ibn abu syaibah: abdurrahim ibn sulaiman from hisyam from hafshah bint sirin from ummu ‘athiyah al anshariyah, she said: “i went to war with the prophet seven times. i stayed in their camp, cooked foods for them, treated the wounded, and nursed the injured.” and ‘amru an naqid told us from yazid ibn harun told us from hisyam ibn hasan with this isnad” 6. rubayyi’ binti mu’awwidz rubayyi’ bint mu’awwidz was known as one of the women companions who were courageous. her courage was influenced by her father who was one of the associates of the operation of murdering abu jahal. rubayyi’ was also known as a companion who had a close relationship with the prophet, shown in several stories about the prophet visiting her house and giving gifts. rubayyi’ transmitted 44 hadiths from the prophet explaining the role of the prophet in politics i.e when in a war where rubayyi’ also served the fighters and took the deceased and wounded home to medina. some transmitters who learned from rubayyi’ were abu ubaidah ibn muhammad ibn abdullah, khalid ibn dzikwan (abu husain), sulaiman ibn yasar, ubaidah ibn walid ibn ubadah ibn al-shamad (abu al-shamat), abdullah ibn muhammad ibn ‘aqil ibn abi thalib (abu muhammad), muhammad ibn abdul rahman ibn tsauban (abu abdullah), nafi’ maula ibn umar (abu abdullah). rubayyi’ received the hadiths from the prophet and from usman ibn affan as well. among the hadiths transmitted by rubayyi’ related to her political role is provided below. narrated by mussadad: bisyir ibn al mufadhdhal from khalid ibn dzakwan, ar-rubayyi’ bint mu’awwidz said: “we went to wars along with the prophet pbuh where we gave drinks to the fighters, served [ 69 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 them and took home the wounded and the deceased to medina.”   7. ummu haram bint malihan her full name was ummu haram bint malihan ibn khalid ibn zaid ibn haram ibn jundab ibn ‘amir ibn ghanm ibn ‘ady ibn ibn najjar. her husband was ‘ubadah ibn al-shamat who went to the wars with ummu haram. ummu haram was the aunt of anas ibn malik, a companion who was included as those who first become muslim.24 ummu haram transmitted 11 hadiths from the prophet. among them were hadiths explained the good news from the prophet that she would become a syahidah. what the prophet delivered was then became reality when in mu’awiyyah ibn abu sufyan era, ummu haram join the battle with her husband. after sailing back to the land, ummu haram was attacked by her ride until she passed away. several hadith transmitters who learned from her were anas ibn malik ibn alnadhr ibn zaid ibn haram (abu hamzah), atha ibn yasar (abu muhammad), amru ibn aswad (abu ‘iyadz), ya’la ibn syadad ibn aws (abu tabit). here is among the hadiths explaining her role in politics as found in kitab shahih bukhari, no. hadith 2707. narrated by ishaq ibn yazid ad-dimasyqiy: yahya ibn hamzah from tsaur ibn yazid from khalid ibn ma’dan, that ‘umair ibn al aswad al ‘ansiy told him that he met ‘ubadah ibn ash-shomit when he was in the journey to himsh. at that moment he was in his house with ummu haram. ‘umair said: “then ummu haram told us that she heard the prophet said:”the first army going to war across the sea will be given reward and paradise.” ummu haram said: i said: “the messenger, am i among them?” the prophet said: “yes, you are among them.” the prophet said again: “the army of my people that fisrt fought against qaishar (roman), they will be forgiven.” i said: “am i among them, the messenger?” the prophet said: “no.” from several hadiths above, it is shown that women in the early muslim era had important roles in the society especially in politics. aisyah bint abu bakar transmitted more than five thousands hadiths. the hadiths transmitted by aisyah including various subject: faith, morals, laws, fiqh (devotion, muamalah, women, and politics). in the kitab shahih bukhori for example, the hadiths from aisyah are all over chapters. there were only two chapters in which hadiths from aisyah are not present: kitab al-musaqah dan kitab fi al-luqathah. 24muhammad ibn sa’adbin mani’ al-zuhri, kitab thabaqaat al-kabir,.....ibid, page 40405 [ 70 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 nusaibah bint ka’ab (ummu athiyah) transmitted 119 hadiths generally explaining fiqh about devotion and women. however, there were 5 hadiths transmitted by ummu athiyah related to wars. this also shows that ummu athiyah was a woman companion who was actively involved in the ummah issues. nusaibah were recorded to join the war along with the prophet. she treated the wounded and preparing foods for the muslim fighters. asma bint abu bakar was also a woman companion recorded in history as a woman who was actively involved in politics. this is shown shown from the hadiths she transmitted. the same goes for rubayyi’ bint mu’awwidz, ummu hani’ and ummu haram bint malihan. therefore, it is shown that the women companion in the prophet era did not only have roles in the domestic (as a housewife) but also they actively played important role in public issues. they were involved in wars which were commonly related to men only. generally, the role of women companions are: explicit da’wah, participation in emigration to habasya and medina, oath, and jihad and wars. they can be seen in the hadiths transmitted by the women companions mentioned above. the active role of women companions indicate that a hadith contains a phenomenon or an event transmitted that must be the same as what they saw and did at that time. overall, hadiths also present the socio-cultural condition of women in arab society in the prophet. understanding the role of the hadith transmitters of women companions and the hadiths they transmitted as well as the implications of hadiths comprehension one shall not underestimate the role of women companions in the prophet era. the illustration in the hadiths transmitted by the women companions showed that a hadith is a text believed to be an islamic learning text, not a clean text from the history. the history in this case is not only the history of arab community, the history of the messenger, but also the history of the hadith transmitters’ subjectivity. the role of the companions in the society is reflected from the transmitted hadiths because as the first transmitters, they were directly experience the phenomenon with the prophet. as stated by khaleed abou fadl that every hadith is rooted in the prophet was a final result of an authoring process. actually, after investigating the historical condition thoroughly, someone may be able to conclude that a certain story tells many things about the prophet, or maybe someone will conclude that a story tells more on the transmitters’ historical condition. therefore, the existence of this authoring would make somebody to understand the hadiths of the prophet as [ 71 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 a history.25 as a result, according to abou fadl, many transmitters were actually involved in the emergence of a story or a hadith. every transmitter could play either the same role or a different role, based on the context. abu fadl provides a more detail explanation below. “a text can be created by one or more author but the detail of the author is not only what is written in the cover of the book. especially when the book is relating to oral tradition of the prophet somebody must deal with the possibilities in the authoring process, not the author. even if a book is written by one author and is only related to the author, in reality, it is produced by many intellectuals and social norms and values that shape the notion of the author.”26 a text is arranged from sub-texts because a symbol occasionally includes subsymbols and an entity also includes sub-entities. furthermore, an author must be a part of the reader as he recognize and understand the text symbols; the reader takes part in the authoring process. in this case, a text may have various authors: the historical author who creates a text, the revision author who edits, changes, and rewrites the text, and the interpretation author who receives and creates new meanings of the symbols. these various authors do not hold the same role, but their role is adjusted to the certain context.27 from what abou fadl writes, he wants to say that the prophet is not god and the prophet is a human being so that he is part of the history. the prophet interacted with the history not as god but part of normal human live. therefore, it can be concluded that the prophet’s morals and norms were in the context of history. the moral messages from the prophet were provided and examined by their historical context but the context could not accommodate all of the truth and reality of the prophet’s moral knowledge. for that reason, hadtihs as the legacy of the prophet could not be applied without the human involvement and authoring process. therefore, when we analyze the activities of interpreting and communicating around the sunnah texts, the emerged problem will be how interpreting community reflects, understands, or puts the historical context in the authoring process. because the interpretation must consider the authoring processes and all of its historical order transformation to understand the appropriate balance between the historical author –the 25ibid.,page 130-131. 26khaleed abou fadl, melawan “tentara tuhan” : yang berwenang dan yang sewenang-wenang dalam wacana islam, (jakarta: serambi, 2003), page 105. 27khaleed abou fadl, atas nama tuhan...., page 153-154. [ 72 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 prophet –and various authors who provide contexts for the historical author.28 the idea of the authoring process played an important role in understanding the interpretation of a story. even if we assume that the prophet actually made a statement, the statement could not reach us in a vacuum. words and expressions frequently reach us with all the meanings. this surely strengthens the assumption that the companions shall not be liberated from critics. one example of hadith transmitter subjectivity is the misogynist hadiths29 which have been considering women as a second class being turns out to be few of them that were transmitted by women transmitters. among the misogynist hadiths are the hadiths about theology, such as: hadiths about most women will go to hell, hadiths about women are from the rib bones of men, women were lacking in religious field, women are symbolized as satan, women as a cause of disaster, women as a worldly slander. also hadiths about devotion such as: the urine filth of women is twice than of men, women cannot be imam for men, women are better to pray at home, women fasting must be on the husband’s permission, women prayer shaff must be behind men, women going to hajj must be accompanied by a muhrim, the order of kneeling to husbands. hadiths about muamalah like: women cannot be a leader, the custom of polygamy, the inheritance of women is half of men, women who ignore the husband’ calls will be doomed, and the prohibition of receiving guest without husband’s permission. most of misogynist hadiths do not involve women transmitters. here, the writer believes that the independence of the woman transmitters in choosing the stories to be transmitted finds the relevance. therefore, the transmitting feature cannot be separated from the subjectivity of the transmitters because they only transmitted hadiths based on what they knew and what wanted to transmit. conclusion finally, this paper reveals the connection between the situation and condition of the women companions which give influence to the transmitted hadiths. hadiths then served as the subsequent source of religious knowledge for muslims. therefore, the comprehension of hadiths is not sufficient without looking further to the transmitters. they were the ones who transformed the informations from the prophet muhammad. consequently, even hadiths are believed rooted on the prophet, the presence of the transmitters contributed 28 ibid.,page 162-163. 29 misogynist is a term from english “misogyny” which means “hatred to women”.jhon echols and hassan shadily, kamus inggris-indonesia (jakarta: gramedia, 1986), page. 382. the claim of the presence of misogynist aspect in hadiths is popularized by fatima mernissi, in her book, women and islam: an historical and theological enquiry. [ 73 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 to the emergence of hadiths. subjectivity of the transmitters can be seen in the hadiths they transmitted. the hadiths from the companions related to the situation and condition of the companions because of the intensity they met the prophet and the phenomenon that they were in affected the transmitted hadiths. therefore, research on the hadith transmitters of the companions is significantly needed. if the tradition of jarh wa ta’dil has been neglecting the thabaqah of the companions to be studied because of their high credilibity, then the writer thinks that the companions must be researched especially the connection of the context and the phenomenon during the prophet. this is because the companions were the ones who met the prophet and who gave the primary information about hadiths. this paper also proves that in the prophet era, the women companions played important role in the society not only in the domestic area as many people assumed. the presence of women in public area and their actions show the position of women in the prophet era. bibliography abdullah, i. 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[ 78 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 [ 237 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 ilmu kanuragan at rohmatul ummah assalafy pesantren of jekulo kudus mukhamad rikza the state institute of islamic studies of walisongo, semarang abstract pesantren are one source of knowledge, especially in indonesia. almost in every district in java region in particular there is a boarding school, from which inhabited tens to thousands of students. the style of education offered also varied, from the shape of the salaf to modern. there is also a yellow book offers study programs in an effort to preserve the concept of shariah brought by salaf scholars who in fact are the inheritors of the prophets. in addition to studying the book of yellow, there is also a boarding school who study science kanuragan (supernatural power) or martial arts. all have their respective advantages which aims to preserve islamic values berasas on the qur’an and hadith. yellow book and science kanuragan into a pesantren tradition that can not be released. science kanuragan very beneficial, especially before the independence of indonesia. therefore, the students participate in running the missions and fight against criminals and invaders. science kanuragan , when it plays a lunch the students to fight for independence and the provision of da’wah. teaching science kanuragan felt to be more urgent for the “protection” in the face of the enemy. at that science to be excellent kanuragan interesting to study. keywords: ilmu kanuragan, pesantren, jekula kudus introduction there are four educational institutions which play a role in the internal structure of islamic education in indonesia, namely: islamic boarding schools, madrasah education, islamic-based public education and islamic religious studies conducted in public schools (mochtar buchori, 1994: 243-244). he called the pesantren as islamic education that is organized traditionally, based on the teaching of the qur’an and the hadith and designing all of its educational activities to teach to muslim students of as a way of life. the pesantren in indonesia has become the center of teaching and da’wah (islamic proselytization). it has played an important role because it is the oldest system of learning and education in indonesia (ma. sahal mahfudh, 1990: 1). socially, the pesantren has played an important role in the spread of islam in indonesia. it has become a formal socialization media where the beliefs, norms, and values of islam are transmitted and cultivated through teaching. [ 238 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 it is a means for the development of islamic teachings and maintenance of orthodoxy. the pesantren is only one of the examples of the tradition of scholarship and oldest traditional thoughts in indonesia at present (ismail sm et al, 2000: 171). life in the pesantren is a miniature of life in society. all aspects of life interact in the midst of life at the boarding school. this is where the santri (pesantren students) being intensively educated by the environment, and in turn they are capable of living in a community and even integrate themselves in the development of the dynamics of the community independently. the guardians and scholars teach the substance of islamic teachings that are close to the needs of the community. the model of spreading the islamic religion is done in various ways. its muballigh, both the guardians and the ulemas or kiai are required to be more competent compared to other members of the community. the competence of knoledge itself becomes the main requirement, but in addition to the knowledge, they need to have extra skills, such as the pleasant-sounding voice, special knowledge in the treatment of diseases, and expertise in conquering the spirits, criminals or repelling evil spirits. otherwise, their presence is considered incompetent of protecting those whom they come to preach on. with the extra skills they have, the can easily combine the islamic da’wah with the teaching of tawhid (oneness of god) and suwu’ (the islamic mantra). that way many people can learn spells to survive the catastrophe, and consequently more people will be interested in studying religion. through rescue and protection, people will finally be interested in embracing islam. such activity is synonymous with the tradition of ilmu kanuragan (literally: kanuragan science). ilmu kanuragan is often identified with supernatural power and skills in spiritual treatment. people with this power are beyond the limits of human nature and considered to have a superior kanuragan science. in some boarding schools --although not officially-the practice to achieve certain supernatural power is taught to the students. however, most people consider the practice of kanuragan does not come from the teachings of islam but from kejawen (javanese culture). in fact, the pesantren should become a pioneer to provide enlightenment that such supernatural power should be derived from the qur’an, the hadith or the yellow books (islamic manuscripts). one of the pesantren that teaches a blend of kanuragan science and the yellow books is the rohmatul ummah assalafy pesantren of jekulo kudus. the boarding school was officially established on january 10, 1989. this pesantren [ 239 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 has since been known as the kanuragan boarding school characterized by its long haired students. the principal of the boarding school, kh mahmudi is also also called kiai gondrong (long-haired kiai) as he has long hair. in light of the above information, a study on rohmatul ummah pesantren as a model of kanuragan -based boarding school is very significant to be conducted. the results of this research are expected to be a reference for the development of pesantren in order to keep the tradition of the yellow books and preserve the tradition of kanuragan science by practicing the values of the qur’an and hadith. today, the kanuragan science has started to lose devotees, so it needs to be preserved for future enthusiasts. the focus of this study is: what kanuragan science is taught in this the rahmatul ummah pesantern? what is the students’ motivation for learning the kanuragan science at the rahmatul ummah pesantren? what is the purpose of learning the kanuragan science at the rahmatul ummah pesantren? how is the kanuragan science taught at the rahmatul ummah pesantern? this study employs the continuity description that has the characteristics of qualitative research. the continuity description is doing research in a descriptive manner conducted continuously over an object of research (moh. nazir, metode penelitian, 2005: 56). so, in researching the kanuragan science at the rahmatul ummah pesantren, the researcher will examine and describe systematically the overview, facts and nature of the existing phenomena. a broader definition of the kanuragan science the kanuragan science has always been identified with a science that provides supernatural power in a person. the kanuragan science in the javanese term, is also known as ngelmu kanuragan . the word ngelmu, derived from the arabic word “ilmu”, means knowledge and skills. however, in the javanese language, the word “ngelmu” has a much broader meaning that includes sayings, oath, or spell. the javanese people also define ngelmu as practical skills to perform special deeds (capt. r.p. suyono, 2009: 77). there are two types of ngelmu, namely the first ngelmu and second ngelmu. the first ngelmu, consisting of a number variants, each having its own spell, is characterized by the presence of a script, calculation, or certain things that give a person certain power. however, at present, only little is known, where most has been mixed in the transition of knowledge from a father to a son or from a teacher to students. while the meaning of kanuragan is very diverse. obviously, kanuragan is a term in the javanese language. in the javanese language dictionary (bausastra [ 240 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 jawa), it is explained that kanuragan means kedotan (widada et al, 2008: 338). kedotan means power, so kanuragan can be defined as a science that studies power. budiono heru satoto gave another definition. the word kanuragan is derived from the old javanese word “anuraga” which means great. the greatness is not resistance that comes from outside, but the subtle unseen energy that appears and expands in the body of a person derived from his/her own power, thanks to the training in accordance with the principles and methods of mesubudi and mesuraga that are taught by a teacher. parsudi suparlan (2001) explained that: “elmu kanuragan (knowledge for strengthening the body; kanuragan is derived from the word raga or body) ... elmu kanuragan is also designed to prepare the young to attain more power from the universe and knowledge of elmu ... they said that the best way to learn things is through a teacher, but especially for the elmu kanuragan, any slight error may endanger one’s life. it’s out there but not many young javanese today know elmu kanuragan “. however, some interpret the owrd kanuragan as physical exercise through the art of persilatan (martial arts) (budiono heru satoto, 2009: 2003). the art of persilatan is a means of physical exercise in the form of physical techniques (kicks, hand strikes, avoiding attack or defending/fortifying oneself, etc) in martial arts. as practiced in jaya kawijayan, in the kanuragan, the moves are used for self defense from attack (digdaya). pencak silat is the skill on the outside, while the power inside is called kadibyan jati (pure power or power that exceeds the ordinary power). so kanuragan is the science that serves to defend oneself in a supernatural way. this knowledge includes the ability to survive against attack and the ability to attack with an extraordinary power, for example using the angelic hizib science, inner power hizib, ultimate shahada, and so on (aulia, 2009: 67). to embody the teachings of the islamic-based kanuragan , the pesantren needs to perform it with a mix of a study of the yellow books. it is from the teachings of the yellow books that the students can get the islamic values, especially in terms of the spiritual treatment and martial arts through strengthening faith psychologically. therefore the pesantren remains at its position as a keeper of the islamic traditions which have an important role, especially in the development of religious values in society. in addition, the pesantren has a duty in serving as a “traditional medicine” because the role of traditional medicine practitioners in rural communities is still important. in line with the development, the role of traditional healers has started to be developed with a blend of classical sciences (salafiah) based on the yellow [ 241 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 books and modern science. the kanuragan science is also closely related to the traditional medicine and has widely been known. syekh al-zarnuji explained the nature of science; the science of things, the science of wasilah, the science of ahwal al-qulub, the science of personality and science ketabiban (traditional medicine practitioner). the science of ketabiban, as al-zarnuji described, is the science of health, drugs and diseases. in addition to these, there are four science disciplines that need to be learned, namely: philosophy, the science of manthiq, jidad and nujum (busyairi madjidi, 1997: 111-112). kanuragan science at the rohmatul ummah assalafy pesantren the rohmatul ummah assalafy pesantren founded by k.h. mahmudi amam on january 10, 1989 is located on the jalur pantura on the 9th km between kudus -pati. after a few years of running, the second pesantren, rohmatul ummah assalafy ii was founded in 1994 and led by kyai ahmad syadzalie ridwan. later, in 1997 kyai abdul madjid founded the third pesantren bearing the same name, rohmatul assalafy iii. in its development, the three boarding schools have their own autonomous entities managed by each principal, but certainly in the management of the educational program, they use the curriculum agreed upon together. the name “rohmatul ummah assalafy “ was selected as by kyai mahmudi with a hope that the cadres or alumni will provide bring grace and protection to all walks of life. this is in accordance with the verse of the quran: “wama arsalnaka illa rohmatan lilalamin”. what kyai mahmudi meant is that the knowledge acquired at the rohmatul ummah, should really be practiced and spread so that it can be a good role model for society. kh mahmudi explained that “the long hair tradition” is among the characteristics of the rohmatul ummah pesantren. however, the characteristic is not synonymous with negative behavior. the bottom line is the desire to face of life with determination and resilience, having a view into the future symbolized by hair growing lengthwise. the students who study at the rohmatul ummah pesantren always have lessons combined with moral education in one package. therefore, many students --in addition to active learning-also observe fasting every monday and thursday, as well as the every-other-day fasting of the prophet david, and observe annual fasting (dalail). the tradition is called tirakat. the main tenets of the pesantren are teaching the students to be flexible rather than to be aggressive and radical. the students are also expected to continue inter-discipline education as a legacy of the salaf ulemas. with the combination [ 242 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 of the education system, the pesantren’s obsession is to retain the salafi values. these values do not oppose changes or modernization, but represent a symbol of honesty and a filter in stemming the tide of globalization and the culture that might harm the personality of the nation. the secret to becoming successful students at the rahmatul ummah pesantren is embodied in symbols of being akik (aktif, kreatif, imajinatif, dan komunikatif) (active, creative, imaginative, and communicative). in addition, there is still one more slogan: duit (doa, usaha, iman, dan takwa) meaning prayer, effort, faith and piety. the two slogans are always instilled to students that efforts are essential for their development to face life in the community. therefore, in order to be a religion expert who has the competence in the field of the kanuragan science and the yellow books one needs to be educated at the rahmatul ummah pesantren independently. types of kanuragan science kyai mahmudi always give advice to the students: 1. bocah-bocah santri wajib ngaji (students must recite the qur’an ) 2. bocah-bocah santri wajib hormat, tunduk lan ngladeni marang guru (students must respect the teachers) 3. bocah-bocah santri podo meluho jamaah lan mujahadah bareng guru besides, another advice is: kowe yen kepingin results science benefits blessings dunyo akirat lakonono lan antengono vou mahu pensioner studious utowo sinahu lan ngibadah! the researcher divided the three kinds of kanuragan that are learnt by the students at rohmatul ummah pesantren. mujahadah riyadlah fasting yellow book recital nasi jagung david berjanjen telo dalail khairat tahlil nggondrong dalail al-qur’an istighatsah ngrowot ninggal nyowo alfiyahan hizb monday-thursday manakiban malakut pathi geni bai’atan karamahan/setruman rejeb ngebleng syuro asma’ syawal pengisian muthih ustadz sofwan as the badal ndalem explained that the raga mini is in accordance [ 243 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 with the rules and the purpose of the salafi ulemas. where mujahadah is its readings obligated by the religion of islam. while the riyadlah is mentioned as a form of restraint of lust or in the javanese language term it is called tirakatan, derived from the arabic word taraka, meaning to restrain. so riyadlah contains nakirah, restraining from all the things forbidden by allah. riyadlah can be done in a variety of ways, such as melek mbengi (staying awake), learning and fasting. the book used in the teaching of the kanuragan is called al-mujiz. the book written by kh mahmudi contains asma’, hizb, shalawat and has 232 pages that give details about the kanuragan science. the motivation of students in learning the kanuragan science the students are expected to be really able to respond and anticipate all the problems of life that come to the surface as the impact of globalization or the demands of the times with full confidence, constancy and confidence which is always based on the wise and discerning nature, in which the students are expected to have a strong, consistent commitment and their existence can be accounted for, so in the end the students will become flexible, not aggressive and radical, as well as being able to support education in order to realize and preserve the struggle of the scholars and the legacy of the salafi ulemas. the expected result is that the education system will maintain the salafi values (innocence). the real meaning of innocence here is not opposing changes or and modernization, but rather a symbol of honesty to prevent the negative effects of the globalization that may destroy the personality of the nation, and to keep the islamic aqeedah strong from uprising that may affect the islamic religious order and authority. with regard to the long hair tradition which is the typical of this pesantren, it is not a symbol of negative behavior, but rather a characteristic that needs to be analyzed and examined in depth that at its core is a desire to have a vision into the future, like growing hair lengthwise that reflects perseverance in the “fight for the religion to the last blood”. in fact the final message emphasized by pembaurekso is to become successful students they should be “akik” (active, creative, imaginative, and communicative) and be strong in “duit” (prayer, effort, faith and piety). should the two principles be achieved and expressed in life, then it is not impossible that someone could reach the happiness of the world and the hereafter. the students of rohmatul ummah have a different motivation in learning the science of kanuragan. this motivation can be divided into two major categories, namely worldly motivation and unworldly motivation. due to the education [ 244 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 students receive is far from a model of modernization, the tendency to think in an worldly manner is very high. based on interviews with the students, the research results in the field can be categorized as follows: worldly motivation unworldly motivation protecting yourself from cults integrating syari’ah and hikmah making jadhug practicing salafi teachings learning martial arts seeking divine reward learning traditional healing helping others aiming for thuma’ninah way of life abstaining from immoral deeds various benefits of learning the kanuragan science fasting is a means of restraining oneself from lust. the true results of the fast are to live peacefully, and to not easily lose temper. only in the tranquility of life will one’s prayers be heard by god. in that sense, the fast also includes efforts to restrain oneself from lust in everyday life and to practice good behavior in life. the practice of the prayer song is highly recommended by mutih fasting for 40 days. observing mutih fasting for 40 days and getting up early at dawn while reciting a prayer song with patience and gratitude become the basis of establishing the will and obtaining the power from god. mutih fasting should be observed in one’s spare time; it is when there is no hardship. in the words of the hadith, utilizing the opportunity before the arrival of hardship. this is called tirakat in the term of javanese islam. viewed from its benefits, the kanuragan science taught the rohmatul ummah pesantren can be divided into three categories: ibadah spiritual power healing staying close to allah balancing bodily and spiritual needs helping members of the community in the form of spiritual healing practicing salafi ulemas’ teachings promoting physical self-confidence in defending islam providing assistance for those possessed by spiritual beings staying away from vice ora tedhas wadhung lan linggis helping someone to be patient when dealing with illness [ 245 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 observing tirakat and taubat becoming a guard in war to uphold islamic teachings giving assurance that every illness has its own cure kanuragan science teaching model the teaching of the kanuragan science at the rohmatul ummah pesantren is not simply a specially standardised subject but it has become a unique science that has always been the characteristic of the salafi pesantren. the kanuragan science teaching model in this pesantren still qualifies as very traditional, where the kanuragan is taught with an ijazahan model. when students need specific science, they could immediately come to kiai/badal as the mujiz. after describing the type of science they need, the mujiz will provide a set of practices that must be done. after the practices were given, the students are required to complete them. kh. mahmudi said that “ojo gampang batalke (ifthar) ijazah” (do not easily cancel the ijazah given by kiai). it indicates a spiritual pledge between a student and kiai that the science is to be completed. as for the model, it can be categorized into two teaching models: individually collectively students come directly to ask for the ijazah bai’at missal kiai provides practices to the students in person in a pengajian (qur’anic recitation), the mujiz gives the students the ijazah tafa’ulan (transferring spiritual power) the books of wisdom used in the kanuragan include: manbaul hikmah, syamsul ma’arif, khuzainatul asrar, ta’lif hikmah, silahul mu’min, mujarrabat kubra, manaqib, dalailul khairat and so forth. conclusion the science of kanuragan has become a unique tradition in java. in fact, the kanuragan science is also taught at the pesantren. this paper presents several important issues which are the results of research conducted. first, the kanuragan science taught at the rahmatul ummah pesantren is a kind of kanuragan based on the science of wisdom — which contains asma’, hizb, shalawat, traditional medicine and martial arts. second, the motivation of the students learning the kanuragan at the rahmatul ummah pesantren is for taqarrub ila allah. the other goal is to help others, both physical assistance or self-defense and medical aid. [ 246 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 third, the benefits of learning the kanuragan science at the rahmatul ummah pesantren are very diverse. at least there are two benefits; for the students and for others. the student can benefit from the science in the form of jadhug and self-confidence. other benefits include making people comfortable and free from diseases. fourth, the teaching of the kanuragan science at the rahmatul ummah pesantren can be done individually (from the mujiz to the students directly according to the levels of science, and collectively (joint practices). bibliography abdul fattah jalal. 1998. min ushu al-tarbiyah fi al-islam, terj. hery noer ali bandung: diponegoro abdurrahman saleh abdullah. 2005. pendidikan berdasarkan al-qur’an. jakarta: rineka cipta. achmad chodjim. 2003. mistik dan makrifat sunan kalijaga. jakarta: serambi ilmu semesta. aulia. 2009. ritual puasa orang jawa. yogyakarta: narasi brian morris. 2007. antropologi agama, cet.2. yogyakarta: ak group budiono heru satoto. 2009. konsepsi spiritual leluhur jawa. yoyakarta: ombak bustanudin agus. 2007. agama dalam kehidupan manusia. jakarta: pt. raja garafindo persada capt. r. p. suyono. 2009. mistisisme tengger. yogyakarta: lkis endang saifuddin anshari. 1991. ilmu, filsafat dan agama. surabaya: bina ilmu haidar putra daulay. 2004. pendidikan islam dalam sistem pendidikan nasional di indonesia. jakarta: kencana. husni rahim. 2001. arah baru pendidikan islam di indonesia. jakarta: logos wacana ilmu. khoiron rosyadi. 2004. pendidikan profetik. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. marshal g.s hodgson. 1999. the venture of islam: iman dan sejarah dalam peradaban dunia masa islam klasik. jakarta: paramadina mochtar buchori. 1994. spektrum problematika pendidikan islam di indonesia. yogyakarta: tiara wacana yogya muhammad fadlil al-jamili. 1966. al-falsafah al-tarbawiyyah fi al-qur’an. dar kitab: al-jadid muhammad sa’id ramadan. 1998. finding islam dialog tradisionalisme-liberalisme islam. jakarta: erlangga muhtarom hm. 2005. reproduksi ulama di era globalisasi resistansi tra[ 247 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 disional islam. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar olaf schumann. 2001. pemikiran keagamaan dalam tantangan. jakarta: gramedia widiasarana parsudi suparlan. 2001. the javanese in suriname: ethnicity an ethnically plural society. new york: program for south asian studies asu sindu galba. 1991. pesantren sebagai wadah komunikasi. jakarta: rineka cipta syed sujjad husain & syed ali ashaf. 1398. crisis in muslimeducation. jeddah: hodder and stoughton. tjaroko hp teguh pranoto. 2007. spiritualitas kejawen. yogyakarta: kuntul press toha jahja omar. 1971. ilmu dakwah. jakarta: pertjetakan negara widada dkk. 2008. kamus bahasa jawa (bausastra jawa). yogyakarta: penerbit kanisius yasmadi. 2002. modernisasi pesantren kritik nurcholish madjid terhadap pendidikan islam tradisional. jakarta: ciputat press [ 248 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 [ 217 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 religion and psychological values in culinary tradition within local communities of west kalimantan hariansyah program studi psikologi islam fuad iain pontianak email: shah4shah19@gmail.com ana rosilawati program studi pendidikan agama islam ftik iain pontianak email: putricitrasmara@gmail.com abstract the article aims to explore culinary traditions that penetrate the public space, which does not give room for tolerance because it has to deal with the rules of islamic law. food is perceived as being in binary opposition: having an integration effect or being a social conflict resolution. food is presented in the public space as a duplication of scriptural sources, a marker of tradition, an ecological balancing argument, and an indication of social shift. this paper confirms that dining traditions have an islamic ideology. it is indicated by the ijab qabul phenomenon that accompanies the culinary tradition procession as an entity enriching the concept of fiqh among people living in coastal areas. in addition, eating and its traditions affect environmental conflict resolution in the coastal areas of west kalimantan. the traditions of food, land, houses, gatherings, and reciting prayers for safety are all important ethnic characteristics in west kalimantan. these five entities, which are perceived by the people of kalimantan as provisions for life, have proven to be of no subjective values; they are reserved only for anyone with productive land. however, farm products in the form of food are also distributed to anyone in need. when someone has fulfilled the ber-saro’an (the invitation to eat; berontang or saprahan) in a village, they are no longer treated as “strangers”. this tradition is not only about eating, but also with the emergence of variants of islamic fiqh in coastal areas, indicating psychological values. keywords: psychological values; culinary traditions; local communities; west kalimantan introduction the academic debate at the focus of this article stems from the research of [ 218 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 varadaraja v. raman (2014)1 who provocatively stated that food is sine qua non for life on earth. this issue triggers a discussion about the theme of food, leading to both religious and historical dimensions. consuming food has proven to be highly motivated by minority religions (mumuni at.al, 2018). this fact indicates the complexity of the food chain and ecological balance, which is one of the wonders of the culinary world that is related to esoteric values. in the context of the span of the history of human civilization, food has been found to have countless regional expressions and varieties. food has been commonly used in festivities, but on the other hand, food shortages and poor distribution have also led to famine. it is reasonable to say that in addition to being a source of physical satisfaction, food also has an environmental impact. concerns about food have spread across cultures and civilizations. in the pre-modern era, ethical issues surrounding food focused on issues related to the way food is consumed, whereas modern food ethics focuses on food production. when referring to this idea, there are at least three main trends in food ethics. the first two trends are genealogical to pre-modern traditions, including the legalization of religion and concerns about food. the third trend is a modern trend that brings food closer to the social, economic, trade, and political frames. most pre-modern food ethics focuses on dietetics, namely managing life according to self-made rules. dietetics currently relies on measuring body weight and levels of anxiety, problems labelling, and consumer awareness about food product ingredients. another trend surrounding food production is related to the contamination of food with hazardous substances, and even considered haram (forbidden); rejected products are considered intrinsically bad. in addition, there are also new forms of contamination in the form of pesticides, preservatives, and genetically modified products. therefore, dietetics refers to caution for health reasons over ethical reasons. regarding this issue of food, the islamic world faces problems not only because of threats to health and the environment but also because food has been transformed into a tool used by transnational culinary superpowers and a source of food raw ingredients to monopolize the food industry. the culinary industry controls the largest share of the world’s economy. the most serious issue is that until the end of the 20th century, there was no guarantee of 1 varadaraja v. raman. (2014). food: its many aspects in science, religion, and culture with pat bennett, “turning stones into bread: developing synergistic science/religion approaches to the world food crisis”; varadaraja v. raman, “food: its many aspects in science, religion, and culture”; a. whitney sanford, “why we need religion to solve the world food crisis”; and steven m. finn, “valuing our food: minimizing waste and optimizing resources.” journal of religion and sciences. volume 49, issue 4. december. pages 958-976. [ 219 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 “safe consumption” regarding food sources that were sold freely in the market. contrary to this idea, the phenomenon of halāl food consumption in nonmuslim countries is a relatively new discussion, which is then known as the term ‘modern halāl’. modern halāl is a concept that refers to the complexity of the relationship between markets, industry, religious institutions, and international trade in determining the standardization of halāl foods. it seems that economic corporations were not only established for capital gains but also to control and even dictate food production on a global scale. at the same time, we may also suspect the emergence of a food regime that is produced locally but in more sustainable agricultural practices and with greater control over food sources in the public sector. unsettled debate on dining tradition gareth reginald terence white (et.al., 2018) argued that food production and distribution is a topic of interest. meanwhile, johan fischer (2012) stated that the global market is currently developing the halal product industry rapidly within the framework of the global economic system with various interpretations: pros and cons. fischer’s statement triggers the hypothesis that halāl products have transformed into a new market segment, although it implies anxiety because they cannot avoid the potential to prioritize economic profit motives. the same issue was also discussed in a study conducted by jagadeesan premanandh and samara bin salem (2017) which indicated that there had been improper business practices in product packaging. the operational complexity surrounding halal authentication poses serious challenges to the integrity of packaged products. at the very least, shahriar kabir (2015), gabriel said reynolds (2000) and mohamed battour et.al (2011) attempted to remind people that islamic law pays great attention to food. discussing a similar theme, a study by ali motamedzadegan, saeedeh ebdali, joe m. regenstein, muhammad siddiq, and mark a. uebersax (ed., 2018) examined food from the perspective of food commercialization with various discourses. similarly, tullia tedeschi et.al (2018) through their research predicted that in recent years, interest in the authenticity of food ingredients is increasing. once again, this fact has further proven that the problem of food is not a simple issue. it is proven that the food issue determines the personal and environmental safety of mankind in the world. the various statements above should make many people aware of the concerns about the commercialization of food that uses religious issues as the motive behind the business activity. the issue of food commercialization still seems [ 220 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 to be an interesting theme to be discussed. we suspect that this motive is what strengthens a group of people who are trying hard to build a business empire that promises “big profits” because there is also a large market share by utilizing religious issues as its legal support. carolyn rouse & janet hoskins (2004) reported that contemporary african-american sympathizers of sunni islam consciously articulate eating and food as “something” that liberates them from the legacy of slavery. and convey the idea of purification. this research is also related to the health of the body and the release of the negative mental effects of non-halal foods. this research provides a new perspective that eating is not merely to fulfil physical demands, but it also “liberates” and serves as an expression of psychological purification and an effective way of mental-spiritual health. through her research using a bioethical approach, mariam al-attar (2017) criticized several islamic approaches to culinary ethics and the debate about genetically modified foods. al-attar’s research has made many people aware of how important the authenticity of the food is because the current fact shows that there are so many improper practices in food processing and production. moreover, a study by richard tapper and nancy tapper (1986) explained that food has become an important part of the tradition of the islamic-afghan society because it is connected with maintaining recognition of islamic authority and camouflaging power relations. to them, the meaning of food has undergone a semantic change that leads to the ambiguity inherent in the values of “kindness” and “strength,” symbolism of blood relations, and ritual sacrifices. this research opens a new debate space in which food can bridge social relations, although it is still on a symbolic level. however, what should be noted is when food turns out to be able to form a bond of brotherhood from several people who were previously not connected through kinship ties. food is proven to be effective in forming kinship networks as a brotherhood is bound from breastfeeding relationships. a different study conducted by kecia ali (2015) concluded that in the debate around religious thought, there are traditions that seek to link food with gender; food practices, and gender norms as communal identities and boundaries of social construction. this research argues that women’s bodies and animal bodies serve as very strong markers of muslim identity. this is because patriarchal thinking emphasizes male dominance and simultaneously allows humans to see animals as legitimate subjects of violence. according to kecia ali, the above statement implies that muslims in industrialized western countries must become vegetarians. on the other hand, for contemporary muslims, meat is perceived as the identity of the superiority of “islam”. the [ 221 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 statement that muslims in industrialized western countries must become vegetarians is certainly full of controversy, and even tends to be illogical. similar research was also conducted by rose wellman (2017) that reported that in iran, food is perceived as having the value of piety, kinship, purity, and closeness to god. the case of iran opens our awareness to consider the full spectrum of quality, such as the act of kinship, nation, blood, and its relationship with food that has divine values. the research of daniele mathras at.al (2016) and kishwar khan and sarwssat aftab (2000) is an interesting example of how the environment can be created for the benefit of consumer protection based on islamic teachings. the emphasis of this research is on consumer protection rights for all food products circulating in the market openly. from another point of view, using a gender perspective, carla jones (2010) concluded that the issues of consumer behavior are mostly faced by fashionable women in indonesia. the problem is concerned with matters related to the material but superficial in religious appearance. finally, from a very different perspective from several previous studies, michel desjardins’ research (2004) presented a teaching strategy that involves using food media with games in the classroom to change moods and encourage students to skilfully relate food to religion. this research experimented with using food as one of the strategies that can be taken to support learning activities through psychological stimulation in students. this research again proved that food has a broad impact on the object of research in various aspects and themes that can be studied. this article uses the method of literature review, indigenous psychology, psycho-anthropology, and narrative analysis, which was based on research conducted throughout 2020. this article describes various data in several areas in west kalimantan including sanggau regency, sekadau regency; nanga taman-sekadau hulu subdistrict, mulia hamlet of sebubus village in paloh subdistrict of sambas regency and semakuan hamlet of semanga’ village in sejangkung subdistrict of sambas regency and kubu village of kubu raya regency. to obtain accurate data, the following respondents were selected: village heads, hamlet heads, traditional leaders, and community elites as reliable sources. there are eleven reliable respondents with three additional respondents. to determine the respondents from the community, the snowball purposive sampling method was used. all respondents are natives in each research site who have a good understanding of the community and can provide accurate information related to the research theme. the data were collected using various techniques, such as in-depth interviews, psycho-anthropological observations supported by narrative analysis, and [ 222 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 documentation of facts found at the research site. food and the modern human psychological challenge food is an essential part of life. food affects human psychology. historically, food has often been a serious problem faced by society. discourse in modern society indicates that there is anxiety about the food consumed. food is no longer made using natural raw ingredients, not to mention the concern about contamination from harmful chemicals. meanwhile, modern women who work outside the home often choose to serve processed and fast food because of the demands of the profession and at the same time find it difficult to allocate time to do domestic chores. in addition, many housewives help their husbands work hard to fulfil the needs of their families. in a broader aspect, there are so many issues about food scarcity. another worrying threat is panic buying for certain products for various reasons, especially during this current pandemic time. many people and families have to struggle with this problem individually and communally. in contrast to the people in coastal areas, those living in the upstream stretch of the river and the interior of west kalimantan have many local traditions that can overcome various food problems communally during food shortages. working together to overcome food difficulties is known by the terms such as berontang in melawi regency, arisan persatuan, and saprahan in sambas regency, which are some interesting examples of food-related traditions. it is certain that almost all villages, from the coastal to the border to remote areas, have many traditions where food is the central point. in a specific context, concerning the relationship between food and health, food poisoning has emerged as a health problem and the most frightening source of disease (shariatifar at.al, 2016). ensuring food hygiene is a crucial issue across the globe. the most widely used hazardous materials in product mixtures are khinzir derivatives. in this context, the term khinzir according to the pharmacist’s perspective refers to “additives” in food, vitamins, and drugs (amr, 2009). food contamination has become a worrying new problem in recent years. pollution and contamination can occur due to natural factors, work accidents, or other factors that are difficult to control such as during processing and production. this factor has the potential to reduce the quality of production. other concerns about food also involve the slaughtering process as an important part of the process of serving food ingredients, namely the management of handling animals before slaughter without hurting the animals through [ 223 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 restraining, stunning, and casting. technological developments, especially the stunning method before slaughter, have been declared to fulfil the element of ihsan to animals, namely by eliminating pain during slaughter (shukriya, 2019). meanwhile, from the sufistic perspective, food is not only related to the category of legality in religion but is also related to the routine of spiritual practice (reynolds, 2000). at this point, eating ranges from the spectrum of piety to halāl tourism (battour at.al, 2011). as an illustration, the halal industry in thailand has become one of the largest exporters of halal-certified food and products in the southeast asian region despite thailand being a non-muslim majority country. only 4.3 percent of thailand’s 69 million people are muslim. this shows that thailand’s strong position in the global halal industry is due to the tourism industry, which helps to improve halal branding, uniformity of halal definitions and standards, as well as effective support for local small and medium enterprises (khan, 2019). in another perspective, the discourse around food is connected with brand identification and decision-making to consume food products. this can be seen from the coherence between the fatwa and decision-making regarding the prohibited consumption of food of certain brands or product categories (muhammad & mizerski, 2013). this assumption is based on the increasing number of the muslim population and the increasing purchasing power of muslim communities in the asia pacific zone where the halal food market is emerging as a potential opportunity for meat producers. the strict requirements of halāl standards to potential markets are challenging globally (kabir, 2015). this fact awakens many parties about the effect of religion on consumer behaviour. religion as a multidimensional construct influences psychology through four dimensions – belief, rituals, values, and community. furthermore, religious affiliation encourages different psychological mechanisms when faced with issues regarding consumptive behaviour (mathras at.al, 2016). several themes related to food make it clear that human life is to a certain degree challenged by food. food has expanded to unimaginable limits. there are so many new territories that were previously considered non-food domains. for example, the relationship between food and halal tourism, contamination of food production, the slaughter of animals, a mixture of processed food products, the formation of a lifestyle, etc. keeping this in mind, at least the psychology of the public has been mapped out when facing the challenges of the modern era regarding the provision of food sources. food seems to be in a position of the struggle between the supply of food sources amid a crisis of limited agricultural land, land conversion, climate change, flows of human [ 224 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 movement, the threat of chemical use, the continued escalation of food needs, which almost always fail to meet the food production targets. this situation is made worse by the scarcity of food sources. if this problem continues, then the end is predictable. soon people in the world will plunge into anxiety about the food crisis. currently, in this open era, new problems arise in the form of the threat of invasion of “foreign” food from global food-producing regions [countries] to the target areas of the global food market. this challenge is certainly no simple matter. presenting food in a competitive format in such a free market is certainly not a way out of the food crisis which most people in the world are still struggling with. at this point, it is hard to imagine that there is still a group of people who are trying to maintain traditional food during a global food rush that is completely indifferent to local “tastes’’. if this condition is left unchecked, it will immediately destroy the identity of local food. even worse, it is very likely that there will be a reduction in tradition and culinary culture amid global food domination. saprahan, berontang, nyelamat, and many more local food-related traditions are in danger of disappearing from the local community. it could be that, shortly, dishes such as bubbor paddas, typical cuisine of the sambas malay community, sungkui and lemang as icons of the sanggau malay community, dodol, and gula durian, lamboi, umbut rotan, and tempoyak typical dishes of nanga taman village in sekadau hulu and countless other local foods of borneo will soon be lost if not passed on to the next generation. this is a real threat. it is common when a struggle for dominance occurs. however, there is still a heritage of history that has proven to be able to survive to date. bread, cheese, chocolate, tea, coffee are some interesting examples of “leftovers” from the struggle for dominance among humans. all these foods [and drinks] are silent witnesses to the dominance of civilization in the arena of human history. islamic elements in the dining tradition of borneo people the essence of food does not merely serve to “fulfil” basic human needs. discussions about food include the raw materials for making food: spices, cooking utensils, recipes, the ways food is cooked [boiled, fried, baked, stirfried, roasted, etc], how food is served, important events that come with special foods, ornament and equipment in processing and serving food. unquestionably, there are many more dimensions related to food. all of the above are so varied and have their characteristics in each society. all these variants grow along with the social response to how to treat food. all of them [ 225 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 are tinted by the human psychological atmosphere. the way of interpreting the relationship between human psychology, food, and its availability in nature gives rise to various forms of expressive representation of food. furthermore, in the context of sources of the fulfilment of food needs, food is closely related to natural wealth. in the context of this article, it covers coastal, inland, and border areas, namely semakuan hamlet of sambas regency which is on the side of the upper sambas river, nanga taman village in the upper sekadau river, and semanget-entikong village in sanggau regency which borders malaysia. these places have since long ago been known to have so many food-related traditions. all of these cultures grow in open community relations. in the process, religion also played a role in confirming the form of this relationship. in this regard, zaenuddin hudi prasojo (2017) emphasized that the acculturation of local culture and islam have occurred since the arrival of islam into the interior of kalimantan through the kapuas river. this acculturation also encourages the birth of local religious institutions that function to ensure the survival of the community system among indigenous peoples who still embrace local religions but already have kinship networks, islamic trade, da’wah, and local knowledge. furthermore, zaenuddin emphasized that there has been a relationship between local traditions and culture on the one hand and islam on the other. this relationship can be seen from the prayer rituals in wedding traditions and religious ceremonies. it can also be seen from the food served at walimahan (wedding reception). in addition, there is also improvisation in terms of food that has been adapted to the local culture of the sintang community with a very distinctive banquet. in another article, zaenuddin hudi prasojo et.al (2019) described that cultural issues and inter-ethnic relations are important for the people of west kalimantan by including local potentials that develop in the interior areas after the collapse of several islamic sultanates that succeeded in bringing islam to this area. some forms of local potentials that are compatible with islam in the local community include the belief in culinary arts that strengthen brotherhood, cultural heritage traditions for friendship with nature as the key to success, offspring as a gift that should be treasured, welcoming guests as the key to happiness as well as hard work and good manners. that said, zaenuddin gave a new perspective on food. first, food is a form of acculturation of local culture with islam. there are so many local people’s foods that are influenced by islamic traditions. second, the food of west kalimantan’s local people always comes with a purpose. food is interpreted by local people in west kalimantan as an effective way of strengthening brotherhood. in addition, food can have a [ 226 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 special meaning which is different from the stereotypical perception that has been circulating about food. in his research on the wealth of food in the muslim community of borneo, ibrahim (2018) described the pangil tradition in the malay-muslims in ulu kapuas, west kalimantan. this tradition shows that the balance of life is highly respected by the malay-muslim community in this region. this can be seen from the context of rituals that are filled with dining, reciting the qur’an, and praying for their ancestors. ibrahim concluded that the pangil ceremony teaches four things; the value of gratitude to god (nyelamat), sharing joys and sorrows (nyelamat and beruwah), social equality (ceremonial meal procession); and togetherness and mutual assistance (holding traditional events). through this research, ibrahim stressed the urgency of rituals to achieve life balance which is uniquely pursued through dining, reciting the qur’an, and praying. ibrahim’s research has a similar theme to this article, supporting the argument that the tradition of dining and ceremonial meal procession [as an expression of social equality] is the fastest way to achieve balance in life. once again, this proves that in food there are essential values that determine life and human values. eating is no longer interpreted merely as a means “to sustain life” but to achieve balance in life. should this be the case, it is very unreasonable that food is perceived merely as a means to fulfil a need. in food, there is a divine value and a sense of purification. food also indicates islamic education on the procedures for “treating” food. food has become a topic of conversation and even the most spectacular point of civilization in the history of humanity. perhaps important issues that have become the central point of human civilization from prehistoric to post-modern era will [continue to] be filled with and dominated by stories about food. such discourse on food can even beat other conversations even though the theme is still part of the discussion on the theme of humanity. in the future, food will probably dominate the trending topics of netizens throughout the world. these indications have emerged for a long time since humans realized that food not only concerns physical dimensions and the fulfilment of human needs but moreover it also has proven to be an important element of humanity and has even been filled with the meaning of devotion and servitude to god. in this context, fasting is the best example. the discourse on food has long been discussed in every religion of the world. historically, food is not just an issue of human life. food has been able to penetrate the “divine zone”, and therefore, it is very natural that it is often used as a medium for various rituals of worship. the practice of paying zakat and food alms in the form of typical staple foods of each region, providing food [ 227 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 for the poor and needy, etc., can be used as interesting examples to explain this phenomenon. food seems to mediate human relationships with god. meanwhile, religion has conversely become the instrument of determining whether certain foods can be consumed or vice versa, along with the types of criteria. the more diverse the religious followers, the greater the pattern and spectrum of food consumption. even in some parts, the scriptures of these religions give more weight to food. food that was originally from the “low world” is then given a “high” weight when it relates to the dimension of servitude to god. even to “hold” oneself from consuming halal food at certain times is perceived as part of one’s “test of faith” before god. in a specific discussion about food, islam introduces the concept of halalan thayyiba in setting standards for the quality of foods and drinks. this standard is not only for the sake of considering the ethical values and the sanctity of the two entities, but it is also closely related to the ethical values of divinity. here, food has been transformed from being related to “the world and all the needs of humans” to being elevated to the “interpretation” in the divine sense. food is no longer a profane dimension but has penetrated the world of divine immanence. in light of this perspective, it can be interpreted that food is not just a primary and basic human need which maslow (1993) places as the lowest level of needs. it is proven that food is at the highest significance of human needs or at least higher than the hierarchy of needs as maslow explains. the reason is simply that food is proven to be related to divine values. there is an argument that is being built by allah the almighty to teach humans how to consume foods and drinks. education is in the form of building human awareness that food is not just to fulfil basic human needs but moreover it has a level of purity and a means to draw closer to allah the almighty. considering the awareness of the significance of food, there are so many traditions as a way of articulating this. in many cultures, it is known that various traditions include food in the context of one’s approach to allah. certainly, almost all activities connected with allah include food. take, for example, the saprahan [saroan] event in the sambas malay community. some of the food ingredients are made available through arisan persatuan (social gathering). this tradition is typical of the sambas malay custom. such a social gathering is a very interesting part of a series of saprahan events. the arisan is held to ease and facilitate those who hold the saprahan. this gathering takes place in turns. in addition to the host holding the event, others voluntarily “pay” for the social gathering with items such as cash, sugar, syrup, eggs, etc. later when it is another person’s turn to hold the event, the recipient of these items pays following what their invited neighbors brought to them or how [ 228 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 much the neighbors “paid” for in the previous event. if the payment is made in cash, the amount is by the “price” of the items paid by the neighbors before. the saprahan is always held in every series of traditions in the sambas malay community, such as house warming parties, marriages, social gatherings, thanksgiving, aqikah, tahlilan for the deceased, etc. during wedding receptions, housewarming parties, and an aqiqah ceremony, there are a series of events as follows: on the first day, the “acara mumbu” (preparing spices) is held where people grind peanut, keminting, and coconut as spices for cuisine. on the second day, the “acara motong” (cutting meat) is held where they cut chicken and fish. also on this second day in the afternoon, the guests bring chicken and rice to the host, and some members of the social gathering bring food such as beef, coconut, rice, other staples (eggs, sugar, syrup). on the third day, “acara makan-makan” (a dining event) is held. there is no requirement for everyone in the village to join the arisan (social gathering). attendance is also optional. in the arisan, all planned events to be held in the village are recorded, such as aqiqah, housewarming party, wedding reception.2 all events are scheduled. no events are left unrecorded. it aims to avoid scheduling conflicts of the event. this is also a sign that there is no overlapping time for the saprahan event. everything is carefully planned. in addition, the village community can also be prepared to bring complementary items that will be “paid” before the saprahan event is held at a fixed schedule. “arisan persatuan” (social gathering) is not just an ordinary social gathering. this “arisan” – as the name implies – was formed to establish strong unity, friendship, and cooperation in a village. “arisan persatuan” has been confirmed to exist in all villages in sambas regency. however, there is no official data on the number of these social gatherings in sambas regency. this gathering is funded through voluntary donations from residents. the funding system is in the form of food items, such as staple foods (eggs, sugar, milk, cooking oil, rice, coconut, and beef). especially for beef, the value is determined based on the price per kilogram depending on the financial conditions of the person in the arisan when planning to hold the saprahan. membership of “arisan persatuan” is based on the number of household heads in the village. each head of the household counts as one member. however, there are also more memberships from one household depending on the 2 within the sambas melay tradition, saprahan accompanying the ngalek rumah practice has the same level of public attention like the wedding party. in many cases the people may have the ngalek rumah for three days in a row. the saprahan and ngalek rumah carry not only party message but also beyond food such as kinship, togetherness and egality. the arisan persatuan is normally found with the participation of all village members and, in many cases, with people from the neighboring villages. [ 229 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 household’s financial conditions. this is because in the “arisan persatuan” there is a tradition of reciprocal payments usually in the form of food items that a person receives from other villagers when holding a saprahan. but something is interesting about this reciprocal payment. when a member “pays” for this arisan, the host of the saprahan is allowed to negotiate the items brought to him by the villagers. negotiation for the number of food items received is adjusted to the recipient’s “ability to pay” because the amount of the items currently received by the host of the saprahan will later be paid back to the villagers who brought the items to the host. beef, in particular, is treated quite differently, as its value is determined based on the total weight per kilogram at the time it is brought to the host. if it is paid in cash, it will be adjusted to the price of the meat at the time the saprahan is held. for staple foods, it can be paid in cash equivalent to the price of the foods that were received or replaced with similar items. uniquely, all the items paid for in this “arisan persatuan” are well recorded. all circulations of goods, food items, and cash are accurately documented, although there is no requirement for everyone to “pay” for the arisan in each saprahan. everything occurs voluntarily. usually, those who are unable to make payment to the arisan are not required to do so during the saprahan. however, the person can pay for it in the next event. this condition is determined according to the ability to pay agreed upon by both parties. in addition, what makes this “arisan” unique is that there is a philanthropic attitude and empathy. if the host wishes to serve beef cuisine by slaughtering a cow, then the people in the village will “bear” the cost together. the willingness to “bear” the cost aims to help the host with the saprahan event, even though the host does not have sufficient funds. on the other hand, if a host slaughters a cow at their own expense, it will certainly help the members of the “arisan” who cannot afford such luxury. to finance the “arisan” everything is divided equally. slaughtering the cow, for instance, can be done at a particular member’s own expense, but all members are still required to pay the price of the cow in cash by the selling price of beef at the time the saprahan is held. the amount of cash is determined based on the price of per-kg of beef, which had previously been agreed upon by both parties. the price that must be paid later when it is another member’s turn to hold the saprahan is determined based on the amount of beef that each member brings to the host. if it is replaced with cash, the payment for the price of beef is determined based on the market price of beef at the time the saprahan is held. the same is true for the payment of staples. [ 230 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 even though the “arisan persatuan” is closely related to the principles of togetherness, cooperation, and tolerance among residents, it is still not allowed to burden both parties: the host holding the event and the people who donate. everything happens on the principle of voluntary reciprocity. no one is deprived of their rights. everything happens fairly but arisan members will understand if one of them has economic problems, especially in certain months when it involves quite a lot of people. at this point, it seems saprahan is the turning point of the “arisan”, continuing to hold it will result in the inability of people in the village to bear the cost. to add to its unique aspects, the “arisan persatuan” assists not only members of the same cultural and religious backgrounds, but also those from different religious, cultural, and ethnic groups. in every saprahan, cultural, ethnic, and even religious boundaries are almost non-existent. everything is in a fluid psychological relationship. when villagers of different religions need cash or goods, the community members in the village voluntarily work together to help them even when they no longer live in the village because they have moved to another village (ngalek rumah). during data collection on the research site, there was a non-muslim family who had just arrived from malaysia because they worked as migrant workers there. they were residents in the “s” village in sambas regency. their family left the village and settled in malaysia for a while. when they returned to the village, their neighbors brought them some cash. the money was the result of selling fruit and farm products belonging to the family who left the village and worked in malaysia. interestingly, the sambas malay villagers who live in the “s” village discovered the money they gave to the family returning from malaysia was actually used for inviting the villagers for their homecoming traditional celebration. another surprising fact is that the saprahan tends to be inclusive and there are tight social clusters. based on the data collected from the research site, the saprahan and its introductory activities have a very close relationship between islam and the tradition of “arisan persatuan”. the process begins with delivering the foodstuff to be served in the saprahan. it is usually brought by women from their respective homes to the host who holds the saprahan. at the same time, men bring cooking utensils and silverware for the saprahan. some of them even make tarup and prepare fire stoves to cook dishes. at the time of handing the food to the host, the women were seen shaking hands with the host [holder of the saprahan event] and saying: “itok kamek sararah barras, palak, talluk to make food for tok sapprahan tok ii”. the sentence uttered in the sambas malay language is a statement of consent (ijab qabul) [ 231 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 between the two parties, the contributor and the receiver. this “ijab qabul” is certainly not an “ordinary” tradition. it is not found anywhere else. this tradition has also been confirmed to be found only in muslim communities. it also confirms that communal dining tradition indicates strong islamic values. in many places, giving items intended for improving relations is not accompanied by ijab qabul. rice, in particular, is treated differently; the host has prepared a kind of basket or container that will be used for storing the rice brought by villagers. this “ijab qabul” is a sign of “paying off ” what one has received in the previous saprahan event. this phenomenon is an additional reference for enriching the discussion on fiqh among people in the coastal area. it is obvious that the ijab qabul is not only known in fiqh al-tijarah, but also in fiqh related to the dining tradition. in the perspective of islamic psychology, ijab qabul is a sign of the release of burden from the obligation to “pay” a certain amount of money or goods that are used as revolving payments whose value is equal to what has been received previously. the ijab qabul has become a symbol of mutual consent of the contribution that one gives to the host. this consent shows a deep willingness to give and receive gifts between each other, no matter the economic value. the ijab qabul also indicates a willingness to share the burden. the villagers take turns uttering the ijab qabul as they take turns holding the saprahan. it’s just a matter of time that makes the difference. everyone in the village is bound in a cycle from one ijab qabul to another. the cycle of mutual assistance relieves the burden among people in the village, regardless of ethnicity, ethnic tradition, and religion. every villager is equal. no one is special or has a higher position in social relations in the village. young and old, rich and poor, men and women are all equal. they help each other to ensure things will go well for the host. all contribute according to their ability to fulfil their social obligations. this phenomenon is very interesting to discuss. the ijab qabul during the handover of foodstuff before the saprahan is usually said with the host and the contributor both sitting on the floor with their legs crossed. the contributor holds the items with two hands and gives them to the host. the handover procession is carried out in a very friendly atmosphere filled with compliments and jokes that make everyone smile. it has a more psychological effect when the ones handing over the items are family members or relatives who come from a distant village or city. a lively reception is then held, and emotional expressions can be seen on their faces. even though this procession is required as part of the arisan, the islamic touch of the tradition of handing over food ingredients for the saprahan is visible. everyone feels the desire to help each [ 232 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 other. it does not stop there. all the villagers who bring the food ingredients to the host also prepare a variety of spices and cooking ingredients to be mixed and processed into food. it has become a cycle that keeps repeating itself: getting together, working together, eating together, and concluding the activities with a prayer for the safety of the community in the village. borneo muslims interpreting food if traced from the name of the tradition, something is interesting that may not have been widely exposed, that the communal dining tradition in the sambas malay community --better known as saprahan-turns out to have another variant of the term, namely “bersatu” [unified]. the name is based on the purpose of the saprahan tradition which takes three days from the beginning to completion. all stages involve “all the villagers”. this indicates that the culinary and dining tradition [saprahan] is capable of uniting people in a community. it is evident from the involvement of everyone in contributing to the success of an event being held by a villager. furthermore, those involved in this culinary/ dining tradition (saprahan/bersatu) are also capable of overcoming religious barriers. another interesting thing about this bersatu tradition is that not only are all the people in the village involved, as described above but they are also invited to the event and help ease the host’s burden by helping to provide raw materials for food or spices. this kind of tradition implies mutual help because later it will be carried out in the exact same way when it is another villager’s turn to hold the saprahan. this bersatu tradition does not end here. it even continues until the saprahan is completed. a villager whose economic conditions are categorized as being poor but is socially bound by tradition, can still hold the event as other villagers will always be prepared to help him. it is presumed that the almost non-existence of social conflict is due to two factors, one being the bond of the bersatu tradition that has influenced the pattern of the people’s lives in this area and the other being the communal land ownership. even when a rice field or a fruit or vegetable farm, etc., is abandoned or neglected by the owner, its safety is guaranteed. interestingly, there is a certain “part” of the harvest shared fairly among relatives or even neighbors despite having no kinship with the land owner. since land produces commodities for food, its position is very decisive. the land is an asset that provides people with daily needs. it is an important asset that guarantees the welfare of all people in the village; not only for landowners or tembawang (communal land management) alone. for the people of “s” village, the land can be used by everyone to fulfill their daily needs. everyone may take advantage of the harvest from the tembawang land with the permission of the [ 233 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 owner/heir. tembawang has an important role in survival. tembawang will be the last asset to be sold after no longer having other valuable assets in case an economic crisis occurs. “land” and “houses” have important positions for the people of sambas regency. for them, land in addition to a place to grow crops is a property that determines their life. it is proved to be of no subjective value; productive land can be used by anyone. however, the results of the land are also distributed to anyone who needs it, shared without a kinship barrier, strangers or locals, all done without expecting compensation in the future. regarding the widespread discussion about this local tradition, the focus of attention, for now, is how this local tradition can survive. there is a concern that the saprahan tradition will be abandoned along with the widespread of new patterns of behaviour in society. at least some conditions should be observed that could potentially erode the tradition. currently, people have various professions which require a lot of time and attention so they have little to no time for communal life. some people move somewhere to become migrant workers. the threat to the saprahan is real and someday perhaps this tradition will be abandoned. meanwhile, from a different perspective, the food served at the saprahan, as we observed, tends to be simple very familiar, and easy to find in the community. it can be defined as “village” food that is typical of village cuisine and is easy to process as well as popular in almost all walks of life. most of the raw ingredients are taken from the farm or yards around the village. part of it is purchased from the market in the city area or stalls around the village. this implies education about the simplicity of life and togetherness. the bersatu tradition also indicates the preservation of the anti-conflict tradition. the unique fact is that when a ‘foreigner’ [migrant] or a nonnative in the village is invited to the saprahan, it is a sign that he has been “included” into a village member and is no longer treated as an “alien”. the person immediately blends in and is regarded as “part of the big family of the village”. this further confirms that the bersatu tradition represented through the saprahan is not only responded to as a manifestation of the heritage of ancestral tradition but must further be seen as a social legacy filled with islamic values. it can also be stated, saprahan is not merely to get together to eat. the tradition is full of psychological significance and islamic values. since it is full of social values, this tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. this tradition seems to be an “escort” in the span of age and the journey of human life. there are many saprahan events carried out in this regard, such as the celebration of birth, hair-cutting ceremonies, marriage rituals, and even funerals. [ 234 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 in the context of its extended meaning, the bersatu tradition [saprahan] implies a sign that a social community is guaranteed the certainty of being able to get food regardless of their physical conditions and social status. it is proven that the traditions surrounding dining and food are not only related to saprahan but are also practiced in daily life. in the whole series of traditions surrounding dining and for the people in sambas regency, it is proven that it does not merely involve ceremonies which include gathering, working together to prepare a procession, it has also been transformed as a means of providing food assistance to anyone who deserves to be helped. among the reasons is because they lack food due to physical and economic limitations, or even due to medical reasons. this tradition has even overcome social boundaries. there is a kind of inclusive attitude and readiness to accept “foreigners”. it seems that this symptom has become a communal characteristic for the people there. moreover, it is located in a rural area far from the city center. the communal characteristics of this society are common elsewhere. another interesting piece of data regarding this tradition [saprahan] is the division of the saprah assembly. in the previous section, it was described that the saprahan is open to anyone, however, there is a separation between women’s and men’s assemblies. the reason for such separation is quite interesting. the argument is based on theological reasons intertwined with the gender argument. although there are assemblies in the saprahan, basically in the culinary tradition among the people in sambas regency, everyone is treated equally. this egalitarian attitude is reflected in four important elements: gathering, eating, reciting prayers, and asking for the blessing of safety. various descriptions of food and the saprahan along with several things related to them, it is evident that the saprahan is not merely eating together, but moreover, it turns out that it serves as a medium to gather to strengthen the friendship between people in the village; no matter if they know each other or not or if they have kinship relations or not, all of them are connected in a bond of getting together [unified] to achieve a more exoteric goal: asking for blessings from allah the almighty. environmental awareness as the culinary industry develops, spices are becoming increasingly strategic. it has occurred since the beginning of the arrival of the world community to the indonesian archipelago to obtain spices. historically, spices proved to be [ 235 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 justification for the meeting between europeans, arabs, chinese, people of the indian subcontinent, and asia. suddenly, all the nations of the world were connected by the same interest: satisfying culinary desires. imagine that food became the reason for people around the world to create the “spice trading network”. everyone sought to “dominate” the spices and trade routes. in the end, everyone knew that the end of the spice journey was the indonesian archipelago, which was “the world’s spice center”. along with the “spice journeys”, the spread of islam also occurred during the trade. spices made a big change along the “spice routes”. islam then spread to almost all stretches of the territory that were used by the spice trade routes. even at the same time, suddenly the people’s lifestyle in the world also changed completely. spicy foods became a trend. spices were also used for the global food industry. it soon added to the chaos and bustle of the spice trade routes in almost all parts of the world, all connected with one destination: finding spices for food. there are so many spices used as the basic ingredients of food preparations. discussions about food include the raw materials for making food: spices, cooking utensils, recipes, the ways food is cooked [boiled, fried, baked, stir-fried, roasted, etc], how food is served, important events that come with special foods, ornament and equipment in processing and serving food and many other dimensions related to food. in short, spices are an important characteristic of a dish. spices represent a particular ethnic/nation culinary civilization. culinary spices can “teach” environmental awareness. this can be seen in the muslim dayak community on the entikong border, west kalimantan, where most of the food spices are taken from nature. likewise, food ingredients such as vegetables and fruits are all taken from the forest. the principle of their life is that as long as they have salt, micin [flavouring], rice, and vegetables [although it has to be taken in the forest] they feel their life is safe. for them, this is enough to make them happy. even if side dishes are not available, it’s not a big problem. being able to survive is necessary, even if they have to work hard along with all the risks. regarding food, for the muslim dayak community on the entikong border, nature has provided ‘all’ the necessities for human life. for nature to be sustainable, tradition/customary law teaches to take natural products as little as possible. they should not overdo it. if they need more, they can take some the following day, and so on. forest products should not be taken at will. take what is needed from the forest as needed. this is how the muslim dayak community in the border area maintains forest conservation. forests are treated with respect because it is the forest that has provided the sustenance of life. forests are a source of dependence, especially for ethnic dayaks in [ 236 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 the border regions. this basic value raises their awareness of maintaining the sustainability of the forest and the land on which they depend. wellconserved forests provide important resources for human life, such as wood, rattan, and bark (kapuak) as raw materials for making houses and home furnishings, sources of food ingredients such as vegetables, fruit, fresh animal food sources, and medicines that are so vital to cure illness. in conditions that are far from the city centre, people at the border have no other choice but to depend [almost all] for their fate on nature, rivers, and forests. the sustainability of the forest along with all the potential in it is non-negotiable. the destruction of nature, rivers, and forests is also a sign of the destruction of their lives. on this basis, it is very understandable that forests, nature, rivers, and land are very important for the border communities (hariansyah, 2019). finally, spices are not just flavor enhancers or serve to characterize culinary dishes. an important element to cooking dishes is to make them more delicious to eat. when spices are used in food, they can immediately inspire the birth and maintenance of countless culinary traditions. many people depend their fate on spices. a lot of money is invested in the spice business. millions of kilometers of distance have been traveled by seekers of spices to reach the table of a diner. spices also paved the way for islam to be introduced to the people of the indonesian archipelago. spices seem to give muslims a way to a better life: enjoying culinary delights as a blessing from allah the almighty while practicing islam more broadly, not just observing islamic teachings and provisions related to food. about the theme and the site of research on which this article is based, there are interesting facts about food. at least there is a new dynamic of fiqh among the people in the coastal [as well as inland] areas that food is not merely a matter of eating and fulfilling the human needs. in food, there are also indications of social values and the most important thing is that it is also filled with islamic values. verbatim excerpts of the interview held during research at least show strong evidence of the earlier statement. “when the spices were handed over by guests to their host, they said the ijab qabul: ini barras kami sejumput untuk bikin langgar kasai (this is a little rice from us to make langgar kasai -rice that is soaked, then ground and added with turmeric). conclusion the genealogy of contemporary academic debates around food has proven to have religious, historical dimensions, as well as the most profound meaning of humanity. the relationship between food and islamic tradition places the debate on the subject in the public sphere: halal and haram. the culinary [ 237 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2099 tradition in the community of sambas regency is proven to have an islamic ideology. this conclusion was made based on the fact that the handover food ingredients are accompanied by a specific ijab qabul. this ijab qabul enriches the fiqh concept of food (and drinks) among people in the coastal area. the ijab qabul is related not only to the concept of tijarah but also to the concept of food and drink in a tradition. the ijab kabul is not always concerned with economic transactions, but also with culinary traditions which involve no payment for economic exchange between the parties in the transaction. this ijab qabul is a sign of “paying off ” what one has received in the previous saprahan event, who now takes their turn to hold the saprahan. this type of ijab kabul is not an economic transaction that requires paying for the price, but it is based on the intrinsic value of the same goods. all of this is done based on ta’awun with the principle of not burdening the two parties in the transaction. hence, the work strengthens the existence of religious and psychological values in the culinary tradition of the local communities in the region. food has been proven to be in a positive binary opposition: the effect of integration or resolution of environmental conflicts or vice versa in the coastal areas of west kalimantan. this conclusion is reinforced by multiple pieces of evidence, namely: dining traditions, land, houses, gatherings, and reciting prayers for the safety of the village regardless of religious differences, social and ethnic backgrounds. everything happens in a fluid, friendly, familial atmosphere and conflict-free environment. all of these are important characteristics of borneo ethnic groups. these findings contribute to the discussion of religious aspects and psychological values within the culinary tradition with a specific emphasis on eastern tradition in borneo societies. this work is limited to the studies of local communities in coastal areas in west borneo. more comprehensive studies must take place to further elaborate the culinary tradition with a specific focus on psychological value construction within the religious and cross-cultural based 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[ 213 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the narrative characteristics of islamic terrorism discourses ridwan rosdiawan pontianak state institute of islamic studies abstract while polemics is still shadowing the internationally accepted definition, the word “terrorism” becomes more controversial when it is paralleled with “islam”. the islamic terrorism discourse is more likely to be an elusive concept if not a fata morgana. its very existence appears as a real entity but its form can hardly be described. it would be always be problematic to posterize such a terrible notion as “terrorism” and put it side by side with a noble concept as in “islam”. the fact, however, shows that the two-word has been widely discussed in global arena. “islamic terrorism” has become a trending topic in global politics and academic discourses in the first decade of the millennium. keywords: terrorism, islam, discourses introduction the widely-held discussions on terrorism in the wake of the september 11, 2001  event  in the united states  have almost certainly  touched the debate on islam  and/or at least muslims.  this  is highly  ironic.  terrorism  which means  violent acts  with a political goal  carried out by creating a terrifying situation  is labeled  on  islam,  a religion  which literally means gentleness,  submission, and  leading to  the purpose of  the peace  of the world  and  life afterwards.  this irony  also  continues as  the word ‘islamic  terrorism’  is repeatedly mentioned  but  merely refers to  a  common sense  where there is no  definite  definition that describes  its specifications.  assumptions  that arise  and become  a  description when  the term ‘islamic terrorism’ is used generally to refer to a concept as defined by wikipedia as follows: “a form of religious terrorism committed by extremists of islam mostly for the religious beliefs and sometimes on achieving varying political ends again in the name of religion” violence with religious motives are in fact not something new and certainly not  exclusively  practiced by  adherents of  a  particular  religion.  history has recorded a long documentation of violence against other groups on the basis of conviction. however, which actions are regarded as terrorism and which are not is a big problem because they have political consequences and have implications [ 214 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 for moral  rhetoric. northern  ireland liberation army  (ira)  viewed their group as doing sacred religious struggle against the domination of the british rule in the territory. timothy mc veigh did not feel sorry at all as he brought down the fbi building with hundreds of people killed inside because he looked at the action as a struggle to stop the ‘formal’ government oppression against a religious group which he was affiliated. the aum shinrikyo sect also argued that they had done  a  ‘great’  sacred  job  when  fighting  the  government of japan by releasing nerve gas killer «nerin» in a subway station in tokyo. no matter what sacral purpose they had for their actions, the label ‘terrorist ‘ comes across anybody’s mind when their names are mentioned. major mainstream influential powers in the world and the policy direction of the intense media campaign in the publicity have a dominant role in determining to which group the label of terrorism is pinned. the geo-political discourse situation and international policy also have the same contribution involved. william f. shugart ii noted that since the end of the second world war there are three categories of violent actions which have been labeled terrorism based on the type of background and purpose. first, shortly after the end of world war ii, violent actions that had implications for terror generally grounded by separatism and the purpose of the formation of the new sovereign state. the nature of his movement was limited and its scope was domestic. second, starting around the 1960s until the fall of the berlin wall in 1989, terrorism began to take shape as the movement of a populist left-wing which was inspired by the view of anti-western liberalism and antiamericanism to be more specific. the context of the cold war between the u.s.-led western bloc and the soviet-led eastern bloc, added color to violent terror actions in this period, in which terrorism was seen as the eastern bloc with sporadic attacks using extreme factions to attack the western interests in different parts of the world. this is the phase that is often seen as the starting point of the ‘globalization’ of terrorism. third, the final evolution of the wave of terrorism incarnated in the form of religion-based violence, in particular islam. this form of terrorism is the ultimate evolution of the previous series and has been transformed in such a way that it became more brutal and terrifying. why is the third wave of the form of terrorism often associated with islam and described as “so terrifying”? further description of the classification put forward by shugart ii indicated that: first,  terrorism  is often interpreted  simply  as  violent actions  that create  a terrifying atmosphere  to get attention from many people.  second,  terrorism  almost has always  been linked to  anti status quo  movements  that oppose  the legitimate power. third, the  trend  of [ 215 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 world  political  discourse  is instrumental  in  determining  the realm where  terrorism  issues are centralized  . the end of  the cold war  that was marked by  the collapse of  the soviet union  immediately  ended the  main focus  of global  political discourse  surrounding the  conflict between the  west and the east, which has lasted for almost three decades. in the middle of the race, the news surrounding the actions of violence involving muslims dominated the  international media  publicity. resistance  fought  by some  muslim groups against the oppression of the rulers in a territory that received support of moral sympathy, funds, even soldiers and arms from other muslim groups is seen as  a  phenomenon  of a new  trans-national violent  conflict, especially when the excess of political violence then targeted vital interests of the west and led to a large number of casualties. victims of violence involving muslim groups  throughout  the 1990s  reached  three  times of the  total number of victims of terrorism in the four decades before. analysts  further  indicated  that the  roots  of  political  violence  in this new phenomenon is inspired by the rise of two muslim groups who throughout history  have always opposed each other;  the  iran  revolution  initiated by the  shi’a  and  the success of  the  mujahideen, who were  sunni  majority ,  in  expelling  the soviets  from  afghanistan.  the motives  of fighting  in the name of islam with the sacred goal by islamist groups is seen as a more effective  way  than  revolutionary  resistance.  these conclusions  can  illustrate  why  terrorism  discourse  then  evolved from  political  violence to  religion-based violence and then put islam as a focus of discourse as a leading role in terror and terrorism. in a number  of influential  sources  which will be discussed  in  the next  section, the construction of  the narrative  discourse  of terrorism  i nvolving  muslims  even  tends to be overstated.  some of  the new  terms like  terrorism  or  the  essentialist  terrorism emerged  with a  euphemistic  language that  actually  has sinister implication in  the meaning. a series of violent acts that are seen as terrorism with islam as the main culprit is often referred to by the term the ‘new’ terrorism’ because it is different from conventional terrorism with only limited political aims. islamic terrorism is oriented  toward total destruction  with  a lot of casualties  and losses  on the side of  the target and  is seen as  a  justification of dogmatic basis. the muslim perpetrators were often viewed as the essentialist terrorists because of their violent fanatical fundamentalist basis, and they are fond of massacring people whom they consider  infidels. therefore,  the approach to counter-terrorism against it must also employ new methods, and conventional criminal  law  is not sufficient as  the solution.  to understand  completely [ 216 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 about  how  islamic  terrorism  discourse  is formed  and its construction characteristics shaped can be traced through the following discussion. the genealogy of discourse of islamic terrorism the genealogical discourse approach  is based on  the fact that a  text always refers to  other  texts  that also  rely on  texts  that have been  there before.  thus,  the discourse  forms a  way of looking  through  a mechanism that  involves the use of linguistic  resources and system arrangement of  the existing  culture  in interpreting  a particular social  phenomenon.  the use of  this  genealogical  approach  here  is expected to  help  to understand how  «knowledge»  formed today is formulated  through a process of  naturalization  which took place  in the  span  of time, space and  discursive  practices.  many  aspects of the  details  that could be used to  explain  the origin of  the  construction of  the discourse  of islamic terrorism. however, there are at least three common explanations that could describe how the concept of islamic terrorism that is understood and used in its present form. first and foremost is  that the  narrative  discourse of  ‘islamic terrorism’ which is under discussion right now  is based  on assumptions, theories and  concepts  of knowledge which had been  established  in  the field of study  scope  of terrorism.  although  this narrative  discourse  is thriving and  became the focus of  an independent  academic study  and was recognized  after the  terrorist attacks of 11  september,  the concept of ‘islamic terrorism’  seems to have emerged  since two  previous  few decades  ago.  its origin stems from  the concept of  ‘religious  terrorism’.  the concept most widely  used  and  cited  by  influential literature  afterward  is ‘religious  terrorism’  which was developed  by  david  rapoport  in  his paper entitled «fear and trembling: terrorism in three religious traditions”, published in the journal of the american political science review in 1984. from the work of rapoport, a number of core texts were written by other influential academics, creating  a reputation as  a  major  source of  reference  in the study of  ‹  islamic terrorism  ‘.  concepts,  narrative  construction  as well  as  the labels that  became the core  of  discourse  analysis  developed by  these past  references  then gained  a strong authority  and  were very influential politically. the factor that helped to shape it was a close tripartite network connection between academics specializing in terrorism with a circle of power  holders of  policies that  are also supported  by  senior  journalists  in several influential international media. second, the core focus of the study which became central in the discourse of [ 217 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 islamic terrorism as well as the pattern of narration and labels used in it was derived from a long tradition in the orientalist studies of the middle east and religious studies in the arab culture. the literature of the orientalist studies was growing rapidly following the tumultuous events in the middle east in the 1970s and 1980s such as the massacre of the 1972 olympic games in munich, the world oil crisis in 1973, the u.s. embassy hostage-taking crisis in iran that accompanied the revolution in 1979, the case of salman rushdie, as well as terrorism cases involving kidnapping and piracy throughout the 1980s. this type of trend in the orientalist studies then became more intense with the 9/11 attacks and the war campaign against terrorism. one of most dominant literatures that affects the study of international relations with the nuances of the orientalist viewpoint was the work of samuel huntington entitled “the clash of civilization?”. the essay written in 1993 and the title quoted from the work of bernard lewis became an important antecedent and was reproduced in many other works in islamic terrorism discourse circulating nowadays. in addition, figures like bernard lewis, noah feldman, raphael patai and other orientalist experts in the middle east studies more often shared ideas with other experts in the field of terrorism and became major advisory and expert staff for the u.s. government in the formulation of the action against terror. this became the catalyst for the transmission of orientalist viewpoint that subsequently shaped the discourse of islamic terrorism in the political policy process. third,  many  islamic  terrorism  discourses  refer to  a long tradition  of cultural stereotypes  and  representations of  one-sided  media  that often portray islam and muslims as the ‘enemy’. in describing the muslims, the mainstream media  usually  tend to use a framework  with a focus on violence, threats, extremism, fanaticism and terrorism, although there is also some visual tradition of the orientalists in which muslims are portrayed as  exotic and  mysterious.  imaging  representation of  cultural  forms like this has survived  for so long and embedded so strongly. the reason is  that the viewpoint reflects the socio-culture of the west’s fear and anxiety that the other side which is oriental is often stereotyped, and this has been going on since the imperial period. many also argued that the dichotomous viewpoints of the orientalists  of us  and  they  has intentionally been preserved  as a form of imperialism in a new style. in addition to the three primary discursive traditions above, especially after the event of 9/11, the discourse of ‘islamic terrorism’ also inherited the concepts and  terms that  had been used in  narratives  of cultural  discourse of  earlier global politics.  idioms  such as ‘good war’  for example  is a discourse which [ 218 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 was often used by the western allies in the fight against fascism in world war ii and the cold war. likewise, with other terms such as ‘civilized vs. barbaric war’, ‘rogue states’, ‘enemy within’,weapons of mass destruction, the  eternal battle between good and evil is a series of old cultural narrative that is now the central exposure that decorate the discourse of the so-called ‘islamic terrorism’. the core elements of the narrative discourse of  ‘islamic terrorism’ the narrative discourse of islamic terrorism is built on a foundation that includes the  main concepts  in the form of  assumptions  and  labeling  that are formed  of a series  of terminology.  the majority of  islamic  terrorism  discourse  quoted the  major  terms  such as ‘islamic world’,  ‘the west’,  ‘the rise of islam’,  ‘political islam’,  ‘islamism’,  ‘extremism’,  ‘radicalism’, ‘fundamentalism’, ‘religious terrorism’, ‘jihad’, ‘wahhabi’, ‘salafi’, ‘militant’, ‘moderate’, ‘global jihad movement’, ‘al-qaeda’, and of course, the ‘islamic terrorism’. unfortunately, however, the above terms in the textual use often refer to the unclear intent. the definition often gives rise to misinterpretation and even is filled with stereotypical cultural bias. in addition, a series of labels and the terms above are generally put together in such a way and then presented in a dramatic binary opposition. the term ‘islamic world’ for example is narrated in opposition to the culture of ‹west›. similarly, other concepts such as extremist vs moderate, totalitarian vs democratic, secular versus religious, civilized vs barbaric. extreme polarization within the  narrative  discourse  seems to be  intentionally enabled  to build  a frame of  ‹islamic terrorism’ and  ‘extremists’,  as  the real-life  entities in the overall  story and  stands  opposite the  other entities  such as ‹peaceful society’ ‘democratic state’ or ‘moderate muslims’ for example. more importantly, the construction  in  this  discourse  also  often  negates  another identity  which  is also so prominent on a narrative central actor’s character into the spotlight. the application of  labels such as  ‘terrorists’,  ‘fundamentalist’ and  ‘extremist’  to groups such as hamas and hezbollah, for example, with the immediate obscurity of the fact that they basically play the role of political parties, social welfare,  social welfare activists,  charitable  aid agencies, educational institutions, guerrilla forces and so on. in the narrative of islamic terrorism, these groups are often simplified as the enemy of western society. this discourse also often includes a series of qualifications carefully designe d to limit the scope of the label, the narrative and the assumption that in the context of political or other cultures would be considered degrading. therefore, it is commonly found in the text of the studies on ‹islamic terrorism ‘ [ 219 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 which began with  statements such as: “the majority of muslims are actually  practicing  peaceful  and inclusive  religion  [...]”,  “[unfortunately]..  islamic terrorists are inspired by the teachings that deviate from islam and their sacred  campaign of violence  through the choice  of verses extracted from the qur’an”. but then, after that statement, almost the whole expression of the discourse directly discredits islam and other religious aspects associated within it. although the texts about the discourse of islamic terrorism so broadly spread and easily found,  the entire discourse is nonetheless filled with biased materials (prejudice) against islam. the main characteristics of the narrative discourse of islamicterrorism each discourse is never uniform, coherent or consistent. each has fragile  limitations (debatable) and there are many exceptions, inconsistencies and contradictions between one text and another engaged in such discourse. ‘islamic terrorism experts ‘ generally presented their discourse in phrases that shaped the arguments  either  in the form of support  or  opposition.  they  contributed with  a different  methodology background  in describing  the main  characteristics  of  narrative  discourse  which  they get into.  in some cases,  some of them even seemed to disregard the constraints of an actual narrative character they are building when focusing on the argument for opposition. however, if their works are put together in one clump of discourse then it will generate  a  narrative  construction  with some  typical  specifications  and functions as  a  concept  jointly  understood  within the context of  culture and  politics. through  such a  chronology of  the main  characteristics  of the  narrative, ‹islamic terrorism’ is formed, and the illustration of the assumptions, label, as well as its central narrative can be seen clearly in some parts. the most important central axis of the whole discourse of islamic terrorism comes from a major assumption that violence being a fundamental factor in the cause of terrorism is inherent in the teachings of islam. the reason of this assumption is that unlike christianity, which has strict lines of distinction between the ‘church’ (religion) and state (politics), islam does not recognize the distinction between the sacred and the profane, between religion and politics, and therefore still perpetuates the teachings of war in the name of religion (religious war). in the majority of the texts, islam is always described as a religion which regulates both private and social life so as to impact in the formation of the characteristics of the political life of its followers. these concepts are often used as the main pillar of the argument in the dominant contribution of islam with regards to religious violence. walter laquer –one of the most respected figures in the study of terrorism for example– mentioned that although no [ 220 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 arab or muslim monopoly term in the field of religious fanaticism, the frequency of acts of terrorism involving muslims and arabs are so striking, and meanwhile the discussions surrounding the religious backgrounds of terrorism may not be limited just by highlighting radical islam. “it cannot be denied that, in fact, muslim countries occupy the top position in the spotlight,” he said. with the same tone, barak mendelsohn said that the extremists who wanted to impose religious law as the basis for the state exist in all religions, but religious terrorism just seemed so real in muslim societies. such open expressions with similar narration are scattered in the media. in addition to the rude statement of samuel huntington who mentioned that “islam has a bloody borders”, an awful lot of exposure to other natural inherent relationship to associate islam with political violence on the basis of ‘facts’ that islam does not separate religion and politics. one of the publications of a leading  counter-terrorism think-tank,  for example,  viewed that in  the islamic world political violence committed by muslim groups cannot be separated from the basics of religious belief. actions of terrorism that happened in parts of the arab and muslim world are inborn nature of islam itself. the other major characteristics which are directly related to the narrative above are a view of the actions of terrorism that has always been related to or arise and is inspired by the form of the practice or interpretation of islamic fundamentalism and extremism. some texts for study of terrorism even always build axiomatic link between terrorism and actions carried out by islamist groups, salafi or wahabi. magnus ranstorp in his work generalized that every islamist movement has an underbow of activities in the world of terror without detailing specific qualifications in the categorization. reuven paz of the international policy institute for counter-terrorism (ict) wrote about the ‘culture of terrorism in islam’ and ideology, doctrine and activities of violence in islam. paz indicated that violent actions are culturally and firmly embedded in islamism. so is the case with marc sageman who is also one of the prominent experts in the study of terrorism. by taking the focus of studies on global salafi jihad movement and ‘terrorist group’ of the salafi group affiliated with al qaeda, concluded that the ideology of salafi is an inspiration from the determination of the mission form, goal setting, and supervising the tactics of terror actions they carry out. furthermore, according to sageman, al-qaeda is not only limited to terrorist organization involved in the political sphere but also in the socio-religious revivalist movement. the connection between the concepts of terrorism and extremism found in the discursive formation above subsequently forms a structure of ‘knowledge’ that resonates in the public realm that islam by nature is very violent and terroristic. [ 221 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 in addition to the explicit labeling way like the explanation above, there is also a relationship between narrative characterization of islam and violence and terrorism wrapped in a more implicit way. such characterization is implied in any representation that  lays out  the roots of terrorism  in islam. the narratives generally detail some of the core concepts that come from the teachings of  islam such as  jihad, sharia, shahada, dar al-islam, dar al-harb, jaahiliyya,  ummah,  takfir,  and so forth,  as well as how  muslim  scholars  like say yid  qutb  or  muhammad  ibn  wahhab interpreted it.  with  such  narrative, a  common assumption emerged that  groups like  al-qaeda  or  other islamic radical movements are basically recognized theologically as the followers of islam among muslims. and therefore, the ideology and the doctrines that inspired actions of terrorism are part of mainstream islam as a whole. the characteristics of this kind of discourse, intentionally or not, leading to a strengthening of the perception that real violence or terrorism really appears from or even stems from the teachings and practices of islam. then the conclusion in the end is that  islam is in fact  the core of  the threat of terrorism, or  in the language of  one of the  observers  of the foreign policy  center:  “the  jihadist can be found in almost any place that muslim communities can be found”. another characteristic of  the core narrative of  this discourse  is that the actions of  ‘islamic terrorism’ are  driven by  religious  motives  or  sacred  reasons than considerations of a political or ideological motivation. a lot of the goals expressed by the ‘islamic terrorists’ are generally centered around combating and destroying israel and western dominance, undermine the authority of the regime in the muslim lands, the return of muslims to the islamic teachings  which  form  true and  pure and  re-establish  a caliphate of  islamic  order. shaul mishaal and maoz rosenthal, for example, argued that the  longterm goals of the islamic extremists are to change social and political order in countries that  the majority  of the population are  muslim  by  an islamic state governed by islamic law. david cook even went so far as to declare that a radical islamic group has a large main goal of uniting all muslims in an islamic state and subsequently lead them to dominate the world. because  the goal  was strongly influenced by  the sacred  motivation, islamic terrorism in subsequent discursive formulations tends to be identified as an anti-modern,  anti-secular and anti-democratic movement.  ranstorp  insisted that concerns over infiltration of secularization from foreign parties are a catalyst  for the  emergence of actions of religious  terrorism.  these  radical groups, ranstorp said, are driven by the background of ‘xenophobic’ motivation against everything that comes from foreign or secular parties as well as a strong  sense of  rejection  of  western culture.  similarly, benjamin  barber [ 222 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 also argued that the ‘army’ of jihad despised modernity secular, scientific, rational and commercial culture that they think are derived from european re naissance culture. in fact there are also texts in narrative discourse which describe it with a very rude expression. ayla schbley  in a  leading  journal entitled studies  in conflict and terrorism  stated that public disapproval of the democratization and modernity  in the  islamic world is due to the fact that muslims tend to continue to engage in violence because for them the concept of nation-states and democracy looks like pork and its rind. moreover,  ‘  islamic terrorism  ‘ is also  often  narrated  as  actions  which are based  by a sense  of deep  hatred  against  america and  the west.  this  sense of hatred is caused by anger and a sense of  impotence in the course of history where muslims once ruled the world in one stretch of time then experienced a failure in economic development and modernization, the defeat in the conflict against the forces when dealing with israel, and their inability to reduce the pace of the process of globalization and secularization. takeyh and gvosdev indicated that a radical islamism is an ideology of hate and terror aiming to undermine the existing order. while bernard lewis argued that islamic fundamentalism has inspired direction and format of the movement from the condition of despair, resentment, and anger of the muslims before the power that has diminished their pride and traditional values. this narrative then leads to an assumption which concludes that among the main goals of the mission of jihad is to restore the pride and glory of the muslims in the presence of the new world order that is sponsored by the west. one of the characters in the narrative that may be the most important part of  this discourse  is  the assumption that  ‘islamic terrorism’  is the  greatest threat to western security and stability.  in a variety of  texts, one can easily find expressions and impression that ‘islamic terrorism’ has always been one of the most significant threats to the national security of western nations in general and the  united states in particular.  quoting the  main  characteristics with narrative ‘ islamic terrorism ‘, sageman explained the shape of such threats as follows: “a new type of terrorism threatens the world, driven by networks of fanatics determined to inflict maximum civilian and economic damages on distant targets in pursuit of their extremist goals. armed with modern technology, they are capable of devastating destruction worldwide. they target the west, but their operations mercilessly slaughter thousands of people . . .” the form of  assumption  derived from  this narrative  seems to serve as the basis for many of the  underlying  policies issued by  the u.s.  government. they tend to believe that ‘islamic  terrorism’ has  enormous  potential  that [ 223 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 threatens the sustainability of the cultural order of western democracy and the overall view of its life. they also seem so sure that ‘islamic terrorism’ receives support from ‘dangerous’ rogue regimes and the sympathy of millions of good muslims who live in muslim countries as well as in the west. daniel  pipes,  for example,  indicated  that the enemy  of the west  is the  militant muslims with a number reaching 10-15 percent of the total population of muslims in the world totaling more than 1 billion adherents. this means that the us  has  a  potential threat  of attack from  about 100-150 million  muslim militants who may become its enemies. pipes then assumed that although no poll survey conducted in the middle of the muslim community population, he believed at least half of the total, or about 500 million muslims would be more sympathetic to osama bin laden and the taliban than to  the u.s. government. narrative discourse regarding the threat of ‘islamic terrorism’ is also closely related to the discourse surrounding the ‘mythology’ of al-qaeda terrorist network and the group called ‹afghan› jihad. generally, this narrative confirms the  existence  of the thousands  of  volunteers  who  have experienced  a  militant  jihad  training  and  combat in the  war against  the soviet union  in  afghanistan  and  they are now  linked  in  a  global network.  jessica  stern  indicated  that  at the time of  the september 11,  2001  tragedy  there were at least 70,000 to 110,000 muslim radicals who have graduated from the al-qaeda  training camp.  another  analysis  calculated the chances of  their number was between 35,000 and 50,000 worldwide, all of whom were operatives, some  were moving  independently,  mostly in  standby position,  and  ready to commit holy war against the west. they also get support from six million more who are scattered in other radical muslim countries in all corners of the world.  the  description  formed by  this  discursive  construction  model  is a concept that islam and the muslim world is a ‘direct threat’ and dangerous for the existence of the west. the narrative  of potential  threat of  ‘islamic terrorism’  above  borrows concepts, perspectives and labeling that come from the field of study of previous general terrorism, especially ideas that illustrate that the world is facing a new kind of  ‘terrorism’.  the theories  of the  ‘new  terrorism’  mentioned special  specifications of this  new kind of  terrorism  that is  identified  with  the violent actions  that are  rampant  in the muslim world.  characteristics  that are often expressed are among others domination of background of hate motivation, fanaticism and extremism with a political  ideology;  a new  type of terrorism is inspired by the teachings of the religion and is determined to inflict  mass  casualties  among civilians;  the culprit  is ready  to sacrifice  them[ 224 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 selves in an action for assault or murder, and they are also ready to use weapons of mass destruction. finally, the picture that emerges is the world facing a more cruel form of terrorism. ranstorp said that the violent actions committed by religious extremists know no boundary of humanity because they do not recognize moral  constraints  in using violence.  stern  also  argued that this terrorist group is more dangerous than the secular one, and the possibility that they use weapons of mass destruction is far more open. the important narrative form subsequently constructed is that since ‹islamic terrorism› is full of religious bigotry,  irrational and deadly, then there is no reason to open the space for negotiations, let alone compromise for peace. the only way to deal with the phenomenon of  ‘islamic terrorism’ is the method of  eradication and  prevention  and enforced by  other  counter-terrorist actions. one of the distinctive expressions representing this narrative is expressed by daniel byman, «the wide coverage of the issue of the terrorist group’s agenda such as those of al-qaeda that are trying to spread hatred and jihad propaganda as the only way out, then making peace with them is difficult in theory and impossible in practice”. with similar patterns, barber asserted that the purpose of  the  islamic terrorist  group  that  absolutely  cannot be  negotiated is rationalized. according to him, the terrorists never give any option and therefore  have to be  countered  and  eradicated  up  to its roots.  expressions that are often used in  this discourse  in the political  landscape are reflected in the statement of tony blair. he stated that “you just need to pay attention to the demands of al-qaeda to understand that you will never be able to compromise with them. the only choice you will be defeated by them or move to defeat them” other elements of the narrative the ‘new terrorism› used in the construction of the discourse  of ‘islamic  terrorism’  is a description  that  is different from the traditional terrorist groups that have an organized hierarchy, the ‘islamic terrorists’  have  a decentralized  structure  with  a flexible  network.  analysts from the rand corporation argued that a new breed of the actions of terrorism has evolved towards a form net-war. islamic fundamentalist organizations such as hamas and the network under the leadership of osama bin laden are composed of many inter-connected sub-groups. they form semiindependent  cells  that do not have  a single  command  hierarchy.  chatham  house also  released a report  which described  al-qaeda  as  a  ‘network of networks’ with membership  scattered in at least 60 countries. this jihad network is also utilizing the internet and other modern technologies as a medium in dissemination of messages, individual indoctrination, recruitment of  new members,  coordination of activities,  operational  information shar[ 225 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ing, as well as  fundraising and moral support. their movement can be said to be a ‘techno-terrorism’ because it makes use of satellite communications, email and the world wide web in their action. this narrative  sees  those facts  as  an irony.  the groups  of ‘islamic  terrorism’ use modern technology in order to pursue the objectives of going back to the way of life to the medieval age. barber, for example, stated that osama bin laden without modern media will look like a desert rat that would never have been known. his opinion on terrorism without the credit card, the global financial system, modern technology and the internet,  the impact will only be  like throwing a rock at  the head of a sheikh on the street. at the end of its conclusion, the purpose of this narrative construction apparently is to reinforce the impression of the scope of the danger that may be caused by terrorist groups and that to fight them is very difficult and that methods destruction and eradication are the only appropriate response in dealing with them. closing remarks the general characteristics  of the ‘islamic  terrorism’  related to  the narrative  the perpetrators of terrorism are that they exploit a charitable  institutions as well as other muslim ngos to raise funds and divert its use to support the  actions  of terrorism. byman, for example, argued that  the  ‘islamic terrorists’  are connected to  a broader network  that includes  charitable  institutions  in chechnya,  organizers of  islamic education  in southeast asia, and fundraisers in europe. network connection from their ngos is essential. these ngos in fact serve as a way for them to raise funds, and they provide  employment for  the terrorist  activists,  channel  the funds, and provide required documents (supporting action). paul pillar also identified some muslim  ngos  involvement  either  intentionally  or not  in the  event  of terrorism. meanwhile, the foreign policy center said that many muslim ngo fundraisers  turned out to be  terrorist organizations  that escaped the  detection of  authorities.  as mentioned earlier,  this type of  narrative  discourse  serves to reinforce the concept of the importance of identifying and overseeing muslim organizations scattered in many places. although they look normal in everyday life, the danger they might pose should always be looked out for. the characteristics of the other narrative are that the ‘islamic terrorism’ must be combated even in the form of concept and idea. moderate muslims must become a  leading  figure in the fight against  the growing  extreme  pragmatism  in their environment.  zeyno  baran, for example, argued that  the central  task  in  counter-terrorism  is to find  formulations  to help  moderate muslims to win the theological and ideological civil war currently in prog[ 226 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ress against the extremists in the muslim world. patricia hewitt also suggested that parties who shoulder the responsibility of leadership must immediately stand up against any malicious propaganda which are constructed and imposed by islamic extremists in the middle of the muslim community. this narrative construction at least implies an effort to build understanding of the two concepts. first, there is a clear line of separation between the ‘moderate’ muslims and the ‘extremists’. second, terrorism generally is an internal issue of the islamic world and it is the responsibility of the islamic world to fix it. other narrative forms are also easy to find in the literature of ‘islamic terrorism’ includes concepts  such as: first, the  ‘islamic terrorism’ and  ‘extremism’ by muslims living in the middle of the western societies are due to the lack of  integration, failure of multiculturalism, alienation and unemployment as well  as  the influence of radicalization of  the jihad  groups  from the outside;  second,  the muslim communities in  western countries  are often  termed  ‘the  fifth  column’ or  the enemy  in the  enemy  within that is  either actually or  potentially  very dangerous; third, the ‘islamic  terrorist’ generally consist of young men who are weak and vulnerable psychologically as well as less educated so that they are easily indoctrinated and brainwashed. they are easy to fall into extremist propaganda through radicalism in the madrasahs, mosques  or  internet sites.  those involved in the  actions  of suicide bombings were allegedly young men who were primarily driven by a sense of frustration and sexual impotence. end notes: william f. shugart ii, “an analytycal history of terrorism”,.. hal. 27-32 lihat misalnya, bruce hoffman, inside terrorism, hal. 18, 92-93, 123, r. hardin, one for all: the logic of group conflict. (princeton, nj: princeton university press, 1995), hal. 216, p. r. pillar, , (washington, dc: brookings institution, 2001), hal. 121, national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states (2004, pp. 59, 60, 62, 70, 71, 98, 100, 180, and 190). untuk informasi yang lebih lengkap lihat us department of state, “significant terrorist incidents, 1961–2003: a brief chronology”, at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/5902pf.htm. wacana keabsahan pendekatan counter-terrorism ini mengemuka ketika perbincangan seputar pelanggaran ham terhadap tahanan-tahanan tersangka taliban dan al-qaeda di penjara guantanamo menjadi fokus pemberitaan media global. pihak-pihak yang mendukung penahanan tanpa proses pengadilan menggunakan pendekatan essentialist terrorism ini sebagai pembenaran. roxanne doty, “foreign policy as social construction: a post-positivist analysis of u.s. counterinsurgency policy in the philippines”, international studies quarterly, 37 (1993), hal. 297–320. lihat juga jennifer milliken, “the study of discourse in international relations: a critique of research and methods”, european journal of international relations, 5:2, (1999), hal. 225–54. david rapoport, ‘fear and trembling: terrorism in three religious traditions’, american political science review, 78: 3 (1984), pp. 658–677 diantara beberapa literature yang banyak dikutip oleh karya-karya lain dalam bidang kajian terrorisme dan islam adalah bruce hoffman, inside terrorism, (newyork: columbia [ 227 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 university press, 1998), kemudian walter laqueur, the new terrorism: fanaticism and the arms of mass destruction, (new york: oxford university press, 1999), mark juergensmeyer, terror in the mind of god: the global rise of religious violence, (berkeley, ca: university of california press, 2000), jessica stern, terror in the name of god: why religious militants kill, (new york: harpercollins, 2003), dan magnus ranstorp, ‘terrorism in the name of religion’, journal of international affairs, 50: 1 (1996), pp. 41–62. indikasi fakta dari koneksi akademisi-birokrat-jurnalis ini adalah bahwa penulis-penulis seperti bernard lewis, bruce hoffman, steven simon, jessica stern, daniel benjamin, dan richard perle pernah bekerja di badan-badan strategis pemerintah seperti national security council dan kementrian pertahanan as. mereka juga saling bertukar informasi dengan wartawan-wartawan senior di cnn, voa, the new york times, la times, washington post, newsweek dan usa today seperti thomas friedman, charles krauthammer, david brooks, william kristol, martin peretz, norman podhoretz, dan judith miller. lihat l. ali khan, phenomenology of international terrorism: understanding islamic militancy, (leiden: martinus nijhoff publisher, 2006), hal. 206-209. lihat misalnya fred halliday, two hours that shook the world – september 11, 2001: causes & consequences, (london: saqi books, 2002), hal. 88–131. untuk gambaran detail lebih lanjut mengenai bagaimana kultur orientalis mewarnai studi islam lihat edward said, covering islam: how the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world, (london: vintage, 1981), revised edition 1997 dan yahya sadowsky, ‘the new orientalism and the democracy debate’, dalam joel beinin and joe stork (eds), political islam, (berkeley, ca: university of california press, 1996). samuel huntington, ‘the clash of civilizations?’, foreign affairs, 72: 3 (1993), hal. 22–49. sedangkan karya bernard lewis yang dimaksud adalah bernard lewis, ‘the roots of muslim rage’, atlantic monthly, 266: 3 (1990), hal. 47–60 as’ad abukhali, ‘book review: “the islam industry” and scholarship’, middle east journal, 58: 1 (2004), hal. 130–8. lihat juga, edward said, covering islam, hal. 150 banyak sekali karya yang mengulas mengenai peran media khususnya di barat yang merepresentasikan pandangan stereotype terhadap islam. beberapa diantaranya seperti elizabeth poole and john richardson, muslims and the news media, (london: i.b. tauris, 2006); kai hafez (ed.), islam and the west in the mass media: fragmented images in a globalizingworld, (cresskill, nj: hampton press, 2000); john richardson, (mis)representing islam: the racism and rhetoric of british broadsheet newspapers, (amsterdam: john benjamins, 2004); dan jack sheehan, reel bad arabs: how hollywood vilifies a people, (northampton, ma: interlink publishing group, 2004) elizabeth hurd, ‘appropriating islam: the islamic other in the consolidation of western modernity’, critique: critical middle eastern studies, 12: 1 (2003), hal. 25–41. lihat misalnya tulisan-tulisan dalam buku k. el fadl (ed.), shattered illusions: analyzing the war on terrorism, (bristol: amal press, 2002) bahasan mendalam seputar issu historiografi narasi cultural dalam kaitannya dengan kampanye war on terror pimpinan as dapat ditemukan dalam richard jackson, writing the war on terrorism: language, politics and counterterrorism, (manchester: manchester university press, 2005). lihat juga stuart croft, culture, crisis and america’s war onterror), (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2006). the 9/11 commission, final report of the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states, (new york: w. w. norton & co., 2004), hal. 54 ray takeyh and nikolas gvosdev, ‘radical islam: the death of an ideology?’, middle east policy, 11: 4 (2004), hal. 86 lihat misalnya barak mendelsohn, “sovereignty under attack: the international society meets the al qaeda network”, review of international studies, 31 (2005), hal. 55. walter laqueur, the new terrorism, hal. 129 barak mendelsohn, “sovereignty under attack…”, hal. 57 samuel huntington, “a clash of civilizations?”, hal. 35. lihat juga magnus ranstorp, [ 228 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 “terrorism in the name of religion”, hal. 43. habib malik, “political islam and the roots of violence”, in elliott abrams (ed.), the influence of faith: religious groups and u.s. foreign policy, (lanham, md: rowman & littlefield, 2001) reuven paz, “is there an ‘islamic terrorism’?”, international policy institute for counter-terrorism (ict) publication, herzilya, israel, 7 september 1998, atht tp://www.ict.org.il/ articles/articledet.cfm?articled=46, diakses pada tanggal 05 desember 2012, magnus ranstorp, “terrorism in the name of religion”, hal. 58 reuven paz, “radical islamist terrorism: points for pondering”, international policy institute for counter-terrorism (ict) publication, herzilya, israel, 20 june 2001, at http://www. ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=367, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 marc sageman, understanding terror networks, (philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, 2004), hal. 1. marc sageman, understanding terror networks, hal. 126 lihat misalnya daniel benjamin & steven simon, the age of sacred terror, (new york: random house, 2002); paul berman, terror and liberalism, (new york: w.w. norton, 2003); natana delong-bas, wahhabi islam: from revival and reform to global jihad, (oxford: oxford university press, 2004); dan raphael israeli, “a manual of islamic fundamentalist terrorism”, terrorism and political violence, 14: 4 (2002), hal. 23–40. quintan wiktorowicz, “a genealogy of radical islam”, studies in conflict &terrorism, 28 (2005), hal. 75 greg austin, the next attack: ‘know your enemy and know yourself ’, (london: foreign policy centre, 2005), hal. i. shaul mishal and maoz rosenthal, “al qaeda as a dune organization: towards a typology of islamic terrorist organizations”, studies in conflict & terrorism, 28 (2005), hal. 277. david cook, “the recovery of radical islam in the wake of the defeat of the taliban”, terrorism and political violence, 15: 1 (2003), hal. 52 magnus ranstorp, “terrorism in the name of religion”, hal. 49 benjamin barber, “democracy and terror in the era of jihad vs. mcworld”, dalam ken booth and timdunne (eds), worlds in collision: terror and the future of global order, (new york: palgrave macmillan, 2002), hal. 247 ayla schbley, “religious terrorism, the media, and international islamization terrorism: justifying the unjustifiable”, studies in conflict & terrorism, 27 (2004), hal. 208 takeyh and gvosdev, “radical islam”, hal. 93 bernard lewis, “the roots of muslim rage”. jessica stern, “terror in the name of god”, hal. 264 saul mishal and maoz rosenthal, “al qaeda as a dune organization”, hal. 276 sageman, understanding terror networks, hal. vii. daniel pipes, “who is the enemy?”, commentary, 113: 1 ( january 2002), hal. 23–24, 26, artikel ini dapat juga ditemukan di http://www.danielpipes.org/article/103, diakses pada tanggal 05 desembert 2012 marc sageman, understanding terror networks, hal. 25–59. jessica stern, terror in the name of god, hal. 260. gus martin, understanding terrorism: challenges, perspectives, and issues, (london: sage, 2003), hal. 194, 198. rohan gunaratna, inside al qaeda, (new york: columbia university press, 2002), hal. 8, 95. beberapa literature yang mencuatkan teori baru “the new terrorism” ini diantaranya adalah ian lesser, et al., countering the new terrorism, (santa monica, ca: rand corporation publications, 1999); charles kegley, jr. (ed.), the new global terrorism: characteristics, causes, controls, (new jersey: prentice hall, 2003); dan russell howard and reid slayer (eds), terrorism and counterterrorism: understanding the new security environment, (guildford: mcgraw-hill, 2003); disamping tentunya karya bruce hoffman, inside terrorism, dan walter laquer, the new terrorism. [ 229 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 magnus ranstorp, “terrorism in the name of religion”, hal. 54. jessica stern, terror in the name of god, hal. xxii daniel byman, “al-qaeda as an adversary: do we understand our enemy?”,world politics, 56 (2003), hal. 147 benjamin barber, “democracy and terror”, hal. 246 tony blair, “pm’s press conference”, 5 august 2005, at http://www.number10.gov.uk/ output/page8041.asp, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 rand corporation adalah sebuah lembaga penelitian kontra-terrorisme di bawah struktur angkatan udara amerika serikat. john arquilla, david ronfeldt and michele zanini, “networks, netwar, and information-age terrorism”, dalam ian lesser et al., countering the new terrorism, hal. 56 chatham house merupakan lembaga penelitian kontra-terrorisme yang dibentuk oleh dan berafiliasi sebagai penasehat bagi pemerintahan inggris. frank gregory and paul wilkinson, “riding pillion for tackling terrorism is a highrisk policy”, security, terrorism and the uk, chatham house isp/nsc briefing paper 05/01, july 2005, hal. 2. frank gregory and paul wilkinson, “riding pillion for tackling terrorism is a highrisk policy”, hal. 65 benjamin barber, “democracy and terror”, hal. 249. daniel byman, “al-qaeda as an adversary”, hal. 151 paul pillar, “terrorism goes global: extremist groups extend their reach worldwide”, brookings review, 19: 4 (2001), hal. 36 greg austin, “the next attack”, hal. 28 zeyno baran, “fighting the war of ideas”, foreign affairs, 84: 6 (2005), hal. 84 ns interview, “patricia hewitt”, newstatesman, 25 july 2005, hal. 26. lihat misalnya laporan yang dikeluarkan oleh pemerintah inggris yang berjudul “draft report on young muslims and extremism”, uk foreign and commonwealth office/home office, april 2004, dapat ditemukan di http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2004/muslimext-uk.htm, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 lihat javier jordan and luisa box, “al-qaeda and western islam”, terrorism and political violence, 16: 1 (2004), hal. 1–17. jenis narasi ini terekspresikan dalam artikel husain haqqani, “islam’s medieval outposts”,foreign policy, 133 (2002), hal. 58–64. lihat misalnya mark juergensmeyer, terror in the mind of god, hal. 201. references abukhali, as’ad, ‘book review: “the islam industry” and scholarship’, middle east journal, 58: 1 (2004) austin, greg, the next attack: ‘know your enemy and know yourself ’, (london: foreign policy centre, 2005) baran, zeyno, “fighting the war of ideas”, foreign affairs, 84: 6 (2005), hal. 84 barber, benjamin, “democracy and terror in the era of jihad vs. mcworld”, in ken booth and timdunne (eds), worlds in collision: terror and the future of global order, (new york: palgrave macmillan, 2002) benjamin, daniel, & simon, steven, the age of sacred terror, (new york: random house, 2002) berman, paul, terror and liberalism, (new york: w.w. norton, 2003) [ 230 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 blair, tony, “pm’s press conference”, 5 august 2005, at http://www.number10. gov.uk/output/page8041.asp, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 cook, david, “the recovery of radical islam in the wake of the defeat of the taliban”, terrorism and political violence, 15: 1 (2003) croft, stuart, culture, crisis and america’s war onterror), (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2006). delong-bas, natana, wahhabi islam: from revival and reform to global jihad, (oxford: oxford university press, 2004) doty, roxanne, “foreign policy as social construction: a post-positivist analysis of u.s. counterinsurgency policy in the philippines”, international studies quarterly, 37 (1993), el fadl, khaled abou, (ed.), shattered illusions: analyzing the war on terrorism, (bristol: amal press, 2002) gregory, frank, and wilkinson, paul, “riding pillion for tackling terrorism is a high-risk policy”, security, terrorism and the uk, chatham house isp/nsc briefing paper 05/01, july 2005 gunaratna, rohan, inside al qaeda, (new york: columbia university press, 2002), hal. 8, 95. hafez, kai, (ed.), islam and the west in the mass media: fragmented images in a globalizingworld, (cresskill, nj: hampton press, 2000) halliday, fred, two hours that shook the world – september 11, 2001: causes & consequences, (london: saqi books, 2002) haqqani, husain, “islam’s medieval outposts”,foreign policy, 133 (2002) hardin, r., one for all: the logic of group conflict. (princeton, nj: princeton university press, 1995) hoffman, bruce, inside terrorism, (new york: columbia university press, 1998) howard, russell, and slayer, reid, (eds), terrorism and counterterrorism: understanding the new security environment, (guildford: mcgraw-hill, 2003) huntington, samuel, ‘the clash of civilizations?’, foreign affairs, 72: 3 (1993) hurd, elizabeth, ‘appropriating islam: the islamic other in the consolidation of western modernity’, critique: critical middle eastern studies, 12: 1 (2003) israeli, raphael, “a manual of islamic fundamentalist terrorism”, terrorism and political violence, 14: 4 (2002) jackson, richard, writing the war on terrorism: language, politics and counterterrorism, (manchester: manchester university press, 2005) jordan, javier, and box, luisa, “al-qaeda and western islam”, terrorism and political violence, 16: 1 (2004) [ 231 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 juergensmeyer, mark, terror in the mind of god: the global rise of religious violence, (berkeley, ca: university of california press, 2000) kegley, jr., charles, (ed.), the new global terrorism: characteristics, causes, controls, (new jersey: prentice hall, 2003) khan, l. ali, phenomenology of international terrorism: understanding islamic militancy, (leiden: martinus nijhoff publisher, 2006) laqueur, walter, the new terrorism: fanaticism and the arms of mass destruction, (new york: oxford university press, 1999) lesser, ian, et al., countering the new terrorism, (santa monica, ca: rand corporation publications, 1999) lewis, bernard, ‘the roots of muslim rage’, atlantic monthly, 266: 3 (1990) malik, habib, “political islam and the roots of violence”, in elliott abrams (ed.), the influence of faith: religious groups and u.s. foreign policy, (lanham, md: rowman & littlefield, 2001) martin, gus, understanding terrorism: challenges, perspectives, and issues, (london: sage, 2003) mendelsohn, barak, “sovereignty under attack: the international society meets the al qaeda network”, review of international studies, 31 (2005) miliken, jennifer, “the study of discourse in international relations: a critique of research and methods”, european journal of international relations, 5:2, (1999) mishal, shaul, and rosenthal, maoz, “al qaeda as a dune organization: towards a typology of islamic terrorist organizations”, studies in conflict & terrorism, 28 (2005) ns interview, “patricia hewitt”, newstatesman, 25 july 2005, hal. 26. paz, reuven, “is there an ‘islamic terrorism’?”, international policy institute for counter-terrorism (ict) publication, herzilya, israel, 7 september 1998, at http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articled=46, diakses pada tanggal 05 desember 2012, paz, reuven, “radical islamist terrorism: points for pondering”, international policy institute for counter-terrorism (ict) publication, herzilya, israel, 20 june 2001, at http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=367, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 pillar, paul, “terrorism goes global: extremist groups extend their reach worldwide”, brookings review, 19: 4 (2001) pipes, daniel, “who is the enemy?”, commentary, 113: 1 ( january 2002), http://www.danielpipes.org/article/103, diakses pada tanggal 05 desember 2012 poole, elizabeth and richardson, john, muslims and the news media, (london: i.b. tauris, 2006) [ 232 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ranstorp, magnus, ‘terrorism in the name of religion’, journal of international affairs, 50: 1 (1996) rapoport, david, ‘fear and trembling: terrorism in three religious traditions’, american political science review, 78: 3 (1984) richardson, john, (mis)representing islam: the racism and rhetoric of british broadsheet newspapers, (amsterdam: john benjamins, 2004) sadowsky, yahya, ‘the new orientalism and the democracy debate’, dalam joel beinin and joe stork (eds), political islam, (berkeley, ca: university of california press, 1996). sageman, marc, understanding terror networks, (philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, 2004), hal. 1. said, edward, covering islam: how the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world, (london: vintage, 1981), revised edition 1997 schbley, ayla, “religious terrorism, the media, and international islamization terrorism: justifying the unjustifiable”, studies in conflict & terrorism, 27 (2004) sheehan, jack, reel bad arabs: how hollywood vilifies a people, (northampton, ma: interlink publishing group, 2004) shugart ii, william f., “an analytycal history of terrorism: 1945-2000”, public choice, vol. 128, (2006) stern, jessica, terror in the name of god: why religious militants kill, (new york: harpercollins, 2003) takeyh, ray, and gvosdev, nikolas, ‘radical islam: the death of an ideology?’, middle east policy, 11: 4 (2004), the 9/11 commission, final report of the national commission on terrorist attacks upon the united states, (new york: w. w. norton & co., 2004) uk foreign and commonwealth office/home office, “draft report on youngmuslims and extremism”, april 2004, dapat ditemukan di http:// www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2004/muslimext-uk. htm, diakses tanggal 05 desember 2012 us department of state, “significant terrorist incidents, 1961–2003: a brief chronology”, at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/5902pf.htm. wiktorowicz, quintan, “a genealogy of radical islam”, studies in conflict &terrorism, 28 (2005) [ 257 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the discourse of eid 1429ah/2011ad greetings on the banners and billboards in padang city nasrullah & desy mardhiah lambung mangkurat university & padang state university abstract eid al-fitr is special compared to other holy days of muslims. in addition to the celebration of victory for muslims after a month-long fasting, there is a national phenomenon that occurs ahead of the eid al-fitr: the flow of urban people returning to their home towns and villlages. millions of muslims in indonesia return home ahead of the holy day. padang city or ranah minang as the capital of west sumatra province is one of the destinations for those homeward-bound travelers since the city and other areas in west sumatra are the hometowns of the minang people. simultaneously, in every public space in the city, banners are installed by the head of the local government, political parties, or community leaders to deliver eid greetings. this article examines the discourse of the message on the banners in the city of padang in relation to the reality around the place where the banners were installed, the social context, as well as the relationship between the discourses on the banners. keywords: discourse, eid greetings introduction eid al-fitr as a manifestation of triumph for muslims in reaching the fitrah (purity) after observing a month-long fasting, is usually expressed through greetings --minal ‘ aidin wal faizin (hopefully we belong to the people who return to true human nature and get happiness of the world and the hereafter)- to fellow muslims. on that day, muslims forgive each other and visit siblings, friends, relatives, and neighbors to strengthen silahturahmi (good relations) so as to create a new atmosphere in the family and society. if they are in the same area, muslims are highly recommended to immediately shake hands after performing the eid prayer so that feelings of hate and revenge can be removed to start a new chapter in life. however, if your hand shakes are deterred by the distance, the apology can be delivered by telephone, short messages, greeting cards, facebook, and twitter. eid al-fitr greetings are not only delivered by ordinary people but also by the head of the local government, political parties, and community leaders to the wider community through a variety of media such as stamps, cards, [ 258 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 banners, and billboards. stamps and greeting cards bearing the image of megawati soekarno putri, along with members of the legislature during the 2004 presidential election and cards bearing the face of west java governor, ahmad heryawan, were mailed to 450 thousand addresses. a number of banners and billboards showing the pictures of public figures and political parties could be found in a number of cities across indonesia. padang city was no exception. almost in every corner of the city especially on the main roads, one can easily find banners and billboards with a greeting that read happy eid al-fitr 1 syawal 1432 ah/2011ad. banners and billboards are one of the main media for the community leaders in the city of padang to deliver eid greetings to the society, including the minang diasporas. the minang people [or minagkabau] are famous for their migration tradition that began centuries ago due to the dutch policies of labor camps and the consequent upheaval in west sumtera in the 1950s. the events prompted a massive migration of the minangkabau to various cities in the country, particularly to java. besides doing trades, the minangkabau also migrated to continue education in various universities in java (sairin, 2004: 53). in addition to colonization and internal upheaval, the minang chose to migrate because of a matrilineal culture of the community which is bound by ninikmamak. according to amir (in sairin, 2004) they never get guidance from ther mother; they only remember sitting on their father’s laps. they just know how to live with their parents. living away from home for several generations, living with tradition of going out of the batih have effects on them when they return home for the eid. finally, when returning home, it is considered a vacation alone, a week or two, not to settle. it is because they themselves are not willing to hold the custom; as persons who live in modern times they want to be free and have their own rights. while in their own hometown they have no possessions, all belonging to the people and the country. the minangkabau region nonetheless remains lovable, but not to live in. their particular interest is its natural beauty, not the order of the society (hamka, 1984: 58) the minang diasporas who celebrate eid in their hometowns are welcomed by regional and community leaders of padang city through banners and billboards in several main roads. these banners are generally mounted on power poles and bridges, hung on large trees by the roadside, tied on fences of government agencies and mosques, as well as on the places provided for product promotions. the figures shown in the banner range from the governor, the mayor, regional and political elites such as susilo bambang [ 259 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 yudhoyono, megawati, hatta rajasa, aburizal bakri and patrialis akbar. however, these figures do not appear alone but often paired with a pretty influential community leaders in the town of padang, for example padang’s mayor with hatta rajasa, west sumatra vice gubenur with aburizal bakri. there are also public figures shown singly, not leaving certain symbols such as syarli mubaraq and patrialis akbar. products that carry certain brands such as in mild, win mild, apache, matahari dept. store, cressida, indosat im3, emas murni store, haluan daily, marquisa drinks, bazda, lppom also took part in scrambling the symbols and identity in the city of padang. the occasion to meet with parents, siblings or relatives, is used by the local government to show its social existence especially in terms of improving the welfare of the community along with the turnover these homecoming travelers bring during eid, and collecting ideas in order to advance the areas in west sumatra. in this regard, this paper attempts to reveal the discourse of eid greetings displayed in banners in the city of padang. this paper is divided into several sections. the first part deals with the mapping of eid greeting banners in padang city; the second part outlines the discourse displayed in eid greetings in padang city followed by the conclusion at the end of the paper. banner and billboard war in the city of padang the indonesian language dictionary defines a banner as cloth hung in a public place containing slogans, propaganda or news need to be delivered to the public or community, while a billboard is a large sized board that attracts the attention of people (usually with large images in a crowded place) (2008: 1333,126). banners have a variety of sizes, ranging from small, dilated, elongated and transverse. banners are placed at strategic spots in some corners of the city such as the crossroads, t-junctions or intersection where a lot of people pass by. the message displayed in any banners related to the purpose of the installer in order to attempt to influence others. however, the impact is up to each individual whether or not they will be affected by these banners. the political situation ahead of the 2014elections in the city of padang provided their own color in the form of eid greetings for 1432 ah. although the election is still months away, there have been many political parties seeking collaboration with like-minded parties because it is the democrat party that can nominate its candidates without coalition. this is because the democrat secured 15 percent of votes or has eight seats in the parliament. meanwhile, other political parties like ppp, golkar, hanura, pan, pks, gerindra, pbb and pdi of struggle are non-parliament parties required to coalesce in order to meet the quota. the nine names for the padang mayor are as follows: mahyeldi ansyarullah (vice [ 260 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 mayor of padang), desri ayunda (director of pt igasar), wahyu iramana putra (padang golkar chief), yendril (padang hanura chief), zulherman (padang parliament speaker), zulhefi sikumbang (migrant figure), james hellyward (academician/head of padang brotherhood association), aldi yunaldi (public figure and advertising businessman, head of wpcd), syarli mubaraq (driving the reform of 1998). these names can be found in banners displaying season’s greetings for eid al-fitr 1432 ah in padang city. the banners for eid al-fitr 1432 ah were propagated virtually in various corners of the city of padang. starting from the bypass at the entrance of padang city, sawahan junction, agussalim street, terandam street, imam bonjol street intersection, bagindo azizchan, thamrin, muara, a.r. hakim, pemuda, ahmad yani, veteran, s. parman, sudirman, rasuna said intersection, khatib sulaiman, to prof. dr. hamka street. one day before the eid, as many as 100 pieces of banners had been installed and the number would likely continue to grow, and this paper will be limited to cover only on the day before the eid celebration. these banners were not only mounted on the side of a trash container, nailed to a tree, stretched on fences, next to the railway, on the traffic lights of a highway, on the mosque fence, next to the bus stop, next to a police post, in front of the stall, but also placed next to or in front of the building of government agencies. it showed that the city of padang has been transformed into the contestation between political figures in public spaces as a political battle field during eid al-fitr. it is visible from a number of banners and billboards which not only displayed eid greetings, but also --according to irawanto (2006: 9)-served as means of political campaigns of the city government. as a result, the highway became a stage of the festival of a number of banners in order to expose the identity of a particular group. this, of course raises, a wide range of assumptions about the meaning of the socio-religious festival of eid alfitr that causes an imbalance in itself that will be a social issue or an issue of ‘power relations’ as put forward by michael faucoult. the discourse of eid greeting banners and billboards in padang city 1. discourse of greeting banner of political parties symbolically, wearing a white shirt or koko, a black cap, a sarong, moor berkalung, putting hands together on the chest and smiling a little has become the identity the community leaders do when conveying the eid greetings on banners. in fact, they try to display a trademark so that it has a certain religious symbol and influence to win the people’s confidence. the identity that serves [ 261 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 as the hallmark of the public figures and political elites of the city of padang for the eid al-fitr so it can be presumed that the candidates appear to open themselves to renewing human relationships especially with communities the city of padang. in banners and billboards, the national figures are paired with local figures as symbols of communication with society at large. banners or billboards featuring the chairman of the golkar party or the national mandate party, along with photographs of them, will strengthen the memory of society a these figures have been known widely through media such as the television, newspapers, magazines, and the radio.visualization it is reinforced with colorful banners and specific attributes as symbols or identities of particular groups. essential elements in billboards and banners on display in a public place contains the emblem of the party and party leaders, and greetings of eid. in billboards, golkar party logo, the banyan tree, was displayed at the top; aburizal bakrie image as the chairman of the party with the tile of ‘haji ‘ in the front of his name was put below the logo. the important figures of golkar from west sumatra, muslim kasim, the chairman of the golkar party’s advisory council and hendra irwan, west sumatra golkar chairman appeared at half body size. the two prominent golkar figures of west sumatera were placed below aburizal bakrie. eid greetings in golkar party’s billboards were on the bottom. a popular phrase delivered was “happy eid al-fitr 1429 ah” in large fonts. another message read in smaller fonts “minal aidin wal faidzin mohon maaf lahir dan batin “ (literally meaning hopefully we belong to the people who return to true human nature and get happiness of the world and the hereafter; please forgive us physically and spiritually). the same message was also featured in a banner of the golkar party where the position of the image of the party was displayed in parallel. the party’s logo was placed at the left or at the right of the banner, while party leaders namely zailis usman and wahyu irmana putra at the right or the left of the banner. the difference was that wahyu irmana putra represented the golkar party while usman zailis conveying the message as a member of the golkar faction in the local parliament. their photographs looked more official as they were wearing a black cap and suits, and were placed at the right or the left of the banner. the phrase happy eid al-fitr 1432 ah in large fonts. “ minal aidin wal faidzin mohon maaf lahir dan batin” was written in smaller fonts. in contrast to the golkar party, the billboard of the national mandate party (pan) displayed the greetings “happy eid al-fitr 1432 ah” at the top followed by two lines below it, “minal aidin wal faidzin mohon maaf lahir dan batin”. [ 262 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the pan logo appeared above the party leaders. figures were shown wearing a white moslem shirt, a black cap displaying the eid atmosphere. these figures are dr.h.fauzi bahar, m.si, chairman of pan of padang city, hatta rajasa, the pan general chairman, and h. m asli chaidir, pan regional chairman of west sumatera with the eid greetings below them. the billboards and banners of the pan displaying the image of hatta rajasa all the time is interesting to interpret further. in addition to the sentence that reads “13th anniversary of pan”, a short sentence with the additional message is always shown on any banners and billboards. the more number of billboards showed that the pan as the party that won the two elections are using billboards to disclose of the identity of its rulers. the banners of islamic parties found one day before the eid in the city of padang belonged to the united development party (ppp) and the prosperous justice party (pks). both parties have different ways in displaying greetings compared to golkar and pan. the ppp only used banners, similar to the pks as the party with the ideology of islam. although in the form of banners, the two islamic parties displayed more messages. the ppp displayed three pictures of the party figures, yuliarman am, treasurer of the party; h. epyardi asba, chairman of the party with a larger image size; and h. amora lubis, treasurer of the party. the ppp and the pks did not feature the national party leaders as the appeal of the billboards. the ppp even showed more than ten party figures on the banner background with sentences that read: “the ppp of west sumatra large families wishes you a happy eid al-fitr 1432 ah/2011 m minal aidzin wal faidzin ppp, the great home of muslims!!! “ the party logo was placed at the right side of the banner, while the greetings in the middle or between pictures of party leaders and party logo. the same pattern was used by the pks on their banners. images of two west sumatra pks figures were at the left, namely drs. muhdi, general chairman; and mulyadi muslim, regional chairman of padang city. the middle part consists of six lines of sentences: [ 263 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 regional chairman of pks padang city wishes you a happy eid al-fitr 1432 ah taqabbalallahu minna waminkum (may allah accept it from you and us) please accept our apology “build devotion [to god] and advance together to build padang city displays in the form of banners above gave the impression to illustrate the power of interpersonal relationships for the banner actors. new meaningful communication that occurred with a different banner positioned parallel to the banners with similar ideology that presented a certain social reality in society at large. the pks banner with its islamic identity stressing on the phrase taqabballahu minna wa minkum in arabic was mounted next to the golkar banner with the addition of islamic identity like allahu akbar ...allahu akbar.allahu akbar (allah is great). it reflects a new political force through the banners. in the end, the two pictures intended to deliver to the people that the these banners have close ties. 2. discourse of greeting banners of community leaders the figures appearing in the eid greeting banners in padang city are among others, political figures with their position in the party or the position in the community organizations such as irwan prayitno (west sumatera governor), muslim kasim (vice governor, also chairman of the regional advisory council of west sumatera , fauzi bahar (the mayor of padang, chairman of supervisory council of indonesian pencak silat association (ipsi), chairman of the padang brotherhood association, regional chairman of pan padang city), mahyeldi (deputy mayor of padang), aldi yunaldi (chairman of the wpdc), james hellyward (chairman of ikp), wahyu irama putra (regional chairman of the golkar party), muhidi (general chairman of pan), asli chaidir (regional chairman of pan west sumatera), and usman zailis (member of the golkar faction in the local parliament). figures such as, syarli mubaraq (migrant figure), and zulhefi sikumbang (chairman of padang brotherhood association of jakarta) also participated in the banner ‘battle’ in padang city. however, the banners of the local governments such as the bureau of public relations and protocol, lppom and mui of west sumatra, yamin waisare (head of bkkbn, west sumatera representative), syarlinawati akbar (the commissioner of pt semen padang) were outnumbered by the others. in fact, the banners not only contained the eid greetings, but also offered [ 264 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 specific identity as a symbol of communication with society at large. for example ‘do your work and get sympathy’ (the national mandate party --pan); ‘ppp, the great home of muslims (the united development party --ppp); golkar’s voice, people’s voice’ (golkar); ‘build your devotion to build padang city’ (the prosperous justice party --pks). the identity of the same organization was displayed in different locations by carrying different slogans such as, ‘let’s make peace with fellow [human beings]’ (wpcd), let’s build better relationship between citizens (wpcd), may our good relationship be maintained for our beloved minang homeland (knpi); hopefully, on the day of fitr, we remain in good relationship (knpi). the banner placement showed how community leaders and the political elites reconstruct political forces in the form of apology. it could be seen in the banner installed by the padang brotherhood association (ikp) side by side with the one installed by the padang peace-loving citizens (wpcd); zulhefi sikumbang, (migrant figure) next to extra ginseng banner, all sending the same message of eid greetings. the golkar banner was placed below the democrat party; the ppp banner above the democrat; the ikp next to the golkar, syarli mubaraq and patrialis akbar; syarli mubaraq banner was mounted under the billboard of fauzi bahar (pan); zulhefi sikumbang above the knpi; padang peace-loving citizens (wpcd) parallel with zulhefi sikumbang, the ppp and syarli mubaraq; the banners belonging to the pan, zulhefi sikumbang, and the peace-loving citizens (wpcd) were at the same location; knpi next to ikp; zulhefi sikumbang, pks and golkar were at the same place; syarli mubaraq above the democrat; wahyu iramana putra (golkar) side by side with the billboard of governor and deputy governor of west sumatera; fakhrizal (national democrat of west sumatera) next to the wpcd; syarlinawati akbar (the commissioner of pt semen padang) side by side with syarli mubaraq (migrant figure); zulhefi sikumbang next to syarlinawati akbar. all these banners aimed to charm people and increase popularity in the midst of padang’s diverse constituents. 3. discourse of eid greetings of the commercial products a beverage sweetener product billboard in the portrait mode stood on the intersection. everyone passing this location could easily notice the pairs of celebrities, anang hermansyah wearing a black cap, a white shirt, putting his hands together on the chest. meanwhile, ashanty was wearing a hijab and a white dress, both hands on the chest. the top left-hand corner of the the smiling couple, there was a brand of drink sweetener product that read: marquisa wasp hive juice. then, greetings that read “happy fasting & [ 265 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 eid al-fitr 1432 ah, the month full of devotion and kindness”. in the bottom part of the couples’ images were also pictures of various marquisa products in various shapes of bottle. a curved-shaped text read, “freshness has no end ...!” the influence of the market is inevitable in many aspects of life, and it is no exception in the religious aspects with regard to to the culture of indonesia as in the case of returning to home towns for eid celebration. the marquisa wasp hive billboard presumably utilized two religious events, i.e. ramadan and eid, as evidenced by the messages on the billboard. a different way of advertising was done by a cigarette company; without a lot of persuasive sentences, it simply delivered the message: celebrate the victory with in mild happy eid al-fitr 1432 ah the final part as always, there is a warning on cigarettes, but largely ignored by smokers, i.e. the danger of smoking to health because it can cause a variety of ailments. among the various billboards and banners, the discourse of cigarette products is simply and clearly understood. in the form of a banner, the ads appear with a apache tribal man and the middle part of it is a space for eid greetings. the banners of medicinal products also appeared with an image of the actress nurul arifin , and in the middle part it read “diapet wishes you a happy eid, 1 syawal 1432 ah, forgive us physically and spiritually”. the product slogan was at the right side of the banner. for certain products, their identities were clearly displayed such as, together we build our country (nagari bank); eid, full of style, complete and money-saving matahari dept. store); awesomely cool (cressida); celebrate victory together (in a mild); winning is an option (win mild); returning home with smiles (im3). meanwhile, the minang diasporas were greeted with appropriate messages such as, the local government and society are pleased to welcome you all (bank nagari); welcome home, our relatives, the minang diasporas, hopefully the eid al-fitr 1432 ah will give us the spirit to build the minang homeland (west sumatera nagari bank). eid between political discourse, community leaders and the market the phenomenon of eid banners and billboards in indonesia, especially in padang city can be seen from the three parties involved; political parties, [ 266 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 community leaders, and the market. political parties display pictures and texts that they try communicate to the public, especially the passers-by. the national level party figures became an icon of the two major parties: golkar and pan in padang city. the space for eid greetings occupied almost a quarter of the billboards, meaning that the discourse the party intended to bring about was to exploit the eid celebration to further strengthen its political position. this phenomenon shows some upward-oriented culture followed by justification of what those in the upper class are doing, or idolizing any figures considered symbols of upper-class (bungin, 2008: 48). islamic parties such as the pks and ppp are likely to appear in the form of banners, presumably trying to make regional executive chiefs to appear before the public. the absence of national figures of the party, may be simply a choice or a strategy to avoid upward orientation. despite this, the pks and the ppp have appeal through community or kinship with the use of the phrase “the big family ... wishes ...”. so, the discourse of the two groups of parties i.e. the nationalist and islamic, shows that the national party still has powerful patronage in the form of party leaders, while the islamic parties focus more on the strength of kinship or locality. they are increasingly aware that language, in itself, appears as a representation of a space for the deployment various kinds of power. therefore, language can be seen as a space where various conflicts of interests, power, and counter hegemony occur (hikam, latif, 1996: 77). the discourse of leadership in the eid-related banners or billboards, followed by persuasive phrases that seem to care about the local conditions, came from the figures affiliated with political parties. whether it is realized or not, the proximity of the installation between banners or billboards and party leaders in the city of padang has also shown the relation between the actors featured in banners or billboards of the eid al-fitr holiday. the figures that appear more have a tendency to run for office in the election the regional head of west sumatra in 2014. behind the eid discourse in banners and billboards, as well as in the middle of male dominance in public, should be a concern about the existence of women being displayed. based on the observations, there were only four women in the billboards or banners in the city of padang. women were only present in the banners and billboards advertising products of clothing, beverages and sweeteners. the presence of women in the public sphere is still a rarity, as in the case of padang city with the appearance of hj syarlinawati akbar, s. pd. the eid always comes with the presence of the market. in this case the [ 267 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 discourse was present through banners in padang city advertising clothes, drinks, cigarettes and medicine. the political parties and community figures display their identity while the market is present in different way. the billboards advertising cigarettes, dresses and drinks with an invitation to the public to use such products are part of their celebration of the eid alfitr holiday. the phenomenon of eid-related billboards or banners shows that there are ideological influence and interest in the market. religion tends to be understood from the outside, from the image formed by the market so it is aesthetical in nature. in the meantime, the ethical values that concern the nature of religion have been used as the source of values in the formation of a blue print for less influential life practices (abdullah, 2006: 119). conclusion the eid discourse delivered through banners and billboards in the city of padang in west sumatra is not just a moment to celebrate the feat or to welcome the arrival of the homecoming minang diasporas, but it has become a battle field of discourse. the presence of political parties, public figures, advertisements that seems to be part of the eid al-fitr holiday, turned out to have interests to competing for public attention in public spaces. the discourse they tied to deliver may vary but unfortunately it does not touch the real condition of the society. for example there are no banners or billboards installed by political parties, community leaders, as well as certain products around the hospital that give attention to the patients’ recovery. so is the placement of banners or billboards, it only aims at being seen by as many people as possible. bibliography abdullah, irwan, 2006. konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. amir, ms 2004. “pemerintahan nagari dan masyarakat adat suatu tinjauan kritis” dalam bandaro, dkk minangkabau yang gelisah mencari strategi sosialisasi, pewarisan, adat dan budaya minangkabau untuk generasi muda, bandung: lubuk agung bungin, burhan. m, 2008. konstruksi sosial media massa: kekuatan pengaruh media massa, iklan televisi, dan keputusan konsumen serta kritik terhadap peter l. berger & thomas luckmann, jakarta: kencana departemen pendidikan nasional, 2008, kamus besar bahasa indonesia, jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama hamka, 1984. islam dan adat minangkabau, jakarta: pustaka panji mas [ 268 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 hikam, muhammad as, 1996. “bahasa dan politik: penghampiran “diskursive practice” dalam yudi latif dan idi subandy ibrhami, bahasa dan kekuasaan: politik wacana di panggung orde baru, bandung: mizan irawanto, budi, 2006. menguak tanda membaca kota: ihwal semiotika kota, dalam jurnal balairung mahasiswa universitas gadjah mada. edisi 40 hal 29 sjairin, syafri, 2004. “minangkabau yang gelisah” dalam bandaro, dkk minangkabau yang gelisah mencari strategi sosialisasi, pewarisan, adat dan budaya minangkabau untuk generasi muda, bandung: lubuk agung [ 77 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 sunda wiwitan on parahyang land abdurrahman misno bambang pawiro al hidayah college of islamic studies, bogor abstract the arrival of the great religions of the world to indonesia did not eliminate existing local beliefs/religions of its people. the followers of the local beliefs remained strong in the midst of the spread of the great religions. although those religions did not eliminate the local beliefs, they in fact had a significant influence on them. sunda wiwitan is one of the local beliefs that until today is still parcticed by the baduy community in kanekes village, leuwidamar sub-district, lebak district of banten province. the baduy people to this day have not embraced any major religions of the world. they are still consistent with the sunda wiwitan, believed to be the old legacy of their sunda ancestors that become their karuhun. the current sunda wiwitan belief has been heavily influenced by hinduism and islam. hindu influence gave rise to the concept of gods in their belief, while the influence of islam gave rise to the terms allah as god, adam tunggal, adam and eve, the shahada (profession) of prophet muhammad, circumcision, shahada in marriages. even mantras recited by the puun also derived a lot of terms from islam. keywords: sunda wiwitan, local belief, baduy, parahyang, banten. introduction indonesia is a multi-cultural country with 1,128 ethnic groups (bps, 2014). each of these ethnic groups has different religion and local belief in passed down from their ancestors. the local beliefs came from human consciousness of the “power” outside of himself (dhavamony, 1995: 51). it is believed to be the truth, so that it continues to be carried out and passed on to the next generation. the arrival of the world’s great religions such as hinduism, buddhism, islam and christianity did not eliminate the local beliefs. the baduy are one of the ethnic groups in indonesia who have local belief that comes from the legacy of their ancestors. they inhabit kanekes village, leuwidamar sub-district, lebak district of banten province. their life, up to now, has been still consistent with the local belief of sunda wiwitan. as a society that closes itself from all forms of modernization, they live in harmony with nature, take food from it and worship it (djoewisno, 1988). the sunda wiwitan, the baduy’s traditional belief, etymologically derives from [ 78 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 two words “sunda” and “wiwitan”. the term sunda has a lot of meanings. in geography, there are terms such as little sunda, great sunda, sundaland, sunda sea, or soenda zee and circum-sunda mountain system). all the terms refer to the outlying islands, the continental shelf, continental plate range, a range of mountains and the sea area around the island of sumatra, java, kalimantan, sulawesi, bali, nusa tenggara, and maluku (bemmelen, 1949). the term sunda according to the historical record has been around since the kingdom of tarumanegara, as shown in stone inscriptions found at kampung pasir muara (cibungbulang) on the edge of a rice field approximately 1 mile from the telapak gajah inscription left behind by purnawarman. this inscription is a relic of suryawarman containing script 4 lines of writing. it reads (according to bosch): ”ini sabdakalanda juru pangambai kawihaji panyca pasagi marsandeca barpulihkan haji sunda” which means “this sign of speech of rakeyan the pangambat expert in 458 saka year that local governance was restored to the king of sunda” (lubis, 2003: 70). the pre-tarumanagara period, known as the “ancient sunda”, included the regions: indonesia, malay peninsula, indo china, southern india, madagascar and parts of east africa. the name ancient sunda was later changed to “sundalarang” (the great sunda) then became “dwipantara” and after that was changed again to “nusantara”. the term sunda was used to name a great kingdom in west java, namely the sunda kingdom which was known as pajajaran (lubis, 2003: 70). during this period, the term sunda was used in the guidelines and life of the state. so the term “sunda” in sunda wiwitan which was used by the sunda kingdom (pajajaran) means ethics of daily behavior that should be implemented. furthermore the term wiwitan means the first, origin, principle, and essence (ekadjati, 2009: 62). this term refers to the origins of everything, especially of human spirit that comes from god and will return to him. hence the term sunda wiwitan means belief which is based on the legacy of ancestors since the beginning of time, particularly during the kingdom of sunda and tarumanegara. of course it was also rooted in the belief in previous period, i.e. during pre-historic time. sunda wiwitan is based on beliefs of batara tunggal (one batara) that is god almighty who creates and rules the universe. the single batara later sent other batara who became the ancestors of all people in the world (sam, 1996). batara cikal as the oldest descendant became the ancestors of the baduy whom then believed to derive the highest spiritual figure as the puun in this community. the whole commands of the puun have to be carried out because it is the pillar of sunda wiwitan. [ 79 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 some argue that the baduy’s religion is hinduism or buddhism; this statement is not true. the influence of hinduism exists only in some parts, namely regarding the beliefs of the existence of the gods and goddesses in the belief of sunda wiwitan. however, the baduy position the gods under the power of the batara so that they are only recognized and never worshipped. it can be proved that until now none of the statues or sculptures is found and worshipped in the baduy area. instead, we can find menhir stones, lumping stones, and sasaka on the holy site of the baduy. the greatest influence came from the religion of islam which has penetrated into the belief of sunda wiwitan. they know the term allah, prophet adam, prophet muhammad, shahada, circumcision and so on. the influence of islam on the belief of sunda wiwitan began with peace treaty between sultan hasanudin and the baduy community (garna, 1987: 30). one of the results of that agreement was the establishment of cicakal girang village located on the traditional land of the baduy, designated specifically to those whose religion was islam. this village was also a residence for the village priest in charge of teaching shahada to baduy community members who are getting married (kurnia, 2010: 84). interview with jaro sami from cibeo and other baduy figures revealed that their current belief is selam sunda wiwitan. the change from sunda wiwitan into selam sunda wiwitan is a very interesting evolution of belief for discussion. this paper will examine the sunda wiwitan belief observed by the community of baduy since the beginning of its existence until the influence of islam on it. the history of sunda wiwitan to trace the origin of the belief of sunda wiwitan is not easy. various influences from the different religions and beliefs caused sunda wiwitan to have some religious beliefs and rituals similar to religions outside it. however, if we review it carefully, we can reveal how sunda wiwitan became what it is today. referring to the origins of the baduy which have many versions, such as locals in charge of keeping the kabuyutan (kurnia, 2010), from pajajaran, banten girang, and pangawinan tribe (garna, 1987; jatisunda, 1984; ekadjati, 2009) so sunda wiwitan can be traced from the origins of the tribes. if all opinions concerning the origin of the baduy combined, then they are not derived from one lineage, but rather from several different groups and the descendants of prabu pucuk umum, dalem legono, of sumedang, descendants of prabu siliwangi from bogor as well as locals in charge of keeping the kabuyutan [ 80 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 or mandala as a sacred place for this belief (djoewisno, 1987). although they descended from different tribes, they have the same belief that is sunda wiwitan which is a common belief in the early formation of this ethnic group. based on the origins of the baduy community, their religion might also come from the same time even though the places might be different. this belief was also practiced by the sundanese particularly under the reign of pakuan pajajaran (sunda kingdom) with king siliwangi as its king. one of the references that serves as guidelines for this belief is the manuscript of siksakanda ng karesian containing pillars of belief and ethics in the everyday life of the sundanese (elis, 2008: 61-62). at that time, in fact, the term “sunda wiwitan” did not exist yet, so the belief that they had inherited was belief in the forces outside of human that flourished at the time. of course sunda wiwitan during kingdom of sunda (pajajaran) cannot be separated from the previous belief during the kingdom of tarumanegara. as we know it, the religion that developed during the kingdom of tarumanegara was hinduism, buddhism, and sunda wiwitan (lubis, 2003: 53). vishnu hinduism became the official state religion embraced by the nobility. meanwhile the commoners generally still observed the old local belief that is sunda wiwitan. this belief by those from abroad is comparable to animism and dynamism because one of its pillars is belief in the power of the deceased ancestors. when traced further, sunda wiwitan was an ancient belief that has existed since the tribes that inhabited the indonesian archipelago were formed. even older than that, it is the legacy of the megalithic age people who were convinced of the existence of the power on certain objects, animals, and belief in the spirit of a dead person can be protective of their descendants who are still alive (suhendar, 1985). based on the above discussion, the history of sunda wiwitan began with a local belief that appeared simultaneously with the early tribes in indonesia since the megalithic age. the core of this belief is a belief in the existence of forces on objects, animals and spirits of people who have died. at the time of the tarumanagara kingdom, this local belief interacted with the adherents of hinduism so to some extent has been influenced by hinduism (jacobs, 2012: 18). during the sunda kingdom, this belief was strengthened by a policy of prabu siliwangi who supported its development. next, after islam came to the land of sunda, sunda wiwitan derived a lot of beliefs from the islamic religion, whether intentionally or unintentionally (c.m.pleyte, 2006: 34). sunda wiwitan interaction with muslims has made the belief in part contain islamic rituals. for example, during a wedding ceremony, they should read the [ 81 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 shahada of muhammad as the messenger of allah, and circumcision should also be carried out in accordance with the guidance of islam. moreover, when they are asked about their religion they will answer our religion is selam sunda wiwitan (interview with jaro sami [head of village] of cibeo baduy dalam). the sunda wiwitan teachings: batara, nyi pohaci, and “guriangs” the sunda wiwitan believes the existence of batara tunggal (one batara) as god almighty. he is the creator of the universe, all the power submits to him. the concept of the batara tunggal has several designations adapted to its functions, such as batara jagat (lord of nature), batara seda niskala (the unseen), nu kawasa (the powerful) and sang hyang keresa (the almighty) or nu ngersakeun. batara tunggal as god dwells in buana luhur (upper world) or buana nyungcung as the site of the world’s most high (sacred) in the belief of sunda wiwitan. batara tunggal in sunda wiwitan in addition to being god, is also man who is believed to come down to earth to send other bataras who became the ancestors of the puun, the highest spiritual figure of the baduy (jacobs, 2012: 18; garna, 1987: 60). the belief that the puun are descendants of a batara tunggal grants him legitimacy to determine all matters concerning the belief of sunda wiwitan including what to do and what not to do. interview with jaro alim of the cikeusik baduy dalam revealed that the main tasks of the puun are “ngukus nyapu, nyara muja, ngareksakeun sasaka pusaka nagara telung puluh telu, sawidak lima, panca salawe nagara, ngabertapakeun buana, nyekel musti alam, kudu direksakeun” (steaming and sweeping, setting the puja, maintaining the sasaka pusaka nagara, thirty-three, sixty-five senses twenty-five countries, determining the world, holding the jewels of nature, and should be implemented). these tasks have been inherited from their ancestors, never changed until now, and still exercised by the puun in three villages of baduy dalam (garna, 1987: 66). in addition to batara tunggal, sunda wiwitan also believes in the existence of divinities that protect them from various types of evil and disaster. the main deity is a very respected and affects almost all baduy religious rituals is known dewi sri or shanghyang sri or also called nyi pohaci. she was the goddess who is believed to be incarnated into the rice plant on earth (iskandar, 2011: 46). this belief causes the baduy community to have great respect for rice, since the start of planting, weeding, harvesting and placing it in the leuit (rice barn). some other deities are also believed to control some other plants such as the goddess dangdeur (cassava). [ 82 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 besides, sunda wiwitan also believes in the “guriang” i.e. the spirits of the ancestors who have passed away. these spirits have a desire to go back to the natural world, a visit to the community, protect their descendants as well as provide a advice on the tradition of wiwitan. the baduy community also believes that the spirit of a dead parent is always present at certain times incarnated as wangatua (parent’s spirit) to guard the village. guriang and wangatua according to their belief reside in sasaka domas, a sacred place for the baduy community (pleyte, 2006). in addition to these beliefs, the baduy community with their sunda wiwitan also believes the existence of a variety of power that exists on certain things, certain animals and certain places. they believe that rocks, trees, valleys, mountains and rivers are controlled by unseen creatures, so when one walks past, they should read mantras of protection from disturbance of the creatures. in addition to reading the spell, the offerings are also used for such evil creatures so as not to disturb them. religious rituals of sunda wiwitan the belief in batara tunggal, the goddess of rice (nyi pohaci) and the guriangs is manifested in the forms of religious rituals on sunda wiwitan in the baduy community. they performed the rituals as a worship that should be implemented, otherwise, disaster and wrath of their ancestors will befall them. ritual and celebration as one of the forms of culture is the manifestation of the religion and beliefs of a society (koentjaraningrat, 2002: 220). results of interview with jaro alim of cikeusik baduy dalam revealed that religious rituals performed by the followers of sunda wiwitan are as follows: first: ngukus, i.e. making smoke which done is by burning aromatic substances such as frankincense, eaglewood, madat or sap. in the tradition of the kukus ritual, it is seen as opening a relationship with the unseen world. the fragrant smoke soaring into the sky gives a typical atmosphere expected to reach the upper world and pull its inhabitants, like the strains of low chants of “bul kukus ngukup ka manggung” (smoke flies to feel the upper world). the aromatic substances burned depends on the goals to be achieved, according to the baduy, each aromatic substance has “occult power”. second: ngawalu, linguistically the term is derived from the word kawalu or “walu” meaning bali – or go back. then kawalu is kabali or “back”. the ceremony is to mark the return of rice “back” into the barn (leuit) after a long time wandering in “weweg sampeg pageuh” the home of her husband (land of the rice field). the kawalu ceremony takes place three times a year that [ 83 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 includes kawalu tembey (initial) held on march 17th day of kasa (10th month according to the system of the kanekes calendar), kawalu tengah on 18th day of karo (11th month in the system of the kanekes calendar), and kawalu tutug (final) held every march 17th of katiga (12th month in the system of the kanekes calendar). tangtu cikartawana in particular only carries out kawalu tembey and kawalu tutug. third: muja, that is to worship sasaka pusaka buana or sasaka pada ageung by the puun cikeusik, at sasaka parahiyang or sasaka cibeo by puun by cibeo. the performance of worship is done by puun cikeusik or puun cibeo and several people of baris kolot on behalf of the baduy people. muja at sasaka domas lasts all day from morning to afternoon every 7th day of kalima month, according to the baduy calendar, while muja at pada ageung is held on 16th, 17th and 18th day of kalima month. before heading off to worship, the “trusted” puun cikeusik and baris kolot cleanse their body using white clean cloth. they go to the place of worship fasting, keeping the ground clean (spitting on the ground not allowed, the urinating and bowel movements shall be accommodated with a large bamboo called “lodong”) remaining silent. at the end of the muja process, before coming down, they take some ‘white’ soil and komala grass to “give blessings” at tangtu cikeusik. the baduy people also fast and break the fast with the ‘luluy’ (sundanese: buras) made by parawari. puun cikeusik then distributes the white soil and komala grass to residents (who ask for blessings) and in return the residents give back something (money, a knife, perfume or whatever they can give). fourth: the ngalaksa, the ritual of making laksa (food made from rice flour) to be distributed to all members of the baduy community. this religious ritual is carried out in several stages, and the activities carried out should be done on a regular basis in the orderly process of religious ceremonies in kanekes. the ritual begins with the making of laksa which is carried out at the end of the third month of kanekes calendar and lasts for 7 days. the laksa making begins at kapuunan and continued at the entire village of panamping. laksa is made especially from rice of the serang rice field at kapuunan and tuladan rice field at panamping. therefore ngalaksa is sacred because the main ingredient (rice flour) is taken from seven clumps of rice grown in serang rice field of pupuhunan huma (tangtu area) and tuladan rice field (panamping area). pupuhunan is the center of all rice fields or the field where best substances of the earth can be found. at pupuhunan the earth power seeps into the rice grain so the laksa becomes aci bumi as the core of the power of the state. ngalaksa is the ultimate of all muja ceremonies, therefore those tasked with making the laksa should be fasting from start of the making to the completion. [ 84 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 fifth: seba, celebration to present the harvest to the government. this festival is held every year and involves the entire community are baduy. this ritual consists of the granting of the crop harvest to the head of lebak district and banten governor. this activity is carried out in the months after the harvest in the rice fields. according to jaro dainah, seba is a form of hospitality between the community of baduy and the government. it serves as an opportunity to socialize with and get close to the government. the peak of the seba held in 2013 was centered in the lebak district hall and of banten gubernatorial hall. the ritual of seba begins with the departure of people from baduy dalam to the home of jaro dainah as jaro pamarentah. they stay there because the next morning they have to go to lebak district office. at 04:50 they departed to the district office on foot. i was walking with them down the ciboleger highway towards the lebak district hall. the ritual of bathing together allows them to stay away for a while from the highway. they turn right towards the cikoreal river to perform ritual baths. this ritual is intended to clean up the body, especially for those who first join the seba bathing is perform by a dipping in the river together, followed by a full breakfast brought with them earlier from kaduketug. after finishing their breakfast, they usually light “cigarettes” which have been cast with spell by the puun. the next trip is done by walking down the leuwidamar highway to the lebak district hall. meanwhile the baduy luar people used trucks to head there. the seba in the forms of banana, palm sugar and various other agricultural produce, was transported by truck. this is one way the baduy luar people can help in the process of seba ritual; they become a helper for those of baduy dalam who walk on the foot with their seba. the ritual bath was performed by the people of baduy luar on the river behind the office of the governor of banten, i.e. cibanten river. together they take turns cleaning the body, especially for those who joined the seba for the first time. for those who have joined before only washed their face or clean the body. in addition to the religious rituals, there are still many other rituals held by the followers of sunda wiwitan. the dominant one is the veneration of nyi pohaci as the goddess of rice, from planting, tending, harvesting to storing in the leuit, there are always special rituals. sunda wiwitan surviving amid changing times: melt or destroyed? sunda wiwitan community’s interactions with muslims have brought significant influence. the influence can be seen from the faiths to everyday [ 85 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 rituals. for example, there is only one batara tunggal as the ruler of the universe in the theology of sunda wiwitan, and they call it allah or adam tunggal as his successor. the term adam tunggal or adam and eve cannot be found in the literature or sunda wiwitan, hinduism and buddhism. these terms are typical of islam and other abrahamic religions, so using them among the sunda wiwitan community of the baduy is proof of their absorption of islamic faiths (misno, 2014). another influence of islam on sunda wiwitan is reading the shahada of muhammad as the messenger of allah during marriage. the reading of the shahada is done before the penghulu (village priest) who is located in cicakal girang village (interview with armani the penghulu of cicakal girang. at present, there are other penghulu in cicakal girang and several penghulu in the area of the ciboleger and baduy kompol and carry out the recording of the marriages of the baduy people and teach them to read the shahada (interview with muhammad kasja, a resident of muslim baduy in baduy kompol). in addition to reading the shahada, the pantun (rhymes) which exist among them have also been penetrated by islamic terms such as allah, muhammad, adam and others. furthermore, the spells read by the puun contain a lot of islamic terms (pleyte, 2006). in this light, in fact, we can see the attitude of the important figures in sunda wiwitan who are open to the beliefs that come from the outside, although of course not on the things that are the principle. but this is one of the keys to their survival, namely by means of blending with the belief of society in general. this strategy is very effective to defuse a confrontation between sunda wiwitan and other religions (notably islam). if sunda wiwitan refuses to blend with its surroundings, then it could be destroyed and abandoned by his followers, although this prediction still requires verification in the days to come. the influence of globalization has also entered into the protected land of baduy and undermined the belief of sunda wiwitan. if in the past they rejected unequivocally all cultures from outside, and in fact, they rejected any aid directed at them. however, currently most of their community members especially the baduy luar have undergone changes in almost every aspects of their life. the use of modern tools has been considered common, where they already have radios, tape recorders, tvs and cell phones. they now also wear colorful clothes, and they have got used to such clothing. in the past they were strictly forbidden to learn to read and write, but now some of them have learned and become literate even though they do not attend formal schools (observation and interviews with jasid, a resident of cipaler village, baduy [ 86 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 luar). with regard to certain belief some of the things, that were originally considered forbidden, have now been ignored. belief in good and bad days has long gone. in addition, belief in dwellers of scary places has started to be abandoned. even belief in the existence of batara tunggal as the only ruler of the universe and all his obligations should be implemented has already started to be abandoned. adherence to the puun especially among the baduy luar community has also diminished. one of the facts is in the celebration of the seba has experienced a change, in which once it was religious obligation but now it has turned into travel to the city (richard, 2010). sunda wiwitan currently is at a crossroads, whether it would still be consistent with tradition or slowly be abandoned. the changes that occur to sunda wiwitan are not only due to the influence of other religions, but also because the baduy community members are increasingly “advanced” so that they are slowly abandoning restrictions. the theory on the great tradition and little tradition to a certain extent is compatible with the circumstances of sunda wiwitan. currently, the belief of sunda wiwitan has experienced a reduction with other beliefs especially islam. historically, it was in fact only a local belief in the existence of the power of the almighty on earth. its rituals are so simple that when there are other religions that are more complete, this belief will easily adopt them (garna, 2013). sunda wiwitan has been through a long journey that has formed its current shape. interactions with various major religions of the world have made it rich with new nuances though remains consistent with its origins. referring to the theory of the existence of religion, then we can say that it is still in existence and is able to align itself with the changing times. otherwise, it will be abandoned by its followers. sunda wiwitan has effective strategies to keep their belief alive and be observed by the community members. the choice to blend is a strategy to keep and maintain its existence as a local belief. the future of sunda wiwitan is in the hands of its believers; if they remain consistent and are able to adapt to the limits allowed by the pikukuh karuhun, then it will remain alive, not merely in the legend. closing remarks sunda wiwitan is a local belief that to this day is still observed by the community of baduy in the kanekes village, lewidamar sub-district, lebak district, banten province. this belief has been around since the formation of this community especially during the sunda kingdom (pajajaran). it can [ 87 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 be traced back to the time of the kingdom of tarumanegara and the early megalithic age. the historical fact of the belief in batara tunggal or nu kawasa is evidenced by the kabuyutan relics that now become a sacred place for this belief. one of the well preserved sacred places is sasaka buana or arca domas in baduy. sunda wiwitan is based on belief in batara tunggal or nu kawasa as god almighty. in addition, they also believe in the existence of gods which is the influence of hinduism such as the goddess sri or nyi pohaci. the belief which is the ancestral heritage is the belief in the guriang as the spirit of its ancestors and wangatua as the spirit of the deceased parents who look after their offsprings. islam has significant influence on the belief of sunda wiwitan. the belief that allah is the creator to replace the term batara tungal, the existence adam tunggal, adam and eve, recognition of the islamic prophet muhammad and shahada of muhammad give evidence that they absorb the islamic beliefs. the pantun and spells which are read by the puunr and important figures of sunda wiwitan puun have been influenced by islamic terms. all these facts indicate that sunda wiwitan is absorbent enough to belief outside of it, especially on things that are not the principles and subject matter. its method of adoption of elements from other religions is a strategy for this belief to exist and be able to follow the development of the times. bibliography a, suhandi sam, 1996. tata kehidupan masyarakat baduy daerah jawa barat, bandung: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan. c.m. pleyte. 2006. arca domas: tanah persemayaman roh orang baduy, terj. judistira k. garna. bandung: primaco akademika dan judistira garna foundation. danasasmita, saleh dan anis djatisunda. 1984. kehidupan masyarakat kanekes. jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan direktorat jenderal kebudayaan proyek penelitian dan pengkajian kebudayaan nusantara (javanologi). danasasmita, saleh. 2012, nyukcruk sajarah pakuan pajajaran jeung prabu siliwangi. bandung: kiblat buku utama. dhavamony, mariasusai. 1995. fenomenologi agama (terj.). yogyakarta: kanisius. djoewisno, ms. potret kehidupan masyarakat baduy. 1987. banten: cipta pratama adv.pt. ekadjati, edi s. 2009. kebudayaan sunda: suatu pendekatan sejarah jilid i. jakarta: pustaka jaya. [ 88 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 garna, judistira k. 1987. orang baduy. bangi: universiti kebangsaan malaysia. garna, judistira k. 1988. “perubahan sosial budaya baduy”, dalam nurhadi rangkuti (peny.). orang baduy dari inti jagat. yogyakarta: bentara budaya, kompas, etnodata prosindo, yayasan budhi dharma praseda. garna, judistira k. 1993. “masyarakat baduy di banten”, dalam koetjaraningrat (ed.), masyarakat terasing di indonesia. jakarta: departemen sosial ri, dewan nasional indonesia untuk kesejahteraan sosial dan gramedia. garna, judistira k. 1993. “orang baduy di jawa: sebuah studi kasus mengenai adaptasi suku asli terhadap pembangunan”, dalam lim teck ghee dan alberto g. gomes (peny.), suku asli dan pembangunan di asia tenggara. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia, hlm. 142-160. geertz, clifford. 1973. the interpretation of cultures, selected essays. london: hutchinson & co (publishers) ltd. hakiki, kiki muhammad, 2010. makna tradisi seba pada komunitas baduy, bandung: universitas islam negeri sunan gunung djati. iskandar, johan dan budiawati s. iskandar. 2011. agroekosistem orang sunda. bandung: pt. kiblat buku utama. jacobs, julius. 2012, de badoej’s, terj. judistira k. garna, orang baduy dari banten. bandung: primaco akademika dan judistira garna foundation. kartawinata, ade makmur. 1993. baduy bubuara menatap tanah harapan. pusat penelitian kemasyarakatan dan kebudayaan lembaga penelitian universitas padjadjaran koentjaraningrat, dkk. 1993. masyarakat terasing di indonesia. jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama. kurnia, asep dan ahmad syihabudin. 2010. saatnya badui bicara. jakarta: bumi aksara dan universitas sultan ageng tirtayasa. miles, matthew b. dan a. micheal huberman. 1992. analisis data kualitatif (terj.). jakarta: penerbit universitas indonesia. misno, abdurrahman. 2014. penyerapan hukum islam oleh komunitas adat baduy, kampung naga dan marunda, disertasi. bandung: universitas islam sunan gunung djati. permana, r. cecep eka. 2005. kesetaraan gender dalam adat inti jagat baduy. jakarta: wedatama widya sastra. permana, r. cecep eka. 2006. tata ruang masyarakat baduy. jakarta: wedatama widya sastra. permana, r. cecep eka. 2010. kearifan lokal masyarakat baduy dalam mitigasi bencana. jakarta: wedatama widya sastra. [ 89 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 rahardjo, djoko mudji dan yuke sri rahayu. 2002. urang kanekes di banten kidul, jakarta: proyek pemanfaat kebudayaan direktorat tradisi dan kepercayaan deputi bidang pelestarian dan pengembangan kebudayaan dan pariwisata. spradley, james p. 2006. metode etnografi (terj.). edisi kedua. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. suhendar, haris. 1985. peninggalan tradisi megalitik di daerah cianjur jawa barat, proyek penelitian purbakala jakarta. suryani ns, elis. 2008. merumat warisan karuhun orang sunda yang terpendam dalam naskah dan prasasti. bandung: alqa print. [ 90 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 [ 137 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 youth in the age of hatred: religious and ethnic factors within the islamic senior high school students’ reception toward hate narratives ahmad aminuddin center for religious and cross-cultural studies email: aminuddin.hamid7@gmail.com m. iqbal ahnaf center for religious and cross-cultural studies email: iqbalahnaf@gmail.com abstract the rise of hate narratives along with the new model of communication through the internet has become a new challenge for people in this digital era, especially for youth, the z generation. this generation, in fact, has an intimacy with the internet. it means that they have more possibility for the influence of hate narratives. this study is aimed exploring the influential factors on z generation reception to the hate narratives on the internet. specifically, it proposes to recognize the influential factors on the reception of the students of madrasah aliyah negri (man) or state islamic senior high school of tuban (man tuban), east java. this work is based on two hate narrative issues of suku, agama, ras dan antargolongan (sara) or religious, ethnic and intergroup diversity backgrounds, including those of anti christianity and those anti shiite. this work concludes that the influential factors to the students’ reception toward hate narratives come from two categories. first, students are to be the audience of their social systems and backgrounds. the involvement of the students in fundamentalist muslim groups, in fact, has led them to have exclusive views in seeing others and to feel always under intergroup contestation. second, the role of the characters of the narratives that influence student’s thought is very important to count. it includes the legitimization through emotion which specifically presents fear and feeling threatened. those characters have further triggered the students’ empathy to do something beneficial for the sake of the in-group (altruism). in addition, the characters of the narratives have the figures behind them that have influenced students to immediately believe in the narratives they offer only through seeing their profiles on the internet showing their expertise. keyword: hate, narratives, youth, reception, influential, factors, tuban. introduction hate narratives have increasingly become a problem faced by the human [ 138 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 society which does not only relate to an individual or a group but also affects the stability of human population. generally, hate narratives contain hatred and instigation leading to the violence which targets others. in the indonesian context, the impact of hate narratives is more risky because the social condition is diverse. it gradually raises enmity among people and traps them into the condition which is full of hatred nuance. moreover, when the emergence of hate narratives is provided by groups of people developing the legitimacy of violence and leading the audience to blame others as the enemy. mostly, common issues used in hate narratives in indonesia is about religious and ethnicity. the religious and ethnic diversity often known in the acronym of sara is a frequent subject of hate narratives. how the hate narrative led to activate violence is illustrated in the riot in tanjung balai in 2016. the hate narrative targeted meiliana (41), a chinese woman from tanjung balai, who raised a concern regarding the volume of adzan from the loudspeaker system. yet, mosque leaders felt not comfortable with her concern and regarded it as an offence from the minority. finally, the emergence of riot coincided with the spreading of hate narratives and it also ignited many people’s emotion. consequently some worshipping houses (vihara) were burned by the mass (amelia, 2016). meanwhile, meiliana further was jailed for two years with the accusation of religious blasphemy. in the indonesian context, the high number of the internet users has led people to become susceptible for its negative impacts. according to the minister of information of indonesia, the numbers of the internet users in 2014 are around 82 million people. it puts indonesia in the 8th ranking as highest countries of internet users. they are 80% of youth, specifically between 15 until 19 years old. whereas, the facebook users of indonesia ranked in the 4th position (kominfo. 2014). the data shows that youth is in the highest position as the internet users. however, the use of the internet brings them to choose between positive and negative interest. it is possible to lead them in a dangerous threat when the internet is misused. it is also in reference to the ppim survey in 2017 concerning on gen z students’ attitude and behaviour to the diversity. the research shows that in terms of attitude, 58.5% of students tend to have radical and intolerance religious view, while in terms of behaviour, 74,2% of students have moderate behaviour (saputra. 2018: 6). the research also concludes that students who access the internet to study religious knowledge become more intolerant and radical. in fact, this survey found that for them the internet becomes the primary source (50.89%) to study religious knowledge (2018:7). the earlier explanation indicates that youth are vulnerable for the influence of [ 139 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 hate narratives. however, the high possibility for the exposure of hate narratives is rare to be learned. specifically on how the youth receive it; what kind of hate narratives’ character which influence among youth; and what types of youth are most likely affected by hate narratives. those questions further show the importance of doing this research considering that there were many studies under its subject but the specific studies focusing on the discussion of factors behind the youth reception to hate narratives are still small in number. this study examines the students’ reception based on the enemy image reception concept which is taken from several kinds of literature such as from dovidio and reyes. in terms of the subject of the research, this study then focuses on senior high school youth age, specifically, examining reception of the students at man tuban. the work shows how hate narratives have reached youth regardless of their urban-rural boundaries. although tuban is a small town, access to the online hate propagation has been possible and easy. moreover, this study highlights what factors are essential on hate narrative reception within those students. the students were asked to respond the selected hate narratives from the internet which discuss about anti-christian and shiite. those two narratives were taken from a website namely “voice of al islam” (voa islam) which is indicated having an affiliation to the fundamental radical muslim group. in addition, this study merely focuses on analyzing the students’ responses who agree with the hate narratives. the narratives used in this study are presented below. the reception factors toward hate narratives according to a number of social psychological theories, people with specific psychological and social characteristics are more likely to be influenced by the enemy image of hate narratives. these characteristics include authoritarian background or personality, the content of the narratives, social system context (the intergroup competition and stress). first, the authoritarian background or personality in which it urges inferiority and superiority belongs to themselves and in-group and having a perspective to portray the social phenomenon only into two categories; black-and-white terms. on the other hand, the other/ out-group is identified as disdainful and appropriate to be underestimated (dovidio et. al. 2010: 13). the authoritarian personality in many cases was rooted from the childhood of individual memory, moreover, the one who has under punitive childhood nature of parenting. otherwise, most of nonauthoritarian were born under egalitarian circumstance (2010: 12). indeed, the punitive model of parenting for the long turn shapes one’s paradigm to be authoritarian and further influences on the way they see the world. the authoritarian background may relate to the social dominance orientation [ 140 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 (sdo) theory in which according to the theory people with sdo tends to defy equality and assert that the social system should be in hierarchically structured. people with a higher degree in sdo are having a possibility to see the world as a competitive jungle (son hing & zanna. 2010: 167). furthermore, it becomes even worse when he/she who has authoritarian personality ever experienced stress – which further will be discussed in the different part of this study – in the past because it enacts a view to differentiate other and to reflect with the personal memory which was ever being under oppression. second, the content of the narratives is also important, the extent to which the narratives contain symbols or substances that resonate to the experience of the audience. the effective model of approach in grasping the audience is that reverberate to the audience such as the way to speech, style of narration and diction identify them with themselves. reyes identifies several characteristics of the message content which often influence the audience including the legitimization through audiences’ emotion (reyes. 2011: 788), predicting future occurrence (2011: 793), lead the audiences’ to think rationally to take decision (2011: 786; mcdonald, 2008: 65), voice of expertise (2011: 786), and altruism, the author attempts to attract the sympathy of the audience to accept the proposed meaning then to act as if it is advantageous for many people (2011: 801; gobbles, 1945; doob. 1950: 435). the famous aphorism also says that lies, when repeated, could be a truth as well. third, social system also influence of hate narratives. a certain context of social system is able to shape individual characters and mindset in seeing the world. as a social being, human in the social life generally needs to associate to the group based on such categories and later identifies themselves to which they affiliate as identity. the cause of this phenomenon is the appearance of many group identities in which certain groups for some instances come into the competition for certain goals. when two groups have a similar goal and both are very ambitious, it provides the possibility for competition model through expanding even dominating others that it is assumed as the only way to survive. precisely, it happens if the goal can only able attained by a single group. over time, the competitive effort transforms to be enmity between both (esses. et. al. 2010: 230). moreover, the competition then gradually becomes worse since the goal is the kind of limited resources (yzerbyt. 2010: 148). however, intergroup contestation also leads in creating prejudice and discrimination for each group but on the other side, it can reduce in-group biases (dovidio et al. 2010: 6). in some cases, feeling under intergroup competition circumstance, such as, caused by social inequality among groups may become an issue motivating people to struggle for the group interest. [ 141 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 regardless of whether inequality does exist or merely used as a tool of propaganda. this discourse is mostly related to the dominant, major-group vice versa the inferior, minor-group. inequality may affect the people’s perspective in responding to the occurrence which is experienced in his/her nature. the group which identifies themselves as the subordinated group tends to position themselves as disadvantaged and shaded by a threat from others. furthermore, their perception constructs a justification of being discriminated. intergroup contestation also influences to construct group members’ view when receiving the message about outgroup. the stronger one’s identification of an in-group identity, the more misappropriate the one to have empathy against an out-group (struch and schwartz. 1989: 366). for example, the american people would have much possibility to believe in the narrative which says that russians have a nasty attitude and so does otherwise. the main reason for this occurrence is because both nations are on the rivalry, hence each member are mostly portrayed with bad prejudice. this nature, of course, would sharply effects to the group’s members in receiving the hate narratives about an out-group, especially, to which attributed as a rival. from the individual level, people experiencing stress tends to react aggressively as caused by having fear toward the enemy (outgroup), despite his effort of self-defence. from the psychological perspective, no one is totally free from the paranoid because it is kind of natural aptness belongs to human that it instinctively rises under stressful condition. fear to any peculiar thing on human mind exists because biologically they identify themselves with the people whom familiar. in seeing the peculiar, people tend to make clear-cut boundaries to differentiate with others. indeed, this kind of people will be more comfortable with the familiar (in group) figure otherwise. on the other hand, under stress condition, people become tighter in holding on their identity whether nationality, religious and so forth which further is strongly ingrained with the self (post. 1999: 339). thus, stress obviously is also included as one of the influential factors; whether one receives (agree with) hate narratives or rejects. of course, people who experience stress become easier to receive hate narratives about out-group. social context and student’s perspective in seeing others in reference to the reception theory, this study found that the most influential factor on the students of man tuban is their involvement in the fundamentalist group. this gradually shapes the students’ personality to be an authoritarian character. specifically, authoritarian refers to the social [ 142 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 dominant orientation (sdo) concept in which people with sdo tend to see others within inferiority. in contradiction, they see themselves or the ingroup as superior. the involvement is not related to the islamic group that one student or their family affiliate. instead, this comes from the friendship relation, where and whom they study islamic teaching. one student may affiliate to moderate islamic organizations like nahdlatul ulama (nu) and muhammadiyah, but since they were engaged in fundamentalist groups’ activities, they mostly received the hate narratives. the students following the fundamentalist’ religious sermon are more vulnerable to be contaminated by hate narratives. for instance, ua (17), a student with muhammadiyah family background, in responding to the hateful narratives confidently judged that all mentioned groups on the narratives are jeopardizing. this even emphasizes that although ua’s family background affiliates to moderate organization, in fact, he has been heavy contaminated by the fundamentalist. in reference to esack’s view on the fundamentalist, he argues that the basic character of the fundamentalist group is “enmity toward all who reject views as people who have chosen evil against god.” (esack. 1997: xi). this may relate with ahnaf ’s argument that the fundamentalist generally considers under that muslim is under siege of the enemies of islam (2006: 15). the enemies here refer to the non-muslim (infidel) and to the muslim likewise who assail the fundamentalist’ view so-called as liberal muslim. furthermore, ahnaf ’s explains that the common enemy image is addressed to the christian and jews, also the ideologies such as atheism and communist which is categorized as infidel (kafir) ideology (2006: 13). the different model of involvement with fundamentalist groups is shown from the three female students, suk, vsn and vf. vsn joined into both whatsapp groups named chc (cahaya hijrah community) and “the great woman.” suk is only the member of the first one while vf only joined to the second one. both groups are special for muslima (women muslim). the students’ involvement in this case only on the virtual media, whatsapp group community. the member of both groups never organized gathering meeting as pantura hijrah. it is because of the members who are spread from many regencies on indonesia. vsn stated “group’s members are from many places in indonesia. it is not based on local regency. meanwhile, for the chc group, the total number of the member is 255 persons.” likewise, vsn explained that the members of the group usually discuss islam including fiqh (islamic jurisprudence) and other discourses. the discussion is set with the mentoring model in which on both groups, there are ustadzah, women religious cleric, who have an important role as the mentor. for instance, they commonly post or share the information about islam, sometimes also give advice and [ 143 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 answer when the members question about the specific issue. however, it does not mean that the members are not allowed to do so. they freely share information about islam and related issues. this is including photos and videos. for instance, vsn ever watched a video posted on the great women group about the different way of shia on practising wudlu (ablution), praying and sujud (bowing down). she urged that comparing with sunni tradition, indeed shiite tradition is different from the sunni’s practices. based on this view, she concluded that shiite is deviant because they violated the “true” islamic teaching from the prophet. in a similar vein, religious sermon and open-group discussion –including through whatsapp group application– are the two model programs which are similar to hti’s model for the new member recruitment. according to ahnaf, in every indonesian region, hti members establish similar activities including a public sermon and open group discussion. the second one generally targets and is organized by youth. the main purpose, of course, is to endorse awareness of the necessity for the establishment of an islamic state (2006: 6). however, the appearance of a messaging application nowadays took the fundamentalist group consideration to extend their influence. this consideration further emerged a new model program like the finding on this study, utilizing whatsapp group to catch broader audiences with easy access. generally, the fundamentalists often present a horrifying image of current islamic condition. they describe as if islam nowadays is besieged and under contestation with the infidel. this is especially led by the jews and the christian who always struggle to battle against muslim through all aspects of life. the fundamentalist depicted the current battle was transformed into a different model with the previous one. the previous one was the physical battle with sword represented by the crusade, while currently, it is through the non-physical attack (2006: 18). on the other hand, this battle led muslim into the contestation to fight against the infidel. this includes the spreading of non-islamic ideologies and gradually making muslim to leave the islamic way of life. the feeling of under contestation with the out-group (intergroup contestation) basically is caused by a feeling of being oppressed and under siege. it furthermore shapes the harmfulness of out-group images as an enemy. this image is going to be worse when the contestation is related to the primary principle of groups such as ideology and nationality. inter-group contestation in this study took place as one of the essential factors on students’ reception to the hate narratives. however, this factor essentially has a close relationship with the first factor because this assumption emerged when they considered [ 144 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 that students’ groups were targeted by others in order to be dominated. specifically, on anti-christian narrative, the feeling of under intergroup contestation is shown from vsn’s (17) response. she said that generally christian is an obvious menace but it also depends on the individuals. vsn addressed especially against the christian who strictly follows christian tenet as endanger figure. furthermore, vsn said that she ever listened to religious sermon audio in which the ustadh explained his experience as a converter. she said: the christian clearly planned for an intentional attack against muslim because they purpose to destroy islam through its conspiracy. i also ever listened to religious sermon audio. this is from an ustadh who is a muslim convert. he is a sundanese who previously was a christian and ever studied in five countries. his family background is jews and christian. yet, he is the only one who decided to convert as muslim and unfortunately because of his decision, he was abused by his family. even, he had to divorce his way and leave the children. vsn points out the abuse experienced by a christian who converted to islam from their christian family. this occurrence is regarded as the evidence of christian abhorrence on muslim on the individual level. accordingly, when an in-group member crosses to become a member of its rival (out-group), this decision is seen as a betrayal. the betrayal exacerbates the tension when the rivalry between two groups has been established for a long period. in line with van bruinessen argument, the rivalry between christian and muslim was in high tension, specifically for the fundamental radical muslim. he said that the high tension of its contestation is caused by many similarities belong to both. this includes sacred history, like the semitic prophet, and religious concept. not less important, for thousand years both have been neighbours who were contesting not only for theological influence but also for political interest (1995: 64-65). likewise, the feeling under inter-group contestation in terms of the anti-shia narrative obviously occurs. in this narrative, shiite is depicted as inherently dangerous for the sunni followers, the mainstream islamic ideology in indonesia. the existence of the non-mainstream group in many cases, of course, challenges the domination of the mainstream which was well-established. according to van bruinessen, the non-mainstream group furthermore is legitimated as aberrant and deviant (1992: 18). this is emphasized by the establishment of indonesian the anti-shia national alliance (annas indonesia) which massively propagates to reject shiite existence. most of the members are the fundamentalist group [ 145 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 including a few sunni followers. in reference to islamic history, the contestation between sunni and shiite was alarmed since the first period of islamic. hence, it sharpens the images of both in seeing each other. in accordance, the article on annas indonesia official website states why the shiite refusal is necessary and the refusal does not violate islamic unity. at least, there are ten arguments in legitimating shiite image as peril which is used for its legitimation. one of those is that the mushroom of shiite struggle to convert others into shia in many muslim countries whereas the others do not aware that they are being targeted for its conspiracy (annas. 2018). this kind of statement implicitly rises tension of the contestation between sunni and shiite because shiite may also view the same toward sunni, mutual prejudice. in reference to the enemy image concept, it is called mirror imaging (pfsr, 1989: 59) in which both groups are seeing each other with full of curiosity. additionally, the students who heavily regarded that they are under inter-group contestation, generally, are those who were contaminated by the fundamentalist view. meanwhile, on the anti-shia narrative, the reception was not only received by those who were contaminated by the fundamentalist view. the social condition in which sunni as the wellestablished mainstream group inflamed the harmful image of shiite likewise. hate narratives with certain characters have more power to influence the narrative which contains such legitimations become more powerful to influence audiences’ reception. as mentioned in the previous discussion, there are five legitimizations that refer to reyes concept. nevertheless, it does not mean that all legitimations always work for all kind of narrative. the audiences also must be a consideration whether all legitimacies work or only some. in this study, there are three legitimations which essentially contributed to the students’ reception. those are the legitimacy though emotion, the voice of expertise (the narrator) and altruism. those will be discussed in the following paragraph. one of the essential factors on students’ reception from the narrative content is legitimization through emotions. attracting audiences’ emotions may trap them to consider something matter for us as the narrator (reyes: 2011: 785). furthermore, reyes also argued: emotions are key in the legitimization process because they condition and prepare the audience to receive proposals and courses of actions. emotions skew the audience toward accepting and supporting the proposal of the social actor, who has triggered the motions in the first place. (1999: 790) [ 146 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 this shows that gaining audiences’ emotion become one most important aspect to gain more attention and also to make audiences agree with what a narrator distributed. in line with reyes argument, legitimization through emotion on this study became one most important aspect of students’ recept. legitimization through emotions in narrow understanding means that the narrators manipulated audience emotion through arising and binding a similar sense to the audiences. practically, the narrator builds clear-cut boundaries among the narrator and the audiences as “us,” while the targeted group is imaged as “them” (others) with full of evil characters. this is related to the enemy image concept in which “us” and “them” is included in a biased thinking process. it builds a distinction between in-group and out-group. the in-group implies a superiority while the inferiority is addressed to outgroup which commonly is depicted as less human. according to liddle, the dichotomy on “us” and “the” is one of visible fundamentalist mentality. this includes a defensive process to see others as the enemy and building a sympathetic perspective to see non-muslim planned to embattle muslim under jews command. (liddle. 1998: 283). meanwhile, on the anti-shia issue, the statement which shows the attempt of manipulating audiences’ emotion is the statement of the plan for murdering sunni ulama. it is even emphasized with oqbah statement which insulted the previous riot in sampang, east java. the narrative drew oqbah statement “farid oqbah argued that the barbarian attack in arifin ilham’s az zikra village was merely a small scale assault from the holy shit shia.” furthermore, the statement below is cited as an example to show how the audiences’ emotion was manipulated. the statement is also from kab. he said; shia diverges the prophet teaching. principally, it is forbidden. there are much heresy’s on their teaching whereas the prophet clearly stated that kull bid‘ah dalālah which means all heresy is a deviant. the model of shiite’s shahada is also different. they have one additional sentence from the origin of the shahada. hence, they obviously different from and also jeopardize for us. the argument shows that kab previously also had a bad stereotype on shiite. he pertained to shiite shahada which is different from the sunni. the shahada sentence on shiite version according to him includes a witness on ali bin abi thalib, “ashhad an la ilaha illa allah wa ashhad anna muhammad rasul allah wa ashhad anna ‘aliy waliyy allah.” this witness is the common perception among lay people on shiite that they have a different model of the shahada. the different model is also on the shiite praying ritual. for the [ 147 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 fundamentalist, shiite’s praying ritual is strictly not in line with the prophet thought. for instance, according to annas, the national alliance in rejecting shiite, the practice of shiite’s pray contains many heresies. this includes the use of small stone put on the floor and during the bowing, the shiite forehead must touch it (annas. 2016). the similar perspective between kab and the fundamentalist proofs that kab has contaminated by fundamentalist view. it is rooted in kab’s participation in religious sermons and opengroup discussion. both agendas frequently discuss islamic deviant groups, including shia. consequently, it is not weird when after reading the narrative, kab immediate justified the narrative afterwards because he seemed to find confirmation argument for his view. the similar model of justification was addressed on anti-christian narrative. on this narrative, the highlighted issue is the image of christians as an infidel who has endless enmity against muslim. one of the clear legitimization through emotion is shown in ridwan’s statement. as the narrator asserted that the christian always targets muslim for their evangelical agenda. he said, “the christian-muslim relation is going to worse since the christians always see muslim as the target of the evangelical mission.” the students’ affirmation on this narrative which means that the narrator has succeeded in manipulating their emotion is shown from vsn response. she said; for me, they (the christians) intentionally attacked muslim in papua, because the christian in principle will destroy islam conspiratorially… so far, as i know, the jews indeed will fight against islam. yet, if muslim revenge them, they obviously will be afraid. from the response, vsn who had a stereotype against jews and christian got legitimation from the narrative and then it made her feel in line with the narrator perspective. thus, she easily received and confirmed the narrative as truth. vsn’s argument is in a similar vein with the statement of shiddiq aljawi, a previous leader of hti in yogyakarta. on his personal interview section with ahnaf, shiddiq insisted that all non-muslim are adverse to muslim and it is going to be worse and affirmatively seen when muslim are powerless (2006: 12). moreover, in this case, muslim in papua is the minority and they were the victim for this attack. finally, it antagonized the christians within its harmful agenda. on the other hand, legitimization through emotion primarily has a common model. the emotion which is manipulated by the narrator is the emotion of fear. according to reyes, fear maybe becomes the most powerful emotion in attracting audiences to give responses. this can be operated to manipulate [ 148 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 people to gain a goal although it imperils for their life (2011: 790). through providing imperil image on the narratives, the narrators attempted to trigger audiences’ (students) fear and make them feel in a dangerous situation. thus, students’ emotion is easier to be manipulated and finally, they agree with the narrative. a fear and threatened feeling, on the other hand, also trigger altruism. when students’ felt that they are in danger and it is not only risk of them as individuals, but also against their groups, consequently it raises their sympathy and altruism. altruism furthermore becomes another factor in the students’ reception which is triggered by manipulating students’ emotion and make them feeling under inter-group contestation. in the present psychological literature, altruism is intimately related to empathy (sesardic, 1999: 463). apart from the different meaning of altruism in which in some cases are contradicting, the altruism in this study refers to the “altruistic altruism” which means proposing to benefit others. in a similar vein, this is also able understood as the empathy-based altruism which means “help and care born from empathy with another” (de waal. 2008: 281). on the anti-shia narrative, the altruism is manifested into sectarian fanaticism, while on anti-christian, it is embodied on religious sentiment. the first on labels shiite as the deviant muslim and the opposite of the “true muslim” (sunni followers), while the second one puts muslim vis a vis christian as non-believers. on the anti-shia narrative, the information of shiite’s plan to kill the sunni ulama is the obvious harm for the students as the followers of mainstream islamic ideology, sunni. moreover, the narrative presents that the target of the murder plan is the ulama. as the religious elite, the ulama for the believers is seen as an important figure, even, they have an eminent position among people on the social system. the discussion for its subject will be examined deeper on the other part of this chapter. in terms of the content of the narrative, the statement which impels the students’ altruism on the anti-shia issue is obviously drawn on oqbah’s argument. he said “since they (shiite) execute their plan and something worse happened to these ulama, muslims must react! we have to revenge and we finish them all.” through using muslim term as group identity, oqbah has raised altruism feeling from the students. the students furthermore felt that they are needed to contribute to the group interest. in addition, the hate narrative on the anti-shia essentially provides the prediction of future occurrence because oqbah urged that shiite plan is valid information. it is drawn on his statement which said that the shiite have held a meeting in 22nd december 2014 in ngawi, east java and the meeting concluded that they have agreed for the plan. furthermore, the information was propagated by oqbah as the [ 149 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 prediction of future occurrence which especially in this narrative becomes the consideration of the students’ reception. however, this factor is only worked on this narrative because its content provides a clear statement of prediction whereas the similar statement is absence on the two other narratives. on the anti-christian narratives, there are many statements which raised the students’ altruism. one of those is shown on ridwan statement which said: this is an irony to see the weak response of the muslim society in indonesia. that’s only a press conference or, at best, demonstration. this occurrence shows that muslim relation is fragile. on this statement, ridwan appeared his thoughtfulness in seeing the muslims’ response for the riot tolikara in which according to him it shows the fragile muslim relation. this may the way he attempted to raise the audience empathy and altruism and hopefully, the audience could see in the same perspective as him. as the result, the audiences could agree and then understand the same. in fact, the students agreed with his argument and his call to react. nevertheless, the students have a different opinion on how they should react to this issue, even though, basically ridwan urged to revenge through violence within his metaphor “eyes by eyes, teeth by teeth.” some agreed with ridwan but others suggested to let the government solve this conflict under the legal constitution. apart from the statement which impels students’ altruism, in islamic teaching, the altruism is strongly urged by its teaching. in reference to the theological basis, the muslim brotherhood concept becomes its motivation in which all muslims are bound on muslim brotherhood, “a muslim is the brother of a muslim (al nawawiy. 2010: 100).” another hadith, narrated by nu‘man ibn bashir, even emphasizes that the brotherhood is portrayed with the metaphoric image of a body entity as below: allah’s apostle said, “you see the believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resembling one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it (al bukhariy no. 40). the hadith clearly urges how muslims are strongly bound under the brotherhood relation. the boundary further arises an empathy among muslims, moreover, through the analogy of one body entity in which when the particular limb is hurt, thus the whole will feel the pain likewise. accordingly, another hadith which is narrated by abu musa depicts the relationships among the believers (muslim) is like one building in which each different [ 150 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 parts enforce each other (al bukhariy, the number of hadith: 626). this logic shows that explicitly a muslim is deemed to maintain their entity and to bother about the other muslims. if the other muslim, as the brother and single entity, is disturbed, moreover, by the non-believers, thus the other muslims feel necessary to give help in the name of muslim brotherhood concept. besides, the shiite who is seen as deviant in this case group is excluded from students’ understanding as muslim. consequently, shiite is excluded likewise from the brotherhood relation among sunni followers as mainstream muslim. on the other hand, this brotherhood concept, unfortunately, is often misled by the fundamentalist group in which it seems only prioritize the religiosity from symbol and appearance. for instance, they urge to call another muslim with akhiy, meaning my brother, while for the muslima with ukhtiy, meaning my sister. the fundamentalist implicitly often misuse this brotherhood concept to emphasize the muslim single and global civilization (ummah) concept. the main purpose of its misapplication is to gain wider mass for demanding the caliphate. apart from the altruism which is strengthened by the theological basis, the figure of the narrator must be pointed out. the figure of the narrator as an expert becomes the consideration for the students in receiving hate narratives. in this case, on the anti-christian and the anti-shia narratives, the figure of the expert is obviously provided. especially on the anti-christian issue, the expertise is represented by kyai cholil ridwan. he is one of mui leader at the national level. his position as kyai is heavy considered by the students thus it influences their reception. kyai is a javanese term which in this discussion means as a predicate for the islamic religious cleric. this term has another meaning including a predicate addressed to the local district leader under the javanese kingdom era, a name of an object which has magic power i.e. gamelan. meanwhile, ustadh is cited from an arabic word which literally means “the teacher man.” in the indonesian context, there has been a shifting paradigm in understanding this term. ustadh is still labelled for a teacher man but it identically addressed for the religious teacher. however, kyai generally has higher social and religious position than an ustadh. the second one only refers to the figure or islamic teacher or preacher while the first one has a broader role including a teacher, preacher and also leader for the society. nevertheless, every single person who is entitled as kyai or ustadh commonly gain high social level on society. they are seen as an important figure and indeed respected for their words. the consideration for the importance of both kyai and ustadh figures as the narrator is shown from spa. she said on christian and the anti-shia issue: [ 151 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 for this information, i agree with kyai cholil because he is a kyai moreover he also the leader of mui at the national level. of course, he has deep considered the information before he shared it to the public…. for the shiite’s plan, i also believe because the spokesperson is an ustadh, moreover, it is delivered on a public religious sermon. the statement shows that spa obviously considered the narrator figure in which in this case is the religious elite, both kyai and ustadh. spa obeyed with the religious elite said, even she could believe in the narrative only because of seeing their figure. this phenomenon in the indonesian context is not a weird thing. the figure of religious elite has great social class and position among society. especially, kyai is seen as a charismatic figure who has power and authority not only in terms of religious discourse but also in a social system. in other words, kyai is one of a social elite figure in terms of religious field. the wide and deep understanding of islamic knowledge is the main factors that make the social system put them into elite category (faridl. 2007: 239). according to kellen, an elite has the role as a determinant and social object at once on three conditions. first, it has authority and power in taking the decision. second, as the proponent for a moral system. third, it has a high position in society and regarded as a successful one (1995: 213). as a religious elite, in one social system which put religious as the basic values, kyai obviously is put in the high social class. in the indonesian context, based on pew research centre survey (2015), indonesia is ranked in the third position as the countries which see religion as important in social life. thus, it emphasizes the high position of kyai among society. in reference to the theological basis, the high level of a religious leader on the social system is caused by the view that they are the prophet’s inheritor. this predicate is based on the hadith which states “indeed, the ulama are the inheritors of the prophets…” (al tirmidhi. 2681).” another hadith also depicts the importance of ulama figure for the religious believers. the hadith is mentioned below: verily, allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people, but he takes it away by taking away (the lives of) the religious scholars till none of the scholars remains alive… (al bukhariy. no. 100) both hadiths explain the importance and high position of ulama (kyai) among muslim society. the label as prophet inheritor may shape people construction in seeing their figure as the manifestation of prophet image. in abrahamic religious concept, the prophets or messengers are known individuals who [ 152 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 bring salvation from the god to human being through the prophecy. they are also depicted as the holy figure who mediates the relation between human being and the creator. then, since the kyai/ulama is understood as the prophet inheritor, thus it implicitly describes that they are also the image of god’s guidance in the lower level than prophet. it is also strengthened by the legitimation that the ulama is the representation of god’s knowledge and he will take it away only by taking away the ulama’s life. finally, this logic shows that the narrator figures, especially on the anti-christian and the antishia narrative, is matter and truly contributed to the students’ reception. the figure of the narrator, in this case, surely becomes one of the essential factors on students’ reception especially on the anti-christian and the anti-shia narratives. at least, it is caused by two perspectives. first, the figure of religious leaders is a charismatic and an expert within their wide and deep knowledge of islamic discourse. second, the figure of a religious leader, likewise, is seen as an elite in the social system who have power and authority. in addition, the theological basis which strengthens their position as prophet inheritor, thus students can totally believe in the narrative only through seeing their figure within its image. theoretical reflection the work shows that the essential factors on the students’ reception are not only caused by a single discourse. the main issue comes from numerous factors either from the students as the audience within their social context or from the character of narratives. in fact, the students’ involvement in the fundamentalist group such as religious sermon and open-group discussion becomes the most influential factors. it clearly led them to have an authoritarian personality, meaning to construct their view in seeing others into a strict dichotomy between true and false. the true is portrayed as the manifestation of god image while the false represents evil desire. those students view islam as a sole true way, whereas other religions, including the non-islamic ideology such as communism, are seen as an absolute mistake. this distinction furthermore impelled the feeling of under inter-group contestation between both parties, true and false, which impacted on their perspective. the students see the outgroups not only as a rival but also as the enemy which always harmful to the in-group. in addition, this study considers the character of the narratives within its contribution to the students’ reception. specifically, by presenting the bad and harmful image of the targeted group, the narrator succeeded in manipulating the students’ emotion (legitimization through students’ emotion). accordingly, [ 153 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the hate narratives built a hard line between the students and the targeted groups that means those groups are excluded from the understanding as “us.” it is clear that the targeted groups were categorized as the out-groups apart from the narrator and the students as in-group. then, the students would not have any sympathy even see those groups as a dangerous enemy. meanwhile, the emotion which is legitimated here also means the dread. the narrators might consider that the stereotype against christian and shia still exists on indonesian society perception. therefore, through presenting the cruel images of the groups, it essentially proposed to affirm and strengthen the stereotype then it exacerbates the students view in seeing the targeted groups. finally, the appeared dread coincides with the feeling of being threatened and in a dangerous situation. the dread and feeling under inter-groups contestation consequently imposed an empathy feeling named “altruistic altruism” or the “empathy-based altruism” among the students. the altruism seems like a sequence effect emerged by those two previous factors. since the students’ altruism were triggered, they desired afterwards to react to the issue for the benefit of the communal (in-groups interest), even though the ways they proposed to react are not uniform. besides, the figure of the narrators as the expert on each narrative is obviously contributed to the students’ reception. the figure of religious leaders amplified the narratives’ power in guiding the students to believe in the hate narratives. likewise, the narrators, in this case, are not only seen as the expert on religious knowledge but are considered as elite in their social system. they are accordingly regarded as the trustworthy figure hence the students became easier to believe in the narratives. conclusion the rise of hate narratives for the last decade on the internet obviously has brought some negative impacts, despite the positive, for the young generation considering their intimacy with the internet. through the internet, hate narratives are able to reach a broader audience from diverse backgrounds including age. nonetheless, it is not the only motivation for youth to receive hate narratives. in this case, the students of senior islamic high school age are motivated by numerous factors on their reception; whether it comes from the type of the audience including backgrounds and social context or from the way the hate narratives are presented. the students of man tuban, east java, receiving the hate narratives are generally those who engaged with the fundamentalist’ muslim group activities like religious sermon and online discussion. having this engagement, they further become easier to receive hate [ 154 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 narratives because they were familiar with the presented issue which mostly is the same issue discussed in the fundamentalist religious sermon; providing fear, anxiety under sara sentiment and provoking them to react. on the other hand, the way the narrative is made, with certain characters mentioned earlier, also contributes to the students’ reception. it drives them to think and to reflect on their backgrounds, social systems and experiences besides aiming to manipulate their emotions such as increasing a sense of in-group identity and distinguishing out-groups as dangerous others. 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(ed.). the sage handbook of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. california: sage publication, pp. 146-162. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 301 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais iain pontianak email: ahjaza@gmail.com sumin iain pontianak email: amien.ptk@gmail.com abstract the violence in the name of religion is now not only happening in the middle east but has also penetrated indonesia. indonesia is not only known as a muslim-majority country that is friendly and peace-loving but also has a diversity of religions, ethnicities, races, and cultures that have the potential to trigger conflict at any time. violations of religious freedom in indonesia have increased dramatically in recent years. this study is aimed to explore the understanding of muslim students in indonesia about islamic moderation, the perceptions of muslim students in indonesia about the application of islamic moderation, and the challenges and strategies of universities in implementing islamic moderation on muslim students in indonesia. this study uses phenomenology approach with muslim students as the object of the research. the participants were selected purposively as many as 20 students. this study finds that muslim students in indonesia characterize islamic moderation as muslims who are open to technological change, tolerant and harmonious with other muslims and non-muslims, non-violent, democratic, and access to comprehensive islamic sources. even though muslim students in indonesia have implemented islamic moderation, there are still misconceptions about islamic moderation. the challenge of implementing islamic moderation in muslim students is that they are easily exposed to extreme understanding through social media or the pragmatic and rational islamic community. keywords: portrait of moderate islam; muslim students; portrait islam, religiosity introduction the challenges of muslims today are becoming increasingly complex, no longer limited to religious issues but have penetrated other aspects of life, including education, economics, law, society, culture, and politics. the history of islamic [ 302 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 civilization records that islam is divided into several groups. these groups were born from different understandings and perspectives on the teachings of islam itself or political affiliations and interests. theological issues that arise among muslims are the result of the struggle between various islamic notions of fundamentalism and liberalism. islam word derived from “aslama,” “yuslimu,” and “islaman,” which are arabic words that mean submission, obedience, and protection (manzūr & ibn mukrin, 2003). islam is defined as a complete surrender to allah. people who identify as muslim show that they have accepted and submitted to the teachings of islam. a true islamist implies that the individual must be able to save himself and others around him; even though it is not completely safe, its existence is still useful. lately, we have entered a new chapter in which violence in the name of religion exhibits various relatively more varied and extreme patterns. perhaps, we have witnessed horrific propaganda on social media, beheadings, rapes, and tortures carried out in the name of islam by fanatics fighting for the islamic state of iraq and syria (quainton, 2020). the violence in the name of religion does not only occur in the middle east but has now penetrated indonesia, which culturally and socially is a nation that is polite, friendly, tolerant, and loves peace. indonesia, as a country with a majority muslim population, has a myriad of problems that intersect with religion, ethnicity, race, and class, thus forcing the government to be wise in managing diversity and potential conflicts triggered by religious sentiments. violations of religious freedom in indonesia have grown dramatically in recent years, with a jump from 134 cases in 2014 to 208 cases in 2018 (sudarto, 2022). from 2016 to 2018, there were 208 violations of freedom of religion/ belief, including 270 different types of actions, spread across 24 regions in indonesia. of the 270 violations of freedom of religion/belief, 140 involve state authorities as to the perpetrators, 123 of 140 are active state activities (based on commissions), and 17 are passive (based on negligence). provocative words and violence committed by public authorities, 130 out of 270 violations of freedom of religion/belief were committed by non-state entities. individuals and members of community groups commit violations in this category. the group of residents committed the most violations, namely 42 cases (sudarto, 2022). groups that receive less favorable treatment or acts of violence are shia islam, ahmadiyah, gafatar, and salafi (marshall, 2018; zuhdi, 2018) several studies on religious study inform opinion and behavior among young muslims in indonesia, including high school and university students, have found a tendency to grow intolerance and religious radicalism and exposure to violent extremism and terrorism. according to setara institut (2019) [ 303 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 formalistic, conservative, and exclusive religiosity among state university students in indonesia tends to be stronger than substantive, moderate, and exclusive religiosity (sudarto, 2022). the center for islamic and community studies at the state islamic university of jakarta found an almost identical pattern. there are 58.8 percent of radical sentiments among students, although 74.5% of them prefer to take moderate action (syafruddin et al., 2018). on the other hand, kanafi et al. (2021) found that through the influence of the implementation of ahlussunah waljama’ah islam, leaders and members of islamic organizations in indonesia now have a more moderate view, following the established and consistent doctrine of ahlussunah waljama’ah in various disciplines, islamic organizations help promote the moderation character of islam in a positive way. ab rashid et al. (2020) study reveals than moderate moslem on 319 articles published from 2001 to 2018 and a critical review of 29 scientific publications, moderate muslims have the characteristics of nonviolence, liberalism, democracy, secularism, pluralism, and tolerance. considering the trend of violence in the name of religion and the increasing potential for inter-religious conflict in indonesia, the government, through the research and development agency for education and training of the ministry of religious affairs of republic indonesia 2019 released the book “religious moderation,” which is specifically described in the presidential regulation of the republic of indonesia. indonesia number 18 of 2020 concerning the national mid-term development plan for 2020-2024, which was followed up by regulation of the minister of religion of the republic of indonesia number 18 of 2020 concerning the strategic plan of the ministry of religion of the republic of indonesia. recently, islamic moderation in indonesia has experienced significant opposition from various muslim groups. not only those who do not agree with the concept of islamic moderation but also those who claim to be moderate. in addition, several muslim groups pressure the government to accommodate their interests, including sharia-based laws, muslim leadership in muslimmajority areas, and prohibiting the religious activities of anti-mainstream islamic groups such as ‘shia,’ ‘ahmadiyah,’ gafatar , and salafis (marshall, 2018; zuhdi, 2018). this agenda is easily disseminated throughout the country due to the increasing use of social media, one of which is in universities. from elementary school to university levels, educational institutions welcome the government’s attitude towards the policy of religious moderation in indonesia (arifianto, 2019). school and university leaders organize seminars, and book reviews, incorporate islamic moderation into the curriculum and issue a joint statement committed to instilling islamic values that are peace[ 304 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 loving, tolerant, and accepting of diversity (arifinsyah et al., 2020). however, the school cannot rule out the possibility of becoming a vehicle for spreading various religious and political ideas, including extreme or fundamental ideologies, especially in countries with different religious education systems, such as indonesia. based on the results of the researcher’s search, although there have been quite some studies examining islamic moderation, there has not been a single study that has examined the portrait of the implementation of islamic moderation, its obstacles, and challenges. previous research only focused on three aspects: theoretical aspects, implementation in communities and religious groups, and micro research on high school students or islamic boarding schools. borum (2011) conducted research examining the theory of islamic moderation, ab rashid et al. (2020), kanafi et al. (2021), mujahid (2021), and nasir & rijal (2021), research that examines the implementation of islamic moderation among the muslim community, such as in salik‘s research (salik, 2019), syafruddin et al. (2018), and safei (safei, 2021), and micro research in the local scope that discusses islamic moderation in the context of student learning in schools, among others, carried out by hanapi (2014), sumbulah et al. (2018), zuhdi (2018), susilo & dalimunthe (2019), sirry (2020), siswanto (2020), subandi et al.(2020), helmy et al. (2021), yahya & rahmat (2021), gunawan et al.(2021), and pajarianto et al. (2022). on the other hand, students and students are the nation‘s next generations, so they need special attention from all parties to develop into the future generation of islamic moderation. teachers and lecturers are important in determining students’ understanding of islamic moderation because they function as interpreters and implementers. there is not much difference if the religious education curriculum is designed to be more moderate and responsive to social change, as messages can be delivered differently in the classroom depending on how a teacher presents them (zuhdi, 2018), in line with sirry (2020) that muslim students can be de-radicalized through education, publication of information, support and attention, alternative approaches to religious beliefs, and involvement of family and peers, and this is because students are more critical of dogmatic patterns in interpreting religious teachings. other previous study also discus religious moderation phenomena, syafruddin et al. (2018), zuhdi (2018), ab rashid et al. (2020), sirry (2020), kanafi (2021), and sudarto (2022), this study focus on the implementation of islamic moderation on islamic students in indonesia to answer three research questions, namely; how do students define islamic moderation? how do students perceive islamic moderation?, what are the challenges and strategies [ 305 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 used in implementing islamic moderation for islamic students in indonesia? in line with the focus, this study aims to explore the understanding of islamic students in indonesia regarding islamic moderation, as well as explore the perceptions of islamic students in indonesia regarding the implementation of islamic moderation, and explore the challenges and strategies undertaken by universities in implementing islamic moderation on muslim students in indonesia. islamic moderation is a manifestation of the islamic convention known as wasatiyyah. wasatiyyah islam is defined as the middle way, balance, justice, implementation or extreme, tolerance, simplicity, and harmony as the embodiment of islam as a carrier of goodness for all nature (gunawan et al., 2021; helmy et al., 2021; qaraḍāwī, 2010; safei, 2021; salik, 2019; siswanto, 2020; subandi et al., 2020). moderation is a manifestation of wasatiyyah islam, positioning oneself fairly, not ignoring his religion’s teachings, and not exaggerating. al-wasatiyyah gives the idea of doing good with steadfastness and strength while remaining true to one’s beliefs and refraining from committing any evil while avoiding evil with knowledge. a muslim who makes islamic moderation his lifestyle will be able to balance two opposing extremes of understanding, neither extreme-left nor extreme right (hanapi, 2014; safei, 2021). islamic moderation is the opposite of islamic extremism or islamic radicalism; islamic extremists are defined as “…as reactionary actors seeking direct and massive political change in the status quo through illegal and violent means” (prinsloo, 2018). the term extreme left can be interpreted as behavior that is “skeptic,” “apathetic,” and too “permissive” so that it does not make religious teachings a guide for life. contrary to the meaning of the extreme right, which tends to be fundamentalist, intolerant, feels the most righteous, acts beyond what is reasonable in the name of religion so that it violates the essential goals of islam, namely, to bring about peace and safety. islamic moderation has several main characteristics, namely; adhering to the philosophy of non-violence in spreading islamic da’wah; adhering to modernity which includes science and technology, democracy, human rights, and the like; using rational thinking; using a contextual approach to understanding islam; secular, pluralist, has a high spirit of tolerance, respects differences or diversity, and performs ijtihad (educated decisions in deciding legal opinions if there is no justification) in deciding legal opinions (ab rashid et al., 2020; safei, 2021; wibisono et al., 2019). on the other hand, radical or extreme islam has at least 3 factors; create hostility towards the target group; provide reasons and mandates for acts of violence; remove social and psychological barriers that can prevent violence (borum, 2011). according to the opinions of experts [ 306 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 and theories that have been stated above, islamic moderation is substantially essential islamic teaching to regulate muslims in interactions with fellow muslims, muslims, and non-muslims, the government, or the surrounding environment, so that the concept of peace and safety which is the mission of islam can be achieved. made the best. the experts opinions we have described in the literature review section are interpretations of the verses in the muslim holy book (al-qur’an), including the qur’an surah al-baqarah verse 142, al-qur’an surah an-nahl verse 90, and the qur’an surah al-mumtahanah verse 8 (kementerian agama, 2005), namely: “in the same way we have made you (muslims) a middle class so that you may be witnesses of (deeds) of mankind and that the messenger (prophet muhammad) may be witnesses of (deeds) you. ...”. almost the same meaning is also contained in the qur’an surah an-nahl verse 90 “verily allah commands to be fair, to do good, and to help relatives. he (also) forbids evil, evil and enmity. he taught you a lesson so that you always remember.” alqur’an surah an-nahl verse 90 is emphasized by allah swt, through his words in the qur’an surah al-mumtahanah verse 8 “god does not forbid you to do good and be fair to those who do not fight you in matters of religion and does not expel you from your hometown. verily, allah loves those who act justly.” the ministry of religious affaris of the republic of indonesia interprets “umatan wasatiyyah” in the qur’an surah al-baqarah verse 142 as “middle (moderate) people, the chosen people, the best, fair, and balanced people, both in beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, and behavior.” furthermore, the ministry of religion of the republic of indonesia interprets the qur’an surah an-nahl verse 90 “... allah forbids all of his servants to commit heinous acts that are despicable in the view of religion, such as adultery and murder; commit bad deed, namely things that are contrary to the values in customs and religion; and conduct enmity with others as a result of oppression and persecution. through these commands and prohibitions, he teaches and guides you in matters relating to good and evil so that you can take valuable lessons.” the meaning of the qur’an surah al-mumtahanah verse 8 is that “allah does not forbid you (muslims) from doing good and doing justice, because goodness and justice are universal, to unbelievers who do not fight muslims because of religion with emphasize religious freedom and tolerance; and to those who do not expel you from your hometown, because you believe in allah. verily, allah loves those who are fair to themselves and to others.” prophet muhammad saw encouraged his followers to behave moderately and forbade his followers to be excessive in religion; this can be seen from the words of the prophet [ 307 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 muhammad in a hadith in musnad ahmad bin hambal number 3078, and sunan an-nasa’i number 3007 (lidwa, 2020), as follows; “do not act ghuluw (excessive attitude in religion), because verily the destruction of those before you is due to being ghuluw in religion.” universities can instill islamic moderation values in theoretical, practical, and ideological aspects through the development of a curriculum that contains national commitment, tolerance, anti-violence, accommodates local wisdom (culture) in aspects of content, learning strategies, evaluation models, teaching materials , and references, as an effort to stem the strengthening of extremist understanding (nasir & rijal, 2021; siswanto, 2020; sumbulah et al., 2018). building islamic education with a local character and reducing the extreme teachings of wahhabism and the like is an effective deradicalization strategy (susilo & dalimunthe, 2019). through empirical studies conducted by yahya & rahmat (2021), the dialogue-argumentative method is highly recommended to develop islamic moderation thinking among students because this technique is seen as more effective for students who are already familiar with academic discussion or critical thinking. a different method but still considered relevant as a way of inculcating islamic moderation values in islamic boarding schools is through the dogma of ushul fiqh, which states “al muhafadhatu ‘ala al-qadim as-sholih wal akhdu bi al-jadid al-ashlah ( maintaining a good tradition and using a new, better tradition) rooted in the holy qur’an and hadith.” (mujahid, 2021). this study uses a phenomenological method with a qualitative approach. this method fits the purpose of this study, which aims to explore the experiences, perceptions, responses, and feelings of islamic students in indonesia towards implementing islamic moderation on their campuses. phenomenology is an appropriate method used to explore a person’s experience or feelings regarding the phenomena he or she experiences (creswell & creswell, 2017; denzin & lincoln, 2011; taylor et al., 2015). the setting of this research is islamic students in indonesia to explore the experiences of muslim students in implementing islamic moderation, based on open interview questions formulated in such a way as to reveal in-depth their experiences and perceptions of islamic moderation. researchers set the criteria for participants to obtain complete, objective, and credible information. participants in this study consist of 2 (two) groups, namely, (1) key participants, (2) main participants, and (3) supporting participants. the key participants in the research are the chancellor, vicechancellor, or other parties who have general but comprehensive and complete information about religious moderation programs in universities in [ 308 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 indonesia, namely, the head of the university, the head of the higher education quality assurance institution, and the head of the management of the study program at the university. the main participants are students participating in the religious moderation learning program. the main participants in this study were students at islamic campuses in indonesia as the object of implementing islamic moderation learning. supporting participants are lecturers at public universities and islamic religious universities in indonesia who can provide additional information related to mentoring, coaching, and monitoring the islamic behavior of muslim students in indonesia. the technique of selecting research participants in this study was chosen on the condition that the adequacy of the information provided by the purposive technique was used (creswell & creswell, 2017; denzin & lincoln, 2011). informants were selected purposively to represent campuses in indonesia’s west, central, and east regions. the number of participants is 20 consisting of 18 main informants, 1 key informant, and 1 supporting informant. the data collection uses in-depth interviews and focuses on group discussions (fgd). the fgd process was carried out first, followed by in-depth interviews with the same participants to explore the initial information obtained through the fgd. the data collection instrument was in the form of an open-ended interview guide (question list).the stages of data analysis in this study include data condensation, presenting data, verifying data, and drawing conclusions (miles et al., 2014). data reduction was made by summarizing, coding, patterning, ranking, partitioning, or grouping each piece of information contained in the interview transcript throughout the research process. the presentation of the data is carried out on the reduced data, in the form of matrices, charts, and others, to obtain dense and integrated information that is easy to interpret. data verification is done by checking the completeness, correctness, and suitability of the data obtained; if the data is still incomplete, the previous process is carried out until the information obtained can answer the research objectives. checking the validity or credibility of the data using member check and triangulation with key participants (denzin, 2012; lub, 2015). to ensure the consistency of the process and the results of the analysis of the data obtained, the researcher carried out strict control over the dependability and confirmability of the participants. dependability is related to participant bias and subjectivity. to make it easier to encode data (coding), researchers used the qsr international nvivo plus 12 software free version for 14 days. [ 309 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 understanding muslim students regarding islamic moderation to explore participants’ understanding of islamic moderation, we need to know how participants imagine islamic moderation. participants were asked to describe their experiences as moderate islamists. we gave participants the freedom to define islamic moderation based on their muslim experiences. the definition is given by participants of islamic moderation collectively consisting of several parameters, which we can then combine or summarize using nvivo 12 software into a word cloud in figure 1. figure 1. word cloud of student understanding of moderate islam students understand islamic moderation as the practice of islamic values, which refers to the definition of islam: loving, peace-loving, tolerant, has good morals, is intellectual, by adhering to the qur’an and sunnah. moderation of islam in the perspective muslim students the results of interviews regarding islamic moderation based on the perspective of islamic students in indonesia were analyzed using the nvivo 12 software and presented in the form of a explorer gram (figure 2). cluster diagrams are formed based on the level of similarity of responses to each participant. [ 310 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 figure 2. gram’s explorer of islamic moderation in the perspective of islamic students openness to technological development based on the results of interviews related to participants’ experience in using information technology to facilitate access to information, understand and practice islamic teachings, participants are open to using technology for the progress and good of the ummah. internet-based information technology, digital technology, or other relevant technologies can make it easier to understand the holy text of the qur’an in an attractive and flexible mobile format and can be a source of literacy to access information related to islamic science and general sciences. however, every muslim must use information technology wisely, filter positive information, and clarify and confirm its truth with trusted sources. democratic and respect differences of opinion the shared experience of participants regarding respecting democratic deliberation decisions revealed that participants had different opinions in deliberation, but even though they had different opinions, they respected [ 311 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 and prioritized the majority opinion as a final decision or joint decision, even though, according to personal perception, the decision was considered inappropriate. apply the philosophy of non-violence in the results of in-depth interviews with participants about applying the philosophy of non-violence in upholding truth and justice, participants expressed their experiences that conveying the truth (islamic da’wah) and fighting for justice; it must be done by prioritizing harmony, tolerance, peace, and love, and avoiding hatred, hostility, and division. truth can only be conveyed right, and justice must be fought for in a just and wise manner. violence and hostility will only trigger a more violent reaction of hostility and hatred from the other party. respect for human rights participants expressed their experiences in respecting human rights; according to participants, apart from the right to life, everyone also has the right to be treated non-discriminatory even though they are of different ethnicity, race, skin color, economy, political rights, and those who are very sensitive are in their beliefs and practice worship, according to their religion. participants also revealed that in their area of origin, they had been involved in inter-ethnic wars, which later spread to political and religious issues; this was a result of the lack of awareness of certain individuals in the area on the importance of respecting human rights. tolerance the results of in-depth interviews related to tolerance for fellow muslims who have different understandings, different groups or sects, some participants revealed that they had different opinions with their friends, relatives, or parents in understanding the teachings of worship or amaliyah in islam, but the differences did not reach cause quarrels or disputes, because they have adhered to the principle of mutual respect, respect, and tolerance for their fellow muslims. participants’ experiences on how to implement tolerance to fellow muslims who have different understandings, we summarize as follows: [ 312 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 figure 3. word tree of muslim students in tolerance in the interview related to tolerance, we expand on tolerance towards adherents of other religions (non-muslims); the participants shared their experiences. figure 4. word tree of muslim students in tolerance on different religions most participants have shown tolerance in the practice of associating with friends of the same religion or different religions as a consequence of different understandings, cultures, ethnicities, regional origins, and languages. appreciating differences participants shared their experiences regarding how they responded to the diversity of cultures, races, ethnicities, languages, groups, religions, and sects in indonesia. participants revealed that: [ 313 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 figure 5. word tree of muslim students in appreciating differences the ability of participants to understand and appreciate ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity is a form of individual awareness that represents a moderate attitude as the embodiment of the values of rahmatan lil ‘alamain. accommodating local wisdom that does not conflict with islamic teachings. participants’ experiences in respecting local culture and wisdom, data from in-depth interviews with muslim students in indonesia are presented in the form of a word tree graph in figure 6. figure 6. word tree of acceptance of muslim students in local wisdom based on the interviews presented in figure 6, we get information that muslim students in indonesia generally accept and respect local culture and wisdom [ 314 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 that do not conflict with religious values and islamic beliefs. challenges and barriers to the implementation of islamic moderation in higher education the results of interviews with key participants (college leaders) and supporting participants (lecturers) revealed that the implementation of islamic moderation in universities faces several challenges and obstacles, namely: “[1] the low level of understanding of students and the community (student parents) towards islamic teachings. [2] there are suspicions from students or the public, linking islamic moderation with political interests. [3] islamic moderation is understood as liberal or plural islam which is considered weak and not militant.[4] islamic moderation is perceived as “islam nusantara,” which is promoted by certain religious organizations, so there is resistance from people who are not from these organizations.[5] extreme and radical notions are easily accessible by students through social media, or websites or community studies of certain religious groups.” principally, the challenges, and obstacles to implementing islamic moderation for muslim students can be reduced to two factors first; internal factors, students who misunderstand (misconceptions) islamic moderation, and second; external factors, students easily access extreme radicals from the internet or social media and through religious communities affiliated with extreme radicals. strategies for islamic moderation in universities in indonesia the results of in-depth interviews with key participants (leaders of higher education institutions in indonesia) revealed their experiences regarding strategies and policies for implementing islamic moderation in universities, that. “the implementation of islamic moderation in universities is an extension of the government, to create harmony, tolerance, mutual respect in order to prevent division or disintegration of the indonesian nation which is plural in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, language and religion.” key participants explained the efforts that have been made in universities to implement islamic moderation, including academic and non-academic [ 315 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 activities. these efforts include the following: “[1] include islamic moderation as test material in the selection of new students, [2] hold public lectures on nationalism, [3] include islamic moderation material in islamic student character education programs, [4] include islamic moderation study materials as part of the curriculum islamic studies or general courses at public universities, [5] supervises student organization units so they are not exposed to extreme (radical) teachings or ideas [6] opens research opportunities for students and lecturers with the theme of islamic moderation. [7] make leadership policies regarding the obligation of all academics to practice wasatiyyah (moderate) islamic values that are harmonious, tolerant, non-violent and compassionate.” the strategies that have been used in implementing islamic moderation in universities, in general, include academic, non-academic, and extra-curricular activities as well as policymaking for higher education leaders that require the academic community to model the practice of practicing moderate islam. through this study, we have explored muslim students’ experiences in indonesia as subjects of implementing islamic moderation. students have explained how they define islamic moderation or wasatiyyah islam, which they have implemented in life within the university environment and the community. we can interpret their perception regarding how they define moderate islam as a portrait of the implementation of moderate islam they have practiced. this study is relevant to study of prasojo et al. (2019), which states that “the portrait of moderate islam can be seen from people’s understanding of the practice of islamic values, and how their efforts create harmonization, harmony, and tolerance in a pluralistic society . when we asked students to define islamic moderation according to their experiences, participants focused on the depth of information related to 7 (seven) issues, first; the openness of participants as muslim students to the development of information technology and using it to understand and practice religious teachings in daily life, secondly; the democratic attitude they display in deliberation to make decisions, third; respect/respect fellow muslims who have different understandings about the practice of islamic teachings, third; building good relations with non-muslims, being tolerant, and associating with good morals with non-muslims without reducing the commitment to faith and islamic creed, fourth; rational use in understanding and practicing religion, sixth; using multi-literacy as a source of religious information, and seventh; vigilance against detribalization by extreme/radical-minded people. [ 316 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 muslim students’ understanding of the concept of islamic moderation does not merely reflect the values of moderation that they have implemented in their daily life and society. however, it also comes from external sources. the external factors that we mean in this context can be in the form of moderation learning in the university curriculum, moderate friends, community leaders, religious leaders, and the role of parents. the results of this study are relevant to the results of the mubarak & razali study (2019), and susilo & dalimunthe (2019). the implementation of islamic moderation on these participants is a perceptual internalization that they build about islamic values rahmatan lil ‘alamin through academic and non-academic activities in universities, parents, the environment, and social media. this is consistent with research conducted by sirry (2020) that muslim students can be de-radicalized through education, publication of information, support and attention, alternative approaches to religious beliefs, and involvement of family and peers; this is because students are more critical of dogmatic patterns in interpreting religious teachings. this study identifies the existence of negative stereotypes in a small number of students who consider islamic moderation as an organized effort from certain groups to undermine the originality of islamic teachings following the qur’an and as-sunnah by incorporating cultural values, liberalism, pluralism, and political jargon. islam phobia or anti-semith (anti-arabic). based on the results of our confirmation with key participants, the emergence of stereotypes is caused by students’ misconceptions about islamic moderation, the large amount of media exposure that often displays radical content, and the influence of parents, society or religious communities, or religious leaders whom muslim students follow. this is in line with the results of research by lailial et al. (2021, p. 1) that “education plays an important role in the process of building community peace and in generating tolerance through the application of islamic moderation values.” conclusion understanding the concept of islamic moderation, which directly impacts religious attitudes and practice, is based on the ability of students to reduce the islamic values of rahmatan lil ‘alamin, which is a manifestation of the core values of islamic teachings originating from the qur’an and as-sunnah. family, peers, and community can shape students’ understanding and perception, religious communities, academic and non-academic activities in universities, as well as digital literacy (internet and social media). [ 317 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 the findings of this study indicate that students have strong views regarding implementing islamic moderation in higher education. participants expressed their understanding in understanding islamic moderation, as muslims who are not anti-advancement of the times who adopt modern technology from non-muslim countries to understand and practice islam, are tolerant and harmonious with fellow muslims and non-muslims, anti-violence, democratic, using comprehensive sources of islamic law (al-qur’an, as-sunnah, ijma’, and qiyas). muslim students in indonesia already have a good understanding of islamic moderation and have implemented islamic moderation values in the campus, family, and community environment; however, muslim students still “misunderstand” islamic moderation. moderation of islam is considered an attempt by certain parties to erode the purity of islamic teachings by mixing culture with religious teachings, incorporating western liberalism and pluralism into islamic teachings as part of islam phobia or anti-arabs. challenges and obstacles to the implementation of islamic moderation in muslim students in indonesia are related to the misunderstanding of students who consider the concept of islamic moderation as an effort to erode the purity of islam through liberalism and religious pluralism, the influence of extreme understanding from social media, or islamic studies from certain islamic communities in indonesia that offer a pragmatic, rational religious concept. the strategy of universities in implementing islamic moderation in indonesia is carried out in several ways, including; [1incorporating islamic moderation as test material in the selection of new students, [2] holding public lectures on nationalism, [3] inserting islamic moderation material in islamic student character education programs, [4] inserting islamic moderation study materials as part of the islamic studies curriculum or general courses at public universities, [5] to supervise student organization units so that they are not exposed to extreme (radical) teachings or ideas. [6] opens research opportunities for students and lecturers with the theme of islamic moderation. [7] make leadership policies regarding the obligation of all academics to practice wasatiyyah (moderate) islamic values that are harmonious, tolerant, non-violent, and compassionate.” this study suggests to improve the understanding of muslim students to eliminate negative stereotypes about islamic moderation, as well as how to optimize the implementation of islamic moderation among muslim students and students in indonesia. these efforts can be carried out through crossministerial cooperation, in this case, the ministry of religious affairs of republic indonesia and the ministry of education and culture of the republic [ 318 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 of indonesia. the implementation of islamic moderation is not only limited to seminars or extra-curricular activities in universities but must also be included in special courses measured by valid and reliable instruments with achievements that must be monitored on an ongoing basis. the limitation of this study is the difficulty of tracing and digging deeper into information to informants because, at the time of the research, there were still social restrictions by the government of the republic of indonesia to prevent the spread of the covid-19 virus. researchers only met face-to-face with a few participants who could be reached; the rest of the information from participants in different regions or islands was explored via whatsapp and zoom meetings. further studies need to be carried out quantitatively to determine the factors that influence the implementation of islamic moderation in muslim students in indonesia. sampling can be done using a cluster random sampling technique by considering the representation of students from all provinces in indonesia, including students from public universities and islamic religious universities. bibliography ab rashid, r., fazal, s. a., ab. halim, z., mat isa, n., mohamad yusoff, z. j., musa, r., & hamzah, m. i. 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[ 322 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2459 [ 235 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 islam and the west: tariq ramadan and the discourse of religion of peace for a global understanding abdul razak@abdulroya panaemalae walailak university email: pabdul.razak09@gmail.com zaenuddin hudi prasojo pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: zaestain@yahoo.com abstract as the world is increasingly globalized, culture and human thought are developing in a different way because it is shaped by culture and climate of the local environment. in the west, in particular, muslims confront the issues currently generated by the culture and philosophy of western civilization which is very different in terms of the frame of thought. therefore, to be adapted to the western/european environment and so islam will be able to grow, the modification of the format without changing the original teachings of islam are highly required. even this method is very suitable based on dynamic islam. tariq ramadan, indeed, is seen as a prominent muslim thinker who attempt to explore the historical tradition of islam, or the prophet’s biography, to be applied to the western/ european tradition whose typical civilization might prevent islam from flourishing if global islamic values are not applied to the current world. in other words, if the same methods are used as practiced in the islamic tradition in the east, the possibility is that islam will not thrive in the west. in his book, in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad, he clearly shows how the biography of the prophet is extracted of the essence of teaching to be used as a catalyst in a new life or to be adjusted to the context of the current globalized world. keywords: tariq ramadan, european muslims, tolerance, messenger of allah, islam introduction the name tariq ramadan is increasingly referred to as one of the leading contemporary intellectuals. he has been nicknamed ‘very much a public figure’. his speeches in the humanities and firmness in defending islam are increasingly making tariq a magnet of attention. especially when it appears that he has a family relationship with the mujahideen leaders of the muslim [ 236 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 brotherhood movement, namely the grandson of hasan al-banna, thus making a big name and giving widespread attention both in the west and in the islamic world. however, the figure of tariq ramadan does not depend on his grandfather’s fame -hasan al bannaalone but also due to his character in the intellectual world that placed his name as a world-class scholar. on the back cover of his book, “what i believe” it is written that “... he is among the leading islamic thinkers in the west, with a large following around the world.” his prominence can be confirmed with a number of achievements, awards and four world-class recognitions, such as 1) -100 innovators of the 21st century (2000), 2) -100 most influential intellectuals (2004) by times magazine, 3) -100 top global thinkers of 2008-2010 and in 2012 by foreign policy magazine, and 4) 8th place among 100 public intellectuals by prospect magazine (uk). his reputation as a scholar is again proven with the emergence of a number his monumental works such as, to be a european muslim, the quest of meaning, western muslim and the future of islam, islam, the west and the challenge of modernity, what i believe, dan in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad. through a series of works he channels bright and fresh ideas which are then read, discussed, and reviewed by academic audiences. and more importantly is that the works provide his clear vision and thought about islam. another privilege of tariq ramadan that should be mentioned here is his unique background. he is of arab (egyptian) descent but was raised in european tradition and culture and later became a valid european citizen. as a muslim in the middle of a foreign culture, tariq successful survived and put myself with pride without diluting his muslim identity. in fact, on the contrary, his practical ideas began have gained public attention at present. among his outstanding idea is the concept of to be a european muslim. in accordance with the discussion of this work, the author seeks to discuss one of the works by tariq ramadan entitled in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad. however considering the limited space of the concept paper, the author will not cover the entire purpose in this book but will touch on some interesting issues that have relevance and interest to be highlighted in work. among the reasons why the author chose to critique this book is because it appears that there is a disparity in terms of the life of prophet muhammad as compared with other books written by the same source and presenting the same theme. as he expressed in the blurb of the back cover of this book, “the biography of the prophet has been written by many, and why should it be written by someone else? tariq ramadan has a [ 237 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 different goal: he approached the prophet’s life story from today’s perspective.” researchers also believe that tariq ramadan would not want to repeat what has been written by many prominent scholars on the life history of prophet muhammad, but did not mean to present something new and different from the classic. it was not possible since all refer to the same source but what is different is that in terms of processing and presentation of an interesting and praktical story. among which can be critiqued is writing a book on the history of the prophet which is intended to reassess it in accordance with the current context. for this tariq said; “the present biography does not aim to compete with classical sources (which indeed are its sources material), disclose any new facts, or provide an original or revolutionary reinterpretation of the history of prophethood and its context. the aims of the present study are far more modest, though it does not make them any easier to achieve” (ramadan, 2007 :ix). the processing is more globalized. or in other words, it should be understood by broader audience as a global significance, not only among muslim readers, but across the broader target, namely the muslim community outside the islamic world, for example in the west and or in the region in which islamic teachings need to be practiced by local communityhaving their own tradition (djar’ie, s.m. & zaenuddin hudi prasojo. 2015). these muslims live as a minority surrounded by tradition and foreign cultures vastly different from other islamic countries. difference in this context is to be taken into account in the view of tariq in an effort to provide a more global understanding of harmonious islam. for this reason, this small study seeks to discuss tariq’s approach in talking about the moral values of islam, particularly the pearl of wisdom and the example set by the prophet contained in his book, in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad. brief biography of tariq ramadan interesting to say about the tariq’s life background is that first because he has two important identities, namely arab/muslim and swiss/european. although his face is genuine arab egyptian, he a swiss/european citizen. he boasts of arab descent and at the same time is also proud to be a european citizen. even based on the principles of humanity in the western democratic tradition, he does not feel isolated and ashamed of being a minority in european soil. both [ 238 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 of the identities integrated in him to form a new identity as a muslim europe. tariq ramadan or tariq bin said was born on 26 september 1962 in geneva, switzerland. his mother, wafa al-banna was the son of prominent clerics and prominent islamic mujahid sheikh hasan al-banna founder of the muslim brotherhood movement. his father said ramadan came from tanta, egypt who was the son of sheikh hasan al-banna. during the reign of gamal abdel nasser, he moved to switzerland because of the punishment of banishment (nor faridah mat nong, 2015: 25). he is a theologian and contemporary islamic scholar. he received his early education in his hometown of geneva. he was interested in philosophy and literature since childhood. with the trend and interest in the field, tariq was encouraged to study it earnestly. tariq completed his postgraduate studies in philosophy, french literature and social sciences at the university of geneva with the title of his dissertation the notion of suffering in nietsche’s philosophy. his doctorate diploma is in the field of islamic studies and arabic with a thesis entitled nietsche as a historian of philosophy in a comparative study (nor faridah mat nong, 2015: 26). to complement the scholarship in the field of religion and arabic language, he studies at the al-azhar university. at this university, he trained intensively. according to a note on the cover of the book the quest of meaning it is stated that “in cairo he received one-on-one intensive training in classic islamic scholarship from al-azhar scholars at the university.” (ramadan, 2012: i). however, for the basic knowledge in the field of islamic studies, he actually learned a lot from his family, especially from his father (ibid). in other words, even though he was not admitted to religious schools or madrassa like most other arab / muslim teenagers, the environment and the traditions of his family were shaping his personality as a european muslim who holds fast to the principles of islam in a situation that is very demanding on european soil armed with a strong spirit of islamic teachings and coated with western scientific culture that influences the way tariq thinks and acts. tariq himself has admitted “i was always a bit too western for some muslims and a bit too muslim for some westerners” (ramadan 2010: 14). according shaharom tm sulaiman, tariq ramadan tries to offer a way to be a true muslim and at the same time he is a good and meaningful member of the european community (tm sulaiman shaharom, 2013: 125). tariq ramadan and the concept of ‘european muslims’ before tracing of the footsteps of the prophet as written by tariq ramadan in his book in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad, [ 239 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 it is a good idea if we learn his islamic thought beforehand. this is because the background of his life and the intellectual tradition influence the way he thinks and shape the way he acts. for more evident in this case nor faridah mat nong said that “social impact ramadan feels as a citizen of european minority in various forms of hardship, opens and develops his thoughts to be critical in raising the issues of muslim communities in europe in addition to changing the mindset of muslims to be much more practical and sure to live life as a european muslim (nor faridah mat nong, 2015: 37). thus, when the work of in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad was written, it is very significant in differences of approach and style, though its processing is based on the same source as that referred to by other muslim scholars. this study found that tariq attempted to offer the life history of the prophet based on the principles of his life as a citizen of europe that practices pluralism in an open basis. as tariq’s own confession reads “my philosophy is travel, and pluralism is my destination. humility is my table, respect is my garment, empathy is my food and curiosity is my drink. as for love, it has a thousand names and is by my side at every window (tariq ramadan, 2012: xii). armed with such case, tariq has to take the middle path in practicing the teachings of islam in the heart of the european community. or to put it more simply, he is trying to interpret islam to fit the context of the west / europe. he realizes that it is not possible to use the same method to deliver the message of islam similar to that practiced by the majority of muslim scholars, especially those who are the product of a muslim country, namely living within local tradition decorated by islamic values, or the majority population is entirely muslim community. to avoid a clash of cultures and civilizations, and to avoid being isolated and marginalized, then tariq leverages existing knowledge and extensive experience trying to establish the muslim community recently, which not only focusing on traditions that were brought together from their home country but also considering the cultural reality of the west / europe. tariq prospect in this regard is quite clear as it appears on his work, to be a european muslim. this book is a kind of blue-print to all muslims residing in the west / europe. he sketches how a muslim should position him/herself in the middle of a very different society in terms of tradition, culture and religious practices. through this concept of european muslim, tariq seems to try to say that if muslims did not change and adapt to the new situation in the west / europe then they would face difficulties in the face of the vagaries of life and challenges in the west / europe itself. personally, tariq’s opinion is that “when i spoke [ 240 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 of a muslim identity that is always open, always inclusive, always on the move.” (tariq ramadan 2010 : 135) in other words, if muslims want islamic identity to be preserved in a european setting, and that islam flourishes in accordance with the concept of islam as rahmatan lil-’alamin, mercy to the worlds, the changes and adjustments are needed. in short, the concept of european muslims introduced by tariq ramadan is a form of identity savior. or a new step in facing the european environment (nor faridah mat nong, 2015: 98). in the footsteps of the prophet tariq deliberately named the title of his book footsteps of the prophet with the intention of inviting readers to search again in the footsteps of prophet muhammad’s life in order to find the pearls of knowledge and teaching legacy left by him to serve as a guide in the process of human formation. thus, in addition to the title in the footsteps of the prophet, tariq put another subtitle which reads lessons from the life of muhammad. the core of this book, based on tariq’s perspective, is trying to describe the prophet’s biography with a new style, and aims to take the islamic values that the prophet demonstrated throughout his life. tariq will be able to present the global features that are present in the stories of the prophet’s life to be adapted to current time and context. in fact, it transcends the limits of time and age. as muslims living in a developed continent, it seems a bit odd for the traditionalists. it is a sort of fortress that prevents the intertwined between islam and modernity. as if there is a possible incompatibility of islam that cannot meet with the modern western world. similarly, it is also the case of the notion of the west on islam. to bring down that dogmatic fortress, then tariq invites readers to reassess global features contained in the biography of the prophet. he invites the audience to examine the implicit meanings embedded in every second of the life of the prophet. he wants to be a perfect human just as prophet muhammad exemplified in all aspects of life, especially the global messages for today’s guide. we are aware that between the islamic world and the west there is sentiment incompatibility in terms of thought and culture that has occurred over the years until now. muslims feel that there is prejudice of the west against islam. this is clear as depicted by muhammad asad, who among other things said “many of its historical experiences are deeply tinged by a strange animosity towards islam” (muhammad asad, 2005:40). in line with that, it is not surprising that until now there is a clash between the west and islam. it is exactly as allah says, “never will jews and christians [ 241 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 be pleased with you as long as you do not follow them.” in fact, to date this paper was written, the anti-islamic sentiment in the western world is still felt, especially now muslims are scattered into minorities in the west. muslims often get ridiculed until they are labeled as the sick man of europe. the culture clash is becoming more common and it may not be resolved in a short time. meanwhile, the muslim community itself is also undaunted to build fortifications to defend their identity so it is not easily melted and eroded. with simple means, the muslim community itself is also quite careful to adapt to the new environment because of fears that islam will disappear. then two lines are running in parallel without end. based on such situation, tariq tried to express a new approach in the daily life of muslims in the european continent. this approach does not concern the values of rigid dogmatism, but it reapplies the values of the way of life of the prophet into the reality of modern times in europe. this is because tariq would take into account the current realities and cultural life in the west / europe. although this approach seems to be different in a way that is commonly done by other islamic scholars, but it does not cause the slightest scratch on color purity prophet’s life story. therefore, the book in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad is unique and different in terms of processing. in fact it is clear that it is not stereotyped like most books of history that tends to show episodes just to remind readers that historical moments happen without thinking the meanings to be adapted to the realities of life. tariq rejected writing history in this way, or in other words, easier. tariq tried to emulate the examples set by the prophet and then adapted them to the current context. he stressed that it not the episodes to remember the events only. tariq’s preparations of the story and examples of the prophet in the book in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad show that there are some lessons that need to be emphasized. among the lessons emphasized in the book in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad, which can be traced, are the attitude of tolerance, pluralism, cultural diversity, the rights of women and children, care for the environment, and compassion. these issues are often raised on the political agenda in western countries. however, this paper will not cover all the aspects contained in this book, but will pay attention and focus on the issue of tolerance only. islam in the perspective of the west/europe as a minority in europe/the west, muslims are often suspected by the local [ 242 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 ‘natives’ as a group threatening the western civilization. coupled with the dark history of the past crusaders that always lives in their collective memory, the average views muslims with suspicion, assuming that islam is threatening the peace and harmony of western society. this is illustrated by john l. esposito who notes that “most westerners are still vague about the history of islam and the west, their knowledge and attitude toward islam and the muslim world are formed by the image and influence of contemporary limited to terms like islamic fundamentalism and terrorism” (john l. esposito, 2008: 105). the condition became even worse when the western media also plays its part that conspires to worsen the image of islam in the face of accusations that islam is uncivilized so it easily turns into something horrific and violent. even violent images are highlighted on the front pages of the western media since the beginning until now. chandra muzaffar admitted this circumstance and said “... negative images of islam are very much more prevalent than any others.” (chandra muzaffar, 2011: 94). with more simple and clear words, it is very accurate as expressed by edward w. said in his book covering islam who stated that islam has become the “unpleasant sort” news that in the eyes of the west (ibid). in short, between the west and islam there are two parallel and separate paths that perhaps cannot reconcile. the west has the philosophy of materialism and secularism, while islam is based on the traditions of islamic teachings. due to the fact that islam has a different philosophy, the west is willing to label others who differ from it as inferior, frenetic, deviant or irrational (john l.esposito, 2008: 58). dr.saodah abd. rahman condemned the attitude of the west, by saying that “materialistic thoughts based on the logic and interests of desires have encouraged most secular society to underestimate the values and traditions of religious life. he further added that “…secular people are those who are not cared for with a religious spirit (the star, 6 feb. 2006). tolerance, respect, plural society and virtues in order to survive in the middle of the western/european society that has such a philosophy of life, tolerance is needed. in addition, it also requires respect for other people who differ in their faith and religious beliefs. in this case, tariq clearly stressed that the muslims should have tolerance and respect. in writing about the life history of prophet muhammad, he paid attention to the issue of how prophet muhammad, whose life was surrounded by plural society, namely the disbelievers and the jewish community as well as the others, but still he could make them live under one umbrella build an intact civilization. [ 243 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in such society, it was not easy for a leader to form a united community. such differences not only were common between muslims and jews, but also among fellow arabs themselves who staunchly held the spirit of asabiyah / patriotism of theor own respective tribes. however, since the prophet showed high tolerance, he finally could unite all walks of society under one umbrella. the prophet managed to subdue egotism of the arab nation with tolerance. tariq wanted to see humanity learn from the prophet’s gentle and kind attitude to be absorbed into the tradition and the life of the muslim community. living in a plural society would require a really high tolerance. tolerance in whatever situation. tariq then quoted a piece of hadith narrated by al-bayhaqi; “if you find something you do not like of your brothers’ actions, then seek even seventy reasons to justify the acts. if you do not find them, say, may he have a specific reason (why doing so) that i do not know (ramadan, 2013: 187). tariq sees more of the doctrine of implied compared with the trivial episodes in the life history of the prophet. in other words, tariq tries to take the essence of the teachings of the prophet’s life story and not a sequence of events that have plots. his description is more anchored to the current context than the text. he looks at the reality of the real islam to be practiced in daily life. efficiency in the application that ensures a person will not feel awkward and marginalized from the modern mainstream. on the other hand, if muslims fail to take heed of the way of life that is appointed by the prophet, then surely he will experience many problems. it may be uncomfortable to adapt to the new environment that is far different from the islamic tradition. racism, murder, strife were not found in the life history of prophet muhammad. instead, the events that are less fun or that could lead to racism is not exaggerated. what can be considered is that of tariq tries to reconcile between people. this may be due to his environment in europe that claims to practice discipline and tolerance to live together that very much affects his attitudes and thoughts. tariq’s determination to promote the spirit of tolerance as shown by the prophet is very significant in this book. while reading it, we will immediately notice the tolerance during the writing of this book. he intentionally shows to the public outside of europe or the west about how islam is concerned in terms of tolerance and respect. and islam itself is not only about civilization, the islamic values are practical and suitable for all times. arising from this, then without a doubt islam is the first priority for humanitarian matter in [ 244 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 accordance with the concept of rahmatan lil’alamin. in other words, islam and humanity are inseparable partners. in fact the essence of the teachings of islam itself is to endure values for humanity. meanwhile another evidence that suggests that tariq is likely to promote the spirit of tolerance is the story about life between muslims and the christianjewish and arab tribe of quraysh. for example, first, the story of a meeting with a priest bahira in busra where obviously bahira had a humanist attitude toward prophet muhammad. in fact, it was he who suggested that abu talib immediately bring the prophet back to medina to escape harassment and deceit. second, when muslims migrated for the first time into habsyah and received protection as well as good service from king negus, the quraish arabs’ mission to bring back the muslims failed eventually. and third, when the prophet met christian young man named addas in a vineyard in taif. of the three stories, it can be seen how intimate the relationship between muslims and christians. here, it seems that tariq wanted to state that religious diversity is not the main causes of hostilities. the cause for the outbreak of conflict is due to the attitude of the man himself who is ill-mannered, who tends to be selfish, and often uses emotion to over rational thinking, ignoring the message of religion in its true sense. to live in peace and harmony in a great civilization which is composed of various groups who have the background and understanding of different traditions, it really requires dynamic social mechanism. the most obvious method, according to this book, is tolerance and respect for each other, especially in the context of the west/europe, it is very important that tolerance should be practiced in an earnest manner. even it is encouraged not to ignore it at all. therefore, it is not surprising that the tolerance in the writing of the biography of the prophet by tariq ramadan through his book is an important emphasis. typically, when it is written by most islamic scholars, it could not escape from being linked to episodes of war, or battle scenes that led to the death and the like. not just a series of major wars involving two major groups, namely the muslims vs the infidels but also small wars involving ethnic groups and tribes in the arabian peninsula. indeed, if traced through the life of the prophet, since he was appointed the messenger of allah, to the establishment of the daulah islamiyah in medina, wars have become part of a string of events that cannot be separated. a series of wars in the history is still remembered by all muslims, such as the battle of badr, battle of hunayn, battle of khandak, battle of tabuk, etc. in other words, it is not complete when talking about the history of islam, or rather, in this context, the life history of the prophet, it does not touch a series of wars at all. this is because it is actually a series of [ 245 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 wars recorded in history. almost all muslim historians recorded honestly about what happened in the past. what happened was written but it is not the case with tariq. he has a different approach in writing the life story of the prophet. he tends to avoid detailing the battle scenes. he did not even exaggerate episodes of the war as it was written by many other historians. he only mentioned war as an episode only to complement the prophet’s biography. a series of wars during the prophet’s era is merely a way of maintaining strategic faith and purity of islam from enemy attacks but tariq tends to avoid talking about it emotionally. this is because tariq, as a supporter of the spirit of tolerance, is more likely to see the order of the prophet’s life history from a global perspective that emphasizes the sense of brotherhood and global security. thus, the study finds that the processing of the prophet’s life story in the book is not filled with a round of ‘blood splash’. instead, it is flavored with elements of tolerance, solidarity, and compassion. as to compare, hendar riyadi (2016) also emphesizes the teaching of tolerance and peacefulness practiced by “modern muslims” in java. perhaps tariq ramadan tries to awaken all to see the need for building a civilized society. therefore, he tends to put aside the old story of the vengeful battles but gives his attention to how to live in harmony and peace under global rules. here it can be concluded that the essence of the book of the prophet’s life by tariq is to take the example of how the prophet practiced tolerance in dealing with the arabs of all tribes, and how he respected the jewish-christians and arab tribes that he managed to rule them. finally, he managed to bring islam to the entire arab world and the whole world. this is among the important message delivered by tariq in this book. conclusion it is humble to conclude that tariq ramadan intends to ensure that the teachings of islam, in this context, are tolerance, which is global in nature, and it should be not wasted but can be lived and shared with the entire human race for the sake of unity in the world. this great message, namely tolerance, respect, solidarity can be applied and practiced in public life in the european continent against the backdrop of different traditions in the islamic world. tariq ramadan is decisive in this case. therefore, the elaboration of the biography of the prophet which was derived from a broader and comprehensive global awareness is fundamental. it aims to avoid force which can trigger the fire of conflict. he did not write in a copy-and-paste manner, but through the appreciation and awareness of intellectual in order to understand the implicit meaning of the events taking place every second, and then re-interpreted [ 246 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 them to suit the new environment as well as for current consumption in the context of the modern world. accordingly, tariq ramadan’s writing about the life story of the prophet stresses on harmony, without prejudice and discrimination. this clearly indicates that tariq ramadan seeks to redefine the life story of the prophet with a new approach aimed to provide awareness, education and example to all citizens of the world, especially muslims, to search for traces of the prophet with the awareness of high intellectual efforts toward the establishment of a harmonious society in accordance with the nature of islam as a religion of peace and peaceful religion. references abd.rahman, saodah. 2006. “media barat jahil agama” in utusan malaysia, 6 feb. 2006. asad, muhammad. 2005. islam at the crossroads. kuala lumpur: the others press. djar’ie, s.m. & zaenuddin hudi prasojo. 2015. “religion, culture and local wisdom in the death ritual of pontianak malay community.” in al-albab journal. vol. 4. no. 2. p: 201-229. esposito, john l. 2008. ancaman islam: mitos atau realiti? kuala lumpur: itbm. muzaffar, chandra. 2011. muslim today: changes within, challenge without. pakistan: emel publications. nong, nor faridah mat. 2015. identiti muslim eropah: perspektif tariq ramadan. kuala lumpur: itbm. nasr, seyyed hossein. 2004. the heart of islam: enduring values for humanity. new york: harperone. ramadan, tariq. 2002. to be a european muslim. uk: the islamic foundation. ------------, 2007. in the footsteps of the prophet: lessons from the life of muhammad. new york: oxford university press. ------------, 2010. what i believe. new york: oxford university press. ------------, 2012. the quest for meaning: developing a philosophy of pluralism. [ 247 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 england: penguin books. riyadi, hendar. 2016. “koeksistensi damai dalam maysrakat muslim modernis.” in wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya. vol. 1. no. 1. p: 18-33. said, edward w. 1995. liputan berita tentang islam. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. sulaiman, shaharom tm. 2013. dunia pemikiran intelektual. kuala lumpur: itbm. [ 153 ] al -albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 islam and malay in borneo pontianak: iain pontianak press, 2015 by hermansyah reviewed by dian kartika sari pontianak state institute of islamic studies islam and malay are undeniably inseparable from borneo island. this book elaborates the writer’s thoughts about islam and malay, especially in borneo island. hermansyah himself was triggered by the small number of literatures or research on borneo island. therefore, those reasons encouraged him to write more about borneo and its living society. islam and malay in borneo consists of eight chapters that present various kinds of malay and islam comprehensively. chapter one is about the identity of islam and malay. to begin with, malay, once, was considerably identical to islam. if someone embraces islam, then he or she will be considered a malay, no matter his/her ethnic background. nevertheless, in line with the social and political life, the idea has also been shifted. besides, the other chapters also discuss more on how the islamic life and malay society thrive in borneo. the assimilation of cultural and religious practices was used so people would absorb both values effortlessly. thus, hermansyah puts an article in chapter two about the islamization of the inlanders: the model of cultural da’wah. in this chapter, the writer emphasizes that islam was not merely a revealed religion because the spreading process at that time concerned on inclusive and diverse model (azyumardi azra on p. 21). moreover, cultural da’wah utilizes the local culture and is not a limitation between ‘pure islam’ and ‘syncretic islam’. the process itself is to accelerate the changes through social-economic and education empowerment. in addition to the cultural da’wah, the intellectual heritage from the ancestors also shows how the inlanders practiced islam in the past. in chapter three and four, furthermore, the writer portrays how the texts, literatures, and manuscripts had a major role in islamization. fiqh book written by bilal lumbuk or haji massabran which is analysed in this book is a primary source describing the unique islamization process in the rural area of west kalimantan. the manuscript sheds light not only on fiqh matters but also aqidah and tasawwuf which were taught by sufis in the past. moreover, the [ 154 ] al-albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 pattern of islam at that time was simpler to perform as the religious values spread but not ignoring the local wisdom. thus, islamization was acceptable and easy to follow for some communities. the manuscript contributes the unique information of some communities’ life, whether it be history, law, education, spiritualism, and so forth. besides, some of manuscripts analyzed by hermansyah and some research reveal that islam could transform the strict local people into open-minded and tolerant malay (p. 56). manuscripts are significant to understand people and their aspects of life in the past. therefore, hermansyah thinks preserving the manuscripts is an important matter nowadays that the intellectual heritage of the past could be explored entirely. the preservation, nonetheless, could be a process of collecting or digitalizing the manuscripts. hermansyah, through his writing, delivers a strong bond between malay and islam, and the islamization process of native inhabitants being malay people. the sufis, additionally, had a major role on the islamization process through simpler way that came from the local culture and local wisdom. moreover, the manuscripts – such as religious or mantra books – also documented many materials regarding islam and malay. in other chapters, the writer enhances the relation between islam and malay that could be found in mantra books. then, the discussion continues on how the statement from mantra books have a strong power to move local people believe in the mantras. the writer stresses on how the local culture or wisdom affect the way native people act and think. local wisdom, as well, had opened easier way for ulama, dai, or sufi who brought islamic values to the local people through assimilation process in the past. the islamization process, furthermore, was easily accepted because the concept and the main values of islamic doctrine were adapted from local wisdom. meanwhile, local wisdom could also prevent an enormous conflict from taking place since local people have the same point of view. to wrap up, this book is highly recommended for those who wish to learn more about islamization, ethnicity, and social life. eventhough the book is actually the unpublished articles collected by the writer, “islam and malay in borneo” is worth reading. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 177 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia sekolah tinggi agama katolik negeri pontianak, indonesia email: joezzwanto@gmail.com sekar ayu aryani uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: sekar.aryani@ uin-suka.ac.id ahmad muttaqin uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: ahmad.muttaqin@uin-suka.ac.id abstract for the mentuka dayak tribe, pinah laman is a change in ethnic and religious identity. pinah laman in the mentuka dayak community is perceived as a cultural space for community members who convert to a particular religion. generally, religious conversion occurs in this society from catholicism to islam. the new identity is given by the term ‘sinan.’ but on the other hand, the sinan identity has its own meaning. sinan is a new identity given to those who have converted to another religion. because of this pinah laman custom, they do not get their tribal rights, such as: performing the mentuka dayak traditional ceremonies. this article aims to explore the construction of a new identity from the construction process of religious identity, which involves custom. in addition, this article also explains the form of religious identity construction that occurs among the mentuka dayak tribe and the new converts who experience it. religious conversion is inseparable from the driving factors for the emergence of a new identity and the implications of constructing a new identity due to the conversion process. this article was compiled from the results of research using the ethnographic method. the results of this research show that pinah laman is a conversion process of a christian or catholic dayak to islam. this impacts the social sanctions one receives from one’s social group. for the mentuka dayak people, when someone decides to change his religion, he must be willing to give up his dayak ethnicity. one of the social effects felt by a new convert in the dayak tribe is that he will be given a nickname or term ‘sinan.’ based on the results of this research, the term sinan has a negative connotation. this is because those who change their religion are ultimately not given the freedom to practice dayak customs as usual. keyword: pinah laman; construction; religious and ethnic identity; the mentuka dayak [ 178 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 introduction the construction of a new religious identity after pinah laman occurs among the mentuka dayak tribe. the conversion of ethnic identity accompanies this construction of religious identity. pinah laman in the mentuka dayak community1 is perceived as a cultural space for community members who convert to another religion (religious conversion). generally, religious conversion occurs in this society from catholicism to islam.2 the converts (people who change their religion) in this custom will be required to renounce their dayak traditions and catholicism. a new identity, sinan3, is then given to them. however, the sinan identity has other meanings beyond the meaning of the conversation. even though they have left catholicism, because of this pinah laman custom, sinan still receives the opportunity to build relationships with other family members and the community. the dayaks in west kalimantan are predominantly catholics while the malays are muslims. (abdillah, 2012; akil, 1994; albab, 2018; martinus et al., n.d.; muhrotien, 2012; muhtifah, 2013; qodir, 2018; riwut & riwut, 2007; yuswanto, 2021) the religious conversion among the dayaks in west kalimantan gives rise to a new identity which is generally referred to as senganan (atok, 2017; barter, 2014; binti bolhasan, 2019; duile, 2017; erni, n.d.; halim et al., 2019, 2021; khair & zaki, 2018; kustini & pusat litbang kehidupan beragama (indonesia), 2010; misrita & no, 2016; nugraha, 2018; sellato, 2021; sulaiman et al., n.d.; susanti, 2015; tanasaldy, 2012; utami, 2022; yusriadi, 2019). the religious conversion among the dayaks of west kalimantan is unique because they leave their customs and daily life practice as dayak people. this conversion is also called turun melayu [becoming malay]. (lathifah, 2018a, 2018b). the two ethnic identities, dayak and malay, have developed according to the times. (andriana, 2011; nugraha, 2018; yusriadi, 2018; prasojo, 2008). based on these views, this research found new construction of identity among the dayaks, specifically among the mentuka dayak tribe. changes in identity related to culture are also found among the karo batak who convert to islam (amin et al., 2019; kipp, 1995; kumbara & anom, 2008; mujiburrahman, 2001; nurohman & gunawan, 2019; rumahuru, 2020; sugiatno, 2016). these changes are also the case with religious conversion among the sasak ethnic group (david harnish, 2021; kumbara & anom, 2008). religious conversion associated with ethnic identity is directly or indirectly related because it 1 mentuka dayak refers to the dayak sub-tribe in west kalimantan that generally live in sekadau regency, west kalimantan. they are synonymous with catholicism. 2 hereinafter, members of the mentuka dayak tribe who will convert to islam will be referred to as convert. 3 sinan is a distinctive term in the mentuka dayak tribe to refer to the dayaks who have changed religion from catholicism to islam. [ 179 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 involves a separate psycho-spiritual side (hironimus, 2022; iyadurai, 2014; prof. dr. h. kurnial ilahi et al., 2017). the issues examined in this article are: the dayak people who convert from catholicism to islam are alienated, for example: living outside of the mentuka dayak tribe means they cannot live with or be close to their family anymore and do not get an inheritance. even though those who have converted (pinah laman) still identify themselves as dayak, the social impact built in the mentuka dayak tribe is that those who have left the catholic religion are no longer accepted as members of the mentuka dayak tribe. the reason is that those who have left catholicism can no longer practice their ancestors’ customs. this is also intended to distinguish between the dayak people, who live in the upper reaches of the river, and the malays, who live in the coastal areas. other implications of this ‘alienation’ include not eating pork, drinking liquor, and dressing in traditional clothing (for women). from the point of view of the catholic religion, the catholic church provides freedom of religion and does not give a specific label or designation for those who leave catholicism (halawa, 2022). this article seeks to explore the construction of a new identity lost when someone has practiced pinah laman. the construction of this new identity includes the construction of religious identity, which involves custom. the author perceives that the problem of changing ethnic identity related to religious identity can trigger behavior of intolerance or cut off relations with other family members and the community in their hometown. the construction of a new identity among the mentuka dayaks needs to be examined in depth because people who change their religion and ethnic identity have new views on life in line with their new religious teachings and new customs. this can trigger conflict with each other, in which catholicism and islam have different patterns or ways of life, as is the case with the lifestyle of the dayaks and malays in west kalimantan. this article describes the form of construction of religious identity that occurred among the dayak mentuka and the converts4 who experienced it. religious conversion cannot be separated from the driving factors for the emergence of a new identity and the implications of constructing a new identity due to the conversion process. this article was compiled from the research results using the ethnographic method. the data were collected for approximately 3 (three) months in nanga mahap district, sekadau regency, using participant observation, in-depth interviews, and guided group discussions. the data sources for this research were the converts, traditional leaders, and community leaders. this research 4 convert is the word used in this article to refer to sinan. [ 180 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 found that there is new construction of religious identity in the practice of religious conversion among the mentuka dayak tribe in the context of spiritual life, namely sinan. in particular, this research was carried out in the lembah beringin. lembah beringin is part of the outer mentuka, but for customs and social life, there is no difference from the inner mentuka people. in lembah beringin, the term sinan is also found. sinan in this place has a culture that is almost similar to that of the mentuka dayak people because they are also mentuka dayak people. the construction of pinah laman the term pinah laman is a custom given to the mentuka dayaks, who will convert from catholicism to islam. meanwhile, the term sinan is an identity given to the mentuka dayaks who have converted to islam. in addition, sinan is a direct effect or social sanction given by mentuka dayaks to subjects who have converted from catholicism to islam. in other areas or dayak tribes, the term sinan is also known as senganan. the mentuka dayak tribe is divided into two regions: mentuka dalam [inner mentuka] and mentuka luar [outer mentuka]. the designations of the inner and outer regions indicate that the area is close to a ‘lump’ of land from the majapahit kingdom, which is recognized as the pioneer in the emergence of the mentuka dayak tribe. the religious, social condition of the lembah beringin hamlet5 and tanjung melati6 has an attachment between two different religions, namely islam and catholicism. regarding inter-religious tolerance, people in the two hamlets are like brothers and sisters. when the researcher visited a funeral in tanjung melati, the people present were not only from tanjung melati, but the sinan people who come from the lembah banyan also came and participated in the funeral ceremony and traditional events at the funeral home. it is the same case with religious holidays. the tolerance between the two hamlets is excellent and shows that the habit of living together in mutual respect is still going well. carrying out the traditions of the mentuka dayak ancestors in lembah beringin is inevitable for the people, especially in mystical matters such as berobat [traditional healing],7 with no exception for those who are sinan. this 5 lembah beringin is a location where the mentuka dayaks who have converted to islam (sinan) live. there are several places of worship for muslims but no place of worship for the catholics. 6 tanjung melati or better known as dusun soruk is the home of the outer mentuka dayak tribe. this village [hamlet] is synonymous with catholicism. there are several places of worship for catholics but no place of worship for the muslims. 7 the term berobat [traditional healing] in west kalimantan has a connotation of mystical matters, such as treatment using the help of invisible beings, borrowing terms that are [ 181 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 is quite common in lembah beringin village. an informant stated: “in lembah beringin there are many shamans, even more than those in soruk. they (sinan) still go to shamans and still give offerings. i also once accompanied a friend to see a shaman and look for medicinal herbs in the forest. at that time the plate we brought with us was empty. the sinan shaman recited some mantra, and suddenly there appeared the bark, flowers, and seeds we were looking for.” (selin, personal communication, 10 october 2021). a brief description of the conditions for traditional healing above is common in west kalimantan in general. traditional items are needed for the treatment itself, which are difficult to find now. these rare items can be replaced with money as gratitude or a substitute for the service a person does to prepare the items. one of the same customs practiced today is the custom of sinan religious conversion in lembah beringin. the sinan people in lembah beringin also practice pinah laman, which is practiced by the mentuka dayaks. interestingly, when the individual pinah laman was issued according to custom, the two village chiefs and customary leaders from each hamlet were present to witness the pinah laman event. pinah laman is a common thing known to the dayak mentuka and sinan. when the researcher collected data about sinan’s life, it was illustrated that the sinan tradition has the same culture or customs as the mentuka dayak tribe in tanjung melati. the thing that distinguishes it is everyday items that are replaced with money. this is in line with the healing rituals described earlier in this section. acceptance of salobar8 or a joint agreement with the indigenous people indicating that the dayak individual had converted to sinan was welcomed by the temenggung adat [customary leader] of lembah beringin, and they continued with the pinah laman practiced by the sinan people. living together in a community in terms of unity in the management of lembah beringin village does not make the mentuka dayaks change their religion. the new converts that we met knew islam outside the lembah beringin village. they are not afraid to change their faith because they know that by completing pinah laman, they can achieve their goal of conversion. a convert believes that outside the mentuka dayaks territory, he found a religion that suits his identity, namely islam. this is in line with the view of lewis rambo, who reported that the convert has goals to achieve, has future orientation, and is motivated when deciding to do a pinah laman. the experience of living in society has led the convert to find a new religion and generally the same as activities related to shamanism. 8 salobar is a statement or decision made by a customary council member or traditional leader declaring that a convert can become a sinan and has been ‘alienated’ from the culture or customs of the mentuka dayak tribe. [ 182 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 provide a new path in life. pinah laman really affects the convert to strive for a better life. the fact that a dayak individual who converts to another religion is still accepted by his family makes pinah laman, which at first looks difficult, become less complicated. the data collected during the research showed that the new convert lacked a profound understanding of the implications of sinan’s identity, which should live a life according to the teachings of islam properly. this is reflected in sinan’s behavior, drinking liquor and eating pork during traditional events and private moments. (rico and unyil, personal communication, 17 march 2021) the people in lembah beringin and tanjung melati have a similar social structure. a new life for the recent convert in lembah beringin as a new place to practice islam’s teachings is an appropriate description. second, the traditional adat elders, both in tanjung melati and lembah beringin, mutually accepted those who do pinah laman, which shows that these two hamlets have solid connections or relations with each other. from the observation data collected in this research, we saw that these two hamlets’ lives were going well. during religious holidays, they visited each other, and even during traditional events, they invited each other. in other words, the sinans, who have new life goals by the new religion, have a place to accomplish their life goals and are protected by the customs of their respective hamlets. “yang setau aku tih kesamaan adat atau ritual adat di lembah beringin tuk sama tamah yang ada di soruk nun, ... sistem kepengurusan adat a sama jak am, dituk pun ada gak pengurus adat a, missal a yak dituk ada gak tamongokng adat a, adat gak segala menteri-menteri adat a. tamah segala proses ngalaksana adat a yak sama jak am. cuma yang di soruk yak ada segala yang nama mangkok adat, babi, tuak a piak jak am. jolu yak yang nyadi pokok adat a tih. macam di lembah beringin tuk semua adat yang macam di sotuk yak ganti tamah duit jak, misik istilah macam di soruk yak ya. apai jak jolu adat a yang di lembah beringin tuk samua di ganti tamah duit jak am. ngalaksana a tih totap sama jak am yak a.” ( herianto, personal communication, 10 oktober 2021) meaning: “as far as i know, the customs or rituals in lembah beringin are the same as those in soruk, ... the conventional management system is the same, here we also have adat traditional elders, for example there is a temenggung adat [customary chief], there are also adat ministers. and the process of carrying out the custom is still the same, it’s just like in soruk, the custom is traditional bowls, pork, rice wine and the like, there must be something that serves as the main component of the [ 183 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 custom. whereas in lembah beringin there is no such thing, here all the customs handled to the traditional elders are replaced with money, there are no other types, like in soruk. … all the violations of customary law in lembah beringin shall be replaced with money. the adat procession remains the same.” the adat procession which the two chiefs of the villages attended is a reflection of inter-religious tolerance as well as inter-cultural tolerance. pinah laman does not alienate someone from their family or hometown. the demographic condition of west kalimantan, which has a wide area with further development in each region, has brought a new mindset to the mentuka dayak community. therefore, the mentuka dayak people who know a new world have new hopes too. this is manifested in their intention to change their way of life that suits them. it also happens in religious life. those who know islam because they study outside their hometown and feel islam is suitable for them selfconsciously declare to do pinah laman. the pinah laman, which was done by a new convert outside the territory of the dayak mentuka tribe, was described that outside their place of birth, they found something that moved them to have a different life with new habits. the mentuka dayak tribe has a religious lifestyle by the teachings of the catholic religion, which are different from the teachings of islam. this difference could generate new thoughts; one will do pinah laman because of the motivation to get a new and suitable life. in other words, pinah laman is also driven by inspiration, hope, orientation, and something related to one’s conscience. we believe that the identity of sinan is given to the mentuka dayak tribe. even though a sinan himself does not want to use the term. pinah laman occurs not only because of one’s wish but because others make him interested and want to know more. this is not a form of the collectivity of various figures, but there is usually one figure who becomes a role model for him to change his religion. (ritzer & smart, 2012) the construction of sinan identity the construction of sinan identity, particularly, had yet to be obtained during this research. literature on sinan is scarce because it is only found among the mentuka dayak tribe. the construction of sinan identity needs to be viewed from the two designations for the two major tribes in kalimantan, namely the dayak and the malay. “in general, it can be said that the term dayak is used to name nonmuslims who live in the interior of kalimantan. this term was given by the malays on the coast of borneo, which means mountain. (andriana, [ 184 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 2011; mananta, n.d.; riwut et al., 2003) this term is related to the word malay, which is a term for people who come from the malay area and speak malay and live on the coast of kalimantan and are muslim.” the construction of sinan identity occurs when a dayak embraces islam. this is in line with the general view that the dayaks are christians or catholics because those who later embrace islam are no longer called dayaks. some call them senganan or refer to them as “becoming malay.”(fatmawati, 2007) the term sinan was used by grandpa akim, who reported as follows: “sinan ce naodant ka nya melayu ce odant bahasa saik se sinan. bahasa joman saik se, bahasa sinan ce bahasa joman muntuh. nya melayu mpoda nya dayak to kan nya doih. nya doih to kan joman nyamuntuh saik se, nya doih to kan kayodeh monai nik tamikng sungi. nya nik uut sungi to kan nya dayak. nya melayu kan kant e se nya nik monai nik piking. totap nik doih, nik tunu tona. kan bala angok, banatakng ce nik piking. nya doih ngan nik piking. nya melayu nik piking kan ideh uleh nsia bayunupm mpah ka duyung …sinan to odant panggilan e mom.”(akim, personal communication, 11 maret 2021) meaning: “sinan refers to the malays; formerly the word that was used [to call them] was sinan. it was an old word. the word sinan was [derived from] the old language. the malays referred to the dayaks as the darat people. the dayaks didn’t live on the riverside; where those living on the upriver side were the dayaks. the malays were riverine people. according to the legend, riverine people couldn’t live in the water in ancient times. [they] lived on land, on the ground. all fish and animals were in the water. darat people lived in the water, too. the malays couldn’t swim like dugongs... sinan was their nickname.” grandpa akim stated that the term sinan is a nickname. the old language (among the mentuka dayak tribe) referred to the malays as sinan people, which can also be interpreted as those (mentuka dayaks) who embraced the malay religion, namely islam. this is related to the disagreement regarding the view that in the past, the dayak people were called darat people because they did not live on the riverside, while the malays were said to live in the (river) water. according to grandpa akim, this is incorrect because the malays can’t live in the water as humans cannot live in the water like dugongs. the interview with grandpa akim shed light on a unique expression in the terms darat people and “water” people. in particular, the term sinan is given [ 185 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 explicitly as a nickname only for dayak muslim people. the temenggung of tanjung melati said: “deent ce tintikng ka sinan lamp bahasa mentuka, mungkin basa indonesia e ce ngutan. nik asli e deent ce saik se kan nya dayak manto ce ikunt e dayak, bahasa islam e mualaf. ikunt e ncela …padahal sabonar e odup e ce ikunt e dayak tapi sinan. tapi padai nyonsik hal nik mpah manto dah kotui manto ce biasa mom, padai nya dayak ngan nya sinan sabonar e bujoi agama mom ngan pamakant e jak baloikng tapi gik cukup kuat nahan modup basama nik bake.”(temenggung adat tanjung melati, fgd ii, 15 maret 2021) meaning: “they are referred to as sinan in the mentuka language, possibly ngutan in the indonesian language. originally they used to be dayaks, but now they are no longer dayaks; in islamic terms they are called mualaf [convert]. we don’t criticize... a person like that is just an assumption on his part that he is a dayak when he is no longer one but a sinan. but seeing things like this is normal so far because the dayaks and the sinans are only different in religion and food but still hold fast to tolerance.” the temenggung of tanjung melati hamlet interpreted that the term sinan means ngutan (a term of the mentuka dayak language), which according to him, is a derivation of the indonesian language. he explained that this term gives meaning to dayak people who embrace islam. his words can be interpreted by referring to the mentuka dayak tribe, who are catholic. if the mentuka dayak people are not catholic (in this case, muslim), that person is no longer said to be a dayak. this causes the mentuka dayak people who convert to islam to be called sinan or mualaf. as the temenggung of tanjung melati, he did not want the term convert to have a negative connotation expressed through his statement that he did not criticize. the term sinan according to the temenggung of tanjung melati hamlet, is simple. the dayaks and the sinans have differences in food and religion because, in tanjung melati, they hold fast to tolerance between religion and the practice of their tribal customs. “kalua beda sinan ngan doih ce memang am. kalua odup e dah turunt sinan, odup e dah pinah am. kalua melayu ngan sinan ce odeh ga beda e, kalua nik tintikng senganan ce nya melayu katurunt nya dayak. kalua melayu nik asl ice katurunt niti raja, nik sobut ka abang. ce baka e nik sobut ka melayu. tapi dah baoh manto ce bacampoi am. kalua [ 186 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 nya senganan ce kabangant e nya dayak. nik istilah e katurunt melayu kajoman raja saik se, ce kona paksa harus turunt. ce tintikng sinan.” meaning: “there are, in fact, differences between sinan and doih. if one has become sinan, he has changed to sinan. the difference between sinan and malay is odeh. if you call them senganan, they are malays of dayak descent. a real malay is a descendant of a king titled abang. that’s a malay. but now it’s mixed up. for the senganans, many dayaks are said to be descended from the malays because they were forced to convert during the time of the kings. they are called sinan.” this is different from the views of other mentuka dayak traditional elders, such as the view of the chief of pantok hamlet, which is the center of the mentuka dayak customary council. the chief of dusun pantok said that sinan is another term for senganan used by the dayaks. however, the term sinan is typical among the mentuka dayak tribe, so there is no equivalent of the term with the malay designation. this identity transformation is related to cultural displacement. there is no prohibition on changing religion, but there are separate warnings for people who will change religion. if the person concerned already has a firm intention, and has been given a warning that changing faith comes with inevitable consequences. that person will be subject to the custom of changing culture. an informant said: “padai nsia maah sabonar e ideh tao pinah budaya ce lah kakuatan e. kalau nsia longk nak nokap, odant e to kona adat. kalau nyamuntuh e ngidah, odup e totap nak barubah, odeh adat e. kalau odup e nokap, maka kona tuntot adat.” (husin, fgd iii, 16 maret 2021) meaning: “so because our people can’t change culture, that’s strength. if a community member wants to be reckless, that’s what we call it. it’s subject to customary law. if their parents forbid them, but they want to proceed, there is customary law. if they are reckless, they will be prosecuted through customary law.” the quotation above illustrates that to change religion or culture, parents have a role in guarding or forbidding their children because of the habits practiced in the life of the mentuka dayak tribe. however, a person who wants to change religion, in this case in his position as a child, and is determined to do so, will [ 187 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 be prosecuted through customary law. in this case, it is also implied that the risk of religious conversion is the change of dayak culture to a culture that is not dayak anymore. in the focus group, discussion held on march 17, 2021, in the pantok hamlet, there was an in-depth discussion regarding the term sinan, namely: “kalau dah pinah, sacara identitas niti kaluarga totap, tapi agame loikng. memang deent ce kalau dah pinah ce odant e sinan, menurut bahasa mentuka e. nik sabut ka sinan, sanganan, atau nyage ce talalu kasar gila bagi deent ce. deent ce togoh narima kona sobut mpah maen. deent ce lebih ngonal bala odup e ka melayu.” (riki, fgd iii, 16 maret 2021) meaning: “if one has changed [religion], his family identity remains the same, but the religion is different. in fact, when they have converted [to another religion], they are called sinan according to the mentuka language. the designation of sinan or senganan or nyage 9 is derogatory to them. they may find it difficult to accept that designation; they prefer to introduce themselves as malays” riki, head of tanjung melati hamlet, argued that the mentuka dayaks who had changed their identity, have their family identity unchanged, in the sense that religion had changed. the ethnic identity changed to become malay because the use of the terms sinan, senganan, or nyage is regarded as derogatory. the converts who live in tanjung melati hamlet prefer to use the term malay as their new identity. “melayu ce bahasa alus e, bahasa daerah. nik tintikng nya dayak mentuka ce sinan. jadi deent nyobut bala odup e melayu, padai deent ce pinah agama.” (aket, fgd iii, 16 maret 2021) meaning: “malay is the appropriate term, the regional language. they call the mentuka dayaks sinan. so they call themselves malays, because they have converted to another religion.” according to aket excerpted from the discussion above, the malay term for the convert is a subtle designation in the regional language. the correct term 9 the term nyage is a muslim dayak term in the nanga mahap area. this term is a term that has a negative connotation or has a rough accent when spoken among the mentuka dayak tribe. [ 188 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 is sinan because it comes from the mentuka language. the term malay is used after a religious conversion. “deent ce nik pinah niti suku dayak mentuka biasa e ce lebih panatik niti nya nik asli e. waktu ulang tahun dah babeda am. deent ce mincakng bala panyantak dodup mom. ntah padai onih deent ce. maka e senganan atau sinan ce budaya, ciri khas nya dayak ce dah ayap am. pas dah pinah agama deent ce dah tarikat ongan ajaran agama islam.” (husin, fgd iii, 16 maret 2021) meaning: “those who change religion in the mentuka dayak tribe usually become more fanatical than they originally were. during the birthday party, they were different.10 they brought their utensils. i don’t know why. so senganan or sinan is a culture; their dayak characteristics are gone. when they have changed religion, they are bound by the teachings of islam.” bang jiman was not interested in discussing the use of the terms. he prefers to invite the fgd forum to discuss the conversion issue. the converts usually become more fanatical than they were initially. in other words, converts are more passionate than those born muslim. for example, the converts’ life also changes in the designation of different birthday. when they return home, they bring their own utensil. this is in line with pak husin’s statement in the previous section. bang jiman also did not understand why this happened. this change in lifestyle makes the converts lose their identity. it would be difficult to call them dayaks because the teachings of islam bind them. “kalau odup e gulokng, balome islam to nak pinah agama ka nya dayak, baoh manto kalua dah lamat-lamat ce obu agik, ce odeh adat e … kalua dah pinah ka melayu, deent ce ikunt e dayak agik ... ce kan dah ntigal agama to odeh adat e, kalua kayodeh adat e, adat e gik odeh ... kalua odeh nik bapinah-pinah, kona adat nipu agama. odup e nak nyaga kabagos agama e.” (jiman, fgd iii, 16 maret 2021) meaning: “if he wants it, we muslims want to convert to the dayak religion; now it’s been a long time since they’ve run away again; there’s customary 10 the difference in the year among the mentuka dayak tribe is based on the calculation of the hijri year and leap year. a customary council member of the mentuka dayak tribe views that a person’s age or the birthday of a sinan based on the hijri year calculation. [ 189 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 law for that... when they become malay, they’re not dayak anymore... leaving religion requires customary law, if there is no customary law, this religion is useless... no longer dayak, then after renouncing religion, the customary law is still there... if someone changes religion back and forth, he will be subject to customary law for cheating religion. it will keep the religion clean.” grandpa akim’s statement emphasized pinah laman’s position related to ethnic identity. if the mentuka dayak people want to “jump the fence,” they have lost their customs as dayak people. if the person is half-hearted in making his choice, then the customary practice will be useless because the mentuka dayak tribe’s customs cannot be separated from their religion (catholicism). if he changes religion, he will be subject to even more severe customs for toying with faith. pinah laman brings changes in ethnic identity for the convert. in collecting data regarding this change, it was assumed that the use of the word sinan for the mentuka dayak convert was not final because there were two conflicting parties. one party accepted the term sinan because they believed that the word sinan was the correct term for a convert with various supporting reasons, and one party did not use the term sinan for specific reasons. “in west kalimantan, if a dayak converts to islam, he tends to reject his identity as a dayak and is considered malay. in west kalimantan, a malay does not have to be someone of malay ethnicity because a dayak who embraces islam also becomes a malay... a dayak who later converts to islam no longer calls himself a dayak but a malay and no longer uses the dayak language but malay.”(john bamba, 2008) the dayak identity that is lost and becomes sinan is the identity given by the traditional elders of the mentuka dayak tribe and the mentuka dayak community. however, the converts still regard themselves as muslim dayak. they do not want to give up their dayak identity even though society says otherwise. generally, society finds it difficult to accept them as dayak because the sinan are far more fanatical about implementing islamic teachings than the muslims themselves. for example, when the sinan return home, they bring their cutlery and cooking utensils. they do not want to use their family’s cutlery and cooking utensils even despite being made available to them. families respect them by providing a separate table or place for muslim families. but in reality, they always bring their cooking utensils and cutlery. even though this is difficult for the family and society to accept, over time, the family and community inevitably take the habit of the sinan to maintain a good relationship. [ 190 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 the sinan identity is full of islamic religious values, so their religious attitude is seen in their pattern of life. this spiritual attitude is maintained as their identity and personality, causing them to carry out the teachings of the religion they embrace steadily. such a religious attitude gives rise to excessive obedience and leads to fanaticism. therefore, the spiritual perspective of an adult tends to be based on the selection of religious teachings that can provide inner peace based on common sense considerations.(jalaluddin, 2019; rambo et al., 2014). fearon’s theory was used to construct the sinan identity in three forms: identity legitimacy, identity resistance, and identity projects. (fearon, 2020; jalaluddin, 2019) this theory was used to see how the construction of the sinan identity is preserved in the customs of the mentuka and dayak tribes and the polemic on the use of the sinan identity in society. the projection of the sinan identity is a symbol of the expression of traditional elders who have experience in pinah laman. identity legitimacy and resistance the first form of fearon’s theory is identity legitimacy which the traditional elders of the mentuka dayak tribe created. the traditional and customary elders of the mentuka dayak tribe in pantok, nanga mahap, and tanjung melati address pinah laman in the customary book of the mentuka dayak tribe. this pinah laman procedure has been “patented” and cannot be contested by anyone. this custom is also used as a guide from one generation to the other. the term sinan used as an identity for the convert from the mentuka dayak tribe is a special term given by the customary administrator to the convert. this identity is given without asking for the convert’s approval but is automatically accepted by the convert. the term sinan is nothing new among the mentuka dayak tribe, but the meaning of sinan has not been adequately understood by the mentuka dayak people. “odant sinan ce asal e niti bahasa nya dayak mentuka. ikunt e bahasa baoh tapi niti ine boyak deent ce, ideh kona nangkoingk, atau nangkoingk masyarakat adat mentuka. ... samua masyarakat dayak mentuka samua e dah ngantao sinan ce odant nik kona nambola ka osih ngan osih baka e. padai nik lamp adat pinah agama, masyarakat ongan kona nunangk ka acara dook dan saogont dook bala pamakant nik dah kona nontangk pelayan kona nampoda yoyi e onih tujuan odeh acara e ce.” meaning: “the word sinan comes from the native language of the mentuka dayak people. not a new language but from their ancestors, not artificial or [ 191 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 written by the indigenous mentuka people. ... all mentuka dayak people know that sinan is a title or nickname given to whom and who the person is. because of the custom of changing religion, the community is invited to a meal. before eating the dishes provided by the waiter, they are explained the event’s purpose.” (husin, fgd iii, 16 march 2021) the second form of this theory is the identity resistance generated by the convert in a position that receives pinah laman. opposition arose when we asked about the convert’s identity after pinah laman to the convert and the traditional elders of the tanjung melati hamlet. opposition arose when they did not want to be called sinan. “ … walaupun balome bapinah, balome totap suku dayak padai balome katurunt nya dayak.” “ … totap dayak, sukuk an ideh tao nubah.”(rosa, personal communication, 13 maret 2021) “ … kayodeh parubah e. ome totap suku dayak.” (anna, personal communication, 13 maret 2021) meaning: “... even though we change [religioun], we are still dayak because we are of dayak descent.” “... still dayak, ethnicity can’t be changed.” “ ... no changes. i am still a dayak.” the same thing was stated by utuy (70 years), who said: “they are still dayak. in other words, muslim dayak.” (utuy, personal communication, march 16, 2021) this statement was made because his son had become a sinan. the statement above is part of the resistance on the convert’s side and traditional elders that we met. in an in-depth interview, among the conventional elders who said they were still dayak, they unintentionally said their children had experienced pinah laman. this shows that there is a reason why the traditional elders did not give the sinan identity to the convert, despite knowing the consequences of pinah laman. in interviews and fgds held in pantok hamlet, it was explained that the mentuka dayaks did not want to experience sadness because some of their tribe members left. they do not wish any dayak people to go to their dayakness. we found the same thing in jenkins’ explanation of the meaning of the identity (jenkins, 2008; maunati, 2004). the converts consciously recognize the characteristics of the ethnic identity they choose. they do not want to use the term sinan because they know the meaning of sinan, which is no longer dayak. they do not want to lose their interaction with the dayak identity. however, in this case, the traditional elders know that [ 192 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 the convert cannot be forced to become a dayak again. the mentuka dayak tribe releases the obligation of the convert as a mentuka dayak from everything related to the customs of the mentuka dayak tribe. a sinan will not be prosecuted if he does not practice the traditions of the mentuka dayak tribe. for example, in the case of drinking rice wine at traditional events. drinking rice wine in the traditional event of the mentuka dayak tribe is an obligation for the mentuka dayak people. if they do not want to practice this custom, they will receive a separate customary sanction because of their dayak identity. tuak [rice wine] is an obligation in the traditions of the mentuka dayak tribe. therefore, people who do not drink it will have an issue in terms of ethnic identity. the identity issues above can be found in a sinan. he is free from the custom of drinking rice wine or the like because the mentuka dayak tribe already knows the name sinan as a person who has converted to islam, and they cannot force the sinan to drink rice wine. the mentuka dayaks respect islamic teachings and do not want to ruin the human relationship with god. if the mentuka dayaks force the sinan to drink rice wine, then the mentuka dayaks themselves will be prosecuted under the customary law by the traditional elders. rice, wine or the like, and pork is traditional food and drink that must be present in the traditional rituals of the mentuka dayak tribe. these two standard items cannot be replaced because they have their essence, especially in the customs of the ancestors of the mentuka dayak tribe. if these two traditional items are only served without being consumed by the mentuka dayaks, then it can be said that they do not respect the customs of the mentuka dayak tribe’s ancestors. they understand this as a custom that lives and is preserved for generations. identity project the third form of this theory is the identity project which refers to the conversion in terms of substituting social positions and changing social structure. sadness because a dayak individual who renounces his dayakness does not need to arise because pinah laman facilitates or cures the sadness the family and the mentuka dayak people feel. everyday items used to perform the pinah laman ceremony have the meaning of replacing the soul, locally known as kuronkg samongatn. this shows that one’s dayakness, or the convert’s dakakness, still exists in the village where the convert was born. the convert’s dayakness does not disappear because it is replaced with traditional items; even pinah laman allows the convert to explore and practice islamic teachings even better. changes in the social structure of the sinan in their hometown are no longer a big issue but become a struggle in itself when [ 193 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 they meet with the community. the sinan identity does not appear during a convert’s socialization with people. the convert focuses on which identity makes him safe and uses it as needed. the convert we met as a catholic said he was a muslim dayak. changes in the social structure of the sinan are in part because they have left their hometown. this is supported by information regarding the difference in the customary fine imposed on the convert from the family of the customary administrator. a convert from a family of traditional elders has to pay a sizeable customary fine to ensure the traditional elders’ family is not negligent in guarding his family. traditional elders, of course, know the history of pinah laman very well. therefore, their family serves as a model of the life of the mentuka dayak tribe. if it is found that someone deviates from the customs of the mentuka dayak tribe’s ancestors, the special customary fine for the family of traditional elders is multiplied. the customary items are given not only to the traditional elders of the mentuka dayak tribe but also to other dayak tribes, such as the nanga taman dayak, kerabat dayak, or other dayak tribes in nanga mahap sub-district. fearon and afif expressed the same thing regarding the definition of identity. “identity is one’s feelings about himself, character, and origins. although it is closer to our more recent understanding of identity than the earlier notions we have alluded to, it is still more descriptive of ‘self-image’..”(fearon & afif, 2020) conclusion the concept of the identity project as sinan has its history based on one’s character and origins. the new identity given by the traditional elders was not for nothing. sinan means breaking away from the dayak tribe by embracing islam. the new identity as sinan emerges because the teachings of islam are not by the customs of the mentuka dayak ancestors. the self-image of sinan, which is more oriented towards life by the teachings of islam, should appear in the sinan’s life, and the dayak identity, which is also part of sinan’s identity, as reported by a convert, makes their sinan identity ambiguous. the ambiguity lies in sinan’s situation, which is incompatible with the dayak people’s porkeating and rice-wine-drinking habits. pinah laman is when a christian or catholic dayak converts to islam. it comes with social sanctions he receives from his social group. for the mentuka dayaks, when a person decides to change religion, he must be willing to give up his dayak ethnicity. these social sanctions include: not living with the dayak tribe, not being able to attend traditional dayak ceremonies, and not wearing traditional clothes like a real dayak (for women). the social effects experienced by those who change [ 194 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2245 religion in the dayak tribe are, among others, they are given the nickname or term sinan. based on the research results, the word sinan, according to the writer, has a negative connotation. this is because those who change religion are ultimately not given the freedom to practice the dayak customs as usual. pinah laman is a comparison between ethnicity and religion. this process of unification of customs and religion indeed results in a person not being able to use his free will as a human being to choose and determine which religion he should embrace. a dayak is synonymous with christianity or catholicism, just as a malay with islam. this certainly hurts religious life due to dualism, where humans can no longer distinguish between custom and religion. the problems and research findings above provide ideas that can minimize social and religious issues arising from the practice of pinah laman. first, the traditional institutions should separate themselves from or not use the concept of religion in practicing their time-honored traditions; traditional institutions run by conventional leaders should strengthen the tolerance between mentuka dayaks and sinans in terms of traditional events. the tolerance values found in the pinah laman custom is a confluence between ethnicity and religion, which leads readers to pluralism, tolerance, and religious moderation for the sake of building harmony between different nationalities, races, religions, and groups. religious freedom, based on one’s conscience, should serve as the basis that humans are created with freedom. bibliography abdillah, z. 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(2021). revitalisasi pengelolaan asrama dalam mengembangkan pendidikan katolik bagi suku dayak di wilayah perbatasan kabupaten sanggau. vocat: jurnal pendidikan katolik, 1(1), 30–36. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 81 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur sekolah tinggi ilmu pastoral st. sirilus, flores and uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: hirobandur@gmail.com adison adrianus sihombing badan riset dan inovasi nasional indonesia email: sonadi2017@gmail.com abstract this article explores the power of culture as an effort to promote a harmonious, tolerant and peaceful life between muslims and catholics. likang telu is a cultural concept of the people of west flores which is the basis for muslims and catholics to live in harmony, tolerance and peace. this study was conducted in manggarai, west flores, east nusa tenggara province. the work aims to explore four elements including, 1) the differences in muslim-catholic relations after and before the reform era; 2) the extent to which the likang telu concept affects muslim-catholic relations in manggarai; 3) the reasons for the likang telu concept being ignored by the manggarai people and 4) the implications of the fading likang telu concept in muslim-catholic relations in manggarai. the sugests that before the reform era, the muslim and catholic communities could live side by side in harmony and peace, while after the reform, the situation changed and conflicts were inevitable. it is apparently due to fading local wisdom, namely the likang telu concept of the manggarai people which has 3 pillars: ase-kae (brother and sister), hae beo (fellow residents), and anak wina-anak rona (husband-giver and wife-giver). the trigger factors are the emergence of religious organizations both in the catholic church and in islam; preferences of people’s knowledge sources that rely on the social media; and the unresolved trauma of the muslim-catholic relations in the past. the disregard for local wisdom has negative implications for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai. this study recommends that all elements of the manggarai community should revive and socialize likang telu as a local cultural treasure that had been proven in the past to be able to build a bridge of interfaith relations among different manggarai communities. keywords: likang telu; basis for relations; muslim-catholic, manggarai; post-reform [ 82 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 introduction the people of manggarai used to live in harmony, peace and tolerance, but now it is no longer the case. this is based on the fact that conflicts and tensions occurred in the post-reform era in the manggarai region, including the reo case in 2014 and the labuan bajo case in 2018. these two cases are basically not purely religious issues, but the polarization of conflict and tension between the catholics and muslims. the reo case coincided with the eid aladha celebration (floresa.co, 2014a, 2014b; hardum, 2014). the reo incident was caused by a “public nuisance”, as explained in law no. 2/2002 concerning the indonesian national police, article 15, namely the effects of consuming alcohol, while the labuan bajo case in 2018 occurred due to economic activities that did not take social conditions into account. a pork satay seller was regarded as having no tolerance for muslim brothers who were entering the holy month of ramadan (kesbangpol data, 2019). both of these events could basically have been prevented, if certain individuals had not provoked the masses with religious issues. attacks against each other actually occurred between catholic and muslim families despite the fact that these families are bound by marital relations, which are sealed in the likang telu concept. these cases show that the people of manggarai have turned their back on the likang telu concept in the social relations system. the literature on customs and culture in relation to religion has been extensively researched by previous scholars with their respective approaches and perspectives. frans (borgias, 2015, 2016), for example, mentions that the confluence of culture (manggarai) and religion (catholic church) has given the manggarai people a mutual transformative power, thus forming a hybrid identity. religion and customs are two aspects that are inherent in the life of the manggarai people. to quote yosef k. ratzinger (2004) as saying that faith itself is cultural, and faith itself exists as culture. in addition to being part of culture, religion is also a source of cultural inspiration (ibrahim, 2015; yazdani, 2020). these studies have placed religion and culture as two segments that are inseparable from the dynamics of life. it shows that the basic concepts of adat (customary law) and local culture remain a force for promoting a harmonious, peaceful and tolerant way of practicing religion (lubis, 2017; adison adrian sihombing, 2018). several scholars (webb, 1990; barnes, 2003; tule, 2004; gomang, 2006; widyawati, 2018) found two basic strengths of harmony between muslims and catholics in eastern indonesia (east nusa tenggara), namely: attachment to culture and marital relations. the findings of these scholars generally integrate community practices and habits into the aspects of cooperation, solidarity, [ 83 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 the principle of equity and equality, hence the term pela gandong in ambon, katong basudara in kupang, rambe and dodo (cooperation, mutual assistance) in manggarai. while the previous scholars emphasized more on traditional rites that always involve muslim and catholic families, this paper emphasizes local concepts of interaction models that actually cannot be decided by the new identity of a member of the community. therefore, this study stresses on the significant role of local culture, which is commonly known as local wisdom, to regulate the ecosystem of relations between individuals and social groups. the concept of likang telu becomes urgent in the midst of the worsening muslim-catholic relations in manggarai today. likang telu is a network of social relations, which ashutosh varshney (2002) referred to a a civic network, which can be used to strengthen inter-religious peace-building efforts in manggarai. this research explores and analyzes how the concept of likang telu of the manggarai people can be the basis for discourse and action towards living in harmony and peace. on the one hand, likang telu is seen as a reflection of the management of social relations in a plural society; but on the other, the possibility of it being ‘eroded’ by advances in science and information technology as well as contemporary religious reflection in each religion. as a concept and philosophy of social relations, likang telu can be a reference, but in the course of time, this is increasingly being ignored. in fact, the existence of catholics in manggarai is also related to marriage between a muslim woman who converted to catholicism and a young man that was later recorded as the first catholics in manggarai. the tense muslim-catholic relations in the post-reform era in manggarai illustrates that the likang telu ‘ecosystem’ is increasingly ignored. in line with that, there are four main questions that need to be answered in this research, namely first, what are the differences between muslim-catholic relations before and after the reform in manggarai? second, to what extent did the likang telu concept affect muslim-catholic relations in manggarai before the reform? third, why has the concept of likang telu been ignored by society in the post-reform era? fourth, what are the implications of the fading likang telu concept in the life of the muslim-catholic communities in manggarai after the reform? as a tentative answer, it can be argued that the fading likang telu concept in muslim-catholic relations is due to the contestation and mediatization of religion in the post-reform era. the post-reform era in indonesia is referred to as the period of revival of religions (ikhwan, 2018; suhadi, 2018). the revival of religions has led to its own clashes, both internally and with other dimensions of social life. the contestation in the sphere of religion includes [ 84 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 not only the contestation of discourse but also the contestation of religious actions. furthermore, excessive and unbalanced mediatization of religion allows conflicts of interest, especially when religion begins to lose its prophetic aspect. religion that has lost its prophetic spirit is shown in the following two facts, first, religion is misused by certain parties to deprive society of awareness so that it closes itself to social facts of the present; second, religion is often perceived as a perfect doctrine (d’costa, 2010; marshall, 2014; qorib, 2019). in both cases, the socio-cultural order of the community, customary authority no longer serve as the main reference. in the manggarai community, the concept of likang telu is increasingly drifting away or abandoned. muslims and catholics in manggarai between the followers of two major world religions, the muslims were presumably the first group to inhabit manggarai. they set foot in the manggarai region in 1626, after two (2) minangkabau ulemas, dato ri tiro and dato ri bandang, islamized makassar, lombok, and sumbawa (aizid, 2016; h chambert-loir & salahuddin, 1999; henri chambert-loir, 1985; noorduyn , 1987; toda, 1999). meanwhile, the catholics began to establish a community here since the baptism of the first catholic in reo in 1912 (borgias, 2015; chen & suwendi, 2012; kr secretariat, 1985; widyawati, 2018). the coastal areas are generally inhabited by muslims, while the catholics generally live in interior areas, although a small number of muslims also live in remote areas and blend with local traditions (ibrahim, 2015; steenbrink, 2013). similarly, some catholics also live in the coastal area. the character of the muslim and catholic communities in the coastal and interior areas is also different. the informants reported, “interior muslims are more likely to encounter catholic dynamics” (i2.na/5/11/2019; i4.re/15/10/2019; i8.lb/28/9/2019), while coastal catholics encounter more islamic dynamics” (i1.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15/10/2019; i6.lb/28/9/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019). in daily interactions, coastal communities are referred to as ata wa wae (coastal people), who are identified as muslims, while interior communities are referred to as ata eta golo (mountain people), who are identified as catholics. the interactions between muslims and catholics both in the coastal areas and in the interior areas allow for assimilation, acculturation and accommodation. the first muslim-catholic union in manggarai occurred upon a marriage between a muslim woman, sitti aminah, and a young man from the andara family in jengkalang reo. sitti aminah (agnes mina, baptismal name) and her husband along with three others were later baptized into the catholic faith. their names were recorded as the first catholics in manggarai. the [ 85 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 marriage formed family ties between the muslim and catholic communities in reo (north manggarai). for the first time, the muslim family was referred to as the anak rona (wife-giver) in the manggarai cultural narrative, while catholic family referred to as anak wina (husband-giver’s family). in the course of time, the growth of muslims and catholics continued to increase. based on 2020 data, the majority of the menggarai population were catholics (88.3%), followed by muslims (11%), christians (0.62%), and hindus (0.07%) (manggarai, 2020; west manggarai, 2020 ; east manggarai, 2020). why is the growth rate of the number of muslims and catholics so far apart even though the former came far earlier than latter? based on several scholars’ research, it was partly because of the political and economic power of the dutch east indies which favored the growth of catholics (steenbrink, 2013; webb, 2013). , 1990), and the preferences of the manggarai people on culture (hefner, 1993; widyawati, 2018). in the pre-independence period, relations between muslims and catholics in manggarai were filled with competition and ambitions for political and economic domination. however, after independence, especially during the old order and new order, muslims and catholics could live in harmony, tolerance, and peace. two basic forces that contributed harmony, tolerance, and peace between muslims and catholics in eastern indonesia, including in manggarai in the pre-reform era as reported by previous researchers (barnes, 2003; gomang, 2006; tule, 2004) are the factors of kinship and attachment on culture. thus, in the pre-reform era there was a shift, i.e. from the state of political and economic competition in the pre-independence period to harmonious and peaceful relations. the pattern of relations between muslims and catholics before independence was marked by super-odination (domination)–subordination, among others, first, the domination of the makasar (goa-tallo) kingdom in the sixteenth century in politics, economy and religion in manggarai; second, the dominance of the bima kingdom in politics, trade and religion in the period after the makassar kingdom placed power under the dutch company (1667) since the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century; and third, the dominance of dutch political, economic and religious power since 1908 in manggarai (steenbrink, 2013; toda, 1999). in the pattern of superodination-subordination relations, the manggarai community is classified as a subordinate group, because they do not have adequate political and economic power. the dynamics of muslims and catholics changed during the independence period in manggarai, not only because of the decentralized political system of power, but also the active cultural segment and kinship between muslims and [ 86 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 catholics. in fact, several studies have stated that muslim-christian relations in other parts of indonesia during the new order era were marked by conflicts and tensions due to several factors, including the construction of the media on the discourse of christianization and islamization (muttaqin, 2004), the presence of religious groups with exclusive and inclusive perspectives (husein, 2005) and feelings of threat (mujiburrahman, 2006). in contrast, conflict and tension between muslims and catholics in manggarai during the old order and new order almost never happened. cultural activities involving the two groups were largely responsible for their frienldy and fun encounters. during the new order, cultural activities were seen as opportunities for muslim and catholic family reunions. furthermore, the similar demographics of muslim and catholic coastal communities also show a more dynamic religious character. the three regions selected as research sites in this study as the focus of research (nangalili, reo and labuan bajo) reflect not only harmony but also potential conflict and tension. the data from the central statistics agency (bps) in 2020 show the following figures: in labuan bajo, muslims: 49.6% and catholics 47.4%; in nangalili, muslims: 78.2% and catholics 21.7%; in reo, muslims:: 32.2% and catholics 66.3% (manggarai, 2020; west manggarai, 2020). these religious demographics in the post-reform era, if not properly managed, will potentially trigger tension and conflict. the reo incident in 2014 was an event that threatened the narrative of peace between muslims and catholics in manggarai. the conflict between muslims and catholics in reo was between families, namely muslims as anak rona (wife-giver) and catholics as anak wina (husband-giver). for some reason, religious emotion was far stronger than kinship. this phenomenon was not found in the pre-reform era. likewise, the labuan bajo case in 2018 is an illustration of the fading cultural ecosystem regarding social interactions between muslims and catholics in manggarai. the concept of likang telu in local manggarai culture has increasingly lost its significance with respect to muslim and catholic social interactions. thus, the relations between muslims and catholics in manggarai from the preindependence to post-reform period have been unpredictable depending on the issues of religious dynamics in each period. the concept of likang telu in the manggarai community likang telu is a concept of social interaction in the manggarai people’s culture. likang telu comes from the manggarai language; likang means stone stove, telu means three (lon, 2018; i1.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15/10/2019). “the term [ 87 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 likang telu for us manggarai people is very important, because it not only refers to the activity of cooking rice and vegetables in the kitchen, but also a symbol of relations between people, including inter-religious relations,” said an informant (i1.na/5/11/2019). ). in general, likang telu means a threestone stove, which implies that there are three stones arranged as a stove used cooking. in the social relations structure of the manggarai people, the likang telu consists of ase kae (brother and sister), hae wa’u (clan), and hae beo (fellow residents). the likang telu, with regard to social relations of the manggarai people, includes kinship relations: ase-kae (brothers), hae beo (fellow residents) and anak wina-anak rona (husband-giver and wife-giver) (i1.na/5/11/2019 ; i4.re/16/10/2019; i5.re/17/10/2019; i6.lb/28/9/2019; i8.lb/28/9/2019). likang telu became the precursor of discussion about multiculturalism in the manggarai society. in other words, the concept of likang telu is the basic idea to promote a multicultural mentality in the manggarai community. the likang telu concept inspires open-minded thinking. the dynamics of the global community regarding equality and interconnectedness in the era of digital technology can find its basis in local concepts such as likang telu. success and luck for the manggarai people occur because of the continuity of the concept of likang telu in each individual struggle, namely the good relations with asekae, haebeo and anak rona anak wina. the three pillars of likang telu can be explained as follows. first, the ase-kae pillar. ase-kae denotatively means one’s consanguine and uterine brothers and sisters. in the social interaction system of the manggarai people, ase-kae connotes all social groups in one territorial area, so they are called ase-kae ca beo (of the same village), ase kae remong (brothers and sisters because they have met somewhere), ase-kae ca nuk (family because of a shared dream, hobby, and interest), ase-kae labar (family because of playmates). every individual who has formed a group or association in any ethnicity and religion is called ase kae agama, ase kae suku, ase kae diskusi (discussion partner), ase kae arisan (women’s social gathering partners), etc. (i2.na/6/11/ 2019; i3.re/15/10/2019; i1.na/5/11/2019). in the diaspora manggarai community, their bond eith those at home is still called ase kae manggarai. therefore, the manggarai people in yogyakarta, for example, are called ase kae manggarai yogyakarta regardless of their religion and ethnicity. the second pillar of the likang telu is hae beo, or hae golo. the term hae beo/golo refers to each individual who comes from the same area (hometown). they are connected and bound by territory (ca beo or ca golo, the same village of origin). hae beo is seen as the second element in the success of an individual. success for the manggarai people is strengthened by the support and cooperation of fellow villagers. to every child of the menggarai diapora, the parents usually remind [ 88 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 them of this message, neka hemong lonto torok cama golo, lonto leok cama beo [never forget the solidarity and good relations with fellow villagers]. the third pillar, called anak wina-anak rona which denotatively refers to a form of a relationship bound by marriage. a family who gives a wife in marriage is called anak rona no matter the religion, on the other hand, a family who gives a husband in marriage is called anak wina. in the social relations of the manggarai people, social ties due to the relationship between anak wina and anak rona is undeniable. the term also connotes everyone who has not been known at all. each stranger is referred to as anak wina or anak rona (i1.na/5/11/2019; i4.re/16/10/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019); in the sense that each guest can establish a good relationship with the host. it is natural that new encounters with guests can be continued into family relations due to marriage or simply due to economic interests and the like. a person of bima ethnic group, for example, can be called anak rona because their daughter is married to a member of the manggarai family. at the same time, a manggarai man’s family is called anak wina, and vice versa. generally, a woman follows her husband’s religion. as a result, the relations between muslim and catholic families is bound as an anak wina-anak rona relations. in the traditional manggarai structure, anak rona (wife-giver’s family) has a higher position because from their daughter, her husband’s family can get children. therefore, the concept of likang telu is the precursor of the discussion about the spirit of living the bhinneka tunggal ika [unity in diversity]. the concept of likang telu opposes the tendency of homogeneity and promotes diversity in the manggarai community. everyone is regarded as ase kae and all people who are not yet known are as anak wina-anak rona. in the concept of likang telu, there is no term for “the others” (toe ata bana), but all are called ata dite, ata dite taung (“our” people). each individual and all groups can be interrelated. therefore, the following expression is often used to resolve tensions and conflicts, “bom cei ise, cei ite” (they are not ‘them’ and we are not ‘us’). this expression implies a rejection of words and actions that discriminate against individuals based on certain interests. therefore, likang telu is a representation of the multicultural character of the manggarai people. lawrence blum (2001) state that the character of a multicultural society embodies three (3) positive traits, namely first, every individual is free to express cultural identity in the midst of plurality; second, every individual has a desire to learn other people’s culture, and third, every individual feels happy with cultural differences. the character of a multicultural society as proposed by blum colors the dynamics of the life of the manggarai people. the manggarai community consists of manggarai, bugis, bajo, minangkabau, [ 89 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 mentawai, sasak and sumba people and several other flores ethnic groups such as ngada, nagekeo, ende, sikka and lamaholot (heerkens, 1930; orinbao, 1969). three dominant language groups are found in coastal communities, namely, 1) bima, manggarai and bugis languages in labuan bajo, west manggarai; 2) bima, manggarai and bugis languages in reo and pota; 3) manggarai, ende and bima languages in nangalili. the communities in the three locales form a trilingual communication. three language families in one residential area are used by the three community groups, therefore, the bima people in reo can use the manggarai language in communicating with the manggarai people, and vice versa. the willingness of each individual to use three languages in daily conversations is an expression of individual pride as ase-kae, hae beo and anak wina-anak rona. therefore, as varshney (2002) emphasizes the need for activating civic networks which he refers to as dayto-day interaction and associational interaction to minimize inter-religious conflict (in india), then muslims and catholics in manggarai can revive likang telu to prevent and resolve problems between social groups, especially in this case between muslims and catholics. in the manggarai social interaction structure regarding muslim and catholic relations, the muslim community are seen as anak rona / wife-giver, so they deserve to be treated with respect as how anak rona should be treated by anak wina in the manggarai people’s tradition. therefore, regardless of their relations based on ase kae (brothers and sisters) or hae beo (fellow villagers), every muslim and catholic in manggarai must interpret themselves as parties who are bound by the relationship between anak wina and anak rona. social disharmony often occurs because they ignore these three elements of relations, namely ase-kae, hae beo, and anak rona-anak wina. in the concept of likang telu, conflicts and tensions occur because one group religious followers no longer regard the followers of other religions as ase-kae, hae beo, and anak rona-anak wina. the concept of likang telu in the social interaction of the manggarai community can be described as follows: ase-kae (brother/sister) anak wina-anak rona (husband giver-wife giver) hae beo/hae wa'u (community member) ase-kae (brother/sister) anak wina-anak rona (husband giver-wife giver) hae beo/hae wa'u (community member) a b [ 90 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 a = normal lines of interaction between individuals/social groups, leading to social harmony. b = the broken line of social interaction between the three elements of society, which is vulnerable to conflict and tension fading likang telu concept in manggarai community from the interview data, it was found that there are three factors that trigger the disregard for likang telu concept, namely the presence of religious organizations both in the catholic church and in the manggarai muslim community in the post-reform era. second, social media; and third, the unresolved trauma of past muslim-catholic relations. first, the concept of likang telu in the manggarai community is increasingly marginalized by the religious dynamics initiated by religious organizations. the informants reported, “there are approximately four religious organizations that present themselves differently from the others, namely pdk (charismatic prayer fellowship) and ktm (community of the holy trinity in the catholic church, while in the muslim community there is khilafatul muslimin (km). and the jamaah tabligh (jt).” (i1.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15/10/2019; i4.re/16/10/2019; i5.re/17/10/2019; i6 .lb/27/9/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019; i8.lb/28/9/2019) the informants also reported that the religious propagation models of new religious organizations in manggarai “tend to ignore, and even consider custom as shirk [polytheistic practice] and infidelity” (i2.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15/10/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019; i5.re/17/10/2019; i6 .lb/27/9/2019; i8.lb/28/9/2019) “the groups forbid their children and their families to participate in traditional activities in the village, because for them these activities are acts of infidels,” said an informant. ( i1.na/5/11/2019). among the many religious organizations in manggarai, there are four religious organizations each of which has a different character, namely khilafatul muslimin (km) and jamaah tabligh (jt) in islam; and the charismatic prayer fellowship (pdk) and the holy trinity community (ktm) within the catholic church. the pdk is one of the oldest organizations in the catholic church. it was originally a student movement on campus, initiated by students (assisted by several catholic lecturers) at duquesne university, pittsburgh, united states in february 1967 (ramadhani, 2008; ranaghan, 1969). this organization entered indonesia in 1976, but was not immediately approved by the indonesian bishops’ council (mawi, now known as kwi, the indonesian bishops’ conference). pdk was officially accepted in indonesia in 1983 [ 91 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 through kwi and was established as a legitimate spiritual organization within the catholic church (ramadhani, 2008; adison adrianus sihombing, 2019). one of the spiritual organizations that is the “biological child” of the pdk in indonesia is ktm. ktm was initiated by pastor yohanes indrakusuma, o.carm, who later founded a new order called ordo putri karmel [the order of the princess carmel] (p.karm) and the congregation of carmelitae sancti eliae (cse) in 1986, and was inaugurated in 2002 (p.karm) and in 2012 (cse). the ktm organization was introduced to the public in 1987 in ngadireso, malang, east java, indonesia. the ktm organization is an organization of a spiritual nature (st. paskalis church, 2021; putri karmel, 2021). ktm entered the territory of the diocese of ruteng in 1992 along with the entry of the princess carmel sisters, but was only widely introduced to manggarai catholics in the 2000s. ktm was born under the carmelite spirituality, therefore, ktm’s spirituality is that of the princess carmel sisters and the cse priests. in other words, the forerunners and at the same time the movers of the ktm organization were the sisters of princess carmel and the priests of cse. as a form of embrace on the spiritual life, ktm members rely on the power and guidance of the holy spirit in their works of life. therefore, the ktm style of spiritual reform is contemplative but charismatic at the same time. today, the international ktm communities can be found in malaysia, vietnam and the united states (sugiyanto, 2020). the characteristics of religious movements of pdk and ktm show a new way of worship and emphasize the reform of spiritual dynamics among catholics. in carrying out spiritual reform activities, pdk and ktm tend to ignore matters related to customs and culture. consequently, they often clash with the manggarai people’s way of life, which is inseparable from tradition and culture. pdk and ktm bring new interpretations in accordance with the basic spirituality of their lives, namely the reform of life in a spiritual way. the holy spirit is the guide for the lives of its members and no longer in traditional rites. from the aspect of spirituality, the way of life of pdk and ktm is in line with the basic values of the holy bible, but their exclusive interpretations have caused clashes in their own internal circles. the members of pdk and ktm refer to themselves as groups that carry out religious principles based on the holy bible. several informants reported that the presence of pdk and ktm in the catholic church has caused socio-religious unrest. “they tend to use different interpretations of biblical texts from those used by priests, for example the interpretation of victims. they only believe in the bible, and are ‘allergic’ to the customs of our ancestors”, said one informant (i6. lb/27/9/2019. another informant said, “their way of praying is not in line [ 92 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 with the way the catholic church usually does” ( i7.lb/27/9/2019). the pdk and ktm movements that place too much emphasis on the spiritual aspect and ignore the role of culture have made their members exclusive, and does not fit with the likang telu concept in the narrative of social relations among the manggarai people. in the manggarai muslim community, in addition to typical indonesian religious organizations such as nu and muhammadiyah (shariasih, 2018) there are also several religious organizations with different characteristics, namely khilafatul muslimin (km) which tends to be political and jamaah tabligh (jt) which tends to be spiritual and cultural. syafi’i mufid, (2011) argues that muslims had a fairly high development of socio-religious organizations in indonesia during the reform era. besides national islamic religious organizations, they also joined global islamic organizations, where their movements and organizational scope are not limited by certain territorial boundaries. km established a mainland flores branch office in marombok labuan bajo, west manggarai, in 2018. the km organization has in fact been established since the time of caliph abu bakar ash-shiddiq, but has not developed. since 1926 (in cairo) the discourse on the importance of the caliphate (the supreme leader of the muslims) has been continuously reformed, among others, through congresses, which are called the congress of the islamic caliphate. the km group is seen as one of the organizations that carries the political islam movement (khilafatul muslim.net, 2019). thus, km is a religious movement that is political in nature. the west manggarai government under the coordination of the national unity and politics agency and a muslim leader from labuan bajo acknowledged that km in the early days of its presence in the labuan bajo area did not carry out activities that disturbed the public after being warned about the history and orientation of the km organization towards politics. a study conducted the research and development agency of the indonesian ministry of religious affairs is used as one of the state guidelines for supervising km in manggarai. it is stated that the km organization was supported by the al-qaeda terrorist network and even became an accomplice to isis (islamic state of iraq and syria) (bakri, 2019; faktanews, 2018). in addition to the km organization, there is the jamaah tabligh. in short, jt is a religious movement that was originally founded and developed in india but later spread to reach several muslim countries in the world. the movement was founded in 1926 in mewat, india, by sheikh maulana muhammad ilyas kandalawy (1885-1944). this movement has been growing rapidly not only in india and bangladesh but also in other parts of the world, including [ 93 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 indonesia. jt began to take root in indonesia since 1952 (in medan) and 1955 (in jakarta) (noor, 2010, 2012). the number of jt members that continues to increase throughout the indonesian archipelago shows how jt has a place and positive response from all muslims in this country. jt actually entered the manggarai area in 2004, but the congregation did not stay in manggarai. in 2012 the membership of the jt organization almost spread throughout the flores area, despite the fact that the central mui [indonesian ulemas council] only gave an official permit in 2015. in 2018, jt constructed a mosque in siru, lembor district, west manggarai as a center for its members’ da’wah activities. an informant reported, “at a certain time, jt siru invited preachers from malaysia” (i2.na/5/11/2019. the unique trait of the jt group is that although they do not have an office like km, its members can preach from mosque to mosque. farish a. noor (2012) referred to jt members as “muslim missionaries”. jt is not interested in political movements, because it does not jeopardize unity wherever they preach. jt’s da’wah is seen as an asset for the propagation of islamic da’wah in the world, however, junaedi argued that jt’s principles need to be criticized, among others, the jt’s interpretation model of a number of verses of the qur’an which tends to emphasize literal-textual aspects rather than substantive-contextual meanings, inclines towards subjectivity rathen than objectivity (junaedi, 2013). in addition, muslim intellectual, ibnu burdah in his critical note said that “jt is less productive for efforts to strengthen nationalism in indonesia” (burdah, 2018). their physical appearance (dressed in white and turban) and their courage to travel on foot along the trans-flores road, from the eastern end of manggarai to labuan bajo (west end) in the year 2000 captured the attention of many catholics. they are no different from the catholic missionaries of the past, therefore they are more accurately called “muslim missionaries” as noor (2012) said. jt’s physical appearance is viewed as a new scene after the events of september 11, 2001 in the united states. they could be misunderstood by local community groups, in the same way that the manggarai people in the past being reactive and even refusing the arrival of catholic missionaries because they were considered as disturbing the local (traditional) religious order. therefore, the presence of km and jt is seen by certain people as a group that threatens harmony between muslims and catholics, even though km and jt --up to the time this research was conducted-had never been proven to cause any conflict in reo (2014) and in labuan bajo (2018) despite their tendency to exclusivism in religious practices. exclusivity of religious manifestation everywhere raises suspicion, misunderstanding between muslims and [ 94 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 catholics. this research concludes that the new face of religion promoted by religious organizations does not necessarily help religious propagation both internally and externally. religious organizations, either political or nonpolitical, still generate internal and external resistance. in other words, the presence of religious organizations tends to distance themselves from the concept of likang telu in manggarai culture. the second factor, the trigger for the increasingly fading likang telu concept is the public’s preference for social media. several informants acknowledged that they skipped the cultural events in the manggarai community due to the “social media” preference factor (i2.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15/10/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019; i6.lb/27/9/2019; i8.lb/28/9/2019). people in the postreform era in manggarai have been using social media a lot. information technology such as the internet entered the manggarai area for the first time in 2003 with the very small aperture terminal (vsat) technology. since then, the first cellular telephone network, namely telkom seluler (telkomsel), has been established in the manggarai area. as of 2019, the telkom network towers amounted to 73 units including telkomsel, im3, xl axiata, indosat, etc. (kominfo manggarai office, 2019). a decade after the reform, the growth of telecommunications in the ntt [east nusa tenggara] region increased tremendously. telkomsel internet users in ntt throughout 2012 saw a twofold increase compared to 2011. the increase in telkomsel internet users reached 72% of the total population of ntt. telecommunications infrastructure in part has also encouraged public interest in using telecommunications media such as computers, cellphones (hp) and becoming members of certain social media such as fb (facebook), wa (whatsapps), line, instagram and twitter. the events of reo and labuan bajo occurred after the information technology revolution reached remote areas of manggarai. therefore, the “allegation” that social media has an impact on the dynamics of the development of religions, including muslim-catholic relations in manggarai, as stated by the informants, is realistic and makes sense. people prefer to use social media as a source of religious knowledge rather than religious preachers. they also prefer to use today’s social media information rather than cultural narratives that are considered outdated. in fact, should people have embraced the concept of likang telu, conflicts and violence between religious communities could have been be prevented. the third trigger factor is the unresolved trauma of past muslim-catholic relations. an informant reported, “new organizations make other religious groups afraid and suspicious of various things, please understand, because of the story of the unpleasant past relations between muslims and christians” [ 95 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 (i8.lb/27/9/2019). several informants acknowledged that religious activities that promote a new way of religious practice in each religion are seen as “signs of the revival of the ambition of domination by certain religious groups over the others” (i2.na/5/11/2019; i3.re/15 /10/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019; i6.lb/27/9/2019). muslims and catholics in manggarai in the preindependence era were involved in a bloody rivalry. on the one hand, between traditional religions and muslims from the kingdoms of makassar and bima; on the other, between catholic missionaries and traditional religions and islam. catholic missionaries won the competition and conflict due to several factors, including 1) the political power of the dutch east indies which sided with the catholic missionaries to spread catholicism rather than islam in manggarai, 2) the dutch political strategies which appointed the first king of manggarai from among the catholics (alexander baruk) and ignored the request of the sultan of bima to appoint nasoeruddin, a son of the king of bima (steenbrink, 2013; syafii, 2020). the trauma is basically a derivative impact of social media. the media that presents global religious events also worsen tensions in inter-religious relations everywhere, including in manggarai. for example, according to ahmed and mathes, western media occupies an important position in the climate of muslim and non-muslim relations between the west and muslims in the world. oftentimes, the western media describes islam as a negative, violent religion, synonymous with radicalism, extremism and terrorism (ahlin, 2011; ahmed, 2017; zein, 2012). in contrast, according to karim and eid, judaism and christianity are described as the “main enemies” of islam (karim, 2014; lynch, 2011; morgan, 2011; saeed, 2011). media images of religion and religiosity (particularly regarding muslim-christian relations) have somehow provoked latent conflicts between muslim and christian communities wherever they are; at the same time forgetting the chain of other aspects of the life of the manggarai people such as the concept of likang telu. these three factors (religious organization, social media preferences and past trauma) have eventually distanced the manggarai community from the likang telu concept. likang telu as a culture is identified with a certain religion, namely traditional religion. therefore, reviving likang telu is considered contrary to the religious concept of religious followers who prefer the implementation of religious teachings in a pure and consistent manner. bringing the concept of likang telu to life for certain people is considered to be degrading and even damaging to religious faith. meanwhile, today’s customary institutions are no longer the decision-making authority. the two major religious communities (islam and catholicism) view traditional religious practices as a threat to [ 96 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 the advancement of religious principles. the fear of being controlled by a particular religious community is so strong among religious communities. among muslims and catholics, it is the ideology of fear and worry” (hefner, 2019; muttaqin, 2004) that is still haunting their respective religious dynamics rather than cultural concepts, such as likang telu. at first glance, communities can coexist but in really it is very unlikely. kahane (1973) referred to such society as “assimilating but not united”. manggarai muslims and catholics can live side by side but do not get along with each other because the principles of likang telu in their relations is no longer respected, which is also the case with the reform movement in religions through religious organizations, social media and unresolved past trauma. social implications for muslims and catholics key informants acknowledged that there are two visible implications of the absence of the likang telu concept in the interaction pattern of the manggarai people, namely, first, “disruption of the social interaction process” (i2.na/5/11/2019; i5.re/17/10/2019). ; i7.lb/28/9/2019); and second, “muslim and catholic relations which tend to be tense” (i1.na/5/11/2019; i4.re/16/10/2019; i7.lb/28/9/2019). first, regarding the disruption of the social interaction ecosystem between individuals and between social groups, the likang telu concept is a sketch of the manggarai people’s social interaction patterns. harmony, tolerance and peace cab be achieved when individuals and social group pays attention to the three pillars of social interaction between ase-kae (brothers and sisters), hae beo (fellow residents) and anak wina-anak rona (husband-giver and wife-giver). it is important to observe the three pillars of social interaction in the likang telu concept. denying one of them will lead to an unbalanced relations, like removing a stone from the three-stone stove of the likang telu structure. it would be unfortunate for an individual to fail in their interaction due to disharmony with ase-kae (toe raes le ase kae), disharmony with clan members (toe kapu le hae wa’u), disharmony with fellow villagers (toe sompo le hae golo), and disharmony with a brother’s or sister’s family (toe tiba le anak wina, agu toe momang le anak rona). this individual would likely be isolated. ignoring the concept of likang telu is the same as denying himself as ens individuum and publicum, homo duplex, that is, a person who is both individual and social. being disconnected with one of the elements of the likang telu concept can be caused by either latent or overt conflict. the second implication if the likang telu concept continues to be ignored by the community is vulnerability to conflict and tension. the facts of conflict as [ 97 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 shown by simmel have three main assumptions, which are interrelated with each other, namely first, humans have a number of basic interests and they always seek to make it happen. second, power that is distributed unequally is a source of conflict. conflict theory assumes that if the weaker segments (subordinate segments) are aware of their collective interests, it is more likely that such society will question the legitimacy of the unequal distribution of resources (simmel, 1896, 1904; varshney, 2002). the smaller the ability of the dominant group to regulate socialization processes and communication networks, the greater the ideological unification among groups that “feel subordinated”. third, ideology and values are used as ‘weapons’ by different groups to achieve their own goals and interests. the elements required to reduce conflict can be in the form of institutions or social structures or in the form of actions or habits (sutaryo, 1992; varshney, 2002). therefore, the conflict between reo and labuan bajo in the post-reform era is seen as the impact of the increasing disregard for likang telu concept which has long been used as the principal ethics of social interaction among the manggarai people. conflicts between the muslims and catholics such as those that occurred in reo in 2014 and in labuan bajo in 2018 seemed to signal that the relations between muslims and catholics as anak wina and anak rona were over. the post-reform era is basically an era of identity contestation. in fact, contestation always involves fierce competition. this article shows that there is a contestation of cultural and religious identity, even religion versus culture vis-a vis. in other words, the post-reform identity contestation in manggarai is a contestation between religious conduct and cultural behavior. some people view religion as a way of life, while others see culture as a guide of life. in addition, there are religious groups that are puritanical and liberal. the puritans want a pure manifestation of religious texts, while the liberals want reinterpretation of religious texts to be in harmony with social context. the clash between the syncretic ideology which emphasizes the importance of symbiotic relationship of mutualism between religion and culture and the puritanical-fundamentalist ideology which emphasizes the choice of religion alone is inevitable. however, for a bonum publicum (common good), multicultural concepts are needed, in which particulars are combined with universals. even today, society tends to strengthen a particular identity, which is called glocalization (belamghari, 2020), to be matched with the trend of globalization. conclusion this research on likang telu, the local wisdom of the manggarai people’s [ 98 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2180 culture, proves that a cultural approach is important and should not be ignored to create unity in society. the manggarai people’s likang telu of is one of the cultural concepts that can be used to bridge the gaps in conflicts and tensions. in the likang telu interaction model, catholics and muslims are brothers, namely ase-kae, hae beo, and anak wina-anak rona. thus, the concept of likang telu has become a portrait of social interaction, unbroken by differences in religion and belief, race or class in the manggarai community. if the likang telu concept ecosystem is understood, lived and managed properly, then conflicts and tensions can be prevented. however, this study also has limitations. first, to explain the muslim-catholic interaction using the analogy of the three-stone stove (likang telu) still seems ambiguous and even confusing. it has yet to clearly show the position of ase-kae, hae beo and anak rona-anak wina in likang telu, because such a disposition may affect the ethics and manners of social relations. this could be explored by future researchers using ethnographic approach. second, this research used the interview method, of which the informants’ subjectivity was inevitable. therefore, the use of the mix-method by future researchers might provide a better insight into the likang telu concept. bibliography ahlin, m. & n. c. 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[ 187 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the concept of tawheed of buginese people in the ancient manuscript lontara a ttorioloang ri wajo of west kalimantan patmawati iain pontianak fwati1974@gmail.com besse wahida iain pontianak bessewahidah01@gmail.com abstract this paper discusses a tawheed concept of buginese people in the ancient manuscript, lontara attorioloang ri wajo and focuses on the concept of al-uluhiyah and ar-rububiyah of buginese people according to the manuscript. this work is based on research on manuscript through philology approach since lontara attorioloang ri wajo is a handwriting manuscript written without punctuation (comma or full stop) and space. the concept of tawheed al-uluhiyah of buginese people in lontara attorioloang ri wajo manuscript is shown in the form of testimony of the presence of dewata seuwwae or god the one; he begets not, nor was he begotten. the belief of the oneness of god is embodied in self-surrender and full obedience by performing worship qhairu mahda but not ibadah mahdah. this confession can be seen in 18 dialogues between arung matoa and an arung from another place. the concept of tawheed ar-rububiyah in the manuscript is shown in the form of a belief that dewata seuwwae or the one god is a lord of the worlds; he determines all creatures’ destiny and prosperity. further, the buginese people’s belief in the oneness of god is shown by the agreement they have made, and arung matoa toudamang’s message about how to behave toward god, other person, and nature. there are 8 dialogues in the form of agreement and pappaseng. keywords: tauhid, uluhiyah, rububiyyah, bugis, lontara attorioloang ri wajo introduction indonesia has many ancient manuscripts addressing religious values and local wisdom. this work talks about a buginese ancient manuscripts which constitutes of source of historical documents about the life of buginese people. the manuscript contains cultural values, politics, pappaseng (messages), religious teachings, and tradition of buginese people. one of the buginese [ 188 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 ancient manuscripts is entitled lontara attorioloang ri wajo which is what is being discussed in this article. buginese people do not only show their strong concern to their oral but also written tradition. christian pelras mentions that since the 14th century buginese people have begun to write volumes of handwriting manuscript (lontara) that can be found at the hands ofvillagers across south sulawesi. this fact is a proof of wide spread, at least in the 18th century, of high literacy even in villages (pelras, 2005: 41-49). although lontara has a role to sustain a tradition to record history (attorioloang), law, custom, ritual, and ancient knowledge about agriculture, astronomy, navigation, and design of ship and house, it also provides notes of innovations. the manuscript is not only used to mention the name of the rulers when the innovation was created but also used to spread the innovation borrowed from other places which later become a part of religious and technical tradition. for example, the safinat al-najah talks about religious teaching written by muhammad yusuf al-maqassari, a legendary islamic scholar in south sulawesi (azra, 2004: 260) dan (solihin, 2005: 287). buginese people are very interested in writing that is reflected by the habit of the people’s bringing their manuscripts when leaving their hometown or doing migration (patmawati, 2005: 114-115; hasanuddin, 2000: 80). the researchers found several lontaras outside buginese area such as in west and east kalimantan. this work discusses the one found in west kalimantan entitled lontara attorioloang ri wajo which was written in arabic characters containing du’a, picture of star, compass, and writing of iqomah but the word of hayya alal falah was not mentioned in the manuscript. it consists of 1-3 volumes, and was named as falaq book written in 1210 h by sayyid muhyiddin al-arabi. it was translated into buginese language. the lontara was written by sufu (yusuf). the existence of lontara attoriolong ri wajo cannot be separated from the literate buginese people so that the manuscript is a replica or description of the condition of the people at that time. for that, the research on ancient manuscript needs to be continued including the research on lontara attoriolong ri wajo in order to understand important values in it. for this work, the focus the concept of tawheed al-uluhiya and tawheed ar-rububiyah according to buginese people which found being written in the manuscript. as the data is being analyzed, the authors find several important aspects of the life of the bugenesse people living in west kalimantan being discussed in the manuscript. the focus on the concept of the two kinds of tawheed is to deepen the discussion of the work. [ 189 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 research method the main aspect in analyzing a manuscript is the selection of the object. when it was found, the ancient manuscript of lontara attoriolong ri wajo was without a title. then after reading and comprehending its content and discussing the history of wajo along with its all events, the researchers and their team members agree to name the ancient manuscript “lontara attoriolong ri wajo.” tha naming is a part of the process in the methodology in the field of philology studies. the next step is making an inventory of the manuscript by tracking it in west kalimantan barat and contacting those who have big concern to manuscript. finally, the researchers found several buginese manuscripts at abdurrahman palloga’s house but the researcher did not find the similar one. then, the researchers continue to track the manuscripts in the books discussing the wajo kingdom. one of them is found that is written by ima kesuma. the book discusses the history of wajo kingdom by referring to lontara wajo. the researchers found similarities and differences between the book and the lontara attoriolong ri wajo but they could not determine which manuscript being is being copied or the original. to continue, the researchers make the description of the manuscript by identifying its physical condition, content of the text. the decision of providing a statement on the earlier manuscript and the copy one is being made after a very serious and detail analysis. this is conducted for the purpose of to gain the more comprehensive description of the manuscript and the text (fathurahman, 2016: 7). after making inventory activities and describing the manuscript, the researchers transliterate the buginese character into latin in order to enable all people especially the buginese youngsters in west kalimantan to read the manuscript. the following step is translating the manuscript into bahasa indonesia. the translation shows the themes being discussed in the manuscript. the last is doing content analysis which focuses on the concept of tawheed of the buginese people according to lontara attoriolong ri wajo. a brief description of the lontara attorioloang ri wajo this manuscript is originated in wajo kingdom in south sulawesi. its presence in sambas was caused by the migration of buginese people from south sulawesi to west kalimantan. they migrated in groups or along with their family and relatives hundred years ago before the era of colonial in nusantara region. this migration is called malekke’ dapureng as indicated in the manuscript. when migrating they brought their lontara including lontara attorioloang ri wajo. lontara is used as their identity as people from wajo as well as used as [ 190 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the identity that they are the decendent of the king. it is a unique identity for them for multiple purposes. the evidence of the presence of the buginese in sambas is shown by the existence of a figure as well known as opu daeng kamase who becomes to warani and get married to a member of royale family. in addition, the role of to panrita people is shown by several manuscipts such as the arabic buginese manuscitp, the manuscitp containing do’a and the falaq book, and the buginese manuscipt written in arabic character, islamic astonomy. there are even some manuscipts found in brunei such as those written by daeng abdul fatah and imam ya’qub al-bugisi available at the collection of the office of jabatan mufti of the kingdom of brunei darussalam. lontara attorioloang ri wajo is a manusciept found by a team from the reseach and social service centre of stain pontianak which later becomes iain pontianak. the manuscipt is from the collection of mul’am husairi, a buginese decendant living in sambas. the team could only take its photo since it could no longer be photocopied. the photo was given to yahya natsir, a buginese decendent and also a senior lecturer of stain pontianak. he then gave the photo to his daughter, nelly mujahida, who is also a lecture of stain pontianak. she then handed over it to patmawati who was conducting the reseach on buginese migration to west kalimantan. this manuscipt was used as an efidence of the presence of buginese people in west kalimantan. in 2016 patmawati and besse wahidah analyzed the manuscipt and named it lontara attorioloang ri wajo. futher, they got information from their colleague pengiran mahani in brunei darussalam that there is also such a manuscipt found in brunei darussalam. tawheed al-uluhiyah in the lontara attoriolong ri wajo tawheed al-uluhiyah in lontara attoriolong ri wajo discusses the issues of human’s life as a community that requires rules and social harmony including agreement or contract, statement, good deed and request. all of their activities are centered in tawheed al-uluhiyah as the goal of all deeds will be presented to dewataseuwae, the one god. this is in line with shahadah in islam in which the first part of the statement is integration of negation and exception that lead to the testimony of the oneness of god. the negation that there is no god is aimed at liberating human beings form other beliefs and surrender along with their effects. then, the exception that there is no god but allah is aimed at telling humans that they must only obey allah. it suggests that before allah or dewataseuwae, all creatures are week and powerless, and are not able to help [ 191 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 other without his permit. only humans’ words and deeds that in line with his willing can save human when living in the world (maarif, 1995: 8). tawheed has a consequence when performing worship as allah said “you (alone) we worship, and you (alone) we ask for help (for each and everything) (q.s. al-fatiha: 5). it means that none should be worshipped, obeyed, and asked for help except him alone. whoever worship and obey other than allah, and ask for help to other than him is called as shirik (practicing idolatry). therefore, tawheed is a belief of oneness of god in which eventually expressed in a faith that none should be obeyed (worshipped) and asked for help except allah (kusumamihardja, 1985: 150). lontara attoriolong ri wajo shows that there should be a balance between the freedom of human as autonomous individual and the power of god as creator. this is different from the concept purposed by frederic nietzsche in m. solihin who states that human is super (superman), aggressive, autonomous, and free will (solihin, 2005: 2). tawheee al-uluhiyah means that none should be worshiped except allah (yasdi, 2003: 74). the meaning shows that all worhsips and obidiences are only presented to the almignty allah. according to ja’far subhani, the right to be worshipped and obeyed belongs only to allah, if the right is provided for other that allah there will be the deviation of aqidah that leads to shirik (subhani, 1987: 17). this concept has considered allah as a central of all kinds of ibadah and human’s deed. this is shown by following dialogues found in lontara attorioloang ri wajo. 1. the agreement between cinnotabi and buli “nalāo arung cinnottabi na arung ri būli, nasennang wanuwanna ri wajo, napatettonni sapposisenna, maddanreng iya tellu, lamatareng, latenri pékka latenri tau, nariyaseng arung cinnotabi, batara wajo, nariasenna latenri tappe arung penrang, nasseajinna tanae ri mampu, mangurū ja’ mangurū décéng, nasabbi dewataseuwwae” meaning: leaving arung cinnotabi and arung buli, and people of wajo became happy. their three cousins were promoted to be paddanreng, lamattareng, latenri pekka, latenri tau and were titled arung cinnotabi batara wajo, while latenri tappe was titled arungpénrang. make a close relationship with mampu area, together in badness and goodness, witnessed by god the one. 2. the summission of macanang to wajo “naia napuada tomacanangnge atake napuangngi wajo ianapuelo wajo ia [ 192 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 kikadoi. rekkuatuotta geromunangke. naiya napuada arung matoae ianaritu nasabbi dewataseuwae pusangngi ane’mu eppomu. tennatiwi tomate tanawawaja tana”. meaning: whatever said by macanan people “kami ata and wajo people puang-nya” whatever wished by wajo that what we do. rekkuannao tagero’mu nangke. whatever said by arung matoae “god the one is the witness of what you say, tell this your descents who are not stopped by the death. 3. the submission of sompe and ugi nauttāma ri wajo to sompe’e mpawa tellu lotong. napaddaoi tanana. naiyya naellauang na’ei ri wajo. natomaddualeng baliwi ada nakadoi ritu adammu arussompe to wajoe ana’e sompe naina wajo temmasserang ri ja ri deceng. adanna kuwa ina’e. mupasengeng anemu eppomu anae sompe naina’ wajo. nasabbi dewata seuwae. nariala tedonna to sompe’e. naritununa riareng seng wajo. nasetaung maddaung tosompe’e ri wajo. naengka arulliu sitinro arumpugi muttama ri wajo tiwi enneng lotong napaddaoi tanana ri wajo. naiya naellau arulliu riasengnge lamappatora. ana’e ri wajo liu ugi naina’ wajo. natomaddualeng baliwi adanna arulliu nakadoiwi ritu adammu ana’e liu ugi ri wajo ana’e risappareng atuwonna ri nanna. tenna pekkakia elona inanna. yanae tapasengeng ana eppo ada assikadongetta tennawawa to mate nasabbi dewata seuwae. tenna walaie anae inanna. dekko polei jae. nakado arulliu nariala tedonna arulliu naritununa nariareng seng wajo meaning: sompe entered wajo by bringing there fruits (lotong?) to unite his region, he asked wajo. tomaddualeng replied that wajo people agreed with arung sompe’s wish. sompe as the oldest child and wajo as a parent were not inseparable, and this was witnessed by god, the one. sompe’s buffalo was slaughtered, burned, and eaten by all people in wajo. a year after sompe joined with wajo, arung liu and arung pugi arrived in wajo bringing six lotong and united their region in wajo, and was asked by arung liu, lamappatora to be a childand wajo as his father. tomaddualeng replied arung liu, and was agreed by liu ugi, wajo’s son. a child was looked after by his parent so that he might not be against him. this agreement was witnessed by god, the one. a child would not leave his parents when bad things happen. arung liu agreed then liu’s buffalo was slaughtered, burned, and eaten by all wajo people. [ 193 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 4. the brotherhood of luwu and wajo natellumpulengpurana mattowajo to liue. nalabu essoe naleppang ri topaceddo datue ri luwu. nassuro tiwirangngi arung matoae waramparang tellu tau, tellu terong potto. natampaiwi no sita ri topaceddo. naengkana to wajoe no selili sita datue ri luwu. nasitudangenna datue ri luwu arung matoae. puangrimaggalatung. nakkeda datue ri luwu. riasengnge raja dewa. amaseangnga seajing mualai ceddena tanae ri luwu tellu tarong potto tapasseajingngi tanae ri luwu tanae ri wajo. napadao…. seina seamma. nakaka luwu nanri wajo. seuwwa ja naurui seuwwa deceng naurui. nasabbi dewata seuwae. appada orowane’na tanae riluwu tanae ri wajo. meaning: three months after liu turned into wajo at sunset. datu luwu stopped by topaceddo bringing rewards to arung matoa: 3 persons and 3 bracelets. he then invited wajo to come to toppecado. wajo arrived and saw datu luwu and sat next to arung matoa. puangrimaggalatung. datu luwu named raja dewang said ‘please be pity and take just a little land of luwu and three bracelets, and consider luwu and wajo as your bothers. luwu as the elder brother and wajo as the younger one, are together in good or bad condition and is witnessed by god the one. 5. message about the oneness of god namalasa arungmatoae naengkasi karaengnge matoae muttama ri wajo. mitai lasanna arung matoae. nakkeda karaengnge maserro ritu lasammu ancaji amaseangngas mupoada adangnga seaga majeppu dewata. nakkeda arung matoae seuwwamua ritu dewata suronamuaritu dewatae maega. nakkeda karaengnge iyyaga dewwata seuwae tekkeina’na tekke ammana. nakkeda arung matoae iyyamuanariaseng dewata seuwae tekke ina’ga tekke amma’ ga. meaning: arung matoa was sick and karaeng matoae went home to see him then said “your sickness looks so bad. thus, please be pity and tell me about the oneness of god”. arung matoae replied “really, god is the one but he has many messengers”. karaeng asked “does god does not give birth and does not have child?” arung matoae said “god begets not, nor was he begotten”. some arung matoae’s statements indicate the existence of dewataseuwae (single lord) who acknowledges and witnesses all people’s activities. it suggests that the ruler of wajo kingdom had admitted that there was a biggest power outside. their mind had found that there was the almighty one who always [ 194 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 knows all humans’ deeds. this is in accordance with the thought of mu’tazialah which states that human’s mind must be able to realize the presence of god the one. sulaiman bin abdallah reveals that according to tawheed al-uluhiyah all kind of worships are performed only to allah. so that the realization of the tawheed are based on: 1) performing all kind of worship only to almighty allah and believing that there is nothing comparable to him; and 2) all kinds of devotion should be according to allah’s order, and leaving his prohibitions (abdallah, 1987: 33). it means that tawheed al-uluhiyah implicitly tells humans to purify their intention to perform ibadah and religious activity since the only genuine intention will be accepted while other than that will be rejected. therefore, intention is the core of ibadah. mustafa abdullah identifies that a man with tawheed al-uluhiyah is surely has strong tawheed ar-rububiyah and tawheed al-ama wa alsifat. yet a man with tawheed ar-rububiyah or tawheed al-asma wa al-sifat is not automatically has strong tawheed al-uluhiyah (basri, 2009: 15). it indicates that tawheed al-uluhiyah covers tawheed ar-rububiyah and tawheed al-asma wa al sifat. in other words, tawheed al-uluhiyah is the highest level of tawheed and has fundamental position in islam according to several quranic verses. “allah, the ever-living, the self-subsisting by whom all subsist...” (qs. al-baqarah: 255).“and your god is one god. there is no “deity [worthy of worship] except him, the entirely merciful, the especially merciful”. (qs. al baqarah:163). “and we sent not before you any messenger except that we revealed to him that, “there is no deity except me, so worship me” (qs. al-anbiya:25). those naqli agumentations show that almighty allah is the only god for all creatures across universe and deny the existence of other gods such as idols or sacred things. lontara attorioloang ri wajo explicitly describes the rule of dewataseuwae as god the one. tawheed ar-rububiyah in the lontara attoriolong ri wajo lontara attoriolong ri wajo contains tawheed ar-rububiyah as it is found in it that dewataseuwae is the ruler, determiner of destiny, lover, and giver. in islam, tawheed ar-rububiyah means believing in the oneness of allah as the only god, the creator, sustainer, determiner, and controller of all creatures (alburaikan, 1998: 141). according to tawheed ar-rububiyah , god is believed to be oneness in his deeds such as creating, sustaining, determining, controlling, giving and ending life of all creatures. tawheed ar-rububiyah according to islam and lontara attoriolong ri wajo is not in contradiction. this can be seen in the following statements. [ 195 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 1. the submission of palippu nalimampenni sorōna riwanuwanna to wajoe, naengkana muttāma ri wajo topalippue todataae totincoe. tīwī tellutau, nakkeda arung palippu ritellae mattekkengpessiearungdata arungtinco. iyamai kiengkang … amaseangkeng mualai cede mennang tasséajing serāja. tapada madécéng tapada majā. naseuwwa riāseng wajo rija. seuwa riaseng wajo rilau. nakkeda arung matoae puangrimaggalatung. kerru pōlé sumange’mu enrenggia warangparammu silaong ada madecemmu kusompa waliwi kutarimai.iyya. naiya masséajitta tessi uraga-urāgai tessi élōrangngi majā. tassīta riadécengetta. nakkeda arung palippu arung data arung tinco. iyani tau paurāga paelorang maja iyyana… (pebali) dewata seuwae. naropu’ nakkedana arung matoae iyyanaritu adammu nasabbi dewata seuwae. naiyato kupoada toloa, toanabanuae, to atatae betaae ri palippu apa’ pura nabicārani ritu dewataseuwae. nakkeda arung palippu, iyanaritu tasséajīngeng téssiacinnang anuéngngi assūro-wommālai anummu. meaning: five nights after the return of wajo people to their hometown, palippu, datā, totinco people come to wajo along with three people. arung palippu known as mattekkeng pessie, arung data, and arung tinco said “please be pity to our arrival here, do not take from us except just little. we are family from the same kingdom and have mutual interest and lost. one area of wajo is in the west and other area of wajo is in the east. then, arung matoa puangrimaggalatung said “poor you, your property, and i accept your good words with my hands opens. as family we will not bother and hurt one another, instead we will have good togetherness memory”. arung palippu, arung data, and arung tinco replied “those who will hurt other is against god the one”. while nodding, arung matoae said “god the one will be the witness of what you say. then, i want to tell you that loa’ anabanua, para ata people moved to pallipu constitutes a destiny. arung palippu said “family does not snatch each other, and tell someone to take your possession (atamu). 2. the submission of soppeng nasiulengpurana nabbereang ri wajo datue ri luwu to malluse’ saloe. nauttama ri wajo maddaong to soppengnge. tiwi waramparang nakkeda arung soppeng iya mai kulaoang seajing amaseangnga mualai cedde ku tellu tau tellu sampu tellu terong potto ku ana’ muina apa mabbani wajo-wajona datue. nakkeda arung matoae kupakerru sumange’i waramparammu silaong ada madecemmu. kusompa wali kutarimai. anaeko ku ina tapada [ 196 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 madeceng tapada maja. nasabbi dewata seuwae. dekkia ana’ muragai ina’na, dettosia ina melorangngi maja ane’na, nakkeda arung soppeng. iyani tau paelorang maja riseri bacca-bacca ri dewatae. nakkeda arung matoae iyanaritu adammu seajing nasabbi dewata seuwaee meaning: a month after granting malluse’ saloe, soppeng maddaong people arrived in wajo, bringing their properties. then arung soppeng said “my coming to this place is to offer you parts of three people, three parts and places”. then arung matoae said “poor your property, and i accept your good words with my hands open so that we have common goodness and badness, and is witnessed by god the one. no child damages his parent, and no parent hurts his child”. arung soppeng replied, “whoever intends to do bad things is very hated by dewata seuwwae”. arung matoa said “your words are witnessed by god the one. lontara attoriolong ri wajo shows that human a social and individual setting must experience a crash so that he can learn how to compromise and forgive each other but still remind one another. according to buginese philosophy, this is called malilu sipakainge: for the sake of common goodness. theologically, sipakainge (reminding each other) is a part of human’s holy duty. meanwhile, sociologically it is required by human to improve and embody individual and social devotion who loves each other and implements marhamah community order based on tawheed, brotherhood spirit, awareness of common prosperity, and enforcement of law among the community (enjang as & aliyudin, 2009: 1-2). this is called as mali siparappe, rebba sipatokong (encourage and support each other). muhammad rasyid ridha explains that tahweed ar-rububiyah is the oneness of god is in his creating, determining, and controlling universe and imposing sharia rule. this concept does not only aim to convince muattilin group (to releasing all the explanation about god, and considering him as beyond his religious awareness) and syirk toward rububiyah, but also intend to believe in allah by forbidding doing syirk to allah (rahman, 2017: 128; ridha, 1971: 170). therefore, tawheed ar-rububiyah denies the belief to the existence of creator, ruler, and controller other than allah. tawheed ar-rububiyah means believing in allah the only creator, owner, and controller of the universe with his destiny; he gives and takes a life, and control the universe with his sunah (al-buraikan, 1998:141). the explanation is not separated from the term of tawheed derived from arabic language as allah is the sustainer of his creatures, messengers, and saints along with their specification. his blessing is [ 197 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 for all mankind who always assists them to fix their condition with the pillars of life. the concept of tawheed ar-rububiyah is based on quranic verses: “all praise is due to allah, lord of the worlds” (qs. al-fatihah: 1), “indeed, your lord is allah, who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established himself above the throne. he covers the night with the day, [another night] chasing it rapidly; and [he created] the sun, the moon, and the stars, subjected by his command. unquestionably, his is the creation and the command; blessed is allah, lord of the worlds. (qs. al-a’raaf: 54), “it is he who created for you all of that which is on the earth. then he directed himself to the heaven, [his being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and he is knowing of all things”. (qs. al-baqarah: 29), “and when i am ill, it is he who cures me” (qs. asy-syu’ara: 80). the augmentations show that the position of tawheed ar-rububiyah is an important part of islamic teaching that should be comprehended holistically and implemented in all aspects of life. and according to lontara attoriolong ri wajo, arung wajo had strong belief in tawheed ar-rububiyah in which god is lord, determiner and controller. conclusion the finding of the buginese manuscripts in west kalimantan has indicated the tradition of the buginese to migrate to another place. the number of buginese communities found in other places, not in the place of the buginese origin, is as a proof that the tradition of migration has been practiced by the buginesse for long time. the diaspora of the bugines in west kalimantan has shown that the identity of the buginese within the buginese people is very strong. in addtition, the identity of the buginese consists of culture and religious aspects that are highly influenced by islamic teaching. based on the data analysis provided in the discussion, the islamic teaching is found in the concept of tawheed al-uluhiyah in lontara attoriolong ri wajo. the concept is in the form of testimony of the existence of dewata seuwwae or god the one. he begets not, nor was he begotten. this belief in oneness of the god is embodied through the submission and devotion in the form of worship of qairu mahda but not ibadah mahdah. the concept of tawheed ar-rububiyah in lontara attoriolong ri wajo is in the form of belief that god is the one is lord of the worlds, determiner of destiny of his creature, and giver. this belief led the arung along with his people to the concept of tawakkal. [ 198 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 bibliography abdallah, s. (1987). taysir al-aziz al-hamid fi syarh kitab tauhid. qahirah: dar al-ihsan. al-buraikan, m. a. (1998). pengantar studi aqidah islam. jakarta. azra, a. (2004). jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii & xviii. jakarta: prenada media. basri, h. (2009). filsafat pendidikan islam, bandung: pustaka setia. enjang & aliyudin. (2009). dasar-dasar ilmu dakwah pendekatan filosofis dan praktis. bandung: widya padjadjaran. fathurahman, o. (2016). filologi indonesia teori dan metode. jakarta: prenadamedia. hasanuddin, at.al. (2000). pontianak 1977-1900: suatu tinjauan sejarah sosial ekonomi. pontianak: romeo grafika. kusumamihardja, s. (1985). studia islamica. jakarta: girimukti pasaka. ma’arif, a s. (1995). membumikan islam. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. patmawati, (2005) “bugis kalimantan barat” dalam etnisitas di kalimantan barat. pontianak: stain pontianak press. pelras, c. (2005). budaya bugis: sebuah tradisi modernitas. in tapak-tapak waktu kebudayaan, sejarah, dan kehidupan sosial di sulawesi selatan, peny. kathryn robinson dan mukhlis paeni. makassar: ininnawa. rahman, f. (2017). islam sejarah pemikiran dan peradaban. bandung: mizan. rida, m r. (1971). al-wahy al-muhammadi. al-maktabah al-islami. solihin, m. (2005). melacak pemikiran tasawuf di nusantara. jakarta: raja grafindo persada. subhani, j. (1987). tauhid dan syirik. bandung: mizan. yasdi, m. t. m. (2003). filsafat tauhid: mengenal tuhan melalui nalar dan firman. bandung: arasyi. [ 225 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the discourse of spirituality versus religiosity in islam idi warsah iain curup, bngkulu email: idiwarsah@iaincurup.ac.id imron universitas muhammadiyah magelang email: imron1807yes@ummgl.ac.id abstract this article discusses spirituality and religiosity. spirituality and religiosity are two of the most basic aspects of mentality and human belief, which according to most people are the goal of human existence in the world. these two terms are widely understood by people as something that has the same meaning and understanding. but actually has a different meaning. spirituality is an experience or desire to know god that is done personally by seeing things deeper, substantially and seeking real understanding. whereas religiosity is the appreciation and experience of individuals towards the teachings of religion or the beliefs they hold. therefore, in essence, religiosity is a pattern of values, beliefs, symbols, behavior and experience that is institutionalized, which is directed at spirituality. in this case religiosity is actually a means of achieving spirituality. keywords: discourse; spirituality; religiosity. introduction the definition of religiosity is still a controversy up to the present. meanwhile, the spirituality and religiosity are fundamental aspects of human mentality and belief that, according to most people, constitute the purpose of the existence of human in this world. these two terms are often considered as having similar definition and interpretation, whereas they have different meaning. generally, the experts of psychological study failed to make a consensus of the definition of religiosity and spirituality therefore both of them are identified as two different things, and their operational usage often overlaps. the study about religiosity had been begun in 1990’s and this was marked by the publication of “journal for the scientific study of religion and review of religious research” an international journal for the psychology of religion (fridayanti, 2015: 199208). the concept of spirituality in the discipline of psychology of religion emerged [ 226 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 during the discussion of religiosity, and eventually became a problem of indistinct relationship between religiosity and spirituality which caused confused definition of religiosity and spirituality (fridayanti, 2015: 199-208). thus, this article tries to address spirituality and religiosity along with their adhere characteristics. to continue the exploration, i will begin with providing the concept of spirituality. the elaboration of the concept of spirituality in the following section covers its nature, scope and dimension in islamic perspective with more focus on its relevant to the discourse of religiosity. concept of spirituality 1. the nature of spirituality the term ‘spirituality’ is derived from the word ‘spirit’ which means soul (poerwadarminta, 1986: 963). the term is also defined as an oriented philosophy action in which all activities are done for the sake of allah and happiness of soul (leeming, 2014: 872). it contains a definition of relationship between human and god (as’ad, 2004: 340). spirituality is an experience or interest to recognize god personally through deep substantial view and actual understanding (harahap, 2011: 6). it is an activity with true immortal spiritual ending, and is not for a while (tobroni, 2005: 19-20). it is an encouragement for all human actions (suaedy, 2004: 202), and basic feeling of interaction with oneself, other people, and universe. it is said as a step to find continual authentic holistic deep meaning of self-existence related to sacred transcendent things (karakas, 2010: 89-106). elkins (1988) defines spirituality as a way to become something and undergo an event originated from awareness of transcendent dimension which has some characteristic values that can be recognized by an individual, life, and everything considered as the divine authority. spirituality is a presence of relationship with the mighty power determining the way of how one lives his life (armstrong, 1995: 3). further, tart states that spirituality is a wide potential of human final destination with higher entity, god, love, affection, and purpose (tart, 1975: 4). according to several definitions above, it can be concluded that spirituality is all philosophical oriented good deeds intended to make effort to possess transcendent value for the sake of allah. it suggests that, essentially, every human action must have good goal and transcendent value. 2. spirituality in islamic perspective as explained earlier, spirituality is an action conducted based on the awareness of allah and happiness of soul (leeming, 2014: 872) or relationship between [ 227 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 human and god (imron, 2016: 3) so that spirituality is a fundamental and natural element in human life as indicated in the qur’an surah ar-rum verse 30. translation: “turn your face singlemindedly to the true faith and adhere to the true nature on which allah has created human beings. the mould fashioned by allah cannot be altered. that is the true, straight faith, although most people do not know.”2 mustafa al maraghi, as quoted by jalaluddin and ramayulis (1998: 72). interprets the above verse as follows: be consistent, you, to all characters prescribed by allah in the inside of human being, because, indeed, allah who creates human according to his nature that is inclined to tawheed teaching and believe it based on what shown by mind and lead him to common sense. human was created by allah with the instinct of having religion, tawheed. transcendent bond is human characteristic that has felling of being religious which is then called as spirituality (imron, 2018: 34). spirituality is a personal experience or intention to recognize god by seeing something deeply and substantially, and searching true understanding that is not only the surface and short term (harahap, 2011: 6). besides, it is a deep interpretation of the world existence, and all activities are committed for the almighty allah (hafidzuddin, 2003:5). nasr (2004: 185) affirms that human and all his activities and characteristics cannot be separated from the dimension of divinity. attaining knowledge about the nature of human can be through religious texts studies. yet human tends to ignore them, hence he does not know the meaning of spiritual wisdom in his life. the uniqueness of human existence was associated with his relationship with allah as mentioned by the qur’an surah al-a’raf verse 172. interpretation: and recall (o prophet) when your lord brought forth descendants from the loins of the sons of adam, and made them witnesses against their ownselves. asking them: ‘am i not your lord?’ they said: ‘yes, we do testify.’  we did so lest you claim on the day of resurrection: ‘we were unaware of this. the contract made before the birth of human brought about responsibility along with its benefits and dangers for human as an intelligent free will (nasr, 2004: 21). the mandate granted by allah to human contains the confession of the oneness of allah and commitment to perform ibadah thus accepting the mandate means wiliness to worship and obey him (nasr, 2004: 338). then, according to nasr the nature of spirituality is a form of relationship with and dependence on the creator, as mentioned in the qur’an surah al-hajj verse 5, [ 228 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 surah adz-dzariat verse 56, surah al-an’am verse 162, surah maryam verse 65, surah al-zalzalah verse 7-8. interpretation: “o mankind! if you have any doubt concerning resurrection, then know that it is surely we who created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm,5 then from a clot of blood, then from a little lump of flesh, some of it shapely and other shapeless. (we are rehearsing this) that we may make the reality clear to you. we cause (the drop of sperm) that we please to remain in the wombs till an appointed time. we bring you forth as infants (and nurture you) that you may come of age. among you is he that dies (at a young age) and he who is kept back to the most abject age so that after once having known, he reaches a stage when he knows nothing.7 you see the earth dry and barren and then no sooner than we send down water upon it, it begins to quiver and swell and brings forth every kind of beauteous vegetation.” interpretation: “i created the jinn and humans for nothing else but that they may serve me.” interpretation: “say: ‘surely my prayer, all my acts of worship,  and my living and my dying are for allah alone, the lord of the whole universe.” interpretation: “he is the lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is in between. serve him, then, and be constant in serving him. do you know anyone that might be his compeer?” interpretation: “so whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it. (7) and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” the verses depict the spirituality as a sort of obedience of an individual toward allah in which all his activities are aimed to worship allah and all what he done will be rewarded by allah. it is what human soul needs as creature that has dimension of spirit inside his physical. viktor frankle in bastaman says that the existence of human is shown by three factors: spirituality, freedom, and responsibility (bastaman, 1995: 36). kuntowijoyo states that behavior of good spiritual human shows prophetic character that has three pillars: (1) ta’muruuna bil ma’ruuf, (2) tanhauna ‘anil munkar, (3) tu’minuuna billaah. these pillars are interpreted into universal language as concept of humanity, liberation, and transcendence (kuntowijoyo: 2007: 99). 3. scope of spirituality according to miliman (2003: 426-447), spirituality in the context of workplace comprises several levels; individual level, group level, and organizational [ 229 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 level. each level has three main dimensions: purpose in one’s work or meaningful work, having a sense of community, and being in alignment with the organization’s values and mission. meanwhile, pawar shankar mentions two level of spirituality of workplace: individual level and organizational level (shankar, 2008:544-567). individual level is fundamental aspect of spirituality of workplace. it is an individual feeling to sense deepest meaning and purpose of one’s profession. this dimension represents how an employee interacts with his work from day to day. it involves the deepest sense of meaning and purpose of one’s job. expression of spirituality of workplace assumes that everyone has motivation and interest to engage in every beneficial action for himself and other people. spirituality does not only view profession as something joyful and challenging but also something that has meaning and deepest goal: making one’s dream come true, fulfilling one’s needs, and giving contribution to others (shankar, 2008:544-567). group level refers to level of human behavior and focuses on interaction between an employee and his partners. the spirituality of this level consists of mental relationship, emotional relationship, and spiritual relationship of a team or group in an organization, and the core of this community is a human relationship including support, freedom of expression, and protection (shankar, 2008:544-567). organizational level shows individual experience which is associated with strong relationship between their personal values and mission, and purpose of an organization. it is related to the premise that the goal of the organization is more important than one’s interest so that someone has to give contribution to his community or other parties (shankar, 2008:544-567). further, giacalone and jurkiewichz as quoted by nurtjahyani (2010: 2730)) state that scope of spirituality includes two levels: individual level and organizational level. the first level refers to collection of individual values that spur transcendent experience though working process, and facilitate both sense of being connected with other people and sense of being completed and happy. individual level is fundamental aspect of spirituality of workplace comprises ability to sense deepest meaning and purpose of one’s profession. this dimension depicts how an employee interacts with his work from day to day. this is based on an assumption that human has deepest motivation, truth, and passion to commit beneficial activities for himself and other people. besides, spirituality does not only view profession as something joyful and challenging but also something that has meaning and deepest goal: making one’s dream come true, fulfilling one’s needs, and giving contribution to others (milliman, 2003: 426-447). the second, organizational level refers to working [ 230 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 frame of cultural values of an organization that motivate transcendent experience of employee through working process in order to facilitate sense of being connected with other people, and being completed and happy. spirituality of work of this level is related with vision and cultural values of the organization (nurtjahjani, 2010: 27-30). 4. dimensions of spirituality milliman (2003: 426-447) mentions indicators of individual dimension of spirituality of workplace as follows: 1) work is aimed to make other people happy; 2) work is done to arouse motivation; 3) work is related to an important thing of life; 4) effort to be diligent and avoidance of working absence; 5) work is associated with social and community kindness; 6) work is personally meaningful. danah zohar refers spirituality as spiritual quotient, then he and marshall state that the spiritual quotient comprises: 1) ability to be flexible, 2) possession of high awareness, 3) ability to bear face and make use of sufferings; 4) ability to bear face and bear pain, 5) possession of vision and values of life, 6) reluctance of doing unnecessary activity; 7) ability to see emerging problem through different viewpoints; 8) possession of preference of questioning for gaining fundamental answer; and 9) possession of independence in completing tasks (zohar & marshall, 2007: 14). further, elkins (1988: 5-18) formulates dimension spirituality in some dimensions. first, it is a transcendent dimension namely a concept which states that there is a transcendent thing in this life (beyond human reason). the core of this belief is various beginning with traditional psychology view that the god exists privately. then, the transcendent dimension is no more than just a natural self-awareness of the existence of bigger essence. yet the typology, metaphor, and model to describe transcendent dimension believe that not all invisible dimensions have material shape. he trusts the existence of “invisible world” and makes harmonious relationship with transcendent dimension; this is beneficial for him. spirituality is a condition in which someone experiences/senses the presence of the transcendent dimension that is what maslow said as “peak experience”; he obtains personal strength from this dimension (elkins, 2013: 34-35). wahyuningsih explains that spiritual man has strong belief in the existence of transcendent dimension in this life. this belief can be in the form of traditional/religious perspective on god, and psychological perspective on the transcendent dimension as natural existence of self-awarness of unawareness area or greater self. such a spiritual man has transcendent experience (peak experience) (wahyuningsih, 2009: 116-129). second, meaning and purpose in life is searching of meaning and purpose [ 231 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 of lie, and based on that the belief of life will be truly meaningful like the existence of someone who has goals. this basis is varied from one to another person, yet there is an agreement that each person fills existential inanition with authentic awareness that life possesses meaning and purpose (elkins, 2013: 34-35). it can be said more simply that dimension of meaning and purpose of life constitute feeling of having meaning and purpose of life that appear from the belief that life is very meaningful and one will be existed if he has purpose of life (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). third, mission in life is an awareness of job vacancy in which it has responsibility of life, a call that must be replied; a mission that must be carried out; and a destiny must be fulfilled. this life is metamotivated by sacrificing life one can get this (elkins, 2013: 34-35). simply, it suggests that he has responsibility for this life, and is encouraged by meta motivation (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). forth, sacredness of life (dimension of sacredness of life) is that life is sacred, conscious, adored, amazed, miraculous, though atheistic. it divides life into purity and secularity; ukhrawi and profane, but all agree that life is sacred and remarkable. a spiritualist can sanctify and involve religion in all elements of life (elkins, etc, 1988: 10-12). simple definition of sacred dimension is that life must be infused by purity, khidmad, takzim, and admiration though in nonreligious setting. he believes that the end of his life is akhirat, and holiness is a must (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). fifth is material value, meaning that material things are valued but not sought as the end of spiritual pursuits. a spiritualist respects all material elements such as money and opulence, but they are not his final searching; he does not also use them to substitute unfulfilled religious necessity. he knows that oncologic thirstiness cannot be relieved by material aspects but it can only be fulfilled with spiritual elements (elkins, 2013: 34-35). dimension of life satisfaction is a form of spiritual satisfaction in the inside an individual; a concept of life that it is not only seen from material aspects (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). six is altruism (altruism dimension). a spiritualist believes that all of us are guardian of brotherhood, and we feel painful when other are hurt. he has an awareness of social justice and a commitment to love and altruistic action. this dimension believes that human cannot live alone since he is part of life in this word universally (elkins, 1988: 10-12). altruism understands that all people are bother, interconnected to others’ sufferings, and committed to love and good behavior (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). seventh is idealism (idealism dimension). this dimension views spiritualist as a progressive man committed to the betterment of the world. he loves something in the way it is, and because of its potential in all aspects of life. spiritualist is committed [ 232 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 to high idealism and actualization of the potential power in every aspect of life (elkins, 2013: 34-35). wahyuningsih explains about idealism dimension in which it sees progressive person as those who has commitment to create better world through high idealism and potential actualization in all aspects of life (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). eighth is awareness of the tragic (dimension of awareness of the tragedy). it is an awareness of the tragedy of human existence. someone is definitely aware that he will be sick, suffering, and death. this consciousness is very deep inside his spirituality so that he has existential awareness of facing life. but, there is little paradox in which awareness of tragedy will increase happiness, appreciation, and respect of life. the yield of spirituality is real life effect of relationship between spiritualist and other person, nature, life and other meaningful aspects (elkins, 2013: 34-35). dimension of awareness of suffering can be defined simply as an awareness of affliction and death which makes someone more seriously live his life, and the emerging affliction is considered as the test of life (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). ninth is fruit of spirituality that are remnants or atsars that someone has in his life. spirituality will bring about goodness for his life (wahyuningsih, 2009: 119). concept of religiosity the word “religiosity” is derived from the word “religious’ means pity or devotion to religion. the world “religion” is derived from latin word “religio” which is rooted from “religare” means binding. it means compulsories or rules must be conducted in order to tie up and unite an individual or community in the relationship with god, other people and surroundings (driyarkara, 1987: 29). next, the word “religio” is defined as religion, and the definition of the term “religion” is the belief of the existence of god and rules of human behavior. this is in line with michel mayer’s statement as quoted by nashori (2002: 68) that religion is a set of rules and definite belief to guide human actions in relationships with god, other people and himself. the term religiosity (religious sity) emerges from both word “religion” and “religio”. religiosity is the barometer of one’s knowledge, belief, worship, and devotion to his religion (nashori, 2002: 71). dister defines religiosity as the presence of religious internalization in the inside of an individual (anggarasari & ekaningdyah, 1997: 15-20). meanwhile, according to zakiyah darajat, religiosity constitutes feeling, mind, and motivation that encourage religious behavior (daradjat, 2005: 13). every religious attitude is defined as conscious willingness behavior that accepts and agrees with descriptions inherited by community to a person, and then make is as his own belief which is embodied in daily life behavior (nikko, [ 233 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 1989: 10). therefore, religious person is a man whose all mental structure are led to the creator of absolute value, god, the highest and satisfactory giver (adisubroto, 1987: 23). from the mentioned argumentations, it can be inferred that religiosity is full comprehension and individual experience about religious teaching or belief. it is also defined as a condition in the inside of an individual that motivates him to behave, pose, and act according to religious teaching. according to glock and strak in nasori, as quited by ancok and suroso (2005: 46-48), religiosity has some dimensions. ideology dimension or belief is a dimension of religiosity related to what must be believed such as belief in god, angels, heaven, and so forth. ritual dimension is a dimension of religiosity related to behaviors that ruled by religion such as the rule of worship, baptism, shrift, fasting, salah, or special rituals performed in holly days. dimension of full comprehension is a dimension of religiosity related to religious sense undergone by believers, or how much someone can comprehend experiences in religious ritual for instance, concentration when performing salah. dimension of knowledge is a dimension of religiosity related to comprehension and knowledge of religious teachings. dimension of experience is a dimension of religiosity related to effects of application of religious teachings in daily attitude and behavior. are spirituality and religiosity similar? the discussion of spirituality and religiosity is very interesting since they have different constructs according to experts’ definitions. the presence of spirituality concept in psychological study caused the degradation of concept of psychological religiosity. pargament et al. state that the definition of religiosity has been specified as a system of ideology, organization, and ritual in which previously it was defined as all full comprehensions of one’s religiosity (fridayanti, 2015: 3). viewed from the definition and indicators, spirituality refers to spirit and behavior in which spirit is connected with good energy of physical and psychology. this is in accordance with karakas statement: spirituality is basic sense of relationship with oneself, other people, and whole universe. spirituality is considered as a step to find authentic holistic continual deep definition of self-awareness that associated with sacred elements and transcendence (karakas. 2010: 7) meanwhile, the definition of religiosity is a particular practice of behavior related to belief which is legalize by religious institution. mayer (in nashori, 2002: 68) affirms that religiosity is a set of rule and definite belief to guide human to behave in front of god, other people, and himself. it is also defined [ 234 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 as knowledge, belief, implementation of ibadah, and full comprehension of religion (nashori, 2002: 71); it is a religious internalization aspect in the inside of individual (anggasari, 1997: 16); it is a sense, thought, and motivation that lead to religious behavior (daradjat, 2005: 13). therefore, the character of religiosity is formal institutional since it reflects commitment toward belief and practices according to particular tradition (religion), while spirituality is associated with functional personal experience as the reflective effort of an individual in obtaining purpose and meaning of life (amir, 2016: 67-73). religiosity can be described as a consistency of religion as cognitive element, religious sense as effective element, and religious behavior as psychometric element (imron). thus religiosity is a complex integration of religious knowledge with religious sense and behavior in the inside of an individual. meanwhile, spirituality is a way of being and experiencing something caused by the awareness of the existence of transcendent dimension which is shown by particular good values in the inside an individual, other people, nature, life, and anything considered as the truth” (amir, etc, 2016: 67-73). the presence of spirituality concept in psychological study caused “the degradation of status” of psychological religiosity. the definition of religiosity has been specified as a system of ideology, organization, and ritual in which previously it was defined as all full comprehensions of one’s religiosity (fridayanti, 2015: 199208). therefore, religion is a pattern of value, belief, symbol, behavior, and experience intuited and led to spirituality. (amir, etc, 2016: 67-73) . in short, the actual definition of religiosity is a mean to achieve spirituality. conclusion the discourse of spirituality versus religiosity has been important to the life of people who practice religion in their daily life. in islam, the important of the discourse has also influenced the way those believers understand their religious teaching. several points are highlighted as to support the important of the discourse of spirituality versus religiosity in islamic perspective. first, spirituality is all philosophic oriented good deed of one who tries to be meaningful and has transcendent values in the only obedience toward allah. spirituality is every human action that has noble purpose and transcendent value. second, religiosity is related to one’s knowledge, belief, ibadah performance, and religious comprehension. in other words, religiosity is the presence of religious internalization in the inside of an individual. third, religiosity is a pattern of value, belief, symbol, behavior, and experience intuited and led to spirituality. in short, the actual definition of religiosity is a mean to achieve spirituality. 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(1989). psikologi agama. yogyakarta: kanisius. nurtjahjani, h. (2010). spiritualitas kerja sebagai ekspresi keinginan diri karyawan untuk mencari makna dan tujuan hidup dalam organisasi. jurnal psikologi, 7(1), 27-30. pawar, s.. b. (2008). two approaches to workplace spirituality facilitation: a comparison and implications. leadership & organization development journal, 29(6), 544-567. poerwadarminta, w.j.s. (1986). kamus umum bahasa indonesia. jakarta: balai pustaka. salim, p. (1990). the contamporary the english indonesian dictionary. jakarta: modern english pers. suaedy, a. (2004). spiritualitas dan modernitas antara konvergensi dan devergensi. agama, spiritulitas baru dan keadilan perspektif islam.  elga sarapung (ed.). yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. tart, c. (1975). introduction. transpersonal psychologies. new york: harper & row. tobroni. (2005). the spiritual leadership: pengefektifan organisasi noble industry melalui prinsip-prinsip spiritual etis. malang: umm. wahyuningsih, h. (2009). validitas konstruk alat ukur spirituality orientation inventory (soi). jurnal psikologi, 36(2), 116-129. zohar, d. & ian, m. (2007). sq: kecerdasan spiritual. bandung: mizan. [ 161 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 social media, religion, gender and politics in malaysia: a case of the social media usage by sarawak muslim female candidates in batang sadong and batang lupar in the 2018 malaysian general election nadrawina isnin1 faculty of administrative science and policy studies, uitm sarawak email: nadrawina@sarawak.uitm.edu.my abstract the 14th malaysian general election (ge2018) had changed the political landscape in malaysia. for the very first time, the ruling party of barisan nasional failed to dominate the government in all states except that of pahang, perlis and sarawak. this study is intended to discuss the scenario of ge2018 by focusing on the election results among female candidates in sarawak. ten female candidates participated in ge2018 as compared to a total of 78 candidates to grab 31 parliamentary seats in sarawak. meaning, merely 12.82 percentages of female candidates competed in ge2018. nevertheless, out of ten female election candidates competing, only five (4 pbb + 1 dap) won which was 16.12 percentages of winning whilst a big portion of the percentages of 83.87 went to the winning male election candidates. interestingly, the usage of social media is frequently used by the candidates in ge2018. hence, this work focuses on the usage of social media among two female muslim election candidates from a political party of parti bumiputera bersatu sarawak (pbb). the findings reveal that the frequent usage of facebook has positive and negative impacts on both female candidates. eventhough both female candidates win the election but one has an increased in votes and majority votes whilst the other has a drastic decrease of votes and majority votes obtained. keywords: sarawak, female, election, candidate, social media, posting. introduction over a decade ago, the sudden increase of frequent usage of social media by individuals or people proved that using the social media for business provides a user friendly website for users. the platform sees to the needs 1 the author would like to acknoledge the contribution of the konferensi antarabangsa islam borneo (kaib) xi 2018 held in pontianak as the paper was selected to be presented. the feedbacks from the conference are very valuable to the development of the final draft of the work. to all parties contributing to this paper is also great gratitutes being sincerely delivered. [ 162 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 of the users to socialize and communicate through their opinions, openly discussed in the social media. it also provides an avenue for the business with an opportunity to advertise and marketing their products (malaysian multimedia communication commission/skmm, 2017). skmm (2017) also noted that the social media account number has amounted to a high percentage of internet users increased since 2015. the skmm’s informaton is based on the facebook, instagram, youtube, wechat moments, google+, twitter, linkedin, snapchat, line timeline, tumblr among other things. from the ten social media as reported by skmm (2017), facebook has the highest account since 2015, in which the users had increased from 96.5 percentages to 97.3 percentages in 2017. therefore, an interesting fact by statista (2018) also indicates that the usage of social media would increase from 2015 to 2022. in fact it is expected according to statista (2018) that the increase is estimated from 20.42 millions of social media users, from 18.62 millions users from 2017. the current statistics by skmm (2017) and statista (2017) offer an interesting evaluation of the usage of social media by focusing on the facebook. subsequently, the trend of frequent usage of the social media is evident among the election candidates in ge2018. in this case, the female candidates are not an exemption. though the social media is said to influence the voters but it does not entirely depend on the social media alone. other factors such as the candidates’ personalities, the choosing of political party, religious affiliation and the issues highlighted during the campaign could contribute to the winning of an election candidate. furthermore, the social media could lead to a small winning of a candidate or the probability of losing an election. this could be due to determinant factors of an individual as voters and not based on the frequent political media campaign. together, these studies provide important insights into my study in answering two research questions. firstly, what are the types of information in the social media to influence the voters in deciding which political party and which election candidate that they would choose and secondly, what are the issues in the social media. in relating to the questions, this study is focused on the frequent usage of social media based on the postings of the two female muslim election candidates; which comprise the pictures and videos posted or uploaded in the facebook. in addition, the data is also based on the number of votes, the percentages of votes and the majority votes garnered by the female election candidates for two constituencies, which are p200 batang sadong and p201 batang lupar to answer the first research question. for the second research question, the issues highlighted in the social media indicate [ 163 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the acceptance of the voters towards these two female candidates. research methodology the methodology employed for this study is qualitative research. the qualitative method is used to probe into details and to provide the actual information for this study. in addition, the content analysis is used to collect data. according to mariette bengtsson (2016), content analysis can be used on all types of written texts no matter where the material comes from. moreover, there are no specific rules that must be followed (berg, 2001,  burnard, 1991, catanzaro, 1988, downe-wambolt, 1992), for example, deep interviews (wann-hansson, hallberg, klevsgård & andersson, 2005), focus group interviews (golsäter, sidenvall, lingfors & enskär, 2011), one single written question (bengtsson, ohlsson & ulander, 2007), open-ended questions as in a questionnaire (donath, winkler, graessel, & luttenberger, 2011), or observations of situations (eastwood, o׳connell & considine, 2011) as well as from pictures and films (krippendorff, 2004, neuendorf, 2002). however, the choice of data collection method affects the depth of the analysis. for example, open-ended, written questions cannot provide the same depth that an interview can provide, as the researcher has the opportunity to deepen the discussion with the informants.2 the data analysis refers to the purpose and the meaning of the collected data to a realistic conclusion. content analysis is employed in this study as a unique analytical unit applicable in both quantitative and qualitative.3 in quantitative content analysis, facts from the text are presented in the form of frequency expressed as a percentage or actual numbers of key categories that is the researcher seeks to answer questions about how many (bengtsson, 2016 quoting works of berelson 1952, krippendorff, 2004, neuendorf, 2002). this method differs from that of the qualitative content analysis; in this method, data are presented in words and themes to draw interpretation of the results. that is, the qualitative content analysis gave the researchers answers to questions such as “how “and “how many”. nevertheless, the choice of analysis method depends on the depth of the data presented by the researcher which reflects on the informant about a subject. this in turn, would have an effect on the data collection and on the total number of informants needed. therefore, the researcher either chose the manifest analysis or the latent 2 bengtsson (2016) referred to all the references in this paragraph to write his journal article, entitled how to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. 3 bengtsson (2016) refers to previous studies by krippendorff, 2004 and neuendorf, 2002 (quantitative) and the works of berg, 2001, burnard, 1991, catanzaro, 1988, and downe-wambolt, 1992 (qualitative), and the deductive and inductive method is used. [ 164 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 analysis. in the manifest analysis, the researcher specifies the “what” matters as informed by the informant or what the informants actually say. further, the researcher stays very close to the text, uses the words themselves and describes the visible and obvious text in the text. in contrast, latent analysis is extended to an interpretive level in which the researcher seeks to find the underlying meaning of the text: what the text is talking about (berg 2001, catanzaro 1988, downe-wambolt 1992, as quoted by bengtsson, 2016). secondary data is also employed to study on the voting pattern and the voting information is based on two general elections of ge2013 and ge2018. social media such as facebook is used to gather information on the current issues at p200 batang sadong and p201 batang lupar, the chosen constituency areas for this purpose. consequently, the qualitative content analysis would reveal the contents of the information or postings in the facebook in a reasonable way. duration of the study is for 16 days. it started on the 24th of april 2018, the day of appointment of candidates until the polling day of 9th may 2018. this study eluded the interview method but merely referring to the postings made in both the female candidates’ facebook. the choice of these two constituency areas of p200 batang sadong and p201 batang lupar is because both are caretakers of these areas since 2004 (for p201) and since 2008 (for p200). thus, it is impeccably significant to investigate the loyalty of the voters as the female candidates are representatives for more than three or four terms which are approximately 10-14 years. literature review there is a growing body of research literature on social media use and political participation since 2004—the birth year of facebook. most of them attempted to discover whether the general use of social media could enhance young people’s online and offline political participation and civic engagement (e.g., baumgartner & morris, 2010; bode, vraga, borah, & shah, 2014; gil de zúñiga, jung, & valenzuela, 2012; hargittai & shaw, 2013; valenzuela, kim, & gil de zúñiga, 2012; valenzuela, park, & kee, 2009). most of these studies were conducted in western democracies such as the united states (e.g., bode et al., 2014; gil de zúñiga et al., 2012), the united kingdom (xenos, vromen, & loader, 2014), australia (xenos et al., 2014), sweden (sveningsson, 2014; svensson, 2014), italy (vaccari et al., 2015), spain and the netherlands (calenda & meijer, 2009) as quoted by yang and dehart (2016)).4 4 yang and dehart (2016) referred to all the above references in these two paragraphs to write their research article entitled social media use and online political participation among college students during the us election 2012. [ 165 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the research article by hongwei chris yang and jean l. dehart (2016) also proposed that the united states (us) citizens’ online political participation is on the rise, fueled by the phenomenal growth of social media. further, yang and dehart (2016) revealed that the pew internet & american life project found that there was an increase of us adult internet users from 2008 election (55 per cent), 2010 midterm elections (54 per cent of us adult) and a more recent survey found that the social networking site 66 per cent of social media users (of which 22 per cent of online adults) stayed connected with the internet. the internet allowed the users to get involved in the political process or to receive political news or information, or got involved online, visited these sites for political information or getting involved in the campaign. more interestingly is the fact that political scientists and communication scholars urged politicians to tap the huge potential of engaging voters and campaigning via social media (yang and dehart (2016) cited utz, 2009) because those who use social media for political purposes are more likely to vote or to donate to a campaign (yang and dehart 2016). this is further stipulated by sebastian stier, arnim bleier, haiko lietz & markus strohmaier, (2017). the researchers specified that usage of facebook and twitter enable election candidates to directly reach out to voters, mobilize supporters, and influence the public agenda. in addition, these fundamental changes in political communication therefore present election candidates with a widened range of strategic choices. this was evident with the researchers work based on their empirical analysis focuses on political communication on facebook and twitter by candidates during the german federal election (bundestagswahl) campaign 2013. the baseline is a representative survey of the german population conducted during the election campaign and the researchers noted that social media have become universal communication channels for election candidates during election campaigns. taken together, their findings suggest that campaign strategies and political communication in general are mediated by varying sociotechnical affordances of social media platforms. having in mind the importance of social media to the users either in the united states, germany, and other parts of the world or even in malaysia, how is social media related to the choice of voting among voters? i am interested in the question of how the rational choice theories could influence the political views and perhaps in the long term the political culture at large among the voters. therefore, jiirg steiner (2017) pointed out that this is a special question within a much broader problem, namely how political science influences the political life of a country. according to steiner (2017), politicians, equally [ 166 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 selfishly, are motivated to be elected and reelected and rational choice theories may be based on other motives including motives of morality and altruism. hence, by referring to the works of rational choice theorists william h. riker, steiner noted that riker has formulated the basic axiom in a very concise way: “politically rational man is the man who would rather win than lose, regardless of the particular stakes.” thus, winning is always better than losing; staying in office better than being thrown out of office; a higher office better than a lower one. the discussion on the voters’ choice of voting is referred to as rational choice theory. according to s.m. amadae (2017), rational choice theory, also called rational choice theory or rational choice  school of thought is based on the assumption that individuals choose a course of action that is most in line with their personal preferences. rational choice theory is used to model human decision making, especially in the context of microeconomics, where it helps economists better understand the behaviour of a society in terms of individual actions as explained through  rationality, in which choices are consistent because they are made according to personal preference. eventually, rational choice theory is applied to other areas as well, including evolutionary theory, political science, and warfare. it started with a basic assumption about being rational in an action and to simplify the behavior of actors based on a mathematical methodology (anthony mcgann, 2016). nonetheless, mcgann (2016) noted that for the purpose of analysis, the writers did not use the mathematical methodology as stated by them. instead, mcgann stipulated that the writers focused on the postings and the comments in the social media particularly the facebook. further, mcgann (2016), described that the assumptions illustrated by the rational choice model experts are – people chose consistently and they do things with a reason, thinking about its consequences it is not something that could be rejected, but it is acceptable to the researchers; that is at least their expectations towards certain matters. consequently, the question is which particular voting model is consistent to these assumptions? hence, the most apparent matter is the ideological voting, meaning, the people voting for political party that they agreed to. this is based on the people’s liking over matters such as government policies, and therefore they chose that government. alternatively, the probability the voters use ideology as an experiment if their knowledge on a policy is limited. that is, a voter would not know the tax policy in depth but he or she knows which political party made an effort to restructure the tax policy. on the other hand, sara (berita harian online, 2017) is opinionated that [ 167 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 facebook is ‘an information centre’ for the malaysians specifically during the ge2018 campaigns. the upsurge data happened hastily with plentiful of information from various sources. in analyzing facebook, sara (2017) found that the facebook in malaysia during ge2018 is evident what she terms it as ‘facebook election’. sara (2017) concludes that facebook would continue to become the main stream media attention, either in the broadcast media or printed media to share current information directly through this online platform. sara (sinar harian online, 2017) stressed that the manifestation of social media such as blog, facebook or whatsapp became a force or strength for a political party and in the political scene, this is unavoidable. through the social media, it has become a medium of communication for the election candidates; for at least to update status regarding issues raised by the people. thus, sara viewed this from a political arena that is way different back in five to ten years ago. a similar view was expressed by james chau, a reporter from china central television  (cctv). he is opinionated that today’s political campaign normally takes into the social media and the media landscape is interesting to analyze as there are many attractions from various angles (zainuddin, 2018). however, james chau (2018, as quoted by dania) did not deny the fact that simultaneously, the usage of traditional media also plays an important role. james chau gave an example of choosing and voting of united states of america’s president in 2016 and the eu referendum, the social media became a war zone for campaigns and for the younger generations to use twitter and facebook to access information. in malaysia, the ge2018 resulted in the hashtag like #ge14 (which stands for ge2018), #pulangmengundi (which means come home for voting) #malaysiamemilih (means malaysia chooses/voting) in the social media to encourage the young ones to vote and to discuss political matters. further, james chau stressed that the new technology in the social media platform such as live streaming has open an opportunity for politicians and personalities to convey their messages or information which is accessible to the public. similarly, a study of “internet usage and political perception of universiti kebangsaan malaysia” by junaidi et al. (2013) stated that the internet influence and social media played an important role in influencing the political behavior among the students of ukm. in fact, a study in the united states of america (2000) and the united kingdom (2001) revealed that media played an important role as an important source for political information and news related to election (junaidi awang besar & mohd fuad mat jali. 2015). political communication through the internet has transformed the [ 168 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 political discourse, political participation and methods of election campaign of a country which later created a conducive democratic environment and freedom of speech (junaidi awang besar & mohd fuad mat jali, 2015 quoting the study of jankowski and van selm, 2008). results and discussion this study refers to two social media on facebook of p200 batang sadong (p200) and p201 batang lupar (p201), making comparisons based on the frequency of postings including campaigning methods used through their video and pictures shared in their facebook. this in turn would allow the researcher to analyze and answer the first question of what types of information posted in the social media could influence voter’ decision in choosing the political party and which election candidate would they choose. this would lead to the findings on the number of votes, percentages of votes and majority votes garnered by the candidates from p200 and p201. secondly is the issue arising in the social media of p200 and p201. in order to understand what was mentioned in the earlier paragraph, there are four main factors discussed in the following paragraphs. firstly is the number of postings or frequency of postings in the facebook. within the dates of 25 april 2018 until 9 may 2018 (the polling day), p201 had frequent postings of pictures and/or election campaigning postings. a total of 137 pictures and two videos were uploaded in her facebook. this differs from p200 who uploaded 27 pictures or/and election campaigning postings, and seven videos. this further confirms the idea of hongwei and dehart, 2016 (cited the work of utz, 2009) that an interesting fact that urged politicians to tap the huge potential of engaging voters and campaigning via social media because those who use social media for political purposes are more likely to vote or to donate to a campaign (hongwei and dehart, 2016; kim & geidner, 2008). secondly, based on the numerous postings it is seen that p201 election candidate fully utilized the platform for campaigning by uploading it in her facebook almost every day. on the other hand, this is not so for election candidate of p200. it could be deduced that p201 acquired eleven days to upload her postings, between the dates of 25 april 2018 up to 9 may 2018, whilst p200 needed five days to do so. an act of numerous postings by p201 election candidate via facebook is an evident of how a politician directly reaches out to voters, mobilize supporters, and influence the public agenda as suggested by sebastian stier, arnim bleier, haiko lietz & markus strohmaier (2017). [ 169 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 thirdly, the last or final dates for both p200 and p201 uploaded their postings also differ. p200 did her political campaigning until the polling date of 9 may 2018 but p201 did not upload postings on the 9th of may 2018. therefore, p201 had a gap between the differences of nine days, 8 may 2018 (final posting) until the new posting on 17 may 2018 (wishing her muslim followers celebrating ramadhan). nothing was uploaded after 17 may 2018 (for p201) but p201 visited her constituency on 30 may 2018. based on her facebook, she uploaded activities such as break of fast and teraweh prayers, giving of contributions for religious activities, gawairaya 2018 celebration and ge2018’s thanksgiving function. a similar approach was evident in p200’s facebook. her postings were not limited to wishing her muslim prayers for ramadhan but also attending break of fast with the muslims and non-muslims of her constituency. the fourth point is significant. p200 continued to serve her constituency. her facebook indicates that she serves her constituency during the month of ramadhan and especially helping out of the water problem due to limited amount of water in her area. the water problem involved 27 villagers between the dates of 20 may 2018 to 13 june 2018. although the problem arose, the break of fast activities was continued elsewhere. although ramadhan was a fasting month, this did not stop p200’s election candidate from visiting and receiving visitors to celebrate gawai raya with the villagers in her constituency. these four findings raise intriguing questions regarding the number of votes garnered by both election candidates. surprisingly, it was found that the numerous times of postings political campaigns in the facebook gave both positive and negative effects to p200 and p201. simultaneously, it gave a negative effect to p201. positive effect refers to both female election candidates won in ge2018. as a contrast, the negative effect refers to p201, although she won the election, but, a sudden decrease in the number of votes garnered was less as compared to ge2013. this finding is unexpected and suggests that multiply postings do not guarantee an increase in votes. what is more, p201 was an incumbent in her constituency area and had served for 14 years since 2004. to add to the mentioned arguments on the positive and negative effects towards the votings of the election candidates in sarawak, a study conducted by patrícia  rossini, jeff hemsley, sikana tanupabrungsun, feifei zhang, jennifer stromer-galley, 2018 is worthy to note. specifically, the researchers’ study has demonstrated that candidate standing in public opinion polls is positively related to social media use in several ways. candidates who are performing better, as indicated by higher polling numbers, tend to rely more heavily on [ 170 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 social media to communicate with voters.  this finding by the researchers is contrary to a prior study looking at gubernatorial elections by rossini et al.,2018 (cited by patrícia  rossini, jeff hemsley,  sikana tanupabrungsun,  feifei zhang,  jennifer stromer-galley, 2018) that suggested that those who were behind in the polls were more likely to frequently post on social media platforms. in actual fact, according to my study, the female muslim election candidate of p201 won the election but with a reduction of 27.8 per cent of votes garnered (by comparing the 75.4 per cent votes garnered in 2013 and 47.6 per cent votes garnered in 2018 and by comparing the votes gained in 2013 was 15,625 was reduced to 14,204 in 2018 – please refer to table 1). consistent with the literature, this study found that as stipulaed by mcgann (2016), the female election candidates focus on the postings and the comments in the social media particularly the facebook. this study also supports evidence from sara (2017) who dubbed the facebook during the ge2018 as ‘facebook election’, which was clearly the case of both the female muslim election candidates in this study. this study also supported sara’s (sinar harian online, 2017) manifestation of social media such facebook is unavoidable in the political scene. this also accords that through the social media, it has become a medium of communication for the election candidates. the eminent of social media is evident in the case of the opposition party of pakatan harapan (ph). what is more interesting is that, ph has championed the usage of social media way before the ge2014. according to najwa abdullah and amalina anuar (2018), ph’s social media lead was relatively diminished in this electoral cycle; it had already established a strong online presence in previous elections. thus, this likely influenced younger and first-time voters in ge14, as they would be familiar with ph based on its previous popular campaigns like #inikalilah (this is the time) and #ubah (change) that have taken root in malaysian society over the years. as in the case of the female muslim election candidates of batang sadong and batang lupar, both had been postings frequently on facebook of their activities. however, the most frequent postings were during the campaigning period of ge2018. votes and majority votes obtained by both female election candidates could be seen in table 1. table 1 also shows the differences between the votes and majority votes for both candidates based on two parliamentary elections of 2013 and 2018. it is apparent that p200 illustrates an increase of majority votes and a decrease of majority votes for p201. majority votes received by p200 increased from 11,206 in ge2013 to 12,328 in ge2018. nevertheless, [ 171 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 percentage votes for p200 decreased from 85.5 percentages to 61.2 percentages. the percentage difference of 24.3 is apparent of a drastic decrease in votes. votes and majority votes garnered by p201 has decreased. one unanticipated finding was that p201 is an old-timer, had served her constituency for 14 years. her 14,204 votes obtained in ge2018 compared to 15,625 votes in ge2013 was astonishment. in terms of percentages, from 75.4 percentages to 47.6 percentages suggests a 27.8 percentage of votes plunged. table 1 continues to reveal the full figures for the contested elelction candidate of p200 and p201, showed their performance in terms of votes and majority votes attained based on comparison between ge2013 and ge2018. table 1 : muslim female election candidates, votes and majority votes 2013 dan 2018 muslim female election candidates / political party / parlimentary constituency votes garnered (percentage of votes in bracket) 2018 majority votes 2018 votes garnered (percentage of votes in bracket) 2013 majority votes 2013 p200 batang sadong 14,208 (61.2%) 12,328 13,277 (85.5%) 11,260 p201 batang lupar 14,204 (47.6%) 10,277 15,625 (75.4%) 10,964 source: data is acquired from the star (10 may 2018) and the researcher had modified the data based on the constraint of this study. with respect to the first research question, it was found that p201’s numerous postings in the facebook did not give her a positive impact. even before facebook was popular in 2013, p201’s votes were higher. the usage of facebook would increase votes of any other election candidates, and in this particular case, most of pakatan harapan’s candidates successfully won ge2018. pakatan harapan took over malaysia except for the three states of sarawak, perlis and pahang. and example is langkawi’s election candidate; tun mahathir’s video entitled tun m: not much time left (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=lyfr9rakeii) was uploaded in youtube and had 26,092 viewers. whilst tamara (2018) noted that the video was uploaded in tweeter and tun mahathir’s facebook on 27 april 2018. the video had 762,000 viewers and received mixed feelings among viewers that signify support and forgiveness to tun mahathir; although there are some who questioned his sincerety. campaign content appeared more sincere on ph’s end. for instance, the [ 172 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 campaign video showing dr mahathir mohamad talking to a little girl about saving the country resonated with many (najwa abdullah and amalina anuar, 2018). however, the opposites befell to barisan nasional’s election candidates that received negative comments from the facebookers. as such, despite a smaller election machinery on ph, mass mobilisation via the internet enabled ph to draw large crowds to their ad hoc campaign rallies across the country (or alternatively, to their facebook live streaming videos), potentially swaying fence-sitters and consolidating votes amongst its supporters. this study is set out with the second aim of assessing the issues arising in the social media of p201. on the other hand, p200 who has no comments in her facebook, indicated that p200 is well accepted by her voters. evidently, it is unlikely for p201. it is interesting to note here that facebook was utilized by her followers who uploaded pictures and comments for p201. the most obvious finding to emerge from the analysis is there is no limit for voters or individuals to be opinionated over their dissatisfaction of the female election candidate (p201). the resentment against p201 was based on protest by the villagers of her constituency. data on the ground suggested that the grassroots were promised assistance and services by one of the family members of p201 female election candidate. but the promises were not materialized. an example is the dissatisfaction of i.a. (pseudo name) posted in his facebook who shared another counterpart’s comments (s.a.m – pseudo name) dated 15 april 2018. s.a.m initially had uploaded in a group’s facebook of saribas global, a picture of two handwritten banners which said, “we love the chief minister/ government. but we rejected the bn’s p201 election candidate d.r.” and “we will vote barisan nasional if the p201 election candidate is changed to another person”. s.a.m.’s dissatisfaction continued with his second comment to saribas global timed at 8.49 am (15 april 2018). he stated that, “the villagers of batang lupar wanted a new face so he or she coul bring development to our area. this constituency area need a leader who goes to the ground, not merely coming once the general election is near. we want change, our chief minister, abang johari abang openg, we demanded your promise, you promise if the representative is not good, we can change to a new representative…if the people of batang lupar had forgotten, please share this information, and let others know the real situation of batang lupar”. [ 173 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the statement made by s.a.m. clearly stated that there was a demand for a new representative for p201 who could develop their area and to listen to the grievances of the people. having a representative who could be hardly seen at the area made them demanded a new face to represent them. the phrase “touch and go” attitude of the representative is uncalled for. this phrase is common among the people of sarawak by having the constituency representatives who seldom visited their constituency areas or even to organize activities in those areas. thus, facebook could not be denined of its significance. it should be utilized as a means of communication between the election candidates and their voters. as mentioned by damian tambini (2018), in terms of deliberation and information gathering related to elections, facebook is becoming the crucial platform in some countries, which is reflected in the shift of uk political advertising onto the platform over the past five years. moreover, the complex process of deliberation and debate during an election cycle, the flow of ideas, memes, reversals of public opinion, and fluctuations of fortune of individual politicians is now more knowable than ever before. on top of the two handwritten banners as discussed in the previous pages, an observation was also conducted by the researcher to few small districts at p201 on 31 march 2018; the journey to kampung sebangan witnessed a huge billboard at the road side that has the picture of the female election candidate (p201) and small children with her. on the billboard, there was a scribble of calling the female election candidate, a liar, on the (face) picture. a blue colored spray was used to scrawl on it. it is somewhat surprising to note in this condition that the probability of any individual(s) or group(s) dared to show their resentment by scribbling on the billboard. to add to the argument on the negative effects of social media via the facebook, patrícia   rossini, jeff hemsley, sikana tanupabrungsun, feifei zhang, jennifer stromer-galley (2018) argued that the results indicate that a candidate’s performance in the polls drives certain communicative strategies, such as the use of messages of attacks and advocacy, as well as the focus on personal image. henceforth, these findings suggest important implications. firstly, this study has identified that recurrent postings in the facebook gave positive and negative effects. the study has also shown that it affected the number of votes obtained by both p200 and p201 female muslim election candidates. likewise, the research has shown that the various postings by p201 are more compared to postings by p200, gave negative effect to p201 female election candidate. that is, her votes have decreased as compared to the votes she garnered in the [ 174 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 previous ge2013. the second major finding was that the number of posting of p200 is less from the frequent postings of p201 that has a positive effect to p200 in a way that her votes increased even though in terms of percentages had dropped. furthermore, this study has also found that the contents of videos uploaded by p200 and p201 are dissimilar. p200 adopted a casual live streaming video, meeting the villagers at her constituency area by visiting from house to house whilst p201 hired a professional video maker of her and children. the video give the impression of superficial as compared to that of a casual live streaming by p200. the most obvious finding to emerge is the common problem of under developed villages in p201, continuously raised by the villagers in their facebook. this is related with calling the female election candidate of p201 as a liar because of her promise to bring development to her constituency. conclusion although most prior research analyzes the social media research in elections, this study focuses on the election results among two female muslim women in the malaysian general election (ge2018). the ge2018 presents an ideal opportunity test on how numerous postings or uploading of information can determine the votes garnered by both female election candidates. this study’s findings suggest that communication strategies on facebook are significantly related to how well candidates are performing in the polls. overall, the findings show that the usage of social media such as facebook has a positive and negative impact to the owners of facebook. it shows that social media has been positiviely associated with higher increase of voters obtained by one of the female election candidates. on the other hand, it also shows a negative impact towards other female election candidates even though she has numerous postings in her facebook using some different contents including those related to ideas, ethnicity, religion and culture. it could also be understood that political efficacy among voters in p200 and p201 is driven mostly by their interest in the election and their attention to election news or matters discussed in the social media. their interest in the election and political discussions in the social media were primarly associated with their preference over the female election candidate. this study also suggests that social media platform matters for campaign strategies. hence, the ‘facebook election’ as labelled by sara (2017) seems safe to conclude that the social media is growing rapidly for people who want to have an alternative medium that not only provide viewers with diversed political information about ge2018 in malaysia, but also gave voters to choose whom they wanted to vote for or vote against. [ 175 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 bibliography abdullah, a. and anuar, a., (16 may 2018). what effect did social media have on the malaysian election result? https://www.todayonline.com/ commentary/what-effect-did-social-media-have-malaysian-electionresult amadae, s.m. (november 17, 2017). rational choice theory. encyclopædia britannica, inc. :https://www.britannica.com/topic/rational-choice-theory bengtsson, m. (2016). how to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis. nursing plus open. volume 2,  2016, pages 8-14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.npls.2016.01.001. https://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/s2352900816000029 besar, j.a., jali, mfm., lyndon, n. & ali, m. (2013). penggunaan internet dan persepsi politik mahasiswa universiti kebangsaan malaysia. jurnal personalia pelajar 16(12): 1-13. bangi: universiti kebangsaan malaysia. besar, j.a. & jali, m.f.m., (2015). pengaruh media terhadap pilihan parti politik dalam kalangan mahasiswa universiti awam di lembah klang. jurnal personalia pelajar 18(1)(2015): 11 – 22. bangi: universiti kebangsaan malaysia. jiirg, s. (2017). rational choice theories and politics: a research agenda and a moral question. https://doi.org/10.2307/419777. malaysian communications and multimedia commission (skmm). (2017). internet users survey 2017 statistical brief number twenty-one. selangor darul ehsan: malaysian communications and multimedia commission. https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/general/pdf/mcmc-internet-users-survey-2017.pdf mcgann, a. (2016). voting choice and rational choice. oxford research encyclopedia of politics. online publication date: aug 2016 doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.79. http://politics.oxfordre. com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore9780190228637-e-79?print=pdf rossini, p;   hemsley, j.,  tanupabrungsun,  s., zhang,  f., stromer-galley, j., (2018). social media, opinion polls, and the use of persuasive messages during the 2016 us election primaries. https://doi. org/10.1177/2056305118784774 sara, c. (2 mei 2018.) pilihan raya dan impak media sosial. berita harian online. http://www.bhplus.com.my/kolumnis/2018/05/419736/pili[ 176 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 han-raya-dan-impak-media-sosial. sinar harian online. (13 jun 2018). kehadiran media sosial dalam arena politik negara tidak boleh dinafikan. (sesi pembentangan oleh prof madya dr c sara di ruang pejabat sinar harian). http://www. sinarharian.com.my/nasional/media-sosial-pencetus-kekuatan-1.845572 social media stats malaysia june 2017 – july 2018. (2018). http://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/malaysia star atas talian. results overview. (10 mei 2018). https://www.thestar.com. my/ge14/ statista. 2018. number of internet users in malaysia from 2015 to 2022 (in millions). https://www.statista.com/statistics/553752/number-of-internet-users-in-malaysia/ stier, s., bleier, a., lietz, h. & strohmaier, m., (2017). election campaigning on social media: politicians, audiences, and the mediation of political communication on facebook and twitter. political communication, 35:50–74, 2018 © 2017 taylor & francis group, llc issn: 1058-4609 print / 10917675 online doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2017.1334728 tambini, d. (2018) social media power and election legitimacy. in: tambini, damian and moore, martin, (eds.) digital dominance: the power of google, amazon, facebook, and apple. oxford university press, new york, ny, pp. 265-293. isbn 9780190845117 tamara, j. (30 april 2018), 01:04 petang. [video] tun m tears up and vows to make amends for his past mistakes. http://says.com/my/news/drm-tears-up-and-says-he-wants-to-make-amends-for-past-mistakes. the star online ge. results overview. (10 mei 2018). https://election.thestar. com.my/sarawak.html tun m: masa dah tak banyak. 30 april 2018. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lyfr9rakeii. yang, h.c. and dehart, j.l., (2016) social media + society january-march 2016: 1–18 sagepub.co.uk/journalspermissions.nav doi: 10.1177/2056305115623802 sms.sagepub.com. zainuddin, d. (7 mei 2018). pru14: impak media sosial terhadap pengundi. astro awani online. http://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/ pru14-impak-media-sosial-terhadap-pengundi-174745 [ 17 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 religious conflicts: opportunity structures, group dynamics, and framing tomas lindgren umea university, sweden email: tomas.lindgren@umu.se abstract explanations of violent religious conflicts usually focus on preconditions, facilitator causes or precipitating events at micro, meso or macro levels of analysis. as social psychology is the scientific study of the ways in which thoughts, feelings, perceptions, motives, and behaviors are inf luenced by interactions and transactions between groups and individuals, it can increase our understanding of the dynamics of religious conflicts at micro and meso levels. in this paper, i illustrate this point with a discussion of the utility of social movement theory for understanding the dynamics of religious conflicts. social movement theory locates religious conflicts within broader contexts and complex processes by focusing on the interplay between micro and meso factors and the ways in which people perceive macro factors. given certain conditions, religion can and often do contribute to collective violence. religion is rarely, if ever, the main cause of intergroup conflicts, but is often used as an instrument for the mobilization of human and non-human resources. appeal to religion may help conflicting parties overcome the collective action problem associated with intergroup conflicts. this does not necessarily mean that religious conflicts have unique characteristics or a logic of their own that sets them apart from other types of intergroup conflicts. keywords: religion, conflict, violence, social psychology introduction religious conflicts are globally widespread and they tend to be more lethal, indiscriminate, and intractable than their secular counterparts (fox, 2004; pearce, 2005; hassner, 2009; toft, philpott & shaw, 2011; svensson, 2007; 2012; svensson & nilsson, 2018; isaacs, 2016; 2017). in the light of these findings, it is not surprising to find that the question of why people engage in religious conflicts have drawn attention from social scientists and scholars of religion. several scholars argue that religion – or specific interpretations of religion – is a major cause of violence because it is absolutistic or particularistic (e.g., hick, 1989; kimball, 2002; schwartz, 1997), irrational or non-rational (e.g., appleby, 2000; selengut, 2003; jones, 2008), and/or divisive [ 18 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 (e.g., huntington, 1996; avalos, 2005: juergensmeyer, 2008; 2017). there are a number of problems with this conclusion (in addition to the difficulty in clearly distinguishing religious from non-religious motives), including the assumption that religious cognition has a direct impact on people’s behavior, the de-contextualization of religion (or religious actors), and the reduction of the causes of conflicts into a single causal factor. studies on the link between religious beliefs and behavior are inconclusive, with some finding that religious beliefs have an impact on people’s behavior while others have shown a lack of correspondence between religious beliefs and behavior (e.g., wulff, 1997). an extensive body of empirical research demonstrates that religion’s influence on behavior is more in the situation than in the person (e.g., hood, hill & spilka, 2009; norenzayan, 2013). there are reasons to believe that religion encourages intergroup conflicts, but only under certain conditions. it is our job, i think, as social scientists and scholars of religion, to clarify the conditions under which religious beliefs promote intergroup conflicts (lindgren, 2016). conflicts are interactive processes manifested in an actual or perceived incompatibility of goals between social entities, psychological processes, including cognitions, emotions, and motivations, and conflict behavior, such as the use of force to kill and injure the opponent, destruction of military or economic resources, verbal threats, and hostile gestures (galtung, 1996). religion can most certainly exert an influence on contradictions, beliefs, attitudes, feelings, motivations, and conflict behavior. but conflicts are by definition relational and the decision to resort to violence is usually a consequence of an escalation of a conflict, disillusionments with non-violent strategies, and/or a moral outrage at the opponent’s aggression (della porta, 2013; sageman, 2017). to understand why a religious group use violence we thus must take into account the political context of the conflict and the behavior of the opponent. there is no doubt that religious beliefs have had an impact on several conflicts during the last four decades (toft, philpott & shaw, 2011). absolutism, particularism or irrationality may have contributed to the conflicts, but they do not explain why conflicts have broken out between some religious groups but not between other religious groups, who also have absolutistic, particularistic or irrational beliefs. the root causes of intergroup conflicts are always multifaceted (barash & webel, 2009). no single causal factor will therefore suffice to explain all or most cases of collective religious violence (svensson, 2012). if a hypothesized causal factor, such as absolutism, particularism or irrationality, is present in at least two situations that occur under similar circumstances, and if the outcome is violence in [ 19 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 one situation and nonviolence in the other, then under most circumstances that factor is not a primary cause of intergroup violence. it is thus important to examine religious conflicts that do not occur as well as those that do occur. why have, for example, protestants and catholics in northern ireland been involved in violent conflicts, while protestants and catholics in south africa and the philippines have not been involved in such conflicts? why do different religious groups sometimes live in peace for centuries and sometimes not? religious conflicts are often described as binary conflicts between unitary and bounded factions that are defined by the participants’ religious identity, and the participants are often portrayed as being motivated by religious beliefs. but all such descriptions oversimplify the complexity of most religious conflicts as they usually entail a combination of identities, motives, and goals. religious conflict parties are seldom, if ever, homogenous groups. in the religious war in maluku (1999–2004), for example, the main conflicting parties were divided into several subgroups, such as muslim vigilance groups and christian vigilance groups, organized muslim militias and organized christian militias, and muslim criminal gangs and christian criminal gangs. the members of these groups, who were recruited from a wide spectrum of social categories, used violence to achieve multiple, overlapping, and sometimes mutually contradictory goals. during previous field research, i identified four ideal types of combatants in the war: “the ideologist” (people who were pulled into the war by their beliefs in the ideological cause), “the opportunist” (people who participated in the war in order to achieve social and/or economic gains), “the player” (people who were attracted by the adventure); and “the reluctant fighter” (people who were pushed into the war because they saw no other options) (lindgren, 2014). religious identity labels thus tend obscure the plurality of identities that exist within conflicting parties. even if it could be demonstrated that a conflict group is religiously homogenous, it is not at all clear that religious beliefs are the reasons for their conflict behavior. to be sure, religious beliefs might motivate action, but there are also other motivations that drive violent behavior, for example, the attraction of war, profit opportunities, and thrill (mueller, 2007). several studies suggest that religious beliefs are not among the most compelling motivations in the long run and in combat. more important is the social dynamic within the conflict unit, the ties among the soldiers, the loyalty to the brothers in arms, and the urge to contribute to the success of the group (e.g., kalyvas, 2006). still, religion can and do exert an influence on violent conflicts, for example, by shaping and defining the conflicting parties that are engaged in fighting. it [ 20 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 means in many cases that religion shapes people’s identities and loyalties apart from its beliefs (toft, 2007; fox, 2000). religions, like most ideologies, divide people into us and them. before christians and muslims can fight, as they did in maluku, they must believe themselves to be christians and muslims and not divide themselves into some other categories. whenever a religious divide is used as the basis of mobilization, it requires the suppression of the human proclivity to see other people as both “with us” on some measures and “not with us” on other measures. a vast body of research demonstrates that the mere identification with a social group tends to trigger in-group love and out-group hostility (e.g., tajfel, 1970; castano, yzerbut, bourguignon & seron, 2002; halevy, bornstein & sagiv, 2008). but to turn “them” into an “enemy”, usually requires an additional component, such as grievances and a process of mobilization (basedau, pfeiffer & vüllers, 2016; isaacs, 2016). to understand why people participate in religious conflicts we thus must demystify the conflicts by locating them within broader contexts and complex processes. the purpose of this paper is to discuss the utility of social movement theory for understanding the dynamics of religious conflicts. social movement theory social movement theory is an integrative approach that focuses on the relationship between institutional political actors and various forms of political contention. the theory emphasizes the political context in which social movements and rebel groups emerge, the structures through which people and resources are mobilized, and collective representations of the social world. the theory has coalesced around three concepts: opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and collective action frames (mcadam, 1999). opportunity structure, the first theoretical component of social movement theory, refers to external aspects of the political environment that constrain or empower collective actors, such as the degree of political openness and the presence or absence of support groups (tarrow, 1988). this means that the opportunities to engage in successful collective action varies over time and that these variations can explain the ebb and flow of contentious politics (mcadam, 1999). it is a psychological truism that we live in a perceived reality (lindgren, 2005; 2014b). opportunities are subject to interpretation because no opportunity will invite to mobilization unless it is perceived as an opportunity. it is therefore important to pay attention to the interplay [ 21 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 between structural conditions and subjective perceptions. kurzman (1996) points out that there are sometimes mismatches between them such that people fail to perceive opportunities when they do exist, or perceive opportunities when they do not exist. although there is no consensus on what constitutes a political opportunity structure, it is clear that contentious religious groups are shaped by the political context and often respond strategically to perceived opportunity structures. social movement theorists recognize that political opportunities are insufficient to persuade people to participate in collective action. mobilizing structures, the second component of social movement theory, refers to the networks through which the mobilization of resources, people, and collective action occurs. it is, in other words, those collective vehicles, informal networks as well as formal organizations, through which people mobilize and engage in collective action. social movement theorists also stress the importance of social networks. as a number of studies demonstrate, members of religious and political organizations are typically recruited through social networks. they seem to be particularly important in recruitment to high-risk activism (mcadam, 1986; della porta, 2013; sageman, 2017). della porta (1988), for example, found that 70 percent of the members of militant left-wing groups in italy joined while they had at least one close friend or kin involved in the group. in a study of rightwing terrorism in italy, weinberg and eubank (1987) found that 60 percent of the activists had siblings in the movement, 18 percent had marital and 12 percent had parental relations with members of the radical right. in a study of global jihadism, sageman (2008, 66) found that “about two thirds of the people in the sample were friends with other people who joined together or already had some connection to terrorism.” social networks can thus mold preferences before people decide to join a movement, socialize and build identities after they have been recruited, and offer participation opportunities to people who are sensitive to a particular issue (passy, 2001). social networks can also be an antidote to leaving a group and a support for sustained participation in collective actions (della porta & diani, 2006). friendship is thus a key to recruitment as well a key to keeping group members. social movement theorists also stress the importance of formal organizations. the key challenge for social movement organizers is to create organizations that are sufficiently robust to structure contention, yet flexible enough to reach out to the social networks that link people to one another. tarrow (2011) argues that the best way to address this challenge is through local organizations that are connected by social networks and coordinated by formal organizations. local organizations can provide crucial resources to a social movement, such as [ 22 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 members, leaders, communication networks, and enterprise tools (mcadam, 1999). there is ample of evidence that social movements recruit participants most efficiently from existing organizations. it is a well-established fact that it is easier to recruit people with a shared sense of identity than to create new ones. recruitment frequently occurs through “block recruitment” in which several or most members of an organization decide to join a social movement (oberschall, 1973; mcadam, 1999). social movements need leaders who “inspire commitment, mobilize resources, create and recognize opportunities, devise strategies, frame demands, and influence outcomes (morris & staggenborg, 2004, 171).” sometimes leaders produce social movements and sometimes social movements produce leaders out of the struggle or from existing organizations. finally, established organizations may provide communication infrastructures, practical tools and services, such as meeting places, office supplies, and lawyers (mcadam, 1999). but for the aggrieved to participate in collective action, there must first be a cognitive liberation or an insurgent consciousness, that is, “a collective state of understanding which recognizes that social change is both imperative and viable (smith, 1991, 62).” collective action is not only constructed out of organizations, but also out of shared understandings that justify, dignify, and animate collective action. the third component of social movement theory is collective action frames. the term “frame” refers to “an interpretive schemata that simplifies and condenses ‘the world out there’ by selectively punctuating and encoding objects, situations, events, experiences, and sequences of actions within one’s present or past environment. [...] collective action frames not only perform this focusing and punctuating role; they also function simultaneously as modes of attribution and articulation (snow & benford, 1992, 137).” thus, collective action frames define a social situation as a problem, including attributions of responsibility and targets of blame, articulate a proposed solution to the problem, devise strategies for addressing the problem, and offer a rational for engaging in collective action. collective action frames are generated by an interactive, discursive process which involve a “connection and alignment of events and experiences so that they hang together in a relatively unified and compelling fashion,” and “accenting and highlighting some issues, events, or beliefs as being more salient than others (benford & snow, 2000, 623).” the framing process always occurs in a context in which various actors, such as social movement organizers, participants, authorities, media, and counter-movements, are engaged in intragroup/movement f raming disputes and intergroup/movement [ 23 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 counterframing/framing contests. framing is a strategic process that aims to achieve a specific goal: recruitment of participants, economic resources, and so forth. in order to achieve the goal, a frame must resonate with potential participants and the wider cultural context in which a movement operates. social movement scholars have demonstrated that resonance is related to cultural sensitivity, credibility and salience (williams, 2004). the process through which social movements link their interpretative frameworks with people’s values and goals is called frame alignment, of which there are four types: frame bridging, frame amplification, frame extension, and frame transformation. frame bridging is linking ideologically congruent but structurally unconnected frames. frame amplification refers to a clarification, elaboration or revitalization of cultural beliefs or values that relate to a specific issue. frame extension is to extend an interpretive frame to include issues and concerns that are secondary to the movement’s primary goals but are of importance to a target population. frame transformation, which is the most ambitious strategy, refers to a reformulation of a collective action frame or a formation of a new one (snow, rochford, worden & benford, 1986). frame alignment processes thus serve to link a movement’s activities and goals with a target of mobilization. sometimes frames originate from ideologies and sometimes ideologies are influenced by frames. although frames usually do not consist of a systematic body of ideas and ideals, some provide a more comprehensive understanding of the social world. this is particularly true of master frames, that is, “collective action frames that have expanded in scope and influence such that they color and constrain the orientations and activities of other movements (snow, 2004, 390).” master frames that are broad in interpretive scope, such as global justice, war on islam, and antiimperialism, allow “numerous aggrieved groups to tap it and elaborate their grievances in terms of its basic problem-solving schema (snow & benford, 1992, 140).” mobilization for religious conflicts religious conflicts are willed actions and leaders usually play critical roles in instigating collective violence (brass, 2003). they normally exploit popular grievances for economic, political or ideological gains. some leaders thus mobilize along identity lines in order to advance their political or economic interests via conflicts, others mobilize along identity lines in order to advance their religious interests via conflicts (barter & zatkin-osburn, 2014). in both cases, the leaders must perceive a political opportunity and [ 24 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 mobilize human and non-human resources before they can engage in violent conflicts. mobilization is facilitated when the leader is imbued with moral authority and embody the in-group identity. successful leaders typically stand for the group, stand up for the group, craft a sense of us, and make the group members matter (glenny, 1999; haslam, reicher & platow, 2011). control over national mass media can have tremendous effects on conflict mobilization. if a conflict group can convey their action frames to millions of people, encouraging some to join them and others to take note of their claims, it becomes possible to create a large movement without incurring the costs of building and maintaining a mass organization. the importance of controlling mass media outlets has been observed in several conflict areas, for example, in serbia prior to the wars against croatia and bosnia (mueller 2000). mass media can thus be used to win the hearts and minds of activists, supporters, and sympathizers. the use of religious rhetoric and symbolism can provide access to religious media channels. in maluku, for example, both sides used religious mass media in order to mobilize human and non-human resources (hasan, 2006; lindgren, 2014). social media has changed the nature of religious conflict in many ways. it has, for example, extended the range of social networks internationally and diminished the importance of local organizations as bases for mobilization. social media has made it possible for conflict groups to bypass government censorship and the filters of established media outlets, and communicate directly with members, sympathizers, supporters, enemies, and other political actors. most conflict groups today use various network platforms to disseminate information and propaganda, mobilize non-human resources, and recruit participants, sympathizers, and supporters. armed conflicts require material resources, such as money, weapons, ammunition and technology. some of the most common sources of funding are robbery, taxation of the local population, and donations from external support groups. appeal to religion can facilitate mobilization of external support because people tend to support their coreligionists when they are in trouble (fox, 2002; lindgren, 2014). conflict groups need organizations and social networks in order to participate successfully in collective violence. conflict leaders must either create new organizations or transform existing ones into conflict organizations. to frame a conflict in religious terms may provide access to organizational resources. religious organizations were turned into conflict organizations in several conflicts during the last four decades. in maluku, for example, both sides had established headquarters in kota ambon, the capital of the province of maluku. the christian headquarter, which was located in the [ 25 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 maranatha church, served as a communication and crisis center. the church provided a network connecting christian communities across the province, which facilitated the recruitment of combatants and the coordination of christian troops. the muslims had their headquarters in the al fatah mosque, a stone’s throw from the maranatha church. from there, the armed struggle was organized under the auspices of retired military personnel. the mosque also served as a communication center, hospital and a safe haven for refugees (van klinken, 2007). homeless people lived more or less permanently in the churches and the mosques during the conflict, and the mere sight of the refugees strengthened the morale on both sides (lindgren, 2014). armed conflicts require, of course, a large number of dedicated fighters. for conflict groups, it is important to identify people who are willing to make great sacrifices for long-term goals. to recruit people who are not sufficiently motivated often leads to problems as they tend to expect more short-term rewards than more motivated soldiers (weinstein, 2005). there is ample of evidence that young men tend to be more motivated to participate in intergroup violence than any other demographic group (e.g., mesquida & wiener, 1996; 1999; reedy-maschner & maschner, 1999). recruitment for an armed conflict thus does not require a large population base but a pool of young males, which many religious organizations can provide through “block recruitment”. it is therefore hardly surprising that leaders typically address young males in their recruitment campaigns, and that many religious conflict groups are dominated by males under the age of 30 (e.g., bose, 2003; brass, 2003; mckenna, 1998). to mobilize successfully, leaders must effectively manage two processes: consensus mobilization and action mobilization (klandermans, 1984). consensus mobilization is the process through which a conflict organizer attempts to convince people that a violent conflict is necessary and justified. conflict groups promote such interpretations by disseminating collective action frames. as i said above, collective action frames are perceived more positively if they resonate with people’s beliefs and values and the wider cultural context in which a conflict group operates. incorporation of religious concepts, symbols, and metaphors into collective action frames is often a part of alignment processes. they can justify the cause, which bring hope in times of misery and purpose in times of despair, and they can help to dehumanize the enemy, which makes it easier to kill them. action mobilization is the process through which a conflict organizer attempts to motivate people to participate in a religious conflict. it includes promoting sympathy for the cause among the population, targeting sympathizers within the population, motivating the sympathizers, and [ 26 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 persuading them to participate in the conflict. sympathy, which is typically the result of consensus mobilization, is based on people’s identification with a conflict group. identification is cheap and most people who identify with a cause tend to remain passive sympathizers. leaders often target and motivate sympathizers by using kinship terms in the mobilizing rhetoric, such as “brother” and “sister”. it was used by both factions during the religious conflict in maluku. for example, jafar umar thalib, the commander of laskar jihad, emphasized in the declaration of war that it was a religious duty for all muslims to take up arms to defend their “brothers in faith”: what law in this world can oppose allah’s law when allah states that we are obliged to fight to defend the oppressed people who cannot defend themselves? and what earthly law can prohibit the religious obligation expressed in the command of allah, “and if they, your brothers in faith, ask you for your help, then you are ordained to help them.” therefore, i state emphatically that all laws and regulations that oppose allah’s commandments are actually invalid (lindgren, 2014). to induce a feeling of fictive kinship reduces the social complexity within the conflict group, strengthen the ties between the group members, and reinforce the differences between the conflicting parties. another way to motivate people is to evoke people’s anger by focusing on the victimization of in-group members in the rhetoric. most conflict groups, like the conflicting parties in maluku, are built around a deliberate cultivation of anger or hatred. it is well-known that inducement of anger is an effective way to overcome fear, which tend to de-activate collective action. when the individual overcomes fear, positive emotions often take over, such as enthusiasm, which can generate a hope that risky behaviors will have positive outcomes (huddy, feldman & cassese, 2007). conflict groups need motivated people who are willing to expose themselves to great risks. religions can be important in this regard when they justify the cause and promise heavenly rewards to those who die in battle. religious beliefs and practices may strengthen the solidarity with the conflict, and help to overcome the collective action problem. members of conflict groups must trust each other. religion can build trust by demanding hard to fake rituals that signals commitment to the group (sosis, kress & boster, 2007), and the activation of god concepts can help conflict groups to solve freerider problems (johnson, 2016). it is thus strategic to refer to religion in the mobilizing rhetoric. [ 27 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 conclusion in this paper, i have reviewed some of the core concepts of social movement theory that can – and do – contribute to a contextual understanding of religious conflicts. the social movement theory framework locates religious conflicts within broader contexts and complex processes by focusing on the interplay between micro and meso factors and the ways in which people perceive macro factors, such as economic inequality, state repression and political exclusion. adoption of such a framework can reveal how beliefs change as a consequence of participation in group dynamics. i suggest that the power of religion lies primarily in its mobilizing potential. religious conflicts are elite-driven processes. conflict organizers use religious concepts and symbols because they are efficient tools to mobilize human and nonhuman resources. and some aspects of religion may help conflicting parties overcome the collective action problem associated with intergroup violence, including the human tendency to freeride and to leave the fighting to others. thus, religion is as much a consequence as a cause of intergroup conflicts. bibliography appleby, r. s. 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[ 241 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 the dayak selako shamans oral tradition: intermediary between people, culture and religion kristianus sekolah tinggi agama katolik negeri pontianak email: kristianusatok@gmail.com abstract the dayak shamans of western kalimantan of borneo mediate between people and the makhluk halus or invisible beings. the makhluk halus who have their well-defined roles live in the sky, earth, water, and other places, with similar needs as humans. thus, the relations between humans and spirits in the context of traditional beliefs are inseparable. interestingly, these beliefs are common to both dayak selako shamanism and kalimantan islam. the malay oral tradition has a major influence on the dayak selako culture in western kalimantan. both ethnic groups had originated historically from the same roots, but later separated by islam and christianity. thus, irrespective of their affiliations to the major religions of christianity and islam, the dayak selako shamanism and the islamic spiritual healing practiced in western kalimantan follow the same oral tradition when conducting spiritual communication and shamanic healing. for the malays, communication with the spiritual world begins with the recital of the islamic verses, forming an essential part of the malay identity. interestingly, the dayak selako christians use the same verses. we argue that the dayak selako shaman is not only an intermediary between the dayaks and their spirits but also between the dayak, islam, and christian religions. the mutual values of oral tradition in shamanism of the dayak selako and malays have created a societal structure based on the natural cycle and life pattern. keywords: shamans oral tradition; the dayak selako; malay; dayak culture. introduction the impact of modernization, especially the presence of various television channels, has shrunk dayak’s oral tradition. the pantun, a malay poetic form of poetry and story-telling culture, has dwindled. twenty years ago pantun was the communication model when a dayak man wanted to propose to a dayak lady. the representatives of both men and women would exchange poems in delivering their intentions of the meeting. during that time, the whole wedding event was featured with strong oral tradition. unfortunately, [ 242 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 we can’t find such oral tradition in dayak weddings today. the only oral tradition that is still maintained today is the dayak shamanism and its ability to connect the dayaks with the spiritual world (effendi, 2009). it is undeniable that shamans play an important role in society. a shaman’s role is not exclusive, which means that people from any ethnicity and religion can access them for healing. thus the shaman plays a major role in strengthening ethnic relations (kristianus, 2017). although modernization impedes the shaman practices, rural societies still believe that shamans possess the ability to heal diseases resulting from the spiritual world. the data shows that in rural areas you can find at least 4 shamans in every village. there were 14 shamans in selakau (kristianus, 2011). their commended ability to treat fractured bones is acknowledged not only by society, but by doctors. their other capabilities are related to the spiritual world. oral traditions practiced by the dayak’s shaman in their healing sessions as well as dealing with the spiritual world are greatly influenced by malay culture (hermansyah, 2014b). the word bismillah is usually the initial word expressed by the shaman during healing sessions. meanwhile, for the spiritual and magical world, the dayaks keep the manuscripts written in arabic, in addition to memorizing malay verses. these circumstances are unique given they are christians. conflict and ethnic unrest which frequently occurred in west kalimantan consequently encouraged the dayaks to relearn magical knowledge, thus enhancing the role of oral tradition itself. besides the protestant christians, catholics played an important role in oral tradition development. notwithstanding being christians which normally goes against the traditional belief, the dayak continues with their practice of oral tradition. thus, it is natural for catholics to practice christianity in correspondence to their dayak culture. the process of acculturation happened whereby elements of local culture were incorporated into the catholic mass (kristianus, 2017). oral tradition in a form of story and non-story inherited from the ancestors of the dayak for generations. these oral traditions are very important to the dayak as it reflects the thoughts, attitudes, and behavior of the dayak. in addition, oral traditions consist of philosophy, ethics, morals, aesthetics, history, custom set of rules, the religious teachings of native dayak, science and intermediate technology, as well as the people’s entertainment. for the dayaks, oral tradition connects generations of the past, present, and future (darmadi, 2018). [ 243 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 oral tradition, culture and religion when we discuss oral tradition, the main discussion is the socio-cultural aspects of society. it encompasses the way of life and attitude of society towards education, economies, politics, art, and customs. a preserved culture is a cultural heritage that has been a soul in the society such as feasts, weddings, and other events which involve relatives and the practice of communal help. the indonesian dictionary defines sociocultural as a community relationship with culture (kbbi, 2016). this relationship consists of the way of life, customs and others. idris et al., state that culture covers the way of life of a society, civilization, behavior, and their progression in thoughts (idris et al., 2019). the way of life includes the ways of thinking, customs, traditions, art, and matters related to their life such as the political, economic, learning ways, and others. culture is a value and way of life, a combination of two elements, mind (something pure and chaste), and power (capacity, capability, and physical and spiritual strength). the power of physical strength without spiritual strength cannot create a positive and developed nation. culture is a sign that humans can think, have feelings, and express creatively through various means including oral traditions (shils, 1971). the functional theory is a frame of reference for empirical research, which looks at the community as a social institution in status quo, structure human activities based on the norms embraced together and considered valid and binding the role as well as the man himself. the complex nature of the social institution is a social system that is dependent on each section, to the extent changes in one section will influence other sections, which finally influenced the whole system (zahorka, 2020). the “cultural value system is a set of abstract conceptions of life in the natural mind of a society, about what is considered valuable and important significance, but also about what is considered trivial and worthless in life” (koentjaraningrat, 2010). in the life of society, this value system is closely related to attitude, both of which determine patterns of human behavior. value systems are integral parts of moral ethics, which is outlined in its manifestation in social norms, legal systems, and customs of manners which serve as behavioral rules to govern the discipline of community life. customs establish how societies act in an orderly manner. area cultural values are of course particularistic, which is generally accepted within the typical culture of a particular ethnic group. since childhood, “individuals have been impregnated by the cultural values of its people so that conceptions have been deeply rooted in their minds and it is difficult to be replaced by the values of other cultures in a short time” (marzali, 2014). concerning this, in its manifestation, cultural values that reflect specific [ 244 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 stereotypes, such as javanese people are identified as polite people, act slowly, low profile, soft-spoken, and so on. the specificity of the cultural values of the area and the practical behavior is of course relatively distinct. with the specificity of cultural values of other ethnic groups, it is thus reflected in the oral tradition of those who live in the community. oral tradition refers to all forms of heritage and traditions existing in a community group. the delivery of this oral tradition has shaped the oral intercession. it is one way the society conveys oral history, literature, legislation, and other knowledge across generations without a writing system. according to msiska, oral tradition is one of the ways a person develops itself in the culture. he added that when the speech and discourse take place, this is where people are putting together knowledge and living up to the norms or values in the ethos or aesthetics. tradition is a cultural space that is the conceived place to learn, behave, and interpret reality rather than inheritance received in the adage, couplets, proverbs, and the art of the teaching of the good life and happy living. oral tradition is an oral expression and discourse room before being written in the tradition of writing (msiska et al., 2018). the essentials of the dayaks oral tradition for the dayak selako, day-to-day life is inseparable from their beliefs and practices, especially in areas that require interaction with nature, underlining the spiritual significance attached to nature (iyon, 2018). the dayak religion teaches that all events whether good or bad, are influenced by external forces. the term religi itself originates from the english word religion that has the latin root word religare (bind together) without having the revelation and kitab suci understanding (k. kristianus et al., 2018) because this religi is inherited by their deceased ancestors in the life of a non-literate society, referred to as traditional religi, in which the dayak selako called it custom. this can be observed in the oral tradition prayer in each ritual event of the penyangohotn (imam): “bukotnnyo unang i-mantabok i-marompokng adat aturan anyian, io inurunan ampet i ne’ unte’ i kaimantotn, ne’ ancino i tanyukng bungo, ne’ sarukng i sampuro, ne’ rapek i sampero’, ne’ sai i sabako’, ne’ ramotn i saa’u, ne’ ranyoh i gantekng siokng. angkowolah angkenyo kami anak parucu’e make io dah tingor-kamaningor, dah pahiyak dah goehotn kami ihane.” (it is not merely adat (traditional law) and rules as the results of human construction only, but they have been inherited from the ancestor under the one so-called nek unte’ who lives in kaimantotn, nek bancino (the [ 245 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 chinese ancestor) who lives in tanyukng bungo, nek sarukng who live in bukit sampuro, nek rapek who lives in sungai sapero’, nek sai who lives in bukit sabako’, nek ramotn who lives in bukit saba’u, and nek ranyoh in gantekng siokng. therefore, the people living after those leaders use what has been inherited throughout generations and take it as the way of life for them). this dayak custom consists of rules, norms, and ethics that govern the relationship between humans, nature, and supernature. the traditional religi thus forms the suprastructure from which the practices are adapted to suit the environment (pratama & nurcahyo, 2019). this adaptation is immediately visible in the forms of prayer or sacrificial offerings (buis bantotn), with great emphasis on minute details such as the position of the sacrificed chicken, types of ritual leaves, and sacred sites. true to its name, traditional religi or custom is non proselytizing, and it is of concern to the individual alone. the cosmos for the dayak comprises both the mortal and immortal beings constantly interacting with each other. the dayaks thus co-exist with their neighbors the jubato and awo pamo (ancestors) in subayotn; the harmonious and balanced relationship fostered by the strict adherence of the dayaks to their religi. the religi can thus be viewed as a set of unwritten codes that governs the relationship between the mortals and the immortals. in the dayak cosmology, the spirits are known as delicate creatures inhabiting the sky, earth, water, and other places with well-defined roles. they live in a world that cannot be seen, yet share the same needs as humans. thus their niches overlap often, a condition that could lead to conflict in the absence of magical knowledge. it is the magic that helps the dyak communicate with the spirits and understand them. this is also aligned with thomson (2000) saying that as repressive ideologies and political systems started to dissolve, many ethnic groups in asia and elsewhere began to reflect on their distinctive cultural properties to reconnect themselves with their tradition and their cultural roots. this led to a new appreciation and revival of folklore in various fields such as oral traditions, music, and religion.” the dayak selako believe that compliance and faith in the spirits will bring blessings and rewards in various forms, while the wrath of spirits would only bequeath danger and misfortunes. therefore, man should strive to communicate with spirits through magic. the dayak selako magic is acquired through various means such as meditating, dreams, rajaki (luck), baguru (learning) by oral tradition, and inherited during birth. this magical power can be divided into two: hot and cold. the former could be used to potentially harm other people. poisons, dawak, spells, and ghosts are included in this group. cold magic is used to pre-empt or recover from hot magic and its [ 246 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 influences. talismans and counterspells are the most popular manifestations of cold magic. an informant narrated an incident about a villager who was a habitual thief. however, he once earned the wrath of a powerful person whose belongings he happened to steal. this resulted in the thief suffering from an enlarged stomach which was cured only after the individual sought forgiveness from all the individuals from whom he had thieved. the dayak community’s understanding of humans as part of nature is based on the existence of a deep relationship between the two, the signs and omens. this relationship is understood as a form of communication that is described by the myths of oral tradition, which flourished in the lives of this society (luardini, 2016). nature communicates with human beings, among others, through signs and omens. communication with nature in turn is possible through praxis (real action and awareness), and religious practices. jubato birds such as tingkakok and bungkikik have a profound influence on the fertility status of all beings in the cosmos, for these birds with their unique sound, ensure that all living beings flourish, breed, and continue their lineage. the cattle at home, animals in the river and forests, crops and fruit trees in the farm and foreststhey all owe their productivity to the jubato birds. hence, rituals involving offerings of patek are often organized to honor these birds. the prayer for these birds goes as follows: (the patek is taken from glass and put in the hand and say the prayer:) “au’ unang nyian patek tampi paribaso si ane’ (sebut nama pemilik kurnan) mirikngi’ kito’am badamo tingkakok burukng jawo, bungkikik, burukng matan. kito’ an dingaso’an dingarap, ingampioh am batimang. ame kito’ batimang jawi’, batimang jaji ka manosio, jaji ka piarootn,jaji padi ka umo ka tahutn, jaji ka banir buoh. kurrra’ patek tampi (and the one doing the prayer move up the patek right on the top of the sacrifice). (this is an overring of patek, which comes first from a (please mention the name of the one doing sacrificing) as an adat who is sending you all namely tingkakok the javanese bird, bungkikik the matan bird. you all hope to support all living beings to grow well, have fruits, and have descendants. it should be successful. please support the success, human beings have children, animals live well in the jungle and cattle grow well around human beings, padi and the trees have their great fruits. thank you for being with this patek tampi). [ 247 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 hindu-buddhist influences dayak culture and oral tradition, in general, have been profoundly influenced by hindu-buddhist philosophies. the selako dayak people believe in the god jubata, also referred to as dervata (baier, 2007). according to baier, dervata is the land dayak name of a god from the sanskrit word dewata divinity, deity, gods. we may recall that land dayaks have a kind of hindu trimurti, viztapa or yang, the preserver (vishnu or dewa-dewa of hindus), jirong-brama, the creator (brahma of the hindus), triyuh-kamang, the destroyer (shiva of the hindus). the following are the dayak cultural practices with visible hindu-buddhist influences. lala’ is abstinence from actions normally considered as good including eating, doing, or saying something. the aim of lala’ is to ensure every member in the society is safe from danger, increase strength, or achieve wishes in work. lala’ could last for three, seven, 44, or for the rest of the days of one’s life as dictated by the local tradition. nyangahatn is an indigenous dayak prayer that echoes in the form of nyangahatn which is a traditional ceremony widely practiced in customary events such as liatn, lala’remah, gawe, sampore’, and ‘mato. nyangahatn is also performed while narrating the origin of creations. the aim is to offer thanks, guidance, and protection or notification to jubata, ne’ panampa, ne’ daniang, related to work nyangahatn is equipped with a palantar (offerings). liatn is dayak selako traditional rituals of magical and sacred significance, marked by dance, rhythmic prose, and prayers. the goal of liatn is to heal, pay intentions, and others. liatn led by a liatn shaman and assisted by a panyampakng and some panyangahatn. there are different types of liatn such as liatn daniang, liatnnyande, liatn bantal and liatn kendayan, categorised on the basis of rhythms, purposes and the words used. each liatn has its own distinct character. for instance, liatan danian with ne sinede ‘ and ne ‘ lampede characters. liatn that are categorized on the basis of purposes are: liatn batama bohol, liatn ngaladak buntikng, liatn badingin, and liatn ngangkat paridup . liatn batama bohol is a fertility ceremony to ensure child boon, liatn ngangkat paridup fixes a failed patahunan (expand liatn ngaladak buntikng, liatn badingin too). other liatn ceremony are nyangahatn at the domestic levels such as, ngantar roba, ka’ ayutn, baramauan ngamok jalu, ka’ bawakng, bajampi, ka’ jubata masaka, nyangahatn ngago’ sumangat, notor (offerings for evil spirits), ka’ dango bonto, ngalainse, ngungke, ka’ paramainan, and baripakng. the duration of the ritual varies from one day one night, to three days three nights. the dance and songs featured in liatn are unique and often accompanied by musical instruments such as agukng, dau, and tuma’ (gendang/local music item like a drum). [ 248 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 all those cultural aspects are essentially manifestations of the dayak understanding of human-nature relationships, influenced by hindu-buddhist philosophies. nyangahatn is a form of traditional oral communication with gods and the world of the spirits, while baliatn is how dayak people communicate with their ancestral spirits. the dayaks regard ‘death’ as a means to return to or unify the human body with the world (talino), and the semangat or ayu (life) with subayotn. whenever a human has to leave the world, nature communicates to humans through tirantokng, a mythical creature of the jungle. the sound of tirantokn is heard between 22.00-24.00 hours and resembles that of a large saw tearing through a wooden plinth. this sign is interpreted as the cutting of a human body by the ghost foretelling the imminent death of a dayak in the village or nearby within the next three days. another ritual is called mura’atn. it is ritual seeking protection from misfortunes. omens play an important role in foretelling such misfortunes and dayaks predict the nature and extent of danger by relating to the time and direction from where the respective bird/animal sound arises. known by the dayak term palangkahan, such omens help the dayaks in choosing the accurate time (hour, day) in performing outdoor activities. this understanding is described in the case of kulikng langit, a character in the myth of humans getting pelangkahan from nek baruang kulup. another case as an example of a maniamas myth (who lives in oral tradition) that violates suara rasi dari kijokng (kijang) – sebuah rasi keras, rasi orang mati berdarah. the dayak salako believe in the cyclicity of life, and death is a temporal point when a human who originated from nature, returns to and blends with nature. thus, in the dyak selako religion, when a human is momo ‘ (dead) she/he has returned to the binuo (original place). therefore, in line with the evolution of human life, humans gradually evolved from life forms that are lower (iyon, 2018). dayaks and malays share many beliefs related to hinduism, noting that malays and dayaks of serawai in melawi, offer offerings at ancient hindu monuments to obtain high padi yields (sutama et al., 2020). the malay based oral tradition of the dayaks in addition to being influenced by hindu-buddhist culture, dayak religion is also influenced by their interactions with the malay community. among them is sampore, a ritual performed to support individuals recovering from broken/ sour relationships. sampore is carried out in the event of lenggang, liatn, dendo, bapipis, batampukng, tawar and babuis (because badi or jukat). the form of the ceremony is not derived from the original kanayatn. the ceremony was performed at the time of paying the intention. this activity is similar to liatn [ 249 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 but with the malay variation (prasojo, 2011). for the dayak selako, an individual is a combination of the four elements: the body, the spirit (soul), feelings, and life. to enable a man to be alive and healthy, all four elements should work in harmony without disturbances. human beings cannot escape from experiencing misfortune and illness. the dayaks also believe that accidents, severe diseases, or misfortune are penalties for violation of custom, attacked by ghosts or spells. illness arises when the individual’s spirit is disturbed and if the disturbance is not stopped to let the spirit return to the state of serenity, it would leave the body in pursuit of the afterlife (chua, 2011). spirits are categorized into three viz., water ghost, the ghost of the forest, and the ghosts that live in the air. there are both male and female spirits and they do not disturb people unless they are not well-fed, or are unable to live happily. when disturbed, or unhappy, the spirits could bring illnesses to humans. besides, there are also supernatural creatures believed to inhabit specific habitats, usually referred to as “penunggu”. passing by such penunggu without seeking permission from the creatures, or disturbing them could cause illnesses (chua, 2015). in their relationship with the extraordinary power, the dayaks try to be friendly while also trying to master the extraordinary power of magic. the purpose of mastering extraordinary power is for the interests of the community. they believe that the extraordinary power may bring illnesses and at the same time also help heal illnesses, depending on the intention of the beholder. the beholder hence should be adept in communicating with the spirits; the dayak shamans follow the malay tradition while communicating with the spirits. a dayak shaman in kampong sasak healing his patient, greeted nabi khaidir when using water as his resource. this is understood from the chant below. assalamu’alaikum sahibul bahar sahibul basar assalamu’alaikum nabi hedir aku mengambil air untuk tepung tawar si (mention the name of the patient) salam sejahtera atas pemilik laut dan pemilik darat salam sejahtera atas nabi khaidir aku mengambil air untuk tepung tawar si (mention the name of the patient) one of the key characteristics of islam practiced by the people of the malay archipelago is the staunch faith in the prophet khaidir. lathifah states that the prophet khaidir was one of the main prophets among the coastal malays. [ 250 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 owing to his reputation as the “lord of the water”, he is more popular among malays inhabiting the coastal region. this belief is also observed in the coastal district of kendawangan district of kabupaten ketapang, west kalimantan. for the malay fishermen, it is important to seek permission from prophet khaidir with the prayer bismillah assalamu’alaikum nabi hidir (lathifah, 2018). any catch obtained from the sea without seeking permission of prophet khaidir is considered a stolen catch. for this purpose, yellow-stained rice, pucuk daun sabah (excocaeria cochinchinensis) flour, whole plant of cordyline fruticosa, rice water, broken rice, and scissors or kitchen knife are used as offerings. in addition to prophet khaidir, the coastal malay people also recognize other lords of the seas. these lords are the sources of both positive and negative powers, capable of bringing both fortunes as well as misfortune to the fishermen. one such lord is the (ghost of the sea) who has the vast power to either help or destroy the community. the ghost of the sea could help the fishermen identify spots where fish, shrimp, calamari, and other seafood are abundant. the ghost of the ocean may also help to escape from the threat of sea waves. however, the ghost of the sea who is sometimes also referred to as the caretaker of the sea could also send strong winds and waves which the fishermen are afraid of. at times, the caretakers also present themselves in the form of frightening voices. to tame this ghost, the best possible way is to befriend it. thus, it is common to find fishermen who ‘keep’ the sea ghost in their custody. the custodianship begins with an agreement or a contract established with the caretaker, which is an offering made at specific times. dayak selakos of sepuk laut holds a ritual known as kasi makan laut aimed at placating the caretaker and obtaining an abundant yield from the sea. failure to organize the rituals would result in loss of lives, frequent storms, and meager catches. led by the shaman, this ritual is normally held every year around june, when the northern winds are strong. avoiding misfortunes in the sea also requires the dayak selakos to adhere to a strict code of conduct. petty actions such as whistling would bring forth strong winds, while usage of foul words would result in fishermen returning with empty hands from the sea. the influence of malay islam on dayaks also extends to the animal world. the crocodile is one such animal that enjoys a unique relationship with the dayaks. known as ‘orang air’ meaning ‘man of water’ or ‘orang bawah’ ‘meaning man of the underneath’, crocodiles are not just the most feared water animal, but also considered as the twin sibling of the human. it is the responsibility of the dayaks to maintain a harmonious relationship with the crocodiles, to avoid misfortunes. this belief towards the lord of water, especially the crocodile can bring danger to humans. this is a belief common to the malays of west [ 251 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 kalimantan and the malay archipelago (noor, 2013). for the indigenous people of borneo, it is taboo to refer to animals of the jungle by their names. instead, they use a metaphor to refer to them, as seen in the case of orang bawa. taboos too have an important place in the dayak belief system. there are temporal taboos, as well as species and habitat taboos that could be either regulatory or connected to access and withdrawal of resources. an expecting mother in her early pregnancy is forbidden to cross the sea, rivers, or streams to prevent miscarriage. the husband of the pregnant woman is also forbidden to cut the head of fresh tilan fish (fire eel: mastacembelus erythrotaenia) to avoid the chances of the baby being born with cleft lips. it is also forbidden to boil the tilan fish to remove the slime, as it can cause the baby’s skin to scald. the belief in badi is common to all communities of the malay archipelago although there are variations. badi is the curse of killing an animal that is not usually hunted for food. the human thus earns the wrath of the spirit of the killed animal, or its offspring(irawati, 2019). for example, a father-to-be is forbidden to cut short trees, and the violation will result in the newborn being born with short hands or legs just like the shortened trees. even though they know the illnesses resulting from the taboo violation, or miscommunication with the spirits can be cured by modern medicine, the dayak still believe that illnesses are caused by disturbances from the devil, genie, and other spirits. therefore, during ill health, a dayak selako would consult both a formally trained physician as well as his shaman. thus for the dayaks, diseases and disorders require a hybrid healing regime involving both ‘modern medicine’ as well as shamanic healing. however, some diseases could be cured exclusively by shamanic healing. chants recited by the dayak shamans during shamanic healing indicate that there is a profound influence of the malay islamic tradition. for instance, ‘beri makan kampung’ is an annual ritual organized every year after the harvest (octnov), to safeguard the entire village from mishaps and illnesses. during this ritual, the shamans recite the arabic prayer of tolak bala followed by the following chant: asslamu’alaikum datu’ abdul ‘ain nang bekuase tujuh lapis langit tujuh lapis bumi inilah siade pengasihan anak buah aku aku minta’ jagekan anak buah aku sekelian nang bahaye minta’ tulung selisihkan [ 252 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 (assalamu’alaikum datok abdul “ain the one controlling seven layers of sky and seven layers of earth only this we may provide you i ask you to protect me and all people from bad and dangers). beri makan kampung ritual is held at the edge of the village and involves prayer and food offerings to presiding supernatural creatures of the village. the ritual food prepared consists of four varieties of rice (white, black, red, and yellow), seven boiled eggs, three combs of berangan bananas, betel nut, palm sugar, kemenyan, scented oil, and bertih (broken rice), served on a banana leaf laid on the earth. besides, participants also bring other food such as ketupat and pat lau with dishes in return for the offerings, the supernatural creature would assure the safety of the villagers. after the tolak bala prayers are read, there is an elaborate community feast. yet another popular belief among dayaks is the semangat. a person whose soul has left him does not result in death, but only leads to sickness. thus, the individual is rendered soulless which is tantamount to the state of ‘living dead’ or ‘tidak berghairah’. such an individual would have lost all willpower and energy to live. according to hermansyah, the soul is possessed by humans and enables humans to have the willpower to face the world (hermansyah, 2014a). baier states the soul is the ‘spirit of life, vitality, soul’. it leaves the body in sleep, and when absent from the body may be seduced or captured by another person; magic is sometimes used to attract and so win a girl’s semangat (soul) (baier, 2007). the semangat could be summoned, exorcized, or rejuvenated. a dayak facing misfortune such as an unexpected illness due to the loss of soul would therefore approach his shaman to have his soul summoned. an informant narrated an incident where he was once overcome by extreme fear to the extent of being incapable of undertaking even the simplest task. he then approached a village shaman who held a ritual to summon his soul by bathing him while chanting the teriak semangat mantra: bismillahirrahmanirrahim, kerasnya batu kerasnya semangat si (mention name), kerasnya besi kerasnya semangat si (mention name), ku semangat (12 times). the concept of soul is quintessential to the communities of the malay archipelago. conclude that the soul is the core view of the malays, especially in magic, because the soul is only part of the human element that needs to be observed. for example, it states that undoubtedly the most important single element in malay magic, and the most difficult to define because there are so many different opinions as to what it is, is semangat, the vital cosmic force or [ 253 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 energy which animates all creation. the dayak selako shamans the dayak selako shamans play the keystone religion in maintaining the aforementioned belief systems in the dayak society. they acquire the capability of diagnosing and healing through learning and wereh. learning is the process of acquiring knowledge from other ‘experts’ who possess healing capabilities. thus, there are both senior as well as junior shamans that lead to a hierarchical order. village midwives could also perform the roles of shamans, albeit in a junior capacity. however, midwives of the dayak selakho community have been able to secure a formal role in recent times by undertaking formal training in ‘child card and delivery’ from the hospital in sambas. wereh is to acquire healing power through the supernatural including dreams and visions. knowledge acquired through wereh cannot be taught to others, lest it would be turned uselessthis belief also opens up the window for individual shamans to carve their niche, by possessing unique healing powers. the close relation between the oral tradition in supernatural healing with the local socio-cultural communities can be traced back to the times when the codified religions of christianity and islam began spreading in southeast asia. these new religions could not be developed unless they have the answer to illness. southeast asian communities believed that formidable spiritual powers influence health and disease. the king of patani accepted islam after being healed by a pasai syekh. hermansyah reports the role of supernatural healings in the islamization process of the interior regions of west kalimantan. in the process, traditional beliefs on unseen illnesses are adapted to conform to the islamic view on genies and devils. various formulas in arabic are combined with local formulas to fight and heal illnesses. this phenomenon is observed throughout the malay archipelago both in muslim as well as nonmuslim communities (hermansyah, 2014a). conclusion the oral tradition that lives in the dayak society has a close relation with culture and religions in the society. in the discussed oral tradition, we observed hindu, buddhist, and islamic influences. the arabs with islamic backgrounds and europeans with christianity changed the social institution in kalimantan. institutional change thus affects the oral tradition in society. the oral tradition of the dayak selako and malays in sambas, especially concerning the spiritual world and shaman healing contributed to strengthening both ethnic groups’ relationship. the value of local oral tradition is very distinctive, as it has [ 254 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2093 characteristics that support its culture. the characteristics generally contained moral values and universal philosophies. for that reason, each individual is trying to sustain their oral traditions. this research covers a limited number of ethnic groups within sub-dayak and malay in the region. and therefore, more coverage of the shamanism practices that exist in west borneo societies is encouraged for further elaboration of the oral tradition, culture, and religion of the dayak and malay in the region. this work recommends that further research on the continuities of the tradition in the modern world is needed to better understand the important changing values and behavior of the shamanism, 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(2000). the effect of the dayak worldview, customs, traditions, and customary law (adat-istiadat) on the interpretation of the gospel in west kalimantan, indonesian borneo. proquest dissertations and theses. https://doi.org/10.16953/deusbed.74839. zahorka, h. (2020). animism is applied ethnobotany: a shamanic healing ritual with the dayak benuaq ohookng / east kalimantan. journal of tropical ethnobiology. https://doi.org/10.46359/jte.v3i1.8 [ 3 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 religion and multiculturalism at pesantren sunan pandanaran and muallimin yogyakarta niswatin faoziah, hasan mahfudh & rima ronika college of islamic studies sunan pandanaran yogyakarta niswatinfaoziah@yahoo.co.id abstract this paper discusses the role of pesantren (islamic boarding school) education in developing multicultural values at sunan pandanaran and muallimin pesantren yogyakarta. through field studies, the findings of this research are: first, the multicultural values are reflected and have become good principles at sunan pandanaran or muallimin pesantren yogyakarta despite the difference in characteristics. second, pesantren education --both at sunan pandanaran and muallimin pesantren yogyakarta-have an important contribution to the development of multicultural values each with different traits and characteristics. third, some teachers with little understanding of multiculturalism have become a major obstacle in pesantren education especially with regard to the multicultural values. moreover, in the context of multicultural education curriculum development, the dilemma of self-identity also becomes another problem. keywords: pesantren; multicultural education; sunan pandanaran; muallimin yogyakarta introduction several years ago, we witnessed tragedies of ethnic / religious violence that occurred in ambon, sambas, sampit, poso, which are not impossible to happen again in the future. in addition, there have been frequent attacks on minority ethnic / religious groups, such the expulsion of shias in madura, church burnings, and the indiscriminate attacks against members of ldii in parung bogor. these are examples of the gloomy face of the country. the violence and the conflict have in fact caused not only loss of a lot of lives and material, but also disharmony between different communities. needless to say that plurality in society is like a two bladed sword. on the one hand, it is a wealth of the country that should be maintained, but on the other hand, it could be a trigger factor of horizontal conflicts.1 1 m, jandra, “islam in the context of culture and tradition plural”, in the book, zakiyudin baidhawi, ed., religion and plurality of local culture, (surakarta: muhammadiyah [ 4 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 plurality or human plurality is in fact the will of allah. the qur’an says that humans were created nations and tribes so that they know and appreciate each other.2 normative islam (qur’an and sunnah) always teaches its believers to behave well, respect each other and visit each other, deliberate, socialize and forbids them to be evil, arrogant, envious, anarchistic, etc. therefore, an attempt to make islam a social integrity becomes a necessity. so it is necessary to study the elements that can unite cultures, and most importantly, raise awareness of cultural unity.3 if the norms of islam are practiced well, they will certainly give birth to a good community and nation. however, the norms could be contrary in practice. there is often a gap between ideals and reality, between normative islam and historical islam mainly related to culture, tradition, views of scholars, and confidence in the non-muslims in indonesia.4 as a result, we need a conscious effort and continuous transfer of knowledge, attitude and behavior in an effort to show the face of islam that is more accommodating, and not merely purificatory to different cultures, traditions and views of different religions. in this regard, as an educational institution, basically pesantren has a strategic role in developing the islamic vision of multicultural education.5 this is because in general pesantren grows and develops from the diversity of traditions and local culture. so, growing cultural diversity in pesantren is easily noticeable. this is reflected in the behavior patterns of students of different traditions, humility shown by the kiai, and different cultures, teaching methods, materials, and books that contain various views of scholars that accommodate local traditions. understanding multiculturalism itself is almost equal to pluralism which is the value system or policy that respects diversity, in a society based on willingness to accept and respect different circumstances of other ethnic, gender or religious groups.6 university press, 2002), p. 72. 2 alquran, surat al hujarat/49:13: o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of allah is the most righteous of you. indeed, allah is knowing and acquainted. 3 roland robertson, religion in sociological analysis and interpretation, trans. fidyani ahmad saifuddin, (jakarta: rajawali press, 1988), p. 220.. 4 hasan basri, “ multikulturalisme dari pesantren”, in ijtihad pesantren tentang toleransi and good governance, (tangerang, banten, icip, 2009). 5 multicultural education, according to bikhu parekh (2000), serves as “education that liberates various ethnocentric bias and prejudice and explores as well as learns from various perspectives and other cultures. in short, with the introduction of multicultural education, each learner can have a sense of civic culture. bikhu parekh, rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory, (cambridge: harvard university press, 2000), p. 225. 6 m. syafi’i anwar:menggali kearifan pesantren untuk multikultalisme , in wasathhaniyah, no.1, februari 2006 m, p.2. [ 5 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 pesantren upholds respect regardless of ethnicity and race. the curriculum of pesantren both modern and traditional, teaches students to increase national awareness of the environment and society where people live side by side with various community groups and can spread blessing to the environment.7 this is apparently one of the factors that contributes to pesantren being friendly to the environment, in synergy with local cultures, responsive to the new changes that occur in the community, so that pesantren rarely takes violent action against certain groups because they are different. thus, pesantren education that manages the values of multiculturalism needs to be developed in community life.8 therefore, the existence of pesantren serves as one of the institutions that has a significant role in maintaining local culture, values and harmonious social order.9 it is then interesting to examine the extent to which the role of religious education in pesantren in developing multicultural values for students who will take part in a pluralistic society with a muslim majority. this research was carried out at pesantren sunan pandanaran pesantren muallimin, yogyakarta. both pesantrens are seen to have contributed to the world of islamic education and the birth of cadres and muslim intellectuals. the selection of the two pesantrens as the object of the study was based on the fact that both schools lay a strong ground for multicultural values in islamic education in the country. pesantren in this era of globalization still shows its vitality as a social, cultural and religious force that helps to shape modern indonesian culture, and this research is intended to find out more clearly the role of religious education in both traditional and modern pesantren.10 7 a. sholahuddin, pesantren dan budaya damai, http://www.gp-anshor.org/?p+13308, accessed on 1 october 2015. 8 in indonesia, some managers of education from elementary to higher education have been introducing multicultural values in their educational curriculum. multicultural education is seen as a strategic breakthrough for increasing awareness, knowledge and understanding of the people to be tolerant of differences. however, the implementation and management have yet to be well organized. on the other hand there are many parties who do not understand the idea of multiculturalism in their education. for some managers, even the integration of multicultural education in their curriculum seems to be a mere marketing strategy to attract a number of students. in other words, the multicultural educational label is only a discourse but not put into practice in the teaching and learning process and school curriculum. ridwan al makassary and soeparto, ed, multicultural education success story in indonesia, (jakarta: centre for the study of religion and culture (csrc), 2010), p. xiv. 9 nunu ahmad an-nahidil, “pesantren dan dinamika pesan damai” in edukasi journal penelitian agama dan keagamaan vol.4 no. 3, (jakarta putlitbang pendidikan agama dan keagamaan, badan litbang dan diklat departemen agama ri, 2006), p. 18. 10 a traditional boarding school or salaf pesantren is oriented to the preservation of tradition with a traditional education system. 2) modern boarding schools are schools that undergo significant transformation in the education system and institutional elements. this type of pesantren is managed by well organized management, and instruction system im[ 6 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 pesantren sunan pandanaran is nahdliyin-based pesantren which currently has about 2,500 students who come from various regions in indonesia. in addition to educating the students with the science of religion, pesantren also examines common knowledge by providing formal education from kindergarten to higher education. although the materials taught include religion and general sciences, pesantren sunan pandanaran still retains the ideology salaf pesantren in its instruction. meanwhile, pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta hereafter referred to as muallimin is a modern educational institution under the central management of muhammadiyah organization. this pesantren is no regular school, but it is dubbed the muhammadiyah cadre school which aims to prepare scholars, teachers, and leaders of muhammadiyah. in line with the pesantren sunan pandanaran, muallimin also provides religious and general subjects. in addition, the school is constantly innovating to develop teaching materials by connecting and integrating islamic studies with the national curriculum, and the muhammadiyah materials which are related to the “yellow books” or a technique known as the cross curriculum. if the diversity of students of different backgrounds is not managed by observing multicultural values, there is no doubt that the potential to cause conflict is inevitable. in this light, this research focuses on the role of religious education in pesantren in developing multicultural values, conducted through a case study at pesantren sunan pandanaran and muallimin yogyakarta. the analysis of this paper includes the dimensions of knowledge about multicultural values in pesantren, and a practical dimension of the role of pesantren education in developing multicultural values. portrait of multicultural values at pesantren sunan pandanaran and pesantren muallimin 1. pesantren sunan pandanaran a. history pondok pesantren sunan pandanaran was founded by kh mufid mas›ud on december 20, 1975. it began as a boarding school teaching religion in a mosque and a plain home that stood on an endowed land. the name pesantren sunan pandanaran is a way to appreciate the merits of his ancestor, sunan pandanaran (sunan tembayat) in spreading the teachings of islam in central plemented in equal portions between religious education and general education. see hasan basri, “pesantren karakterisik dan unsurunsur kelembagaan”, in abu nata (eds), sejarah dan perkembangan lembagalembaga pendidikan islam di indonesia, (jakarta: grasindo, 2001), p. 124. [ 7 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 java. in addition to his being the 12th descendants of sunan bayat, kh. mufid mas›ud, the founder and caretaker of this pesantren, was originally a counselor of female pondok al-munawwir, krapyak. then in october 1975, the scholar who was in tembayat, klaten, central java moved to the village of candi krapyak, sleman to live on the land of 2000 m2 endowed by h. masduqi abdullah, which is located approximately 200 meters west highway yogyakaliurang km.12 candiwinangun hamlet, sardonoharjo village, ngaglik subdistrict, sleman regency yogyakarta. at first, the pesantren was intended as a means of propaganda and the education system applied here was recitation of yellow books with wetonan, bandongan and sorogan system as a common practice in salaf pesantrens, focusing on one area of memorizing the qur›an. along with its development, later on pesantren sunan pandan aran managed some religious educational institutions. the educational institutions among others were: takhassus tahfidz al-qur’an, radlat al-athfal (kindergarten), islamic elementary school, islamic junior high school, islamic senior high school, and college of islamic studies of sunan pandanaran, but still retaining reviews of yellow book or books such as ihya ulumiddin, shahih al-bukhari and shahih muslim, tafsir al-jalalain, ta’lim al-mutaallim, etc. in addition to positioning itself as a religious educational institution, pesantren sunan pandanaran has the vision and responsibility to build character and moral of the community to be more islamic. in an effort to establish this vision, pesantren sunan pandanaran employs an inclusive approach to the culture of the surrounding communities. in addition to routine activities of reviewing the yellow books conducted by the counselor or teachers with the students, various activities involving the public are also organized by pesantren. these activities include mujahadah, routine recitation of al-jauharah, jamuspa and various economic activities which involve active community participation such as providing foods and drinks for sale at the pesantren, laundry services, supplying water for daily needs, etc. beside religious and economic activities, pesantren sunan pandanaran also uses art and culture to accommodate various elements of the community of different age and walks of life. for example, the bedouin dance that grew up in the community is revived and even included in extracurricular programs in the madrasah. such approach serves as the basis of various forums that build relations and communication with the community around the pesantren. moreover, along with the times, there have been changes in the pesantren itself especially in terms of education and teaching system that originated from salaf, and viewed from the dynamics now, it can no longer be called the salaf [ 8 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 pesantren at all. however, while still maintaining the salaf education system, as times went by, the pesantren also applied modern educational system. therefore, for now it is more appropriate to call pesantren sunan pandanaran a mixed or integrated pesantren (between khalaf and the salaf). this mixed system can be seen, for example, in the salaf teaching model with a system of sorogan and bandongan, as well as the tf eaching oyellow books (classical islamic books). meanwhile, the khalaf or modern system can be seen in the way the pesantren applies the classical tiered system, and madrasa education (modern pesantren). modern education system can also be seen in the adoption of the curriculum prepared by the ministry of religious affairs and combine it with the diniyah pesantren11 curriculum. b. portrait multicultural values in pesantren in fact, it is not difficult to find a building with students having a multicultural awareness. the pesantren diversity in society concerning the language, culture, ethnicity, etc, is an undisputable fact. thus, the heterogeneity should be an effective tool for a multi-ethnic environment to reject all forms of racism. the values of equality and fairness are in the praxis can be found in students’ daily life where everyone has equal rights and responsibilities. as stated by one of the counselors of pesantren sunan pandanaran: daily life at the pesantren is a reflection of a multicultural attitude as it is expected that the students will be ready with a multicultural life out there. students who study at pesantren come from different regions, and live here with no segregation. living together in diversity is what creates the look of a new entity in pesantren.12 with a wide range of differences, they are required to cooperate with each other and suppress any ego that may arise in their interaction, and these differences should become a motivation to move forward and produce new creation and innovation. as reported by wardahani, sri linggani, bahtiar and lutfi: “the way they learn different dialects from different regions is what forms a new culture of the pesantren. in addition, the tradition of dining together at first when entering pesantren was awkward for some, but soon they get used to it. it is the creativity of studnts at pesantren “.13 11 interview with jazilus sakhok, on 26 october 2015. 12 interview with jazilus sakhok, on 26 october 2015. 13 interview with para students of madrasah aliyah sunan pandanaran, on 03 november 2015. [ 9 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 cooperation displayed in the pesantren then demands the same attitude toward the individual. this attitude is regarded as anti-discriminatory and tends to be democratic. these democratic values are practiced in and outside school activities. for example, during the election of osis administrators, called htt, students are given equal opportunity to become the administrators through a series of elections, after which candidates will be elected by all students at the madrasa. this process provides a lesson about the values of democracy that provide equal opportunities and treatment of each of the students, so that the results reflect the aspirations of all students. here are excerpts of an interview with the classroom teacher of the madrasah in charge of student affairs, teguh arifiyanto: in the election osis called htt, it carried out democratically. this is an attitude of respect and appreciation of the differences. in addition to the holding a democratic system in each election, despite the differences between mission and vision of the candidates, it does not cause problems and no conflict arises, they always appreciate the differences. this is very important.14 another important multicultural value shown in pesantren sunan pandanaran is tolerance. pesantren sunan pandanaran seeks to develop values of tolerance and respect through various things including: first, the vision of pesantren leaders about multiculturalism and pesantren propaganda approach. second, madrasa activities such as forum of bahsul masail, festival/parade of local culture (merti dusun, independence day). third, recital of the yellow books in pesantren. fourth, openness of the pesantren to anyone and any group that wants to get to know the pesantren and islam in general. moreover, pesantren sunan pandanaran is familiar with the programs of cooperation with various external parties related to several issues. cooperation is essential in building relations with parties outside the pesantren. in an interview jazilus sakhok said: basically, the counselor does not want any opposition to anyone who comes with good will to this pesantren. this pesantren is open and we should not close ourselves. we think about how much it hurts those who come to here expecting to cooperate and are rejected. however, we also have to be selective because as we also consider the interests of the students. as long it is beneficial to us and does not interfere with the educational process, we will accept it.15 cooperation built by pesantren sunan pandanaran with outsiders is very diverse. this joint programs are carried out by considering aspects of virtues. with regard to tolerance, there was a cooperation related to the issues of 14 interview with teguh arifiyanto, on 27 october 2015. 15 interview with jazilus sakhok, on 5 december 2015. [ 10 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 multiculturalism in pesantren, i.e. cooperation with the csrc (center for the study of religion and culture) of syarif hidayatullah state islamic university jakarta under the “pesantren for peace” program.16 the emphasis of cooperation on the program of “pesantren for peace” is an attempt to align human rights which are strongly emphasized in the western world with a unique culture and religious principles of islam in indonesia. in other words, the core of this cooperation includes supporting the principles of democracy, human rights, religious tolerance, the principles of a constitutional state, as well as gender equality in the midst of the indonesian islamic community.17 matrix 1. multicultural values in pesantren sunan pandanaran no multicultural value description 1 living with others diversity is reflected in the daily life of students. it is expressed in two ways; first, the culture that developed in pesantren which is in fact diverse. students coming from various regions bring various cultural pattern, thus requiring them to accept each other and learn to respect differences. second, the yellow books are used as reference for reviewing the field of science in pesantren. 2 equality and justice each student has equal rights and responsibilities without distinction of regional, ethnic and social origins, e.g. bathroom and bedrooms facilities are the same for all students. 3 brotherhood and helping each other the emergence of a sense of brotherhood and mutual help is guided by several reasons, first the similarities of fate/state that they are away from their family and common purpose of studying religion and other general subjects at the pesantren, as well as the emergence of communal identities as the pesantren community. these values are also built through a method of learning by doing. 16 related to this cooperation, pesantren sunan pandanaran becomes one of the local partners of csrc in the yogyakarta area. in his statement hemay idris said: we are working with five schools in the java area related to the pesantren for peace program. the distribution is complete in each area in 5 provinces. boarding schools in east java: al-hikmah in surabaya; west java: pesantren babus salam in bandung regency; central java: edi mancoro salatiga, and in yogyakarta : pesantren sunan pandanaran. selection of boarding schools is determined by two factors: first, the relationship and the willingness of the pesantrens. we observed some schools that do not have the negative stigma associated with western terms such as human rights, etc. telephone interview with idris hemay on 26 december 2015 17 interview with jazilus sakhok on 27 december 2015. [ 11 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 4 democracy the practice of democratic values at the pesantren sunan pandanaran can be seen in the aspect of education and teaching such as teacher recruitment, teaching methods, and activities in the madrasah. 5 tolerance and mutual respect establishing the values of tolerance and respect through various things including: first, the vision of pesantren leaders on multiculturalism and propaganda approach; second, madrasa activities such as forum of bahsul masail, festival / parade of local culture (merti dusun, independence day); and third, recital of yellow booka, and fourth, openness of pesantren to anyone and any group that wants to get to know the pesantren and islam in general. 6 cooperation pesantren sunan pandanaran is familiar with programs of cooperation with various external parties related to several issues, such as pesantren for peace. the important point of this cooperation includes supporting the principles of democracy, human rights, religious tolerance, principles of a constitutional state, as well as gender equality in the midst of the indonesian islamic community. 2. pesantren muallimin yogyakarta a. history pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah is a school of union cadres that prepares future muhammadiyah leaders. muallimin is a pesantren based school. this school was founded by k.h. ahmad dahlan in 1920 under the name “qism alarqam” or often called the “hogere school” which means higher secondary school. at the time, the place for instruction was the dining room which was also ahmad dahlan’s family kitchen. in 1923 the name was changed to “kweekshool islam”, and then changed to “kweekschool muhammadiyah”. it was a mixed gender school. in 1927, separation of female and male students was made by establishing “kweekschool wife”. finally in 1930, the muhammadiyah congress in yogyakarta decided that both teacher training schools were renamed “madrasah mu’allimin mu’allimat”. then, in 1928, the congress in medan gave a mandate to the muhammadiyah central executive to formally manage madrasah mu’allimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta as education center for cadres of leaders, religious teachers and preachers of muhammadiyah. 18 historically, muallimin went through several changes in its educational 18 austin wahyuningsih, managemen pendidikan karakter (lombok: elhikam press, 2015), p. 90. [ 12 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 system. at first, the maskan (dormitory) was separated the madrasah system, but since 1980, muallimin began to adopt a system of “long life education”. in this system, the dormitory and madrasah form an inseparable institution. this step was based on the theory that the purpose of education, according to the muallimin idealism, can only be achieved by combining the madrasah system and the dormitory. another crucial change was also made in 1987 especially related to a new curriculum system. the goal is to make teaching process more effective and efficient. this policy was continued by designing the concept of integrating the curriculum of islamic and muhammadiyah materials known as a crossing curriculum system, which basically integrated the curriculum materials of islamic high school prepared by the ministry of religious affairs with muallimin material that refer to the yellow books. this process continues to grow until today, of course, to achieve ideal results, evaluation and continuous revision have been made to islamic and muhammadiyah materials. as a muhammadiyah educational institution, mu’allimin has a vision to prepare cadres, scholars, leaders and educators to carry out the missions of muhammadiyah movement. in the characteristic aspects of education, muallimin as a school of muhammadiyah cadres has also changed. during the dutch and japanese colonial periods, mandatory education was 5 years, but starting in the academic year of 1957/1958, mandatory education at muallimin was 6 years --comparable to pgaa / pgan-and the time span has survived until today. in the colonial period and two decades after independence, muallimin became a model of militant muhammadiyah cadres. the term “the arrows muhammadiyah” was a pride for the alumni who dedicated themselves to be sent to various parts of indonesia. there, they carried out self-actualization as a cadre of muhammadiyah, and as a result, the establishment of new branches of muhammadiyah or the birth of new madrasah that were modeled after mu’alimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta.19 b. portrait of multicultural values in pesantren in a sense of being a wealth of ethnicity and culture, multiculturalism is a tangible reality at pesantren muallimin yogyakarta. there are at least two aspects that can be seen as an objective reality in a multicultural life there. first, the human resources aspect. in this aspect, the students studying in the pesantren come from a wide variety of customs, traditions, culture, and languages. it is inseparable from the fact that these students come from 19 student development guide book, madrasah mu’allimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta, 2012, p. 3-9. [ 13 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 various regions in indonesia which is a country with different cultures and diverse population groups. the fact is confirmed by asep sholahuddin as the counselor and director of the madrasah as follows: “the pesantren had existed long before indonesia’s independence. the main purpose was to prepare cadres, scholars, educators and leaders. the ideals are continued to be advocated and socialized until today. the pesantren can be called a miniature of indonesia. until now, students who study at the pesantren come from various ethnic groups in the country. they come not only from java, but also from sulawesi, kalimantan, sumatra, as well as some other areas. this is a gift for us as the managers, and a challenge that we must face. “20 the diversity of cultural backgrounds is in fact not only common among the students but also among the teachers (in the context of pesantren known as ustadz). in addition to coming from various regions, the teachers can be divided into two categories; those who graduated from muallimin yogyakarta and non-alumni. the difference of background reflects the multiculturalism and the wealth of muallimin pesantren. the second aspect is the diversity of students’ organizations (organtri). a wide range of students’ organizations that deal with art, sports, journalism can be found here, and they create tendencies and diverse culture at the level of students. it is this diversity which then forms characters that vary among students. as reported by one of the students: “students’ organizations in this pesantren are quite diverse. organtri plays a role in shaping the character and leadership of the students. sometimes there is a sort of competition with each other even some occasional friction. students with in a particular organization flock together, while others gather in their respective groups. but this friction does not lead to a prolonged conflict. it’s only a matter of competition indeed.”21 in response to the multicultural reality, the key principles that must be held by the academic community of pesantren muallimin are fraternity and egalitarianism. the attitudes are practiced as a single family, and egalitarianism is not only common among the students or teachers, but also between students and teachers. ruslan fariadi reported: “when outsiders look at pesantren muallimin in a glance, they might assume that students here lack the ethics (impolite). this is because the relationship between students and teachers is egalitarian. some people who are new to the 20 interview with asep sholahuddin on 12 october 2015. 21 interview with ramzi dkk on 19 october 2015. [ 14 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 neighborhood will immediately be surprised to see it. it is because basically we want the students to be critical and not dogmatic. “22 such multicultural atmosphere in the pesantren as described above is actually a quite encouraging phenomenon. the absence of discrimination in this pesantren, both structural and non-structural, indicates that this place is reliable in understanding and addressing the existing diversity. however, as implied from the statement of asep sholahuddin earlier, the real challenge is the management and strategy in utilizing the diversity of cultural backgrounds. in addition to preserving and living with diversity, of course the pesantren has noble ideals to prepare cadres.23 therefore, the application of multicultural values is necessary, but on the other hand, muhammadiyah values are also important to instill. in order to prepare future cadres, cultural diversity is a real challenge in the process of education and instruction in pesantren. the principles of diversity embedded in the consciousness of the students of pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta did not “suddenly” appear. it is an attitude that is continuously encouraged. first-hand experience by the students is very helpful in the process of increasing this awareness. in addition to culture-related issues, tolerant attitude based on the principles of diversity also concerns the attitude toward other religions. misbahul munir stated in an interview: “our attitude and that of our students is tolerant of other religions. “our neighbors are people of other faiths. our students often see “budhen”. every morning in front of this madrasah, they can see people doing rituals. behind the school, there is also a catholic church, the students are reasonable and tolerant in their view and reaction to it. we have always taught that the prophet was not arrogant to non-muslims.”24 another objective condition very positive in the face of the multicultural reality is good relations promoted by the pesantren. the program to improve relations with the community is the responsibility of the assistant director for public relations. there are two elements targeted in the program, the guardians of students and the surrounding community members. the counselors are aware of the importance of good relations with the public. moreover, the dynamics of 22 interview with ruslan fariadi on 30 october 2015. 23 simple definition of a cadre is a group of people organized in a continuous basis and will become the backbone for a larger group. imron nasri (ed), pluralisme dan liberalisme; pergolakan pemikiran anak muda muhammmadiyah (yogyakarta: citra karsa mandiri, 2005), p. 96. in this sense, it is understood that as a cadre school, pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta wants to prepare cadres of scholars, leaders, and educators who will become the backbone and driving force of the entire persyarikatan muhammadiyah. 24 interview with misbahul munir on 12 october 2015. [ 15 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the community are very influential to the relations. in fact, today the relations between the pesantren and the community tend to be getting better. in an interview it was stated that: so far, all praises be to allah, relations between the pesantren and the community are good. it is in fact getting better and better. in the past, we had some misunderstanding with the community around us, but all praises be to allah, not anymore now. we usually allocate funds for community-related activities. it is the duty of the public relations to instill multicultural values, one of which is through the program of “harmonization of public relations”. we actively participate in the neighborhood association in the form of social fund or personnel. we are also working with the community to monitor the students.25 this good relationship promoted by the pesantren with its surrounding community is also carried out by students’ guardians. the pesantren always sends a representative for funeral of the students’ family members. in fact, according to teguh, the pesantren never hesitates to send a representative even to places outside java.26 this relationship is an awareness built by pesantren muallimin. moreover, social awareness as a continued effort in developing relations with the community is achieved with useful programs. these programs are usually planned every year with a needs analysis. the head of public relations of pesantren muallimin stated: “community programs that can be felt immediately and have wider benefits, we usually distribute sacrificial meat and other charity activities. this year, we held it in gunung kidul by distributing basic food and water supply. this is part of our effort to help our brothers and sisters in need of water. on the other hand, this is also a way of educating students to perform managerial tasks related to social service as well as growing and developing a sense of social awareness.27 25 interview with teguh on 30 october 2015. 26 interview with teguh on 30 october 2015. 27 interview with teguh on 30 october 2015. [ 16 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 matrix 2. the values of multicultural pesantren muallimin no multicultural values in pesantren description 1 diversity both students and teachers come from various ethnic, cultural, racial, and language backgrounds. in addition to a reality of life, diversity is recognized and understood positively in pesantren 2 democracy pesantren does not treat the differences in a discriminatory manner, be it structurally and non-structurally. all teachers and students have equal opportunities in presenting their opinions and ideas. 3 egalitarianism good relationship maintained between the teacher and students are based on their status. students at the pesantren receive equal treatment. 4 tolerance appreciate and accept religious differences around the pesantren. students and teachers are not allowed commit any acts that disturb the worship of the buddhists and christians who live around the pesantren 5 social awareness the pesantren establishes good relations with the communities around it, guardians of students and society at large. the good relations are based on a sense of social awareness. programs that can be felt directly by the people such as social service and distribution of clean water become a priority. the role of education at pesantren sunan pandanaran and pesantren muallimin in developing multicultural values based on the observations and interviews conducted, the researcher found that the pesantren education has a significant role in the development of multicultural values both at sunan pandanaran and muallimin yogyakarta. in general, there are several similar factors that contribute to the values in the context of the role of secondary education of pesantren. however, differences. [ 17 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 at sunan pandanaran, there are four major factors that play an important role in the development of multicultural values. first, the recitation the yellow books. related to the books used, pesantren sunan pandanaran applies the tradition yellow book reviews as an educational resource. the term yellow book itself is no stranger among pesantrens, especially the traditional ones. martin van bruinessen in his research mentioned that the yellow book is a characteristic in a traditional pesantren that is not present in a modern. in a multicultural context, it is understood that the method of recitation of yellow books taught using the javanese language as the language of instruction is a way to appreciate local culture, and is a form of local wisdom. on the other hand, it would be very difficult for learners or students who come from outside java which seems to give the impression of discrimination in education. in response to the issue it was stated that: but this does not mean discrimination to the non javanese students, as in teaching or in the selection process there is flexibility. gradually it will be taught to non javanese students. after all, the javanese language is the language of instruction. suppose a student does not understand pegon, we will teach him slowly until he understands. we are not going to push him, but slowly teaching him. we place them in classes according to their ability. it happens to be 95% of the students of madrasah come from java, so that only 5% who need special assistance in the face of difficulty of learning the books written in the javanese language. the book ta’lim al-muta’alim is taught to strengthen the character of the students. so how to behave as a teacher, and as a student. there is continuity. just listening as parents teach their students . ultimately, it will affect the students ’s behavior.28 second, the notion of pesantren being inclusive and tolerant that develops in pesantren in addition to the principle of dialog , also includes rejecting prejudice. in pesantren, students are taught to respect differences. tasamuh or tolerance relies on the attitude of being good, gentle, and forgiving each other. in a general sense, tasamuh is the attitude human relationship, i.e. there is mutual respect between them within the limits outlined in the islamic teachings. that is one of the main characteristics of the traditions developing in the pesantren. this tasamuh attitude goes hand in hand with everyday life. this notion of inclusiveness is also observed by teachers of madrasah aliyah sunan pandanaran, as expressed by zulfa29, one of the teachers at the madrasah: long before the un declaration of human rights, islam had taught the 28 interview with ainun hakemah on 27 october 2015 29 interview with zulfa, on 30 october 2015 [ 18 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 freedom of religion through the ‹charter of medina› in 622 ad. in the charter of medina, prophet muhammad (pbuh) laid the cornerstones for the diversity of life among people of different religions, as well as acknowledge the existence of non-muslims and to respect their worship. third, pesantren’ multicultural curriculum. this multicultural education curriculum is not directly written in the structure of the curriculum but its values are applied. indication of the application of such hidden curriculum can be seen in the way pesantren develops a spirit of brotherhood, cooperation (ta›awun), tolerance (tasamuh) and appreciation. so, education in fact teaches students not only to have knowledge (learning to know) or prepare a generation that has skills and specific characters (learning to be), but also should teach about how to behave, and interact with others by appreciating the differences between them as something that enriches (learning to work and live with). in other words, education is the process of humanization. education is not just a process of helping students to become good citizens, but at the same time also to become humans integrated with intellectuality, morality, capacity and sensitivity, as well as to be comfortable with differences. ainun hakiemah further confirmed that the existence of multicultural education as a hidden curriculum at pesantren sunan pandanaran, its implementation, and the importance of examples and exemplary attitude of the teachers toward multicultural value will emulated by the students. it was stated in the following interview: structurally, multicultural education curriculum is difficult, so it is indeed [easier] with hidden curriculum. nguwongke uwong is also there. when teachers feel convenient in their office room, it means they already have nguwongke uwong, humanism. the administration staff for example were once our students. but now they are equal to us, they are not allowed to scold someone in front of students. once there was [a staff] doing it, it’s not ethical, then we recalled this person. it was awful because it [reflects] the values or our attitude toward something.30 fourth, the teacher›s role in developing multicultural values. at least, there are two main roles that teachers play in developing multicultural values, i.e. insight and understanding of multiculturalism and instructional methods. according to the headmaster of islamic senior high school, ainun hakiemah, variations of teaching methods is often applied at the school such as discussion, group work and collaborative learning. many subjects are delivered through the methods of discussion, group work, so as to accept the opinion of others. it is common for students to 30 interview with ainun hakiemah on 27 october 2015. [ 19 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 have a conversation with and send messages to the teachers. there is also an extracurricular activity called ba’tsul masail attended by first and second year students, a lot of discussions about various issues, each receiving the opinion of the other, no violence, and this certainly teachers tolerant attitude among the students. 31 with regard to the above variations in learning, teachers at the madrasah aliyah sunan pandanaran applied a learner-centered approach. this approach enables students to play an active role, while the teacher serves as a facilitator. one of the variations of the learner-centered approach is the “collaborative learning”. collaborative learning is a learning process where each member of the group contributes ideas, information, news, attitudes, opinions, skills to improve all members’ understanding. matrix 3. educational role of pesantren sunan pandanaran in developing multicultural values no factor description 1 tradition of yellow book recital diversity materials contained in the yellow book enable students to have a view and deal with differences in the community. 2 inclusive religious view this view is characterized by dialog and cooperation and humanitarianism. as a realization of such religious concept, pesantren sunan pandanaran accommodates diversity among students and teachers to coexist there, open to all who want to visit, get to know the pesantren and islam as well as to play an active role in supporting programs of cooperation with other parties to build peace or known as “pesantren for peace” program 31 interview with ainun hakiemah, on 27 october 2015. [ 20 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 3 curriculum with moderate and multicultural perspective moderate curriculum is characterized by the dominance collection of books by scholars of peace such as imam shafi'i, imam ghozali, etc., as references in book reviews. in addition, the culture of discussion, debate and intellectual competition has become the practice of pesantren education. this teaches students about the values appreciating the opinions of others. 4 role of the teacher in a learning process there are two roles of teachers: first, the insight and understanding of teachers on multiculturalism. thus, teachers at sunan pandanaran pesantren embrace diversity and realize that multiculturalism is derived from the teachings of islam as for education at pesantren muallimin there are three main factors that play an active role in the development of multicultural values: first, an inclusive, critical culture and dialog.32 being open to understand, learn, express opinions is encouraged by the teachers and the counselors. the involvement of the counselors and the teachers in building an inclusive culture is manifested either in the classroom or outside. this is a critical teaching method in addition to the way students explore by themselves. ruslan stated: “since the beginning we tell our students “it should not be taboo to disagree even with their own teachers. however, opinions should be delivered in an ethical way. there are several strategies related to enrichment and absorption of materials. first, top down, we explain directly. second, arisan system, they choose the theme of the discussion and then give a present it. this is where the values of multiculturalism seem right, since muallimin is a miniature of indonesia. those with different characters blend together.”33 second, the factor of books used in education at the pesantren. at pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah, there are two categories of books used: textbooks and instructional books. both categories of books were created and carefully 32 inclusive culture requires an attitude of tolerance towards others. the main principle in this culture is that even though we are different, we actually have things in common and this similarity must continue to be our principle. thus, an open attitude is not only a choice but also a necessity. zakiyuddin baidhawy, “pendidikan agama berwawasan multikultural”, jurnal tashwirul afkar, xvi edition (jakarta: lakpesdam nu, 2004), p. 141. 33 interview with ruslan fariadi on 30 october 2015. [ 21 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 formulated by a team of experts in the leadership rank. these books support and determine the direction or orientation of pesantren education. therefore, pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah does simply use a textbook formulated by the ministry of religious affairs. ruslan explained: “related to the insight of differences or multiculturalism, i can assure that if you just look at the structure of the curriculum and the syllabus, it will not provide a full picture because the development is seen in the instructional materials. books are solely used as a reference for our later modifications. we accustom the students to different opinions.”34 various books are a decisive factor in the cultivation of the values of multiculturalism in this pesantren. however, we need to sort out some books that can be counter-productive. realizing this, misbah explained: “we do not turn a blind eye to various books. there are some that may potentially create fundamental attitude and there are some that seem to be liberal. therefore, we use the moderate ones, neither right nor left. books are selected and created by a team to fit the vision and mission of the pesantren. in the ma›had, the tafsir book that we use is the one by yunahar ilyas (neither right nor left). for hadith, we use hadis mi’ah, bulughul marom and riyadhus sholihin. the main theme in these books is related to muamalat and morality. selection of the books is in accordance with the vision and mission of the pesantren cadres. the goal is that it will not become public scrutiny if there are practices not in accordance with the appropriate methodology of the cadre35 school meanwhile the third factor, the priority programs of the pesantren. in addition to teaching and learning activities carried out on a daily basis at the madarasah or pesantren, there are several programs deemed significant and are a form of actualization of efforts to increase insight into multicultural values. there are at least two featured programs organized by the pesantren to support the vision of multicultural education. a. tamhidy program tamhidy is a program devoted to the first year students. its lasts for approximately 20 days. the main objective is to provide a fundamental understanding of life in the dormitory or ma›had. students have been reminded that despite the fact they come from different backgrounds, regions, families, even traditions, in the life of pesantren they are equal in a big family 34 interview with ruslan fariadi on 30 october 2015. 35 interview with misbahul munir on 12 october 2015. [ 22 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 of pesantren muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta.36 in practice, there are four important processes related to the orientation tamhidy program: (1) conducting the process of “zero mind”. the target of this activity is that each student in the madrasah should have an “intention” / a starting point to move from there to complete the main task for six years at the madrasah mu›allimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta. (2) conducting the process of “internalization”. students have full awareness that they are living amid those who are different, so it is absolutely necessary to have attitude of “tasamuh”, develop the “muslim brotherhood” and the need for collaboration in their daily life. (3) conducting the process of “integration”. students can practice the values / theories obtained through various methods in daily life (qur›an recital, arabic / english, practical worship, daily prayer). (4) conducting the process of “habituation” with the aim of making the student›s behavior which is the results of integration (morality) a habit in their life, outside the maskan and wherever they are. 37 b. mubaligh hijrah program this is a featured program at this pesantren. the program is always mentioned and explained by any informant encountered. the mention of mubaligh hijra refers to the concept of the program where students conduct community service. to be more precise, the concept of the program is illustrated by asep sholahuddin as follows: “in practice, every ramadan students of class iv and v have mubaligh hijrah program held for 20 days. the program is organized in cooperation with the muhammadiyah central executive team. students conduct community service assisted by tutors. during this time, the program is running well in and outside yogyakarta. they independently manage and organize various things related events or activities carries out.38 regarding multiculturalism, at least there are two advantages of this program: 36 according to the information obtained, tamhidy program is not the same as students’ orientation activities. this program is more intensive and the students gather every day in accordance with the specified classes. while the orientation of students put more effort to socialize the activities of islamic school in general, the accentuation program of tamhidi stresses on ta'aruf and habituation of living in a dormitory. this is a very important program for supporting the students to be able to concentrate on further education in madrasah and ma'had. hopefully, they are no longer bothered by problems related to life in the dormitory. differences are expected to be addressed accordingly. extracted from interviews with asep sholahuddin and misbahul munir on 12/10/2015. 37 draft document of tamhidy concept class i and iv madrasah muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta t.a. 2012/2013. p. 4. 38 interview with asep sholahuddin on 12 october 2015. [ 23 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 first, students have the opportunity to learn from the community about the diverse reality of life. by interacting directly with different walks of life, the students are expected to broaden their horizon, especially related problems faced by the community. second, students have the opportunity to socialize while providing views related to religious issues. by following the principles of the muhammadiyah methodology, diversity in the understanding of religion is very open because it is not confined to certain school of thought. matrix 4. the role of education in improving multicultural values at the pesantren muallimin pesantren education in improving multicultural values no factor description 1 inclusive, critical culture and dialog students are taught to get accustomed to different opinions students are given the opportunity to gain knowledge independently careful and critical attitude is taught to understand different opinions students do not hesitate to ask a variety of questions. in fact, they are taught to get used to asking questions and hold dialog on issues of daily problems, for example. [ 24 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 2 books textbooks used in madrasah is a modified version of ministry of religious affairs. the goal is to have more different perspectives and not stuck on the mainstream perception. teaching materials used in pesantren have been carefully selected. only moderate books are used. 3 pesantren featured programs tamhidy program; habituation program for new students. this program is intended not only to introduce the activities at the pesantren, but also an effort to provide an understanding of the differences and how to deal with them. mubaligh hijrah program; the pesantren gives an opportunity for the students to learn firsthand experience from society. obstacles in the development of multicultural values competence of the teachers or educators in delivering the materials and educating students has an important position in the educational context of multiculturalism. these teachers are required to have a quite broad knowledge in order to provide a good understanding associated with diversity and differences despite today›s educational model having been oriented toward learners. however, the role of teachers is significant in the education of multicultural values. should they have insufficient ability and insight on multiculturalism, these teachers will only become an obstacle in successful development of these values. at the pesantren sunan pandanaran, even though the investigation showed that the teachers generally had quite inclusive and moderate religious views, in practice, some teachers are less democratic. it was reported by some students in the following interview: “once there was a teacher who had discriminatory attitude, paying more [ 25 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 attention to smart students. questions asked by students who are less intelligent were ignored, so it›s not fair i think.” “the qur’an teacher, too, often said we were wrong when there was a question, in contrast to what had been described. i often translated by myself, then asked questions. actually, the teacher knows what is being explained but he teaches in accordance with the meaning written in the book.” “sometimes teachers also often forget. they forget that they are teaching students who are also santri. there are teachers from outside of the pesantren who often gives a lot of homework, thus putting a lot of pressure on the students. they don’t know what it feels to be at the pesantren. teachers like to forget the conditions of the students. we have to arrange time between the activities of the school and pesantren. in addition, they create new rules. we should be prompt. we deserve equal treatment, not just those deemed more diligent.” 39 these facts show the real urgency of the teacher›s role as someone who act in a democratic manner, displaying good behavior or attitude that is not discriminatory, having broad knowledge and high sensitivity of the events related to religion, is strictly emphasized in the pesantren sunan pandanaran. similarly, this is also the case at the pesantren muallimin. it was found that although most teachers delivered materials and religious subjects from different perspectives, some of them simply do it from one perspective only, for example from the muhammadiyah manhaj perspective. one of the students stated: “we are accustomed to the differences of opinion delivered by the teachers. however, there are also some religious teachers who directly give a certain opinion without other perspective about the law or the issues. they usually teach one opinion and deliver it without comparing with other opinions.”40 issues related to competence was also admitted by the teachers. life experience and varied educational backgrounds are said to be the dominant factor. lathif rifa›i explained: “personally, i have an advantage because once i lived among the nahdhiyyin with very different traditions. four years of living in the pesantren krapyak. but some teachers have different experience. therefore, it is possible that the values of diversity are not delivered properly to the students. to me, experience 39 interview with students at m.a. sunan pandanran wardahani, sri linggani, bahtiar and m lutfi, on 03 november 2015. 40 interview with ramzi dkk on 19 october 2015. [ 26 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 is an important for a teacher’s competence”41 another obstacle found in pesantren education in terms of developing the values of multiculturalism is the dilemma of identity. multicultural education on the other hand is feared to obscure cultural identity of the students. therefore, although different views are taught, students must eventually be led to a single model of understanding, thinking patterns and certain religious practices. ruslan fariadi stated: “other traditions are still taught, but students remain convinced of the teachings of the qur›an and sunnah. questions and discussions related to other traditions are heard and then taught and understood with appropriate guidance. in this case, knowledge and cognitive abilities are important to them, so knowledge of the disagreements related to prayer, for example, is always discussed. in practice, however, we only use the methodology of the tarjih muhammadiyah.”42 fear of identity obscurity and lack of clear positions related to multiculturalism were implicitly explained by pesantren counselors. asep sholahuddin said: “we teach different views, but we must have a standpoint. [we] appreciate the differences due to different methods and we have a particular method as well.”43 there is a very clear impression if a multicultural perspective assumes unclear stance on the identity, subsequently it will deny the community identity. in the context of the dilemma, the establishment of community identity and culture by strengthening the methodology of muhammadiyah becomes important. such dilemma of identity is more obvious in the pesantren education in muallimin compared to the pesantren sunan pandanaran. in the context of the vision and mission, it is quite understandable since muallimin is regarded as as pesantren of cadres. basically, the actual values of multicultural identity do not want vagueness as feared. openness and recognition of diversity further necessitates the power of identity and of the existing cultural community. therefore, cadre education reinforced by establishing cultural identity is not against the multiculturalismbased pesantren education. instead, both are consequences that go hand in hand. that is, the education of cadres run as intended and at the same time the education and cultivation of the values of diversity persist. however, it is important to think about is the strategy on the balance between the two. too much focus on educating diversity and ignoring educating the cadres is a big mistake because in addition to the fact that it is against the vision and 41 interview with lathif rifa’i on 31 october 2015. 42 interview with ruslan fariadi on 30 october 2015. 43 interview with asep sholahuddin on 12 october 2015. [ 27 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 mission of the establishment of pesantren, it is also an event that is not desired by the principle of multiculturalism itself. instead, educating the students with a perspective and methodology of muhammadiyah only by ignoring the education of diversity in a multicultural society will produce a cadre who does not understand the reality. conclusion in light of the discussion, it can be concluded that: first, multicultural values seem to be reflected and has become a good principle at pesantren muallimin and sunan pandanaran yogyakarta, despite the different characteristics. at the pesantren sunan pandanaran, the values of multiculturalism include: living with others, equality and justice brotherhood and solidarity, democracy, tolerance and cooperation. meanwhile at muallimin, there are similar values practices, such as: diversity, democracy, egalitarianism, tolerance, and social responsibility. those values are firmly rooted in the pesantren and have become a principle in the pesantren’s life. the second conclusion is education at both sunan pandanaran and muallimin yogyakarta has an important contribution to the development of multicultural values, each with different traits and characteristics. while the role of pesantren education at sunan pandanaran in developing the values of multiculturalism lies in the cultural aspects, such as inclusive views, yellow books, and the teachers’ role, in contrast, pesantren muallimin yogyakarta build those values through programs such as tamhidy and muballigh hijrah. the difficulties faced by the two pesantren include uneven competence and knowledge of the teachers in promoting multicultural values in education. intolerance to differences can still be seen even though the extent is not alarming. in addition, there appears to be a dilemma between maintaining self-identity, teaching or reinforcing a particular tradition, and providing different views. therefore, efforts to hold dialog and outreach related to multiculturalism comprehensively to accommodate the strongly established traditions in pesantren. references al-makassary, ridwan dan suparto ed. cerita sukses pendidikan multikultur di indonesia. jakarta: centre for the study of religion and culture (csrc), 2010. an-nahidil, nunu ahmad. “pesantren dan dinamika pesan damai” dalam [ 28 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 edukasi journal penelitian agama dan keagamaan jakarta putlitbang pendidikan agama dan keagamaan, badan litbang dan diklat departemen agama ri, 2006. vol.4 nom. 3. anwar, m. syafi’i. “menggali kearifan pesantren untuk multikultalisme”. dalam jurnal wasathhaniyah. no.1, februari 2006. baidhawy, zakiyuddin. “pendidikan agama berwawasan multikultural”, jurnal tashwirul afkar. jakarta: lakpesdam nu, 2004. edisi xvi. basri, hasan. “ multikulturalisme dari pesantren”, dalam buku ijtihad pesantren tentang toleransi dan good governance. tangerang, banten,icip, 2009. basri, hasan. “pesantren karakterisik dan unsurunsur kelembagaan”, dalam abu nata (eds). sejarah dan perkembangan lembagalembaga pendidikan islam di indonesia. dokumen draft konsep tamhidy kelas i dan iv madrasah muallimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta t.a. 2012/2013. jandra, m. “islam dalam konteks budaya dan tradisi plural”. dalam buku zakiyudin baidhawi, ed., agama dan pluralitas budaya lokal. surakarta:muhammadiyah university press, 2002. nasri, imron (ed). pluralisme dan liberalisme; pergolakan pemikiran anak muda muhammmadiyah. yogyakarta: citra karsa mandiri, 2005. parekh, bikhu. rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory. cambridge: harvard university press, 2000. robertson, roland. agama dalam analisa dan interpretasi sosiologis, terj. ahmad fidyani saifudin. jakarta:rajawali press. 1988. sholahuddin, a. pesantren dan budaya damai. http://www.gp-anshor. org/?p+13308, diakses tanggal 1 oktober 2015. silberman, m. active learning 101 strategies to teach any subject. mancussets: allyn and bacoon, 1996. team penyusun. buku pedoman pembinan siswa madrasah mu’allimin muhammadiyah yogyakarta. wahyuningsih, austin. managemen pendidikan karakter. lombok: elhikam press, 2015. list of informants pesantren sunan pandanaran: jazilus sakhok [ 29 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 ainun hakiemah siti zulfah ahmad faizun idris hemay ade supriadi teguh arifiyanto nuktohul huda pondok muallimin yogyakarta: asep sholahuddin ruslan fariadi misbahul munir lathif rifa’i [ 53 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 religious education for indigenous communities and kepercayaan adherents in indonesia jear n. d. k. nenohai gadjah mada university, indonesia email: nenohai46@gmail.com abstract since its establishment in 2016, the indonesian government has conducted pendidikan kepercayaan (belief education) as religious education for indigenous communities and kepercayaan (belief) adherents in indonesia. various studies affirm that kepercayaan education is the indonesian government's way of eliminating discrimination against indigenous communities and kepercayaan adherents in the educational sphere. other research on kepercayaan education targets the challenges of implementation in the school context. this work attempts to examine the interconnectedness of kepercayaan education and the education of indigenous religions and kepercayaan adherents within the community context. the underlying question is does belief education represent the education of indigenous religions within communities? how does the education of indigenous religions in the community context contribute to and be included in the development of kepercayaan education? as a theoretical framework, i employ the concept of indigenization that has developed in the discourse of indigenous education in canada. the method used in this research is a literature study. the results of this study indicate that belief education does not represent the education of indigenous religions and kepercayaan adherents within the community realm. kepercayaan education is a service designed unilaterally by the state without recognizing and respecting the diversity and educational needs of indigenous communities in indonesia. as an alternative, i propose a reconciliation and collaboration-based indigenization approach as a new framework for reconstructing kepercayaan education. the path of reconciliation and collaboration provides a space for children of indigenous communities to achieve the national educational aspiration of learning and practicing the teachings of their 'religion' in accordance with the educational model of their respective communities. keywords: religious education; indigenous communities; kepercayaan adherents; indigenization introduction prior to the introduction of kepercayaan education in the formal education sector, the practice of indigenous education only took place informally, either [ 54 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 at home or within their communities (saripudin, 2009). each adherent of indigenous religions and kepercayaan adherents (henceforth indigenous communities) has their own unique methods and educational strategies. for instance, since 2000, the rimba people – an indigenous community in jambi – have had an educational practice called the sokola rimba (rimba school). the founder and teacher at the sokola rimba is butet manurung. at the sokola rimba, children learn about how to survive and protect the forest they love. for the rimba people, nature is both their home and their teacher (manurung, 2013, 2019; manalu, 2023). the rimba people believe that learning about life and living a good life is true education (manurung, 2019). the meto people of timor, an indigenous religion of the timorese community, have a non-formal school known as the lakoat.kujawas. the founder and educator at this school is dicky senda. similar to the rimba people, the meto people possess an eco-pedagogy that is used as a strategy to maintain the harmony between human life and nature (umbu deta et all., 2022). therefore, education within indigenous religious communities has been ongoing for a long time, independently from government intervention. in 2016, after a long advocacy process, indigenous communities gained their own religious education service called kepercayaan education. it was established and managed under the authority of the minister of education and culture (now the ministry of education, culture, research, and technology) (setara institute, 2022). kepercayaan education was established through the minister of education and culture regulation no. 27 of 2016. this education service is an inseparable part of the state's recognition of the citizenship status of indigenous communities in the constitutional court decision no. 97 of 2016 concerning population administration services (administrasi kependudukan). however, many other religious communities to date have not received educational services according to their beliefs, such as ahmadiyyah, orthodox, baha'i, buddha maitreya, and others. therefore, amalia (2021) argues that the definition of religion in religious education services is still problematic because many other religious communities have not received educational services according to their religious teachings. while kepercayaan education is a step forward as the government has added a new category of religious education, state discrimination against indigenous communities continues (deta, 2021, 2022; nenohai, 2023, 2023a). one example is the plan to remove the word 'belief ' in the draft of the 2022 national education system law (perempuan, 2022). various studies on kepercayaan education to date also show that the government's commitment at the local level to open kepercayaan education classes in schools is still not apparent [ 55 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 (noviana, 2023; siagian, 2022). various obstacles, such as slow administration and lack of school initiatives to provide textbooks, also remain problematic (biantoro & setiawan, 2021; maulana, 2019; j. nenohai, 2023; sholakodin, 2021). based on the development of research on kepercayaan education, the discussion surrounding it has revolved around the issues and challenges of its less-thanoptimal implementation. some of these challenges have arisen due to the sluggish response from local governments, as evidenced in cities like surabaya and yogyakarta (maulana, 2019; noviana, 2023). however, researchers have not yet explored further whether and how kepercayaan education represents indigenous peoples' education within the community context. in my view, this discussion is crucial to understand the relationship between indigenous education in the formal context, i.e., kepercayaan education, and indigenous education in the non-formal context that existed before the introduction of kepercayaan education. therefore, this research aims to connect and review the implementation of kepercayaan education through the lens of indigenous education practices within community contexts. this article raises the research questions: does kepercayaan education represent indigenous education in the community context? how can indigenous education in communities contribute to the development of kepercayaan education in the formal context? the concept employed in this article is the idea of indigenization that has developed in the study of indigenous education in canada, hence the literature study becomes the research method. in indigenous education studies, indigenization is understood as an effort to reactivate all indigenous elements in the public sphere (gaudry & lorenz, 2018; prete, 2018). indigenization upholds a reconciliation and collaboration approach to provide indigenous education services in the formal education sector (stein et al., 2022). reconciliation and collaboration proceed with a commitment to equity and diversity. through the lens of the indigenization concept, this research shows that kepercayaan education does not represent indigenous education in the community context because the development of kepercayaan education is an extension of official religious education in indonesia. consequently, kepercayaan education does not provide space for the diversity and uniqueness of the education of indigenous communities in indonesia. the state then equates and demands that children from indigenous religious communities grow to become religious according to the standards and models of world religions' education. [ 56 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 indigenization as a perspective indigenization is the process of reactivating indigenous elements into the public sphere (arrows, 2019; battiste, 2013; grafton & melançon, 2020). indigenization emphasizes the process of equalizing and repositioning aspects of indigenous communities that were erased by colonizers in the public space, therefore, the concept of indigenization goes hand-in-hand with the concept of decolonization. grafton and melançon (2020) emphasize that the spirit of indigenization is decolonization. decolonization and indigenization essentially work in the same direction: "decolonization is an emancipatory response to colonial oppression. indigenization is a process of resurgence, a re-centering of precolonial and colonial indigenous ways of knowing and being that never ceased to exist despite colonialism" (grafton & melançon, 2020, p. 135). emily and grafton term it the "mutual reinforcement of decolonization and indigenization". in practice, the work of decolonization and indigenization helps first nations detect aspects of colonialism in existing structures, while indigenization helps scholars understand indigenous voices that need to be fought for (grafton & melançon, 2020). in canada, indigenization has been taking place in the long history of the indigenous movement and studies. various educators from first nations1 backgrounds, for example, uphold the mi'kmaw concept of two-eyed seeing as a learning method in higher education (hogue & bartlett, 2014; peltier, 2018). indigenization involving the government and educational institutions massively occurred after the establishment of the truth and reconciliation commission in 2015 (hereafter trc 2015) as an inseparable part of the ratification of undrip (rhea, 2015; stein et al., 2022). after trc 2015, sheila cote-meek wrote that "the trc 2015 calls on post-secondary institutions to engage in the reconciliation process and essentially lead change in education that promotes awareness and understanding and importantly integrates indigenous histories, knowledges, and pedagogies in the classroom" (cotemeek, 2020). the trc was used to transform the colonial aspects in canadian education that had severed the relationship between the first nations of canada and their teachings, communities, and lands (lavalle, 2020). for first nations scholars in canada, the word 'reconciliation' in the trc is directly linked to the spirit of decolonization and indigenization. their efforts aim to ensure that the trc does not become a dead text but is mobilized for the interests of first nations. the trc 2015 massively encouraged educational institutions in canada to 1 first nations is a term used to identify indigenous people in canada who are neither inuit nor métis. [ 57 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 make the 'theme of indigenization' a variety of educational policies. many first nations study centers and courses on indigenous religions such as health and indigenous religions emerged at canadian universities (linton & ducas, 2017). gaudry and lorenz, two researchers from the university of alberta, summarized three spectrums of indigenization in canada post-trc 2015: inclusive indigenization, reconciling indigenization, and decolonial indigenization. in order, inclusion indigenization is the process of granting educational rights and services to indigenous religious communities (gaudry & lorenz, 2018). reconciling indigenization is the process of changing the mindset and way of educating canadians towards students from first nations backgrounds. meanwhile, decolonial indigenization is the process of totally transforming the educational structure to make room for the educational paradigm of indigenous religions in initiating educational services (gaudry & lorenz, 2018). of the three spectrums above inclusion, reconciliation, and decolonization gaudry and lorenz state that the most commonly used form of indigenization taking place in canada is inclusion indigenization (gaudry & lorenz, 2018, p. 226). inclusion indigenization has become a new burden for first nations as they are required to learn things that refer to the european enlightenment perspective. in western knowledge, nature and humans are separated and fragmented. nature is merely positioned as an object of knowledge (pidgeon, 2016). the western knowledge model is clearly detrimental to first nations because for them, nature and humans are unity (battiste, 2013). for first nations, the land is not an object. it is a subject that needs to be protected and cared for like humans (grande, 2015). therefore, inclusive indigenization still privileges western knowledge in the educational curriculum and demands that first nations grow through the western paradigm. samuel torres (2019) argues that inclusive indigenization is a new colonialism agenda. inclusive indigenization is a way for educational institutions to demand that first nations learn about and support the interests of white supremacy in canada (torres, 2019). inclusion indigenization only increases the number of first nations people in educational spaces but does not provide room for first nations to be subjects over their own curricula and education systems (gaudry & lorenz, 2018). as a consequence, inclusion indigenization does not realize the aspirations of the trc 2015 because in practice, the canadian academia does not respect knowledge and education from first nations' perspectives (pidgeon, 2016). therefore, pidgeon (2016) categorizes inclusive indigenization as a practice of assimilation: internalizing western knowledge into the knowledge structures and daily practices of first nations (pidgeon, [ 58 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 2016, pp. 80–82). moving beyond inclusion indigenization, various researchers in canada have proposed a decolonization-based indigenization approach. gaudry and lorenz refer to this as the spectrum of decolonial indigenization (gaudry & lorenz, 2018). decolonization-based indigenization is the most transformative approach (debassige et al., 2022; gaudry & lorenz, 2018; stein et al., 2022). decolonial indigenization encompasses all aspects of inclusive and reconciling indigenization. the decolonial indigenization spectrum transcends the subjectobject dimension of educational policymakers in inclusive indigenization. as an approach within the realm of indigenization, decolonial indigenization upholds the projects of decolonization and indigenization simultaneously by abolishing the old, highly colonial educational services while opening up educational services from the perspective of indigenous religions themselves (debassige et al., 2022; stein et al., 2022). therefore, debassige refers to decolonial indigenization as a radical approach because it provides space for indigenous religions to be sovereign over education (debassige et al., 2022). moving beyond inclusion indigenization, sharon stein proposes decolonization that involves the practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion (edi approaches) (stein et al., 2022). moreover, edi is to increase indigenous peoples’ inclusion into these institutions. more critical edi approaches emphasize that access alone is insufficient. these advocate for additional measures such as the creation of courses focused on indigenous knowledges, increased funding for indigenous research, formalized agreements and collaborations with local indigenous communities, and dedicated spaces and resources to serve and ensure the success of indigenous students. thus, this interpretation of decolonization seeks to radically reform and transform institutions through representation, recognition, and redistribution (stein et al., 2022, pp. 205– 206). the edi approach is based on the provision of education by involving the active role of first nations as subjects. first nations do not appear as service recipients but rather as determinants of educational services (stein et al., 2022). parnther (2024) summarizes and brings a commitment to collaboration and reconciliation to the edi approach. for her, recognition for first nations cannot be done alone by canadian academia. in accordance with the demands of the 2015 trc, canadian academia must involve collaborating with first nations as a form of reconciliation for past crimes committed by colonials and settler colonialism in the past that are still ongoing in the present (parnther, 2024). based on the development of indigenization discussions in canada, i summarize that decolonization and indigenization are the main reference points for the [ 59 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 provision of education services for first nations. the decolonization approach involves reconciliation and collaboration as a concrete form of recognition and fulfillment of the right to education for first nations. canadian academia does not act as the sole determinant of education services but rather as a facilitator of education services for the first nation. therefore, first nations play an active role as sovereign communities of knowledge and educational models for the benefit and future of their respective communities. (battiste, 2013; gaudry & lorenz, 2018; parnther, 2024). why does the state require indigenous people to study religious education in formal schools? before 2016, there was not a single school in indonesia that provided indigenous education. education of indigenous communities was only possible outside the realm of formal education. this was because, in indonesia, religious identity is the basis for providing religious education services (widyawati, 2012). therefore, the reason why the state did not provide religious education services for indigenous communities was heavily influenced by the politics of religious recognition. various studies show that since the beginning of independence, the indonesian government has used the world religions paradigm as the definition of an official religion (abbas, 2021, 2021; alfian, 2022, 2023). the word agama in indonesia is a direct translation of 'religion.' the religion that has been understood by the indonesian government is a copy of the 'world religions paradigm' (maarif, 2017, p. 14).’ in the 'world religions paradigm' that developed in the west, religion has been objectified as a concrete noun that has specific elements: doctrine of divinity, a prophet, a sacred scripture, institutions, and is adhered to internationally (abbas, 2021, 2021; asad, 2001; w. c. smith, 1962). although the 'world religions paradigm' was not officially established as the definition of religion by the indonesian government, government policies since independence have perpetuated and tightened the world religions paradigm. the indonesian government then made 'islam' the prototype (maarif, 2019). other religions that wanted to be recognized had to conform to islam. confucianism was recognized later after the soeharto regime forced them to create the concept of 'god' (tian) and a sacred scripture, but confucianism was only consistently served fully by the state during the era of indonesia's fourth president, abdurrahman wahid (sutrisno, 2018). therefore, in the independence era, the government only registered and recognized six groups as 'religions': christianity, islam, catholicism, confucianism, buddhism, [ 60 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 and hinduism. no indigenous religions and kepercayaan adherents were recognized as 'religions' (maarif, 2019). in the early days of independence, indigenous religious communities did not receive educational services because they were categorized as 'indigenous communities' (masyarakat adat). adat was a colonial dutch viewpoint adopted by the indonesian state to differentiate indigenous religious communities from world religions (tuhri et al., 2020). adat was labelled as primitive. it resembled religious elements, but not fully fulfilling requirements to be a religion. it was animistic, psuedo-religion (maarif, 2019). then, during the new order era, indigenous communities were forced to embrace official religions in order to gain recognition and public services, including education (maarif, 2017). because they were not recognized as religions, official religious communities made indigenous religious communities 'objects of religious conversion.' vikri paais, in his research on the huaulu community, narrates that the christian community made the huaulu community a target for conversion because huaulu practices were viewed by the christian community as heretical and infidel(paais, 2023). the practice of conversion under the influence of the state's official religious policies has also been experienced by many indigenous communities, to this day, in various other regions of indonesia(alfian, 2023; ilahi et al., 2017; mulyadi, 2019; nenohai, 2023a). the restrictive definition of religion in indonesian politics opens up space for what maarif and asfinawati call the politics of official religions. the policy regarding official religions is understood here to refer to the state's political and legal authority to legitimize certain religions as official through regulations and policies (maarif et all., 2022, p. 206). the politics of official religions becomes a reference for official religious groups to control and even judge certain practices of other groups that are outside the scope of their religious teachings (perempuan, 2022). consequently, the politics of official religions also influences the rights, obligations, and relations between religious communities at the grassroots level. in the context of conversion, for example, the standards of official religions are used by certain groups to label other religions as heretical and infidel, for the purpose of religious conversion. official religious communities feel entitled to judge and justify acts of violence against groups that do not fall into the category of official religions, such as the violence perpetrated by islamic groups against the kejawen community on the southern coast of yogyakarta (wasisto, 2021). in the context of education, the politics of official religions also serves as the basis for the government to limit educational services for indigenous communities while simultaneously forcing indigenous communities to choose and study the [ 61 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 religious education provided in schools. this demand is unavoidable because religious education is a compulsory subject in indonesia (yusuf, 2016). the state requires indigenous communities to practice the teachings of official religions, such as the case of a child of kepercayaan adherents in semarang who was forced to participate in friday prayers (amalia anna, 2021). the child was forced to practice the teachings of another religion because the rules of religious education require every child to practice religious teachings without exception (suhadi et all., 2015). for indigenous communities, this becomes a new burden because the religion they learn in school differs from the religion they learn at home (raihani, 2016). the act of practicing another religion, in fact, reinforces the negative stigma from society towards them. for instance, in the experience of the marapu community in west sumba, due to having to attend catholic education, marapu children acquired the stigma of being 'catholic-marapu.' the term 'catholic-marapu' becomes a burden in itself for marapu children because they are accused of being inauthentic marapu (oka wedasantara & suarsana, 2019). consequently, religious education influences the majority religion's perspective towards the religious attitudes of indigenous communities. in its design, religious education obligates students to practice religious teachings for the interest of civil society (suhadi et all., 2015). therefore, religious education also has a strong ethical component. in the public sphere, the government utilizes religious education as a tool to shape the behavior of indigenous communities. as a consequence, indigenous religious communities are prohibited from practicing their own religious teachings in public spaces, and the values of their teachings can only be expressed as culture (maarif, 2017). bagir (2020) categorizes the control of public attitudes of indigenous communities as an issue of freedom of religion and belief in indonesia, as religious teachings and public expression are inseparable. because they are not recognized as religious practices, the state limits indigenous communities from practicing their teachings in public spaces (arianingtyas, 2020). kabir (2020), for example, narrates the challenges faced by the kejawen community on the southern coast of yogyakarta in practicing the tradition of larung sesajen (offering ritual). due to the influence of the politics of official religions, the islamic community on the southern coast prohibits the practice of larung sesajen because it is considered a heretical or polytheistic teaching (kabir, 2020). through this example, religious education policies are directly related to freedom of religion and belief because the content of religious education is directly connected to ethics in public spaces. through the previous explanation, before the introduction of indigenous [ 62 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 kepercayaan education, indigenous communities faced obstacles in obtaining their educational rights and freedom of expression in public spaces. the politics of official religions also underlies these issues. knowledge of indigenous religions, in each respective context, only took place within the community and sectoral contexts. these restrictions also influenced the relationship between indigenous communities and other religious communities living as their neighbors. any knowledge of ancestral religions could be displayed by the community to the public, as long as that knowledge was conveyed through cultural expressions. thus, in my view, religious education—the story about the challenges faced by the kejawen community in practicing larung sesajen and the stigma towards the marapu community in east sumba—sends us a message that religious education creates problems for indigenous religions to use their own knowledge as a living practice in public spaces. the issue of religious education is inseparable from the issue of freedom of religion and expression in indonesian public spaces. after religious education: kepercayaan education and its critics the provision of kepercayaan education marks the state's commitment to eliminating discrimination against indigenous communities in the education sector (setara institute, 2022). the management of religious education and education are regulated separately. the official name for religious education services for christian, islamic, catholic, hindu, buddhist, and confucian communities is religious education (pendidikan agama). religious education is regulated by the ministry of religious affairs. the official name for religious education for indigenous communities is kepercayaan education. that is regulated by the ministry of education, research, and technology. to date, various indigenous communities have received kepercayaan education services, such as marapu, parmalim, and sapta dharma (amalia, 2021; nenohai, 2023a; nenohai, 2024). as a religious subject for indigenous communities, the model of kepercayaan education is conducted in a similar manner to religious education. the government provides teachers, teaching materials, and subjects in accordance with the beliefs held by students from indigenous religious backgrounds (amalia, 2021; noviana, 2023). due to its relatively new implementation since 2016, kepercayaan education have not yet been enjoyed by all students from indigenous community backgrounds. many studies show that not all followers of indigenous religions have received kepercayaan education services due to complicated issues and the tendency of local governments to respond slowly [ 63 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 (maulana, 2019; nenohai, 2023; zakiyah, 2018). not all kepercayaan education classes have teachers and teaching materials(perdhana, 2023; siagian, 2022; febriany, 2020). in addition to administrative reasons, rosyid advocates for the implementation of kepercayaan education at the university level, as that education is also important for followers of indigenous communities in higher education institutions (rosyid, 2022). akil sholakudin, in his article ‘posisi tawar permendikbud nomor 27 dan urgensi pendidikan agama dalam satuan pendidikan,’ proposes merging indigenous faith education (pendidikan kepercayaan) and religious education into multicultural education. learning from the experience of violence faced by saptha dharma children, instead of maintaining kepercayaan education, sholakudin suggests changing the model of religious education to multicultural education so that students from all religions can learn about 'religion' rather than studying and deepening their respective religions (sholakodin, 2021). sholakudin's proposal is not new, as multicultural education materials already exist as one of the topics in religious education classes in indonesia (baidhawy, 2005). therefore, the introduction of a multicultural education subject would argue that merging kepercayaan education and religious education is not an urgent need. besides the issue of administrative obstacles, the merging of kepercayaan education and religious education, the issue of religiosity is also voiced by researchers of kepercayaan education. maarif and asfinawati (2022), in their article toward a (more) inclusive forb: a framework for the advocacy for the rights of indigenous people, argue that indigenous kepercayaan education is still creating something new for indigenous communities. kepercayaan education, as part of the compulsory course in schools (based on the regulation of the ministry of education, culture, research and technology) is formulated to comply with religious education. such an articulation on the part of the ministry is equivalent to the state prescribing “how to be religious.” in indonesia, this framework is upheld by the policy regarding official religions (maarif et all., 2022). maarif and asfinawati's view is affirmed through the research i conducted in the marapu community, east sumba. the marapu community has a way of being religious called lipayenu-lipatembi (damai, 2024; nenohai, 2024). lipayenu-lipatembi is the teaching of love towards the ancestors (marapu), humans, and the universe, therefore lipayenu-lipatembi can be translated into indonesian as the wisdom of love. to be religious, marapu children are taught to participate in the community, such as taking part in rituals, hosting guests, respecting nature, not cutting down banyan trees carelessly, and so on. [ 64 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 in contrast, in the classroom setting, through kepercayaan education, children are required by the government through laws to become religious through a series of teaching materials and assignments (damai, 2024; nenohai, 2024). in my view, the indigenous kepercayaan education is diametrically opposed to the model and practice of religiosity understood by marapu children in the community context. referring to the various studies above, i argue that kepercayaan education is present as a perfect copy of religious education. kepercayaan education is established by referring to religious education. as a consequence, the state designs and establishes kepercayaan education without providing space for indigenous followers to incorporate aspects of their knowledge and education into the design of the education. education for indigenous communities follows the complete pattern of education for religions that have been recognized beforehand. furthermore, followers of indigenous communities then learn two different models of education, namely kepercayaan education at school and indigenous education according to their community's version. i categorize kepercayaan education as state indigenous education because this education is designed by the state without involving the role of the indigenous communities' paradigm, but rather the paradigm of 'religion' established by the state. as a national education, children from indigenous community backgrounds also bear the responsibility to learn and practice their teachings in public spaces in accordance with the ideals of religious education as a national education. therefore, once again, i categorize kepercayaan education as the state official indigenous education. kepercayaan education as indigenization departing from the meaning of indigenization, i categorize kepercayaan education as an indigenization for several reasons. the first reason is that kepercayaan education provides a space for indigenous knowledge to be present in national education policies in indonesia. consequently, the government incorporates aspects of indigenous knowledge and education into public policies. this pattern is precisely what occurs with kepercayaan education in indonesia. the state acknowledges the existence of indigenous knowledge while preserving it within educational laws and regulations. the state also provides support through funding arrangements and providing facilities such as schools to support kepercayaan education. the second reason is that in the process of indigenization at the global level, the reference used for the recognition of indigenous knowledge is the united nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (undrip). in canada, undrip was ratified as [ 65 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 the truth and reconciliation commission (trc) (arrows, 2019; t. smith, 2016). the trc became a milestone for indigenization in the context of schools in canada (côté et al., 2021). in indonesia, kepercayaan education as a form of state recognition originated from the constitutional court decision no. 97 of 2016. through this recognition, the citizenship status of indigenous religions has been equalized with other religious communities in indonesia. the official administrative name for indigenous religions and kepercayaan adherents is 'belief ' (wiratraman, 2018). in the practice of indigenous communities in indonesia, the term 'belief ' religiously contains the same elements as other terms such as adat (custom) and indigenous communities (maarif, 2022). hence, kepercayaan should be viewed as knowledge based on indigenous communities’ paradigm. therefore, kepercayaan education is an inseparable part of the indonesian state's recognition of the status and citizenship rights of indigenous communities. as religious education, kepercayaan education also supports the ideals of national education. kepercayaan education as indigenization has two fundamental objectives. first, kepercayaan education breaks the chain of state discrimination against indigenous communities in indonesia. this educational program emerged with the spirit of state recognition and services received by indigenous communities. the recognition for indigenous communities is supported by two legal regulations, namely the constitutional court decision no. 97 of 2017 and the ministry of education and culture regulation no. 26 of 2016. the state acknowledges its responsibility and provides educational services as a right of indigenous communities in indonesia. second, indigenization introduces indigenous knowledge into the education system in indonesia. kepercayaan education is an inseparable part of state recognition and the fulfillment of the rights of indigenous communities that have been neglected. this recognition is conditional, meaning that indigenous communities are obliged to support state policies on the national education system as stated in article 3 of the national education system law. third, indigenous communities are allowed to learn the 'content of their own religious knowledge', but the educational structure to support educational practices still follows the standards determined by the state, namely the religious education curriculum. the aim is for kepercayaan education to support the ideals of national education as stated in article 3 of the national education system law of 2003. therefore, kepercayaan education is the state's way of restoring the rights of indigenous communities while simultaneously placing aspects of indigenous knowledge for the public interest, as stated in the objectives of religious education in the 2003 national education system law. [ 66 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 the idea of inclusion in kepercayaan education and beyond from the three reasons above, i consider kepercayaan education to be an indigenization process occurring within the framework of religious education determined by the state to support the ideals of national education. as an indigenization process, kepercayaan education is a form of state's self-criticism: the state is rectifying its flawed religious education policies within the national education system. unlike the case in canada, the indonesian state did not use international recognition such as undrip as a reference for policy changes. indigenization, in the indonesian context, is carried out through reforms to the discriminatory national education system. indigenization in indonesia is a change in policy at the national level. therefore, the indonesian state is expanding the scope of religious education services by introducing kepercayaan education for indigenous communities in indonesia. indigenization in indonesia is based on policy changes to eliminate discrimination perpetrated by the state against indigenous communities: masyarakat adat and penghayat kepercayaan. referring to the design and implementation of kepercayaan education, i categorize it as an inclusion indigenization. first, kepercayaan education is the state's way of equalizing the rights of indigenous communities to receive educational services according to their beliefs. after the kepercayaan education, children from indigenous community backgrounds have the same opportunity as groups from the other six recognized religions. they can now learn religious education that contains the teachings of their own religions, such as marapu, parmalim, and sapta dharma children. second, kepercayaan education is the process of introducing indigenous knowledge in public spaces without involving aspects of reconciliation and collaboration. reconciliation and collaboration are the fulfillment of educational services through dialogue as a way to recover from the state's previous policy failures (gaudry & lorenz, 2018; parnther, 2024). in indonesia, the state established kepercayaan education without going through a dialogue process. the state designed the education system by referring to the framework of religious education. therefore, kepercayaan education emerged as a complete copy of religious education. kepercayaan education also eliminates collaboration between that education and indigenous education in the community context. as a consequence, the state only established 'one model' of education for 190 indigenous communities in indonesia. third, the state acts as the sole determinant of the educational model for all indigenous communities in indonesia. this aspect is a direct consequence of the absence of a reconciliation and collaboration process in the design and implementation of kepercayaan education. as a consequence, the state establishes an educational model by [ 67 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 disregarding the fact of the diversity and unique pedagogies of each indigenous group in indonesia. indigenous communities are then required to grow 'in religious ways’ according to the standards and ways of the officially recognized religions in indonesia. the three mentioned reasons indicate why kepercayaan education is taking place through the idea of inclusion indigenization. the education is an educational service used by the state to equalize indigenous communities with the other six recognized religions. this equalization, following stein's eid approach, results in a lack of equity and diversity in the context of national education. the state makes 'religious education' the standard and way for indigenous communities to grow to be religious. in other words, the state provides educational services by limiting the space for the diversity of ways in which indigenous communities grow to be religious through the assistance of educational models in each community. as a result, the state requires children from indigenous community backgrounds to learn and practice their religious teachings in the manner of world religions. up to this point, the two guiding questions of this article have been answered. first, kepercayaan education does not represent the educational needs and models of indigenous communities in indonesia. kepercayaan education is the state's version of indigenous education. more specifically, the education is religious education in a new guise. the state did not design and establish kepercayaan education through a process of dialogue and collaboration with indigenous communities. kepercayaan education emerged as the state's way of determining the standards of religious education as a reference and the means for children of indigenous communities to achieve the national education goal of practicing their religious teachings for the public. second, as a state education, kepercayaan education is completely disconnected from the indigenous education of indigenous peoples in indonesia. in their respective contexts, indigenous communities have their own unique educational models, such as the cultural education of the boti indigenous community (wardany et al., 2023), cultural revitalization of meto people in timor(crisp, 2021; krisharyanto umbu deta dan jear nenohai, 2022), nature-based education of orang rimba in jambi, (manurung, 2019), and so on. therefore, kepercayaan education is a policy formed on the initiative and preference of the state for religious education. in other words, the state does not recognize and accommodate the diversity of indigenous education as a way of being religious. taking religious education as the primary reference, the state makes the model of official religious education the sole medium of education for all religions in indonesia. [ 68 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 for indigenous education in the community context to contribute to the development of indigenous faith education, a reconciliation and collaboration approach needs to be incorporated in the implementation of kepercayaan education. reconciliation and collaboration become important because indigenous kepercayaan education only represents religious education for the issues, needs, and uniqueness of the indigenous education of indonesian indigenous peoples are not represented in policy development. through reconciliation and collaboration, indigenous communities are present as subjects of educational services. the state plays a role as a service provider to meet the educational needs of indigenous communities. therefore, kepercayaan education is not based on the ways of world religions but rather follows and adapts to the ways children of indigenous communities grow to be religious according to their respective community traditions. conclusion kepercayaan education is the state's version of indigenous education. more precisely, kepercayaan education is the religious education of official religions. the state has made religious education the reference and model for the education of followers of indigenous communities in indonesia. therefore, kepercayaan education does not represent the variations and uniqueness of the indigenous education of indigenous peoples in indonesia. this occurs because the state employs an indigenous inclusion approach in designing and implementing educational services for indigenous communities. as a consequence, the state regards indigenous communities as objects of policy. indigenous communities do not have the opportunity and right to develop through educational models that align with their community's educational paradigms in the formal education setting. and as a form of development, this article offers the path of reconciliation and collaboration as an effort by the government to connect and develop an educational model that is relevant and appropriate to the educational needs of each indigenous community. this would provide space for children from indigenous community backgrounds to develop in accordance with their community's educational paradigm as their way of fulfilling the national education goal: to learn and practice the teachings of their 'religion' for the benefit of the indonesian people. this model of belief education is an alternative of initiative that departs from the perspective of those doing the education as it is supposed to be based on their needs. 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(2018). pendidikan kepercayaan terhadap tuhan yang maha esa: pemenuhan hak siswa penghayat di sekolah. jurnal penelitian agama dan masyarakat, 31(2).   [ 76 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2811 [ 95 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 emotional maturity, religious tolerance and religiosity within millennial generation fitri sukmawati iain pontianak, indonesia e-mail: fitri_sukmawati@iainptk.ac.id ema zati baroroh iain pontianak, indonesia e-mail: emazati@iainptk.ac.id nindya juwita university of surrey, england, united kingdom e-mail: n.utimadini@surrey.ac.uk kiki amalia iain pontianak, indonesia e-mail: kiki.amalia@iainptk.ac.id yussri sawani universiti teknologi mara, malaysia e-mail: yussrii@uitm.edu.my abstract indonesia’s diversity may be challenging as it can be a double-edged knife in the context of social interaction. not only supporting positive development direction, the diversity also carries negative influence that may cause inharmony to indonesian society. in the context of the millennial generation as the future leader, the diversity is also very important for further discussion in response to the efforts of building a harmonious society. projecting the case study of millennial generation in pontianak city of west borneo, this work aims to explore the level of emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance, as well as to verify the relationship between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. it is based on a quantitative approach with a type of causality research project. there were 182 samples in this study. the research results show that the pontianak city millennial generation is in a high category in terms of emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. further, the results have proven that emotional maturity and religiosity have a relationship with religious tolerance, which indicates that each dimension of emotional maturity and religiosity has a relationship with religious tolerance. the findings also show that an additional factor that shapes emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance is the educational level of the millennial generation. this indicates that the higher the level of education of the millennial generation, the higher their emotional matu[ 96 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 rity, religiosity and religious tolerance. keywords: emotional maturity; religious tolerance; religiosity; millennial generation introduction indonesia is a multicultural society that has various religions as a reality of society, including ethnicity, race, religion, social status, economy (masri, 2020). multicultural is part of the existing cultural diversity which recognizes as unique potential as well as an asset of the indonesian nation. the diversity is spread throughout indonesia, without exception, pontianak city. pontianak city is the capital of west kalimantan province which is also one of the cities famous for its equator. the city with a variety of diverse dams is also one of the most populous cities in indonesia. known for its bustling population, pontianak also has a variety of cultures, languages, ethnicities, and also includes a diversity of religions adhered to by its residents. this diversity can be two blades. on the one hand, it has a good meaning, but on the other hand it can become a conflict that divides the harmony of the nation and the homeland. the consequences of pluralism make pontianak vulnerable to conflicts that bring up the issue of ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (known as sara in indonesian terminology). this usually starts with sentiment towards a particular tribe, ethnicity or religion and then ends in widespread conflict. the diversity of the existing population does not always have a positive impact, but it can also be a potential for various social conflicts and other conflicts. this is in line with arkanudin (2005) that communities that have a range of lives with various ethnicities, religions and cultures tend to have disputes and disharmony as well as the emergence of existing conflicts. pontianak is an area that is prone to conflict, especially tribal conflict. if the conflict is from a religious perspective, there was one incident on 20 may 2017, headlined by an action to defend ulama which coincided with the gawai dayak festival (co, 2017). the conflict that occurred involved between religions, which started with the expulsion of religious leaders who wanted to go on a missionary safari. in pontianak. this condition led to the emergence of actions to defend the ulama. around 205 people had an argument with the crowd in front of the mujahidin grand mosque. these conflicts is triggered by the lack of tolerance practice. the lack application of tolerance accentuate the divisions in a multicultural society, resulting in conflict between groups and individuals. this term is usually called intolerance. this behavior will divide the harmony of existing diversity. with the potential for diversity, it is necessary to create tolerance that can [ 97 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 bridge harmony. tolerance is also a reinforcement of diversity in the life of a pluralistic society. according to afkari (2020), tolerance is defined as mutually respectful behavior, giving freedom to have both beliefs, ethnicities and various other diversity aspects. on the other hand, tolerance is also interpreted as a method for achieving peace. this means that peace can be achieved if mutually respectful behavior occurs reciprocally. so tolerance requires two-way involvement to create peace and harmony. according to afkari (2020),tolerance is defined as mutually respectful behavior, giving freedom to have both beliefs, ethnicities and various other diversity aspects. additionally, a manifestation of religious tolerance is a willingness or acceptance within oneself to respect adherents of other religions. this is in line with the opinion of safei (2020), that creating an order of social life through the birth of religious tolerance that respects each other and synergizes in solving social problems. in connection with the description above, to reduce and overcome conflicts, is to strengthening tolerance. the people who are having the tolerace is known for having emotional maturity. this is based on the opinion of the hygine (1967) that someone who is called mature does not only have their reactions oriented towards the expectations of other people’s reactions, but their reactions arise because of considerations within themselves. so someone who has good emotional maturity is predicted to be able to have better interactions with the environment, including tolerance. people who have emotional maturity can choose the right response, regardless of what other people do to them. apart from emotional maturity, religiosity is also associated with religious tolerance. naim (2012) states that someone who is called character is a religious person. if you want to form a religious character in someone, it is not enough just to read the teachings. however, further than that, there is a need for internalization efforts and a process of appreciation in interpreting religious teachings. thus, the practice of religion is not just a mere formality but becoming the character of religiosity requires a long process. in this research, researchers took the subject of the millennial generation. as the agent of change, the millenial generation is expected to have quality that can maintain the unity and unity of the indonesian nation. however, the current status quo on the religious tolerance remains questioned. thus, it is necessary to study further regarding religious tolerance. within the quality, the researcher aim to examines whether millenials emotional maturity and level of religiosity have an influence on a person’s religious tolerance. the three variables are hoped to be existed within the generations for the better future of indonesia in living and nurturing the diversity. therefore, with [ 98 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 these scientific studies, it is hoped that the result of this study can shed the light for the government, in this case the ministry of religion, as a guide for an accurate view of the current situation and conditions of existing diversity, especially in pontianak. additionallu, based on these findings, it is hoped that in the future, new solutions or policies related to diversity in indonesia will be born. based on the explanation above, researchers are interested in examining the relationship between emotional maturity and religiosity with religious tolerance. to sum up it is important to emphasize rhis research aims to find out: the level of emotional intelligence of the millennial generation in pontianak city; the level of religiosity of the millennial generation in pontianak city; and finally to determine the level of relationship between emotional intelligence and religiosity with the religious tolerance of the millennial generation in the city of pontianak. the concept of religious tolerance, emotional maturity and religiosity according to bahari (2010), tolerance is the most basic part needed to foster mutual respect and understanding of all differences that occur in society to create harmonious, safe and peaceful social relations. bahari states that there are four aspects of tolerance, namely the behaviour of appreciating, respecting, and allowing and permitting differences in the surrounding environment. these differences are not just a matter of belief but can also be differences in stance, perception or views, habits or behaviour, and so on. according to setiawan (2015), emotional maturity is the condition of a person who is not quickly disturbed or tempted by emotional stimuli originating from outside or within him. bimo walgito said that the characteristics of emotional maturity that can be seen in a person (setiawan, 2015), include 1) being able to accept the conditions of oneself and others objectively, 2) most of them are not impulsive, adjusting their thoughts by providing a reactionary response to stimuli what he feels, 3) can regulate his emotions and expressions well, with any emotional state but not shown publicly, 4) think objectively, which can foster a sense of patience and understanding, 5) have good responsibility so that he can face every situation well. based on glock and stark (2014) religiosity is a unity related to institutionalized religion and is centred on various issues that are lived and interpreted more deeply. furthermore,they said that religiosity has several dimensions, namely: 1) ritual dimension, a dimension related to the extent to which an individual carries out his religious obligations, 2) belief dimension, a dimension that refers to an individual’s belief in a religion and its values. as a guide in everyday [ 99 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 life, 3) the dimension of appreciation, the dimension of a combination of high trust or confidence and the optimal implementation of worship so as to give rise to a sense of closeness to god, 4) the dimension of religious knowledge, which can be in the form of individual understanding and knowledge both conceptually and textually from the teachings, believed and trusted, 5) consequence dimension, related to self-commitment to apply and implement religious teachings, both commands and prohibitions. the current context of the millenial genaration religious tolerance is one of the factors that makes society, especially the millennial generation, able to live in harmony and prosperity alongside various existing differences. the millennial generation, which is the nation’s next generation, requires them to have an attitude of religious tolerance so that they can create an attitude of mutual respect and respect between individuals so that peace and progress of the nation can be realized without division. to foster an attitude of religious tolerance, various dimensions are needed to support the development of this attitude, including the dimensions of emotional maturity and religiosity. the current study tries to see the relationship. whether the relationship is positive or negative, created by relationships between variables. there is a positive relationship between emotional maturity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation, with the assumption that if emotional maturity in the millennial generation is high, then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is high, and conversely if emotional maturity in the millennial generation is low then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is low. 2) there is a positive relationship between religiosity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation, with the assumption that if religiosity in the millennial generation is high, then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is high, and conversely, if religiosity in the millennial generation is low then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is low. 3) there is a positive relationship between emotional maturity and religiosity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation, with the assumption that if emotional maturity and religiosity in the millennial generation are high, then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is high, and conversely, if emotional maturity and religiosity in the millennial generation is low then religious tolerance in the millennial generation is low. the population in this study were all individuals in the millennial age category in pontianak city. then, a sample is taken from this population. according to mukhtazar (2020) the population in this study were all individuals in the [ 100 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 millennial age category in pontianak city. then, a sample is taken from this population. according to mukhtazar (2020), the sampling technique is a step used in drawing or taking samples, which aims to select good elements to represent the population that has been selected to become the target of the research. the characteristics of the sample used in this research are: 1) domiciled in pontianak city, 2) in the millennial age category with birth years from 1981 to 2000, 3) are male and female, 4) not limited to a particular religion. data collection instruments were carried out using questionnaires and likert scale models.. the scale used in this research consists of 3 scales: religious tolerance, emotional maturity, and religiosity. the religious tolerance scale was measured using the religious tolerance scale created rumadjak (2018). the emotional maturity scale was measured using a measuring tool created by sarah (2017). skala religiusitas dibuat oleh hafsari (2020). the following is an explanation of the instruments used in this research. all scales used have the same model score, with the alternative answer option strongly disagreeing with the favourable item being given a score of 1. in contrast, the unfavourable answer option is given a score of 4. the alternative answer option of disagreeing with the favourable item is given a score of 2, while the unfavourable is given a score of 3. alternative choices: an agreed answer for a favourable item is given a score of 3, while an unfavorable answer is given a score of 4. the alternative answer option is strongly agree for a favorable item is given a score of 4, while an unfavorable answer is given a score of 1. below is a table of scales that have been used. table 1 scales that used in research no variable source aspects/dimensions items cronbach’s alpha 1 religious tolerance rumadjak (2018). aspects of appreciating, respecting, allowing and allowing 11 items 0.888 2 emotional maturity sarah (2017) aspects of appreciating, respecting, allowing and allowing 18 items 0.878 3 religiosity hafsari (2020) dimensions of ritual, belief, appreciation, religious knowledge, and consequences in religion 35 items 0.976 [ 101 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 the process in this research began with research preparation by looking for an appropriate scale to measure the millennial generation’s emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. when all scales are appropriate, then proceed with conducting the research. the scale is given to subjects who meet the criteria. the research implementation phase began in a month, with questionnaires distributed online using google forms. each respondent received three research scales and personal data that each respondent could fill in. the scores obtained are from the subject’s answers from these scales. the next stage is processing the data that has been obtained, consisting of personal data. data analysis uses assumption tests, including normality and linearity tests, to obtain significant level (α). for this reason, data can be said to be normal and linear if the significance level (α) is > 0.05. then, the hypothesis used multiple regression analysis, which was carried out to see whether there was a linear relationship between religious tolerance and a person’s emotional maturity and religiosity. the tool used to analyze data in this research is the statical product and service solutions (spss). spss is used to analyze descriptions of subject characteristics, descriptive statistics, normality tests, linearity tests, multiple linear regression equations, and hypothesis tests to determine whether there is a partial relationship between variables x1 and a relationship between variables x1 and x2 and y simultaneously. the characteristics of millennial generation there are 182 millennial generation in pontianak city who participate in this research. from the table 1, it is found that the respondents were dominated by women, totalling 116 people (63.74%). based on religion, the respondents were predominantly muslim, numbering 158 people (86.81%). in terms of education, it was dominated by respondents with d4/s1/equivalent education, totalling 129 people (70.88%). if we look at the area, it is found that the respondents are dominated by respondents who live in pontianak city with a total of 65 people (35.71%). table 2 description of participant characteristics (n=182) the description total gender male 36,26% female 63,74% religion buddha 2,20% islam 86,81% [ 102 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 catholic 3,85% protestant 7,14% education senior high 13,74% diploma 3/associate’s degree 6,04% diploma 4/undergraduate/associate’s degree 70,88% master 8,79% doctoral 0,55% domicile west pontianak 15,93% pontianak city 35,71% south pontianak 15,93% southeast pontianak 8,79% east pontianak timur 10,44% north pontianak 12,64% sungai raya dalam district 0,55% table 3 categorization of emotional maturity, religiosity, religious tolerance category value range frequency percentage emotional maturity low x < 36 middle 36 ≤ x < 54 62 34,07% high 54 ≤ x 120 65,93% religiosity low x < 70 2 1,10% middle 70 ≤ x < 105 6 3,30% high 105 ≤ x 174 95,60% religious tolerance low x < 70 2 1,10% middle 70 ≤ x < 105 50 27,47% high 105 ≤ x 130 71,43% based on table categorization of emotional maturity, religiosity, religious tolerance, it can be seen that the emotional maturity, religiosity, and religious tolerance of participants. the third aspect is above 50%, which indicates that the millennial generation in pontianak city is at a high level. [ 103 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 tabel 4 linear regression analysis model b unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig.std. error beta 1 (constant) 2,554 3,120 0,818 0,414 kematangan emosi 0,470 0,062 0,539 7,516 0,000 religiusitas 0,054 0,026 0,149 2,073 0,040 based on the analysis of linear regression analysis in table 4, it can be concluded that the multiple linear regression equation and its explanation in this study are as follows: y = 2.554 + 0.470x1 + 0.054x2. the regression coefficient value of the emotional maturity variable (x1) is 0.470, which is positive. from this figure, it can be interpreted that the direction of the variable relationship is positive, where if the value of the emotional maturity variable increases by 1, it can be predicted that the value of the religious tolerance variable (y) will increase by 0.470. the regression coefficient value for the religiosity variable (x2) is 0.054, which is positive. from this figure, it can be interpreted that the direction of the variable relationship is positive, where if the value of the religiosity variable increases by 1, it can be predicted that the value of the religious tolerance variable (y) will increase by 0.054. table 5 multiple linear regression analysis model b unstandardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. std. error beta 1 (constant) -19,586 17,354 -1,129 ,264 emotional maturity ,686 ,339 ,260 2,024 ,048 religiosity ,474 ,228 ,267 2,080 ,042 [ 104 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 from the analysis multiple linear regression analysis in table 5 shows, it can be proven that there is a relationship between emotional maturity and religious tolerance. based on the analysis, it was found that the significance value between the variables of emotional maturity and religious tolerance was 0.000 <0.05. then, the next findings prove a relationship between religiosity and religious tolerance. it was found that the significance value between the religiosity variable and religious tolerance was 0.040 <0.05. the next test to see whether there is a relationship between variables x1 and x2 and y simultaneously can use the f test. table 5 to see whether there is a relationship between emotional maturity and, religiosity and religious tolerance can simultaneously use the f test. based on the analysis, a significance value of 0.000 <0.05 is obtained. this proves a significant relationship exists between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. table 6 multiple linear regression analysis model sum of squares df mean square f sig. 1 regression 2710,299 2 1355,150 61,705 0,000b residual 3931,151 179 21,962 total 6641,451 181 tabel 7 uji r square r r square adjusted r square std. error of the estimate 0,639 0,408 0,401 4,686 based on the analysis of multiple linear regression analysis in table 7 above, it shows that the r square or r2 value is 0.408. referring to this figure, it means that 40.8% of the religious tolerance variable can be explained by the two independent variables in this research, namely emotional maturity and religiousness. meanwhile, the remainder, namely 100% 40.8% = 59.2%, can be explained by other variables outside of the variables in this study. the magnitude of the relationship between each independent variable and the dependent variable can be seen through effective contribution. the effective contribution for the emotional maturity variable with religious tolerance is 33.85%. meanwhile, the effective contribution for the religiosity variable with [ 105 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 religious tolerance is 7.00%. it can be concluded that the emotional maturity variable has a more dominant relationship compared to religiosity. the important and the existence of relationship among emotional maturity, religious tolerance and religiosity within the millennial generation there are several objectives will be discussed as formulated. the first objective is to find out the level of emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation of pontianak city. this goal can be achieved after distributing questionnaires related to emotional maturity, religiosity, and religious tolerance among respondents who are part of the west kalimantan millennial generation. after the data is collected, a series of data analyses are then carried out. the data analysis shows that the emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance of the millennial generation who were respondents in this study are predominantly in the high category. the further aim of this research is to determine the relationship between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation of pontianak city. this goal was obtained by conducting hypothesis testing using the t and f tests. based on the hypothesis, it was found that emotional maturity and religiosity have a positive relationship with religious tolerance. the analysis showed that the significance value between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance was 0.000 <0.05. this proves a significant relationship exists between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. this indicates that the aim of the relationship between emotional maturity and religiosity and attitudes of religious tolerance in the millennial generation has been achieved, and the hypothesis can be proven. based on research by researchers, this research is novel because no research has combined these three variables, namely emotional maturity and religiosity, with religious tolerance. religious tolerance is an important attitude for the millennial generation. religious tolerance is the recognition and support of a person’s right and freedom to have his or her own beliefs without having to seek the truth of a religion (ghufron dan risnawita, 2010). when the millennial generation has religious tolerance, it means that someone has respect and cares for other religious beliefs. then, the attitude of not forcing other people to follow their own religion and not interfering in each other’s religious affairs. the diversity of ethnicities, tribes, cultures and religions in indonesia, especially in pontianak city, makes the millennial generation vulnerable to [ 106 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 sara issues and moral decline. this is due to advances in unlimited access to various communication and information technologies, which can cause many things to not be filtered properly. hence, it is important for them to pay more attention to and sort information and technological developments, along with a strong understanding of religion, to prevent negative things. concern and vulnerability about problems or conflicts that may occur require the millennial generation to have an attitude of tolerance. this is because the millennial generation is one of the most important components in society. it exists in an era of idealism, and it shapes everything in a better direction in its life concepts and personal plans (rohmiyati, 2018). so that this generation becomes the hope of continuing the relay of young generations who excel in leading the nation. as the next generation to lead the nation, the millennial generation is expected to have the emotional maturity to foster religious tolerance in society. emotional maturity is an important and appropriate character to have as a step to avoid conflicts that might occur due to sara. ideally, someone with high emotional maturity can try to tolerate all conditions that occur. in line with this, based on the hypothesis test analysis, the significance value between emotional maturity and religious tolerance was obtained at 0.000 <0.05. this proves a significant positive relationship between emotional maturity and religious tolerance, so the next hypothesis in this research can be proven. in line with what sofyan (2015) has stated, there is an influence between emotional maturity and tolerance because the dimension of emotional maturity is related to the personality maturity side. personality maturity indicates that a person is able to gain an understanding of himself so that the individual can act maturely towards himself and others. according to sabiq (2020), personality maturity is characterized by caring for other people, accepting all differences wisely, and accepting other people’s views openly and objectively. of course, this character must be possessed by the current millennial generation because it indicates that the individual is able to control emotions in various situations and conditions. based on the regression coefficient value, emotional maturity shows a result of 0.470, which indicates that emotional maturity is positive. this figure can be interpreted as a positive direction of the relationship, which indicates that if the emotional maturity value increases by 1, it can be predicted that the religious tolerance value will increase by 0.470. this shows that high emotional maturity provides a relationship that is in line with a high level of religious tolerance in the millennial generation. in line with what was stated by william james, [ 107 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 people who are tolerant and mature in religion will have emotional changes in a positive direction, becoming a symmetrical feeling of love and harmony so that they are free from feelings of hatred, disputes and so on (sabiq, 2020). referring to the research of aryono, machuroch, and karyanta (2017) that there is a significant correlation between emotional maturity and tolerance for stress in nature-seeking students at sebelas maret university (p=0.00 < 0.05, tcount = 7.149 > ttable = 1.985). it can be said that if emotional maturity is related to tolerance, then there is a significant relationship. this means that high emotional maturity is predicted to be associated with a high tolerance level. on the other hand, if someone has low emotional maturity, then the person’s tolerance will also be low. apart from emotional maturity, religiosity also has a relationship with religious tolerance, indicating that religiosity has a role in fostering attitudes of religious tolerance in the millennial generation. in line with the opinion of hafifah and anggraini (2022) ) a person with high religious intensity can separate good and wrong actions, which means that the religiosity factor plays an important role in life. this is also proven by the subsequent hypothesis test analysis which shows that religiosity has a positive relationship with religious tolerance. based on the analysis, it was found that the value between religiosity and religious tolerance was 0.040 < 0.05. this proves that there is a significant relationship between religiosity and religious tolerance and the next hypothesis in this research can be proven. this aligns with the research of khoiril dkk (2022) who obtained a value of rx1-y= 0.330 and sig. 0.000 (p<0.01) indicates a significant relationship between religiosity and tolerance in lampung ethnic students. in line with what meiza (2018)analysis of variance (anova stated, religion is often interpreted as religiosity. it is also often mentioned that tolerance is closely related to religiosity or religious morals. based on the regression coefficient value, religiosity shows a result of 0.054, which indicates that religiosity is positive. this figure means that if religiosity is positive if it increases by 1, it can be predicted that the value of the millennial generation’s religious tolerance will also increase by 0.054. this is in line with the opinion of afandi (2018) that an individual with a high level of religiosity will be in line with a high level of appreciation for his religion. on the other hand, if an individual has a low level of religiosity, appreciation of his religion will also be low, causing a person to behave in a way that does not comply with the demands of his religion. a low appreciation of one’s religion means that a person can commit violations and lack respectful and respectful behaviour. [ 108 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 if we look at the magnitude of the relationship between emotional maturity and religiosity and religious tolerance, it can be seen through its effective contribution. the effective contribution to emotional maturity with religious tolerance is 33.85%. meanwhile, the effective contribution to religiosity with religious tolerance is 7.00%. this shows that emotional maturity has a dominant effective contribution to religious tolerance compared to religiosity. a glimpse at the magnitude of the relationship between emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance shows that it is an effective contribution. the effective contribution to emotional maturity with religious tolerance is 33.85%. meanwhile, the effective contribution to religiosity with religious tolerance is 7.00%. this shows that emotional maturity makes a dominant and effective contribution to religious tolerance compared to religiosity. this is in line with sofyan (2015), who said that someone with emotional maturity is aware of not oppressing or criticizing other people and other negative emotions. so, emotional maturity is important to foster tolerance by respecting each other and maintaining unity. having religious tolerance is mandatory because it makes life peaceful and peaceful amidst many differences. through high emotional maturity, a person can think positively and objectively towards other people, have a high attitude of caring, help each other, and foster a sense of love and compassion for fellow humans. however, on the other hand, religiosity also makes an effective contribution to religious tolerance, although it is not dominant. according to akmansyah (2017), the intensity and experience model of religiosity indicates the qualification or level of religious tolerance. of course, there are differences in a person’s attachment to the spirit of their religiosity. this indicates that an individual’s tolerance level and quality will also vary. therefore, it can be said that the effective contribution of the millennial generation’s religiosity depends on the appreciation and meaning of religiosity towards their religion. it can be predicted that the millennial generation’s understanding of their religion is not that high, making the effective contribution to religious tolerance also not that high. the future orientation of millenial generation in a multicultural country this research was located in pontianak city which still does not represent the quantity of each religion. apart from that, the number of respondents based on the education level of the millennial generation is also not evenly distributed. so, there is a need for further research with a larger and more evenly distributed total of millennial generation respondents. research [ 109 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 respondents who are the millennial generation with a larger and more evenly distributed quantity of respondents at each level of identity, such as religion and education, can provide much more significant results. there is further research related to the relationship between emotional maturity and, religiosity and religious tolerance in the millennial generation with research locations or areas that are further expanded and enlarged in scope, such as the province of west kalimantan or, even more broadly, the indonesian nation. with these shortcomings, researchers hope that we can still provide future suggestions for the millennial generation. related to the third element which is important in creating harmony between religious communities in a multicultural context. this research implies that emotional maturity and religiosity factors play a role in religious tolerance in the millennial generation. a good understanding of religious tolerance, emotional and religious maturity can shape the readiness of the millennial generation as potential leaders in the future era. the aspects contained in religiosity and emotional maturity of individuals are predicted to foster attitudes of religious tolerance. in this way, a person’s ability can appreciate, respect, allow and enable everyone to carry out their obligations as religious community with their own beliefs and convictions. the millennial generation must develop an understanding of themselves to think rationally and neutrally. this individual is identified with the idea of which things should be prioritized so that they can consider things in life wisely. wise and good things can be obtained with knowledge of religious teachings, which can be in the form of understanding one’s knowledge conceptually and textually regarding the religious teachings one believes in. through the values of religiosity and emotional maturity, a person is expected to be able to control himself so that he can develop an attitude of tolerance toward religion. religion is a life guide that is really needed in providing teachings and certainty about good and correct norms. a person needs religious norms as a psychological need to create a stable mental condition, a balanced mentality and a healthy and peaceful soul (rahmawati, 2002). the millennial generation understands values and has an adequate and deep intellectual level regarding moral values , which manifests in their personalities. apart from that, the millennial generation can regulate their emotions through religion to help them reach emotional maturity. the quality and quantity of an individual’s religiosity can give him an appreciation of religious teachings in realizing the establishment of faith and knowledge of religion, enabling a person to build good relationships with the surrounding environment. apart from that, a high and good degree of religiosity, supported by good and stable emotional maturity, can help a person [ 110 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 respect himself and his environment. in this way, in the end, the millennial generation can develop a form of religious tolerance. from a different angle, there are other interesting findings in this research. based on the analysis, the millennial generation’s educational level shows an influence on their average emotional maturity and religiosity. this shows that the higher the education, the higher the emotional maturity and religiosity of the millennial generation in pontianak city. in line with religious tolerance in the millennial generation, it shows similar that the higher the education of the millennial generation, the higher their religious tolerance. yahya, harahap, and nawawi (2022) assume that the higher an individual’s level of education, the higher and broader the individual’s understanding and insight in thinking, acting and behaving, which is also related to the maturity of a person’s thinking in sorting out good and bad things. this shows that when the level of education is high, the millennial generation also has a high level of mutual respect and respect in thinking and acting so that attitudes of religious tolerance can be upheld. education is one of the efforts that continues to be advanced to develop a person’s personality and abilities for the sake of continued life because education has an essential role in obtaining the quality of individual awareness. based on the explanation above, emotional maturity and religiosity have interrelated aspects, and the level of education factor has an influence and contributes to creating an attitude of tolerance in the millennial generation. these dimensions and factors are predicted to increasingly enable the millennial generation to behave better towards other people. this includes being tolerant of people whose religious beliefs differ from one’s own. apart from that, the formation of these two things will also minimize moral degradation and divisions related to sara issues. programs that implement increasing and building religious tolerance continue to be intensified so that society, especially the millennial generation, which has developed an attitude of religious tolerance, can be maintained and divisions that could occur at any time do not occur. these programs include an active and open religious outreach program to create harmony between religious communities, providing facilities for forums or religious groups to recommend activities that can be carried out within the group. developing religious tolerance development programs such as seminars, dialogues and workshops for the millennial generation as a continuation of the leadership relay in the nation’s progress. [ 111 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 conclusion the data and analysis show that millennial generation is in the high category in terms of emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. the case study on the millennial generation in pontianak city indicates that it is very important to highlight the needs of giving appropriate educational materials to the millennial generation to support their better understanding on peaceful and moderate society for the future of a sustainable harmonious life in the global world. psychological aspect of the education is highly demanded for the generation as the modern world carries the complexity of modern life. the data also shows that emotional maturity and religiosity had a relationship with religious tolerance, which indicated that each dimension of emotional maturity and religiosity had a relationship with religious tolerance. on the other hand, the findings in this research show that an additional factor that shapes emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance is the educational level of the millennial generation. this shows that the higher the level of education of the millennial generation, the higher their emotional maturity, religiosity and religious tolerance. bibliography afandi. 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(2015). pengaruh kematangan emosi terhadap sikap tasamuh. mudarrisa: journal of islamic education, 7(1), 59. https://doi. org/10.18326/mdr.v7i1.749 yahya, r., harahap, i., & nawawi, z. m. (2022). “analisis pengaruh tingkat religiusitas, tingkat pendapatan dan tingkat pendidikan terhadap perilaku konsumsi masyarakat muslim kota medan.” jurnal ilmiah ekonomi islam, 8(03), 2986–2994. [ 114 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3028 [ 237 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 popular piety and the muslim middle class bourgeoisie in indonesia lukis alam graduate school of uin sunan kalijaga, yogyakarta lecturer of islamic religious education (pai) at sttnas,yogyakarta email: lukisalam@gmail.com abstract this paper discusses the passion of islamization of the new order, at the same time the mainstream of this power is based on economic development that provides opportunities for the growth of the muslim middle class. patronage model used by the new order gives an indication that the power built by this regime wants to instill a strong influence in society. at the same time, the new order is depoliticizing the political attitudes of muslims. this has implications for the marginalization of the interests of muslims on the national stage. in this study will also be affirmed the influence of the new order’s power on the presence of the muslim middle class. on the one hand their birth was the result of the economic development that the new order echoed. on a different aspect, the presence of the middle class gives strong legitimacy that they are part of the dominating class structure in a country. also will be reviewed about middle-class interference with the trend of islamic populism that actually occurred in the era of the 80s, but re-spread after post-reform. popular islamic culture becomes a trend that spread through various media such as, internet, magazines, newspapers and so forth. this has received considerable response from middle-class muslims and led to commodification. religion facilitates to interact with modernity. materialistic and hedonistic interests intersect with obedience in the practice of religion. on the one hand, the mode of consumption of the muslim middle class changes with the adaptation of piety values in the public sphere. keywords: popular, islam, piety, middle class, bourgeoisie, indonesia introduction the early birth of the new order regime was motivated by a very complex economic and political crisis. the national economy at that time was in a very poor condition. as harold crouch described, in 1965 inflation reached 500 percent, and rice prices soared 900 percent (crouch,1986:67). it started on march 11, 1966 when he succeeded president sukarno. with the current support of abri (indonesian armed forces), soeharto stabilized the direction [ 238 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 of domestic political policy by controlling almost all aspects of government including economic, political, social aspects creating good economic growth and domestic stability ( vatikiotis,1993: 1, ix-x). in the unfavorable economic and political situation, whoever leads should prevent the crisis from getting worse by implementing a strategy of political and economic stability. soeharto with all his convictions convinced the people that the new regime he built was the legitimate and constitutional heir of president sukarno. according to salim said (2016:10), seoharto’s capital actually comes to power in addition to harnessing military power. he used the “anger” of the people in the communist party (pki). he realized that despite his lack of charisma and political experience over his predecessors, but with a keen sense of power instinct, suharto was sure his rule would be lasting. the political reference used by soerharto is free-active, which tends to follow america. the new order’s interest in the aspects of economic development altered suharto’s view of western capitalism. in addition to the economic issues that became the jargon of the new order, domestic politics of suharto’s main concern also needed attention. some countries that become relations of indonesia such as, autralia, japan and other asian countries get special attention. on the other hand, the new order’s strong desire to develop the national economy, and the welfare of the people’s life, are characteristic of this regime (ricklefs,2008: 587-589). depoliticizing the regime against muslims the authoritarianism adopted by the new order received the attention of saiful mujani, by adopting some western scholars opinions such as anderson (1972) which explains that because suharto was a man of javanese tradition, the source of authoritarianism that he embraced came from javanese political culture which did not recognize democracy. another case with samson (1973), in fact the modernist muslim elite has a strong fighting spirit for the islamization of the country. however, on the other hand it does not seem to get a good reception on the power elite so that it has a difficulty in realizing a moderate political climate during the new order (mujani, 2007:30). the muslim’s desire to re-take does not seem to be welcome, soerharto not only got rid of the pki but also removed the muslims. this is based on the unilateral interests of the new order in running the government, the background of suharto who is an abangan islam and a worldview against islam gives influence to the model of government that it runs (hefner & horvatich,1997: 77-79). so that muslims suspect that the new order government has been infiltrated by certain parties who aim to achieve the hidden interests (hefner [ 239 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 & horvatich,1997: 77-79). considering the reading of ariel heryanto, the soeharto government is rich in sharing political maneuvers that tend to be patrimonalism (heryanto & mandal, 2003: 4-5). since the beginning of 1966, soeharto’s desire to obstruct the wishes and aspirations of muslims is clear. the perception of the new order regime when the country wanted to be built using islamic conceptions. the failure of masyumi leaders to rehabilitate his own party and other wishes such as the application of islam as the basis of the state; the wishes of former vice president mohammad hatta along with the hmi exponents and the pii established the pdii (partai demokrasi islam indonesia indonesia) party; aspirations of muhammadiyah leaders to reactivate the pii party (partai islam indonesia) were strongly banned by the new order regime. even more frontal, suharto with his “hands-on” politics suppressed radical islamic groups potentially against the government (alfian,1980:2-3). the gait of muslims in the political arena from the old order to the new order experienced ups and downs. the tendency of the new order to conduct political bureaucracy with the emasculation of the aspirations of muslims seems to be a shortcut done. so that gave birth to a new awareness among muslims that the political field is not the right path (tebba, 1993: 4-5). the fear of the new order with islam according to din syamsudin is an attempt to depolitise and desbolize islam. this is an attempt to get rid of islamic symbols from the political stage, the elimination of islamic ideological parties ( syamsuddin,2001:66-68). the large project implemented by the new order wants to remove the awareness and attention of the underclass and deliberately alienate their leaders from the frenetic atmosphere that carries a critical pattern of islam towards the state. suharto considers the political parties to be the source of the chaos and political instability that had occurred in the period of liberal democracy. this is what underlies soeharto’s “nervousness” towards political parties. suharto’s actions were regarded as an intervention in the bureaucracy of political parties, including islamic parties (crouch,1986:276). the new order’s treatment of islam gained the attention of scholars, one of whom was hamka (haji abdul karim amrullah) a modernist from west sumatra. he criticized the new order regime for putting forward national development and economic strengthening but did not take into account the moral and ethical aspects of society. when religion is kept out of society, the resulting effect destroys the social order. he is a brave cleric that the new order regime has legalized prostitution and gambling because it is easier to sell and the benefits gained (bourchier &hadiz,2014: 83). [ 240 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 when the state can control religion, the phenomenon that occurred during the new order according to schwarz (1999) in the reading of robert w. hefner, “islam is seen as a safe alternative to a very strict political structure” (hefner,2000:5-6). although the penetration of the new order against islamic parties is so strict, anyone can engage in public spheres but is restricted by strict rules. for example, in 1978 the government began to impose restrictions on organizing campus politics. then in the years 1984-1985 the government required religious organizations and mass organizations to incorporate pancasila ideology into its articles of association, if it refused the regime would make a ban. toward the end of the 1980s the tension between muslims and the new order began to improve, suharto no longer worried about islam. although at the beginning of the new order period, islam was seen as political enemy number two after the communist (anwar,2009: 355). the openness of suharto’s attitude toward islam is reflected in the ratification of educational law, which includes clauses of every public school should provide religious instruction to his students, establish the law of religious courts, establish board of zakat, infak and sedekah (bazis), for female students in public schools are allowed to wear the hijab (an-na’im, 2007:437). this period of establishment of various institutions increasingly vibrant, ranging from the integration of islamic education into the system of public education, the establishment of icmi by b.j habibie, establishment of muamalat bank as the first islamic bank in indonesia and the bank of credit sharia and so on (azra,2006:12). prosperity, islamic bourgeoisie, and the appearance of middle class muslims the appearance of the new order as a supporting deity in the era of the early 1960s over the leadership of the old order which at that time was ostracized by the united states, european countries and japan provided opportunities for the new order to display its “power” in saving indonesia at that time. at the end of seokarno’s leadership, indonesia was plagued by a very severe poverty that had an impact on the slow pace of domestic economic growth. to create development stability which has an impact on creating stable economic stability, at least the new order uses the concept of development trilogy: (1) economic growth; (2) political stability; (3) equity. these three things are the foundation for the new order’s economic technocrats supporting the regime at that time. furthermore, this ekomini growth can be well established when political stability is achieved perfectly. therefore, to create a good economic stability is entrusted to the military. so that economic and military technocrats [ 241 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 into a dual-world vehicle that can not be separated (budiman,2002:21). the power of the new order which always prioritized the economic and political sector development strategies contributed to the creation of indonesia’s domestic conditions. the new order claimed that the power he created was called a domestic stabilizer and dynamizer that had unlimited control functions. this is addressed by the new order as a task that has been mandated by the state ideology of pancasila in bringing prosperity to the people of indonesia (rinakit,2005:27-29). on the other hand, the new order’s patrimonalism is so strongly exploit the patron relationship between subordinates and superiors. political isolation is used to avoid political influence from outside the loyalists. this patrimonial policy is used to protect the power that has been institutionalized (aspinall:2005,132). at the time of the old order came to power, the people felt lied to by the accommodating of communist interests in the government. by max weber this patrimonial model was introduced as a term to explain how a ruler governs wealth and power based on traditional authority, not based on a system of rule of law and order (aspinall:2005,133-136). suharto was able to maintain this patrimonial model well until near the end of his rule in 1998. patrimonialism is also called by van leur as a political capitalism or trade capitalism that wants to benefit certain parties, this can be a synthesis of the culture of patrimonialism adopted by the new order. the state plays an important role in various sectors such as food production, education, public infrastructure and so on (amir,2013:35). john meuleman describes the liberalization and economic globalization that took place in indonesia as the new order regime that began in the late 1970s had an impact on improving the economic condition of the muslim population as a whole. in the late 1980s an increasing number of muslim communities were able to perform hajj and after that indonesia was known as the country that sends the world’s largest pilgrims outside of saudi arabia. throughout that era mosque construction has mushroomed everywhere; the establishment of majlis taklim residing in luxury hotels and so on, as well as the development of islamic schools and pesantren in urban areas. the rate of economic growth contributes to the increasing number of middle-class muslims, of whom they are able to go abroad, and many also take part in social, political, and economic performances. so they become a symbol of the middle class establishment (azra in meuleman,2002:25). this regime is smart enough to grasp the opportunities that make political stability necessary to overcome the backwardness of economic development. in such a situation the state benefits from the presence of the middle class [ 242 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 who sometimes becomes anti-system sponsors, so controlling the middle class means controlling state stability (denny,2006:33). the opposite situation will occur when the development of the economic sector cannot be read well by the state which has an impact on economic instability and social inequality. of course indonesia as a muslim-majority country has an interest in adjusting the conditions and situations that cause the appearance of the muslim middle class in public areas (burhanuddin, 2013:179). on the other hand, because the middle class is pseudo, sometimes difficult to see as part of social-political-cultural structure of indonesian society. however, if it is agreed that the definition of the middle class from the economic aspect with all its diversity is through the consumption pattern (dick in tanter,1990: 64). solvay gerke explained that the consumption pattern of the middle class has changed from meeting basic needs (basic needs fulfilled approach) to meeting the needs of symbols, status and lifestyle (symbolic consumption approach). therefore, the shift in the pattern of consumption fulfillment is not based on needs, but rather to strengthen the status of the class that prioritizes secondary and tertiary needs (gerke in huat, 2000:135:158). trendy, popular piety: muslim middle class identity after the fall of soeharto after icmi was well instituted with the election of b.j habibie as chairman, there was an interesting phenomenon after that in 1991 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of suharto performing the pilgrimage and his extended family. this was a public concern, for suharto this was the first time he went on pilgrimage. he is often regarded as an abangan muslim, thick with the practice of kejawen which is far from islamic orthodoxy and not so religious. coming back from makah, in addition to the title of hajj, he added the name of muhammad as a symbol that he was trying to be a pious muslim. there is a growing assumption, when suharto was elderly (growing older in javanese terms) he increased his religiosity rather than before (barton, 2008:218). another opinion stated that suharto’s departure to the holy land was considered a political act designed to convey a message to conservative santri muslims from now on he could be a trustworthy person and with him they could work together. the truth is that since 1987 he has been thinking about embracing conservative muslims who are used as a political counterweight other than the military (barton, 2008:218). later, suharto’s trend was imitated by the middle class to perform hajj and umrah with luxury or plus facilities (mufid, 2006:269). things that need attention also regarding the dynamics of economic growth [ 243 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 affect the process of mobility of certain community structures. in this case it is the class of santri to the higher grade class. they were previously a group based on the rural environment. they then migrated to the city, becoming an educated middle class that filled big cities like jakarta, bogor, bandung, yogyakarta, surabata, padang, medan, ujung pandang and so on. which by giddens, they are classified as middle class people who do not enjoy the property in the means of production, but belong to those who have the qualifications of education, skills, and technological skills (hasbullah,2017: 112-116). political dynamics in indonesia after the fall of soeharto era in the early 2000s, at that time abdurrahman wahid issued inpres no.6 of 2009 which instructed the permissibility of ethnic chinese to organize religious activities. the impact of this presidential instruction on chinese society has the opportunity and freedom to carry out their religious activities. the chinese new year celebration is prohibited, with the inpres every year they are free to celebrate and also affect the actualization of religious freedom in general. in the midst of shock situations that test the existence of religious in indonesia as described above, emerged a more universal and modern islamic expression. muslim preacher’s abdullah gymnastiar who is more familiarly called with aa gym has nourished the da’wah content that can be accepted by the wider community. the concept of qolbu management popularized has brought a new da’wah model in the community. not only did the muslim community accept their da’wah, the non-muslim community also received the da’wah that they carried. in addition, ary ginanjar agustian also appeared with his esq (emotional spiritual questient). the idea that he stretches integrates the concept of modern islam that can be accepted by all circles. the training he held extended to all people, especially the upper middle class. in every training he held, he always set costs up to millions of rupiah. the combination of islamic character with western spiritual management is the hallmark of ary ginanjar in every session (agustian, 2016). the rise of national films became the spirit of displaying islamic film identity. after the reforms, films were filmed by young filmmakers such as hanung bramantyo (2008) in his film “ayat-ayat cinta” (2008), “wanita berkalung sorban” (2009), “sang pencerah” (2010), then chaerul umam’s work “ ketika cinta bertasbih “(2009). the films are making tremendous profits and are very popular among muslims. the films are adapted from the novel by habiburrahman el-shirazzy, so that the characters raised into the films are a struggle between muslim identity and piety that is becoming a trend, and is favored by young people. in addition, the existence of these films became social criticism and became anti-theses to the onslaught of westernized [ 244 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 popular culture. and the filmmakers want to prove that islam can synergize with modernization without having to leave the foundation of its teachings (sasono in daniels,2013:45-69). religious music also enlivened the popular market, which in fact the early generation of religious music was seen in the bimbo era in the 80s which incorporated the kasidah and gambus models into pop music. in 2004 the beginning of the gigi music group released the album raihlah kemeaengan, which combined rock lyrics with religious lyrics. after that began to appear religious songs from various music bands such as, ungu, wali, nidji, st 12, radja, and coklat. the non-educational spectacle is the reason for the creators to display the messages of islam in the soap opera. the characterization of a pious person (shaleh) becomes the main topic in its cultivation, no longer highlight scenes such as relations between men and women who are not mahram, which looks at soap operas in general. such symbols would present a popular culture of piety to the center of society, which would later become a populist alternative in the muslim community (subijanto,2013:73-86).1 in addition, muslim fashion trends and muslim magazines are increasingly diverse, such as annida, muslimah, scarf, musmagz, alisha, hijabella, paras and so on. in addition to the emergence of an islamic band (nasyid) inspired by overseas bands, they sang religious songs. widespread salons are reserved for muslim women, then the hajj and umroh bureau, whose customers come from the urban middle class. certainly in contrast to the lower-class, they have to register the hajj through the government. for jean gelman, the phenomenon fosters capitalism and showcased commercialism, reinforcing the identity of the middle class based on their religious experience (taylor, 2013:181). the mid-2000s social media revolution was so rapid, with the birth of facebook (2004), flickr (2004), blackberry messenger (2005), twitter (2006), whatsapp (2009), instagram (2010). the wide range of social media options has an impact on muslim middle-class expression to their social environment. until finally the development of smartphones using android (2008) became the choice of the middle class which until 2016 the total downloads from the google play application reached 65 billion. the digital revolution does not stop there, but there are still new players. gojek who stood in 2010 became a pioneer ojek online in indonesia. its success in 2015 has inspired similar services into indonesia such as, grab and uber that established itself as a mass 1 after the fall of soeharto’s rule, many television shows displayed a pious identity as part of popular culture. this cannot be separated from the changing situation in placing islam as a post-soeharto cultural and political arena. on the other hand, the rise of islamic shows on television as an interpretation of the creators to offer quality shows as a “form of resistance” to the influence of western popular culture. islamic television shows how religious discourse in public sphere, at the same time triggers popular piety in public sphere. [ 245 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 service that so rapidly. the shift of middle-class orientation of muslims after the fall of the new order created its own dynamics. in addition to the emergence of a variety of popular cultures that influence the muslim middle-class perspective, the change in the mode of religiosity affects their behavior. increased religiosity is not only visible in the worship performed. in consuming any product they pay attention to the functional and emotional benefits of a product. in addition they also care about the spiritual benefits of the product. their knowledgeable and technology-savvy dominance combines with the growing understanding of religiosity that when they consume or intersect with various products must be in line with compliance with islamic values and teachings. this is in contrast to the west, as they move forward, the more secularized they do not even believe in the existence of god (yuswohadi, 2012). the compliance of the muslim middle class in carrying out the teachings of islam by placing the elements of religiosity is not merely a desire, but it becomes manifest in obeying god’s command and away from his prohibitions. in consuming products and services, not just seek functional and emotional benefits like before. spiritual benefits become part of the “enable” in their lives, especially in strengthening islam and belief in allah swt. conclusion the awareness of the muslim middle class towards the symbols of islam that are trying to be shown to the public sphere is followed by a shift in their islamic orientation which is based on the process of new model islamization. however, in different aspects the emergence of the muslim middle class also results in changes in the mode of consumption of society. such phenomena cannot be denied, because commodification in public space has become a necessity. the new order, which had been in power for years, was not enough to arouse optimism for the muslim middle class. in the beginning their efforts in contesting national politics were hampered by the regime. later, when the new order rule was over they were given the opportunity to take part in various fields. popular islamic culture is present as part of reculturation of islam in the public sphere. this is as a resistance to western culture which is feared to damage the nation. therefore, the effort to display modern piety has always been the routine of the muslim middle class in negotiating with globalization. [ 246 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 bibliography agustian, a. g. (2016). revolusi mental berbasis esq. jakara: arga tilanta. amir, s. (2013). the technological state in indonesia: the constitution of high techonlogy and authorian politics. uk: routledge. an-na’im, a. a. (2007). islam dan negara sekular:menegoisasikan masa depan syariah. bandung: mizan. aspinall, e. (2005). opposing soeharto: compromise,resistance, and regime change in indonesia. california: stanford university press. azim, f. (2013). islam, culture and women in asia: complex terrains,(:routledge,2013),73-86. london and new york: routledge. azra, a. (2006). indonesia, islam and democracy: dynamic in a global context. jakarta: solstice. beng-huat, c. (2000). consumption in asia:lifestyles and identities. london: routledge. breman, j. (2014). keuntungan kolonial dari kerja paksa: sistem priangan dari tanam paksa kopi di jawa,1720-1870. jakarta: yayasan obor. budiman, a. (2002). kebebasan, negara, pembangunan: kumpulan tulisan 1965-2005. ciputat: pustaka alvabet. crouch, h. (1986). militer dan politik di indonesia. jakarta: sinar harapan. hasbullah, m. (2017). islam dan transformasi masyarakat nusantara. jakarta: kencana. horvatich, r. w. (1977). islam in era of nation-states: politics and religious renewal in muslim southeast asia. hawai’i: university of hawai’i press. j.a, d. (2006). membaca isu politik. yogyakarta: lkis. jajat burhanuddin, k. v. (2013). islam in indonesia:contrasting images and intepretations. amsterdam: amsterdam university. k.mandal, a. h. (2003). challenging authoritarianisme in southeast asia comparing indonesia and malaysia. new york: routledge. meuleman, j. (2002). islam in the era of globalization: muslim attitudes towards modernity and identity. new york: routledge. mufid, a. s. (2006). tanglukan, abangan,dan tarekat: kebangkitan agama di jawa. jakarta: yayasan obor. mujani, s. (2007). muslim demokrat: islam, budaya, demokrasi dan partisipa[ 247 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 si politik di indonesia pasca-orde baru. jakarta: gramedia. p.daniels, t. (2013). performance, popular culture, and piety in muslum southeast asia. new york: palgrave macmillan. r.hadiz, d. b. (2014). ,indonesian politics and society:a reader. london and new york: routledge. ricklefs. (2008). sejarah indonesia modern 1200-2008. yogyakarta: serambi. rinakit, s. (2007). the indonesian military after the new order. copenhagen: nias press. said, s. (2016). menyaksikan 30 tahun kekuasaan otoriter soeharto. yogyakarta: mizan. syamsuddin, m. d. (2001). islam dan politik era orde baru. jakarta: logos wacana ilmu. tagliacozzo, e. (2009). political islam in post-soeharto indonesia:the contest between “radical-conservativesoutheast asia and the middle east:islam, movement and the longue durée. singapore: nus. tebba, s. (1993). islam orde baru:perubahan politik dan keagamaan. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. vatikiotis, m. r. (1993). indonesian politics under suharto. new york: routledge. w.hefner, r. (2000). islam pasar keadilan:artikulasi lokal, kapitalisme,dan demokrasi. yogayakarta: lkis. [ 248 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 [ 175 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 war stories in post-conflict society: the experience of the kayeli christian refugees in ambon selvone christin pattiserlihun gadjah mada university, yogyakarta email: selvone.pattiserlihun@gmail.com mohamad iqbal ahnaf gadjah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia email: iqbal.ahnaf@ugm.ac.id jerson benia narciso central philippine university, philippines email: jersonarciso@yahoo.com abstract conflict narratives that develop in post-conflict societies are always considered dangerous as conflict triggers that lead to new conflicts. in communities where oral tradition is the primary source of knowledge, storytelling about past contests becomes a central means of transmitting both violent and peaceful cultures. post-conflict society cannot be separated from the role of war stories in forming individuals and constructing dynamics of communal relations. this study aims to observe and analyze the extent of the role and influence of conflict-telling in post-conflict societies, particularly in conflict-vulnerable communities that were victims of the 1999 conflict in maluku. this qualitative research was conducted in 2023. the data was collected through in-depth interviews with 15 kayeli refugee respondents, who were selected as a sample of vulnerable people based on objective scientific considerations. the results of this study indicate that conflict-vulnerable communities still maintain war stories up to 20 years after the conflict, both with nuances of violence and peace in the limited public and domestic space of religious segregation that is not reached by peacebuilders in efforts to peacebuilding in ambon. interestingly, conflict experiences, especially violent stories, become a tool to maintain segregation and present the continuation of structural and cultural violence. on the other hand, there are stories of peace and reflection on the conflict that can be used as a new way to support simple peacebuilding in ambon as the multicultural capital of maluku. keywords: war stories; post-conflict society; kayeli christian refugees [ 176 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 introduction “at that time, people were running, hiding, seeing houses burning, crying, and we even celebrated christmas at the police station and in the middle of the ocean. we sang the hymn of the congregation (kidung jemaat), whose title is in the middle of the waves (di tengah ombak), with tears in our eyes.” this statement was a small part of my parent›s story from when i was about six to twenty. this story is often told with a sad expression and a very low intonation. the fairy tale made the young listeners fall asleep, but the listeners, from teenagers to adults, cried. this phenomenon reflects how conflict experiences are told like a fairy tale, which is very interesting and entertaining but influences behaviour and perceptions. at the end of the story, they advised: “never believe in muslims. they will always be different from us”. the storytelling carried out by the victims of the 1999 conflict, like the previous simple stories, is usually maintained by the next generation of simple things like storytelling. conflict 1999 to 2004 in maluku left a bad experience for every victim who experienced the conflict directly. the impact of conflict storytelling is especially prominent in urban areas where people have mixed religions. people believed that the conflict happened because of a strong religious identity. that is why, after the conflict, people tend to live in segregation and regard people of different religions as threats (satya wacana et al., 2018). conflict stories (conflict experiences) replace fairy tales, such as fables, legends, local oral histories, etc., with children being told in family rooms in daily life and activities even before bed. these stories are also told in the spaces of segregated society and are considered normal for the victims, maintaining and remembering the conflict is a right and good thing for them. the war stories and collective memories as conflict legacies are still big problems in the post-conflict community dynamics in ambon. these legacies are tucked away through narratives conveyed through stories in the family (tapotubun, 2019) and symbols of religious customs transmitted through stories, songs, and other customs types (lattu, 2019). besides that, several researchers stated that telling stories orally in daily life of people is the best cultural way that people choose from ancient times until the present day (foley, 2012; palombini, 2017; wellfelt 2020; chancellor and lee 2018; tamboukou, 2020; moon & bahn, 2022). referring to conflict resolution for post-conflict communities in ambon, many approaches try to restore peace by touching on several aspects, such as traditional aspects like  panas pela  tradition in several schools (hasudungan, 2021) and pela gandong  tradition as local wisdom in maluku (hasudungan, et al., 2020) et al. second, economic aspects like economic rehabilitation (rieuwpassa, 2010). third, the political aspect [ 177 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 prevents identity politics (ernas, 2018). these reconciliation efforts are not sufficient if they are carried out temporarily. because recovery, inter-communal trust takes a long time, and this sustains a sense of threat from other groups. as a result, most communities prefer to develop a defensive mechanism that strengthens segregation and causes peace discourses to be replaced by conflicting narratives of experiences and traumas that are difficult to remove. therefore, the government has to play a big role in keeping the peace efforts still going on continuously (randazzo & torrent, 2021; love, 2020), and peace should promote democracy, economics, and peace (bräuchler, 2018)security and peace. it emerged as a critique of the liberal peace paradigm that promotes a happy alliance of democracy, economic development and peace. however, an epistemological turn towards culture has not yet taken place due to longstanding solutionist and quantitative traditions, but also due to the difficulties dominant peace and conflict studies disciplines have in conceptualising the local and culture. drawing on lessons learned from previous cultural turns in conflict and peace theory such as adr, traditional justice and hts, the article argues for a twofold cultural turn in peace studies, with regard to (1. this paper focuses on the storytelling of violence and peaceful stories of war as a part of the oral tradition carried out by vulnerable communities like refugees, based on small christian refugee community (kayeli) stories in ambon. the data of this paper is based on the answers of 15 respondents who were interviewed in depth because they were victims directly. this research analyzed the data using qualitative methods with two methods, such as a narrative and an ethnographic approach based on what john w. creswell (2015) suggests. i decided on the kayeli refugee community as the representative because they moved out from a small village established with local people in buru utara, maluku, because of the conflict in 1999 with numerous experience varieties. they survived their lives from zero as refugees in ambon city. they spread to several christian places in ambon, such as amahusu, airlouw, latuhalat, gunung nona, passo, and ambon city. however, interestingly, they still provide their original congregation in ambon because they defend their community as the first gpm congregation in buru utara. but the problem is they still preserve the conflict and collective memories in their daily, going along with structural and cultural violence that they also receive in their new context as refugees in ambon. this problem is rarely reached by peacebuilders in ambon as a peacebuilding dynamic. in some cases, refugee people will not agree if people in the big sphere city of ambon stated that ambon has 100% achieved a peaceful context because there are still conflict memories preserved in the small groups like the conflict [ 178 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 refuges community. before people assemble a fresh way for peacebuilding in ambon society, it is essential to look at how people express violent stories because of conflict and peaceful stories when the conflict occurs. those stories will be a window to opening peacebuilding perspectives in ambon. meanwhile, they yet preserve conflict through violent stories; at the same time, they also maintain peacebuilding through peaceful stories regarding the segregation condition. post-conflict segregation, like in ambon, has been a key issue in the studies on post-conflict society and communal violence. this research dramatically contributes to peacebuilding because efforts to make peace are not only done temporarily but must be done sustainably. by making people aware of the history of violence during the conflict and post-conflict eras, they will be more alert in efforts to prevent conflict in the future. the way of conflict narrative transmission conflict narratives transmitted to the next generation have an excellent opportunity to affect people’s lives in general. the ways to transmit conflict narratives vary widely. however, one of the methods used by the christian refugee community, which was victims of the 1999 conflict, was storytelling. as suggested by victoria biggs (2021), the transmission of conflict narratives to the next generation through storytelling has implications for characterbuilding and individual perspectives that directly impact the dynamics of the social life of refugee communities who are victims of conflict. based on data in the field, the respondents explained that transmitting conflict narratives through storytelling is considered an effective method, and it is always carried out regularly in limited public and domestic spaces. storytelling in the public sphere how to transmit conflict narratives in public space is an effective way that is always done in the general public. the kayeli christian refugees have always used public space to transmit narratives of the 1999 conflict within their community. conflict narratives are often transmitted through storytelling, which is carried out in four public settings within the christian community of conflict victim refugees in ambon during the post-conflict period, namely gatris, church, school, and workplace. first, gatris  is an abbreviation of garis tiris-tiris rumah (or literally the house line in english, but in a different meaning). this term is often addressed to small groups in society, consisting of several heads of families or the closest neighbour group. within this group, there are usually 3 to 4 adjacent houses. people in ambon know this term in the christian community because this small group refers to some people in [ 179 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 a congregation doing some religious activity like worshipping together. this term was so popular during the covid-19 pandemic happens. in this case, the respondent confesses that this term is suitable to describe the transmission process of conflict stories. second, the church is also the place to transmit the conflict narratives. some respondents confess that as a religious place, the church plays a role in continuing the social dynamic, including war stories—the way to transmit the stories coming from religious leaders and congregation members in sunday worship. sometimes, the conflict narrative is described by the pastor’s sermons. pastors in kayeli, such as the leader or even the ex-leader and guest pastor who comes and leads the sunday service in the kayeli congregation, usually use this topic of conflict to make their sermons more actual and contextual. during the congregation members, conflict narratives are transmitted through discussions of in several moments like after sunday worship, and even it might happen in other moments like small communal worship on other days like unit worship, pelpri (pelayan pria) (man communion), pelpem (pelayanan perempuan) (woman communion), amgpm (angkatan muda gereja protestan maluku) (youngest generation communion of maluku), etc. third, in the young generation ecosystem, it turns out that conflict narratives are transmitted through teaching or advice conveyed by teachers who are victims of conflict to their students who are children of victims of the conflict. so, in the public limited segregation sphere, sometimes, conflict narratives are transmitted in educational institutions. even though it is rare, it is conveyed by the conflict victim teacher. nevertheless, the teacher conveys the conflict narrative just like a reflection conflict. it is not too comprehensive, but it has a small amount of conflicting descriptions. fourth, the workplace is a more prominent and potential place to transmit conflict narratives. many workplaces connect people who were victims of the 1999 conflict, especially if in that workplace, people who are the victims meet and work together. they spend much time together to build teamwork goals. so they can share their own experiences about the conflict in 1999 in maluku. for the kayeli refugees who started living in ambon as part of a post-conflict society, they certainly have a dominant workplace, such as rough work and odd jobs. in such a workplace, it is evident that conflict narratives are still well-channelled among the victims of the conflict and even toward them. the four places described as the public sphere above affirm that the public sphere in this research is not pure tend as public where to reach the wider public. however, it is limited to religious segregation in the public sphere, in this case, the christian community. [ 180 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 storytelling in the domestic sphere in addition to storytelling about conflict narratives that develop in the public environment, the domestic sphere is also the most important. it has tremendous potential for maintaining conflict narratives in the christian community of refugee victims of the 1999 conflict in ambon. we all know the domestic sphere is more important than the public sphere. because all social dynamics come from the entire group, namely family, this vital group shapes the individual to go out to the big group as well as society. the conflict narratives in the memory of the victims of the 1999 conflict in ambon were transmitted to the next generation through two types of domestic spheres. those are a small and big family. first, small families are seen in family activities such as storytelling before sleep, storytelling while eating at the dinner table, and relaxing moments in the living room and other moments. these activities are the most effective means of imparting lessons to children through advice from parents. this phenomenon makes the conflict narratives that are transmitted to children very powerful. second, extended family is seen in family gatherings or friendly gatherings when there are family events, namely birthdays, graduations, baptisms, sidi, and religious holidays such as christmas and easter, and at the end of the year and the new year. both small and big families potentially transmit conflict narratives and maintain conflict stories that are benevolent based on peace stories and malevolent based on violent stories. post-conflict society keeps on the psychology and social shaping through conflict narrative. sometimes, it makes people consider peacebuilding, but on the other hand, it considers trauma memories that may create cultural and structural violence in their context. violence and peace stories of war kayeli refugees are a community that initially lived alongside the muslim community in kayeli village, an area adjacent to the district capital in north buru, namlea. when the conflict occurred, they were forced to flee from kayeli to a safer place in ambon city. they prefer to live in ambon and never return to kayeli again, in the post-conflict period, until today. this choice was based on prolonged and unfinished trauma from the conflict and the convenience adapted to life in urban ambon for approximately 25 years— those reasons described in their storytelling about the conflict maintained in their daily relational society dynamic. the types of stories are divided into violent and piece stories. [ 181 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 violent stories of war stories about events and experiences during the conflict era associated with liyan or the reality of vulnerable people (in this case, the kayeli refugees) who still maintain stories of war are characterized by several violent behaviours or characteristics embedded in each of the stories. some of the narrator’s experiences imply that there were several forms of violence felt by the refugee community and post-conflict communities in ambon and around maluku in general who experienced a direct conflict that could be identified as below: table 1. piece of violent stories by the source people a. association of islamic clothing types with violence war stories certainly build the reality of society close to violence. the story themes described experiences when witnessing the perpetrators of violence commit acts of violence by voicing islamic religious identity. this depiction of violence is repeatedly recounted in several story themes by the narrators, namely the perpetrator (jihad) wearing a white turban and voicing takbir (allah hu akbar). confessions about the perpetrators wearing white turbans and voicing takbir are found in several stories. these images are indirectly from the reality of the kayeli refugee community, who always remember that people wearing white turbans and voicing takbir remind them of the 1999 conflict. this association of islamic clothing and takbir singing will always be associated with violence because it refreshes the collective memory of the conflict that is hard to lose in the kayeli refugee community. the violence formed from these stories is cultural violence, such as fear, hatred, and racism. [ 182 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 b. glorification of violence perpetrators the glorification of the perpetrators of violence is depicted in the war stories. one of the most famous forms of violence was the pride of the perpetrators of violence on the part of the victims. the violence depicted in the story is positive violence from the point of view of the victims of the conflict. according to the narrators, the violence committed was aimed at self-defense, saving oneself, and helping others who have also experienced violence elsewhere. this act of violence is narrated as an act of heroism which is then considered a good thing from the side of the victims of the conflict and is even recounted repeatedly in several themes of war stories. the glorification of perpetrators of violence is a form of cultural violence that is applied in the form of racism and hatred. suppose this collective memory is left unchecked, and the value of violence continues to grow and develop. in that case, acts of violence are preserved in every dynamic of the lives of conflictaffected communities. this value of violence forms the victims’ perspective to survive in war by defeating violence with violence. c. hostile identity vocabulary the themes of violence formed in the reality of conflict victims are also reflected in the vocabulary chosen to describe the identity of opposing communities and their communities. some of the identities conveyed by the victims implied inter-communal hostility. this identity was mentioned by several narrators when telling several themes of the story, such as orang sabala1 (next-door people), who interpret the muslim community as another community that is very different and refers to the enemy community. if the narrator uses this call, they consider the islamic community to be a community with very different views. vice versa, orang katong2 is a term for the christian community. the word katong means us in english, which refers to the members of their own community. if the word orang katong is used in the story, the narrator is trying to separate the two sides of the community. apart from orang katong and orang sabala, two identity designations are used in storytelling, namely acang and obey. the word can is addressed to the islamic community. the word acang is not known for certain, but djatmiko (2006) explains that the word acang comes from the nickname of a muslim 1 orang sabala is people who are muslims. orang sabala is addressed to people who are not of the same religion. this call is usually known and used in general in christian communities and even in muslim communities in ambon and as a whole in maluku. 2 orang katong is a term for their religious identity as a community. if those who say are christians, the term orang katong is addressed to the christian community. if those who say are muslim, the term orang katong refers to the islamic community. [ 183 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 boy named hasan. this word then changes its function as a description of the identity of the islamic community in ambon. vice versa, to describe christian groups, usually use the word obet, which comes from a boy named abednego. suppose these two words continue to be used in the post-conflict society in ambon. in that case, they will continue to perpetuate hostilities because these words were very popular during and after the war. one identity that prioritizes hostilities is the jihad word. for the victims of the conflict who are christians, this word refers to the toughest enemy during the conflict. the jihad used is always depicted with terrible figures who have committed many acts of violence during the 1999 conflict for refugees. they burned houses, tortured, besieged, and even killed. so, whenever they tell stories using the word jihad, the victims agree that the group is criminals. d. armaments with violent nuances one form of a story that shows violence is illustrated by how the narrator tells a story about the conflict through the context of war using war tools. several weapons of war are described in two themes. some forms of war ornaments used in conflict and conveyed by the narrators are bullets and weapons used in war, even in contexts where the victims have never used these war tools. stories about the means of war by the narrators describe the context of violence, which has implications for cultural violence, such as fear and racism. some related objects affect the victims’ psychology and the relationship dynamics. e. the sore evacuation plots the flow evacuation process for refugees took place sadly. the flow of the evacuation process experienced by the refugees is one of the patterns of stories with nuances of violence that occur in the dynamics of post-conflict society when the conflict occurs. the evacuation of the victims went through a sad process. this evacuation process started from the evacuation when the dispute first occurred. in several story themes, the evacuation process is carried out in a state of panic. stories from sources narrated the evacuation path they went through as a low evaluation flow. starting from the first time they heard about the war that had occurred in several contexts (when they were at the market, at work, at a neighbour’s house, and so forth) then, they tried to save themselves by going through various challenges such as witnessing a murder, almost losing a child due to panic, and trying to find an accessible place for evacuation. the evacuation process took place in a precarious situation; they had to try [ 184 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 to survive at several evacuation points; some survived on the mountain, in the forest, at the church, and in the houses of muslim neighbours. during the evacuation process, at several points, they had to accept the fact that they did not have adequate clothing and food and even had to endure pressure overshadowed by death and hardship. in the following process, they were evacuated to a safer place, such as the police station, and even celebrated christmas there in silence and solitude. the evacuation process occurred when they were rushed to other areas using ships in confusion, sadness, loss, and even hopelessness for the future. the evacuation process experienced by the victims proved that they (the victims) were living under pressure, stress, and emptiness during the evacuation process. the violence depicted in the evacuation process is a part of cultural violence, likewise, galtung theory. peaceful stories of war the war stories that coloured the lives of the christian community of refugee victims of the 1999 conflict were not only violent stories of war nuance but also peace stories of war nuance. the peaceful stories of war tucked in are not recognized as peaceful stories because only a few takes place in a tense conflict. through experiences that are often recounted by the sources, there are several forms of peace stories of war that could be identified as below: table 2. piece of peace stories by the source people a. rescue by muslims during the war the precarious situation faced during the 1999 war was embellished with a narrative of peace in the form of heroism by some muslims. this narrative of muslim heroism appears several times in several moments. actions of [ 185 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 heroism refer to four forms, namely providing information and updating the dynamics of the conflict from before the conflict until the conflict occurred, hiding when the war occurred, and giving a ride when the war broke out, like the story when some of them were at the market and were confused about going home. the heroic actions carried out by muslims prove that war stories do not only leave scars that have implications for bad individual psychology. however, on the other hand, conflict stories also remind us of the heroic actions of opposing religious communities (islam) that were carried out to save the victims. the heroism of these muslims is another form of heroism performed by opposing communities as opposed to narratives of violence in the form of heroism carried out by refugee community members as described in the glorification of violence perpetrators. these narratives of peace can be re-edified to recall the collective memory of harmony during the war. b. helped by muslims in the exile the narratives of violence that were present during the evacuation process were embellished with sadness, which resulted in deep trauma, instead inserting peaceful narratives that were recorded in several moments. these peaceful narratives are narrated by depicting assistance from muslims in the context of refugees. some of this assistance is reflected in actions of material support (providing food, money, and other necessities at the evacuation site even when they want to flee to another area) and spiritual support (in the form of encouragement with words). another form of action is evidenced by the description of the provision of transportation when it is urgent to look for family members who are left behind and other rescue actions in the form of assistance to cross the river to the evacuation site. the assistance muslims provide in refugee camps has indirectly replaced narratives of violence with acts of kindness carried out by muslims. the forms of assistance these muslims provide illustrate that a good relationship exists between the victims and some muslims who help them. the muslims who helped them were muslims with whom they had close ties. these aids show that there are images of muslims contrary to the images of evil muslims, narrated in stories that have nuances of violence in the previous sub-chapter. c. friendship identity vocabulary the conflict narratives told by the narrators also include the vocabulary of brotherhood and friendship. some of the narrators still refer to some people [ 186 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 who are muslim as their friends and relatives. the use of a well-known and recurring pronoun tucked in the stories of the victims is like brothers-sisters which describes the context of the brotherhood between them. even though they are not siblings or have a close sibling relationship, the word brothers and sisters depicts a strong brotherly relationship. the brothers in each narrative refer to neighbours with whom they have lived for a long time. apart from brothers and sisters, several narrators also use the word neighbour as a pronoun to describe the harmonious relationship between them and the muslims when the conflict occurred. neighbour is a term for people who live in a common area and have a close relationship with them. the neighbours in each conflict narrative refer to the good and close relations between the victims and the muslims. some context of the story can be seen when the victims described their neighbours as saviours when they were attacked by hiding them. however, in another context, neighbours are also referred to as people they consider to be relatives. in this discussion, neighbours can be seen as a positive call for people who help victims of war. d. ornaments with peaceful nuances the conflict narratives conveyed by the narrators present several tools used for peace in the process of helping. some of the tools in question include food and drink, clothes, blankets, and even other assistance in the form of medicines during evacuation during the conflict. the items given are tools used to support peace. unfortunately, these tools were provided by muslims who knew the victims well, which they called brothers and sisters and neighbours. items used as tools for peace are told in the context of conflict without consciously reminding the stories of peace behind the sad stories experienced by the victims. some of the tools used in these contexts are a sign that there is still concern and harmony that occurred during the conflict. refugee victims of conflict admit that the tools described are an essential part of their survival efforts. the assistance provided through peace-supporting goods implicitly illustrates that stories of conflict also contain nuances of peace. e. grateful for safety and new reality in dealing with conflict, conflict victims stated that they were grateful because even though they were under solid conflict pressure, they were still alive and could defend their lives. their grateful narrative drawn in the several themes of war stories, that could be identified as follows: (1) religious preparations are ahead of the conflict because they do an excellent prayer with the people [ 187 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 who are experiencing the conflict so that they can survive the conflict. (2) when they nearly lose a family member, they are grateful that through god’s help, their family can still be saved. (3) when they talk about murder in which, in this condition, the victim feels that he is saved from being killed. (4) when they talk about evacuation, where in this story, the victims feel that they were evacuated to the right place, namely in the city of ambon, which makes them grateful; they can feel the dynamics of urban life. (5) when they talk about hunger, in the theme of this story, the victims explain that they are learning to deal with stressful conditions but can get through even without food. they are hungry, but they have no desire to eat. (6) when they talk about their survival ways in conflict and post-conflict contexts, on the theme of this narrative, the victims explained that even though they worked hard, they were very grateful because they could go through all of this until they could educate the next generation to a high level, both s-1 and s-2. even their children can enjoy a better education than they did when they were in the area of origin, which can be said to be a hinterland. the six tunes of the war stories above indirectly explain that religious postconflict people often cover up violent themes in conflict by reflecting on the bad events they have experienced. these reflections become conflict narrative material inseparable from the storytelling carried out by conflict victims who lived in the 20s after the conflict in the domestic and public spheres. reflection on the conflict is a form of peaceful narrative tune that develops in religious communities in ambon. in religious spaces, conflict narratives that smell of violence are presented as an effort to support religious reflections on the conflicts that occur. therefore, conflict reflection narratives can be categorized as peace narrative that develops in grassroots communities that experience direct conflict and live in post-conflict times in ambon. conflict narrative storytelling among young generation the generation that lived and was born during the conflict and grew up during the conflict to post-conflict are active speakers of conflict narratives. conflict narratives with nuances of violence and peace are still neatly stored in post-conflict society’s individual and collective memory. efforts to eliminate conflict narratives that have nuances of violence are no longer possible to achieve optimally because all of these narratives are attached to the memory of each individual and cannot be separated. [ 188 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 figure 1 shows that in the gen z ii generation, narratives of violence are not too strong. the main factor is the storytelling of conflict narratives inherited from parents, which tend to be more reflective. children aged 12-19 years today receive more lessons from conflicts in the form of reflections and advice. reflection on conflict is a conflict narrative popular in post-conflict religious societies. the description of the intensity of cross-generational conflict narratives in figure 1 shows that the boomers, gen x, millennials, gen z i, and gen z ii have the same intensity of reflection, which is more prominent than narratives with violent and peaceful nuances. each narrator tells a conflicting narrative based on different experiences. however, all the narrators ended their storytelling with a brief reflection stating that they were grateful that they were still alive because of god’s grace. they are also thankful because they can live in ambon and feel the urban environment. they are also grateful because even though they suffered hard, they survived the post-conflict period with higher education, housing, and land, even though they still experience many psychological disorders. these reflections become learning material for the younger generation who grow and develop in a post-conflict society. these reflections also motivate the younger generation to remember the history of their parents and the generation before they managed to go through conflict so that they can strive to rise and become better. the narrators from generation x and millennials who have children from generation z i and generation z ii explained that they should spread conflict narratives in the form of reflections rather than recall conflict narratives that refresh trauma and are likely to present new psychological disturbances for this young generation. in other words, conflict reflection becomes learning material for the next generation so they can maintain social security and comfort in post-conflict times and avoid new conflicts created because of previous generations’ grudges. it is possible that the latest generation still [ 189 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 accepts conflict narratives with nuances of violence in domestic spheres, so this still needs to be considered and taken into consideration for conflict resolution and peacebuilding in post-conflict communities in ambon. cultural and structural violence in post-conflict society cultural and structural violence is an ever-growing impact of implicit communal conflict. galtung stated that structural violence hurts basic human needs. still, no direct actor must be held responsible, such as violence that occurs within the scope of inter-institutional as well as violence that includes conflicts of justice in conflict areas. meanwhile, cultural violence is the legitimacy of structural violence that usually occurs within the scope of individuals and groups of perpetrators and victims of violence. what is explained by galtung is illustrated in figure 2. figure 2 triangle of violence adapted from galtung, 1990 the cultural and structural violence explained by galtung is proven by the availability of violence in the context of vulnerable conflict communities such as the kayeli refugees during the post-conflict period in ambon. based on the themes of the war story explained in the previous chapter and repeated broadly in the sub-chapter, it turns out that it implies a context of structural violence that significantly impacted the lives of refugee communities. some of the contexts of structural violence are still embedded in the pattern of relations between the refugees and the native people where they live now (pattiserlihun et al., 2024). cultural violence is described in several forms of mental illness that refugees consciously or unconsciously still have, making it difficult for them to form an environment full of trust and peace in differences. meanwhile, some of the structural violence that still occurred was identified [ 190 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 as follows: 1. limited access to land certificates that have been granted since the move from the conflict period to the post-conflict period. refugees have the same title as immigrants. the requirement to get a certificate is self-conversion as a resident of the village (in which it is occupied), including as a member of the village congregation even though their original congregation and kayeli congregation should not be disbanded according to the gpm synod because it is the oldest congregation on the island of buru with a long and unique story. 2. discrimination as a foreigner is closely related to troublemakers. if even the slightest mistake is made in the area where the kayeli refugees live, the native people will turn on the refugees. because immigrants need to understand the new reality in the pristine condition of the new location, the character in the old area (kayeli, north buru) might differ from the site’s context, which is close to the provincial capital like ambon. 3. stigmatization of the title of refugees as a group that pity needs to be pitied, even the areas where they live are referred to as areas of compassion, underdeveloped areas, and areas of deprivation. to this day, cultural and structural violence has become a new reality that is considered a risk for the kayeli refugee community’s live dynamics in ambon, so they take all of that for granted as well as usual. the implications of war stories in the post-conflict society after comprehending the magnification of violence and peaceful stories that developed in vulnerable societies, such as refugees, in the previous sub-chapter, the subsequent meaningful discussion is the implications of storytelling of war stories on the dynamics of the post-conflict society in ambon. two essential roles of storytelling war stories in the post-conflict society are to strengthen the psychological formation of each individual and the social dynamics dimension of a post-conflict society. individual psychology the most crucial role of violence and peaceful stories is to shape the lifestyle of a post-conflict society, from the individual to the community. individuals, as the smallest part of society, also feel the impact of conflict. victims of the conflict stated that they always remember the experience of the conflict and tell the next generation as a form of appreciation for remembering it as living [ 191 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 history through difficult events and surviving until the 20s years after the conflict. they live in other areas, they live as migrants or refugees, and they try to survive in extreme ways because all aspects of life have to start from scratch with adjustments to a new environment. individual memories of conflict experiences also provide loans for the formation of the psychology of each individual. some narrators explained, based on the data, especially violent stories by the source people, they elaborate that the conflict narratives maintained by each individual became a tool that always made them feel some of the psychosocial aspects that remained embedded in each individual. the formation of individual psychology is seen from their perspective when they are in the area of the islamic community, such as (1)anxiety  is a mental disorder that leads to excessive anxiety and fear because it is influenced by many factors, namely the individual and the environment (agustin, 2022). (2) paranoid is a form of individual psychology that leads to psychological problems characterized by the emergence of a sense of suspicion about something and results in excessive fear agustin, 2022b). (3) anger is one form of impact of conflict that occurs in post-conflict societies. anger due to conflict is also a part of expressing emotions toward the conflict that occurs in addition to conflict trauma (scheff, 2014)an approach that has been mistakenly cast aside. the last aspect considers the pride-shame axis as a key part of a major social system, my current work. theories by c. h. cooley and erving goffman imply that shame, particularly, is all but ubiquitous in modern societies, yet usually invisible. my current ideas suggest that this conjecture may be somewhat overstated, if only slightly. however, empirical studies by norbert elias and by helen lewis imply support for both ubiquity and invisibility. both the elias/lewis conjecture on hiding shame and billig’s theory of repression are supported by my ngram study of historical changes in frequency of shame terms in five languages. like other emotions, such as fear, shame can be recursive, acting back on itself (shame about shame. (4) insecure is a mental and psychological condition that causes a person to feel insecure about many things (fadli, 2022). (5) hypervigilance is excessive alertness accompanied by a tendency to be alert to prevent danger. this attitude makes people who experience it feel and act as if there is a threat, so they are categorized as very sensitive to the people and the environment around them (pramana, 2023). that individual disorder still maintains in the victims’ reality in the post-conflict society, especially 20 years after the conflict. social dynamic post-conflict society the role of conflict narratives that are transmitted through storytelling [ 192 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 in society will help social dynamics that occur in post-conflict societies. previously, the role of conflict narratives in shaping individual psychology has been explained. these forms of individual psychology also influence the social dynamics of a post-conflict society. individual trauma preserved in conflict narratives remains a guideline for unique post-conflict social interactions. in this case, two essential points describe the social dynamics of the postconflict community in ambon. those are residential segregation and public area desegregation. “segregation based on home region is very difficult nowadays. especially for the victims of the conflict directly. because people feel more secure living in a space of regional segregation based on religion rather than being mixed up like before. for example, in 2019 the conflict that occurred between muslims in batu merah and christians in kudamati caused tension in the city of ambon, so that if we wanted to go towards passo, we were afraid to go through islamic areas such as batu merah. because the conflict narratives still shape our ideology of conflict.” (nn. 8, 40 y.o.) segregation of residence based on religion is a step that is appropriate to continue living in the plural city of ambon during the post-conflict period. religion is one of the causes of conflict, according to the victims of the conflict. based on the developing conflict narratives, religion is cultural violence (galtung, 1990) which also occurred in 1999 in maluku. that is why it is necessary to separate residents to minimize conflict. strong segregation among conflict-affected refugees indicates that society does not want a conflict to happen again. the reasons why the community personally implemented separate living quarters were strengthened by their desire not to cause a recurrence of conflict in ambon city due to inter-religious misunderstandings (pattiserlihun, 2023). difficulties for mixed living may be possible if the government intervenes in regulating urban planning. however, it will be difficult if carried out in post-conflict communities that experience conflict directly. from a different point of view, residential area segregation will be harmful if it escalates to the segregation of public spaces. however, in this post-conflict period, there is no need to worry about the segregation of public space. conflict victims who experienced the effects of the conflict stated that segregation was not too high in the dynamics of social relations in public spaces such as educational institutions, workplaces, and other public rooms (malls, markets, public transportation, et al.). disaggregation is the opposite of segregation which is the impact of postconflict society’s positive narratives and perspectives. desegregation is [ 193 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 synonymous with standard forms of relational patterns in society in general. this pattern of social life has the potential to occur in a non-conflict society that has never experienced conflict because of differences. this social dynamic is also the goal of many post-conflict societies that have experienced conflict because of differences. desegregation in a post-conflict inter-religious society is a peace-building step motivated by a belief in a pluralist community, both religious and ethnic. a mix of ethnic, religious, and socio-cultural elements characterizes the pattern of relations in a dissegregated pluralist society. desegregation of residents is one of the wishes of the peace fighters in ambon, which also exists in a small number of victims of the conflict. desegregation is a good step for the post-conflict community to form a society that understands each other’s differences and lives in harmony again within differences. desegregation of residents is also seen as an effort to create a post-conflict society that can slowly eliminate conflict narratives for future generations. suppose the next generation lives in dis-segregated residents and tries to create a good community. in that case, this indirectly supports the breaking up of collective memories about conflict and is replaced with memories of harmony in religious differences. conclusion over twenty years after communal violence, post-conflict society in ambon found themselves with memories of conflict transmitted from generation to generation in the oral stories on war. storytelling activity is a straightforward choice of oral traditions for all people worldwide, including post-conflict communities in ambon. narrating conflict narratives is one of the patent activities for vulnerable conflict groups; in this case, they are those who experience conflict directly, according to the research presented by biggs. based on this research, vulnerable groups in post-conflict societies can be categorized into two forms, namely victims’ groups and perpetrators’ groups. however, in this study, vulnerable groups focused more on victim groups who left their original place and continued their new life in a new location. this group is known as the refugee community. this research focuses on a kayeli christian community. the nature of storytelling war stories such as violence and peaceful, has implications for personal life and the dynamics of social relations in society. both violent and peaceful, these nuances seriously affect today’s society. indeed, there are still many implications that could arise from other people in different contexts. however, this research shows that conflict narratives transmitted in the form of stories in the domestic and limited public spheres greatly [ 194 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 affect post-conflict societal relations, especially in the negative implications. interestingly, these negative implications do not take up much space because even though narratives of violence colour a lot of social dynamics, there are still many narratives of peace tucked into narratives of community conflict. the trauma of the 1999 religious conflict cannot be left entirely in the memory of the victims. one colour of the impact that appears is residential segregation based on religion. on one side, segregation will be a challenge to peacebuilding because it makes people live in collective memories and maintain the ego of their community (truth claim). so, their segregated and limited society depletes the storytelling about violence and peaceful stories of war properly. therefore, suspicion, hate, and prejudice against other religious communities are still happening based on the implication they got from war stories. this research contributes to conflict management studies. people should be aware of how to manage the community to be more peaceful through storytelling. the vulnerable people, such as the refugee community, should be focused on. their story should be finished and transformed to be more peaceful. this research still needs to improve, especially the sample, because it is too narrow for the kayeli community, which is one religion. however, if there are researchers who want to look into these same topics, they can be aware of the need to take more samples with different contexts. bibliography agustin, s. (2022). mengenal anxiety yang mengganggu dan berbagai jenisnya. alodokter. https://www.alodokter.com/mengenal-anxiety-yang-mengganggu-dan-berbagai-jenisnya biggs, v. (2021). youth and conflict in israel-palestine (storytelling, contested space and the politics of memory) (i). i.b. tauris (bloomsbury). bräuchler, b. (2018). the cultural turn in peace research: prospects and challenges. peacebuilding, 6(1), 17–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2 017.1368158 chancellor, r., & lee, s. (2018). storytelling, oral history, and building the library community. storytelling, self, society. creswell, j. w. (2015). penelitian kualitatif & desain riset. in mycological research. djatmiko, e. (2006). ambon: sebelum, saat, dan sesudah konflik. kotaku. https://kotaku.pu.go.id/view/4126/ambon:-sebelum-saat-dan-sesudah-konflik/print [ 195 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 ernas, s. (2018). dari konflik ke integrasi sosial: pelajaran dari ambon-maluku from conflict to social integration: a lesson from ambon-maluku. international journal of islamic thought. fadli, r. (2022). ini yang akan terjadi ketika merasa insecure. halodoc. https://www.halodoc.com/artikel/ini-yang-akan-terjadi-ketika-merasa-insecure foley, m. j. (2012). oral tradition and the internet pathways of the mind. university of illinois press. galtung, j. (1990). cultural violence. journal of peace reasearch, 27, no.3(peace and violencce). hasudungan, a. n. (2021). implementasi konsep triple nexus dalam upaya membangun perdamaian (peacebuilding) setelah konflik ambon-maluku. harmoni. https://doi.org/10.32488/harmoni.v20i1.469 hasudungan, a. n., sariyatun, s., & joebagio, h. (2020). pengarusutamaan pendidikan perdamaian berbasis kearifan lokal pela gandong pasca rekonsiliasi konflik ambon di sekolah. jurnal lektur keagamaan. https://doi.org/10.31291/jlk.v17i2.664 lattu, i. y. m. (2019). orality and ritual in collective memory: a theoretical discussion. jurnal pemikiran sosiologi. https://doi.org/10.22146/jps. v6i2.51580 love, m. c. (2020). strategic peacebuilding. in review of faith and international affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2020.1753957 moon, d., & bahn, g. h. (2022). concept of synchronized individuation based on the characters in a movie and a fairy tale. 33(2), 48–54. palombini, a. (2017). storytelling and telling history. towards a grammar of narratives for cultural heritage dissemination in the digital era. journal of cultural heritage, 24, 134–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. culher.2016.10.017 pattiserlihun, s. c. (2023). war stories in post-conflict society. universitas gadjah mada. pattiserlihun, s. c., ahnaf, m. i., & hasaniy, n. r. (2024). narasi diskriminatif pascakonflik pada masyarakat kristen: 20 tahun pengalaman pengungsi kayeli di ambon, maluku. societas dei: jurnal agama dan masyarakat, 11(1), 76–96. pramana, b. (2023). hypervigilance. hello sehat. https://hellosehat.com/mental/mental-lainnya/hiperviligance-adalah-waspada-berlebihan/ [ 196 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2750 randazzo, e., & torrent, i. (2021). reframing agency in complexity-sensitive peacebuilding. security dialogue. https://doi. org/10.1177/0967010620904306 rieuwpassa, s. (2010). pembangunan perdamaian pasca konflik :: studi kasus di negeri/desa rumahtiga kota ambon [universitas gadja mada]. http://etd.repository.ugm.ac.id/home/detail_pencarian/48521 satya wacana, k., lamerkabel, d. t., & lattu, i. (2018). perilaku pemilih dalam konteks segregasi sosial pasca konflik di ambon. jurnal analisa sosiologi oktober. scheff, t. j. (2014). a retrospective look at emotions. in handbooks of sociology and social research. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-91304_12 tamboukou, m. (2020). the ethics of storytelling: narrative hermeneutics, history and the possible. life writing. https://doi.org/10.1080/144845 28.2018.1553485 tapotubun, h. h. (2019). legacy of conflict and the challenge of reconciliation. univeritas gadja mada. wellfelt, e. (2020). savu: history and oral tradition on an island of indonesia, by geneviève duggan and hans hägerdal. bijdragen tot de taal-, landen volkenkunde / journal of the humanities and social sciences of southeast asia. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-17601007 [ 77 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 the struggle to defend minority rights: the role of islamic religious counselor in the realization of religious freedom syamsul rijal faculty of islamic theology and philosophy universitas islam negeri ar-raniry banda aceh, aceh, indonesia email: literasi.syamsulrijal@ar-raniry.ac.id harjoni desky1 faculty of economics and islamic business, state islamic institute of lhokseumawe, aceh, indonesia emial: harjonidesky@iainlhokseumawe.ac.id ermy azziaty rozali universiti kebangsaan malaysia email: ermy@ukm.edu.my taslim h. m. yasin universitas islam negeri ar-raniry email: taslim.myasin@ar-raniry.ac.id abstract when the principle of tolerance is seen as an agreement on shared values, the forms of its practice can be diverse, even contradictory. on the other hand, the relationship between minority and majority groups in indonesia continues to change over time, and this dynamic becomes a locus of control for the authorities. the government never ignores this problem. in addition to regulations, one of the facilities provided is the existence of islamic religious counselors. the purpose of this study is to explain the role of islamic religious counselors in realizing harmonious relations for minority groups in freedom of religion and belief. the research method used in this study is a qualitative method with descriptive analysis. the results of the study show the issue in understanding the extent to which the role of divine (heavenly) religious symbols is manifested in the social realm when the majority and minority groups of various religious believers interact with each other in a society, and when each different symbol touches each other intensely. religious counselors can provide an important foundation for expressing religion amid diversity. the main thing that needs to be underlined is the moderate religious insight and attitude. this is what distinguishes a islamic religious councelor from other religious figures although both convey religious messages through guidance and counseling activities. the efforts and roles of 1 corresponding author [ 78 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 religious icouncelors are explained from the perspective of religious moderation, harmonization, and freedom of religion and belief. from the perspective of religious moderation, the councelors have a role as an agent of moderation, guardian of morals, and guardian of faith, while from the perspective of harmonization, the councelors have an informative and educative roles, the same thing also in realizing freedom of religion and belief. keywords: islamic religious counselor; freedom of religion; minority rights introduction indonesian has a diverse and complex culture that cannot be separated from the fact that indonesia is a plural and multicultural society bound in one unity, namely nationalism (hadi 2020)the first pattern creates social friction or conflict. on the contrary, the second pattern is directed towards acculturation and assimilation of culture which can strengthen social harmony. the important finding of this research is that it can be known the real issue, so that problems related to all parties can be found a solution as well as a resolution. this research also proves that social mechanism preparedness is considered urgent to prevent negative excesses (negative things. one of indonesia's diversities is the religious beliefs of its people. formally, indonesia recognizes six religions, namely islam, catholic christianity, protestant christianity, hinduism, buddhism, and confucianism (hadi 2020)the first pattern creates social friction or conflict. on the contrary, the second pattern is directed towards acculturation and assimilation of culture which can strengthen social harmony. the important finding of this research is that it can be known the real issue, so that problems related to all parties can be found a solution as well as a resolution. this research also proves that social mechanism preparedness is considered urgent to prevent negative excesses (negative things. the six religions have representatives in the ministry of religion both at the central and regional levels. according to sociological conditions, the terms of religion is often interpreted as a continuous ritual belief system in something that is believed to bind its adherents. on the other hand, in the sociological dictionary, the definition of religion is a belief in spiritual things or a set of beliefs that are considered to have their purpose. in the legal approach, especially stated in article 7 of the udhr, it is stated that "everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal legal protection without discrimination." this means that everyone has the right to equal protection against any form of discrimination that is contrary and against all incitement to this kind of discrimination. [ 79 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 the high level of aggressive behavior that occurs towards minorities in terms of religion, as well as the fatal failure of the government in weakly enforcing regulations based on the 1945 constitution, which guarantees the protection of religious freedom (mubarrak and kumala 2020), the right to religious freedom, has been demonstrated by violence and discrimination in a series of incidents, such as incidents in aceh related to the freedom to practice religion according to each person's beliefs and beliefs, recorded in newspaper publications and also studied by ansor (2016) in his research conducted qualitatively with the title becoming like other religions: the hijab and the hybrid identity of christian students towards minority religious students in aceh, regarding the use of the hijab (islamic clothing) (ansor 2016). the hijab which shows the identity of women who are muslim, in this case, is forced to be used in public areas (ptn/campus) by non-muslim adherents. social friction related to regulations on the establishment of christian houses of worship in aceh singkil was also reviewed by ondang (2015) in the serambi indonesia daily entitled "singkil conflict torn wisdom". the burning of houses of worship is suspected to have originated from the clash of regulatory wisdom that provoked people's emotions to act discriminatively. in addition, the development of social prejudice that has not been resolved has given rise to in-groups and out-groups. fanatical religious views have implications for errors in understanding religious life. this has contributed to triggering social friction, especially among adherents of different religions, even a small leaflet with a slanted sentence, the congregation is immediately provoked (yunus 2014). coupled with the strengthening of identity politics that often marginalizes minority groups. democracy is often interpreted as majoritarianism (paralihan 2019). the authority of the majority as managers and policymakers is a common tendency in several regions in indonesia. through the door of democracy, demands, aspirations, and colors of political policies that are determined and controlled by the majority (majority rule) develop. because it is determined by the logic of the majority, as a result in several regions many policies have emerged that are less biased and even marginalize the existence of minority groups. the contestation of religious symbols in public spaces is part of the symptoms of the strengthening of identity politics in indonesia in at least the last two decades (hutapea and alexandra, sukendro, widodo 2023). in indonesia, minorities are often identified as non-muslim groups only. meanwhile, there are muslim minorities in bali, east nusa tenggara, north sulawesi, maluku, papua, and several districts/cities that are centers of certain [ 80 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 ethnic cultures. thus, minorities in indonesia cannot be identified only as non-muslim groups. apart from that, ethnic and linguistic minorities also exist in indonesia (permana 2018). for example, the gayo ethnic minority in aceh, who cannot speak acehnese, is both an ethnic minority and a language minority in indonesia, because they are an ethnic minority and speak gayo, not acehnese or indonesian. meanwhile, the chinese, arab, indian, european, and japanese ethnic groups are examples of ethnic minorities in indonesia. some ethnic minorities in indonesia still face social and political discrimination. meanwhile, several other ethnic minority groups have also been accepted in social, political, and economic life in their homeland, indonesia. the culture and attitude of the diversity of indonesian society is quite exclusive so it only recognizes salvation and truth unilaterally. there is a comparison between groups that are not based on a tolerant attitude, which triggers a conflict because each uses power to recognize the truth of their religion. to avoid such a conflict, it is necessary to grow and develop a moderate way of being religious, or an open way of being religious which is called an attitude of religious moderation. to deal with such a situation, a religious instructor must develop the right strategy in providing counseling to achieve certain goals. however, globally religious instructors can be classified into three main things, namely issues of faith (aqidah), issues of islam (sharia), and issues of character (akhlakul karimah). the role of religious instructors in society is very important because there are still many people who need an ideal figure to be used as a religious figure in community life. religious instructors serve as agents of moderation, guardians of morals, and guardians of the faith and morals of society. the task of religious instructors is not merely to carry out religious education in the narrow sense such as religious studies or lectures, but also all activities in the form of guidance and development. there are several studies related to the role of islamic religious instructors that have been carried out, for example, muhammad dachlan who research related to building a harmonious life through religious instructors, the results of which acknowledged that the religious harmony that is established in the north mamuju community cannot be separated from the role of instructors, both civil servant instructors and non-civil servant instructors (played by religious figures, community leaders, traditional leaders) in establishing harmony (dachlan 2017). sarifah suhra also conducted research related to the role of counselors in fostering tolerance character in the community which showed that one of the professions that most supports fostering tolerance character is religious [ 81 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 counselors (sarifah suhra. dkk 2023). however, unfortunately, the two studies have not discussed in depth the important roles that religious counselors should or have played in realizing a harmonious life and fostering tolerance character. research by najwa ainun nabilah related to the role of religious instructors in the lives of marginalized communities shows a picture of the important role of religion in human life, especially in marginalized communities facing social and economic challenges. marginalized communities face social imbalance, backwardness, and economic problems, which often lead to slums and low living standards. in facing these challenges, religion becomes the foundation of life and mental defense for marginalized communities. religion provides moral and spiritual guidance to overcome anxiety and discomfort in a dynamic life. religious instructors play a key role in providing religious understanding and support to the community (nabilah and darmaningrum 2023). furthermore, husni mubarrak's research, related to discrimination against minority religions: case study in banda aceh, shows that minority communities experience restrictions or obstacles in expressing themselves in public spaces. the things that cause discrimination are prejudices regar ding christianization efforts carried out by minority religious groups and the existence of regulations (written or unwritten) that are considered to limit opportunities, space for movement, and support for minority religious groups in public spaces (mubarrak and kumala 2020) . sa’idy and verawati's research conducted a study related to the existence of religious instructors as agents of religious moderation in indonesia (sa’idy and verawati 2022). the study shows that indonesia has a pluralistic society and is very vulnerable to religious conflict in particular, therefore the existence of religious instructors is very important. and this is one of the studies that are very close to the author's research, but the author maps the role of instructors in 3 perspectives that are considered very relevant to the current conditions of indonesia, namely the perspective of religious moderation, harmony, and freedom of religion and belief that are carried out ideally in indonesia. by the background and previous studies, this study aims to determine the efforts of islamic religious instructors from the perspective of religious moderation, religious harmony, and freedom of religion and belief that are implemented ideally in indonesia. the existence of islamic religious counselor as fighters for humanitarians religious counselors have a special position today in the context of building [ 82 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 religious commitment. religious commitment is encompassed in three main islamic teachings: iman (belief), islam (surrender to allah), and then (the state of being obeyed by allah) (hikmawati 2014). one of the state's means of fighting for minority rights in society so that it is following humanity and the constitution is islamic religious counselor who has an office (on duty/ home base) at the office of religious affairs (kua). institutionally, islamic religious counselor's existence has a long history in this republic. as a form of recognition of the important role of religious leaders in resistance to colonialism during the pre-independence period and also their strong work and influence in society, the ministry of religion appointed islamic religious leaders as honorary religion teachers with the task of guiding the religious and social fields (susanto and ulfah 2022). the term extension is used for activities to provide information to the community, both by government and non-government institutions. this term is taken from the word suluh or torch which functions as lighting (mazid et al. 2021). counseling in the sense of information is widely used in agricultural, plantation, health, drug, family planning, and religious activities. the term counseling means guidance in psychology and is a translation of counseling (asrifa, asysyifa, and hafizianor 2022). religious instructors provide religious data services for the state and the general public, including data on religious facilities and infrastructure, such as data on mosques, musholla, majelis taklim, tpq/tkq, dakwah institutions, islamic mass organizations, population-based on religion, and so on. meanwhile, the function of islamic religious instructors at the kua includes two things, namely; informative and educative functions. the legal basis for islamic religious instructors functional is stated in the following regulations: 1) presidential decree no.87 of 1999 concerning functional position groups; 2) kep menkowasbangpan no.54/kep.waspan 9/99; 3) decree of the minister of religious affairs and the head of bkn no.574 and 178 of 1999; 4) presidential regulation number 24 of 2006 concerning the duties, position, and functions of the state ministry and the organizational structure and procedures of the state ministry of the republic of indonesia (asnawi, budianto, and hidayatullah 2022). intolerance is a serious threat to the diversity of a nation, including indonesia. religious and religious intolerance in indonesia is accused of being a problem of religion, society, politics, education, and nationalism. intolerance can be considered a trigger for radicalism amid national diversity. wahid foundation in its report explained the potential for intolerance in indonesia. there are several indicators used. first, the disliked groups include lgbt 26%, [ 83 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 communists 16.7%, jews 10.6%, christians 2.2%, shiites 1.3, wahhabis 0.5, buddhists 0.4, and chinese 0.4, while those who do not have problems with other groups are 38.7. the data shows that as many as 61.3% have problems with other groups. second, the intolerance score includes neutral tending to be tolerant43.4%, neutral tending to be intolerant7.0%, tolerant0.6%, while intolerant is 49% (http://wahidfoundation.org/, 2019). therefore, it is important to strengthen tolerance education as one of the preventive steps to prevent intolerance (amaliansyah 2020). islamic religious instructors are civil servants who are given full duties, responsibilities, authority, and rights by authorized officials to carry out islamic religious guidance or counseling and development activities through religious language (harahap, siregar, and harahap 2023)north sumatra requires a long transformation within the framework of religious moderation to build harmony and maturity. this study aims to reveal the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the bubble of north sumatra’s local wisdom. this research employs a descriptive qualitative method by involving six subjects who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. subject criteria are natives of north sumatra and have sufficient knowledge of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatra. in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect the required data. this study reveals a vast spectrum of diversity among the north sumatrans. in the meantime, religious moderation is evidence of upholding religious ideals integrated with the local culture. moreover, this research also shows how the people of north sumatra from the following three regions, (1. the term religious instructor began to be socialized in 1985, namely with the decree of the minister of religious affairs number 791 of 1985 concerning honorariums for religious instructors. the term religious instructor is used to replace the term honorary religious teacher (gah) which was previously used in the ministry of religious affairs. since the beginning, religious instructors have been the spearhead of the ministry of religious affairs in implementing islamic religious education amidst the rapid dynamics of the development of indonesian society (barmawie and humaira 2018). the role of religious instructors is very strategic to build the mental, moral, and values of the piety of the people and also to encourage the improvement of the quality of life of the people in various fields, both in the fields of religion and development (muhlisin, kholis, and rini 2023). so far, islamic religious instructors have an important role in empowering the community and empowering themselves as government employees. in other words, success in guidance and counseling to the community shows success in self[ 84 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 management. islamic religious instructors as the leading sector of guidance for the islamic community, have quite heavy, broad tasks/obligations and the problems faced are increasingly complex. islamic religious counselors cannot be alone in carrying out this quite heavy mandate, they must be able to act as motivators, facilitators, and at the same time catalysts for islamic preaching. preaching management must be able to be developed and actualized under the development of society which is experiencing changes as an impact of globalization and increasingly sophisticated technological developments, which result in shifts or multidimensional crises. religious instructors run their programs starting by recording places of worship, recording religious leaders, consolidating religious leaders, smoothing meetings every three months at the sub-district level, holding coordination ahead of religious celebrations and even practicing nationalist spiritual values. religious leaders are community leaders of religious people, both those who lead religious organizations and those who do not lead religious organizations who are recognized and respected by the local community as role models: 1) religious instructors record places of worship such as mosques, prayer rooms, majlis ta'lim, and other social facilities; 2) religious instructors collaborate with figures from various religions; 3) holding consolidation meetings with religious leaders once a quarter; 4) coordination meeting for data collection with the regional government consisting of regional heads, police, tni, ministry of religion, and other sectoral agencies according to existing levels starting from village to provincial level; and 5) holding coordination ahead of religious celebrations. 6. providing national insight such as teachings that adhere to pancasila, nkri and nationalism, democracy, religion (triwahyuningsih 2018). the 'obligation to respect' means that the state and its apparatus must not intervene or interfere under any pretext to reduce or eliminate the rights of individuals and/or groups to exercise or enjoy their rights, such as not interfering in the practice of carrying out religious worship. the 'obligation to fulfill' requires the state and its apparatus to take steps (such as judicial, administrative, and judiciary) and actions to ensure the fulfillment of individual and/or group rights (hakim and kurniawan 2022)masih menjadi diskursus yang menarik di indonesia. untuk itu, penelitian ini dilaksanakan dengan pendekatan systematic literature review dengan tujuan untuk mengajukan paradigma hukum ham yang berbasis pada kewajiban asasi manusia. dari sudut pandang penelitian hukum, sifat penelitian ini dikategorikan ke dalam penelitian preskriptif. data dalam penelitian ini bersumber dari peraturan [ 85 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 perundangundangan, buku, dan artikel ilmiah dari jurnal nasional dan internasional yang berhubungan dengan konsep ham dan hukum ham. hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa penegakan ham harus melihat pemenuhan kewajiban asasi manusia, karena secara umum seseorang dapat menuntut hak apabila telah memenuhi kewajiban. dengan melandaskan hak pada kewajiban, maka hukum ham akan menjadi seimbang (balance. the 'obligation to protect' requires the state and its apparatus to take necessary steps to protect the rights of individuals and/or groups, including preventing violations of human rights. as a realization of the state's commitment to respecting, protecting, and upholding human rights, the government has many human rights instruments in the form of ratification of several international human rights instruments (setiyani and setiyono 2020). the availability of the above national and international instruments shows the government's seriousness, at least on paper, in carrying out its three functions as a human rights actor. consequently, the right to freedom of religion as a fundamental human right (basic rights) must be the main consideration in the formulation of every policy, regulation, and action in every state apparatus, including islamic religious instructors without exception (fauzia and hamdani 2021). normatively, commitment to human rights is reflected in several documents that serve as guidelines for islamic religious counselors, even though they do not explicitly use human rights language. guidelines for non-civil servant islamic religious instructors, as stated in decree no. 298/2017, states that in carrying out their roles and functions, islamic religious counselors must adhere to the principles of democracy, equality, and also non-discrimination ('principles for all'). indonesia is a multicultural country, this statement cannot be denied because in reality indonesia has a population consisting of various adherents of different religions and beliefs and has a variety of cultures and languages. that is why indonesian society is called a pluralistic society because there are various tribes, religions, races, and cultures caused by people who come from various regions and then settle in one place. they bring their customs and cultures to their new homes, resulting in diversity in a place or region. however, this diversity and diversity can cause social conflict, if it is not based on the foundation of nationality in building joint decisions in the state (hakim and darojat 2023). about indonesia as a pluralistic country, the role of islamic religious instructors in diversity is very important, several studies show the existence [ 86 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 of the role of islamic religious instructors in this field, including maintaining and optimizing tolerance between religious communities (sarifah suhra. dkk 2023), and as a facilitator of change (mukhlisuddin 2016) and an expert in resolving conflicts (ferdiansyah et al. 2023) and conduct consultations with related parties to improve community harmony (nuruddin 2016), therefore, religious instructors are expected to always guide, protect, and motivate the community to do good. islamic religious counselor is the main pillar driving the realization of religious devotion religious harmony is also a mandate entrusted to the kua through islamic religious counselor. conflicts with religious nuances that occur in the country encourage the state, through all its tools, to instill and maintain interreligious harmony in society (prayogo, simamora, and kusuma 2020). moreover, the fact that many religions (and also beliefs) have the potential to destroy unity if not managed well. kua, as the government's spearhead in the religious sector, has a significant role because it is directly in touch with community problems at the grassroots. based on this awareness, the kua appointed a pns2 or non-pns3 islamic religious counselor specifically deals with issues of religious harmony with three main functions: providing education about the importance of religious harmony to the community (informative/educative), becoming a place for consultation and complaints regarding issues of religious harmony (consultative), and help overcome, mitigate and resolve problems of religious harmony (rusydi and zolehah 2018). the state's approach which relies on harmony and stability rather than religious freedom has given rise to some restrictions on religious freedom through legislation and regulations at both the central and local levels. law no.1/pnps/1965 concerning the prevention of abuse and/or blasphemy of religion, for example, guarantees religious expression but is accompanied by restrictions that are still vague and open to many interpretations such as 'abuse', 'deviation' and 'religious blasphemy'. violation of these restrictions may result in legal consequences. another example is the joint regulation of three ministers no. 9 no. 8/2006, which among other things regulates the establishment of places of worship, as well as several local regulations in several areas that are considered discriminatory (prakosa 2022). 2 pns is a state civil servant, namely someone who works in government and receives a salary according to the standards set by the state based on their class and length of service. 3 non pns is employees who work in government institutions based on contracts or work agreements with a certain duration [ 87 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 'public order' is the reason for restrictions put forward by the state. however, in practice, 'public order' is not placed in the true sense of 'public', which includes all citizens without exception. on the other hand, the 'public' referred to by the state is the majority, so it seems as if the state justifies limiting the right to religious freedom for minorities in order to protect the interests of the majority (budiono 2017). this is where problems sometimes arise because interpretations of the majority can also vary: does it refer to quantity or influence because in practice the idea of 'public order' comes from the idea of a small influential group that claims to represent the majority. in other cases such as religious blasphemy, for example, claims of maintaining 'public order' often stem from hate spin in the media and also mass mobilization by certain groups which then becomes the basis for someone being accused of committing religious blasphemy, even though it may be the perpetrator not intended to do so60 or even disapproved by the majority of the public. thus, the distinction between the claims of the majority and the hate spin of a small group of people needs to be carefully considered before any restrictions are imposed on a minority. the dilemmatic position of the islamic religious counselors as fighters for humanitarians observing the reality of the implementation of freedom of religion and belief (kebebasan beragama dan berkeyakinan-kbb), islamic religious counselor has complex challenges in its position as the freedom of religion and belief actor in the true sense. on the one hand, their status as asn4 requires them to take responsibility for enforcing the freedom of religion and belief as mandated by the constitution. on the other hand, the state's approach which is more oriented towards public order or harmony and security places them to a difficult situation with many problems in fulfilling the freedom of religion and belief for all citizens without exception (budiono, 2017). all freedom of religion and belief restrictions implemented by the state through a set of laws or regulations have resulted in many cases of discrimination and even criminalization by both state and non-state actors. the question then is what an islamic religious counselor's position is in this kind of dilemmatic situation. is there a middle way that they can take by contributing to the maintenance of order or harmony without having to participate in restricting or violating the rights of the freedom of religion 4 asn is profession for civil servants and government employees with work agreements who work in government agencies and asn is a new term for government civil servants [ 88 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 and belief as mandated by the constitution? the answer to this question is not easy but that does not mean it is impossible. according to the author, there are several things that extension workers can do through their trilogy of functions in society: informative/educative, consultative, and advocative (sa’idy and verawati 2022). in their role as islamic religious instructors, both informative and educational, islamic religious instructors need to continue to play an active role in building public awareness of freedom of religion and belief through 'religious language' that continues to prioritize the principles of human rights. in this effort, the main challenge comes from religious doctrines that have long been deeply rooted in society. this situation is exacerbated by the fact that many people are still anti-islam and anti-human rights, and are in a pattern of irreconcilable relationships like oil and water. this major problem is what religious instructors should be able to explain through innovations in their roles as extension agents and education agents for all levels of society with all their advantages and disadvantages. therefore, the principle of preaching that calls for goodness and protects against evil with the language of "bil hikmah" wisdom becomes one of the central points of the extension movement carried out by these religious instructors. this is in line with the message from mukhlisin's research, namely that promoting religious moderation must be seen as an important shared agenda because it plays an important role in determining the long-term survival of a country (muhlisin et al. 2023). according to the data and facts that have been presented, islamic religious instructors have not maximized their role in the field of information and education. this is a role of prevention for conflict in a pluralistic country like indonesia. the ability of islamic religious instructors to play their role as informants and educators must be complete and innovative. the informative and educative roles are also closely related to the resources or abilities they have (tabroni and idham 2023)the salafist movement later gave rise to various factions. one of the results of the dynamic and contestation of these various factions was the emergence of religious moderation movements of salafists. this article tries to explain the role of the islamic propagation council of indonesia (ddii. therefore, the ministry of religion in supporting this must have a good recruitment pattern and quality training pattern, so that it can produce religious instructors who are under their roles and functions. one strategy that can be taken to overcome this obstacle is to convey education through 'religious language' that is easily understood and accepted by the community. in this connection, the opinion of mashood a. baderin, a muslim [ 89 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 thinker, is worth stating. according to him, islamic law and human rights need a dialogical approach to achieve a common understanding and this can be done by prioritizing the concept of maslahah which is a valuable legacy in the treasures of islamic legal thought (hamu 2023). ethical-philosophical values in human rights such as internal freedom, non-coercion, non-discrimination, and non-derogability must be found in the context of religion so that they can be well accepted in society. this strategy is also in line with the movement of moderation and religious tolerance initiated by the government. respect, protection, and enforcement of freedom of religion and belief through the consultative role of islamic religious instructors can be carried out through dialogue that is carried out in a civilized and humane manner. so far, the role of consultation mandated to islamic religious instructors tends to be more supervisory than coaching (dzulfaqqor 2018). the 2009 non-pns religious instructor task implementation module, for example, defines this role as "receiving consultations or complaints from the community". this means that islamic religious instructors are positioned as 'police' tasked with monitoring the movements of fellow citizens who are considered dangerous to order and stability. rather than carrying out a supervisory pattern like this. islamic religious counselors can implement a coaching pattern as a form of da'wah while still upholding human rights norms such as the right to freedom of religion or belief as guaranteed in the constitution. public complaints about the existence of deviant sects or heretical sects are not a reason to ostracize certain groups, but rather a trigger to create democratic living spaces amidst the differences in beliefs that exist. da'wah bil hikmah as a manifestation of the role of consultation is not interpreted as waiting but rather as inviting and working together to create a harmonious life amidst the diversity of indonesia. this requirement of course requires strong regulations, freedom of movement for islamic religious counselors, and adequate financial support, considering that one region and another in indonesia are far apart and have different field challenges as well. this means that islamic religious counselors are positioned as 'policemen' tasked with monitoring the movements of fellow citizens who are deemed to endanger order and stability. rather than adopting this kind of monitoring pattern, islamic religious counselors can implement a coaching pattern as a form of da'wah while still upholding human rights norms such as the right to freedom of religion or belief as guaranteed in the constitution. complaints from the public about the existence of splinter or heretical sects are not a [ 90 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 justification for excluding certain groups but are a trigger for creating spaces for democratic life amidst existing differences in beliefs. finally, islamic religious counselors can optimize their advocacy roles to also expand into kbb. the legal approach that has often been used in resolving various freedom of religion and belief problems has turned out to cause many problems, not only in terms of the legal product itself but also the effects it has on victims, such as continued problems for their families, lengthy processes, and also failure to resolve the root of the problem. ironically, the legal approach has the potential to become an instrument of power and become an extension of the majority to suppress minorities in the form of "threats, rewards, punishment, intimidation, stigmatization, or whatever to pursue and achieve their own goals." conclusion every citizen has the same rights for justice. this has become a common knowledge or shared principle along with the strengthening of the democratization process in indonesia. the principles of social equality are seen as collective values that underlie relations among citizens in the country. when the principle of tolerance is seen as having become an agreement of shared values, the form of its practice can be varied, even contradictory. in a pluralistic indonesian society, the polemic about whether an action is called tolerant or intolerant becomes more complex. the relations between the majority and the minority groups, therefore, are significant to the efforts of building harmonious life of the society. both the majority and the minority are subject to defend their rights within the corridor of bulding a sustainable harmonious life. islamic religious counselors, indeed, have an important role in promoting sustanable a harmonious religious life. in giving services, they deal with religious issues such as marriage, inheritance of property, politics, and socioreligious conflicts. religious counselors have more opportunities of sharing their contributions through their trilogy of functions in society including informative/educational supports, consultative services, and advocacy works. as the front line actors, religious islamic councelors have been seen as the representation of the government, through the ministry of religious affairs, in giving the ervices to the society where religious conlficts often accour. bibliography amaliansyah, p. 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(2023). pendidikan multikultural dalam membentuk karakter dan identitas nasional. jurnal ilmiah profesi pendidikan 8(3). doi: 10.29303/jipp.v8i3.1470. hakim, l. and kurniawan, k. (2022). membangun paradigma hukum ham indonesia berbasis kewajiban asasi manusia. jurnal konstitusi 18(4). doi: 10.31078/jk1847. hamu, f. j. (2023). “peran penyuluh agama katolik dalam membangun [ 92 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 moderasi beragama.” perigel: jurnal penyuluhan masyarakat indonesia 2(2). harahap, s. m., siregar, f.a., and harahap, d. (2023). tracing the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatera. qudus international journal of islamic studies 11(1). doi: 10.21043/qijis.v11i1.16187. hikmawati, f. (2014). islamic counselling model to increase religious commitment (study of students at the university uin bandung). international journal of nusantara islam 1(2). doi: 10.15575/ijni.v1i2.27. hutapea, s. and widodo, a. s. (2023). tantangan dan upaya penanganan politik identitas pada pemilu 2024. jurnal kewarganegaraan 7(1). mazid, s., prabowo, w., hakim, s. (2021). peran penyuluh agama islam dalam pelayanan pembangunan mental spiritual masyarakat di era pandemi covid 19.” journal of public administration and local governance 5(1). mubarrak, h. and kumala, i.d. (2020). diskriminasi terhadap agama minoritas: studi kasus di banda aceh. seurune : jurnal psikologi unsyiah 3(2). doi: 10.24815/s-jpu.v3i2.17553. muhlisin, n. k., and rini, j. (2023). navigating the nexus: government policies in cultivating religious moderation within state islamic higher education. qudus international journal of islamic studies 11(1). doi: 10.21043/qijis.v11i1.12677. mukhlisuddin. (2016). peran penyuluh agama islam dalam mereduksi konflik dan mengintegrasikan masyarakat. jurnal bimas islam 9(1). nabilah, n. a. and darmaningrum, k.t. (2023). peran penyuluh agama dalam kehidupan masyarakat marginal. jurnal bimbingan penyuluhan islam 5(2). doi: 10.32332/jbpi.v5i2.7914. nuruddin, s. (2016). peran penyuluh agama dalam pengelolaan kerukunan umat beragama di kabupaten maluku tengah. al-qalam 22(2). doi: 10.31969/alq.v22i2.322. paralihan, h. (2019). hubungan antara islam dan demokrasi: menguatnya politik identitas ancaman kemanusiaan di indonesia. aqlania jurnal filsafat dan teologi indonesia 10(1). permana, g. n. (2018). pengakuan hak minoritas sebagai perwujudan demokrasi di indonesia. ’adalah 2(1). prakosa, p. (2022). moderasi beragama: praksis kerukunan antar umat be[ 93 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 ragama. jurnal ilmiah religiosity entity humanity (jireh) 4(1). doi: 10.37364/jireh.v4i1.69. prayogo, a., simamora, e. and kusuma, n. (2020). peran pemerintah dalam upaya menjaga kerukunan umat beragama di indonesia. jurist-diction 3(1). doi: 10.20473/jd.v3i1.17619. rusydi, i. and zolehah, s. (2018). makna kerukunan antar umat beragama dalam konteks keislaman dan keindonesian. journal for islamic studies. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1161580. sa’idy, and verawati, h. (2022). eksistensi penyuluh agama dalam meningkatkan moderasi agama. tafahus: jurnal pengkajian islam 2(1). doi: 10.58573/tafahus.v2i1.14. suhra, s. at.al. (2023). peran penyuluh agama dalam pembinaan karakter toleransi pada masyarakat. jurnal la tenriruwa 2 nomor 1. setiyani, s. and setiyono, j. (2020). penerapan prinsip pertanggungjawaban negara terhadap kasus pelanggaran ham etnis rohingya di myanmar. jurnal pembangunan hukum indonesia 2(2). doi: 10.14710/jphi. v2i2.261-274. susanto, a. and ulfah, m. (2022). peran penyuluh agama islam dalam membangun moderasi beragama berbasis literasi pada era media baru 5.0 di kabupaten majalengka. jurnal penyuluhan agama (jpa) 9(1). doi: 10.15408/jpa.v9i1.24507. tabroni, r. and idham. (2023). from radical labels to moderate islam: the transformation of the salafism movement in indonesia. indonesian journal of islam and muslim societies 13(2). doi: 10.18326/ijims. v13i2.279-306. triwahyuningsih, s. (2018). perlindungan dan penegakan hak asasi manusia (ham) di indonesia. legal standing : jurnal ilmu hukum 2(2). doi: 10.24269/ls.v2i2.1242. yunus, f. m. (2014). konflik agama di indonesia problem dan solusi pemecahannya.” substantia: jurnal ilmu-ilmu ushuluddin 16(2). [ 94 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 [ 73 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 sharia-based regional regulations and inter-religious relations in bulukumba south sulawesi ashadi l. diab kendari state institute of islamic studies ldiab_adhy@yahoo.com abstract the background for the emergence of the idea of applying sharia based regional regulations in bulukumba is influenced by three factors: history, politics and socio-religious reality of the community. the response to the application of islamic law also varies. at least in broad outline there are four kinds of responses, i.e. accepting, accepting with certain conditions, refusing then accepting and refusing. the application of islamic law in bulukumba has caused changes both in the physical appearance and socio-religious interaction of the people. changes in physical appearance can be seen from the increasing number of women wearing hijab and a number of writings of religious nuances in various corners of the city. changes in the areas of social interaction can be seen from the decrease of the crime rate. in the interaction between religious communities, the sharia-based regulations are a medium for the islamization of society. the existence of such legislation has also left no space for non-muslims to build or add a new place of worship. keywords: sharia, islamic law, regulation, bulukumba. introduction efforts to enforce islamic law in indonesia, both in a legal (constitutional) way which is through politics and illegal such as rebellion, are part of a long history of struggle of the muslims of indonesia to implement islamic law. however, social and political reality indicates that the idea has never received the support of the majority of the muslims. many observers consider it strange, given indonesia is a country with the world’s largest islamic followerss. for them, how is it possible in the predominantly muslim country that the idea of implementing islamic law does not ever receive majority support? when this country was about to proclaim its independence in 1945, the discourse of sharia law emerged. the idea proposed by the independence fighters among islamic students faced a very strong opposition from of islamic [ 74 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 nationalist fighters. considering the integrity of the nation, the islamic student fighters finally accepted the type of a country which is not a religious state.1 this event is the biggest sacrifice of muslims in indonesia’s history. in the indonesian context, the idea of islamic law encountered mixed attitude in the community. the group that supported it always accused the others as lacking faith, ignoring islamic law and being influenced by western views. those who were against the idea always argued that the other group was outdated, old-fashioned, and had no ideas about the world of islam. each group always positioned itself in the opposite direction that it seemed impossible to build a dialogue to develop a shared vision or understanding of each other’s opinions2. however, despite the fact that the supporters and opponents of the application of islamic law had a different view, they remained in the corridors of mutual respect for each other. along with changes from centralized to decentralized governance, where each region is given greater authority to regulate its respective areas, the demand for enforcing islamic law formally is on the rise as in the case of bulukumba in south sulawesi. bulukumba, one of the regencies in the province of south sulawesi, is known as a region with devout muslims, and the idea of enforcing islamic law was initiated by the preparatory committee for enforcement of islamic law (kppsi).3 after the proclamation of independence, there was a debate about the basic guidelines of the country between religious groups who wanted islam as the state ideology and nationalist groups that did not want the country to be based on religion. with great wisdom and based on the spirit of sacrifice, the muslim groups finally agreed not to make islam the state ideology and consented to the elimination of seven words, “the obligation to enforce islamic teachings for its followers” from the jakarta charter on july 22, 1945. the result of this compromise was not readily accepted by all the indonesian people. some groups resisted, such as the movement of di/tii led by colonel kahar muzakkar, but in the end, all forms of resistance were put down by the government.4 the momentum to re-enforce islamic law occurred again when 1pupils are muslim group that wants islam as the foundation of the republic of indonesia, and the nationalists are groups that want to separate between the state with religion (secular), this definition can also be seen in suhelmi ahmad, the islamic state debate: soekarno versus natsir. 2 endang saefuddin anshari, 1983, piagam jakarta 22 june 1945, (bandung: pustaka), p. 60. 3 kppsi stands for komite persiapan penegakan syariat islam (preparatory committee for enforcement of islamic law), but now has changed to kpsi (komite pengakan syariat islam -committee for enforcement of islamic law). 4 ibid [ 75 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the new order regime collapsed and was replaced by the reform government. democracy is widely open under a decentralized system of government where each region has a greater opportunity to reorganize their respective administration. eventually, bulukumba became the first district in south sulawesi to apply islamic law which is characterized by the issuance of four regulations on the literacy of the qur’an, muslim clothing, alms, and ban on alcoholic beverages. imposition of islamic law in bulukumba, south sulawesi receives a lot of support from diverse elements of society, including non-muslims, but there are some muslims / scholars who disagree with the idea. the support from non-muslim groups regarding the application of islamic law on the one hand and the rejection of islamic law by some muslims clearly raise a big question. under such socio-religious conditions, bulukumba is a region that is unique to be studied. by reviewing the people’s response to the application of islamic law in bulukumba, it will be known whether the idea is just the desire of religious and political elites or the people of bulukumba. of course, other factors that must also be taken into account with regard to the implementation of such policy is the impact of the application of islamic law on socio-religious conditions of society, whether or not it is getting better or worse, especially regarding the relationship between people of different religions. this paper is based on the assumption that the dissent against the imposition of islamic law is due to differences in how to understand and observe islamic law. differences in the social, cultural and intellectual aspects have a very significant influence in determining the form of one’s understanding of the sharia. therefore, even though every muslim admits the truth of the principles of the sharia, their understanding on the technical and operational level is different. the emergence of various schools of fiqh and theology, for example, shows that islamic law is interpreted differently and therefore, there can be no single view of the sharia is once for all. sociologically, there are five centers of life outside the family: the educational environment, workplace, mosques, recitals institutions, religious organizations.5 whether or not a person has a strong affiliation with the five centers or any one of them, will determine the pattern of thought and nature of that person. similarly, changes to the system of each center of life above will also influence the change of thought. 5 abdul munir mulkhan, 1992, runtuhnya mitos politik santri, (yogyakarta: sipres), p.3. [ 76 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 to the reconstructionists, such as azyumardi azra, the model of sharia known today, must first be reviewed before being enforced as not every law is of the divine product which is sacred or transcendental in nature. according to the group, the majority of the sharia known today is the product of historical and social conditions and hence profane and temporal. sharia profanity provides spaces for dialog with the present conditions. profanity within the scope of a community indicates that there are a wide variety of interests and values. the values that live in a society are constantly changing according to the changing interests through functional debate that generates a variety of new equilibrium forms. community is a stable system of groups working together in which there is consensus. community is a system that consists of parts that are interconnected and in need of each other that give birth to balanced relations.6 the flow of functionalism sees the community as a social relation of all the institutions in it. each part of an interdependent community, in the sense that the relationship between the communities is very close so changes in one part will affect the other. disagreement will give birth to a new negotiation pattern that forms the balance of relationship within the community. likewise, the presence of regulations based on islamic law in bulukumba, does not appear by itself but through a process as proposed in berger’s theory of social construction, externalization, objectivization and internalization. through this process we will be able to understand the phenomenon of the existence of sharia-based ragulations in bulukumba. according to arskal salim quoting price (1999), the implementation of islamic law by the state can be divided into five levels: first, issues of family law, such as marriage, divorce and inheritance; second, economic and financial matters, such as islamic banking and charity; third, religious practices (rituals), such as the obligation for a muslim woman to wear a head cover; or an official ban on things that conflict with the teachings of islam, such as alcohol and gambling; fourth, application of islamic criminal law, especially related to the types of sanctions for violators; fifth, the use of islamic law as the basis of the state and government systems. according to him, the higher the demand for implementing islamic law, the closer the establishment of an islamic state. this article is very helpful to see how the regulations based on islamic law work in the system of government in bulukumba and at at what level such regulations work. islamic history shows that broadly there are two opposite poles of schools 6 robert k. merton, 1957, social theory and social structure, (chicago, the free press of glencoe); see also talcot parsons, 1951, the social system, (chicago, free press) [ 77 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 of thought about how to apply islamic law in the social domain. both poles are: first, al-islamu huwa addhin wa ad-daulah (islam is religion and state). this group has the view that islam should be formally applied. the effect of this view is the birth of concepts that have the label of islam such as islamic economics, islamic bank, etc. second, al-islamu huwa addhin, wa daulah alwasilah (islam is religion, and power is merely intermediate). religion and power are different. this group relatively rejects all forms that have islamic labels. to this group, the most important thing is not the label of islam but the application of islamic values. islamic dialectics and patuntung faith in bulukumba bulukumba community in particular, has a religious belief that is very close to the sciences of sufism and tariqat i.e. the patuntung faith. the patuntung faith is said to be a syncretic belief, because in addition to having some requirements of a abrahamic religions such as belief in almighty god as creator of the universe, the prophets, the scriptures and the day of judgment, people still believe in animism and dynamism. the patuntung faith believes in three gods, which are called karaeng ampatama as the creator of nature and live in the sky, karaeng kannuang kammaya as sustainer of nature who live in tompo tika (the peak of mount bawakaraeng), and karaeng patanna lino as an auxiliary to karaeng kannuang kammaya whose task is to look after humans on earth. karaeng patanna lino is also called pattakok. in addition, the patuntung believe in puang loheta (god of many) found in every family, home and kingdom.7 a prophet in the patuntung faith is amma towa who is the first leader in the belief, whose intelligence to write scriptures. the scripture is called patuntung (guidance) which is a guideline for every believer in practicing the rules of spirituality. in addition to the rules of spiritual teachings, this book also contains spells that can be used for treatment, various codes of dress, baths, and marriage. the patuntung also has a concept of nature consisting of three forms of cosmology, i.e. the upper world called botinglangi, middle world called lino which is inhabited by humans, and lower world called paratiwi which is regarded as being under water. each world has inhabitants. they affect each other and the influence could also affect humans.8 in bulukumba, there is also a very traditional area known as kajang. the kajang 7 syamsul al-ma’arif al-amien, 2003, religious freedom in indonesia: the constitution, islamization and the ammatoa of sulawesi, thesis, center for religious and cross cultural studies, yogyakarta. 8 ibid [ 78 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 community has belief based on tradition, i.e. pasanga ri kajang. pasanga ri kajang is the religious teachings of ancient community of kajang in the form of oral tradition of revelation or divine message passed down orally through amma toa that contains morality of religious teachings which are still firmly held by the kajang community. the oral tradition, called pasanga ri kajang, to the people of kajang is a knowledge system that contains a variety of cultural values, which serve as the main reference in the living a life in this world, both in relation to theological matters, relationship with fellow human beings, and relationship with the natural surroundings which datuk ri tiro took into consideration in spreading the islamic religion in bulukumba. datuk ri tiro’s success in spreading islam in bulukumba was because he always honored tradition of the people and not to impose rigid application of sharia. datuk ri tiro’s expertise in the field of sufism is served as the basis for spreading islam in bulukumba. sufism which he used in spreading islam makes it easier to communicate and teach islam in this region. this is because the people of bulukumba had already been very familiar with the teachings associated with sufism and tariqat.9 because of the condition of public confidence bulukumba very close to the teachings of sufism and congregations, often based on a presumption that the spread of islam in bulukumba no difficulty, but this assumption is not entirely correct.10 according to the story that developed in the middle of the community, especially the kajang, that when datuk ri tiro enters the territory of the kajang to broadcast the islamic religion, he made a deal with the leader of the kajang known as amma towa. in towa amma it is mentioned that datuk ri tiro was allowed to spread the islamic religion in this place, but previously had to challenge the magic power of the amma towa. whoever loses must join the faith of the winner. this means that if amma towa lost, he had to convert to islam including members of the community and vice versa. the contest of magic turned out to be a draw, nobody won and nobody lost. since it was a draw, one had no compulsion to follow the other. the above is proved by the existence of the kajang people that have symbolically converted to islam, but the implementation and the meaning of islam is very different from what is generally understood since the feel of sharia is very 9 samiang katu, 2000, pasang ri kajang: kajian tentang akomodasi islam dengan budaya lokal di sulawesi selatan, (pusat pengkajian islam dan masyarakat (ppim) iain alauddin makassar), p.57. 10 ibid. [ 79 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 strong. the kajang people give sufism and morality far more attention than sharia. therefore, although the kajang community has embraced islam, they still observe the tradition which cling to the teachings of pasanga ri kajang containing moral messages highly respected by the kajang people. in its development, the kajang community is divided into two groups i.e. the exterior kajang (assimilated) and the interior kajang (indigenous). the exterior kajang community refers to those who have undergone modernization and not too rigid in carrying out their customary traditions, particularly the values contained in the message of pasanga ri kajang, whereas the interior kajang community still upholds the traditions and remains relatively untouched the modern world. as a rejection of the modern symbols, they do not want to use electricity as lighting, sandals as footwear, means of communication, etc. islamic law in social and political struggle the sharia terminology is generally used in two senses, i.e. in a broad sense and in a narrow sense. in a broad sense, the law is intended as the whole islamic religious norms covering aspects of doctrinal and practical aspects. meanwhile, in a narrow sense, the sharia refers to the practical aspects of islamic teachings, the part that consists of the norms that regulate human behavior such as worship, marriage, purchase and sales, litigation in the court, etc. if the term of islamic law is used to translate the term sharia, it means the law in its narrow sense.11 in the context of indonesia, especially bulukumba, where the majority of the population are muslims, islamic law is the law that is commonly practiced and has been deeply rooted in the culture of indonesian society. therefore, islamic law in indonesia is the living law or in geertz’s perspective, the values of islam in indonesia serve as a pattern of behavior. this phenomenon occurs not merely because islam is a religion practiced by the majority of indonesia’s population, but also because of the dimensions of the application of islamic law that has become part of the tradition that is sometimes considered sacred.  although the term islamic law is not the best translation of the word sharia, in the context of positive law in indonesia, the islamic legal term is used mainly to differentiate it from customary law and western law. this distinction shows that the law comas from the religion of islam. thus, its use at the operational level as the translation of the term for sharia is not entirely wrong. an understanding of islamic law should depart from the basic assumption that the real islamic law is not a detailed legal system that comes from 11 syamsul anwar, islamic jurisprudence. op. cit., p. 134. [ 80 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 heaven and is not part of human history. as with other legal systems, islamic law is nothing but the result of human interaction with social and political conditions. such an understanding is the basis for the necessity of sociological and historical approach in an attempt to photograph the opportunities and challenges for its application in society. in the history of islamic law, there is strong evidence of how social context is very influential in determining the laws that arise. among the jurists, for example, the dynamics of thinking between shafi’i with his qaul qadim and qaul jadid, malik with his maslahah mursalah, abu hanifah with his rational thinking, and ibn hambal with his traditional thinking (salaf) show how their dialogic interaction with social context and with the place where they live in can affect and shape their understanding of the sharia.12 similarly, the customary practices in the society are also generally adopted by islam as a means of preparing rules and regulations of islamic law, as long as the customary practices are not contrary to islamic teachings contained in the qur’an and the sunnah of the prophet. 13 in addition to sociological factors above, the political configuration of the country is also instrumental in changing the law. dominant groups that are close to the political authorities are capable of gaining power to enforce certain laws and make other policies. therefore, the saying that states “whoever rules will apply their school of thought” is not merely a slogan. as evidence, when ibn al-muqaffa’ (d. 139h / 756 ad) proposed legislation of islamic law to the caliph abu ja’far al-mansur (754-775 ad) who then ordered malik ibn anas to prepare and compile the law. the command or request was made twice, i.e. in the year 148 h / 765 m and 163 h / 777 ad. at first malik ibn anas refused, but during the caliphate of harun al-rashid, he granted it. so, the book al-muwatta’ was written which was then made the official guidelines by the government in resolving legal issues. the maliki school of thought was made official by the government because it was the dominant school at the time and was desired by the authorities. when islamic law interacts and wishes to develop in the wider region, it will definitely be in contact with various local norms that vary widely based on the structure and culture embraced by a society. as a result, locally characterized legal products such as hijazi fiqh, misri fiqh, hindi fiqh emerged, and in indonesian there was an idea of formulating the indonesian fiqh. 12 muhammad ali sais, 1957, tarikh al-fiqh al-islami (mesir: mathba’ah al-nahda), p. 104; see also husain hamid hasan, tt, al-madkhal li dirasat al-fiqh al-islami (mesir: mathba ah al-nahdah), p. 33. 13 abd al-rahman al-shabuni, 1982, al-mudkhal ila al-fiqh wa tarikh al-tasyri al-islami (cairo: dar al-muslim), h. 138. [ 81 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 in 1991, the need for the formulation of the indonesian fiqh came into being with the issuance of the presidential instruction no. 1 of 1991 concerning the dissemination of the compilation of islamic law in indonesia (khi), of which the formulation is identified as the indonesian fiqh or islamic jurisprudence with a distinctively indonesian flavor.14 seen through the political view of the indonesian law, the emergence of the khi can be regarded as the crowning achievement of muslims at that time in the application of islamic law (in this case a family law) as a positive law. however, one thing worth noting is that the khi legislation is not only the success of the indonesian ulema council that represents muslims, ministry of religious affairs representing the government, and the supreme court representing holders of judicial power, but it is also due to the approval of the authorities, i.e. the politics of law and the political will of the state. the state in fact plays a crucial role in effecting the khi legislation because it holds a monopoly in the law enforcement in community life.15 beyond political motives, sociological and even economic background for the khi policy, it can safely be said that the justification of state power serves as one of the keys to the application of islamic law. on the other hand, outside of the political system, social configuration issues are also a determinant for the application of islamic law. therefore, the application of islamic law in indonesia always takes a pluralistic society into consideration. with such grounds, the implementation and enforcement of islamic law in the socio-political arena always encounters polemic indonesia. ‘reduction’ of islamic law is done in order to maintain commitment to the plurality of religions, so that islamic law imposed only concerns the field of law which does not threaten people of other faiths. that is why islamic law is gaining legitimacy and justification in the indonesian legal system only in the legal field of muamalat (civil matters), excluding criminal law (jinayat). it even is only limited to the areas of inheritance, marriage and charity, needless to say. by looking at the history of the law, in fact, the law is a political product of the nation. it means that the law is always related to politics. hence, the wisdom of the law that emerged is the embodiment of the country’s political wisdom. the important thing to note about this phenomenon is that the law is dependent 14 cik hasan bisri , “pengembangan wilayah penelitian dan pranata sosial,” in mimbar hukum, jurnal ilmu agama islam, bandung: iain sunan djati, no. i year xxiii, september-december 1992, p. 92. 15 because of the dominance of the government in the process of formulating the compilation of islamic law, for some observers, the khi is considered a state project. see marzuki wahid and rumadi op cit. [ 82 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 on political factors. whether or not islamic law can be applied is determined by the extent to which the political will of the country represented in official institutions that deal with the problem. thus, holding the legal discourse cannot be separated from the social and political context of the country in which the law is created. in this regard, the character of a legal product is constantly influenced or determined by the political configuration that gives birth to it, meaning that certain political configuration of a dominant group always bears the character of certain legal products in accordance with its political vision. in addition, islamic law is also influenced by social development. social changes that occur in a community, will directly or indirectly affect social institutions in various fields such as government, economics, education, religion, etc. birth process of islamic law-based regional regulations in the context of bulukumba, enactment of some legislation based on islamic law should be responded wisely by putting on the assumption that every state policy (read: government) does not just emerge, but it is presented and made within the framework and the willingness of policy makers, in this case local government. the struggle of several islamic organizations to formalize and legalize islamic sharia into the body of the state met with interest of the local government. in this context the theory of who uses who surfaces. on the one hand, local government wishes to attract public sympathy, but on the other hand it is used by proponents of formalization of islamic law. the phenomenon of diversity in indonesia which is a public concern is very interesting to observe. since the autonomy and decentralization was implemented through regulation act no. 22 of 1999 the strengthening of local dynamics continues to occur. in many regions, institutional restructuring (bureaucracy and parliament) and development initiatives thrive. this was also followed by the increased participation of civil society in various arenas. one of the crucial issues that arises in conjunction with local politics is strengthening of identity politics (local identity politics). in the context of islamic politics, autonomy and decentralization is the entrance to islamization in all areas including through the enactment of legislation based on islamic law. islamization agenda for islamic political parties is being kept alive. it is the main reason the issue of islamic law is never abandoned islamic political parties.16 therefore, as stated by several historians (benda, ricklefs, and azra), modern indonesian history is a history that witnesses the 16 http://islamlib.com/id/index.php?page=article&id=516, arskal salim, daya hidup isu syariat dalam politik. accessed on 19 may 2015 [ 83 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 ongoing deeper and sustainable islamization.17 regions that have implemented regional regulations based on islamic law are west sumatera, south kalimantan, east nusa tenggara, south sulawesi, eat java and west java. 18 as for south sulawesi, public attention is on bulukumba. bulukumba is the first regency to issue sharia-based regulations in south sulawesi. therefore, bulukumba serves as a pilot project for implementing a law based on islamic law by the government. experiments of sharia in bulukumba are penetrating into lower level of the government: the village. a total of 12 villages have been used as a demonstration areas for the application of islamic law since the beginning of 2005.19 the regency is also popular as a pioneer application of islamic law in south sulawesi, and the south sulawesi muslim congress iii, in march 2005, was held in this area. the implementation of islamic law in the villages as pilot project is growing very rapidly, even beyond the district and provincial legislation. villages within the pilot project even implemented the hudud criminal law. padang village, in gantarang subdistrict, for example, set the “rules of the village” which contain the rules on the offense of adultery (100 lashes), qadzaf or accusing someone of adultery (80 lashes or handed over to the police), liquor (40 lashes), and qishash (reply in kind) for physical abuse.20 implications of the application of sharia based regional regulations on the relationship between religions the application of islamic law in bulukumba imposed through sharia-based regulations gave birth to some implications in the socio-political-religious society of bulukumba. the implications are as follows: a. increased religious conversion the implementation of sharia-based regulations affects non-muslims whose total number is only about 0.12% amid muslim community which reaches 99.88%. the imposition of sharia-based regulations has either directly or indirectly generated psychological pressure against non-muslims. after the enforcement of such regulations, several religious conversions occurred, whereas before the regulations new converts were relatively non-existent. as reported by h.sofyan, the imam of jami al-hidayah mosque: 17 ibid 18 taufik adnan amal and samsul rizal panggabean, 2004, politik syariat islam dari indonesia hingga nigeria, (jakarta: pustaka alvabet), p. 82. 19 asrori s. karni and bernadetta febriana, and anthony, “gelora syariah mengepung kota” (headline story, gatra 25th edition, 1 may 2006) 20 ibid [ 84 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 “after sharia-based regulations were imposed, many people of chinese descent converted to islam whereas previously they rarely did. so it’s good to have sharia regulations, they became afraid. king motor [owner] has converted to islam along with his family. during a muslim congress, women who wanted to leave the house unveiled were immediately detained and told to wear the hijab because they were afraid of being detained.” the increased number of new converts after the imposition of legislation based on islamic law has raised suspicion, lest they embrace islam not out of consciousness, rather out of fear of the imposition of sharia-based regulations. ideally, in fact, the new law applies only to muslims, but concerns about the application of islamic law based regulations can serve as instrument to change one’s religion. b. no freedom of religion for other religious followers to build house of worship a house of worship is very important for religious followers. the existence of houses of worship not only serves as a worship place for a certain religion but also as evidence of its existence. according to the rules of construction of houses of worship, the construction can be done if there is consent from the surrounding community. it means that if there is no consent from the local community then certainly there will be no construction of non-muslim places of worship. in fact, the number of non-muslims in bulukumba is more or less 0.12% but even so their need for a place of worship is a very important thing. however, the sharia regulations have somehow generated disrespect for the existence of other religions which is characterized by difficulty for other religious followers to have a place of worship which then becomes a bad precedent for interfaith relations, as reported by h. sofyan: “the relations between muslims and non-muslims are fine as long as they do not build (a new church). in the city of bulukumba, there is only one church. there was an attempt of christians to build a church, but it was directly protested by the community. bulukumba people do not want a church to be constructed. closing remarks the background for the emergence of the idea of applying sharia based regional regulations in bulukumba is influenced by three factors: history, politics and [ 85 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 socio-religious reality of the community. the history of the local community which is plural becomes an important element in the process of the birth of such regulations. political factors include the shift in the government system from centralization to decentralization (autonomous regions) in which the local government has authority to regulate its own area. socio-religious reality of the community is also a major element in the idea of imposing shariabased regulations. degradation of people’s morality and a growing lack of public knowledge of the islamic religion (reading-writing of the qur’an) also becomes one of the important aspects. however, the response to the application of islamic law also varies. at least in broad outline there are four kinds of responses, i.e. accepting, accepting with certain conditions, refusing then accepting and refusing. the application of islamic law in bulukumba has caused changes both in the physical appearance and socio-religious interaction of the people. changes in physical appearance can be seen from the increasing number of women wearing hijab and a lot of writings of religious nuances in various corners of the city. changes in the areas of social interaction can be seen from the decrease of the crime rate. in the interaction between religious communities, the sharia-based regulations are a medium for the islamization of society. it is evidenced by the fact that after the implementation of sharia legislation, there were families converting to islam. their convert to islam after the imposition of the legislation raises suspicion that they become muslims simply for fear of the regulations. the existence of such legislation has also left no space for non-muslims to build or add a new place of worship. references endang saefuddin anshari, 1983, piagam jakarta 22 juni 1945, (bandung: pustaka), h. 60. syamsul al-ma’arif al-amien, 2003, religious freedom in indonesia: the constitution, islamization and the ammatoa of sulawesi, thesis, center for religiou and cross cultural studies, yogyakarta. samiang katu, 2000, pasang ri kajang: kajian tentang akomodasi islam dengan budaya lokal di sulawesi selatan, (pusat pengkajian islam dan masyarakat (ppim) iain alauddin makassar), h.57. muhammad ali sais, 1957, tarikh al-fiqh al-islami (mesir: mathba’ah al-nahda), h. 104; lihat juga husain hamid hasan, tt, al-madkhal li dirasat al-fiqh al-islami (mesir: mathba ah al-nahdah), h. 33. abd al-rahman al-shabuni, 1982, al-mudkhal ila al-fiqh wa tarikh al-tasyri [ 86 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 al-islami (kairo: dar al-muslim), h. 138. cik hasan bisri , “pengembangan wilayah penelitian dan pranata sosial,” dalam mimbar hukum, jurnal ilmu agama islam, bandung: iain sunan djati, no. i tahun xxiii, september-desember 1992, h. 92. taufik adnan amal dan samsul rizal panggabean, 2004, politik syariat islam dari indonesia hingga nigeria, (jakarta: pustaka alvabet), h. 82. asrori s. karni dan bernadetta febriana, dan anthony, “gelora syariah mengepung kota,” (laporan utama, gatra edisi 25, 1 mei 2006) abdul munir mulkhan, 1992, runtuhnya mitos politik santri, (yogyakarta: sipres), h.3. robert k. merton, 1957, social theory and social structure, (chicago, the free press of glencoe); lihat juga talcot parsons, 1951, the social system, (chicago, free press) http://islamlib.com/id/index.php?page=article&id=516, arskal salim, daya hidup isu syariat dalam politik. di akses tanggal 19 mei 20015 [ 268 ] al-albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 badingsanak banjar-dayak: religious identity and ethnic economy in south kalimantan yogyakarta: crcs-ugm, 2015 by: author: mujiburrahman, alfisyah, ahmad syadzali reviewed by: septian utut sugiatno (pontianak state college of islamic studies) tianseptian66@yahoo.co.id the dayak-banjar relationship is tied up by the myth of the origins of the kinship (badingsanak) between the sandayuhan (origins of the meratus dayak people) and bambang basiwara (origins of the banjar), but in its development, this issue attracted the attention of some researchers to uncover the beginning of the relationship between these two ethnic groups. this is described by mujiburrahman, et al., in the book badingsanak banjar-dayak: religious identity and ethnic economy in south kalimantan. according to alfani daud (1997: 1-4) as quoted by mujiburrahman et al., in light of the great similarities between the banjar and malay languages, it is possible that the banjar ancestors were descendants of the ethnic malay who, in the past thousands of years, immigrated from sumatra and the surrounding areas in this region. he assumed that meratus were descendants of earlier malay immigrants, who were driven away by later malay immigrants. the latter then became the core group of the banjar. radam (1995), as quoted mujiburrahman et al., put forward a more complex theory of banjar origin, taking into account two hypotheses. first, the melting pot hypothesis. according to this hypothesis, banjar people are the end result of mix between various tribes, such as ngaju, maanyan, lawangan, bukit, malays, bugis, javanese, etc. in this case, malays play a major role in the process of immersing the various tribes. second, the local genius hypothesis. according to this hypothesis, the community of bukit people in coastal areas or alluvial plains of south kalimantan is the predecessor of banjar people. the bukit people then came into contact with malay merchants. through the influence of the malays, the coastal hill people then developed themselves from collecting societies into a more organized society in a tribal society. these are the predecessors of the banjar people. [ 269 ] al -albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 according to mujiburrahman et al, as described in this book, it is suggested that some of the theories mentioned above assume that banjar and meratus have the same language and the same origin or common ancestors. however, the question that must be answered next is that despite having similarities in some respects, the two ethnic groups call themselves with different names. in this case mujiburrahman et al, suspected religious differences are the main cause of it. banjar people generally convert to islam, whereas meratus still adhere to the beliefs of their ancestors, or embrace christianity. (p.29) apart from the general response inherent in the community, at least it is not the only reason which separates these two ethnic groups. another reason is that if the meratus embrace islam, then they are considered to be a banjar. the statement that has been rooted in this society also further widens the fact that islam is the majority in south kalimantan. in contrast, the meratus whoc settle in the mountains makes a significant difference in this context. therefore an impression arises if banjar people are muslims. their residence in a city, full of important access to meet the necessities of life such as education, health, and power. as for the meratus people, to meet the needs of life a little bit harder compared to the majority of banjar people in the city. this is what makes the difference striking for both. due to the fulfillment of life needs, banjar people eventually work more as traders, businessmen or civil servants. in contrast, the meratus work more as farmers, rubber tappers, and jobs that use forest products as their main sustenance. the uniqueness of statement after statement that identifies the identity of the the meratus and the banjar mentioned earlier is not a mere illusion. this statement is corroborated by a story that developed among the meratus people, as quoted by mujiburrahman, et al., tsing (1998: 75-80) found a story developed among the meratus people who explain ethnic differences with the banjar. according to this story, the origin of the banjar and the meratus is from the descendants of two brothers, ayuh or sandayuhan, while the younger brother was bambangwara. ayuh was the ancestor of the the meratus, while bambang basiwara the ancestor of the banjar. in the story, ayuh was a lazy, stupid and undisciplined person, so he never succeeded in achieving wealth or power. instead, bambang basiwara was a diligent and intelligent man, so he achieved success in his life. god blessed these two brothers each a holy book. instead of reading it, ayuh even ate it. therefore, the banjar religion has a holy book, the meratus religion has no written sources. in this story, the assumption [ 270 ] al-albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 is clearly illustrated that the banjar people are higher than the meratus. however tsing immediately noted that how ambitious the meratus figures were when mentioning this story, sometimes they bring up some of bambang’s character in ayuh. (pp. 29-30). however, all of the above statements and stories come from one source that has become part of the past. the period itself will change from time to time depending on the social, economic, and cultural conditions that developed in the people of south kalimantan in particular and indonesia in general. interestingly, as described in this book, although in some ways there is a gap and tends to lead to conflict between these two ethnic groups, but in terms of understanding the myth about the genealogical relationship between prophet muhammad and prophet isa that is badingsanak, both ethnic groups have a view that does not look down on each other. for the dayaks, most of whom are kaharingan followers, it would be all right to regard isa only as a prophet, not a “savior” whose position is very high and incomparable to muhammad as in christian theology. as for the muslim banjar people, saying the two prophets are badinsanak should not mean that both are siblings. as already mentioned, badingsanak can mean having a close relationship. moreover, muhammad is believed to continue the prophethood of isa. in a row of 25 names of apostles known in islam, isa is the 24th apostle, and muhammad the 25th. (p.45) the reality, the myth of badingsanak between the two prophets can be used as a means to resolve the differences of origins between banjar who have been identified as immigrants where the majority follow islam, and dayaks being identified as indigenous people who are kaharingan or christian. this myth affirms the relationship between the dayak and banjar as reflected by the extension of the definition of the bubuhan. currently the term bubuhan is used to refer to social units formed on a new basis outside the blood relation, such as ethnic, religious, and territorial equality. therefore, the dayak people in hulu banyu refer to themselves as the bubuhan dayak hulu banyu, while banjar people call themselves as bubuhan banjar hulu banyu. in the book published by crcs ugm, there are two villages that have different environment. the first village, hulu banyu village, based on population statistics in 2007, the population was 1078 people, consisting of 1053 banjars (98%) and 25 meratus dayaks (2%). thus banjar people are the majority in this village so sometimes people in the region call it “banjar village”. banjar people here are generally economically classified as prosperous. they control the rubber business. in addition they also [ 271 ] al -albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 have public transport vehicles for the loksado-kandangan line. they also trade daily necessities. in the village also stands a hotel with a natural hot water bath which is managed by local hss government, employees are also mostly from banjar people. in contrast, the meratus dayaks generally live near the forest and work as farmers, rubber tappers, and sellers of cinnamon. (pages 42 and 43). however, what is seen in the village of hulu banyu conversely proportional to loksado village which according to statistics in 2007 had a population of 1021 people with a population density of 108 people per km2. 408 were muslims, 490 christians, and 123 of other religious groups. the heterogeneous population composition is of course very possible for the occurrence of conflict caused by differences in the implementation of the teachings or in social relationships. but as described in this book, as observed, there has been no friction of open conflict despite the fact that such conflict will indeed arise if the current balance is disrupted. (p. 72) the description of the two villages has at least provided information that different environments do not trigger open conflict. each village knows its own religious identity and economy. the village of hulu banyu with its majority banjar muslim in that place, does not necessarily take over all types of work there, instead they make adjustments to the environment and the minorities in the village. later in the village of loksado with heterogeneous population seemed to make the competition wide open. but the reality as described in this book, the ‘division’ of livelihoods is a major factor that open conflict does not take place. nevertheless, according to each character of the three religious identities (kaharingan, islam, christianity) as described in this book, it appears that the difference in identity is increasingly highlighted but in general, people all return to the myth of banjar-dayak badingsanak. they believe that their ancestors were brothers. broadly speaking at one point this estrangement and competition are melted instantly. a carefully conducted study and a wise, objective story, this book provides both a picture and a reflection for our heterogeneous society. we are all brothers. perhaps, our ancestors were siblings. in general, this book breaks the myth of banjar-dayak badingsanak. the religious identity and ethnic economy have become a central issue in the local scientific and cultural treasure in south kalimantan in particular and indonesia in general. [ 3 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 migration, balik-islam, and identity formation of muslims in palawan of the philippines raisatul mufahamah uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: raisa.faham@gmail.com sujadi uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: sujadi@uin-suka.ac.id edegar da conceição savio universidade dili, timor leste email: edegar_conceicao@yahoo.com abstract since the 1970s, muslims in mindanao, philippines have had a conflict with the government. the religious-based conflict not only caused deaths but also forced people to migrate from mindanao. one of the targeted places was palawan island. it is situated in the southwest of the philippines – rather far from any other islands in the philippines. it is then called “the last frontier”. this research focuses on studying the reasons for their migration to palawan, philippines and keeping their islamic identities from 1970 to 2001. this research uses a socio-historical and socio-anthropological approaches. survey methods and structured interviews are utilized to complete the literature study as primary or secondary sources. the theory of migration conflict from nancie l. gonzalez is used to analyse the migration in palawan whereas for the analysis of the identity establishment, the theory of collective identity is utilized. as a result, the migration of the muslims of palawan, philippines in 1970-2001 was a complex and recurrent event. the motive of the migration was the conflict in mindanao resulting in economic opportunities in palawan. as for the identity establishment, building the mosque became a symbol and a starting point for the muslim migrant in palawan. they had shared meaning in the phenomenon of balik-islam and their sense of belonging to palawan as an autonomous region muslim mindanao (armm) via plebiscite–referendum for integration into muslim mindanao or not. keywords: internal migration; balik-islam; identity formation. [ 4 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 introduction the philippines is a christian-majority country, where 90% of the population embraces the faith. after christianity, islam is the second major religion with 10-11% of the population. the arrival of the spanish conquerors led to the spread of catholic all over the philippines and brought about marginalized islam. spain that islam had conquered made the spanish keen to spread catholic in the philippines. spain conquered muslims called moro in the philippines (kamlian, 2004). they have been called bangsamoro, a symbol of the muslims’ struggle in the philippines. in the country, bangsamoro consisted of thirteen ethnics – badjao, iranun (ilanun), jama mapun, kalagan, kalibugan, maguindanao, maranao, molbog (melebugnon), palawani, samal, sangil, tausug, and yakan, which have occupied mindanao, sulu, and palawan island (kamlian, 2004). in 1969, the muslims formed moro national liberation federation (mnlf) – a military force which waged war on the philippines government a year after a massacre of the muslim soldier known as jabidah massacre (kuntowijoyo, 1994, p. 18).1 then between 1970 and 1975, there was the first conflict between the muslims and the christians in mindanao (costello, 1981, p. 171). this took hundreds of lives and made the situation more frightening. accordingly, the remaining people preferred to save themselves. one of their choices was to migrate from mindanao to other islands such as manila, quiapo, and palawan. this last island is located southwest of the philippines, which made it disconnected from other parts of the philippines and did not join autonomous region muslim mindanao (armm).2 unfortunately, islamic studies in the philippines are synonymous with subsequent conflicts. this situation led to overlooking studies other than conflicts. this has drawn isaac donoso’s attention who wrote about the “missing link” between the islamic history in the philippines and andalusia (donoso, 2015, pp. 247–273). this hints at the importance of the connection between the migration process and the keeping of islamic identity. during migration, the identity of migrants will change to adapt and accommodate new life. based on the data above, this article focuses on why the muslims of mindanao migrated to palawan and how they kept their islamic identity in a new place from 1970, the starting point of the migration of mindanao muslims to 1 jabidah massacre is the massacre of 28 muslims by the philippines forces. this massacre happened in corregidor island. this incident happened in march 1968. 2 autonomous region muslim mindanao (armm) in an organization in philippines that consists of five provinces, which are basilan (not included isabela city), sulu, tawi-tawi, maguindanao, and lanao del sur. [ 5 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 palawan because of the on-going conflict in mindanao, until 2001, in which the third plebiscite referendum for the muslims who lived in the area other than mindanao to join or not join with mindanao. this research ended in the year of 2001 as there was a rare event which was: the third plebiscite – a referendum for the muslims who lived in the area other than mindanao to join or not join mindanao – took place. this article aims to explain the argument for the migration of south philippines muslims to palawan and to analyse the dynamics of their islamic identity establishment in palawan. therefore, this article uses a socio-historical approach to explain the migration process to palawan chronologically and systematically. in addition, the social anthropological approach is also used to see how the collective identity based shared sense – oneness and “we-ness” that was the glue to their actual experience or their shadows reforms the collective identity and their relationship with other muslims in palawan (snow & corrigall-brown, 2015, p. 175). these approaches complete the historical method of this article the method which consists of four steps: data collection (heuristic), source test (critic/verification), data analysis (interpretation/auffassung), and historical writing (historiography). research about muslims in palawan can be found in the book muslims in the philippines – a magnum opus about muslims in the philippines by cesar adib majul. this book was published by the philippines university press in 1973. this book explains the long history of muslims in the philippines from the sultanate of sulu to the nineteenth century, specifically in mindanao, rather than palawan. also, the making of ethnic and religious conflicts in southeast asia: cases and resolutions (2004) by jamail a. kamlian was published by the center for security and peace studies. the chapter is called “ethnic and religious conflict in the philippines: the bangsamoro experience” and chronologically discusses the struggle of bangsamoro in negotiation with the republic of the philippines’ government and what happened in palawan until 2001. besides, there are also other works about the muslims in palawan. there is a chapter in the book migration and disruptions: toward a unifying theory of ancient and contemporary migrations (2005, university press of florida) edited by brenda j. baker and takeyuki tsuda. the chapter was written by james f. eder (american anthropologist) with the title of “migration and disruption on palawan island, the philippines: a comparison of two cases”. this chapter deals with two migrations which happened in palawan in 1930 by the nomads from luzon and visayan and in 1970 up to the 1980s by muslims. the focus of this chapter using an ethnographic approach is the impact of the development and the change that took place in the two migrations, rather than the process of the muslims migration like in this research. eder also analysed [ 6 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 the social integration between the muslims and the non-muslims there (eder, 2010b, pp. 407–420) (eder, 2010a, pp. 317–332) with his anthropological approach. besides, eder also wrote an article called “ethnic differences, islamic consciousness, and muslim social integration in the philippines” in the journal of minority affairs (2010). this article discussed the muslim ethnics and their differences with other religions in the philippines in general, their plural characters and identities, the root of the conflict in mindanao and the ecumenical nature of palawan, and the social integration of muslims in palawan. lastly, there is one chapter entitled “palawan in the world of islam” in the book palawan and its global connection (2014). oscar evangelista and james eder wrote it to test the muslims population in detail within the scope of global islam using a historical and ethnographic approach about the muslims in puerto princesa, palawan. however, the information about the migration and the dynamic of the palawan muslims’ identity has not been analysed yet– the theme of this research. muslims in palawan under president ramon magsaysay, the philippines was in favour of such national programs as national authority for reforestation and rehabilitation administration (narra), land settlement and development corporation (lasedeco), and economic development corporation (edcor) (gross, 2007, p. 180). these policies caused significant migration to bangsamoro (mindanao, sulu, and palawan) (gross, 2007, p. 109). for example, the population of the christians in mindanao slowly exceeded bangsamoro it can be seen in the following table. table 1. estimated population of muslims and non-muslims in mindanao 1960-1980 muslim population non-muslim population year count percentage count percentage 1960 1.321.060 23 4.364.967 77 1970 1.669.708 21 6.294.224 79 1975 1.798.911 20 7.348.084 80 1980 2.504.332 23 8.400.911 77 source: national economic and development authority of philippines, 1980a to respond to these policies, bangsamoro formed muslim independence movement (mim) in 1968 led by datu udtog matalam. the bangsamoro [ 7 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 demanded that mindanao, sulu, and palawan be released from the control of the philippines government. lately, the word “muslim” was replaced with “mindanao” allowing non-muslims to join the movement (gross, 2007). the following years signed tension between the moro national liberation front (mnlf) and armed forces of the philippines (afp). this signifies that the mentioned-above national integrity approach failed and was replaced with political autonomy or self-governance for bangsamoro after signing the tripoli agreement in 1976 (gross, 2007, p. 91). the agreement was facilitated by the late president of libya, muammar gaddafi, who served as the chairman of the organization of islamic cooperation (oic). as a result, mnlf took down their demands–from demanding independence from the philippines to asking for autonomy for the muslims in mindanao. making the muslim community the center or periphery was negotiated continuously, without exception with the muslim community in palawan. eder sees palawan as peripheral in the context of geography and politics (eder, 2010a, pp. 320–321). palawan is far from the recent center of the philippines’ government, manila. while politically, palawan is far from mindanao and not yet included in the area of autonomous region muslim mindanao (armm). [ 8 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 map of palawan province source: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/sabine-schoppe/publication/232683939/figure/ fig1/as:669003492102148@1536514270425/map-of-palawan-showing-the-municipal-boundaries-and-distribution-of-s-leytensis-blue.ppm historically, palawan was an important region from the invasion of spain in manila and the malay sultanates in sulu. both of them fought one another to conquer palawan because of palawan strategic location despite its island which was far away and periphery (eder & evangelista, 2015a, p. 4). for centuries before spain came, palawan was one of the regions under the islamic influence of borneo and sulu (ocampo, 1985, pp. 77–78). after the independence of the philippines, palawan has been a name of an island, ethnic, and also a province in the philippines. palawan covers an area of 1,703,075 hectares half of the area of mindoro, marinduque, romblon, and palawan (mimaropa) and becomes 5% from the national territory of the philippines. it is the biggest province and the fifth most oversized island of the philippines and is a province in the philippines whose population growth is faster than that of the national population growth of the philippines (2002 philippine statistical yearbook, 24 september 2020). this is going to be explained in the following part. in the 1970s, there were twenty cities in palawan’s census. those cities were aborlan, agutaya, araceli, balabac, bataraza, brooke’s point, busuanga, cagayancillo, coron, cuyo, dumaran, el nido (bacuit), linapacan, magsaysay, narra, puerto princesa (ibukota), quezon, roxas, san vicente, taytay. however, due to the area reorganization until the 1990s, there were already twentyfour cities in the year of two thousand. table 2 shows the comparison of the population growth of palawan and the philippines. table 2: national composition of the population of palawan 1970-1975 1975-1980 1980-1990 1990-1995 1995-2000 philippines 2.8% 2.7% 2.4% 2.3% 2.4% palawan 4.9% 4.4% 3.6% 3.7% 3.6% source: 2002 philippine statistical yearbook the number of muslims in 1970 and 2000 can be seen in the following municipalities as shown in table 3. from the 1970 census, it can be said that there were 7.2% muslims in palawan whereas from the year 2000, there were 6.9% muslims in palawan there is a 0.3 % decrease. [ 9 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 table 3: the population of muslim palawan in each municipality in 1970 and 2000. no munici-pality 1970 2000 total population number of muslims muslims percentage to population total population number of muslims muslims percentage to population 1 aborlan 8,410 129 2% 25,488 258 1% 2 agutaya 4,203 0 10,413 63 1% 3 araceli 4,444 0 10,870 12 0,11% 4 balabac 7,912 5,360 68% 25,231 20,326 81% 5 bataraza 10,176 4,408 43% 41,414 9,761 24% 6 brooke’s point 26,961 3,702 14% 48,900 6,159 13% 7 busuanga 5,905 0 16,287 13 0.08% 8 cayagancillo 3,598 0 6,339 26 0.4% 9 coron 17,852 21 0.11% 32,243 83 0.25% 10 cuyo 12,534 0 18,253 5 0.03% 11 dumaran 5,158 0 16,610 36 0.2% 12 el nido (bacuit) 7,358 0 27,029 31 0.11% 13 linapacan 3,107 0 9,178 0 14 magsaysay 9,840 0 10,883 2 0.01% 15 narra 19,019 112 1% 56,845 909 2% 16 puerto princesa 37,983 278 1% 159,322 2,200 1% 17 quezon 18,735 3,039 16% 41,669 2,060 5% 18 roxas 16,341 20 0.12% 47,221 131 0.27% 19 san vicente 5,179 0 21,654 17 0.07% 20 taytay 11,920 0 53,430 80 0.14% 21 kalayaan 120 0 22 rizal (marcos) 31,697 4,803 15% 23 culion 14,229 7 0.04% 24 sofronio española 26,789 4,847 18% total 236,635 17,069 7,2% 752,114 51,829 6.9% mindanao muslims’ migration to palawan this section discusses how migration from mindanao to palawan (internal migration) took place. there were three categories of muslims ethnics that can be found in palawan. the first was the molbog tribe the native palawan ethnic who embraced islam at the time of sulu sultanate. the tribe inhabited balabac, the southern tip of palawan island. secondly, there were muslims who had been living in palawan since the time of the sulu sultanate, like the [ 10 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 tribe of tausug. third, there were muslims who migrated in 1970 due to a conflict in mindanao which consisted of maranao tribe and samal tribe. from the third group, there were at least two reasons why muslims chose to stay in palawan, i.e.: civil conflict that took place in mindanao and economic reasons. these will be discussed in the following sections. a. migration flow to palawan migration to palawan took place due to the heated socio-political conflict in mindanao where the largest muslim population in philippines had been living. there was an incident in mindanao that resulted in a civil conflict in the country. it was jabidah massacre on 21 march 1968 which led to the massive migration of the christians from the northern and center part to the southern one, i.e.: mindanao. the jabidah massacre was the massacre of some muslim soldiers on corregidor island which was located in bay mouth of manila, the place of a secret project “operation merdeka” (george, 1980, pp. 122–123). this event, then, brought about, for instance, mnlf and mim to send young soldiers to sabah, malaysia for military training by a malaysian professional, which was also supported by the state minister of sabah, tun mustapha bin datu harun (gross, 2007, pp. 184–185). tun mustapha’s reason for helping philippines muslim was that most of the victim of the massacre was from the tausug tribe – a native tribe of tun mustapha. another reason why tun mustapha accepted to train them was that he wanted to put sulu into the area of sabah just like at the time of sulu sultanate. tun mustapha also helped mnlf with weapons supply to that group as libya, under the governance of muammar qaddafi (gross, 2007, p. 185). as a result, there was an inevitable civil war between muslims, nonmuslims, and the government. that not only takes people’s lives, but hundreds of thousands of people should also leave mindanao to find safety. costello argues that the implication of the conflict is not only migration, but also the increase of settlement segregation in mindanao. on most of them chose to migrate out of mindanao, for instance, to palawan (costello, 1985). regarding the choice of palawan, eder mentioned that at least there were two reasons for migrating to the southwest philippines regions (eder, 2015, p. 224). migration had occurred there in the 1930s due to the interest in industrialization and agriculture while another took place in the 1970s due to a conflict in mindanao. the second will be discussed in the following paragraph. there were a few reasons for the migration to palawan triggered by the conflict [ 11 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 in mindanao. first, it was said by one interviewee, abdul haq, that his family decided to move from zamboanga (mindanao) because of the relentless of the civil war, and finally led him to move to palawan (datumanong, 05 august 2021). this decision was taken because in palawan they had relatives who had been living there. the first time of arriving in palawan, his family depended on the help of the relatives they lived with. the immigrants in general already had relatives in palawan. they lived there and their living expenses were borne until they were independent. their link to relatives and friends promoted their migration and helped them to rebuild their lives in a new place (pooley & turnbull, 1998, p. 15). second, another interviewee, norfatimah sunggod, said that some muslims families from lanao del sur and maranao tribe (mindanao) who migrated to palawan aimed to look for a job and economic chance (sunggod, 10 august 2021). they migrated to palawan, whether directly or had transit first to other places, because they considered it more conducive even though most of the people were non-muslims (omar, 12 august 2021). b. the migrants in palawan the palawan island was a home for the pa’lawan tribe who had not known any religion along with molbog tribe, the natives from balabac island, the southern tip of palawan island (eder, 2015, p. 226). this last tribe had accepted islam since the time of the sulu sultanate. it was known that the southern tip of palawan was included in the sulu empire. in the time, there were tausug tribe, jama mapun, and other muslim tribes from mindanao and sulu in palawan (eder, 2015, p. 229). datu alimuddin governed the south area of palawan and made it into a commerce area (warren, 1981, p. 138). palawan’s famous commodity at that time was paddy. it would be exchanged with coconut oil and woven pandanus. the muslims were centered in the south of palawan. this was a mix of muslim migrants who had stayed from generation to generation and the muslims who had just migrated from the 1970s and after. then, there was jama mapun tribe who came from cagayan de sulu (now it is known as cagayan de tawi-tawi). the muslim tribes in palawan generally played a role making palawan a trade route at the time of the sulu sultanate (casiño, 1976). for example, muslim tribes such as tausug who came from sulu island became bureaucrats and merchants in palawan (warren, 1981, pp. 137–138). the people of palawan consist of muslims, christians, and atheists. the muslims in palawan consists of the native palawan people who accepted islam when palawan was still part of the sulu empire, the only one in this category [ 12 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 was molbog tribe who lives in balabac island, the southern tip of palawan island. besides, some muslim migrants came to palawan from the time of sulu sultanate to the middle of the 20th century. they included the tribe of tausug, jama mapun, maranao, and pangutaran/bisaya. then the last category was the native people of palawan and the christians who embraced islam and were called as balik-islam. this phenomenon of balik-islam will be explained later in chapter four. c. migration motives the migrants went to palawan using boats that were called lancha. sometimes cruises were cancelled due to the high waves that hit sulu. lail (informant, 43 years old) still remembers that her travel took a day and a night from cagayan de sulu to palawan with ₱500 for the ticket for adults and ₱300 for children. now, it costs at least ₱1500 from cagayan de sulu to palawan, said lail. the following is the result of interviews with a few informants. lail and his brother, hadi (37 years old) were born to a father from java, indonesia, and a mother from the tausug tribe, mapun island, cagayan de sulu tawi-tawi philippines. according to lail, his father first came at the time of the second world war: “i have a father from indonesia. he is javanese. he has a father (lail’s grandfather) who was famous, like a village chief in jakarta. in the second world war, my father was sent by jepun (japan). because he was fluent in arabic, he let people know (teach) and people liked him. at the time, he wanted to marry for the second time, and my mother wanted him also. father has two wives. i have a mother who is an old ancestor of tausug, she was called dayang-dayang (princess). she has royal blood. if you talk to haji zainuddin here, people will know. that is why if you are smart in religion and arabic, you will have the same respect as my father. my father teaches the quran in mapun and palawan (sahid, 15 august 2021).” the migrations that were conducted by lail’s family is called a return migration. [ 13 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 lancha boat source: fb manilla bulletin lifestyle different from the other informant, ria (62 years old) now lives in sofronio española. she came to palawan when she was 30. she lived there using her savings before she found a job. together with ten family members which include her parents, husband, and her siblings, she left mapun for palawan in 1989. then, jean (33 years old), born in zamboanga del sur, migrated to palawan when she was five years old with her parents in 1993. jean came from the tribe of sama pangutaran/bisaya. however, palawan was not their first destination. in three previous years, her family lived in jolo. the reason why they migrated was because of the conflict that took place in mindanao. other than palawan, she thinks there were a few other locations such as cagayan de tawi-tawi, tawi-tawi province, and visayan area. they already had a family who lived in palawan. this family were the one who provided for them for a while before they got a job. when asked whether she still had any contact with the family from mindanao, she explained that most of her family had migrated to palawan and other regions in the philippines. in 1994, fat (29 years old) must live apart from her father who moved from lanao del sur to brooke’s point, palawan. she was only two years old at the time. she and her mother still lived in lanao because his mother worked as a middle school teacher. she, along with his mother and two brothers, moved to palawan in 2002. fat explained the reason why her father first migrated to palawan: [ 14 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 “when he was still 24 years old, my father went to palawan because he wanted to look for a job for our little family. he worked hard to have an income. together with a family of his friends, he opened a roadside store that grew from time to time (sunggod, 14 august 2021).” fat herself could memorize the condition of lanao del sur, despite her life in palawan. her family had to go shopping for daily life in the city once a week. her homeland in maranao, lanao del sur was undeveloped. transportation to the town was still limited at that time. there, his father could not get a good job so that his father decided to leave and go to palawan. establishing palawan muslim identity this chapter explain the existence of mosque, balik-islam, and plebiscite – muslim collective identity in palawan. mosque became an effort and a symbol of establishing muslim migrants’ identity in palawan. at the same time, balikislam phenomenon shows that there was a collective identity which shared meaning among palawan muslims with all of the muslims in the philippines. lastly, the plebiscite which was a voting mechanism to decide whether palawan muslims wanted to be a part of autonomous region muslim mindanao (armm) or not. a. islamic teaching in mosques akiko watanabe explained that at least two functions of the mosque built among the muslim migrants in manila were there. first, the government built a mosque as a political symbol even though there was no muslim community there. accordingly, a muslim community was gradually created there. secondly, a mosque was built independently by the muslim migrants who had long lived in the area (watanabe, 2008, p. 3). in puerto princesa, the capital of palawan province, muslim migrants worked together to build mosques (eder & evangelista, 2015b, p. 111). there is still no exact data on numbers of mosques in palawan, but there was, at least, research about some mosques in the capital of palawan. the first mosque that was built in puerto princesa in 1977 was abad santos mosque which was initiated by hadji sirad from the tausug tribe. the second one, dawwah mosque, was built in 1991 when the immigrants from maranao tribe came to palawan and formed a community in san pedro in the 1980s. then the third mosque, alfarouq which was also a school was inaugurated in 1994. interestingly, the donation for constructing the third mosque came from an [ 15 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 indonesian general. he donated about 100.000 thousand american dollars to buy the land of this mosque. al-farouq was located in barangay sicsican, palawan. but mosques were built only because of the growing population which needs mosques. the fourth mosque, al-akhdar, was built in 2002 for such a reason (eder & evangelista, 2015b, pp. 120–123).3 this mosque was established for any tribe. consecutively in 2003 and 2007, mosques were also built. behind this construction of these mosques was a story of how mindanao muslim migrants organized themselves despite of the difference in their ethnicity. migration and mosque are interesting phenomena that can be found in the community of muslim migrants in the philippines (watanabe, 2008). islamic activities in palawan were centred in mosques. mosque was not only a place to pray five times a day, but to have friday prayer, eid alfitr, and eid aladha. but learning activities were also held there, mainly arabic and quranic chapters memorization – there has not been any attempt to lecture about the wearing of hijab (head covering) (omar, 24 september 2021). these islamic activities are the wish of the community to provide islamic teaching not only for adults but also for their children (eder & evangelista, 2015b, p. 129). this differs from the conditions in mindanao where informal education had been there while in palawan such education did not grow (eder & evangelista, 2015b, p. 132). up to now, islamic teaching like memorizing quran and learning arabic is still held in mosques and take place on holidays or long holidays like sunday school in churches. abad santos mosque: the first mosque built by mindanao migrants in puerto princesa. january 4, 2008 source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/musa_abuaisha/2273135733 3 i had contacted eder to obtain the information about the indonesian general who donated this mosque. but unfortunately, he did not know. [ 16 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 recently, rather than in the mosques, palawan muslims prefer to put arabic language and islamic values education (alive) in schools. therefore, the availability of the alive teachers is also considered by armm as an agency that handles the implementation of the idea. palawan state university became one institution that provides teachers training and offers elementary school teachers with arabic and islamic studies concentration (eder & evangelista, 2015b, p. 133). b. balik-islam balik-islam has been a growing phenomenon in the philippines, no exception in palawan. balik-islam is a term for the christians who embraced islam. balikislam is also called mualaf. balik-islam refers to people who weren’t islam before, then embraced the religion. however, in the context of the philippines, the muslims in palawan believe that people there are initially muslims. still, because of the political “condition” – the successive colonization from spain to america, they left islam. they assumed if there was not any colonization, most people would embrace islam. however, luis lacar is confused about this phenomenon. he wonders how we can classify a person who does not know islam, born from christian parents, baptized in the church, and goes to a church regularly as a revert (balik-islam) when they embraced islam – they are not considered a convert, as though they already accepted islam, then converted, and then re-embraced islam (eder & evangelista, 2015b, p. 42). balik-islam came up in conjunction with the conflict in mindanao in the 1970s (eder & evangelista, 2015b). from 1970 to 1998, lacar notes there were at least 498 christians who converted to islam in palawan – the muslims there call them balik-islam (2001, p. 41). nevertheless, this term at least has a historical-sociological root in the muslim community in the philippines. they believe they are back to their first and original religion after they were “separated by a mistake in history”. they have no control over the force of the colonial government (lacar, 2001). the jamaah tabligh, a congregation that scripturally exercises the prophet’s da‘wa model, supposes that if there were not any imperialism in the 16th century, the philippines would be a muslim majority country (lacar, 2001, pp. 41–42). instead to be called “convert”, those who embraced islam are happier to be called “balik-islam” or “revert”. according to lacar, they are displeased to be called converters (lacar, 2001). the religious leaders from jamaah tabligh4 who converted those people also called them balik-islam. 4 jamaah tabligh is an islamic missionary movement which was established in india in 1926 m. [ 17 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 the balik-islam phenomenon happened a lot. from 1970-1998, lacar noted that at least 498 christians embraced islam or balik-islam in palawan (lacar, 2001, p. 41). while at the end of the 1990s, there were at least 3700 balikislam who were known in a few provinces, such as lanao del sur (including marawi city and malabang), lanao del norte (including iligan city), north and south palawan (including puerto princesa, balabac, bataraza, narra, aborlan, san vicente, and taytay) (lacar, 2001, p. 43), zamboanga (norte and sur), cotabato city, general santos, sultan kudarat, and davao. in puerto princesa, there is a non-profit organization called “balik-islam foundation” which is managed and operated by the balik-islams who serve its’ members economic or religious needs (lacar, 2001). from the phenomenon of balik-islam which happened in palawan, it can be seen that palawan muslims have a collective identity which is the same as mindanao muslims. this phenomenon confirmed what snow had written that common origin, colonisation, then “history mistake” as a destiny based the feeling of we-ness that forced the palawan muslims not only to spread islam, but also to do collective agency to form an organization to help the revert. c. plebiscite: integration with the government on 23 december 1976, imelda romuáldez marcos, as a representative from the philippines government, sat with ali abdussalam treki, signed the tripoli agreement in libya. this agreement was facilitated by libya’s leader at the time, muammar qaddafi. the point of this agreement was a ceasefire between the mnlf military and the government of the philippines. then on 25 march 1977 president marcos made a presidential decree no. 1628 which was an instrument to form an autonomous area in the south philippines. the decree was signed at the national palace of malacañang, philippines (proclamation no. 1628, s. 1977, 2021). the tripoli agreement failed because of three reasons (suaedy, 2018, p. 241). firstly, president marcos divided mindanao into two regions whereas mnlf in the agreement was in favour of clause that the autonomous area of mindanao consisted of 13 areas such as lanao del norte, lanao del sur, north cotabato, south cotabato, maguindanao, sultan kudarat, davao del sur, zamboanga del norte, zamboanga del sur, basilan, sulu, tawi-tawi, and palawan as a single autonomous area unit. secondly, the central government forced a referendum5 for each of the areas, despite no such a referendum in the tripoli agreement. words like “to be discussed later” and “to be fixed later” 5 referendum or plebiscite in the philippines is a voting mechanism of yes or no to decide for an issue. [ 18 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 became a boomerang for bangsamoro in the future. thirdly, marcos used datu to undermine nur misuari’s leadership in mnlf which also resulted in the weakening of mnlf. such situation worsened when president marcos insisted on holding a plebiscite or referendum because the majority of the people in those thirteen provinces did not embraced islam. on the other side, the mnlf objected to the plebiscite because it was not in the tripoli agreement. this plebiscite brought about a conflict between bangsamoro and the government of the philippines republic. to follow up on the decision of president marcos, the first plebiscite was held on 17 april 1977. the result of the plebiscite was as follows: 90%: lanao del sur, sulu, and tawi-tawi; 70%: basilan, north cotabato; < 50%: lanao del norte, maguindanao, sultan kudarat; and < 20%: zamboanga del norte, zamboanga del sur, south cotabato, davao del sur, and palawan. the result of this plebiscite was set in republic laws no. 6734 on 1 august 1989. only four regions joined armm which were: lanao del sur province (except marawi city), sulu, tawi-tawi, and basilan. it is obvious that the plebiscite held by the philippines government and was not mentioned in the tripoli agreement was unfavourable to bangsamoro. the people at least 18 years old in the provinces or municipalities deserved the right to choose in the referendum. if in a province or municipality the number of muslims was not more than that of non-muslims, it would be sure that the result of the plebiscite was to disintegrate with the armm. on the other side, palawan as high urbanized city (huc), which consisted of 23 municipalities and 1 capital, was the only province opted for the plebiscite. in contrast, other municipalities, especially in south palawan where its people were mostly muslims, were not given a chance to hold a plebiscite. accordingly, the plebiscite resulted in the disintegration of the armm. furthermore, there was almost no difference when the second plebiscite was held in 2001. based on the presidential decree no. 9054, only two regions were opted, i.e.: palawan province and puerto princesa. “the plebiscite shall be conducted in the provinces of basilan, cotabato, davao del sur, lanao del norte, lanao del sur, maguindanao, palawan, sarangani, south cotabato, sultan kudarat, sulu, tawi-tawi, zamboanga del norte, zamboanga del sur and the newly created province of zamboanga sibugay, and (b) in the cities of cotabato, dapitan, dipolog, general santos, iligan, kidapawan, marawi, pagadian, puerto princesa, digos, koronadal, tacurong and zamboanga.” four regions that had already decided to integrate with the armm in the [ 19 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 first plebiscite remained there but with different sets of questions such as the following: “do you vote in favor of the amendments to republic act no. 6734, the organic act for the autonomous region in muslim mindanao, as proposed under this organic act, which includes, among other things, the expansion of the area of the autonomous region?” while other than those four regions, the question posed was: “do you vote in favor of the inclusion of your province or city in the autonomous region in muslim mindanao?” the result of this plebiscite was the province of palawan and puerto princesa refused to join. on the paper, there were only seven percent of muslims in palawan and one percent in puerto princesa. it was apparent that for the second time, palawan and puerto princesa rejected to join armm. the result of the plebiscite above shows that palawan muslims chose to integrate with the people’s government. so, it was understandable if the relationship there between muslims and non-muslims was peaceful. they tolerated one another. eder even argues that they had so close social relationships that muslims came to the religious activity in the church (eder, 2010a, p. 328). the integration of palawan muslims can happen because economically and politically they had the same background as the nonmuslims in palawan (eder, 2010a) – the phenomenon of balik-islam proved it. in this case, lacar notes at least 498 christians embraced islam or balikislam in palawan (lacar, 2001, p. 41). conclusion migrations of mindanao muslims to palawan in the 1970s could not be separated from the political and religious conflict in mindanao. the flow of the migration afterwards showed that economic factors as well as family and friend ties became the main reasons for the muslims to move to palawan. in the new place they made efforts to establish their identity using the following media: mosques, the memory of balik-islam, and plebiscite. palawan muslims used mosques to learn the basics of islam and overcome the lack of islamic education in traditional schools. then, balik-islam and plebiscite represented that palawan muslims were a collective part of mindanao muslims who had shared meaning which was “narrative bonding” to their view of islam. uniquely, in the context of plebiscite, the narrative bonding as muslims from mindanao did not appear even though the plebiscites were conducted more than once – they rejected joining mindanao. they chose to integrate with the local people. [ 20 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 bibliograpy casiño, e. s. (1976). the jama mapun: a changing samal society in the southern philippines. ateneo de manila university press. costello, m. a. (1981). residential segregation and intergroup conflict: lanao del sur, 1970-1975. philippine studies, 29(3), 171. donoso, i. (2015). the philippines and al-andalus linking the edges of the classical islamic world. philippine studies: historical & ethnographic viewpoints, 63(2), 247–273. eder, j. f. (2010a). ethnic differences, islamic consciousness, and muslim social integration in the philippines. journal of muslim minority affairs, 30(3), 317–332. eder, j. f. (2010b). muslim palawan diversity and difference on the periphery of philippine islam. philippine studies, 58(3), 407–420. eder, j. f. (2015). migration and disruption on palawan island, the philippines. in b. j. baker & t. tsuda (eds.), migration and disruptions: toward a unifying theory of ancient and contemporary migrations. university press of florida. eder, j. f., & evangelista, o. l. (2015a). palawan and its global connections. ateneo de manila university press. eder, j. f., & evangelista, o. l. (2015b). palawan in the world of islam. in j. f. eder & o. l. evangelista (eds.), palawan and its global connections. ateneo de manila university press. george, t. j. s. (1980). revolt in mindanao: the rise of islam in philippine politics. oxford university press. gross, m. l. (2007). a muslim archipelago: islam and politics in southeast asia. national defense intelligence college. kamlian, j. a. (2004). ethnic and religious conflicts in philippines: the bangsamoro experience. in the making of ethnic and religious conflicts in southeast asia: cases and resolutions (pp. 89–137). csps books. kuntowijoyo. (1994). between mosque and market: the muslim community in quiapo, metro manila. studia islamika: indonesian journal for islamic studies, i(3), 18. lacar, l. q. (2001). balik-islam: christian converts to islam in the philippines, c. 1970-98. journal of islam and christian-muslim relations, 12(1). [ 21 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 ocampo, n. s. (1985). katutubo, muslim, kristiyano: palawan 1621-1901. bahay-saliksikan ng kasaysayan. pooley, c. g., & turnbull, j. (1998). migration and mobility in britain since the eighteenth century. routledge. snow, d. a., & corrigall-brown, c. (2015). collective identity. in j. d. wright (ed.), international encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (ii). elsevier. suaedy, a. (2018). islam, minorities and identity in southeast asia. inklusif and isais. warren, j. f. (1981). the sulu zone 1768-1898: the dynamics of external trade, slavery, and ethnicity in the transformation of southeast asian maritime state. singapore university press. watanabe, a. (2008). migration and mosques: the evolution and transformation of muslim communities in manila, the philippines. afrasian centre for peace and development studies. internet sources: proclamation no. 1628, s. 1977. (2021). cdasia. https://www.officialgazette. gov.ph/1977/03/25/proclamation-no-1628-s-1977/ https://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/mapsonline/base-maps/palawan-island https://bch.bangsamoro.gov.ph/bangsamoro-cultural-heritage/bangsamoro-tribes-muslim/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/musa_abuaisha/2273135733 https://www.flickr.com/photos/starcatch/2148423049 https://www.refworld.org/docid/53d9072c14.html http://www.palawan.gov.ph/geninfo.php. https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2002%20psy.pdf. https://psa.gov.ph/content/1970-cph-palawan. https://psa.gov.ph/content/1980-census-pop-city-mun-brgy-palawan. https://psa.gov.ph/content/1990-cph-palawan. https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/palawan.pdf. [ 22 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.2597 [ 179 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 religious consistency and commitment to local tradition within the bawakareng community in indonesia’s south sulawesi mustaqim pabbajah universitas teknologi yogyakarta, indonesia e-mail mustaqim_pabbajah@uty.ac.id abstract islam and local traditions have been struggling dynamically as seen in the reality of the social and religious life in the indonesian context. this study aims to reaffirm the relationship between religion and local traditions by observing the consistency of south sulawesi’s bawakaraeng community in practicing both islam and local traditions. this work is based on data collected through observation, interviews, and literature studies with a qualitative descriptive analysis approach. the results of this study show three findings. first, the bawakaraeng community, represented by some people of buginese and macassarese ethnic groups, still believes that a local mountain is the center of a ritual to get closer to the creator. second, the community has not only a strong consistency in the practice of islamic teachings, but also a high commitment to maintaining local traditions, as practiced by bawakaraeng community members. third, religious consistency and a commitment to local traditions are practiced simultaneously through worshiping rituals such as prayers, remembrances, alms, and the pilgrimage activities (qurban-scarification) and tawaf). thus, the islamic spirits are being practiced consistently and continuously within the community’s local context. this study suggests further undiscovered research on local communities using a contextual approach. keywords: religious consistency, commitment, local tradition, bawakaraeng. introduction buginese and macassarese are the two major ethnic groups in south sulawesi with not only strong consistency in the practice of islamic teachings, but also high commitment to maintaining local traditions, such as the ammatoa community in kajang (hasan & nur, 2019; maarif, 2014), andaya, 2019; iman et al., 2018), maudu’ lompoa in jeneponto (rahim, 2020; yamin et al., 2019), tolotang in sidrap (jubba et al., 2019; qodir, 2013; rusli, 2012); bissu in pangkep (adnan, 2018); “bride-price” in bone (juhansar, 2018); haji bawakaraeng in gowa (idris, 2017; pabbajah, 2012; palippui, 2016), and other local communities that have maintained their beliefs and traditions since being [ 180 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 introduced to islam. that research shows how the two ethnic groups commit to not only maintain islamic teachings but local traditions as well. databoks (2019) shows the number of the local religion adherents in indonesia reached seven hundred thousand people1 or 0.13% of the indonesian population (270 million people)2. therefore, the existence of local religious adherents, as a minority and the cultural capital of the indonesian nation, is still needed to study from various perspectives. studies on religion and local traditions have been carried out by experts and scholars using various methods. the existing studies can be applied to three trends: first, the dynamics of religious and cultural relations of the local community (haryanto, 2015; hasan, 2016; muallifin, 2019; muqoyyidin, 2013; wekke, 2013); second, religious construction of local culture (lichterman, 2008; rozi, 2013; hartney& tower, 2016) and religious and cultural contestation as well as religious identity contestation (jubba et al., 2020; pabbajah et al., 2019; arifin et al., 2019). religion and ethnicity play central roles in the identity dynamics of multi-ethnic indonesian communities (prasojo et al., 2019); and third and finally, the compromise of the religion and customs of the local community (aziza, 2017; roibin, 2012; solihah, 2019; jubba et al., 2018). religion and culture are also seen in the integrative aspect of solving social problems (indiyanto & kuswanjono, 2012; tule, 2014). indeed, religion and culture have had a long relationship with harmonious contestation within the dynamics of social change. this study is a response to previous studies concerning religious consistency and the commitment to maintain the tradition of the local community in south sulawesi. accordingly, this study addresses three questions. first, what are the motivations of the buginese and macassarese ethnic groups in the islamic and local traditional ritual practices at mount bawakaraeng? second, how strong is the commitment of the buginese and macassarese people in preserving tradition? third, how is the influence of religion (islam) in line with local traditions of buginese and macassarese ethnic groups as practiced by the bawakaraeng community? the three questions will be examined in this study. this study makes three assertions concerning the consistency and the commitment of the community in religious and local traditions and practices. first, indonesia as a multicultural country having strong religious beliefs proves the inevitable intersection of religion and local tradition. second, both religion and local traditions go hand-in-hand according to community 1 databoks.katadata.co.id 2 kompas.com [ 181 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 consistency and commitment. third, it is well-known that the buginesemacassarese people are identical with their strong religiosity in the practice of islam; however, some others still have a high commitment to maintaining the practices of local tradition (attoriolong). indeed, these three assumptions are going to be tested in the discussion of this study. consistency in islam consistency is closely related to the self-concept that will influence the principles taken. someone who holds fast to basic principles is classified as someone with self-consistency. this means the person already has a positive self-concept. one positive self-concept is to apply discipline in one’s life (leonard, 2015). related to religious principles, someone who embraces a religion has consistency and discipline in carrying out religious teachings. values of religious teachings are expected to occupy an inner void in each person so that they can then make the right choice of behavior (in accordance with religious norms and teachings) and avoid deviant behavior (sahrudin, 2017). likewise, religion becomes a person’s social control in behavioral and social interaction. essentially this proves humans cannot be separated from the social aspects of religion as a social behavior. it is in our nature to be social creatures that synergize with each other. religion becomes a human need to interact and carry out commands as servants of god (saputro & rois, 2016). one example is the evidence of increased social control in dealing with corrupt behavior, guided by religious teachings (khodijah, 2018). thus, religious consistency is holding firm to a religious principle and carrying it out in a disciplined manner per social norms. religious consistency for muslim communities in indonesia can be observed in the celebration of islamic holidays. these islamic celebrations in practice are colored by local traditions. indonesia, as a multicultural and pluralistic nation, shows how its people practice islamic teachings hand-in-hand with local traditions. (abdullah et al., 2019). it indicates the existence of dialogue and the “give and take” relationship between islam and the local culture (masduki, 2019). studies on islam and local culture have been carried out looking at socio-religious adaptation and dialectics (arifai, 2018; lutfi, 2016; muqoyyidin, 2013; prasetawati & asnawi, 2018; sriyanto, 2016). similarly, religious and local traditions practices are carried out simultaneously (alamri & haramain, 2017; sakirman, 2016; sujati, 2020; wekke, 2013). it proves that in indonesia, islam and local traditions are consistently practiced handin-hand and influence each other. [ 182 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 mount bawakaraeng: “qibla” pilgrimage for the buginesemacassarese community motivation for visiting bawakaraeng every human being carries out a job based on certain motives. as human thought develops, human desire does too. the number and type of necessities in life grow with desire. in addition to basic needs of clothing, food, and housing, humans also try to fulfill other life needs, such as recreation, health, security or safety, communication, and/or relationships with others, and more (nuttin, 2014). correspondingly, some people of south sulawesi, view local mount bawakaraeng as an important place to fulfill the necessities of life. thus, at certain times throughout each year there are people visiting mount bawakaraeng based on several different motivations. first, is a tour carried out by many young people, especially nature-loving students from campuses in macassarese city. this trip is considered an ordinary trip or picnic to see the view of nature from the top of the mountain. the younger generation tends to utilize nature, especially mountainous areas, for physical exercise, recreation, and/or tourism. this can be proven in everyday life, with groups of nature loving students passing through certain roads with complete facilities and equipment in order to climb mountains. mount bawakaraeng is usually a favorite destination for climbing. as quoted from an interview with one of visitors: our arrival here (bawakaraeng) is a form of love for nature and this has become a routine activity for nature lover students on our campus. climbing to the top of bawakaraeng itself is an achievement that we are proud of when we get to the top and enjoy the beautiful natural scenery (dk, interviewed in 2016). from this statement, it can be understood the arrival of students to bawakaraeng, representing all youth, is a symbol of pride. although the bawakaraeng hiking trail is extreme to undertake, the enthusiasm of students to visit is very high. in their view, the journey to the peak is a grand achievement, and there are even some communities that provide certificates for students who reach the top safely. the second motivation is to find sacred objects in the bawakaraeng area. this is done usually in shamanic practices that still maintain a mystical belief in the mountain. in a part of the community, there is a belief that bawakaraeng is a place where spirits live, and consequently has a lot of mystical aurae. among the visitors who come for this reason, are middle-aged people who believe in myths and shamanistic practices. as stated by one of the following visitors: [ 183 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 bawakaraeng is not an ordinary mountain. there are many relics that can be used for the good of humans. the relics can even be used to cure diseases. if you find an object when you travel to bawakaraeng, it must be saved later, and it will be of some use because there is someone putting it down (rp, interviewed in 2017). the second motivation for undertaking this trip shows that the incentive of some people to visit mount bawakaraeng is not for the beauty of nature as the first group’s incentive. this incentive is quite relevant to this paper because people maintaining their belief in traditional mysticism has to have been passed down for generations and centuries. hence, there are still some who believe that mount bawakaraeng stores various kinds of mystic relics that can be used for human interests, especially for the treatment of diseases. likewise, they believe in the ingredients for natural medicines and antidotes can be found here by looking for plants considered to bring fortune and other objects related to a healthy life. those who travel for this purpose are commonly referred to and recognized by the community as sanro or shaman. their number is minimal when compared to visitors who intend to partake in recreation/entertainment and those who are motivated by worship. they are not bound by time constraints when visiting mount bawakaraeng and can thus travel whenever they want. however, some of them have double motivations, in addition to sanrojappa, to carry out worship or vice versa. in other words, this trip is closer to the motivation of shamanism. in buginese and macassarese languages, it is called sanro (shaman). third is the motivation to travel as a guide to bring visitors to the top of bawakaraeng. the journey to the top of mount bawakaraeng is not an easy journey, and requires physical and mental readiness. there are several paths or trailheads for hiking trails, where each entry has a guide commonly referred to as pinati. it is stated by one representative of the tinggi moncong sub-district government as follows: people who become pinati, like that, are usually residents who live around the slopes of mount bawakaraeng, such as lembanna, kanreapia, manipi, and other villages around bawakaraeng. they serve more visitors who go on regular trips. they become guides, and they help visitors to bring equipment, such as tents, haversack, food supplies, and so on (gs, interviewed in 2015) according to the pinati, visitors who intend to carry out worship are usually members of a congregation. with this understanding, pinati usually tries to find as many members as possible in advance of the trip. therefore, according [ 184 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 to the tinggi moncong sub-district head, the congregation of visitors to mount bawakaraeng consists of many groups, depending on how many pinatis are with them. the fourth is a religious trip to the summit of mount bawakaraeng. this is closely related to what is being studied in this study. it is related to the beliefs of some people who visit with worship motives. the practice of worship is inseparable from the existence of a teaching or belief in some islamic communities in south sulawesi. one visitor who was contacted stated: people who came for worship between the years 2010-2013 from macassarese consisted of several groups. each group has its own interests, for example a group led by puang wali from pangkep of approximately 230 people and other regional groups, such as bulukumba, sinjai, gowa, maros, and other regions with their respective members. (dj, interviewed in 2015). the role of pinati is very central in the process of worship, in addition to being a guide, pinati must take full responsibility for each member of the group that they guide. likewise, pinati have a dual purpose. in addition to guiding worshipers, they worship and seek blessings on mount bawakaraeng (pabbajah, 2012). with the practice of worship carried out on bawakaraeng, it shows the commitment of the community in preserving the traditions inherited from their ancestors, even though the majority have embraced islam, they clearly still maintain their traditions. the influence of islam on the ritual tradition on mount bawakaraeng the arrival of islam in indonesia has generally resulted in a shift in local traditions. the strong penetration of islam into local culture has been shown by various studies. in the context of islam in the padang sidempuan of batak community, for example, elements in panaek bungkulan that are mystical and superstitious have been deemed incompatible with sharia rule, and have been ruled to be eliminated. other ritual elements, if they can be communicated clearly and do not damage the faith, can still be carried out (harahap, 2015). this is felt by the bawakaraeng community, which have a tradition of rituals practiced on mount bawakaraeng that visibly do not damage the islamic faith. however, various challenges effectively integrating traditions have been experienced with the penetration of islam. followers of the bawakaraeng tradition are sometimes condemned as polytheists and even apostates. some of the followers have been arrested and then taken to the local authorities [ 185 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 because they were considered as advocates of a misleading tarekat. in the 1960s, this tradition was totally banned by di / tii, and anyone caught on bawakaraeng for a ritual or pilgrimage would be arrested. some of them were even sentenced to death (pabbajah, 2012). the interviews and observations carried out in this study found three important influences of islam on the ritual tradition on mount bawakaraeng as follows: first is the historical significance and subsequent construction of sheikh yusuf ’s visit. his adherents are convinced that this is the place where sheikh yusuf, the guardian of islamic propagation in south sulawesi, lived. thus, they feel amazed and connected to the greatness of sheikh yusuf through mythological stories that are hereditary and passed down through generations, and they practice his teachings on mount bawakaraeng’s peak. accordingly, visitors to mount bawakaraeng come to the sheikh yusuf ’s mihrab, due to their inability to go to mecca like sheikh yusuf. it is said, according to their belief, sheikh yusuf represents a true hajj, if he deemed it important to make a pilgrimage to mount bawakaraeng. the desire that drives the subject of the hajj to puncak bring karaeng comes from the story of the spiritual experiences experienced by sheikh yusuf while using pious knowledge to encourage him to the top of bawakaraeng, then to mecca. this story is re-translated by joseph’s followers, as a marker in identifying themselves who are in the pilgrimage phase (palippui, 2016), as stated by one of the following bawakaraeng communities; we went to mount bawakaraeng to follow in the footsteps of sheikh yusuf, who was the first to set foot on the peak of bawakaraeng (dj, interviewed on 23 october 2016). second is the influence of the tarekat streams. along with the process of islamization, various tarekat streams emerge and develop in the community with significance in islamization. the tarekat streams and their development can attract the hearts of the community so that they can spread and be accepted in a wider indonesian community (sudarmaji, 2018). the tarekat streams are always propped up by sufism which is an inseparable part of the development of islam, and one aspect of the teachings of islam itself (pujiastuti, 2016). the teachings of sufism give priority to cleanliness and inner purity, which is needed to arrive at divine truth or absolute truth (sidqi, 2015; sirajuddin, 2016). this understanding of sufism is cited as having been inspired by the way in which the prophet muhammad conducted a khalwat in the cave of hira before receiving god’s revelation. after being solitary for some time, the prophet muhammad attained purity physically and mentally, and then the angel gerbil delivered revelations to him (djamas, 1983: 74). [ 186 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 from that event, various kinds of sufism teachings have emerged in which their understandings have been manifested in various schools of tarekat. on bawakaraeng mountain, which is mostly in the area of tinggi moncong subdistrict, gowa district, there is a school of tarekat called “barakka bontolebang and barakka balasuka” (pabbajah, 2012). enthusiasm in carrying out the five pillars of islam completing hajj is one of the pillars of islam. hajj is an obligation for muslims who are capable of carrying it out (syuhudi, 2019) as part of islamic teachings, performing hajj requires material and non-material abilities: mental readiness, self-awareness, religious zeal, sincerity, struggle, and sacrifice (putuhena, 2007: v). the enthusiasm of the buginese macassarese community in carrying out hajj makes them willing to do anything to effectively complete this worship. in fact, someone is willing to sell valuable assets, for example; rice fields, land, vehicles, jewelry, and other assets in order to fulfill the fifth pillar of islam. it shows in the hajj, besides religious aspects, there are also social and economic aspects (ahmad, 2016). the ritual of hajj is unique because it often transcends normative boundaries as an exclusive and unique worship (sulthoni et al., 2013). in some observations, someone is even willing to go into debt to cover the cost of the pilgrimage, which currently amounts to around 37 million indonesian rupiah. likewise, this tends to happen in the buginese-macassarese community. parents bring their children to implement the fifth pillar of islam, even though they have not reached the age of pilgrimage, and thus are not yet obliged to perform the pilgrimage. this is done with the assumption that all children who have the title of haji will make the social status of the family more respectable within the community. in addition, the status of the pilgrimage is considered capable of providing a special place in family events, such as marriage, birth, and so forth. with such a strong desire, most of the buginese-macassaresek people, especially the bawakaraeng community, are looking for other ways to get this honor. for example, some buginese-macassarese people create rival rituals for hajj on the summit of mount bawakaraeng. they assume that their reward is commensurate with the procession carried out in mecca and medina. the presence of the bawakaraeng community that conducts a series of services such as the hajj certainly cannot be separated from the internal spirit that wants to fulfill the fifth pillar of islam. in addition to social considerations, there is also the most fundamental problem to directly discuss, the issue of economics. the pilgrimage to mecca, as previously explained, has significant economic consequences. therefore, the [ 187 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 bawakaraeng community prefers to go to mount bawakaraeng first to worship before mecca. it is considered to be more economically efficient and shorter for time. likewise, worship performed by the bawakaraeng community can be a form of protest against the difficult and hindering procedures and systems of the indonesian government for those wanting to undergo the pilgrimage. among them are the problems of pilgrimage interest that are increasing every year and are not accompanied by an improvement in supporting facilities for pilgrimage: lodging, sustenance, passport, and visa arrangements often hampered by poor bureaucracy, and the separation of operators and regulators in the implementation of the religious journey (farid, 2019). hence, some muslims take alternative paths to successfully embark on the pilgrimage, and there are even pilgrims who must use passports from other countries that have hajj quotas that are still empty. consistency in islam and commitment to maintaining local traditions on mount bawakaraeng in religious practice, ethnic buginese and macassarese tend to show high consistency and commitment. in this case, the teachings of the buginese and macassarese religions are consistent with the islamic faith, but still carry out the traditions practiced in socio-religious activities. pelras calls it a practical syncretism which shows the mixing of islamic teachings with traditions and beliefs that were held before the introduction of islam (pelras, 1993). in relation to the ritual traditions of the bawakaraeng community, there are four forms of consistency in islam and tradition which are practiced simultaneously. the first form of consistency is a prayer at the peak of mount bawakaraeng. the practice of prayer is done by the consideration that god resides in a high place, so that the corresponding representation on this earth is a mountain. the following interview excerpt from the bawakaraeng community communicates this point highlights this: prayer can be done anywhere, because god is everywhere, if we are at the top of the mountain, it means we are near god because god is in a high place, like this mountain (us, interviewed in 2017). there is a certain time that the bawakaraeng community performs more religious activities, particularly during eid al-adha. at that time, mount bawakaraeng receives more visitors than at any other time, especially from groups of people who come to worship. eid al-adha prayers here are carried out in the same way as eid al-adha prayers are performed by muslims all [ 188 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 around the world. there are imams as prayer leaders who usually come from the local village. the only difference is the start of the prayer is preceded by sounding the call to prayer as a signal to begin. it is from this practice that this community tends to practice worship similar to the pilgrimage, so many groups call it the hajj bawakaraeng (idris, 2017; pabbajah, 2012). around the peak of mount bawakaraeng there is a place to purify or perform ablution before prayer called buhungbarania, as a representation of zam-zam wells according to the bawakaraeng community view. second, dhikr and prayer are carried out during the trip to the top of bawakaraeng. chanting remembrance usually said when traveling is repeating the phrase laailaahillallaah. this is done repeatedly until the prayer reaches the summit. in addition, they read the prayers with a mixture of arabic and macassarese languages. one person usually leads the prayer and the other one gives permission for it to occur. likewise, there is a community that chants the talbiyah sentence, labbaikallaa humma labbaik, like it is sung by the pilgrims who leave for mecca. this became a part of the observation when the research study was carried out, then confirmed to one community who revealed that: during the trip to bawakaraeng, we only pray and dhikr. there is nothing else to expect but the blessing of allah to be given safety and good health. remembrance is also done in order to avoid interference from other creatures in the bawakaraeng residents (kt, interviewed in 2015). from these observations and statements, it appears that the community visiting bawakaraeng has the main goal of worship in order to feel and get closer to god. in addition, there is also the construction of the pilgrimage as desire to carry out the fifth pillar of islam, but with practice of local traditions. this phenomenon has been developed in the global islamic community, as a muslim to establish closer to god by praying at the right place and the right time through the right person who can get the blessing of their prayers (though it cannot be denied this phenomenon has caused debate in islam) (sani, 2017). among them are religious incentives, religious tourism, seeking blessings, being careful in praying, refusing reinforcements, spiritual behavior and seeking peace (mustaghfiroh, et al., 2014). thus, the consistency of religious and cultural traditions cannot be separated. third, is the slaughter of sacrificial animals. this practice is traditional in the history of islam where the sacrifice of qurban was first carried out by the prophet ibrahim to slaughter his son prophet ismail. this annual sacrifice worship by global muslims is an animal slaughtering ritual when celebrating eid al-adha (marlina et al., 2019; zikri, 2011). likewise, the bawakaraeng community [ 189 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 recites a communal prayer. some community members are able to slaughter sacrificial animals they bring when visiting bawakaraeng. animals that can be brought are goats, of course, with a consideration of being easily carried or “dragged”. the animal is then slaughtered after the eid al-adha prayer at the peak. after the slaughter, the meat of sacrificial animals is distributed to the communities that come. in addition, some meat is given to residents of kampung lembanna, especially to those who have given assistance and aid during the rituals at mount bawakaraeng. in the qurban tradition of the bawakaraeng community, there is also a release of animals on mount bawakaraeng. the sacrificial animals released are usually chickens or goats. in general, those who bring sacrificial animals to the place do so because of vows. this tradition has been practiced by the buginesemacassarese people. it is called maccera (suguhan), a form of devotion to nature; maccera’ tappareng (muhajir & ahmad gani, 2019; mustamin, 2017). likewise, it can function as a reinforcement and as an expression of gratitude and respect for the place and figure who are saved (lawwarani & alizah, 2018). in the javanese tradition they are called offerings (adam, 2019; aminullah, 2017; rizkiawan, 2017) or sedeqah laut (madzhab et al., 2019). correspondingly, in hindu teaching, known as a form of devotion to god, this is a must for every religious person. hinduism explains the teachings of bhakti in the bhagavata purana known as navavida bhakti (mpdh, 2019) fourth is tawaf and sedeqah which are practiced after the prayer and slaughter of sacrificial animals. tawaf is a series of pilgrimage practices of a muslim in addition to wukuf, and sa’i, with certain conditions (nuri, 2014). in the practice of tawaf as part of a series of worship, the bawakaraeng community surrounds a mountain ridge which is represented as a practice of waqf in a series of pilgrimages in the grand mosque. this ritual is led by one of the elders or someone who often performs rituals in bawakaraeng. the mountain ridges that are surrounded are called teteanna anjayya which means the bridge of the day, or the shirathal mustaqiim bridge in islam. after surrounding the place, they arrive at post 13 called makka caddia or little mecca. in this place they perform tawaf or surround a monument that was first built by the dutch. this monument is considered the ka’bah. then they perform seven rounds of tawaf while throwing pieces of coins seven times as well. in each round, they kiss the monument with enthusiasm (helmi, 1988, pabbajah, 2012). after the tawaf ritual has been performed, members of the bawakaraeng community give alms to someone who is deemed meritorious in the preparation, the implementation, and the ending of the worship ritual. one of the most meritorious people is the pinati or guide that accompanies each [ 190 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 group. giving alms is not an obligation, but depends on the ability and sincerity of the individual. sadaqah is practiced as a form of happiness after perfecting worship. then, with the blessing of giving alms, they will be given health and repelling potential disasters. this health is made from happiness and a feeling of calm when making others happy (ashar, 2012; rusdi et al., 2018). therefore, the bawakaraeng community gives alms with the hope that blessings and greed be given after spiritual worship and social worship as forms of gratitude to god. the explanation shows that the buginese-macassarese community as represented in the bawakaraeng community worship practices demonstrates consistency in islam with a commitment to keeping traditions inherited from their ancestors. in other words, the buginese-macassarese community is identical in carrying out islamic teachings, but is still committed to carrying out pre-islamic traditions. there are even some traditional practices contrary to the values and concepts of islamic teachings. likewise, the acculturation of islam as the majority religion is inevitable from the influence of local traditions that are still inherent in some communities. this emphasizes that consistency in carrying out religious teachings and maintaining tradition can go handin-hand, even though it goes through an ongoing process of adaptation and negotiation. conclusion the relationship between islam and local traditions has colored many of the socio-religious practices in indonesian society. this study reaffirmed the inevitable relationship of these two elements. there are three important findings as a result of the analysis of this study. first, the buginese-macassarese people still have a high commitment to maintaining the traditions inherited from their ancestors, even though islam has been adhered to and practiced consistently. in this case, there are still some local people who are represented by the bawakaraeng community in south sulawesi, although they are consistent in practicing islam as a religious teaching, but they remain committed in maintaining local traditions. second, local religion and traditions can go hand-in-hand with the similarity of spirit they have, which is to draw closer to god. third, the form of religious consistency and commitment to tradition is demonstrated by the practice of worship carried out by the bawakaraeng community, such as prayer, dzikir, slaughter of sacrificial animals, tawaf, and alms as a symbol of islam and local traditions which are carried out simultaneously. the study is still limited to just one community with the presentation of [ 191 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 qualitative data with the approach of religious consistency concept and tradition in the bawakaraeng community. hence, further studies are needed by presenting quantitative data on the number of bawakaraeng communities who visit mount bawakaraeng each year with a contextual and comprehensive concept approach. likewise, this study recommends that studies on the existence of local communities in indonesia still require special attention for researchers and policymakers, so that local religious communities’ local wisdom can be mapped in a way that encourages progress of a nation. thus, further studies are still needed in order to explore the local wealth and decentralized knowledge that is still scattered throughout the archipelago, then documented into intellectual property. bibliography abdullah, i., jubba, h., pabbajah, m., sari, i. p., zuhri, s., & ernas, s. 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(2019). ritual berangkat haji masyarakat muslim gorontalo. al-qalam, 25(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.31969/alq.v25i1.726 tule, p. (2014). religious conflicts and a culture of tolerance: paving the way for reconciliation in indonesia. antropologi indonesia. https://doi. org/10.7454/ai.v0i63.3404 wekke, i. s. (2013). islam dan adat : tinjauan akulturasi budaya dan agama dalam masyarakat buginese. analisis. yamin, n. y., mapparessa, n., & rahma, f. (2019). the construction meanings of costs in maudu lompoa rituals. https://doi.org/10.2991/iccd19.2019.177 zikri, k. (2011). deconstructing animal sacrifice (qurban) in idul adha. esensia: jurnal ilmu-ilmu ushuluddin, 12(2), 235. https://doi. org/10.14421/esensia.v12i2.711 [ 198 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 [ 37 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 umpasa and umpama in batak toba culture as a means of catechism in medan catholic churches ona sastri lumban tobing sekolah tinggi agama katolik negeri pontianak email: onasastri@gmail.com abstract this article explores umpasa and umpama of batak toba culture as a means of catechesim within chatolic curches. the work uses qualitative methods with observation, interview and documentation. descriptive analysis technique is employed based on the triangulation results of techniques and sources. the study targeted 20 adults, 3 batak toba cultural practitioners, and 2 priests and bishops who were on the island of samosir lake toba. the work suggests that churches that live and develop today are based on tradition. tradition is meant to include everything (such as customs, beliefs, habits, teachings, and so on) that is downwardly inhereited. one of the traditions of batak toba that is still preserved to this day is umpasa and umpama. this tradition is considered wise because it is used for prayers, petitioning god, and giving advices. umpasa or umpa has always been used in the teaching of the medan catholic church to the community of batak toba in samosir and its surroundings and has truly become a model of church catechesis, not only by the society of batak toba but also as a model for catechism. the work is based on church studies within the archdiocese of medan. keywords: umpasa and umpama; batak toba culture; catecism; medan chatolic churches introduction the catholic churches take an open attitude towards cultures including the culture of batak toba. this is in accordance with the rule the pope established regarding the church’s missionary activity during the second vatican council. there are several chapters that specifically support the construction of the local catholic church, namely article 10. it says that “the church must all enter into the cultural group with the same intention as christ himself, for his purposes, has attached himself to the social and cultural conditions characteristic of man, with whom he lives.” article 22 of the constitution of the russian federation states: “the local church occupies its place in church communion only if the churches adorn themselves with their traditions and show their identity as local churches.” (hardawiryana, 1991). the church always [ 38 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 preserves and continues to grow and develop its teaching and personality from generation to generation. this tradition began in the time of jesus with his apostles. this period was later called the “primary church.” after the first church, the church continued to develop and deepen the expression of faith contained in the scriptures. (konsili vatikan vatikan ii, 1993). the catholic church, with its distinctive characteristics of being one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, is believed by its embracers as a religion awakened to the purity of its teaching. in its presence in the midst of a society rich in its culture, the church is not immediately accepted as an inculturation that can be recognised by the church. inculturation can be interpreted as the formula of the question “how to continuously strive for faith to be lived in the local culture”. in this case, the measure of inculturation is not limited to the lack of local cultural elements such as indigenous clothes, music, songs, symbols, and so on. but it is easy for them to believe in it. “ the catholic church accepts its mission to preach the gospel to ten peoples by entering into the lives of the people themselves. the church’s task of proclaiming christ through the catechism or the teaching of the faith will be more acceptable when it enters the culture of local communities. (paulus vi, 1967). the purpose of preaching is to unite cultures so that people, or listeners, can more easilyaccept and live the teachings of faith. through culture, we will attract the interest and attention of local communities. the profound spiritual life of the people is united with the experiences of faith in their lives, so whether in catechesis or in evangelization, it should be christ who is presented, including in local culture. on the increase of the teaching of faith or the preaching of the faith, there are various types of construction that can be done, among them recollection, meditation, reflection, retreat, spiritual pilgrimage, the deepening of the scriptures (the term in the catechism), and the catholic society itself is influenced by various factors. one of them is the cultural life of a particular community, which plays a very important role and cannot be released. in this context, especially in the marumpasa tradition, the culture is considered noble by the batak toba society itself. marumpasa as part of culture is an aspect that can build a personality that requires good behaviour and contains cultural norms in order to have sufficient knowledge of the content of the christian faith and have a sincere spiritual and personal experience so as to understand the meaning and purpose of his life. the batak toba community system is defined and regulated by the dalihan na tolu concept, which means tunku nan three. the three legs each have functions and positions that cannot be separated and exchanged with each [ 39 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 other to maintain balance. marga, as an identity obtained on the basis of a patrilineal line, is used as a reference to determine a position in the community system. the position of a person in the dalihan na tolu system is said to be a democracy, meaning that each individual is given and his position against others according to the identity of marga. (pardosi, 2008). there is a “value” that is so firmly held as a principle by the batak toba society that to say something, it must be covered with words that make the meaning disguised but quite understandable. communication is saying something to someone or a group of people using the umpasa and the like. umpasa and umpama are pantun and fairy tongues in the indonesian santra category. umpasa or pantun that is loaded with the hope of obtaining a pas-pasu or blessing by reaching something or making a prayer restu so that it is not the origin of one that is heard or whispered only in the sense of humour. every word or phrase in each line contains a deep meaning and is related to each other. as soon as this is revealed, all those who listen to it will hear emma tutu, which means hope (or blessing and justification for what is expressed in the umpama) (sinaga, 2013). umpasa and umpasa are frequently used in every ulaon or meeting and in various aspects of the life of the batak toba community as expressions, prayers that contain requests, hopes, advice, and motivation for those present. (toruan, 2012). this is a verbal triad with conditions of beating, shooting, rhythm, and the number of lines and parts of a certain word. the words that are structured in the contents of umpasa and umpama contain poetic values, contain the living philosophy of the batak toba tribe society, and contain the ethics of sophistication, laws, and the life of the batak toba tribe itself. the umpasa is more likely to contain the prayers that become the ideal of life for every person: hagabeon (happiness), hamoraon (wealth), hasangapon (respect), and saur matua (longevity and well-being). (sitompul, 2009). here is an example of the example used when the child is baptised: this is the promise of mary, hatubuan ni si tulan, nungnga sahat hata na uli, sai sautma i dipasahat of the lord. the meaning of the above word is that all our prayers and hopes for the child who has been born and baptised will be answered by the lord. umpasa is often used in meetings; in this hat huta, in the tubuan lata, manang tudia pe hita, disi do debata. the meaning of this word is to say that wherever we are, god will always be with us. examples of umpasa when the event is the military of some place, home, or other: martantan ma baringin, marurat jabi-jabi, mamora ma hita badingin, this tumpahon ompunta mulajadi. the meaning of the word above is that all cities are blessed by god. examples of umpasa in marriage are: star na rumiris, ombun na sumorop, son pe riris, and boru pe torop. the meaning of the above is that the couple that has been established in marriage is given to the offspring of a male and a female by god. previous [ 40 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 research on “legitimation of divinity in baptism in batak toba aboriginal events” by bendhawer pasaribu, 2015. that the speech used in the baptism represents the legitimacy of god, both implicitly and explicitly, indicating the hope that man seeks and the relationship of man with god. the novelty in this study is that the marumpasa tradition can be used as a means of catechesis in the catholic church. then, judging from the thickness of the marumpasa tradition in the batak toba society, the researchers are interested in digging up data to determine whether this tradition can be made one of the means of catechesis, especially through the presence of the catholic church in the toba batak community in north sumatra. the focus of this research is umpasa, and the same in batak toba culture can be used as one of the means of catechesis, or the teaching or reporting of faith. this marumpasa is very thick and cannot be released from all aspects of batak toba’s life itself through various events or ulaon. from the birth of a new family member, adult and married, to the event of death, umpasa and the like are the means of communicating prayers of supplication to god, hopes to be achieved, and advice or motivation for all listeners around him. thus, the tradition itself unites in the practise of customs and religions that are considered to have the same meaning and purpose, namely to convey the expression of prayer, a request, and the hope that the lord would fulfil it. therefore, the researchers were interested in looking at how the catholic church viewed the “marumpasa tradition” as a wrong means of catechesis. the purpose of this study is to analyse and describe how umpasa and umpama are used in the entire batak toba community and how the catholic church views the use of umpasa and umpama as a means of catechesis or teaching the faith. the community of the toba batak tribe is one of the batak ethnic groups that exists in north sumatera and is among the largest tribes spread throughout the district and city area. the batak toba tribe has a variety of cultures, traditions, customs, and habits of indigenous groups, such as the system of friendship and marga, or warrior, that to this day is still preserved. as part of the tribal heritage that is still preserved, many local and international researchers who conduct research even dig the rich culture and customs of the batak toba tribe. so that these cultures are recognised and made into local wisdom, which is considered to contain high moral, religious, social, and other values. so the researchers are interested in one of the types of culture of the batak toba tribal traditions that are considered to have a value “more” as a local wisdom that is still strongly ingrained to this day: the tradition of “marumpasa” or “umpasa and umpama”. this tradition is used in every aspect of the life of [ 41 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 the batak toba community, from the event of the birth of family members, representation, to death, as well as in various aspects such as events of joy and sorrow, and even in giving advice and following rules that are contained in the values of the “marumpasa”. cucumbers zucchini summer squash and carrots kale radishes broccoli rosemary basil pole beans peas arugula bibb lettuce cutting lettuces potatoes usually, umpasa is used at the time of customary istiadat execution, while umpasa is often used in everyday life situations. umpasa is almost the same as pantun in malay-indonesia; there is pantun advice, there is pantun humour, and so on. (sitompul, 2009). it is a prayer to the lord to give him grace, prosperity, salvation, and all good things. then for the people of batak toba marumpasa, it means the tradition of rowing that is carried out at the time of customary ceremonies such as marriage, death, the inauguration of a tugu or tomb, birth, entering a new home, and gratitude. umpama is a literary language that contains norms, sanctions, rules, prohibited things, or abstracts that should be followed or done. (toruan, 2012). the batak toba community generally believes that the umpasa is a blessing or hat-pasu word given by the hula-hula party to its board or parents to their children, and so on. (sitompul, 2009). a parable is a parable that contains the emblems around it. (sinaga, 2013). these are norms, things that should be followed or not followed. according to r.h.p. sitompul, 2009, in his book, he wrote the umpasa batak toba contains characteristics among others: the umpasa consists of four lines (in general), the first and second lines are sampiran, the third and fourth lines are the content, the sound equations in the last quarter of the first line with the third and the second line and four are ab-ab, and there is a link between the sampiran (first and second line) and the content. (baris ketiga dan ke empat). according to r.h.p. sitompul, umpasa and umpama that are often used in batak toba culture have ranges such as: pasahathon ulos mula gaga (delivering ulos), dakdanak na new sorang or child born (birth of a child or a new family member), tardidi who is a babtis or a bath, malua manghatindangkon haporseaon, parbogason or marriage (range of stages in the batak toba marriage), as well as death and comfort.the use of umpasa differs on each event, such as the birth of a new family member, marriage, birthday, and death. on the occasion of the customary birth of the child: dakka ni diara, tanggo pinagait-aithon, in the child, na sorang on, sai sitokka ma panahit-nahiton. this umpasa gives meaning, and meaning is the tree of the day, strong when climbed, as well as this child born, free from all diseases. umpasa on the customary marriage events: star na rumiris, ombun na sumorop, son pe riris, [ 42 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 boru pe torop, whose meaning is to accompany the stars, and meresap the morning embun, may be given to offspring of boys as well as daughters. in the event of death: balga tiang ni ruma, balgaan tiang ni sopo, nungnga erga na saur matua on, sai unggabean ma hamu na umposo. the larger the column of the house of rice, the greater the number of descendants who have died from this matua, as well as the number of descendants who are still young.on the occasion of the birthday: andor haduppa togu-togu ni lombu, andor hatiti togu-togu ni horbo, pengpeng saur matua ma hamu patogu-togu pahompu, sahat tu na marnini, sahat tu na marnono. the meaning and significance are that haduppa haduppa carries cows, and the cord of hearts carries cowboys, so that the lord gives long life to his grandchildren, up to the grandson even, buyut. on the occasion of the customary ceremony of tugu or makam: martantan ma baringin, marurat jabi-jabi, mamoraa ma hita badingin, tumpahon ni ompunta mulajadi. the meaning is rooted in the trees, rooted in the pig tree, as well as in the prosperous city, blessed by the lord. at the end of every customary event: sahat sahat ni solu, sahat ntu bontean, leleng ma hita mangolu, sahat ma tu panggabean. the meaning of it is to the end, to the goal: may the lord give long life to us and many offspring. the usual usage in everyday life is that of philosophy: tu ginjang ninna porda, tu toru pambarbaran, tu ginjan ninna roha, and patutoruhon do sibaran. the meaning and meaning is to grow to the top of the porda, to the rest of the cut; the treatment of anguish is the beginning of destruction. umpama contains the ethics of courtesy: pattun hangoluan and tois hamagoan. meaning and meaning are the capital of life; pride is the beginning of life’s destruction. umpama contains customs and laws: pauk pauk hudali, pago tarugi, na tading ta ulahi, na sega ta pauli. the meaning is the cangkul with the pacul, which we missed again and corrected. one of the most famous things about society: sotung forgot horbo sian barana and sotung peut ulos sian sangkotanna do not forgive the people, do not forget the people. the people of batak toba generally understand the meaning contained in umpasa and umpama. it is a prayer of prayer, of hope, of desire, of counselling to those who listen to it. examples are: pauk-pauk hudali ma, pago-pago taruli, na tading taulahi, na sala hupauli. in this phase, the first and second lines are side lines, while the third and last lines are content. this word contains meaning, for which its function advises that any unfinished or wrong work be corrected. likewise, the meaning or messages contained in the umpasa and other umpama serve to give a picture that advises how the batak society can live in a good society (tambunan, 1982). [ 43 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 the traditional use of umpasa and umpama cannot be left out of every indigenous event or ulaon in the daily life of batak toba society. the purpose of the umpasa is a form of prayer, while the aim is only a parable or a proverb that has a moral message, advice, or a complaint that is compared. (toruan, 2012). tradition marumpasa is a form of appeal to god to apply everything that the batak toa society expects in the form, context, and situation of a particular event. the prayer of the lord or the prayer in the form of a prayer but in the case of those who do not know the truth, they will never forget the truth or the truth of all things. the usage of umpasa among the people of batak toba is different at every event or meeting, although it is often used in everyday life. therefore, it is better for parents to give advice to their children and for children not to listen to what has been a rule and advice to live in conformity with custom. the term is used, for example, at the gathering event, the birth of a new family member, the stage event towards marriage, the marriage itself, the birthday, or the death event. (tambunan, 1982). the umpasa and umpama used in the batak toba society have differences. the difference lies in the purposes of each one, where the umpasa is delivered to the lord as a form of prayer, whereas, e.g., only as a parable often used in daily life. (toruan, 2012). it is the prayer of the lord for blessings, blessings, and more blessings. on the other hand, the umpama, which is more frequently used in daily life situations, is usually classified into four divisions: the umpama that contains about philosophy, the umpama that contains about ethics of consciousness, the umpama that contains about custom and hookum, and the umpama that contains about norms and rules of society. the marumpasa tradition in the batak toba society is believed by each person in the tribe to have a very rich cultural value, so it is preserved to this day. umpasa is considered to have the value of hagabeon, where this value means all prayers to god and the hope of longevity, happiness, and having offspring. where in the custom of batak toba did gaga say it was a man who had many sons and daughters? the value of hamoraon means possession of wealth. it is said that it is rich in the masyrakat batak toba if it has a job and business, has a savage and a farm, and has livestock. the religious value of which is verbally expressed by batak toba expresses the belief of the batak community itself. the value of affinity, having the meaning of the status of a person’s relationship with others, plays an important role in the social life of the batak toba community. the value of hasangapon is that there is a meaning where the people of batak toba respect and respect each other. this is especially important in the batak toba culture, where this is based on his philosophy of life “dalihan na tolu”. [ 44 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 catechism the word catechesis comes from the greek word katechein, which is formed from the words kat, which means go or spread, and echo, which means flatter or speak. katchein means flattering or sounding out. this word contains two meanings. first, katchein means a message being delivered. secondly, katchein means teaching from leaders (paulinus, 2022). in the holy scriptures, there are some who use the word catechesis, whose original meaning is to make a rhetoric, causing something to shake. (teleumbanua, 1999). thus, the mission of catechesis is to present the word of god so that man can meet christ personally. catechesis is primarily the self-revelation of christ. a preacher must therefore truly realise that what is preached to the people is christ and that, in his preaching, he is the instrument used by christ to introduce christ to people. the church is the assembly of the people of god who believe in jesus christ. the church develops itself through the five tasks of the church so that the people can also develop themselves, in particular in their faith life, in the real practise of life in their environment. therefore, preaching or catechesis as a communication of faith is the effort of people to exchange and exchange experiences of faith, to establish, develop, direct, and revitalise their faith. the feast of faith in the worship of the people reveals their faith and responds to the work of salvation of the lord with gratitude, thanksgiving, repentance, prayer, and glorification. the catechesis instills a basic attitude in every christian: the attitude of faith. the core and central truth of the preaching or teaching of faith is the person of jesus christ himself. the source and substance of the activity and teaching of catechesis everywhere and on every occasion are jesus christ, who is the fulfilment of all revelation. in jesus, god tells us in a reasonable way so that we can trust how to live and why to live and what is the true purpose of man’s journey on earth. marinus teleumbanua says in his book that catechesis is an effort on the part of the catholic church to help people understand, live, and realise their faith in daily life. so that people, wherever they are, can know the love of god in jesus, who is preached through the presence of the messenger of the word, and can prove god’s faithfulness. (teleumbanua, 1999).  this research uses methods with a qualitative descriptive approach by digging data and understanding the phenomena experienced by the subject of research related to the perpetrator or user “umpasa and, e.g., in the culture of batak toba as one of the means of catechesis in the catholic church”. the research approach with this descriptive method is used because, in detail, it can dig into the social conditions experienced by the perpetrators directly in the [ 45 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 kevikepan santo thomas apostle pangururan, which includes 4 large paroki of the catholic church, namely, the parish of saint michael-pangururan as the centre of the kevikepan of saint thomas apostle, the paroki of saint antonio mario claret-tomok, saint francis of assisi-palipi, and saint paulus-onan runggu. this study was conducted in the kevikepan of st. thomas the apostle, with a case study of four large parishes that were in the shadow of the kevikepan. it is then implemented with steps that include the planning stage, the implementation stage, and the finalisation stage. according to bogdan and biklen, the purpose of this case study is to conduct a detailed examination of a particular topic, location, object, location of document storage, or event. (ona sastri, cenderato, 2022). the stages of the qualitative descriptive method have unique characteristics in themselves. this qualitative research digs up data in a naturally occurring setting, where the results of the data obtained are the natural conditions that occur in the field as well as the conditions that the subject is experiencing. the primary data sources in this study are obtained from the participation of researchers as role observations as well as participant observation, in-depth interviews, or in-depth interviews on the subject of research, namely the pastor, church manager, who is at the same time the leader. the researcher adds an angle to be able to reach generally and extensively, as well as documentation. on the analysis of the data dug, including the process of data reduction, i performed data presentation, subsequent data verification, and drew conclusions. the study was conducted within a one-year limit. umpasa is used as a catechesis tool containing spiritual messages. in addition to the moral message, there is also the umpasa and umpuna (pantha or parable), which contain a spiritual message. the umpama (pantun or parable), which contains the meaning of prayer and hope, is the expression of the umpasa that the researcher intended to convey a spiritual message.this prayer and hope is more focused on a belief in god’s intervention in every human being, especially the toba broom. the words used by the toba batak through umpasa and umpasa (pantha/parable) have become common. every word contains a message, a meaning. in a certain context, umpasa and umpasa (parable) contain meaningful prayer. in the prayer, there is the message of umpasa and umpama (a parable), such as expressing thanksgiving, prayer, praise, and worship of god or the lord, who is called debata in the language of batak toba “debata”. based on the results of the interview, the informant said that the umpasa and umpama are usually spoken by the elderly (or persons [ 46 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 who are considered to have a statement about the umpa and umpama) when conducting an event or meeting. but in the context of the home, the family, and the parents ordinary speech, this is umpasa and umpasa. irforman also said that, almost generally, the batak toba community believes that the umpasa and the umpama spoken contain goodness, such as a prayer of petition to god with shared hope that can be a blessing for those who receive it. umpasa and umpama contain the meanings of praise and request. batak toba people often use expressions such as umpasa, for example, to speak to children or family members in the form of prayer. prayer expressed through the languages of umpasa and umpama is a very profound expression of heart content for the batak toba community and for those who will be prayed for. this prayer is expressed in the form of prayer and thanksgiving. this tradition is inherent in the daily life of the batak toba community and can be used as advice to live better and give advice. based on the interview, the informant said that the young people of today sometimes have a hard time receiving input or advice from parents when they are directed, but when they hear the umpasa and the umpama spoken, they can understand the meaning or message delivered and the consequences. the meaning of prayer in the wedding ceremony in the customary ceremony of marriage, umpasa and the same are also spoken to married couples, with the hope that the family will live harmoniously, get a rescue, always be under the protection and thanksgiving of god, quickly have offspring, and so on. the form of expression through the umpasa is a source of hope for all those who carry out the marriage and also for a large family. prayer and hope for happiness and harmony become hopes for the spouse. it becomes a provision, motivation, encouragement, message, reminder, or warning to the new family that forms the household. based on the results of interviews with informants who were of general adult age, they said that umpasa and umpama in marriage were very many, which contained the meaning of a prayer of reverence to the married couple, the request that the household life be blessed by god and given to the offspring of men and women, and so on. this period begins with the stages of marriage preparation and ends with the marriage stage, where there are many stages to go through before marriage itself to discuss all the important things between men and women. cucumbers zucchini summer squash carrots kale radishes broccoli rosemary basil pole beans peas arugula bibb lettuce cutting lettuces potatoes the meaning of this chapter is that the lord bless the offspring of sons and daughters with [ 47 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 long lives and be removed from all diseases. prayer and wishes of parents to their children. praying to the lord to give resurrection, blessing, power, and participation from the almighty is a form of expression that parents always do for their children. the form of belief or belief in the presence and blessing of god on children is the hope for all parents. in this context, it is also missed by the parents of batak toba. informants generally say that the meaning behind this marumpasa is prayer. the distinctions in the territory of the batak toba community can also affect the differences in the umpasa and its interpretation, but in their understanding it remains the same. based on an interview with the informant, who identified himself as “raja parhata” or the elderly and said he was concerned enough to see young people around him who are less concerned with the culture of batak toba, he said that the umpasa has been spoken since the ancestors who contained the “prayer” to god. he believes that what our ancestors have advised as an inheritance must be applied to the present. dealing with leaders or officials of the community and the church chennai madurai salem delhi mumbai pune bhopal trichy tirupur coimbatore cuddalore dindigul erode kanchipuram karur nagapattinam namakkal perambalur ramanathapuram pudukkottai thanjavur the informant generally refers to the statement that “umpasa is the worship of the lord debata,” which means prayer or a request to god. umpasa and umpama have existed since the development of the batak toba people and are used in indigenous events. but it does not have to be in ordinary events; it can be in the family and in everyday life as rules or rules of conduct or advice that is always connected with the present. chennai madurai salem delhi mumbai pune bhopal trichy tirupur coimbatore cuddalore dindigul erode kanchipuram karur nagapattinam namakkal perambalur ramanathapuram pudukkottai thanjavur the value system contains moral and spiritual aspects. the guidance and guidance of the prayer, the guidance, the advice, and the warning the moral message contained in the parable empowers the leaders and all the listeners of the time to meet all the needs of society or the church according to the demands of the time. as a leader, you should be able to give a living example, have more knowledge, and have a spirit of leadership. a leader has a spirit of loyalty, responsibility, courage, and willingness to sacrifice, and also has an attitude of transparency and attention to small communities. [ 48 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 from the results of data discussions based on qualitative, descriptive, and quantitative angket, the following results can be obtained: the use of queries in the form of the given angket can lead to the conclusion that umpasa and the like in the culture of the batak toba society have a significant role in the face of catechesis. this is demonstrated by tests that show that r counts a table r with a value of 0.708 0.312, which means that if r counts the table r, then there is a significant influence. then umpasa and umpama proved to be a real part of the traditions that are still preserved by the batak toba society to this day. this is evident from the custom of marumpasa used in every event or ulaon, which is considered to contain moral wisdom and the values of prayer in the form of a request of all their hopes to the almighty god. therefore, the role and contribution of the catechist or teacher of the faith greatly influence the improvement of catechism, as evidenced by the results of qualitative observations and interviews with research informants. observations on church leaders when preaching also include the use of umpasa and the like. it should be noted that there are no events, activities, meetings, customs, or ulaon of the batak toba community that do not use this umpasa and the like. it shows its connection with catechesis that the primary function of the preaching or teaching of the faith is to provide the core of the message of christ. the umpasa and umpama that batak toba society always uses contain spiritual values, wisdom values in everyday life, moral values, and so on. the worship of the worshippers, the prayer of the lord, the pleasure of the people, and the blessing of the lord the community of batak toba passes on umpasa and umpama to each generation through various aspects of daily life activities, also believing that umpasa and umpama contain sacred elements that cannot be altered without delay, delivered by the person represented.the community of batak toba passes on umpasa and umpama to each generation through various aspects of daily life activities, also believing that umpasa and umpama contain sacred elements that cannot be altered without delay, delivered by the person represented. seeing the fact that umpasa and umpama are very relevant, they are used as one of the means of catechesis and support for the people, in particular the batak toba community. thus, catechesis through the marumpasa tradition is not omitted as a means of communicating faith. this research is also supported by the previous study, “synthetic polars of word selection in umpada and umpama by anni rahimah, 2017. as well as the analysis of meaning and inner values in the umpasa umpama custom batak toba by astuti samosir, 2018. [ 49 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 conclusion culture can be said to be a form of implementation of all actions and results performed by humans that give meaning to their surroundings. in other words, culture is the essence of human effort and the result of infusing his life with the nature of reality through his mind. thus, if you want to understand mankind as best as possible, you must conform to the cultural context. it must be taught because culture is the sphere in which human beings must live. that is, culture is a dimension of human behaviour. man is born, grows, and develops not only as determined by the environment but also as supported by his culture. in the culture of the batak toba community, umpasa and umpama are very likely to become one of the means of catechesis because this tradition is always used in every customary event, or ulaon, in religious meetings or other meetings. in the context of building the faith of the people, of course, responsibility plays a very important role in increasing the interest of people so that people are made easy. this can be done by the existence of people’s constructions through local culture, one through umpasa and the other. the researchers cited the results of the discussion formulation presented in the priest study in 2017, which reads: “in the cultural context of the batak toba society, a pastoral or catechesis officer paid attention to the language in the context of batak toba culture. humpa has a lot of moral values in him.in the study of culture and language, a pastoral officer must prioritise the attitude of openness of a priest to participate in the course programme held at kam. as pastoral ministers, we must remember that not knowing the language does not mean knowing local wisdom.” marumpasa, or the use of umpasa and umpama in the culture of the batak toba society, is still running and has been preserved. umpasa and umpama) cannot be freed from the batak toba people and have proven to be always used in various aspects of the life activities of the toba batak, both in the celebration of sacraments and sacramentals. it should be noted that there are no events, activities, meetings, or customary people of batak toba who do not use umpasa. this shows its connection with the catechesis that the primary function of the proclamation of faith is to provide the core of the message of christ. chennai madurai salem delhi mumbai pune bhopal trichy tirupur coimbatore cuddalore dindigul erode kanchipuram karur nagapattinam namakkal perambalur ramanathapuram pudukkottai thanjavur theni thirunelveli hyderabad madras karnataka the tribe of batak toba passes on umpasa and umpama to each generation through various aspects of daily activities, also believing that umpaza and umpama contain sacred elements that cannot be altered without delay, delivered by the person representing them. seeing the statement that umpasa and the like in the batak toba society are very relevant as one of the means of catechesis as a means of [ 50 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 communication of faith in various aspects of life, it is hoped that in addition to continuing to preserve this culture, the facilitators of catechism will also be equipped with a number of knowledges about catechesis, methods, and means that can be used through the effort to enter and study local culture. bibliography adisusanto, fx. (2000). katekese dalam tugas gereja refleksi pendek atas katekese. yogyakarta: lembaga pengembangan kateketik puskat. -------. (2000). katekese sebagai pelayanan sabda. yogyakarta: lembaga pengembangan kateketik puskat. -------. (2000). katekese sebagai pendidikan iman. yogyakarta: lembaga pengembangan kateketik puskat. budiyanto, hendro st. (2011). menjadi katekis volunter. yogyakarta: kanisius. hardawiryana, r. (1991). dekrit tentang kegiatan misioner gereja ad gentes (kepada semua bangsa). in seri dokumen gerjawi no. 13 (vol. 53, issue 9). http://www.dokpenkwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ seri-dokumen-gerejawi-no-13-ad-gentes.pdf hutabarat, rafael. (1981). berkatekese: katekese sebagai sarana pembentukan hidup kristen jemaat. yogyakarta: kanisius. j.c vergouwen. (2004). masyarakat dan hukum adat batak toba. yogyakarta: lkis yogyakarta. nainggolan, s. r. (2011). eksistensi adat budaya batak dalihan na tolu pada masyarakat batak. nainggolan, togar. (2012). batak toba sejarah dan transformasi religi. medan: bina media perintis. papo, j. (1987). memahami katekese. flores: nusa indah. pardosi, j. (2008). simbolik umpasa, makna ulos, dan perkawinan, adat toba, batak. iv (2). paulus vi, p. (1967). evangelii nuntiandi (mewartakan injil). seri dokumen gereja, 6 (11). panggabean, h.p. (2007). pembinaan kehidupan beragama dengan dukungan nilai-nilai adat budaya dalihan na tolu. jakarta: kerabat. siahaan, mangaraja asal. (2004). adat dohot umpama. pematang siantar: tulus jaya. [ 51 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 siahaan, n. (1964). sejarah kebudayaan batak. medan: napitupulu & sons. sibarani, parda. (1976). umpasa batak dohot lapatanna. pematang siantar:“parda”. sihombing, t.m. (1997). jambar hata. pematang siantar: tulus jaya. sinaga, anicetus. (2012). taman monumen dalihan na tolu. medan: bina media perintis. sinaga, r. (2013). umpasa, umpama dan ungkapan dalam bahasa batak toba. dian utama. sitompul, r. h. (2009). ulos batak tempo masa dulu-kini. mitra. -------, r.h.p. (2007). proses mengangkat anak adat dalihan na tolu. jakarta: kerabat. tambunan, e. (1982). sekelumit mengenai masyarakat batak toba dan kebudayaannya. tarsito. teleumbanua, m. (1999). ilmu kateketik. jakarta: obor. toruan, n. l. (2012). sastra lisan batak toba. mitra. vergowen, j.c. (1985). masyarakat dan hukum adat batak toba. jakarta: pustaka azet. alkitab deuterokanonika. (2009). lembaga alkitab indonesia: jakarta. nostraaetate. (1965). dokumen apostolik paus paulus vi tentang “pernyataan tentang hubungan gereja dengan agama-agama bukan kristen”. sacrosanctum concilium. (1963). (ensiklik tentang konstitusi tentang liturgi suci. konsili ekumenis vatikan ii. (1993). konstitusi dogmatis tentang wahyu ilahi dei verbum. in dokumen konsili vatikan ii. komisi kateketik kwi. (1997). upaya pengembangan katekese di indonesia. yogyakarta: kanisius. ona sastri. (2013). peranan umpasa dan umpama dalam budaya batak toba sebagai salah satu sarana berkatekese. skripsi, jurusan kateketik pastoral, stp santo bonaventura delitua-kam. ona sastri. (2016). umpasa dan umpamadalam budaya masyarakat batak toba sebagai sarana berkatekese (studi kasus di kevikepan santo thomas rasul, keuskupan agung medan). tesis, jurusan magister pastoral kateketik, institut pastoral indonesia, malang-jawa timur. [ 52 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2594 anni rahimah. (2017). pola sintaksis dan pilihan kata dalam umpasa dan umpama. jurnal education and development stkip tapanuli selatan. astuti samosir. (2018). analisis makna dan nilai-nilai dalam umpasa adat batak toba. jurnal bahastra. jhonson pardosi. (2008). makna simbolik umpasa, sinamot dan ulos pada adat perkawinan batak toba. jurnal ilmiah bahasa dan sastra. lamria, dkk. 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[ 175 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 inter-religious relations in the period of prophet muhammad patmawati pontianak steate institute of islamic studies patmawati@gmail.com abstract inter-religious relations in the period of prophet muhammad were running in harmony. although there were theological differences between some religious faiths, these differences do not detract good relations. one of the written evidence of the condition of inter-religious harmony in this period was the agreement to live in peace as outlined in a treaty to respect and protect. the madina charter is proof that prophet muhammad was a religious leader as well as a political leader. the madina charter was born ahead of its time and can be used as a source of inspiration for building a plural society. through the medina charter, the prophet successfully organized all ethnic and religious groups in medina, uniting them as brothers, despite different religious and ethnic backgrounds, all having the same duty to defend the state of medina should there be an attack from outside. as a work which is based on literature research project, this article shows that the discussion of inter-religious relations in the period of prophet muhammad were not only supported by the works of schoolars in the fields of history and other related fields but also by the religiously based texts. keywords: relations, ummah, religion, muhammad, islam introduction inter-religious relations are the inter-relations between abrahamic religions in the period of prophet muhammad, i.e. islam, christianity and judaism. there are two main reasons, the theme of this study is chosen, first, the relations between religious communities have recently been in disharmony, especially in indonesia, after indonesia entered the milieu of reform as a new chapter that marks the process of democratization of the nation. several areas, like maluku and poso, have witnessed a terrible human tragedy that drew the whole attention of the world community. the conflict which was related to sara (ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations) involving two different communities has undermined all the pillars of humanity (hasbollah toisuta, 2007: 110). it was later realized that the disharmony was caused by external factors coming from outside the teachings of religions. second, for [ 176 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 muslims, studying the historical events at the time of prophet muhammad, where the prophet became an important actor at the time, is urgent in the implementation of religious teachings. the behavior of prophet mohammed has a strong influence on the life of the muslim community as his behavior (hadith) is part of islamic teachings placed second after qur’an. the sources of teachings may include faith, worship, morality, dakwa, education and civilization. if an issue or a case occurs in the community, and there is no legal basis found in the quran, the judge or a mujtahid must go back to the hadith of the prophet. (david rashid, 1998: 35). how to idolize and emulate the prophet in a muslim’s life is certainly based on one’s knowledge of the hadith (prophetic traditions). the position of the hadith in islam is based on the very important position of the prophet as recommended and authorized by allah (wajidi sayadi, 2013: 55). for example allah expressed the advent of the prophet as as an-nas tukhrija li min az-ila zhulumati an-nur (allah sent the prophet to bring humans from the realm of darkness to light). the hadith of the prophet serves as a guide for the muslim community, because the revelation always guided the prophet. so what the prophet said is ontologically assured. so, the companions of the prophet were very attentive to his words. they collected it with great piety and related it to the future generations. after his death, the prophet’s sayings became the object of serious research so that it can be collected and recorded just like the qur’an. here, there is a transition from the oral to the written tradition (mohammed arkoun, 1996: 73). former minister of religious affairs, mukti ali (speech on the mawlid at the state palace in 1972), cited by endang basri ananda (1975: 73) said that no human being in the world has a life history (before birth until death), written and described, discussed and reviewed, like that of the prophet muhammad. this recognition not only comes from islamic circles, but also researchers from outside, for example philip k. hitti who recognizes that the behavior of the prophet has become a role model of millions of people on earth. later, hitti wrote: “his daily conduct... has formed an order of norms adhered to by millions of people today. nobody’s behavior is emulated in such detail by a great number of people except that of muhammad, the perfect man “(philip k. hitti, (2005: 140). historical events played by prophet mohammed is something ideal to be [ 177 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 followed by muslims. thus, understanding the relations between the three religions will give a new awareness to the people of three faiths to reorganize the relations better. structuring harmonious relations emerges from consciousness after understanding the life of the prophet with a sense of history. awareness of history is an important part in the study of history which is also part of the basic teachings of the qur’an (qs. hud: 120) reveals the relations between religious communities at the time of prophet muhammad, as an exemplary figure of the human race, especially adherents of islam, making muslims realize that the prophet never imposed its will in religion, and even showed respect for other religions. it’s a form of respect by providing freedom to set its own laws of other religions, cooperation in economic and political fields with other authorities around the arabian peninsula. based on the description of the background, the principal issue that requires further investigation in this research is the inter-religious relations in the period of the prophet muhammad. overview of geographical conditions and socio culture of the pre-islamic arab community jazirah (peninsula) in arabic means ‘island’ so ‘jazirah arab’ means ‘island of arabs’. the arabs called their homeland a peninsula, even though only three parts only are bounded by the sea. some historians called the arab land “shibhul jazirah” which in means “peninsula”. to the west it is bordered by the red sea, to the south by the indian ocean, to the east by the arabian gulf (persian gulf) and to the north by the deserts of iraq and the sham desert (syrian desert). the peninsula is approximately 1000 km long, and 1000 km wide (a. syalabi, 2003: 28). mecca in the book of philip k. hitti is called macoraba by ptolemy, taken from the language saba, makuraba, which means sacred place. this word indicates that mecca was founded by a religious group, so that it can be said that since a long time ago, far before the birth of the prophet, it has become a religious center. mecca is located in tihamah, south hijaz, about 48 miles from the red sea (philip k. hitti, 2005: 130), located in a valley and hilly place as described in the quran (surah 14: 37) “a valley that has no plants “(ministry of religious affairs, 2012: 260). mecca served as a place of worship and also became a transit for the arabs when they traveled to the north, and when they trade to the south, so mecca has been a very strategic location connecting the two regions of the northern and southern arabian peninsula (mardan, 2009: 5). the people of mecca were progressive and had succeeded in changing the trading city of mecca into the center of prosperity. the city’s prosperity could [ 178 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 be drawn from a meccan caravan engaged in a war of badr (16 march 624). when the caravan returned from gaza, the entourage comprised 1000 camels and according to al-waqidi as quoted by philip k. hitti (2005: 130) the entourage was carrying merchandise worth 50,000 dinars. this illustrates the progress of the city of mecca and its civilization which had been accomplished by the population of the city of mecca in the sixth century ad. overview of mecca as the civilization center is also mentioned in the quran as “umm alqura” (the capital) in surat as shura verse 7. the social conditions of arab society can be seen in their treatment of women, slavery, and politics. before the advent of islam, women’s rights were not recognized. they were oppressed, emasculated by the customary law. in the case of marriage, women were also oppressed. when a woman was married by her guardian, she had no right to give a reason, or rejection. the husband may divorce her at anytime. she did not have any power except waiting. then, when her husband died, her stepchildren and her husband’s relatives came to take the inheritace. she was also detained by her husband’s family, and they treated her like a servant. the arab society enslaved humans with the stroke of their sword. they made anyone a slave because of losing the war. nobody dared talking about the system of slavery. in politics, the arab community in mecca, represented especially by the tribe of quraish, owned establishment in politics. this can be seen in important positions held by qushaiy ibn qilab in the mid-fifth century ad in order to care for kaaba (jaih mubarok, 2008: 25). religion historians argue that humans by nature like to think of religion and love of god, including the arabs. history shows that the arabian peninsula, which is now comprised of barren deserts, were once lush and verdant earth that had provided the residents with a wide range of prosperity. therefore, religious attachment had arisen in the arab nation since long ago. they already had the concept of god. ali ahmad said (adonis) (2007: ixxix) mentioned the theological characteristics namely the tendency of arabs that overestimated in separating between man and god, and made the religious concept of god as a base and purpose , the dominant arab thought was nothing but the thought of individuality (fardanah) abstract and very mystical (muhammad uthman najati, 2010: 38). meccan period prophet muhammad was born in mecca on 12 rabi al-awal in the year of elephant. coinciding with the year 571 ad. according to an egyptian astronomist, mahmud al-fakali bsya, the date of birth of the prophet, according to the science of isyak, was on the 9th of rabi al-awal (m. saribi, 1984: 3). he [ 179 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 was a descendant of arab noble family, the banu hashim from quraysh tribe, the tribe that was entrusted to maintain the kaaba built by prophet abraham and his son (ishmael). his father was abdullah, the youngest son of abdul muttalib. abdullah died before his son was born while his mother (amina) died six years later (jamil ahmad, 2000: 2). for more detail, the prophet’s family tree can be seen in the following chart (chart i). chart i. the family tree of prophet muhammad (source: ira lapidus, 1999:30) iv quraysh qussay abd. al-uzza abd. al-manaf abd. al-dar abd. al-qussay hashim abd shams abd. al-muttalib umayyah al-abbas abdullah abu talib abu lahab bani umayyah & kekhilafaan umayyah bani muhammad abbasiyah & fatimah = ali kekhilafahan abbasiyah hasan husayn imam-imam syi’ah dan kekhilafahan fatimiyah sumber: ira lapidus, 1999:30 when prophet muhammad was born, the arabs of mecca were already acquainted with christians. every year people from outside mecca flocked to the city to visit the seasonal markets, ukkaz, a forum for arab poets to hold a poetry competition for traders to offer their mercahndise (shaykh shafiyyurrahman al-mubarakfuri, 2005: 26). among the visitors, there were traders from arab tribes who had converted to christianity. in addition, traders of quraysh themselves including muhammad used to bring the caravan to go [ 180 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 to a distant land, including syria which most of the population were christians and also to habasyah (w. montgomery watt, 2007: 99). muhammad had met with christiana long before becoming a prophet. in mecca, there were people from africa, for example, from abyssinia (habasyah or ethiopia), the king and the people embraced christianity. at the age of 12, he was invited by his uncle, abu talib, to participate in the caravan to syria. when the caravan arrived in basra at the foot of mount draz (w. montgomery watt, 1984: 3), they passed the haven of merchants of mecca. there stands a monastery inhabited by a christian ministers from time to time. when the priest died, another priest replaced him and inherited all the wealth of the monastery, including all the ancient manuscripts. in these manuscripts, there is a prophecy about the coming of a prophet in the arab society. bahira, a priest who lived in the convent, completely mastered the content of this book (muhammad sa’id ramadan al-buthy, 1999: 34). the prophecy made sure that the prophet would come in his lifetime. by the time abu talib and his entourage were on the way to approach the monastery, bahira saw the cloud over muhammad among the group of quraysh who were with him. when the group of abu talib sheltered under a tree, bahira saw twigs bend so as to shade muhammad and his entourage under the tree (abdul aziz ash-syanawi, 2003: 12). bahira said to the traveler: “o quraysh! i have provided food for you. i wish you all come to me, young and old, slave or free “(ahmad m. sewang, 2006: 15). the quraysh received the invitation of priest bahira, except muhammad, he was watching the camels and merchandise. as they approached, bahira looked at their faces one by one. however, none of which he saw in accordance with the descriptions in his book; nor was there one among them that was appropriate for the greatness of two miracles. perhaps, they had not entirely come. here’s the next dialog: bahira said: “o quraysh, do not let anyone of you left behind” quraysh replied: “no one gets left out, except for a boy!” bahira said: “do not treat him like that, invite him here, let him be with us in this dinner party” abu talib and others are blaming each other for their carelessness. someone said: “we are really damned! son of abd allah was left behind and is not with us!” soon he met him and embraced him, and brought him to sit with the others (martin lings (abu bakr siraj al-din), 2007: 44) [ 181 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 ibn ishaq said: “when bahira saw and noticed muhammad he found some parts of his face and body match those described in the book. after they finished eating, the priest approached the youngest guests. bahira felt confident, but he became convinced after seeing a prophetic sign exactly as described in his book “(muhammad sa’id ramadan albuthi, 1999: 34). bahira then turned to abu talib and said: ... take him back to his country, and keep him from the jews. by allah, if they see him as i do, they will kill him. surely there will be something big in your brother’s child. therefore, they immediately took him back to his home. the same story was also expressed by abdurrahman (1956: 44) at the age of forty, muhammad ibn abdullah used to contemplate in the cave of hira, just outside the city of mecca. in that place he was praying, fasting, and giving alms to the poor. he was alarmed by what he felt was a crisis in the arab society. in the last few decades, his tribe, the quraysh, had become wealthy by trading in the neighboring countries. mecca had become a city of commerce that was growing fast, but in an aggressive effort to get some of the wealth, the old values of the tribe were fading. instead of protecting the weaker members of the tribe, as outlined in the rules governing the nomadic communities, now the tribe of quraish wanted to make money by sacrificing some small groups of poorer tribal families. the strong were always right. orphans and widows were unable to defend themselves. women were despised and not worthy of respect (abdul wahid khan, 2002: 17-18). there was also a spiritual unrest in mecca and throughout the peninsula. arab people were aware that judaism and christianity, practiced in the kingdom of byzantium and persia, were more experienced than their pagan traditions. some people believed that their supreme deity, allah (whose name simply means “god”), was also revered by jews and christians; but he had not sent a prophet or a holy book for the arabs in their own language. in fact, the jews and the christians often denounced arabs because they were aside from god’s plan. throughout the arab tribes, they fought each other, in a cycle of murder, revenge and retaliation. for many people in the arab society, it appeared that the arab nation was a missing race, always exiled from the civilized world and ignored by god himself (karen armstrong, 2002: 1-2). hiwever, things changed on the night of 17 ramadan in 611 ad, the angel gabriel appeared before him, delivering god’s revelation of the first surat of al-alaq 1-5. [ 182 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 when prophet muhammad received his first revelation above, he was worried about the consequences of what would happen to him in the cave of hira in that night, in which he met the angel gabriel. khadijah, the wife of the prophet said: “by allah, allah will never humiliate you as you always maintain good relations with people; you get used to facing big problems; you are always try to find new things (being creative, innovative); you always respect the guests; and you always help and side with the people who are trying to uphold truth, justice, and honesty (didin hafidhuddin, 2003: 75-76). khadija went to waraqa to share what they had just experienced. waraqa said: “blessed he, the most holy. by him who holds the life of waraqah. “khadijah, believe me, he has received the great namus like what moses received. oh, it would be happy if i could go back into a strong youth, hopefully later i am still alive when your people throw you out” (jafar h.m. hadar, 1982: 18). according waraqah’s belief, all prophets and messengers of god faces challenges from society. for the call and message received by the prophet is a prophetic appeal as occurred to the other hebrew prophets mentioned in the old testament. the core teachings affirm that god is one. he is omnipotent. he is the creator of the universe. the prophet delivered the day of judgment. rewarded in heaven awaits those who carry out the orders of god, and a painful punishment in hell awaits those who ignore them (philip k. hitti, 2005: 141-142). islamic dakwa initially according to muhaimin et al., (2005: 219) progressed through three stages: first, sirriyah or secretly (patmawati, 2014: 5) aimed at the closest family members and friends, through a personal approach. this stage was done carefully, so as not to cause shock among the public, however, the results were quite adequate, proven by the fact some family members and closest friends managed to convert to islam, such as khadija, ali bin abi talib, zaid bin harith, abu bakr, uthman ibn affan, zubayr ibn al-awam, sa’ad bin abi waqas, abd al-rahman ibn awf, talhah, abu ubaidah bin jarrah, and arqam ibn abi al-arqam. the latter’s house was even used as a regular meeting place for those who converted to islam; second, it was conducted in semi-secret, in a sense that it was spread to wider family members or relatives, especially families who joined the clan of bani abdul muttalib. as affirmed in the letter ash-syu’ara paragraph 214 (and give warning to your closest relatives). however, among them many who were not interested in islam, even tried to leave the prophet and mocked him. among them was abu lahab. however, as for some of them, even though they did not accept islam, in accordance with their tradition, they gave protection against a family member who received interference and insults from other clans. this occurred to abu talib and several other family members who were willing to fight for and defend the prophet against the quraysh, despite the difference in belief; [ 183 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 third, da’wah jahriyah or dakwa carried out openly after umar ibn khattab embraced islam, where at first he was an enemy of islam. changes in the dakwa methods from being secretly done to the open method caused a strong reaction from the people of quraish, the group that was instrumental in the control of the city’s life. the quraish tribe not only worried about the challenge of the prophet’s religious traditions that are based on polytheism, but they felt that the basic structure of their society and their interests in the trade were also directly threatened by the new teachings that emphasize social justice, which later inluded more specifically the prohibition against usury and the obligation to pay zakat or alms for the poor. according to a. syalabi (2003: 77-80), there are five causes that trigger the tribe of quraysh to fight against the prophet’s teachings: competition for power, equalization of rights between aristocratic caste and commoner, fear of day of resurrection, dogmatic to the ancestors, trade of sculptures. the seventh month of the fifth year of prophethood, 11 men along with four women set out for a journey to move away. then, the next group followed up and the number who migrated to ethiopia reached 70 people. among them were uthman bin affan and his wife (rukayya, daughter of the prophet muhammad), zubayr ibn al-awam, abdurrahman bin auf, ja’far ibn abi talib, etc. they moved to secure the new religion they professed, and were even willing to leave their family behind in order to establish a new life in a foreign country. religious ties are stronger than blood ties. in this way, the new religion threatened social order as well as replaced the old social order with the new one (rianawati, 2010: 33). the arrival of the muslims in abyssinia was welcomed by king negus. in fact, the king provided protection and allowed them to practice their islamic religion. he also rejected a request from the quraysh tribe to return the believers to mecca. in the tenth year of the prophethood or in the end of may or beginning of june 619 ad, the prophet went to thaif, within approximately sixty miles from mecca. prophet went to the thaif on foot, and came home in the same manner. the prophet accompanied by his assistant, zaid bin haritha. every time he passed by a tribe, the prophet invited them to islam. but none of them listened to him. arriving at taif, the prophet met three brothers of the leader of bani thaqif, namely abd yalail, mas’ud and hubaib, children amr ibn umair as-thaqfy. the prophet invited them to allah, and to help islam. however, the three refused the invitation. when he was about to go out of taif, several bad people followed the prophet, berating and screaming at him. they pelted the prophet and zaid, and two of them were wounded. they stopped pelting the prophet, as the prophet had reached the vineyard of utbah and [ 184 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 syaibah, within three miles of taif. utbah and syaibah had empathy to see the condition of the prophet. they called their maid named addas, adherent of christianity. they sent addas to give a bunch of grapes to the prophet. when the prophet received the grapes, he said: “bismillah” and then ate them. “these words were never spoken by the population in this country” said addas. “from which country do you come from and what is your religion anyway?” asked the prophet. “i’m a christian from nineveh” said addas. “from the land of the righteous, yunus ibn matta,” said the prophet. “what did you know about the name of yunus ibn matta?” asked addas. “he was my brother. he was a prophet, so am i “. replied the prophet. addas immediately grabbed the head of the prophet, kissed his hands and feet (shafiyyurrahman shaykh al-mubarakfury, 2005: 175). from the event above, it shows that the prophet took a position of responsibility for the community of the believers. the prophet kept thinking about the means to protect them so that the teachings can reach the ears of those who potentially believe, and he can create social and political conditions for the expansion of the new religion (islam) (mohammed arkoun, 1996: 70-71). after the event of isra’ and mi’raj, a great development for the progress of the islamic dakwa emerged. the development come from a number of residents of yathrib who made pilgrimage to mecca. they were comprised of aus and khazraj tribes (badri yatim, 2004: 24). they converted to islam in three waves (a. syalabi, 2003: 92-94) as follows: a. in the tenth year of his prophethood, several people of khazraj came to makkah for pilgrimage. the prophet greeted them and introduced himself to them. then, he held a meeting with them at al-aqabah. in the meeting, they were summoned to the religion of allah. the prophet accepted their appeal. they accepted the prophet’s call. “our tribe in yathrib are hostile to each other. never has a tribe in the world been as hostile as our people. and evil raged between them. in fact, we hope that, with you, they will be united by allah again. we will get back to them. we will call them to this religion, hopefully with the help of allah, they will be united to embrace this religion “. [ 185 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 b. in the twelfth year of the prophethood, an agreement was made which is known in history as the “female agreement”, or “aqabah agreement” first. the treaty was called the female agreement, because there was a woman involved in it, namely afra bint abid ibn tsalabah, and also referred to the aqabah agreement as it happened in aqabah. there were twelve men and one woman mentioned above coming to visit the prophet. the meeting was held at al-aqabah where they made a treaty with the prophet. when these people returned to madinah, the prophet sent mus’ab ibn umair with them. mus’ab has been working diligently calling people to islam in yathrib so many commanders and leaders of yathrib embraced islam. c. in the thirteenth year of the prophethood, the second aqabah agreement was made. a series of events went as follows: there were 73 people of yathrib visiting mecca and making suggestions to the prophet that the prophet should migrate to yathrib, and they would appoint him as prophet and leader. again they held a meeting with the prophet at aqabah. the prophet was accompanied by his uncle, abbas, who had not yet embraced islam. after they were all seated, abbas began the talk, and said: “o the khazraj! you all already know that muhammad is one of our people. we have defended him, because he is honored and secured in his country. now he wishes to side with you and join you. if you are really faithful to him in all things you have pointed out to him, and you will defend him from all those who challenged him, i will hand muhammad to you, on your own responsibility. but in case you’re going to hand him over to his enemies, and disappoint him, then leave him now. “ khazraj replied: “we have heard of what you said, o abbas! then let the prophet himself speak. take this opportunity, o messenger of allah, what you desire for yourself and your god! “ the messenger of allah said: “i want to take the agreement of all of you, that you will guard me as you guard your family and your own children”. so they promised, they even promised to defend muhammad with all their estate, or their leaders and noble people will be annihilated, and they would be willing to suffer all sorts of circumstances. aqabah agreement became the basis of hijrah of prophet muhammad (jaih mubarok, 2008: 45). upon [ 186 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 hearing the migration plan, the quraysh planned to assassinate prophet muhammad. responding to the plot of the quraysh, the prophet ordered the muslims to migrate to yathrib in advance and some friends along with the prophet muhammad launched a strategy that involved many parties so as to ensure smooth migration process and could foil the murder scheme planned by the quraysh elites. duringthe time in mecca, the prophet’s activities were to strengthen faith formation and religious practice among muslims. in mecca, the prophet faced opposition from many parties, even some of his followers were tortured to death. nevertheless, following the creed of the prophet remained firm and did not fade in the face of such opposition (muhaimin et al., 2005: 218-219). madina period the event of migration (hijra) of prophet muhammad along with his companions had significant results in the life of the muslim community, both in the theological and socio-cultural and political dimension. theologically, hijra implies dissemination of dakwa and mobilized ukhuwah islamiyah based on the teachings of god. socio-cultural migration had a meaningful social and cultural transformation toward monotheism, while the migration itself was a politically reliable strategy of struggle. since the migration, islam has spread to the entire arabian peninsula, even at a later time, has covered more than half the area on the earth’s surface effectively, as the city of medina where muslims of mecca emigrated to had similar spiritual roots with islam, so that it allowed the acceptance of message of islam. this acceptance had implications for social mobility of the muslim community, giving people good fortune and islam. this fact, of course, is related to the expertise of prophet muhammad in leading the muslims in addition to his accommodation of social forces that existed at the time, including in his efforts to seek the support of jews and several small local groups in medina, and his perseverance in the face of the challenges of the struggle. it was also supported by the followers of the prophet who were ready for self-sacrifice in the conduct of the apostolic mission carried out by the prophet, which was demonstrated by the ansar, the helpers, and the muhajirin, the migrants. during the period in mecca, the prophet muhammad’s position was still very weak as an oppressed minority group in the face of the power of the quraysh. in contrast to the medina period, the position of the prophet and muslims went though great changes. medina was considered a new birth of islam after there was no room for preaching in mecca for muslims. allah chose medina as a pilot project for the formation of the first islamic community. [ 187 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 medina indeed deserved to be a pilot area (wahyu ilahi & harjani hefni, 2007: 55). hijra changed the situation from darkness and helpless state to a strong and powerful state. in medina, the prophet openly preached for 10 years until his death. in medina he organized his followers into a solid and disciplined society. islam was free to spread. in medina, the prophet was not only the leader of the new faith, islam, but also the leader of the islamic state (abdul wahid khan, 2002: 37-38). j. suyuti pulungan as quoted by adeng muchtar ghazali (2004: 42-43) said that in politics, there are three main elements inherent to a group of people to be called a real community or political society, namely the existence of a particular region that binds them to live together and work together with a sense of security to develop the resources of their lives and practice their religion; social conscience to work together to achieve a common goal; and a legitimate political authority in the community capable of maintaining peace and promote the community. this authority is equipped with the institutional regulations applicable to individuals and each group. if the elements of the state specified in the montevideo convention (1933) are described, it will show the alignment as follows: elements of state and madinah no. elements of the state in the montevideo convention the elements of the medina state 1. residential population. residents of yathrib (madinah) consisting of muhajirin, anshar, and jews. 2. territory. yathrib or medina and mecca. 3. government government of the prophet, which made the mosque a center of government activities. 4. relations with other states relations with abyssinia (ethopia), quraysh of mecca, and other powers, either peaceful relations or conflict (war). (source: jaih mubarok, 2008: 53) starting with the response of yathrib people who came to mecca on pilgrimage month to appeal to the prophet, the progress cannot be separated from the personality of the prophet known as a man who never lied. the success of the prophet’s dakwa can be seen in the attitude of people of yathrib in the agreement of aqabah i and ii, where they were willing to change their [ 188 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 attitudes and behavior, even willing to protect the prophet. dakwa is basically a missionary attempt and a media to change people’s behavior from negative to positive, and ignorant to be knoledgeable (bahri m. ghazali, 1997: 1). this is what the prophet did to yathrib society, forming a new society, and laying the foundations for a great society awaited by history. overall, the first islamic state and the ideals of the state were established by prophet muhammad after he had migrated from mecca to medina. these ideals were not only in terms of how it functioned as a state and government, but also in terms of a series of events or actions performed by the prophet muhammad and his companions, especially the four caliphs. harun nasution (1986: 92) said that those who migrated to medina soon became a strong community and could stand alone. the prophet immediately changed the name of the town, yathrib, to medina. the word “medina” a root of “tamaddun” means civilization. the change describes determination, the people who aspired a civilized society. the formation of the people of madina and then transformed into a state and government, was marked by the agreement written in 622 ad between the prophet and community groups in medina. the written agreement is called sahifah which is better known as the medina charter (misaq al-medina). the full text of the medina constitution is written in sirat al-nabawiyah of ibn hisham. regarding the basic principles contained in the charter of medina, experts differ in formulating it. wahyu ilahi and harjani hefni (2007: 59) put it into seven basic principles, namely: 1) muslims and jews live peacefully, freely professing and practicing the teachings of their respective religions. 2) both the jews and muslims are obliged to bear their own costs. 3) if one of the parties fight the enemy, they shall assist the parties being attacked. 4) they should remind each other, and do good to each other, and shall not commit crime toward each other. 5) the muslims and the jews ought to help in implementing the obligations of mutual interest. 6) yathrib becomes sacred land because of the text of this agreement. 7) prophet muhammad is the general leader for all the people of medina. in the event of a dispute between the muslims with the jews, the solution is returned to the prophet as the highest leader in the medina to act as a decision make of the disputes. munawir syadzali (former minister of religious affairs) in jaih mubarok (2008: 49) mentioned that the fundamentals of the state contained in the charter of medina are: first, muslims are one community (ummah) despite coming from diverse tribes; and second, the relations between members of the islamic community and other communities are based on the following principles: (a) good neighborliness, (b) assisting each other in the face of common enemies, [ 189 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 (c) defending those who are persecuted, (d) advising each other and (e) respecting religious freedom. among the main principles of the charter of medina is the principle of cooperation among religious communities. the entire community regardless of religious background, ethnicity, and race, has to establish cooperation in building the community, but in the execution of religious rituals, each autonomous religious community has the right to perform the rituals of their own religion. the medina charter begins with the preamble: in the name of allah, most gracious, most merciful! it is the writing of muhammad among the believers and muslims of quraysh and residents of yathrib (medina) and those who follow them, and given to them and fight with them. they are the one ummah that is different from the others (w. montgomery watt, 2007: 138). in building a community of medina, muslims were encouraged to do good and to engage in cooperation with other people, as long as they were not hostile, combat and repel the believers from their country. it is in line with the words of god in al-mumtahanah: 8-9. the medina charter is an agreement to set up various interests in a multi-ethnic, racial, and religious community. many researchers believe that the charter of medina is a breakthrough and a modern achievement of the prophet. with the charter, the prophet was able to unite people who previously lived with fanaticism in their own tribes and clans, where hostility between one tribe and the other was very common. noercholish madjid (1983: 11) mentioned that: “the text of the constitution was very interesting. it includes basic thoughts from the amazingly modern point of view. in the constitution, for the first time formulated ideas of a modern way of life, such as freedom of religion, the right of any group to organize according to their own life, independence of economic relations, etc. it also confirmed the existence of a general obligation, namely participation in the defense to face an external enemy.” in the first year of the charter of medina, social life was normal, to the purpose of the agreement. however, in second year, jewish groups: banu qainuqa, banu nadir, and banu qaraiza, committed treason by collaborating with the quraysh to fight the prophet in medina (muhammad sa’id ramadan al-buthi, 1999: 182). obviously, such betrayal was a clear violation of the charter of medina they had signed. “in fact (nobody) should do bad things to his allies and defense must be given to those who have been persecuted.” the betrayal was regarded as going to disturb social stability and as a consequence they [ 190 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 were expelled from medina in the seventh hijri year as the prophet managed to conquer them (muhammad ahmad assyria, 1997: 49). however, treason was seen by the prophet as a case that cannot be treated in general. therefore, the jews who remained faithful to the charter of medina were still treated well and able to stay in medina safely. thus, the medina charter cannot be regarded as a failed treaty. quite the opposite, in fact, with the charter the prophet constitutionally had a legal basis for action against the treaty participants who committed treason that could create instability in medina. in addition, the position of muhammad as a prophet and political leader expanded by joining groups of other communities around the medina and the arabian peninsula in general. among those who forged a peace treaty with the prophet was the najran tribe, adherents of christianity. the prophet managed to establish a new state which was the state of medina. the prophet was unanimously appointed as the head of state and was given the authority to lead and implement the state administration that has been agreed. so, in medina he was a ruler who exercised political and military and religious power (bernard lewis, 2010: 80). maxime rodinson quoted by m. dawam rahardjo (1982) described prophet muhammad as a “politician” caable of controling his feelings, and not allowing feelings that come out until the right moment; he could wait for long period of time but at the right time, he moved fast. “this can be seen in the treaty hudaybiya, i.e. the agreement between the prophet and the quraysh of mecca, where the contents of the agreement seemed to harm the prophet, but he accepted the contents of hudaybiya agreement. with the agreement, it signified that the quraish of mecca had acknowledged the prophet as a political leader of the medina area. however, the hudaybiya agreement only lasted for two years. the quraysh tribe of mecca betrayed it, resulting in the event of fath al-mecca in the year 8 h or 630 ad. the prophet’s love of peace can be seen in the events of fath al-mecca. the terms of peace made by the prophet when conquering mecca was an important event in the history of agreements between nations. no conqueror would offer such lenient terms to the defeated group, which was a mortal enemy, constantly harassing and slandering him. even the biggest enemy, abu sufyan, the heinous leader of the quraysh was left unharmed. when ten thousand trained islamic soldiers attacked the quraish of mecca, the prophet, with his sublime character and great spirit of tolerance, gave orders not to attack anyone. he stated, “anyone who shelter at abu sufyan’s house will be secured” (jamil ahmad, 2000: 3). in the creation of the state of medina, the prophet served as an apostle, statesman, legislator, moral enforcer, reformer, political expert, and economist. [ 191 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 this integration, as quoted by j. suyuti pulungan, indicated that during his lifetime, muhammad had successfully built islam as a religion and as a harmonious state at the same time. in line with this, h.a.r. gibbs said that at the time it was factual taht islam was not only a religion, but was also capable of forming a free society, complete with the laws and specific governmental system (adeng muchtar ghazali, 2004: 46-47). conclusion inter-religious relations in the period of the prophet were harmoniously built and practiced. it can be seen in the cases of priest bahira with abu talib, waraqa bin naufal, king negus in habsyi (ethopia), and the christians who came from bani najran. even though there were differences between the theology of religions, those differences did not weaken the good relations created in the form of an agreement for mutual respect and protection. the medina charter is proof that prophet muhammad was both a religious leader and a political leader. the medina cahrter was born ahead of its time and can be used as a source of inspiration for building a plural society. through the medina charter, the prophet successfully organized all ethnic and religious groups in medina, uniting them as brothers, despite different religious and ethnic backgrounds, all having the same duty to defend the state of medina should there be an attack from outside. references abdurrahman. 1956. muhtasar sirah rasulullah saw. beirut: darul arabiyah (transl.). ahmad, jamil. 2000. hundred great muslim (translated into bahasa indonesia as seratua muslim terkemuka). jakarta: pustaka firdaus. al-mubarakfuri, syaikh shafiurrahman. 1997. sirah nabawiyah. jakarta: pustaka al-kautsar. amstrong, karen. 2002. muhammad sang nabi sebuah biografi kritis (transl.). surabaya: risalah gusti. ananda, endang basri. 1975. cahaya menjelang subuh. jakarta: bulan bintang. arkoun, mohammed. 1996. rethinking islam. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. asy-syanawi, abdul aziz. 2003. mengenal kehidupan rasulullah saw. yogya[ 192 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 karta: mitra pustaka. asyur, muhammad ahmad. 1977. pidato-pidato umar bin khattab dan pesan-pesannya. bandung: husaini. ghazali, adeng muchtar. 2004. perjalanan politik umat islam dalam lintasan sejarah, bandung: pustaka setia. ghazali, m. bahri. 1997. da’wah komunikatif membangun kerangka dasar ilmu komunikasi dakwah. jakarta: pedoman ilmu jaya. hatta, ahmad. (at all.). 2011. the great story of muhammad saw referensi lengkap hidup rasulullah saw dari sebelum kelahiran hingga detikdetik terakhir. jakarta: maghfirah. hadar, ja’far h.m. 1982, “menunggu juru selamat” in panji masyarakat, no. 347. hafidhuddin, didin. 2003. islam aplikatif. jakarta: gema insani. hitti, philip k. 2005. history of the arabs (transl). jakarta: pt. serambi ilmu semesta. ilahi, wahyu & harjani hefni. 2007. sejarah dakwah. jakarta: rahmat semesta. khan, abdul wahid. 2002. rasulullah di mata sarjana barat. yogyakarta: mitra pustaka. lapidus, ira m. 1999. sejarah sosial umat islam. jakarta: rajagrafindo persada. lings, martin (abu bakr siraj al-din). 2007. muhammad kisah hidup nabi berdasarkan sumber klasik. jakarta: serambi. madjid, nurcholish (at all.). 1983. “cita-cita politik kita”. in aspirasi umat islam indonesia. jakarta: lembaga penunjang pembangunan nasional (leppenas). mardan. 2009. al-quran sebuah pengantar memahami al-quran secara utuh. jakarta: pustaka mapan. mubarok, jaih. 2008. sejarah peradaban islam. bandung: pustaka bani quraisy. muhaimin (at all.), 2005. kawasan dan wawasan studi islam. jakarta: kencana. najati, muhammad utsman. 2010. psikologi qurani dari jiwa hingga ilmu laduni. bandung: marja. [ 193 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 patmawati. 2014. sejarah dakwah rasulullah saw di mekah dan medina. in al-hikmah, vol. 2. no.2. p: 37-59. rahardjo, m. dawam. 1982. “muhammad, sang nabi, rasulullah”. in panji masyarakat, no.348. ramadhan al-buthy, muhammad sa’id. 1999. sirah nabawiyah. jakarta: rabbani press. rasyid, daud. 1998. islam dalam berbagai dimensi. jakarta: gema insani press. rianawati. 2010. sejarah peradaban islam. pontianak: stain press. said (adonis), ali ahmad. 2007. arkeologi sejarah-pemikiran arab-islam. yogyakarta: lkis. sayadi, wajidi. 2013. ilmu hadis panduan memilah dan memilih hadis sahih, daif, palsu dan cara memahami maksudnya solo: zadahaniva. sewang, ahmad m. 2006. hubungan antar umat beragama (bahasan buku sirat nabawiyah ibn hisyam). makassar: universitas islam negeri (uin) alauddin makassar. syalabi. 2003. sejarah & kebudayaan islam 1. jakarta: pustaka al husna baru. toisuta, hasbollah (at all.). 2007. “damai…damai di maluku…!” in alpha amirrachman (ed.). revitalisasi kearifan lokal studi resolusi konflik di kalimantan barat, maluku dan poso. jakarta: international center for islam and pluralism (icip). watt, w. montgomery. 1984. muhammad nabi dan negarawan. jakarta: kuning mas. ------------, 2007. muhammad sang negarawan (transl.). jogyakarta: diglossia yatim, badri. 2004. sejarah peradaban islam. jakarta: rajawali pers. [ 295 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 tension of muslim-christian relations in indonesia: the case of conversion and celebrating christmas zuly qudir universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta, indonesia email: zuliqodir@umy.ac.id bilveer singh national university of singapore, singapore email: polbilve@nus.edu.sg abstract there are in the tense of christian-muslim relations in indonesia since the time of the new order until today. the issues in christian-muslim relations include conversion of faith with marriage and celebrating christmas. these two issues are constantly associated with religious politics in indonesia. the issues have forced tensions to resurface, although according to indonesian history, christianity and islam had jointly driven colonialists away and participated in founding the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. in addition to theological affairs, the two issues relating to the tension of christian-muslim relationships have also impacted political and economic affairs. this article provides a description of tension between muslims and christians in indonesia in the case of conversion from islam to christianity through marriage and celebrating christmas in muslim communities. the work concludes that in order to reduce tension between christians and muslims, all efforts to conduct theologia religionum dialogue should be sought, and social harmony between christians and muslims should be created. all of this is none other than a model of religious practices that have surpassed symbols. this is called passing over religious practices with new religious experiences. keywords: muslim-christian relationship; conversion of faith; celebrating christmas introduction christian-muslim relations in indonesia have always been a sensitive discourse. this is due to the theological, historical, and political factors in the backdrop (sumartana, 2015). several other sensitive issues relate to issues of christianization and colonialism (sumartana, 2015). another problem [ 296 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 is related to freedom of religion, particularly of minority groups, which is constantly discussed in academia (yewangoe, 2015). minority groups are nearly in a constant pitfall of freedom due to suspicions of their activities (yewangoe, 2015). the relationship between islam and christianity in indonesia is full of religious-political tensions. aside from issues of theology and christianization, the building of places of worship is another sensitive issue in indonesian christian-muslim relations (asfinawati, 2014). in terms of building places of worship, there are many cases where the building of places of worship was thwarted and prohibited from continuing (ali-fauzi et al., 2011). places of worship belonging to a region’s minority groups truly pose a grave challenge in christian-muslim relations in indonesia today. particularly post the 1998 political reform, numerous houses of worship have been damaged by followers of other religions (muslims damaging christians’ and christians damaging muslims’ places of worship) (ali-fauzi, alam, dan panggabean, 2009). when we trace back historic tensions that ignited disputes between christians and muslims, we found they have occurred since the development of the theological perspective that there is no salvation outside the church (extra eclexia nula salus). such belief is followed by indonesian churches to this day, and it has impacted the prevalence of suspicions and assumptions that religions other than christianity are fake (sumartana, 2011). meanwhile, there is the assumption among muslims that there is no salvation outside of islam (inna dina indallahi islam). god does not acknowledge one’s deeds and beliefs outside of islam. islam is the perfect religion while other religions are denied, which has been believed by the majority of muslims until it becomes an absolute doctrine. accordingly, an inclusive and dialogic perspective of theology needs to be developed to respect differing theological beliefs between christianity and islam (sumartana, 2011). one of the impacts of the tense christian-muslim relations is the advent of conflicts, such as those witnessed in ambon, where muslims and christians alike were engaged in violent conflict (subagya, 2015). in the case of the poso conflict, it was due to suspicions and tension between christians as the majority and muslims as the minority (qodir, 2018). the dominance of christians in poso had led to unequal social relations with the muslim community. meanwhile, the conflict in papua was caused by a standstill in the dialouge between christian and muslim communities in terms of building places of worship and other religious rituals (hamid dan suryo, 2014; hasse, 2016; qodir, 2015a). political and economic dominance also served as causal factors in the tensions between christians and muslims in papua (faisal, [ 297 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 2020). facts on the ground corroborate the ongoing tension and contestation between muslims and christians to this day, given the various incidents that have taken place. such conditions have resulted in a harmonious christian-muslim relationship that is actually restricted within the confines of artificialities. a harmonious state might have been observed during the new order, but after the fall of the regime, it has become a serious issue confronted by both muslim and christian communities. it is interesting to note that amidst the unfolding conflicts, seeds of peace were found at the local level as part of local community initiatives. for instance, in ambon where violent conflicts occurred causing more than ten thousand fatalities, there was an initiative to develop peace by civilians of christian and muslim backgrounds (antoni, 2014; al qurtuby, 2016). the christian and muslim communities in ambon engaged in collaborative efforts within the framework of humanity to recover from the aftermath of the violent conflicts that ravaged both communities (pariela, 2008). the christian and muslim communities jointly fostered peace, which was shattered by horizontal conflicts in ambon (pariela, 2007). such is also the case in pose, where peace initiatives were carried out by civil society organizations like monsituwu foundation (prasetyo, 2019). in papua, initiatives for peace were suggested by both christian and muslim groups so that the conflict of violence did not continue (faisal, 2020; al hamid, 2020; hamid dan suryo, 2014; yamin, 2020). the tension in the relationship between christians and muslims in indonesia may be afforded to the contestation fought over public space between the two largest missionary religions in indonesia (adeney-risakotta, 2015). the christian-muslim relationship, accordingly, requires social ethics in order to alleviate the ongoing tension based on religious, political, or economic perspectives (qodir, 2015b). interreligious social ethics between the two largest religions (christianity and islam) in indonesia is of utmost importance so that issues of mistrust or suspicions may be reduced. such conditions above, ultimately, demand that the existing construction of religious relationships (between christians and muslims), which is full of tensions, transitions into a relationship of mutual understanding and respect. the majority group should not impose any restrictions upon minority groups. in indonesia, freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the indonesian constitution in article 29 verse 1 stating that every citizen is free to choose their religion and belief. as such, a strict regulation that does not violate the rights of citizens is required in the life of the state and society (bagir et. al, 2019). the current article argues that the ongoing christian[ 298 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 muslim tension in indonesia today is a persisting problem that continues to be submerged and perpetuated, and accordingly requires a contemporary solution to untangle the conflict and pressure between the two groups. a wisdom approach by holding religious (christian-muslim) dialogues within the framework of religionum theology must be conducted intensively in order to mutually understand and respect differences that are evident in christianity and islam. there should be no more mutual suspicions among christians and muslims, and followers should not perpetuate proselytization methods calling upon religious conversion and blaming the religious views others adhere to. passing over serves as one of the options in fostering better christian-muslim relations in indonesia. immersion into others’ feelings and understanding differences are among some of the key steps. the issue of conversion with marriage muslim-christian relations have often been hampered by issues relating to religious conversion, which for instance refers to a muslim converting to christianity ince the new order until today. however, it is not an issue for muslims when a christian converts to islam. they are considered by muslims to have been given divine guidance and chosen the true path. however, it becomes a serious issue when one converts from islam to christianity. they will be considered apostates who have renounced the true faith and abandoned divine guidance. religious conversion, from islam to christianity or vice versa, remains unacceptable as a part of “religious freedom”. this is, associatively, due to the missionary concept of da’wah and proselytizing found in both religions (mujiburrahman, 2006). religious conversion has even become a tough political issue. the problem of conversion, which has put a strain on muslim-christian relations since the new order, is a suspicion that muslims have against christians (steenbrink, 2005). several educational institutions and non-government organizations have long been suspected to be agents of christianizing (converting) muslims. in terms of study centers, the suspicion falls upon the centre for strategy and international studies (csis) led by sofyan wanandi and daoed joesoef. sanata dharma university (previously known as ikip sanata dharma yogyakarta), which is a higher education institution accused to be an agent of christianization and kaderisasi sebulan (one-month caderization – kasebul) (dhakidae, 2003). two protestant higher education institutions often considered agents of christianization include satya wacana christian university of salatiga and duta wacana christian university of yogyakarta (dhakidae, 2003). in the christian circle, the indonesian bible society [ 299 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 (lembaga al-kitab indonesia – lai) that publishes the bible in jakarta is accused to be an agent that distributes bibles to muslim communities. meanwhile, religious seminars held by the council of churches in indonesia (which has changed to communion of churches in indonesia/pgi) are deemed as forums to discuss issues of christianization, despite the difficulty in proving such accusations (sumartana, 2011). a study by robert w. hefner, concerning religious conversion in the hill of tengger, states the problem unfolding among muslims, christians, and hindus as a historical and anthropological issue (hefner, 1993). religious conversion is also a political-economic issue in indonesia (hefner, 1987). hefner also places minority religions as being accused of being agents of religious conversion from islam to christianity (hefner, 1990). conversion has, subsequently, become a crucial issue ambushing higher education institutions as well as indonesian political-economic life. the issue of religious conversion becomes even more serious when the individual is a muslim woman converting to christianity. the accusation that christians deliberately have a christianization agenda by marrying muslim women with the purpose of spreading christianity among muslims, as is the case in aceh, exists among the public (ansor & amri, 2020). upon closer observation, issues on the christianization of muslims pertain to individuals carrying out religious conversion, the presence of educational institutions, study centers, bible publications, and members of the community with economic predicaments. when a muslim converts to christianity, christians will be accused as undertaking efforts of christianization. yet, oppositely, when christians convert to islam, it is not considered as a deliberate effort of converting christians. the muslim community may even be proud these converts, particularly when they become a prominent muslim figure. the problem of religious conversion in indonesia indirectly correlates with the country’s population and its exceedingly varied religiosity and spirituality traditions. with a population of 265 million in 2010, robert w hefner stated: “with a population of 265 million people, indonesia is the third most populous electoral democracy in the world. it is also one of the most ethnically diverse, with over four hundred ethnic groups living on 4000 islands stretching across some 3400 miles along the equator. indonesia is also the world’s most populous muslim-majority country, with 87.2% of citizens officially professing islam. the remaining population is divided among protestants and catholics (9.90%), hindus (1.69%), buddhists (0.72%), and confucians (0.05%). although the indonesian state extends formal recognition to just these six religions, there are several hundred thousand indonesians who adhere to one among dozens of “indigenous religions” (agama leluhur) or “spirituality traditions” (aliran [ 300 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 kepercayaan) in the country. as will be discussed below, in recent years the status of these long-unrecognized religious traditions has become the focus of public debate and judicial review” (hefner, 2020). many studies state that religious conversion carried out in indonesia is not problematic. however, the facts on the ground are contrary to these findings because religious conversions from islam to christianity are a very serious problem in the muslim community. this is especially problematic and controversial if the conversion is carried out by those who become religious leaders or famous personalities who were formerly muslims but are now christians. these type of incidents in islamic society, where a muslim marries a christian and changes their religions, they will be considered to have betrayed his religion, family and society. therefore, the social punishment for a muslim who marries a christian is very severe, especially if one later changes religion. therefore, religious leaders, both christian and muslim, have suggested that marriages should be within one’s religion. clearly, these leaders do not recommend interfaith marriages. the social burden of interfaith marriage can last a very long time because it becomes a burden to those who have to live through such mixed-religious unions as well as the burden for their families. abdul muhaimin said, one of the caretakers of a boarding school in kotagede, yogyakarta, is quoted as saying: “marriage between religions, islam and christianity, even if there are those who allow it. actually, the social burden they bear is very heavy. there are those whose families are no longer willing to admit they are part of the family. someone threw him out of his house. others were insulted by the local community on the accusation that they only wanted to get property. in fact, there are those who punish them as infidelsapostates. therefore, even if interfaith marriage is allowed, in my opinion, the burden will be lighter if marriage is within one’s religion, muslims with fellow muslims and christian with christian. it does not have to be between religions”. this is problematic in particular if the interfaith marriage is carried out by a figure or popular person in the muslim community. this person will become a topic of conversation because of the marriage that is carried out. for example, in the case of a marriage between a television actress, a singer, or a female cinema star who marries a christian cinema actor, then the punishment for the artist may not be light. the artist can become an issue on social media and may even be expelled from his village for marrying a christian. this is especially true as an actor who is christian among muslims is usually referred to as an infidel, a largely derogative and disapproving term. this concern is especially if an interfaith marriage is performed by an islamic religious figure [ 301 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 with a christian. for such cases, the social punishment against such persons can last a lifetime with the individual accused of “selling religion” at a cheap price. critics have also argued that interfaith marriages are about creating wealth and beautifying oneself, and where beauty becomes a goal of life even if it means challenging god. it is for this dual mission of wealth creation and beautification that some muslims are seen to be willing to marry a christian. in view of these debates and narratives, interfaith marriages in islamic societies are not as easy as in the past due to the rise of theological debates even in the context of rising discussions of religious pluralism. the same debates and challenges also exist in the christian community. there are rising debates and issues about a christian marrying a muslim with such individuals accused of leaving the “path of christus”. such individuals are said to have lost the blessings of jesus. those who marry outside the christian religion are said to have violated the sacred promise of being with the kingdom of god. hence, even within the christian community, it prefers a christian to marry another christian. or, if a christian marries a muslim, the christian should stay within christianity and not convert to islam. this is because by converting to a muslim, a christian is seen to be “violating the way of truth”. hence, for christians, if there is an interfaith marriage it is said to have an impact on religious transformation and hence, remains a serious problem and is viewed from negative lenses. bishop gregorius subanar said the following about the topic: as a pastor, i always suggest that if you are going to get married, it is better if you only have one religion. because marriage between religions is a serious social risk. especially if you change religions because of marriage. it is a very severe “social punishment” to his siblings and family. there are many cases of marriage between religions which then have an impact on the rift between families in society even though some are still in harmony. however, in society they actually ‘criticize and punish’ those who marry between religions and convert to other religions”. bishop subanar’s statement seems no different from what abdul muhaimin has stated. that marriage between religions, which causes religious conversion, even if it is permissible, actually creates serious problems in muslim and christian societies. both muslim and christian communities are still not completely accepting if they take the path of marriage between religions, let alone change religions. marriage between religions and changing religions is indeed a person’s right in choosing the path of life. however, the social [ 302 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 punishment that must be borne becomes a burden that often discourages people from doing so. in christianity, there are also negative consequences if a religious figure converts to islam. the punishment given is much more serious. the phrase “selling god”, “denying the grace of the lord jesus”, and “betrayal of the kingdom of god”, “preparing to receive sin from god” and “not getting the atonement” are common expressions in christian society, particularly in indonesian charismatic christian community. it is true that there are many motives for people to convert or marry between religions, including the generosity of one’s family and to receive “guidance” or god’s guidance. however, such motives are often incomprehensible to the general public, regardless of whether one is a muslim or christian. in fact, among muslims, if a muslim converts to christianity, then there is only a very negative expression: apostasy and being distant from the guidance of god. it also connotes that one is following the lust of the devil and the worldly attractions and hence the willingness to leave the goodness of the hereafter. in short, inter-religious marriages that cause the transfer of religion will be a disaster in social life in indonesia. this leads to the view that one’s choice of inter-marriage and religious conversion would create conflicts in society, especially in indonesia, including a rising trust deficit between muslims and christians. prayer events of celebrating christmas eid al-fitr and christmas are two of the most popular holidays for muslims and christians. wishing christians “merry christmas” was, initially, not a serious issue before 1981. however, since 1981 muslims saying merry christmas became a very sensitive matter. it is known that christmas became a sensitive issue since the resignation of buya hamka as the general chair of mui (indonesian ulema council) in 1981 due to a difference of opinion with the government relating to christmas celebrations conducted by governmental institutions that held joint christmas ceremony in indonesia. buya hamka was of the opinion that participating in the christmas ceremony is haram for muslims. meanwhile, the government expected buya hamka to revoke the fatwa. yet, buya hamka chose not to revoke the fatwa and resigned from the position of mui general chair. the content of the mui fatwa issued in 1981 is as follows: (1) christmas celebration in indonesia, although their purpose is to celebrate and honor prophet isa (peace be upon him), christmas is inseparable from matters of faith and worship; (2) it is haram for muslims to participate in joint-christmas ceremonies; (3) muslims are advised not to participate in christmas activities [ 303 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 so as not to be plunged into shubhat (doubt) and allah’s prohibition. such a fatwa on christmas was issued by mui in 1981. it was signed on march 7th, 1981 by the chair of the fatwa commission at the time, kh m syukri ghozali, and the secretary of the fatwa commission, mas’udi. when the fatwa was issued, mui was chaired by prof. dr. kh. abdul malik karim amrullah, also known as buya hamka. the current general chair of mui, din syamsuddin, said that when correlated with the present social religious conditions, the 1981 mui fatwa needs to be revisited. din syamsuddin mentioned that due to the misunderstanding of christmas among muslims, joint christmas events are haram to muslims. din syamsuddin stated, “some issues had come to the attention of ulemas before the fatwa was issued. for instance, joint christmas celebrations were often misinterpreted by some muslims. christmas celebration was also frequently likened to celebrating mawlid al-nabi (the birth of the prophet muhammad, peace be upon him) because christmas marks the birth of prophet isa (jesus christ) to christians. accordingly, the fatwa was issued with the consideration that muslims needed clear guidance concerning joint christmas celebration so as not to intermix their worship with acts of worship of other religions, without undermining efforts to maintain interreligious harmony throughout indonesia” (pratama, 2014). based on the exegeses of theologians and ulemas of fiqh (islamic law), the mui fatwa that has been applied since 1981 until today, has constantly become one of the sources of tension in the relationship between muslims and christians in indonesia, when muslims convey christmas greetings or salutations. accordingly, when christians express eid al-fitr greetings or salutations, tension unfolds among muslims in which some argue that christians should not express eid al-fitr salutation to muslims, as it will erode muslim faith. as, generally, muslims carry out ramadan fasting for a full month prior to celebrating eid al-fitr. throughout the holy month of ramadan, muslims conduct various religious activities as additional rituals, such as reciting the quran (tadarus al-quran), providing snacks or meals to break the fast (ta’jil), communal reading of the quran before breaking the fast, after the night prayer (isha) and tarawih prayer. muslims undertake all of those activities for the purpose of becoming closer to and gaining more reward from god during the holy month of ramadan. all are carried out so that at the end of ramadan, muslims who fast expect to acquire a venerable standing as a human being that only fears god (piety) because they have fasted and followed all of its ensuing rituals (shihab, 2008). there is intense discourse pertaining to such expression in the muslim [ 304 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 community on account of some muslims who consider that expressing christmas greetings to christians is an expression of national comradeship as fellow citizens. it will not erode a muslim’s faith whatsoever. expressing christmas greetings will not turn a muslim into a christian. in fact, saying christmas salutations to christians indicates muslim’s degree of faith in allah for the existing diversity in indonesia, and that, essentially, is an acknowledgment to sunnatullah (the immutable laws of allah) (maarif, 2015). a serious debate that generates tension is also related to the guarding of churches carried out by muslims during christmas celebrations. some muslims question why the multipurpose ansor front (barisan serbaguna ansor – banser, a part of nu’s youth wing) guards churches during christmas, while it does not guard mosques or locations for prayers during eid al-fitr. what is banser’s intent in guarding churches during christmas if not for the sake of momentary interest and to state that they are, seemingly, tolerant of others? meanwhile, those who do not do such things are not tolerant. that is why, guarding mosques during eid al-fitr is, actually, considered mere christian politics so that their faith is acknowledged by the muslim community, despite it being in clear opposition to the islamic belief (nashrullah, 2019). in terms of guarding churches, and expressing christmas salutations, muhammadiyah central board’s tarjih council firmly states its opinion as stipulated in the book titled tanya jawab agama jilid ii, tim majlis tarjih pp muhammadiyah [q & a on religion volume ii, tarjih council team of muhammadiyah central board], which was published by suara muhammadiyah (1991). it is explained that attending joint christmas celebrations is haram in the perspective of islamic law. muhammadiyah, in this matter, upholds the word of allah swt in the quran as follows: “they are those who do not bear false witness, and when they come across falsehood, they pass it by with dignity” (al azhar, 2012). the meaning of this verse is that they do not attend ‘az-zur’. if they were to pass by it, they would do so immediately and would not want to be tarnished at all by ‘az-zur (katsir, 2018). many islamic legal rulings declare that it is haram to attend celebrations of non-muslim holidays based on this verse. to support its view, muhammadiyah central board’s tarjih council also refers to imam malik who stated, “muslims are forbidden from celebrating holidays of mushrik (polytheist) or kafir (infidel), giving something (presents), selling something to them, or ride vehicles they use to celebrate their holidays. meanwhile, eating food that they offer us is makruh (disliked), be it delivered to us or them inviting us “ (tamiyyah, 1967). saying ‘merry christmas’ is akin to glorifying it, which is not allowed (aljauziyyah, 1956). unlike muhammadiyah’s view, the executive council of the nu sentral board is of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with muslims [ 305 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 wishing christians ‘merry christmas’. let alone when it is expressed simply to respect and maintain comradeship as fellow citizens. the chair of nu sentral board’s executive council, robikin emhas, stated that some religious priests do indeed have differing perspectives concerning the legal ruling for muslims to express ‘merry christmas’ to christians (santoso & yasir, 2019). such conditions have an impact on creating tensions when muslims celebrate eid al-fitr. the eid al-fitr celebration among muslims is one of the rituals that have a very deep meaning to celebrate muslims who carried out acts of worship throughout the month of ramadan. muslims who have completed their fast are expected to be reborn as a hallowed human being, back to their initial point of faith. whereas christians, through christmas, are also reborn in holiness as their sins have been cleansed away by jesus christ through his sacrifice on the cross. the two different and meaningful traditions of eid alfitr and christmas are laden with theological meanings and tensions between muslims and christians throughout the political period from 1985 until today. even since the 1998 political reform, eid al-fitr and christmas have been witnessed as events with highly intense political tensions. in terms of the development of this issue among indonesians, according to the 1981 mui fatwa, expressing christmas salutation is haram. however, mui does not, actually, prohibit expressing christmas salutation in the fatwa. considering the debate presented by muhammadiyah and nu about the celebration and christmas greetings of a muslim to christians, can be said to be a question that has been going on all this time. it is very sensitive for a muslim to deliver a christmas greeting to a christian. there are very unpleasant accusations like apostasy, selling religion, and not a strong faith. such allegations are hardly heard in the literature we can read. however, we will get it while in the muslim community. this is of course a problem in the relationship between religions (islam-christianity) in indonesia because the celebration of christmas and eid al-fitr will always happen every year. the sensitivity of muslims towards christians who wish them a happy eid was considered a tactic so that one day muslims owe a debt of gratitude to wish christians a merry christmas. we will easily get whatsapp posts, videos, and facebook, just before christmas arrives. at that time, muslims were warned not to say christmas, because it made muslims be considered apostate or infidel, and changed religions. the social impact on islam-christian relations in indonesia is truly dire. the tension during christmas and eid al-fitr occurs because the congregation congratulates eid or congratulations about christmas on social media. [ 306 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 conclusion the critical issue hampering christian-muslim relations is the matter of religious mission (da’wah) found in the two abrahamic traditions. both claim to be the bringer and spreader of religion to people of the world so they can be saved from their digression. this is the crux of the problem in christian-muslim relations that continues to develop to this day and resulting in other problems such as religious conversion building of houses of worship, christmas-eid al-fitr celebrations, and the issue of jesus-muhammad. these issues develop due to theological perspectives within christianity and islam that have not been resolved to date. without the willingness of christians and muslims to jointly engage in critical dialogues pertaining to christianmuslim relations, which have been full of tensions since the post-colonial period until today, suspicions to bring down one another, to disrespect the uniqueness, differences, and salvation found in both missionary religions will remain among christians and muslims alike. the two abrahamic religious traditions continue to be at odds due to differences in theological matters, as well as political and economic issues in the country. one of the means to stop or reduce the ongoing tensions between christians and muslims in indonesia today and in the future contemporary era is by conducting equal, critical, and open dialogue. by implementing such means, both christians and muslims will be able to learn from one another, share experiences, and still steadfastly uphold the beliefs they follow. this is the tradition of passing over that can be developed among followers of christianity and islam in indonesia. passing over can, accordingly, be considered a new tradition in spreading the mission of the abrahamic religious traditions within the present context. passing over also functions as a religious design within a perspective that goes beyond religious symbolism. it refers to practicing religion in a diversity of symbols yet a unity of substantial meaning. bibliography adeney-risakotta, b. 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[ 251 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the dynamics of relation between the state and local religions in indonesia: between idealism and reality adib ‘aunillah fasya, alif al hilal ahmad, muhammad lukman arifianto and zainurrakhmah gadjah mada university abstract this paper, in general, discusses the relation between the state and local religions in indonesia. there is no doubt that indonesia is one of the countries which has local religions or beliefs with a considerable number of followers, so that the state needs to protect of the followers of these religions. however, after the passing of the government regulation on the recognition of particular official religions in the country, various issues related to formally unrecognized religions began to emerge, including discrimination by the government, especially in administrative matters, as well as social discrimination by the community that denies their existence. various methods are used by the state to minimize the discriminatory attitudes by issuing multiple regulations and policies, but still it is not considered satisfactory to satisfy all parties, especially those who have been discriminated. keywords: religion local, state, faith, religious freedom introduction the democratic system in indonesia is different from that of the west because indonesia adheres to the pancasila system of democracy (sartika, 2012: 240). one of the most important points in the system of pancasila democracy is the appreciation of human rights (ham) as well as legal and social protection on the minorities. therefore, ideally the state through the government should be able to protect and guarantee the rights of all citizens with no exception, including the right to religious freedom. the freedom of religion and belief is the constitutional right of the indonesian citizens that is generally approved by all parties (vermonte and basuki, 2012: 36). freedom of religion has become an important issue that sometimes leads to polemic in activities of social life, politics, and economy in indonesia, especially in recent years (vermonte and basuki, 2012: 27). in the 1945 constitution of the republic of indonesia article 29 (2), it is stated that the state guarantees the independence of each resident to profess their own religion and to worship [ 252 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 according to his/her own religion or belief. the article of the constitution implies that the state has a vital role to protect every citizen in performing worship or religious rituals based on their own belief. as a result, the state is expected to protect all citizens without any tendency (especially religious tendencies), that will create a conducive atmosphere, as well as quiet, safe, and peaceful religious life. although the state constitution guarantees religious freedom of its citizens, in reality the freedom of citizens in religion as stipulated in the 1945 constitution, article 29 paragraph 2 was ‘weakened’ by the explanation in article 1 of presidential decree no. 1 / pnps / 1965 concerning the prevention and misuse and / or blasphemy. the explanation of article 1 of the regulation is that religions embraced by the people in indonesia are those officially recognized by the state, i.e. islam, christianity, catholicism, hinduism, buddhism, and confucianism (after its recognition in 2001). it certainly raises debate among the people, i.e. the birth of a dichotomy between ‘recognized’ and ‘unrecognized’ religions, majority and minority religions, global and local religions, primitive and modern religion, etc. (hasse et al ., 2011: 181). furthermore, it also indirectly implies that only religions recognized by the state alone can get facilities from the state, both in administrative matters and in the performance of religious worship. this also means that religions that do not get the recognition from the government of course will have difficulties in some aspects such as paperwork, constitution, freedom of worship, etc., because they are considered “unofficial”. there is a possibility, too, that the presidential regulation can be used as a strong legitimacy for the “hard-line” groups to suppress the minority that is considered to tarnish the official religions (vermonte and basuki, 2012: 33). when talking about the history, long before the republic of indonesia was founded and proclaimed, the existing beliefs (religions) of local or traditional spread almost all over the archipelago outside the six religions now recognized by the state, including the khalik religion of the wana, the kaharingan religion of dayak pitap, the patuntung of the tanah toa kajang, islam wetu telu in lombok, etc. thus, with the issuance of the international covenant on civil and political rights, the government policy in the form of presidential decree no.1/1965 regarding the prevention of blasphemy is considered a serious problem, since restrictions on the recognition of the religions by the state has indirectly caused restrictions on the rights of citizens in choosing their own religion, especially the local religions in indonesia which had already existed before the “official” religions came. even though it is explicitly stated in the regulation that religions other than the [ 253 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 six officially recognized above are not prohibited by the state and receive state guarantees in full as provided by article 29 paragraph 2 of the 1945 constitution, such restrictions on the number of religions recognized are considered against the nature of the state in the system of democracy while ensuring the right of every citizen to profess any religion they embrace. in addition, although the local religions are not banned and but in fact guaranteed by the state, gradually these restrictions potentially provide a discourse in society that religions other than official religions established by the government through the ministry of religious affairs are not authorized or not considered a religion, so that it gave birth to two camps: one that recognizes local religions and the other that denies the existence of local religions because they are considered to degrade or “contaminate” the official religions. therefore, the state is currently faced with the policies and their implementation in order to accommodate the existence of the local religions. through the method of literature study on books, scientific journals, news, etc., this research is expected to map out the problems of the relation between the state and local religions in indonesia comprehensively, and to find some solutions expected to improve it. the library research was conducted through reading, observing and analyzing books, research reports, state or government regulations, including laws, as well as scientific journals related to the relation between the state and local beliefs in indonesia. the results of the research are presented within the framework of a descriptive-analytic paper. the existence of local of religions and religius freedom in indonesia, the definition and views related to freedom of religion and beliefs are still limited to what is regarded as the only official religions, or religions recognized by the state. conceptually and philosophically to determine the official and unofficial religions can be considered a form of intolerance and discrimination. the ruling of religions by the state or even by society itself is a major element in the invasion of religious freedom, i.e. freedom of conscience (vermonte and basuki, 2012: 36). speaking of the local religions in indonesia, it would require a starting point of the definition of religion in the country itself. during this time, the government tends not to categorize the indigenous indonesian beliefs as a religion, or in other words they do not qualify to be called a religion. in 1978, local religions in indonesia were incorporated into the ministry of culture because they were regarded as a spiritual culture not religion.2 therefore, the 2 see: http://www.bbc.com/indonesia/laporan_khusus/2011/04/110405_agamasatu.shtml. [ 254 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 definition of religion, especially in indonesia needs to be reviewed. if we take a look at the great dictionary of the indonesian language, religion is defined as a doctrine or system that governs faith and belief in god almighty, way of worship, and rules related to relationships between humans, between humans and the environment (language center, 2008). however, none of the legislations defines what religion is (rosyid, 2015: 17). even to this day, there is still an ongoing debate among academics and stakeholders about a standard definition of religion. the lack of clarity about the standard definition of religion until now affects the government itself. as reported by tempo (feb 25, 2015) lukman hakim saifuddin, minister of religious affairs of the republic of indonesia said that the government is currently incompetent in managing conflicts involving religious matters because the regulations governing the definition of religion and protection to every religious community are considered insufficient. in general, the concept of the term ‘religion’ in indonesia has the same meaning as ‘religie’ or ‘godsdients’ of the dutch language, ‘religion’ in english and ‘din’ in arabic. the term religion is derived from the sanskrit word whose meaning indicates the existence of human belief based on the revelation of god (hadikusuma, 1993: 16). according to picard and madinier (2011: xi), the concept of religion in indonesia is the union between the christian view as a global religion and the islamic understanding of the prerequisites of a true religion, which requires it to have prophets, a holy book, and belief in one god (monotheism). in this context, the so-called religion, as set forth by the department of religious affairs and put forward by picard and madinier, is something that must come from god through revelation, brought by the prophet, written in scripture, containing rules of behavior, laws, and orderly way of worship (burhani, 2012: 47). the definition is still not yet right and does not represent religion as a whole, particularly local religions in indonesia. basically, religion is the fulfillment of worship and faith, so it is a matter between each individual and god with regard to one’s worship and faith (majid, 1997: 3). therefore, the impact on the local religious followers is that they have to choose to embrace one of the religions set by the government (picard and madinier 2011: xii) when viewed from the creation of the concept of religion above, it can be concluded that a basic concept of religion in indonesia requires four things, i.e, god as the origin of the religion, a prophet as the messenger of religious teachings, a holy book as religious guidelines, and standard procedures for worship. thus, local beliefs such as kaharingan, aluk to dolo, sapto dharmo, [ 255 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 kejawen, tolotang, and others cannot be categorized as religions because they do not have a holy book or a prophet or a theological concept equivalent to islam or christian (burhani, 2012: 48). local religion is a true historical fact undisputed by anyone at any time. unfortunately, through the path of history the fate of local religions is not entirely promising. the political pendulum and the state policies are not fully capable of maintaining these local beliefs, which essentially are rich with local wisdom. administratively, a local religion or belief is managed under the ministry of education and culture. there are approximately 246 local religious organizations put under the ministry. the number of these organizations is constantly changing, some of them are dispersed, others banned by the government (lindholm et al., 2010: 691). the local belief with the most followers is the buhun in west java. the number of adherents reached 100 thousand or 25% of the total number of followers of a traditional belief as a whole. other religions include the sunda wiwitan in kuningan, west java; kejawen in central java; parmalim in north sumatra; kaharingan in kalimantan; tonaas walian in minahasa north sulawesi; tolotang in south sulawesi; aluk todolo in toraja; wetu telu in lombok west nusa tenggara; kapribaden in several areas in java; and naurus on seram island in maluku province. despite the fact that the followers of local religions now still exist in some regions in indonesia and still adhere to the teachings of their religions, of course they always face challenges. one of the challenges faced by these communities is to maintain their identity and religious teachings both in terms of quantity and quality, as well as a challenge to exist in the midst of social, economic, political conditions that continue to change (mufid, 2011: 3). relation between the state and local religions indonesia is an example of a unique case study in the relation between religion and the state. even though the country adopt neither theocracy nor secularism, it formally through the ministry of religious determines what is referred to as a “religion” and makes people feel the need to affiliate with one of these religions (picard and madinier, 2011: i). one way that people feel the need to embrace the religion officially recognized by the government is to issue regulations related to religious affairs. thus, people who initially did not embrace the official religion now began to abandon their indigenous religion or belief and convert to the official religion for the sake of receiving facilities, especially in matters of administration. [ 256 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 in regulating all aspects of community life, especially in the aspect of the right to embrace a certain religion, it is undeniable that the country is indeed ideally in need of creating and validating a clear rule or law as its legal basis. as in the case of freedom of religion set in the constitution of 1945, article 29 paragraph 2, which states that the state guarantees the independence of each citizen to profess their own religion and to worship according to his/her own religion or belief. in addition, law no. 39/1999 on human rights article 22 paragraph 1 and 2, it is also mentioned that everyone is free to embrace their religion and the state guarantees the freedom of every person to embrace a religion. both of these rules imply that every individual is free to embrace and worship according to a religion or belief he/she believes as long as it does not interfere with the rights of other individuals and public order. nevertheless, in fact as discussed in the introduction, religious freedom has been weakened by the presidential decree no. 1/pnps/1965, which only recognizes six religions, i.e. islam, christianity, catholicism, hindu, buddha, and confucian ism (recognized in 2001). as a result, it has caused the followers of religions other than the six recognized ones to feel marginalized. in addition to matters related to “recognized” and “unrecognized” by the state as described in the previous paragraph, the relation between the state and local religions can be traced through government policies concerning demographic administration, i.e. law no. 23/2006. as a guide to the implementation of the law, the government also issued government regulation (pp) no 37/2007. in chapter vi, article 64 paragraph (2) of law no.23/2006 it is stated that information on religion for the people whose religion is not recognized as a religion, based on the provisions of legislation, it is stated on (the id card ), but still recorded in the database of population (mufid, 2012: 4). although the policy of law no. 23/2006 has been changed into law no. 24/2013, an explanation of the religion column remains unchanged. even still recorded in the database of the state population, the empty column of religion in one’s identity card would rise to polemics in the community. the empty column for information on religion today still cause difficulties to local religious followers in the affairs of the state administration, such as marriage, birth certificate issuance, etc. in addition, as a result of the presidential decree no.1/pnps/1965, which had been enacted through law no. 5/1969, some people proposed to review the regulation at the constitutional court. it drew a lot of pros and cons. the constitutional court eventually rejected the judicial review on grounds that if the judicial review of law no. 1/pnps 1965 about the abuse and/or blasphemy was granted, it was feared that there will be an absence of regulations related [ 257 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 to the affairs of blasphemy and might trigger horizontal conflicts, social disorder, and chaos in society. it must be recognized that the rules concerning blasphemy is a dilemma. on the one hand, if there is no such a rule, then we might be faced with anarchy, people can do as they please, creating a new religion or cult according to their own will, but on the other hand if this rule is applied, the people who do not recognize the existence of certain religions or sects would use the rules to make judgments against minority groups that are considered “unofficial”. in the path of history of religion in indonesia, it must be admitted that there is still tension that continues until today between people who believe in local (traditional) religions and those who reject the concept of local religions. the local religious followers insist that their beliefs are qualified to be a religion, while those who disagree found them unqualified to be called a religion in indonesia (as described above). the tension ultimately played the role in the construction of concept of religion in indonesia (picard and madinier, 2011: i). therefore, needless to say that the construction of the concept of religion in this country is not purely derived from the spirit of the theology, but greatly influenced political affairs, in this case the influence of the colonial system. with regard to the blank religion column in the national identity card as stipulated in law no. 24/2013, it has been considered a positive development for religious freedom in indonesia, at least compared to previous decades (cholil, et al. 2010: 65). in fact, it is also considered much better than forcing the local religious followers to embrace one of the six officially recognized religions. however, some local religious followers in several regions finally affiliated or merged with the official religions as an attempt to obtain administrative facilities and in order to avoid social discrimination. these six official religions that have been recognized by the government should remain protected by the state. yet, outside the six religions, the state should also remain aware of the existence of local beliefs and guaranteed their rights even though the name is not listed on the identity card. thus, every citizen shall not worry when performing their religious practices and not lose their religious identity. in this case the state must play an active role to restore the notion circulating in the local community that local religions are a religion that must be abolished. for example in the marital affairs, as stipulated in article 81 of government regulation no. 37/2007, the marriage of followers of local religions can only be recorded if performed in the presence of local religious leaders whose organization is appointed. the organization must register with the related ministry that fosters local religious organizations. therefore, any local [ 258 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 religion should create a local religious organization which can later facilitate the administrative relationship with the state or government. local religions is part of the local wisdom of the nation that should be preserved and managed properly. the management can be done through regulations that do not marginalize them, especially related to the official documents issued by the state. local religious position under the ministry of education and culture also deserves to be reviewed. the ministry of religious affairs should move quickly to formulate and establish appropriate regulations to accommodate the presence of the local religions. facilities, access, and respect for local religions also should not be restricted. on the other hand, the active participation of the followers of local religions is also needed, so that the religious relations in the country remain harmonious and secure. conclusion issues related to religion often trigger lengthy polemics, particularly related to religious minorities as well as local religions. the state a the maker of regulations is expected to be open to the reality of local religions scattered throughout the archipelago, which have existed even before indonesia’s independence. policies, mainly related to official documents issued by the government should be reviewed. the sixth official religions in indonesia today, i.e. islam, christianity, catholicism, hinduism, buddhism, and confucianism should be protected from blasphemy, but outside the six, local religions should also be protected. taking a closer look at these dynamics, however, the existence of a local religion or belief and its followers in indonesia is the responsibility of the state. the state represented in this case by the local government should be responsible for the existence of local religions in its political region. the government should be present as a patron at the individual level, not merely in dealing with the concept. therefore, there should also be new regulations to further improve the quality of services related to administrative matters for the local religions, both at the central and regional levels. in the concept of democracy, each individual wishes their existence and belief to be recognized and acknowledged by the state. however, social and political conditions of the country has yet to give such possibility as issues related to the recognition of local religions to become official are still debated, so it is probably necessary to have a forum with certain authority to reform the handling of religious affairs in indonesia so as to gradually eliminate discrimination against local religions. [ 259 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 as a matter of fact, the majority of the followers of local religions do not require or demand official recognition from the state. yet, the indonesian government at the moment is still “selective” in its management of the existence of religions, especially the local religions, non governmental organizations (ngos) concerned about the problem of the local religions in indonesia and local religion organizations themselves are expected to play an active role in an effort to fight for their rights, especially the right to receive equal treatment as the followers of the official religions and the right to embrace religions base on their conscience. references burhani, ahmad najib. 2012. “tiga problem dasar dalam perlindungan agama-agama minoritas di indonesia” dalam jurnal maarif vol. vii no. 1. jakarta : maarif institute for culture and humanity cholil, suhadi (at al.) 2012. annual report on religious life in indonesia 2009. yogyakarta : center for religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs), sekolah pascasarjana, universitas gadjah mada fanani, ahmad fuad. 2012. “agama, hak-hak minoritas, dan problem perlindungan negara” dalam jurnal maarif vol. vii no. 1. jakarta : maarif institute for culture and humanity hadikusuma, hilman. 1993. antropologi agama bagian i: pendekatan budaya terhadap aliran kepercayaan, agama hindu, budha, kong hu cu di indonesia. bandung : pt. citra aditya bakti hasse, j. (at al.). 2011. “diskriminasi negara terhadap agama di indonesia : studi atas persoalan posisi hukum towani tolotang pasca pengakuan agama resmi” dalam jurnal kawistara vol. 1 no. 2. yogyakarta : sekolah pascasarjana-ugm lindholm (at al.). 2010. kebebasan beragama atau berkeyakinan: seberapa jauh? yogyakarta: kanisius madjid, nurcholish. 2007. masyarakat religius: membumikan nilai-nilai islam dalam kehidupan masyarakat, jakarta: paramadina press mufid, ahmad syafi’i (ed.). 2012. dinamika perkembangan sistem kepercayaan lokal di indonesia. jakarta : badan litbang dan diklat kementerian agama ri picard, michel dan madinier, remy (ed.). 2011. the politics of religion in indonesia : syncretism, orthodoxy, and religious concention in java and bali. new york : routledge contemporary southeast asia series rosyid, moh. 2015. “dampak hukum tidak diakuinya agama lokal oleh [ 260 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 negara: studi kasus pada masyarakat samin di kudus jawa tengah”. makalah training tingkat lanjutrule of law dan hak asasi manusia bagi dosen hukum dan ham. yogyakarta : pusham-universitas islam indonesia sartika, rika. 2012 “strategi pelembagaan nilai-nilai pancasila dalam mencegah sikap anarkis pada budaya demokrasi” dalam prosiding kongres pancasila iv. yogyakarta : pusat studi pancasila, universitas gadjah mada vermonte, philips j. dan basuki, tobias. 2012. “masalah intoleransi, toleransi, dan kebebasan beragama di indonesia” dalam jurnal maarif vol. vii no. 1. jakarta : maarif institute for culture and humanity undang-undang dan peraturan pemerintah ; peraturan presiden republik indonesia nomor 1/pnps/tahun 1965 diunduh dari http:// www.kemenag.go.id pada 31 oktober 2015 undang-undang dasar negara republik indonesia tahun 1945 diunduh dari http://www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id pada 31 okober 2015 undang-undang no. 39 tahun 1999 tentang hak asasi manusia diunduh dari http://www.komnasham.go.id pada 31 oktober 2015 undang-undang no. 24 tahun 2013 (perubahan dari undang-undang no. 23 tahun 2006) tentang administrasi kependudukan. diunduh dari http://www.mahkamahkonstitusi.go.id pada 31 oktober 2015 [ 267 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 cultural education for sustaining nusantara religion within boti indigenous community octalyna puspa wardany inter-religious studies program of ugm – insist email: opuspad@gmail.com al makin universitas islam negeri sunan kalijaga email: almakin3@gmail.com samsul maarif center for religious and cross-cultural studies graduates school, gadjah mada university email: samsul.maarif75@ugm.ac.id abstract boti indigenous community which is in timor tengah selatan district, nusa tenggara timur preserves and nurtures their nusantara religion, named uis neno ma uis pah. boti is able to live through different eras, before west influences, the colonization era, modern, and contemporary. how can the boti indigenous community be sustained with their religion as part of custom? is there any certain methodology which they have implemented for the regeneration so their descendants keep preserving and nurturing their nusantara religion?. this research article is focused to answer those two questions. the research is already implemented using ethnography method, so the researcher lived in the boti indigenous community for 13 months from october 2, 2021 until november 1, 2022. this research used decolonization as the perspective method in order to understand boti’s nusantara religion as well as their customs in detail and holistic including the concept and the core, so enable to do the comprehensive analyzing using proper theories of education; education and culture theories from ki hajar dewantara, the indonesia national education notable; tukan and hasfaria’s theory about adat (indonesia: custom); roem topatimasang’s theory about school; and mori’s theory about learning method. boti implements the cultural education as the methodology to do the regeneration so the next generation know and preserve their nusantara religion and customs. it teaches the understanding of the transformation in life that enables them to be open and flexible for the new influences. by the implementation of division on education; modern and cultural education; boti indigenous community is able to sustain and nurture their nusantara religion. keywords: nusantara religion, boti, cultural education, uis neno ma uis pah, indigenous religion [ 268 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 introduction considering historical facts, the boti indigenous community is able to be sustained through various eras and nurture their tradition including their nusantara religion. boti’s nusantara religion is taught by their ancestors and continued to their adherents. there is a certain method and mechanism applied by the boti indigenous community so the boti children still know, moreover implement their tradition and believe in boti's nusantara religion. the interesting thing is they apply their tradition and religion not merely as the form, but have philosophical understanding so they may modify, revise, and change the formal things to adapt with the contemporary era. this understanding raises unique wisdom and enables them to be resilient. how can the boti indigenous community be sustained with their religion as part of custom and become their culture? is there any certain methodology which they have implemented for the regeneration so their descendants keep preserving and nurturing their nusantara religion? this research article focuses in order to explain those questions. understanding boti indigenous community’s methodology presents the knowledge to support the indigenous community sustainability in their ways, using their wisdom. this understanding is also able to explain how important boti’s nusantara religion was, as the soft construction of boti indigenous community and the foundation of their way of life. otherwise, it will paint a unique color in modern knowledge on sustainability methodology of the root community, especially indigenous communities. this research implemented an ethnography method for the field research. the researcher was living in the boti indigenous community for 13 months; october 2, 2021 to november 1, 2022. there are many rites and thoughts of indigenous community which cannot be accessed by outsiders. it needs trust which might be developed by closed and routine interaction. besides, there is much value in knowledge which is frequently not formulated, but internalized through daily activities, habits, and routine work. ethnography enables researcher to live blending with them and joining their daily activity, so the researcher is able to catch up and understand the unformulated and unspoken knowledge as their wisdom of life. to strengthen the mindset of researcher to get comprehensive data, this research used decolonization methodology as the perspective. in doing the research, there are some possibilities that will be happened: (1) the scholar will face difficulties in catching and understanding the subject and object matter of the research, (2) the scholar’s way of thought (west constructed) will influence the indigenous community which is then change the community, (3) there [ 269 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 will be the efforts to transliterate the indigenous concept into academic term in order to disseminate the understanding of the research results. all of those possibilities are able to make reductions, augmentations, or distractions to the indigenous community’s authentic concept, meanings, and values. otherwise, it is also the possibility for indigenous community to get influences from the researcher which is then affirmed and adopted to be unified with new indigenous community concepts and values. in order to limit those possibilities, this research needs to implement decolonizing methodology as the perspective. it will urge the researcher to do critic and auto critic during the field research until writing the research results. smith in the decolonizing methodologies, research and indigenous peoples propounds graham smith’s four models of research works as part of her decolonizing methodology (2008: 177). these are the poins (1) the tiaki or mentoring model in which authoritative maori people guide and sponsor the research, (2) the whangai or adoption model in which researchers are incorporated into the daily life of maori people, and sustain a life-long relationship which extends far beyond the realms of research, (3) a ‘power sharing model’ where researchers ‘seek the assistance of the community to meaningfully support the development of a research enterprise’, (4) ‘empowering outcomes model’, which addresses the sorts of questions maori people want to know and which has beneficial outcomes. these graham smith’s four models can be implemented in this research as the manifestation of decolonizing methodology. there are also some critical considerations that need to be placed as the mind frame in doing this research which are abstracted from smith. those are (2008: 177-191): first, the move towards research is more ethical, and concerned with outcomes as well as processes. second, epistemological tradition which frames the way we see the world, the way we organize ourselves in it, the questions we ask and the solutions which we seek. third, it is a way of abstracting that knowledge, reflecting on it, engaging with it, taking it for granted sometimes, making assumptions based upon it, and at times critically engaging in the way it has been and is being constructed. fouth, developing more culturally sensitive research and employing the indigenous community approaches. fifth, the research approach also has to address seriously the cultural ground rules of respect, of working with communities, of sharing processes and knowledge. sixth, researchers have to share their ‘control’ of research and seek to maximize the participation and the interest of indigenous community. from this perspective, the researcher does not position themselves as an outsider with an abundance of knowledge, but rather as someone who studies [ 270 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 and learns from the boti indigenous community. this approach posts the boti indigenous community as the resource of the knowledge for this research. it is common practice to make comparisons when acquiring new information in order to enhance understanding. for instance, the boti farewell ritual which is held 3-4 years after the burial can be compared to the javanese tradition of a similar ritual held 1000 days after burial, also occurring 3 years after burial. if the researcher applies this comparison and presents it to the boti indigenous community without considering their own knowledge, it undermines their role as the primary source of knowledge. additionally, injecting other traditions into the boti culture would perpetuate the colonization of knowledge, impeding the implementation of decolonization. it will have a different meaning if the boti indigenous community shares about other facts from the different location or from researcher’s location which have similarity. by adopting other facts, the boti indigenous community endeavors to convey their knowledge to the researcher as the outsider in order to facilitate understanding. as elucidated by smith’s critical analysis, the researcher sometimes has to take for granted all the knowledge including the information and data which are given by the indigenous community. by this way, the boti indigenous community is posted as a valuable resource of knowledge. the decolonization methodology becomes the guide of awareness for the researcher in absorbing the knowledge, doing the conversation and discussion with the people, observing and even act in their daily lives. still about the boti’s farewell ritual, refraining from making comparisons allowed the researcher to comprehend that there is a collective work and resources sharing. each group of family comes to the party bringing the rice, goat or cow, and other food items to give to the host to be cooked and eat together. this practice implements in all boti’s rituals. through this system, the cost for the ritual is kept affordable and each adherent able to hold the ritual because they will be supported by the society. by employing decolonization as a guiding principle of awareness, the researcher also discovers that ama usif (dawan, the king father), as the leader of the boti’s nusantara religion, does not always lead the ritual. instead, there are other spiritual leaders known as amaf1 and atoin amaf2 who have the ability 1 amaf are the persons who assist all affairs and are in charge to take care of various duties given by usif for all areas of life; the religious sector, the government as kingdom, social, economy, politic, and custom. 2 atoin amaf is the foster parent from mother’s family who accompany the persons since teenage in order to guide and educate them. atoin amaf is appointed by customary elders. atoin amaf led religious rituals based on family custom. [ 271 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 to take charge of the rituals, such as the farewell ritual. discussing topics on sustainability and regeneration are closely linked to the education process practiced by the boti indigenous community. this research article explores the education and culture theories in an attempt to analyze the boti’s methodology. boti indigenous community boti is a village in timor tengah selatan (tts) district of east nusa tenggara (ntt) province of indonesia. it is located on the expansive timor island. this village was established and nurtured by the local people who are recognized as members of the dawan tribe, one of ntt tribes inhabiting timor island. boti was one kingdom, part of amanuban kingdom with its capital located in niki-niki city. it is an indigenous village surrounded by mountains and hills. the village area is 16.500 m2 at 519 masl. the majority of the village is encompassed by hills with slopes ranging 45° 90°. it’s not easy to get to boti. the road from soe3 to niki-niki4 is fully paved with asphalt and it takes about 1-2 hours to travel by car or motorcycle. then, a quarter of the way from niki-niki to boti remains asphalt, but beyond that point, the road is a dirt road surrounded by bushes and trees. it takes 1-2 hours to travel from niki-niki to boti by car or motorcycle. some parts of the dirt road will be very muddy and challenging to navigate during and after the rainfall, so it needs a skillful driver and off-road type of car. 3 soe is the capital city of tts district. 4 the nearest city of boti which used to be the center of amanuban kingdom where boti is part of it. [ 272 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 figure 1: the muddy road to boti after the hard rain photo by: octalyna puspa wardany at sonaf boti on november 1, 2022 using redmi 9 fortune by its geographical location, boti has remained untouched by any colonizers; portuguese, dutch and japan who colonized niki-niki. boti has been accessed by foreigners since 1985. boti always welcomes and opens to all guess, regardless of their origin, purpose, or background. based on the history of amanuban kingdom and boti kingdom, the boti indigenous community has existed since before the 14th century. this fact is substantiated by vlekke (2018: 24-25) as explained in the nusantara: sejarah indonesia that many kingdoms in indonesia have existed since the 2nd century. in 2019, the population of boti village was 2.236 persons5. nowadays, there are approximately 631 hh6 or approximately 3,000 people. the population growth is caused by marriage. most of the boti people, circa 85% are protestant, comprising 536 hh7. the fewest are catholic amounts 14 hh. the remaining, about 76 hh, equivalent to 319 individuals8 are the adherents of nusantara religion. it is considered an “… “unstructured religion” embraced 5 data of boti village potency year 2019. 6 interview with the head of boti village government, balsasar o. i. benu on october 11, 2021. 7 interview with mike nuryati tatfui, s. th., the preach of gmit (gereja masehi injili di timor or evangelical protestant church in timor) boti on january 30, 2022. 8 interview with ama usif namah benu, boti king & the leader of nusantara religion of uis neno ma uis pah on september 6, 2022. [ 273 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 by “subordinated groups” and different from institutionalized, established, or recognized religions whose theology and dogma have been codified” (makin, 2016) in the context of indonesia. within indonesia's legal system, the nusantara religion is categorized as belief in one god, distinguishing it from agama or religion (maarif, 2019). the term “nusantara” symbolizes the interconnection between indigenous religions and indonesia as geographical, geopolitical with all its nature, and culture that is historically constructed. there exists a mutual influence between indigenous religions within the specific context of indonesia, leading to the development of a unique character so differ it to other indigenous religions in different contexts. this distinctive character encompasses particular concept within the content of nusantara religion, holding intellectual, instrumental, and emotional significance as a result of the adaptation process of human beings and their habitat. the “nusantara” term serves as a symbol that represent this unique character, defining the specific indigenous religions in indonesia. in the easternmost part of indonesia, there existed a nusantara religion known as wiyon or wofle9 in the south west papua province which was practiced by maybrat, imian, and sawiat tribes. these three among 257 tribes of 7 ethnic groups live in the maybrat regency and sorong regency10. wiyon or wofle believed in supernatural powers residing in sawro mron (heaven) situated in ayoh (sky) headed by the supreme and eternal power called oron yabi or wiyon u (god)11. moving to the center part, there are the adherents of nusantara religion named jingitiu in sabu island that explicitly concerns faith in deo (god) and involves many aspects; the physical world, human life, and the unseen world. jingitiu views everything as a gift from god almighty called ‘deo mone ae’ (widjaja, 2022). from the western part, there is orang rimba, a group of tribes who live in the forest of sumatra, that is also called suku anak dalam (sad), kubu, komunitas adat terpencil (kat) who spread at bukit duabelas national park or taman nasional bukit duabelas (tnbd) of jambi province12. as a semi nomadic tribe who follows local wisdom and customary law of their ancestors, forests are their homes and sources of life where traditional and 9 sagrim (2013: 29); wiyon is the name of nusantara religion for maybrat tribe and wofle is for imian and sawiat tribes. 10 sagrim (2013: 30). 11 sagrim (2013: 30). 12 tuhri, 2020: 236. [ 274 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 religious ceremonies are held13, also the sacred land where a spirit live14. they also consider the rivers as a primary avenue for the interconnection of forests and villages on earth and the heaven, for the flow of ideas, contact and relations with the outside world, as well as the means through which the gods of sickness travel from heaven to earth15. nusantara refers to indonesia geographically and geopolitically, and it is admitted internationally. it is nowadays often used interchangeably with the name indonesia. the utterance of nusantara as indonesia geographically and geopolitically actually interconnected and interrelated to culture too. it is called nusantara for indonesia territory with area 7,81 km2 which consist of 3,25 million km2 water area, 2,55 million km2 zee and 2,01 million km2 land area. within this vast territory, there are abundant natural resources, a diverse population, and various ethnic groups including the culture. all born within this territory can be considered a part of nusantara. those all can be absorbed and adapted to the syncretic with others from outside nusantara. this intermingling extends to the realm of religion as well. specifically, the nusantara religion term refers to the existence of various religions amounting to more than 600 (makin, 2017) in indonesia which already lived before the entrance of world religions (christian and islam), even before the entrance of buddha and hindu as the history of indonesia people is already existed since second century which was signed by a number of unrecognizable indonesian kingdoms (vlekke, 2018). nusantara religion is an authentic concept of religion in indonesia. it represents indonesia's thought and understanding in living as part of this world inhabitant. it presents the understanding of the long history of the struggle of authentic religion in indonesia. it represents the religion which is understood by nusantara people as the unification of god with infinite power and nature which is also as the place of the spirits including the spirits of the ancestors. this religious teaches to maintain the way of life which is synergized with nature to worship the superhuman power. the title of boti’s nusantara religion is uis neno ma uis pah from the dawan language. uis stands for god. neno represents for the sky. ma means and. pah signifies nature. using the straight translation, uis neno ma uis pah means “the god of sky above and the god of nature, the natural environment as the human habitat”. this translation might imply that boti’s nusantara religion believes in two gods. this interpretation is commonly understood by those 13 ibid.: 237. 14 ibid. 15 ibid. [ 275 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 outside the religion. the adherents of boti’s nusantara religion employ a metaphor to describe the constellation between human and uis neno ma uis pah. the metaphor equates uis neno to the father and uis pah to the mother, while human as the children. according to this understanding, they always ask nature first to fulfill their needs, such as food and favorable weather. they will ask the father for things that cannot be provided by the mother, such as protection for their lives, blessings for the spirit of their ancestors and the deceased, as explained by ama usif “kalau anak mau minta, pertama minta di mama dulu. kalau mama tidak bisa kasih, baru minta bapa” (if the child wants something, first asks to the mother. if the mother cannot provide, then asks the father). nature plays a crucial role in life. to have a secure and good life, humans should conserve and nurture the nature. then, nature will take care of humans too because all things that are done to nature will be returned to the humans. all things done will give effects and impacts to the humans. by mentioning nature in the title of their religion, the boti people are consistently reminded of nature's superior power over humanity. they do not conquer the nature, but live in synergy with it. while the sky for uis neno is the symbol of the infinity power, reigning over all aspects of life. when there is something that cannot be solved by nature, they pray and surrender to god. uis neno ma uis pah are not two distinct gods worshipped by the boti people. in their religious rituals, uis neno ma uis pah is always mentioned as a unification without any separation. balsasar o.i. benu explained, “… dua sebutan itu menjadi satu dalam penyembahan”16. uis neno ma uis pah are two rules in one god. they don’t have any term to explain one god. uis neno ma uis pah represents the consciousness of the infinite power of god and nature which surpasses human capabilities in this life and as the manifestation of god power. god almighty has two manifestations. god rules the sky to explain the infinity power and god rules nature. boti’s nusantara religion is also the root of all customs which then construct the way of boti people's life. the cornerstone of their ethics lies in being a virtuous individual. in order to achieve this, they adhere to the ancestral teachings passed down through generations, which are embodied and practiced by the followers of uis neno ma uis pah. these ancestral teachings encompass various aspects, including religious rituals, the way of thinking and acts in facing the new things and solving the problems, preserving nature, fostering the harmonization of social life based on the consideration that boti 16 interviewed on october 11, 2021 “… those two names always become one unify in the worship”. [ 276 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 people are one family, and not doing the bads. by upholding these principles, individuals strive to become good people. the cores of the thought are being good people, independent, and life synergize with nature. to be a good person, they cannot hurt other people and implement monogamy. to be independent means they can fulfill their needs from their own works, so they do not want to be lazy and accept any aids. life synergizes with nature by forbidding them to exploit and waste nature. otherwise, they should think about a better life and future for boti people and the environment. the boti indigenous people keep the core of their ancestors’ thought but not rigidly applying various customary rules. the cores of the thought enable them to be flexible in receiving the new influences and adjust themselves with various changes then transform their lives. it can be seen from their openness to modern education and building the school. modern school as the space for negotiation the national school in boti started in 1957. as heka benu told17, firstly, the late usif nune benu already gave permission for boti people to study in modern ways, unfortunately there was no education facility yet. he instructed 5 persons to go to ntt capital city, kupang, in order to ask the modern education facility in boti. one of those 5 persons is christopher benu. since boti is very far from kupang, the provincial government recommended them to ask their neighboring villages. before the school operated, the boti people took their education at oenaek and opus, the neighboring villages. following the provincial government’s suggestion and after asking bele, another neighboring village, the school was finally built using a weeds roof and named sekolah rakyat (indonesian, public school). the first teacher was mr. biredoko from rote who was called by boti people and students as mr. meniloko. in 1960, it was changed to sekolah dasar (indonesian, elementary school) until now. the school days are monday to saturday from 7.00 am to 12.15 pm. but, in the hot season, it ends at 11.00 pm or 11.30 pm considering the students have to walk back home, which is very far about 1 hour to 4 hours on foot, in the very hot season. the school did not operate during the gestapu incident; 1965 until july 1966. during the corona pandemic in 2020, the school was also not operated and activated for half day school in july 2021 until june 2022. starting 17 heka benu (80 years) who is the little brother of late usif nune benu is interviewed on may 8, 2022. [ 277 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 from july 2022, the school is fully operated. nowadays, there are junior high school and senior high school too, so boti children are able to study in their own village. while for undergraduate education, boti has cooperated with indonesia open university in soe. thus, the boti students are able to continue their study without leaving their village as the boti people’s dream. the religion subject is taught in every class, spanning 6 levels of elementary school, 3 levels of junior high school, and 3 levels of senior high school. protestantism is primary taught reflecting the majority of the boti people. however, the elementary school provides catholic teachers so the catholic students get their own religion subject. while the uis neno ma uis pah adherents could join protestantism for religion subject. because religion is not included as part of the evaluated subjects at national level and no guidelines for the evaluation aspects, the valuation and evaluation system are determined by the school itself. the students of uis neno ma uis pah adherents do the evaluation of protestant religion subject in boti elementary school18, but they are not obligated to answer all questions correctly and achieve a certain grade score. beside the result of the evaluation, the scores for their religion subject also consider their attitude and ethics in daily life at school. in the intercommunication with other students who are protestant and catholic, there is no discrimination either in learning activities in class or social interactions between students outside of study hours. the students of uis neno ma uis pah can have good relations with other students. they can play, study, go to school, and walk back home together. indeed, there are some special attitudes of the students who adhere to uis neno ma uis pah. they are very polite and respectful. when they receive admonition, they listen well and obey it19. based on the information from the teachers, the students of uis neno ma uis pah adherents have different acts and attitudes in their ethic, their perspective about study20 and teachers, also how they use the knowledge in their life. they post those as the important matters and act in a good way. these different acts are related to the way their families – especially their parents – educate them. 18 interview with yakob benu, the headmaster of boti elementary school, on november 25, 2021. 19 interview with antonius nesi, the teacher in class 5 of boti elementary school, on november 25, 2021. 20 their perspective about study leads them to understand that everything which is given in the school is part or the knowledge. this makes them have no obligation in learning another religion in class which is mostly protestant. for them, that subject is part of knowledge and won’t make them change their religion. from this perspective, it is not very rare if a student of uis neno ma uis pah adherent achieved good points in religion. [ 278 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 cultural education: the strategy for religious and cultural sustainability the boti indigenous community understands very well that in order to preserve and nurture their culture, including their nusantara religion; they should do regeneration. education is an important methodology for the regeneration process. the boti indigenous community name their education as cultural education. a. educational divisions for the adherents of uis neno ma uis pah, they implement the rule of the children education division. if they have two children, one can study modern knowledge and the other should study about culture. if they have three children, two can study modern knowledge and another should study about culture. the acquisition of modern knowledge can be pursued through national or modern schools. while, to study culture or cultural education is facilitated by parents as the teacher and integrating daily tasks and work as learning methods. in practice, the rule of educational division is not implemented strictly. there is always a space of tolerance in every boti’s customary rule including education. it is allowable for those whose four children, that three children study at modern school while only one child studies cultural. in deciding which child will study at modern school or do cultural education, they observe their children's habits and ask their willingness. if a child is able to obey their parents’ commands and has good intellectual competence, that child will study at the modern school. if a child prefers to work in the fields and disinterest to study modern knowledge; that child will do cultural education. it is not impossible a child states their desire to not go to the modern school and prefer do cultural education as the case of one girl named koko banuet, “ya, beta tidak mau sekolah (modern). mau bantu mama di rumah. mau masak, tenun di rumah”21. “indeed, i don’t want to go to (modern) school. i’d like to help mama at home. i’d like to cook and weave at home”. a different experience from a boy named heka neolaka who do not go to the modern school due to his parents’ rule, 21 interview with koko banuet, 18 years, on august 23, 2022. [ 279 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 “itu dari dulu. sudah ditentukan memang”22. “it has already been decided since a long time ago”. b. educational concept the boti indigenous people embrace a paradigm that the first and primary education takes place within their families, with parents as the teacher. ki hajar dewantara, the indonesia national education notable, agreed with this concept that family serves as an educational institution for children. he even wrote three statements about this in pemikiran konsepsi, keteladanan, sikap merdeka of book 1 which specifically discusses education: “alam keluarga adalah “pusat-pendidikan” yang pertama dan yang terpenting, oleh karena sejak timbulnya adab-kemanusiaan hingga kini, hidup-keluarga itu selalu mempengaruhi bertumbuhnya budi pekerti dari tiap-tiap manusia”23. (“family environment is “the center of education” which is the first and the most important because since the emergence of humanity until now, family life always influences the maturity of character of each human”). “… keluarga itulah tempat-pendidikan yang lebih sempurna sifat dan ujudnya daripada pusat lain-lainnya, untuk melangsungkan pendidikan ke arah kecerdasan budi pekerti (pembentukan watak individual) dan sebagai persediaan hidup kemasyarakatan”24. (“… family itself is the education place which is more perfect in quality and shape than other centers, to perpetuate the education toward the intelligence character (the individual character building) and as the source of social life”). “alam keluarga itu buat tiap-tiap orang adalah alam pendidikan yang permulaan. pendidikan di situ pertama kalinya bersifat pendidikan dari orang-tua, yang berkedudukan sebagai guru (penuntun), sebagai pengajar dan sebagai pemimpin pekerjaan (pemberi contoh)”25. (“family environment for each person is the beginning of an educational environment. the education there for the first time has the character of education from the parents, who are as teachers (guide), as instructors and as work leaders (giving the examples)”). 22 interview with heka neolaka, 19 years, on august 23, 2022. 23 ki hajar dewantara (2013) pemikiran, konsepsi, keteladanan, sikap merdeka: pendidikan pp. 71. the bold words are written italicized in the book. 24 ibid. pp. 374. the bold words are written italicized in the book. 25 ibid. pp. 375. the bold words are written italicized in the book. [ 280 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 those three statements clearly explain that family has the most important role in education. the children’s acts and attitudes in their daily friendship, their involvement in various places and institutions such as schools, moreover their perspectives and mindset regarding life are significantly dependent on how their parents educate them. regarding education itself, ki hajar dewantara emphasized it as an effort which is not merely focused on improving the intellectual competence, moreover about the soul values in order to enable human being to live together with others in the community as stated below: “pendidikan adalah salah satu usaha untuk memberikan segala nilainilai kebatinan, yang ada dalam hidup rakyat yang berkebudayaan, kepada tiap-tiap turunan baru (penyerahan kultur), tidak hanya berupa “pemeliharaan”, akan tetapi juga dengan “memajukan” serta “memperkembangkan” kebudayaan, menuju ke arah keluhuran hidup kemanusiaan”26. (“education is one of the efforts to give all the values of philosophy, which exist in the life of a cultured people, to each new generation (handing over culture), not only in the form of “maintaining”, but also by “advancing” and “developing” culture, towards the nobility of human life”). “soal pendidikan itu bukan hanya bersifat pengetahuan atau “wetenschap” dari kaum ahli belaka, akan tetapi suatu soal yang mengenai tiap-tiap orang yang hidup bersama di dalam masyarakat …”27. (“education is not only knowledge or “wetenschap” from experts, but a matter that concerns every person who lives together in society...”) so, education is not merely at school. education can be held anywhere considering the type of knowledge which would like to be learned. c. educational content what they study in cultural education actually are the thoughts passed down from their ancestors about life. as farmers, they study agricultural for the dried land with no irrigation and depend on rainwater to nourish the crops. they apply the indulgent cattle system which accommodates their habitat. both girls and boys study cooking and cleaning their living space; house, field, sonaf (dawan, palace). in cooking, the boti people have a unique method of 26 ibid. pp. 344. the bold ones are as written in the book. 27 ibid. pp. 433-434. [ 281 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 animal slaughter. they do not cut the throat, but instead pierce specific part of the neck. this method makes the slaughtered animal die quickly and there is no blood spilled from the animal's neck. afterward, the animal is burned to remove the feathers. after completely cleaned, the animal is cut into pieces and the meat, head, legs and entrails are separated. they learn to build their various houses; ume kebubu (dawan, round house), lopo (dawan, gathering house), and square house. in cleaning their living space, they clean regularly so there are no mosquitos, but only one or two found. they study cultivation in their fields and do farming since they are circa 6 or 7 years old, so when they get 17 years old, they usually are capable of managing their own field. likewise, heka neolaka, 19 years old, already has the field and various livestock; 1 cow, 2 goats, 10 pigs, and countless chickens. almost every child raises chickens since they are 6 or 7 years old. kolo, who is 6 years old, already raised his own chicken, though only one. figure 1: cleaning the cotton as the process of weaving photo by: octalyna puspa wardany at sonaf boti on december 6, 2021 using canon 60d they study about managing finances too. koko banuet who’s 18 years old already had livestock; chickens and 2 pigs. she bought her first pig in 2017, when she was 13 years old, from her savings of selling woven blanket, sarong, and shawl. she started to study weaving from the first step; taking the cotton plant from its tree and processing it to be the thread by cleaning the cotton plant and spinning it. then, she studied coloring the thread. finally, doing the manual weave. for the first time, she can weave a shawl in three months. after [ 282 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 successfully doing one shawl, she studied to weave the blanket and sarong which can be accomplished in 3 years. figure 2: spinning yarn as the process of weaving photo by: octalyna puspa wardany at sonaf boti on december 6, 2021 using canon 60d figure 3: rolling the dyed yarn to be ready to be woven photo by: octalyna puspa wardany at sonaf boti on december 6, 2021 using canon 60d [ 283 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 culture takes an important role in boti education. since childhood, all uis neno ma uis pah adherents get usual to gather in sonaf routinely for neon tokos, the ninth day in boti week period28, welcoming the guesses, to be documented in certain film or television program production, and becoming resource persons for research interviews. the welcoming guesses events or involving in film production are the chances to study their traditional arts, such as pukul gong as the name of dancing and playing the dance music consist of gong and trommel, playing juk29, and sing their traditional songs. they study visual arts, such as painting and sculpt, as part of their architecture to decorate the house. they make wood sculptures too, but very rarely. indeed, their understanding about culture is not limited to the arts. they do understand that all human products are cultural (dewantara, 2013: 342-343). according to ki hajar dewantara (2013: 83), culture is described as “the result of human struggle, that is, its struggle against all the “natural” forces that surround it, and all the influences of the “age”, or its society, which both nature and the age cause constantly changing all the “forms” and “contents” of culture in the life of every nation”. part of the culture is adat, or custom, or tradition. adat becomes the key role in their education. it becomes the source and reference for everything in their lives, particularly in education (dewantara, 2013: 491). adat also becomes the guiding principles for the boti people in conducting ceremonies and in their conception for preserving nature. indeed, adat is not merely about tradition with their instruments, such as tools, rules, procedures, traditional speech, clothes, etc. adat represents conformity and harmonization, relating to the interconnectedness of acts, situations, or matters (dewantara, 2013: pp18). tukan and hasfaria further elucidate adat as the explanation on the being of human in all their essential dimensions which contains of elements, values, norms and rites and applied universally in their society so becomes the knowledge loaded of wisdoms and internalized in their society hereditary, rooted and binding (tukan, 2018: 9). and boti indigenous community denominate their non-modern school as the cultural education. it is the school too. the school is beyond the buildings, certain equipment, uniform30, textbooks, curriculum, class of study, test 28 boti implements 9 days in a week. the last day, 9th day, is called neon tokos as the rest day for gathering at sonaf or taking a rest at home. the complete explanation is in chapter 5. 29 juk is a small guitar made of certain fruit which is dried and given strings. 30 in indonesia, commonly, the students should wear uniforms which are indicated their level of study; playgroup, elementary, junior high school, senior high school; certain purpose such as scout uniform; or indicated their school and even religion identity for the school based on religion such as muhammadiyah and pondok pesantren. [ 284 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 scores, graduation, etc. as said by roem topatimasang (2018: 21) in sekolah itu candu that “in the end, school is just a word, a term, a designation, a name, for a purpose and a true meaning which cannot be marked at all in the way it is formed, in the container in which it was born”. school can encompass a certain school of thought (topatimasang, 2018: 15). therefore, what the boti indigenous community called their cultural education as school is actually correct. indeed, the daily life of the boti community is knowledge as explained by dewantara that education is not only knowledge from experts, but a matter that concerns every person who lives together in society (2013: 433-434). moreover, the daily life of boti which contains certain customs heredity that is proven able to sustain for centuries should be studied. it is not merely about survival methods. it is the knowledge related to managing nature with specific conditions as their habitat. it then becomes their local wisdom and knowledge which is constructed as cultural. kyouzon-no-mori network (2016: 1) explained this in kikigaki that “humans’ daily life and their cultural roots are very closely related to the natural resources around where they live. they utilize natural resources such as paddy fields, fields, forests, and the sea in their surroundings for their daily livelihood and work. during the process of utilizing natural resources, it is also accompanied by the growth and development of local wisdom or knowledge and perspectives and thoughts that are passed down from generation to generation”. it is a precious asset, it is important for the younger generation to study and learn from the elders to develop their village and at once participate in developing indonesia future (kyouzon-no-mori network, 2016: 4). figure 4: boti children who join the modern school and get cultural education photo by: octalyna puspa wardany at sonaf boti on august 8, 2022 using canon 60d [ 285 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 boti local wisdom in the division of children's education presents the cooperation between those attending modern schools and those receiving cultural education. each type of school has its own strengths and weaknesses which can be combined in order to strengthen their village. every child can respect each other regardless of their education background because all of them have important roles in their village. finally, it can achieve the main purpose of education as the boti indigenous people principle that is to be the independent individuals who are self-reliant and capable to fulfill their needs through their own efforts. conclusion religion is related to education particularly to maintain, preserve, and nurture the religion itself. the boti indigenous community understands this very well. without refusing the modernity or even contemporality, the boti indigenous community maintain a methodology to sustain and regenerate their nusantara religion through cultural education. furthermore, their wisdom on the division of education for their children is the methodology to sustain and regenerate their custom in the different eras with different ways of life. the boti indigenous community understands education is not merely at modern school. school can be held by doing their daily activities in real life. they recognize that education is to educate their next generation to be able to live while preserving their custom and nurturing their religion. religion is not exclusive from daily activities but involves all aspects of life. cultural education is the appropriate methodology to sustain and regenerate boti’s nusantara religion and their customs. cultural education enables the kids have critical understanding about their live in the correlation with the environment and still follow their nusantara religion. cultural education fosters the boti children to be the independent human as well as adaptive to the changes and the developments over time. cultural education presents the boti children who do not lose their identity as the boti indigenous community. cultural education is an education methodology which is blending with daily live in all aspects of life. this research is one case study of the indigenous community related to their nusantara religion. it will be enriched the study of indigenous community and the study of nusantara religion to do more research in other indigenous communities in the different location with different ecosystem. [ 286 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 endnotes acknowledgment: for insist (indonesian society for social transformation) as the school of thought which has shown critical consciousness and implemented it as well in daily live that enable the researcher to study and work on this research, irs/icrs (inter-religious studies/indonesian consortium for religious studies) for many value insights and critics in order to strengthen this research, crcs ugm (center for religious and cross-cultural studies program), universitas islam negeri sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, carlos sanchez and our families. author contribution: octalyna puspa wardany, s.e., m.sn., ph.d. cand. as the field researcher and writing the research result. prof. dr.phil. al makin, s.ag., m.a. and dr. samsul maarif as senior researchers who were supervising and giving consultation for the implementation of this research and reviewing the research result writing. bibliography andung, p. a. 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(2016). strategi pengakuan dan perlindungan hak-hak masyarakat (hukum) adat: sebuah pendekatan sosio-antropologis. jurnal agraria dan pertanahan bumi vol. 2 no. 2 november 2016, pp. 133-150. constitution 1945 (undang-undang dasar negara ri 1945) original and revision. pp ri no. 1/pnps year 1965 about pencegahan penyalagunaan dan/atau pe[ 291 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 nodaan agama or precaution on religions abuse and/or desecration. pp ri no. 55 year 2007 about pendidikan agama dan pendidikan keagamaan (education of religion and education of religious) putusan mahkamah konstitusi ri no. 97/puu-xiv/2016 (resolution of indonesian republic constitution court). tap mpr no. xvii/mpr/1998 about human rights uu no. 12 year 2005 about ratification of international covenant on civil and political rights uu no. 39 year 1999 about human rights [ 292 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2655 jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 61 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 islam and plurality of society in west kalimantan zulkifl i abdillah pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract th e plurality of the society in west kalimantan has been formed since the earliest days of the appearance of islamic style kingdoms or sultanates. however, in its development in the last few decades, the plurality has created social confl icts, especially among muslims themselves. by using the perspective of normative teachings of islam and the historicity of its congregants, this paper aims to present the argument that plurality is a thing that must be accepted by anyone as an inevitability. keywords: plurality of society, malay, dayak. introduction th e religion of islam brought by muhammad as the khataman nabiyyin (seal of the prophets) is a religion for all humanity in every time and place, a blessing for all creation. islam must comply with the conditions of the community with a variety of backgrounds, and be able to answer challenges of the times since it was preached by muhammad to the present and in the future. wherever embraced, islam should be in accordance with local conditions. th us it is an inevitability that islam should be able to be applied in all circumstances, including in multiple communities, such as that of west kalimantan. th e above circumstances cannot always be realized. when islamic teachings are practiced by its followers, sometimes ideality of islam begins to suff er from bias. th erefore, in reality islam sometimes does not describe aspects of ideality above. th e religion of islam, which is supposed to be able to respond to society’s challenges and conditions, sometimes is not even capable of facing the people. many examples may be submitted to illustrate this. recently, the plurality of the internal thinking of muslims has sometimes generated a process of mutual blame and physical assault action between groups with diff erent opinions. th e cases of the emergence of the sects considered “heretical” which later became widespread became an example of unrealized aspects of ideality of islam in the practical level. west kalimantan itself, about a decade ago, also experienced a great social confl ict due to the plurality in the community. th e sad thing is that, in some cases of social confl icts in west kalimantan, they involved fellow [ 62 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 muslims. th e question that arises from this reality is why has islamic ideality not been able to manifest itself in practical life? one important thing to note here is that the practice of islam of course begins with and is based on the results of the reading and understanding of the teachings of islam. th us, the cause of the unrealized aspects of the ideality of islamic teachings in practice lies in the reading and understanding. when islam does not seem able to deal with the condition of plural society, what needs to be reviewed and corrected is the reading and the understanding of muslims and other people on the teachings of islam. in other words, to present islam as a religion that is able to respond to the challenges and the development of plural society in west kalimantan, there is a need to fi x the reading and understanding of the teachings of islam. th ere are two ways of reading and understanding islam; fi rst, the normative aspect, namely what is contained in the quran and sunnah, and the two aspects of historicity i.e. the practice and behavior of muslims that have been recorded in the pages of history. th is article will review how islamic teachings see the plurality of a society from both the normative aspects as well as the long journey of the history of muslims in plural society (a historical perspective). before discussing these two aspects, the following is a discussion of the plurality of west kalimantan society that includes various aspects as well as the role and position of muslims within the plural community. plurality of society in west kalimantan like other areas in indonesia, the society of west kalimantan is plural. th e plurality almost covers all the aspects of life and has been going on since long ago. viewed from the aspects of ethnicity, it has become common knowledge that west kalimantan was originally inhabited by people of dayak and malay. later on, immigrants also came from china who was originally employed as a labor contracted by the sambas and mempawah sultanates at the beginning of the 17th century in the fi eld of gold-mining (especially in monterado and mandor). according to syarif ibrahim alqadrie (2006) the three groups of this community, dayak, malay and chinese (commonly called tionghoa in this region), are the three pillars of social, cultural and economic life of the society in west kalimantan. th e life, the progress and the future of this region depend on the very existence of the three ethnic groups. th ey can be distinguished, but in no way can be separated. in addition to the three major ethnic groups, since hundreds of years ago, other ethnic groups from other regions of the archipelago also came to settle here such as bugis, madurese, banjarese, arabs, and so forth. one of the factors they were attracted to come [ 63 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 to west kalimantan was related to the economic interests, especially trade. th e position of west kalimantan within easy reach due to its strategic location has supported and facilitated the arrival of people from other areas of especially through the ship line. from the aspect of religion and belief, west kalimantan is also plural. at fi rst, the dayak society practiced their original faith, which is called the religion of kaharingan. in addition, there is some evidence that hinduism also had infl uence on a small part of west kalimantan community. hindu infl uence was derived from majapahit kingdom during the reign of hayam wuruk in java. in the book negara kertagama chapter 13 and 14, it is written that the kingdoms of tanjungpura and sambas were part of the territory of majapahit (muljono, 1965: 40). later on, islam was brought by the missionary and traders by both domestic and overseas muslims. in the process, islam became the offi cial religion of several sultanates/kingdoms. th e pontianak sultanate, founded by syarif abdurrahman alkadri, a son of the famous cleric sayid habib husein alkadri, was known as the islamic kingdom from the day it was founded. when the sultanes in west kalimantan brought the chinese people to be employed in mining, they also brought their original belief or religion, confucianism, with them. later on, the presence of dutch also brought christianity to the west kalimantan region. th ese two religions were initially embraced by the chinese people, but later also embraced by the dayak. today, particularly in west kalimantan, the malay people are identifi ed as muslims, while the dayak identifi ed as catholics. th e ethnic chinese currently enjoy the freedom to embrace and practice the confucian religion, especially aft er the wave of reform swept the country. previously, since the 1960s confucianism was not allowed to be practiced in indonesia. th e government of the new order recognized the confucian religion only as a sect of buddhism. th e plurality of the society of west kalimantan is also refl ected in the culture and traditions that develop in the community. th ere are a variety of ethnic groups settling in west kalimantan and each has its own culture and tradition. in addition to the culture and traditions of the ethnic groups, there is also a culture or tradition that is partly derived from the teachings of religions. muslims are known for many ceremonies associated with the cycle of life. th e ceremonies, if examined more deeply, seem to adopt elements of the teachings of the islamic religion blended with the traditions of the community. th e attitude of the muslims themselves are diverse in addressing the culture and traditions, ranging from accepting and preserving, selectively accepting or rejecting and attempting to get rid of them. th us, plurality is not just a case due to diff erent religions, but it also occurs in a same religion. [ 64 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 plurality (lack of unity) in the religion of islam itself has existed since aft er the death of the messenger of god. plurality (or split to be precise) among muslims at fi rst was merely politically motivated. however, it has also penetrated into the realm of religion, theology and law. th e phenomenon of the plurality of political views and aspirations among muslims in west kalimantan is also quite prominent. in addition to the emergence of islamic political parties (whether explicitly claiming as islamic parties or the founder and its constituents are based on the muslim congregants), the political interests of the muslim political elites also oft en cause confusion among the people (particularly muslims). the role and position of the muslims in particular, we must talk about muslims, not only because of the confusion, but more than that the muslims must understand the role and position from both religious and sociological point of view. from the religious point of view, the quran mentions that in addition to being a “servant of god”, man is also the “caliph of god” on earth. both roles must run hand in hand, without any emphasis on that one and ignoring the other. as a servant, man should be subject to obey and surrender in the presence of god; and as the caliph, man should play an active role to keep, maintain, make the most of the earth and its contents. th e tasks of the human being as the caliph are to establish and maintain relations between fellow human beings (with their plurality) so as to create peace, serenity, happiness and prosperity. th e quran specifi cally mentions that muslims are the ummatan wasathan: “and thus we have made you a just community that you will be witnesses over the people and the messenger will be a witness over you.” (q.s. al-baqarah 2: 143). th e ummatan wasathan is a moderate ummah whose position is in the middle, so that it is seen by all sides and from all directions. th ey are made so – according to verse above – in order become martyrs (witnesses), as well as being a role model and patron for others, and at the same time they made the prophet muhammad as an example and witness patron for all their activities. wasathiyat (moderation or middle position) invites muslims to interact, to have dialogs, and to be open to all parties (religion, culture, and civilization), [ 65 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 because they cannot bear witness or justice if they close themselves from their environment global development (shihab, 1996: 328-329). in that strategic position, muslims should be showing islam as a mercy for all the worlds. from the sociological point of view, muslims as part of west kalimantan society should be the creator, maintainer and guardian of the harmonious relations between fellow members of the community. as the majority, muslims must play their strategic role among other people. th e plurality of west kalimantan society should become a potential for building a more civilized community. th e ideal role and position of muslims above will be meaningful if it can be realized. th e issue is an understanding of the role and strategic position has yet to be realized to its full potential. one of the reasons is confusion in understanding and addressing the existing the plurality of a society. to better understand it, there are at least two perspectives that can be used: fi rst, the normative perspective (revelation) and second, the historical perspective. normatively, there are many verses in the quran that talk about plurality of a society as well as guidance on how it should address such matters. th e norms of the quran have further been practiced by muslims in the course of history since the time of the prophet until today. in historical perspective, it cannot be denied that not all muslims are able to apply the norms that exist in the quran or the sunnah. however, there are many muslims in the past that had provided the best example of how to address plurality that existed in the community. th e following section will put forth some of the norms of the quran as well as the past experience of muslims in addressing plurality of a society. plurality: quranic perspective we oft en assume that our nation is unique when compared to other nations in the world. th e uniqueness lies in the plurality of its people. th is assumption is actually incorrect because it is very diffi cult to fi nd a society that is truly homogeneous, unfragmented, without any elements of diff erence in it. in the qur’an it is said that plurality in the community is sunnatullah: “. .. had allah willed, he would have made you one nation, but he intended to test you in what he has given you; so race to all that is good. to allah is your return all together, and he will then inform you concerning that over which you [ 66 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 used to diff er.” (q.s. al-maidah 5: 48). plurality is indeed desired by allah. plurality is not an issue if addressed correctly. plurality of mankind is revealed as a test. th e diff erence is created in order to be utilized by human beings as a medium to do virtues. with diff erent people, it is expected that there will be a healthy rivalry between groups competing to do good; not otherwise (e.g. blaming each other and considering one’s own group the most correct while the other groups are all wrong). in another verse, allah reiterates that man is created not only with diff erent sexes, but also with diff erent tribes and nations in order to know each other: “o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of allah is the most righteous of you. indeed, allah is knowing and acquainted.” (q.s. al-hujurat 49: 13). th us it can be said that, according to the quran, human beings are social creatures, and by nature social life is an inevitability for them. th e level of intelligence, ability, and social status of man according to the quran also vary: “do they distribute the mercy of your lord? it is we who have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in degrees [of rank] that they may make use of one another for service. but the mercy of your lord is better than whatever they accumulate.” (q.s. al-zukhruf 43:32). as shown from the above verse, such diff erences aim to make people help each other (some of them could benefi t from some others) and thus all need [ 67 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 each other and tend to relate to others. th is verse also stresses that society is something that is born from each human’s natural instinct (shihab, 1996: 320). more practically/technically, the quran gives a guidance to behave in social life: “o believers, let not a people ridicule another people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule other women; perhaps they may be better than them. and do not insult one another and do not call each other by [off ensive] nicknames. wretched is the name of disobedience aft er [one’s] faith. and whoever does not repent then it is those who are the wrongdoers. o believers, avoid much negative assumption. indeed, some assumption is sin. and do not spy or backbite each other. would one of you like to eat the fl esh of his brother when dead? you would detest it. and fear allah ; indeed, allah is accepting of repentance and merciful.”(q.s. al-hujurat 49: 11-12). th e second verse above expressly states social life guidance. th e guidance is the prohibition to: (1) disdain each other, (2) denounce each other, (3) call each other a bad name, (4) assume each other negatively, (5) fi nd fault in others, and (6) backbite each other. th e guidance of the quran is reinforced by the following hadith of the prophet: اسدوا سسوا و تنافسوا و �� � كذب ا�د يث و �� ا�� � والظن فان الظن ا ��وا وكونواعباد� اخوا و تباغضوا و تدا%� [ 68 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 “avoid negative assumption, because it is the worst lie. don’t fi nd fault in each other. don’t be jealous of each other, don’t turn your back at each other” (narrated by the six scholars of hadith, except an-nasa’i, through abu hurairah). th e guidance of the quran and the hadith is very appropriate to be applied in west kalimantan due to its plural society. as the quran is revealed not only for muslims but also as a guide for all humans, this guidance must be socialized to the rest of the community, whatever their background. plurality in west kalimantan actually will not cause problems such as social confl ict if all parties can implement the guidance of the quran. related to the plurality of religion and belief, the quran also states expressly and clearly that: “and do not insult those they invoke other than allah , lest they insult allah in enmity without knowledge. th us we have made pleasing to every community their deeds…. “ (q.s. al-an’am 6: 108). “th ere is no compulsion to (embrace) religion (islam)” (q.s. al-baqarah 2: 256). “for you is your religion, and for me is my religion” (q.s. al-kafi run 109:6) th e last verse above is very popular, but unfortunately not everyone is able to understand and apply it in social life. th is verse is the main basic islamic teachings about religious tolerance. in addition to having the meaning of tolerance between people of diff erent religious traditions, this verse can also be interpreted as internal religious tolerance. it means in the face of the various understandings of muslims over religion that gives rise to various schools or groups, all muslims must be able to demonstrate the attitude of tolerance toward people who disagree with certain groups. in the face of plurality of religion and belief, everyone should have a humble attitude and the willingness that besides the truth that he believes, there is another truth believed by others. th ere should be no coercion that all men [ 69 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 must be of the same faith (believe in what do). isn’t it god’s will that makes some people disbelieve? “and had your lord willed, those on earth would have believed all of them entirely. th en, [o muhammad], would you compel the people in order that they become believers?” (q.s. yunus 10: 99). islam and plurality of society in the path of history to understand what attitude muslims should have regarding the plurality of a society is very important to uncover the history of the long history of muslims. it is based on the understanding that what has been practiced by muslims in the path of history is an embodiment of their understanding of islamic teachings. what is practiced by muslims in a long span of time and in a wide area is actually the result of a blend between normative values and islamic customs and traditions. as mentioned above, not all that happened in the history of the muslim ummah is good and can be set as an example. th ere are things and events that we do not have to follow, because they do not comply with the normative values of islam. th e following are some events or important things in the history of the muslims that can be a decent role model in dealing with and addressing the plurality of a society, particularly in west kalimantan. aft er preaching in mecca without success and even expelled by the infi dels of mecca, the prophet then went to yatsrib (medina). while the community in mecca was relatively homogeneous, in medina the prophet dealt with multiple communities, both in terms of the tribe and the religion/belief. according to engineer (1999: 145) medina at that time was at least inhabited by approximately eleven groups that could be called clans. th ree clans embraced the jewish religion, while eight clans were arabs. mubarakfury (1997: 239) mentions that the people of medina when muhammad migrated there consisted of three groups of believers, each diff ering greatly from each other, namely: (1) his noble and good friends; (2) the polytheists who absolutely refused to believe in him, who came from various tribes, and (3) the jews. meanwhile, hasan (2001: 187-188) divides the community of medina into three groups, namely the muhajirin, ansor and jews. one of the strategies [ 70 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 adopted by the prophet to deal with the plural community of medina was to bind them in a treaty that was written by prophet muhammad himself. th e treaty was later known as the charter or constitution of medina. in the charter the messenger of god stated that the quraish muhajirin and the yatsrib belong to one ummah. a number of the clan names were mentioned in the charter, namely bani auf, bani saidah, bani al-harts, bani annajjar, bani amr bin auf, bani al-aus. th ey were allowed to remain in their traditions that as long as they comply with islam. some of the jewish clans were also mentioned, namely the jews of bani auf, the jews of bani an-najjar, the jews of bani auf, the jews of bani al-harits, the jews of bani saidah, the jews of bani jusyam, the jews of bani al-aus, the jews of bani tsa’labah, dan the jews of bani suthaibah. jews from a variety of clans had equal rights. if the jews followed the messenger of allah (islam), they were entitled to assistance, togetherness, and not to be defeated. th e jews were free to practice their religion and the muslim could practice theirs. th ose bound by this agreement (the clans mentioned) were obliged to provide help (defense) against anyone who intended to attack yatsrib (medina). pagan groups (polytheists) were also mentioned in this agreement. th ey should not protect the property of quraishi people or their souls and may not confront the believers. if the entire contents of the charter are carefully reviewed, we will fi nd that the messenger of allah, peace be upon him: (1) managed to unite the muslims even though they came from diff erent tribes; (2) managed to improve cooperation and loyalty among each individual; (3) managed to impart awareness to muslims that the congregants belonged to one group with equal rights and common religious and political views. among those rights was the right to security; any perpetrators of damage would be punished; and (4) managed to implement equal rights for the jews regarding public interest and to open the door for those who converted to islam and protect their rights (hasan, 2001: 190-191). th e agreement made by the prophet as the foundation to build a “state” of medina has important things to note. th e communities of medina, both in terms of ethnicity and belief, could be united into one ummah because there was a certainty of law (i.e. the agreement made the messenger). in addition to the existence of the law, the quality of the leadership of the prophet became the dominant factor in uniting the community of medina. th ey even accepted the prophet willingly since they had waited for a leader who could resolve the confl icts that frequently occurred in the community. th e next path of the history of muslims that needs to get serious attention related to the plurality of community was during the reign of abbasiyah [ 71 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 caliphate and islam in spain. during the abbasiyah dynasty, an islamic political power was already so widespread. during this period, islam was not only infl uenced by the arab culture, but also by cultures outside the arabs. th e rise of intellectuality during the abbasiyah caliphate according to philip k hitti (2006: 381) is largely due to the inclusion of foreign infl uence, such as that of the indo-persian and syrian, and more importantly the greek. in syria, they absorbed aramaic civilization that had been there before, that had been infl uenced by greece, and in iraq they also adopted a similar civilization having been infl uenced by the persians. th e same thing is also expressed by badri yatim (2006: 56) who asserts that the progress of civilization (especially science) reached its peak during the abbasiyah caliphate, among others, was caused by the assimilation between the arabs and other peoples who fi rst experienced the developments in the fi eld of science. during the abbasiyah caliphate, the many non-arab peoples converted to islam. assimilation took place eff ectively. th ose peoples provided contribution in the development of science in islam. th e persian infl uence was very strong in the area of governance. in addition, the persians contributed to the development of science, philosophy, and literature. th e infl uence of india can be seen in the fi elds of medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. meanwhile the infl uence of greece went through translations in many fi elds of science, especially the philosophy. at the same time with the progress achieved by the abbasiyah dynasty, in another islamic world i.e. in andalusia (spain) the progress of civilization also reached the highest peak. th e progress of islam in andalusia should be recognized by all parties as one of the chains of transmission of world civilization to achieve the shape it is today in the western world. th e progress of the western world was infl uenced the progress of the civilization of islam in andalusia. th e community islamis spain was a pluralist society, comprising various religious and tribal communities. with religious tolerance, these communities could work together and gave contributed the development. religious tolerance was guaranteed by the authorities to christians and jews, so they could take part in establishing the islamic civilization in spain. th e christians and the jews were provided special judges to deal with the issues in accordance with the teachings of their religion respective religions (yatim, 2006: 106). while there was fi erce competition between the abbasiyah in baghdad and the umayyah dynasty in spain, the cultural relations of the east and the west was not always in the form of warfare. since the 11th century onwards, many scholars travel from the western end of the islamic region to the far east, [ 72 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 bringing with them books and ideas. th is indicates that, although muslims were split in some political views, there is cultural unity of the islamic world. th e political schism in the muluk al-th awa’if and thereaft er did not cause the decline of civilization. in fact, it was the culmination of advances in science, art, and culture of the islamic spain (yatim, 2006: 1006). th e peaks of islamic civilization during the abbasiyah and umayyah in andalusia mentioned above give an idea that the plurality of community can serve as a driving factor for the progress of civilization centered on the progress of science. plurality maintained by authoritative leaders and accompanied by democratic political conditions and tolerance will produce a high civilization. even when political conditions are not conducive, the development of civilization will continue to take place when the community has realized the importance of science as a core of the progress of civilization. political diff erences and territorial boundaries should not be a barrier for the development of science. how about the indonesian community, particularly in the west kalimantan? to see the plurality of the society in west kalimantan in the past and attitude of the muslims at the time, the author will discuss the plurality of the community in the sultanate of pontianak. in addition limited sources of reference, this selection is based on the fact that the sultanate of pontianak was founded by muslims and since the beginning of its foundation the sultanate has been characterized by islam. th e sultanate of pontianak was founded by syarif abdrurrahman by setting a strategic place to build new settlements (the area around the present day kadriyah palace). th e work fi rst performed by syarif abd ar-rahman and his followers was to open and clear the land that had been selected beforehand. in preparing land for settlements, syarif abdurrahman, assisted by his followers (among others comprising the bengalis) as well as the local people (i.e. dayak and malay). before syarif abdurrahman and his followers arrived at the area, it had been inhabited by the dayak and malay. th e arrival of syarif abdurrahman was well received by locals and they even assisted in preparing the fi rst settlement land for him. in further development, syarif abdurahman granted agricultural land to the dayak people who wanted to live along the kapuas river and landak river. most of them was interested in embracing islam and became loyal followers of syarif abdurrahman (rahman, et. al., 2000: 73-78). th e dayak people, according to lontaan (1975: 235) came gradually as many as fi ve groups with a total of 320 families. th e selection of the strategic location made pontianak thrive. people from diff erent areas come to pontianak to conduct trade. most of them settled in [ 73 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 this area. no wonder some villages are named according to the inhabitants’ area of origin, such as banjar, kampung serasan, bali, dalam bugis, tambelan-sampit, siantan (see hasanuddin & kristanto, 2001: 68). based on a poem written by the matan sultan on july 7, 1895 (27 muharram 1336 h), it is mentioned that the residents of pontianak were plural if viewed from ethnic or regional origins. pontianak in 1895 was inhabited by europeans (the dutch, english, etc), bugis (from wajo and sumbawa), people from java (betawi, surabaya, etc), bali, madura (sumenep, bawean), malay, from borneo (banjarmasin, banjarnegara, martapura, banjar tanggi, brunei, sarawak, singkawang, sambas), from the riau islands (tambelan, jemaja, bunguran, siantan, serasan, daik, lingga, munto, belitung), from sumatra (batu bara, siak, bengkulu, padang, deli, kampar, kuantan, jambi, palembang), from malaysia (pulau pinang, melaka, johor, pahang, singapore, trengganu, kelantan, patani), from indochina (cambodia), from sulawesi (bugis, makassar, buton), sumbawa, from the arab peninsula (hadralmaut), from africa [habsi, walkiti arab (egypt)], from india (keling, surati), and the chinese (arena wati, 1989: 92-94; 147-149). th e poem also mentions that socio-culturally pontianak residents also had diverse livelihood (farming or gardening, trading, labor, small enterprises, prostitution), culture (the chinese toapekong party), religions (muslims and non-muslims). th e plurality of the society in pontianak as described above has provided a positive contribution to the development of the city/sultanate. th e area surrounding the palace was inhabited and developed by relatives of the sultan, consisting of people of arab descent, bugis and malay. siantan area was formerly developed as trade areas by the chinese under the leadership of lo fang (hasanuddin & kristanto, 2001: 70). th e area of sungai ambawang was originally developed by the dayak who were mostly farmers. when the political power of the dutch expended to include pontianak, the sultanate and the dutch signed an agreement to provide the dutch with an area in the southern part of the kapuas river. th is provision, known as the tanah seribu or verkendepall was an area of 1000x1000 square meters. th is area was central to the development of the city administration which drew the attention of the chinese to settle and develop it as a commercial center (currently gajahmada area) as offi ces and settlements were constructed. according to hasanuddin & kristanto (2001: 71) the settlement policy was part of the management strategies and the cultural boundary between diff erent ethnic groups and associated also with the division of employment so as to prevent inter-ethnic confl ict or disputes. th e policies adopted by the sultanate in the past is clearly no longer possible to apply in the city of pontianak today. [ 74 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 conclusion as already mentioned, the plurality of a society is inevitable because it is sunnatullah (laws of allah/ destiny). th erefore, to deal with the plurality of a society it is important we adopt the right attitude by reading and understanding correctly and comprehensively of the religion of islam, both from the normative and historical perspectives. as the ummatan wasathan, muslims are expected to be a wasith (a referee), to take the position at the center (wasathiyah) among plural communities, and to always behave wasath (fair). th e plurality of a society is inevitable and must be faced. th e attitude of moderation will occur if plurality is understood as a potential resource for the progress of society in general. th e historical experience of muslims has shown that the peak of the islamic civilization can only be achieved because the plurality of the community is managed well. th e fi rst step that must be taken to empower a plural community is the process to know each other among diff erent community groups. th is process will then open an opportunity to understand each other and recognize the advantages, disadvantages, and potential of each other. th is will lead to the process of collaboration to progress together and to promote virtue. cooperation between diff erent community groups is needed especially for mutual advantages of each other. it takes a joint commitment of all components of society, i.e. the shared responsibility, to build a society of high civilization while fi ghting against underdevelopment, poverty and ignorance. th e energy wasted to deal with the diff erences should be used to build a highly civilized community. references abdillah, zulkifl i., 2010. kepingan-kepingan sejarah umat islam. pontianak: stain pontianak press. ahok, pasifi kus, dkk., 1980. sejarah pendidikan daerah kalimantan barat. pontianak: depdikbud,. alqadrie, syarif ibarahim,. komunitas cina di kalimantan barat, makalah/ artikel online: http://syarif-untan.tripod.com/budaya.htm, [diakses 06 desember 2007]. arena wati,. 1989. syair pangeran syarif. bangi: universiti kebangsaan malaysia. ayoub, mahmoud m,. 2004. th e crisis of muslim histor. bandung: mizan. bashier, zakaria,. 1990. sunshine at madinah. liecester: th e islamic foundation. engineer, asghar ali,. 1999. asal usul dan perkembangan islam analisis pertumbuhan sosio-ekonomi. yogyakarta: insist-pustaka pelajar. hasan, hasan ibrahim,. 2001. sejarah dan kebudayaan islam. jilid 1, jakarta: [ 75 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 kalam mulia. hasanuddin & kristanto, budi,. 2001. proses terbentuknya heterogenitas etnis di pontianak pada abad ke-19, humaniora,xiii/1. hal. 64-80. hitti, philip k., 2006. history of th e arabs. jakarta: serambi. lontaan, ju., 1975. sejarah hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan barat, pontianak: pemda tk.i kalbar. madjid, nurcholish,. 1992. islam doktrin dan peradaban, jakarta: yayasan wakaf paramadina. mubarakfury, syaikh shafi yyurrahman al-., 1997. sirah nabawiyah, jakarta: pustaka al-kautsar. muafi ri, abu muhammad abdul malik bin hisyam al-., 2005. sirah nabawiyah ibnu hisyam (jilid 1), jakarta: darul falah. muljono, slamet., 1965. menudju puntjak kemegahan, jakarta: p.n. balai pustaka. rahman, ansar, dkk., 2000. syarif abdurrahman alkadri perspektif sejarah berdirinya kota pontianak. pontianak: pemerintah kota pontianak. shihab, m. quraish., 1996. wawasan al-quran tafsir maudhu’i atas pelbagai persoalan umat. bandung: mizan. yatim, badri., 2006. sejarah peradaban islam. jakarta: rajagrafi ndo persada. [ 173 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 ethnic stereotyping and intra-religious conflict: the experience of muslims in sambas of the indonesian west borneo syamsul kurniawan uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: syamsulkurniawan001@gmail.com sangkot sirait uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: sangkot.sirait@uin-suka.ac.id azis muslim uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: muslimtenan@gmail.com abstract this paper aims to explore the impact of ethnic differences and ethnic stereotyping on the atmosphere of peace, written based on the conflict event between muslims of different ethnicities (ethnic malay of sambas and ethnic madurese) in sambas in 1999. this paper, based on my research from 2018, is qualitative research with data obtained from observation, interviews, and documentation. regarding the method, this research used a qualitative method that leads to a case study model as an investigative method. meanwhile, for data analysis, the interactive data analysis method using the theory of self-categorization was employed. based on the findings of the study, ethnic differences and stereotypes had a significant impact on the escalation of conflict between muslims in sambas in 1999. these ethnic differences and stereotypes essentially emerged as a consequence of the way a person or group of people of a particular ethnicity categorizes a person or group of people of another ethnicity. keywords: ethnic stereotyping; inter-ethnic conflict; atmosphere of peace introduction the term conflict describes a situation in which two or more people feel incompatible or do not get along with each other (mead, 1934). there are various types of conflict, one of which is differences between ethnic groups (wolff, 2006), which may occur naturally as a result of different attitudes, beliefs, values, and/or needs in social life (liliweri, 2009). therefore, interethnic conflict should be seen as something natural. so, the problem is not the [ 174 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 presence or absence of conflict, but how the conflict unfolds and and then how to handle it: does it lead to ‘violence’, or ‘peace’? what happened in sambas of the indonesian, west kalimantan in 1999 was a valuable inter-ethnic conflict learning experience for the people of west kalimantan and still, after twenty years, the leftover tension has not disappeared. although not as bad as twenty years ago, the consequences of conflict are still felt to this day. currently, the atmosphere of peace in sambas has not yet reached positive peace (galtung, 1969; 2010), because the malays in sambas still have a negative attitude towards the ethnic madurese. this situation not only prevents the ethnic madurese who have been expelled from sambas for twenty years from settling back in the region, but it also creates fear around even visiting the graves of their relatives. in fact, during the last twenty years, various efforts have been made to reconcile these two ethnic groups (fahham, 2010; mochtar, 2007), however, it seems they have not succeeded in overcoming post-conflict realities and difficulties. although for a while, open conflict did not occur between the two ethnic groups, that does not mean that the relations between them have completely improved. at the minimum, there is an impression that until now, sambas is an unsafe area for ethnic madurese. in contrast to singkawang, which was once part of the administrative area of sambas regency, now after being separated from sambas, it has become a very tolerant city not only in terms of ethnicity, but also between religions (muhtifah et al., 2021). why is the impact of this inter-ethnic conflict in sambas so lasting that it is still felt after twenty years? undeniably, the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas, according to galtung, falls into the middle-level category (galtung, 2004), a massive communal conflict. it is considered so because it involved not only the masses from the two ethnic groups, but also resulted in the loss of life and destruction of property from both sides, as well as severe damage to public facilities, etc. (cahyono et al., 2008). even though both ethnic malay and madurese are muslims, they murdered each other in the 1999 sambas conflict, when there was no longer any mutual trust between them. this was exacerbated by the stereotype that the presence of the other group is an ‘obstacle’. the point here is that differences and stereotypes in the inter-ethnic context can trigger conflict, even though both groups embrace the same religion. it makes the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas much more complex than the one that occurred in ambon, which tomas lindgren associates with intra-religious conflicts (lindgren, 2018). this is what this work aims to describe. meanwhile, multiple works reveal how the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas [ 175 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 emerged twenty years ago because of kinship issues, primordial grudges, and the emergence of intolerant attitudes, as well as other factors related to economic problems, social mobility, and politics (alqadrie, 1999; 2015; djuweng, 1997; klinken, 2007; patebang and sutrisno, 2000; saad, 2003; schulze, 2017; sudagung, 2001; bahari, 2008). in this article, i do not deny these factors, but instead reinforce them while adding another factor that has been barely addressed in all previous works: stereotyping. this paper, written based on my research findings since 2018, is classified as qualitative research, with the data obtained from observation, interviews, and documentation. regarding the method, this research used a qualitative method that leads to a case study model as an investigative method (cresswell, 2009; neuman, 2006). for qualitative research models relevant to the topic and information about a particular case, this type of research uses a non-probability or non-random sample whose number is not specified before conducting the study (neuman, 2006). as cresswell points out, the idea behind qualitative research is the selection of participants (informants) or documents/visuals with a specific purpose that helps a researcher understand the research problem and question. following the non-random sample model, the selection of informants in this study used a purposive type. the informants were determined based on abundant, in-depth information they have related to the problem of this study, and also as long as the informants meet the criteria (cresswell, 2009). in this regard, most of the informants in this study were sambas ethnic malay in addition to several members of ethnic madurese who were former sambas refugees. to analyze the conflict between muslims of different ethnicities in sambas in 1999, this study uses the interactive data analysis method proposed by miles and huberman (miles et al., 2014). while the theory used to analyze the data is self-categorization theory. chronology of conflicts between muslims of dif­ ferent ethnicity in sambas the conflict between muslims of different ethnicities in sambas in 1999 began with the news of the beating of an individual of ethnic madurese suspected of being a thief in the house belonging to a sambas malay. the news of this beating developed into a beating of ethnic madurese by the sambas malays. after that, rumors spread of attacks by a group of people from the ethnic madurese as a form of revenge for the beating. particularly as it occurred during the month of ramadan. in fact, the village head initiated a peaceful settlement of this issue, several times, with the hope that the dispute between residents could be resolved [ 176 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 adequately. however, this effort was unsuccessful, which resulted in an attack by a group of ethnic madurese against the sambas ethnic malay in parit setia (19 january 1999), which then spread to other areas in sambas and its surroundings, including tebas (23 january 1999), prapakan (17 march 1999). 1999), sei garam (7 april 1999), singkawang hospital (9 april 1999), sei ruk (15 april 1999), and karimunting (18 april 1999) (asmara, 2002; al-qadrie, 2003). the attacks, which initially only resulted in the death of three people of sambas ethnic malays (saad, 2003, pp. 90–94), later turned into a large-scale ethnic conflict. reportedly, victims fell from both sides in large numbers, and houses and property were also burned down during the incident. to minimize more casualties, due to the rage among sambas ethnic malay being out of control at that time, most of the ethnic madurese who previously lived in sambas had to be evacuated. police reports noted that as of april 1999, 177 people died from both sides. in addition to the dead, 71 were seriously injured, 40 sustained minor injuries, 12,185 houses were burned, 315 were damaged, 45 were vehicles burned, and 21,626 residents were evacuated. in contrast, the report from the governor of west kalimantan in 1999 stated that the number of people evicted reached 33,634 (kapolda kalimantan barat, 1999). ethnic differences trigger the conflict based on estimates, sambas and other areas in west kalimantan, in general, are known to be prone to inter-ethnic conflict. (al-qadrie, 2016). the reason is that sambas’ population has a diverse ethinc composition. this is partly because the former kingdom of sambas was of important value, not only because of its natural resources, but also its historic strategic location as an international trade route. the sambas kingdom was located between the junction of sambas kecil, subah, and teberau rivers (rahman, 2001). in this way, its potential attracted people from various other regions to migrate to this area. moreover, sambas has been dubbed the “veranda of mecca ‘’ and some call it the “veranda of egypt ‘’ because of its scholars. so, in addition to the motive of earning a living, people also come to this area to study religion (mahrus, 2009; musa, 2003). the migration of people from other areas to sambas has made sambas an area with a diverse ethnic composition. this situation, in turn, resembles a melting pot that haitami salim described as “a forum for fostering cultural diversity from various communities”. these conditions gave rise to positives [ 177 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 and negatives. the positives, among others, are that society tends to be heterogeneous. conversely, there are negative impacts such as the possibility of conflict (salim, 2012). the event of inter-ethnic conflict in sambas, generally cannot be separated from the ethnic differences in the region, especially the conflict between locals and migrants. these differences are made by unfair and unbalanced socio-economic structures and competition (de jonge and nooteboom, 2006; giring, 2004; klinken, 2007; marzali, 2003), which, if traced back, have occurred since the 1770s (kristianus, 2017). thus, the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas that occurred in 1999, between the sambas ethnic malay is considered to represent a clash between the indigenous population and the migrant madurese. previously, ethnic madurese had also been involved in several conflicts with ethnic dayak, who like the malay also regard themselves as locals in sambas (cahyono et al., 2008). judging by the relationship between religion and ethnic identity, it is difficult to accept the fact how there could be a conflict between sambas ethnic malay and the madurese, who are both muslim. islam is synonymous with the malay and the madurese (asmiati, 2017; hermansyah, 2015; yusriadi, 2017). even though the conflict involved ethnic malays (who are muslims) assisted by the dayak (who are christians) against the madurese (who are muslim), it does not mean that the sambas conflict had a religious motive (salim, 2012). the reason the dayaks helped the malays in the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas was mainly that the two were bound by an oath (hermansyah, 2018). meanwhile, madura’s ethnic ties are strong (hefni, 2009). thus, the ethnic connection in sambas is much stronger than the religious and has quite a strong ground. indigenous ethnic groups (the dayak and the malay), as well as the migrant ethnic group (the madurese) tend to hold strongly to their respective ethnic identities, and they display them openly. the dayak, the malay, and the madurese ethnic groups consist of ethnic subgroups. for example, the ethnic dayak sub-groups include kenayatn, kendayan, bekatek, menyuke, kayan, taman, kenyah, ot danum, etc. the malay ethnic group includes, for example, pontianak malay, sambas malay, sintang malay, sanggau malay, kapuas hulu malay, and more. the madura ethinc group includes madura from sampang, bangkalan, sumenep, etc. outside of these sub-ethnic groups, they each identify themselves or are identified as one ethnic group, namely dayak, malay, and madurese. in most cases, ethnic dayak who have converted to islam claim to be malay. this is not the case with ethnic madurese, who are muslims. even though the madurese have long been married to the malay, they remain strong with their madurese [ 178 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 identity and are reluctant to be identified as malay (prasojo, 2011). consequently, referring to syarif ibrahim al-qadri, it is the emergence of ethnic solidarity, among the dayak, malay, and madurese – where each group forms and strengthens a strong, unified ethnic consciousness (alqadrie, 2015). due to the strong and unified ethnic solidarity, each ethnic group considers ethnic groups outside theirs, as the other. this trend occurred in sambas when the inter-ethnic conflict occurred in 1999. this tendency, according to amartya sen, contributes to an intolerant attitude of a person or group of people towards the “other” (sen, 2007). negative inter­ethnic stereotypes escalate the conflict ethnic malay are an ethnic group that is open and accepting of migrants. they also want to live in harmony and peace, including with ethnic madurese (before the ethnic conflict occurred in sambas in 1999). until then, a culturally pervasive stereotype identified them as people who do not like to take risks, are considered shy, hide their feelings, and are cowardly. before the inter-ethnic conflict in sambas occurred, the term “kerupuk” (crispy chips) was used to refer to the malay (with a scornful tone) among the madurese, because of their cowardice and unwillingness to take risks. while ethnic madurese hold the principle of “lebih baik putih tulang daripada putih mata” (death is better than disgrace) (wiyata, 2002), sambas’ ethnic group has a similar phrase: “lebih baik mati berkalang tanah, daripada hidup berputih mata” which means the same as the principle of the madurese. so, no matter how well the malay hide their anger, when it is too much and their honor is at stake, they can also be reckless. many ethnic malay from sambas informants reported they could not bear the treatment from ethnic madurese towards them, which in turn increased their anger at the migrant ethnic group. munawar m. saad noted some criminal events that occurred from the 1950s to 1999, which were perpetrated by ethnic madurese against the sambas ethnic malay, such as extortion, robbery, persecution, and even murder (saad, 2003). these cases are among the things that formed the sambas malay’s stereotype about the madurese. the feeling of resentment of the sambas malays as an indigenous ethnic group continued to fester, worsened by the negative stereotypes about ethnic madurese. this build up of animosity could exacerbate slight disagreement between them into a communal conflict, such as what happened in 1999. from the perspective of the sambas malay, ethnic madurese are known to be selfish, threatening locals, carrying sharp weapons when traveling, defending the guilty, being vengeful, and in the name of “god’s [ 179 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 land” they take other people’s land, etc. this stereotype held by the sambas ethnic malay about ethnic madurese is not much different from that held by other ethnic groups, as stated by de jonge cited by edi petebang and eri sutrisno, that the madurese in the eyes of other ethnicities are disrespectful, angry, revengeful, often resort to fighting, and are familiar with violence. if the madurese felt embarrassed, they immediately drew their sickles, ready to tear the victim to death. pulling a knife is their way to defend their honor as madurese (patebang and sutrisno, 2000). this reckless character of the madurese, to some ethnic groups, is portrayed as a negative thing, like the malays, who are usually passive and considerate. the stereotype that developed with the negative image of each, was likely influenced by the fact that most of them had relatively low formal education at the time. their education, like the generations of the 1980s and earlier, was mostly finished at the elementary and junior high school levels (with a few exceptions from college graduates). the low level of education may be the reason why this ethnic group tends to have a negative image of other ethnic groups outside of them. this stereotype contributed to the escalation of interethnic conflict in sambas in 1999. based on the theory of self-categorization, the process of forming a stereotype is determined by the presence of categorization in the individual, in which the categorization contains the concept of fit which is an important consideration for an individual in forming a stereotype. the concept of fit is considered as the core of the theory of self-categorization where in this theory it is revealed that individuals have several categorizations which then become prominent or are considered significant because of the crystallization of several prototypes caused by these categorizations fit with a social context (littlejohn and foss, 2009). the concept of fit is classified into two categories: comparative fit and normative fit. comparative fit concerns the issue of the comparative relationship between stimuli as the distributor of the meta-contrast principle, meaning that the categories formed must be in accordance with the differences in comparison between groups. meanwhile, normative fit relates to a person’s background knowledge and theory to be adapted to the existing data. so, the role of data is an important thing in the formation of content, where the content reflects the actual comparison and contextual aspects of the reality of stimuli. however, the role of the perceiver is also very significant, considering that the categorization and search for similarities and differences are determined by the person’s needs, motives, and goals. when one compares differences between groups, it makes sense in terms of the relationship between knowledge and theory used [ 180 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 in stereotyping, so that comparative and normative fit runs in interactions to determine the content of the stereotype (mcgarty et al., 2004). in all interviews held with the informants from both malay sambas and sambas madurese refugees, there is a categorization process that involves comparative fit and normative fit. therefore, there are themes and labels that fall into both categories. the themes and labels in the comparative fit category are needs that have different labels in them: goals that have the demeaning and joking labels, and motives that have the labels of use, honor, and benefit. as for normative fit, there are background themes that have personality labels: knowledge which has interaction labels, and social contexts which have educational social environment labels (mcgarty et al., 2004). when it comes to how ethnic stereotypes can be formed, there are at least three possibilities: 1. stereotypes can be formed as a reflection of a person’s direct observation of the behavior of a group 2. stereotypes can be a reflection of one’s expectations and the extent of one’s insight about how a group behaves 3. the formation of stereotypes may also be a combination of one’s observation and one’s expectations and knowledge of a group (mcgarty et al., 2004, p. 68). these stereotypes are formed from observation, expectation, and knowledge about a group. someone receives social information in the form of categories, where the category is obtained through an adjustment process (process fit) which includes comparative fit and normative fit. the content of the category is then described with a prototype. if the prototype defines itself (for example, an in-group prototype, and out-group prototype) then someone tends to internalize the prototype so that the prototype acts as the basis for selfperception, social judgment, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior (littlejohn and foss, 2009). in the case of the conflict between muslim ethnic groups in sambas in 1999, the experience of interaction with ethnic madurese was then generalized by the sambas ethnic malay as the basis for their self-perception, social assessment, attitude, belief, and behavior towards ethnic madurese, and vice versa. however, in this context, they not only find group differences and stereotype content based on their own experiences, but also learn differences from outside themselves, and from various social sources. in the previous discussion, it has been described how there have been a number of criminal cases by ethnic madurese against the sambas malay, such as theft, persecution, assault, and even murder as some of them have been reported by munawar m. saad. in addition, this stereotype becomes a kind of collective knowledge in several other ethnic groups who are non-malay or non-madurese (patebang and sutrisno, 2000, pp. 167–169). [ 181 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 in the formation of stereotypes, there are at least four theories that can be put forward: first is “bottom-up”. this level is also called information-rich, which assumes that people produce stereotypes that are derived from information and facts about a group. the differences between groups are very clear because of the large amount of information available so that it becomes the basis for the formation of stereotypes, without making or using arbitrary assumptions about group differences. when these stereotypes afflict members of their group, self-enhancement occurs (where a person tends to prefer their social identity to be portrayed positively or negatively) and judgment emerges as a form of evaluation. this is in line with the principle of social identity in which when someone sees something that is the same or equal, the group will tend to see their own group positively in the arena of difference. on a bottomup basis, information and data are obtained by someone through a process of learning or experiencing, where people are known by some information which, in creating such information, is used as the basis of the stereotypes, which of course are also based on group interests. this is in line with the principles of comparative-fit and meta-contrast which are then described in the self-categorization theory, that the better and clearer the group differences, the more they will be used as the basis for the formation of stereotypes. the second theory is “a bit of bottom-up”. stereotypes formed through “a bit of bottom-up” do not require much information for a stereotype. information that is little and not clear, can be the basis for the formation of stereotypes. it should be noted that in this context, the content of the stereotype tends to be informed by what a person knows, such as from his or her own group, and is likely to be evaluatively differentiated from attributes in other comparisons outside the group. the third theory is “a bit of top-down”. where there is sufficient information to establish or suspect a person or group. that is, even if there is little information and knowledge, a person can generate stereotypes from these pieces of information to distinguish others (such as where he comes from or his family background). the fourth theory is “neither up nor down”. in this context, stereotypes are produced without clear and tangible data or information about what distinguishes a person or an ethnic group from the other (spears, 2004). the description based on the information obtained from the informants shows how the concept of fit is highly considered within them. this can be seen from the extent to which comparative fit is needed for ethnic groups as a differentiating measure. the sambas malay informants interviewed in this context felt different from someone who is of ethnic madurese, in which [ 182 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 according to them their ethnic group is not as violent as the madurese. they felt calm in their speech and were reluctant to fight. these differences encourage the presence of a kind of stereotype against ethnic madurese, such as being violent, irritable, aggressive, and more. meanwhile, ethnic madurese perceive some malays to be very timid and reluctant to take risks. the sambas malay who feel different from the madurese, apart from the reasons mentioned above, are also caused by a strong pressure to maintain their identity as indigenous people of sambas. for them, migrant ethnic groups should not underestimate their position as the indigenous ethnic group in the region. in addition, negative experiences with ethnic madurese also greatly influenced the formation of the sambas ethnic malay’s stereotype about the madurese. for example, several criminal cases committed by ethnic madurese against sambas ethnic malay, such as attempted theft, persecution, assault, and even murder, as revealed by munawar m. saad, were very possible to contribute to the formation of this stereotype. due to the experience of conflict between muslims of different ethnicities in sambas in 1999, this stereotype has further escalated the conflict. education in addressing inter­ethnic stereotyping being aware of the fact that inter-ethnic stereotyping may trigger conflict, and/ or re-occurrence of conflict, is important to address. in the current context of sambas, little has changed from this stereotyping, both in terms of the sambas malay’s stereotypes about ethnic madurese, and/or vice versa, the madurese about the sambas malays. as described above, inter-ethnic stereotyping basically arises as a result of the way a person or group of people from a particular ethnicity categorizes a person or group of people from other ethnicities. thus, stereotyping is very likely to arise from a person’s experience due to their social environment, how they grow and develop among other cultures, experience inter-ethnic communication, and are educated (samovar et al., 2010). this also means that when someone biologically looks similar to someone else, but they grow and develop with different socio-cultural situations and conditions, they will likely become different from each other, including in terms of stereotypes about a particular group. this is because the experience of a person and/or group of people is shaped by the social situations and conditions that surround them, which john locke refers to as tabula rasa that the (human) mind is a “blank paper” without rules for processing data, and data are added, and the rules that process them are formed only by the experience of the senses (locke, 2007). education in one’s social environment in this context is likely to [ 183 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 provide important experiences for a person and his character, including how he perceives others, has stereotypes, etc. should this be the case, then education is possible to shape or change mindsets. in the wake of the sambas conflict, it is expected that the current stereotypes held by the sambas malay and the madurese that tend to be negative about each other can be appropriately addressed. several writers, such as davies (2004), bush and saltarelli (2000), hilker (2011), and brown (2011), mentioned the reliable functional role of education for this, while at the same time, they also warned about the possibility of education becoming a conflict catalyst, which is very detrimental if it does serve its original purpose. conclusion based on these research findings, ethnic differences and stereotypes had a significant impact on the escalation of conflict between ethnic malay and ethnic madurese in 1999. theoretically, this ethnic differentiation and stereotyping essentially emerged as a consequence of the way a person or group of people of a particular ethnicity categorizes a person or group of people of another ethnicity. it can be argued that differentiation and stereotyping are formed based on observation, expectation, and knowledge about a group. this is quite understandable because a person receives social information in the form of categories, where the categories are obtained through a fit process that includes comparative fit and normative fit. where the content of the category is described by a prototype, and if the prototype defines self (for example, an in-group prototype, rather than an out-group prototype) then one is more likely to internalize that prototype so that the prototype acts as the basis for self-perception, social judgments, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. there are at least four models of information processing that lead to a stereotype, namely with a lot of information (bottom-up), adequate information (a bit of bottomup), little information (a bit of top-down), and poor information (neither up nor down). in addition, the emergence of ethnic stereotyping as a form of distinguishing a person or an ethnic group from the other can also be a consequence of inter-ethnic interaction and communication. in the context of post-conflict sambas, it is expected that the strongly held inter-ethnic stereotypes, which tend to be negative and have undermined the relations between the sambas malays and the madurese, can be appropriately addressed. as discussed earlier in this work, we can rely on educational work to help reconstruct the stereotyping in a more appropriate direction. 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[ 188 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2090 [ 23 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 church and youth resilience to substance abuse: assessing church responses, challenges and gaps chanda armstrong department of educational studies and social sciences mpika college of education, zambia email: chandarmstrong@yahoo.com abstract realising the fundamental role of the church in youth development and social work, the study investigates the responses, challenges and gaps in combating youth substance abuse by the church. it highlights the need for holistic interventions while emphasising the need for mental health resilience. the study employed a qualitative approach, combining document analysis and review of literary materials to assess church and substance abuse among youth, especially cases studied in the philippines and kenya. the findings indicate that the church’s interventions in youth substance abuse include moral teachings, awareness raising and support project activities. the study also underscores the importance of family dynamics in developing resilience against substance abuse. the major challenges faced by the church concerning youth substance abuse and promoting resilience include poverty and peer pressure, which hinder the youth’s desire to undergo interventions. moreover, cultural stigma and denial from the parents or guardians block the youth from seeking help. cultural belief systems also disrupt family connections, further underlining the need for robust support systems. an enormous gulf exists between the church and the youth, which undermines any preventative measures that might be undertaken. the research proffers useful pointers for policymakers, church leaders, and social workers regarding the lifestyle aspects that link faith, culture, and youth substance addiction. it recommends that the church customise its approaches to address the specific challenges faced by young people struggling with substance abuse, focusing on health, healing, and resilience, aligning with the challenges faced by different youths and the need for urgent attention. keywords: church; youth resilience; substance abuse introduction the rampant use of substances among youth seems to be raising concern about its impact on the health, social and economic aspects of their life. substance abuse tends to have a plethora of adverse effects through various addictions [ 24 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 or disorders of mental health, or by downgrading one’s social functioning (izdebski et al., 2025). it becomes, therefore, essential to examine factors associated with substance abuse among young people, as this is important for crafting any effective preventive strategies. psychoactive substance use predicts high-risk behaviours such as illicit sexual activities, which by itself warrants an intervention (izdebski et al., 2025). this further necessitates an investigation into the rising prevalence of substance abuse among youth, particularly how the church, as a pivotal institution in community life responds to this issue. this, therefore, necessitates church programmes to educate youth on the risks surrounding drug use and how to make the right choices. furthermore, providing mental health resources and support for young people who struggle with substance abuse provides an avenue to deal with some innate problems and prevent risky behaviours. all communities, schools and healthcare systems come together to jointly work toward bold prevention and intervention programmes targeting substance abuse behaviours among the youth. in this study, the term “church” refers to the various religious institutions and communities that are significant in the lives of people. the church often contributes significantly to value formation, providing support and nurturing a sense of belonging. it acts as a guide through moral teachings, influencing youth behaviour and their choices. while resilience in this study is defined as adapting and recovering from adversity, stress, or trauma, particularly among young people. in substance abuse, resilience can take the form of resisting peer pressure, managing life’s challenges and asking for help when needed. therefore, building resilience to substance abuse by youth is very imperative to combat and recover from substance abuse problems. the awareness of the dangers that accompany substance abuse and the knowledge of coping strategies and healthier alternatives to prevent them go a long way in preventing and reducing substance abuse among youths (nwogu, 2022). substance abuse does not help the youth; it makes them develop poorly and brings up many societal issues, thus calling for urgent measures as effective interventions, such as prevention, early intervention strategies and access to treatment services. efforts made by churches and communities in dealing with substance abuse should be linked closely to the genuine issues faced by young people. this, therefore, further indicates the urgency of this study on how church support systems would manage to effectively address youth issues concerning substance abuse, including but not limited to faithbased treatment, pastoral counselling and community outreach programmes, is relevant. awareness of what these church-based initiatives do for the prevention and mitigation of substance abuse among young people is vital [ 25 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 in developing more comprehensive and effective prevention and intervention strategies (kumar & reddy, 2025). certain groups, such as sexual and gender minorities, face elevated risks of substance abuse and mental health challenges that call for a customised approach by the church to meet distinct community needs (coulter et al., 2019). these approaches could include diverse and affirming support groups, counselling services and educational strategies that focus on substance abuse and mental health issues. the church can be an agent for the holistic health and healing of all people by identifying and responding to the particular demands of marginalised communities within the community. engaging with critical social work principles may enable an engagement by the church to try to treat substance abuse as oppression within the broader context of seeking equality and justice for all (rogowski & thi, 2025). such an approach emphasises the need to address not just personal behaviours, but also the more critical conditions that give rise to substance abuse, such as poverty, trauma and systemic inequalities. studies show that parental communication and connection directly affect drug usage by urban youth (boyd et al., 2021), and perhaps these faith-based family initiatives might even enhance protective factors against substance use. also, family fighting and lack of supervision among parents are associated with an elevated consumption of different substances among adolescents. despite the church’s efforts, substance abuse among young people is still prevalent. therefore, this study advocates for building resilience among the youth as a means of fighting substance abuse. this study has a dual focus on resilience theory and the role of the church in combating youth substance abuse. while many existing studies analyse substance abuse trends among youth, few examine the specific responses and adaptations of religious institutions in this regard. the research highlights the intersection of faith, culture, and youth challenges, contributing unique insights into how church interventions can be tailored to meet the distinct needs of various youth groups, particularly marginalised communities. the study, therefore, addressed the following research questions: how does the church contribute to building resilience among youth in the context of substance abuse? what are the specific responses of the church to substance abuse issues faced by youth? what challenges does the church encounter in its efforts to mitigate substance abuse among young people? how can the church bridge the gaps related to substance abuse mitigation and resilience development? and what new modes of collaboration can be established in the fight against substance abuse? this study examines how the church helps build youth resilience to substance abuse, assessing its responses, challenges and [ 26 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 gaps to substance abuse and resilience development among the youth. despite the efforts made by the church, there still exists a gap between the efforts of the church toward the substance abuse problem and its actual mitigation among youth. the study highlights the need for more effective strategies and collaboration to enhance the church’s role in supporting youth resilience. the study identifies and bridges gaps in substance abuse mitigation and resilience development among the youth by the church. the study discusses the challenges and opportunities for the church to develop resilience among individuals struggling with substance abuse. it provides insights into the temporal link between substance dependence and the church, and its pivotal role in offering support, intervention and rehabilitation. the study’s core thrust revolves around new modes of collaboration between those addicted to substances and the church by assessing the church’s present responses and challenges. the intended outcomes are to build effective answers to problems around substance use, recovery, and holistic healing within the church context. applying resilience theory, the study emphasises the building of resilience to substance abuse among young people as a means to mitigating and preventing substance abuse behaviours and effects. resilience of the church, youth and substance abuse resilience theory, particularly as sought by ann masten, offers insight into how individuals and systems sustain changes to adapt successfully in the wake of adversity. resilience should be considered within various levels of analyses, from purely individual through interpersonal contexts, to societal traits, highlighting important concepts, determinants, and applications. there is a definite movement toward unifying the resilience approaches across different systems to act more robustly when facing dire threats (masten, 2018; yates et al., 2015). resilience is understood in many ways but mainly refers to positive functioning over time after adversity, which brings forth its many-sided character (southwick et al., 2014). self-regulation abilities and good parenting may nurture resilience across a variety of populations (masten & cicchetti, 2016). in addition, nurturing resilience means scrutinising and working on social determinants, cultural and economic challenges to accommodate a familiarity with resilience being a layered and complex construct (southwick et al., 2014; yates et al., 2015). michael ungar’s work on resilience theory emphasises the role of culture and context in understanding thriving under pressure as an indicator of growth. resilience is more than an individual trait; it is a deeply kindled influence of one’s social environment and culture. resilience is definable differently [ 27 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 across academies of knowledge, with common themes revolving around adaptive functioning over time following adversity (southwick et al., 2014; fletcher & sarkar, 2013). it is shaped by various determinants across multiple levels, including genetic, cultural and social factors. (southwick et al., 2014). this indicates the need for comprehensive approaches in resilience research. for instance, a specific application of resilience theory, ‘shame resilience’ focuses on how women develop strategies to cope with and overcome shame, demonstrating the importance of social-support relationships and personal awareness (brown, 2006). all of these reconceptualizations between ecological resilience, defined in terms of how much the ecosystem tolerates disturbance and psychological resilience, which concerns the coping ability of individuals, centre on adaptive capacity (gunderson, 2000; fletcher & sarkar, 2013). according to this view, resilience should be perceived from a social-ecological framework, which includes both internalised and external factors that build positive development during stressful experiences (ungar et al., 2013; ungar, 2011; ungar, 2005). different context-culture combinations offer specific legacies and pathways that serve in resilience, resulting in distinct patterns and manifestations of wellbeing (ungar et al., 2013; ungar, 2013; ungar, 2005). resilience varies from one population to another, with protective mechanisms that are sensitive to individual and environmental factors, of which the contextual understanding is significant (ungar, 2011; ungar, 2013). ungar describes strategies on how practitioners may scale up resilience development in contexts by identifying and channelling local resources that support health and general well-being (ungar, 2010; ungar, 2005). the example of church and resilience development is cited in the u.s.a., where most addiction rehabilitation programmes are spirituality-based, thus making considerable economic savings and providing recovery from substance abuse (grim & grim, 2019). while going, participation in religious activities and spiritual practices has been associated with reduced substance usage among american indian urban adolescents and thus, possible protective influences (kulis et al., 2012). the adolescent’s belief system concerning spirituality brings better well-being to coping capabilities, thereby promoting psychological and emotional well-being, which could serve to deter drug use (kim & esquivel, 2011). researchers have recognised spirituality as a key factor in adolescent resilience, as it contributes to positive mental health outcomes and effective coping strategies (kim & esquivel, 2011). an effective community-based effort to improve family resilience has strikingly reduced the drug abuse involvement of high-risk youth in many different [ 28 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 churches (johnson et al., 1998). there are plenty of different programmes that have been implemented throughout church communities, showing that family strength not only delays adolescent entry into substance use but also reduces prevalence at very early ages (johnson et al., 1998). furthermore, it was found among urban american indian youth that such a combination of beliefs of christianity with traditional spiritual practices produced lower occurrences of substance use (kulis et al., 2012). this reveals the great potential of culture and religion in improving lifestyles toward healthier ones the church can help the youth by providing an environment within which they can thrive through resilience-promoting activities. these would include talking about substance abuse, mentorship programmes for youth, and workshops on coping skills, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving. the church can further engage such youth in volunteer activities and church activities to enhance their sense of belonging. through the eradication of stigma and ushering in understanding and good relationships, it is possible, therefore, for the church to support young people to feel connected and peer with them. the church to substance abuse and building resilience the findings of several studies reviewed in this study point out how the church rallies behind adolescents struggling with substance abuse. church organisations often put-up psychosocial support and other protective factors that help lessen the negative effects of substance abuse. the church has a place in community support and enhances individual resilience in managing cases of youth substance abuse. it acknowledges the social and personal determinants related to substance use and subsequently strives to create an environment conducive to healthy development. psycho-social support churches are important psychosocial supporters for the recovery of youth addicted to substances. they break the threat of stigma and bad examples to create a nurturing atmosphere of healing and growth (muswerakuenda et al., 2023). the faith-based community also actively take part in identifying children who require care and assisting anyone in ensuring the care is more than just physical but also addressing the vital psychosocial and spiritual aspects, which often coexist with substance abuse prevention efforts in recovery (spaumer & mavhandu-mudzusi, 2025). these findings echo the relationship between youth substance abuse and psychological well-being, [ 29 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 indicating the need for urgent, comprehensive and holistic strategies that fully integrate mental health support into recovery programmes (kumar & reddy, 2025). the community and peer-level dynamics are the strongest influences on youth behaviour and choices (izdebski et al., 2025). this proposes that churches should become active agents of revolutionary change to bring about these positive social environments and connections among young people. churches are significant in the literature for providing psychosocial support to adolescent populations who struggle with substance abuse. muswerakuenda et al., (2023) and spaumer & mavhandu-mudzusi (2025) studies indicate that faith-based communities can combat stigma and promote healing environments. kumar & reddy (2025) support holistic recovery by arguing for integrating mental health support into recovery programmes. where churches provide spiritual resources, important recovery-related emotional and social environments also arise from other sectors of the community schools, organisations, and such. it can therefore be argued that church-based support may further reinforce stigmas that link substance use with sinfulness. these stigmas may outrightly deter persons from seeking support. for recovery programmes to be effective, it is essential to find a balance between the spiritual and the evidence-based perspectives. religiosity and substance abuse religiosity serves as a protective shield against substance misuse and mental health issues (quinn et al., 2023). this suggests that one’s faith can curb risky behaviours among youth, linking belief in god to less engagement in risky behaviours. both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity significantly reduce the likelihood of substance abuse among adolescents. therefore, participating in religious activities may directly influence substance use behaviours (carrà et al., 2023). programmes integrating spirituality and addiction interventions are seen as effective in supporting recovery from substance use disorders (grim & grim, 2019). this demonstrates the strong association between spirituality and recovery. for instance, according to berrien et al., (2021), black church-led community initiatives have successfully engaged youth and have been tackling violence, implying the potential for applying the same approach to address substance abuse participation in church activities serves to lessen health-risk behaviours among adolescents; hence, church involvement can be protective and serve as a buffer against substance abuse only when combined with regular attendance (buchtova et al., 2020). additionally, black churches mobilise community resources and facilitate moral accountability, thus deterring the youth from [ 30 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 substance abuse and violence (berrien et al., 2021). according to reviewed studies, it is a proven fact that religiosity can technically defend against the abuse of substances in adolescents. for example, studies by quinn et al., (2023) and carrà et al., (2023) argue that strong faith and involvement in religious activities often correlate with reduced use of substances among adolescents. both types of intrinsic as well as extrinsic religiosity are supposed to be considered in the protection brought forth by faith, although some studies indicate that religion might not address the possible causes of addiction. meanwhile, secular interventions have their focus on the accountability of the individual and those associated with welfare. differences in terms of social class, education, and type of support received may also result in varying effects of religious communities in preventing substance abuse. more studies will be needed to compare the spirituality impacts on these and other religions. collaboration with community and professionals it is possible to develop successful strategies for preventing drug abuse among adolescents using a combination of community involvement and holistic church approaches (chifamba & chifamba, 2023). moreover, bridging the gap between church leaders, social services, police, and psychologists prop up a strong intervention for youth suffering from substance abuse (spaumer & mavhandu-mudzusi, 2025). the problem of substance abuse among youths calls for comprehensive responses from society in training, legal frameworks and very effective educational campaigns (nwogu, 2022; chifamba & chifamba, 2023). collaborative strategies of various stakeholders, such as families, schools, churches and communities, can be said to be the most effective way of preventing drug abuse in the post-pandemic context (chifamba & chifamba, 2023). internal determinants of development, such as planning and decisionmaking, are critical in preventing adolescent substance use, which signifies the need for programmes that impart these values (belintxon et al., 2022). parent-child communication quality is a strong predictor of substance-use behaviours, as strong parent ties can help curtail drug usage in urban youth exposed to societal stress (boyd et al., 2021). moreover, programmes involving community service, combined with restorative practices, lessen substance use among justice-involved youth. (church & marcus, 2021). thus, meaningful engagements can positively redirect behaviours towards better meanings. cases from kenya and the philippines this section examines the cases of church participation in addressing substance [ 31 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 abuse and other issues amid the youth within the presbyterian church in kenya (mathai, 2022), the anglican church in the diocese of embu, kenya (nyaga et al., 2024) and the catholic church in the philippines (cornelio & lasco, 2020) as presented in these literary sources. it examines the various initiatives taken towards young men and women and the barriers that hinder the development of comprehensive programmes to combat youth-related substance abuse crises in these churches. different strategies and influences from church communities have emerged on how churches address youth substance abuse. churches have held that their role is crucial by conducting educational projects, advocating for communities and looking into broader social contexts. the presbyterian church in kenya treats this fight against substance abuse as a complex venture, which includes addressing drug abuse among the young congregants in its congregations. from lively youth camps, interactive workshops and buoyant, energetic and high-impact community service, the church offers an inclusive environment, conditioning members towards healthy living and sound social connections (mathai, 2022). the presbyterian church believes in active engagement through youth camps, workshops, community service, and so forth. it provides recreational activities and space for forming healthy relationships and social skills of utmost importance to resilience development. the participants learn strategies and life skills that are positive in building healthier choices. the youth may feel a sense of belonging and support from the community, which would help boost emotional resilience. for some time now, the catholic church has engaged itself very constructively in meaningful conversation around drug use by making deep moral arguments. it is here emphasised that compassion and social harmony should play a vital role in confronting the devastating effects of substance abuse on individuals and communities (cornelio & lasco, 2020). as time passed, so too did the approaches of the church, which now shows a deeper appreciation for the issues surrounding drug use. today, the church emphasises more empathy and assistance while addressing urgent issues such as moral decay and concerns about the welfare of the youth (cornelio & lasco, 2020). this shift illustrates the church’s commitment to promoting compassionate dialogue, ultimately enhancing community resilience in addressing pressing social issues. the anglican church is known for being at the forefront of offering compassionate guidance and counselling services through its initiatives aimed at reducing drug abuse (nyaga et al., 2024). being a well-renowned institution, there is an ongoing organisation of seminars and recreational activities to attract the youth into its affairs, which forms a basis for nurturing an [ 32 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 environment that effectively discourages substance abuse (nyaga et al., 2024). several challenges prevent the church from achieving its goals, including financial limitations that restrict resources, a shortage of skilled professionals to effectively carry out programmes, and an apparent reluctance from the community to support such initiatives. these barriers seriously undermine the capabilities of the anglican church in developing and conducting effective substance abuse programmes (nyaga & kagema, 2024). the fusion of resilience theory with church interventions in the context of youth substance abuse requires multidimensional approaches. these cases demonstrate how faith-based organisations can create holistic resilience through community activity, moral empowerment, and support systems. effectively, adopting the same frameworks would enable organisations to counter substance abuse and enhance resilience among youth globally. the church’s involvement in substance abuse is manifested in community involvement and moral guidance. the above and other studies have shown these initiatives as crucial among faith-based initiatives and effective communication in reducing substance use and its associated behavioural complexities among the youth. these studies show a variety of ways in which the church and faith-based organisations relate to substance abuse among the youth, emphasising the blend of faith-based approaches with community action. these findings, therefore, suggest the development of effective interventions through pastoral care, education and addressing common underlying socioeconomic factors. on the contrary, traditional values within churches would limit the effectiveness of the churches in adapting to modern treatment approaches. each denomination has its culturally comparative responses to substance abuse, leading to diverse results concerning the addict. mitigating substance abuse and building resilience the church faces challenges in building resilience among the youth. these challenges include: socio-economic factors, cultural myths, and youth engagement in religious activities. socio-economic factors socio-economic challenges amplify the intensity of the problem of substance use, especially among youth, as is the case in zimbabwe. mugari (2024) explains that many young people are trapped in a serious crisis of substance abuse, which is worsened by several socio-economic hardships and emerging drug abuse trends. substance abuse itself does not exist in a vacuum; it somehow came into being because of wider social problems, namely, endemic poverty [ 33 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 and gross inequality (rogowski & thi, 2025). institutions like the church should not merely recognise these underlying problems, but also engage in their intervention. the topic of substance abuse continues to present challenges even within the church community due to the realities of peer pressure and the shockingly easy availability of drugs (mathai, 2022). various barriers to recovery include stigma, denial from the family and harsh religious views. all this discourages youth from seeking much-needed assistance in dealing with substances within their church communities (muswerakuenda et al., 2023). therefore, there must be an environment where the youth feel empowered to seek recovery freely and without the judgment of their communities. cultural influences culturally rooted beliefs and stigma surrounding substance abuse have a deep impact on family subtleties in communities, thus further justifying the urgent need for focused public health programmes and general awareness to assist the youth who are being affected (monari et al., 2024). a good number of parents of adolescents battling substance abuse are under great emotional turmoil and practical distress (mathibela & skhosana, 2019). this creates an avenue for churches to build support networks for these families. the anguish faced by the parents is universal, as many stumble through raising teenagers involved in substance misuse (mathibela & skhosana, 2019). this further shows the urgent need for churches to assist them in building resilience and understanding of families in need. youth engagement in religious activities youth engagement in religious activities tends to be very helpful in dealing with substance abuse. as indicated by mbuthia et al., (2020), students not participating in any form of religious activity are at a significantly higher risk of turning to substance abuse. the church, therefore, has a huge role in nurturing relationships with youths. however, an even more alarming widening gap between the youth and religious institutions now poses a real challenge to all the attempts to put in place to curb substance abuse. ntsanwisi (2024) argues that in light of the current divide, there is an urgent need for targeted programmes aimed at bridging this gap. the sight of youth stepping away from religious practices and activities has become so overwhelming that access to spiritual and religious programmes that promise positive behavioural change has become even harder to attain. this challenge is key in creating conducive settings for discouraging substance abuse among young people. but all religious teachings may not touch young people, especially the [ 34 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 disadvantaged, who feel judged. the church’s limited knowledge of mental health hinders its effectiveness in addressing the issue. bridging the gap: mitigating substance abuse and building youth resilience there are gaps in the church’s efforts to mitigate substance abuse and build youth resilience. some challenges mentioned in various studies assessing factors associated with substance abuse and evaluation of existing prevention activities are peer pressure, community awareness and engagement of, and education for the youth. these multidimensional challenges faced by the church while fighting against substance use are driving home the need for culturally appropriate methods and integration into the community. multiple studies suggest that socio-economic issues, cultural perceptions, and engagement of trusted community leaders, including church officials, are major players in determining intervention efficacy. a huge call, therefore, exists for better mobilisation strategies and funding to develop and sustain youth welfare and substance abuse prevention initiatives (nyaga & kagema, 2024). community leadership and engagement community leadership and engagement have shown great efficacy in resolving substance abuse. for instance, black american church leaders play a crucial role in fighting opioid use disorder, emphasising the need for compassion and the adoption of innovative, culturally sensitive strategies that address the particular needs of their communities (dankwah et al., 2024). these leaders understand that community support is vital for action. churches are excellent resources for the dissemination of critical information and mobilising communities for substance abuse prevention efforts (nwagu et al., 2020). in this way, churches can employ culturally relevant strategies, significantly enhancing alcohol and drug interventions through the direct involvement of their youth in the adaptation of mental-health literacy programmes (jumbe et al., 2022). moreover, involving church organisations in the mobilisation of community readiness is essential and acts as the proactive mouthpiece for information and interventions to curb substance abuse, especially in rural settings (sadeghi et al., 2024). the need to design, implement and maintain records on community-based preventive approaches to youth substance use, inextricably linked to the work of social practices inside the church, must therefore not be overemphasised. churches provide supportive and knowledge-ready environments that arm individuals and families with the resources to access and overcome the challenges associated with substance[ 35 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 related disorders. holistic prevention strategies the involvement of various stakeholders, such as families, schools and churches, through collaborative measures is an effective intervention strategy for adolescent substance abuse (chifamba & chifamba, 2023). for instance, programme models like the “lifestyle risk reduction model” aimed to address substance abuse from developmentally appropriate methods at all ages (dykstra et al., 2023: 864). by interrogating the mainstream narratives around substance abuse, the church can develop more impactful interventions that resonate with the youth and incorporate their voices into the change (rogowski & thi, 2025). possessing the element of holistic approaches calling for community support, engagement, and advocacy is essential to effectively counter youth substance use (rogowski & thi, 2025). the cultural context surrounding substance use is important because stigma and secrecy concerning family members who misuse substances are often highlighted (monari et al., 2024). additionally, monitoring parental love and supervision contributes greatly to the avoidance of substance use among adolescents (belintxon et al., 2020). thus, this suggests that both family and communal aspects are imperative in the church’s response towards these issues. furthermore, interventions and programmes must be gender sensitive to address their specific determinants of risky behaviour among the two genders in supporting both boys’ and girls’ behaviours (izdebski et al., 2025). ultimately, positive self-image and family support are very important in delaying risky behaviours (izdebski et al., 2025). thus, the church could assist in enhancing these protective factors. faith-based support and awareness campaigns since many addiction treatment programmes have begun embracing spirituality as a central element, this places the church’s role as critically important in resisting substance abuse using faith-based recovery programmes (grim & grim, 2019). churches serve as important social support networks, effectively bridging access to vital psychosocial services while encouraging recovery through organised support programmes that care for mind and spirit (muswerakuenda et al., 2023). it has been shown that religious engagement can correlate with lower patterns of substance abuse and reduced mental health issues in the youth (quinn et al., 2023). this points to the possibility that the church is a protective factor within this vulnerable group. also, social marketing strategies must be adopted to change the perception and behaviour of young people on drug use. according to nnam et al., (2021), these strategies can complement the church’s outreach [ 36 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 efforts and lead to stronger and more meaningful programmes for promoting healthy choices and lifestyles. the increasing concerns raised by universities and organisations regarding the devastating effects of substance abuse call for intensified awareness campaigns and collaborative relations with religious institutions to nurture an amicable environment that supports individuals in their recovery processes (mbuthia et al., 2020). religious education, family and community support religious education is seen as a lifeline for the youth, as it normally helps solve both prevention and cure measures when life becomes so challenging, especially in areas concerning substance abuse (zellma & mąkosa, 2024). the relationships and social networks developed in tough times like the current ordeal, because of the covid-19 pandemic, reflect the importance of community. such would serve as positive influences in facilitating one’s mental healing process, especially for someone recovering from substance abuse (song et al., 2025). in families suffering from substance use disorders, adult siblings often develop resilience through communication strategies that enable them to manage the challenges of emotions across their shared experiences (nolan-cody & scharp, 2024). one has to appreciate the relationship for support established through different interpersonal exchanges from churches to local community organisations. mushonga & breda (2024) argue that these exchanges go a long way to improving resilient outcomes among young adults raised in environments characterised by alcohol misuse and provide them with a supportive network that enhances healing and growth. psychosocial support psychosocial support from the church is necessary in helping the youth build resilience and fight substance abuse. adult children from parents with substance-related problems undergo dual processes of nurturing resilience, yet also adapting to the negative behaviours that somehow, they may unconsciously pick up from their parents. this complex interaction brings into sharp relief the profound impact of family context mediating access to social support systems (jeremiah et al., 2024). within this framework, psychosocial support networks provided by churches come out as one pillar aiding the youth in recovery from substance abuse. faith-based communities promote belonging and acceptance, often initiating structured recovery methods that provide direction and pathways to healing (muswerakuenda et al., 2023). for instance, coping strategies in african families affected by intimate partner violence tend to emphasise seeking social support. this creates a parallel situation to the [ 37 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 collective strength of existing community and church networks that also help individuals’ recovery from substance abuse (akinbode & carter, 2025). religious and spiritual coping approaches strongly held spiritual beliefs can significantly enhance health and resilience, especially within marginalised communities (lefevor et al., 2023). religious beliefs foreground the relationship between spirituality and the ability to deal with challenges stemming from substance abuse. a crucial aspect of the model is self-transcendence, which strongly interacts with spirituality and can help prevent relapse among recovering individuals by providing them with a renewed sense of meaning and purpose in life. (sørensen & lien, 2022). religious beliefs also act as a formidable protective factor against the abuse of substances, especially with black youth confronted with an excess of overly burdensome societal challenges. faith acts as a source of significant resilience, allowing individuals to push through the pressure to abuse substances (quinn et al., 2023). in another case, spiritual resilience is very significant among pacific peoples, where evidence shows that engagement in spiritual practices enhances mental health and therefore could very much be potent in reducing risks of substance abuse (taumoepeau et al., 2025). it is therefore imperative that the church, as a provider of community, support and spiritual guidance, addresses the substance abuse problem among youths through a network-like climate, counselling and support services, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and values. the church should act as a connection between the youngsters in addiction and the resources required for their recovery. it must leverage the collaborations established between the church and other community stakeholders, such as health professionals, social workers, and law enforcement, must create a more effective and holistic way of dealing with substance abuse in young people. given its place and role in the lives of the youth and society, the church could strive to create a more just and equitable society in which every individual has access to the resources and support needed to overcome substance abuse and thrive by taking this critical stance. conclusion the church’s role in responding to substance abuse among youth, as seen in light of resilience theory, is very significant and loaded with complexity. resilience theory suggests that people can develop adaptive coping mechanisms as a reaction to adversity, but the flourishing of such mechanisms requires interventions that reflect the particular experiences of marginalised youth. an ongoing [ 38 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 reflective practice must also be adopted to assess the impact of the programmes carried out by the church on youth dealing with substance abuse challenges. the church, through involving youth in the design and implementation of these strategies, can create an atmosphere that truly welcomes resilience. this could set a sustainable process in motion, therefore facilitating the youth not only to navigate present challenges but also to flourish in their quality of life and, by extension, towards wider community restoration. resilience theory must underpin programme design and assessment to ensure that the church stays nimble and relevant to respond to the global epidemic of substance abuse among youth. as observed, the church is an important institution in countering the rising incidence of youth substance abuse and building resilience. therefore, there should be a collaborative spirit with the community, schools, health providers and the church to strengthen the prevention and intervention of substance abuse. in this way, the church can empower youth by tilting towards management means of dealing with the substance abuse challenge and promote coping mechanisms that support the well-being of those affected. this strategy may tackle the short-term substance abuse problems, but more importantly, it develops the long-term resilience and vibrancy of youth in the community. a critical reflection must be made concerning these existing programmes and support systems within religious circles, surveying their effectiveness in addressing the needs of young people dealing with substance abuse problems and in building substance resilience. this will ascertain why partnerships between churches, community entities and youth are vital in crafting integrated strategies that target substance abuse while also empowering youth to be resilient and make healthy choices. future research should focus on evaluating the long-term impacts of church-led interventions on youth resilience and substance abuse outcomes, comparing faith-based approaches across different cultural contexts, and optimising collaborative partnerships between churches and community entities. bibliography belintxon, m., calatrava, m., osorio, a., balaguer, á., & vidaurreta, m. 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(2025). no sky too high, no sea too rough: qualitative investigation of resilience and suicide in special operations forces service members. journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3928/02793695-20250108-01 rogowski, s., & thi, n. l. (2025). critical theory, research methodology, and critical social work. edward elgar publishing ebooks, 85–95. https:// doi.org/10.4337/9781035310173.00016 sadeghi, s., mohammad sabzi khoshnami, imani, a., & noruzi, s. (2024). preventing adolescent substance use disorder: a systematic review of community-based practices and social work implications. journal of substance use, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2024.23327 76 scharp, k. m. (2024). (mal)adaptive sibling self and other communicative resilience in the context of parental substance use. journal of communication, 74(2), 145-159. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae001 song, a., chao, t., harris, b., & hsin, h. (2025). the impact of shelter-inplace during the covid-19 pandemic on social support for mental health recovery: a prescribing-oriented qualitative study of patient perspectives. plos one, 20(1), e0316582–e0316582. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316582 sørensen, t., & lien, l. (2022). significance of self-transcendence for rehabilitation and relapse prevention among patients with substance [ 44 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3539 use disorder: a qualitative study. religions, 13(6), 491. https://doi. org/10.3390/rel13060491 southwick, s. m., bonanno, g. a., masten, a. s., panter-brick, c., & yehuda, r. (2014). resilience definitions, theory, and challenges: interdisciplinary perspectives. european journal of psychotraumatology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.25338 spaumer, a., & mavhandu-mudzusi, a. h. (2025). pentecostal church leaders’ support to children in need of care and protection. hts teologiese studies / theological studies, 81(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts. v81i1.10173 taumoepeau, m., taungapeau, f., lucas, m., conner, t. s., hunkin, a., manoa, p., magalogo, l., & tautalanoa, t. (2025). mai mana: exploring pacific peoples’ experiences of resilience in aotearoa. cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000714 ungar, m. (2005). handbook for working with children and youth: pathways to resilience across cultures and contexts. sage publications, inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976312 ungar, m. (2010). what is resilience across cultures and contexts? advances to the theory of positive development among individuals and families under stress. journal of family psychotherapy, 21(1), 1–16. https:// doi.org/10.1080/08975351003618494 ungar, m. (2011). the social ecology of resilience: addressing contextual and cultural ambiguity of a nascent construct. the american journal of orthopsychiatry, 81(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.19390025.2010.01067.x ungar, m., ghazinour, m., & richter, j. (2013). annual research review: what is resilience within the social ecology of human development? journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 54(4), 348–366. https://doi. org/10.1111/jcpp.12025 yates, t. m., tyrell, f. a., & masten, a. s. (2015). resilience theory and the practice of positive psychology from individuals to societies. positive psychology in practice, 773–788. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118996874. ch44 zellma, a., & mąkosa, p.m., (2024). strengthening the resilience of pupils through catholic religious education in poland: from theory to practice. religions, 15(10), 1153–1153. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel15101153 jurnal bjrs___ volume 6 number 1____2017.indd [ 125 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 korean drama constructing multiculturalism among muslim women students okta nurul hidayati iain surakarta email: oktanurulhidayati@gmail.com m. endy saputro iain surakarta email: endysa@gmail.com abstract th is paper aims to understand the unique relationship between korean drama and the formation of multicultural identity among muslim women students. on the one hand, as a form of racial activity, watching korean dramas can establish a new form of identity while at the same time enriching a new perspective of building multicultural sense. on the other hand as a part of muslim, they can control korean culture that is incompatible with islamic doctrine. th is paper argues that adopting korean dramas positively supports students in creating multicultural cultures. th ese fi ndings may contribute to the formation of cultural diversity within the islamic context. keywords: korean wave, youth, multiculturalism, muslim student introduction in the last ten years, korean wave has grown rapidly in indonesia. one of its disseminating is through korean drama. korean drama began to be known since the show endless love in indosiar in 2002. th e fi rst impressions that occupy the top 10 in indosiar rating trigger other dramas such as full house, th e queen of seon deok, 49 days, boys over flower and naughty kiss. th e spread of korean dramas goes faster aft er other tv stations are motivated to participate in broadcasting korean dramas. according to rina anggraeni (2015), korean drama, th e heirs, contributed a 2.5% rating with a performance average of 20 episodes 2.5 / 20.4 when it aired on rcti in 2015. much has been discussed korean drama in the form of journal and other research papers. however, most of them focus on student eff ect’s watching the drama, such as dressing (princess, 2013), imitation behavior (yuliana, 2012), [ 126 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 narcissistic behavior (tsaniyata, 2014), interest in studying korean culture (hidayati 2013; princess 2013), and lifestyle (salam-perbewasari-komariah 2012). relative to the previous, this ensuing paper focuses more on muslim women student of iain surakarta watching korean drama and its implication building multicultural sense toward other cultures outside theirs. in indonesia, diversity is defi ned as an asset of the nation’s cultural wealth that supports unity in the context of diversity (al-makassary, 2007). th is paper reveals the implications of muslim women students when looking at multiculturalism from a diff erent point of view. th e focus of attention is to address issues in three specifi c contexts: korean drama, the religious doctrine, and the cultural identity of multiculturalism. indonesian young women, by watching korean dramas, begin to enjoy cultural exploration as a modern and cosmopolitan asian (heryanto, 2015). th e condition also occurs among muslim women students iain surakarta. iain surakarta is an educational institution with diverse students from other regions and abroad. most students come from central java, but there are also students who come from outside java such as, ambon, lampung, and also abroad such as th ailand. as part of the middle class, they watch dramas to fi ll their spare time and fi nd entertainment on the sidelines of college grind. indeed, as muslim students living within perguruan tinggi keagamaan islam negeri (ptkin), they are required to adapt to religious doctrine. religious doctrines retrieve restriction from watching such prohibited things as imitating the korean drama costume player. th ere are some things related to korean dramas that are considered inappropriate according to islamic religious point of view. th is limitation raises student reactions and perceptions. th e presence of korean dramas certainly brings a new wave of culture in indonesia. korean culture that goes to indonesia actually adds multicultural cultural diversity. th is paper wants to explore how korean drama infl uences in shaping the diversity of identities of muslim students at iain surakarta. th is study is important to see how students view korean culture and how it shapes a multiculturalism perspective; considering iain surakarta is a multicultural campus. one example is seen with the presence of students from outside java, or abroad such as th ailand. by knowing how students receive diversity, we can understand the formation of students’ multicultural perspective in looking at other cultures. th is paper argues that watching korean dramas fi ltered with religious doctrine will form an identity that infl uences the way of view of multiculturalism. [ 127 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 th is research was conducted by using interview method of some muslim women students at iain surakarta, whether they are da’wah activists or not. interviews were conducted to understand the multicultural outlook of iain muslim women students of surakarta aft er watching korean dramas. popularized korean wave korean drama is one of korea’s popular industrial products that enter indonesia as a result of the development of korean wave in asia. korean drama goes into every country through broadcasting in the media, especially television. korean dramas must pass clandestinely shipping through diplomatic pockets, due to the strict inspection of goods from outside the country. th at’s what drama what is love was sent through the offi cial letters to the hong kong embassy without a 1992 inspection. th e drama is in great demand and very popular in hong kong so it quickly spread throughout asia-japan, vietnam, malaysia and the philippines including indonesia (hong, 2014). korean drama presents a short story consisting of 15-25 episodes with the duration time of each episode 1 1.5 hours. korean dramas have diff erent types. th ere are historical, romantic, and comedy genres. th e historical drama is a royal drama, recounting confl icts about throne, king, marriage and royal politics. romantic drama is a drama dominated by teenage love stories in school, adult and household life. while the comedy drama more highlight the things that silly and invite laughter. however, most dramas actually integrate diff erent genres. for example rooft op prince, is a historically-comedic genre drama. full house is romantic-comedy genre. th ere are also dramas that combine all three, such as sunkyunkwan scandal. each drama has its own power to attract everyone. th e popularity of the drama depends on the storyline and the actor / actress who play it. th e queen of seon deok, th e moon th at embraces th e sun, faith and roft oop prince are popular royal dramas. th e royal drama of the kingdom will be complicated confl icts about the throne, king, matchmaking, and love story. unlike roft oop prince, this drama is interesting because it combines elements of the kingdom and modern. th e fi gure in the drama, undergoes a process of transformation from the joseon (royal) era into modern times. unique drama invites greater attention from drama fans. korean drama has an interesting story and is not easy to guess. th e episode is brief but confl ict-fi lled. it creates an excessive curiosity. spooky drama viewers, addicted to keep watching. drama is like a magnet. one drama that gives a good impression, attracts the audience to try another drama. th e success of the drama is also not spared from the role of the players. actor and actress [ 128 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 drama became one of the factors that the audience considered. th ey will be eager to watch, if they like the artist. korean artists do have advantages in visual appearance. th ey look gorgeous with smooth and white skin. but not only the physical appearance, the audience also assess the acting. how they bring the story in the drama is also important. th e spreading of the korean drama is mushrooming with the support of the media. increasingly sophisticated technology and ease of access enrich the growth of korean drama. in addition, korea is a country that is very ambitious to be superb-modern. despite succeeding with his drama success, korea continues to innovate to create exciting dramas and also prepare the next generation of suitable artists in the next popular industry. th e success of this drama became the entrance to the idolatry of korean drama in indonesia and, specifi cally, iain surakarta. student initiation of korean drama is infl uenced by peers. peers can come from school or relatives at home. however, many of the informants said their intention watching the drama came from school friends, both high school and college level. in the elementary or junior high schools rarely encountered students who like korean dramas. at that age psychological child is not too supportive, so spare time is used to play. in contrast, some students made watching the drama as a hobby. students oft en get leisure time on the sidelines of taking many courses. leisure time becomes an important part of issuing group activities, such as discussion and hanging out. supposed to be, the korean drama fans contributed in telling stories about the drama. th e shared story can be about the latest korean dramas, handsome actors and romantic stories. for example, tells the story of a drama that hits in 2015, who are you school, with actor nam joo-hyuk and yook sungjae, his story about teen romance at school and self-discovery. new information that are booming for drama lovers become important information to tell a friend. th ere is also a suggestion, to invite others to come to watch the drama. initially they claimed that korean drama is unclear and unattractive. however, aft er the continuous stimulation of his friends began to have an interest to watch the drama. th ere is a kind of person lighter to follow the trend of popular culture, so it is not considered kudet out-to-date. although it was not his habit to watch the drama, they were forced to watch. aft er the trial of watching the drama done, many are addicted. th e causes of the addiction have become interesting to examine further. from previous research, ariel heryanto writes about women as a center-subject of korean cultural idolatry. “what is even more amazing is how muslim women with their headscarves-at [ 129 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the height of islamization-are competing to welcome the non-muslim oriental idol. here we see how identity politics in indonesia has reached a stage of new hybridity” (heryanto 2005). identity politics is the name to describe a solid situation with the rise of identity groups in response to past repression. identity will turn into organizational identity into the basis of the struggle of group aspirations. (bagir, 2011). in this case muslim women who idolize korean dramas produce a new situation among muslim women. th ey started from individuals who gathered korean community who adore drama. idolatry enters the environment where they move, including students who move in campus. as soon as a new identity emerges spreading out among muslim student, especially women, who adore korean drama. th ese drama community communities can either support or threaten diversity; due to the identity politics themselves can be positive and negative for pluralism. be positive if it becomes an impulse to acknowledge the diff erence and will be the controller when the diff erence falls into the realm of injustice. it would be negative if it makes diff erent treatments in other groups. it is increasingly problematic if the group over-claims the solidarity of the struggling group (bagir, 2011). th ere is a motive or reason why someone is interested in something. motive is something that is within a person’s person who encourages to act or defi ne behavior for a particular purpose (suryabrata, 2004). with the motive we can know the reason students like korean dramas. one of the informants said, “th e main cause i watched korean drama, initially because he heard an interesting storyline told by a friend, at the same time i watch the drama if the player i like defi nitely everything i will watch the drama.” salient issues i got from the informant’s statement were that the actor, acting, and story in the drama became the reason for idolatry of korean drama. korean actress / actor have been recognized to have a charming face with white and smooth skin. especially on the men’s players, they off er a dazzling looks. like one of the characters who has many fans aft er playing a role in the drama descendant of the sun, song jong ki. another informant also said that he liked the drama because the actor has a look that looks charisma. “glad the players, if the story i do not really like hell ..., yes it is unique, between doctors with soldiers, fun but i like because of the singer. i like any drama it must be because the players, whatever the story,” explained one informant. his good looks radiated with makeup on the screen successfully attract women. in fact, many famous korean artists do plastic surgery, but that does [ 130 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 not damage the image and its popularity. most of the surgery is widening the eyes, and add nasal congestion. th e eyes of the slick koreans do not sell very well in the entertainment industry. idolatry-based religion students who love korean dramas or ngefans with korean artists are a natural thing to encounter. unfortunately, the problem rise when the practice is in contradiction with religious doctrine obtained on campus. th e doctrine of religion can be understood by the concept of principal or rules derived from the qur’an and hadith. th ey are taught, for an example, that a muslim should not idolize other than muslims. in the hadith, it is mentioned that: from ibn umar he said, “muhammad the prophet said, whoever resembles a people then he belongs to them” (abu dawud). students living in islamic circles get religious teachings that can not be separated from the doctrine. some study programs at iain surakarta also include courses that discuss the history of the prophet and islamic fi gures such as history of islamic civilization (spi), history of islamic culture (ski) and history of islamic education. in the course students are introduced to islamic fi gures such as prophet muhammad, abu bakr ash shidiq and umar bin khatab, and they are examples of exemplary fi gures. th e existence of the sciences and religious doctrines can be used to compare which good culture and bad culture. students can behave to whom should/not idolize and how its application in life. students have an overview of muslim students who idolize korean dramas. students refer to fairness in watching korean drama. we can see from the informant’s response from the following non-activist students when asked about his views on muslim students who idolized korean dramas mahasiswa muslim yang suka drama...... bagaimana ya...mau mengatakan jelek tapi saya ya suka, sebenarnya sih... mungkin ya nggakpapa buat hiburan tapi nggak keterlaluan lah, jangan fanatik-fanatik banget, kalau fanatik-fanatik baget, udah... saya juga nggak suka. th e non-activist students’ perception towards korean dramas is more “moderate” acceptance. watching korean dramas used to cheer themselves up and refresh the brain on the sidelines of the lecture density. th ey do not like to be fanatical. as long as it is within reasonable limits they will still watch korean dramas. fanatic is a behavior of over-adore that is shown through the characteristics of the body, behavior, and attitude. according to ismail (in afradila, 2014), [ 131 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 fanaticism is the spirit of someone who views something without logic, using only emotion and solidarity. th e bigotry in korean drama management can be observed from the choice of students prioritizing the time to watch the drama and perform its duties as a student. students who are fanatical seem to give priority to drama over others. th e informant has taken a look at the behavior of his friend who watched the drama for hours, even ignoring his college assignment so that it became dormant. one’s understanding of korean drama will be diff erent if religious doctrine has been embedded in the personality of the student. he followed a lot of organizations struggling with the fi eld of da’wah. th ere is a kind of rejection off ered to students who are too fanatical to idolize korean dramas. here is the response of informants who are student da’wah activist in the campus. kalau saya dapat ilmu trus saya paham saya terapkan, kalau dengan mahasiswa yang terlalu fanatik, saya nggak suka. soalnya apa? ya kaya tadi seolah-olah izzah kita sebagai seorang muslim itu tergadaikan gitu lo. ibaratnya, ya mohon maaf ya islamanya ktp. padahal kan kita sudah jelas di al-qur’an juga nggak boleh mengidolakan selain umat muslim. kan, seseorang yang mengikuti suatu kaum, berarti kan termasuk kaumnya gitu, jadi saya nggak suka. rejecting korean drama is done aft er the students get religious teachings during the lecture, reading islamic articles and also the advice of the ustadzah or lecturer. rejection begins from the students’ perspective on the benefi ts and disadvantages they get when they watch korean dramas. th ere are several reasons why students of dakwah activists refuse to idolize fanatical korean dramas. first, there is a fear his love for korean artists will surpass his love for god. th e fi rst and the fi rst love is the love of allah and the messenger of allah. second is wasting time. watching korean dramas takes hours and adds an addictive eff ect to the next episodes. th ese times can be used to increase the recitation of the quran. memorizing the qur’an needs to be accompanied by a clean mind and focus on achieving the target of memorization. th erefore, watching korean drama will make it hard for the brain to memorize. th e third reason is to maintain identity as a season. muslim women should not idolize non-muslims. in addition, fanatical behavior can also be observed from the pattern of student imitation to clothes, food, and also language such as research studies that i have mentioned above. however, if you look at the status of muslim students as middle class and characterize islam the three elements are not too attached. [ 132 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 some students take effort to not follow the trend of korean drama player’s clothing. cultural and climate differences are reasons not to imitate them. most of the fans are women so that the realization is more on the actor than the actress. it is unlikely that they will follow the performance of their idol. muslim students at iain surakarta are mostly long-term gamis, socks, and hijabs. the characteristic is very different from korean artists who use miniskirts, tight and open clothes. only some models of jackets or long dress that looks a little like in korea and made rather thin, which is then used by some students. compare to the effect of korean fashion imitation on fikom ubraha jaya jakarta students at moderate level is 41 female students or 60.3%, while at high impersonation quality is 8 people or 11.8% (astuti, 2013). it shows that the level of bigotry imitation of fashion in the middle society living in the city is much higher. watching korean drama also infl uences the craving to taste korean culinary cuisine. the reason, in some scenes a drama player is enjoying a variety of korean food and looks delicious. it inspires the audience to share the taste of korean cuisine. now there are many restaurants or food courts that sell korean food. in the surakarta region itself there are peddling korean snacks, though not as much in jakarta or other major cities. some respondents also said that they had never eaten korean food. when viewed from the elements of language, not infrequently also some students joking using familiar words heard in korean drama; such words as annyeong haseyo good morning/ afternoon, gamsahamnida thank you, eonni to call sister, and many others. is a positive thing if students can understand and memorized with foreign languages including korean language? students only use the language while in boarding house or meet with friends who are also korean drama fans. language is not something that is important. watching korean dramas can be said to be a pleasure. each episode hypnotizes the audience to proceed to the next episodes. one episode in a drama lasts about one to one and a half hours. in every episode always ends with a hanging story and a few more episodes of the trailer. it can make the audience diffi cult to stop drama play. the fairness of watching korean dram can be seen how much time is spent watching the drama in a day. if only one to two hours a day, it can still be said to be reasonable. but if one day can watch up to 10 hours it is something that can not be included in the fair category. if reasonableness is seen from how many dramas have been watched we must know the initial time of idolatry. the informant i interviewed said less than 10, 50 more, less than 30. as i mentioned at the beginning there are students idolizing drama since high school and also when they are in the college. the [ 133 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 number 50 i think is reasonable because the informant like drama since high school. the more tasks or busyness, the time watching the drama becomes limited. korean drama is a cheap and fun entertainment for students. drama can easily be watched through youtube, laptop, and tv making it suitable for students in all economic strata. there is no reason for students to lack of drama stock because they can download from youtube, and often copy from friends. identity and multiculturalism we have already discussed how student perception toward the korean drama in the previous discussion. from the various views, it in fact adds one more diverse identity of muslim students of drama fans who view idolatry based on understanding religious doctrine. in a fi eld study conducted by ariel heryanto (2015) explains that young women get pleasure and comfort with conservative fi lms and television dramas from growing post-islamism without endangering their islamic identity. next we will fi nd out how the infl uence of korean drama in the frame of identity and multiculturalism. th e concept of identity refers to the feelings that a person has in his or her existence in relation to others that can be shaped and changed through socialization in certain spaces (beckmann and beckmann, 2011). th e formation of identity does not take place simply. th ere are patterns of identifi cation before acknowledging that it is an identity. th e patterns are derived from the observation, attention, and tendency towards something that shows the character. identity arises from the existence of a social interaction in everyday life or the dominant group activity. for example, based on another study, th ung ju lan (2011) describes the ethnic chinese position as a foreign subject treated diff erently from the indigenous population. at that time, the dutch government collected taxes on chinese descent while the indigenous people were tax-exempt. it also shows that identity also triggers discrimination for certain people. th e current confl icts in indonesia stem from an essentialist view of identity. th e identity is the identity that comes from diff erent groups. th e certifi cation begins with the interrelationship of the normative aspects linked through the domain of religion, tradition, and law. where a group of people will have the desire to choose an identifi cation process that matches the criteria. discourse on identifi cation refers to many religions. religion is oft en viewed as a social value rather than a normative value expected to overcome social space and dynamics (th ufail and ramstedt, 2011). according to bagir (2011), religion as an identity raises perspective: religion [ 134 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 should not as identity and religion is not just an identity. firstly, religion should not be an identity indicating that religion only performs social functions not on content (theological, ritual and so on). however, seeing religion as an identity does not mean to violate the dimensions of theology and other dimensions. th e concept of diverse religious identities does not directly cause problems. th e new religious identity will be a problem when the competition of identity in the public sphere and deny the identity of both groups and individuals. second, religion is not just an identity. religion is a worldview, doctrine or belief that promises a truth in life. th is is diff erent from other identities in the form of work or ethnic. it shows that religion is more than an identity. people who regard religion as the main source of the worldview will fi nd it diffi cult to see multiple identities in the plural state life. in order to walk regularly, religion must be harmonized with pluralism and identity recognition so that none of its most true religious claims. regarding identity recognition, the term “recognition politics” or recognition politics is defi ned as to what extent plural entities in society recognize and respect diversity. in the political state of aff airs recognition not only to the extent to which the state recognizes diversity, but how far the recognition is expressed. th rough the political constitution recognition is used to assert constitutional guarantees on the rights of citizens (bagir, 2011). in the life of the campus, the presence of muslim students of korean drama fans do not very recognized. th ey are only minorities who have no signifi cant impact on the environment. no exaggerated expression was shown by the group of students against those who idolized the drama. th e existence of the korean fans more to personal activities that have no eff ect on the group. how then it contribute to the discourse of multiculturalism? multiculturalism is a view of the diversity of life and reality that occurs by acknowledging the existence of multicultural, pluralism, and religion (irhandayaningsih, 2012). multiculturalism views the diversity of diff erent patterns and behaviors of a person, not an irreversible cultural dictum. th is view may change with the development of social conditions in diverse societies. th e ultimate point is whether from the diverse entity will give birth to a group of oppressed minorities or gain equality in a nation (al-makassary, 2007). its main minority concept lies in the framework of a liberal system of work. its implementation on the upholding of minorities will be an attempt to defend minority groups against liberal individualism. th ese minorities have their respective functions, namely, protecting individual freedom in groups, [ 135 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 instilling a (non-dominant) relationship between existing groups and a response to nation-building. th is will aff ect the level of welfare of minority groups in the majority community (al-makassary, 2007) th e problem lies in the characteristics of each group and the stigmas that are built. a fascinating tale comes from the bedouin community that wishes to retain freedom of rights by breaking away from the majority. breaking away is their choice, and it is considered a negative stigma by other groups. th ey chose to shape civilization in the forest and resulted in the creation of a diff erent culture from the surrounding community. diff erent views by the bedouin community caused many confl icts, and made a reason for them to form a new civilization (nurkhoiron, 2007) in fact, multicultural as the fact of diversity is diff erent from the concept of multicultural (ism) as a neutral concept. multiculturalism is not specifi c in the defense of minorities. narrating the existence of minorities in the fi eld will be more complicated when knowing the facts that exist in the fi eld (nurkhoirun, 2007). in doing so, in the relationships that occur between the components of the community will aff ect the rights that will be found by minorities. in indonesia diversity and cultural diff erences have clearly defi ned the character of a multicultural society (saptaningrum, 2007). th e diversity even becomes a pride to show indonesia rich. th e government also contributes to promoting diversity in order to benefi t the state. th e community is invited to preserve and preserve the existing culture. if the culture came from another country which entered and spread its spread in indonesia, how then the people of indonesia should behave and accept the diversity, need to be reviewed further. multiculturalism not only talks about the problem of cultural diversity within a country. however, by understanding other cultures we can add rich multiculturalism. so far, people have given understanding of one multiculturalism; th is concept is imagined already exist by itself in a country. its scope is oft en identifi ed as cultural diversity, group existence and minority rights. th is previous discussion analyzes how the aforementioned points put relevance on korean drama and identity multiculturalism. th ose students, who oft en watch korean drama, can simultaneously see how the process of cultural transformation of korea takes place. th ey see the cultural component through acting treats, storylines, places, and language in the drama. his interest in korean drama makes them accept whatever culture there is even though the culture is much diff erent from that of indonesia. it can be said that the students put the culture from outside the country, such as korea as a good culture and acceptable. [ 136 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 th e linkage of muslim students to korean dramas is the nature of their openness in equating the worldview of korean culture and the culture of other countries. at iain surakarta itself, it has diverse learners ranging from local districts such as karanganyar, boyolali, klaten, outside java, and overseas such as th ailand. each student will bring diff erent customs, habits, and cultures. aft er a multicultural understanding, students are able to adapt to diff erent cultures so that it can lead to harmony and cooperation to achieve. in addition, identity becomes an element that should not be abandoned in multiculturalism. th e intended identity is a remix-hybrid derived from mixing cultures. multiculturalism is not only derived from understanding diversity within a state. diversity can be produced from one’s perspective in looking at other cultures from outside the state. if associated with islamic students, they are the forming of an identity that serves to look at the level of multiculturalism from an islamic point of view. islam itself can be used as a fi lter of other incoming cultures, so they can set benchmarks in attitude, and therein lies the identity of islamic students. on the one hand they can enrich the way of view of multiculturalism in indonesia. on the other hand they can act as a controller in fi ltering out the diversity. conclusion th e perception of korean drama fans from muslim women student at iain surakarta formed a multicultural identity. identity results from their patterns of perception of fairness and bigotry in idolizing korean dramas. th e doctrine of religion and the status of the student aff ects its identity as a muslim student of korean drama fans. th is will add to the cultural diversity of the iain surakarta, due to the adoption of korean cultures by students. in addition, the existence of korean culture shapes the mindset of students who are more open and tolerant with cultural diff erences that exist. muslim students play a role in contributing to multiculturalism. th is role can be a fi lter for understanding multiculturalism towards cultures that develop with the foundation of islamic teachings. educational institutions need to put the concept of multicultural wisely. mainstream islamic education, can act as a fi lter entry of new cultures. students are also expected to be more tolerant of multicultural culture so that when faced with multiculturalism, they can become a diversity control around them. [ 137 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 bibliography al-makassary, ridwan. 2007. “multikulturalisme: review teoritis dan beberapa catatan kritis,” in noorsalim, mashudi (et.al). hak minoritas multikultural dan dilema negara bangsa. jakarta: th e inserseksi fondation. afradila, hana dan yeniar indriana. 2014. “hubungan antara fanatisme dengan produk perawatan wajah dengan citra diri fisik pada wanita dewasa awal,” jurnal empati nomor 04 volume 3 fak. psikologi. universitas diponegoro. semarang astuti, hani. 2013. “terpaan drama korea dan perilaku fashion di kalangan mahasiswi fikom ubraha jaya”. jurnal komunikasi (ilmu komunikasi) nomor 02 volume 10. fikom ubraha jaya. jakarta. bagir, zainal abidin et. al. 2011. pluralisme kewarganegaraan. bandung: mizan media utama. beckmann, franz von benda dan keebet von benda beckmann. 2011. “identitas dan perselisihan di minangkabau” in th ufail, fadjar ibnu dan martin ramstedt. kegalauan identitas. jakarta: gramedia widyasarana indonesia. heryanto, ariel. 2015. identitas dan kenikmatan (terj. eric sasono). jakarta: kpg hong, euny. 2016. korean cool. yogyakarta: bentang. irhandayaningsih, ana. 2012. “kajian filosofi s terhadap multikulturalisme di indonesia” jurnal humanika volume 15. universitass diponegoro. semarang lan, th un jung. 2011. “politik identitas dan proses hukum: kontestansi pengertian etnik th ionghoa sebagai subyek hukum” in th ufail, fadjar ibnu dan martin ramstedt. kegalauan identitas. jakarta: gramedia widyasarana indonesia. nurkhoiron, m. 2007. “minoritisasi dan agenda multikulturalisme di indonesia” in noorsalim, mashudi et al. hak minoritas multikultural dan dilema negara bangsa. jakarta: th e inserseksi fondation. salam, ivan ibnu. et al. 2012. “hubungan antara terpaan drama korea di televisi dengan gaya hidup penonton”. jurnal mahasiswa universitas padjadjaran. nomor 01 volume 1. universitas padjadjaran. bandung. saptaningrum, indriaswati dyah. 2007. “dari adat ke multikultur:menggagas format kebijakan yang tepat bagi masyarakat/komunis lokal,” dalam noorsalim, mashudi et al. hak minoritas multikultural dan dilema negara bangsa. jakarta: th e inserseksi fondation. putri, deansa. dkk. 2013. “hubungan intensitas menonton tayangan drama [ 138 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 seri korea di televisi dan motif menonton tayangan drama seri korea di televisi dengan perilaku berpakaian remaja”. jurnal interaksi sosial jurusan ilmu komunikasi nomor 01 volume 1. universitas diponegoro. semarang. putri, tirtasari ayu. 2013. “pengaruh tayangan drama korea di indonesia terhadap minat siswa mempelajari budaya korea di kalangan komunitas nikolas”. skripsi studi ilmu komunikasi telkom economic & business school. universitas telkom. bandung. suryabrata, sumadi. 2004. psikologi pendidikan. jakarta: raja grafi ndo persada. th ufail, fadjar ibnu dan martin ramstedt. 2011. “agama, diskursus hak, san politik identitas pasca-orde baru” in th ufail, fadjar ibnu dan martin ramstedt. kegalauan identitas. jakarta: gramedia widyasarana indonesia. tsaniyyata, nuris kuunie maryamats. 2014. pengaruh minat menonton drama korea terhadap kecenderungan narsistik pada mahasiswa fakultas psikologi uin maulana malik ibrahim malang. psikologi. uin maulana malik ibrahim. malang yuliana, ira. 2012. pengaruh terpaan drama seri korea terhadap perilaku imitasi pada remaja di kota bandung. komunikasi dan bisnis. universitas telkom. bandung. anggraeni, rina. 2015. “rcti siapkan judul drama korea sepanjang 2015”. diakses dari lifestyle.sindonews.com/read/990986/158/rcti-siapkan20-judul-drama-korea-sepanjang-2015-1429339969, retrieved 27 oktober 2016. [ 193 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 contestation between puritan islam and kejawen in the urban yogyakarta of indonesia muhammad arifin universitas gadjah mada email: aruneldalma@gmail.com irwan abdullah universitas gadjah mada email: irwanabdullah6@gmail.com atik tri ratnawati universitas gadjah mada email: atik_triratnawati@yahoo.co.id abstract tensions between puritan islam and kejawen islam have never been resolved, despite various accommodation efforts. the ongoing contestation of the two traditions in islam in yogyakarta is because both always maintain strict cultural boundaries through symbols that represent their respective identities, be it in religious, art, cultural, economic and political practices. this study focuses on three aspects: (1) the form of representation of the contestation between islam and tradition (kejawen) in the city of yogyakarta; (2) the historical and cultural context which is the basis for the contestation between islam and tradition; and (3) how the contestation between islam and the kejawen tradition is managed by each community in an effort to minimize the occurrence of social conflict between the two. through these three aspects, this research aims to offer a new perspective in viewing the dialectical relations between puritan islam and javanese (kejawen) tradition contextually. the contestation between the islamic tradition and the kejawen tradition continued because of historical, political and global currents that provided space for both traditions to build their respective cultural identities. keywords: contestation; puritan islam; kejawen; urban; yogyakarta introduction tensions between puritan islamic groups and kejawen islam have never been resolved despite various accommodation efforts. each tradition is still strongly preserved, and even the cultural boundaries are increasingly strict. the islamic symbol of kejawen is emphasized through the tradition of wayang, [ 194 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 slametan, nyadran, labuan offering, and gerebeg ceremony (wahyono, 2003: 51). the javanese tradition of kejawen is referred to as one of the variants of javanese islam (woodward, 1999), mataraman islam (chalik, 2011: 269277), cultural islam or ancestral religion (maarif, 2017: 3; wahyono, 2003: 51) whose teachings originate from tasawwuf which prioritizes mysticism (sodikin & sumarno, 2013). meanwhile, puritan islam (wahyono: 2003) is referred to by experts as the reformist/modernist islamic movement, tajdid movement (zarkasy, 2013; nashir, 2016: 16; darban 2010). this tradition carries the notion that all actions in islamic religious practice only refer to the qur’an and the sunnah of the prophet muhammad. the current resistance between puritan islam and kejawen is not only about monotheism, but also tensions and conflicts in the socio-cultural, economic and political sphere. in the socio-cultural space, for example, a form of tension that has surfaced recently, for example, the emergence of a letter allegedly coming from the yogyakarta mujahidin council addressed to the regent of bantul which contains a rejection of the implementation of “sea alms”. there was even destruction of the ritual properties for the implementation of the labuhan because it was deemed to deviate from the teachings of islam (mushrik). in addition, there was also an attack on the “kerlap-kerlip warna kedaton” (kedaton color twinkles) 2000” in kaliurang yogyakarta (ahnaf and hairus salim, 2017). whereas in the political arena, contestation or disagreement is more common among social organizations affiliated with political parties that represent both traditions. for example puritan islam can be found in the yogyakarta islamic community forum (fuiy), the ka’bah youth movement (gpk), hamka, the joxin brigade and the green zone which are an underbow of the united development party (ppp). whereas javanese/kejawen islam can be found in the tentara langit and red and white cadets who are the underbows of the indonesian democratic party of struggle (pdip). the forms of tension that occurred were physical clashes on the streets such as the clashes between supporters of the political parties in the 2019 elections in jetak hamlet, ringinharjo village of bantul, namely between the pdip vs. ppp masses. even though these two groups are often in conflict, both groups are able to survive and continue to exist showing their identities in various social, cultural and political representations in the yogyakarta public spaces. so far, studies on the relationship between islam and kejawen have generally focused on two main issues, namely first, on the acculturation and assimilation of relations between islam and local traditions (geertz, 1960; hefner, 1990; woodward, 1999 & 2011; van bruinessen, 1994; supena, 2012; said, 2015; van [ 195 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 den boogert, 2015 and 2017). second, studies that emphasize the oppression/ penetration of local culture by religion or by the state (hefner, 1999; abdullah, et al; jubba, 2010, 2011; suwardi, 2013; iqbal & hairul salim, 2017). it seems that the two study groups above have not touched on why and how the contestation between islam (muhammadiyah) and the kejawen tradition continues in the midst of the lives of the yogyakarta people who are known as a tolerant, harmonious and multicultural society. correspondingly, this article aims to demonstrate a different development by looking specifically at the ability of the kejawen tradition to survive and even form a dynamic interaction between islam in a city that continues to go through modernization. this study focuses on three aspects: (1) the form of representation of the contestation between islam and tradition (kejawen) in the city of yogyakarta; (2) the historical and cultural context which is the basis for the contestation between islam and tradition; and (3) how the contestation between islam and the kejawen tradition is managed by each community in an effort to minimize the emergence of social conflict between the two. through these three aspects, this research aims to offer a new perspective in looking at the dialectical relations between puritan islam and javanese (kejawen) contextually. this work is based on an argument that cities or regions that are considered tolerant, harmonious and multicultural do not have conflicts and tensions. specifically, this article aims to show the opposite that tensions and disharmony exist in the form of political and cultural symbols and practices in the public spaces of yogyakarta city. relations between puritan islam and kejawen tradition the study on relations between puritan islam and the javanese tradition tends to be seen from an acculturation point of view only (woodward, 1999 & 2011; sumbullah, 2012; karimullah k, 2018; muhammad ali (2011); bakri, 2014; chakim, 2009; muqoyyidin, 2012; woodward, 1988). from existing studies, it appears that javanese and islamic traditions always go hand in hand to an extent that they even complement each othery. nakamura’s study of muhammadiyah, especially in kota gede, yogyakarta (located east of kauman), in his book is additional research from what was done before. while the first edition puts more emphasis on historical anthropological inquiry, the second places more emphasis on anthropological ethnography, where the data were not merely written sources that are more historical in nature but were mostly base on the results of observations and interviews with muhammadiyah figures who were personally built by nakamura for years across generations. this approach is [ 196 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 one of the strengths of nakamura in his book, where his data and analysis are the result of dialog between research subjects and the researcher. it can be seen in his book how nakamura portrays ‘orthodox islam’ or ‘islamic orthodoxy’ which can survive and even develop in a society that is influenced by predominant javanese culture and tradition. there are several findings put forward by nakamura that corroborate his argument on how islam (muhammadiyah) which is a reformist islamic movement actually grows and develops in the midst of the center of development and power of javanese tradition. first, nakamura saw a dynamic religious notion among muhammadiyah members, who at a first glance when viewed from the outside seems very rigid, introverted, fanatical, and antijavanese culture. but on the contrary, muhammadiyah is very flexible, more tolerant, open and even in certain contexts njawani (of javanese nature) (pp. 210-211). second, muhammadiyah in its development has received a lot of strong support from the people who actually have strong javanese roots from various social classes, such as traders, farmers and even from the priyayis. and this can be seen until now in the fact that muhammadiyah supporters come from various groups and diverse social strata (pp. 13-16). in its later development, muhammadiyah cadres no longer come from traditional circles, but from relatives or kinship networks that have been built up through various religious organizations and strong forums. there has been little research/attention on the relations between puritan islam and kejawen as a contestation and conflicting relation which has been going on, especially in the city of yogyakarta. this article seeks to see how dialectical relations between islam and kejawen are built through various discourses or conversations in the public spaces by placing religious symbols and practices and traditions as part of the ongoing contestation process. expressions of religious and traditional identity through symbols, conversations, and social practices in the form of worship behavior, art performances, and mass mobilization are not only expressions of identity, but also appear as a form of affirmation of resistance or rejection of social norms between them. political constellation between modernist and traditionalist islam with regard to indonesian islam, burhani (2013) indicates that there are two points of agreement between traditionalist and modernist muslims regarding the building of unity between islamic-ness and indonesia-ness or indonesian islam. first, both sides accept pancasila as a national ideology and nationalism as an ideal order for indonesian muslims. second, in the manifestation of [ 197 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 islam in indonesia, the context is different, although not necessarily unique. in addition, the two groups, namely the modernists and traditionalists, have a dispute at two points. first, traditionalists emphasize the uniqueness of indonesian traditional culture as the basis of the unity of indonesian islam, while modernists tend to ignore this traditional culture. as a result, they respond differently to international influence. second, traditionalists tend to emphasize national identity, while modernists place more weight on foreign achievements, sometimes at the expense of traditional heritage. here, burhani views islam in the context of national or regional policy or political constellation by tracing this role historically. seeing the development of islam in an organization that tends to be contradictory, for example between nu and muhammadiyah, in addition to seeing the development of other islamic organizations, james fox (2004) has also reviewed historical developments. in his paper presented at harvard asia vision, fox views the development of the islamic organization by linking the development of islam in mecca and egypt as a source of movement and the spread of religious ideology in indonesia. fox’s conclusion in the paper is that the islamic (contemporary islam) movement in indonesia is not just an ideological movement but is a political movement and has a democratic awareness through political channels. meanwhile, bush (2002) not only explained the role of nu (nahdhatul ulama) in the political constellation of the state, but also described how nu was involved in contesting the discourse regarding islamism, including the discourse of modernity and traditionalism, the post-traditionalist discourse with liberal islam. in terms of tradition, nu accommodates the acculturation of local culture with islam and is open to change. in relation to liberal islam, there are some members of nu who are members of the jil, but ideologically, nu separates itself from liberalism in islam. nu still has a direction that is a reference in its movement. there are three principles that are consistently held by nu. first be critical autonomy vis a vis with the state. second, nu is still on its way as a community organization, not wanting to be involved in practical politics. third, nu will continue to proclaim the discourse of pluralism and tolerance both with fellow muslims and with non-muslims. nu’s success in carrying out its movement was due to its openness with local cultures, so that it was easily accepted by the community. placing the position of modernists vis-à-vis traditionalists is also important in seeing how contestation occurs in this kauman village. the majority of puritan groups are affiliated with muhammadiyah with the emergence of a number of organizations such as aisyiah, suara muhammadiyah, pku [ 198 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 hospital, etc., which indicates the presence of this mass organization around kauman. meanwhile, placing traditionalists in this village also needs to remember in affiliation in general, nu has always been in a position to defend the local traditions, one of which is kejawen, which is developing widely in this city. in general, kejawen is affiliated with the nu organization. the forms of representation of the contestation the contestation that takes place between islam and tradition (kejawen) often arises at various levels which are represented in various conceptions and manifestations. for example, contestation at the theological level related to the conception of god, epistemological with regard to the sources of teaching and truth, to the level of praxis or practice of life based on the conceptions built in each of these teachings. descriptions of the various levels and manifestations of the contestation are evident in the following table 1. table 1: forms of contestation between islam and kejawen form of contestation islam kejawen concept of god • god, allah (the creator) • god exists and is one • sangkan paraning dumadhi (from where the servant of god comes and returns) • the reality of god is empty • al quran • the prophet’s sunnah • capitayan & jawa dipa (pelita jawa) • sunan kalijogo and ranggawarsita doctrine resources reason/logic sense/spiritual sources of knowledge • sahadat • prayer • fasting • alms • pilgrimage • qur’an recitation • tafakkur / wirid • laku ritual • tirakatan • khaul/ziyarah • slametan/kenduri • nembang • tapa/samadi norm and social organization • islamic life guidelines (phi) • hisbul wathon (scout) • muhammadiyah youth • kokam • aisyiah & nasyiatul aisyiah • paugeraning urip (life guideline) • bergodho troops • yogyakarta community alliance • laskar yogyakarta economic • islamic banks, • islamic economy • ramadan market • conventional banks • sekatenan market • conventional market. [ 199 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 political • islamic party affiliations namely: • ppp, pan, and pks • youth organizations • political affiliation (kaaba youth force (amk), • kaaba youth movement • (gpk), hamka kauman, yogyakarta islamic community forum (fui) and laskar joxin • kejawen tends to be • affiliated with golkar • and pdi • youth organization • political affiliation (tentara langit, taruna merah putih) source: secondary data processing by researchers in 2019 the table 1 shows that the contestation between puritan islam and kejawen islam takes place at various levels in social life, at the theological and philosophical levels and at the practical level. at the theological and philosophical levels, the contradictions are in the form of a conception of god and the sources or origin of teachings used as a way of life. meanwhile at the level of praxis, the contradictions seem to take place at the level of religious behavior, community organizing through social and political organizations, to economic practices represented in economic institutionalization, such as banking, traditional markets, conventional markets, etc., as shown in the table 1. the historical and cultural context of the emergence of the contestation the emergence of muhammadiyah in kauman village, not only the emergence of a religious organization, but also the emergence of reform in the field of monotheism, worship and muamalah in islam as discovered by darban in his research in kauman (2010: 34-40). this reform served as one of the grounds of the birth of muhammadiyah, which emerged as an “islamic reform” movement within the kauman, keraton circles and yogyakarta in general. it is in this context that the contestation of islam, especially muhammadiyah and kejawen, actually began to emerge. starting with a change in the direction of qibla in the gedhe mosque, friction between the two traditions has already taken place. in the view of kh. ahmad dahlan as the founder of puritan islam (muhammadiyah), the direction of qibla does not lead to the ka’bah which is the direction of the qibla direction in the doctrine of islamic beliefs, but rather to africa. therefore, the position must be changed. [ 200 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 another opinion related to the change in qibla was also stated by mnc (60 years old) as follows: “at that time, there was a phenomenon of tbc (tahyul bid’ah and churafat), and this would be eradicated by ahmad dahlan. at that time, muslims prayed facing west, not the qibla, after checking with a map, it turned out that the west direction was facing africa, to the pyramid to the tomb of pharaohs. then ahmad dahlan changed the prayer position to qibla by changing the lines of the gedhe mosque. with that event, he was scolded by many people, and he even was labeled as being insane. according to the residents of kauman, it has been hereditary in the direction of prayer. he insisted and then moved to the family mosque; people were angry and the mosque was torn down; it was called a mosque of crazy people. then, because he was alone there was not enough energy, then he needed a ‘vehicle’. the ‘vehicle’ is muhammadiyah organization “ there were many other changes in kauman and around the palace that occurred when muhammadiyah was founded and opened contestation space. for example, changes in the santri learning system from the sorogan system, which is the system of taking turns reciting the qur’an while sitting crosslegged to the classroom education system, to the change from the pesantren (santri) education system to public schools. at the same time, muhammadiyah also preached and instilled its influence in the palace and around kauman village with the principle of “amar ma’ruf and nahi munkar”. it was intended to change the way of religion of the kraton residents and kauman village in particular and the yogyakarta islamic society in general who practiced the kejawen islamic tradition who believed in takyul, bid’ah and churafat (tbc) which are considered to deviate from islamic teachings. as stated by the mnc (60 th) as follows: “he saw islam with all sorts of deviant things, worshiping god but still believing in amulets and all kinds, so he made an effort to restore islam to its purest. at that time, tbc (tahyul bid’ah and churafat) was widespread, and it would be eradicated by ahmad dahlan.” what the informant just said is one of the strong reasons why muhammadiyah as a modernist movement or islamic reform in the keraton area and yogyakarta in general was founded in addition to being a counter movement against the rise of current education and the influence of christianization carried out by the colonial government at that time. therefore, the birth of muhammadiyah as a movement also carries the mission of community service in the field of [ 201 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 health services and education. regarding education, as one of muhammadiyah’s missions, progressive changes to promote the amar ma’ruf and nahi munkar and the improvement of religious behavior are considered fundamental strategies. as stated by mr. af (72 years old) as follows: “kyai dahlan first wanted education, because he believed that education is an asset of the future. the literacy culture of kyai dahlan is that kauman is said to have received a special karomah from god because of the emergence of ahmad dahlan. speaking of literacy, children have been taught to read any text, to establish a school ... kyai dahlan taught numbers and letters and then the term “(pipolondo) ping poro lan suda” appeared. kyai dahlan’s wearing kyai dress and using a blackboard and chalk in teaching is often considered infidel by other kyais and kauman residents. other clerics had narrow insight, because they only used hijayyah letters in teaching, including writing indonesian (they only knew arabic pegon). they didn’t know the alphabet” the statement above shows that from the beginning, muhammadiyah prioritized education for the younger generation. the data obtained by the republika shows that the number of educational institutions owned by muhammadiyah reached more than 10 thousand, or 10,381 to be exact. the details are shown in table 2 below. table 2. number of educational institutions and other institutions owned by muhammadiyah no field of activities total 1 kindergarten / qur’an learning center 4.623 2 elementary school (sd) / mi 2.252 3 junior high school (smp) / mts 1.111 4 senior high school (sma) / smk / ma 1.291 5 islamic boarding school 67  6 muhammadiyah college 171 7 hospital, maternity hospital, bkia, bp, etc. 2.119 8 orphanage, charity, family care, etc. 318 9 nursing home * 54 10 disability rehabilitation * 82 11 special schools (slb) * 71 12 mosque * 6.118 [ 202 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 13 islamic prayer room * 5.080 14 land * 20 945.504   m² source: http://www.muhammadiyah.or.id/content-8-det-amal-usaha.html the table 2 shows that educational institutions owned by muhammadiyah throughout indonesia are educational institutions from the most basic level up to tertiary institutions. in addition to general education institutions, there are also pesantren educational institutions, special schools, nursing homes and other public service facilities, such as hospitals. as for the higher education institutions, to date muhammadiyah has 171 units spread throughout indonesia. the political contexts of the birth of the contestation the long-standing contestation between puritan islam and kejawen islam is not only a contestation through the media and religious symbols and traditions but it also caused physical clashes between party supporters (specifically ppp who represented puritan islam) and pdip (who represented kejawen islam) during the mass mobility of the regional head election campaigns and legislative and presidential elections. based on several media reports, the clash between supporters of the indonesian democratic party of struggle (pdip), which is referred to as the red or abangan party (kejawen), and the united development party (ppp) or the so-called green and islamic party has been going on for a long time in yogyakarta. the tempo stated that physical conflicts between the two parties had been going on since 1999 during the legislative election, the regional head election and the presidential election until its peak in 2009. detailed description of each physical contestation (physical conflict) is as follows. 1. the clash between the pdi-p and ppp supporters around the beteng wetan corner in 2009. 2. campaign clashes between ppp and pdip on 5 april 2014 at ngabean parking lot, krapyak, jogokaryan, south ring road to krapyak 3. clashes between the pdip and the ppp supporters took place in ngabean, ngampil, yogyakarta city. location of the conflict was on jalan letjen suprapto, pdip supporters on the north side of the road, ppp on the south, june 4, 2014. 4. the clash between supporters of the parties participating in the 2019. the elections took place on sunday (12/23) in bantul, yogyakarta. the clash [ 203 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 between the pdip and ppp supporters took place in jetak hamlet, ringinharjo village, bantul. these various physical conflicts or clashes are part of the many conflicts between party supporters in yogyakarta, especially between the united development party (ppp) which represents the puritan islamic party (green party) and the indonesian democratic party of struggle (pdip) which represents the abangan/ kejawen (abang party). these clashes indicated that the contestation not only toke place in the conceptual aspects and discourse, but also reached the physical level as shown in several cases above. cases of physical conflict between the two camps carrying the ideology of islam on one side and tradition (kejawen) on the other are phenomena that occur every year in several regions in the center and in other corners of yogyakarta to other districts around it. the existence of customs and local traditions in the special region of yogyakarta law number 13 year 2012 concerning the special region of yogyakarta, covering 5 functions, namely how to fill in the position, tasks, duties and authorities of the governor and deputy governor; institutional affairs; cultural affairs; land affairs; and spatial affairs. specifically in the authority of cultural affairs, yogyakarta is increasingly given space to develop and reinforce local traditions or cultures that have become one of the characteristics of the city of yogyakarta, as stated in article 31 below. (1) cultural authority as referred to in article 7 paragraph (2) letter c is held to preserve and develop creations, tastes, initiatives and works in the form of values, knowledge, norms, customs, objects, arts, and noble traditions which is rooted in diy society. (2) provisions regarding the exercise of cultural authority as referred to in paragraph (1) shall be regulated in special region regulations. following the law, operationally regulated in special region regulations, one of the forms of the strengthening is the existence of development funds. in the period of the 2018 fiscal year, yogyakarta’s special region funds increased to idr 1 trillion, which was previously only around 800 billion. the increasing amount of the budget indicates that the yogyakarta regional government is so concerned about local traditions and values. with this policy, the space for local customs and traditions to develop and exist is wide open. tourism is also very important to the special region of yogyakarta. one of the [ 204 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 tourism development packages in yogyakarta is a cultural tourism package. this development is integrated into the yogyakarta special region policy. with this policy, various cultural tourism programs in the form of traditions have strengthened. they, for example, are found in several programs below. 1. promotion of sekaten and gerebeg as yogyakarta tourist attractions, 2. the return of the tradition of bergodho and gunungan in the yogyakarta’s villages during the independence day celebration, 3. the emergence of dance groups and associations and rituals of offerings and labuh, nyadran especially when welcoming celebrations on major holidays, for example before the eid al fitr and the proclamation of indonesian independence. tourism packages in the city of yogyakarta are increasingly varied and growing along with the making of yogyakarta as one of the tourist destinations. with the existing policies and financial support, it will further strengthen the position of local customs and traditions. this can be seen from the increasingly intense and rampant implementation and practice of traditions in yogyakarta city, for example sekatenan, gerebeq, bergodo tradition, nyadran and local arts and culture festivals in each village. management of the contestation there has not been specific effort made by puritan islam and kejawen islam in minimizing various conflicts that have occurred so far, except in a general context, namely between various religious and community life groups in yogyakarta, various efforts have been made. they include, for example, the formation of “forum for religious harmony (fkub) in yogyakarta through governor decree no. 20/kep/2014, and the formation of the “forum of brotherhood of the faithful (fpub)” (abduh, 2016). however, there are a number of fundamental attitudes and views that have taken place within each of the camps that have helped to ease the tension between them. they include, for example, the attitude of life in kejawen, as confirmed by mr. se (55 years old) that «the javanese are very flexible. they can adjust to any religion or belief. the point in kejawen life is not to hurt the hearts of fellow humans, be it children, siblings, or neighbors. kejawen is the principle of his life of peace and harmony.” on the contrary, in the view of some community leaders in the muhammadiyah, there is also a rather tolerant view, for example the views of mr. mnc (60 years old) that “the tradition of the royal palace is merely tradition/culture, so there is no need to be allergic or too rigid in that respect. during traditional activities, the kauman people can accept it. but if one uses the occult and offerings, that’s what they reject.” [ 205 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the change in attitude and tolerant outlook of the two contesting camps mentioned earlier increasingly emphasizes that there is still room and opportunity to manage the contestation so as not to cause widespread social conflict. particularly in the muhammadiyah camp, there is a more moderate and accommodative change in da’wah to the tradition, namely the cultural da’wah model as set out in the muhammadiyah tanwir in 2002. the change in the da’wah paradigm is intended as a response to the dynamics and plurality of today’s society (hidayat, 2004 ; al hana, 2011), including in the city of yogyakarta. yogyakarta is already very famous for the many brandings that have been pinned by the local government and its people. starting from the branding “city of students”, “city of gudeg”, “jogya never ending asia”, “special jogya” to “yogyakarta tolerant city”. branding as a tolerant city became very ironic when the 2018 setara institute report places yogyakarta city in the 41st level of tolerance of 94 cities in indonesia or is in the sixth position of index of cities with the lowest score of tolerance level. even in a research report conducted by the ugm crcs team in 2017 about the number of violence against minorities during the period 2000-2016, it shows that the number of violence or acts of intolerance in yogyakarta is increasing (iqbal & hairul salim, 2017: 4 9). what is shown by iqbal & hairul salim indicates that the occurrence of various cases of violence is the existence of opposition and rejection of social norms by certain social groups. at the same time, the phenomena of conflict as described in chapter three above emphasizes that the branding of yogyakarta as a city of harmony, a multicultural city, is not a city that is safe and free from conflict and social tensions. but instead there is a struggle for identity values and social norms based on religion and tradition. in principle, this kind of struggle is not something new in yogyakarta, but has been going on for a long time when the islamic rebellion was born through the muhammadiyah movement, and continues to this day because it continues to be reproduced socially through social practices by each of the contesting communities. in this context, it is exactly what was stated by wiener (2017) that contestation is basically a social practice which is discursively an objection and rejection or disapproval of certain social norms by certain social groups. attitudes and actions of contradiction or rejection here indicate an attempt to justify and reinforce values by certain groups, and at the same time reject, blame and even try to weaken the value system of other groups efforts to strengthen and weaken the values among the contesting camps tend to emerge through the symbolization of islamic and kejawen identities in public spaces. symbolization that often appears in urban spaces as confirmed [ 206 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 by nas, jaffe and samuels, 2006 (in p.j.m nas (ed), 2011: 9) is based on material, discourse, icons and behavioral symbol. these symbols are then accepted and manipulated in various ways (2006: 19). in the city of yogyakarta, in particular, symbolic contestation, especially politically affiliated, tends to emerge through material, iconic and behavioral based symbols. furthermore, the existence of the yogyakarta special region law can be seen as a form of contestation counteractive to the stream of islamization that looks even stronger. the accommodation of local cultural heritage and the strengthening of its values is one of the central points emphasized in the special region law described above. the yogyakarta palace which still exists today also shows that the symbolization of the javanese values doctrine is very strong, where nakamura argues that islam (muhammadiyah) which incidentally is a reformist islamic movement grows and develops in the midst of the development and the power center of javanese tradition in a way that is flexible. first, nakamura saw a dynamic religious understanding and tolerance among muhammadiyah members, who at first glance when viewed from the outside seem very rigid, introverted, fanatical, and anti-javanese culture. but on the contrary, muhammadiyah is very flexible, more tolerant, open and even in certain contexts njawani (of javanese nature) (pp. 210-211). second, muhammadiyah in its development received a lot of strong support from the people who actually have strong javanese roots from various social classes, such as traders, farmers and even from the priyayis. and this can be seen to date, muhammadiyah supporters come from various groups and diverse social strata (pp. 13-16). in its later development, muhammadiyah cadres no longer came from traditional circles, but from relatives or kinship networks created through various religious organizations and established religious forums. however, in many cases, the flexibility of muhammadiyah in yogyakarta is not always followed by the flexibility in the region. in many cases, muhammadiyah very aggressively campaigns for “taklik, bid’ah and churafat (tbc) in regions. conclusion the tensions between puritan islam and kejawen have been going on for a long time and continue to be reproduced through political and cultural symbols. it has led to the puritanical islam led by muhammadiyah, which, in nakamura’s description, has become more flexible in its islamic activism. the tensions are getting stronger because kejawen as part of the tradition increasingly exists through tourism policies and affiliation with political organizations. the existence of the yogyakarta special region law further emphasizes the [ 207 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 existence of javanese teachings and culture manifested in various programs to strengthen javanese arts and culture and this has become one of the forms of representation of the puritan and kejawen islamic contestation in the public spaces. to bridge the conflict that might occur, in this context, the fkub institution was founded which has indirectly become one of the institutions engaged in spreading messages of religious peace, as well as socializing them in society by considering the existing local traditions and culture. bibliography abdullah, i. 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(1988). the “slametan”: textual knowledge and ritual performance in central javanese islam. in history of religions, 28(1), 54–89. https://doi.org/10.1086/463136. --------, (1991). javanism, islam and the plurality of ethnography, anthropological forum, 6(3), 339-363, doi: 10.1080/00664677.1991.9967417. --------, (2001). islam in asia. international encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences, 2nd edition, volume 12. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ b978-0-08-097086-8.84015-5. ---------, (2009). islamic and religious studies: challenges and opportunities for twenty-first century indonesia. journal of indonesian islam, 3(1). ---------, (2011). reflection on java and islam.1979-2010. al-jami‘ah, 49(2), 281-294. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2011.492.281-294 zarkasy, f. (2013). tajdid dan modernisasi pemikiran islam. tsaqafah,9 (2), 395-418. http://dx.doi.org/10.21111/tsaqafah.v9i2.59 [ 210 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 internet sources: https://news.detik.com/berita-jawa-tengah https://pojoksatu.id/news/berita-nasional/2018/12/24. https://republika.co.id/berita-kiblat-masjid-gedhe-yogyakarta-miring. http://www.muhammadiyah.or.id/content-8-det-amal-usaha.html https://nasional.tempo.co/read https://pemilu.tempo.co/read/568206/ https://daerah.sindonews.com/read/876711/22/ https://pojoksatu.id/news/berita-nasional/2018/12/24 https://news.detik.com/berita-jawa-tengah/desember 2017/. http://setara-institute.org/indeks-kota-toleran-tahun-2018 http://www.tribunnews.com/regional/2014/04/06/ [ 138 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the crescent moon on the island of gods, traces of muslim village kusamba-bali (edited by aagn ari dwipayana) published in yogyakarta by center for religious and cross-cultural studies/ crcs) graduate school, university of gadjah mada by i gde parimartha, ida bagus gde putra, luh pt.kusuma ririen reviewed by: farninda aditya pontianak state institute of islamic studies “finding peace in the diversity of residents on the island of gods” who does not know bali, a beautiful island that fascinates many tourists from around the world, with a religious identity as it is commonly referred to as the island of gods. despite being well-known as the land of the hindus, bali has a muslim village, where muslim residents live side by side with the hindu balinese. when one recalls the bali bombing incident in 2002 and 2005 in kuta, jimbaran, certainly they will express an opinion on the social and religious tension between these two religious groups. the tragedy has in fact left a change in attitudes i.e. the strengthening of the balinese identity, which is presented in the book entitled bulan sabit di pulau dewata: jejak kampung islam kusamba-bali (the crescent moon on the island of gods, traces of muslim village kusamba-bali). i gde parimartha, ida bagus gde putra, and luh pt.kusuma ririen are the authors of a series of books on the monograph of the pluralism practice. the book was edited by aagn ari dwipayana, published in june 2012 by the center for religious and cross-cultural studies / crcs, graduate school, university of gadjah mada. it is the result of research on the residents in kusumba that provided a description of hindu-muslim relations in bali. the relationship was established through kinship ties in kusamba, creating identification with a claim as a muslim balinese rather than a migrant. the typical hindu balinese names such as wayan, ketut, or nengah are also used by muslims. in kusamba village, muslims are spared from the balinese identity politics. they have a bali id card, living in the muslim community which has a system of their own administration. in contrast to muslim immigrants who have to deal tightening of the rules of residence, such as sweeping and kipem due to their identity as seasonal migrants. in kusamba village, muslims made special rules for immigrants, for example if one does not participate in friday [ 139 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 prayers three times in a row without any hindrance, he will be expelled from the village. the perception that migrants often create problems is also very common among the people of kusamba because they (migrants) do not participate community work or mingle with the local culture. it shows that the muslims who live in muslim village love the balinese local culture. the conclusions presented in this 98 page book are as follows: 1) amid strong ethnicizing of local politics, muslims minorities were given space to actualize their political aspirations in a communal place called kampung in bali; 2) the village can survive because bali has long been applying double administration systems: the traditional village and administrative village. the administrative village is one that provides administrative services to all citizens regardless of their religious backgrounds. 3) muslim people’s life in bali provides a valuable lesson especially regarding how to manage space in a multicultural society the initial conclusions provided another opinion when completing four big parts in this book. in the first part, it discusses islam in hindu villages. this section covered the community institutions in bali which are collectivisticpluralistic as the terms were used by clifford geetz, that is working in cooperation, while dividing group loyalty on its components. this is reflected in the traditional institutions in bali, such as dadia, desa adat, subak, sekaa dan pemaksan. also in this section, the hindu village and the administrative village were given description of both its political history and administration as well as characteristics. in addition, the reasons kusamba became the focus of discussion is also presented. one of the reasons is that kusamba is a traditional village that has become a place of settlement of muslims for centuries. the existence of muslims in bali certainly raises the question, when and why muslims came to live in bali ? regarding the muslim village in bali, one will find the history of the existence of muslims with different opinions and evidence. in fact, the history of loloan village provided information that on the 17th -18th century, the puri (palace) harbored political refugees from pontianak named syarif abdullah bin yahya al-qadry with his men from the tribes of bugis malay and arabic. sharif abdullah gave a new nuances the government system in bali. he established a settlement that later became a muslim administrative village, built the fatimah fortress, turned warships into a merchant vessels that carried out commercial activities to singapore and the malay land. another expertise of the sharif abdullah’s group was treatment of various diseases. this skill was the origin of the name kampung loloan (loloan village). the balinese who asked for medicine from the muslim healer always called him by the name loloh and this name was pinned to the migrants who inhabited the area of ijo [ 140 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 gading river, then it became the name of the village: loloan village. the muslim village in kusamba is found in the third part. this section is interesting because it can be a guide for other writers who wish to write the history and description of the village or community there. still in the same part, the authors provided an explanation on the history of the village, mosaic of the residents‘ life, economic life: from the a fisherman to a merchant, recognition of village government, citizenship services, redistribution of development, dynamics of the residents: integration of religion and tension. the relationship between the muslim and the hindu community is an important part of the book and therefore it is presented in four parts. the bond that exists between the two communities showed mutual respect between the two. the ties of kinship, language, community activities called metetulung and ngejot i.e. the tradition of sending food to each other on a special days of the muslims and hindus. tolerance in providing halal food by the balinese as well as the participation of muslims in not leaving the house during hindu brata penyepian are evidence of a good relationship between the two groups in bali. until the bali bombing happened, the relationship between the muslim community living in the village and the hindus in the traditional village remained good. in the concluding remarks it is stated that the hindu-muslim relations have to deal with the dynamics that occur outside the village related to strengthening balinese identity as a result of the tragedy of the bali bombing. the change of perception might be inevitable and can have an affect the relations between the two villages in the future. the prediction of future perception is a concern, but this book shows that the hindu-muslim relations in bali will stay good as it has been so for centuries. the bali bombing tragedy became evident that the (muslim) village and the hindu village can exist side by side despite the tragedy. both villages still exist today, the kinship is still strong, the good relations in the midst of religious differences have become a fortress. the traces of the muslim village on the island have served as a guide to take lessons from. peace in the diversity of the people in bali definitely makes the island more beautiful. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 161 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni center for religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs) universitas gadjah mada email: rooney.firmansyah@gmail.com fatimah husein universitas islam negeri (uin) sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: fatimahhusein@yahoo.com dewi candraningrum universitas muhammadiyah surakarta email: dcandraningrum@gmail.com abstract most religious perspectives, particularly the conservative interpretation, emphasize the incompatibility of being a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (lgbt) and being religious. this contradiction creates internal conflicts for many lgbt individuals. in social and political spheres, many religious groups post hostility and rejection against the lgbt using the justification of their religious dogma. the position of the lgbt has been more vulnerable since the reformation period (1998 to present) in indonesia, during which islamic conservatism is rising. therefore, lgbt individuals perceive themselves as condemned and excluded from religious communities. nevertheless, the existing lgbt communities and organizations focus more on campaigning social acceptance and public recognition through a human rights perspective. this research employs a qualitative method and addresses the youth interfaith forum of sexuality (yifos) in providing a ‘safe space’ for the lgbt in negotiating their non-normative sexuality and religious values. taking a case study of yifos, i argue that lgbt could also embrace their religiosity. through the concept of ‘liberation of the body and alternative religious interpretations, yifos believes that lgbt sexuality could be reconciled with religion. this research is divided into two parts. first is how yifos provide a way of reconciling of non-normative sexuality of lgbt and religion. second is what approach is employed by yifos in helping lgbt individuals negotiate their non-normative sexuality and religious values. my findings demonstrate that the yifos applies the concept of ‘experience of the body as the main departure of liberation and employs an interfaith approach by inviting religious figures whose interpretations are more accommodative toward lgbt. the interfaith approach is aimed at building commonality on lgbt within religious communities. in addition, these two approaches are used to help lgbt in[ 162 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 dividuals to stimulate self-acceptance and personal reconciliation between one’s religious values and their non-normative sexuality. keywords: lgbtiq; sexuality; religion; reconciliation; yifos; interfaith introduction most religious perspectives, particularly the conservative interpretation, emphasize the incompatibility of being lgbt and religious. religious doctrines of islam that dominate the discourse of sexual morality in indonesia perceive lgbt as a moral problem (bennett, 2007; parker, 2009; 2014; smithhefner, 2006) and incommensurable with religious doctrine and teaching (boellstorff, 2005).1 this contradiction creates internal conflicts for many lgbt individuals because their sexuality cannot adjust with the principle that imposes heterosexuality (through marriage) as a ‘normative’ sexual identity and orientation (boellstorff, 2005; suryakusuma; 1996).2 in social and political spheres, many religious groups post hostility and rejection against the lgbtiq using the justification of their religious dogma (boellstorff, 2004; yulius, 2018). the position of the lgbt has been more vulnerable since the reformation period (1998 to present) in indonesia, during which islamic conservatism is rising (platt, davies, bennett, 2018). therefore, lgbtiq individuals perceive themselves as condemned and excluded from religious communities. consequently, lgbt individuals experience challenges finding a safe space/place to express their freedom of sexuality due to the mainstream space being heterosexually produced through ‘sexual morality.’ the main departure of the conflict between lgbt and religion relies on the literal interpretation of a religious text. for instance, the conservative islamic group and other abrahamic religions emphasize the literal interpretation of gender and sexuality, which results in a rigid view toward the issue of sexuality (bouhdiba, 1998). consequently, their arrangements limit the freedom of sexual expression for lgbt. further, it rejects the existence of religious people and lgtiq at once. although lgbtiq individuals feel alienation from their religious communities, they often struggle to find ways to reconcile 1 in this paper, i will use the term ‘lgbt’ to refer to all people who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. meanwhile, i realize that the diversity of sexuality and gender in indonesia could not be limited to the categorization of lgbtiq. therefore, in some parts of this paper, i employ non-normative gender and sexuality to represent lgbtiq, where in indonesia, only ‘heterosexual’ relation through marriage is recognized as ‘normative’ sexuality (see wieringa, 2019 and wijaya, 2019). 2 the religious doctrine in indonesia perceives that heterosexuality (through marriage) as a ‘normative sexuality’ while the other forms of sexuality are categorized as a ‘non-normative sexuality’ that includes lgbtiq [ 163 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 their non-normative sexuality and religion successfully. some scholars argue that lgbt individuals make reconciliation by perceiving religion not only as a monolithic set of doctrines but also as a ‘social construction’ and ‘culture’ which may change (schnoor, 2006, ganzevoort, laan, olsman, 2011, shah, 2018). however, their reconciliation only happens through individual perception in viewing religion since there is no public space and environment for being lgbtiq and religious synchronously (boellstorff, 2005). in this sense, religious doctrine creates more challenges for lgbt because there is no space where they can be lgbt and spiritual at the same time. amidst the growing literature on lgbt, sexuality in interplay with religion, the existing studies in indonesia identified how lgbt are positioned as ‘immoral’ and ‘sinfulness’ (bennett, 2007; s.g. davies, 2011; kailani, 2012; parker, 2009; 2014; smith-hefner, 2005; 2006; van wichelen, 2010). in boellstorff (2005), for example, being gay and muslim is incommensurable with religion due to the doctrine that islam de-emphasizes male homosexuality. this idea makes it very difficult for gay people to claim their religiosity. nevertheless, lgbt individuals can find their religious subjectivity through resistance, negotiation, and reconciliation of their sexuality toward the dominant doctrine of religion. in mulia (2018), for example, his study explained how christian young people – as sexual subjects resist, negotiate and reconcile their sexuality within the dominant discourse of sexuality rooted in religious doctrine. however, the way of the negotiation is still in personal interpretation and view toward their religion. none of the studies explore the possibility of creating a safe space for lgbt to reconcile their non-normative sexuality and religion not only through liberation but also through alternative religious interpretation. this paper focuses on the youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) in providing space for lgbt individuals to reconcile their sexuality and religion. this paper aims to expand on current studies, which primarily focus on the individuals’ struggle, by presenting the case study of the activism of community organization yifos in providing a space for the discourse between lgbt sexuality and religion. this study will look at the safe space and the method employed by yifos in reconciling lgbt sexuality and belief in its annual program called young queer faith and sexuality camp (yqfsc). furthermore, this study does not explain what yifos does but also aims to understand how its method will, on the one hand, deconstruct the dominant doctrine of religion and the body and, on the other hand, how the liberation of the body on sexuality could be justified through religious interpretation. the study shows that the yifos applies self-acceptance of the individual of lgbt concerning their non-normative sexuality and faith through the [ 164 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 liberation of the body and making an appropriation of their sexuality with religion by inviting religious figures. the invitation is done through an interfaith approach to building commonality of faith to provide the idea of ‘affirmation’ and ‘acceptance’ of lgbt sexuality in religion. from this finding, i argue that the concept applied in yifos informs that the liberation of the body toward sexuality and faith of lgbt is still by religious values of an alternative interpretation of the sacred text. as a result, lgbt individuals could embrace their non-normative sexuality and religion simultaneously due to the acknowledgment of multiple variations of the religious text and their self-acceptance of the body. to understand the way of yifos in reconciling the conflict between lgbt sexuality and religion, i interviewed key people within this organization as well as those involved with yifos’s programs and activities through observation. i did fieldwork for around six months by visiting some cities, including cirebon, jakarta, bandung, yogyakarta, solo, and salatiga. choosing these different cities was based on consideration after i heard that some founders, activists, and religious figures had settled in those cities. as a result of visiting these cities, i interviewed four co-founders (edith, anam, jimmy, suranto), five current activists (jihan, anna, ael, vika, jeje), and four religious figures (muiz, stephen, jojo, and darwita) from three different religious traditions namely islam, christianity mainly protestant and buddhism. for each people, i interviewed around two hours through once to twice meeting for each interviewee. in the observation stage, i was involved with two yifos programs, including young queer and sexuality camp (yqsc) and symposium on religion and the diversity of sexuality. the camp was held around october 2018 in one of the prominent cities in west java, while the symposium was held on april 23-24, 2018, in jakarta. for this observation in the camp, i lived seven days with the camp’s participants and engaged with the committee that mostly the alumnae of previous centers and the activists of yifos. throughout the camp sessions, i could observe how yifos provided a method to reconcile lgbt sexuality and religion. the most important sessions are; providing individual testimony of lgbt to express their experiences as a sexual minority group in the context of a country that still represses the existence of lgbt; and inviting religious figures from different religious communities, namely islam, protestantism, buddhism, and hinduism to talk about alternative reading of the holy text about lgbt. the symposium is one of yifos’s programs that invite religious figures from different religious traditions to give a friendly interpretation of religion toward lgbt through discussion of the paper. this [ 165 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 symposium is intended to make a book chapter based on the paper delivered by each religious figure. as far as i can remember, four different religious traditions are involved: islam, protestantism, hinduism, and buddhism. in this symposium, i was invited by yifos to present a paper about religion and sexuality. this symposium gave me a chance to further interview activists as well as religious figures. yifos and young queer faith and sexuality camp (yqfsc) on march 7, 2010, seven young people who were former participants of “young interfaith training 2010” held a meeting to continue the discussion of lgbt and religion throughout the camp. fatimah husein initiated the training under the subsequent ‘fulbright interfaith community action project.’ this ten-day training camp aimed to create awareness and sensitivity for youth involved in the interfaith project to the issues of hiv/aids and lgbt through a religious perspective. it was also designed to build collaboration among youth interfaith communities to beware of similar problems related to hiv/aids.3 however, the meeting was not part of the training because it was intended to respond to the attack against lgbt-related activities by conservative islamic groups. the islamic defenders front (front pembela islam, fpi), an islamist organization with a record of violent tactics, led the attack against the activists and participants of the fourth regional meeting of the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex association (ilga). the ilga conference was scheduled to take place in surabaya, east java, between march 26th-28th and supported by indonesia’s leading lgbt organization, gaya nusantara. the fpi members demanded the cancellation of the conference by denouncing that being lgbtiq does not belong to indonesia’s national concept of identity and is against islamic morality and beliefs.4 regarding the attack, yifos co-founders responded to the use of religion as justification employed by conservative islamic groups. although there were some responses from the lgbtiq communities, most of them relied on the rationale for human rights to protect lgbtiqs (khanis, 2013). yifos cofounders looked at the aspect of religion as a justification for the attack as not only about the weak implementation of human rights, but also there is a problem with religion in perceiving lgbtiq people. as explained by one 3 term of references of interfaith youth training 2010, remaja, hiv/aids dan lgbt: merancang strategi dan aksi lintas iman, (2010), unpublished; and an interview with jimmy marcos immanuel, at pgi office of central jakarta, january 21st, 2019. 4 jamison liang, ‘homophobia on the rise”, inside indonesia online, accessed may 16th, 2019: https://www.insideindonesia.org/homophobia-on-the-rise [ 166 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 of the yifos activists, religion like islam in indonesia is mainly used as a political tool to persecute lgbtiq activists and communities. in this sense, the conservative islamic group used religion as a source of fear to undermine lgbtiq people. however, the values of peace and the diversity of religion, particularly regarding gender and sexuality, were rarely discussed in public. some religious communities see sexuality as a taboo topic. at the same time, lgbtiq organizations perceive that religion cannot be carried into their community because there is an assumption that religion is a source of problems for lgbtiqs. yifos believed that lgbtiq and religion could be discussed together. in response to the problem of religion, the co-founders created a communitybased organization, then formalized it into a recognized organization called yifos, which still exists today. yifos is a youth organization focused on the intersection between sexuality and faith.5 creating discourse and action means opening a discussion about faith and sexuality in the community openly without any fear. it carried through critical dialogue, reflection, and re-examination of religious texts about sexuality and faith, and participating in actions with other caring communities in responding to the two issues.6 according to edith, the effort to spark safe discourse necessary due to lgbtq issues being considered taboo within religious communities.7 furthermore, yifos was also established because the conversation on sexuality has been developed and expanded worldwide. sexuality is not only about biological matters or sexual behavior, but also about identity and orientation. as identity and orientation, sexuality cannot be separated from other identities, including religious identity.8 in 2012, yifos held the “young queer faith and sexuality camp,” as part of its activism. the camp’s initiation was due to the discussion typically carried by yifos as a community-based organization was productive, but not enough 5 yifos distinguished the word ‘religion’ and ‘faith.’ in their sense, religion and faith are different but also overlap. according to one of the co-founders, yifos preferred to use the word ‘faith’ in the organization’s name because faith is more fluid than religion which is rigid due to the institution established as the authority. here, faith offers a more accommodative and broader scope than religion because it includes personal faith, non-recognized religion, and major religion. however, there is overlapping use of faith and religion within yifos. religion is sometimes assumed as the source due to its rigid view toward homosexuality. at the same time, faith is part of the solution because it can cover every perspective of religion that cannot be accommodated. 6 yifos, “sejarah yifos”, yifos official website online, accessed may 16th, 2019: https://yifosindonesia.org/ 7 interview with yulia dwi andriyanti, at lbh satu keadilan bogor, october 29th, 2018 8 yifos, “sejarah yifos”; and interview with jimmy marcos immanuel, at communion church of indonesia (persekutuan gereja-gereja indonesia, pgi), january 22nd, 2019. [ 167 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 time as it only was allowed 2-3 hours. the main objective of this camp was to provide a safe space for lgbt to self-express and self-acceptance their nonnormative sexuality and religion. it aimed to create an alternative platform of education for lgbt people to build a movement from different identities, particularly sexual and religious identities. until 2018, this camp was still organized by yifos, and almost 200 young lgbt people have participated. as far as i have observed, this safe space has been created to create selfacceptance for lgbt to reconcile their sexuality and religious values through alternative readings of religious text. thus, the following sections will discuss the method of yifos in reconciling lgbt sexuality and religion that were manifested in the camp: talking sexuality and faith through perspective of body: a step for reconciliation the reconciliation between lgbtiq sexuality and religion seems impossible since the doctrine of religions still perceives that being lgbtiq is ‘sinful’ and ‘abnormal. consequently, there is a division between lgbtiq sexual and religious identities that has been nearly impossible to bridge. thus, a possible intersection between the two identities has not acknowledged since they are assumed to be contrasting identities. lgbtiq people must scrutinize their sexuality identity from a religious identity or maintain a single dimension of identity (e.g., martin, ruble & szkybalo; 2002; cass; 1979; mccarn & fassinger, 1996). however, yifos believes in the intersection of identity, which assumes that lgbtiq sexual identity could be met with religious identity. to create a meeting point to reconcile a conflict between lgbtiq sexuality and religion, yifos adopted a way through the perspective of the body as the starting point. they use this perspective because lgbtiq individuals have their experience regarding the body controlled and regulated by specific power such as religion. i will argue that the concept of the perspective of the body is applied to create individual authority for lgbtiq in determining the body where sexuality and faith are embedded. therefore, this present part will discuss the perspective of the body employed by yifos, which results in the creation of the ‘experience of the body as a starting point in reconciling lgbtiq sexuality and religion. the body perspective within yifos is constructed from the idea that a body is a thing close to each other because it is embedded within the individual self. at the same time, the body could also be something that far because of the inability of the individual to take control of the body. for example, a gay male body is perceived as an abnormal body under the religious doctrine, which [ 168 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 perceives that the body should make a relationship with the opposite body (heterosexual) and the same body (homosexual). this exemplified that the body of the gay male becomes far away even though it is embedded within a gay individual. one of the reasons because gay males can control their bodies due to the religious doctrine that limits their freedom. as anna explained, losing control over the body is not merely the inability of lgbtiq individuals but due to that capacity being hampered by the doctrine of religions that took over the body’s power. the control of religion toward the body relates to what had been explained by foucault (1976), that modern sexuality had demarcated the ‘normal’ body and the ‘abnormal’ one. in this sense, the discourse of sexuality is shaped by religion, which had to limit the body’s diversity to specific actions, which also influences the limitation of sexuality. consequently, the male body should become a ‘heterosexual body,’ not a ‘homosexual’ one. as a result, lgbtiq individuals do not seem to be able to determine or even have selfcontrol over their bodies. however, the yifos prioritizes the close relationship between body and individual self as the possible way to create a link for the reconciliation of lgbtiq non-normative sexuality and religion. thus, it is called the ‘perspective of the body’ and ‘experience of the body. the body’s perspective aims to reflect on lgbtiq individuals regarding their experience of the body that is prohibited and restricted by the doctrine of religion. to make a reflection on their experience, yifos applies the perspective of the body by making testimony for lgbtiq individuals during the camp to tell the story of their experience of the body. then, they were asked to understand why their body, where sexuality and faith were embedded, was prohibited. in my analysis, the idea of making a reflection is to question which power controls their body. edith explained that religion is the primary power that controls the body of lgbtiq. therefore, this reflection aims to bring the authority back for the lgbtiq individual toward their body. the doctrine of the religions that dominate the body is eliminated because it makes the body far from the lgbtiq individual self. as a result, the perspective of the body would become the main departure in reclaiming lgbtiq sexuality and faith by making liberation from the doctrine of religion as i will explain in the next section that this perspective of the body is intended to create individual freedom for self-acceptance of lgbtiq individuals regarding their sexuality and faith. from a feminist to queer perspective the liberation of the body is a critical objective in yifos as a starting point to re-evaluate the possibility of reconciling lgbtiq sexuality and religion. [ 169 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 one of the main goals of this liberation is to make self-acceptance of the body for lgbtiq concerning their sexuality, which is currently being regulated and condemned by many powers, especially religious institutions, through the doctrine. in creating this liberation, yifos adopted the way of liberation through the body theology of feminism, which later included queer perspective. the queer perspective is because the body theology of feminists could not accommodate the diversity of the body for lgbtiq people. based on what i saw in yifos, the body recognized by feminists relies only on women with the purpose of awareness of their bodies. however, the purpose of creating awareness of the women’s body could not be adjusted to the lgbtiq body because lgbtiq individuals see their bodies differently. some of them could accept their body which might relate to the women’s bodies, but many are uncomfortable with their bodies. for example, some transgender might be more respectful of their body after they change it through surgery. therefore, this present part will explain the liberation of the body through these two approaches employed by yifos for lgbtiq participants of the camp. in this feminist theology, the body is the center of individual freedom, and self-acceptance becomes a medium of sexuality and faith. as mentioned earlier: the concept of liberation is to build authority for the individual to control their body. there are at least two feminist theologians that influence yifos in using body theology. this concept was introduced and developed by anna, a supervisor of yifos and a feminist. the central concept of the body theology of feminism is the invitation to re-claim the body from the authority of the classical theology of the body, which still regulates women under heterosexuality. anna sees that the theology of all religions has a similar meeting point which gives appreciation to the body but at the same time regards the body as something associated with sin. therefore, in many religions, people should leave their bodies to enter heaven. this ambivalence of classical theology leads to the control of religion over the body on how the body should follow specific characteristics. this condition is similar to what had been felt by indonesia’s lgbtiq, where religious doctrine, as well as the discourse of sexuality, had limited their body and forced them to be ‘heterosexual’ as normative sexuality. consequently, the body of lgbtiq individuals no longer belongs to them because religious doctrine condemns the existence of the body as being nonnormative. through specific control and regulation of religion, anna, as influenced by the body theology of feminist, see that the body of lgbtiq is divided into five categories: labeled body, coded body, imprisoned body, and split body. all these types disembogue into one body type, ‘broken body.’ [ 170 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 consequently, lgbtiq individuals feel far away from their own body and autonomy because the body is coded through certain roles that the individual self cannot determine. the concept of the body theology of feminism within yifos gave insight into reclaiming an individual’s body to be free from the types of bodies currently controlled by many powers, especially religion. in this sense, yifos encouraged lgbtiq individuals to take their bodies back through a reflection of their bodily experiences. through liberation of the body categorized as a ‘broken’ body, i argue that yifos aims to construct new subjectivity for the lgbtiq individual to take control over their body and accept their sexuality as part of reconciliation with religion. constructing new subjectivity for lgbtiq would allow them to determine their sexuality and religion through their experience. as foucault theorizes, sexual subjectivity is understood as one’s thoughts and emotions about one’s sense of being sexual (weedon, 1987), which is always constituted concerning particular discourses (foucault, 1982; rabinow, 1984). discourses offer individuals a range of ways of being in the world, like subject positions, to be taken up (weedon, 1987) so that individuals can construe their experiences from those positions. in the case of yifos, the liberation of the body can be included in creating new subjectivity for lgbtiq in determining their sexuality and faith. as sexual subjects, lgbtiq individuals are expected to be sexual subjects who rely on their freedom in constructing their bodies (sexuality and faith). this part demonstrated that the liberation of the body is the crucial point of yifos for the self-acceptance of lgbtiq regarding their non-normative sexuality. yifos assumed that this liberation was a step toward reconciling lgbtiq sexuality and religious values. in this sense, self-acceptance is seen as the primary step for lgbtiq individuals to reconcile their non-normative sexuality and religion because, without this liberation for self-acceptance, lgbtiq individuals will perceive that their bodies where sexuality and faith are embedded as something that conflicts with each other. not merely religion: the fluidity of faith in relation to lgbtiq this section explores the different definitions of faith and religion employed by yifos to create the possibility of reconciling sexual and religious identities. generally speaking, yifos uses the term faith instead of religion because faith has more fluid characteristics than religion which contains a very rigid doctrine. the choice of the term faith is based on the consideration that religion had been assumed to have a bad image within lgbtiq communities. [ 171 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 some lgbtiq individuals and communities perceived religion as a source of the problem because of the close any possibilities of being lgbtiq. therefore, employing the concept of religion is more challenging in rebuilding the relationship between lgbtiq and religious values. furthermore, religion is often associated with the institution with a monolithic doctrine that is unchangeable, particularly on the issues of lgbtiq. according to wilfred cantwell smith (1991), the definition of religion had been associated with the word religion which constructs the institution and dismisses the individual faith of people more diverse than religion. therefore, yifos adopted the concept of faith because it creates a possibility for the diversity of religion that not only refers to one particular religious institution but also various beliefs and interpretations of the holy text. edith explained that faith has a broader scope of religion which can cover individual beliefs and understanding of a religious text, local or indigenous religion, and major religions such as islam and christianity. furthermore, anna explained that the use of ‘faith’ is because faith has a deep meaning rather than a religion where the faith recognizes the individual relationship with god. she sees that religious institutions have distorted religion due to the use of religion for political interest. according to boellstorff (2004), the growth of political homophobia in indonesia was motivated by religious doctrine. the doctrines do not only undermine lgbtiq people but are also used as justification to attack lgbtiq-related activities. therefore, yifos determines the use of faith due to its broader scope, which may acknowledge the individual interpretation of the religious texts and other forms of faith that are not included in religious communities. thus, i argue that using faith opens the possibility that religions are not monolithic in interpretation and teaching. there are also multiple interpretations, particularly on the issues of sexuality and lgbtiq, which also include personal interpretation. the normative interpretation that influences the doctrine and teaching of religion, which undermines the existence of lgbtiq, could be counted as one interpretation from multiple interpretations of the text. consequently, the use of faith within yifos had created the possibility of re-creating and re-evaluating the relationship between lgbtiq and religion. through this diversity of the meaning of faith, yifos built a bridge for lgbtiq to dialogue about their non-normative sexuality and religion. from liberation of the body to alternative interpretation this last part would portray the final step on how yifos helps lgbtiq [ 172 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 individuals reconcile their sexual identity and religious values. the previous part already explained the liberation of the body for self-acceptance of lgbtiq toward their sexuality as the point of departure in making reconciliation with their religion. although the primary purpose of the liberation of the body for lgbtiq could give them the ability to control sexuality and faith by being sexual subjects, yifos seems to see that not all lgbtiq individuals would have a similar capacity to make their interpretation or desacralize the normative doctrine of religion. besides, the religious context in indonesia is dominated by institutions where religious figures play significant roles in interpreting the holy text in religion (boellstorff, 2005; bouhdiba, 2007). therefore, the alternative reading of lgbtiq in the religious text is essential for reconciling lgbtiq sexuality and religion. thus, yifos invites religious figures whose interpretations toward lgbtiq are more accommodative. as i will argue in this section, the invitation of religious figures would create another success in which the lgbtiq people have various choices of the interpretation of religion. further, the alternative arrangement would allow them to see that lgbtiq individuals have a possible way of connecting their sexuality and religion. according to yifos activists, there are frameworks of liberation on the issue of religion and lgbtiq. first, yifos aims to give lgbtiq individuals the freedom in seeing their religion. in this sense, yifos aims to create selfauthority regarding their faith which is mentioned above in the liberation of the body. second, since not all lgbtiq individuals can desacralize the doctrine of the religion that limits their sexuality, yifos, therefore, invites religious figures who can provide alternative reading which differs from the dominant interpretation in perceiving lgbtiq. this is one of the core missions of yifos, which aims to bring a different image of religion to the lgbtiq communities and individuals that religions have peace values that can accommodate the diversity of gender and sexuality. according to edith, this invitation is based on the consideration that those religious figures who are invited have the same mission as yifos. the mission here, which relates to how religious text is interpreted, is the values of humanity which bring equality to every people regardless of their sexuality. the interpretation will not exclude or undermine lgbtiq people within the understanding of religion. to search for this interpretation, the yifos employs the interfaith approach in making commonality of religious views toward lgbtiq. although islam takes the dominant discourse of sexuality in indonesia, yifos prefers to see all significant religions which do not include islam which can justify the existence of lgbtiq. this idea seems to create a counter-narrative to counter the [ 173 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 dominant discourse of religious doctrine that perceives lgbtiq as sinful and excluded from the spiritual tradition. the counter-narratives are manifested in how the religious figures interpret the sacred text. many religious figures i interviewed did not only rely on the progressive interpretation, which uses hermeneutics but also engaged with the classical way of interpreting the holy texts. the classical way here refers to analyzing the text and considering the context where the text is revealed (interview with muiz, an islamic religious figure, and darwita, a protestant priest). in darwita’s point of view, there is a different tradition of earlier christians in looking at the issue of lgbtiq and other forms of non-normative sexuality. the earlier christian could not address the problems of lgbtiq since there was no term for a related case in the past. therefore, darwita explains that using hermeneutics is essential to include or accommodate lgbtiq within the tradition of christianity. meanwhile, muiz used textual analysis to see how islam could accommodate lgbtiq. in islam, gender and sexuality are not limited to two categories but also diverse, such as makhanas (a man who looks like a woman). this idea of inviting religious figures through interfaith ways allowed the lgbtiq to see religion from a different perspective. in this sense, religion or even the interpretation of its text is not monolithic. there are multiple interpretations of religious text, particularly on the issue of lgbtiq. here, yifos aims to show the lgbtiq that they can see the diversity of religion and its interpretation of their sexuality. according to ana, yifos does not force lgbtiq individuals to choose a specific interpretation, but yifos gives freedom to choose among many choices of performance. in this sense, yifos still applies the way how sexual subject could determine their sexuality and faith for lgbtiqs themselves. therefore, lgbtiq individuals might have a strong justification that their non-normative sexuality could be embraced altogether with religious identity. conclusion: the need for safe space this paper demonstrated the way yifos is helping lgbtiq individuals to reconcile their non-normative sexuality and religion in indonesia, a country where religion represses the existence of lgbtiq. lgbtiq individuals experience challenges expressing their non-normative sexuality and religious identity since the doctrine of faith perceives their sexuality as ‘sinful’ and ‘abnormal.’ by examining yifos as a case study that allows reconciliation between lgbtiq sexuality and religion, this paper argues that lgbtiq can embrace their sexuality and religion simultaneously. in this sense, lgbtiq individuals can also be religious. to make this possible, yifos applies self[ 174 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 acceptance of lgbtiq individuals through the liberation of the body where sexuality and faith are embedded. in this liberation, the yifos adopted the body theology of feminist and queer perspective in creating a new subjectivity of lgbtiq individuals to be able to control their bodies while simultaneously deconstructing the dominant discourse of sexuality that undermines lgbtiq as non-normative sexuality. besides, this liberation of the body also aims to create self-acceptance of the body for lgbtiq regardless of the doctrine of religion. regarding religion, yifos applies the interfaith approach in building the commonality of religion in perceiving lgbtiq. therefore, yifos invited religious figures whose interpretations of lgbtiq are more accommodative. this idea is to show lgbtiq that religious interpretations are not monolithic. there is also a peaceful value within a religion that can accommodate lgbtiq people’s existence. consequently, lgbtiqs can embrace their sexual and religious identity simultaneously. therefore, a camp of yifos where the lgbtiq individuals could find a safe space to cultivate their sexuality and religion becomes important in indonesia to create a small, meaningful space that allows lgbtq individuals to embrace being both lgbtq and religious publicly. bibliography bennett, l. r. (2007). zina and the enigma of sex education for indonesian muslim youth. sex education, 7(4), 371–386. boellstorff, tom. (2004). the emergence of political homophobia in indonesia: masculinity and national belonging. american anthropologist, vol. 107, no. 4 (dec. 2005), pp. 575-585 .(2005).between religion and desire: being muslim and gay in indonesia. american anthropologist, vol. 107, pp. 575-585. bouhdiba, abdelwahab. (1998). sexuality in islam. alan sheridan, trans. los angeles: saqi books. .(2008). sexuality in islam. new york: routledge. davies, s. g. (2011). gender diversity in indonesia: sexuality, islam and queer selves. london: routledge. foucault, m. (1982). the subject and power. critical inquiry, 8 (4), 777–795. . (1976). the history of sexuality: an introduction. new york: knopf doubleday publishing group, [ 175 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 ganzevoort, r.ruard; laan, mark van der; olsman, erik. (2011). growing up gay and religious. conflict, dialogue, and religious identity strategies. mental health, religion, and culture 14(3), 2011, 209-222. kailani, n. (2012). forum lingkar pena and muslim youth in contemporary indonesia. rima: review of indonesian and malaysian affairs, 46(1), 33. liang, jamison. (2010). ‘homophobia on the rise”, inside indonesia online, accessed may 16th, 2019: https://www.insideindonesia.org/homophobia-on-the-rise mulya, teguh wijaya. (2018). from divine instruction to human invention: the constitution of indonesian christian young people’s sexual subjectivities through the dominant discourse of sexual morality, asian studies review, doi: 10.1080/10357823.2017.1407918 parker, l. (2009). religion, class and schooled sexuality among minangkabau teenage girls. bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde, 165(1), 62–94. parker, l. (2014). the moral panic about the socializing of young people in minangkabau. wacana, 15(1), 19–40. platt, m.w., davies,\ s., & bennett, l. (2018). “contestations of gender, sexuality, and morality in contemporary indonesia.” asian studies review, 42(1). advanced online publication. doi:10.1080/10357823.2017.1409 698. rabinow, p. (ed.). (1984). the foucault reader. new york: pantheon books. shah, shanon. (2018). the making of gay muslim: religion, sexuality, and identity in malaysia and britain. london: palgrave studies in lived religion and societal challenges. schnoor, randal e. (2006). being gay and jewish: negotiating intersecting identities. sociology of religion. 2006, 67:1 43-60. smith-hefner, n. j. (2005). the new muslim romance: changing patterns of courtship and marriage among educated javanese youth. journal of southeast asian studies, 36(3), 441–459. smith-hefner, n. j. (2006). reproducing respectability: sex and sexuality among muslim javanese youth. review of indonesian and malaysian affairs, 40(1), 143–172. smith, w.c., (1963). the meaning and end of religion. new york: mcmillan. [ 176 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.1540 van wichelen, s. (2010). religion, politics, and gender in indonesia: disputing the muslim body. new york: routledge. suryakusuma, julia i. 1996. the state and sexuality in new order indonesia. in fantasizing the feminine in indonesia. laurie sears, ed. pp. 92-119. durham, nc: duke university term of references of interfaith youth training 2010, remaja, hiv/aids dan lgbt: merancang strategi dan aksi lintas iman, (2010), unpublished. weedon, c. (1987). feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. oxford: blackwell. wieringa, saskia e. (2019) ‘is recent wave of homophobia in indonesia unexpected?. in greg feally and ronit ricci (ed). contentious belonging: the place for minorities in indonesia. pp. 113-132. wijaya, h.y. (2017). “behind political homophobia: global lgbt rights and the rise of anti-lgbt in indonesia”, hbs southeast asia online, accessed may 19th, 2019: https://th.boell.org/en/2017/06/16/behind-political-homophobia-global-lgbt-rights-and-rise-anti-lgbt-indonesia wijaya, h.y. (2019). “localising queer identities: queer activisms and national belonging in indonesia”. in in greg feally and ronit ricci (ed). contentious belonging: the place for minorities in indonesia. pp. 133-151. yifos, “sejarah yifos”, yifos official website online, accessed may 16th, 2019: https://yifosindonesia.org/ [ 3 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the myth of sayyidina ali’s “illegitimate child” crocodile: the phenomenon of syncretism among coastal communities in west kalimantan eka hendry ar. pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: ekahendry77@gmail.com ria hayatunnur taqwa pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: ria.taqwa@gmail.com syf. fatimah pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: fatimahabubakar@rocketmail.com abstract west kalimantan has various local cultural treasures in the form of ritual traditions, arts as well as oral traditions in the form of pantun, abstinence, legends, and myths. the cultural treasures spread throughout the west kalimantan regions, one of which is found in the coastal area of the province. the treasure that attracts the attention of the researchers is the oral tradition of the myth found in coastal areas of kubu and teluk pakedai. the myth is the crocodile of anak kampang sayyidina ali (sayyidina ali‘s “illegitimate child“). this myth contains many dimensions, ranging from the dimensions of local culture and religious views to syncretism. the researchers also assume that the myth contains a negative stereotype against shi’a. this research attempts to reconstruct the culture of the myth in various spectra. this research uses ethnography method. it reveals some interesting aspects such as euhemerism of the figure of imam ali. the myth also contains a very strong syncretic content, thus arising a paradox of the existing character, between glorifying and degrading. it arises because of a thorough understanding of the history of islam on the one hand, and the strong style of local tradition held by the community on the other. however, the myth is quite functional for society, because it indirectly instills awareness about nature conservation. finally, in relation to the allegations of political motives in myth, the researchers found no sufficient data, but the academic suspicion of the researchers had a strong belief in it. keywords: myths, syncretism, euhemerism, mithologization of figures, nega­ tive stereotypes, political myths, conservation. [ 4 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 introduction west kalimantan, in addition to having a wealth of natural resources, also has a lot of wealth of cultural treasures. the local cultural wealth possessed in the form of regional arts, cultural rituals (including religious rites), and oral traditions such as legends and myths. this wealth reflects that this area has a wealth of culture (in the form of values, norms and artifacts) of the past which actually reflect the identity of the people of west kalimantan. each region has its own cultural characteristics, be it hinterland people who inhabit thousands of rivers in area or the wilderness that was once often illustrated as “the virgin of borneo”. this geographical location of course affects the patterns of relations between humans and nature, that subsequently form the cultural characteristics. in the context of this study, the researchers are interested in researching one of the cultural treasures of myths that developed in the coastal region which is the myth of the crocodile of sayyidina ali’s illegitimate child. this myth is found around the coastal areas of kubu village and teluk pakedai village (both now being parts of kubu and teluk pak kedai sub­districts). this myth attracts the researchers’ attention because it suggests an academic controversy and academic prejudice of the ideas and motives behind it. considered controversy because in terms of theological and local customs, the term anak kampang is a negative term meaning illegitimate child. on the other hand, the attribution of the name of sayyidina ali (who in fact is the name of the fourth caliph of islam) is a figure highly respected by the ummah in that myth. it causes academic prejudice, perhaps it has something to do with hateful residues or at least a theological contradiction between the sunnis against shi’a. is this myth created in order to form a negative streotype against shi’a? in this light, this research focuses on the social contruction of the crocodile myth of sayyidina ali. then what is the motive behind the birth of the myth? does it have anything to do with religious hatred against shi’a. how is the process of interaction between the concept of cultural society and religious views that exist in the myth? finally, what practical values are founded from the belief in the myth? this research is expected to understand the cultural construction of the myth of sayyidina ali. this study also aims to explore the motive of the birth and development of the myths in both communities. in addition, it aims also to prove the presumption that there is a motive of religious hatred against shi’a. through this research, it is also expected to get a picture of the process of interaction between the concept of culture with religious views (especially islam) as well as practical advantages resulting from the belief in the myth to the local community. this research uses qualitative [ 5 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 approach, with max weber’s interpretive paradigm. the method used is ethnography (a. latief wiyata, 2002: 23; james p. spradley: 1997: 3). this study uses two perspectives, namely emic and ethics. emic aims to describe the socio­religius phenomenon from the point of view of the cultural actors investigated. while ethics is the result of the interpretation of the researchers to the perspective of cultural emic perspective or its native speakers. this research is a study of the dynamics of islam and local culture. therefore, in addition to understanding the case of the myth specifically we need to also understand macro construction of the study of islam and local culture. there is a number of studies on local islam by clifford geertz (1981), muhaimin, m. alifuddin (2007), budiwanti (2000) and nur syam (2005). clifford geertz conducted research on javanese islam, muhaimin studied banten islam, m. aliffudin studied buton and islam budiwanti about wetu telu islam in the bayan community in lombok (west nusa tenggara). meanwhile nur syam (2005) studied coastal islam in tuban area of east java, clifford geertz, the religion of java (1981), discussed abangan, santri, priyayi in javanese society in the mid­1950s in a small village in east java, the village of modjokuto. geertz described the characteristics of a community in java, which he classified into three groups: the santri, abangan and priyayi. the javanese religion is generally syncretic. geertz’s theory was criticized by muhaimin and nur syam. according to muhaimin, geertz’s study of javanese islam represents the perspective of islamic studies based on the premise that the influence of islam in java is weak and only skin deep. muhaimin holds that, islam in java is actually similar to islam elsewhere, namely islam in the local cultural framework. according to woodward, islam in java is not a syncretic, but it is a typical islamic prototype, that is javanese islam. budiwanti (2000) conducted on sasak islam in bayan village namely wetu telu rite which is a syncretic islam with hindhu traditions. worship rites tinted with local style and “deviating” from shari’ah are generally practiced by muslims in the indonesian archipelago, like code of dress, prayer time and ordinance that accompany the rituals. in the local context of west kalimantan there are several studies on myths, such as the research by stepanus, ahadi sulisssusiawan and sesilia seli on prohibitions in dayak sunkung community of siding subdistrict of bengkayang regency. prohibition is part of a growing myth in society, not just the dayak community. the same can be found in the malay community such as eka hendry’s research on the values of islamic education among pontianak ethnic malay (ar., 1998), marisa syakirin on prohibition in sambas culture, ibrahim ms. on communication wisdom in the prohibition among the malay [ 6 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 in jajang. these studies show the forms of prohibition found among various tribes in west kalimantan and the function of such prohibition in society. the study of stepanus et al., examines the meaning, functions of the position of prohibition in dayak sungkung society with sociolinguistic approach. this study concludes that prohibition has the deepest meaning that serves as a socio­cultural teaching, rebuke, advice and guidance of life. further, this study concludes that, prohibition can be classified into aspects such as salvation, relation to time, place, sex and occupation. this research highlights the acculturation between local religions and cultures, which then form religious models with local features, such as syncretic beliefs. there are several studies with a view of the pattern of local islam that is not synonymous with syncretism, but is a feature of local islam. however, most of the results of acculturation between islam and local culture gave birth to a syncretic religious pattern. the birth of the myth of crocodile of sayyidina ali’s illegitimate child according to the researchers can be seen in the pattern of syncretic acculturation. myths in the interaction between islam and local culture. the word myth comes from greek, musteion which means closing the mouth or the eyes (karen armstrong, 2013: 35). this word has something to do with obscurity and darkness, so it needs to be expressed in order to understand it. usually, it often overlaps in the use of the terms myth, legend and fairy tales. william bascom, (in mariasusai dhavamony, 1995: 147) distinguishes between the three, as shown in table 1. bascom’s division needs to be criticized, because of the fact many myths are about humans. in fact, myth and legend are almost similar, although there are some parts that may be different. the similarity is that all three (myths, legends and fairy tales) are part of an oral tradition in the form of description of stories passed from one generation to the next before being written in the holy books. the narratives contain cultural phenomena of a society and provide an indirect education to the audience as well as local identity (prasojo, 2012). in addition to the narrative of the story, sometimes the myth may also includes statements, stories or a drama plot (mariasusai dhavamony, 1995: 147). [ 7 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 table 1. differences between myths, legends and fairy tales by william bascom form people’s perspective time place charac teristics main figure myth regarded as fact far in the past world of the gods, other world sacred not humans; the gods or other beings legend regarded as fact not far in the past current world profane humans fairy tales regarded as being made up any time anywhere not sacred can be humans or other beings or objects source: james bascom (in mariasusai dhavamony, 1995: 147). mariasusai dhavamony (1995: 147) by quoting bronislaw malinowski also distinguishes between myths, legends and fairy tales. according to b. malinowski, a myth is “a statement of a higher and more important truth about the reality of origin, which is still understood as the pattern and foundation of primitive life. meanwhile, according to c.a. van peursen (in hairus salim, hs., (?), a myth is a story that gives certain guidelines and directions to a group of people. furthermore, it is said by that a myth tells how a state becomes something else or in other words it talks about something extraordinary. the actors in a myth usually include the gods or supernatural beings. through myths, we will learn the secrets of the origin of things, be able to enter into the living relationships with them to enable them to recreate the original order of things as they begin to degenerate, or to make them appear again as they begin to disappear. therefore, myths are sometimes far more true, compared to legends and fairy tales. a myth is expected to reveal some aspects of life that cannot be easily expressed in discursive logical words (karen armstrong, 2013: 35). armstrong came to the conclusion that, a myth is a human effort to be able to explain a deeper significance of an event they face. the opinions are more or less the same, as levi strauss noted. according to levi strauss (in ahimsa­putra, 2001) myths have unrelated units of relations, but are unity of relations that can be combined and used to reveal the meaning behind them1. further levi strauss (in ahimsa­ 1 levi strauss is a proponent of structuralism. his analysis of myths has been very much influenced by linguistics. there are several assumptions about why language is used as the foundation for understanding myths. first, fairy tales, ceremonies, kinship and marriage systems, patterns of dwellings, clothing, etc., are formally regarded as languages, or devices of symbols and signs that convey certain messages. second, the proponents of structuralism assume that in man there is a genetically inherited basic ability, to reconstruct a structure on [ 8 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 putra, 2001: 94) set the foundation for structural analysis of myths. first, if the myth is seen as meaningful, not found in its own independent elements, separate from each other. the meaning is formed from a combination of these mythical elements. second, although myths belong to the language category, they are not just a language. each of them (read: myth and language) shows its own characteristics. third, these characteristics are found not at the level of the language itself but above it. these characteristics are more complex than language features. in other words levi strauss (in ahimsa­putra, 2001) stated that, social­cultural phenomena that express art, ritual, and life patterns are representations of outer structures that describe the human mind. in relation to the mythical function, according to annemarie de waal malefijt (in hairus salim hs., (?), it can be a double war, on the one hand as a unifying force in society, while on the other hand it can also be a breaking power. c.a. van peursen (in hairus salim hs., (?), explained more clearly about the three mythical functions namely; first, to make people realize that there are magical powers. second, myths provide a guarantee for today’s life. third, as an intermediary between man and the forces of nature. another opinion of levi­ strauss (in yoseph yapi taum, 2011), the function of the myth is a logical tool to explain the various contradictions experienced by humans. based on the above theoretical studies, it seems that the myth of sayyidina ali can be understood that it has something to do with certain beliefs or religions. the level of community confidence is relatively higher compared to the existing legends and fairy tales. primitive societies up to now believe this myth as a truth inherited from their ancestors, which then affect their attitudes and actions. the mystery of the illegitimate child may be as follows; to illustrate the past, the disclosure of human helplessness to understand their nature and can also be a particular hegemonic instrument of power (j. van ball, 1987). this ilustration has also been found both in the worlds of islam and the west as mentioned by abdulroya panaemalae, a., & prasojo, z. (2016). myths about animal relations and ali imam the myth of sayyidina ali is an old one and is no longer popular. jaja said that, this myth has long been around, but now rarely known by the younger generation. associated with the version of the story, there are several versions between one area and another. the version encountered in olak­olak kubu, as jaja (not real name) reported as follows: the symptoms encountered. third, in understanding a phenomenon, the synchronic aspect is placed before the diachronic aspect. fourth, the relations within the structure can be simpli­ fied into binary opposition (ahimsa­putra, 2001). [ 9 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 “sayyidina ali is known as a very fierce or courageous figure, so all the supernatural sciences are always associated with him. in the past, the sciences were known as science sayyidina ali’s sergah (shout). this science in dade dolo’-dolo’ (science in the chest of the ancestors) is the term used by mr. jailani. because imam ali was so mighty, it is believed that his sperm was a miracle that could be tembalau (glue) to the handle of a machete. “daki (dirt) ‘from imam ali’s genitals can be used as tembalau, so mighty he was” (jailani’s account). the faith in imam ali is famous all over the place, and makes many people idolize him, even dream of being able to become his partner. to sum up the story, there was a woman (pak jaja could not explain who the woman was) who was so infatuated with imam ali that she kept a small knife whose handle was glued with a imam ali’s sperm. the knife placed on the abdomen was imagined by the woman as if ali had consummated her. because of a miracle, the glue finally melted and flowed into the woman’s genital. with the power of allah ta’ala, eventually the woman was pregnant. when she knew she was pregnant, the woman was embarrassed, because she had no husband, but she was pregnant. “ to this point, there is a missing link of the story, because the respondent could not detail the process. “to sum up the story, something was thrown by the woman from her genital, so it was later believed to be a crocodile. then, the crocodile was called the illegitimate child of sayyidina ali.” this belief by the community in the past was usually practiced to find out whether a captured crocodile was alive or dead; people used to take the oath of imam ali. the oath goes as follows; “if you do not wake up, you are not the illegitimate child of sayyidina ali.” so usually after reciting the oath, the crocodile moves. this happens according to jailani because the crocodile knows the cause of its origin, and it is ashamed if it is not regarded as the offspring of ali “. so, this oath is always used by the community to ensure if a captured crocodile is dead or not.” another version accounted by long tam (not his real name, 53 years of age), born and grew up in teluk pakedai, about 10 years into a fisherman (looking for shrimp). here is his narrative: “when i was a little boy, my grandfather used to tell stories. one of them was about sayyidina ali’s illegitimate child crocodile. once, siti fatimah wanted to drink young coconut water. while the coconut tree was only found in the middle of the sea where the kafeer genie lived. to get the fruit, one must stay on the island, so fatimah went there [ 10 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 by riding a buroq. after returning from the place, fatimah suffered a miscarriage. the blood of her miscarriage was thrown into the sea. it swam with like jelly fish. the blood then turned into a crocodile. this crocodile swam in the sea and finally was caught the fish net belonging to king mina. on friday, king mina lifted the fish net because the fish also wanted to perform friday prayer. when the net was lifted, the king saw a strange animal but still small. finally the animal was kept by king mina until it grew bigger. the animal could talk and asked king mina, “where are my parents?” king mina said, “swim to where the sun rises.” upon arriving at the place, the crocodile said, i am looking for my parent, sayyidina ali.” finally a fight occurred between sayyidina ali and the crocodile. both of them were strong. the crocodile then said to sayyidina ali, “where is my mother?” then came siti fatimah. she was having her period, and sitting on the beach on a banana leaf. the crocodile licked fatima’s body like a child caressing his mother. the crocodile also licked the blood on the banana leaf. fatimah was angry. you’re a nasty crocodile!” finally the crocodile asked fatimah, “what’s my name and what must i eat?” fatimah replied, “if you wanna know, stick your tongue out!” then fatima cut the crocodile’s tongue. “your name is crocodile,” said fatimah. since then, the animal was called crocodile had no tongue anymore”. long tam’s version of the story with the arab world setting explicitly seems contradictory. the interesting side of the long tam’s version, although he admitted it is just a story, a fairy tale of a bedtime story, in the end he acknowledged that, “i use this spell”. that is in certain circumstances he uses the spell for practical purposes. according to long nan, he has been working to find shrimp for about 10 years. usually, if the area has a lot of shrimps, there are usually (many) crocodiles. therefore, the risk of shrimp fishing is higher, because usually we encounter crocodiles. so, sometimes he uses this advice, namely “i know you are king mina’s pet, i am a descendant of king mina”. according to his confession, in addition to reading this mantra, he also uses knowledge in the qur’an, and praise be to allah for 10 years he was never disturbed by crocodiles. there are also other versions, according to kucung (not his real name, in his 40s) from tanjung satai north kayong. in satai, the myth is also around with a slightly different version. the version found in satai is the sperm of sayyidina ali which is cleansed by a twig, then if it is thrown into the water then it becomes a crocodile. whereas if thrown to the land, then it will become another animal that creeps on land like a snake. the semen comes out of ali’s genital. according to kucung, this myth is usually popular in areas of people who believe that it has a bearing with crocodiles, as in the case of [ 11 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 twin crocodiles or those who consider themselves having twin brothers who are none other than crocodiles. in relation to kucung’s revelation about the possibility of a myth developing in an area containing myths about crocodiles, the researchers found in the olak­olak kubu area there are indeed crocodile twin myths. one of them is the ‘cincin’ legend. cincin is the name of a crocodile which is a twin of a human child named long limin (not his real name). according to jaja this is not a myth, but a real story, because the descendants of long limin are still alive. the age of this legend is about 105 years, based on the age of long leman who is approximately the age of the deceased parents of jaja. it is said that the parents of long limin gave birth at night (at that time there was no electricity), but strangely besides the human child also came out a lizard, but the size smaller than the gecko. some relatives get dreams that the lizard is not thrown away, because it was the sibling of the newly born baby. the gecko asked to be raised. briefly, when this crocodile has grown larger, the family had a dream that the crocodile asked to be released into the sea. he advised her family not to break up the relationship with her, and if they needed assistance related to a sea­related disaster, he would help. finally, this crocodile was released to the river, and named cincin. it is said that if still alive, cincin is very large, and among the crocodiles in the kubu river are believed to be the offspring of cincin. therefore, to catch a crocodile in kubu, one should consult the village shaman, whether it is the offspring of cincin or a common crocodile. it is believed that there was once a disaster happening to a man named amat kaloi (not his real name) who caught a crocodile with an aler (fishing rod). it turned out that the crocodile captured and killed was believed to be a descendant of cincin. the crocodile was sold by amat kaloi for idr 6 million, at that time the amount was big enough according to jailani. as a result, mat kaloi suffered from the same disease suffered y the crocodile. so the money for treatment was greater than the sales of the crocodile. finally amat kaloi died with this mysterious illness. based on this story, the public is quite careful in the affairs of catching crocodiles, so as not to catch the offspring of cincin. the myth of crocodiles is also growing, in which implicitly there is a fear in the community of the threat of crocodiles. the myth is linked to the hostility between cats and crocodiles. older people believe, according to jaja, that the mortal enemy of crocodiles is the cat, then jaja said: “do not try to take a cat with you when fishing, because it may anger crocodiles”. [ 12 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 according to people’s belief in olak­olak kubu, a dying crocodile if stepped over by a cat can anger the crocodile. even myths developed among older people when eating, between the lamp and the rice when passed by the cat, then they do not want to eat the rice. according to the belief, the shadow of a cat may have bad luck on the person because the shadow of the cat will become our shadow, so crocodiles see the shadow of a cat on us. myths associated with sayyidina ali in addition to the myths that link animals and sayyidina ali, there are also a lot of supernatural powers or martial arts associated with sayyidina ali. brahim (not his real name, aged 39) admitted that his ancestors had the tradition of “crocodile supernatural power”. according to his explanation, there is a link between supernatural power and sayyidina ali because ali is known by local people as a friend who has a variety of supernatural powers. according to brahim, he has heard and learned several things such as the sergah supernatural power of sayyidina ali, sayyidina ali’s chain and sayyidina ali’s martial arts. sergah sayyidina ali is a supernatural power to paralyze the opponent by using a shout. according jailani this is a supernatural power that was taught by older people the old time that serves to paralyze the opponent. according to jaja it is”the power in the chests of the ancientors. the effect of this power can lead to break the bile. he reminded to be careful with this power, because if not careful in its use, it may affect one’s own child. sergah sayyidina ali is a power to weaken the opponent, especially when we are in a state of threat or there are others who threaten our safety. according to jaja, this power requires certain exercises. for example, every time we wake up, we wash our eyes with water as much as possible by reading the mantra “nursilah terbelah terjadi terjadu” (nursilah be split and it happens)”. with consistent practice, then we will have that power, which can at times be used to maintain the safety of ourselves and others. a slightly different version of sergah sayyidina ali also exists and is practiced by the people of teluk pakkedai, as described by brahim. according to brahim, sergah sayyidina ali is a supernatural power. while recalling, brahim recited in arabic, “allah rabbana wa rabbukum, lana a’malana wa lakum a’malakum, allah ashfiq “. there is also the power of rantai sayyidina ali (sayyidina ali’s chain). brahim demonstrated some forms of its movement by wrapping both hands to the nape of the neck and several other movements. brahim admitted he had forgotten most of the movements, because he is no longer practiced the power. the chain of sayyidina ali is believed to be supernatural power that makes a person immune. besides the chain of sayyidina ali, there is also the silat (martial arts) of sayyidina ali. [ 13 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 the association of silat with sayyidina ali is allegedly due to the assumption that ali had extraordinary power. in fact its form is ordinary, like any other martial arts but usually coupled with karin or syeikh. it also comes with some mantras that must be practiced for the martial arts to be stronger by fondling hands with incense while reading incantations: “the treads of prophet solomon” the movements of prophet muhammad silat of sayyidina ali the flash of gabriel” the above mantra mentions the name of sayyidina ali because of his might. then the blow speed is associated with gabriel’s flash. gabriel is likened to a symbol of speed in the martial arts movement. background of the origin of myths about crocodile twins the event of crocodile twins is a myth perceived diversely by society. according to brahim, this story is an unseen phenomenon where interaction occurs between humans and jinn. “in fact, it incarnates like a young lizard that comes out together with the process of giving birth to a human child that is a jin that resembles the lizard. that is actually the scientific explanation of the phenomenon of the birth of twin crocodiles,” brahim explained. however, many believe that this phenomenon is real and happens in the middle of society. the researchers saw a teacher who is a descendant of the king of sekadau kingdom experienced kesarong buaya (possessed by crocodile). his movements were terrifying, like a crocodile, trying so hard to get to the water. his body was slimy, and made a frightening hissing sound. some adult males sometimes could not handle him, so more people needed to calm him down. to heal him, people called upon one of his relatives. some mantras were read, and some foods or offerings were thrown into the river, then he recovered. other places also have more or less similar stories. however, the attributions are diverse. some are attributed to the history of certain kingdoms, and some lsso associated with certain ethnicities. similar myths can also be found in the teluk pakkedai. this myth is thought to have something to do with bugis culture. based on the experience of living in the midst of bugis community in teluk pakkedai, according to brahim, bugis people have many beliefs that come from their ancestors. it is said that, according to brahim, these myths are derived from the classical book la galigo. christian pelras (2006: 101) acknowledged that the relation between man and nature has given birth to many myths, including the myth of the origin of nature and its contents as [ 14 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 found in the mythical literature of la galigo in the bugis society. the idea of the dewata sisine (the one god)) and the concept of 7 layers of the sky (langi’), earth (tana), 7 layers of the underworld (peretiwi or uri’ liung / buri’ liu) and the names of the gods associated with nature. similarly, there are myths about natural events in ethnic dayak of iban, kanayant, kenyah and ngaju (paulus florus et al., 2005). these mythologies describe the concept of human relationship with nature (land, water, forests and rivers). according to brahim, the bugis believe that, every birth of a human child is usually followed by four twins or brothers, namely, blood that later becomes heaven (mallajang), water (mengalere’ / flowing), placenta (soil) and blood (tambuniah). the term of the four elements is uri’ uria tembuni’ tambuniah. uri’ (skin wrapping the baby), uria (amniotic fluid), tembuni’ (placenta) and tambuniah (blood). so in society, there is a term, the baby born with water twin or blood twin. these four brothers are transformed into various forms, some are the people of heaven (malajjang), and some become crocodiles i.e. water twin. each of these twins must be fed. the food is 4 types of sticky rice: white, black, red and yellow, arranged in a dish in an opposite position, white with black, red with yellow, with an egg placed in the middle. this sticky rice is placed above the house (in para-para’) and some is thrown into the sea. each incarnation has a king, such as the crocodile king named tadam paling and heaven king named daeng mudiring. his family, especially his grandfather strongly believes that these ancestors must be respected and fed through the pandre dewata ceremony (offering to the gods). because based on experience, these ancestors in times of need will be able to provide assistance to their descendants. based on the story of his predecessors, ibrahim explained that, in everyday life, during difficult times such as fights, where his grandfather was in danger, being chased by enemies until he had to pass through the stream, tadam paling was called upon, then later on the stream crocodiles lines up and became the savior of his grandfather to escape to the other side of the stream. then, when paddling the boat, often the people first asked for help “family” in the sea that is crocodile, to help push the boat, so quickly get to the destination. the story is more or less the same, also presented by jailani. according to jailani the offspring of cincin may help in the event of calamity in the river kubu, as there are people lost in the river, then cincin or his offspring will provide assistance unseen. then the kinship between the bugis and the crocodiles is quite strong, so as far as ibrahim knew, the people of teluk pakedai almost never hunt crocodiles, especially the ethnic bugis. because they strongly believe that crocodiles still have family relatition with them. and there is also a belief about the power [ 15 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 associated with crocodiles, such as the immune power. according to the beliefs of society, ibrahim expleined, the immune power originally came from the power of crocodiles. because as we know, the crocodile has very thick skin and cannot be penetrated by any weapon. the only weakness of the crocodile is its eyes, therefore to conquer the crocodile, one can attack its eyes. the position of crocodiles is highly respected. to distinguish between the incarnate crocodile that has a kinship with humans, and a wild crocodile can usually be distinguished from its finger. if it has 5 fingers, it is an incarnate crocodile, while if it has 4, then it is a wild crocodile. a wild crocodile is more virulent than the incarnate, while the incarnate crocodile is believed to be not malignant and will not attack humans, because there is an agreement between man and the crocodile, ibrahim explains. in addition to transforming into a crocodile, the heavenly brother of humans incarnates in the form of a snake. the supernaturalpower of snakes is associated with poisonous venom commonly supplied to cudi’ (traditional bugis weapons in the form of small knives) and sacred spears commonly known as besi sembiring for the spear and besi lu’ to make cudi’. it is believed that the khadam or kari of poisonous weapons is a snake which is the incarnation of the twin brother of humans. 1. mithologization of figures: form of glorification (euhemerism) of figures based on a study of the content of crocodile myths and attribution of supernatural power to imam ali, the researchers observed that there is a process called euhemerism or historical interpretation. the theory of euhemerism2 states that, myths are records of exaggerated historical events. based on the theory, the story tellers gain the equivalent status of the gods. this theory is in line with the theory put forward by j. van baal (1987: 43) that one of the ways in which this myth is spread and embedded in human consciousness is how the stories of kings with great power and wisdom in the past and then later deified by their grandchildren later. as the minangkabau proverb that goes “the leader is lifted in status, allowed a step forward. the context of the myth under discussion, the mythologized figure is one of the religious figures of islam i.e. imam ali. ali’s figure has always been described as a wise and brave man of knowledge. in this myth, the glory and virtue of ali’s character, mixed with the myths and legends of the local nuances. as an example of the verbal narrative by long nan as follows, where ali is so mighty, defeated raje cine (king of china) in a battle. 2 this theory is derived from the famous mythologist, euhemeros (circa 320 bc) who argued that the greek gods and goddesses developed from the legend of humans. [ 16 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 “imam ali fought against king of china, during the war, he nudged a little boy who brought a bottle of kerosene. the kerosene spilled onto the ground. the boy cried. seeing the boy crying, sayyidina ali extorted the land until the kerosene returned into the bottle. as a result of being squeezed, the land (or the earth) was in pain, and vowed not to reject the body of imam ali. that’s why imam ali was not welcome by the earth, so he had no tomb. we all know that there‘s a tomb of abu nawas, in arabia. by the end of the war, sayyidina ali managed to split the head up to the body of king of china, and after the war, he (ali) threw his sword into red sea. (the story told by long nan) in this context, there are several aspects of the study. first, the mythological orientation of the characters; second, the implications of the myths to the worldviews they believe; third, the benefits of the creation of the myths to those attributed to them. the orientation of the mythologization of the figures shows how ali’s character has always been linked to something of a certain great power3. sayyidina ali in the public worldview is symbolized as a friend of the prophet muhammad who had courage, rather than as a friend who had the intelligence and broad knowledge. the mythology of imam ali’s wisdom is also found in several places in the archipelago, such as in west java and sumatra. 2. mythology of figure: cultural construction in the frame of religious insight infiltration (syncretism) a second analysis that the researchers can explore from the myths of sayyidina ali is a form of religious syncretism in the local myth of coastal society. as clifford geertz (1981) saw in javanese islamic religion, the religion is shrouded by syncretism or mix of religious views with local cultural views, which sometimes contradict each other. the myth of the crocodile and ali also hinted that there has been an interaction between islam and local culture. there is a 3 based on long nan’s account, sayyida ali had a lot of advice, was clever and brave. at one time, these four caliphs were tested by the prophet by being given each a banana. the four were asked to eat the banana without being noticed or seen. some caliphs ate it in the woods, in the sea and some in the cave. sayyidina ali did not eat his banana. when asked why he did not eat it, sayyidina ali answered, “how would i eat it, am not i a person too? this version of the story was never heard of before, because usually a similar story is often brought by preachers to convey a moral message about virtue, but the setting is usually between the students and kyai. another story, the contest to win fatimah. the companions were required to complete reciting the quran in one night. all the companions were competing to read the quran, while ali chose to sleep. when awake in the dawn, the other companions were still reading the quran, some of them had only 1 or 2 juz left. ali got up and only read al­fati­ hah three times. and ali was then considered a winner, since al­fatihah is the essence of the qur’an. this version of the story is also somewhat different from that typically conveyed by a preacher, i.e. not surah al fatihah, but al­ikhlas [ 17 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 deviation as a result of a thorough understanding of the history of islam, thus forming a syncretic understanding pattern. syncretism sociologically usually serves to “keep” the tradition in a society alive and developing well. usually, syncretism in religious belief is an attitude or view that does not question the truth or error of a religious view. quoting simuh, sutiyono (?) explain that people who hold to syncretism, all religions are considered good and right. indirectly, simuh wanted to say that in the religious view of syncretism, the most important is to maintain harmony between various parties, not on the essence of religious truth. this is in line with sutiyono’s research on syncretism in trucuk klaten society in central java (research in 2006). thus, the function of syncretism is to maintain relations between various walks of life in harmony. therefore, in the context of the myth of sayyidina ali, this is not in the context of religious truth, but it may be to keep the existing social beliefs and social balance in the community including a balance between physical life and metaphysics, man and nature, or the real world and the unseen world like the myth of twin crocodiles, where in the myth builds a connection between human nature and the occult (crocodile). so it is necessary to maintain and respect “relations” with relatives believed to exist in the river. so there are similarities, the myth does not attach importance to the substance of the truth of the story, as well as with syncretism, which is also not concerned with the truth of religious teachings. 3. mythology of figure: conservation agenda in the cover of the myth of figure the study of crocodile myths of sayyidina ali’s illegitimate child implicitly also implies a connection between character and the environment. in the context of this study, the environment in question is a river or river area. because crocodiles are a reptile fauna that can live in two worlds, and exist only in watersheds, not seas. the myths of illegitimate child crocodile and twin crocodiles contain the context of relationship between humans and the environment. the researchers view that the myths and cultural traditions of a society usually contain a cosmological view of the world in which they are located which includes relationship they construct between human life and the physical world and metaphysics around them. educational values in the robo’-robo’ ceremony ‘show how it was initiated for salvation for life at sea. it implicitly contains a message to preserve marine life (hermansyah & ar., 2003). it is also said that there are four functions of myths, one of which is the pedagogical (educational) function that myths teach humans about how they should live in every condition. the context of the crocodile myth attributed to sayyidina ali teaches that humans must “respect” or preserve the fauna of the river, one of them is the crocodile. [ 18 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 this myth is similar to that found in ethnic dayak ngaju where there are 2 highest god figures in the community, namely mahatala and jata. mahatala has several titles such as hatala, lahatala, mahatara, bahatara guru and the original title is tingang i.e. hornbill. jata also has other nicknames such as tambon, bawin, jata balawang bulau (jata female with the first door). the mahatala god dwells in the upper world much better than the human world. meanwhile, jata resides in the underworld with his subject the crocodiles. the point that attracted the attention of the researchers is that in ethnic dayak ngaju, there is a belief that the crocodile is a sacred animal, so it should not be killed. similarly, the legends found among the people of papua are towjatuwa or mighty crocodile. this legends or myths give a very important message that it is imperative not to kill crocodiles, especially those in the tami river, because they can bring danger to the descedants of towjatuwa. the myth of the ethnic dayak ngaju, the legend of cincin in olak­olak kubu, the legend of towjatua in papua and the tadam paling crocodile king in teluk pakedai show how the myths believed in a society provide educational messages in order not to exploit and destroy the crocodile habitats. this mythical phenomenon shows the function of the myth which is the spirit of maintaining the nature equalibrium. relation between the myths of sayyida ali’s illegitimate child crocodile and hatred against shi’a. one of the hypotheses to be proved through this research is whether the crocodile myth of sayyida ali’s illegitimate child has something to do with the hatred of a group toward the spread of shi’a, with imam ali being the main shiite figure. based on the data obtained no statements or data (either directly or indirectly) lead to this indication. based on the available data, there is no hint of hate directed toward religious belief. however, based on the researchers’ analysis of the mythical content, the storylines formed, and the attribution of the story to imam ali, it implies that there is a negative stereotype directed at imam ali. this analysis is “far” beyond the emic perspective of mythical tellers. researchers have other opinions, most likely that this myth is not the original of this region, but brought in from other places given there are other versions that are somewhat different from similar objects and subjects elsewhere, both sumatra and java. among the people of sumatra and west java, the name sayyidina ali is very popular associated with the supernatural power. the saga of ali’s grave on the moon is found in folk tales among javanese society [ 19 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 around the palace. as reported by h. soedarto in an interview, moving on from this belief, it may not have been constructed by local people, but may have come from civilization centers. if this theory is believed to be true, it may be the hatred against shiite groups that is constructed in this context. this analysis is based on the views of de jong (1980) that myths not only contain moral values, but they also serve as a means of maintaining power, hegemony, and domination. this is what de jong called a political myth. so, consciously or unconsciously, the myth connecting imam ali with crocodile grows indirectly because it is “nurtured” by certain religious authorities, with a diverse array of interests. the history of the conflict between shi’a and sunni recorded that the seeds had appeared after the death of prophet muhammad, continued in the umayyad, abbasid, fathimiyah, safawiah, iranian revolutionary periods until the arab spring or arab revolutions. among the most anti­shi’a regimes are the kingdom of saudi arabia. from the beginning, the saudi government was very anti­shi’a as reported by ardison muhammad (as quoted by sahide, 2013: 322). in the context of the indonesian archipelago, kh. hasyim asy’ari as the founder of the nu organization also explicitly stated that shi’a is heretical. it is also said that, kh. hasyim asy’ari in his three works of muqaddimah qanun asasi li jam’iyah nahdhatul ulama’, risalah ahlu al-sunnah wal jama’ah, al-nur al mubinfi mahabbati sayyid al-mursalin and al-tibyan fi nahyi’ an muqatha’ah al -arham wa al-aqrab wa al-akhwan, obviously criticized the teachings of shi’a (both imami and zaidiyyah) are a false school. the shi’a sect is considered a class that denounces the companions of prophet muhammad, especially abu bakr, umar and uthman. if this text becomes the basis of our analysis, it may be that the myths with hate and cultic content may have flourished in the sunni region. first, the myth of hatred against shi’a developed among sunnis to discredit shi’a that is considered heretical. the second possibility is the sunni­dominated territories have been infiltrated by the shi’a view over a long period of time because as we all know that the pattern of islam in the indonesian archipelago is predominantly sunni, although in some areas, the view of shi’a also developed earlier which gradually began to disappear. however, various views and traditions of shi’a are still preserved such as the celebration of ashura on 10 muharram for example. according to aboebakar atjeh (1977: 31), islam originally in aceh was originally spread by indian and gujarati merchants and preachers of shafi’i and shi’a arabs. this opinion is based on two previous expert opinions of sayyid moestafa at­thabathaba’i and sayyid dhiya’ shahab with the work entitled “the indonesian­iranian cultural relation (haulal’ [ 20 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 alaqatith thaqafiyah baina iran wa indonesia) published in 1339 by the iranian cultural office jakarta (atjeh, 1977:32). the opinion of aboebakar atjeh confirms that, in addition to living the sunni tradition, indonesia also received shi’a in the period of spreading islam in the archipelago. this context may help us understand the process of islamization, the interaction between islam and the local culture and the origins of various myths containing socio­ religious content. conclusion based on the analysis of the myths of sayyina ali from various perspectives, both sociology and anthropology (as well as sociology and anthropology of religion) the researchers came to several conclusions as follows. first, the myth of sayyidina ali’s illegitimate child crocodile is characterized with historical myth and myth of origin, with the formation of mythologization on the character of sayyidina ali. euhemerism has occurred that is the stance to the character, in this case the religious figure (imam ali) with a very strong syncretic style. the archetype is the identification of ali as a symbol of might or spiritual power which is expected with the mastery of such power will provide a sense of security for those who believe it. the place of origin and development of the myth took place in coastal areas, where people depend on the natural resources that exist in the sea. the “enemy” that threatens security at the estaury is a crocodile, so the myth is related to how to keep “harmonization” with crocodiles. second, there has been a syncretism between the local culture of the society and religious views. the accepted religious views are very peripheral, so the local construction of the cultural actors is very dominant namely the setting of an ahistorical story (river, crocodile, coconut trunk, banana leaf in arab land), that is irrational and even paradox of religious views, denotes the shallow knowledge of religion. thus, this myth explains the process of syncretism in coastal societies, by not attaching importance to the substance of religious truth, but simply maintaining the harmonization between religion and the concept of local culture (as the native tellers of oral tradition). third, judging from the benefits of the myth, it implicitly contains a message (education) so that humans keep the harmony between human life and nature because, thanks to people’s belief in relationship with crocodiles, it makes humans wiser in how they should treat nature or the environment around them. this value is in line with the conservation mission in modern natural resource management concepts. indirectly, this myth becomes a kind of educational myth, because it indirectly teaches humans to keep harmonizing [ 21 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 with nature. these values are not arbitrary, but they are practically observed and practiced by the native speakers as found in kubu and in teluk pakkedai. fourth, in relation to the hypothesis, there is a possibility that this myth reflects negative streotypes against shi’a, as the researchers believe that there are two possibilities; first, there is an issue of dislike of shi’a among sunni muslims, because some of its teachings are considered deviant. thus, the myth with a negative content against shi’a is deliberately “preserved” as a form of resistance against shi’a heresy. this opinion is based on the analysis of the dominant islamic style in the indonesian archipelago, including west kalimantan with its sunni islamic traditions. the second possibility is that this myth as a syncretic form of admiration, flourished among the sunni, but is a residue of the teachings of shi’a that had been taught in some areas of the indonesian archipelago. references abdulroya panaemalae, a., & prasojo, z. (2016). islam and the west: tariq ramadan and the discourse of religion of peace for a global under­ standing. al-albab, 5(2), 237 ­ 250. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alal­ bab.v5i2.507 alifuddin, m. (2007). islam buton: interaksi islam dengan budaya lokal. ja­ karta: badan litbang dan diklat departemen agama ri. armstrong, k. (2013). compassion: 12 langkah menuju hidup berbelas kasih. bandung: mizan. atjeh, a. (1977). aliran syi’ah di nusantara. jakarta: islamic research insti­ tute. baal, j.v. (1987). sejarah dan pertumbuhan teori antropologi budaya (hingga dekade 1970-an) jilid 1. jakarta: pt. gramedia. budiwanti, e. (2000). islam sasak. yogyakarta: lkis. daeng, h. j. (2000). manusia, kebudayaan, dan lingkungan: tinjauan anropologis. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. de jong, de josselin, p.e. (1980). “myth and non­myth” in r. schefold (ed), man, meaning and history: essays in honour of h.g. schulte nordholt. the hague: martinus nijhoff. dhavamony, m. (1995). fenomenologi agama. yogyakarta: kanisius. [ 22 ] al albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 florus, p. (eds). (2005). kebudayaan dayak: aktualisasi dan transformasi. pontianak: institut dayakologi. geertz, c. (1981). santri, priyayi, abangan dalam masyarakat jawa. jakarta: pustaka jaya (translation). hartanto, j.r. (?). wujud sinkretisme religi aluk todolo dengan agama kristen protestan. (unpublished manuscript). hs, h.s. (?). “masyarakat dayak meratus, agama resmi dan emansipasi”. in zainul erfan & arriedlo (eds.). potret banjar dalam kritik. banjar­ masin: pusat studi dan pengembangan borneo (pspb). hermansyah & ar. e.h. (2003). nilai-nilai pendidikan dalam upacara robo’-robo’ (unpublished research report). pontianak: stain pontianak. pelras, c. (2006). manusia bugis. jakarta: nalar. prasojo, z. (2012). penguatan identitas dayak muslim katab kebahan. alulum, 12(2), 245­266. retrieved from http://journal.iaingorontalo.ac.id/index.php/au/article/view/100 putra, h.s.a. (2007). “mencari jati diri dan identitas melayu.” retrieved from http//www: melayu online.com. on 28 september 2007. sahide, a. (2013). “konflik syi’ah­sunni pasca the arab spring. in jurnal kawistara. vol. 3 no. 3, 22 desember 2013. p. 227­334. syam, n. (2005). islam pesisir. yogyakarta: lkis. spradley, j.p. (1997). metode etnografi. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. sutiyono, (?) tradisi maysarakat sebagai kekuatan sinkretisme di trucuk, klaten (unpublished manuscript). yogyakarta: fbs, universitas neg­ eri yogyakarta. taum, y. y. (2011) lubuang buaya: mitos dan kontra mitos. accessed from: http://www.academia.edu/3231296/lubang_buaya_mitos_ dan_kontra­mitos (on 3 dec 2014). varisco, d.m. (2005). islam obscured: the rhetoric of anthropological representation. new york: palgrave macmillan. wiyata, l. (2002). carok, konflik kekerasan dan harga diri orang madura. yogyakarta: lkis. yulianto, j. (?). teori struktur levi strauss terhadap mitos raja malwopati. accessed from http://pascaunesa2011.blogspot.com/2012/06/te­ ori­struktur­levi­strauss­terhadap.html (on april 2014). jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 13 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 converting to islam segu atio pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract despite the fact that early chinese expeditions to this country were led by a muslim chinese named zheng he (cheng ho), the overwhelming majority of chinese indonesians currently embrace religions other than islam. th is article aims to give a fi rst-hand account of a chinese woman who converted to islam and the stereotypical opinion commonly held among chinese indonesians, particularly those living in pontianak, about it. th is article also looks at why a conversion to islam is always seen with a puzzled frown. keyword: convert, islam, chinesse introduction to understand the phenomenon of islam among indonesians of chinese descent or better known as tionghoa people in the local context, one needs to look at the history of the relations between chinese indonesians and their fellow indigenous indonesians. but fi rst, let us look at the use of the term tionghoa itself. tionghoa, as chinese indonesians are commonly referred to in this country, is a term that distinguishes between the chinese diaspora in indonesia and those in other countries such as malaysia, singapore, etc. interestingly, the term suku tionghoa which literally means ethnic chinese is oft en used to identify chinese indonesians as one of the ethnic groups in addition to other groups found in west kalimantan. although linguistically, the word tionghoa (mandarin 中华 chung hua) means “of or relating to china or the chinese people”. to avoid stereotypes and subjectivity, this paper is merely a refl ection of the author’s opinion and does not necessarily refl ect the general opinion of the chinese society of west kalimantan. th e author’s views are the result of the observation, personal experience and the discussions held with the respondents. converting to islam among chinese indonesians, hereaft er referred to as the chinese, is oft en opposed by the family. in some families, this conversion may result in a person being disowned or becoming estranged from the family. converting to islam is regarded as a disgrace that must be covered up. if a girl is married to a muslim man, it is very common for her parents to conceal the [ 14 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 fact by saying that their daughter is working in another city or moved with her husband to an unspecifi ed place. when asked about her to other members of the family, they refuse to talk about her or simply change the subject of the conversation. when asked again, the most common verbal response would be “it’s slap in the face.” th us, it is not uncommon for parents to attempt to persuade their children to revert to their former belief. in this light, one might start asking either “what is wrong with the chinese or what is wrong with islam?” why is it diffi cult for the chinese to welcome islam while, in contrast, it is easy for them to embrace other religions without questions. do they consider islam an evil religion? is it because of the people who claim to be muslims but their acts are contradictory to the islamic teachings? or is it due to the widespread anti-islamic propaganda in the mass media? to answer all these questions, an in-depth study is needed so as to avoid bias or generalization. history of chinese arrival to better understand the chinese in west kalimantan, we fi rst need to look back at the arrival of early chinese settlers in indonesia. although little is known for certain when the chinese started coming to west kalimantan, herlianto (2001) in his work about the chinese diaspora, argued that people from the chin dynasty (from which the word china itself is derived) had begun to visit the island of java, sumatra and kalimantan in the 11th century by ship. during the period of the srivijaya kingdom, the chinese people began to settle in the coastal regions in indonesia. but at that time their number was still small and their arrival done spontaneously. in the 14th century, chinese people began to establish colonies in palembang. th ey mostly settled in the coastal areas. many of them later assimilated with the local communities and left their ancestral traditions and culture. between the 15th and 16th century, more and more came and established settlements on the islands of java and borneo, and their number is estimated at hundreds of thousands. eka hendry (2007) in his work about the chinese community in west kalimantan stated that chinese people arrived at this area around the 18th century. most of them settled in monterado and worked as gold miners. as mentioned earlier, that in accordance with historical accounts the chinese may have visited west kalimantan long before the 18th century because in the 11th century ships from china had already reached sumatra, java and kalimantan. in addition, trade relations between the merchants in guangdong and fujian [ 15 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 and those in west kalimantan had been set up since the 16th century. in 1750s the wave of chinese arrival in west kalimantan was increasing in connection to the borneo gold rush. yuan (1998) in her book, chinese democracies, explains that it is generally thought that miners from china came to borneo (as the island of kalimantan is known to foreigners) around 1750 at the request of the malay sultanate due to their reputation as skilled miners and their mining technology. economic and social diffi culties may have triggered their migration to this province in the hope of a better future. over time, the chinese miners and their descendants began to spread to diff erent regions in the province. in contrast to the chinese descendants on the island of java, most of the chinese descendants in west kalimantan are able to maintain their culture and language. even though they marry a native indonesian, their children can still communicate orally in hakka or tiochiu – two of the most common chinese dialects found in the province. high tolerance among the native peoples of west kalimantan (dayak and malay) and the fact that the province is situated quite far from the capital city jakarta may have somehow played a role in the maintenance of their language and culture. religious and political issues most of the chinese in west kalimantan embrace religions other than islam. many of them also still practice the ancestral beliefs. when confucianism was approved as the offi cial religion in indonesia during abdurrahman wahid administration, many of the chinese reverted to it. it is very uncommon to fi nd a chinese person practicing islam. if one meets with a chinese muslim, he/she is usually a new convert. th is conversion is mostly because of marriage. religious contemplation may sometimes trigger the conversion but marriage is a more common reason. however, mixed marriage between the chinese and muslims are rare. yuan (1998) writes that even though the chinese were asked to come to west kalimantan by the malay, they did not mingle with them and marriage between them was not allowed. th erefore, it could be assumed that not until recently has mixed marriage between the chinese and malays taken place as it has always been prohibited due to religious reasons or cultural incompatibilities. according to veth, in borneo’s wester-afdeeling, quoted by yuan (1998), although the malay language has become a lingua franca, there was no record of any chinese having a malay wife. it may have been not only due to the chinese dislike of islam but there must have been other incompatibilities as well, particularly the [ 16 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 traditional practice of the islamic teachings that was common in west borneo at those times. in addition, the colonial dutch policy did not promote interracial relations either as it aimed to keep the two groups separated. th is could shed some light as to why it is unusual for the chinese to marry a malay. th e traditional muslim men will be unlikely to marry a woman whose religion is other than islam. if a woman is not a muslim, she is expected to convert to islam upon marriage. similarly, the chinese have long been known to always stick to their culture fi rmly. so it is also common for a chinese man to fi nd a woman of chinese origin as a wife. at this point, it is not surprising to fi nd chinese parents opposing their daughter’s intermarriage. incompatibilities between the islamic teachings and the chinese cultural practices could be assumed as the main reason. for instance, pork is forbidden in islam while it is a delicacy in the chinese cuisine. when one looks back at the history of the early chinese expeditions to areas that make up parts of the present-day indonesia, one will come across an important fi gure, cheng ho. he was one of the earliest chinese people who came to indonesia. he was a muslim hui chinese who led maritime expeditions to southeast asia (including java and sumatera),  south asia, the  middle east, somalia and the swahili coast between 1405 to 1433 (wikipedia.org). in semarang, central java, a mosque was built in his honor. the dilemma converting to islam for a chinese person has oft en become a dilemma. identity and ethnicity could be among the factors contributing to the gap between the chinese society and the malay muslims in west kalimantan. th is new convert will experience an identity crisis or be in the state of losing their ‘chineseness’. from the point of view of the chinese, islam seems synonymous with the malay. th erefore, converting to islam is regarded as becoming a malay. th e term for converting to islam commonly used in tiochiu dialect is jip huan (nyip fan in hakka) which literally means ‘enter into malay’ or ‘becoming malay’. th is may cause reluctance among the chinese to embrace islam because the conversion is viewed as leaving their chinese identity behind and sometimes may lead to family break-up. however, conversion to christianity does not seem to change anything as compared to islam. th e term in tiochiu is jip ka (nyip kau in hakka) which literally is ‘enter into religious teachings’. it can therefore be assumed that converting to islam means changing the identity to being malay, whereas conversion to christianity does not change anything. in other words, a chinese [ 17 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 converting to islam is no longer chinese but converting to christianity remains chinese. th us, one may wonder why conversion to islam seems to be undesirable while christianity is more acceptable to the chinese. according to a chinese muslim respondent, one of the reasons might be that a chinese muslim will have problems participating in the activities of chinese traditions or family events. for example, they will have trouble eating together at the family banquet which is usually held one day before the chinese lunar new year as islamic teachings are very strict with the concept of halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden) for certain foods and beverages. on the other hand a chinese christian can still join the family big meal. amoy (a pseudonym), a muslim converted chinese, said that she no longer joined a family dinner since she converted to islam. “sometimes i feel sad that cannot participate in family gatherings. but what can i do? i guess this is the price i have to pay for my conversion” (interviewed in april 2008). in addition, there are many other chinese rituals and traditions that she can no longer perform aft er embracing islam. for example when a member of her family died, she just came as a mourner and did not participate in the procession. th is also may cause the chinese to be reluctant to practice islam as they have to skip family events, rituals and traditions. when a parent dies, there is usually a ritual of respecting the dead using incense stick which is considered syirik (polytheistic practice) in islam. amoy further added that the way muslim women should get dressed also contributes to the reluctance of conversion to islam among chinese women. in order to be a good muslim, she wants to comply with the islamic dress code by wearing a headscarf. according to amoy, it was not easy for her at fi rst to get used to the change in the dress code. she found it uncomfortable as her friends and relatives could easily notice that she is “no longer” chinese. as discussed above that converting to islam may cause a chinese to lose their chineseness because islam is seen as the religion of the malay, so becoming a muslim is seen as becoming a malay. th e headscarf is also oft en used as a ‘weapon’ to discredit islam. th e muslim dress is oft en portrayed as inconvenient, infl exible, old-fashioned, etc. according to an anti-islam propaganda page, wearing the hijab is a symbol of ignorance and harassment of women because women are treated like a genital organ that has to be covered. oddly enough in the site does not mention anything about the catholic nuns in europe who also wear clothes that cover the entire body except the face and hands. [ 18 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 another possible root that causes the reluctance of the chinese to embrace islam is the less harmonious relations with their fellow indigenous malays. th e sour relations between the malay and chinese were due to several important factors in the history of indonesia such as the ethnic classifi cation policy that segregated the chinese from other indigenous indonesian peoples. th e colonial dutch strategy to keep the chinese and the malay (indigenous people) apart had proved to be eff ective in weakening the two groups and thus it was easier to maintain control over rebellious movements that might threaten the colonial government’s rule. th e chinese were categorized as foreign orientals or second class citizens aft er the europeans who were treated as fi rst class. th is ethnic segregation policy was part of the divide-and-rule politics exercised by the colonial dutch government to quell the support of the chinese for the indigenous peoples’ fi ght against the colonial power. social jealousy toward the chinese was deliberately and politically motivated so as to prevent the chinese from becoming a threat to the colonial rule. since this condition lasted for hundreds of years, the gap between the chinese and the malay (one of the major indigenous ethnic groups in west kalimantan) has grown too wide to bridge. mix marriage between the chinese and malays who are muslims is less common compared to that between chinese and dayak and other ethnic groups that embrace christianity. g/30s/pki on september 30, 1965, several high ranking generals of the indonesian army were kidnapped and killed in jakarta. it was part of a coup blamed on the defunct indonesian communist party (pki). th e event is commonly known as the rebellion of g30s/pki. th e abortive coup which led to the replacement of then president soekarno by soeharto, was allegedly supported by the people’s republic of china. in the wake of the event, hundreds of thousands of people labeled as members of the pki were killed under the pretext of ‘restoring order and stability’. since the chinese were regarded as the communist supporters, the new order government under soeharto adopted a policy that castrated the rights of the chinese in the fi elds of politics and bureaucracy and directed them to concentrate in the economic related fi elds. th is also gave rise to social jealousy because of the commonly held perception that the chinese were in control of the economy. during economic crises, they oft en became the target of anger and disappointment in which their shops were looted, their houses burnt, and even there were reports of the mass rapes of ethnic chinese women during riots in jakarta in may 1998. a number of riots that occurred during the new order period and continued [ 19 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 to take place during the early phases of reform era have further have to a certain degree aff ected the relations between the chinese and indigenous indonesians. since the majority of indonesians are muslims, islam is oft en seen as the religion of the indigenous indonesians. th erefore the sour relations between the chinese and indigenous indonesians has also kept the chinese from embracing islam. according to an article published on the webpage of the university of notre dame counseling center, we are more likely to develop negative feelings about a particular racial group when we have little contact with the group. in addition, negative experiences with a member of the group will only strengthen the stereotype and create fears. it is these fears that further develop into an us-versus-them mentality. amoy herself reveals that it is not easy to change her family’s view of islam. moreover, the negative stereotype about islam is strengthening among the non-muslim community. islam is oft en portrayed as a religion repressive toward women. amoy also reported in the interview (april 2008) that she was disappointed with aa gym for his decision to take another wife. she further added that she was terribly disturbed by news coverage in the mass media that tarnished the image of islam especially related to the islamic defenders front, amrozi, osama bin laden, the september 11 attacks in new york, the terror bombings in madrid, london, iraq and many other places. as reported in the mass media, the violent acts were carried out on behalf of islam as if the religion is synonymous with being violent, intolerant, hateful and destructive. global anti-islam propaganda also appeared in europe such as the emergence of the caricatures of the prophet muhammad in denmark, the movie fitna in the netherlands all aimed at portraying islam as a religion of hate. as a convert, amoy experienced a dilemma that is diffi cult for her to describe. on the one hand, she wants to show her family that islam is a religion of peace, while on the other she is confused about various events reported by the media that tend to depict the negative stereotype about islam. reference hendri, eka (2007). mengenal etnis tionghoa di kalbar. stain pontianak. herlianto (2001). masalah cina, 2nd article. http://www.yabina.org/artikel/ a5_01.htm [accessed october 1, 2007] yuan, bing ling (1999). chinese democracies a study of the kongsis of west borneo (1776–1884). www.en.wikipedia.org [accessed october 1, 2007] www.wikipedia.com/west_kalimantan.html [accessed november 30, 2007] www.faithfreedom.com [accessed may 5, 2008] [ 20 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 www.bbc.co.uk [accessed november 30, 2007] http://ucc.nd.edu/self-help/multicultural-awareness/overcoming-stereotypes/ jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 134 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 strengthening ethnic and religious harmony: in the pluralist multicultural society of west kalimantan by moh. haitami salim reviewed by: syamsul kurniawan (pontianak state college of islamic studies) it is a reality that we are living in the midst of diversity of the community. moreover, as a country with various ethnic groups, indonesia is famous for its diversity, ranging from ethnicity, race, origin, ancestry, religion, language, custom, to the level of education, social and economic backgrounds. just imagine this country, which now has a population of more than 200 million, is made up of hundreds and even thousands of ethnic groups, more than 525 languages and dialects spreading over approximately 17,800 large and small islands, stretching along 5,150 km between the continents of asia and australia, and between the pacifi c ocean and indian ocean at the equator. similarly, as the fourth largest province aft er irian jaya, central kalimantan and east kalimantan, west borneo has an area of 146,807 kilometers square with a population of diverse ethnic groups and religions. moh. haitami salim, in his book strengthening ethnic and religious harmony, realized that diversity in west kalimantan deserves special attention. th is is because the diversity of the community in this province is potential for confl ict to occur (p. 73), as warned by samuel p. huntington in his works clash of civilization, regarding the potential clash between ethnic groups, religions, and civilizations. th is is because the potential of diversity has two sides, or in other words has two opposite faces: one as the “uniting” force and the other as the “divider”. th e events of communal confl icts in west kalimantan, for example, were caused by what moh. haitami salim called the dividing factor between groups (p. 73). it was recorded that at least there have been 12 events of ethnic confl icts in west kalimantan, between 1963 to 1999 with a great loss of property and human lives. th e intensity of each confl ict varies, four of which were large-scale riots, i.e. between people of chinese descent and dayaks in 1967, between dayaks and madurese in samalantan in 1996/1997, and between malays and madurese in sambas district in 1998/1999. th e latter even led to the expulsion of a certain ethnic group from the region. th e impacts of the confl icts were felt up to now because they were unresolved. th is phenomenon indicates the high [ 135 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 possibility of confl ict involving ethnic groups in west kalimantan (p. iv). if not carefully handled, this sort of confl ict can lead to religious confl icts. (pp. 29). th e confl ict that took place last year between a religious organization and a certain ethnic group in pontianak has presumably proved this perspective. in his book published by bulan sabit press, moh. haitami salim argued the importance of upholding the principles of life in the middle of plural society, in particular for muslims: fi rst, the principle of the brotherhood; th is principle should be inherent in any society, that we are all brothers that originate and descend from the same ancestors, as indicated in the verses of the qur’an especially in ar-rum: 20, an-nisa’: 1, and al-hujurat: 13. second, the principle of seeking equality; th e quran teaches and encourages us to constantly look for similarities in diversity including the religious pluralism as mentioned in ali imran: 64. th ird, the principle of respect for diff erences. in this principle, diff erences must be seen as the grace, power and will of god, and thus it becomes a duty to respect and appreciate them. respect and appreciation will bring us to getting to know each other and conduct good deeds a described in the verses above. th e qur’an also teaches that we are not allowed to mock each other as described in al-hujurat: 11. fourth, the principle of keeping the faith and worship. th is principle must be exercised by all followers of religions, that belief (aqidah) and religious rituals should not be mixed up, because they should be treated as something very personal as described in al-kafi run: 1-6. fift h, the principle helping each other; with this principle, all common problems can be overcome together with mutual help. th e quran recommends that we help each other in terms of good deeds and love. sixth, the principle of avoiding negative presumption; th e quran also teaches that we should not necessarily have prejudice on others or fi nd fault in others as well as gossiping about others. th e quran suggests that doing this is like eating the fl esh of your dead brother al-hujurat: 12 (pp. 29-31). diversity, diff erences, plurality, and various other similar terms are part of social reality that is inevitable in the course of life in the world. it is an inevitability that cannot be denied and part of the law and will of god the almighty, and will not change forever. its existence will continue to fi ll up the pages of history of mankind. th e book written by dr. h. moh. haitami salim, m.ag who currently serves as director of the graduate school of stain pontianak is basically a collection of papers he delivered in various seminars, dialogs, and so forth. th e book is divided into three parts: fi rst, a discussion on the insights of pluralism and multiculturalism in west kalimantan society; second, the religious and socio-cultural issues and the events of confl icts in west [ 136 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 kalimantan; and third, the strategic role of religious fi gures and inter-religious institutions in west kalimantan. finally, it can be said that the book consisting of 194 pages objectively presents the circumstances of west kalimantan as an intellectual endeavor of the author, dr. h. moh. haitami salim, to maintain peace in west kalimantan. th erefore, the book strengthening ethnic and religious harmony in the pluralist multicultural society of west kalimantan can enrich enthusiasts of pluralism or multiculturalism studies, particularly in the context of west kalimantan. *** [ 83 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 state and religion in aceh: the competences of religious education teachers (referring to act 14, 2005) mujiburrahman ar-raniry state islamic university, banda aceh email: mujiburrahman@ar-raniry.ac.id abstract studies on religious education teacher’s competences in aceh could not be separated from studies on state’s intervention toward education. state hegemony occurs in the form of regulation formalization which regulates efforts for improving qualification and competence of teachers. the research showed that the presence of act no. 14, 2005 and the government regulation no. 74, 2008 had been used as legal reference to encourage the improvement of aceh religious education teachers’ qualification and competence. this is a qualitative study in which triangulation in data collection was used. the data was then collected through documentations, observations, and deep interviews. this work emphasizes that improving teachers’ competences in islamic education system in aceh was in accordance to and did not contradict with national education system and moreover strengthen the content of act no. 14, 1005 and government regulation no. 74, 2008. qualification and competence of religious education teachers in aceh underwent improvement better than previous term. however, teachers experienced that socialization process and implementation of regulation has yet to receive upmost attention. the study also suggests that religious education teachers’ qualifications and competences will significantly contribute to the development of religious education quality, thus islamic education transforms intently in national and state relations order. keywords: policies, teacher, competence, religious, education, religious, state, relation introduction the government regulation on teachers has been implemented in the past ten years. however, the quality and professionality of indonesian teachers seems to be still problematic, particularly in aceh. the condition of aceh education has become into attention of many experts (i.e. goto et al., 2012; oktari, shiwaku, munadi, syamsidik, & shaw, 2015; shah & lopes cardozo, 2014). rosemary and mahdi (2013) show that education in aceh which is based on islamic value is relatively different from national education, since the latter is [ 84 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 based on three pillars, accessibility, quality, competitiveness and governance, accountability and public image (rosemary, si, & mahdi, 2013). the presence of act no 14, 2005 to improve religious education teacher’s competences and quality in the aceh province which is protected by the implementation of sharia law does not reach significant improvement (zulfikar ali buto, 2016). this is evident from the result of teacher competence test (ukg) in aceh province of 37.62. it was far from national average score. meanwhile, ukg national average score was 43.84 (iskandar, 2012). in 2015, teacher competence test result in aceh ranked 32 out of 34 provinces in indonesia, with average score of 45.27 (kemendikbud, 2016). on the other hand, this result suggests that teacher’s competences in aceh is still weak. these weaknesses cover several respects, such as: 1) lack of teacher’s capability in developing teaching materials, 2) lack of teacher’s knowledge about their roles and responsibilities in schools, and 3) discrepancy between educational background and subject being taught (feralys novauli. m., 2015: 46). one of the reasons for the difficulties to improve teacher’s quality is as the result of the failure in the implementation of the acts, no. 14, 2005. phenomenon of the difficulty of implementing the policy is cleared and supported by several research on implementation of undergoing policy (nakamura,1987; lypski, 1980; dan hjern, 1981). previous studies suggest that research on improving teacher’s quality mainly reviews three aspects. firstly, research on policy and developing education program. talking about educational policy, mintrop (1999:274) finds inconsistency of regulation which is overlap in three factors including institutional reference frame, self-reference frame (teacher) and learner reference frame as perspective to see educational policies. secondly, research on education and developing teacher’s profession. according to avalos (ma, et al, 2018: 292), developing teacher’s profession is related to teacher’s learning, learning about teaching strategies, and transforming knowledge for the sake of student’s development. thirdly, research on improving teacher’s quality and competence, pantic, wubbels, and mainhard (2011: 165) state that teacher’s competence is classified into four respects including (a) self-evaluation and profession development, (b) knowledge on subject, pedagogy and curriculum, (c) understanding on educational system and contribution in development, and (d) values as well as childcare. of these trend, there is a negligent or lack in term of correlation between text and context of act no 14, 2005 and needs and developing education in aceh nowadays (especially in the context of aceh, whose majority population is muslim). this suggests the need to consider socio-religious and socio-cultural [ 85 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 values among aceh people themselves upon developing educational quality (abubakar, 2013). at the same time, the substantive message on the act is not well delivered to teachers. furthermore the implementation of the act applies into lembaga pendidikan dan tenaga kependidikan (lptk) as the institution producing prospective religious education teachers in aceh. the shortcoming explanation becomes the main focus of reviews in this article which filling the gap the previous studies by answering three questions; 1) how is the formulation of act no 14, 2005 related to development of objective trends in education in aceh nowadays?; 2) how can the implementation and message of act no 14, 2005 be accepted by teachers as users for improving competence in islamic education system in aceh?; how is the ability of lptk as the institution which produces the next religious education teachers in aceh?; and 3) how is the implementation of act no. 14 year 2005 which encourages the occurrence of the transformation of religious education in nation development be realized? this work is based on three assumptions as the cores of the discussion and focus of the review. firstly, the formulation of act no 14, 2015 is not based on objective trends taking place in educational field nowadays (the act is not relevant and not conceptual) and is not based on social reality of the acehnese who are known to be religious. therefore the effort to improve teacher’s quality and the quality of islamic education is difficult to achieve. secondly, the implementation and the message of act no. 14, 2005 that has cultural and structural constraints does not fully reach teachers, which is the main targeted group of the act, and not reach lptk as well especially as the institution which has the authority to produce prospective (religious education teacher). therefore mission on improving competency is hard to achieve. thirdly, the transformation of religious education in the process of nation building will suffer from significant obstacles if the improvement of religious education teacher’s competency cannot be realized well. these three assumptions are the basis of this article. this review employs qualitative method (atkinson 2017; stenius et al. 2017) i have come to understand that a solid grounding in the philosophical foundations and ethical considerations of one’s fi eld of study are imperative for the success of any research endeavor. whenever scholars have a strong grasp on their philosophical foundations, they are well prepared to comprehend the methods that they will utilize to study social activism. note, chapter two research methodologies this chapter explores: (1 focusing on three cities in aceh including banda aceh, lhokseumawe and langsa. the three cities were chosen as the focus of this study because of four reasons. first, they have [ 86 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 similar geographical, social and cultural values, as well as social and religious condition. second, generally, the rate of institutional progress and quality in the three cities is relatively alike. third, religious education teachers in the three cities are well-qualified. this study uses triangulation method which combines three different methods of data collection; observation, in-depth interview, and document analysis. observation was conducted to observe and see teacher’s activities as well as management and activities of educational institutions (lptk). document analysis was used to obtain the data related to the theories on research substance, and review of regulation substance which became focus of this study. in depth interview was conducted to obtain data from main sources consisting of religious education teachers, and the lptk managers. relations between state and religious education indonesian religious education policy and system are designed to strengthen the relationship between state and religion. in islam, there is no a conflict between political leaders and religious leaders. islam does not have priesthood and also does not have a church-like institution. the islamic teaching covers a wide range of areas, including politics, law, economy, social, and culture (deliar noer, 2003). meanwhile, muhammad abed al-jabiri (2001) explains that throughout the history, there is no conflict between the state and religion. the dichotomy only took place in the west (especially in the roman empire) when church was ruled by a group of priests.. therefore, relationship between religion and state becomes an interesting discourse since the first era of religion until now. social-political stability also has a role in the relationship of religion and state which goes up and down, especially in affecting policy and politics of education. education and politics are two essential elements in social and political system in all countries (baker, 2014). the involvement of government is basically to play and realize roles in public policy-related development which is implemented by a government (edited by karen mundy, andy green, bob lingard, 2017). the state often intervenes national education system through regulation issued (yusuf and sterkens, 2015). developing teachers’ competency and quality through implementing act number 14, 2005 cannot be separated from the policy and politics of education run by the government. teachers’ competency is defined by tichá and hospesova (2012: 134) as a series of qualifications, abilities and characters which are needed to realize professional success and the competence and an ability to act as needed to respond to the situations during teaching, as well as to improve the quality of [ 87 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 learners. the policy about teacher’s competency is essentially made to fulfill needs of education in order to achieve its goals. however, as explained by cohen, moffitt and goldin (2007: 515), policy and its implementation raise a dilemma between the policy and the educational practitioner’s ability to use the policy to solve educational problems. on the contrary, the realization of policy itself depends on the abilities of those who support the implementation and goals. in the government’s regulation, teacher’s competence becomes one of the aspects in educational policy. educational policy-related problem was shown to describe the existence of inequal value, as explained in journal of harvard law review which shows the term inconsistence of regulation as inequality of formulating policy among educational policies in the constitution (the harvard law review association, 2015: 941). the problem is emphasized by mintrop (1999: 274) that inconsistence is as overlap regulations in three factor models, self-reference frame, institutional-reference frame and learnersreference frame as perspective to see educational policy. a discussion about teacher’s competency cannot be separated from reviews on professional education, because both are related. avalos (ma, et al, 2018:292, klingstedt, et al (1981: 15-22) explains that developing profession for teacher is related to teachers’ learning, learning the way to teach, and transform knowledge for students’ development. furthermore, rebell and molly (2014: 691) state that standardized and effective instructor is the key element to improve students’ achievement. therefore, all professional educators must focus on the aim to realize improving students’ achievement. moreover, rebell and molly (2014: 694) explain that teacher profession education forms in the process of adjusting curriculum between standard of teacher training and standard of students learning through teacher’s certification test, a test of various aspects of qualification as an effort to validate knowledge and skills needed in teacher profession. in teacher education context, education for teacher program is explained by ludington (1940: 263) by considering social condition in which teacher profession becomes an experiment center to answer social problem. professional education is a place to transform problem faced in education (barney, 2004, cooney (1994: 631). basic competence which must be understood by the teachers is pedagogical competence. moreover, teacher’s competence of pedagogy is the basic need for a teacher. liakopoulou (2011: 475-476) explains that criteria in valuing the pedagogical competence is likely based on the result standard approach or learner’s performance, teacher’s performance standard approach, teacher’s responsibilities evaluation, and competence standard criteria. in [ 88 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 balkan countries, according to pantic, wubbels, and mainhard (2011: 165), teacher’s competence is classified into four aspects; (1) self evaluation and developing profession; (2) subject’s knowledge, pedagogy and curriculum; (3) understanding educational system and its contribution on development; and (4) value as well as parenting. besides pedagogy competence, personality competence is also a measurement to know the readiness of teacher. teacher’s personality is a key factor for teacher’s teaching effectiveness (symonds, 1947: 653-654, barr, 1960: 400-405). besides personality, a teacher needs social competence which is useful to understand social dynamic in the class (gehlbach, 2010: 351). in addition, a teacher should understand roles of profession and should have professional competence. dreher and kutze (2015: 110) emphasize the importance of understanding an interaction between teachers and students in which professional knowledge of teacher connects to various representation of roles in learning. the formulation act no 14 of year 2005 with the development of religious education system in aceh the structure and the formulation of act no. 14, 2005 consist of 8 chapters and 84 articles. based on substantive analysis of act uu no 14, 2005 in chapters and articles which are related to teachers, it can be understood that the presence of the act is to: 1) legally and formally approving functions, roles and strategic positions of teacher in national development in educational field; 2) enhancing dignity of teacher as professional educator which is proven with educator certificate; 3) managing duties and rights of teachers in conducting their professional responsibilities 4) empowering and improve quality of teachers accordingly, directly and sustainably; and 5) providing a safe and healthy working for teachers in performing their duties and sanctions if they neglect their responsibilities as regulated in the act. teacher’s competency in act no. 14, 2005 is contained in article 10, at verse 1 which states that “teacher’s competency as stated in verse 8 are pedagogy competency, personality competency, social competency, and professional competency, which are obtained in education for profession. verse 2 states that: “further requirements about teacher’s competency as meant at verse (1) are regulated in government’s regulation” (act. no 14, 2005). material about teacher’s competency which is contained in act no. 14, 2005 is still general that is a basic concept of substance of competence which must be possessed by a teacher. the basic concept which is general and conceptual must be explained in detail and specifically in term of operation which is implemented. therefore, the explanation about the act is revealed in the government’s regulation no. [ 89 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 74, 2008 about teacher. discussion about teacher competency is explained comprehensively and in detail in article 3, verse 1-7. (1) competency as described in verse 2 is a group of knowledge, skill, and behavior which must be possessed, perceived, mastered, and actualized by teachers when conducting their professional duties. (2) teacher’s competency as described in verse (1) consists of pedagogical competence, personal competence, social competence, and professional competence which are obtained through education for profession. (3) teacher’s competence as described in verse (2) is holistic. (4) pedagogical competence as described in verse (2) is teacher’s ability in managing learning of students which at least consists of: a) understanding about insights and the basis of education; b) understanding learners; c) developing curriculum and syllabus; d) designing learning; e) performing educated and dialogic learning; f) utilizing learning technology; g) evaluating learning results; and h). developing learners to actualize their various potencies. . (5) personal competence as described in verse (2) consist of at least personality that is: a) faithful and fearful of god, b) good attitude, c) wise, d) democratic e) steady, f) commanding, g) stable, h) mature, i) honest, j) sportsmanship, k) becoming an example for learners and society, l) objectively evaluating their performance, and m) self-developing independently and sustainably. (6) social competence as described in verse is (2) teachers’ ability as part of society which consists at least: a) being able to communicate spoken, written/ or sign language decently, b) being able to utilize communication and information technology functionally, c) being able to associate effectively with learners, other educators, educational personnel, leaders in educational institution, and parents or students’ representative, d) being able to associate decently with surrounding society by honoring norms and values; and e) implementing real brotherhood principal and spirit of togetherness. (7) professional competence as described in verse (2) is teachers’ competency in mastering their subject, technology, and/or art and culture at least mastering as follows: a) mastering material about their subject comprehensively and deeply based on standard of educational server program, subject, and/or a group of subjects that will be taught; and b) mastering concepts and methods of relevant subject, technology and art which conceptually apply or are coherent with educational server program, subject, and/or a group of subjects that are taught (pp. no. 74, 2008). [ 90 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 competency in act no. 14, 2005 and the government’s regulation no. 74, 2008 can be defined as knowledge, skills and attitude which are shown in form of willing, smart, fully responsible behavior belonging to a teacher in conducting his/her profession. a teacher is required to have competencies in performing his/her profession, ability to well interact socially with learners, other teachers, principals, and even with society. this thought is emphasized by usman (2007: 262) that every competency basically contains 6 elements; (1) performance: performing based on their field; (2) subject component; mastering material/substance of knowledge and technical skill based on their field; (3) professional; substance of knowledge and technical skill based on their professional field; (4) process: an intellectual ability such as logical thinking, problem solving, creative, decision making; (5) adjustment: selfadjustment; (6) attitude: attitude, personality value. in the context of the aceh educational system, understanding the act no. 14, 2005 and the government’s regulation no. 74, 2008 above becomes juridical basis which can work and strengthen together with formulation of act no. 11, 2006 about aceh government and qanun no. 11, 2014 about performing education in aceh. normatively, these four juridical basis have been composed based on the value and philosophy that encourage improvements and changes in society. normative dimension perceives that all policies, which are goals of society, basically are very normative. in relation with that, substance of value and goal which will be gained by implementing act uu no. 14, 2005, the aceh government act no 11,2006, government regulation. no. 74, 2008, and qanun of aceh no. 11 year 2014 in aspect of teacher is improvement of qualification and competency of teacher in order that improvement of educational quality and service will rise for aceh people entirely. improvement of quality and service of education for the acehnese is conceptually and technically explained in the islamic concept of aceh education. concept of islamic education is explained in qanun of aceh no. 11,2014, in chapter i article 1 verse (21) which defines islamic education as “an education which is based on values of islam teachings” (qanun of aceh, 2014). islamic values become the basis and soul of education. islamic education’s principle is universal and binding as found in article two that “islamic values, nationalism, acehism, truth, humanity, justice, beneficial, affordability, professionality, example, diversity, and non discrimination” (qanun of aceh, 2014). the explanation in article 1 and 2 provides an understanding that there is specificity of aceh educational system, which is based on sharia. this specialty has direct influences on efforts made in improving teachers’ competence in aceh and other regions in indonesia. as the aceh educational [ 91 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 system has been based on the sharia law, it ways of improving teachers’ competence are to same extent distinct to that of other regions across indonesia. this is reflected from the qanun of aceh no 11, 2014 regarding the requirement to be a teacher in the aceh province. article 48, for example, states that “to be a teacher, one must fulfill requirements as follows: a. having academic qualification according to level and kind of education based on regulation and act; b. having professional competency, pedagogical competence , personal competence and social competence which are proven by the result of competency test; c. having good attitude and being able to recite qur’an for muslim; d. mentally and physically healthy; and e. free from narcotics” (qanun of aceh, 2014). the qanun of aceh in article 38 states that to be eligible as prospective teachers, ones have to be competent in pedagogical competence, personal competence, social competence, and professional competence). these important requirements are very much relevant to the act no. 14, 2005 and the government’s regulation no. 74, 2008. however, there is different and unique aspect which is added as a requirement to be a qualified teacher in aceh, i.e. free from narcotics and being able to recite the qur’an (only for muslim teachers). this policy is in accordance with the requirement of islamic education system implemented in aceh. because islamic education concept is based on qur’an and hadith of prophet muhammad pbuh, reciting and understanding the content of koran are required for teachers working in aceh. the ability to read the qur’an is an integral part of developing pedagogical competence which means that mastering content of qur’an and hadith as an enrichment of learning material. logical consequence provides a logic conclusion that developing teacher’s competency in islamic education system in aceh is in accordance to and not contradicts to national education system and strengthens contents of the act no. 14, 2005 and the government’s regulation no. 74, 2008. the implementation of act no 14 of year 2005 toward improving religious education competency and lptk the comprehensive implementation of the act no. 14 year 2005 nationally around indonesia, including aceh, contains of three massive programs to improve teacher’s quality. first is a program to improve qualification of education for teachers (bachelor of religious education teacher qualification). this program is advanced education program at undergraduate level (s1) for teachers who do not have diploma of bachelor. second, certification program for teachers (psg) is held to educate and select some teachers. those who have competency will be eligible for educator certificate as a requirement to [ 92 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 obtain teacher certification. third, education for teacher profession program (ppg) is held to professionally train teachers who have competency and skills related to teacher training. besides ppg, there are other forms of education and training held in order to improve the quality of religious education teachers in aceh including training for developing learning theory, learning methodology, media, and learning source, management and program, as well as developing learning evaluation for religious education teachers. these three programs have been held since 2007 until now. according to data from faculty of education and teacher training, uin ar-raniry as lptk which is given a mandate by the government to hold the program, it can be seen that there are some programs being done. dualmode system program, from 2010 to 2014, has successfully trained and graduated 1.764 teachers of islamic elementary school and bachelor program of religious education teacher. in 2010, it has graduated 378 religious education teachers, program of education for teacher profession (ppg), from 2013 to 2014: 156 graduates, program of teacher certification (psg), which has been being held since 2007 until 2014, and has successfully trained and graduated 1.584 teachers (a report of lptk uin ar-raniry, 2017). through various programs above, religious education teachers has generally perceived a benefit which directly affect on the improvement of self-quality and self-competency. below is a statement of one of the religious education teachers in banda aceh. after the implementation of act on teacher, i get an opportunity to take part in teacher certification program in 2010 in faculty of education and teacher training iain ar-raniry banda aceh. during my involvement in the training program, i obtained so much knowledge, especially about the act on teacher which is related to competency that is required for teacher in teaching. in addition, i perceived that i have knowledge and experience of active, creative and fun teaching by implementing pakem approach that is provided by the teacher. moreover, i gain precious experience and knowledge during teaching practice through peer teaching pattern which is part of learning together process. in conclusion, after i finished my training, i obtained much knowledge about teaching theory, i can feel that there is a change and improvement of my quality and capacity rather than before (interview with ar, october, 2017). improvement of capacity and competency of teachers as experienced by a teacher, ar, after following certification for teacher program, will give positive impact toward performance and improvement of education quality. [ 93 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 in this term, destiana (2012) explains that there is a positive relationship between pedagogical competence and elementary teacher’s performance. a bad teacher’s performance is likely caused by lacks of knowledge, skills, motivation, and belief of the teacher himself. teachers who perform well have good pedagogical competences. consequently, an effort to improve teacher’s performance can be done by giving more focus to their pedagogical competence. however, teachers who have low competence will give negative impacts to their profession and performance. the research found that some teachers in lhokseumawe have lack of competence in using instructional media effectively. this suggests that instructional media has yet to be developed effectively by the teachers they do not fully utilize media that they create. the use of media is still in consumptive matters as general media today. writing media is often used to teach qur’an and hadith subject, akidah akhlak subject, and islamic culture and history subject. sometimes electronic media or kinds of it are used in teaching the qur’an, especially teaching standard competency of qur’anic recitation. the existence of competency and quality of teachers which is mostly low is often pointed as lptk’s mistake, as the institution that produces them. it is recorded in explanation by director general of islamic education, prof. dr. kamarudin amin, ma. “there is a perception among society, if teacher’s quality goes down. it is the mistake of lptk. it is reasonably complaint because campus, as committee of lptk, is often not in accordance with innovation in reality which emphasizes a practical thing. so far, there is a gap between theory and content which is taught in campus and practical thing in schools. as a result, training process in campus is not only less relevant, but also less interesting, less challenging, and less supportive to the improving teaching’s quality”. for that reason, we need to reform the process of prospective teacher preparation in lptk ptkin. in the future, graduates of lptk ptkin are expected to be more ready professional teacher in improving teaching quality in schools” (kamaruddin amin, 2017). the idea of improvement and reformation of lptk which is proposed by directorate general of islamic education should be a strategic discourse to fix and empower the institution of lptk. this idea is in accordance with setiana’s opinion (2015) that so far lptk is only placed as the institution of licensing for teacher profession. by seeing the spirit of the act for teacher which becomes the reference today, consecutive model will be a new direction of teacher training modal in indonesia. lptk function will only be functioned [ 94 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 as expanded certification institution (wider mandate) with basis of lptkness. concurrent model is pointed as reference by giving more enforcement in mastering subjects (subject matter). in conclusion, universities which has role as lptk must be more strengthened and encouraged to be better. the government must pay high attention to the execution of teacher training in lptk. there will be a tendency of the reduction of lptk’s existence and function as only institution for teacher profession certification. the need of developing and enforcing lptk is also explained by the vice dean of academic and institution division of the faculty of tarbiyah and teacher training (ftk) uin ar-raniry banda aceh that it is required to improve and reform management of institution, academic service, facilities for training in lptk entirely. the current condition of lptk is far from expectation and standard as professional institution which is prepared for producing the next teacher. this indication can be seen especially at the inadequate teachinglearning-supporting facilities. for example, micro teaching laboratory is out of standard, science and language laboratory are not adequate, and the collection of standardized reference book in library is not complete yet (data was supported by the interview with the vice dean of ftk uin ar-raniry, april 2018). the implementation of act no 14 of year 2005 and transformation of religious education good implementation of act no. 14 of the year 2005 will significantly affect the improvement of educational qualification and quality, and particularly professionality of religious education teachers. these skilled and well-qualified religious education teachers will influence the quality of religious education for the acehnese people. finally, religion will give great influence to character shaping, worldview and culture among society. there are two dimensions of diversity which is related to people’s life, i.e. (1) religion for its believers is used as a worldview which explains the existence of human in the world, explain the direction and aim of human’s life, (2) religion does not only regulate the relationship between human and god, but also regulates relationship among human and relationship between human and other creatures (nurcholis madjid, 2001: 117). religion is a faith which can be part and core of value systems which exist in people’s culture and become motor and controller of human’s behavior to become in accordance with cultural values and religious’ teaching. there are two big assets which support the implementation of values of religions in indonesia. both assets include the cultural assets (i.e. custom and [ 95 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 culture which is full of religious values) and structural assets by relying on pancasila and uud 1945 which juridically and constitutionally contain noble values which were born from universal islamic values and religion values. therefore, it is hoped that the two assets can be synergized and run well so that there will be a good governmental system. furthermore, the presence of religious education teachers as part of civil servant who is diretcly involved in the process of internalization and implementation of religious values in daily life is very crucial. internalization of religious values is given by teachers to learners. there will be further implication in term of bureaucracy system when they become part of civil servant, so that there will be a good and clean governance system. a good government coordinates, controls, and balances between government and people. the government can put up the values of people’s will that can improve people’s ability to gain the independence, to conduct development and put up justice among people. good and clean government is the reflection of manner in which ruling is conducted by people who are ruled by government related to social, cultural, political, educational, law and economical sources. clean government can be seen from the appearance of the effective, efficient, honest, equal, transparent, and responsible government’s activities. the clean government does not also commit a corruption, collusion, nepotism, and abusive power. government officers apply justice, law supremacy, willingness, honestly, trusteeship, and human right as well as perform religious teachings (deliar noer, 2003). the illustration of good and clean government above can be a model and ambitions which must be realized by the indonesian government. to achieve these nobel aims, the government must create a system, a police and a program which can improve and develop a good order in government. government system must show a modern governance system which put up the values of humanity and democracy, as well as souled by the values of religion and values of culture. the governance order that is souled and decorated by those various values will form a dynamic, democratic, egalitarian, transparent, and strong governance system. meanwhile, the government’s policy which is formulated and conducted must be in accordance with the paradigm and system of the good and clean government. on the other hand, substantially, every policy of government must provide a big room for the implementation of religious values in system and order of the government. indonesia, as described in the earlier condition, needs real and systematic efforts by all people in every aspect of life, one of which is education. in this term, it is needed to make a transformation of islamic education in the [ 96 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 development structure of indonesia. transformation of islamic education can be implemented in three forms. first, religious education must be a core component national education curriculum. religious education which is oriented to the improvement of quality of faith to allah needs to be created as national education, especially in anticipating moral and behavioral crises, including improving education quality. one of the mistakes of national education policy which directly or indirectly affect educational performance is that religious education (especially islamic education) does not become the substance of national curriculum and islamic education institution is less noticed in national education system. it is time for the government to create a regulation and policy of national education in which religious teachings become main content in national curriculum to strengthen faith, fear, and moral among people (sulaiman ibrahin, 2014). second, religious education in schools and universities must be taught by teachers and lecturers who are well-qualified and professional. the government and related stakeholders must evaluate and regulate the existence of teachers and lecturers who teach religious education to students throughout indonesia. it is conducted in order to ensure that teachers and lecturers who are appointed to teach future generation really have ability and good knowledge about religion, are pious individuals and have moral and good conduct. on the other hand, teachers and lecturers who have lack of understanding religious knowledge, not pious and have no good attitude cannot be a good example in daily life. third, the implementation of religious education material must be adjusted to the needs and the age of learners. to avoid the emerging of radicalism among students, there should be a concrete way in the process of learning; i.e. adjusting religious education materials to the needs and the age of learners. those who are beginner and intermediate students should be taught religious teachings that are related to belief, worship, attitude, and teaching about social interaction. it should be avoided to teach them the materials about politics. after they understand main materials and perform them very well, it is allowed for them to be taught topic about politics and state administration since they are mentally ready and they have good knowledge. the logic consequence can prevent the next generation of this nation from radicalism which has been troubling the nation today. conclusion the implementation of act no. 14, 2005 and the government’s regulation no. 74, 2008 about teacher is a form of intervention and hegemony of this country toward educational field. the born of those regulations is as an answer of [ 97 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the problem of the low qualification and quality of teachers in indonesia in general and aceh in particular. this article, which is based on the analysis of literatures about qualification, competency and certification of teacher, shows that the existence of the act and government regulation which regulate teacher’s competency still needs deep evaluation because the first purpose of implementing of those regulation is not well achieved yet. this review provides the illustration that in one side of the formulation of the act and government regulation together with social cultural context of the acehnese, there is a difference which should be adjusted and completed, so that the purpose of the implementation of the act and government regulations can be realized in the frame of people’s benefits. on the other side, the implementation of act no. 14, 2008 does not fully affect the improvement of teacher’s competency maximally. it is not ignored that there is improvement of qualification and competency of religious education teachers in aceh after the implementation of the act no. 14 year 2005. however, it can be found that correlation between the increasing number of teachers is not in line with the improving religious education teachers’ competences in aceh. the research shows that there is tight relationship between the obstacles of teacher’s competency achievement and the existence of lptk as an institution for training and empowering teachers’ quality, which cannot get serious attention in the frame of regulation. formulation of the act no. 14 year 2005 does not enough discuss about lptk, so that developing and improving lptk does not become an attention and main program of the government. this work shows that a complete study is needed which is more based on substance of content of act no. 14, 2005 related to improving qualification and competency of teacher which cannot be separated with improving the quality of lptk as an institution which has duty and strategic function to improve quality and professionality of teachers in indonesia. bibliography abid, a. m. 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[ 189 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 apocalyptic propaganda: how the u.s. government manufactured consent on the war on terror carin blom independent researcher email: cmblom68@gmail.com tomas lindgren umeå university, sweden email: tomas.lindgren@umu.se abstract war and propaganda have been linked together for a long time because of a natural human inhibition against killing other humans. to get citizens to give their consent to go to war and kill, the leader(s) need to influence them. the aim of this study is to analyse the content and functions of the u.s. governments post 9/11 propaganda to find out how this where done. coyne and hall argue that propagandists need the publics enlighted consent to be able to influence them. this work will prove that the u.s. government used propagandistic tools, like the fear of our own and our civilizations annihilation through an apocalyptic language, to circumvent our rational thinking and talk unbridled to our emotions and thereby inhibit our higher cognitive functions. as method we use bricolage. bricolage interpretations adapt different technical discourses to each other and move freely between different techniques and concepts. in this work it had an advancement over other methods because our field of investigation stretched over different fields of research and we were free to use the method that best suited our collected data. we demonstrate that the u.s. government functioned as fearmongers on their home audience to stir up emotions so the citizens would choose the path that best suited the leader(s), but that it was far from being enlighted. keywords: propaganda; totalism; apocalypse; war on terror introduction since the foundation of the united states of america in 1776, war and propaganda have been linked to shape the opinions of domestic audiences (coyne & hall 2021). in line with this statement noam chomsky claims “usually the population is pacifist, just like they were during the first world war. the public sees no reason to get involved in foreign adventures, killing, and torture. so you have to whip them up” (chomsky 2002b: 30). this is [ 190 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 exactly what happened after the 9/11 attacks (2001). in this article, we focus on the content of the (religiously and apocalyptically inspired) post-9/11 propaganda in george w. bush and his governments speeches, how it was used by the government to manufacture consent for the war on terror, and its implications. the aim is to increase our understanding of how war propaganda can circumvent our rational thinking by talking exclusively to our emotions and thus make ordinary people vulnerable to governments choice of action. drawing on public statements, secondary literature, and theories of propaganda (herman and chomsky 1998/2002; coyne and hall 2021; stanley 2016) and totalism (lifton 2003), we argue that the post-9/11 propaganda was deliberately used by the u.s. government to circumvent their own citizens´ higher cognitive functions. by talking directly to our emotions by exaggerating the threats from outside through apocalyptic language, the president george w. bush made the people of usa dependent on him and his government for survival. as method of analysis, we use bricolage. with bricolage interpretation we adapt different technical discourses to each other and move freely between different techniques and concepts; this ad hoc approach allows us to find connections and structures that do not seem to belong together and notice patterns and themes, see plausibility, and juxtapose to see "what went with what" (kvale & brinkmann 2014:282). bricolage has an advantage over other methods in that our research stretched over many theories and we were free to use the method of analysis that best suited the collected data. propaganda chomsky (2011) argue that propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship. propaganda is a means of framing and transmitting information from the government to the population according to coyne & hall (2021). the ability to frame issues and to define how political controversies are presented to the public is the most useful tool political elites have at their disposal. this tool is invaluable in times of war. propaganda is also used as a coordination tool. thus, propaganda is a means to generate general knowledge. the key characteristic of public knowledge is that it is public–that is, widely distributed and known by the population. this creates an experience of shared expectations because everyone is convinced that everyone else has the same information. the final use of propaganda is to instil, or reinforce, collective fear in the home audience. it could be fear of terrorism, panic regarding crime [ 191 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 or concern about moral decay. citizens' fear of external threats and their demands on governments to protect them, creates room for state actors to expand their power. to influence the population in the chosen direction, coyne and hall writes, the government of the united states used four common means of influence. first, appeal to authority propaganda usually includes markings of government authority. the technology is intended to give the government credibility by reinforcing the message that the government is the one who can solve the threat. second: the appeal to patriotism propaganda tries to stir up widespread and powerful support for the government, which in turn represents the "nation". this technique aims to link support for an activity for the "common good" and "the country". support for the activity is associated with the advancement of "national interests" while, directly or indirectly, non-visible support of these interests suggests a lack of interest in the public good which equates to be unpatriotic or, worse, being a fifth columnist. the above means of influence are looking to rally national support for the nation's military and create a link for widespread acceptance of the relation between the government, the nation, and a war effort. third: appeal to differences between "us" and "them" the goal of propaganda at this stage is to create well-defined, black-and-white distinctions between "ingroups", the nation and their allies, and "outgroups", enemies, and their allies. the goal of the propagandist is to give the target audience a clear, distinct, and simple choice between two sides, without nuances or intricate details. this propaganda technique reinforces feelings of patriotism because the ingroup is the "nation" and the outgroup is "the others" who threaten the way of life and even life itself within the ingroup. finally, is the appeal to simple slogans and images the language of propaganda usually consists of simple images and slogans so that they are easily remembered and speaking unbridled to the emotions of the target group. by simplifying complex foreign affairs, patriotic themes and "us versus them", feelings are reinforced and amplified. furthermore, the oversimplified slogans and imagery of the propaganda prevent any meaningful nuance in the complex issues they represent. the goal of propaganda in this case is to limit the debate about information and ideas in favour of the government's point of view, which gives them power over the citizens information gathering. jason stanley (2015) put forward in how propaganda works, that it is inequality that results in anti-democratic flawed ideologies. in this article we use the inequality about knowledge between the elites (the u.s. government and military complex) who have the means – through fundings from big lobby groups like the weapon industry, media conglomerates (and christian zionist [ 192 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 groups, see lampman 2004), to form the information reaching those without means. he also argues that the audience would not believe a liar, so the reason propaganda seems sincere to the audience is because the propagandists themselves believe in a flawed ideology and therefore could speak out of belief, therefore he continues, propaganda will always be invariably political. totalism drawing on intensive studies of pow´s, robert j. lifton distinguishes between eight steps of indoctrination in thought reform and the psychology of totalism (2014). later he added this knowledge to the shaping of u.s. response to iraq after 9/11 through an apocalyptic propaganda in superpower syndrome – america´s apocalyptic confrontation with the world (2003). we use lifton's eight steps theory and his thesis of the superpower syndrome to explain the psychological results of propaganda. milieu control. the foundation of all totalitarian milieus, according to lifton, is the control over human communication, both external and internal. those who practise milieu control experience a sovereign surge of power and are convinced that the perception of the reality they embrace is the right one they "own reality".  mysterious manipulation and planned spontaneity. the next step towards totalism is a comprehensive manipulation of the individual. this step is controlled and planned by the leader(s) to create behaviours and emotions that should seem to appear spontaneously in the environment. in this atmosphere, the image arises of having a higher purpose after an idea of a higher order in society and that it is they, the leaders, who are the vanguard of this change (lifton 2003, see also: klemperer 1975/2020 chomsky 2002, coyne & hall 2021). in this article we interpret the "sense of mystery", to the need for secrecy and a sense of a “noble deception” within the u.s. government, the latter is necessary because the public do not know what is best for them (coyne & hall 2021: 16, stanley 2015). in opposition to lifton claiming the leaders do not solely do this for the sake of power, coyne and hall (2021), and stanley (2015) argue that the members of the security state have a strong incentive to protect their monopoly over information because of the power it gives them to control the policy and the benefits that come with that power. we agree with this interpretation. the demand for purity. in milieus where thought control is involved, the world is divided into pure and impure, the inherent good and the inherent evil. the [ 193 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 good are the ideas, feelings and actions that are in line with the ideology and its policy; everything else is banished to that which is unclean and thus evil. by manipulating the definitions of what is "pure" and introducing full-scale war against all "unclean", the government creates a very narrow corridor of guilt and shame among its citizens where the individual constantly needs to try to adapt to the group norm (are you with us or with the terrorists?). here we start to deviate from coyne and halls belief that the government needs the recipient's consent to be able to influence and, if they do not receive this consent nor could influence it – rather it is at this step governments tighten their grip around that consent based on misleading propaganda and fear that impede our rational thinking in favour of emotions. confessions. in close relation to the requirement of purity above, is an obsession with personal confession. confessions in this phase are, according to lifton (2014) beyond the religious, legal, or therapeutic confessions we are used to and become in themselves a cult phenomenon. this article originates in lifton's theory, but here we take a slightly different perspective, namely that instead of confessing sins, the individual must confess his/her fidelity to american ideals and symbolism; for example, the flag, the constitution, the american exceptionalism and the "war on terror" all of which can be found under the word "patriotism". holy knowledge. the government maintains an aura of “holiness” about its dogma by pointing to the moral vision for the survival of human existence. that it is sacred is evident from the fact that it is forbidden, though not explicitly stated, to question the assumptions about reality that are made, as well as by those who represent it. the inner demand for clear answers and the avoidance of ambiguity will prevent the individual from gaining the insights necessary for individuality and creativity (lifton, 2014). and if it prevents individuality and creativity, it also prevents enlightened consent, in line with our theory. loading the language. the language in a totalitarian environment is characterised by thought-terminating clichés. complex problems shrink down to short, sharply reduced, definitive and easy-to-spread messages. in the american version of thought reforms after 9/11, the phrase "war on terrorism" was used to dismiss problematic questions about the terrorists as individuals, as well as a general search for perspective and balance in what happened. in addition to the fact that the thought-terminating clichés function as shortcuts, they also become, according to richard weavers (lifton 2014:429), "absolute conditions" either "god's" conditions, which represent the ultimate good, or "the devil's" conditions representing the ultimate evil. the totalitarian [ 194 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 language is thus centred around an all-encompassing jargon that is simplified, categorised, and judgemental. lionel trilling (lifton 2014:429) calls it "the language of non-thinking". doctrine over person. the sterility of language is reflected in another characteristic of ideological totalism, the subordination of the human experience under the ideology. the consequence of this mindset is that previous historical events are changed, rewritten, or ignored for them to be in line with the inner logic of the ideology. if i doubt, the leader(s) addresses this doubt by throwing it back at me, and accuses me of inner weaknesses, such as not being patriotic enough and producing thought-terminating clichés such as: “you are either with us, or with the terrorists.” dispensing of existence. totalist ideologues believe that they have the divine power to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. those who have lost that right have also been degraded to "subhuman" and are thus relegated to the bottom of society and, in its most extreme form death. once here, the individual in the totalitarian milieu experiences polarised emotional conflicts that are about the ultimate existence (lifton, 2014). the totalitarian environment has evoked a fear of one's own annihilation that cannot be alleviated by other individuals, only from the source of all justification the totalitarian organisation itself. with the term superpower syndrome lifton describes a national mindset which is strongly put forward by a tight-knit leadership group who takes on a sense of omnipotence, of a unique standing in the world, that grants them the right to hold sway over all other nations (lifton 2003:3, see also the indispensable nation syndrome stranne & parsi 2023: 92 ff, bacevich 2021). he also describes the apocalypse and the human nature psychologically as a need for us to understand how our death fits into the cosmic order. individual death, lifton says (2003:19), when associated with the death and rebirth of the world, can take on special significance and high nobility. he continues to explain that participation in an apocalyptic project offers expression for two primal human aspirations, the urge toward spiritual or ethical improvement. after 9/11, in the u.s., this was visualised through an embrace of what was perceived as radical good and the urge to become part of something larger than oneself but also sacred and eternal. if we set aside the apocalyptic theme in the propaganda, the theme of purifying resurrection of those who win fulfilled the needs of the audiences to be part of something larger than life. [ 195 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 propaganda and totalisation in the war on terror the u.s-citizen has inherited their christian worldview from their approximately fifty million european descendants who emigrated to the united states between 1820-1930. most of them where puritans fleeing from the catholic church purgatory of europe of protestants, with them came a black and white worldview. through christian zionism they also gained a receptivity to a medieval view of villains, and a cosmology based on fear of death where the devil is an eternal adversary: “to kill the foreign devilenemy is to reaffirm the nation's special virtue as a chosen people destined to overcome malevolence so that civilization may prevail” (ivie & giner 2007: 581; lampman 2004). lasswell argued about propaganda that the enemy should be described as demoralised and arrogant and the enemy nation should be described as contemptuous, scornful, and cruel (mral 2004). in today’s propaganda we do not look down upon a nation´s people, but their leaders are described in satanic terms. further, the u.s. citizen has, from thomas jefferson and forward, been spoon fed with the notion of being an “empire of liberty”, “last best hope of earth” (a. lincoln), a “shining capitol on a hill” (usa compared to a new jerusalem by ronald reagan), an “indispensable nation” (albright on the tonight show) and a “beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world” (g. w. bush). through those lenses, the citizens of the u.s. look upon themselves as an enlightened and pacifically inclined nation, chosen by god, to be a beacon of justice and democracy in a dark diabolic landscape, not as an imperial beast praying on the world, because “we are on the side of light, they on the side of darkness” (ivie & giner 2007: 585). president george w. bush government fostered another part of this exceptionalism through the role they saw for the u.s. in a post-cold-war world. dick cheney, defence secretary from bush senior’s presidency, later g. w. bush junior’s adviser, secretary of state collin powell, national security adviser condoleezza rice and the new defence secretary david rumsfeld where the staff closest to the president. rumsfeld took as his deputy paul wolfowitz who worked under cheney earlier. in 1992 wolfowitz and zalmay khalilzad (of the nsc staff) completed a task initiated by cheney a couple of years earlier. the task was to create america´s political and military mission in the postcold-war world – the defence planning guidance (dpg). the policy in the dpg asserted that america´s mission was to ensure that no rival superpower rose to challenge the power of the united states of america (wolfowitz dgp, armstrong, 2002). these were the flawed ideologies that imbued the group closest to president g. w. bush. it is in line with lifton’s definition of the close[ 196 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 knit group with superpower syndrome on his first and second step to totalism, milieu control and mysterious manipulation and planned spontaneity, where the leaders indulge the feeling of a higher purpose and therefore need to keep their monopoly of the narrative just because it gave them power. bush's religious beliefs have been associated with a dogmatic approach with a tendency towards both personal and political fundamentalism, and he characterised himself as a person who wants reality to be clear and unambiguous without nuances and without legal figurative language. bush's leadership style bordered on the rushed; he wanted "action" and quick solutions. he says about himself: "i know it is hard for you to believe, but i have not doubted what we are doing… there is no doubt in my mind we're doing the right thing. no doubt.” (lifton 2003: 67, woodward 2002: 256). if he did not doubt what he was doing, there were no reflection over right or wrong because the ends justify the means. this is particularly true when you believe your actions are supported by a divine power. lifton believes that the personality traits above can be part of a larger picture, an overall religious one, within which he polarised issues of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and evil (see also teehan 2010). bob woodward, journalist at the washington post, wrote that bush wanted to convey to the american people that "this is what my presidency is all about" and to capture his newly awakened insight into his mission, he used phrases such as: "i'm in the lord hands” and “there is a reason why i'm here”. if he considered himself having a divine mission, everything he did was part of a greater truth and this, in turn, was part of an overall struggle between good and evil, with him as saint george against the terrorist dragon. being the supreme leader of united states and its military complex bush confirmed his mission from god in an israeli-palestinian summit in 2003 four months after the us-led invasion of iraq: 'i am driven with a mission from god'. god would tell me, 'george go and fight these terrorists in afghanistan'. and i did. and then god would tell me 'george, go and end the tyranny in iraq'. and i did. " (mcaskill, oct 2005, the guardian) for g. w. bush and his staff to be able to “own the reality” (with lifton’s words) after 9/11, they needed cooperation from the media (see also froula et al 2010). dod´s involvement with military assistance in the movie industry made possible by president wilson´s executive order (eo) 2594 in 1917. the order established the committee on public information with the goal of shaping [ 197 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 the public opinion in support of wwi (coyne & hall 2021). william bradley, head of the national association of the motion picture industry, stated that: “the motion picture can be the most wonderful system for spreading national propaganda at little or no cost.” the cooperation between dod and hollywood continued. in june 1942, president franklin d. roosevelt signed eo 9182 authorizing the creation of the office of war information (owi). the order´s mission was to gain support for the government’s wartime activities through media, including film. owi in turn created the gimmpi, government information manual for the motion picture industry that stated that participating in government war programs is “american” and patriotic (coyne & hall 2021: 146). it also states that questioning the programs or the nature of the threat from abroad is un-american and aligns the dissenter with the enemy – a point of view that president g. w. bush emphasized in his thought stopping cliché: “you are either with us, or with the terrorists.” after 9/11 the emphasis for dod was to picture the iraqi war as a just and righteous war, and the message was that “the position of the u.s. government is good, noble, and serves the broader public interest, and supporting these ends requires supporting the government´s policies.” (coyne & hall 2021: 154; see also jackson et al 2011/2019; steuter & wills 2008). as icing on the cake, the dod´s propaganda activities were out of congressional reach and not under the laws of u.s. information and educational exchange act (public law 80-402), which prohibits the domestic influence of propaganda. cut from the leash of congressional restraints, the propagandists in the government were free to work their magic on the domestic audience. we also need to anchor our knowledge in herman and chomsky and coyne and halls propaganda theories to understand the inequalities in information gathering between those who own the media and those who consume it. the twenty-four top tier media companies in the u.s. after wwii, among them cbs, nbc (through its parent firm the general electric, ge), new york times and washington post were all profit seeking corporations owned by wealthy people most of whom had assets exceeding $1 billion, three-quarters of these media firms earned a median of $183 million after tax (herman & chomsky 1988/2002). these media families had an obvious reason to have a good relation to the political elite to keep the status quo, and they exercised their power by establishing the aims of the company. it is understandable that members of the media faced a strong incentive to avoid being overly critical of the national security state afraid of losing key access to policymakers (herman & chomsky 1988/2002; coyne & hall 2021 [ 198 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 and 2018). dan rather, news anchor at cbs, confirmed to a british journalist the pressure to adapt to the propaganda and not ask the tough questions: […] but you know there was a time in south africa that people would put flaming tyres around people's necks if they dissented. and in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck” he said. (bbc.co.uk 2002) here coyne and halls theory of propaganda as a coordination tool fits when the u.s. government used media as a foundation to form general knowledge in the public of the government’s narrative of choice. it also fits well with lifton’s first and second step toward totalism, milieu control and mysterious manipulation. it is easy to imagine the feelings of shock and disbelief in u.s. citizens when the planes hit the twin towers on manhattan and pentagon in the morning on the 11:th september 2001. rumsfeld and his staff on the other hand almost immediately started to work at the president’s speech and when rumsfeld entered his office he said, “this is the defining moment […] what does the president need to address?” (woodward 2002: 25). already in the first paragraph bush used the term evil about the terrorists: “… ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.” just days later, on the 16:th of september bush elaborated the evil theme: “we’ve been warned there are evil people in this world. we’ve been warned so vividly and we’ll be alert. your government is alert.” and a month later at a press conference: “i think it’s essential that all moms and dads and citizens tell their children we love them and there is love in the world, but also remind them there are evil people.” (mral 2004: 22). there was also the dichotomy of good “america was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world” versus evil “today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature” and so was the concept of “war on terror” and the apocalyptic theme “our way of life, our very freedom came under attack”. the feeling of un-just treatment is understandable if we are led to believe that all we do and stand for is good and we will not only seek justice for this maltreatment, but we also want revenge. to instill fear and get allies and those who doubted the chosen path in the pen, the hardly disguised threat from an overwhelming superpower “we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour (sic) them” and “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”, did the trick. by emphasising all he, g. w. bush, already done to secure that the state would [ 199 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 function, and the military was ready to defend its country coyne and hall´s means, plea for authority was in place. underlying g. w. bush foreign policy was his belief of united states manifest destiny as sanctioned by god: "there is a value system that cannot be compromised, and that is the values that we praise. and if the values are good enough for our people, they ought to be good enough for others, not in a way to impose because these are god-given values.” (woodward, washington post 19 nov. 2002, our italics). initially the government had the possibility of self-reflection over the past decade’s politics in the middle east; it was not inevitable that it would be interpreted as an act of war, or that those who conducted the attack would be called terrorists (sontag 2002, lifton 2003; mral 2004; chomsky 2016, stranne & parsi 2023), but already in the early afternoon on 9/11 usama bin laden and al qaeda was on the agenda. and at a nsc meeting in 4 p.m. the day after, iraq and saddam hussein were brought up as a target by rumsfeld (woodward 2002: 49). by displacing aggression instead of turning the gaze inwards, the u.s. government had created a common enemy. it fits nicely in with lifton’s third step, the demand for purity by not questioning the narrative. g. w. bush inner circle nurtured, through their flawed ideology of american exceptionalism and their mission of an u.s.-led post-cold war world, a “hawkish” hard-line authoritarianism with organisations like dod and radical christian zionist movements supporting their cause. making the “war on terrorism” a morally just war, is to manufacture it as black and white without nuances, which we saw was already in place in g. w. bush speech on the evening of 9/11 above. in the government led propaganda it was contrasting all the good of the “american way of life” to the destructive way “of the terrorist”, where all “we” did was inherently good, and the way of the “others” inherently evil, “we” were civilised, but “they” were barbarians and ultimately it was about god versus satan (see also silberstein 2004, stanley 2018, zimbardo 2007; ivie & giner 2007). when bush, the born-again evangelical christian president of the united states, a country where over 75% were christians, spoke to the most powerful constituency the american christian right, it was not enough that the war against iraq was for a noble cause, it also needed to be sanctioned by god (jackson 2005, cartledge et al 2015, rogers 2005). by initially calling the war against terror a “crusade,” ending his first speech with a bible verse, psalm 23: "even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i fear no evil, for you are with me." and calling usama bin laden and saddam hussein for demons, and the reverend pastor jerry vines juxtaposing islam and its [ 200 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 founder for “a demon-possessed paedophile” on a baptist convention and claiming that only the christian god is: “not going to turn you in to a terrorist that´ll try to bomb people” (steuter & wills 2008: 192) – the war against terrorist after 9/11 became a religious war. david frum, one of bush’s speech writers defined the religious theme in the presidents’ speeches like this: “in a country where almost two thirds of the population believes in the existence of the devil, bush was identifying osama bin laden and his gang as literally satanic.” (mral 2004). with the apocalyptic cleansing of the world from all evil a new beginning for the victors with a christian u.s. led world would rise, and thus the war became morally right (see also smith 2007 and haidt 2016). media soon followed suite, the new york times had the following headlines: "yes, this is about islam", "this is a religious war", "diffusing the holy bomb", "barbarians at the gate" (esch, 2010: 381). other major media outlets repeatedly had the headline: "why do they hate us?" and answered the questions themselves in terms of values and culture instead of politics and economics. this pair with lifton´s step four, five and six: confession, holy knowledge and loading the language. when you think your life and your way of living is at stake, your thinking is severely damaged, and you act on instinct (haidt 2016, smith 2021). in line with our theory. by solidification of the categorical thinking by endless repetitions of an us versus them theme based on good versus evil and a christian apocalyptic language, the u.s. government functioned as fearmongers to their own citizens. a categorical us-versus-them thinking are hallmarks for terrorist organisations, writes moghaddam (2005) and confirm that this is one trait of american right-wing authoritarianism. by amplifying the threats posed by al qaida and add the apocalyptic weapon of mass destruction (wmd) in the hands of “the satanic” iraqi leader saddam hussein – the u.s. government with president g. w. bush used the fear of annihilation in the american citizens to mobilize them to support a new iraq war. the threat of wmd in the hands of a demon makes people extremely sensitive and increases their fear, insecurity, resentment, and xenophobia and, because we humans are extremely sensitive to the emotions of others especially those who signal danger, these feelings are strengthened and magnified as they are passed on. the effect of using these words is that the more fear people experience, the more willingly they sacrifice civil rights for order and security (jackson et al 2019, stellmacher & petzel 2005). by now the governments propaganda had essentialised all muslims as terrorists, which could be seen in this report from july 24, 2003: [ 201 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 the new nationwide survey of 2,002 adults, conducted june 24-july 8 by the pew research center and the pew forum on religion and public life, shows that there has been an important shift in public perceptions of islam. fully 44% now believe that islam is more likely than other religions “to encourage violence among its believers.” as recently as march 2002, just 25% expressed this view. (www.pewresearch.org) by exaggerating differences and using pejorative words such as barbarians, evil-doers, spiders, demons and so forth they dehumanised everyone that did not share their point of view and the thought stopping cliché; “you are either with us, or with the terrorists”, prevented opposition and reflective thinking. by now lifton’s step seven and eight: doctrine over person and dispensing of existence were in place and the war against iraq could begin. conclusion usa is market red today, as a land moving in an authoritarian direction according to v-dem institute (2021), the world’s leading democracy research foundation. and it all started with believing in a flawed ideology about american exceptionalism and continued with the refusal from the leader(s) to take a good look in the mirror about past political and economic shortcomings in the middle east. because of this the u.s. citizens, the close-knit group surrounding president g. w. bush, and even the president himself, became victimized on 9/11. a victimized superpower brings on both the sense of humiliation but also an angry determination to restore or extend their borders, says lifton (2003). an angry superpower is a dangerous superpower – because when angered and humiliated, the ability to access our whole cognitive capacity is badly severed, a sad thing in an ordinary citizen, devastating in a leadership. when that leadership are the only ones with access to the truth, it also gives them the opportunity to choose what truth to share to keep the power. the media in turn is owned by a small elite eager to stay in favour of them in power, so they will not scrutinize them afraid of losing access. the narrative shared with the people is therefore the chosen narrative of the political elite, they “own reality” with lifton’s words. the reality they owned (among other interpretations) was a christian apocalyptic one and by using the media as a coordination tool to create a common enemy, the u.s. government saw to it that everyone had the same information; that the united states of america was a beacon of enlightenment and democracy, unjust attacked by the evil forces of muslim terror who´s mission was to annihilate everything “we” stand for. people who did not agree with this narrative was either silenced with a thought stopping cliché like: “you are ether with us, or with the terrorist,” [ 202 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 or made suspicious as a fifth columnist. by using an apocalyptic language of us versus them, enlightenment versus barbarism, exaggerating differences (we are noble and righteous, they are pure evil) and putting (unconfirmed until this day) weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the “iraqi satan” saddam hussein, the u.s. government functioned as fearmongers on their own citizens. they did this deliberately because fear make us dependent on strong leaders and the more fear we experience, the more power to those who lead and restrictions in our own freedom we tolerate to feel safe. and as we stated in the beginning of this article, fear circumvent our rational thinking, and if we lose our rational thinking, we cannot give our enlightened consent. bibliography appiah, k. 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(2007). the lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil. random house trade paperbacks ny. electronic sources bush,  g.  w.  citations  from:  https://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov/ september11/archive.html  mca, ewen. skill the guardian. fri 7 oct 2005 https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa (2023-08-13, 09.26) rev.  vines  called  mohammed  a  demon-possessed  pedophile https://www. haaretz.com/2002-07-17/ty-article/rev-vines-called-mohammed-a-demon-possessed-pedophile/0000017f-e4d9-d804-ad7f-f5fba8590000 (2023-02-19 07.16) susan,  s.  the  new  york  times.  sept.  10.  2002  https://www.nytimes. com/2002/09/10/opinion/real-battles-and-empty-metaphors.html (2023-08-13, 09.51) wolfowitz, p. defense planning guidance fy 19941999. https://archive.org/ details/defenseplanningguidancefy1994-1999 (2023-08-13. 1031) woodward. washington post. 19 november 2002 https://www.washingtonpost. com/archive/pol it ics/2002/11/19/a-course-of-conf identaction/83de9fc2-cd2c-494e-98d9-a8cbc2c156cb/ (2023-08-11, 12.00) pew research center https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2003/07/24/religion-and-politics-contention-and-consensus/ (2023-10-17, 12.44) v-dem  institute. https://v-dem.net/media/publications/dr_2022.pdf (202308-30, 13.23) [ 206 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2787 [ 294 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 introduction to anthropology pontianak: stain pontianak press, 2013 by zaenuddin hudi prasojo reviewed by aspari ismail (the forum of lingkar pena of west kalimantan, pontianak) anthropology: a necessity! anthropology is the study of mankind (anthropos). etymologically, anthropology comes from the word anthropos meaning man and logos meaning knowledge. anthropology looks at humans as something complex in terms of physical, emotional, social, and cultural complexity. anthropology also refers to the science of humans and their culture. since anthropology is one of the social sciences, of course it is a necessity, and undoubtedly very important considering humans as social creatures cannot possibly loose interacting with each other. studying anthropology will create tolerance and a peaceful life. being unable to understand each other has resulted in prejudice, quarrel, brawl, and even war. differences are often considered a threat, but when managed properly, they that could be a beauty, like a variety of colorful flowers in a garden. things that occur in life on a small scale: in the household, between ethnic and religious groups, even among a religious group to elements of a nation, and between countries. can anthropology solve life problems mentioned? certainly, anthropology has a significant contribution. it is the study of all kinds of things that have to do with human beings. at the very least, someone who has studied or learned anthropology will further acknowledge and understand that every people, ethnic group, religion, community and nation has certain a distinctive and particular character. thus, it will promote mutual tolerance and peace. the best way to learn it is by combining the theory with the practice. one of the books worth reading is “introduction to anthropology” written by dr. zaenuddin, ma. in this book, readers will find 10 chapters with a variety of theories. readers will be able to choose an interesting part to read without necessarily reading one chapter after another. each chapter will be reviewed below. chapter i features the important figures and theories of anthropology. [ 295 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 here, readers will be presented with the history and development of the anthropological theories as well as prominent figures of reference. from the history of anthropology as a science that started with the study of the characteristics of the human body to the recent development, all is described clearly. chapter ii presents the material related to culture and language. in this chapter, the author explains the definition and meaning of culture; characteristics of culture; existence and culture; relationship between culture with society; culture and the individual; culture and change; the origins of language; languages within the framework of life; language and conceptualization of culture; and the process of learning a language. chapter iii discusses the infrastructure. in this section readers will be presented with the notion of infrastructure; production mode of hunting and concocting; development of energy; rice-field agriculture; production mode of slash and burn agriculture; production mode of livestock farming; population; human sexuality; children; energy transformation and technology. chapter iv exclusively covers the structure. this part outlines economic organizations; redistribution; the origins of the states; class society; casteism in india; kinship, descent and locality; ethnicity, race and racism; laws, rules and war in tribal communities; domestic organizations; and gender hierarchy. chapter v contains discussion on superstructure. in this section, the author discussed the sense and scope of the superstructure; religion and culture which consist of 1) religion and society; 2) types of religion; 3) religions and social stability; religion and family; religion and social change; formation of attitudes and mentality; social sciences; psychology; the types of religious organizations; religion and magic; religion and taboos; culture and personality; freud’s influence; what art is; art and culture; art and politics; art and its evolution. chapter vi deals with physical anthropology. discussions about humans and animals; evolutionary biology; human history; homo sapiens; old world culture; race and human variation; the problem of race; the pattern of life; cultural evolution; multi-linear evolution; as well as universal and multi-linear evolution comparison. chapter vii is seriously discusses the methodology of anthropology. the author describes various methods that can be used in anthropology, phenomenology; symbolic interactionism; grounded theory; cross cultural comparison; thick description; ethno-methodology; case studies; survey methods; ethnography; and the method of the use of documentation (historiography). in chapter viii, the mapping between the city and the village anthropology [ 296 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 is discussed. this section describes the characteristics of the community; the concept of urbanization; four characteristics of the cities in indonesia (diachronic perspective); five characteristics of the cities in indonesia; types and images of world’s cities; village conceptualization; moral economy of farmers; dilemma of the peasantry; ideology of the peasant movement; and resistance of the peasantry. in chapter ix, the writer predicts the future of anthropology. among the discussions: the bounded system to a borderless society; the contemporary studies of anthropology; need to examine isolated tribes; modern ethnicity; anthropology among other social sciences; anthropology and globalization; anthropology and leadership; relevance and application of the science of anthropology; modern anthropology; and the postmodern anthropology. chapter x concludes with a discussion of globalization. the author explains the notion of globalization; the global trends; the influence of globalization in indonesia; influence in the world of education; the process of globalization; aspects of globalization; the impact of globalization; as well as the role of the community in local development to enter the global community. with a complete menu, i think the book is more than just ‘an introduction to anthropology ‘. the use of the word ‘introduction’ is as a form of humility. the language used is quite simple and anyone who reads it will be easy to digest the contents of the book. it’s just that unfortunately i found the imperfection of the editing. it somehow distracts the readers from their convenience of reading. however, apart from a bit of a shortage, this book nonetheless is important to read. with embossed title on the cover, this book looks dashing and luxurious. as already mentioned above, learning all sciences, including anthropology, is combining the theory and the practice. a bunch of theories is useless without knowledge in practice. the book, written dr. zaenuddin prasojo, is more than enough to expand our horizon on knowing about and understanding anthropology. now you can start your own research on the character, habits and culture of a society. those who often associate with various characters are usually more mature and open. happy reading and enjoy this book. [ 117 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 badai pasti berlalu (the storm will surely pass) yogyakarta: tici publishing house by irwan abdullah et all. reviewed by maylisa oktavira (forum for interfaith and culture of borneo) the border is the outermost region of a country that borders neighboring countries. indonesia, as an archipelagic country, has many regions directly bordered by neighbouring countries. kalimantan, for example, the third largest island in the world and the largest in indonesia, lies to the north of the island of java, and sulawesi island to the west. the island of kalimantan is divided into areas of brunei, indonesia (two thirds) and malaysia (one third). three of the five provinces in the island of kalimantan, east kalimantan, west kalimantan, and north kalimantan regions are bordered by malaysia and brunei. as the outermost region,it has become one of the less noticed by the government. in this book, the authors include a wide range of important issues concerning the border currently being widely discussed by the public. recently, many people have started to come to the border region to see the border situation. the expedition team of border region studies group (kskp) from gadjah mada university (ugm) in yogyakarta in collaboration with the state college of islamic studies (stain) of pontianak incorporated in the the scientific studies forum (fossil), and other professors, headed to one of the existing border areas in west kalimantan i.e. nanga badau, kapuas hulu district. first author, zaenuddin hudi prasojo, attempted to compare conditions in a five border regions in west kalimantan. nanga badau is one of the five border areas in addition to entikong, jagoi babang (bengkayang district), senaning (sintang district) and sajingan (sambas district). nanga badau is directly bordered by sarawak, malaysia which is approximately 1000 km from pontianak, the capital of west kalimantan. the distance which is so far from pontianak complicates the locals to buy daily necessities and staples. it is also causes prices from other regions of indonesia to be so high that they look for the shortcut that is buying goods from malaysia at a price that is much cheaper and with a fairly close distance of only about 10 miles away. entikong as the gate of entry and exit activities has a relatively better [ 118 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 development compared to other border regions. therefore, entikong is absolutely essential viewed from a variety of aspects of life on the border, including politicals, economy, socio-culture and defence/security. unlike entikong which is the “official” entry point, jagoi babang in bengkayang has recently been developed by the government by building a paved road which was originally just a path that used to be the illegal exit and entry for surrounding communities to serikin in sarawak, malaysia. this area has a very close relationship with malaysia because they come from the same ethnic sub-group i.e. the bidayuh dayak, making it difficult for them to escape from the shadow of malaysia. so is the case with senaning and sajingan, two border points that also have close links with malaysia. the second author, intan, argued that what is necessary in the development of the border area is the analysis of the formulation and implementation of national policy that is associated with the local response, local transformation, local struggle, and even local resistance as a result of development. this action concerns the negotiation values, building processes and values of the negotiations between the state and individuals; western knowledge and local knowledge and so on; planning and evaluation, revising a development plan in the specified period; listening to and learning from each other. in addition, the process of development of border areas should become participatory activities involving various elements of a diverse and accommodating voice against various parties both in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of a policy. the third and fourth authors, ririh megah safitri and ronggo, saw a lot of phenomena that occured as a result of the presence of the dysfunction of the indonesian state. one of them is the illegality which seems to have become commonplace in this border area. the dilemma of identity also becomes a pretty strange conflict for society. this is due to the difficulty of their life in indonesia which is caused by little attention from the government as opposed to the condition in the neighboring state, malaysia. some communities also intentionally moved the border marker little by little with a hope that they could be part of a more prosperous neighboring country. with this state of affairs, not least also a border community still loves indonesia although they live with various disadvantages. in line with the third and fourth writers, of the sixth author, andreas, also saw the complexity of problems in the border areas which need thorough handling with the cooperation of all parties. the role and involvement of the local population are crucial in order to preserve the identity of citizenship that continues to degrade. the loss of nationalism among residents in the border [ 119 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 area resulting from disappointment is not the sole factor. it is related to how the country’s commitment to fulfilling the needs of its citizens. this point is important to the nation’s sovereignty to be addressed, and efforts to improve the welfare of the inhabitants of border areas through maximization of existing policy instruments. similarly, involving the residents of border areas in development not only by positioning them as the object of development, but also as the subject. unlike other previous writers who focused on the underdeveloped border communities, the fifth author, irwan abdullah, described the relation of religion and culture at nanga badau comprising most of the dayak tribes, ethnic malay as well as some of the other migrants including the javanese, minangkabau, batak, bugis and sasak. the presence of many migrants there also affected the confidence of the badau residents. with the diversity of ethnicities that inhabit badau, it portrays a diverse characteristic identity that belongs to indonesia. this difference has not only become an advantage but will also become a barrier in the process of creation of a national integrity. in addition to local religions, the majority dayak society are christians and protestants brought by an german missionary named barnstain in 1835, since then the religion has been embraced by the majority of the dayak society in west kalimantan. the dayak people who have converted to islam will leave their dayak identity and become malays. in addition to christianity and islam, nanga badau also has other religions brought by buddhist settlers and chinese merchants from brunei, and hindu which has proximity to ancestral belief system of the dayak or often called the hindu kaharingan. this book is inspirational and informative, written with a sharp analysis. therefore, it should become a reference for those who wish to learn more about the border areas. however, this book should talk about the future of the border community’s imagination, one of them being what they need to do to be better in many aspects such as education and economy, and not just focusing on the aspects of development. in addition, the book also needs to talk about the prospect of a border community relations in both countries, not only from the side of indonesia’s border communities but also from the other side of the border region of malaysia. [ 95 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 religious moderation in indonesian context lukmanul hakim uin imam bonjol padang email: lukmanulhakim@uinib.ac.id aziza meria uin imam bonjol padang email: azizameria@uinib.ac.id sartika suryadinata uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta email: tikadinata4@gmail.com abstract this paper aims to explore the concept of religious moderation across islamic history within indonesian context. the method used is qualitative with a historical approach. the historical approach is used to reformulate the concept of religious moderation in modern times and classical times. the results showed that religious moderation in modern times correlates with religious moderation in classical times. although the term religious moderation was only promoted by the ministry of religious affairs of indonesia in 2019, in terms of practice it has been carried out by the prophet who was then continued by the companions and the people after him. classical and modern religious moderation both focus on establishing harmonious and peaceful social relations with people of different religions. however, there are some differences between modern and classical moderation, namely: first, in modern times religious moderation is focused on improving and maintaining relations between muslims and people of other religions by providing several indicators related to this. whereas in the classical period, this religious moderation focused on their freedom to embrace their religion without any coercion to convert to islam. second, in modern times the term moderation is used in the hope of being an antidote to the many conflicts, while in classical times religious moderation was practiced by the prophet to serve as an example for the companions and subsequent people. third, the practice of religious moderation in terms of tolerance towards people of other religions in modern times looks very tolerant by congratulating each other on the holidays of other religions, while in classical times religious moderation only centred on giving them the freedom to choose their religion and carry out their religious worship. keywords: religious moderation; islamic history; indonesian context [ 96 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 introduction the government of indonesia is aggressively echoing the term religious moderation. as stated by the former minister of religion lukman hakim saifuddin who made 2019 the year of religious moderation for the ministry of religion (qolbi, 2019). the concept of moderation has been socialized in various efforts, one of which is that religious moderation is included in the 2020-2024 national medium-term development plan (rpjmn) prepared by the ministry of national development planning/national development planning agency (bappenas) with the hope of becoming an integral part of the cultural strategy in advancing indonesia’s human resources (agama ri, 2019b). the spread of the spirit of moderation is not without reason, indonesian society consisting of various ethnic groups and religions still cannot live in harmony. there are still many riots between religious communities. one of them is the case of church burning in aceh singkil in 2015 (chandra, 2015). a similar case occurred in tolikara papua in the same year, where christians damaged the mosque used for eid prayers at that time (ilham, 2015). not only actions carried out directly, controversial events related to religion have also touched social media as a space to spread hate speech against a religion. in october 2020, gus nur was reported to the police for defaming nu for likening nu to a bus filled with liberals, drunken people and people who like to dance. this was conveyed by gus nur when interviewed by refly harun on his youtube channel (saifuddin, 2022). and there are many other cases caused by this religious diversity and diversity. religious moderation is expected to be an antidote to conflicts between adherents of religions and beliefs. the expected result of the embodiment of religious moderation is a peaceful and harmonious religious community life. that is why religious moderation never uses the terms ‘enemy’, ‘opponent’, ‘fight’, or ‘get rid of ’ against those who are considered excessive and beyond the limits of religion (saifuddin, 2022). one of the indicators of religious moderation offered by the ministry of religious affairs is having an attitude of tolerance between religious communities. this attitude of religious tolerance in terms of moderation is exemplified by giving christmas greetings to christians or helping to prepare for the celebration of other religious holidays (arib, 2016). historically, religious diversity in one country has existed since the time of the prophet muhammad. when the prophet muhammad migrated from mecca to medina, the population consisted of jews, christians, and other religions. to regulate the peace and harmony of neighborly life, the prophet muhammad also created the medina charter as an official rule governing relations between the muslim community as immigrants and the ansar consisting of jews [ 97 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 and christians. the prophet muhammad also made an agreement with the christians of najran that guaranteed protection and security to them, similar agreements were also made by the prophet muhammad with the jewish community in the arabian peninsula after the war of khaybar in 7h and the years after that with bani junbah at muqna near ilah in the gulf of aqabah (muhammad, 2011). at the time of the prophet, he gave freedom to people of other religions to embrace the religion they believed in. despite direct contact with nonmuslims, the relationship built by the prophet was very peaceful, there was no reluctance or preference in associating. religious differences do not make them as enemies, or directly fight them. even the prophet muhammad was good friends with the christian king negus, a ruler of ethiopia, even though they were of different religions, the prophet did not hesitate to ask for political protection for some of the prophet’s companions from king negus (wibowo, 2021). based on the background of the concept of religious moderation, the following sections will discuss the concept of religious moderation from two sides, in modern times and in classical times. with consideration, moderation echoed in modern times has existed since the time of the prophet but, with different practices and terms. related to theoretical studies on religious moderation, several studies have been conducted including edi junaedi on religious moderation in the perspective of the ministry of religion (junaedi, 2019). the next mapping of the principles of religious moderation in the life of the nation by mustaqim hasan (hasan, 2021). as for those who discuss religious moderation in terms of its history, there has previously been research conducted by bagus novianto. in contrast to bagus who focused his research on exploring religious moderation in the islamic education civilization, this study focuses on the journey of religious moderation from time to time of islamic civilization. the concept of religious moderation in modern times religious moderation is formed from the word moderation which is adopted from english moderation which means balanced attitude, not excessive, moderate and impartial. in the big indonesian dictionary (budaya, 1989) the word “moderation” comes from the word moderate which means leading to the meaning of attitudes or behaviors and actions that are reasonable and not deviant, tend towards dimensions or middle ground, sufficient views, and willing to consider the views of other parties. in arabic, religious moderation is known as wasathiyah, which means close, fair, and in the middle as ibn [ 98 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 faris said (ash-shallabi, 2020). the word wusuth means al-mutawassith and al-mu’tadil. the word al-wasath also has the meaning of al-mutawassith baina al-mutakhashimain which means the mediator between two people who are at odds (agama ri, 2019a). quraish shihab interprets moderation (wasathiyah) with an attitude of diversity that positions itself in the middle and does not take sides to the left or right. this impartial attitude will later shape humans into someone fair so that they can be role models for all groups (shihab, 2002a, p. 415). agreeing with quraish shihab, hamka also interpreted religious moderation as a middle that is not centered on the world alone and also not only concerned with the spiritual, because religious moderation is a balanced position between the two (ulinnuha & nafisah, 2020). the indonesian ministry of religious affairs (hereinafter kemenag ri) explains that moderation means not excessive or moderate. furthermore, kemenag ri provides an analysis when the word moderation is juxtaposed with the word religion, so that it becomes ‘religious moderation’, then the term refers to an attitude of reducing violence or avoiding extremism in religious practice (agama ri, 2019a). from the above definition, it can be concluded that religious moderation acts as a balance between two points. this balance is not only centered on worldly aspects but also on spiritual balance. yusuf al-qardhawi explained that the attitude of wasathiyyah is the same as altawazun, which is an effort to maintain a balance between two sides, opposite or contradictory ends, and edges so that one of them does not dominate and negate the other (qardhawi, 1983a). as explained in the qur’an al-baqarah verse 143. in the interpretation of the ministry of religion, it is stated that what is meant by the middle people is the chosen people, the best, fair, and balanced, both in beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviour. the verse explains that what is meant as a moderate ummah is the size of the relationship between people, muslims can be called a moderate ummah only if they are able to socialize with other people. so, when the word wasathan is understood in a religious context, the consequence is a demand for muslims to be witnesses and at the same time objects that are witnessed, in order to become role models for other people. it can be said that the extent of commitment to the values of justice can be seen from the high level of one’s commitment to moderation. a person who becomes more just can also be characterized by being able to be moderate and balanced in all matters. conversely, if he is not able to be moderate and balanced in his life, then it is likely that he will find it difficult to be fair (agama ri, 2010). religious moderation based on the definition given by lukman hakim from the [ 99 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 ministry of religion through a book he compiled entitled religious moderation, means confidence in the substance (essence) of the religious teachings he adheres to, while still sharing the truth as far as religious interpretation is concerned. in this sense, religious moderation shows acceptance, openness, and synergy from different religious groups. the word moderation, whose latin form moderâtio means sadness, also means self-control. in english, moderation is often used in the sense of average, core, standard, or nonaligned. in general, moderate means prioritizing balance regarding beliefs, morals, and behaviour (character) (saifuddin, 2022). therefore, religious moderation means the way of religion through the middle way. with religious moderation, a person is not extreme and does not exaggerate when living the teachings of his religion. the key to moderation is not to go overboard, especially in religious matters. this key is important to understand so that everyone can practice it in their daily lives. the most obvious example is when a religious believer paganizes his or her fellow believers of the same religion just because they differ in religious understanding, even though only god knows whether someone has fallen into the category of kafir or not (agama ri, 2019b). a person who prays continuously from morning till night without caring about the social problems around him can be called over-religious. a person can also be called excessive in religion when he deliberately denigrates other people’s religions, or likes to insult the holy figures or symbols of certain religions. in such cases, he is already trapped in extremes that are not in accordance with the principles of religious moderation. a moderate person must be in the middle, standing between the two extremes. he is not excessive in religion, but also not excessive in trivializing religion. he does not go to the extreme of glorifying religious texts to the neglect of reason, nor does he go to the extreme of deifying reason to the neglect of texts. in short, religious moderation aims to mediate and invite both extreme poles in religion to move to the middle, back to the essence of religious teachings, namely humanizing humans (agama ri, 2019c). in its conceptual study, the ministry of religious affairs formulated the importance of religious moderation, where in general, the basic idea of moderation is to find similarities and not sharpen differences. while in zaki mubarak’s perspective, moderation attached to islam is an attempt to see a moderate concept of islam. the goal is to find an islamic concept that can solve complex problems, especially in the current era of disruption. furthermore, zaki explained that islamic moderation with its other terms refers to and is intertwined with various terms such as wasathiyah islam, islam rahmatan lil [ 100 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 ‘alamin, islam nusantara, islam berkemajuan, moderate islam, or ummatan ausatuha. although these terms, if studied one by one, are not compatible with each other, substantively the concept of islamic moderation has more similarities with these concepts than differences. as a new discourse or paradigm, the presence of islamic moderation also aims to uphold the values of tasamuh, pluralism, and islamic ukhuwah that prioritize the unity and integrity of the ummah (miftahuddin et al., 2020). in its further elaboration, the ministry of religious affairs suggests at least three main reasons for the need for religious moderation. first, one of the presences of religion is to maintain human dignity as a noble creature of god’s creation, including guarding against taking his life. this essence marks that every religion always carries a mission of peace and salvation. to achieve this goal, religion always presents teachings about balance in various aspects of life (agama ri, 2019c). secondly, for the ministry of religious affairs, historically, humans are increasing and diversifying as well as religions that continue to develop. therefore, religious texts also experience multiple interpretations. from here, complex conflicts arise in human life and religion. this context causes the importance of religious moderation so that human civilization does not become extinct due to conflicts with religious backgrounds. third, the indonesian ministry of religious affairs explained that in the indonesian context, religious moderation is needed as a cultural strategy for maintaining indonesianness, where in the process of its establishment, the unitary state of the republic of indonesia has succeeded in uniting all religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups. this is the identity of indonesia, which is characterized by being polite, tolerant, and able to dialogue with diversity (agama ri, 2019c). religious moderation is part of the nation’s strategy in maintaining indonesia. as a very diverse nation, from the beginning the founding fathers have succeeded in bequeathing a form of agreement in the nation and state, namely the unitary state of the republic of indonesia, which has clearly succeeded in uniting all religious, ethnic, linguistic and cultural groups. indonesia is agreed not to be a religious state, but it also does not separate religion from the daily lives of its citizens. religious values are preserved, combined with local wisdom and customs. some religious laws are also institutionalized by the state, religious and cultural rituals intertwine in harmony and peace. that is the true identity of indonesia, a very religious country, with a character that is polite, tolerant, and able to dialogue with diversity. religious moderation must be part of the cultural strategy to maintain our identity (agama ri, 2019c). religious moderation is an endless process, because the possibility [ 101 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 of extreme religion will continue to exist. it will continue to be dynamic in the midst of religious citizens. therefore, religious moderation must be lived and implemented as a joint movement, not only perceived and meant as a program, or project. religious moderation is a cultural strategy for a needy country whose masculinity is very religious like indonesia, just as right as maintaining the integrity of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (saifuddin, 2022). in the indonesian context, the values of islamic moderation are implemented in the form of ummatan wasathan. the characteristics are as stated by afrizal nur include 1. tawasuth, taking the middle way, 2. tawazun, balance, 3. i’tidal, straight and firm, 4. tasamuh, tolerance, 5. musawah, egalitarian means not discriminating against others because of differences in beliefs, traditions and origins, 6. shura, which is to deliberate on every issue to reach consensus with the principle of benefit above all, 7. ishlah, which prioritizes the reformative principle to achieve a better situation that accommodates change and progress, 8. aulawiyah, prioritizing priorities, 9. tathawwur wa ibtikar, dynamic and innovative (nur, 2016). the mentioned characteristics are certainly not just a concept. religious moderation needs to be presented in the mind so as to give birth to self-awareness in responding to the times. in this case, nirwani jumala emphasized that the concept of religious moderation must become a personality that includes all attitudes, feelings, expressions and of course the reasoning that each individual will construct. therefore, moderation in thinking can influence moderation in religion. in addition, moderation in thinking also creates self-awareness that leads to dedication to self-development, personality development or scientific upgrading (jumala, 2019). the ministry of religious affairs explained that the principles of religious moderation consist of two, namely: fairness and balance. being fair means putting everything in its place while carrying it out as well and as quickly as possible. while being balanced means always being in the middle between two poles. in terms of worship, for example, a moderate believes that religion is to perform devotion to god in the form of carrying out his teachings that are oriented towards efforts to glorify humans. extreme people are often trapped in practicing religion in the name of god only to defend his majesty while ignoring the human aspect. religious people in this way are willing to kill fellow humans “in the name of god” even though preserving humanity itself is part of the core teachings of religion. religious understanding and practice can be considered excessive if it violates three things; humanitarian values, mutual agreement, and public order. this principle is also to emphasize that [ 102 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 religious moderation means balancing the good that relates to god with the benefits that are social in nature (agama ri, 2019b). religious moderation, which is understood as a perspective, attitude, and behaviour that always takes a position in the middle, always acts fairly, and is not extreme in religion, certainly has measures, limits, and indicators to determine whether a certain religious perspective, attitude, and behaviour is classified as moderate or extreme. some indicators of religious moderation are always taking a position in the middle, always acting fairly, and not being extreme in religion. some indicators of religious moderation contained in the ministry of religion’s book are four important points, including national commitment, tolerance, anti-violence and radicalism and the acceptance of local culture (agama ri, 2019b). the concept of religious moderation in classical times the prophet muhammad saw spread islam in a way of peace without coercion and did not rely on violence. he invited humanity with gentle language and wise arguments and did not corner one party. during his 13 years of preaching in mecca and 10 years in medina, he went through a very tolerant path. the beginning of the prophet muhammad’s da’wah began against his family and close relatives which were carried out secretly for 3 years (al-buthy, 2008). afterward, god’s revelation came down which ordered the prophet muhammad saw to invite mankind to islam openly, this is stated in qurán verse 94. allah also emphasized that the prophet muhammad saw had no right to force someone to follow the teachings of islam, allah’s command was only limited to conveying the teachings of islam. while giving guidance to a servant is the absolute power of allah swt. as stated in the qur’an verses 21-22. therefore, it is not appropriate for someone to impose their opinions or ideas on someone. even though that person is a family or close friend. this is also seen from abu talib who is the biological uncle of the prophet muhammad saw, he is a person who is very meritorious in helping the struggle of the prophet muhammad saw. however, until the end of his life he was not a muslim. rasulullah as a nephew did not impose his will on his uncle (malik & parianam, 1997). when viewed from the cause of the revelation of this verse is when the city of medina is often visited by groups of traders from the levant who are christians. in addition to supplying merchandise, they also carried out missionary missions in the arab region. abu al-husein, a devout muslim, had two children who often bought oil and other necessities from these traders. [ 103 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 worried about not getting any more merchandise from the merchants, both of them decided to convert to christianity. abu al-husein was so sad and devastated that he complained to the prophet, then qur’an surah al-baqarah verse 256 was revealed (al-jawi, 1976). muhammad rashid ridha said that this verse is general in nature which is not only addressed to one people. the meaning of this verse is that the choice of religion is not something that is imposed from allah, but it is a choice that is decided by humans themselves, because the issue of religion is a matter of belief for each person (ridha, 1973). al-zamaskhsy also emphasized that the issue of faith is a personal choice of humans, and cannot be imposed by someone. coercive efforts to choose or religion are contrary to what has been conveyed by allah (misrah, 2010). after emigrating to medina, the prophet was welcomed by the people there and lived in harmony with the jews who had lived in medina. before the prophet muhammad saw arrived in the city of medina, the people of medina had heard about the honesty, and the kindness and noble character possessed by the prophet muhammad. so that the prophet muhammad was made the head of the executive and judiciary in medina (hasyim, 1991). the prophet then made official rules to regulate the people of medina which consisted of various tribes and religions, both muslims, jews and other communities of different religions. this agreement is called the medina charter which is the constitution or written legislation of the city of medina. it is called a charter because its contents recognize all rights to freedom of belief and religion. not only that, this charter also explains the freedom of speech and the desire of the citizens of medina to create justice in their lives. it contains all the rules and obligations of society for all groups, and abolishes old tribal traditions and regulations that have a negative impact. in addition, it is called a constitution because it contains principles that regulate leadership and socio-political basics that aim to form society and government as the centre of the unity of the people of medina (adriansyah, 2014). umar hasyim said that the contents of the medina charter initiated by the prophet had two characteristics, namely: first, peaceful coexistence with all groups, both the jews and other arabs who settled in medina. second, explaining the realization of religious freedom which is not only recognized and permitted by islam but also must be maintained and guaranteed by it (hasyim, 1991). the prophet muhammad had interacted deeply with all religious communities such as jews, christians, pagans, major political powers such as the romans and persians, as well as the culture that dominated arab society at that time. this is also illustrated in many verses of the qur’an that have provided guidance to muslims in dealing with cultures and religions [ 104 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 other than islam that have been practiced by the prophet (handrianto, 2022). the qur’an does not prohibit muslims from doing good to people of other religions, as long as they are not hostile to religion and muslims. quraish shihab also said something similar in his interpretation, according to him, the previous verse was an order to antagonize the disbelievers who fought islam, then allah revealed this verse to emphasize the basic principles of interaction relations between muslims and non-muslims, and emphasized that not all adherents of other religions should be antagonized. if in a social relationship, non-muslims do the right thing and muslims are on the wrong side, then according to him muslims must support non-muslims as a form of upholding justice as ordered by allah swt (shihab, 2002b). as the reason for the revelation of this verse is because asma’ bint abu bakr as-siddiq said that her mother who was still a polytheist visited her, then asma’ asked the prophet through her sister aisyah about the permissibility of her establishing a relationship with her mother, then this verse was revealed which explains the social relations between muslims and non-muslims. the prophet also told asma’ to accept her mother’s visit and accept any gifts brought by her mother (shihab, 2002b). prophet muhammad was very wise in giving freedom to someone, to make his own choices. as happened to raihana bint zaid bin ‘amr bin khanafah who was the wife of the prophet muhammad saw. she was a jewish woman from the bani nadhir clan who became a prisoner and was married by the prophet with a milkul yamin contract, because initially she refused to convert to islam and chose to remain a jew. the messenger of allah respected raihana’s decision and allowed her to remain jewish, although there was anxiety in the prophet’s heart about this. however, he did not want to force raihana and gave her freedom until her own heart chose to convert to islam. not long after, raihana embraced islam by the will of her own heart (am, 2020). how great is religious moderation in islam, the prophet did not in the least take away someone’s religious freedom even though it was his own wife. the prophet muhammad saw also established good social relations with non-muslims, even the prophet often stayed in touch with his non-muslim neighbours and did not hesitate to come to visit when they were sick (qardhawi, 1985). ibn ishaq explains that when the najran christians came to medina when the prophet muhammad was performing the asr prayer at the prophet’s mosque. then the fourteen najran christians performed their worship in the prophet’s mosque facing east. the prophet allowed this and continued to treat them well, even after the prophet muhammad made a peace treaty with them which guaranteed the safety of the banu najran, the prohibition of harming [ 105 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 children and women, and the leaders of the banu najran. the prophet in the agreement also prohibited destroying their churches (muchlison, 2019). the prophet muhammad also established a very close relationship with the jews of medina, he had a close friend a jewish priest named mukhairiq who was wealthy and pious. mukhairiq participated in helping muslims in the battle of uhud, before starting the war he testified that if he died he would donate all his property to the prophet to be used by the muslims of medina (wibowo, 2021). the prophet’s tolerant attitude towards non-muslims was continued by his companions after his death. abu bakar as the first caliph who was entrusted with replacing the leadership of the prophet also did the same thing. the biggest religious problem faced by abu bakar during his tenure was the problem of apostates, the emergence of false prophets, and people who refused to pay zakat. during his short reign abu bakr was mostly preoccupied with disciplining them and bringing them back to islam. before disciplining the zakat payers, abu bakr discussed with the great companions. some of the companions including umar bin khatab did not agree to fight the zakat dissenters who still believed in allah and his messenger. the majority of the companions did not want war. however, abu bakr was determined to fight them, because according to him the truth is only faith, there is no truth that is covered by falsehood behind it. if there are people who oppose the truth of allah, the only way is to fight them until they return to the path of allah’s truth (tumangger, 2021). before fighting them, abu bakr first chose the peaceful way by sending a letter to the dissident and apostate groups. the letter explained that there was a misunderstanding in their minds, and abu bakr invited them to return to islam. the letter also included the consequences that would be obtained if they still chose to disobey. abu bakr in his letter also explained that they would not be disturbed by their rights, obligations, and freedoms if they returned to the teachings of islam (haikal, 2003). in addition, abu bakr once advised the commander usamah ibn zaid that he should not commit treason, commit oppression, destroy corpses, kill children, the elderly, and women, and prohibit destroying trees that have fruit the prohibition not torture and destroy livestock such as sheep, cows, and camels (al-umairi, 2013). during the battle of ubna, abu bakr as-siddiq sent troops led by khalid bin walid to help usamah’s troops. they also managed to knock down the eastern door of the city of damascus, the archbishop of the city surrendered and asked for peace and asked for protection from the islamic army. later, a peace treaty was concluded between the islamic army and the [ 106 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 archbishop of damascus which guaranteed their safety, security for themselves, their property and their places of worship. the inhabitants of this city would not be harassed or threatened in any way as long as they paid the jizyah (al-mudhar, 1994). for the elderly and poor christians were not obliged to pay the jizyah, they were given assistance from the baitul mal. even when islam could not protect them from attacks by other nations, abu bakr would return their jizyah (muchlison, 2019). this agreement proves that islam is a religion that gives freedom to people of other religions to continue practicing their religion without any interference or threats that force them to convert to islam. abu bakr as-siddiq once ordered not to disturb people who were worshiping, whether it was worshiping in churches, monasteries or those who were worshiping in their other holy houses (hasyim, 1991). after abu bakr as-siddiq died, he had previously appointed umar bin khattab as his successor. in running his government, umar realized the values in islamic teachings. he also guaranteed a person’s freedom to choose and practice his religion, without any threats from any party. when conquering a region, umar did not force them to embrace islam and leave the religion they believed in. this is illustrated in umar’s attitude during the siege of sham that led to peace. amr bin al-’ash refused to return a female captive to her family. umar acted by gathering all the female captives and asking them to choose, enter islam or return to their religion on condition that they pay jizyah (nasution, 2018). on another occasion, umar bin khattab’s tolerance was also evident when he had a beggar woman come to his house, after giving a little of his wealth umar invited the woman to enter islam, but the woman refused. because of umar’s anxiety the woman misunderstood and thought he was forcing her to convert to islam, umar immediately prayed to allah: “o my lord i did not mean to force her, for i know that there is no compulsion in religion, and the difference between the right path and the wrong path is clear (kamali, 1996).” in addition, umar ibn khattab once helped and cared for a christian to the extent that he fed, clothed, and housed him and his other needs. however, he never forced the christians to convert to islam. once he asked the christian about her desire to convert to islam and she said no, adding that she wanted to die a christian. hearing this remark umar ibn khattab was silent and allowed the woman to embrace the christian religion she believed in (shalaby, 1984). after gaining victory when conquering jerusalem, umar made a peace treaty with the local people. umar bin khattab guaranteed their security, along with their property, their churches, crosses, and places considered sacred by them. their places of worship would not be taken over, torn down, or reduced in size. [ 107 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 nor would the local people be forced to embrace islam (qardhawi, 1983b). in addition, umar bin khattab also made a treaty with the muslims in baitul maqdis, the contents of which were similar to the agreement he made with the inhabitants of jerusalem (patmawati, 2016). ali bin abi talib who was given the mandate to replace usman bin affan as caliph after he died. in one of his remarks ali bin abi talib once advised not to be a slave to others, because allah has made humans free (qardhawi, n.d.). if we look deeper, ali ibn abi talib’s message implies religious moderation. humans are creatures of god who have been free and have the freedom to choose, including in terms of the beliefs they will embrace. in his message, ali wants humanity to fight for the rights of freedom and the value of independence it has. nevertheless, this message can also be interpreted that ali bin abi talib will also not deprive someone’s right to freedom, including in terms of religion. caliph muawiyah in his reign not only tolerated by giving religious freedom to his population, he also allowed those who were not muslim to enter the government. such as the appointment of a christian sarjun to be the minister of finance of the umayyad dynasty. orientalist k. houar also stated that muawiyah gained tremendous sympathy from syriac christians because of his high tolerance (hasyim, 1991). muawiyah also repaired churches in iraq that were damaged by the earthquake. not only muawiyah, his commander also had extraordinary tolerance for non-muslims. uqbah bin nafi’ spread islam in tunisia, many of the local people were interested and decided to convert to islam because they saw uqbah’s tolerance. he never used violence and forced people to embrace islam (latif, 2016,). this tolerance descended on other umayyad caliphs, during the time of caliph abdurrakhman ii, he and his ministers gave freedom to the people of andalusia, so that muslims and christians could work together peacefully in defending the kingdom from enemy attacks (hasyim, 1991). at the time of the conquest of west asia, there began to be contact between the islamic government of this dynasty and the greeks. it can be seen from the allowance of a christian court doctor who came from yunan. tayazhuq, the doctor of the umayyad dynasty who was entrusted with treating al hajjaj bin yusuf al-tsaqafi (hitti, 2005). tayazhuq took care of al hajjat until he died, he was known for his extraordinary medical advice. not only in the medical field, the greeks were also seen in the umayyad dynasty government in the field of art. when al-walid acquired the roman church area in damascus in 705m, he converted it into an umayyad mosque, greek artists were hired to make carvings on the wings and dome supports of the mosque (hitti, 2005). [ 108 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 the attitude of moderation was also seen during the reign of marwan bin abdul malik, he still respected the rights of non-muslims by keeping the church of john which neighbors the jami’ damascus mosque. at first the church was going to be demolished for the expansion of the mosque, but this was opposed by the syrian muslim community. the church was left and maintained, but was demolished during the time of caliph walid bin marwan. during the caliphate of umar bin abdul aziz, this church was rebuilt due to pressure from non-muslims to restore their place of worship (wibowo, 2021). the bani abbas caliphs often organized meetings to exchange ideas on religious matters, which were attended by scholars from various religious traditions. they exchanged ideas on matters of creed and comparative religion. each of them could present their arguments and explain their opinions freely (hasanah & verawati, 2022). the role of the caliph was not limited to legalizing the exchange of opinions, but encouraged and facilitated it, and participated in the exchange of opinions. max i. dimont, a leading scholar in jewish historical studies, says that it would not be wrong to say that islam has shown such a possibility in the case of islamic spain (andalus). spain at that time had succeeded with a form of “marvelous alliance” which dimont called the spain of three religions and “one bedroom” (al-khudari, 2016). at that time, muslims, christians and jews together provided a glorious civilization despite being inspired by different religious forms. conclusion the religious moderation promoted by the ministry of religion in 2019 is not new, the practice has been carried out by the prophet and his companions. like the shura system that was practiced by abu bakar ash-shiddiq when running his government. giving freedom to people of different religions to choose the religion they want to believe in, and allowing them to worship without interference and threats was one of the practices of religious moderation at the early time within the history of islam and muslims. religious moderation in indonesian context today, therefore, is very modern practice of religious moderation that deeply relates to the teaching of islam since it’s the era of the prophet muhammad. from the data and discussion provided in this work, it is clear that there are some differences between religious moderation in modern times and classical times. firstly, in modern times religious moderation is focused on improving and maintaining relations between muslims and people of other religions by providing several indicators related to this. whereas in the classical period, this religious moderation focused on their freedom to embrace their [ 109 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 religion without any coercion to convert to islam. secondly, in modern times the term moderation is used in the hope of being an antidote to the many conflicts that occur between religious communities, while in classical times religious moderation was practiced by the prophet to serve as an example for the companions and subsequent people. thirdly, the practice of religious moderation in terms of tolerance towards people of other religions in modern times looks very tolerant by congratulating each other on the holidays of other religions, even government officials attend celebrations of other religions in the name of moderation, while in classical times religious moderation only centred on giving them the freedom to choose their religion and carry out their religious worship. although there are some differences between religious moderation in modern times and classical times, but in general the meaning of moderation in classical and modern times is the same, providing freedom rights for them to carry out their religious worship and rituals and not discriminating against those of different religions. bibliography adriansyah, a. 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(2019, september 5). lhs dan moderasi beragama. kemenag.go.id. https://kemenag.go.id/opini/lhs-dan-moderasi-beragama-lf0fyj ridha, m. r. (1973). tafsir al-qur’an al-hakim: asy-syahir bi tafsir al-manar. dar ma’rifah, dar al-fikr. [ 112 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2619 saifuddin, l. h. (2022). moderasi beragama: tanggapan atas masalah, kesalahpahaman, tuduhan, dan tantangan yang dihadapinya. yayasan saifuddin zuhri. shalaby, a. (1984). masyarakat islam. pustaka nasional pte ltd. shihab, m. q. (2002a). tafsir al-misbah: pesan, kesan, dan keserasian alqur’an (i, vol. 2). lentera hati. shihab, m. q. (2002b). tafsir al-misbah: pesan, kesan, dan keserasian alqur’an (vol. 13). lentera hati. tumangger, m. (2021). pemerintahan abu bakar: tinjauan sejarah terhadap dinamika dan sistem pemerintahan. taqnin: jurnal syariah dan hukum, 3. ulinnuha, m., & nafisah, m. (2020). moderasi beragama perspektif hasbi ash-shiddieqy, hamka, dan quraish shihab: kajian atas tafsir annur, al-azhar dan al-misbah. suhuf, 13. wibowo, m. (2021, november 18). cara rasulullah dan para penerusnya bergaul dengan non-muslim. nu online: sirah nabawiyah. https://islam. nu.or.id/sirah-nabawiyah/cara-rasulullah-dan-para-penerusnya-bergaul-dengan-non-muslim-fnivr [ 197 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 religious and cultural existences within the communities of upper kapuas riverside of west kalimantan zaenuddin hudi prasojo iain pontianak email: zaestain@yahoo.com abstract the sudies on the issues related to communities in the interior of west kalimantan begin to take place when dutch and other european scholars in the colonial period came to the region. but they have been limitedly documented. the amount of research by local and foreign scholars in the region is still not significant when compared to that of research in sarawak, sabah and brunei which are also situated on the island of borneo. in fact, the natural wealth, cultural heritage and the rural communities of west kalimantan need serious attention and studies for the purpose of the development of the region. in addition, local elements such as human and cutural resources may become potential supports of development to improve the welfare of the communities. this study highlights the significant contribution of religious and cultural aspects within the communities living around the upper kapuas riverside. acculturation of local and islamic cultures have occurred since the advent of islam into the interior areas of kalimantan through the kapuas river. the acculturation of local religions and cultures also promotes a very important local religious institution in the process of social change of the communities of the kapuas riverside in the interior of west kalimantan. the local religious institutions serve as an infrastructure that has been proven to ensure the survival of the living muslim community system that existed among indigenous people who were still in the local beliefs of their time. this study also finds that the muslim communities of the kapuas riverside in the interior of west kalimantan already have extensive networks, not just the kinship network, islamic trade and da’wah but also the network of scholarship. of course, the growth of these growing networks is influenced by the media that also develops in its name. thus this work also describes a comprehensive analysis of cultural and religious aspects in the development of communities of the kapuas riverside in the interior of west kalimantan which is currently included in the administrative areas of sintang and kapuas hulu districts. keywords: religious, cultural, appearances, communities, kapuas, riverside, west kalimantan [ 198 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 introduction indonesia is known as a nation of religious character, helping each other, and having courage in attitude, hospitality, applying the values of pancasila. the nation has also become one of the references in terms of being a nation that is able to control life harmony in its diversity of ethnic and religious background. as the time when many countries in the middle east are in conflict, the world finds indonesia as the exmple of a nation that is able to keep the unity of its people. however, the predicate of peacefull society of indonesia has been threatened. the behavior of the members of the society has shifted as if towards a division caused by issues of welfare, gaps and misunderstandings between the political elites and the low level of religious understanding of society that can trigger the nation’s split. there is a greater need that the indonesian nation should be able to understand that the basic value of the nation that has been inherited by the ancestors is an important legacy to improve the quality of society in the framework of sustainable national development. the inventarization of local cultural values in various regions of indonesia can serve as a model for the efforts of restoring the direction of locality-based development that is appropriate for each community. local wisdom can be a social capital in developing a nation’s attitude that needs to be maintained as well. this is because local wisdom is part of the culture of a society. local wisdom is something inherited from generation to generation. this is the potential wealth of this nation that also needs to be preserved as a diversity that becomes the source of the nation’s wealth. this paper, therefore, is expected to be one of the efforts to explore the nation’s heritage that could be a better inspiration for indonesian human development by exploring the cultural and religious patterns of the communities of the kapuas riverside in the interior of west kalimantan. the river has been a vital infrastructure for the people of west kalimantan since the early days and it even still prevails to this day, not only fot the people living in the coastal areas of west kalimantan such as in pontianak, mempawah and kubu but also for the inland people such as those living in sintang and kapuas hulu. the island of borneo as one of the richest and largest islands in indonesia is certainly very worthy of being the focus of the spotlight, both by the international as well as national community of its own. although the current condition of indonesian society on the island of borneo is divided into several provinces that vary in the level of welfare, but in fact one of the reasons is because of mismanagement of the potential richness. on the issue of education, for example, west kalimantan still lies at the bottom line which in general also has infrastructure inadequacy. similar to the condition of infrastructure [ 199 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 inadequacy in west kalimantan, just for a comparison, the low percentage of education rate of indigenous papuans, among others is as a result of the insufficiency of school buildings, educational staffs, and facilities (upton, 2009: 274). although not as low as in papua, this condition is also coomonly found in the interior of west kalimantan, which of course is related to the quality of bureaucracy and public service in west kalimantan which is also still relatively low. this is greatly influenced by the low level of education and the low capacity of human resources involved. local cultures include views, wisdom, values of tradition, and norms in living the lives of the communities in which they live. local culture is believed to be able to answer various problems arising from the influence of foreign culture, as well as a life guide to overcoming social conflict between and among the society. sedyawati (2006: 382) mentions that the culture of a nation has a unique wisdom that can be interpreted as wisdom in the traditional culture of the people. wisdom in the broad sense is not only the norms and cultural values, but also all elements of ideas, including those that have implications for technology, health care, and aesthetics. with that being said, it also includes, as a manifestation of local wisdom, the various patterns of actions and cultural aspects. after islam was introduced in the interior of west kailimantan, it was later assimilated into the local culture of the local communities and produced an islamic local culture. in living their daily lives, people maintain the propriety and harmony that is guarded by the existence of local cultural institutions that have been integrated with the teachings of islam. in fact, various aspects of local culture can synergize in social life including aspects of custom which contain restrictions on things that can be viewed as good or bad, true or false, and civilized and uncivilized into the collective agreement of the local community. islam in west kalimantan today has evolved in various remote areas that are not even on the areas of riverside. but the pattern of its development differs from time to time, as well as the spread of islam in the sultanate era that pennetrated through the network of the malay arab sultanate. to explain the process of the spread of islam to west kalimantan, it is necessary to first explain about the history of the coming of islam to indonesia and then to the interior of borneo. this is important because the historical process of islamic spread can help the process of analyzing the historical context of muslim communities in sintang and kapuas hulu regions. in addition, the explanation is also important because islam is also the most dominant religion embraced by the people of indonesia to date, and that islam is embraced by people who are in the region of java and other regions with a malay culture, which include communities in [ 200 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 malaysia, brunei, sumatra, and kalimantan. as an archipelagocal region, the geographical aspect is the main determinant of the historical easiness of the spread of islam into regions known as the nusantara archipelago. indonesia has interconnected relationships with islamic regions on the western coast stretching from morocco to bengal and other interactions with north africa, egypt, west asia, central asia and india. periodically, the introduction of islam into the archipelago can be divided into three phases: the first phase from the year of hijri (622 ad) to 1100 bc; the second phase of the period of 1100-1500 ad and the third phase extends from 1500 to modern times (ricklefs, 2008 : 110-115). it is generally known that islam was brought to indonesia first through a geographical path known as the “silk road” to china. then the archipelago became a transit place before the trade spread continued to china. muslim traders, both arabs and persians, came rapidly to the indian ocean. the acceptance of islam by the malays is also due to an impression of honesty and integrity of traders from the middle east. in addition, marriage also has an important role to bring people to embrace islam, as happened in malabar and sumatra. the immigrants who came did not force their own customs against the locals who had local culture. instead, they adopted local culture while introducing the doctrine of tawheed (islamic theology) and sharia (islamic law). the arabs were always a small minority among malays but they enjoyed a privileged position in society. they speak the language of the qur’an and have a reputation of piety and perseverance. these arabs are regarded as the ideal society. even kings and sultans consider it an honor to marry arab descendants and have offspring in the family of the blood of respected arabs as sayyids, or descendants of the prophet’s family (azra, 2002: 85-90). in west borneo, for example, there are many islamic sultanates affiliated to the arab world and even some of its founders were arab migrants who came to migrate and reach the island of borneo. one of the existing sultanates in west kalimantan is the sultanate of qadriyah located in the old city of pontianak which is the forerunner of pontianak city. qadriyah kingdom was founded by a young man from hadramaud region of yemen who became the sonin-law of king opu daeng manambon in the kingdom of amantu billah mempawah. it seems that the marriage of the king’s family with the arabs is also an honor as happened at the marriage of sharif abdurrahman al qadrie who married the daughter of king opu daeng manambon who came from the bugis makassar land. on the same honor then opu daeng manambon gave an opportunity to sharif abdurrahman al qadrie to build his own kingdom which became known as the qadriyah sultanate located at estuary of [ 201 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 landak river and kapuas river. the royal family as well as some close family of the kings affiliated with the arabs or hadramaut ancestors still possess such traditions and even make privileges to their families. these characteristics are in the form of predicate of sharif and sharifah.1 in fact, in ancient times these sharifahs should not marry with non-sharif so it is very rare for local youth to marry arab girls. but it would be a pride for local girls to marry a youth of sharif so they can earn offspring with better social status.2 it was not until the end of the thirteenth century that islam spread throughout the local communities and port cities. the spread of islam was also driven by the increasing network of trade outside the archipelago. in general, the merchants of the greater kingdom were the first to adopt a new religion such as the dominant kingdom of mataram in central java and the sultanate of ternate and tidore in the maluku islands to the east. by the end of the thirteenth century, islam had stood in northern sumatra, the fourteenth century in northeastern malaya, brunei, borneo in the western, southwestern philippines and among some also appeared in east java, and the fifteenth century in malacca and other areas of the malay peninsula. in west borneo, the spread of islam into the interior goes through the coastal path and toward the river path to enter the interior, with the establishment of coastal-centered kingdoms such as matan kingdom, kubu kingdom, sambas kingdom, mempawah kingdom and sukadana kingdom. through assimilation, islam has replaced hinduism and buddhism as the dominant religion of java, sumatra and kalimantan at the end of the 16th century. until now only balinese who maintain the majority of hindu and outer islands still largely adhered to local religions or adopted christianity in the 17th and 18th centuries (riddel, 2001: 56; aritonang, 2004: 71). based on limited sources, hermansyah (2010: 63) explains that in general islam was brought into west borneo through two lines, namely through the west and south coast and through the east. what is meant by the west and south coastal route is through sambas, singkawang, mempawah, pontianak and ketapang and sukadana. meanwhile, the east line means the entry of preachers from banjarmasin or kota waringin passing through the forest or river route to central kalimantan. this path can pass through the territory of melawi and sintang, which borders central kalimantan. in the pre-colonial era there has been contacts between the kingdom of waringin city in central 1 this kind of title is also found in many regions in indonesia in various versions such as sayyid (meaning that the holders have the link of kindship to the prophet muhammad) and habib (mening that the hoolders also have higher status in terms of religious knowldge and authority in the society). 2 the information on kesultanan kadriah and its local traditions is from an interview with syarif mochdar in pontianak on 21 mei 2010. [ 202 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 kalimantan and the kingdom of sintang on the border area of the two kingdoms namely nanga pinoh. prasojo (2016) also explains that the dayak community in the interior of west kalimantan, especially in melawi (nanga pinoh), received islamic preachers from three directions, namely from the coast through sintang, upstream through badau and down to sintang and through traditional kota waringin originating from banjarmasin. acculturation of local and islamic cultures as elaborated by hermansyah (2009) in his book entitled islam from the coast to the interior of west kalimantan, the coming of islam to the interior of west kalimantan occured a long time ago. but this is not widely known by the public. it may also be due to the lack of study or work on this inland islam apart from the lack of government promoting the study and disseminating information about the existence of villages on the kapuas river coast, which the majority have embraced islam for a long time. hermansyah’s book, which is the result of research in the embau area of kapuas hulu, has shown that the hinterland of west kalimantan, especially in the upper kapuas river, is a region of muslim society that needs to be studied. the hinterland that is meant here is not only now the area of kapuas hulu, but starting from the tayan regions continue to head up the kapuas river like sanggau, sekadau, sintang, mewali, and kapuas dulu. in the classification of ethnicity, the inland communities on the kapuas riverside consist of numerous local sub tribes. but in general, the community recognizes the classification of the population in this interior region with two major categories, namely dayak and malay. within the dayak tribe there are various ethnic sub-tribes. the name dayak, as syarif ibrahim alqadrie (2009) and zaenuddin hudi prasojo (2011) referred to, is as a label given by the european immigrants to the natives of the borneo island. this is evidence by the unpopularity of dayak terms in other parts of kalimantan such as east and south in the past. in those regions, indigenous people tend to use their original ethnic names such as bukumpai, ngaju, kayan, etc. apart from these discussions, inland west kalimantan on the riverside of the kapuas river is home to indigenous people of various ethnicities. in the kapuas hulu region, there are several ethnic groups such as malay, iban, punan (penan), bukat, suhaid, mmayan, pengaki, temambaloh, suruk, manday, aoheng, semukung, embaloh, seberuang and many others. meanwhile in the region of sintang and melawi districts, there are also several ethnic groups such as malay, desa, linoh, kantuk, sekujam, kubin, ud danum, kebahan, etc. along the course of time of the spread of islam into this hinterland around [ 203 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the 1600s (gusti muhammad fadli, 2016), the preachers who brought islam came while trading and it continued to acculturate with local culture. these islamic preachers certainly brought with them their respective cultures which also directly bring the value of islam in the culture they practice. radin hasbi in selimbau, for example, believes that in the case of the burial of the kings’ families in selimbau, the funeral process has taken on islamic tradition brought by islamic preachers who came as it could be seen from the form of tombstones and the writings on the tombstone. previously, before islam entered selimbau, no such tombstone was found as can be seen in the cemetery of these selimbau kings, he said. acculturation of local and islamic culture is not only visible in the process of managing the corpse to the grave but it also occurs in other aspects such as marriage, architecture, clothing, food and manners in everyday life. even the language aspect is also an important part in the acculturation of local culture and islamic culture displayed in the malay symbol. the selimbau malay language is then written in arabic letters which are the letters used in the qur’an as the holy book of islam. in other words, language and script have experienced acculturation that takes the form of jawi writing known in the archipelago since ancient times. abang walidad as selimbau palace family secretary even shows to the researcher a translation book of baabus samiin written by maharaja hatib sri kesuma muhammad ali religious mufti of selimbau kingdom who was from the 24th king selimbau sultanate. the book has become a clear evidence of a process of acculturation of local culture of selimbau and islamic tradition in the form of language and written works. the book is written in arabic script and selimbau malay language. according to abang walidad, the book is found among the archives of selimbau sultanate that still cannot be sorted in more detail. he believes that there are still other works to be recalled as selaimbau was once the center of the spread of islam in the heyday of the selimbau sultanate in the past. among the evidence of this glory is the manuscript’s inheritance which states that the selimbau clan has founded the islamic center at jabal kubis in a mecca area. the islamic center even still belongs to selimbau sultanate because at the time when compensated by the government of saudi arabia, the sultan did not agree as he still wants the islamic center’s ownership for selimbau sultanate. the acculturation of local culture and islamic tradition also takes the form of mosque architecture that appears in at-taqwa mosque building which is the official mosque of selimbau sultanate. visible from the exterior design of the mosque building, it shows the characteristics of coastal buildings of the kapuas river which have pillars of the rod that become the buffer of the [ 204 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 mosque building so as not to be exposed to river water. this is the consequence of establishing a building on the banks of the kapuas river which at the time of overflowing water will inundate the riverbanks that even to form a lake. the pillars of the at-taqwa mosque, as well as other buildings in the region, use the typical wood of this region that contains local wisdom and culture. the woods include iron wood or belian and kayu tembesuk or temesuk wood. in terms of architecture of the building, the form of the mosque adopts the dome system but its shape and style contain local art. at taqwa mosque has a dome as the symbol of islamic culture in the middle east but the pattern takes the form of a local work that forms part of the process of building the mosque. there are still many forms of acculturation of local culture and islamic tradition that need to be mentioned here as real examples of what happened in the area of the kapuas riverside. prayers in the ceremony of marriage, salvation and religious ceremonies become an important example as presented by asnu murni which is a village leader in selimbau town. in sintang, for example, edy sunaryo also mentions that the tradition of sintang malay in the wedding ceremony shows a distinctive characteristic that is not the same as in the kapuas hulu region. gusti muhammad fadli also said that in sintang there is a special ceremony before the wedding ceremony of the sintang palace family that is not performed by the people outside the palace. in terms of food presented in walimahan (wedding party), there is also improvisation in accordance with the local culture of sintang with typical food court banquet. adat nopen is one of the most famous among kampung raja in sintang which is an important ceremony for sintang malay people living on the banks of kapuas and melawi rivers. however, the exploration and socialization of cultural wealth has not been done optimally. of course this is related to various factors such as politics and economy as well as in other parts of indonesia. in papua for example, as reported by uten sutendy3, that the current condition of the power of economic and political interests is too much that it can shift the important role of spiritual, religious, and cultural aspects in the development of mankind. in fact, he continues, the role of religious communities began to shift into political and economic “vehicles” by certain parties.therefore, it needs a common consciousness that attention can be directed in the proper direction. why is that so? because the local is also proven to adapt to the modern life of society that must be preserved, and the product of acculturation of culture and islam in the interior of west kalimantan is a cultural richness that needs 3 uten sutendy. the chairnan of the organizer of the konferensi internasional penyelamat kearifan lokal, on “nilai kearifan lokal bisa menjadi solusi penyelesaian konflik sosial” as quoted by kabar24.bisnis.com. 04 september 2017. [ 205 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 to be preserved through mapping, inventory, externalization and socialization in order to be properly internalized by local communities, and structured as proposed by antoni giddens (1984). the existence of local religious institutions as pointed out in the previous section that the interior of west kalimantan has diverse ethnic groups. each has different cultural features and systems. this section describes the existence of local religious institutions born from the acculturation of local culture and islam in the life of the people on the banks of the kapuas river in the interior of west kalimantan. consciously or not, the diversity of ethnic groups in indonesia is a very valuable capital for human life, including what is found in the interior of west kalimantan. the diversity which possibly causes disputes, within it there are also some cultural mechanisms useful to reconcile disputes and build consensus and solidarity. the cultural mechanism has proved to be a result of the cultural acculturation process of local culture with islam for the muslim communities living aroun the banks of the kapuas river. a form of acculturation products of local culture and islam in the interior regions is the emergence of religious institutions that function as an infrastructure in social life in the malay tribe in particular and or other ethnic communities who then embraced islam and still holds its ethnic identity such as katab kebahan in melawi and bakumpai in south kalimantan. those kinds of institutions are normally formed from an existing structure experiencing islamization. they are also re-structured. the sultanate institution, for example, became an institution transformed from a governmental institution and an old non-islamic state power into a powerful islamic da’wah institution in the early days of the spread of islam along the banks of the kapuas river. the da’wah strategy pursued by early islamic propagators by entering into the territory of the palace has made the center of government at the same time a hallmark of religious institutions. this is hardly surprising when compared with what happened in europe where many countries at the same time also functioned as catholic or christian religious institutions during colonialism era. islam earlier came into the interior of borneo compared to catholicism and christianity. y.c. thambun anyang (1998) reported that catholicism was only disseminated by missionaries in the early 1970s, while christianity began to spread in kapuas hulu in about 1972. it is likely that catholicism and christianity began to spread in the sintang region in the early 1960s, earlier than in kapuas hulu. the following development was that islam was embraced by most of [ 206 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the riverside communities of the kapuas river in the interior compared with indigenous people living in the hinterland that were difficult to reach by the transportation of water. however, the construction of roads in the early days of the new order government from pontianak to putussibau and even badau has opened up opportunities for catholicism and christianity to enter into the areas previously unaffordable by the spreaders of islam during the sultanate. the ups and downs of the spread of islam in these remote regions since the demise of the sultanates in sintang and kapuas hulu has opened the opportunity to catholic missionaries to enter inland in the new order era with little (or non-existence of) missions regarding the spread of islam in the interior of west kalimantan. the palace as an institution of power as well as a religious-cultural symbol extends its power through the institution of the mosque and imam or penghulu. at the time of the sultanate, the functions of the mosque, the imam and the penghulu were so important that the question of issues arising from religious affairs could be resolved at their level. maharaja imam sambas, for example, a religious authority holder in the samsas sultanate, had the authority to decide cases deemed important in society. there was a case in his era, where an issue of lack of worshipers for friday prayers according to shafi’i mazdhab occured, then maharaja imam sambas baisuni imron asked the matter to his teacher syech rashid ridho in al azhar and then decided that friday prayers could be held at the mosque of a village in sambas with fewer than 40 attenders. the fatwa was made considering the possibility of negative friday prayers if imposed on conditions that must be met by madzhaf syafi’i even though they hold the school of thought as a role model. similar functions occurred in the sultanate in the interior such as sintang, suhaid, selaimbau, jongkong and bunut as reported by haji zulkifli and haji ahmadin in suhaid, ade ahmad karim in semitau and gusti muhammad fadli in sintang. in the current era of reform, religious institutions have shifted to the ministry of religious affairs which has offices of religious affairs (kua) at the subdistrict level as reported by mulyadi in selimbau. however, institutions such as mosques and imams and penghulu who are also assisted by the kua play a very important role. even the semitau sub-district camat (head) explains that the semitau region currently lacks the production of prospective imam or clerics who will hopefully become an important religious institution in the development of islam in this region. this awareness of need is in fact an awareness of the inheritance of past glory with preachers and imams capable of being a source of reference to religious issues in the community life in the past. even big names such as syech arsyad al-banjari who wrote the book sabilal [ 207 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 muhtadin also briefly mentioned by some informants in the area of research that the cleric had come to the hinterland of kapuas hulu and directly check the use of his book which is widely used in this bornoe land even in sarawak, sabah and brunei darussalam. however, formal educational institutions or madrasah were not often found in the sultanate’s era. in this hinterland, new madrasah emerged in the early 19th century initiated by haji ahmad in jongkong. for comparison, the oldest madrasah in west kalimantan is believed to have been established in saigon village within the sultanate of pontianak teritory by syech arsyad al albanjari’s student namely syech yusuf saigon. not far behind the time, an old madrasah is also found in sambas founded by maharaja imam sambas baisuni imron. it can also be concluded that religious institutions in the form of formal education such as madrasah were just emerging then along with the trend that occurred in the archipelago. it also means that in earlier times, religious institutions were handed over to imams and penghulu and mosques established in villages as an extension of the palace/sultanate that underpins them. political, economic, religious and social network when returning to the coast or estuary of the kapuas river in the western part of borneo island, namely in pontianak, sambas, sukadana and matan, you will be re-presented with the map of muslim communities along the kapuas river with two categories, namely downstream and upstream. downstream is what we call coastal and upstream is what we call as inland. although they have different characteristics because of geographical reasons, they actually have many similarities because of several important reasons, namely religion (islam), ethnicity of malay, and kinship. they have also established strong networking ties that have existed since the time of the empire to the present day. of course in this era, there are many other factors that give influences to the networks that have been built in the era of the sultanate such as political networks, islamic da’wah, trade, network of scholars and other social networks. social integration, among others, is important as explained by ernas (2015) in the case of coastal communities in ambon. factors that influence in the current era will be discussed at the end of this section. historical sources written in manuscript and the artifacts in the form of gravestones and other objects have shown important lines that indicate a very strong family network among the mujslim communities living in the riverside of kapuas river. this kinship network even involves the families and relatives of the sultanates in west kalimantan. abang walidad explains that one of [ 208 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 selimbau’s family lines also extends to sarawak and even brunei darussalam, besides directly having kinship relationship with family of sintang palace, sanggau, landak, matan, pontianak and sambas. gusti muhammad fadli in sintang also mentions that the sintang royal palace is related to the sultanates in kapuas hulu and selaimbau, suhaid and jongkong. in fact, the relation of sintang royal family is not only evidenced by several palaces in west kalimantan but even related to majapahit (gusti muhammad fadli, 2016). therefore studies on the linkages of familial relations need to be studied more deeply to gain inspiration for the current strategy of islamic network development that can be an important contribution to muslim scholarship and culture in west kalimantan. as a continuation of the kinship network among the royal family in the interior of west kalimantan, of course the political network becomes an important part of it. the kinship of the royal palace often occurs because of the political factors that extend the new family. this also happens among the relatives of the palace in the archipelago as in java, sumatra and even southeast asia in general. erwin mahrus (2017) mentions that the sambas palace relationship with brunei was also accompanied by political factors occurring in its period, when one of the family mebers of sultan of brunei proposed to the daughter of queen sepudak for his son, radin sulaiman who had maternal blood from matan’s court at sukadana. patmawati (2017) also mentions that in lontarak there is a marital relationship between relatives of mempawah keraton and the family of sultan brunei darussalam. this political network is actually very important to study as the basis of the genealogy of political policies that have been issued throughout the history of the sultanate in borneo and southeast asia region involving the number of sultanates on this island of borneo. for that reason, the potential of the study of political networks is still widely open in hopes of elaboration farher into the political networks that already exist among the sultanates in the interior of west kalimantan. one of the important findings of this research that needs to be followed up for further research is that selimbau sultanate also has a network to the selimbau embassy in saudi arabia which is also located at jabal kubis of mecca city as a representative of the selimbau state recognized by saudi arabia. the political network then continues to be a network of economy and commerce. as explained by hermansyah (2009) that in kapuas hulu there are ethnic chinese that have set foot in kapuas hulu for a long time, approximately 150 years ago. political network involving the palace family also involves families of immigrant people including china. in selimbau, for example, there are ethnic chinese who have lived in floating houses since about a hundred years [ 209 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 ago as reported by suryadi. the arrival of ethnic chinese into the interior of west kalimantan is still a puzzle, as they have also reached the kapuas hulu area and surrounding areas. currently we even encounter that ethnic chinese have owned shops and play an important role in the central markets in inland cities such as sintang, silat, semitau, suhaid, selimbau, jongkong, bunut and putussibau. by looking at the position of the shops and their strategic housing ownership, it can be concluded that ethnic chinese have a very strategic role in the trading network. in fact, in the era of the sultanate, economic control was held by the ruler of the sultan (nuh, 2016). gusti muhammad fadli argues that ethnic chinese have actually come to follow migrants from the netherlands who were also engaged in trading activities. in addition, it is very interesting in this research that the network of scholars and islamic scholarship has been established since the beginning of the entry of islam into the interior of west kalimantan through the scholars who came and also through kinship relationships that are intertwined with immigrants and other palaces in the archipelago . at the beginning it has been mentioned that maharaja hatib sri kesuma muhammad ali, the mufti of selimbau kingdom’s 24th kingdom translated the baabus samiin which was the work of the egyptian scholar. this shows that the clerical network at selimbau is not only local but international. the book was used in selimbau and therefore needs to be translated into a language understood by the community in selimbau. abang walidad futher explains that selimbau clergy relations are not only with saudi arabia but also with the banjarmasin and sarawak regions. the banjarmasin and sarawah clerical network is also found in sintang as written by the former chairman of the sintang mui. he claimed that the spreaders of islam to sintang, in addition to the guru bulit from west sumatera, also includes encik saman from sarawak and encik abdusomad from banjarmasin who brought the gift of the qur’an from the kingdom of banjar to king of sintang (haris at.al, 1994). this network of scholars has actually become the basis of islamic development in the interior of west kalimantan and it is important to learn more for the development of islam in the present that is certainly in accordance with the times. another important network is the social network and the relationship between muslims along the riverside and the surrounding community that precisely in the time of the empire had not had time to become a muslim. in some cases, the social relations of the two groups separated by islam were involved in war. abang walidan mentions the war between the selimbau palace and the iban group in batang lupar and the water. in sintang there is also the term dayak “mahardina” or dayak merdeka which means dayak ethic groups who did not [ 210 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 convert to islam and did not become malay. the established social network then over time turns into a social network of friendship and mutual care. at the time of this reform, the map of the spread of muslim and non-muslim population is visible from coastal settlements and land settlements that are some distance from the riverside, both the kapuas river and its tributaries. the transition from the era of the sultanate to the old order and the new order provided an opportunity for catholic and christian missionaries to enter the non-muslim land settlements through development projects. in addition, at the same time the islamic da’wah project has greatly diminished as the rule of the sultanates as a religious institution in its heyday. until now the missionary rivalry between the two major world religions (islam and christianity) is still continuing with the challenges and opportunities of today with social media as a field of virtue. some of the important challenges that arise as a result of the birth of a network of highly uncontrolled free social media are, among other things, the ease with which non-mainstresm religious ideologies or non-mainstream ones entering the interior regions. the challenges of the relatively low level of education are also a very urgent issue in addressing the entry of new ideologies. in fact, the inland people also have an open attitude because they have a legacy of network of scholars and broad islamic scholars during the era of the sultanate. haji zulkifli in suhaid and haji mas hidayat in semitau even point out that they are not anti-new opinions in religion. but the style of communication and the wholeness of the ummah are of primary concern to them. that is, the unity of ummah is placed above all things in the affairs of islamic religious practice and the entry of new schools of thought as a result of today’s supersophisticated social media network. here the role of religious institutions and educational institutions becomes very strategic. in addition, the media is also very important in sharing the existing social religious networks so as to become a positive value infrastructure for the progress of the indonesian nation that has issued the decree/law number 05 of 2017 on the promotion of culture. media as part of modern culture should be able to make a positive contribution to the development of culture based on religion which becomes the basis for the progress of indonesian culture. conclusion cultural wealth and religious social life in the interior of west kalimantan are important elements for the development of civil society in the region. researchers, especially local academics, should give special attention to this area with regards to scientific work. it may include natural wealth, cultural [ 211 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 heritage and the rural communities of west kalimantan that need a good study for the purpose of progress and development of the nation. human and cultural resources are importanat for the efforts of improving the welfare of the community as the goal of national development. this work concludes that the cultural and religious patterns of the people living along the sides of kapuas river in the interior of west kalimantan have had three important components in its history. first, the acculturation of local and islamic culture that has occurred since the arrival of islam into the hinterland of kalimantan through the kapuas river route continues to take place. this important phenomenon needs to be promoted in order to serve as an inspiration of current and future development policies. second, the acculturation of local religions and cultures also led to a very important local religious institution in the process of social change of the communities living along the sides of the kapuas river in the interior of west kalimantan. the local religious institutions have become an important infrastructure that has been proven to ensure the survival of the living muslim community systema that have existed among indigenous people who are still in the local beliefs of their time. third, the muslim communities along the kapuas river in the interior of west kalimantan already have a vast network of not only kinship networks, islamic trade and dakwah but also the network of islamic scholarship and knowledge. of course, the growth of these networks is influenced by the media that also develops in its name. therefore this paper also provides a recommendation that there is need for profund comprehensive analysis of cultural and religious aspects in the development of the communities living along the kapuas riverside in the interior of west kalimantan which are currently included in the administrative area of sintang and kapuas hulu districts. bibliography alqadrie, s. i. (2009). matahari terbit dari barat. pontianak: yayasan insan cita. anouw, y. (2017). program manajer bentara papua dalam siaran pers “guna menyerukan kelestarian hutan dan menjaga hak-hak masyarakat adat papua. in antaranews.com. in jakarta, 4 november 2017. aritonang, j. s. (2004). sejarah perjumpaan kristen dan islam di indonesia. jakarta: bpk gunung mulia. anyang, y.c. t. (1998). kebudayaan dan perubahan daya taman kalimantan dalam arus reformasi. jakarta: gramedia. [ 212 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 azra, a. (2002). islam nusantara, jaringan global dan lokal. bandung: mizan. ernas, s. (2015). dynamic social integration: social integration of religious followers in ambon. al-albab, 4(2), 231 250. doi:https://doi. org/10.24260/alalbab.v4i2.291 fadli, g. m. (2002). tanah tanjung: perjuangan pangeran kuning melawan kolonialisme. sumatra utara: story club media. geertz, c. 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(2017). manuskrip lontarak di kalimantan barat. paper presented at seminar kajian manuskrip borneo. brunei: pusat sejarah brunei. prasojo, z. h. (2011). “indigenous community identity within muslim societies in indonesia: a study of katab kebahan dayak in west borneo.” dalam oxford journal of islamic studies. vol. 22. no. 1. hal: 50-65. ______. (2016). “social change and the contributions of the tionghua, dayak and melayu (tidayu) in west kalimantan.’ in king, v. (at.al) borneo studies in history, society and culture. singapore: pringer. p: 427-442. riddel, p. g. (2001). arab migrants and islamization in the malay world during the colonial period. in indonesia and the malay world. vol. 29. no. 84. ricklefs, m.c. (2008). a history of modern indonesia since c. 1200: fourth edition. stanford: stanford university press. [ 213 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 sutendy, u. 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(2009). materi adat dan hukum adat istiadat warga katab kebahan wilayah nanga pinoh. pontianak: stain press [ 214 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 199 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule sekolah tinggi pastoral atma reksa ende email: jeffwobul@yahoo.co.id adison adrianus sihombing national research and innovation agency, indonesia email: adis009@brin.go.id abstract the phenomenon of wearing a face veil in ende city has received a rather negative response from catholics. the catholics think that the face veil worn by muslim women has created a social and emotional distance that disrupts the kinship system of muslims and catholics of the same ethnic culture. this study explores and analyzes the motivation for muslims wearing the face veil, the reasons behind the response of muslims and catholics, and the negotiation efforts made by muslims in responding to and accommodating the local culture of dressing among the ende people. this study is qualitative research through indepth interviews with muslim and catholic sources as well participant observations. this field study was conducted from july 2019 to december 2021. the data analysis process used was descriptive and interpretive. the findings of this study show that; first, the choice to wear the face veil comes from personal motivation towards piety of the faith of muslim women. a face veil is not an expression of a suspicious radical movement and will not disrupt the kinship system as perceived by the catholics. second, it turns out that the response of the catholics is due to the assumption that muslim women who wear the face veil have left the local dress culture because they are adopting arab culture and causing social rifts in daily life even though they are ethnically still brothers and sisters. third, ende muslims combine the face veil with local clothing, the lawo-lambu, on different occasions. this combination is a negotiation process between personal autonomy towards a true muslimah and a strategy to accommodate the beauty of the local dress, the lawo-lambu, so as not to lose their identity as ende people who are predominantly catholics. keywords: face veil, lawo-lambu, negotiating religious practices; ende city [ 200 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 introduction wearing a face veil is the latest social phenomenon in ende city, flores. this phenomenon has become one of the most striking forms of islamic expression since 2015. muslims who wear the face veil can be seen among several young and adult women, certain mothers, as well as several santri [boarding school students] and ustazah [female teachers] at the an-nur pesantren, a boarding school located in ndao hamlet, kota ratu village, north ende sub-district. the presence of muslim women with the face veil can be seen in several locations, not only those who live in several urban villages where the majority of the population is muslim, but also those who live among the catholic majority. some of these women choose to be alone at home or only interact with their muslim families. some participate regularly and are involved in social interactions and activities outside the home, such as attending family and social events and selling stuff at mbongawani market. the phenomenon of muslim women wearing the face veil in ende city has generated a response, both from muslims and catholics. the muslims and catholics in ende are actually of the same ethnic culture. the unity and similarity of muslim and catholic cultures in east nusa tenggara (ntt) are built based on blood relations and marriage, shared customs and traditions, and the right to land ownership (tule, 2015). these three elements unite a kinship that lasts forever (halawa & ahen, 2008; howell, 1990). these kinship ties have perpetuated the harmonious life of muslims and catholics who share the same ethnic culture. when the face veil phenomenon began to emerge in ende city, it caused tension, negative reactions, and rejection from the catholic community. this is triggered by the fact that wearing the face veil is considered to have left the local dress culture. to date, several previous studies have explained the phenomenon of veiling that departs from the concept of islam, both from a legal-historical perspective (diab, 2016) and the debate about the controversy over the wearing of the face veil in the political islam movement (islamism). hakim (2020) shows that there is no relationship between radical ideology and the tendency among muslim women to wear the face veil. another study by dzuhayatin (2020) on the face veil phenomenon in two muslim countries, indonesia and egypt, indicates that it is associated with the ideology of the caliphate, which is contrary to the concept of democracy in these two republics. this research shows that the spirit of nationalism is still stronger than the islamist movement in the two countries. this is evidenced by the objection expressed by muslim women who wear face cover about acts of violence in the name of religion for political goals and their reluctance to affiliate with terrorist groups. [ 201 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 another study adopted a historical perspective to explain that the face veil is arab women’s clothing, both worn in pre-islamic and post-islamic times. the wearing of the face veil does not imply a particular order, its obligations, or its sunnah (sudirman, 2019)but does not require, appeal or circumcise the niqab to women. suppose the niqab is perceived as clothing that can maintain women’s dignity and \”wasilah\” to maintain their survival as claimed by a number of parties, surely the prophet muhammad. will oblige it to his wives, where they (the wives of the prophet. several other studies explain the phenomenon of wearing the face veil, which is on the rise now despite its negative stigma in the community. muslim women with face covering try to remove the negative stigma in society by showing a more inclusive attitude, such as doing various activities outside the home. the face veil not only serves as a cover for genitalia but has also become a lifestyle and fashion trend that has answered the challenges of modern times (habibah, 2020). in addition, there are other strategies for veiled muslim women, namely wearing a mask as a first step before wearing a veil, building social interactions, and conducting self-presentation to produce a positive self-image in front of others, as well as building social support with other veiled women for physical and psychological comfort. (karunia & syafiq, 2019). a study by nonaka (2021) revealed that wearing the face veil has become so widespread that it has become a controversial issue. this development occurred due to an analysis of da’is [islamic preachers] and influencers’ posts on social media that motivate muslim women to cover their faces. in contrast to previous studies, this study examines and analyzes other realities of face covering by viewing it from the context of ende city, which is predominantly catholic, and the culture of the people still firmly attached to local clothing, the lawo-lambu. this study aims to explore and analyze the phenomenon of wearing facecovering among the people of ende city. in line with that, three research questions were formulated to elaborate on this theme: first, what motivates muslim women to wear the face veil amid a predominantly catholic environment and an ethnic culture that shares the same local clothing? second, how do muslims and catholics respond to the phenomenon of the face veil? third, what is the negotiation strategy for muslim women who wear the face veil in responding to the reaction of the catholic community and local culture? the answers to these three questions will provide a profound, holistic understanding and the right solution to addressing the face-covering social phenomenon in ende city. this study was conducted using a qualitative method. the data were collected using in-depth interview techniques involving 14 respondents, eight muslims and six catholics, all living in ende city. in [ 202 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 addition to in-depth interviews, participant observations were carried out to understand the phenomenon of face covering. this field study was carried out from july 2019 to december 2021. this study was prepared with the assumption that the discourse on the face veil that displays religious symbols with negative stereotypes and as an expression of the movement of radical groups still needs to be reviewed and examined further. (dzuhayatin, 2020). the face veil is not necessarily synonymous with fundamentalism and fanaticism. the current face covering is even more widespread amid various negative societal stigmas. this study explains the motivation for wearing the face veil among muslim women in ende city to understand the context of the change in muslim clothing from the perspective of understanding muslim religiosity. an objective understanding helps catholics get out of their biased and suspicious arguments. a face veil is a new form of distinction in the context of muslim clothing that is not to be feared, suspected, or discontinued among muslims. moreover, the negotiation effort that muslims are making is a strategic step to adapt to the context of local wisdom that accommodates local culture, such as clothing (hermansyah, 2016; misno, 2013) to remove the negative stigma in society. phenomenon of the face veil in ende city ende city is the capital of ende regency, located in the middle of flores island. it is a historic city that is one of the oldest of the early spread of catholics and muslims in flores. according to van suchtelen’s chronicles, in 1560, father antonio de taveira sailed with portuguese traders and converted the infidels in ende and timor. meanwhile, islam began to come here in 1570 through contacts between the indigenous people of ende island and muslims from java and makassar (van suchtelen, 1921). as the oldest catholic and muslim city, religious dynamics have been going on for a long time, and muslim and catholic social interactions have fostered the unity of the two religions. the ende people have local clothing worn by women, namely lawo and lambu. lawo, in the ende language, means a woven sarong for women. lawo has a motif with religious-magic values. the motifs in the lawo weaving are natural motifs of living things, such as humans, animals, and plants. according to the mindset, beliefs, and customs since the ancestors’ time, these motifs have spiritual values that contain sacred powers. there is a religious-magic value with high protective power, which has a foretelling for an event, leading to happiness or functioning to prevent disaster. so, the lawo motif of purity and magic create a fantastic impression (bao, 1992). at the same time, lambu in the ende language means clothes. lambu is a traditional women’s dress that [ 203 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 has a simple shape, which is rectangular with four holes for the body, head, and arms. lambu is always worn together with lawo. when an ende woman wears the lawo-lambu, the manifestation of her local identity as an ende woman is extreme, and her spiritual value and beauty can be seen. this lawolambu dress is a local dress that is integrated with ende women. when hijab began to develop in ende city since the era of the 2000s, local clothing, the lawo-lambu, was not ignored by ende muslim women. they even combine hijab with lawo-lambu (13. ende/22/7/2019). this regional style combination strengthens muslim women’s self-confidence as ende people. after the reform, the islamic movement became more prominent, and it encouraged many young women activists who were committed to islam and wanted to uphold women’s rights and show more piety to women per islam, (rinaldo, 2013). one of which is expressed by wearing the face veil. the wearing of the face veil among muslim women in east nusa tenggara is a phenomenon on the rise (suksin et al., 2020). in ende city, some muslim women have begun covering their faces since 2015. these women come from different backgrounds and groups. the wearing of the face veil was initiated by several students who returned to ende after completing their education at various islamic boarding schools outside flores island and by female workers who returned from middle eastern countries, as well as by adult women and certain mothers. (13. ende/13/8/2019). face covering is quite familiar at the an-nur islamic boarding school in ndao. muslims consider an-nur islamic boarding school as one of the islamic boarding schools based on the ahlus sunnah wal jama’ah islamic model with a determination to promote quality islamic da’wah and education. at this islamic boarding school, several students and ustazah were seen wearing face veils (3. ende/11/6/2019). the wearing of the face veil among muslim women in ende city is a fact that cannot be denied anymore: “the face veil is currently worn by many muslim women here. therefore, if other muslims say that the face veil is not suitable for us here, that is not true. in fact, many muslim women have worn the face veil” (13. ende/13/8/2019). wearing face coverings goes through a motivational stage that develops according to the understanding and appreciation of veiled muslim women. a respondent explained her initial motivation when she decided to wear a face covering. in her statement, she said: [ 204 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 “initially, during my time at the pondok [islamic boarding school], i thought it was too extreme for those wearing face coverings. it was too self-isolated. however, i thought i judged others too harshly without knowing the point, how it feels when you wear the face veil. finally, i tried to put myself in their position. i wore the face veil to know what it was like to be in their position without judging. finally, since i entered my first semester of college, i tried wearing it, and it turned out to be very comfortable” (2. ende/4/5/2021). the first motivation to wear the face veil was to find out how it felt. sometime later, face covering turned out she found comfort, so she decided to remain face-veiled. the comfort is specifically focused on appropriate patterns of association with the opposite sex, as described below: “with a face veil, i can take care of myself and not get unfair treatment from male friends. i feel more comfortable and more able to take care of myself. usually, when (if) we are face-veiled, our friends, especially males, can keep their distance, and be more respectful, then we start to have boundaries in terms of friendship and going out. from my point of view, it is comfortable like this. from that sense of comfort, it eventually forms an identity, such as personality or friendship. because if you wear a face veil, there are consequences that need to be taken care of ” (2. ende/4/5/2021). wearing the face veil makes you feel comfortable. it wants to live the sunnah of the prophet more intensively, avoid sexual desires of the opposite sex and can regulate behavior toward goodness in the way of allah. (hanafiah et al., 2019). this comfort in oneself must also deal with a social environment that has not been able to accept the face veil. there is a face-veiled student who decides to adapt to the existing social conditions: “during my holiday in ende, i took off my face veil. after returning to college, i put it back on. so, i wear a face veil only in college. in ende, i wear a regular hijab, which is 150 x 150” (2. ende/4/5/2021). the reaction to the rejection of the social environment has caused this faceveiled student to be in a dilemma between wearing the face veil and the risk of not being accepted by her family and not wearing a face veil which is contrary to her commitment. in this dilemma, the final decision was to make a choice that made her comfortable in two different environments: wearing a face veil on campus and a regular hijab in ende. [ 205 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 the motivation for wearing the face veil was also born of a commitment to return to the true path of allah. commitment to return to allah’s path through a process that takes time as described below: “wearing the face veil takes time. the process is too extraordinary regarding this veil. i usually tell stories with tears in my eyes. why did i sin so much? what sin? i said, especially when i was young, i wore tights, with body curves, excuse me, i wore tank tops, that’s a sin. we are the ones who wear it are sinful; those who see us are also sinful. so, the sin is double, making people commit adultery in their eyes. going to the market wearing a one-shoulder dress; each time i went to work, i wore shorts. i went to the party, dressing up, even though it was a sin, attracting the attention of the opposite sex. after knowing this, oh, that was what i did anyway” (1. ende/29/8/2019). this face-veiled muslim woman’s expression shows the struggle at the transitional stage from a sinful past and the present when committing herself to wear the face veil. (nisa, 2012). the woman who wears the face veil expresses herself to achieve the desire to become a true muslim woman. by wearing the face veil, women show their obedience to actual physical practices (nisa, 2012). even though we must go through a crisis, it is part of the sacrifice in the quest to become a devout muslim woman (nisa, 2012). based on the various opinions and testimonies above, the motivation for wearing the face veil among ende muslim women is motivated by religious motivation. the wearing of the face veil is a consequence of the increasing awareness of muslims to maintain self-purity and be committed to returning to the true path of allah. such motivation is part of the re-empowerment of pious faith that arises from a new awareness of her identity as a muslim woman and her reflection on that identity (ismail, 2004). a process of selfreflection to redefine her islamic identity in the domain of social life through various signs and symbols related to islamic traditions and culture. (ismail, 2004; yamin, 2013) includes the face veil. within the muslims: negotiable religious practice the face veil has also generated a different response from the internal muslim community. these responses were classified into three categories. first, the opinion of muslims who show a less sympathetic attitude towards the face veil. this first category of opinion explains that “the face veil is the sunnah of the prophet, a strict shari’a. wearing the face veil is a problem if you live in a plural society” (3. ende/11/6/2019). another informant said, “the face veil is [ 206 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 burdensome; what i know is that women are obliged to cover their intimate parts, except for the palms and face” (4. ende/3/5/2021). this unsympathetic attitude is triggered by the very conspicuous attribute of the face veil that seems excessive and fanatical and can interfere with kinship relations. some women who wear the face veil also experience and feel this rejection. one of the respondents reported as follows: “this society has antipathy towards me because i wear the face veil. initially, my experience of wearing this face veil was not only among non-muslims but also among muslims, namely my close relatives, those who rejected it, “what do you want to cover?” the catholics have also ridiculed me, but not in front of me. then, some people are indifferent to me. i said that’s okay. for those who don’t like it, they don’t talk directly; they used to greet me, now not anymore; they hardly ever do” (1. ende/29/8/2019). the expression of this face-veiled muslim woman showed her struggles when she decided to change her appearance from wearing a hijab to a full-face veil. in the transition process, there is a struggle when getting adverse reactions from the social environment. there are expressions of dislike and sympathy from the surrounding community, including their own families. another incident happened to a face-veiled student. there are reactions of rejection and disapproval of the face veil from her family and social environment. she reported as follows: “when i came home from holiday to ende, when i arrived at ende airport, i was told to take it off by the airport staff; i started to doubt whether or not i should wear it. when i got home, my parents and family disagreed. because i was wearing the face veil without my parents’ permission, they forbade me and told me to take it off. they said i’m still unstable; the face veil doesn’t suit our environment here. moreover, i am a student teacher of the islamic religion. if i do da’wah later, there will be people who will not accept it” (2. ende/4/5/2021). the concerns of others shackle the rights and freedoms of these face-veiled students. the request to remove the face veil caused doubt within. in addition, the family also expressed disapproval of the use of the face veil. families assume that wearing the face veil can hinder future assignments and that, at a young age is still unstable to practice religious teachings. [ 207 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 second is the opinion of muslims who critically evaluate the phenomenon of the face veil but still respect the person who wears it. “the face veil is too fanatical, especially when we are easterners here. i don’t like things like that. it doesn’t fit our norm in ende; it feels awkward, but i still appreciate those who wear it” (5. ende/23/7/2019). the critical note of this opinion is that the face veil is not required because it is considered incompatible with the local cultural context. third, muslim opinion shows a favorable acceptance. this opinion begins with an explanation of the reasons for wearing the face veil: “wearing the face veil is sunnah. it’s not required. what’s mandatory is the hijab. after all, a woman’s intimate parts that can be seen are only the face and the palms of the hands. so, if the face veil is not mandatory, anyone who wants to wear it, go ahead; anyone who doesn’t, no problem! that’s the law; if we do, we get a reward; if we don’t, it’s also okay; it’s not sinful.” (13. ende/13/8/2019). the reason for wearing the face veil is based on the sunnah of the prophet. this provision of the sunnah is highly dependent on one’s free choice. on the one hand, wearing the face veil is not mandatory. on the other hand, wearing it is a person’s right and freedom. therefore, muslims refuse if wearing the face veil is identified with radicalism or terrorism. one of the respondents explained: “as far as i know, the messenger of allah taught that women should cover their intimate parts and only see their eyes and palms. then fashion developed. some muslim women wear the face veil. i don’t think it’s wrong because it’s the sunnah of the prophet. then comes the opinion of the community where some people are scared of bomb attacks, that was last year, and a woman in a face veil carried it out. it brings fear, and it’s also sad for us muslims when people’s understanding has started to deviate: oh, then the face veils are scary. don’t let them be terrorists” (12. ende/13/8/2019). the above opinion acknowledges the development of muslim clothing. it explains that it is natural and legal for muslim women to wear the face veil because it is by the sunnah of the prophet. the adverse reaction arises because there is a negative opinion in society that associates face-veiled women with terrorists. the face veil’s image is worse when social media labels women with face veils as the wives of terrorists or terrorist members (dzuhayatin, 2020). muslims themselves deny this terrorist label: [ 208 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 “it’s not [like that]! it’s only because certain people have such a mission. yes, others [who wear it] do not cause any problem, but they raise suggestions from people who see that there is fear, a sense of vigilance, don’t get close, don’t let them be a danger to us. but in my opinion, there is no problem as long as the face-veiled woman wears it as the sunnah of the prophet, yes, just like that.” (12. ende/13/8/2019). although some muslims show a less sympathetic attitude towards the face veil, this phenomenon is an inevitable reality in ende city. wearing the face veil is a religious commitment to live the sunnah of the prophet. this religious commitment is spiritually oriented without being trapped in anxiety and suspicious fanaticism or radicalism—the various explanations described above aim to provide a more objective understanding of the face veil phenomenon. the explanation model is not an apology but a description of the argument that comes from the experience and appreciation of muslims themselves. for the catholics: a shift in religious attitudes in public space the face veil phenomenon in ende city received responses from the catholic community. such reactions are based on experience and the perceived social impact. the responses were grouped into four categories. first, the face veil causes a shock among catholics, “how come there is a woman who wears the face veil in this mbongawani market?” (6. ende/15/7/2019). ende city can also offer a spontaneous commentary on a new, unexpected phenomenon. this surprise sparked suspicions about the face veil phenomenon: “could it be that there is a certain scenario behind this phenomenon” (6. ende/15/7/2019)? second, there is a change in the behavior and habits of a face-veiled woman. a respondent who is a neighbor of a face-veiled muslim woman said: “they’re renting the house. i rarely see the woman out of the house. once in a while, maybe [she’s] going shopping and to the market. when she’s walking, she lowers her head. [she’s] always inside the house, and i have never seen her go out to chat or greet others; when i pass in front of her house, we rarely talk and greet each other” (7. ende/2/7/2019). wearing the face veil has an impact on an exclusive pattern of behavior. in addition, there is also a change in the habits of face-veiled muslim women as they no longer stay in touch to say christmas greetings. it is allegedly forbidden to convey christmas greetings to non-muslims. this habit change makes catholics reluctant to visit and greet muslims on their religious [ 209 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 holidays. catholics think that their presence would not be accepted or could be rejected (8. ende/12/9/2019). third, the creation of social distance further widens the space for personal communication. the face veil has limited the space for talking to each other. “after wearing the face veil, how do we feel? it’s like we don’t talk anymore. i would like to greet them, but we don’t know them anymore because everything is covered” (9. ende/22/4/2021). the atmosphere of communication has become awkward and less intimate than before. the face veil began to limit interaction with catholics. another respondent confirmed this fact: “at first, i felt like it was really weird, right? i came to think like this, what is this all about, really? those who are fully covered, even her face, we cannot see. sometimes when we sit down for a family event, we see someone covering herself, her face, [we] look at her eyes a little. so, i was like, how is this even possible? in the past, it was more relaxed for us to talk and tell stories, but now here we are, well, that’s what i see. it feels like we want to sit down, but we see their eyes. we don’t know how we feel anymore” (10. ende/30/7/2021). face-veiled muslim women began to show behavioral patterns through their exclusiveness by limiting themselves in interacting with catholics. this exclusive character begins to impact relationships and communication patterns that are not as intensive and relaxed as before. the face veil phenomenon is thought to have disrupted the kinship between the face veiled women and catholics. feelings of interfering with kinship ties are not in the context of separation or severance but rather emotional connections. a respondent acknowledged this situation: “among those who are muslims, they may already feel normal because they already know it better. but we don’t know why? so, [we] begin to feel suspicious, [it’s complicated to describe] how we feel; [we] begin to feel reluctant and can no longer hang out in a relaxed manner as before” (10. ende/15/9/2021). the face veil is considered to have created an emotional distance, even physically, despite their kinship relations. fourth, there is a shift from local clothing to arabic-style clothing. face-veiled muslim women show a change in the way they dress: [ 210 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 “a member of my family also wears the face veil. but she wears it only when she leaves the house, goes to the market, or works in a shop. at home, she wears a large hijab and a robe, and now she no longer wears the lawo-lambu” (9. ende/22/4/2021). one of the significant changes revealed was that they no longer wear traditional clothing, lawo-lambu. in fact, for women in ende, lawo-lambu is a local clothing that has been part of them. the ende people still produce women’s sarongs manually using traditional weaving equipment. the ende’s lawo sarong has natural motifs and geometric decorations and contains religious-magic aspects (bao, 1992). the meanings and symbols in the lawo sarongs have made ende women strongly attached to wearing lawo-lambu, both at home and out of the house, for various activities. catholics believe there has been a change in clothing, namely a shift that is considered displacing the beauty of the local ende people’s clothing. they assume that traditional beauty in the form of local clothing, lawo-lambu, which is highly admired and passed down from generation to generation, is drifting away from face-veiled muslim women. local dress is considered not religious clothing, as emphasized by this respondent, “they will no longer consider [wearing] the lawo-lambu. they assume it is not islamic dress. and there must be a shift. if they see that [face veil] as being islamic, but not necessarily, that one is arab style, right?” (11. ende/30/6/2021). wearing the face veil, which is considered an arab-style dress, is something new and strange, which raises many questions among catholics: “what’s that for? initially, people lived side by side between muslims and catholics. therefore, we should adjust to the existing cultural conditions so as not to arouse suspicion. when there is something else, there will be a question: where else? why are they like this? while those who are there are ordinary people, right? so, if there are trends like that, if people understand, they don’t have to wear them. just go with what we have now. they take this from the outside but don’t understand it, do they?” (11. ende/1/12/2021) catholics think that muslims themselves do not understand why they must wear the face veil: “whether they understand the arabization, i also don’t know. but when catholics see something out of the ordinary, there must be questions. because catholics think this is a bit strange, right? then catholics began [ 211 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 to suspect that this should not be an islamization process. the majority are bothered because of the arabization phenomenon, right?” (11. ende/1/12/ 2021) in light of the various opinions above, catholics consider that the face veil phenomenon has begun to cause changes in behavior and a shift in interpreting the beauty of local clothing. as the testimony of the informants above showed, from the beginning, they talked a lot, shook hands, and kept in touch as usual, but after the face veil emerged, they were more reluctant to speak and no longer shook hands; communication was not as relaxed as before; they were unwilling to consume food offered [by catholics] and no longer wear the lawolambu. this impression began to cause negative perceptions among catholics. the face veil has caused discomfort in the coexistence (saiya & manchanda, 2020). fanatical behavior and habits began to appear in face-veiled muslim women. the face veil involves outward things in the form of a black cloth covering the face and the nuances of religious fanaticism amid the diversity of social life. (dzuhayatin, 2020). the transition from the traditional environment and kinship culture attached to the lawo-lambu to the arabized fashion shows this nuance of fanaticism. the phenomenon of arabization is an attempt to form an identity and behavior that follows the way of life that was common in the arab world in the middle ages during the early introduction of islam. one of the external manifestations is the wearing of middle eastern fashion (ghoshal, 2010). the face veil is considered an arab attribute that is shifting local cultural clothing. catholics deplore the shift that has reduced the beauty of local traditions and culture and disrupted the kinship between the two. the impact experienced and felt by catholics caused a reaction of dissatisfaction, so catholics could not accept the face veil. the face veil phenomenon striking in the catholic majority environment is assumed to be an expression of identity politics used to convey messages in public spaces. a statement that is not only about religion itself but also about differences and claims of public recognition (ismail, 2004; yamin et al., 2019). the face veil: religious practice negotiation strategy the face veil phenomenon that appears in public spaces has generated various responses. these multiple responses were made because the face veil is not only a manifestation of the faith but also implies certain ideological doctrines in the form of the discourse of the islamic caliphate (dzuhayatin, 2020). in european countries, there is widespread controversy over the face [ 212 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 veil. france was the first european country to ban the wearing of the face veil on a national scale, followed by other european countries, such as belgium, bulgaria, austria, the netherlands, denmark, italy, spain, and switzerland. this prohibition is solely based on national security threats that link the wearing of the face veil with radical islamic movements and terrorism (saiya & manchanda, 2020). in indonesia, there has been a rapid increase in women wearing the face veil, giving rise to various discussions and opinions. in ende city, as described above, the face veil raises pros and cons between muslims and catholics. the triggering factor behind face-veiled muslim women starts from religious motivation. the face veil is a personal freedom for faithful muslim women without having to be trapped in radical ideas as suspected by catholics. now, face-veiled muslim women are trying to socialize the face veil image among their family and relatives, and surrounding communities, as reported by the following face-veiled informant: “if there is a traditional family event, a funeral, or other family events i attend, i am close to them. i wear lawo-lambu and a face veil. there are times when the women sit down; i take it off, and eat the betel, as usual, with them. i often take it off to show my nephews and other families that i am their mother. if they come, i will take off the face veil; it depends on me personally” (1. ende/29/8/2019). such practice is a process of self-socialization into the cultural context and living habits of the majority of the local community. this step is taken to fight the negative opinion among the public that associates the face veil with “ fanaticism amid diversity”.”(dzuhayatin, 2020) as well as an effort to correct the “misunderstanding of muslim women who wear the face veil”” (izharuddin, 2015). this self-socialization process is one of the ways of adapting to restore the image of the face veil among non-muslims. the differences displayed by face-veiled circles are not a form of arabized religious fanaticism that shifts local wisdom and kinship culture, both among muslims themselves and with catholics. muslims expressed their disapproval of the face veil which catholics consider arabization. according to muslims, “actually wearing the face veil is not arabization. it is recommended in islam” (14. ende/1/12/2021). other muslims also express disapproval of the use of the term arabization: “there is no such thought. for example, we have never had contact [ 213 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 with arabs. sometimes what makes people think like that? lack of understanding. i am afraid i have to disagree with the term arabization. we never felt that way. some say we are not the people of the prophet because we are not arabs. it is wrong! because among us, there is nothing like that” (13. ende/10/12/2021). a young face-veiled muslim woman also disagrees with the term arabization. in her statement, she said: “arabization is probably from the perspective of those who think it is too much. oh, why do you wear the face veil? then they interpret it as the arab culture. it is not like that, though. maybe they see a face veiled person practicing her religion excessively, limiting friendships with other muslim women whose headscarves are not as big as theirs. they could not accept it and judged a face veiled person to be arabized, too excessive in practicing religion; they saw islam as a strict religion, and the rules should not be violated. even though it’s actually not that hard, it also depends on the personality” (2. ende/10/12/2021). the face veil should not be considered arabization, which is then identified with excessive fanaticism. this notion is a prejudice that stems from the ignorance and lack of understanding among catholics about the meaning of wearing the face veil among muslims (valentine et al., 2021). wearing the face veil is a choice of faith and should not necessarily be identified with arab culture. muslim women who wear the face veil are a form of personal appreciation to make themselves more comfortable towards the formation of identity without having to limit themselves excessively in associating with muslims or other non-muslims. (hermansyah, 2016). based on the statements above, muslims express disapproval of using the term arabization. catholics have interpreted the term in responding to changes in muslim clothing, especially regarding the face veil. the face veil is categorized as arab cultural clothing, which has caused a cultural shift and undermined local wisdom. in her description of muslims, eck explained that non-muslims often identify islam with the middle east. islam should not be confused with a particular culture and its ways and customs. islam is a faith and a universal vocation. islam is not an arab religion or a middle eastern cult (eck, 2002). therefore, muslims believe the face veil identified with the arabic character cannot be considered correct. this is because the reality among face-veiled muslim women is different from what catholics assume. according to an informant, “in fact, those who have worn the face veil also always wear a robe. but they still wear the lawo lambu dress in the face veil when attending family [ 214 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 events” (14. ende/1/12/2021). other opinions also confirm the same fact: “underneath, some wear the lawo-lambu combined with the face veil during family events, such as weddings, funerals, or other traditional events. i saw that someone was wearing that; underneath it was not a robe but a lawo. it’s all right. it is a mix of religion and culture. this is something positive, she is wearing a face veil, but she still wears lawolambu” (13. ende/10/12/2021). some of the statements above reveal the reality of the face veil, which is still worn along with the lawo-lambu. the face veil combined with lawo-lambu is usually worn at traditional and cultural events, such as the belis event, customary marriage, or funeral. while for religious events, such as attending recitations in mosques or prayer rooms or internal events among muslims, the face veil is worn with a robe (13. ende/10/12/2021; 12. ende/13/8/2010; 5 ende/23/7/2019). the combination of the face veil and lawo-lambu is seen as something positive that does not ignore local culture but instead still accommodates it. catholics perceive that the face veil has impacted these two things. first, there is a change in behavior among face-veiled muslim women. this behavior change is considered to be exclusive and excessively fanatical. such a model of change is seen as a gap that disrupts the long-standing establishment of muslim and catholic kinship. the face veil phenomenon is a ‘new gap’ currently appearing in the public space of ende city. diana l. eck’s theory of pluralism, explains that pluralism uses the reality of differences as its starting point. pluralist culture will not equalize differences but respect and reconcile them. differences are not to be feared. prejudice stems from ignorance, and that knowledge and understanding will be the basis for creating a positive plural society. without understanding, differences only create fear. with understanding, differences enrich life (eck, 2002). the inevitable face veil phenomenon is a new form of difference amid the internal pluralism of a pluralist society. the new difference is not to be feared or suspected and should be eliminated or prohibited from being practiced by muslims. the choice to wear the face veil is based on personal motivation towards piety of faith and not for political purposes, especially concerning radical movements. when muslims explain the motivation behind wearing this veil, it is one way to give catholics a new, objective understanding. prejudice and suspicion against the face veil stem from ignorance and lack of understanding among catholics. the wearing of the face veil for the sake of self-purity and piety of faith is a process of change [ 215 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 based on the context of the development of faith and religious awareness among muslims. therefore, differences in dress due to religious motivation for the sake of piety of faith are not up for debate (valentine et al., 2021). efforts to respond to this face veil phenomenon require a new commitment to respect and acknowledge the differences expressed through the face veil. this new commitment requires active involvement and a more open attitude to understanding the face veil by building communication through theological dialogue. (madigan, 2010). this dialogue aims to understand the religious motivation behind wearing the face veil to prevent misunderstanding and biased assumptions and correct wrong prejudice against wearing the face veil. because the face veil phenomenon is still triggering adverse reactions from the surrounding community (dzuhayatin, 2020). catholics have not been able to accept the face veil as one of the “real expressions of the spirit of obedience to be a true muslim woman” (nisa, 2012). therefore, at this time, it takes openness from each party in theological dialogue in order to build a shared understanding. the wearing of the face veil among muslims in ende city is part of the expression of the piety of faith with spiritual tendency and not for political-islamist goals with its radicalism and terrorism. this theological dialogue is an essential form of enlightenment, especially for catholics, which must have begun at the grassroots level because there has always been a tendency to direct the thinking about muslim principles into social and political categories without acknowledging the centrality of muslim religious commitments (madigan, 2010). according to the catholic response, the second impact is a shift in the meaning of local traditions, namely the transition from the lawo-lambu to the face veil, considered an arab dress style. the muslims of ende city does not agree with the term arabization because, according to muslims themselves, face-veiled muslim women still wear the lawo-lambu on different events and occasions, as stated by the informants above. when attending traditional family events, such as births, weddings, funerals, or other social events, muslim women combine the face veil with local clothing, the lawo-lambu. while in religious events in mosques, prayer rooms, or internal events among muslims, muslim women wear the face veil combined with a robe. even though they are faced-veiled, these muslim women are still involved in kinship traditions, both with fellow muslims and non-muslims. the identity negotiation theory of stella tingtoomey explains that identity is structured according to a person’s self-image, which is formed through individual negotiation by stating, modifying, or opposing identification with oneself or others. there is a process of adaptation by learning the value system and opening oneself to new ways to reconstruct [ 216 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 the identity (hermansyah, 2016; ting-toomey, 1999). wearing the face veil combined with lawo-lambu is a new way of reconstructing identity through negotiation efforts between islamic identity and its sociocultural identity as ende people. muslim women of ende are adaptive by adhering to the principles of maintaining a balance between two different demands. on the one hand, there are demands for religious clothing to show their islamic identity. on the other hand, there are also demands for culturally patterned clothing so as not to lose their identity as the people of ende (diab, 2016). muslim women wearing the face veil are usually synonymous with a “new piety that rejects and challenges traditional ways of life and old identities.” (turner, 2008). this means that piety creates a special and typical identity that is different from others and shows its superiority regarding religious appreciation. the face veil is one of the characteristics of physical identity and a symbol of piety that avoids contamination with local traditions, which are considered a source of deviation in the islam (diab, 2016; wahib, 2017). however, what happened in ende is different from the concept understood by muslims who wear the face veil. the face-veiled muslims in ende have made a breakthrough by combining the face veil. this means that the face veil, which catholics in ende consider synonymous with arab icons, has undergone an adaptation process by accommodating the lawo-lambu. this combination ensures the comfort of face-veiled muslim women in pursuing personal purity and piety of faith without making them feel alienated or fanatical from their socio-cultural environment as the people of ende. such a muslim attitude is a form of muslim appreciation and respect for local traditions, customs, and fellow catholics (tule, 2004; yamin et al., 2019). thus, wearing the face veil combined with local clothing is a new form of acculturation that is currently happening among veiled muslim women in ende city. (ernas et al., 2021; prasojo, 2017). this shows that religion is constantly in dialogue and adapting to local culture and traditions for the survival of the followers of that religion (erawati, 2018; pabbajah, 2020; prasojo, 2017). conclusion the wearing of the face veil, which is assumed by catholics to be synonymous with fanaticism and radicalism and is considered arabization, turns out to be different from the response from the muslims of ende city. the face veil in the ende muslim context is worn based on personal motivation towards piety. such motivation has a spiritual tendency and is not political-islamist with a radical pattern. the face veil phenomenon, which has a spiritual tendency, does not at all ignore the lawo-lambu as assumed by catholics. face-veiled [ 217 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 muslim women still wear the lawo-lambu at different events and occasions. when attending tradition, family, or other social events other than religious events at the mosque or prayer room, muslim women in ende wear a face veil combined with the lawo-lambu. the combination of the face veil and lawolambu is a negotiation process between personal autonomy towards faithful muslim women and a strategy to accommodate the lawo-lambu, a legacy of ende’s local tradition. on the one hand, this negotiation process is intended to make face-veiled muslim women comfortable with their intentions and commitments toward personal piety. on the other hand, muslim women also have not lost their identity as people of people and feel alienated from catholics. wearing the face veil in ende city is a new challenge for catholics. this new challenge demands an active involvement and a more open attitude in understanding the face veil. in order to achieve this goal, the discussion in this article has explained the importance of holding theological dialogue to build mutual understanding between muslims and catholics regarding wearing the face veil. therefore, this study recommends that further research be done on the extent to which this theological dialogue has been built and its impact on muslim and catholic relations in ende city. bibliography bao, s. o. 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(2019). islamic perspective on students wearing a burqa at universities in indonesia: results from a survey at three universities. asian journal for public opinion research, 7(4), 251–260. https://doi.org/10.15206/ajpor.2019.7.4.251 hermansyah. (2016). religious practices and local magic of inland malay society. borneo journal of religious studies, 5(1), 87–103. howell, s. (1990). husband/wife or brother/sister as the key relationship in lio kinship and sociosymbolic relations. ethnos, 55(3–4), 248–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.1990.9981417 ismail, s. (2004). being muslim : islam , islamism and identity politics. government and opposition, 39(4), 614–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/ j.1477-7053.2004.00138.x izharuddin, a. (2015). the muslim woman in indonesian cinema and the face veil as ‘other’’.’ indonesia and the malay world, 43(127), 397– 412. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2015.1033162 karunia, f., & syafiq, m. (2019). pengalaman perempuan bercadar. character: jurnal penelitian psikologi, 6(2), 1–13. madigan, d. a. (2010). mutual theological hospitality: doing theology in the present of “the other.” in w. el-ansary & d. k. linnan (eds.), palgrave macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230114401 misno, b. (2013). no sheep sacrificed in kampung naga study on celebra[ 219 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 tions the eid al-adha and the hajat sasih in kampung naga, tasikmalaya. al-albab, 2(2), 269–286. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v2i2.41 muh. sudirman. (2019). cadar bagi wanita muslimah (suatu kajian perspektif sejarah). diktum: jurnal syariah dan hukum, 17(1), 49–64. https://doi.org/10.35905/diktum.v17i1.651 nisa, e. f. (2012). embodied faith: agency and obedience among face-veiled university students in indonesia. asia pacific journal of anthropology, 13(4), 366–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2012.697187 nonaka, y. (2021). practising sunnah for reward of heaven in the afterlife: the expansion of cadar wearing among urban muslim women in indonesia. indonesia and the malay world, 49(145), 429–447. https:// doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2021.1952018 pabbajah, m. (2020). religious consistency and commitment to local tradition within the bawakareng community in indonesia’s south sulawesi. al-albab, 9(2), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1789 prasojo, z. h. (2017). religious and cultural existences within the communities of upper kapuas riverside of west kalimantan. al-albab, 6(2), 197. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v6i2.931 rinaldo, r. (2013). mobilizing piety: islam and feminism in indonesia. oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094306116629410zz saiya, n., & manchanda, s. (2020). do burqa bans make us safer? veil prohibitions and terrorism in europe. journal of european public policy, 27(12), 1781–1800. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1681494 suksin, a. r., aspatria, u., & pello, s. c. (2020). konsep diri perempuan bercadar. journal of health and behavioral science, 2(1), 18–30. https:// doi.org/10.35508/jhbs.v2i1.2112 ting-toomey, s. (1999). communicating across cultures. the guilford press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442625006-012 tule, p. (2004). longing for the house of god, dwelling in the house of the ancestors: local belief, christianity, and islam among the keo of central flores. academic press fribourg. tule, p. (2015). prolog: ikhtiar mengungkap identitas muslim pribumi di ntt (p. tule, f. doeka, & ahmad atang (eds.)). penerbit ledalero. turner, b. s. (2008). acts of piety: the political and the religious, or atale of two cities (e. f. isin & greg m. nielson (eds.)). zed books. https://doi. org/10.5040/9781350218048 [ 220 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2409 valentine, f., warsah, i., morganna, r., & daheri, m. (2021). the practice of tabut in bengkulu: a shared tradition of sunni and shia. al-albab, 10(2), 257–274. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 van suchtelen, b. (1921). endeh (flores) (vol. 26). n. v. uitgev mij, papyrus. wahib, a. b. (2017). being pious among indonesian salafis. al-jami’ah, 55(1). https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2017.551.1-26 yamin, a. (2013). parcuku: a religious ritual of the fak-fak community. al-albab, 2(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v2i2.36 yamin, a., abdullah, i., nurmandi, a., jubba, h., & qodir, z. (2019). being minority in papua: religious and political identity struggle of the dani muslims. al-albab, 8(1), 101. https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v8i1.1362 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 19 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari islamic politics doctoral program at the political science of muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta email: tohari.nisro@yahoo.com sjafri sairin lecturer of islamic politics doctoral program at the political science of muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta email: sjafrisairin@umy.ac.id muhammad azhar lecturer of doctorate programme of islamic education psychology muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta email: muazar@yahoo.com m. nurul yamin lecturer of doctorate programme of islamic education psychology muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta email: moehyamien@umy.ac.id abstract the liberalization policy through law no. 7 of 2004 concerning natural resources and law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas, elicited a strong reaction from the muhammadiyah movement. in response to the laws, muhammadiyah used their role as both a civil society movement and islamic movement and took the step of constitutional jihad. this article looks at the steps and attitudes of muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies under the administration of president susilo bambang yudoyono (sby). the findings showed the constitutional jihad was based on the spirit of the muhammadiyah indictment and the spirit of progressive islam muhammdiyah. it was within this spirit that the muhammadiyah movement was encouraged to be critical of sby’s policies. this study also explores muhammadiyah’s critical attitude which has had an internal and external impacts on the movement as a whole and muhammadiyah leaders. muhammadiyah’s critical attitude is a form of action and rational choice. the rational choice being made by muhammadiyah through observation of the impacts of the application of the two laws. muhammadiyah and its leaders indicate the rational choice of muhammadiyah actors based on muhammadiyah’s spirit orientation, and the social conditions of the indonesians in response to the application of both of these laws. keywords: muhammadiyah; criticism; oil and gas; natural resources; law. [ 20 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 introduction the muhammadiyah movement is based on the spirit of purification of the creed, social care as the core of the implementation of the true creed, preaching promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, and fighting in the path of allah. the movement often faces social realities that are not in line with muhammadiyah thought. the reform era has brought rapid, broad, and massive social changes. these changes led to liberalization which was marked by changes in regulations resulting in water resources being controlled. the problems occurring in the wake of the reform have since encouraged islamic organizations to move more broadly (jason f asaacnon, 2017). the muhammadiyah movement played a part as a supervisory body by providing criticism to the government. the movement’s evolving role shows there needs to be an institutional and legal formal role (parmudi, 2015: nashir, h at.al., 2019). the dynamics of social change during the reform period are fast, broad, and massive. the relationship between islam and the state is seen as tenuous so that there is no criticism of the government (moser, 2006). the order of political life that was originally authoritarian and confined strictly to being democratic and free after the reform movement, is based on the desire of muslim groups to respond to changes in the first ten years of suharto’s leadership (hakim, 1998). at the same time, economic liberalization has positioned capital owners to freely take the bigger role in controlling national economic life, which is contrary to the spirit of social democracy or social liberalism, not as individualistic liberalism (eckersley, 2007). in 2005, when susilo bambang yudhoyono (sby) came to power, there were several policies that benefited capital owners in controlling water resources. between 2005 and 2015 there were 115 laws that harmed national interests, one of which was law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas, and law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources. the enactment of this law raised many problems because it sided with the capital owners. president yudhoyono’s policies tended to favor capital owners opposed to individuals and smaller communities. the policy thus introduced a series of criticism from the muhammadiyah movement about the government, specifically suggesting the management of water resources be oriented to the welfare of the people as stipulated in the 1945 constitution instead of serving larger state interests. muhammadiyah is an islamic reformist movement that is constantly adjusting and evolving based on the context of larger society, driven especially by the insight of cadres within the sect. muhammadiyah has a large role as an ngo on indonesian society (saguni, 2018). its ethos is influenced by the idea of islamic modernism (parmudi, 2015), whereas as a civil society [ 21 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 it is influenced by the socio-political conditions of indonesia in general. for example, muhammadiyah educational institutions have contributed greatly in society despite being a minority religion (david efendi, 2017). additionally, the muhammadiyah attitude is also modern and in support of democratic politics. this is based on muhammadiyah’s involvement in fighting for independence and being involved in controlling the new order government (argenti, 2017). somer (2007) argues that changes in the perspective of islam have set a milestone between conservative islam and secular islam, especially in countries such as turkey and egypt whose influences have stretched to indonesia. islamic movements can be flexible with the aim of avoiding repression from the state (munson, 2001; nursita, r & sahide, a., 2019). the islamic movement also supports the modernization of democracy and human rights (freedman, 2009). indonesia experienced a similar trajectory post their reform movement, and the results have been more accommodating towards contradictions and global capitalism (hadiz, 2011). the democratic climate allows muhammadiyah to fight for islamic values and interests in the public sphere. muhammadiyah’s criticism is inseparable from its position and values. such criticism is also inseparable from the relationship between muhammadiyah leaders and the reality of national and state issues. various national problems have encouraged din syamsudin’s criticism to make changes supported by his belief in islamic teachings and modernist islamic values. muhammadiyah’s critical attitude is considered to be in opposition, but it remains within the constitutional framework, so that the opposition movement is not destructive to the state and to the strengthening of civil society. the state authorities also do not see muhammadiyah’s criticism as a threat to the state ideology so that the opposition attitude of the islamic movement, as represented through muhammadiyah criticism towards the state in the din syamsudin era. the muhammadiyah central chairman, din syamsuddin, argued that the steps taken by the government were detrimental to his community, so muhammadiyah took a stand by making an appeal to revoke the two laws. the attitude taken by muhammadiyah was part of the work of promotion of vice and prevention of vice. during the two terms of sby’s leadership, muhamamdiyah made many criticisms of the government, with the aim of rectifying the direction of change initiated by the sby government. this study aims to look at the attitude of the muhammadiyah criticism during the leadership of din syamsudin in dealing with national issues, to analyze the cause of the muhammadiyah system towards susilo bambang yudhoyono’s government policy, and to examine how muhammadiyah stabilized its choice [ 22 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 in criticizing the susilo bambang yudhoyono government. the emergence of muhammadiyah’s criticism muhammadiyah’s prominent public attitude was developed through an indepth study that influenced organizational decisions. muahmmadiyah’s decision-making is very hierarchical namely going through processes of conference, tanwir, central leadership meeting, leadership work meeting, and tahfidz meeting as a meeting to determine the outcome of the decision. current issues that develop through expert studies are presented in daily meetings and plenary meetings of the muhammadiyah central leadership. muhammadiyah’s criticism was publicly conveyed through the central leadership, and a critical attitude towards government power was shown by muhammadiyah in this research refers to the leadership of din syamsudin in his response to social, political, economic issues. as an organization that has political power. muhammadiyah can put pressure on the government, especially policies that are contrary to the spirit of the muhammadiyah da’wah. according to kosasih & suwarno (2010) muhammadiyah leadership uses the quran and hadith as its core principles. adhering to these all-encompassing principles means the muhammadiyah movement is morally, socially, culturally, and spiritually obliged to address any political issues impacting the lives of its members. this view is similar to the ijtihad and tajdid movements. as muhammadiyah is a modern islamic movement (setyawan, 2013), it understands and responds to complex problems, strengthened in its position as a modern organization and its ability to read social, political, and economic issues. muhammadiyah’s critical attitude in congress in 2010 encompassed various fields, but most strongly in the economic field. in these discussions, muhammadiyah criticized inconsistent economic paradigms, dualistic economic structures, dependent fiscal policies, financial and banking systems that did not side with the people, trade policies, liberal industries, and the grip of the neoliberal economy which introduced many dilemmas in building a constitutional economy that favors the people (muhammadiyah, 2010). progressive islam promotes substantive values including democracy, justice, social justice, etc. (manalu, 2019). muhammadiyah stated its position as a movement promoting substantive values by looking at the prevalent modern problems facing indonesia. din syamsudin became a staunch critic of yudhoyono’s policies. his strong attitude was inseparable from muhammadiyah’s position as an established organization and together they were able to respond to critical issues as a unified front. among their identified critical issues was law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources and law no. [ 23 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas. the attitude became a reform movement in the economic outlook (setyawan, 2013). muhammadiyah builds relationships with religious leaders pushing both issues to the public’s attention. muhammadiyah’s criticism of the water resources law led to their submission of constitutional jihad. constitutional jihad is a reform movement in the field of law and a corrective effort carried out through formal channels, namely by submitting a judicial review to the constitutional court on a number of laws that are considered contrary to the 1945 constitution. the petition for judicial review on law number 7 of 2004 concerning water resources in 2013 was finally granted by the constitutional court. the constitutional court (mk) in its decision number 85 / puu-xi / 2013, stated that law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources (uu sda) is contrary to the 1945 constitution, therefore it does not have binding legal force. in the decision, the court also stated that law no. 11/1974 concerning irrigation, should be reinstated. the consequence of this constitutional court decision was the immediate cancellation of all government regulations and various types of permits that had been issued under the natural resource law regime, but their legality had to be recognized until the expiration of the permit period. this was in line with the principle of applying the law which could not be retroactive. din syamsudin viewed that law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas opened opportunities for foreigners to control oil and gas resources in indonesia. in addition to the establishment of bp migas, the 2001 oil and gas law reduced the state’s role in water resources as a result of violations of article 33. contracts signed by bp migas and foreigners resulted in the state losing its freedom in managing its water resources (simon butt, 2013). muhammadiyah criticism led to the constitutional jihad granted by the constitutional court regarding both law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas and law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources. muhammadiyah’s criticism of the water resource management law led to a judicial review derived from the results of the 2009 tanwir session. muhammadiyah, first, urged the government to implement a sustainable development that utilizes natural resources in an ecodemocratic manner with economic political policies that favor the interests of the people and upholds the nation’s morality and sovereignty. second, muhammadiyah urged the government (both central and regional) to save state assets and manage wealth and natural resources by prioritizing longterm interests and environmental preservation with the intent of using them for the prosperity of the people. [ 24 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 factors influencing muhammadiyah’s criticism muhammadiyah’s criticism of sby’s government is inseparable from the subjectivity of actors, especially with the strong voice of din syamsudin. this interconnectedness reveals how subjective factors influence muhammadiyah in voicing criticisms. criticism has positive and constructive values with the purpose of improving the condition of the nation. according to surbakti, factors influencing elites to participate include socioeconomic situations, organizational experience, political awareness, and trust in government (simangunsong, 2004). this attitude has proven the relationship between religion and government politics (kaptein, 2016). din’s subjectivity appears in his view of the socio-political situation. this attitude reflects the muhammadiyah movement which is not only concerned with its group but also with indonesian society as a whole. modern and liberal democracy do not only see issues for their personal interests but also for the wider community (couture, 2012). that was the attitude of muhammadiyah in criticizing sby’s government policies. according to kaptein (2019), muhammadiyah is an organization that is tolerant of minorities, especially in regard to social and economic issues. kaptien refers to this notion as a communal tolerance. this has become an objective social, economic, and political condition as muhammadiyah’s reason for criticism. the objective conditions include economic liberalization and an impact upon its people, muhammadiyah as a civil society, a democratic constitutional system, and muhammadiyah as a reformist movement. trade and industrial policies are still oriented towards liberalization and thus do not protect domestic products, or provide enough impetus for the creation of added values. as a result, domestic industries lack competitiveness and are vulnerable to the invasion of imported products, which means they tend to export raw materials and semi-finished goods. furthermore, the existing policies cause the growth of the manufacturing sector to be low. the old views of the classical doctrine of democracy are concerned with the common good and the people’s will (schumpeter, 1942). to realize this, the state needs to position itself to fulfill the will of the people. mark e. warren and hilary pearse (2008) argue that in the social science paradigm, those who control the agenda can control the outcome and that the setting of the political agenda must be consistent with the current issue. muhammadiyah has become one of the institutions that controls setting the agenda, though the position is outside the government. muhammadiyah is based on democratic deliberation. in a deliberative democracy, it is necessary to institutionalize ideas, possible actions, and listen to the people’s opinions. muhammadiyah [ 25 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 takes actions so that the government and the house of representatives will not arbitrarily make regulations considered contrary to the 1945 constitution. overlapping regulations have caused problems in the system of law drafting in indonesia, such as laws on oil and gas and natural resources which are clearly contrary to the 1945 constitution. wiratraman (2018) asserted that there is a need to strengthen the judicial apparatus of the court so that there is no law contrary to the 1945 constitution. muhammadiyah’s criticism was influenced by the muhammadiyah leadership’s mindset and the sby government’s social, political, economic circumstances, and economic liberalization efforts, wherein the policy of undoing the law had the potential to destroy the people’s economic activities. criticism of muhammadiyah demonstrates the concern of muhammadiyah and his leadership, as well as the perception of muhammadiyah as a movement of civil society that has to govern the nation. criticism by din syamsudin demonstrates the need for allocative policy against the state to allow the nation to be powerful and not to become an instrument of global capitalism. din syamsudin was strict on policies that affected muslims. reforms have strengthened the position of civil society in order to increase its political role in determining the direction of the nation and state. muhammadiyah as part of civil society has a very important role to determine the direction of action for the creation of empowered society. muhammadiyah is not the only civil power in indonesia. there are many other civil forces. but as a reform movement, muhammadiyah’s active role in criticizing the government shows that muhammadiyah is capable of being a locomotive for others. this is inseparable from the muhammadiyah movement as a modern islamic movement through its tajdid and social and political movements. modernization is a movement to reform muhammadiyah thought to find solutions to the various problems they face. the reform movement in muhammadiyah is based on the belief that islam aims to create a socio-political system on a strong ethical and moral foundation in order to actualize the principle of rahmatan lil alamin in certain space and time. the internal impacts of muhammadiyah’s criticism muhammadiyah’s central position has made major contributions to indonesia’s socio-political dynamics. din syamsudin, the central leader of the muhammadiyah, showed an attitude of brotherhood amongst his people (munson, 2001), and as a pluralism movement that saw major issues for the community (mu’ti, 2016), a substantial islamic movement by looking at all aspects (parmudi, 2015). muhammadiyah’s critical attitude had an impact on muhammadiyah’s organization, causing conflict within the organization. the [ 26 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 opposition also gave the same attitude specifically regarding the issue of law. but the government on behalf of the state seeks to strengthen the position of the state in maintaining the stability of social order. muhammadiyah’s criticism of the administration of president sby was seen as weakening the government in controlling the stability of the country. therefore, the government tended to be negative towards the muhammadiyah elite. muhammadiyah’s criticism of the government had an impact on din syamsudin as a person. the relationship between din syamsudin and state officials, especially with president sby, became strained. for example, din syamsudin was not included in the list of religious leaders who were invited by sby to a meeting at the state palace in 2011. din seemed to be purposefully kept away from state policy makers. this seemed to be detrimental to din politically. however, the opposite happened in reality when muhammadiyah was able to follow up on its criticisms about mismanagement of the state by showing many laws that were contrary to the 1945 constitution. constitutional jihad, a term that was put forward by din syamsudin and muhammadiyah, brought success in conducting a judicial review of a number of laws that were considered detrimental to indonesia’s sovereignty. the success of the judicial review shows the strength of muhammadiyah as a civil society in regards to state power. civil society includes areas of social life that are organized and characterized by, among other things, volunteerism, self-sufficiency, and high independence in dealing with the state from being attracted by legal norms and values followed by its citizens (parry, 2011). din syamsudin’s attitude reflects the right choices and rational attitudes that reflect muhammadiyah’s modern perspective. rational choices tend to follow culture and religion (zafirovski, 2016). in the context of bringing muhammadiyah as a civil society, din was considered successful in strengthening muhammadiyah’s position when dealing with the state. the rational choice of the leaders of muhammadiyah, especially the actors representing muhammadiyah in expressing criticism to the government, yielded more benefits than din’s good relations with the president at that time. muhammadiyah’s criticism found a successful channel in a democratic state system. muhammadiyah is seen as a civic organization that is not in conflict with the system or the interests of the government because the state has provided a channel of participation for civil society. however, personal criticism of the muhammadiyah elite towards the government had an impact on the absence of muhammadiyah cadres in the second united indonesia cabinet structure. the attitude of the muhammadiyah elite who frankly supported the other pair in the 2009 presidential election revealed that there was no position in the [ 27 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 government for muhammadiyah cadres. the support of the muhammadiyah elites was more likely given to jusuf kalla, even though muhammdiyah during sby’s leadership still gained space as an islamic organization. external impacts of the muhammadiyah’s criticism muhammadiyah’s criticism of sby’s government had a positive impact on society. law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources granted the right to the private sector to use water widely while participating in managing water resources. an understanding of social and economic functions arises and the privatization and commercialization of water resources is detrimental to the community. with the cancellation of law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources, the community is free to use water resources in accordance with the constitutional basis of the 1945 constitution article 33 paragraph (3) (kurniawan, 2013). this means that access for the community in utilizing water resources becomes wide open. the annulment of law no. 7 of 2004 concerning natural resources has gained momentum by the government to improve itself by drawing up pro-people and equitable water resource management rules for all parties. law no. 11/1974 concerning irrigation as a legal umbrella was reinstated which means the state again has the right to control water resources. the top priority to control water is given to state-owned enterprises (bumn) and regional government-owned companies (bumd). the impact of the annulment of law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources is a breath of fresh air for bumn and bumd to further develop and carry out the main tasks of the functions of state-owned and regional-owned enterprises, in addition to being profit-oriented, it is also permissible to leave the service function to the community (kurniawan, 2013). muhammadiyah’s criticism of the management of oil and gas which led to the cancellation of some articles of law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas has had an impact on legal protection of state assets. articles regulating bp migas as bumn were canceled. to fill the legal vacuum, skk migas was formed to continue the duties of bp migas, which no longer has legality. skk migas is not a state-owned legal entity (bhmn) like bp migas but is a work-unit under the minister (minister of energy and mineral resources). that is, the government fully controls the management of oil and gas as a fulfillment of the needs of public services, and therefore the government can be petitioned to meet these needs permanently and routinely for the welfare of the people. the methods undertaken by the government in meeting the intended needs is the case with individuals. they have attempted to do this namely by entering into a contractual relationship with another party. contract legal [ 28 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 instruments become a very important legal corridor as an effort to protect the law of state assets. cooperation contracts are rules of the game for parties acting as contractants involving the government as one of the parties. the characteristics of these contracts are not fully subject to private law. one of the most important aspects of contracts involving the government is the immunity of the government when it is sued in court. in order to protect the country’s financial assets there are regulations that also function as efforts to protect the country’s wealth. muhammadiyah’s various criticisms of the indonesian government under president sby departed from the empirical reality of the indonesian nation which was indeed confronted with the torrent of liberalization. the rationality established by the government that liberalization as a door to prosperity seems to have received many protests because liberalization is only beneficial for capital owners. muhammadiyah’s critical attitude is reminiscent of emmanuel kant’s philosophy of criticism which tries to correct rationalism and empiricism (khuza’i & kamil, 2015). the truth derived from the power of the ratio is not always in line with the truth felt at the practical level. ratio or thought about exploitation of water resources that brings prosperity is not always true, because empirical facts show the existence of natural damage that is not proportional to the welfare enjoyed by the people. on the contrary, the prosperous life enjoyed by the people is often considered irrational when compared with the figures for the increase in future exploitation. muhammadiyah’s criticism as a rational choice muhammadiyah criticism in the din syamsudin era appeared as a correction to the rationalism of policies issued by the state during sby’s administration. analysis of muhammadiyah criticism based on rational choice theory rational choice is a choice based on values (hechter, 1997) that rational choice takes into account the issues and voices of the people (jung, 2017). according to mcbride (2016) rational choice in religious authority takes into account the objectives and benefits, and the groups that accept their impact. the laws regarding oil, gas, water resources from a muhammadiyah perspective are laws that are detrimental and unfavorable to the community. they only form new capital groups through the imf. ostrom (1991) argued that rational choices made by muhammdiyah as a normative analysis of problematic laws, explaining the problems and impacts of the policies, and retelling the purpose of the 1945 constitution on natural resources that must be managed for the welfare of the people. muhhamdiyah measures have shown that the oil and gas and natural resources [ 29 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 law has great potential to impose new capital domination. muhammadiyah criticism is seen from the perspective of rational choice theory, which is a rational choice of the muhammadiyah elites. this is seen particularly in din syamsudin’s decisions based on rational considerations. however, the assumption of rational choice theorists is that individuals are rational and selfish (andrew hindmoor, 2015). the criticism voiced by din is inseparable from the spirit of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice which is based on the values of spiritual and transcendent teachings. the transcendent aspect felt by the individual is not captured as a reality so din’s argument is built from his actions to achieve some goal or self-interest. din’s attitude as an ethical choice whose consequences lie in individual responsibility (dekker, 2017), makes it so that the attitude taken is the decision of his and muhammadiyah’s moral attitude. each social behavior is basically an exchange of something useful for individuals with rational considerations (van aaken & kurtz, 2019). din, as an actor, made a decision along muhammadiyah lines. based on the condition of the state that can be monopolized by the international monetary fund (imf), muhammadiyah saw this action as having a negative impact on society and gave advantages to investors. van aaken & kurtz (2019) saw muhammadiyah’s position as an actor who understood the problem so it decided through a meeting of the central leadership. rational choice theory has character tenants that lie within the actor. as a social theory, rational choice builds the actor’s action model with the social context that is happening (hechter, 1997). muhammdiyah’s long-standing understanding and experience in driving change shows that he understands the prevalent social reality. the social conditions in the above views are in line with hoffman (2015). muhammadiyah’s decision, according to the rational-actor model, is based on logic or rationality to achieve organizational goals or interests. this means that actors or elites who convey criticism to the yudhoyono’s government associate their personal benefits with that of the organization. rational choice theory views one’s actions as beneficial (ratcliffe, 2014). actions taken by an actor need to pay attention to several things, such as making difficult policies implementable. in this position, muhammadiyah was able to control power with constitutional jihad so that the oil, gas, and water resources laws were annulled. second, considering the macro and micro aspects, both of these apparatus, as put forward by ratcliffe (2014), are aspects that influence each other. actors need to understand the phenomenon and its impact so they know the effect. rational choice theory views a person’s action as an act of “utility maximizing approach”, namely someone will make a choice that is [ 30 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 very beneficial for them. rational choice theory has six postulates, namely: (1) every social phenomenon is a result of one’s choices, behavior, attitudes, etc. (2) behavior can be understood (3) behavior arises as a result of reasons in the mind (4) the reasons for the choice of a behavior are based on the assessment of the consequences of that choice (5) the assessment of the consequences is based on the consequences that will be felt by individuals making decisions (egoism) (6) individuals will make choices that are most beneficial for them (boudon, 2003). muahammadiah’s attitude is explained by al-ansi, sulistyaningsih, & kartono (2019) that the organization has a very important role in binding in muhammdiyah’s moral practice. muhammdiayh’s attitude as a practice of collective morality follows the teachings of the qur’an such as justice, equality, brotherhood, love, solidarity, and freedom of choice. this attitude can be described as having three associations: first, how the environment influences the individual into action; second, how action orientation influences individual actions; and third, how actions affect social outcomes (peter hedström, 2011). judging from the decision making through the organizational process model, muhammadiyah’s criticism is the collective behavior of management involved in the decision making process. the management must be bound by the rules of the organization as written in the statute and the unwritten habits in decision-making meetings such as daily meetings, plenary sessions, tanwir sessions, and conferences. the decision making model through this organizational process will suppress the interests of individual management. that is, the argument of rational choice theory that a person’s actions are to achieve his own interests is not entirely true. in addition, according to bateson (2010), rational choice draws a logical reasoning of decision makers to describe results. muhammadiyah’s choice to conduct constitutional jihad has considered logical reasoning and the results to be achieved (bateson, 2010; peter hedström, 2011). the general will becomes an incentive in the choice of ratio by observing the wishes of the public (hoffman, 2015). in this light, muhammadiyah made extensive criticism of the oil, gas, and water resources laws, and muhammadiyah saw a visible gap between people at the lower economic class. if the law is enacted, it creates an even bigger inequality gap for these individuals and possibly kills the small economic movement pioneered by muhammadiyah. the rational choice view of the muahmmadiyah’s attitude has shown that the constitutional jihad movement is a moral movement. dekker (2017) considered that bad results are not generated by immoral humans but by human interaction with the system. dekker’s views in several [ 31 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 studies also assess that theories are categorized as rational or irrational due to wrong perspectives about a case, and not human behavior. the ability of din syamsudin to accumulate the strength of muhammadiyah to reject government policy is different when compared to some countries that are not able to accommodate socio-political forces using their leadership to address problematic external conditions (faris & parry, 2011). however, the position of moderate and progressive islamic organizations advocates for greater protection of people’s rights (freedman, 2009). the collective-action approach, especially regarding environmental problems, modifies the regulatory structure (villamayor-tomas, thiel, amblard, zikos, & blanco, 2019). these modifications create a collective action of large organizations that are concerned with these issues, so that policy instruments are born only in the form of strict regulations. but sweetman, maio, spears, manstead, & livingstone (2019) assumed that the larger a group of interests, the smaller the significance of the involvement of individuals within it. meanwhile, the benefits achieved if the interest group succeeds in pushing its interests in the policy process will be felt by all group members, without considering the contribution of each member to the group. such an attitude is politically motivated toward the people and groups who are unfortunate due to policy thus making a message of mass mobilization. however, the form of protest should be staged through descent ethics or deliberation (sweetman et al., 2019). the form of protest in deliberations reflects the application of democratic ideals in islamic organizations, (kaptein, 2016; susanto, 2011; svolik, 2019). conclusion this work suggests that muhammadiyah’s criticism was based on sby’s government policy in issuing law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources which was assessed as a result of the strong pressure of the international monetary fund (imf) on the government, both of these laws have given a large private role to manage indonesia’s natural resources and contrary to the principles of indonesia’s economy where all-natural resources are managed by the state for the prosperity of indonesia. muhammadiyah took the step of constitutional jihad as a formal step to cancel both of these laws, criticism, and jihad of the muhammadiyah constitution ended in the cancellation of the oil and gas law and natural resources. the factor influencing the muhammadiyah system was din syamsudin’s view as chairman of the muhammadiyah central leadership and other muhammadiyah leaders. the policy of the jihadist constitution was adopted through muhammadiyah hearings. [ 32 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1553 muhammadiyah’s attitude in responding to the law as a form of organization has had an important role in society, the role is binding in the moral practices of muhammadiyah, muhammdiyah’s attitude as a practice of collective morality following the teachings of the qur’an such as justice, equality, brotherhood, affection, solidarity, and freedom of choice. muhammadiyah’s criticism was influenced both by din syamsudin’s leadership factors, din syamsudin’s views regarding the socio-political situation, and his thoughts prompted him to be critical of the government. din syamsudin’s attitude towards economic liberalization shows muhammdiyah’s strong character in the role of civil society. muhammadiyah’s criticism had a huge impact on society, with the repeal of law no. 7 of 2004 concerning water resources and law no. 22 of 2001 concerning oil and gas. as a result, the management of water and natural gas returned to the state is no longer controlled by the international monetary fund (imf). muhammadiyah’s attitude gave rise to internal and external impacts on muhammadiyah due to the constitutional jihad carried out by muhammdiyah, the impact of which was that din syamsudin’s relationship with the state was hindered. din’s step is an attitude that the consequences are on the individual, but the attitude of din syamsudin and muhammadiyah has reflected the moral attitude of muhammadiyah which is in favor of economic justice, equality, and brotherhood. bibliography al-ansi, a. m., sulistyaningsih, t., & kartono, r. 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(2016). rational choice theory at the origin? forms and social factors of “irrational choice.” social epistemology, 30(5–6), 728–763. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2016.1172358 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 123 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif iain pontianak email: zsyarif99@yahoo.co.id abstract this paper aims to explain the content and inclination of the interpretive thoughts of the sufi scholars in the province of west kalimantan. among the sufi scholars most popular in west kalimantan in the 19th century and 20 were ahmad khatib al-sambasi (1802-1879 ad), muhammad imran basuni (1885-1953 ad) and isma’il mundu (1870-1957 ad). the works produced by these scholars are still in the form of manuncripts as the objects of study in this paper. this is a library research with philological and historical approaches. there are several stages in philological research including inventory, description of manuscripts, transfer of script and transfer of language. to support those four phases of philological research, the researcher employes content analysis in doing further exploration to the resermanuscripts. very supprising, specific findings are presented. first, there are fifteen interpretations in the manuscript of fathu al-‘arifin and eight in the bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid. while in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman, the contents of the interpretation are not found. secondly, the patterns of interpretive thoughts used by ahmad khatib al-sambasi and muhammad basuni bin muhammad imran contained in fathu al-‘arifin and bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid are of sufistic interpretation using the tahlili method. whereas the thought pattern of ismail mundu’s interpretation in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman cannot be found. it is because the 20-pages manuscript consists of a summary that discusses the science of tawheed and ismail mundu did not quote any verses of the qur’an in the manuscript. keywords: style, sufistic, interpretation, manuscript, scholars: west kalimantan. introduction the way islam was introduced to the indonesian archipelago is different from that in several middle eastern countries. the spread of islam in indonesia was by peaceful means. one of the ways was the use of the sufistic approach. according to hawash abdullah (1930: 10), it was precisely these sufi scholars who had the most influence on the rapid growth of islam in indonesia. [ 124 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 abdullah gave an example of sufi figures such as sheikh abdullah arif who spread islam for the first time in aceh in the 12th century. in the province of west kalimantan, the famous sufi ulema well known for the qodiriyah wa naqsyabandiyah tareqat was ahmad khatib al-sambasi. to find out the role and contribution of the sufi scholars, it can be seen the works produced by them, which are still in the form of manuncripts. the previous scholarly works are among the archipelago’s priceless scientific treasures. the thought of these scholars, for the most part, are still in the form of manuscripts on various popular media at the time, such as palm leaves and animal skins (rasidin, 2007). based on the data contained in the appendix to the decree of the director general of islamic education no. 7177 of 2017 concerning technical guidance for the 2018 fiscal year research program assistance, indonesia has hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts written by indonesian scholars since the 17th century. at present, more than 26,000 are kept at the leiden university, while in the national library it is currently around 10,300. this number does not include manuscripts that are held individually by heirs and those in the palace library in surakarta, jogjakarta, as well as in west kalimantan. according to faizal amin (2012; 2014), the potential of ancient manuscripts in west kalimantan, especially in pontianak city is quite numerous and varied, although most of the ancient manuscripts originated from outside pontianak. however, the potential for studies of ancient manuscripts has not been fully utilized by researchers and reviewers in west kalimantan. in fact, west kalimantan is one of the provinces in which some islamic kingdoms (such as the tanjung pura kingdom, pontianak kingdom, mempawah kingdom, sambas kingdom, kubu kingdom) produced several manuscripts written by scholars who lived during the period of the kingdom. as explained earlier, islamic scholars in west kalimantan spread religion more with the approach of sufism. the result is that there are a number of ulema’s works in west kalimantan expressing their thoughts on monotheism in the form of written works which have now become manuncripts or ancient texts (patmawati & wahida, 2018) among the scholars in west kalimantan who wrote about monotheism were ismail mundu (mukhtashar al-mannan ‘ala al-aqidah ar-rahman), sheikh ahmad khatib sambas and muhammad basiuni imran (bidayah al-tawhid fi al-tawhid and durus al-tawhid), h. muh. shaleh and h. khairuddin (tahshilu al-maram li bayani manzhumati ‘aqidati al-awam), abdul malik bin haji abu bakar krui), etc. (hermansyah, et al., 2012: 63). the manuscripts are well preserved in the palace, the royal family and in the homes of the people scattered in west kalimantan. [ 125 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 in producing the works in the form of the manuscripts, the scholars in west kalimantan refer to the qur’an as the main source in the teachings of islam. one of the goals of the qur’an’s revelation is to be the guidance about the teachings of faith and belief in the oneness of god (science of monotheism). to understand the verses of the qur’an about the science of monotheism comprehensively, there is a need for the science of interpretation which aims to uncover the verses of the qur’an which are general and vague in terms of the meaning. this is the importance of the interpretation of the qur’an. m. quraish shihab (1992: 125) argued that understanding of the verses of the qur’an through its interpretation has a very significant role for the progress of the people. at the same time, this interpretation can reflect the development and pattern of thought of the commentators. an example of the influence of interpretation in the manuscript of monotheism by west kalimantan scholars can be seen in the manuscript of h. muh. shaleh and h. khairuddin (1271 ad) entitled “tahshilu al-maram li bayani manzhumati” aqidati al-‘awam” (hermansyah, et al., 2012: 63). on page 14 of the text quoting the word of allah (qs. al-furqan [25]: 1). h. muh. shaleh and h. khairuddin in the text interpreted the dhomir (pronoun) “hu” in that verse to be prophet muhammad. the quote of the text in the manuscript is as follows, “the most holy is our lord who sent down the furqon of his servant namely our prophet muhammad s.a.w that he is to the worlds a warner to all creatures.” this is an example of one of the interpretive approaches used by the ulema in west kalimantan found in the manuscript of monotheism, in this case the manuscript of tahshilu almaram li bayani manzhumati ‘aqidati al-‘awam (1271 ad). there are still several more manuncripts of monotheism by the scholars of west kalimantan who used the interpretive approach. a study conducted by didik m. nur haris and rahimin affandi abdul rahim (2017: 41) revelaed that there were three most popular sufi scholars in west kalimantan province in the 19th and 20th centuries, ahmad khatib al-sambasi (1802-1879 m) with his work entitled fathu al-’arifin, muhammad basuni bin muhammad imran (18851953 ad) with his work bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid, and guru haji isma’il mundu (1870-1957 m), with his work mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. the three manuscripts are objects of study in this library research with philological and historical approaches. there are several stages in philological research, namely inventory, description of manuscripts, transfer of script, and transfer of language. after conducting the four phases of philological research above, the manuscript is then analyzed using content analysis. [ 126 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 there should be more studies on manuscripts as they provide information about community traditions in the past that cover inter-discipline studies, which in this case the research is entiled the influence of interpretation on manuscripts of monotheism: a philological study and content analysis of ulemas’works in west kalimantan. based on the background previously explained, the focus in this work is a study on manuscripts by the scholars in west kalimantan which are rarely addressed by researchers. this work is found important for some reasons. it is a unique and specific due to the objects of the work are originated from west kalimantan that is still little known for islamic manuscript studies. it is also noted that islamic sufism has been found influential in the region that needs further studies. study of interpretation in fathu al-‘arifin shaikh ahmad khatib sambas was an ulama who founded the qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah tareqat, which is a merger between two tareqats namely the qadiriyah tareqat and the naqsabandiyah tareqat. khatib sambas was born in kampung dagang of sambas regency of west kalimantan in 1803 ad or shafar 1217 ah and died in 1875 ad in mecca. his full name was ahmad khatib bin abd al-ghaffar al-sambasi al-jawi. his father was abdul ghaffar ibn abdullah ibn muhammad ibn jalaluddin. khatib sambas was born from a migrant family from sange’village (wawan nurkholim, 2017: 16). in his childhood, he was surrounded by pious people, so he spent much of his childhood until his teenage years studying religious sciences. among his teachers were muhammad arsyad al-banjari, daud al-fatani and abdul shamad al-palimbani. khatib sambas then continued his studies in mecca to improve his religious knowledge. in mecca, he succeeded in combining the two tareqat teachings (qadiriyah tareqat and naqsabandiyah tareqat) and becoming the first caliph of the qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah (muhammad zulkham effendi & asep yudha wirajaya, 2019: 213). in java, the qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah tareqat had five centers in spreading its teachings, namely tebuireng islamic boarding school and rejoso islamic boarding school in jombang, mranggen islamic boarding school in semarang, suryalaya islamic boarding school in tasikmalaya, and pegentongan islamic boarding school in bogor (firdaus, 2017: 206). khatib sambas did not write a book, but his two faithful students recorded the traces of his teachings in short minutes in the malay language. one of the books written by his students related to monotheism is “fathul ‘arifin.” based on the record of bruinessen (1992: 90), this book is considered the most accountable work on the tareqat (authoritative). this work describes bai’at, [ 127 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 dhikr, and other worship techniques, both from the qadiriyah tareqat and the naqsabandiyah tareqat. while the fourteen-page manuscript is concluded with a pedigree of ahmad khatib sambas (kharisudin aqib, 1997: 54). the contents of the interpretation in the book of fathu al-’arifin are on pages seven to eleven using fifteen of the surahs in the qur’an to describe the bai’at, dhikr, and techniques of worship of the qadiriyah and the naqsabandiyah tareqat. the fifteen verses are surah al-ikhlas verse 1, surah al-hadiid verse 4, surah qaaf verse 16, surah al-maidah verse 54, surah al-hadid verse 3, surah al-ahqaf verse 35, surah al-nisaa ‘ verse 125, surah taha verse 39, surah ali imran verse 144, surah as-shaff verse 6, surah al-baqarah verse 165, surah asy-syura verse 11, surah al-baqarah verse 23, surah al-nisaa ‘verse 103, and surah adz-dzariyat verse 56. on the seventh page (1317 h) in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 7) uses surah al-ikhlas verse 1 to explain the following: the one dzat of god that is of infinite perfection and purity, half of which are the twenty essential attributes (and) he is most holy than all the attributes of infinite reproach and deficiency half of which are twenty impossible attibutes of which the opposite are the twenty essential attributes, and we await the abundant favors of god the most great and most glorious of all jihah or six directions which are above, below, right, left, front and back, which are half of what must be sure. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 7) uses surah al-hadid verse 4 to explain the following: and when (we) reach jam’iyah that is eternal motion of remembrance and all worries disappear for at least four hours, then (we) also move with the instruction of the teacher to (muroqobah al-ma’iyah) namely the heart is determined to be in the sight of god who is with us from each juz namely our tribes and with god are our hearing, sight, speech, feelings and tongue and smell which we still do not know about their behavior and how their kaifiyah is, but allah is most knowing. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas uses surah qaaf verse 16. khatib sambas (1317 h: 7) to explain the following: and we remind the atsar that he created man like us and created all the animals that creep on the earth and that fly in the clouds and all the animals in the sea, and also remind the world of ash-showi, namely the world above and seven layers of the sky and all the smoke in it like the moon and the sun and stars and clouds, then we remind as-sufli world which means the world below and the creation of the sea, land, mountains and clay as well as wood and stone and all plants. on the eighth page in the manuscript, khatib sambas uses surah al-maidah verse 54 to explain the following: [ 128 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 (and) the call of lathifatun nafsi then moves also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobah al-mahabbati fi al-quwsi) namely determination to love god to be merciful to half of the region, namely to the dzat of our lord who loves us and we love him as for the evidence is the three muroqobah. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 8) uses surah al-hadid verse 3 to explain the following: the call of lathifatun nafsi then this determination is called the region of al-’ulya that is moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu wilayatil ‘ulya) love god who created the al-ulya region that is determination to the dzat of our lord who created the angelic region which is the inner command which called itself at that time with mind. on the ninth page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 9) uses surah al-hadid verse 3 to explain the following: ‘anasiru al-arba’ati that is the wind-water-earth-fire biwasithoti almasyekh’alaihimu ar-rahmah then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu kamalaati ulil azmi) that is determination to the dzat of our lord who makes things perfect of ulul azmi perfection of the kamalatun nubuwwah and kamalatur risalah. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 9) uses surah an-nisa’ verse 125 to explain the following: then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu al-mahabbati fi dairatil khillah) that is to love god in standing place of love namely determination to the dzat of our lord that made sayyidina ibrahim as his intimate friend. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 9) uses surah taha verse 39 to explain the following: then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu dairoti al-mahabbati ash-shorfati hiya of sayyidina musa), namely determnation to the dzat of our lord who pours out his mercy that is to bestow love upon sayyidina musa. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 9) uses surah ali imran verse 144 to explain the following: then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu adz-dzatiyah al-mumtarijati bil mahbubiyati wa hiya haqiqotul muhammadiyati) namely determination to dzat of our lord who made muhammad his love that is the one he truly loves. on the tenth page of the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) uses surah as-shaff verse 6 to explain the following: wal faidhu ‘ala hai’ati al-wahdaniyah until finally bi washithoti almasyekh’alaihimu ar-rahmati then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatul mahbubiyatis shorfati wa hiya haqiqotul [ 129 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 ahmadiyah) namely determination to the dzat of our lord who took ahmad the only loved one. namely bringing good tidings with a noble messenger who came after me whose name is ahmad. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) uses surah al-baqarah verse 165 to explain the following: wal faidhu ‘ala hai’ati al-wahdaniyati until finally bi washithoti almasyekh’alaihimu ar-rahmati then moving also with the permission of the sheikh to (muroqobatu al-hubbi wa ash-shorfi) namely determination to the dzat of lord or love of the prophet or compassion for angels or love for muslims or love for something because everything is god’s favors to his servants. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) uses surah asy-shura verse 11 to explain the following: then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatu la tu’ayyinu) namely loving the dzat of lord that is not visible namely determination to the dzat of our lord that is never to him any equals not even angels who are muqorrobin or a prophet even though they never get to see the dzat of our lord because no one knows of god but god, hence this is a sign. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) uses surah al-baqarah verse 23 to explain the following: determination to the dzat of our lord who revealed the qur’an unto sayyidina muhammad s.a.w which becomes virtue to people who recite it and the beginning of miracles with the shortest possible surah of it. then on the same page in the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) uses surah al-nisaa ‘verse 103 to explain the following: determination to the dzat of our lord who decreed prayer that is in some words and some actions begining with takbiratul ihram (and) concluded with greetings with some specified conditions. on the eleventh page of the manuscript, khatib sambas (1317 h: 11) uses surah adh-dhariyat verse 56 to explain the following: then it is also useful with the permission of the shaykh to (muraqabatu daeratu al-ubudiyyah al-surfati) namely determination to the dzat of our lord whom all of his creatures worship and who specifies worship of all kasanat. the contents of the teachings contained in fathu al-rifarifin and its interpretations practiced by the followers of the qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah tareqat have social benefits and functions. according to a study by muhammad zulkham effendi & asep yudha wirajaya (2019: 213-219), practicing the dhikir contained in the book of fathu al-arifin can bring a person calmness and tranquility in his heart, while the social function is positive interaction [ 130 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 and caring for others. with dhikr, a person, when dealing with each other, has an attitude of reliance on god, patience, humility, qana’ah, and has the ability to socialize well. study of tafsir in bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid the strong influence of sufism in west kalimantan that ahmad khatib alsambasi had brought began to shift to the notion of islamic reform which was actually initiated from ahmad khattib’s birthplace, i.e. sambas, west kalimantan. the movement was pioneered by a figure from the maharaja imam of the sambas kraton mosque, muhammad basuni imran. he was born in sambas on 16 october 1885 (25 dzulhijah 1302 ah) which coincided with the time of construction of the sambas palace mosque. the construction was under the commission of sultan shafiudin ii. basuni imran had two wives, namely muzinah bint imam h. hamid and mas marhana (didik m. nur haris and rahimin affandi abd rahim, 2017: 166). in 1901, basuni imran went to mecca to perform the pilgrimage and broaden his religious knowledge informally for five years. he studied the science of nahwu and shorf with tuan guru umar sumbawa and uthman sarawak, studied the science of fiqh with sheikh ahmad khatib minangkabau, studied arabic, mantiq, interpretation, ushul fiqh, and monotheism with sheikh ali maliki. in 1910, basuni imran continued his studies at al-azhar university and dar al-da’wah wa al-ershad madrasa founded by muhammad rashid rida (didik m. nur haris and rahimin affandi abd rahim, 2017: 166-167). in 1913, baisuni imran returned to his hometown in sambas, because his parents were seriously ill. at the same time, he was appointed by the sultan as maharaja imam of the sambas palace mosque. precisely after friday prayer on 9 november 1913, baisuni imran was appointed by the sultan to hold the mandate as maharaja imam of the sambas palace mosque (moh. haitami salim et al., 2011: 109-132). during his life, basuni imran wrote a lot of works, some have been printed and some drafts in books. according to moh. haitami salim, et al. (2011: 109-132), there are fifteen works written by basuni imran, namely terjamah durus al-tarikh syariat, risalah cahaya suluh, zikr al-maulid al-nabawi, tadzkir, khulashah sirah al-muhammadiyyah, nur alsiraj fi qissat al-isra’ wa al-mi’raj, al-janaiz, irsyad al-gilman fi adab tilawat al-quran, durus al-tawhid, daw’ al-misbah fi fakh al-nikah, al-nusus wa al-barahin ‘ala iqamat al-jum’ah bimad al-arba’in, husn al-jawab ‘an isbat al-ahlillah bi al-hisab, manhal al-gharibin fi iqamat al-jumu’ah bi dun al‘arba’in, al-tazkirat badi’ah fi ahkam al-jum’ah, and bidayah al-tawhid fi altawhid. among the fifteen works, two are related to the science of tawheed, namely bidayah al-tawhid fi al-tawhid and durus al-tawhid. [ 131 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 in this paper, only one of basuni imran’s works in the field of tawheed is discussed, namely bidayah al-tawhid fi al-tawhid. this book was written by muhammad basuni imran on wednesday, 13 jumadil awwal 1336 ah (27 march 1918 ad). this 59-page book was printed by the al-ahmadiyah singapore publication in the same year. this malay-language book with arabic malay (jawi) script may be basuni imran’s first work printed in a publication (zulkifli, 2018: 2). in its introduction, basuni imran explained that this book is an adaptation of several books, namely al-jawahir al-kalamiyyah, by alalamah shaykh tahir al-jawazairi, kalimat al-tawhid by al-alamah shaykh husein waaly al-mishry, and the book of kifayat al-awwam. basuni imran acknowledged that the contents of this book fully followed the contents of the books he adapted from, while the composition and systematic discussion were adjusted to the sense of the malays (muhammad basuni imran, 1918: 1). in general, this 59-page manuscript contains six chapters supplemented with a list of errata, preface, introduction, and closing remarks. chapter i discusses faith in allah s.w.t; chapter ii discusses faith in all angels; chapter iii discusses faith in the books of allah s.w.t; chapter iv discusses faith in the apostles, chapter v discusses faith in the doomsday; chapter vi discusses faith in qadha and qadar. the contents of the interpretation contained in the book bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid focus on eight subjects of discussion, namely surah yasin verse 82, al-baqarah verse 255, al-anbiya verse 22, annisa’ verse 164 , surah al-sajdah verse 11, surah ali imran verse 31, surah al-zalzalah verses 7-8, and surah al-kawthar verse 1. chapter i is about faith in allah. basuni imran quoted four verses of the qur’an and interpreted them, namely surah yasin verse 82, al-baqarah verse 255, al-anbiya verse 22, and an-nisa’ verse 164. when explaining the attributes of allah that are mukholafatu lilhawadisi, basuni imran quoted surah yasin verse 82. basuni imran (1918: 8) then explained surah yasin verse 82 as follows: in the case that he intends a thing, he says to it (be) you, and it is, and that he does not make something because he desires and wishes, (and) he creates it because there are purposes and wisdom because he is the judge (delivering and putting things on the place). and the argument is that if there is no fault for all that is new, it must be like him, but that is impossible because if he resembles something of all that is new, he is the new holy, but with his new state, (it) is impossible. in explaining the attributes of allah that are qiamuhu binafsihi, basuni imran quoted surah al-baqarah verse 255. basuni imran (1918: 8-9) then explained surah al-baqarah verse 255 as follows: the beginning is allah, there is god except him who is worthy of worship but he is the one who is ever-living and sustainer (of all creations) and [ 132 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 if he does not stand alone, surely he is (new) holy but a new state is impossible because of the past evidence. in explaining the attribute of the oneness of allah, basuni imran (1918: 9) explains surah al-anbiya verse 22 as follows: if there is in both (i.e in the heavens and earth) some other gods than allah surely have (both) the heavens and earth been ruined, there is something like the past and tafsil (hurayan) there is evidence that follows this, then this alone is sufficient for the new learners. in explaining the attribute of allah that is qiamuhu binafsihi, basuni imran (1918: 12-13) explained surah an-nisa’verse 164 as follows: and has been said (responded) by allah ta’ala which will be as takallim (speech). so allah removed from him the hijabun (covered) and he recited to him his word that is qodim. and had it not been by the permission of allah ta’ala with his kalam, he would have been like his opponents and he is lacking and that lacking nature is not pleased with him by his creations, then how merciful is the creator (god who creates things)? kalam sumbits with the mandatory and impossible and jaiz. and whoever god wills that he understands, he gives that understanding that this is obligatory and this is impossible and this is jaiz. namely he understands such thing. in chapter ii, discussing faith in all angels, basuni imran (1918: 17) explained surah al-sajdah verse 11 as follows: say, o messenger, the angel who will take your death that is entrusted with you and in fact the one who takes your death is allah. izrail, he takes all the souls of all the animals and birds and others). such is the word ahlu al-sunnah. in chapter iv discussing faith in the apostles, basuni imran quoted surah ali imran verse 31 when explaining the difference between miracles and karomah. basuni imran (1918: 25) then explained surah ali imran verse 31 as follows: if the guardian alienates with himself and does not follow prophet muhammad sa.w, (he) will undoubtedly have no zahir on his hand by karomah and nor is he a guardian for rahman (allah) but he is like a part and guardian for satan like the goods required for such by the word of alah almighty, the books to his prophet on the rights of some peoples who think that they love allah. in chapter v discussing faith in the hereafter (doomsday), basuni imran quoted two verses, namely surah al-zalzalah verses 7-8 and surah al-kawthar verse 1. surah al-zalzalah verses 7-8 quoted by basuni imran when explain about reckoning. basuni imran (1918: 46-47) explained surah al-zalzalah verses 7-8 as follows: [ 133 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 we believe that allah s.w.t. will bring all human beings to mahshar, he will reckon each person and he will determine the deeds that he did whether it is good or evil. and witness those who had been denied by all their disbelief, and he will make of all their genitals apparent, and their intentions are with them, and nothing for them to hide on the day of judgment. surah al-kautsar verse 1 was quoted by basuni imran when explaining about kautsar. basuni imran (1918: 48) then explained surah al-kawthar verse 1 as follows: verily, kawthar is a river in heaven whose water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. whoever drinks a mouthful of the water, he will not thirst forever. that kawthar is bestowed by allah s.w.t. upon our prophet s.a.w., and he hinted it with his word. study of tafsir in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman ismail mundu is a leading ulema in kubu, the mufti of the kingdom of kubu and the kubu court judge. he was appointed mufti of the kubu kingdom during the reign of king syarif abbas (1900-1911 ad), the sixth king of the kubu kingdom. after the end of the kubu kingdom and the estabislhment of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri) in 1951 ad, ismail mundu was later appointed as judge of the kubu court by wedana kubu pratama (gusti jalma) and former sultan of the kubu kingdom (syarif hasan al idrus) (baidhillah riyadhi, 2012 : 37). mundu has also succeeded in rectifying and improving the religious understanding of the kubu raya region and its surrounding communities. there are several religious contributions made by mundu which can be seen from the 29 works he wrote (luqman abdul jabar, et al., 2013: 56). among the 29 works, there are two texts related to tawheed, namely zikir tawhidiyah and mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. since zikir tawhidiyah only contains dhikir, this study only describes the contents of the manuscript mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. the book of mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman was completed in teluk pakedai, at 5 p.m. on friday, 18 rajab 1351 ah which coincides with 1929 ad. this 20-page book was printed at matba’ah al-sayyid ali alaydrus keramat 38 jakarta. generally speaking, the contents of this text are teachings about the 20 attributes which are divided into a number of attributes for allah, namely the mandatory, impossible, and jaiz aatributes. the next section also explains the lessons about the characteristics of the apostles which are divided into the mandatory, impossible and jaiz (luqman abdul jabar, et al., 2013: 143-144). as explained earlier, based on the record compiled by abdul [ 134 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 jabar, et al. (2013: 56), of the 29 works, there are two manuscripts related to tawheed, namely zikir tawhidiyah and mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. in the zikir tawhidiyah manuscript, there are no qur’anic verses quoted by mundu in explaining his writing. this is in accordance with the title of this small manuscript printed at matba’ah alsayyid ali alaydrus keramat 38 jakarta. the contents of the manuscript are only in the form of dhikr. the manuscript which was lithographically printed has been translated into the malay language by h. riva’i abbas. the transcript of this manuscript further expanded its spread not only to mundu’s students but also to various regions and west kalimantan. the circulation range is even wider considering that it was printed outside west kalimantan, namely, batavia (now jakarta) (luqman abdul jabar, et al., 2013: 112). meanwhile, the manuscript written by mundu entitled mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman, after triscription, the contents are the same as zikir tawhidiyah (as explained above), that there are no verses of the qur’an quoted in explaining his writing. the contents in the manuscript are not about dhikr, but about the summary of tawheed. this 20-page manuscript printed at matba’ah al-sayyid ali alaydrus keramat 38 jakarta in general contains teachings about the 20 attributes which are divided into a number of attributes for allah, namely mandatory, impossible, and jaiz. in the next section, lessons are also provided about the characteristics of the messenger which are divided into mandatory, impossible and jaiz (luqman abdul jabar, et al., 2013: 113-114). sufistic style of interpretation and methods on the manuscripts the sufistic style in interpreting the verses of the qur’an is still an interesting topic for debate. generally speaking, there are two types of the differences among the scholars regarding whether or not to interpret the verses of the qur’an with sufistic patterns. first, the scholars who consider that the sufistic interpretation style is a wrong interpretation, a lie, some people considering it to be disbelievers, and reject this interpretation style. among these scgolars are imam al-thusi, ibn shalah, imam al-taftazani, ibn atha, imam alzarkasyi, imam al-rafi’i, imam al-nasafi. second, the scholars who consider sufistic interpretation style to be haing the benefit of minimizing the esoteric side of the qur’an. imam al-ghazali even stressed that there is no prohibition on someone interpreting the qur’an with a sufistic style (badruzzaman m. yunus, 2017: 2). apart from the issues mentioned above, the manuscripts of tawheed in the works of scholars in the province of west kalimantan follow the opinions of [ 135 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 scholars who allow it. according to didik m. nur haris and rahimin affandi abdul rahim (2017: 41), there were three of the most popular sufi scholars in west kalimantan province in the 19th and 20th centuries. first, ahmad khatib al-sambasi (1802-1879 ad) with his work entitled fathu al-’arifin. second, muhammad basuni ibn muhammad imran (1885-1953 ad) with his work, bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid. third, guru haji isma’il mundu (1870-1957 ad), with his work, mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti alarahman. the three works in the form of manuscripts written by the most popular sufi scholars in the province of west kalimantan are the objects of this study. after transcribing and translating the three manuscripts written by the three sufi scholars, it can be concluded that not all of their texts quoted, used, and interpreted the verses of the qur’an. the verses of the qur’an and the interpretation of the authors can be found in the manuscripts of ahmad khatib al-sambasi entitled fathu al-rifarifin, and of muhammad basuni ibn muhammad imran entitled bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid. whereas in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman by isma’il mundu, there are no qur’an verses and interpretation made by the author because the contents of the 20-page manuscript are only a summary of tawheed (didik m. nur haris dan rahimin affandi abdul rahim, 2017: 113-114). the style of interpretation used by ahmad khatib al-sambasi and muhammad basuni ibn muhammad imran in each of the manuscripts is the sufistic interpretation style, namely the interpretation of the verses of the qur’an marked by differences in the explicit or obvious meaning of the verses, because there are implied guidance which can only be known by certain scholars who have been given light by allah s.w.t. (badruzzaman m. yunus, 2017: 5). khatib al-sambasi and basuni imran used sufistic style in interpreting the verses of the qur’an to affirm their argument when discussing teachings related to tawheed. the sufistic style of interpretation used by khatib alsambasi and basuni imran is increasingly apparent when looking at examples of their interpretations with the method used. the method of interpretation used by khatib sambas and basuni imran is the tahlili which is a method of interpretation that aims to explain the content of the verses of the qur’an from all its aspects (al-farmawi, 1996: 12). this method describes all aspects contained in the verses and explains the meanings included in it in accordance with the expertise and tendency of the interpreter (nashruddin baidan, 1998: 31). the tahlili method used by khatib sambas is evidenced from several verses of the qur’an used and their interpretation. for example, when khatib al-sambasi [ 136 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 explained that a final messenger whose name is ahmad (muhammad) would come. khatib sambas (1317 h: 10) used surah as-shaff verse 6 to explain the following: wal faidhu ‘ala hai’ati al-wahdaniyah until finally bi washithoti almasyekh’alaihimu ar-rahmati then moving also with the permission of the shaykh to (muroqobatul mahbubiyatis shorfati wa hiya haqiqotul ahmadiyah) which is determination to the dzat of our lord that made ahmad the only loved one. namely bringing good tidings of a noble messenger who came later after me whose name is ahmad. in addition, khatib sambas and basuni imran also used the tahlili method in interpreting the verses of the qur’an they quoted. this is evidenced from several verses of the qur’an quoted in the texts along with their interpretation. an example is when basuni imran explained about kawthar. he argued that kawthar is a river that is in heaven. the water is whiter than milk and tastes sweeter than honey. whoever drinks its water, he will never thirst forever. basuni imran supported his analysis with surah al-kawthar verse 1. basuni imran (1918: 48) then explained surah al-kawthar verse 1 as follows: verily, kawthar is a river in heaven whose water is whiter than milk and sweeter than honey. whoever drinks a mouthful of the water, he will not thirst forever. that kawthar is bestowed by allah s.w.t. upon our prophet s.a.w., and he hinted it with his word. the tahlili interpretation method used by khatib sambas and basuni imran in each of their manuscripts was also used by other interpretive scholars. for example, the following works are written by the scholars who used the tahlili method of interpretation as described by muhammad amin suma (2013: 380) are al-jāmi li aḥkām al-quran by syaikh imam al-qurṭūbi, jāmi‟ al-bayānan takwīl ayyi al-qur’an by ibn jarīr al-thabariy, tafsīr al-qur’an al-‘aẓīm by al-hāfidz imad al-din abi al-fida ismāil ibn katsȋr al-quraisyi al-danasyqi, al-mīzān fi tafsīr al-quran by al-‘allamah al-sayyid muhammad husyan althabaṭab’i.. the tahlili method of interpreting the qur’an has several tendencies or styles, namely al-tafsir bi al-ma’tsur, al-tafsir bi al-ra’yi, al-tafsir al-shufi, al-tafsir al-fiqhi, al-tafsir al-falsafi, al-tafsir al-‘ilmi, dan al-tafsir aladab al-ijtima’i. based on the previous discussion, the thought patterns of khatib sambas’ and basuni imran’s interpretation in each of their manuscripts are sufistic, more specifically the sufi al-nazhari style of interpretation. according to muhammad husain al-dzahabi, the sufi al-nazhari style of interpretation is is based on symbolic methods which are not only focused on linguistic aspects, but can also be used to support irrational theories used by sufi experts. one of the scholars known for his sufi al-nazhari’s interpretation style is muhyiddin ibn arabi which is found in his books, futuhat al-makkiyah [ 137 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 and al-fusus. interpretation with this style often receives criticism from scholars such as al-zahabi, who assumed that this style only sees the inner aspect alone, and even sometimes the results reinforce the theory of sufism which is built on linguistic rules (lenni lestari, 2014: 14-15). conclusion there are three most popular sufi ulemas (scholars) in west kalimantan province who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. the three include ahmad khatib al-sambasi (1802-1879 ad) with his work entitled fathu al-rifarifin, muhammad basuni ibn muhammad imran (1885-1953 ad) with his work, bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid and guru haji isma’il mundu (18701957 ad), with his work, mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. all the scholars have works in the form of manuncripts which are objects of study in this paper. there are fifteen contents of interpretations contained in the manuscript of fathu al-arifin and eight in bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid. while in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman, the contents of the interpretation are not found. the style of interpretive thought used by ahmad khatib al-sambasi and muhammad basuni ibn muhammad imran in fathu al-rifarifin and bidayatu al-tauhid fi ilmi al-tauhid is a style of sufistic interpretation using the tahlili method. menwhile, ismail mundu’s interpretive thought in mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman cannot be found because the 20-page manuscript is merely a summary that discusses the science of tawheed and ismail mundu did not quote any verses of the qur’an in his manuscript. bibliography abdullah, h., (1930). perkembangan ilmu tasawwuf dan tokoh-tokohnya di nusantara. surabaya: al-ikhlas. al-farmawi. (1996). metode tafsir mawdhu’iy: suatu pengantar. terj. suryan a. jamrah. jakarta: pt raja grafindo persada. amin, f., (2012). “potensi naskah kuno di kalimantan barat: studi awal manuskrip koleksi h. abdurrahman husin fallugah al-maghfurlahu di kota pontianak.” thaqãfiyyãt. vol. 13. no. 1. juni. -------. (2014). religion and harritage: the islamic manuscript of the quran by abdurrahman husin fallugah (w.2010). al-albab, 3(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v3i2.766 [ 138 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 aqib, k., (1997). al-hikmah memahami teosofi tareqat qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah. surabaya: dunia ilmu. baidan, n., (1998). metodologi penafsiran al-qur’an. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. bruinessen, m. v. (1992). tareqat naqsyabandiyah di indonesia. bandung: mizan. effendi, m. z. & wirajaya, a. y. (2019). “kajian resepsi terhadap teks futūhu ‘l-‘ārifīn.” jumantara. vol. 10. no. 2. firdaus. (2017). tareqat qadariyah wa naqsabandiyah: implikasinya terhadap kesalehan sosial.” al-adyan. vol. 12. no. 2. juli-desember. haris, d. m. n. & rahim, r. a. a, (2017). “akar tradisi politik sufi ulama kalimantan barat abad ke-19 dan 20.” ijtimaiyya: jurnal pengembangan masyarakat islam. vol. 10. no. 1. haris, d. m. n. dan rahim, r. a. a. (2017) “pemikiran keagamaan muhammad basuni imran.” al-banjari. vol. 16. no. 2. juli-desember. hermansyah et. al. (2012) “penelitian naskah kuna “tahshilu al-maram li bayani manzhumati ‘aqidati al-‘awam” karya h. muh. shaleh dan h. khairuddin (guru sultan tsafiuddin ii sambas).” laporan hasil penelitian kelompok 2012. stain pontianak. imran, m. b., (1918). bidayah al-tauhid fi ‘ilm al-tauhid. singapura: mathba’ah al-ahmadiyah. jabar, l. a. et. al. (2013). sejarah kerajaan kubu. pontianak: stain pontianak press. lampiran keputusan direktur jenderal pendidikan islam nomor 7177 tahun 2017 tentang petunjuk teknis bantuan program penelitian tahun anggaran 2018. lestari, l., (2014). “epistemologi corak tafsir sifistik.” jurnal syahadah. vol. 2. no. 1. april. mundu, i., (1375 h). mukhtasaru al-mannan ala aqidahti al-arahman. jakarta: matba’ah al-sayyid ali alaydrus. nurkholim, w., (2017) “syaikh ahmad khatib sambas: pendiri tareqat qadiriyah wa naqsyabandiyah (1803-1875 m).” skripsi tidak diterbitkan. universitas islam negeri sunan ampel surabaya. patmawati, p., & wahida, b. (2018). the concept of tawheed of buginese people in the ancient manuscript lontara attorioloang ri wajo of west [ 139 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 kalimantan. al-albab, 7(2), 177-186. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/ alalbab.v7i2.1115 rasidin. 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[ 140 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1563 [ 203 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 parcuku: a religious ritual of the fak-fak community ade yamin jayapura state college of islamic studies, jayapura abstract local islam which is synonymous with the implementation of rituals is always interesting to discuss, either through free discussion or in the academic sphere, which will map out the speakers at both confronting and accommodating areas. similarly, the parcuku religious ritual of the fak-fak community gave rise to a wide range of supporting and opposing arguments for various reasons respectively. this paper provides a description of cultural activities of the fak-fak people, which is closely related to the religion of islam, in the face of the reality of the society which tends to be misunderstood by outsiders, or by fak-fak people who have gained a new awareness in terms of religious (islamic) teachings. the results of this research indicate that the parcuku ritual, practiced by the community of fak-fak, is a semi-religious ceremony with the main purpose of attempting to find a way of salvation for the people. nevertheless, through the parcuku ritual, a variety of positive things could be fostered in society such as cooperation, mutual help, and various other constructive social values that can be used in the realization of a harmonious society. also, through a variety of ritual activities, we can be witness the characteristics of a community in its religious expression, and therefore it should not be a justification for blasphemies because it turns out that god is so great that he has a lot of names in the human mind. the next most important thing is that it appears there is only one god in the many religions on earth. keywords: parcuku, religion, ritual, community, fak-fak introduction watching the local people running their everyday activities may present a wide range of interpretations and prejudice to someone outside of the community. we often hear prejudices toward obedient followers. the life of a community would be threatened and intimidated because they are not in line with the majority who claim to be on the right path. such reality is beginning to appear in the form of increased tension between communities among the indonesian society. almost every day a variety of mass media expose the persecution of an individual or a group of people because they have different views on certain subject. this trend of vandalism is getting worse in the form of expression [ 204 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 of anger especially when it comes to the affairs of belief (religion). it is not uncommon -in the name of questionable truth, someone loses their life for something trivial. terms such as stereotype, stigma, infidelity, society’s garbage, or bid’ah are still haunting a person or a group of people who are viewed by the majority as against the mainstream. in fact, tensions related to beliefs in a community have occurred almost throughout the history of human civilization. in the islamic world, particularly, the tension between followers of different beliefs have started since islam was first revealed on the 17th of ramadan, 13 years before the hijrah (departure to madinah) by the prophet muhammad, then introduced to the inhabitants of mecca about 10 years before the hijrah. a wide variety of stereotypes and stigma were addressed to the prophet against the religion he brought to the people mekah, because it contradicted the beliefs of the majority at the time. more specifically, the conflict has reached the stage of killing each other between the followers of the faith, and become a legacy that cannot be rejected by all muslims, and it in fact has been foreseen in one of the hadiths of the messenger of allah who said, “in the end, my ummah will split into 73 groups and only one will stay on my path.” of course we remember the events of the war and the battle of shiffin and jamal battles as well as the event of karbala, from which a seed of conflict has continued to exist between the sunni and shia, and has extended to all parts of the world where islam is present and growing until today. if one looks into indonesia’s current society, it seems that groups have been enriched by different cultural characteristics, so the differentiator will become increasingly apparent. islam in aceh will certainly be very different from that of java and sulawesi, let alone papua, where islam is a relatively new a religion among the papuans. ideologically and latently, such groups are transformed into social movements on behalf of the same political and religious belief (islam). for example, the nahdlatul ulama (nu) with its traditional style clashes ideologically with the reformist muhammadiyah (modern). other groups appear more vocal in voicing their the truth according to their own version, such as the dakwah council, islamic defenders front (fpi), liberal islam network (jil), hizbut tahrir indonesia (hti), and various other groups that indicate plurality of muslims. in the context of the local characteristics, the groups should not be condemned if they are developing islam with the pattern of the local community, without having to fear, blame or regard their practice as heresy as long as it is not disrupting the oneness of allah, as in the case of the muslim community in fak-fak district who carry out all islamic activities filled with local culture [ 205 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 and tradition inherited from their ancestors. many of their traditions, if viewed from the perspective of other cultures, would be considered heresy by other groups, such as mandi safar, tambormak or parcuku which is the focus of this research. it should be seen as a form of expression of the fak-fak community’s religiosity in the glory of prophet muhammad, whom they believe to be the supreme leader of muslims and to be a savior and a healer. history of parcuku community in fakfak who first carried out the ritual and introduced the tradition parcuku in the fak-fak society has yet to be described in detail, because of lack of documentation available about this ritual. one of the fak-fak community leaders said that the knowledge of parcuku has been passed down from one generation to the next. he got his knowledge of the ritual from his father, his father inherited it from his grandfather. if observed, the ritual has been practiced in the line of the iribaram descendants, and was brought by the islamic proselytizers from ternate-tidore who came to the gulf of patipi. is this ritual knowledge systematically and structurally known only to the iribaram lineage? the research showed that it is the case, because the main character who becomes the imam of the village (labe) --as observed by the author-in the performance of the ritual of parcuku in the district of fakfak is exclusively performed by haji muhammad iribaram as heir to such knowledge. almost every day he toured the towns of fak-fak to perform the ritual of parcuku, particularly for those who request it. if one looks closely at the manuscript used in the reading of the narratives of the parcuku, they will notice that it is a script consisting of a variety of stories written with the arabic alphabet but using the malay language (indonesian). among the stories included are narratives or accounts about the examples set by prophet muhammad (peace be upon him). treating the parcuku as a separate entity from the manuscript is a choice for the people of fak-fak, who believe that the ritual has more values compared to the other stories contained in the manuscript. based on the texts provided by key the informant, almost certainly it is impossible to trace where the text was obtained, because physically the parcuku manuscript was only partly available, while other parts of the manuscript have been lost. the pacurku script only contains a special story about how the prophet shaved, and it has been experiencing improvements, plastered with regular book paper as its cover. the complete passage of how the prophet shaved will be discussed in the next part (implementation of the parcuku ritual). [ 206 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 although there is no written record that describes when and where and how the tradition of the parcuku began, either in the form of text or the initial practice in the community of fak-fak in patipi which then spread to the towns of fak-fak, if closely observed, parcuku as a ritual, viewed from the text used, is one of the many literary works that have malay influence, or even tend to be influenced by persian as revealed by sunyoto (2012), the language and literature which flourished in the society were heavily influenced by persian and hindi languages. this is further proven by the historical data that islam first was spread over the archipelago through the alawiyin since the 7th century ad. according to sunyoto, based on the opinion of robert n bellah, islam came to indonesia after going through the process of acculturation with the persian cultural heritage, or more broadly in this case, iran (aryan people), which can be seen in the architectural style of the building, the arts, literature, science that refer to a combination of the different elements of the core of civilization heritage of the semitic iran. persian vocabularies widely used in the tradition of the archipelago are words such as kanduri (feast), astana (palace), bandar (port), diwan (council), and so forth. in addition, a very strong persian influence in literature associated with the process of islamization is a system for teaching the holy quran, found the persian-speaking terms to refer to harokat (vowels) in arabic. almost all the arabic words in the indonesian language are derived from and through the persian language. the influx of persian vocabulary in the language of the country was gradually followed the influx of literary works translated from persian and hindi. a number of wellknown texts in the literary tradition of the archipelago have been a translation of a source of hindi and persian, among others qissah insyiqaq al-qamar (the moon split narrative), rawdat al-ahbab (the light of muhammad narrative), wafat nameh (account of the prophet’s death), mustafa al-qissah wassiyah li imam ali (the prophet’s teachings to imam ali), qissah amir al_mu’minin hasan wa husain (hasan and husain narrative), qissah i ali hanafiah (muhammad hanifa narrative), qissa i, emir of hamzah (amir hamzah narrative), qissas al-anbiya (the narrative of the prophets ), qissa i bakhtiar (bahtiar narrative), tutinameh (bayan budiman narrative), and keratako wa damanakala (kalilah and daminah narrative). going through a series of history revealed above by sunyoto leaves a question, on which part of the narrative is the prophet’s shaving (parcuku) placed? since based on the historical research, the account is not mentioned as one of the literary works of the translation from persian and hindi, rather it is based on information either from the interviews and observations of the existing texts [ 207 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 provided by the informant, that the story of the prophet’s shave is compiled in one book together with the narratives mentioned above, thus suggesting a strong evidence that the prophet’s shave is part of the literary works of the translation from persian and hindi literature. the script, written with the arabic alphabet in the malay language, was then used as a reading material for the spread of islam in the indonesian archipelago, until it was finally brought by the followers of islam in the sultanate of ternate and tidore to the gulf of patipi in the fak-fak district (papua). this conclusion requires further archaeological and philological research to uncover more accurate facts and historical data. the process of preparation and performance of the ritual observing this tradition (parcuku) from the preparation to the implementation, we will see a tradition or custom that is not too unique, actually, if viewed from the perspective of the indonesia communities that are known for their diverse traditions, but we take a moment to observe more thoroughly, then we will encounter something different of a society. for a relatively important ritual in the local community’s life, a very tolerant and permissive attitude is displayed in its implementation; objects or the means used tend to be adapted to the conditions and circumstances, or can be adapted to existing resources. the parcuku is usually requested by the community members of fak-fak. it often coincides with the events considered important by the community, for example at a time when one is about to travel far outside the region. sometimes the parcuku is held as one of a series of the preparation for the pilgrimage, or for the children who will continue the education in a far-away place, for the inauguration of a new house or a new vehicle, or during a baby’s hair-cutting ceremony (aqikah), and for several other activities. to carry out the ritual of parcuku, it does not require elaborate preparation, because in this ritual the most important figure is the person who reads the account of the prophet’s shave. the objects and means used to carry out this ritual are tailored to the event celebrated. however, the main aspects of the ritual are the leader of the ritual, water, fire, soil, and air. the presence of the invited guests is important as a complement to the ritual. the stages of preparation for the activity of the parcuku reading can be explained as follows. starting with the intention of someone who intends to perform a wedding celebration, the parcuku becomes an important event that must be done, and the party with such intention can contact the village imam who understands how to carry out the ritual. then the organizer will have to [ 208 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 provide several objects requested by the imam as a means of implementation of the ritual. common objects commonly provided by the organizer of the ritual are water in a particular container (either a teakettle, pot, jug or glass), incense-burning stove, ember, while the book of parcuku is provided by the village imam, as well as several other accessories which are adjusted to the events or what is prayed for. the parcuku ritual ceremonially starts with providing all the means and media that have consciously been prepared by the organizer. the process of procurement of the means and materials is done while waiting for the presence of the invited guests and the village imam (labe) as the leader of the ritual. the ritual is usually carried out in the main room of the organizer’s home. the selection of the room for the ritual has no specifications, but is adapted to the circumstances and capacity of the room. on several occasions, the organizer sometimes had to set up tents on the yard to accommodate the invited guests and relatives who attended the ritual. given the common shape of the home which is generally rectangular, usually the room is also rectangular, and the village imam will occupy the position of the room on wide area, while the guests will sit on the left side and the right side is reserved for the village imam. the village imam sometimes can occupy a different position of the room, because the ritual should face the direction of the setting sun or the holy mosque (in mecca), because it is believed that facing the qibla, prayer and parcuku read would be easier to be fulfilled. so usually the village imam will find the sitting position that faces the qibla. after the invited guests and relatives are seated in the room and the objects and media for the ritual placed right in front of the village imam, the ritual begins by burning incense on the ember, accompanied by certain recital by the ritual leader, with hope that through the intercession of the wind, the prayer to be read out can be delivered as intended, i.e. to god almighty. then it is continued with the joint recital of surah al-fatihah with a loud voice by the audience led by the village imam. after al-fathihah is recited, the imam reads prayer and praise to prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) personally with a softened voice. next the imam reads the parcuku narrative written with the arabic alphabet but in the malay language (indonesian). in the process of reading of this narrative, the attendees will listen attentively, even in some of the activities, children are forbidden to play and make a noise which can interfere with the reading of the narrative. after the narrative is read out, the ritual concludes with a prayer read by the village imam, and the ritual is considered done. then the organizer uses water placed in front of the imam during the reading of parcuku as a medium which is believed to have [ 209 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the power to counteract the disaster and give a blessing. so it is no wonder after the ritual is over, the organizer will splash the water around the home or on a newly purchased vehicle, or drink the water, and even store it in plastic bottles and take it along when traveling. until this stage, the ritual of parcuku is contextually completed and continued with other social activities. activities after the ritual after the reading of the narrative is complete, the next event is having meals together attended by the organizer and the guests. after the objects used for the parcuku ritual are set aside into the family room, the host will bring out a white cloth laid in the middle of the room, and then the whole dish was placed on the white cloth. it is, of course, interesting to discuss various symbolic objects used in the ritual of parcuku, including the use of white cloth in a ritual procession of dish serving. the use of another piece of cloth as a place to store dishes in addition to the plates and various other kitchen utensils is a form of fak fak community’s show of gratitude for what they earn, so any leftover will not be allowed to be wasted, so that the food that falls on the cloth during the process of eating together can be collected and used for other purposes, for example for feeding farm animals, or in other words, it is a way of being grateful for the blessings given by allah. this simple conclusion is drawn from observation and conversation the researcher had during dinner with the local people, and it has become a habit that all dishes are served on a mat with a sheet of white cloth laid on it before placing the tableware. of course, future research on the symbolic meanings of the use of this fabric is very important to reveal the values of the local culture. when observed further, the dish presented is tailored to the host’s economic condition; the dish is typical of the fak-fak people with side dish (fish) being dominant, either fried, grilled, or ground. the procedure for the dish preparation is also unique, reflecting the custom of the society. women who regularly prepare meals in the kitchen will issue a hand-wash container (kobokan), which also has a glass of water to drink placed in it, distributed evenly to all attendees. next the spoons and plates will also be distributed evenly to all attendees, and after the tableware is distributed evenly, the dish will then be served and eaten together. a procession of eating together is not over when the attendees have finished eating a meal, but the process will continue with the dessert, a serving of coffee (mehak) and tea with strong cinnamon aroma served along with cake or cookies. the serving of desserts such as this appears to be very effective in establishing communication in the community, as the attendees will have a variety of discussion and dialog, [ 210 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 from small talk, gossip about the village, to the shared community affairs, or discussion on preparation of other rituals in the community. at this stage, it can be said that formally the parcuku ritual has been completed. components of parcuku 1. village imam (labe) the village imam (labe) is the primary and most important part in the ritual of parcuku, because without the imam the ritual cannot be performed. why is this so? dhavamony (1975: 175) distinguished a ritual into four kinds. first, a ritual is an act of magic associated with the use of materials that work because of mystical power. second, a ritual is an act of a religious cult of ancestors that also work this way. third, a constitutive ritual which expresses or changes social relationships with regard to the sense of mystical conceptions, in this way the rituals of life become distinctive. fourth, a ritual that improves productivity or strength, or purification and protection or in a certain way increases the welfare of a group of people. the division of a ritual into the four activities that lead to certain ritual activities, although there are rituals that do not require a leader physically. for that matter, suhardi’s explanation becomes important to look at the role of the village imam (labe) in the ritual of parcuku. he classified the ritual into 3 categories. first, a secular ceremony that has social and political functions, with the main purpose to increase the community’s sentiment and political awareness. second, a semireligious ceremony, a ceremony in which the purpose is to alert life cycle events and the like. even though such ritual has a secular purpose, it is also clearly based on something sacred in an attempt to find a way of salvation, both in the form of bringing the community together and in the repellence of metaphysical beings. third, a religious ceremony, which is a ceremony that is truly an effort of looking for salvation of soul through worship. its primary purpose is for establishing communication between human beings with transcendent nature, generally done in the congregation. based on suhardi’s opinion above, it appears that the ritual of parcuku in the fak-fak community falls into the category of a semi-religious ritual, since its main purpose is to find a way to salvation, which is generally related to the transcendent world (metaphysics). thus to find the way to salvation, it requires the help of others, because there is a kind of helplessness of the individual, such as a lack of knowledge of the ritual, as well as other factors such as habits that have developed in the community. in such conditions, it is the existence of the village imam (labe) that becomes important in the ritual of parcuku, since not everyone has the ability. [ 211 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 2. incense discussing the ritual of parcuku, we certainly will always take into account the meaning contained over a range of activities, either in the form of tools, statements, words, or the activities of the performers. in addition to water and the text of parcuku, incense is one of the important elements in the performance of the ritual. the first activity that must be performed by the village imam is burning the incense. the use of incense as a welcome ritual will remind us of the tradition of chinese people who always use the hio (incense) in worship, or the hindus in bali who also use incense as a tool and a means of worship to the almighty. incense in the history of human civilization has existed since centuries ago. it is obtained from tree resin was the most prestigious and expensive commodity in the trade on the silk road. on the trade route stretching from china to turkey, incense was even more expensive than gold and diamonds. traders sought after incense because of high demand from kings, rich people, and religious leaders. the goal was diverse. in egypt, the people of ancient egypt made use of incense imported from yemen as one of the ingredients for mummy preparation. in jerusalem, the people of israel burned incense in front of the temple in a container for incense fragrances when conducting prayers. in arabia and sham, incense was placed in a container to scent the palace halls and houses. in south asia and east asia, incense was burned in temples as a means of worship. tuliman revealed that many people still regard incense only as a tool for the mystical rituals by sorcerers, idolaters (polytheist habits), and the like. they compare the scent of incense with calling the ghosts and scary fragrances, which is thought to be able to invite spiritual beings. tuliman further reveals that: such phenomena which often appear in the mats of the occultists, popularized in the wide-screen movies, horror themed, have increasingly contributed to the cynical view of incense. however, in indonesia incense is widely used not only in the mystical activities mentioned above but also in some boarding schools, where incense is burned prior to performing tarawih, which aims to give a fragrant scent (typical incense) indoors or at a mosque. in some areas, incense is burned in a wedding (walimatul ‘ ursy). there’s also a burning of incense in gatherings such as the ta’lim, tahlil, or in events of celebration, a place of pilgrimage (such as at the wali’s cemetery, and so forth. [ 212 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 whether or not the use of incense in the parcuku ritual is also seen in the context mentioned above as a medium of service, it will be important in this section to discuss, since the use of incense in religious rituals (islam) lately have been denounced because it is considered shirik (polytheistic practice) by mainstream fundamentalist islamic groups. while moderate islamist groups tend to be permissive since the tradition can still be considered tolerable as a cultural product that is acceptable as long as its objective is not polytheistic in nature. incense has been used in some of the islamic rituals since the time of prophet mohammed (pbuh), although its use has mostly been restricted to death rituals, so the refusal by the reformers (islam) is the perversion of history. another positive thing is that it turns out that incense has many benefits. in addition to create fragrances, it is also used for medicine, herbs, even for aroma therapy. incense contains olibanol, resin material, and terpene. other substances contained include saponins, flavonoid, and polyphenol. now scientists have observed that there is a substance in the incense which stops the spread of cancer, but it is not yet known if incense can serve as anti-cancer herb. in the 10th century ad, ibn sina, a treatment expert, recommended incense as medicine for tumors, ulcers, vomiting, dysentery and fever. to find out the importance of incense in the parcuku ritual, the thesis presented by suhardi is important for reference. he stated that the ritual is religion in action then he revealed: a rite symbolically describes human efforts to establish communication with the transcendent power, whether it is the spirit of the ancestors, spiritual beings, gods, god or magical power. the main purpose of human practicing the rite is to find the way to salvation spiritually, with the hope that his soul will survive and enter the realm of transcendence as conceptualized in the respective religious teachings, whether it’s heaven, moksha, nirvana, or on the tuma island in belief of the trobiand. based on the above thesis, what becomes an important point of entry is the disclosure of the concept that states that “the rite symbolically describes human efforts to establish communication with the transcendent power” is a general concept that becomes the point of departure to explain the position of incense in the parcuku ritual. if the rite is a symbolic effort, then surely there must be objects or media as well as the language used in communicating with the transcendent world. for the ritual of parcuku, in addition to the text, of course incense is one of the objects to connect with the transcendent world which is used by the village imam. [ 213 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 of course the fact that incense is chosen as an additional accessory in the ritual of parcuku is not without reason, and it must be admitted that this medium (incense) is a product of the culture of acculturation kept alive by the permissive attitude of the society of fak-fak to outside culture that received a strong influence from the society and culture of buton with a variety of unseen things that transformed into rituals in daily life that are still being carried out to date, such as pakande jini, pakande wurake, and pakande kiwalu, as well as other forms of rites of death, birth, etc. furthermore, on the use of incense, the informant revealed: why do we need incense? because the human body is composed of 4 parts, i.e. earth, water, fire and wind. so, burning incense is an important part of a ritual because by burning incense, wind can be seen to exist. simple translation by the informant is not the main reason to accept the use of incense in the parcuku ritual, but it can seen as something that is believed by the community that needs to be valued and appreciated as a form of local culture capable of keeping the spirit of community in religion. in practice the use of incense has a variety of other positive sides, in addition to the benefits of religious society in the observing religious activities because in it there are aesthetic, economic, and social values that cannot be understood by the people or groups that have prejudice. from the aesthetic viewpoint, the incense used in the ritual can be a natural deodorizer, non addictive substances (toxins) and alcohol that are commonly found in the air freshener. while the price is economical, incense used by the village imam (labe) is usually very cheap, and sometimes at no cost, because the incense used in the ritual of parcuku is a particular wood burned to produce the scent of perfume. another important function is the incense can be to strengthen neighborly relationship, because each family can share incense between neighbors. if by chance the ceremony ran out of incense or someone forgets to buy incense, then neighbors will provide it voluntarily to be used in the ritual parcuku. in this case, the difference is quite obvious in the use of incense in fak-fak community tradition as compared to other societies (chinese and balinese) discussed above. in other societies, incense actually becomes the main path or medium to convey the appeal to authority, while in the community of fak-fak, incense in addition to religious function also has the aesthetic, economic, and social purposes. 3. efficacious water in the ritual of parcuku, another object no less important than incense is [ 214 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 water filled in a specific container, which is placed in front of the village imam (labe) during the ritual. interesting for further research is what kind of water is used in the ritual and what is it used for after going through the ritual of parcuku and why is water selected as one of the important media in the ritual? sunaryo et al (2005) argued that water is the element that cannot be separated from human life. without the development of water resources on a consistent basis, human civilization will not reach the level enjoyed today. therefore the development and processing of water resources forms the basis of human civilization. one use of water in daily life is for drinking. clean water must be free of disease-causing microorganisms and chemicals that can harm human health and other living creatures. water is the substance of life, where none of the living things on this earth can live without it. research shows that 6575% of the weight of the human body is made up of water. according to the science of health, everyone needs water to drink as much as 2.5 to 3 liters per day, including water contained in foods. humans can survive for 2-3 weeks without eating, but can only last for 2-3 days without drinking. masaru emoto concluded that the particles of water can be influenced by the sound of the music and prayers written and dipped into it. some of the water molecules are shaped irregular, however there is one water crystal that looks so beautiful compared to the other, shaped like a flower that displays a dozen diamonds. what water molecule is it? asked masaru emoto. a sudden silence, the audience seemed to be puzzled, not knowing exactly about the molecule. suddenly, a lecturer from the university of malaysia held out his hand and said “that is the zamzam water molecule “. then masaru emoto asked “why do you think so?”. the lecturer replied, “because the zamzam water is the most precious in the world, so it’s only fair if it has a sparkle like diamonds”. it turns out that professor is correct. masaru emoto’s research has shown that the zamzam (water) has the most beautiful molecules than any other water. this finding also explains that water can cure diseases, which used to be considered merely a suggestion, turns out to have a point because the water molecule can capture the message of recovery, store it, and then its vibration propagates through other water molecules in the body of the patient since the human body is made up of 75% water. no wonder if the water is selected as one of the major media in the ritual, but it certainly needs to be elaborated further. generally the water in the ritual of parcuku is used for three purposes, i.e. for drink, being splashed on particular spots, and being carried on a trip. so the water used in the ritual is water that can be consumed. the average water used in the ritual parcuku is water that is boiled and generally stored in a glass wrapped around the waist during a [ 215 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 procession. after the ritual procession, the water is drunk, or poured directly on the four corners of the house, or stored in plastic bottles to for traveling. parcuku as protection from danger and disasters however, social peace is only temporary, because society is dynamic and filled with the behavior of individual and group interests, which is why the rite is repeated periodically. this opinion will be the initial foothold to explain the benefits of parcuku religiously and socially in the fak fak society, because the ritual is constantly carried out though not continuously in one family, but nearly evenly done in the community. of course the meaning of this ritual is important, but before discussing this matter, it is interesting to try to look into the text of parcuku itself, what can be drawn from the text recited and what suggestions felt by the ritual performers. reading the parcuku textually at least there are 6 (six) promises found in it, but it also contains a threat, for those who do not believe in it, it can be identified on a partial extract in the following text: (1), bismillahirrahmanirrahim. wabihi nasta’inubillahi ta’ala’ this is the story of the prophet of god shaving; whoever reads or listens to this story, their sins will be forgiven by god the almighty at all time (2), then the words of allah decreed to all children of angels “o children of the angel, go right down to the earth and take the hair of my beloved messenger shaved gabriel and a piece of his hair must not fall to the earth. take a piece of the hair as a miracle, tie it around your wrist, and i will fogive all your sins.” (3) then the words of allah were revealed to his prophet “o my beloved messenger, whoever keeps this fairy tale of shaving, i will free them from all the dangers of the world and the hereafter and the death will take their life in a polite manner, they will be guarded from the vice. (4), whoever keeps this tale of shaving, and guards it well and does not give it to the ignorant and despicable and that you offer it to the believers and that you give it to a household in a village, and allah will forgive all your sins (5) whoever keeps this fairy tale of shaving, allah will bestow his blessings on your house tens of charity and sustenance. allah will also keep them from harm and disaster and from envious people, and even thieves will be unable to break into their house and if they sleep and suddenly wake from their sleep, and on the job, and if all has been destroyed and so forth, and the goods will be safe, and in the war, they will gain victory and all weapons can never hurt them thanks to blessings from this shaving fairy tale; (6) if it is passed down to whomever and it shall be present at his house, it will bring the grace of god to his house thanks to the fairy tale of shaving, once the grace of allah goes down at his home and so it is every day; whereas the text that contains a threat [ 216 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 can be found in the statement then the prophet said, “whoever does not keep my fairy tale of shaving, , that person is not one of my ummah and i’m not his prophet.” from text of the parcuku above, most of the information suggests that observing, listening, and practicing the parcuku have good benefits for life, either individually or in groups, it is as described by the informant. keep six thousand six hundred sixty-six pieces of the prophet’s hair, then anyone who reads the tale at their home, their home will be visited by angels as many as the count of the hair, if we read and listen to it from beginning to end, the our sins will be forgiven. the belief embedded in the community is reasonable if we refer to suhardi (2009) in which he argued that in a semi-religious ritual, the benefit derived from it is temporary in nature so it forces people or groups of people to unconsciously repeat the ritual. similarly, in the fak-fak community the same individual will continue to repeat the ritual of parcuku depending on their interests, whether for health, safety, or for commemorating the rite throughout the life cycle. of course it is difficult to prove the real benefit of this tradition, but the ritual performer consciously acknowledges that there are benefits that they get from running the rite. at least there are two indicators that can be cited to affirm this assumption. first, the ritual is carried out by the same person and the same village imam (labe) although for different purposes. second, there is an integration of ethnic actors in the parcuku ritual, while initially it was only performed by the fak-fak people who come from the gulf of petipi, nowadays it is also coomon among ethnic javanese, makassar, buton, and some other ethnic groups who live in fak-fak. true islamic tradition? after outlining the elements and benefits of the ritual of parcuku, there is a simple question that should be answered. is this tradition allowed, or even forbidden in muslim society in accordance with the common traditions and customs of other muslim societies? the author does not want to get trapped in discussions on the right and wrong against a habit of a certain community, as such discussion is like a coin with two sides that are always inseparable. the ritual of parcuku will certainly bring two different interpretations between those who perform it and those who oppose it. however, it is interesting to explain the phenomenon by citing the opinion of esposito (2010): if you want to find out what people believe in, if you want to capture the reality of their daily lives, you must see, borrow an academic jargon textually and contextually. understanding the beliefs of others not only requires knowledge of the sacred [ 217 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 religious sources (scripture, creeds, dogmas, and the law), but also knowledge concerning what exactly is held and carried out by these people. respect for the important things in a religion cannot be done without an awareness of the diversity of its forms and expressions. the awareness put forward by esposito is very important to be understood by people from different religions. whether it is recognized or not, everyone’s religious expression would vary. in muslim society, there are many different ways of welcoming the holy month of ramadan, and can be observed throughout the day. for example, every muslim who have reached puberty (mature) believe that ramadan is a month full of blessings and forgiveness, all the practice of kindness will be multiplied, and the demons will be shackled. at the same time, it can be seen that many muslims welcome the month with various expressions, but there is no moral police who will judge each person based on his/her expressions. some are busy discussing the food to break his fast, food for early morning meal, the themes of sermon, empty rows at the mosque during half way of ramadan. of course one cannot compare the parcuku with the activities of ramadan, that certainly can be distinguished, that ramadan is obligatory and must be observed by muslims who have reached puberty. meanwhile the parcuku is a tradition in a certain community (fak-fak), and it actually is what esposito referred to as an “expression of religious community in diversity”. this assumption also means that ramadan is obligatory but expressed in different ways in the muslim community, while the parcuku tradition which is a semireligious ritual according to suhardi, certainly will have various expressions. the problem is how can a tradition like this take place in the middle of the muslim society? the author repeats the statement of not wanting to get caught up in the dialectic of what should and should not be done. the author of course agrees with esposito that political activism and social backgrounds of islam became a debatable topic in which the interpretation will be broadly divided into two polarization, confrontation and accommodation. reaching such a conclusion, the author would tend to get in on the accommodative stronghold. the selection of position like this can be done by observing the phenomenon that the confrontationist would assume that the ritual of parcuku is a threat to the purity of the teachings of islam, bid’ah kurafat or even sirik. while in the view of the author such activity performed by the community is simply a form of expression that can be tolerated and reasonable in a community that observe what they believe is true, and does not deviate from the common practice of other muslims. finally the author concludes that there is no right or wrong in the religious ritual activities of the community including the ritual of parcuku, [ 218 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 because all these practices are based on what is perceived, experienced, and believed to be required by the owner of the culture. the obligation of anyone with the capacity to help remind the performers should these practices be considered deviant without trying to judge a community because of what they believe in, as we are not the sole representative of god on the face of the earth. concluding remarks through a variety of efforts to link all the data, facts, information collected, with regard to the ritual of parcuku in the fak-fak society, here comes the final preposition of this research. first, the parcuku ritual is continuously performed by the community in fak-fak is not the original fak-fak community’s cultural product, particularly the gulf patipi people, rather it is a ritual passed down through generations, which was obtained from the sultanate of ternate and tidore. it was passed to the iribaram clan in the gulf of patipi as a result of fak-fak community’s permissiveness in the past, or because other factors. even based on a variety of existing literature, the text of parcuku is a legacy of the persians as a result of the islamic teachings which was heavily influenced by the persians at the beginning of the spread of islam in the country. second, as a cultural activity that takes place as a symbol of religious expression, the parcuku as a ritual expression of a community in observing religion has a positive value in the life of the community, among others, fostering the passion of friendly religious activities, although it will be labeled as a deviant religious practice by those who oppose it. in addition, the solidarity of the community can be built through helping each other, which is reflected clearly in the ritual of parcuku. another important benefit is that through the ritual of parcuku, the fak-fak society generally shows that the importance of understanding local communities in observing religion becomes very crucial in a plural society, as through this way harmonization in public life can be achieved. third, the thesis proposed by suhardi regarding ritual, in fact does occur, especially as a semi-religious ceremony, a ceremony in which the purpose is to alert life cycle events and the like. even so, such ritual has a secular purpose, but also clearly and in fact is based on something sacred as well as other purposes, namely the attempt to find a way to salvation, both in finding harmony among the society and preventing transcendent beings from disturbing, where the parcuku is organized to meet the needs as unveiled by suhardi, namely efforts in searching for the way to salvation, with confidence based on religious teachings, and the path taken is through a distinctive cultural product based on the expressions of the community. [ 219 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 bearing in mind from the beginning regarding the assumption that a ritual in society as a form of religious expression that often does not have a place in the culture of the religious life, the writer would like to give suggestions but does not intend to reduce the presence of marginal groups in indonesia, that diverse communities with different religious expressions should not be an excuse for blaspheming and blaming each other, because it turns out god is so great that he has a lot of names in the human mind. the important thing is that it turns out there is only one god in the many religions on the face of the earth. hence the wisdom of thinking and acting must be practiced by all people who observe religion because there is no such thing as single society, but the truth is society is naturally always plural, as the providence of god almighty who created man to know, respect, and help each other. bibliography ahimsa heddy shri-putra. 2012. paradigma epistemologi dan methode ilmu sosial budaya: sebuah pemetaan. unpublihed paper presented at pelatihan methodologi penelitian by crcs-ugm di yogyakarta, 12 february 2007. abdullah al-mahlauth bin sami. 2012. atlas agama-agama, jakarta: almahira. bahri media zainul. 2011. satu tuhan banyak agama, pandangan sufistik ibn ‘arabi, rumi dan al-jili. jakarta: mizan publika. creswell, john w. 2010. research design: pendekatan kualitatif, kuantitatif, dan mixed, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. dhafamony mariasusai. 1995. fenomenologi agama. yogyakarta: kanisius esposito john l. 2010. masa depan islam: antara tantangan kemajemukan dan benturan dengan barat. jakarta: mizan. gazalba sidi. 1976. masyarakat islam:pengantar sosiologi dan sosiografi. jakarta: bulan bintang. kutha ratna nyoman. 2010. metodologi penelitian, kajian budaya dan ilmu sosial humaniora pada umumnya. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. koentjaraningrat. 1997. kebudayaan, mentalitas dan pembangunan, jakarta: gramedia. levi-strauss claude. 1997. mitos, dukun & sihir. kanisius: jogjakarta. sawaun a. 2012. buku induk terlengkap agama islam. jogjakarta: citra risalah. sunyoto agus. 2011. sufi “ndeso” vs wahabi kota: sebuah kisah perseteruan tradisi islam nusantara. jakarta: noura books. [ 220 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 suhardi. 2010. ritual: pencarian jalan keselamatan tataran agama dan masyarakat perspektif antropologi. unpublished paper presented as the inauguration of guru besar antropologi at fakultas ilmu budaya universitas gadjah mada. su’ud abu. 2001. ritus ritus kebatinan. surakarta: muahammadiyah university press. winangun wartaya. 1990. masyarakat bebas struktur. yogyakarta: kanisius. [ 151 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 inter-religious interaction in central kalimantan: a study of islam, christianity, and hindu kaharingan in palangka raya city and eastern kotawaringin desi erawati1 iain palangka raya email: desi.erawati@iain-palangkaraya.ac.id abstract central kalimantan is one of the provinces in indonesia where the population is heterogeneous in terms of religion, culture and ethnicity. in several regencies and cities, there are places of worship located side by side (eg mosques, churches, balai basarah, and vihara). religious relations in several locations indicate awareness of social relations based on kinship. this work is aimed at exploring the patterns of interaction between the life of religious communities in religious, social activities and cultural life. the study employs a naturalistic qualitative approach where the actual condition in the field is being observed or to be natural with the conditions as they are. the data is based on observation, documents and interviews with selected informants from various religious groups including those practicing islam, christianity, and hindu kaharingan. two important findings of the work include, firstly, that the tolerance attitude among them is created because of the ideological strength of the local culture of ‘huma betang’ and the values of kinship. secondly, the process of interaction occurrence is encouraged by the existed meaning of the ‘front stage’ (emphazising more on the interests of the group). it is an understanding of the differences among them without having to prioritize them in social life, culture and others as well as in the ‘back stage’ (personal self-concept) of being alert, prejudiced and more careful in daily communication. keywords: inter-religious, interaction, interfaith, religion, central kalimantan introduction demographic conditions in central kalimantan with the upstream and 1 the aithors would like to record a great gratitude to all parties contributing the availability of the paper. the research is funded by financial aids from palangka raya state islamic institute in 2017. thanks are addressed to all informants from the city government, the forum for religious harmony (fkub) of both cities of palangka raya and district of east kotawaringin. thanks also go the citizens, especially in the amaco complex and the village of tumbang kalang, who helped to produce a scientific work. the authors would also like to acknoledge the contribution of the konferensi antarabangsa islam borneo (kaib) xi 2018 held in pontianak as the paper was selected to be presented. the feedbacks from the conference are very valuable to the development of the final draft of the work. [ 152 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 downstream areas of the river have made the composition of central kalimantan population diverse, both from ethnic heteroginity and religious sides. central kalimantan is classified as a heterogeneous region because there living various ethnicities such as dayak, javanese, banjar, madurese and chinese (cahyono, 2016, p. 40; widen, 2017; prasojo, 2017). the variety of existing communities can be seen from the number of religious groups in the cities of palangka raya; muslims are as many as 221,972, protestants are 87,245, catholic christians are 8,793, hindus are 7,942, buddhists are 3,154, and confucius are 1,700 (central bureau of statistics of central kalimantan province). meanwhile, the religious population in the antang kalang subdistrict is that muslim population of 2,678, protestant christian of 4,093, catholic christians of 298, hindus of 3,299, buddhist of 3, and confucianis of 20 (sampit, 2017). the research was carried out in the amaco housing complex, with other two locations, precisely on galaksi street in the city of palangka raya. with the uniqueness of the location, it was found symbolic forms of tolerance as seen in places of worship such as mosques and churches side by side. this location provides harmonious tolerance between both parties. as an example, if there is a religious event by one of them, the other will help and provide with a place or space of parking for them. then they would give permission to other religious followers to use mosque loudspeakers to announce the news from the community both bad and good ones of their religion. in addition, in social life in the community, people are very concerned on mutual cooperation of both at the event of death, marriage or celebration (hadi, 2016). similarly, the other location of the research field is in the village of tumbang kalang, kotawaringin timur regency, central kalimantan, indonesia. the indications of harmonious life are also seen in symbolic ways. for example, houses of worship among mosques, churches and balai basarah are located side by side (harkrisnowo, 2010). the form of harmony is not only in adjoining places of worship but also in the relationships of social interactions existing in the community (such as attending and assisting in occasions of wedding, death, party of celebration). other forms of harmony are also found in cultural aspects such as attending local traditional ceremonies as a form of appreciation and respect for fellow humans. economically the members of the communities in the two research fields feel being supported each other in doing bussiness and other economical activities with a pattern of brotherhood rules and practices (tamburian, 2018). the interaction of inter-religious life in these two places is very harmonious. life among religious people in the community is claerly indicated in daily [ 153 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 communication including in the forms of helping each other and appreciating the difference beliefs. it is evidence of a tolerance practice in the case of the muslim allowing their neighbours of different religious backround to use the sound system in the mosque for the announcement of news of death from a christian family. not only soundsystem, but the members of the communities are also allowed to sure other mosque facilities such as toilet and parking lots. the people have a strong commitment of sharing the usage of faclities in the mosque, church and basarah as they also have an agreement to provide helps as needed for the maintanace of the facilities. the point is that they have agreed to respect their places of worships as necessary. when jumat prayer takes place, the christians will allow muslims to use the front yard of the curch for parking considering the number of worshipers using cars and motor cycles is higher. the muslims would also do the same for cristians when they need helps on sunday prayers. the interesting and important phenomena mentioned earlier is related to the diversity of cultures, ethnicities and religious practices, especially in central kalimantan, that matter to the development of peace and harmony within a society. the portrait of harmony and social interaction from the case of palangkaraya city and eastern kota waringin is pure and inspiring (marshall, 2018). the communication activities between the people of diferent religious groups in their daily life show harmony and run in accordance with the wishes and expectations of each adherent ‘lakum dii nukum waliadin’ (mietzner & muhtadi, 2018). from this statement, it is necessary to examine how the patterns of interaction between religious people among islam, christianity and hindu kaharingan (as local religions). then what motives are behind the scene is also important to elaborate so other people learn from then practice of an interreligious relationship, especially in central kalimantan. method the study is based on the results of a research project that employs a naturalistic qualitative approach. the reserach was conducted in two regencies in the province of central kalimantan. they include palangka raya town and east kotawaringin regency. the total number of informants was 35 people, consisting of 22 muslims, 6 protestants, 1 catholic, 6 hindu kaharingan, and having various professions from civil servants, mosque maintainer (ta’mir), religious leaders, and the local public leaders. the informants’ characteristics were selected according to the problem questioned related with their relationship with inter-religious harmony. the informants were deliberately chosen among religious leaders, the local public leaders and some informants [ 154 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 were from the government and non government agancies (fkub, chief of village, etc.). the interview technique was carried out directly using a free interview model related with inter-religious interaction from various groups of muslims, protestants, catholics, buddhists and hindu kaharingan. to complete the documentation data in this study as supporting data, the researcher records data from the local religious affair offices, as well as from the inter-religious harmony forum (fkub), the village office and the central statistic center of central kalimantan province. research observation was conducted by researcher from october december 2016, and june september 2017. observation results were analyzed through daily records being evaluated every weekend. this evaluation is focused on patterns of interaction between religious people in their social lives. results based on the results of observation related to inter-religious life in the fields, especially in palangka raya town, central kalimantan, indonesia, it can be seen that there is a significant sign of harmony indicated by the location if the buildings of places of worship which is adjacent to each other in several locations. for example, the location between mosques and churches is just on the next door of each other. this data shows the evidence of the very conducive relationship among interfaith social interactions. the religious life of the surrounding people can be seen in the pattern of social interaction as like the running of religious events such as the tradition of commemoration of isra ‘and mi’raj, maulid of the prophet saw, nuzulul qur’an during the month of ramadan (islamic traditions) and sunday prayers in christian tradition. in this case, the members of the community give supports to those having the programs of religious activities. the supports can be in the forms of physical helps such as parking space or suoud system as well as non-physical assistance such as respect and permission. the other religious activities such as the muslim holiday, the eid-ul-fitr holiday, and the culture of visiting each other on religious holidays are not only practiced by muslims but also by people of other religious backgrounds. when the christians celebrate christmas and new year, the culture of visiting each other is done by christians and muslims alike. in addition to religious holidays, good interactions are also done when there is a society member passing. both muslims and non-muslims visit each other as to express the solidarity toward their fellow human beings/neighbors. the unique is that when the event is in the christian place, the muslim people will be provided [ 155 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 with food which is made specifical for muslim, halal food, so that muslims are protected from forbidden food.2 the nuances of inter-religious harmony have been seen very warm as happening in the the two fields of research, especially in the village of antang kalang, kotawaringin timur district, central kalimantan, indonesia. the local residents are united by blood relatives. the area has several places of worship adjacent to one another such as mosques, churches and basarah. the intension to have them located in the neoighboring place in one location is that they hope that tolerance will be created not only in the relationship between people, but also by the eixstance of the adjacent houses of worship. the relationship description of interaction among religious people in the village of tumbang kalang is very dynamic. it was in 2014 when the district level of musabaqah tilawatil qur’an (mtq) was held in that village. tumbang kalang village is chosen as the venue for the event. the organizing team was selected from muslims, christians, and hindus of kaharingan. they work together hand in hand to clean up the worship places and other facilities to support the program. the local community strongly adheres to the customary values that they believe in. customary values become a strong ideology as a foundation for creating harmony. it can be proven that blood ties become the source/ basis of the development of social order although they have different beliefs. other patterns of interaction occur as the establishment of tolerance during the month of ramadan. young people and old people were very respectful of muslims doing fasting. therefore, the non-muslims would respect the muslims doing fasting by going to private area for drink, lunch and smoking.3 discussion the interaction and relationship among interreligious groups of people is the result of the collection of information, ideas, concepts, desires, hopes, goals and messages of people when they are bound in a community setting as they need social order that requires personal understanding and awareness (eder, 2010). an identity is certainly born from social interaction and communication. identity is produced by negotiation through media, namely language (parker et al, 2014). therefore, a person’s identity is determined by the appearance of one’s own self, and the recognition. this explains that good communication among religious followers is evidenced by tolerance or good respect for 2 this is based on interviews with several key informants from the two fields of research. 3 the data is based on interviews in 2016 and 2017. [ 156 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 religious people (liliweri, 2009, pp. 42). religious diversity is not a barrier to create harmony, because dayak people in central kalimantan prioritize the power of brotherhood and kinship. this promotes an acknowledgment that arises within the people central kalimantan. the dayak people believe that they have strong connection in terms of kindship and blood relationship as known with the term “oloh itah” within the people in central kalimantan. the perception of people who have share similar identity and uniqueness is as a result of good social interaction among the people. for example, when someone says that ‘i a muslim, you are a christian and you are hindu kaharingan’ he unsderstand that the people’s identity is totally different but they still understand and respect each other (burhani, 2011). according to the hindu kaharingan philosophy, some terms are known in their teaching such as ‘penyang’ that means to unite and have bond together, love and love. the ‘huma betang’ is meant to the purpose of the philosophy within their life. although they different beliefs exist, they have to maintain a harmonious and peaceful life because the concept of “betang huma” is a long house that is inhabited by those having various backgrounds in which they can share, understand and tolerate and minimize the existing differences (kdr, 2017). describing social interactions that occur both in palangka raya town and tumbang kalang village, there are some findings that can be seen from the process (front stage)/ appearing on the surface of tolerance and being aware of the ideological differences. this can be said as an associative social process or a positive social interaction process in the form of tolerance, cooperation, and tolerance (raihani, 2014). in addition, the second stage is (back stage) or behind the surface or the human self-concept (internal). it can be said that the concept means how an individual can learn, adapt, understand a difference, both ethnic and religion. this is produced from the concept or understanding of a person without the influence of social interaction. it can be positive or negative thing. if it is negative, therefore, the interaction is less harmonious or there is a mistake in understanding the difference. it is evidenced in some people who still maintain a distance with different beliefs or different ethnicities. like the muslims with the symbol of muslim clothing (headscarves) and their robes, they are not being muslims only with their dress but are supposed topractice the teaching of islam in their daily activities including their interaction with others no matter their tradition is. there is a concern that disharmony is caused by the coming of outsiders or migrants by bringing exclusive concept /teachings. this asuption has been one supported by a case in palangka raya town and tumbang kalang [ 157 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 village. responding to what they have heard about the rumor of the couses of disharmony theats, traditional leaders, communities and religious leaders sit together in order to discuss the prevention of unwanted conflicts. one example of the dissociative social processes is the emergence of antiphaty and prejudice based on non-flexible generalization. antiphaty is usually being expressed or addressed to groups or individuals of a particular group of ‘negative feelings’ (liliweri, 2009, pp. 199-200). this can be seen in the case of feeling afraid of entering the exclusive islamic views, making the concept of islam truly narrow and isolating themselves from other religious communities. the basis of social interaction between religious people is on how each process interprets the meaning of the communication received or captured (amal, 2010, p. 168). for these issues is they gather to discuss the appropriate responses. the communities believe that the proper interaction is supoosed to take place within the daily life. from several interviews with informants, it is found that their motives for living safely, peacefully and happily are based on local cultural values, such as blood relations, kinship or family. the concept of social interaction occurs because they are bound by the basis of kinship/ kinship. it is emmebaded in the concept of ‘oloh itah’. the purpose of the proverb is that to guide people not to see the background of their faith in building daily interaction; whether muslim or non-muslim are the same in human life interaction. the dayak in central kalimantan believe that if they enter the environment or region of kalimantan and have the same mission of peace, togetherness, then they are considered by the dayak people as brothers (masduki, 2017). they also consider that the immigrants aretheir brother as well. from two different places, it can be concluded that the portrait of the creation of inter-religious harmony is evidence in both social and religious activities, both personally and collectively. the form of social interaction is in the form of mutual cooperation, friendship and participation in religious events which are certainly outside from the procession of ritually worship activities (erawati, 2012). conclusion the portrait of inte-relegious interactions among people in palangka raya town and tumbang kalang village occurs naturally based on the basis of cultural values and local norms inherited from earlier generation. the people have been able to continue the strong tradition although more chalanging world has influenced the sifting environment of modern life to post modern behavior in the gobal arena that also makes influences to many different aspects of life of the people in central kalimantan. the communities have [ 158 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 been supported by several important evidfences as the work have founf them in the research. first, tolerance emerges due to the ideological strength of the local culture of ‘huma betang huma’, blood relations and kinship. the local values have strongly influenced the way people think and behave in daily life, especially in terms of community interaction. second, the process of interaction occurrence is caused by the existed meaning of ‘front stage’ (emphazising more on the interests of the group). it is an understanding the differences without having to prioritize in social life, culture and others as well as ‘back stage’ (personal self-concept) in which people need to be aware of their responsibelities of being careful of harmony and peaceful life in the community. bibliography amal, b. s., & khusna, m. (2010). anatomy and development of social theory. malang: aditya media publishing. central statistics agency of central kalimantan province. (n.d.) retrieved september 2, 2018, from https://kalteng.bps.go.id/statictable/2017/11/01/592/jilangan-pemeluk-agama-menurut-kabupaten-kota-di-provinsi-kalimantan-tengah-2016 .html burhani, a. n. (2011). lakum dīnukum wa-liya dīnī: the muhammadiyah’s stance towards interfaith relations. islam and christian-muslim relations, 22 (3), 329–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2011.586512. cahyono, a. s. (2016). the effect of social media on social changes in community in indonesia. publiciana journal, 9 (1), 140-157. eder, j. f. (2010). ethnic differences, islamic consciousness, and muslim social integration in the philippines. journal of muslim minority affairs, 30 (3), 317-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2010.515812 erawati, d. (2012). tolerance model to overcome conflict (development of a model of socialization of mutual values for conflicting religious conflicts). palangkaraya: intrans publishing group. hadi, r. (2016). religious harmony pattern in banyumas. ibda ‘, islamic culture journal, 14 (1), 65–78. harkrisnowo, h. (2010). multiculturalism in indonesia: human rights in practice. in w. el-ansary & d. k. linnan (eds.), muslim and christian understanding: theory and application of “a common word” (pp. 189–200). new york: palgrave macmillan us. https://doi. org/10.1057/9780230114401_15 [ 159 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 kdr, l. (2017). the concept of harmony according to the hindu kaharingan. unpublished manuscript. liliweri, a. (2009). prejudice & conflict of communication cross cultural multicultural society. yogyakarta: lkis. marshall, p. (2018). the ambiguities of religious freedom in indonesia. the review of faith & international affairs. vol 16, no 1. retrieved september 2, 2018, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1 5570274.2018.1433588 masduki, m. (2017). tolerance in local culture-based plural society (case study in klepu village, sooko district, ponorogo district). socio-culture, 14 (1), 14–22. mietzner, m., & muhtadi, b. (2018). explaining the 2016 mobilization in indonesia islamist: religious intolerance, militant groups and the politics of accommodation. asian studies review, 42 (3), 479–497. https:// doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2018.1473335 parker, l., hoon, c.-y. & raihani, (2014). young people’s attitudes towards inter-ethnic and inter-religious socializing, courtship and marriage in indonesia. south east asia research. https://doi.org/10.5367/ sear.2014.0230 prasojo, z. h. (2017). social change and the contributions of the tionghoa, dayak and melayu (tidayu) in west kalimantan. in v. t. king, z. ibrahim, & n. h. hassan (eds.), borneo studies in history, society and culture (pp. 427-442). singapore: springer singapore. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_20 raihani. (2014). creating a culture of religious tolerance in indonesian school. south east asia research. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2014.0234 sampit, f. (2017). history of east kotawaringin regency. fkub office of the ministry of religion kab. sampit. tamburian, h. h. d. (2018). cross cultural communication of dayak communities in maintaining the harmony of religious life. journal of communication, 10 (1), 77–86. widen, k. (2017). the rise of dayak identities in central kalimantan. in v. t. king, z. ibrahim, & n. h. hassan (eds.), borneo studies in history, society and culture (pp. 273-282). singapore: springer singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_12 [ 160 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 49 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 islam and the failure of modernization in the middle east ahmad sahide gadjah mada university abstract th is paper tries to see the encounter between islam and modernity in the countries where the majority of the inhabitants are muslims, particularly in the middle east that is currently in the state of turmoil. in general, modernity failed to adapt to the islamic states, for example the failure of democracy, which became the current joint attention in some arab countries where the iron fi st regimes are still a part of the political system. furthermore, this paper attempts to see why modernity is diffi cult to adapt itself in the middle east which began to build relations with europe in the 18th century. bernard lewis, an expert who focuses on the islamic world, argued that the failure of modernity in the middle east and islamic countries because of cultural factors and understanding of religion that hampered the pace of modernity. th e understanding of religion is still centered on debating the democratic system and gender equality which come from the west; all of which is part of modernity. in addition, the young generations that learn a lot from the west, are not given broader space to apply their knowledge in developing and setting up a system of nationhood and statehood. th ese are the core issues that will be discussed further in this paper. keywords: modernity, middle east tensions, and islam introduction speaking of the relations between the west, which is oft en represented by the christians, and the east, represented by islam seems to be interesting and important when we are entering the era of globalization. globalization is characterized by the intense relations between communities and between countries. bernard lewis argues that contacts or encounters occur in three aspects: diplomacy, trade, and war. during the encounters, people always identify themselves by their origins (ancestry), religion, language, history, values, customs, and institutions. samuel p huntington divides the world into two modes: us and them, the in-group and the other, our civilization and those barbarians. muslims, traditionally also divided the world with their own term, dar al-islam and dar al-harb, the abode of peace and war. edward w said criticized the presence of the mention of us and them because us, in this case the west, is always [ 50 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 identifi ed with superiority and excellence, while them, the east and the islamic world, are seen to have a lower culture. departing from the criticism leveled by said above, comes the sense of curiosity about who is right and who is wrong. if edward w said is right with his criticism it means it is wrong to say that they are inferior. but, if said is wrong, why is not there culture dialectics in east-west relations? th e case is the east is ‘infl uenced’ by progress and the modernization of the west (westernization). what went wrong? why does the islamic world adopt modernization from the west? th e next question how is modernization applied in the islamic world, especially in the middle east? when we glance at the history of several centuries ago, islam enjoyed success. in the seventeenth century, the territory of the muslims’ rule expanded from saudi to syria, palestine, egypt, north africa, and some christian areas were occupied. even spain, portugal, and france were conquered in the 18th century. at the height of its power and glory, there is no civilization that can be juxtaposed with the level of islam, be it in terms of quality, achievement, except china. th e diff erence is, the chinese civilization was not global, limited only to one region, and one race group. th e treaty of carlowitz became a record of historical signifi cance in the history of the ottoman empire, in particular, and the history of the islamic world in general. agreement (the treaty) of peace was marked by the defeat of the ottoman empire and victory on the part of the enemy, the christiana. th is agreement provided two important lessons for the muslims: fi rst, in terms of the military, the defeat was due to the superior weaponry; second, more complex, defeat in diplomacy, and lessons in the negotiation process. th e treaty of carlowitz in 1683 began when turkey tries to beat austria and conquer vienna. vienna, feeling threatened, then asked for reinforcements to the king of poland, john sobieski, and the request was granted by the king of poland by sending his most powerful and organized forces. th e polish cavalry attacked and defeated the enemy (the ottoman empire). th e ottoman army, which had never suff ered defeat, could not do anything but had to retreat and lost 10,000 of their men and 300 units of the weapon. th e carlowitz treaty was signed to end the war in 1699. in this agreement, turkey was obliged to give up all the regions of hungary, slavonia, croatia and to the habsburg transylvania and ceded ukraine and podolia to poland. in the wake of this agreement, european countries started to appear and threaten the integrity of the ottoman empire, including russia, which had strong ambitions to conquer turkey. th e defeats suff ered by the muslims against russia between the years 1768 and 1774 became the beginning of threats to the muslims. besides, major changes [ 51 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 with rapid progress in europe in terms of science, technology, and culture have further left the muslims far underdeveloped. th e scholars agreed to allow the two fundamental changes. first, by accepting teachers from the unbelievers to teach muslim pupils; and second, by building alliance with the unbelievers to fi ght other unbelievers. new relation between the ottoman empire and europe which at the same time became their enemy looks very strange. th en the start was seen quite clearly that there is something wrong. and this is realized by many of the ruling elite of the islamic world that europe has done the right thing, and the muslims are getting weak and in danger. being aware of the reality that the triumph of islam is now just a thing of the past, the muslims were curious and seeking answers from questions that popped up: “what errors have we done?” and “what are the right things have they (europeans) done?” kocu bey, a public servant from the balkan, in 1630 observed that on the weakness lied on both the community service and military service of the state, so he proposed a reform to address the matter. unlike kocu bey, lutfi pasha, who wrote a booklet, did not focus on internal weaknesses, but on external factors instead. he argued that it is important to build strength at sea. according to him, the ottomans secured victory on land, but the unbelievers (europeans) were more superior at sea. and from lutfi pasha’s point of view it posed danger to the muslims. bernard lewis did not say that the opinions of lutfi pasha was wrong. he argued lutfi pasha did not notice that the awakening of europe was due to more concentration on domestic issues, especially in matters of administration and fi nance. another important factor of rapid development in europe was that they were open and received reports and recommendations from the people of europe (the west) who travelled to the islamic world. previously, many westerners who traveled to the islamic world had a variety of motives and goals. some came to carry out rituals at sacred places for christians, some came as traders looking for profi t, some came as diplomats. th ere were also detainees from the battlefi eld. some of them were employed in the government institutions of the muslims. th e inmates from the west who had managed to escape or redeemed and returned to the west wrote about the journey describing the results of their adventures, told about the territory and anything they saw including people they met in the world of the mysterious east. muslims did not do the same thing as the westerners. firstly because muslims do not have sacred places to visit in europe. european powers were also followed up with maintaining the embassy and consultants in the islamic world. on the contrary, muslims did not do so. islamic governments only [ 52 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 sent envoys to other countries when there were important things that they wanted to convey, and the ambassador returned aft er conveying the important message. as for muslims, there is a consensus that muslims were forbidden to live in the area of the infi dels. it is for the life of a good muslim. th ere were fears for the muslims of the potential conversion, from islam to christianity if they live in the christian areas. th is view appeared when they saw that many of the europeans converted to islam aft er making a trip to the area where the majority of the inhabitants were muslim. a radical change in the 18th century aft er going through a relatively long process, which gave rise to an awareness that europe has enjoyed a very rapid development, and the eastern or islamic world was increasingly left far behind, in the 18th century there was a radical change. several ambassadors or representatives were sent to europe instructed to observe, learn, and most importantly to report anything that might be useful for an islamic state, such among others as how to face enemies. th e ambassadors sent are as follows: 1. mehmet efendi who was sent to paris in 1721 2. resmi efendi who went to vienna in 1757, and to berlin in 1773. 3. vasif efendi who was in madrid from 1787-1789 4. asmi efendi who served in berlin in from 1790-1992 5. ebu bekir ratib efendi who was in vienna from 1791-1792 from these ambassadors, the islamic governments got a lot of feedback and reports. azmi efendi provided interesting accounts and reports on how a state is led and governed. ebu bekir ratib ali described the civil and military government systems in the kingdom of austria in greater detail, and especially gave recommendations on such matters which may be benefi cial to emulate. diplomats who were sent to europe showed their admiration to the government systems in europe. it was sadik rifat pasha who had an important role in introducing the idea and system of nation and state in europe. he provided important notes of what he saw when he was an ambassador in vienna in 1837 and was amazed to see the progress and prosperity achieved by europe. sadik rifat pasha observed that wealth, industry, and science were the result of defi nite political conditions that ensure stability and security. th is is what should be emulated by the islamic governments, pasha argued. diplomatic travels to europe were the beginning of the opening of the modernization door in the islamic world of the ottoman empire. [ 53 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 modernization: connecting the east to the west th e rise of power and the spread of western infl uence brought major changes to the three community groups in the states where the majority of the inhabitants are muslim. christians who benefi tted economically –-with the presence of the equality, and the jews also got the benefi ts. th e east, in response to the advancement that has been achieved by the west, emphasized more on the aspects of science. th e changes brought by the west could be seen in the form of technology used both for war and for the purpose of propaganda. other changes can be seen in terms of dress code, the public servants and bureaucracy have started wearing a suit and a tie, which is more comfortable. th e military imitated the uniform from the west or europe. only kofi ya and turban are still retained and distinguish things from the west. in the nineteen century, the number of young muslims, the majority of the ottoman empire, began to discuss how europe, the smallest continent, could achieve a lot more things in the modern world through the mastery of science. in his essay, published in 1840, mustafa sami, who worked at the embassy in paris, gave an account of his admiration that she saw in every country in europe where men and women could write and read. th ey were equal in getting access to education ten year education. mustafa sami also wrote his admiration in which there was a special school to teach people with visual and hearing impairment. from the essay written by the former head of the embassy in paris, it was interesting to note that men and women have equal rights in education. of course this is very much diff erent from that in eastern countries where women’s rights are restricted to domestic duties. women take care of the house, while men work for a living and protect their family. domestic duties of women in islam are maintained with the legitimacy of religion understood by muslims. th erefore, one of the most interesting issues as part of the modernization is the emancipation of women. in the eyes of the traditional conservatives and radical fundamentalists, the emancipation of women is westernization and that it is not important, is useless, dangerous and against the values of islam. th e role of women in islamic society is viewed diff erently by the west regarding the role of women in socio-economic life. th at men have a duty to fi ght while women provide pleasure to men is seen by the west as a form of injustice in which women’s rights are restricted. related to this case, sayyed hossein nasar, in his book entitled “islam, religion, history, and civilization”, said that in the context of social and economic diff erences, the role of men and women are not in a situation to oppose each other, but rather to complement each other. he also added that the role of women is considered important, but [ 54 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 not always exclusively as keeping the household and raising children, but on the other hand men are seen as protector and breadwinner of the household. up to now, the discourse about women and gender equality has become an inseparable part of the discussions surrounding islam and modernity. it is the awareness raised by the issue of the democratization that has been transformed by the west in the muslim world. as a result, we are more familiar with the idea of feminism who ‘criticized’ the religious teachings that put women lower than men. it was aminah wadud, who appeared as a controversial fi ghter for women’s rights. according to wadud, the teachings of the islamic religion that are considered unfair to women are because the tafsir works were all written by men. men and their experiences have been incorporated into the interpretations, while women and their experiences are not included, and only interpreted according to the vision, perspective, will and interests of men. th e emancipation of women is still a problem by itself as a ‘gift ’ from the modernization for the islamic world. th e history notes that, apart from the emancipation of women, the infl ux of western ideas of patriotism and nationalism has changed a lot of things and led to the creation of a number of modern nation states that extend to the islamic world from morocco to indonesia. th e infl uence of western modernization, particularly in the system of governance, also gives rise to new problems for the islamic world because it will give birth to new elites who will replace old elites who are not technology-wise but tend to maintain the status quo. th erefore, apart from the issue of women’s emancipation brought by western modernization, secularization in the system of a democratic government is another interesting issue. secularism was born in the west in an attempt to resolve a long and destructive struggle over church and state. th e separation, which was adopted by america and the french revolution and by other states, was created to prevent two things: the exploitation of religion by the state to strengthen and expand its authority and the use of power of the state by religious fi gures to instill or infl uence their doctrine. secularization or separation of religion and politics is not relevant to the muslim world because europe had a diff erent experience with the islamic world. from the history of the christians, and almost in all the christian areas, the church and the state continue to exist side by side as diff erent institutions, each with its own rules and its jurisdiction, hierarchy and chain of authority respectively. th e highest structure of the leadership of christianity as a religion is in the vatican, rome, led by the pope. in christianity, the church and the state can work together in their relation, sometimes also with confrontation or confl ict. islam does not recognize this kind of leadership. islam recognizes the [ 55 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 leadership with the caliphate system, where the holder of the highest authority is god, and the caliph is the representative of god on earth. th erefore, in the islamic teachings it is understood that, “islam, the teachings, and the congregants are like the tent with its poles, ropes and pegs. th e tent is islam; the poles are its teachings (sharia); the ropes and pegs are the congregants. th ey are inseparable.” th erefore, it is not necessary to separate the religious institution from the state. th e correct form of human government, according to the qur’an, is the existence of a state acknowledgment of the leadership and power of allah and his messenger with regard to legislation, submitting all legislative power and the sovereignty of the supreme law to both of them and believe that his caliph (leader) represents the judge, allah almighty. the failure of modernity in the middle east aft er we see how modernization evolves with great dynamics in the islamic world, and also the response of many circles of the islamic world, particularly the middle east, the modernization in the islamic world has suff ered a great failure. almost the entire muslim world was hit by poverty and tyranny. we can see it in the arab world today, from tunisia, egypt, to libya, and their neighboring countries. th e combination of low productivity and a high birth rate in the middle east made an unstable mix with a large number of unemployment and growing fast. by all indications from the united nations (un), the world bank, and other countries, arab countries – in issues like job creation, education, technology and productivity – lagged far behind the west. even worse, the arab countries also missed from countries that adhere to the pattern, the modernization of the west, such as korea, taiwan and singapore. th e failure of modernity in the islamic world, one of which was caused by the presence of the two challenges in the arab world, namely the cultural and intellectual challenges. one of them is because of internal factors, which is represented by a confrontation between those who hold the doctrine of secular versus fundamentalists, with incessant questions about how to fi nd the intersection between “political islam” and things that are not clear (ideas from the west). another factor is the external factor, which is represented by a historical encounter with the west and how to defi ne the interaction of the arab world with it. arab social scientists in general are aware of the signifi cant diff erence between “modernization” (tahdith) as a process of change that is only on skin deep, for example infrastructure development which is the sheer [ 56 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 material and consumer culture, and “modernity” (hadathah) as a dynamic cultural project associated with a cultural and productive change capable of aff ecting the orientation of the society and individuals both intellectually and in terms of organization and civilization. th e modernization that did not work in the islamic world, the middle east, is caused by two factors, both external and internal. th e internal factor is the emergence of diff erent response that is properly addressed. in that respect, it is supposed to create internal dialectics for improvement and more productivity. however, this is not the case. th e west cannot serve as a dialectical partner. th e democratic system brought by the presence of the west is not treated as a dialectical partner to build a democratic system of government in accordance with the values of islam and the east as proposed by muammar qadafi of libya. building a democracy that is integrated to islamic values is important because according to qadafi western capitalist democracy will only create a gap. in my opinion, bernard lewis actually wanted to fi nd out what is wrong with the modernization in the middle east and the response to the progress of the west. lewis showed us all that the west was once left behind by the east, but the west responded by improving science. in pursuit of advancement, the west tried to institutionalize doubt which establishes an idea to reach the level of progress. th ere are fi ve stages of the birth of an idea, according to amien abdullah, namely: belief, habits of mind, doubt, inquiry, and all of which will fi nally produce meaning. charles s pierce distinguished between doubt and belief. th e diff erence between people who are sure and those who are hesitant, according to pierce, at least can be seen from two things: feeling and behavior. th ose who have doubt will always feel uneasy and will strive to eliminate the doubt to fi nd the right belief. lewis did not fi nd this in the way the islamic world responded to the progress of the west. in fact, the institutionalization of terrorism emerged from among the fundamentalist muslims in responding to the progress of the west and the modernization in the islamic world, the middle east. abdullah saeed said that the emergence of militant muslim extremists (fundamentalists) is caused by several factors. first, western colonialism over the lands of muslims. second, the limitation and control of economic resources of islamic countries; islamic countries are controlled in order to remain weak; the prevention of the power of muslims to rise up against the western hegemony; and the occupation of muslim lands by the west. th ird, the politics of double standards applied by the west; islamic propagation restrictions and support for the missionary circles. fourth, the feeling of helplessness in the face of the dominant west. [ 57 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 from here it can understood that fundamentalism emerged because of the deep hatred toward the west. modernization is seen as westernization such as the western-style code of dress. th is is a wrong perception of modernization. th en what is modernization? modernization can be seen from various aspects, namely education, science, politics, and religion. and the modernization that is understood by the west the institutionalization of doubt. modernization is not imitating the style and pattern of western life. th is view seems to be in line with the modernization that is understood by mohammed arkoun. arkoun said that modernization, both in the islamic world and the western christian world, have two views that are interrelated: a) the old view: the ancient, traditional, classical; and b) the future view: innovation, future orientation, and decision-making by taking many things into consideration. between the two views, there is a relationship in such a way that the changes that result in modernization is actually a potential combination of the past and the future. from traditional to modern and in the course of time from modern to traditional, and so on. imitating the western style and pattern is a modernization in the form of material, not intellectual or cultural modernization. how then should the islamic world respond to modernization and advancement of the west? bassam tibi observes that the islamic world, the middle east, in the face of westernization took a defensive stance-culture. th is culture is seen by arnold hottinger, a german journalist, a stance that almost all of the islamic literature in modern times takes the form of apology and is void of creativity, a fact that cannot be attributed to the defi ciencies of muslim reasoning. tibi warned that european culture is out to dominate the world community because it is born of the industrial revolution. th e western european culture is dominant because it has a scientifi c-technological basis, and islamic backwardness because of the absence of this scientifi c-technological dimension. th erefore, in order to catch up with the development of the west, the islamic world (middle east), according to tibi, must build the scientifi ctechnological culture, not defensive and anti-the-west culture. because, in tibi’s view, the future of the middle east cannot created by the pre-industry culture. europe as well as the tradition of the european enlightenment and democracy cannot be condemned but it is the hegemonic powers of europe that should be condemned since it was propagated in the past and in the present. modernization is not purely a transformation of values. it is the industrialization and democratization of the third world, including the middle east. [ 58 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 conclusion history has recorded that islam enjoyed times of triumph, but in the 13th century, islam began to collapse. europe and the west are experiencing a revival that came out as the hegemony of the world to this day. europe and the west rose from underdevelopment because they open up to the islamic world, have a spirit of curiosity and do not remain closed to new ideas. learning from case of the west and europe, we can see that the failure of modernization in the middle east and the islamic world is because the islamic world is closed to the outside world (the west). th ere is also a strong presumption that what comes from the west is un-islamic and modernization is nothing more than westernization and americanization. modernization of the west is only captured skin deep, such as the way people get dressed, not its substance, which is institutionalization of doubt. th us, the modernization in the middle east has not managed to create a system of good government, failed to establish a state with good management systems in order to achieve progress. looking ahead, the relations between the west and islam, especially in the countries of the middle east, will still be fi lled with tension. th is is because the presence of the west, in this case the united states, is seen as a symbol of the exploitation of the abundant natural resources in the territory where three great religions were born. it has been responded with a defensive culture. in the aft ermath of the revolution in several arab countries recently, the relations between the islamic world and the west should be dialectical, and islam should be willing to open up and learn how to build a system of good governance, eff ective, and effi cient in serving the people. th at is exactly what the west did when they realized they were left out of the islamic world and thus they could catch up and go forward as we see it today. th e underdevelopment experienced by the west and the progress of the islamic world did not make the west close their door to the outside world or take the attitude of defensive culture. references al-maududi, abul a’la. khilafah dan kerajaan, evaluasi kritis atas sejarah pemerintahan islam. bandung: penerbit mizan, 1996. choir, th olhatul, dan ahwan fanani (editor). islam dalam berbagai pembacaan kontemporer. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar, 1999. hendrik m., johan (penyunting). tradisi, kemodernan dan metamodernisme, memperbincangkan pemikiran mohammed arkoun. yogyakarta: lkis, 1996. hooker, virginia and saikal, amin (editor). islamic perspectives on the new millenium. singapore: iseas, 2004. [ 59 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 lenczowski, george. timur tengah di tengah kancah dunia. bandung: sinar baru algensindo, 1993. lewis, bernard. what went wrong, th e clash betwee islam and modernity in the middle east. united states: perennial, 2003. ........................ th e crisis of islam, islam dalam krisis; antara perang suci dan teror kotor. surabaya: jawa pos press, 2004. mintarja, endang, politik berbasis agama, perlawanan muammar qadafi terhadap kapitalisme. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar, 2006. nasr, seyyed h., islam, agama, sejarah, dan peradaban. surabaya: risalah gusti, 2003. said, edward w. orientalisme, bandung, penerbit pustaka, 2001. tibi, bassam. krisis peradaban islam modern, sebuah kultur praindustri dalam era pengetahuan dan teknologi. yogyakarta: tiara wacana, 1994. [ 60 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 [ 237 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 spiritual education mission in the mufassirin perspective syarif iain pontianak email: zsyarif99@yahoo.co.id abstract spiritual crisis is a factor leading to disorientation in today’s modern humans and the decline of morality of the nation. the low level of spirituality is caused by an educational approach that only focuses on the brain and ignores spiritual values. the qur’an has actually affirmed the mission of spiritual education which should be used as a reference for the current education system. this article employs library research method through a comparison of the way the mufassirin interpret verses about the mission of spiritual education. the results show that the mission of spiritual education carried out by the prophet muhammad can be seen for example in surat al-anbiya’ verse 107, surat saba’ verse 28 and surat al-ahzab verse 21, namely rahmatan lil ‘alamin (mercy to all creations). the prophet has brought evidence the truth to perfect the akhlậq, as well as to become the followers of uswah hasanah (perfect example) which must be imitated by all humans. meanwhile, the stages of increasing spirituality in the surat luqman verses 12-19, include: (1) instilling the tauhid values, (2) being filial to parents, (3) understanding the reciprocity of each deed, (4) command to worship, (5) introducing politeness in social life. elements of spiritual education contained in surat al-muzzammil verses 1-10 include qiyamul lail or night prayer, reciting the qur’an in a tartil way, getting used to zikr, patience, jihad fi sabilillah or fighting on the path of allah, and always praying and begging forgiveness from allah. keywords: spiritual; education; mission, mufassirin. introduction education is basically a media of educating and developing primordial human potential, so it is one of the most important aspects in building the quality of society and nation.1 it is assumed to be so because the essence of education is the main gate in the framework of transformation towards a better and more humanistic civilization and culture with the principle of a balance between relations between humans, humans and the environment, and humans with 1 masbur, “integrasi unsur humanisasi, liberasi, dan transedensi dalam pendidikan agama islam”, in jurnal edukasi, vol.2, number 1, january 2016, p. 45. [ 238 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the creator. education is an important process which includes interpersonal and intrapersonal dialectics in the course of human life, both past, present, and future.2 spiritual education here is a conscious effort to foster, guide, develop, and direct students’ spiritual intelligence, so that they can become the human beings in accordance with the mission of islamic teachings. in other words, spiritual education is education in islam that focuses on the dimensions of spirituality as the main potential in driving every educational and teaching activity.3 the spiritual intelligence defined by ary ginanjar is the voice of the human heart which is the spiritual key as it becomes the emanation of divine attributes.4 the divine nature referred to is contained in 99 names of allah or called asma al-husna.5 if the human heart is cleared of despicable traits, prejudices, experiences, and negative motivation that affect it, then the cleared heart will be able to receive the truth, honesty, or deepest inner voice that can create spiritual intelligence.6 strangely, in the course of time practicing in the field, long-running education has not shown what is expected according to the original education goals. even worse, education is instead used as a means of indoctrination of negative interests. if the ideals of education can be realized properly, then it needs a system or concept that is able to empower the potential in humans, both intellectual and spiritual potential. current education failures require serious attention from all parties, from the lowest to the highest level. the main reason is because at present the morality of the nation’s children has deteriorated drastically and is very worrying, for example: rampant brawl7, increasing drug abuse8, widespread premarital sex among teenagers 9, we always watch and hear every day. in some coverage in 2 imron fauzi, manajemen pendidikan ala rasulullah. yogyakarta: ar-ruzz media, 2012). 3 limas dodi, “nilai spiritulitas sayyed hossein nasr in manajemen pendidikan islam”, dirasat, vol.4, number 1, june 2018, p.70-71. 4 ary ginanjar agustian, rahasia sukses membangun kecerdasan emosi dan spiritual, esq way 165: 1 ihsan, 6 rukun iman dan 5 rukun islam (jakarta: arga, 2001), 44 5 agustian, rahasia sukses, 107 6 agustian, rahasia sukses, 104 7 quoted from the data provided by the national commission for child protection, data on student brawls in 2010 there were 102 cases, in 2011 there were 96 cases, in 2012 it increased to 147 cases, in 2013 there were 255 cases, up to 2014 as many as 275 cases (see www. kpai.go.id/, accessed on 12/09/2018). 8 kasus pengguna narkoba dari tahun 2010 sebanyak 17.898 kasus, tahun 2011 sebanyak 19.128 kasus, tahun 2012 sebanyak 19.081 kasus, tahun 2013 sebanyak 21.269 kasus, tahun 2014 sebanyak 23.134 kasus, tahun 2015 meningkat menjadi 28.588 kasus (see www. bnn.go.id/, accessed on 12/09/2018). 9 dr. mawardi revealed that east java adolescents who have had sex are quite large, namely: jember as much as 12.1%, madiun as much as 15.25%, surabaya as much as 15.0% and banyuwangi as much as 19.0% (al-falah magazine, edition 174 / september 2002); dr. [ 239 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 electronic and print media, it has shown how bad the relationship between teachers and students is. for example, teachers who are supposed to teach akhlậq, instead molest, commit violent acts and discriminate against their students, etc.10 even worse, students also commit violent acts against teachers.11 the decline was caused by a spiritual crisis, and education is only a theoretical study, not in the application. syamsul kurniawan, assumed that there is a correlation between morality and the quality of one’s religiosity (spirituality), given the maturity of one’s spirituality can be seen from the quality of his morality.12 so, if there is a decline in morality as in the example above, it can be assumed that there is a problem with the quality of one’s spirituality. according to mulyadhi kartanegara, this spiritual crisis has caused disorientation in today’s modern humans. the word disorientation is a negation of orientation, which occurs when a person does not know the direction, has no purpose, does not know where she/he will go, does not even know where she/he comes from.13 according to zohar, the spiritual crisis is a fundamental crisis in society in the modern era. goleman also explained that in this millennium the “age of melancholy”, the 21st century is called the “age of anxiety”. therefore, zohar considers these modern humans to be spiritually dumb, not only in western countries, but also in eastern countries that are increasingly affected andik wijaya said that 95% of teenagers in malang had been involved in pornography (http:// sobatmuda.multiply.com//, accessed on 11/09/2018); even the bkkbn also found 97.5% of students and students in yogyakarta had lost their virginity and 90% of them had had an abortion (www.bkkbn.go.id/, accessed on 11/09/2018). 10 data released by the kpai from 2011 to 2016 shows a graph of the increase in the number of violence against children in schools, namely: in 2011 as many as 276 cases; in 2012, 522 cases; in 2013, 371 cases; in 2014, 461 cases; in 2015, 538 cases; and in 2016, 821 cases (http://bankdata.kpai.go.id/, accessed on 01/09/2018). 11 for example, recently, in early february 2018, a case happened to achmad budi cahyanto, a teacher of sman 1 torjun, sampang, madura. he died after being beaten by a student named hzf (editorial team, “beaten by student, teacher died in hospital”, jawa pos edition february 3, 2018, 11); in august 2017 in west sulawesi, a junior high school student with the initial fr persecuted his class teacher, using wood until the teacher was seriously injured (joni banne tonapa, “not happy after being scolded, junior high school student persecuted the teacher “ at https://daerah.sindonews.com/ , accessed 02/092018); november 2016, in sekayu, af, a student at al-karim noer integrated islamic junior high school was stabbed the teacher, kurniasih alawiyah, 13 times using a knife (amarullah diansyah, “offended, junior high school student stabs teacher 13 times” in https: // area .sindonews. com/, accessed 02/09/2018); in august 2016, in makassar, dasrul, a teacher at makassar 2 vocational high school, was beaten by his own student sutrisno zulkifli, “this is alif ’s lie, student beating vocational school 2 teacher version of classmates”, in http://news.rakyatku. com/, accessed on 04/09/2018). 12 syamsul kurniawan, “pendidikan karakter dalam islam: pemikiran al-ghazali tentang pendidikan karakter anak berbasis akhlaq al-karimah”, tadrib, vol.3, number 2, december 2017, p. 12. 13 mulyadhi kartanegara, menyelami lubuk tasawuf, (jakarta: published by erlangga, 2006), 13 [ 240 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 by the west.14 one of the causes of the low spirituality is the education system that only focuses on the brain in the field of science (science and technology), which is only intended to exploit natural resources for external gain, while the moral and spiritual aspects are left empty, so their heart is arid, ferocious, and dry. they are ambitious to spend and destroy everything before them. they experience a crisis of balance between life force, heart power, and thinking power in their lives, which can motivate them to do anything without feeling the slightest shame. this educational process will give birth to new humans who can fulfill nature, but they lose their identity, and cannot understand what life really means.15 the educational process that has been running so far is still dominated by issues that are merely cognitive and theoretical. such education seems less concerned about examining the issues of how to integrate cognitive knowledge with affective and psychomotoric domains, so that it becomes more “meaningful” and “valuable” for students through various approaches, models, strategies, and media. in addition, the “meanings” and “values” that have been instilled and embedded can serve as a principle or source of motivation for students to make decisions, act, and behave in a concrete way in the realm of life praxis.16 this is because of the education dichotomy which tends to separate science from its spiritual dimension. this is what is feared by several muslim scholars such as ismail raji al-faruqi, syed muhammad naquib al-attas, fazlur rahman, ziauddin sardar, kuntowijoyo, azyumardi azra, m. amin abdullah, imam suprayogo, etc., where they all realize the islamic sources are very concerned about this issue.17 according to quraish shihab, from the verses of the qur’an, it can be inferred that changes and improvements in spirituality can occur if two conditions are met, namely (1) the existence of values or principles; (2) the presence of actors who can adapt themselves to these values and principles. the first requirement is the authority of allah almighty through the instructions in the qur’an and the explanation from prophet muhammad, although it is still global and general, and it needs details and interpretation of human reasoning. while the second condition, the perpetrators are people who are always bound by 14 danah zohar and ian marshal, sq: spiritual intelligence: the ultimate intelligence, (great britain: bloomsbury, 1995), 102 15 ipah latipah, “implementasi metode al-hikmah, al-mau’idhah al-hasanah, dan al-mujadalah dalam praktik pendidikan”, jurnal ilmiah mitra swara ganesha, vol. 3 no. 2 (july 2016), 23 16 kasinyo harto dan abdurrahmasyah. metodologi pembelajaran berbasis aktive learning: arah baru pembelajaran pai di sekolah dan madrasah. (palembang: grafika telindo harto, 2009), 2-3 17 syamsul kurniawan, “dikotomi agama dan ilmu dalam sejarah umat islam dan kemungkinan pengintegrasiannya”, in fikrah, vol.1, number 1, january-june 2013, p. 142. [ 241 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 norms, ethics, morals, and laws agreed upon by the community.18 the process of increasing the elements of spiritual intelligence, for example, can be seen in the qs luqman verses 12-19 and al-muzammil verses 1-10. in tafsir almisbah, qs luqman is included in the category of makiyyah surat, which consists of 34 verses, and was revealed after surat al-shaffat. meanwhile, alqurthubi said that qs luqman belongs to the makiyyah category, except verses 27-29, because the three were revealed in medina.19 the name of luqman is derived from the name of a character who is a wise parent figure blessed with hikmah, so that he is also known as al-hakim, which means a wise person.20 according to al-biqa’i, the meaning of hikmah is knowledge of important things. hikmah can be referred to as scientific charity and religion. al-ghazali defined hikmah as the main science, meaning that the main source of knowledge and the greatest form is allah. therefore, the essential judge is allah almighty.21 hamka said that the word “al-muzzammil” in the qur’an surah al-muzammil is meant to be a name allah swt calling the prophet muhammad as a sign of deep love and affection, both in the context when he was awakened from his deep sleep and the context of duties and responsibilities he carried out.22 al-qurthubi added, the word “al-muzzammil” was a temporary call on the condition of prophet muhammad at that time. the usefulness of this call contains two meanings, namely: first, gentle attitude. the call of “almuzzammil” implies the meaning of an outpouring of love, affection and tenderness, so that the prophet did not need to feel worried about anything; second, to give a warning; “al-muzzammil” is intended for all muslims who are sound asleep at night to get up soon, and perform qiyamullail and dhikr.23 from the spiritual education perspective, a person who has spiritual intelligence is the one who is able to feel and give affection. this feeling is not only directed at fellow human beings, but must be prioritized to allah swt, then fellow human beings, and other god’s creatures. that is why allah swt calls muhammad (pbuh) with the call of affection and at the same time teaching him to have compassion. because the main mission of spiritual education is to spread rahmatan lil ‘alamin and to form insan kamil (perfect human being), namely the perfection of akhlậq, as the main responsibilities 18 m. quraish shihab, membumikan al-qur’an: fungsi dan peran wahyu dalam kehidupan masyarakat, (bandung: mizan, 1999), 245-246 19 nurwadjah ahmad, tafsir ayat-ayat pendidikan (bandung: marja, 2007), 154 20 as’aril muhajir, ilmu pendidikan perspektif kontekstual, (yogyakarta: arruzz media, 2011), 142 21 see m. quraish shihab, tafsir al-misbah pesan kesan dan keserasian al-qur’an, vol. ii (jakarta: lentera hati, 2002), 121 22 hamka, tafsir al-azhar, 705 23 imam al-qurthubi, tafsir al-qurthubi, (jakarta: pustaka azzam, 2009), 420 [ 242 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 of the prophet muhammad stated in the qur’an, for example in al-anbiya’ verse 107, saba’ verse 28, and al-ahzab verse 21. therefore, it is very urgent for the writer to conduct this study on the mission of spiritual education from the mufassirin perspective, as well as its relevance to the current education system. sspiritual education concept education, from the islamic perspective, has a high position. this is evident in the meaning of the first revelation received by muhammad (pbuh) ordering to read in his ummiy condition.24 in addition, this revelation also mandates the command to always learn to know allah swt, read natural phenomena, and recognize oneself which includes the principles of aqeedah, knowledge, and charity. these three principles are the portals of the mission of spiritual education in islam. spiritual education in islamic teachings is an effort to teach science because it contains scientific and spiritual delights, so one will be able to arrive at the scientific nature and moral values that are commendable, and try to deliver humans to achieve universal or overall personal balance. this can be done through a process of learning and training that involves the soul, mind, intelligence, feelings and senses. therefore, spiritual education will always strive to develop all the potential in human beings, which includes: intellectuality, imagination, scholarship, as well as spirituality.25 in islam, education occurs throughout the human life span (long life education), not limited by conditions, space and time. islam always advocates for humans to always develop the quality of their knowledge and faith, both for men and women, young and old, poor and rich, they all get a portion and justice which is related to the obligation to learn. nor is it limited to only science related to ukhrowi, but also science is related to worldly issues because human happiness 24 see qs. al alaq (96): 1-5. and about this ummiy condition, there are differences among the scholars. some say that ummiy is illiterate or being unable to read and write. some say ummiy is a person who has never read or written the book of god. there are also those who say that ummiy is a person who has a motherly nature, etc. see sheikh al maqdisi. is prophet muhammad blind or genius? (revealing the mystery of the prophet’s ummiy condition). jakarta: nun publisher. 2007 whereas in interpreting the word iqra’, quraish shibah stated that the word iqra’ is taken from the verb qara’a which at first means to gather. he also explained that the realization of the order does not require that a written text be an object of reading, nor should it be said so that it is heard by others. gabriel also did not read a written text, because in a history it was stated that the prophet asked, ”maa aqra” (what should i read?). this is different if ”maa aqra” is interpreted not as ”i cannot read”, but it is understood ”what should i read?” thus, qurasih shihab believes that the word ummiy does not mean illiteracy or cannot read and write. see tafsir al misbah. vol. 15: 392 25 m. athiyah al abrasyi. dasar-dasar pokok pendidikan islam. trnaslation by h. bustami from the original title tarbiyyah islamiyah. jakarta: bulan bintang. 1993, 14 [ 243 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 can be achieved if these two paths are fulfilled in a balanced manner. this spiritual education refers to spiritual education in islam contained in the qur’an. education here covers all aspects of the universe, by positioning allah as an educator of the universe (rabb al-‘alamin). according to ibnu manzhur and asyrof, islamic education is termed al-tarbiyah, al-ta’lim, and al-ta’dib.26 if studied comprehensively in the qur’an and the sunnah, in fact not only these three words correlate with education. other words that are similar to education are for example: al-tahdzib, al-muwa’idzah, al-riyadhah, al-tazkiyah, al-tafaqquh, etc.27 al-tarbiyah comes from the word rabba, yarubbu, rabban, which means to lead, and to care for (children).28 the word rabb in the qur’an is repeated 169 times. for example, the word rabba (educating) can be seen in the qur’anic verses of surat al-isra’ [17]: 24; ash syua’ara [26]: 18; al-a’raf [7]: 61; and ar-rum [30]: 39. according to al-maraghi, al-tarbiyah activities can be divided into two types, namely: (1) tarbiyah khalqiyyah, which deals with the formation of physical aspects of humans, so that it can be used as a supporting tool in developing aspects of spirituality; (2) tarbiyah diniyyah tahdzibiyyah, which deals with the development of human morality for spiritual preservation.29 meanwhie, my definition of al-tarbiyyah is summarized as a process of fostering individuals, in the physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual aspects, which are carried out continuously and integratively to achieve life’s perfection. this educational process aims to educate them in living the values that are appropriate to achieve happiness in the world and the hereafter. education is also called al-ta’lim which comes from the word ‘allama, and it connotes learning or the process of transferring knowledge. according to jalaludin, the word al-ta’lim could be defined as guidance which emphasizes improving intellectual aspects of students,30 as contained in qs. al-baqarah [2]: 31-32. meanwhile, shihab defined the word yuallim as teaching, namely the process of filling students’ minds with knowledge about the realms of physics and metaphysics, as in contained qs. al jumu’ah [62]: 2.31 the word al-ta’dib comes from the word ‘addaba, yu’addibu, ta’diban. the word al-ta’dib also comes from the word adab which means being civilized 26 as’aril muhajir, ilmu pendidikan perspektif kontektual, 25-26 27 abuddin nata. ilmu pendidikan islam. jakarta: prenada media. 2010, 7 28 mahmud yunus. kamus arab-indonesia. jakarta: pt. hidakarya agung. tt, 136 29 ahmad mustafa al-maraghi, tafsir al-maraghi, juz i, (semarang: pt. karya toha putra semarang, 1993), 30, or see abdul mujib and jusuf mudzakir. ilmu pendidikan islam, (jakarta: prenada media, 2006), 17 30 jalaluddin, teologi pendidikan, (jakarta: pt. raja grafindo persada, 2003), 133 31 quraish shihab. membumikan al qur’an, (bandung: mizan, 1996), 172 [ 244 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 and polite,32 manners, character, morality, and ethics. nuqaib al-attas prefers the word al-ta’dib for thedefinition of education. according to him, al-ta’dib means guidance that is carried out in stages instilled in humans about the good and right things, so that they can guide them toward acknowledging the majesty of god.33 after my careful study on the vocabulary related to education and teaching as mentioned earlier, it can be stated that all the words belong to the group of words related to education. therefore, the nature of education in islam has a very broad meaning and definition, namely: efforts in the form of orders, warnings, understanding, direction, guidance, coaching, assistance, explanation, examination, enlightenment of mind and spirituality, intelligence, teaching, and purification soul. the series of activities are related to the optimization of all potential in mankind, namely: spiritual, physical, intellectual, psychological, and social potential. he word ‘spiritual’ comes from the word spirit, namely from the latin “spiritus” which means breath, or the verb “spirare” which means to breathe. if one studies the origin of the word, having breath means having spirit. a person having spirituality means having ties to things that are spiritual or psychological in nature rather than materialistic and physical things. spiritual is self-enlightenment or self-awakening in reaching the purpose of life and the meaning of life. spiritual is a substantial part of a person’s overall wellbeing and health.34 spiritual is an effort to find meaning, goals, and guidelines in living life. even in the western concept, ellison argued that spirituality is also possessed by people who do not believe in god.35 the essence of spirituality is belief related to the relationship between a person and god.36 although spirituality is very difficult to define, i found the characteristics of spirituality that most people could agree on, namely spirituality being the state of human life and its relationship with god. if one operational definition is drawn, spirituality is the motivation of a person who is made into the most fundamental principles and principles of final judgment, namely the main argument given for choice in life. the phenomena of spiritualism have often referred to the rise of the new age which is characterized by a spiritual approach to seeing all events. according to rachman, spiritualism has become the foundation of human life in the 32 mahmud yunus. kamus arab-indonesia, 36 33 muhammad naquib al-attas. konsep pendidikan dalam islam. (bandung: mizan, 1988), 61 34 fontana & david. psychology, religion, and spirituality. (british: psychological society and blackwell publishing, 2003), 87 35 cw. ellison, “spiritual well being: conceptualization and measurement.” journal of psychology and theology, vol. 11, no. 3, 2002, 2 36 achir yani, buku ajar aspek spiritualitas, (jakarta: widya medika, 2000), 34 [ 245 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 east for thousands of years, but that motivation is increasingly fragile and shrinking due to the development of rational western science and technology, while spiritualism is not only about mind but also relations between mind and spirit.37 muhammad umar al-syaibany argued that the highest values in human life are spiritual or religious and ethical values because both of these have become guidelines and principles for other values.38 in the concept of secular liberals, humans consist of body and spirit. the spirit in question is the power of thought, which is influenced by the five senses or that is related to materialistic things, because their studies are limited to the brain in the physical form.39 however, this is not in accordance with the islamic concept of human nature. in islamic teachings, it is mentioned that every human has the potential and basic spiritual needs, both religious and non-religious. this spiritual education is related to the potential of al-nafs, al-‘aql, al-qalb, and al-ruh contained in human beings. according to sa’id hawwa, this potential can only be developed through a ‘journey’ to allah swt. the journey requires knowledge of the nature and substance of humanity. on the other hand, someone who does not want to take the ‘journey’ to allah swt will not know much about the al-nafs and its substance. in other words, humans will not be able to know much about the creator so long as he does not want to travel to allah swt. here lies the difference between the ‘aqliyyah faith which is theoretical and the zauqiyyah faith (feeling).40 spiritual education is a process of shaping a personality based on emotional and spiritual intelligence which relies on the aspect of self.41 the balance of using emotional and spiritual intelligence will create perfect human beings, and at the same time being able to become an ummah with individual and social piety. according to hasan al-bana, spiritual education is tarbiyah ruhiyah which aims to strengthen the path of ta’aruf.42 the point is to strengthen the soul and spirit, anticipate customs and traditions, continuously maintain good relations with allah, and always ask for his help, without putting aside one’s activities in life in the world. in other words, one always maintains a balance between his needs in the world and in the hereafter. according to sa’id hawwa, the aim of spiritual education is to create a perfect 37 budhy munawar rachman, islam pluralis (jakarta: paramadina, 2001), 165 38 see m. mujib djumransjah, (ed.), filsafat pendidikan: telaah tujuan dan kurikulum pendidikan, (malang: kutub minar, 2005), 43 39 zainuddin, pendidikan agama islam, 19 40 sa’id hawwa, pendidikan spiritual, terj. abdul munip, (yogyakarta: mitra pustaka, 2006), 12 41 abdul munir m., nalar spiritual pendidikan solusi problem filosofis pendidikan islam (yogyakarta: tiara wacana, 2002), 73 42 see dalam triyo supriyatno, humanitas spiritual dalam pendiikan, (malang: uin malang press, 2009), 124 [ 246 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 human being, namely one who always fulfills the obligations of his ubudiyyah, as well as being very generous in everything when interacting with each other. on that basis, the community order is created that upholds the values of love, tolerance, respect, and morality.43 meanwhile, according to al-ghazali, the purpose of spiritual education is not to seek wealth, achievement, or material position, but to get closer to allah swt. because if the purpose of education is directed toward other goals rather than getting closer to him, then it can cause damage, hatred, malice, arrogance, and hostility.44 thus, it can be concluded that spiritual education is education based on experiences carried out consciously to direct the spirit to keep going in accordance with nature, namely to believe in allah swt and develop divine potential until one reaches the peak of the faith in him, so that his soul can encourage his physical activities or daily actions to always run in accordance with the law of allah. the messenger with spiritual education mission muhammad (pbuh) is a role model for all humanity. he is the living qur’an. it means that muhammad emanated in a concrete manner the teachings of the qur’an. he was the recipient of the first revelation and the main executor of all the commands of allah swt and abandoned all his prohibitions. therefore, humanity can observe islamic teachings by imitating each of his behavior.45 there are reasons why muhammad (pbuh) is placed as the best reference for studying spiritual education in islam, namely: first, muhammad as ‘teacher’. abu ya’la narrated a hadith that when muhammad (pbuh) entered the mosque in which there were two groups. the first group were praying, doing dhikr, and prayer, while the second studying and discussing a problem. muhammad (pbuh) apparently joined the second group. on this occasion, muhammad (pbuh) said, “god has sent me as a teacher (ba’atsani rabbi mu’alliman).”46 second, muhammad (pbuh) not only had deep understanding and expertise about religious, social, economic, political, legal, psychological, and cultural sciences, but he also had a perfect personality, as well as excellent teaching skills. this indicates that muhammad (pbuh) was also a professional educator.47 43 hawwa, pendidikan spiritual, 13 44 al-ghazali, ihya’ ‘ulumuddin, (kairo: dar al-kutub al-arabiyah, tt) 45 muhammad syafii antonio. muhammad saw: the super leader super manager, 195 46 ziauddin alavi. pendidikan islam pada awal pertengahan. translated by abuddin nata, from the original title islamic education in middle age, (bandung: angkasa, 2002), 67 47 for more details about the teaching method applied by prophet muhammad saw, read muhammad syafii antonio, muhammad saw: the super leader super manager, (jakarta: tazkia publising, 2009) [ 247 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 third, muhammad (pbuh) had established an educational institution in dar al-arqam 48 and other places secretly, while in mecca, and educational institutions openly like suffah 49 and khuttab50, when in medina. these efforts show that muhammad (pbuh) had a great attention to the development of islamic education. fourth, muhammad (pbuh) is regarded as the most successful prophet and leader of the divine mission, which transforms the jahiliyah (ignorant) people into more civilized, from being astray to being faithful, from darkness to light, and from moral decline to noble morality. this success is closely related to his success in bringing the mission of education to life. during the peak of the ‘quraysh ignorance’ and pressure, prophet muhammad (pbuh) made a khalwa (retreat)51 in the hira’ cave. at that cave, he found a good place to identify problems, and explore the thoughts that raged inside 48 in the fifth year of muhammad’s prophethood, a home belonging to al-arqam ibn al-arqam al-makhzumi served as the center of education. he was the eleventh person who embraced islam. in that house, there were many people who converted to islam which reached 40 people, the last being umar bin khattab. at least there are three reasons the prophet saw chose the house of al-arqam, among others: (1) al-arqam took shelter under the bani makhzum clan which was the traditional enemy of the banu hashim. for this reason, it would be very difficult for the unbelievers to imagine that the prophet who came from banu hashim clan actually used the home of a member of the bani makhzum clan; (2) at that time al-arqam was very young, only 16 years old, so the assumption of the infidels would be difficult to understand how a home belonging to a young person would be made a center of da’wah by the prophet; (3) al-arqam’s convert to islam was still unknown to anyone except by muslims at that time. see al-hamid al husaini. history of the life of the great prophet muhammad, (bandung: pustaka hidayah, 2009), 294; and munir muhamad ghadlban. fiqh al sirah al nabawiyah. (terj.) jakarta: rabbani press. 1992, 324-341 49 suffah is a room or building that is connected to the mosque. or also called al zilla which is a seat on the edge of a mosque and under the same roof with a mosque or in the porch of the mosque. those who live in this condition are called ahl al suffah. see antonio, muhammad saw, 196 50 kuttab is a kind of learning place that originally emerged in the islamic world. at first the kuttab functioned as a place to provide reading and writing lessons for children. over time, the study of the qur’an was also taught there. see ensiklopedi islam. vol iii. (jakarta: ichtiar baru van hoeve, 2002), 86 51 the purpose of khalwa here must not be understood as the behavior of some people who are wrong and deviant. they understand it as an act of completely abandoning association with humans by living in caves. this action is contrary to the instructions of the prophet and the practice of his companions. the purpose of khalwa here serves as antodote to improve the situation. because as antidote, this should not be done except with certain levels as necessary. otherwise, this will be a disease that must be avoided. while in exile, he often dreamed that everything ended in reality. as for his dreams, it was a true dream which was the precursor of revelation. this happened for approximately six months. see muhammad husain haekal. the life history of muhammad, (jakarta: pustaka jaya. 2008), 139; and muhammad ali shabban. the holy example of the prophet’s family, 37. and see also muhammad sa’id ramadhan al buthy. sirah nabawiyah: analisis ilmiah manhajiah sejarah pergerakan islam di masa rasulullah saw. jakarta: rabbani press. 2010), 57 [ 248 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 him. the purpose of khalwa in the hira’ cave was to identify problems that occurred in the meccan community, and to find solutions. in addition, he also gained peace of mind and the antidote to the desires of the lonely heart, and reached the highest level of the secrets of the universe. at the age of 40 years52, muhammad (pbuh) received the first revelation. gabriel embraced the body of the prophet when he was scared.53 al-buthy explained that the fear and anxiety felt by prophet muhammad was evident that he had never at all “longed for the message” he was revealed to. also, this phenomenon of revelation does not come together or perfect whatever crossed his mind. however, the revelation appeared surprisingly in his life without ever being imagined before. fear and anxiety will never be experienced by those who have have spent time contemplating and thinking profoundly of an aqeedah which is believed to be his da’wah’.54 the main education mission carried out by muhammad (pbuh) is contained in the qur’an, for example in the qs al anbiya ‘[21] verse 107, qs. saba ‘[34] verse 28, and qs. al-ahzab [33] verse 21. in fact, the mission is attached to the goals and ideals of the islamic teachings itself, which is to bring rahmatan lil ‘alamin (mercy to all creatures), according to the following word of god: interpretation: “and we have not sent you, [o muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.”55 imam al-maraghi in his tafseer (commentary) said, “that the meaning of the verse means: and we did not send you, but to be a mercy to the universe, is that i did not send you, muhamma, with this qur’an, and various parables of the religious and legal teachings that became the basis of reference for achieving happiness in the world and the hereafter, but in order to become a mercy and guidance for them in all matters of the life of the world and the hereafter.”56 52 confirmation of a common tradition, namely that the prophets were sent to become apostles when they turned 40 years old. so that, on the eve of ramadan (perhaps the 17th night) the angel gabriel descended on him carrying prophetic news in surat al alaq verses 1-5 as an opening and introduction to the burden of the treatise he must bring to all mankind. see abu bakar jabir al jazairi. muhammad, my beloved prophet, (jakarta: qisthi press. 2007), 96 53 gabriel’s action was a therapy to eliminate all feelings of fear buried deep in his heart. the tight hug was able to make the prophet muhammad surprised even though he then replied. a reflex that symbolizes courage. after the incident, the messenger of allah never feared, let alone hesitated in spreading islam to all corners of the world. 54 muhammad sa’id ramadhan al buthy. sirah nabawiyah, 63 55 qs. al anbiya’ (21): 107 56 imam al maraghi. tafsir al maraghi, jilid vi. (translated version) beirut: dar al fikr, tt, 78 [ 249 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 according to shihab, with the blessing, the inner needs of every human being are fulfilled so that they can achieve peace, tranquility, and recognition of their form, talent, rights, and nature, eventually creating quality human resources.57 according to al-razi in tafsir al-razi, the blessing of prophet muhammad is for the wider community, and whoever follows his teachings, will also get his mercy. but on the contrary, if one does not follow him, the grace of their soul will disappear. the other nature of grace is a blessing for all human groups who are hostile to it. although the prophet was insulted and hurt, he always prayed for good for them.58 meanwhile, when interpreting this verse, hamka said that every teaching of prophet muhammad is a system that brings happiness and spiritual delights to all humanity, the message of muhammad (pbuh) that came to this world, includes 3 blessings namely: (1) grace in freedom of thought, so that the mind is not afraid of the progress of the times; (2) grace of harmony and balance of human needs, namely: physical and spiritual, world and the hereafter; (3) grace of unity and brotherhood to become a great and civilized nation.59 muhammad (pbuh) was raised to be a mercy for mankind, animals, plants, even all other creations of allah swt. muhammad (pbuh) carried out teachings about the glory of mankind, equality, unity, and guidelines for relations between fellow humans, relations between religious adherents, even relations with nature. he taught humans about justice, brotherhood, peace, helping each other, family principles, neighborhood and community guidelines, etc. he forbade humans to harm anyone, even animals. muhammad (pbuh) also taught humans to make use of the environment and preserve it, even in conditions of war, he forbade the destruction of plants without benefits. interpretation:“and we have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner. but most of the people do not know.”60 the qur’an surah saba’ verse 28 reveals the prophethood and apostolate of muhammad (pbuh), by asserting that allah has actually sent muhammad (pbuh) by bringing clear proof, namely the qur’an. according to thabathaba’i, the word “kaffatan” means blocking. therefore, he explained the content of the verse means: “we do not send you unless it functions as a very superior 57 m. quraish shihab, tafsir al-misbah vol. ii, 145 58 when prophet muhammad was insulted and hurt by his enemies, he prayed, “o allah, give guidance to my people, because they did not know,” see: muhammad bin abi bakr ar-razi, tafsir al-razi, (beirut: dar al-fikr, 1990), 98 59 hamka, tafsir al-azhar juz 17, (jakarta: panjimas, 1990), 45 60 qs. saba’ [34]: 28 [ 250 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 barrier to humans so that they do not do various iniquities.” this is also supported by the following sentence: “basyiran wa nadziran”. he explained that the word “kaffah” means the condition of all humans. so, this verse reveals the message of muhammad (pbuh) for all humanity. this interpretation is in line with the previous verse, namely the role of muhammad (pbuh) being sent to bring mercy to all worlds. thabathaba’i wrote that, “the commissioning of the prophets is a necessity and takes care of his servants and leads them to happiness. but most humans do not know in the sense that they do not know that the limited source of sending apostles is only god almighty.”61 meanwhile, according to hamka, all human beings in this world are the goal of muhammad’s educational mission which does not differentiate ethnicity, nation, language, culture, regional boundaries, and skin color. the verse means entertaining, as well as threatening. entertaining means to give good news about happiness in the world and in the hereafter and out of the darkness of ignorance toward the truth of real faith. threatening means giving a warning to anyone who does not obey his teachings, his life will be dark and astray.62 in fact, muhammad (pbuh) was resurrected in order to carry out the mission of spiritual education, namely to perfect the akhlậq. interpretation: “there has certainly been for you in the messenger of allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in allah and the last day and [who] remembers allah often.”63 the word uswah in the verse means the role model. according to azzamakhsyari, the example in the verse has two possible purposes, namely: (1) in terms of the personality of prophet muhammad in totality; (2) in the sense that is contained in his personality, aspects that deserve to be emulated. however, most scholars agree on the first opinion.64 meanwhile, al-raghib in tafseer ruhul bayan, interpretes the word uswah to be the same as al-qudwatun (follow), which is a condition found in human beings that can be followed by others good or bad. meanwhile, the word hasanah is an example of good words and behavior. the word is based solely on a clean soul, namely that the messenger of allah in his soul has uswatun hasanah that can be emulated and followed.65 al-qurtubi revealed that in matters of religion, exemplary is an obligation as long as there is no evidence to show that it is a suggestion, but worldly 61 m. quraish shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 234 62 hamka, tafsir al-azhar juz 22, (jakarta: panjimas, 1990), 34 63 al qur’an surat al ahzab (33): 21 64 shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 242 65 syekh ismail al-burusyiu. tafsir ruhul bayaan. (beirut: darul fikri, t.th.), 156 [ 251 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 affairs become a recommendation (not an obligation). some scholars say that in worldly affairs, muhammad (pbuh) has fully surrendered to experts in their respective fields, so that the example referred to in this verse is not in aspects related to worldliness.66 apart from these differences of opinion, ‘abbas mahmud al-‘aqqab revealed that there are 4 types of people, namely: thinkers, workers, artists, and worshipers. it is rare to find humans who have these 4 types at the same time accumulate in themselves. however, for those who study and understand prophet muhammad personally, he will find that the four types are integrated with the highest rank so that humans can emulate all the commendable qualities in him.67 in a hadith, it is also stated clearly that the main mission carried out by muhammad (pbuh) is to perfect akhlậq. “abu hurairah narrated that the messenger of allah (pbuh) said: “verily i am sent to perfect the glory of akhlậq.”68 it means that muhammad (pbuh) was resurrected in his prophetic body not to encourage people to become rich, smart politicians, and proficient at being a symbol of the advance of human thought at that time. because at that time all the skills had been around, all had happened. only that they were not found in the rich, the power-holders and smart people at that time because their behavior was no longer noble. with regard to the resurrection of muhammad (pbuh), in fact the educational ontology he demonstrated is the changes “within” the students. that, god will not change the condition of a people until they are willing to change what is inside them.69 therefore, some of the theories put forward by many education experts do not seem to direct on the real ontology.70 reading these definitions makes it unable to be used 66 shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 243 67 ‘abbas mahmud al-‘aqqab, ‘abqariyyah muhammad, (beirut: dar al-fikr, 1970) 68 hr. al-baihaqi. sunan al-baihaqi, juz 2, 472, dalam al-maktabah al-syamilah 69 q.s.al-dzâriyât: 11 70 for example, john dewey said, education is a process of forming intellectually and emotionally basic human skills. j.j. rouseau said, education is a provision to us what we do not need in childhood, but we need it as adults. m.j.langeveld said, education is every effort made to influence and guide children toward maturity, so that children are deft in carrying out their own life duties. according to him education only takes place in an atmosphere of association between adults (or those created by adults such as: schools, model books and so on) with immature people who are directed to achieve educational goals. john s. brubacher said education is a reciprocal process of each individual human being in order to adapt itself to nature, with friends and with the universe. kingsley price suggests that education is a non-physical process of cultural elements that are nurtured or developed in caring for young people or in adult learning. mortimer j. adler said, education is a process in which all human abilities (talents and abilities acquired) that can be influenced by habituation, are perfected by good habits through means that are artistically created and used by anyone to help others or [ 252 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 as the main standard, and the theory cannot be applied, because all of these definitions show that the experts still disagree or differ in opinion. thus, the mission of education should refer to the condition where muhammad (pbuh) was first resurrected. some facts abot the quraysh at that time were: first, from the perpective of their knowledge they were very well established, which was illustrated by the height their literary works as a result of their reflection and creativity; second, from an economic standpoint, the arabs at that time were already in progress. it coincided with the city of mecca when it became a city and the center of trade traffic. evidently muhammad (pbuh) never made his own currency but used the existing currency. and third, from the socio-political side, the arabs at that time were well established and there were already social and political strata. the proof is that bani hasyim emerged as the best social group and there were leaders among them. that means the main mission of the teaching of muhammad (pbuh) is not to inspire the advance of science, economy and social politics, because even without the resurrection of muhammad (pbuh), all of that could occur and be organized by itself, especially those that were worldly in nature. what did not exist there at that time was the virtues. there was no civilization in all established practices at that time. the establishment of knowledge, economy, social politics is not to respect the existence of oneself for humans, but rather it is used as a tool to oppress and demean others, for example in this case of the most victimized members of the society, women. for example, an extract of the text from khatbah wada’ on what muhammad (pbuh) delivered. “o people listen to what i want to say. maybe after this year, i will not see you again in this place forever ... o mankind, in fact your blood and possessions are sacred to you (that is, it may not be tainted by anyone) like the holy days and months at your country. in fact, all forms of behavior and acts of the ignorant shall never occur again. such an ignorant act of reprisal which i first declared to be stopped is an act of retaliation for the death of ibn rabi’ah ibn al-harith.”71 when examined from the aspect of education, muhammad (pbuh) has actually succeeded in educating the people from the colonies of the jahiliyah, spiritual ignorance, and intellectual weakness which includes culture of silence dan structural poverty.72 therefore, the only prophet who sparked his educational themselves itself achieves the set goals, namely good habits. see rupert c. lodge, philosophy of education (new york: harer & brothers, 1974), 23 71 this semon text was quoted from shahih muslim and shahih bukhari. see also al nadawi. shahih al sirah al nabawiyyah, 550 72 abdurahman mas’ud. menuju paradigma islam humanis. yogyakarta: gama media. [ 253 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 mission to glorify akhlậq 73 is muhammad (pbuh). it does not mean that the islamic teachings are against anything other than akhlậq. but there is priority, there are targets that are very clear and logical and conditional. from here, the history of the revelation of verses, which are now contained in the holy qur’an, indicated that 13 years of the teaching of muhammad (pbuh) concerns faith. if this faith is like the explanation above, then the most priority is the change of self, because that self is faith as the substance of the nature of believers who possess the rabbaniyyah character. improving spiritual elements in qs luqman: 12-19 which contain the advice of luqman al-hakim about the mission of education which must be delivered by parents in particular and educators in general. in the verse, the concept of islamic education contains three main points of material or guidance of religion: aqeedah, sharia and akhlậq.74 the main discussion about the mission of spiritual education is found in verses 12-14 below. interpretation: “and we had certainly given luqman wisdom [and said], “be grateful to allah .” and whoever is grateful is grateful for [the benefit of] himself. and whoever denies [his favor] then indeed, allah is free of need and praiseworthy. and [mention, o muhammad], when luqman said to his son while he was instructing him, “o my son, do not associate [anything] with allah. indeed, association [with him] is great injustice. and we have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. his mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. be grateful to me and to your parents; to me is the [final] destination.”75 the verse implies that luqman as an educator (parent and teacher) has been blessed with a wisdom by allah, therefore he is grateful for that gift. as an educator who is blessed with wisdom, he can carry out his mission in educating his children to always be grateful and worship allah. so, as an educator instilling spirituality with his students, he himself must be provided with wisdom (wisdom). how is it possible to teach their students to pray, if their educators rarely pray? how is it possible to teach manners to their students, if the educators themselves are savages? it is impossible teach 2003, 188 73 akhlậq the concrete form is a believer in the heart, while mind is the five senses that can actively function if the one inside it functions. 74 m. quraish shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 11 and 140 75 qs. luqman [31]: 12-14 [ 254 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 sincerity, if the educator loves to show off. an educator with wisdom will be fully confident about his actions; he believes, speaks, and acts on the basis of the truth. therefore, al-maraghi referred to it an ingenuity and wisdom.76 the educator has two characteristics, namely teacher of science and teacher of wisdom. the science teacher is oriented to the exoteric aspects of zhâhir knowledge, while the teacher of wisdom is more oriented to the esoteric aspects (knowledge or inner elements). therefore, by integrating these two types of teacher characteristics, it will guide students towards the gate of allah. there are two gates that humans will enter namely the gate of the creature and the gate of allah, and the gate of the world and the gate of the hereafter. it’s impossible to uncover the secret of the final gate, if you don’t understand the first gate.77 shaykh ‘abd al-qâdir al-jîlâniy has revealed the importance of combining intellectual and spiritual education. intellectual education takes place in madrasa, while spiritual education is placed in zawiyah or ribath. both types of education models have the same objectives, namely, promotion amar ma’rûf (promotion of virtues) and nahi munkar (prevention of vice). therefore, in learning activities, the involvement of the psychological (mental) readiness of students has becomes an important aspect of developing potential in intellectual and spiritual development. the obligations or adab that must be applied by every educator in instilling spirituality with his students, are among others: (1) educators should teach and give advice only because allah, treat the students with love so that a teacher is like their own parent; (2) if educators know the sincerity of their students, then they must not give them relief, but must oblige them to live the commandments of allah and stay away from his prohibitions; (3) educators should always pay attention to the behavior of their students. if they their students violate the islamic teachings, they must advise them and them him not to repeat it; (4) educators should teach their students to always uphold the principle of virtues and stay away from vile actions.78 referring back in the main discussion, the mission of the spiritual education that was instilled by luqman is found in verses 16-17, which teaches the relationship between man and allah, and relations between humans. interpretation: “[and luqman said], “o my son, indeed if wrong should be the weight of a mustard seed and should be within a rock or [anywhere] 76 al-maraghi, tafsir al-maraghi, 87 77 habib abdullah zakiy al-kâf, ajaran tasawuf syaikh ‘abd al-qâdir al-jîlâniy: petunjuk jalan menuju ma’rifatullâh, (bandung: pustaka setia, 2003), 241 78 abd al-qâdir al-jîlâniy, al-gunyah li thâlib tharîq al-haqq, juz ii (beirut: almaktabah al-sya’biyyah, tth.), 168 [ 255 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 in the heavens or in the earth, allah will bring it forth. indeed, allah is subtle and acquainted. o my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. indeed, [all] that is of the matters [requiring] determination.”79 according to al-maraghi, the verse describes retaliation or consequences for every human act, good or bad. good charity will get the consequences of good, too (reward), so bad deeds will also get sin. there is no action that is unknown to allah swt. even though the act is carried out even in the most hidden place, the weight of the act is only a grain of mustard, surely allah would know, find and reply later on the day of judgment.80 quraish shihab also revealed, the command of prayer in this verse means an order to establish prayer with the right nature and manner. whoever does it means having to submit to him, which will have implications for the growth of spiritual awareness, in order to control the soul to uphold the amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (promotion of virtues) nahi munkar (prevention of vice). according to him, prayer will be able to guarantee the continuity of monotheism and divine existence in the hearts of students.81 the elements of spiritual education are very comprehensive that must be built to develop a person as a whole, based on the qur’an and sunnah, with the aim of the applying the islamic teachings that are rahmatan lil alamin, with happiness oriented not only in the world but also in the hereafter. the stages and elements in spirituality education contained in the luqman letter verses 12-19 include: (1) aqeedah education and its material, (2) sharia education and its material, (3) moral and social education and its material. whereas, the way to cultivate spirituality in students from the perspective of qs luqman includes: (1) instilling divine values / monotheism by not associating partners with allah, (2) fostering devotion to parents, (3) teaching students that every deed reciprocate, (4) command to worship, (5) introducing students to the manners of social life. in more detail, the application of spiritual education can be seen and studied in surat al-muzzammil verses 1-10 and 20. interpretation: “o you who wraps himself [in clothing], arise [to pray] the night, except for a little half of it or subtract from it a little. or add to it, and recite the qur’an with measured recitation. indeed, we will cast upon you a heavy word. indeed, the hours of the night are more effective for concurrence [of heart and tongue] and more suitable for words. indeed, for you by day is prolonged occupation. and remember 79 qs. luqman [31]” 16-17 80 al-maraghi, tafsir al-maraghi, 84 81 m. quraish shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 136 [ 256 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the name of your lord and devote yourself to him with [complete] devotion. [he is] the lord of the east and the west; there is no deity except him, so take him as disposer of [your] affairs. and be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance.”82 interpretation of the verses 1-3 of surat al-muzzammil’s according to shihab is that the context of these verses are closely related to the command to establish the evening prayer.83 al-maraghi, also said that allah swt told muhammad to pray at night. muhammad (pbuh) was ordered to choose between one third (between 22:00 to 23:00), half (between 24:00 to 01:00), and two thirds of the night (between the hours of 2:00 to 3:00).84 meanwhile, hamka argued that allah swt ordered muhammad to perform qiyam prayer, by saying “wake up”, or establish prayer, because, prayer must be established with full seriousness and self-awareness. the word “except a little” means to use a little of the night to rest, but the most use to do prayer.85 believers who have a high level of faith will experience peace of mind. that belief does not come by itself, but can be achieved by getting used to worship, namely prayer that will bring about the soul’s fortune.86 peace and happiness of the soul is one of the characteristics that a person has spiritual intelligence. in addition, prayer is also a spiritual aspect because it contains high spiritual values, where one’s heart will be calm and his stance will be strong and he will have a high sense of optimism. the nightly prayer that is established solemnly will make someone feel a strong relation with allah swt, so that trials and problems of life will be faced with patience, optimism and self-confidence. this will nurture and foster a stable, strong and dynamic mental attitude. in verse 4, in tafsir ibn katsir, it is explained that the purpose of the verse is the command to read the qur’an with tartil, which is to read the qur’an in a good manner and slowly, because it will facilitate understanding and contemplating it.87 al-qurthubi said, the purpose of reciting the qur’an in a slow manner, without rushing is that it should be accompanied by reflection on what the meaning of the recital is.88 so, it can be concluded that the 4th verse instructs us to read the qur’an accompanied by tartil, namely by slowly and contemplating on its meaning, so that it can be understood and pervaded in the heart. the aspect of spiritual education contained in the 4th verse is an 82 qs. al-muzzammil [73]: 1-10 83 shihab, tafsir al-misbah, 404 84 al-maraghi, tafsir al-maraghi, 190 85 hamka, tafsir al-azhar, 705 86 muhammad bahnasi, shalat sebagai terapi psikologi, 68 87 al-imam abul fida isma’il ibnu katsir ad-dimasyqi, tafsir ibnu katsir, translated by abdullah, (jakarta: pustaka imam asy-syafi’i, 2008), 126 88 al-qurthubi, tafsir al-qurthubi, 435 [ 257 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 effort to educate the heart through reading the qur’an with tartil, which is not only slowly, but by understanding and living the meanings contained in it. so when reciting verses hints at the truth, one’s conscience will certainly justify and tend to do good. on the other hand, if one reads verses about torture, they will think twice before doing it. in verses 5-6, al-maraghi explained that the qiyamullail aims to establish and adjust between one’s words and heart, and gather thoughts to observe the recital and understand it because time at night is calmer for the heart than during the day, because the daytime is the time to seek the interests of the life of the world, the business of man, and the noise of the sound.89 in verses 7-8, al-qurtubi argued that the verses are in the form of a command from allah swt to pray to him by using al-asma’ al-husna.90 ibn kathir also said that the purpose of the verses is to increase dhikr to allah swt, dedicate oneself and dependence on him.91 so, it can be concluded that these verses explain the command to pray, think, and depend on hope only to allah swt. the verses confirm that dhikr can bring oneself cognizance (self awareness), “i am confronted by god”, so that i can push myself consciously and responsibly to continue the dynamic mission of my life, which is to do good deeds. “dhikr is not just a ritual but a beginning of the actual life journey.92 dhikr and praying are both the means and self-motivation to show the face of a responsible person. dhikr suggests a trip to return home and meet the one we love. it also fosters self-confidence because they have the intention or desire to give the best when they return later. their stance is firm in carrying out the mandate without the slightest doubt. in verses 9-10 in qs al-muzzammil, there is a command to be patient for what others say about you and about god. and there is also an order to stay away from them in a gracious way, namely by watching them, but stay away from them, meaning closing our eyes to their mistakes and not criticizing them. thus, it can be concluded that the elements of spiritual education contained in surat al-muzzammil verses 1-10 include: qiyamul lail or night prayer, reciting the qur’an by means of tartil (slowly), getting used to dhikr, being patient, jihad fi sabilillah or fighting on the path of allah, and always begging forgiveness from allah swt. elements of spirituality can be improved or developed in three steps, namely: first, try to uncover the “diseases” of the heart and try to identify and diagnose them. so that you can know what have covered your inner voice. the ultimate goal is the discovery of antidote that will create the birth of clarity 89 al-maraghi, tafsir al-maraghi, 192 90 al-qurthubi, tafsir al-qurthubi, 194 91 ibnu katsir, tafsir ibnu katsir, 843 92 toto tasmara, kecerdasan ruhaniah, 17 [ 258 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 and purity of the heart, or commonly referred to as conscience, namely the return of an independent heart and free from radiation of heart “diseases”. this process is the starting point of a spiritual intelligence. because in general, conscience is used as a basis for spiritual intelligence. from here the beginning of spiritual intelligence begins to form. humans have universal and ihsan (beautiful) values. second, the next step concerns self-awareness, which is about the importance of mental dimensions. the scheme in constructing spiritual emotional intelligence systemically based on 6 pillars of faith, is through: building mentality by holding on to god’s principles, working on duties and obligations sincerely, imitating wise leaders, continuing to learn to gain good knowledge, understanding the purpose of life, and knowing how to manage all the affairs of life. third, a physical step carried out in a row and very systematically based on 5 pillars of islam. this stage includes: (1) mission statement, and followed with intensive and continuous character formation; (2) character building, followed by self-control exercises; (3) selfcontrol. these three steps in developing spirituality will produce what is called personal strength or perfect human beings. conclusion spiritual education is a sacred, earnest, and noble struggle and formation to build character, soul, and personality, so as to create human beings who are ahsani taqwim, and vice versa to free him from things that hinder him. the mission of spiritual education carried out by muhammad (pbuh) can be seen for example in surat al-anbiya verse 107, surat saba’ verse 28, and surat alahzab verse 21. in surat al-anbiya’ verse 107, allah affirms that muhammad (pbuh) brought a vision as mercy for all worlds, not limited to humans, time and place. whoever follows his teachings will receive his mercy. surat saba’ verse 28 confirms that allah swt has sent muhammad (pbuh) with evidence of truth, namely the muhammad’s (pbuh) teachings do not focus on arabs only, but they include all humans, regardless of ethnicity, nation, language, race, and regional boundaries. al-ahzab verse 21 asserts that muhammad (pbuh) is the only role model whom must be imitated by all humans, because in him all the praiseworthy qualities are found. meanwhile, the improvement of the elements of spirituality can be seen in the qs luqman verses 12-19 and surat al-muzzammil verses 1-10. the stages of increasing spirituality in the qs luqman verses 12-19, include: (1) instilling tauheed values by not associating partners with allah, (2) being filial to parents, (3) teaching students that every deed will reciprocate, (4) command to worship, (5) introducing students to the manners of social life. elements [ 259 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 of spiritual education contained in surat al-muzzammil verses 1-10 include: qiyamul lail or night prayer, reciting the qur’an in a tartil way, getting used to dhikr, being patient, jihad fi sabilillah or fighting on the path of allah, and always praying and begging the forgiveness from allah. bibliography agustian, a. g. (2001). rahasia sukses membangun kecerdasan emosi dan spiritual, esq way 165: 1 ihsan, 6 rukun iman dan 5 rukun islam. jakarta: arga. ahmad, n. (2007). tafsir ayat-ayat pendidikan. bandung: marja. al-abrasyi, m. a. (1993). tarbiyyah islamiyah (trans.). jakarta: bulan bintang. al-aqqab, ‘a. m. (1970) ‘abqariyyah muhammad. beirut: dar al-fikr. al-attas, m. n. (1988). konsep pendidikan dalam islam. bandung: mizan. alavi, z. (2002). islamic education in middle age (trans.). bandung: angkasa antonio, m. s. (2009). muhammad saw: the super leader super manager. jakarta: tazkia publising. bahnasi, m. (2004). shalat sebagai terapi psikologi. jakarta: mizania. al-burusyiu, s. i. (?). tafsir ruhul bayaan. beirut: darul fikri. al-buthy, m. s. r. (2010). sirah nabawiyah: analisis ilmiah manhajiah sejarah pergerakan islam di masa rasulullah saw. jakarta: rabbani press. diansyah, a. 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(2003). ajaran tasawuf syaikh ‘abd al-qâdir al-jîlâniy: petunjuk jalan menuju ma’rifatullâh. bandung: pustaka setia. kartanegara, m. (2006). menyelami lubuk tasawuf. jakarta: penerbit erlangga. kurniawan, s. (2013). dikotomi agama dan ilmu dalam sejarah umat islam dan kemungkinan pengintegrasiannya. fikrah, vol.1, nomor 1. ----------, (2017). pendidikan karakter dalam islam: pemikiran al-ghazali tentang pendidikan karakter anak berbasis akhlaq al-karimah. tadrib, vol.3, nomor 2. latipah, i. (2016). implementasi metode al-hikmah, al-mau’idhah alhasanah, dan al-mujadalah dalam praktik pendidikan. jurnal ilmiah mitra swara ganesha, vol. 3 no. 2. lodge, r. c. (1974). philosophy of education. new york: harer & brothers. maqdisi, s. (2007). nabi muhammad buta huruf atau genius? (mengungkap misteri keummian rasulullah). jakarta: nun publisher. maraghi, a. m. 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(1999). membumikan al-qur’an: fungsi dan peran wahyu dalam kehidupan masyarakat. bandung: mizan. --------, (2002). tafsir al-misbah pesan kesan dan keserasian al-qur’an. jakarta: lentera hati. supriyatno, t. (2009). humanitas spiritual dalam pendiikan. malang: uin malang press. tonapa, j. b. (2018). tak terima ditegur, siswa smp aniaya gurunya. retrieved from https://daerah.sindonews.com/. accessed on 02/092018. yani, a. (2000). buku ajar aspek spiritualitas. jakarta: widya medika. yunus, m. (?). kamus arab-indonesia. jakarta: pt. hidakarya agung. zohar, d. & marshal, i. (1995). sq: spiritual intelligence: the ultimate intelligence. great britain: bloomsburry. zulkifli, s. (2018). ini kebohongan alif, siswa pengeroyok guru smk 2 versi teman kelas. retrieved from http://news.rakyatku.com/. accessed on 04/09/2018 www.bkkbn.go.id/, diakses pada 11/09/2018 www.bnn.go.id/, diakses pada 12/09/2018 www.kpai.go.id/, diakses pada 12/09/2018 www.bankdata.kpai.go.id/, diakses pada 01/09/2018 www.sobatmuda.multiply.com//, diakses pada 11/09/2018 [ 262 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 [ 123 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 perception of catholic lessons among the eleventh grade muslim students at sma santa theresia jakarta woro retno kris sejati stkip kebangkitan nasional jakarta woro.sejati@sampoernaeducation.net hatim gazali sampoerna school of education gazalihatim@gmail.com abstract the government has regulated that each student is entitled to religious education in accordance with his/her religion. however, some schools, one of which is sma santa theresia (santa theresia senior high school), have special regulations. since these schools are run by catholic foundations, they provide catholic religious instruction to all students. walgito (2004) reported that a person’s perception will affect a person’s actions. therefore, this research aims to reveal the muslim students’ perception of the catholic lessons they follow. this research used descriptive qualitative approach. the data were collected using interviews, observation and documentation through a process of data triangulation. the subjects selected through a purposive sampling method by considering that they are the eleventh grade students and taught by the same religious education teacher. the data were analyxed using miles and huberman model consisting of data reduction, data display and conclusion. the results indicated that the muslim students have positive perception of the materials that are easy to apply in their daily lives, and also have a negative perception of the materials that have a lot of memorization and theories. keywords: students’ perceptions, muslim students, catholic lessons, school introduction the indonesian government requires schools in indonesia to provide religious education to all learners. religious education is education that provides knowledge and expects to form attitudes, personality, and skills of students in practicing religion, which is carried out at least through the subject / course in all types and levels of education. based on the government regulation no 55/2007 article 2, paragraph 2, religious education aims to help students to [ 124 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 understand, appreciate and practice the values that harmonize religion with mastery of science, technology and art. religious education is also expected to encourage the students to have the attitude of honesty, trustworthiness, discipline, hard-working, independence, competitiveness, cooperativeness, sincerity and confidence. meanwhile, the main goal of religious education is to strengthen human’s faith and fear of god almightym making them noble and capable of maintaining peace and harmony and good relationship between religious followers (bsnp, 2006). the implementation of religious education stipulated in government regulation no 55/2007, in which article 4, paragraph 2 states that, “each learner in an educational unit in all levels and types of education are entitled to religious education in accordance with their religion and taught by a teacher of the same religion.” the article clearly states that students in any school in indonesia are entitled to religious instruction in accordance with their religion. muslim students should receive islamic lessons, christian students should receive christian lessons, the same also applies to buddhist, catholic, hindu and confucian students. in practice, there are schools that do not provide religious instruction according to students’ religion. some public schools only provide religious instruction to muslim students as teachers of religion other than islam are unavailable. some private catholic or christian schools also provide religious catholic or christian instruction to all students. research conducted by mahupale (2007) on private and public schools in bali showed that not all schools provide religious instruction according to students’ religion. in fact, some schools only provide hindu or islamic lessons. however, there are also schools that provide general religious education, not focusing on any particular religion. in fact, some schools under catholic foundations in indonesia do not provide religious instruction in accordance with the religion of their students. this is because the catholic schools want to retain their school characteristics (soetomo, 2009). if there are non-catholic students attending these schools, they shall provide a statement of willingness to follow catholic religious education to the parents who are not catholics and asked to sign it (darmanto in sairin, 2006). the statement proves that non-catholic parents know that their children will get catholic religious instruction at school. besides, schools under catholic and christian foundations have an institution that supports them to continue to provide religious instruction in accordance with their religious characteristics. such institution is majelis pendidikan kristen (christian education council) abbreviated as mpk. mpk expressed its support based on the regulation of education minister of the republic of [ 125 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 indonesia no. 71/2009 on the establishment of legal organization of basic and secondary education in chapter 3 which discusses the characteristics, scope of activities and period of establishment and clause 5 which states that the distinctive feature of the school may be added by the school management. from this article it can be concluded that catholic schools have the authority to make its own rules, including the provision of religious education regulations. sma santa theresia jakarta is one of the schools that provides catholic religious instruction to all students. the catholic religious instruction, based on bnsp (2006), covers the scope of catholic religious instruction in schools which includes four aspects, namely the church, civics, jesus christ and learners’ personality. however, beyond the four aspects, bnsp gives authority to the school to provide additional subject of catholicismn. in the eleventh grade, santa theresia senior high school students get a lesson of catholic religion on the church and society. the church in the teaching material is more directed to the teachings of the specific nature of the catholic religion. in the material on the community, it focuses on getting to know and understand the church’s relationship with the world, understand the nature of human rights and understand and appreciate life. compared with the material in the tenth and twelfth grade, the eleventh grade materials are the most balanced in terms of thematic aspects, because there is a part of learning about the catholic religion in particular but there are parts of the materials that deal with general knowledge. even though some schools do not provide religious instruction in accordance with the religion of their students, research conducted by patimah and kadarismana (2013) showed that parents have a positive perception of their children’s participation in catholic religious instruction. positive perception here means parents are not concerned about the participation of students in catholic religious instruction. parents assume that the catholic religious education is similar to civics or character education for their children. parents also stated that the participation of children in catholic religious instruction at school does not affect their belief in their own religion. for parents, they can offer religious education at home or at other religious institutions. they are actually proud of their children becoming more disciplined after the entry of the catholic school. in fact, ernawati (2010) who did research on the religiosity of muslim students in kolose de brito catholic school yogyakarta, showed that despite the intensity of worship is relatively low and the knowledge of religion is less, the students have good social behavior, and have a fear of god. the research report by the dian interfedei in 2004-2006 states that the catholic religious education for non-catholic students is not considered useful [ 126 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 to a student’s life. they think that it is better to provide spiritual education that will help them get the religious knowledge that is relevant to their religion. regardless to what is revealed in the report of dian interfedei institution, the important thing is state of students who receive religious instruction inconsistent with their religion. romo mangun (in prasetya, et al., 2009) revealed that the most important thing is not the students receiving religious instruction in accordance with their religion, but it is how students reflect on the religious experiences they get. rachmat (2009) stated that a person’s behavior is influenced by perception. in the process of its formation, perception is affcted by the environment (walgito, 2004). perception itself is a process a person experiences objects, events or relationships obtained by concluding information and interpreting the message. in this context, the muslim students’ experience is receiving the instruction of the catholic religion. so, the experience will influence the perception of the muslim students. perceptions are formed too, which will affect them in their daily actions. overview of sma santa theresia jakarta sma santa theresia is a school of santa ursula, located on jalan pos no. 2 central jakarta. in the 2013-2014 academic year, sma santa theresia had 39 teachers, 7 staff of administration and library, 1 computer technician and 7 school janitors. the total number of students of santa teresa was 474. the 474 students were divided into 17 classes and again divided into three levels, namely the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades. each grade was divided into two departments of science and social studies. there were 155 students in the tenth grade (class x), 163 in the eleventh grade (class xi) and 156 in the twelfth grade (class xii). the majority of students at sma santa theresia are catholics. muslim students at sma santa theresia were only 15 or 3.16%. of the total 15 muslim students, two are in class xii, 4 in class xi and 9 in class x. muslim students at sma santa theresia are divided into three classes, namely class xi ips i, xi ips ii and xi ipa i. the four muslim students at sma santa theresia are the subjects of this research, three of them from social studies class and one from science class. the four subjects are badriah, munaroh, dian and lukman. badriah is female and muslim since birth. both her parents are muslim, but his father was a convert. her father converted to islam after marrying her mother. before getting married, her father was christian and had two children who now live in america. she is the first child of 3 brothers. she has been a student at santa theresia since kindergarten. munaroh is female and muslim since [ 127 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 birth. both her parents embraced islam since childhood. in her family, she is the only child. she has been at santa theresia school since the tenth grade of high school. before sma santa theresia, she had studied at the singapore international school in medan. she went to sd and smp negeri 1 palembang. dian is female and muslim since birth. both her parents embraced islam since birth as well. she is the first child of 3. she has been a student at santa theresia since high school grade ten. before that, she went to school at santa maria bandung. lukman is male and muslim since birth. he comes from a family with different religions, his mother converted to islam and his father embraces catholicism. lukman is the first child of two and has been at santa theresia since kindergarten. muslims students’ perceptions of catholic religious lessons the material of the church and the world is given in the 2nd semester at sma santa theresia. this material discusses the relation between the church and the world, and the church’s role in dealing with world’s problems. in the textbook, the purpose of learning in is to enable students to put themselves in the positions of others in this world. in studying this material, students feel that there are sub-chapters that are easy and some that are hard to learn. subchapters that are difficult to learn deal with social doctrine of the church. according to muslim students, this section is difficult to study because the material is a lot, complex and using foreign terms that are difficult to remember. in the social doctrine of the church materials, the most difficult is one that discusses the encyclical. in the material, students are asked to write a paper containing the letters made by any pope during his reign along with examples of its application in the present life and the relationship with the time the letter was made. based on the interview, some muslim students reported that they did not like a lot of rote materials so they did not like the encyclical material. only one muslim student who claimed that she did not have a problem with memorizing a lot, because she is used to memorizing. however, all the muslim students stated that they felt too lazy to memorize the encyclical materials because these materials are of no use to them. according to them, the lessons are just as common knowledge as history or sociology. meanwhile, the material that is easy to learn in the chapter of the church and the world is a lesson that discusses the role and relationship between the church and the world. muslim students revealed that the material can be implemented in real life so it is easier to understand. in the material of human rights and human life appreciation, students learn [ 128 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 about how to value human life given by god. the materials being studied include knowledge about abortion, suicide, drugs, hiv and respect of fellow human beings. of all the materials that have been learned from the 1st semester, students find it most convenient and interested in learning about these two chapters. these materials have no definite theories that must be learned and memorized. the discussion on this matter is also related to the daily life of students, so that more students benefit from the instruction. according to the students, this material provides knowledge and makes them aware of the reason why they should not use drugs and promiscuity. by knowing these reasons, it makes them feel the need to be more careful in relationships. in addition, students also realize the importance of respecting their peers and knowing the impact of being disrespectful to friends. students revealed that the material of respect for human life isl for their reflection. bible verses and documents of vatican ii are among the reference materials that are often used in studying catholicism. sources from the scriptures must come from the bible, while the issue of the second vatican council document obtained from the teachers. students are required to take notes of the documents of vatican ii. these notes that will be used as a learning resource when they review the material that discusses the documents of vatican ii. muslim students at sma santa theresia revealed that they had difficulty in learning the material containing bible verses and the documents of vatican council ii. materials related to the documents of vatican ii make students confused as the names of documents are written in a foreign language and so are many other existing documents. this difficulty is caused by their incomprehension of the verses in the bible and they are also confused with the words that are written in verses. students claim that some verses of the bible are written in a language that they barely understand and seek its implementation in everyday life. students also are confused with the names of the verses and the chapters are so difficult to memorize and they often get mixed up in memorizing the story and the characters in the bible verses. difficulties experienced by these students in fact causes laziness to learn the bible verses. however, laziness felt by some students is not only based on the difficulty, but also by the fact that they are muslim students who must learn the verses in the scriptures of other religion. badriah who comes from a muslim family said that she felt bad to learn about the materials. she also felt sad that she had to learn about some other religion. she was afraid she would be interested in catholicism when she learned about [ 129 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the bible verses. although she does not know a lot about her religion, she remains confident with her religion and does not want to convert to another religion. being reluctant to learn the bible verses is also felt by munaroh. she was born and raised in a muslim family. studying the scriptures are things that she would always avoid. when there are assignments or questions about a bible verse, she often asks a friend. she stated that he did not want to read verses contained in other holy books. she is a muslim, so the scripture she should be read and study is only the qur’an. she felt uneasy to follow the catholic religious lessons as she should read the bible. santa teresa religious teachers stated that they are aware of the existence of muslim students in their class and understand if they do not join activities typical to the catholic religion. dian had a different feeling from badriah. dian reported that she was not bothered by the situation that she had to learn bible verses in catholic religious instruction. she revealed that she actually took the lessons from bible verses and stories about biblical figures by considering them to be the fables of the middle east. feeling indifferent in learning bible verses is shared by lukman. he grew up in different environments as his mother and sister are muslims while his father catholic. lukman was not depressed at all when studying the material with bible verses. according to him, the material is just general knowledge. nevertheless, lukman remained steadfast in islam and not at all was interested in learning more or converting to catholicism. he is always reminded by her mother about his religion. based on observations made during which the muslim students were attending religious instruction in the classroom, it appears that badriah and dian listened attentively to the catholic religion lessons. they both paid attention when a friend explained about the material covered. meanwhile, lukman and munaroh do not pay full attention when catholic religious instruction is in progress. lukman sometimes tells his friends some joke during the lesson and sometimes he feels sleepy when the teacher is giving explanation. however, he remains actively involved when a friend asks for some people to come forward to play a role. in the interview, lukman also admited that sometimes he feels bored to follow religious instruction, not because the material but because of the learning system, (interviewed on april 28, 2013) “i just sleep, then listen to the presentation then if i’m bored, i have a chat. yeah i’m juat bored with the teacher “. munaroh also seems to lazily follow religious instruction in the [ 130 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 classroom. at the beginning she was listening to the presentation carefully but, over time she looked bored, and looked down and closed her eyes. different perception among students muslim students have different perceptions of their participation in catholic religious instruction. munaroh revealed that she had no problem to follow catholic religious instruction at sma santa theresia. according to her, the subject of catholic religion taught is general information about catholic teachings. the following are excerpts of interviews with munaroh, “the lesson is not only about catholicism. there are other things like manners.” additionally, munaroh revealed that she considers the catholic religious lesson as civics education which is mandatory for students in catholic schools. before studyin at sma santa theresia, munaroh was a student at the singapore international school (sis) in medan and at smpn 1 palembang. while studying at sis medan, she did not receive religious instruction, and at smpn 1 medan she received islamic lessons. munaroh revealed that the catholic religious lesson at sma santa theresia is easier than islamic religious education she had learned in junior high. munaroh said, “islam has more difficult materials, crazy. arabic, salat. anyway it is difficult.” she thinks that lessons in islam are more difficult to understand because of the use of arabic. according to her, the catholic religious instruction is not difficult really, because the indonesian language is used”. munaroh also revealed that a non-catholic individual will not be suddenly attracted to catholicism and then convert when studying the catholic religion at school. according to her, the subject of catholic religion given at school will not be enough for a person to know what the catholic religion is all about and then to get attracted to it. overall following the subject of the catholic religion, as munaroh reported, had no difficulty. she stated that there is much to memorize. however, she had no difficulty in memorizing religious subject because basically she prefers memorizing to counting or understanding a lesson. unlike munaroh, badriah is very unhappy with the material that requires memorization. she also has difficulty in studying the materials of the catholic religion. although she does not like to memorize, in the catholic religious instruction she chooses the method of learning by memorizing. in fact, she realizes that there are other ways to learn the material of catholicism which is by understanding the lesson. however, badriah does not intend to [ 131 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 really understand the lessons of the catholic religion. the reason is because catholicism is not her religion. badriah has received catholic religious instruction since kindergarten. she is aware that catholic religious instruction does not always lead to catholic teaching. however, she is still afraid of being attracted to the teachings of the catholic religion during the instruction. she revealed, “the lessons are not really interesting. it’s not my religion. so, i’m here just to learn, after that i will forget it”. due to the fear of conversion, badriah chooses to study catholic religion by simply memorizing material alone and forgetting it afterwards. she begins to feel discomfort studying the catholic religion since entering high school, where she studies more difficult subjects and is increasingly aware that she is not learning her own religion. although badriah revealed that she does not want to seek to understand the religious study material, in the classroom, she remains serious to follow and listen to the instruction. she also remains active in the duty when her group is chosen as for the worship activities. she admitted that she always chooses roles that do not require too much involvement in catholic worship when leading the prayer. it is true, as observations show that it appears that badriah served as the prayer reader only. based on the interview, she said that the prayer is simply reading the sermon and not her initiative. the community prayer is the work of a friend and some she found on the internet. participation in the catholic lessons badriah reported that, “(i) feel bad about learning the religion of other people, while you are not practicing your own, sometimes i feel sad “. badriah admitted that at this time she did not learn the islamic religion. she had islamic lessons for a year, namely when she was in the 6th grade. after that, she has never again studied islam, which is why she felt sad when she had to learn the islamic lessons. badriah’s sadness for not studying her own religion but instead studying another is also shared by dian. dian felt that the knowledge of her own religion is still lacking. this is because she never formally studied islam. at home, she lived with her family who are all muslims. however, her mother prohibits her from taking qur’anic lessons at any place. this is because her mother was worried that she would become fanatic or even worse a terrorist. therefore, her mother’s fear has led dian to receive no islamic lessons. badriah has been in catholic schools since kindergarten so the religious lesson [ 132 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 she received from childhood to date is the catholic religion. dian reported that she likes to learn the subject of the catholic religion in primary and secondary education. in the discussion of the material, it is mainly about the story of the characters that exist in the bible. according to the story of these characters set an example for her life. dian recounted that she likes studying a person’s biography. studying the figures in the bible, one of whom is jesus, to dian is similar to studying the person’s biography. starting at the high school level, dian was not so keen on the subject of the catholic religion. she revealed that at high school, the lessons have started to discuss the structure of the church and required memorization. meanwhile, she is not the type of person who likes to memorize. regarding the participation in the lessons of the catholic religion, dian said that she did not feel depressed or uncomfortable about having to learn the religion is not hers. she realized that studying the subject of the catholic religion is a consequence because she went to a catholic school. according to her, all religions teach the same things. therefore, she just took the positive values of the subject of religion she is studying. however, in certain respects, dian felt confused because of the teachings of the catholic religion are different to those of her religion. “what can i say? sometimes, i think there are things that are contrary to the islamic religion so i feel like a bit uncomfortable. the argument of what is allowed or prohibited for example, in islam it is clear without using your own argument. both the bible and the qur’an’s have been re-written by humans, certainly there is an effect on them. so in fact if the prohibition may be related to health reasons. then talking about jesus, well i don’t understand .. haha “. responding to the confusion itself, dian often asked her mom or friends, however, her friends gave a negative response to her question. negative response means that people who refuse to talk to her about the problems she encountered, or responded with jokes. such response has caused her to refrain from asking more questions about things that confuse her. currently, dian chose to remain silent and not to question things that confuse her. the observation in the classroom showed that dian was serious in following the religion lessons. when her friends explained something, she would listen and when his teacher asked to take notes, she did it as instructed. she was also actively involved in the group discussion or to provide questions to the group presentation. unlike dian who was serious in following the lesson of the catholic religion, lukman often had a chat with friends sitting next to him during class. he also [ 133 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 sometimes teased him friend giving a presentation. in a group discussion in class, he was mostly silent and took any suggestions from his friends. in the interviews, lukman said that he was often bored during religious instruction. he felt bored not because he had to study the catholic religion but because he thought the class was boring. he said that the subject of religion contains material similar to that of sociology, history and civic education which all have theories to memorize. in connection with his participation in religious subject, lukman was indifferent. the following are excerpts of interviews with him, “my feeling is just ok, not like other muslims taking it seriously, well it doesn’t affect me. there’s no pressure at all “. muslim student religious activities based on the interviews, muslim students’ at a catholic school are unable to perform their duties as muslims. muslim students in catholic schools stated that they are rarely able to perform the obligation of prayer five times a day when when they are at school. they have problem looking for a place for salat and is afraid to ask for permission from the teacher. based on information obtained from the catholic religion teachers, all teachers at sma santa theresia have always given muslim students permission to establish prayer, however, they have to bear the risk of leaving school hours. the risk is to miss class or to have reduced time during a test. besides being unable to perform the five daily prayers, muslim students also said that they could not recite or read the quran in arabic and did not know the rules in islam. grades of religious lesson for muslim students based on interviews and documents obtained from the school, muslim students’ grades in religious lessons are not bad. the four muslim students revealed that the grades of religious lesson in the report book was never below kkm (minimum mastery criteria). lukman’s grade in the first mid semester exam was poor because he did not learn the material. badriah revealed that her grade was 81 and the figure is higher than some of her classmates who are catholics. munaroh and dian also said that they are above the kkm. badriah, dian and munaroh said that they had no difficulty in working on the questions in midterm or final exams. usually muslim students will memorize on the eve before the exam. lukman is aware that his grade is low because he did not study seriously. in the exam of catholic religion lessons, the questions are a mixture of multiple [ 134 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 choice and description. in the test there are several multiple choice questions which are related to the bible verses or vatican council documents, but they feel no need to memorize it because it did not affect their grades. muslim students admitted to answering random questions about scripture or vatikan council documents. challenges of learning other religions the results findings show that some of the subjects had trouble following some of the subject material of the catholic religion because it is hard to find its implementation. implementation of the material is indeed easier for students to learn and make students more interested in learning. this is supported by farmer (1999) who argued that by knowing the implementation in real life, students will be more aware of the reason why they need study science at school. catholic religious instruction in class xi is the most religious subjects compared with the thematic material of class x and xii. students learn about typical and common teachings of catholicism. students reported that the common material is easier to learn because they consider it more useful and can be used as a reflection. the lesson of catholic religion, which contains theories or the hierarchy of the catholic religion and about the bible verses as well as the vatican council documents are also considered difficult by muslim students and they think there is no benefit for them. this shows that they have no real intrinsic motivation for them to learn. intrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from the students (djamarah, 2008). students learn about catholicism associated with materials typical of the catholic by extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from outside. extrinsic motivation in this instance is the fact that students attend classes only because of a duty or value. djamarah (2008) revealed that essentially primary and intrinsic motivation is more important than extrinsic motivation. students who have intrinsic motivation will be more enthusiastic and not easily affected by outside influences. based on the research results, there is one muslim student who had intrinsic motivation to learn the lessons of the catholic religion. the student said that he was pleased with some of the material in the catholic religion because it can add to his knowledge. in the everyday life, dian channels the desire to watch bbc or discovery channel. in contrast to dian who has intrinsic motivation in studying catholicism, badriah has strong extrinsic motivation in following the lesson of the catholic religion. she revealed that [ 135 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 her aim to seriously follow the catholic religion lesson is in order to get good grades or at least on the kkm. intrinsic motivation is not seen in her, because she was in fact sad to have to follow religious instruction inconsistent with her religion. lukman and munaroh have another view of the religious instruction, in which they have less intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. they just follow the catholic religion classes because it is required at school. they are less concerned with the grades or the knowledge that they will get. what is important for them is to get a grade above the kkm. badriah expressed negative perception in the form of feelings of sadness when following the lessons of the catholic religion. it is caused by factors that influence the perception of needs (rachmat, 2009). badriah felt no need for the catholic religion lessons in her life and she is more in need of islamic religious instruction in accordance with her religion while at school she would still be required to learn the catholic religion in which she felt sad. sadness she experienced is not just because of necessity, but also because of the experience factor. according to rachmat (2009), the experience is indeed one of the factors that affects the perception. badriah feels sad because she has never studied islam in depth while she is in fact required to study the catholic religion. this causes doubt and fear in her when she becomes interested in the catholic religion. unlike the others, munaroh studied islam in previous schools and had more positive perceptions about attending religious instruction. the catholic religion lessons she is learning now is not about the doctrine of catholicism. she added that what they learn is not going to make them want to learn more deeply about the catholic religion. according to her, islamic religious instruction given in public schools is much deeper than the catholic religion lessons she gets now. munaroh does have an insight into islamic education than the other three research subjects. basically, she comes from a muslim family. she gained knowledge of islam from her qur’an teacher and previous schools. brofenbrenner (in santrock, 2007) revealed that the environment will affect the way people think. this opinion is proved by the varied perceptions of students in response to their religion. students who come from muslim families provide guidance and a reminder to children to be more devout and make al-quran the sole basis for their life. it seems that in the end the child does not want to open and read the bible verses. meanwhile, students from muslim converts are less strict in terms of religion, even their families still keep the bible. badriah said that her mother always warned her not to take catholic religious instruction seriously. the result is that students are [ 136 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 becoming sad every time they attend the catholic religion classes. while dian is always advised by his grandfather that all religions are the same. this affects the way she considers studying catholicism. however, the problem for her is when she gets different story in islam and catholicism. while lukman comes from a family with different religions, muslim-catholic, his father is muslim and his mother catholic. his family is more tolerant. for example, his father respects his wife not eating pork at home while his wife and children let the father to perform worship each week. in the process of education, the mother actively participates in the religious education of children, so the children follow the religion of the mother. lukman said that he had attended his father’s mass at church, but because his mother forbade, he never went there anymore. his mother’s doctrine indeed lingered in the memory of the child. it is evident that this child will remain loyal to the religion of islam as a mandate and the doctrine of the mother. when viewed from the family of research subjects, most of the research subjects are closer to the figure of the mother so that they are also likely to follow the advice of their mother. paloutzian (in santrock, 2006) argued that the indoctrination of the surrounding environment will affect a person’s beliefs. it is evident that in reality the indoctrination of the mother affects students’ religious beliefs. according to fowler’s religious stage of development (in santrock, 2006), the subject of research is currently in the stage of synthesis-conventional faith, which is the stage where someone is likely to adhere to the religious beliefs of people and have not been able to adequately analyze alternative ideology. the results showed that the sma santa theresia muslim students have been in this stage, where they still adhere to the teachings of their religion even though they receive instruction on other religion. glock and stark (1996) argued that religiosity of a person can be divided into five dimensions i.e. belief, religious practices, appreciation, experience and knowledge. broadly speaking, judging from the belief dimension of muslim students in catholic schools, it is still good because they still trust and believe in the religion of islam. although they are still teenagers whose thinking is still unstable, the dimensions of their religious beliefs never changed. however in terms of worship practices, they are still lacking because the research subjects admitted that they have not been able to establish prayer five times a day because of the unavailability of facilities of worship for them at school. nevertheless, the muslim students still perform fasting. judging from the dimensions of appreciation and experience, the muslim students still fear for violating the commands contained in the teachings of islam. however, in the [ 137 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 dimension of knowledge, they are still lacking due to the absence of people or institutions that support and help to provide knowledge about the religion of islam to them. muslim students who get lessons of catholic religion have a positive perception of their participation in catholic religious instruction. they understand and appreciate their school policies despite losing their right to receive religious instruction in accordance with their religion as regulated in the 2003 education law. based on the information obtained from one of the religious teachers, sma santa theresia had experienced confusion about religious education to instruct at school. they realized that they did not follow the government regulations, but they also recognize they objected to giving non-catholic religious instruction. for them it would not be in accordance with the mission of the school stating that they wanted to prepare indonesian human resources who are critical, innovative and creative in science and faith according to the spirit of st. angela. the missions of the school apply to all students. in the research conducted by dian interfedei, it is stated that the implementation of religious education can be used as an alternative to religious education for the catholic school. however, catholic school teachers stated that religious education does not become official curriculum for the government. so sma santa theresia has doubt about the implementation of religious education and chooses to provide catholic religious instruction to all students. conclusion the results of the research showed that the muslim students’ perception of the subject of the catholic religion at sma santa theresia, especially regarding the material of the church and the world is quite negative. students find it difficult to study this material because there is too much to memorize in a foreign language. the students’ perception of the material on the role and the church’s relationship with the world tends to be positive. muslim students reported that this lesson is easier for a broader study material and every discussion is easier to find implementation in their daily lives. muslim students’ perception of the material of human rights and human life award. muslim students’ perceptions on this matter positively, they find it easy to learn the material. they are interested in studying this material because almost all materials directly related to the implementation of real-life and can be used as a reflection of their lives. muslim students’ perceptions about the material scriptures and the documents of vatican council. muslim students have a negative perception on materials associated with bible verses and the [ 138 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 documents of vatican council. for them, this material is confusing because the language used is difficult to understand and many verses and documents that must be memorized. in addition, the perception of muslim students who attend classes in the catholic religion in general is positive. they refer to the study of the catholic religion merely as ordinary subject such as civics education. however, basically the students have a different perception regarding the necessity of their study of the catholic religion. new students in a catholic school do not mind attending the catholic religion class because they are not affected by the teachings of the catholic religion. students who come from a family of muslim converts, one of them expressed his concern following the catholic lessons while students who come from muslim-catholic family reported that he was not burdened by the catholic religion lessons because for him all religions essentially are the same. muslim student religious activities when seen from the dimensions of belief by glock and stark (1996) are still good because they still believe in the islamic religion; worship practices are still lacking because the research subjects admitted that they had not been able to establish prayer five times a day due to the unavailability of facilities of worship for them in school; from the dimensions of appreciation and experience, the muslim students still fear for violating the commands contained in the teachings of islam. however, in the dimension of knowledge, they are still lacking due to the absence of people or institutions that support and help to provide knowledge about the religion of islam to them. from these results, this research has several methodological and practical suggestions for conducting similar studies in the future. the school especially vice principal for curriculum and catholic religious studies as well as teachers can consider muslim students’ perception of the subject of the catholic religion. methodologically, there should be expansion of research subjects as in this study the subjects of research were only students of class xi where they shared similar experience in attending the catholic religious class in high school. future research can be conducted using research subjects with a wide range of experience which 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(2013). religiusitas siswa muslim di kanisius tegalmulyo yogyakarta. diunduh pada 13 april 2014 dari http://digilib.uin-suka. ac.id/9651/1/bab%20i,%20iv,%20daftar%20pustaka.pdf. rakhmat, j.(2009). psikologi komunikasi. bandung: pt remaja rosdakarya. razak, n. (1989). dienul islam. bandung: al-mmaarik. sairin, w.(2006) identitas dan ciri khas pendidikan kristen di indonesia antara konseptual dan operasional. jakarta: gunung mulia. santrock, j. w. (2007). adolescence (b. widyasinta. terj.) (ed. ke-11). jakarta, indonesia: erlangga. (karya asli diterbitkan 2007) soetomo, g. (2009). built to last. bogor: grafika mardi yuana. sugiyono. (2012). metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan kombinasi (mixed methods). bandung: alfabeta. sunaryo. (2004). psikologi untuk keperawatan. jakarta: egc. walgito, b. 2004. pengantar psikologi umum. yogyakarta: andi offset. prasetya, dkk. (2009). pendidikan religiositas –gagasan, isi dan pelaksa[ 140 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 1 june 2016 naannya.yogyakarta: percetakan kanisius yogyakarta. dilihat pada 11 januari 2015 pada https://books.google.co.id/books?id=f9vty8idk9qc&pg=pa15&dq=romo+mangun+tentang+fungsi+pendidikan+agama&hl=en&sa=x&ei=-gx5vmhsm82zuatgmieo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false. tanuwidjaya, n. (2013). persepsi kepala sekolah, guru dan siswa terhadap mata pelajaran bimbingan konseling di sma ‘regina pacis’ jakarta. skripsi pada stkip-kebangkitan nasional.jakarta: tidak diterbitkan. ---------.(2004-2006). laporan penelitian dian interfedei: problematika pendidikan agama di indonesia editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 267 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin iain fatahul muluk papua email: yaminpapua79@yahoo.com musa rumbaru iain fatahul muluk papua email: waket2@gmail.com nining lestari iain fatahul muluk papua email: nininglestari.iainfmpapua@gmail.com mufliha wijayati iain metro email: muflihawijayati@metrouniv.ac.id abstract through in-depth research using an ethnographic method, this article seeks to show what changes are taking place in the fakfak community regarding culture, religion, and composition. this research aims to fill the research gap from previous studies by looking at how religion has rapidly changed the structure of society (both in terms of identity and population demographics) even though they come from the same kinship in a nuclear family. this article found that religion has become society’s primary agent of change, with positive and negative connotations. however, at the same time, the community has a local knowledge called “toromit wat istery” which is used as an unbreakable bond due to clashes between religions. this unity in diversity is a fundamental value that the community must observe. as an implication, these changes in the fakfak community serve as an example of the resilience of local values in the face of the clash of global values that must be protected and maintained as the primary source of national resilience. keywords: changing community structure; fakfak society; local knowledge introduction the arrival of islam to the fakfak regency’s patipi bay community provides insight into the spread of islam in the indonesian archipelago and to papua, [ 268 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 and the only example of the occurrence of the separation of inter-religious areas of power that is manifested in a kinship agreement between ade (younger sibling) and kaka (elder sibling). ade, in the context of religion, transformed into islam and in the context of geography, controlled the coastal areas, while kaka turned into christianity and controlled the mountainous area. the transformation of kinship and identity, as in the patipi community, has similarly occurred in the dayak community in kalimantan, which underwent an identity shift because of the decision to embrace religion. those who choose islam as their religion receive a new malay identity, while those who adopt christianity receive dayak as their primary identity (mauneti, 2004; nugraha, 2018). expression, change, and separation in society due to religion prove what abdullah (2019) argues: religion is born in an erratic and frenzy manner. it has implications for losing silent space, low credibility, and weakening religion’s connection power (abdullah, 2019). religious encounters between islam, christianity, and other religions and the communities in the indonesian archipelago have been widely studied but tend to focus on three aspects: its historical aspect (saprillah, 2011; yakub, 2017), subjugation (handoko, 2009, 2017; sianipar et al., 2020), and assimilation between religion and culture in society (haryanto, 2013, 2014; indah permata sari, 2020; mursyid, 2009; muryana, 2018). yamin (2011, 2019, 2020) illustrates how the interaction process between islam and the dani community in the central highlands of papua has added a new color to islam in indonesia. jubba (2019) recounted the story of the subjugation of the towani tolotang people by religion and state in south sulawesi, and zainal (2015) reviewed how katoba has become a symbol of the integration of islam with the muna people’s culture. this research shows another reality that previous studies have not covered, the direct implication of the presence of religion in the community, the existence of divisions, and the formation of clear boundaries in society because of religion by labeling each group with a new identity as a marker of the existence of such division. this research is based on the argument that three main factors drive community structure and identity changes due to religious reasons. first, the exclusive nature of religion has forced people to create boundaries between themselves even though they come from the same kinship. second, the lack of religious literacy about the danger of community division, because religion is understood by its followers, will have implications for strengthening the desire to highlight the religion that each group embraces. third, strengthening and weakening state (government) intervention reinforces the separation of society in the name of religion. these three religion-related factors create [ 269 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 division and potential disharmony in society. generally, the separation of society is a natural phenomenon (abdullah, 2003; muryana, 2018; pabbajah et al., 2019; wekke, 2013), but it would be unusual if the separation is driven by religious factors and occurs only in one specific family in one community. this unusual social reality occurred in patipi bay, fakfak regency, west papua province, so this area was selected as the focus of this research for three reasons. first, patipi bay maintains various stories about the history of interactions between new religions and local communities, which has produced a distinctive religious tradition (amin, 2020; haris, 2016; mene, 2017; saprillah, 2011). second, in the patipi bay community, the context of ade (islam/coastal area) and kaka (christian/ inland area) continues to be revived by the community through various economic, political, and sociocultural activities as well as oral traditions that continue to be passed through generations. third, the implications of the existence of separation due to religion, even though they are in the same kinship, has caused several incidents of conflict which, although they can be quickly resolved, has undoubtedly become a pseudo phenomenon that may be triggered at any time, considering that every religion continues to thrive in its spirit of expansion. brotherhood and separation due to religion among patipi bay’s citizens can be explained through qualitative research that draws on primary and secondary data by covering processes that occur directly in the community that can be observed and confirmed on-site through direct observation and interviews. this research involved religious, traditional, and community leaders and local historians specializing in patipi bay’s history, rituals, religious traditions, and cultural practices. the research was first carried out by collecting secondary data through various religious references previously written by several researchers, as well as tracing the history of islam in the community, widely known as one of the areas that ibn batuta visited on his international voyage. the second step was to conduct direct research in the community by visiting the research site and observing and interviewing key figures. the interviews and observations were recorded using a recorder, photographs, and a journal, the main basis for interpreting field findings. the data analysis process was carried out in three stages. first was data reduction, a process of organizing data in a more systematic form, especially thematically. the second step was data display to present research findings in table and graph form and excerpts from interviews with informants. the third and final was data verification to conclude the confluence of data with concepts and theories used in this study. descriptive and interpretive data [ 270 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 analysis techniques then supported these three stages of analysis. the data description served as the basis for interpretation by following the trends and contexts that accompany the reality under study, as field clifford geertz (1992) shows. the stages and analysis techniques are expected to lead this research to findings and conclusions that explain why brotherhood and separation cooccur among the patipi bay people. fakfak society as a research space fakfak regency is located in indonesia’s west papua province. the journey to this district begins in sorong, a transit airport where all travelers visiting fakfak regency by air must stop. the journey takes approximately 60 minutes by air on a twin outer aircraft with a jet engine and double propeller. fakfak regency consists of 17 sub-districts, 142 villages, and seven urban villages spread over mountainous and coastal areas. most of fakfak residents are nutmeg farmers and fishermen. in some districts and villages, electricity is only supported by a limited number of generators from each family, which can only be turned on at 19.00 – 00.00 central indonesian time zone. it is thus very expensive. some areas do not have electricity at all, such as ugar village in the kokas district, which has become an eco-tourism destination. in addition, several villages also lack communication infrastructure. the majority religion in fakfak is muslim. however, there are two districts whose residents are generally protestant christians. the majority of the population uses indonesian as their daily language, especially in terms of inter-ethnic communication, but in local villages we can find residents using local languages, such as mbaham, iha, arguni, and karas. the indigenous tribes that inhabit the fakfak district are the mbaham, mata, and iha tribes. the indigenous tribes live side-by-side with migrant ethnic groups originating from sulawesi field (akmal & muslim, 2019), maluku field (haris, 2016), and java field (paisal, 2018). economic growth in fakfak regency has been quite good, although, in some sectors, economic performance still needs to be improved, taking into account the challenges and available opportunities. one of the widely-used macro performance indicators for the economic sector is the gross regional domestic product (grdp). to support the grdp of fakfak regency there are nine production units covering nine business fields: agriculture, mining & quarrying, manufacturing industry, electricity, and clean water, construction, trade, hotels and restaurants, transportation and communication, finance, rental and service companies, and other service establishments. [ 271 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 based on 2022 population data obtained from the central bureau of statistics of fakfak regency, the population of fakfak regency is 85,817, comprising 43,963 men and 41,854 women. the total population is dominated by residents in pariwari district with 23,729 people or 27.65%. meanwhile, the district with the lowest population is mbahamdandara, 1,016 people or 1.18%. religious exclusivism contextually, the people of fakfak in patipi bay generally follow two official government-recognized religions, christianity and islam. however, in daily life, they hold several rituals based on ancestral traditions that they continue to practice (amin, 2020; wekke, 2013), especially regarding matters relating to the fulfillment of the necessities of life and the sacredness or holiness of a particular location. an informant reported straightforwardly how people overcome a natural constraint by holding a ritual of respecting the owner of a certain place believed to have supernatural powers. he said: “karena air itu mau kering ka makanya dong kasih air taparop, kasih biar lancar. kopi yang ditaruh di batu par kasih sanang dorang, kasih dorang minum, katong sama-sama minum kopi. karena katong tara lihat, jadi katong bicara saja, a ini kamong pu tembakau, sirih, pinang.” [invisible creatures have blocked the discharge of water from its source, so people give offerings in the form of coffee, tobacco, areca nut and betel leaves, which are placed in a spot where water does not flow while saying the words; this is the tobacco, areca nut and betel leaves that we offer. so, the water (afterward) flows smoothly”] however, by looking at the composition of the villages, residents are constructed based on their religion, some villages are labeled as islamic others villages that are labeled christian. this labeling also aligns with the population composition, which is a religious majority. the construction of villages and districts in fak-fak that are divided based on religion are inseparable from the role of the state, customs, and religion, either generically or differentially, as reported by gramci in saptono (1999) who emphasizes the effort to construct society is one of the strategies in hegemony. in the context of the state, the omission of community grouping based on religion is a form of neglect in creating a heterogeneous and non-sectarian society. meanwhile, in the context of custom and religion, there has been an effort to perpetuate regional dominance in the name of certain customs and religions, which will limit the capacity of the community to face global conflicts that rely on the principles of [ 272 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 practicality, accuracy, and tend to have unified perspectives (humaedi, 2014). the construction of a rigidly structured fak-fak community based on the religion they follow provides an important marker for the people in the fakfak district, which signifies that the community is not in a good state. several socio-political events that occur in the community, which then intersect directly, show that the division of society based on religion has provided an entry point for conflicts that can occur at any time. august 2019’s tambaruni market burning incident in fak-fak city is an example. the incident was followed by several conflicts or riots, which were seen in demonstrations triggered by the racist treatment of the papuans in surabaya. this case began with a protest by indigenous people against migrants, then turned into two big groups, polarizing the society into people supporting the unitary state of indonesia (nkri / islam) and those in favor of free papua (christianity). changes in identity and demographics the selection and change of identity is a process, as mauneti, (2004) argues that the dynamic nature seen in the construction of cultural identities is evident in many cases in indonesia. in the same light, hall (1990) maintains that identity is more transparent and unproblematic than we think. identity may be regarded as something authentic, representing a new cultural practice. we should think of identity as an imperfect production, always in the making and always legalized in it, not outside of it. within this framework, cultural identity can be seen as a collective sequence of one’s truth, hidden from so many others, more superficial and artificially self-repressing, in which people with historical and ancestral ties are generally held. cultural identity reflects the shared historical experience and the sharing of cultural codes that have been provided to us, as an individual (with the same cultural background) with a stable, unchanging experience and a continuous frame of reference and meaning, under the shifting division of our actual history. this unity underlines all the others, more than superficial differences. in hall’s framework of thought above, we can witness it in the balinese people, as nordholt (2002) found that if a balinese is asked who he is, he may start by saying he wants to explain his linggih by mentioning his lineage. the balinese identify themselves generally by making references to time and place to one of their ancestors in ancient times, as well as a point of origin (kawitan) which is often stated in a sacred place of the temple. in addition, to explain identity and its changes, maalouf ’s opinion (2004) is important to note, as he argues that identity is what prevents us from being [ 273 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 identical to other people. however, identity is not given once and for all; it is built and changed throughout an individual’s life. identity is made up of a number of ties, but it is equally important to emphasize that identity is also singular, something we all experience. one’s identity is not an assembly of separate ties or a kind of loose woven cloth. identity is a pattern outlined on a parchment, stretched firmly. flick a part or a connection, and the person’s self will fully react (maalouf, 2004:26). if we use maalouf ’s perspective as a reference, then identity is generally defined as awareness of personal unity and continuity. a unique entity that maintains the continuity of its past meaning for self and others; unity and continuity that integrate all self-images, either perceived by others or self-imagined about what and who he is and what he can make concerning himself and others. a person’s self-identity can also be understood as the overall physical characteristics, dispositions he holds and believes in, and capacity. all of them are characteristics that distinguish the individual from others and are, at the same time, an integration of the stages of development that have been passed before. structurally, it can be seen that the identity changes in individuals in fakfak society also directly affect the population demographics, such as ethnicity, which gets a lot of support from the marriages between two papuan indigenous, papuan indigenous people and migrants, and two migrants. other population demographics that change are religious experience and practices and economic status. the rest are captured in the following chart. table 1: ethnic identity change indicator generic identity first change differential identity second change differential identity surname iribaram iribaram/bauw iribaram/bauw/ /patiran/la source: processed from primary data the table above provides an important indication of how identity change occurs in the people of fakfak. in general, each individual’s identity evolves because of two factors: an identity obtained generically and one obtained because of the encountering differences. for example, the surname attached to an individual at birth will not necessarily be passed down to her descendants if she is a woman. however, in current practice, the surname can also be used to deal with pressures of political interests. the table shows the surname change [ 274 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 from iribaram to iribaram or bauw in the first change. it may continue to shift to iribaram, bauw, or even patiran, because of the marriage mechanism, where the surname is inherited in a patrilineal line. however, as aforementioned, in the context of political strategy, this surname inheritance system may turn matrilineal as an effort to maintain identity, if the marriage occurs in ethnic groups outside papuans. the merging of nobility titles from outside papua with indigenous papuan surnames is certainly a form of change due to encounters between indigenous papuans and people outside papua (migrants) who may have experienced resistance at the beginning. however, now it is starting to become a trend and is happening a lot in the community as an attitude of accommodation as well as a strategy in dealing with the pressure of power that comes from the rules that divide society into classifications based on the birthright inherent in indigenous papuans. as a concrete example, some people use two surnames or ethnic titles, such as la so-and-so woretma, which can be explained that the la title in the individual’s name is one of the nobility titles for the butonese in southeast sulawesi, acculturated with woretma as one of the surnames of the original fak-fak people. in a more straightforward context, changes in one’s identity in society can also be influenced and shaped by the experience and practice of religious teachings. an individual raised by his parents as an ordinary believer (congregation) can transform into one who preaches religious messages (ustad/ustadzah/pinatua) and even at a certain point in time can turn into a religious leader (imam of a mosque/christian priest), as illustrated in the following table. table 2: identity change due to religion indicator generic identity change 1 differential identity change 2 differential identity islam jamaah [congregation] ustad/ustadzah imam of a mosque christianity jemaat [congregation] pinatua priest source: processed from primary data in addition to the change in identity due to ethnicity and religion above, the change can also occur due to an individual’s economy, education, or [ 275 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 occupation, whose nature and form are also unchanged, determined by space or the context that follows. for example, identity due to occupations, at a certain point, an individual can be a civil servant, but in other contexts, he can also be a motor-cab driver because he has a second job to provide for his family, as illustrated in the table below: table 3: other identity changes identity indicator generic identity change 1 differential identity change 2 differential identity occupation civil servants ojek ahli reparasi economy poor rich education no formal education primary school (equivalency) junior high school (equivalency) source: processed from primary data changes in identity that are either fixed or depend on the context, as described in the three tables above, directly contribute to shaping and determining the demographics of the community, especially the state of the population and settlements, where new and more diverse residential spaces are created as an effort to accommodate the increasing population, as well as the birth and emergence new value which is a result of the arrival of global and market values. in such circumstances, the community then tries to produce or reproduce local knowledge in an effort to maintain identity, as well as to show its existence as the owner of the original culture that seeks to get recognition. systematic changes in community demographics, especially as population increases, can be seen in the expansion of villages, the addition of houses of worship, as well as the emergence of religious-affiliated community organizations, such as the birth of the maluku pentecostal church or the emergence of afkn founded by ustadz fadlan garamatan, a representation of native papuan muslims in fak-fak regency. potential conflicts and alternative resolutions as described above, the changes in identity and demographics have directly divided the community into various interests with their differing goals. in general, the society’s problems today can be seen politically and the presence of several multinational companies engaged in mining and plantations —which [ 276 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 have encouraged people to be more exclusive in terms of land ownership— as well as the potential for capitalization and exploitation of the community and the younger generation. iribaram reported that the community encounters at least three fundamental problems: customary leadership, customary rights, and the future of “disrupted” local children. in the context of politics and customary rights, which highlights the limits of leadership authority and territorial boundaries that pit people against each other between communities and between communities and companies. this is a crucial problem that must be resolved, as he explains: the potential for conflict is increasing. we can see this from several aspects, for example, political aspects. this political aspect of the division of the regions that make up the new autonomous regions that the government had formed turned out to be in conflict. some agree, and some disagree. that is, if we see the potential, it certainly has the potential for conflict. in addition to political issues, there are now problems regarding recognizing who is the real king and that is also a crucial problem there. there are several examples in several areas, for example in rumbati district, patipi bay district. in rumbati for example, there are two traditional leaderships: recognition. each of these leaders has recognition of the right to be king and has followers. as we have seen, there is a rift in that district known as the rumbati kingdom. the second example is in the patipi bay district; there is a conflict; there is a long story about customary law and the issues of the legitimate king and who the original king is, which is also a conflict. to date, they are enemies of each other. in the context of the younger generation’s future, iribaram explained how young people in the village have shifted their mindsets and future orientations. there is a strong reluctance to go to school and work in companies around berau bay and patipi bay even though they can only get a job as a contract worker for security or a cleaner. they think it is still worth it, because they can make money very quickly. on the village’s streets, we can see young children walking to the kiosk to get some snacks carrying the idr 100,000 banknote, which signifies how money has become an idol in today’s society. he said: encouraging children to progress and get a good education is very unusual now. for example, if we want to see global companies’ role in improving education for the community, that would be very unlikely. companies are recruiting students to drop out… so that will ruin their future. they only recruit to be employed as laborers, security guards, and some very low-level jobs there. furthermore, that is made possible by community activities, made possible by people who choose to get a shortcut. so, in this [ 277 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 society, this is the mindset, “it’s better to go to work than to go to school, we may be dead tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. so, if we’re still alive, it’s better for us to work so we can live.” so simple. i saw this, too, when the local people who owned the nutmeg farm, they think, “well, it’s like that, you don’t have to go to school, later in the nutmeg season you go pick [some nutmegs] and earn money.” people are like, “it doesn’t matter if you want to go to school or not. the important thing is that we have a hamlet. then, they also think we have the sea. such mentality still exists. the worst thing is that the promises of social assistance currently create dependence for the people there. in the religious context, the potential for conflict also shows symptoms, both internally and externally driven by religion, or between religions, which in general the triggering factor is the expansive nature of religion and also the penetration of political interests that continue to disrupt the pillars of life of the fakfak people. iribaram further revealed that the politics of the king’s leadership in the local community has shifted the conflict from between traditional leaders to between religions. he notes: there is a rift within that one district known as the rumbati kingdom. the second example is in the patipi bay district where there is a conflict. there is a long story about customary law and the issues of the legitimate king and who the original king is, which is also a conflict. to date, they are enemies of each other. in addition, there are many other potential conflicts. it could have an impact on the issues of inter-religious harmony. because in the areas of the kingdom, since ancient times they have been united as one kingdom. meanwhile, the christian group, they are supporting one of them that turns out to be opposed by the people who on the other hand think this is not true, not the king. that’s what causes the conflict to break out there, and a conflict of inter-religious hostility occurs because they are no longer united in the royal system although the potential for conflict described above is undeniable, it turns out that there is a great power in the community that can still bind and strengthens the companionship between them. the local genius of the fakfak (mbaham) community seems to be able to resolve the existing rift and deserves appreciation: the existence of four community life guidelines called 1. atanam misia, 2. aroa misia, 3. faneka misia, and 4. awkawai fafia. atanam misia means always asking [for more information] or confirming. fenaka misia means to be tolerant. aroa misia means to be prudent. awkawai fafia can be translated as having honest intentions or the wide path of life in society. if the community observes these four principles, then no matter how significant the [ 278 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 differences, or rifts that occur, they will not be able to undermine the spirit of brotherhood and kinship among the fakfak community. these four life principles are then combined with a philosophy of living side-by-side in society, known as the philosophy of satu tungku tiga batu (three stones in one furnace). a philosophy that takes the analogy of the traditional cooking stove of the fakfak people, which usually sits three stones, is an essential element in food making, a basic human need. this furnace philosophy is used as a reference for the philosophy of life of the local fakfak people, which describes the integration between customs, religion, and the state. it is highly possible because the fakfak society is plural and open, and its social structure has transformed from traditional to modern and postmodern culture. in line with these changes, new institutions have developed which reflect the application of the life philosophy of a furnace with three stones, which in local terms is known as toromit war istery, which can be interpreted as unity, equality, and mutual support or in a wider context can be described as harmony between the three main stakeholders in society: customs, religion, and the state which must be integrated to create harmony in life. this spirit of toromit war istery also forms solidarity that makes it possible for the fakfak community to learn and accept the differences between them. conclusion this article has brought us an example of changes in the structure of society that are possible due to internal and external drives from the community itself, in addition to the socio-political and cultural context that follows, be it acculturation, assimilation, reception, or even resistance as critical supporting elements of a transformation. in general, the structural changes in the fakfak community were triggered by two critical aspects: ethnicity and religion, which are faced with the generic (inherited) and differential (selected) cultural characteristics, forming a unique new structure and having implications for the demographics of the population. it occurs with the emergence of a new interaction space, both a physical open space in the form of settlements and a space that emerges due to shared identity. this article also shows that there is a significant potential conflict that continuously lurks in the harmonization of people’s lives triggered by local geopolitics, which is caused by the expansive nature of religion as well as the monopoly and hegemony of globalization which has channeled people to believe in two main values: capital and markets. when confronted with this [ 279 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 situation, the community creates a bonding mechanism that originates from local genius, which can unite the rift that continues to occur in society by continuing to promote the toromit war istery philosophy of life which was later known as the philosophy of satu tungku tiga batu (three stones in one furnace) that can be translated as unity in diversity. future researchers could continue to expand upon this article, especially in terms of the depth of analysis regarding one important factor forming the structure of society, politics, and the enactment of the special autonomy law for the province of papua-west papua, which directly gives some privileges to indigenous papuans compared to migrants who live in papua. in addition, the method, the theories, and the concepts tend to prioritize anthropological or sociological perspectives, so it may have overlooked the legal perspective, for example, which is the main factor that forms values and norms in society. bibliography abdullah, i. 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[ 282 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2424 [ 135 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 false consciousness: the cultural identity construction of cele and batik within moluccan scholars in ambon elka anakotta the christian state institute of ambon email: anakottaelka@gmail.com flavius floris andries the christian state institute of ambon email: qumran_2007@yahoo.com abstract identity is a social construction. the moluccan people are evident of this structure, especially regarding the policy of the obligation to wear cele (moluccan traditional garment). this has become a process of identity construction involving culture and ethnicity for moluccans. this paper discusses how moluccan scholars who studied in java understand their position wearing cele in the local context in maluku. in addition, this paper also discusses the scholars’ views on how the process of identity negotiation between localism and nationalism is represented through cele and batik. information for this study was gathered using a qualitative method with a cultural studies approach. the data were collected using several techniques including interviews, observation, and literature studies to answer research questions and problems. this paper shows that in response to the moluccan government policy which requires the people to wear cele once a week, most scholars prefer to wear batik instead. one justification is related to cultural and religious aspects, noting cele is more familiar and originates from within the christian community, while the islamic community does not recognize cele in their culture. they consider that such policy leads to the construction of cultural identity based on false consciousness. keywords: false consciousness, cele, batik, cultural identity construction, moluccan scholars introduction the development of modern society has resulted in local knowledge, generally referred to as culture. culture is the result of knowledge, where humans learn and claim that culture should be revisited in a certain context and locus either locally or nationally. culture grows and develops in society in line with the conditions and characteristics, so that cultural diversity appears to reflect its [ 136 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 own uniqueness. at this point, one can find cultural similarities and differences at the local, national, and global levels. identity is a human need in general but at the same time it is also fundamental (shils 1975; berger and luckman, 1991). biologically, humans are not born in a complete state, but are in the process of building themselves. humans can basically function depending on how each social actor has achieved self-development and is manifested in existential life experiences. the identity of an individual has several layers, where its significance is determined by the extent of individual experience in a culture that forms it. thus, various aspects of a person’s multi-layered identity are exposed to the environment through conversation, interaction with various other cultures, and even biologically potential (greenfeld & eastwood, 2009). in a famous work by jacques derrida, he notes identities are never quite identical, because they always contain elements that cannot be reduced from various changes (derrida, 1992, p. 9). the content of identity thus is never singular, having several aspects, differences, and similarities, both internally and externally for any identity (individual or collective). therefore, ‘diversity’ or multiple identities overlaps and hangs on one of the characteristics of identity politics (tully, 2003b). identity politics consists of three ongoing negotiation processes that interact in complex ways: (1) between members of a group fighting for recognition (2) between themselves and the groups to whom they demand recognition and (3) between the latter group members, whose identity is formed because of the struggle, whether they like it or not (tully, 2003b). identity politics is disruptive when norms of mutual recognition are questioned and become the focus of struggles and negotiations for justice and freedom (tully, 2003b). social identity theory proposes that all interactions with others lie in sustainable interpersonal relations (tajfel & turner, 1979). it means that if the related group behavior is personally motivated, it will not be motivated by personal prominence, and vice versa. self-categorization theory (swann, 2012) extends this idea by hypothesizing the hydraulic relationship between social environment and individual. therefore, the social identity approach suggests that the motivational burden for pro-group behavior rests entirely on the shoulders of relevant social identities (swann at al., 2012). conversely, when a social identity stands out and group members assert themselves in terms of their social identity, they will “be harmful”, seeing themselves and other group members as a social category. this means that group members will see other group members through the lens of their membership in the group, rather than in terms of the personal relationships that they have established with one [ 137 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 another (swann et al., 2012). meanwhile, to understand national identity, one must begin with a preliminary investigation into such questions regarding identity. at the individual level, identity can be understood as part of a person’s cognitive map that concerns the configuration and structure of a person regarding a social domain. cognitive maps are images of social order carried out by social actors and classified into various sub-supporting aspects as a picture of a broader social order, awareness of expectations, behavior, norms, conceptions of morality and justice, etc. identity is an aspect of the cognitive map because of the inevitable relationship as a component of the cognitive map itself. a person’s identity is inseparable from the image of the world, one’s ethical appearance, etc. (greenfeld & eastwood, 2009). identity politics has not only become popular and appropriate at the national and local levels, but also on an individual level through lifestyle. these politics penetrate the center of the economy through the ideology of capitalism. ‘identity politics’ emerged into modern discourse in the late twentieth century to describe political struggles occurring with increasing frequency. these came to represent some of the most pressing political issues of our time. various political activities refer to struggles for legal, political, and constitutional recognition and identity accommodation of individuals, refugees, women, gays, lesbians, languages, ethnic groups, cultural minorities, immigrants, and often, religions that exclude western culture (tully, 2003a). applying this research framework, moluccan scholars studying in java tended to change their appearance and fashion by wearing “batik” clothing. this trend not only follows the context of their place of study, but also continues when they return to their place of origin. these scholars prefer to wear batik instead of “cele” (moluccan garment) even though the local government has designated “cele” as a uniform in public buildings (schools and offices) as a way of increasing local identity consciousness (pursuant to ambon mayoral regulation no. 46 of 2017 concerning wearing ambon clothing). however, there is debate among moluccan scholars about cele for several reasons. among other arguments, is a principle one arguing that cele is not rooted in the ideology nor does it contain philosophical values. additionally, cele is not culturally rooted in islamic regions in central maluku. this means that cultural space in maluku is not all rooted in the cele tradition which makes cele a moluccan cultural icon, where wearing it in public space as a feature of identity is still debatable. in fact, people wear cele only because there is pressure from authorities, not as a form of consciousness. it also is different than fashion interests such as the batik people wear daily. cele is a stranger to [ 138 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 some moluccan people, on the other hand batik has become familiar to the moluccan society. this paper aims to discuss the contestation between localism and nationalism among the moluccan people using their attitude towards cele and batik as a mechanism for understand. do moluccan scholars forgo their identity by wearing batik? how much does their identity depend on the symbol of the clothes worn, if at all? couldn’t it be argued that identity is strongly attached to the symbol? these pressing questions makes this topic fascinnating to study because the issues of identity and ethnicity are two unified and important things that must be discussed from the perspective of modernity. batik has become a trend for indonesian society, especially when the government established batik as a national garment (presidential regulation no. 33 of 2009 informally known as national batik day, resulting from unesco designating batik as an intangible cultural heritage item on october 2, 2009). moreover, various batik modification pushes have been driven by designers to present a style that is still suitable for wearing batik. batik has become a cultural symbol of indonesian identity. since its designation by unesco, batik has received world recognition and there has been growing reinvention and remodeling of batik (moersid, 2013). batik is not only a mass product, but its existence has become intertwined with indonesian cultural identity (trixie, 2020). cele in the cultural context of maluku cele is the garment worn by women who live in christian villages in central maluku and not worn by women who live in islamic parts of the region. in addition, this traditional garment is not part of a fashion tradition in other areas in maluku such as in southeast maluku and other areas. rather than a trend, cele has become a uniform outfit in maluku. the discourse about cele in the context of moluccan culture is fascinating because the idea of cele as a moluccan cultural jargon has penetrated the political space. cele, through the gubernatorial instruction and the mayoral decree, has been decreed as the must-wear outfit in schools, campus offices, etc. however, when cele is placed in the moluccan cultural context, it has become an interesting debate. an informant, y, had the following to say: “the identity consciousness through symbols is lost so that a movement is needed even though it is political in nature to revive the culture, including cele. people, including myself, like to follow suit and are always encouraged to wear cele but do not know the meaning of the big and small squares, because of the cultural value education process that does not work. this is different from batik. in the past, i did not know the meaning and significance of the symbols in batik so i did not consider the [ 139 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 moment. however, after having encountered other people (javanese people) while studying in yogya, i understood the symbols in batik.1 the informant’s statement shows that cele does not have strong ideological roots, but combination of customs and religion have led to it being a collective dress code in maluku. hall (hall, 2021) argues the definition of culture is “the lived practices or practical ideologies which enable a society, group or class to experiences define, interpret, and make sense of its condition of existence”. in other words, culture is the implication of people’s knowledge of the world through specific actions within a particular context in a specific locality. thus, centering cele as a uniform in the moluccan local context needs to bring up the philosophical and ideological values that underlie the cultural values of cele itself, so that it can be worn as an expression of local identity in the public space. this is because it does not have a philosophy and ideology as the implications of local knowledge that can be expressed through fashion. it does not appear to be ideological and philosophical in the context of cele culture. informant a2 reported the following: “the ideological process related to cele through cultural education does not work, so the significant philosophy of cele through the motifs of the big and small squares is unknown, so it seems that cele is not rooted in a strong tradition.” the informant’s statement emphasized that cele is not culturally strong as reported by another informant under the initial g that big and small squares are made in industry, therefore the cultural and philosophical dimension of cele is a phenomenon.3 the rejection of cele has strong cultural ground as reported by an informant under the initial f as follows;4 “placing cele as an icon in the moluccan cultural arena is not yet final, because they are still looking for a form. in addition, cele has yet to be accepted by all moluccan people who have an islamic background, and in traditional rituals as well. emphasis is on the context of customary rituals because that is where localism originates and through these media, we can find cultural traces. cele which is forced to be accepted in the context of localism is a durable process of position and disposition, not yet final and continues to look for a form so that it can be accepted by all levels of society.” the informant’s account demonstrates in the context of indigenous places in maluku, cele is something that belongs to “the other”, not to traditional islamic regions. therefore, cele is not the identity of traditional muslim areas. the informant’s statement implies two things, namely the existence of an identity debate in which there is a process of coercing other elements to accept cele as a 1 interview with y, 20 january 2017 2 interview with a, 7 june 2017 3 interview with an informant under the initial g, 3 june 2017 4 interview with an informant under the initial f, 6 june 2017 [ 140 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 shared culture. this contradicts the idea proposed by hall, which asserted that identity is inherent and relational. this identity is built vis-à-vis between races, ethnic groups, and religions, so that no identity is built without a dialogical relationship with the others. cele policy: discrimination against religious identity cele as a shared uniform or as a culture of uniformity through government instructions and the ambon mayoral decree, in addition to being viewed as a form of symbolic violence, the cele policy discriminates against the moluccan muslim community and live in islamic regions. this can be seen from the statement of informant f who reported the following: “talking about the cele culture, multiple parts of this culture are not at a place where all moluccan people can accept it, especially in regions with muslim population. in traditional and religious rites in islamic communities, people do not wear a cele, but a white kebaya for women and a white shirt for men. this indicates that culturally, cele is not accepted among the moluccan muslim indigenous community because of that, discussing cele as a moluccan cultural icon in terms of customs, religious traditions, and fashion has not penetrated the official regional culture, because cele is not rooted in cultural identity.5 informant f’s statement emphasizes that in customary and religious traditions in islamic communities, cele is something foreign or belonging to “the other”. in addition, this statement shows a rejection of the cele policy which does not respect certain customary traditions and religion (islamic communities) in maluku. therefore, making cele a collective outfit is detrimental to communities living in customary muslim communities. as a result, this policy can be seen as a form of discrimination against customs and islamic traditions in maluku. however, the reality is that cele has been used as a shared cultural icon and has penetrated the public sphere in maluku, especially in provincial and city government agencies, schools, and private agencies. from bourdieu’s perspective, the gubernatorial and mayoral decrees embody the symbolic power that is present to suppress the public. bourdieu (2010, 652-653; 1993: 164) argues symbolic power is invisible power that can only be exercised with the involvement of people who do not realize that they are the target, or exercised themselves. therefore, the language aspect presented verbally through the gubernatorial instruction and the written language are representations of power. the gubernatorial instruction and the mayoral decree as a representation of symbolic power, have unsuspectingly become a form of symbolic violence or cultural domination of society especially for 5 interview with f, 6 june 2017 [ 141 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 islamic communities in ambon city, as well as other christian and muslim communities in other areas in maluku. bourdieu (1993: 168) maintains that symbolic violence is a model of structural and social domination that takes place unconsciously in community life, including acts of discrimination against certain groups, races, ethnicities, and genders. this phenomenon is a form of denial of the multicultural reality of maluku, which in fact consists of various ethnic and religious identities which are full of various traditions. farrely (2004: 43) argues that “multiculturalism is not about difference and identity, but about those that are embedded in and sustained by culture, that is a body of beliefs and practices in terms of which a group of people understand themselves and the world and organize their individual and collective lives.” farrely emphasizes that in a multicultural society, differences in identity are not an issue and/or something that must be debated. however, the concept of multiculturalism appears to provide an understanding that each different identity can understand and interpret cultural differences to live in a common space. in other words, multiculturalism emerges as a response to the fact of diversity in a society (heywood, 2002: 119). the cele policy of the government is a denial of multicultural facts, or an act of unrecognition of the existence of religious identity (islam) through the symbol of clothing. this is not realized by policy makers in maluku. therefore, the informants’ statements above also tend to be a form of rejection of government policies that do not consider aspects of the religious traditions of all religions which are also identities. symbolic violence practice through the cele policy politically and through the means of power, cele penetrates public space and eventually cele is forced to be accepted as a culture of uniformity as their culture. this context is what homi k. bhaba in the location of culture (1994) calls hybridity, with the view that there are efforts to transform culture and identity carried out by the dominant culture represented by “cele” over other subordinate cultures. the impact of hybridity can be seen from cele penetrating the education arena, the offices of both public and government schools, as well as government and private offices. the government has made wearing cele obligatory, but the informants clearly state that they did not understand the philosophical values and the meaning of the cele motif. it seems that cele is forced to become a regional icon as demonstrated in an interview with a different respondent. 6 the cele movement in maluku emerged as a response to instructions from the local government which i think is part of an effort to 6 interview with y, 6 february 2017 [ 142 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 elevate cele from a minority position to become synonymous with batik. cele is a “forgotten minority identity” and needs to be promoted. it is a representation of an ethnic group that continues to fight for position and recognition and so they can compete with other ethnic groups. the earlier statement indicates that the informants see the discourse of cele as an identity that is now in a neglected minority position and thus the government instruction to wear cele is an attempt to elevate local culture in the representation of identity consciousness. from the poststructuralism approach, there are problems with representation through cele. the informant stated that the local government policy is an attempt to elevate cele from the minority to the majority by claiming cele to be typical of moluccan culture. however, maluku consists of many local areas each with own characteristics, which are not unilaterally represented by cele. even as the informant said that cele is absurd when it comes to identity and symbols. the big and small squares in the cele motif cannot be explained philosophically. the informant’s statement about the cele policy, if viewed from the concept of nationalism, is an approach to building nationalism against the idea of localism or global versus local, the west versus the east, or national versus local. batik has been a representation of the majority and thus a part of nationalism, while cele is a representation of a minority, based on localism. however, in the context of cele localism as a minority representation, it eventually has become a representation of moluccan culture, and therefore the dominant narrative. this kind of practice was criticized by robert young (2001) in postcolonialism for the use of western ideas by contemporary thinkers such as parterejee. although they tried to develop a reverse culture through an independent concept of life (like of swadesi), they were still influenced by the western socialist utopian thinker and the economic theory of john ruskin. the term ‘minority’ attached to cele is a form of resistance to the dominant culture of batik. however, eventually it is trapped in the modern tradition or know in social theory as structuralism (wacquant & akçaoğlu, 2017). the ‘cele’ policy cannot be accepted by other informants. many interviewed claimed that forcing cele as moluccan culture is a process of cultural domination.7 this is the so-called representation resulting from the practice of symbolic literacy, the invisible power that engages people who do not want to know that they are the target, or that they themselves exercise power (wacquant & akçaoğlu, 2017). most moluccans do not realize that policies contain representational values or cultural domination that leads to hegemony or as bourdieu said it is called a form of symbolic violence. the government 7 interview with f, 6 june 2017 [ 143 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 may not realize this either. some moluccans see the cele policy as legitimate because it is associated with a marginalized culture. therefore, by using the term as a local cultural minority, the government wants to shift the structure and reality of cele to integrate with the habitus. this is what bourdieu means by ‘power’ arbitrarily determine the instruments of knowledge and the unconscious expression of social reality. it also means that symbolic power is the power to change and create a reality that must be legally recognized (wacquant & akçaoğlu, 2017). the government’s effort to make regulations and policies regarding cele as a shared culture in maluku is a form of cultural domination in the cultural context of maluku. culture in the local context is an important point in habitus, but this does not mean that the jargon of moluccan localism should be represented by cele. cultural position and disposition in social reality still exist, thus providing room for the creation of domination structures. by making cele a local culture, several questions then arise among the informants, what exactly is local culture? which cele are we talking about? and what is the philosophy of cele? 8 the philosophy of preservation is closely related to traditional values; therefore, tradition will always contain philosophical values that can be understood and explained by the community associated with that tradition. the problem is that moluccan people who wear cele cannot explain the self-philosophy as reported by the informant by saying, “i don’t really understand the philosophy of the small or the big squares of the cele motif at all, but because my parents wear it, i also wear it without understanding the meaning behind it.” 9 this statement shows that moluccan scholars who mostly have critical awareness of hidden cultural instruments do not know or understand the philosophical values of cele even though they wear it. this ignorance is the result of an unsuccessful cultural education process. this is explained by the following thought from an interviewee: “the ideological process regarding cultural education does not work, so that the philosophical value and meaning of the cele motif are not understood. therefore, it seems that the moluccans do not have tradition related to cele. although batik still survives because tradition, crafts, and arts are part of the culture, cele is still limited to fashion.”10 the earlier mentioned statement also provides legitimacy to the claim that cele does not have strong philosophical power, nor does it have cultural roots in the context of the moluccan people. this was later confirmed by informant g (see above). informant g also made the strong claim local culture and community are suggested and forced, but the moluccans are not familiar with it and nor 8 interview with s, 12 june 2017 9 interview with s, 12 june 2017 10 interview with a, 7 june 2017 [ 144 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 do they understand it.11 informant f also emphasized that the problem of cele in the moluccan localism is not only for people who wear it in islamic areas, but also those in christian areas themselves who do not understand it, so cele has yet to be formalized: “the city government’s struggle to place cele a moluccan cultural icon has yet to be final; they are still looking for a form and this is important so that it can be accepted by all people, especially muslim moluccans, whether it is worn daily or only for rituals. cele worn in the local context is a process of position and disposition that is durable, unfinished, and continues to seek form so that it can be accepted by all.12” the statement shows that cele is, in fact, something belonging to “the other”, and not islam. thus, cele is not the identity of the islamic regions since the culture of these regions do not have cele for their rituals. so, for these people, it is something belonging to “the other”. there are two implications for it: first, there is a debate about identity where there is a process of coercing other elements that are forced to be accepted as common property. this contradicts hall’s opinion (k. hall & nilep, 2015). the other implication of hall’s statement is that cele worn as a moluccan culture is the result of a mental process involving two communities in maluku --muslims and christians --as a form of dialogical meeting. as such, there is a form of acceptance and recognition from both communities of the culture. however, this is not the case in maluku’s cultural sphere, but in the political or power arena which has become an instrument of legitimacy. thus, in bourdieu’s terminology, cele policy is an instrument of symbolic representation and violence, where representation has caused discrimination, and symbolic violence has become an entry point to worsen conflict and relations. representation has become stronger due to local government regulations and policies related to the wearing of cele, which unwittingly produces a symbolic form of violence against the muslim communities in maluku where cele is not accepted but they must wear in all their ritual activities. cele is only accepted in christian areas in central maluku, but other christian areas in maluku do not recognize cele as part of their culture as in the case of islamic communities in the moluccan context in general. policies are instruments for strengthening the representation process through the educational institutions and workplaces. through strategic and coordinated actions, it is very easy for the authorities to suppress. this regulation is reinforced by the claim that ‘cele’ as a local culture is considered an absolute truth (what bourdieu called doxa) (zurmailis & faruk, 2018). doxa is a truth produced unilaterally supported by the interests of the authorities, and ultimately believed to be the same truth. therefore, it is the people’s obligation 11 interview with g, 3 june 2017 12 interview with f, 6 june 2017 [ 145 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 to protect and defend it, even though culturally not everyone accepts it as part of their culture. therefore, the policy regarding cele can be regarded as a form of symbolic power which arbitrarily determines the instruments of knowledge and the expression of social reality and is not recognized as valid or legitimate. symbolic power is the power to shape the things that are given, to make people see and believe, and/or to strengthen or change the way they see and act toward the world. this is how domination and violence are forced so that there are parties that benefit from it while others are opposed to it. the term ‘cele’, well known in the moluccan contex, has transcended mental processes in the form of stories and experiences to be easily accepted as part of the habitus. habitus is a system of disposition that produces a lifestyle and practice that is in line with the experience and internalization of the agent’s processes when interacting with other agents or the objective structures of their environment. the new habitus that develops as a way of introducing a local identity such as cele is seen as a culture of uniformity, and eventually people accept it as part of their culture. this context is what homi k. bhabha, in his book “cultural locations” (studies et al., 2016), called hybridity with the assumption that there is an attempt to change the culture or identity by the dominant culture represented by cele. this hybridity process can also penetrate the educational arena (ghasemi et al., 2017) and that is the case where every level school from elementary to high school requires students to wear celes of pre-determined colors at least once a week. likewise, in government offices, all employees must wear cele on certain days of the week. however, in the cultural arena, there seems to be a resistance to this behavior because society is not equipped with knowledge of the philosophical values of ceel. in other words, cele is not rooted in culture and society cannot explain it, as stated by the informant under the initial a13: “cultural education doesn’t work very well. education influences the process of cultural ideology. there is no local content in schools that provides space and a portion for local cultural issues. as far as i can remember, local content only talks about food, namely sago. therefore, people know cele only through oral tradition, but formally in written form it is not available.” the informants viewed schools as an arena for cultural battles but failed in making them a social capacity to be used as content in formal cultural education for the moluccan generation, rendering the community unable to understand what cele is and what philosophy it contains. the informants understand the dominance of the sago narrative because local content in schools is always related to this traditional food. this is not the case with cele, so in the local context, cele is a minority narrative. 13 interview with a, 7 june 2017. [ 146 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 batik in the perspective of moluccan scholars in java batik is a javanese culture that is full of ideology and philosophy behind every motive and is very easy to understand by other people who are not of javanese ethnicity. this can be seen from the following interviewee: “i am a moluccan who studies in java. at first, i didn’t know the meaning behind each batik motif, but as time went on, i could finally understand the meaning behind each batik motif so that when i used it, i was able to choose which one fits the context. for example, a batik shirt with a flower motif or arrow should be used at what time.”14 this statement shows that batik has succeeded in attracting the attention of non-javanese people, and the philosophy behind the motif is now well-known. this also shows there is an educational process that has been passed down from generation to generation, so that the identity consciousness through batik is realized. this is what eagleton (2000: 14) meant regarding culture as an implication of knowledge. based on berger’s theory of the identity construction process, informant y’s statement shows the internalization process in the wearing of batik. berger and luckman (dharma, 2018) argue that human internalization of reality changes it from the structure of the objective world into the structure of subjective consciousness. this shows that the statement of the informant in seeing the batik is a form of value transformation because of the “dialectification” process that occurs, from externalization and objectification before finally coming to internalization. social order begins with the continuous external vanity in humans to the world, both in physical and mental activities. society as an objective reality implies institutionalization. the process of the correctional institution starts externally, carried out repeatedly so the patterns are seen and understood together, eventually resulting in habituation. the habituation that has taken place eventually led to disposition and tradition (sulaiman, 2016). the dialectical process through external agents and experienced objectification will eventually enter the internalization process. this then results in an understanding of the meaning of the batik in the informant’s position, not as part of the society and culture in which batik is produced. this dialectical process makes informants understand the values and meanings of various batik motifs. in addition, batik also has advantages in terms of fashion because it is very easy to adjust to the context.15 this informant’s statement emphasized that batik is one of the items which has a high selling value in the market due to fashion. from the two statements above, it is emphasized that batik has dominance 14 interview with y, 20 january 2017. 15 interview with f. 6 june 2017 [ 147 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 through social and economic capacity, and it eventually strengthens batik culturally. this is what the cele culture lacks in the local moluccan context. people wear it routinely once a week, not for cultural reasons, but due to the gubernatorial instruction and the mayoral decree as a means of legitimacy. cele and batik as means of negotiation for local identities to become national a society that is formed into a nation state is always attached to its name, an identity which is no longer particular but collective in nature. this collective identity bond is formed from various localities, unified and are bonded by a term that is often called nationalism. both localism and nationalism are important for an individual as well as a collective bond, because they are related to identity as illustrated by the following interview result: “nationalism for me is the border or fence of indonesian territory, which is the result of construction, so there are similarities. therefore, for myself batik has become part of my national identity, so i am free to wear it in any context and space and time at any time.”16 the result of the interview above illustrates that even though nationalism is a constructed process, the result is a pillar of guarding a common identity as a national community. it is clear from the above statement that the informant shows the symbol of nationalism through batik in which acceptance is made through a mutual consensus. there is a dimension of flexibility the informants show as an expression of dual identity between localism and nationalism, where awareness as part of the moluccan localism remains visible, but nationalism as an indonesian is also manifested. therefore, the wearing of batik has become part of the informant’s identity in the context of indonesian nationalism. the same thing was also explained by informant r who stated: “batik and cele have the same portion that describes identity. however, cele has only become a local identity, on the other hand, local batik has become a national identity. so that batik does not have to be claimed as a javanese identity but a national identity which means there is a shared belonging.”17 the statement above shows consciousness of the informant as a moluccan offspring who on one hand understands the position of batik and cele as a representation of identity, while acknowledging they both have different portions. in bourdieu’s perspective, it is called the limitation of the arena. applying this framework, using the cultural arena lens to see cele illustrates that it is weak. the battle arena for cele culture is only limited to the moluccan localism. on the other hand, batik is 16 interview with f, 6 june 2017. 17 interview with r, 15 may 2017 [ 148 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 more widespread because of the cultural struggle on the national/indonesian scale. in other words, the informant realizes that cele has a weak position in negotiations to become a national identity, as illustrated by the following arguments: “however, i must be honest that batik has greatly benefited from a policy perspective in addition to being populist because it is a joint movement that is also claimed by the state. here there are political interests at play due to batik being deliberately claimed by other countries. therefore, the batik policy is an attempt to claim the indonesian batik.”18 the informant firmly emphasized politics is a powerful means of negotiation which, in the end, gives an advantage to the position of batik as a representation and national cultural jargon. this was also confirmed by informant f who noted the national political process through the government policy that established batik as a national culture in addition to the award from unesco placing “batik” as a national identity is stronger than cele. the weakness of cele in the process of negotiating a local identity to become national results from by several crucial things. one of the weaknesses of cele is the inability of the people who wear cele to explain the dimensions of the cultural philosophy contained the clothing, and not all the regions where cele originates can accept it. therefore, in the moluccan localism itself, cele is an ongoing debate because not all moluccan indigenous peoples accept cele both in the context of customary practices such as traditional ceremonies, and in fact as a daily habit of the moluccans, cele is not familiar.19 in other words, the position of cele in the context of negotiation at the local level is weak from a cultural perspective even though it is politically strong, especially when placing “cele” in the context of national negotiation. the interview illustrates despite the construction process, nationalism may be a pillar of guarding same identities as the nation’s community. the informants clearly show a symbol of nationalism through batik, whose acceptance is through consensus. there is a dimension of flexibility the informants show as an expression of multiple identities, between localism and nationalism. consciousness of being part of maluku is still present, but nationalism as an indonesian also exists. batik represents the informant’s identity in the indonesian context. the same was stated by informant r as follows: “batik and cele represent identity. cele is a local identity while local batik has become a national identity. batik cannot be claimed as a javanese identity but a state identity. this is a shared property.”20 the statement shows the informant’s consciousness as a moluccan who understands the position of batik and cele 18 interview with y, 20 january 2017 19 interview with f, 6 june 2017 20 interview with y, 20 january 2017 [ 149 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 as part of his identity, but also that they are different. according to bourdieu, there is a boundary to the arena. the battle arena for the cele culture is limited to the moluccan context, while batik has a wider scope. in other words, cele is in a comparatively weaker position to negotiate to become a national identity, as stated by the informant in the following: “frankly speaking, batik has a better position due to national policies. it is a joint movement supported by the government and the state. there are political interests since batik is claimed by other countries, so the policy related to batik is an attempt to reclaim batik as the original property of indonesia.”21 the informant stated that politics is a powerful way of negotiating which ultimately gives batik an advantage in its position as a national representation and cultural jargon. informants a and s also stated that the national political process through government policies declared batik as the national culture. moreover, recognition from unesco has further placed batik as a national identity over cele. the position of batik and cele in the context of indonesianness every society has an identity, both particular and collective, as well as local and national. every identity, both local and national, appears with its own jargon in various styles and forms. indonesia is defined by the socio-cultural context of society consisting of various ethnic groups, tribes, and sub-tribes, making the condition of indonesian localism unique. this uniqueness is closely related to various cultures with jargon, which on the one hand displays wealth as a marker of the identity of each group. but on the other hand, the question stands, will each local identity continue to live and develop when faced with the universal culture of a nation (indonesia), or will it sink into the rhythm and superiority of universal culture that exceeds the national jargon? this issue is related to the culture of cele and batik, both of which are claimed to be rooted in local identities (batik = javanese and cele = moluccan). but can both survive in a broader contex? or can they be used as a jargon for national identity? the discussion of batik and cele as national and local representations is important here. presenting batik and cele in the stage of indonesian national culture or presenting both as a national cultural jargon from the perspective of moluccan scholars who have studied in java and ambon at the graduate and post-graduate levels has introduced various arguments. one of the arguments 21 interview with a, 7 june 2017 [ 150 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 stated:22 “for the informants it can be affirmed that placing cele and batik in the context of indonesian nationalism, both have the same and balanced position in the sense that speaking of identity, as a moluccan offspring, i would cele, in java i would wear batik. it is also my appreciation of diversity. expressing identity requires strategy and negotiation, for example, when i know the context, when to wear cele, and when to wear batik. by wearing batik or cele, both of them define who i am.” from this argument, the way the informant understands the issue of identity represented through batik and cele is very flexible. cele remains part of a national cultural jargon, though the arena is for maluku. similarly, a national cultural jargon batik’s arena is java. on the other hand, the batik from the perspective of the informant shows the value of cultural recognition in which there is respect for other cultures as an expression of multicultural reality. (svetelj, 2013). however, to the informant, wearing cele represents a consciousness of identity that is directly related to the state of being a moluccan. the consciousness of collective identity appears through the symbols of cele and batik, which for the informant are both means of representing a national identity. the informant’s statement shows a process of identity construction, both ethnic (moluccan) which is attached to the characteristics of cele (personal reasons) and batik that is attached to the community as an expression of a sense of community and a sense of belonging. this is somewhat in contrast to the opinion of liliweri (2007), that explains that ethnic groups are are defined by same cultural characteristics, i.e., language, customs, cultural behavior, cultural, and historical characteristics. according to him, ethnicity refers to classification and is based on affiliation. if batik and cele are placed as culture, both are representations of certain ethnic groups which are rooted in aspects of language, customs, and cultural behavior. the same thing that is expressed by giddens in (itulua-abumere, 2013) who argued that ethnicity refers to cultural practice and outlooks that distinguish a given community of people. giddens explained that members of an ethnic group see themselves as culturally different from other social groups. in addition, he also said that many different characteristics may serve to distinguish ethnic groups from one another, but the most usual are language, history, or ancestry (real or imagined) religion, and style of dress or adornment. in line with giddens’ thought, zhang (2019) argued that ethnicity refers to cultural practices and views that distinguish a given community from the others. he explained that members of an ethnic group see themselves as culturally different from other groups. moreover, many different characteristics can serve to differentiate ethnic groups from one another, but the most common are language, history or ancestry, religion, and style of dress/ adornment. 22 interview with y, 20 january 2017 [ 151 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 between maluku and java or cele and batik, both have different characteristics, and both are means of representation of their respective groups even though in the end batik has become a national cultural representation supported by philosophical power that can be properly explained. however, for certain ethnic groups it is understood as cultural domination and hegemony. like the effort to construct cele as part of the moluccan localism, what has also emerged is cultural representation and domination due to the penetration of the government through the “cele” policy which is coercive for the whole society regardless of the diversity aspects that exist. in other words, cele in principle does not represent the entire ethnic groups and religions in maluku, including history, culture, and tradition. the results of the discussion related to the research on localism versus nationalism among moluccan scholars who studied in java show that they have different cultural knowledge and insights about cele and batik. different reasons also emerge which state the choice of batik and cele as a means of bodily expression. in general, wearing batik is an option rather than cele, for various reasons. the research findings indicate that one of the fundamental reasons is related to the cultural aspect in which cele is phenomenal in the muslim and christian communities of maluku. cele is more familiar with christian locus, although culturally and philosophically they are unable to explain the presence of cele in their cultural context. benedict anderson writes about this theory, suggesting that this fact can be called false consciousness due to wearing cele without understanding its philosophy. conclusion contestation between local and foreign cultural values can occur in a short period of time between people as interconnectedness has never been prevalent in this area. dialectics between the batik and the moluccans, for example, has resulted in new cultural consciousness leading to the batik becoming familiar to them. on the other hand, cele, which is considered a local culture, has yet to be a habitus for the moluccans. therefore, efforts to maintain local tradition of “cele” are made through the policy of the “cele movement” which has unconsciously perpetuated colonial culture with the tradition of the “cele” symbol that represents other cultural entities. deterministic policies have also influenced the moluccan people, including moluccan scholars, regarding cele which is worn once a week during their time away from home. they wear cele due to instruction not a habitus. therefore, this movement has resulted in a form of false consciousness. the context of the moluccan people as a multicultural society, both in terms of religion, culture, language and adat [ 152 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 (customary practices), is a necessity. this is an inevitable socio-cultural fact and is not the result of construction. on the other hand, placing cele in the context of the moluccan universality and forcing it to become a shared culture is the result of identity construction born through government intervention and penetration through the use power as a tool. campus communities, schools, and offices become arenas for identity construction due to penetration and intervention by power. the impact of this policy is that the wearing of cele garment is not due to cultural consciousness but pressure from the authorities through policies. therefore, making cele an identity construction tool does not give birth to the consciousness of cultural identity of the moluccan people whose characteristics are heterogenous. particularly in the cultural context, cele is not familiar to muslim communities on the islands of maluku. the muslim and christians maluccans who come from the southeast, buru island, or outside the central moluccan region do not recognize the cele culture, regarding it as the identity of “the other”. therefore, the cele movement which in terms of politics and power can penetrate schools and offices is seen as a means of cultural representation, which is at the same time a form of symbolic violence that is domination and hegemony both culturally and religiously. it can be understood that culture is not only limited to performance, but also rooted in ideology and containing philosophy. this is not found in the cele tradition in maluku. people wear it but do not understand its ideological and philosophical values. therefore, cultural education must be created as a conscious effort in the community for interpreting identity. learning from the batik for the javanese people, there is a political element to make batik a representation of indonesian nationalism. however, on the other hand, the cultural education process 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(2003b). identity politics. in the cambridge history of twentieth-century political thought (pp. 517–533). cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521563543.026 [ 155 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1977 wacquant, l., & akçaoğlu, a. (2017). practice and symbolic power in bourdieu: the view from berkeley. journal of classical sociology, 17(1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795x16682145 young, r. (2001). postcolonialism: an historical introduction. usa: wiley blackwell. zhang, n. (2019). discussion on the modernist paradigm of nationalism. 357, 83–85. https://doi.org/10.2991/iceess-19.2019.22 zurmailis, z., & faruk, f. (2018). doksa, kekerasan simbolik dan habitus yang ditumpangi dalam konstruksi kebudayaan di dewan kesenian jakarta. adabiyyāt: jurnal bahasa dan sastra, 1(1), 44. https://doi. org/10.14421/ajbs.2017.01103 [ 293 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 religion of pandemic: delegitimization of authority during the covid-19 era irwan abdullah gadjah mada university, yogyakarta email: irwan.fib@ugm.ac.id mulan tang institute of asian studies, guizhou university, china e-mail: 709652129@qq.com putri rahmah nurhakim universitas islam negeri (uin) sunan kalijaga, yogyakarta e-mail: putrirahmah282@gmail.com bibi suprianto ia scholar foundation, yogyakarta e-mail:bibisuprianto78@gmail.com henky fernando gadjah mada university, yogyakarta email: fhenky92@gmail.com abstract the study delves into the delegitimization of religion during the covid-19 pandemic, addressing not only the social aspects of religious life but also the social significance of religion itself. it explores how this delegitimization, particularly in islam, has altered the sacredness of religious life. this qualitative research, utilizing literature review and media analysis, aims to uncover the forms of religious delegitimization that have transformed the face and substance of religion during the pandemic. it investigates 1) how this process has changed the legitimacy of religion, 2) the patterns of belief and worship, and 3) the context and factors underlying this delegitimization. the findings reveal that religious delegitimization during the pandemic is a part of the process of objectifying religion in a health disruption, highlighting changes due to covid-19 regulations, understanding of religious sacredness, and the authority of religious figures in the context of religion and covid-19 controversies. keywords: religion of pandemic; delegitimization of authority, covid-19 era   [ 294 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 introduction the covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally impacted social life, leading to the delegitimization of religion. this process stemmed from healthbased regulations by governmental bodies conflicting with established religious beliefs and practices. religion, once an absolute influence, has been reinterpreted through diverse social forces, particularly within health and security paradigms. this trend decreases religion's credibility as a social guide, coinciding with health protocols in worship matters. at the height of the pandemic, the lessened influence of religious leaders and the dislocation of worship places and practices were evident. first, the validity of religious doctrines was questioned, and their truth was doubted by various groups. for example, congregational friday prayers in mosques were replaced with dhuhr (midday) prayers at home (syamsuddin, 2020). secondly, the gradual abandonment of valued practices, such as direct religious learning with religious figures, shifted towards social media (regus, 2022). this overview reveals a fundamental shift post-pandemic, transforming the sacred into the mundane. the issue of religious delegitimization has been underanalyzed from a macro perspective concerning the context of disruptions like the pandemic. existing studies tend to focus on micro aspects, overlooking major forces structuring religious life, such as great disruptions (ikenberry & fukuyama, 1999) or technological disruptions affecting religious life (rashid, 2019). consequently, three trends emerge in the discussion of religious delegitimization during the covid-19 pandemic. first, delegitimization is linked with changing religious commitments within religious communities (miski & hamdan, 2019). second, it relates to religious authority where the sanctity of religion is questioned (abraham & stewart, 2019; hayati, 2020). third, it examines health policy impacts eroding sacred or absolute religious values (khairunnisa, 2020). the macro context underpinning changes in religious life remains underexplored. the pandemic actually justifies the ongoing changes in religious life. this paper positions religious analysis within a macro context, foundational for changes in religious life. the delegitimization of religion during the covid-19 pandemic is inseparable from social and historical changes, presenting religious social facts as objective realities. specifically, this paper addresses how religious delegitimization unfolds in social life and its effects on religiosity during and post-pandemic. the analysis provides a deep understanding of the factors causing delegitimization and comprehensive knowledge to formulate more targeted religious policies. religious delegitimization may occur due to shifts in religious ideology [ 295 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 and authority during the covid-19 pandemic. religion, once considered foundational, is now questioned or debated for its truthfulness. in other words, the loss of truth occurs as religion no longer possesses a single truth, due to open truth production. three arguments are presented. first, the weakening of religious doctrines and the deauthorizing of religious figures coincide with the strengthening of governmental or power center authority for health and security reasons. second, delegitimization is found in the loss of religious purity and practices due to increasingly dominant and coercive government policies. third, delegitimization is a manifestation of the dysfunction of worship places due to the privatization of religious practices. thus, the process of delegitimization occurs with the power shift of religion in relation to government policies. the data for this paper is based on qualitative research from online sources discussing cases like replacing friday prayers with dhuhr prayers at home, mosque closures, home congregational prayers, defiance against religious figures, and insults towards scholars. this research involved systematic documentation and analysis of online news with the main keyword “covid-19 pandemic,” focusing on news discussing religious delegitimization in social life during the pandemic leading to religious shifts. the data was interpreted to understand the format, process, and reasoning behind religious delegitimization in social life. delegitimization of religion delegitimization refers to the loss of belief or power from something established as a result of challenges due to an organization's failure to reproduce previously legitimized actions. this occurs due to social, political, cultural, or intellectual factors (regany et al., 2021). shevsky describes delegitimization as a change in self-description within the system and territorial disintegration (shevsky, 2020). in line with this, delegitimization is also connected to the process where a structure experiences a loss of collective coercive power (berger et al., 1998; ridgeway et al., 1998). delegitimization is divided into two levels, ideological and systemic. ideologically, religion is understood as a driving idea capable of creating consensus to mobilize mass and public opinion in competition with other ideological forces (acanfora, 2010). systemically, delegitimization strategy relates to antifascism in public life, on one hand, a parliamentary system that has a great framework in establishing the limits of democratic legitimacy (chiarini, 2017, 2019). with this strategy, delegitimization has two levels that can influence the existing democratic systems in the world. knowledge derived from social interactions and processes provides individuals [ 296 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 with a nuanced understanding of societal dynamics, integrating both personal and collective aspects (siti rahma harahap, 2020). within this social fabric, religion plays a pivotal role, profoundly influenced by its dual nature as both an ideological belief system and a practical framework (dani & mediantara, 2020). it significantly shapes personality development and social interactions, particularly through the medium of religious institutions (shofaussamawati, 2018; kardis & kardis, 2019). religion, as a universal aspect of human societies, establishes cognitive and behavioral patterns that are inherently religious in nature (ridla, 2014). religion commonly sets forth ethical and moral guidelines, establishing norms and criteria for discerning ethical behavior (zainur, 2020). it also emerges as a fundamental aspect of life, addressing strong social needs in humans (nizar, 2018). as a universal need, religion critically organizes and governs social life (rakodi, 2021; roh et al., 2015; salamah eka susanti, 2019). its primary social function is to foster a sense of community through socialization, serving as a form of social control over individuals and groups (barker, 2021). in this context, religion serves as a moral compass, promoting virtuous conduct and discouraging malfeasance (baker et al., 2020; berggren & bjørnskov, 2011), thus underscoring its indispensable role in societal well-being. the covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted not only public health but also the economic sphere (haryaningsih & elyta, 2022). it reconfigured everyday activities, ranging from work and social engagements to religious practices (febriyani et al., 2021; diez-sampedro et al., 2020). the pandemic's influence extended to altering human behavior and religious observances (ivan muhammad agung, 2020). during the crisis, religion evolved into a crucial source of social and spiritual capital, providing moral support and fostering solidarity in facing collective challenges (luqman & ilhamdi, 2023). concurrently, religious practices adapted, aligning with the shift toward virtual platforms necessitated by pandemic containment measures. this pandemic-induced transition converted traditional face-to-face social and religious interactions into online experiences. restrictions limited the number of participants in physical worship gatherings, leading to the cancellation of many in-person religious activities (yanuarita & haryati, 2021). consequently, numerous religious institutions embraced technology to facilitate virtual worship (febriyani et al., 2021; diez-sampedro et al., 2020). services became accessible via online platforms, live streaming, or video conferencing. these changes particularly impacted muslim communities, where customary congregational worships shifted to individual practice at home, with friday prayers being replaced by dhuhr prayers and eid prayers [ 297 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 conducted domestically. this transformation signifies a profound alteration in religious traditions and practices, reflecting the pandemic's pervasive impact on religious life. delegitimization of religious doctrines and worship practices religion traditionally calls its followers to live according to taught values, influencing both personal and social lives. religion encompasses more than just doctrinal teachings; it also shapes individuals and communities. the pandemic era, and the period following it, has been marked by a growing suspicion that religious teachings could hinder efforts to combat covid-19. this has led to a loss of the absolute nature of religion, where its truths were once accepted without question. now, there are increasing inquiries regarding the validity of religion. evidence shows instances of delegitimization of religious teachings as reported in the media (see table 1). table 1. cases of delegitimization of religious doctrines during covid-19 pandemic no. cases of religious delegitimization narrative source 1 use of vaccines containing elements forbidden by islamic doctrine the government allows the use of such vaccines in emergency situations. https://metro.tempo. co/read/1478882/fatwa-mui-pedoman-pengurusan-jenazah-covid-19-memandikan-hingga-menguburkan 2 burial process in accordance with covid-19 health protocols the deceased who succumbed to covid-19 are no longer washed, prayed for, and buried as customary for deceased muslims. https://metro.tempo. co/read/1478882/fatwa-mui-pedoman-pengurusan-jenazah-covid-19-memandikan-hingga-menguburkan 3 postponement of departure for hajj pilgrimage the hajj pilgrimage was postponed to reduce the spread of covid-19 for the safety of pilgrims. https://m.kominfo.go.id/ content/detail/27142/disinformasi-pembatalan-keberangkatan-haji-karena-dananya-sudah-habis/0/ laporan_isu_hoaks [ 298 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 no. cases of religious delegitimization narrative source 4 restrictions on social gatherings or visits prohibition of face-to-face social visits during social distancing, even though in islam, maintaining ties of kinship (silaturahmi) is considered obligatory. https://islam.nu.or.id/tasawuf-akhlak/cara-silaturahim-jarak-jauh-di-masa-pandemi-ypqth 5 changing friday congregational prayers to dhuhr prayers for muslim men during the pandemic, there was a recommendation to replace friday congregational prayers with dhuhr prayers, which is actually contrary to islamic law. https://news.detik.com/ berita/d-4944622/sholat-jumat-diganti-dzuhur-karena-virus-corona-bagaimana-hukumnya 6 distancing between individuals in rows during prayers spacing between individuals in rows during prayers due to the pandemic conflict with islamic teachings that recommend forming tight rows. https://www.republika.co.id/ berita/q7f6rm366/shaf-sholat-berjarak-antisipasi-corona-bagaimana-hukumnya 7 replacing congregational prayers in mosque with praying at home the replacement of congregational prayers in mosques with praying at home during the pandemic is examined from a sharia perspective, highlighting the virtues of organizing congregational prayers in mosques. https://kalam.sindonews. com/read/162598/69/ salat-berjamaah-di-rumahsaat-pandemi-samakahfadhilahnya-dengan-di-masjid-1599919785 8 wearing masks during prayers wearing masks during prayers during the pandemic contradicts islamic teachings that prohibit men from covering their mouths during prayer. https://dalamislam.com/ shalat/hukum-shalat-pakai-masker table 1 demonstrates the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the perception of certain islamic doctrines. initially, some factions considered the use of vaccines to be forbidden (haram) in islam, citing their supposed inclusion of prohibited substances. however, as covid-19 cases surged, the indonesian ulema council (majelis ulama indonesia or mui) sanctioned the use of vaccines, citing the urgency of the situation. the islamic funeral process, which typically adheres to specific rites, had to conform to health protocols mandated by the government for pandemic management. in response, mui issued a fatwa, declaring that the burial of covid-19 victims should comply with both islamic sharia and health guidelines. the suspension of the hajj pilgrimage serves as a further indication of how traditional religious doctrines [ 299 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 have been reevaluated in light of the pandemic. social activities traditionally involving direct interactions, such as returning to one's hometown during eid, faced restrictions to uphold social distancing measures during the pandemic. as a result, these interactions transitioned to remote forms of communication, including exchanging news via text messages, phone calls, or through various digital platforms. the pandemic also led to the suspension of the obligatory friday prayers for adult muslim men, a preventive measure to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. this necessitated a reevaluation of the teachings related to congregational religious practices and their execution in public spaces, especially for worship purposes. consequently, many mosques and prayer halls were closed for congregational prayers. in response, muslims adapted by conducting prayers at home. however, numerous scholars pointed out that, as per authentic hadiths from bukhari and muslim, congregational prayers in mosques hold greater virtue than prayers performed individually at home. the mandated use of face masks presented a conflict with islamic practices, as prophet muhammad discouraged men from covering their mouths during prayers. this restriction was believed to interfere with the clarity of prayer recitations and the direct contact of the nose with the ground during prostrations, potentially diminishing the prayer's completeness. figure 1 depicts a range of responses to the implementation of these health protocols, highlighting the ensuing controversies. figure 1. discourse on implementation of health protocols in religious practices during covid-19 pandemic no. discourse visual description source 1 vaccines containing forbidden animal ingredients https://nasional. sindonews.com/ read/369790/15/ mui-astrazeneca-haram-tapiboleh-digunakanselengkapnya-diinews-sore-jumat-pukul-1600wib-1616141032 [ 300 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 no. discourse visual description source 2 burial of covid-19 victims under health protocol provisions https://www.liputan6.com/cek-fakta/read/4394568/ pelibatan-tokohagama-pentinghindari-konflikcara-pemakamanjenazah-covid-19 3 deserted atmosphere of the kaaba due to travel restrictions amid pandemic https://bkpp. demakkab. go.id/2020/06/ penundaan-keberangkatan-ibadah-haji.html 4 practice of the distancing of individuals in prayer rows (shaf) during the pandemic stirred controversy https://republika. co.id/berita/r8ixht399/masjid-al-akbar-surabaya-belum-akan-rapatkan-shaf-shalat-jumat 5 congregational prayer with the use of masks due to covid-19 pandemic https://syariah. iainkediri.ac.id/ shalat-menggunakan-masker/ 6 eid prayers conducted virtually due to covid-19 pandemic https://poskota. co.id/2021/07/20/ timbulkan-pro-kontra-bagaimana-hukum-salat-idul-adha-berjemaah-secara-virtual-berikut-penjelasannya [ 301 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 the visuals depicted above highlight that the covid-19 pandemic has resulted in profound alterations to the beliefs and worship practices within religious communities, especially among muslims. practices that were conventionally performed in congregational settings, characterized by collective participation, had to be reconfigured into individual practices, distancing worshippers from communal gatherings. this emergent pattern of worship, necessitated by the pandemic, established a new norm in religious observance. consequently, muslims have progressively adapted to these modified patterns of worship, embracing new routines in their religious practices without the resistance or dissent that was more prevalent before the pandemic. delegitimization of religious figures during the pandemic, a notable process of delegitimization affected religious figures, characterized by their decreasing authorization. this led to a weakening of their traditional authority and a reduction in their influence on social organization. this shift occurred as the state and its agents assumed a more dominant role in the regulation of religious affairs, justified by concerns for public health and national security. table 2 provides a detailed account of various instances where religious figures experienced delegitimization throughout the covid-19 pandemic. tabel 2. delegitimization of religious figures during covid-19 pandemic no. delegitimization of religious figures narrative source 1. defiance against religious figures (disregarding religious decrees). people’s resistance against fatwas issued by religious scholars regarding covid-19 regulations https://ibtimes.id/ peran-ulama-kegelisahan-masyarakat-dan-mitigasi-covid-19/ 2. refusal to study religion with religious figures people preferred instant, non-personalized religious learning https://jabar.nu.or.id/ taushiyah/bahaya-belajar-agama-secara-instan-ikywv 3. disparaging ulema or ignoring their existence disparagement of religious scholars who made decisions not in line with public opinion. internet users assigned derogatory labels such as “kiai sumbu pendek” (short-fused clerics) or “kiai kagetan” (reactionary clerics) https://sidogirimedia. com/delegitimasi-ulama-oleh-dunia-maya/ [ 302 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 no. delegitimization of religious figures narrative source 4. controversy surrounding a sermon by a religious teacher who claimed that the coronavirus is an illuminati weapon. statements by ustad zulkifli about the rampant coronavirus, claiming that covid-19 is a creation of the illuminati, sparked considerable controversy among internet users. https://monitor. co.id/2020/03/17/kontroversi-ceramah-ustadz-zulkifli-sebut-virus-corona-senjata-illuminati/ 5. controversy surrounding a video in which an islamic scholar suggested that the coronavirus only affects hypocritical individuals in a post, an internet user stated: “if he ever contracts covid-19, we'll call him ... a hypocrite”. other internet users expressed wishes for the scholar to contract covid-19. https://www.suara.com/ news/2020/04/17/073000/ dikecam-ustaz-yahya-waloni-sebut-virus-corona-hanya-serang-orang-munafik table 2 suggests that the public frequently disregarded the fatwas issued by the indonesian ulema council (mui), such as those concerning the suspension of congregational friday prayers during the covid-19 pandemic. these fatwas often sparked controversy, given the religious norms emphasizing the obligatory nature of friday prayers. it is widely held that religion is best understood through the insights of knowledgeable religious scholars, who possess a deep comprehension of religious teachings and their practical application in the real world. instantaneous learning methods, such as reading religious texts or accessing lectures via television or the internet, akin to a 'google search' approach to religious education, carry the risk of misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and the propagation of incorrect beliefs, especially among younger audiences. disrespect towards religious scholars has become increasingly common, often manifesting in derogatory remarks about their viewpoints or actions. for example, when scholars confront various deviations, they are frequently met with cynical labels like "kiai sumbu pendek" or "kiai kagetan" (terms implying reactionary or short-fused clerics). similarly, those who adopt a more persuasive approach to address deviations are quickly labeled as "kiai liberal" (liberal clerics). with public opinions spreading rapidly through social media, there is a noticeable shift in the power dynamics, with the public exerting influence through both traditional and digital media to create religious knowledge and contest the views of religious scholars. the pandemic period has notably opened up a space of contestation, reshaping the community's relationship with religious figures. the changes wrought by this pandemic are seen as enduring and an inevitable part of the evolution of the times. [ 303 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 dislocation of worship the implementation of social and physical distancing policies has been identified as a significant issue in relation to the restrictions on conducting religious worship and mass religious activities. religious practices were forced by regulations to shift to homes. similarly, various religious preaching activities that previously involved large public gatherings were suspended during the pandemic. table 3 presents various instances with diverse responses, demonstrating the disruption of places of worship throughout the pandemic. table 3. cases of delegitimization of places of worship during covid-19 pandemic no cases narrative source 1. pros and cons of mosque closures during the pandemic sparked debates within the community the recommendation for the closure of mosques among the muslim community triggered diverse opinions. some argued that mosque closures constitute a form of discrimination and even oppression against the muslim community. https://www.republika.co.id/ berita/qvrq98318/penutupanmasjid-masa-ppkm-daruratdan-diksi-zalimi-umat 2. restriction of worship activities in mosques the government recommended the implementation of various restrictions on places of worship during the pandemic. https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210803111609-20-675675/ aturan-salat-di-masjid-daerahppkm-level-4-3-dan-2 3. dissemination of religious teachings (da’wah) no longer takes place in mosques; instead, it has shifted to digital platforms. in reality, da’wah is no longer confined to mosques, assemblies, or traditional face-to-face communities. https://www.kompasiana.com/tiarade/5ee8974ad541df2e593ef0f2/ kebangkitan-dakwah-digital-di-masa-pandemi 4. cessation of study sessions in mosques during the pandemic, conducting face-toface study sessions was considered to pose health issues for the public. https://www.merdeka.com/ peristiwa/men ag-harap-tokohagama-lebih-arif-menyikapipandemi-covid-19.html 5. virtual friday prayers mui stated that virtual friday prayers are considered invalid. https://www.voaindonesia. com/a/salat-jumat-virtual-berjamaah-tanpa-berkerumun/5925156.html [ 304 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 no cases narrative source 6. virtual eid prayers eid prayers were conducted utilizing computers, such as via zoom https://www.kompas.id/baca/ opini/2021/08/07/ibadah-virtual 7. virtual umrah (lesser hajj) the implementation of virtual umrah during the pandemic is considered by some scholars as a deception of the public https://www.suara.com/ news/2021/04/27/120207/fakta-umroh-virtual-harganya-murah-tapi-pembodohan?page=all table 3 reveals that the covid-19 pandemic not only modified worship practices but also evidences the reduced functionality of places of worship. activities traditionally performed in these spaces, once considered normal and habitual, experienced a process of delegitimization throughout the pandemic. covid-19 task force strongly stated: “the government emphasizes that places of worship are not permitted to conduct collective worship activities. community members who wish to worship are advised to do so at home.” diverse reactions elicited by this regulation, including a comment from the minister of religious affairs: “places of worship are open only in a restricted capacity for administrators. while mosque or musala administrators may still call the adhan to denote prayer times, actual worship activities should be conducted individually at home.” the pandemic has transformed the traditional pattern of preaching, which typically involved face-to-face and congregational interactions. preaching has expanded beyond mosques, assemblies, or traditional community gatherings. covid-19 has necessitated a rapid transition for preachers into the digital era, utilizing communication and information technologies to their full potential. the recommendation to restrict activities in places of worship (including mosques, churches, hindu and buddhist temples, etc.) catalyzed the adoption of virtual and digital spaces for religious practices. for example, the virtual celebration of eid prayer during eid al-adha 2021 saw a zoom attendance of 1,000 people. the online worship was conducted live, with participants scattered across various locations in indonesia. in addition to eid prayers, other religious practices such as tahlilan (a form of remembrance) and takziah, dedicated to praying for deceased friends and family members during the pandemic, also transitioned to being performed online. since the onset of the pandemic, various innovations in virtual religious activities have emerged, including virtual umrah, which has been a subject of controversy. numerous reports have underscored the widespread challenges related to the disruption of traditional places of worship (figure 2). [ 305 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 figure 2. virtual worship practices no. online religious practice visual source 1 eid prayer conducted virtually due to the covid-19 pandemic https://poskota. co.id/2021/07/20/ timbulkan-pro-kontra-bagaimana-hukum-salat-idul-adha-berjemaah-secara-virtual-berikut-penjelasannya 2 procedure for online friday prayers: the preacher, muezzin (caller to prayer), and congregation are separated https://kumparan. com/kumparannews/ tata-cara-jumatan-online-khatib-muazin-dan-jemaah-terpisah-1uwepwaf5jq 3 policy of mosque closures during the covid-19 pandemic https://www.republika. co.id/berita/qw1y79366/ tito-tempat-ibadah-tak-ditutup-tetapi-tak-boleh-berjamaah 4 invitation to spread religious teachings through social media https://kampusdosenjualan.com/syiar-islam-lewat-sosial-media/ [ 306 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 no. online religious practice visual source 5 poster design for virtual umrah https://makassar. terkini.id/poster-umrah-virtual-kembali-viral-netizen-tawafnya-mengelilingi-tv-kalau-doa-gak-sampai-berarti-sinyal-bermasalah/ 6 religious preaching through podcast https://www.liputan6.com/lifestyle/ read/4533528/ kembangkan-dakwah-digital-umma-rilis-fitur-podcast-hingga-kompetisi-syiar the images presented above demonstrate how the delegitimization of traditional places of worship has redirected attention away from physical locales previously central to religious activities and practices. with the advent of online platforms, conventional places of worship have experienced a decline in perceived legitimacy. in contrast, virtual or digital media spaces have emerged as the new epicenters of religious life, progressively evolving into preferred spaces for religious engagement. religion in times of crisis the findings of this research have revealed that religious doctrines underwent delegitimization during the covid-19 pandemic. policies implemented to handle the pandemic, in fact, diminished the role of religious doctrines, leading to a reinterpretation of the initial understanding of values and norms in religious teachings. this reevaluation of religious teachings, adapted to the emergency situation of the pandemic, served not only as a coping strategy but also had the potential to generate misunderstandings within society. religious doctrines were no longer considered absolute; their truth became subject to questioning and debate, rendering them relative. simultaneously, these [ 307 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 doctrines could induce social changes in communities, creating situations where individuals altered their ingrained behavioral patterns (berezovskachmil, 2020). doctrines in general consistently dominate and influence the ability to attract followers (hanson & xiang, 2013). during the pandemic, religious doctrines significantly transformed the lives of religious communities. the loss of perceived absolute truth in religious teachings became increasingly palpable among nearly all muslims due to health protocol regulations. this phenomenon arose from a series of changes that transformed the original meanings into a new system, facilitated by the opening of media space, causing a redefinition of religious doctrines. the forms of delegitimization of religious doctrines illustrate that government regulations tended to contradict earlier religious decrees, such as on the use of vaccines, which were considered to contain forbidden elements. on the other hand, vaccination represented almost the sole opportunity to address the emergency situation of the spread of covid-19. religion, in this shift, experienced desacralization, transforming the law from forbidden (haram) to an allowed solution in emergency situations. the pandemic turned the absolute laws of islam into a contested space with open meanings. the delegitimization of religious figures during the pandemic brought about a significant shift in meaning for the religious community. on one hand, society lost its guidance or role models in the form of religious leaders, aligned with the weakening authority of religious figures caused by the growth of individualism or a shift in communal values (sajjadi, 2008). religious figures underwent a transformation in their role in conveying religious teachings, in line with the open space for truth that allows anyone who subscribe to a particular religion to make their own interpretations. resistance to religious leaders' fatwas often gave rise to both support and opposition. the diminishing authority of religion resulting from controversies surrounding religious figures eroded religious influence, potentially sparking disputes between those who believe in covid-19 and those who see it merely as a global conspiracy. controversies in expressing views and values on religion in addressing the pandemic led to a shift in public trust in religion and religious figures. the implementation of regulations mandating the closure of mosques, limiting worship activities within them, and promoting the virtualization of preaching and prayers, has contributed to the delegitimization of traditional religious practices, leading to profound shifts in the dynamics among religious communities. these regulations ignited considerable debate within the islamic community, particularly in 2020, when religious practices experienced a loss of empowerment and disruption in rituals and preaching (hamdi, 2022). the [ 308 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 necessity for physical distancing due to covid-19 markedly encouraged the adoption of virtual methods for disseminating religious teachings, significantly influencing the landscape of religious practice (jogezai et al., 2021). religious activities have increasingly adapted to the confines imposed by worship rules in sacred spaces. within the islamic framework of needs, especially in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, applying the principle of ifẓ al-nafs (preserving life) in mosques has been prioritized as a primary need (darūriyyāt). this principle underscores the importance of protecting life while maintaining the spiritual continuity of collective worship. this adaptation unites the community within a paradigm that values health and sanctifies life during these challenging times (dahlan et al., 2021). therefore, the process of delegitimizing religion in social life, particularly in places of worship, signifies an evolution in the patterns and structures of the religious social experiences within the muslim community. conclusion during the covid-19 pandemic, the phenomenon of religious delegitimization in social life transcended mere alterations in islamic religious regulations; it also entailed significant changes in religious doctrines, thereby affecting the established legitimacy of long-standing beliefs. this widespread perception of delegitimization within indonesia's muslim population was, in part, attributed to a lack of comprehensive understanding. the process led to various instances of delegitimization of religious doctrines and the diminished authority of religious figures, culminating in prevalent misunderstandings. this occurrence of religious delegitimization has projected implications for the future of social religious life, suggesting a transition away from conventional islamic practices and spirituality. in this context, religious doctrines have broadened their reach, disseminating through various social media platforms, with religious figures frequently igniting social controversies in their portrayal of religion during the pandemic. consequently, the delegitimization of religion in social life throughout the covid-19 pandemic poses emerging challenges for future religious practice and interpretation. this study offers insights into the delegitimization of religion in social life, examining not only the social impact but also the ramifications of regulatory changes and alterations in religious practices as a significant social issue within indonesian islam. the different manifestations of religious delegitimization observed during the pandemic have indicated that this period has reshaped patterns and the authority of religious practices. it is posited that religion has experienced a shift in its social significance during the covid-19 pandemic. [ 309 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 this observation underscores that the delegitimization of religion in social life can be discerned through various expressions of doctrinal teachings, the implementation of values, and the behavioral patterns of believers during the pandemic. the manuscript, however, acknowledges limitations in its data sources, primarily derived from social media research. such a foundation is not sufficiently robust to support broad claims of extensive religious delegitimization in social life. to develop a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon, extensive surveys on religious delegitimization in social life are necessary, taking into account spirituality and religious concerns. these surveys, encompassing a broader scope and including experiences from various religious backgrounds, are vital for informed understanding and effective policymaking in managing community life in the aftermath of the pandemic. bibliography abraham, i. b., & stewart, f. 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(2018). iman dan kehidupan sosial. riwayah : jurnal studi hadis, 2(2), 211‒224. https://doi.org/10.21043/riwayah.v2i2.3133 susanti, s. a. (2019). islam dan tantangan globalisasi. humanistika : jurnal keislaman, 5(2), 163‒177. https://doi.org/10.36835/humanistika. v5i2.47 [ 313 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 syamsuddin, s. (2020). keringanan (rukhshah) meniadakan shalat jumat dan shalat jama’ah serta kewajiban menaati ulul amri. al-’adl, 13(2), 165‒184. https://doi.org/10.31332/aladl.v13i2.1869 yanuarita, h. a., & haryati, s. (2021). pengaruh covid-19 terhadap kondisi sosial budaya di kota malang dan konsep strategis dalam penanganannya. jurnal ilmiah widya sosiopolitika, 2(2), 58‒71. https://doi. org/10.24843/jiwsp.2020.v02.i02.p01 zainur, z. (2020). konsep dasar kebutuhan manusia menurut persfektif ekonomi islam. jurnal an-nahl, 5(9), 32‒43. https://doi.org/10.54576/ annahl.v7i1.3 zarkasyi, h. f. (2009). liberalisasi pemikiran islam: gerakan bersama missionaris, orientalis dan kolonialis. tsaqafah, 5(1), 1‒28. https:// doi.org/10.21111/tsaqafah.v5i1.145 [ 314 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2926 [ 275 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 islam, papuanness and indonesianess within papuan muslims in fakfak saidin ernas iain ambon email: saidinernas@iainambon.ac.id ismail, dp iain ambon email: ismaildp@iainambon.ac.id ismail kilderak sekolah tinggi agama islam seram timur email: staisseramtimur@gmail.com abstract this study shows that the long historical process associated with islam in west papua has an impact on defining a unique identity, and significantly interrelating islam, papuanness, and indonesianness. the data in this study were collected for three months in fakfak of west papua, through methods of observation, interview, and documentation. some key informants were data sources consisting of religious leaders, community leaders, and government employees. two important findings are found in this work. first, the presence of islam in papua has significantly contributed to the formation of the identity of the fakfak community in papua through an intense and strong acculturation process between islam and local papuan culture. this process has formed new inclusive and tolerant values that are reflected in the local wisdom of satu tungku tiga batu (one stove with three stones). second, islam and papuanness in fakfak appear to have certain implications on the formation of indonesian (national) identity. theoretically, this research shows that identity is not something fixed and natural, but a constantly changing process, concerning the socio-political dynamics that affect it. that is why papuan muslims strive to continue to define themselves amid the construction of papuan identity which is often defined as christian and melanesian. keywords; papuaness; indonesianess; acculturation; papuan muslim; fakfak introduction the phenomenon of the development of islam in the coastal region of west papua is comprised of three main areas: raja ampat, kaimana, and fakfak [ 276 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 have several characteristics distinct from other places in papua. since the fifteenth century, the islamic preachers who set foot in this region have spread islam to the southern part of fakfak. they generally came to papua on trade expeditions and then settled down and spread islam (putuhena, 2006). only a small number of people were on board in expeditions to control the territory carried out regularly by the sultanate rulers in north maluku; ternate and tidore. interestingly, islam in fakfak and its surrounding areas do not necessarily diminish cultural practices but regulate and direct them to conform to islamic values. even when other missionary religions, namely christianity and catholicism, arrived here, muslims who were on the coast of west papua were able to adapt and acculturate with the two major religions, especially in building a moderate and tolerant religious spirit. the interaction between the three abrahamic religions then gave birth to a family’s religious system, where one family divides its members to adhere to different religions (onim, 2006). such a process of religious accommodation, according to conventional islamic views, is considered something that endangers the islamic faith. however, sociologically, it shows the flexibility of islam when faced with the reality of religious differences in society. this occurred evolutionarily during the arrival of islam in indonesia, which formed the custom and culture of the community interrelated with islam (mudjib, 2013; tuhri, 2020). similarly, when the integration of papua with indonesia occurred, some kings and tribal chiefs in the fakfak region and its surroundings took the initiative to assist in this political integration (ernas, 2014). the muslims in fakfak saw the integration of papua with indonesia as the right choice, especially in a religious context. today, islam in the fakfak region is the majority religion which contributes to the dynamics of local politics. the muslims in fakfak have become more open to immigrants, and there have hardly been any violent political conflicts. they, as described by abel suwae (2013) are struggling to affirm their identity as muslims amidst the strengthening of their christian papuan identity (habel, 2012). based on these evolutionary developments, the study will focus on two important things. first, how does the presence of islam shape the identity of the fakfak people as muslims? do islamism and papuanness in fakfak have a certain impact on the formation of indonesian identity? by dissecting these two things, this paper will offer three things. first, the face of islam which is marked by the presence of muslims who are the majority in fakfak. according to the statistical data in the fakfak area, muslims are the majority in this region who make up 63.2% of the population. second, the papuan elements formed [ 277 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 from the influence of islam and papuan culture, create distinctive and unique models of tolerance and moderation across narrow religious views, as can be seen from the emergence of a “family religion” culture that allows one family to follow a different religion (iribaram, 2011). this is an important indicator of the moderate religious model. third, the islamic traits on the west coast of papua foster an indonesian spirit (nationalism) which is marked by the ideological political affiliation of the muslim community in this region which consistently supports integration with indonesia. the long socio-political and cultural relationship with muslims is recognized as one of the indicators of the strengthening of their sense of attachment to indonesia. although this is seen as another marker of papuan identity, which is often identified as melanesian and christian (chauvel, 2005). it is the shades of papua’s unique islamic identity that will be raised as the main theme in this paper, mainly because of two considerations. first, islam in papua has presented a unique mosaic in indonesia, related to how the formation of three important elements, namely islam, indonesianness, and papuanness that shape the islamic character in the region. second, to date, there are not many researchers in indonesia who make the process of encountering islam, indonesianness, and papuanness a topic of research and academic discourse. so far, papua has only been highlighted from the perspective of the conflicts that have constantly been taking place in several areas in papua. there are not many researchers who see islam in papua as a cultural potential to build peace. this study is part of research conducted in fakfak west papua in 2019. the data were collected for three months with the methods of observation, interviews, and literature study from september to november 2019. some key informants were successfully interviewed, consisting of religious leaders, community leaders, and government employees. during data collection, we read significant literature; books, journals, and documents on islam, ethnicity, culture, and political identity in papua. this included the literature data that had been collected and then analyzed with an interactive analysis, as proposed by irwan abdullah (2007) to understand how the interaction between islam and culture in papua has a certain impact on the national identity of indonesia in papua. studies on islam and papuan identity few studies on islam in papua have been produced, although in recent years there have been several researchers who conducted research related to islam in papua. such studies attempted to construct the position of papuan muslims in the increasingly dynamic political contestation in papua. cahyo pamungkas’s [ 278 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 (2008) thesis on islamic papua and special autonomy, which described the efforts of minority muslim papuans to negotiate their religious identity amid the christian papuan community, showed that cultural identities, such as ethnicity and religion, do not only function as an objective marker but also a symbolic power. this identity is constructed, contested, and used as a political instrument. cahyo’s study is interesting, but he only examined the dynamics of contemporary contestation and did not discuss the historical experience and its influence on culture. similar to cahyo’s study, idrus al-hamid described how political islam is getting stronger in papua, which strengthens the role of muslims, but also creates a cultural distance with the indigenous papuans. similar to cahyo and idrus, musa rumbaru in his study “identity construction of the minority papuan muslim: a study on the papuan muslim council,” also mentions the same thing. while the study of j.f. onim (2006) about the history of the encounter between islam and christianity in papua, which took place in the fakfak area, provided important information about how the two religions have interacted since the beginning of their arrival in papua, giving fakfak people experience to build social harmony. meanwhile, the anthropological study conducted by suparto iribaram (2011), entitled one stove/cauldron with three stones/legs --cooperation of three religions in religious life in fakfak), has significant relevance to this research. iribaram argued that one of the factors that support religious harmony in fakfak is the acculturation of religion and culture, which gives birth to the philosophy of one stove/cauldron with three stones/legs. likewise, pandie’s study (2018) which describes the philosophy of local wisdom from satu tungku tiga batu in fakfak. iribaram anda pandie’s research is an entry point to examine how islam influences the character of local culture and to create various institutions and local wisdom that are institutionalized and play a role in strengthening the integration of islam, indonesianness, and papuanness in fakfak regency, west papua. if we look at the various studies and research mentioned above, there are at least two things that have not received adequate attention. first, the study of islam in papua still places islam as an outside force that tries to conquer papua with all its influence in a contestatory and even destructive way. islam is considered the outsiders’ religion, while christianity is local. second, islam in papua is considered a disintegrative force that interferes with the development of papuan nationalism, so muslims should be suspected of being “less papuan.” the dynamics of the society in papua are not singular. in some islamic societies, papuanness and indonesianness are two identities that tend to be interrelated, as we can see in fakfak of west papua. [ 279 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 fakfak as an islamic majority region in west papua papua is a unique region, not only because of its location at the far eastern tip of indonesia but also because of its exotic people. alfreed russel wallace (as quoted by materay, 2011), a traveler from england described papuans as people of “dark skin, brownish or black. sometimes it is close to, but never the same as the dark skin tone of the negroid race. very different in color, exceeding the skin tone of the malay, sometimes dark and slightly brownish. their hair is very coarse and dry,” (materay, 2011). as for fakfak, it is an area located right on the neck of the “bird’s head” of papua island which is currently part of west papua province. this district is located extending from west to east on the southern coast of papua with the following territorial boundaries: to the east are the regencies of mimika and paniai; to the west are the seram sea, berau bay and sorong regency, and central maluku regency; in the northern part are manokwari and paniai regencies, and to the south stretches the arafuru sea and southeast maluku regency. the indigenous people of fakfak are native papuans who come from two major tribes, namely the baham and onin. in addition, there are also small tribes such as the ihandin who inhabit the fatagar and baruan areas, the yarimo, the sasim, the sabakor, the kembaran, the tukua, and several other small tribes who live in the areas along the coast of petuanan arguni. each tribe has a different language which is generally grouped into baham and iha languages. it is not known exactly when the indigenous people began to settle down in the fakfak area, because there is no important historical or anthropological research on this matter. in addition to indigenous people, the fakfak area is also inhabited by several immigrant ethnic groups. generally, they come from maluku, namely seram and kei which have geographical proximity to fakfak. the people of seram and fakfak have had socio-cultural relations and economic contacts that have existed for a long time, many of their people have kinship relations due to inter-marriage (widjoyo. 2009). many bugis and makassar people from south sulawesi also live in fakfak, generally, they work as traders in local markets in fakfak. other ethnic groups from sulawesi are buton people from southeast sulawesi. many of these people grow various kinds of crops that supply food, vegetables and some are fishermen. it is estimated that the buton people from southeast sulawesi have settled in fakfak since the dutch colonial era. they came for economic, trade, and religious purposes. the central government’s efforts to promote transmigration since 1990 have contributed to the presence of a significant number of javanese in the fakfak area. generally, they live in bomberay district which borders kaimana regency. [ 280 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 other ethnic groups found in fakfak are arabs and chinese who mostly live in the city of fakfak. the arrival of the arabs is estimated to coincide with the entry of islam in fakfak, which was around the 16th and 17th centuries. in addition to being religious leaders and imams of the mosque, the arabs also run grocery stores and trade various products along the main fakfak streets. the chinese also run a grocery store in the center of the city, selling various basic goods and acting as collectors of nutmeg seeds for sale to buyers from makassar and surabaya. the fact that there are many arabs and chinese who have lived and traded in fakfak since hundreds of years ago, is a testament to the glory of fakfak’s commerce in the past. in a book entitled a study on the history of the arrival of islam in fakfak, published by the fakfak regency government in 1996, it is stated that islam has been present in papua around the end of the 16th century. several other writers such as j.f. onim (2006) stated that islam was only present in papua around the 17th century. this conclusion was drawn based on an analysis of the report of miguel roxo debrito (1581-1582), who stated that during his visit to the raja ampat islands. king waegeo who ruled the islands at the time had not embraced islam. thus the presence of islam in papua is estimated around the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. the path of the spread of islam in papua follows the path of the archipelago which started from aceh at the tip of the island of sumatra, java, and maluku, then entered and developed in papua. later, experts agreed that the presence of islam in papua was the final chapter of the spread of islam because after that the process of spreading islam had been cut off and stopped altogether. the encounter of islam with catholicism and christianity which came later to fakfak has opened a new chapter on the interaction of the three abrahamic religions which is generally peaceful. the development of islam in fakfak is very amazing. fakfak is the only region in papua where the population (the majority) is muslim. overall, islam is the religion that is embraced by 53.80% of the community. this number increased significantly after the integration of papua with indonesia, where many migrants came to fakfak. some were officially sponsored by the government through the national transmigration program. the followers of islam are comprised of the original fakfak people (natives) who generally inhabit the coastal area of fakfak, they are comprised of the onin, iha, and baham tribes. the second group is the fakfak people of seram, gorom, banda, arab, buton, bugis, makassar, javanese, madurese, etc. fakfak has become one of the beacons of islamic da’wah in papua. many people refer to fakfak as papua’s “veranda of mecca”. this fact is undeniable because of the 71,069 population [ 281 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 of fakfak in 2017, the majority were muslims (53.80%), and most of them are indigenous muslims who are quite religious and some have even become popular islamic figures in papua. islam, custom and family traditions in fakfak the presence of islam in fakfak, in addition to being the majority religion adopted by the fakfak community, also gives important values that contribute to the formation of islamic identity in fakfak. the fakfak people believe that as muslims in papua they have basic characteristics, which when analyzed in depth have different constructions from papuan identity in general. the presence of islam in fakfak strengthens cultural norms that further strengthen the brotherhood. although currently fakfak people embrace different religions, live in different districts or lords, and even have different social statuses, they are still bound and connected in a unitary custom, be it the baham mata customary unity, or the onin who have inhabited the onim peninsula (fakfak) since long ago. the moral values derived from these local values then gave birth to several norms and customary laws for the fakfak community. customary norms in fakfak can be distinguished in several areas of life which regulate family life and the public (people). in family life, for example, norms related to marriage law, tombormage, or respect for parents. acculturation between islam and local culture in fakfak has also made an important contribution to the high respect for mothers and women. in public life, there is also a tradition of bakubantu or masohi, namely the tradition of helping each other in the fakfak community. bakubantu is applied in group life as well as in broad social practice, such as helping to build houses, helping neighboring regions when building traditional houses, or organizing traditional rituals. in the public context, the acculturation of islam and local culture forms networks of brotherhood and social relations among citizens, not only among fakfak muslims but also between muslims and christians and catholics. customary responsibility gives rise to several local pearls of wisdom, such as the requirement to have dialog to solve problems through the dudu tikar tradition. the description of dudu tikar shows that it is a best practice in fakfak customary law, which serves as a medium to ensure social relations are always in a harmonious state, as instilled through the philosophical values of idu-idu, mani nina, and yoyo. if there is a problem, dispute, or conflict between the people, the king, tribal chief, or village elder must “open the mat” to talk, have a dialog, and deliberate. in contrast to some tribes in papua who make [ 282 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 war a way to resolve conflicts and disputes. the fakfak community considers such actions as harming brotherhood and kinship relations. the results of the acculturation of islam and custom in fakfak also provide an important construction for religious life, which is institutionalized in the local wisdom of satu tungku tiga batu (one stove with three stones). in simple terms, the philosophy of one stove with three stones is a reflection of the brotherhood of the fakfak community despite different religions, ethnicities, languages, and socioeconomic conditions. in the traditional construction of the fakfak community, one stove with three stones is a term that describes a balance, like a stove supported by three stones when cooking food by ancient people. without three legs of stone, the stove would not be stable and would cause food to spill. these three stone legs are likened to the three major religions in fakfak, namely islam, catholicism, and protestantism. in the opinion of the indigenous people of fakfak, if the three stone legs are stable then all problems can be handled properly so that the implementation of the philosophy of one stove with three stones spreads to the family life of the indigenous people in fakfak. in that philosophy, some elements are agreed upon, namely as one family, one must remain in one heart even though they have different religions and beliefs. there is no definite record of when exactly the term of satu tungku tiga batu (one stove with three stones) was first used in the fakfak community tradition. however, some researchers agreed that the term comes from the result of acculturation between religious values (islam) and local culture that upholds the spirit of kinship (onim, 2006). in the communal melanesian tradition, family is considered as everything, they used to risk their lives through wars to protect the family’s good name. the tribal war ritual that is still practiced by some tribes in timika and pegunungan tengah is an example of the cultural response of the papuan people when they feel that their family is under threat. war is waged as a request for responsibility to those who have killed or insulted the honor of the family of a tribe. likewise, with social practices in fakfak, the family is the center of identity that must be maintained. so the differences in religion adhered to by family members are not in question because they prioritize family harmony. this is the basis of the formation of family religion in the tradition of the fakfak community. the phenomenon of one family adhering to a different religion is a common thing for the people of fakfak, as stated by mr. simon hindom as follows: “in my family, there are eight siblings, some are christians, some are muslims, and some are catholics. my brother is a hajj, my nephew is even a priest. in our tradition here, we are used to sharing religions, as long as they are [ 283 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 sincere and obedient. so, for example, because of marriage a woman has to convert to islam. so, later one of her children is advised to follow christianity or catholicism. this is for the sake of togetherness,” (interview with simon hindom, 2019) this is what makes fakfak unique compared to indonesia’s other regions. in this diversity, there are no conflicts of beliefs or disputes that lead to clashes between religious communities. the flexibility of islam as the majority religion in fakfak and its tolerance, allows the people of fakfak to choose religion without coercion and respect each other’s choice. the philosophy of one stove with three stones unites the religious plurality in fakfak so that there are no dominations that cause jealousy and lead to division. the arrival of catholicism to fakfak coastal areas where the majority of the population have embraced islam is one of the important historical episodes that can describe the roots of tolerance in the culture of the fakfak community. the arrival of pastor cornelis le coq from spain in sekru village in 1984 on a mission to spread catholicism in papua was warmly welcomed by the local community. they apologized to the pastor that they had embraced the religion (islam), but they were willing to help the pastor to spread catholicism to their brothers who inhabited the mountainous region of torea. this friendly attitude surprised pastor le coq, because, in other areas where people embrace islam, the priest often received acts of intimidation and even expulsion (onim, 2006). according to pastor isak bame (interview), the friendly actions of the muslim community at sekru illustrate the perspective of the fakfak community towards inter-religious tolerance. they consider brotherhood to be much more important, and differences between religions do not necessarily separate the ties of brotherhood between them. in this case, religion is placed as a complement to brotherhood and kinship which has become a tradition in the communal society of fakfak. many families in fakfak have family members of different religions; some are muslims, christians, or catholics. another form of tolerance is participation in the construction of places of worship, both mosques, and churches. for the people of fakfak, the house of worship is not only a place to worship but also a cultural symbol of the local community. if a muslim helps build a church, then he is not helping christianity but more than that he is helping his brother who happens to be a christian, and vice versa for muslims. therefore, every construction of a mosque or church always involves the two communities. in some cases they are involved as committee members, helping with various building materials and fund-raising for the construction of houses of worship (interview with simon tengerere). [ 284 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 recently, the reproduction identity of “sat tungku tiga batu” has also been used for law enforcement and politics in fakfak. for example, the local government interprets “satu tungku tiga batu” as harmony between the government, society, and local leaders. some people consider the government’s efforts to adapt these traditions to politics it is a good thing, but it must be done carefully to create political hegemony that will close the critical attitude of society. fakfak muslims in the papua-indonesia integration process the identification of fakfak’s muslim identity amid the rivalry between papuan and indonesian identities is not easy to explain, especially amid claims of papuan identity which tend to be constructed as christian and melanesian. this section seeks to explain the dynamics of the development of islam, papuanness, and indonesianness that are interrelated with the fakfak-fakfak community during various political challenges in papua. the transfer of sovereignty over the dutch east indies from the government of the kingdom of the netherlands to indonesia on 27 december 1949 raised the question of the political status of papua which was still occupied by the dutch. the dutch made various political maneuvers to exploit the spirit of “papuan nationalism” to form a papuan state that was independent of indonesia. sukarno’s government took tough political steps by declaring the people’s three commands (trikora): 1) stop the formation of the dutch puppet state of papua, 2) raise the red and white flag in west papua, the homeland of indonesia, 3) prepare for general mobilization to defend the independence and the unity of the homeland and the nation (cholil, 1979). the dutch-indonesian conflict related to the papua issue officially ended with the signing of the 1962 new york agreement, in which the dutch handed over papua to the united nations through a commission called untea (united nation temporary executive authority) and then untea handed over papua to indonesia. as part of the new york agreement, indonesia is required to carry out a referendum to determine whether the papuan people are willing to integrate with indonesia or establish their own state. in a historical referendum in 1969, 1024 papuans from various groups officially chose to join indonesia (drooglever, 2020). the fakfak community has a long history regarding indonesia’s claims on papua during the period of integration and taking over of west papua. fakfak’s strategic position as the gateway to papua served as the main posts for military operations and the entrance to papua. during the period of the trikora, the [ 285 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 mobilization of volunteers and the infiltration of indonesian military troops were carried out through the areas of fakfak, kaimana, raja ampat, and sorong. to avoid radar monitoring of the dutch troops, infiltration into fakfak was often carried out secretly using traditional local fishing boats. people in the east seram region (where a monument of the seizure of west papua was erected) have many stories about the heroic actions of fishermen in infiltrating indonesian military soldiers into west papua. this process put very real pressure on the netherlands on several fronts and in various international diplomatic forums which forced the netherlands to recognize indonesia’s presence in papua. through un resolution no. 2504 of 1969, the un officially recognized the results of the referendum (pepera) in 1968. during the referendum, the representatives of the papuan people, totaling 1024 people, finally decided to join the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. the role of the fakfak people in the process was very clear when the fakfak community deliberations gave support to the choice of integration with indonesia. of the 75 participants in the pepera deliberation from fakfak in 1968, consisting of traditional leaders, religious leaders, youth leaders, and women’s leaders, 74 participants gave their approval to integration with indonesia. there was only one participant on behalf of eduard hegemur who refused to support indonesia. the absolute support of the fakfak community in the process of west papua’s return to indonesia has made the fakfak area often called the “veranda of the republic of indonesia” in papua. several monuments built in fakfak indicate these historical claims. the people of fakfak also continued to show solid support for the unitary state of the republic of indonesia after the 1969 referendum. they rejected various upheavals marked by political resistance and armed rebellion by the free papua movement (opm) movement. the fakfak people helped consolidate nationalist forces under the leadership of charismatic figures such as king mahamud rumagesan (sukanto, 2004). rumagesan who is the king of pikpik wertuar also carried out propaganda to strengthen the integration decision. he was often involved by president sukarno in the indonesian government’s diplomatic activities abroad. for his services, the government of west papua is currently making efforts to make mahmud rumagesan a national hero. fakfak is one of the most important areas in west papua which continues to be considered the most pro-indonesia community in papua. the very large muslim population in this region is considered as one of the important variables explaining the high level of indonesian nationalism in fakfak. in recent years, these claims have been challenged by new pro-independence papuan movements such as the west papua national committee in the fakfak area. [ 286 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 indonesian nationalism and the resistance to separatism as one of the regencies in west papua province, fakfak cannot avoid various problems that occur in big cities such as jayapura and manokwari that affect many other areas in papua. sensitive political issues such as separatism and papua’s special autonomy have also divided the fakfak people into conflicting interest groups. there are youth groups that are increasingly militant in fighting for papuan political rights in fakfak such as the west papuan youth national committee (knppb). this group is part of the papuan presidium council (pdp) network and its panels, as well as the west papua national authority (wpna), the west papua national coalition for liberation (wpncl), the west papua national committee (knpb). at the same time, opposing groups such as the barisan merah putih and civilian militias sponsored by the local security forces emerged. separatism has become a dangerous political trap because, in addition to being a tool to silence political aspirations against the government, it also triggers mutual suspicion among civil society groups. for example in fakfak, some groups use a separatist stigma; pro-m, anti-indonesia, etc., to corner political opponents. it occurs in political moments such as local elections or the contestation of political power in the government and during the elections of governors, regents, members of the legislature, or promotion to positions in the local bureaucracy to the civil servant recruitment. this issue is often used as a black campaign among local politicians. inevitably, in the fakfak area, some groups openly support the idea of an independent papua. moreover, the repressive security forces contributed to the growth of these groups in fakfak, for example, the treatment experienced by many young activists under the west papua national committee for youth (knppb) representing fakfak led by arnoldus kocu. this group is a representative of the knppb based in manokwari and jayapura and often conducts demonstrations to voice the aspirations of papuan independence. the main aspiration of this group is a referendum to determine the popular opinion, whether to join the republic of indonesia or to stand alone as an independent nation. knppb fights for its aspirations by peaceful means; demonstrations and mass mobilization at certain moments. however, their peaceful actions are often met with repressive measures by the security forces. for example, when two knppb activists, paulus horik and klismon woi, were mysteriously killed in november 2012 and knppb fakfak accused the indonesian security forces of being the perpetrators. likewise, the arrest and torture of arnold kocu and eight knppb activists in august 2013 also [ 287 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 contributed to the popularity of this group as evidence of the existence of pro-m groups in the fakfak area (karoba news, 2013). over time, several components of the fakfak community have secretly begun to give sympathy and support to this youth group. the presence of islam as the majority religion which has formed religious and social identity in fakfak also influences the way the fakfak community responds to separatism in fakfak. the long historical experience related to the acculturation of islam and local culture in fakfak has strengthened the people of fakfak to choose peace as a way of life as conceptualized in the local motto of one stove with three stones. this can be seen from the way they view the presence of some people’s organizations that support papuan independence (pro-m) and radical religious movements. although it is acknowledged that the knpb movements promoting the mission of separatism are quite worrying to the immigrant community, they are still allowed to carry out their activities. for the majority of the people of fakfak, knpb’s actions do not have to be taken seriously as long as their activities do not disrupt peace in the community and they always use peaceful means, which is permissible in democracy. according to the chairman of the fakfak customary court, as long as knpb’s actions do not cause violence or incite hostility between groups in society, they should not be faced with violence by the state (interview with jubair hubrow, 2019). the same opinion was expressed by the head of the fakfak islamic high school who considered that the ideas of independence and the referendum voiced by youth groups coordinated by knpb fakfak were normal in a democratic country. it is precisely through the discourse of separatism that they try to build critical negotiations with the state regarding various state policies towards papua (interview with wihel, 2019). there are also community groups that do not agree with the presence of separatist groups in fakfak, such as the red and white group led by haji ismail bauw. except for the violent incident that occurred in 2000, this group’s rejection of the issue of separatism is more often manifested by peaceful actions, statements of attitude, or social movements that attract public attention, such as the one-kilometer-long flag march, coinciding with the day of the integration of papua with indonesia, which was carried out on may 1, 2013. this action was carried out again in august 2019, when papua and west papua were hit by violent riots due to demonstrations against racial discrimination against papuan students in surabaya. [ 288 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 special autonomy and dilemma of papuan muslim identity since the integration of papua with indonesia, the papuan people have continued to feel that they live under pressure from the central government, which at that time used a security approach in maintaining papuan integration. so when the reform gave freedom, the papuan people demanded independence and self-determination. the government then built diplomacy by imposing a special autonomy in papua. after going through serious studies and debates, the government enacted law no. 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua. the implementation of special autonomy for papua province has more or less become a conciliation for the papuan people. there is hope that there will be changes and improvements in the fate and condition of the papuan people. since then papua has received a fairly large balancing fund and continued to increase every year. simultaneously, the construction of infrastructure, roads, bridges, office buildings, and several other strategic projects began. special autonomy is also interpreted as encouraging the creation of new districts in all corners of papua. however, the implementation of special autonomy has brought many serious implications for socio-political developments in papua, not only in big cities like jayapura and manokwari, but also in areas like fakfak. the real impact is the prominence of the practice of identity politics which refers to the symptoms of ethnocentrism. according to levaan (2012), special autonomy has been interpreted as the freedom to determine a region’s own destiny based on ethnic sentiments. this has prompted all political elites in papua to recently stipulate that the governor and deputy governor, as well as the regent and deputy regent in papua, must come from papuan natives. this stipulation creates problems for multi-ethnic areas such as fakfak. since two centuries ago, the people of fakfak have been interracially married to those of various ethnic groups who came and settled in fakfak. this has an impact on the construction of fakfak’s ethnic identity, most of whom have mixed identities. they have a distinctive identity that is different from that of most melanesians in papua, not only in terms of physical and biological forms but also in complex socio-cultural aspects. the identity of fakfak is unique and different from the dominant papuan identity construction. however, as a result of the special autonomy provisions that favor the melanesian race in papua, the specific identity of fakfak has also been challenged. many fakfak communities question their papuan identity. they are not considered to be indigenous enough to identify themselves as papuans because of several biological differences and cultural characteristics, including [ 289 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 religion and therefore their political rights as papuans are nor accommodated. papuan muslims are often stigmatized with various narratives that place them as being less papuan, siding with the indonesian military, pro-indonesia, etc. therefore, many get attacked and denigrated. moreover, special autonomy is interpreted as a specific right for papuans, so papuan muslims are not part of it. other issues have begun to emerge in the context of local bureaucratic segregation in fakfak lately, where identity as a papuan becomes a political construction that divides papuans into different social strata. the interpretation of putera daerah (local people) informally gave birth to the terms papua b1, b2, b3, and b4. a term that distinguishes the “level” of papuanness of the people in fakfak based on lineage. papua b1 are those born in fakfak to a papuan father and papuan mother who are reflected by a certain family name. papua b2 are those born in fakfak to a papuan father but whose mother is of immigrant ethnicity, papua b3 are those born in papua to a papuan mother and an immigrant father. whereas papua b4 or the lowest level, are those born and raised in papua for the last few years but whose father and mother are of immigrant ethnicity. such segregation began to occur during the process of recruitment of civil servants and promotion of regional officials. whereas previously politics of accommodation in fakfak only prioritized the representation of religions in politics. this is a challenge that must be faced by the multicultural people in fakfak that have been able to maintain the harmonization of their social and political life. meanwhile, the implementation of special autonomy was also followed by the expansion of new autonomous regions in papua, which so far have reached 40 autonomous regions for the provinces of papua and west papua. at the same time, the local people of papua have emerged as leaders, from regents, house speakers, to heads of offices and departments. the process of vertical mobility of the new papuan elites is not accompanied by political maturity in democracy. so in practice, mass mobilization carried out by local elites often occurs by exploiting ethnic and religious sentiments. this triggers tensions between tribes in papua, as well as between papuans and migrants. the fakfak community, which has a moderate political stand and harmonious social conditions, has also been dragged into the increasingly vicious dynamics of identity politics. there are political groupings based on ethnic, and religious identities. even regional segregation appears; between people living in mountainous areas and those in coastal areas, or between mainland people and islanders. this ethnocentric phenomenon gained momentum when regional head elections were implemented from indirect to direct elections. with this change, the role of local elites has become more prominent and [ 290 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 their bargaining position in local politics has increased. however, at the same time, issues of communalism such as ethnic and religious sentiments are also getting stronger. the papuan ethnocentrism that has developed in fakfak so far can still be brought under control with local norms which are the spirit of one stove with three stones. although there is friction, it can be normalized by employing the local social system. as seen in the political contestation in the 2011 fakfak local elections, where competing candidates often took advantage of religious and ethnic issues for their electoral incentives. this can be seen from the configuration of the supporters of the candidates which centered on two potential candidates, namely the mohammad uswanas/donatus nimbitkendik pair, who were supported by the natives of fakfak baham mata and the majority are christians and catholics. meanwhile, the said hindom/ ali baham temongmere pair was mostly supported by the majority of muslim immigrant groups. such a process also occurs in other places and is a common phenomenon in politics. however, in the papuan political context, such euphoria can have farreaching implications beyond the political process as the political contestation has triggered “anti-immigrant” sentiments and provoked widespread religious sentiment among the people of fakfak. the local political dynamics not only strengthens the negative seeds of ethnocentrism but furthermore it also leads to a political model of representation, where local political elites only use cultural and religious symbols for their pragmatic interests. furthermore, when they are elected or control certain political positions, the people are forgotten. papuan muslims are sociologically represented by the papuan muslim council (mrp). this organization, as reported by cahyo pamungkas (2008), is a continuation of the papuan muslim solidarity (smp) organization which was formed by 47 muslim leaders in papua from various ethnic groups in november 21, 1999. it seems that smp was established as a response to the political dynamics in post-reform papua that further strengthened the christian papuan identity. muslims from various ethnic groups in papua want to show their existence through smp, although in its later development, two groups were formed within smp, namely pro-m and pro-indonesia muslims. on 10-13 april 10-13 2007, at the papua hajj dormitory, the papuan muslim solidarity (smp) was founded and later changed to the papuan muslim council (mmp). mmp management builds relations and consolidates major islamic organizations in papua such as nahdhatul ulama and muhammadiyah, the jayapura branch islamic student association (hmi), the jayawidjaya muslim [ 291 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 community forum (fkmj) which is engaged in the development of muslim human resources in jaya wijaya. at the same time, it also strengthens the position of indigenous papuan muslims who felt being marginalized during the political upheaval in post-reform papua. mmp built communication and networks with the papuan people’s assembly (mrp), which is proindependence. the muslim leader in the mrp was thoha al-hamid who served as secretary-general of the mrp, while the chairman of the mrp was teys aluwae who died in the upheaval in papua. the mmp is filled with papuan muslim leaders such as arobi a. aituarow who is also the chairman of the mmp. as a native papuan muslim, arobi has become a cultural bridge with ethnic groups in papua (pamungkas, 2008). the mrp also builds a network with the church community in papua and often voices human rights violations that indigenous papuans often face. the mmp’s criticisms of the government (especially the indonesian military and police) are often seen as taking mmp’s side to the pro-m faction controlled by toha al-hamid. however, this fact benefits and strengthens the position of mmp, as an organization that is recognized as representing the identity of papuan muslims amid the political turmoil between the republic of indonesia and the independence movement. mmp’s efforts to fight for the identity of papuan muslims have been welcomed by media activists. an editor of the papua women’s voice tabloid (tspp) as quoted by cahyo pamungkas (2008) admitted that the establishment of mmp shows that construction and division not only favor christians but also muslims. mmp tries to construct that islam and papua are two unified sub-cultures. the existence of mmp shows that there is a serious effort to gain a strong bargaining position, especially in defining islam and papuaness. however, the problem is that there is a real reduction in the context of indonesianness. several groups we met in fakfak considered that the mmp has good strategies, but it provokes a new segmentation between the pro-indonesia papuan islamic group and papuan islam whose position is not yet clear. most papuan muslims, especially in the fakfak area, are supporters of indonesia. fakfak muslims feel the need to emphasize this, because islam, papuanness, and indonesianness for muslims in fakfak are three sub-cultures which is attractive identity. for fakfak muslims, being a fakfak muslim is similar to being indonesian, as shown in the experience of the political integration of papua with indonesia. conclusion this study shows that the papuan identity which has so far been constructed as being christian, black, and having curly hair is not always correct. this [ 292 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 study shows that the long historical process related to islam that has been experienced by the fakfak people in west papua has an impact on defining a specific identity amid the ongoing identity contestation in papua. this means that the interrelation between culture, religion, and nationalism has so far formed a specific identity and character in the context of papuanness, islam, and indonesianness. based on such a narrative, two things can be concluded in this study. first, islam has made an important contribution to the formation of fakfak muslim identity in papua. the process of acculturating islam with local papuan culture in fakfak has formed new values such as an open and inclusive culture. fakfak muslims easily interact with other religious and cultural groups. tolerance and harmony become the main culture in fakfak, which is found in the local wisdom of one stove with three stones. the fakfak muslims’ efforts to display identity as papuans are shown by exploring the history of the encounter with islam and local customs and culture from time to time. second, the islam and papuanness in fakfak seem to have implications on the formation of indonesian identity. the muslims in fakfak feel that they are the main part of the indonesian people in papua, so it is often heard that fakfak is both the veranda of mecca and the veranda of the republic of indonesia. this can be seen in the historical event of the integration of papua with indonesia where all fakfak delegates involved in the referendum (perpera) opted for integration with indonesia. even in the political turmoil that is happening in papua today, where there are often separatist movements that voice papuan nationalism and independence, fakfak muslims still stand strong as indonesians. even after the enactment of law no. 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua which put muslims in papua in a difficult position, muslims in fakfak responded by helping to encourage the existence of the papuan muslim council which plays a role in affirming their identity as muslims as well as papuans and indonesians. bibliography abdullah, i. (2007). handout pengantar metodologi penelitian kualitatif. yogyakarta; sekolah pascasarjana ugm. abdillah, u. (2002). politik identitas etnis, pergulatan tanda tanpa identitas magelang: indonesia tera. al-hamid, i. (2013). islam politik di papua. jurnal millab vol. xii, no. 2. azra, a. (2013). jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii-xviii. jakarta: kencana prenada media group. [ 293 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 -------. (2006). islam in the indonesia world: an account of institutional formation. bandung: mizan. chaufel, r. (2005). constructing papua nationalism; history, ethnicity, and adaptation. washington: east-west center. cholil, m. (1979). sejarah operasi pembebasan irian barat. jakarta: pusat sejarah abri. denzin, n.k & ys. (1994). lincoln. handbook of qualitative research. california: sage publication. drooglever, p. (2009). an act of free choice decolonization and the right to self determination of west papua. (trans.). theresa stantin, maria van yperen & marjolijn de jager. (england). ---------2010. tindakan pilihan bebas; orang papua dan penentuan nasib sendiri. yogyakarta: kanisius. ernas, s. (2014). dinamika integrasi sosial di papua barat. yogyakarta: disertasi doktor di pogram crcs ugm. iribaram, s. (2011). satu tungku tiga batu (kerjasama tiga agama dalam kehidupan sosial di fakfak). yogyakarta: unpublished thesis at program pascasarjana antropologi universitas gadjah mada. kamma, f.c. (1977). dit wonderlijke werk. het problem van de communicatie oost en west gebaseerd op de ervaringen in het zendingswek op niew-guinea (irian jaya) 1955-1972. een socio-miisiologische benadering (2nd edition, 2 vols., oegstgeest). koentjaraningrat, at.al. (1994). irian jaya, membangun masyarakat majemuk. jakarta: djambatan. levaan, a. (2012). etnosentrisme dan politik representasi di era otonomi khusus papua. unpublished paper presented at kbm ugm. bernarda, m. (2012). nasionalisme ganda orang papua. jakarta: pt. kompas media nusantara. mujib, i. (2013). islam lokal; perspektif historis dan politik dalam memahami narasi islam aceh dalam konstruksi global. banjarmasin: laporan aicis ke-10. ng, f. (1998). adaptation, acculturation and transnational ties among asian americans. new york: garland publishing, inc. pamungkas, c. (2008). papua muslim dan otonomi khusus; kontestasi identitas di kalangan orang papua. jakarta; unpublished thesis at program [ 294 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.1990 pascasarjana sosiologi fisip universitas indonesia. pandie, d. a. (2018). konsep “satu tungku tiga batu” sosio-kultural fakfak sebagai model interaksi dalam kehidupan antarumat beragama, societas dei jurnal agama dan masyarakat. vol 5 no 1. p:49-59. doi:10.33550/sd.v5i1.78 putuhena, s. (2006). studi sejarah masuknya islam di fakfak. fakfak: diproduksi oleh pemerintah kabupaten fakfak. onim, j.f. (2006). islam dan kristen di tanah papua. bandung: jurnal info media. rumbaru, m. (2018). identity construction of the minority papuan muslim: a study on the majelis muslim papua. jurnal episteme jurnal pengembangan ilmu keislaman, vol 3 no 2. https://doi.org/10.21274/ epis.2018.13.2.339-360 sukamto, a. e. (2004). pemataan peran dan kepentingan aktor dalam konflik papua. jakarta: lipi. suwae, h. (2012). konstruksi identitas kepapuan dalam era demokrasi. yogyakarta; unpublished dissertation at program kajian budaya dan media, sekolah pascasarjana ugm. tuhlil, m. et.al (2020). adat, islam, and the idea of religion in colonial indonesia,” al-albab. volume 9. number 2. victor, m. t. (2009). rekonstruksi sejarah umat islam di tanah papua. jakarta: badan litbang kementerian agama. [ 195 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 religion and the spiritual crisis of modern human being in the perspective of huston smith`s perennial philosophy riki saputra muhammadiyah university of west sumatera (umsb) email: rikisaputra.rs87@gmail.com abstract this work is based on the assumption that modern human has undergone a multidimensional crisis. this crisis needs a timely response and an urgent solution, for if we neglect it, it will become worse and can destabilize the life of mankind globally. i refer to the work of huston smith on perennial philosophy to find its essence as an attempt to find solution for overcoming the modern men`s crisis. this is a library research using the philosophical hermeneutics method. the paper shows that, firstly, perennial philosophy has a characteristic of metaphysics, which try to find a fundamental basis for both immanent and transcendent of all things, psychology which depicts the common sameness in human and ethics as a goal in human life. secondly, what is meant by human spiritual crisis is a condition where human neglected even destroyed the godhead character within themselves. thirdly, the answer made by huston smith`s perennial philosophy concerning human spiritual crisis include that the spiritual crisis of modern human being are seen from the tunnel metaphore, in which the basement is scientism, the left wall is education, media as the roof, and the right wall the law. the spiritual crisis of modern human being as a failure of post-modernism has a similiraty with modernism way of seeing this world as the only true reality, although there is different in approach between the two. religious mysticism that was offered by huston smith has a perenialistic tone. the pluralistic attitude found among humankind has to be rooted in an esoteric level within each religion. smith`s perennial philosophy is very relevant to the condition of indonesia, which therefore has sackeled by a rigid theological dogmatism. religion should be an endeavor for human being to find a more exalted living. keywords: spiritual crisis, perennial philosophy, religious mysticism introduction the spiritual crisis of modern human beings here means, firstly, that they say people can no more live in hope of religion as life guidance as it prevent as well as resist progression; and secondly, that it is the believers of religion who [ 196 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 do crime on behalf of god or religious teaching. those anarchic action is not relevant to the substance of religions which educate people to create peaceful life. this is in accordance to the opinion of frihjof schuon that says spirituality made religion as its framework from which the absolut righteousness. this absolut righteousness contains non-temporary value on which cultural, social, and political value have their base (schuon, 2002: 36). seyyed hossein nasr insists that human being has to be aware of their function as the intermediary of heaven and earth as well as of their important position to occupy in metaphysic world as long as they are aware of the essence of trancience of their journey in this world. human being needs to life with the awareness of spiritual reality which exists beyond their worldly nature, namely spiritual dimension. human beings admits their humanity, admit that there is majesty as well as danger which relate to what they think and do (nasr, 1981: 161). it is the later perspective which is referred ‘human’ in context of perennial philosophy (saputra, 2012). huston smith can be classified as the key figure who developes perennial philosophy at this time. smith’s view comes from his inquietude on spiritual crisis of modern human beings either in east or west. this condition, smith says, was characterized by, one of them, the feeling of lost of either religious or the transcendent within the wider firmament. the essence of that lost is very ironic, yet is very logical. as the rise of scientific world view, human being begins to see himself as the holder of the highest value in the world from which everything is measured. the meaning of life become hazy and the essence of humanity has blurred. the world losts its humanity dimension, and human being losts his control of himself (smith, 2001: 1-2; utsman, 2006). smith destructs some cosmological and social weaknesses of modernism as well as post-modernism which attempt to correct modernism. according to smith, the achievement of modernism is limited to the scientific world view, while that of post-modernism is limited to revolution of justice. smith in this case uses tunnel as metaphor to describe the reality of modern world long with everything within. smith says that the ground floor of the reality tunnel is scientism which props up all other three sides. smith says that scientism is good, but there is nothing good in the view of scientism. this is because science too condidently regards itself as one and the only reliable method to seek truth while material entity—which it deals with—is regarded as the fundamental thing existed. the left wall of the tunnel is education. smith depicts the education of america in which scientism deceases, due to scientism in fields of social, psicological, humanity, philosphy, and religion. the roof of the tunnel is media which takes role in spreading the norrowing [ 197 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 traditional world view. in the right wall there is low, represented by state, which is considered as claiming prerogative right on religion. all crisis are unifying along with the other crisis crisis of environtment, domographic explosion, and the widening gap between the rich and poor people when human being is facing the new millenium (smith, 2001: 12-16). the vacuumspirituality of human being as long as smith’s view on it become an interesting topic for us to come deeper in a research. the figure who continually discusses humanity crisis and problem within the perennial perspective is expected to be able to investigate humanity of human beings as long as to prevent the desire of violence which is regarded based on religious teaching by religious believers particularly in indonesia. perennial philosophy of huston smith. perennial philosophy is very popular for intelectuals, particularly for those who are interested in religious studies and phiosophy. there are many thinkers who have contributed in this field, and huston smith is one of them. according to smith, there are two distinct paradigms of philosophy, namely modern philosophy and traditional philosophy. firstly, modern philosophy attempts to eliminate “the sacred” or “the one” from universe of philosophy, science, and art. in fact, these three fields are indeed empty of that holy spirit. modern philosophy face the problem of life of human being within scientific framework in positivism sense, in which the investigation for the truth is evidenced empirically. the answer from philosophical perspective towards philosophical problem is no more attracted; the answer is rather sought from science which is regarded superior above philosophy in the old sense. for example, the newly developing trends within philosophy, such as genetical epistemology of jean piaget bases his epistemology on science instead of the old sense of philosophy. this is one of some developing trends which bases its epistemology on empirical world. secondly, traditional philosophy, which is also recognized as perennial philosophy, always discusses the existence of the sacred or the one in whole of its manifestation, such as religion, philosophy, scince, and art (smith, 2006: 80). the background of smith idea on perennial philosophy is begun from his restlessness and inquietude on modern human being circumstances which hardly accept the pluralism within various traditions. modern human being is still affected by those plurality, so that the agreement is a very tough condition to deliberate. according to smith, green is not blue, however both contain light; a gold watch is not a gold ring, but both contain gold; man is not woman, but both are human; and every thing, such as combination of foot steps, is all a [ 198 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 single-individual thing, but they arrange series of the unified journey (smith, 1989: 51). to understand those pluralities, smith provides problem solving through perennial philosophy. according to smith, there are three main topic of perennial philosophy he follows the formula of aldous huxley. the first is metaphysic which attempts to find the immanent and transcendent base of every thing. according to smith, perennial philosophy is ontological because it investigate being, and being has hierarchical character. every hierarchical structure which exists in the world interconnects each other and culminates to transcendent or ultim reality. this ultim reality is the manifestation of the substance of the other beings which exist in the world. transcendent reality which is called godhead (christianity), tao (taoism), sunyata (budhism), brahman (hinduism), and al-haqq (islam), which is the very base of every existence in the world, is an absolut-spiritual thing which can hardly be described with empirical discourse, because it transcends logic as well as verbal language. human being can possibly have various understanding on this ultim reality. ultim reality is opened to understood as something immanent or transcendent or even both. human being who only depends on rationalism and positivism will see difficulties to reach substance. it is only through the pure mind or the poor in spirit the ultim reality could possibly experienced as well as understood by human being (smith, 1989: 3-72). the second is psicology which investigates the existence of something identical within human. perennial psicology does not take the personal ego as the main topic rather than the eternal self or transcendent self which nest within a particular or temporary individual. smith says, perennial psicology insisted that the self contain duality, namely ‘me-object’ which is limited and ‘i-subject’ which within his awareness of his limitation is able to prove that he, within himself, is free of limitation. the unlimitted concept of ‘i-subject’ will lead human being into the deepest center of self as well as to disembarass self from the confinement of senses. the deepest of self is not soul, but rather spirit. the spirit is covered by material and is sorrounded by soul. spirit, within the perennial philosophy, is named trancendent reality. therefore, transcendent reality exists not only outside of human beings but also within (smith, 1989: 74). the third is ethics which define the final purposes of human life. the work of lewis, the abolition of man, which is quoted by smith, insists that perennial ethics contain the same concept as tao. tao is a system of value which is the unification of numbers of moral impretive from various traditions within which three goodnesses have united, namely sincerity, humility, and [ 199 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 generosity. these three goodnesses is opposed by three patologies, namely arrogancy, greed, and idiocy. humility is a capacity which create the gap between self and his individual interests, eliminating ego in order to achieve the objective and accurate vision. sincerity is a power to recognize tools such as what budhism call as the condition within itself, that is the condition in which they exist actually, objectively, and accurately. generosity is seing other people as himself. this three goodnesses have great relation to the order of humanity (smith, 1989: 75-76). perennial philosophy is very close to tradition and traditional chain-link, as well as is included into spiritual realization. it is this metaphysic which create the nature of religio perennis for every religion, that is the eternal religion. metaphysic live within the heart of human being in which there is divine intellect, as christianity says “there is the kingdom of god within the heart of human being”. perennial philosophy fully pays its attention to religion within its very transcendent or metaphysic reality which is trans-historical; it see various perspectives within religion from esoteric side (substance), instead of being locked within exoteric side (form). the spiritual crisis of modern human being as the failure of modernism according to smith, modernism reduces the view on metaphysic into cosmology which is the discussion about physical or natural world. this kind of view apparently reduces the meaning of world in which human being live. for smith, the truly metaphysic is a discourse in which every being is discussed, or is an understanding on every thing including the possibility of the existence of the other world, which science do not deals with. for that matter, while modern world view sees physical nature as every thing, the metaphysic which is discussed therein is then the cosmology itself. this modernism metaphysic is called naturalism. the serious attention of scientific method on materialquantitative thing eliminate the existence of non-material thing. substantially, science has dissolved the transendence which is the principle element of religious metaphysic world view (smith, 1951: 94). on the view of smith, the general view of modernism is materialism or philosophical naturalism which only beliefs in material as the only accepted reality. therefore, the achievement of modernism is limited to scientific-wordly view or cosmological-naturalistic one. smith describes the reality of modern world with the metaphor of tunnel which identifies scientism as the ground floor from which all other three stand; education as the left wall, media as the roof, and law as the right wall. [ 200 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 1. scientism smith says that scientism is good, but there is nothing good in the view of scientism. science regards itself as the only one reliable method to seek the truth as well as it considers material as the most fundamental of being. on the other word, smith criticizes science not because of the emergence of scientific findings which actually give benefits to people. it is the science which is very naturalistic and developes apart from the value of divinity which he criticizes. as he says: science in the generic sense had been around as long as art and religion. but what was discovered then-in the sisteenth, seventeenth centurieswas the controlled experiment, which escalated science to a new order of power and exactitude. that power proved to be enough to create both a new world, this world that we now live in, and a new worldview. in the process it brought many, many benefits. but in terms of worldview, in inflicted a great blow on the human psyche by making it appear that life`s material side is its most important side. now this is a logical mistake. science didn`t really say this, but because its power derived from attending to the material aspects of nature, and because that power is great and effective and gave us many benefits, the outlook of modernity is unprecedentedly materialistic (smith, 1998: 3). the critics of smith towards science refers to the pattern of materialistic science which is developed by the thinkers in this modern century. this kind of pattern always says that material aspect is the only reality. smith’s attempt to criticize this pattern proposes the new perspective and awareness for science that the need for religion and spirituality should received serious attention. 2. education smith’s critics towards education in the west refers to the model of education in usa because almost of his life is spent in usa as the student, academician, and socio-religious acitivis, so that there is no part of education in usa which is absent from his investigation. according to smith, the basic principle of the establishment of various educational institution in usa for the preacher besides other dissiplines is to fill the emptiness of spirituality and morality of human being. this religious climate can only last untill the modern life heading to its top (smith, 2001: 70-80). even though the west in the middle age was in darkness, in which human expression has no freedom do to the confinement of church, does not mean that the emergence of modernism has to eliminate religion. smith disagree with this kind of attitude, because the fault at that time did not belog to church rather than some clerics who failed [ 201 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 to understand the substance of his religion. modern thinkers should be more objective to see religion. if they had done so, the lack of spirituality of human being in modern life would never have happened. education in usa begins to lose the dimension of spirituality because of scientism in social, psicology, humanity, philosophy, and religious discourse. according to smith, the draw of scientism is mostly identified in social sciences. smith’s explanation on marginalization of social sciences is his agreement with the experience of robert n. bellah, a social thinker whose long live career was in an era in which the draw was happening. bellah says: “the assumptions underlying mainstream social science,” bellah writes, can be briefly listed: positivism, reductionism, relativism and determinism. i am not saying that working social scientists could give a good philosophical defense of these assumptions, or even that they are fully conscious of holding them. i mean to refer only to, in the descriptive sense, their prejudices, their pre-judgments about the nature of reality. by positivism i mean no more than the assumption that the methods of natural science are the only approach to valid knowledge, and the corollary that social science differs from natural science only in maturity and that the two will become ever more alike. by reductionism i mean the tendency to explain the complex in terms of the simple and to find behind complex cultural forms biological, psychological or sociological drives, needs and interests. by relativism i mean the assumption that matters of morality and religion, being explicable by particular constellations of psychological and sociological conditions, cannot be judged true or false, valid or invalid, but simply vary with persons, cultures and societies. by determinism i do not mean any sophisticated philosophical view, but only the tendency to think that human actions are explained in terms of “variables” that will account for them (smith, 2001: 84-85). according to bellah (as quoted by smith, 2001), most of social thinkers never think that these assumptions are in contracition to religious assumption. these assumptions are indeed very clear within themselves so that they goes beyond contradiction. religion, because of its non-sicentific character, has no acceptable claim on reality, not even as the belief or privat action whose benefits are psicological for some people. however, these assumption are contradictory, even sharply, to whole tradition of religions and the belief of most human beings. 3. media according to smith, media also has the big role to spread the reduced vision [ 202 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 on metaphysic. this is pictured by, one of them, theater which media proposes through films. the script of the films are based on ideas of historians, entitled inherit the wind. this film talks about the relation of science and religion. the science activis is pictured as knight with armour fighting against the fool, fanatic, and fundamental religious people (smith, 2001: 103-104). art has absolute right to choose and emphasize certain part to make clear the plot. as the logical consequence, the film is successful to describe clearly the opposition between the good side (science) and the bad side (religion) to community. according to smith, the nowadays media without any doubt marginalizes religion into the valley of distrust. people of usa who still belief in god are considered meaningless. as lasch says: public life is thoroughly secularized. the separation of church and state, nowadays interpreted as prohibiting any public recognition of religion at all, is more deeply entrenched in america than anywhere else. religion has been relegated to the sidelines of public debate. among elites it is held in low esteem something useful for weddings and funerals but otherwise dispensable. a skeptical, iconoclastic state of mind is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the knowledge classes. their commitment to the culture of criticism is understood to rule out religious commitments. the elites’ attitude to religion ranges from indifference to active hostility. it rests on a caricature of religious fundamentalism as a reactionary movement bent on reversing all the progressive measures achieved over the last several decades (in smith, 2001: 116-117). smith also gives his commentary on advertisement from which media practitioners gather their earnings. the presence of advertisements are expected to provide valuable information for people. however, in fact, those advertisements unconsciously draw people far from values of spirituality. the agens of advertisements are obsessed with capitalism which means that their motivation is money through promoting worldly-consumtive products. media take no care on values of religion because they are regarded irrelevent with the developement of the company (smith, 2001: 118-119). 4. law the law presented by the state claims prerogative right on religion. smith quotes stephen carter on liberal american view who says that the goal of law in usa would be disturbed if the power of religion was placed along with political power. it means that carter sees the process of relegating religion from public live. as carter says: [ 203 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in an earlier era, although there was never as healthy a respect for religious pluralism as there should have been, i do think there was a healthy respect for what counted as religion. people might have been somewhat limited in their visions of what counted as religion, but there was a respect for it, and i think this was true right across the political spectrum and up and down the social and economic ladder. that has changed. there is less respect for religion, less of an appreciation of it as an important force that can genuinely be the motive force in people’s lives without being somehow a symptom of something neurotic. that’s what’s been lost (in smith, 2001: 123). according to smith, religion and law have to run side by side; both are inseperable. the interpretation on law in certain time always changes. if this change is not based on religious values, the law will be lack of morality. this is exactly what is happening to law in usa. for example, the case of indian people who defended their right on their land as well as job and religion. this case took too long time, that was almost six years. the verdict apparently did not accomodate their right. smith says that the state had oppressed weak people, the minority of indian (smith, 2001: 124-125). the spiritual crisis of modern human being as the failure of post-modernism post-modernism in general criticizes reductionstic trend of modernism which see reality should be dominated, at least in term of domination of understanding. this kind of view is described by smith as “an epistemology that aims relentlessly at control rules out the possibility of transcendence in principle”. in the other words, the plot of thinking of modernism is the kind of epistemology structure which deny transcendece within its principles. reality, in the view of modernism, is relegated into the extent of human reasoning, and is instituted within modern science. the meaning which transcends of human self and life is hardly accepted as something real, because it is not understandable by human reasoning, in fact reasoning is the standard by which every thing is controlled by modernism. according to smith, this reductionistic trend of modernism is written clearly within the explanation models which are used by modern science. for example, the explanation has to be started from something inferior then further be moved into something superior, from ‘that is less’ into ‘that is more’. even more, when that superior have appeared on the surface, the goal of understanding as well as interpretation on its journey into the surface is always related to ‘that is inferior’ to it (smith, 1989: 200). the presence of post-modernism with its denial on reductionistic of [ 204 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 modernism has opened the space and opportunity for reality, either for that of inferior or superior. post-modernism proposes the chance for something whose existence used to be eliminated by modernism because it was regarded as something un-explanable by reasoning, such as morality, sense, and imagination. in the other word, post-modernism clearly objects the absolute trend of rationalism of modernism which make human reasoning—that is limited—as the determiner of the existence of reality within all of its aspects. according to smith, post-modernism is in accordance to cultural pluralism which accept the possibility of various perspective on reality. post modernism accepts the concept of unversalism and denies universal uniformity. postmodernism only denies absolute claim, but unfortunately substitutes it with the other absolute claim forth. the worrying problem here is that the claim of pluralism of post-modern is too absolute, that it does not give opportunity to the existence of something which is able to inter-relate the elements of that plurality. each element is regarded standing individually, as if it stands by and for itself. the statement of smith is interesting, that he says “if in ways we belong to the human race, there is the larger question of whether we likewise belong to the cosmos”. smith states that post-modernism does not find any argument to support this claim, that human is the part of cosmos as a whole. postmodernism, as represented by deconstructionists, emphasize that there is an ‘one to one’ correlation between diversity in one side and injustice or justice in the other side. it makes diversity is regarded as the source of oppression, on the other hand, multiplicity is regarded as creating liberation. however, it is important to note that the anarchy and disunity as the result of that liberation would not be something pleasure. so, how could the diversity be denied, in fact that human can never be able to appreciate the difference from ‘the other’, if he/she does not agree that ‘the other’ also has the same identitas as ‘the other.’ however different some one is from the other, they are still same in needing for something unique (smith, 1989: 236). smith clearly states that modern age and its mode of thinking which tends to be scientific-rationalistic have led people into the crisis in this world, particularly for which is related to metaphyisic and religion. it is from this fact the post-modernism emerges, as the reaction for barennes of sipirituality of modern age. post-modern is wise enough saying that science is only one of various models for interpreting universe. post-modernism places science equal to many other kinds of interpretation mode for universe. smith values this kind of attitude showed by post-modernism which criticizes the puzzling world view coming from modernism is appropriate, however post-modernism is forth trapped into unrational mode of thought saying that every metaphysic world view is true [ 205 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in principle (smith, 1989: 233). this kind of post-modernism mode of thought introduces various kind of absolute denial towards any world view, and then becomes the point of referece for many people. this will affect to the increasing number of relativistic and nihilistic values. according to smith, the responses towards the word either from post-modernism or modernism are no different. both sees world as the only thing real, even both are different in term of approach. both does not accept the existence of hierarchy of reality and the other experience which transcend this wordly reality along with experience about it. within the perspective of traditional metaphysic, smith says that ‘there is no single clearer explanation on either modernism or post-modernism other than the emphasis that the world of both are only this world’ (smith, 1989: 280). smith states that post-modernism does not accept that there is any world view which could be the reference point and guidance for every human’s world view about universe. refering to secularistic thought of modernism and post-modernism, it is clear that rationalism is the only epistemological tool which is used to understand the world. this rationalism could take various shapes. for example, scientific-rationalism, dialogic-rationalism, holisticrationalism, or nihilistic-rationalism. all of these whole kind of rationalism are category of secular rationalism which want to see this reality. as it has been understood that the discourse of this rationalism has limitation to see the reality and experience of the world. secular rationalism does not have capability to understand the symptom of nature phenomena or kind of life which is related to the other reality that is higher and deeper, such as the reality of soul, spirit, and the thought of god. it is this character of post-modernism which is difficult to be accepted by traditional metaphysic paradigm which is written within religions. smith concludes that within post-modernism mode of thought there is no truth within reality, even more it hesitates whether the truth has meaning or not. the truth within the thought of post-modernism is problematic, therefore there have to be evaluation and change because the truth is no more regarded absolute. this failure of post-modernism is the cause for the raise of perennialism, in which smith is named as one of central figure. misticism of religion as the problem solving of spiritual crisis of modern human being. smith as the proponent of perennial uses mistical approach to understand the reality of religion and the plurality of universe as well as to investigate the root of religiousity from various kind of religion to understand the divinity, in [ 206 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 order to achieve the trancendental understanding on the one. this mistical approach of perennial is regarded as capable of explaining something authentic, related to the needed wisdom in order to apply the true model of life, which is apparently the essence of whole teachings of religion and spiritual tradition of human being. mistical method of smith is an experience of the presence of god within anything formulated by human being. smith, within his works such as books, journal, and interviews of media, also states misticism with the traditional terminology, that is metaphysic and sipirtuality. according to smith, each of traditional, modern, and post-modern age has different world view with specific weaknesses. traditional world view has better quality than the other two, that it is largely capable of explaining the knowledge on universe. this traditional knowledge is called spiritualmetaphysic or religious misticism; the different mode from naturalisticmetaphysic of modern science. science has successfully described the world, however not enough to the substance of human’s life within this universe. human being has the capability of keep the universal desire of yearning which is based on the divine. this is called the needs for metaphysics or religious misticism which is undissapearable within the life of human. this yearning transcends enterteinment, obsession, and addiction which is reflected by modernism as well as post-modernism. the yearning which is referred by smith, appear from the deepest part of human, the yearning which attempts to release the bond of self from spaces which confines limitation and morality. this is the wide perspective proposed by traditional worldview. traditional perspective substantially will never decease with the presence of modernism with its naturalistic-metaphyisic mode of thought. in fact, nowadays, the power of scientism is facing the decrease of spirituality whith they can not answer, yet they needs for revitalization of traditional perspective. when human being lose their vision of life, and they are looking for answer from scientific explanation which contains of quantitative numbers, they feel empty and apparently look for the traditional wisdom. in traditional perspective, the world does not stand by itself, but rather comes from the mighty spirit, god, the limitless. according to smith, there is fundamental difference between traditional and modernism perspective, that is, firstly, the former see spirit as fundamental, and material is derivative. in contrast to it, modernism see material as the ultimate reality and denies the other. as the second, human is the having-weaknesscreature and has desire for achieving things from he who has excess, that is god. it means that within human, there could be source of magnificence, that human is the creature or emanation of god. in contrast to modern science, it [ 207 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 says that there is nothing perfect other than human. in the third, traditional perspective has faith in hope that at the end of life there will be the eternal happiness. that is not the case for modernism which ends life with sufferings without any hope for trully hapiness after life. the fourth difference is that nature and every thing therein, for traditional perspective, are full of the deep as well as large meaning whose origins are from god. on the other hand, modernism states that meaning is limited to the sensual-exoteric side. in the fifth place, traditional perspective accept the spiritual happiness, while for scientific perspective happiness is only temporal achievement for it depends on material (smith, 2001: 34-37). according to smith, that deep and large knowledge is only achievable through inspiration and revelation. the epistemologies confuse to determine the source for this knowledge because knowing on this term is different from reasoning. human’s knowledge sometimes appears suddently and accidentally, and human has no capability to trace how that happens unconsciously. this kind of knowledge smith names ‘tacit knowing’. human being has the potential of intelligence from god which actively works. the tacit knowing is openly formed through that intelligence, and it helps people to act spontanously. for example, let say a television, human could se what appears on monitor because of light. however, human does not realize that; he rather focuses onto seeing the picture on monitor without seeing light behind the appearance of the picture (smith, 2001: 257). this epistemology of tacit knowing of smith can be called intuitive in terms of western epistemology. smith reminds us the importance of religions to seek the same vision in seeing its duty as well as role for the world and time. smith finds the answer within the esoteric dimension of religions. in this case, it is clear that smith is under the influence of esoterism of religions. esoteric have the more essential position than exoteric for religions which have faith on the eternity of spirit. the exoteric side, which is characterized by forms, shapes, or phisical, will be dissapeared, dead, and extinct with the limited nature it has. esoteric is believed as the eternal or the primary. esoteric is the holy knowledge which exists within all religions. they are all come from the same source. the believers who are able to understand it deeply will find the identical vision for each religion. historically, human used to recognized god which is represented through symbols. god is described as gods who are mysterious, abstract, and absolute. the problem begins when human tries to represent god and his message through language. addressing the name of god for believers is regarded as the devotion upon the mighty god. the name of god appears in various terms, such as yahweh (adonai), allah (father), allah, deity, latta, krishna, shifa, [ 208 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 brahman, sunyata, etc. in the point of view of smith, the believers should always understand what is meant substantially by religion to recognize esoterism of religions. human should listen to his own faith, because every legacy of faith is the limitless source. the authentic character of spirituality exists outside the ability of any body to pass through certain single religion. even though some body put himself deeply within the religioin to which he devotes, he will always face challenge to seek the deeper experience than what he already knew, is explained, or gained. besides, human should also listen to what other religions say. whatever the explanation he got from the believers of other religions, he should be respectful, though it does not resemble with his own religion. smith says ‘multiple views, yes; multiple reality, no’. the view on reality could be different, however the reality itself is one, identical, and comprehensive. the variety of aspect of reality always interconnect each other. smith proves it with the phrase ‘primordial inter-connectedness’, which means that there is a gift within every single human namely intuitive knowledge, as the abovementioned. the mechanism by which intuition works is different from reason, but it is this which base the mechanism of human’s reason. if human’s reason does the logical work based on comprehensive information which is described and defined, intuitive is hard to understand how it works. it works unconsciously but yet helps human to do things unreachable by reason (smith, 1989: 242). misticism of religion of smith is ontological or metaphysical whose focuse is being. one of its basic concept is metaphysic which recognizes divine reality which is substantial for worldly material, life, and reason. this primordia metaphysic indicates the fact that human is never be detached form the absolute dependence upon matrix of thought which produces and support human. the interest of human in this matrix is the holiest interest he could have (smith, 1989: 52). the essence of metaphysic of misticism of religion is the hierarchical character. this character seems at glance as something rigidly and authoritatively structured, however this may not blind human eyes upon the fact that every complex structure and process relatively posseses the stable character and appears in hierarchical organization. this happen to all structures, either inorganic, organic, social organizations, or the mode of behaviors (smith, 1989: 52-53). human will face difficulty to limit himself into one tradition, because it only creates the narrow understanding about universe. the attitude of understanding each other and working together could produces peace in universe. according to smith, sometimes human does not ready to face those problems. who is [ 209 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 now ready to accept that every nations in this world is equal?. who does not perforcely fight against his own tendency which unconsciously regards any thing different from him as inferior?. human being who is able to listen to other people in this world will work for peace, but not peace which is based on narrow religious power or that of politics, but rather on an understanding and involvement of each other within the life of other people whose source is esoteric side of religion. it is through esoteric understanding of religion human could pay respect each other. the respect will lead into path of the higher power, namely love which is the only power capable of undermining fear, distrustfulness, prejudice, and of providing tools to create unity for people. human being should apply the meaning of love which is commanded by their religion, because it is impossible to love other without understanding the concept of love. if people have desire of the highest faith, they have to understand the other when they are talking about their faith, and vice versa. human being have to posses the same degree of geniality while receiving as well as giving. the holy value and teaching of religion proposed numbers of tools on how human should behave and exploit the world, so that it does not only give benefit to human, but the ecosystems remains preserved. in fact, religions very much oppose the attitude of placing universe of object for research without paying attention to its sacredness. smith disagree with the concept of scientific naturalism which attempts to separate the reality of nature and sacred dimension, because modern human no longer consider that nature and environtment have the sacred dimension since its creation by god. the sacredness of nature has been indeed given by god since its creation, so that human being forth have to preserve it by respecting it as being with transcendene aspect (smith, 1976: 34). human being shall refer to religions and values from the sacred traditions when they are behaving as friend of this world. religious tradition has facilitated a media by which human beings establish ethics of ecology, so that the harmonic relation between human and the world is possible. the investigation towards the world should involve several clerics and scientists, because any problem in this world is the problem which human beings share. repositioning of the role and function of the world as the object with its sacred dimension demands a rediscovery towards the holy knowledge which help human being to realize the significance contribution of the world for the future of the life of all human being. [ 210 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 the relevance to the harmony of religious believers in indonesia. understanding the harmony of religious believers in indonesia through perennial perspective of smith is possible with two approaches. the first approach is education, particularly that is related to character building or religious education. religious education has to be managed comprehensively. in the basic and advance level, the student should receive religious education within which the basic concepts of religions along with the practical aspects based on each religion are taught. educational institution managing secular dissipline should hold religious education in accordance to the religious belief of the student. the student has to be taught about the existence of other faith other than their own, and as human being those who has different faith remains human to respect. if those basic values is growing, the harmony between religious believers will be ease to achieve (kuswanjono: 2006: 95). this approach is already applied in educational system in indonesia, however is not maximum enough, particularly for secular school. for example, religious lesson for elementary, junior high, as well as senior high school, has very limited amount, that is once a week. this fact reflects the failure of government to create the substantial understanding of religion for student. on the other hand, religious educational institution such as madrasah tsanawiyah, aliyah, pesantren, and the likes alredy have good amount or religious disciplines such as aqidah, akhlak, fiqh, ushul fiqh, etc. this is also happen for religious educational system other than islam in indonesia. a deep investigation on religious lessons taught within those religious educational institution, there could be an insight that the religion is expressed exclusively and concervatively, particularly which deals with the issu of rahmatan li al‘alamin and the relation of religions each other. for example, the discipline of aqidah (theology, kalam), the student only receives one perspective/mazhab, that is asy’ariyah among many other perspectives. this fact unconsciously lead the student into the exclusive mode of thought and the denial towards the different understanding. unfortunately, that is also the case sometime for the teacher, who acts as the provocator to get across his brother/sister within the same religion whose understanding is different even more his brother/sister with different religious belief rather than to promote peaceful life within the plurality of religious faith. in higher education level, religious education besides contains curriculum about their own faith (normative doctrines), the student also have to deal with the issue of critical studies towards religion in which historical criticism is applied. the student has to understand that plurality is the historical fact and [ 211 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 every religion is one peace of puzzles which systematically ordered as paths to the divine truth. this plurality awareness would lead into tollerance among religious believers (kuswanjono, 2006: 96). what happens to the elementary and junior-senior high school, as the above-mentioned, unfortunately also happens to higher education. religious subject only have two sks among whole courses of study. the other weakness can also be identified from the unability of teacher/lecturer to understand the substantial aspect of religious teachings, particularly about the inter-relation of religions. in fact, it is the teacher/lecturer who acts as the provocator to trigger conflict within religion. it is the opportunity for government to perform immediat act to add the other amount of sks (credit system for the curriculum used in indonesia) for religious subjects, particularly for either state or private school. those educational intitution have to substitude the curriculum of religious studies with what is rellevant to the spirit of each religion. on the other hand, the mechanism of recruitment for new teacher has to be more selective, beside there is also the need for routine evaluation from leader committee of such institution. for extraculicular agenda, the teacher has to initiate the interreligious pesantren. we see this as the critical agenda to build the togetherness of religions. our argument is supported by our experience of holding that kind of agenda hosted by forum kerukunan umat beragama (fkub) of padang which involved students as the participant. the second approach is the dialogue between religious believers. perennial proposes a method of dialogue which is capable of bridging the existence of truth claim as well as the claim for exclusive salvation which generally emerges within religion, namely phenomenology of religion. this is the method by which the existence of religious plurality with appreciation rather than domination or claim for apostasy. this method eleminates the exclusive view for other religion by respecting other. this method avoids to seeking fallacies of other rather than understanding the perspective of other to strenghten his own faith. this method guides the believers of religion to be humble and honest by which seeing other religion with the perspective, attitude, and faith of its believers is possible (kuswanjono, 2006: 96). if the clerics have the thought by which he hates and therefore contempts believers of other religions, the substantial dialogue will never happen. religion has no more power to propose guidance to fix civilization of human beings; it rather be the trigger for permanent conflict. perennial of smith finds a peace and mutual understanding within religious behavior, because it creates the awareness of tollerance and never opposes the exoteric differences of religions. the concept of perennial of smith is very [ 212 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 relevant to be the reference for indonesian religious believers who used to be trapped within the cage of rigid-exclusive theology. this approach is not trapped within the cage of formal, exoterical, or symbolical context which are basically is hard to unify; it rather investigate the substance or esoteric side of religions. at this point, religion can be a media and instrument for human being to achieve valuable life. on the other words, it is the religion for human instead of human for religion. the later will create exclussive and intollerance attitude. this kind of attitude change the religions which basically is humanitarian into dehumanitarian. the best is the former, that religion for human. this implicitly says ‘serve religion for the good of human’. human is every thing whose right is to be defended, not god borrowing the phrase of gus dur, “god does not need to be defended.” because the religion for human, every religion must contain doctrines on humanity. according to john hicks, the difference of religions come from the different interpretation of human being towards religion and god because the burden of local custom. the essence of religion is one, it is interpretation which differs. cak nur says that even though the religion of moses is jewish and that of jesus is christiaity, however the essence of those religion are islam, that teach th devote to god. cak nur differ ‘general islam’ to ‘specific islam’. general islam is the religions brought by the prophets before muhammad, who were sent down to human being any time any where, while specific islam is islam which is brought by muhammad and the consistence of general islam as the teaching for human being which is completed and perfected. for cak nur, pancasila is the common platform (kalimatun sawa’) from various plurality of religions of indonesia. religiousity which is needed to develop is al-hanifiyyat al-samhah, that is the act of seeking the wide truth, tollerance, without fanaticism which confines soul (madjid, 1995: xiv; hakiki, 2016). i argue that applying perennial of smith in indonesia is never free from weakness and strength. the first strength is the possibility to create the peaceful life among religious beliefs. perennial of smith is able to investigate each religious teaching deeply into the root that the basic teaching of all religions are mutual goodness, the hight tollerance even though from various concept. the second is that it rebuild the awareness of indonesian people which already has the philosphy of bhinneka tunggal ika or the concept of pluralism. perennial of smith view human being comprehensively, that is between which is theoritical and practical, between mind and attitude. the third is related to science and religions which characterized as preventive. the scientists of indonesia still hold onto religious metaphysics within their ijtihad. ahmad baiquni, as a first physician of indonesia, consider religion as the support and [ 213 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 guidance of human being in his adventure within this world. this is evidenced by his works which as muslim, he explain universe quoting several words of god to suppor scientifical preposition which is deduced through reason. that also happen to educational system of indonesia, in which many universities preparing the religious-scientist student such as the shift of institut agama islam negeri (iain) to universitas islam negeri (uin) from which secular faculty is pioneered, or christians university such as universitas kristen duta wacana (ukdw), etc. the fourth is that perennial of smith is capable enought to prevent traditional credence sect in indonesia. we argue that those credence sects are not religion, even more the legalized religion in indonesia. we agree with gusdur saying that the emergence of those sects reflects the failure of hierarchy and structure of big religions of indonesia in providing problem solving for fundamental social problems within community nowadays. on the other words, these sect emerge from those big religions from which the new spiritual sect arises without religion. perennial of smith denies spirituality without religion because principally religions contain spirituality. substantially, this kind of failure happens because the believers of religions does not able to rich the spirituality of religion he has faith in. this is what perennial could solve, to replace those credence sect into its prime religions which is legalized in indonesia. beside of those strength, perennial of smith also contains weaknesses. the first is that the material of smith’s perennial is very tough that it contain symbolic language which is only understandable for certain people. the second is that the core of perennial of smith relate to the sensitive part of religiousity particularly for those who has radical and fundamental mode of thought, becuase the substance of smith’s perennial is to harmonize religions and to promote tollerance on the differences of those religions. the third is that the spiritual experience of smith who practice all religious rituals such as attending worship in church, praying five times a day, vendata tradition of hinduism, and zen tradition of budhism routinly is hard to explain to indonesian religious believers. smith performs almost whole ritual of religions due to his desire to achieve practically the common vision of religion to rich god. we say that it is this common vision what smith want to show to religions believers in context of how to behave before the other religions, while those spirituality tends to be persolan; the spirituality of smith does not have to be absolutely followed. this is the distinction of huston smith’s perennial to that of frithjof schuon, seyyed hossein nasr, ect. perennial of smith is antroposentric with the concrete way, that is theoretically [ 214 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 deepen the concept of religious teaching as well as tradition. while practically, it suggests religious believers to perform their religious ritual along with other religious tradition in order to be the trully religious believers. perennial of schuon share smith’s mission on antroposentric, but different enough in term of approach. the difference is only on personal experience on religious ritual they do. schuon for the first time was as smith, that he performed ritual of all religions, however since 1965 schuon decided to choose one religious vision, that is islam and changed his name into isa nuruddin. perennial of nasr is theocentric because the first time consistent to islam, and his perennial tend to investigate the tradition within islam itself. aside these various kind of strengths and weaknesses, philosophy of perennial of smith remains possible to be referred as optimistic view in order to anticipate as well as to solve critical problem of spirituality of modern human being, particularly in indonesia. this perennial is expected as capable of actively playing its role to seek the true substantial understanding of religion and to reform the anarchism of religions which is increasing within inter-religious interaction. various approaches has been applied so far, but not effective enough. it is now time for perennial to solve the problem of spirituality of human being, eventhough the solution from perennial could not instantly applied as much as scientific ijtihad. conclussion perennial of smith finds peace and mutual understanding within religious behavior, because it suggests awareness of tollerance and does not oppose the exoteric differences of religions. the concept of smith’s perennial is proper to be the reference for religious believers of indonesia, who so far trapped within the rigid theology. this approach is not caged within formal, exoteric, as well as symbolic context, but it rather investigates ths substance or esoterical aspect of religion for human beings. at this point, the religion could be as the media or instrument for human to achieve valuable life. on the other words, it is the religion for human rather than human for religion. the later will create intollerance and exclusive religiosity by which the religions could change its humanitarian nature into dehumanitarian. it substantially should be religion for human. thi implicitly says ‘serve religion for the good of human’. however, philosophy of perennial at the end has to face sacred reality which is hard to understand because it sacredness is beyond language. there is a objection for the truth of perennial. philosophy of perennial is only considered as the mode of thinking which provides unaccepted truth. this does not mean to be pesimistic on the weakness of philosophy of perennial. philosophy of [ 215 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 perennial as knowledge is only limited to its alternative proposals to achieve god’s message. the absolute truth remains god possession which is hard to achieve by human being who life in this worldly life. references hakiki, kiki muhammad. 2016. ”islam dan demokrasi: pandangan intelektual muslim dan penerapanya di indonesia.” in wawasan. vol. 1. no. 1. p: 1-17. kuswanjono, arqom. 2006. ketuhanan dalam telaah filsafat perennial: refleksi pluralisme agama di indonesia. yogyakarta: filsafat ugm. nasr, seyyed hossein. 1968. man and nature: the spiritual crisis of modern man. london: unwin paperbacks. ............., 1981. knowledge and the secred. new york albaby: state university of new york press. saputra, riki. 2012. tuhan semua agama: perspektif filsafat perennial seyyed hossein nasr. yogyakarta: lima. schuon, frithjof. 1997. hakikat manusia (translation by ahmad norma permata). yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. ............., 2002. form and substance in the religions. canada: world wisdom. smith, huston. 1976. the common vision of the world`s religions: forgotten truth, harpersanfrancisco, new york. ............., 1989. beyond the post-modern mind. usa: the theosophical publishing house. ............., 1998. the world`s religions: our great wisdom traditions. new york: perfectbound. ............., 2001. why religion matters: the fate of the human spirit in an age of disbelief. new york: harpers collins publisher. ............., 2006. a set at the table: in coversations with native americans on religious freedom. berkeley: university of california press. ............., 1951. “the operational view of god: a study in the impact of metaphysics on religious thought.” in the journal of religion. vol. 31, no. 2, retrieved on 07 april 2011. utsman, sabian. 2006. “konsep manusia menurut marx.” in jurnal studi agama dan masyarakat. vol. 1. no. 1. p: 1-11. [ 269 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 no sheep sacrificed in kampung naga study on celebrations the eid al-adha and the hajat sasih in kampung naga, tasikmalaya bambang misno al hidayah state college of islamic studies, bogor abstract people will do their best to apply their religious beliefs in the form of different religious rituals as a means of reconciling themselves to god. among the rituals is idhul adha festivity held by the indigenous people of kampung naga. this festival is very interesting as it continues with the ritual of hajat sasih as a form of grateful expression to the ancestors of the community of kampung naga. the results of this research showed that the practice of eid al-adha celebration was held with great solemnity according to the islamic teachings, although there are no sheep sacrificed. the attitude of respect for the custom over idhul adha celebration has made them prefer the customary ritual in the form of hajat sasih to idhul adha which is a sunnah. the hajat sasih ritual is carried out after the completion of the idhul adha prayer. the ritual is performed in accordance with the procedures carried out by their ancestors by delivering the pahajat (parcel containing food and produce) to the punduh and the lebe a day before the celebration. meanwhile, the punduh and the lebe also gave their pahajat to the kuwu (village chief) and the naib (caretaker)of neglasari village. the hajat sasih is an expression of gratitude to god represented in the form of a visit to the tomb of the ancestor, i.e. sembah dalem eyang singaparana . in addition, the hajat sasih also serves as a special occasion for the people of kampung naga to visit each other and expect the blessing from the visit to the grave and from the rice cone that has been prayed upon by the elders of the village. keywords: local islam, eid al-adha, hajat sasih, kampung naga and visiting the grave. introduction human beings are the most perfect creature on earth, and this is because they have of two elements within them, i.e. the body and the soul. these elements are further refined with the gift of intellect that distinguishes humans from other creatures. with their intellect, humans are capable of developing their potential, meeting all his needs and carrying out their duties as the caliph of the earth (khalifatullah fil ardh). next, humans try to use all of their potential to meet their needs, from the necessity for the body such as food [ 270 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 and drink, to spiritual needs such as search for peace, harmony, happiness and self-actualization. in reference to the theory of abraham maslow, humans have five basic needs: physiological needs, safety, affiliation, self esteem, and development of potential (jujun, 2001: 264). among human’s basic spiritual needs is a need for something as a guideline and a means of achieving spiritual satisfaction. that kind of need is religion, especially the need for guidance and guidelines for the happiness of life. that humans have the potential of embracing religion can be seen through the historical and anthropological evidence. primitive man, to whom the information never came to know god, turns out they believe there is god though limited “imaginary power”. the imaginary power results in the belief of the existence of power outside of humans. these beliefs are known as dynamism, animism and polytheism, (harun, 2010: 4). carl gustave jung argued that religion included things that are already in the natural subconscious thought. einstein also declared the existence of a variety of psychological aspects that led to the growth of the religion. similarly, various factors have prompted various human groups to cling to religion. all of that indicates that human beings have the potential for the presence of other forces outside them called god. in other words people have strong potential for believing in god (harun, 2010: 6). upon understanding that religion is part of their lives, humans need to try to apply such beliefs in various religious rituals and religious patterns. so this time we see a man trying to get themselves close to god in various religious rituals. although there are many religious rituals observed by humans, they have a connection that cannot be separated from the essence of religious rituals. it is all done in an effort to be closer to god, and they believed that the ritual would be a path to happiness and peace in life. among the form of religious rituals that have existed since long ago is respect for the ancestors. this ritual is one of the traditional rituals commonly practiced by various ethnic groups in indonesia, from the western end of indonesia’s aceh province to the eastern end of indonesia in merauke. they have religious rituals in the forms of homage to the ancestors. such rituals are directed to the tombs of the dead ancestors. the practice to honor ancestors has developed into belief that ancestral spirits have a power that can influence human life (animism). the sundanese as one of the ethnic groups in indonesia also have rituals in honor of the ancestors. this can be from many religious rituals that exist in regions inhabited by the sundanese, especially in the province of west java, banten, parts of central java and jakarta. in panjalu, ciamis district, there [ 271 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 is ritual of nyangku performed as a form of homage to the ancestors of the galuh panjalu kingdom. in garut district, there is a ziarah makam karamah (karamah tomb visit) to visit the tomb of the ancestors of kampung dukuh so that their wishes can be achieved. in bogor and kuningan districts, we can find seren taun guru bumi, a form of gratitude to god. the ritual begins with a pilgrimage to some of the ancestral tombs. in banten province there is a community of bedouins who have the muja ritual i.e. homage to ancestral sites (ekadjati, 2009: 63). similarly, in indramayu there is sedekah bumi ritual, a form of gratitude to god by visiting the graves of their ancestors. meanwhile, in the indigenous village of banceu, subang district, we can find ngaruat bumi ritual as a form of homage to the ancestors. similarly, in tasikmalaya they have hajat sasih practiced by the community kampung naga as a ritual to honor the ancestors of kampung naga. when islam arrived at the land of pasundan and came into contact with the sundanese culture, there was a dialog that occurred between the two, a process of complementing between islam and the sundanese culture to create a representation of both cultures. this new culture was then passed to the next generations so whether realized or not, the new culture is islamic culture with a local touch. among the form of dialog between islam and the local culture is the celebration of eid al-adha followed by the ritual hajat sasih practiced by the community kampung naga in tasikmalaya district. the community of kampung naga as a sub-culture of the sundanese accepted islam as their religion since the founding of the village, so the process of acculturation is not realized by the subsequent generations. therefore, this research attempts to answer the following questions: what is the process of observing eid al-adha and hajat sasih in kampung naga? does acculturation occur between islam and sundanese custom in this ritual? kampung naga: harmony between humans and the universe kampung naga is accessible from bandung through tasikmalaya and garut. through tasikmalaya, it’s a 30 km trip, through bandung-garut-singaparna route approximately 160 km, while from the town of garut only 26 km. to find the direction to kampung naga, there is a signpost pointing towards the village. upon entering kampung naga, visitors will be greeted by a gate with a roof made from injuk (plant that looks like cowlick) with a height of about 5 meters. to the right of the gate there is a banyan tree that gives the impression of cool, and according to mr. abdul majid, one of the owners of stalls naot far from the gate, the tree was planted at the same time the parking lot terminal [ 272 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 of kampung naga was constructed. on the left there is a sign that reads “this land belongs to the government of tasikmalaya district a land area of 3,218 m2, certificate number 10. stepping into the terminal (parking lot), there is large area for parking, allowing up to ten large buses to be parked there. on the left there is a building that serves as a place to store drums of kerosene. the buildings next to it are the information center, and the office of kampung naga cooperative named “sauyunan”. the building also serves as the office of the tour guides’ association of kampung naga abbreviated as “hipana”. next to this office, we can find the souvenir stalls selling hand-crafted products of the community of kampung naga. not far from here, there is place for burning trash. opposite this place, there is an unfinished building used for the parking counter and souvenir store. at the end of the left side of the parking lot stands the kujang pusaka monument that looks magnificent in dominant black. the monument is surrounded by an iron fence that has a door at the front side. on both sides of the gate were the tiger head statues. to the right of the monument there is a detailed description of the construction project. it reads the monument was inaugurated by the governor of west java on april 16, 2009 or 19 maulud 1430 ah. the initiators of this monument were anton charliyan, who at the time served as the regional police chief of priangan and h. derajat hadiningrat as the head of graha limau kencana. the monument is surrounded by a small pond approximately 80 cm in diameter, and is surrounded by iron railings, except at the front side. on the back there is a wall that separates the monument from the residents of sa-naga. to reach the location of kampung naga there are several paths that can be taken, but the main access used by the visitors is by climbing down the approximately 400 stairs. i climbed the first 11 stairs to the stairs to reach the junction. from here the trip continues by climbing down more stairs and walking down the street on the bank of the ciwulan river. the trip to the entrance of the village is filled with a view of the river on the right, and the splash of water from a cliff at the right side brings a different charm of atmosphere. the scenery is a blend of green plants and brown rustic land. from a distance, kampung naga can be seen with a neat line of houses in dominant black. the trip down the road of the village on the bank of ciwulan river is approximately 500 meters and ends in a turn to the left toward kampung naga. entering the area of kampung naga, we can see an open land with two houses on the left and three houses on the right. the kuncen house sits at the left, the second from the entrance. in addition to the open land, a mosque and the [ 273 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 bale patemon stand side by side. on the left of the mosque, there is the site of a former leuit lined with welahan bamboo. walking up the stairs made of stone and turn slightly to the right, we will arrive at the bumi ageung. this building is one of four buildings that are sacred and should not be photographed, and not everyone can enter it. even the residents of kampung naga themselves are not allowed to. on the other side of the bumi ageung bounded by a fence, there are residential homes. next to it, there is another building which is called katarajuan, i.e. a building used by the representatives of jahiyang village who will join the sasih ritual. this building is also not allowed to be photographed up close. the trail located on the side of this building is the path to the tomb of eyang sembah dalem singaparana. at this location, not everyone can enter or take photographs. settlement pattern, social organization and religious system the pattern of settlement in kampung naga has a characteristic which cannot be found in other regions. there are three divisions of territory separated and bordered by jaga kandang on their respective areas. the first area is used for the bathrooms, (pacilingan), balong, goat stalls, saung lisung, and in the eastern part lies the ciwulan river with its leuweung karamat. this forest area also is believed to be gross because it is a place for the dedemit and jurig defeated and placed there by the sembah dalem. the next area is the area of the settlement, home to residents of kampung naga. there are 113 buildings with 108 houses, the rest are the mosque, bale patemon, bumi angeung, leuit, and katarajuan. in this area there is also a large field used for drying grain and a playground for children. in addition to the site of a former mosque there is a leuit which is characterized by round-the-fence made of awi (bamboo), while behind the kuncen house or opposite the mosque and the bale petemon stands a 25 meter peshalatan or depok which are also surrounded by a bamboo fence around it without a gate. the placement of the houses is regulated in such a way in consideration of family values, for example, the houses must face each other so as to promote intensive interaction between the owners especially when they are sitting on the tepas imah. the pattern of the interior of the house that places the kitchen at the front side with a sasag wall also allows the neighbor to find out whether the owner is cooking or not so that they will quickly help them. the see-trough sasag wall will also allow for quick help when a fire or accidents occur in the home. the distance between one house and another is approximately 1 meter, [ 274 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 while the distance between one house and the opposite more varied, from 1.5 meters to 2.5 meters. all the houses in kampung naga are in the form stage like building with a distance from the ground between 60 and 80 cm. this type of house proved to be resistant to earthquakes and free from disturbance of reptiles. the third area is where the tombs are located which is considered sacred by the people of kampung naga. the location is to the west of the settlement on a small hill with shrubs around and small trees around it. this area is a restricted forest not accessible to anyone (leuweung larangan). this area is also called leuweung karamat because this is where the tomb of sembah dalem eyang singaparana. in addition, there are also several other tombs of his followers. this area is outside the settlement bordered by kandang jaga and at the front there is a door made of bamboo. kampung naga is located in a lush valley surrounded by rice fields in the north and the south, while to the west there is a hill, and in the eastern part there is a ciwulan river and a plateau above it. the population is 314 with 108 households. administratively, kampung naga is part of neglasari village, salawu sub-district, tasikmalaya district, west java province. currently, all the households constitute one neighborhood association (rt) i.e. rt 01 rw 01. according to mr. uron, chairman of the rt in kampung naga, “actually kampung naga used to have 4 rt’s then reduced into 2 and now merged into one. “ kampung naga is led by a kuncen, i.e. mr ade suherlin. a kuncen has full responsibility for the continuity of custom and culture in kampung naga. the office kuncen itself is obtained through lineage with specific requirements i.e., it must be a male, adult, have mastered the procedures for custom and obtained consent from his ancestors (the suryani, 2010: 43). in carrying out his everyday responsibilities, a kuncen assisted by a lebe and a punduh. currently the lebe is mr. ateng gilani while the punduh, mr. maun. a punduh has the responsibility to conduct ngurus meres gawe i.e. maintaining the sustainability of the custom and norms in kampung naga. he also serves as the keeper of the village when there are guests who violate the restrictions that have become local custom. meanwhile the lebe is responsible for the management funeral, marriages and other religious affairs. in addition to the indigenous leadership, there is also formal leadership of the government, namely the chairman of rt (neighborhood association) currently served by mr. uron. among the responsibilities of the chairman of the rt is being a facilitator/liaison between residents of kampung naga and local governments at the village, sub-district or district level. in addition, [ 275 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 chairman of the rt also socializes the programs created by government, such as raskin (rice for the poor). in practice the task of chairman of the rt is always discussed with the elders and kuncen of kampung naga. the entire community of kampung naga is muslim. since the beginning of its establishment, islam has become the religion of their ancestors. proof of this is a place for prayer that is currently preserved as peshalatan or depok. at the time of hajat sasih, this place is cleaned as a form of homage to the ancestors who have constructed the venue. their islamic faith is also reflected in everyday life by establishing five daily prayers, calling the adhan and praying in congregation in the mosque. the mosque of kampung naga, which is located in the center of the settlement, has become a center of religious activities of the community. it also serves as a place for holding major islamic celebrations such as the eid al-adha prayer, eid prayer, mauludan, nishfu sha’baan, tarawih in ramadan, and friday prayer. the friday prayer is performed with a khatib (sermon giver) coming from the executive board of the mosque considered capable of being a khatib friday. the mosque also serves as the center of activities during the hajat sasih carried out six times a year. on a typical day, the mosque is a place to recite the qur’an for children of the community of kampung naga. the implementation of the islamic religion in kampung naga does not eliminate the traditions and custom that they have inherited from the ancestors. the beliefs about the various occult things are still common. similarly, when they receive orders from the ancestors, they will soon put them into practice. if it is a ban, then they certainly will never break it. some customary rules which survive to this day are the prohibition of entering the restricted forest, the tomb of sembah dalem singaparana, bumi ageung and the sacred forest. the places according to their beliefs are sacred and should not be visited by any person. in addition, when sitting or sleeping, one is not allowed to stick his feet toward the west. the prohibitions are called “pamali” which are unwritten rules but understood by the entire community of kampung naga. traditionally, the community kampung naga also believed in various spirits who control several places around the village. for example, the existence of the guard of water called jurig cai, kuntilanak, etc. as agricultural society, they also believe in the rice goddess called nyi pohaci. as a form of respect to nyi pohaci, they have various rules related to rice, for example providing a rujakan in every stage of rice growth in paddy fields to rice storage process in a leuit. in addition, as indigenous peoples in general, they have great respect for their ancestors. therefore, to honor the ancestors, they perform rituals in the form of pilgrimage to the ancestors’ tombs. in kampung naga, the ritual of pilgrimage to the tomb of the ancestors called the hajat sasih is carried out six times a year. [ 276 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 to maintain the custom of kampung naga, the local people have restrictions to discuss matters relating to custom on tuesdays, wednesdays and saturdays. on the three days mentioned, they are not allowed to discuss indigenous issues; the three days are used for quiet contemplation, introspection and effort to be able to better carry out the custom of the ancestors. on these three days, there are no celebrations or special practices. these days have a very important position so that any event will be postponed or transferred to another day if it coincides with the three days. celebration of eid al-adha and ritual of hajat sasih the atmosphere of the mosque seemed dusky with a kerosene lamp in the center. a man is calling for prayer, and before doing so he hit the kokol and bedug as a sign that the dawn has arrived. just a few minutes for praying sunnah early morning prayer, the iqamat was then was pronounced. the imam of the prayer was mr karmadi, one of the residents of kampung naga who is also a close relative of the kuncen. several men lined up behind him. this time, no more than ten people performed prayer in congregation at dawn. after a short dhikr, they shook hands and immediately went back to their respective homes. kang entang returned home briefly, changed his prayer outfit, then immediately headed to the balong. after being left for approximately 1.5 hours, the water in the balong was getting less; the fish began to appear to be searching for deeper water. after a short wait finally kang entang made a sort of small trenches to facilitate the catching of fish. after doing some movement to keep the fish gather at a place provided, he began to catch them with a sair. kang entang was not alone. he was now assisted by some residents who came to help catch the fish. pak ucu, kang iin and his son also took down to the balong. in accordance with the request of the elders, the first fish to catch is the nila (tilapia) fish. with a sair kang entang caught some of them and put them into a jerry can with one of the sides cut open. after catching 20 kg of fish, he immediately took them to the home of indigenous elders to be cooked. the next fish caught were the nilem. as these fish were available in large quantities, then the selection was done by selecting the ones ready for harvest for the hajat sasih. the fish caught weighing 25 kg and were distributed to the residents of mainly indigenous elders. one day before the hajat sasih, the residents of kampung naga prepared dishes that would be used in the ritual. some women looked busy pounding rice flour as an ingredient for making fried foods, while most other mashing the rice for the same purpose. some residents also helped grinding grain using a machine called ngadisel. [ 277 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the men in kampung naga also lent a hand. most of them were engaged in the preparation of hajat sasih the following day. some residents also caught fish fishing in their own balong. others went to the ciwulan river for the same purpose. for those who do not like fish, then they chose a chicken dish for the hajat sasih. some chicken was obtained from the market, while some from domesticated livestock called hayam kolong. for practical reasons, some residents chose to buy cooked foods from the kiosks located outside village or waited for the vendors selling foods such as tempe, tofu, and other side dishes. the preparation for the hajat sasih intensified as the sun began to rise. some women were busy with their household work to prepare for bimonthly celebration of the hajat sasih. they looked busy cooking and frying fish, chicken, or peeling potatoes. before they started cooking, all the cookware was cleaned and prepared. making tumpeng (rice in corn shape) is the main thing in preparing for the celebration for women. daon cau (banana leaves) are used for the cover of thr tumpeng. it is the responsibility of the men to collect banana leaves. one day ahead of the hajat sasih, the ritual of pahajat is also done by delivering the atahan to the punduh and the lebe. the atahan itself consists of rice, banana, cassava, yams, and so on, as a form of homage to the elders of kampung naga. the tradition of delivering the pahajat has been passed down from generation to generation. in this case if one family gives their pahajat to the punduh, then they will continue this when the hajat sasih comes. likewise, if a family gives their pahajat the lebe, then they keep doing so for the next generations to come. the atahan given by the residents to the punduh and the lebe will be used for the purpose of the hajat sasih or takbiran nights during the hajat sasih which are usually performed in the months of syawal, rayagung (eid al-adha), and mulud. the punduh and the lebe have a tradition to give the pahajat to the kuwu (village chief) and the naib. the punduh will always give his pahajat mr. kuwu (village chief) while lebe will give his pahajat to the naib. the pahajat given by the residents to the puduh and the lebe also includes rice, banana, sweet potato, cassava and other produce. in addition, a live chicken is also added as a complement. the tradition to give pahajat to the kuwu and the naib is as a form of homage and gratitude of the villagers to formal government leaders. the interviews conducted with the punduh of kampung naga revealed that one of the goals of the hajat sasih is giving the pahajat to the elders and leaders both formal (kuwu and naib) as well as non-formal (punduh and lebe). its purpose is a form of homage and obedience of the village residents to the elders who have protected them. the pahajat is carried out on a voluntary [ 278 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 basis. in this case, it is not required so that there were residents who did not give away the pahajat. the granting of the pahajat can be done a few days or one day before the hajat sasih. this tradition has been in practice from generation to generation since long ago, so it will be a shame not to do it. another preparatory activity for the hajat sasih is taking root the kapirit tree for kuramas and bebersih. it serves as a sort of shampoo used at the time of the hajat sasih especially when bathing in the ciwulan river. this root is taken from the nagawir of slopes on the river bank of the ciwulan and several other locations. later this root will be mixed with honje fruit to be used as traditional shampoo. this time the hajat sasih is somewhat different because it coincided with the celebration of the feast of eid al-adha. like other muslims, the people of kampung naga also celebrate the eid al-adha. a typical celebration of the eid al-adha at kampung naga is takbiran in the evening. when the sun has set, the call for prayer can be heard from the mosque in the center of the village. although no speakers are used the call for prayer can heard in the entire kampung naga. some of the men rushed to the mosque wearing the sinjang (sarong) and a headband. the sunset prayer was led by kang iin, a representative of the mosque. the mosque itself was a bit different than the usual days; on a typical day it is lit by oil lamps, but this time a petromak (kerosene lamp) was in use, so it was brighter and more cheerful with the presence of the children of the village. the bustle in the home the citizens could also be seen, because in addition to the preparation of the hajat sasih, they also were preparing special dishes for the occasion of takbiran to be carried out this evening to welcome the eid aladha feast the following day. the wife of the punduh was busy cutting green pepper, honje flower, tempe, as well as other vegetables that would be typical gembrung cuisine for the takbiran. this tall elder woman was not alone as she was assisted by her daughter and the wife of the lebe in preparing for the takbiran of the eid al-adha. the evening prayer just finished when several male residents of kampung naga flocked to the mosque. some of them were wearing black and white shirts, and iket on the the head. spontaneously, some of the men took terbang gembrung (a kind of hand-held drum) out from the pengimaran (podium), each terbang was fixed by some residents. the punduh, lebe and kuncen were seen sitting at the front row of the mosque, while citizens who were ready to hold the terbang sitting on the right. kang entang was seen holding a large terbang leaning on the wall. “allah is great ... allah is great... allah is great ... “ the sound of takbir with a typical sundanese accent slowly articulated in a melodious manner. some [ 279 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 children of kampung naga were gathering at the back of the mosque. the solemnity continued into the middle of the night, some typical dish like banana stew, boiled yam, wajik, and banana cake was served. a puff of smoke from the musicians and audience presents a typical village scene found only once a year on the eid al-adha. the time was 11:00 and it was time to serve the eagerly awaited gembrung on the night the eid al-adha. the rice was placed on plates made of zinc distributed one by one to all the residents who attended, starting with the kuncen, the punduh and the lebe, and the indigenous leaders. all seemed delighted and enjoyed the meal. it was the beginning of a celebration that would be held until the next day. “enlivening the night of the eid is a practice of worship.” said didin, one of the residents of kampung naga. during the time for dawn prayer, toward the eid al-adha prayer and the hajat sasih, activities were limited to prayer and preparation of core rice and side dish. the dawn prayer at the mosque took place as usual. the prayer was performed with solemnity under dimly lit oil lamps. there were only several men who joined the dawn prayer congregation at the mosque, some others did it at home. around 6 a.m., all male residents rushed toward the mosque. there were still not many people. fog still covered the area of kampung naga when the eid al-adha prayer started. mr. danu acted as the imam and kang iin called for prayer. three women joined the eid prayer at the back row while others were busy preparing cone rice for the hajat sasih. after the prayer, mr. danu delivered a sermon wearing a white shirt, tartan sarong and black cap. the sermon was delivered in arabic and the sundanese language. people gathering at the mosque were listening attentively even though it was drizzling outside. when the prayer was completed, people shook hands with the kuncen, the punduh, the lebe and several indigenous elders. then each of them returned home to prepare for the hajat sasih. there were no sacrificial animals. the interviews with the kuncen revealed that that the absence of livestock slaughtering is due to the residents’ low income so that there is nothing to sacrifice. viewed from the economic perspective, this reason is acceptable since most of the residents of kampung naga are farmers with a small income. however, there is a ritual of ngaruwat lembur that sacrifices a goat and it proves the first reason is not true. the absence of a sacrificial animal on the the eid al-adha is not without cause. it is a religious pattern of the community of kampung naga who steadfastly adhere to their custom. it was 9 in the morning when the sound of kokol (slit drum) was struck. it was a sign for the start of the hajat sasih. people began to rush to the ciwulan river. some of them were still wearing full clothes, while some others only [ 280 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 wearing a sarong without a shirt. all of them are not wearing footwear. the kuncen and some people carried small containers with them to be used as the leuleuran. the participants of the hajat sasih walked to the east toward the ciwulan river. after coming out of the jaga kandang (village border), they turned left and kept walking along the bank of the river and headed to the place for bebersih and kuramas (shared bath). arriving at the riverbank, some residents picked honje fruit. then each of them formed a group to mash the kepirit root and the honje fruit. there are five groups all together, each mashing the root and mix it with the honje fruit. then they put the mixture into a pot like container. before starting the bebersih, the kuncen led a prayer reciting the intention for the bath. next, each participant took the shampoo and rubeed it in the head and then rinsed it with the water of the ciwulan. after the kuramas was completed, they took off their clothes and took a dip in the river ciwulan. then it was continued with abdas (ablution) and putting on the sinjang (sarong). after the completion of the ritual, everyone was not allowed to put on underwear and footwear. they were also not allowed to use a towel. it did not take a long time to perform the ritual. it took approximately a half hour. then each participant returned home to change clothes. the outfit used for the hajat sasih consists of three pieces, namely the totopong (headband), tunic, and sinjang. this outfit is used only for the special event of the hajat sasih held six times annually. the totopong (headband) worn in this ritual is differs from one worn on a daily basis. similarly, the sinjang is worn reaching half calves. the robe has no buttons. there is only a piece of string to tie it together but in reality this is rarely used. the participants let their chest uncovered. a belt made of long white cloth is worn to strengthen the sinjang. they are not allowed to put on any footwear and underwear. after they were done with the outfit, they were headed to the mosque. they entered the mosque by first washing their feet at a spot located on the left and right side of the mosque. in the mosque, they were waiting for the punduh, the lebe and the kuncen currently asking for permission at the bumi ageung. the kuncen, the punduh and the lebe departed to earth ageung carrying leumareun. each of them took the leumareun of their own as well as one belonging to the residents. the bumi ageung ritual was conducted the kuncen, , while the punduh and the lebe were waiting outside. the kuncen was there to recite prayer that essentially contains requests for permission to perform the pilgrimage to the tomb. after the ritual at the bumi ageung was completed, the kuncen, the punduh and the lebe went to the tomb. seeing these elders going to the tomb, the participants of hajat sasih immediately followed suit. [ 281 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the participants carried sapu nyere (broom) taken from the mosque. these brooms are made of kawung tree bristles and tied into a single bond. the broom is carried on the right shoulder. from the mosque they walked past the bale patemon then turned right to a rocky path through the hill and turned left and walked straight toward the south and turned again westward toward the tomb. they were walking hand in hand and lined up one person after another without saying a word. everything was conducted in solemnity. the ritual at the tomb began with a request for permission by the kuncen to eyang sembah dalem. in front of the tomb, the kuncen rcited the unjukunjuk to inform that the seuweu-siwi naga (descendants of kampung naga) were gathering there, and delivered the intent and purpose of the hajat sasih. the unjuk-unjuk was recited by the kuncen while facing to the west, toward the tomb. it also means facing toward the qibla. in addition to conveying the intent of pilgrimage, the kuncen also delivered respect and apology should there any custom be forgotten or violated. then all participants were welcome to start cleaning the tomb. they swept, plucked the grass growing around the tomb, cut the wild trees growing in the area of the tomb and threw out all the garbage. it took quite a while to clean up. after they finished, they sat together, while the kuncen was leading the tawasulan prayer to eyang sembah dalem. after the prayer, each participant performed sungkem by lightly kissing the kuncen’s hand and saying nice words. about five participants returned to clean the depok, namely the location of the previous place of prayer (peshalatan) located behind the kuncen’s house or on the front right side of the mosque and bale patemon. since the depok is surrounded by a bamboo fence, the only way to get to it is to use the taroje (ladder). there are two ladders used, i.e. one to go up from the outside and the other to go down on the inside. the process of cleaning up the depok was first by removing the garbage in it, picking off the grass, and the slashing the wild trees growing in the area. the process of cleaning up this place is usually done without saying a word. when finished cleaning, then they approached the rock previously used as the pengimaran and did five to seven times of sungkem and then prayed. each participant taking part in cleaning up the depok would then do the same thing, namely sungkem (holding palms together and paying respect to the rock. this is done for several times. it was 12:30 when friday prayer was completed. with no time to waste, the participants of the hajat sasih sat around the mosque with the kuncen, the punduh, and the lebe and their family members. the kuncen would lead the prayer attended by his 12-year-old son who had accompanied the kuncen since the friday prayer. meanwhile, other participants were sitting down facing the [ 282 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 south, east, and north, and there were two rows in the middle. they were sitting facing each other with cone rice in front of them. in front of the kuncen and other elders were tumpeng placed in pots called the rigen and boboko. before the ngadu’aan tumpeng began, some of the residents who had yet to perform sungkem to the kuncen at the tomb were allowed to do so. one by one they approached the kuncen and kissed his hand. there were no words spoken. once completed, they returned to where they were. meanwhile those carrying tumpeng were allowed to bring it into the mosque through the door. in addition, the four windows located on the left and right side of the mosque were also used to bring in the tumpeng. the atmosphere was quite lively when each woman handed the tumpeng to the participants in the mosque. kang entang was also helping the women to move the tumpeng into the the mosque. all seemed happy including kang entang who was busy serving them one by one. most residents entered the mosque and sat at the back to watch the recital of prayer, while others waiting outside, seating around the mosque. they looked serious during the procession of the ngadu’aan tumpeng as part of the hajat sasih. after the whole tumpeng went into the mosque and the participants were ready for the hajat sasih, a woman called patunggon handed the leumareun to the kuncen as a form of service to their leader. the ngadu’aan tumpeng started by burning incense and the kuncen reciting prayer for the well-being of all residents of kampung naga. then it proceeded with greetings and religious advice to all participants. the kuncen’s hands were sometimes brought together (sungkem) and both thumbs put to the front of his mouth. after advice from the kuncen was completed, the lebe continued by the reciting a prayer and all participants listening to it said “amen”. when the hajat sasih is held in month of mulud, at the end of the reading of prayers, each participant takes the tip of the rice cone and laid it on a sheet of banana leaf. the prayer is being read, all participants are holding the tip of the rice cone. with the completion of the reading of prayers, the hajat sasih ritual was completed, and the residents were allowed to take their rice cone respectively. some people lined up to pass the rice cone to another in a row. the atmosphere was so enjoyable with residents waiting for their tumpeng to take it home. several people living outside the village of kampung naga went home with a happy face. each participant took their own the tumpeng home, some eaten on the way while the rest bought back home. kang entang took the rice home to be enjoyed with his family. “there is a blessing in this kind of rice,” said pak tatang, one of the residents of kampung naga. [ 283 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 conclusion the celebration of the eid al-adha ritual followed by the hajat sasih in kampung naga is a tradition that combines the islamic law and tradition. the eid al-adha prayer with takbiran is islamic tradition that is well accepted by the community as part of their religion. while the tradition of handing over the pahajat is a custom prevailing in several communities in indonesia. for example, in the baduy community in west java (edi s. eka djati: 2010), where every year they also give a “tribute” to the ruler of banten province. the tradition of pahajat in kampung naga is by presenting agricultural produce to elders, in this case the punduh and the lebe. the punduh and the lebe themselves will also give pehajat to the local village officials, namely the kuwu (village chief) and the naib. the tradition passed down through generations is performed in several kingdoms in indonesia. then it can be concluded that the pehajat is a kind of indigenous tradition and a darigama (obedience to the government). other elements of the indigenous tradition include beating the kokol (slit drum) at the beginning of the ritual, a symbol of local culture in this regard belonging the sundanese. in addition to musical instrument, the slit drum serves as a medium of communication for the community. likewise, the ritual of shared bath in the river of ciwulan is also found in other indigenous communities, for example in the baduy kanekes in banten where each ceremony always begins with the bebersih (edi s. ekadjati: 2010). in the community of cigugur kuningan, they also perform such tradition in their customary ritual. the practice of bebersih in the ciwulan river is always followed with the ahdats i.e. washing the body of dirt. this is of course an islamic culture that penetrates into the local culture. while the use of the kapirit root and the honje as purifier is local wisdom typical of the hajat sasih in kampung naga. the unjuk-unjuk at the bumi ageung is a form of homage to the elders. this tradition comes from the custom which originated in a way of paying tribute to the ancestors. it is based on the belief that the ancestors have the right to be asked for permission, especially when performing the hajat sasih. the tradition that provides leumaren is a local culture that serves as a form of homage to sanctified places or also to the ancestor. it is also a form of communication and manifestation of human gratitude to god almighty (giri, 2002: 15). the core of the hajat sasih is performing pilgrimage to the tomb of eyang sembah dalem singaparna. the purpose of this pilgrimage is to get blessing to all the residents of kampung naga in everyday life. the ritual is marked by request for permission to perform a pilgrimage, then all participants will clean up the tombs. when [ 284 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 finished, the kuncen will recite the tawasulan i.e. praying for a favor for all the residents of kampung naga. the islamic law that allows a visit to the tomb is very clear, as mentioned in a hadith which reads “ i (prophet muhammad, peace and blessings of allah be upon him) had ordered you not to visit graves, now visit them because it will remind you of death.” then there is tomb visit tradition in islam. in fact, a visit to the tomb of the ancestors had been practiced before islam was present in the land of pasundan. belief in the strength of the ancestral has existed since ancient times, so visiting the tomb is a ritual that exists in all sunda cultures in particular and indonesia in general. the tawasul tradition is also islamic namely encouraging a person who is still alive to sincerely worship and devote to to allah ta’ala. tawasul in the name of allah ta’ala is allowed in islam. in the hajat sasih, the tawasul is perform for the cemetery dweller i.e. eyang sembah dalem singaparna as the ancestor and founder of kampung naga. therefore, tawasul exists in islam, but it turns out that the tradition of making someone (including food) as an intermediary also exists in the sundanese local culture. they are accustomed to praying through the intermediary of their ancestors, in some cases they ask the ancestors to provide a blessed and prosperous life. thus it can be concluded that the ritual of visiting the tomb had existed before islam was present in the land of sunda. subsequently, this tradition is mixed with islamic values, creating a culture of pilgrimage which has roots in local traditions and islam. the tradition of murak tumpeng serves as a symbol of culture understood as the embodiment of the mountain which is the source of life for mankind. the tumpeng is also a manifestation of the high place which according to their belief is in the place of god almighty (giri, 2002: 18). bibliography abdul rozak, 2005, teologi kebatinan sunda, bandung : pt kiblat buku utama ahmad gibson albustomi, ”islam-sunda bersahaja di kampung naga”. posted on http://sundaislam.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/islam-sunda-bersahaja-di-kampung-naga/ ahmad sya, m,dkk. 2008. sejarah kampung naga. bandung: dinas kebudayaan dan pariwisata provinsi jawa barat balai pengembangan kemitraan dan pelatihan tenaga kepariwisataan. beatty, andrew, 2001, variasi agama di jawa : suatu pendekatan anthropologi, jakarta : rajagrafindo persada. connoly, petter (editor), 2011, aneka pendekatan studi agama, yogyakarta : [ 285 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 lkis creswell, j. w. 1998. qualitatif inquiry and research design. sage publications, inc: california. darsa, undang a. dan edi s. ekadjati. 2006. gambaran kosmologi sunda. bandung: pt kiblat buku utama. dhavamony, mariasusai. 1995. fenomenologi agama, edisi ke 10. yogyakarta: kanisius ekadjati, edi s., 2009. kebudayaan sunda : suatau pendekatan sejarah, jilid 1, jakarta : pustaka 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(editor), 2006, pokok-pokok antropologi budaya, jakarta : yayasan obor indonesia kluckhohn, clyde. 1942. “myths and ritual: a general theory”, dalam harvard theological review, xxxv. koentjaraningrat, 1985, kebudayaan mentalitas dan pembanguan, jakarta : pt gramedia koentjaraningrat, 2002. pengantar ilmu antropologi, jakarta : pt. rineka cipta koentjaraningrat, 2007. sejarah teori antropologi i dan ii, jakarta : penerbit universitas indonesia press. lubis, nina herlina (ed.). 2003. sejarah tatar sunda, bandung: pusat penelitian kemasyarakatan dan kebudayaan lemlit unpad mattew b milles. a michael huberman, 2007, analisis data kualitatif, ui press moleong, lexi j, 2006. metodologi penelitian kualitatif, bandung : pt. remaja rosda karya. nasution, harun, 2010, islam ditinjau dari berbagai aspeknya, jakarta: uipress. nugraha, angga. 2011. makna simbol komunikasi dalam upacara hajat sasih. bandung : fakultas ilmu komunikasi universitas padjadjaran. nur syam, 2007, madzhab-madzhab antropologi. yogyakarta: lkis pelangi aksara nur syams, 2005, islam pesisir, yogyakarta : lkis pokok-pokok antropologi budaya, ihromi, 2006. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia. purwitasari, tiwi. 2006. ”pemukiman dan religi masyarakat megalitik: studi kasus masyarakat kampung naga, jawa barat”, dalam arkeologi dari lapangan ke permasalahan. jakarta: iaai. 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[ 157 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 rumi concept of love: the path to interfaith harmony and peace sehat ihsan shadiqin universitas islam negeri ar-raniry banda aceh email: sehatihsan@ar-raniry.ac.id m. agus wahyudi universitas islam negeri raden mas said surakarta email: agus.wahyudi@staff.uinsaid.ac.id alfiatunnur coventry university, united kingdom email: abdurrahma@uni.coventry.ac.uk shabrun jamil al-azhar university, egypt email: lautkuda185@gmail.com abstract building mutual understanding among people of different religions is crucial in anticipating issues arising from individual religious identities. the concept of love, as viewed by jalaluddin rumi, can serve as a medium for nurturing interfaith peace. rumi believed that love is at the core of human existence and emphasized its power in achieving tranquility. through rumi’s teachings, we gain an understanding of the significance of compassionate love in fostering mutual understanding and respect among different faiths. this article delves into rumi’s life and works, highlighting his contributions to sufism and his unique perspective on love. furthermore, it delves deeper into rumi’s concept of love. the aim of this paper is to contribute to the field of interfaith studies by exploring the potential of rumi’s concept of love to promote mutual understanding and respect among religions through poetry and rumi’s teachings. the research employs a qualitative method, specifically a literature review, drawing data from various references, books, and articles related to rumi’s works and thoughts, particularly those discussing the concept of love. the findings reveal that rumi’s concept of love can serve as a medium for addressing religious conflicts and building a more peaceful world. by embracing rumi’s teachings on love, we learn to see beyond our differences and connect with each other at a deeper level. keywords: rumi; love; interfaith harmony; peace [ 158 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 introduction in the present time where globalization has brought various cultures and religions closer, the need for mutual understanding, respect, and harmony among different religions is very important. this article will explore the teachings of jalaluddin rumi, a poet, islamic jurist, and persian theologian of the 13th century, whose profound insight on love offers a way to harmony and peace among religions (maola, 2018; saddam & abbas, 2020). rumi, born in 1207 in balkh (which is now part of afghanistan), was a central figure in the world of sufism, a spiritual branch of islam that emphasizes personal experience and love as the path to spiritual enlightenment. his poetry and prose, written in persian and widely translated, have been embraced by people from various religions and cultures, making him one of the most famous poets in the world. his works, which are full of themes of love, tolerance, and unity, transcend the boundaries of religion, culture, and nation, making him very relevant in the diverse and interconnected world of today (chittick, 1993; gamard, 2018). the core of rumi’s teachings is the concept of love. for rumi, love is not just an emotion, but the essence of human existence. he believes that love is the divine force that permeates the universe, connecting all beings in a deep bond of shared being (golkarian, 2018; kahteran, 2009). rumi’s concept of love in sufism is more popularly known as mahabbah, which is the way to spiritual growth and enlightenment. through mahabbah we can transcend our ego, connect with god (octaviani, 2021). rumi’s concept of love has many aspects, including love for god, love for oneself, and love for others. each dimension of love, according to him, is interrelated and important for spiritual growth. rumi’s teachings on love are not just philosophical reflections but practical guides in living life. he emphasizes the importance of expressing love in our daily lives, in our interactions with others, and in our relationship with god. his poetry and prose are full of metaphors and allegories of life that illustrate the transformative power of love. love in rumi’s view serves as a reminder that love is not just a feeling but a way of living in the world about ethics and morality (abid, 2021; iriyanto, 2024). previous research has documented several studies on this great figure through their works in various contexts, such as their concept of love (chittick, 1993) or their analysis of their works (esteʿlami, 2012), and the correlation of rumi’s ideas with contemporary life (khan & rashid, 2023). sufism is not limited to discussing spiritual dimensions but also extends to social and moral dimensions (prayogi et al., 2022). rumi’s sufi teachings expressed through his poetry reflect his closeness to the people around him. despite being a sufi, he [ 159 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 always engaged with society, listened to their issues, and provided advice (gray, 2019; klicheva, 2022). love, as the essence of life, is a universal philosophy that connects all humankind (shafak, 2007). in addition to the concept of love (mahabbah), rumi also contemplates death. according to rumi, death is a reality that humans need not fear because it is a reunion with god, signifying happiness and unwavering faith (majeed abdurrahman & diyar tayeb, 2023). unlike some previous works, this article will explore the role of love in fostering mutual understanding and respect among different religions. it can be assumed that with its emphasis on love and universal unity, love provides valuable insights for interfaith dialogue. love can transcend religious differences and highlight the spiritual heritage of humankind, offering a strong framework for harmony and peace among religions. by examining rumi’s perspective on love, we create space to learn to see beyond religious disparities and recognize shared spiritual values that unite us. we can explore how love can function as a bridge between different faiths, nurturing mutual respect and understanding. this acknowledgment can help us address religious conflicts and build a more peaceful and harmonious world. this article falls within the realm of qualitative research; thus, data analysis refers to raw data in the form of historical documents, transcripts, field notes, and images that are arranged in such a way and ready for analysis (creswell & poth, 2018). all of these data go through a thorough re-reading process so that they can be categorized into themes and descriptions. the analysis process has at least three main characteristics, namely: interest in the past, empirical (based on primary and secondary data), and leading to synthesis (baker et al., 2018). this study is also directed to explore rumi’s concept of love with harmony and interfaith peace in the present. rumi: life, works, and his contribution to sufism jalāl al-dīn muhammad rūmī, commonly known as rumi, is estimated to have been born on september 30, 1207, in the ancient city of balkh, which is now located in northern afghanistan (rumi, 2000b).his father, bahāʾ aldīn walad, was a highly respected islamic jurist and theologian who played a significant role in shaping rumi’s early education and spiritual outlook. the period of rumi’s birth was marked by political turmoil, with the threat of mongol invasions forcing rumi’s family, like many others, to leave their hometown (arasteh, 1974; nasr, 1993). this departure marked the beginning of a long and difficult journey that took them through baghdad, mecca, and damascus, introducing rumi to a variety of cultures, languages, and religious traditions. eventually, the family settled in konya, which is now part of [ 160 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 modern-day turkey (zarrabi-zadeh & asbury, 2016). konya was a major center of learning and culture at the time, providing a conducive environment for rumi’s intellectual and spiritual growth. here, rumi was introduced to the works of some of the greatest thinkers of the islamic world, further enriching his understanding and perspective. this journey, filled with diverse cultural and linguistic experiences, greatly influenced rumi’s later works. themes of love, tolerance, and unity that pervade his poetry can be traced back to these early experiences. his exposure to different cultures and languages not only broadened his worldview but also enriched his poetic expression, allowing him to speak to a diverse audience and touch the hearts of people from various cultures and religions (gamard, 2010). at a relatively young age, rumi had already studied various islamic sciences such as nahwu (grammar), the art of poetry, the qur’an, hadith, ushul fiqh (principles of islamic jurisprudence), tafsir (qur’anic exegesis), history, philosophy, theology, logic, mathematics, and astronomy. after his father’s death, at the age of 24, rumi succeeded his father’s position as a spiritual leader and islamic jurist in the seljuk sultanate of rum. at that time, he was widely admired by islamic legal scholars for his expertise in law, yet he continued to lead a spiritual life as a sufi (jihad, 2015). rumi’s literary contribution is vast and diverse, reflecting his deep understanding of human nature and his ability to express complex spiritual concepts in a way that is accessible to people from various cultures and religions. his works were primarily written in persian, his native language, but he also occasionally used turkish, arabic, and greek in his verses, reflecting the multicultural environment in which he lived and worked (elmarsafy, 2013). his most important work is the masnavi (mathnawi), a six-volume poem composed in konya, considered one of the greatest works of persian poetry (esteʿlami, 2012). the masnavi is often referred to as the “quran in persian” because of its profound spiritual insights and exploration of various themes such as theology, cosmology, and human behavior (rumi, 2013). it is a rich tapestry of stories and fables intertwined with spiritual teachings and philosophical reflections. another significant work is the diwan-e shams-e tabriz, or “the collected poems of shams,” a collection of odes dedicated to shams tabrizi, rumi’s spiritual mentor. these poems, partly written in shams’ voice, reflect rumi’s deep love and admiration for his mentor and his longing for spiritual unity. they are characterized by intense emotions and the exploration of themes of love, loss, and longing. other works by rumi include diwan-i shamsi tabriz [ 161 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 (poems of praise to shamsi tabriz), mathnawî-i manawi (rhymed prose about meanings), rubâ‘iyat (collection of four-line poems), fihi ma fihi (in it what is in it), makâtib (collection of rumi’s letters to his friends), and majâlis-i sabah (arasteh, 1974). in addition to his poetry, rumi also produced various prose works, including fihi ma fihi, or “discourses,” a collection of his lectures and sermons. these lectures provide valuable insights into rumi’s thoughts and teachings on various topics, from spirituality and ethics to social issues and everyday life. he also composed sermons for specific occasions, collected in majlis as-sab’a, and wrote many letters, known as maktubat, offering a more personal glimpse into his life and thoughts. rumi’s works have had a significant influence on literature, philosophy, and spirituality, not only in the islamic world but also in the west. his poetry and prose continue to inspire and resonate with people from various cultures and backgrounds, making him one of the most widely read and beloved poets in the world. rumi became a central figure in the sufi tradition. his teachings had a significant impact on sufism, shaping its development and contributing to its spread across different cultures and regions. rumi’s teachings on love are not merely philosophical reflections but practical guides for living life. he believed that love is the essence of human existence and the key to spiritual growth and enlightenment. for rumi, love is not just an emotion but a divine force that permeates the universe, connecting all beings in a profound bond of shared existence (kartanegara, 2016). this love, he argued, is the primary path to spiritual growth and enlightenment. through love, we can transcend our egos, connect with god, and realize our true nature. rumi emphasized the importance of expressing love in our daily lives, in our interactions with others, and in our relationship with god. he taught that love should be the guiding principle in our actions and interactions, shaping our attitudes and behaviors towards others. he also encouraged his followers to cultivate love in their hearts and express it in their actions, thereby transforming their lives and the lives of those around them. rumi’s poetry and prose are filled with vivid metaphors and allegories that illustrate the transformative power of love. his works serve as mirrors reflecting various aspects of love and its impact on our lives. they depict love as a journey, a transformative process that leads to spiritual growth and enlightenment (zarrabi-zadeh, 2014). through his works, rumi invites us to embark on this journey of love, guiding us along the way with his profound insights and wisdom. rumi’s contribution to sufism goes beyond his teachings on love. he also made significant contributions to the development of sufi [ 162 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 music and dance, particularly the practice of sama, or whirling dervishes. this practice, involving spinning in precise rhythms, is seen as a form of meditation and a path to spiritual enlightenment. rumi’s poetry, often recited during these ceremonies, adds depth and meaning to the practice, making it a powerful spiritual experience. rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions. his poetry resonates among people of various religions and cultures, making him one of the most famous poets in the world. his work, filled with themes of love, tolerance, and unity, transcends religious, cultural, and national boundaries, making it highly relevant in today’s diverse and interconnected world. rumi’s teachings, with their emphasis on love and universal unity, provide valuable insights for interfaith dialogue (zarrabi-zadeh, 2024). his concept of love transcends religious differences and highlights the shared spiritual heritage of humanity. rumi’s life and works have left an indelible mark on the world, making him one of the most beloved and widely read poets in history. his teachings on love offer a path to harmony and peace among religions. his influence continues to inspire and resonate with people of various cultures and backgrounds around the world. jalāl al-dīn muhammad rūmī passed away on 5 jumadil akhir 672 h, corresponding to december 16, 1273 ad, surrounded by his spiritual disciples, including close family members, at the end of his life. sadr al-din qunawi, another great sufi figure in konya at the time, offered the death prayer before the remains of persia’s greatest sufi poet were laid to rest in konya. among sufis, his tomb is one of several important shrines visited, akin to a second kaaba, and has become a spiritual center in turkey (nasr, 1993). jalaluddin rumi’s concept of love: a novel mapping jalaluddin rumi posits that love is the quintessence of all existence, with everything emanating from god, the wellspring of love. the term “the beloved” within his oeuvre signifies god and reveals his yearning for “the beloved” in his poetry. “the beloved” manifests within every individual and entity, celebrating the diversity and splendor of creation. rumi appraises love as a transformative force capable of altering the human soul and elevating it to heightened levels of consciousness and awareness (hajriansyah, 2016). he differentiates among various forms of love—physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—acknowledging their value and significance, yet also their limitations and imperfections. for rumi, the supreme form of love is that directed towards the beloved, transcending all other forms and leading to genuine happiness and the fulfillment of the human soul. true love, according [ 163 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 to him, is pure, unconditional, and selfless, independent of any external factors or expectations (golkhosravi, 2004; mushtafa, 2007). rumi delves into the challenges and impediments encountered on the path of love, such as ego, the world, and the self. to surmount these barriers, a lover must surrender to the will of the beloved, heeding the inner voice’s guidance (j. rumi, 2000a). the lover must persistently seek the fellowship of other devotees of the beloved, who can inspire and support them on this journey. herein lies the importance of the support and role of a spiritual guide, or “friend,” who can assist seekers in discovering and connecting with the beloved. in depicting love, rumi consistently employs a plethora of metaphors and symbols, such as wine, moths, reeds, flutes, and whirling dances (ambrosio, 2020; selkani, 2018). these images are crafted to convey the intensity, joy, pain, and ecstasy of love, as well as to articulate the paradoxes and contradictions of love, including its sweetness and bitterness, allure and rejection, union and separation, and life and death. love is a complex and enigmatic phenomenon that eludes full comprehension by the rational mind and can only be experienced by the heart. it is universal and timeless, thus resonating with individuals from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds (wilcox, 2018). his poetry serves as a wellspring of inspiration and wisdom for those seeking to comprehend and feel the true essence and purpose of love. he seemingly invites his readers to join him in his quest for the beloved, and to unearth the secrets and treasures of love within their own souls. rumi situates love in various guises: divine love, self-love, and love for others. among these manifestations, love remains interconnected. rumi’s conception of love towards god is profound and transformative. he believes that our souls are inherently drawn to god, akin to a lover to their beloved. this love is not about seeking approval or fearing judgment but about a profound and intimate connection with the divine (kahteran, 2009; mutlag, 2022; rumi, 2000a). to truly experience this divine love, one must relinquish fear and self-imposed barriers, surrendering wholly to this divine love, allowing it to dominate and guide one’s actions. this surrender is not indicative of weakness but rather a testament to the potency of divine love. conversely, the relationship with god is not unidirectional but reciprocal. as one yearns for the divine, so too does the divine yearn for them. this mutual longing fuels the spiritual journey (iqbal, 2010). rumi’s teachings urge us to perceive divinity not as a distant and impersonal entity but as a loving presence intimately involved in our lives. he instructs that the divine is not [ 164 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 merely the object of our love but also the source of all love. by connecting with this divine love, we can experience a sense of wholeness and satisfaction that surpasses our ordinary experiences. rumi’s concept of love towards god offers a transformative perspective on spirituality, inviting us to view love not merely as an emotion but as a divine force that can guide us. rumi’s teachings on love also encourage the recognition and embrace of the love that resides within us. each person possesses a love that has been present from the outset, forming the core of our existence. if one fails to find this love, they will never find any other love. in this context, rumi underscores the importance of self-love and self-acceptance (bilen, 2018; mcgrady & moss, 2018). he asserts that what one seeks is, in essence, seeking them. this suggests that one’s longing for love and fulfillment will be reciprocated by the love within them. thus, the love within us beckons us, inviting us to recognize and accept it. therefore, self-love extends beyond mere self-acceptance; it encourages the cultivation of a deep and intimate relationship with oneself, to truly know and understand oneself. this is the key to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment. rumi also contends that love for others is more than mere words; it is a spiritual bond and shared experience that draws one person to another. this perspective transcends the conventional understanding of love as an emotion or feeling, instead elevating love to a spiritual plane, positioning it as a fundamental connection that binds us to one another. therefore, one must risk everything for love, as that is the hallmark of true humanity. the transformative power of love is not just about acceptance but also about giving. it’s about opening our hearts to others, sharing joys and sorrows, and always being there for one another when needed. the grandeur of love can only be achieved with wholehearted commitment and sincerity. this necessitates our full commitment, as love cannot be approached casually. only through sincere and selfless love can one truly connect with others and attain spiritual grandeur. this state of grandeur, according to rumi, is not about power or status but about spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment. it’s about experiencing divinity in human relationships. this view offers a transformative perspective on human relationships (mutlag, 2022). thus, love is not merely an emotion but a spiritual journey, where by living it, humans can experience a deeper connection with others, fostering mutual understanding and respect, and contributing to a more peaceful and harmonious world. in many of his verses, rumi places love as the greatest force in the universe and even the key to spiritual enlightenment. love is not just a feeling but a way [ 165 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 of life, a consciousness where humans are fully open to all of life, including its joys and sorrows. his poetry and prose are filled with vivid metaphors and allegories that illustrate the transformative power of love. through his works, rumi always invites and guides humanity to a path full of profound insights and wisdom. his teachings on love continue to inspire and guide people around the world, making him one of the most influential figures in the history of sufism. love as a bridge between religions the perspective of love, as elucidated above, indirectly offers a transformative outlook in interfaith dialogue. love, viewed as a divine force, possesses the power to transcend the boundaries of religion, culture, and nation-states. this perspective positions love as a universal language capable of bridging the gaps between religions. it suggests that the diversity of beliefs and religious practices can be connected through the common thread of love. thus, love serves as a bridge between adherents of one faith to those of another, encompassing love for god, self-love, and love for others as interconnected (jannah, 2020). this interconnectedness of love fosters a sense of unity and mutual respect among people of different faiths. it also reflects the fundamental unity of all existence and reinforces the notion that although individuals may follow different religions, they are part of the same divine reality. rumi’s teachings encourage individuals to recognize and embrace the love within themselves. he believes that this inner love has been with humanity since time immemorial, forming the core of existence, and underscores the importance of self-love and self-acceptance (chuliyeva, 2018). this indicates that by recognizing and accepting inner love, one will feel a sense of wholeness and satisfaction. here, rumi teaches that if one does not find love within, they will never find it outside. this challenges the common notion of seeking love and fulfillment externally by asserting that love and satisfaction cannot be found in the outside world but within one’s own heart. the search for love within is not a one-way process. rumi teaches that what we seek is also seeking us. an individual’s longing for love and fulfillment is reciprocated by the love within them. thus, the love within also calls out, inviting recognition and acceptance. this teaching offers a profound perspective on the nature of desire and fulfillment, stating that they are not separate but two aspects of the same process. in this regard, rumi’s teachings on love provide a robust framework for interfaith dialogue. he contends that love, as a divine force, can foster mutual understanding and respect between different religions. by adopting [ 166 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 rumi’s teachings on love, we can cultivate a sense of unity and mutual respect among people of different faiths, thereby contributing to a more peaceful and harmonious world. rumi once said: in the house of lovers, the music never stops, the walls are made of songs, and the floor dances (schimmel, 2008) here, he is depicting his concept of love. this quote paints a picture of a world filled with love, where every aspect of life is a celebration of this divine emotion. it suggests that in the world of love, there is a constant celebration of life, a continuous flow of joy and harmony. the portrayal of love as an eternal celebration underscores the joyful and uplifting nature of love. in another of his poems, it is expressed: since i heard the world, i have given my life, my heart, and my eyes to this path. at first, i believed that love and the beloved were different. now, i understand they are the same. i see both in unity (frager, 2014). he emphasizes the transformative power of love. this quote depicts love as a bold and fearless force, capable of breaking through fears and barriers. it indicates that love is not a passive emotion but an active force that challenges us, pushing us out of our comfort zones and leading us towards spiritual growth and enlightenment. here, rumi illustrates how love can be a bridge between religions. by emphasizing the universal nature of love, a sense of mutual understanding and appreciation can grow among people of different faiths (este’lami, 2003). they highlight the shared experience of love, and show that although individuals may differ in beliefs and religious practices, they are all connected through the same emotion. thus, rumi offers a strong framework for interfaith dialogue. his teachings emphasize the universal nature of love and its potential to foster mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths (masroori, 2010). who am i? what do you love and what do you hate? when you hide, i am an infidel; when you appear, i am a believer (reynold, 2002). [ 167 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 in addressing questions about evil, sorrow, and sin, rumi states in the mathnawi, “if you do not know the devil (evil), then look within yourself ” (rumi, 2013). considering that rumi was also a scholar, this shows how he treated it in a practical and comprehensible form. evil is not something that opposes the “existence” of god, and when humans realize that everything truly has no relation to god, they understand that in reality, everything returns to humanity. love and the impetus for interfaith harmony as previously elucidated, rumi’s concept of love transcends the confines of religion, culture, and nationality, rendering it a universal language that touches the hearts of all, regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds. he posits that love is the essence of human existence, a fundamental force that unites us all. this love, according to rumi, has the power to connect humans, overcome differences, and illuminate the path toward spiritual awakening. it is through this universal language of love that we can bridge the gaps between different religions and cultures, fostering mutual understanding and respect. rumi’s teachings underscore the importance of love in building bridges between religions. he instructs that love is the common thread flowing through all religious traditions, a core value that unites us all. by focusing on these shared values, we can look beyond our differences and recognize the common humanity that binds us together. this perspective cultivates mutual understanding and respect, which are essential elements for interfaith harmony (bond, 2020). rumi also teaches that love is the bridge between us and everything else. this profound doctrine encompasses love for god, self-love, and love for others. each of these dimensions of love, he believes, is interconnected and plays a vital role in our spiritual growth and development. love for god, according to rumi, is about recognizing and acknowledging god’s presence in all of creation. it is about seeing the divine within ourselves and others, and treating everyone with the dignity and respect inherent in this recognition (arikhah, 2022). self-love, in rumi’s view, is about self-acceptance and self-esteem. it is about recognizing our own worth and treating ourselves with kindness and compassion. this self-love, according to rumi, is the foundation upon which all other forms of love are built. love for others, in rumi’s teachings, is about empathy and compassion. it is about recognizing the divine in others and treating them with the same kindness and respect we desire for ourselves. this love for others, according to rumi, is a reflection of our love for god and ourselves (saddam & abbas, 2020). [ 168 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 rumi encourages us to recognize and embrace the love that exists within us. he believes that this inner love has been with us from the beginning, forming the core of our existence. if we do not find this love within ourselves, we will never find it outside. this teaching highlights the importance of self-love and self-acceptance, as well as their role in our relationships with others and with god. rumi teaches that what we seek is also seeking us. this indicates that our longing for love and fulfillment is reciprocated by the love within us. as if the love within us is calling out to us, inviting us to recognize and accept it. this teaching offers a profound perspective on the nature of desire and fulfillment, stating that they are not separate but two aspects of the same process. thus, rumi’s concept of love provides a robust framework for interfaith dialogue. his teachings emphasize the universal nature of love and its potential to foster mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths. by embracing rumi’s teachings on love, we can contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious world, where people of different religions coexist in mutual respect and understanding (gondos, 2021). his teachings serve as a reminder that although we may differ, we are all connected through the common thread of love. it is this love that can bridge the gaps between religions, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation, and paving the way for religious harmony (sahri, 2021). with such a perspective, rumi’s teachings on love have inspired numerous interfaith initiatives worldwide. these initiatives aim to cultivate mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths, thus contributing to a more peaceful and harmonious world. they utilize rumi’s wisdom to bridge the gaps between different religious traditions and promote a culture of peace and mutual understanding. one such initiative is the “rumi forum for interfaith dialogue and peace,” an organization based in washington dc. this organization is dedicated to promoting interfaith dialogue and peace through rumi’s teachings. the forum organizes various events, including seminars, conferences, and cultural exchange programs, to foster mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths. these events provide a platform for individuals from various religious backgrounds to come together, share perspectives, and learn from one another. by facilitating these dialogues, the rumi forum aims to break down barriers, eliminate misunderstandings, and foster a sense of unity and respect among people of different beliefs. another initiative inspired by rumi’s teachings is the “interfaith youth core,” a nonprofit organization based in chicago. recognizing the crucial role of youth in shaping the future, this organization uses rumi’s poetry and teachings to engage young people in interfaith dialogue and service. through [ 169 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 its programs, the organization aims to build a movement of young people capable of promoting interfaith cooperation in their communities. these programs provide young people with the tools and resources they need to lead interfaith initiatives in their own communities, nurturing a new generation of leaders committed to advancing peace and mutual understanding. in addition to these initiatives, rumi’s teachings have also inspired countless individuals worldwide to engage in their personal interfaith efforts. from organizing local interfaith dialogues to volunteering for interfaith service projects, these individuals use rumi’s teachings as a guide to promote peace and understanding in their own communities. rumi’s concept of love offers a strong framework for interfaith dialogue. his teachings emphasize the universal nature of love and its potential to foster mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths. by adopting rumi’s teachings on love, we can contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious world, where people of different religions live side by side in mutual respect and understanding (körs et al., 2020; maola, 2018). his teachings remind us that despite our differences, we are all connected through the common thread of love. it is this love that can bridge the gaps between religions, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation, and opening the way for religious harmony. through these initiatives and the countless individual efforts inspired by rumi’s teachings, we can witness the transformative power of love in action, uniting people of different faiths and contributing to a more peaceful and harmonious world. conclusion the foregoing discussion has delved into jalaluddin rumi’s teachings on love and its potential as a pathway to interfaith harmony and peace. rumi’s concept of love, transcending the boundaries of religion, culture, and nationality, establishes it as a universal language that resonates with all hearts, irrespective of belief or background. his teachings underscore the significance of love in fostering mutual understanding and respect across diverse religions. rumi advocates viewing love not merely as an emotion but as a divine force that can guide actions, transform, and lead humanity towards spiritual enlightenment. rumi has inspired many religious adherents to cultivate mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths. this is a testament to the transformative power of love. love can serve as a bridge between religions, nurturing mutual comprehension and respect, and paving the way for interfaith harmony. he emphasizes the universal nature of love, wherein despite human differences, we are indeed all connected through [ 170 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 the common thread of love. it is this love that can bridge the gaps between religions, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation, and opening the way for religious harmony. bibliography abid, m. n. 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(2020). performing pain: sindhi sufi music, affect, and hindu-muslim relations in western india. culture, theory and critique, 61(2–3), 112–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735784.2020.1848602 chittick, w. c. (1993). the spiritual path of love in ibn al-’arabi and rumi. mystics quarterly, 19(1), 4–16. chuliyeva, v. e. (2018). the intellectual and collaborate issues in the philosophical proposals of jaloliddin. international scientific journal theoretical & applied science, 65(09), 173–175. https://doi.org/10.15863/ tas creswell, j. w., & poth, c. n. (2018). qualitative inquiry & research design choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). sage publications, inc. elmarsafy, z. m. (2013). user-friendly islams: translating rumi in france and the united states. university of michigan press. este’lami, m. (2003). rumi and the universality of his message. islam and christian-muslim relations, 14(4), 429–524. https://doi. org/10.1080/0959641032000127588 [ 171 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 esteʿlami, m. (2012). understanding rumi’s mathnawi. mawlana rumi review, 3(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1163/25898566-00301002 frager, r. (2014). heart, self & soul: the sufi psychology of growth, balance, and harmony. zaman. gamard, i. (2010). the popularity of mawlānā rūmī and the mawlawī tradition. mawlana rumi review, 1(1), 109–121. https://doi. org/10.1163/25898566-00101012 gamard, i. (2018). the popularity of mawlānā rūmī and the mawlawī tradition. mawlana rumi review, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1163/2589856600101012 golkarian, g. (2018). divine love in rumi lore and mysticism. scientific journal “national academy of managerial staff of culture and arts herald,” 10(1). golkhosravi, m. 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(2010). rumi sang sufi humanis. lukita. iriyanto, h. (2024). pemikiran pendidikan cinta perspektif jalaluddin rumi. interdisiplin: journal of qualitative and quantitative research, 1(1), 10–20. https://doi.org/10.61166/interdisiplin.v1i1.2 vol. jannah, m. (2020). teologi sufi kajian atas mistisisme cinta jalaluddin rumi. jurnal al-aqidah, 12(2), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.15548/ja.v12i2.2271 jihad, a. z. (2015). kisah cinta platonik jalâl al-dîn al-rûmî. teosofi: jurnal tasawuf dan pemikiran islam, 1(2), 196. https://doi.org/10.15642/teo[ 172 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2986 sofi.2011.1.2.196-212 kahteran, n. (2009). rumi’s philosophy of love in the era of u-turned islam. kyoto bulletin of islamic area studies, 2(2), 51–62. kartanegara, m. 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(2024). preface to the special issue “sufism in the modern world.” religions, 15(5), 554. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050554 zarrabi-zadeh, s., & asbury, m. e. (2016). the philosophy of ecstasy: rumi and the sufi tradition. mawlana rumi review, 7(1), 198–208. https:// doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/25898566-00701011   [ 139 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 a desirable leader: reflection of the populist characteristics jakarta: mizan by s. b. pramono & dessy harahap reviewed by amalia irfani (pontianak state college of islamic studies) there is no country that is successful in its management without intervention of a leader. the leader is the spearhead of the success of a country. the thought, effort, even the habit of the leader are capable of making people follow and treat them like an idol figure/a celebrity. a successful leader will always be honored while those who fail will usually be scorned and even removed. the book entitled pemimpin yang dirindukan: refleksi karakteristik kerakyatan (a desirable leader: reflection of the populist characteristics) written by s.b. pramono and dessy harahap contains brief biographies of several indonesian national leaders that have been under the spotlight both nationally and internationally. they were the forerunners of promoting diversity in indonesia, and their existence won respect from other nations that saw indonesia as a nation of dignity. there are thirteen (13) major figures who made indonesia a great nation through their thoughts and services, namely: sukarno, mohammad hatta, sutan syahrir, muhammad natsir, haji agus salim, r.a. kartini, supomo, muhammad yamin, the great commander sudirman, ki hajar dewantara, sultan hamengku buwono ix, yap thiam hien, and hoegeng. they were born to the nation, raised in a distinguished and educated family, and held prominent positions of their era. being easy to read, straightforward and communicative makes this book so interesting and attractive that it should become a reference for the youth who have ‘intent’ to be a leader. sukarno and muhammad hatta, the proclamators, for example, are said to have a simple personality and great managerial ability to run the country. sukarno’s famous appearance made him the indonesian men’s fashion trendsetter. his idea of wearing a cap, white shirt and suit jacket, long and short-sleeve ‘safari’ shirt have now become one of the nation’s typical national clothing. for sukarno, a dress code was an important image which was necessary for political purposes, not for distinguishing between the nobility/educated and the common people. [ 140 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 unlike the flamboyant sukarno, muhammad hatta was a figure depicted by marvis rose (australian historian) with typical leadership characters, resolute, courageous, and optimistic; his attitude was ultimately able to bring indonesia’s independence while under the pressure of the colonizers. the author noted that the creativity of hatta had been obvious since his youth; his love of science was shown by his collection of more than 30 thousand books in his private library. hatta also was recognized as a human rights fighter that contributed to the drafting of the constitution in sddition to his efforts to include the subject of the economy and people’s welfare in section 33 of the constitution before being amended. another name who fought for independence of indonesia was sutan syahrir, an eminent diplomat who also implemented his ideas in the government. his ideas won international recognition of the struggle of indonesia to become a sovereign state after world war ii. another freedom fighter whose struggle was recognized by soekarno and hatta was muhammad natsir. sukarno once said of natsir, “hij is de man” (he is the man). hatta also recounted that president sukarno would not sign the government’s decision if it was not prepared by natsir. this indicates natsir’s influence on the government’s policies. his strength was founded on simplicity that became his hallmark. what he displayed during his term in office is hardly found now, because natsir’s simplicity was no longer practiced by current the leaders of indonesia. if natsir was known for his simplicity, another leader who participated in the struggle of indonesia’s independence and known for his brilliant diplomacy was haji agus salim. his intelligence was excellent as he was able to master nine self-taught foreign languages (dutch, english, german, french, arabic, turkish and japanese). his diplomacy skills were superior and he possessed all the requirements to be a diplomat i.e. a vast knowledge on history, culture and civilization, international law, mastery of foreign languages, a simple and calm personality. agus salim, according to the author, was friendly but always alert. similarly, the author also narrates the same thing about the other freedom fighter who established a strong foundation for the nation, r.a. kartini, who is described by as being able to think one step ahead of her time. then, supomo who was among the first generation of legal experts in indonesia better known by the public as the initiator of the five basic principles of the nation in the first meeting of the agency for preparation of the independence of indonesia, namely: unity, democracy, social justice, solidarity and deliberation. interestingly, his critical and concern with the fate of the nation was demonstrated with rejection of human rights in the constitution. he [ 141 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 argued that human rights are products of an individualistic state, a gift of nature and the state. the book also recounts the life of the great general sudirman, a commander who was able to position himself between two extreme ideologies. despite his profound loyalty to islam, he did not show the attitude of fanaticism and intolerance. another name that showed his existence in the field of education was ki hajar dewantara. sultan hamengku buwono ix also played an important role in the revolution and development of the nation. yap thiam hien, a fighter of the rights of the minorities was also known as a thinker who dared to oppose the policies of the rulers if perceived unfair and prejudicial. he proved it by disputing the article 6 of the constitution which stipulates that the president of the republic of indonesia is a native indonesian. the last name to be covered in this short biography is hoegeng. he was so phenomenal that he was called the legend of anti-corruption movement because during his office as the chief of the indonesian police, his integrity and honesty have become a unique image in the police force. president gus dur once said, “in indonesia there are only three honest policemen, namely the sleeping policeman (speed bump), the statue of a policeman and hoegeng.” what the author tries to convey through the short narrative is a fact of history that must be known to the younger generation and the future leaders as this book tells about the national fighters who may be unknown to the public at large especially to the younger generation. as bung karno said, “my struggle was easier because i fought to expel the invaders, but it will be more difficult for you as your struggle is to fight against your fellow countrymen.” this indicates how heavy the responsibility of the current younger generation is. despite its interesting and inspiring content, the book only tells about the positive side of the 13 (thirteen) freedom fighters; it does not display the minus/negative side that we all can change and should not be repeated by the next leaders of the nation. [ 175 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the mythology of kampung naga community wahyu iryana (islamic university of sunan gunung djati, bandung) abstract in order to gain understanding of the meaning of symbolic variants of the myth in kampung naga, an objective analysis is required. therefore, this paper applied the linguistic model study offered by levi-strauss as a new step for the objectivity of myth interpretation. the basic assumption of levi-strauss’ linguistic model is that myth often display a diverse surface structure, but in fact the diversity is the description of the human deep structure. the selection of this myth was solely based on the life of the kampung naga community as part of sundanese society. the results indicated that the myth in the religious life of the kampung naga community contains a various stories which include the revelation, the reincarnation, and the descent of revelation. these episodes can be constructed into the structure of a levi-strauss linguistic model, a binary opposition, namely the mandate giver (active) the mandate recipient (passive). the relationship between the giver and the receiver is vertical (structural) called “structure of three” (regular). from the “structure of three”, the “culinary triangle” can be constructed. from the “combined triangle”, the batara guru will also appear to become a central event that other figures have to go through. finally, it can be stated that the deep structure construction that still refers to the aspect of javanese cosmology in general. keywords: myths, kampung naga, levi-strauss linguistic model introduction to give meaning to the various forms of cultural heritage is an attempt to understand the view of the community in the past in treating ancestral cultural heritage. tiwi puspitasari, in the theory of culture, argued that culture is lives in the middle of the community when viewed from the standpoint of semiotics. whereas the objects of culture and their reference are beyond interpretation or in other words, viewed from perspective of the reader. among the sundanese cultural heritage found in the indigenous sundanese settlement is kampung naga, which is located in the village of neglasari, selawu, sub-district, tasikmalaya district. as a community who lives in the nature and culture of sunda, the sundanese [ 176 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 have a cosmological view inherited by their ancestors. culturally, the view of the cosmology is reflected in their mythological world. in a myth there is a prototype that harmoniously unites the contradictory reality and statements. eliade referred to this model as the coincidentia oppositorum. a myth reveals the structure of divine structure which can overcome and reconcile opposites in more depth than can be expressed by a rational experience. for example, how an empty world is inhabited, how a chaotic situation turns to peace, how the the immortal becomes mortal, how human beings that were originally just a pair turn into various tribes, how other sexless beings become male and female, and so on. the myth not only tells the origin of the world, animals, plants, and human beings, but also the early events that caused them to find their true identity. through observing a myth in a ritual, one can mimic how to reach the divine by participating symbolically in a state when humans were created and styled by the divine. in general the human behavior can be observed through rituals and myths. the ritual is a stimulus for the inception of myths. then comes the myths of religion, and it contains the implementation of ritual. when the ritual can be assessed so easily from the results, the myth is no longer necessary. however when the results reflected from the ritual are not clearly visible so if the conviction on this effectiveness must be maintained, then it demands a more complex type of conviction that can only be inferred through myth. overall function of myth is to reveal, lift and formulate a belief, protect and strengthen the morality, guarantee the efficiency of the ritual, as well as giving practical rules to guide mankind. myth and religion as a whole play an important role in social life. research on the kampung naga community will try to explain the problem of cosmology contained in the mythology of the kampung naga community who lives in the village of neglasari, salawu sub-district, tasikmalaya district. this research is expected to indicate that sundanese cosmology contained in mythology and spatial arrangement at kampung naga is acculturation of the local good teaching derived from prehistoric megalithic tradition, buddhismhinduism in particular and islamic teachings. this is because basically mythology is implied from the myths, that rituals, and the traditional arts. the oral stories of myth about the origin of kampung naga, as well as the times include space and time. the interview with the kuncen (guardian) of kampung naga revealed information that ritual is represented in ceremonies such as hajat sasih, nyepi, harvest, and the ceremony life cyrcle such as gusaran and marriage. with regard to the traditional arts that can still be seen in kampung naga are terbanggembrung, angklung, beluk and rengkong or other customs [ 177 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 like ritual of sasih, wedding ceremony and other traditional ceremonies. from the historical background, the indigenous peoples of kampung naga claim to be descended from eyang singaparna, a muslim who was the last heir to the throne of the galunggung kingdom. however, when seen from the way they perform rituals, which are filled with hindu-buddhism, and traditional arts that are still thriving in the village, this would be very interesting for further investigation. at least in the form two research contributions, i.e., as a reference to the writer in interpreting symbolic systems in general, and the study of the sundanese mythology especially the community of kampung naga as well for the development of ethnographic studies, especially in order not to get stuck on works of anthropology which are conventional, but to attempt to conduct other studies that determine the path of indonesian culture. kampung naga interesting and unique to be examined because it is not far from the modern society, even it seems to melt into other communities while at the same time still maintaining and preserving the tradition. this is confirmed also by suhamihardja (1982: 2) who said that kampung naga is a very strong community in preserving the customs of their ancestors. some ancestral customs of the kampung naga community are still held and practiced to date among others, helping each other in construction of homes, the habit in terms of farming that are still relatively modest, and the habit of making traditional calculations, as well as the rituals that accompany them. the cultural heritage of indonesia manifested in the various forms of both artifacts and traditions of revealed in indigenous communities should be appropriately appreciated by local researchers so as to live up to the meaning of the culture. however, cultural heritage can be interesting to show as heritage tourism. from the explanation of background above, the writer will focus this research on the mythology of kampung naga community. kampung naga in the academic discourse of javanese culture the study of ethnic and cultural rites has lately been examined extensively, and has somewhat dominated the discourse of local wisdom. a lot research and review articles on the concept of world culture might have been examined with different viewpoints. let us take the research conducted by tiwi purwitasari (2010; 119) on “wacana desa budaya dalam komunitas budaya” (cultural village discourse in the community of culture) as an example that discussed a study of the residential community of culture in west java. trying to connect the indigenous life in kampung naga, tasikmalaya with [ 178 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 papers and articles that already existed, seems to be something hard, because of the various investigation that the writer did. a general overview about the life of the community of kampung naga, tasikmalaya has been written by a lot of writers, yet to find a cross reference of the mythology of the community of kampung naga and its implementation in the social life of the people in a broader meaning is something rarely examined. i also found the works of toto sucipto (2001) which is still in the form of a paper entitled “kampung adat di jawa barat: menyerap kearifan lokal untuk gagasan desa budaya.” (indigenous village in west java: absorbing local wisdom for the idea of cultural village). here, we can follow from research conducted by toto where it was revealed that the distinctiveness of the indigenous villages in west java is the capital for establishing cultural tourism because of its uniqueness that lies in the pattern of natural life and the simplicity of the community still in practice since the time of the ancestors. as for literature and research results concerning the community of kampung naga generally, the discussion is centered mostly about home architecture, ceremonial, and the ecological context of the culture. studies on the community of kampung naga in general view its object using a different perspective, where one study may be seen from its own standpoint. for example, the perspective of space (adimihardja: 2003) was used as an approach in study the layout of the ground surface settlement, and the architectural perspective in examining residential homes as well as the context of cultural ecology, particularly about the pattern of farming of kampung naga community. research on the sundanese language in kampung naga was conducted by oyon sofyan, syriac, and elis sahidin badru. this research was conducted in 1986 as part of a research project of the department of education and culture. this research was aimed at obtaining an overview of the structure and use of language in kampung naga. the sundanese language is used not only as an everyday language, but also the language used during the performance of rituals. the sundanese language used during rituals is generally different from the one used in daily life in kampung naga. other research about the role of the informal leader at kampung naga society was conducted by tjetjep rosmana and research conducetd ai ermala was entitled the position of islamic teachings in the wedding tradition of the kampung naga community. this research was conducted in 2003 as a final assignment. it described the wedding traditions in the community of kampung naga and how to position these traditions in the teachings of islam. in the tradition of wedding in kampung naga there is syncretism between customary and islamic elements. this occurs because they do not want to [ 179 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 eliminate ancestral traditions which are assumed to provide peace of mind. meanwhile on the other they embrace islam and the religious element is used as the implementation of compliance to the creator. the writer’s ideas are in line with the opinion of the symbolic meaning of the myth dewi sri proposed by suwardi in the javanese society which used the study of levi-strauss linguistic model in this regard i rewrote the opinion badcock (1975: 52-55) where he referred to myth as indeed “something which tells a story”. furthermore, he also stated that myth “does not convey the common sense information, it is not for political purpose. it serves no utilitarian end whatsoever, and conveys no information about the everyday world. nor is it necessarily morally or politically pedagogic “. this definition indicates that myth is a specific story, meaning that not all stories about contemporariness can be called myths. the myth is part of interesting cultural phenomenon. what we need to note is that, according to levi-strauss (ember and ember, 1986: 48), socio-cultural phenomena is a representation of the structure beyond that is based on the underlying structure and human. to observe the meaning of myth, levi-strauss (paz, 1995: 9) outlined that the linguistic system established from the relation between phenomena so as to for a binary opposition that can be made the basis of interpretation. in this regard, levi strauss (1974: 232) made it clear that in a myth there are relations of units (the structure) which are not isolated, but are a unity of relations combined and used to uncover the meaning behind the myth. therefore, in the context of the analysis of myth as well as the study of light reflections which are later combined into a single structure. therefore, kerk (1983: 42) argued that myth is associated with community supporters and is a single entity. in fact, leach (1968: 42) also confirmed that myth and ritual have similar essence. that is, if both are seen from the linguistic point of view, a structural relationship will be found. this sort of thing has been recognized by levi-strauss (1980: 14-15) that sought to analyze the myths with the linguistic model. he argued that all versions of the myth are indeed related to the cultural myth of the owner. levi-strauss (1963: 208) stated that creation of the myth is indeed irregular, because the owner of the story will tell the story again arbitrarily. however, behind the irregularities, there is actually a regular order that is unconsciously formed by the creator of the myth. the order of the myth is often called the structure. therefore, in analyzing the myth is in an attempt to find the structure. to find the structure of myth, levi-strauss (bertens, 1996: 186) used the linguistic model as the understanding of sociocultural phenomena. the basic assumption is that linguistics is considered a system, regardless of [ 180 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the historical evolution, and the system contains convincing relationships. another reason that reinforces levi-strauss (rossi, 1974: 89) to use the linguistic model is because he saw that socio-cultural phenomena as the stem of the signs and symbols that can be transformed into linguistics. based on the linguistic system, levi-strauss (in ahimsa-putra, 1995: 5) used the principle of association or analog that myths have a structure similar to linguistics. if linguistics is used to convey messages, so is the myth. the myth contains a wide variety of new messages, which can be understood if we already know the structure and meaning of the various elements in it. in the linguistic model, there seems to be the opposition system so that in turn it creates the structure of the “two”, “three”, “four”, and so on. this system can be applied to the analysis of myth. the linguistic model used by levi-strauss in the structural analysis of myth, was originally adopted from the theory of structural linguistics of saussure, jakobson, and the troubetzkoy. the adopted model is the concept of sintagmatic and paradigmatic causal agent, langue and parole, synchronous and diachronic (pettit, 1977: 1). from the model, levi-strauss (ahimsa-putra, 1994: 45) assumed that myth basically is also similar to the symptoms of linguistics. the use of the linguistic model in structural analysis of levi-strauss has been recognized the greimas (wagner, 1987: viii) as the tool for analysis which is relevant to myth. in the analysis of myth, levi-strauss (bertens, 1996: 20) needed to show the existence of opposition, because myth is the creation of the human spirit that is totally free. the opposition of the said system according to creimers and santo (1997: 151) is called the binary opposition system. this system will be able to reflect the structure of neurobiological factors of both sides of the human brain that functions “digitally”. it means that every person and nation has the same binary opposition structures and the only difference that stands out only its realization. through the linguistic system, levi-strauss attempted to combine the diagonal lines to form the structure of the sintagmatic and paradigmatic causal agent that can be used to uncover the meaning of myth in a comprehensive manner. the cultural value system is the highest and most abstract level of customs. the value of culture is composed of concepts about everything that is important and valued by the members of a society. the value can serve as guidelines for the orientation of the lives of the people concerned. since a child, a person has been infused by different cultural values that live in the nature of the soul. therefore, to change the value of a culture that has been owned by other cultural values takes a long time (koentjaraningrat: 1996). to facilitate this research in order to find the direction and purpose that [ 181 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 need to be achieved, there is a need to find the formulation of the problem to be examined in the form of a hypothesis theory which is translated into propositions, i.e., the relationship between the concepts that will be tested. according to wattie, when problems are found and focused, the search for the concept and the theory of propositions relevant with the problem can begin. the theory in question in this case is a system of ideas (the concept of the proposition) which is interconnected to explain or provide an understanding of the problem. (wattie, 2006: 40-41). it is therefore related to the proposed research on kampung naga, tasikmalaya as rural culture: an attempt to interpret the mythology of kampung naga community. this will refer to the theory of cultural anthropology, but for its analysis, the perspective of the mythology of kampug naga comunity, although it is in the form interpretations as put forward by geertz (1992), it also will be an integral part in any analysis. this study refers to the research on cultural anthropology, in particular the cognitive anthropology. anthropology is the study of the life of humans in a particular region with the aim of reconstructing the cultural history, the human way of life, and the cultural process. meanwhile, cognitive anthropology is the scientific study of anthropology that seeks to study and use symbolic systems to deal with problems of cultural anthropology. to reach that goal, the implementation in the field, this research used various phases starting from observation, description, and finally empirical research. the search process was observation and data collection, both written and field data, data related to the object of research. the written data collection was carried out on a number of sources, both primary and secondary, in the form of archives, articles, and books. the data obtained through field surveys in kampung naga, in the form of mythology recording and the layout arrangement of kampung naga through indigenous approaches. the resources collected were identified and processed through stage description. in the studies of cognitive archaeology, the research is conducted through inductive reasoning that generates an overview of possible parallels between cultural phenomena of the past with today’s culture. artifacts that survived until now are a sign of the reference that comes from the past. the relationship between the sign and the reference creates three characters, i.e. natural, to generate indices; formal, to generate icons; arbitrary, to generate symbols. the reference may include concepts, values, beliefs, and etc., that thrive and are identified in the middle of the community of the sign maker. therefore, [ 182 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 an artifact can be a sign of indices, icons, or symbols, depending on the nature of the relationship between the sign and its reference. the last stage is explanation, in the form of cultural reconstruction of the kampung naga community from time to time. as the final part in the analysis of the research about the mythology of kampung naga, it in fact should be done patiently to get maximum results as a comprehensive report. philosophical foundation of fairy tale for kampung naga community the myth of the origin of kampung naga from the information given by soeharjo, the chairman of rt(neighborhood association) of kampung naga , it was reported that the sundanese people were once very simple. they used to live on top of large trees on the slopes of mount galunggung. their ancestors who are now buried in the hill, located on west of the village named sembah dalem singaparna. called singaparna because he could conquer lions with his power. singaparna was known as a scholar who possess magic power, the son of king rajadipuntang, the last king of galunggung departed to linggawangi. at that time, the galunggung kingdom was attacked by the kingdom of sunda under prabu surawisesa (1535-1543) because they converted to islam and no longer acknoledeged the sunda kingdom as the center. facing the attack, prabu rajadipuntang saved the heirloom treasure and pass it on to his youngest son called singaparana. to carry out the tasks, singaparana was provided with the power that enabled him able to hide in the crowd. soeharjo added that the eyang singaparna had six sons who inherited all of linuwih power and died in the area where they practiced their knowledge. the myth of time and space the myth space is manifested in the belief that the spaces or places have certain boundaries controlled by the spirits, thus they are regarded as being haunted (sanget) and should be given offerings to the sacred place so that it will not disturb them. the boundary here can be found in different categories, such as the river, the front yard of the house next to the road, part of the rice field with the gutter, the place where water comes in which is often referred to as huluwotan, and hillsides. in addition, the kampung naga community has a mythical time. the time is called the palintangan, which is the time considered bad so it a taboo to carry out a ritual, or to do other important activities such as farming, and travelling. the taboo is based on the calculation of dawuh. [ 183 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 analysis of the value of fairytale in kampung naga the settlement pattern at kampung naga formed as groups. houses are built in close to each other on a hillside in an area of land which is not of the same height. the hillside houses are made up of four levels. the residential houses are generally located on the north and south of the village. in the middle of the village is the mosque and the bale (hall) located side by side. to the east of the mosque is a square called alun-alun. parallel to the mosques on the west, there is a higher ground regarded for a holy building called bumi ageung. water sources in the form of a spring is available in the southern part of the village from which the residents of kampung naga get clean water sufficient to fulfill the needs for cooking meal and for drink. the rice fields are situated on the west and east of the settlement. another important building is the sung lisung, i.e. the building used by the community as a place for pounding rice. the other part of kampung naga is a sacred forest called hutan keramat which lies to the east of the village. this sacred forest is surrounded by the ciwulan river which is a line of demarcation for the overall acreage of the sacred forests. the sacred tomb, which is a grave of sembah dalem singaparna (ancestor of kampung naga) is located to the west of kampung naga. the belief in the unseen beings by the community of kampung naga to is still held strongly. jurig cai is one of the unseen beings that inhabits water or the river especially the deep part (called “leuwi”). then “ririwa” i.e. the one that scares humans at night. there is also another unseen being called “kunti anak” that originates from pregnant women who died and she likes to bother pregnant women or those who are having a baby. these places are referred to as sanget (scary). there are other places made sacred to the people of kampung naga such as the grave sembah eyang singaparna, bumiageung and the mosque are considered sacred. taboos, dietary restrictions or pamali for the community kampung naga are still dutifully carried out especially with regard to the everyday life activities. the restrictions or pamali are unwritten law provisions which are obeyed by everyone related to many aspects of life for example how to build a home and its layout, the direction where the home should face, clothes, arts, ceremonies and so on. the shape of the home at kampung naga is usually in the form of a stage home constructed of bamboo and wooden materials. the roof should be of a palm leaf, or reeds; the floor must be made of bamboo or wooden boards. the house should face north or south with the sides facing west or east. the wall is made of bamboo woven with sasag pattern. the house should not be painted and surrounded by a wall, although the owner can afford to build one. the house also should not be equipped with furniture, such as chairs, tables and beds. [ 184 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the house should not have doors in two opposite directions. this is because according to a superstition commonly believed in kampung naga that rizki (money, income, etc) belonging to the house coming from the front door will go out through the back door. in addition they also avoid to install the door aligned in a straight line. in the field of the arts, the community at kampung naga has restrictions or taboos for the kinds of performing arts from outside the village such as wayang golek, dangdut, pencak silat, and the art of others who use goong music. meanwhile, the art performance allowed should be one belonging to the community’s ancestral heritage such as terbangan, angklung, beluk, and rengkong. the beluk art is now rarely performed, whereas the rengkong is unknown anymore especially to the younger generation. for those who want to watch pencak silat, and so on, they are allowed to do so but the arts should be performed outside the territory of kampung naga. there are many other restrictions or taboos especialy on tuesdays, wednesdays, and saturdays. the kampung naga community banned the talk about customs and origins of the village. the community of kampung naga greatly respects sembah eyang singaparna who was regarded as their ancestor. meanwhile, in tasikmalaya there is a place called singaparna, but the community of kampung naga calls it galunggung, because the word singaparna is their ancestral name. kampung naga community belief system regarding space is manifested in the the belief that the spaces or places have a certain boundary controlled by certain forces. the boundary here can be found in different categories, such as the river, the front yard of the house next to the road, part of the rice field with the gutter, the place where water comes in which is often referred to as huluwotan, places of the hillsides, a place between the villages and the woods, etc., are inhabited by certain forces. since places that have certain boundaries are inhabited by certain beings, they are considered sacred or scary (known as sanget in local language). that is why in these places, the community of kampung naga likes to give “sasajen” (offerings). their belief with regard to time is called palintangan. at a certain time, there are particular months regarded as bad timing, so it is a taboo to carry out work like building a house, performing marriage, circumcision, and traditional ceremonies. the time with the said taboos is also called larangan bulan (prohibition of the month). the prohibition of the month falls in the months of sapar and ramadan. in the mentioned months, it is prohibited or a taboo to hold ceremony as it coincides with the ceremony of menyepi (remain quiet). moreover, calculations to determine the “good” days are based on the fateful days in each month. this research attempts to unravel the myths and counter-myth found in the [ 185 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 community of kampung naga. myth as part of its values of life, of course, can also be material in the process of the birth of anthropological texts. anthropological researchers often use myth that as the basis for the creation of their work. however, as the relationship between reality and the assumption of anthropology, the presence of myth in the work of anthropology also has experienced a creative process within anthropological researchers. myth is presented through new understanding and interpretation. the results of the new understanding and interpretation finally create the counter-myth. thus, the myth itself always deals with counter-myth on a stretch of historical path of the community. furthermore, the results of this research are displayed in a tabular form in accordance with the research problems. the results of the study include (a) the form of reference of the myth, and (b) way of revealing the myth. the results of the study are shown in table as follows. table 1 form of myth reference no reference variant 1 interaction between human beings manners relationship between a child and the parents relationship between husband and wife relationship between men and women 2 interaction between human beings and god the existence of god. the nature of human being the meaning of life and death 3 interaction between human beings and themselves understanding human values self-esteem and honor based on the table above it appears that the reference of myth and countermyth found in the community of kampung naga may be classified into three groups, i.e. (1) interaction human beings, (2) the interaction of humans and god, and (3) human interaction with themselves. the classification is open to facilitate disclosure of myth and counter-myth that in the community of kampung naga. the classification is done with the assumption that the myth and counter-myth are always connected with the problem of human beings both as individuals and social creatures. the third classification is considered the principal things inherent in human life. table 2. way of disclosing the myth [ 186 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 no disclosure style focus 1 parody religious figures human behavior origin of humans puppet characters 2 satire virginity problem religious awareness 3 dialectic manners meaning of love from the table above it can be seen that the disclosure myths and countermyths in the the community of kampung naga is done through three ways, namely (1) parody, (2) satire, and (3) dialectic. the way shows the result of the interpretation of an anthropological researcher on the phenomenon of myths and counter-myths existing in the society which further appears in the work of anthropology. traditional ceremony: 1. ceremony of menyepi the ceremony is observed on tuesdays, wednesdays, and saturdays. this ceremony according to the people of kampung naga is very important and has to be performed as it is also an attempt to avoid any talk about the adat (customs). 2. ceremony of hajat sasih the intent and purpose of this ceremony is to ask for the blessing and salvation to the ancestors of kampung naga, and express gratitude to god almighty. 3. wedding ceremony the wedding ceremony for the people of kampung naga is a ceremony that is conducted after the completion of the covenant of marriage. as for the stages of the ceremony are as follows: ceremony of sawer, nincak endog, opening doors, ngariung, ngampar, and completed with munjungan. shape of the building the houses in kampung naga are have the same shape and the layout is fixed. the shape is a rectangular stage house, with a height of approximately 50 – 60 cm. the roof has a shape of suhunan julang ngapak, i.e. the length of both sides extended or added, so it looks like stretched bird wings. the additional length of the roof is called leang leang. with such a uniform roof, it appears to be a triangular shape when viewed from the front and the back. at the point where both ends of the roof meet is a point that forms the top corner of the front and the rear part, usually mounted with rings made of bamboo to form a half [ 187 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 circle or straight or curved resembling horns. the parts that looks like a horn is called “ cagak gunting or capit hurang “. generally the roofing materials are made of coconut leaves, tepus leaves and arenga palm leaves. the ceilings are made of woven bamboo. pillars of wood are used to support the roof frame. for the foundation pole (tatapakan) uses natural rock cut in the shape of a rectangle. the walls of the houses in kampung naga are made of woven bamboo with two kinds of weaving patterns of kepang and sasag. the door is made of wood and shaped a rectangle measuring 1.75 x 0.75 meters. windows are rectangular shaped and wooden framed with a certain vertical distance called jalosi, as well as wooden shutters as a covering. glass is also used as a cover. the floor is made of wooden board, which used to be made of bamboo slab (papuluh). the golodog is also made of wooden board or bamboo, but sometimes rock is used in place of the golodog. the front area of the house is used to receive guests. the kitchen is used for cooking. this room has a function as a family bedroom at night, and used as a place to receive guests in the selamatan or family ceremony. implementation of myths in daily life there are some important aspects in the relation between fairy tales the the daily ritual of the community of kampung naga implemented in the form of ceremonial rituals. some forms of traditional rituals can be described in the next section that indicates the function of thre relation between fairy tales and the communit. hajat sasih ceremony the ceremony of hajat sasih is carried out six times a year, or once in six months, it is celebrated in islam. this is a ceremony aimed to respect the deceased ancestors which is carried out in a single day without halting the course of the ceremony, even when it rains, as rain is considered a gift. each month the implementation is held on the three dates to keep the possibility of a predetermined date coincides with other ceremonies, especially the nyepi ceremony. the ceremony starts at 9am and ends at 4pm, led by the kuncen the lebe and the elders of the village. it begins with the reading of a prayer together, followed by the bebersih and the sacred pilgrimage to the tombs as the core of the ceremony which is performed by men only. the entire ceremony participants wear woven white robes, sarong, batik headband (totopong), and a belt (beubeulit) made of white fabric, too. this ceremony outfit is not to be worn with jewelry or footwear. [ 188 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 nyepi ceremony the nyepi ceremony is conducted on every tuesday, wednesday, and saturday. the respect of the community of kampung naga for this ceremony is very high and can shift the performance of other ceremonies. the designation of the nyepi ceremony does not reflect an atmosphere of silence and halt of all daily activities and observed by all members of society, children, young and old. if seen from the core activity, in fact, this ceremony may be more appropriately called abstinence, particularly in terms of actually avoiding the discussion of customs as well as the origin of the community of kampung naga, both among fellow community members as well as with other foreign guests or visitors. harvest ceremony the harvest ceremony is a ceremony of individuals, meaning if a family would harvest the results of their rice field, then the family hold the ritual of harvest in order to set a day when harvesting can be carried out. searching for the harvest day is done at the family home that will harvest the crops, under the direction of candoli, or more often by the kuncen of kampung naga assisted by the lebe and elders of the village. this ceremony is etermined through a series of calculations that are called palintangan. after the family get the good day, then the rice harvest is held, and then closed with a ceremony of thanksgiving to nyi pohaci sang hyang asri. on the harvest day, the families who will be harvesting must prepare the requirements among others, sawen, tanjeur, pucuk gantung, (pupuhunan), empos, tumpeng rice, and other complementary offerings. these requirements are used in a procession of taking the ‘mother’ of rice. gusaran ceremony gusaran or circumcision ceremony at kampung naga society is done en masse, meaning that each boy would be circumcised at the same time, i.e., in the month of rayagung. the procession of the ceremony consists of three core activities, i.e., gusaran, lekasan, and wawarian. however, if observed carefully, there are actually a number of ceremonies that are performed together into a precursor of  gusaran  ceremony  itself.  a series of  ceremonies  (lekasan)  fused into the  gusaran  ceremony  in its entirety and  no less important  and  interesting to observe is getting a partner, doing bebersih, giving advice, parading around the village, ngala beas, hair cutting, scrambling for sawer, circumcision and wawarian. [ 189 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 wedding ceremony in general  the marriage  tradition  of the kampung naga community  is similar to that of the sundanese custom. however,  in practice it still comes with the marriage  tradition of  kampung naga.  before the  covenant of marriage, the prospective  couple  must first  fulfill some  requirements of the administration. the covenant of marriage is done through ijab kabul (offer and acceptance) called dirapalan. because the people of kampung naga are muslims, marriage is performed done in front of a penghulu (a person tasked to marry people) and recorded in the office of religious affairs (kua) by an officer  of the local  registrar  of marriages.  wedding ceremony  at  kampung naga  is  simple.  in addition to the  economic consideration, the venue  is  also  limited so that  the invitations  just  revolve around the  family of the newlyweds. before conducting the wedding ceremony, the preparation that should not be missed, according to the custom, is to determine a good day, hold seserahan ceremony, perform ngeuyeuk seureuh  and then wedding ceremony shall continue. implementation of the fairy tale for the community kampung naga in general,  cultural heritage  is  the actual  remnants  that could not be  separated from  the preservation of the  culture,  so that  the process of  preservation  is also something  of  a legacy.  more specifically,  cultural heritage  is  the inheritance of  indonesia  which includes  natural and cultural  heritage  that form  a rich  inheritance, which is a natural gift, taste, and works of over 500 ethnic groups in indonesia, either individually, a fusion  with  other cultures,  and as  the unity of  the  people of indonesia  in the  history  of its existence.  the  archaeological  resources  or objects  of cultural heritage, according to law no. 5/1992, are as follows: first, a manmade object, moving  or  not moving  in the form of  entity  or  group, or  its parts  or fragments, which  are at least  50 years old,  or represent  at least 50 times a year, and is considered to have value important to history, science, and culture. second, natural objects considered as important items as mentioned in law no.  5/1992,  archaeological  resources  also have  important  ethnic and public values. kampung naga as one of archaeological resources have important cultural  ethnic, and public values,. thus, to take advantage of the resources, kampung naga  culture has to be examined through research so they can understand the benefits so that it then can be translated into knowledge for the society, so that this process originates from the society members and to them it should be returned. [ 190 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 fairy tale and its impact on the pattern of community of life as we know, the work of anthropology can be considered one of the types of social institution. in that view, anthropology is considered capable of manifesting the life which in the broad sense is a social reality (wellek, 1976: 94). in other words, anthropology is a social document. utilization of myth as a source of research in anthropology can be returned to the above conditions. in the sense that the disclosure and the use of the myth in the work of anthropology  are not  solely  aimed at  delivering  information based on factual record but may contain specific objectives as well. utilization of  the  myth  is among others to see the  condition of  the community  so that  the works of anthropology  create  a reflection  of  the existence of  the community. thus, myths are not simply be complementary but can serve as a means of reconstructing the condition of the society. it can be attributed to the fact that humans have always been surrounded by myths and the myth itself is always in two reciprocal, myth and counter-myth. mircea eliade maintained that religious people have a certain attitude toward life, the world, human beings, and what they regard as sacred. the world to them  is limited to  areas that  are already known,  as  the cosmos,  a  region that is  already “concentrated”.  meanwhile the region outside  is  a chaotic world  as the place of the  spirits,  the jinn, the  demons, and  the like.  the area could return to normal through re-creation of cosmogony (universe) by the gods  or  supernatural powers  through  the ceremony.  in principle,  the universe consists of three layers, namely: the upper world is a divine world, heaven, the place  of the gods,  and  its ancestors;  the middle  world  is a world inhabited by living things such as humans, animals, and plants; and the underworld  is a  place where  living creatures  die.  the third  layer  is connected  by  an  axis  called  axis mundi. the axis mundi  is located  at the center of the world that connects one layer with another. through the axis mundi, man can relate to the upper world and the underworld. in a mythological story called kropak 422, a story depicting the cosmology of the sundanese in the 14-15 century ad, it was said that the universe is divided into three worlds, namely the sakala (real world), niskala (unseen worlds), and jatiniskala (real unseen world). residents of the sakala are a variety of creatures that can be seen and touched, such as humans, animals, plants, and so on. niskala is the place for immortal creatures, in the form of unseen beings such as gods, angels, neutral spirits, called syanu, bayu, sabda, dan hedap. some of them have been known by the names and their respective task in the supernatural world, in heaven and in hell. they are a lot in numbers and can join between each other. if the neutral spirit merged with bayu, sabda, [ 191 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 and hedap, the combination is called syaku sukma. the sukma that is casted to sakala, will join the unwanted physical evils so that among them some will transformed into humans, animals, or plants. meanwhile humans who are too carried away with lust will become a greedy giant. their sukma can only return to the niskala world as a dweller of hell. though according to the rules of the gods, they could have gotten waivers, however they must experience some soul reincarnation into the realms of sakala where the great king becomes the guard of the world. inhabitants of jatiniskala are the single being called the sang hyang manon. the supreme  creator  is referred to as  the  ijunajati  nistemen, creator of the limit but it is not exposed to the limit. a similar view is also obtained from the serat catur bumi and sang hyang raga dewata, sewaka darma, kawih paningkes dan jatiniskala, as well as sri ajuna. in spatial arrangement, kampung naga  is divided into  three  regions, namely,  the  sacred  area, clean area and dirty area.  the sacred  area  is a small hill  called the bukit naga, the sacred forest (leuweung karamat) in the west side of the village, and the protected forest (leuweung larangan) to the east of ciwulan. in the hills and forests of the leuweung karamat (sacred forests) are where the graves lie, including the tomb of the ancestors. this area can only be visited by men  during the ceremony  at  hajat sasih.  therefore, the  protected forest  is home to  the spirits  (dedemit) who were casted away by the sembah dalem singaparana . the first house built here became the residence of singaparna and now this place is called bumi ageung. this area  is strictly prohibited to be touched by anyone, either tourists or residents of kampung naga. the clean area is the area inside the fence where the community of kampung naga  settlements are built on.  this area is  free from  objects that  may be littering the village. in this area people build homes, including one belonging to the kuncen, head of rt (neighborhood association) and  the  location for bumi ageung, mosque, leuit, while patemon is the dirty area that does not need to be cleaned at any time. this region is a region with ground lower than the settlement, located adjacent to the ciwulan. in this area, among others, there are  showers  and  a  sanitary facility,  cattle  enclosure,  saung  lisung,  a pond. in the cosmological community, the three areas are the representations of the cosmos of kampung naga. negotiation between the  local belief (i.e. prehistoric megalithic  tradition  in terms  of veneration to the  deceased  ancestors, in hinduism  and buddhism), and the teachings of islam can be seen in the spatial arrangement of  kampung naga.  the arrangement is  based on  wind  direction  and  the holy mountain(gunung  mahameru) which is described as  follows:  on the [ 192 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 west side  is  the  leuweung  karamat  which is where  their family and  their ancestors were buried; the village where they live and farm is located in the middle, and  the place for the dedemit is  to the east. the way they built  the structure is based on  the upper -middle-below, or  good-neutral-bad.  the lueweung larangan is on the east and the leweung karamat on west are a source of sacred power in their everyday lives. the lueweung  larangan is a  chaotic place  for evil spirits  (dedemit), and  the leweung karamat  is a source of  goodness.  the mosque  and the heirloom become  a liaison  to direct  the sacredness  towards the west.  negotiations between  islamic teachings  and the local teachings can be  seen in  the placement of the sacred forest and bumi ageung which is located on the west of the mosque. when islam spread into the area, the community at kampung naga  believed that  the qiblah  is the symbol of  the kaaba, thus  facing  the qibla means first one must go through the sacred forest and bumi ageung. the desire  to get  the sacredness of  the kaaba  is preceded  by  linking  oneself  to the ancestors buried in the sacred forest (leuweung keramat). this view may be the basis of their rejection of those who have performed the hajj.performing the hajj pilgrimage means visiting to the grave of the prophet directly, which is considered sacred. therefore, they do not need the qibla to be wrapped by the earth and the sacred leuweung ageung. thus, the axis mundi of composition that can be seen in the entire house is centered on bumi ageung and bumi ageung is connected or centered on the sacred forest, the place of the ancestors. such condition requires humans to thoroughly and carefully live a life in the world, because both worlds have influenced the time of human life, that the good time and the bad. in all activities, both in the search for safety, prosperity, and the avoidance of catastrophe, they are based on three words, namely, bismillah, associated with the beginning and origin (upper world); alhamdulillah , related to the life expectancy of a good man (middle world); and astaghfirullah, which connects with the world that is not good. cosmological pattern can also be seen in the form of the homes in kampung naga. the home (imah) or euphemized as the earth is part of a series of cosmogony as the actual content of the meaning of the earth. therefore, imah or the earth for the people of kampung naga is a building that already has rules in the construction that should be aligned with the principles of returning to nature. the divisions of the upper, middle, and the under world can be found in the spatial arrangement as indicated in the previous chapter. conclusion the myth a medium for the ancient society to find the truth in life. the myth [ 193 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 of a religious ceremony performed by placing the human being in the sacred time and  place. the philosophical  foundation of  the community of  kampung naga  mythology  which becomes  the  patterns of  thought  and way of life is transformed into an integral part of daily life patterns adopted by the society at kampung naga. this can be analyzed in the ritual ceremonies, such as menyepi,hajat sasih as well as a wedding ceremony.  the houses in kampung naga are have the same shape and the layout is fixed. the shape is a rectangular stage house, with a height of approximately 50 – 60 cm. the roof has a unique shape where the length of both sides extended or added, so it looks like stretched bird wings. the additional length of the roof is called leang leang. with such a uniform roof, it appears to be a triangular shape when viewed from the front and the back. at the point where both ends of the roof meet is a point that forms the top corner of the front and the rear part, usually mounted with rings made of bamboo to form a half circle or straight or curved resembling horns. the parts that looks like a horn is called “ cagak gunting or capit hurang “. the implementation of the mythology in the pattern of community in kampung naga village is manifested in simple life, helping each other. houses are built in close to each other on a hillside in an area of land which is not of the same height. the hillside houses are made up of four levels. the residential houses are generally located on the north and south of the village. in the middle of the village is the mosque and the bale (hall) located side by side. to the east of the mosque is a square called alun-alun. parallel to the mosques on the west, there is a higher ground regarded for a holy building called bumi ageung. water sources in the form of a spring is available in the southern part of the village from which the residents of kampung naga get clean water sufficient to fulfill the needs for cooking meal and for drink. the rice fields are situated on the west and east of the settlement. another important building is the sung lisung, i.e. the building used by the community as a place for pounding rice. the other part of kampung naga is a sacred forest called hutan keramat which lies to the east of the village. this sacred forest is surrounded by the ciwulan river which is a line of demarcation for the overall acreage of the sacred forests. the sacred tomb, which is a grave of sembah dalem singaparna (ancestor of kampung naga) is located to the west of kampung naga. the ceremony of menyepi is observed on tuesdays, wednesdays, and saturdays. this ceremony, according to the people of kampung naga, is very important and has to be performed as it is also an attempt to avoid any talk about the adat (customs). the intent and purpose of the hajat sasih ceremony is to ask [ 194 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 for the blessing and salvation to the ancestors of kampung naga, and express gratitude to god almighty. the wedding ceremony for the people of kampung naga is a ceremony that is conducted after the completion of the covenant of marriage. as for the stages of the ceremony are as follows: ceremony of sawer, nincak endog, opening doors, ngariung, ngampar, and completed with munjungan. generally the roof materials of the houses in kampung naga are made of coconut leaves, tepus leaves and arenga palm leaves. the ceilings are made of woven bamboo. pillars of wood are used to support the roof frame. for the foundation pole (tatapakan) uses natural rock cut in the shape of a rectangle. the walls of the houses in kampung naga are made of woven bamboo with two kinds of weaving patterns of kepang and sasag. the door is made of wood and shaped a rectangle measuring 1.75 x 0.75 meters. windows are rectangular shaped and wooden framed with a certain vertical distance called jalosi, as well as wooden shutters as a covering. glass is also used as a cover. the floor is made of wooden board, which used to be made of bamboo slab (papuluh). the golodog is also made of wooden board or bamboo, but sometimes rock is used in place of the golodog. the front area of the house is used to receive guests. the kitchen is used for cooking. this room has a function as a family bedroom at night, and used as a place to receive guests in the selamatan or family ceremony. references ahimsa-putra, heddy sri. 1994. “strukturalisme levi-strauss: sebuah tanggapan” dalam basis april, hal. 122-135. ____________________. 1995, “claude levi-strauss: butir-butir pemikiran peneliti budaya” kata pengantar dalam octavio pas levi-strauss empu peneliti budaya struktural. yogyakarta: lkis. ____________________. 1997. “levi-strauss, orang-orang pki, dan nalar jawa”: telaah peneliti budaya struktural dongeng etnografis dari umar kayam. yogyakarta: makalah seminar seni, budaya dan ilmu pengetahuan” ugm, 11-12 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the structuralism of claude levi-strauss in perspective. new yorks e.p. dutton & co, inc. sastroatmodjo, rpa. 1997. “konsep managerial kekuasaan jawa; dalam di[ 197 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 mensi dan kontemplasi”. yogyakarta; makalah di skusi alternatif, fakultas sospol atmajaya. sri sultan hb x. 1994. “peran media massa dalam proses transformasi budaya”. yogyakarka: makalah temu redaktur budaya ii, 8 juni. suganda, her. 2006. kampung naga: memepertahankan tradisi. bandung: pt kiblat buku utama suhandi shm., a. 1982. penelitian masyarakat kampung naga di tasikmalaya. bandung: universitas padjadjaran. sumardjo, jacob. 2003. simbol-simbol artefak budaya sunda: tafsir-tafsir pantun sunda. bandung: kelir. ______________ 2006. khazanah pantun sunda: sebuah interpretasi. bandung: kelir. susanto, p.s. hary. 1987. mitos, menurut pemikiran mircea eliade.yogyakarta: kanisius. widayati, naniek. 2003. “strategi pengembangan warisan budaya: sebuah pandangan dari sisi arsitektur”, dalam kongres kebudayaan indonesia ke v, bukittinggi, 19-23 oktober. wagner, louis, a. 1987. “pengantar buku” morfologi cerita rakyat karya v rropp.” terjemahan noriah taslim. kualal umpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka kementerian malaysia. internet ahmad gibson albustomi, ”islam-sunda bersahaja di kampung naga”. posted on april 14th, 2006, http://g13b.blogdetik.com, diakses 21 oktober 2012. ahmad gibson al-bustomi, “struktur kosmologis dan apresiasi seni tradisi”, posted on april 18th, 2006, dalam http://g13b.blogdetik.com, diakses 21 oktober 2012. ahmad gibson al-bustomi, “latar kosmologi seni tradisi: kritik nalar poskolonial”, july 11, 2008 dalam http://averroes.or.id/2008. diakses 21 oktober 2012. http://gerbang.jabar.go.id/kabtasikmalaya http://g13b.blogdetik.com, diakses 21 oktober 2012. [ 19 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 a conceptual framework of distributive justice in islamic economics shafinah begum abdul rahim universiti malaysia sarawak abstract distributive justice is an aspect immensely debated in studies of philosophy, political, behavioural and social sciences both in mainstream or islam. given its increasing relevance to the global village we share and the intensity of socio-economic problems invariably related to the distribution of resources amongst us, this work is aimed at adding value through a deeper understanding and appreciation of justice placed by the syariah in all domains of of our economic lives. the existing works within this area appear to lean mostly towards redistributive mechanisms available in the revealed knowledge. hence a comprehensive analysis of the notion of distributive justice from the theoretical level translated into practical terms is expected to contribute significantly to policymakers committed towards finding permanent solutions to economic problems especially in the muslim world. it is a modest yet serious attempt to bridge the gap between distributive justice in letter and spirit as clearly ordained in the holy quran. the entire analysis is based on critical reviews and appraisals of the all relevant literary on distributive justice in islamic economics. the final product is a conceptual framework that can be used as a blueprint in establishing the notion of justice in the distribution of economic resources, i.e. income and wealth as aspired by the syariah. keywords: amanah, distribution, justice, needs, rights introduction distributive justice has been one of the key aspects immensely debated in mainstream economics and can be traced back from the times of greek philosophers, aristotle and plato who steadfastly held that the notion of distributive justice was a form of justice, basically referring to the assignment of benefits and burdens, those who are equal in relevant ways to be treated equally and those who are unequal in relevant ways to be treated unequally in proportion to their inequality. generally it concerns what some consider to be ‘socially just’ with respect to the allocation of goods in a society. distributive justice is often considered not to belong to the scope of economics, but remains as important in economic literature that addresses normative issues in social and economic justice. a variety of economic theories and approaches provide many insights in these matters, including the theory of inequality and poverty measurement, welfare economics, the theory of social [ 20 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 choice, the theory of bargaining and of cooperative games, and the theory of fair allocation, to name a few. despite its powerful affect on the standards of living of the masses, the role of distributive justice is often neglected due to the overlooking of distortions in distributional processes. although some may well argue that social justice had always been a great concern as early as the times of prophet muhammad (s.a.w), the concept of distributive justice per se only came about as an independent economic issue with the increased socio-economic problems in the muslim world. distribution is an important economic issue, given the present state of economic inequalities among and within many muslim countries. according to heidari (2007) distributive justice in islam is completely established in a divine framework, and therefore the main duty of muslim scholars and scientists is to discover the pure rules of justice from quran and sunna and to adjust them to the prevailing circumstances of the modern era. naturally, islam demands for socioeconomic inequalities to be minimized through fair distributional systems of resources, factor payments and transfer payments. reports by the united nations department of economic and social affairs regularly state that the income-related inequalities, particularly in capital ownership and access to benefits is growing worldwide, suggesting regression in social justice. world leaders dread that the failure to actively pursue justice in all its dimensions is feared to translate into de facto acceptance of a future marred by violence, repression and chaos. the 2013 key socioeconomic statistics on idb members countries provides a summary of a wide range of economic indicators overtime. interestingly, a lower gini index, (a standard measure of the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure) among households within an economy, does not essentially mean that the gap between the rich and the poor is acceptable. as a matter of fact, the information on the human development index (hdi) reveals the degree of distribution or a lack of it in a much broader scale. table 1 provides an overview of the recent estimates of the above mentioned indexes and their ranking within the group for selective asian oic countries: countries bangladesh indonesia malaysia maldives gini coeffient 32.1 34.0 46.2 37.4 hdi/ ranking 0.52/146 0.63/121 0.77/64 0.69/104 i-hdi1 0.43/32 0.58/18 0.77/6 0.58/20 1 mb hendrie anto (2011). introducing an islamic human development index (i-hdi) to measure development in oic countries, islamic economic studies, vol. 19, no. 2, pg. 90. [ 21 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 in short, statistical evidences raise the need to critically reconsider the existing theoretical models of the dominant mainstream economics and suggests for an alternative framework that might produce a desirable economic distribution rooted on the notion of justice. this study attempts to demonstrate that there is more to ensuring a just distribution in an economy than meets the eye. from the perspective of islamic economics, distributive justice is to be emphasized at all stages of production in meeting objectives of the syariah, because the distributive justice promoted by islam deems certain guiding principles as rules to any form of distribution to be recognized as just. to muslim theologians and philosophers, justice is an abstract and idealist concept. they made no serious attempt to view it from a positive concept and analyze it from the existing social conditions. abu bakr al-turtushi (520/1127), najm al-din al-tawfi (716/1316) and ibn taymiyah (728/1325) while remaining faithful to revelation, employed a form of inductive method which reached its full development in the writings of ibn khaldun (806/1408). turtushi considered justice as the very foundation of polity, the ‘foundation of foundations’.2 al-ghazali (450/1058) discusses the concept of justice from several dimensions, focusing mainly on distributive justice. he emphasized that for justice to prevail, the state must remove poverty and distress in the society. mawdudi (1903-1979) however claimed that the disregard of the role of moral values in the efficient and equitable allocation and distribution of scarce resources may be the reason for the lack of emphasis placed on the reform of the individuals as market players. contemporary muslim scholars, umar chapra (1981) and nejatullah siddiqui (1986) initiated creative ways to incorporate the relevance of justice in distributive functions. they began to steer attention towards distribution in islamic scholarship. in discussing distributional issues in islam, the literature is limited to studies related to income inequalities. the absence of academic works in the formulation of a theory of distributive justice, gives the main purpose to the current mission. the lack of preference to develop an islamic theory of distributive justice could be attributed to the normative nature of the issue in itself. economic vision of distribution in islam the distribution system of islam is grounded in a general ideological base that allah is the only real owner. as for man, he is not more than a deputizing vicegerent. he can only manage what he owns within certain limits, specified by allah. 2 the islamic conception of justice by majid khadduri (1984) [ 22 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 “and certainly you have come to us alone as we created you at first, and you have left behind your backs the things which we gave you, and we do not see with you your intercessors about whom you asserted that they were (allah’s) associates in respect to you; certainly the ties between you are now cut off and what you asserted is gone from you.” (6:95). islam approaches distribution from the single most important axiom, tawheed. the implications of the concept of unity of god are twofold; absolute ownership rest with the creator and thus all men have equal rights over his bounties. say: “in whose hand is the absolute ownership and dominion of all things, and he protects and grants asylum, whereas against him no asylum is available, and himself never needs protection? (tell me,) if you have any knowledge.”(23:88). is it they who would portion out the mercy of thy lord? it is we who portion out between them their livelihood in the life of this world: and we raise some of them above others in ranks, so that some may command work from others. but the mercy of thy lord is better than the [wealth] which they amass. (43:32). the opposite of distribution is hoarding, an act of accumulating resources beyond one’s genuine needs and sufficiency. the quran dictates an entire surah on this matter alone. the mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you (from the more serious things), until ye visit the graves. but nay, ye soon shall know (the reality). again, ye soon shall know! nay, were ye to know with certainty of mind, (ye would beware!) ye shall certainly see hell-fire! again, ye shall see it with certainty of sight!then, shall ye be questioned that day about the joy (ye indulged in!). (102:1-8). but, allah (s.w.t) says, “hath exalted some of you in rank above others” (7:166). this indicates that equality is not absolute and there are bound to be some form of disparity even on the basis of taqwa (god consciousness). the issue here is that, realizing one’s prosperity, muslims are asked to remember those vested with less and consume in ways that can benefit themselves and others. in yet another verse, allah commands us to give the wealth of god which he has given us. they are in varying gardens in the sight of allah, and allah sees well all that they do. (3:163). the second object of the islamic system of the distribution of wealth is to enable everyone to get what is rightfully his. however, in islam the concept and criteria of this right is somewhat different from other systems of economy. [ 23 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 under materialistic economic systems, there is only one way of acquiring the right to ‘’wealth’’, and that is a direct participation in the process of production. on the contrary, the basic principle of islam in this respect is that ‘wealth’ is, in principle the property, of allah himself and he alone can lay down the rules as to how it is to be acquired and used. so according to the islamic perspective, not only those who have directly participated in the production of wealth but also those to whom allah has made it obligatory upon others to help, are the legitimate sharers in wealth. and those in whose wealth is a recognized right. (70:24). that man can have nothing but what he strives for. (53:39). and in their wealth and possessions [was remembered] the right of the [needy,] him who asked, and him who [for some reason] was prevented [from asking]. (51:19). according to sadr (1982) the first step to end the contradictions in the economic structure of society begins with the distribution of economic resources among people. he adds that the foremost form of economic wealth is the natural resources of the environment and an unjust distribution of it begins with the problem of their ownership. he developed the theory of distribution of natural resources at two stages: preproduction and postproduction stages, or what he calls primary wealth and secondary wealth, respectively.3 allah enlarges the sustenance [which he gives] to whichever of his servants he pleases; and he [similarly] grants by [strict] measure, [as he pleases]: for allah has full knowledge of all things. (29:62). coincidently, resource distribution was the first issue to be resolved by prophet muhammad (s.a.w) and had attributed his presence as being the source of establishing a fair and just society. to understand the different norms of allocation during the periods of prophet himself, and later his two successors, namely abu bakar and umar, he highlights the relevance of changed social realities of the arabs throughout. while need was the main criteria of concern in the times of the prophet, khalifah abu bakar adopted the rule of equality and khalifah umar the on the basis of merit of the recipient. undoubtedly, the standards of distribution were moderated by factors such as the availability of resources and the intensity of needs and desert.4 mabid al-jarhi (1985) attempted to construct a macro-distribution model for an 3 alsadr, “alnazariyyah al’islamiyyah litawzi’ almasadir altabi’iyyah” (islamic theory of distribution of natural resources) in ikhtarnalak (beirut: dar alzahra’, 1982), 136137. 4 distributive justice:the islamic perspective intellectual discourse, vol 8, no 2, 159172. [ 24 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 islamic economy. supposing that muslims, are propertied, to varying degrees, he implies two essential propositions; first, that the study of distribution is inseparable from that of redistribution and secondly, that the saving behavior between the capitalists and labourers being immaterial. as the division of social class is theoretically meaningless in a hypothetical islamic economy, in general the society is seen as capital holders (salaried predominantly). the significances of nisab and the market-order of an islamic financial system are highlighted. based on the premise that the prevailing distribution of wealth could deviate from the most desirable level, the syariah provides for means to modify people’s behavior towards saving and investment, unlike in the western models. m. a. haneef (1995), in the contemporary islamic economic thought: a selected comparative analysis had carefully appraised the views of six muslim scholars, on namely five areas, one of which is distribution. the differing opinions of these prudently chosen trained economists and islamic jurists are provided by the summary below: table 2: selective reviews of muslim scholars on distribution scholars central thesis supporting arguments m.a. mannan should determine production and consumption inequalities permissible due to differing endowments but insist on equal opportunity to all m. nejatullah siddiqi divides it to pre and post production. emphasis on initial distribution of resources and societal needs. syed n. haider naqvi dominant role of the state in redistributive schemes concept of ownership monzer kahf justice in functional distribution market mechanism in factor pricing sayyid muhamad taleghani adds the third element of redistribution while maintaining natural resources to common property. work and need as the core basis of distribution. muhamad baqir al-sadr work as basis for usufruct rights economic labour as a source of ownership while each of the scholars’ approaches the issue of distribution from a diverse starting point, the validity of need and labour as a pre-requisite to a just distribution is unmistakably evident. a majority of them also balance the call for redistribution with the demand for equal initial opportunity. [ 25 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the islamic discourse on distributive justice in recent years, distributive justice has emerged as an important topic among muslim scholars of islamic economics. underlying these discussions is the strong islamic ethics of providing basic subsistence, for the most disadvantaged members of society. this involves individual obligation and personal piety as well as a state responsibility for social welfare. the ethical principle is formalized as one of the five pillars of faith in the form of tax of surplus wealth known as zakat. zubair hassan (1988) stands firm on the idea that distributive justice from an islamic perspective is a matter of integrated implementation of the interrelated mechanisms available in the system. he claims that one of the reason for the world to be torn between different economic systems is because of the problem of having to decide whether economic freedom or distributional equity should be given the highest priority in the social schemes of things. seemingly, the differences in opinion on the appropriateness of a variable as an action base, the view of an appropriate equitable distribution and the extent of combining equity with the pursuit of other policy goals remains a challenge. the concept of ‘amanah’ is the foundation of equity in his model. from an economic stance, it refers to the ‘appropriate’ dispense of productive resources such as opportunities (entry and other technical support) based on the needs of the recipient. islamic distributive justice: a concise statement by islahi (1992) was an attempt to provide a comprehensive list of provisions in regard to institutional arrangement of islam for distributive justice. as compared to production and functional distribution which are left to the mutual agreement of the producing agents with the emphasis on justice, fair play and honesty in deciding the remunerations, islam’s focus is on personal distribution or the redistributional aspects of our economy. heidari (2007) reminds that islam’s overemphasis on the ethical concepts of altruism, benevolence, philanthropy together with its forewarning against wasteful consumption and concentration of income and wealth to be the key elements of distribution in islam. he summarizes the main schemes of distributive justice in islam to include an institutional approach, multiplicity and decentralized structure of redistributive measures, and hierarchal to lend flexibility to the system. given the divine nature of the framework, the task of islamic scholars and scientists is to discover the pure rules of justice from quran and sunnah and to adjust them to the prevailing circumstances of the modern era, he adds. [ 26 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 studies related to distribution in the preproduction phase in an islamic system, one may look at the role of government with reference to the performance of markets, the provision of public goods and environmental care. it is expected to react promptly towards market failures at a minimal cost to the society. siddiqui (1986) in his discussion on the guaranteeing of a minimum level of living in an islamic state begins with the syariah’s requirement for every individual to strive to fulfill their lives basic needs. he emphasizes living for a purpose, which inevitably demands efficiency and dignity. according to the scholar, the list of needs and the extent to which each need should be fulfilled is a matter of economic conditions of a particular society. the guarantee of need fulfillment or the right to livelihood follows logically from the islamic view of the following; a) life as a test, blessed is he in whose hand is dominion, and he is over all things competent. [he] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed and he is the exalted in might, the forgiving. (67:1-2) b) the status of men and women as vicegerents, and we have certainly honored the children of adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what we have created, with [definite] preference. (17:70) c) their being distinguished from other creatures by a special dignity, and we have certainly established you upon the earth and made for you therein ways of livelihood. little are you grateful. (7:10) d) from the fact that the universe has been well provisioned to sustain human life; and from the cooperative nature of the islamic society, the believing men and believing women are allies of one another. they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey allah and his messenger. those allah will have mercy upon them. indeed, allah is exalted in might and wise. (9:71) the syariah guarantees equality of all muslims before law, while the quranic enjoinments and legal penalties prescribed by islamic law enables the state to enforce the administration of justice. o mankind! we created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). verily the most honoured of you in the sight of allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. and allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). (49:13). [ 27 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 chapra (2007) in his guarantee of satisfaction of fundamental needs, states that one of the essential goals of islam is to be a blessing for mankind and an indispensable requisite for being a blessing is to ensure the wellbeing of all people. and we have not sent you, [o muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds. (21:107). in conclusion, need based rights and the significance of ownership play a strategic role in the distribution of economic resources at the pre-production stage of an islamic economy. studies related to the post-production phase in recent years there has been a universal rediscovery of the market and a greater appreciation of the allocative role of the market. consequently, the role of the state is changing from one that competes with the market to one that augments and improves its working. sadeq (1989) states two normative principles of factor pricing in islam; justice and scarcity. it is ordained that a person receives what he works for or that the price for his labour corresponds with his contribution. and in no wise covet those things in which allah hath bestowed his gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn: but ask allah of his bounty. for allah hath full knowledge of all things. (4:32) table 3: a. h. m. sadeq’s understanding of factor pricing factor/ resource pricing based on value-loaded guidelines labour the element of humanity disables it to be treated as a saleable item. the consideration of ability, dependents and work conditions in determining real wage. market forces play a secondary role in deciding upon the lower-limit. land/ physical capital allows for a fixed price or rental to be charged on all physical assets. legitimate even if losses are incurred from the economic activity as the contracted service has been utilized, resulting in possible depreciation of the productive asset. money capital the above analogy is not applicable for financial assets simply because it does not lose its face value over time. capital in the form cash is treated as an investment and hence is entitled for a predetermined profit sharing. entrepreneurship simultaneously decided with the price of money capital which is a form of contribution towards a business venture. the actual size of the price is post-determined, but the shares are pre-determined. ultimately, the amount of profits varies proportionately with the risks taken and actual outcomes. [ 28 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 basically, he proposes that in islam, factors should be priced equitably and rewarded justly, to restrain the possibility of gross inequalities in income and wealth. according to fahim khan (1990), the conventional economic theory uses a particular classification of factors of production which is arbitrary and has no scientific sanctity attached to it. consequently, attempts are being made to review and reformulate the theories of production and distribution in islamic framework, in order to have our own directions to develop the theories of production and distribution. all permissive and prohibitive practices involving distribution in the production process leans towards achieving equitable outcomes. the underlying idea is that despite the distribution according to need based entitlements at the pre-production phase, equity is sustainable in the form of rights to earnings deriving from ownership of productive intangible resources such as capabilities, talents and marketable skills. studies related to the redistributive phase under proper conditions, markets are good at allocating resources, but not at generating a distribution of income that reflects the conscience or the prevalent view of the society. therefore, the government cannot abdicate this role but instead pursue its role differently. zubair hassan (2008) admits to the likelihood of markets to falter and fail society on many fronts, while agreeing to certain government intervention policies to adversely affect the allocation of resources and distribution of incomes. he adds that in principle, islam stands for free markets requiring the government to merely oversee if the tenets of the syariah are being observed in letter and spirit. similar opinions are expressed in the writings of abu yusuf and ibn khaldun (islahi, 1992). islahi notes that islam does not consider market mechanism as sacrosanct, although it encourages it in general. in other words, whenever market fails to achieve the objectives desired by islam, the state shall use corrective measures following an institutional approach. azizi che seman (2004) shares the general views of past muslim scholars with regards to the justification of redistribution of wealth and income in islam. ibn taymiyyah for example claimed that whoever is unable to earn sufficiently must be aided with money. he added that, if an obligation cannot be met without certain means, then the acquisition of these means becomes an obligation. interestingly, when requested by the sultan to give a ruling in favour of imposing new taxes over and above zakah, imam al-nawawi (1223-77) refused to do so, unless the ruler himself surrendered all ornaments owned to baitulmal and desisted from extravagance. hence the standard of islam is clear as to the preconditions of extraordinary state collections for the purpose of redistribution. [ 29 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 at this juncture, it is necessary to remind ourselves that some inequality is an integral part of the divine design. the quran reiterates the objectives of differences in fortune and rizq to convey the wisdom of relative disparities in sustenance. the rich are tested on their abundance and the poor on their poverty. thus, inequality is permissible and sometimes even necessary but not truly desirable. the islamic ideology does not call for an artificial perfect equality but instead offers a range of tools to redistribute income and wealth to remove gross inequalities. being one among the five pillars, zakat is a form of worship and becomes an inevitable part of obeying god and it therefore has spiritual significance. “of their wealth take alms so that, through it, you may purify and sanctify them...” (9:103). when the prophet (saw) sent mu’ath to the people of yemen, he told him: “and let them know that allah has ordained on them alms, to be taken from their rich (people) and given to their poor...” a thorough analysis of the sources related to zakat, leads us to conclude that the principle of distributive justice rooted in its rulings is the precedence of need. equality is conditional upon sufficiency and availability of all the asnafs. “alms are for the poor, the needy, the employees who administer the funds, those whose hearts have been recently reconciled to the truth, those in bondage, those in debt, in the cause of allah, and the wayfarer, (thus it is) ordained by allah, and allah is most knowledgeable, most wise.” (9:60) nearly all of the reknowned islamic economists have assigned a crucial role to the state in a future islamic economy and advocated that the state should redistribute income in favor of the poor, interfere in the markets when necessary, ensure the provision of basic necessities, and even, according to one economist, initiate massive land reforms. habib ahmed (2004) in his lengthy occasional paper on the role of zakat and awqaf in poverty alleviation reaffirms the significance of these traditional islamic nonmarket institutions in promoting social welfare. awqaf revenues can be increased by putting it into productive activities such as cash waqaf to be extended for microfinance purposes. in any case, the awqaf is expected to be distributed based on need and usage but monitored by the administrators to ensure the trust is carried out according the original request of the waqaf creator. other mechanisms of private distribution of wealth available in the quran are infaq, sadaqah and qard. “so fear allah as much as you can; listen and obey, and spend in charity; that is better [ 30 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 for you. and whosoever is saved from his own greed, they are the successful ones. if you lend to allah a beautiful loan, he will double it for you and forgive you. (64:17) evidences from the quran and sunnah reiterate that the distribution of inheritance should be based on ones entitlement as prescribed by the book of allah, followed by the nearest male heir. it is prescribed, when death approaches any of you, if he leave any goods that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable usage; this is due from the allah-fearing. (2:180) in conclusion, distribution at the post-production phase in an islamic economic framework is directed towards facilitating circulation of wealth to achieve equality in opportunity and establishing social security. the obligatory and auxiliary measures available within the system when implemented appropriately can in fact effectively meet the economic goals of distribution in islam. methodology in developing an islamic framework that serves to describe the core principles of distributive justice in its general form, the research adopts a method introduced by sekaran (2010) enabling the operationalization of a concept that reduces its abstraction and translate the concept of distributive justice into measurable elements. these are the three steps suggested by the sekaran in the process of converting a concept (distributive justice) into quantifiable terms in the context of economics: 1. identifying a set of behavioural dimensions denoted by distributive justice. for example, the facets of rights, wealth circulation, social solidarity, etc as factors of justice in distribution. 2. translating these dimensions into measurable elements. in the case of wealth circulation, a good yardstick is the mechanisms in place to reduce the disparity between groups. 3. generating an appropriate response format that best represents the dimensions. the disbursement of zakat and size of waqaf funds as valid proxies of the flow of wealth from the surplus to the deprived economic agents within a community. the dimensions of equity the revealed knowledge of islam is replete with advocates for equity as a norm in upholding justice in all domains of one’s life. the task of departmentalizing [ 31 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 its role to any exclusive realm is inappropriate and hence pointless, for islamic economics is adopts a holistic approach. there are several dimensions of equity available in the quran and sunnah. however, since the purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that it is indeed possible to develop a conceptual framework based upon islamic heritage, the researcher will concentrate on the following five dimensions of distributive equity; rights, ownership, circulation of wealth, equal opportunity and social security. keeping in mind that it is possible to change or alter or even reject (by a superior) an islamic theory once an alternative theory is formulated in a particular social context. rights/haq resources provided by nature and which can be used directly by man may be utilised freely, as everyone is entitled to benefit from them according to his needs. there is nothing to prevent individuals availing themselves of allah’s earth as long as they do not interfere with the rights of others or of the state. conversely, it is unjust when things created by allah for the benefit of mankind is taken possession of, and then kept idle and useless. according to j. badawi, the right to own property is an instinctive matter as it is related to survival and self-preservation. he adds that the nature of property rights depends on the type of ideology that is followed in any particular society and time. islam acknowledges rights to property (ownership) as part of our responsibility as trustees of god on earth. know they not that allah doth accept repentance from his votaries and receives their gifts of charity, and that allah is verily he, the oft-returning, most merciful. (9:104) rifaat hassan (2006) believes that the qur’an is the magna carta of human rights and that a large part of its concern is to free human beings from the bondage of traditionalism, authoritarianism (religious, political, economic, or any other), tribalism, racism, sexism, slavery or anything else that prohibits or inhibits human beings from actualizing the quranic vision of human destiny embodied in the classic proclamation: “towards allah is thy limit.” (53: 42). from the perspective of the qur’an, these rights came into existence when we did; they were created, as we were, by god in order that our human potential could be actualized. they not only provide us with an opportunity to develop all our inner resources, but also hold before us a vision of what god would like [ 32 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 us to be: what he wants us to strive, live and die for. rights created or given by god cannot be abolished by any temporal ruler or human agency. eternal and immutable, they ought to be put into effect since everything that god does is for ‘a just purpose.’ and in no wise covet those things in which allah hath bestowed his gifts more freely on some of you than on others: to men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn: but ask allah of his bounty. for allah hath full knowledge of all things. (4:32). ownership a cardinal concept in the qur’an underlying the socio-economic-political system of islam is the ownership of everything belongs not to any person, but to god. since he is the universal creator, every creature has the right to partake of what belongs to him. ownership rights in islam originate from the concept of khilafah (stewardship), which is a constituent of the islamic faith. it is he who hath made you (his) vicegerents (or stewards), inheritors of the earth. he hath raised you in ranks, some above others; that he may try you in the gifts he hath given you.” hence, a person entrusted with wealth can achieve the highest degree of virtue (falâh) by spending out of his wealth within the boundaries prescribed by the sharîah. (6:165). by implication, the ownership of al-mâl is understood to be a trust and its disposal is considered to be a test of faith since the owner has to use it in accordance with god’s revealed wisdom. the quran states: parable of those who spend their substance in the way of allah is that of a grain of corn: it groweth seven ears, and each ear hath a hundred grains. allah giveth manifold increase to whom he pleaseth: and allah careth for all and he knoweth all things. (2:261). through an examination of the divine rules (ahkam shari’ah) which allow man to possess property, it becomes apparent that the means of possession are limited to five which are work, inheritance, for the sake of survival state grants and transfers. “and say: work; soon will god observe your work and his apostle, and the believers.” (9:105). “concerning (the inheritance) for your children: to the male is the equivalent of the portion of two females, and if they (children) were women more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of the inheritance.” (4: 11). “and in their wealth there is a right acknowledged. for the beggar and the destitute.”(70:2425). and in their wealth there is acknowledged right for the needy and destitute. (51:19) he who has killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave and pay the blood money to the family of the slain.”(4: 92). [ 33 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 circulation of wealth two matters could lead to the maldistribution of wealth among people. the first would be to allow the circulation of wealth exclusively among the rich; and the second would be to deprive people from that wealth, and to prevent them from acquiring the means of circulation of that wealth. islam resolves these two possibilities by decreeing a host of shari’ah rules designed to prevent hoarding (means of piling up money without a purpose) among the well offs. “and let those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of allah know that a severe and painful punishment is awaiting them.”(9:34). the principles of moderation in consumption and spending steers the equity characteristic for wealth to flow from the surplus units to the rest. behold, ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the way of allah: but among you are some that are niggardly. but any who are niggardly are so at the expense of their own souls. but allah is free of all wants, and it is ye that are needy. if ye turn back (from the path), he will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you! (47:38). according to yusoff (2010, 2012) the means of interpersonal distribution of income and wealth has favourable multiplier effect. equity is the represented by the mode of resource mobilization through sharing and partnerships formed from the circulation of wealth. who is he that will loan to allah a beautiful loan, which allah will double unto his credit and multiply many times? it is allah that giveth (you) want or plenty, and to him shall be your return. (2:245). they ask thee what they should spend (in charity). say: whatever ye spend that is good, is for parents and kindred and orphans and those in want and for wayfarers. and whatever ye do that is good, -allah knoweth it well. (2:215). equal opportunity the equity which islam believes in is the equality of opportunity to secure a livelihood and desires that no obstacles should exist in society to prevent an individual from striving for a living according to his capacity and talents; nor should any social distinctions exist with the object of safeguarding the privileges of a certain class, race, dynasty or group of people. however, the concept of rizq plays a crucial role in seizing such opportunities. [ 34 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 allah doth enlarge, or grant by (strict) measure, the sustenance (which he giveth) to whomso he pleaseth. the wordly rejoice in the life of this world: but the life of this world is but little comfort in the hereafter. (13:26). allah has not distributed his gifts and favour equally among mankind but, in his infinite wisdom, has given some individuals more than others. see how we have bestowed more on some than on others; but verily the hereafter is more in rank and gradation and more in excellence. (17:21). the laws of society should neither be such as would establish a permanent monopoly for the owners of resources and make it impossible for the rest to acquire them nor such that the race for everyone should compulsorily begin from the same point and under the same conditions so that they would all be tied to each other right till the end of the race. on the contrary, economic laws should be such as to make it possible for all, who started his race under adverse conditions, to acquire resources, if he can do so by dint of his effort and ability, and for he who inherited them to be left behind in the race and to lose it, if he does not have the ability or efficiency to keep it. social security what makes islamic economics distinguished is that scarce resources may be allocated in many ways other than through exchange by the institutions of exchange. under the integrative system, the islamic concept of exchange is clearly not value-free. it has in fact, social and moral overtones. islamic economics with both the provision of exchangeables as understood in modern economics and the non-changeables (i.e., transfer payment) which frequently takes place under the conditions of relative social concern and moral responsibility. according to n.m. ghifari (1979), the aims of the islamic social security system includes a wider circulation of wealth, the prohibition of concentration of wealth and anti-social economic institutions, reduction of poverty, establishing a balance between individualism and collectivism, social justice (pay according to ability and paid based on needs), and restoring man’s selfassertion and self-respect. it is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards east or west; but it is righteousnessto believe in allah and the last day, and the angels, and the book, and the messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast [ 35 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. such are the people of truth, the allah fearing. (2:177). under the shade of the islamic code, a non-muslim individual’s personal dignity, property and wealth are protected and secured whether he is under covenant or lives in peaceful co-existence. “allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes – from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. indeed, allah loves those who act justly.”(60:8). from an islamic point of view, social welfare is the greatest responsibility of the state. the various physiological and psychological needs are perceived as two sides of a coin. meeting one is expected to at least motivate the fulfillment of the other. logically, when the basic needs (material, interpersonal, security and esteem) are consistently met without struggle, the society as a whole stands a better chance to move ahead with self-actualization needs often echoed by achievements of truth, justice, beauty and creativity. findings when combined with the model of stages of distribution by production phases (figure 3), all the 5 dimensions tend to converge into their respective positions. equal opportunity and rights are essential means of dispensing equity at the pre-production phase in advancing the push for justice so central to islam. ownership in the form of work is core at the post production phase, for islam rewards its believers based on their activities, especially ones which are beneficial. circulation of wealth and social security become significant at the redistributive phase, aimed at reducing the inequalities brought about by market imperfections but rightfully the function of the state to establish justice. the hypothetical framework of distributive justice below depicts the operationalization method adopted in this research. the abstract concept of distributive justice is converted into dimensions which then are converted into quantifiable elements. the boxes at the far right are meant to serve as a cross reference in designing socio-economic policies. [ 36 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 conclusion figure 3 hypothetical framework above is the amalgamation of distributional justice in the 3 stages of production and the dimensional meachanisms of distributive equity as discussed and elaborated in the earlier sections. from an islamic economics perspective, all the standards of distribution identified and accepted by the counterpart are valid, but is valued differently. related studies by muslim economists in particular clearly illustrate that the significance of each principle changes concurrently with the objective of a given economic distribution. incidentally, the stage of distribution along the production process determines the ultimate/ real purpose of the given distribution. assuming we agree with and accept the three goals distributive justice established by iqbal, m. the sole principle that emerges from the guaranteeing of fulfillment of basic needs, equitable personal incomes and elimination of extreme inequalities achievement of equal opportunity, is equity. all critical literature reviews in the previous chapter and the evidences from the turath analyzed in this chapter resulted in the five criteria of a conceptual framework of distributive justice purely based on islamic tenets. they collectively point towards istihsan (the nearest islamic law doctrine to the notion of equity in western jurisprudence). once this notion is casted upon economics in general and distribution in particular, adl’ and ihsan appears to be defining characters of distributive justice in islam. means of survival vs sufficiency freedom & justice good life (purposive) khalifah work inheritance positive measures prohibitive measures resources & welfare assistance/ balance basic – life socioeconomic absolute compensation faraid redistributive mechanism zakat & waqaf hoarding, riba’ eligibility commitment transfer payment [ 37 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 references a.h.m. sadeq., 1989. “factor pricing and income distribution from an islamic perspective.” journal of islamic economics, vol. 2, no.1, pp. 4553. abdel hamid el-ghazali.,1994. “man is the basis of islamic strategy for economic development.” islamic economics translation series. no.1 by irti. abdul azim islahi., 2004. contributions of muslim scholars to economic thought analysis (11-905 a.h./632-1500 a.d.). islamic economic research center, king abdul aziz university, jeddah, saudi arabia. ahmed, habib.,2004. role of zakat and awkaf in poverty alleviation. idb (irti). occasional paper. no.8. azizi che seman & nor aini ali., 2004. “economic thoughts of redistribution of income dan wealth: a comparative analysis.” shariah journal, 12:2 , pp. 25-42. english-quran with commentaries by yusuf ali: the meaning of the noble qur’an., 2006. (source: http://www.pdf-koran.com/koran.pdf). fleurbaey, m., 2012. economics and economic justice, the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (summer 2012 edition), edward n. zalta (ed.). haneef, m. a., 1995. contemporary islamic economic thought: a selected comparative analysis. kuala lumpur: ikraq. islahi, a. a., 1993. “islamic distributive scheme: a concise statement.” journal of objective studies. vol.5, no. 1. 98-111. khaliq ahmad & arif hassan., 2000. “distributive justice: the islamic perspective.” intellectual discourse, vol 8, no 2, 159-172. mannan, m. a., 1984. the frontiers of islamic economics: some philosophical underpinnings. m. fahim khan., 1990. “factors of production and factor markets in islamic framework.” jkau: islamic econ, vol. 2, pg. 25-46. (source: http:// www.kau.edu.sa/files/320/researches/51020_21157.pdf). m. n. siddiqi, 1986. guaranteeing a minimum level of living in an islamic state. in distributive justice and need fulfilment in an islamic economy, ed. by munawar iqbal. islamabad: international institute of islamic economics. m. quraish shihab., 1996. wawasan al-quran: tafsir tematik atas pelbagai persoalan umat m. umer chapra., 1992. “islam and the economic challenge.” islamic economics series – 17. the islamic foundation the international institute of islamic thought. [ 38 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 m. umer chapra., 2007. guarantee of satisfaction of fundamental needs. encyclopedia of islamic economics. mabid ali aljarhi., 1985. “towards an islamic macro model of distribution: a comparative approach.” jrie, vol. 2, no. 2, pg. 3-29. majid khadduri., 2001. the islamic conception of justice. publisher jhu press (reprint). monzer kahf., 2002. “allocation of outputs to factors of production and the implicit islamic concept of market justice.” seminar on the theory of functional distribution of income, lawrence, kansas. organized by irti. noor mohammad ghifari., 1982. social secury system in islam. phd thesis. punjab university, lahore. siddidui, nejatullah., 1988. role of the state in the economy the islamic foundation, leicester, u.k.pp. 255. zubair hasan., 1988. distributional equity in islam. published in: munawar iqbal ( ed.): distributive justice and need fulfillment in an islamic economy (1988): pp. 35-62. zubair hasan., 2008. “markets and the role of government in an economy from islamic perspective.” (source: http:// http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen. de/12233/) [ 281 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 multicultural education practices at religiously-based schools in malang ibnu mujib universitas budi utomo, malang abstract this study began with an assumption that multicultural education model is practiced in schools in a very limited scope. therefore, through the subject of ppkn (civics education) in schools, multicultural education can be developed. in addition, the school as a laboratory of diversity at the scope of educational institutions is an important medium in the discourse of multicultural education. as a conceptual formulation that was built through the 2013curriculum, the instructional model of civics education-based on multiculturalism was found to be able to stimulate students’ character building in a more effective, quick and strategic manner. the school, in addition to being an important laboratory of diversity, should also provide multicultural instruction in civics education with the materials that aid the vision of civics education instruction with a content of multicultural education in a productive, creative, innovative, and affective way as well as having an effect on the students so as to contribute to the social, civic life and more importantly to the process of building the character and attitude of tolerance among students in schools. through multicultural education in schools, students learn to accept and understand the cultural differences that affect the differences in usage (how people behave); folkways (habits in the community), mores (code of conduct in the community), and customs (tradition of a community). with multicultural education, learners will be able to accept differences, criticism, and have a sense of empathy, tolerance for others regardless of class, status, gender, ehnic, religion and academic skills. keywords: multicultural education, 2013 curriculum, character building, civics education, attitude, tolerance. introduction the debate over the implementation of the curriculum at the national level in indonesia recently has drawn attention from the actors in education, especially teachers, professors, and even the students themselves. it also occurred, of course, among academics, researchers, analysts, as well as the school stakeholders, both at the school and the university level. this debate is not merely the arena of contestation of the interest of educational policy makers at the central government level, but also as a lengthy search process for [ 282 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 a curriculum model that should be developed within the context of citizenship and indonesianism. pancasila and civics education is one of the fields of study or a picture of a curriculum that describes a model development, from the eyes of teaching which is based on the strengthening of knowledge resulting from pancasilaism to the development of the formation of the curriculum of education in the context of indonesianism and nationalism (civics education). in addition, indigeneous values for the seeks of student’s awarness of multicularism also need attention (prasojo, 2015). religious teachings have also been in the debates in the search of better formula of multicultural education, especially in indonesia (faoziah, mahfudh & ronika, 2016; noor & siregar, 2015; casram, 2016). however, the development of the k 2006 to the k 2013 curriculum models was not fully understood and practiced in full by teachers and school institutions. there must be some reasons why the issues of the model of the 2013 curriculum (k13) development does not immediately get a response at the grassroots institutions in the regions. the aspect of psycho-social paedagogic, which are considered among the resaons, are related to several issues including (1) civics education instruction has too much and broad material; (2) instruction is carried out in an unattractive and boring way; (3) learning methods so far tend to be less varied and do not engage students in a meaningful way; (4) students are generally less happy with civics lecture as it is more about memorization and lots of reading; and (5) civics instructors tend to be unready to teach contextually, less enjoyful learning and very “textbookish” (zuriah, 2011). contents of multicultural education in civics course can be seen through the 4 pillars of national development, ranging from the pancasila, the 1945 constitution, national unity, and the unitary state of indonesia. the four pillars are not only taught as a form of knowledge of understanding on 4 pillars themselves, but the values of education contained in these pillars can also generate a pattern of tolerance among learners, where the implementation of learning would require a diverse perspective to be able to unearth a more comprehensive understanding (wiloso, 2011: 3). some featured schools in malang have shown the formation of character and attitude of the students in understanding the differences both in terms of culture, religion, race, and other forms of gender differences and behavior among students. in malang as one of the cities in indonesia which has a fairly strong educational base, it is not uncommon that some schools are still using the old system, meaning that teaching pancasila is still understood as an object of knowledge or normative knowledge transfer, and not implanted in more dynamic and [ 283 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 deep affective values which can contribute directly to the community, so that aspects of education that uses the perspective of learning through experiance in shaping a student’s behavior is still limited (maskan & ultamaningsih, 2011: 396). the involvement of the school, teachers, parents and relations to the home serves as an indicator of observation in the process of building character/ attitude of students through a package of civics lesson. in some integrated islamic schools, for example, civics lessons touches the issue of diversity that is developing at the operational level through attitudes and behavior everyday. this is a form or model for multicultural education in schools. civics education-based learning model integrated in the multicultural curriculum package in 2013 is an important awareness as part of what james a. bank called education reform, particularly in the character formation of students in schools. while the school as a laboratory of diversity in the level of educational institutions, it is a process of school engagement (delanty, 2003: 106) that will make important changes in the character formation of the students, especially in the form tolerance attitude among students in the school. therefore, multicultural education through civics education is assumed to be able to equip students with its effectiveness and can become a model in the formation of attitude and character among students. in the context of the establishment of a model for curriculum development in schools at least it finds aspects of the conceptual framework of a model that will be developed, and academic concern emerges from this study is that why is the model of civicseducation packed with educational multiculturalism in schools still very limited. shouldn’t the subject of civics education i of k 2013 curriculum in schools be a model of multicultural education that is very setrategis for the formation of students’ tolerance? then what model of multiculture-based civics education can be developed in schools? let us see what have happened in malang of east java, especially within two religiously-based schools in the following discussion. social demographics of reach schools in malang this study focuses on two private reach schools in malang, namely smp islam sabilillah and smpk kosayu. the two featured private schools could represent the view in this study. below it will be described how these schools show the initiative that leads to the development of multicultural education, both the supporting extracurricular activities and the use of k2013 curriculum that have been used as a reference in the two school institutions. [ 284 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 1. catholic junior high school (smp) kosayu malang smpk kolese santo yusup 1 (st. joseph college), abbreviated as kosayu malang, is one of the reach schools under the kolese santo yusup foundation. the foundation was established in 1951, precisely on july 16, 1951, at that time it was still located in the area sutomo. on march 19, 1952 was inaugurated by mgr. albers, o.carm. and now st. joseph college foundation is located on jl. simpang borobudur 1, blimbing, malang. the foundation is under the management of cdd catholic priests. smpk kosayu aims to build character of the nation reflected in indonesianism and religious context, in which this idea leads to the realization of the vision and mission of the school to be communicative and can be measured. in addition, the school also aims to improve the quality of noble character behavior of students, foster attitudes and values of tolerance so as to appreciate the diversity in the vicinity. in addition to improving the knowledge and skills of students in accordance with the demands of the curriculum, it also intensifies the role of parents in mentoring activities to develop the students’ personality to have concern for the surrounding communities, as well as growing awareness of teachers and parents and the community that it requires an exemplary education. more importantly, it also boosts professional competencies of teachers, raising awareness of clean, healthy, orderly, safe, neat and homely living. further, the vision and the mission are also aimed at improving facilities and infrastructure that support the learning process, as well as developing humanistic relationship among the school community. it sets goals definitively to improve students’ character. one of extracurricular activities, as a private school in malang with the majority of students being of ethnic chinese background, is that every year it is always a special moment to commemorate chinese new year with activities that can attract the public attention. one example of these activities is to wear qi bao clothing with bright red shades. if one does not have these clothes, they can wear similar looking clothes to fit the theme of the chinese new year. one informant, eka (12) reported that “the moment of diversity like this is priceless that will we will always preserve be for today, tomorrow and the future” (february 11, 2016 interview). moments like this are supposedly starting from decorating the classroom with the lunar nuances such as angpau, objects with the lunar new year theme, images of monkeys, streamers, colorful paper, and a cherry tree, especially in the classroom. this atmosphere is the color of this school at this moment, until at the height of the show that follows the activities of eating together [ 285 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 with members of the class, followed by the blessing in the classroom by father sukamto, the principle. in addition, there are many more activities related to the formation of characters, including the practice of tolerance packed in the form of extracurricular activities. 2. smp islam (islamic junior high school) sabilillah malang smp islam sabilillah malang is officially a school under the auspices of the sabilillah foundation domiciled in the area of blimbing malang. this junior high school is also one of the reach schools in malang which has national and international reputation. one of the former ministers of religius affairs under president kh. abdurrahman wahid, prof. dr. tolhah hasan was also among the founders of this foundation. in addition, the school also has become the choice for the minister of education and culture prof. dr. muhajir efendi to send their children to study. the vision of smp islam sabillah malang in general aims to make sabilillah junior high school malang a reach school and a reference in the formation of the islamic character and nationality at the international level. the mission of education is to develop the school to be a featured school in delivering education and building islamic character as well as becoming a reference for the primary school at the national and international level. smp islam sabilillah malang also one of the featured schools that implements the k2013 curriculum policy, in which the practice has been integrated in the curriculum of the institution, which includes the integration of islamic, national, and scholarly subjects. one of the teachers and also the management of smp islam sabilillah explained that the institutional curriculum puts emphasis on subjects equal to or higher than the oecd countries or other developed countries. in addition, the school also develops a balance between the spiritual and social attitudes, curiosity, creativity, cooperation with intellectual and psychomotoric abilities. the school is part of society which always creates the experience of interaction in the teaching-learning process, so that community not only serves as a second subject in the learning process, but also as a learning resource. in addition, smp sabilillah also develops the attitude, knowledge and skills and implements them in various situations at school and the surrounding community. the school also intensely provides space and time to develop the attitude, knowledge, and skills, especially in building the students’ character in the school, family, and environment, including the tolerance in building the social interaction between students. [ 286 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 therefore, they define the learning revolution to create the students’ character in the school. character is the behavior of an individual person’s inner nature that affects the entire individual thought, behavior, character and temper. the character is closely associated with what is called morality. a good character will bear good morals for the individual. as for the building of the character, it can be seen in the activities of habituation at school or out of school. the school environment itself always applies habituation to love allah and his messenger, as well as parents and teachers, and oneself, among others, as well as the natural surroundings. the students are also taught to love science and technology, as well as the love of the nation and the state. for example, each individual will face the same problem that is worldly difficulties, but the response of each individual is different. therefore, an expected character should be positive. thus, the character is trying to conform to the school environment and its surrounding. at school, according to a civics education teacher, “students will be trained to bring good character so that someday when they graduate, they will have good morals”. such morals will be the key to their success because it will be useless if one is highly knowledgeable but morally low. multicultural education as character development james a. banks (1993) identifies five dimensions of multicultural education which is expected to assist teachers in implementing some programs that are capable of responding to the diversity of learners (students). first is the dimension of content integration. this dimensions is designated to a teacher in giving a description of the key points in learning by reflecting some of the materials, especially how a teacher accommodates important points and keeping the content of learning materials through a curriculum that also uses a different perspective. what is most emphasized in this approach is to accommodate the contribution of the teacher, in which the curriculum ensures that can limit the facts about patriotism in various groups. in addition, learning design is not altered. the second dimension is knowledge construction. this dimension emphasizes the role of teachers in an effort to help students to understand and formulate, and keep perspective and conclusions formed by the discipline they have. this dimension is also sustainable with the understanding of the learners to change their knowledge. third is the dimension of prejudice reduction. in this dimension, a teacher is required to make a lot of effort to engage students in building positive attitute about differences. for example, when students enter the school with negative behavior and indicate misunderstanding of the race or a different ethnic [ 287 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 group, it is through education that the school can help students to adopt a more positive intergroup behavior, as well as conditioning a more conducive environment and certain. for bank (1993) this condition is a lesson which has a positive image about the different groups using learning materials more consistently. some studies show that students who come to school with a lot of negative stereotypes tend to behave and do a lot of misunderstanding of other ethnic groups. the results from other studies also illustrate that the use of multicultural teksbooks or other teaching material through a cooperative strategy can help students to develop posifive attitudes and perceptions of other racial or ethnic groups, so that they can be friends outside of their own. the fourth is the equal education. this dimension demonstrates ways in changing the model of learning facilities, so as to facilitate the achievement of student learning outcomes of each group. the strategy is considered capable of creating fair educational treatment, which among others can be through a form of cooperative learning not competitive learning. james a. bank (1993) argued that this kind of education is designed to shape the school environment with diverse groups, including ethnic groups, women, and students with special needs that will create the experience of equal rights and opportunity to learn. fifth is the dimension of empowerment of school and social structures. this dimension is considered important to empower the culture of differences among students in schools. further, it can be used to construct social structure within the school that integrate groups into the character of of the local school structure, such as matters relating to the group practice, social climate, exercises, participation in extra-curricular activities, and appreciation expected from staff in response to differences in the school. james a. bank also suggested an approach to multicultural classroom learning process namely through single group studies and multiple perspective approach. in general, multicultural education in indonesia uses single-group study approach. this approach is designed to facilitate students in learning the views of certain groups in depth. it should thus provided data about the group’s history, clothing, customs, food, home models, religious and other traditions including data on group contributions to the development of music, literature, science, politics, and so forth which should be thoroughly elaborated by students. this approach will focus on issues related to the values of the group being studied. in contrast to the above approach, multiple perspective approach focuses on a single issue discussed through many different perspectives. in this regard, teachers have a variety of perspectives in the learning process. nowonder if [ 288 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 bannet and spalding (1992) corroborate with the suggested use of multiple perspectives in a multicultural classroom learning, because this approach seems more effective. in addition, multiple perspective approach also helps students to realize that an event is often interpreted differently by others, bringing values of the group that they follow. therefore, a good view regarded as good by a group (as in accordance with its values), is often not considered in the same way by other because it does not match the values that they follow (savage, 1996: 37). one of the advantages of this multiple perspective is that it is located on a critical thinking process on the issue being studied, thus encouraging students to be able to reduce bad prejudice. therefore, the process of interaction with other ethnic groups varies, allowing students to experience and feel empathy for other ethnic groups. byrnes & kiger (1988) in his research indicated that low school prejudices against other groups will show an attitude that is more sensitive and open to the views of others. they are considered capable of critical thinking, because it is open, and capable of showing respect for different views (walsh, 1988: 7). curriculum support on the subject of civics education there is a strategic choice used in the development of multiculture-based learning, namely strategies that focuse on learning activities in cooperation (cooperative learning), which are accommodated by a strategy conceptual mapping, value analysis and social investigation strategy. some of the strategies above are performed continuously and must be recorded in steps of civics education learning model based on the values of multiculturalism (as reported by ms kristin, teacher of civics education at smpk kosayu in an interview). strategies used in developing the instruction of civics education based on multiculture, are among others cooperative learning, which is accommodated by the strategies of conceptual mapping, value analysis, and social analysis. some of these strategies are carried out continuously, and should be reflected in measures based on civics education multicultural learning model. nevertheless, hermus hero a civics education teacher at smpk kosayu said: “that there should be stressing on different points in each of the civics education learning strategies. because the mapping strategy concepts above are used to provide adequate facilities to the students in conducting the identification of local culture. it is also used to easily [ 289 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 identify the concepts of culture considered attractive for oneself and for the culture of each region” (interview, june 14, 2016). the cooperative learning strategy is a strategy that is used to describe the development of students’ ability to learn to cooperate in disseminating the concepts and values of the local culture in the area learning community with him. in the context of a multicultural approach, through this strategy, it is expected to increase students’ participation in recommending local values and can create perspectives within the themes of nationality. therefore, slowly but surely, through this approach learners have the ability to develop life skills, especially in respect of other cultures different from one’s own group, so that the attitude of tolerance toward others can be built to accommodate a variety of interests, as well as to be open and honest in interacting with other people or those of different ethnic, racial, religious, and ethnic and cultural groups which serve as the expectation of this approach (hanum, 2009: 7). in addition, the students --through this approach-also have a high sense of empathy toward other cultural differences and at the same time are able to manage conflict in non violent ways. the cooperative learning approach can also be used to improve the quality and effectiveness in the learning process among students, particularly in establishing the structure of students’ social interaction and conducive environment especially in the learning process of civics education, which is a field of study that is based on the formation of values and attitudes of respect for diversity. while the strategy of strengthening its values is emphasized in habituation students’ ability to think inductively namely from a way of thinking which is based on the values of local to global paradigm (pareh, 1996: 53). based on the four earlier mentioned strategies, patterns of multicultural based learning to increase the values od students’ self-awareness about diversity and otherness is continuously embodied in the social life of students, so as to build a national perspective. through the establishment of this awareness, students will have personal resilience, and also be able to determine their rational choises when exposed to local, national and global issues. thus, students will be able to understand the global outlook as a rational choice as an expression of national identity and not a sign that connects to non-rational reality (pareh, 1996: 37). the academic reasoning is an indicator that is shown by the students as a result of the learning process in civics education they follow along. ms nurhayati, civics education teacher at smp islam sabilillah reported that: [ 290 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 “there are several things that can be used to determine the success of student learning activities i.e. through employment report, students’ participation in the discussion and sharing of ideas, which consists of the rational in the opinion, tolerance, empathy for the values of the local culture, and the development of student learning achievement “. in a focusud group discussion (fgd), some civics education teachers at the two schools above explained that the role of the teacher in the implementation of multicultural education-based instruction of civics education requires several things. they mentioned: “that civics education teachers should be involved in any activity, both in discussion and reflection material, to prepare the plan of action, observation, to evaluate measures through sharing and intense discussions, as well as the achievement of the objectives of civics education instruction”. the fgd held on the readiness of the teachers’ involvement in the implementation of multicultural education-based civics education instruction in reach junior high schools in malang indicates that teachers not only teach, but also accompany students intensively in some of their activities. methodologically, learning management such as the themes of civics education is an important aspect in the continuity of multicultural education. an education expert harry k. wong, author of how to be an active teacher the first days of school, as quoted by linda starr (2004: 2) explained that learning management is a field of science in “practices and procedures that describe a condition of teachers in a position teaching and students as learners.” while the practices and procedures related to the methodology, ricardo l. garcia (1982: 146) revealed three factors in the formation of character-based learning management. the first is the physical environment, where in creating a physical environment that is safe and comfortable, teachers can consider several aspects, for example, aspects of the room layout that is not rigid, paint color on walls that support the productivity of students to be creative, setting the tables and chairs that is should be interesting, decoration outside the classrooms such as plants that reflect natural beauty, and also music that stimulates the imagination of students’ creativity. therefore, teachers who have an understanding of the cultural background of students, will encourage the creation of a physical environment that is conducive to student learning (goodstein, 2013: 47). second is the social environment. the environment which is comfortable and safe can be created through the selection of language, the sympathetic relationship between students, fair treatment of differences and cultural [ 291 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 diversity of students (goodstein, 2013: 34). although each school has religious background, for example smp sabilillah with their muslim students, a variety of different thoughts, social status, parents’ professions have caused them to form small groups that have the similar parental professions. the school is also trying to manage interpersonal relationships of students with various forms of games in class. third is the teaching style. in addition to the physical and social environment, students will also need a teacher’s encouraging teaching style. garcia (1982: 145-146) explained that teaching style is a kind of leadership or governance techniques a teacher uses. teacher leadership style is also very influential for the students to have the opportunity to share opinions and making decisions. it can also be shown at least in three forms, namely: authoritarian, democratic, and free. the pattern of authoritarian leadership illustrates the limited space or opportunity for students to share their opinions (hanum, 2019: 7). this pattern supports the teaching style centered on teachers not on students. in contrast, the pattern of democratic leadership provides more space for students to not only share opinions, but also determine the materials considered important to learn. while teachers who use the free patterns (laizzes faire) give the opportunity entirely to the students to determine their own course material in class. classes that have diverse cultural backgrounds are more suited to the democratic leadership patterns (styles, 2004: 3-4). abdullah aly (2003: 70) argued that through a democratic approach, teachers can use many strategies, such as dialog, role playing, simulation, observation, case gandling. dialog has contributed much to the learning process, just take the example of the one that has been discussed concerning the contribution of various cultures and other ethnic groups that can live together as a nation. in addition, through dialog, teachers can also discuss with a lot of cultural backgrounds it requires a lot of products from people of different culture. while through the simulation strategy, or role play, for example, teachers can facilitate students to portray themselves as another person of a different religion, culture, or ethnicity in everyday life. every now and then, through the many strategies used, teachers can also run the project along with the committee involving students of diverse cultural background. a few points of learning strategies above can be used to innovate patterns of teaching and learning in teaching civics education, for example students will be assumed to have a deep insight and understanding of diversity in the practice of everyday social life (kymlicka, 2002: 13). in addition, students will also experience, even feel the reality of multiculturalism when they are involved or immersed themselves in the social life of the community, so the [ 292 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 attitude or behavior of tolerance, sympathy, empathy in time will grow in each student. conclusion i need to restate here that multicultural education is practiced in two schools, islamic and catholic in this study, in which at both schools it has yet to fully show the educational practices of multiculturalism in the school as defined by the curriculum. what they do is finding the form of extra-curricular activities that lead to the character building of students, formation a culture of tolerance in their school respectively, as well as overseeing some school activities that support the creation of harmony within the students’ family. so, extra-curricular activities are oriented toward the forms of character building among students. through the concepts of learning as described by banks in some of his multicultural education literature, at least there are four strategies of multicultural-based instruction, namely, cooperative learning, combined with the strategies of conceptual mapping and value analysis and social investigation. some of these strategies have been implemented simultaneously, and should be reflected in steps of multicultural-based instruction. indicators that can be shown regarding the process of student learning activities in schools, among others are the writing of paper or article (work report), participation of students in civics education both through discussion and brainstorming, including rational argument, tolerance and sense of empathy for each other’s cultural values. in addition, the performance displayed by the teacher in using a democratic approach, thus easily implementing civics education instruction based on multicultural education. through the instruction of civics education patterns as described earlier, its effectiveness can be seen in the practice of living with cultural differences, which has been proven to be effective to develop a more democratic perspective. students who have a good sense of empathy allow them to have respect for different opinions of others thereby reducing prejudice against other groups. reading books of multiethnic literature also helps to lower negative stereotypes about other cultures. therefore, multiple perspective approach contains two targets, i.e. increased empathy and decreased prejudice. empathy for different cultures is required in the effort to reduce negative prejudice toward cultural differences among students at school. [ 293 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 referensi aly, a. (2003). strategi pembelajaran agama islam. bandung: rosdakarya. banks, j.a. (1993). an introduction to multicultural education. boston: allyn and bacon. banks, j.a., & banks, c.a.m. (ed.). (2001). handbook of research on multicultural education 2nd edition. san fransisco: jossey bass. bennet, t., & spalding, j. (1992). populer culture and sosial relation. kl: open university press, byrnes, d.a., & kiger, g. (1988). contemporary measures of attitudes toward blacks. sage publication journal, vol.48 isuue 1. casram, c. (2016). membangun sikap toleransi beragama dalam masyarakat plural. wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya, 1(2), 187198. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15575/jw.v1i2.588 delanty, g. (2003). community. london and new york: routledge. faoziah, n., mahfudh, h., & ronika, r. (2016). religion and multiculturalism at pesantren sunan pandanaran and mu’allimin yogyakarta. al-albab, 5(1), 3 29. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i1.352 garcia, r.l. (1982). teaching in a pluristic society: concepts, models, strategies. new york: harper & row publisher goodstein, p.k. (2013). how to stop bullying in crossrom and school, using social architecture to prevent, lessen, and end bullying. united kingdom: routled. hanum, f. (2009). classroom practice in a multicultural context. paper presentation in international seminar on multiculturalism and (language and art) education. “unity and harmony in diversity”.yogyakarta state university 21-22 october 2009. kymlicka, w. (2002). kewargaan multikultural, (translated by edlina hafmini eddin), jakarta: lp3es. maskan, m., & ultamaningsih, a. (2011). internalisasi nilai-nilai pendidikan karakter berbasis kemitraan sekolah dan keluarga di tk islam sabilillah malang, in akhmadi, n. (ed.). prosiding riset kebijakan pendidikan anak di indonesia, tangerang: the aryaduta lippo village. noor, n., & siregar, f. (2015). religious and multicultural education: introducing interfaith dialogue in the indonesian educational system. al-albab, 2(1). [ 294 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v2i1.23 parekh, b. (at.al). (1986). multicultural education the intermitable debate. london: the falmer press. prasojo, z. (2015). indigenous community, customary law and multiculturalisme in indonesia. al-albab, 2(1). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24260/ alalbab.v2i1.26 starr, l. (2004). creating a climate for learning: effective classroom management techniques. (?). styless, d. (2004). class meeting: a democratic approach to classroom management. boston: allyn and bacon. savage, d.a. (1996). effective teaching in elementary social studies. 4th edition, florida: florida state seminary wiloso, p.g. (2011). multikulturalisme dalam perspektif antropologi. semarang: unpublished paperseminar by kementrian kebudayaan dan pariwisata. walsh, (1988). human movement. london: sage publication. zuriah, n. (2011). model pengembangan pendidikan kewarganegaraan multikultural berbasis kearifan lokal dalam fenomena sosial pasca reformasi di perguruan tinggi. jurnal penelitian pendidikan, vol 11, no 2. [ 136 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 gurita korupsi pemerintah daerah (the roots of corruption of the local governments) yogyakarta: kaukaba dipantara by muhtar haboddin and fathur rahman reviewed by romi yati (institute of borneo society and development studies) corruption is not something taboo in this country. the mass media, facts and data have revealed a variety of corruption cases in the central and regional governments, even there were cases involving a large number of people. corruption involving a group of people is committed by both high and low ranking officials. this book reveals the facts on corruption at various levels the government. the lure of money that could not be resisted has become a personal benefit and very common. the crisis of shame has been epidemic until the level of local government. this book is rich in information revealing facts and data on corruption cases in a comprehensive way, and at the same time discussing them in a critical and systematic way. muhtar haboddin and fathur rahman as the writers took a role in focusing on the importance of making corruption a common enemy. the importance of placing corruption as a common enemy is part of an attempt to manage the structure of clean and authoritative local governance. muhtar haboddin and fathur rahman also revealed corrupt practices within the body of the local governments in recent years have uncontrollably increased, and seem to be unstoppable. corruption has rooted deeply in many regions in the country as can be seen in the cases that involved several heads of regions in recent years. the data released by kompas (april 16, 2012) showed that during 2004-2012 as many as 173 heads of district in indonesia were involved in corruption. corruption committed by the heads of local governments also occurs within the body of the local parliaments, most notably the case involving the politicians in west sumatra. the same thing also happens in the bureaucracy. rampant corruption within the bureaucracy was described by adnan typhoon husodo in his article, the regime of corruption in the bureaucracy published in kompas (march 30, 2012). the three-tiger corruption involving the head of region, members of the parliament, and the bureaucracy is becoming a new trend in the management [ 137 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 of local governance. the first implication of this corrupt practice is the rise of the new rich people in the area. second, most of the alleged corruptors have been thrown into prison. even though there have been many suspects and some have been thrown into jail, it has not stopped them as we keep seeing new faces of corruptors shown on television and in newspapers, both at the national and local level in addition, the strong point of this book is that the authors are capable of describing the methods or the usual modus operandi of the corrupt officials. the results of the investigation indicated that corruption was done in many different ways such as additional charge on government services, bribes, markup of fire engine procurement projects, fictional projects, double budgets, corruption of social aid funds, corruption of rice for the poor that involved the village heads, enriching themselves through legislation as done by members of the district legislators, granting of money a considerable amount of money to outgoing members of the parliament. this book consists of nine chapters, begins with a preface that is easy to understand and describes how corruption is committed in this country. the political slogan which goes: ‘share or report’ is a common mechanism practiced and developed by corrupt politicians in the regions. through this mechanism, they have consciously shown corrupt behavior by distorting power for their own interests. this kind of behavior reminds us of a tammany hall politician, george washington plunkitt, who was well-known with the slogan: ‘i saw the opportunity and i used it’. this plunkitt’s slogan is being celebrated by the local politicians. the heads of the local governments and the parliament members are celebrating corruption. they actually practice the power opportunity to accumulate wealth. the implication is that there are ‘new rich people’ in many regions of the country. this is the most explicit behavior the politicians have shown in the last few years as found in the first chapter in the ninth chapter, it is concluded that some people think that there are more corruption and collusion cases compared with the suharto era. this is in part due to the exposure on corruption cases is no longer suppressed. the mass media are free to carry news related to corruption committed by various alleged or convicted political actors. the corruption cases exposed at the local level shows the success of the mass media in revealing corruption that no one in the past thought possible. previously, we never saw high ranking officials, government executives, governors, regents, mayors, members of parliament, or the bureaucrats [ 138 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 arrested because of corruption. however, now the executive and legislative bodies cannot run away from the law. the mass media is free to carry corruption related stories and those who have been convicted by the law enforcement institutions. the might of the mass media in presenting the corruption case demonstrates to us that corruption has been widespread in the institutions of local governments. the success of the media in exposing corruption in the regions has indicated that the phrase frequently yelled by the anti-corruption activists is true that corruption has been decentralized. as teten masduki said that corruption in the era of decentralization is rampant and there are more perpetrators involved. in fact, in the context of the regional autonomy, corruption has also experienced a shift from the central government to the local. the outbreak of corruption in many areas has given rise to stigma that corruption committed in groups has become common. the implication of the outbreak of corruption has given rise to the emergence of many new rich people, that is to say they are ‘ lucky ‘ to become a member of parliament, parliament, the head of the local government, the apparatus of the bureaucrats, etc. these are the individuals who systematically abuse power to rob the state’s money. [ 114 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 understanding confucianism in west kalimantan pontianak: iain pontianak press by samsul hidayat reviewed by farninda aditya (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) what is confucianism? what are its teachings? what is its culture? how did it grow in indonesia? what is confucianism like in west kalimantan? the book, agama konghucu (confucianism) written by samsul hidayat, was written to answer those questions. the author of this book, a lecturer at the state institute of islamic studies (iain) of pontianak, has long been doing a study on confucianism in his capacity as an expert in the field of comparative religion. the book is physically easy to recognize. its cover is red, giving the impression of closeness of the contents of the discussion with the chinese people who have an important role in confucianism in indonesia. the isbn number 978602-9152-86-9 is listed on the back cover. on the left side, there is a black logo of stain pontianak press as the publisher of the book which was printed in october 2012. this book can serve as a great teaching material at the iain, and can also be used for discussion of confucianism, especially confucianism in west kalimantan. in west kalimantan, books related to confucianism are still scarce. the book was edited by amalia irfani, therefore, can fill the shortage. the book is special because it also discusses the festival of cap go meh in singkawang. the collaboration of several ethnic groups in west kalimantan in the feast is also presented in this book. and, from here, it is known that the tatung has not only played an important role in the rituals of the chinese society in singkawang, but also is influential on improving welfare, solidarity, and multiculturalism. discussion related to confucianism in singkawang, west kalimantan is certainly worth reading. the reason is the distinctiveness will illustrate a comparison with confucianism outside west kalimantan. however, to understand more about confucianism, the first part of the discussion can be found in chapter i and chapter iii. the first chapter, an introduction, is divided into three sections. the first part [ 115 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 contains human thought about religion, the reason humans need religion, the human role in religion, and explains the purpose and mission of the presence of the prophet for the people embracing religion. the second part discusses the debate on confucianism as a religion. the views that confucianism is not a religion from various parties are presented in this book. the decline began with the issuance of the presidential instruction during soeharto era, the cabinet meeting on january 27, 1979 stated that confucianism was not a religion. many view that confucianism is not a religion but a culture. however, the view that confucianism is a religion, is presented in this book and can offer an explanation so as to provide reasons for the debate and recognition. this discussion is very interesting. when the majority of people do not kow how to distinguish confucianism between a religion and culture, this book demonstrates the relationship between the two by giving the understanding that the role of religion as a cultural identity becomes a bond for communities. togetherness among the followers of confucianism is also strongly influenced by the matakin, the confucian religious organization. matakin’s vision and mission, not affiliated to any socio-political organizations, are presented inn this book. the organization’s structure and programs are also described here. agreements on the implementation of the congress of matakin were also covered. a long history was summed up without forgetting the struggles and challenges of matakin in defending confucianism at the time. from this book, readers can learn more about the decrees with regard to the status of confucianism from the old order to the reform era which shows a long period of pursuit. chapter iii covers the teachings of confucianism as an important part in the book. the first section in this chapter provides information regarding the concept of religion in confucianism. the answer to the question, “what is confucianism?” can be found here. the eight pillars of the teaching on faith or pat sing ciam kwi are discussed in the next sub sections. pat sing ciam kwi becomes the guidelines in daily life of confucians. the three pillars of faith among eight are the faith of the faith to believe in god the almighty, the faith to uphold kindness, and to be aware of life and spirit. next, the discussion focuses on the concept of god. this concept is described in the classic books of confucianism. one of them is the belief in one true god as the source and origin of all things, the giver of life and protector of mankind. the book also discusses the concept of creation of the universe and the concept of revelation and prophethood. [ 116 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the life story of the confucian prophet can be a learning process for a better life. several important relaters during the prophet of confucianism were presented here as well. in addition, the religious activities of the prophet’s mother when she was pregnant also turn out to have a relationship with the name of the prophet. the important points of confucianism are also discussed in this chapter. the confucian prophet’s family line can also be found in this chapter despite a lack of family background. the next section discusses art. in confucianism art is an integral part. art is discussed as it relates to the construction of the self, faith, ethics and morals taught by the religion. still in chapter iii, art becomes part of the discussion in the form of the relationship between art and religion, human character development and leadership. as mentioned earlier, in chapter iv concerning topics related to religion and culture in singkawang, west kalimantan. this particular discussion differs from other books that deal with confucianism. the facts are there but are not realized by the community. the author elaborated the preservation the chinese culture through celebration. the new identity was discovered in the city of a thousand temples (singkawang) where the celebration of chinese rituals are no longer be exclusive; it belongs the communities of the city. to present more details with regard to confucianism in singkawang, the author divided the discussion into several subtitles: the chinese is our culture too, the exoticism of cap go meh and commodification of culture, and tatung looking for identity. the four topics in the subtitles focus on the celebration of the chinese new year and cap go meh in singkawang. this book is certainly useful to anyone, especially those who want to broaden their knowledge with regard to confucianism in west kalimantan. as a book in the series of inter-religious understanding, this book can bring people to participate in the religious activities to explore the memory of cultural diversity. from these experiences, we might have better understanding of each other. moreover, the community of west kalimantan can no longer be separated from the chinese community in singkawang. [ 261 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 book review the role of chinese social organization in the community of singkawang city pontianak: stain pontianak press, 2012. by samsul hidayat et al. reviewed by suhardiman (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) singkawang is one of the municipalities and part of the sambas district, second largest after the city of pontianak in west kalimantan. based on the historical records presented in this book, at the end of the 18th century, 40,000 chinese people mostly of hakka surnames from fujian and guangdong areas migrated to west kalimantan. they worked as gold miners and paid taxes to the kingdom of sambas, until they set up their own kongsi (clan association) as a confederation, where every partnership or association had its own territory, leaders, regulations and legislation as well as law enforcement and regular army. singkawang city at the time served as a settlement or a village for chinese immigrants, and here people conducted trading activities, such as selling daily staples, farming and working in the mines. trading activities in singkawang were also closely associated with the gold mining business, so singkawang served as a port for trade. the above history is of course inseparable from the presence of several chinese social organizations in the community in the city of singkwang. the book written by samsul hidayat, et al., about the role of chinese social organizations in the community of singkawang in fact reminds us of the past migration process undertaken by the chinese diaspora in west kalimantan, especially in the city of singkwang which is also known as the city of amoy and the city of a thousand temples. in addition, this book further explains the social roles that have been taken by the chinese community through associations or chinese organizations, such as paying attention and appreciation in improving the economic welfare of the community, providing services, providing direct assistance in form of basic needs, as well as mentoring and improving human resources in the field of economy through entrepreneurial training, placement and providing jobs for people in need. besides, there are many other social roles carried out by the chinese social organizations for the community of singkawang, such as in the field of [ 262 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 education in form of tuition assistance and school supplies for the poor, in the health sector from assistance of medical expenses and health facilities to costs of surgery, providing services for all matters of death from the funeral home to burial of the dead. while in the field of religion and culture, it includes the development of the tatung communities and cooperation with the government in increasing inter-religious harmony through cultural and religious festivals. the role of the chinese social organizations in the city of sinagkwang this is certainly not intended only for the chinese alone but also for other ethnic groups. it means assistance and services are provided not only for the interests of ethnic chinese only, but also for the wider community. the role and social functions which are more cosmopolitan and multicultural in nature have made it possible for the chinese organizations to be accepted by the communities of singkwang city. the chinese social organizations in the city singkwang covered in this book, among others are tridharma assembly, indonesia tao council, association of the communities of singkawang and its surrounding area (permasis), forum of communication for ethnic chinese (foket), indonesia confucian religion assembly (makin), death foundation, firefighters foundation, tsu chi foundation, etc., where each has its role and functions in order to contribute to the city of singkawang and its surrounding communities. this book, at least, provides us with an understanding that a community organization built on the basis of ethnicity and culture can also provide the role and social function not only for its own ethnic interests, but it can also promote an open and multiethnic attitude, so this sort of social organization can serve to the peoples of indonesia, especially in the middle of a heterogeneous society. [ 139 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 from guest to host religion: the transformation of islam in papua syamsudin nur universitas islam negeri (uin) a.m. sangadji ambon email: syamsuddin@iainambon.ac.id saidin ernas universitas islam negeri (uin) a.m. sangadji ambon email: saidinernas@ iainambon.ac.id moh. yamin rumra universitas islam negeri (uin) a.m. sangadji ambon email: moh.yamin.rumra@iainambon.ac.id abidin wakano universitas islam negeri (uin) a.m. sangadji ambon email: abidinwakano05@gmail.com mohd haidhar kamarzaman universiti kebangsaan malaysia email: haidar@ukm.edu.my abstract this article examines the dynamics of islamic da’wah in papua, highlighting historical challenges and contemporary transformations within a social, political, and cultural context. this study uses a qualitative approach with historical and social analysis through a review of literature, islamic organizational documents, and narratives from papuan muslim figures. the results show that although islam was the first abrahamic religion to arrive in papua, its spread was hampered by the influence of colonialism and the dominance of christian and catholic missions, which relegated islam to a minority position with an exclusive image. however, over time, islamic da’wah has undergone significant transformation, particularly through educational and empowerment initiatives undertaken by organizations such as nahdlatul ulama, muhammadiyah, and the papuan muslim council. these changes have fostered the emergence of educated and influential papuan muslim figures and strengthened awareness of islamic identity as an integral part of papuan culture. these findings confirm that islamic preaching based on a cultural approach and social empowerment is more effective in transforming the old narrative of islam as a “newcomer religion,” toward recognizing it as a legitimate part of papuan identity. going forward, ethnographic-based research is needed to capture the pulse of papuan muslims at the grassroots level and understand islam as growing from within, [ 140 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 not simply coming from the outside. keywords: transformation of islam; guest religion; host religion; papua introduction the development of islam in west papua is a unique phenomenon of da’wah (propagation) amid the strong influence of christianity, which has shaped the identity of the indigenous people of papua. generally, outsiders perceive west papua as a predominantly christian region in indonesia. meanwhile, islam is a minority religion in papua and is sometimes stigmatized as the religion of immigrants from outside west papua (pamungkas, 2015; yamin et al., 2019). however, historical records about religions in west papua indicate that islam was actually the earliest abrahamic religion to enter the region, especially in the west coast area of papua (wanggai, 2008). areas such as fakfak, kaimana, bintuni, sorong, raja ampat, and merauke have a strong islamic presence. in fact, in regions like fakfak and merauke, islam is the majority religion among the local community. map 1. distribution of religion in papua source; steven the happer, 2023 there are several records about the period islam entered west papua, which is estimated to be around the 14th and 15th centuries (burger, 1960; suwiryadi, [ 141 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 2000; wanggai, 2011; onin, 2006). this estimate is based on various sources, including oral history, records of the sultanates in north maluku, and reports from european explorers. the presence of islam is evidenced by islamic communities, mosques, and various artifacts on the west coast of papua (crawfurd, 1956). at that time, islamic da’wah arrived through trade, marriage, and the expansion of power from the islamic sultanates in north maluku, namely ternate, tidore, bacan, and jailolo, which are known to have extended their influence to west papua. muslim preachers from various countries, supported by the sultans of north maluku, played a significant role in introducing islam to west papua during that period. however, in subsequent developments, especially after the 15th century, islamic da’wah in papua began to fade. one significant cause appears to be the increasingly strong dutch colonial expansion in papua. in addition, the persistent efforts of christian and catholic missions penetrating the interior of papua contributed to christianity becoming the majority religion. islam then became a minority religion and, in a certain context, was sometimes perceived as a migrant force attempting to control christian papua (yamin, 2019; pamungkas, 2015). local political dynamics further worsened the contestation of religious identities, resulting in resistance at the local level. this included the rejection of muslim transmigrants from java who flooded papua during the new order regime. simona sinkiewicz (2020) described transmigration as an instrument of the systematic indonesianization and islamization of papua, which had been ongoing for decades and fueled the increase in the muslim population in papua. this gave rise to resistance and further reinforced the stigmatization of islam as an outsider seeking to dominate papua. this resistance is documented in various research studies and scholarly works published in recent years, which generally highlight the opposition to islamic da’wah (pamungkas, 2015; alhamid, 2014; ernas, 2014; yamin, 2019). this situation has prompted islamic leaders in papua to modify their da’wah methods. the goal is for islam, which has been present in papua since the beginning, to become a religion embraced by the indigenous people and a compelling force for da’wah. initially, islam was spread through doctrines, and in part through the influence of the islamic sultanates in north maluku. now, however, islamic da’wah is adopting a more cultural, engaging, and transformative approach by integrating into educational services. at present, there is an increase in the muslim population among the indigenous papuan people. more importantly, there is a growing awareness to emphasize islamic identity as part of papua’s heritage (ernas, 2019). this shift emphasizes that [ 142 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 papua is not solely christian but also has a muslim community that continues to grow in several regions. studies on islam in papua are a relatively new but increasingly significant area of research, several categories emerge prominently. firstly, there are studies focusing on the historical trajectory of islam in the region (putuhena, 2000; onim, 2006; wanggai, 2008). the researchers research delves into the arrival of islam and the multifaceted dynamics surrounding its establishment. although these works may present varying perspectives on the exact timing of islam’s introduction to papua, they collectively acknowledge islam as the earliest abrahamic religion to enter the region, facilitated by a number of preachers employing strategies such as trade and intermarriage. the second category comprises studies that delve into contemporary islamic da’wah efforts, including the da’wah models implemented by various islamic religious organizations in papua such. for instance, ramdani (2022) discusses the da’wah model devised, while muslim’s article (2004) explores the contributions of indigenous papuan figures to islamic da’wah from the 1930s onwards. the third category comprises studies examining the intricate relationship between religions in papua, particularly the interplay between islam and christianity within the context of local political dynamics (cahyo, 2008; al-hamid, 2014, ernas, 2014). this research highlights how cultural identities, including ethnicity and religion, serve not only as objective markers but also as symbols of power, constructed, contested, and exploited for political goals. however, despite the extent of research on islam in papua, two critical areas remain relatively underexplored. first, existing studies have not adequately addressed why the initial islamic da’wah in papua, as the first abrahamic religion to enter the region, waned while christianity, introduced later, emerged as the dominant religion. second, prevailing studies often portray islam as an external force competing for dominance in a confrontational manner, while christianity is perceived as the indigenous or host religion. consequently, papuan muslims are often viewed with suspicion, being deemed “less papuan” due to their affiliation with a perceived foreign religion. investigating these issues is important for comprehensively understanding the dynamics at play and how papuan muslims navigate their identity in response. this article aims to address several crucial questions, such as why islamic da’wah weakened and what strategic factors contributed to this phenomenon, so that islam is then stigmatized as a guest religion in papua. in addition, it explores the current methods and strategies developed by islamic organizations and muslims in papua to restore the prominence of islamic da’wah in indonesia’s easternmost region. the examination of these issues offers a compelling study [ 143 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 on the development of islamic da’wah in indonesia and provides insights into new methods of islamic da’wah in the archipelago amid ever-changing sociopolitical dynamics. methodologically, this study adopted a social history approach (nata, 1999) complemented by examining islamic da’wah as a means of investigating the spread of islam. this approach is crucial for understanding the social context of the history of da’wah and religious dissemination, which unfolds dynamically within indonesia’s plural society. data for this paper were gathered through a combination of documentation study and library research. the author reviewed numerous existing studies and analyzed various news articles published in electronic media outlets. for this study, the author reviewed over 30 academic works on islam in papua and examined more than 50 online news stories and websites related to papua. the collected data were then categorized and analyzed using an interactive descriptive method (abdullah, 2008). this method involves careful examination and comparison of all available data to ensure the formulation of accurate information, ultimately facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the topic. finally, the study culminates in the development of a conceptual conclusion aimed at addressing the significant questions in the research. the objective is to formulate a conceptual framework concerning the history of islamic da’wah in papua. history and development of islam in west papua papua stands out on the indonesian map not only due to its location at the far eastern tip of the archipelago but also because of its unique and diverse population. alfred russel wallace, in materay (2011), described the papuan people as having dark, brownish, or black skin color, distinct from the negroid race but also differing significantly from malay populations, with rough and dry hair. originally comprising two provinces, papua and west papua, the region has expanded since 2023 to include four additional provinces, currently with a total of six provinces. despite being perceived as homogenous by outsiders, papua is incredibly diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion, and language. alongside local religions and beliefs practiced by various tribes, islam is believed to be the first abrahamic religion to have reached papua, around the 14th and 15th centuries. there are multiple scenarios or versions regarding the arrival of islam in west papua. papuan islamic historian toni wanggai (2008) explained five versions of the beginning of islam’s arrival: the papuan, acehnese, arabic, javanese, and versions associated with bandan, bacan, tidore, and ternate. [ 144 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 in the book “study of the history of the introduction of islam in fakfak,” published by the fakfak regency government in 1996, it is stated that islam was present in papua around 1360 ad, marked by the presence of abdul ghafar from the sultanate of aceh in the fatagar kingdom. ghafar preached for 14 years (1360-1374 ad) in rumbati and its surroundings before his death in 1374 ad. subsequently, around the 14th century, another preacher and sufi named syarif muaz al-qathan, known as the “sheikh of the blue robe,” arrived from the arab peninsula. this aligns with the presence of the tunasgain mosque in fakfak, estimated to be around 400 years old or built around 1587 (putuhena et al., 2006). however, these oral sources require further verification to establish scientific evidence. other scholars, such as j.f. onim (2006:85), propose that islam arrived in papua around the 17th century. onim’s conclusion is based on an analysis of miguel roxo debrito’s report (1581-1582), which indicated that during his visit to the raja ampat islands, king waegeo had not yet converted to islam. thus, the presence of islam in papua is estimated to have emerged around the end of the 16th or early 17th century. the spread of islam in papua followed the archipelagic route, starting from aceh at the tip of sumatra, through java and maluku, before reaching papua. recent consensus among experts suggests that islam’s presence in papua marked the very end of its spread, as subsequent efforts to propagate the religion were interrupted and ceased altogether. ethnographically, two areas in papua maintain close ethnic and cultural ties with the maluku region due to their strategic geographic locations: the raja ampat islands and the onin fakfak peninsula. the raja ampat islands are close to north maluku, while the fakfak region is not far from seram and southeast maluku. these areas have historically been arenas for power struggles between the two dominant sultanates or kingdoms of north maluku, namely the sultanate of ternate and the sultanate of tidore. papuan historiography indicates that the sultanate of tidore exerted greater influence along the coast of the raja ampat islands and the onin fakfak peninsula. onim (2006) highlights that with the influence of these two islamic sultanates in raja ampat, sorong, and fakfak, islam likely entered papua via the southern coast of the bird’s head region. however, the spread of islam in papua did not occur through direct institutional efforts from the sultanates but rather through trade and migration between culturally interconnected regions. this may explain why islam’s development in papua was not uniform and did not penetrate all regions equally. [ 145 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 early forms of da’wah and the spread of islam in papua historians have observed that the islamization process in the west papua peninsula unfolded peacefully. this process is similar to the established pattern of the arrival of islam in the indonesian archipelago, characterized by trade, marriage, and the extension of influence from islamic kingdoms (ricklef, 1983). this pattern is evident in the history of the arrival of islam in west papua. first, islam spread through trading activities, which had been prevalent since the 14th century. papua, known for its spice production, attracted traders seeking products such as nutmeg, cinnamon, agarwood, resin, and masoi bark. cross-island traders, aiming for higher profits, deliberately ventured into papua to acquire these sought-after spices. in the process, they fostered closer interactions with local communities, which were initially challenging to engage with (ernas, 2014). during these interactions, muslim traders introduced islam by teaching locals prayers and various worship rituals in accordance with islamic teachings. an observer of islamic history in papua, kasibi suwiryadi, as quoted by j.f. onim (1997), recounts the process of islamization in fakfak: islam was introduced through the efforts of traders who also assumed the role of preachers. among them was abdul gafar, a preacher from aceh, who arrived in fatagar lama. gafar, in pursuit of spices, traveled to ternate, bacan (north maluku), and eventually misol island. the local community took notice of gafar and his companions’ practices, particularly their prayers—especially zhuhur and asr—conducted in open spaces. residents were intrigued to witness them murmuring with their mouths and facing the wall. one resident remarked, “iangge wagamaning wainbi, ma peti mijaai som yamarri marao rara toto weria faur wai”, which roughly translates to “these people apparently worship the devil, standing facing the wall and talking to themselves.” in fact, traders employed strategies to capture the attention and curiosity of the local people about islam, gradually introducing them to this new religion. the success of these traders in converting papuan people also had economic implications, as it fostered trust in trade relations strengthened by religious bonds. many of these traders settled in the region and formed marital unions with local women. second, islam spread through intermarriage with papuan women. muslim traders and migrants who resided in papua for extended periods often married local women. these marriages served as a means to integrate into society and [ 146 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 introduced islam to the families of their papuan spouses. this method of islamization through marriage was typically employed by traders who stayed in west papua for prolonged durations, aligning their departure with seasonal changes to shipping routes back to the west. some traders chose to remain in papua, becoming influential figures within the community. several legendary marriage stories have left a significant change on the map of islamic da’wah in papua. for instance, the marriage between boki tayyibah, daughter of sultan ibnu mansur from the bacan sultanate, and kapitan gura besi on misol island, west papua. this marriage resulted in the emergence of four muslim kingdoms in the raja ampat islands—the salawati kingdom, the misool/sailof kingdom, the batanta kingdom, and the waegeo kingdom (wanggai, 2006). similarly, the marriage between siti hawa faruk, a female preacher from java (cirebon), and a waegeo figure named kalawen around the 16th century, transformed kalawen into a prominent papuan islamic figure. during the 17th to 18th centuries, strong cultural ties between muslims from east seram and west papua flourished through marriage and kinship connections. despite dutch-managed trading activities concentrated in the company’s markets in ternate, ambon, and banda, eastern seram traders continued to play a crucial role in linking maluku with the sosolot trading network in the raja ampat islands, onin, fakfak, kowiai, and kaimana (budiman, 2019). the presence of cultural remnants between east seram and west papua is evident in linguistic similarities, shared family names, and the naming conventions of numerous villages. cultural acculturation is further illustrated through culinary traditions and historical artifacts obtained from past trade in the papua region. third, islam spread through the influence of the four major islamic sultanates in north maluku: the sultanate of ternate, the sultanate of tidore, the sultanate of bacan, and the sultanate of jailolo. the impact of these islamic sultanates is obvious in the government structures along the coast of west papua, which adopted the royal system introduced by the rulers of ternate and tidore. this differs from the tribal power systems prevalent among papuan rulers in the interior or mountainous regions (mansoebon, 1994). local kings governing in papua’s kingdoms, such as waigeo, batanta, salawati, and misol in the raja ampat islands, or the kingdoms in the fakfak and kaimana areas, fell under the influence of the sultanate of ternate and tidore. these rulers were known to periodically pay tribute (taxes) to the sultan in exchange for protection. moreover, rulers in north maluku dispatched preachers to conduct islamic da’wah in west papua, spreading islam and [ 147 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 teaching malay to the local people. malay subsequently became the lingua franca used for trade and the propagation of islam throughout the indonesian archipelago. intensive power dynamics along the west coastal region of papua have caused rapid growth and development of islam. many communities embraced islam after witnessing their leaders’ conversion from traditional beliefs. this islamic expansion prompted the construction of mosques as places of worship, including the great mosque, built in 1870 and still standing today in pattimburaq village of kokas district in fakfak regency. according to wanggai (2011), the various methods of spreading islam mentioned earlier—through trade, marriage, and the influence of rulers from north maluku—occurred within peaceful relations. muslim traders fostered positive relationships with the local populace, facilitating their access to preach among them. as the traders integrated into the community, they gained social status and respect, leading many to skip returning to their home countries. consequently, several islamic villages emerged, such as arab village, bugis village, and buton village in the west papua region. until the 19th century, the history of such islamic preaching mostly explored areas on the coast of west papua as ports and centers of trade and local power. that is why, the muslim population is greater in coastal areas, or are often referred to by local residents as “coastal people.” meanwhile, the interior of papua remains a mystery that has hardly been touched by preaching for several centuries. islam began to grow in the interior of papua, at the same time as indonesian independence, which was also encouraged by the transmigration policy of the new order government. the end of islamic da’wah, christian domination and the stigma of islam as a guest religion the remarkable development of islam during the 15th to 17th centuries did not sustain its momentum. instead, the da’wah of islam slowed down and eventually halted along the coasts and small islands west of papua. since the 19th century, the expansive spread of christianity and catholicism replaced islam. missionaries from these abrahamic religions penetrated the interiors and jungles of papua, winning over the hearts of the papuan people. christianity emerged as the predominant religion embraced by papuans, relegating islam to a minority status perceived as an external entity. in local discourse, islam is sometimes labeled a “guest religion,”1 not indigenous to the papuans (kamma, 1 the stigma surrounding islam as a “guest religion” is a frequent topic of discussion among papuans. this perception stems from islam’s minority status and its association with [ 148 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 1972; m. ali, 2004; wanggai, 2008; therefore, it is crucial to inquire why islamic propagation in papua ceased or failed to progress after the advent of christianity, resulting in its diminished influence. several explanations can be offered for this phenomenon, with two primary factors standing out: the consolidation of dutch authority over papua and the growing dominance of christianity, shaping papua into a predominantly christian region in indonesia (ernas, 2015; ismail, 2019). wanggai (2008) reveals in his works that dutch colonialists, initially lacking a clear vision for west papua, grew concerned about british presence in the region. consequently, in 1828, the dutch built a fort called “fort du bus” near triton bay. this fort not only affirmed dutch sovereignty over papua but also symbolized their takeover of control from the sultanates of ternate and tidore. muslim communities residing around the fort faced pressure and intimidation from the dutch. with the dutch monopolizing the spice trade, they imposed special permits for traders seeking entry into west papua, gradually diminishing the influx of muslim traders into the region. historian muridan widjoyo (2009) in his book “the revolt of prince nuku, cross-cultural alliance in maluku 1780-1810,” reveals the dramatic shift in power dynamics. the dutch intervention in the authority of the sultans in north maluku, replacing them with individuals they could manage or cooperate with, reduced the sultanate’s influence over the islands of maluku and west papua. moreover, the dutch restricted trader access to papua by issuing special permits (passes). the consolidation of dutch rule over papua facilitated the spread of christianity, highlighted by the arrival of two german missionaries named carl willhelm ottow and johan gottlob geissler on a small island called mansinam, west papua, in 1855. since their arrival, christian missions have flourished extensively in the interior of papua. the missionaries diligently studied the socio-cultural structure of papuan communities and implemented culturally sensitive methods to attract them to the christian faith. ottow and geissler even compiled a numfor language dictionary to aid in mission efforts aimed at winning the hearts of papuan people (abineno, 1986). the absence of a christian prohibition on the papuan habit of consuming pork, a traditional pet among the people in the rural area of papua, also facilitates papuan acceptance of christianity. this contrasts with islamic preachers, who forbid papuans who have converted to islam from consuming immigrants. christianity, on the other hand, is the dominant religion among native papuans. see republika “in papua islam is not a guest religion,” in https://khazanah.republika.co.id/ berita/mc0zn3/di-papua-islam-bukan-agama-tamu-1 [ 149 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 pork, in accordance with islamic teachings. this is not a problem for coastal communities, as other types of animals, such as fish, are readily available. however, for papuan mountain communities, the prohibition on eating pork is seen as a serious conflict with local traditions and culture. the missionaries’ courage and perseverance to penetrate the isolated interiors and jungles of papua constitute a remarkable religious phenomenon. their boldness, coupled with diverse cultural approaches and intensive community empowerment initiatives, deeply resonated with papuans, prompting many to embrace christianity. conversely, systematic efforts by islamic preachers during the early stages of islam’s arrival in papua were largely unsuccessful. in subsequent developments, the dutch government demarcated areas for the propagation of christianity and catholicism in papua. the protestant zending took charge of northern regions such as manokwari and jayapura, while catholic missions oversaw the southern region, stretching from babo, fakfak, to merauke. the christian and catholic churches not only spread religious teachings but also established educational institutions or schools for papuan people during the 19th to 20th centuries. the growing empowerment movement through christian and catholic education fostered a generation of educated christians from indigenous papuan backgrounds. many of these individuals ascended to leadership roles within the church and contributed to the development of christian missions across papua, thus shaping papua’s educational identity rooted in its rich local culture. the predominance of christianity, as the majority religion in papua, fosters the affirmation of identity through various socio-political channels. for instance, there is a push to enact regional regulations grounded in christian religious teachings, commonly referred to as biblical regulations (arowidodo, 2019), as evidenced in manokwari. simultaneously, there are local ordinances concerning places of worship, stipulating that mosque buildings and minarets should not exceed the height of the ridwan church tower (2022). such phenomena are frequently cited as examples of how islam is not regarded as the indigenous religion of the papuan people. consequently, these issues often spark tensions and conflicts between the islamic and christian communities in papua. education as basis for contemporary islamic da’wah in papua during the new order regime in indonesia, the government enforced strict political and security measures in west papua. a security-centric approach aimed at maintaining social order was adopted to quell the separatist [ 150 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 movement led by the free papua organization (organisasi papua merdeka [opm]). in addition, the government initiated development projects in papua and introduced a transmigration program from java to papua. however, in these processes, the government, particularly through the ministry of religious affairs, did not allocate sufficient space for islamic da’wah, fearing it could destabilize security and social order. subsequently, there emerged a new phase for islamic da’wah characterized by two significant developments: the establishment of islamic educational institutions fostering formal religious education, and the increasing influence of islamic religious organizations such as nahdhatul ulama, muhammadiyah, and new entities like al-fatih kaffah nusantara (afkn) founded by charismatic papuan cleric, ustadz fadlan garamatan. the establishment of educational institutions marks a significant transformation in islamic da’wah in papua, which had long been overshadowed by christian missions in the region. the earliest historical record of an islamic educational institution in papua dates back to a religious education center established by habib muhammad ashgar, a cleric from baghdad, in jayapura in 1867, during the mid-nineteenth century. unfortunately, this small madrasah did not persist after ashgar’s passing in 1908 (murtadho, 2015). the next trace of a madrasah emerged in 1929 in mopah, merauke, founded by an acehnese cleric named teuku bujang salim, who, along with several indonesian freedom fighters, was exiled by the dutch to boven digul, papua, for opposing dutch oppression. the papua islamic education foundation (yapis), established in 1968 by anwar ilmar, a muslim official from west sumatra, stands as the most influential islamic educational institution in papua. yapis’s establishment stemmed from concerns over the sluggish development of islamic education in papua, lagging far behind christian education. recognizing that strong islamic education forms a solid foundation for islamic da’wah, yapis was established to address this gap and unify the efforts of various islamic religious organizations in papua, which were often divided along sectarian lines (yapis, 1999). the presence of yapis has garnered not only positive responses from muslims but also from parents of non-muslim students. many non-muslim parents choose to enroll their children in yapis due to its reputation for instilling high levels of discipline and prohibiting behaviors such as alcohol consumption—a prevalent cultural practice among some papuan communities that remains challenging to eradicate. today, yapis holds a position in the eyes of the papuan people similar to that of christian educational institutions that emerged earlier. recent data indicates that yapis has 24 branches across [ 151 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 papua, managing educational institutions ranging from elementary schools to universities, comprising 179 school units and 80 partner schools under its administration. (https://yapispapua.org/data/). since 1970, nahdlatul ulama (nu), through its ma’arif educational institution, has been instrumental in establishing dozens of madrasas ranging from ibtidaiyah [elementary] to aliyah [high school] levels. the largest concentration of these madrasas remains in the sorong and fakfak areas. similarly, around 1984, the leadership of muhammadiyah initiated the establishment of several muhammadiyah schools in papua, culminating in the transformation of a high school in sorong, west papua, into muhammadiyah university. responding to the advocacy of papuan islamic figures, the ministry of religious affairs of the republic of indonesia approved the construction of a state college of islamic studies, known as stain jayapura in 2004, followed by stain sorong in 2006. concurrently, another islamic organization, hidayatullah, has begun asserting its presence in papua by establishing campuses in nearly every district in papua province. currently, hidayatullah operates in sorong, manokwari, biak, fakfak, serui, nabire, jayapura, wamena, merauke, kaimana, timika, as well as in teluk bintuni, raja ampat, and pioneering efforts in asmat, enarotali, and sarmi (http://www.hidayatullah-papuabarat.com/p/sejarah-singkat. html. akses 17/9/ 2014). this strategic focus on education as a cornerstone for da’wah in papua has proven instrumental in advancing the development of islam in the region. dakwah transformations and its implications for islam the continuous growth of islamic education in papua has contributed to the development of a more skilled human resource base in the region. many papuan children now have access to islamic education, with some even traveling to java to receive religious instruction at various islamic institutions. upon their return, these individuals often become influential figures within the local islamic community. moreover, government initiatives such as transmigration programs, which have brought many javanese residents to papua, have significantly increased the muslim population. the opening of shipping routes from java to papua has further facilitated population movement, leading to greater exposure of papuans to new developments in various sectors, including economics, agriculture, and socio-cultural aspects. consequently, new economic hubs are emerging, driven by the growing muslim community at the forefront of these [ 152 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 developments. the growth of islamic education also has broader implications for the islamic da’wah in papua. not only has it led to an increase in the muslim population, but it has also enhanced the quality of religious life in the region. the number of mosques and prayer rooms has increased, with statistics indicating a significant rise from around 300 to 2100 establishments in papua-west papua over the past two decades (central bureau of statistics, 2022). in addition, the growing presence of papuan muslims has strengthened their political influence, allowing them to actively engage in various political processes and assert their identity as a transformative force in the region, challenging previous stigmas of islam as a hegemonic force. another intriguing aspect of the development of islamic da’wah in papua is the emergence of local figures as advocates for islamic outreach. several names gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and have since become increasingly recognized by the public. for instance, hm. aipon asso, a prominent tribal chief in the wamena mountains, underwent conversion to islam along with his entire community or tribal members. asso has played a pivotal role in fostering the growth of the muslim community in the wamena mountains, a role that continues to garner attention today (muslim, 2014). similarly, papuan muslim figures like haji sofyan wanggai have been instrumental in the development of the islamic organization nahdlatul ulama in papua. additionally, h. ismail bauw, also known as raja rumbati, has significantly contributed to islamic preaching in the fakfak area and its environs. among these figures, ustad fadlan garamatan stands out as a prominent contemporary islamic preacher. his efforts to spread islam, particularly in remote areas of papua, have been remarkable. ustad fadlan’s emphasis on promoting clean and healthy living habits as part of his preaching method has resonated with many papuans, contributing to the conversion of several tribes to islam. his organization, al-fatih kaffah nusantara (afkn), is actively involved in da’wah activities, education, and community empowerment, further solidifying his influence and reputation as a native papuan religious leader. despite the development in islamic da’wah outlined above, it has not managed to challenge the hegemony of christianity, which has entrenched itself in various regions over time. papua continues to be perceived as christian territory, relegating muslim papuans to the status of allies of other muslim immigrants. this situation is compounded by escalating social conflicts between the papuan people and the central government in jakarta, which is perceived to discriminate against papuans. protests and demonstrations [ 153 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 against the government frequently drag muslim communities in a climate of conflict and unrest. while the muslim population in papua and west papua is gradually reaching an equal number with christians, muslims are often perceived as immigrants who have contributed to indonesia’s dominance over papua. consequently, islam is viewed as the religion of immigrants rather than a native papuan religion. nevertheless, in places like fakfak, kaimana, and merauke, islam either equals or exceeds christianity in terms of followers. this growing religious diversity underscores the significance of religious outreach efforts, particularly as an increasing number of native papuans embrace islam. table. 1 population based on religion in papua and west papua provinces region islam christianity catholicism hindu buddhism others papua province 320.442 689.401 60.374 1484 1602 51 west papua province 213.230 298.229 47.009 585 281 27 total source: indonesian ministry of religious affairs, 2023 asserting muslim identity: embracing the role of host religion despite christianity and catholicism maintaining their dominant positions as the majority religions in papua, the displayed data illustrates a gradual growth of muslims, both in terms of population and through various missionary movements. this trend is beginning to create opportunities to enhance the position of islam, moving away from being perceived solely as an outsider religion to being accepted as a ‘host’ religion. a ‘host’ religion is one that is recognized as an integral part of papuan culture and society, free from discrimination due to its minority status. this ongoing struggle for acceptance can be observed during significant moments for muslims in papua, particularly following the region’s attainment of special autonomy status from the indonesian government. a thesis by cahyo pamungkas (2008) on islamic papua and special autonomy serves as an illustration of how minority muslim papuans navigate their religious identity within the predominantly christian society of papua. pamungkas showcases their efforts to negotiate their identity by adopting a [ 154 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 flexible approach, blending elements of islam with their papuan identity. this involves contesting their cultural identity amidst the dynamic of immigrant muslims and papuan christians in the realm of identity politics. such dynamics became more pronounced during the 1998 reform era in indonesia, prompting demands for special autonomy among papuans who perceived unfair treatment. after extensive study and debate, the government enacted law no. 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua. however, the implementation of special autonomy has brought forth several significant implications for sociopolitical developments in papua. these implications are not only observed in major cities such as jayapura and manokwari but also in regions like fakfak, kaimana, raja ampat, sorong, and merauke, which host considerable muslim populations. one notable impact is the prevalence of identity politics, which manifests as symptoms of ethnocentrism. according to levaan (2012), special autonomy has been interpreted as the freedom to determine one’s destiny based on ethnic sentiments. this interpretation has led the entire political elite in papua to advocate for the requirement that the governor, deputy governor, regent, and deputy regent in papua must be native papuans. as a consequence of the special autonomy provisions favoring the melanesian race in papua, many papuan muslim communities face challenges regarding their papuan identity. they are deemed insufficiently aligned with papuan identity due to various differences in biological and cultural characteristics, including religion. consequently, their political rights as papuans are called into question. papuan muslims frequently encounter stigmatization through narratives that portray them as less authentically papuan, aligned with the indonesian military, or supportive of the indonesian state. consequently, they are subjected to numerous attacks and legal challenges. furthermore, special autonomy is often construed as a right exclusively for papuans, thereby excluding papuan muslims at times. another emerging issue in the current context of local bureaucratic segregation in papua is the politicization of papuan identity, which has led to the division of papuans into distinct social strata. this informal categorization, often referred to as papua b1, b2, b3, and b4, delineates the “status” of papuan individuals based on their lineage. papua b1 denotes those born in papua to both papuan parents, as indicated by specific surnames. papua b2 refers to individuals born in papua to papuan fathers but with mothers from immigrant ethnic groups. papua b3 comprises those born in papua to papuan mothers and immigrant fathers. meanwhile, papua b4, the lowest tier, includes individuals born and raised in papua in recent years but with both parents originating from immigrant [ 155 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 ethnicities. this segregation has become particularly noticeable during civil service recruitment and the promotion of regional officials. such conditions pose a significant challenge for the multicultural community in papua, particularly the muslim minority. this situation prompted papuan muslims to take action, leading to the establishment of a unifying platform known as the papuan muslim council (majelis muslim papua [mrp]). this organization, as described by cahyo pamungkas (2008), evolved from the papuan muslim solidarity (solidaritas muslim papua [smp]) group, which was founded by 47 muslim leaders from diverse tribes in papua on november 21, 1999. it appears that smp emerged in response to the shifting political landscape in papua following the implementation of special autonomy, which further entrenched the christian identity of the region. muslims representing various tribes in papua sought to assert their presence and identity through smp. on april 10-13, 2007, the papuan muslim solidarity (smp) was established at the papua hajj dormitory, later renamed the papuan muslim council (mmp). the administrators of mmp focused on forging alliances and uniting key islamic organizations in papua, such as nahdhatul ulama and muhammadiyah, as well as the islamic student association (hmi) jayapura branch and the jayawidjaya muslim community forum (fkmj). simultaneously, they aimed to strengthen the position of indigenous papuan muslims who felt marginalized during the post-reform political instability in papua. mmp fostered communication and collaboration with the papuan people’s council (mrp), established in accordance with the special autonomy law. mmp is comprised of indigenous papuan muslim figures like arobi a. aituarow, who serves as its chairman. figures such as arobi act as cultural intermediaries with the diverse tribal groups in papua (pamungkas, 2008). in addition, mmp establishes networks with church communities in papua and frequently advocates against human rights violations faced by indigenous papuans. criticisms leveled by mmp against the government, particularly towards the indonesian national armed forces (tni) and indonesian national police (polri) officials, are sometimes viewed as aligning with the pro-m faction led by toha alhamid. however, this alignment ultimately benefits and solidifies mmp’s position as an organization representing papuan muslim identity amidst the ongoing political turmoil between the unitary state of the republic of indonesia [nkri] and independence in papua. the efforts of mmp to advocate for the identity of papuan muslims have garnered support from media activists. an editor of the papua women’s tabloid (tspp), [ 156 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 as cited by cahyo pamungkas (2008), hailed the establishment of mmp as an example demonstrating that papua is not solely dominated by christians but also comprises muslims. mmp endeavors to portray islam and papua as two integrated sub-cultures. the presence of mmp emphasizes the strong effort to secure a bargaining position, particularly in defining islam and papua. it asserts that muslims are not transient religious adherents who recently arrived in papua and are relegated to second-class citizenship. rather, religious communities have a longstanding legacy in papua with distinctive religious identities that deserve respect. despite many muslims not being indigenous papuans, this reality does not diminish the muslim identity among papuans, which continues to grow steadily. efforts to articulate islam as part of papuan identity, as demonstrated by the papuan muslim council, can indeed be read as an affirmative strategy, presenting islam as an integral element in papua’s socio-political landscape (fachruddin, 2020; pamungkas, 2015). however, an identity politics-based approach that overly emphasizes religious symbolism has the potential to create polarization, particularly in the papuan context, where relations between islam and christianity have long formed a relatively coexistent social space (widjojo, 2010). although the muslim population in papua is growing, this has not necessarily shifted the social construct that still views islam as a “newcomer religion,” a stigma reinforced by a history of migration and transmigration since the new order era (tebay, 2009; sienkiewicz, 2020). in this context, islamic da’wah that emphasizes a cultural, participatory approach and the empowerment of indigenous papuans holds greater promise as an integrative strategy. as abdullah (1999) emphasized, islam has a long history of acculturation with local cultures—and it is precisely through this process that islam gains social legitimacy. therefore, redefining islam’s position in papua should not be solely through representative politics, but through deep-rooted cultural initiatives that establish islam as a social and cultural partner in building papua in an inclusive and civilized manner. thus, islam in papua is not simply a “guest religion” but an authentic part of contemporary papuan cultural entities. conclusion this research shows that although islam was the first abrahamic religion to enter papua, its spread did not continue to be widespread and profound, especially in the west coast. as a result, islam tends to be perceived as a religion [ 157 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 of immigrants, not part of indigenous papuan identity. colonial domination and the expansion of christian missions have reinforced islam’s marginal position in the papuan religious landscape. however, recent developments in islamic da’wah (islamic outreach) have shown a more transformative direction. through education-based and empowerment approaches by organizations such as nahdlatul ulama (nu), muhammadiyah, alhidayah, and the papuan muslim council (mui), muslims have begun to play an active role in shaping an inclusive papuan identity. this signifies an effort to reposition islam no longer as a “guest religion” but as part of papuan culture itself. this interdisciplinary research opens up space for dialogue between the history, sociology, and anthropology of religion. however, limitations of this study lie in the limited ethnographic data from grassroots muslim communities and the lack of exploration of local religious expressions. furthermore, more in-depth research into the religious experiences of papuan muslims at the community level, as well as integrative studies of the relationship between islam and local culture, is needed. an interdisciplinary approach combining contextual theology, identity studies, and the sociology and anthropology of religion would be highly relevant to understanding the dynamics of islam in the ever-changing papuan context. bibliography abdullah, m.a. (1999). islam dan kearifan lokal. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. alhamid, i. (2014). jayapura dalam transformasi agama dan budaya; memahami akar konflik islam dan kristen di tanah papua. yogyakarta: unpublished disertation at university of gajah mada. abineno, j.l.ch. (1986).  pekabaran injil di irian jaya: suatu uraian historis. majalah badan penelitian dan pengembangan persekutuan gereja-gereja di indonesia. ajoi, k. sekolah ypk di papua; sejarah singkat pendidikan di kepala burung. in jubid.id. https://arsip.jubi.id/sekolah-ypk-di-papua-sejarah-singkat-pendidikan-di-kepala-burung/ arowidodo, e. (2019). harmoni relasi islam kristen pasca penetapan raperda kota injil di manokwari. pamekasan: duta media publising. boimasa, m. (2021). metode dakwah ustadz fadhlan rabbani al garamatan dalam menyebarkan islam di suku pedalaman papua. unpublished thesis at uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta. [ 158 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 budiman, h. (2019). ke timur haluan melaju, studi pendahuluan tentang integrasi sosial, jalur perdagangan, adat dan pemuda di kepulauan kei. jakarta: populi center. burger, dh. (196)0. sedjarah ekonomis sosiologis indonesia. jakarta: pradnya paramita. crawfurd, j. (1856). a descriptive dictionary of indian indian island and adjacent countries (london) ernas, s. (2014). integrasi sosial di papua barat; studi tentang dinamika perdamaian pada masyarakat fakfak di propinsi papua barat. yogyakarta: unpublished disertation at university of gadjah mada. fachruddin, m. (2020). politik identitas dan muslim papua: studi atas peran majelis muslim papua. jurnal politik dan keislaman, vol. 11, no. 2. iribaram, s. (2011). satu tungku tiga batu (kerjasama tiga agama dalam kehidupan sosial di fakfak. yogyakarta: unpublished thesis at university of gadjah mada. kamma, f.c. (1972). the corery messianic movement in the biak numfor culture are. mansoben, (1994). sistem politik tradisional di irian jaya, studi perbandingan. leiden; university of leiden. murtadlo, m. (2015). perkembangan madrasah di tanah papua. al-qalam; jurnal penelitian agama dan sosial budaya, vol. 21 no. 2 (2015). muslim, a, (2014). dakwah peka kultur ala aipon aso; potret keberislaman pegunungan tengah papua. jurnal multikultural & multireligius vol. 13 no. 3. pamungkas, c. (2015). the contestation of muslim and special autonomy in papua. religio jurnal studi agama-agama, vol. 5 no. 1 (2015), https:// doi.org/10.15642/religio.v5i1.581 putuhena, s. at.al., (2006). sejarah masuknya islam di fakfak. fakfak: pemda fakfak. onim, j.f. (2006). islam dan kristen di tanah papua; meniti jalan bersama hubungan islam dan kristen hubungan islam dan kristen dalam sejarah penyebaran dan dan perjumpaannya di wilayah semanjung onin. bandung; jurnal info media. ricklefs, m.c., (1983). a history of modern indonesia. london: the macmillan press ltd. [ 159 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 ridwan, (2022). radikalisme islam, pembangunan perdamaian, dan dialog antar agama di papua. in jurnal ilmu ushuluddin, vol. 21, no. 1 (2022) saiba, h. (2019). muatan kepentingan orang asli papua dalam peraturan daerah di provinsi papua dan papua barat. in jurnal ilmu hukum alethea, vol. 2, no. 2 (2019). sienkiewicz, s. (2020). religion and internal migrations in the processes of indonesianisation and islamisation of west papua. annales umcs, sectio k (politologia), 2020, vol 27, issue 1. suwiryadi, k. (2000). sejarah dakwah islam dan perkembangannya di irian jaya. unpublshed paper presented at sarasehan sejarah islam di irian jaya, merauke. tebay, n. (2009). dialog jakarta–papua: solusi damai. jakarta: penerbit buku kompas. wanggai, t. v. m. (2008). rekonstruksi sejarah umat islam di tanah papua. jakarta: unpublished disertation at universitas islam negeri syarif hidayatullah. widjoyo, m. s. (2009). the revolt of prince nuku: cross-cultural alliance-making in maluku, c. 17801810. leiden &boston. ----------(2010). papua road map: negotiating the past, improving the present and securing the future. jakarta: lipi press. yamin, a. et.al., (2019). being minority in papua; religious and political identity struggle of dani muslims. al albab, volume 8 number 1 june 2019. yayasan pendidikan islam (yapis), (1999). sejarah pendidikan islam yapis di irian jaya. jayapura: yapis irian jaya. [ 160 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3668 [ 113 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 the existence of kaharingan within dayak identity in west kalimantan moch riza fahmi department of religious studies uin sunan gunung djati bandung email: emharizafahmi@iainptk.ac.id.com asep muhyiddin department of religious studies uin sunan gunung djati bandung email: asepmuhyiddin1957@gmail.com abstract identity is a fluid and adaptive phenomenon that suits the needs of its users. identity is often used as a tool by certain groups for certain purposes, for example as a form of resistance or as a means to show the existence of a group. in west kalimantan, the kaharingan religion reveals its existence in the dayak identity. this paper aims to explore the existence of the kaharingan religion in the dayak community in west kalimantan, especially when there is a rift between ethnic groups. the rifts between ethnic groups in west kalimantan are commonly referred to as social conflicts that occurred around the 1990s. this paper was based on literature research data using historical and phenomenological approaches. the historical approach was used to describe the history of the dayak ethnicity, the kaharingan religion and the history of social conflicts between 1997 and 1999 in west kalimantan, while the phenomenological approach is used to analyze the phenomenon of the existence of the kaharingan religion when social conflicts occurred. the results showed that the existence of the kaharingan religion was on the rise during the 1997-1999 social conflicts among the dayaks. the emergence of the kaharingan religion could be seen in the rituals, such as the nyaru tariu, mangkok merah, and tiwah ceremonies. despite the fact that some of the dayaks at that time were already catholics and protestants, they performed the rituals of the kaharingan religion. after the 1997-1999 social conflicts, the kaharingan religion was institutionally declared on may 16, 2019 in bengkayang regency under the name of the indonesian kaharingan religious council (maki) west kalimantan. keywords: existence; kaharingan; dayak identity, west kalimantan introduction social conflict that occurs between groups (inter-group social conflict) in civil society involves a crisis of socio-cultural pluralism and has nuances of social identity. such conflicts frequent occurred in indonesia following the economic [ 114 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 crisis and the fall of the new order regime in 1997. in ethno-communal nuanced conflicts, it is very clear that there are parties who carry political attributes of ideological identity, inter-religious identity, group identity or also differences in sects within the same religion (sectarian conflict), as well as differences in origin or descent as the main differentiators of groups prosecuting each other, making claims on disputed issues, as well as the radicalization of identity differences, the radicalization of communalism and the adherence to bounded rationality which triggers “class consciousness” (class consciousness proposed by marx) in conflicting groups. it is inevitable that these things are responsible and reinforce incentives for each member of the community to have dispute with members of other groups and if possible, they will make efforts to eliminate each other (eliminating strategy). this notion of social conflict is adopted by sociologists who base their analysis on differences in the socio-cultural basis (in the perspective of culturalism) adopted by society. the social conflicts that occurred between 1997 and 1999 between ethnic groups in west kalimantan were dark events for the community which resulted in the deaths of 1004 people (1997) and 481 people (1999). since the 1960s, there have been nine major conflicts in west kalimantan, eight of which were conflicts between the madurese migrants and the dayaks, and only one with sambas malays. based on a study by elsam (institute for community studies and advocacy) that almost all dayak traditional community leaders along with dayak academics share similar analyses and arguments about the root causes of ethnic conflict, namely injustice in almost all social, economic, political, cultural, and legal aspects experienced by the indigenous dayaks, making them marginalized in such a way. apart from the root of the problem, it is evident that the series of conflicts have brought suffering to the victims. whereas the neglect of the rights of indigenous people, making violence a manifestation to restore those rights, actually results in the same serious consequences, human rights violations against immigrant communities. in lewis a. coser’s analysis (coser, 1956; doyle paul johnson, 1986), conflict and society have separate functions which do not have to be detrimental or dysfunctional for the system in which the conflict occurs, but that conflict can have positive or beneficial consequences for the system. in other words, conflict serves as a stimulus for integration between groups. normatively it means that social conflict is a necessity in society which is motivated by fights or differences in interests between super-ordinates (rulers) who always try to maintain power (status quo) and even increase power. while the subordinate party (which is controlled) wants to gain power (equal distribution of power and power retribution). [ 115 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 as the sampit riot indirectly boosted the morale of the dayak ethnic community and also the kaharingan religion, the dayaks who have converted to major religions, saw how kaharingan could help them in fighting the madurese. the kaharingan religious ceremonies which they had abandoned before, once again came into practice. seeing this fact, some members of the community from the dayak ethnic group who have embraced major religions have return to their faith in kaharingan. according to our informants, there were several households that returned to the kaharingan belief. in the tanah putih area, for example, in the wake of the riots, there were three households that return to the kaharingan faith. in other cases, many families who had never prayed at the basarah hall before returned there to pray (marjanto, 2011). similar saces also occurred in west kalimantan where the social conflict has resurrected the existence of the kaharingan religion as the original religion of the dayaks which has a history of dayak culture, so we were interested in researching the extent of the existence of the kaharingan religion when the social conflict occurred between 1997 and 1999. this paper was based on a study using the library research method and documentation in journals that discuss social conflict in west kalimantan, as well as documentation available on the internet, such as on youtube, etc., with a historical and phenomenological approaches. the historical approach was used to explain the history of the kaharingan religion and the history of social conflict in between 1997 and 1999 in west kalimantan, while the phenomenological approach was used to analyze the phenomenon of the existence of the kaharingan religion during and after the social conflicts. ethnicity and social relations in west kalimantan historically, indonesia is in fact not a social-conflict free nation. the rise and fall, and expansion of government power of the hindu (such as majapahit) and islamic (mataram) kingdoms in the indonesian archipelago involved strategies of social conflict which even became their mode of struggle. the history of the modern national movement initiated by budi utomo was also filled with conflicts and struggle, and class-consciousness between the colonized and the colonist (the netherlands). the year 1945 was the highest point of conflict process which was marked by the birth of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia through a struggle and conflict journey which was exhausting and claimed many lives. even today, social conflict continues to occur repeatedly and continuously replicates itself from one place to another in various forms throughout indonesia. it appears that social conflict has now has become part of the “routine and [ 116 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 daily life” of indonesian society. the intensity and spread of social conflicts are on the rise in line with the many incidents reported in the news of the mass media. the appearance of news about social conflict in newspapers and television has created a “socialization process” which has unknowingly formed opinions about differences for members of society in other places to imitate the process of “solving problem through violence” for similar problems found in their area. (dharmawan, 2007). in general, there are two approaches to explaining the factors that lead to conflict in kalimantan, namely: cultural and structural (cahyono, 2008; banawiratma and muller, 1995). the culturalist view says that west kalimantan and central kalimantan have almost equal levels of religious and ethnic populations, making these regions “vulnerable” to conflict due to the absence of a dominant culture. the assumption is that areas with high heterogeneity have a greater potential for conflict. in this view, inter-religious and ethnic relations are manifested in conflict rather than assimilation. in assimilation each diversity creates religious, social, and cultural symbiosis through models of conformity, melting pot, and cultural pluralism, but conflicts occur in the form of population transfer, subjugation, and genocide. it should also be noted that culturally, as a legacy since the dutch colonial period, ethnic dayaks have always been people of the interior with various stigmas—savages, bloodthirsty, pengayau (head hunters), uncivilized—so that they experience and inherit a kind of “cultural and religious wounds”. as a result, they have become a sensitive, emotional, and easily reactive community. meanwhile, the structuralist view believes that communal conflict is never purely ethnic in nature. the conflict is related to structural factors in the form of unequal power relations, in which marginalized people tend to strengthen communal bonds and become more militant. still according to the structuralist view, ignas kleden said “inter-ethnic relations only lead to hostility and violence if the differences between one ethnic group and another are accompanied by religious, political or economic domination by one ethnic group over another” (kleden in sa’dun, 1999: 152-153). it all begins with the uneven development felt among the people, to the massive deforestation and deagrarianization that has occurred in west kalimantan, central kalimantan, and the whole kalimantan regions in general. apart from the two analyzes above, the spread of conflict is often caused—perhaps even made worse—by failed efforts to localize it to stop violence, or in some cases there are indications of “connivance” and the absence of the state as the party that should practice democracy and uphold human dignity. this assumption is of course inseparable from the pattern of conflict resolution which so far has [ 117 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 been top down and limited to ceremonial formalities. inter-religious relations in west kalimantan are also reflected in inter-ethnic relations. in the ethnic conflict in sambas regency, west kalimantan, the malays had a direct clash with the madurese. later, the dayaks—which had been in conflict with the madurese—joined the malays to fight the madurese. why was the dayak involvement possible in the ethnic conflict in west kalimantan in 1999? it has a long history. according to tjilik riwut’s notes, there has been interaction between the dayaks and the malays for a long time. the relationship between the dayaks and the malays has been built naturally through marriage. this marriage is a natural-starting mechanism that enables the process of inter-ethnic adaptation form a very effective social cohesion. this genealogical unity factor then becomes an explanation for the malay conflict as well as the dayak conflict with the same enemy: the madurese. in reverse logic, aritonang said that the dayaks who converted to islam (malays) in the conflict with the madurese generally sided with the christian and kaharingan dayaks. interestingly, in the ethnic conflict in sambas, both the dayaks and the malays identified themselves as a cultural unit because of a common ancestor. this ancestral unity is actually not difficult to trace to the mythology of adam as the ancestor of the dayak people. the dayaks, despite being christians or practicing the kaharingan religion, or having converted to islam (becoming malays) due to marriage, they bind themselves in primordial belief in adam as a common ancestor. (steenbrink, 1998; riwut, 2003) in general, the tendency for social conflicts to occur in west kalimantan follows the trend in indonesia. meanwhile, the patterns of social conflict (form, background or root causes of the conflict, depth and scale of the conflict) are not much different. table 1. events of social conflicts in west kalimantan 1991-2003 year of occurrence frequency of occurrence number of deaths number of people injured number of buildings destroyed number of public buildings destroyed 1991 1 1 0 0 3 1993 2 1 1 0 0 1994 1 0 0 0 1 1995 3 0 4 0 0 1996 5 3 17 268 4 1997 17 1004 356 2406 6 [ 118 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 1998 2 4 12 0 0 1999 28 481 180 942 7 2000 10 8 46 9 5 2001 3 6 12 25 1 2002 3 6 8 40 0 2003 3 1 5 3 2 source: unsfir 2004 events of social conflict in west kalimantan province took place the greatest and highest in intensity in 1997 and in 1999 (see table 1.). socioculturally, differences in racial identity, ethnicity, religions and socio-cultural characteristics between social groups living in this area explain why social conflicts took place. on the other hand, the results of al-qadri’s research (1999) found that malays were around 47% including the dayaks who converted to islam and declared themselves malays, dayak 37%, chinese 12%, javanese 3%, madurese 3%, bugis 2 %, sundanese 1% and the remaining 2% other ethnic groups. meanwhile, the percentage of sambas population based on ethnicity is malay 47%, dayak 28%, chinese 11%, madurese 9.4% and the remaining 4.6% of the total number of approximately 791,937 people in 1996 and nearly 900,000 people in 1999. based on population data for the province of west kalimantan based on religion in semester 2 of 2019. religion male female total islam 1.669.219 1.594.439 3.263.658 christianity 325.510 301.553 627.063 catholicism 626.607 579.978 1.206.585 hinduism 1.574 1.359 2.933 buddhism 169.424 155.651 325.075 confucianism 6.952 6.088 13.040 traditional beliefs 903 773 1.676 regarding the data above, the possibility of a “cultural clash” and competition to “dominate” is so high that the ‘seeds’ of ethnic conflict are prone to emerge, because the majority group will certainly be tempted to control and maintain the power of strategic institutions. from the point of view of ethnic diversity, it will somehow affect communication, thus causing disharmony between ethnic groups. as usual, each ethnic group will always maintain its culture and norms. (humaydi, 2007) [ 119 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 the history and diversity of the dayaks the term “dayak” is a designation for the natives of the island of kalimantan (borneo). the island of kalimantan is divided based on the administrative area which governs its respective territory consisting of: east kalimantan with the capital of samarinda, south kalimantan with the capital of banjarmasin, central kalimantan with the capital of palangka raya, west kalimantan with the capital of pontianak, and north kalimantan with the capital of tanjung selor. the dayaks are divided into 405 sub-tribes (j.u.lontaan, 1974). each dayak sub-tribe has similar customs and culture, according to their society, customs, culture, and language that are unique to each of these sub-tribes of both the dayaks in indonesia and those in sabah and sarawak malaysia. ethnic dayak in kalimantan, according to j.u. lontaan (1974), consists of 6 major tribes and 405 small sub-tribes spread throughout the interior of kalimantan (borneo). they call themselves a group that comes from an area based on the name of the river, the name of the hero, the name of nature, etc. for example, the iban tribe originates from ivan (in the kayan language, ivan means wanderer). according to other sources, they call themselves the batang lupar tribe, because they come from the batang lupar river, the border area between west kalimantan and sarawak, malaysia. mualang, was taken from the name of a respected figure (manok sabung/executioner) in tampun juah and this name was immortalized as the name of a tributary of the ketungau river in the sintang regency area and then made into the name of the dayak mualang tribe. dayak bukit (kanayatn/ahe) comes from bukit/ gunung bawang, as well as the origin of the dayak kayan, kantuk, tamambaloh, kenyah, benuag, ngaju, desa and others, who have their own historical backgrounds. (j.u lentaan, 1975). they live scattered throughout the interior of kalimantan, both those living in indonesia and those domiciled in sabah and sarawak, malaysia. the dayak tribes spread along the rivers downstream and then inhabited the coast of the island of borneo. historically, they once established a kingdom. in the dayak oral tradition, it is often called “nansarunai usak jawa”, namely a nansarunai dayak kingdom which was destroyed by majapahit, which is estimated to have occurred between 1309-1389. this incident resulted in the dayak tribe being pushed and scattered, some of them entered the hinterlands. most of the dayaks who embrace islam no longer recognize themselves as dayaks, but instead refer to themselves as “malay” or “banjar”. meanwhile, the dayaks who do not embrace islam settle along the river, entering the interior [ 120 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 of kalimantan. in south kalimantan, for example, they live around the areas of kayu tangi, amuntai, margasari, watang amandit, labuan lawas and watang balangan. others continue to build settlements the jungle. the dayaks who embraced islam were mostly in south kalimantan and parts of kotawaringin. one of the famous sultans of the banjar sultanate was lambung mangkurat who was a dayak maanyan or ot danum whose name was immortalized as the name of lambung mangkurat university in banjarmasin (fridolin, 2000). on the other hand, the dayaks have a tradition of shifting cultivation, from year to year they look for forests that are considered fertile for farming as a livelihood. in the end, after years, tens of years, hundreds of years and even tens of thousands of years, in the end, almost all remote areas of the interior of kalimantan have been settled by the dayaks. each dayak tribe develops its own culture. in other words, the culture developed by the dayak-iban is not exactly the same as the culture developed by the dayak-punan, etc. however, all the dayak sub-tribes have a unique weapon called mandau. in everyday life this weapon is inseparable from its owner. wherever they go, they always carry the mandau because it also serves as a symbol of honor for them. for the dayaks, becoming malay due to religious (islamic) factor can have two meanings: on the one hand, they deny their ancestral power, but on the other hand, there is a feeling of increasing their social status compared to their previous lives. riwut even argues that the dayaks who have converted to islam and thus officially become malays, have been actually inseparable from the pattern of community development since the colonial period. the dutch colonial government gave privileges to the malays to develop themselves in the fields of trade and politics, while the dayaks tended to be isolated and far from access to power, politics and the economy. (riwut, 2003). even the colonial education policies implemented by the feudal powers during the pontianak sultanate were closed to the dayaks. if a an ethnic dayak wanted to go to high school and enter into the civil service, they had to to give up their power and embrace islam. (salim, 1996). on the other hand, this colonial policy can also be seen in the cultural politics of “old yeast” which places dayak culture in trouble and must be replaced with a new culture, namely western (christian). (adyanta, 2011). the appearance of local christians (dayaks) with the outer form or “clothing” in the western style is one of the difficult points for christianity to take root, including in dayak lands. west kalimantan province has its own uniqueness in the process of acculturation or the transfer of a religious culture to the local community. in this case the process is closely related to the three largest ethnic groups in west kalimantan, namely chinese, dayak, malay (known locally as tidayu). at [ 121 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 first, the dayaks inhabited the coastal areas of west kalimantan, living with their own traditions and culture, then traders came from gujarat who were muslims (malay arabs) with the aim of buying and selling goods from and to the dayaks. then because they often interacted, back and forth taking and delivering merchandise to and from the malacca straits (a trade center in the past), they to wanted to settle in new areas that have great trade potential for profits. the frequent process of buying and selling goods, and cultural interactions, caused the coast of west kalimantan to become crowded, visited by local people (dayaks) and arab-malay traders from the malacca strait. during this time, the religious system of the dayaks began to be influenced by the malay traders who had already learned islamic knowledge, education and religion from outside kalimantan. because harmonious relations were well established, the local community, some had sympathy for the gujarat traders, islam was accepted and widely known in 1550 ad in the tanjung pura kingdom during the reign of giri kusuma which was a malay kingdom that later began spreading throughout the area of west kalimantan. the dayaks who converted to islam and married malay migrants are called “senganan”, or know to have entered the senganan (entered the sea), and now they claim to be malays. they appointed a figure they respected, either from their ethnic group or migrant with the same religion and had charisma in their circle, as the leader of their village or the leader of a region they respected. along with the social development of society and the advancement of knowledge, the dayaks who are muslim call themselves “dayak muslim”. the strengthening of muslim dayak identity is driven by social change which includes aspects of politics, economy, education and local culture as happened in melawi regency to the katab kebahan dayaks who believe that their dayak identity must be preserved because it is a legacy from their ancestors who have a long history and rooted in the kebahan dayak culture for a long time which must be preserved as local wealth (prasojo, 2012). there are muslim dayak organizations that have been established such as the west kalimantan islamic dayak family association (ikdi) as a form of strengthening ethnic identity and reaffirming their ethnicity so that they do not disappear due to embracing religions recognized by the government. in addition to embracing islam, some of the dayaks of west kalimantan also embrace catholicism/christianity as a result of the impact of catholicization after the operation to crush the sarawak people’s guerrilla forces (pgrs) in 1966-1974. catholicization with the arrival of 3,000 civil servant teachers from east nusa tenggara (ntt) who were catholics in the period of 1978-1982. the arrival of these catholic teachers was facilitated by the provincial government [ 122 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 of west kalimantan and the tanjungpura regional military command xii at that time in order to ensure that they would not be exposed to communism. the dayaks were required to embrace one of the major religions recognized by the government, during which the religious program (islamization) did not work as expected, especially propagation by islamic religious leaders who were members of the mui. seeing this reality, an internal meeting was held within the west kalimantan provincial government on september 17, 1976 in pontianak, the governor of west kalimantan, brigadier general kadarusno, decided to bring in three thousand (3000) civil servant catholic teachers from ntt. this consideration was based on the fact that catholicism would be accepted by the dayaks while the muslim teachers who had been sent were considered unable to integrate with the dayaks at that time because they could only stay there for a few months (kristanus, 2020). this collaboration was welcomed by the governor of ntt eltalli and was implemented from 1978 to 1982. these catholic teachers were placed in several inland areas of the dayaks who had not embraced a religion recognized by the government in several sub-districts of sintang and melawi. these catholic teachers were given the additional task of teaching catholicism to the dayaks. the religious program (catholicization) had tosome extent contributed the fading community beliefs based on local culture, and the kaharingan religion began to be abandoned by the dayaks of west kalimantan. in addition, the dayaks also converted to a state-recognized religion due to security reason so that the government and the military would not regard them as followers of rebel movements such as the pgrs [sarawak people’s guerrilla forces] and the pki [indonesian communist party]. kaharingan religious rituals in times of social conflict according to many observers (a cultural approach), ethnic conflict between the malays --assisted by the dayaks-and the madurese in sambas regency occurred due to a “clash of values” which for a long time had existed in the process of inter-ethnic assimilation and cultural assimilation which did not occur). as a migrant community, the madurese lived in an exclusive environment even though they were already a generation born in sambas. conformity, which implies that newcomers adjust to general social values in a new place, is not natural. this can be marked in several explanations below. the notion of land as hinterland, or what the madurese call “belonging to god”, is often seen in stories of abrupt looting of agricultural produce ready for harvest and the takeover of lands that belong to the malays or the dayaks. [ 123 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 in addition, the tendency to spread terror can also be seen in the madurese people’s habit of carrying sickles wherever they go. the use of one’s own language, in this case the madurese language, in every social relationship is also part of the difficulty of assimilation that can be imagined by the madurese (cahyono, 2008). in the dayak tradition, war is not something to be desired and many factors must be considered before going to war. war will only occur when they feel that their tradition or their pride is being insulted. the declaration of war will be made by the war commander, this title of commander in the dayak community is given by the dayak traditional leaders or elders. in jan aritonang’s article it is explained that when the conflict broke out, the dayak and the madurese generally re-practiced the custom of “tribal religion” (read; kaharingan) as a form of identity against those considered enemies. (aritonang, 2006; farsijana, 2005;) this view is sharply reinforced by martin sinaga that communal disputes involving the church are a reflection of the powerlessness of the church socially, irrelevant and losing the social gospel, phobia of monitoring islam so that it fortifies itself in a spiritually parliamentary way, when there is a conflict what they have and come from the kaharingan religion appears so that they summon the power of their ancestors for the sake of survival (sinaga, 2004). there were several kaharingan religious rituals performed by the dayak tribe in the 1997-1999 social conflicts in west kalimantan, namely in the preconflict period, during conflict and in the post-conflict period. pre-conflict rituals are commonly referred to as mangkok merah and nyaru tariu or kamang tariu; conflict-time rituals are ngayau (head hunting) and manajah antang; while post-conflict rituals are tiwah or ijambe ceremonies. 1. pre-conflict rituals (mangkok merah and nyaru tariu) mangkok merah [literally meaning “red bowl”] is a code system for the dayaks which is circulated from village to village. mangkok merah is circulated to convey danger or threats that can have an impact on the dayak social order. mangkok merah itself consists of several objects, namely a bowl, chicken blood, ash, kajang leaves, matchsticks, and chicken feathers. distribution of red bowls should be done carefully. the “red bowl” cannot stay overnight in a village and the carrier of the bowl must explain the meaning of the red bowl as clearly as possible. in addition to being a code to indicate danger or threat, the red bowl is also a symbol of unity and an invitation to war. putra also explained that there are at least three conditions in spreading the red [ 124 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 bowl. first, the distribution of mangkok merah must be carefully considered by traditional leaders or elders. second, the circulation of the mangkok merah must have strong reasons that concern public interest and have an impact on social order. third, distribution that is unreasonable will be subject to the blood the pomomar rule for lying to the public. after the mangkok merah has been distributed, the dayak tribal commander will perform a traditional ceremony known as nyaru dance or kamang dance (putra, 2012). nyaru tariu is a ceremony performed by the dayak commander to summon kamang or ancestral spirits to ask for help in declaring war. in addition, this ceremony is also performed to gain strength from the ancestral spirits so that those who go to war will be invulnerable, powerful, and brave in battle. this ritual cannot be defined because only the commander knows its procession. the tariu screams can also have a psychological effect on lowering enemy morale. this ceremony in the kanayatn dayak tribe is performed in panyugu or pandagi which is a sacred place for the dayak tribe. with the completion of the nyaru tariu or kamang tariu procession, the dayaks will be ready to go to war (hanifi, 2016) 2. rituals during conflict (ngayau dan manajah antang) ngayau itself is interpreted as head hunting. in the dayak tradition, beheading the enemy is a symbol of victory and strength. similar to the red bowl and nyaru dance, headhunting is carried out carefully. in practice ngayau is more complicated than it looks to the naked eye. for the dayaks, ngayau is an agreement and joint action, so it is called a tradition. that is why mangkok merah and nyaru tariu are performed before ngayau. ngayau itself has certain rules and taboos that the dayaks must comply with, and therefore ngayau is more inclined to rituals in the dayak culture. thus, headhunting must be done in certain ways and manners. there are four reasons that serve as the motive for performing ngayau. first, to defend or protect agricultural land. second, to get magical power as spiritual power. third, to revenge. fourth, to increase the durability of buildings (the dayak believe that human head sacrifices can make buildings stronger). in fact, there is another motive behind ngayau which is the most important, namely the effort or mechanism of self-defense, for example in an open war someone will be killed if they do not kill first in a situation where people have to kill each other. although ngayau is performed with several motives as mentioned above, most dayaks have abandoned the motives other than self-defense or war. this is based on the tumbang anoi agreement in 1894 which was made by the dayak tribes in borneo to stop the practice of ngayau. this agreement [ 125 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 was made because at that time the dayak tribes practiced ngayau even among fellow dayak tribes. the dayaks also have a belief in the supernatural world. this is because most of the dayaks adhere to animistic beliefs and ancestral spirits. one of the rituals they perform in war is manajah antang. this ritual is a ceremony performed to find the enemy’s location. this ritual is performed by calling an antang bird (similar to an eagle) by asking for the help of ancestral spirits to give directions. 3. post-conflict rituals (tiwah or ijambe ceremonies) the tiwah ritual, which is a ritual performed in a funeral for a dead member of the dayaks. this ritual has a different designation in several dayak tribes. tiwah is the name for the funeral ceremony of the ngaju dayak tribe. meanwhile, the ma’anyan tribe dayak it is known as ijambe. in the ot danum dayak tribe, it is known as nyorat, the taboyan dayak call it wara, and the siang tribe call it totoh. the ritual is performed to deliver the spirits (liaw) of the deceased to heaven (lewu tataw) or the land of spirits (lewu liaw) by moving the bones of the deceased into a sandung, a beautifully carved building. meanwhile, the ma’anyan dayak tribe burn the bones and then put the ashes in a building called tambak. the phenomenon of kaharingan religious rituals that emerged during social conflicts in west kalimantan explains that both the dayak tribes who have embraced established religions such as islam, protestantism / christianity and catholicism have returned to their original kaharingan (out of place) religious beliefs. the existence of the kaharingan religion in these social conflicts emerged because of their strong belief in the indigenous religion) so that a process of shifting of religion and culture (self religionation) occurred. however, does the kaharingan religion only exist when conflicts or wars occur? some assume that the kaharingan religion will disappear and the adherents among the dayaks will be left behind, and some even think negatively that kaharingan is the religion of the pengayau (head hunters). in fact, we should think humanly and scientifically in observing the religious behavior of the dayaks in the wake of the social conflicts in west kalimantan. the return of kaharingan in post-conflict era kaharingan is the traditional belief of the kalimantan dayaks before outside religions entered kalimantan (borneo). the term kaharingan means to grow or to live as in danum kaharingan (water of life), meaning tribal religion that [ 126 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 believes in god almighty (ranyiang hatalla langit) who lives and grows for generations in the dayak community of kalimantan. kaharingan was first introduced by tjilik riwut in 1944 when he was a sampit resident based in banjarmasin. in 1945 he proposed kaharingan as the designation of the dayak religion and had a place of worship called the balai basarah, while the holy book of the kaharingan religion is panaturan and the prayer book is referred to as talatah basarah. in the colonial era under the dutch and the japanese, the treatment of the kaharingan religion was not very encouraging and even tended to be painful. the dutch cololists referred to the kaharingan religion as infidel, heiden, freedenker, etc., all of which offended the followers of the kaharingan. a better view came from western orientalists who admitted that the kaharingan religion worships god (ranying hatalla), so the word god is translated as hatalla, meaning god in their holy book which is the same as hatalla in the kaharingan belief. during the colonial era, there was no guidance from the colonial government towards the kaharingan religion, and kaharingan leaders also did not intend to include their religion in the colonial administration. in practice, the kaharingan religion existed in society, as evidenced by the fact that there were a llot of ceremonies performed by its adherents during the colonial era. harun hadiwijono explained that all aspects of the dayak religion must be seen from its ideas about the gods and creation. mahatala who appears in the form of a hornbill and jata who appears in the form of a dragon are described as two opposing forces. however, this conflict is eliminated in the sense of they are seen as a unity. therefore, the religious motive of the dayaks is the mutual influence of the conflict between mahatala and jata which makes the two gods unite. (hadiwijono, 2003). marko mahin in his research also explained that the dayaks avoided symbolic violence from the ruling structure at that time until they converted to a religion that was recognized by the government (external conversion). but at present they prefer to return to the ‘internal conversion’, namely returning to the kaharingan religion. it comes with consequences and requires the right strategy so that we can call it the politics of religion (marko mahin, 2000). since indonesia’s independence, the fate of the kaharingan followers has not been so fortunate. in the early days of independence, there was optimism among the kaharingan religious leaders for the government to foster the kaharingan religion. even though it has not been recognized as an official religion by the central government, the enthusiasm among the kaharingan religious leaders to start the institutional process in a forum for [ 127 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 the recognition of the kaharingan religion was high. in 1950, initiated by kaharingan religious figures such as sekari andung, demang, sikur petus, the first congress was held in tangkehan which brought together all kaharingan leaders of kalimantan because at that time kalimantan was one province. the results of the congress gave birth to the indonesian dayak kaharingan union organization (skdi). one of the aims of establishing this organization was to further the struggle of the kaharingan adherents so that they would be recognized and included in government administration. the struggle at that time did not yield any results, but the activities of the kaharingan followers continued, especially their religious ceremonies. there have been several organizations founded by some kaharingan followers who wanted to leave the parisada hindu dharma organization: makip (central indonesian kaharingan religious council), bakdp (kaharingan dayak indonesian religious organization), makri (kaharingan religious council of the republic of indonesia), and dbdki (indonesian dayak kaharingan grand council). although within the elements of kaharingan figures, there were pros and cons of merging into hinduism, for the administrators of the kaharingan hindu religious council, this merger was considered the best option. they chose the issue of underdeveloped human resources of the kaharingan followers as a priority that must be addressed immediately. the indonesian kaharingan religious council (maki) was declared in west kalimantan on may 16, 2019 in bengkayang regency led by fabianus oel to preserve the ancestral religion of the dayaks in west kalimantan. the kaharingan religion as an organization (maki) is based in palangkaraya, central kalimantan. the declaration of the kaharingan religious organization (maki) in west kalimantan was held with the traditional ritual of narang in panyugu, a place that is believed to have been blessed since the time of their ancestors. the ritual was a way of praying to their god jubata for guidance so that the kaharingan religion in west kalimantan could be revived amidst the major religions today. kaharingan is one of the beliefs that is quite large in terms of its adherents. therefore, according to its adherents, kaharingan did not start from a certain era, but it has existed since the beginning of creation, i.e. since ranying hatalla langit created the universe. this means that its adherents believe that kaharingan had existed for thousands of years before hinduism, buddhism, islam and christianity. in the course of history, it seems that the arrival of these religions caused kaharingan to be seen as the helo (old religion), the huram (ancient religion), or the tato-hiang (the religion of the ancestors). [ 128 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 the awakening of the dayaks started in the 1980s. one of the institutions that has contributed greatly to this awakening in west kalimantan is the institute of dayakology research and development (idrd). according to nitiprawiro, one of the people who contributed greatly to the development of idrd in pontianak is a ugm professor, prof. masri singarimbun (nitiprawiro, 2008). the establishment of the indonesian kaharingan religious council in west kalimantan and the institute of dayakology research and development (idrd) in the post-social conflict era shows the existence of the kaharingan religion amidst the official religions in west kalimantan. the kaharingan religion reveals itself with the concept of state culture or the objective structures around it. its followers carry out practices and rituals for their own positive benefit for self-existence. conclusion in general, there are two approaches to explaining the factors that led to social conflicts in kalimantan, namely: cultural and structural. the culturalist view says that west kalimantan has almost equal levels of religious and ethnic populations, making this region “vulnerable” to conflict due to the absence of a dominant culture. it is assumed that areas with high heterogeneity have a greater potential for conflict. in this view, inter-religious and ethnic relations are transformed into conflicts rather than assimilation, and thus inter-ethnic conflicts often occur in west kalimantan. based on literature research and through a phenomenological approach, the existence of the kaharingan religion during the 1997-1999 social conflicts that occurred between the dayak and the madurese ethnic groups at that time could be seen in the rituals before the conflict, such as nyaru tariu and mangkok merah; during the conflict, such as ngayau and manajah antang; and after the conflict, such as tiwah. in the wake of the social conflicts in 1979-1999, the institute of dayakology (idrd) in pontianak in the 1980s and the kaharingan religion was institutionally declared on may 16, 2019 in bengkayang regency under the name of the indonesian kaharingan religious council (maki) of west kalimantan interestingly, in these social conflicts, the dayaks, who already had embraced catholicism and protestantism, let go of their official religious’ ‘attire’ and returned to the previous religious rituals of kaharingan by uniting with their fellow dayak tribes in west kalimantan as identity politics against economic and political domination. as for the conflict in sambas, both the dayaks and the malays, the latter are muslim, identified themselves as a cultural unit because of a common ancestor in the fight against the madurese, who are [ 129 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 predominantly muslim. this ancestral unity is actually not difficult to trace to the mythology of adam as the ancestor of the dayaks. the dayaks, despite being christian or kaharingan, or having converted to islam (malay) due to marriage, bind themselves in primordial belief in adam as their common ancestor. in this way, the dayaks actually stick to their ancestral religious belief (kaharingan) even though they have become adherents of the governmentrecognized religions. embracing a new religion that came from outside for them is viewed as a way to seek administrative legitimacy as indonesian citizens and for individual security so that they are not seen as sympathizers of the state rebels (pki and pgrs) in the period of 1966-1978. bibliography adyanta, d. (ed.). (2011). budaya dayak: permasalahan dan alternatifnya. malang: bayumedia. aritonang, j. s. (2006). sejarah pejumpaan kristen dan islam di indonesia, jakarta: bpk gunung mulia. banawiratma, j.b. & muller, j. (1995). berteologi sosial lintas ilmu: kemiskinan sebagai tantangan hidup beriman. yogyakarta: kanisius. cahyono, h. at.al. (ed.). (2008). konflik kalbar dan kalteng: jalan panjang meretas perdamaian. jakarta-yogyakarta: p2p-lipi and pustaka pelajar. darmadi, h. (2016). dayak dan asal usul penyebarannya di bumi borneo. jurnal pendidikan sosial. vol 3. dec. dharmawan & arya, h. (2007). konflik sosial dan resolusi konflik, analisis sosio-budaya dengan fokus perhatian kalimantan barat. unpublished paper presented at semiloka nasional in pontianak 10-11 january 2007. dewi, m. d. (2018). agama dan kebudayaan kaharingan di kalimantan menurut para penulis indonesia (1990-2003). unpublished mini thesis. fakulty of ushuluddin uin jakarta. hadiwijono, h. (2003). religi suku murba di indonesia. jakarta: gunung mulia. hannerz, u. (1992). cultural complexity: studies in the social organization of meaning. new york: columbia university press. hanifi, m. l. (2016). ritual perang dalam suku dayak. jurnal sabda. vol 11, no 2 december. [ 130 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 holland, j. & henriot, p. (1994). analisis sosial dan refleksi teologis:kaitan iman dan keadilan. yogyakarta: kanisius. humaydi, m. a. (2007). analisis stratifikasi sosial sebagai sumber konflik. jurnal karsa. vol. xii. no. 2. lewis, a. c. (1986). the functions of social conflict (glence, i 11: free press, 1956) as quoted in doyle paul johnson teori sosiologi klasik dan modern 2, translation of robert m.z. lawang, (gremedia, jakarta). mahin, m. (2009). kaharingan; dinamika agama dayak di kalimantan tengah. unpublished disertation. facultu of social science university of indonesia. marjanto, d. k. (2011). kaharingan: perjuangan masyarakat adat dayak ngaju di kab kotawaringin, dahulu dan sekarang. book of kearifan lokal di tengah modernisasi, p3k kementrian kebudayaan dan pariwisata ri. mas’oed, m. (ed.). (2000). kekerasan dan konflik: kondisi dan pemicu. yogyakarta: pusat penelitian pembangunan pedesaan dan kawasan ugm. maunati, y. (2004). identitas dayak: komodifikasi dan politik kebudayaan. yogyakarta: lkis. nitiprawiro, f. w. (2008). teologi pembebasan: sejarah, metode, praksis, dan isinya. yogyakarta: lkis. putra, r. m. s. (2012). makna di balik teks dayak sebagai etnis headhunter. journal communication spectrum. 1.2. prasojo, z. h. (2012). penguatan identitas dayak muslim katab kabahan. jurnal al-ulum. vol. 12. no. 2. riwut, t. (1993). kalimantan membangun alam dan kebudayaan. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. ______. (2003). manaser panatau tatu hiang: menyelami kekayaan leluhur. palangka raya: pusakalima. sa’dun, m. (ed.). (1999). pri-non pri: mencari format baru pembauran. jakarta: cides. salim, h. (ed.). (1996). kisah dari kampung halaman: masyarakat suku,agama resmi, dan pembangunan. yogyakarta: dian/interfidei. sinaga, m. l. (2004). identitas poskolonial “gereja suku” dalam masyarakat sipil: studi tentang jaulung wismar saragih dan komunitas kristen simalungun. yogyakarta: lkis. [ 131 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 simon, j. c. (2013). konflik dan dilema gereja suku ; mengurai relasi agama, etnisitas dan budaya dalam konflik sosial di kalimantan sebagai upaya gereja menemukan kembali rasa asia. jurnal gema teologi. vol. 37. no. 2. october. steenbrink, k. a. (2003). catholics in indonesia, 1808-1942: a modest recovery 1808-1903. kitlv press. ukur, f. (2000). tuaiannya sungguh banyak: sejarah gereja kalimantan evanggelis sejak tahun 1835. bpk gunung mulia. internet sources kristianus. (2020). mengenal agama kaharingan dichanel kristanus atok tv www.youtube.com. accessed on 01 july 2020. border tv bengkayang, accessed at www.youtube.com on 01 july 2020. [ 132 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2662 [ 280 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 title: trace of islamic educational thought pontianak: stain pontianak press by: erwin mahrus and syamsul kurniawan reviewed by farninda aditya (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) don’t judge a book by its cover, goes the popular saying. it is probably true as the cover does not always represent the contents of the book. however, this one is an exception. without looking at the title, one will immediately think of: the important figures in islamic education. the book  that traces  the thought of  islamic education figures  such as  ibnu sina, al-ghazali, ibn khaldun, muhammad abduh, hasan al-banna, syed muhammad naquib al-atlas, muhammad iqbal, k.h. ahmad dahlan, k.h hasyim asy’ari, azyumardi azra in pictures displayed in a golden frame on the cover of the book. the contents of the book focus on one important thing: the thought of islamic education. in addition to the figures shown on the cover, h asan langgulung and imran basiuni are also discussed. the  book  that introduces the thought  of  islamic education  from various periods not only discusses the figures from other islamic countries and indonesia, it also explores the thoughts of those born in west kalimantan. basiuni imran who was born in sambas and studied in mecca and egypt had an important role for islamic education of west kalimantan. dominant  in green, this book does not directly present the thoughts of the figures to the reader.  the first part begins with the biography of each notable.  these figures can  inspire  the readers. both  authors  of this book are lecturers at  iain  pontianak. through this works, they  introduced  the characters the students. in addition to serving as an islamic education reference, it also may become life inspiration for the students. the thought  of  the figures shown  in the book  should be introduced to the students especially those who major in islamic education. students as the younger generation  can learn more about  the development of  islamic education from time to  time. the purpose of writing of  this book is “to elaborate and explain the concept of education put forward by educational professionals among muslims». according to  the  authors,  the  thought  of islamic  educators  is important as it may serve as a basis for  consideration in  policy  decisions  in  accordanc [ 281 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 e with the conditions  in order to  restructure the  islamic  educational system, particularly in indonesia. by reading the introduction, it is clear that the figures shown in this book are the reliable references. in total, 158 references were used to write the 316 page book. erwin mahrus who currently is a lecturer of islamic education studies once wrote a biography of basuni imran, and syamsul basuni kurniawan has a master’s degree in islamic studies in the field of islamic educational thought. this book  is divided into  16  chapters.  in  the early  chapters  the authors first discusses the study of islamic education in general. the first chapter is dedicated to the thought of islamic education in indonesia in which the authors explained  the notion of  islamic thought, the purpose of the  study, and the principles of islamic educational thought. the second chapter is about the periods of islamic education before and after independence to show that different were struggles carried out so that the community under any circumstances should get education. the next chapter is about the islamic education in the early days. the development of islamic education thought during the time of the prophet, khulafa  al-rasyidin,  umayya,  and abbasiya. after  a discussion of  the study  of islamic educational thought in general in chapter four, the author laid out the ideas of islamic education proposed by the figures in chapter four and the next twelve chapters. in  each chapter,  it is not merely a discussion of the  islamic  educational thought  leaders  in general or  its conclusion.  the biography of those figures is also an interesting topic.  the authors also  deliver  important  factors in education  based on the  thoughts of  the figures.  in fact, every  chapter  is not only focused on finding  an explanation of  the purpose of education, curriculum,  teaching methods, the concept of  a teacher, the  duties and responsibilities of  students, evaluation, the concept of  punishment  in the teaching, etc, but the authors also stressed on the significance of islamic educational thought to restructure education in indonesia. from the  description of the  educational  thoughts, one can learn  about the development  of thought  in  islamic education.  ar-ruzz  media  as the publisher of the book said “... the advancement of civilization of a nation will be determined  by how education  is carried  out by  its people.”  to advance the civilization of the  community, islamic  education  proponents  continue to make educational innovations. this is evident from modern educational institutions initiated by imran basiuni in 1936. the development of a more modern education can be seen from the thought of islamic education put forward by azyumardi azra who, according to the author, is a contemporary think[ 282 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 er that paid attention to the ‘islamization’ of knowledge. on the last page of the last chapter in this book, the thought of azyumardi azra concludes the development of  education.  «his thought  has  relevance to the development of science and technology, even in his works he strived to anticipate the future so he ought to be placed into the modernist group. [ 99 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 indigenous community, customary law and multiculturalisme in indonesia zaenuddin hudi prasojo pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract the awareness of awakening and efforts in reviving the customary law of indigenous communities in indonesia has been going on for a long time, at least since the end of the reign of the new order regime. customary law as one of the authentic capital of indigenous communities is a reflection of the existence of multicultural principles that have actually existed and been part of the indonesian society. this work explores the case of cutomary law in west kalimantan on katab kebahan’s practices in melawi which is potential to be included to the national law. the role of customary law in the life of the multicultural society, like west kalimantan society, in the modern era should be aligned with the history of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia which was founded by the best children of the nations that agreed to establish a state based on the supremacy of law. customary law is part of the state law. therefore, there is s need to think of a proper format for the position and the role of customary law in the indonesian legal system for the prosperity of society based on equality before the law and justice in accordance with the ideals of the nation. this paper suggests that, as an alternative as to where we might put the position of customary law in a multicultural nation today, we can take the example from patterns made by several countries that have adopted restorative justice systems with the main principles that the law is a device to resolve the problems in a just and fair way and with the awareness to return all the problems to the perspective of the law for the common good. key words: cutomary law, mulitcultural society, restorative, justice introduction the phenomenon of multicultural society is, in fact, a natural reality that occurs in the process of interactions between people from different cultural groups in the life of modern society. this is driven by the growing level of human knowledge and the need of the development of human civilization. therefore, the movement of multiculturalism has actually appeared for a long time, characterized by the globalization era in which humans are increasingly easy to interact globally both physically and non-physically such as in cyber world. in the united states, a multicultural society has even become part of the [ 100 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 history of the country where various cultures have existed since the europeans, led by colombus, arrived there for the first time. in indonesia, the plurality of cultures is inseparable from the history of the nation. the founders of the country even agreed on a symbol of a multicultural nation that is familiar to all indonesians, i.e. bhinneka tunggal ika which means unity in diversity. on the path of its history, the people of indonesia have experienced a variety of dynamics that drove them into the cultural attitudes that vary according to political conditions. in the era of the old order, the plurality managed to awaken the spirit of struggle to resolve all the problems faced the nation. then, in the new order era, there was a very sharp political shift that changed the attitude of the multicultural nation where the centralized government oppressed the local cultures that existed in different areas outside of the java island. during the reform era, the multicultural movement under the administration of president abdurrahman wahid (gus dur), was back to find its way. since then, it has inspired the emergence of movements of minorities including the adat (a set of cultural norms, values, customs and practices found among specific ethnic groups) communities in various parts of the country marked by the establishment of the alliance of adat society of nusantara (aman). before the era of the rise of the indigenous community, the adat community was hardly a subject of discussion in the international sphere. today, the discussion of local communities is entering into a new chapter in the modern world. the movements of adat peoples to participate in the international scene were marked the emergence of activism from different parts of the world, which was initiated by the activists of the indigenous peoples of south america that conveyed voice of the indigenous community’s rights. these movements was later brought to the attention of the world in new york city, where the representatives of the indigenous movement demand for representation of indigenous community groups in the institution that becomes the symbol of the world’s community, the united nations (un). then in the early 19th century, a special commission was formed for local communities to accommodate their interests and to discuss related issues around the world. aman is the answer the issues of adat peoples in indonesia. indigenous peoples are faced with various challenges in the face of the development of the contemporary world. among them are the issues of environmental sustainability, cultural environment and the natural environment such as forests, rivers and land which are crucial to the survival of local communities. meanwhile, the cultural heritage of their ancestors that strongly depends on the availability of natural resources requires the natural [ 101 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 resource sustainability. on the other hand, the economic needs are increasing as a result of global competition that has even reached remote corners of the villages, including those in the rural areas in west kalimantan. the influence of economic power from the outside through the agents of globalization has put a lot of pressure on traditional communities. these communities are facing difficult choices but are also required to endure the pressure (bamba, 2004; abdullah, 2006). the question that arises then is why does the indigenous movement emerge and how do the indigenous peoples respond to the influx of globalization with all the attributes including the movement of multiculturalism? this paper tries to explain the position of customary law which is the property of the indigenous communities in responding to the movement of the multiculturalism that is increasingly familiar to almost every society all over the world, including that in west kalimantan, indonesia. customary law and indigenous communities many studies have been done to know and explain the role of indigenous communities in modern life (kingsbury, 1998; bowen, 2000; the grim, 2001). in addition, studies have also contributed to the scientific and cultural treasures of the world. some examples here include research on aboriginal communities in australia and the contribution of local cultures that give benefits to the modern world. one example of the contribution of a local culture is the system of conflict resolution that uses indigenous institutions with the circle process approach and the principles that return the matter to the parties in dispute on the basis of good faith to resolve the issue (restorative justice) (zehr, 1990). this system has been adopted by new zealand as part of the legal system in the country. in indonesia, studies on local communities living in rural areas have also been widely conducted, both by researchers from outside as well as by locals. some examples that can be mentioned here among others are research conducted by joel s. kahn (2002) on the cultural development of the rural areas of indonesia. kahn provided an in-depth discussion about the culture in the rural areas in indonesia such as sulawesi, papua and kalimantan. tania murray li also conducted similar research. one of her published papers was about the marginalization of the rural communities in indonesia including kalimantan, sulawesi, java, sumatra and papua (li, 2001). local anthropologists also did research in the rural areas. yekti maunati’s research (2004), for example, focused on the dayak people of kalimantan. this research addressed the issue of identity of the dayak in central kalimantan. these studies are interesting [ 102 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to analyze because each of them focused on the background and problems faced by the respective regions and saw the complexity of the issues. among the interesting issues is a discussion about how the dynamics of customary law which is inseparable part of the indigenous peoples or local communities. said yacob and zaenudin prasojo (2009) explained how the indigenous community of katab kebahan revitalized their customary law and traditions in the wake of the fall of the new order regime to respond to the social and economic conditions of the katab kebahan in melawi. this paper shows the importance of seeing the reaction of indigenous peoples through strengthening the implementation of customary law as well as the strengthening of indigenous institutions in responding to the question of the management of contemporary issues by indigenous peoples. in west kalimantan, the tendency of strengthening the implementation of the customary law has become part of the phenomenon of the community life in the province, not only by the native tribes such as the dayak and malay, but also the other immigrants like the chinese. observations and preliminary data in various places in west kalimantan indicated that indigenous peoples have a very important role in everyday life. zaenuddin prasojo (2011) also reported that the revitalization of the indigenous laws and institutions of the kebahan dayak community in melawi becomes one of the important factors of the identity revival of contemporary katab kebahan in multicultural society in melawi. it is very important to answer the question of why the customary law of indigenous communities has increased its role significantly among the indonesian community, particularly in west kalimantan in the middle of the community life that is constantly changing. in fact, we need to reveal that indigenous communities and the role of customary law have experienced serious problems in its history. the history of indonesia pointed out that the weakening of the function of customary law — to avoid saying structured extinction-occurred as a result of the new order’s political policy that enforced the national legal system based in jakarta (bosko, 2006). the fact supports what is known as the deterioration of culture in which one of the consequences was the weakening of the role of customary law that took place in the new order era (abdullah, 2006). by looking at the historical reality, we can compare the role of indigenous peoples and indigenous judicial positions from before the new order, during the new order to the reform era. the results of the comparison of the analysis on the role and participation of indigenous communities and the position of customary law are important to formulate appropriate policies in accordance with the needs of the state and society including indigenous communities in responding to the demands of [ 103 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 contemporary multicultural life. in particular, it is important to discuss and formulate clearly the phenomenon of customary law and indigenous institutions and their position in the realm of the law in indonesia. meanwhile, the riot cases occurring in indonesia were heavily influenced by the unclear position of customary law and positive law which then triggered a prolonged strife and even took a huge number of casualties in west kalimantan a few years ago. movement of multiculturalism the basic concept of multiculturalism refers to a very simple notion but contains a wide meaning which is an understanding that this world has cultural diversity. therefore the diversity gives the implications of the enactment of the law of nature that the difference is a fact of nature that must be accepted by humans. to clearly understand the concept of multiculturalism, it is advisable to start from the literal meaning of multiculturalism and discuss the use of the term in each context. literally, multiculturalism consists of the prefix multi (opposite of single) which means many or more than one, and culture which means socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought or custom shapes formed socially and ism which means belief or a belief system. thus the concept of multiculturalism can mean a doctrine which holds a general principle that this world is made up of many different cultures. the implied meaning is that all cultures in the world have the same rights and obligations in building a good community in a multicultural framework. therefore, the literal meaning also indicates that the multiculturalism movement is a movement that brings about the fact that human culture is indeed composed of various cultures requiring us to respect each other’s culture for the creation of harmony in community life. in the sociological and anthropological context, the notion of multiculturalism also gives emphasis on the plurality of human culture. an example of the concept of multiculturalism was defined by berry (quoted by fatmawati, 2009: 169) as plural society that consists of at least a community in general, various groups that are acculturated and the government that respects plurality and allows it to exist peacefully. this view is actually in line with what is described by c.w. watson (2000: 2-3) who explains that the multiculturalism movement focuses on the plurality of human cultures and the equality of cultures. multiculturalism movement not only refers to awareness of the existence of the plurality of cultures but also to the fact that the culture of each human [ 104 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 being is the result of shared experience in the life of society. what about the movement of multiculturalism in developed countries? in the united states the movement of multiculturalism began long ago. one of the milestones was the movement martin luther king fought. king’s anti slavery movement has changed the face of america significantly. in his well-known speech “i have a dream” in washington d.c., king was a black american who had succeeded in opening the eyes of the world to the equality of every human culture and civilization in the world. how about indonesia? according to hamid darmadi (2009: 95-96), actually a multicultural awareness in indonesia has emerged since the unitary state of the republic of indonesia was founded in 1945. however, indonesia went through bitter experience at the time of the new order that suppressed the development of multiculturalism. the regime imposed monoculturalism with the government becoming so powerful that the awareness of multiculturalism had almost no space to grow. cultural revitalization in response to contemporary conditions seeing the way local communities are facing the challenges of globalization, the influence of industrialization and economic competition in this modern world, irwan abdullah (2006) explained that the continuity of customs and customary law are very vulnerable in the life of modern society, even though indigenous peoples live in the rural areas. this is due to the influence of globalization happens not only in urban areas but also in the interior regions such as papua and kalimantan. abdullah cited the theory of threats and challenges of globalization, industrialization, and economy put forward by featherstone (1991) opinion and hannerz (1996) who argued that the threats have forced humans to use the survival and accumulative strategies. on the one hand, people are pressured by economic necessity as a result of the insistence of the need and a new lifestyle brought by globalization and industrialization. on the other hand, they are required to survive in order to compete in a globalized world based on free competition. the attitude that results from the pressure described earlier suggests that the indigenous peoples tend to revitalize the customary law, for instance in the way they manage the forest and the traditional art that become part of their cultural treasure. this means that the tendency to revitalize customary law shown by the indigenous communities is as a form of response to the contemporary situation they are facing, including those in indonesia, especially in west kalimantan in the context of this paper. in this light, to understand and respond to cultural revitalization by indigenous communities [ 105 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 should not be separated from the conditions that encourage the emergence of the contemporary situation in a variety of fields including social, economic, political and technological information development. in addition, in response to contemporary conditions, as argued by syarif ibrahim alqadrie (1990), the attitude of strengthening the role of the customary law can also be seen as a cultural resistance movement through strengthening the implementation of customary law. when indigenous peoples were squeezed by the pressure from the outside, they will respond by using the customary law which serves as the most possible social and moral strength to fortify themselves from the effects of globalization. the attitude of cultural resistance through the strengthening of the implementation of this law should be a concern for legal practitioners and law makers to consider in an attempt to revive the supremacy of law in the life of a nation. it is important to prevent the misinterpretation of “the independence of law” by the irresponsible parties who use customary law for personal or a certain group’s interests. customary law in a multicultural society jamie davidson and david henley (2008) explained that the indigenous movement in indonesia is driven by several factors i.e. the international influence, legacy of ideology and opportunities provided by the reform era. furthermore they provided detailed reviews that the opportunities in the reform era have been used by the indigenous communities to use customary law to request the return of their rights such as the management of natural resources and the political issues such as local leadership of the community that in the era of the new order were never realized. under such circumstances, especially the latter, the indigenous communities have the power to revive customary law and even place it above the positive law. in addition to the multicultural movement after the fall of the new order regime and the international influence through globalization, this condition is also driven by internal factors i.e. the function and role of customary law which are so significant in the life of the indigenous communities. customs have strategic functions in the life of indigenous peoples. according to rafael edy bosko (2006), customs can serve as a symbol of the identity of the owner of the community capable of representing many aspects of life. therefore, bosko argued that to understanding indigenous communities and their problems, one can make use of studies on customs. in addition, based on the philosophy of life, customs are also a result of the representation of indigenous needs in daily life including the concept of communal ownership of traditional objects such as land and forests. the theory of functions and the [ 106 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 role of customs are necessary to understand the position of customary law of indigenous peoples and to seek answers to the phenomenon of the rise the role of customary law among indigenous communities. thus, it is clear that the phenomenon of the rise of the role of customs and indigenous institutions or customary law is the response of the contemporary condition that requires the indigenous peoples to show their existence and protect the wealth of cultural and natural environment they have. in addition, tania murrai and li (2001) explained that the role of indigenous communities in the environmental sustainability proves to be very important for the people whose livelihood depends on the nature. li based this theory on her research on local communities in indonesia particularly in papua and kalimantan. in its function and role in preserving the nature, customs also have the concept of disaster and environmental management. selton h. davis and alaka wali (1994) argued that forest management based on the system owned by local communities can become a good alternative and beneficial to the prevention of environmental damage. this opinion is based on what local people in latin america has been achieved, especially in terms of increased awareness of the importance of thinking and are doing to improve the management of natural resources which have increasingly more severe damage as a result of the excessive exploitation by irresponsible parties. this includes elements of culture, beliefs, and customs and customary law that have been proven to be effective to improve the management of forest and increase the prosperity of the surrounding community. learning from the experience of latin america, it appears that the elements of environmental damage are the seeds of disaster for indigenous communities to the attention of the continuity of their life. this means that the need to survive from the extinction is one of the factors that encourages the emergence of indigenous movements in response to the influx of the threats resulting from a process of globalization that brings a multicultural movement. however, survival factors and other things that drive the movement of indigenous communities should not cause the advocacy of movement of indigenous communities to be too liberal. in some cases, such as the need for immediate revitalization and restitution of the dayak culture, giring (2008) in his study explained about the advocacy of the rights of indigenous communities from the experience of the dayak people. of course the customary law advocacy process is important to find an appropriate format so that the efforts to make law as the main guidelines for the community and the state become a basis to respond to issues of law enforcement in a multicultural society in indonesia. one alternative to consider is to place customary law as a [ 107 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 pioneer in the positive law as being developed in several countries such as the united states and new zealand with a concept of restorative justice. we need to, first, look at the legal system in indonesia’s national law. it includes criminal code which actually consists of three sub systems i.e. the customary law, the law inherited from the colonial dutch and the new national law. benny s. tabalujan maintained as follows: “the indonesian legal system is complex because it is a confluence of three distinct systems. prior to the first appearance of dutch traders and colonists in the late 16th century and early 17th century, indigenous kingdoms prevailed and applied a system of adat (customary) law. dutch presence and subsequent colonization during the next 350 years until the end of world war ii left a legacy of dutch colonial law. a number of such colonial legislation continues to apply today. subsequently, after indonesian declared independence on 17 august 1945, the indonesian authorities began creating a national legal system based on indonesian precepts of law and justice. these three strands of adat law, dutch colonial law and national law co-exist in modern indonesia. for example, commercial law is grounded upon the commercial code 1847 (kitab undang-undang hukum dagang or wetboek van koophandel), a relic of the colonial period. however, commercial law is also supplemented by a large number of new laws enacted since independence. they include the banking law 1992 (amended in 1998), company law 1995, capital market law 1995, antimonopoly law 1999 and the oil & natural gas law 2001. adat law is less conspicuous. however, some adat principles such as “consensus through decision making” (musyawarah untuk mufakat) appear in modern indonesian legislation” (tabalujan, 2005:1). by looking at the position, an alternative implementation of customary law in the national system such as the concept offered in the implementation of restorative justice in the united states and new zealand can be applied with a model adapted to indonesia’s conditions with regard to customary law of the indigenous communities in the country. the model can be in the form of giving the authority of the implementation of customary law to the respective indigenous communities through legitimate law in matters regulated by customary law. thus, customary law is given a mandate that has legal power that binds the members of the local indigenous communities. closing remarks indigenous movements emerge as a response to a multicultural awareness that [ 108 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 inspires those whose basic rights suppressed. the awareness of awakening and efforts in reviving the customary law of indigenous communities in indonesia has been going on for a long time, at least since the end of the reign of the new order regime. the appearance of the embryo received a fresh breeze in the reform era that gave the opportunity for the awakening of the minority over the hegemony of the government that was supported by a culture of militarism and dictatorship. the current movement of the awareness of local communities has become proof of the existence of the multicultural movement that brings a mission of freedom over the development of a plural society that respects the freedom of other cultures in a balanced way. customary law as one of the authentic capital of indigenous communities is a reflection of the existence of multicultural principles that have actually existed and been part of the indonesian society, more specifically in the western kalimantan. the role of customary law in the life of the multicultural society in the modern era should be aligned with the history of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia which was founded by the best children of the nations that agreed to establish a state based on the supremacy of law. customary law is part of the state law. therefore, we need to think of a proper format for the position and the role of customary law in the indonesian legal system for the prosperity of society based on equality before the law and justice in accordance with the ideals of the nation. as an alternative as to where we might put the position of customary law in a multicultural nation today, we can take the example from patterns made by several countries that have adopted restorative justice systems with the main principles that the law is a device to resolve the problems in a just and fair way and with the awareness to return all the problems to the perspective of the law for the common good. bibliography abdullah, irwan. 2006. konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. alqadrie, syarif ibrahim. 2008. matahari akan terbit di barat. pontianak: yayasan insan cita kalimantan barat. bamba, john. 2004. “globalization, state incapacity and the future of indigenous peoples in indonesia.” dalam kumpulan makalah john bamba. pontianak: institute dayakologi. hal 28-46. bosko, r. e. 2006. hak-hak masyarakat adat dalam konteks pengelolaan sumber daya alam. jakarta: elsam. [ 109 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 bowen, john r. 2000. ‘should we have a universal concept of ‘indigenous peoples’ rights’?: ethnicity and essentialism in the twenty-first century.’ anthropology today, vol. 16, no. 4 pp. 12-16 darmadi, hamid. 2009. “multikulturalisme dan pendidikan multikultural “dalam yohanes bahari & ismail ruslan. multikulturalisme dalam sorotan. pontianak: stain pontianak press. hal: 83-106 davidson, jamie & david henley. 2008. “in the name of adat: regional perspective in reform, tradition and democracy in indonesia” dalam modern asian studies vol. 42. no. 4 p: 815-852 davidson, jamie s. (2003). ”primitive politics”: the rise and fall of the dayak unity party in west kalimantan.” asia research institute working paper series. no.9 oktober 2003. retrieved on may 27, 2009 from http:// www.ari.nus.edu.sg/docs/wps/wps03_009.pdf ---------. 2007. “culture and rights in ethnic violence.” dalam davidson, jamie seth and henley, david (ed). the revival of tradition in indonesian politics: the deployments of adat from colonialism to indegenism. london dan new york: routledge. hal: 224-246. davis, slton h. dan alaka wali. 1994. “indigenous land tenure and tropical forest management in latin america.” dalam ambio, vol. 23, no. 8 (dec., 1994), pp. 485-490. fatmawati. 2009. ”harmonisasi antar umat beragama dalam masyarakat multi etnik melalui pendekatan multiculturalism” dalam yohanes bahari & ismail ruslan. multikulturalisme dalam sorotan. pontianak: stain pontianak press. hal: 158-185. featherstone, mike. 1991. consumer culture and postmodernism. london: sage publications. giring. 2008. “advokasi hak-hak masyarakat adat: pengalam dari tanah dayak” diunduh dari laman institute dayakologi pontianak pada tanggal 2 september 2008. hannerz, ulf. 1992. cultural complexity. new york: columbia university press. kingsbury, benedict. 1998. ‘“indigenous peoples” in international law: a constructivist approach to the asian controversy.’ the american journal of international law, vol. 92, no. 3 pp. 414-457 li, tania murray. 2007. “adat in central sulawesi: contemporary deployments.” dalam davidson, jamie seth and henley, david (ed). the revival of tradition in indonesian politics: the deployments of adat from colonialism to indegenism. london dan new york: routledge. hal: 337-369. lontaan, j. u. 1975. sejarah-hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan-barat. [ 110 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 pontianak: pemda tingkat i kalbar (dicetak oleh offset bumirestu jakarta). prasojo, zaenuddin hudi. 2008. riots on the news in west borneo. pontianak: stain press. ---------. 2011. “indigenous community identity within muslim societies in indonesia: a study of katab kebahan dayak in west borneo.” dalam oxford journal of islamic studies. no.22. vol.1. hal: 50-65 tabalujan, b. s. (2005). “the indonesian legal system: an overview. in indobizlow.com retrieved on december 9, 2007 from http://www.indobizlaw. com/forms/idlegaloverview.pdf watson, c. w. 2000. multiculturalism. buckingham-philadelphia: open university press. yakob, said and prasojo, zaenuddin hudi. 2009. materi adat dan hukum adat istiadat warga katab kebahan wilayah nanga pinoh. pontianak: stain press. zehr, howard. 1990. changing lenses: a new focus for crime and justice. scottsdale: herald press. [ 33 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 mulai lawan bismillah: religiosity of the banjar people in the banjar songs composed by anang ardiansyah nasrullah university of lambung mangkurat, banjarmasin email: nasrullah@ulm.ac.id abstract local folk songs are often only enjoyed by local people and, of course, only a few of these songs can become national songs. however, through the song called paris barantai composed by anang ardiansyah, the banjar song can become a nationally recognized regional folk song. in addition, anang ardiansyah‘s other songs have a message or religious content that reflects the islamic culture of the banjar community. therefore, this paper explores religious content of four songs composed by anang ardiansyah with the aim that the local folk songs are not only sung but reinforce the distribution of religious values and knowledge in relation to the banjar culture. the results of this paper describe the religious practice of urang (people of) banjar related to faith, prayer and shalawat in everyday life and the term haram menyarah (surrender is forbidden) as banjar people’s struggle doctrine depicted from the banjar song composed by anang ardiansyah. therefore, through these songs it becomes an important part of the efforts to strengthen the banjar religious identity and religious value distribution will take place continuously. keywords: anang ardiansyah, religiosity, haram manyarah introduction “wayah pang sudah hari baganti musim wayah pang sudah kotabaru gunungnya bamega bamega umpat manampur di sala karang” (paris barantai, composed by anang ardiansyah) in 2017, there were two controversial issues related to the international and national music world. first, there was still sensitivity among the people of the world in giving judgment of a song lyrics like despacito sung by justin beiber, [ 34 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 because the lyric is considered vulgar that this song was rejected in malaysia (alkhalisi 2017). this rejection did not seem to happen in indonesia because electronic mass media such as radio or television did not air it but only carried the news of the controversial issue. second, there was an international event where a south kalimantan song entitled paris barantai composed by anang ardiansyah, as quoted above, sung by the padjadjaran university student choir won the first prize of folksong category in 54th international competition of choral singing in spittal an der drau, austria, 7-9 july 2017. they also won the second place of the choral works category. but metro tv one of the indonesian national private tv stations mentioned in its headline news that the song paris barantai had been written ken steven and it received a lot of reactions from social media users, especially residents of south kalimantan. ken steven who did not write the song immediately wrote an apology to the banjar people and the songwriter of paris barantai, the late anang ardiansyah (anonymous 2017). based on these two events, it can be understood that the lyrics of the song as a work of art is not only seen from the aesthetic factor of the beauty of chanting, but also to the depth of the meaning of the lyrics and the importance of maintaining the authority of the songwriter as the copyright owner. this is why art is a ‘space’ for the discourse where the ‘mind’ and ‘taste’ lie, so that the cultural configuration (melalatoa 2000, 2) is encompassed, in spite of the fact that artwork is basically a mere fantasy, but when it is tangent to the political system then art is a political attitude. the work of art can actually be interpreted in various ways for its audience, especially when it is released from its creators to become public property (mundayat 2006). this is seen, for example, in java there was a legendary artist named gesang famous for the song bengawan solo, anang ardiansyah from kalimantan is his equivalent. m. syaifullah, a kompas journalist, wrote about the heyday of anang ardiansyah. the era of 1980s indeed belonged to anang ardiansyah. it was a time when many of his songs were recorded, either in the form of his own album or along with other banjar songs composed by other artists. the songs were arranged in the genres of pop, latin, jazz, and malay. the song characters and lyrics that are easy to digest and have a moral message made them popular. the lyrics of banjar songs that he composed are mostly derived from folk songs in the form of pantun which in the past developed on the banks of rivers, coastal areas, and on lands. there are rantauan songs in the form of folk songs that flourish on the banks of the river with characteristics that resemble river waves. the shrill sounds like lamenting fate. while there are pandahan songs in the form of songs on japin dance that lives on in banua anam. these songs [ 35 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 are sung during mairik banih (removing the grains of rice from the stalks by trampling). lastly, there are pasisiran songs that developed in kotabaru area, usually sung to accompany the japin sigam dance (syaifullah, 2008). hundreds of songs have been written anang ardiansyah compiled in various albums of songs: kambang goyang (1983), ballads of faith (1982), galuh banjar (1985), latinia (as the tile suggests, they have latin rhythm, 1986), diang katinting (1987), curiak ( 1988). the songs of anang ardiansyah are timeless, as they are always played from gramophones, cassettes, vcd / dvd players, sung in weddings to official events, into ringing tones or i-ring tones. the songs also often become background music in various local television shows, and in addition, one of the songs anang ardiansyah wrote was popularized by the radja band which was sung in different versions or rearranged. therefore, this paper seeks to show banjar urban religiosity through texts on anang ardiansyah songs by recounting and discussing the contents of the banjar songs. to date, the religious content in songs is more identical to the spiritual songs or those sung by nasyid groups, such as rayhan, debu, to singers haddad alwi and sulis or opick who sang sholawat to prophet muhammad saw. in the dangdut music genre, rhoma irama’s name is synonymous with singing the teachings of islam, and he is not only referred to as the king of dangdut and his religious poems, even his band is called the voice of moslem. a lot of other variants of islamic music are also found in qasidah, tambourine, and even arabic things because, since the beginnings of islam in indonesia in the sixteenth century, indonesian muslims have been learning to recite the qur’an, and to sing other religious musical genres with the language, melodies, rhythms, timbres, and musical aesthetics of arab peoples (rasusmen, 2005). in contrast, there is not much local music or regional songs except kiai kanjeng and emha ainun nadjib who are shown conveying a religious message. outside of islamic music echoed from regional songs, it turns out that music in the past was considered all “musical” art closely related to the cult, especially the parties, where the actual function lies (huizinga 1990: 221). similarly, induan hiling, a female healer in the meratus mountains of south kalimantan, who linked her hymn to the shamanic codification process. love songs are easier to reach than many hymns, because they are not covered in secrecy as are hymns and shaman spells and can easily be passed on to others (tsing, 1998: 359). therefore, the important issue to be addressed is that despite the density of religious messages in regional songs, the reality will only be enjoyed by the aesthetics of music and songs, but not in the content of song lyrics. the writer [ 36 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 will try to fill the empty gap, that the local songs also have religious content, such as anang ardiansyah’s work which is continuously sung to this day but not much in the study of religiosity and the relation of banjar culture. this paper will further describe the study of religiosity in the urban banjar, the framework of thinking about islam in the local content, biography of anang ardiansyah, banjar songwriters and singers, four selected songs to be discussed in this paper, and banjar religious practice. songs and religiosity of urang banjar the islamic practice of urang banjar (people of banjar) is often attached as a form of the religion of the banjar tribe itself who strongly upholds the teachings of islam (mujiburrahman, 2017). urang banjar are known as an islamic society. that is seen for example from the rampant religious activities in this community. architecturally the banjar area is also known as the area of a thousand langgars (small praying houses). a condition that shows that the islamic breath is very thick in this area (noor, 2011: 145-146). this claim is affirmed by various things, among others, through the banjar community convert from their former religion into adherents of islam since the first muslim kingdom of banjar in the period of prince samudera with the title of sultan suriansyah as a consequence of the agreement between the sultanate of demak that provided assistance when raging civil war against prince tumenggung, uncle of prince samudera (bondan, 1953). nevertheless, this history is still criticized, that what is considered to convert to islam is prince samudera and his family as a gratitude, as well as welcoming the future, because at that time islam was on the rise in the archipelago, in banua banjar earlier, but rather slow, conversion had changed quickly because the paternalistic / feudalistic people of banjar immediately followed their king’s religion. but islam is not preached violently. although islam is the official state religion, its spread remained persuasive (barjie b, 2016: 16). furthermore, during the reign of banjar, a famous scholar named sheikh muhammad arsyad al-banjari became widely known with his phenomenal work in the form of fiqh book entitled “kitab sabilal muhtadin lit tafaquni fid din”. this book was written at the request of sultan tahidullah, written in malay, in 1193 ah, and was completed in 1195 ah (1779-1780) and was first uncovered for the first time simultaneously in 1300 ah (1882 ad) in mecca, istanbul and cairo. this book is well known throughout southeast asia such as the philippines, malaysia, singapore, thailand, indonesia, brunei, cambodia,vietnam and laos. because the muslims in these areas still use the malay language as one of the language of instruction in the science of religion (gratitude, 2003). [ 37 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the above opinion is reinforced by prasojo’s study of islamic teachings using sabilal muhtadin’s book that goes deep into the hinterland of west kalimantan, namely kapuas hulu to sarawak, sabah and brunei darussalam (prasojo, 2017). in addition to the phenomenal book, the practice of banjar urban religiosity is performed with the various teachings with the mass reaching thousands to tens of thousands as shown by kh muhammad zaini abdul gani or popular with the title of guru sekumpul, even those who are present at his pengajian (qur’an recital) or meet him are from the elites such as head of the district military command, police chief, regent, governor, head of the precinct military command, to the president and vice president (rosyadi, 2004). personally the guru sekumpul is considered a charismatic figure who has many advantages or glories and is regarded as waliyullah (kariem, 2015). the figure of the guru sekumpul is of course interesting to be the subject of study, as the emergence of elite groups that play a role in the trade in the area of the city of martapura, banjar, shows that the religious and economic behavior of banjar people has a very close relationship (alfisyah, 2005). the study further showed that the existence of the qur’an recital of guru sekumpul also fostered the middle class group in a market-friendly but islamic-based lifestyle (hasan, 2016). after the death of guru sekumpul in 2005, more teachers or clerics who hold pengajian (qur’an recital) with thousands of people such as guru juhdi, guru bahiet another study of islam is related to the banjar religious behavior described in various daily activities not only concerning the daily worship in the pillars of islam i.e. shahada, prayers, fasting, zakat and pilgrimage in islamic books and banjar society. also discussed is about the pillars of faith including the belief of spirits, healing ceremonies and various matters related to banjar religious traditions (daud, 1997). the book of islam and banjar society has become a kind of master book for anyone who examines the banjar culture. several other writings on the banjar ethics (hadi, 2015), banjar thought or reasoning related to islam (noor, 2011), banjar economic life have been featured in various studies, especially in islamic economics (hasan a., 2014). the religiosity of banjar people is also displayed when the sale and purchase agreement with “selling as it is” is practiced in the purchasing behavior of banjar people (nasrullah, 2015). but among various studies, it seems the discussion of religiosity contained in the lyrics of the song has yet to be the subject. whereas the late kh muhammad zaini abdul, the renowned scholar of south kalimantan always sang syiar maulid and bamaulidan continues to be part of the banjar religious culture. similarly, the songs written by anang ardiansyah that contain lyrics of religious verses have not been raised in an [ 38 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 article despite the fact that they are always played, sung in every opportunity, especially among banjar people. retelling islam in local content the spread of islam in indonesia occurred through ‘marrying’ religious teachings with elements of local culture so that there is mix between traditional beliefs and islamic teachings, so the practice of religion contains traditions of the past and elements of a novelty (hermansyah, 2014: 60). in the dayak community, especially the bakumpai people in south kalimantan who are mostly muslim, they practice islam and still perform traditional healing such as badewa, and local beliefs that accompany the various anniversaries of the islamic day (nasrullah, 2014). this success can also be seen in west kalimantan, where most sultans are affiliated with the arab world and some of the royal founders were arab immigrants who spread islam on the island of borneo (prasojo, 2017). the ‘marriage’ between islamic teachings and local content not only made islam acceptable but also turned the religion into a movement. the nyuli movement or the revival of the dayak lawangan people in central kalimantan has made many adjustments in islam, even in the outer aspects of islam are gradually widespread among the dayaks; therefore in the nyuli movement there are many true elements of islamic customs (mallinckrodt, 1974: 34). in the same era, the resistance of prince antasari in banjarmasin to the puruk cahu area of central kalimantan to the dutch is inseparable from the blend of islamic teachings and local culture. antasari used the myth of the people associated with his ancestors in the form of the muning movement to start a war: he now uses the tariqat in the form of beratib beamal to revive the spirit of war (sjamsuddin, 2001: 256). this movement was allegedly derived from the naqsyabandiyah or samaniyah tariqa, but it is unclear which is true (mujiburrahman, 2017: 58) and clearly any of the tarekates of this beratib beamal, his actions were regarded by the dutch as a major threat to dutch authority (sjamsuddin 2001: 257). various opinions above, shows the connection between dayak tribe and banjar tribe. even geographically and administratively, banjar people are more dominant in south kalimantan, but actually in many districts there are dayak communities. this connection can be seen in barito kuala district, there are dayak bakumpai communities, especially marabahan and kuripan districts. in addition, in the western meratus mountains, there is a fertile lowland rice producer, and swamps called hulu sungai, which has since long ago been the fortress of the banjar people; for many banjar people in this region, hulu [ 39 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 sungai is a peninsula characterized by civilization of the city surrounded by a vicious sea of “dayak people” meratus in the east; dusun lawangan, and sand to the north; ma’anyan and ngaju in the west (tsing, 1998: 261). this geographical connection is also rigged with dayak culture. bakumpai people as muslim dayaks, for example, in islamic tradition do not change as what has been done regarding banjar people, so it will be difficult to distinguish between the bakumpai and banjar people, except the local language factor used and some traditions as a differentiator between the two nasrullah, 2014). even in islamic spread in the past, bakumpai area (marabahan city) through al ‘allamah h. abdussamad, who is the descendant of sheikh muhammad arsyad al-banjari, that every month of ramadan came the pious scholars from martapura, banjarmasin and hulu sungai to visit and studied the science of tariqat and joined seclusion under his leadership (anonymous, 2003: 6) later in the banjar and meratus relationships, the banjar people in particular need the meratus in terms of shamanism. banjar people think the dukun meratus is a witch doctor, so they are expected to treat those who suffer from black magic (tsing, 1998: 270), whereas for meratus, the most honorable use of language is not the male language, but the language of outsiders who have authority (i.e., banjarese language or other indonesians). that is why there are many terms or words in banjar and indonesian which are not used in the daily speech of meratus (tsing, 1998: 284). the relationship between banjar and meratus dayak people in hulu sungai area is getting familiar with the existence of an old mosque, named banua halat mosque. this mosque is a manifestation of banjar and dayak mythology, especially the meratus which is considered the siblings of intingan and dayuhan which can be seen at baayun maulid ceremony (swinging children on a mosque pole) in every rabiul awal month. therefore, dayak meratus dayuhan descendants who live in harait, batung and other villages call the banua halat people who are muslims with the title dangsanak or badangsanak which means brother, because they believe their ancestors were siblings of the ancestors of banua halat people (wajidi, 2014: 214). the strong ties between banjar and dayak people, which opened the awareness that the arts of south kalimantan should not be seen from the religious values of islam, but the ethnic who live in the mountains, in the interior, and in coastal areas is actually an inseparable part of the sense of “sapadangsanakan” despite their different beliefs (arijadi, 2013: 180) the blend of islam and the local content can be seen as the living qu’an is a symbolic universe as well as an interpretable text. as a system of symbols, the qur’an is not only the object of interpretation of the commentators, but [ 40 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 it also serves as the interpretation of every muslim, and even those who are non-muslims (ahimsa-putra, 2012). however, in later developments when islam is already engraved and rooted in a place, it does not mean that muslims become static, because islamic culture in this case evolved into an adaptive culture because religion has been influenced by ideology and market interests (abdullah, 2010: 119). such consciousness arises that people speak more often of ideal values, of how things should be in the view of islam. very rarely do people speak about the reality of muslim life itself except for a brief impression and observation, not on the basis of a careful and in-depth study (mujiburrahman, 2017: 57-58). therefore, a religion must find an extensive and intensive distributive mode. not only mosques that can create religious discourse in everyday life, religious museums, historical places, in performances or through music, religious values can be disseminated. the distribution center of values and knowledge of life should be created as much as possible, for example by creating religious dramas or songs, designing buildings with religious styles (abdullah, 2010: 120). the problem emerges when the religious teachings in this case islam in which its adherents have found extensive and intensive distributive methods, such as referring to the religiosity of banjar people in various aspects, they are sometimes only formalities. in other words, religious rituals are carried out with high intensity and quantity, but at the same time social problems are still emerging, either economically or politically oriented, to the high level of drug abuse as one can see happening in south kalimantan (mujiburrahman, 2017). thus the distribution of values or religious channels such as through regional songs or in particular the banjar songs of anang ardiansyah which are rich with religious messages will be meaningless and just merely chanting a lively regional song. but one of the ways is to tell or revive the religiosity of the songs. the same thing concerns restoring the awareness of the river culture in urang banjar by retelling the meaning behind the daily symbols in banjarmasin post (nasrullah, 2017). brief biography of anang ardiansyah a. birth anang ardiansyah was born in kampung arab, banjarmasin. at that time, his parent worked as a kiai. the position of the kiai, or kiai kepala (hoofdkiai), assistant kiai was a special position held by the indigenous civil servants (wajidi, 2007: 23). therefore, since childhood anang ardiansyah followed his paretns to various regions for duty. his last trip with his father was to east kalimantan. [ 41 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 anang ardiansyah spent his childhood in long iram until he was 5.5 years old. he often followed his father’s journey to various rural areas, such as long nawang, long bagun. over there, he met with various dayak community as well as dayak musical art that is so impressive, like bagantung-gantung, talitali di batis, engrang. mahakam river and dayak music later became his source of inspiration in writing songs. for him the art of dayak music is beautiful, better than the banjar music because dayak music art is original with basic melody, although for most people it feels boring. childhood was both impressive and sad. in 1942, when he was four years old, the japanese invaded kalimantan and captured tarakan and balikpapan through the philippines. at that time, there was a tragedy of the first massacre of the kalimantan elites by the japanese army. japan wanted to make kalimantan a permanent imperial territory. to pave the way, at the beginning of 1943 kai-gun committed a massacre of dozens of kalimantan’s elite names, comprising nobles, intellectuals, public figures, and all the rich indigenous people and chinese. in mandor, west kalimantan, kai-gun slaughtered 1,534 community leaders. in south kalimantan (ulin) and east kalimantan, the same thing occurred. the exact number of victims of the massacre to date is unknown (maulani, 2005: 21). japanese occupation of only 3.5 years was so cruel and anang ardiansyah also felt the deep pain. one afternoon, while playing around at home and being watched by both his parents, suddenly uninvited guests arrived. there were three to four japanese soldiers coming to his house and forcibly took his father with them. since then he never saw him again and with his mother he returned to banjarmasin to be with his extended family. b. song writing process after graduating from taman dewasa in 1957 in the city of banjarmasin, anang ardiansyah went to surabaya to meet his mamarina or relatives from his father’s side. apparently he did not stay long in surabaya. he moved to malang, east java, to study at a high school. while in malang, he won the fourth place of lomba nyanyi langgam (singing contest). he once became a qari and won 1st place in malang. unfortunately, he was only in malang for a year. he then moved to surabaya and continued high school. his musical talent was channeled during high school in surabaya. at that time there was a group of orchestra called rindang banua which means longing for hometown. for banjar people overseas, listening to rindang banua songs make them long for the banua / birthplace. this group was founded for 7 years [ 42 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 before anang entered high school, or circa 1946’s. initially only saw them exercise, but when they were looking for a guitar player, “who can play the guitar here?” asked the players. anang was immediately selected. since then, he joined the orchestra rindang banua in surabaya. the rindang banua group practice at pak fahruddin mohani’s hotel, so when they finished practicing they got food from the hotel. in addition to anang, other players included adi maswardi, saleh salfas, doctor bardawi, doctor arsyadi, etc, with a total of 7 people. all players of rindang banua came from banjar, as well as the owner of rindang banua, fahruddin mohani, a rich man from banjar. he also became the owner of the pelangi hotel near jami mosque in malang, and opened a hotel branch in surabaya. rindang banua was founded after a fire in samarinda. fahruddin mohani set up a charitable foundation to help the victims of fire, by calling a famous latin band gumarang orchestra from jakarta to raise funds. after seeing the performance of gumarang orchestra, fahruddin then founded a rindang banua orchestra with banjar players. anang ardiansyah and other rindang banua players learnt from gumarang players in jakarta for a week. according to anang, rindang banua is deeply influenced by the gumarang group’s musical style, whose players come from minang. the latin beat combined with the cha-cha rhythm is known as a dance drummer in latin america. at the time, indonesian music was deeply influenced by the western, such as latin and cha-cha. even rhoma irama prior to founding soneta was infatuated with the beatles, the rolling stones, etc. this phenomenon, created fear among the nationalists, thus the emergence of local music with the term orkes melayu popularized by dr. a.k. gani activist of the islamic states party (psi) and gerakan rakyat indonesia (gerindo) as opposed to western and chinese music as well as spreading the spirit of nationalism (frederick, 1982: 106). initially the group rindang banua performed without banjar songs. then by pa yusi, commander of military region (pangdam) x lambung mangkurat whose rank was colonel came to surabaya and met with players of rindang banua. he suggested proposed “coba pang buhan ikam, cari-cari lagu banjar, mengarang, maulahkah atau apakah” (try looking for banjar songs. write or compose them or what ever you can do). according to anang, he and his friends accepted the suggestion, after all the kalimantan people in java had no songs, while the aceh people and those of other regions already had their own regional songs. when his friends from aceh, java, and other areas asked, “where is the music of banjar?” the question made anang ardiansyah feel intrigued since then he continued to create and sing banjar songs. [ 43 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 anang ardiansyah and his four banjar songs the songs by anang ardiansyah numbered in hundreds. in addition to telling stories about the banjar culture or society, there are also many stories about the life of the dayak people in east kalimantan where he had lived there when he was a child. the song, among others, titled apo kayan, diyang katinting, and tingkilan sepanjang mahakam. but to limit the discussion, the author only discusses four songs by anang ardiansyah related to the religiosity of the banjar, namely: paris barantai, kampung batuah, sangu batulak, and didundang disayang. here is a translation of banjar songs by anang ardiansyah. [ 44 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 paris barantai translation kampuang batuah translation wayah pang sudah hari baganti musim wayah pang sudah kotabaru gunungnya bamega bamega ombak manampur di sala karang ombak manampur di sala karang 3x batamu lawanlah adinda adinda iman di dada rasa malayang iman di dada rasa malayang 3x pisang silat tanamlah babaris babaris tabang pang bamban ku halang akan tabang pang bamban ku halang akan burung binti batiti di batang di batang si batang buluh kuning manggading si batang buluh kuning manggading 3x malam tadi bamimpi badatang badatang rasa bapaluk lawan si ading rasa bapaluk lawan si ading 3x kacilangan lampu lah di kapal di kapal anak walanda main kumidi anak walanda main kumidi 3x kasiangan guringlah sabantal sabantal tangan ka dada hidung kapipi tangan kadada hidung ka pipi 3x it is time when days change the season, it is already the time kotabaru has bamega mountain (at the foot of the mountain) bamega waves hit the sidelines of the reef waves thumped in between corals 3x seeing adinda adinda faith in the chest feels drifting away faith in the chest feels drifting away 3x silat banana planted lined up lined up cutting down bamban i forbid cutting down bamban i forbid binti birds perching on the stem on the stem of a bamboo yellow like a tusk on the stem of a bamboo yellow like a tusk 3x last night dreamed of proposing proposing feels like hugs with ading feels like hugs with ading 3x sparkling lights on the ship on the ship, the dutch children playing comedy dutch children playing comedy 3x sleeping late on the same pillow on the same pillow, hand on the chest, nose on the cheek hand on the chest, nose on the cheek 3x dimana turus, kadada bawatas banjar, banjarmasinku panas bau sandawa di pasar lama, atau di sungai mesa tarus ka pangambangan alam roh markas bagurila tahunnya ampat lima anakku nanang galuh di banjar basatu angkat sanjata malawan walanda nang di benteng tatas mardika atau mati sumpahnya basamburan darah di bajunya “haram manyarah” marabut tanah banjar kampung nang batuah kampung batuah banjarku bapalas darah warganya kampung batuah dirabut bakal gasan kanyamanan anak cucu coda: kampung batuah .... 5x where the pillars have no border banjar, my banjarmasin in flames of gunpowder in the old market, or on the mesa river continue to the unseen world of guerrilla headquarters nineteen forty-five, my child the youth in banjar are united against the dutch in the fort of tatas freedom or death is the oath blood blast on his shirt “surrender is forbidden” take over the land of banjar the blessed village the blessed village my banjar its citizens in bloodbath the blessed village captured for the comfort of the grandchildren coda: the blessed village.... 5x translation of banjar songs written by anang ardiansyah [ 45 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 didundang disayang translation sangu batulak translation arak pangantin kuliling kampung pukul gandang babunyi agung ading galuh padih di hati larangannya duduk batatai didundang disayang dundang dundang dundang lah disayang ka palaminan bausung jinggung kuda gepang wan kurung-kurung kasiyan galuh duduk di watun mata basah luruh sarudung didundang disayang dundang dundang dundanglah disayang reff: kada pang sampai judunya kasih nang dijunjung, umai lawasnya sudah pang takdir urang nang ampunya aaaaa.... kibar bandira urang bahaderah salawat salam ya nabiullah galuh badoa langit dipandang mudah-mudahan nang tuntung pandang didundang disayang dundang dundang dundanglah disayang newly-weds paraded around the village drums and gongs are beaten heartbroken her fiancé sits side by side didundang it’s unfortunate dundang dundang it’s unfortunate to the wedding throne carrying the jinggung kuda gepang and kurung-kurung it's a pity sitting on the floor wet eyes are covered with veils didundang it’s unfortunate dundang dundang dundang it’s unfortunate reff: it's not her soul mate lover she adores for so long someone else marries him aaaa .... wave the flag of the people salawat and salam o the prophet of allah galuh prayed looking up the sky hopefully a glance (of happiness) didundang it’s unfortunate dundang dundang it’s unfortunate pisang silat pisang timbatu kuganganakan bacampur cuka mun jadi tulak, apa sanguku sahibar doa, iman di dada sambah sujud ampuni dosa kasih satumat dalam dunia kilir-kiliran si banyu mata kampung nang jauh bakal ku tuju kampung nang jauh kutuju reff 2x: mulai lawan bismillah batis nang kanan kulangkahakan lalu tawakkal alallah itu pang sanguku sambah sujud ampuni dosa kasih satumat dalam dunia kilir-kiliran si banyu mata kampung nang jauh bakal ku tuju amal wan iman sanguku coda: ya allah, ya allah silat banana timbatu banana i cooked them mixed with vinegar if i leave, what to take with me just prayer, faith in the chest worship for forgiveness of sins love for a moment in the world tears i’m headed for a far away village reff 2x: begin with bismillah i take the first step with my right leg then submit myself to allah that’s all i have worship for forgiveness of sins love for a moment in the world tears roll down i’m headed for a far away village good deeds and faith is all i have coda: ya allah, ya allah [ 46 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 paris barantai is one of the most popular songs by anang ardiansyah, but people often refer to this song as “kotabaru” because the lyric of the song that goes “kotabaru gunungnya bamega”, while the title of the song is not mentioned at all in the whole lyric. the popularity of the song paris barantai, among others, is because it is presented in the form of pantun, like the stanza of the song: burung binti batiti di batang titi batang, di batang buluh kuning manggading malam tadi bamimpilah badatang rasa datang... rasa bapaluk lawan si ading (binti birds perching on the stem on the stem of a bamboo yellow like a tusk last night [i] dreamed of proposing proposing feels like hugs with ading) the lyrics of the song paris barantai whose background is kotabaru, one of the district capital in south kalimantan, which is located by the sea and tells the longing of a man to the woman who is mentioned as adinda or the ading. in the 1960s the paris barantai was recorded in a disc by the rindang banua malay orchestra and the ampar-ampar pisang by the taboneo malay orchestra. both songs are popular and continue to be played radio republik indonesia (rri) throughout the country. until now, there is no banjar song as popular as the two (syaifullah, 2008). still a story about a banjar woman that is in the song didundang disayang. the song paris barantai tells about the longing of a man to his lover, on the contrary, the song didundang disayang tells about a marriage ceremony that parades the bridegroom around the village. at that time, as the lyrics say a woman called galuh is grieving because her fiancé as the groom married someone else. like the song paris barantai, didundang disayang, as well as other songs by anang ardiansyah titled kampung batuah depicts a village in the city of banjarmasin with a background of the youth’s great resistance called nanang galuh against the dutch colonialism. anang mentioned banjarmasin as the village of batuah (the blessed village) which was recaptured (with bloodbath). the struggle is described as an effort or a goal for the future survival of posterity. [ 47 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 unlike the other songs, the song sangu batulak (things one takes for a journey) tells about the plan of banjar people to go on a journey. through this song, anang ardiansyah illustrates how hard banjar people leave their hometown to go far wandering. he describes sadness with tears, and simultaneously drawing sincere intention to wander based on the teachings of islam. mulai lawan bismillah as religious practice of urang banjar1 the majority of banjar people are moslems, and it often is claimed that banjar is synonymous with islam. they are also famous with their religioity so that the teachings of islam are practiced in everyday life. the practice of religious teachings is not only observed communally, but also in activities based on personal or respective professions. similarly, anang ardiansyah presents religious values through his songs which tell a lot about banjar religiosity in various things. 1. faith is all one has as the lyric of the song paris barantai that goes batamu lawanlah adinda. adinda iman di dada rasa malayang. iman didada rasa malayang. (seeing adinda adinda faith in the chest feels drifting away faith in the chest feels drifting away) repetition of the words “faith in the chest feels drifting away” twice by the songwriter refers the actions of a person who must consider the values of faith as well as the impact of excessive longing on a lover called “adinda”. faith is always attached under any circumstances, even when experiencing the joy of seeing a loved one. the result of excessive joy or longing makes faith in one’s chest assumed to be “drifting away” or faith disappearing from a person. faith in the chest “should not be abandoned and must be maintained wherever one goes in any activity. the lyric of sangu batulak clarifies the connection of faith in the banjar religious life. 1 the word “lawan” in “mulai lawan bismillah” means “with“ or “together with” in the banjar language. [ 48 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 part 1 ........... mun jadi tulak apa sanguku sahibar do’a iman di dada (if i leave, what to take with me just prayer, faith in the chest part 2 .......... kampung nang jauh bakal kutuju amal wan iman sanguku (i’m headed for a far away village good deeds and faith is all i have) the verses of the song above show that the song paris barantai with its lyric “faith in the chest” which means the faith of a person that dwells in him. the song sangu batulak tells the desire of a banjar person to go wandering, but he has difficulty in leaving his hometown. the journey is called madam (living in a distant place) is not just a tourist trip (traveling) because for the banjar, the trip serves as worship if equipped with faith. as the verse above confirms the strong position of faith in the lives of banjar migrants. part 1 asserts that the plan of departure to be carried out will be based on “prayer of faith in the chest). there is a mix of faith and prayer as what one can take with him in a journey, this may indicate the departure of the banjar is without skills because there is a word “sahibar” (just) and it also puts the position of faith above all else. the songwriter displays the word “in the chest” to embrace the faith, but if it is associated with the dilemma of the person who is going to wander is actually experiencing the inner conflicts between leaving the home village far away from the family with the desire to wander, then the conflict also occurs in the chest. so that “faith” is to be maintained rather than all the raging inner conflicts in the chest. in part 2 affirming the capital of the nomads in the overseas lands of “a village i will far go” (going to a distant village) is charity and faith as “sanguku” (modal) “. in the next section as the verse below refers to faith in allah swt. [ 49 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 part 3 mulai lawan “bismillah” batis nang kanan kulangkah’akan lalu tawakkal ‘alallah itu pang jadi sanguku (begin with bismillah i take the first step with my right leg then submit myself to allah that’s all i have) part 3 of the song sangu batulak clarifies the faith that is addressed to allah swt as what one will take on his journey. the songwriter attaches the word “allah” to the word “bismillah” to start the right footstep heading to migrate. also the use of “tawakkal ‘alallah” when the nomad is traveling to his destination. the strong religious values of banjar may have a strong influence on the people in the overseas areas that are visited. the direct movement of the ancestral land and indirect movement to settle in the transit area contributed to the survival and spread of islamic propagation and malay civilization and some evidence of islamic teachings by banjar scholars both in kalimantan and outside as well as in non-malay lands (dayak, dusun) in kalimantan, especially areas that did not have royalty or sultanate (arbain, 2013: 24). 2. prayer and shalawat for banjar people all worship and prayer are addressed to god and cannot be addressed to his creatures; nobody grants prayer except allah (david, 1997: 559). the religiosity of banjar people is also applied by saying prayer as a solution to the problem of life as in the previous chapter, miserable suffering or heartbreak because her fiancé is married to another woman. the lyric of the song didundang disayang are as follows: kibar bandira urang bahaderah salawat salam ya nabiullah galuh badoa langit dipandang mudah mudahan nang tuntung pandang [ 50 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 (wave the flag of the bahaderah people salawat and salam o the prophet of allah galuh prayed looking up the sky hopefully there’s a glance [of happiness]) in the above verses, the storys is contrasted. on the one hand, the people are enjoying the joy of “waving the flag of the bahaderah people” that is the ceremony of parading the newly-weds with a crowd of people carrying a flag accompanied by the music rhythm and percussion. during the parade, the dancers who performed dancing while waving the flag accompanied by some people singing a compliment to prophet muhammad saw or singing prayers. at the same time, grieving galuh made a decision by praying while looking up the sky. in such a situation the solution was to pray. at the same time, galuh looks up the sky as the highest and infinite place, she does not look down as she will see the limit of the visibility. praying is not for herself, but for the good of others, even the good of the former lover who chooses to marry the other woman. prayer as a solution of this issue can be seen in the song sangu batulak, “mun jadi tulak apa sanguku. sahibar doa iman di dada” (if i leave, what to take with me? just prayer, faith in the chest) as described earlier that prayer is a solution to a migrant person with internal conflict because of sadness of leaving hometown. 3. “haram manyarah” banjar people’s struggle doctrine explicitly religious values are not featured in the song kampung batuah, but instead it shows the strength of religious doctrine as the foundation against the invaders. the verses of the song “haram korarah marabut banjar” is a strong doctrine that also does not provide other options to the banjar people in addition to fighting the invaders. the term “haram menyarah” does not guarantee that they will win the resistance, even the effect is either freedom or death. in addition, the impact of this “haram menyarah” is “his clothes covered in blood”. through the song, the youths of banjar are given a difficult choice as the impact of their persistent spirit of haram manyarah (surrender is forbidden) to achieve the vision for the future of a village in banjarmasin i.e. the blessed village which aims for the good of generations to come (children and grandchildren). if traced further, the term “haram menyarah” is related to, as andersen put forward, the banjarmasin war which had political and religious aspects. for some resistance leaders, the war was a war of sabil (sjamsuddin, 2001: 206). similarly, the “unseen world” as the guerrilla headquarters shows that [ 51 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 in the banjarmasin war this ideology was combined with the messianic and nativistic expectations of the muning movement. although the movement itself was short-lived, it became a powerful force in the spirit of jihad. this movement was a kind of assimilation between islamic teachings and folk traditions (sjamsuddin, 2001:253) conclusion the existence of art, i.e. the songs of the banjar region written by anang ardiansyah, turned out to be an important part of the identity of religiosity in banjar culture. this is evident in the following three aspects: first, in the midst of the various world musical streams entering the borneo region and followed by the present generation, there are still regional songs (using local language and theme) that still survives to be heard and talked about. the power of local content in songs written by anang ardiansyah can provide space for banjar culture with religious nuance to continue to be preserved through songs and appreciation of the song lyrics. second, banjar songs by anang ardiansyah are home to civilization or banjar culture built from the foundation of awareness of the surrounding environment by breathing the spirit of life. the discourse of love or women is part of attraction but fenced by the boundaries of religious values of faith. the basic foundation of all is the awareness of the religiosity of anang ardiansyah as a banjar muslim whose values of faith, prayer, belief in religious teaching are ingrained in his works. perhaps that is why his songs are timeless because they are rooted in the the banjar religious and cultural tradition itself. third, banjar songs are not only aesthetic in meaning or beautiful to the sense of hearing, but the inclusion of religious teachings that are instilled continuously has strengthened the identity of islam among the banjar people. at the same time the distribution of religious values and knowledge through regional songs has strengthened by reinterpreting or at least retelling the content of the song’s meaning. thank-you note i would like to thank the inheritors of anang ardiansyah namely riswan who has allowed me to use some song scripts and use the data from interviews with the late anang ardiansyah in this paper. hopefully his good deeds will be rewarded by allah swt. amen. 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(2007). urang banjar dan kebudayaannya. (m. s. ideham, sjarifuddin, m. a. anis, & wajidi, penyunt.) banjarmasin: badan penelitian dan pengembangan daerah propinsi kalimantan selatan dan pustaka banua. irama, r. (?). 34 tahun tembang kenangan rhoma irama soneta group. pt sani sentosa abadi, jakarta. kariem, m. e. (2015). figur kharismatik abah guru sekumpul keteladanan hidup dari al-arif billah maulana syekh muhammad zaini banjar. binuang: pondok pesantren darul muhibbien bekerjasama dengan bina aswaja. mallinckrodt, j. (1974). gerakan nyuli di kalangan suku dayak lawangan. jakarta: bhratara. maulani, z. a. (2005). melaksanakan kewajiban kepada tuhan dan tanah air memoar seorang prajurit tini. jakarta: daseta. melalatoa, m. j. (2000). kesenian indonesia. antropologi indonesia, xxiv(62), 1-7. muchamad, b. n., & mentayani, i. (2007). anatomi rumah bubungan tinggi. banjarmasin: pustaka banua. mujiburrahman. (2017). urgensi memahami banua melalui kajian sosiologi agama. khazanah, xv(1), 53-69. mundayat, a. a. (2006). djoko pekik seni sebagai ekspresi kritik. dalam a. m. wattie, a. a. mundayat, a. triratnawati, h. poerwanto, h. s. ahimsa-putra, p. laksono, et al., esei-esei antropologi: teori, metodologi dan ethnografi (hal. 240 257). yogyakarta: kepel press. [ 54 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 nasrullah. (2014). the islamic tradition of bakumpai dayak people. al-albab, 3(1), 39-54. --------. (2015). jual seadanya (telah antropologis terhadap implementasi ajaran islam dalam. banjarmasin: konferensi internasional transformasi sosial dan intelektual orang banjar kontemporer diselenggarakan iain antasari. --------. (2017). mengenang kembali peradaban sungai (kajian terhadap simbol banjarmasin post). dalam m. a. soendjoto, a. prahatamaputra, & m. k. riefani (penyunt.), prosiding seminar nasional lahan basah tahun 2016 jilid 2 potensi, peluang dan tantangan pengelolaan lingkungan hidup lahan basah secara berkelanjutan (hal. 467-473). banjarmasin: lambung mangkurat university press. noor, m. i. (2011). nalar keislaman urang banjar. al-banjari, 10(2), 145-164. prasojo, z. h. (2017). religious and cultural existence within the communities of upper kapuas riverside of west kalimantan. al-albab, 6(2), 197-214. rasusmen, a. k. (2005). the arab musical aesthetic in indonesia. the world of music, 47(1), 65-89. rosyadi, a. (2004). bertamu ke sekumpul mereka yang bertemu dengan kh muhammad zaini abdul gani. yogyakarta: lembaga pengkajian ilmu pengetahuan dan keislaman kabupaten banjar. sjamsuddin, h. (2001). pegustian dan temenggung, akar sosial, politik, etnis, dan dinasti. perlawanan di kalimantan selatan dan tengah 18591906. jakarta: balai pustaka. syaifullah, m. (2008). desember 3. oase. dipetik juli 29, 2017, dari kompas. com: http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2008/12/03/20384815/anang. ardiansyah.maestro.lagu.banjar syukur, a. (2003). kata pengantar penyalin. dalam s. m. al-banjari, kitab sabilal muhtadin 1 (h. a. syukur, penerj., hal. xi-xiii). surabaya: pt bina ilmu. tsing, a. l. (1998). di bawah bayang-bayang ratu intan proses marginalisasi pada masyarakat terasing. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia wajidi. (2007). nasionalisme indonesia di kalimantan selatan 1901-1942. banjarmasin: pustaka banua. --------. (2014). dialektika islam dan budaya dalam tradisi ba-ayun maulid di masjid banua halat kabupaten tapin. jurnal kebijakan pembangunan, 9(2). 211-224. [ 59 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 seren taun guru bumi harmony of islam and pasundan culture abdurrahman misno bp college of islamic economics of tazkia bogor drmisnomei@tazkia.ac.id abstract the advent of islam in tatar sunda (west java) lent a new color to the culture that had previously existed there. the nature of islam which was friendly to the local culture, made it easy to be accepted by the sundanese people without bloodshed. the results are a variety of cultural rituals rooted in sundanese culture yet rich with islamic culture. seren taun guru bumi is one of the rituals of the sundanese people deeply-rooted in the belief of nyi pohaci (dewi sri) as the goddess of fertility. the involvement of the researcher in this ritual made the data a primary source which is the implementation of seren taun guru bumi in sindang barang cultural village, bogor, west java. this research shows that the ritual of seren taun guru bumi is a form of islamic harmony with the sundanese culture. islamic culture assimilates in the frame of sundanese traditions in tatar sunda, in which both are brought together in the ritual as a form of gratitude to god almighty. keywords: seren taun guru bumi, acculturation, sunda, sindangbarang, bogor background humans as homo religion have the instinct that there are other forces outside them which manifests itself in various forms of belief in the power of gods and goddesses that can bring good or bad. this belief leads humans to feel the need to give an expression of gratitude and thanks for the good things they receive in this world. humans also feel the need to make certain rituals to avoid the wrath of the gods. the belief in gods has spread across indonesia, from the anak dalam tribe in jambi to the dani in papua. it was present in various types of people, from coastal communities to the agricultural society, each having a variety of their respective beliefs.1 1 johan iskandar and budiawati s. iskandar, agroekosistem orang sunda, bandung: kiblat utama, 2011, p. 46. [ 60 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 one of the many beliefs that exist in the agrarian society in indonesia is the goddess who is reagrded as the origin of rice. the goddess is believed to be the protector and maintainer of rice plant that becomes the staple food of an agrarian society. known as dewi sri, she is a woman who became the goddess of the ruler and the goddess of fertility for rice plant. dewi sri in the sunda agrarian society, according to research conducted by hidding, is known as nyi sri pohatji sanghyang and often associated with the myth of the origin of the rice in west java.2 this myth says that the rice plant was derived from the body dewi sri or dewi tisnawati that was buried.3 belief in the goddess has resulted in the ritual of exaltation in the form of offerings and ceremonies. the baduy, believed to be a native sundanese people, are still practice the traditional way of the rice planting as a form of glorifying nyi pohaci. starting from the beginning of the planting accompanied by angklung to harvest and storage in the leuit, all is carried out solemnly.4 seren taun guru bumi is one of the rituals performed by the agrarian society in indonesia, especially in west java. the ritual is still practiced today. even in some places like in kuningan and bogor, it has become one of the cultural tourism which attracted many foreign and domestic tourists. actually, the ritual practice is not only the exclusive sundanese culture, but it also takes place in many other communities of indonesia since this celebration is usually held by a series of ritual of sedekah bumi.5 the ritual of seren taun guru bumi continued to be practiced until islam came and was embraced by the pasundan society. then there was another attempt to complete each other between islam and sundanese culture to create a harmony between islam and sundanese culture in the form of ritual ceremonies of the seren taun guru bumi. in the perspective of anthropology, this ritual can be categorized as a form of acculturation between the sundanese culture and islam, but on the negative side it can be regarded as a form of syncretism between islam and sunda.6 2 soepanto, “asal mula padi (tjerita rakjat dari pasundan)” in kumpulan tjerita rakjat indonesia, (bandung: urusan adat-istiadat dan tjerita rakjat dep.p.d dan k djawatan kebudayaan, 1963), p. 22-25. 3 hariani santikno, “dewi sri: unsur pemujaan kesuburan pada mitos padi” in majalah ilmu-ilmu sastra indonesia. no. 13 ak pia/1977, p. 53-67. 4 abdurrahman misno, reception through selection modification: antropologi hukum islam di indonesia, yogyakarta: deepublih, 2016, p. 154. 5 edi s. ekajati, masyarakat sunda dan kebudayaannya (jakarta: giri pasaka, 1984), p. 129. 6 irwan abdullah, “kraton, upacara, dan politik simbol: kosmologi dan sinkretisme di jawa”, in humaniora, no. 1, vo. 1, 1990, p. 87. also read parsudi suparlan, “kata pengantar” in mujahirin thohir, wacana masyarakat dan kebudayaan jawa pesisir (semarang: bendera, 1999), p. 25. also read mark r. woodward, islam in java: normative piety and mysticism in [ 61 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 as a communal ritual, the practice seren taun guru bumi is a manifestation of belief and local culture. since culture is a ‘system’ symbol which serves to direct the behavior of religious people,7 in the practice of seren taun guru bumi, religious texts are negotiated creatively to a give new meaning. as a consequence, the process of disposal or even deviation from religious texts is inevitable.8 this is evident from the origins of this tradition which is an attempt to glorify dewi sri that was derived from pagan beliefs, and when islam came it was mixed with islamic culture. based on the background of the problem, it can be seen that the currently practiced ritual ceremony of seren taun guru bumi is the result of harmony between islam and sundanese culture, then how exactly was the pocess of this harmony? moreover, how exactly could this ritual become an integral part of pasundan society? this article examines the procession of seren taun guru bumi in cultural village of sindang barang, bogor, west java. seren taun guru bumi in sundanese public discourse seren taun guru bumi is a ritual to glorify nyi pohaci as the goddess of rice among the sundanese people. this ritual has been going very long since the formation of this tribe. it was also allegedly a tradition of the agrarian society in other regions such as india, thailand, champa and other asian regions. the seren taun ritual is held at the cultural village of singdang barang is reimplemented after tens of years of inactivity. the cultural village of singdang barang itself is a settlement that is made as a miniature village of the past sundanese culture. according to abah ukat, an elder in the cultural village of sindang barang, seren taun guru bumi is an attempt to ngamumule (preserve) the sundanese culture, especially in bogor that has already started to disappear.9 the best time to carry out the seren taun ceremony is at the beginning of the hijri year, from 1st to 15th day. on these dates the moon will rise, precisely on 14th-15th day which is in sundanese called “caang bulan opat belas“. on this day, the people in the past often carried out the ngabungbang. the purpose of the ceremony to be held at the beginning of the hijri year is to appeal to allah that our hearts will be like caang bulan opat welas. “the point is to be saved the the sultanate of yogyakarta (an arbor: umi, 1988) dan by clifford geertz, santri, priyayi, abangan in masyarakat jawa, (jakarta: pustaka jaya, 1981). 7 clifford geertz, the interpretation of culture, (london: sage publication, 1970), p. 65. 8 ali, as’ad said, “bukan?-nya seorang gus dur”, in kata pengantar gus dur bertutur, jakarta: harian proaksi, 2005. p. 10. 9 interview with abah ukat in january 2016. [ 62 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 next world,” said abah ukat.10 implementation of the seren taun guru bumi in the cultural village of sindang barang has undergone several changes, in particular adjustments to islam as the religion of the people there. for example in it is carried out in the month of muharram, where cow slaughtering is performed in accordance with islamic teachings and the meat is distributed to orphans and the poor. prayer recited by a cleric is also currently using islamic law. harmony here is understood in terms of the harmony between islam and sundanese culture. this means that the dialog between islam and sundanese culture did not separate them, the opposite in fact happened where it appears the sundanese culture is rich with islamic influences. harmonization between islam and sundanese culture has been going on since islam came to this region in peace. so there is no serious conflict between islam and sundanese culture. even the term common among sundanese people is sunda teh islam, islam teh sunda (sunda is islam and islam is sunda).11 this occurs because the two have the same guidelines, especially in terms of ethics and everyday behavior. research on the ritual of seren taun guru bumi has been carried out several times, especially by students at the faculty of humanities, university of indonesia. however, none of the research talked about acculturation or harmony that constitutes the elements of the ritual today, i.e. the theory of acculturation between islam and sundanese culture. the research focused more on the discretion of sundanese culture and customs, despite the fact that this ritual is rich with the islamic values which have been merged into the sundanese culture. the ritual of seren taun guru bumi is the harmony between sundanese and islamic culture that comes from the middle east with arid desert sands combined with the culture of an agrarian society in the tropics. according to the analysis by bambang pranowo, this is a natural thing because theoretically a tradition works by creating something that is passed down from generation to generation, and its form still exists today.12 from this concept, the seren taun ritual can be understood in tibi’s anthropological paradigm as a process of acculturation, assimilation, diffusion, and adaptation. islam is understood as a collection with variations of interpretation in the context of the locality seren taun. islam adapted and interacted with culture, so that in the concept of habsbawn as quoted by 10 interview with abah ukat at the cultural village of sindangbarang. 11 misno, sunda teh islam, bogor: stai al-hidayah press, 2015, p. 76. 12 bambang pranowo, “runtuhnya atkhotomi santri-abangan”, in jurnal ulumidatn, no. 02, th. iv, 2001. [ 63 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 pranowo, seren taun tradition necessitates two concepts of culture, i.e. the process of inheritance and construction.13 in line with the previous analysis, ignaz kleden’s concept about cultural change can help to see how far the process of inheritance or conservation, and construction of the seren taun tradition, how it works and finds its context. kleden provided five concepts, namely (1) at the level of the value system is from the integration, disintegration to reintegration; (2) at the level of cognitive system is through orientation to disorientation to reorientation; (3) at the institutional system, the change is from organization to disorganization to reorganization; (4) at the level of interaction is from socialization, dissocialization to resocialization; and (5) at the level of behavior, the process is from acceptance of behavior, refusal of behavior and acceptance of new behavior.14 some changes and cultural shifts in the seren taun tradition in accordance with the concept of kleden which stands out is the change in cognitive systems that religious knowledge was once filled with local beliefs has changed to more islamic. islam’s interaction with sundanese culture in the tradition of seren taun as analyzed with the concepts suggested by bassam tibi, pranowo and habsbawn, nur syam,15 found a relevance with other anthropologists who emphasize the islamic acculturation in the local culture, i.e. mark r. woordward,16 muhaimin17, john ryan bartholomew18. in contrast to the analysis of the theorists of acculturation of islam and local culture, islamic syncretism theory can be used to look closely at the tradition of seren taun in sindang barang. as advocates like clifford geertz19, neils mulder20, and erni budiwanti21 who examined islam wetu telu, could give birth to assumption that the seren taun ritual is a description of syncretism 13 bambang pranowo, p. 9. 14 ignaz kleden, sikap ilmiah terhadap kebudayaan (jakarta: grameata, 1987), p. 169170. 15 nur syam, islam pesisir (yogyakarta: lkis, 2005). 16 mark r. woodward, islam jawa kesalehan normatif versus kebatinan (yogyakarta: lkis, 2006). 17 muhaimin ag, islam in bingkai budaya lokal potret dari cirebon, (jakarta: logor, 2001) 18 john ryan bartholomew, alif lam mim: kearifan masyarakat sasak, (yogyakarta: tiara wacana, 2001). 19 clifford geertz, santri, priyayi, abangan in masyarakat jawa, (jakarta: pustaka jaya, 1981). 20 neils mulder, agama, hidup sehari-hari dan perubahan budaya, (jakarta: grameata pustaka utama, 1999). 21 erni buatwanti, islam sasak, (yogyakarta: lkis, 2000) [ 64 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 between islam and local belief in sindangbarang. in other words, there is a process of integration between two or more cultures (islam, hindu, buddhism, and animism) in the seren taun ritual. mulder’s concept of syncretism in the seren taun ritual provides two basic concepts, i.e. (1) the culture can be understood as a cultural arena that facilitates the existence of some elements of culture that serve as a shaper; and (2) because it serves as a cultural arena, it could give birth to the implication in form of struggle for cultural contestation.22 with reference to the concept of mulder and theoretical implications, as far as the author observed, the preservation of seren taun ritual until now shows no cultural resistance from the local community. instead, the two rituals contribute sociological form of consolidation of public functions that yearn for yearn for harmony. indigenous or local tradition that grows among the people of sindangbarang received guidance from the teachings of muslim traditionalists. this research used an ethnographical method with a phenomenological approach. data collection used in this research was the method field research with an anthropological approach, and the analysis used methods of observation, interviews and documentation. observations were carried out by following the process seren taun guru bumi ritual in the cultural village of sindang barang, bogor. observations were conducted on december 18 to january 24, 2016, from monday through the peak of the ritual which was on sunday. in-depth interviews were conducted with key figures in this ritual, especially the indigenous elders in kampung sindang barang, bogor. snowball technique was used, by looking for an informant who led to others who know about this ritual. meanwhile the documentation was held at the faculty of humanities of the university of indonesia to review the documents, books, scientific reports and resources relevant to this study. implementation of the seren taun guru bumi in the cultural village of sindang barang, bogor, west java province, indonesia the cultural village of singdang barang is located in the village of pasir eurih, tamansari subdistrict, bogor regency, west java province. located only 5 kilometers away from the city of bogor or 60 kilometers from the city of jakarta. the village is located at an altitude of 350-500 meters above sea level, consisting of 14 wards and 54 neighborhood associations with a total 22 neils mulder, agama, hidup sehari-hari dan perubahan budaya, (jakarta: grameata pustaka utama, 1999), p. 70. [ 65 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 population of 1,200. most of the inhabitants are sandal and shoe makers, and farmers.23 the history of singdang barang region has been known and recorded in the chronicle of pakuan / pajajaran as one of the important areas of the sunda and pajajaran kingdoms. this is because sindangbarang housed one of the royal palaces where one of prabu siliwangi’s wives named dewi mayang kentring manik sunda lived, while the ruler of sindangbarang at the time was surabima panjiwirajaya or amuk murugul. even the son of prabu siliwangi and kentring manik mayang sunda named guru gantangan was born and raised in sindangbarang. until today there are archaeological remains i.e. the park of sri bagenda in sindangbarang, with a pond with a length of 15 x 45 meters, and 33 spots of punden berundak.24 the people here are actively involved in the seren taun ceremony which can be seen from their enthusiastic participation in the ritual. in sindangbarang village, there are eight kinds of sundanese arts that have been revived and preserved by its inhabitants. here, there are also archaeological sites of pajajaran royal heritage in the form of terraces. in sindangbarang, the traditional ceremony of seren taun guru bumi is held every year as an expression of gratitude of the community to god almighty, and for the crop yields obtained this year and to hope for better harvest. to preserve the traditional arts in the cultural village, gamelan dance training for young people is held free of charge. youngsters who have advanced in their respective arts will be involved in performances to welcome guests which will contribute to their income. to preserve the archaeological sites, the cultural village collaborates with the fib ui to conduct research, documentation and organizing seminars on the pajajaran royal heritage sites. the folklores about sindangbarang have been recorded by those from the fib ui. currently, adat houses and traditions in the cultural village of sindangbarang have also been reconstructed and revived. revival of culture and adat houses is in fact necessary in order not to lose the sunda identity. staying with the kokolot will be a unique experience in this village because guests will feel the atmosphere of everyday village life. here, guests will stay with the kokolot and artists who actually live in the village culture. guests will also see women pounding rice in saung lisung, cooking with firewood and hawu (sundanese traditional stove), watching farmers 23 direct observation on 17 january 2016. 24 agus aris munandar, mengenal situs-situs kepurbakalaan megalitik di wilayah sindang barang bogor, paper presented at a discussion on seren taun held by simpay (paguyuban guar sunda) and the center for development of arts and culture of the faculty of humanities of the university of indonesia. [ 66 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 doing farming activities, and learning arts. the attributes that accompany the ceremony of seren taun guru bumi in sindangbarang village, as mentioned above consisting of eight kinds of art, will enliven the ceremony. these arts among others are calung, martial arts, dance, gamelan, reog, etc. rice which serves as an important part of the seren taun ceremony is complemented by fruits and vegetables that are all derived from local yields. music, dance, and other attractions add to the attractions of the annual event. the event of seren taun is usually filled with a variety of other forms of entertainment. community leaders, elders, community members, local and foreign tourists join the festivities in the village. seren taun is a sundanese community ritual performed every year, taking place solemnly and lively in the village of pasir eurih, sindangbarang, bogor, west java. the traditional ceremony as a celebration of this agrarian society is enlivened by thousands from bogor and the surrounding communities, even from several areas in west java and abroad. “ the annual event is attended by community and traditional leaders of bogor sundanese with activities being centered in the cultural village of sindangbarang, pasir eurih village, tamansari sub-district, bogor regency. those who want to see cultural or artistic activities of the sundanese are welcome, because the event is open to the public and free of charge,“ said the pupuhu (traditional leader) of the cultural village of sindangbarang, a. mikami sumawidjaya.25 the indigenous or sundanese arts to be shown in seren taun among others are ritual of circumcision of a child, starting from sawer sudat, parade around the village, and sebret kasep. the event is interesting because there are 30 boys that will be circumcised in accordance with the sundanese tradition and filled with art performances during the three phases of mass circumcision. “seren taun is held with the purpose of expressing gratitude and joy to god for all the sustenance received by the community over the past year and pray for abundant harvests and avoid disasters in the years to come,” said sumawijaya. in addition to performances of sundanese arts such as jaipong dance, kendang rempak dance, pencak, angklung gubrak, and reog, there is also a puppet show. in addition the event is also filled with the munday ritual (parading and slaughtering cows for alms and side dishes), fishing in the river, and cake giveaway. 25 interview with ahmad maki sumawijaya during the event of seren taun guru bumi 18 january 2016. [ 67 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the peak of seren taun is helaran dongdang which is a procession of people who carry dongdang (ornate container) containing crops and other community economic product. following the procession, various sundanese arts are displayed. the highlight of this event was held on january 24, 2016 on sunday from 08.00 until late afternoon. a series of rituals are performed in front of the village elder in sindangbarang cultural village complex, bogor. the ritual of seren taun guru bumi is the ancestral heritage of the pasundan community, which according to the elders, it must be preserved despite the swift the new culture as well as that of the western. so whatever the consequences are, the ritual has to be implemented. those who obey and those who disobey or pros and cons continue to be the talk of the elders of the pasundan culture. the traditional festivities of seren taun guru bumi in sindanngbarang bogor this year began to be held on monday, from january 18 through january 24, 2016. it began with a visit by the traditional leaders of bogor sundanese in sindangbarang to the tombs of the ancestors on gunung salak. this ritual was carried out at night where people carried equipment such as parupuyan (censer), perfume, flowers of seven types, coffee, milk, tea and cigarettes. a kokolot served as a leader in this tomb visit. the procession began with a kokolot (an elder person) who knelt in front of the tomb of eyang cakra bumi on gunung salak. after reading some mantras and prayers then some incense was burnt, and the atmosphere was quiet with the scent of incense being burnt and the smoke rising into the sky. according to aman kang, smoke is a medium to communicate with the spirits of the ancestors who have died.26 after incantations and prayers were completed, then all members of the group returned to their respective homes. the next stage of the ritual of seren taun guru bumi is to take water (which is considered holy) by the public at sindang barang, bogor. the water taken from sacred wells jalatunda is believed to have an effect for those who drink and take a bath there. the water is then brought to the kokolot’s home accompanied by the community and other indigenous leaders. then the procession continued and accompanied by sundanese cultural arts or arts performed by the surrounding communities. a group of people were carrying rice, vegetables, fruits, and livestock. the celebration of this ritual is when people bring dongdang (a type of stretcher) filled with fruits, vegetables and other crops. each rt (neighborhood association) and rw (ward) in pasir eurih brought dongdang which was carried by four men. some women also accompanied the group 26 interview with kang aman at the tomb visit as part of seren taun guru bumi in january 2016. [ 68 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 with a complete angklung in sundanese traditional clothes. in the ritual of seren taun guru bumi, people usually carry two bunches of rice paddy to be delivered to the village elder to be stored in the barn (leuit). according to the village elders, this is a time of preparation by the community if anyone needs it. at that moment, the leuit will be opened to provide food to those in need. the culmination of the seren taun guru bumi ritual is storing rice into the leuit (typical sundanese rice barn), which is the final rite in a series of processions. storing rice in the leuit is done in a solemn manner accompanied by sunda songs as “entertainment” for nyi pohaci who is going to “sleep”. finally, a religious leader will close the ritual with a prayer for the safety of the whole community in singdang barang.27 in some areas in tatar sunda, in the event, people usually bury a cow head into the ground. however, this tradition is no longer practiced in the cultural village of sindang barang. the cow that has been slaughtered is then distributed among the orphans, the poor and guests who come to the event. similarly, a ritual that may contain polytheistic practices is not carried out as part of their islamic faith. after the ritual is completed, everyone will be entertained with a variety of traditional arts. even the arts stages are provided, usually more than one or even five stages, each being filled by various kinds of music and arts, even the original art of the chinese lion dance. in addition to arts, temporary markets also help enliven the event. to entertain visitors, the event may take more than one day, and maybe up to three days or a week. this ritual, in addition to a visit by the community itself, it is also attended by visitors from outside the village such as jakarta and even foreign tourists from denmark. seren taun guru bumi has become the annual folk festivity for the community in sindangbarang in particular and bogor in general. they are comforted by this event so that in the future it must be preserved. the participation of the local government is very important for the sustainability since it requires a lot of fund.28 harmony between islam and pasundan culture the harmony between islam and sundanese culture in the seren taun guru bumi ritual in sindangbarang village is an acculturation between the two. the islamic form of harmony is when introducing the values of gratitude to the 27 the event of the seren taun guru bumi ritual at the cultural village of sindangbarang is not much different to that carried out in other indigenous villages, for example in south sukabumi cisungsang. 28 interview with ahmad maki sumawijaya in january 2016. [ 69 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 community, especially the ritual of seren taun guru bumi, of course, it should be an expression of gratitude not only for harvest of rice alone, but whenever possible. however, in traditional societies, it is not easy to remove the belief in the gods. therefore, this ritual serves as a prelude to teach gratitude to the creator. the form of harmony between islam and the pasundan community especially in the seren taun ritual is advised to bring other crops in addition to rice such as grains, fruits, vegetables, and livestock animals, usually for cattle, it is already in the form of food or fast food. for fast food, such as vegetables, rice and side dishes which in the past was buried into the earth or dumped into the sea, is now used again for food to be cooked and eaten together. the harmony taught by islam is for the sundanese people who still perform the rituals seren taun guru bumi, sooner or later to understand the nature of real gratitude. when we refer to the discussion of sundanese culture, in fact, with their ritual of seren taun guru bumi, the people around the village no matter the ethnicity or religion, can interact without any social distinction. as a result of acculturation, the seren taun guru bumi is a culture that has two distinct elements, i.e. the sundanese culture and the overall culture of islam. the sundanese culture as the origin of this ritual in the past was filled with pagan beliefs, i.e. exaltation of nyi pohaci (dewi sri) and giving offerings to her. islam came and gave color to this ritual in the form gratitude to and glorification of allah the most high. the tomb visit is carried out using the procedure of pilgrimage in islam, so is the belief in the water of the jalatunda well that comes from allah. cow slaughtering is conducted with islamic law and the meat distributed to orphans and the poor. no cow head is buried or dumped into the sea. mass circumcision, despite using the procedure of sundanese culture, it is definitely part of the islamic law. conclusion seren taun guru bumi is the result of acculturation between sundanese culture and islam. the practice of this ritual in the cultural village of sindangbarang is an effort to revive the sundanese tradition that has long been gone. this ritual in the past was a form of exaltation of nyi pohaci (dewi sri) which is believed to be the goddess of rice in tatar sunda (west java). currently the implementation has been colored with islamic elements, not only symbolically but also in the belief. the islamic elements in the ritual of seren taun guru bumi can be seen in this ritual as a form of gratitude to allah the most high who has provided us with sustenance throughout the year. furthermore, in the procession, it is also [ 70 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 filled islamic cultures, for example tomb visit which is done in accordance with the islamic procedures, cow slaughtering in which the meat is intended for orphans and the poor and mass circumcision performed in a series of rituals. the sundanese culture is still visible in the outfit worn, the use of incense and various sundanese arts performed. similarly, the sundanese symbols also characterize the course of the ritual from beginning to end which include the location of the ritual which is held in front of the home of the village elder located in the cultural village of sindangbarang bogor. as a local ritual, the community and the government should preserve it. as long as it does not have conflict with the islamic values, then it is very likely to be continued. if there is part of the ritual that is contrary to islamic teachings, it is the responsibility of the scholars to straighten it. this ritual is expected to be an asset for bogor tourist attractions. hopefully, it will increase the number of local and foreign tourists to come to the village. there is no doubt that the role of the local government of bogor is crucial in preserving the seren taun guru bumi ceremony in the cultural village of sindangbarang, bogor. references abdurrahman misno, reception through selection modification: antropologi hukum islam di indonesia, yogyakarta: deepublih, 2016 dhavamony, mariasusai, fenomenologi agama, terj. a. sudiarja dkk, yogyakarta, kanisius, 1995. ekajati, edi s., masyarakat sunda dan kebudayaannya, jakarta: giri pasaka, 1984. gazalba, sidi, pengantar kebudayaan sebagai ilmu, jakarta: antara, 1968. gellner, david n., “pendekatan antropologis” dalam peter connolly (ed.), aneka pendekatan studi agama, yogyakarta: lkis, 2002. iskandar, yosep, sejarah jawa barat (yuganing rajakawasa), bandung: geger sunter, 1997. johan iskandar dan budiawati s. iskandar, agroekosistem orang sunda, bandung: kiblat utama, 2011, lubis, nina h., kehidupan kaum menak priangan 1800-1942, bandung: pusat informasi kebudayaan sunda, 1998. madjid, nurcholish, islam doktrin dan peradaban sebuah telaah kritis tentang masalah keimanan, kemanusiaan dan kemodernan, jakarta: paramadina, 2000. [ 71 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 cliford geertz, islam observed, chicago: the university of chicago press, 1975. nawawi, hadari, metode penelitian bidang sosial, yogyakarta: ugm press, 1995. razak, abdul, teologi aliran kebatinan sunda; kajian antropologi agama tentang aliran kebatinan perjalanan, bandung: kiblat, 2005. soepanto, “asal mula padi (tjerita rakjat dari pasundan)” dalam kumpulan tjerita rakjat indonesia, bandung: urusan adat-istiadat dan tjerita rakjat dep.p.d dan k djawatan kebudayaan, 1963. anis jatisunda, upacara seren taun guru bumi di the cultural village of sindang barang kabupaten bogor. makalah, tt. rahmat subagya, agama asli indonesia, jakarta: yayasan cipta loka caraka. 1981. yuyus suherman, sejarah perintisan penyebaran islam di tatar sunda, bandung: penerbit pustaka, 1995. danasasmita, saleh. sejarah bogor, bogor: dinas kebudayaan pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif kota bogor, 2012. team penyusun dan perumus, proceedings seminar nasional sastra dan sejarah pakuan pajajaran, bogor: universitas pakuan dan yayasan pembangunan jawa barat, 1993. [ 211 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the concept of peace in islam and its relevance to international relations rizki dian nursita univeristas islam indonesia email: rizki.dian.nursita@uii.ac.id ahmad sahide universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta email: ahmadsahideumy@gmail.com abstract islam is often described as a religion that emphasizes the use of violence in its da’wah method. the stereotype is formed by a number of literature and media that depicted islam as a religion of violence. this paper aims to analyze the causes of stereotype against islam, and provides an overview of the concept of peace in islamic perspective, and seek the relevance of the concept of peace in islam to the study of conflict and peace in international relations. through some literature research, the author finds that the stereotype is caused by the gap in the discourse on war and peace in islam, thus the discourse related to the peace in islam needs to be buzzed. unlike the two mainstreams in international relation studies (realism and idealism), al-quran, as the primary source of islamic teaching, describes that a human is basically both keen to cooperate and prone to conflict, and favoring to managing the conflict through peaceful settlement. three terms-as-silmu, as-shulhu, and al-amanu are used to conceptualize the three levels of peace in the quranic perspective. keywords: as-silmu; islam; international relations; peace; war. introduction the 11th september attack has became a major momentum that influenced a number of changes in the international relations discourses. the concept of security which is initially understood by realists as states’ capacity to deal with threats from other countries in the midst of international anarchy, it must immediately be doubted after 11th september attack. it also has brought up a number of new terms in international relations, such as terrorism, terrorist; as a new actor in international relations, and global war on terrorism; the united states foreign policy which emerged in the bush administration has also affected the foreign policy of countries around the world. [ 212 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 several media have been involved in the formation of stereotypes of global society towards islam and the middle east. famous newspapers and electronic media, such as cnn and bbc have intensively broadcast news and stories about the middle east during the gulf war i and gulf war ii. internal conflict has also been a major trend in recent years. unfortunately, statistics seemed to support stereotypes. some countries in the islamic world, such as pakistan, libya, sudan, ukraine, yemen, somalia, afghanistan, iraq, and syria have been identified as countries with the lowest security index, even saudi arabia, egypt, turkey, and palestine are on the alert status (gpi, 2016). the relation among islam, war, and terrorism is also often depicted in a number of fictions. the three kings portrays the story during the gulf war i. the hurt locker tells the story of explosive disarmament missions in the second bay war. we also find other movies, such as homeland movie, zero dark thirty, united 93, and a number of western films portray the story of alqaeda and osama bin laden’s actions that might be considered as the threat to the national security. literature about ‘islam and war’ and ‘islam and terrorism’ seem to be more popular compared with ‘islam and peace’. some books which offer the discussion on ‘islam and peace’, start the discussion with the concept ‘war’ in islam. as if the concept of peace in islam is valid if islam is acceptable as both religion and a political system. the term of jihad in islam seems to be understood as ‘jihad bil anfus’ (by risking life) or ‘jihad bis sayf ’ (with sword, violence). the concept of jihad is also often equated with the concept of holy wars that have occurred in the west (firestone, 1999). although the concept of jihad also includes wars and risking the lives, etymologically, the term of jihad does not take root from the word war like ‘qital’ or ‘harb’, rather it has a broader spectrum. jihad is probably the most controversial and emotive word that the west associates with islam today; not a day goes by in the media when the word is not invoked, either by the jihadis themselves or critics of islam (fuller, 2010). the stigma of islam as a common threat has contributed to the emergence of islamophobia, mainly in the era of george walker bush after september attack (sahide, 2018). in fact, the middle east which is always associated with ‘islam’ is not always lulled by wars and may be less compared to the other regions in the world. according to the war historian, quincy wright, the number of wars that took place around the world from 1484 to 1945 shows that of 278 wars, 187 wars occurred in europe while 91 battles took place in other regions (firestone, 1999). most of the stigma of islam often begins with methodological issues. western [ 213 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 scientists or perhaps orientalists who are not accustomed to islamic tradition often regard islam as a religion that merely teaches violence by simply taking a number of relevant verses and hadiths. the research is also supported by references to the history of islam which tells several cases of communal violence and political conflict. so they come to the conclusion that islam is a religion that basically justifies acts of violence due to differences in beliefs and politics (nimer, 2001). primary sources in islamic law, both the al-qur’an and sunnah have encouraged the attitude of peace. even the term of ‘islam’ itself has its root to the verb ‘salima’ and the noun ‘salam’ means salvation and peace. al-qur’an encourages muslims to have good behavior toward followers of other faiths (yunus 10:99), to settle disputes (al-hujurat 49: 9), to know each other (alhujurat 49:13), and to cooperate in goodness, not enmity. the concept of peace in islam may get less spotlight in islamic political literature, but it is actually very much mentioned, even written with very detailed in the books of adab (ethics) of social life. this paper tries to enhance the idea of peace in islam which has so far been neglected, without disproving the existence of the concept of war in islam. this paper discusses the gap that occurs in the discourse between war and peace in islam, the basic assumptions of islam on peace compared with two mainstreams in international relations, the classification of the concept of peace in islam and its relevance to the contemporary peace studies. war and peace in islamic perspective this section attempts to provide an overview of the inequality between the discourse on war and peace in islam. the recent literature on islamic politics tells more about the use of violence, wars, the treatment of combatants and prisoners of war, international law, and so on. nonetheless, the classical islamic literature has actually dealt with these concepts, and some classical scholars have been asked for judgements or fatwas related to war and peace in islam (nimer, 2001). one of the classical scholars who was also the disciple of imam abu hanifa, muhammad bin al-hasan as-syaibani was one of the classical scholars of the eighteenth century who has involved in the field of international law studies; eight centuries earlier than hugo grotius; the father of international law from the west. syaibani’s masterpiece, ‘siyar’; ‘siyar as-shagir’ and ‘siyar al-kabir’ tell a lot about fatwas from abu hanifa and syaibani himself. siyar which is the plural form of ‘sirah’; which not only means ‘history’, but also ‘journey’, [ 214 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 then simply interpreted by modern. the book of siyar contains a set judgements that guides muslims interaction with non-muslims; whether in a state of war or peace, whether interaction among individuals or in a state level; interaction between darul islam and darul kufr within the territory of islam as well as outside; and interaction in the particular situations such as apostasy, rebellion and piracy (munir, 2012). the book of siyar was later reconstructed by a number of muslim scholars, one of them was muhammad abu zahra in his syarh kitab as-siyar al-kabir, as well as prominent orientalists such as majid khadduri. the work of majid khadduri which contains the introduction and translation of the book of siyar written in 1966, ‘the islamic law of nations shaibani’s siyar’ has been reviewed widely by western scholars. perhaps we may find few writings in the islamic classical literature that specifically address the study of international relations. the book of siyar could be seen as a positive thing, although the fatwas were not codified as a set of rules. we can see that siyar has been written based on the idea that interaction among nations is conflictual; between islam and kufr or islam and rebels. peace in the islamic classical literature is understood as negative-peace or the absence of war; between islam with kufr, or between government and bughot or rebel; and when the dhimmis are at ‘safe conduct’, or ‘aman’ . the legal view on peace and violence in the classical period was articulated and applied on the basis of maqâsid as-shari’ah; teachings or purpose (intent) of the whole islamic law which aims to protect religion, life, humans’ reason, humans’ property, their honor, and descents. these six points of purpose are considered as fundamental needs or dharuriyat in islam. maqashid is used by considering context or fact that occur in a particular society. it should be noted, that in islam political conflicts set forth in a juridical decision or fatwas, remain a political conflict. they have never been extended to religious wars, such as the war between islam and christianity, judaism, hinduism or any other religions that islam has ever encountered in history. the juridical judgment is certainly in accordance with the conditions faced by muslims; fatwa of an expert that allows the use of force against a pagan ruler in certain conditions, is not a reason to attack a neighbor who has different beliefs (nimer, 2001), nor it is a holy war with the aim of killing certain people with different beliefs. such inequality also occurs in contemporary islamic studies. orientalists such as majid khadduri had earlier issued war and peace in the law of islam in 1955, several years before the publication of ‘the shaibani’s islamic law of nations [ 215 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 siyar’. this book describes both war and peace concepts comprehensively in one book. however, the discussion of the peace is placed in the third chapter after the war, and it still contains discussions about the treatment of islam against other religions, dhimmis, peace agreements, arbitration and neutrality; despite there is also a part discusses about international diplomacy and trade (khadduri, 1966). this book became the most frequently used reference by academics in explaining the concept of war and jihad in islam. on the other hand, this book is also often regarded as a book that has justified stereotypes about islam; that islam is a religion of violent doctrines and terrorism. the work of abu sulayman ‘towards an islamic theory of international relations’ published in 1987 has shown a novelty in the discourse of international relations of islamic perspective. although abu sulayman did not exclusively discuss the concept of peace in islam, at least it has raised some peace-related concepts, such as tolerance, cooperation and mutual support, diplomacy and building alliances (abu-sulayman, 1993). similarly, abu zahra in his work ‘al-’alaqah ad-dauliyyah fi-l-islam’ or ‘international relations in islamic perspective’ explains the normative aspects of international relations; international relations are bound by values such as dignity, the unity of people, encouraging muslims to help each other, and tolerance (abu-zahrah, 1995). however, these books are still infrequently used as the reference by contemporary scholars. indonesia may have become one of the examples of the spread of islam through peaceful means. according to abdullah bin nuh, the spread of islam in southeast asia did not occur in the 13th century ad. historical evidence from china and some muslim settlements in indonesia show that islam come to indonesia since the 7th ad through the preachers and traders. people in the arabian peninsula have established trade cooperations with various countries, such as africa, india, southeast asia, and east asia. these relations have occurred long before mohammed’s prophecy. arabian merchants have become the intermediaries between these countries and european merchants. it is estimated that islam has penetrated to the southeast asia since the 7th century ad, or in the second year of hijriyah. this estimate is supported by the findings of t.w. arnold, which shows that muslim traders have been in sailan and sri lanka since the second century of hijriyah (suryanegara, 2017). according to karen armstrong, western assumptions related to islam; islam as a religion that teaches violence and jihad considered as twin brother of the crusade, such assumptions can not be separated from the trauma of the west against the wars occurred in the middle ages (armstrong, 2001). before the era of colonialism, indonesia which was far away from the story of the [ 216 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 holy war in the west, certainly had a different response to a comprehensive religious teaching; islamic belief which is not only understood as ritual, but also provides security and social and political order. the spread of islam in indonesia has been done through diverse concepts of da’wah, whether da’wah through diplomacy with local rulers, trade, assimilation, marriage, and sufism; considering muslims are obliged to involve in the da’wah regardless their status and occupation. yet, both the islamic world and the west are often fixated on the heroic stories that are identical to warfare, but ignorant of the stories of how the messenger and his companions, as well as some political leaders sought to create the peace. conflict and human nature two mainstream in international relations, both classical realism and classical liberalism or idealism cannot be separated from the fundamental thinking about the nature of human being. the emergence of realism and idealism both started from assumptions about the nature of human beings. realists see that human nature is selfish, and interaction among people is conflictual. thus, realists tend to have a pessimistic and skeptical view about cooperation and peace in international relations (pettiford, 2015., and heywood, 2011). within the state, the selfishness within a human being is limited by government. whereas in international relations, the selfishness that exists in human beings may unleash the worst potential of human nature, thus forming an anarchic structure (donnelly, 2005). morgenthau as a classical realist scholar saw that the state was the first institution to ignore the human values to gain the power. meanwhile, according to neorealists, international violence is not the impact of human egoism, but a social phenomenon that is formed due to the anarchic international environment (guzzini, 2003). the state is seen as its own organic structure, which has its own interests and strengths, not merely as a humandriven instrument. on the contrary, liberalists see people are bound to human virtue. the conflict that occurs between people will not become a problem, if the cause of the conflict can be identified, then the problem can be solved. according to kant, humans are not always associated with selfishness, greed, and aggression. humans are naturally affectionate and able to distinguish between good and bad (pettiford, 2015). liberalists see that war is not caused by human nature or the structure of the international system, rather war is the product of social interaction (burchill, 2005). discussion about human beings becomes very important in the study of [ 217 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 international relations of islamic perspective. regarding human nature, islam is neither realistic nor idealistic. however, it should be noted that the discussion is not intended to build a synthesis between the two mainstream debates; as the english school was born to become via media between realism and liberalism (linklater, 2005). islam is a religion that encourages wasathiyah, as it has been mentioned in the qur’an, that the character of muslims is ummatan wasathan (al-baqarah 2: 143). wasath is a stand-alone position, neither side nor both. wasathiyah attitude does not mean ‘ghuluw’ or exaggeration (al-maidah 5:77). a man who is wasathiyah will be able to understand reality, priority, nature or sunnatullah, and comprehend religious texts comprehensively (tamam, 2017). islam recognizes the human nature equally, that man also has the potential to do good and evil. as in the word of god in sura as-shams; “and by the soul (nafs) and the perfection of his creation, he inspired the soul what is wrong and what is right for it.” (as-shams 91: 7-8). refer to tafsir ibn kathir, what is meant by the perfection of creation is that allah has directed man to a righteous nature. as the words of surah ar-rum allah says, “then face your face with the righteousness of allah (allah), (on) the nature of allah who created man according to the fitrah. no change in the nature of allah.” (ar-rum 30:30). but god then inspired man to the way of good and evil, as it is mentioned by mujahid, qatadah, ad-dhahak, as-tsauri (katsir, 2004a). in the hadith, it is narrated that someone who asked the prophet mohammed, “o messenger of allah, how do you think about what is done by human beings whom they laboriously overcome. is it fate that has been set upon them, or is it something that they receive from what their prophet said to them, then reinforced with the argument?” so the messenger of allah answered: “no that is the thing that has been established for them. “the man asked again,”then what is the use of charity?” the prophet replied, “that whoever is created by god to do one of them, then allah prepare it for it, as it is said in the book of allah: and the soul and the consummation of it, then allah inspires the soul the right and wrong path.” (katsir, 2004). in islam, the first conflict accompanied by use of violence that occurred in human history has been narrated in the qur’an. that is the story of the son of adam, when qabil and abel compete each other to be the best, as well as fighting for a potential spouse. as it is hinted in surah al-maidah, “his lust encourages the killing of his brother, so he kills him, and he is among the losers” (al-maidah 5:30). conflict is also mentioned in the qur’an in a number of terms and levels, ranging from enmity (az-zumar 39:31), disputes (ali-imran 3:103 & 105), disagreements (an-nisa 4:59), and wars (muhammad 47:4), (al[ 218 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 baqarah 2:217), (al-anfal 8:57). although islam exposes the human nature to do good and evil. however, it does not mean that evil deeds become permissible in islam; including violence, crime, and hostility. as it is mentioned in the verse after that, “it is indeed a lucky man who purifies the soul, and indeed he fails who corrupts it.” (as-shams 91:9-10). according to qatadah, this verse explains it is to be fortunate that one who purifies himself from a disgraceful attitude and contemptible things; is considered obedient to allah, as it was narrated by mujahid, ikrimah, and said bin jubair (katsir, 2004a). the striking difference between islam and other paradigms is the concept of after life, and the concept of reward and sin or reckoning. in islam, all human deeds can not be separated from the hisab and will be accounted for in the hereafter. as allah says in the quran surah az-zalzalah; “whoever does good deeds of zarrah, he will see the reward, and whoever does the evil weighing of zarrah, will surely get his reward” (az-zalzalah 99:7-8). we may often hear a proverb, “my country, right or wrong” that indicates state’s superiority as an actor that has the immunity to do anything to defend its national interest. realists separate national and international negotiations with morality. thus, diplomacy in the classical era is full of hypocritical actions and lies (iqbal, 2000). in islam, international relations are not merely inter-state relations, but human beings as the main actors who run the state; as well as other entities considered as actors in international relations; international organizations, corporations, interest groups. man as an actor who runs the state and other relevant entities in international relations, thus all of activities including social and political cannot be separated from the reckoning, and cannot be apart from the norms, values, and divine rules that bind people from acts that can cause hostility, conflict, and damage. the concept of peace in islam etymologically, the word islam is closely related to the salvation, peace, and submission. in arabic, the word islam itself is rooted to the verb سلم (salima) and mashdar or noun taken from the verb السالم (as-salaamu) meaning نجا (najaa) or “to be safe” or “salvation”. the word سلم (salima) can also turn into or “reconciled”, and (shaalaha) صالح which is synonymous with (saalama) سالم the noun السلم (as-silmu) also has the same meaning as الصلح (as-shulhu), which means peace; as it is found in the phrase أنا سلم لمن سالمني وحرب لمن حاربني (ana silmun liman saalamani wa harbun liman haarabanii) which means “i make [ 219 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 peace to those do the same, and fight against those who fight me”. whereas the word اإلسالم has the meaning of إظهار الخضوع والقبول لما أتى به محمد, الدين الذي جاء or submission and full acceptance of religion conveyed by muhammad به محمد (ma’luf, 2007). the term “silmun” is also contained in the qur’an, as allah has commanded the believers, “o ye who believe, enter too silmi (islam) completely, and do not follow the paths of shaitan” (al-baqarah 2:208). this verse encourages muslims to the peace and to perform good deeds and all kinds of virtues, as it was stated by qatadah and mujahid (katsir, 2004b). peace in islam can be interpreted by both positive and negative peace. according to galtung, positive peace indicated by cooperation, equality, peaceful culture, and dialogue. while the negative peace is the absence of violence, or the condition when the conflict actors are in a truce, withdraw from violence (galtung & fischer, 2013). negative peace is needed to prevent violence among parties, disputes, or further violence and international conflict. positive peace or substantive peace provides a broader view to address the causes of a conflict (nimer, 2001). the term positive peace is associated to human values and the application of a peace culture in life. allah is known as ar-rahman or the most beneficent and the al-raheem or the most merciful. so human beings as his creations certainly can not be separated from those two characters. as it is mentioned in the qur’an, “indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds the most merciful will appoint for them affection” (maryam 19:96). “perhaps allah will put, between you and those to whom you have been enemies among them, affection. and allah is competent, and allah is forgiving and merciful.” (almumtahanah 60:7). therefore, positive peace is substantial in islam. the values found in positive peace is the basis of morality (akhlaq) in islam that should be attached to each individual. so the real peace can exist. according to abu zahra, there are ten principles of mu’amalah or relationship among people, such as respect for mans’ dignity (al-isra ‘17:70); unity (al-baqarah 2:213) (ali-imran 3:103); cooperation in good deeds or humanity (al-maidah 5:2), tolerance (al-kahf 18:29) (al-kafirun 109:6), freedom (to decide fate and religion) (al-baqarah 2: 256) (al-rahman 55:60); justice (al-hujurat 49: 9); equality in human relationships (al-hujurat 49:13) (al-balad 90: 11-13) ); integrity (al-maidah 5:1) (an-nisa 4:58); and compassion (maryam 19:96). these principles are not just principles that bind to individuals or intergroup relationships, but also the state, since the state is a human-driven political entity. [ 220 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 islam also recognizes the concept of negative peace; through conciliation and peace-making efforts in resolving conflicts among individuals or groups, to ensure the positive peace among communities can be formed. as it was stated, that the term السلم (as-silmu) which has the same root as islam, it is also equivalent to الصلح (as-shulhu) which means peace, and al-ishlah means conciliation, peacemaking, making a change or reformation, as well as the integrity to the truth (nimer, 2001). the word الصلح (as-shulhu) is originally derived from the one-level verb صلح (shaluha) which means the opposite of destruction, which then becomes the second verb, صالح (shaalaha) which means antonym of enmity (ma’luf, 2007). the term as-shulhu is also contained in the words darus-shulh, a term for a country that does not join darul-islam but chooses to make peace with it. islam emphasizes the importance of creating peace among people. the virtue of peace-making or al-ishlah has been mentioned in a number of verses of the qur’an and hadith. in an-nisa’ allah says, “no good is there in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people. and whoever does that seeking means to the approval of allah then we are going to give him a great reward.” (an-nisa 4:114), in al-hujurat, “and if two factions among the believers should fight, then make settlement between the two. but if one of them oppresses the other, then fight against the one that oppresses until it returns to the ordinance of allah and if it returns, then make settlement between them in justice and act justly. indeed, allah loves those who act justly.” (al-hujurat 49: 9), then in surat al-anfal, say, “the (decision concerning) bounties is for allah and the messenger.” so fear allah and amend that which is between you and obey allah and his messenger, if you should be believers” (al-anfal 8: 1). in a number of hadiths, messenger of allah (s) said, “may i tell you something better than fasting, prayer and alms?” the companion replied, “yes.” he said, “reconcile the relationship (two warring people), because the destruction of the relationship is the cutter. i do not say cutting hair, but cutting off religion.” the hadith shows that peacemaking not only counts as a virtue, it also reduce unnecessary hostility and damage. in order to ensure the absence of violence, islam also promotes security. the word األمن (al-amnu) means serenity and peace, while األمان (al-amaanu) also has other meanings, ie العهد والحماية والذمة(al-’ahdu, al-himaayah, adh-dhimma); it means covenant; protection, and guarantees (ma’luf, 2007). it also can be understood as the security from the violence (nimer, 2001). these words also have their roots to the word اإليمان (al-iman) or belief. state’s security is essential to maintain the survival of human life. as the prayer of prophet ibrahim in the qur’an “and remember when the prophet ibrahim [ 221 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 prayed “my lord, make this a secure city and provide its people with fruits whoever of them believes in allah and the last day.” (al-baqarah 2:126), then in other verse, “my lord, make this city (makkah) secure and keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols.” (ibrahim 14:35). security is also related to trusworthy issues, or beliefs. even trusworthy is part of the faith (hr ahmad), as the non-traditional security concept also puts ‘freedom from fear’ as one of the security indicators. al-qur’an contains wisdom and lessons for people who use their reason (yusuf 12:111). the use of peaceful means in da’wah has been raised in a number of qur’anic verses which tell the story of the previous prophets. the qur’an has told of how the earlier prophets established relationships with those who rejected their preaching. still, people of ‘ad are mentioned as ‘brothers’ of the prophet hud, even though they refuse islam (hud 11:40). the qur’an has also mentioned thamud who rejected the prophet salih, and the people of noah as ‘brothers’. allah also commanded moses to deliver da’wah to pharaoh with ‘qaulan layyinan’ or a gentle word (thaha 20:43-44). there are also many sunnah and sirah have narrated about how prophet mohammed has built good relationships with people; ethics towards parents, children, neighbors, women, and other believer, ethic in assembling, speaking and expressing opinions, and other ethics that encourage muslims to remain virtuous toward others. it is also important to understand and prevent the potential conflict, latent conflict often occurs within society with various groups and ethnicities. thus, even before the conflict arose, mohammed has reconciled between muhajirin and ansar so that love compassion and altruism have spread among them; in other words it was a positive peace. the story of how the prophet mohammed and the companions negotiated with medina jews and issued medina charter, as well as the truce with the quraysh tribe in the hudaibiyah treaty (lapidus, 2002). they are both examples of negative peace. conclusion islam often faces negative stereotype as a religion of violence. the concept of jihad is often associated with holy war and terrorism. so, islam is always identified with terrorism (pratt and woodlock, 2016). the stigma of islam, as a religion of violence is the result of gap between the discourses on islam. the concept of war in islam perspective is more often discussed, compared to the concept of peace. unlike the two mainstream in international relations, realism and liberalism. [ 222 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 islam sees a balance in the human nature. humans are naturally love to cooperate and do good deeds, and have tendency to conflict and do evil deeds. nevertheless, it does not mean that islam justifies such tendency to use violence and wickednesss in politics, so that international relations become very rational and value-free. human beings by nature are political creature who run the state, thus creatures are inseparable from divine rules, and islam prevent the conflict with impulse to do good deeds and to create the peace; both negative and positive peace. the concept of peace in islam consists of as-silmu, as-shulhu, and al-amaanu. it is obliged for believers, to fully throw themselves in goodness (as-silmu). such obligation binds all muslims in every condition. a believer or a muslims is not only obliged to perform mandatory worship, but also responsible to incorporates islamic values in a kaffah or perfect way in social, political, economic, and any other aspect; such as mutual respect, unity, cooperation, tolerance, respect human rights, righteousness, justice, to be equitable, and compassionate. creating peace to prevent and resolve conflict is understood as-shulhu. asshulhu can be pursued through conciliation, peacemaking, making a change or a reform that leads to the positive outcome, and the integrity to goodness and truth. islam motivates its followers to involve in peace-making and consider it as goodness, not merely as an intervention or interference with a human affair. this concept can be applied in conflict among individuals, groups, and even countries; as-shulh also means peace agreement or pact. peace which is obtained by guaranteeing or maintaining security is known as al-amaanu. the implementation of al-amaan is not only measured from the absence of violence, but also the presence of trust or trustworthy. as nontraditional security defines peace freedom from fear and distrus. al-amaanu is a form of peace that cannot be prevailed by an individu i, as as-shulhu. it needs the involvement of group of people, society, or perhaps larger body such as state in order to establish al-amaan. the concept of peace in islam; as-silmu, as-shulhu, and al-amaanu although generally they can be understood as ‘peace’. however, they have different focuses, and perhaps intersect each other. the concept of peace in islam might be relevant in providing an ideal image of the peace situation; positive. these concepts; although there may still be a number of concepts that resemble the concept of peace in islam, these concepts have something in common with the concept of peacebuilding, peacemaking, and peacekeeping. all three are not a mechanism that must be passed in a certain phase of a peace attempt or conflict assessment to obtain certain results, but activities that are bound [ 223 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 by values and divine rules. so, there is still a need for a deep study to form a conceptual framework consisting of a number of systematic mechanisms to achieve peace based on islamic teaching. bibliography abu-sulayman, a. h. (1993). towards an islamic theory of international relations: new directions for islamic methodology and thought. international institute of islamic thought (iiit). abu-zahrah, m. (1995). international relations in islam. egypt: daar al-fikr al-‘arabi. armstrong, k. (2001). perang suci: dari perang salib hingga perang teluk. jakarta: serambi ilmu semesta. burchill, s. (2005). liberalism. in theories of international relations. new york: palgrave macmilan. donnelly, j. (2005). realism. in theories of international relations. new york: palgrave macmilan. firestone, r. (1999). jihad: the origin of holy war in islam reuven firestone. new york: oxford university press. fuller, g. e. (2010). a world without islam. new york: bacb bay books. galtung, j., & fischer, d. (2013). johan galtung: pioneer of peace research. new york: springer. gpi. (2016). global peace index 2016. retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/ sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/gpi 2016 report_2.pdf guzzini, s. (2003). realism in international relations and international political economy: the continuing story of a death foretold. new york: routledge. heywood, a. (2011). global politics. new york: palgrave macmillan. iqbal, a. (2000). diplomasi islam. (s. rahman & i. sulaiman, eds.). jakarta: pustaka al-kautsar. katsir, i. (2004a). tafsir ibnu katsir. (m. a. ghoffar, a. muthi’, a. i. al-atsari, & m. y. harun, eds.) (8th ed.). bogor: pustaka imam as-syafi’i. -------, (2004b). tafsir ibnu katsir. (m. a. ghoffar, a. muthi’, a. i. al-atsari, & m. y. harun, eds.) (1st ed.). bogor: pustaka imam as-syafi’i. khadduri, m. (1966). the islamic law of nations: shaybani’s siyar. baltimore: the john hopkins press. [ 224 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 lapidus, i. m. (2002). a history of islamic societies. second edition. new york: cambridge university press. linklater, a. (2005). the english school. in theories of international relations. new york: palgrave macmilan. ma’luf, l. (2007). al-munjid fi al-lughah wa al-a’lam. beirut: dar al-masyriq. munir, m. (2012). islamic international law (siyar): an introduction. bepress. nimer, a. (2001). a framework for nonviolence and peacebuilding in islam. journal of law and religion, 15(1), 217–265. pettiford, l. (2015). a new a-z of international relations theory. london: i.b.tauris. pratt, d. & woodlock, r. (2016). fears of muslims? international perspective on islamophobia. switzerland: springer international publishing. sahide, a. (2018). donald trump; islamic world and globally political order of indonesian perspective. istanbul: proceeding of academicsera international conference. suryanegara, a. m. (2017). api sejarah. (n. kurniawati, ed.). bandung: suryadinasti. tamam, a. m. (2017). islamic worldview paradigma intelektual muslim. jakarta: spirit media press. [ 111 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 baduy pluralism: from myth to reality abdurrahman misno bambang prawiro al-hidayah college of islamic studies, bogor abstract indonesia is a land of many tribes, with each tribe having different customs. however they have a bond in the form of the state motto, bhineka tunggal ika. this motto is based on a philosophy embraced by every tribe in the form of the teachings passed down from the ancestors such as pantun (malay poetic form), rhyme, guguritan (sundanese literary works), history and myths. myths here are stories about things that happened in the past in the form of the history of the origins of man and nature, or the origin of a nation. myths as a local wisdom are believed to be the truth by every member of the tribe applied in everyday life. this includes the myth that tells about human cultural diversity (plurality), and the community will implement its content. what about the baduy community in banten, do they have myths and apply the myths that deal with pluralism in their life? the baduy are one of the ethnic groups in indonesia who have myths about the creation of the universe, human origins, and even myths about the events that will occur. the myth about the origin of humans in the baduy community begins with the creation of adam as the first human, and then he had children that gave birth to the whole nation in the world. because every human in the world is the great-grandsons of adam, the baduy believe that all humanity is dulur (brother) despite differences in customs and religion. the reality of social life of the baduy community, either baduy dalam (inner baduy) or baduy luar (outer baduy) is that they greatly respect all mankind despite the different cultures and religions. prohibition to enter the baduy traditional village for foreigners is because of historical factors, namely the agreement made by their ancestors with the dutch. this research concluded that the baduy society is a society that understands the plurality of cultures; it is based on a myth that they believe and apply in their life about tolerance of other religions. key word: pluralism, baduy, lebak banten, myth and reality introduction indonesia is an area that has a wide range of tribes, and each tribe has its own religious belief, tradition, culture, and customs. despite the differences, they have been living in peace, and one of the pillars of the bond is the motto bhineka tunggal ika which means unity in diversity within the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. the bhineka tunggal ika bond is very strong [ 112 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 due to the belief of each ethnic group based on acceptance and respect to other ethnic groups by practicing the teachings of the ancestors in the form of pantun, rhymes, songs, guguritan and myths. myths are one of the cultural elements in any society and is considered part of the record of the history of culture. a myth is a communication system that provides a message with regard to the rules of the past, ideas, memories and recollections or decisions that are believed to be true (barthes, 1981: 193). a myth is not an object, concept, or idea, but rather an emblem in the form of discourse. therefore, a myth always appears in the form of symbolization (hasanudin, 1998: 2). in the semiotic perspective, a myth is considered as a semiotic system i.e. signs, symbols, and something symbolized. the myths that have developed in the indonesian society varies from stories about the creation of the universe, the origin of human beings, to events that will happen at the end of life in the world. the myths are believed to be true and applied in the daily life of the indonesian society. the myths cannot be considered only as a fictional story since they have become a basis for the society to judge something. this is one of the functions of myths. mircea eliade argued that one of the important functions of myths is to build a model of behavior (elliade, 1963: 8); in addition myths can also provide religious experiences. by telling or demonstrating and applying myths, a member of a traditional community may feel separated from the present and return to the mythic age, thus bringing them closer to god. (honko, 1984: 49). lauri honko asserted that in some cases, a society will reenact a myth to recreate the atmosphere of the mythic era. for example, the practice of healing conducted in ancient time in an attempt to cure a person is reenacted (honko, 1984: 49). similarly, roland barthes argued that modern culture explores the religious experience. because the task of science is not to uphold the morality of man, a religious experience is an effort to connect with the moral feelings in the past which contrasted with the world of technology in the age of the present. meanwhile joseph campbell declared that a myth has four main functions: mythical function--to interpret the admiration of the universe; cosmological function — to describe the shape of the universe; sociological function — to support and endorse a particular social code of conduct; and pendagogis function —to live a life as a human being under any circumstances (campbell, 1998: 22-23). a myth as a local wisdom is believed by every ethnic group and applied in daily life. the content of the myth itself is global and universal in a sense that it contains wisdom from ancestors for the next generation’s life. among the ethnic groups in indonesia that has myths as one of the guidelines through [ 113 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 their life is the baduy community living in kanekes village, lewidamar subdistrict, lebak district, banten province. up to now they hold strongly to pikukuh karuhun (gudilenes from the ancestors) that originated from myths or mandates passed down from their ancestors. the baduy society is a society which intentionally rejects any culture contrary to the values of their culture. they live and form a separate community in the middle of a wilderness area in the mountains of kendeng, lebak area in banten. although they have chosen to protect themselves from the outside communities, they respect other cultures. on the other hand, the myth indicates that they believe that all humanity originated from prophet adam, and they are the direct descendants of the first human. adam has several offspring that spread all over the world. the descendants of adam then had children that gave birth to the various ethnic groups around the world. they have their own customs and culture. the baduy believe that they are tasked to spread to every part of the world (interview with jaro sami: 2013). these myths have been in practice in their daily behavior in the form of attitudes of respect and appreciation, and they consider other people outside their tribe as dulur (brothers). this reality shows that the baduy are flexible in dealing with other cultures outside of their own. furthermore they also respect all beliefs outside of their own such as islam, christianity and other religions (interview with jaro alim cikeusik) the baduy society is not a society with rigid customs. on some customs associated with their own cultural structure, they are very strict, but in matters related to the culture of other people, they are open, respectful, and sympathetic and sometimes they adopt the culture of others that is, of course, not contrary to their own. one may now ask a question, what is pluralism according to the baduy? do they have an exclusive or inclusive understanding in their traditional customs? what myth underlies their respect of other cultures? and what is their attitude towards the culture outside their customs? the answers to these questions would be very interesting. this paper is intended to examine the baduy pluralism that begins with the study of myths that develop especially regarding the origins of human beings and cultures outside the baduy. then it proceeds with the study on perception and behavior of attitude of pluralism that they apply in their daily life in the form of the attitude to life which gives space to the other ethnic groups to live side by side, respecting and honoring each other. the research is expected to explain in detail about the baduy society with regard to pluralism and its application in everyday life. this study is also expected to be able to provide more information about the baduy’s culture which is ready open dialogue and [ 114 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 tolerant toward other cultures. this paper was based on the results of the qualitative research with a phenomenological approach, which is used to give an idea about the myths of the baduy community in their view of life. the data were obtained by direct observation of the baduy in the village of kenekes, sub-district of lewidamar, district of lebak, banten province, indonesia. in addition, in-depth interviews were also conducted with jaro (the chieftain) in cikeusik, cikertawana and cibeo village, the administrative center of the baduy. to complement the research, a literature review was also conducted to obtain relevant data. the data analysis technique employed descriptive analysis which describes the myths that exist in the baduy community, as well as their behavior based on these myths. furthermore, the data were analyzed with the approach the cultural interpretation (clifford geertz: 1993) demography and the origins of the baduy the baduy are a group of indigenous people who inhabit the area around the mountain of kendeng ciujung, administratively an area of kanekes village, leuwidamar subdistrict, lebak district, banten province. the land area of the baduy is 5,101.85 hectares (asep kurnia: 2010). most of the land is made up of mountainous plateaus with valleys of the river basin and the upper reaches of the river that flows to the north. the central and southern part of the village is the protected forest or the baduy often call it leuweung karamat (protected forest). the baduy have three tangtus (seats of government), based in cikeusik cikertawana, and cibeo. in addition to the three lembur (villages), there are 58 other village settlements of the outer baduy community. based on their settlement, the baduy are divided into three groups that lived in different areas. these groups are: 1. the inner baduy (kanekes dalam) 2. the outer baduy (kanekes luar) 3. the dangka baduy the inner baduy communities live three main areas, namely cikeusik, cikertawana and cibeo. this society is practicing pikukuh karuhun (traditional customs), for example, they are only permitted to wear clothing with two colors i.e. black and white, and in addition they also wear white totopong (headbands). the baduy do not use modern objects, such as electronics and chemicals. they make their own clothing from the natural materials found around the community. if the clothing is sewn, certainly they sewed it themselves by hand (asep kurnia, 2010). the second group is the outer baduy characterized by black or dark blue [ 115 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 clothes. they also wear headbands with black and pre-dominantly blue color batik. this community lives in villages surrounding the main area of kanekes village. the outer baduy community is the isolated baduy for several reasons such as violating of the customs in the area of the inner kanekes, marrying someone outside the inner kanekes, or withdrawing from the inner baduy with a variety of reasons. originally, the outer baduy were the baduy, who were tasked with maintaining the authenticity of the baduy in their function as filters for every foreign culture (interview with jaro sami cibeo). therefore the outer baduy community there is now using modern equipments such as cell phones, electronic goods, chemicals and other technological devices. in some ways, however, the outer baduy community still accepts and recognizes the indigenous baduy traditions. this is what distinguishes the outer baduy group from the inner baduy. the third group, namely the dangka baduy, is those that have really left the baduy, both geographically and culturally. they are the descendants of the inner or outer baduy, but generally do not live in the kanekes area for example living in the kompol area in sub-district of lewidamar. although they do not have to observe the baduy traditions, they still claim to be the baduy people and in some respect they would still follow the customs of the baduy. this is evident when a ritual is held in the inner baduy area, some of them still join it. the baduy community knows no writing form; they only know the spoken language. therefore, their origins are passed down from generation to generation in a narrative form. the baduy community sees the record of time as all the events in the life of their people, the process of time is a world history which is equivalent to the state of the universe. similarly, the origin and designations of the baduy should be seen in terms of their assumptions about themselves, i.e. a variety of karuhun connections with the universe in the time circle that places them on a specific position as outlined at the beginning of their existence. the origins and naming of the baduy can be divided into two terms: the term given by people outside the community and the term they call themselves. which term is better known will depend also on the frequency of the term being used. in reviewing the use of the term to refer to the baduy, it is interesting to note how the designations used are reviewed in a long period of time for a few hundreds of years ago. thus, the name of the baduy today as it has been used as a term for the group of people who live in kanekes village, apparently was given after islam entered the northern banten area in the 16th century (edi s ekadjati: 2009). the term baduy today is more popular and accepted by the baduy themselves [ 116 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 who inhabit kanekes village, though they are also sometimes referred to as the rawayan tribes or urang kanekes. although it has been accepted as a standard term, some researchers are still looking for a term for this society. for example foreign writers at the beginning of the 18th century and the 19th century indicated the choices for terms that considered all possible aspects and tried to find the answer, including linguistic aspects (for example, jacobs and meijer, 1891; pennings, 1902). the standardization of the terms badawi, badoeien, badoei and bedoeis by the dutch was often supported by the official reports of the colonial government officials. therefore, it is also possible that the word bedoeis was associated with the arabic word, badwi, that referred to groups of people who lived as a nomad in the desert. in addition, the word ‘baduy’ is also sometimes associated with ‘buddha’, which means non-muslim. pleyte (1909) gave the reason for the term ‘baduy’ which is associated with the elements of their own culture. he argued that the word ‘baduy’ has no connotation as an insult and no relation to the word ‘badwi’, but comes from the word cibaduy, the name of a river in the north of the village of kanekes. that is to say, to call oneself is one of the sundanese habits to name the village or place of establishment, place of birth or places that can provide a meaning of life. in this respect, it is no surprise when the term kanekes urang is also used by them, as the term that emphasizes the nature and cultural values that originate from the village of kanekes. as several experts from europe called them, the interview conducted with the kokolot (elders) indicated that they are called ‘baduy’ because of the baduy hill in their region and the cibaduy river, so people who live in the area are known as the people of baduy. this is in accordance with the recognition of them as the owners of the baduy culture (interview with jaro sami cibeo). regarding the origins of the baduy also became a unique problem to some researchers from europe like jacobs and meijer, 1891; van trich, 1929; geisi, 1952 who reported that the origins of the baduy were the original inhabitants of the area, while the writers after the independence of indonesia often associated their origins with the collapse of the last hindu kingdom of sunda in west java, namely the kingdom of pajajaran in 15th century (djunaedi et al., 1985; and danasasmita, 1986). the baduy are descendants of refugees who fled pajajaran palace to the south of banten and cornered by the attack of hasanuddin who spread islam in the area. the baduy themselves reject the opinion stating their origins are from the kingdom of pajajaran fugitives or the sultanate of banten. ayah mursyid as a representative of jaro tangstu cibeo argued: [ 117 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 “kami teu sebeh melengek kana cerita nu nganggap kami ieu asal tina katurunan masyarakat pelarian atawa pengungsian ti karajaan kasultanan banten baheula. eta anggapan the sarua jeung ngarendahkeun harkat martabat kami, saba masyarakat palarian hartina hiji masyarakat nu boga kesalahan , atawa masyarakat nu pagaweanana ngalawan atawa masyarakat nu geus teu aya guna atawa teu dipake ku masayarakat lainnya.” it means “we cannot agree as to the story that assumes that we are descended from refugee communities of the ancient kingdom of banten. this assumption is tantamount to demean the dignity of our tribe because the community of the breakout indicates one of the communities that committed some wrongdoings, or worked against the government or the community that was regarded as useless by other communities.” from the description it clearly shows that the origins of the baduy in accordance with their belief are the indigenous peoples who have lived there since the beginning of the history. they have the obligation to keep the harmony of nature in accordance with the command of adam, a messenger of god who was their ancestor. this opinion is shared by all of elders interviewed i.e. jaro sami, jaro alim, jaro dainah, ayah mursyid, ayah nanih and several other tribal elders. baduy religious system the baduy have faith that the universe is ruled by the creator called nu ngersakeun. according to their old traditions they believe that their region is the origins and the source of the whole universe. the argument which they believe is that they are the descendants of prophet adam who was sent to earth after being expelled from heaven. the concept of adam in their tradition is slightly different from beliefs that exist in islam and other abrahamic religions. from interviews with jaro sami as jaro cibeo it could be concluded that adam was not the only one person but there are four to seven. each adam has his own responsilities mandated by god. adam tunggal was progenitor of the baduy who was given a mandate to keep kabuyutan in the baduy area, and his descendants continued the task of maintaining the balance of nature (meditation with worship of the nature), in addition their task includes ngasuh ratu nyanyak menak (giving advice to kings and rulers of the country). the belief concept of the baduy cannot be separated from the sundanese philosophy, as urang sunda, they believe in the three worlds namely buwana (world) panca luhur, dunia panca tengah dan dunia panca handap. the pance luhur is a world of the creator and the spirits of the ancestors who [ 118 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 always keep an eye on the lives of their tribe. in buwana there is also the same world called “guriang”, a world inhabited by the ancestors who have died. it is only the puun (tribal eleders) who are able to communicate with this world. the pance tengah world is the world currently inhabited by humans, where they are given obligations that must be implemented for the provision to the next world. in the panca tengah world man executes each command and prohibition inherited from the ancestors; the prohibitions are in the form of taboo/pamali or buyut which means something that must not be done. when buyut is violated, then they will get a sanction from the adat (customary law) and from their ancestors. furthermore the panca handap world is the afterworld inhabited by the dedemit and the spirits of the bad people. in the islamic concept, this world is called hell (edi s. ekadjati, 2010). basis of religion of the baduy is the respect of the ancestors’s spirits and the belief in one single power, batara. their belief is called sunda wiwitan or sunda wiwitan religion. the orientation, concepts and religious activities are addressed to pikukuh karuhun so that people can live in accordance with the way that has been determined by the ancestors. for example, the baduy believe that they are an old group of people who have the obligation to keep the holy land of kanekes, while other humans are the younger group that enlivens the world. they believe they have responsibility to imrprove the world through tapa (deeds, work) and implement pikukuh karuhun, meaning when kanekes as the core of the universe is well maintained, then the whole world will be secure; disruption to the core is fatal to all human life in the world. the most important religious and customary concepts that becomes the core of the baduy pikukuh is the principle of “no changes”, as expressed by the proverb “lojor teu meunang dipotong, pondok teu meunang disambung” (long should not be cut, short should not be extended). the concepts are not within the baduy themselves and the strength depends on the actions or conduct of a person outside of their culture. the concept of pikukuh is the embodiment of a religious custom and is determined by the intensity of the concept of work and each individual’s religiousity. to carry out all customs form of pikukuh karuhun, the baduy people will be protected by a power which is batara, through the “guriangs” sent by karuhun, on the contrary if the customs are violated, batara will cast bala and disaster for the baduy and society in general. the top of the baduy leadership is the puun, there are three of them and they are found in the three kapuunan namely cikeusik, cikertawana and cibeo. the position of the puun is not only as supreme leader, but spiritually they are also considered the direct descendant of karuhun representing them in the world. there are a number of concepts that are obligatory for the puun in order to [ 119 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 carry out pikukuh karuhun, i.e. keeping the sasaka pusaka buana; keeping the sasaka domas or parahyang; nurturing and maintaining the nobles/officials; meditating for the welfare of the world; dedicating to the goddess of rice by fasting on the ceremony, worshiping the ancestors, and making laksa for the ritual of seba (garna: 1988). the ancestors of the baduy people are categorized in two groups i.e. the ancestors of the period of the batara and the period of the puun. batara tunggal is depicted in two dimensions, as a power and strength that is not visible but is everywhere, and as a man of great power. in the human dimension, the batara tunggal has seven offspring sent to the world in kabuyutan (place for the ancestors), which is the starting point of the world of sasaka pusaka buwana. they include batara cikal, who is said to have no descendants, batara patanjala who has seven descendants, namely (from the most senior) daleum janggala, daleum lagondi, daleum putih seda hurip, dalam cinangka, daleum sorana, nini hujung galuh, and batara bungsu. they are the ancestors of the nobility of sawidak lima or seven original batara, the ancestors of the baduy. batara janggala daleum is the eldest, and is the ancestor of tangtu cikeusik; daleum putih seda hurip is the ancestor of the people of cibeo village. the other third level batara each is the ancestor of other leaders (edi s ekadjati, 2010) five second level bataras, younger brothers of batara pantajala, batara wisawara, batara wishnu, batara brahmana, batara hyang niskala, and batara mahadewa, who are the ancestors of people outside the baduy called salawe nagara (twenty-five states), which indicates a large number of people, and according to the knowledge of the baduy they live in a very broad area next to the cihaliwung river (garna 1988). this group is considered the descendants of the younger baduy. of the seven of the third level of the ancestors of the baduy, it seems that only the jaro dangka relatives are descended the female lineage. the others are from a patrilineal line. the puuns are descendants of batara patanjala, and until the late 19th century as recorded by jacobs and maijer there had been 13 puun sikeusik (1891: p 13). according to a record made in 1988, the number of puun cikeusik was 24, and the last was puun sadi (garna: 1988). an important concept in the religion of the baduy is karuhun, generations of the predecessors who have died. they gather at the sasaka domas, i.e. a place in the old forest in the upper reaches of the ciujung river. the karuhun can incarnate or come in the original form to see their descendants, and the way to is through the village forest. in connection with the concept of karuhun there are other concepts i.e. the “guriang”, sanghyang, and wangatua. “guriang” and sanghyang are considered the incarnation of the karuhun to protect their [ 120 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 descendants from all danger, disruption of others as well as other evil beings (such as dedemit, jurig, satan); wangatua is spirit or the incarnation of the spirit of the dead parents. their beliefs had never changed until islam came to the region of lebak banten, although they did not accept islam directly but the infiltration of islam slowly and subtly penetrated into their beliefs. the interviews with jaro sami, ayah mursyid, jaro dainah and jaro alim showed that the religion of the baduy is slam sunda wiwitan. the addition of the word ‘slam’ is a response to the coming of islam to the baduy region, then their ancestral stories come with the existence of the term prophet adam and they also recognize the existence of the islamic prophet muhammad as the seal of prophet. some of the baduy rituals also have gone through acculturation with islam, for instance in their wedding they recite shahada muhammad by inviting hosts of cicakal girang which is a land in the muslim area of baduy village. the interactions between the baduy and islam have also resulted in their common greetings such as “assalamualaikum”, or “alhamdulillah” and “insya allah”. the myth about human origins in the baduy the baduy have various myths that contain the origins of the world, human beings and events that will occur in the future. among the myths believed is that the creation of the earth was through three phases namely jaman poek atau alam gumulung, alam bercahaya (bright world) dan alam bumi padang poe panjang (real world in the life of panca tengah). this process began from the period in which the earth was in the form of thick and clear state, then it hardened and gradually widened. the starting point is located in the center of the earth, i.e. the sasaka pusaka buwana to which the seven batara were sent in order to spread humans. it is also the place of the ancestors (interview with ayah mursyid). the starting point of the centre of the earth’s creation became the village of tangtu which is considered as the core and embryo of human life. this point is called cikeusik as pada ageung, cikartawana called the kadukujang, and cibeo called parahyang; these three villages are also called sanghyang daleum. specifically, the position of the ancestors (kabuyutan) and the tangtu line show the connection of karuhun, i.e. pada agueng as sasaka pusaka buana, its dangka is called padawaras. kadukujang kabuyutan are also found in cibeo and cikeusik, and the dangkas are called sirah dayeuh. the concept of buana (the world) for the baduy is related to the starting point, the path, and the end of life. there are three buanas i.e. buana luhur atau buana nyungcung (heaven, the aboveworld) which is infinite and spacious, buana tengah or [ 121 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 buana panca tengah, where humans go through most of their life. buana handap (the underworld) is part of the land that is not limited to the area. the conditions in the three worlds are just like this world as there are night and day, but other things are contrary to this world. it is the most sacred of the kanekes area, especially taneuh larangan (holy land, the forbidden land) where the village of tangtu and kabuyutan are located (edi s ekadjati, 2010). the myth about the origins of the human beings circulated among the baduy is that after completion of the creation of the world, god created (nurunkeun) adam into the face of the earth together with his wife eve. from adam and eve, came their descendants who became the ancestors of all mankind in this world. since adam as the ancestor of the baduy had the obligation to keep the the mandala sasaka domas, his descendants shall continue this responsibility. meanwhile, the descendants of adam serping have the task to enliven the world, using this world as a means of enjoying happiness. therefore, the baduy myth is believed to be the basis for their acceptance of the diversity of cultures and customs of this world. in other words, the baduy understand that the plurality and multiculturalism are a reality that is inevitable because it is the destiny of the nu ngersakeun gusti allah, the almighty god (interview with jaro sami cibeo). departing from this myth, they believe that all humans originated from adam who was the first man in the world. since humans came from a single lineage, they believe that all humanity is dulur (brothers), so the equality as human beings in their belief is understood as humanism and respect for all humanity that has existed in the baduy community. the myth has been passed down orally by the baduy community and is believed to be a fact, and the evidence to support this is the sasaka domas which is the beginning of all creation of the universe and the origins of mankind. baduy pluralism: from myth to reality the myth of the origins of humans is profoundly believed by every member of the baduy community. this is evident from the results of interviews with members of the baduy community living around the rice field who believe that they are descended from adam. this notion is deeply rooted in their daily lives. the baduy never discriminate a person entering its territory based on religion. as long as they respect the customs of the baduy, they will also be honored just like the other guests. prohibition for the people of european origin, the dutch, the chinese and other non-muslims to enter the baduy tangtu area is due to an agreement between the dutch colonial government and the baduy. in practice, the ban was not for religious reasons, as some [ 122 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 christians may also enter the area of the baduy. merry, a christian woman conducted research in kampung cibeo, a region of the inner baduy. jaro, puun and other traditional elders there were aware of her presence, but they did not question it. the interviews conducted with jaro alim also showed that they are very respectful of other religions, as evidenced by the large number of guests visiting the inner baduy and the puun in cikeusik, cibeo or cikertawana for different purposes. in general, people who come to visit the puun are those who wish to get blessings, prosperity and be spared from dangers in the world. those who come are not only of the baduy community, but also muslims, christians and people of other religions. interestingly, these people mostly come from jakarta, bogor, depok, bekasi, tangerang, and even from outside of java such as sumatra and borneo. when the writer visited cikeusik, he met and stayed together at jaro alim’s house with someone from palembang who asked for resolution of debt problems. he asked the puun to say prayer for him so that he could pay off his debt. similarly, the writer met with a guest from lampung who had visited the baduy five times in order to ask for prayers from the elders of the baduy regarding the issues of his life. the baduy treated the guests well and consider them as brothers who need help and the baduy should serve them just like brothers. the baduy’s hospitality was proven by welcoming the guests and letting them stay in the house. they do not hesitate to talk about their customs and serv the guests regardless of religion and cultural background. during my stay at cipaler, cibeo and cikeusik villages, they are more or less the same, never treating people on the basis on religion and cultural background. all of the guests were considered as brothers and respected and treated nicely. this shows that the myth of the origins of humans is so powerful in their everyday life and therefore they really understand that a society in reality is plural and has its own belief and religion. furthermore their life style also reflects the attitudes of respect and tolerance to different customs and religions. they assume that all religions are equally good, each serving god in its own way. therefore, in their view, no religion or custom is better than the others. each religion has responsibilities, and the baduy are responsible for keeping the balance of nature by meditating to apply the whole pikukuh karuhun and giving advice to the authorities and officials (ngasuh ratu nyanyak menak). conclusion the baduy, as one of the tribes that deliberately excludes themselves from [ 123 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 modern culture, are not ignorant about cultures outside their own. one of the myths that exist in their culture is about the creation of the first man called adam. from him, many peoples in the world were born such as the dayak, chinese, indians, europeans and so on. this myth is believed by the baduy as a fact passed down to them orally. furthermore, the myth is implemented in everyday life in the form of deep respect toward other ethnic groups, religions and beliefs. they never force their beliefs on others as they believe that those religions and beliefs are pathways that have been determined by god almighty, the nu ngersakeun. the baduy community’s understanding of the religions and the cultures of others is a form of pluralism which provides a space of tolerance for all humans who observe different religions so that they can coexist peacefully without having to blame each other. they believe that all religions and customs oblige people to do good and serve god. what distinguishes one religion from the other is merely the responsibilities borne by each nation. the baduy are a group of indigenous people who have duties and obligations to keep the balance of nature with meditation and to carry out all the pikukuh karuhun in the form of customs such as kawalu, seba, muja and rituals to honor the gods especially the dewi sri (the rice goddess) or nyi pohaci. this is typical of the baduy society, open to other religions and cultures but would not adopt them. however, in practice they also accept the concept of other faiths that are not in conflict with the values of their belief which the religion of slam sunda wiwitan. bibliography campbell, joseph., 1988. the power of myth. new york: doubleday danasasmita, saleh, djatisunda, anis., 1986). kehidupan masyarakat kanekes. jakarta: bagian proyek penelitian dan pengkajian kebudayaan sunda (sundanologi), direkrorat jenderal kebudayan, departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan. ekadjati, edi s. 2010. kebudayaan sunda (suatu tinjauan sejarah). jakarta: pustaka jaya eliade, mircea., 1963. myth and reality. new york: harper & row garna, judhistira k. 1988. perubahan sosial budaya baduy dalam nurhadi rangkuti (peny.). orang baduy dari inti jagat. bentara budaya, kompas, yogyakarta: etnodata prosindo --------------1988. tangtu telu jaro tujuh kajian struktutal masyarakat baduy di banten selatan jawa barat indonesia. tesis ph.d. universiti [ 124 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 kebangsaan malaysia honko, lauri., 1984. the problem of defining myth dalam alan dundes, sacred narrative: readings in the theory of myth, berkeley: university of california press. kartawinata, ade makmur. 1993. baduy bubuara menatap tanah harapan. pusat penelitian kemasyarakatan dan kebudayaan lembaga penelitian universitas padjadjaran koentjaraningrat, dkk. 1993. masyarakat terasing di indonesia. jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama kurnia, asep dan ahmad syihabudin. 2010. saatnya badui bicara. jakarta: bumi aksara dan universitas sultan ageng tirtayasa. maria susai dhavamony., 1995. fenomenologi agama. yogyakarta: kanisius. miles, matthew b. dan a. michael huberman. 2009. analisis data kualitatif. jakarta: ui press. moleong, lexy j. 2006. metodologi penelitian kualitatif. bandung: pt. remaja rosdakarya. peter connolly (edit). 2011. aneka pendekatan studi agama. yogyakarta: lkis. [ 135 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 a christian perspective on islamic concepts of jihad, iman and islam in the context of mindanao peace process jerson benia narciso central philippine university, philippines email: jersonarciso@yahoo.com abstract this paper is an excerpt of a full-blown study that the author did on the role of religion in the peace process in mindanao of southern philippines. it attempts to understand and analyze islamic concepts of jihad, iman and islam and their significance to the problem of armed conflict in mindanao. analyses of these concepts is based mainly from the perspective of islamic liberation theology specifically on the works of farid esack, asghar ali engineer, and fazlur rahman, whose thoughts on the subject are seen to have more relevance towards development of a contextual islamic theology of peace and liberation that is reflective of the historical, socio-political, cultural, and economic conditions in mindanao of southern philippines. the study attempts to understand the meanings of jihad, iman and islam and draw out essential and significant theological, ethical, and political principles and values which are relevant to the issues of conflict in mindanao of southern philippines, and the role of religion in the peace process. based on the principles and values derived from the study of the said islamic concepts, the study attempts to construct a theological and political agenda that is informed by the historical, social, and political context in mindanao of southern philippines. keywords: christian perspective; jihad; iman; islam; mindanao peace process introduction it must be recognized at the outset that islam is so diverse, that it is hard to speak of one single islamic interpretation or belief that could represent the different groups and entities of islam. within islam itself, there are divergent groups and factions with different and distinct cultural, ethnic, social, political and theological orientation who share different views and interpretations of the islam faith in relation to the world and society as taught in the quran. hisano kato (1980) in his book, “the clash of ijtihadfundamentalist versus liberal muslims” points out differences over interpretations of islam, some of which are “diametrically” opposed to one another. [ 136 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 thus, “it is a truism to say that there is no single entity called islam only the various islams” manifested in a widely varied geographical, cultural, political and historical milieu (graham, 1993: 495). this is particularly true in southern philippines, where islam is represented and expressed in and through varied ethno-cultural, political identities, and historical settings. these differing and sometimes conflicting views and interpretations of the qur’an are not merely products of different ethno-linguistic, political and cultural factors. mainly, they stem from the unresolved hermeneutical problem that raises the issue of how qur’anic teachings are to be interpreted and understood both in their original intent and in the current peculiarly complex and pluralistic context. traditionalist muslims stick to the literal, legalistic, and formalistic method of interpreting the quran which is characteristically rigid, fixed, and inflexible. over the years, this kind of interpretation is sort of “sacralized” and regarded as the only “valid” and “legitimate” method of interpretation. any deviation from it may be viewed as an “assault” and “betrayal” of the true intent of the quran. thus, it leaves very little or no room for further interpretations (esack, 1997 & engineer, 1990). this position however, is challenged by the more liberal muslim scholars who believe in the dynamic and contextual reading of the quran which is more open, adaptable, and contextually relevant. they see the need to interpret, formulate and develop new islamic theological and political thoughts and actions which are more compatible with existing socio-cultural and political context. this view reflects much the islamic liberation theology perspective that insists on the crucial importance of the social context in shaping one’s interpretation, and therefore, one’s expression of religion. thus, the historical, socio-political, cultural and economic context of the society in which a religion is located is important in shaping the form and scale of its influence. to understand islamic hermeneutics of peace and liberation, it is important to go back and understand the socio-cultural and politico-economic situations existing in mecca before the introduction of islam. the period before islam was called a period of jahilliah (ignorance) (khadduri, 1984: 116). the social outlook of the arabs was very narrow and people were divided along different tribal and ethnic lines, each having its own idol and tribal god. the society was characterized by fierce competition and rivalry among different tribes for economic gains and political power. “there was no concept of humanity beyond one’s own tribe (engineer, 1990: 11; ahmed, 1988; barakat, 1993).” women were being discriminated and many of them were politically, socially and economically deprived (engineer, 1990). the economic scene was quite depressing. the weaker sections of society [ 137 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 were being marginalized and pushed to the periphery of human existence. the economic woes of the poor [miskin], orphans and widows, many of whom were reduced to slavery and indignity were “indescribable” (engineer, 1990: 28). the rich and the powerful on the other hand lived a life of luxury and disregarded their obligations to help and feed the poor. in fact, they had sacrificed and exploited the poor for economic and political advantage (engineer, 1990: 30). it was in the midst of such despicable condition that the prophet muhammad emerged and launched his war of liberation against all forms of enslavement and oppression. the prophet was a great activist who worked for the liberation of the oppressed, the poor, the slaves, the needy and the ignorant (engineer, 1980: 19-28). he fought against the arrogant rulers and elites and all forms of unjust and oppressive systems and practices which were contrary to the teachings of the quran and the will of god for humankind (engineer, 1979: 45). islam was therefore introduced as a religion of peace and “had been a ‘harbinger’ of change and liberation” (engineer, 1979: 11). islam had “emancipated man (woman) from the evils of slavery and degradation. it “liberated man from the tyranny and dominance” of the powerful (nadwi, 2006: 11). this is quite evident in the life and missionary campaigns of the prophet muhammad who put up a strong challenge to the status quo-the rich traders of mecca who belonged to the leading tribe called quraysh-who were arrogant and drank with power and greed (engineer, 1975: 17-18). the prophet gathered around himself the poor and the oppressed and even the slaves of mecca in his battle against all forms of exploitation and injustice. the prophet was a catalyst of change and transformation. his involvement in the struggle for the establishment of a just and humane society is described clearly as follows: “the prophet himself did not opt to live far away from the camp of men. he worked and toiled among things just as they are. he did not achieve the glory of the just, except by way of the risk of his life. he only made triumphal entry into mecca after confronting every danger and after subjected to every taunt of sarcasm. at mecca he was not merely content to be the preacher of the new faith; he became also the leader of the new city where he organized the religious, social and economic life. he shared personally in the construction of the mosque and dwellings of the emigrants…charged to deliver a message, he opted for action, because he was convinced that a message can only pass from the realm of life by taking the hard road of involvement” (talib, 1966: 109-166). however, the revolutionary element in islam was toned down a few decades [ 138 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 after the death of the prophet muhammad by the vested interests of the ruling elites particularly with the establishment of the powerful umayyad empire. the jihad which was originally enjoined on the faithful only for fighting against mustakbirin (the arrogant and the powerful) for liberating the oppressed and the weak had now come to be employed for widening the frontiers and consolidating the power of the umayyad dynasty (nadwi, 2006: 25). the ulama came to support the powerful establishments, emphasized ritual practices and played down social justice in defense of the weak and the powerless. they came to identify themselves with the mustakbirin (the powerful and the arrogant) while neglecting the weak and the oppressed (mustad’ ifin) islam was then used to legitimize and enforce the maintenance of unjust political and economic systems (engineer,1990: 1; nadwi, 2006: 25). “the history of islam provides ample evidence of the ulama having sided with the oppressive establishments in the name of islam” (engineer ,1990: 58). feudalism has also significantly eroded islamic values of justice throughout the medieval ages. during this period, islamic theology got its twist to favor those who were in power and to protect the status quo. “islamic theology which was so deeply concerned with socio-economic justice for the protection and welfare of the weaker sections of the society such as orphans, widows, poor and needy and the oppressed began to indulge in eschatology and speculative intellectual pursuits which neglect real and existential issues.” consequently, “islam lost all relevance to the social context” (engineer, 1990: 5-11). unjust and oppressive practices still continue up to this time when islam is used as a means to protect the interest of a few at the expense of the weak and oppressed masses. today, as engineer observes, “despite so many talks of islamization in several islamic countries, no serious attempt has been made in anyone of them for establishing just socio-economic structures.” lamentably, “disparities of wealth so fervently denounced by the quran continue and the upper classes indulge in conspicuous consumption while the poorer sections continue to suffer” (engineer ,1990: 85-87). it is in this context that islamic hermeneutics of peace and liberation must be analyzed and understood. given the above historical background, it is important to go back and analyze the islamic concepts of jihad, iman and islam and their importance to current socio-cultural, economic and political realities reigning in southern philippines. more specifically, it is important to see how the islamic values and principles of peace, justice and liberation can be meaningfully employed for cooperative and collaborative efforts among different religious groups which are involved in the mindanao peace process. [ 139 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 the theological and political significance of jihad jihad literally means, “to struggle”, to “exert oneself ”, or “to spend energy or wealth” (esack, 1997: 106). etymologically, the term comes from arabic root jahada which means “to strive”, “to endeavor”, “to struggle” which applies to any effort exerted towards a certain purpose, but basically, it connotes an endeavor towards a noble and “praiseworthy aim” (peters, 1996: 622). the term is used in the quran to convey varied meanings ranging from warfare, to inner contemplative spiritual struggle, and even exhortations for righteous living. in the quran, jihad is always followed by the expressions “in the path of god” and “with your wealth and yourselves” (esack, 1997: 107). there are three levels of jihad: personal, verbal; and physical. personal jihad is considered the most important form, the “greater jihad.” this type of jihad, called the jihadun-nafs, is the intimate struggle to purify one’s soul of evil influences, both subtle and overt. it is the struggle to cleanse one’s spirit of sin. the qur’an and the hadith (the collected sayings of the prophet muhammad) use the word “jihad” to refer to personal struggles. it is basically a call to put “allah ahead of loved ones, wealth, worldly ambitions and one’s own life. it is a call to strive for righteous deeds and a struggle to live faithfully for the cause of allah. a well-known tradition (hadith) has muhammad say on returning from battle, “we return from the little jihad to the greater jihad, the more difficult and crucial effort to conquer the forces of evil in oneself and in one’s own society in all the details of daily life” (armstrong, 1993: 23). the second type, verbal jihad, refers to striving for justice through verbal proclamation and non-violent actions. the prophet muhammad encouraged muslims to demand justice in the name of allah. when asked which jihad is better, he replied, “a word of truth in front of an oppressive ruler.” the life of the prophet was full of striving to gain the freedom, to inform and convey the message of islam. during his stay in mecca, he used non-violent means and used armed struggle against oppressive enemies only when it was inevitable. in mecca, the prophet and his followers were severely persecuted that they were forced to flee to medina. the meccans were not satisfied, so, they pursued muhammad to medina. muhammad and his followers were then forced to fight back which resulted to a series of bloody confrontations. thus, fighting for muslims became a prescription that was codified in the quran (ridgeon,2001: 3). war had become obligatory for the faithful who were commanded to take up arms to fight the wars of allah. in that sense, muslims had to speak the language of peace when there is peace and speak the language of war where it arises (haykal,1976: 211). but while fighting and warfare might sometimes be necessary, it is only a minor part of the whole jihad or struggle. [ 140 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 this last type, physical jihad, refers to the use of physical force in defense of muslims against oppression and transgression by the enemies of allah. allah commands that muslims lead peaceful lives and not transgress anyone. if they are persecuted and oppressed, the quran instructs that they migrate to a safe and peaceful place: “lo! those who believe, and those who emigrate [to escape persecution] and strive in the way of allah, these have hope of allah’s mercy…” if relocation is not possible, then allah also requires muslims to defend themselves against oppression by fighting against those who fight against them: “to those against whom war is made, permission is given [to defend themselves] because they are wronged and verily, allah is most powerful to give them victory.” war is permitted in islam as long as it is for the cause of stopping an aggressor, aiding truth, and achieving justice. thus, it is used against all social evils that corrupt, degrade and violate human dignity and freedom. as it appears, jihad has a multiplicity of meaning and has been interpreted differently among different islamic groups with different and sometimes contrasting theological thoughts and emphasis. for schleifer (1982: 122), the term could mean the “sacralization of combat” with a view that allah has decreed jihad as a “legitimate institution of warfare to preserve islam and convey it to people at large and to remove the obstacles in its way’’(al-lahim et. al., 1995: 48). consequently, jihad is understood as a call for muslims to fight against non-muslims who are viewed “obstacles” in the way of islam. but even if war and aggression is allowed in islam, it has certain instructions and limits that must be observed by every muslim. for instance, muslims are instructed to fight those who fight them, and not to commit aggression first, as god does not like transgressors: “and fight in the way of allah, those who fight against you, but transgress not the limits. truly allah likes not the transgressors.” the quran also instructs muslims to stop fighting those who wish to cease fighting them, and to accept peace with the enemy who becomes inclined towards peace: “but if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and (put your trust) in allah. verily, he is the all-hearer, the all-knower.” muslims are called to fight only if someone transgresses against them but they are at the same time admonished to fear god and to restrain themselves to this limit. muslims are also enjoined not to let hatred of some people for past reasons to lead them to transgress against those people or be hostile towards them. they are also instructed to help each other in good and righteous actions, and not to cooperate in aggression and sin, and it reminds them finally of the strict punishment of god to encourage them to abide by these principles. [ 141 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 against the traditional juristic understanding which gives emphasis on jihad as armed struggle or sacred war, esack equates jihad with “struggle and praxis” given the comprehensiveness of the use of the term jihad, he believes that it is “simultaneously a struggle and praxis” towards the realization of peace based on justice (esack, 1997: 107). despite its popular interpretation as a sacred armed struggle or war, esack argues that the term jihad was “always understood by muslims to embrace a broader struggle to transform both oneself and society” (esack, 1997). jihad therefore has both personal and social dimension that seeks to transform and liberate not only individuals but also communities, structures and institutions from the evils of greed, selfishness, exploitation and oppression. esack maintains that justice is “the central objective of jihad,” therefore, “jihad is a war against injustice for it seeks to destroy and eradicate unjust structures and systems” (esack, 1997). the quran establishes jihad as the path to establishing justice and praxis as a way of experiencing and comprehending truth. therefore, the faithfuls are enjoined not to abandon the struggle towards its realization. engineer observes that while jihad could mean “striving” or “fighting” which in some occasions might call for war or armed struggle, it is never meant for “promoting one’s own interest or the interest of any establishment; it must be for promoting the cause of the oppressed and the weak” (engineer, 1990: 6; khadduri, 1995). jihad in that sense is “to be primarily waged either for protecting the interests of the oppressed and the weak or to defend one’s self against aggression” (engineer, 1990: 7). the interest of the weak and the oppressed is central to the teachings of the quran so that the faithfuls are called to fight for the cause of the poor and the oppressed without fail: “and how should you not fight for the cause of allah, and for the weak among men, women and children who are crying: our lord! deliver us from this city of the oppressors. oh give us from your presence some protecting friend! oh send us from your presence someone to help us!” a mujahid (one who strives, fight for the right cause) is highly esteemed in the quran and one who receives favor from god: “those of the believers who sit still, other than those who have a (disabling) hurt, are not on an equality with those who strive in the way of allah with their wealth and lives. taken from its broader context, jihad has a liberationist element that liberates individuals from the evils of greed and selfishness that breeds manipulative and exploitative practices. it is striving in the path of god, the way of justice. it is [ 142 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 striving in the work of justice, for the liberation of the poor and the weak, from unjust structures and systems of oppression. arrogance of power, negation of justice, oppression of the weak, suppression of legitimate aspirations of the common people, concentration of wealth and political power and everything that promotes unjust and exploitative actions and practices are to be fought against because they negate the dignity of human life and resist god’s will for humankind. “the emphasis is jihad for liberation not jihad for aggression” (engineer, 1990: 8-10). despite the popular view of jihad as “war” or “armed struggle,” a thorough study of this key islamic theological concept shows that it has transformative and liberative character that liberates individuals and societies from selfishness, greed, and arrogance towards the realization of justice and peace. jihad has to be understood in an “emancipatory way as an offensive against destructive civilization and must be established as a strategic plan to empower civil society.” in that sense, religion must be understood in an “emancipatory way to accelerate democracy and civil society. religion in this respect does not become a “political shield” that protects the interest of the status quo but one that liberates, siding with the weak and empowering society” (madjid, et. al., 2006: 116). jihad as understood from its liberationist character as struggle and praxis towards the realization of peace and justice provides a new way of looking at the role of islam in the whole mindanao peace process. it suggests alternative ways of achieving justice and peace far beyond simple armed struggle and violent approaches which proved to be costly and ineffective. jihad as struggle against injustice calls for a different kind of war. it is a war against every form of greed, conceit, and injustice towards the establishment of a just social order which is only made possible through concerted and collaborative peace praxis. the islamic concepts of iman and its implications iman is the verbal noun of the fourth form from the root a-m-n. the root suggests “being secure”, “trusting in”, “turning to”, from which follows its meanings of “good faith”, “sincerity”, and “fidelity” or “loyalty”. the fourth form (amana) has the double meaning of “to believe”, and “to give one’s faith”. its primary meaning is “becoming true to the trust with respect to what god has confided in one by a firm believing with the heart; not by profession of belief with the tongue only” (lane, 1980: 1-7). it is also used in the meaning of “trust” in the sense that, one feels secure upon trusting something. the term with different variations appears 244 times in quran. most frequently [ 143 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 recurring is the expression, “o those who have iman’ of which there are 55 instances. while the term is used essentially with reference to the followers of muhammad, in 11 instances it refers to moses and his followers and in 22 instances to other prophets and their followers (esack, 1997: 118). it is used in the quran in the sense of being at peace with oneself and in the sense of contentment, “security from external threats”, and in the sense of “depositing something with someone for safekeeping.” in its fourth form (amana), the verb is usually followed by the particle bi which means, “to have faith in”, “to recognize”, “to trust” (esack, 1997: 118). the object of this “having faith” or “recognition” is god. the connection between faith and security implies the idea that those who have faith will attain peace and security (esack, 1997). “iman is an act of the heart, a decisive giving up of oneself to god and his message and gaining peace and security and fortification against tribulation” (rahman, 1983: 171). iman can be defined in various ways (such as, “affirmation”, “verbal testimony”, “belief or righteous conduct”), but in its entirety, it is something more than just mere recognition and verbal testimony. it signifies values and qualities that must be lived out and exemplified in one’s life and conduct (razi, 1990: 124). and so, those who have attained unto iman’ are admonished to “remould their lives in a particular direction, to orient themselves away from the various wrongs in society and towards god” (esack, 1997: 120). mu’min can be defined under three levels or category namely: the essentially spiritual/personal; the socio-religious; and the socio-economic dimension (esack, 1997: 121). possessors of these characteristics are “the truly faithful”, “believers in truth”, and “blessed by god.” “there is a binding connection between iman and righteous deeds” (al-tabari, 1954: 178). “iman has to result in obedience” iman is not attained until this obedience is attained and this is only accomplished when the inherent qualities are fulfilled. the connection between iman and righteous deeds is well founded in the quran where the phrase “those who have iman and who do righteous deeds” occurs no less than thirtysix times (esack, 1997: 121). thus, iman is intrinsically connected to righteous deeds. rahman shares the same conviction and concludes that “the separation of faith from action is totally untenable and absurd situation” (rahman, 1983, 171). in the same vein of thought izutsu points out that “the strongest tie of semantic relationship binds salih (righteousness) and iman together into an almost inseparable unit: and just as the shadow follows the form, wherever there is iman, there is salihat (righteous deeds)” (izutsu, 1966: 204). this idea goes against the traditional interpretation which defines iman in a [ 144 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 much narrow sense as the rituals reified by islam (esack, 1997). while iman as used in the quran is in some instances connected to religious rituals, this is not always the case. there are numerous instances where the reference is made to iman as righteous conduct and truthful living whether in a general or specific sense. faith bears good deeds. “faith in a righteous and just god implies an undying commitment to the dignity and freedom of his people” (esack, 1997). one who has iman must be “trustworthy, must strive for peace and security, and must himself have faith in all the good values of life-struggles toward the attainment of a just society” (engineer, 1990: 12). the term iman has been popularly used by some muslim groups to emphasize reified islam and promote religious exclusivism and superiorism to the exclusion of “others.” regrettably, as esack observes, “in many instances iman is no longer viewed as qualities that individuals may have, instead, it has now been regarded as the entrenched qualities of groups, bordering on ethnic characteristics”. contrary to the popular exclusivist notion that confines iman within the reified islam, esack argues that “the term has significant pluralistic meaning that promotes interreligious solidarity and seeks to advance peoples’ liberation from all sorts of discrimination and other forms of oppression (esack, 1997: 115). in other words, where there are individuals and groups of people (regardless of their religious affiliation), working for justice by defending the rights of the weak and the oppressed against their oppressors, iman is there. after all, iman is not mere acceptance and conformity to certain religious beliefs or systems. it is living out god’s command to do what is just for the promotion of life and harmony of all humankind. ‘abd al-ra’uf (1967: 98) insists on a “sociological appreciation of iman” in his view, iman which means “to become secure” or to “render security” has a sociological dimension taking into account its socio-historical background. for instance, historically it was noted that “fear of insecurity was the major stumbling block against the faith in the early days of islam.” to combat insecurity is “to create a social group in which members are closely knit together in a common bond” and where members are accountable to one another (rauf, 1967: 98). a mu’min in that respect is someone who has both an inner deep personal conviction as well as social faith commitment. iman, being deep personal response to god suggests that it cannot be confined within a particular socio-religious community such as islam. such attempt would be “a denial of the universality of god himself ” since “the quran explicitly recognize the iman of those outside the socio-religious community of mu’minun” (esack, 1997: 125). social justice in islam is rooted in man’s faith (iman). man’s belief in god entails [ 145 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 a sacred duty to do justice. there is no gap between faith and action. faith and action must go together, for “one cannot exist without the other” (naqvi, 1981). no one could rightly say he (she) has faith in god if he (she) neglects actual deeds of justice. viewed from this perspective, faith has liberative character that transforms and liberates individuals and communities from the human pitfalls of selfishness, pride and arrogance. thus, liberation and peace are rooted in people’s faith (iman) to god. the peace process in mindanao demands faith (iman) that produces praxis not beautifully crafted theologies and dogmas. peace demands action. the different religious organizations involved in the peace process must become tangible indicators of a strong and active faith (iman) that works, not just “paper organizations” with no genuine existence apart from organizational names with a set of approved plans, constitutions, and bylaws. religious values and principles must not just remain as signs and symbols of faith. they must find concrete expressions in praxis that promotes justice and peace. the challenge for the different religious actors in the mindanao peace process is how they are supposed to relate faith in concrete terms and how they could become witnesses and bearers for god in an unjust society. their task is not only to examine the socio-economic structures that create and entrench oppression, but also to examine their roles in response to them. peace statements and religious dialogues will do nothing unless they are supported with actions designed to eradicate social injustice which is endemic in the current socio-political and economic system in philippine society. farid esack maintains that “any religiosity which fails to see the connections between poverty and the socio-political structures which breed and sustains poverty and injustice but then hastens to serve the victims is little more than an extension of those structures, and therefore complicit in the original crime”. he observes that religions in many cases are guilty of playing “santa claus”, giving pieces of bread to the little ones who knock on their doors (esack, 2013: 93). charity works will do very little to solve the problem of poverty in mindanao. there is a need to discover the forces in society that cause the problem and to work towards their eradication. the concept of islam the word islam is derived from the root, ‘s l m’ which means salam, i.e., peace. the meaning of the word as peace is based on the quranic teachings that states: “and the servants of the beneficent are they who walk on earth in humility, and when the ignorant jahilum address them, they say, peace, salaman.” from [ 146 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 the infinitive of aslama, islam means “to submit”, “to surrender”, “to fulfill or execute” (esack, 2013: 93; lewis, 1988). the term also means, “reconciliation”, “peace” or “wholeness.” as a verbal noun, the term appears only eight times in the quran, whereas its foundation verb. aslama, appears twenty-four times. (esack, 2013: 130). like any other islamic theological concepts, the term islam is subject to different views and interpretations. obviously, there is a tension between the traditional interpretation which puts so much emphasis on the reified and institutionalized aspect of islam, and the more radical view that puts emphasis on the active and dynamic aspect of islam. the traditional particularist-exclusivist perspective is based on several quranic verses which refer to islam as the only din acceptable to god. for instance, the quran describes islam as “the perfected religion” established by god’s choice for the community of muhammad and the completion of his favor upon it. those whose “breasts had been opened to islam” are described as “following a light from his (her) lord.” whoever goes in search of a religion other than islam, it will never be accepted of him [her], and in the life to come he [she] shall be among the losers”. taken from an exclusivist perspective, these quranic teachings seems to suggest the superiority and singularity of islam as the only true and acceptable religion (din) to god. it also follows that the only expression of religiosity that is acceptable to god is islam which is often understood in its institutionalized and reified sense. among the well-known proponents of this traditional view are al-tabari who gives emphasis on the external aspect of islam and insists that islam requires the “act of joining the group who calls themselves muslims” and on a personal level, an act of surrendering oneself to god by strict and rigid observance of islamic laws and rituals (al-tabari, 1954: 212). ibn arabi who insists that “the only true din (religion) is one that allah has prescribed for himself ” implying that any religion other than islam is false; al-zamakhshari who argues that “islam is the religion according to god and all else is not din”; and al-razi who puts emphasis on the personal meaning of islam which calls for “submission and obedience, entry into peace and purifying all service for god” this interpretation is more concerned with the interpretation of religion (din) as a form or systematic and institutionalized religious life which gives emphasis on “personal conduct, standard of behavior, customs, observances of certain religious rituals and practices” (esack, 2013: 128). the more radical interpretation is based on the idea that the term din as it is seen in the quran does not frequently suggest “institutional religion” or personalized submission although some meanings may have such [ 147 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 implications. radical view contends that while the exclusivist interpretation of islam leads to the affirmation of the superiority of islam over other faiths, “the universal underpinnings of the term islam, in quranic teachings lead one to the understanding that the text embraces all of those who submit to the will of god” (rida, 1973). this embrace rida concludes, includes the religious “other” along with “the diversity of some of the obligations and the forms of practices in them, and with which they have been enjoined (rida, 1973).” this view is based on quranic teachings that recognize god’s presence and activity in other religions. ra’uf explains that the infrequency of the use of islam in the quran suggests that it is concerned “not so much with the metaphysical and static thinking but with the active and dynamic meaning of the term” (rauf, 1967: 94). openness, respect and tolerance towards other religions are some of the important liberative elements in islam. the quran makes it clear “there is no compulsion in religion.” muslims are exhorted not to abuse those who call upon besides allah lest they abuse allah through ignorance. the quran also teaches that a believer should show equal respect to all the prophets for they all believe in allah and his angels and his books and his messengers. the quran declares unequivocally that paradise is not the monopoly of any religious group. whoever does what is just and what is good, whoever submits himself (herself) entirely to allah, he (she) has his (her) reward from the lord. from the view point of history, jane smith observes that while it can be recognized that in some levels and contexts, particularly in the early meccan period, the din of islam is part of the reified islamic belief systems, it is evident that “this was not the primary reference for their understanding of islam as din” (smith, 1975: 229). the same observation is corroborated by cantwellsmith who insists that while islam as din “could conjure up the idea of islam as a reified entity, this was by no means the only, and indeed the primary interpretation”. he concludes that in the quran, whenever the word islam is employed, it is “in a manner where it can be, and in many grounds almost must be, interpreted, not as the name of a religious system, but as the designation of a decisive personal act” (smith, 1991: 109). rida commenting on the weakness and limitations of a “personalized” concept of islam maintains that “this intensely personal submission of individuals to god and the universal spirit, in which all religious communities partake, bears no relationship to conventional islam” (rida, 1973). moreover, he argues that while the essence of din has not changed, there were changes in the usage and application of the term in various periods in the history of islam. the same observation is shared by haddad who maintains that while the early [ 148 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 meccan period seemed to emphasize the formal and personal dimension of islam as din, it is shown that in the last part of the meccan period there was an identification of the unchanging din with the “community of abraham” and “the straight path,” and from this period onwards, the emphasis was shifted from personal to communal level this leads on to the medinan period when the emphasis on din as personal commitment is switched to the use of the term for commitment in the collective sense (haddad, 1974: 119). the problem with the particularist interpretation is that, it reduces din to a mere set of norms and beliefs and confines it within the reified and formalized parameters of a religious system. it espouses the idea that the only true islam is reified islam. a more objective analysis of the meaning of islam however suggests that both the personalist sense and group sense are contained in the quran. “both senses must therefore be acknowledged in any attempt to make space for the one within the other: the importance of personal submission within the framework of group identification as well as the possibility of personal submission outside the parameters of the historical community of islam” (esack, 1997: 132). farid esack captures the meaning of islam in the following statement: “the quran portrays a muslim as someone who submits to a divinity beyond, and more abiding, than that muslim and beyond reified religion. god is akbar (greater than) any conception of him or any form of institutionalized or non-institutionalized service to him. it is to god that the quran persistently requires islam” (esack, 1997). one of the distinguishing features of islam as pointed out by engineer is “humility and peace as opposed to arrogance, animosity and war” (engineer, 1990: 150). a careful examination of quranic teachings would show that peace and humility are central to the prophet’s mission. the usual and common islamic greeting “as salamu ‘alaykum” (peace be upon you) is a constant reminder that islam is for peace, not otherwise. believers are also enjoined to address allah with the word peace in accordance with the teachings of the quran: “their greeting on the day they shall meet him will be, “salam” [peace]! and he has prepared for them a generous reward.” paradise is described as a place where there is no vain or sinful talk but only the saying, peace, peace! salam connotes safety and peace. so, when a muslim says salam, he/she gives news to the other person that he confers peace on him/her and he/she wants to make peace with him/her. alsalam means god almighty thus, when someone says salam it means, god is your caretaker or the one who watches over you (lashin, 1970: 223). [ 149 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 islam does not necessarily mean institutionalized religion or adherence to a specific system of belief and religious practice. the “surrendering of one’s self to god” which is the basic meaning of islam does not only happen within the bounds and parameters of islamic religion. it could happen anywhere at different times, contexts, and historical circumstances outside of the reified community of islam. islam understood as a verb rather than as a noun suggests that submission to god requires not merely confession but complete obedience to his will by doing what is right and what is just. the qur’an regards non-islamic belief system as “religion” and attributes a religious significance to them. moreover, instead of focusing on its own truth claims and evaluating all religions in reference to itself, the qur’an proposes that the basis for action should be common or universal truths that are also accepted by the other religions. theology in that sense, must concern itself with reflection which seeks to “express the content of a particular faith (faith of an historic community) in the clearest and most coherent language available” (fakhry, 1983; pailin, 1986: 39). the quranic view of islam as a universal and all-encompassing concept of surrendering oneself to god provides a strong theological and political basis for a cooperative and collaborative action that goes beyond religiousinstitutional parameters and boundaries, as well as sectarian, ideological and organizational interests. as shown in the study (chapter 3), these narrowly defined organizational goals have significantly hampered peace-building efforts in mindanao. along this line, farid esack proposes the idea of “a ‘new muslim’ who is adamant to a stagnant, and fossilized islam that is confined to a set of rituals that are mere motions” and meaningless (esack, 2013: 1-2). in his view, there is a need to develop a “meaningful and socially relevant islam which is committed to social justice, individual liberty, and the quest for the transcendent who is beyond all institutional, religious and dogmatic constructions, an islam that challenges us to examine our faith in personally and socially relevant terms” (esack, 2013: 1-2). main context: islam, a religion of peace, justice, and liberation historically, there is much evidence to prove that islam arose to challenge and change the oppressive dominant status quo in favor of the oppressed and the exploited-the weaker sections of the society and the marginalized. as shown in the study, the theme of liberation and peace occupies a central place in quranic teachings as exemplified in the three islamic key theological concepts discussed above. the quran lays emphasis on social justice in all aspects of [ 150 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 life. social justice and equality are central to the islamic vision of peace. the quran presents a universal and all-encompassing god, the god whose own unity (tawhid) is reflected in the oneness of his people, and the god who liberates his people from all forms of enslavement and oppression. the quran also condemns all forms of exploitation and unjust dealings. it clearly denounces those who unjustly accumulate their wealth and use their power to exploit and oppress the poor and the powerless. from the perspective of islam in that sense, true religion is one that liberates and works towards the attainment of peace. peace, means liberating and freeing humankind from injustice and servitude to other human beings. peace is not based on a vague and undefined desire for peace but rooted in the quranic vision of peace based on social justice and liberation of the marginalized and the oppressed. a contextual reading of the quran would reveal that god is in the struggle for justice and freedom. thus, a theology that accommodates and supports the structures and institutions of oppression is unscriptural and runs counter to the teachings of the qu’ran. islam is ideally a religion that promotes peace and understanding among people of all faiths, and it strongly prohibits all forms of violence and aggression against all peoples regardless of their faith or race. god is the source of peace which is made possible through the execution of justice and equality among all men (women). this understanding of god provides a powerful motivation and framework of values on which promotion of justice, freedom, equality and restoration of human dignity must be pursued. it calls for a development program and policies that provide greatest benefit to the weakest and poorest sections of the society. from the liberationist perspective, islam does not protect the status quo and all the vested interests that go with it. “it is not passive reflection based on static medievaloriented theology that reduced islam to mere sterile spiritualism but a theology that is translated into concrete action, human projects achieved historically” (engineer, 1990: 206). it means giving the marginalized masses their rightful place in determining their destinies and in achieving their aspirations. there can be no justice and peace unless the weaker and marginalized sections of society are excluded and deprived from participation in the struggle for a just and humane society. the islamic concept of the oneness and universality of god and human familyhood, provides a strong theological basis against pretended supremacy or presumptuous exclusivity. god is not confined to any religion or favors any particular nation, race, or culture. the wisdom behind dividing people into [ 151 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 tribes and nations is nothing more than the creation of variety, so that they may come to meet each other in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation, and not for the promotion of hostility and difference. sharing and caring and competing only for righteous deeds and holy virtue, competing for the benefit of the masses and individuals and seeking the pleasure of allah who is the lord of all, and who watches this brotherhood (sisterhood), protects it and calls all his servants to practice and establish it (maududi, 1976: 19). action is based on the consciousness that god sees every person’s conduct. seeking god’s pleasure is the mainspring of economic action. it is under the influence of a firm belief in the divine presence that affirms the equality of all men and women before god, about the poor having a right in the rich man’s wealth because all wealth belongs to allah, about a rich man’s obligation to “spend in moderation because he is a trustee not an owner of his wealth, about man being essentially a free agent with definite social responsibilities to discharge to satisfy the demand for social justice” (naqui, 1994: 15). the main call for islamic religion is to establish a just social reality. the evaluation of any act or statement should be measured according to whether or not it accomplishes the desired social reality. in islam, acting for the cause of god is synonymous with pursuing justice. islamic teachings reject oppression and injustice on interpersonal and structural levels (abu-nimer, 2008: 12). islam must be understood as the religion of humanity for it carries the message of freedom and liberation towards social transformation. islam is present in the face of humanity and is oriented to the needs of humanity (abu-nimer, 2008: 117). al-naim rightly observes that religion is not human abstraction. it is what human beings make out of it. it is what the believers believe and do. thus, worshipping god, means having a “profound concern for humanity’s needs and problems”. here, religion serves as a “locomotive to free men and women from the shackles of oppression” (na’im, 2002: 30). islam is a religion of “solidarity and peace” (madjid, et. al., 2006: 45). peace-building in islam involves protecting human rights and dignity, promoting equality among all people. addressing conflicts through islamic values and principles is an important resource in resolving the conflict in mindanao. the principle of one ummah or community can be utilized to motivate conflicting parties to come to an agreement, achieve unity, gain strength, and be empowered by working together. ummah can be used to mobilize unity and support against all forms and structures of oppression. it can be used as a collaborative approach to life’s challenges, assist in social and political mobilization and can be harnessed in collective actions for socioeconomic development and peace-building. [ 152 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 the islamic concept of community (ummah) also calls and demands for a participatory approach in resolving the conflict in mindanao which requires among others, consensus, consultation, and input that includes the large majority of the grassroots and marginalized masses, to hear their sentiments and aspirations, and in the process come up with a unified socio-political and economic agenda that would be beneficial to all. engineer, emphasizing the value of consensus and mutual consultation points out that the quran lays due emphasis on shura (consultation) thus indicating that the nature of islamic polity is not autocratic but democratic in spirit (engineer, 1980: 1). whether islam truly lends values and ethical principles that can be harnessed towards the establishment of a just and egalitarian society which is free of exploitation is beyond question. what is needed is sincere commitment to work for the realization of this vision. the question is how and who will do it? engineer believes that, what is required of in the realization of such a just order, is courage of conviction and a strong sense of commitment to human values (engineer, 1980: 205). consequently, one needs to ask, will muslim leaders who are keen to proclaim freedom and independence for the bangsamoro people in mindanao give up ambitious self-power-seeking efforts for their own ends and commit themselves to an islamic vision of a just and egalitarian society? if they do, and with the participation of the deprived masses, then islam will perhaps become a powerful moral ideal and an instrument for the eradication of unjust system and the development of a political program that could enhance freedom, economic development, and peace for mindanao. farid esack argues that the concept of solidarity in islam goes beyond muslim community alone. the ummah must be taken to include believers outside of islam because all those who believe in god are members of this community. he insists that the universal community under god has always been a significant element in muslim discourse against tribalism and racism (esack, 1997; esack, 1998). on the same vein of thought, nasr also asserts that from the perspective of islam, ummah (community) “implies all of human collectivity held together by common bonds that are themselves the foundation of social, juridical, political, economic and ethical links between its members (nasr, 2002: 161). thus, christians and muslims in mindanao could establish collective and collaborative approaches that aim to address the needs and aspirations of the marginalized masses, to establish covenants, agreements, to resist structurally unjust arrangements, and support the legislation of laws that promote justice and equality among all human beings. if god’s will and his command is to establish a healthy society here on earth by sharing and partaking of life, then muslims and christians will have to take it as a serious project to work on. [ 153 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 conclusion this study on islamic concepts of jihad, iman and islam provides new insights on how islam can play a significant role in the mindanao peace process. jihad as understood from its liberationist character as struggle and praxis towards the realization of peace and justice provides a new way of looking at the role of islam in the whole mindanao peace process. it suggests alternative ways of achieving justice and peace far beyond simple armed struggle and violent approaches which proved to be costly and ineffective. the islamic concept of iman shows that faith is liberative. it transforms and liberates individuals and communities from the human pitfalls of selfishness, pride and arrogance. the peace process in mindanao demands faith (iman) that produces praxisnot beautifully crafted theologies and dogmas. peace demands action. the different religious organizations (christians and muslims alike) involved in the peace process in mindanao must become tangible indicators of a strong and active faith (iman) that works, not just “paper organizations” with no genuine existence apart from organizational names with a set of approved plans, constitutions, and bylaws. religious values and principles must not just remain as signs and symbols of faith. they must find concrete expressions in praxis that promotes justice and peace. the understanding of islam as a universal and all-encompassing concept of surrendering oneself to god provides a strong theological and political basis for a cooperative and collaborative action that goes beyond religiousinstitutional parameters and boundaries, as well as sectarian, ideological and organizational interests. it calls for a unified and collaborative work between muslims and christians in mindanao to work together for the realization of a just and humane society. bibliography abu-nimer, m. (2008). a framework for nonviolence and peacebuilding in islam. singapore: majilis ugama islam singapura. al-baidawi, n. a. s. (n.d). majmu’ah min al-tafasir. beirut: dar ihya’ alturath al-‘arabi 6 vols. al-din, f. r. (1990). tafsir al-fakhr al-razi, 15. mecca: al-maktabah al-tijariyyah. al-lahim, s. h. m., murad, m. r., & al-lahim, h. b. m. (1995). the principles of islam. translation and commentary by mahmoud ridhamurad, cooperative office for call and guidance in al batha, ksa. [ 154 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.3005 al-tabari, (1954). jami al-bayan ‘an ta’wil ay al-quran. eds. mahmud muhammad shakir. cairo: mustafa al-babi al-halabi, dar al-kutub vol. 9. ali, a. (1974). the spirit of islam. london: chatto and windus. ali, m. (1990). the religion of islam. michigan: ahmadiyya anjuman isha’at islam. armstrong, k. (1993). muhammad: biography of the prophet. san francisco: harper. engineer, a. a. (1975). islam-muslimsindia. bombay: lok vangmaya engineer, a. a. (1979). the origin and development of islam. new delhi: orient longman engineer, a. a. (1980). the islamic state. new delhi: vikas publishing house pvt ltd engineer, a. a. (1990). islam and liberation theology: essays on liberative elements in islam. sterling publ. esack, f. (1997). qurʾan, liberation and pluralism: an islamic perspective of interreligious solidarity against oppression. oneworld. esack, f. (1998). religion and cultural diversity: for what and with whom?. in makalah disampaikan pada islam and cultural diversity conference, centre for global peace, american university, washington, dc. esack, f. (2013). on being a muslim: finding a religious path in the world today. simon and schuster. fakhry, m. (1983). a history of islamic philosophy. london: longman. graham, w. a. (1993). traditionalism in islam: an essay in interpretation. the journal of interdisciplinary history, 23(3), 495-522. haddad, y. y. 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[ 33 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 religious democratization in indonesia: strengthening the procedural and substantial religious democracy eka hendry ar. center for acceleration of inter-religious and ethnic understanding, pontianak abstract inspired by the book of michael mann about the dark side of democracy that discusses the paradox between the ideality of democratic values and empirical realities of violence in the name of freedom (democracy), this paper begins with the exposure of the paradox, such as the rise of the violent conflict between groups of people (both ethnic and religious-based) and the high prevalence of violence between religious groups in indonesia. even worse, a very wrenching violence involves state actors (rulers). this paper tries to understand the roots of the paradox, with a look at how the relationship between state and religion and the religious community trend of indonesia (especially muslims). the author argues that the democratization of religion is a solution to the issues. to answer what kind of religious democracy lives in indonesia, the author analyzes through a religious procedural (or constitutional) democratic dimension and religious substantial democratic dimension. the phenomenon of disobedience of law and system and the euphoria of law-making that reflects “intolerance” in several places in indonesia display the fundamental issue in the religious procedural democracy. whereas in the context of religious substantial democracy, the prevailing trend of religion that serves as a political and economic vehicle and ignores religion as a substantial aspect of the behavior of the indonesian society has resulted in the marginalization of religious position and function. then, the infiltration of the model of political islam has also led to alienation of the character of the islamic society of indonesia, from a democratic pattern to a revival (radical) one. in this light, the author needs to present a strategy to encourage religious democracy in indonesia, structurally through formulating the ideal relation model between state and religion and culturally through a substantial pattern of religion embedded with the character of indonesian religious communities as well as the need to revitalize the true indonesian islamic model which will be intrinsically familiar with the principles of democracy. key words: democracy, religious procedural, substantial democracy, intolerance, law and system of disobedience. [ 34 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 introduction this paper is inspired by michael mann’s book, “the dark side of democracy”. in the book, mann discussed the dark side of euphoria of freedom in several countries in the world. through this book mann revealed the paradox behind the ideality of democracy. it appears that behind the strong desire for democratic societies, the phenomenon of violence in the name of freedom also tends to escalate. it shows something of a contradiction, as though democracy and violence are two sides of the coin. it is a paradox because ideally democracy aims to contain violence (susan, 2012: 160). not lingering to argue about this issue, the author believes that, violence is definitely not part of the intrinsic principles of democracy. according to the author, violence is clearly a “dark passenger” in the ideal of democracy, and may serve as logical consequences of the collateral sacrifice that occurs during the maturity in democracy. this important assertion is necessary to be stated earlier in this paper as we do not want to get trapped into the mistaken assumption that democracy leads to a new outbreak of conflict everywhere. should this be the case, then this is a step backward. the same thing also became mann’s concern (2005: 2); he argued that democracy should remain an ideal, not something synonymous with violence. it coincided with the growing likelihood of a violent practice of democracy. therefore, we need to straighten it out that the democracy ‘show’ must go on, after that we will deal with this tangle in which deviations might occur. “my first thesis concerns the broad historical era in which murderous cleansing became common. murderous cleansing in modern, because it is the dark side of democracy. let me make clear at the outset that i do not claim that democracies routinely commit murderous cleansing. very few have done so. nor do i reject democracy as an ideal –i endorse that ideal. yet democracy has always carried with it the possibility that the majority might tyrannize minorities, and this possibility carries more ominous consequences in certain types of multiethnic environments”(mann, 2005:2). the author’s mindset is clear that violence is not part of the order of the ideal of democracy; it is a form of distortion of democracy. in other words, while the violence that arises along with democratization, it is regarded as a form of deviation in the internalization of the values of democracy. so there is no reason to get rid of the democracy of a nation’s life. to prove what is stated by michael mann, we can look at countries that were [ 35 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 on the path to democracy always had violent conflicts in the form of ethnic cleansing and genocide; examples can be seen in bosnia and herzegovina (1999), angola, armenia, azerbaijan, georgia, india, burma, sri lanka, sudan, bangladesh, belgium, burundi, bhutan, ethiopia, iraq, latvia, mali, moldova, nigeria, northern ireland, spain, turkey and the philippines, including in indonesia. (el fatih a. abdel salam, 2008). indonesia, in the wake of the reform movement as a starting point toward a democratic society, was also overshadowed by violent conflicts. just to mention a few among them are conflicts that took place ambon, poso, sambas and sampit. the violent conflicts involved ethnic groups and religious. these conflicts have continued to this day with the motif that continues to grow, such as those related to the elections of regional heads, and the natural resource issues. the conflict that occurred during the plan for the establishment of north tapanuli province resulted in the death of the chairman of the local parliament. the violence also occurred between local people and a company in lampung, and between the authorities and the people of musi rawas in south sumatera due to the desire for the creation of a new district. violent acts in the name of religion also became a trend in the political context. in the last three years, the acts of violence between religious groups also increased. refusal accompanied by acts of violence against religious groups considered “heretical” has also become widespread i.e. in the case of ahmadiyah group in ceukesik, temanggung and mataram. forced closure of houses of worship, bomb threats against parties deemed “liberal” minded, burning of the shi’ah islamic boarding school were just among a few to mention. the above events of conflicts are part of the journey toward the maturity of democracy in several countries in the world, including indonesia. according to donald l horowitz (in larry diamond and marc f. plattner 1998: 43) the conflicts on the path to democracy in many countries in africa, asia and eastern europe tend to be the cause of the failure of democratization. this paper will not discuss these conflicts as there have been many writers who examined the issue. it focuses on the implications of the violent conflicts on the future religious democracy in relation to the state and between religious believers in indonesia. the author’s thesis is that religious democracy is the answer to all forms of deviation of the freedom of expression (democracy). this paper is presented firstly to discuss the root issues that arise in the paradox between the ideality of democracy that is considered appropriate for indonesia and the empirical realities of life found in the nature of democracy. secondly, it intends to question the model inter-relations that fit between state and religion in indonesia. this question arises because the state also became part of the intolerance actor. thirdly, this paper also aims to find out [ 36 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the strategies to encourage the realization of democratization of religion in indonesia. interpreting democracy in the context of indonesia democracy is in fact a constructive instrument if implemented correctly. however it could also be the opposite when democracy is a mere jargon. michael mann explicitly explained that many people have mistakenly interpreted democracy and this has eventually resulted in counterproductive acts in the name of democracy. therefore, there are a lot of criticisms (or warning) against it. thomas hobbes (in runciman, 2012: 7) argued that democracy is no more than just a stage for hypocritical politicians. in the name of democracy, evil politicians are feeding lies on the community. m natsir criticized the guided democracy under sukarno in which natsir said that in the guided democracy era everything was there, except the democracy itself (hendry, 2013: 4). this is a form of satire that democracy only exists as mere jargon. natsir warned that democracy should not become party-cracy or crony-cracy (an-na’im, 2007: 441). therefore democracy should be practiced according to its main purpose. democracy is in fact a humanitarian ideal and the life of the nation. it is meant to uplift the human sovereignty, the sovereignty of the law in the context of the life of nation and the state. for that purpose, then democracy must be manifested into every aspect of human life, both in the context of personal and collective scope. it must serve as the basis for human thought and behavior because the substance of democracy is “freedom”, the freedom of thought, freedom of speech and the right to equality, equal rights before the law, and the right to a decent life (socially and economically). therefore, these democratic values should be allowed to grow in a range of institution of life, such as in the academic, economic and social, as well as in cultural and religious institutions. in the context of democratic practice, the term is usually divided into two categories namely the formal (or procedural) category and the substantial category. this formal category is associated with democratization mechanism as stipulated in the constitution, while the substantial category should be reflected in the way one thinks, behaves and acts when implementing democracy. the latter often refers to the democratic culture. for example when we are grouping democracy with political analysis unit, it is usually divided into two categories, namely procedural or constitutional democracy and substantial democracy. procedural democracy is a condition in which the will of the freedom of speech and political aspirations is channeled through formal [ 37 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 political procedure regulated in accordance with the constitution, such as the process of the elections. procedural democracy highlights how sovereignty is in the hands of the people and the constitution, while substantial democracy is how democratic values such as freedom to convey the aspirations, the readiness of accepting and appreciating differences, and open attitude to conduct deliberations. in reality, especially in cases such as the election of the head of a region, procedural democracy looks relatively good, while in the substantial context it still has a lot of serious issues. then what about in the context of religious life? formal or procedural democracy manifests itself in the form of statutory rules that govern the relations between religious groups, while in its substantial category it should be interpreted into a way of thinking, attitudes and social behavior, such as practicing religious tolerance, respecting different beliefs, providing a room for the growing development of doctrines different from the mainstream religions, as well as the ability to work together in diversity. in the context of politics, democracy in the procedural category relatively runs better than substantial democracy, but in the context of the democratization of religion, both in this category still have crucial issues. as a country that upholds the values of religion, though not a theocracy, indonesia still has some crucial issues related to the question of the relations between religious groups and between state and religious institutions. formally, the state is concerned with regulating the relations between religious groups by issuing a variety of laws such as freedom of religion as stated explicitly in the constitution article 29 paragraph 1, 2 and 3. in addition, the state also regulates on how the spread of religion and the construction worship houses should be done, how disputes between religious groups should be resolved as in the issuance of the joint decree of the minister religious affairs and the minister of interior no. 8 and 9/ 2006 on the guidelines for heads of the regions to maintain religious harmony as a replacement for the joint decree number 1/1969. the problem, according to mohammad fathuddin (in hendry et al., 2012: 41) is that, in practice there are still a lot of controversies mainly related to the substance of the law contained in the decree. fathuddin noted there are at least five problems arising from the joint decree, namely first, the administrative requirements for the construction of houses of worship must be accompanied by a recommendation from the fkub (inter-religious harmony forum), and it more difficult to obtain compared to joint decree (which only requires the permission of the department of religious affairs and chairman of the rt/rw); second, despite being formed by the people, fkub is more [ 38 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 bureaucratic and structural in nature. fkub is considered to be the puppet of local governments. there have been concerns that it is concerned that fkub may serve as political tools to suppress the people; third, the bureaucracy for getting permit to construct places of worship may trigger minority and majority sentiments between religious followers; fourth, the minority and majority politics may likely cause segregation in society based on religion; fifth, a difficult bureaucracy regarding the construction of houses of worship is potential to cause suspicion among the minority. a study conducted by the author together with hamzien bunsu and ria hayatunnur taqwa (2012) in relation to the enactment of the pbm (joint decree) showed that despite the pbm no. 8 and 9 is already far better than that of no. 1/1969, it turns out that the pbm is still problematic. it is even considered to be a trigger of dispute in the society, as viewed by some to contain discrimination against minority groups. this research showed that religious groups such as christians (formerly protestants) usually build a church based on ethnic groups, for example the church of batak, dayak etc. they are usually a minority ethnic group in a certain region and are in need of a house of worship. the construction is sometimes hampered by administrative provisions from the pbm that requires a certain number of people belonging to the ethnic group. the pbm is in fact a trigger issue, and is considered the root of discrimination against minority groups. in terms of the substance of democracy, it seems that a lot of data to date that show that, the democratization of religion remains a crucial issue for indonesia. it can be seen in table 1 and 2, where the number of cases of intolerance is still quite high. table 1 183 non-state actors’ forms of action form of action number of cases condoning 12 intimidation 4 intolerance 52 report to the authority 3 prohibition of religious activities 6 prohibition of religious sects 3 prohibition of religious observance 16 prohibition of construction of worship houses 17 coercion of faith 2 arson of property 1 arson of worship houses 5 [ 39 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 road blockage 1 property teardown 1 dispersion of religious activities 1 physical harassment 1 property destruction 7 destruction of places of worship 21 sealing off places of worship 8 closure of places of worship 1 expulsion 1 assault 8 perversion of religious teachings 11 attempted assault 1 total 183 source : (ismail hasani and bonar tigor n. [ed], 2010:23-24) based on reports from the setara institute in 2010 there were 216 violations of religious events with 286 forms of action occurring in 20 provinces throughout indonesia. (hasani and tigor n. (ed.), 2010: 19) the data in 2011 as presented in the annual report of the religious life in indonesia issued by the crcs ugm showed that there were 7 cases of alleged desecration of religion (excluding the case of ahmadiyah) including accusations of heresy against abraham millah community in aceh and medan, the expulsion of the shi’ah community in sampang madura. in the case of ahmadiyah, crcs reported violent acts against 20 communities throughout january – august 2011. the forms of violence actions like raids and destruction of homes, demolition of mosques, burning the books, beating, assault, murder and the dismantling of the tombs of the adherents of the ahmadiyah (center for religious and cross-cultural studies, 2012). the reports compiled by the setara institute (in 2012) showed there have been 264 events of violation of freedom of religion with 371 violent acts in 28 provinces. there were five provinces with the highest levels of offence namely west java (76) events, east java (42), aceh (36), central java (30), and south sulawesi (17) (setara institute, 2012) of the 371 cases of violation of religious freedom, 145 (39%) of them were actions involving the state authority. of the 145 cases, 117 were actions taken by the state and 28 were cases of negligence by the state (setara institute 2011: 5) for comparison, the same data was also reported by the wahid institute. during 2011 (january-december), there were 110 cases of violations of freedom of religion. when compared to the year 2011, the violation of freedom of religion that occurred in 2012 reached [ 40 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 110 cases as compared to 93 cases or approximately 8% increase. the monthly average of violation cases in 2011 was 7, while in 2012 it increased to an average of 9 cases per month. even if the cases december were not counted, the average violation was 10 cases per month. the wahid institute concluded that the protection of and respect for religious freedom is getting worse. there has been an increase in the cases of violations of freedom of religion in the last three years. (the wahid institute, 2012: 3-4). the same thing was reported by the setara intitute that negligence by the state apparatuses still occupied the highest cases (33 cases) as seen in graph 1. the above data shows the forms of violation of freedom of religion committed by vigilantes (in addition to violations by the state institutions). of the various forms of action, the dominant offense was an attitude of intolerance (52 cases) and the destruction of houses of worship (21 cases). as for the religious groups who are likely to become victim are the jemaat kristiani (christian congregants) (75 cases) and the ahmadiyah (50 cases). the places of worship that received attacks include the church of jemaat kristiani (43), ahmadiyah mosque (9) and several islamic ummah mosques. (hasani and tigor n. [ed.], 2010: 26-27) the data (tables 1 and 2) show that, the democratization of religion in indonesia (both procedural and substantial) remains a serious problem. what factors may cause this to happen. to answer the question, the author conducted an analysis in two dimensions, first, related to the democratization of religion in the procedural dimension and second, related to religious democracy in the substantial dimension. table 2 violation of religious freedom in 2012 (the wahid institute’s version) form of violation number of cases negligence by the state apparatus 33 worship house ban 26 religious activity ban 18 criminalization of faith 17 coercion of faith 12 intimidation 4 problems of (procedural) religious democracy the procedural religious democratization with regard to factors that lead to the implementation of religious democracy in indonesia is still problematic. [ 41 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 among the factors are the existence of bias from the model power relations between state and religion (state and religious followers). then, the domino effect of the matter is the legitimacy of the state in enforcing the rules that govern the relationship between religious followers. a. bias from the interests of the stability of power the relation model is not too firm between the sate and religions in indonesia, creating a dilemma for indonesian government. according to abdullahi ahmed an-na’im (2007: 401) the government is faced with the dilemma whether the state should impose the implementation of shari’ah, for example, by using the ‘hands’ of power, or the state should be neutral and merely in charge of safeguarding the rights of citizens to observe their faith. in the context of religious doctrine, does the state have to choose between taking the role of legalizing a religious pragmatism and letting the religious followers with their own dialectics. in fact, the state has always intervened in the religious affairs by serving as a ‘judge’ regarding religious doctrines. it is justified due to the potential instability effects certain religious teachings may have on the community. in such condition, the state usually loses its objectivity and impartiality because of the strong pressure from the majority group. as in the case of ahmadiyah where it was declared heretical by mui decades ago, but only in the last few years has there been a strong pressure on the government to “eradicate” it. so it is natural that the country is considered to be part of this intolerance. if we adopt a purely secular state, the state can freely stay away from the matter; or in a theocratic state, intervention in any religious decisions can be done earlier. in our case, the state tends to keep social stability as the logic of power and justification to get into the realm of religion. the tendency of the state policy on religion in the context of relation model in indonesia will bear the following impact: first, the state will explicitly act on the tendency of the majority’s interests, as a pretext for maintaining stability because of the risk of dealing with the minority groups is smaller than the majority. second, religious groups that have access to those in power will have the privilege of being the party that determines the direction of the state policy in religious affairs. in the context of indonesia, the organizations such as the nahdhatul ulama have access to the center of power so they are more dominant, for example the decision of the start of ramadan and eid. consequently, indonesia’s religious groups will be split into multiple polarization based on interests and ideology based on their religious beliefs. therefore ‘the face of religion’ would also be split into structural and cultural [ 42 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 restrictions. religious institutions whose legitimacy is recognized by the state and is regarded as the representation of various religious institutions in indonesia such as the mui will conform to the representation of the government’s efforts in structuring religion. (alkaf, 2011: 211) in other words, the potential for using religious institutions to ‘extend the hand’ power will be even greater even though the mui itself would not admit to be an extension of the authority. b. weak law enforcement (due to law and system disobedience) based on research conducted by the author in collaboration with hamzien bunsu and ria hayatunnurtaqwa (2012), among the root causes of religious dispute is a question of law disobedience. according to benget silitongga (in hendry et al., 2012: 39) there are two patterns of law disobedience; acting against the legal decisions and ignoring the political decisions. benget cited the cases of dispute in the construction of hkbp philadelphia church in jakarta and gki yasmin in bogor. the supreme court’s decision was to permit the construction of houses of worship, but at the local level, the decision of the court was not implemented by local authorities for various reasons. related to the disregard of political decision, benget took the case of the sealing of a number of worship houses in aceh singkil. the joint decree no. 9 and 8/2006 turned out to be ignored by local political decisions i.e. the agreement of the ulemas and the community leaders. the root of the problems is because the law does not run properly; i other words, the law has lost to the pressure from the political forces and the masses in the region. the study concluded that benget’s argument was correct with regard to all the administrative procedures according to applicable regulations. however, in the case the writer pointed out above (in the previous chapter) the manipulation of legislation is of course different. it is important to find out the cause why they choose to manipulate rather than have a dialog or find an open approach to the issue. to answer this question, researchers saw the criticisms of the joint decree no. 9 and 8/2006 as a relevant subject to discuss. from the beginning there were parties that argued that the joint decree is discriminatory and reflect a misleading logic. the decree is discriminatory because it hurts the minority groups while they also need places of worship protected by the 1945 constitution. it is misleading at least for two reasons namely: first, the local-based proven procedures are often problematic as the dynamics and local interests that are filled with ethnic/religious sentiment in the context of vulnerable local politics on religious issues such as the construction of houses of worship. second, houses of worship are not the same with other secular buildings, so the permit should not be the same because houses of worship are [ 43 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 intended to glorify god and should be protected by the state (silitonga, 2012). according to john cameron (in susan, 2012: 165) behavior of neglect in the legal system (disobedience to system) typically occurs for two reasons: first, it is associated with euphoria of the excessive freedom of interpretation. second, it deals with confidence in the agencies that have the authority in law enforcement or the system itself. to explain latter, james manor (in susan, 2012: 166) asserted in the case of countries that recently began the process of democracy, public distrust of government authority system is due to irregularities within the government such as corruption, sluggish public services and the practice of clientelism. so, why does the legislation fail to produce effective measures especially in the case of religious dispute? this may be due to two factors, namely the existence of the majority group euphoria that has “power” to impose their views and interests on the minority and the government. the government is also ‘powerless’ when dealing with the pressure from the majority. the birth of ‘shariah’ related regional regulation in several parts of indonesia may represent this assumption. for instance, the east java governor regulation no. 55/2012 on conducting religious activities and monitoring of heresy in east java. then, on april 4, 2012 there was a discussion on a draft law regarding the improvement of quality early islamic education in tasikmalaya district. the local government of tasikmalaya also issued regulation no. 12/2009 on issues related to islamic values. it contains values in a community life based on teachings of the islamic religion in tasikmalaya, west java. similarly, the joint decree no. 21/2005 contained a ban on ahmadiyah’s activities in cianjur. (the wahid institute, 2012; mudzakkir, 2011: 13-14). a lack of trust in the government due to its inconsistency regarding the process of law enforcement may also contribute to issues faced by the minority. the law is still regarded as being discriminatory and has yet to provide relevant implications in addressing the existing problems. corruption cases from time to time are becoming even more rampant. as a result, an expression of “protest” from society is the disobedience law issued by the government. problems of (substantial) religious democracy the democratization of religion on the substantial level is closely associated with the root cause of our difficulties in developing a way of thinking, behaving and acting democratically in terms of religious affairs. [ 44 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 a. transforming the institutionalization of religion into religious substantialization as far as violence involving religious followers (especially in indonesia) is concern, religion has always been described as the ‘victim’ by the other more empirical factors, such as political expediency and the seizure of economic resources. religion has been ‘utilized’ merely as a campaign tool and the symbols for political or economic purposes. we can easily hear the average political candidate ’selling’ the issues of religion as a way to gain sympathy from voters (gimmick politics). even in the fields of economy, economic institutions ranging from banks, supermarkets, service and property businesses are also using ‘religious terms’ as the icon (in the form of shariah or islamic products). there is gap between the symbols or the institutionalization of religion and the substantial awareness of religion itself. in other words, pragmatic interests have become a more dominant motive than the religious orientation. as a matter of fact, in the context of indonesian society, religion is vital, serving as a worldview, ideological base (social and political), norm and the living standards of the society. religion inspires a spirit of unity as the islamic union. religion is also a motor, a process of transformation in society, and even an initiator spirit of liberation and resistance (liberation theology), such as the resistance against the invaders. it lives and is really functional for the community of indonesia. in fact, religion is intertwined with various dimensions of human life. without question, when religion loses its substantial dimensions, it is ‘castrated’ or dwarfed of its position and function in society. religion is not viewed as something important; it is seen as merely a complement to understand the society. in science, analysts and researchers consider religion merely a minor analysis unit. it is seen as a mechanical positive instrument, helpless without energy from other areas. therefore, when there is violence involving religion, almost all experts say that the root of the problem is politics and economy because religion is just a symbolic aspect. yet when we are talking about historical religion, religious life flourished in one objective space i.e. indonesia. the country is very divergent in terms of ethnicity, race, religion, culture and customs. the country resembles a mosaic. the history of this nation can hardly be separated from religion, from animism, hinduism, hindu-buddhism, islam and christianity. religion is transferred to the basic constitution of the country, forming the basis of the country although it is neither explicit nor formal. later in the context of cultural values of the community, these values are derived from the beliefs of buddhism hinduism, islam and christianity. therefore, almost all aspects of [ 45 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 people’s lives in this country are somehow related to religious values (beliefs, rituals and religious moral values). an embedded term might be correct here to illustrate a reciprocal relationship between religious values and other institutions. so, there should be efforts to straighten out the understanding that religion, in addition to the symbolic aspect of religious life, serves as a substantial awareness. as a substantial awareness, religious values form the awareness, attitude and behavior as well as the virtue values such as truth, justice and humanity. when the religion of seen as a substantial awareness, further implications (in the scientific context), religion will be one of the major analysis unit that stands equal to other major political, economic and social units. therefore it is important that anyone who wants to understand the phenomenon of radicalization in the indonesian society should also understand its tendency of (formal and substantial) religious models. it is an uncontested logic of the public that political and economic factors serve as the root of social problems. however, it is less comprehensive to understand the phenomenon of radicalism in indonesia only from the two factors mentioned without placing a religious analysis as one of the major analysis units because it is the fact that happening in the indonesian society. b. religious models developed in indonesia (alienation from the culture of indonesian society) the religious model that developed in indonesia is the result of acculturation among religious traditions unique to indonesia and the middle east. in some ways, the mosaic of cultures and customs of the indonesian society really stand out, as seen in the various forms ‘religious tradition of technology’ in indonesia such as tahlilan, religious arts, celebration, etc. but in the last decade, the religious trend of the middle eastern-style seems quite noticeable. “the diversity of religious practices in indonesia is difficult for a limited space to sum up. i would only emphasize that the tradition of tolerance which develops among the various different religious practices that seem to be eroded by a different hegemonic religious discourse in recent times” (an-na’im, 2007: 409). it is seen in terms of the discourse developed, then of religious symbols worn, then the approaches in implementing islam in indonesia. the discourse about the enforcement of islamic shariah as the ideological alternative is so fast. as the state has not yet implemented, the shariah related legislation can be found in the form of local government policies such as shariah regional regulations. symbols are used to highlight the relative model of the middle east such as [ 46 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 clothing, banners, flags, etc. similarly, the approaches in fighting for islam appear to be aggressive (such as the cases of terrorism). such model actually had no precedence in the history of the development of islam, because from the beginning we know that the process of the arrival of islam in indonesia was very “smooth” and peaceful. acculturation between islam and indonesian cultures that were previously influenced by the hindu teachings could run well. therefore, decades after the country became independent, we can see the peaceful way of practicing religion among muslims. the original character of the indonesian culture was noticeable in the conduct of religious muslims, so countries such as the united states and those in europe prefer to make the indonesian humanist muslims model as a prototype of contemporary muslims to be promoted to the outside world as a counter image of the hegemony of the middle eastern-style islamic prototypes that are considered tough, less humanist and against modernity. today, that hope is fading away as a result of the increasingly intolerant, reactive and exclusive face of religion. this is also due to the deviation religion from in indonesia. in abdurrahman wahid’s term, indonesian islam has gone through the process of nativism , or islam that has intertwined with the culture and behavior of the indonesian society. this wave may be due to the strong currents of political islamic dominance, rather than cultural islam. the urge to present islam with indonesian mosaic is because indonesian islam that has been growing substantially in dimensions of democracy. islam itself is substantially and historically proven to conform with democracy. from the beginning, islam has introduced the principles of deliberation (al-syura), equality (al-musawa), justice (al-adalah), freedom (al-hurriyyah), trust (alamanah), peace (al-salam) and tolerance (al-tasamuh), all of which are the principles of democracy. (abdul salam arif, 2004: 11-18). furthermore, in the context of indonesia, we can find a variety of customs and traditions which contain principles of democracy, such as the cultural pattern of the people of aceh, minangkabau, batak, malacca and java nazaruddin sjamsuddin, (1996: 41; mohammad najib et al., 1996: 1437). by showing the pattern of indonesian cultural islam, we can expect to be able to present a more humanist and democratic religious model, not that of the exclusive, radical and antidemocracy. strategies to embody religious democracy in indonesia. it takes the right strategies to encourage the democratization of religion in indonesia, both procedurally and substantially. the key to the embodiment [ 47 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 of procedural religious democracy is a need of constitutional consensus about the relationship between the state and religion. what kind of relation model fits for a country like indonesia, semi-secular model (to avoid secularism), semi-theocratic model (to avoid the authoritarian theocracy?); or should we maintain the current ambiguous model? a semi-secular model allows the state to accommodate and protect religions but it is not involved in any religious decisions, such as one on religious holy days, whether or not a particular religion is a heresy, halal food products, etc. religious institutions, instead, make the decisions without the state’s intervention. the state can intervene only when certain religious groups conduct unlawful acts (crime). a semitheocratic model is a model in which the state not only accommodates and protects religion, but it is also in control of any decision related to religious affairs. a theocratic state needs religion as the basis of the law, while in a semitheocratic state it does not, but the state has the right to intervene in religious decisions. although each model its strengths and weaknesses respectively, the author thinks that a semi-secular model perhaps is better suited for indonesia if we want to encourage the procedural and substantial democratization of religion for the following reasons. first, procedurally the state will not be stuck into partiality in resolving religious issues. second, it will foster maturity among religious followers in solving problems related to religious issues. the trend of inter-subjective thought and consciousness will be dominant when religious groups solve the problem with their own dialectics. disobedience of the law will occur when decisions made by the state are deemed not in line with certain groups’ interests. third, the substance of the spirit of pluralism and multiculturalism is not simply an awareness of the diversity, but a way to manage diversity through dialog, mutual understanding, cohesion and cooperation in dealing with such differences. these are the core values of the substantial democratization of religion. therefore, we need to encourage the idea of (substantial) democracy as a basis for decision making when dealing with religious problems, not merely as a complementary tool which is peripheral in nature. religion should become one of the macro-analysis units, which runs hand in hand with other social, political and economic components so we can really understand religious dimensions of the indonesian society since the process of integration between religion and public life is running well so far. thus, when we put a religious analysis unit aside, it means we become less comprehensive in our analysis. last but not least, in the framework of the revitalization of the democratization of religion, it needs to revive the indonesian religious image which presents [ 48 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the islamic cultural face. the face of cultural islam is intertwined with the cultural characteristics of the pluralist communities of indonesia. it is the antithesis model of the middle eastrn islam which is historically and culturally different from the actual history and culture of indonesia. history proves that indonesian islam has its own mosaic, different from the models found in other countries. being egalitarian, inclusive, peaceful and cosmopolitan is the nature of indonesian islamic culture which has been practiced for centuries and completely different from the character of the middle eastern islam due to dissimilar experience, history and geographical conditions. bibliography an-na’im, abdullahi ahmed. 2007. islam dan negara sekuler : menegosiasikan masa depan syari’ah). mizan. bandung. arif, abd. salam. 2004. politik islam antara aqidah dan kekuasaan negara (dalam a. maftuh abegebriel dkk.). 2004. negara tuhan : the thematic encyclopedia. sr-ins publishing. yogyakarta. alkaf, halid. 2011. quo vadis liberalisme islam indonesia. kompas. jakarta. effendi, tadjuddin noer. 1996. demokrasi dalam persfektif budaya batak. dalam mohammed najib dkk. 1996. demokrasi dalam persfektif budaya nusantara. lkpsm. yogyakarta. hasani, ismail dan bonar tigor naipospos (ed). 2011. negara menyangkat, kondisi kebebasan beragama/berkeyakinan di indonesia 2010. pustaka masyarakat setara. jakarta. ________. 2011. mengatur kehidupan beragama; menjamin kebebasan ? (urgensi kebutuhan ruu jaminan kebebasan beragama/berkeyakinan). pustaka masyarakat setara. jakarta. horowitz, donald l., demokrasi pada masyarakat majemuk. dalam: larry diamond dan marc f. plattner (ed), 1998, nasionalisme, konflik etnik, dan demokrasi (terjemahan), penerbit itb, bandung. hendry ar, eka. 2009. sosiologi konflik. stain press didukung oleh caireu stain pontianak, wmc semarang dan nuffic belanda. pontianak. hendry ar, eka (at all). 2013. peran forum kerukunan ummat beragama (fkub) dalam penyelesaian sengketa pendirian rumah ibadah (studi terhadap fkub kota pontianak). laporan penelitian kompetitif stain pontianak tahun 2012. (tidak diterbitkan). stain pontianak. mann, michael. 2005. the dark side of democracy (explaining ethnic cleansing). cambridge university press. los angeles (usa). mudzakir, amin. minoritasisasi ahamdiyah di indonesia. 2001. jurnal mas[ 49 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 yarakat indonesia majalah ilmu-ilmu sosial indonesia. edisi xxxvii. no. 2. 2011. lipi. jakarta. nasution, adnan buyung. 2011. demokrasi konstitusional. kompas gramedia. jakarta. runciman, david. 2012. politik muka dua : topeng kekuasaan dari hobbes hingga orwell. pustaka pelajar. yogyakarta. susan, novri. 2012. negara gagal mengelola konflik: demokrasi dan tata kelola konflik di indonesia. kopi dan pustaka pelajar. yogyakarta. the wahid institute. 2012. ringkasan eksekutif laporan akhir tahun kebebasan beragama dan intoleransi. the setara institute. 2012. presiden tanpa prakarsa (kondisi kebebasan beragama/berkeyakinan di indonesia, 17 desember 2012) internet abdel salam, el fatih a.,. kerangka teoritis penyelesaian konflik. diakses dari: http://www.scripps.ohiou.edu (selasa, 21 okt 2008). hutomo, nandro. 2010. demokrasi prosedural dalam polemik keistimewaan diy 2010. http://iesdepedia.com/blog/2013/01/15/demokrasi-prosedural-teori-2/. (selasa, 15 mei 2013 [ 50 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 [ 151 ] al -albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 soekarno’s thought on islamic education published in jogyakarta, samudra biru publisher, 2016 by syamsul kurniawan, et al reviewed by moch. riza fahmi pontianak state institute of islamic studies sukarno as the founding father of the republic of indonesia had the intellect, charisma and verbal abilities to enchant millions of indonesians when delivering a speech. his ability of a great speech made indonesians fall in love with the man who was born in surabaya. certainly not easy to make millions of people fall in love with the figure of soekarno if he himself did not have the intelligence, skills and strong charisma. sukarno’s ideas, the history of his life to his personal life are still often described as if his figure displays an aura of attraction for writers and researchers to uncover the background of his life. many books tell the life of sukarno, his thought and people around him such as cindy adams (1982) entitled bung karno the speaker for the people of indonesia, soedjiato et al (2001) bung karno and islamic discourse, badri yatim (1999) soekarno; islam and nationalism, maslahul falah (2003) islam à la soekarno, traces of indonesian liberal islamic thought and so forth. syamsul kurniawan’s work, in this review, actually has different characteristics from most books on soekarno. this book focuses and explains soekarno ideas about islam in indonesia and the islamic education which according to the author are synonymous with development of the ummah and nation together with his vision of reform. for soekarno realized that without reform, the development of the people and nation which he aspired will only be to no avail. this book also quotes soekarno fully about his ideas and thoughts on islamic education that are rarely written in other books on soekarno. as written by syamsul kurniawan in this book, soekarno viewed the importance of students learning without fear and distress. they can learn to be happy, full of joy. according soekarno democratic development of islamic education should start from the teacher. teachers must be the role models for their students. teachers must set good examples in attitude and action. sukarno also suggested that muslims can take advantage of a common approach to science in understanding the teachings of islam. sukarno said that “not only should we return to the quran and hadith but we should return [ 152 ] al-albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 to them to drive the vehicle of common knowledge”. that is why soekarno criticized the educational model developed a traditional boarding school. according to him, the traditional ways of providing education in schools are the ancient ways and not in keeping with the spirit of times, because it only focuses on the teaching system that tends to separate the religious aspects from aspects of general knowledge. the purpose of islamic education according to soekarno can be understood from the apostolate of prophet muhammad. as we know that the apostolate of prophet muhammad is divided into two periods, namely the mecca period and the medina. in the period when prophet muhammad was in mecca, his main mission is to form men of faith, spirit of monotheism and moral or noble character. with the provision of this solid foundation that is the foundation of faith finally prophet muhammad was able to transform the social change of medina into a civilized city and developed a strong islamic community. islamic education is one of soekarno’s concerns. he argued that it can be used as a means of transformation for muslims. for sukarno, islamic education will sharpen the mind and strengthen the intellect, does not separate between religion and science, does not blindly understand religious teachings and provides access to education for women. soekarno’s thought on islamic education is synonymous with the development of the people and nation in synergy with his vision of reform. he repeatedly called on muslims in indonesia to get rid of the chain and not overshadowed by the nostalgia for the glory of islam in the past through this book, we learn a lot about the discourse of islamic education which is currently developing today as the importance of intellectual freedom, integration between religious and general knowledge, and access to education for girls turned out to have been discussed by sukarno in the 1920s. in fact, soekarno also wrote extensively about islam like other islamic figures in the country such as natsir, buya hamka, etc. in fact we should not hesitate to call that sukarno was a reformist figure of islam in indonesia. [ 115 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 heterogeneous islam as a cultural identity of multicultural communities in the suburbs of pontianak yusriadi pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: yusriadi.ebong@gmail.com imron muttaqin pontianak state institute of islamic studies email: imron.muttaqin@gmail.com abstract this article discusses the variant of islam that lives in a multicultural society in the sungai ambawang area in the suburbs of pontianak city, west kalimantan. in the javanese, bugis, malay and madurese communities, islam has served as an important element in the formation of their cultural identity, thus causing them to be synonymous with the islamic community. islamic elements that are used and have become part of the culture of society include the choice of islamic dates such as the hijri month in determining the time of cultural activities, the use of al-fitihah and several other verses from the qur’an as well as shalawat and prayer, the use of mosques as a center of cultural activities and the involvement of islamic religious leaders in traditional ceremonies. the use of these elements has become a hallmark of the community culture and its form has been preserved until today. keywords: nusantara islam, culture, identity, multiculture, sungai ambawang introduction the reaction of the nahdliyin to mama dedeh who said “nusantara islam” has to be crossed out because the term does not exist in islam, indicates a problem in understanding islam in the muslim community in indonesia (nu online, 2018: 1). at least, the preachers still need to figure out how to explain islam to various groups. from an academic point of view this shows the scholars need to find out the ways to overcoming the problem of failing to understand socioanthropological facts. scientists have shown that the interaction between islam and local communities in a particular space presents the face of islam in a different society. abudin nata, ed. (2010) has shown that islam must undergo a process of touch with the social environment1, which then presents 1 see barth (2001) to see how the environment affects a community. one community [ 116 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 a different form of islam from one place to another. azyumardi azra (2015) argued that islam in indonesia has a distinctive form of display which he called ‘flowery islam’. the forms of behavior and religious affinity have led the community to have its own characteristics. in indonesia, we know of groups such as nahdlatul ulama, muhammadiyah, jamaah tabligh. on the other hand, the academic world has the terms of traditional and modern islam, or cultural islam, syncretic islam, and nusantara islam, which has been used for more than 10 decades. this paper presents an overview of islam that comes with local nuances in the community. this paper seeks to see the culture of the islamic community that lives among multicultural communities. the data were taken from a multicultural community in sungai ambawang, the suburb of pontianak, and from some additional literature on the community in his area. islam and west kalimantan culture studies on islam and culture in the community in west kalimantan were conducted by yusriadi and hermansyah (2003). this study described the form of malay people’s belief in supernatural power. islam practiced by the society is referred to as syncretic islam and part of islamization. based on these studies, the term islamization of science emerged which describes the compromise of two belief systems as a way for the spread of islam. similar descriptions are also presented in hermansyah (2004, 2007, and 2010). faisal amin (2014) reinforced this conclusion. he used the term ‘hybrid’ to indicate the existence of one form of islam that grew out of a mixture of native and local islam in the community in kapuas hulu. this study found local elements which were mixed in people’s beliefs when they worshiped. yusriadi (2014a) also observed islamic identity in the malay community in the upper reaches of the sambas river. this research stated that islamic identity is used by the people to confirm their identity as malay. islam has significantly affected their culture, such as art and marriage. islam is part of the cultural identity of society. there are also other studies conducted in kartiasa, sambas, and temuyuk, kapuas hulu (zainuddin isman, 2003). similarities and differences in malay culture in these two places are influenced by islamic elements. islam is the core of malay culture here. while the difference lies in the paradigm of society in looking at something good or bad for them; the view that a good and valuable culture underlies the choice to maintain a certain cultural form in society (muttaqien, 2016) in addition, there is a study by prasojo (2011) regarding that spreads in different spaces will gradually show a different identity. [ 117 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 islam that grows and gives nuances to the dayak kebahan people in melawi. islam is a differentiator in these rural communities. the presence of religion, in this case islam, in people’s lives certainly has created its own pattern. a well-known study by clifford geertz (1968; 1997) among others, describes how the social level of javanese society influences the form of islam. social factors, especially occupations greatly influence the form of religious practice in society. for example, farmers tend to be grouped in the abangan islamic group, while employees belong to priyai islam. these factors --work and social class-were also discussed in robertson at.al (1997). robertson elaborated the political issues that influenced the form of religious community. although religion and politics are two different things, in practice, religion is often part of political life, and it affects other life’s aspects. political policies taken, especially relating to the field of religious life, will form or bring certain effects on the development of a religion and the behavior of its adherents. abudin nata at.al (2010) mentioned a form of cultural islam in society, to describe the form of acceptance of the religion. although it is recognized that it is not easy to distinguish such religious typologies, because they are layered with other typologies, the characteristics of this adherent of cultural islam are to translate religious practices in a local form. azyumardi azra (2015) used the term “flowery islam” to describe the dynamics of religious practice in society. the practice of religion in one community when compared with another community often shows “differences” or distinctions, ranging from ‘ritual’ of tahlilan, nyekar or tomb pilgrimage, walimatus-safar (walimatul haj/ umrah), walimatul khitan, tasyakuran, to four monthly or seven monthly pregnancies, etc. all of these forms enrich the face of islam. from an identity perspective, the forms of religious rituals displayed by the muslim community above can be used as a differentiating aspect between one community and another. the identity used as a form of group markers is constructed from various aspects. there are aspects of language, art, food, tradition, ethnicity and religious knowledge (shamsul a. baharuddin, 2001, abdur rahman, 1999). these characteristics are maintained and developed so as to represent as the current form, in order to remain relevant as a characteristic of a cultural community. there is training, education, promotion or advertising, carried out by a group of people for the purpose of maintaining and strengthening that identity (shamsul a. baharuddin, 2001). multicultural residents in ambawang sungai ambawang is one of the residential areas located on the suburb of pontianak city. it is located the east, in the kubu raya district. the population [ 118 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 in sungai ambawang consists of javanese, malay, bugis, madura, ahe or kanayatn, and people of chinese descent. in terms of religion, most javanese, malays, bugis, madurese, and a small number of kanayatn and chinese, are muslim. meanwhile, kanayatn and chinese, as well as a few javanese, are mostly catholic, protestant, hindu and buddhist. javanese are a fairly dominant group in the sungai ambawang region. in fact there is a village called jawa tengah (central java). regarding the jawa tengah village in sungai ambawang, it was mentioned in lontaan (1975: 23) who visited this village in the 1960s. the javanese lived in the sungai ambawang area because they were given land from the sultan of pontianak in the 1950s (turiman as quoted by yusriadi, 2014; 2014b). however, some reported that they lived in sungai ambawang and formed their own villages through asettlement process, such as transmigration. in addition to the javanese, there are madurese people. they have lived in the sungai ambawang area for a long time. lontaan (1975) said the madurese have been around since the 1960s. in the 1990s people affected by the riots in sanggau ledo and sambas chose to live in this region. one of the ex-refugee villages of the sambas riot is durian village which is located not far from jawa tengah village (yusriadi at.al, 2009). the malays are also found in the area around sungai ambawang (lontaan, 1975). however, identification for them is often disguised by bugis or javanese identity. bugis and javanese who do not strictly implement traditional customs, are often referred to or refer to themselves as malays. it is also the case with the banjar people. intermarriages between muslim communities who later in the family environment uses the malay language in communication, has identity implications. they also became malays2. the bugis, although in the context of their culture are often synonymous with malays, however, can still be identified by their own ethnicity. lontaan (1975) described the existence of the bugis community there. veth (2012) also implicitly mentioned the existence of bugis people who cultivate coconut in the north-eastern region of pontianak city. some bugis people who live here are relocated from various regions: sungai kakap, teluk pakedai, and pontianak. the bugis are concentrated on the banks of the ambawang river or in small trenches as tributaries of ambawang, as can be seen in the parit aim or parit seribut areas. the bugis people settled along the small trenches 2 there are two examples for this situation. the secretary of the malay youth in ambawang, solihin, for example, actually has bugis parents. while the chairman of the malay youth, edi hasbi, has javanese parents. the dual ethnic identity of the malay in sungai ambawang has made ethnic identification a little complex and needs a long explanation. however, for the sake of this research, self-identification (claiming to be a certain ethnic group) is used. [ 119 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 of the ambawang river. since they are concentrated and living not too far from the original area –it takes no more than a day of river travel-it is easy for them to maintain or hold traditional and cultural activities. the existence of the ahe or dayak people as a common name in sungai ambawang is also mentioned in veth (2012: 572). quoting van lijnden n.t., veth mentioned the move of dayaks from mempawah to the sungai ambawang area. so is the chinese. they are spread around kuala ambawang, the area around the ambawang bridge. on the other hand, in the newly built housing in 2010, there were quite a lot of chinese people, for example, those living in permata trans kalimantan housing complex. outside the area, for example around the ali anyang monument to kampung jawa tengah, the chinese were hardly found. this situation is indeed due to the fact that chinese people are relatively new to this area3. practicing tradition in the community in the sungai ambawang region is quite strict. every day or in a series of life cycles, the activity is carried out. this cultural activity is part of the identity of the groups. ethnic rivalry in sociopolitical relations at the district and provincial levels of west kalimantan, has to an extent affected this situation. each competes to maintain its identity. in addition, the concentration of residential areas based on ethnicity also causes cultural activities to take place continuously. culture of the people in ambawang there is a tradition of “naik ayon” in the malay-bugis community in ambawang when welcoming the birth of a child. the naik ayon is held on the 14th, 21st or 40th day of birth. but most of the ambawang people chose the 40th day, on the grounds that they could save some money and the mother is quite well to take part in the ritual. the ritual for the mother is called baso lantai or also called cuci darah. this 40th day is the last massage for the mother, as well as the puerperal bath. this process is carried out by a shaman. this 40-day determination is in line with the concept of nifas in islam (rasyid, 2001). in this event, the shaman plays an important role. the shaman leads the procession of the activity, by sprinkling fresh flour water on the chicken while reading the shalawat. then the chicken feet are rubbed against the floor where the mother gives birth on. if she did not give birth at home then the process of rubbing chicken feet can be done anywhere, but still in the mother’s and baby’s bedroom. after the procession was finished, it is followed by a congratulatory prayer read by one of the religious leaders. 3 in enthoven (1905) there is absolutely no mention of chinese in the ambawang area. the chinese at that time lived around pontianak, sungai kakap and kubu. [ 120 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 this procession can only be held with one person or can also be witnessed by many people depending on food preparation from the host. after a new congratulatory prayer, there is a sermon which is usually attended by many people. when it is read aloud, parents can cut their child’s hair with scissors, if desired. people who cut their hair are selected from the elder (religious leaders, community leaders or the child’s close relatives) who are present in the event. in the month of safar, the 7th month of the islamic calendar, there is a buang-buang ritual. buang-buang is a cultural activity related to throwing things into the river. the real intention is to make offerings in the river for supernatural beings who lives in the vicinity in order to get permission for the activities to be carried out4. the properties needed for the procession are: bereteh, yellow rice, beeswax, raw chicken eggs, bugis oil (bauk oil), betel leaves, areca nut, betel lime, and gambier. in this buang-buang activity, chicken eggs are also used. the eggs are splashed with a small amount of oil. after that, they are discarded simultaneously while saying: bismillahirrahmanirrahim, assalamualaikum nabi haidir (then the names of the descendants who perform the ritual). after buang-buang, the white plate where the items are to be wasted were placed is filled with water and rubbed onto the face of the person who holds the event. in the ritual of naik ayon then the face of the father, mother and baby are rubbed. in a bridal event, the face of the bride is rubbed, and in a circumcision event, the person to be circumcised is rubbed. this ritual is performed by a village shaman and a traditional midwife. maulid is one of the important activities in the community here. in the month of maulid, the people of various ethnicities welcom the birthday of prophet muhammad with various events. also in the month of maulid, the birthday of prophet muhammad is celebrated on a large scale in the madurese community, in their homes and mosques. cooking and eating together are packed with reading and prayer. the preparations have been made several days before the birthday of the prophet. in addition, the madurese also make a special speech during the hajj month. like the events of other months, this activity is carried out at home and also in the mosque or musalla. the same can be seen in the month of ramadan. in this month, muslims are required to fast. in the javanese community there is a medunan event, which is a salvation program in their homes to welcome the coming of the holy month of ramadan. in this activity they invite neighbors, for one month, alternately. when fasting takes place the atmosphere in the community, day and night 4 the buang-buang procession is still carried out by the ambawang community, among others, in the events of wedding, naik ayon, and circumcision. [ 121 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 looks lively. pasar juadah appears along the way presenting various cakes or snacks to break the fast. some snacks are traditional foods that occasionally appear. breaking fast together is carried out between families, arisan groups, colleagues, and even communities. in particular, before breaking the fast and eid, bamboo cannons and carbide cannons are sounded, making the space boom. ramadan is an important month in the madurese culture. the madurese hold selekoran on the 21st night of ramadan. before evening, residents prepare food and distribute it to their relatives and closest neighbors. generally the food they cook is rice and side dishes, such as chicken and eggs. women also prepare food to be taken to the mosque for the night because in the evening after the tarawih prayer, people gather to read prayers and eat together. all food brought here will be put in the middle and prayer will be read first. two days after this, a special event called skemi’an will be held. on the evening of this day, they prepare sticky rice and eat together at the mosque. they also deliver the food to the nearest neighbors. usually when delivering sticky rice to a neighbor’s house, the plates they use will be replaced with new ones or filled with sticky rice. they return each other’s favor. after that, in the eid-ul-fitr festivities, the madurese people welcome it with joy. like other communities, lebaran (telesan) is celebrated several days. the first eid is called telesan kupa’, when each family prepares ketupat and other types of food for the relatives who come to visit. after that the next eid day is filled with visits between neighbors, relarives and colleagues.muslims of various ethnic groups also give color to the hajj month. especially in the madurese community, the eid of hajj is filled with a ter-ater tradition. in bugis and malay society, cakes and snacks are served. circumcision is the cutting off of the foreskin of a young boy/man’s genital which is an islamic tradition following what abraham did. circumcision with traditional processions is performed on boys. circumcision on boys is generally filled with thanksgiving events, both before and after the event. before the circumcision is carried out, both parents must prepare a traditional ceremony which aims to make the child in the circumcision process easier and not disturbed by ‘evil spirits’. the item that must be prepared is yellow cloth in the form of a sarong. people believe that if they do not use yellow cloth, they may have difficulties and long periods of healing. before the event is held, there is a buang-buang procession with the aim that the boy being circumcised will not be disturbed by the unseen beings. in the month of safar, the bugis-malay people in ambawang hold a makan kampong (village meal ritual). this event is associated with the belief that in [ 122 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the month of safar there are a lot of major disasters. therefore, according to some people, if eating the village is not implemented in the coming season, there will be a disaster. for example, some people may drown in the river). the food that must be prepared is roasted chicken, yellow sticky rice and boiled eggs. in this procession, villagers are also involved in making and carrying the ketupat tolak bala (sticky rice wrapped in coconut leaves for chasing the evil away). ketupat is brought by each family on wednesday morning, collected by a kind of committee5 and after that it is served at the venue. people who come to the even sit facing each other, and in the middle they serve a dish. in addition to carrying ketupat with them, villagers also prepare seven-color threads, which are used as bracelets. the 7-color threads are spun and then cut into short pieces of about 20 cm, enough for a bracelet. bracelets from these threads are distributed to those who come at the time of the prayer reading. those who wear the bracelet are believed to be not disturbed by evil spirits, especially those traveling on the landak river. the prayer is read on a bridge in the downstream river. the event is led by a village shaman who is also a muslim religious leader here. the qur’an verses, surat alfatihah, certain verses and shalawat are read by the village shaman to “heal” people. this is part of the village medical treatment. if there are children who are sick, they will be brought to the shaman. the shaman here is called abah who gives out medicine in the form of water which has been read out with prayers. the same thing is found in the madurese community. recitation is the entrance for seven monthly activities. for the first child the tradition must have been carried out by most madurese people. the procession starts by inviting the men or neighbors to the recitation activities and reading the prayer at home. after the recitation, a procession is performed to bathe both the prospective father and mother led by the shaman or those who understand the ritual. another hijri month celebrated by madurese is the month of muharram. they hold recitals or shalawat in mosques and invite religious teachers to lecture. they also make muharam porridge which is eaten at home and partly delivered to neighbors. this muharam porridge consists of white rice mixed with sweet potatoes, such as cassava and sweet potatoes and then mixed with sweet corn. muharram is also celebrated by the javanese. on the first day of suro, the javanese people here gather in one place, usually in the field or village hall. they come in the afternoon after ashr prayer time, carrying rice with them complete with side dishes wrapped in banana leaves. all rice is collected or 5 actually it is not necessarily a formal committee, because the activity preparation meeting and the formation of the formal structure of the organizers has never been done. so, those who play such roles as food collectors are actually due to their own initiative. [ 123 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 lined up and then recited by local religious leaders. this ritual is held at night after maghrib prayer. they also perform fasting for one day and do not sleep for a day and a night. during that no-sleep period, they pray and read the qur’an. islam in the culture of the multicultural people in ambawang as mentioned before, several ethnic groups in sungai ambawang are muslim. the religion is an important part of the culture they practice. religion is inseparable part of the culture of some communities here. this assumption is based on the fact that in society, the timing of various cultural activities is based on the islamic calendar. beruah in the javanese community in ambawang is carried out after maghrib prayer. the selekoran event for the madurese community is carried out after tarawih prayer. meanwhile, other hijri months that are celebrated in the cultural activities of the people in ambawang include the months of muharram, sya’ban, maulid, etc. for example, there is the celebration of the forst day of suro which is held in the month of muharram. celebration of sya’benan in the month of sya’ban. the activities of moliten or maulidan among madurese are carried out in the month of maulid. maulid is the birth month of the prophet muhammad, namely in the month of rabiul awal, the madurese people welcom this momentum with sermon, prayer and meals together. the activities of the selekoran among the madurese are based on the islamic calendar, namely ramadan. this activity is held on the 21st of ramadan. it also applies to the skemi’an activity, which falls on the 25th night of the ramadan. on that night, people eat black and white sticky rice. the determination of the beruah in the javanese society is based on islamic calendar, too, namely in the month of ramadan. beruah is held at the beginning of ramadan to welcome the arrival of fasting. therefore, among javanese, the beruah event is also called selamatan puasa (ritual for welcoming the fasting month) or selamatan ruahan. the preparation of muharam porridge is also based on islamic calendar, namely the month of muharram. this porridge is made in muharram, but the date or day is flexible. the months of rajab and sya’ban also serve as a marker for the time of the implementation of earth charity among the javanese people. in the life cycle of multicultural communities in sungai ambawang, it is clear that islam is an important part of their culture. for example, the qur’an is read on the 7th anniversary of pregnancy among madurese. at that moment, they read surah yusuf and maryam. certain verses in the qur’an are also [ 124 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 used to treat sick people by the madurese and javanese here. these verses are recited onto a glass of water which is then drunk or applied to the body part of the sick person. prayers in arabic are materials that are also used in the culture of the people in sungai ambawang. for example, the recitation of a prayer after a woman gives birth in the baso lantai event. the prayer is also recited during the village meal ritual which is held on a bridge in the lower part of the river at parit aim i, sungai ambawang. likewise, at the time of treatment, the village shaman recites a prayer onto the water that is drunk or rubbed on a particular part of the patient. in addition, prayers are also recited at the selekoran event. prayers are read when mosque worshipers had gathered around the food delivered by women. prayers are also recited at the time of conducting maulidan activities, at the selekoran, and at the sedekah bumi event. shalawatan, an expression of praise for prophet muhammad is used in several cultural activities in communities in sungai ambawang. shalawat is recited in the seventh month bathing event for pregnant women in the madurese community. before bathing the prospective father and mother, shalawat is always recited first. shalawat is also used to conclude spells in healing by village shamans among the madurese. in fact, according to one informant in almost all activities involving many people, a prayer is always conluded with shalawat. this shalawat serves as the closing part of the whole series of activities, as well as being a marker for the host and invitation to part. if shalawat is already recited, it means that the guest may leave the invitation assembly. shalawat is also recited during the procession of a groom headed for the bride’s wedding home in the javanese customs. this shalawat is recited with tambourine playing so it is often part of entertainment in this activity. apart from prophet muhammad, prophet khaidir, a prophet mentioned in the qur’an, is also involved in traditional events in ambawang. in the event of buang-buang, for example, when dissolving a number of traditional properties into the water, it is recited as follows:”bismillahir rahmanir rahim. assalamualaikum nabi khaidir.” serakal or sometimes called srakal and srokal is the name referred to in one part of the contents of the book al-barzanji written by ja’far bin hasan al-barzanji6. as seen in the community in sungai 6 the book barzanji which is well-known for the name “mawlid al-barzanji”, is the most popular and most widespread mawlid book spread throughout the arab and islamic countries, both in the east and in the west. many people memorize it and read it in religious social activities. the development of barzanji recital in west kalimantan has been more or less influenced by ulama in the pontianak sultanate, uthman al-puntiani bin syihab al-din. he was known as a student of muhammad shalih, brother of ‘abdallah al-zawawi, the mufti of pontianak in 1891, and ‘uthman also translated al-barzanji’s mawlid. (van bruinessen, 1998). the contents of the book al-barzanji is summary of sirah nabawiyyah which includes the story of birth, apostolate, migration, morals, war and the death of the prophet. because it originates from the islamic world, containing praise for the messenger of [ 125 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 ambawang, islamic poetry is chosen as part of recitation in children’s haircut ritual. serakal is recited after prayer. places of worship such as mosques have long been known as symbols of a malay community (yusriadi, 2014). in sungai ambawang the same conditions are also common. the mosque is also a cultural identity of the people there. in some areas of this place, the mosque serves as the center of activities. for example, activities in the madurese community are mostly carried out at the mosque. the muharram celebration is also held at the mosque by inviting preachers. so are the maulid activities, in addition to being held from house to house, they are also held collectively at the mosque. there are sermons and meals during the activity. almost all customary events, as reported by the informant, involve religious officials or people who understand about islam. muslim leaders have the task of reciting prayers on the baso lantai event. religious leaders are also involved in reciting prayers during the first day of suro celebration in the javanese community. prayers are recited for food that has been collected. their involvement in cultural activities has these activities rich with islamic characteristics. presumably, this is what causes the people in the sungai ambawang region, the malay tribes, bugis, javanese and madurese, to be synonymous with islam. if you mention the names of ethnic malays, bugis, javanese and madurese, then what comes to mind is a muslim ethnic groups. the involvement of the leader, clothing, place, time, or the use of certain recitation from the qur’an and prayers in arabic, is a sign that the islamic element is an ethnic identity in sungai ambawang. it gives the same nuances, namely the reflection of islam in people’s lives, as well as being a distinct identity in identifying the form of “islam” in the community here, while at the same time showing that local islam is indeed colorful (abudin nata, 2010). islam that is practiced and demonstrated by the people in sungai ambawang becomes flowery, as is the characteristics of islam in the archipelago in general (azyumardi azra, 2015). what happened in the community shows that there is an effort to maintain or strengthen identity. there are several ways that people usually do to maintain their identity, including: using it often, there is a learning process, and there are activities for the creation of psychological images (abdur rahman, 1999). the use of islamic elements in the culture of the people in sungai ambawang shows that identity will continue to be maintained. the indications include routine activities; that is once a year for certain activities. in fact, to keep the allah, written in arabic, this sermon is considered a type of islamic poetry. by the people in ambawang and various places in the indonesian archipelago, reciting this poem is an important part of the prayer asking for a child’s safety ritual. [ 126 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 routine going, sometimes included with the myth7. because these activities are carried out consistently, islamic traditions can continue to be maintained. certain people involved in the activity will remember how the prayer should be recited. they will also pass it down to the next generation. in certain activities, it appears that there are indeed learning activities. the next generation learns from the previous. for example, in reading the qur’an, almost every place there is a qur’an study group. it is also the case with islamic art such as hadrah and serakal. these activities are passed on by conducting joint exercises that seemed semi-formal. in addition, such preservation also occurs because there are pragmatic reasons for imaging. in terms of actors, as mentioned in shamsul a. baharuddin (2001), there is always an element of the interests of the actor to maintain a cultural form. the performance of a form of culture will be a stage to appear in public. this stage will give a good image, because from the social perspective, there are positive implications for the actor. religious leaders, for example, gain more respect and appreciation than other citizens in the activity. their sacred role will make them an important person. in addition, this position will have an impact on one’s image in everyday life. a ceremony leader, including a shaman and prayer reciter, is an important person in the community. in another sense, they are not ordinary people and therefore they must be treated as important and respected people. therefore, it is natural that later on from a certain point of view, the community would recognize the necessity to preserve a form of culture. if certain cultures are not preserved, then there will be unwanted impact on their life. those who are supposed to carry out certain cultural or customary activities but do not do it will encounter misfortune. conclusion the communities in sungai ambawang, kubu raya, are made up of various ethnic groups. there are ethnic malay, bugis, javanese, madurese, and kanayatn or ahe and chinese. they can easily be found in the social space of life in sungai ambawang. they organize cultural activities for certain moments as part of their life cycle. these ethnic groups practice various forms of culture. the malay, bugis, javanese, madurese, have many forms of culture that reflect the islamic elements or language. the islamic elements, among others, are the time selected to hold events in the hijri calendar, the use of verses or words from the qur’an, prayers in arabic, shalawat and islamic poetry, activities in mosques, and the involvement of islamic figures in these activities. the use 7 the myth, among others, “if people do not carry out these activities, they will have disasters”, “if someone does not carry it out, they will be criticized maliciously”, etc.. [ 127 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 of islamic elements is maintained in the community in sungai ambawang, through educational activities and the creation of impressions. the image generated and the implications of some cultural activities strengthen the islamic identity. the use of islamic elements in culture has led to a mix of cultures, which has implications for the face of the local culture of each ethnic group. in the end, as seen today, the face of islam is flowery and colorful. that is a reflection of local people’s acceptance of islam. that is part of the form of islam that lives in the middle of the nusantara society, which is identified as the nusantara islam. bibliography alexander, a. k. (2005). salako or badamea. wiesbaden: harrassowitz. alloy, s. at.al. (2008). mozaik dayak, keberagaman sbsuku dan bahasa dsayak di kalimantan barat. pontianak: institut dayakologi. amin, f. (2013). kitab berladang. pontianak: iain pontianak press. azra, a. (2015). islam nusantara. in resonansi of republika. 18 juni 2015. baharuddin, s. a. (2001). identiti dan pembentukan identitas. peper presented at seminar dayak islam di kalimantan barat, stain pontianak mabm-kb. barth, f. (1988). kelompok-kelompok etnik dan batasannya. translated by nining soesilo. jakarta: ui-press. darsani, h. (2014). edi berjanji lestarikan budata melayu di kubu raya. tribune pontianak, sabtu, 13 september 2014. enthoven, jk. (1905). borneo’s wester-afdeeling. translated by yeri. pontianak: institut daytakologi. geertz, c. (1960). agama di jawa: konflik dan integrasi. translated into indonesian. yogyakarta: komunitas bambu. hermansyah. (2009). ilmu ghaib di kalimantan barat. jakarta: pt gramedia. -------. (2004). magi ulu kapuas: kajian atas ilmu masyarakat melayu embau. unpublished thesis. iain walisongo semarang. isman, z. (2003). kajian perubahan terhadap orang melayu pesisir dan pedalaman. unpublished thesis. institut alam dan tamadun melayu (atma) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), bangi. lontaan, j.u. 1975. sejarah – hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan – [ 128 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 barat. pontianak: pemda tingkat i kalbar. mesthrie, r. & tabouret-keller, a. (2001). identity and language. in mesthrie, r. concise encyclopedia of sociolinguistics. p. 165-168. amsterdam: elsevier. muttaqien, i. (2014). nilai inti (core values) masyarakat meruhum di pulau lemukutan. jurnal khatulistiwa. vol 4. no. 2. hal: 139-147. nata, a. at.al (2010). islam dan budaya. jakarta: kalam ilmu. nu online. (2018). tanggapi mamah dedeh, pbnu: masih banyak orang salah paham islam nusantara. www.nu.or.id. retrieved on wed, 04 july 2018. purba, j. at.al. (2009). sejarah dan perkembangan budaya melayu di kalimantan. jakarta: ditjen sejarah dan kebudayaan, kemendikbud ri. prasojo, z.h. (2011). indigenous community identity within muslim societies in indonesia: a study of katab kebahan dayak in west borneo. in oxford journal of islamic studies. vol. 22. no. 1., p. 50-65. rahman, a. (1999). identiti dan pembentukan identiti. akademika. 55: i-xii. robertson, r. at.al. (1997). agama dalam analisis dan interpretasi sosiologi. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. robertson, r. at.al (1997). agama dalam analisis dan interpretasi sosiologi. translated into indonesian. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. riwut, t. (1979). kalimantan membangun. palangkaraya: pemda. van bruinessen, m. (1998). tarekat naqsyabandiyah di indonesia; survei historis, geografis dan sosiologis. bandung: penerbit mizan. veth, p.j. (2012). borneo bagian barat, geografis, statistis, historis, jilid 2. terjemahan p. yeri, ofm.cap. pontianak: institut dayakologi. yusriadi, at.al (2009). menunggu di tanah harapan, catatan dari kampung eks pengungsi sambas. pontianak: stain pontianak press – malay corner. yusriadi, (2014). sejarah dan perkembangan orang melayu di riam panjang, kalimantan barat. jurnal khatulistiwa, vo. 4 no 2. p. 148-168. --------, (2014a). identitas orang melayu di hulu sungai sambas. unpublished research report. --------, (2014b). identitas budaya orang bakumpai. pontianak: stain pontianak – bpnb pontianak. [ 129 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 --------, (2005). bahasa dan identitas di riam panjang, kalimantan barat, indonesia. ph.d thesis. institut alam dan tamadun melayu (atma) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), bangi. yusriadi & hermansyah. (2003). orang embau. potret masyarakat pedalaman kalimantan. pontianak: stain pontianak press. [ 130 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 [ 141 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 tracking the traces of god in science: islamic tafsir on science published in bandung by crcs ugm and mizan by mehdi golshani reviewed by syamsul kurniawan pontianak state institute of islamic studies to muslims, the qur’an should serve as the model of thinking. it is a model which should become the paradigm. the advancement of science based on the paradigm of the qur’an will obviously enrich science. this paradigm will subsequently trigger the emergence of alternative science. we understand that normative premises of the qur’an can be formulated into empirical and rational theories. the transcendental structure of the qur’an is an idea which is normative and philosophical in nature, and it can be formulated into a theoretical paradigm, and provide a framework for the development of empirical and rational science, based on the pragmatic needs of humans as the vicegerent on earth. kuntowijoyo (2006) argued that the development of theories of islamic science is intended for the welfare of the muslims. however, in the path of the history of muslims, there is a dichotomy between religion and science, which prompt an initiative to integrate both. to date, the dichotomy is a current discourse. some people argued that religion and science are two different categories, each has a different area of study and is oriented to different things. some said the opposite, both religion and science are integrated; two similar activities and both should not be separated, because both can complement each other and can be used for human interests. the separation between religion and science is not something new, because it occurred in late medieval times especially when islam began to decline. in fact, the dichotomy between religion and science was actually never found in the early history of the muslims or the classical period of islam. as we understand from the first paragraph received by prophet muhammad, i.e. al’alaq (96): 1-5 which begins with a verse “iqra” , and in line with the mission of prophet muhammad to eradicate ignorance and mission to improve morality. it is also mentioned in surah al-mujadilah (58): 11, science and scientists have a high degree, and are parallel to the degree of the believers. as a guideline for muslims, the qur’an strengthens integrative relationship between religion and science. the dichotomous standpoint in the history of muslims has in fact led to the [ 142 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 decline of islamic scientists in both the development of scientific insights and the resolution of various problems with multidimensional approach. this is the reason behind the publication of the book written by mehdi golshani, melacak jejak tuhan dalam sains: tafsir islami atas sains (tracking the traces of god in science: islamic tafsir on science) translated from issues in islam and science by crcs ugm in collaboration with mizan. golshani in his book described how muslim scholars in the golden era of islamic civilization emphasized that the motivation behind the search for the natural and mathematical sciences was to know the verses of god in the universe. in their view, golshani wrote, each of these disciplines indicated one dimension of god’s creation, and science into one organic unity. in summary, as we mentioned earlier, the muslim scholars of the islamic classical period did not separate the study of the nature from their religious worldview, and they sought an inclusive framework that enabled them to explain the whole universe. the idea of the oneness of the creator and harmony of creation was a fundamental principle that governs all aspects of science (pp. 3-4). in islamic perspective, according to golshani, science and religion have the same basic metaphysics, and the purpose of revealing knowledge and seeking knowledge is to reveal the verses of god and his nature to humans. therefore, we can include scientific activities as part of religious obligations, but it has its own methodology and language. we believe that inconsistency as many pointed out to science and religion in the past or even today, is because of the neglect of the limitations of science by most scientists, or because of interference of religious authorities in scientific issues. it is also the case in the west, some prominent scientists view scientific activities as part of religious experience (p. 8). conversely, according to golshani, the qur’an warns us that the study of nature can take us from the creation to the creator only if we have faith in him (sura yunus 10: 101). therefore, when a scientist approaches nature with faith in god, faith will be strengthened by its scientific activities. otherwise, the study of nature will never lead to god. this is due to the fact that scientific activities are always accompanied metaphysical presumptions of the scientists although they are unaware of it. in summary, according golshani, faulty assessment can only take people to god only if it has a corresponding metaphysical framework (p. 9). golshani, who is a professor of physics at the sharif technology university, tehran, also revealed that religious belief can provide good motivation for scientific work. in fact, it was the main motivation behind the works of great scientists in the golden age of islamic civilization (p. 9). [ 143 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 thus, how can we understanding the nature? from the explanation of the qur’an, according to golshani, there are several ways. first, the sensory impression, which is perceived by the senses through experimentation and observation (al-ghasyiyah 88: 17-19). second, the use of reasoning. eskperimentasi and observation are necessary to acquire knowledge of the outside world, but they are not sufficient to interpret and correlate the experimental data. in fact, what distinguishes human from animals is not their external senses but reasoning and reflection on empirical data (al-araf 07: 179). in addition to the information embedded in sensory impressions, various realities of the world cannot be accessed through empirical data (surah yasin 36: 36). so, in this light, the qur’an invites us to examine the nature empirically with an emphasis on the use of intelligence and understanding. therefore, one is not expected to stop at the level of the sensory data, but must go beyond the observable part of the nature and explore the supra-sensory realities. third, intuition, which is another way to gain knowledge about the reality of the world. at the highest level, intuition can be a revelation specific to the prophet, and at a lower level it is in the form of inspiration that sometimes can be seen in most of the knowledgeable individuals (pp. 10-11). what, golshani described above, is relevant to the beliefs of muslims of the truth of the qauliyah verses (holy book) and qauniyah verses (the universe), that eventually leads to agreement that there is no contradiction or dichotomy between religion and science in islam. ontologically, the qauliyah and qauniyah are derived from “the one”. the science and knowledge about qauliyah and qauniyah verses according ramayulis and samsul nizar (2009:78) --which is in line with the golshani’s opinion-first, empirically are obtained through the senses; second, science acquired through the senses and reasoning; third, philosophy is obtained through reasoning; and fourth, intuition gained through the heart. in addition, there is also science directly given by god to his messengers in the form of revelation, inspiration received by the human mind, and the guidance received by the human heart. this outlook is in fact contrary to the view of those who believe that the sensory data are the only source of our knowledge (p. 11). in the qur’an, a natural phenomenon known as the verses of allah of which understanding these verses will enable a person to obtain the knowledge of the owner of such verses (al-rum 30: 22). in the qur’an, we often find references to the creation and composition of forms, precision and order in creation, as well as the harmony between human beings and parts of the physical universe (al-ankabut 29: 20; at-tariq 86 : 5; an-naml 27: 88; al-baqarah 02: 29). in another context, golshani argued that according to the qur’an the harmony [ 144 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 of creation is to prove the unity of god (as in al-anbiya’ 21: 22), that takes us closer to god (qs fushilat 41: 53) (pp. 118119). finally, golshani quoted the opinion of a leading muslim scholar of the 11th century, al-biruni: “when one decides to tell the difference between truth and falsehood, he must examine the universe and discover whether he is eternal or created. if someone thinks that he does not require this kind of knowledge, he needs to think about the laws that control our world, in part or as a whole. it will take them to know the truth about them, and paved the way to know the one that directs and controls the manifestation of the universe, and to know his attributes. this, in fact, is a form of truth which has been commanded by god to be searched by his knowledgeable servants, and he said, “... and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], “our lord, you did not create this aimlessly” surah al ‘imran / 03: 191). this verse contains what has been described, and if people are working in accordance with it, they will have access to all fields of science (p. 120).” despite the fact that the discourse put forward by golshani on tracking the traces of god in science is not a novelty, this is an important book to read. it is simply because a book written golshani emerged as a response to the muslims who are still developing a culture dichotomy: separation between religion and science. this is completely comprehensible as the separation of religion and science practiced by most muslims today led to the decline of muslims in all fields, if compared to the west. [ 77 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 the roles of parents for children’s faith education: a catechization review lukas ahen stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: ahenlukas66@gmail.com cenderato stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: cenderato67@gmail.com arius arifman halawa stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: arif_hlw@yahoo.co.id abstract this study aims to determine the extent to which parents at stasi santo andreas binjai, parish of santo mikael tanjung baung, sintang diocese have played their role as educators of the faith of their children in the industrial revolution era 4.0. this paper explores the obstacles faced by parents and how to overcome these obstacles to carry out their roles as faith educators for their children. this study uses a qualitative descriptive method that describes all the symptoms or conditions that exist. the data collection was conducted using three techniques: direct observation with observation guidance, direct communication through dialogue, and/or direct communication with participants to collect research data using tools (interview guides and documentary studies with visuals) during the study as evidence that researchers took to the field to conduct research. based on the results, it is known that parents are not yet fully aware of their duties and responsibilities as the first and foremost faith educators for their children. instead, the responsibility of fostering children’s faith is mostly left to schools and churches as institutions (administrators of stasi and parish churches). lack of time for parents to be with their children and lack of understanding and awareness of parents about their duties and responsibilities in their children’s faith education are inhibiting factors. the question exists, how to overcome the obstacles parents face as faith educators for their children. many parents try to take advantage of family time (although it is limited) to give advice and practical teachings as a form of practical family catechesis, monitor children’s activities, and encourage their children to take part in church activities. keywords: role of parents, family catechesis, faith educator [ 78 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 introduction in the era of the fourth generation of industrial revolution 4.0, the development of science and technology has changed the way people think and behave. the integration of technology and utilization of the internet has become so sophisticated, that we encounter a new world order. this shifting cultural landscape is characterized by digital technology so that distance and place become smaller, as it alters the characteristics of culture, behavior, and communication between human beings parents’ roles for their children are very essential, as their kids grow in faith depending on parental influences. previous research by jerry lawrence entitled: “forming faith in families: a survey of the parents and children of dallas bible church” discussed parents’ roles generally, before noting their role specifically in religion. in this study, all roles related to children’s faith were discussed (komkat kwi, 2016). one of the characteristics that characterizes this new culture is digitalization of all media content (komkat kwi, 2015:24-35). the content is converted into numbers to be easily stored and distributed to various networks. with a simple tap or swipe of the fingers on these tools, people can reach the whole world. this digitization changes people’s behavior in packaging and managing information. according to waliyuddin (2019:176) social media plays a more important role than newspaper and television, and “trendicity” seems particularly valuable for millennials. viral, trending topics, and popular viewed photos and phrases prove to show their legitimacy. this phenomenon leaves behind humans who are only able to use it as a device without many features. messages can be distributed multiplexing, meaning they are forwarded in varying types and in large quantities to all corners of the world. the advancement of the internet in the digital age allows the occurrence of virtual interpersonal communication through computer screens, smartphones, tablets, and more. this communication is virtual because it is still surface level despite presenting a falsified reality. the digital age with the above characteristics affects families. permana (2019) notes the family shares in the prophetic mission by proclaiming the word of god so that the family becomes increasingly believing and apostolic, making the gospel a way of life in it. this generation’s children develop differently from that of previous generations, with the problem of social interaction that moves from direct interaction to interaction in cyberspace. such developments cannot be denied, but children as a new generation will face the results of the development of the industrial revolution (ruat diana, 2019:27). therefore, parents need to perform their function as educators for their children to face the challenges of the industrial revolution. parents are the closest family to [ 79 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 the children, so they should inform their children’s faith as early as possible to be in accordance with the expectations of the church. all catholic families go to great lengths to make their family a small church where catholic life is manifested in the family sphere. the duties and functions of preaching are carried out with faith education for their sons and daughters, sanctification can occur through prayer, worship, and mutual devotion in the family. likewise, the duty of fellowship and service is manifested in the form of service to each other. finally, the function of martyrdom can be implemented through the testimony of a joyful life, so that as in the first church the whole family is liked by everyone. a community of believers as described in acts 2:41-47 and 4:32-37. according to researchers, family catechisms are suitable to help people raise awareness of children’s faith education in the family. by the family catechesis, it is expected that parents can realize duties and responsibilities as educators to balance their children’s lives spiritually and physically, fostering children’s faith to grow to maturity. dewantara (2011) notes that delivering the message of the salvation of jesus christ to all men is exercised through catechesis. thus, researchers intend to conduct research in stasi santo andreas binjai, santo mikael tanjung baung parish, diocese of sintang and give thought through family catechization so families are more aware of how important the education of children’s faith in the family in this era of industrial revolution. in general, parents educate their children as best they can, both physically by paying attention to their physical health; socially by paying attention to associations and manners; and psychologically by nurturing the development of behavior and mentality to the growth of faith by paying attention to the spiritual facet. however, in the midst of the development of information technology affecting all age groups including children, parents are required to conduct education in a clear family context related to the child’s faith, because parents are the first real faith educators. in the family, the faith of the child is realized through the mini church. based on such exposure, there are four questions that will be examined in this study: what are the roles of parents for their children’s faith education in stasi santo andreas binjai parish of santo mikael tanjung baung, diocese of sintang? has the role of parents been carried out properly in accordance with the family catechization in the era of industrial revolution 4.0? what are the obstacles faced by parents in carrying out their role as faith educators of their children in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 in stasi santo andreas binjai parish of santo mikael tanjung baung, diocese of sintang? how should parents overcome obstacles to carry out their role as faith educators of their children in the era of industrial [ 80 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 revolution 4.0 in stasi santo andreas binjai parish santo mikael tanjung baung, diocese of sintang? repositioning the industrial revolution era 4.0 for the development of children’s faith the industrial revolution 4.0 is a change marked by rapid production activities relying on the internet for implementation. various equipment operates by itself or automatically. this industrial revolution not only affects the industrial or production sector, but also has a holistic impact on human life (daniel fajar panimbing, et al, 2019: 196). the industrial revolution 4.0 is marked by the presence of various technologies that combine the physical, digital, and biological worlds through robots, mobile computer devices, artificial intelligence, digitalization of services are used, and so on. in this era, humans will be able to communicate with each other by utilizing internet technology known as the “internet of things.” the development of an era characterized by automation and digitization has a huge impact on children’s character. the very large technological development is also called the era of big data, where people are given easy, fast access and information can be enjoyed by everyone. however, this presents a big challenge. it is feared that interpersonal communication will decline in quality, including communication essential for children’s education (daniel fajar panimbing, et al, 2019: 196). as a result, a parent’s role in educating children has never been more important to be applied by parents. according to prasetya (2014: 24-25), children live and grow according to the times that exist and develop as children of the times. the current times dramatically influence and control their lives, so that children tend to be selfish, hedonistic, consumeristic, and controlled by instant culture. faced with this situation, parents should not just complain, or give up hope in properly educating their children, but instead display responsibility. they must be able to educate their children properly, correctly, and responsibly in all areas of life. parents as faith educators the duty of parents to educate their children is emphasized in the apostolic exhortation of pope john paul ii, familiaris consortio: “the rights and obligations of parents to educate are essential because they are related to the distribution of human life. in addition, the rights and obligations of parents are primary and primary to the participation of others in education, because of the privileges of the loving relationship between parents and children.” after all, these rights and obligations are irreplaceable and cannot be taken over, [ 81 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 and therefore cannot be fully handed over to others or taken away by them (maurice, 2001: 157). as educators first and foremost, parents must educate their children themselves. they are truly responsible for their children’s education and this should not be given to their grandparents, because the responsibility for children’s education cannot be replaced and taken over by other parties. parents carry out their responsibilities until the child reaches adulthood and can determine their life path responsibly to have religious life and a family. “through education, children should be nurtured in such a way so that when they become adults they are able to fully fulfill their calling. it also means that if they later commit themselves to marriage, they will be able to build their own family under favorable moral, social and economic conditions” (gs art. 52). it is the responsibility of men to lead children to maturity and selfreliance in faith. according to stefanus tay and ingrid listiati (2011) there are at least eight roles of parents in faith education: first, getting children to pray together and accompanying children to receive the sacraments. parents should teach their children to pray because prayer is the breath of faith. under any circumstances, either unfortunate or happy, we need to pray. in a state of joy, we give thanks to god, while in distress we ask for his help. parents should also take care when their children are accompanied and led to receive the sacraments, particularly when infants receive the sacrament of baptism. when their understanding and understanding are adequate (about fourth grade), the child is sent to receive the eucharist by receiving first communion. when they reach adulthood, the parents send their child to receive the sacrament of confirmation. second, parents cultivate an atmosphere of love and togetherness at home. by creating an atmosphere of love and joy, parents encourage their children to become individuals who are social and able to make friends with everyone. parents are obliged to create an atmosphere of love, because love is the soul of children’s education, which is accompanied by kindness, service, impartiality, loyalty, and sacrifice. if we look at the surrounding context, it can be seen there have been too many broken marriages. many of these individuals are trapped in drugs and free sex, and even have been imprisoned. these people were born into catholic families, but eventually converted to another church, another religion, or maybe have become atheists. this is the condition experienced by parents today, the root of which is that the parents are not sufficiently carrying out christian faith education for their children as early as possible. today, instilling christian faith in children is even more difficult, because world conditions now often conflict with christian values. [ 82 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 third, parents must cultivate christian virtues such as: forgiving the mistakes of others, learning to apologize when guilty, mutual respect, sharing, helping others, comforting others, caring for the needy (especially the weak, sick, and poor) and willing to sacrifice for the good of people. fourth, parents are obliged to convey the essential values in human life. these values include justice that respects human dignity, the law of love (self-giving), comprehensive sexuality education (a person with a body, emotion and spirit), education about chastity, and moral education that ensures children act with full responsibility. fifth, parents must be able to provide faith teaching at every opportunity that is delivered attractively, as the teaching of faith does not have to be in the form of formal education. daily events can be used as moments of faith education. for example, the experience of falling from a bicycle can be used as a lesson to teach that we too can fall into sins and mistakes at any time. the moral is: even though you fall, you are still excited to get up and continue cycling. likewise, our lives can still rise again to repent and organize a better life. sixth, parents must be responsible for fortifying children against the bad effects of the surrounding environment. because of the strong negative influence of social media and modern culture, parents must pay attention to not bestow negative influences on their children. too much playing games, watching tv, using facebook, and other social media, which contain elements of violence and sadism, for example, can stimulate aggressive attitudes in children. parents must allow their children to socialize in the real world rather than in cyberspace so they can socialize well with others. seventh, people must be able to direct their children to offer themselves and the talents they have for them. eighth, parents must direct their children to find their calling in life to achieve true happiness. the calling of family life and the calling of celibacy to the kingdom of god (by becoming priests / pastors, monks, and nuns) are equally noble and noble. from an early age the children have been given the perspective, guidance and understanding of the nobility of the vocation of a christian life: family life, like the family that is currently living, or other ways of life, namely giving themselves completely to god, serving god with total surrender to the glory of god. parents as christ presenting the role of parents in instilling faith is crucial. parents who deeply care about faith education will produce children with faith as well. on the other hand, parents who do not care about faith will produce faithless children. it can thus be concluded that parents have an important role in instilling faith in children. pope john paul ii in his familiaris consortio apostolic exhortation [ 83 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 emphasized that “parents educate, rooted in the primary vocation of husband and wife to participate in god’s creative work”. by awakening in and for the love of a new person, who in him carries a call to grow and develop himself, the family is at the same time able to assist them effectively to live a human life to its fullest (fc. 36) this sentence emphasizes that parents have the obligation and right to educate their children and have the duty to support children with love. the function of the family is to present christ both among the members of the family itself and to the general public. why is the family identified with a mini church? of course, this is motivated by the concrete reality that the main elements which form the foundation of the church, namely unity (unio), communion (communio), love, and community are the main dimensions that always exist in family life. it is in the midst of the family that the essence of the life of the church is shown: fellowship, service, accompaniment (kerygma element), sanctification, and testimony of life. with a family life that is mutually serving, harmonious (rukun), fellowshipping in prayer and diligently studying the word, and radiating happiness among the faithful and the wider community of the christian family carrying out its duties as a “mini church.” the process of creating these people takes place in and through the family (lumen gentium art. 11). it can therefore be said that the first and foremost duty of the family is to form a community. family is a fellowship between individuals who give, complement each other, and hope in infinite love (gaudium et spes art. 48). the family consists of several individuals who have intense reciprocal relationships. these relationships include those of husband, wife, and children. the relationship occurs in relation to blood relations (nuclear family), which is based on love as a unity of life. the relationship that occurs between parents and their children is not only human (blood relationship) but also spiritual in nature, namely the relationship of love itself. parents as love givers as a private community, the family needs to continuously build a more authentic community based on love (maurice, 2001: 28). without love, family cannot grow, develop, nor perfect oneself as a living private community. love is the foundation and building block for family relationships. love between family members gives strength and depth to family life. with a foundation of deep love, each member of the family has the responsibility to construct the family as a community of individuals. responsibility is built on the awareness that we need other people’s lives so we can live too. every member of the family [ 84 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 needs each other to live, grow and develop as authentic human persons. a family that builds its life on the basis of love is a place where every family member is respected and appreciated with dignity and high value as a person who is in the image of god. on the basis of love, a man and a woman build a commitment to live together as husband and wife. they accept each other while uniting their hearts and whole life by complementing each other. they are united personally and intimately in the bond of the sacrament of marriage. in its capacity as an interpersonal fellowship, the family needs to give special attention to children by developing a deep respect for their personality. concern for children lasts before the child is born until the child reaches adulthood. therefore, education on christian values and essential human values from an early age is necessary so that children can develop into archetypal christian human beings. husbands and wives need to accompany the development of their children in walking through these stages of development. by paying attention to the process of child development, the husband and wife learn to be good and responsible fathers and mothers. this could be a factor in the accelerated development of the child into adulthood. parents as partners family catechesis also aims to create a dialogue between parents by portraying them as genuine conversational partners with their children. this emphasis is placed on a concerted effort to deepen and live their own faith to gain a clearer view of their duties and responsibilities as first and foremost educators for their children. based on setyawan’s studies (2014), parents are the first partner who has the opportunity to introduce the reality of life to children and be the first educator who teaches truth. consequently, they are also the first who should personally introduce god and guide his children to believe in him. everyone who has received the sacraments of baptism and chrism are entitled and obliged to take part in preaching and mission tasks in church. in this case, parents too have the right and the obligation to take part in the task of preaching and mission in the church, including the proclamation of family. parents are the first partner and foremost educators for children from birth to adulthood. in the process of forming morals and religion, character, personality, cultural values, and simple skills, the mother’s role as a first educator must be a model for children, meaning that parents should also have moral and religious values that can be shown to children. the data showed that there were several obstacles faced by parents in carrying out their role as a child’s faith educator including the family condition. most argue that a calm, harmonious, religious, and family situation that supports and motivates [ 85 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 the child will greatly help the development of the child’s faith so that the child’s faith can grow and be resilient against life’s challenges. parents also set an excellent example for their children because children can easily learn or imitate the conditions of the house. therefore, whenever parents (adults) are having issues, they should be resolved without the children knowing. even if both parents are angry, both parents cultivate pretend harmony. in fact, there are some families who, because of the lack of harmony between husband and wife, cause the child’s faith education to be unprofitable. as a result, these children’s spiritual life is not developed. parents’ business also affects the development of children’s faith, as was revealed by several respondents. these groups include parents who are always busy working especially parents who are entrepreneurs and/or gardeners. these groups do not have much time for children even though children need their assistance. sometimes children are more entrusted with their grandparents or grandparents, for their faith education they entrust them to the teachers at school. these parents work to provide for the family. even though they realize that they are busy, but there is no intention to change, they are still busy. according to the researcher, there is a sense of uncertainty in parents who feel busy, because every time they participate in environmental activities, many remind them that children’s faith education is very important but on the other hand they work to find money to meet the needs of life, including the needs of children, so parents hope their children appreciate their hard work. the economic situation of the people in the stasi santo andreas binjai consists of the middle class whose economy partly consists of civil servants and private employees. while people who are economically lower-class work as farmers in oil palm and rubber plantations. the results from 25 respondents consisting of 17 fathers and 8 mothers are listed in the following table 1. table 1: respondent identity no statements total (x) % (x/n x 100) 1. parents: a. fathers b. mothers 17 8 68 % 32 % 2. age: a. 30 40 years b. 40 – 50 years c. 50 – 60 years d. 60 70 years 9 6 7 3 36 % 24 % 28 % 12 % it is seen in table 1 of the number of respondents, 25 people, consisting of [ 86 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 fathers and mothers. the number of respondents was divided into two with the number of 17 respondent fathers and 8 respondent mothers. from the data entered in table 1, the age of respondents is mostly 30-40 years with a percentage of 36%. this is because the families in stasi santo andreas binjai are the majority of new families, and also that comes at the time of data collection of the majority of new families who have been married for more than 5 years. on the other hand, there are respondents who say that no matter how busy they are, they must always be close to the child, enabling the child to freely convey his/her heart. there are some respondents who say that they should always encourage children to be active in church assistance, spiritual activities in the environment, sunday school or pia, pir, omk so that children get good faith assistance so that what is obtained in the environment can be developed later if the children are adults. conclusion based on the results of the research and discussion, researchers draw the following conclusions: the role of parents for the faith education of their children in the stasi santo andreas binjai parish of santo mikael tanjung baung, diocese of sintang has not been carried out by parents adequately as it should. parents only play a small role in teaching their children to pray, encouraging children to go to church, and being invited to environmental activities. researchers felt that most of the respondents indicated that the development and mentoring of children’s faith was less noticed by both parents, because parents were less directly involved in coaching, they only reminded children to pray, be active in church activities, or the environment. however, they did not monitor intensively, because parents were busy with work, so that the development of their children’s faith was less developed. for all, if the parents do not play their roles as well, their children’s faiths will not be building well too. awareness of assistance to children’s faith in accordance with the family catechization in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 is not fully owned by parents in stasi santo andreas binjai. most parents feel that with the opinion of religious education in school and faith assistance in sunday school, this is a sufficient provision for their children’s faith education. in this case, the parents hand over their children’s faith education responsibilities to school institutions and church institutions. in fact, the responsibility of faith education of the main and first children is in the parents. with the assistance of parents in faith education children can be a solid basis in planting the seeds of good in the family, so that the personality of the child is also well formed and gives the [ 87 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 growth of the child’s faith towards the maturity of faith. there are various obstacles for parents in educating children’s faith in stasi santo andreas binjai. first is the lack of time to gather with family. busy parents cause communication and relationships between family members to be reduced and the distance between children and parents, children will be more comfortable playing, telling stories with peers than at home or children prefer to play on computers, mobile phones, or television, because parents forget to remind children to pray or learn. second, there is a difference of opinion between the parents in educating their children. this can be seen from one of the parents who closely supervises their children to use the time to learn and do other useful activities, while others pamper their children by playing games and mobile phones that waste time. third, technological advances inhibit the role of parents in children’s faith education. children waste time with videos, games, and other spectacles through mobile phones and television screens. fourth, parents’ lack of knowledge, understanding, and insight into the teachings of the catholic faith as a result of lack of parental education is a factor hampering children’s faith education. the lack of understanding of parents will make the elderly less able to bring their children to develop their faith towards the maturity of faith. the efforts of parents in stasi santo andreas to overcome the obstacles they face in carrying out their role as faith educators of their children in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 are seen from, among others: reminding children constantly not to overuse mobile phones such as limiting the time or hours when they can use mobile phones, controlling children in getting along by prohibiting children from hanging out with children who like to be erratic, and never tiring of advising their children while practicing patience. parents are also getting closer to god in order to invite children to be close to god, as well as encouraging children to be active in church activities and play an active role in society. researchers suggest a recollection for families with the theme of parent role in the family so that parents can be more aware and live their duties and responsibilities in providing education and faith assistance for children continuously and sustainably in the family. cadreization needs to be held for catechists both in the environment and in the church with the theme of the duties and responsibilities of parents so that the catechists increasingly have the ability and insight in accompanying married couples. the author hopes that the thoughts that the author contributes can inspire in an effort to improve the quality of child faith assistance. the need to maximize the family section in the parish as well as in the stasi, in order to create and implement a sustainable exit coaching program. for example, there [ 88 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 are coaching and mentoring programs that are routine for married couples (married couples) for the marriage age group under five years, marriage age 5-10 years, marriage age 11-20 years, and so on. in such development groups are always reminded of their duties and responsibilities in educating their children’s faith. the couples are also provided with adequate knowledge, skills, and insights so as to be able to carry out their duties and responsibilities as the first and forehand educators for their children. bibliography abineno, j. c. 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(2019). religious expression of millennial muslims within collective narcissism discourse in digital era. wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya 4, 2 (2019): 176-190 wetzler, s., frame, l. & litzinger, s. (2011). marriage education for clinicians. american journal of psychotherapy. vol. 65. no. 4. p311-336. woocher, j. (2021). reinventing jewish education for the 21st century. journal of jewish education 78, no. 3 (july 2012): 182–226. church documents apostolicam actuositatem, dekrit konsili vatikan ii tentang kerasulan awam, 7 desember 1965 catechesi tradendae, anjuran apostolik paus yohanes paulus ii kepada para uskup, klerus, dan segenap umat beriman tentang catechesis masa kini, 16 oktober 1979 evangelii nuntiandi, ajuran apostolik tentang mewartakan injil, februari 2005. familiaris consorti, anjuran apostolik paus yohanes paulus ii kepada para uskup, imam-imam dan umat beriman tentang peranan keluarga kristen dalam dunia modern, 22 november 1981 [ 92 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1953 gaudium et spes, konstitusi pastoral konsili vatikan ii tentang gereja di dunia ini, 7 desember 1965. gravissimum educationis, anjuran apostolik paus yohanes paulus ii kepada para uskup, imam-imam dan umat beriman tentang pendidikan kristen, 28 oktober 1965 lk3i kwi. juli –agustus 1994 “upacara misa pembaharuan janji perkawinan”. dalam buletin keluarga vi/1. katekismus gereja katolik (kgk). 1991. penulis: provinsi gerejawi ende. ende: propinsi gerejawi ende. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 3 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 aspects of economic production in malay classical literature according to sheikh daud al-fatani hadenan towpek & joni tamkin borhan academy of islamic studies, university of malaya kuala lumpur malaysia abstract sheikh daud bin ‘abdullah al-fatani (1131-1265ah/1718-1847ce) is a malay scholar who appears on the transition period to 18m and 19m century. he was known as a productive scholar and prolifi c book, which can be viewed from various aspects. th erefore, this article attempts to analyze his views on aspects of production as discussed in his masterpiece furu‘al-masa’il and specifi cally referred to in chapter transaction. th is article uses content analysis methods through a thematic approach in identifying the aspects of production. th is article identifi es at least nine aspects contained in the production of the work of priority in economic aspect, the aspect of work/eff ort, capital, profi t-generating aspect, the aspect of profi t distribution, aspects of joint agricultural projects, exploring aspects of soil, aspect prohibition of usury and aspects of the general off er. th is fi nding indirectly indicates that the views of sheikh daud al-fatani presented in the book furu‘ al-masa’il are an ever green that is a deep insight into and remain relevant from the past, present and future. key words: economic, production, malay, daud al-fatani introduction with maturity of knowledge and spirit expand into the global muslim community, especially the malays, sheikh daud al-fatani has produced the book furu‘ al-masa’il regarded as a complete work that includes aspects of worship, jurisprudence, marriage, crime and other aspects. as such this book is regarded as the top work in the fi eld of jurisprudence in the archipelago of the 19th century.1 accordingly, this article present a scientifi c analysis using content analysis of his views on the economic concepts as discussed in his furu‘ al-masa’il. prior to that, this article fi rst introduces briefl y the biodata of the author and the background of the book. 1 abdul rahman haji abdullah. 1990. pemikiran umat islam di nusantara: sejarah dan perkembangannya hingga abad ke-19. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka, p. 138. [ 4 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 sheikh daud al-fatani and the book of furu‘ al-masa’il his full name is sheikh wan daud bin sheikh wan abdullah bin sheikh wan idris @ tok wan derasid @ sheikh wan senik bin tok wan abu bakr bin tok kaya pandak bin andi (faqih) ali datuk maharajalela. he is better known as “tok sheikh daud fatani”. he also received other titles such as “al‘alim al-‘allamah al-‘arif al-rabbani”, “sheikh daud waliullah”, “sheikh daud keramat” and “sheikh daud th e author”.2 he was born in the village kerisik3 in pattani province of th ailand, around the year 1131ah/1718ce.4 he received his early education from his own family, from father and grandfather, and the opportunity to study under the local scholars who come from the middle east or yemen. later, he also said to have learned in aceh for two years before he went to the hijaz. he studied in mecca for 30 years and in medina for 5 years.5 he died and was buried in ta’if in 1265ah/1847ce.6 while this book, the full title is furu‘ al-masa’il wa usul al-wasa’il, resulting in1254ah/1838ce and settled at 1257ah/1841ce.7 th is book is his greatest work in the fi elds of law and islamic thought has ever found in mecca since the 1880s.8 in english, furu‘ al-masa’il translated as “branches of religious issues”.9 at present, the printed version of the book is still repeated-print, available on the market and used in traditional institutions, especially in peninsular malaysia and th ailand pattani province,10 is the printed version of matba‘ah bin halabi, pattani th ailand using the printed version of matba‘ah dar ihya’ 2 wan mohd. shaghir abdullah. 1990. syeikh daud bin abdullah al-fatani: ulama dan pengarang terulung asia tenggara. shah alam: hizbi, p. 21-22; idem. 1991a. sejarah rengkas syeikh daud bin abdullah al-fatani dan karya-karyanya. nadwah ilmiah tokoh ulama peringkat kebangsaan kali keempat. (� e islamic aff airs division, prime minister department in collaboration with islamic academy of university of malaya kuala lumpur, 17-19 dicember), p. 18; hooker, m.b. 1991. undang-undang islam di asia tenggara. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka, p. 73. 3 wan mohd. shaghir. 1990. op. cit., p. 20; idem. 1991a. op. cit., p. 8. 4 wan mohd. shaghir. 1990. op. cit., p. 4-7; idem. 2003. mun-yatul mushalli syeikh daud al-fathani: pengetahuan sembahyang masyhur. kuala lumpur: khazanah fathaniyah, p. 7. 5 wan mohd. shaghir. 1990. op. cit., p. 24-25. 6 wan mohd. shaghir. 1991a. op. cit., p. 5. 7 wan mohd. shaghir. 2003. op. cit., p. 20. 8 matheson, v. & hooker, m.b. 1988. jawi literature in patani: the maintenance of an islamic tradition. jmbras, vol. 61, part 1, p. 22. 9 mohamad @ md. som sujimon & wan sabri bin wan yusoff . 2003. sheikh da’ud al-fatani’s contribution to muslim scholarship in malaysia. monograph on selected malay intellectuals. kuala lumpur: research centre iium, p. 33. 10 hadenan bin towpek. 2010. beberapa sumbangan syeikh daud al-fatani dalam sistem pengajian pondok di kelantan. seminar keintelektualan islam, (� e centre for islamic � ought and understanding, uitm kelantan branch, in collaboration with the kelantan federal development department, 31 may-1 june), p. 3 & 8. [ 5 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 al-kutub al-‘arabiyyah, egypt.11 in terms of knowledge, syeikh daud al-fatani as deemed by azyumardi azra as a scholar who has more than enough knowledge to make him appear as a major scholar in the malay-indonesian transition period 18th and 19th centuries.12 for western scholars such as m.b. hooker, it is concluded that the knowledge and leadership qualities that he possessed has not been matched by islamic scholars of his time and the time thereaft er until now.13 while studies carried out by wan mohd. shaghir found that he was a prolifi c scholar who wrote 69 book titles of works of various fi elds which can be identifi ed, namely monotheism (13 titles), fi qh (22 titles), sufi sm (13 titles), history (8 titles) and other areas (13 title).14 in this article, the corpus study of the book furu‘ al-masa’il is based on the printed version of matba’ah bin halabi, patani, th ailand, with two volumes of 275p. (volume 1), 393p. (volume 2), with 35 lines on each page, with the sides printed book known as kasyf al-ghummah, another sheih daud works as well. scope of discussion in the hierarchy of goods and services, is the fi rst stage of production prior to marketing (distribution) and consumption. th e production of goods is solely for the purpose of consumption. production levels tied to the needs and wants in consumption. th erefore, this article focuses on aspects of production will be identifi ed in the discussion of islamic jurisprudence in the chapter by referring to the muamalat book written in jawi in sheikh daud’s classical masterpiece of the book furu‘ al-masa’il. to achieved this target, this article applies basically three stages of making the book furu‘ al-masa’il sheikh daud al-fatani masterpiece as the main input, especially in muamalat chapter; then stage process based approach to content analysis focuses on the production aspects as basic economic function, and based on thematic approach, and fi nally its produce output in term of aspects of production according to sheikh daud al-fatani. th is three stages of studies can easily illustrated by diagram below: 11 daud bin ‘abdullah al-fatani, furu‘ al-masa’il, v. 2. patani: matba‘ah bin halabi, p. 389. 12 azyumardi azra. 1995. jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii dan xviii: melacak akar-akar pembaharuan pemikiran islam di indonesia. bandung, indonesia: penerbit mizan, p. 266. 13 hooker, m.b. (ed.). 1986. � e laws of south-east asia (vol. i: � e-modern texts). singapore: butterworth & co (asia) pte ltd, p. 363. 14 wan mohd. shaghir. 1991a., op. cit., p. 21; idem. 1995. manuskrip islam dunia melayu ditinjau dari pelbagai peringkat. intellectual forum. (� e department of malay studies, university of malaya), p. 9; idem. 2003. op. cit., p. 15-16. [ 6 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 aspects of production content analysis production aspects as basic economic function thematic approach furu‘ al-masa’il sheikh daud al-fatani masterpiece (focus on muamalat chapter) input process output analysis on aspects of production aspects of production can be identifi ed within the corpus of the study are as follows: 1. aspect of priority in economic in most cases the priority in economic concept can be associated with an economy that makes the community faced with a scarcity, which is the state of an economy that has limited economic resources compared with unlimited needs among members of society. it gives a element of choice of the need which must be met fi rst, and think about how limited resources can be allocated to the various consumptions that compete with each other. as such, it raises the opportunity cost aspect which is the activities or goods that had the second best alternative is reduced to allow the community to acquire the goods required.15 th e above phenomena can be linked indirectly to the discussion sheikh daud al-fatani of economic activities should be prioritized to meet the norms of society. in this case, he argues that economic activity should be given priority is agriculture, followed by wood artisan activities or take wages, and follow by business activities. 16 priorities chart for economic activity according to sheikh daud al-fatani this implies that his views confi rmed that element of scarcity brings consequent to element of choice for economic activities that should be given priority, and at the meantime also raises the opportunity cost where the second most important activity which is wood artisan activities or take wages have to reduce in order to give preferences to agricultural activities. 15 lihat: jomo k.s. & ishak shari. 2003. mikroekonomi. kuala lumpur: utusan publications & distributors, p. 26-27. 16 daud bin abdullah al-fatani, op. cit., p. 3. [ 7 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 2. aspects of work / eff ort in conventional economics, work / eff ort is considered as one of the production factors. in this corpus study, work / eff ort especially when expressed directly mentioned types of work, such as farming, trade, taking wages, money changers, and others. in addition, aspects of work/eff ort can also be specifi cally identifi ed in the discussion of mudarabah. in this regard, sheikh daud al-fatani explained that the conditions for work or job specifi cations shall be of the type of skills required for entrepreneurs, not the type of activity is prohibited, without the binding conditions of the transaction, and free of the delay element in terms of time and particular conditions.17 description of the job / work specifi cation in the mudarabah contract can be used as a guide in the application of joint venture fi nancing contracts involving the capital owners from among the surplus sector in the economy with entrepreneurs who need capital to do business or work in business projects, trading, manufacturing and construction. 3. aspect of capital aspect of capital is one of the factors of production in the economic system. in this case, the discussion in the corpus of research on capital aspects associated with business contracts, particularly contracts of bay‘ al-salam, mudarabah and musharakah. according to sheikh daud al-fatani, the capital in the contract in bay‘ al-salam has some specifi c features, among which are submitted at the time of the contract, the type of property or services, and the form of property either aqar or manqul.18 in mudarabah contract, according to sheikh daud al-fatani, an asset or capital of mudarabah should be of the type property of silver (gold) or dinar (silver), known rate, type and characteristics, the particular property, and can be delivered.19 while capital of musharakah, sheikh daud al-fatani in furu‘ al-masa’il discuss the specifi c conditions on the types of property are allowed to be contracted as musharakah based. such conditions can be summarized as follows: type currency is genuine, there is mixing of two properties to not be diff erentiated, and the same kind of property.20 17 ibid., p. 108. 18 ibid., p. 39-43. 19 ibid., p. 107-108. 20 ibid., p. 76. [ 8 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 4. aspect of profi t generated further scrutiny in corpus studies can also describe aspects of profi t particularly in terms of generating profi ts directly discussed in the topic of musharakah and mudarabah contracts. for the contract of musharakah, sheikh daud al-fatani emphasizes the profi t generation with element of consent to business partner to deal in musharakah properties. elements of this consent subject to the scope that do not harm, including maintaining ceiling price in the absence of market response, but a better price when the market response. in addition, the element of consent also includes selecting a lot more value in the event khiyar, the transaction cannot be done with grace price, or not cost the state, or the price of a large loss and merchandise cannot be sent on traveling, or submitted to any other parties for the transaction.21 similarly, in the mudarabah contract where sheikh daud al-fatani explained that generating profi ts is one of the key elements of the mudarabah contract. th erefore, entrepreneur responsible for ensuring that mudarabah business can generate profi ts, including selling with a profi t and avoid severe losses; not be sold on a deferred basis without the consent of capital owner; be sold in exchange even without the consent of capital owner; not ban activities in mudarabah contract; zawa’id property is belong to capital owner; and profi ts will be used to cover the depreciation of mudarabah property.22 5. aspect of profi t distribution basically the price aspect is included in the pillars of business. a reasonable price level is necessary to generate profi ts and ultimately be distributed among the entrepreneurs and investors in the mudarabah fi nancing contract. according to sheikh daud al-fatani, one of the pillars of mudarabah contract is the distribution of profi ts to the conditions as distributed between capital owners and entrepreneurs cannot be handed over to one side, and certain methods of distribution.23 besides mudarabah contract, musharakah contracts also have a bearing on price and profi tability aspects, especially in determining the distribution of profi ts. in furu‘ al-masa’il explained that the allocation of profi t and loss in musharakah contract is on the contribution ratio of their own property. if the contribution rate is the same, then the division rate is the same as well. if one party contributes a hundred and the other contributes fi ft y, then the ratio was one-third.24 21 ibid., p. 76-77. 22 ibid., p. 109-110. 23 ibid., p. 108-109. 24 ibid., p. 77. [ 9 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 6. aspect of joint venture in agriculture project aspects of joint venture in agricultural projects normally associated with the three link contracts, which are musaqah, muzara‘ah and mukhabarah. all three contracts are interrelated with land resource as a function of production. in this regard, sheikh daud al-fatani discusses the three contracts under subheading namely bab al-musaqah, with all three like that this contract is a form of agriculture fi nancing project with certain conditions. musaqah contract is allowable only, while muzara‘ah and mukhabarah is not allowed because it involves element of uncertainty which the reward is in the form of the crop when it does not exist and there is no guarantee for it arises. however, it is permissible if the muzara‘ah contract in accordance with contract musaqah, and both of these contracts cannot be separated for agricultural projects involving irrigation works and the anointing of water on the crops. th us, if irrigation works and the anointing were not done causing damaged crops, and then the employee must bear the liabilities.25 7. aspect of land exploration land as one of the factors of production is essentially a must to develop as understood through the contract ihya’ al-mawat. th e treasury of the islamic jurisprudence, a land not yet owned and has not worked is known as the land of the dead. th erefore, it should be explored through activities or employment to working such as agriculture. in this regard, sheikh daud al-fatani in the corpus of this article also explains that circumcision to revive a dead land-based understanding of the meaning of the hadith: “whoever revives the earth to die for him and reward him claiming the goods consumed by the provision of charity”.26 th e action included in reviving the land of the dead is by making it as a burial ground.27 8. aspect of usury in the conventional economic system, factors of production for capital income are based on usury. th e higher the usury rate charged on the capital factor, the higher the savings income. however, on behalf of entrepreneur or businessmen, higher usury rate aff ects the demand for capital decreases. in this regard, sheikh daud al-fatani explained about the illegal prohibition of usury practices and transactions in daily activities, whether it is called riba al-fadl or riba al-nasi’ah because it brings injustice to the parties involved. riba al-nasi’ah occurred in the practice of borrowing money paid more than 25 ibid., p. 111. 26 ibid., p. 118. 27ibid., p. 120. [ 10 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 the principal amount, while riba al-fadl occurs in a transaction consisting of six types of commodities from gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and that when the exchange tamathul with the same type must taqabud (with the same measurement or weight) and hulul (cash in the contract). ‘illah given is that because gold and silver is the currency and the next four are the main food commodities.28 9. aspects of the general off er aspects of the general off er by one party off ering a reward, usually in the form of fi nancing with a certain amount to anyone who can perform or meet the demands of the party off ering it, within what is permitted by islamic law. aspects of this public off ering may be associated with the ju‘alah contract as discussed by sheikh daud al-fatani in furu‘ al-masa’il in transaction chapter. in the contemporary context, this aspect is applied, such as rm1000 reward to fi nd missing cat, the reward of rm1 million to obtain evidence of the case, the reward of rm50,000 to anyone who provides information to the authorities about a criminal case, and the like. conclusion th is writing is an eff ort to deal with the thoughts of classical malay scholar such as sheikh daud al-fatani, through scrutiny of the work of the jawi book which is furu‘ al-masa’il. th is writing identify nine aspects of production to discussed indirectly in the work as outlined in the following diagram below: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 joint venture in agriculture project land exploration riba / usury general offer priority in economic work / effort capitol profit generated profit distribution aspects of economic production according to sheikh daud aspects of production above show that the earlier malay scholars have thought the progressive and dynamic development in line with the times. certainly a valuable contribution and heritage of his works are complete, which has long existed since the mid-19 century not wasted. even his writing about these particular aspects of production and book furu‘ al-masa’il general is 28 daud bin abdullah al-fatani, op. cit., p. 11. also see: joni tamkin borhan. 2002. beberapa aspek pemikiran syeikh daud bin ‘abdullah al-fatani dalam perbankan islam: tumpuan kepada furu‘ al-masa’il. jurnal afkar, v. 9, may-june, p. 208. [ 11 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 still relevant and practical and can be a strong foundation in meeting the proceedings of every level of human need, regardless of place of past, present and future. reference abdul rahman haji abdullah. 1990. pemikiran umat islam di nusantara: sejarah dan perkembangannya hingga abad ke-19. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. azyumardi azra. 1995. jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii dan xviii: melacak akar-akar pembaharuan pemikiran islam di indonesia. bandung, indonesia: penerbit mizan. daud bin ‘abdullah al-fatani, furu‘ al-masa’il, v. 2. patani: matba‘ah bin halabi. hadenan bin towpek. 2010. beberapa sumbangan syeikh daud al-fatani dalam sistem pengajian pondok di kelantan. seminar keintelektualan islam, (th e centre for islamic th ought and understanding, uitm kelantan branch, in collaboration with the kelantan federal development department, 31 may-1 june). hooker, m.b. (ed.). 1986. th e laws of south-east asia (vol. i: th e-modern texts). singapore: butterworth & co (asia) pte ltd. hooker, m.b. 1991. undang-undang islam di asia tenggara. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. jomo k.s. & ishak shari. 2003. mikroekonomi. kuala lumpur: utusan publications & distributors. joni tamkin borhan. 2002. beberapa aspek pemikiran syeikh daud bin ‘abdullah al-fatani dalam perbankan islam: tumpuan kepada furu‘ al-masa’il. jurnal afkar, v. 9, may-june. matheson, v. & hooker, m.b. 1988. jawi literature in patani: the maintenance of an islamic tradition. jmbras, vol. 61, part 1. mohamad @ md. som sujimon & wan sabri bin wan yusoff . 2003. sheikh da’ud al-fatani’s contribution to muslim scholarship in malaysia. monograph on selected malay intellectuals. kuala lumpur: research centre iium. wan mohd. shaghir abdullah. 1990. syeikh daud bin abdullah al-fatani: ulama dan pengarang terulung asia tenggara. shah alam: hizbi. wan mohd. shaghir abdullah. 1991a. sejarah rengkas syeikh daud bin abdullah al-fatani dan karya-karyanya. nadwah ilmiah tokoh ulama peringkat kebangsaan kali keempat. (th e islamic aff airs division, prime [ 12 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 minister department in collaboration with islamic academy of university of malaya kuala lumpur, 17-19 dicember). wan mohd. shaghir abdullah. 1995. manuskrip islam dunia melayu ditinjau dari pelbagai peringkat. intellectual forum. (th e department of malay studies, university of malaya). wan mohd. shaghir abdullah. 2003. mun-yatul mushalli syeikh daud alfathani: pengetahuan sembahyang masyhur. kuala lumpur: khazanah fathaniyah. [ 3 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 social mobility of the bugis female hajj pilgrims hilmi muhammadiyah uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta email: hilmimuhammadiyah62@gmail.com siti sara binti haji ahmad universiti islam sultan sharif ali email: dr.ctsara.ahmad@gmail.com abstract this research delves into the social mobility of bugis female hajj pilgrims, examining not only the ways in which the experience of performing the hajj transforms bugis women socially but also how this mobility becomes integral to their cultural lives. utilizing qualitative methods which include field studies and interviews with bugis women who have completed the hajj, this research positions them as agents, actors, and subjects. its objective is to reveal the various forms of social mobility that have reshaped the status of bugis women who have performed the hajj. specifically, it investigates the role of the hajj as a social identity within bugis society, the social and cultural transformations experienced by bugis female hajj pilgrims, and the effects of their social mobility on changes in their societal status and roles. field findings show that the social mobility of bugis female hajj pilgrims is deeply intertwined with the community’s respect for the difficult journey of performing the hajj, from departure to return. this journey redefines women’s positions within religious rituals, fosters cultural cohesion through the symbolic attributes worn during the hajj, and generates both direct and indirect impacts on society through the pilgrims’ contributions. keywords: social mobility; bugis female; hajj pilgrims introduction the centuries-long history of islam’s arrival to mainland sulawesi in the 17th century brought about profound changes in societal dynamics. particularly significant was the decision of the bugis kings to establish islam as the official religion of the kingdom, extending invitations to neighboring kingdoms to embrace islam collectively. this islamic influence was not limited to coastal communities; even inland regions garnered the attention of influential monarchs (mappangara, 2003; nasiruddin, 2020). the integration of islamic principles into local culture strengthened, guided by the principles of sara’ [ 4 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 (islamic law). initially controversial, the pangngadereng culture underwent a process of elaboration within the community, solidifying into a cornerstone of social institution. this integration laid the foundation for the bugis islamic community to utilize islamic values and cultural practices as guiding principles in their daily lives. (rahim, 1992; mulkan, 1998; djamas, 1998). the increase in the number of muslims within bugis society has brought dynamism to religious rituals. among these, completing the pillars of islam, particularly performing the hajj pilgrimage, stands out as a paramount aspiration. in an era marked by rapid development, the significance of the hajj extends beyond its religious connotations. it has evolved into a marker of social identity, economic legitimacy, and cultural expression within society (nasiruddin, 2021). to fulfill these complex roles, individuals enthusiastically endeavor to perform the hajj pilgrimage. for the bugis people, embarking on the hajj journey is a matter of pride, symbolizing a journey filled with challenges from departure to return to their homes (hamid et al., 2003; normasunah, 2019). it is undeniable that the experience of the hajj has given rise to numerous cultural phenomena within bugis society (subair, 2019). interestingly, a significant majority of bugis pilgrims are women. this research found that out of 78 percent of individuals undertaking the hajj pilgrimage, 60 percent were women and they were identified as housewives (agustang, 2018). despite the strict guidelines within the islamic faith regarding women’s travel, which typically mandate the presence of a mahram or, at the very least, a husband during long journeys (bobihu, 2023), notable scholars within the shafi’i and maliki schools have provided concessions for the hajj pilgrimage. they advocate for participation within trusted groups that ensure safety and security throughout the worship process (zahroh & muhajarah, 2024). consequently, it is not surprising that a higher number of bugis women undertake the hajj compared to men. the dynamics surrounding the hajj pilgrimage within indonesian society are undergoing functional changes, as evidenced by several research findings. three relevant studies have been summarized to shed light on this phenomenon. zamakhsyari dhofier (1990 & 1984), for instance, conducted a survey on the socio-economic profile of indonesian hajj pilgrims. he explained that economic factors significantly influence the dynamics of the indonesian hajj. similarly, studies have examined the tradition of wearing hajj clothing within the bugis ethnic group (nirwati et al., 2021; kasman, 2019), revealing notable differences in bugis women’s attire before and after performing the hajj pilgrimage. furthermore, investigations into the relationship between the hajj pilgrimage and the social status of bugis women [ 5 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 indicate that obtaining the hajj title can elevate their social status (nasiruddin, 2022; fitri, 2023). building upon these insights, this research aims to delve deeper into the process of social mobility among bugis women who perform the hajj pilgrimage. this will be achieved by formulating three key questions to guide further exploration in the subsequent sections. first, the discussion will revolve around the hajj pilgrimage as a form of social identity within bugis society. second, attention will be directed towards unraveling the social and cultural transformations experienced by bugis female hajj pilgrims. finally, the focus will shift to examining the impact of social mobility resulting from the hajj pilgrimage on changes in the social status and roles of bugis women within society. by addressing these questions, the study endeavors to provide new scientific insights into the evolving trends of hajj participation within bugis society, particularly among women. this research aims to complement previous studies by exploring the scope of social mobility generated by hajj pilgrims within the bugis community. it is important to explore this topic in greater detail, focusing on three key aspects. first, while the hajj pilgrimage is typically viewed as a religious obligation within islam, for bugis women, it holds additional significance as a means of elevating their social status. thus, there is an urgent need for an in-depth examination of the social mobility experienced by bugis women who undertake the hajj pilgrimage. second, the impacts stemming from the hajj status attained by bugis women require special attention, as they serve to strengthen their identity within society. finally, this research highlights the sacredness of the hajj pilgrimage within bugis society and its profound significance as a source of pride in social life. this qualitative study targets individuals across various strata of bugis society, including both educated and uneducated women, by examining the influence of education on their perception, activity, and social repositioning. social identity formation through hajj among the bugis people according to h.p badrun (1997), the bugis perspective on the hajj ritual illustrates a dual motivation: first, fulfilling religious obligations and second, using the pilgrimage as a means to gain social recognition, subsequently fulfilling societal roles. in addition, the hajj is viewed as an expression of obedience to religious recommendations and the fulfillment of the fifth pillar of islam (syamsurijal, 2020). however, beyond individual motivations, the hajj is also a communal expression rooted in a collective awareness of the importance of adhering to true islamic principles by completing fundamental [ 6 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 religious teachings. this community-driven perspective aligns with durkheim’s assertion that religion serves as a unifying force within society. (bustomi et al., 2023). the hajj pilgrimage has evolved into a profound religious symbol that motivates the bugis people to perform it. beyond its spiritual significance, the hajj holds considerable influence in shaping the social identity within bugis society. social identity encompasses various aspects, including culture, religion, and shared values upheld by a community (lisma, 2023). within the bugis community, embarking on the hajj pilgrimage transcends mere religious obligation; it serves as a powerful foundation for the formation and reinforcement of their social identity. moreover, the hajj pilgrimage can serve as a motif for individuals to engage in economic activities guided by principles such as strong work ethic, efficiency, optimism, and adherence to halal procedures. this is particularly evident in traditional societies where numerous events occur before and after the hajj pilgrimage. however, the substantial economic investment required for the hajj presents a significant obstacle that requires determination to overcome. the cost factor undeniably plays a dominant role in determining the success or failure of prospective hajj pilgrims. this was evident in 1999 during the monetary crisis, where there was a drastic decline in hajj pilgrims due to soaring costs, leading to a one-third reduction in the number of pilgrims compared to the previous year. (ahmad, 2013). participation in the hajj pilgrimage introduces a new dimension to the social identity of the bugis community. culturally, the hajj experience is deeplyrooted within the rich traditions and values of the bugis people. this spiritual journey not only signifies obedience to the pillars of islam but also reflects a sense of pride in the enduring bugis cultural heritage, as described in this discussion. furthermore, the hajj serves as a channel for fostering solidarity and unity among the bugis community (baso, 2012). the collective undertaking of the hajj pilgrimage fosters strong social bonds among fellow pilgrims. on a broader scale, the hajj experience serves as a unifying force, allowing the bugis community to take part in the solidarity of muslims globally, thereby fortifying their social identity as integral members of the broader islamic community. in society, there exist four structural elements: social identity, social situation, social groups, and social roles (spradley & mc. coerdy, 1975: 118). this concept serves to emlain and comprehend the phenomenon of pilgrimage among bugis women for several reasons. first, it seeks to grasp society in a structured manner, revealing the tangible patterns of interaction among its [ 7 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 various components. these patterns endure over time as interactions occur in an organized fashion. this concept facilitates the explanation of society through a more specific and interconnected framework of structures that contribute to the formation of societal dynamics. second, this concept explains the reciprocal relationship between individuals and the broader social structure (society). it suggests that individuals and society possess distinct identities that influence each other. individuals within society can be categorized into various groups based on factors such as gender, ethnicity, occupation, etc. sheldon stryker (1980) refers to this as ‘identity.’ as individuals form groups, their individual identities transform into group identities, each characterized by unique attributes that distinguish them from other groups. (hogg a.m., 2003).identity elements can also identify groups of people who feel inferior compared to other societal groups and subsequently strive to improve their condition to regain a positive social identity. according to hogg and abram (1988), only with a positive social identity can recognition and social equality from others be achieved. in the context of social groups, positive social identity can be shaped through mechanisms such as social mobility and social change. social mobility refers to the movement of individuals from lower social groups to higher ones. according to laker (in taylor and moghaddam, 1994), individuals or groups who perceive their identity as inferior may experience misidentification, where they attempt to align themselves with the identity of another group perceived as superior. the social identity shaped through the hajj pilgrimage significantly influences the bugis people’s self-perception and their relationships with the broader community. this spiritual journey not only deepens their sense of islam but also fosters an increased awareness of social and moral responsibility among individuals and within the bugis community. (francis & mckenna, 2017). overall, the hajj is not merely a pilgrimage; it serves as a strong foundation for forming social identity in bugis society (syamsurijal et al., 2023). through this experience, bugis pilgrims explore their cultural roots by studying history, engaging with the older generation, and observing traditions. this journey reinforces islamic values, enhances solidarity, and shapes their selfperception and role within the wider society. thus, the hajj transcends being a mere religious ritual, becoming a pillar that builds and sustains a rich social identity for the bugis people. (niu & li). transformation within the bugis female hajj pilgrims bugis female hajj pilgrims experience a significant social transformation [ 8 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 marked by increased religious awareness during their hajj journey (prastyo, 2022). this spiritual experience not only alters their perspectives on islamic teachings but also deepens their understanding of the religious values that strengthen everyday life. this increased religious awareness involves a more profound comprehension of islamic worship practices, ethics, and moral values grounded in commendable morals (wekke, 2017). consequently, bugis women who undertake the hajj not only undergo individual transformation in the religious dimension but also positively impact their home communities. this increased religious awareness often influences social interactions, policy formation, and the development of moral values within their social environment. within the community, the hajj serves as a powerful social symbol for bugis women, reinforcing social values. as a symbol, the hajj holds significant importance in the minds of the bugis people. in the kalabbirang urban village, the status of having performed the hajj helps shape social values in the daily lives of bugis women, distinguishing them from other bugis individuals who have not performed the pilgrimage. these pilgrimage values then influence their interactions in everyday life. thus, the symbol of “hajj” carries substantial importance for bugis women. (fitri, 2023). according to clifford geertz, the significance of a symbol is most tangible when it is prominently featured in rituals or myths. the sacredness attributed to symbols serves to bridge ontology and cosmology with aesthetics and morality. the distinctive strength of these symbols lies in their capacity to align facts with values at the deepest level, instilling something purely factual with comprehensive normative content (geertz, 1995: 54-57). in the context of bugis society, cultural practices culminate in reverence for the objects of that culture. due to their substantive and perceived nature, values, norms, and symbols hold greater prominence among structural functionalists not as structural elements, but rather as cultural components. these elements occupy various conceptual spaces surrounding the social structure of bugis society (merton, 1949). essentially, the norms and values of the hajj represent ideas or symbols residing in the minds of individual bugis women who have performed the pilgrimage, serving as a ‘code of sanctions’ for their interactions. as a symbol, the hajj carries significant value in the collective consciousness of the bugis people. bugis women possess an awareness of the subjective meaning inherent in the symbols of the hajj, which can manifest through words, actions, or objects (wahab, 2011). when the bugis community comprehends the significance of the hajj, it becomes a social phenomenon. moreover, the [ 9 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 ability of bugis individuals to construct the hajj as a social symbol inherently positions the human mind as a product of socialization. (sadzali, 2018). field findings indicate that during weddings or village events, individuals who have performed the hajj pilgrimage are accorded the same level of respect as religious scholars and village officials. this social capital not only facilitates the economic activities of traders by alleviating psychological barriers but also enhances trust among their peers. the honorific title of “hajj” confers trustworthiness and a range of social benefits, including improved social status and socio-economic advantages, categorizing hajj participants as part of a religious elite group (subair, 2019). furthermore, subair (2019) elaborates that the significance of the hajj ritual transcends mere religious doctrine, evolving into an institution capable of upholding local values. for instance, hajj as a social institution can elevate an individual’s status within society. (farida, 1999:37). the impact of the hajj on individuals who have completed the pilgrimage is often perceived through changes in their social status within society. this perspective views the hajj instrumentally, recognizing its potential to strengthen and enhance an individual’s mobility and competitive spirit. it involves strategies and symbolic behaviors aimed at increasing personal prestige, as well as that of one’s family or group (bianchi, 2015; nashir, 2013). thus, the hajj is interpreted as a status symbol that reflects one’s social standing and position of high regard. common methods employed to express this status include the utilization of symbols such as commendable actions (horton and hunt, 1992), observable behaviors, attire, housing, and affiliation with organizations, all serving as manifestations of self-actualization. (soerjono, 1990). strengthening cultural identity within the context of the hajj pilgrimage among bugis women offers a profound insight into how spiritual experiences can foster unity and safeguard cultural diversity. this is proven by their actions throughout the hajj pilgrimage, where bugis women often wear traditional attire, engage in customary bugis rituals, take part in pre-departure celebrations, utilize bugis weaving as a symbol of pride, recite prayers in the bugis language, and create spaces that promote and fortify their cultural identity (kasman, 2019). upholding these traditions not only fosters a sense of solidarity among bugis pilgrims but also serves as a distinctive marker of bugis cultural diversity amid diverse hajj pilgrims coming from various corners of the world. beyond serving as a local identifier, the strengthening of cultural identity can serve as an effective instrument for fostering intercultural understanding and appreciation among hajj pilgrims. (hakim & djarot, 2023). [ 10 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 in a broader context, enhancing the cultural identity of bugis female hajj pilgrims can have a positive impact on the global perception of muslims. through celebrating cultural diversity within the universal setting of the hajj pilgrimage, bugis women not only preserve their cultural heritage but also serve as cultural ambassadors who promote positive intercultural dialogue amid the social complexities of a globalized society. strengthening cultural identity during the hajj journey transcends mere local performance; it serves as a global assertion of the richness of culture capable of uniting the spirituality of muslims worldwide. societal impact of social mobility through hajj pilgrimage the social mobility experienced by bugis female hajj pilgrims manifests as an elevation in their status or standing within society, giving them respect and recognition. this is attributed to the dynamics and processes involved in performing the hajj pilgrimage, which not everyone can undertake, spanning from the initial stages of departure to the return. this journey yields significant contributions to society. first, participation in the hajj pilgrimage emphasizes bugis women’s unwavering commitment to islamic values. the pilgrimage journey, characterized by extensive travel and material sacrifice, serves as tangible evidence of their dedication to upholding the principles of the islamic faith (suliyati, 2018). their courage to embark on the hajj pilgrimage amid logistical and physical challenges serves as a testament to their level of faith and sincerity, garnering admiration from the surrounding community (zainuddin, 2013). martin van bruinessen (1990: 45) further observes the hajj ritual as possessing religious, social, and political functions. moreover, kuntowijoyo (1991) highlights the social function of the hajj, which historically, during colonial times, played a role in shaping the emergence of a new class within the hierarchical structure of society. social mobility through the hajj pilgrimage provides bugis women with opportunities to acquire new experiences and knowledge. throughout the pilgrimage, they engage in interactions with pilgrims from diverse cultural and social backgrounds (khair, 2008). this not only enriches their understanding but also broadens their social networks, facilitating the exchange of ideas and fostering collaborations that can elevate their social status (kisworo, 2017). furthermore, active participation in religious activities such as the hajj can boost the leadership capabilities and social skills of bugis women in the eyes of society. [ 11 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 the participation of bugis women in hajj activities has yielded a positive impact on reshaping society’s perception of women. traditionally, women’s roles have been constrained by conservative social norms prevalent in certain communities (moore, 1998; radcliffe, 1982). however, through their experiences as hajj pilgrims, bugis women have the opportunity to engage in worship activities that are often regarded as prestigious, affording them space for a deeper understanding of the role of women in islam (abdurrahman, 2009). this opportunity provides them with a platform to showcase their spiritual resilience and religious knowledge, breaking up stereotypes and fostering new perspectives on the potential contributions of women to society. (zahrok & suarmini, 2018). the hajj experience offers bugis women a broader understanding of women’s roles within a social context. as hajj pilgrims, they engage with the international community, gaining insights into social and cultural realities beyond their local environment (pasa, 2022). this exposure helps change societal perceptions of women from being confined solely to domestic roles to recognizing their significant contributions to social and religious dynamics (qomariyah & fathiyaturrahmah, 2024). consequently, bugis women’s participation in the hajj not only triggers changes in public perceptions but also holds the potential to provide greater opportunities for women’s involvement across various aspects of life. moreover, the elevated social status of bugis women can significantly influence overall family dynamics (rohmah & hidayat, 2023). when a mother or wife garners respect and recognition in society due to social mobility, it can positively impact the family’s perception and well-being. elevating the social status of women within the family can also inspire the younger generation to pursue higher education and aspirations, fostering a family environment oriented towards positive development. (wahyuni & simatupang, 2024). the social mobility experienced by bugis female hajj pilgrims represents a phenomenon capable of reshaping the landscape of religious values within society. the hajj pilgrimage engages bugis women in a profound spiritual environment, offering a unique opportunity to deepen their comprehension of religious values (prasojo, 2020). as agents of change, bugis women who have performed the hajj can impart their religious insights to the surrounding community, thereby making a positive contribution to the dissemination and understanding of spiritual values in everyday life. this perspective aligns with the notion of the constructive impact of women’s engagement in religious activities, where the experience of the hajj can generate the transformation of religious values within the bugis community. (afsar, 2009). [ 12 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 the contribution of bugis women in elevating social status also yields positive role models for the next generation (mansyur et al., 1998). serving as strong and independent exemplars, bugis women who have performed the hajj can inspire young women to pursue their aspirations and engage actively in community development (homans, 1974). hence, the social mobility of bugis women through the hajj not only affects individual social status but also generates a multiplier effect that resonates throughout the broader social structure. conclusion as times are changing, societal development has resulted in new patterns of life, even within the bugis community, while still maintaining its cultural traditions. drawing from the explanations and discussions presented earlier, this research has formulated three significant findings. first, the hajj pilgrimage serves not only as a religious fulfillment for the bugis community but also as a means of shaping their societal identity, thereby enhancing their mobility. second, the identity of bugis women who have performed the pilgrimage remains embedded in them throughout their lives. this is evidenced by the elevated status of individuals holding the title of hajj, who often assume central roles in bugis community events, even informal ones. they continue to collaborate with religious leaders, transcending their previous status as ordinary individuals. third, the social mobility of bugis women affects public perceptions regarding the role of women in religious rituals, which are still overshadowed by conservative ideologies. through the hajj, bugis women challenge the stigma associated with their societal position, debunking the notion that women are inherently subordinate to men in religious contexts. there are limitations in the findings of this study. one notable aspect is the sustainability of the impact generated by social mobility within the bugis community. this research serves as a supplement to existing studies on the hajj for bugis women, leaving room for further exploration of unexplored areas. it is therefore necessary to delve into other aspects such as the challenges and opportunities encountered by bugis community pilgrims in maintaining their societal presence. this endeavor promises to reveal new insights and scholarly contributions as modernity penetrates remote regions of indonesia, particularly in sulawesi. contemporary rituals frequently generates new cultural practices within society, and the socio-cultural dynamics of bugis community members who have performed the hajj pilgrimage are no exception. 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(2022). kesadaran keagamaan dan harmoni sosial muslim plateau dieng. at-tafkir, 15(1), 44-69. qomariyah, n., & fathiyaturrahmah, f. (2024). peran ganda dosen perempuan dalam melaksanakan peran domestik dan peran publik. aulad: journal on early childhood. 7(1), 89-96. radcliffe-brown (1982). structure and function in primitive society. new york: free press rahim, a. r. (1992). nilai-nilai utama kebudayaan bugis. (no title). rohmah, n. a. i., & hidayat, m. a. (2023). dinamika modal sosial dan peran [ 16 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 ‘ebhu ajjhi’(ibu haji) dalam masyarakat pedesaan di bangkalan dan sampang. jurnal ilmiah ilmu sosial, 9(2), 160-172. sadzali, a. m. (2018). kelas haji kelas sosial: sejarah haji dari zaman kolonial hingga kini ditinjau dari kajian kritis kapitalisme. tsaqofah dan tarikh: jurnal kebudayaan dan sejarah islam. 3(1), 25-38. smith, h. (2001). agama-agama manusia. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia. soerjono, s. (1990). sosiologi. jakarta. pt raja grafindo persada. spadley, j. p. & david w. m. c. (1975). anthropologi the cultural perspective. new york: john wiley & sons. inc. stryker, s. (1980). symbolic interactionism: a social structural version. menlo park. ca: benjamin-cummings/blackburn. subair, s. (2019). simbolisme haji orang bugis menguak makna ibadah haji bagi orang bugis di bone sulawesi selatan. ri’ayah: jurnal sosial dan keagamaan. 3(02), 17-29. suliyati, t. (2018). bissu: keistimewaan gender dalam tradisi bugis. endogami: jurnal ilmiah kajian antropologi, 2(1), 52-61. syamsurijal, davies, s., syuhudi, m. i., nur khoiron, m., halimatusa’diah, nensia, & maarif, s. (2023). trans people making the hajj to mecca: religiosity and social inclusion in indonesia. indonesia and the malay world, 51(151), 348–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2023.228 7861 syamsurijal, s. (2022). ilalang arenna haji bawakaraeng. pusaka. 10(2), 254275. wahab, m. h. a. (2011). simbol-simbol agama. substantia: jurnal ilmuilmu ushuluddin. 13(1), 78-84. wahyuni, g., & simatupang, h. y. (2024). tantangan perempuan minangkabau dalam mengakses pendidikan di tengah budaya matrilineal. journal of global perspective. 2(1), 112-124. wekke, i. s. (2017). islam dan adat: tinjauan akulturasi budaya dan agama dalam masyarakat bugis. analisis: jurnal studi keislaman. 13(1), 27-56. wiwiek, dkk. (1986). upacara tradisional daerah sulawesi selatan. ujung pandang: depdikbud. zahroh, e. p., & muhajarah, k. (2024). pandangan ulama sunni-syiah terhadap mahram haji bagi perempuan. el-buhuth: borneo journal of islamic studies, 305-313. [ 17 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 zahrok, s., & suarmini, n. w. (2018). peran perempuan dalam keluarga. iptek journal of proceedings series. (5), 61-65. zainuddin, m. (2013). haji dan status sosial: studi tentang simbol agama di kalangan masyarakat muslim. el harakah: jurnal budaya islam. 15(2), 169-184. [ 18 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2960 [ 25 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 islamic thought, nationalism, and multiculturalism zuly qodir muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta abstract the inclusive interpretation of religious texts will contribute to the development of plural and multicultural theological perspective rather than develop anexclusive and closed theology. there is a lot of momentum which can serve as a point of departure for developing multicultural theology in indonesia when humanitarian issues are faced by so many believers, especially the muslims, such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, and ignorance that continue to haunt the entire country rather than busy interfering with other people’s faith. judging by very diverse field conditions, there is a final note regarding multiculturalism in the context of islam in indonesia. there are internal and external problems that affect religious understanding in this country. the internal factors are the existence of a highly diverse understanding, from moderate, progressive to conservative, thus influencing each other’s understanding of the indonesian muslims. the internal factor cannot be underestimated for it is perceived to be influential in the community, so it has to be an understanding that is able to push the development of multiculturalism and pluralism in indonesia. meanwhile the external factors should also get attention in this study. keywords: islam, perspective, multiculturalism, and indonesia. introduction discussion about multiculturalism in indonesia is relatively new, particularly after earlier discussionsfilled with the term pluralism have been growing since the 1990’s. however, the discussion about pluralism since the 1990s until the present day has been filled with controversy. a little different to the term multiculturalism, though later the term was also questioned because of the suffix ‘ism’ that is considered very close to other terms such as secularism, liberalism, communism and socialism. a growing controversy, of course, will not improve indonesia’s conditions. equality, well-being, and public order --expected to continue to grow in the country-are in fact difficult to develop when the controversy over the terms continues without satisfactory explanation. therefore, it takes an effort that minimizes and enables new insights and opens discourse about multiculturalism in indonesia. indonesia is a country with a lot of ethnic, religious, tribal, and social [ 26 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 groups. it is even multicultural in terms of just about anything and there is no question about it.however, the terms multiculturalism and pluralismwill immediately be rejected particularly bymost muslims who are willing to use the words such asplural and pluralistic, multicultural, but are not willing to use the termspluralism or multiculturalism. the discussion about the two terms above needs to be done in order to increasingly open and develop insights and discourse on pluralism and multiculturalism in the country. in the religious context, inter-religious issues are often present in a society. this happens because the question of inter-religious issues in fact always involves a religious emotion, called religious commitment and religious claim which allows one to be the most loyal follower. in fact, the issues of religious commitment and religious claim cannot be denied, in a more positive perspective, which may lead to viewing other groups as partners in interreligious dialog. activists should promote intercultural and inter-religious dialogs so that the tradition of dialogwill be encouraged. this is to avoid any social conflict based on theological backgrounds. socio-religious conflict can be minimized when groups are willing to acknowledge the presence of others who are different. appreciatingand at the same time acknowledging the other groups across their own beliefs is where the principle of multiculturalism becomes very important. socio-religious conflict would thus decrease when religious groups either internally or externally are open and mutually respect and recognize the presence of others. the consequences that will ensue from such an attitude is the existence of a will to make religious texts that can be interpreted by a lot of people whereas such interpretation should be relative. the study in this paper will focus on the use of the term multiculturalism which is adopted in several occasions together with the term pluralism, though the two are actually very different in meaning. some use the term pluralism to describe the religious context, while the term multiculturalism is used to describe issues that are closely related to socio-cultural, so it is relatively preferred compared to the term pluralism. some (especially among anthropologists) use the term multiculturalism to describe a society that becomes the destination of migration and cultural exchanges which is different in the context of indonesia. in indonesia, most anthropologists prefer the term cultural diversity rather than multiculturalism. this kind of debate was once brought by will kymlica. specifically, the study in this paper is based on the description viewed from the islamic perspective, i.e. the customs or information conveyed by the muslim scholars interpreting islamic texts: the quran, hadith, statements of [ 27 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the companions, as well as a growing tradition in the islamic world. therefore, it is very likely that there might be a difference of understanding of the text used as the authentic basis in this paper when compared to the interpretation made by other parties. it is the evidence of the diversity of cultures because the definition of the author’s background, history, and so on is also expected to give an explanation for the study conducted. nevertheless, differences in the interpretation of the diversity in this study will not be the focus. theymerely show how the various perspectives of one text that is used by an author in making interpretation. with such explanation, it is expected to provide a concise description of the study here which focuses more on the definition of text rather than the differences over its meaning. the difference of meaning of the text can also be referred to as the wealth of the islamic culture and islam itself in terms of the interpretation of a term, including the controversial one commonly found in indonesia. the theory of multiculturalism the year 2013 brought expectationsto many parties, particularly due to theoften rowdy and noisy”political festivity” that will be held in 2014. these expectationsare among others: guarantee of the religious freedom and rights of the minorities,no more discriminatory acts,religious-based conflict resolution can work properly, so as to prevent interreligious conflict. such conditionsare expected not to happen again, especially against minorities who often become the targets of the majority’s disappointment, even if it is just a group of people acting in the name of the majority of muslims. multiculturalism is the term that best represents an overview of indonesia. it is hard to find a better term that describes the real condition other than by mentioning indonesia as a plural country. therefore, muslim writers such as farid esack, abdul aziz sachedina and syed hashim ali argued that multiculturalism has existed in islam from the beginning and cannot be denied. multiculturalism has become sunatullah, the will of god, so opposing it is similar to acting against god who has willed so. according to farid esack (1997) multiculturalism is the condition of a person who can accept and acknowledge differences and diversity. multiculturalism goes beyond the tolerance and differences, as it is present a sincere person and in action against other parties who are different “. similarly syed ali hashim stated that multiculturalism is “the condition of society in which cultural, religious groups, and ethnic groups lived side by side in a nation (country). multiculturalism also means that reality is composed of [ 28 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 many of fundamental substances. multiculturalism is also a belief that there is no system identifier (understanding) or single view of reality that can explain the reality of life. see also statement of abdul aziz sachedina (2001), in his book on pluralism. sachedina said that pluralism is a term or word summary to mention a new world order where diverse cultures, belief systems and values evoke the excitement of various human expressions which never run out and inspire solutions to unresolved conflicts”. what religious people fear mostregardingproblems related to religion such as deviating religious teachings, and so on do not appear to be in the substantial explanation about multiculturalism, but sometimes appear in some views and informal discussions going on in academic forums in addition to investigations in the forums that multiculturalism is a vehicle towards one’s faith toward the unification of religions so that religions seem to make no difference. something like this should be responded carefully because improper response may lead to not only worthless discussion, but also a misunderstanding that keeps recurring and thriving in society at large. the three muslim scholars’ explanation above can be concluded that multiculturalism is not contrary to islam at all. multiculturalism is the objective conditions in the field which requires muslims and people of other religions mutually understand, respect, and take care of each other. these conditions can be created and among fellow believers who should unequivocally reject and prevent if there are groups of people who wish to destroy the objective conditions of multiculturalism. such attitude will ensure that multiculturalism in indonesia will last. thus, there is no need to worry about multiculturalism, or in other words, there isnothing to worry about regarding faith and religion. the multicultural condition, according to the theoriesdeveloped by the islamic scholars, does not necessarily make all religions similar. in fact, the concept of multiculturalism is to keep an objective condition that cannot be destroyed by anyone. excessive concern about multiculturalism is unfounded. characteristics of multiculturalism based on the opinions expressed by the muslim scholar above, it can be concluded that multiculturalism should become part of people’s lives in a region of a stateon earth. the opinion that multiculturalism destroyssomeone’s belief cannot be justified and is absolutely unfounded. as a matter of fact, multiculturalism serves as the power to strengthen one’s faith, not the other way round. such explanations must be emphasized because manypeople think that [ 29 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 multiculturalism only makes society fragile and causes a person to be against religion and beliefs that became his conviction. in fact, multiculturalism is the doctrine of the faith of a person based on the uniqueness and characteristics of beliefs that one adheres to, and thus only one should respect, value, and appreciate the existence of diversity and heterogeneity to build a better community life. there should not be any group who wishes to destroy heterogeneity which becomes the will of god. this is the hallmark of multiculturalism which is often wrongly understood that multiculturalism seems to wish to equate all religions and urge people to change religion. this kind of opinion, based on the view of the three muslim scholars above,is clearly unjustified. therefore, it is clearlyincorrect to say that multiculturalism is the view of equating all religions and invite people to leave their faith. a muslim researcher of multiculturalism, farid esack even explained that the qur’an from the beginning indeed appreciates the existence of multiculturalism, as in the use of the termsthe people of prophet noah, the people of prophet luth, the people of prophet abraham, and so on. meanwhile, on other occasions the term human being a whole is used. this shows that in the case of certain cases, the quran uses special terms like “o believers, the kufr, the wise and so on, but for other common cases,theterm used is human. this is evident that the element of multiculturalismis found in the quran. in the meantime, will kymlica, an expert in politics and multiculturalism, provided a more political and sociological explanation on the nature of multiculturalism by comparing the systems of governance that flourished in the time of ancient rome with the political system developed in turkey, the french system of millet and canada as a study of contemporary multiculturalism. kymlica explained how differences in political system are implemented, but the four systems have its respective uniqueness, not the same in applying its policies on society. all four are based on their own characteristics, among others, mutual respect and respect for the diversity of cultures and political systems. each community that has a different culture and value system will easily embracedifferent values. muslims for example will earnestly attempt to apply the command of the holy quran so to be righteous and faithful,and not to bekufr and dzalim. christians will also do their best to comply with the teachings of the bible and jesus christ, and so on.each religion has its own example where diverse people cannot impose their will on others the people because they are different. there is no compulsion in religionaccording to the quran, the holly book that serves as the main guideline for every muslim. in fact, even a society of a country has a very strong culture of diversity. in [ 30 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 indonesia, for example, there are strong cultural differences between the communities of javanese and the papuan in practicing everyday life. the javanese people often believe the events that occur in the community serve as a sign of a larger event. for example, a disaster that befallsa family continuously is believed that a large disaster will occur in the surrounding communities even on an island. meanwhile, in papua, such a belief is not so strong. another example is related to the daily customs of in society. in the javanese community, for example, if you walk with your friends past your home, youwill say “please stop by” as a sign of small talk with friends. the javanese say “monggo mampir”, (please stop by)because they are being polite. whether you drop by or not does not really matters. in papua, a habit like that is nowhere to be found. this case is also common in other areas. some of the examples above explain the objective conditions of multiculturalism which becomes indonesia’s wealth, either in terms of religion and culture which isfound in the midst of the community. the various traditions give an overview to the public that indonesia’s objective conditions may be different from one community to another. therefore, we must appreciate and acknowledge the existence of differences of culture and religion which is very crucial and has become eternal necessity. the islamic perspective studiesconducted bymuslim scholars on multiculturalism can be presented in the following section. however, it should be noted here that the analysis in this section is only a fraction of the research both from overseas and within the country, as well as interviews with some of the scholars who are concerned with the theme of multiculturalism in indonesia. study on multiculturalism in islam is often understood as pluralism, though there is a substantial difference. as already mentioned at the beginning, pluralism tends to be related to religious issueswhile multiculturalism is used with regard to social, cultural, and political issues. however, in practice, it is often used interchangeably, sowhen certain groups hear the term multiculturalism, they immediately likened to pluralism, whose existence has been politically rejected by several indonesian islamic groups. the term multiculturalism is often used interchangeably with the term pluralism because this is actually related to the question of globalization where people of different religionsin the worldare faced with serious changes in the world globally, so religious followers could not turn a blind eye at each other. in fact, religiouspeoples should promotemutual learning and mutual respect of each [ 31 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 other. here lies the political issues, and the question of religious proselytizing becomes a serious issue among the adherents of the religions of abraham. in fact, if carefully analyzed, multiculturalism has been in existence since the days of prophetmuhammad in islam. in the qur’an, it has been mentioned clearly about the condition of multiculturalism that should be appreciated and recognized by the followers of muhammad (peace be upon him) and the people of the other prophets. there is no doubt about the meaning of the holly book over the recognition of multiculturalism. nevertheless, the rejection of multiculturalism often occurs due to lack of knowledge and information. the most obvious example of how the qur’an recognizes and respects multiculturalism is stated in verse 13 surah al-hujurat, which means: “o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of allah is the most righteous of you. indeed, allah is knowing and acquainted.” the verse indicates that the diversity of the human race with all the background is indisputable. the diversity of cultures is the will of god almighty. then, why do people often attempt to negate diversity which has become god’s will? it is because political issues that are plaguing their hearts and minds. the above verse clearly shows that only people who are committed will get the reward from god among all human beings, not because of differences. note also the following verse that suggests the existence of multiculturalism in cultural and socio-cultural situations. we should be concerned of humanitarian issues, not matters of differences betweendifferent followers of the prophets as explained in the quran as follows: “o you who have believed, believe in allah and his messenger and the book that he sent down upon his messenger and the scripture which he sent down before. and whoever disbelieves in allah , his angels, his books, his messengers, and the last day has certainly gone far astray. “(an nisa: 136). the above verse firmly gives orders to human beings to believe in god, his apostles, and hisholy books that have been revealed to his prophets before prophet muhammad. meanwhile heathenism is shutting oneself to the truth that god has already revealed to all mankind, either now or before, namely the prophetic times before muhammad. we are commanded to honor and acknowledge the existence of the earlier prophets, the prophets before muhammad, and took lessons from the books of the prophets before muhammad, for it is a characteristic of people of faith. in the above verse it is also confirmed that reward is given to those who do well with passion rather than those who mock or hate others for practicing different religions and [ 32 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 beliefs in life. in fact, we have to respect anyonewho differs in religious belief and god will see the real adherents of the religion. doing good is the essence of all religions, in addition to the belief on what is practiced during life. note also the words of god that require muslims to respect the places of worship of non-muslims, christians, jews, and the majusi. the quran mentions explicitly: “and who are more unjust than those who prevent the name of allah from being mentioned in his mosques and strive toward their destruction. it is not for them to enter them except in fear. for them in this world is disgrace, and they will have in the hereafter a great punishment.” (al-baqarah : 114). the above verse asserts that “the mosque” is a place of worship used to worship god no matter where we are. “the mosque” is the name of a place of worship of muslims, while temples, churches, monasteries, and synagogue are places of worship to say the names of god with a term known in various religions on earth. therefore, god almighty questions those disbelieve and destroy places of worship where god’s name is echoed. this verse clearly says that every religious group must respect places of worship of different religions, and not to disgrace and ruin them. being derogatory to or damaging places of worship of different people willbe severely punished by god. anyone who insults and hates other faiths will receive god’s wrath. syafiq hasyim, a scholar of the nu (muslim organization) gave an explanation that multiculturalism has been going well since the days of the prophet and the post prophetic with various kinds of events that can be taken as lessons for muslims on earth, including in indonesia. he explained that the duty of a muslim to seek knowledge into the land of china is a form of homage to the chinese which was known for its buddhism, not the islamic religion. the tradition in china was different from thatof the middle east where islam came from. the suggestion that muslims learn until far into the country of china gives a sign that islam is a religion that really appreciates the civilizations of other nations, not only the islamic civilization itself. civilization is a sign of a developed nation that has confidence about the future. in the social sphere, as the faithful, wemust help each other despite different religions. in the theological sphere, different beliefs should respect each other for god has sent his apostles and revealed his books in every prophetic period. the race in the virtues is expected to bring good among believers. this verse thus can unequivocally be described as theological and sociological ground for the appreciation and acknowledge the existence of multiculturalism in islam to other religions. therefore, the tolerance shown by prophet muhammad to other believers is not an odd stance because the quran teaches about tolerance [ 33 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 toward people of other faiths. in fact, it is weird to oppose the tolerance that prophet muhammad taught during this time in the treaty of medina. what prophet muhammad did was god’s instructionthat must be observed by every muslim. religions must uphold the attitude of compassion, mutual respect, and respect for religious beliefs and differences, no judging others based on hatred. serious question here can be asked here, why do most muslims reject the lessons contained in the qur’an and the sunnah of prophet muhammad about multiculturalism and religious tolerance? there are several groups who continue to spread hatred toward people of another religion, even among people of the same faith by using physical and non-physical terror in the form of inappropriate statements. this is what needs to get serious attention forindonesian muslims as the majority in terms of adherents of the religion of abraham. indonesia nationalism nationality is a concept that became a uniting power echoed by the founding fathers of this country. the founding fathers (known locally as the proklamator) sukarno and hatta,stressed that although we are different but we must remain united: one language, one nation and one state that is indonesia. therefore, leo agustino said when interviewed about nationality that “the national unity must be positioned in the conception of unity in diversity, rather than the unification (of differences).” the people of papua think that they are a nation of papuabecause theybelong to a different race which is the melanesian. the melanesians are very different from most indonesian. according to agustinus, in the eyes of the people of papua, the concept of nationality in this context ismerely a role model, subject to the government as citizens but their awareness is of the melanesian. things like this are harmful if not immediately resolved, because gradually it will spread that papua is not a part of indonesia. thus, building the capacity of papua will become the cornerstone of building nationalism, especially by the higher educational institutions and the government. one of the ways of making papua to remain part of indonesia is by eliminating a negative stigma about the papuan communities and discrimination against them. discrimination is a form of lack of recognition of nationhood, but papua is part of the community of the republic of indonesia; they just happen to have different skin and hair. some cases of conflict in papua since integrated intoindonesiaare not fully resolved, and should be reviewedto find an alternative solution according to [ 34 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 the applicable law. marginalization is happening in ambon, characterized by the economic issues, and will continue to cause a prolonged conflict if there is no settlement. the lack of state recognition of the rights of the indigenous people of papua and aceh will become barrier factors for them to become part of indonesia. this dominant factor has resulted in the fact that papua and aceh feel they are not part of indonesia politically, economically and culturally. nevertheless, the fact there is a strong belief that the people of papua havestrong nationalism. the proof for this, for example, in certain indigenous culture (in serui, jayapura, biak, sorong) when there a wedding event especially in the proposing process, in addition to the dowry brought to the bride, they also carry a red and white (the indonesian) flag not the opm. this shows that indonesia is still a symbol of nationalism in papua. in fact, now there is a growing awareness in the community that the people of papua should refuseto be subject to economic and political interestsfor the elites and foreigners, said muridan s widjoyo. when outside of papua, for example in yogyakarta,the papuan students always call themselvesthe papuans rather than indonesians. according to the papuans, the construction of their mindset outside papua is that they look at themselves as belonging to a different group from indonesia. therefore, according to ave, to reconstruct their nationalism is to build the construction of papua based on the local wisdom or wealth locally owned in the form of many traditions, such as dance, art, customs, and religion. from there, nationalism will emerge from the papuans and other tribes in indonesia. nationalism will grow stronger when the government gives attention to their community. in national and international events, papuans are contributing in defending nationalism in national and international sporting events. this shows that the community actually has fostered a strong indonesian awareness, not independence from indonesia. in order for the papuans to really become part of indonesia, the government of indonesia should improve their well being in the sense that they are not discriminated andmarginalized, and their natural resources not be exploited. if the papuansenjoy justice, equality, and recognition, they will have stronger nationalism. however, if what mentioned is not met, a wave of protests and demonstration is inevitable. consequently, they are referred to as indonesians but emotionally they are a nation of melanesia consisting of various tribes (arfak in manokwari, asmat in marin, yakal in maroke, mee in panai, yali andand lani in wamena, the komoro and amungne in timika). in the context of the people of aceh who embrace a culture of patriarchy, it is the responsibility of everyone in aceh, especially men,to continue the [ 35 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 acehnese culture. therefore, for the people of aceh, the issue of ethnicity is very important because it also concerns the question of identity. in this context, when there is a question about nationality, theywill answer that we belong to the nation of aceh, butthe state of indonesia. every descendant of the acehneseis aware of and sensitive to the ethnicity that forms the identity of their culture. however, one cannot say that sincethe acehnese are identical with the islamic culture,they are not part ofindonesia. this is because in the history of aceh,it supportedthe indonesia’s independence and gavea lot of contribution to the continuity of the nation of indonesia. therefore, the people of aceh form a community that has a historical bond of the indonesian nationalism since the time of pre independence. the history of the nation of aceh is indeed different from that of the javanese, but by no means java is better than aceh. related to the above mentioned matters, muhammad taufik emphasized that multiculturalismis important for any nation to recognize so that its generation can be unified to developed capability and potential for competitiveness. multiculturalism is not paranoid and taksub (selfishness, hatred, and enmity), but is meant to build the nation’s consciousness toward a better direction without forgetting the history and roots of civilization. the political transformation of the acehnese in the present context should be developed towards the consciousness of the elite, and the youth of aceh, in particular, felt disoriented. the acehnese youthin the future must be able to translate the helsinki mou so that sustainable peace will continuein aceh, he said. to that end, he emphasized that the youth need to develop awareness and be able to formulate a more progressiveand substantive multiculturalism. the articulation of the role of youth in aceh, he said, is still much awaited and needed. the implementation of the helsinki mou has yet to go as it should, both on the side of the government of indonesia and the aceh authority. furthermore, taufik affirmed that when multiculturalism is fading among the younger generation, it will lead to demoralization of the nation. we must not forget that the multiculturalism in contemporary political context of aceh has just begun. therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the bitter experiences of the past are not to be repeated. the helsinki pactis a new movement between aceh and indonesia. the question is how to build nationalism in the form of ideas and practice. looking ahead, how consciousness is truly built, so the political identity and integrity will be peaceful and comprehensive, safe and dignified for aceh and indonesia. without pioneering, the youth can only dream to achieve it. aceh is a society which has been joined by indonesians.it has its own culture, i.e. the custom is based on the religious law and the religious [ 36 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 law based on the book of allah.however it does mean aceh must break away from and fight indonesia.it should not beunderstood that way. during suharto’s reign, according to most observers and experts, aceh was in an unfortunate position which ledto separatism emerged. when suharto came to power, aceh was witnessing genocide and destruction. aceh was the area of military operations where the risk of the military personnel raping women in aceh was high. the people of aceh felt the heartache. when aceh demanded justice, the government answered with military actions. activists and ngos emerged in response to the aceh conflict. the natural resources were exploited for the benefit of indonesia and foreigners not forthe prosperity of aceh. therefore, gam demanded independence,and the referendum was granted. the future of multiculturalism the future of multiculturalism will thrive if we are sincerely willing to expand it in three domains at once. first, in the religious discourse (islam and christianity), as the two religions are most often considered problematic in indonesia. a superficial understanding of religion is the cause of the rise of fundamentalism and radicalism which endanger the lives of the believers wherever they are. a superficial view on religions, including religion itself causes no positive perspectives about the presence of other religions and other groups in the internal religion. in fact, what is developed is hatred and suspicion when there are other groups who seek dialogue and cooperation with a different view and religious belief. therefore, the shallow religious views of one’s own and other people’s religion that become a barrier against the perspective of multiculturalism twill hopefully evolve into a global and modern life today. one of the models that can be developed to reduce the exclusivism and radicalism is by opening dialogue and making visitsbetween adherents of religions for mutual learning the different religions will open the horizons of different religious followers. secondly, at the formal and legal level, strengthening of the law according to the scripture of each religion of abraham (judaism, christianity, and islam) to make the law contained therein obeyed by the community. the sacred religious texts already explain or demonstrate the way of life based on tolerance, mutual respect, and recognition of the existence of other people should always be strengthened. a construction must be built on mutual agreement between people who are different because without such agreement,social conflict between religious groups will be inevitable. the harmony between people of differentreligion is proof of the attitude of the true adherents. [ 37 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 third, in practicemulticulturalism exists in the texts but understanding it often doesnot run with the reality of the specified text. fierce conflict in the name of religion is often made legitimized by some people as if it is based on the religious texts. the importance of understanding of religious texts thoroughly and openly should be prioritized by all parties so that understanding of the text into something open and able to develop mutual respect based on each social condition. we should be aware that in a diverse society, people will make various interpretations of the religious texts. if those texts are negatively understood, it is not impossible the perspective of religions will be too narrow, and respect of other religious followers cannot be promoted. inter-religious violence, though not approved by the majority of muslims, will still continue to happen based on the legitimacy understood unilaterally. closing remarks in light of the above discussion, multiculturalism should be examined in a more serious study so as to appreciate the cultural and theological diversity in indonesia, both from the moral and theological aspect of jurisprudence, andshould bemore inclusive than the study of jurisprudence and theology. the interpretation of religious texts which is inclusive also contributes to the development of theological and multicultural perspective rather than developing theological narrow-mindedness. there is a lot of momentum which can serve as a point of departure for developing multicultural theology in indonesia, at the moment the humanitarian issues emergingbefore so many believers, especially the muslims.floods, earthquakes, landslides, and ignorance that continue to haunt the entire country are things need a more serious consideration rather than busy taking care of other people’s faith. judging by the very diverse condition, there is a final note regarding multiculturalism and nationalism in the context of islam in indonesia. we must realize that there are internal and external problems that affect religious understanding in this country. the internal factor is the highly diverse understanding --from moderate, progressive, to conservative--that influences each other in understanding of the muslims in indonesia. the internal factor cannot be underestimated for it is perceived to be influential in the community, so it has to be an understanding that is able to push the development of multiculturalism and pluralism in indonesia. in addition to the internal factors, the external factors which come from outsidethe religious text whichinclude conditions of poverty, ignorance, [ 38 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 and marginalization of the community are also very crucial issues. unequal economic prosperity, education, and community development will easily become the driving force of the rift and social conflict. the textual basis of religion gives a framework that does not allow any killing or injuring others who differ from us. this is where external factors become important in terms of building conditions and the readiness of the community to adopt religious views, especially in islamwhich include inclusiveness, tolerance, and pluralism. if expectations for growth of and the multiculturalism and pluralism can be created simultaneously, in the future we will no longer find suspicion between religious groups just because we are different. religious diversity should be understood assunnatullah (the way of god) which is of course the will of god that could not be rejected. in fact, denying the objective conditions of multiculturalismis contrary to the words of god almighty, as clearly demonstrated in some religious texts. bibliography ali, hasyim. 2002. islam and pluralism, london: sage publication. elshtain, jean e. 2008. “tolerantion, proselytizing and the politics of recognition”, thomas banchof, (ed.), religious pluralism: globalization, and world politics, oxford: oxford university press. esack, farid. 1997. quran, liberalism and pluralism, london: sage publications. hasyim, syafiq. 2007. islam dan multikulturalisme, jakarta: icip. kymlica, will. 2004. kewargaan multikultur, jakarta: lp3es. magnis suseso, franz. 1987. kebudayaan jawa, yogyakarta: kanisius. misrawi, zuhairi. 2007. al quran kitab toleransi, jakarta: fitrah. murder, niels. 2001. kehidupan sehari-hari orang indonesia, malaysia dan thailand, jakarta: gramedia. parekh, bhikku. 2007. rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory, london: sage publications. sachedina, abdul aziz. 2001. berbeda tapi setara, jakarta: serambi. interview report, muhammad taufik, 3/9/2012 interview report, leo agustino, 19 maret 2012 [ 247 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 retrospection of culture in religion in the islands of nias, banyak and simeuleu muhajir al-fairusy stain meulaboh, indonesia email: muhajiralfairusy@staindirundeng.ac.id jovial pally taran stain meulaboh, indonesia email: jovialtaran@staindirundeng.ac.id mowafg abrahem masuwd university of zawia, libya email: masuwd@zu.edu.ly reza idria uin ar-raniry, indonesia email: rezaidria@ar-raniry.ac.id idris hemay uin syarif hidayatullah, indonesia email: idris.hemay@gmail.com amiruddin stain meulaboh, indonesia email: amirudin210320@gmail.com abstract this study focuses and emphasizes on the religious activities of islanders in banyak island, simeulue and nias. this research aims to find religious models and coexistence strategies in interfaith between island communities. these three islands are geographically close and inhabited by people with different religious identities. this research uses qualitative research with an ethnographic approach, data collection is done through in-depth interviews with informants who live on the three islands. the results showed that island communities have a collective ability to manage diversity to avoid conflict in the name of religion. identity as an “island community” becomes social capital in interpreting collective identity. the open character of island communities is also a cultural capital that can suppress suspicion of different groups. however, the three island communities also have different characteristics in the religious moderation policy space. nias islands with a majority christian population composition shows a fairly strong attitude of tolerance. the principle of kinship adopted by the nias community serves to strengthen relations between religious communities. simeulue islands, [ 248 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 whose majority population is muslim, also shows a high level of tolerance by giving permission to build houses of worship for christians who have just arrived in simeulue in the last two decades. in the context of pulau banyak, where the majority of the population is muslim, tolerance is only seen in the economic, market and fishing industry aspects. on the other hand, tolerance does not apply to permits to build houses of worship. this study also discusses the importance of the role of religious and social actors in strengthening community harmony on the three islands under study. keywords: retrospection of culture; muslim islands; christian islands; the islands of nias; banyak and simeuleu introduction the policy of strengthening religious moderation leads the ministry of religious affairs and its apparatus to work more rigorously in order to strengthen the value of moderation in society. the demand to be the main agent and pioneer in stimulating the discourse of religious moderation echoes in every work agenda of this ministry (minister of religious affairs asked islamic higher educational institutions to become centers for development of religious moderation, n.d.). the campaign of moderation values is deemed necessary in order to strengthen pluralism, while at the same time suppressing the number of intolerance and the potential for radicalism that can erupt in the midst of indonesian society with plural identities in religious beliefs. the concept of moderation like this is also called the term modern moderation which advocates efforts to maintain inter-belief relations (hakim et al., 2023).  the existence and function of religion can be seen as a system of action, a value system, and an ideological system. religion in many cases that have been studied in various places has played its role as an ideological system that gives a pattern to the formation of values and group behavior (morris, 1989).pluralistic societies such as in indonesia, it is important to understand moderation and pluralism. although, on the one hand, pluralism serves as a shaper of a high spirit of tolerance. however, on the other hand, it is not uncommon to cause friction in a society with multiple identities such as indonesia. moreover, in some situations, identity politics that often carry race and religion become a very sensitive condition in social life (buchari & astuti, 2014; kambo, 2009; kuntowijoyo, 2018). here, the space and value of religious moderation are considered important as a state policy, as well as a middle way to strengthen pluralism for pluralistic societies (ministry of religious affairs policy planning team, 2019). the setara institute report states that the index of religious harmony and [ 249 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 tolerance in indonesia is still red (azhari & halili, 2020). this means that it takes extra work to see leakage points of intolerance in society. data from the last three years proves that there are still several regions in indonesia that have not reached the target of religious harmony as set nationally, namely 73.83. this condition leads the ministry of religious affairs to move faster in knitting the curtain of nationality, especially in the context of the religious life of indonesian society. in social religious studies, it seems that the issue of religious harmony can be seen from the character of society. irwan abdullah elaborates that religion and culture influence each other in society (abdullah, 2010). the character of the region is also an influence as the basis of the anthropological community environment (koentjaraningrat, 1985). religious endurance as the main indicator of maintaining tolerance relations is strongly influenced by the quality of interactions, reactions, and communication between citizens with different backgrounds from various aspects of life, including the most important aspects of religion (rosyid m., 2017). this study will focus on how coastal communities build social relations in a religious context. nur syam explains that the social integration of coastal communities is supported by a  culture share  that comes from their daily rites. coastal communities have a hard and open attitude (simanjuntak & antonious, 2010; syam, 2005). national geographic notes explain the openness of coastal people (why do coastal communities tend to be hard and open-minded? national geographic, n.d.). some previous studies explain that the identity of island communities has the ability to build harmonious religious relations compared to mainland communities (simanjuntak & antonious, 2010). even so in the context of this study, the people of banyak and nias islands tend to show stable conditions in religion (al-fairusy, 2019; al fairusy, 2020; anatona, 2000). this condition also answers why islam can be accepted first by the character of coastal communities with liquid without conflict (nuriz & awang, 2018). in light of the above description, this research will use a qualitative method with an ethnographic approach. the selection of island and coastal communities as the locus of this study was chosen based on the assumptions; first, the study of coastal communities living on islands needs to be done as a form of enrichment of information about religious attitudes.  second, the  study of the identity and religious moderation model of island communities can be part ofsocial developmentin the context of socio-religious studies and the development of religious moderation values by the ministry of religious affairs, including islamic religious higher education. this study also departs from the lack of socio-religious studies of island communities which are very limited and not [ 250 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 as encouraging as in mainland communities. religious moderation and coastal religious identity oman fathurrahman through one of the youtube content with the theme of strengthening religious moderation explains the importance and strategic importance of the ministry of religion’s policies for the color of nationality. oman explains in detail the view of religious moderation as a policy. conceptually, this policy seeks to avoid an exclusive attitude in religion that has the potential to create friction and conflict between religious communities, and can have an impact on national issues. however, religious moderation is also part of reducing the incidents of intolerance that still often occur in indonesian society. in general, religious moderation can be understood as an effort to maintain togetherness by having a tolerant attitude, an effort to understand each other and feel each other who are different from humans (prologue; lukman hakim saifuddin, 2019). in some studies, religious moderation can be decomposed into three trends;  first, the  model or form of religious moderation.  second, theprocess of religious moderation, and third, the implementation of religious moderation (fernando & jubba, 2023). as a policy, religious moderation can be understood as a perspective, attitude, and behavior that always takes a position in the middle, always acts fairly, and is not extreme in religion. extreme itself is the opposite of the policy of religious moderation, which is something that goes beyond and exaggerates. from the preliminary observation of the people who live in the three islands in this study, at first glance, they show their own model and form of moderation, generally they have tolerance for differences in beliefs. this condition is very different from the mainland and border communities of aceh (al-fairusy et al., 2024; al fairusy, 2016; aritonang, 2020). the character of the three kepuluan communities in the context of religion can be called part of the way of religion of coastal communities. in nur syam’s study, the religious character of islam adherents on the coast can be referred to as “coastal islam”. the identity of coastal islam has its own character that is different from the character of mountain communities. local culture on the coast influences the way of religion, this condition is what nur syam calls “colloborative islam” which describes the relationship between religion and local culture (syam, 2005). there are three islands that are used as data sources in this study, two islands in aceh; banyak islands and simeulue islands, the majority of the population [ 251 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 are muslims, the rest are inhabited by christian communities affiliated with the indonesian gospel mission church (gmii). furthermore, the nias islands which are part of north sumatra, the majority of the people are christian, and the rest are muslim communities which are generally scattered in the two major cities on nias; gunung sitoli and teluk dalam. these two areas are the easiest to find muslims.  in aceh’s historical records, these three islands were once under aceh’s control as a spice trading port on the west coast of aceh, long before the dutch entered and annexed the region under dutch control before attacking aceh (al fairusy ma, 2024). aceh’s footprints on nias can still be found today (al-fairusy, 2019). simeulue itself is known as the largest clove-producing area in aceh, according to one clove trader, one of the most excellent types of cloves is sikotok cloves. likewise, the banyak islands were once famous for the production and agriculture of cloves and copra. plantation practices were initially dominant in these two areas, and then there was a transformation in livelihoods, with most residents choosing to work in the marine and fisheries sectors (al-fairusy, 2020).  the nias islands are the best example of building religious tolerance and moderation. in the gunung sitoli area as the center of the city in the nias islands, although it is known for its christian identity and majority, it has the ability to coexist with muslims. mosques and muslim houses of worship can be built anywhere and anytime, without the need for permission. the power of moderation there is forged by kinship networks and local family wisdom termed talifuse (al-fairusy, 2019). the expression talifuse  is not just a local term, an expression that shows the strong family values of fellow nias people is the main social capital for building moderation values on nias. as for the banyak islands, aceh singkil as a sub-district that has experienced religious conflict, the dynamics of religious moderation are a social phenomenon in itself. at first glance, it seems that the community is reconciled with differences, there is almost no conflict like in mainland singkel. even so, there are problems regarding the permit for the establishment of houses of worship. when in the banyak islands, one of the places to visit is mata air hamlet. this hamlet is young, inhabited by almost fifty households. the majority are christian. even so, they are not given access to build a house of prayer or a church by the pulau banyak sub-district. every sunday, using a boat, the residents take two hours to go to west pulau banyak sub-district, where there is ujung sialit village. there, the gmii church was established, and all christians living in pulau banyak are only allowed to worship there. however, on the other hand, social relations work quite well between the [ 252 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 christian and muslim populations of the banyak islands. there is no problem of conflict over beliefs. in the fishing industry, relations between tauke and fishermen of different faiths are common. even so, in other contexts, in the market, the relationship between the people of kepulauan banyak melts. similar conditions can also be seen in simeulue, where a house of prayer, a church substitute, can be established in the midst of muslim houses. this means that in terms of identity and religious moderation models, the people of the three islands have the power and value of tolerance, driven by feelings of compatibility as island people.  the following table compares the model of religious moderation of the coastal communities of the three islands no islands religion pattern and dynamics of moderationislam christianity 1 nias minority minority family values are strong as the identity of the “nias people,” and there are no obstacles to the construction of houses of worship. there are no signs of conflict in the name of religion. 2 kepulauan banyak minority minority family values are strong as “urang pulo” from nias descent and the same clan. however, there are rules and obstacles for the construction of houses of worship. there are no signs of conflict in the name of religion. 3 simeulue minority minority identity as the simeulue community, there are no obstacles to the construction of houses of worship, only they cannot be named churches, just “houses of prayer.” there are no signs of conflict in the name of religion. local wisdom in the diversity as a large chain of islands in north sumatra province with an area of 5,625 km2 and inhabited by nearly one million people, the nias islands consist of four districts and one municipality (simeulue regency central statistics agency, 2024). the name nias is not unfamiliar in aceh’s history, the nias people in many acehnese historical records are known for their loyalty and hard work (anatona, 2000). visiting nias can be reached by two routes; sea and land. sea travel starts from the ports of sibolga and singkil. as for air travel, you can use an airplane from kuala namu airport to binaka airport, nias. [ 253 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 in mestika zed’s notes published in his book saudagar pariaman menerjang ombak membangun maskapai , muhammad saleh’s journey as a merchant who took the sea route from pariaman once crossed the nias islands. muhammad saleh through his autobiography explained the economic activities of the nias population that had developed, especially tello island, which is the oldest tsunami trail in sumatra (zed, 2017). several studies on nias suggest that the islanders are a plural society. they call themselves ”ono niha ‘ and their islands are called ’tano niha”. in nias, customary law is still upheld, known as fondrakö, which regulates the circle of human life, from birth to death (suwartiningsih & samiyono, 2017). not only plural in the ethnic context, nias society is also plural in the dimension of belief (religion). although, the majority of nias people adhere to protestant christianity. even so, there has never been violence in the name of religion in nias society throughout the history of its society.  there are two cities that developed on nias, namely gunung sitoli city and teluk dalam. these two cities are the easiest to find mosques and muslim residents. although, the majority of the population of nias is christian. even so, the distance between the two cities requires a road trip of almost four hours. the road is flanked by forests and beaches. gunung sitoli city itself is the main gateway to the social life and diversity of the nias population. here, the nias heritage museum serves as a space for nias culture and a center of information about the nias tribe, which is famous for stone carving. furthermore, there is a bustling economy here. there are also two houses of worship (church and mosque) side by side.  anthropologically, the physique of the nias people is very easy to mark, generally they have slanted eyes and light yellow skin. in addition, nias people often use clans behind their names. one of the characteristics and uniqueness of the nias people is the habit of eating betel, almost every nias resident met was chewing betel. betel becomes an important cultural symbol for the nias people. not only betel nut, in the context of cultural heritage, nias people are also closely related to stones. the tradition of carving stones as worship for the king of nias and the tradition of stone jumping have become one of the national cultural heritages.  in the context of diversity and maintaining the brotherhood of fellow nias people, they use a principle that is often echoed in the local nias language, “...hulô la’ewa nidanô, ifuli fahalô-halô.”  this means that the brotherhood of nias people is like a river that continues to flow, difficult to separate and break. the meaning of being a nias person is to be one family in the principle of local wisdom. one informant named raz who was met on nias shared a [ 254 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 picture of moderation on nias. raz himself is an employee at the ministry of religious affairs office in nias regency and is a christian. for raz, religious differences do not necessarily separate nias people, because family identity as nias people is above religious identity according to raz.  “...the phrase “we are like a flowing river” is a building of kinship and kinship among nias people. not just an adage, this nias adage has a strong meaning in the family ties of fellow nias people who are likened to flowing river water. if there are attempts by others to cut down the flowing river water, it is a futile job, because the water will continue to flow, and will never be cut off.” (interview with raz, march 21, 2024, gunung sitoli city) nias people have long been accustomed to coexisting with different beliefs. in gunung sitoli and teluk dalam, and several areas, houses of worship are often found; churches are located close to and side by side with surau and mosques. in fact, mosques can grow without the need for permits as in aceh in the majority christian and catholic environment on nias. in aceh, permits for the construction of houses of worship, especially churches, have indeed reaped dynamics and controversy, especially in singkil, which is the parent district of kepulaun banyak (aritonang, 2020; tempo, 2015). diversity and tolerance can be found in every corner of the nias region. one day, while this study and research was being conducted, a middle-aged woman sat in front of st. francis laverna church in gunung sitoli city. she was a devout churchgoer who had just finished a service. she appeared to be waiting for a pick-up not far from the church grounds. from her description, she was over sixty years old. not long after, a man who was her brother came to pick her up. he explained that his brother is a muslim, and picks him up at laverna church almost every day.  living in a family of different faiths is common and normal on nias. there are many families on nias where family members have different faith identities, but they still uphold family values. the role of the family as a social institution seems to be not limited to supplying values and reinforcing the value of moderation, not only limited to strengthening physical, social and psychological resilience (suhardiman et al., 2023). moreover, when visiting nias, there is a deep impression of how residents treat visitors. at the port of gunung sitoli city, some first-time visitors to nias will easily find information regarding identity. muslims are advised by some non-muslim residents not to visit any food stalls, with some markers indicating which muslim food stalls to stop at.  [ 255 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 one of the heads of the islamic religious authority on nias in the members of the nias ulema consultative assembly, abdul hadi, recounts the history of how moderation and tolerance work on nias.  “...since long ago, when migrants from aceh and minang who were muslims traveled to nias to spread their religion and settled as part of the nias people, the ancestors of nias have pledged to protect each other and the people living in the nias islands. this pledge became a culture and heritage in the expression  ”talifuse,”  where the blood of kinship and kinship as nias people is more important than the identity that is subsequently attached to the nias people.”  (interview with abdul hadi, march 23, 2024, gunung sitoli city) the value of kinship based on this ancestral agreement then becomes part of the local wisdom of tolerance on nias according to the informants. the presence of local wisdom as a culture of strengthening tolerance by upholding identity and family values can be seen as one of the models of culture-based moderation on nias, and the way “coastal religions” such as the nias islands display their own diverse identity. house of prayer as an expression of moderation data and descriptions of the religious life of the simeulue community in the context of moderation began with initial information at the ministry of religious affairs. in this state agency that takes care of the religious field, some initial data was collected. fz and md, employees of the ministry of religious affairs in simeulue regency, gave an overview of community life there. in the context of religion, the majority of simeulue’s population is muslim, and is claimed by some religious leaders to be affiliated with the muhammadiyah identity. however, the practice of islam there tends to be open. from the information of simeulue community leaders, even though they seem to be muhammadiyah-affiliated, the people of simeulue are open to all groups. in fact, some residents who claim to be muhammadiyah but do not really understand how to distinguish themselves from the nahdiyin style of islam, for example.  as for the christians who started coming to simeuleu since the early 2000s, they are generally traders from north sumatra who then chose to settle in simeulue. in the past, there were traders of chinese descent, but the population is now getting smaller, most of them have chosen to become converts. in terms of islam adherents, the muhammadiyah style is stronger here. although, there are also traditional patterns, but the number is very small. even so, from the [ 256 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 recognition of some residents, in the context of worship tends to be fluid, indistinguishable between the two (muhammadiyah and traditionalist, ed).  non-muslim residents also exist in simeulue, even so their numbers are very small. although the number is very limited, christians in simeulue have two houses of prayer instead of churches. permission to build houses of worship was granted by the simeulue community as a form of tolerance according to one of the religious harmony forum administrators in simeulue. the location of the two houses of prayer are far apart. one stands in sinabang city, and the other is separated on siumat island.  from the information of several informants interviewed, the simeulue community does not object to the existence of a house of prayer located in the middle of a muslim settlement. however, they refuse if the status of the house of prayer is changed to a church. from the information of simeulue residents, there used to be a ship from the navy from sibolga that stopped at sinabang. then, some navy soldiers who are christians tried to put church pamphlets in the prayer house. this incident had drawn controversy and criticism. the community refused, then it was taken down after negotiations with the community. according to the religious harmony forum chairman, this incident was quickly handled, so that the potential for social conflict did not occur. so far, there have been no friction issues with the minority population. moreover, according to the religious harmony forum, simeulue’s nonmuslim population only arrived around the year 2000 to the island in order to trade. so, the provision of two houses of prayer is considered a form of high tolerance from the people of simeulue.  the house of worship in simeulue as a substitute for the church is a diakonia of the indonesian gospel mission church (gmii), just like in ujung sialit in the banyak islands, and meulaboh city in west aceh. when visited, it is located in the middle of the simeulue muslim settlement. the prayer house is built of planks, elongated in shape like a typical church. inside is also equipped with complete facilities.  it was a little difficult to find the house of prayer because there was no signboard. moreover, it is located in the middle of several muslim houses. at the time of this study, the house of prayer and its congregation were led by pastor lukas, a 56-year-old native of central java. lukas has served at the house of prayer for four years as the head of the congregation or pastor. the house of prayer is a church replacement house of worship affiliated with the diakonia of the indonesian gospel mission church. according to lukas, the house of prayer is used by almost fifty congregations who live in simeulue, and has been used for worship since 2001. not only protestant christians, the [ 257 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 house of prayer is also used by catholic christians in simeulue.  the diakonia of the gmii house of prayer is the same as the only church in the west banyak islands, precisely in ujung sialit, which is used by christians in pulau banyak. however, simeulue has two houses of prayer compared to only one on pulau banyak. although, if calculated, the number of congregations on banyak island is more crowded than simeulue. apart from sinabang, on siumat island there is also another house of prayer that was given permission by the community to be established. sinabang city and siumat island are separated by the ocean in the simeulue islands.  when interviewed, lukas did not give much information about why the status of the house of prayer still survived and was not renamed as a church, and with a written legal status. indeed, there was an impression from lukas that he wished to be converted from the look on his face as he gave an account of the history of the house of prayer. lukas also understands that the permit to build a house of worship must follow the qanun in aceh. even so, as a migrant and head of a minority congregation, he only follows the wishes of the local community. from lukas’ information, the status of use of the house of prayer is only given by community consensus to be used as a place of worship. the name may not be changed as a church and a name bar in front of this elongated building. he did not specify the status of the prayer house. lukas admitted that he was only carrying out his duties as the head of the congregation who was sent. moreover, his status as head of the congregation can be transferred at any time. interestingly, lukas is also part of the simeulue regency religious harmony forum in maintaining tolerance on the islands.  on the other hand, the simelueu religious harmony forum and the ministry of religious affairs only explained that the existence of the status of a prayer house was enough to show the high tolerance attitude of the simeulue community, so there was no need to change it to a church because it was feared that it could trigger public affection and suspicion.  “...the identity and majority of simeulue’s population is muslim, and the presence of migrants has never been restricted. moreover, the house of prayer does not stand apart from the homes of muslim residents, even so far it has been flanked and surrounded by the homes of muslim simeulue residents. this condition shows the high value of tolerance possessed by the people of simeulue.”  (interview rahmanuddin, simeulue religious harmony forum, march 25, 2024, sinabang city)  [ 258 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 in fact, when compared to the banyak islands, the attitude of tolerance and the people of simeulue towards the existence of non-muslims who began arriving since the beginning of 2000 is much better. moreover, the number of nonmuslims is not as many as the people of pulau banyak, which only has one house of worship. on the other hand, inter-religious friction has also never occurred in simeulue, this condition shows the inclusive coastal religious style of the simeulue community and has its own moderation model in managing interfaith religion. tolerance and permits for houses of worship the banyak islands is part of aceh singkil, which is flanked by nias and simeulue islands. there are two sub-districts in kepulauan banyak; pulau banyak and pulau banyak barat, which are almost two hours apart by sea crossing (singkil, 2024). ethnically, the people of kepulauan banyak are mostly descendants of nias with malay-minang culture. not surprisingly, the use of these two languages, malay-minang and nias, is often found in the community of the banyak islands. the majority of the population of the banyak islands is muslim, except in mata air hamlet, pulau banyak, and ujung sialit village, pulau banyak barat sub-district, which are inhabited by christians with the diakonia of the indonesian gospel mission church congregation, just like the christians who inhabit simeulue.  muslim and christian settlements in the banyak islands sub-district are not united, separated by the sea which has now been built a connecting bridge. however, the road to get to mata air hamlet is not easy, apart from the road being damaged and filled with wild vines that partially cover the path to get there. some mata air residents choose to use the sea route to reach the subdistrict center. their relationship is only bound by the economic industry of fishing and administrative and educational issues.  the distance from the kecamatan center to mata air is only 1 kilometer. this hamlet is also adjacent to teluk nibung village, one of the villages in pulau banyak sub-district with muhammadiyah islamic identity. according to the people who live in mata air, in the 1980s there were only three houses in the hamlet. they came from north nias as laborers and guardians of clove plantations owned by several pulau banyak people. the residents here all have nias clans, such as one of the residents who settled here for the first time named sekhizatule’u zai, a nias name. subsequently, the arrival and development of the community here continued to grow. there are now 32 families living in this seaside hamlet. indeed, the houses here are not as many as the heads of families, because some houses are inhabited by two heads of [ 259 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 families. however, there are no pig farms or pets here, as there are on nias. only a few dogs are used for gardening.  the livelihood of the people of pulau banyak is fishing. although, some of them also farm. in mata air hamlet, which is flanked by beaches and community plantations, working as a fisherman is preferred by residents. daily communication in this hamlet uses the nias language. this is different from the people of pulau banyak in the sub-district center who often use malay. as is the tradition on nias, residents of mata air also often chew betel. for them, betel is an ancestral tradition and an identity as nias people. the teeth of older residents who chew betel appear reddish-black, as they have been chewing betel for years.  although demographically, the hamlet is growing in population. however, they were not given permission by the village and sub-district authorities to build a house of worship or house of prayer like in simeulue. so, every sunday they have to cross up to two hours to ujung sialit village in pulau banyak barat for weekly prayer and worship. only there, the gmii church is allowed to stand. not every sunday they can visit ujung sialit. when their finances are tight, they are forced not to go to worship in ujung sialit. crossing the ocean to arrive at ujung sialit requires a considerable amount of gasoline.  the head of the hamlet said that he had asked permission from the sub-district head and village officials in pulau banyak several times to establish a house of worship, but was always refused and not given permission on the grounds that there must be a permit from the aceh province regarding permission to establish a house of worship. this condition does not necessarily make the people in mata air hamlet complain and protest. for them, this is seen as an act of injustice. when asked, the villagers just sighed, while issuing the words “suck” and “difficult.” from the information of a resident of mata air, the church in ujung sialit is also getting narrower, and no expansion permit has been granted. in fact, the population is increasing. in the context of the sacred ritual of marriage, mata air residents will hold it in the church in ujung sialit village, except for parties, which they can hold in their respective homes in mata air hamlet. at the time of data collection for this study, a family was in mourning; one of the villagers had just died from an illness that had lasted for almost two weeks. he was very young, the younger brother of the head of mata air hamlet. according to arianto, they had taken his younger brother to nias for medical and non-medical treatment, but the long-standing fever could not be saved. health facilities are only available in the sub-district center. [ 260 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 in mata air hamlet, there are no schools or the most basic education units such as kindergartens. the children of mata air hamlet have to take their education to pulau balai the sub-district center, where they have to walk or take a boat to cross. paradoxically, according to a teacher on pulau banyak, there is no special religious teacher for christians at the school. so, they are forced to follow the islamic religious education taught to other students in schools. many non-muslim children are able to memorize muslim prayers and holy verses.  when compared to the mainland singkil community, the condition of the banyak island community is much more harmonious in a religious context. there is no friction and conflict that leads to disharmony. although it must be admitted, suspicion of the non-muslim community could be heard everywhere during this study. however, economic relations such as patronage in the world of fisheries, ethnic unity as nias people, and social relations in one archipelago make religious moderation in the community of pulau banyak provide its own model, compared to the mainland community of singkil, which often has the potential for conflict due to the unsolved issues of permits for houses of worship. conclusion it is impossible not to take a closer look at how religious moderation functions in coastal and island communities in aceh and north sumatra, given the strict permits for the construction of houses of worship that lead to frictional conflicts on the aceh mainland-border. thus, the ability of island communities to live side by a side with differences in beliefs also evidence their capability to foresee the emergent issues of religious radicalism and violence. this paper demonstrates how the identity and strength of island societies that are associated with the idea of life and indigenous culture is a kind of religious tolerance in itself. local values and wisdoms as well as the meaning of family is considered as the main identity compared to the identity of community beliefs in the context of the nias islands. besides, while dynamics of permits for the establishment of houses of worship are so noisy on the aceh border, the banyak island community could at least minimize the turmoil of religious conflict due to socio-economic relation and solidarity feelings as islanders. religious moderation as a policy cannot be viewed as one directional and a homogeneous approach. there are forms and models that evolve within society that are greatly impacted by the environment and culture of the society they live in. the three islands examined; the nias islands, the banyak islands and simeulue islands each offer an example of religious moderation policies. on [ 261 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3194 the one hand, identity as coastal and island people also reveals similarities in the approach to community groups with different beliefs. on the other hand, other political policies are a conflict for the sustainability of inter-religious relations, including in the islands. the weakness of moderation is true in the banyak and simeulue islands because of the permits for the construction of places of worship. this condition is different from the nias islands, which do not have any vulnerability in tolerance, the freedom to establish houses of worship and see other nias people with different religions as the same identity as one family becomes a buffer for tolerance and moderation in the nias islands better than the people in the other two islands in aceh. however, both are nias ethnicities though ethnically they are similar to the banyak islands. and as island people who live in one archipelago and are distinct from the mainland, they do consider themselves one nation. hence, “making peace” and building “tolerance” for the sake of the sustainability of economic and social relations is reasonable. this is the state that makes religious moderation function. however, the local culture in religion is also a factor that contributes to the formation of the face of tolerance of island communities. structurally, religious, cultural and religious harmony forum has a very significant role of nurturing local communities so that religious tension and conflict do not develop. in general, this study provides meaning to the policy of religious moderation in the islands and coasts that seem to be better than in the mainland communities particularly on the border of aceh. in general, the feeling of the unity of the islanders’ fate has granted the right to freedom to practice religious worship and rituals and not to discriminate. however, there are other policies (permits to build houses of worship) that have restrained the mobility of religious moderation amid the island societies, particularly banyak island. bibliography abdullah, i. 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[ 221 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 multicultural education practices and socio-religious values: the study of trans-dalam community in central kalimantan of indonesia abdul qodir institut agama islam negeri (iain) palangka raya email: abdul.qodir@iain-palangkaraya.ac.id abstract this article describes the practice of multiculturalism education among local migrant communities with trans-dalam community in pulang pisau regency, kalimantan tengah province, indonesia, as its focus of analysis. it asks the question about how trans-dalam community members with diverse social and religious backgrounds develop multicultural practices in their daily lives. the required data were collected through in-depth interviews and observation. this article argues that trans-dalam villagers preserve and conduct multicultural ideas and practices as seen in their day-to-day harmonious communal life due to their shared local values and wisdom. inspired by their own expressions of shared social-religious values, each community of different ethnic background develops these multicultural practices, which are closely connected to their need for security as settlers with diverse social-cultural backgrounds that make them aware of the importance of living in harmony, mutual respect, and solidarity regardless of their differences in ethnicity, place of origin or religion. key words: multiculturalism, education, practice, local, migrant, trans-dalam introduction the notion of multiculturalism has been discussed by scholars from different disciplines in various forms of academic works. these include, among others, the works by van tonder and snootiness (2014), sanchez and salaberri (2017), logviona (2016), boeva (2016), kyun et.al (2015), ova (2014), edewor and aluko (2007), rex and singh (2003), radtke (2003), lian (2016), haryanto (2013), and ernas and qodir (2013), aytuga (2018), astyrid (2017), vervaet (2018), webster (2017), marshall (2017), yampolsky (2016), chaoa (2015), and girdauskienea (2015). undoubtedly, these studies provide important insight into understanding multiculturalism. however, this literature lacks empirical support that is based on the experience of community in the field where multicultural ideas and practices are closely connected to particular [ 222 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 local social values, which are shared and adopted by the community members. to fill this gap, this article deals with the practices of multiculturalism in communities by focusing its analysis on local migrant communities in the rural area known as trans-dalam, which is located in pulang pisau regency, kalimantan tengah province, indonesia. this site was chosen because it has characteristics that reflect how multiculturalism is practiced and lived by community members. for this purpose, by employing maslow’s concept of human needs as a theoretical framework, this article questions the development of multicultural ideas and practices in the rural communities of trans-dalam in kalimantan tengah. this study of multiculturalism is important because it contributes to the promotion and preservation of open-minded attitude in order to live a peaceful live in pluralistic societies of the indonesian archipelago. the rich and uniqueness of culture within and among indonesian communities necessitate understanding of multiculturalism, which should be maintained and promoted by individuals, groups and institutions. for the purpose of this study, this article employed abraham maslow’s theory of individuals’ motivation as a theoretical framework. he developed a hierarchy of human needs, with which people attempt to fulfil their needs, from the lowest need (number 5) to the highest one (number 1). according to him, people attempt every effort to meet the important needs in a hierarchical way including the need for self-realization, the need for self-esteem, the need for a sense of belonging and a sense of love, the need for sense of security and the physiological needs (maslow, 1993:43-57; jarvis, 2010: 94). in the context of this study, the need for security is particularly seen as a central motivation that has played a significant role in creating and maintaining a multicultural society. my observation revealed that trans-dalam local migrant communities live a multicultural life due to their need for security. the findings of my field work serve to confirm maslow’s theory of human needs. in general, multiculturalism is a notion or attitude that considers “cultural diversity” as the core of humanity, an inseparable bond with which people are willing to accept each other regardless of their differences. there are some terms that are often used interchangeably to describe a society with diversity in terms of religion, race, language, and culture. these are “plurality”, “diversity”, and “multiculturalism”. these three terms do not actually represent the same thing, although they all refer to the state of plurality within society. the term “plurality” presupposes the existence of more than one entity. meanwhile, the term “diversity” shows that the entity is not altogether the same, but rather heterogeneous and even unequal (mulkan, 2006:4). [ 223 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 compared to two other terms, multiculturalism is relatively new term (zulkarnaen, 2013). different from “plurality” and “diversity”, multiculturalism is a willingness to accept different groups as a whole, regardless of their varied entities of culture, ethnicity, gender, language, and religion. while plurality represents a non-singularity, multiculturalism gives affirmation that despite their differences, either visible or invisible, each group is entitled to have space in the public sphere of society. multiculturalism has become a new policy in response to the diversity of communities. these communities not only need to be recognized as being different in nature from each other, but also be treated equally by the state (zulkarnaen, 2013). multiculturalism as a movement demands the politic of recognition regarding all differences in society. these differences must be accepted, respected, protected and guaranteed (zulkarnaen, 2013: 5). social order and prosperity are possible to achieve when aspirations for togetherness, mutual respect, spirit of progress, and inspiring ethos of advancement become the soul of multicultural society. the implementation of multiculturalism functions as a prevention as well as a solution to conflict and disharmony in a pluralistic society. for example, the implementation of multiculturalism through education can be an important means to solve socio-cultural conflicts. multicultural education plays important roles in two ways: preparing individuals to be able to cope with new cultural waves of globalization and unifying national interests with various local cultures (zulkarnaen, 2013:29). both are taking place in the form of individuals’ ability to face the challenges of living in harmony with one another. educational institutions like school can actually develop multicultural education according to the principle of school autonomy. this can be implemented using interconnected approaches to religious education by promoting, for instance, islamic values of living in harmony with one another in society. people tend to know the stereotypes of an ethnic group more than what it is in factual ways. in the context of multicultural education, it is important to understand realities behind the apparent culture of an ethnic group. the implementation of multicultural education can be regarded successful when students or citizens develop tolerance and prevent hostility or conflict regardless of cultural, ethnic, language, custom differences. in addition, multicultural education nurtures students not to be uprooted from their own local cultures in the face of globalization. this can be pursued through several ways such as educating students about morality, good manner and etiquette as early as possible (mahfud, 2010). [ 224 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 multicultural practices within trans-dalam community trans-dalam community is diverse in that its members came from various regions in indonesia. some came from outer kalimantan islands such as java, bali and nusa tenggara. others came from inland kalimantan regions like kapuas and banjarmasin. through the transmigration program of the ministry of transmigration, those from java came to trans-dalam by ship in 1982 and those from bali and nusa tenggara got there in 1983. meanwhile, most of community members with local kalimantan background came to transdalam voluntarily, not through the government program of transmigration. trans-dalam community is also diverse in terms of religious background. the community members have various religious faiths; most of those with javanese and banjarese backgrounds are muslims, those from kapuas with dayak background and from nusa tenggara are christians, and those from bali are hindus. these migrants came to trans-dalam to find a better future. they were treated equally by local government regardless of their backgrounds. when they came, each family was given 2 acres of land, allowances which were worth two year living expenses and a modest house. compared to other migrant communities in pulang pisau regency, trans-dalam is considered the most diverse migrant community. led by a village chief (kepala desa), transdalam consists of 20 groups of household called rukun tetangga, just like other communities in indonesia. socio-religious interaction trans-dalam villagers developed interaction that took place any time in their convenience. this interaction occurred between individuals within the same faith group and culture or among those with different faiths and cultures. the interaction, which occurred warmly or incidentally among community members with different faiths, united those engaged in the shared religious values of social interaction and hindered misunderstanding, especially in issued related to personal hygiene and food. the peaceful interaction within trans-dalam communities made the villagers possible to establish solidarity and unity among them. this in turn created awareness of the importance of living in harmony among the villagers so that their social and economic lives run smoothly without any friction. a trans-dalam community member gives an interesting statement below. i think i have never seen any problems that disturb people here. i feel nothing disturbs me so that is why i feel at home here. feeling happy, [ 225 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 that’s all. i see harmony in terms of religious or social relations. even in idul fitri festival, we cannot differentiate between muslims and christians as they are busy helping each other. it is good here. in market, for example, we are all the same. we find no discrimination. i don’t understand. even the elders mingle with one another; either they are javanese, banjarese, or dayaks. all attend every congregation which is regularly arranged. in this surrounding, in this market area of block 16, whenever you meet a banjarese, you will find him being together with a javanese [community member]. this was supported by a christian community member: we help each other, trying to ease the burden of our neighbourhood. when muslims are busy in welcoming id festival, i as a christian lightheartedly assist them to prepare meals. in the same way, later during christmas, or other christian festivals, muslims help christians. so it’s been routine. i, together with my son and husband, and [my muslim neighbours] visit each other in our surrounding. women usually prepared sweets or food. there are no constraints to our relationship with our neighbours. the community members loved to help each other due to mutual recognition, mutual trust, and then mutual respect among themselves. visiting each other among trans-dalam community members at the commemoration of religious holidays was considered an important moment. however, this was restricted to social interactions, avoiding participation in shared rituals or worship. for muslims villagers, this was in accordance with a quranic verse that says “for you your religion and for me my religion” (qur’an 109: 6). the trans-dalam villagers were also keen to share with those in need. those who were successful in their farming normally donate some of their crops to help neighbours or colleagues in need so that no one was reported to experience short of food. crop production in rural areas increased significantly for community members worked in safe and secure conditions. no anxiety was felt by muslims, christians and local belief dayak adherents. this condition had been realized in trans-dalam since the transmigration program was launched by government in the early 1980s, which brought local migrants from java, south kalimantan and other cities in kalimantan. therefore, trans-dalam community lived a harmonious life regardless of their social, cultural and religious differences. a community member reported the following notes. there are three ethnic groups here: banjarese, javanese, and dayak kapuas. they never have a dispute resulting from differences in religion. disputes may occur among teenagers because of their delinquency, [ 226 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 not because of religious or ethnic differences. once it was heard that [religious conflict] broke out in pangkoh. but, it was fake news. i saw it myself [that it was fake]. rumour [about conflict] sometimes scares us. in fact, no conflict happens here. it is peaceful here. trans-dalam community members felt comfortable, secured and safe in their neighbourhood. the local migrants from java, for example, were seen to be different in terms of background, ethnicity and belief. but, in everyday life, they were treated in a good and respectful way in spite of their origin of place. the trans-dalam communities developed and lived a harmonious life among themselves regardless of their various social-cultural backgrounds. a villager said: [all community members] are united, supportive of each other and helpful of each other. it is how they live here. look, for example, my neighbour bu intan. her husband is a banjarese. he is good to my family and me. no word of insult or offensive comment has ever been heard from him. there is indeed a mutual respect. another example is a school teacher bu ainun who is from banjar. she has been kind to us so far. for tens of years we know her. the school headmaster is from java, pak tohari. yes, he is like brother to us. we have been good colleagues since our school times. 1 in trans-dalam community, native people of kalimantan tengah (dayak kapuas), local migrants from kalimantan selatan and java developed a meaningful interaction. this interaction appeared to have something to do with their shared psychological experiences. the three ethnic groups tended to focus on their own family business, avoiding the intervention of their neighbours’ affairs or colleagues’ personal issues. in other words, these ethnic groups developed a self-control, which made them able to avoid interfering with one another. trans-dalam consisted of some communities with different ethnic groups. this meant there were a variety of customs, traditions, and ordinances and so on. however, those who came from outside central kalimantan seemed to be able or were smart enough to place themselves within new community in a peaceful way and make themselves useful to all people. for muslim villagers, this attitude was inspired by an islamic teaching that “the best person among you is he or she who makes himself or herself most useful to people around him or her”.2 1 interview with sri wahyuni (50 years old) and her husband, wahyu (53 years old), 20 december, 2013. their two children, now working in provincial ministry of general constructions, gained a degree from faculty of technology in a university in palangka raya. 2 this refers to a saying by the prophet muhammad: khayr al-nas anfa’uhum li al-nas [ 227 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 trans-dalam was conducive to develop peaceful interaction among community members with different religious background. the fact that most community members live close to each other made them easy to communicate and interact. most villagers knew each other and were acquainted to each other. this in turn created the sense of security and trust among people in trans-dalam. a community member said: it is safe here. there has never been conflict between ethnic groups. all people get along well. here everyone is happy. during religious festivals, everyone pays a visit to each other. my muslim neighbours have no problem in visiting me to celebrate the holidays together, though i am a christian. although our christian people are small in number, about four to six families in this area, and 98 % of the community members are muslims, [we live peacefully and respect each other]. 3 the visit to enhance social-religious interaction was not only developed between community members with different social-religious backgrounds, but also within those with same faith. this was popularly known as silaturrahim. in trans-dalam, there were groups with the same ethnic groups, place of origin or religious organizations, which were known as paguyuban. these included dulangmas and pakuwojo paguyuban of javanese background in central kalimantan, and bakumpai community of dayak origin. in particular, banjarese people who lived near pasar rebo market also expressed their gratitude for living next to people from other regions and different ethnic backgrounds. a banjarese described how they treated other people with different backgrounds. we are from banjar. there are just 17 families that live in hulu sungai selatan regency… in the area pandih batu, a subdistrict of hulu sungai selatan, the percentage of muslims and non-muslim is equal, fifty-fifty. in this trans-settlement, 99% of its people are muslims. we are united here. there is no conflict. they respect each other. banjarese and javanese villagers have the same creed. yes, we are in fact brothers.4 banjarese villagers loved to live next to the market as they were quite talented in trading and business negotiation. they preferred staying at business centres to living at farmlands. they also loved to live near mosques or islamic educational institutions such as madrasah or pesantren to gain islamic knowledge. this attitude surely stemmed from their obedience to an islamic doctrine that all (the best people are those who are the most useful to others). 3 interview with sri wahyuni, 11 august 2013. 4 interview with normansyah (53 years old), 11 august 2013. [ 228 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 muslims, male and female, must search for knowledge and achieve happiness here and hereafter. the banjarese people’s interests in commercial transactions combined with their stay in pasar rebo market in trans-dalam area, was not only motivated by economic progress, but also by religious. in their business, they were highly motivated to collect money in order to perform hajj or pilgrimage to mecca on their own, not by government or institutional support. other community members of different ethnic groups also felt strongly connected with trans-dalam settlement. this was true for the case of sri wahyuni and her husband. they decided to live next to banjarese people who had already lived in trans-dalam earlier. they felt comfortable for being close with the banjarese, forming a strong bond between them in pasar rebo market. a community member said: the number of banjarese is quite a lot in this market, around pasar rebo, while in other place they are rare. these people like to work as traders. they had lands before, but did not want to build houses on the land so that they sold them.5 the places of origin were considered to have given influence to the way of life or work after marriage. when grown up, banjarese villagers in trans-dalam normally did the work which was previously experienced since childhood. for instance, normansyah from anjir pasar participated a local transmigration program with his friends who were working as traders. norman and his friends sold their houses located near farms to build new houses next to pasar rebo market. they already had experience as traders of everyday needs in the market, so they pioneered the business though the market was opened one a week. another kind of job in which the banjarese local migrants in transdalam were skilled at was fishing. the dayak and javanese people in the village highly admired their skills. they said: “banjarese people, some of them love to trade, while others prefer catching iwak (fish). during drought season, they can make so much money from fishing.” 6 marriage in addition, the multicultural practice among trans-dalam community was seen in inter-ethnic marriages, which were quite common among the community members. this was evident, for example, in the case of wahyu, a javanese, and sri wahyuni, a dayak. sri wahyuni said: 5 interview with norman (53 years old), 11 august 2013. 6 interview with tohari (53 years old), a muslim javanese leader, 25 december 2013. [ 229 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 i am married to pak wahyu, a gentleman from local transmigration settlement, an employee of the ministry of transmigration. he is from bojonegoro, java. he was previously a temporary worker in unit pemukiman transmigrasi (upt; transmigration resettlement unit). i got a diploma here, then participated in transmigration projects in 1982. we have been here (trans-dalam) since 1982. previously we were in kuala kapuas… 7 this kind of marriage was evidence that trans-dalam community was committed to a collective life, which was supported by their socio-religious values. wahyu, sri wahyuni’s husband, was a civil servant who didn’t have a university degree. the couple was always gratitude for the harmonious marriage they had though they came from different cultural backgrounds in hand. their family life was embellished with bright and diligent sons whose university studies were completed in less than 8 semesters. their sons then got jobs easily. sri believed that marriage of a man and a woman who have no family relationship or have different ethnic groups may result in children who are smart, persistent in pursuing their goals and devoted to their parents. she remarked: our first son graduated from the faculty of economics at university of palangka raya. he got a job at the office of public works in palangka raya. then, he was married to a banjarese muslim who works at the same office. the same case holds true for the case of subandi, an east javanese muslim who was married to kristy, a daughter of a catholic leader from kapuas. subandi said: my wife (kristy) converted to islam at the time of our marriage preparation. she had an approval from her parents to marry me. at that time, kristy was an elementary school teacher. we have three children: the first and second children are boys and the third one is a girl. they went to study at a modern islamic boarding school in east java. the boys pursued their undergraduate studies at english department at a university in malang, east java. then, they continued to do master program in english at sarjana wiyata university yogyakarta. we have a good relationship and good communication with kristy’s parents and relatives though we have different faiths.8 7 interview with sri wahyuni and her husband, wahyu, 11 august 2013. 8 interview with subandi (53 old years) and kristy (50 years old) in trans-dalam, 20 december 2013. [ 230 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 moreover, to some extent, multicultural practice changed the way transdalam communities plan marriage. for example, community members with javanese backgrounds no longer used a javanese tradition of taking the birthday of potential bride and groom into consideration in deciding the time of marriage and choosing one as wife or husband. this was seen in the case of the marriage of wahyu and sri’s son. their son and his future wife were married on their own choice as they loved each other, disregarding their different ethnic groups. their parents and extended families supported their marriage without any problems. wahyu said: my son was married to mariah qibtiah according to islamic law of marriage. he took her as his wife by himself and we gave them our support to build a better future. we are christians, but my parents in east java are muslims, and my daughter in law is a muslim. this is not a source of conflict in our lives.9 the multicultural practice was also seen in the case of petrus sukarmin. due to financial difficulties he experienced, he converted to christianity. but, he then converted back to islam when he was about to get married to a muslim girl who graduated from an islamic boarding school. he said: i am a teacher at at a middle school. i was married to siti rahmini, an orphan with three brothers. siti is a javanese woman who graduated from darul hijrah islamic boarding school. we live in harmony. my wife told me about islamic teachings. frankly, i tell you, i have a unique experience; i converted to christianity when i studied at senior high school in pandih batu and was given a name petrus sukarmin.10 funeral lastly, the practice of multicultural life among trans-dalam community was identified in the way they responded to the funeral procession of a dead community member. regardless of their religious backgrounds, banjarese, javanese and dayak people worked hand in hand in conducting the funeral of a dead fellow community member. during this funeral procession, muslims visited and offered assistance to non-muslim family of a dead person and vice versa. a community member reported: i am from kapuas and am a dayak. i work at community health centre and stay in a house which was provided by the centre. we are surely 9 interview with wahyu (53 years) in trans-dalam, 20 december 2013. 10 interview with petrus sukarmin, 23 december 2013. [ 231 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 in grief when one fellow is dead. as muslims, we arrange the funeral procession without taking into account his or her religious background. i don’t think there is any dispute in this matter. we take the dead person to the cemetery and bury it there. [we do this] though the number of christians in our neighbourhood is decreasing at the moment.11 the same is true when a muslim dies. people from the neighbourhood were involved in preparing and conducting the funeral regardless of their religious background. a muslim community member said: in the funeral process of a dead muslim, such as saying prayers for the dead person in the seventh, fortieth and hundredth day after their death, it is common that the dead person’s neighbors come and lend their hands regardless of their faith or ethnic backgrounds. some cook food, while others give donation.12 moreover, this multicultural practice was seen in the way they manage the burial place for the dead person. the muslim and christian cemeteries were separated by a kind of border, but located in the same piece of land. a muslim said: muslim and christian cemeteries are located in a piece of land, but both are separated by a simple border as seen in kantan muara village; on one side is muslim cemetery, and on another one is christian cemetery.13 multicultural practices and socio-religious values the multiculturalism practices as described above did not work alone, but rather were closely connected to socio-religious values adopted by the people of trans-dalam. therefore, it is important to reveal what socio-religious values which contributed to the multiculturalism practiced by trans-dalam communities. as the communities consist of members with various ethnicity, social and cultural backgrounds and came from different regions of origin, these social-religious values should be found within each of these ethnic groups in trans-dalam. accordingly, these values are reflected in proverbs, expressions or sayings which are shared and lived by each community. as bonvillain (1997:48) emphasizes, lived expressions constitute a community’s cultural modes of mentality, attitudes, perception, ethics, morality, and socialreligious values. 11 interview with norman in transdalam, 11 august 2013. 12 interview with abdul ghofur in trans-dalam, 1 desember 2013. 13 interview with abdul ghofur in trans-dalam, 1 desember 2013. [ 232 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 my findings revealed that trans-dalam community members of javanese origin developed certain values as its local wisdom to create and maintain a harmonious multicultural life. this is seen in the javanese proverbs and expressions shared by the javanese community members in trans-dalam in their daily lives. these include the expressions giri lusi janna kena ingina (one never insults another), aja adigung, adigung, adiguna (do not be an arrogant self); ngono ya ngono, ning aja ngono (you may make a mistake, but do not repeat it); tuna satak bati sanak (brotherhood); and aja kumingsun (one never shows of force and degrade another). they also lived social wisdom which guide community elders and leaders how to lead their people and get along with other people of different groups in proper ways, as expressed in the saying of ing ngarsa sung tulada, ing madya mangun karsa, tut wuri handayani (elders should be exemplary models, motivate and inspire their people). all these shared and lived expressions of local javanese wisdom played an important in providing the trans-dalam community of javanese background norms and values of how to live with other communities in a harmonious way. the trans-dalam community of balinese background also developed and maintained social-religious values in their attempt to live a multicultural life as expressed in the proverbs of local wisdom such as desa kala patra (place, time and situation). this teaches them that they should live in accordance with shared local customs of the place where they live and the situation they are engaged with as well as with their religious teachings of hinduism. among the community with banjarese backgrounds, there were proverbs and expressions of social-religious values shared and lived by its members in their practice of multicultural life. these include berelaan (accepting each other and being thankful to god), bisa-bisa maandak awak (adapting oneself to a new environment), bubuhan (friendship), bedingsanakan (family bond), batutulungan (one helps another), bakalah bamanang (win-win solution), gawi manuntung (do your work well), and dalas balangsar dada (hard work). this wisdom provides the banjarese community with values of deliberation, brotherhood, helping each other, adjusting to local culture and customs, and maintaining good relationship between people and god, and among people. moreover, there were various expressions of shared local wisdom that provided guidance to trans-dalam community of dayak background in its interaction with other communities in peaceful ways. these include hapahari (togetherness), handep (helping each other), pandohop (providing aid), belom bahadat (living in accordance with shared ethics and customs), hapakat kula (deliberation), sama keme, sama mangat, sama susah (living together in good and bad), and hatamuei lingu nalata (one should know, share ideas [ 233 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 and experiences with another). undoubtedly, these expressions and sayings of social-religious values and wisdom shared and lived by trans-dalam communities with different social and cultural backgrounds reflected their views, perceptions of themselves and attitude towards each other. at the same time, these played an important role as guidance for the communities in living their lives and building connection with each other in multicultural ways. conclusion this article has contributed to the studies of multiculturalism of education by empirically showing that as seen in the case of trans-dalam villagers migrant communities with various social, cultural and ethnic groups were able to maintain and implement multicultural practices in their day-to-day lives as they were motivated and inspired by social-religious values which were seen in the expressions and proverbs shared and lived by each community with different ethnic backgrounds. trans-dalam villagers preserved multicultural ideas and conducted multicultural practices. this was intrinsically derived from understanding and applying the shared social values and religious teachings that commanded everyone to cooperate with one another in every good matter. they interpreted and implemented these values in a broad sense, as seen in their willingness to work together and help each other in ways that benefit their common interests. understanding multiculturalism has not been well achieved unless one takes factors related social, cultural, and religious values shared and lived by a community into consideration. inspired by their own expressions of shared social-religious values, each community of different ethnic background developed multicultural practices in its social and religious interaction including marriage, funeral and religious festivities. confirming maslow’s theory of human needs, this finding was closely connected to the communities’ need for security as settlers with diverse social-cultural backgrounds that 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[ 101 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 being minority in papua: religious and political identity struggle of the dani muslims ade yamin universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta e-mail: yaminpapua79@yahoo.com irwan abdullah universitas gadjah mada e-mail: irwanabdullah6@gmail.com achmad nurmandi universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta e-mail: nurmandi_achmad@umy.ac.id hasse jubba universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta e-mail: hasse@umy.ac.id zuli qodir universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta e-mail: zuly_qodir@yahoo.com abstract the issue of religious and political identity of the dani muslims in papua has been associated to social construction of the ethnic and religious aspects as the basis of political policies by the local government. the local government present in the form of undang-undang otonomi khusus papua (uu otsus papua) or the law number 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua has been understood to become one of the keys playing roles in constructing the identity of people in modern papua. this work attempts to review the process of becoming minority of the dani muslims within the context of the papua society. they live in the central mountains with limited infrastructure and access to modern life. the work suggests that the dani muslim has become minority in terms of political representation as well as religious identity due to three conditions. first, the practice and implementation of the law number 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua has significantly influenced the live of the dani muslims with regards to their political representation as well as religious identity. second, they embrace islam as a way of life and have to deal with the cultural conditions of the dani community in general that are very consistent in maintaining their local tradition. third, the domination of religious symbols used in public spaces has been found to have much influence to the identity of minority groups. the [ 102 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 christian papuans later made further claims of papua as the land of christ has had a broad impact not only on the access to public services for the dani muslims but has also presented them with new pressure and marginalized in terms of political position and religious group existence. keywords: muslim, politics, religious, minority, representation, identity, dani, papua introduction when a muslim indigenous child was born in papua, at the same time he/ she becomes a minority and a third class citizen. this phenomenon has been understood as the result of the socio-cultural construction and applicable law based on ethnicity and religion. the dani people who embrace islam in the baliem valley of jayawijaya represent muslim indigenous papuans. dani muslims comprise only 1051 people (0.45%) of a total of 233,328 inhabitants of jayawijaya regency. this minority status is legitimated by law number 21 of 2001 concerning special autonomy for papua. this regulation has shaped the community structure into social levels with papua christians at the top, christian migrants in the second, muslim indigenous papuans in the third, and muslim migrants in lowest (rumbaru, 2019). the 2010 population census statistics show the classification of community groups in papua. the population of jayapura city, for example, was divided into indigenous population with 89,773 people (34.97%) and non-papuans with 166,932 people (65.03%) from a total of 256,705 inhabitants of jayapura city (baharuddin et al., 2016). referring to the same data, eben siadari, an australian writer, proposed the same claim saying that indigenous papuans in several major cities of papua had become the minority. the percentage of the population of non-papuans is 62.73% in merauke, 52.46% in nabire, 57.49% in mimika, 58.68% in keerom, and 65.09% in the city of jayapura (siadari, 2017). the literature that addresses the minority muslim community in papua focuses more on historical studies, religious participation, and education (wanggai, 2007; wekke, 2013, 2015, 2018; murtadlo, 2018) or efforts to spread islam that have caused opposition in society as a result of the involvement of religious followers who feel they have become the majority (slama, 2017), with the aim of comparing, negating or refuting claims among religious followers. in contrast to this point of view, this paper seeks to look at how a muslim community becomes the majority, an issue that receives little attention. the minority status of papuan muslims is not only limited to their number, but [ 103 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 also to the normative legal construction of the state which gains local political legitimacy for three reasons. first, the enactment of law number 21 of 2001 concerning papua’s special autonomy has placed muslims at the bottom of the list of the social strata. secondly, the claim of birth right of papuan land in the name of religion has provoked the christian groups to become the owners of the land. third, the existence of the domination of religious symbols in public spaces represented by the christians has contributed to the religious and political dynamics in the region. those three conditions influencing the status of muslim minorities in papua will be the core discussion of this work. this is based on the consideration of whether the minority position has narrowed muslim access to resources and public services. this unequal position has become a precondition for the very important discussions in the work. minority muslims in academic works discussions about muslim minority groups have been widely reviewed by experts from various parts of the world. muslim minorities in western countries are certainly a common topic (aydin, 2019; hirsch et al., 2018; özyürek, 2018; roach, 2006; salnikova & d’arcus, 2019; smart-morstad et al., 2009; trittler, 2018; vanparys et al., 2013) with a focus on issues surrounding islamophobia, immigrant identity, as well as several events regarding terrorism. in addition to western countries, there is also works that includes the marginalization of muslims minority in congo (leinweber, 2012), muslim minority groups in singapore (roach, 2006), in nepal (dastider, 2000), and even greece (tsitselikis, 2004) where muslims as a group have unequal access and treatment in various aspects. other studies discussed muslim minority groups in china (bodde, 1946; gladney; 1993; gladney, 2003; israeli, 1981) and india (akhtar, 2009; amin, 2013; engineer, 2004; habib et al., 1976; misra, 2000). in fact, bodde (1946) mentioned that traditional chinese people generally are not interested in minority groups so there is no interaction between them and perhaps this has also been one of the triggers of problems today. in addition, the case of marginalization of muslim-rohingya in myanmar has also been in the spotlight in the literature lately (alam, 2019; bashar, 2014; gunasingham, 2019; kipgen, 2019). in this conflict, identity is indeed needed for the state to be approved accordingly. for the international community, this identity is important to solve. there are a number of problems where people who want to work on their own or may want to argue in a certain way but must accept an identity that might be compromised so there is tension between groups of people or with the state (kipgen, 2019). in fact, muslims are regarded as threat because of their increasing growth in number such as [ 104 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the case in papua new guinea. scott flower (2009; 2012a; 2012b; 2015) looked into the development of muslims increase which is expected to continue in papua new guinea. because, the transition from the traditional to the modern life that is taking place there, has triggered social and personal crisis which causes people to look for new religions that are closer to the traditional, local, cultural, and material dimensions (flower, 2015). in papua, tensions between minority muslim groups and local people who embrace christianity has also been covered in several studies (aritonang & steenbrink, 2008; mcgibbon, 2004; ipac, 2016; wekke, 2013; wekke et al., 2018). the muslim minorities there are not always in a vulnerable position. in the works of wekke, et al. (2018), the existence of sasi a typical arrangement of the community for nature protection – is integrated with mosques, both in physical and spiritual forms, so that there is an attachment between the compassion of muslims and their places of worship. after islam arrived, this sasi ritual has undergone several changes, for example in the spells, time, and people who lead the rituals. the mosque ultimately has a role to manage and preserve tradition. the conflict that occurred in papua, between muslim minorities and indigenous papuans was tolikara, which was reported in detail by ipac (2016). the majority of muslims is also referred to by aritonang & steenbrink (2008) as immigrants. papuans then began to indentify indonesians as those with fair skin, straight hair, and practice islam. thus, conflicts between religious groups are more easily ignited. special autonomy law and minority construct in papua law number 21 of 2001 concerning the special autonomy law on papua has in fact produced two frictions in the papuan community, the indigenous and non-indigenous dichotomy, and two political representations. in fact, the phrase indigenous versus non-indigenous in this law is not explicitly found, but it is implied that the negation of the non-indigenous is obvious. in the consideration section of point (d) in the preamble of the special autonomy law states that “the indigenous population in the papua province is one of the groups of the melanesian race which is part of the nation’s ethnic groups in indonesia, which has its own differences, history, customs, and language. furthermore, it is emphasized by point (f) that the government has recognized that “the management of wealth of the papua province has not been used optimally to improve the living standards of the indigenous papuans, which has created a gap between the papua province and other regions, as well as neglecting the indigenous rights of the indigenous papuans.” [ 105 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the crystallization of the concept of indigenous papuans has increasingly found its form with a specific point that explains who is native in papua, as stipulated in chapter i of the general provisions of article one (1) point (t) which states that indigenous papuans are people of the melanesian race consisting of indigenous tribes in the papua province and / or people who are accepted and recognized as being indigenous by the indigenous papuans;” at the same time, in the consideration section, especially point (e) it is stated “that the implementation of governance and development in the papua province has not met a sense of justice, has not supported the achievement of people’s welfare, has not supported the development of law enforcement, and has not shown respect on human rights in the papua province, especially for the papuan society.” the use of the word “papuan society” at this point seems to provide complete guidance about the papuan community being fully left behind in various fields, both indigenous and non-indigenous people (as if there were no dichotomy of gap between the peoples of papua). the dichotomy between indigenous and non-indigenous people as stated in law no. 21 of 2001 in seen in table 1. table 1. indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in papua indicator criteria legitimacy indigenous 1. race melanesia, 2. native tribes in the papua province 3. accepted / accepted by indigenous peoples 1. special autonomy law of papua 2. papuan people’s assembly 3. customary body non indigenous 1. not a melanesian race 2. not a native tribe in papua 3. not accepted / recognized by indigenous peoples 1. special autonomy law of papua 2. papuan people’s assembly 3. customary body another perspective on the existence of minorities regarding the representation of politics which has resulted from the special autonomy law is the filling of the position of papuan people’s assembly (mrp) members, as well as the elements and leadership of the mrp, where the muslim community can only place 1 representative out of a total of 51 members in the third period of membership (3), 2017-2022, which can be seen in table 2. [ 106 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 table 2 the composition of the mrp members based on religious affiliation period muslim catholics, protestants total i (2005-2010) 4 38 42 ii (2010-2015) 1 44 45 iii (2017-2022) 1 50 51 total 6 132 138 source: processed from primary data and results of interview. claims of papuan land birthright in the name of religion indisputably, the claim of birthright of the land of papua in the name of religion is really happening and even becoming a philosophical basis for the construction of a city. the statements of ottow and geisler, which were later used as a marker of papuan christianity as the first prayer, became the main foundation for the claims of papua as the land of gospel. they declare “in gottes wahen betreten wir das land” (in the name of god we set foot on this land). in another momentum, the affirmation of birthright of papua in the name of religion gained reinforcement from the statement of i. s. kijne, an evangelist whose name was enshrined as the name of one of the religious schools in the city of jayapura. he declared “on this rock i establish the civilization of the people of papua, even though people have high intelligence, reason and wisdom but cannot lead this nation. this nation will rise up and lead itself.” (i.s kijne, 25-10-1925) in a contemporary perspective, the claim of birthright of land in papua can be seen in the birth of several political policies that accommodate the spirit of religion, such as the appeal of the mayor of jayapura about the prohibition on sunday activities in trade centers. the strict policy which was issued by the regent of jayawijaya regulates trading activities on this sunday through the instruction of the regent no. 03 of 2013 concerning the prohibition on trading activities on sundays, as confirmed by the secretary of jayawijaya district, mr yohanis walilo to reporters on september 4th 2017: “we also ordered the leadership of the civil service police unit to continue patrolling on sundays. the kiosks can open after four in the afternoon. this is part of giving lesson to the community, because many people don’t go to church every sunday” [ 107 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the statement from the regional secretary was reinforced by the statement of the head of jayawijaya district civil service police unit, rustam haji, as quoted in the jubi tabloid: “in accordance with the rules issued by the regional government regarding the prohibition of trading activities on sundays, there are still many people who conduct trading activities before five in the afternoon, so i hope this (policy) can be obeyed wisely,”. in a broader perspective, the papua provincial secretary, mr. heri dosinaen on august 18, 2015, also proposed a flight ban on sundays to get to or leave papua. he said “we request flight missionaries not to fly on sundays except in an emergency.” in line with the discourse of the papua regional secretary, liputan 6 reported that 3 regencies, tolikara, lani jaya and puncak jaya, have effectively imposed a ban on flights on sundays to enter their territories. in addition, the use of city slogans with religious enthusiasm is a new trend, such as the slogan of the city of jayapura that uses local language but with a religious spirit, “hen tecahi yo onomi tmar ni hanased” which means “one heart (determined) to build a city for the glory of god.” the affirmation of the claims of papua as a region with certain religious characteristics is increasingly getting its context when observing a number of statements from religious organizations in papua that require the order, rules and characteristics of the people be based on christian values. the indonesian priests association along with thousands of people from the indonesian christian communication forums during the august 4, 2008 staged a demonstration at the office of the governor of the papua. the people demands include, among others, refusal to joint decree of 5 ministers in papua, rejection of islamic banks, closing of all islamic boarding schools and islamic centers in buper waena, and prohibition of the use of islamic attributes in the public space (headscarves and the like). the demands submitted by fkki in 2008 were re-submitted by the association of jayawijaya churches in 2016 and the association of jayapura churches (see image 1), taking the momentum of mosque constructions in wamena and sentani. broadly speaking, these two associations of christian religious organizations in two different districts voiced the same rejection even in different years with emphasis on rejection of the construction of mosques and prayer rooms even the desire for closure of existing mosques/prayer rooms, prohibition of the use of loudspeakers in mosques, prohibition of the use of islamic attributes (muslim clothing), and prohibition of educational facilities and public facilities with islamic characteristics. [ 108 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 image 1 statement of the association of jayawijaya and jayapura churches in 2016 and 2018 domination of religious symbols in public spaces the presence of various religious attributes and markers that were mass displayed in strategic public spaces has become a new agenda in various cities in papua. it can be directly witnessed that each city must have deliberately created a special space that is not only used as a name marker for a place, but also exudes a strong impression that the city is dominated by the followers of the largest religious group. in the city of jayapura, public spaces are filled with religious symbols that have become commonplace. the crucifix statue that comes with an attractive lighting architecture that emits white light at night, built on a small island in front of the bay of jayapura, greets travellers visiting the city of jayapura when using sea transportation. opposite this island stands the jayapura sea port located in a narrow and steeply lined region, which is administratively the district of south jayapura. the people of jayapura city refer to this area as the gadjah putih complex. at the top of the cliff above the gadjah putih complex, the jayapura city government places the name of the city of jayapura icon which is adjacent to the other crucifixion symbols. at present, the papua provincial government is planning to build a new religious symbol in the city of jayapura, marked by a giant statue of jesus christ on the coast of base g. the head of the papua provincial public works [ 109 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 office, mr. djuli mambaya, as quoted and reported by bbc indonesia on the 25th april 2017 stated: “the 60-meter tall statue is scheduled to be ready by 2020 and part of the idr 500 billion project includes building a port and access from the capital city of jayapura to the peak of mount swajah. this statue is a symbol of religious diversity, a symbol of the belief of the papuans ... at the western end there is the veranda of mecca and at the east end there is the canaanite porch or the land of gospel.” elsewhere, in the mountain, a giant crucifix monument in wamena has just been completed which is named wio silimo, while in merauke district, two giant statues of jesus the redeemer in mopah airport as high as 12 meters and habe island as high as 26 have also been erected. in general, almost every city in papua will surely find religious symbols that are deliberately created and gain legitimacy from the local government. it is interesting to pay attention to the distribution of religious symbol construction, because it will display a unique configuration, which can be seen in the following figure 2. figure 2 papua map and configuration of religious symbols [ 110 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 law number 21 of 2001 and its impact to papuan muslims in its application, law number 21 of 2001 concerning papua’s special autonomy has succeeded in giving birth to a new jargon, “papuans must be the masters of their own country” and has formed hegemony of thought and understanding of papuan people in ordinary community groups, politicians, bureaucrats and even among religious leaders. in fact, the jargon does not directly make a particular ethnic group a minority or majority in terms of numbers, but with this term, it can be a shortcut that can create a new reality in understanding the dichotomy between the majority and minority in papua, especially in terms of controlling resources and access to various kinds of public service facilities. government programs that have been planned obviously legitimize the dichotomies and classes in society. unequal rights between indigenous papuans and non-indigenous people (non-papuans) are exhibited massively and supported legal means that apply in a nation state. the division of employment due to ethnicity is clearly stated in open spaces, as a response to point (f) of the preamble of law on special autonomy. nonnative papuans are forced to accept the fact that they are of the same position as those who are considered to create disparities so that they are naturally positioned as second-class residents, who at the same time become citizens who receive public services lower than the indigenous papuans, as a result of efforts to create justice for indigenous papuans. the real manifestation of this racial dichotomy is the birth of local and even national government policies that quantify the opportunity to obtain health service facilities, educational opportunities, and employment opportunities and representation models. consequently, a product of the special papuan health insurance policy has emerged, an opportunity to continue education in state universities with an allocation of 80:20 as occurred at the cenderawasih university and the institute of public administration. the recruitment of civil servants and military and police officers is also inseparable from this perspective, with priority being given on the basis of the racial principle, where indigenous people are given a very large portion while the non-papuan population feel reasonable if they receive a modest portion, and again nonindigenous papuans are forced to accept a policy model that actually violates their rights as citizens that should be equal in any case. this astonishing inequality can also be seen in the composition of the members of the papuan people’s assembly of the third term (2017-2022). based on religion, of the 51 members there is only one muslim, or in other words only 1 (%) of the members of the mrp is muslim, while 99 (%) is christian (protestant and catholic). [ 111 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the construction of the implementation of the special autonomy law for papua at least indicates three aspects. first, the population dichotomy based on race/ethnicity is a fact and has a direct impact to the opportunity of citizens to obtain public services, where there are favoured and disfavoured parties. second, systematically being a minority, especially in the event that the opportunity is forced to be accepted by non-papuans, because it is a legal provision that applies specifically in that area, because in law there is a principle called legal fiction. third, the legal product made by the state in its implementation is capable of creating a situation of being a minority and the lack of equality of rights between citizens, as occurred in papua. the consequence of this situation is that the construction of control of resources in the name of race and religion is inevitable which later can be a fertile ground for seedlings of hatred and a growing atmosphere of disharmony between ethnic and interreligious relations. papua the land of christ the papuan perspective built on christian civilization is based on evangelical values by paying attention to the interaction between the zendings and missionaries in the trajectory of the life history of the tribes in papua that is difficult to ignore. at the same time, the success of the christians in instilling religious ideology as the basis for social and political movements and culture increasingly found its form, when the era of openness and special autonomy found its way in papua. the first prayer of ottow and geissler on mansinam manokwari beach and the strokes of the i.s. kijne statement in wondama bay are authentic historical evidence of the foundation of the papuan civilization in the era of enlightenment, and continue to serve as a guide until the current millennial era. reproduction of birthright based on christian values has recently been repeated not only among ordinary people, or religious organizations, but also by the bureaucrats in both the executive and legislative branches by basing arguments on the historical grounds and the special region of papua where christianity is the majority embraced by its inhabitants. such a phenomenon is in fact not surprising since the feeling of being the majority gives rise to euphoria to egotism, and superiority. in other parts of indonesia, the composition of the population of the majority religion shows the characteristics of government policies and religious leaders who also favour the religion that has the most followers. aceh and bali for example, can be used as the main reference to see the practice and expression in the name of a particular religion which is shrouded in a spirit of the majority (jubba, 2019). [ 112 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 in several cities in papua, the spirit of christianity is paving its way to be legitimized through several regulations issued by local governments, with the main assumption of respecting and giving the majority the opportunity to regulate their territory, which through the rule it is expected that harmony will be created even tend to be controlled. the appeal of the mayor of jayapura, the instructions of the district head of jayawijaya, or the statement of the regional secretary of the papua province that placed the reason for making a policy of prohibiting trading activities and airplane flights on sundays to honor christian worship days are examples of how religious values are not only able to regulate private life, but also have a very strong contribution to organize and maintain public order, through majority power within government authority. in another perspective, policies in the name of orderliness and safeguarding public interests based on certain religious values have indirectly positioned the community in conditions of compliance not based on legal obedience, but also on the spirit of obedience to the majority. the situation complies with the majority values above, if examined further, begins with the conditioning of the situation through thought movements on the political platform and religious podiums in closed and private spaces. gradually the conditioning is then carried out in public spaces, through demonstrative action that tends to be provocative. rejection of mosque construction, muslim dress, educational and economic products with islamic label by several christian religious groups is an indicator that there is a disturbing feeling of the majority religious group, in the presence of another religion that has the potential not only to occupy and capture the da’wah territory, but also changes the established atmosphere that has already existed and it is feared that it will seize existing resources in the fields of politics, economics, and even changes in life behaviour as a consequence of changing times (dixon and berger, 2007). the description of this section finally shows the emergence of papuan birthright claims as the land of gospel (christ) that has gone through a fairly long and gradual process, involving many situations, and causing endless debate to date. even so, this dialectical process of religion in the land of papua enables us to understand three aspects. first, the emergence of the desire of the majority of the people of papua to convert the island of papua as the land of gospel was driven by historical reality and feelings as the majority group. second, the urge to claim birthright of the land of papua has been influenced by other realities outside of papua that display religious practices and models with a feature of partiality in the name of the majority. third, birthright claims to a region are considered to be an effective way to maintain the existence of [ 113 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the majority religion from infiltration of new religions, and can minimize the potential for tension due to encounter of religions that have expansive traits. domination of the symbol of religion in public spaces the logical consequence of the existence of a religion is the presence of religious symbols which are not only interpreted as distinguishing identities between religions, they can also be interpreted as an exhibition of the existence and symbol of the greatness and level of civilization of a religion if it is placed in public spaces. in religious symbols filled with artistic values, there are hidden meanings which affirm greatness, virtue, excellence or even power which must therefore be highlighted, mass produced and placed in strategic positions, made as a sign and demarcation that must be obeyed and respected by all concerned parties, in this case other religions that have fewer numbers and limited access to public legitimacy. in papua, mass production of religious symbols in public spaces continues to occur and gain legitimacy from the power of the government. the various religious symbols that have been erected have cost a lot and funded from the regional budget, such as the construction of a jesus statue in jayapura which is estimated to cost 500 billion rupiah. constructions of the statue of jesus christ in merauke and the crucifix monument in wamena were funded by the regional budget. it becomes difficult to argue that the emergence of a single religious symbol that has the full support of the regional government is a manifestation of religious hegemony that has received a majority of the spirit of enthusiasm which not only has forced power against followers of other religions who become the majority in one place turned out to be able to infiltrate to the stage of making a political policy and development in an area, even though in the process of making the policy it was always stated that it had been based on applicable rules and procedures. it appears that the religious spirit of the majority is consciously encouraged to be the main argument of the importance of building religious symbols. the position and location of the construction of the statue of jesus and the crucifix crosses from the north to the south of the island of papua, gives a deep image and meaning of hegemony and religious domination enshrined in the form of inscriptions and monuments. the imagination of each person observing these symbolic positions will directly justify what religion is dominant in papua. the main symbol of christian identity in the form of monuments was built right in the heart of the island of papua in wamena, meanwhile, a gigantic jesus christ statues were built evenly in the districts and cities around the island. finally, the dominance of the symbols of christianity in papua whose development [ 114 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 has been intensively carried out in recent years can show three things. first, the christian religious symbols built in several cities are an affirmation of the religious identity of the majority group. second, the majority of religious enthusiasm is able to create hegemony in all aspects of people’s lives, including the government which should protect all citizens. third, the domination of the majority religion is symbolized through the existence of eternal and magnificent inscriptions, as well as the creation of the largest religious image which is strong in the region. conclusion the discussion provided in this work provides a thorough explanation of the various issues being faced by muslims, especially the dani muslims in papua. the condition of the minority dani muslims has placed them in difficult conditions and is faced with two problems at the same time. first, when they embrace islam as a way of life, they also have to deal with the cultural conditions of the dani community in general, who are very consistent in maintaining tradition. second, when they choose islam, it turns out that their condition is not much different from before. islam, despite being the majority in indonesia, is unable to free dani muslims from all the problems that surround them. special autonomy for papua is one of the important aspects in the dynamics of the problems faced by the dani muslims. special autonomy provides vast opportunities for papuans. however, this does not apply to the dani muslims. they are actually trapped in the two forms of situation above. they are at a crossroads between leaving tradition and continuing their belief as muslims. special autonomy which is intended to exclude papua from various problems has created a new problem for the dani muslims. papuans who have been constructed as “christians” have become a serious challenge in the midst of the efforts of the dani muslims to defend themselves. the christian papuans later made further claims of papua as the land of christ. this has had a broad impact not only on the access to public services for the dani muslims, but has also presented them with new pressure. in fact, the dani muslims are considered to have left their ‘destiny’ as papuans despite their physical traits. in addition, the strengthening of religious identity in papua has also made the dani muslims more creative in facing uncertain conditions. when the islamic-christian relation elsewhere heat up, it also affects the papuans. however, the dani muslims do not feel the impact in their environment because they still have strong emotional ties with other dani communities. today, papua has become an arena of identity contestation especially between islam and christianity. this has an impact on the relations between the dani [ 115 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 muslims and other papuans. therefore, what has been shown in this study at least provides a description of the various problems faced by minority groups, especially in indonesia. bibliography akhtar, s. 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(1946). china’s muslim minority. far eastern survey, 15(18), 281284. dastider, m. (2000). muslims of nepal’s terai. economic and political weekly, 35(10), 766-769. dixon, j. m. and berger, p. l. (2007) ‘the sacred canopy: elements of a sociological theory of religion’, sociological analysis. doi: 10.2307/3710433. engineer, a.a. (2004). minorities and elections: what are the options? economic and political weekly, 39(13), 1378-1379. flower, s. (2009). the struggle to establish islam in papua new guinea (197683). the journal of pacific history, 44(3), 241-260. flower, s. (2012a). christian-muslim relations in papua new guinea. islam and christian-muslim relations, 23(2), 201-217. doi: 10.1080/09596410.2012.655541 flower, s. (2012b). the growing muslim minority community in papua new guinea. journal of muslim minority affairs, 32(3), 359-371. doi: [ 116 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 10.1080/13602004.2012.727295 flower, s. (2015). conversion to islam in papua new guinea: preserving traditional culture against modernity’s cargo-cult mentality. nova religio: the journal of alternative and emergent religions, 18(4), 55-82. gladney, d.c. (1993). the study of islam in china: some recent research. middle east studies association bulletin, 27(1), 23-30. gladney, d.c. (2003). islam in china: accommodation or separatism? the china quarterly, no. 174, 451-467. gunasingham, a. (2019). buddhist extremism in sri lanka and myanmar: an examination. counter terrorist trends and analyses, 11(3), 1-6. habib, i., dkk. (1976). problems of the muslim minority in india. social scientist, 4(11), 67-72. hirsch, m., dkk. (2018). to accept or not to accept: level of moral concern impacts on tolerance of muslim minority practices. british journal of social psychology, 58(1), 196-210. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12284 ipac. (2016). rebuilding after communal violence: lessons from tolikara, papua. ipac report, 29, 1-24. israeli, r. (1981). the muslim minority in the people’s republic of china. asian survey, 21(8), 901-919. jubba, hasse. (2019). kontestasi identitas agama: spiritual dan lokalitas di indonesia. yogyakarta: thephinisi press-cissrec-umy. leinweber, a.e. (2012). the muslim minority of the democratic republic of congo: from historic marginalizationand internal division to collective action. cahiers d’études africaines, 52(206/207), 517-544. mcgibbon, r. (2004). plural society in peril: migration, economic change, and the papua conflict. washington: east-west center. misra, a. (2000). hindu nationalism and muslim minority rights in india. international journal on minority and group rights, 7(1), 1-18. murtadlo, m. (2018) ‘perkembangan pendidikan madrasah di tanah papua’, al-qalam. doi: 10.31969/alq.v21i2.235. özyürek, e. (2018). rethinking empathy: emotions triggered by the holocaust among the muslim-minority in germany. anthropological theory, 18(4), 456–477. doi: 10.1177/1463499618782369 roach, k. (2006). national security, multiculturalism and muslim minorities. singapore journal of legal studies, 405-438 [ 117 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 rumbaru, m. (2019) ‘the construction of muslim identiy post special autonomy: the study of majelis muslim papua existence’, epistemé: jurnal pengembangan ilmu keislaman. doi: 10.21274/ epis.2018.13.2.339-360.. salnikova, m. & d’arcus, b. (2019). spaces of muslim identity in inverness, scotland. journal of muslim minority affairs, 39(1), 1-12. doi: 10.1080/13602004.2019.1575022 smart-morstad, k.j., dkk. (2009). chapter twelve: holding tight with open hands-education at humlehaveskolen: a majority christian culture and a minority muslim culture together in a danish public school. dalam counterpoints vol 374, the role of religion in 21st-century public schools, pp. 203-223. switzerland: peter lang ag. siadari, e. n. (2017) data bps: penduduk asli jadi minoritas di 5 wilayah papua, satuharapan.com. slama, m. (2017) ‘papua as an islamic frontier: preaching in “the jungle” and the multiplicity of spatio-temporal hierarchisations’, from ‘stoneage’ to ‘real-time’: exploring papuan temporalities, mobilities and religiosities. doi: 10.22459/fsart.04.2015.10. trittler, s. (2018). consequences of religious and secular boundaries among the majority population for perceived discrimination among muslim minorities in western europe. journal of ethnic and migration studies, 45(7), 1-20. doi: 10.1080/1369183x.2018.1437343 tsitselikis, k. (2004). the legal status of islam in greece. die welt des islams, new series, 44(3), 402-431. vanparys, n., dkk. (2013). the impact of dramatic events on public debate concerning accommodation of islam in europe. ethnicities, 13(2), 209-228. wanggai, t. v. (2007) rekonstruksi sejarah islam di papua. jakarta: balibang kementerian agama. wekke, i. s. (2013) ‘masjid di papua barat : tinjauan ekspresi keberagamaan minoritas muslim dalam arsitektur’, el harakah. --------., (2015) ‘islam di papua barat: tradisi dan keberagaman’, ulul albab jurnal studi islam. doi: 10.18860/ua.v14i2.2652. --------., (2018) ‘integrasi pendidikan islam dan pembelajaran kewirausahaan di pesantren minoritas muslim’, fenomena. doi: 10.21093/ fj.v9i1.743. [ 118 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 [ 51 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 islam in the javanese cultural pluralism and the keraton performing arts k.r.t. sunaryadi maharsiworo indonesia arts institute, yogyakarta abstract the religion of islam as new religion in the 15th century managed to internalize in the religious and cultural field of javanese society peacefully. the religion was easily accepted because all its teachings are based on a search of “sangkan paraning dumadi” and promote “manunggaling kawula lan gusti” as in principles of the javanese human life. the concept of kewalian, the mysticism and the concept of perfection of life could be applied in the formulation of the keraton (javanese sultan’s palace) which became a model of the traditional conception of a variety of social rules and rituals, so that there is mutual interdependence between the islamic teachings and the community who are still bound by tradition and customary norms. then various rituals that have been islamized emerged. islam was conceived and developed with the javanese view, absorbed and processed into different forms of kejawen (javanese) culture different from the original form, and acceptable to society. in the world of performing arts, needless to say, it has been affected by subculture of javanese islam. at least such impressions can be seen in the wayang (javanese traditional puppetry) performance and ritual dances such as bedaya, wayang wong,or golek menak in the keraton of yogyakarta. keywords: islam, cultural contact, javanese philosophy, dance introduction the coming of islam to java has so far become an unfinished debate. how islam came to the indonesian archipelago is still questionable as no authentic evidence can be accounted for. several historical sources explain that islam came from two different places; one from southern india and the other from northern india. southern india, particularly the region of kerala was the harbor for traders from sumatra, malaysia, china, and the resellers of pepper trade relations between arabia, india, southeast asia, and china. the kerala islam was influenced by the arab traditions and embraced by scholars along the northern coast of java, while northern india (deccan) was dominated by religious and political systems of indo-persian (mark r. woodward, 1999: 81). this fact is supported by the description in the document of babad tanah [ 52 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 jawi, babad gresik, hikayat hasanudin, and serat kandaning ringgit purwo regarding the existence of the relationship of marriage between the kingdom of campa which had embraced islam with the majapahit kingdom, as well as a sign of the emergence of islam among the royal family around the 14th century. the evidence is clear that enculturation of islam in the javanese society is a continuous process which is mutually giving and accepting, or critical reciprocity (marcel mauss, 1952: 12-17) between the values of islam and those of javanese society. some of the changes caused by the mixture have, in fact, enriched both the islamic religion and the javanese culture. as a process (which is still in progress), the transformation of culture also reflects a dialectic between the adjustment and incompatibility, acceptance and rejection on a broad background as islam was trying to enter the gate of javanese culture, from the coastal areas to the far inland (m. ricklefs, 1993). the role of religion in the spread of culture long before islam came, the people of indonesia or the people of java had practiced beliefs related to ancestral spirits or souls contained in objects, plants, animals or human beings. objects, plants or animals are thought to have supernatural powers or spirit, be it evil or good. thus the relationship between humans, animals and plants becomes very close. all forms of beliefs affect human behavior especially in facing the difficulties of life. natural disasters or disease outbreaks are often associated with the rage of spirits or the various imbalanced forces in natural objects. the anger of many of the spirits and the imbalanced forces in natural objects will end if people approach them by giving offerings or holding ceremonies accompanied by dances and sounds that are intended to provide a mystical atmosphere to spirits or supernatural powers from which help is expected to be present in the ceremony. the javanese community believes that the forces of nature are one of the deciding factors in their lives. agricultural success depends very much the forces of nature, the sun, rain, and wind although they also believe that there are supernatural forces behind all those powers. when the hindu religion came to the indonesian archipelago, the prehindu beliefs did not experience the significant turmoil, since they shared some similarities. hinduism is also loaded with various ceremonies to gain prosperity. the pre-hindu beliefs depend on the spirits of ancestors and forces of nature or the unseen while the harmony of the cosmos in hinduism is reached by getting closer to the help of the gods. the hindu communities also recognize the rituals of fertility, believing in the eternal spirits of the ancestors (through understanding of moksa), as well as the spirits of good and evil, a [ 53 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 circle of suffering (samsara), and the law of karma. with respect to the belief, in the teachings of buddhism also recognize the four kasunyatan (truths), namely dukha (suffering), samudaya (cause of suffering), nirodha (controlling one’s desire), and marga or the release into nirvana (abdul jamil, 2000: 124). it means in some respects the nature of the teachings of both hinduism and buddhism fits the religious heritage of the native peoples of indonesia, so as to facilitate the smooth process of acculturation between cultures that have developed in the community and those of hinduism and buddhism. the religious beliefs of hinduism, buddhism, and animism as well as all the dynamism in the process of the development of islam inter-relate with islamic beliefs. there are two issues that need to be kept in mind with respect to the arrival of islam in java. first, the existence of hinduism, buddhism, and the old beliefs that had rooted and grown in the society long before islam came. when hinduism and buddhism began to flourish, the javanese culture did not dissolve into the two religious beliefs, but on the contrary the two cultural elements were “javanized” thus the term hindu-javanese culture appeared, because the religious-magic values of hinduism and buddhism were in line with the prehindu animisticdynamistic cultural values. while hinduism and buddhism thrived among the elites of the keraton, the traditional beliefs which are based on animism are pervasive among the commoners. although the three faiths have different teachings, they all share one point of destination. all of them are rich with mysticism and aimed at finding sangkan paraning dumadi (genesis) and manunggaling kawula gusti (union with god). second, the exact period of the coming of islam to java is still disputed. the massive islamization occurred in the 15th and 16th century marked by the fall of hindu-javanese majapahit (1478) and the establishment of the first islamic kingdom of demak. the massive islamization in java thus occurred at a time when the muslim world suffered a setback in many ways. in the year 1000 there were a lot of setbacks in the field of thought and science, so the practice of sufism, the mysticism, tarekat. therefore, islam that came to java at that time was filled with mysticism. since mysticism was commonly found among the javanese, the task of the mubaligh (islamic proselytizers) called wali songo (nine guardians/saints) to spread islam was easier. the walis were tolerant and open in facing different views related to local cultural traditions. they kept the javanese traditions alive by giving the nuances of islam to the traditions such as sesaji (ceremonial offerings for the worship of spirits and gods) which was replaced with the tradition of kenduri or selametan (communal feast). giving kenduri [ 54 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to the neighbors will create harmony between them which corresponds to the islamic teachings. previously, sesaji was accompanied by spells and sunan kalijaga replaced it with slametan which was then accompanied by khalimah thoyibah. sunan kalijaga was known for using methods which were not against culture but instead filling it with the teachings of islam, and based on deliberation. the walis also proselytized through cultural and artistic approach. sunan giri (raden paku) wrote asmaradana and pocung songs, and taught religion to children through games as well as spreading islam in sulawesi and sunda kecil. sunan kalijaga wrote the song dandanggula, created the puppet play with the islamic message as well as puppet props made of leather such as kelir (as a symbol of the universe), debog (earth), blencong (symbol of the sun), puppet master to play the puppets. meanwhile, sunan bonang (mahdum ibrahim, son of sunan ampel) who served on the northern coast of east java, wrote the song durma. he also attempted to change the names of the gods with islamic names. sunan kudus, whose area of operation included the coast of central java, wrote the songs maskumambang and mijil as well as fairy tales about islam. sunan drajat, a philanthropist who helped orphaned children and sick people, also composed the song pangkur. sunan muria was popular among fishermen and merchants. he wrote the songs sino and kinanti, and preserved the gamelan (traditional musical ensemble), as well as gendhing-gendhing which contains the teachings of islam. sunan gunungjati (syarif hidayatullah) or fatahilah or faletehan incorporated islamic elements into praises, dzikir, and prayers (karkono karnajaya partokusumo, 1995: 291-294). the walis also wrote some of the puppet plays which contain the message of islam such as dewa ruci, jimat kalimasada, jaya pusaka, bagawan ciptoning, petruk dadi ratu, pandu pragolo, semar mbarang jantur, bale sigolo-golo, wahyu widayat, dan kresna gugah (ridin sofwan, et al., 2000:157-158) in the economic field, sunan kalijaga contributed through his work related to agriculture through the philosophy of bajak dan cangkul (plow and hoe) in his book called cupu manik astagina. the plow and hoe is made up of several sections as follows: 1. pegangan, meaning that to achieve the goals of life, one should have firm life principles and enough experience. 2. pancatan, if the principles already exist, one should act soon. 3. tanding, meaning that before acting, one should make comparison as to which action to take. 4. singkal (metu saka ing akal) after making consideration and doing research, [ 55 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 one will get a sense or way to achieve the expected results. 5. kejen (kasawijen), the unity between the energy and mind. 6. olang-aling, having achieved the unity of energy and mind, then there will be no obstacles. 7. racuk (ngarah ing cucuk), if we pursue the ideals and act according to the instructions above, we will definitely reach our dreams. the plow and hoe philosophy served a medium of education on philosophy and preaching among the community at the time. the walis also taught that occupations related to trade, agriculture and carpentry were not a low status as defined in hinduism regarding human categorization in castes (brahman for religious leaders, kshatriya for the nobles, vaisya for the merchants, artisans, farmers, and sudra for the workers/porters or landless peasants). in addition to being religious figures, the walis also made their living as merchants. thus, they indirectly enforced the egalitarian views among the javanese society and eliminated the differences. to avoid conflict in the community, the development of islamic propagation in the field of education was conducted through establishing pesantren (islamic boarding schools) which took the form of education originally taught the monks and clergy. the pesantren is a continuation and modification of hindu institution, the mandala. various terms related to hindu, buddhist rituals are still used today, such as the term sembahyang (worship) which is used to refer to salat (prayer). for places of worship, the term used is langgar, a similar term for sanggar which is a temple. the students are called a santri, derived from the word shastri in hindi meaning one who studies the holy books. the boarding school system which was a pre-islamic cultural transformation was for the first time developed by syekh maulana ibrahim in gresik. apparently the spread of islam in java was done through the islamization of the java culture on the one hand, and javanization of islam on the other. the islamization of culture is an attempt to preserve an existing javanese-style islam, either formally or substantially. as mentioned above, these efforts were conducted through using the islamic terms and names, telling about the role of historical islam figures, as well as applying of the law and the norms of islam in various aspects of life. the javanization of islam is defined as the internalization of the islamic values into the javanese culture by maintaining the use of javanese names and terms. acculturation and syncretization occurred between local traditions and beliefs with the islamic teachings and culture. in this acculturation, islam has influenced the local traditions and beliefs, and similarly the local traditions have also affected the implementation of the islamic teachings. as a result, there are a lot of original javanese rituals [ 56 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 that have islamized such as ceremonies of surtanah, nelung ndina, mitung ndina, matang puluh ndina, nyatus, mendhak, nyewu and so on. an attempt to accommodate the islamic values and the local cultures can be seen here, although in some respects, the pre-islamic cultural heritage is still evident. islam that entered indonesia (java) was that which has been combined with the persian and indian mysticism. the javanese mystical and philosophical world is the link which facilitated the inclusion of the elements of islamic cultures in javanese people’s daily lives. in this case the javanese historiography assumes that all events have mystical and religious reasons. therefore religion is a political power and the legitimacy of the keraton. from power to cultural value of kejawen the spread of islam into the interior part of java has caused the keraton javanese culture which is oriented toward political values to be confronted with the islamic culture that focuses on the shari’ah. the result of the differences sometimes may cause a tension to become an open conflict. this occurred during the mataram kingdom which was ruled by senopati. mataram was a representation of the javanese community that had agrarian cultural roots. in the context of culture, agricultural societies are static and often place power as a central theme in life. in the political dimension, all the political aspects tend to be a tool of power. it was also the case in the process of acculturation between javanese-hinduism-buddhism and islam. the difference of concept between mataram and the relatively dynamic and open coastal islamic community led to the emergence of conflict with the coastal regions. sultan agung, senopati’s successor, realized that the condition would undermine mataram. therefore, he was trying to build a cultural strategy in order to maintain power, taking the coastal islamic culture to be synthesized with the javanese inland culture, which is then referred to as javaneseislamic culture or kejawen, with the goal of keeping a socio-cultural stability throughout the territory of the keraton. when the islamic coastal power represented by the giri region was defeated by the ruler of mataram, there appeared a combination of javanese culture called kejawen islam. regarding the process of transformation, the culture strategies adopted the rulers of the kingdom when dealing with islam can only be understood from the way of power mythicism (r. von heine-geldern, 1956: 14-18), as seen in the use of the term “khalifatullah sayidin panatagama” for the title of the ruler of the mataram kingdom. the title of a king, in addition to having earthly powers, also serves as a religious leader. there was similar concept between the period of hindu-buddhism and that [ 57 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 of islam. during the period hindu-buddhism, the legitimacy of a monarch was approved by the understanding that the ruler was a representative of god. during the islamic period, a ruler (king) was trying to find the level of ‘godking by styling himself as the khalifatullah (representative of allah). the king of yogyakarta carries the title of sultan in the sense of unity as “ngarsodalem sampeyandalem ingkang sinuwun kanjeng sultan hamengkubuwana, senopati ing ngalaga ngabdurachman sayidin panagama khalifatullah ingkang jumeneng kaping….” the title of the sultan is a practice of ngarsodalem or one that stays in front of sampeyandalem (your feet). the two words contain the notion that in life every person has to step forward. ingkang sinuwun or the expected that kanjeng sultan (a will to uphold justice), hamengku buwana means protecting the world (martyr) for all the people, thus achieving unity between kawula and gusti. the javanese ideas of manunggaling kawula gusti are basically the teachings of kejawen islamic sufism (mysticism), which had evolved in the 17th and 18th century, and became the mataram kingdom’s political system. manunggaling kawula gusti has a concrete meaning of the unity of people with the king. the core of this idea, in addition to a notion of unity, also means balance. balance between physical and mental state, between faith and charity, between science and ethics, between ability and willingness, in an introspective way. with such concept, the king as god’s representative in the world is the chosen one who is born to lead the world. javanese or kejawen islam is indeed a unique phenomenon. not only is it able to maintain cultural and religious aspects of the pre-islamic era, but it is also due to the concepts of kewalian (saintdom), mysticism, and perfection of human life applied in the cult of the kingdom. the keraton cult here is an attempt to unify various muslim traditions by implementing the interdependence between the teachings, rituals and social life. so javanese islam is not simply a replica of the middle eastern or south asian islam, but it is a picture of an intellectual and spiritual traditions of the dynamic and creative muslim world. it can be said that kejawen islam is the islam teachings understood and developed in the framework of the javanese tradition. although not so solid as the santri islam, kejawen islam is credited as an introduction for the culture lovers to get to know the teachings of islam. islam and the performing arts keraton according to soemarsaid moertono, the theory of the javanese kingdom is based on a “splendor cult” which leads to the equation between the theory of kingdoms and kewalian and sufic doctrine of unity with mysticism. officially, [ 58 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the javanese keratons embrace islam, though their lifestyle has been heavily influenced by the javanese-hindu traditions. the king has a strong mystical power so he can marry ratu kidul, the sovereign of the south sea who is an important figure in the javanese tradition. ratu kidul has become the focus of royal javanese rituals to maintain balance in the cosmos, since the imbalance between the cosmos will lead to the destruction of the country. it is also the case with the architecture of the kraton (yogyakarta) built by sultan hamengku buwana i is a miniature model of the javanese dance of sufic theory regarding the description of the structure of the cosmos on human nature, his relationship with god, the origin of his existence, as well as his final fate. the symbolism and architecture of the keraton describes the islamic structure of the cosmos, the relationship between sufism and shariah, the cosmological and introspective outline of the mystical path. all of it is elaborated in the human face symbolizing the path from birth to the consummation of life which is reflected in the philosophy of the existence of a building next to the keraton called krapyak and a monument in the north side. if examined from south to north of the yogyakarta keraton, it depicts a human journey since his time in barzah where he receives his soul, then takes the form of a sperm, an embryo and becomes an adult with a variety of obstacles that must be faced in order to achieve happiness. if examined from north to south, the keraton represents a man’s journey toward the end (death) to achieve eternal perfection i.e. unification with god which is known in javanese philosophy as manunggaling kawula gusti. the keraton serves the kingdom’s centre of administration with the main attention on the concept of loyalty and duty, a similar sense of worship to god. the keraton and the central courtyard of the keraton is the symbol of climbing a ladder to heaven to come to the unity of the divine. this concept of manunggaling kawula gusti is made clear by the presence of tugu golong-gilig in the northern side of the keraton, with its rounded shape like golong rice sustained by cylinders (gilig). there are two meanings implied here, kawula could mean people and gusti means king, but the kawula could also be interpreted as a king while gusti is his god. the harmony of relations between humans, king (leader), and god is the goal of the javanese human life. in the religious and philosophical conceptions of the javanese kingdom, the keraton is a microcosm of the order of the visible universe (world). the parallels between the macrocosm (jagad gedhe) and microcosm (jagad cilik) depend on the success of humans in creating harmony of life by following the existing symbols. in this concept, the main duty of a king is to maintain sustainability of harmony between the kingdom and the universe. [ 59 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 by studying the meanings of the various javanese traditions, it is clear that the issue of islam in java is not how to incorporate elements of islam into the javanese culture, but how to reinterpret the existing symbols of hindubuddhism using the islamic concept. the keraton has also become a center of classical javanese culture with its dances, puppetry and gamelan (traditional musical ensemble), as well as various religious rituals held in the early days of islam. prince mangkubumi (hamengku buwono i), the founder of the kraton, was one who qualified in all areas. in the field of performing arts, sultan hamengku buwono i created a variety of dance forms such as beksan lawung, beksan guntur segara, beksan sekar medura, wayang wong, beksan tameng, lelangen beksa bedhaya. in the political concept of the javanese kingdom, it is recognized that the king is the ruler that has the foundation of the incarnation of god (god-king). in this case bedhaya serves as a symbol of shiva, so its existence becomes an inseparable unity with the king. the concept of god-king that originated from the hindu era is still recognized in the islamis period in form of khalifatullah or the representative of allah. in serat wulangreh it is also said that ratu kinarya is wakil hyang agung (representative of allah). however, keep in mind that the notion of the position or power of the king (leader) will be of benefit to the wider community and bring people’s welfare if accompanied by the awareness that a ruler should be ambeg adil paramarta, berbudi bawa laksana, and wicaksana. it means that the power should be based on fairness, thoughtfulness demeanor, and wisdom. understanding of the concept of leadership as a whole is now quite often forgotten, so people sometimes tend to abuse power. the ideals of unity between “oneself ” (human) and the divine are for humans to achieve kawruh “sangkan paraning dumadi” i.e. kawruh (knowledge) about the origin (sangkan) of his existence and purpose in building the harmony of life. the harmony between the word, hearing, eyesight, thoughts and feelings in establishing a balance between passion and reason aims to defeat the bad and to reach the happiness of the world and the hereafter. the changes of the positions in the bedhaya dance, which are often made by the dancers, are a picture of imbalance that frequently occurs between the will and the logic. the conflict is described in dynamic motion, yet still looks harmonious in a constant tempo (ajeg), seems to contain the message that not all issues in life must be resolved with violence. similarly, the concept of joged mataram consists of sawiji (concentration), greged (spirit), sengguh (self-confident), ora mingkuh (firm in principles). the concept it can be manifested in our concentration on something that we are working on that is based on passion, confidence, and act in accordance [ 60 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 with the teachings of god. thus this concept can be applied anywhere, not limited to the world of dance, for all the interpretation leads to the teaching of the perfection of life (kasampurnaning urip) and the devotion to others. in addition to the dances performed in the keraton, the wayang (puppetry), to the javanese, is a cultural product containing aesthetic, ethical, philosophical and pedagogical values. therefore, the wayang not only becomes a spectacle, but also serves as a guide to life, a medium of education and dakwah. in short, the wayang is the essence of the javanese culture. the wayang and the javanese culture are two inseparable things. this can be seen from the javanese traditional house which consists of dari emper, pendapa, pringgitan, omah mburi, sentong, longkangan, and pawon. the wayang is one of the forms of the hindu cultural heritage that is still preserved to this day. according to claire holt in her book art in indonesia: continuities and change cited by soedarsono, the wayang performances (in central java) have existed since the year 907, as written on a stele built by king balitung of ancient mataram kingdom. after the kingdom of majapahit fell at the beginning of the 16th century, the political power of javanese culture, under the islamic kings began to appear in central java (1524-1581). it began with the kingdom of demak, and was followed by the kingdoms of pajang and mataram. however, the javanese islamic kings and the walis still preserved the tradition of wayang which is interpreted with the teachings of islam. the walis used wayang gamelan and wayang topeng to attract crowds to congregate and listen to sermons. the wayang world contains the values of the java of view of life particularly with regard to the attitude and decision that should be made when confronted with an obstacle to truth. in the world of the wayang, life must always be based on truth. here the moral role is very important, and at this stage the values of islamic morality are necessary to be included in the wayang. in the literature of kejawen islam, a human life is determined by the puppeteer (god) based on the length of time of the show which starts from sunset through sunrise. the middle of the night is depicted as the decisive moment in the life of human beings; the moments in which there is chaos or the turbulence of the cosmos, and that finally the harmony or peace could only be realized by early morning. in this case the puppeteer as the driving force of the world divides life into three cycles through different styles of play and different gamelan rhythms (mark r. woodward: 287-289, sudarto, 1999: 171). in the gamelan rhythms of pathet nem, the story depicts characters that have not managed to defeat their enemies. this part is a description of the struggle between faith and carnal lust that faced humankind during children up to adults. the second level is on [ 61 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 tone of pathet sanga, pointing at adulthood. this part includes goro-goro, the scene that begins with the onset of chaos to expel punakawan semar, gareng, petruk, and bagong who in their joke will see their role as spiritual mentors. the hindu epic ramayana and mahabharata, there are no any purnakawan character. the emergence of the purnakawan characters was created by the walis to perform a function of the good characters. the names semar, nala gareng, petruk, and bagong are derived from arabic; semar from ismar (nail). he is the nail or the safety of the world, like the teachings of islam spread by the walis. semar is the aspiration of human physical and spiritual struggle. physically, semar represents the spirit that is never faded over time. spiritually he is interpreted as a creed of faith so that it remains strong in principle. in the javanese view, semar who is not as gentle as a warrior is often associated with farmers or the people who represent simplicity. on the other hand, semar also serves as a manifestation of the prophet muhammad which had always served on humanity, and became a mentor to the belief in god. nala gareng derived from the word naala qoriin means t having a lot of friends. as proselytizers, the walis had to have lot of friends, with whom they will find the wise way to god. petruk, derived from fatruk, is a short version of a discourse of mysticism “fat-ruk-kulla maa siwallahi”, meaning “leave anything other than god” (sudarto: 179-183. anderson, 1966, keeler, w., 1987). bagong derived from baghaa which means fighting (against falsehood). bagong also equals baqa ‘ means lasting. the bottom line is that all beings will experience eternal life in the afterlife. bagong may also be from the word bahar which means spice. spice here is a picture of people who are critical, as is the blaka suta. it is obvious that the existence of punakwawan is a form of visualization of the javanese community, the idea is that human life requires the pamomong figures or people nearby who could lead to the path of god or truth. the third stage is the pathet manyura, depicting the ksatrias who have managed to conquer the enemy of ther inner desires. when the performances are over, wodden wayang golek appears to keep people/audience nggoleki (finding) the meaning of the show that has just been performed. the end of the show is also marked by the penancapan gunungan as the tree of life in the middle of banana stems that symbolizes a state of silence, with no movement (the end of the show). from the description above, it is clear that the puppet is a medium to teach how people should believe in god and avoid worldly desires that will drive them into a life of hell. in other words, the puppet manifests the nature of truth, ethics, and philosophy, and becomes a full-fledged javanese man. the penetration of the puppet as a religious medium that preserves the javanese traditions is not something easy to do. this is also a problem faced by [ 62 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the javanese kingdoms in building the foundation of strong islamic traditions in the midst of hindu mythology which is already entrenched in the javanese culture. to bridge the gap between tradition and the teachings of islam, the transformation is done through the genealogical construction which connects the gods of hinduism with the lineage of the prophets. through a series of myths, puppet figures are told as descendants of adam and eve, who are the ancestors of all humans. the hindu charm, jamus kalimasada, derives from the words kali maha usada (hindu), which was later declared to come from the arabic syahada (witness), which is the beginning of the sentence of recognition of islam. it means that the statement syahada is the minimum principle to be called a muslim. the story that becomes a source of guidance for the puppeteer is usually taken from the serat mahabarata, serat baratayuda written by yosodipura, serat pustaka raja by ranggawarsita, or serat kandha containing genealogical relationships of the prophets with puppet characters. meanwhile, serat manikmaya describes the process of the interaction between different cultures that exist in java. as the intersection of javanese culture and islam, the walis composed several puppet stories that reflect islamic values such as dewa ruci, jimat kalimasada, jaya pusaka, begawan ciptoning, petruk dadi ratu, pandu pragolo, semar mbarang jantur, bale sigolo-golo, wahyu widayat and kresna gugah. in its development, in addition to the leather puppet (wayang purwa), wayang gedhog and wayang topeng were also developed. wayang gedhog is a new development of the wayang kulit performances originated in east java at the end of the majapahit era, when islam began to flourish in the 15th century. the theme is taken from the epic story of panji. wayang gedhog later inspired the wayang golek and wayang golek inspired the emergence of beksan golek menak in the yogyakarta palace. as in wayang kulit, wayang topenf was also used as a medium of dakwah by the walis. even in the first performance of wayang topeng in the 16th century, sunan kalijaga made nine masks adapted from wayang kulit and wayang gedhog. the nine masks represented the nine characters i.e., panji, candrakirana, gunungsari, andaga, raton (king), klana, danawa (giant), renco (tembem or doyok), dan turas (penthul or bancak). at the time of mataram, puppet performances, in addition to being a royal performace, also spread out in the coastal area and the area outside the kingdom (abroad). when the kingdom of mataram split into two kingdoms (kasunanan surakarta and yogyakarta sultanate) in 1755 the mask puppet was still preserved by the surakarta palace, while sultan hamengku buwono-i did not continue the tradition of the mask puppet, but rather infused the new dramatari (a musical) form of “wayang wong” featuring the story mahabharata or ramayana. wayang topeng flourished in rural communities than in the [ 63 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 palace. it was mentioned that in addition to wayang kulit, wayang topeng, and wayang gedhog, in java especially in the yogyakarta palace, wayang wong was also developed. the presence of the wayang wong in yogyakarta was not only as a spectacle or entertainment, but according to soedarsono, this performance is recognized as an official state ritual performances. wayang wong in the yogyakarta sultanate was also used as a medium of education, as in the play there are religious lessons, the teachings of morals, ethics, life philosophy and principles, state administration. the puppet characters became an example to be imitated or avoided if the character is not good. another type of puppet that flourish in the keraton is wayang golek menak, the arab persian stories coming into the island through the malay language, in the form of amir hamzah legends. the amir hamzah legends in the persian tradition are the literature of chivalric biography of hamza ibn ‘ abdul muttalib (amir hamza) mixed with various elements of the persian people, containing the historical development of islam from arabia to persia. in the text ”menak persi” it is mentioned that amir hamzah plunged into the battlefield to instill islamic values to the wider community by reading the qur’an and saying prayers. story also developed among the society in a populist art form such as sholawatan (slawatan), srandul, and nod. the forms of folk art are usually displayed on the night of the tirakatan to tingkepan ceremony, circumcision, or marriage. the model of literature development by incorporating elements of local-style with the keraton is similar to the habit of the indonesian people in writing books. in the literary works, serat menak is written in some several versions i.e. menak kartasura, surakarta and menak menak-pang (only parts of the whole menak story). from the form of the literary works, serat menak was composed into the form of art shows such as wayang golek or wayang thengul, which was later composed into several free dances one of which is golek menak created by sultan hamengku buwana ix shortly after he ascended the throne as the sultan of yogyakarta. the sultan’s sons, relatives, and royal guards were required to be able to dance in order to deepen the knowledge about life, and the belief in god. the spread of islam to java was followed by the influx of islamic literature. the spread of this literature, the first islamic kingdom of demak became the medium of a direct connection between the javanese literature lovers with the walis. the contact generated a kind of literary mix between the tradition /javanese culture and the islamic culture that originated from boarding schools (in the coastal areas). then the javanese-language books called the kejawen literature that contains the islamic values emerged. [ 64 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the keraton manuscripts are mostly expressive literature based on feelings and imagination. in this for of literature, the elements of islam are tapped and developed. serat menak which originated from amir hamzah legends, is among the islamic-javanese literature filled with poem-like stories. these stories are distinguished into four types, namely the coastal area version of serat menak developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is regarded as a pure text of amir hamzah that was derived from amir hamzah legends. second, the kartasura serat menak was by influenced by the coastal serat menak, but experienced some development. third, serat menak pang, is taken from parts of the text of amir hamzah. fourth, serat menak surakarta is similar to serat menak kartasura, but its language and psalm have been developed and decorated by yasadipura so that it belongs the row of baletri literature (beautiful literature). this serat was published into the indonesian language by balai pustaka in 1982. the serat menak was then composed into the traditional art of puppetry called wayang thengul or wayang golek. the seriousness of the sultans of yogyakarta to disseminate the islamic religion was manifested by giving the islamic names to his grand children, such as the names listed in the serta mena: asimkuari, marpinjung, sudarawerti, sirtupelaeli, ruslanudanurusamsi, mukasabiyun, and so on. from the story of golek menak a dance called golek menak was developed. although still limited in scale, the golek menak dance is a reflection of changes in the powers of the palace towards a more modern outlook on life as a reflection of the changes of the javanese view on life initiated sultan hamengku buwono ix. the creation of the dance has broken the concept of the javanese leadership that rests on the grandeur of the god-king or the khalifatullah. the concepts in the bedhaya dance which was sacred for the kingdom of java was gone with the presence of golek menak. the sultan’s move was probably based on the realization that indonesia had entered a new era, a time of national revival towards the state-based people’s democracy. of course as a leader the sultan also must follow the changes of the era in order for him to exist in the eyes of its people. viewed from another angle, acculturation or inculturation shows that the islamic culture has strengthened the javanese cultural heritage. the critical interface may have positive or negative impacts. the positive impact is to enrich the javanese culture so that cultural assimilation occurs peacefully. conversely, the negative impact is that if the various elements fail to function, cultural diffusion instead of assimilation will emerge, and in a certain context, it shows the meaning of mere inference. it can be observed that the intense participation of the javanese community to interpret islam in the context of [ 65 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 javanese-islamic culture can be seen in the various ceremonies that still show the elements of the “encounter” of islam with the javanese culture. it can be noticed in various ceremonies such as sekaten, garebeg, and various other traditional ceremonies in the javanese culture. closing remarks in the javanese culture, pluralism and multiculturalism are the inevitable. that is, both are something that should be there and unavoidable. the complexity of life and interactions with other cultures is the conditions that make up the complexity of the javanese culture. the efforts to study the complexities of the javanese culture are interesting because the more deeply it is examined, the richer the values obtained. the harmony created in the process of transformation/acculturation is the thing that makes the javanese culture rich with meanings. it is not only a blend of two different elements, but also has a dimension that is able to form a value in a harmonious process as it existed in various works of art of the islamic mataram that are part of the javanese cultural pluralism as a whole. despite all the process of cultural transformation, in fact, mysticism and mythology of cultural syncretism are difficult to be separated from the javanese people’s lives. thus any form of internalization of javanese-islamic culture should be recognized as a process that is not finished, and will continue to adapt to space and time. therefore, we can still continue to develop the existing art and culture, as long as it is still functional and in harmony with the advances of times. bibliography baried, siti baroroh, et.al., 1987., panji: citra pahlawan nusantara. jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan. dewan ahli yayasan siswo among beksa., 1982. kawruh joged mataram. yog yakarta: yayasan siswo agung beksa. herkovits, m.j., 1938. acculturations the study of contact, new york: alred a.koff. jamil abdul, et.al., 2000. islam & kebudayaan jawa. yogyakarta: gama media. kayam, umar., 1989. transformasi budaya kita. yogyakarta: pidato pengukuhan sebagai guru besar di universitas gadjah mada. -----------------., 1981. seni tradisi masyarakat. jakarta: djaya pirusa. koentjaraningrat., 1984. kebudayaan jawa. jakarta : balai pustaka. [ 66 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 kunto wijoyo, et.al., 1987. tema islam dalam pertunjukan rakyat jawa: kajian aspek sosial keagamaan dan kesenian. yogyakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan, dirjen kebudayaan, proyek penelitian dan pengkajian kebudayaan nusantara javanologi. maus macsel., 1952. resiprocity. london: philip wilson publisher. ririn sofwan, et.al., 2000. islamisasi di jawa. yogyakarta; pustaka pelajar. sodarsono, et.al., 1989. sultan hameku buwana ix pengembang dan pembaharu tari jawa gaya yogyakarta, yogyakarta: pemerintah daerah istimewa yogyakarta. --------------------., 2000. masa gemilang dan memudar wayang wong gaya yogyakarta. yogyakarta: tarawang. shellabear w.g., 1976. sejarah melayu. kuala lumpur: petaling jaya. wibowo fred (editor)., 1981. mangenal tari klasik gaya yogyakarta, yogyakarta: dewan kesenian propinsi diy dan proyek pengembangan kesenian diy, departemen p dan k. wiroprmudjo, kartidjo., 1980. “wayang golek menak”, dalam almanak dewi sri. woodward r. mark., 1999. islam jawa : kesalehan normatif versus kebatinan. yogyakarta: lkis. [ 115 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 acculturation of religion and culture within muslim sundanese society in west java fitri yanti uin raden intan lampung, indonesia e-mail: fitriyanti@radenintan.ac.id doli witro uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia e-mail: doliwitro01@gmail.com d.i. ansusa putra uin sulthan thaha saifuddin jambi, indonesia e-mail: ansusa@uinjambi.ac.id restu prana ilahi uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia e-mail: restupranailahi@gmail.com naila intania universitas wahid hasyim, indonesia email: nailaintania24@gmail.com raid alghani al azhar university, egypt email: raidalghani4@gmail.com abstract this article explores the acculturation of culture and religion, focusing on the interaction between islam and sundanese culture in west java, indonesia. early islamic preachers employed accommodating strategies, integrating pre-existing cultural elements, which led to the development of a unique form of islam in the region. the purpose of this article is to examine and highlight the ways in which islam has blended with sundanese culture in west java. the study utilized a qualitative research approach, combining field research with data from both primary sources (observations and interviews) and secondary sources, such as books, scholarly articles, research reports, and other relevant materials. the data were displayed in a narrative-descriptive format and analyzed using the qualitative data analysis techniques including data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing. the findings reveal that the long-standing process of acculturation between islam and sundanese culture in west java has produced a distinct sundanese culture influenced by islamic principles. this is evident in elements [ 116 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 such as the wawacan texts, which contain islamic teachings, the prevalence of islamic boarding schools, the practice of islamic mysticism (sufism-tariqa), and the unique islamic-sundanese architectural style. the widespread acceptance of islamic teachings among the sundanese has led to the incorporation of these principles and traditions into sundanese society, aligning them closely with islamic values. keywords: acculturation; islam; sundanese culture; west java introduction in their daily lives, humans are deeply intertwined with the culture that naturally forms from habitual practices. both culture and religion hold unique and significant places in human life. islam, as a universal religion, offers teachings that are beneficial for life and the entire universe, bringing blessings to all creation. however, the relationship between culture and religion is not always straightforward. while there are times when culture and religion can easily blend, leading to mutual support and complementarity, there are also instances where the two clash, leading to conflicts (sumpena, 2012). one of the factors contributing to the emergence of religion in society is the presence of a power perceived as immense by humans. this curiosity drives people to learn more about this great power and seek to understand its source. additionally, humans often believe in supernatural forces. when misunderstood, natural phenomena such as those occurring in the sky, mountains, or seas can astonish people, leading them to worship this great power (bauto, 2014). culture originates from the human soul, particularly through feelings and thoughts. culture also represents the essence of an individual, reflecting how they express their feelings and thoughts in every aspect of their lives. culture encompasses various areas of human existence, both spiritual and physical (fitriyani, 2012). humans live within communities that establish guidelines and rules, creating a sense of peace, tranquility, and security. these rules or norms can be cultural or religious. in indigenous communities, there are specific rules and norms upheld by all members, primarily designed to protect society and preserve nature. by fostering a healthy environment, these communities safeguard themselves against various forms of harm and disaster. this phenomenon is fascinating to study, as every society inherently embodies cultural values. communities with distinctive characteristics are often referred to as indigenous communities. these groups pass down traditions from generation to generation, including religious practices, life conceptions, and cultural values, which are preserved and maintained as vital aspects of life (miharja, 2016). during the process of islamization, there has been significant [ 117 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 acculturation, assimilation, and transformation of islamic teachings and traditions into the social and cultural fabric of these communities (busni et al., 2022). thus, there exists a mutual support system between religion and culture, where both influence and enrich each other. previous studies on the acculturation of religion and culture, particularly the interaction between islam and sundanese culture, have been extensively conducted. several key studies in this area include: first, tradisi budaya masyarakat islam di tatar sunda (jawa barat) [traditions of islamic culture in the community of tatar sunda (west java)] (budi sujati, 2019) examines sundanese culture through the lens of islamic law. second, islam dan budaya lokal: studi tentang interelasi islam dan budaya sunda [islam and local culture: a study of the interrelation between islam and sundanese culture] (deden sumpena, 2012) explores the sundanese islamic school of thought. third, sastra islam nusantara: guguritan sunda dalam tradisi keilmuan islam di jawa barat [islamic literature of the indonesian archipelago: the sundanese guguritan within islamic scientific tradition in west java] (jajang a. rohmana, 2016) discusses the use of guguritan as a medium for expressing islamic scholarly creativity. while these studies demonstrate the extensive research on the acculturation between islam and sundanese culture, they have not specifically focused on analyzing this acculturation within the context of west java using acculturation theory and exploring the specific forms of acculturation that have emerged. this article seeks to address the research question: how does the acculturation of culture and religion manifest, particularly in the context of islam and sundanese culture in west java? the introduction of new cultural elements has the potential to enrich and add diversity to sundanese society. although numerous studies have examined the acculturation of culture and religion, this study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between islam and sundanese culture in west java. this research employs a qualitative fieldwork approach, as it relies on qualitative data (sugiyono, 2013). qualitative data refers to information that is not numerical or statistical but is instead composed of thoughts, understandings, and narratives expressed in meaningful ways to achieve a comprehensive analysis and draw conclusions. the focus of this research is on the interaction between islam and local sundanese culture in west java. data for this study were collected from two main sources. first, field data were obtained through observations and interviews. second, additional data were gathered from library sources, including books, scholarly articles, research reports, and other relevant materials. the findings are presented in a narrative-descriptive format, which involves narrating or [ 118 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 describing the results of the analysis based on the collected sources. data collection techniques included observation, interviews, and documentary studies. the data analysis technique used is the qualitative analysis method developed by miles et al., which includes data condensation, where relevant data are selected from field notes and other sources; data presentation, where the collected and analyzed data are displayed; and conclusion drawing, where findings are verified and conclusions are formed based on the evidence (miles et al., 2014). the arrival of islam in sunda region cultural acculturation is a significant reality in indonesia (purwaningsih & witro, 2020). the process of religious and cultural acculturation involves the development and introduction of islam into indonesia, which is now widely embraced by its people. for instance, the islamization of java was led by the wali sanga, who employed a cultural approach by incorporating hindu-buddhist traditions, making it easier for islam to be accepted by the archipelago’s inhabitants (laili et al., 2021). understanding the development and history of islam’s entry into indonesia requires examining the theories about its introduction to southeast asia, particularly the indonesian archipelago. the process of islamization in the archipelago, particularly in the sunda region, occurred through cultural channels, meaning that islam interacted with the local traditions of the tatar sunda area. these local traditions, shaped by regional influences, were also impacted by islamic teachings, resulting in a significant cultural shift. this interaction led to the development of a culture where community customs, passed down through generations, incorporated elements of both local traditions and islamic practices. ali puad nasrullah, a cultural figure from ciamis, explained as follows: “islam and sundanese culture are closely connected through their teachings. sundanese teachings emphasize the importance of environmental stewardship and the relationship between the microcosm and the macrocosm. similarly, islam promotes the concept of rahmatan lil alamin (a mercy to all creation), which aligns with sundanese teachings and has become a shared belief in the community. this shared foundation made islamic teachings more acceptable to the sundanese people, as there are similarities between their traditional beliefs and islamic principles. for example, the sundanese concept of hyang, the creator of all things, parallels the islamic belief in allah as the one true god. moreover, islam’s acceptance among the sundanese was facilitated by its peaceful introduction through cultural integration and sufism, focusing on moral guidance rather than conflict or violence” (nasrullah, [ 119 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 interviewed on 20 november 2022). asep muhyiddin, a religious studies expert from uin bandung, remarked: “sundanese culture and islamic law are closely intertwined, particularly in the realm of muamalah (social interactions). culture, as a product of human creativity, and islam, as a moral framework, intersect in shaping a society that maintains its identity. this convergence has led to the concept of islam teh sunda, sunda teh islam [islam is sunda, sunda is islam]. this term highlights the integration of sundanese culture with islamic teachings, reflecting the ijtihad [independent reasoning] of early islamic preachers during the islamization of the tatar sunda region” (muhyiddin, interviewed on 20 november 2022). based on the interview results, it is evident that islam can acculturate with local traditions, leading to the emergence of a new tradition known as local genius (local community intelligence or local wisdom) (witro et al., 2021). this local genius can absorb and selectively integrate influences from foreign cultures, resulting in unique and novel creations that differ from previous forms. the characteristics of local genius include the ability to accommodate elements of foreign cultures, resist cultural impositions, integrate foreign elements into the original culture, and guide and manage cultural development on a broader scale. regarding the process of introduction islam to tatar sunda or west java, edi s. ekajati’s research outlines four stages: conversion, intensification, actualization, and reform (ekajati, 2013). the first stage is conversion, which began with the arrival of the first muslims in tatar sunda or west java. according to local tradition recorded by j. hageman, the first person to convert to islam in west java was haji purwa (ekajati, 2013). the parahiyangan story manuscript reveals that before his conversion, haji purwa was known as bratalegawa, the second son of sang bunisora, also known as prabu guru pangandiparamarta jayadewabrata, who was the ruler of the galuh kingdom. as a prominent merchant, bratalegawa frequently traveled to sumatra, india, china, iran, sri lanka, and even arab countries. he eventually married a muslim woman and converted to islam. after his conversion, he observed the islamic pillars, including performing the hajj pilgrimage, and was given the title haji baharudin. among the galuh community, he is more commonly known as haji purwa (ripa’i, 2012). other sources indicate that he arrived in 1250 javanese year, or 1337 ad, traveling from cirebon girang to galuh. he was the son of prabu kuda lelean from galuh and converted to islam during a trading trip to india, where he was converted by arab traders (ekajati, 2013). on the other hand, according to prince arya cirebon in the carita purwa [ 120 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 caruban nagari (1720), the first muslim to arrive and settle in tatar sunda was sheikh qura, also known as sheikh hasanudin. he was the son of sheikh yusuf sidiq, a renowned cleric from campa. sheikh qura became a quran teacher in the karawang area and introduced islam to nyi subanglarang, the daughter of jumajanti, who was known for her support of sheikh qura, who ruled the port of muhara djati. nyi subanglarang later married prabu siliwangi, the king of padjadjaran (ekajati, 2013, p. 78). according to prince arya cirebon, other islamic scholars also settled in amparan djati, including sheikh nuruljati, also known as datuk sheikh kahfi or sheikh idhopi. he came from arabia as an envoy of the king of persia and was the teacher of wagulungsang, the son of nyi subanglarang and prabu siliwangi. wagulungsang played a key role in the development of cirebon around 1445 (ekajati, 2013). before sheikh qura arrived in karawang, west java had already been visited by many muslim traders from persia, arabia, and india. however, the process of islamization was not yet widespread and was primarily limited to trade. it wasn’t until the military expeditions from demak and cirebon that the people in the ports of banten, sunda kelapa, and surrounding areas became more deeply acquainted with islam between 1526 and 1527. in 1528, sunan gunung djati began efforts to introduce islam to the interior regions of tatar sunda, including kuningan, sindangkasih, talaga, luragung, ukur, cibalagung, pagadingan, indralaya, batulayang, and timbanganten. this effort was continued by subsequent figures, such as prince makhdum in east ciamis, sheikh abdul muhyi in pamijahan (south tasikmalaya), prince santri in sumedang, aria wangsa goparana in subang, and aria wiratanudatar in cianjur (ekajati, 2013). farid maul, a cleric from garut, explained why islamic teachings were readily accepted by the sundanese people: he highlighted three key factors: first, the simplicity of islamic teachings—covering aspects of faith, worship, and morals—resonated with the straightforward lifestyle of the sundanese. second, islam was introduced through cultural exchanges from the east (arabia, persia, and india), which the sundanese were already familiar with due to longstanding trade relations. third, many of the early islamic missionaries were descendants of influential figures, such as randen kian santang, sheikh syarif hidayatullah, maulana hasanudin, and sheikh qura. their high social status and power facilitated the spread of islam, making it easier for the sundanese to accept the religion, often unconsciously, due to the authority and social hierarchy of these figures. (maul, interview, 21 november 2022). [ 121 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 meanwhile, in the banten region, intensive efforts to spread islam took place during the reign of the banten sultanate under sultan hasanudin (15281570), affecting both the coastal and inland areas. in bogor, which was then the capital of the sunda kingdom, islam was introduced by maulana yusuf, the son of sultan hasanudin. he sent islamic troops from banten to occupy the capital of pakuan padjadjaran. the second stage is intensification. this phase began when sheikh syarif hidayatullah, also known as sunan gunung djati, established a pesantren (islamic boarding school) in bukit sembung, cirebon, where he taught islam to the first generation of students. these students later became the first generation of scholars, who established their own centers for the spread of islam in various regions of west java, such as sheikh abdul muhyi in pamijahan tasikmalaya, prince makhdum in dayeuh luhur, and aria wangsa goparana in subang. additionally, sunan gunung djati intensified islamization in west java through various means, including marriages, forging friendships and alliances with neighboring regions, sending religious teachers to the interior of sunda, and establishing islamic rule through political channels by founding sultanates like banten and cirebon (ekajati, 2013). the third stage is actualization. this stage is characterized by the establishment of islamic boarding schools (pesantren), which serve as centers for educating the younger generation of muslims. these institutions aim to equip students with religious knowledge and instill a lifestyle aligned with islamic teachings. while the foundations for this activity were laid during the time of susuhunan gunung djati, it wasn’t until the 18th century ad that the establishment of pesantren became more widespread and intensive (ekajati, 2013). this expansion was partly influenced by the increasing dutch presence in islamic territories. in cirebon and banten, for instance, pesantren were established by figures like kiai asyrafuddin in sumedang and kiai muqoyyim in east cirebon (1773 ad). by the 19th century, these institutions also played a role in the growing resistance to dutch colonialism. the fourth stage is reform. this period was marked by the emergence of various sufi orders, such as syatariyyah, qadiriyyah, and naqshbandiyyah, in the 19th century. new ideas were also introduced by organizations, such as syarikat islam, muhammadiyah, nahdlatul ulama, the islamic association, and the islamic community association. these developments sparked a renewed sense of enthusiasm and vitality among muslims in west java. [ 122 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 forms of acculturation of islam and sundanese culture acculturation is a two-way interaction between cultures, where each influences the other, leading to changes in both. acculturation as the phenomena that arise from the interaction of different cultures is as cultural change resulting from prolonged contact between cultures (widiana, 2017). cultural change in a region often occurs when a foreign or new culture is introduced (ilahi et al., 2022; latifah et al., 2021). acculturation happens when a cultural group encounters a foreign culture and gradually incorporates elements of that culture into its own while still preserving its original identity (kadir, 2019). however, some argue that this cultural blending can obscure the original culture to the point where it becomes unrecognizable. acculturation can manifest in various forms, such as through language, technology, science, and art (manu, 2018), as a result of sustained intercultural contact (thaumaet & soebijantoro, 2019). this process involves careful selection and absorption of foreign cultural elements, which takes time and eventually leads to the formation of a new, hybrid culture (manu, 2018). the spread of islam in indonesia, for example, occurred peacefully and involved significant accommodation and acculturation with local cultures (witro et al., 2022), which helped create the tradition of ummatan wasathan (a balanced community). this may explain why islam was so readily accepted in indonesia, leading to its status as a predominantly muslim country (rasidin et al., 2023; suprianto et al., 2021). in addition to influencing the beliefs of individuals and communities in tatar sunda, islamic teachings also brought about social and cultural changes to the longstanding traditions of the sundanese people. the integration of islamic customs and laws often resulted in a blend of islam with pre-existing beliefs. this is understandable, as the early spreaders of islam employed a strategy of accommodating local traditions, taking into account the religious systems that were already in place. the first through fourth centuries of the hijri calendar, beginning in the 7th century ad, marked the initial phase of muslim traders arriving in coastal areas and ports throughout the archipelago (taufiq, 2013). according to wildan, the encounter and subsequent acculturation of islamic teachings with sundanese culture can be categorized into three distinct forms: first, there is a distinct separation between the adherents of the sunda wiwitan teachings and the sundanese muslim community. when islam entered the pakuan padjadjaran kingdom, the sunda wiwitan community withdrew into the secluded area of kanekes, creating a unique, insular community. this separation is evident in the stories of budak buncireung, dewa kaladri, and pantun bogor of aki buyut baju rambeng version, as depicted in the [ 123 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 padjadjaran seureun papan play. the kanekes community, with full awareness, acknowledges the differences between their religious system and that of the sundanese muslim communities outside kanekes, though they still consider themselves ethnically sundanese. according to djati sunda, the sundanese people outside kanekes are referred to as “sundanese eslam,” or sundanese who are muslim (taufiq, 2013). second, the encounter between islam and sundanese culture led to the emergence of new beliefs, such as the madrais teachings developed in cigugur, kuningan regency. madrais, originally rooted in islamic tradition, evolved into a new teaching that blended islamic principles with pre-islamic agrarian beliefs of the sundanese people. known as the sundanese-javanese teaching or madraism, this belief system was formalized in 1921. it established the 1st of syuro as a major day of celebration, known as seren taun, which was widely observed. the teachings revered dewi sri, the goddess of rice, and simultaneously honored the prophet muhammad’s birthday while rejecting the qur’an, based on the belief that the authentic qur’an would only be revealed before the judgment day. after madrais’ death in 1939, his son, prince tejabuana, and later his grandson, prince jati kusumah, continued the teachings by founding the paguyuban adat cara karuhun urang (packu) on july 11, 1981. this organization encouraged followers to preserve the teachings of their sundanese ancestors while abandoning islam (taufiq, 2013, p. 87). third, there is the encounter between islam and sundanese culture that does not perpetuate old traditions like sunda wiwitan nor give rise to entirely new teachings. this adaptation is seen in the following forms. 1. reciting the wawacan wawacan is one of the most cherished forms of sundanese literature. these recitals are often performed during specific ceremonies such as seven-month rituals, marhabanan (recitation of prayers for prophet muhammad), and during lahiran and cukuran (birth and hair-cutting ceremonies) (taufiq, 2013). islamic teachings conveyed through these wawacan recitals have produced numerous texts that recount prophetic stories, such as wawacan karios para nabi, wawacan sajarah anbiya (stories of the prophets), wawacan babar nabi, and wawacan nabi paras. these texts are written in arabic script but in the sundanese language, and they are often composed in the form of pupuh— traditional poetry that blends sundanese literary art with song—such as pupuh asmarandana, sinom, kinanti, dandangula, and pangkur. [ 124 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 2. islamic boarding school an islamic boarding school, known locally in indonesia as a pesantren, is an institution dedicated to teaching islamic practices and beliefs (rasidin et al., 2024). these schools play a crucial role in transforming the traditional understanding of islam, as presented in classical scholarly works (often referred to as “yellow books”) (asa’ari et al., 2022; nurjaman, yusuf, et al., 2021), into teachings for students and the broader community (yusuf et al., 2023). originally used to describe hindu educational institutions, the terms paguron or padepokan have been adopted for islamic educational contexts while retaining the name pesantren (pasantrian). in these institutions, students focus on studying islam under the guidance of a leader known as “kiai.” historically, the title kiai was associated with sacred and magical objects, but in the context of islamic and sundanese cultural adaptation, it has come to denote a respected kiai who is an islamic scholar or teacher (taufiq, 2013). 3. islamic mysticism sundanese society has a deep connection with the mystical world, evident in some doctrines and rituals that include ascetic practices similar to those in hinduism, intertwined with mystical and mythological elements. in islam, this mystical dimension is reflected in sufism, which emphasizes self-purification and spiritual growth through practices such as ujlah (spiritual ascension) and hijrah (migration or journey). 4. islamic architecture in architecture, the design of mosques and palace squares in sundanese regions reflects a blend of sundanese and islamic cultures. since the time of sunan gunung djati’s rule from 1479-1568 ad, a grand mosque has been constructed in every sub-district and district square. these mosques are typically located to the west of the square, near the market, palace, and prison, and have been adapted to serve as central government buildings with a mosque (bale nyuncung) as the primary symbol. the bale nyuncung represents an adaptation to the site where the sanghyang keresa is believed to reside in the nyuncung rock (upper floor) according to sunda wiwitan teachings (taufiq, 2013). an example of this enduring tradition can be seen in the traditional house architecture of kampung naga in tasikmalaya (nurjaman, rusmana, et al., 2021). [ 125 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 ali puad nasrullah noted that islamic architecture represents a significant influence of islam on sundanese culture. the cultural figure from ciamis remarked: “the acculturation between islamic teachings and sundanese culture is evident in various religious symbols, such as those found in mosque architecture. this influence extends to morals, which carry an islamic nuance, as well as to religious rituals that span from birth to death. this means that in every stage of human life in sundanese society, cultural rites are infused with islamic teachings.” (nasrullah, interview november 20 2022). the interaction between islamic teachings and sundanese culture has led to several outcomes including, first, integration of customs and traditions: islamic society in sundanese culture has adapted elements of old traditions into islamic practices. this integration has resulted in new customs, ritual ceremonies, and cultural practices that harmonize both islamic and sundanese elements. second, architectural development: both sacred and secular architecture, such as mosques, palaces, and town squares, have evolved to incorporate local building designs and ornaments. this includes integrating elements from pre-islamic architecture into islamic architectural styles; third, artistic expression: the development of glass painting, sculpture, and other art forms has led to the creation of distinctive islamic calligraphy. additionally, genjring and tambourine arts, which originated in arabic culture, and various traditional performances with an islamic touch have become prominent in sundanese art, often featured in art performances and wedding celebrations. fourth, religious texts and thought: islamic boarding schools have played a key role in the development of religious literature, producing works such as wawacan, serat suluk, and barzanji. many of these texts are preserved in the palaces of cirebon, museums, and among the sundanese people; fifth, ritual and life cycle ceremonies: traditional ceremonies, including the tujuh bulanan (seventh-month anniversary) ceremony, as well as ceremonies of birth, wedding, and funeral, have been infused with islamic practices. this includes incorporating recitals of barzanji, marhabanan, shalawat, and tahlil into these events. the influence of islam on sundanese culture cultural acculturation refers to the blending or encounter between two or more different cultures resulting from social interaction. this process creates a new culture that differs from the original and is practiced within society (rudiansyah et al., 2017). based on this definition, the introduction of islamic [ 126 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 teachings to the archipelago was influenced by a variety of developments that involved the acculturation of local cultures from different regions in indonesia. in areas with rich traditional cultures, there was a blending with islamic teachings, which can be described as a process of acculturation (alamri & haramain, 2017). the influence of islam on sundanese culture is evident in the social structure of tatar sunda, at least up until the early 20th century. for example, the social structure of urban society was divided into classes such as the menak (nobility). wibisana classifies this structure into three main groups: priyayi (the elite), urang kaum (those associated with the mosque), and urang pasar (traders), in addition to sonah (the common people). in the context of islamic boarding schools, there are also distinctions between ajeungans (kiai) and santri. at the district or capital level, urang kaum are led by the penghulu besar, while the kewedanaan (district) and sub-district are led by the naib, and the village by the lebe. people at the district level often had strong connections with the ajeung, such as the notable prince haji hasan mustafa (1900) who had ties with the kiai kurdi in singaparna and the ajeungan bangkonol in the bandung area (wibisana, 2013). the influence of islam on sundanese culture is also evident in various traditional sundanese ceremonies, which now include prayers and thanksgiving in line with islamic practices. similarly, in wayang (shadow puppetry) stories, which originate from india and contain hindu teachings, islamic influence is apparent. efforts by early muslim missionaries in sunda have infused these stories with islamic elements, integrating islamic teachings into the traditional wayang narratives. ali puad nasrullah, a cultural expert from ciamis, remarked: before islam arrived, the region was dominated by hindu kingdoms such as tarumanegara and sunda pandjadjaran. when islam came to west java, it encountered a region rich in culture and art. for instance, traditional ceremonies such as hajat bumi and hajat laut show gratitude to god and are celebrated during specific times such as harvest or the start of the fishing season. these ceremonies, which originally had hindu influences, have incorporated islamic prayers and rituals. similarly, in art forms like wayang golek, which often explores themes of humandivine, human-human, and human-nature relationships, islamic teachings have influenced the content and moral messages, promoting good conduct among the sundanese people (nasrullah, interview, 20 november 2022). suarman, an artist from bandung, remarked: islam has profoundly influenced sundanese culture. islamic teachings [ 127 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 have significantly impacted various aspects of sundanese cultural life, including customs and traditions. for instance, the practice of tahlilan, which involves reciting prayers for the deceased, is unique to sundanese culture and does not originate from arabia. similarly, the tradition of visiting or making pilgrimages to family tombs during lebaran is a practice specific to sundanese culture and is not found in arabia. (suarman, interview, 23 november 2022). the influence of islam on sundanese culture extends to mysticism. pre-islamic sundanese society had a deep affinity for mysticism and mythology. this preexisting interest in the mystical world made it easier for islamic preachers in tatar sunda to introduce islamic mysticism, as islam also encompasses mystical concepts. this alignment helped facilitate the acceptance of islam among the sundanese people. suarman later remarked: the influence of islam on sundanese culture is evident in various mystical practices. one example is the use of incense. frankincense is a staple in religious rituals among the sundanese people. its use has been influenced by islamic traditions, where it serves as a room freshener, similar to the burning of buhur in the tradition of the prophet’s descendants, known as the habaib. in sundanese religious rites, incense symbolizes recognition of a power greater than humans—god. this practice reflects the sundanese people’s respect for their relationship with god, fellow humans, and nature, using frankincense to signify this reverence (suarman, interview, 23 november 2022). the process of islamization can be seen as an interaction between two or more cultures: the one spreading islam and the one receiving it. in tatar sunda, this process represents a form of assimilation and acculturation, where various cultures (arab, persian, and indian) blended with the local sundanese culture, resulting in the formation of a distinct sundanese islamic culture. farid maul, a cleric from garut, noted as follows: the influence of islam on sundanese culture is deeply embedded. for example, the term ngahiyang—which is similar to the concept of moksa—reflects how the presence of islam has led the sundanese people to practice ancestral teachings in a way that is framed by islamic values. this integration encourages attitudes and ways of thinking that move beyond solely worldly concerns. additionally, the term pamali, which refers to prohibitions or sinful acts, illustrates another islamic influence. for instance, the sundanese believe it is forbidden to sweep at night, [ 128 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 considering it pamali. this belief is linked to islamic mysticism, as noted in classic islamic texts like ta’lim muta’lim, where sheikh al-jarnuzi warns that sweeping at night may bring poverty. many such pamali terms are connected to islamic concepts adopted by the sundanese people. (maul, interview, 21 november 2022). islam was readily accepted by the sundanese people because its principles closely aligned with their existing cultural values. as the sundanese people developed their identity during the islamization process, islam seamlessly integrated into their culture, becoming a fundamental part of their collective identity. islam entered sunda primarily through education and preaching rather than through conquest or warfare, which contributed to a peaceful integration of islamic practices. as a result, islam became an integral part of sundanese culture. since its introduction by sunan gunung djati, the process of islamization proceeded smoothly, with the sundanese people embracing islam as naturally as if they were adopting their own cultural practices (kahmad, 2013). the influence of islam on sundanese society is profound, particularly in areas such as inheritance law, which follows islamic principles of fiqh (islamic law), and marriage, which blends islamic practices with traditional sundanese ceremonies. this influence extends throughout various stages of human life, from birth to death. islamic teachings are reflected in ceremonies, daily transactions, and dietary practices. the belief system of the sundanese people centers on the highest supernatural power, gusti allah, who is seen as omnipotent and decisive. while some remnants of pre-islamic beliefs persist in certain circles, the majority of sundanese people have embraced islam wholeheartedly, including faith in allah and the prophet muhammad saw, whom they regard as the final prophet. the celebration of muludan, which honors the birthday of the prophet muhammad saw, features acts of charity and extensive religious gatherings with prominent preachers from other regions (kahmad, 2013). farid maul, a cleric from garut, noted that the acculturation of islam with sundanese culture is evident in various aspects of daily life. today, expressions such as jodo, pati, bagja, cilaka, and pangeran nu nangtukeun reflect the sundanese belief that a person’s soulmate, life, death, and experiences of happiness or misfortune are all determined by god. despite this belief in destiny, sundanese people are not passive. their values of asah, asih, and asuh emphasize mutual development and knowledge expansion. the culture of silih asah fosters a society with character and a passion for learning, leading to a life of independence [ 129 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 and discipline. some proverbs directly linked to islam include: kokoro manggih mulud, puasa manggih lebaran (the poor celebrate the prophet’s birthday, those who fast celebrate lebaran) and jauh ke bedug (far from the sound of the bedug in the mosque). in contrast, other proverbs use terminology unique to sundanese culture with no direct connection to islam, such as cul dog-dog tinggal igel (dancing without music) and kandel kulit beungeut (thick-skinned face) (maul, interview, 21 november 2022). it is evident that sundanese people focus more on the essence of islam rather than religious formalism, incorporating its principles into their everyday lives. this approach is reflected in their oral traditions, particularly in the figure of si kabayan. the character of si kabayan represents someone who has achieved both physical and spiritual well-being, remaining unaffected by external, worldly concerns. si kabayan views life as heuheuy jeung deudeuh, meaning that life is a source of joy and affection. this perspective aligns with the quranic verse innal hayata dunya laibun wa lahwun (indeed, the life of this world is but play and amusement) and the hadith of the prophet, love what is on earth, and you will be loved by what is in the heavens (kahmad, 2013, p. 103). conclusion the sundanese people were quick to embrace islamic teachings. as the majority religion in west java, islam played a significant role in the acculturation process, creating a balanced practice of religion that incorporated local cultural elements rather than eliminating them. early islamic preachers and religious teachers in tatar sunda utilized a cultural approach during the islamization process, resulting in a distinctive form of sundanese islam that harmonized with and enriched sundanese culture. traces and forms of the acculturation between islam and sundanese culture can be observed in various aspects, including wawacan texts, pesantren education, islamic mysticism (tasawuf-tariqa), and islamic-sundanese architecture, such as mosques in west java. the sundanese people have embraced islamic teachings easily, as the simplicity of islam aligns with their cultural values. consequently, as the sundanese people learn about islam, they also engage with their own cultural traditions. this is a result of the adept methods used by early islamic missionaries in tatar sunda. the sundanese concepts of cageur, bageur, someah ka semah, and nyaah ka sasama resonate closely with islamic teachings. as a result, many aspects of sundanese life, such as salametan (communal feast), syukuran (thanksgiving), nikahan (marriage), opatpuluhan [ 130 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 (fourtieth-day celebration), and muludan (the prophet’s birthday), are deeply intertwined with islamic practices. even the laws governing inheritance and marriage in sundanese culture are based on the principles of fiqh (islamic law). this research explores how the acculturation of islam with sundanese culture in west java has led to the development of a sundanese culture inspired by islamic teachings. recommendations for future research include examining the specific traditions within various sundanese ceremonies that are influenced by islam. for instance, investigating the islamic teachings embedded in wawacan texts and their impact on these traditions would be valuable. bibliography al-amri, l., & haramain, m. 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(2021). the history of islamic kingdoms in kapuas hulu district: a manuscript translation of pangeran kesoema anom soeria negara. heritage of nusantara: international journal of religious literature and heritage, 10(2), 274–309. https:// doi.org/10.31291/hn.v10i2.633 taufiq, w. (2013). sejarah islam sunda (m. hasbullah (ed.)). prodi spi fakultas adab & humaniora uin bandung. thaumaet, y. a., & soebijantoro, s. (2019). cultural acculturation of students in social interaction on campus (study on students of history education study programme, universitas pgri madiun). agastya: jurnal sejarah dan pembelajarannya, 9(1), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.25273/ ajsp.v9i1.3641 wibisana, w. (2013). pengaruh islam terhadap budaya sunda: catatan perbandingan dan pencerahan. uin sunan gunung djati. [ 133 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2945 widiana, n. (2017). local culture in the “nyumpet” tradition in sekuro village, mlonggo subdistrict, jepara regency. jurnal ilmu dakwah, 35(2), 286–306. https://doi.org/10.21580/jid.v35i2.1611 witro, d., putri, l. a., & oviensy, v. (2022). internalizing the values of religious moderation through parsubang local wisdom-based education in north sumatera. harmoni, 21(2), 316–329. https://doi. org/10.32488/harmoni.v21i2.636 witro, d., rasidin, m., & ravico, r. (2021). menelusuri eksistensi nilai kearifan lokal dan pendidikan karakter dalam bersawah desa koto padang. kebudayaan, 16(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.24832/jk.v16i1.376 yusuf, m., alwis, a., putra, e., witro, d., & nurjaman, a. (2023). the role of anak jalanan at-tamur islamic boarding school in internalizing the values of religious moderation to college students in bandung. jurnal ilmiah islam futura, 23(1), 132–156. https://doi.org/10.22373/ jiif.v23i1.15358 [ 153 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 theater of triumph and transgression: religious discourse on hospitality/ hostility in the viral communication during the pandemic leonard chrysostomos epafras sekolah pascasarjana ugm, yogyakarta, indonesia email: leonard.e@ugm.ac.id hendrikus paulus kaunang sekolah pascasarjana ugm, yogyakarta, indonesia email: erichkaunang@ugm.ac.id jekonia tarigan sekolah pascasarjana ugm, yogyakarta, indonesia email: jekonia.tarigan@mail.ugm.ac.id david akbar hasyemi rafsanjani indonesian consortium for religious studies, yogyakarta, indonesia email: david.akbar89@gmail.com abstract the present article is the outcome of the research project on religious discourse in social media (socmed) during the covid-19 pandemic. the research focuses on the concept of hospitality and hostility, through which a welcoming, along with hostile and unfriendly attitude are displayed by netizens toward other people, to understand the nature of social relationships over digital platforms. the research employs social network analysis (sna) and social media analysis to explore and visualize viral communication on twitter, facebook, and instagram. the framework is viral communication as condensed sequences of actions revolving around controversial topics. several topics under scrutiny, among others, are klepon islami, hagia sophia, and pope francis’ controversies. jacques derrida mainly informs the discourse of hospitality/hostility. the result demonstrated the sporadic vulnerability of traditional understanding of hospitality. it appeared in the presence of information arbiters as communication actors, taking the middle position and mediating controversial topics. the employment of sna in dealing with interpersonal virtues in social media is promising, as it demonstrates its mechanism and making in a specific communication context. it allows for a deeper understanding and exploration of the theory of mediatization. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, hospitality, hostility, hostipitality, viral communication [ 154 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 introduction the present article is the outcome of a research project investigating religious discourse on hospitality and hostility in social media (socmed) during the covid-19 pandemic. the subject of the investigation is the selected controversial topics as a manifestation of a viralized form of communication (postill & epafras, 2018). the research sought to understand the nature of social relationships within specific religious virtue over digital platforms in a social crisis, such as a pandemic. the etymology of hospitality and hostility came from the interrelated latin words hospes and hostis. hospes means “stranger,” while hostis is both “guest” and “enemy,” thus embodying two contradictory conditions, both welcoming and hostile to the others (“hospes,” 2012, pp. 885–888; kearney, 2010, p. 38). hence, the tandem of hospitality and hostility created tension and ushered a way of questioning the existence of conditional hospitality and the limit of both in socmed. socmed realizes a unique context for the discourse under scrutiny as the expression of hospitality/hostility, like any social, religious, or cultural virtues, is mediated and operated within the instrumentalized social platform and digital technology that conflates rationality and emotional impulse and championed actors’ performance and eloquence over their intentionality. socmed is a friendly place to create nanostories and nanopolitics for the “ordinary” actors dealing with religious issues, complicating traditional religious authorities' position (cf. postill, 2014; postill & epafras, 2018, p. 107). furthermore, subjectivity in this setting appears in behavioral attribution (nodes, socmed accounts, hashtags, mentions, associations, etc.) rather than observable activities, such as in an offline context. on the other hand, the social interaction within the dynamic of socmed is haunted by the presence of bots (internet robots), poly-identification, pseudonymized, and anonymized actors exist along with the real accounts, hence complicating the meaningful social relationship. while the research context is the covid-19 pandemic, the present investigation limits the discussion on the immediate effect of the pandemic on religion. it expands it to other religious-connected controversies, such as during the earlier period of the crises when there was uproar among religionists in relationship with a drastic transformation of their religious practice, such as the regular ritual pushed out from the worship houses. among those controversies ensued was the inauguration of the catholic bishop of manggarai and jama’at tabligh’s transmission clustering. nevertheless, the present research focuses more detail on the following controversies, i.e., [ 155 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 “klepon islami” (islamic klepon), “hagia sophia repurpose,” “pope francis and the civic rights of lgbt,” and lastly, the conflict between muhammad rizieq shihab (renowned as habib rizieq shihab, from now on referred as hrs) and nikita mirzani (from now on referred as nm). the investigation of viral communication is visualized through the employment of social network analysis (sna) and social media analysis, focusing on twitter, facebook, and instagram as the source of data collection and analysis. the discussion on hospitality/hostility was informed by jacques derrida (derrida, 2000, 2002). at the beginning of the research in the may-june 2020 period, fourteen scholarly works were recorded in the first three pages of google scholar, which explicitly discuss the religious concern of the pandemic. among those fourteen, twelve were related to islamic discourse, and two were christian (e.g., campbell, 2020; kowalczyk et al., 2020; wildman et al., 2020). but none specifically discuss religious discourse on hospitality/hostility, let alone in connection with social media performance. this condition bears, however, the present undertaking's potential to contribute insight into the larger religious discourse in the context of the pandemic. religious actors often utilize crises to enhance hope and strengthen social solidarity, but others exploit them for specific agendas. concern such as covid-19 is tangible to religion. early on, the united bible society organized prayer rallies for wuhan and china. at the same time, when china is still struggling to contain the spreading, a prominent indonesian preacher, abdul somad batubara, renowned as ustad somad, in one of his sermons, quoted to remark that coronavirus is a god’s army (tentara allah) protects uyghur muslims from the chinese “infidel” government. a pastor of an indonesian mega-church in the capital city made a claim quoting from “a research” that speaks of the tongue (glossolalia), a manifestation of the work of the holy spirit might boost human immunity to stand against coronavirus, hence ensuring his parishioners not to be afraid to join the sunday service in his church. when the outbreak got out of control, major indonesian religious organizations such as indonesia’s ulama council, muhammadiyah, nahdlatul ulama, the indonesian communion of churches, and the indonesian bishops conference issued instructions to limit the people movement, closure of the public prayer house and refocusing the praying activities at home. the above responses are examples of the spectrum of religious talks on covid-19. some made sense; others were too distinctive and could only be understood within the respected religious community. they might tell us more than just the rhetoric of eternity. in the indonesian social landscape, [ 156 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 these actively influence the socio-political landscape. it is the dawn of the online religion age. the covid-19 outbreak forced traditional and organized religion deep into the digital realm. communicable diseases and communicating religion communicable diseases, such as sars, mers, and covid-19 (coronavirus), are not only medical facts. once classified as “infectious” by the authorities (who, government officials, religious leaders, and others), they transformed into a social topic, the narrative of danger, an outbreak narrative. priscilla wald (wald, 2008, p. 2) further observed the communicable disease. “[i]s also a foundational concept in studying religion and society, with a long history of explaining how beliefs circulate in social interactions. the idea of contagion evolved throughout the twentieth century through the commingling of theories about microbes and attitudes about social change. communicable disease compels attention — for scientists and the lay public alike — not only because of the devastation it can cause but also because the circulation of microbes materializes the transmission of ideas. the interactions that make us sick also constitute us as a community. disease emergence dramatizes the dilemma that inspires the most basic human narratives: the necessity and danger of human contact.” there is no more risk and a “what-if ” scenario as a general topic. it became the sublimation of the risk and resided within the social network. the disease evolved with the human projection of life (e.g., “we fear god alone, not the corona”), the dramatization of life (e.g., panic buying), human self-understanding (e.g., “besides covid-19, we are facing the plague of foolishness”), political decision (e.g., debates on locking down a region), and other complexities. viral communication is understood in two ways: transmission producing a series of trivial nanostories and nanopolitics on particular agenda setting by the netizens employing socmed as viral media such as twitter, instagram, youtube, and line (cf. postill, 2014). such viralized communication may drive collective action that changes the socio-political landscape, as manifested in jakarta’s gubernatorial election 2017. secondly, religious discourse is “controversies, or social dramas, triggered by a perceived breach of the religious space’s precarious moral order in indonesia” (postill & epafras, 2018, p. 101). it is a space event that involves “condensed sequences of actions that transform a social space” (postill & epafras, 2018, p. 104). [ 157 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 the digital realm created and enforced the echo chamber environment in which a social media follower of an account tended to enliven the ideological, political, and religious leaning they are attaching to, often actively discrediting others beyond their social space. privatized social spaces such as whatsapp and telegram groups are a haven for such engagement. while it produces productive and constructive information and discussion, the closed-minded religious group nurtures a restricted religious outlook and quickly raises and distributes hoaxes, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. viral forms of communication are the consequence of such structure and logic. it is often loud and raucous. such a condition might blur the sense of threshold in a digital frontier of interaction – no welcoming greet to the guest in the digital realm. hence, the speech it produces is susceptible to the extreme perception of the other. viral communication is temporary unless a plausible supporting condition is met to make a public “consensus,” or in a popular term, it becomes “trending.” it is ephemeral since it will always change and create a different arena of controversy. in many cases, such communication appeared in the appeal for collective action on, for instance, humanitarian concerns such as the victims of lombok’s earthquake or palu’s tsunami. however, testifying to the increasing conservatism in the religious landscape, the viral form of religious communication also came with a price. the line between civility and incivility often blanketed with religious jargon, is often blurred, in which rancorous messages and comments are exchanged unguarded. the article argues that covid-19 is part of the human narrative and tells about humanity's interdependence with others, including nature, microbes, and viruses. the virus is an enabler, an actant through which humanity is being on trial, interrogated, and demanded transformation. the “trial” is the virtue of hospitality, or, on the other hand, enhanced the demarcation of the self and hostile to the other. derrida introduced a neologism, hostipitality, an embodiment of hospitality/ hostility (derrida, 2000, p. 45, 2002, pp. 358–420). hospitality is considered an aporia, “a dead end,” an interruption, and a terminal invited for rupture and transformation. hospitality, in this sense, is a paradox, as it started by losing the sense of home (chez soi) while challenging the singularity and unconditional hospitality. the “homeless” may come to decide to welcome the other, both as a stranger and an enemy. the dynamic, furthermore, is also upon the nature of welcoming that there is always a tension between hospitality as a “must” and without “must-ness,” between “ready” and “not yet” (derrida, 2002, p. 361), which is slippery and could easily fall into hostility. [ 158 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 the hostipitality might reflect in the aporia, which complicates the socialization process when the “i” becomes the center and encounters the other, the guest, or the stranger. one possibility is that it may rebound the flow of the process back to “i” rather than to the other, strengthening the individualization reflexively. the waging of dealing with the other becomes “calculated” if not “transactional” as the communication is mediatized. it might limit the meaningful relationship. the corridor of comprehension is restricted by the premeditated outlook toward the other rather than creating a new horizon of understanding. hostility might be the effect of such a process. on the other hand, it could open an alternative path that might end with a more readiness to encounter the other within the context of acceptance. the viral communication squeezed this flow as there is an attraction to join the battle and intensity of conversation that might succumb to the readiness to let the homeness of a digital self share with the other’s view and to overcome the aporia. put it together, those insights will allow the present undertaking to frame the notion of hospitality as embedded in human interaction, including within the digital platform and network. hospitality/hostility is an aporia, an unfinished transformation process beyond the moralized unconditional hospitality. both are seen as potency and possibilities. it will no longer turn to the normative understanding promoted by institutionalized religion. hospitality is also understood as a philosophical, theological category, and public lingo. more than just a personal, social, and spiritual attitude toward others and strangers, it is also a phronesis, a practical virtue expressed, in this case, over the digital platform. hostility in the context of social media and the internet might reflect the perceived “digital ills'' such as cyber bullying, micro-aggression, and hate spin. those are an effect of hoaxtivism, which implies misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. moreover, it is a dramatization of transgressive collective actions. the tension between the two will be framed within the religious talk and relate to public piety, spiritual enhancement, and political contestation discourse. hospitality/hostility in viralized communication the main course of the research includes the visualization of digital interaction through the sna of tweets on the twitter platform. social media analysis detailing the sna and expanding it through the analysis of facebook and instagram. microblogging service such as twitter is associated with the global democratic movement for their powerful influence on changing the political landscape. at the same time, facebook and its subsidiary, instagram, are the [ 159 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 most popular snss (social networking sites) that visualize the digital self. other data collection methods include the observation of the news in online media. the big data service providers, astramaya and drone emprit provide all those activities. figure 1. klepon islami and hagia sophia controversy (generated by astramaya sna). the pandemic announcement by who in march immediately became a religious issue, notably on the restriction of public worship. these provide an initial interest in the present research proposal. some cases stood prominently, i.e., the controversy over the bishop of manggarai's inauguration, the case of jamaat tabligh corona’s cluster in india, malaysia, and indonesia, the korean church cluster, and the polemics among indonesian muslims and christians on onsite and online worships, including the controversy among christians on the effectivity of speak of the tongue (glossolalia) in increasing the body immunity against the coronavirus. sna might provide us with further insight into the discourse of hospitality. in the case of the inauguration of the bishop, one of the numerous screen captures of facebook discussions allowed for a reflection on the meaning of hospitality/hostility, which, as argued below, provided space for the encroachment of the existing structure; this regards the regional roman catholics’ structure. an excerpt of it was as follows, a facebook account mxxx axxxxx: [ 160 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 “[c]onfronting with the super religious enthusiasts (orang yang mabok agama) is tough. there is a huge gap in the health standard between ntt (east nusa tenggara) and jakarta and other countries. they are (jakarta’s and other countries) overwhelmed (in dealing with the pandemic), let alone ntt. (here) is not only the theatre of stupidity, (it is) a strange demonstration to look at the bishop with a smile on his grandeur garment while, deep down, his adherents’ hearts are seized by fear of corona. god is not our servant; it is a waste if we are stupid and resist cooperating.” the study by widyawati and lon (2020) demonstrated the complexities of the inauguration event to resolve the internal crisis of catholic leadership in the region, though at the price of violating the government stipulation on public gatherings for the health protocol. such statements and their counterstatements might give us an understanding of how hospitality is discounted in the politics of religiosity. it further provides a sense that social media has become a powerful tool to challenge the existing religious authority, which might need to be more comfortable in regular interaction. it is even more complicated when other controversial issues, such as the polemic between a prominent protestant preacher, rev. stephen tong, and rev. niko njotorahardjo from a charismatic church on the case of the effectivity of speak of the tongue (glossolalia) to immunize the christians, was simply continued the pre-pandemic religious contestation and historical tension between evangelical and charismatic christianity of indonesia. the above debate among indonesian christians and catholics was not specifically prominent on twitter, making it difficult to visualize it through the sna. klepon islami and hagia sophia’s controversy were examples of religiousnuanced conversation through sna because those potentially helped us visualize the operation of viral communication. klepon is a traditional javanese and popular snack from coconut, rice, and palm sugar ingredients. the controversy most probably started with a facebook post on july 20, 2020, that criticized a poster picture organized as an advertisement entitled “klepon (cake) is unislamic” (kue klepon tidak islami), which followed by lines, “leave the unislamic snacks and buy the islamic one. various dates are available in our shar’i shop.” while it was probably a fabricated message, it triggered a massive debate on the socmed and was picked up immediately by many online media. drone emprit has done the sna (fahmi, 2020a), while ours initiated the same by combining it with the hagia sophia’s controversy to observe the conflation over simultaneous events. the hagia sophia controversy revolves around turkish president recep [ 161 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 tayyip erdoğan’s announcement on converting the hagia sophia museum in istanbul into a mosque. formerly, it was the largest eastern orthodoxbyzantine church and, converted to a mosque when constantinople fell into the turkish hands in 1453, repurposed into a museum by the first president of the republic of turkey, kemal attatürk in 1935. erdoğan announced on may 29, 2021, marked as the 567th anniversary of the fall of constantinople, to convert it to “return it to its original state” as a mosque, partly as a response to the u.s. president donald trump's recognition of the east jerusalem and golan’s heights as belonged to israel. indeed, an angry international reaction ensued to the announcement (soylu, 2020). however, our investigation focuses on the indonesian public response to the controversy. both observations are based on the four keywords: islami, klepon, hagia sophia, and aya sofia in five periods, as the sna screenshots informed the brief of a viral issue (figure 1). these keywords only came to the entire dynamic at the end of july but slowly dissipated in august. however, as the four screenshots demonstrated, the actors appeared and retired. different bubbles were formed and transformed, but the polarization posture was relatively retained, i.e., between the anti-jokowi and others camps, represented by hashtags such as #klepon and variations of #jokowi and “pro-jokowi” hashtags such as #kadrunlaknat. klepon islami created more heated engagement as the sna figure dominated by it rather than hagia sophia. the narrative of triumphalism is strong in the discussion on hagia sophia. elias canetti (1981) observed that the crowd is an active, living, and conscious entity that is mysterious and unpredictable and could perform discrepancies and even senseless activities. the individuals sought “power” and the feeling of overcoming by tightening themselves into the crowd. this is the case of the controversy. the anti-jokowi and the aspirants of the islamic revived glory through the repurpose of hagia sophia into a mosque had tightened them into a single narrative all along. the initiative created new pride among the muslims, as manifested in a twitter account such as @demoxxx, which bluntly remarks, “kebangkitan islam itu nyata tweeps ..!!” (“the awakening of islam is real, tweeps ...!!”). however, this encountered little resistance among the indonesian christians, except for official reaction from the international christian organizations, probably because such an issue is too remote for average christians. the two main narratives prominently represented the “anti-jokowi” forces against a combination of “pro-jokowi,” other “progressive” muslims, and the rest—the former emphasis the conspiracy, allegedly volleyed by the “pro-jokowi” camp behind the klepon incident. “diversion” (pengalihan isu) [ 162 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 often becomes the keyword for such allegations. sna, upon observing five periods (represented as four figures in figure 1), demonstrated a relatively solid narrative among the “anti-jokowis,” regardless of different accounts of centrality. at the same time, the opponent remained scattered even though it started with a prominent account such as @tretanmuslim. the “anti-jokowi” force, though holding a vast spectrum of political and religious positions, tends to be conservative in its religious outlook. it may be confirmed the latest finding of ppim (pusat pengkajian islam dan masyarakat, centre for the study of islam and society), state islamic university syarif hidayatullah (2020, pp. iii–iv) that it found 67.2% of netizens (in twitter and youtube) are holding such a position. singling out jokowi as the epitome of an antiislam force ensured the consistency of the narrative making and sustainability across different topics, trending, and viral messages, such as below on the conflict between hrs and nm. social transformation only appears through socmed engagement. still, on the contrary, it is part of amplifying the coming final battle of the 2024 presidential election, which would not surprise if religious discourse played a significant part once again. postill, epafras, and fahmi have warned that such socmed engagement might reflect unfinished business in the religious-political landscape. “current affairs are recurrent affairs” (postill & epafras, 2018, p. 118), and those are a “political sentiment residual” in the fahmi identification (fahmi, 2020b). figure 2a. pope francis’ controversy on lgbt’s civic status (generated by astramaya sna). [ 163 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 figure 2b. pope francis’ controversy on lgbt’s civic status (source: instagram, 2020). pope francis’ controversy was initiated after a quotation from his biographical movie “francesco” (2020) regarding his support of same-sex civil unions. however, it gave a different meaning of virality as catholicism is among the minority groups in indonesia. the sna displayed a far less complicated interaction, and the volume is much smaller than other viral topics. figure 2a shows the “islands” of conversations, disconnected from each other, with scattered accounts creating an outer ring nebula, suggesting the focus is more on the figure of the pope and his “controversial” statement rather than the collectivity it may be triggered. it may indicate dispersed responses not belonging to the single coherence narrative. the debate revolved around the presumably non-catholic christians who criticized the pope’s position. some of them employed biblical verses to support their anti-lgbt standing. nevertheless, a closer look through instagram analytics gave a more complex religious talk. @xxxkatolik, a catholic ig account, demonstrated the most significant volume (160 loves), which defended the pope’s position that the pope never annulled the catholic doctrine of marriage between man and woman. the post only got [ 164 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 one response that merely shared the emoticon 🙏 that could be translated as a concurrence to the explanation. our observation throughout some catholic and christian whatsapp groups never displayed an excessive discussion on the issue, and it dissipated immediately in the coming few days. a study by sunstein demonstrated that “people’s level of interest in the same news stories was greatly affected by the network label” (sunstein, 2017, p. 65). an example of that, according to the research, american republicans are more likely to be attracted by the reports of fox network than others such as cnn or npr. at the same time, the democrats are the other way around. applying the same logic to the present analysis, socmed account, as a paradigmatic “tv network’s label,” might limit the netizens’ type of responses. hence, the account @ xxxkatolik might assure the catholic netizens to accept the clarification from the indonesian catholic church, thus suppressing further debate on the topic. however, the public, indicated by @vivacoid opening conversation, as the most significant volume of discussion (1014 loves and 325 comments) with tumultuous debate put forward by cross-confessional voices, but predominantly muslim, displayed criticism to the pope’s position and discussed within their respective religious doctrine of sexuality. even more interesting is @dakwahxxx (501 loves and 62 comments), a da’wa instagram account that concentrated on islamic spiritual self-help, sometimes political, suddenly taking this issue into their lap. unsurprisingly, the responses are almost unanimously negative, regardless of some minor voices that attempt to draw attention to the complex problems of lgbt (see figure 2b). interestingly, this position is shared by some non-catholic christian voices that support traditional islamic places on lgbt. ultimately, the seemingly unpretentious posting of @dakwahxxx, which held 570k instagram followers, became the site of interreligious polemic and apologetics. furthermore, through the tagline of the account to “like [the posting] if you think it is beneficial. comment if you want to share it with your friends. share it if you want to enhance your religious act/virtue” (like jika postingan ini bermanfaat. komen jika ingin berbagi dengan teman. share jika ingin menambah amalnya), demonstrated the nature of the religion of the hybrid media space, i.e., the convenient mobilization of religious aspiration mediatized by the digital technology: a religiosity at your fingertips. it may indicate the more significant concern in which the religious minority group tends to limit the confrontational situation they could not entirely control. at the same time, for the dominant voice represented by @dakwahxxx, such controversial issues might boost their religious agenda and strengthen their conservative view. [ 165 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 hostility is prominent in viral messages, as displayed by twitter’s sna, through the formation of epistemic and homophilial bubbles. still, we also testified to more balanced and hospitable messages that tried to moderate the polarity. it would be even more potent if those messages could gain the position of an information arbiter, i.e., the role of mediating between poles, which tended to be critical toward both sides but somewhat acceptable by all conflicting parties. the information arbiter could echo a social structure change if it could gain the highest betweenness centrality position, such as once enjoyed by the twitter account jack separo gendeng (@sudjiwotedjo) during the presidential campaign at the end of 2018 and early 2019. such a situation does not so much appear in the religious conversation in the present observation, except in minor appearances such as indicated by figure 2b. figure 3. controversy hrs vs. nm (source: drone emprit publications). the case of hostility between muhammad rizieq shihab, renowned as habib rizieq (hrs), and nikita mirzani (nm) explained several things. first of all, the prominent context of the hybrid media space, where the offline rhetoric of hrs, posted on social media, responded by nm also in social media (fig. 3). secondly, nm, according to fahmi ismail, succeeded in “split the wave” of the revitalized pro-hrs grouping after his return from saudi arabia (fahmi, 2020b). by splitting the wave, nm opened up a more extensive discussion of morality, law-abiding citizenship, and the possible regrouping of the anti-hrs discourse. but beyond that, we testified to the presence of the information arbiters in this controversy, enacted by several online media such as @ [ 166 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 cnnindonesia, @detikcom, and @vivacoid. this might help us think again about the return of credible journalism as the fourth pillar of democracy. nice words and calm posture do not necessarily reflect hospitality, though probably a “neutrality” at best. hostility might be the religious or political terminology, while hospitality became a subversive force. in viral communication, it might be within the polarized interaction. an islamic twitter account @sxxxx posted a message as follows: “fathimah [i.e., fatima, the daughter of prophet muhammad], a direct descendant of rasulullah [i.e., the prophet muhammad], did not enjoy an exception before the law. anyone who claimed himself, habib, should maintain himself and obey the law.” the hospitable message is an allusion toward hrs for his disobedience to the police summons. this is only one example that epitomized the critique of much islamic leadership toward the questionable attitude of hrs in his conflict with nm that was associated with his “habib” religious title. derrida introduced the term hostipitality as an innate of hospitality. that is, hospitality is always on the verge of hostility in a contradictory and paradoxical manner. welcoming the other always opens the possibility of hostility as several interaction features are at work, such as temporality, the face of the other, and so on. contextualized this insight in dealing with instrumentalized communication, such a condition might be identified as “splitting the wave” of the surge of popularity of hrs after his return from saudi arabia. it is interestingly allowing for the establishment of new nm moral standing, e.g., netizens revealed the charity work of nm as a silent benefactor for the remote area’s honorary teachers (guru honorer). we may testify the hostipitality at work through which: (1) hospitality toward nm appeared as the counterbalance of the mrs’ new slogan of “morality revolution” (revolusi akhlaq); (2) hostility/hospitality appeared as a political language, transgression against the hegemonic power (by the pro-mrs in their critics toward the government); (3) appeared as “recalcitrant” language that confrontational, blunt, and prone to the social polarization. the core of the theory of hospitality is the wager thrown by an agency in an encounter with the other, the guest, and the stranger. because hospitality presumed the reflective realm of interaction in which the self and the other engaged (or “social dancing”) in well-set (stabilized) existential interaction that implicated the condition of wages and vulnerability. hospitality and hostility are the effects of those conditions. nevertheless, those insights seem to demand further elaboration as frameworks to understand such situations in the context of viral forms of communication. “cultures are lived; the digital is programmed,” remarks wiggins (wiggins, 2019, p. 22), [ 167 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 heightened the condition of instrumentalized human interaction in the digital realm. hospitality as a scale-free abstraction is challenging to obtain (cf. candea, 2012). such a wager loses its power in highly mediatized digital communication. the interaction among agencies is entirely translated through representational entities (socmed account, anonymity), complicating the reality of the other. epafras (epafras, 2020, pp. 19–23) introduced the notion of “organic hospitality” to frame the dynamic in the context of hybrid media space. organic hospitality is a more action-based and pragmatic mode of hospitality that is “innate” in the social network. conclusion: beyond triumph and transgression admittedly, the value of hospitality in the traditional sense understood by average indonesians is mostly sporadic and vulnerable to viral communication. the prominent challenge is the instrumental condition of communication that bares us from the evaluative power of such virtue: haters and saints dwelling on the same platform. besides the beneficial and digital dividend, this communication platform is also a social space allowing for the mobilization of confrontational collective action, it is a fertile soil for religious polemic and promotion of conservatism, civil transgression, and deep distrust of the government, which inadvertently push the democratic agenda to the periphery. this confirms the decline of ideal public space that became a severe hindrance to digital democracy envisioned by some scholars (deibert et al., 2012; morozov, 2011). the effects of this condition are unfolding the digital paranoia, conspiracy theory formation, and the prevailing emotion over facts, thus heightening the state of a “post-truth” society (d’ancona, 2017, pp. 61– 76; tapsell, 2017b; but see the critique of harari, 2018, pp. 338–356). in short, hostility is reigning the day. the expression of hospitality appears through the presence of the “third voice” and “information arbiter.” the clarity of the message transferred became the new “morality”; hence, hospitality appeared as the “truthful message” exchanged, channeled, and curated by the information arbiter. often, the arbiters are online media. regarding the controversy between mrs and nm, the arbiters are @cnnindonesia, @detikcom, and @vivacoid. though indeed, it does not mean they maintain “neutrality” at all costs, as behind it, there is regulation on mass media, and further, social, commercial, and political interest of such mass media accounts, a reflection of the condition of hybrid media space, which convergence of capital and news outlets conflated (tapsell, 2017a). the pandemic does not remove the “recurrence” of the former polarity. it is [ 168 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 the same “obsessive-compulsive,” reflexive and monitorial posture fostered long before the pandemic, through which panoptical power, sometimes an obsession to respond to specific conditions related to one’s social, political, and religious concern, even to the point of invading other group’s or individual’s space (epafras et al., 2019, p. 222). hospitable words might be critically assessed as genuine with the possibility of double talk, ambiguous, and part of weaponized information. socmed has been the tool and medium for humanitarian purposes, framed within religious and non-religious language. a virality produced hospitality in generic terms, “organic” hospitality over the story of suffering, victimhood, religious conversion, and romance. those might be a social commentary and projection of economic inequality, interreligious tension, transactional human relationships, religious conservatism, and other social challenges. regrettably, the investigation demonstrated different levels of hostility over limited hospitality. those contribute to creating a conflicting arena, through which the polarization of public talks gives an impression of the dispute between “conservative” religious positions against the “progressive” voices. aporia, in derrida’s construction, which allows for the possibility of rupture to the more transformative relationship, turned out to be a process of rebound, moving back to the self, creating a hostile to the other. hospitality and hostility appeared in polarized manners, in which the possibility of hospitality mainly was in the form of the ephemeral position of an information arbiter. such a reflexive attitude and the intensity of communication suggest the emergence of “network fundamentalism,” religious and social virtue created within the network rather than in the scale-free abstraction. if the pattern persists, it may, in the end, erode the establishment of digital democracy (paterson & hanley, 2020). bibliography campbell, h. a. (ed.). (2020). religion in quarantine: the future of religion in a post-pandemic world. digital religion publications. candea, m. (2012). derrida en corse? hospitality as scale-free abstraction. journal of the royal anthropological institute, s34–s48. canetti, e. (1981). crowds and power (c. stewart, trans.). continuum. d’ancona, m. (2017). post-truth: the new war on truth and how to fight back. ebury press. [ 169 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 deibert, r. j., palfrey, j., rohozinski, r., & zittrain, j. (eds.). (2012). access contested: security, identity, and resistance in asian cyberspace information revolution and global politics. mit press. derrida, j. (2000). of hospitality (a. dufourmantelle, ed.; r. bowlby, trans.). stanford university press. derrida, j. (2002). acts of religion (g. anidjar, ed.). routledge. epafras, l. c. (2020). pandemi tak kunjung padam: corona, kon ora dan keramahan organik. in l. c. epafras (ed.), corona vs kon ora: refleksi teologi keramahan dalam konteks pandemi (pp. 1–27). alaf media. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4270495 epafras, l. c., kaunang, h. p., & asri, s. (2019). religious blasphemy and monitory society in indonesian digital age. kawistara, 9(2), 220–230. https://doi.org/10.22146/kawistara.41169 fahmi, i. (2020a, july 22). kue klepon tidak islami. drone emprit publications. https://pers.droneemprit.id/kue-klepon-tidak-islami/ fahmi, i. (2020b, november 16). percakapan tentang hrs vs nm. drone emprit publications. https://pers.droneemprit.id/percakapan-tentang/ harari, y. n. (2018). 21 lessons for the 21st century. random house. hospes. (2012). in p. g. w. glare (ed.), oxford latin dictionary (second, pp. 885–886). oxford university press. kearney, r. (2010). anatheism: returning to god after god. columbia university press. kowalczyk, o., roszkowski, k., montane, x., pawliszak, w., tylkowski, b., & bajek, a. (2020). religion and faith perception in a pandemic of covid-19. journal of religion and health, 59(6), 2671–2677. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01088-3 morozov, e. (2011). the net delusion: the dark side of internet freedom. publicaffairs. postill, j. (2014). freedom technologists and the new protest movements: a theory of protest formulas. convergence, 20(3). https://johnpostill. com/2014/05/02/freedom-technologists-and-the-new-protest-movements-a-theory-of-protest-formulas/ postill, j., & epafras, l. c. (2018). indonesian religion as a hybrid media space: social dramas in a contested realm. asiascape: digital asia, 5(1), 100–123. https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-12340086 [ 170 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2745 ppim uin jakarta. (2020). beragama di dunia maya: media sosial dan pandangan keagamaan di indonesia (1/1/2020). ppim uin jakarta. soylu, r. (2020, may 29). turkey goes back to the future as hagia sophia set for islamic prayers. middle east eye. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ quran-recitation-conquest-hagia-sophia-istanbul sunstein, c. r. (2017). #republic: divided democracy in the age of social media (kindle). princeton university press. tapsell, r. (2017a). media power in indonesia: oligarchs, citizens and the digital revolution. rowman & littlefield international, ltd. tapsell, r. (2017b, february 17). post-truth politics in southeast asia. inside story. http://insidestory.org.au/post-truth-politics-in-southeast-asia wald, p. (2008). contagious: cultures, carriers, and the outbreak narrative. duke university press. widyawati, f., & lon, y. s. (2020). the catholic church and the covid-19 pandemic: case study of bishop ordination in ruteng, flores, indonesia. journal of law, religion and state, 1–11. https://doi. org/10.1163/22124810-2020011 wiggins, b. e. (2019). the discursive power of memes in digital culture: ideology, semiotics, and intertextuality. routledge. wildman, w. j., bulbulia, j., sosis, r., & schjoedt, u. (2020). religion and the covid-19 pandemic. religion, brain & behavior, 10(2), 115–117. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599x.2020.1749339 [ 33 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 response of millennial muslims to religious minority groups in indonesia hasse jubba islamic politics-political science, universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta email: hasse@umy.ac.id ahmad sunawari long faculty of islamic studies, the national university of malaysia email: aslong@ukm.edu.my ririt yuniar fakultas ilmu komunikasi, universitas pancasila, jakarta. email: rirityuniar@univpancasila.ac.id abstract religious minority groups have historically been positioned as the trigger for religious and social disharmony. this paper aims to explore the millennial muslims’ basis for their positioning towards minority groups in indonesia. the data collected through questionnaires, interviews, and document studies were analyzed and then converted into narrative form, tables, diagrams, and charts. the findings show that there are two millennial muslim responses towards religious minority groups. first, some are responding with acceptance of non-islamic affiliated minority groups. of the 412 surveyed respondents, 280 or 67, 96% stated their acceptance based on the juridical-constitutional reason that every citizen has the same rights and obligations, including the rights to live and obey the law. representing the second millennial response, most respondents also rejected islamic-affiliated minority groups. 383 respondents (93%) stated this rejection noting that they believe in the existence of these groups damaging islam’s image. the different forms of response are based on theological, juridical, and cultural reasons that can be found in religious arguments, legislation, and values of the local wisdom of the indonesians. this study proposes the need of building better understanding among millennial muslims regarding social diversity in indonesia, and finding common ground for these differences that can be applied to avoid religious conflicts in the future. keywords: response, millennial muslim, religious groups, minority introduction religious minority groups generate different responses among millennial muslims in indonesia, even though they live upon the same ground. on the [ 34 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 one hand, religious minority groups are considered a legitimate part of society, having the same rights and obligations as other citizens. in some cases, interreligious group relations particularly between the minority and the majority show mutual acceptance (jubba, pabbajah, h prasodjo, & qodir, 2019; makmur, kuswarno, novianti, & syafirah, 2018; saprillah, 2016). in this case, other groups are considered fellow citizens with the same attributes. so that their existence must be respected and given freedom (especially with respect to non-islamic religious groups). a survey conducted from november 2019 to february 2020 with 412 respondents showed that 263 or 63.83% “gave freedom to religious minority groups to fulfill their wishes’’; while 71 or 17.23% “made them working partners”; and 40 or 9.70% of the respondents stated “religious minority groups should join the majority group”; and only 38 or 9.22% stated their rejection. on the other hand, there is resistance from millennial muslims towards minority muslim groups. one of the reasons for this rejection is the claim that these are heretical groups (munifah, 2017; risdianto, 2017; wahyudi & wahid, 2015). of the 412 respondents, only 29 (7.03%) accepted minority muslim groups, nnamely shia and ahmadiyya. this means that 383 (92.96%) rejected these two groups. responses towards religious minority groups can take two forms, open and hidden (scott, 1981). studies of the response to the existence of different social groups can be analyzed through three trends. first are studies that show an open attitude that provides space for the development of religious minority groups with all their dynamics. (el yadari, 2012; suryana, 2011; supriyanto, 2018; jubba et.al 2019). in this case, the existence of various social groups is placed as a group that has the same position and opportunity in social life. second are the studies that place the existence of religious minority groups as sources of threat (maliki, 2010; farida, 2014; khoiron, 2018; rahmat, 2019), which also shows the rejection of religious minority groups. third, the studies that view minority groups as a driving force for the formation of a more advanced and harmonious life order (atabik, 2016; setiarsa, 2018; setyabudi, 2019; alam, 2016). these studies emphasize the function of minority groups as a factor for the creation of a more dynamic and open social life. the three trends of studies have provided a strong discussion basis for debates regarding religious minority groups with several complex problems at hand. however, these studies have not touched on how different responses are represented by social groups, especially millennial muslims. this paper aims to complement the existing studies with a focus on the different views of millennial muslims on the religious minority groups in indonesia. namely, how tolerant they are in responding to the groups [ 35 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 outside of themselves. to address this issue are three questions. first, what do millennial muslims think of tolerance? this is closely related to what they understand about tolerance. second, what is their attitude regarding the existing minority groups? this issue is also closely related to the question of how they conceptualize religious minority groups. third, what justifies their different attitude in responding to the existence of religious minority groups? this question concerns differences in attitudes when looking at non-islamic religious minority groups and islamic affiliated religious groups. this paper is based on the assumption that the different views among millennial muslims regarding the religious minority groups are driven by several factors: ideological, juridical, and cultural. ideologically, they strongly defend their beliefs as muslims and view others as heretical (although there is also an affirmation that they also respect differences). the law also guarantees the right to religion (freedom) so that anyone can live and practice their faith, but in practice, there is still resistance to different religious groups. likewise, the culture of the indonesian people, which highly values kinship relations, is often “forgotten”, which leads to religious groups being tendentiously positioned. these three factors, in addition to being the driving force for an acceptable response, also trigger rejection from millennial muslims towards religious minority groups in indonesia. religious minority and tolerance khorsand & parvin (2016) refer to minorities as small groups in a specific place with their own ethnic, linguistic, and religious characteristics. being a minority is closely related to numbers (nurhayati, 2013; rehayati, 2011). minority groups have had an important role in history, but have not been extensively documented, so they are almost invisible and silent (emadi, 2016). minority groups go through a stigma that directly affects discrimination against them (leak et al., 2015). in reality, state policies have created an environment that justifies the public rejection of religious minority communities (syed & ali, 2020). they are deprived of security and comfort. however, according to sahu et al. (2012), insecurity among minorities can be overcome by increasing inter-community accommodation, strengthening spaces, and shared interests. in this case, social organizations play an important role in demystifying the distrust and stereotypes inherent in minority groups, so they can be accommodated. in this regard, gada (2017) suggested that society should have an initiative in terms of economic improvement and educational progress in a critical manner, and increase communal awareness as the main steps to reduce the backwardness of religious minority communities. [ 36 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 a study by zabad (2017) on ten religious groups, namely the shia in saudi arabia, bahrain, lebanon and egypt; druze, alawites, christians and kurds in syria; copts in egypt; and zaydis in yemen shows that post-arab spring in the middle east, minority communities have been vulnerable to turmoil, including violence and economic damages. even in iran, there have been human rights violations against members of the bahia community, the country’s largest non-muslim religious minority (moinipour, 2018). this violation has been designed in such a way that it does not attract unwanted attention from the international community. the motive for this effort is to slowly eradicate-not to suddenly eliminate-a particular community. policies also led to persecution manifested in the form of religious intolerance and shia supremacy. khorsand & parvin (2016) even emphasized the need for special attention on the part of the iranian government towards religious minority communities by granting privileges in the form of legal independence to protect minority groups. in this case, acts of violence or intolerance require actions that respect the existence of minority groups. tolerance among important groups is mainstreamed to support the realization of more harmonious lives. tolerance is one of the many responses to diversity and difference (besch & lee, 2018). kühler (2019) defines tolerance using an analogy; a person (a), for some reason, objects to the actions or practices of another (b), but has no other reasons for accepting an action. therefore, he (a) must refrain from interfering with or preventing (b) from acting as he pleases, even though (a) has the power to interfere. in this case, tolerance is characterized by deep ambivalence (drerup, 2019). tolerance is essentially an expression of uncertainty by recognizing the existence of social reality; it is the same as acknowledging the uncertainty of social reality to tolerate the existence of other people and then tolerate something contradictory to each other because it is regarded as correct (gorman, 2019). there are three distinct sources of tolerance: individuals, culture, and institutions (kaul, 2019). the objection and acceptance component of this tolerance involves at least people’s judgments, beliefs, and practices (lee & besch, 2020). v. and b. seiler classify tolerance into three types, namely disjunctive, conjunctive, and synergistic (lalíková, 2016). in addition, lee & besch (2020) proposes two forms of tolerance, i.e. the expression of respect and recognition. meanwhile, said agil al munawar divides tolerance into two types, static tolerance and dynamic tolerance (yohandi, 2018; kamarauddin dan sabannur, 2018). another researcher, mafrukha (2018), came up with a form of tolerance based on a fiqh perspective, i.e. internal tolerance, tolerance between schools of thought (madhhab) [ 37 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 and external tolerance. internal tolerance includes tolerance in terms of faith, worship, muamalah, and criminal law. meanwhile, tolerance between schools of thought means tolerance of the four imams of the madhhab on which muslims worldwide, including indonesia, rely on. meanwhile, external tolerance concerns more about tolerance between different religions. this last type of tolerance needs to get the attention of muslims in the world in particular, for the sake of creating a life that is rahmatan lil ‘alamin (a blessing for all creations). millennial muslims currently have an important position in determining the future of the nation-state and role of religion. therefore, their position and role are needed in the context of today’s religious society. religion and the younger generation often are linked although they appear within various dynamic perspectives that accompany them. some existing literature tends to show a shift in understanding religion among the younger generation (the millennial generation). this shift in understanding has introduced a religious paradigm which has resulted in a transformation of millennial’s religious expression. in islam, for example, this shift is known among millennials as hijrah, shown with expressive behavior by attending various religious studies; the involvement of millennial actors who promise individuals in islamic migration towards a better and more targeted life goal (fajriani, 2019). the millennial generation tends to see religious discourse textually in interpreting holy texts, so a contextual understanding is required (hartini, 2019). likewise, they seek more religious references through the media, which shows formality in observing religion. in this case, religious activism has made the internet and online social media a new vehicle for the transformation of religious propaganda authority from traditional to modern for millennial literates. (ahyar & alfitri, 2019). this is shown by the management of the discourse of piety through the activities of the body which are uploaded continuously on social media. the islamic generation can be formed with various purposes, including gaining popularity which leads to economic gain and popularity. (anisa, 2018). this reality indicates that the values of religiosity when exposed to technology are adopted as an extension of the space for religious interaction, but there are also those who think that religion in online media is only a means of disseminating information and when one wishes to practice religious values, dedication is needed in the real world. (pabbajah, jubba, widyanti & iribaram, 2020). the correlation between religion, the internet, and the millennial generation has become unavoidable. the millennial generation and the internet, social media in this case, have changed many patterns of communication, including in religion. this is in line with what zulhasmi and hastuti reported in their [ 38 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 study that da’wah on social media, which notes significant challenges and opportunities, especially when dealing with millennials as the majority users. social media, despite having a positive contribution to da’wah, also has many issues that demand attention, such as prejudice, spread of hatred, and reluctance to access primary sources. (zulhazmi & hastuti, 2018). in addition, the religious perspective of the millennial generation is also affected by ideology as a fundamental factor in shaping religious understanding. therefore, the role of religious literature, especially of islam, in the seedbed of islamism, is important among the millennial generation (iswanto, 2018). the shift in religious understanding of the millennial generation clearly has an impact on religious attitudes, including in seeing differences in religious beliefs and understanding. in responding to the spirit of tolerance shown by the millennial generation, the majority are in the indifferent category, which proves that there is doubtful behavior towards the sense of tolerance they want to display (nugraha & firmansyah, 2019). it is quite different when a person has received significant religious education since childhood or has had environmental influences to develop his religious potential. after becoming a student or an adult, one tends to live based on the values of the religious teachings they were raised with. through the literacy process and correct religious teaching, the millennial generation can become agents of change in the wasaṭiyya islamic proselytization, the tolerant islam that respects differences and is good for all members of society (zain, 2019). making room for tolerance toward the minority in simple terms, tolerance can be defined as an attitude of accepting and appreciating the existence of other different people or groups. in arabic, tolerance is called tasamuh, which is to be kind and gentle to each other and to forgive each other. with regard to islamic teachings, tasamuh is a commendable moral attitude in daily interaction, where there is mutual respect between fellow humans based on the boundaries set by religious teachings. however, the perception of tolerance among young people varies. when they were asked, “what is tolerance?” they answered with several words, such as respect (238 or 57.76%), acceptance (86 or 20.87%), understanding (41 or 9.9%), and diversity (12 or 2.9%), as well as wisdom (35 or 8.49%). in short, the perception of young people about the meaning of tolerance can be seen in figure 1 below. [ 39 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 figure 1. young people’s perception of the meaning of tolerance source: processed from the questionnaire, 2020 figure 1 shows the various choices of words that represent their perception of tolerance. the word “tolerance” for the majority of millennial muslims is perceived as “respect”. if you look at the words chosen, basically each word still correlates with one another. the description above shows that millennials generally see tolerance as a form of making space for groups outside of their own (the majority), especially minority groups. tolerance is very close to “respect”, which means respecting other groups to express themselves, including practicing the beliefs and teachings they believe in. granting freedom to minority groups is a form of action that can build a more flexible relationship between religious groups. religious minority groups such as towani tolotang, aluk todolo and kaharingan are accepted based on the argument that they are also like “us”, having the same rights and obligations. however, what is often problematic is its practice in the community. this is because there is still rejection of minority groups, especially those connected with the practice of religious teachings or beliefs. if these minority groups are not religiously affiliated, then millennial muslims tend to “comply” with existing state policies. meanwhile, “minority” is generally understood as something that is related to numbers, namely a small or insignificant number. the data collected through the questionnaire show that respondents generally agree that “minority” is closely related to a small number. however, there are answers other than “numbers” to explain the concept of minority. some of them perceive that [ 40 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 minority is also related to “position”, “role” and “access”. in summary, some of these answers can be seen in the explanation of figure 2 below. figure 2. millennial muslim perception about minorities source: processed from the questionnaire, 2020 in figure 2, it is clear that the majority of respondents stated that the minority is closely related to numbers (324 or 79%). meanwhile, there are answers besides number namely position (29 or 7%), role (43 or 10%), and access (16 or 4%). it can be understood that the minority-majority issue has other implications besides the question of number. likewise, the variety of answers regarding the minority shows that students’ knowledge of minority issues is not narrow. minority groups cover many aspects that are not only related to religion, but also include other aspects such as gender, ethnicity, profession, etc. religious minority groups, in particular, are generally treated poorly. it is common for them to get discriminatory treatment in the form of marginalization of position, limitation of rights, restrictions on roles, and deprivation of access. for example, it is very difficult for adherents/followers of a certain faith to get their civil rights such as carrying out worship freely according to the teachings they believe. limitation of rights can be seen in the “coercion” to choose one “official” religion. they cannot be autonomous because they have to adhere to the recognized religions in indonesia. so far, islam, hinduism, and christianity are religions that have been safe havens for them. the towani tolotang in sidenreng rappang, for example, chose hinduism; aluk todolo in toraja chose christianity, tengger in east java chose hinduism, ammatoa in kajang chose islam. more often than not, they are placed as a group of [ 41 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 followers of non-mainstream religions (pabbajah, abdullah, juhansar, & jubba, 2019) who do not base their religious practices on mainstream religions. this also confirms that the bargaining position of religious minority groups is very weak (maliki, 2010). attitudes towards minority groups there are three attitudes that millennial muslims have towards minority groups. this attitude is based on various reasons, which are basically a form of their openness to the facts of the diversity of indonesian society. this also explains the potential for a closer relationship in the future under the auspices of young muslim groups. the three attitudes are (1) inviting to join the majority group; (2) giving freedom to minority groups; and (3) building partnership. of the three attitudes, students generally chose “giving freedom” to minority groups to carry out their activities, especially religious activities as they wish. this means that minority groups are given room to express their teachings or beliefs. in summary, the percentage of these three attitudes can be seen in figure 3 below based on the higher education institutions the students come from. figure 3. attitudes of millennial muslims towards minority groups source: processed from the questionnaire, 2020. diagram 1 clearly illustrates that there is an attitude of acceptance among millennial muslims at three higher education institutions. the majority of them give freedom to religious minority groups to practice their belief (280 respondents). in addition, some respondents want to make these minority [ 42 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 groups their partners (85 respondents), and the rest (47 respondents) state that they invite minority groups to join the majority. this illustrates that, in general, millennial muslims provide flexibility to minority groups to exist and provide room for them to remain in their state. the flexibility in question is to provide room for religious minority groups to freely practice their beliefs. one of the reasons is that in islam, respect for belief is very clear. this can be found in qs. al-kafirun 1-6 which essentially leaves matters of belief to the internal (belief) of each adherent. “for you is your religion, for me my religion” is a very firm basic principle for all religious adherents not to interfere with the beliefs of followers of other religions. in the history of islam, several events show the attitude of the prophet muhammad who highly respected other religions. the fathu makkah incident in which non-muslims and muslims prioritized maintaining harmony in medina is a historical fact that shows respect for each other is highly appreciated. in this case, different beliefs are no longer a barrier to creating harmony, because what is being put forward is peace for all, a humanitarian issue. several efforts have attempted to shape the religious character of the millennial generation from various perspectives. one perspective is through an educational process that has relevance between the concept of integration such as the integration of cultural values with the concept of islamic education (husein ritonga & bafadhal, 2018; siswanto, 2019). this is offered as a solution for the achievement of educational goals for the millennial generation in the era of globalization with all its complexities (sukarman, 2017). in addition, strengthening the millennial character through understanding the traditional values practiced in a society, for example through the commemoration of religious holidays, where the values exemplified by the prophet can affect the character building of the millennial generation (musfiah rifqi, 2018). for example, the susuk wangan tradition, which contains educational values such as religious, social, moral, and cultural values, must be re-introduced to the younger generation. these values should be instilled to shape good character (wulan et al., 2018). these efforts can be made to build the character and religious perceptions of the millennial generation. however, it is necessary to build a religious perception among muslim intellectuals, especially millennials since they still tend to have an attitude of dissatisfaction with the status quo, so that new innovations and innovative ideas and thoughts --sometimes out of the mainstream or out of the box-are needed (nata, 2019). justification of different responses the acceptance and rejection of religious minority groups is based on three [ 43 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 reasons. first are theological reasons. in the qur’an, there are explicitly several verses which state that differences (including beliefs) are not something new. differences are part of natural law (sunnatullah) which must be acknowledged as revealed in q.s al hujurat and several other verses. the verses about differences contained in the qur’an are described briefly in table 1 below. table 1. information / theological references qur’an surah-ayat translation substance al an’am; 108 revile not those unto whom they pray beside allah lest they wrongfully revile allah through ignorance… prohibition of insulting / abusing the gods of followers of other religions hud; 118 and if thy lord had willed, he verily would have made mankind one nation, yet they cease not differing. allah allows for differences yusuf; 99 and if thy lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together. wouldst thou (muhammad) compel men until they are believers? allah allows for differences al kafiruun; 2-6 i worship not that which ye worship; nor worship ye that which i worship. and i shall not worship that which ye worship. nor will ye worship that which i worship. unto you your religion, and unto me my religion. prohibition of interfering in the affairs of other religions al hujurat 13 o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of allah is the most righteous of you. indeed, allah is knowing and acquainted. recommendation to respect diversity source: processed from the verses of the qur’an. islam is a religion of blessing for all creations, not only for muslims. the root word of islam is salama (safe, peaceful) so islam is the religion of salvation for all beings. in several hadiths, prophet muhammad (pbuh) places great emphasis on every muslim to spread peace to anyone. this is the real form of islam as the religion of blessing for all. in the history of the spread of islam, [ 44 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 muslims have lived in harmony with minority groups. this is because in islam, the dignity of a person as the caliph of allah on earth cannot be insulted, just because he is part of a minority group or a group that has different beliefs from muslims. second, juridical reasons. the 1945 constitution also explicitly states that every citizen must provide room for different groups (especially religious groups) to practice their faith. the basis used to accept minority groups is the regulations as can be seen in table 2 below. table 2. constitutional basis for minority group rights source content substance 1945 constitution article 28 e (1): everyone is free to embrace a religion and worship according to their religion, choose education and instruction, choose a job, choose citizenship, choose a place to live in the territory of the country and leave it, and have the right to return. every citizenhas freedom of choice. article 29 (2): the state guarantees the freedom of every cirizen to embrace their own religion and to worship according to their religion and faith. every citizen has the right and freedom to choose and embrace a religion. law number 12 / 2005 concerning international covenant on civil & political rights article 18 (2): no one can be forced of his freedom to adhere to or determine their religion or belief according to their choice. everyone has the freedom to choose a belief and there should be no coercion over the choice of belief (religion). article 18 (3): freedom to practice and determine one's religion or belief can only be limited by provisions based on law, and which are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. restrictions on citizens from choosing a religion can only be done according to statutory regulations. source: laws and legislation. some of the laws and regulations abovementioned (not only those shown in table 2) affirm that minority groups have the same room as other groups, especially in practicing their religious beliefs. this also confirms that legally there is no difference in the treatment of every citizen and group, especially religious groups in indonesia. in this case, there is a clear and firm guarantee from the state for the religious minority groups to express their faith through religious practices that they believe without intervention, let alone pressure [ 45 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 from other groups, including the state. third is cultural. the culture of the indonesian people is filled with peculiarities. this can be seen from the dynamics of everyday life that are never devoid of colorful differences, be it ethnicity, language, tradition or religion. the condition of a plural nation makes differences no longer a barrier to mutual respect. the tradition of interaction between islam and the culture of the indonesian people has a long history with many ups and downs (jubba, rustan, & juhansar, 2018). a family is often composed of people with different religious beliefs (suhadi, 2014). views like this are very common in families of various ethnicities in indonesia. in javanese society, religion is understood as ageman (clothing). clothing is body protection and is located on the outside so that differences in clothing do not prevent people from accepting each other because they are very formal, not substantive. in bugis society, for example, religious differences are often placed under ethnic equality, meaning that whatever religion is embraced, they have the same culture as bugis people. it is the cultural similarity that takes precedence so conflicts can be avoided. local wisdom such as padaidi’ (fellowship) has a meaning that goes far beyond differences in belief because this wisdom is based on the spirit of sipakatau’, which humanizes humans (jubba, 2018). in this regard, respect for human dignity is above all. of course, this spirit is very relevant to the islamic teachings, which do not differentiate the status of a person or group. the three reasons above illustrate that religious minority groups still face various issues. however, if we review the response of millennial muslims, basically they are very rational in stating their reasons. in summary, the reasons used by millennial muslims, both those who reject and those who accept these two islamic religious minority groups, can be seen in table 3 below. table 3. opinions on islamic religious minority groups statement reject accept disrupting public order the rights of citizens are guaranteed by law contrary to indonesian culture part of diversity disrupt the unity freedom of religion deviant islamic teachings part of islam source: processed from the questionnaire, 2020. [ 46 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 in table 3, it can be seen that there are two forms of opinion towards the shia and ahmadiyya groups in indonesia. the existing statement confirms that these two groups receive different treatment in the muslim community, especially the millennial group. millennial muslims have arguments in deciding their choice regarding whether to accept or reject religious minority groups in indonesia. they actually have sufficient knowledge, especially regarding the legal basis related to the existence of various religious groups in indonesia, which is very diverse to date. apart from all the debates regarding the existence of religious minority groups, the fact that there is acceptance and rejection is also an indisputable reality in the practice of social life in indonesia today. for example, the islamic minority group (shia) still faces unfair treatment, as in the case of the shia in sampang, madura (nurish, 2015). likewise, the ahmadiyya also face verbal discrimination, particularly about bing ‘deviant’ and ‘outside of islam’, as well as non-verbal which results in a ban on building places of worship as it happened in tangerang. (simamora, hamid, & hikmawan, 2020). in addition, the incident occurred in east lombok regency, west nusa tenggara,f houses belonging to ahmadiyya followers were destroyed by vigilantes and accompanied by expulsion (simamora et al., 2020; wahab & fakhruddin, 2019). undoubtedly, this is contrary to the notion of pluralism and diversity as divine reality which is inevitable (vahid, 2018). such rejection also demonstrates the potential for internal conflict in islam (alfandi, 2013). in many cases, there are islamic groups that have quite wide access, including religious facilities, but there are also groups that are labeled heretical, deviant, and destructive. (pabbajah et al., 2019; farida, 2014). regarding the rejection of shia and ahmadiyya, there are two types of responses. first, the rejection was represented by puritan groups such as ddii, persis, al-irsyad, and fuui which firmly rejected it in the name of purifying islamic tradition. this form of rejection is more open (scott, 1981). islamic teachings are the final teachings that should not be confused with new teachings, especially regarding beliefs as embodied in the pillars of faith. however, under certain conditions, moderate islamic groups, especially nahdhatul ulama and muhammadiyah have their own attitudes which give room for tolerant understanding (muhtarom, 2017). second, claims regarding the period of arrival of shia in indonesia that is considered to have come at a later period (the second period was in the 1980s, the first was claimed in the 8th century at the same time as the arrival of islam in aceh). likewise, ahmadiyya is considered a “newcomer”, having only entered indonesia in 1924 (sabara, 2014). the crucial phase of shia development continued in [ 47 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 the reform era, and in 2000 an organization was formed to gather the shia congregation, namely ijabi or the association of the indonesian ahlul bait congregation (hasim, 2012). this results in an unfair perception of religious groups that are considered “newcomers”. the presence of a new group comes with other inherent impacts, such as new values, either directly or indirectly affecting other groups that have existed before. the description above affirms the rejection and acceptance of religious minority groups, although they have received guaranteed regulations and even legitimacy from religion, their existence continues to be questioned. religious minority groups occupy a less strategic (weak) position and do not have enough media to fight the domination of other religious groups that have already had wide room and opportunities to thrive. the difference in reasons used by millennial muslims, both in rejecting and accepting the existence of other groups, indicates that basically the young islamic group has an independent attitude, meaning that their choice of attitude is also based on various policies and even justification of religion (islam). in the view of kuhler (2019), in addition to moral, ethical, and pragmatic reasons, political reasons are also the basis for acceptance and rejection of something. conclusion this study reaffirms the different responses of millennial muslims regarding religious minority groups in indonesia. there is a response that on the one hand accepts the existence of these groups based on religious texts (ideology), constitutional and cultural reasons. however, these three factors also gave birth to millennial muslims’ acceptance of religious minority groups. first, millennial muslims accept religious minority groups by emphasizing a very strict nash (qur’an) justification for respect for religious diversity; there is even no reason to force other religions to become part of one religion. in addition, the constitution also explicitly protects the rights of minorities. culturally, the diverse conditions of the nation and the long history of the formation of the nation-state are supported by many religious groups, including religions outside the mainstream that we know today. this open acceptance occurs to religious minority groups that are not affiliated with islam. the presence of non-islamic religious groups is considered part of a more multicultural and diverse life. these religious groups pose no obstacle or trigger for conflict because each of them carries out religious teachings following the teachings of their religion. this argument indicates people’s awareness in which all social groups, constitutionally, have the same rights as other citizens and are free to practice their faiths. [ 48 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 second, based on the justification of religious, constitutional, and cultural texts, it also creates rejection of religious minority groups. this rejection occurs to islamic religious minority groups which have been the targets of various discriminatory actions. such rejection is because these groups are considered to practice deviant teachings that disrupt islam due to differences with the majority (mainstream). the doctrine that is believed and practiced generates responses that actually put them into a judgmental position. differences in islamic understanding and practice not only have triggered conflict, but have also created differences in religious practices that arise from the interpretations of each group. in many cases, there have even been persecution and acts of violence against religious minority groups. in addition, their acceptance is also based on quite strong reasons. the existing religious minority groups are also a complement to societal life. different attitudes related to the existence of religious minority groups in indonesia show that there are still crucial issues in terms of current social relations. there are inconsistent attitudes, especially in positioning religious minority groups, even though they have justification from religion (argument / holy text), the constitution, and culture. it has an impact on religious minority groups which have always been in a dilemma. on the one hand, religious minority groups provide an increasingly open room for dialogue by involving all groups in a forum to find shared agreements, but on the other hand, diversity can be a trigger as well as a threat to social order when each group maintains their differences. this study only focuses on the analysis of the different responses of millennial muslims regarding the reality of the multicultural and multireligious indonesian people. the discussion that has yet to be developed in detail provides a practical framework to instill the value of openness to the islamic generation. this is because one of the challenges that indonesia will face in the future is the difficulty and reluctance to accept the existence of other groups with different identities. therefore, it is necessary to build a bridge, through a non-structural inclusive education model, in order to raise the collective awareness of millennial muslims on the importance of diversity which must be addressed openly to form a stronger and more open social life structure in the future. bibliography ahyar, m., & alfitri, a. 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[ 54 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1982 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 3 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing department of research and development, ministry of religious affairs, indonesia email: sonadi2017@gmail.com abstract this article discusses music in the catholic liturgy in jakarta, indonesia in the postmodern era within the context of the autonomy of the catholic church. the indonesian catholic church is an independent and autonomous church where liturgical music is a form of original artistic expression. however, in practice, the majority of catholics in indonesia view the liturgical celebration as uninteresting and dull. conversely, pop music has increasingly influenced liturgical music. this reality is discussed and analyzed specifically in regards to liturgical music that experiences contextual data inference, especially in the specific cultural contexts of the community. the data analysis shows, in perception of catholics in jakarta, the role of liturgical music in worship is not homogeneous, but rather depends on the educational background, attention from pastors of the parish, cultural factors, and individual past experiences. for the most part, the level of understanding regarding the nature and important position of liturgical music in religious holy celebrations is low. most consider that all music is the same and can therefore be used in the liturgy. music is considered only a complement to enhance religious celebrations. in this context, the government and the indonesian catholic church established the catholic church choir development institute (lp3k) as a forum for fostering catholics in indonesia in the liturgical field and discussing issues related to music. this article confirms that the position of the liturgical music is crucial and has an irreplaceable significance in the liturgy, and the two are inextricably woven to each other. keywords: music, liturgy, indonesian catholic church, jakarta. introduction music is god’s gift to creation for the necessities of life (westermeyer, 2015). basically, music is a type of sound. almost anything that is hit will produce sound, but that does not mean it is necessarily music. for sound to be musical, waves must be arranged into regular space and time rather than random. so music is arranged with certain patterns, rhythms, and harmonies to produce beautiful sound. music has existed since the dawn of civilization in every [ 4 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 culture, though its origin is not known for certain. it has been suggested that our predecessors mimicked and adapted ‘musical’ natural sounds the wind blowing through reeds, the loud tone of an object hitting a hollow log, and the vocalization of animals including birds (lowis, 2011). there is evidence that music has been played among others in ancient greece, india, china and other asian countries, maybe for 3000 years or even longer (lowis, 2011). from the ancient egyptian civilization, several musical instruments have been found such as the harp, lyra, guitar, mandolin and flute. on the gizeh’s grave there are pictures of two harp players. egyptian manuscripts mention artists have a prominent place in palaces. the greeks considered art to come directly from gods. musical instruments were used at banquets of gods, marriages, and deaths. (prier, 2011). the greek philosopher and mathematician, pythagoras, found that the notes of the strings that were picked became higher when the strings were shortened, according to a simple arithmetic ratio (lowis, 2011). plato defined music as a system of tone, regulated rhythm, and language (liu, 2010). plato viewed music as existential for humans because it is capable of touching the human mind, forming the ethos of his soul, and becoming a source of inspiration (plato, dialoge no. 654, 665 ). this was confirmed by his students. aristotle claimed that music can shape human nature, provide entertainment, relax and refresh the human heart, and provide spiritual happiness to humans (prier, 2011). the rapid development of pop music and modern music has an impact on liturgical celebrations. the celebration of the catholic liturgy for some people is considered uninteresting and uninspiring. the argument is that music is monotonous, less varied, and conventional. so that the atmosphere of celebration is not alive and causes people to feel bored. this study relies on different arguments, not only looking at the common sense of liturgical music, but also indicating that a proper understanding of the nature of liturgical music and local cultural contexts has an important impact on people’s ability to behave towards liturgical music and other types of music. more specifically, this article aims to analyze the dynamic correlation between music, culture, and liturgy, where the construction of values built in these three aspects is determined by people’s perception. this article is based on the results of qualitative research, targeting worshipers of the indonesian catholic church. this article aims to explore people in the catholic church in jakarta’s perception of use of music in the catholic liturgy in-depth and in detail. direct observation and the experience of the researcher is beneficial to the opportunity to discuss the matters with the pastor, conductor (choir coach), church music practitioners, and catholic laymen [ 5 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 provides a detailed understanding of this topic. this case study of the catholic church in jakarta provides an opportunity for the researcher to thoroughly examine the practice of using music in a liturgy that occurs in several parishes in jakarta. generally, this situation and experience provides a framework to understand other parishes in the dioceses in indonesia. this was revealed by the participants in the choir trainers workshop and technical meeting of the 2018 national catholic church choir meeting in jakarta and the workshop on the composition of national ethnic liturgical songs by lp3kn in jakarta in september 2019. in the indonesian context, some liturgical music reviews have already existed before. marzanna poplawska wrote about music and christian inculturation in indonesia. from the author’s perspective, poplawska’s work is less focused and seems to generalize other catholic and christian perspectives. related documents about the catholic liturgy were also not used as a foundation or reference in the research (poplawska, 2011). in addition, yohanes (don and bakok, 1993) wrote about inculturated liturgical music in the ganjuran church of yogyakarta and theresia. adimurti (2005) also wrote about church music in toba and simalungun bataks. however, the two works do not pay attention to the nature and central role of music in the liturgy and the reasons why it must be inculturated and thus the differences in liturgical music and other music receive little attention. the blank space is to be filled in this article. music in human life musical instruments also existed in ancient roman times. the double flute from the etruscans was a musical instrument that had long been used by the romans. the art of music in the roman period reached its peak in the theater. traces of music can be found from the time of the islamic occupation of arabia. the first source of arabic music is found in the assyrian inscriptions from the seventh century b.c. where arab prisoners are said to have worked while singing so beautifully that the assyrian masters were fascinated and wanted to hear more songs. kings in south arabia supported music and literature (prier, 2011). these facts reveal that art is not something foreign in human life. art is inseparable from human life. it is a basic need, a human existential need. plato once said, “if there is something that makes life meaningful, that is a reflection on beauty” (hauskeller, 2015). music is an expression of the depth of the human personality. music is a representation of the integrity of humans, as well as a representation of the socio-cultural conditions of humans. the role of art was prominent and dominant in the middle ages, namely the art of [ 6 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 serving religion. this means that art always deals with divinity. art is a symbol of divine presence (agung, 2017; kristi, 2018). saint thomas aquinas was an exponent of the middle ages who explicitly defined art as a beauty if it has three qualities, namely: integrity, harmony and brilliance (hauskeller, 2015). the art of music is something that can restore the balance of an insecure soul, comforting a depressing heart, and stimulating a sense of patriotism and heroism (prier, 2011). music is present in all dimensions of human life, including religious celebrations. according to hildegard, music allows contact between the divine and humans, which reminds the human soul of its condition (kirakosian, 2017). in catholicism, music has a crucial place in the liturgy. even music and liturgy are inseparable. music is not merely an addition or accompaniment but instead becomes an integral part of the liturgy itself. this is also what is seen by students in catholic education in at sma theresia jakarta (kris sejati & gazali, 2016). people’s perspective on music has long been developing along with the progression of culture, science, and technology. since the 15th century, there have been very stimulating debates about the values and status of music in the church. one of them was mengozzi who investigated modern perception of the concepts of medieval and renaissance tones. guido adler (1885) wrote the structural history of music by dividing historical and systematic musicology. then his student, george knepler (1961) --a german music expert, developed it with the perspective of the sociology of music in terms of musical life, composition techniques, and aesthetic ideals (dumitrescu, 2011). carl dahlhaus completed the process of systematizing structural music history in the aesthetic dimensions of music, music sociology, and composition techniques (liu, 2010). since the development of ethnomusicology, music research in culture and anthropological viewpoints have replaced adler’s dichotomy. in later developments, the role of music is increasingly widespread in human life. north and hargreaves conducted research on the role of music in human life. the research has proven that everyone is related to music, and music is one of the most important things in human life. it is even believed that music is intertwined with a person’s identity as it can express feelings about oneself and others. it was found that music can regulate emotions, thoughts, arouse enthusiasm, help individuals to be calm, reduce stress, relieve depressive feelings, and help a person to meditate (upadhyay, 2013). research on music on children has also been carried out by sandra trehub and her colleagues. trehub concluded that since birth, there has been a biological tendency to [ 7 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 understand the structure of music, as well as an innate preference for melody. the research has also proved that there is an inherent universal ability to understand and respond to music (lowis, 2011). music in catholicism early christian church music was monophonic, called gregorian chants, sung together, evolved, and then polyphonic music emerged in the middle ages (1100 -1400), renaissance (1400-1600), and baroque (1600-1750). the word ‘monophones’ comes from the word monos (greek) meaning singular, and phooneoo which means to sound. so, monophonic music is a type of music that consists of only one sound, without accompaniment. church music began to be clearly distinguished from other types of music in the middle ages. gregorian music was perfected by pope gregory thus its name is called gregorian. abraham zebi idelsohn conducted an investigation and pointed out the influence of synagogal jewish music on the development of gregorian music. in addition to monophones music, there is also polyphonic music in european cultural styles. the change in music history is that music no longer focuses on religious interests but is also used for worldly affairs as a means of entertainment. gregorian music does not recognize the fixed principle of time. birama maintains the same movement principle, but more abstract, static, and remains the same. birama is bound to a fixed pressure system, for example the first hit on any type of bar is also considered heavy. the history of music clearly proves the principle of constant birama began to be used when the art of choir developed, where singing together requires a count that unites all sounds (prier, 2011). gregorian music is vocal music and was born as an interpretation of the latin word. it means music is a rhythmic movement based on gregorian language accent and musical motive itself. in addition, another difference lies in the rhythm of the gregorian, depending on accent and pronunciation of latin words. rhythm is a principle of melodic movement which is full of life, full of dynamics, full of variety. gregorian songs are monophonic music, so it is not for the choir, but for unison. it must be admitted that for the beauty of gregorian music to be fully enjoyed it requires knowledge of latin. armed with latin knowledge, the aesthetic value of gregorian listeners / singers will realize that this music equals or even exceeds the beauty of other types of music, as is often justified by many famous composers (prier, 2011). catholicism in indonesia was brought by missionaries from europe. at the beginning, missionaries introduced and taught the teachings of the catholic faith in nuances of european culture including its songs and music. the [ 8 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 milestone of major and fundamental changes in church life in catholicism occurred after the second vatican council (1962-1965). the church recognized and gave space to the catholic faith to be expressed in nuances of local culture. only then could latin and gregorian chants be replaced with local languages and music in a process called inculturation. then, came the ethnic liturgical chant, a chant with an ethnic nuance. here, liturgical chanting is in harmony with the cultural norms of the local people but has the general character of sacred music. in christian liturgy, singing is an expression of communal praise so that those who gather, celebrants, and other believers, all take part in singing (suárez, sendra, and alonso, 2013). augustine described the art of music as a means to move from the physical to the spiritual (kirakosian, 2017). the role of music in the liturgy was more significant after the second vatican council. the catholic church made fundamental reforms in church life. one of them is the use of liturgical music. catholic liturgical music as it is known today has gone through a long process of development. liturgical music has gone through development and changes due to the process of adjustment to various cultures and customs in many nations and countries. catholic liturgical music began with the emergence and development of christianity. at the time of jesus’ life in nazareth, people were accustomed to praying in the form of songs (don and bakok, 1993). jesus and his disciples sang the hallel psalm during the last supper (mt 26:30). hallel (hebrew “praise”) is a prayer in judaism (da cunha, 1992). music becomes the foundation of liturgy music and singing are related to religious experiences and expressions. even music is an expression of faith. calvin argued that music is a sung prayer (lebaka, 2015). since the second vatican council, the catholic church has opened up and provided space for local churches to express their faith and ways of worshiping in conjunction with local culture. one of them is in the use of language, music, and local singing, which is called inculturated music. within, there lies a meeting between aspects of the universal liturgy and aspects of local culture aimed at bringing people to an encounter with god in prayer and praise. shorter in poplawska (2011) defined inculturation as “an ongoing dialogue between faith and culture” and as “a creative and dynamic relationship between christian messages and culture” because inculturation cannot exist except in the form of culture. that means that the christian faith must be integrated with the local culture so that there is a taste in the appreciation of the people concerned. traditional cultural elements that are [ 9 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 commonly used in liturgies are arts such as music, dance, literature, and fine art (poplawska, 2011). in this context, it justifies the idea that states that songs are a form of cultural expression. the word “liturgy” comes from the (classical) greek, namely leitourgia, which means activities / actions / works (ergon) of many people for public use. the word is used to indicate joint work, community service, service work for the public interest or for the benefit of the nation. in other words, liturgy is an activity carried out together, in joint work. according to benson in cockayne (2018a) liturgy originally referred to how people lived. liturgy was never meant to be something only done on sundays. in reality, liturgy is a way of life. from its inception, liturgy was not practiced only in formal or traditional churches. according to edgardh, raison d’être of the liturgy does aim to escape from everyday life in the world, but to prove that through human worship it is empowered to work for the lives of all people (adiprasetya, 2019). it means that worship is a place where humans draw spiritual determination needed by the soul. in fact, the main goal of people practicing religion is to know god, not theorize about god. in this case, the liturgy can help fulfill the conditions needed to know god personally by actively participating in the liturgy. according to coackley, liturgy allows us to experience god personally because it can provide humans with the knowledge of god through the introduction and personal relationship with him. personal knowledge of god is made possible with involvement in liturgy. such knowledge is obtained slowly through repetition of certain practices in order to find out how to properly relate to and see god (cockayne, 2018b). thus, liturgy becomes an effective means of meeting and knowing god. coackley (2018) referred to the liturgy as a means of full integration of all aspects of self contained in the life of christ. liturgical participants bring themselves and their conscious bodies into focused and intentional interactions with the sacramental reality they feel (lebzyak, 2018). since the second century ad, the word liturgy has had a cultural meaning. the church uses liturgy in the sense of celebrating faith together or official worship of the church to god which is held together by people who believe in god as the ‘face’ of the world (martasudjita, 1999). the second vatican council defines liturgy as “carrying out the priesthood duties of jesus christ, where the sanctification of the church takes place as the mystical body of christ, and christ as its head”. so liturgy, in this article, means a celebration of god’s work of salvation for humans which is carried out together, requiring an active and full participation of the people present (kl no. 5, 7, 27). according [ 10 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 to schmeman in (lebzyak, 2018) active participation in a liturgy is a divine center, a locus of divine action in the world that can truly recreate and glorify the entire human race. it means that the church can feel the presence of god and liturgy is effective if there is an active involvement in responding to the appeal of god’s word. the people present must have a matching inner attitude, harmonizing the heart to what they say and cooperating with heavenly grace, as to not leave their faith to waste. community participation consists of two parts, namely inner and outer participation. inner participation means that the faithful combine their hearts and minds with what they say and additionally cooperate with heavenly grace. outer participation means expression in the form of motion and posture, and can be realized through acclamation and singing. in short, the faithful celebrate with full awareness, activity, and meaningfulness so that the impact of the celebration can be fully felt (sc no. 11). therefore, liturgy is in fact a celebration of the faith held together, in a holy, formal and beautiful manner. the beauty, grandeur, and service of liturgy is reflected in the attitudes, liturgical attire, dynamics, worship, church atmosphere, festive atmosphere, music-singing, and prayers that are artfully arranged. meanwhile liturgy is considered to be official when it complies with the standard structures, and the festivals, order, prayers, symbols, texts and chants used have been approved by church leaders. in addition, a liturgy is led by formal leaders who have been ordained such as bishops, priests, deacons. a liturgy is called a holy celebration because it is led by christ through a priest (kl no. 7), and the people who celebrate it are believers and use equipment, means of worship that have been consecrated in advance. this requires that the liturgy be meaningful only to the faithful. schmemann, 1963 states that “to the unbelievers, a liturgy seems like a mirage. people only hear words and thus see ceremonies that are incomprehensible to them (lebzyak, 2018). the final thing about liturgy is a collective celebration. it means that it is not an individual act, but instead a communal celebration organized under a bishop (kl 22, 26-27). as a collective celebration, it also reflects the movement of the body as well as the songs sung together. wolterstorf argued that one of the key values of the body’s dimension in acting liturgically is that it enables people to worship communally. without the body, the communal dimension of the liturgy would be completely lost (cockayne, 2018a). in the ecclesiastical life, the liturgy is the source of all its strengths and the culmination of the activities of the church (kl no. 10). from the liturgy, the sanctifying grace of man and the exaltation of god in christ occur. in order for the mystery of christ’s salvation to be delivered and permeated to [ 11 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 everyone, the liturgical celebration must be in accordance with the soul and culture of each nation (kl no. 37-40). however, it must be understood that in the liturgy, there are parts that are permanent and unchanged because they originate from god and must be protected by the church (john paul ii, apostolic epistle vicesimus quintus annus, no. 16). in order to increase the participation of the whole congregation and create a simultaneously solemn and grand atmosphere, music has a foundational role. this is in line with arnold’s argument which states the central theme of church music is grace (martin, 1984). therefore, the existence of music is very important in the liturgy. dimitri conomos asserted that church music is not a decoration but integrates with the liturgy itself. liturgical music has a noble and holy dignity because the sacred chanting comes from the scriptures and is an integral part of a liturgy. music has the potential to increase participation and attendance in liturgical celebrations. this was proven in morakeng lebaka’s research (2015) which revealed that the use of traditional religious music into the liturgy provided enthusiasm and active participation of local people. singing specifically helps people recognize themselves as a unified church, so they may build their own identity through music while increasing their attractiveness to outsiders. the findings also support scott’s statement that using cultural music increases participation in worship (lebaka, 2015). this fact supports the idea that traditional religious music has a positive impact on the development of active participation and interest of people in liturgical celebrations. therefore, the purpose of liturgical music is to enhance the glory of god and the sanctification of the faithful. liturgical music expresses more prayers profoundly, fosters the unity of heart, and enriches sacred ceremonies with more lively festivity. liturgical celebrations become more glorious if the worship of god is celebrated with festive singing supported by skilled liturgical servants and people actively involved in them (kl no.113). so, the liturgy truly prioritizes the active participation of the faithful in the liturgical celebration. this is especially evident in the involvement of the people in singing (kl no. 114). smith argues that “worship is not a personal matter; we have gathered as a people, as a church, and together we depend on our redeeming creator, so we depend on each other (cockayne, 2018a). for that reason, education and coaching on liturgical music is required so people have the proper knowledge and understanding to properly appreciate liturgical celebrations. in that context, it is appropriate for the government, particularly the directorate general of catholic community guidance, to collaborate with the church/indonesian bishops’ conference (kwi) to establish the catholic [ 12 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 church choir development institute with the regulation of the minister of religious affairs (pma) no. 35 of 2016. this institute serves as a means, or a forum, for fostering and developing indonesian catholic church music with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of music in worship. the main criteria that must be considered in the selection of liturgical singing music are in harmony with the spirit of liturgical celebration (kl no. 30) and support the participation of all believers and the lyrics must be in accordance with catholic teachings, drawn from the scriptures and liturgical sources (kl no. 121). liturgical music is deliberately created for the purpose of worship, has an internal position in worship, and is devoted to the interests of worship and to increasing people’s participation (kl no. 112, 114). therefore, the use of music in the liturgy is very clear according to its function. the lyrics and melody of the liturgical singing must be in harmony with the liturgical time and the liturgical part. it means that the song is used as an opening song, preparation for offerings, a celebration of thanksgiving or closing during ordinary, advent, christmas, lent, and easter. the melody should also go along with the lyrics. happy lyrics accompany a happy melody, and sad lyrics accompany a sad melody. the melody must be in accordance with the soul and the words of the lyric. the description firmly and clearly shows that liturgical music is not a tool or property of any interest group (westermeyer, 2015). church musicians and singers are called upon to help the church in the community create liturgies that are regal and lively. church musicians are called upon to understand music in the context of beauty, past culture, culture, skills, liturgical varieties, and pastoral concern. according to conomos (in martin, 1984), church music must be worthy of the sacred and respectful of written text so as to encourage prayer, not reduce or distract from it. in fact, many people are often confused about distinguishing liturgical music and pop music. as a result, trending spiritual pop songs are used in liturgical celebrations. spiritual pop music is music that is deliberately created for purposes outside of liturgical worship, for example in devotional activities. the songs do express spiritual feelings and create a spiritual atmosphere, but are not intended to be used in the liturgy. this means they do not have a clear position in worship (kl no. 112). the point is that the spiritual song, whether it is an opening song, preparation for offering or closing, is unclear and does not match. in addition, spiritual pop songs are not closely related to worship and do not properly express prayer. their lyrics are very individualistic because they do not come from holy books or liturgical literature, thus they do not foster the unity of people’s hearts and are not liturgical in nature. [ 13 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 with regard to the church’s musical instruments, the pipe organ is typical as a traditional musical instrument, whose sound is capable of enlivening the celebration of the church and elevating the hearts of people to god and to heaven” (kl no. 120). pipe organs must be upheld in the latin church, because they are traditional instruments. the sound of the pipe organ can add to the splendor of the church’s liturgy and powerfully elevate the human mind to god (sygulska, 2019). however, other musical instruments can be used in holy worship if they get the approval of the local authorized ecclesiastical authority. they must be in accordance with the spirit of the liturgy as well as be deemed helpful in strengthening the appreciation of the people in celebrating the liturgy (kl no. 120). liturgical music is music composed for the celebration of holy worship and in terms of form, has a certain sacred significance (ms no. 4). by means of sacred significance, it is intended to serve the purpose of liturgical music, which is to glorify god and sanctify the faithful (tls no.1; kl no.112), integrated with actions and rites in celebration or sacred worship (kl. no.112). there are three qualities of liturgical singing, namely holiness, true art, and universalism (tls no.2). holiness is intended to eliminate all worldly and profane things from the music itself (lyric and melody) in addition to the way music is performed by the artists. in line with true art, music must be beautiful to hear. whereas universalism means “god’s church is universal; it is no stranger to any nation” (maximum illud, no. 16) and can be accepted by the faithful (tls no. 2). as holy music, liturgical singing has the main principle of melody in accordance with the liturgical text. it is intended to add greater usability to the liturgical text. the sung liturgical text is more memorable than just being read or spoken because music carries an emotional impact that deepens the level of human consciousness (joncas and joncas, 2016). therefore, the function of liturgical singing is to create an atmosphere of grand celebration and express prayer more attractively (ms no.5; kl no.112). unity of heart is achieved in greater depth thanks to the combination of voices. the heart is more easily raised towards heavenly entities thanks to the beauty of sacred ceremonies. through this text, the faithful are more easily directed towards respect and a better intention to receive mercy from liturgical celebrations (tls no.1). the content of the liturgical songs express faith in the church or mystery that is celebrated, and the church’s response to the proclamation (praise/ gratitude/ prayer). basically, there are only two types of liturgical songs, namely gregorian and sacred polyphony. the previous section explained that gregorian is singing in unison, while the holy polyphonic is singing with a multitude of voices, usually called choral singing. the roman passion for [ 14 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 religious music has grown rapidly since the nineteenth century when the sacred choir was first founded by professor gavriil musicescu (1847-1903) (opriş, 2015). the provision of its use must be in harmony with the spirit of liturgical celebration (kl no.116), namely increasing the active participation of the faithful (kl no.30). the church recommends that gregorian chants be prioritized in liturgical celebrations, (kl no.116) since gregorian is typical singing for roman liturgies. in this light, it appears that the catholic church is very sincere in liturgical arrangement by making clear rules so that the nature, meaning, and sacredness of the liturgy is maintained. the use of music in liturgies is clear and clean. selecting and determining songs that are appropriate for use in the liturgy requires a process by a selection team consisting of people who understand the science of harmony, liturgy, scripture, and theology. the results of the song selection by the team are then submitted to the authorized officials to obtain nihil obstat or zero obstructions and imprimatur (official permission). nihil obstat is meant to ensure there is nothing contrary to the teachings of the church within the songs and the lyrics do not conflict with the teachings of the catholic faith. nihil obstat is given by a religious expert. imprimatur is intended for getting an official stamp by declaring the song is a valid liturgical song and may be distributed for use. imprimatur is given by the regional ordinary; a bishop or a vicar general for the diocesan level; or the chairperson of the conference or commission for a conference or on a national level. in the liturgical arrangements, the authority lies with the leadership of the church (kl no.22; khk kan.838). conclusion humans are cultural creatures that need music and liturgy to fulfill their human existential needs. music adheres to and permeates all dimensions of human life. music has existed since humans have known civilization. music is a gift from god that is used by humans as a means to communicate themselves with the creator in liturgical celebrations as well as expressing their depth of faith. the complexity of humanity cannot be expressed merely by verbal language. with music, humans are able to express their true personality and selves. humans are homo liturgicus, meaning they are entities that always yearn for an intense relationship with god as their origin and source of life. therefore, humans need liturgy as a celebration of faith, revealing that humans only exist and are meaningful in life when in a relationship with god and other humans. in this context, music plays a central role. liturgical music is able to connect the heavenly and earthly worlds. [ 15 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 the catholic church was born in a human culture so that humans are capable of understanding, appreciating and feeling religious experiences. therefore, when christianity became a universal religion, the expression of faith and its method of its liturgy need to be expressed in accordance with local culture. thus, religion can really permeate all human life. this awareness has inspired the catholic church since the second vatican council as it was given space to express faith in the liturgy with local culture. hence, gregorian latin singing typical of the roman liturgy changed and adapted according to the language and culture of the local people. the church realizes that giving space for the inclusion of local culture in the liturgy is not without the risk of practices and acts of using local cultural content that are not appropriate or compatible with the noble dignity of the catholic faith. the profane elements can easily permeate the heavenly liturgy. to prevent this, the church issued clear and comprehensive guidelines for local churches. in the indonesian context, all the rules set by the vatican catholic church need to be adequately disseminated so that the guidelines are well-understood by the people. people still have difficulty distinguishing between spiritual pop music and liturgical music, so it is not surprising that errors sometimes occur in the selection of music and singing in the liturgy. in this context, the establishment of lp3kn found its urgency. bibliography adimurti, j. t. (2005). inkulturasi musik gereja di batak toba dan simalungun. vi(3). adiprasetya, j. (2019). the liturgy of the in-between. 72(1): 82–97. agung, l. (2017). estetika (pengantar sejarah dan konsep). yogyakarta: kanisius. cockayne, j. (2018a). philosophy and liturgy part 1. liturgy and philosophy of action. (april): 1–9. ------. (2018b). philosophy and liturgy part 2. liturgy and epistemology. (april): 1–10. don, y. and bakok, b. (1993). musik liturgi inkulturatif di gereja ganjuran yogyakarta sejarah dan landasan konstitusional. (50). dumitrescu, t. (2011). stefano mengozzi, the renaissance reform of medieval music theory: guido of arezzo between myth and history. cambridge: cambridge university press, 2010. xviii + 286 pp. early music history 30: 270–79. http://www.journals.cambridge.org/ab[ 16 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 stract_s026112791100009x. hardawiryana, r. (trans.). (1993). konstitusi liturgi suci (kl), dokumen konsili vatikan ii [documents of the second ecumenical council of the vatican]. jakarta: yayasan obor. hauskeller, m. (2015). seni-apa itu? (posisi estetika dari platon sampai danto). yogyakarta: kanisius. kris sejati, w., & gazali, h. (2016). perception of catholic lessons among the eleventh grade muslim students at sma santa theresia jakarta. al-albab, 5(1), 123 140. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v5i1.356 kristi, k. (2018). sinetron leads to negotiation of identity: christian identity and the representation of religion in indonesian popular culture. al-albab, 7(2), 137-150. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v7i2.1024 joncas, j.m and joncas, j.m. (2016). ring out, ye crystal spheres. thoughts on music, revelation , and liturgy. 3001. kirakosian, r. (2017). musical heaven and heavenly music: at the crossroads of liturgical music. racha kirakosian. medieval spirituality. 1(1): 121–44. lebaka, m. (2015). the value of traditional african religious music into liturgy. lobethal congregation research literature. 1–6. lebzyak, v. (2018). perceiving the divine. alexander schmemann and the sacramental affordances of the liturgy. 7177(1): 1–26. liu, j. (2010). “introduction to the structural history of music.” international review of the aesthetics and sociology of music 41(1): 73–89. lowis, m j. (2011). “what is music?” p: 166–73. martin, d. a. (1984). music and religion: the aesthetic. religion 14(3): 269– 93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0048-721x(84)80044-5. martasudjita, e. (1999). pengantar liturgi (makna sejarah dan teologi liturgi). yogyakarta: kanisius. opriş, d. (2015). personal development of adults through religious music . motivations and chances. procedia social and behavioral sciences 180 (november 2014): 1192–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.02.242. pedoman umum misale romawi. (2002) (terjemahan komisi liturgi kwi [ 17 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 dari institutio generalis missalis romani). ende: nusa indah. poplawska, m. (2011). christianity and inculturated music in indonesia. 33: 186–99. prier, k. e. (2011). sejarah musik jilid 3. yogyakarta: kanisius. purwaharsanto (trans.) (1991). kitab hukum kanonik. jakarta: obor suárez, r., sendra, j.j, and alonso, a. (2013). acoustics , liturgy and architecture in the early christian church . from the domus ecclesiae to the basilica. 99: 292–301. sygulska, a. (2019). technical notes the study of the influence of the ceiling structure on acoustics in contemporary churches.” 44(1): 169–84. upadhyay, d. k. (2013). music preferences , music engagement and healing. 3(3): 9–13. westermeyer, p. (2015). the trinity and liturgy. music. 30(1): 42–49. internet: musicam sacram. 1967. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_instr_19670305_musicam-sacram_ en.html [ 18 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1542 [ 55 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religion and the local tradition of life cycle rituals in kampung naga, west java abdurrahman misno bambang prawiro al hidayah state college of islamic studies, bogor abstract west java is one of the provinces in indonesia which is culturally rich and diverse. the cultural wealth in tatar sunda (west java) is centered on several areas that serve as the  settlement of indigenous  communities, from the  eastern region of  ciamis,  to sukabumi.  each region  has  its own cultural  uniqueness. among the cultural heritage which is still  in existence and preserved  is kampung naga. it was a traditional village  that firmly preserves its ancestral  tradition (karuhun) passed down from generation to generation. one of the interesting features of the community of kampung naga is the life cycle ritual which they perform with no outside influence. this article will describe the life cycle ritual performed by the indigenous community of kampung naga. the ethnographic method approach  is used in this study, where the author was directly involved  in the process of performing the ritual. observations,  in-depth  interviews and participation in any activity were used to collect verifiable data. this research showed that the daur hidup (life cycle) ritual performed by the traditional community of kampung naga included the rituals for pregnant mother, child birth, circumcision, gusaran, marriage, and prayer to the dead. the ritual carried out by the community is derived from the old sundanese belief combined with islamic culture that came in later. keywords: life cycle ritual, kampung naga, traditional community, tatar sunda  introduction west java is one of the provinces in indonesia which is culturally rich and diverse. different tribes who populated this region have contributed to the unique culture as compared to other regions. the northern area of this province is inhabited by the tribal communities that originally came from demak which controlled the region of cirebon. in the following period, this region was occupied by descendants of the soldiers of the mataram kingdom in central java. in the region, the culture that thrives is javanese culture mixed with others. the southern part of the region is where the indigenous tribes of west java, the sundanese live. they are scattered in various areas with their own characteristics. however, they are bound in the bond of sundanese ancestral [ 56 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 culture. sundanese culture developed to adapt the civilization of society, so to date it has slight differences in each region. sundanese culture in ciamis for example is different from that in tasikmalaya, garut, bandung, cianjur, sukabumi or bogor. the cultural centers are still well-preserved, particularly by people who live in traditional villages. one of the traditional villages in west java is kampung naga which has its own uniqueness when compared to the other regions. this is due to minimal influence of outside cultures, so its culture is unmixed when compared to other regions. kampung naga is one of the traditional villages where its people still preserve their ancestral traditions. they live without electricity, not using modern agricultural equipments and rejecting any form of foreign intervention which does not conform with the values of their culture. they also reject the use of lpg and prefer to cook with firewood. their culture also prohibits the art that is unsuitable with their traditions. for example, they disallow dangdut music, western music, organ, puppet show, martial arts and all things foreign to their ancestors’ common practice. as a traditional community, they have a culture and rituals held in each week, month and year. in the field of agriculture, they have a lot of rituals beginning with rice planting until harvest time. likewise, they have a life cycle ritual performed for various occasions such as pregnancy, child birth, aqiqa, circumcision, marriage and death. all are performed without any interference from cultures outside of their own. they believe that by carrying out these rituals, they have fulfilled the will of their ancestors, and this is a form of respect for them. this paper aims to discuss the life cycle ritual performed by the community of kampung naga. this location was chosen since the community has not been affected by the beliefs and cultures outside of their own. in addition, they are also an indigenous community that continues to exist to date and is able to survive in the middle of the cultural changes in west java in particular and in indonesian society in general. by reviewing their life cycle ritual, we hope to learn about the local wisdom of the indonesian people that may serve as a lesson for all of us. the traditional village of kampung naga kampung naga administratively is located in the area of rt 01 rw 01 neglasari village, salawu sub-district, tasikmalaya regency, west java province. the total area is 10 hectares consisting of a protected forest area of 3.5 hectares, land for settlement of more or less 1.5 hectares and for gardens [ 57 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 and agriculture around 5 hectares. the position of the village, based on the gps, lies on 7o21’30” s dan 107o59’30” e. when viewed using google earth, it lies on 7021’37.02”s 107059”33.03“t. the geographical conditions of its territory are made up of valleys surrounded by hills, and the land surface in the western part is higher than that in the east. the sundanese people call the condition of the land surface with the term taneuh bahe ngetan (condition of the land surface that has more contours sloping eastward as a result of land excavation directed eastward). based on their belief, an area that has a slope is an ideal place, both for residential and agricultural land. rationally, the belief makes sense because the area that has a slope of the land to the east will receive more morning sunlight. therefore, people living there will be healthier due to the ultraviolet light in the morning. kampung naga has the boundaries as follows: to the east is the ciwulan river and the opposite of it is elongated hills, called bukit naga (dragon hill). to the south of the village are rice fields and the entrance to the village. to the west are the hills among which the makam karamat (sacred tomb) is located, while to the north are the rice fields on the edge of the ciwulan river. kampung naga is one of the villages located in the village of neglasari, salawu sub-district, tasikmalaya regency, west java province. neglasari is situated at an altitude of roughly 584 m above sea level. the distance from neglasari to the center of the sub-district is approximately 5 km, while the distance to the sub-district capital is around17 km, and it takes about 15 minutes to get to the sub-district capital using public transport while to get to the district capital is around 1 hour using public transport. the map of salawu sub-district, tasikmalaya regency, west java province shows the position of kampung naga. neglasari is located on the provincial road that connects tasikmalaya and garut districts, and is one of the villages belonging to the territory of salawu subdistrict, tasikmalaya regency. astronomically, the coordinate of the area is 48 m 0830263 and utm 9185211. the borders of neglasari are as follows: to the north: nangtang village, cigalontang sub-district, to the east: karangmukti village, to the south: sundawenang village and to the west: tanjungsari village. neglasari, now 102 years old, was originally named pasir angin, then renamed as neglasari. the name is a combination of two areas, namely negla village on the west and bantarsari village on the east. the person who united the two villages was eyang arbasan, a bantarsari kuwu (village head). kampung naga is part of naga village, which is one of the four hamlets of the area neglasari. each village is headed by a village chief, who oversees several rw (wards) and rt (neighborhood associations). kampung naga head is suharyo. while the [ 58 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 rt chairman is uron, and the rw chairman, munir. all government officials are housed in kampung naga as a center kadusunan. figure 1. neglasari village map u = batas kecamatan = batas desa = batas dusun (rw) = jalan desa = jalan desa tanah = jalan lingkungan = sungai besar = sungai kecil / saluran air / irigasi = pusat pemerintahan desa = mesjid / mushola = jembatan = sd / smp = mda = paud-kober / ra = lapang volley / sepak bola = pekuburan umum legenda peta mda sd/mi paud/ra = sawah = ikan / kolam = kebun = bambu = pohon/hutan = batu = mata air potensi = sejahtera = rtm = rtsm kategori rumah tanggamasalah = saluran irigasi sering rusak ( perlu normalisasi ) = sarana air bersih belum memadai = bangunan posyandu belum ada = jalan desa rusak = jalan desa masih tanah = jalan lingkungan masih tanah = pertanian ( sawah / kebun / kayu )kurang produktif ( hama, pupuk mahal ) = tanah rawan longsor, perlu tpt a b c d e f g h sal. batu wulung o.w. kp. naga sal. cim ala ti sal. pembuangan sal. garunggang sal. c ilangkob sa l. l eu wi ge de sal. g aru ng ga ng sal. cilutung irigasi biuk legok dage lengkong negla cijeleran sukaratu neundeut rancak ps. menteng cikeusik sindanglengo bantarsari penclut tanjaknangsi panugaran lgk. kicau cinuralin babakan pawitan s. ciwulan s. cimawate w il . d e s a k a r a n g m u k ti wil. desa sundawenang wil. desa tanjungkarang kec. cigalontang ra /paud pkbm al adnan lengkong pesantren sd balai desa pesantren toko toko toko pabrik pabrik pabrik bunisari sd penggergajian pabrik tahun 2011 desa neglasari kecamatan salawu kabupaten tasikmalaya peta sosial desa mengetahui : kepala desa neglasari sobirin diperiksa / disetujui : lpm desa mumu mudin dibuat : kader desa e. kurniawan dibuat : 01 januari 2011 skala : 1 : 9.000 w il . d e s a t a n ju n g s a r i sd/mi kk orang kk orang tanjaknangsi 150 507 cikeusik 124 417 11 30 sukaratu 231 725 naga 158 487 663 2.136 11 30 rtm rtsm dusun pabrik k dsn. tanjaknangsi dsn. cikeusik dsn. sukaratu dsn. naga pabrik toko pabrik g g g a a b b b b b c c c cd d f f f f f f f f g g g g g g g g ha ha ha wil. desa sundawenang = penggergajian kayu / hueler = objek wisata kp. naga = pesantren = perkantoran = garasi = usaha persemaian bibit kayu = ojek pesantren pabrik k g mda mda cipulus ( tanah desa ) g p pabrik pabrik pabrik radio pabrik sd pabrik r m mda source: neglasari village document, salawu subdistrict, tasikmalaya regency neglasari has an area of ± 326 hectares, with the use of land for rice fields, ponds, yards and people’s forest. in 2012 the population was 5,384 with the number of men and women as many as 2,355 and 3,029 respectively. the number of families were 1,595 households. this village had a relatively rapid population growth where the number of births reached 78, and only 35 people died, 8 moved out, and 7 people moved in. based on these data, the current total population in neglasari is 5,246, with men and women numbering 2,249 and 2,997 respectively. the number of people living in naga village is 1,829 with men and women 1,005 and 824 respectively. kampung naga, as one of the parts of the current hamlet according to mr. uron, chairman of rt 01 rw 01, has a population of 315 with 108 households. however, this research found that the number of households in kampung naga was 100 with four families still living in one house. the overall number of people in accordance with the tally was 305. the difference in data could be due to the increase and reduction of the kampung naga [ 59 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 population that continues to occur. for example, not long ago the lebe of kampung naga, mr ateng jaelani died, whereas not long after that a baby named rindi was born. the baby was the grand child of mr. uron chairman of rt kampung naga. the research location was kampung naga which is administratively part of the territory of neglasari village. although the population is only 305, they are unique indigenous communities compared to the surrounding population. this village becomes the center of the implementation of the customs of sanaga community living in the surrounding region. the sanaga community is not the object of study. they are only a comparison and data sources if the information cannot be obtained from members of the community who live in kampung naga. the unity of the people of sanaga descent who live inside and outside kampung naga serve as the source for the customs there. the sanaga community lives in the surrounding area of kampung naga, especially in the village of nangtang, nangkabongkok, jahiang, bongas, and other areas of neglasari. in addition, they are also live in several cities such as tasikmalaya, garut, bandung, bogor and jakarta. during the time of the performance of the hajat sasih ritual, they will return to kampung naga to join other sanaga residents. another term for sanaga community is seuwe putu naga (descendants of kampung naga). religious teachings embedded in the life cycle ritual the rituals and celebrations held at kampung naga related to the life cycle range from pregnancy, birth, gusaran, circumcision, marriage and death. as a community that has a tradition passed down through generations, they do it attentively and enthusiastically. local religious values have also been combined into the rituals as part of the life cycle. unlike in other places, in kampung naga, the ritual of life cycle rarely is hardly exposed so it is not widely known by the general public. the selamatan of pregnant women is held in the seventh month of pregnancy. this ritual serves as an expression of gratitude and prayer that the unborn child until birth. in this ritual, people recite verses of the qur’an especially sura yusuf and maryam hoping that children born later will be as handsome as joseph or and as beautiful as maryam. the recitation of the qur’an is usually done by seven people invited specifically because of their fluency. before the recitation starts, first, mr. danu as a theologian, performs tawasulan and prayer for the good of the baby. then, seven different people who attend will recite the qur’an with their respective division of verses. the suras commonly [ 60 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 recited are sura yusuf, maryam, al-kahf, al-mulk, and yasin. it normally takes approximately one hour to read the entire sura in the quran. then, mr. danu delivers prayer to close this ritual, and a meal (ngariung) is served as a closure. in this ritual, the family of the baby provides a variety of ritual properties that have been prescribed by indung beurang. these properties will be used by the baby’s mother, such as water, flowers, needles, thread and other equipment that will be placed on a nyiru. the nyiru will then be placed in the middle of the people reciting the qur’an until completion of the event. the water that has been recited upon with the quran verses will then be used for bathing so that the baby in the womb will survive and get blessing. childbirth is highly expected by the community of kampung naga so the process is welcome with joy. welcoming the birth of a baby is done by selamatan (prayer ritual) as a form of thanksgiving to allah who has bestowed a child to a family. the selamatan is done by inviting the neighbors to pray for the baby, giving a name to the baby and finally ended with eating meals together. currently in kampung naga, the birth process is performed by midwives assisted by village traditional midwife (paraji). the circumcision ritual is a process in the life cycle for kampung naga community that must be performed as part of islamic requirement for a man. circumcision in kampung naga is called sepitan or ngislamkeun. it is called sepitan because in the past, the process required pinning a man’s genital organ before cutting the outer skin portion. meanwhile, it is called ngislamkeun because it is a process that complements for a man’s the islamic faith. a circumcised man will be spared from any form of dirt so that when he performs prayer, it will be legitimate and perfect. in this village the circumcision ritual is performed in conjunction with gusaran which is circumcision for girls. the tradition of circumcision is usually held in the month of rayagung (dzulhijjah in islamic calendar), but the author also witnessed it was implemented in hapit (dzulqaidah). to the community of kampung naga, rayagung is believed a good month to carry out rituals. they believe that a boy who would be circumcised must be accompanied by a girl, because the girl is a shadow of the boy, so circumcision is always accompanied by gusaran for girls. the tradition of circumcision in kampung naga is usually jointly performed in order to make it more celebratory. the stages for sepitan (circumcision) and gusaran ceremony in kampung naga will be described here. [ 61 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 a) bebersih similar to the participants in the hajat sasih ritual, those taking part in gusaran and circumcision ceremony are required to perform bebersih or bath ritual. the bebersih ritual is performed on the ciwulan river. the participants are children who will be circumcised accompanied by his mother and father. together with them are also girls who perform the gusaran and their parents. the bebersih ritual begins with the reading of prayers by a kuncen or other people such as indung beurang. when prayer is done, the head of participants taking part in circumcision and gusaran will be rubbed with water mixed with the leuleur liquid (liquid soap substitute), then immediately followed by each parent bathing their children before circumcision. some parents of participants taking part in circumcision also take a bath, and some just wash their head with herb and rinse it with water from the ciwulan river. after the ritual is done, the participants then return to their respective homes and change their children’s clothes (usually with taqwa clothing), then walk to the mosque. when the ritual starts, the kuncen will sit near the pulpit delivering a speech, followed by greeting each child in the ceremony. the kuncen will also greet the parents one by one while giving advice and quick prayer. before starting the circumcision and gusaran ceremony, the kuncen, lebe and village elders will recite prayers. the first ritual concludes with a meal eaten together. each of these parents and their children get a piece of dish placed on a rigen (a palate made of leaves). b) parade around the village after completing the first ritual, the next stage is to take the participants of gusaran and circumcision to parade around the village. this event begins when traditional leaders and elders kampung naga walked hand in hand out of the mosque. they are followed by the parents of participants of circumcision and gusaran ceremony by carrying their children on the shoulders. meanwhile in front of the mosque, several other residents begin to play typical instruments of kampung naga community, consisting of angklung and terebang sejak. the kuncen and the elders on the front row walk slowly, accompanied by the patunggon carrying offerings with them. c) ngala beas ngala beas literally means “taking rice”. the ceremony is held after the entire group return to their own place. in the middle of the field, the kuncen and people accompanying him will be greeted by five middle-aged women who [ 62 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 have waited there. they pound the alu (pestle) into the lisung (a place for grinding rice), to indicate that the ngala beas ceremony is ready to start. the properties of ceremony consist of eight pieces of shroud, three pieces of fabric worn by women called samping kebat, three pieces of headbands or iket and tamaya (panganggo). inside the boboko carried by the patunggon is white rice or beas bodas and sticky rice. later, after the rice is boiled, it is distributed to the children that will be circumcised. facing the lisung, the kuncen then recites prayers in the presence of kampung naga community elders and other participants. d) the peak of the ceremony and scrambling for sawer the height of the gusaran ceremony on the first day concludes with a return to the front side of the mosque. each child while being held by his/her mother is called on to approach a paraji. a paraji is a traditional midwife or traditional circumcision “paramedic” in kampung naga, usually female. the paraji then washes her left hand into the rice water mixed herb leaves jawer kotok, panglai, onions, tektek or betel leaves, and chicken eggs are stored inside a black plastic bucket. water is then washed on the forehead of the participants of gusaran. next, the paraji shaves fine hairs on the forehead of the participants using a dagger. the event is accompanied by bela ceremony. outside, on the yard of the mosque, several men are holding chickens and slaughtered them and shouted “belaaaaa!” children whose forehead has been cleared of fine hairs will then be decorated by the paraji’s maid while asking them to bite the coins made in the dutch period. children who have completed the procession then march around the village, following lekasan ceremony. before returning home, the last event held on the first day is a ritual of sawer. this event is accompanied by verses of songs containing advice about life. occasionally, after one verse is sung, rice --mixed with turmeric slices candy and coins-is thrown to the crowd, and the crowd will be is busy fighting over candy and coins thrown at them. e) wawarian the actual implementation of circumcision is performed on the following morning. a special knife is used in circumcision for boys, while for the girls, needles are used. after the whole procession is completed, the ceremony is closed with a wawarian. trash and leftovers of the activities such as household waste will be collected at the shelter and then burned. this is what wawarian is all about; they are trying to maintain a healthy environment. [ 63 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the implementation of circumcision and gusaran ritual in the sanaga community is almost similar. the bebersih activity is carried out in the public bath, while the whole series of ritual is centered an the place of the participant. the difference is that outside the village people normally hire some musicians or gamelan as entertainment for the invited guests. the wedding celebration is performed by the community of kampung naga with full reverence. as a sacred event, the wedding day should be carefully chosen in accordance with the heritage of the ancestors. wedding cannot be held in certain months and on the ill-fated days. for example it cannot be held in the months of muharram, sapar and mulud or on the day of birth, or on the day one’s parents died. wedding traditions in kampung naga begins with a proposal by the man, followed by choosing the wedding day (musytari). the procession begins with the ritual of ngeuyek seureh at night before the nuptials. the ceremony is held at the mosque by inviting the officials of religious affairs office of salawu. then, the newlyweds return home and perform the customs of sawer, sungkeman, ngampar and munjungan. the complete research on marriage can be found in the social system of kampung naga. death is inevitable for all beings, and the community of kampung naga believes that it is a natural way to eternity. so when someone dies, soon he will be laid in the funeral home facing north or south. near the head of the dead body, people usually place an oil lamp, incense burned on the parupuyan, and the qur’an. the neighbors and friends attend yasin recitation to provide a bright path for the deceased. women come with rice as a donation to the deceased family. because many guests usually come, neighbors help with cooking for the guests and the people who take care of the dead body. the prayer held for the dead body is in kampung naga is similar to that in other places. in the past, only a few (2 or 3) people led the prayer, not because of the small number of population at the time but it was due to the requirement that only very religious people could perform the prayer. before the prayer starts, first incense is burnt near the head of the deceased. the imam leads the prayer by standing on a piece of golden banana leaf. the use of banana leaf is a form of carefulness in maintaining the sacredness. the use of the banana leaf freshly picked ensures purity so it is expected that the prayer will be valid and accepted by god. golden banana symbolizes the nature of the shiny yellow gold, so it will be able to light the way for the deceased in the hereafter. each person taking part in the prayer is given an envelope containing idr ,5000 (five thousand rupiahs). if the family of the deceased is rich, they will [ 64 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 give shalawat to all the villagers, especially children. in addition they will also slaughter a goat and distribute janteke which is donation from deceased relatives in the form of rice and meat. giving shalawat is actually dependent on the economic condition of the deceased family, but there is a belief that the dead man needs a reward, so shalawat in the form of charity money or rice and meat should be distributed. the kampung naga community also believes that a person who dies is mulih ka jati mulang ka asal or returning to nature where the human spirit was once located. in order for the return journey of the deceased easy and well-lit, people hold certain rituals to accompany the journey. elsewhere, tahlilan is held on the 3rd, 7th, 21st, 40th, 100th up to 1000th day and every year and every eighth year. in kampung naga, after a person dies, the family will invite a few neighbors who are fluent in reciting the qur’an. it is held on the 3rd, 7th, 21st and 40th day after death. the ritual of the qur’an recitation is performed by gathering at the home of the late by first reciting certain prayer led by the lebe or his representative. after that each person recites the qur’an with the amount of recitation depending on the number of people present. for example, if there are 10 people, then 30 chapters will be divided into ten and completed around 3 nights. after completion of the qur’an recitation, it is followed by eating meals and the family of the deceased will give out some money as shadaqah of which the reward is expected to be given to the deceased. the recitation of the qur’an (30 chapters in all) will be repeated on 7th and 40th day. after that there is no more ritual. however, the observations conducted by the author showed that the sanaga residents in nangtang and nangka bongkok village held the recitation on the 100th day and one year after a member of a rich family dies. in fact, it could be held when the death period has reached the eighth year. in this ritual, especially on the 40th day, and if the family is rich, they will slaughter goats and distribute to nearby neighbors, especially those who participate in the recitation of the qur’an in the evening. slaughtering the goat for the people who have died is called nyusulan i.e. a supplementary shadaqah for the deceased to get the reward. interview with a resident of kampung naga, kang iin sholihin, who often participated in the tahlilan revealed that recitation of the qur’an is performed several times after a person’s death; 1) poena, the day after death, 2) tiluna, the third day after death, 3) tujuhna, the seventh day after death, 4) opat puluh, the fortieth day after death, 5) natus, the one-hundredth day after death and 6) newu, the one-thousandth day after the death. based on the information [ 65 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 collected, the community of kampung naga also held recitation of the qur’an after death. if the family can afford it, it is advisable to slaughter a goat as ikah for the deceased. the annual celebration is also held if the family can afford it. the people in kampung naga today are not allowed to build a wall on the grave or a tombstone on top of the cemetery (tetenger). this practice has been around since the times of their ancestors. a tomb in this village is a stone placed at the head and feet or a piece of wood carved with the person’s name (called satangtung stone). the funeral is adjusted to the descendants or families of deceased. with regard to the grave visit, the kampung naga community has a tradition of visiting the astana gede or great cemetery together which is located on west of the village. it takes place every muharram, especially on friday. the whole community of kampung naga both men and women visit the tomb of their respective families. they clean up the location of the cemetery, but first a prayer is performed by the kuncen. the grave visit for them is one of the forms of worship to pray for the dead, and at the same time, to remind them of death. one of the characteristics of this community is that that their grave is not cemented or bricked. it is considered taboo because it was never done by their ancestors. no wonder the cemeteries in this area are not cemented or have tombstone placed on it. conclusion several conclusions can be drawn from discussion of the life cycle ritual in kampung naga above. first, they carry out the ritual a form of adherence to traditions inherited from their ancestors. the ritual is performed with full reverence, and they believe that when they do it, they have respected their ancestors. the life cycle ritual in this village is unique compared to other regions. this is due to the fact that there is no change in the procedures for its implementation. they do not dare to add new things that were not included previously. in addition they are also unwilling to accept things outside their culture especially those incompatible with the system of their culture. basically, the life cycle ritual performed by the community of kampung naga is almost the same as other the tradition of sundanese communities particularly the ritual to keep the fetus in the womb will be born in good health. the rituals of akika and naming giving are an expression of thanksgiving because of the long-awaited child born safely. meanwhile, the rituals of circumcision and wedding are performed as a form of joyfulness. whereas, the death ritual is the prayer of those who are left behind for people who have died to get a ‘bright path’ and happiness in the hereafter. 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[ 159 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 adat, islam, and the idea of religion in colonial indonesia mufdil tuhri universitas gadjah mada yogyakarta email: mufdiltuhri@gmail.com samsul maarif universitas gadjah mada yogyakarta email: samsul.maarif75@ugm.ac.id rikardo simarmata universitas gadjah mada yogyakarta email: rikardosim@gmail.com abstract based on some early anthropological accounts, people understand adat as any traditional practice: including visiting graves and forest, belief in supernatural powers, and other rituals and ceremonies. practically speaking, people have not differentiated between the term adat and the encompassing traditions, customs, laws, and others. however, the discourse of religion has influenced the comprehensiveness of the idea of adat. this paper describes the construction of adat through the colonial period, a time dominantly influenced by the discourse of religion. i argue that the colonial construction of adat has strongly impacted religion in indonesia. adat which became a contested term and used by the rulers has declined the religious dimension of adat. the construction of adat and the disposition of adat from religion was influenced by various factors including colonial policies. this paper identified three dominant discourse of adat as political construction in colonial indonesia: firstly, adat as animism was considered as the practices which are not religious, uncivilized and primitive; secondly, the mainstream of adat law has concerned on the secular aspect of adat while neglected the religious dimension of adat; thirdly, the construction of adat as not religion subsequently strengthened the islamic identity and stressed the adat as opposed to islam. key words: colonialism, adat, religion, islam. introduction various research has been done on adat and religion, however many of these studies have accepted the concept of adat and religion without criticism. these studies generally distinguish between adat, religion, culture, and tradition (prasojo, 2013), even though there is no such thing in adat and religion as a [ 160 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 lively practice (bowen, 2003). in the minangkabau community, people do not distinguish between practices referred to as adat and religion. for instance, the modern day practice of adat and islam in minangkabau shows that they do not even distinguish between the two. how the minangkabau traditional practice perceive their adat includes law, morality, customs, etiquette, ceremonies, dress, art, songs, and dances as well as pre-islamic hindu-buddhist and animistic beliefs (benda-beckmann & benda-beckmann, 2013). despite a large number of both historical and anthropological works on the discourse of adat and religion in indonesia, a number of questions remain concerning indonesian indigenous-state relations. this paper intends to problematize the idea of islam as religion through historical construction of adat in indonesia. this paper focuses on efforts to trace the idea of adat in the colonial political construction that has invalidated the religious dimension of adat. to look at the colonial construction of adat and its impact on religion, i will use the genealogy theory of religion, which has been reified through history. tthe word “religion” is rooted in western essentialism towards the idea of monotheistic tradition. smith mentions that religion was reified in modern history in the christian tradition in the west in the 17th century. historically, what was initially called religious (religio) in the first century has been disqualified since the term religion was taken over by christianity (smith, 1962). the reification process occurred because of the dominant power in the church that separates the tradition of a perverted christian community without it being considered heretical. consequently, whoever practices beyond this limitation will be labeled as a pagan, an infidel, a heathen and so forth. based on this concept, the world religion paradigm sees religion as a practice which requires the hierarchical relation between god, humans, and nature. in addition, religion is rooted in the concepts of “belief ” which become the dominant ideology and simultaneous suppression of traditional cosmology (asad, 1993). in addition, he conceptualizes religion as a constructive term derived from colonial europe in order to complement the ideological and political agenda where capitalism could thrive. the product of the discourse of religion is the essentialization of the world religion paradigm. in the context of indonesia, the idea of religion as historical construction can be analyzed through the construction of islam as religion. based on this theory, i would like to find the historical contingencies of adat, where adat developed as a conceptual system. adat is neither a descriptive nor an analytical term, but a prescriptive and normative one. adat is a point of contention between different sets of actors. adat just like other folk categories (religion, din, mana, tao, dharma, agama) should not be taken as a conceptual tool, but ought to be [ 161 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 the object of analysis instead (benda-beckmann & benda-beckmann, 2013). this paper is based on the concept of religion as a way of relating: how human beings relate to their fellow humans including the living and the dead, and other beings: animals, plants, forests, mountains, rivers, and invisible beings such as gods and spirits. i argue that religion is from the perspective of indigenous religion paradigm (maarif, 2012). religion includes many aspects of everyday life. as an everyday practice, religion in which people relate to “others” encompasses elements of everyday life including politics, economics, agriculture, rituals, and more (maarif, 2012; pati & ma’arif, 2016). based on this understanding, i argue adat as religion encompasses the cosmological characteristics of indigenous religious practice, which also has an intimate connection between land, sacred places, their knowledge, and also the rituals they continue practicing. furthermore, from the perspective of indigenous religion, understanding adat can be also considered as religion which encompasses whole aspects of practice, habit, and tradition that are consciously practiced in society. adat as “traditional” practice we do not know when indonesian people started using the word adat in the sense of “traditional practice” or when they actually chose to label their own traditional practice as adat. it seems that adat developed along with the beginning of the influence of islam in the archipelago. as a daily practice, adat has been predominantly known by muslim societies (crawfurd, 1820; marsden, 1811; pires, 1944; raffles, 1830). it is worthily considered that the sources that explain this traditional practice have been noted by western scholars during the colonial period. here, i use ethnographic examples from sulawesi to show where the supernatural/natural distinction misled europeans trying to understand and portray a pre-colonial indonesian cosmology. aragon’s account of pre-colonial traditional practice of the people in tobaku highlanders is an apt example. as he writes: “before dutch colonial intervention in the early 1900s, the social world of tobaku highlanders in central sulawesi included recently deceased relatives (kiu), deified ancestors (anitu), spirit ‘owners’ (pue’) of resources such as land, and dangerous beings in the forest (seta) who were best avoided or appeased with offerings. these beings, however, were not usually mysterious to sulawesi people. villagers could explain their basic habits, specify the human transgressions that elicited retribution, and note empirical signs (sounds, sightings) of their perceived existence. when misfortunes occurred, people usually had a good idea what was amiss, [ 162 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 and who had erred. if there was any doubt, a religious specialist (tobalia) was asked to intercede and determine the causes and solutions. in short, while dead relatives and ‘owners’ of the land were recognised as different in their abilities from living villagers, they were not seen as transcendent (one western connotation of ‘supernatural’) but, rather, immanent and interactive in a seamless cosmos. in the pre-christian tobaku cosmology, many powerful entities are understood the way we understand the moon’s periodic invisibility. even though the moon often cannot be seen by day, we still know it is there. additionally, beings that appear differently to tobaku people under different circumstances are analogous to our understandings of chameleons, or caterpillars and butterflies, which appear variously according to environment or during different life stages. for example, angry ancestors in central sulawesi can appear as rats and consume an entire crop planted by their descendants who transgress ancestral rules of behavior. the transformation of living relatives into ancestor spirits into rats is never portrayed as miraculous or ‘not natural’; rather, these transformations are the way of the universe. in short, the natural vs. supernatural distinction corresponds to no indigenous categories in the tobaku area or, probably, in the entire indonesian region (aragon, 2003: 133). regarding some of the practices described, it shows that in the past, people had their own practices and traditions. however, various traditions and beliefs as a fixed category referred to as religion, culture, tradition and customs in the archipelago. the traditional practices of the people covering all elements recognized as a daily activity by the community. as stated by tylor in primitive culture, all of the human activity or traditional practice of the ancient people considered as culture includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (tylor, 1871:1). it would appear that it has been a long time, the people of the archipelago have practiced their traditional practices. sometimes, the people had no reference to each category in terms of definitions, perspectives, and as a normative concept until the coming of the western conception long after the period of pre-colonial. adat included any practices of indonesian society in the precolonial period encompassing tradition, custom, and practices developed at that time. people called those as adat as well as they called it as tradition, religion, customs, and so forth. in this sense, i argue that such practices of pre-colonial tradition are called traditional practice. however, it does not mean refer to old practice but used as the strategic essentialism to identify the people’s practices at that time. [ 163 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 adat and animism in the early 1800s, the dutch held control of almost the entire archipelago. in the beginning, the discourse on adat related to the enactment of customary law applied to the indonesian people. contextually, such customary law was not contrary to public or social interests (soekanto and soekanto, 1981; sudiyat, 1985; wiranata, 2005). between 1830 and 1870, it was known as forcing cultivation (cultural stelseel). this policy was in the hands of governor van den bosch who was authorized by king williem. the dutch colonial and economic policies gained momentum in weakening village communalism in indonesia and stifling traditional power. after forty years of colonial occupation in indonesia, people’s lives were significantly impacted, specifically with the decline in social life as a result of economic stagnation, crop failure, livestock disease, and starvation (gouda, 1995; kodoth, 2002). as a criticism of previous policy, the dutch government began to formulate a policy that was oriented towards the private interests of colonists. it was issued as the liberal policy of 1870. this policy can be considered as a more moderate policy and began to shine attention on the interests of the colonies. this momentum initiated interest from many dutch people into local people’s lives. they began to require research regarding laws and traditions of the people. on the basis of this interest, the strengthening of colonial attention to its colonies led to the dutch concern in regulating the laws regarding land. the laws that were quite influential at this time were related to the rules regarding agrarian law. in 1870, it was known that this liberal period gave the capitalists entry into space in the economic heart of rural farmers (benda, 1958a). an important moment began with the birth of the dutch agrarian law in 1870. this law adhered to the principle of the domain verklaring, confirming state ownership of customary land (rachman, 2011). the agrarian law of 1870 declared that all land that could not be proven to be individual private ownership, based on western colonial law, was to be considered a domain of the state, called “state land.” based on this law, various concessionary rights for plantation/estates were given to foreign corporations for operation on lands claimed as stateowned property. various tendencies gave space to the dutch to begin intervening in the social life of the community. entering the 19th century, the deepening of colonial penetration started the first religious mission in the dutch east indies. the spread of liberal colonialism in the 19th century prompted the government to deeply introduce more information about the netherlands culturally and politically. in 1870, new administrators came to power influenced by socialism and idealism, along with [ 164 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 the reorientation of religious-based political parties. in 1888, the position of the old conservatives was replaced by the power of an alliance between the antirevolutionaries, the calvinists, and the romans who were narrower than their old allies, the liberal party, who later formed a new christian party as the right wing to confront the left-wing secularist group (furnivall, 1944). this period was later known as the period of dutch ethical policy. in the early 20th century, ethical policy was promoted by right-wing politicians in the netherlands. ethical policy was marked by the victory of the right wing of liberalism in the central government of the dutch east indies. the christian party gained power. around this time, various policies became colored with a spirit of love or religious zeal. the indies government also began to position itself as a defender of moral responsibility (furnivall, 1944). with the spirit of moral responsibility, queen wilhelmina conveyed the dutch debt and ethical responsibility to the people of the indies in her annual message. this ethical policy was then realized in three policies, namely educatia (education), irrigaties (irrigation) and emigratie (migration) (niel, 1960). the ethical policy highlighted the need to make native welfare the main concern. the importance of adat in the dutch colonial political discourse began to strengthen from the beginning of this ethical policy. various patterns of dutch politics encouraged the dynamics of the construction of adat in this colonial period. this ethical policy was closely related to the interests of the dutch to control their colonies. francis gouda has linked ethical policy with the emergence of social liberalism along with the social policies which were won by social liberalism in the netherlands (gouda and zaalberg, 2002). gouda discovered an ethical policy as an initial mission to promote culture in the days of the colonial government. at this time, culture became more prominent as a policy field (gouda, 1995). beside the cultural policy, religion as a part of people practice also became a more dominant concern. several indigenous research projects were initiated at this time. the research on adat equips the colonial state with categories and own knowledge that was used in running the government (jones, 2013). at this time, adat was defined in the encyclopaedia of the dutch east indies as a habit and practice that guides every aspect of indigenous life: social relations, agriculture, care, sick people, judicial arrangements, ancestral worship, burial of dead people, popular games and entertainment, etc.” at a glance, this concern for colonized people shows that the ethical policy was involved in many aspects. this ethical policy gave rise to the idea of defining adat as part of a cultural project. however, the far-reaching impact of this ethical policy also involved other [ 165 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 aspects, especially initiation to manage with a more civilized approach. the backdrop of this transformation was the ethical policy initiated by the dutch government and carrying the banner for the improvement of native people’s welfare, the promotion of christian missions, decentralization, and the expansion rule over islands outside java (outer possessions) (risa, 2014). at that time, dutch colonial administrators nurtured optimism by eliminating the pernicious influence of islam by spreading christianity instead. obviously, the dutch government looked upon the presence of missions in the indies with complication. on one hand, european mission societies were permitted to proselytize non-muslim populations as a means to curb the advance of islamization. on the other hand, christian proselytization remained forbidden in muslim areas, for fear of arousing anti-colonial sentiments. the inclusion of this religious mission brought new hegemony in the religious tradition that developed from colonial rule in the netherlands at this time. religion, as a whole, brought by these missionaries became problematic. new categories began to differentiate the status of the people based on their beliefs and traditions. here, a missionary and an anthropologist, albert c. kruyt has contributed to spread the idea of animism. through his studies on local people in sulawesi, kruyt replaced the pejorative term alfuru, previously used to describe the non-christian, non-islamic islanders of the eastern half of the dutch east indies. kruyt identified the religion of the highlanders as animism and produced a number of theoretical works that placed it within a wider evolutionary framework. kruyt differentiated the islamic coastal peoples from highlanders on the basis of their religion even though they both shared many of the same animistic beliefs. kruyt’s definition of animistic religion necessarily placed christianity and islam as its standard ideal of what so called as religion (kruyt, 1906). kruyt’s position can be considered as an important momentum in influencing the colonial administrator on understanding of traditional practices of people. through the idea of animism, kruyt understands religion as a set of rules originating from the idea of the existence of god. kruyt’s original contribution to the debate was made in a lengthy comparative study called animism in indischen archipel (1906), published just after the military incorporation of central sulawesi in the dutch east indies. it is combined with wilken’s two paradigms, linking the four stages of social evolution to a parallel religious evolution from pre-animism to animism to spiritism to christianity. kruyt defines elements of traditional religion as “animism”, namely belief in the soul. for animists, like the toraja people, kruyt proposed conversion to christianity as a form of progress. [ 166 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 this generalized view of animism with local beliefs was rapidly strengthening at this time. not only in torajam but also in other areas, animism was an increasingly popular term referring to practices that are commonly believed in some contexts of society. van dijck states: “animistic beliefs were still widespread and shamanism was generally practiced. also, buddhist and hindu notions, introduced from java, had not lost their attractiveness. observance of islamic rules and obligations was low, and, as we shall also observe elsewhere, those religious islamic officials who did function in minangkabau society had only a poor knowledge of islam” (dijck, 1984:9).” therefore, the domination of world religion introduced by kruyt at this time confirmed the position of adat which was increasingly separated from religion. in the dominant discourse, the practice of adat was no longer considered to have a religious dimension. discursively, in the context of the above policy, revitalization of adat was thus interpreted as an effort to modernize and christianize adat. some post-colonial perspectives place christian conversion in the colonial period as antithetical to the “real” religion of indigenous inhabitants. in this momentum, defining adat as secular was needed for missionaries to intervene and christianize adat. because of the emerging idea of animism which regards adat as primitive, tribal, and uncivilized, adat as identical with animism shows no element of religion. adat is regarded as an old tradition that was inherently integrated in society before islam. islam was always opposed to adat. it also impacted the product of some scholarly literatures which mention the traditional practice of muslim people. for instance, when adat was used as a new category, adat basically should be interpreted in other terms which are considered parallel such as abangan in java society. the term abangan, on the one hand, it was often categorized as a variant of islam (ricklefs, 2012). in java, according to ricklefs (2012), in the period of the 19th century, several dutch historical sources identified differences in the practice of society, including the practice of abangan and putihan. adat as not religion and discourse of adat law attention among the colonial people at this time was related to legal affairs and legislation which came to be known as adat law. in an effort to formulate adat law, colonial administrators faced initial polemics about the relationship between adat law and religion. the initiator of adat law in the early days accepted the categorization formulated by van den berg, known as his theory [ 167 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 of receptio in complexu. van den berg and others took an extreme position when they held, “it is generally accepted that the family and inheritance law of the population of java and madura who have accepted the islamic faith is governed by mohammedan law (syara’)” (berg, 1892). van der berg maintains the view of islamic law with deviations so that it was not “indonesian law with irregularities.” in this case, the concept of adat law is the same as religious law. the polemic context for adat law above shows initially, there was no clear consensus regarding the connection between adat and religious law. in the theory of reception in complexu, van den berg stated that adat law was the same as religious law. this meant asserting that adat and religion are not separate. adat law was part of the religious law itself. this polemic about adat law was characterized by problems in defining religion and adat that have not been completed. the theory of reception in complexu was opposed by van vollenhoven. according to him, from the beginning, people had distinguished between adat law and religious law. therefore religion and custom were separate. adat that were widespread were then drawn by the legal element. these legal elements are also distinguished from islamic law. therefore, vollenhoven often mistakenly views that adat and religion are the same (vollenhoven, 1918). vollenhoven believes that the adat in question was adat which has legal consequences. according to the historical account, vollenhoven basically continued the tradition of adat studies which had been initiated by snouck hurgronje in de atjehners (benda, 1958a). therefore, van vollenhoven called this adat law the term adatrecht (vollenhoven, 1918). the initiative carried out by van vollenhoven was caused by the difficulty to separate between adat and law. so as to make it easier to find adat law categories, an attempt was made to recognize adat with legal consequences and separate it from adat without legal reasons. van vollenhoven first initiated the term adat in 1901. adat as the science of adat law first began in the early 20th century and when the dutch government had an interest in carrying out ethical policy. van vollenhoven deserves to be appreciated for his efforts to maintain adat’s legacy. van vollenhoven’s efforts were commendable and the influence of ethical principles helped, for the adat proponents appeared to be more sympathetic to indonesian discourse of law, and more knowledgeable about local cultures, than those who favored unification (lev, 1985). however, van vollenhoven reduced the comprehensive aspect of adat, especially in matters relating to religious dimensions. he only sees adat in the view of law that contains sanctions. while reducing adat in relation to the noble beliefs and [ 168 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 traditions of the community at that time. van vollenhoven’s opinions were based on the concept of western law, where anyone who violates order or law will be sanctioned. the strong influence of van vollenhoven which constructs adat was basically also a continuation of the mission of the modern state which threatens local history, imagination and law. above all, according to burns, this dutch colonial policy project had an interest in making customary law in order to conquer the kings of the archipelago at that time (burns, 1989; lev, 1985). the essentialization of adat law looks at the position of customary rights, namely the legal dimension relating to adat law. this term was known as beschikkingsrecht from van vollenhoven and his student ter haar (haar, 1962). this term later emerged as an important part of the talk about adat law and agrarian law. separation of religion from adat deserves to be traced from colonial times. the dominant perspective that sees adat as different from religion gives birth to a twofold consequence. first, it created a new category, “tradition” which previously did not contradict the category of “religion” but was caused by “administration”, with reference to that which came under the authority of the colonial state. second, the explanation above has shown that the first impact of adat after being reduced by missionaries was that adat will become an old and primitive tradition. it separates adat from the nature of its religiosity. adat meaning as the traditional practices that are different from this category of religion, considered as animism. subsequently, when adat becomes a habit, essentially, this habit was reduced again as an old habit. then, by itself adat refers to adat law that was contrary to religious law. at this time, the adat construction, which increasingly alienated religion in the adat category under dutch ethical policy, was mutually related. by strengthening the position of adat law for the non-islamic peoples among whom the missions had been granted permission to work, the government worked against mission efforts at religious conversion, since these peoples made no distinction between two. this left the missions with two options: the first, to oppose the policy of indirect rule through indigenous adat, would have meant an untenable alliance with islam. the second option was to embrace adat studies as means of defining religion in the east indies social formation. this second option was adopted by the ethical theologians who utilized secular liberal social sciences in the service of missions. their ethnographic work took place within the common framework established by adat law studies (schrauwers, 2000). by the time the dutch scholars were involved in the project of religion, many cosmological concepts of indigenous people such as knowledge, rituals, [ 169 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 practices, spiritualism had been declined. the modernization project of the colonial era that aimed at economic reform, political organization, and rural electrification set the dominant conditions within official religion. likewise, the colonial construction of the discourse of adat was in the colonial interests; it also was conducted for the effectiveness of the colonial administration (burns, 1989; lev, 1985). by the time the colonial administrators and dutch scholars were involved in the interest of adat law, many traditional centers of power such as courts of kings/ sultans and palaces of port-city princes had ceased to function as seats of government and places of rule-enforcement (burns, 1989). islamic identity and the impact of separation between adat and religion many scholars have contributed to the debate on the notion of adat and islam both normatively and empirically (abdullah, 1966; bowen, 1988; bräuchler, 2010; budiwanti, 2013; hanami, 2002; prins, 1951; srimulyani, 2010; yakin, 2014). as a practice, adat and islam as also adat and religion are not problematized by people. however, politically speaking, adat become more contested in the sense of how rulers perceive muslim people according to what they practice. this appeared at the beginning of the rise of the politics of religious identity which was used to drive away colonial forces in the early 1800’s. generally, this movement appeared from traditional circles who came from rural communities (abdullah, 1970; dobbin, 1977). they sometimes live in non-elite circles. however, they grew up outside the structure of the power elite at that time. they appear as a movement that oppresses local groups which assumed conspiracies to foreign rulers. on the other hand, colonial policies which exploit the natives led them to hang over the new power. such a movement gradually rose grassroots at that time until the emergence of the early islamic revival movement. in the mid-19th century, such movements emerged in the modern period of indonesia and subsequently became the new people’s power against colonialism in several regions in indonesia. in sumatra, the padri war (18211838) become a momentum for the contestation between islam and adat. the influence of the padri war in religion and adat in the life of the people in west sumatra was marked by a restructuring of adat and religious governments. the separation between adat and religious governments at this time was increasing. according to benda beckmann ``religious official, who formerly had been embedded in the organization of the matriclans, were gradually detached the nagari gradually detached from the matriclans and become religious officials [ 170 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 of the mosques” (benda-beckmann and benda-beckmann, 2013). during the period of the struggle for independence, from 1945 to 1949, power within the nagari shifted again from the adat leaders, who had become an essential part of the colonial administrative system, to men primarily belonging to religious parties. the dutch had previously excluded these leaders from exercising any real political or administrative authority within their communities (kahin, 1985). following this, the strengthening of islamic identity as part of the forces against colonialism, confirmed the new movement of the people which brought islamic orthodoxy. in consequence, dutch administrators consider islam as a threat to colonial power. dutch colonists responded through many efforts. in the early 20th century, the dutch colonialists issued a policy separating islam and adat. political reasons behind the policy was to respond to rebellions of militant muslims, based on the advice of christian snouck horgronje. hurgronje contributed to constructing a mutual relationship with the muslim society at that time. based on his research of muslim pilgrimage to mecca, hurgronje concludes that religion should be separate from adat. in his recommendation, hurgronje stated the threat is not islam as a religion, but islam as a political doctrine, both in the form of agitation of local fanatics and in the form of pan-islam (benda, 1958a). as a result of this, dutch government issued the order to provoke the separation between islam as political and adat as communal force. subsequently, the community was polarized between islamic or religious groups and indigenous or adat groups. this separation increasingly influenced people’s discourse in the community between adat and religion. this led to strong social tensions in the community between islamic groups and adat groups. however, hurgronje should be appreciated for his effort to provide religious freedom to adhere to people’s respective religions. hurgronje suggested the colonial policy to promote access to education to local communities. especially religious education (maarif, 2012). the socalled “the twin politics” of tolerance and hostility finally had to go hand in hand with dutch assistance to, and dutch support for social elements. these elements were little under the influence of islamic fanaticism, adat leaders and rulers outside java, and the priyayi elite in java. the emergence of religious-based institutions participated in responding to the birth of religious contestation in the public sphere in indonesia. in the early 20th century, western education developed, but so did modern religious schools (kato, 1982). at this time, the spirit of dutch ethical policy that provided an opportunity for the establishment of religious education, had an impact on efforts to mainstream religion in the country’s dominant [ 171 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 practices at that time. this opportunity was well utilized by islamic scholars to introduce islam as a strict law and rule. thus, gradually the community has been able to distinguish which are considered as pure islamic rules or not. until the beginning of the 20th century, these strict views encouraged the purification of cases that were considered as custom or “un-islamic” such as indigenous festivals, visits, homage, preparation of food, and more (feillard, 2011). religious communities with a modern, orthodox and puritan religious orientation generally consider adat as a cultural tradition that could contaminate the pure religion, but religious communities that have traditionalcontextual religious orientations tend to accept adat not contradictory to the principles of religious teachings. adat enriches religions (maarif, 2017a; ropi, 2017). such polarization strengthens and impacts many social aspects of indonesian people in general. in this regard, the dominant discourse of islam also impacts on other dominant religion such as christianity. to follow this, it can be relatively considered that islam and christianity are the two religions that dominated the population of indonesia in this early foundational period. these non-religious citizens who were adat people became the target of islamization and also christian missionaries (hefner and horvatich, 1997). the contestation of the traditional and modernist groups on religious discourse in this period has increasingly marginalized adat. this also led to islam and christianity becoming more powerful that adat in practice. thus, these new ideas and teachings dominate the discourse about religion, while adat was seen merely as an antiquated element or tradition. when religion dominantly colored the contestation between religious groups, many religious institutions emerged at that time. according to deliar noer, the establishment of some modernist islamic organizations such as serikat islam and muhammadiyah indicated this. on the other hand, as a reaction to the emergence of the islamic modernist movement, several new organizations were established, such as the nahdlatul ulama (noer, 1982). deliar noer also identified several symptoms of the dominance of the islamists represented by modernist islam and traditionalist islam (noer, 1982). furthermore, it seems to me that such a polarization is between islam as a religious organization and adat as an indigenous organization. here, the establishment of these religious organizations is essentially as a response to adat as traditional institution at that time. i argue that the presence of socio-religious movements in this period targeted indigenous people. islamic circles that did not have access to political action resulted in the concentration of religious movements that were more focused on the process of islamization than against the colonial resistance. here, [ 172 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 ricklefs identifies several efforts from mainstream islamic organizations such as those played by muhammadiyah and nahdlatul ulama who play a role in the islamization process (ricklefs, 2012). these organizations were born as a manifestation of religious revival in the space of indonesian civil society. to some extent, this movement has its own characteristics in their background. in 1912, muhammadiyah which was called the reformist movement was a group that attempted to purify previous religious heritages such as hinduism, buddhism, and all practices that are considered pre-islamic. at the same time, it also emerged as a reaction to the spirit of christianization targeting the group (shihab, 1998). at the same time, the reformists also proposed to abandon the medieval schools of law (mazhab), mastered by only a few learned scholars. for the letter, nahdlatul ulama was established not directly as a form of reaction to western colonialism, but rather, a form of reaction to the ulama movement. in other words, as a reaction to attacks on the mazhab, in 1926, the non-reformist ulama which was nahdlatul ulama created their own organization (feillard, 2011). as a matter of fact, although it was recognized that these two organizations have different attitudes towards local cultures where traditionalists are considered more accommodative towards local culture, the establishment of the traditionalist in responding to preislamic traditions was still based on islamic exclusivity. based on this backdrop, strengthening the separation of religion from adat was not only caused by external factors, such as the colonists aim to modernize indigenous people, but also the role of local actors who contribute to perpetuate the dominant discourse on religious mainstream (yamin at.al, 2019). this can be seen from the process of islamization and christianization carried out by certain groups and organizations that emerged before independence. referring to this pattern of dutch colonial policy, it can be concluded that religious movement as an religious activity has been supported by the colonial. following the colonial period, there was the japanese occupation which held a different policy towards religion. dutch politics related to religious issues was inversely proportional to the japanese policies on religion in that period. japanese policies were characterized by a more certain policy of divide et impera which results in limited redistribution. japan provided freer access to the realization of islamic politics at this time. japan had no doubts about increasing the position of islam and giving social prestige and implicitly political prestige to its spokespersons in java, as was the case everywhere in indonesia. finally, islam became so strong. japanese policies that organized the period and strength of the educated people at that time became an opportunity for muslims to take part in formulating state policies (benda, 1958b). [ 173 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 the rise of religious organizations further strengthened identity politics at this time. the impact of japanese politics then gave an opportunity to build affiliation with islamic and urban leaders again. in the early years of japanese rule, masyumi stood as an islamic organization that was allowed to maintain its identity. i argue these islamic organizations have had an important role in making policies related to islamic issues on the island of java. the discourse about the dominance of religion at this time was getting stronger. the climax was that, towards the time of independence, these religious leaders were increasingly trying to influence the formulation of laws and state constitutions. the essential category between religion and non-religion dominantly continues to influence state policy. with many regulations on religions, the tension between people who claim to be followers of local traditions increasingly loses its religious dimensions. they continue to be the subject of hegemony in the name of the dominant religion. religion is a very formal, prescriptive, and normative concept. consequently, state politics began to distinguish between religious and non-religious groups. the emergence of these dominant authorities tries to classify and categorize what is included with adat and not. religion as an identity strengthened in the period leading up to indonesian independence. while adat became an important attention from the government policies on legal and cultural aspects, the religious dimension of adat was increasingly marginalized, especially with the issues of many laws governing religion for the citizens. religion at this time was based on religion in a theological sense that made islam and christianity as the standard (maarif, 2017a). as a result of this, the purification movement flourished in the community. this was followed by the coming of islamic organizations. religion began to be discussed specifically in some indonesian constitutional literature. religion has become a national issue. compared to adat, the discourse of religion is more dominant. conclusion the construction of adat in colonial indonesia appeared as an initial attempt that degraded the scope of the meaning of adat as secular and unfulfilling of requirements necessary to be a religion. discursively, adat in the colonial period also showed that the concept of adat is constantly developing. adat began as a marker of the intervention of many powers which subsequently disposed of religious aspects of practices of adat people. the construction of dutch colonial administrators regarding adat (different from those that developed in the community) illustrate that adat was an animist culture that needed to be transformed into religion and modernized. that was the [ 174 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1390 beginning of the idea of the separation between people practices including adat which is regarded as an ‘old’ traditional practice. colonialism tried to govern the people through policies. the idea of modernity as the root of western colonialism penetrated into many aspects of life for the people. for example, there were policies such as liberal policy and ethical policy that initiated the idea of universalizing the western concept of religion for the people in the colonies. in particular, the world religion paradigm which was the dominant idea,used to define the practice of the people and asking for adat to be modernized. that was because of the emerging idea of animism which regards adat as primitive, tribal, and uncivilized. on one hand, adat is supposed in terms of customary laws. under the influence of the world religious paradigm, many colonial administrators consider adat peoples as an object to be developed in terms of modernity. in a political aspect, adat became the arena of power contestation used by various levels of power, including the dutch colonial administrators, local elite, and dominant society to perpetuate its power in their circles. in the context of islam, adat is considered different from islam. adat is regarded as an old tradition that was inherently socially embedded before islam. so, at this time, islam was always opposed to adat. bibliography abdullah, t. 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(2014). dialectic between islamic law and adat law in the nusantara: a reinterpretation of the terengganu inscription in the 14th century. heritage of nusantara, 3(2), 293–312. yamin, a., abdullah, i., nurmandi, a., jubba, h., & qodir, z. (2019). being minority in papua: religious and political identity struggle of the dani muslims. al-albab, 8(1), 101 118. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/ alalbab.v8i1.1362 [ 3 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 tariqa in indonesia: social integration of religious adherents muhammad torik universitas islam negeri raden fatah palembang email: muhammadtorik_uin@radenfatah.ac.id muhammad abdillah universitas islam negeri raden fatah palembang email: muhammadabdillah@radenfatah.ac.id fenti febriani universitas islam negeri raden fatah palembang email: fentifebriani@radenfatah.ac.id abstract this paper seeks to shed light on how tariqas [school or order of sufism] play an important role in the socio-religious life of indonesian society. furthermore, this paper intends to explore research gaps from previous research by looking at how conflict and social integration among tariqas are in the reality of religious communities. in addition, this paper also aims to explain the causative and supporting factors originating from the tariqa structural institutions and the tariqa interests in social integration among the tariqa. based on the collected data which were analyzed using a qualitative approach, this article found that the tariqas have become the main agent in maintaining social integration among the tariqa practitioners and minimizing the gaps of conflict between the existing tariqas. however, at the same time, a tariqa needs legitimacy from its followers so that it creates space for conflicts of interest among the tariqa practitioners, especially in the fields of economics, politics, as well as among their followers. this paper is based on research conducted using in-depth library research aimed to find out how conflict and social integration occur in society. keywords: tariqa; social integration; religious adherents introduction religion is often placed in a paradoxical dimension. this is because religion can bind human and divine into relations as well as human-to-human relations socially (social cement) with different backgrounds in a social-human integration. on the other hand, religion is also the root of conflict between its followers due to the so-called legitimacy and justification from its followers’ understanding of religious pracitices (priyono, 2016; wibisono, 2021). the [ 4 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 role of religion then generates logical consequences as a force that is built both constructively and destructively (utoyo, 2016), and thus it is not uncommon for religion to receive a negative stigma even though in reality every religion has a holy divine mission and teaches values that integrate three important components, namely god, nature and humans (fahri & zainuri, 2019). das sollen [ideally], religion aims to provide mercy to the worlds. however, das sein [in reality] religion often plays a role in conflicts that always occur in the social reality of religious life. therefore, religion is not only deemed to have failed with its mission, especially in matters related to humanity, peace building and religious harmony (bachtiar, 2020; strasser, 2021). thus, it is not uncommon for religion to be blamed for conflicts that occur in society. therefore, in addition to being a way of life, religion also faces a dilemma in its practical setting between the cause of conflict on the one hand, and a unifier in society on the other. negative assumptions about the role of religion as a force that triggers social conflict may be understandable. because in reality, religion and religious communities are often dragged into prolonged conflicts (rajab, 2018). however, making religion the only factor for causing conflict can also be debated. as sacred teachings, basically every religion carries a mission of peace (kholiludin, 2018; sutarto, 2018). with regard to religion and religious conflict, abdurrahman wahid viewed that violence and conflict involving religious communities do not actually originate within the religion itself. according to him, conflicts involving religious people are due to contemporary issues that underlie the situation and conditions of its adherents (burhani et al., 2020; devy habibi muhammad, 2021) as happened in various regions in indonesia involving the ahl sunnah wa al-jamaah and the ahmadiyah (sujadmi, 2013) and other conflicts involving the naqsabandiyah, qadiriyah, qadiriyah and naqsabandiyah, shattariyah, etc. (faslah, 2020; hakim, 2010; rosyid, 2018). based on the typology of conflict mapping above, it can be said that conflicts involving religions are predominantly caused by the subjective interests of its followers, both politically motivated interests related to power and the economy, as well as interests dominating others in terms of ideas and ideals. abdul hadi (hadi, 2022), the two forms of interests are called political and ideological interests. this research aims to see how differences in tariqa and their institutional interests are seen as triggering social conflict, in the socio-religious reality of the followers of the shattariyah tariqa and the followers of the tijaniyah tariqa at pondok buntet islamic boarding school in cirebon. that being said, there are three questions that can be raised in this article, including (a) what are the [ 5 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 potential sources of conflict among the tariqas?; (b) what are the supporting factors and causes of conflict and social integration among the tariqas?; (c) what are the implications of conflict and social integration among the tariqas? these three questions are expected to be an attempt to see the dynamics of the tariqas that interact and manage conflict in order to create harmony between the two and live side by side in the reality of life. this article is based on the argument related to the social reality of religious communities, social problems that arise due to differences in beliefs that occur not only in the relations between people, but also within religious communities. various factors and sources of conflict are also present in the relations between the shattariyah and the tijaniyah. in addition to differences in tariqa institutions, political-sociological factors such as individual differences, interests and modernization are inevitable social facts, so the potential for conflict between the two tariqas is even greater. in fact, oftentimes the internal problem of religious communities are more difficult and more complicated to solve than that between religious communities. contemplation (uzlah) in order to achieve spiritual heights carried out by the early sufis has created a negative stigma that tariqa followers are individual, exclusive and anti-social groups. the tariqa cannot avoid institutionalization and structuralization so that the differences of the tariqa also have the potential to trigger conflict. this potential is getting higher due to social change, economic factors, politics, etc. (ngabdurahman, 2016; zainurofieq, 2021) the reality of harmony between the shattariyah and the tijaniyah shows that conflicts between religious people can actually be avoided if managed properly. the dynamics of harmony and conflict among the tariqas can be examined with qualitative research by referring to primary and secondary data which cover processes that occur directly in the community that can be observed and confirmed on site through direct observation and interviews. this research involved local religious, traditional and community leaders, historians specializing in conflict histories, rituals, religious traditions and cultural practices. the research was first carried out by collecting secondary data through various religious references previously written by several other researchers, as well as tracing the history of the shattariyah and tijaniyah tariqas. the second step was to conduct direct research in the community by visiting research locations and observing and interviewing key figures. interviews and observations were recorded using voice recorders, photographs and journals, the main basis for interpreting field findings. the data analysis process was carried out in three stages. the first was data reduction, a process of organizing data in a more systematic form, especially [ 6 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 thematically. the second stage was the display of data to present the research results in the form of tables and graphs as well as excerpts from interviews with the informants. the third and last was data verification to conclude the compatibility of the data with the concepts and theories used in this study in the form of descriptive and interpretive data. as for analysis techniques, they supported the three stages of the analysis. the descriptive data served as a basis for interpretation by following trends and contexts that accompany the reality under study, such as field data proposed by clifford geertz (geertz, 1988) which indicate the stages and techniques of analysis expected to direct this research to findings and conclusions that explain conflict and harmony among the tariqas. the tradition of the tariqa in islam the purpose of the tariqa is to form noble or islamic morals, subdue and lower desires of the soul, increase the purity of the soul so that a person feels calm and peaceful, form a character that has a good mental attitude and behavior (al-akhlāq al-karīmah), morals, ethics and courtesy, towards oneself, other people, the environment and allah swt, or achieving the degree of al-insān al-kāmil (syam, 2013; thohir, 2013). furthermore, the peak of the aim of the tariqa is to gain a direct relationship with allah swt (azwar & muliono, 2022; erina et al., 2022; feriyanto, 2020). the journey to reach the destination of the tariqa above is not easy. not everyone can get to that destination. the journey to god is full of temptations, very hard and very far away; there are unlimited distances, full of thorns, difficult and long so that only a few can get to the top of the goal (badaruddin & mahyuddin, 2021; miftakhur ridlo, 2020; nasuhi, 2020). as for the urgency and importance of following the tariqa, it is a shortcut that shortens the distance and lightens the severity of the journey based on the experience and guidance of spiritual teachers. based on the historical facts above, it can be said that zuhud [asceticism] and tasawwuf [mysticism] are individual spiritual practices. meanwhile, tariqas are institutionalized spiritual teachings and practices and carried out in groups (tariqa). in addition, it can also be distinguished that the tariqa is a practical dimension in the teachings of tasawwuf which has received institutionalization through the continuation of the sanad from the chain of tariqa teachers from time to time. while sufism itself is the intellectual dimension of its esoteric teachings (azhari et al., 2021). the emergence of the tariqa itself was caused by three factors, namely: first, the existence of the doctrine that learning sufism must go through a teacher. second, sufism is only enjoyed by certain circles, therefore to help the general public, sufi guidance is held. third, since the 6th [ 7 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 century sufism has been mixed with philosophy which is considered to have deviated from the traditions of the prophet and his companions. the tariqa was founded with the aim of protecting sufism so that it would always be in the corridors of sharia. (mawardi, 2022; mulyati, 2011). it is not known for certain which tariqa emerged first, as several early tariqas were found in by figures in different places, such as shaykh ‘abd al-qadir aljilani in baghdad, shaykh sayyid aḥmad rifa’i in egypt, and jalal ad-din ar-rumi in persia. meanwhile, according to annemarie schimmel, the first tariqa to emerge was the suhrawardīyah founded by ‘abd al-qahir abu najib as-suhrawardi. at the same time, the qadirīyah tariqa by abd al-qadir aljilani and the rifa’iyah tariqa by sayyid aḥmad rifa’i were founded in iraq. a century later the center of the tariqa moved to egypt, and among the first tariqas in egypt were the badawīya tariqa founded by aḥmad al-badawi of ṭanṭha and the shaziliyah tariqa by abi ḥasan as-syazili in alexandria (bhat, 2022; suparyanto dan rosad (2015, 2020). at least there are approximately 200 tariqa around the world (ngabdurahman, 2016; yuslia styawati, 2020), while in indonesia there are 40 mu’tabarah tariqas (awaludin, 2016; syam, 2013). the tariqa is a practical dimension in the teachings of sufism which is institutionalized through the continuation of the teacher chain. with respect to a tariqa as a practical dimension, every so-called tariqa means a dhikr tariqa (djuhan, 2020; sri mulayati, 2005). in other words, the term tariqa is used to designate and has a distinctive connotation, which relates to the teachings and practice of dhikr [remembrance of god] that are carried out individually or in groups affiliated with the teacher who founded a particular tariqa. in fact, if one compares the existing tariqas, they are relatively similar: in terms of kalam, the main reference is asha’ariyah; in terms of fiqh, the main reference is imam shafi’i; and the spiritual practices that are carried out are wirid and dhikr. the main thing that distinguishes these tariqas is the procedure for performing wirid and dhikr, especially in the recitation and its variations. the dhikr performed by the tariqa is divided into two types, namely specific dhikr and general dhikr (masyhuri: 2010). specific dhikr can only be practiced by students of a tariqa, while general dhikr, in addition to being practiced by students of a particular tariqa, can also be practiced by the general public. a specific or general specific is differentiated through recitation (talqīn) which is accompanied by taking an oath of allegiance (bai’at) made by the teacher to prospective students in the teaching process. [ 8 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 target and potential conflict tariqa is often seen as a sect or school of thought and an institution in islamic religious teachings, in addition to being a path followed by a salik [a follower of sufism] in a suluk [spiritual path] in order to get closer to god. tariqa is also often associated with a spiritual order which is communally connected in spiritual and brotherly ties. (kartanegara, 2006). tariqa is always tied to an institution, organization and group that carries out rituals with certain practices and dhikr, this is confirmed by an oath (bai’at) that has been determined by the highest leadership or the founder of the tariqa itself. (mulyati, 2011). nur syam (2013) mentioned that tariqa is not only practiced in religious doctrine but also serves a process to obtain the essence of various religious symbols which are more esoteric than exoteric in nature. tariqa then becomes a spiritual path to achieve inner and outer peace by integrating the relationship between god, nature and creatures with certain stages. the interpretation of the tariqa is more about the inward pattern of spirituality which is favored over the outward formality, as determined by the sheikh althariqah, the founder of the tariqa, this then becomes a teaching that must be carried out by saliks who have pledged allegiance to one of the tariqa (apri, 2020; feriyanto, 2020; randa & fatimah, 2019). because tariqa is a subjective matter so that there can be differences between the sheikhs of al-thariqah, it has implications for the doctrines being taught that are not the same even though they have the same goals, as are the denominations of religious teachings, schools and other institutions that have undergone structuring and institutionalization. so it is not uncommon for the logic that is built among tariqas to be very fanatical about loyalty to the murshid [teacher] and sheikh al-thariqah as well as fellow members of the tariqa (jamil, 2005). therefore, even though the tariqa aims to elevate the spiritual level and purify the salik, it would be different when one tariqa is brought together with another tariqa which sociologically gives rise to egocentric groups that seem ethnocentric, especially regarding the claim of truth. relations between different tariqas have placed them in a position that is faced with institutional and structural interests related to politics, economics, and education. (awaludin, 2016; bruinessen, 1992; ruslan et al., 2022). this is due to the truth claims held by each tariqa. so that in order to achieve the interests of the tariqa, the group prepares itself for a competition and sets aside the theological truth claims, because truth only belongs to the tariqa they adhere to while other tariqas are considered false (zainu, 2013). even though the space for dialog between tariqas is always favored, theoretically differences in views and doctrines have become the forerunners that may trigger conflict [ 9 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 between tariqas, especially social conflicts between followers of tariqas. (rosyid, 2018). the long history of conflict between the muslim ummah itself has occurred even during the time of the prophet [p.b.u.h], this can be seen from the conflict between anshar and muhajirin (pradesa, 2015), shiites and sunnis who have long been in theological, political, economic and educational conflicts (fauzi, 2020; ida & dyson, 2015), and there are many other conflicts between groups, institutions, and doctrines of teachings in islam. all of that happened in the name of truth. conflicts between the tariqas in indonesian in fact, tariqa can give rise to conflicts not only due to the doctrine of institutional truth, but also because of various interests. this can be seen from the many incidents of conflict between tariqas which involved their followers for a long period of time and some even became social conflicts. the involvement of islamic esoteric groups is not the cause of rift between tariqas today, but the rift between followers of tariqas occurred in the early days when tariqas were established as institutions. (danner & lings, 1977). as the conflict that occurred among sufism experts in the 3rd century hijri between the sunni school of sufism and the falsafi school where leaders of the falsafi were considered false and punished with imprisonment and even death penalty because they were considered to have strayed from the teachings of islam as experienced by al-halaj (syarif, 2019; utoyo, 2016). the incident occurred as a decision that had been agreed upon by jurists in baghdad so that the punishment for the conflict caused al-hallaj to receive a caning, beheading and his body being burned in public. (hamka, 2018). the dark record of the conflict, according to john renard, placed al-hallaj as the first martyr due to conflict between tasawuf experts in the historical record. (muzairi, 2018; renard, 2004; reynolds, 2016). during the developmental period after the establishment of tariqa institutions which is marked by the emergence of new tariqas and the increasingly complex social reality of community life, the space for conflict between tariqas grew wider, and it was not uncommon for conflicts between tariqas to involve more than two different tariqas. it can be seen in the conflicts between the tariqas in indonesia, such as conflicts between followers of the shattariyah and the naqsabandiyah in west sumatra (akhimuddin, 2012); between the followers of sheikh hamza al-fansuri (qadiriyah tariqa) and the followers of sheikh nur al-din al-raniri (rifa’iyah tariqa) in aceh (rosyid, 2018); as well as the conflict between sunni sufism taught by wali nine and the kejawen group led by sheikh lemah abang and sheikh siti jenal in java (syakur, 2014); [ 10 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 between the qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah (tqn) and the aboge community members who are also the followers of the shattariyah tariqa in ujungmanik cilacap village, central java; between the qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah and the muhammadiyah in east java (ahmad syafi’i mufid, 2006; latif et al., 2022); between sammaniyah and naqsyabandiyah tariqa in bogor (hakim, 2010); between the tijaniyah tariqa of pondok buntet islamic boarding school and an anti-tijaniyah group based in the benda kerep islamic boarding school in cirebon (verdoorn., 1940); between the tijaniyah tariqa and the community in sukabumi (hamkah, 2020), etc., which were caused by various factors including the doctrine of truth and the institutions of the tariqa with various interest motives. conflicts that occurres betweeb the tariqas have shown differences in the institutional structure of the tariqa and the doctrine of truth which indicate that differences within the tariqa should not be overlooked (febriyandi.ys, 2019). these differences should not be understood as an interpretation of esoteric dimensions and islamic doctrines alone as different tariqa group affiliations will show differences in worship practices, wirid, methods of dhikr and of course different institutional and structural interests. (burhani et al., 2020; rohimat, 2012; setiyawati, 2017). however, the differences in ideology --in addition to being the fundamental cause of conflict between the tariqa- also serve as a way out for integration between tariqa groups and social communities (shadiqin et al., 2020). thus, the differences between the tariqa groups can be seen as a universal dimension for all muslims and the followers of the tariqa so that it can give birth to an integration not only beyween the followers of the tariqa but also an integration in the social order of society. social integration between the tariqa the confluence between the tariqa and social harmony, theoreticallynormatively, is actually not a complicated issue. social processes aimed at creating peace that a better level of material and spiritual life can be achieved among sufis can be linked to the term al-akhlāq al-karīmah (perangin-angin, 2022). this understanding leads to the conclusion that harmony is not just a formal “attribute” of the tariqa, but rather the inherent substance of the tariqa itself. (azwar, 2018). the existence of a tariqa correlation with harmony can also be understood from the tariqa teachings which are conceptualized in three ways: takhallī, taḥallī and tajallī. takhallī is to abstain from all disgraceful actions; tahallī is to do commendable deeds; while tajallī is to decorate oneself with commendable morals so that allah will reveal light within him (shadiqin et al., 2020; taufiqur rahman, 2019). in addition to takhallī, taḥallī and [ 11 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 tajallī, the formation of al-akhlāq al-karīmah in the concept of the sufis is also associated with the doctrine of tazkīyah an-nafs (hajjāj, 2011). tazkīyah an-nafs is an effort of the human mind to eliminate various bad tendencies that can hinder moral development. with this effort, humans are expected to be able to overcome various conflicts in their lives, then grow as strong individuals who are capable of taking action in accordance with moral rules. (ahmad, 2019; hadi, 2022; nasrullah, 2020). the process of tazkīyah an-nafs will certainly direct its adherents to sidq al-qalb, sidq al-qawl and sidq al-’amal. harmony in the religious aspect is indicated by the freedom for each individual to determine and choose a tariqa without coercion from the kyai or their own parents. this is evidenced by the different tariqas followed by one family, namely husband and wife, parents and children, or fellow siblings. this freedom is based on the understanding that the tariqa is an individual religious life (masduki et al., 2017). because of that, even though almost every boarding school takes the tariqa and teaches it, the teaching is only meant to introduce and give training. as for the students who want to take part in the tariqa seriously, they are given the freedom to choose, including choosing a tariqa that is different than the kyai’s. (yuslia styawati, 2020). harmony is also indicated by the tolerance and freedom for each student to practice the tariqa. in fact, this can be seen from the practice in islamic boarding schools. chanting of tariqa dhikr is always heard before the sunset prayer. in the social aspect, harmony is present in various dynamic collaborations in the form of associative social actions such as mutual cooperation, community service, coalitions, accommodation and social tolerance. mutual cooperation generally occurs in activities of the pesantren such as death annivaersary and qur’anic recitation activities. community service and coalitions are carried out as institutional activities such as teaching modern schools, anniversary commemoration of islamic boarding schools, celebrating islamic holidays, public services for students, reciting the yellow book, language courses, computer courses and entrepreneurship training (hidayat siregar, 2009). accommodation, among others, is done through the involvement of kyai from the existing tariqas. while tolerance and freedom can be seen in the use of the mosque to practice hailalah. various forms of cooperation that are created in social relations as occurred in the shattariyah and tijaniyah tariqas in buntet are very clear indicators that even though they have different religious affiliations, they are able to interact and socialize peacefully. (faslah et al., 2017). social cooperation is established in the form of mutual cooperation, community service, coalitions, accommodation and tolerance so as to create conducive social conditions. [ 12 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 in the majority of islamic boarding schools, the development of family and kinship traditions is very common. according to zamakhsyari dhofier, this tradition is deliberately created and preserved to build strong cooperation and solidarity in an effort to maintain the sustainability of islamic boarding schools. (dhofier, 1990). one of the practical ways to build this kinship alliance is through endogamous marriages between families of kyais. viewed from a sociological perspective, ferdinand tonnies categorizes social groups formed by blood ties as gemeinschaft (association), namely the unity of human groups formed by the nature of god. (siundiukov, 2021). the solidarity of the members of this group is bound by an inner relationship that is pure, natural and long-lasting. the basis of this relationship is a sense of love and a sense of inner unity which has been ordained by the creator and is organic in nature (soekanto: 2001). it seems that for them maintaining the integrity and integration of the nasabiyah is more important than the tariqa itself. in this case, ideological differences and conflicts are settled through religious interpretation that promotes integration. the doctrine of the tariqa basically originates from and is an interpretation of islamic teachings so that it can be ensured that all tariqas teach peace. this can be seen from the many doctrines that lead to social harmony such as tazkiyat an-nafs, al-mujāhadah, al-akhlāq al-karīmah, al-insān al-kāmil, al-futuwah, and al-iṣār. according to nur syam (syam, 2013), in general, the teachings of sufism are conceptualized in the teachings of takhallī (abstaining from all disgraceful actions), taḥallī (doing commendable deeds) and tajallī (decorating oneself with commendable morals so that god reveals light within him). at a practical level, one of the forms of applying this teaching is by practicing noble character and leaving behind disgraceful character. (dodi & abitolkha, 2022). thus, peace and social harmony are in fact inherent in the teachings of the tariqa itself. this tendency was also shown by as-singkili, the main character carrying the shattariyah mission to the malay archipelago. as-singkili was an evolutionary mujaddid (faslah, 2020). he preferred to reconcile conflicting views rather than reject any of them. even though he did not agree with the wudiya doctrine, for example, he did not show it explicitly. he did not show frontal rejection as ar-raniri did (azra, 1995). in the context of social integration within the tariqa, it can be seen from several aspects including: first, adaptation in the distribution of economic resources that is fair and familial. it is said to be fair because every ṣāḥibul wilāyah cleric has the same right to build an islamic boarding school. while it is familial because there are efforts to help less developed boarding schools so that there is an equal distribution of the economic level of each kyai; second, [ 13 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 the common goals of the tariqa community are reflected in the commitment to maintaining kinship, being responsible for the tariqa institution and social solidarity. therefore, actions taken should not be counterproductive to these goals, and a consensus is formed regarding power and the economy which is a source of conflict; third, levels of solidarity that unite individual tariqas are reflected in the solidarity in the implementing units, technical units, anniversary event committees, etc. in this case the authority of the tariqa, especially the chairman of the governing body, heads of departments, heads of units, regulates relations between the elements of society under them; fourth, the tariqa’s collective values are reflected in the devotion to elders, commitment to kinship, and shared responsibility for maintaining the values. these collective values are transformed through religious activities, education in boarding schools, public schools, and household education of the kyais. conclussion this research has provided an example of exclusive and ethnocentric religious understanding that encourages conflict among religious communities. therefore, in an effort to create religious harmony, it is necessary to develop humanist-integrative understanding that prioritizes human values such as peace, brotherhood and social solidarity. in the context of muslims who have a tradition of tariqa practice, this humanist-integrative religious understanding can be formed through the teaching and development of the fiqh of tolerance (fiqh tasāmuḥ). in this case, ideological differences and institutional interests should be explored to find similarities and unity through the concepts of al-maṣlaḥah al-’ammah, bid’ah ḥasanah, al-istihsān, al-ām, al-furū’īyah and other concepts of collectivity. furthermore, various cases of conflict involving religious communities show that group differences in religion or differences in religious understanding are merely the fuse factor, not the root of the conflict. this work also shows the core of conflict which is in fact the issues of power and the economy which are considered to only take sides or be dominated by certain parties. therefore, efforts to create religious harmony cannot be made based on religious aspects alone, but must also pay attention to sociological aspects, especially transparency and justice in the distribution of power and community’s economic resources. consensus functions as the rule of the game that serves as a common guideline. exclusiveness hinders the process of communication and socialization in religious life. at a certain stage, the process of communication and socialization that is not conducive can lead to suspicion or misunderstanding. in an effort to create or maintain harmony, it is necessary to create a medium for socialization that integrates various elements so that tensions and social distance due to differences can be reduced [ 14 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 to contribute to the religious field, especially in the field of islamic studies. the limitation of this work is in the scope of research which was only carried out on the tariqa, so it only focuses on discussing experiences of conflict and social integration between certain tariqas and has not conducted out comprehensively to include universal tariqa communities in indonesia. therefore, this work recommends that it is important to look at the phenomena of conflict and social integration between tariqas in order to do comparisons with other tariqa communities in other studies, to see how conflicts between tariqas occur and how social integration between tariqas contributes to the community, the nation and the ummah. bibliography ahmad, c. 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(2017). tariqa dan kerukunan intern umat beragama: studi kerukunan syattariyah dan tijaniyah di pondok buntet pesantren cirebon. jurnal pemikiran dan hukum islam, 6(2), 2020–2021. http:// repository.radenfatah.ac.id/19446/ fauzi, a. (2020). konflik arab sunni dan iran syiah kontemporercontemporary sunni arabic and syiah arabic conflict. limaul dakwah. febriyandi.ys, f. (2019). agama, ritual dan konflik : suatu upaya memahami konflik umat beragama di indonesia. handep: jurnal sejarah dan budaya. https://doi.org/10.33652/handep.v2i2.41 feriyanto, f. (2020). tariqa dan moderasi beragama. tatar pasundan : jurnal diklat keagamaan. https://doi.org/10.38075/tp.v14i2.104 geertz, c. (1988). interpretation of cultures: selected essays by clifford geertz. journal of comparative physiology b. hadi, a. (2022). peran tokoh tasawuf dan tariqa nusantara dalam dakwah moderat. ad-da’wah. hajjāj, m. f. (2011). tasawuf islam dan akhlak (k. a. i. dan f. ghazali (ed.)). amzah. hakim, b. a. (2010). kasus konflik perebutan kepemimpinan tariqa sammaniyah dan naqsyabandiyah di caringin bogor. jurnal multikultural & multireligius, vol 9(no. 33). hamka, z. (2018). husain al-hallaj dan ajarannya. ash-shahabah. hamkah, z. (2020). tariqa tijaniyah (eksklusifisme dan eksoterisme gerakan tariqa abad 19). ash-shahabah. hidayat siregar, l. (2009). sejarah tariqa dan dinamika sosial. miqot. ida, r., & dyson, l. (2015). konflik sunni-syiah dan dampaknya terhadap komunikasi intrareligius pada komunitas di sampang-madura sunni-syia conflict and its effects to intra-religious community in. masyarakat, kebudayaan dan politik. jamil, m. (2005). tariqa dan dinamika sosial politik tafsir sosial sufi nusantara. pustaka pelajar. kartanegara, m. (2006). menyelami lubuk tasawuf. penerbit erlangga. kholiludin, t. (2018). wajah ganda agama: integrasi, konf[ 17 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 lik dan rekonsiliasi. iqtisad. https://doi.org/10.31942/ iq.v4i1.1999 latif, f. a., meiji, n. h. p., & rozakiyah, d. s. (2022). generasi muda islam aboge mempertahankan ajaran serta hubungan sosial di masyarakat desa leces. jurnal sosiologi nusantara. https://doi.org/10.33369/jsn.8.2.177-196 masduki, m., hartono, t., & rosidi, i. (2017). harmoni lingkungan di dunia tariqa qadiriyah wa naqsabandiyah desa lalang tanjung, riau. al-tahrir: jurnal pemikiran islam. https://doi.org/10.21154/altahrir. v17i2.1062 mawardi, k. (2022). nationalism and spiritualism of javanese tariqa: study of tariqa rinjani in banyumas central java. qudus international journal of islamic studies. https:// doi.org/10.21043/qijis.v10i1.12509 miftakhur ridlo. (2020). sejarah dan tipologi tariqa dalam pandangan tasawuf dan makrifat. humanistika: jurnal keislaman. mulyati, s. (2011). mengenal dan memahami tariqa-tariqa muktabarah di indonesia. kencana-prenada media. muzairi, m. (2018). eksekusi mati javanese al-hallaj dalam suluk jawa. refleksi: jurnal filsafat dan pemikiran islam. https://doi.org/10.14421/ ref.2018.1802-03 nasrullah, m. (2020). tariqa syadziliyah dan pengaruh ideologi aswaja di indonesia. jurnal islam nusantara. nasuhi, h. (2020). tasawuf dan gerakan tariqa di indonesia abad ke-19. refleksi. https://doi.org/10.15408/ref.v2i1.14387 ngabdurahman, n. (2016). perjalanan tariqa dari masa ke masa. mozaic : islam nusantara. https://doi.org/10.47776/mozaic.v2i2.85 perangin-angin, m. (2022). sheikh salman daim and the tariqa of naqsyabandiyah al-kholidiyah jalaliyah. journal of contemporary islam and muslim societies. https://doi.org/10.30821/ jcims.v6i2.6802 pradesa, d. (2015). konflik dan resolusinya antara anshar dan muhajirin dalam peristiwa saqifah banu saidah. jurnal kajian dan pengembangan manajemen dakwah. priyono, p. (2016). pluralisme agama dan konflik. analisa. https:// doi.org/10.18784/analisa.v15i02.339 [ 18 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 rajab, h. (2018). peran sufisme tariqa naqsyabandiyah khalidiyah terhadap perkembangan keagamaan islam melayu di kota pangkalpinang. edugama: jurnal kependidikan dan sosial keagamaan. https://doi. org/10.32923/edugama.v4i2.733 randa, r., & fatimah, s. (2019). dinamika tariqa syatariyah di pariangan 1970-2000. galanggang sejarah. renard, j. (2004). knowledge of god in classical sufism: foundations of islamic mystical theology. in the classics of western spirituality. reynolds, g. s. (2016). book review: islamic theological themes: a primary source reader. edited by john renard. theological studies. https://doi. org/10.1177/0040563916635112d rohimat, a. m. (2012). etika politik dalam naskah tanbih (wasiat etika politik dari mursyid tariqa qodiriyyah naqsyabandiyah suryalaya terhadap murid-muridnya). in right: jurnal agama dan hak azazi manusia. rosyid, m. (2018). potret organisasi tariqa indonesia dan dinamikanya. religia. https://doi.org/10.28918/religia.v21i1.1507 ruslan, r., burga, m. a., & noer, m. u. (2022). theological belief towards islamic spiritual belief: evidence from south sulawesi, indonesia. hts teologiese studies / theological studies. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts. v78i4.8009 setiyawati, e. (2017). tariqa naqsabandiyah dalam ranah politik lokal. demokrasi & otonomi daerah. shadiqin, s., islam, a. h.-k. j. p., & 2020, undefined. (2020). otoritas spritual di era syariat jaringan dan kontestasi tariqa dalam masyarakat aceh kontemporer. scholar.archive.org, 14(01), 1–20. https://doi. org/10.21154/kodifikasia.v14i1.1892 siundiukov, n. k. (2021). the philosophy of sobornost as a prototype of ferdinand tönnies’ “sociological conservatism.” voprosy filosofii. https:// doi.org/10.21146/0042-8744-2021-9-49-59 sri mulayati, et al. (2005). mengenal dan memahami tariqa-tariqa muktabarah di indonesia. kencana. strasser, s. (2021). multikulturalismus. in lexikon der globalisierung. https:// doi.org/10.1515/transcript.9783839418222.270 sujadmi, s. (2013). yang minoritas : yang tertindas (analisis konflik ahmadiyah vs “islam”). society, 1(1), 75–85. https:// [ 19 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 doi.org/10.33019/society.v1i1.44 suparyanto dan rosad (2015. (2020). a divine love of annemarie schimmel; a sufism study of an orientalist. suparyanto dan rosad (2015. sutarto, d. (2018). konflik antara agama dan sains dalam perspektif filsafat sosial. jurnal trias politika. https://doi.org/10.33373/jtp. v2i1.1236 syakur, a. (2014). mekanisme pertahanan diri kaum tariqa. islamica: jurnal studi keislaman. https://doi.org/10.15642/islamica.2010.4.2.211-228 syam, n. (2013). tariqa petani: fenomena tariqa shattariyah lokal. lkis yogyakarta. syarif, f. (2019). religion in the conflict flows. addin. https://doi. org/10.21043/addin.v13i2.6452 taufiqur rahman. (2019). sejarah perkembangan tasawuf ‘amali. asysyari’ah : jurnal hukum islam. https://doi.org/10.36835/assyariah. v5i1.114 thohir, u. f. (2013). pemikiran mistisisme annemarie schimmel. ulul albab jurnal studi islam. https://doi.org/10.18860/ua.v0i0.2376 utoyo, m. (2016). akar masalah konflik agama di indonesia. in jurnal lex librum. verdoorn., j. a. (1940). fragmenta islamica. the muslim world. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1940.tb00442.x wibisono, y. (2021). agama dan resolusi konflik. in lekkas. yusliastyawati. (2020). mengenal tariqa di dunia islam. jurnal ilmiah spiritualis: jurnal pemikiran islam dan tasawuf. https://doi. org/10.53429/spiritualis.v5i1.61 zainu, m. bin j. (2013). ajaran sufi dan tariqa dalam timbangan al-quran dan as-sunnah ( terj. m. ruliyandi (ed.)). darul haq. zainurofieq, z. (2021). gerakan politik kaum tariqa dalam sejarah indonesia. jurnal iman dan spiritualitas. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v1i4.15027 [ 20 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2614 [ 67 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 revitalizing local wisdom: efforts to reduce tension among believers hasse j. muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta abstract this article aims to show that through the strengthening of local wisdom, apathy toward the existence of other groups can be avoided to form a better order of life. concern about the condition of the indonesian people that are considered to have less appreciation for the other groups, in particular against certain religious groups has triggered the author to explore these issues and to respond to the concern. this nation, in fact, has a mechanism which has proved capable of reducing and even quelling the potential of conflict in a multi-cultural society. it is often called local mechanism. although it has local characteristics, but if taken to a higher level, then the mechanism will generate new institutions for creating a broader harmony. this brief article showed that the existing local wisdom could create a harmonious relationship among the bugis community though they have different faith. this is part of their commitment to practicing the noble values of local wisdom so that differences of identity (religion) are not a deterrent in building good relations, but in deed serve as a medium that acts as a reinforcement to the existing order. keywords: revitalizing, local wisdom, social relations. introduction on the first page of kompas daily, january 02, 2014, president susilo bambang yudhoyono highlighted the condition of the nation, which he thought, has degraded in terms of appreciation (of others). according to him, indonesia now has more freedom, but lack compliance. this turmoil is ‘reasonable’ given the circumstances right now are likely to abandon the great values that have been passed down and put into practice since long ago. the reality showed a deterioration of the recognition of other groups as a result of euphoria of freedom. group solidity and solidarity continue to suffer an increasing degradation marked by strong “psychopathology of group” in looking at and understanding the existence of other groups. this attitude is a claim that always considers and looks down on other groups, and always leads to a claim of truth over oneself and one’s own group. a few days later, an editorial in media indonesia (january 9, 2014) entitled “forced unity” reviewed the current religious harmony in this country. [ 68 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 this is triggered by a strong desire of the government to propose legislation governing religious harmony in indonesia. controversy happens not only among politicians and the government, but also among the community itself. this attitude was caused by doubts about the effectiveness of some legislations actually regulate such matters, namely the laws on civic organizations. similarly, the government has a regulation regarding the handling of social conflict which places emphasis on the involvement of local governments in its handling. both conditions discussed above seem to show the presence of acute problems that are difficult to overcome, especially regarding social relations (religion) in the middle of the indonesia society with multiple-culture. weakening social relations is also caused by the failure of the state to manage different cultures by imposing uniformity. the state comes with its the ‘uniformity’ that even lead to the affect the ‘saté politics’ by assuming the presence of certain groups (which are not in line) as the enemy and could endanger the state (qadir, 2011: 102). that is, the uniformity of diversity will only kill the others because what happens is that there will be segmentation and segregation of society that is increasingly sharp as there are always majority-minority groups. in addition, the above conditions also show a shift in national character; from appreciation of differences to rejection and group fanaticism. this reality, for example, is reflected in the number of events that indicated the rise of ethnic and religious sentiments in all aspects. currently, the phenomenon of increasingly intense ownership claims in particular areas which have diverse composition of population such as papua being christian-owned, aceh belonging to islam, etc. (alhamid, 2014). the claim is, to the author, based on a shallow rationalization because people just look at the composition of the religious population (the majority). such claims continue to a larger scale, for example, indonesia has to be ‘an islamic state’ because the majority of the population embraces islam. similarly, the event of regional elections always brings out the crucial issue of local leaders with the slogan ‘putra daerah’ (local son/person born locally). a local person is deemed worthy to be a leader so directly or not it closes the opportunity for others to step up and compete. a shift in the national character as expressed above on one side is a reality that shows the occurrence of a fundamental change in society. in fact, it could potentially alter the character of the people of indonesia to ‘prey’ on its own citizens. therefore, it takes a strategic breakthrough in order to restore the spirit of a nation that strongly upholds the values of human differences and puts them in the highest position. on the other hand, the shift in such character is a real challenge for the nation’s future so it requires the ability to [ 69 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 manage diversity in order to find inspiration for nation-building in the future. indonesia with its diversity should have a great opportunity for the formation of the solidarity of the nation as it did during the fight against the colonists. similarly, differences of views could be resolved when the debate about pancasila was conducted between religious groups and nationalists (ali, 2009: 155-167). in the debate, each group had strong argument that took a lot of time and energy to find the intersection that was acceptable to both parties. referring to this event, the actual spirit of accepting different opinions was very strong in the tradition of the nation and has been developed by the founding fathers. the bottom line is, if differences of opinion can be managed well, then it will result in common vision in developing this nation in a better way as shown in the debate on the five basic principles of the state in the past. conversely, if the difference is always positioned as the source of misfortune, the strife and destruction will always be preserved just as what is going on in many parts of the world. concerns about the deterioration of compliance also have a strong basis especially when one pays attention to a series of conflicts involving religious groups as we can witness the last decade. many people argued that this is one of the signs of the ‘deficit’ against the practice of pancasila (karman, 2010: 115). freedom and compliance are two things should go hand in hand, but this time it happened otherwise. departing from this discussion, through this paper, it will be shown that there is a mechanism that should be developed in order to create and strengthen a relationship which is based on the spirit of togetherness and appreciation. in certain communities, there is a mechanism that runs very effectively in managing diversity. for example, the bugis community with its the spirit of sipakatau’, sipakalebbi’, and sipakainge’ which are still under the principle of siri’ and put into practice not only limited to social relations, but also in a religious life so as to produce a pattern of relationship which is more open and tolerant. bugis society: practicing religion in togetherness the spread of religion, especially islam among the bugis community was in contrast with the spread of islamic faith in java. islam was propagated among the people of bugis-makassar in a top-down pattern, from the ruler and then to the common people (sewang, 2005), while in java it was the opposite. the impact of the dissemination as it happened among the bugis community had consequences at the level of understanding of the teachings of the religion itself. although the spread of the islamic religion took place swiftly, but the level of understanding of the people was poor. this is reflected from the [ 70 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 religious behavior that remains strong on a formal level and tends to leave the substance of religion itself. the muslim community of bugis, for example, in its religious practice, stresses on how to display religion through feasts, rather than how to understand the substance of islam in terms of its application in the social life of the community. it can also be seen in the implementation of the pilgrimage (hajj) which tends to showcase the aspects of a person’s ability to perform acts of worship rather than the core implementation of the hajj itself which should show sincerity and sacrifice. bugis is identical with islam (hasse j, 2009). this statement may be affected by the reality that the majority of adherents of the bugis community is islam. however, in some places, there are also followers of other religions besides islam, such as hinduism and christianity. the presence of religions (especially islam and christianity) in indonesia has change the map of the established religious life earlier. hinduism and buddhism, which were previously embraced by many, had to go through a change after religious missions were introduced by the muslim da’i and christian missionary. encounter of religions has an impact on the change of patterns of people’s religious relations. currently, in sidenreng rappang district we still find a local religion which is the remains of hindu teachings. the local religion is called tolotang towani embraced by the bugis community in this place. in this district, about 10-15% of the population is adherents of the towani tolotang. adherents of tolotang towani are classified into hinduism. towani tolotang is known as the local religion has existed until today with various attributes such as steadfastness with tradition, solidarity, and a commitment to brotherhood, as well as compliance with the legacy of their ancestors. the arrival of new religions (for example, islam which is regarded as ‘imported’ religion) certainly gives a new color in the dynamics of social relations in any society. in many cases, new religions bring conflicts with the old ones. however, in some occasions, the encounter has generated the compromise in various forms. in its encounter, the relationship between islam and local religions such as tolotang towani generated not only conflict, but also compromise. relationship of the two religions which are in conflict can obviously be seen from the very basic teachings which are principle such as the obligation of worship. meanwhile, the pattern which is more appealing to look at is the trend both for mutual compromise in some issues such as the celebration of holy day especially the eidul fitri which also involves the towani tolotang. they also prepare food and open their doors for visitduring the holy day. similarly, regarding funeral arrangements, there are similarities with the muslims. when muslims die, [ 71 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 they are buried almost in the same as the towani tolotang, though there is a little difference in the procession. it also distinguishes the treatment of dead bodies between the towani tolotang and the hindus who generally, especially in bali, burn the corpse. judging by the above phenomenon, especially the procession of funeral which is very different between towani tolotang and that of hindus in bali, then we have a fundamental question about the relationship between towani tolotang and balinese hindus. this issue can at least be answered by looking at how the towani tolotang equip themselves with education. many towani parents send their children to hindu schools or colleges such as the state institute of hindu dharma (ihdn) in bali. according to one of the lecturers of ihdn, gde suwindia, “there are several students attending college here who come from sidrap, and from time to time the number has been increasing”. this confirms the notion that there is something that brings the towani tolotang closer to the balinese hindu, though this can also be seen as a structural impact of efforts of the state to affiliate the towani tolotang into hinduism. the presence of the towani tolotang provides an opportunity for islam to show its character as a religion of dakwah on the one hand, and as a religion that respects the differences on the other, as stated in the qur’an especially surah al kafirun and al ikhlas. in its journey, the relationship of both religions experienced a lot of ups and downs. both had been involved in conflict before. however, the conflicts did not intensify as both parties, especially the religious leaders, quickly resolved the disagreements. though these religions have conflict with each other, in many ways, they mutually accommodate each other’s interests so there have been dynamics of open relationship. this can be seen at least from the way the followers of both islam and towani tolotang live side by side in a neighborhood. revitalizing local wisdom towards an inclusive culture local wisdom actually still exists in any society (jim ife, 2002 in permana, 2010: 4) and has a potential to build harmonious relations between ethnic groups as well as between (followers of) religions. in the local wisdom found in bugis society, there is a spirit of openness and mutual recognition of the existence of other groups. however, the spirit is no longer able to survive due to the weak local reference (abdullah, 2006) which had been confronted by market penetration, not only in urban areas, but the rural areas as well. in the context of relations between different religions, the presence of the ‘official religions’ such as islam and christianity, can be seen as an expansion [ 72 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 of these religions that directly “destroy” the order of local religions which have existed earlier. of course, there are serious issues emerging from the encounter of the two different religious characters. one of the issues that pose potential conflict is the desire of each religion to continue to exist and develop in accordance with its respective teachings. however, it is difficult to materialize given the dakwah character of the official religions are always emphasized when dealing with local religions, no exception between the muslims and the tolotang towani. until today, the relations between towani tolotang and muslims have no problem. according to the author, there are three things that underlie good relations between the two religious followers. first, the contextualization of values. this can be realized at least by making local wisdom a shared issue. the spirit of sipakatau’ is a value that has a lot of meanings. through local wisdom, human beings should be placed on the top and central position in the dynamic social life. in this concept, however, the difference is reduced by the spirit of respect for the values of humanities and is no longer about the question of identity differences. in this concept, the emphasis is on respecting and appreciating each other without challenging the backgrounds concerned, let alone religious differences. another concept that must be maintained among the bugis community is sipakalebbi which means mutual respect. this cannot be separated from the practice of the sipakatau’ spirit. by positioning humans in their nature as god’s most perfect creations, is the same as giving the appreciation to any person without taking their identity as a criterion that often serves as the beginning of discriminatory treatment. sipakalebbi’ or mutual respect is very potential and suitable in conditions where the (religious) communities now often show that their groups is the most prominent. such claim will be eroded by those who practice sipakatau’ and sipakalebbi’. another local wisdom that is always emphasized among bugis people is sipakainge’, i.e. the spirit to continually remind each other. mutual reminding here is very relevant to the terminology “amar ma’ruf nahi munkar” in islamic teachings. the spirit of sipakainge’ is practiced not only for example by a da’i during a religious sermon, but also in the context of broader social interaction. reminding each other in sipakainge’ includes concern for anyone to always be reminded to do good things. the three forms of local wisdom discussed above are the manifestation of the main spirit of padaidi’ (fellowship, brotherhood). this means that whoever the person is, they remain the same creature (human being) so all forms of difference between people, including differences in religion, fall into the spirit of humanity. [ 73 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 second, by making diversity a source of strength, not division. indonesia, prior to becoming a nation, was inhabited by diverse ethnic groups; aceh, javanese, bugis, dayak, papua, and so on. they live in each different region. as awareness emerged especially during colonization, there arose a number of leaders who sought freedom from the colonizers. they did not even challenge the differences based on religious affiliation, but the awareness was build on the basis of the same fate that gave birth to a struggle shared by the groups mentioned to ensure the state of indonesia was established. the country finally successfully concluded that these differences should be a basis for unity as stated in the national slogan: bhinneka tunggal ika (unity in diversity). the difference should be turned into adhesive between the adherents of religions that have a very different doctrine. conflicts based on differences of (religion) can be reduced if other noble values are highlighted. for example religious differences among the bugis are ‘eroded’ by ethnic similarities that still have strong influence on them. referring to the practice of the values contained in the three types of local wisdom above, we then can take a conclusion that managing the differences into strengths is not difficult. religious differences among the bugis community has already existed since a long time ago. the advent of islam, for example, is considered part of the dynamics of life (way of allah). prior to islam, the towani tolotang had become part of a community of bugis, particularly in wajo at that time (mudzhar, 2002). the towani tolotang experienced challenges when new religions arrived and were embraced by the bugis community. the difference can be a source of power that joins all elements in society especially when they are involved in activities in which each member of the community shares the work. in the construction of social facilities such as roads, for example, all should actively be involved so as to awaken the spirit of togetherness. in fact, the towani tolotang is active in the construction of mosques in some of the villages in their territory. this should be an example for the development of cross-religious communication that is not only limited to the level of discourse, but is also manifested in the form of real practice in the midst of the community. in the executive office, several people of the towani tolotang have certain positions. at the legislative level, in each election there are at least two politicians of the towani tolotang became members of parliament. this can be seen as a form of commitment together with the exclusion of religion in building a regional egoism with the spirit of togetherness. third, opening up to other cultures. in this case there is an attitude which promotes the possibility of a more open relationship with the culture from [ 74 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 outside. in other words, this is called accommodative culture (amirin, 2012: 9) that applies to nearly all the ethnic groups in indonesia. though javanese culture is dominant in indonesia, for example, but it should not suppress other cultures. rather, it should give an opportunity for others to grow and thrive. not only does this take place in social life, but it also provides opportunities (read: freedom) in religion. similarly, in south sulawesi, the majority ethnic bugis converted to islam but did not use their position as a means and a reason to suppress the minority. in celebration of religious holidays such as eidul fitri holiday for example, it is celebrated by both muslims and the towani tolotang. they visit each other and give special bugis food to each other. in the context of the relationship between islam and towani tolotang, the three assumptions above should be able to be used to measure their social relations. currently, both are of the same ethnic group, namely bugis. it also serves as one of the important factors of the sustainable relationship between the two. that is, both muslims and towani tolotang should put forward the spirit of togetherness and shared values that distinction (religion) is a law of nature that is inevitable but can be compromised. therefore, it is clear that religious differences could be used for building a good relationship, thus the differences could serve as the main force in creating a peaceful society based on mutual respect and understanding. thus, it is the relationship and understanding that should be improved, and only with a shared commitment can this nation step into a better life in the future. however, those values cannot run by itself. in this case, it requires the intervention of the other parties such as the society, religion, and state. community intervention is needed in the framework of how these values are put into practice. it is also the case with religion, as an institution that is entrenched and widespread in society, religion has a strategic position to be able to force believers to obey their respective holy doctrines. lastly, the state intervention is absolutely necessary in the process of internalization of values. however, the previous stage that must be completed is the institutionalization (berger, 1994) of the values that penetrated into each individual. the process of institutionalization of the community can be made through the following stages: known, understood, obeyed, and appreciated (sulistiyowati, 2003: 103). closing remarks local wisdom is an important milestone for the implementation of noble values in a particular community. local wisdom passed down from earlier generation has various strengths in building a more harmonious and humanistic relationship. in the context of religious life, local wisdom turns [ 75 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 out to be able to save the spirit of tolerance. this at least may be found in the dynamics of religious social interaction between the muslims and the towani tolotang in south sulawesi. both faiths are no longer stuck on formalized religious differences, but rather grow and develop in an atmosphere of competitive religious practices and local noble values. the life principles of the muslim bugis, as described above, always uphold the spirit of the recognition and appreciation of others. the towani tolotang, despite having different beliefs in the middle of muslim majorities, still have a place and freedom to observe their religious teachings. muslims do not consider the presence of the towani tolotang as ‘the enemy’. in fact, both the muslim and the towani tolotang coexist with open communication. the towani tolotang have been regarded as brothers and sisters and have a place in the middle of the bugis community majority. both religions can live side by side with their respective principles without provoking others with good and bad claims. here we can find how to put forward the respect of all forms of diversity in order to build the dignity of humanity as real implications of the practice of the essence of religions. however, local wisdom that exists in each community continues to experience erosion in different conditions. there is a tendency that today’s generation assumes that the legacy of the ancestors is no longer relevant with the context of today’s modern life. this has resulted in the local wisdom being no longer implemented in society, so it has somehow lost its ‘wisdom’. in fact, the contextualization of local wisdom values is much more important in the development of the nation, rather than adopting the values from outside which have unproven effectiveness in this nation’s civilization. this is where the weak spots need to be filled through a variety of efforts to build good relations among religious people, one of which, through the internalization of local wisdom in life so that peace and prosperity can be enjoyed together. bibliography abdullah, irwan. 2006. konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. alhamid, idrus. 2014. “jayapura dalam transformasi agama dan budaya: memahami akar konflik kristen-islam di papua”, disertasi. yogyakarta: agama dan lintas budaya. ali, as’ad said. 2009. negara pancasila: jalan kemaslahatan berbangsa. jakarta: lp3es. [ 76 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 amirin, tatang m. 2012. “implementasi pendekatan pendidikan multikultural-kontekstual berbasis kearifan lokal di indonesia”, dalam jurnal pembangunan pendidikan: fondasi dan aplikasi. vol. 1 nomor 1 juni. yogyakarta: program doktor program studi ilmu pendidikan program pascasarjana universitas negeri yogyakarta. berger, peter l. 1994. langit suci: agama sebagai realitas sosial. jakarta: lp3es. harian kompas, “kebebasan minus kepatuhan”, 02 januari 2014. hasse j. 2004. “diskriminasi terhadap agama minoritas: keberadaan towani tolotang di kabupaten sidenreng rappang”, tesis. yogyakarta: agama dan lintas budaya, sekolah pascasarjana ugm. hasse j. 2009. “adat dan islam di bugis: antara konflik dan konformitas”, dalam irwan abdullah, dkk (ed.). dinamika masyarakat dan kebudayaan kontemporer. yogyakarta: tici publications. ife, jim. 2002. community development, creating community alternative vision: analysis and practice. australia: longmann. karman, yonky. 2010. runtuhnya kepedulian kita: fenomena bangsa yang terjebak formalisme agama. jakarta: kompas. mudzhar, atho. 2002. pendekatan studi islam dalam teori dan praktek. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. permana, r. cecep eka. 2010. kearifan lokal masyarakat baduy dalam mitigasi bencana. jakarta: wedatama widya sastra. sewang, ahmad. 2005. islamisasi kerajaan gowa (abad xvi sampai abad xvii). jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia. sulistyowati, tutik. 2003. “proses institutionalizations nilai-nilai sosial budaya masyarakat tengger”, dalam nurudin, dkk (eds.). agama tradisional: potret kearifan hidup masyarakat samin dan tengger. yogyakarta: lkis. qodir, zuly. 2011. sosiologi agama: esei-esei agama di ruang publik. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. [ 33 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 repositioning religious organization activism in the digital era ach. tijani universitas islam negeri sunan kalijaga email: 20300011047@student.uin-suka.ad.id abdul muin banyal university of minnesota email: banyal015@umn.edu abstract the rise of the digital world poses a challenge to the position of religious organizations. this is evident in the emergence of new authorities, both individuals and groups, outside traditional religious structures. nahdlatul ulama (nu), a mainstream traditional organization, has also been impacted by this shift. however, several studies indicate that nu has effectively adapted to various challenges and situations over time. this analysis focuses on how nu, as a representative of traditional mainstream islamic organizations, has repositioned itself in response to the digital era, using the example of its activities in mojokerto. this work addresses two key issues: first, how nu adapts to the presence of social media; second, what strategies nu employs to reposition itself in the face of these new challenges on social media. to explore these questions, this work employs a qualitative methodology, collecting data through interviews, observations, and documentation. the data is then analyzed and presented using a digital religion approach. the findings suggest that nu has repositioned itself in two main ways. first, through adaptation, by adopting and actively using social media platforms such as facebook, instagram, and youtube via the organization’s official accounts. second, through a form of resistance, by having nu activists engage on social media without prominently displaying their organizational affiliation. keywords: repositioning; religious organization; digital world; nahdlatul ulama introduction in the past decade, social media and religion have emerged as a prominent focus in academic research, reflecting the dynamic relationship between the two (campbell and bellar, 2023). social media platforms have transformed the social landscape, rendering it highly fluid. concurrently, the digital domain, across its diverse platforms, is seen both as an extension of traditional authority and a potential catalyst for the emergence of new religious authority [ 34 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 (campbell, 2007). this phenomenon presents a fresh challenge for religious institutions in indonesia, including nu and muhammadiyah (abdullah, 2020). in the realm of islam and social media research, the presence of social media has given rise to what is termed an islamic digital space, where a plethora of religious discussions unfold across various digital platforms. scholars refer to this space as cie (cyber islamic environment) (bunt, 2018). while some scholars, like campbell (2007), helland (2016), and bunt (2018), regard this development positively, viewing social media as an effective medium for disseminating religious teachings (islam 2019), others, such as amin abdullah (2020), ahmad muttaqin (2020) and husen (2019), hold a negative perspective. they argue that social media fosters superficial understanding and poses a significant threat to traditional authority, which derives legitimacy from tradition (weber, 1978). when it comes to the potential positive and negative impacts of social media, nu does not lean exclusively towards one viewpoint. throughout its history in indonesia, nu has demonstrated unique patterns of adaptation. scholars, including bush (2009), have noted nu’s remarkable ability not only to adapt but also to effectively address and overcome various challenges. for instance, following the aftermath of 9/11, when the international focus cast a stigma on islam as being associated with terrorism, nu successfully countered this perception by presenting a friendly, moderate, and respectful image of indonesian islam. these efforts have subtly reshaped the international perspective, making nu an intriguing subject of study for scholars worldwide. (bush, 2009). throughout its history, nu has displayed a remarkable pattern of adaptation, notably during the early years of indonesian independence. during this period, nu exhibited a comprehensive response to the political landscape and national ideologies. it underwent a significant transformation, transitioning from a civil organization to a political party—an essential move to counter the pressures from anti-democratic and non-pluralistic islamic factions. however, nu reverted to its non-party civil organization status once the situation stabilized (bush, 2009). this adaptation remained evident as nu navigated through the islamic discourse and the peak of islamism in indonesia. in the midst of these challenges, nu, under the banner of indonesian islamic ideals articulated by gus dur, promoted a grand narrative known as ‘islam nusantara’ [indonesian islam] (mietzner and muhtadi, 2018). implicitly, nu emerged as a representation of a religious organization capable of partnering with the government to uphold the nation’s integrity and statehood. its various [ 35 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 adaptations have significantly contributed to the nation’s stability. (hakim, et al., 2023). as nu steps into the digital era within the national context, it’s observed to have undertaken various adaptations. these begin with aesthetic adjustments, reflected in the presentation of excerpts highlighting deradicalization, moderation, and narratives stemming from islam nusantara, packaged in visually appealing images and videos on social media platforms (schmidt, 2021). however, the efficacy of these adaptations is not absolute, given the nuanced nature of the digital realm and the cyber islamic environment (cie), as discussed by bunt (2018). for muslim minorities, the cie serves as a space for consolidation, while for the majority, it serves as a platform for affirmation and dominance. simply put, the cie and the digital landscape at large foster the growth of various islamic groups (iqbal, 2017). consequently, the digital presence poses both challenges (akmaliah, 2020)—characterized by internal and external turmoil within nu (hoesterey, 2021). on the other hand, it is also interpreted as an opportunity (akmaliah, 2022), represented by nu’s continued resilience as a representation of moderate islamic values in indonesia. in fact, nu’s engagement with the digital world can be characterized as navigating between opportunities and challenges. therefore, this research aims to delve into how nu navigates the digital landscape amid these dual forces by focusing on the local context—nu activities in mojokerto city— across various social media channels. discourse on religion in the digital world historically, the discourse on religion and the digital world emerged in the 1980s (campbell and emerson, 2011). however, its true impact began to manifest in the 1990s, as the internet network facilitated the migration of numerous offline religious activities into the digital realm (bunt, 2022). academically, this relationship between religion and the digital world is gradually being recognized as a new scientific discipline. nevertheless, this phenomenon has yet to receive the serious attention it deserves from scholars (vitullo, 2016). as discussions surrounding religion and the digital world progress, they are gradually gaining traction within academic circles. initially, two major responses emerged among scholars. the first response came from utopian circles, who held the belief that the digital world would not significantly alter religious practices. in contrast, the second response emerged from dystopian [ 36 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 circles, suggesting that the digitalization of religion is not only possible but could potentially lead to significant transformations in religious life (vitullo, 2016). helland (2005), is credited as the first scholar to propose a theory of the relationship between religion and the digital world. according to him, this relationship is an unavoidable phenomenon, as evidenced by the increasing technological maturity that brings religion closer to the digital realm. in his initial theory, helland introduced two forms of closeness between religion and the digital world. the first, termed online religion, denotes the presence of religious information in digital spaces. the second, termed religion online, goes beyond merely containing religious information, describing digital spaces where concrete activities and interactions resembling offline religious practices occur. this concept suggests that the digital realm becomes a new arena for the institutional presence of religion, not just a repository for religious information. over time, the distinction between offline and online aspects of religious life has blurred, leading scholars like helland (2016) and campbell (2013) to propose a new concept to describe this increasingly intertwined relationship: digital religion or, as siuda (2021) terms it, cyber religion. these terms describe the penetration and manifestation of religious activities within online spaces. in the context of islamic studies and the digital world, the concept of digital religion is acknowledged as a necessity, recognizing that the digital sphere constitutes an integral part of contemporary religious life. the acceptance of the digital world across various channels featuring islamic content led to the conceptualization of the cyber islamic environment (cie). this term not only signifies the acknowledgment of the digital world as a component of the islamic domain but also reflects a fervent embrace of it within islam, thereby engendering new challenges for the islamic community. among these challenges is the contestation of islamic authority, which brings forth competitors both at the individual and group levels (bunt, 2018). while the presence of the digital world is enthusiastically embraced within islam, it also poses a threat to traditional authority, presenting an opportunity for islamic minorities with political agendas and resistance stemming from disillusionment with the international political order, often expressed through jihadist narratives (bunt, 2003). this jihadist narrative, frequently disseminated in online spaces, contributes to stigmatizing islam as a religion associated with terrorist activities. returning to the discourse on religion in the digital world, it is evident that the presence of the digital realm impacts all muslim groups, including both the majority and minority factions, presenting [ 37 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 both opportunities and challenges. while minorities may find opportunities in the digital space, the digital world poses a threat to the majority, particularly traditional authorities. the coupling of the digital world with the narrative of globalization presents another significant challenge that increasingly threatens traditional authorities. the characteristic of openness inherent in the digital world has facilitated the entry of various authorities into digital spaces. consequently, two crucial changes have ensued: macro changes and micro changes. macro changes are characterized by the emergence of new religious ideas and the formation of new groups. meanwhile, micro changes manifest as shifts in the mindset of religious communities, fostering independence and a disregard for official religious institutions that are traditionally controlled by authorities. this proliferation of options in the digital world grants religious adherents greater freedom and independence in shaping their religious orientation, often disregarding established religious authority or institutions (dawson, 2014). amid the looming threat of the digital world’s impact on religious institutions, particularly traditional ones, it is evident that the digital world will continue to exert significant influence on human life. religion itself can no longer evade the pervasive presence of the digital world. according to brenda (2001), the digital world has evolved into a new frontier for the next generation, similar to moses seeking god in the desert labyrinth. this implies that, whether embraced or not, the digital world and religion are inevitably intertwined in the future (jones, 2002). in fact, social media, as an integral part of the digital world, has become a crucial source of religious information for muslim communities worldwide, including those in indonesia (slama, 2018). consequently, the issue of authority and the proliferation of religious authority within the digital space must be acknowledged as a reality that all religious authorities and institutions must confront (ahyar and alfitri, 2019). the acceptance of the digital world in indonesia began with the digitalization of islam, marked by the emergence of important applications related to islam, such as the widespread adoption of the al-quran application by the majority of the indonesian muslim community. this initial phase was followed by digital islamization, characterized by the proliferation of islamic content in digital spaces (said et al., 2020). the impact of the digital world became more tangible during the covid-19 pandemic in indonesia. as traditional religious activities faced limitations due to social distancing measures, the digital world served as a bridge, enabling the continuation of religious practices that could not be carried out collectively offline. consequently, the obstacles posed by offline meetings were mitigated through online alternatives, presenting the [ 38 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 digital world as a solution that was consciously embraced by the majority of the indonesian muslim community as a new religious space (burhani, 2021). overall, the digital world has transformed religious practices within the indonesian muslim community, affecting various aspects from rituals to the authorization process (syarif & hannan, 2022). particularly during the covid-19 pandemic, online activities such as friday prayers gained popularity, highlighting the increasing significance of digital platforms in facilitating religious rituals. (tari, et al., 2021). behind the widespread acceptance of the digital world among the indonesian muslim community, there exists a certain degree of wariness. a primary concern is that the digital world, particularly on social media platforms, often showcases figures or preachers who lack sufficient qualifications and may even succumb to the commodification of religion (muttaqin, 2020). specifically, this phenomenon is perceived to undermine traditional mainstream authority, as social media content tends to offer instant but superficial insights, providing recipients with an incomplete understanding (husen, 2019). from another perspective, the phenomenon is regarded as a religious ailment or symptom if religious matters are discussed by individuals lacking adequate religious knowledge. nevertheless, this reality cannot be overlooked, and thus, social media has become a space for negotiation and contestation for both traditional authorities and emerging figures (murken, 2004). below is an example illustrating the use of social media for preaching by a celebrity with shallow religious understanding, resulting in what can be termed as “religious symptoms.”. instagram as a space for da’wah source: https://www.instagram.com/ariekuntung/ accessed on 3 june 2024 [ 39 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 indeed, the discourse on religion and the digital world has long been an academic concern. the acceptance of religion and islam in the digital world presents both opportunities and challenges. a significant challenge, especially for islam in the context of the digital world marked by the rise of social media, is the issue of authority. the gradual marginalization of traditional authority in religious discourse within the digital domain has become a pressing concern for all religious authorities and institutions, including those within the islamic world. in this regard, nu, as a representative of the indonesian muslim community, is not immune to this threat. mojokerto city and religious activities in the digital world discussions about religion and the digital world have now permeated the broader community. the intersection of religion and the digital world is not confined to major cities or elite circles; it is also becoming a topic of interest among local communities. in the indonesian context, awareness of the digital world is growing across various regions and cities. for instance, in the past three years, mojokerto has been recognized as one of the cities with the most advanced digital preparedness in indonesia (riani, 2021). this digital readiness inevitably impacts all aspects of its citizens’ lives, including their religious practices. the city of mojokerto has experienced numerous administrative changes throughout its history, beginning with its status as a residency city called staadsgemeente during the dutch east indies government. this long-standing importance is particularly evident in the east java region. during the japanese occupation from 1942-1945, it was known as si ku cho. post-independence, mojokerto retained its significance through various administrative statuses. in 1950, it became a municipality, in 1965 it was designated the municipality of mojokerto, and in 1974 it became a level ii municipality. finally, in 1999, it was established as the mojokerto city government, a status it holds to this day (mojokerto city government, 2024). despite its relatively small area of 16.47 km², mojokerto remains an important city both economically and culturally. (financial audit board of east java, 2024). the small city of mojokerto is home to approximately 140,730 residents who exhibit a rich ethnic and religious diversity. from a religious perspective, islam is the predominant religion, with around 130,327 adherents. protestantism follows with 735 adherents, catholicism with 1,843, buddhism with 1,062, hinduism with 106, and confucianism with 41 adherents (office of population and civil registry of mojokerto city, 2023). as the majority religion, islam [ 40 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 prominently influences the religious symbols seen in public spaces. the most significant manifestation of this is the number of places of worship, 252 in total, which includes 179 prayer rooms and 73 mosques (kementerian agama jawa timur, 2013). the presence of numerous islamic houses of worship indicates that islamic activities in mojokerto are vibrant and frequent. observations from november 2023 to january 2024 reveal that several key mosques in the city maintain a regular schedule of recitations and congregational prayers. for instance, the al-fatah mosque, the main mosque in mojokerto, holds routine recitations every evening after sunset prayers. additionally, it hosts weekly events such as the rebuan session on wednesday evenings after evening prayer and a saturday morning recitation followed by a communal breakfast in the mosque courtyard. other nearby mosques, like the al-hidayah mosque in the prajurit kulon sub-district, also maintain daily and weekly recitation schedules. similarly, the salahuddin mosque offers a comparable weekly schedule, including a sunday morning recitation followed by breakfast (offline observation results, january 2024-march 2024). meanwhile, religious activities in the digital world of mojokerto city are just as vibrant as the conventional ones. a search using the keyword “religious studies” on three social media platforms—youtube, facebook, and instagram— revealed 30 active accounts broadcasting religious activities. specifically, there are 14 accounts on instagram, 8 accounts on facebook, and 8 channels on youtube (offline observation results, january 2024-march 2024). hence, mojokerto city, with its well-prepared digital infrastructure and abundance of mosques, boasts a bustling schedule of religious activities. offline, congregational prayers and recitations in numerous mosques occur daily and weekly. viewed through the lens of weber’s three types of authority processes (1978), these offline religious activities in mojokerto align with the traditional category. this classification applies both in terms of methodology and the authority figures leading the recitations, such as the kiyai, gus, and ustadz. these figures hold traditional legitimacy and are closely associated with nu traditions. religious activities in the digital world are equally vibrant, with 30 accounts actively broadcasting on three major social media platforms. instagram emerges as the busiest platform for religious content dissemination, followed by facebook and youtube, each hosting 8 active accounts. this robust digital presence mirrors the thriving offline religious landscape in mojokerto city, particularly evident in the recitation of the quran. implicitly, this data reinforces the scholarly arguments put forth by academics such as campbell [ 41 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 (2023), helland (2016) and bunt (2018), highlighting the digital world as a growing arena for religious engagement among communities, including mojokerto city’s muslim population. nahdlatul ulama activities on social media in mojokerto city in the preceding section, we explored how the digital world has become an integral part of a new religious activity space for the muslim community of mojokerto city. in this section, we delve into nu’s response to the emergence of social media and the potential presence of new authorities within mojokerto city’s muslim community. employing a fresh perspective in examining the relationship between religion and the digital world—termed the digital religion perspective (tsuria and a.campbell 2022)—we will analyze data on both offline and online activities. this includes direct interviews, offline field observations, observations on social media platforms (instagram, facebook, and youtube), and relevant documentation. based on our observations in the social media space, nu in mojokerto city appears to be very receptive to the presence of social media. this is evident from the distribution of accounts actively broadcasting religious activities. the data for this research was collected between december 2023 and february 2024. the detailed information can be seen in the following table. distribution of accounts on three social media platforms platform   mass organization non-mass organization total ldii mui salafi muhammadiyah nu other organizations public/ private instagram 1 1 0 1 8 1 1 14 youtube 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 8 facebook 0 0 1 0 3 0 4 8 sub total 1 1 1 1 13 6 7 30 18 12 table: summary of observation data from three social media platforms—facebook, instagram, and youtube—using the search terms “religious organizations and religious studies” between november 2023 and january 2024. [ 42 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 the table above shows that nu emerges as the most dominant group across the three platforms, with a total of 13 accounts. comparatively, other groups or organizations show less activity; muhammadiyah, mui, ldii, and salafi each has only 1 account. however, nu faces strong competition from accounts affiliated with other institutions and personal accounts, totaling 12 accounts, trailing nu by just 1 point. in terms of social media dominance, nu maintains control by consistently maintaining a presence on every platform, with 8 accounts on instagram, 2 on youtube, and 3 on facebook. the number of nu accounts on social media does not necessarily translate into a significant influence on social media users. strong competition from nonmass organizations and new authorities, both individual and group, poses a challenge for nu. despite nu’s dominance in terms of social media accounts, this does not correspond to a larger number of followers or subscribers. in fact, non-mass organizations and personal accounts, even though they have one fewer account than nu, have a greater number of followers. this data is illustrated in the following table.: distribution of subscribers/followers of religious activities on social media in mojokerto platform   mass organization non-mass organization total ldii mui salafi muhammadiyah nu other organizations public/ private instagram 108 74 0 156 7971 845 2901 12055 youtube 0 0 0 0 18408 1110 28500 48018 facebook 0 0 4500 0 3600 0 86821 94921 sub total 108 74 4500 156 29979 1955 118222 154994 sub total 34817 120177 table: observation results of profile descriptions of several accounts on three religious social media platforms (facebook, instagram, and youtube), data collected between november 2023 and january 2024. using the table above, we can compare the number of nu followers on social media, totaling 29,979 across 13 accounts spread across three platforms. however, this figure pales in comparison to the followers of non-mass organizations, which reach 120,177 followers, constituting 77.56% of the total followers or accounts inclined towards religious activities on social media in mojokerto city. in percentage terms, nu is followed by only 19.34% of all social media followers. this significant disparity in followers between nu and [ 43 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 non-organizational groups and personal accounts highlights the emergence of new authorities that pose a considerable threat to nu’s position within the muslim community of mojokerto city in the digital world. the disparity between the significant number of nu accounts and the total count of followers on social media presents a new challenge. essentially, dominance in the social media sphere is determined by the number of followers or subscribers, rather than the sheer quantity of accounts. this indicates that, in this instance, nu has only managed to adapt to social media without exerting substantial influence. in fact, nu still lags behind its competitors, namely non-mainstream institutional groups and personal accounts. upon closer examination, it was revealed that nu’s approach to adopting and adapting to social media remains modest and not yet fully professionalized, as confirmed by gus badri, one of the nu representatives interviewed. the following excerpt is from the interview. researcher: what are your thoughts on the process of digitizing da’wah in mojokerto city? informant: in my opinion, within the circles of islamic boarding schools, it can be said that the efforts are still lacking and not very intensive. researcher: what about nu itself? informant: the situation is similar with nu; it’s still lacking and far behind other groups. (interview, february 19, 2024) gus badri also confirmed this sentiment during his interview, highlighting that the use or acceptance of social media is quite informal and lacks professional management: “yes, at least when it comes to qur’an recitations, it’s usually done live. going live is convenient, without the need for editing. editing takes up a lot of time. the recitations i lead occur every monday.” (interview, february 19, 2024) similarly, gus ismail expressed similar sentiments regarding nu’s use of social media in mojokerto city. the following is an excerpt from his interview: researcher: for instance, when compared to other groups, how would you describe nu in mojokerto city? informant: actually, nu’s efforts are not as vigorous when compared to other groups, particularly, former wahhabi adherents who excel in their recitations in mojokerto city. (interview, february 20, 2024) when examining the social media pages of mojokerto city ansor on facebook, [ 44 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 it’s apparent that the content in the last 10 posts primarily focuses on internal organizational activities aimed at enhancing internal structures only (a. k. mojokerto, 2024). similarly, on the instagram platform of mojokerto city nu pc, there are minimal general recitation posts, with a greater emphasis on structural reinforcement by showcasing information on nu activities. this includes both the initiatives undertaken by mojokerto city nu pc and those by the nahdlatul ulama executive board. although some posts are designed to appeal to the wider audience by featuring quotes from nu kiyais and founders, such as hadratus sheikh kh. hasyim asy’ari, the overall content targeting the general public is considered very limited (pcnukotamojokerto, 2024). below are screenshots of the two mojokerto city nu social media pages, namely the facebook page owned by pc ansor mojokerto city and the instagram page owned by pc nu mojokerto city, both of which predominantly showcase organizational activities rather than outreach efforts directly engaging the broader community. source: instagram https://www.instagram.com/ pcnukotamojokerto/ accessed on 24 march 2024 souce: facebook https://www.facebook.com/ gpansorkotamojokerto accessed on 24 march 2024 religious organizations’ social media on instagram and facebook platforms the phenomenon described above contrasts with the activities of nonmainstream institutions and personal accounts. non-mainstream institutions refer to islamic educational establishments that are not affiliated with specific mass organizations. for instance, the petaqu al-multazam tiga youtube account, one of the channels associated with non-mainstream institutions, predominantly features direct da’wah content aimed at the broader community rather than information about institutional activities (p. p. t. q. in mojokerto, 2023). this discrepancy in engagement with the wider community leads to a higher level of interest from the public in non-mainstream social media content. [ 45 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 this is evident in the difference in the number of followers or subscribers of islamic social media accounts in mojokerto city, where accounts of nonmainstream institutions and private individuals outnumber nu accounts. however, upon closer inspection of non-mainstream institution accounts, it becomes apparent that many of these accounts represent islamic boarding schools in the city of mojokerto. for example, in the petaqu al-multazam tiga account, numerous nu kiyais are actively involved, with informants like gus ismail and gus badri regularly leading recitations on this platform (p. p. t. q. in mojokerto, 2023). the screenshot below clearly illustrates the presence of gus badri and gus ismail as nu activists who frequently contribute to recitations on this account. source: youtube petaqu al-mutazam tiga https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2xt6ig3mpby accessed on 24 march 2024 source: youtube petaqu al-mutazam tiga https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cqa-z079pb0&t=1555s accessed on 24 march 2024 figures 1 and 2: online recitations on youtube platform led by kiyais affiliated with nu the presence of gus badri and gus ismail on non-mainstream social media accounts illustrates that mojokerto city nu’s response to the emergence of social media and the growing religious activity on these platforms extends beyond official structural directives reflected in official accounts. instead, nu’s presence permeates social media channels that may not explicitly mention their affiliation with nu. therefore, evaluating mojokerto city nu’s presence on social media cannot solely rely on its official accounts but must also consider the involvement of nu activists such as nu kiyais [cleric] and ustadz [islamic teacher/preacher] across various social media platforms. consequently, even if the official mojokerto city nu accounts appear to have fewer followers [ 46 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 or subscribers, it does not necessarily indicate a loss of influence within the mojokerto city muslim community. this is because the presence of nu kiyais in non-mainstream institution accounts indirectly reflects nu’s influence across social media platforms. in concrete terms, the enduring significance of nu in mojokerto city is evident through the testimonials of several nu residents who continue to rely on nu for crucial religious matters. dina, representing the younger generation of nu followers, acknowledged that while she frequently follows recitations on social media, she still turns to local nu ustadz for religious guidance on matters she finds difficult to grasp. here’s an excerpt from the interview: s: when it comes to religious matters, do you prefer searching online or asking local ustadz directly? r: it varies, really. if i don’t fully understand something from online sources, i prefer consulting the local nu ustadz or kiyai in my community. since i identify with nu, i usually turn to nu figures for guidance (interview, january 23, 2024). in addition to its efforts on social media, nu in mojokerto city remains steadfast in providing offline religious activities, as highlighted in the previous section. during the period from november 2023 to january 2024, mosques affiliated with nu, such as al-fatah mosque, sholahudin mosque, and at-taqwa mosque, consistently held daily recitations after sunset and weekly gatherings on saturdays and sundays. moreover, religious practices like tahlil are conducted every evening after sunset on thursdays or fridays. these findings bring us back to the focal point of this research: the adaptation patterns of mojokerto city nu to the emergence of social media, viewed through the lens of digital religion theory (campbell and bellar, 2023; campbell and emerson, 2011). this adaptation can be seen as a form of contestation, resisting the challenges posed by social media. furthermore, when analyzed through weber’s theory of the authorization process (1978), which emphasizes the role of traditional actors such as kiyai, gus (young kiyai or kiyai’s son), and ustadz, nu’s response falls into the traditional category. in summary, nu in mojokerto city exhibits two adaptation patterns to maintain its position as a religious institution and authority amidst the presence of social media. first, nu fills each social media platform with representative accounts in a structured manner. second, to counter the potential influence of new authorities that could challenge nu’s position, nu strategically places its activists on social media accounts without explicitly highlighting their affiliation with nu. meanwhile, offline religious activities like tahlilan [ 47 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 [recitations of the confession of faith] and mosque recitations remain crucial pillars of nu’s influence in mojokerto city, even in the digital era. conclusion the emergence of social media within religious communities has introduced a new religious sphere, presenting both opportunities and challenges, particularly for traditional authorities like nu. the ongoing efforts to sideline traditional authorities persist with the influx of new authorities on social media, comprising both groups and individuals. leveraging its experience in adaptation throughout its history in indonesia, nu has demonstrated an ability to navigate the digital era through various social media platforms. nu’s approach to adaptation avoids extremes, neither outright rejecting the digital world (utopian) nor unconditionally embracing it without consideration (dystopian). in the case of nu in mojokerto city, it is evident that nu has effectively adapted to social media in a balanced manner. mojokerto city nu demonstrates two key forms of adaptation. firstly, there’s a clear dominance of structural nu accounts across major social media platforms like facebook, instagram, and youtube. secondly, there’s a strategic resistance to potential new authorities and the erosion of nu’s influence in the digital era, reflected in the presence of nu activists filling non-mainstream social media institutional accounts in mojokerto city without explicitly highlighting their nu affiliation. additionally, offline, nu remains active in mosques throughout the city. thus, both online and offline, nu’s presence remains robust among the people of mojokerto city. these findings affirm nu’s capability to reposition itself as a significant religious authority and organization in the digital era. implicitly, this research reinforces the scholarly argument, previously reported by akmaliah (2022), that nu retains its influence as a religious organization and authority for the indonesian muslim community in the digital age. indeed, this research significantly contributes to the advancement of studies concerning religion and digitalization in indonesia. specifically, it offers valuable academic insights into the role of religious authorities and institutions in the digital age. the reposition and adaptation strategies employed by nu in mojokerto city serve as a noteworthy example of how religious organizations navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by social media in the digital era. however, it is essential to acknowledge that this pattern is just one of many, and further investigation is warranted to comprehensively understand the dynamics of religious organizations in diverse digital spaces. future research should explore the experiences of other religious organizations beyond nu, [ 48 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 involving various digital platforms, to enrich and refine the findings of this study. bibliography abdullah, m. a. 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[ 52 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2963 [ 249 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 green consumption: searching for religious ethics of consumption mohammad hasan basri the asroruna institute, jakarta abstract di tengah persoalan krisis lingkungan dan ekologis, muncul masalah baru yang telah menjadi gaya hidup masyarakat modern yaitu apa yang disebut sebagai “affluenza” atau gaya hidup konsumtif yang tidak lagi mempertimbangkan asas kegunaan dan pertimbangan ekologis dalam mengkonsumsi makanan, pakaian, tempat tinggal maupun kebutuhan sehari-hari lainnya. salah satu cara untuk mengatasi kecendurungan gaya hidup konsumtif ini adalah dengan etika konsumsi untuk memperkuat integritas individual dan masyarakat agar bisa menjalankan hidup yang lebih sederhana, tidak boros, dan lebih ramah lingkungan. bertolak dari tesis bahwa “agama masa depan akan lebih hijau” yang dicetuskan oleh bron taylor (2004), tulisan ini menelusuri jejak pemikiran “green paradigm” dan menawarkan konsep “green consumption” sebagai sebuah landasan bersama (common ground) bagi agama-agama untuk mengatasi masalah “affluenza” dalam kehidupan masyarakat modern yang terus cenderung konsumtif. makalah ini juga menyuguhkan beberapa model etika terapan yang bisa dijadikan contoh untuk menformulasikan dan mengaplikasikan konsep “green consumption”. key words: green paradigm, green religion, green consumption, religious ethics, and consumerism. introduction to begin with this discussion, i want to share my experience when i took a course on “interrogating globalization” during one semester-student exchange program in department of religion, temple university philadelphia, usa. the first meeting of the course was started with “food crisis” discussion which was the beginning of crisis in usa at that time (in the middle of 2008) by watching the provocative internet film entitled “the story of stuff ”.1 a part 1 the film has been viewed over 10 million times by people around the world. the reflection and comments to this film was then written by annie leonard in the book with the same title. leonard tracks the life of the stuff we use every day—where our cotton t-shirts, laptop computers, and aluminum cans come from, how they are produced, distributed, and consumed, and where they go when we throw them out. see further, annie leonard, 2010. the story of stuff: how our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health—and a vision for change, new york: free press, p.145. [ 250 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 of the scenes revealed that with just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. if everyone consumed at u.s. rates, we would need three to five planets! how greedy we are! how much stuff we have consumed while many people living in scarcity of food! that was probably reflective insight that struck students’ mind. “we have a problem with stuff ” indeed, as concluded by annie leonard (2010) in the film and her book. in terms of daniel c. maguire, modern world today faces a problem of “affluenza” (overconsumption) along with environmental crises and demographic crises.2 why does “affluenza” menacingly threaten our home-earth? overconsumption decreases the carrying capacity of earth and practically empties the resources and gradually lowers down the level of environment and ecological health. the world watch institute reported that the ecological capacity of the world hitherto is not enough for excessive wishes of china, india, japan and america. for example, america has less than 5% of world population, but produces 25% of world co2 and use 25% of the world resources. in spite of having 3% of world discovered oil resources, america spends 26% of the world energy and produces 30% of the world spoils and wastes. according to researches, the effects of this country on environment are 250 times more than people of african sahara. if china and india reach the american level in 2030, they will need the whole planet to satisfy their needs. in addition, the difference of consumption patterns can be seen also between the north and the south. it brings about the inequalities, on which undp noted that 20% of the world’s people in the highest income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures, whereas the poorest 20% only account for 1.3%.3 to deal with “affluenza”, gary gardner cherishes the hope that religious groups could envision and take account on the problem, for religions have a strong interest in restraining consumption, although some reasons probably very different from the concerns of environmentalists. religious traditions broaden the discussion by citing the corrosive effect of excessive consumption not only on the environment, but on the development of character, both individuals 2 the term “affluenza” is rooted from affluence and influenza used by critics of overconsumption and consumerism. see maguire, daniel c. 2000. the introduction of visions of a new earth: religious perspectives on population, consumption, and ecology. new york: state university of new york press, p.2. 3 to trace the data, see bijan bidabad, 2010. overconsumption in ethic economics and sustainable development, new delhi: the institute for trade studies and researches, p.7. [ 251 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 and of societies. religions are in a position to weight in more strongly with the spiritual and moral case against excessive consumption. and beyond preaching, they could become more active in the community by sponsoring neighborhood groups that seek to promote simplicity and by otherwise offering support to those who seek to live simply. 4 thus, this paper attempts to conceptualize “green consumption” as a common ground of religious ethics for religious community to contribute the problem of overconsumption in this age of consumerism. the following discussion will trace the historical roots on green paradigm, the definition of green consumption, and religious tenets as visionary bases for religious ethics of consumption. the genealogy of green paradigm in the middle of the 1990s there was a short period when the environmentalist movements succeeded in popularizing the idea of environmental space, combining the idea of consideration for future generations with the idea of a more equal distribution within the present generation, this idea also surfaced in some official publications. the idea of environmental space placed consumption and lifestyle on the agenda in a much more radical way than the dominant interpretation of sustainable consumption and production tended to do. according to nick robins, the emphasis of sustainable production is on the supply side of the equation, focusing on improving environmental performance in key economic sectors, such as agriculture, energy, industry, tourism and transport. sustainable consumption addresses the demand side, looking at how the goods and services required to meet basic needs and improve quality of life such as food and health, shelter, clothing, leisure and mobility can be delivered in ways that reduce the burden on the earth’s carrying capacity.5 interestingly, the increasing political and administrative interest in sustainable consumption co-existed with a boom in global consumption during the 1990s, both in the north and in parts of the south. simultaneously, inequalities increased in many countries, widening the gulf between extravagant consumption and poor conditions at different levels. 4 gary gardner, 2002. invoking the spirit: religion and spirituality in the quest for a sustainable world, danvers: world watch institute, p.49. 5 nick robins and sarah roberts, changing consumption and production patterns: unlocking trade opportunities. international institute for environment and development and un department of policy coordination and sustainable development, 1997 [ 252 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 to respond to this situation, the political interest in the consumptionenvironment nexus then increased which was followed and supported by work programs in different international organizations and national administrations. in 1995, the united nations commission on sustainable development adopted an international work program on changing consumption and production patterns. from this decade on, there are many similar programs have been emerging in the more massive and global way. in the terms of jonathan porritt6, a former leading member of the uk green party, this shifting political view called “green paradigm”; from the politics of industrialism to the politics of ecology. to distinguish this changing vision of development in the more sustainable way, he provides the features of “green paradigm as shown in the following table: the politics of industrialism the politics of ecology a deterministic view of the future an ethos of aggressive individualism materialism, pure and simple divisive, reductionist analysis anthropocentrism rationality and packaged knowledge outer-directed motivation patriarchal values institutionalized violence economic growth and gnp production for exchange and profit high income differentials a ‘free-market’ economy ever-expanding world trade demand stimulation employment as a means to an end capital-intensive production unquestioning acceptance of the technological fix centralization, economies of scale hierarchical structure dependence upon experts representative democracy emphasis on law and order sovereignty of nation state flexibility and an emphasis on personal autonomy a co-operatively based, communitarian society a move towards spiritual, non-material values holistic synthesis and integration biocentrism intuition and understanding inner-directed motivation and personal growth post-patriarchal, feminist values non-violence sustainability and quality of life production for use low income differentials local production for local need self-reliance voluntary simplicity work as an end in itself labor-intensive production discriminating use and development of science and technology decentralization, human scale non-hierarchical structure participative involvement direct democracy libertarianism 6 this concept is reviewed in historically by derek wall in his comprehensive review on environmental literatures, see further, green history: a reader in environmental literature, philosophy and politics, new york: routledge, 1994, p.9. [ 253 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 domination over nature environmentalism environment managed as a resource nuclear power high energy, high consumption internationalism and global solidarity harmony with nature ecology resources regarded as strictly finite renewable sources of energy low energy, low consumption the idea of green paradigm to shift from the politics of industrialism to the politics of ecology has been recognized, adapted, and practiced in the global society. derek wall affirms that “green sensibilities are multiethnic and multicultural, with a wide appeal”. it promises a more sustainable development and a better quality of life. philosophically, it also inspires people from all aspects of life to rethink and to reevaluate the existing way of life, including religious society. the modern development that tends to degrade nature triggers religious groups to envision the era of environmental crises. bron taylor indicated to religious community that it may be the only possible way to the future for religion to be greener.7 scholars see great potential for developing environmental ethics based on religious traditions. every religion has environmental credentials depend on whether its teaching, its practice, or its potential for “greening” itself. constructing religious ethics of consumption regarding to the aim of this paper to find a common ground for religions in conceptualizing religious ethics of consumption, i would like to propose “green consumption as the concept. it can be described in the following schema: the schema above shows that the concept of “green consumption” could be rooted in the religious teachings, rituals, and traditions to envision how to overcome the problem of overconsumption. there are some notions that can be found in world religions as green vision,8 for example in judaism: why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? (isaiah 55: 2); in christianity: how does god’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? (1 7 bron taylor, 2004. “a green future for religion?” in futures 36: 991-1008, p.1005. 8 gary gardner, op.cit. p.13. 95 418 109 103 515 animisme budha islam konghucu kristen distribution of religions of the indigenous people in penyengat village (village monograph, 2012) green vision of religions green consumption green engagement religion culture civilization [ 254 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 john 3:17); in islam: eat and drink, but waste not by excess; verily he loves not the excessive (qur’an 7:31); in taoism: he who knows he has enough is rich (tao te ching, chapter 33); in hinduism: on gaining the desired object, one should not feel elated. on not receiving the desired object, one should not feel dejected. in case of obtaining anything in excess, on should not hoard it. one should abstain from acquisitiveness (acarangasutra: 2:114:19); in confusianism: excess and deficiency are equally at fault (confusius, xi.15); and in buddhism: the deep sense of calm that nature provides…protects our heart and mind. the lesson nature teaches us lead to a new birth beyond suffering caused by our acquisitive self-preoccupation (buddhadasa bhikku). to actualize “green consumption” as applied ethics, religious groups may cooperate with governments, social organizations, ngos, and other stakeholders as a form of “green engagement”. 9 thus, by “green consumption”, not just of enabling people to change their consumption practices based on their religious values but also of facilitating more widespread public participation to provide sustainable consumption and products. although it is not easy for religious community to create the concrete initiatives to promote simple living especially in a high-consumption culture like in the united state and europe, there has been a number of enlightening religious leaders and religious community that initiate to curb the culture of consumption. just to mention some inspiring experiences, the following examples are three models of “green engagement” to promote and to implement “green consumption” initiated by religious leaders and local community. the first model is instigated by religious leaders and public figure to promote ethical consumption and green life. what archbishop of canterbury, rowan williams has been doing is just an example. as the head of the anglican church, he promotes religious ethic of moderate consumption for the impressive experience of pope john paul ii who set as strategic goal of his papacy to dampen the influence of consumerism in industrial cultures. another figure that recently succeeds in campaigning green politics and green economics is prince charles. he now has one of britain’s leading independent organic food brands. the prince of wales converted his farm at highgrove to organic farming in 1986. it’s now producing a range of organic food products called ‘duchy originals’. britain’s biggest supermarket chain, tesco, is now carrying products from the duchy originals range, largely traditional english food items, such as shortbread biscuits and marmalade. the profits from sales of duchy originals go to the prince of wales’s charitable foundation. the 9 frans coenen, 2002. the role of stakeholders in changing consumption and production patterns, paris: oecd. p.13. [ 255 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 company has already risen well over £1.3 million for charity.10 the second model is village-based program that explicitly integrate material and spiritual development. this kind of model has been conducted by sarovadaya shramadan in sri lanka. the movement, whose name roughly means “awakening of all through sharing”, motivates villagers to undertake a broad range of development projects, from latrine building to establishment of preschool and cultural centers within a framework of buddhist principles. it has a vision “sarvodayan ethic of consumption” that teaches consumption as not an end unlike what is in the west where consumption is regarded as a prime engine of economic growth. instead, sarvodayans see consumption as a tool; it provides the material platform needed to support the spiritual work of arriving at enlightenment.11 the third model is conceptualizing green economics based on islamic teaching. one of the successful islamic leaders to initiate more sustainable development and promote moderate life is kh. muhammad achmad sahal mahfudz. based on his famous concept of “social fiqh” (social concept of islamic jurisprudence), he has been actively empowering peasant people in his surrounding society to live in a moderate way of life and run sustainable economic development. one of the inspiring stories that can be learned is how kh. sahal successfully develop pesantren (islamic boarding school) and innovatively empowering peasant people since he established microfinance in 1977. the surrounding neighbors of pesantren are usually planting cassava, pesantren then initiated to help them producing kerupuk singkong (cassava cracker) as household industry by providing micro credit without interest to support them in financial capital. then they ran various green businesses especially agribusiness such as fruit and peanut. today, most of the peanut production that is produced by garuda food (one of the biggest food company) has been supplied from this pesantren’s group of farmers.12 these three models of green engagement can inspire today’s situation to strengthen green sensibility. it may be modified depending on situational and societal needs. conclusion the problem of “affluenza” or overconsumption has exacerbated the environmental and ecological crises. one of the promising solutions is 10 tanya ha 2003, greeniology: how to live well, be green and make a difference, nsw australia: a sue hines book allen & unwin pty ltd p.20 11 gary gardner, op.cit. p.13. 12 kh muhammad achmad sahal mahfudz, nuansa fiqih sosial, 2004 (4th edition) yogyakarta: lkis, p.249. [ 256 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 cherishing hope for religious groups to envision individual, group, and society and to be engaged in sustainable development. every religion has ethical bases and particular capacity to generate social capital to advance the work of sustainability, including conceptualizing “green consumption” as the common ground for religious group to solve the problem of “affluenza”. i believe, as bron taylor also affirms in the beginning of this paper, that the future of religion will be greener if religious people could envision modern society to live environmentally friendlier. bibliography annie leonard, 2010. the story of stuff: how our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health—and a vision for change, new york: free press, p.145. bidabad, bijan. 2010. overconsumption in ethic economics and sustainable development, new delhi: the institute for trade studies and researches. coenen, frans. 2002. the role of stakeholders in changing consumption and production patterns, paris: oecd. coward, harold g. daniel c. maguire, 2000. visions of a new earth: religious perspectives on population, consumption, and ecology. new york: state university of new york press. gary gardner, 2002. invoking the spirit: religion and spirituality in the quest for a sustainable world, danvers: worldwatch institute. ha, tanya. 2003, greeniology: how to live well, be green and make a difference, nsw australia: a sue hines book allen & unwin pty ltd. maguire, daniel c. 2000. the introduction of visions of a new earth: religious perspectives on population, consumption, and ecology. new york: state university of new york press, p.2. mahfudz, kh muhammad achmad sahal, nuansa fiqih sosial, 2004 (4th edition) yogyakarta: lkis. robins, nick and sarah roberts, 1997. changing consumption and production patterns: unlocking trade opportunities. international institute for environment and development and un department of policy coordination and sustainable development. taylor, bron. 2004. “a green future for religion?” in futures 36: 991-1008. wall, derek, 1994, green history: a reader in environmental literature, philosophy and politics, new york: routledge. [ 263 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 religious and gender issues in the tradition of basurung and the polygamy of banjar tuan guru in south kalimantan wardatun nadhiroh uin antasari banjarmasin email: wnadhiroh@iain-antasari.ac.id abstract banjar is among the largest ethnic groups in kalimantan island, concentrated in south kalimantan and a small part of other kalimantan. as an adherent of islam, banjar ethnic group is very religious. tuan guru, a designation for respected ulama, play as a role model in everyday life. the have a gathering for studies (pengajian) that are always attended by a large number of followers (jama’ah). people want to be close to this elites, making them as apart of their family. for the sake of this effort, the female jama’ah often ‘basurung’ of offering to be married by the tuan guru. as a parent they also offer their daughter to marry him. banjar women will feel honored when they marry a tuan guru, although it turns out to become “an informal wife.” her family will also be very proud to be able to be bond to a respected tuan guru. as a result, it is no wonder that there are many tuan guru in south kalimantan who have more than one wife. this paper discusses the culture of basurung initiated by the women of banjar ethnic group using standpoint of feminism analysis. the work attempts to see the women’s points of view, especially in relation to the tuan guru’s polygamy culture that occurs within banjar ethnic group. keywords: banjarese, polygamy, tuan guru, women, basurung, tradition. introduction one wife is fair two wives are learning three wives are insolent four wives are banjarese the above quote is famous among banjarese. non-banjarese may be surprised when they first hear the anecdote. they may not believe that banjar women tend to allow the practice of polygamy in their marriage. in fact, it is true that many banjar men are in a polygamous marriage— married to more than one woman. an interesting fact is that, in the structure of banjar society, the practice of polygamy is done mostly by the charismatic ulama or somenone [ 264 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 who is widely known as tuan guru1 (hapip, 1977). most women actually never want to be involved in a polygamous marriage due to many reasons. yet, banjar women consider the polygamy merriage by tuan guru as an important issue. for many cases of polygamy involving tuan guru, there is a unique phenomenon in which some women offer themselves to be married to a tuan guru. they sometimes directly speak to a tuan guru or ask their family members to help them. they are very aware that they will become an informal wife if the tuan guru accepts the proposal. this is what is called the tradition basurung2 in banjar community. it is intersting to explore the opinion of the wifes of tuan guru banjar on polygamy. apparently, the issue of polygamy for them is not a frightening matter. they are proud of being the spouses of a tuan guru who is materially and spiritually well-established. this work discusses the banjarese tradition in which the women consider as the victim in the polygamy practice, although somehow ithey nitiate consciously a polygamous marriage to a tuan guru. there are some questions that must be answered. first, why do the banjar women initiate to be involved in a polygamous marriage with a tuan guru. second, how they perceive the concept of polygamy itself. this work attempts to present the banjar women’s thought about polygamy. it is based on a qualitative study using the standpoint of feminism3 approach to prepare the view of banjar women about the pros-cons of polygamy. it means that the issues will be based on the writer’s viewpoints as a double-consciousness subject. on other words, women are the active parties who formulate and interpret the process of the social relationship in the daily life. the discourse of polygamy in islam islam covers the terminology of polygamy as ta’addad al-zaujat or having several wives. the provision of polygamy is normatively regulated in sura alnisa (verse3). the word “polygamy” is derived from greek, “poly or polus” 1 the meaning of tuan guru in this work is a charismatic and famous ulama whose knowledge of islam is not debatable, with many followers and a routine agenda of teaching islam. 2 basurung is a practice of banjar woman who consciously offer herself to be married by a tuan guru. although she knows that the tuan guru has been married, it does not seem to be a problem for her. 3 standpoint of feminism argues that feminism in social science should be practiced from the standpoint of women or particular groups of women as some claim that they are better equipped to understand certain aspects of the world. a feminist or women’s standpoint epistemologycally proposes to make women’s experiences, instead of men’s, as the point of departure. standpoint of feminist theorists attempt to criticize dominant conventional epistemologies in the social and natural sciences, as well as defend the coherence of feminist knowledge as invalid source specified. [ 265 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 which means many and “gamein” which means marriage. thus, polygamy is a marriage that involves many men or women (dahlan, 1997, p. 107). in kamus besar bahasa indonesia (indonesia, 2008, p. 799), polygamy is a marital system which one party marries some opposite parties at the same time. based on the mentioned definitions, there are two meanings of polygamy, namely polyandry and polygyny. polyandry is a marriage between a woman and some men. while polygyny is a marriage between a man and some women. in indonesia, polygamy is practically limited to the concept of polygyny which a man might have more than a woman as his wifes in the same time. indonesian matrimony institution only permits polygyny, not polyandry. the term ta’addad al-zaujat in islam is identically related to the concept of polygyny. however, most muslims have already addressed the term ta’addad al-zaujat as polygamy. people in the arabian countries in the era before islam had practiced polygamy. people in european countries such as russian, yugoslavian, czech, germany, belgian, netherlands, denmark, sweden and british also recognizeed polygamy (alhamdani, 1980, p. 80). muslims argue that islam does not start polygamy but controll the number of wifes and clearly specified the regulation. in the past, when the companions came to prophet muhammad and told him about their polygamous marriages, the prophet asked to the companions to choose only four wifes and divorce the rest. islam permits polygamy with four wifes by means of being able to be fair to the wives as managed in the koran in sura al-nisa (verse 3). what means fair is certainly in sustenance, residence, clothing, and other material things, while the majority of scholars have different opinion of fairness in affection. so, when a man cannot fulfill the provision, he must do only monogamy. in terms of being fair to the wives, allah has explained its difficulty as revealed in the koran in sura al-nisa’ (verse 129) (azhar, 1996, pp. 76-77). the prophet experienced the difficulties to be fair in his marriage with 11 wives. because of that, when some quraisy leaders met him to ask permission for ali, fatimah’s husband, to marry their daughters, the prophet declined it (hr. bukhari and muslim). ali married again just after the prophet and fatimah passed away. the prophetic history has shown that the prophet married monogamously to khadijah for 24 years, longer than his polygamous marriage which is about 10 years in the late of his life. unfortunately, the prophet’s polygamy practice is considered as a model of attitude, even called as the prophetic tradition, while his monogamous life is forgotten. in fact, the prophet never encouraged polygamy and he even rejected it in relation to his daughter’s marriage. [ 266 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 generally, there are three main thoughts about polygamy in islam. the first argues that one who practices polygamy follows the prophetic tradition and automatically gets god’s merit. for this argument, polygamy is recommended only to those (men) who are capable to practice it. polygamy becomes an instrument to measure men’s faith (setiati, 2007, p. 23). the second explains that polygamy is not encouraged but is just allowed in certain condition. for example, one may practice polygamy to avoid an adultery, to help penniless widow, or when a hasben faces the fact that his wife is sick and cannot fulfill the dutties as a wife. the last believes that polygamy must not be done in this era. according to the lat argument, the prophet practiced the polygamy only for certain reasons. as known in the prophetic history, many wars happened in the age which resulted many companions killed leaving their wives and children. all of them needed protection which may be obtained from polygamous marriage. this lates argument also perceives that the meaning of sura al-nisa (v.3) is to limit the number of wife and to remove the practice of polygamy/ polygyny gradually (chodjim, 2007, p. 55). the disability of men, except prophet muhammad, to be fair to their wifes is being the concerned of the argument. nurmila divides women’s response to polygamy into three groups. the first group accommodates the practice of polygamy, the second one positions into semi-accommodation, and the last refuses the practice of polygamy (nurmila, 2009, pp. 80-92). nurmila’s classification is based on women’s understanding on islamic law, qur’an and hadith. nurmila shows that women who literally understand the texts tend to accept the practice of polygamy. while the semi-textual is resistant to the concept of polygamy. however, women who contextually understand the text tend to decline the idea of polygamy clearly. according to abd. rahman ghazali, islam principally views the idea of polygamy as riskier than monogamy (ghazali, 2003, p. 131). as human nature, everybody has negative sides such as jealousy, envy, and complaints. the negative sides will easily appear in the polygamy marriage. then, some conflicts may arise in the household like quarrel between husband and wife, between their children of each wife, etc. so, the fundamental of marriage in islam is monogamous because it will easily neutralize jealousy, envy, and complaints. apart from the pros-cons of polygamy, it is a fact that the practice has already been one done until today. undoubtedly, many practices of it have already found within muslim community. the implementation often tends to fulfill selfish goal only, either biological needs or theological justification. whereas the polygamous marriage is required to meet two basic related-needs, namely [ 267 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 biological need in one side and theological demand as explained in sura al-nisa (v.1-5). many practices of polygamy use religious provision as a justification while the actual orientation is pure biological need. the practitioners argue that polygamy is an ideal solution to avoid adultery, disloyalty, and sirri4 marriage. in fact, many polygamous marriage occurr in the form of the sirri marriage. banjarese in social and cultural context banjar ethnic group inhibitates kalimantan island, especially in southern region as their origin. the community of banjar ethnic group is more known as banjarese. ideham (as quoted by daud, 1997) explains that banjarese is an ethnic group occupying the coast of south kalimantan, east kalimantan, and center kalimantan in the beginning. in the colonial era, the local people in the island were classified into two biggest groups, namely muslims and non-muslims. muslim community is identified as malay and non-muslim is affiliated to dayak tribe. because banjar ethnic group is one of the malay family, it is included into muslim group. the spread of islam in south kalimantan has increased very rapidly. the statistic data of south kalimantan’s population in 2016 presents that 4.055.479 or 97% of all its inhabitants are muslim. alfani daud mentions that all banjarese are muslims incuding those converted to islam from dayak tribe who are considered to be banjarese (daud, 1997, p. 5). judith nagata, as quoted in the ahmad gaus af’s book, states that banjar is an ethnic identity that overlaps with religious identity, “religion is ethnic, ethnic is religion” (af, 2009, pp. xi-xxii). the directorate of history and traditional values of south kalimantan mentions that the banjar ethnic group is an ethnic that instills islamic contents in their behavior and in socio-cultural matters (the directorat of history and tradisional values, 1985, p. 14). the teachings of islam are carried out dutifully by banjarese so that it is a fact that there are many mosques and langgar/surau (small mosque) found in south kalimantan. religious activities such as religious teachings and lectures are also widely implemented, especially in the month of ramadhan. therefore, in banjar society, the term ‘islam banjar’ which is known as the islamic religion of banjarese does not stop at the institution of belief only, but also has been melted in the daily life order and in the customs, held and implemented by the local community. similarly, studying and learning the qur’ran are activities carried out by children in the mosque with a teacher or tutor that have never been neglected. 4 informal marriage withouth resgistered to the institutions in change of merital administration. [ 268 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 implementation of the pillars of islam such as giving charity, and performing hajj or umrah are also growing very promising in south kalimantan. the number of people doing the hajj and umrah are increasing every year. although it is known that the banjarese are fanatical muslims, they also have a mystical belief of local culture as bagampiran and wearing amulets (nor ipansyah, 2010, pp. 85-87). the same thing has also been emphasized alfani daud that banjarese believes to be devout muslims. in addition to the obedience to the teachings of islam, there are religious beliefs and some behavior that are not in reference to islam but of local culture (daud, 1997, pp. 581-592). this behavior is exemplified as the belief of ‘the divine’, ‘magical companions’, the ceremonial birth, belief in luck thing, funerals, also about ‘the good’ and ‘bad day’. according to alfani, it is the ‘framing’ of islam by local culture (daud, 1997, p. 541). the structure of banjar community, according to syaharuddin, is divided into four groups, namely government officials, traders, teachers (alim ulama) and farmers. they are all bound by islam as its social identity (syaharuddin, 2009, p. 34). while the life philosophy embraced by banjar community has focused to obtain the quality of welfare. from the interpretation of alfani as cited by hadi, temporarily the life purpose of the banjarese is twofold; the welfare in the “near future” and the welfare in the “distant future” (hadi, april-juni 2015, p. 214). the well-being of the near future means the prosperous life of the world, while the well-being of the distant future is the prosperous life in the hereafter. of the two kinds of objectives, the main priority is the orientation of the hereafter. with such a culture, the group of ulama ultimately plays an important role in the spread and the teaching of islam in the land of banjar. the ulama who are often referred to tuan guru is a role model in everyday life. what they recommend will undoubtedly be done by banjarese. the people who become the central figure in the banjar community’s religious life are respected because of the their knowledge, the moral praise, piety, and concrete roles they have done in nurturing the community. their position is very high in the structure of banjar community. their arrival has been welcomed and respected. the tuan guru has always been a place to return all the problems faced by the society, whether it concerns religious issues or other problems that occur in everyday life. the most heavily consulted cases are about the distribution of inheritance, marriage, debts, and worship issues. others are issues related to family life (marital relationships, juvenile delinquency, parent-child conflicts, conflicts of law-in-laws, including dating matters), daily living matters such as employment (no permanent employment, readiness to accept job offers, an imbalance between income and expenditure), and the disharmony of [ 269 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 neighboring life. in fact, there are also people who consult for the problem of spiritual treatment or healing for psychiatric disorder (makmur, 2012, p. 181). in addition, officials who want to nominate for the election, frequently ask for ‘blessing’ to tuan guru. with such a phenomenon, it seems that banjarese have a ‘dependence’ on the figure of tuan guru. in fact, not only during their lifetime, these tuan guru are respected, even after their death. their graves are still crowded because they are believed to have karamah.5 on one side, the awareness of the need to always have the advice and spiritual splashes from the tuan guru as the leader of the ummah is a good thing, but on the other side, when consciousness becomes a dependence, it will lead to an indiscriminate worship, affect negatively to the face of islam banjar. the polygamy by tuan guru in banjar idwar saleh argues that the banjarese, in accordance with the teachings of islam, are allowed to marry up to four times on a condition that the men must be able to be fair among the wifes (saleh, 1991: 92). one of the fair forms according to banjar custom is that a man deserves to get married again after he is able to give wealth to his former wife. therefore, men who do polygamy are usually those who have sufficient economic capabilities as it is not surprising that commonly the polygamous perpetrators are the baduit (rich) people. in addition to the baduit people, in the banjar community, polygamous perpetrators are also known as alim ulama, especially those who receive the title “tuan guru”. it is said that the ketuanguruan of a tuan guru has not been tested if his wife is only one. in the recorded history of banjarese ulama, it can be traced to such figures as sheikh arsyad al-banjari during his life to have the wife of 11 women, even though they were not married at one time. there are still many ulama of banjar whose life are recorded to practice polygamy. in practice, there is a fundamental difference between the polygamy practices committed by the rich in banjar and by a tuan guru. the baduit groups mostly choose their polygamy pairs by looking at physical beauty as their primary consideration, so they often go straight to choose the woman. while in the case of the polygamy of tuan guru, the upcoming wife is not sought but comes to approach the man, whether it is from the woman’s request personally or from the woman’s relative who willingly gives her to tuan guru. whilr in many cases of polygamy committed by the baduit, the previous wife does not know that she is in a polygamous marriage because the next marriage is done informally (sirri) and mostly withouth the first wife permission. the issue of permission of this wife has been alluded to by idwar saleh in his book (saleh, 5 it means blessing. [ 270 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 1991, pp. 92-93) mentioning that the polygamous banjar baduit men do not ask permission from his first wife. few men are willing to marry another woman by seeking permission from their earlier wifes. this can be seen from the notes at the high religious court of banjarmasin which in 2011 recorded 10 cases of polygamy without previous wife’s permission imposed in the court. most polygamy is done secretly. and when the first wife knows the caase, she would sue for divorce to her husband. this is reflected in several notes by the high religious court of banjarmasin during 2011, which record 468 divorce cases categorized as divorce due to third party interference. this third-party interference category ranks fourth highest in cases terminated by the religious high court of banjarmasin. in the practice of polygamy by tuan guru in banjar, the demands of polygamy come from other parties, not by the men. for example, the polygamy of a tuan guru in hulu sungai tengah (hst) district shows that his second wife was married because of the urging of the wife’s parents’ request to the tuan guru marry their daughter. although the second wife initially rejected the matchmaking of the parents, but in the end, she also accepted it. the two tuan guru’s wifes live in harmony and close together as neighbour.6 such a phenomenon is inherently common in banjar society, where the woman, whether it comes from the request of the woman or on the consideration of her parents, begs to be married by a tuan guru and knows that the tuan guru has been married. the problem is only whether the request is accepted or rejected. this was once disclosed by tuan guru sy when he gave lecture in a langgar in hst district, that many offers to do polygamy come to him from various circles, but he still adheres to the principle of monogamous marriage alone, once forever. although many offers come from women who are willing to be polygamous spouse, the tuan guru’s decision to do polygamy himself is based on certain reasons that have been considered and certainly discussed with his previous wife. the first wife usually knows and gives her husband permission to do polygamy. frequently, the first wife helps to pick the polygamous spouse for her husband. this particular polygamous marriage is usually done officially. in the polygamous marriage is done by tuan guru, the previous wife figure always reflects the sincere acceptance of her husband’s polygamy behavior and the presence of other women who will also take the attention and affection of her husband. from some cases of polygamy by those tuan guru in banjar, the specific reasons underlying the actions of these polygamy differ from one another. some do polygamy for the reasons of getting offspring. a very human reason given 6 an interview with fs who is a relative of the second wife of the tuan guru in hst district from his father’s lineage. [ 271 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 that a tuan guru would want his offspring to continue the da’wah he has done. in such cases, the previous wife often helps to pick out her honey mate.7even such reasons are often explained to the audience when explaining about polygamy, the more wives, the more and more generations of descendants, the more successors of da’wah later. in the case of the other tuan guru’s polygamy, it is closely related to the request of the woman’s parent to have her daughter to be married by the tuan guru. there are some underlying reasons of parents in banjar who ask the tuan guru to marry their daughter. in the mind of the parents, even though he was married, the tuan guru as a religious person must be able to act justly among his wifes and be a good priest for their daughters and be able to guide them to the path of goodness. the parents will not feel worried for offering their daughter to be married by the tuan guru. the same thing was expressed by the later wife. in addition, as mentioned eralier, the tuan guru becomes the center of all problem solving, whether it is related to material or spiritual matters, or in terms of ‘self-medication’. men and women come to the tuan guru to bring all kinds of problems and ask for advice and prayers. the intensity of ‘meeting’ is often felt to invite slander, especially if a woman repeatedly come to see the tuan guru. from there, it can appear the initiative for polygamous marriage. the polygamy behavior of the tuan guru in the banjar community often comes without any criticism from the community. in the society, it is believed that it is not good to take care of other people’s business. the people believe that with the capacity as tuan guru, one will be able to fulfill the requirements to practice polygamous marriage; that is to be able to be fair and support their wifes well. as a public figure, surely all the acts of speeches and behavior of a tuan guru become examples of life in the society, including his polygamy practice. therefore, the people’s belief is a very strong factor in the behavior of polygamy to grow among the banjarese. the community will imitate the tuan guru’s actions. the culture of basurung the discussion of this section is centered on the facts behind the phenomenon of the tuan guru’s polygamy practice in banjar that involves the women as active actors who willingly want the polygamy. it is called basurung culture, meaning the practice of a woman who consciously offers herself to be married by a tuan guru although she knows that the tuan guru has already has a wife. this basurung culture has actually become a common secret in the portrait 7 an interview with a female respondent who lives next to a tuan guru’s home in banjar, often attended the tuan guru’s pengajian, and interacted very well with his first wife in the neighborhood. [ 272 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 of the banjar community. in this basurung culture, although it is said that the demand comes from the women, it is well known that in practice the cultural initiator can be divided into two, that demand may come from the women who are willing to do polygamy themselves and the request of the parents or the family of the women who intends to ‘hand over’ their daughter, sometimes even without their daughter’s consent. although it is said that the basurung culture of women in banjar has become a public secret, it is in fact is only famous within the circle of people who feel having an emotional attachment to a tuan guru, either because they are the tuan guru’s jama’ah pengajian or the community around the tuan guru’s places of living who do interact in their daily lives, and not from the general public who are far from the socioreligious invironment. for the members of the jama’ah, the phenomenon of “requesting” the tuan guru to marry their duthters is a common understanding. the underlying factor of the phenomenon is the magnitude of the tuan guru’s charisma which becomes the magnet or the attraction for the women of the jama’ah. the understanding that the tuan guru is a figure who has a respectable position in the community, knowledgeable, and living well has been the reason for banjar women to do the basurung. a son of a pratitioner of basurung said that when his young mother once did basurung to a tuan guru in his village, it was because she was fascinated with the tuan guru’s shade and wisdom. but she was rejected by the tuan guru due to different reason.8 another female who becomes an active jama’ah of a tuan guru’s pengajian mentioned: “who does not want to marry a tuan guru, he is already pious, rich, well-established materially, and in the hereafter, will be guaranteed by allah.”9 as previously discussed, the banjarese are welknown as people who have full of religious nuances in saouth kalimantan with tuan guru as the very important figure in the formation of the society. a tuan guru has a great power and influence to mobilize the people for many purposes, especially for religiously based activities. a tuan guru says and asks and no jama’ah or community will reject it. the views of a tuan guru in banjar are powerful and able to influence or even shape new opinions in the society. therefore, some officials ask for support of the tuan guru for their political supports. this all shows how high and honorable the position of a tuan guru in the sight of the banjar community. in banjar culture, a basurung woman does not necessarily 8 ms is a male respondent who involves closely and ‘follows’ the daily life of a tuan guru in hulu sungai utara district. in fact, sometimes he was asked to replace if the tuan guru was unable to fill the pengajian that most jama’ah are women. 9 sr is a female respondent who have been jama’ah actively and have followed many pengajian existing in hulu sungai tengah district, sometimes even to the city of banjarmasin and surrounding areas. [ 273 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 have to be a never married woman. it is also found that widows still offer to become a next wife to a tuan guru. if the request of this basurung is accepted by a tuan guru, then not only the woman will become more honorable, but also her family will feel very proud of having a son-in-law or relative of an ulama in the community. their image and social status will be increasing. given the position of a tuan guru in banjar that is very high in the view of the community, people do not criticize and talk about this kind of polygamy behavior in public. it is often regarded as a taboo thing to talk about it. this phenomenon of banjar women doing basurung does not mean the final conclusion that all banjar women have a desire to do so. with the religious life being the identity that covers the daily life, it can be said that all the women in banjar want men who are pious and understand in religion as a husband and leader in the household. but that does not mean the meaning of pious men and understand this religion is a person who is a tuan guru. it is also found that these banjar women doing basurung are those who have an emotional attachment to the tuan guru, as they have been enchanted by the tuan guru’s charm and charisma. it is also found that those who do basurung to a tuan guru are not from the ordinary strata, but women from the middle to upper economic levels. for these people, it is not about economical reasons behind the practice but more about religious inflences from a spiritually wellestablished person. banjarese women possition in polygamy polygamous marriage is a sensitive issue for gender activists. basically this kind of marriage places women as the object and the man as the subject. some cases shows that the life of polygamous women is more with sadness than happiness. some types of violence may occur in several contexts including emotional, economics, physics and sexual (wcc, 2001: 5,8). this indicates that women who live in marriage with husbands who have more than one wife are particularly vulnerable to violence. in some cases of polygamy, there are a continuous violence. the first wife not only experiences the denial of marital commitment, but also has psychological, economic and sexual-physical pressure. as for the second wife, things are not much different (mulia, 1999: 50-58). psychologically, all wives will feel hurt when they see their husband in touch with other women. there are at least two factors that cause it. first, it is driven by their deep loving feelings to their husband. generally the wife trusts and loves her husband wholeheartedly so that no more room in her heart love towards other men. the wife always hopes her husband to apply the same to her. therefore, the wife cannot accept her husband to share his love [ 274 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 to another woman. second, the wife feels herself inferior as if her husband do polygamy. the inferior feeling is increasingly becoming a psychological problem, especially when it comes from the family pressure (zaini, 1999: 133144). another psychological problem is in the form of internal conflicts within the family, whether between fellow wifes, between wifes and stepchildren or among children of different mothers. there is a sense of unhealthy competition between wifes. certainly, it will cause serious social problems in the society. a person who is educated and appreciates what is required by syara’ will not have the initiative to do polygamy. therefore, the more educated and civilized society the fewer polygamy practices are found (syarqawi, 2003: 239-250). in a previous study conducted by roibin (roibin, 2007: 8-10), it was found that in the case of polygamy involving ulama, kiai, or tuan guru, there are two motivations underlying these polygamous peoples. first, normativetheological motivation which is based on the understanding that polygamy is a religious laws. the understanding is inspired by the calling of sacred texts literally without being matched by humanistic efforts and behavior. the attitudes and practices of polygamy for this community are regarded only as a value system and not a cognitive system that is always evolving to adjust the contents of local wisdom. as a result, the polygamy leaves many problems both within the internal family personally and the surrounding community. some of the reasons justified for polygamy for this category include that it is due to religious appeals, the belief that women should be led by men, the belief that women are part of men and the belief that the women are weak. all of these theological normative reasons always refer to religious texts. meanwhile, the approach of understanding and interpretation of the sacred texts is textual which emphasizes toward understanding the word and the language. while the dimension of the historicity of the text, as if by this community is ignored. the second motivation that most underlies to do polygamy can be called as normative-humanistic motivation. this behavior is based on an understanding to bring the spirit of the calling of the sacred texts (value system) and the meaning of the textual contextuality of the universality of the text into the life praxis (cognition system). some reasons behind polygamy in this form include placing the dignity of women, raising and changing the social status of women and also of course their family, having intimate friends to develop islam, multiplying qualified muslim cadres whose intelligence, good moral, and charitable and developing a culture of help between strong and weak because of religious advice. although the two mentioned motivations seem to be contradictory because [ 275 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 they are brought up from different perspectives, they both seem to both place women in an inferior, weak, and ‘assisted’ position. the supremacy of men in the two discourses above, especially with their capacity as a religious elite, is highlighted strongly, as if only with their help, the dignity and degree of women can be accommodated. mukti ali, as quoted by aulawi, mentions that it is like an airplane that already has a complete navigation equipment with enough crew. the aircraft is not allowed to fly if it is not equipped with an ‘emergency door’. so beside the regular door, the plane should have emergency exits. however, for people who want to get on board a plane must take a regular door, not through the emergency exit. only in a very urgent need, a new emergency door is allowed to be operated. in the case of polygamy, it is not ordered simply just like that, but it has certain laws and rules. (aulawi, 1978: 33). zulkarnaini abdullah illustrates the islamic treatment of polygamy equal to the treatment of slavery (abdullah, 2011, p. 174). the koran does not prohibit slavery, although it advocates liberation of slaves. islam encourages muslims to realize that slavery is a dehumanizing act so that muslim countries forbid slavery. similarly, polygamy is initially restricted and given a certain condition with it. the development of polygamy in human history follows a society’s view of women. thus, the development of polygamy has ups and downs following the high degree of position and degree of women in the view of the community (machali, 2005: 47). in indonesian society, women are constructed with various myths. women are placed in lower positions in social class, economy, politics and power. cultural construction assumes that women are irrational or emotional so that women cannot appear to lead, resulting in an attitude that puts women in an unimportant position. in the community in java, for example, there is still a presumption that women do not need to have high education, because they will eventually work in the kitchen as well (fakih, 2003: 5). even in its development, the type of “women’s work” seems to be determined and firmly established in the minds of the people. women may only perform domestic works. they are perceived as inferior to the type of work as what is called “men’s work”. they are categorized as unproductive, so they are not taken into account in the country’s economic statistics (fakih, 2003: 21). in banjar society, patriarchal culture is not obvious. except leadership issues, especially regarding to religious understanding, women have a wide open opportunity to work. banjar women basically have opportunities to get a higher education, many of whom become career women and have outside activities. most school teachers in banjar are women and the majority of [ 276 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 traders in the floating market are women (hendraswati, 2016: 97-115). it means that is no restriction for women to work outside. but when returning home, male leadership towards women will be visible. wifes should serve and obey what the husband says, so girls should be respectful to their parents and brothers. it seems that leadership issues in the domestic sphere become irreversible in banjar society. many divorce cases occur because men feel that their rights as leaders in the household are not respected anymore. in terms of religious leadership, they can be seen differences in attitude in treating men and women. in banjar there was never a tuan guru of the female sex. title of tuan guru is only attached to a man who has a wide religious knowledge capacity, teaching many islamic doctrines, leading some pengajian, and commiting to other things that in islam should be done by a man, such as leading prayer and so on. no woman can claim to be a tuan guru even though she has also the capability of islamic knowledge and spread the islamic da’wah in the community. the title of honor that is often addressed to the banjarese women who do da’wah limited only to the term muballighah or daiyah, not ulama or tuan guru because both have become the privilege of men alone (mudhi’ah, 2013). basically, the difference in attitudes that place the position of woman under the man is considered to be derived from a growing understanding of religious doctrine in banjar society, that its religious principle is based on traditionalist attitudes and textual understanding. the qur’an mentions that men are leaders for women in surah al-nisa’ (v.34). this verse among the banjarese is a jargon that shows men’s hegemony against women, especially in the case of the family. they said that the male hierarchical power over women is an unchangeable decision of god. moreover, this is supported by the text of the hadith about the woman’s lack of reason and her religion (narrated by bukhari and muslim). it is understood that women would never be equal to men in terms of reason and religion. no matter how high the religious knowledge of a woman, ho often she preaches and leads a pengajian, she will never get the title of ulama or tuan guru in banjar society. such culture eventually becomes established in the banjar community. in the case of polygamy by banjarese, patriarchal culture will be seen in the elderly men who can force their daughters to marry the man of their choice, even if the man is married. especially in the polygamous marriage of the tuan guru, some cases where the parents give their daughters to a tuan guru are found, the daughters cannot refuse for the sake of pleasing the parents. in this case, the position of the woman seems to have no bargaining value because in the religious sense of banjarese, the daughter is the property of his father. it is [ 277 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 also seen from the teachings in islam that girls who are still girls can be forced by their parents to get maried, based on the concept of wali mujbir.10 while the basurung culture found in banjar community, where the women offer themselves to marry, especially with the tuan guru, as discussed earlier, according to the writer, is a bold first step for banjarese women to voice gender equality. if the fact that most women position themselves into polygamy as objects only, for women who do basurung, she has taken the first step to position herself as a subject in polygamous marriage. it means that from the beginning, she has taken the decision properly and well-prepared to accept all the consequences that will occur from her polygamous marriage. however, the decision of this basurung culture remains in the hands of men (the tuan guru). but still, this will certainly be different from women who have no choice but to accept only when he is polygamous. for feminists, this is called the standpoint difference, which will produce different results and acceptance as well. the culture basurung for banjar women actually can also be said as an attempt to break the tradition. first, the basurung initiative is a really bold act of breaking the established culture. in banjar culture of marriage, there is a mindset that women can only wait for a man to propose instead of applying. men choose and women are chosen, marriage will not happen if the man does not take the initiative. secondly, in the case of the basurung culture to a tuan guru, the banjar women show their readiness to consciously and rationally polygamy, not in the circumstances of being forced to accept the situation. the writer considers that being the polygamous spouse of a tuan guru actually becomes a strong attraction to do poligamy. it is not the same when the spouse is not tuan guru. it should be realized that the debate of pros-cons of polygamy is not only motivated by the theological understanding of the scripture (al qur’an), but also related to dialect with non-theological aspects such as cultural, social, and even economic elements in a community. with regards to the resistance of women in accepting polygamy or not, as categorized by nurmila, banjar women here are those who really like to participate in pengajian and those being discussed in this basurung culture mostly belong to the first category of those who accommodate polygamy well. this is certainly understood as such because of their intensity in accepting religious doctrines usually derived from ulama and tuan guru. the understanding of the source of islamic law is done textually and traditionally. for the woman who offers herself, polygamy is seen as a way to justify her desire to marry a pious man, frequently without even thinking the feelings of his former wife. the case where the consciously basurung woman, without any 10 the terminology is found in the laws of marriage in islam. [ 278 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 means of judgment, is basically impressed by her personal ego for having a good priest as a husband, that ends up hurting other women’s feelings, especially the tuan guru’s previous wife. even sometimes the motivation of economic improvement can also be the reason of this ‘basurung’ culture. it is noted here that any woman or anyone who is ‘basurung’ will always has a strong special reason that motivates them to take the risk of a polygamous marriage, the marriage that becomes a scary scourge for most women. as for the previous wife, because the understanding of islamic doctrine allows polygamy, she will be willing to accept her husband’s polygamy even deep down in her heart, she feels hurt. unfortunately the screams of women’s hearts are often overlooked because religious doctrine has spoken. the former wife will not criticize the belief that a man is a leader in a household whose decision is not questionable, although a good man will certainly discuss it first with his wife. in spite of this, the former wife realized with all her heart the role of her husband as tuan guru of the community. in the end, the basurung culture itself is the result of the dialectic between the religious product and the social reality of banjar society which is undeniably true, but it is true for a community only, those who do have emotional attachment with the tuan guru. the process occurs even in different ways in which each other is different. it is only because of a strong motivation that makes banjar women dare to take this step. conclusion the religious and gender issues in the practice of basurung and the polygamy of tuan guru in banjar society is found to be very important. they are based on the understanding of the people about the teaching of islam and the existing cultural understanding within the bajarese toward the relation bertween tuan guru and theirs folloowers. the conclusion is supported by the fact that people have motivation and interests. first, the motivation of banjar women doing basurung and asking to be married by tuan guru is mostly caused by the status of the tuan guru himself who has impressed the women. with the label of pious, religious, honorable, the level of the established economy a tuan guru can be regarded as the husband of dreams although the tuan guru has already got married. secondly, such thinking actually grows because of the doctrines that have been implanted in the minds of the banjarese since childhood that eventually it becomes an unquestionable habit. the acceptance of banjarese, especially among women, toward polygamy practice is motivated by the understanding that they have been taught that polygamy is an islamic doctrine. so in the minds of the people who are still very traditionalist, polygamous marriage is considered as a teaching that must be done. with the hope of a great religious reward, banjarese will not refuse polygamy. the element of [ 279 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 justice as the source of debate on the issue of polygamy seems to have never been questioned by the banjarese, especially in tuan guru’s polygamy. this is because of the belief that the knowledge of a tuan guru is wider and more qualified; a tuan guru is certainly capable of doing justice. bibliography abdullah, z., (2011). meretas jalan islam: telaah masalah filsafat, pemikiran politik, islam dan dinamika masyarakat muslim.. langsa: stain langsa. af, a. g., (2009). sang pelintas batas: biografi djohan effendi. jakarta: icrp. alhamdani, h., (1980). risalah nikah: hukum perkawinan islam. jakarta: pustaka amani. aulawi, a. s. d. a., (1978). hukum perkawinan islam. jakarta: bulan bintang. azhar, m., (1996). fiqh kontemporer dalam pandangan neomodernisme islam. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. chodjim, a., (2007). benarkah poligami dibenarkan dalam islam?. paras: bacaan utama wanita islam, februari. dahlan, a. a., (1997). ensiklopedi hukum islam. bandung: ichtiar baru van hoeve. daud, a., (1997). islam dan masyarakat banjar: deskripsi dan analisa kebudayaan banjar. jakarta: grafindo persada. fakih, m., (2003). analisis gender dan transformasi sosial. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. ghazali, a. r., (2003). fikh munakahat. jakarta: prenada media. hapip, a. d., (1977). kamus banjar-indonesia. jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan. hendraswati, (2016). etos kerja pedagang pasar terapung lok baintan di sungai martapura. jurnal pendidikan dan kebudayaan, pp. 97-115. indonesia, d. p. n., (2008). kamus besar bahasa indonesia. jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama. machali, r., (2005). wacana poligami di indonesia. bandung: mizan. makmur, a., (2012). peranan ulama dalam membina masyarakat banjar di kalimantan selatan. miqot. vol. xxxvi, pp. 174-191. [ 280 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 mudhi’ah, n., (2013). dakwah dalam pemberdayaan perempuan (studi materi dan kegiatan dakwah yang dilaksanakan muballighah di banjarmasin. mu’adalah, pp. 37-49. mulia, s. m., (1999). pandangan islam terhadap poligami. jakarta: solidaritas perempuan-lembaga kajian dan jender. noripansyah, d., (2010). bagampiran dan pemakaian jimat dalam masyarakat banjar. banjarmasin: antasari press. nurmila, n., (2009). women, islam, and everyday life; renegosiation polygamy in indonesia. new york: routledge. roibin, (2007). praktek poligami di kalangan para kiai (studi konstruksi sosial poligamipara kiai pesantren di jawa timur), malang: uin maulan malik ibrahim. saleh, m. i., (1991). adat istiadat dan upacara perkawinan daerah kalimantan selatan.. banjarmasin: proyek inventarisasi dan pembinaan nilainilai budaya. setiati, e., (2007). hitam putih poligami: menelaah perkawinan poligami sebagai sebuah fenomena. jakarta: cisera publishing. syaharuddin, (2009). orang banjar (menjadi) indonesia. yogyakarta: eja publisher. syarqawi, z. h., (2003). fikih seksual suami-istri. solo: media insani press. tradisional, d. s. d. n., (1985). sejarah sosial daerah kalimantan selatan. jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan indonesia. wcc, l. r. a., (2001). laporan data kasus 2001. yogyakarta: rifka annisa. zaini, w., (1999). peningkatan peran perempuan dalam islam. bandung: mizan. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 33 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 syncretization of chinese religion in singkawang west kalimantan samsul hidayat state islamic university of sunan kalijaga yogyakarta abstract th is paper attempts to shed light on the context of religiosity which is very pluralistic and dynamic in indonesia. it is based on the fi eld research conducted in singkawang focusing on the chinese religion. some important conclusions could be drawn here such as the syncretization of the chinese religion concerning the understanding of the existence of god and the gods which oft en has overlapping hierarchy including syncretic perspectives on understanding cosmology, mythology, symbols associated with mystical tales and supernatural beings. in the process, many chinese indonesians in singkawang who are demographically buddhists, christians, or muslims, still perform a pattern of worship of confucianism or taoism in their daily lives. th e procedure of worship has also been modifi ed so that its format diff ers from that found outside indonesia. meanwhile, during the celebration of the chinese lunar new year and cap go meh (the fi ft eenth night), chinese indonesians in singkawang perform a ritual to get rid of bad luck. it is a unique, syncretic ‘collaboration’ between chinese traditions and local culture. keywords: syncretization, religion, chinese, singkawang. introduction in the life of chinese indonesians, culture and religious traditions are inseparable, and thus the traditions of chinese culture are also called ‘religious traditions’. th e form of chinese religion is also unique as it is diff erent from other religious traditions that develop in isolation without any infl uence from outside and that it is likely to be monotheistic. th e chinese religion appears as an evolution of chinese traditions and belief that run for thousands of years and concern the human interaction with nature’s secret, mystical forces that connect humans with the power of the heaven (including the spirit world), and how to control and exploit the relationship. th e presence of chinese religion in singkawang west kalimantan is part of the history of indonesia that cannot be separated from the arrival of the austronesian people as one of the homosapiens races with mongoloid characteristics that lived in southern china. austronesian people who were [ 34 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 thought as the ancestors of the indonesian people entered the territory of west kalimantan approximately 2000 bc, (soekmono, 1973: 50) using boats belonging exclusively to the rectangle axe culture. in that period, the chinese religion was also present along with the growing spread of people of chinese descent in indonesia. according to the encyclopedia of indonesia (1984: 356) the religious culture of the chinese began from fu xi era in 2953-2838 bc, and continued to the era of the following successors namely: shen nong (2838-2698 bc) and the yellow emperor of huang di (2698-2596 bc). one of the major religions the chinese in singkawang, west kalimantan embrace is confucianism which is part of a series of history of ru jiao which continued to fl ourish until recently, along with other religions such as taoism and buddhism. in indonesia, the three religions were made as a new categorization for chinese religion called “tri dharma” or “sam kauw” (nio joe lan, 1961: 23). until recently, the chinese in singkawang still largely practice the three beliefs. although some of the other chinese societies, due to certain factors, especially politics, have embraced the religions that were ‘authorized’ by the government such as christianity and islam. in further development, it is not uncommon to fi nd religious syncretism among the chinese community because they feel that they belong to same ethnic group and tradition. in a religious event, the community members who embrace confucianism oft en ask for advice from the buddhist leader to determine the position of the grave in funeral rituals, while the tao leader would determine the exact day and time. it also includes a variety of cultural and religious ceremonies such as celebrating the lunar new year in which they celebrate the festivity communally, regardless of the identity of belief, but instead consider it part of the ancestral tradition of heritage that should be respected and preserved. th e chinese who have converted to islam or christianity, are also unable to let go of their ancestral tradition because the bonds of ethnocentricity and tradition are so strong. th e orientation of the socio-cultural life of the chinese society was strongly infl uenced and shaped by several elements, such as religion or belief, conviction in symbols such as the calculation of the year, the changing seasons, the nature of the chinese characters and so on as an earthly life process, feng shui, language and chinese characters containing the philosophy of social ethics, the value system that was formed from the profession such as farmers, laborers, fi shermen and so on, history and experiences as immigrants, and chinese life cycle which is diffi cult to penetrate. (umberan, 1994: 54) th e pattern of chinese religions in singkawang is a result of the syncretization of beliefs among chinese religions as well as local culture or religions. [ 35 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 th rough a process of acculturation between chinese community culture and other ethnic groups and religions in west kalimantan, the chinese religion experienced a kind of de-territorialization due to the boundaries and cultural rites that have undergone reconstruction continuously (appadurai, 1996: 12). although the chinese religious and cultural traditions have been practiced by chinese communities since thousands of years ago, when it is found in the environment of a diff erent culture like that of singkawang, fi nally it experienced a re-formation for cultural adaptation. syncretisation of chinese religion in singkawang appears to be a unique phenomenon because the plural beliefs of the chinese people apparently have not destroyed the legacy of their ancestral traditions. in some aspects we will fi nd numerous cultural treasures that are still kept by the chinese people even though they embrace diff erent religions such as homage to ancestral spirits; the supernatural beings; rituals both devoted to god, gods, spirits, and ancestors’ spirits and sin beng; upholding the family ethics such as a child’s respect toward parents; morale and a high work ethics, as well as ethnic or clan solidarity. th erefore, a study of the chinese religion in singkawang is interesting to include in academic discussion. th e issues that are important and require attention include the belief system and religious practices as an identity of the chinese that have gone through syncretization and development of cultural adaptation that have signifi cance in giving birth to the simultaneous compromise combining the spirit of cultural reproduction with pluralism and multiculturalism in a society that is constantly changing. all religions basically refl ect human experience, although each demands authenticity and superiority such as the emphasis on the occult or supernatural powers, the basic teachings that originate from revelation, and superiority in ideas and mental faculty. religion in its pluralism should need a description rather than a defi nition since in some aspects the defi nition is related to traditions and social conditions of the host society. instead of knowing and specifying the elements of religion, emile durkheim in his phenomenal works, the elementary forms of the agamaous life (1992: 22) further stressed the importance of observing the religion as a whole. th us the permanent defi nition of religion is best avoided because each belief system fundamentally does not have the slightest error. durkheim considered every religion has its respective ways in showing the characteristics of its existence, and certainly any belief systems and behavior patterns always have the same objective meaning and function, regardless of the skin or shape that wrapped it. as a conscious subject, something spiritual can be infl uenced and used [ 36 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 according to our needs, using words (spell, prayer) as a means of psychological off erings or sacrifi ces. th e typical features of this religion are the most obvious distinguishing feature that something can be called religious or not. however, not all religions have ideas about spirit or even god. buddhism for example emphasizes more on morality rather than the recognition of the existence of god. th ey are not interested in knowing whether the gods actually exist, because by understanding the truth of the reality (the four noble truths) basically a person has found the essence of religion. while in confucianism, although prophet khongcu (a term coined by matakin) initially did not declare directly as a prophetic successor or receive a mandate from heaven, but the chinese religious background or ru jiao, became a moral force for successor generations to regard prophet khongcu as a bearer of divine teachings. culture is the knowledge gained and used to interpret human experience and to promote behavior (spradley, bogdan and biklen, in 1980: 35). as a unit of interpretation, memory and meaning in human (liliweri, 2003; 26), culture includes beliefs, norms, values which serve as the fi rst step where we feel diff erent in a discourse. culture infl uences human behavior because everyone will show his heritage when he acts, so geertz (1973: 52) maintains that as a symbol animal, humans analyze culture through their knowledge experience, then match it with the laws in force, and subsequently interpret culture through a search for meaning. religion and culture have become human nature. religion gives a view of the world at large, such as a vision of the world, moral views and behavior, rituals etc. religion gives a strong infl uence towards the reality of society, so that in various aspects, religion is a part of a culture and is closely related to all other parts of culture (young, 1992: 76). geertz saw religion as religious beliefs that live inside of its followers and are manifested in the complexity of their everyday lives (1973: 90) social type of the chinese in singkawang th e social type of the chinese in singkawang can be divided into several large groups: village groups (farmers, laborers, fi shermen), groups of merchants and entrepreneurs, as well as the city groups (teachers and government offi cials). th e villagers are those who work as farmers, fi shermen, laborers, service industry and ordinary employees who on average live in almost all parts of singkawang. in general, the peripheral chinese groups are classifi ed as poor chinese. while the groups of traders and businessmen inhabit almost every part of the territory of singkawang, both in the area of the suburb and [ 37 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 the city center. since the reform era, the chinese community in singkawang are also an important part in the political map of the city, through the contributions and roles in general elections and the election of parliament members. although they belong to the minority group, with the inclusion of some chinese people as members of the parliament, it is very possible to become a trigger for them to enter into the structure of government, even some chinese circles (politicians) have seen a great opportunity to become the mayor of singkawang. syncretization process th e term syncretism is traditionally attributed to plutarch who reveals that the word synkretismos is used if the blend and the encounter come from outside parties or “enemies”, and the word synkretino is used if the blend and the encounter come from parties within the group, i.e. groups or parties that unite to face the enemy from the outside. th e word syncretic itself was used in debates on philosophy and religion in the 15th and 17th century, and possibly came from the greek word syn and kretidzein or kerannynai (bilal, 1994: 111), while in english the word is “mixing” or “blending”. th erefore, the limitation of the technical term ‘syncretism’ in religious studies is likely to fi nd diffi culties. j. r. fox (1982: 70) distinguished between synthetic religious and syncretism. “synthetic” religion is used to indicate the presence of symptoms of a mixed religious system to form a new religion, while syncretism is used to denote mixing, blending and fusion of two or more religions. for example, in the chinese religious syncretism of elements of various religions and beliefs (confucianism, taoism, buddhism, myth, animism, dynamism) which are incorporated, integrated, mixed, blended, and mutually infl uence and aff ect each other. according to bilal, the term syncretism is also used to refer to one or more items from a particular religious tradition or charged and applied to other religions, without changing the basic character of the religion absorbs other values due to the lack of elements taken. meaning and characteristics of chinese religion for several centuries, the typical chinese society have experienced religion as the attitude and practice of the combination of three diff erent traditions. two of them, taoism and the original confucianism are practiced as a religion of chinese heritage, while buddhism came later came from india. th e goal for every major philosophical religion is humanity’s safety through the control of behavior (liu, 1981: 88) actually confucianism and taoism have many things in common and infl uence each other because lao tzu and confucius lived in [ 38 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 the same period. both of them shared a theoretical legacy, as a symbol of the i ching, including the teachings and philosophy of morals. of several perspectives on religion, one of the most relevant in understanding chinese religions came from paul tillich. in addition to equate understanding between religion and belief (1958: 89), for tillich religion “deals with what we can do with it, cannot be avoided, absolute and unconditional.” “religion is not a special function of the spiritual life of a person, but an absolute attention on the meaning of life, namely the statement of all the creative functions on the sphere of human life, the scope of morality, the scope of knowledge (and) aesthetic function (1955: 55). th e characteristics of chinese religious community indeed seems “dry” from the divine element compared to other religions such as christianity and islam. however, if traced on their cosmology and cosmogony doctrine, actually it is fi lled with spiritual charge and metaphysics (lasiyo, 1996: 2). with a touch (syncretization) of the teachings of taoism, a confucian is capable of understanding the concept of creation of nature, its balance and benefi ts to mankind at once. for example the doctrine of yin and yang in the book of i ching (the book of genesis) has become the inspiration of divinity, spirituality, mysticism, even the instructions telling part of our success. th e philosophy of the balance of yin-yang which off ers the concept of a single circle symbol (monism) that illustrates the breath of the universe at once and the country of ‘chung-kuo’ as its center, and is described as following a ‘dualism’ yin (negative) and ‘yang’ (positive). th e two poles yin-yang is interpreted as contradictory, but complementary and balanced. th e basic philosophy is considered the breath of balance on earth especially china. when that balance is maintained, the country will be healthy and prosperous; and when the balance is disturbed, it breaks down and the country will fall. what is interesting is that the process toward that balance not only occurs naturally but humans can also do it with the strength even with violence. from the research fi ndings, the chinese religion in singkawang can be classifi ed into three types of religiosity; the “offi cial” religion, ancestral religion and local religion. th e so-called “offi cial” religion is the religion of the chinese people that is recognized by the government such as buddhism, christianity and islam. th is recognition is evidenced by the implementation of religious activities in a number of houses of worship such as the vihara (temple), and the church (mosque not included). th e type of ancestral religion is the religion of the chinese community that still follow their ancestral cultures such as confucianism and taoism. although in their religious identity they are regarded as christians or buddhists, in the implementation of the religious [ 39 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 life, they actually are obedient followers of confucianism and taoism. th e houses of worship are mostly fused with the vihara or temple that is jointly constructed. while is a type of local religion is the religion of the chinese who still hold fast to the tradition of the ancestors, system of belief, however they have been mixed with local traditions. according to the identity of religiosity, they could be a christian, buddhist, confucian or tao, but in practice they are subjected to local beliefs like the syncretization concept of animism, magic, ghosts, spirits, jinn and other beliefs. a typical chinese community also cannot be separated from its spirit of survival in any situation and condition. th e chinese get their place as a religious community because the chinese life is always associated with a culture of hard work and perseverance (see weber, 1964: 136) in the spirit of capitalism, the chinese have always been resilient in the face of the suff ering of life. high work ethic is supported as a whole both in terms of culture as well as religious messages that teach the importance of thinking about life and earthly well-being rather than imaginary happiness in the next life. interestingly, the religious character of the chinese people has always been connected with the interests of the welfare of living, so one should not be surprised if the image of the chinese economic success has always been linked with the teachings of confucianism oriented toward achievement of world success. many chinese people who are successful in economic life are because they are able to dig in and improve some of their cultural resources which are synonymous with commercialization, and their familiarity with money (freedman, 1959: 70), experience and accounting (gardella, 1992: 54) and regular use of the company’s management (sangren, 1984: 33). syncretization as a social process a social process is a part of the dynamics of social relations. according to hari poerwanto, the dynamics of the community can be examined from a process of contacts and communication between individuals and groups (2005: 12). it means that understanding a social process becomes a fundamental requirement in order to know the ins and outs of changes happening in the way of life of the community (gillin and gillin, 1954: 487: 488). one of the forms of a social process is the interaction between religion and culture in a community. in a confl uence of cultures, we oft en fi nd problem for both religious and cultural identity, such as the emergence of the phenomenon of mixing the two religions (and culture) or more, either in the form of adopting, picking up, complementing or infl uencing each other. results achieved from the process of alignment, merging and combining [ 40 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 principles or practices that diff er from each other are commonly referred to as syncretism. heddy shri ahimsa putra defi nes syncretization as “an eff ort to cultivate, unite, combine and align two or more systems with diff erent or opposite principles in such a way, so that it forms a system of new principles, which contrast with the previous principle systems” (1995: 2). as a form of acculturation, syncretisation usually occurs through a process of interpretation or symbolization of principles, teachings or specifi c thoughts. th at is why the defi nition of “syncretism” is oft en used within unclear limitation because of empirical processes that occur at this level cannot be touched and observed, although according to putra the process can be observed from its realization such as languages, myths, teachings, stories, and so forth that develop in a community. as a process of alignment of the various principles of belief, the syncretization which occurs in the chinese religion in singkawang gives rise to a new dynamic in the map of religiosity of society. th is kind of syncretization is related to the chinese original religion, local traditions and the state religions. th e chinese original religion is a set of beliefs, values and knowledge that is shared by the chinese people, where ancestral belief is still held despite being in a new area (singkawang). th ey generally embraced cofucian and taoist beliefs. while a local religion is customs, myths and beliefs embraced by locals such as malay and dayak that has undergone the process of alignment with each other so the blend of views has become a foothold to coexist without cultural and religious tensions. a state religion is a belief system or religion that is regarded as the religion “authorized” by the government, such as christianity, buddhism and islam. although confucianism and taoism are currently still in the tri dharma overseen in the buddhist religion division of the religious aff airs ministry, cofucian and taoist communities, however, only admit it as political ties that tend to be enforced, while they remain steadfast with their own belief. politically, the government in the past contributed to the growing climate of syncretization of the chinese religion in singkawang. th rough the assimilation policy adopted by the government in which the chinese were classifi ed as immigrants or foreigners, so harsher regulations on worship were issued which resulted in confucianism not being recognized as a religion, and that religion practiced should be offi cially “authorized” by the state. th rough a strong hegemony, including the pressures in the form of the discourse, repressive measures and regulations, the government arbitrarily forced people to embrace one of the beliefs that existed in indonesia at the time (hidayat, 2005: 47) th e characteristics of chinese religions in singkawang appear to be a typical [ 41 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 indonesian religion, whether in belief system or the practice of religiosity. several aspectss that may indicate the onset of the syncretization of chinese religions in singkawang are as follows; first, in understanding the existence of god and the gods, we oft en fi nd overlapping hierarchy of the divinity in chinese religion. for example, a temple caretaker named cong can mui of tri dharma “hok sian kiong” in roban, west singkawang, who claim to adhere to confucianism, although he believes that th ian is god, he also believes in goddess kuan im (kwan ying) as the bearer love and salvation for them even though the goddess kuan im is obviously one of the gods in the belief of buddhism. second, this syncretic viewpoint also occurs in understanding cosmology, especially in respect of nature and the concept of yin yang. similarly, it is also true regarding symbols, the mythology associated with mystic tales and supernatural beings, and in understanding life aft er death. in terms of belief about spirits and supernatural beings, chinese religion has its own scope and concept which are interesting to study. ancestral worship has even been performed since a long time ago, at least during the shang dynasty (1776-1122 bc) there were temples of worship. in the old chinese belief, it is believed that when a person dies, his spirit is divided into three, one stays in the grave, one on a table or a prayer shrine, and one goes to heaven. on the way to heaven, it is full of challenges, and therefore sacred ceremonies should be performed where paper money, toy cars, and even food were burned to accompany the spirit traveling into heaven. th e worship of the ancestors fosters a belief in the gods which are believed to be the ancestors who have died, and during their life on earth were either kings or a war heroes, and they are worshipped as gods and the head of deities called ‘god of heaven’ or ‘th ien’. th e concept of the body and the spirit was further developed into the concept of an aft erlife, spirits (either in limbo or not), ghosts, ancestors and the gods. th ird, in terms of the procedures of worship as in the case of cofucian followers, there have been some forms of modifi cation so that its format is diff erent from that of the other adherents of confucianism outside indonesia. th rough an organization that oversees the cofucian religion, namely majelis tinggi agama khonghucu indonesia (the high assembly of confucianism indonesia [matakin]), the worship practices are organized and created by the spiritual agency of the matakin and further disseminated to all makin (assembly of confucianism indonesia) in regions throughout indonesia under the auspices of matakin. matakin also published confucian scripture which is called the book of su si and wu jing (ngo king). matakin intended to [ 42 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 separate between religious practice and tradition. th e defi nition of the practice of religion is the model and practice of worship that was compiled by a special team appointed by matakin spiritual agency, whereas tradition is defi ned as the rituals carried out by the chinese people from one generation to another. according to one of the confucian priests in purwokerto, ws. ds. tikgianto, teachings of matakin strive to eliminate the aspects of superstition and mystical aspects in the behavior of the confucian followers who fi nd it diffi cult to break away from the infl uence of the traditions of their ancestors. in the interview with one of indonesia’s senior confucian clergies, hs. tjie tjay ing, it was revealed that the chinese society have experienced a mixture of religious teachings with chinese traditions and local culture. for example in the performing routine worship in a temple or monastery, it is oft en found that a pilgrim would worship all gods that exist in the temple even though it belongs to three diff erent religions. th e process of this syncretization cannot be separated from the term they use in respect of the other beliefs, han san wi yi, meaning three religions which are essentially one. fourth, in the celebration of the chinese lunar new year and as cap go meh, the chinese society of singkawang perform a ritual to repel bad luck or tacia commonly called tatung. tatung ritual is a means of expulsion of evil spirits that caused havoc to a territory through a shaman who is commonly called tatung or lauya. tatung ritual is a combination between chinese traditions and fascinating local culture. th is ritual is unique because it is perfeomed by various ethnic groups such as chinese, malay and dayak. regardless of the origin of this celebration, the people of singkawang from diff erent religious groups participated in the celebration, mingling within their own role and function. for example, a confucian tatung, akiong who becomes a mediator for the spirit of the dayak tribe named datuk sunggung, while ethnic malay who are muslims take a role as stretcher bearers (toa khio) and music or lion dance performers. th e syncretism of tatung rituals in the chinese tradition can be seen in the context of contemporary tatung, where religious identity ceased to be important, in a sense, tatung no longer belongs to a particular religion, such as confucianism, buddhism and taoism. currently, the role of tatung also has become a choice for people of other ethnic and religious groups, for example a catholic majority dayak or malay muslims. it can be seen during a tatung performance where a man called bujang amat is an ethnic malay and a muslim. he said that what he does is not contrary to his belief as a muslim. for him, a tatung is a profession to serve the community. fift h, in several places of worship for the chinese people in singkawang one [ 43 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 can easily fi nd a pekong or a house of worship used for asking for help from god, spirit, supernatural beings through a lauya. for chinese people, the worship on the gods and spirits is associated with the mundane needs such as business advice, healing, and improvement of welfare of the living. teachings that acted as an intermediary with spirits such as tatung, seemed to increase the number of altars of worship or pekong besides the main temples devoted to worship. many gods on the usual altar were oft en replaced with other new gods as the old ones are considered unable to grant their request. th ey build a kind of altar to off er the patron spirits or spiritual beings that inhabit the small hills surrounding singkawang. a sin she or chinese herbalist in roban, singkawang, decorated the pekong with accessories such as the dayak distinctive red vases, mandau (machete), human bones, incense, coconut leaves and heads of dogs as merchandise off erings, while the typical chinese ritual items such as candles, incense, statues of the gods such as kwan kong decorated the chinese altar fi lled with off erings. visitors come to convey a lot of complaints and requests, ranging from the treatment of disease, good luck charm, to asking for lucky number for gambling. sixth, in the process, many chinese in singkawang who are demographically buddhists, christians, or muslims, still perform a pattern of worship of confucianism or taoism in their daily lives. hendra hashim, a trader who lives on jl. yos sudarso gg. parit ketapang, singkawang admitted that although on his id card it is written he is a buddhist, he still felt that he is a confucian who believes in prophet khongcu, worships th ien and the kitchen god or tjiao kun kong in every lunar new year celebrations. it cannot be separated from the impact of the state hegemony during the period of the new order government which implemented a policy of assimilation for chinese indonesians to force them to blend in the culture of indonesia, including giving up their confucian or tao beliefs because they were regarded as being affi liated with the communists and therefore should embrace religions recognized by the government such as buddhism, christianity and islam. however the assimilation project applied by the government was not as smooth as expected. an awful lot of chinese indonesians who merely pretended to convert, but in fact only did it in an attempt to avoid the pressure from both the government and the community. even one of the impacts brought about by the process of assimilation is the syncretization which symbolizes a strong bond their ancestral teachings and chinese primordialism even though they have formally embraced the “offi cial” religions of the state. with the religious freedom introduced by the government through a [ 44 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 presidential decree in 2000 in wake of the reform movement, chinese indonesians enjoyed a fresh breeze of democracy by getting more space for them to express their religious beliefs and cultures based on a constructive assimilation process and mutual respect. among the rights enjoyed aft er the presidential decree was issued was that the adherents of confucianism could list their religion on identity cards as they once had in 1965. yet despite the freedom, chinese indonesians apparently still need time to sense the freedom as a whole. in addition because the administration and bureaucracy that have yet to accommodate maximum service for followers of confucianism as they have already listed the identity of a particular religion on their id card. it turns out that there are still many who choose to stick with the previous religious identity since they do not want to experience the trauma of the past. conclusion from the explanation above it can be concluded that the syncretization of chinese religions in singkawang, west kalimantan, cannot be separated from the typical chinese people who have high spirits to survive in situations and conditions of any kind. some historical events that occurred to the chinese indonesians, such as the government enforced assimilation program, have somehow accelerated the process of acculturation of the chinese culture and religion in singkawang. th e dynamics of the political and cultural struggle they experienced seems to play a role big in forming certain motifs in chinese religions in singkawang. for chinese indonesian in singawang, the syncretization that occurred to their religion is quite insignifi cant. long before that, the traditions of ancient chinese culture indeed have oft en experienced the process of fusion in terms of the divine concept, cosmology, religious thought and practice that has shaped the idiosyncrasies of the chinese religion itself. in addition, the character of the chinese religion is always linked with the interests of the welfare of living, so it is not surprising that the image of the chinese economic success has always been associated with the religious teachings that are oriented toward worldly success achievement. reference abdullah, irwan, 2002., metode penelitian kualitatif. hand out. yogyakarta: magister administrasi publik ugm. ______________, 2010., konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. anonim, 2010., statistik kesejahteraan rakyat kota singkawang tahun 2010. 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[ 115 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 ahlus sunnah views of covid-19 in social media: the islamic preaching by gus baha and abdus somad saifuddin zuhri qudsy uin sunan kalijaga – yogyakarta email: saifuddinzuhri@yahoo.com achmad fawaid universitas nurul jadid, probolinggo email: fawaidachmad@gmail.com althaf husein muzakky universitas islam negeri sunan kalijaga email: althofhusein@gmail.com abstract the covid-19 pandemic, which occurred in line with the massive transformation of digital media, was a significant moment that enabled diverse islamic preachers to use media to advance their own interests. however, little has been discussed regarding the religious responses to the covid-19 performed by ahlus sunnah community members or those who are not inclined to participate in radical activities. by analyzing two important ahlus sunnah figures, gus baha and abdus somad, this article focuses on the group’s covid-19 views on social media, which represents their motives, perspectives, strategies, and theological views to encourage muslims to have certain mindsets on the virus. given that abdul somad official account around $140021,700 per month with 950 thousand subscribers and gus baha official account around $5-75 with 500 thousand subscribers, this article investigates their religious/ theological perspectives on covid-19 and the extent to which they represent religious moderate viewpoints as the solution of the covid-19. it argues that their youtube or facebook channels have enabled the birth of religious moderate arguments on covid-19 rooted in the ahlus sunnah movement. unlike well-established scientific perspectives on covid-19 that spread out through official government channels or television, gus baha and abdus somad’s viewpoints have been relatively independent from medical networks, but highly dependent on ahlus sunnah movements. with a high number of offline and online followers, it demonstrates the potential of their status as religious influencers on covid-19 based on ahlus sunnah viewpoints in indonesia. keywords: covid-19, religious influencer, gus baha, ustadz abdus somad [ 116 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 introduction the internet has allowed people to better access all information, including religious information. religion that was once studied through interface strategy, requiring a significant time to learn has now become more accessible. even though it faces various online religious options ranging from a different level of online belief and participation system and even diverse ideologies (christopher 2002), the internet has put religion (especially islam) as something that is easily presented. bunt calls this the ‘cyber islamic environment’. it is a virtual space where people can interact and discuss islamic matters. this evidence has encouraged and stimulated the emergence of preachers to deliver their religious lectures online, especially after the proliferation of social media like facebook, youtube, instagram, and others that were increasingly quick to socialize religious messages. gus bahauddin (gus baha) and ustadz abdus somad (uas) are among the speakers on digital media. their ideas have begun to influence many people. in the case of social media, ‘influence’ is possible to measure by considering performance indicators, such as follower counts and web traffic (financial gains directly result from the number of the followers). experts on word processing and his profound knowledge in various disciplines have already put them among the young lecturers. departing from a profound knowledge of the main sources of muslims, gus baha’s expertise in tafsir al-qur’an and abdus somad’s expertise in hadith, have made them some of the most popular digial preachers. gus baha or kiai ahmad bahauddin nursalim is nahdlatul ulama figure, son of kh. arwani al-hafidz kudus and kh. abdullah salam al-hafidz kajen pati with its genealogy to the islamic saints of java, has memorized sahih muslim (one of the greatest turats in hadith) in java, also composed hafidzuna li hadza al-mushaf li bahahuddin bin nursalim (a tafsir book based on ‘amr usman bin sa’id ad-dani’s work, almuqni’ on characteristics of quranic stylistic writing in mushaf rasm usmani). abdus somad has studied ilm al-hadith in the magister program of dar el hadith el hassania, morocco, in 2006, studied the similar study in doctoral program of universitas islam omdurman, sudan, in 2019; also, a lecturer of tafsir hadith in uin sultan syarif kasim riau. one of the lectures that had a broad response is their lecture on covid-19 which has reaped the pros and cons of the masses themselves. many studies on these two figures exist, especially uas whose appearance and popularity are better known than gus baha (uswatun, usman. 2020; qarni, waizul., syahnan, mhd., harahap 2019; ridho 2019; zahidi, salman., ikmal 2019; yanuar 2020; sholihah, nur., isti’anah, zahro’ul., hakamah 2019). the [ 117 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 emphasis of both studies highly relies on the rhetoric of da’wah and the use of social media in the dissemination of religious lectures. www.socialblade.com has estimated monthly income from youtube.com for abdul somad official account around $ 1400-21,700 per month with 950 thousand subscribers. unfortunately, gus baha official account is still around $ 5-75. it indicates that his account is not properly managed, but it remains a channel with nearly 500 thousand subscribers with an estimated monthly income of $500-8000. meanwhile, a study that sets both figures in a discussion themed ‘covid-19 has not been conducted by any researcher. this paper complements some previous studies. both figures have expressed their public opinion about covid-19. additionally, their opinions have been received by the public (at least) in the cyber world through a column “comment” on youtube and the use of hashtags that include their names. in line with this reality, this study has three focuses, namely: (1) the perspective of both speakers on the covid-19 pandemic; (2) motives (rationale) of their perspectives; and (3) their strategies that have affected the audience about the covid-19 pandemic. both figures have great popularity on social media. there are approximately three arguments that can be proposed. first, through social media, their arguments can be rapidly consumed and influence the audiences’ mindset against the virus. second, their arguments are resulting from the theological viewpoint of ahlus sunnah that-without having to judge other viewpoints— strives for well-behaved, moderate, and relatively tends to prioritize religious solutions than scientific solutions. third, their arguments are delivered and spread through social media, and have been well known as influencers in religious terminology (abidin 2016b; 2016a; 2015). in this study, the data were obtained from various online sources. the primary sources were their second lectures on covid-19 that have been spread on social media. the data were collected and analyzed through interpretive analysis techniques that positioned their statements in one form of discourse to be demonstrated in the literature review section. social media, the theology of ahlus sunnah and religious influencer this study has involved three underlying courses as stepping-stones to conduct a review and analysis on the three focuses, namely social media, the theology of ahlus sunnah, and religious influencers (ranging from definition, variation, and some case studies). for that reason, it is important to first present an overview of social media and its users as the mission of da’wah. the theology of ahlus sunnah is a truth (paradigm) between jabariyah and [ 118 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 qadariyah, and that the religious influencer has now given the latest nuance in religious discourse. o social media for religious missions (da’wah) social media is a site or application that allows a person to create anything to fill and share in many social networks, including false information and/ or propaganda. initially, social media is a communication media that has been discovered since the end of the twentieth century (the beginning of the twenty-first century) and invented by andreas kaplan and michael henlein. yet, for the millennial community, the role of social media has shifted to media propaganda (watie 2016). there are at least three maps of previous studies that have discussed social media as a place for preaching (da’wah). first, a study that describes the causes of social media that are widely used for propaganda. second, a study on the forms of social media facilities that are widely used for da’wah. third, a study on the view of ulama’ and lecturers in responding and finding a solution to any existing problem in social media as a missionary mission. three studies focus on the cause of social media widely used for media propaganda. first, the ease of social media in packaging preaching in the millennial era by merely accessing data through the internet. for omar et al., this evidence can open horizons of insight into the millennial community (omar, hassan, sallehuddin 2015), so that they can learn global issues through a study by fakhruroji (fakhruroji 2010). second, the level of effectiveness on the use of social media as a means of da’wah (marlina 2016). third, social media has a faster distribution of information compared to other media forms (fitriani 2017). in ancient times, preaching (da’wah) was done orally and delivered directly in the science assembly. after large-scale propaganda articles have penetrated the media of writing, it is no wonder that in the middle age, the scholars conducted preaching through the classical book, while other preachers currently use social media as a medium for da’wah to give direction to the people in the present time. various forms of social media facilities that are widely used in da’wah are also diverse. it indicates that the enthusiasm of muslims who are starting to learn science and technology, various features and applications are starting to be celebrated with islamic da’wah. first, preaching is also performed through facebook. it is similar to a study by choliq that focuses a lot on islamic figures, such as habib muhammad lutfi bin yahya, k.h. abdullah gymnastiar, caknun.com, gus mus, yusuf mansur (the official), ustadz m. [ 119 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 nur maulana, ustadz felix siauw, pearl of wisdom ustadz zaki (an islamic speaker at tpi), ustadz ahmad al-ethiopia, buya yahya, ustadz wijayanto, ustadz felix siauw, ustaz nasir bachtiar, ustadzah mamah dedeh, ustadz muhammad riza, and ary gina agustian (choliq 2018). second, a da’wah that is performed on instagram has turned out to have a great influence in shaping the character of the millennial community with their viral view (nurdin., ridwan, muhammad. 2020). it signifies that instagram is an easy means for da’wah (zahra, sarbini, shodiqin 2016). third, youtube is also another kind of media for performing da’wah. it is also a new commodification that is presently on hold (arifin 2019). in addition to the above description, the views of ulama’ and preachers answering problems through social media as a religious mission have not been perfectly maximized, although this study can be classified on its quantity of data and sufficient exploration on the meaning of the qur’an, the hadith and the classic book, particularly some national scholars who have traditional islamic scholarship, such as k.h. bahauddin nur salim (gus baha). gus baha has also studied the greatness of the logic of the qur’an in terms of stylistic components (sholihah, isti’anah, hakamah 2019). besides, some scholars have a competency in rhetoric and hypnotize the audiences with the charm of religious da’wah, namely ustadz abdus somad (uswatun, usman. 2020). o the theology of ahlus sunnah as a mediation for jabariyah and qadariyah there is no group more followed than the ahlus sunnah (nasution 1986). this theology greatly influences the mindset and behavior of indonesians. if someone commits a passive action by surrendering to allah the almighty on things that have befallen oneself, it is called jabariyyah. on the other hand, a person who behaves as if he has the power to change his fate and is called qadariyah. this phenomenon has stimulated the emergence of ahlus sunnah theology that frames and mediates jabariyah and qadariyah ideology with a concept of ikhtiyār and tawakkal. it is certain that the position of this theology is baina al-‘aqidah al-jabariyah wa qadariyah, so that islamic scholars and scientists are required to discuss and elaborate on these ideologies in the present. the theology of ahlus sunnah has a variety of parts. alike the flow of theology and religious point of view, there are certainly many variations, including the theology of ahlus sunnah. yet, in a broad outline, the understanding of ahlus sunnah in indonesia is divided into three defintions (bustamam, ahmad. [ 120 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 2002). first is a tendency which adheres to abu hasan al-’asy’ari (‘asy’ariyah). this group is more likely to be traditionalist. second is the theology adheres to abu manur al-maturidi (al-maturidiyah). third, it also adheres to salafi wahabi group as oriented to muhammad ibn abdul wahab (wahabiyah), and this group tends to be puritanical. in addition, the study of ahlus sunnah at least can be mapped into three categories. first is seen from the perspective of islamic scholars (kyai) (rofiq 2017). second, the study on ahlus sunnah theology in discussing social, political, and economic conception in a region or a state, has been largely moderate (putra 2013). third, the study on ahlus sunnah is seen as an effort to answer the problem in the struggle between jabariyah and qadariyah, and it has not been discovered. thus, this study criticized ahlus sunnah’s theological view between jabariyah and qadariyah through the study of perspectives of the ulama’. o religious influencer digital technology and new media have shifted, extended, and altered religious practice (campbell 2012). new media, specifically digital media, challenge the conventional configuration of religious and state authorities, facilitating the emergence of transnational muslim publics and making central the issue of identity politics (anderson, eickelman 2003; el-nawawy. 2009). for the muslim community, social media creates a sense of new public spaces (pennington 2018) which helps them navigate their presence in urban settings (waltorp 2013). in different parts of the world, social media enables people to negotiate their religious platform and reconstruct their identities (kavacki, kraepelin 2017). these social media platforms allow muslims to enact identity performance (baulch, pramiyanti 2018) and play around with the limits of religious interpretations in increasingly conservative societies (beta 2014; williams, kamaludeen 2017). adding to those studies, we propose the concept ‘religious influencer’ to understand how gus baha and ustadz abdus somad creatively fuse commercial, religious, and political participation about covid-19 through their own youtube channels. we define a religious influencer as a person or a group who can combine their interests in religious growth, financial gain, and socio-political change as attractive and attainable by their followers (mostly young and female), online and offline. such a combination, i argue, works effectively as it focuses on encouraging their followers to undergo self-transformation to understand the ethical idea of covid-19. a religious influencer usually deploys the notion of dakwah [ 121 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 (proselytization) as an umbrella term that includes their commercial, religious, and political interests. the followers (and lurkers) are given a sense of ‘choice’ to attain the idealized self (lewis 2015). in other words, muslim viewers who follow a religious influencer can opt to learn to make themselves worthy of god’s love in responding covid-19. however, when they have established a way to cultivate their pious subjectivity in dealing with covid-19, they understand that they are obliged to follow the religious injunctions closely, aiming for the ‘religious platforms’ set by the influencer. the notion of religious influence here builds upon crystal abidin’s works on influencers in singapore (abidin 2016b; 2016a; 2015). in her work, abidin defines an influencer as one form of microcelebrity … who accumulate a following on blogs and social media through the textual and visual narration of their personal, everyday lives, upon which paid advertorials – advertisement written in the form of editorial opinions – for products and services are premised. influencers make use of selfies for financial gains as well as for self-actualization. adding to her work, we propose that we consider how the representations of dealing with covid-19 are used by the religious influencers to garner a following and to mobilize their followers not just for commercial reasons through social media channels, but also encouraging their followers to ‘better’ themselves in religious terms. the case of gus baha and ustadz abdus somad is significant because both are popular ulama who voluntarily participate in both online and offline activities to present their religious platform on covid-19. the gus baha and abud shomad channels have attracted more than a million followers online each with hundreds of loyal followers attending their regular meetings. they are popular especially among urban, middleclass, young muslims, and use a range of online platforms: whatsapp, twitter, facebook, youtube, and visual-based instagram. a point of view of two figures against the covid-19 outbreak the development of increasingly sophisticated times has made social media a trend in media propaganda. social media is used as a tool of communication and has now started to modify and transform its function as a media of da’wah, religious teaching, and even islamic learning media in the millennial era. as evident during the covid-19 pandemic, there are at least two views of prominent islamic figures presented in real life and the cyber world, namely gus baha and ustadz abdus shomad. covid-19 is a potentially deadly [ 122 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 disease, but gus baha and ustadz abdus shomad have their significantly different opinions. for gus baha, the covid-19 is one of god’s greetings to his servant that death is a certainty. he advises meaningful thought to address a proper and appropriate behavior against the outbreak: “you should still strive for it, like you buy a mask. it is absolutely sought after, but do not need to believe in it. as if you can see lauḥ al-maḥfūẓ, you probably laugh. if you were in lauḥ all-maḥfūẓ written down with a death caused by a crash, then you do not know, but you wear a mask because you are afraid of the virus, the izrail should probably laugh at you. moreover, you die caused of a bad nutrition, and along your life, you wear a mask continuously, whereas in lauḥ al-maḥfūẓ, you die because of a bad nutrition. there is no correlation with this virus. please imagine, “i am afraid of being sick. if i were sick, i would have hindered everyone, and needed to slow down my prayer and recitation”. it indicates that your fear is against your worship, and it should be the truth.” in the view of ustadz abdus somad, the virus is a military of god that has been sent to destroy china after the nation’s poor treatment of muslims in uighur. besides, he also encourages muslims to anticipate the coronavirus because the whole world has been affected. for him, the best way is to be introspective (muhāsabah) and be consciously well-prepared to deal with the threat of the virus by consistently reading istighfar, conducting repentance prayer, improving prayers, increasing charity, and enacting kindness. he also appeals to people to wear masks and maintain cleanliness by always performing ablution, handwashing, and nail cutting (a legacy from the prophet). he also suggests executing a ‘lockdown’. on the other hand, gus baha suggests everyone not to be afraid of the virus, but to be more concerned with behavior in daily life – not creating trouble, distressing other people, and abandoning worship as well as other religious activities. in this context, gus baha provides a way to address the virus from an islamic perspective. the endeavor of humans is to strive for as much as possible, and anything remains in the control and will of god. in the case of covid-19, gus baha and ustadz abdus somad do not only share their opinions, but also adhere to the qur’an and the hadith. both figures have provide their arguments on the virus to their respective basse. as salafi, gus baha argues that the virus is a disaster that descends on the imbalance between righteous people who are ashamed to worship, while people perform anything instead of enthusiasm. the difference is that if a righteous person faces a disaster, he will remember allah the almighty. yet, people with sinful [ 123 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 acts will curse as it has been stated in al-baqarah [2]: 114. it is said that people who have not been regretful immediately for their behavior will receive humility in the world and hereafter. in his review, gus baha also confirms and convinces people not to get an untrue perception. it means that allah the almighty who has power over the disaster has dropped down a disaster in order that his servants will always remember him. by performing possibly best actions, most people probably have neglected the purpose of life; that it is not to accumulate property. when the president has declared and regulated a ‘lockdown’ for fourteen days, everyone must be indifferent to the economy, education, and anything related to the impact of the virus, because allah the almighty has invited humans to not only focus on their world, but also the hereafter as it has been clearly stated in al-takāṡur [102]: 1-8. furthermore, gus baha quotes a statement (maqālah) of ibn ‘umar in ibn al-arabi’s popular interpretation of aḥkām al-qur’an, so that humans are always enthusiastic to worship for the sake of their world and hereafter as a sentence says “imal li dunyaka kaanaka ta’īsyu abadan, wa’mal liakhiratika kaannka tamūtu abadan” (ibn al-arabi, 2008) apart from the above description, ustadz abdus somad also has his own basis for diversity regarding the outbreak. like gus baha, ustadz abdus somad explains that everyone should overview qs. muhammad: 7. he also advises that if someone helps the religion of allah, he (allah the almighty) will also help by immediately removing the existing pandemic as it has been well reminded in ali imran [3]: 54. besides, ustadz abdus somad also appeals to everyone to obey orders and always be patient with government policies. perhaps, this outbreak is not caused by the human act itself, but rather a trial from allah the almighty to see the quality of the faith of a servant. therefore, ustadz abdus somad quotes a hadith by al-ṭabrāni in his mu’jam al-kubra namely as follows (al-ṭabrāni, n.d.): “to those who are not willing for my resolve (fate) and not to be patient for my temptation on himself, he must have others than me”. as a role model, ustadz abdus somad presents a view that muslims should be slightly affected by the virus due to the daily habits that they are always in a holy condition. however, watchfulness must continue to be improved by always maintaining ablution anytime, worship at homes, nailcutting, and continuously reading istighfar. for him, a disaster is caused by humans themselves, so that they need to beg forgiveness from allah the almighty. in his response to this condition, he refers to a hadith quoted by sunan al-baihaqi as follows (al-baihaqi 1994): “for those who read istighfar, allah the almighty will create his sorrow to be felicity, and from his rigor is a [ 124 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 way out, and given livelihood from an unexpected way.” in strengthening the religious argument against the virus, both figures have a different framing. gus baha responds to the virus with a sufism approach. once, he told that when sayyidina ‘ali was under threat of murder, the attitude of ‘ali’s friend has remained calm, and said ‘ḥiṣnī ajalī’ (the fortification of my life is my death ration). this statement was then used as an argument to remain calm amid the covid-19 pandemic. meanwhile, ustadz abdus somad was more passive by saying that i’tibār al-kibār ‘ala ulamā’ al-azhar (considering the great opinion of ‘ulama’ in the city of azhar, egypt). thus, it is evident that ustadz abdus somad has a tendency against the opinion of the azhar’s religious decision. the rationale on the emergence of their arguments there are at least three things that make their thoughts about covid-19 have the same view as the above description, namely: (1) ideological factor; and (2) literacy factors (reception of the qur’an and hadith). the ideological factors that influence both scholars are from ahlus sunnah. as an ideology, ahlus sunnah positions rationality and revelation in a moderate position, so that ikhtiyār and tawakkal have equal portions although both scholars have differences in accomplishing ahlus sunnah. as a graduate of pesantren, gus baha factually refers to the conventional way of thinking which prioritizes tawakkal. however, he does not neglect any prevention, and that ustadz abdus somad prefers to choose and prioritize ikhtiyār than tawakkal. this fact indicates that their reference and preference are different. as literacy (source of reference), the religious insight and source of reference of gus baha and ustadz abdus somad have different axes. gus baha tends to refer to classical turaṡ (yellow book), because it has a load of historical and philosophical values that is still contextually beneficial for present time. on the other hand, ustadz abdus somad has a strong insight into history, but he has more tendency on tafsir and hadith which also has a historical aspect in the form of asbābul nuzūl and asbāb wurūd. the flexibility of gus baha in dealing with the covid-19 outbreak is signified using classic turaṡ (yellow book), particularly ‘ulumuddin’ as a work of imam al-ghazali. he also gives an interesting quote, such as kafāni ‘izzan an takuna rabban, wa kafāni fakhran an akuna laka ‘abdan. it means that whatever human’s life condition is a form of worship, although when it is performed during the ‘lockdown’ period. on the other hand, ustadz abdus somad who prioritizes asbābul nuzūl and asbāb wurūd explains that in the prophet’s period (after the agreement of ḥudaibiyyah), there was a person who wanted to shake-hand with the prophet, but the prophet refused him because the [ 125 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 person was affected by ṭaun. this evidence is then referred to as a policy for the government to execute ‘lockdown’ to avoid danger. furthermore, in the reception of the text of the qur’an and hadith, both figures portray a uniqueness in their reception of the text of the qur’an and hadith. the view of gus baha tends to refer to classical literature interpretation (sufism), such as al-ihya’ and al-hikam. his assumption is that the virus is a thing that will come and go immediately; there is no sense of panic, but trust in allah the almighty as clearly illustrated in al-baqara [2]: 114. this verse addresses that the world is despicable, so that muslims are summoned to behave as ordinary to the virus; not to be anxious. yet, ustadz abdus somad who adheres ali imrān [3]: 54 as instructed to be aware (alert). it is similar to the opinion of the azhar scholars. the influence of their arguments on covid-19 towards muslims in indonesia it seems that the ideas of both figures have influenced the indonesian on a perception against the virus. in this context, the audience is at least categorized into two patterns, namely pros audience and cons audience. for detail, the following illustration is presented to describe the audiences’ comments on social media that indicate pros and cons. table 1. the positive comments of the audiences in social media no. account name positive comment for gus baha 1. konco suwung life and death are the power of allah the almighty. the important matter is to continue to live with a healthy lifestyle and keep our environment clean. do not leave five-times prayer as our obligations as muslims, because many benefits we can produce from these prayers for our world and hereafter. ablution is a way to maintain personal hygiene and it can ward off viruses. 2. mr. zank i agree, and we must continue our efforts to prevent all diseases. 3. rsy_bolo for gus baha, the virus has become a joke. the corona will be defeated by faith. stay healthy, gus. shollu ala sayyidina nabi muhammad. 4. nouvan hidayat gus baha always connects every single phenomena with tauhid, so that it remains calm and sincere with anything happens. 5. larva el caused of his speech, i strongly believe to keep working. thank you. i wish i could visit you. [ 126 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 no. account name positive comment for ustadz abdus somad 1. veri indarto dear allah, there is nothing any boredom on myself when i am listening to the speech of uas. although i have not chance to smooch his hand at cutnyakdien mosque, it is a happiness to look at his face. moreover, it will be a happiest moment as if i meet and look at the prophet muhammad pbuh. 2. tunas paiche adhin selamet he is an intellectual scholar; a modesty lecturer, humble, and earnest for his struggle reaching for da’wah in the rural area. he has a higher academic title; prof. dr. kh. assyeikh abdulshomad lc ma, datuk sri ulama setian negara, kayi jaga mangkudilaga, figure of transformation 2017, the indonesian lecturer, and rahmatallilalamin. he is the key humorist orator and an author of a monumental book. masyaallah 3. muhammad satria thank you for the advice, ustadz. i can be calm to face the virus. two things i can do: having an ablution anytime (be purified) and reading istighfar. 4. nani yani maryani the spread of corona virus has made people anxious, but we can still be calm by listening at uas’s speech in 8 a.m. everyday. thank god, it can remain a comfort and knowledge for me. i note it as learning. 5. eva sari thank god. he (uas) finally deals and agrees with the decree of mui to stay at home, worship at home, not to handshake, physically distanced when communicating, and not to present in a crowd. the saudi arabia that becomes the destination of all muslims in the world has also implemented ‘lockdown’ to break the chain of the covid-19 spread. table 2. negative comments of the audiences in social media no account name negative comments for gus baha 1. eko hadi please prioritize any effort!!! 2. min j2 it is kindly the same that we suicide. 3. saiful hasan anyone will finally be disappointed. what he delivers does not connect to the case of the corona virus. everyone may not be afraid of the virus, but he should remain obedient to the existing regulation. it is untrue that he has resisted the regulation. if the government commands the public, they should remain obedient for the sake of others. moreover, he often gets flu, stomachache, keep away from everyone’s fart, fall asleep, and snoring. it means that he is the same as everyone else. he can say that way, because he has not been infected with the virus, whereas when he gets flu, he must look for any aspirin. it signifies that it is a lie when he says that he is not afraid of the corona virus. it can be easily proven when he or anyone approaches everyone affected with the virus, he will visit the hospital to get a medical aid. no. account name negative comments for ustadz abdus somad [ 127 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 1. nutcracker cracker it indicates that rationality is not well applied/performed. 2. zonker zoker try to chase away the virus. do not too much to say a harm. 3. eeah eea i believe that many people have been disappointed with his argument. moreover, he mentions that his perspective is the same as some popular scholars who say that the virus is god’s military. he always feels that he is the right. for me, when he proposes his argument, because the virus firstly appears in wuhan, china as well as there is an oppression against muslims in uighur. yet, his argument has made people judge that he does not have an empathy against people in wuhan whom are affected by the outbreak by unconsciously connecting an oppression in uighur with the corona virus. 4. hendri wijaya please be accustomed to think before start to propose an argument. be aware of the rationality in order that religion will be more beneficial. from the mentioned comments, both figures have tried to provide peace for people, especially muslims. it can be identified through a comment of an account konco suwung and muhammad satria. the influence of both figures is very visible in the context of religious social policy. in governmental policy, some advice is suggested as follows: execute a ‘lockdown’, do a physical distancing, stay at home, implement worship at home (including friday prayer and congregation). yet, this advice can still be applied in some cities. nouvan hidayat, as one of the operators at pt. djarum has claimed that he still went to work, because it was impossible to work from home. besides, he also posted on his facebook about an unsettling phenomenon of those who piled up masks and hand sanitizer: “for those who sell a mask, personal protection facility, and hand sanitizer, do not pile it up and sell it with a high price. be kind, not to oppress people. our prayer is against the coronavirus. beg for forgiveness and stay working with all the potencies we have”. pt. djarum kudus has continued to operate during the pandemic, but the company has regulated all employees and staff to keep cleanliness and health by supplying masks, gloves, and disinfectant fluids. as if the company has stopped operating, the economy of the indigenous people will certainly turn off. therefore, the influence of both figures on religious social policymaking in small cities is clearly portrayed. there are several places that still operate a working-time, but it remains possible, such as menara kudus, factory, and many others. justifying the role of social media to affect the mindset of audiences against the coronavirus in indonesia gus baha and ustadz abdus somad are the representatives of islamic figures [ 128 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 that have become more visible by the media. their advice is well socialized due to the existence of social media platforms, such as youtube, instagram, facebook, and more. the use of social media for preaching is unavoidable during an era of industrial revolution. the speed of audiences’ access and a wider reach has positioned both figures as popular figures. in this urgency, gus baha suggests the public to behave and act normally against covid-19, because this pandemic may be regarded as god’s warning that death is a certainty. his suggestion has been well absorbed by his audiences. the involvement of arguments in the qur’an and classical literature have strengthened their trust in his speech. ustadz abdus somad also reminds us to be watchful and careful against the pandemic. for him, ikhtiyar and tawakkal have become two matters that can be performed by audiences during the pandemic. the clear method of delivery and literature (classical literature) as main sources, as well as jokes, have made the public interested in them. although he was unintentionally involved in politics during the general election in 2019 (tenorio, jubba, qodir, hidayati 2019), his inner imagery did not fade among his audiences. the popularity of the internet as a medium to communicate has been a new section (fakhruroji, muhaemin 2017) that greatly eases any access, so that any existing boundary between center and periphery (minority and majority) in the cyber world has become vague. research on www.apjii.or.id notes that in 2018, indonesian users of the internet reached approximately 170 people and 19% had used the internet to operate social media. this fact is then exploited by both figures as a media to liver religious advice. besides, the internet has become a ‘bunt’ (cyber-islamic environment) to socialize and communicate with other muslims (bunt 2000). the theology of ahlus sunnah as a moderate religious solution the villagers and traditional people cannot be separated from cultural and social traditions. the theology of ahlus sunnah greatly influences the moderate attitude, tending to always prioritize religious solutions rather than scientific solutions. they also cannot leave any tradition, such as prayer for funerals and selametan. besides, a sufficiently medium economy has made the villagers required to go to the field, so their economy can progress and survive. they are not the same as everyone working in the city with a certain income and tends to allow ‘work from home’. thus, both figures are in moderate position, and not to behave excessively though covid-19 is a pandemic that has struck down many countries in the world in terms of social, religious, economic, and environmental sectors. this moderate position is called tawassuth. both [ 129 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 figures finally attempt to mediate the social development trends. the tendency to prioritize religious solutions rather than scientific solutions is because these figures are religious preachers, not medical experts. the emphasis on health perspective and the use of religious narratives that support health regulation will be certainly more dominant. there is a need for the existing religious lecturer with his moderate religious behavior and literacy on various issues in public health, environmental science, and other sciences, so that his perspective is not mono discipline. the need for religious lecturers to read and study health and pandemic literature from a turkish perspective is also important, such as a work of ibn sina, or other multi-talented religious figure, like ibnu hajar al-asqalany with his work bazlul maun that discusses a history of a plague in the islamic world since the prophetic period up to 900s h (al-asqalany 1991). therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the pandemic is not only seen from a religious perspective, but also from history, health, and environmental science. because both of their thoughts are conveyed through social media, and they have been widely known as influencers in the religious field. their ideas are absorbed by their audiences so that they tend not to heed any suggestion and solution from the perspective of science and medicine. pros and cons resulting from the wide circulation of lectures have indicated that the position of both figures as religious influencers have processed very well despite different responses from audiences. as viewed from medical science, the minimum of knowledge on covid-19 pandemic, both figures are frequently highlighted. the openness to see and re-analyze classic turats on health and disease as combined with a religious point of view, is a combination that increasingly confirms the position of both figures that mostly affect muslims in indonesia (qudsy 2019). similar to the singaporean case that abidin analyses, most of the religious influencers in indonesia are young muslim ulamas aged between 18 and 40 years. it refers to the called names of ‘gus’ baha and ‘ustadz’ abdus somad, in which gus is usually a person descendant of kiai (an elder of pesantren) who young-middle-aged until 40, and ustadz is usually a young religious teacher in an islamic institution. they deploy techniques of visual labor, through their official social media channels, that engage their followers. the most popular influencers in indonesia started off as young da’i, with a significant rise in popularity of those identifying as one-million-views-da’i (da’i sejuta views for ustadz abdus somad) and walking-qur’an-kiai (kiai al-quran berjalan). although influencers also have a significant number of followers in indonesia, they formed ‘komunitas’ or ‘fans’ (interest groups), such as pecinta gus baha, [ 130 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 in indonesia. ustadz abdus somad, for instance, has a popular youtube channel, ustadz abdus somad official and has since gained popularity in the mainstream media as a ‘fans’ for muslims interested in learning better about islam. the notion of religious influencers and the example previously provided on how gus baha and ustadz abdus somad merged their religious platforms on covid-19 frame how we should think about both as ‘theological actors’ and their movement. although my examples above do not seem to have direct links to certain theological roots (except for ahlus sunnah theology to some extent), they condition the muslim community’s religious platforms and reconfigure their (religious) subjectivity. further, by positioning them as ‘theological actors’, we can see the preacher (dai) influence over the way the muslim community in indonesia reconstruct their opinions on covid-19 how they should and how they will respond to the virus in the recent periods. gus baha and ustadz abdus somad’s emphasis on religious approach, rather than a scientific and medical one, to covid-19, their idealization of covid-19 as catastrophe taken by god to human beings and the way they (re) make the issue of covid-19 in public should be seen as a shift in the current imaginary of common people, and particularly the muslim community, as citizen-subjects. although the positioning of gus baha and ustadz abdus somad as religious influences can be seen as influencing religious opinions on covid-19, we suggest that we look at both as part of an emerging ‘movement of young preacher instead of a form of a religious movement. this perspective allows us to recognize their religious potentials as well as to ‘to glimpse the movement’s possibilities—without forgetting its limits’. this movement of young preacher, instead of promoting scientific approach to covid-19, enforces certain modes of subjection. the notion of ‘scientific’ commonly used in the approach to covid-19 pushes them to move into other spaces that require specific religious platforms. in other words, in indonesia, the common religious opinions among the muslim community can be captured by the figure of ‘social-media religious influencers’, who actively and creatively sets out how the muslim community should look, behave, and set their opinions on covid-19. the religious influencer’s presence and influence are mediated by the prevalence of social media platforms. the religious influencer’s presence and influence are mediated by the prevalence of social media platforms and shaped by the contested religious dynamics to covid-19. [ 131 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1921 conclusion the young preacher’s religious approach to covid-19 has undergone a significant impact on the way the muslim community has expressed thoughts on the virus. through social media, their arguments can be rapidly consumed and influence the audiences’ mindset. their arguments also result from the theological viewpoint of ahlus sunnah that strives for well-behaved, moderate, and tends to prioritize religious solutions than scientific solutions. since their arguments are delivered and spread through social media, they have been well known as religious influencers. the ‘religious influencers’ become a part of religious transformation and condition the muslim community’s expressions on the covid-19 issues. as seen in the case of gus baha and ustadz abdus somad, when they took part in expressing their religious platforms on covid-19 in their official youtube channel, which required them to be visible on the social media, they had to give the ‘stage’ to the religious counterpart instead of scientific or medical approach. the increasing presence of the religious influencers, circulating through social media and garnering significant following both online and offline, reveals the shifting imaginary of ideal religious expressions on covid-19. however, it also indicates, unfortunately, the limits of this study which positions them in the dominating and lasting patriarchal gender in indonesia’s religious preaching even on the public health realms. bibliography abidin, c. 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(2016). komunikasi dan media sosial (communications and social media). the messenger 3 (2): 69–74. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.26623/themessenger.v3i2.270. williams, p. j., kamaludeen, n. m. (2017). muslim girl culture and social control in southeast asia: exploring the hijabista and hijabster phenomena. crime, media, culture: an international journal 13 (2): 199– 216. yanuar, d. (2020). gaya retorika dakwah ustadz abdul somad pada ceramah peringatan maulid nabi muhammad saw tahun 1440 h di mesjid raya baiturrahman banda aceh. al-bayan: media kajian dan pengembangan ilmu dakwah 25 (2): 354–85. zahidi, s. & ikmal, h. (2019). paham keagamaan masyarakat digital (kajian atas dakwah ustadz abdul somad perspektif konstruksi sosial). mediakita: jurnal komunikasi dan penyiaran islam 3 (1): 65–80. zahra, u. f., sarbini, a., shodiqin, a. (2016). media sosial instagram sebagai media dakwah. tabligh: jurnal komunikasi dan penyiaran islam 1 (2): 60–88. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15575/tabligh.v1i2.26. [ 287 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 development of modern thoughts in islam pontianak: stain pontianak press, 2013 by eka hendry. ar reviewed by suhardiman (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) for more than 14 centuries, history has proved that islamic teachings come with a variety of thoughts, social cultural backgrounds, periods through which the development and the dynamics evolved. the primary mission of mankind as the khalifah fil ardh (the caliph of the earth, is to practice the islamic teachings (shariah) in accordance with the provisions of the primary source of islam itself, i.e. the qur’an and hadith. at least, a long history of islam as a religion of revelation suggests that the existence of islamic teachings can grow and develop in every corner of the world, with a variety of spreading patterns that give the nuances and the mosaics in the development of the religion the present day. at first, the teachings of islam were revealed by allah through the angel gabriel, to his messenger, muhammad (pbuh) was in order to respond to the various challenges that emerged at the time. as for the matters related to the issues of aqidah, shariah, muamalah, and morals/ethics, which were decided by prophet muhammad through his words, deeds, and opinions are referred to as the hadith/sunnah. however, in the subsequent developments after the death of prophet muhammad, the revelations that had been memorized by his companions, were later collected and published in a mushaf known as the qur’an. so is the case with the hadith, given the widespread muslim territory, split among the people regarding the circulation of false hadith had triggered the need to search, compile and conduct a rigorous selection which was done during the reign of umar bin abdul aziz (99-101 ah/717-720 ad). finally, in the 3rd century of the hejira year, there were big names with an expertise in the hadith, such as imam bukhari, muslim, abu dawud, nasa’i, tarmidzi and so forth. after the death of prophet muhammad in 632 ad or in the 11th year of the hejira, the expansion of the islamic powers and the teachings of islam were continued by the companions, tabi’it and tabi’in to various parts of the world, especially the regions of africa, central asia and europe. the extent of the spread of islam, either through trade routes or invasion carried out [ 288 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 by the companions has resulted in more complex issues among muslims. in addressing such issues, the prophet during his life had provided space for the companions and generations to come (scholars) to perform ijtihad, in order to solve problems faced by muslims, of course with the provisions and norms contained in the qur’an and hadith. the book, the development of modern thoughts in islam, written by eka hendry provides an overview to readers about the trail and the development and dynamics that occured in the islamic world. starting from the early presence of islam as a doctrine brought by prophet muhammad until its development today. at the beginning, the author gave a little introduction on the advent of prophet muhammad, who in addition to being the messenger of god, also introduced the teaching of islam to complete the previously established religions and traditions. a struggle that was impossible without direct guidance of god (revelation), in answering all challenges and resistance posed by the pagan quraish of the period. thus, it is reasonable when michael hart put prophet muhammad on top position as the number one of the 100 most influential people in the world. moreover, given the time it took, which was relatively very short, i.e. 23 years for prophet muhammad and his companions to change an order of society, with all its deep-rooted tradition and culture. in the next section, the author outlined some of the dimensions found in islam, one of which as quoted from ninian smart, among others, the doctrinal dimension (philosophical), narrative (mystical), the ethical dimension (legal), practical dimension (ritual), experiential (emotional) and social dimension (organizational). then the dimensions are substantially grouped into three main areas, namely, the esoteric domain (philosophical and mystical dimension), the formal/legal domain (ethical and practical dimension) and internalization and externalization (experimental and social dimension) in the historical-empirical context, where the latter can be categorized into the esoteric area in the manifestation of religion. the substance in the islamic reform is a theme discussed individually and in depth in this book. “islam as a perfect religion and does not need any reform” is a statement built on the ontological constructs, as if islam is already final and has been revealed in a comprehensive manner. in this discussion, it was also mentioned that reform is introducing a new islamic model that differs from that taught by prophet muhammad. the views simply proposed what is called ‘the purification of islamic teachings from all forms of irregularities’. there was even a movement called the revival of islamic teachings. regardless of whatever the terms used, be it tajdid (reform), nahdhah (revival), purification, [ 289 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 revivalism, modernization, liberalization or renaissance, in this case the author stated that there is a movement against the teachings of islam, and the matter should be addressed so that the movement will not be interpreted incorrectly. the concept and scope of the study cover the definitions of the development of thoughts in islam are also discussed in depth in this book including understanding the nature of being modern, modernization and modernism; the tradition of reform of thoughts in islam, from orthodoxy to rational and authentic thinking, to the anti-thesis of the condition of moslems. historically, the development of thoughts in islam could not be separated from the influence the western modern thoughts on the islamic world. the critical interface between the arab world and modern western civilization in the late 18th century was the momentum of “renaissance” according to albert hourani. this period was marked by the emergence of some intellectuals returning from europe and then adopted the ideas of development achieved by the west, particularly france. in the 18th century, france was one of the countries with a high civilization in western europe. there are even people that argued that france became a model (prototype) of a modern state at that time. furthermore, this book also features several taxonomies of thoughts of reform in islam, including albert hourani, fazlur rahman and charles kurzman. the taxonomy model was used by the author to facilitate research related to thoughts. in this case, the author also admitted that lack of taxonomy model is likely due to generalizing the thoughts of the important figures, but the shortcomings of this taxonomy model can be overcome with the figure study model, since individual characteristics can be maintained consistently against changes in a person’s mind. in addition, the thoughts of islamic reformists such as mohammad syahrur, mohammed arkound, nasr hamid abu zayd hasan and hanafi are also discussed in this book, as well as nurcholis madjid with his reform model of the islamic thoughts in indonesia. [ 97 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 ethnic and religious diversity in sarawak: peacebuilding among muslim youth sharifah nooraida binti wan hasan1 institute of teacher education batu lintang campus kuching, sarawak, malaysia email: snwh79@yahoo.com.my abstract the ethnic and religious diversity in sarawak is unique among malaysians. the need for tolerance and unity regardless of the existence of various ethnics and religions is the key to building peace in sarawak. the state of unity in sarawak is sustained with the role of islam as the official religion, the constitutional monarchy, community structure, political will, social awareness, positive peace, economic stability and education for gender equality. muslim youth in sarawak are also playing roles in promoting peace through esteemed programmes in an effort to engage peacebuilding among youths. ‘islam is the way of life’ continues to be the principle in engaging muslim youth towards peace. the institute of teacher education (ite) batu lintang campus in kuching, sarawak is one of the higher learning institutions in malaysia that is engaging youth in promoting peace. ite batu lintang campus participated in colouring malaysia with ‘the youth peace campaign’ accompanied by 394 youth from all over sarawak. this paper aims to share the roles and opinions of the muslim youth towards peace in their diversified ethnic and religious community. although ite batu lintang campus endorsed no specific course accentuating on peacebuilding education, the youth in the campus are still the main asset for promoting peace in ethnic and religious diversity. keywords: ethnic and religious diversity, peacebuilding, muslim youths, state of unity, sarawak 1 the author is a lecturer at research and innovation of teacher professionalism department, institute of teacher education batu lintang campus kuching, sarawak, malaysia. her academic research and publications focus on islamic’s education, teacher’s education, women’s rights education, peace studies and arabic language studies. the author would like to aknowledge the support from university of malaya to sponsor this research-based article (gc001b-15hne) and expresses her deepest grattitute. the warmest thanks are also extended to all assitance to the research project. the author would also like to credit the annual international conference on islamic studies (aicis) 2017 organized by the ministry of religious affair of the republic of indonesia in which the author was invited to present the paper. it was held in jakarta on 22-25 november 2017. [ 98 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 introduction malaysia ranks 29th on the global peace index (gpi) and is the fifth most peaceful country in the asia pacific region after new zealand, japan, australia and singapore (beatrice, 2017). sarawak is one of the thirteen states in malaysia and is known as a beautiful and vibrant state with a soul of unity (department of information malaysia, 2017). the phenomenal progress of peace in sarawak has been built upon the foundation of unity and harmony among more than 30 ethnics groups with different religious, beliefs, customs and traditions (sarawak chief minister’s department, 2013). harmony and prosperity in sarawak is also built upon the unity of diverse communities, like many tributaries feeding a mighty river as they flow in unison towards the sea. the convergence of people in sarawak with diverse cultures and religions forms a common destiny of a harmonious and prosperous sarawak (sarawak chief minister’s department, 2013). a muslim community leader in sarawak described its state of unity as being sustained with the role of islam as the official religion, constitutional monarchy, structure of community, political will, social awareness, positive peace, economic stability and education for gender equality (wan hamid, personal communication, august 31, 2017). in other words, sarawak’s former and present chief minister brought about political stability and rapid progress to the state. islam is the official religion, which with the power of constitutional monarchy unites all communities in sarawak to live in harmony. politic, social, economic and educational factors also contribute to a positive peace in sarawak. this situation is not supprising as it also happens in other placess such indonesia, thailand and brunei. in the case of indonesia, especially in the eastern region, taufani (2016) argues that the situation of the dakwah of islam is related to the politics, and the relation is not static but rather then more dynamic following the context. as far as islam is concerned, such an honourable way of living is the spirit of peace that mentioned in qur’an (qur’an 6:82). the believers who worship allah swt and do not associate with him are the people who have the peace and tranquillity of life and guided in the world and the hereafter (al-mubarakfuri, 2000). peace of mind is also a part of peace in our life. with peace of mind, we can do all things safely. a muslim chief minister of sarawak unites all communities under the jurisdiction of the constitutional monarchy as stated in constitution of malaysia. islam is the religion of the federation, but other religions may be practised in harmony and peace in any state in malaysia. in addition to the practice of islam elswhere, based on the view of tariq ramadhan, abdulroya panaemalae and prasojo (2016) [ 99 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 also explain that the muslim world must be considering the other world in the effort of peacebuilding in this globe. the understanding between islam and the west is an example of the phenomena that must be given attention seriously for the efforth of youth movement of peace. youth and peace: new approaches in describing the formula used by rasulullah saw to establish peace after emigrated to medina, al-mubarakfuri (1987) mentioned that rasulullah saw united muslims with aqidah, politic and islamic systems. he shifted the view to establish the relationship with non-muslim groups in medina. his purpose was to bring peace, prosperity, goodness to the universal human, as well as restructuring the medina district in a harmonious life. he set up the rules of tolerance that has never been enjoyed by community in medina before. rasulullah saw made an agreement with non-muslims and gave them a freedom to choose their own religion and financial dealing. this shows that the prophet muhammad saw was using his practical wisdom to protect medina and the muslim community by taking good care of non-muslims with prosperity. rasulullah saw was a great peaceful muslim idol. zayd ibn harithah was a youth in the prophet muhammad’s saw era whose maintained peace in joining the mu’tah war who was commissioned and trained by rasulullah saw to become the youngest war warrior during that time (al-būtī, 1991). malala yousafzai (2017) stressed in her speech that islam is a religion of humanity, peace and prosperity. this youngest noble peace prize winner shared that the best way to fight against terrorism and extremism is to educate the next generation with a quality education. the youth play an important role in spreading awareness and message of peace to the next generation. she was appointed the united nation messenger of peace to promote girls’ education through her voice in 2017. johan galtung (1996) revealed that peace can be categorized as positive or negative. this prominent founder of peace defined the positive notion as the conservation of social relations, strengthening the social system that fulfil the needs of the population, and strengthening social activities to fulfil community needs. negative peace refers to the absence of violence such that it can be prevented and stopped. maintaining the peace from a state from war and conflict zones is a negative peace. peace does not mean absence of any conflict, but rather that all conflicts are handled in a constructive fashion towards resolution. johan and malala had undergone some cruelty experiences in their childhood life that shaped their determination to work for peace. experience based learning leads to support for maintaining a peaceful mind, life, and nation. [ 100 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 peacebuilding among muslim youths: ite batu lintang campus experience in late 1941, most of the european officers during the brooke era in sarawak, were rounded up by the japanese and interned at batu lintang camp, present known as ite batu lintang campus (sarawak government, 2017). the aura from the impact of the japanese and brooke site encourages the trainee teachers to contribute their ideas in engaging peace in ite batu lintang campus. in april 2016, ite batu lintang campus organized ‘the youth peace campaign’ accompanied by 394 youth from all over sarawak. it was organized by 15 trainee teachers studying for their bachelor of education in islamic studies. those 15 trainee teachers shared their roles and opinions towards peace in their diversified ethnic and religious community life. they organized the program as an effort to engage their role in maintaining and promoting peace among muslim or non-muslim youths. although there is no specific course accentuating on peacebuilding education in the campus, but those 15 muslim trainee teachers had spreading a message of peace through their effective activities in the peace youth campaign. the muslim youth spread a message of peace to non-muslim youth in sarawak was accepted by the communities. their opinions in organizing the activities were based on the useful programs suitable for the youth. a memorable flash mob presentation was chosen to be the main activity in the peace campaign, in addition to a short talk show on ‘peace versus violence’ by invited panels. a flash mob refers to a large public gathering at which people perform an unusual or seemingly random act and then disperse (oxford, 2017). this performance being chosen by the trainee teachers was intended for promoting awareness towards peace among the youth that participated in the campaign (afiq, personal communication, april 1, 2016). some of them were acting on the violence situation and war conflict happening in the present world. there were some participants who were trying to calm the situation and help each other. although there is no war or extreme conflict in diversified communities in sarawak, the situation during the campaign influenced the youth which participated in these programs to feel the real situation through the flash mob presentation. the organizer shared that some of the participants cried while watching the flash mob presentation with a violence theme as contrasted with peace and harmony, including a syrian attended the campaign (adibah, personal communication, april 29, 2016). these feelings were shared by johan (1996) and malala (2017) who have undergone some cruel experiences in their life that determined them to engage for peace. [ 101 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 youth roles and opinions: trainee teachers perspectives table 1 presents the role of muslim’s trainee teachers as an organizer of the peace campaign. the interviews with them revealed that the muslim youth (6 out of 15) had agreed that they have a role in promoting peace programs through posters, pamphlets and social media including whatsapp, facebook, twitter and instagram. meanwhile, two of them shared their future role in becoming educators providing an example of spreading positive thinking to the society. nine of the trainee teachers had different ideas about their roles in promoting peace. they reflected their role in promoting peace by presenting flash mobs for attracting people, supporting programs, respecting each other, and spreading peace to communities with diverse ethnic backgrounds. they also shared their role in applying concern, cooperation, and relationships regardless of religion and customs. in their teaching life, they also thought that they should be providing awareness on domestic and international violence in school and continue promoting peace through novels, newspapers, or books that they will publish in the future. table 1 trainee teachers roles as youth towards promoting peace (n=15) no. role of trainee teachers as youths frequency 1 promoting peace programs through posters, pamphlets and social media (whatsapp, facebook, twitter and instagram) 6 2 becoming educators who can be an example in spreading positive thinking to the society 2 3 promoting peace by presenting flash mob show adapted through real situations 1 4 adopting tolerance and respecting each other although in a different religions and cultures 1 5 supporting peace program 1 6 spreading peace to the communities 1 7 applying their concern to each other 1 8 performing a show that can attract people to peace program 1 9 establishing cooperation and relationships in implement things together regardless of religion and customs 1 10 shall providing awareness on domestic and international violence in school and bring their students to think of appropriate action to be taken 1 11 promoting peace programs in the novel that i wrote either in the newspapers or books 1 [ 102 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 table 2 presents the opinion of muslim trainee teachers as youth engaging in a peace campaign. the interviews revealed that the muslim youth (8 out of 15) suggested that awareness should be provided to malaysian communities on the issue of current oppression inside and outside malaysia through their peace programs. they suggested that the peace campaign be conducted annually. meanwhile, five of them suggested to give awareness to the public about the importance of maintaining peace in a country; while two of them felt deep gratitude towards the peace in their country. seven of the trainee teachers were concerned about their role in creating peace, demonstrating the challenges in achieving universal peace, spreading the message of peace, and preparing a defence of and love for peace of our nation until next generation, especially among youngsters. they also agreed that the peace program is a great program in promoting peace and stressed their concern in appreciating the struggles of the warriors of the past. table 2 trainee teachers opinions as youth towards promoting peace (n=15) no. opinion of trainee teachers as youths frequency 1 provide awareness to malaysian communities on the issue of current oppression inside and outside malaysia through peace programs annually/more often 8 2 giving awareness to the public about the importance of maintaining peace in a country 5 3 deep gratitude towards the peace in the country 2 4 youth need to play a role in creating peace in their life environment 1 5 demonstrate the challenges that the world faces in achieving universal peace 1 6 spreads the message of peace 1 7 prepare for the defence of the nation until the next generation 1 8 peace program is great for promoting peace to the present society 1 9 to build a spirit of love for peace especially for young generations 1 10 to appreciate the struggles of the warrior in the past 1 why should muslim youth be taught and remain aware about islam and peace? what are the most appropriate activities and approaches for spreading a message of peace among youth? can malaysian youth engage themselves in promoting and maintaining peace while there was no war? should muslim [ 103 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 youth engage in peace building? these questions are a serious challenge to scholars, educators, policy makers, curriculum specialists and malaysian public. the task of maintaining peace includes developing educational awareness among the next generation of the true nature of peace building and its roles in the world. the perception that islam is linked with terrorism, war and violence should be smoothly avoided. a positive peace in our lifestyle nowadays, encompassing good social relations and strengthened social systems and activities, should be brought up and declared as a component of peace in our country (johan, 1996). conclusion as a conclusion, it is imperative that the task of maintaining peace provides a learning environment as well as motivate the muslim youth in engaging peace. most importantly, roles of trainee teachers in providing awareness, supporting, promoting and spreading message of peace has become the key factor for achieving peacebuilding among youth in their diversified ethnic and religious community. although ite endrosed no specific course accentuating on peacebuilding education, the youth in the campus are still the main asset for promoting peace through their appropriate approach and programme in sarawak. bibliography abdulroya panaemalae, a., & prasojo, z. (2016). islam and the west: tariq ramadan and the discourse of religion of peace for a global understanding. al-albab, 5(2), 237 250. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i2.507 al-būtī, m.s.r. (1991). fiqh al-sīrah al-nabawī. (11th ed.). beirut: dār al-fikr al-macāsir. al-mubārakfūrī, s.r. (1987). al-rahīq al-makhtūm. al-mansūrah: dar al-wafa’ li al-tiba’ wa al-nasr. ____. (2000). al-misbāh al-munīr fī tahzīb tafsir ibn kathīr. riyadh: darul al-salām. beatrice, n.j. (2017, june 2). malaysia ranks 29th on the global peace index. new straits times. retrieved from http://www. nst.com.my department of information. ministry of communications and multimedia malaysia. (2017). states in malaysia. retrieved from http:// pmr.penerangan.gov.my [ 104 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 flashmob. (2017). in oxforddictionaries.com. retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/flash_mob galtung, j. (1996). peace by peaceful means: peace and conflict, development and civilization. london: sage publications. malala yousafzai biography.com. (2017, oktober 17). malala yousafzai, women’s rights activist, children activist. retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/malala-yousafzai-21362253. sarawak government. sarawak state secretary office. (2017). the japanese occupation. retrieved from http//www.sarawak.gov.my state implementations motnitoring unit, sarawak chief minister’s department. (2013). sarawak 50 golden years of harmony and prosperity. kuching: chief minister’s department sarawak. taufani, t. (2016). indonesian islam in religious and political struggle discourse. al-albab, 4(1), 101 120. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v4i1.280 [ 21 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 berobat kampung: religion and traditional knowledge of seeking recovery in borneo yusdiana iain pontianak email: dina.7usdiana@gmail.com hariansyah iain pontianak email: shah4shah19@gmail.com dedi firmansyah iain pontianak email: akhidedi7@gmail.com dini presti billia iain pontianak email: dinipresti2310@gmail.com abstract this article explores the variants of tradition in seeking recovery within a group of religious community in the upstream kapuas in borneo island. it is presented using indigenous psychology, narrative analysis and psycho-anthropology. the data were collected using the techniques of in-depth interviews, psycho-anthropological observations, narrative interpretation and documentation. this work finds that the use of quranic verses and dhikr as well as religious symbols are are very prominent. the people of the upstream kapuas river interpret and leave a legacy for traditional healing, beginning with an “agreement”, reciting a prayer, enhancing, testing to form and hardening. passing occurs in a closed, difficult and secret process. the preservation of traditional healing is due to very important facts; that it is low cost, being located far from modern health facilities and short time between risk of death and health resources. in addition, the traditional healers are always ready, providing fast treatment, guaranteed recovery from certain types of diseases. this article suggests that the sufistic-style traditional healing is profound within the tradition. keywords: berobat kampung; traditional knowledge; seeking recovery; islamic psychology [ 22 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 introduction since the outbreak of the covid-19 in 2018, the issue of vaccine and public health has been widely attracting the world community (prada et al., 2023). all of a sudden, the health-related topics have become an important discussion of all circles. as an illustration, it can be analyzed from the studies conducted by muhammad adnan shereen, suliman khan, abeer kazmi, nadia bashir, rabeea siddique (shereen et al., 2020) about the highly contagious coronavirus-19 (covid-19) outbreak that is causing a global pandemic around the world. there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines clinically approved for use against covid-19. the following is a small part of research related to the above subject. studies by melika lotfi, michael r. hamblin and nima rezaei; (lotfi et al., 2020) koichi yuki, miho fujiogi, sophia koutsogiannaki (yuki et al., 2020) are examples of research on covid-19 which has drawn the attention of the world community in the last two years. some of the research discusses all aspects related to covid-19 as the disease outbreak that is devastating to the world community. something that was unimaginable before. academic discussions about health are increasingly proving the urgency of this issue for humanity. in the context of [islamic] psychology, health also includes both physical and psychological health [mental well-being]. in particular, the issue of mental well-being has become an important theme and concern. the who even launched the theme of mental well-being as an important agenda for the world community. for example, the publication of the five well-being index (who-5) (sischka et al., 2020)some psychometric questions remain that concern the choice of an adequate item response theory (irt which is currently the most frequently discussed theme and the object of research in the field of psychology. it indicates that awareness of physical and psychological health has increased from local awareness to global awareness. the most intensive discussion related to the causes of the under-achievement of health conditions in these two aspects, in the global context, these two dimensions are now differentiated. even the causes of “pain” are not only conventional causes but have transformed into extra-ordinary causes (ren et al., 2021). the issue of environmental change, for example, has been proven to affect humans physically and psychologically (mouratidis & peters, 2022)teleconferencing, online learning, telehealth, and virtual meetings with friends and family all increased during covid-19 compared to the pre-covid-19 period. the next step in the analysis examined relationships between built environment characteristics and teleactivities before and during covid-19. telework and virtual meetings increased to a greater extent in denser neighborhoods than in lower-density neighborhoods. a larger increase in online learning [ 23 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 was associated with lower neighborhood density, lower accessibility to public transport, and more local facilities. numerous local facilities were associated with more frequent telework and virtual meetings both before and during covid-19. the substantial covid-19-induced increase in teleactivities found in the study highlights the potential of information and communications technology (ict something that was rarely discussed previously. berobat kampung [traditional healing] is basically not a new theme. there have been so many articles that discuss this theme. some of the discussions only focused on the procedures for traditional healing; some added a discussion about ritual (satrianegara et al., 2021) , spices (djiazet et al., 2022), herbs (liu, 2021) with all the benefits. there are also articles that discuss certain diseases that have been successfully cured using certain herbs. however, what distinguishes the theme of this research from the above is that this research involves a discussion of the islamic style and the perspective of islamic psychology related to traditional healing. meanwhile, in the context of local community traditions, according to (hariansyah, 2017) the mantra text contains elements of sufism, fiqh [islamic jurisprudence], fortune-telling and traditional medicine. in the coastal areas, mantras are used to treat various diseases. this is where traditional healing comes into contact with islam (elgazar et al., 2019) and is still in use by the islamic communities in the coastal areas of west kalimantan. adding a further description of islamic dialectics and local people, (hermansyah, 2016) stated that the islamic community in the interior of west kalimantan accepted islam since its spread to a certain extent in order to accommodate local culture. the dialectical process of islam and local culture is an example of massive acceptance of religion in areas far from the coast. this acceptance also included the traditional traditional healing using traditional methods through magic (arenas, 1987). it clearly indicates the cohesion between islam, psychology, borneo cultural traditions and traditional healing. therefore, this research seeks to prove that there is a point of agreement between islamic studies, psychology and medicine (health) within the framework of borneo’s cultural traditions. in addition, the themes of health, physical and psychological well-being, and of course well-being in general, are being intensively discussed in the field of psychology, especially islamic psychology. this article discusses the transactional patterns and processes of islam and the traditions of the local community in the upstream kapuas river so that they converge to become traditonal healing, as well as interpretes and passes down the transactional patterns with islamic psychology. this article explores the [ 24 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 patterns, processes and transactional patterns of islam and the traditions of the local community in the upstream kapuas river related to traditional healing as an effort to seek recovery from physical to psychological diseases that local people believe “only” dukun kampung [shamans] can provide. diseases are not only caused by medical reasons. some are caused by nature or by intent (lee et al., 2020; hermansyah, 2016). the recovery from these two types of disease can be provided by the health “services” of shamans. all of them are discussed in the “beliefs” of local people in the interior of west kalimantan. behind it --as metacognition-there are so many psychological facts that are intertwined with religion that are interesting to examine. berobat kampung within the upstream kapuas river community this work is based on the data from some areas of west kalimantan such as nanga mongko sub-district in sekadau hulu with one shaman as the informant; sajad village, sambas district with 2 female shamans as informants, and sanggau district with one male shaman and one female shaman as informants, and in peripin village on the entikong border with one authoritative informant determined through snowball purposive sampling from the local community. the data were collected using techniques of in-depth interview, psycho-anthropological observations supported by narrative interpretation and documentation of facts at the research site. in-depth interviews was intended to get the psychological impression of the respondents; psychoanthropology aimed to get a comprehensive understanding of individual and communal behavior related to the research theme. to obtain data on the psychology of the inland community of west kalimantan, traditional healing, islam and various physical and psychological ilnesses, this research employs c.g jung’s theory. as explained by belgin tanrıverdi and özlem apak, jung’s theory on collective consciousness and primordial archetype suggests that human mentality is processed through human development within their life (tanrıverdi & apak, 2014). in the context of psychological development of human being, jane van buren & shelley alhanati believe that mental primitive theory is dependent to certain meaning making, including the fantasy of being in the process of having and making the experience istself (buren & alhanati, 2010). this work, however, employs jung’s theory as the basis tool in analyzing the behavior of seeking recovery practices by the local people in west borneo. the theory has also been widely used by researchers in the fields of psychology and the psychology of religion such as belgin tanrıverdi, yıldız öztan ulusoya [ 25 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 & hülya çevirmeb who have done studies on collective consciousness and primordial architype. this is based on assumption that the local people of west borneo in the upstream sungai kapuas may provide early expression on their consciousness. and jung’s theory allows the researchers to discuss that natural behavior and mental development process may grow up within everyone and inherited from collective experience of previous generation (tanriverdi et al., 2009). regarding this theory, walters (walters, 1994) argues that the evolution of universal psychological adaptation is projected in jung’s conception of archetypes and the collective unconscious. c.g jung’s “primitive” mental theory which is used as the frame work in this article is constructed as follows: first, “primitive” thinking is an inherent psychological symptom. second, the idea of “primitive” mentality is universalized. for jung, thinking in a “primitive” manner is the initial psychological state of all humans. third, jung valued “primitive” thinking and recognized it as an expression of the workings of the human mind (hariansyah, 2017). islam and in traditional healing pratices entama putik is an example of traditional healing with religious values. religion has become an important element in the healing tradition in west borneo. as stated by the shaman of paribang baru village, tempunak subdistrict, sintang regency, the entama putik healing tradition is an example of how important the legacy of traditional healing is within local people of west borneo. local people believe that mr. j is able to treat various diseases. many people have proved to be fully recovered. the local community’s typical illnesses range from fever, stomach pain, itching, kayap [herpes zoster], etc. mr. j cures fever using “entama putik daun merah betina”. the term entama putik daun merah betina is taken from the word entama which in the local language means treatment, and putik means to pick. meanwhile, daun merah betina [literally meannig female red leaf] are the leaves as a treatment medium. the entama putik treatment is done by simply applying the ground leaves on the body of a patient who is sick with fever. this treatment process begins with picking some leaves and it must be in odd number for example three, five, or seven pieces, etc. then the leaves are crushed and placed in a container of water and then a mantra is recite upon it. after that it is compressed on the patient’s temple. the mantra consists of religious texts. in addition to fever, kayap (herpes zoster) is also a typical disease in the village. this disease is still found in the united states today. d.r. lazzaro, r. ramachandran, e. cohen, s.l. galetta (lazzaro et al., 2022) reported [ 26 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 through their research that herpes zoster may be a possible side effect of mrna vaccination against the sars-cov2 vaccine. kayap is treated using dry mentawa [artocarpus anisophyllus] leaves and jackfruit leaves. the use of dry leaves is intended to make it easy to burn and then take the ashes and add cooking oil. the procedure for giving the potion is by applying it on the affected part of the disease with a mantra [chant]. traditional treatment for kayap disease in peripin village, entikong, has also been practiced for a long time. as reported by shaman br, the disease is similar to smallpox, but coils around the body. the gunung people in entikong and sungkung village believe that if this kayap disease has completely encircled one’s body, it will be fatal and often ends in death. in the sambas community in the upstream kapuas river, the pattern of islamic transactions and local traditions is called ditaware. it is intended to ask allah for recovery by mentioning the patient’s name and then reciting a prayer. this traditional healing occurs and is carried out when the patient has been sick for more than a month. the length of “waiting” is because the patient has received medical treatment. the waiting process somehow becomes a requirement. waiting is meant as “the shaman’s ethic” when treating patients. the shaman is prohibited from interfering with treatment until the doctor declares that he is no longer able to treat his patient. another reason is that they believe that there should be no mixing of ‘medicine’ between doctors and shamans. this treatment is done by sticking herbal potion that is placed on the patient’s forehead after a certain mantra is recited, then rubbed on the head or consumed directly. tawar ambun is done by reciting prayer onto water, and adding other requirements such as nails or iron as a “hardener” and a modest amount of money that is handed over to the shaman. this “hardener” is intended so that the illness that has been treated [ditaware] will no longer recur and the patient can completely recover. usually, the heat in the body “escapes” by being “removed” from the body through a mantra that is chanted. another informant, pak cik, pointed out that in traditional healing, all patients are treated fairly. according to pak cik, the treatment is adjusted to the “conditions” of the patient. however, anyone can receive treatment. in liku village of sanggau distric, a dayak patient went to pak cik for treatment. he complained about heat on his back, as he said that if one puts an egg there, it will be cooked. this burning sensation is also accompanied by foul-smelling vomiting. according to the doctor, the patient has been diagnosed with a very serious heart injury. then pak cik did a series of treatments using traditional healing, and thanks god that the heat began to drop. pak cik further said that he used a method of treatment which he calls the treatment of hak allah [ 27 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 [allah’s rights]. with regard to this “traditional knowledge” of hak allah, one should not own too much “traditional knowledge” because he can become crazy. bismillah [in the name of allah], that’s enough. bismillah is the key to knowledge. the patient then recovered after undergoing three treatment sessions with pak cik after he was bathed in front of pak cik’s house. then, the way he treated the patient was only by giving him plain water that has been chanted with prayer. but if the patient’s pain attacks the nerves, then it is massaged using oil specially mixed by pak cik. all the treatment processions are held because they carry out the rights of allah, completely done for allah, which include from the “availability” of the methods and media [medicinal spices] in sekking recovery, the process of psychological belief towards recovery, to the removal of diseases from the patient’s body. it is allah who wills and moves the hearts of all those who are trying to seek recovery. so, all the patients who go to pak cik’s house for treatment are all because of allah’s [guidance]. allah guides the patients to seek treatment. according to pak cik, this is part of the knowledge of allah’s rights. another variant of treatment with the knowledge of allah’s rights, is also known as the lam jalalah treatment. if the patient is muslim, the lam jalalah is written from the top right hand corner. as for the dayak patient, the lam jalalah is written from below. this treatment technique was discovered by pak cik himself. it was written on the abdomen or back of the patient using chalk or saliva. saliva is so effective because it indicates an oath. the use of saliva as an oath is interpreted to have natural power as a gift from god in curing ilnesses. the saliva is believed to have “blended” with the shaman’s “self ”, believed to have “more” power than any media. moreover, it is taken using the ring finger. that’s the oath. for pak cik, saliva is the greatest gift from allah that can be used in medicine, so it should not be wasted. but remarkably, saliva also has a double position: as a source of remedy, as well as a disease. therefore, do not waste saliva carelessly. one can get a lot of diseases when one spits on the wrong place. there are many village diseases that can be “made” through the medium of saliva with relatively short time. in order to be effective in treating patients, seeking knowledge of traditional healing should not be half-hearted. all stages must be completed and it must be done wholeheartedly. for those who seek knowledge, they must be really close to allah. one should not merely stick to the shariah. knowledge of the shari’a [medium for healing] and its procedures are inadequate. treating patients requires involving the hakikat [truth], tarikat [spiritual learning], ma’rifat [knowledge through experience], and hakiki [essence]. if it has [ 28 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 reached the essential level, night and day it is intended to always be in a state of “associating” with him. the increasing intensity of closeness implies the stronger temptation to face. at this point, you must put your trust in allah. there are other basic principles that need to be adhered too. the principle is innalillah wa innaailaihi rajiun [indeed, to allah we belong and to allah we shall return]. so in this case, there is no need to be afraid. hold the knowledge of allah’s right must be kept secret. likewise god holds all our secrets. this is all for the afterlife later. “to allah we shall return” is what is needed. so that we will return to him later with provisions. it is feared that later when we die, we will become ghosts. many events are based on oral stories in nanga sokan. so, in seeking knowledge, we must do it wholeheartedly. traditional knowledge should not make us turn into ghosts. in seeking knowledge of healing, it is not only in the shari’a. it must be balanced and “whole”. we must be in unity with him. as reported by pak cik, treating a patient must be done with the essence. the point is illnesses are from allah, and healing is also from him. one should never says, “i healed the patients. we should not be egotistical. later it could be the cause of our unpeaceful death. in the process of traditional healing, a shaman must be sincere. he should not wait for allah to be sincere, then we will be sincere. we have to be sincere first. no matter how people treat us. let it go. sincerity is the medicine of all medicine. so we are considered not to be able to treat people until we are able to be sincere in the series of treatment processes. the point is that the heart must be sincere. the key to all kinds of illness is in the heart. so with allah we must be sincere. thus, the medicine of all medicine is a sincere heart. as long as we are sincere, we are protected from all kinds of diseases. otherwise, then a lot of diseases will come to us. physical illness begins with ‘illness’ of the heart. the practice to treat various diseases is bismillah [in the name of allah]. for this you have to believe, in the truth of certainty, not just the eye of certainty. there is also a secret to treating patients by using dhikr ha. treatment with dhikr ha, as a healer, first you should “kill” your inner self before treating pateints so as to be fair in treating them in addition to a sign of closeness to allah. when you are close to allah, all healings and pains shall return to allah as the owner of everything. another technique of traditional healing which is different from pak cik’s method can be found in peripin village and nanga mongko village which is known as nyampi. it is done by carrying out movements such as picking something up [gently holding the fingertips together] onto the painful body part. strangely, there is a shaman who uses nyampi to treat his patients by inserting a fishhook into his finger until it penetrates to the base of his arm. [ 29 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 this method is intended to facilitate the magical treatment process. with that fishhook, the shaman pulls the disease out of the patient’s body. however, during the treatment process, the patient will feel pain even though the fishing line is invisible. nyampi is believed to have the ability to cure almost all indegenous diseases. it even includes diseases caused by ghosts. when doing nyampi, the shaman places his hand on the spot where the patient complains of pain. while performing movements such as picking soeemthinh up, the shaman picks up [even several times] the patient’s illness until the pain is thought to have gone away. the process of picking up the illness can take a short or long time depending on the level of “severity” of the illness. almost all patients treated in this way admit that there is “something” that they feel being “uprooted” and “removed” of somethings from their body. this indicates that the disease is interpreted as having a material “body” that can enter and interfere with the patient’s body. in children, the most common illness is fever. this illness is treated with nyampi using rumput pemutus [breaker grass]. interestingly, the use of various herbal plant ingredients can be replaced with other plants if medicinal plants are not actually available. for example, breaker grass can be substituted with the babuhe plant. this phenomenon seems to be a sign that traditional healing is very dependent on the availability of herbal plants. a worrisome problem now is that these herbal ingredients are getting scarce. it is hard to find around the village even though one searches everywhere except in the forest despite the healing of the illness suffered by the patient being largely determined by these various herbal plants. this was also reported in a study by ambrish kumar srivastava, et.al. (srivastava et al., 2022) who revealed that herbal plants that had the potential to inhibit sars-cov-2 are extracts of harsingar, aloe vera and giloy. islamic psychology in traditional healing remarkably, according to mr. br, all cases of kayap are guaranteed to be cured. this guarantee of cure is the magic power that appeals to the local community for the existence of this traditional healing. in addition, there is also a stigma that “village diseases” can only be cured by traditional healing. shaman br feel very happy when he is successful in treating his patients. this success is interpreted as being able to save human lives. different from the treatment in entikong village and sungkung village, the kayap disease in sintang district can be cured by using herbal ingredients, namely unripe jackfruit. the treatment that mbah k [one of the shamans in sintang] provides has proven to be effective. this is directly experienced by one of the authors of this article. [ 30 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 villagers in sintang refer to unripe jackfruit as kebabal. in the process of treatment, it begins by chewing a kebabal while chanting a healing mantra. the mantra consists of religious text as well. the next step is the chewed kebabal is sprayed from the mouth onto all parts of the body of the person affected by the disease. it is done to ensure that the kebabal evenly covers all parts of the body affected by kayap as well as to speed up the healing process. based on interviews with the patient, it took only half a day for the kayap to dry up and heal. this is what makes local people believe in traditional healing which is effective against village diseases. during the kayap healing process, there is only one taboo that must be observed, namely the patient is not allowed to take a bath. bathing can cause the herb to lose its efficacy. the taboo ensures that the herb that has been sprayed onto the patient’s body can work effectively and the healing process for the disease can also be faster. according to mr. br, the treatment for kayap is cured using herbal ingredients, namely mentawa leaves and old jackfruit leaves and added with cooking oil. these old leaves were chosen so that during the burning process it is easier to take the ash from the leaves. the method of making this concoction is that the mentawa leaves and jackfruit leaves are burned together until they turn into ash and then mixed with cooking oil. then, it is applied to the part of the body affected by the disease. regarding how much ingredient is used for the treatment of kayap disease, it is adjusted to the part of the body that is affected by the disease. so there is no need to calculate how many leaves are required, but it is determined until the ash from the burning is sufficient to be used as medicine. during the treatment process for kayap above, the concoction is applied to the affected area and followed by a mantra recitation. based on the respondent’s account, before the treatment was carried out the respondent felt a burning pain and itching in the area affected by the disease. but after being treated with the concoction earlier, the body gradually cooled down and the “burning sensation” and itching gradually subsided. the temperature of the body that was high, slowly decreased even though it didn’t happen drastically. this is the strongest reason for local people to choose traditional healing over medical treatment. the recount of the traditional healing stories above is an indication of the local community’s efforts in seeking recovery. seeking recovery is in fact a dilemma. on the one hand, there is a strong local belief that all village diseases can be cured. this fact makes traditional healing only positioned as a “prerequisite” for the formality of treatment. while on the other hand, village diseases can only be cured with traditional healing. this is interesting that there is a kind of asymmetric relationship between the [ 31 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 two, which is in a relation of being logical and illogical. but it all boils down to seeking recovery. almost all of the traditional healing methods along the upstream kapuas river are islamic in nature. this is marked by the use of verses of the qur’an, shalawat, islamic symbols, all of which are combined with various herbal ingredients. some treatments use massage to speed up the healing process and eliminate taboos. and psychological dimension is clearly embedded within the practices of seeking recovery of the local people in west borneo. this has indicated that the studies of psychology of religion are calling scholars to pat attention on this very important issue of seeking recovery within local people in the globe that connects to interdisciplinary issues, especially public health. traditional healing and islamic psychology: between expressions, patterns and meeting point belief is an important instrument in traditional healing, shaman’s ability and seeking recovery. the three are intertwined into the power to seek recovery. there is a kind of postulate in the local community that there is no village disease that cannot be cured through traditional healing. as far as this research goes, traditional healing has become a feature of local communities. interestingly, this treatment has occurred in a hybrid between traditional healing and islamic traditions. in fact, this method has been taken by one of the village shamans who is non-muslim. in the same context, in the malay community of nanga jajang, islam as a religious rituals are inseparable from the traditional rituals. there are no clear boundaries between traditions and religious rituals, as seen in ma`syiral jum`atan, begunting rambut (hair cutting ceremony), sunatan (circumcision) and barobat kampung (traditional healing) (ibrahim ms, 2015). traditional healing by incorporating islamic elements in it has become a tradition in almost all communities in the the upstream kapuas river community. the implication is that the use of islamic symbols is inevitable. remarkably, this traditional healing is actually a “last resort” when medical treatment can no longer be relied on. in fact, it is used as the first treatment when experiencing symptoms of physical or psychological pain that cannot be explained by medical science. in addition, sincerity and patience and only hope for allah’s help as the healer of all diseases becomes a cure for diseases. it is interesting to note that verses of the qur’an and blessings on the prophet are used with the intention of bringing the effort of treatment closer to recovery. these two things are believed to be able to bring us closer to as well as a medium of dialogue with god. at this point, there are similarities in patterns and transactions with [ 32 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 symmetrical patterns of local community traditions in the upstream kapuas river. surprisingly, this similarity occurs not only in the treatment method of muslim shamans, but also non-muslim ones. the symmetrical pattern starts from the use of chants that are sometimes added to verses from the qur’an, the types of herbal ingredients used, the use of water media to the treatment procession – the use of equipment, decorative items or objects to healing ceremonies – which tend to be the same. research by marie christine köberlein (köberlein et al., 2022)many musical activities, such as rehearsals and lessons, but also voice therapy sessions, have been restricted in many countries. consequently, transmission risks and pathways have been studied, such as aerosol amounts generated by exhalation tasks, convectional flows in rooms, or the impulse dispersion of different kinds of phonation. the use of water resistance exercises such as those utilizing lax vox®, are common in voice lessons and as vocal warm-ups. with this context, this study investigates the impulse dispersion characteristics of aerosols during a voiced water resistance exercise in comparison to normal singing. methods: twelve professional singers (six male, six female can be used as an illustration of treatment using the water medium. from a psychological point of view, the symmetrical pattern of traditional healing is based on the belief in recovery even though there will be variations in the healing time [healing process]. islamic teachings also maintain a commitment to seek recovery. in the treatment process, there are events that are difficult to explain by empirical reasoning. especially during treatment that uses drum beats where the manang [healer] is in a state of unconsciousness when treating the patient. at this time, the manang may injure the patient’s limbs using a machete or other sharp weapon that he holds during the healing procession. but remarkably, this “injury process” is not fatal to the patient. it only leaves some scratches. not long after, these scratches will soon disappear by itself. this process of injuring the patient is considered by the local community as a way of “removing” the disease from the patient’s body. the “disease” that is in the body will come out with the wound, which is in fact very difficult to understand and explain through common sense. this is a sign that traditional healing has become a trait for the people in the upstream kapuas river in their endeavor to “seek health.” traditional healing is considered to be more effective and of a higher class than medical treatment. this temporary conclusion, we believe, is a way for local people in the village to take care of the health of their people physically and psychologically. in light of the earlier description, it is evident that the meeting point between traditional healing and islamic psychology lies in the psychological impact [ 33 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 caused by physical pain conditions. physical pain and its prohibition are the evidence. physical illness due to violating taboos. the treatment of illness will have an effect on anxiety and stress disorder such as becutak (postnatal mothers who are angry and stressed out due to overconsumption of sweet leaf [sauropus androgynus] and pumpkin). local people believe that becutak is caused by dirty blood rising to the head which causes headaches. likewise, in cases of difficulty in the childbirth process, it is also believed to be due to anxiety factors. this is supported by tzu-chi kuo (kuo et al., 2022) who confirmed that the training intervention during the postpartum period was effective in reducing the fear of childbirth in pregnant women. this anxiety can be overcome by drinking selusuh water. the use of the selusuh water is intended to facilitate the childbirth process. technically, the selusuh water is a mix of plain water and coconut oil, and chanted with a mantra. strangely, in some cases this water is mixed with soft drinks with the intention of stimulating the baby to come out quickly, so there is no need to push it manually. to enhance the effectiveness of this selusuh water, the traditional midwife usually recites basmallah and shalawat, especially when cutting the baby’s umbilical cord using a selimbu. the procession continues from the birth process, followed by bathing the baby. this bath is referred to as mandi asal so as to clean up the baby from blood to avoid skin diseases (local people call it as bekoris).there is something interesting about this traditional healing. many times a village shaman expressed his refusal to be called a shaman. this “down to earth” attitude teaches humility not to claim to be “smart” or to be considered a “smart person” who is perceived as “capable of curing” various diseases. for this second argument, for him there is a kind of worry about being trapped in being arrogant, conceited and even claiming to be able to cure diseases. for him, recovery from illness is not determined by himself but it is due to “god’s will”. at this point, it is very clear that the patterns and expressions of islamic psychology are connected with traditional healing. conclusion the pattern and process of islamic transaction and traditional healing using verses from the qur’an and dhikr [remembrance of allah] as well as religious symbols are the most prominent. the most interesting fact is the use of symbiotic mantra: the beginning always begins with reciting basmallah [in the name of allah], in the middle using the local language and at the end reciting berkat laa ilaaha illallah muhammad rasulullah. this mantra is intended to bring healing efforts closer to recovery. this finding clearly shows that religion or believe has become an important element in the seeking recovery [ 34 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2618 with emphasizing on psychological dimension of the community in the west borneo. in addition, the preservation of traditional healing is by the demand of the people. they continue to the use of traditional healing due to several reasons. first, it is cheap because the shaman does not expect “remuneration”. second, geographical condition that are far from modern health facilities has supported the continuation of the healing practices. third, the short time between handling anxiety at risk of death and available health resources has lead them to continue using the services by the shamans. fourth, shamans are always ready at unpredictable times. fifth, the traditional healing procession was handled quickly. sixth, guaranteed recovery. seventh, the efficacy of healing for certain types of diseases. this article recommends that research on traditional healing with a sufistic pattern is important, especially to see the way the people think about their religious practices within the local primitive thinking environment. healing in this way, from different point of view, is genuine because it turns out to be able to “transcend” psychological and religious boundaries. everyone has the right to see and understand their actions within their efforts to be healthy and free from illnesses. bibliography arenas, p. 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(2021). cultural traditional and special rituals related to the health in bugis ethnics indonesia. gaceta sanitaria, 35, s56–s58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2020.12.016 sischka, p. e., costa, a. p., steffgen, g., & schmidt, a. f. (2020). the who5 well-being index – validation based on item response theory and the analysis of measurement invariance across 35 countries. journal of affective disorders reports, 1, 100020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jadr.2020.100020 tanriverdi, b., ulusoy, y. ö., & çevirme, h. (2009). attitude of pre-service teachers through punishment within jung’s theory of archetypes. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 1(1), 1617–1623. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.284 tanrıverdi, b., & apak, ö. (2014). pre-service teachers’ beliefs about curriculum orientations. procedia social and behavioral sciences, 116, 842–848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.308 walters, s. (1994). algorithms and archetypes: evolutionary psychology and carl jung’s theory of the collective unconscious. journal of social and evolutionary systems, 17(3), 287–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/10617361(94)90013-2 yuki, k., fujiogi, m., & koutsogiannaki, s. (2020). covid-19 pathophysiology: a review. clinical immunology, 215, 108427. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.clim.2020.108427 [ 257 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 the practice of tabut in bengkulu: a shared tradition of sunni and shia femalia valentine institut agama islam negeri curup email: femalia.valentine@gmail.com idi warsah institut agama islam negeri curup email: idiwarsah@iaincurup.ac.id ruly morganna institut agama islam negeri curup email: rulymorganna@gmail.com mirzon daheri institut agama islam negeri curup email: mirzondaheri@iaincurup.ac.id abstract this study explains how the existence of tabut is interpreted and how it has become a tradition in the sunni community. it is important to understand how this ritual is maintained in the midst of the sunni-shia conflicts which continue to occur. the present study was qualitatively conducted using field research methods. the leaders of keluarga kerukunan tabut (kkt) and those of tabut pembangunan were engaged as the participants of this study. the data collection techniques deployed interviews, observations, documentation, and literature reviews. the present study revealed that the existence of tabut’s tradition, which is claimed to be a tradition originated from shia teachings, is able to maintain its presence in bengkulu. this existence survives in the middle of bengkulu’s society that is predominantly sunni. this tradition is capable of being a peaceful path between sunni and shia in bengkulu because each succeeds in creating social interactions through the tabut’s tradition as human relations and the symbol they interpret. as an implication, this study highlights that religious and/or cultural activity can be mediums of social bondage in the midst of cultural diversity. this study is a reference for those with interests in anthropological, social, and religious fields. keywords: the practice of tabut; a shared tradition; sunni and shia conflict; bengkulu [ 258 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 introduction islam is a universal religion crossing the dimensions of time and space in which it has also intermixed with diverse local traditions (lubis, 2016). as a consequence, interactions between islam and local tradition, in some ways, can prsent potential conflicts if such interactions are not interpreted wisely. when islam mixes with local traditions, the resulting religious practice is different from one place to another. at first, islam was born as a local product which was later generalized so that islam became universal. hence, the fact that islam can cross the dimensions of time and space indicates that islam is universal. islam can also be a critique of local culture and islam to some extent can also integrate into a local culture in which a local culture can be a form of wisdom of the islamic adherents in understanding and performing islam (fitriyani, 2013). in the concept of multiculturalism as delineated by hoon (2017), different interpretations of islam can be interpreted as the cause of diversity. a community’s diverse conditions extend to plurality with respect to different religions, races, languages, and cultures (hui, 2017; rodríguez-izquierdo, 2018; sarwari et al., 2017). such differences can naturally trigger perspective conflicts. however, such conflicts can be avoided, as long as those of multicultural societies have a willingness to accept other different groups in a social system without disputing the differences among them (strekalovahughes, 2017; warsah, 2020; williams, 2015; zhang & han, 2019). more deeply, diversity also exists even within a religious group (erdogan & okumuslar, 2020). for instance there are two major schools in christianity, protestantism and catholicism (gilks, 2007). the schools are even split into many other submovements and substreams. in the same vein, there are several schools of thought in islam. in the aspect of fiqh (knowledge and literature concerning islamic law (hassan & benaicha, 2021)), there are shafi’i, hambali, hanafi, and maliki (tan, 2014). if traced back to the islamic history since the death of the prophet muhammad pbuh, islam has been politically divided into sunnism and shia. each also has small groups with diverse sects (finnbogason et al., 2019). in some areas, such diversities often trigger conflicts. although the conflicts per se do not stem from a single factor, the differences in schools and sects often lead to making the conflicts more complicated and difficult to resolve. that is what happens between sunni and shia (kayane, 2020). the footprint of shia in indonesia has been widespread through almost the entire country from java, sumatra, kalimantan, sulawesi, aceh, maluku, and more (al-hadar, 2015). shia has been part of the ongoing history of muslims [ 259 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 in indonesia. throughout history, shia conflicts appeared in different time dimensions with all kinds of diversities. historians from both sunni and shia circles respectively argued in different ways in explaining the history of shia development. each of them claimed their opinion was the most authentic and rational (hasim, 2012). according to hasim’s (2012) explanation, shia development in indonesia experienced four waves. during the first wave, shia entered indonesia since the initial introduction of islam into indonesia through the early islamic propagators from the persians who lived in gujarat. the second shia wave was after the islamic revolution in iran in 1979. the third wave was driven by habib (arab descendants/ prophets) or shias people who had received education at qum university, iran. because the understanding of shia had entered the realm of fiqh, at this stage the conflicts began to grow openly. the fourth wave was driven during the period when shia people began to form an association, known as the association of indonesian ahlul congregation (in indonesian acronym known as ijabi), established on july 1st, 2000. thus, the existence of shia was openly recognized by some of the indonesian people. shia ideology also gave birth to the ashura’s commemorative doctrine that was strongly fused in the traditions of the indonesian archipelago so that it gave birth to the memorial (takziyah) traditions in the archipelago of indonesia such as bubur suro in java, tabut in bengkulu, and kasan-kusen’s tradition in aceh (al-hadar, 2015). interestingly, although the majority of muslims in indonesia are sunni, there exists a unique fact that in some areas of indonesia the societies have traditions associated with shia legacy. it is even more interesting that the organizers of such traditions are those of the sunni islamic community. in fact, those traditions have continued from generation to generation for centuries. in the midst of the increasing number of movements against islamic minority groups such as shia and ahmadiyyah in several regions in indonesia, it did not dampen people’s enthusiasm to carry out such traditions. religious traditions and rituals in societies have been internalized in the entire history of human life. all religious traditions amid societies cannot actually be united under the same umbrella even though the assumption of their emergence could be recognized as derived from one divine value (warsah, cahyani, et al., 2019; warsah & imron, 2019). all traditions will move in line with the goals and missions of the religions’ adherents. each religion has the same right to live, and each has its own way of maintaining its traditions and identity (baidhawy, 2007). the context of tabut’s tradition in bengkulu seems like a tradition influenced by a shia ritual. this case is aligned with the socio-historical conditions of [ 260 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 the sumatran area which came in contact with outside traditions from india, persia, and europe (sofjan, 2012). for a long time, tabut’s tradition has been believed and carried out continuously as a ritual from generation to generation, especially by the descendants of tabut’s doers who established keluarga kerukunan tabut (kkt) (dahri, 2009; sapsuha, 2013). tabut, the traditional religious ceremony, is a social institution that is needed by the community in an effort to fulfill the obligations towards the ancestral heritage. tabut’s tradition is the most popular tradition among the people of bengkulu city and is a characteristic of bengkulu’s society. in its implementation, tabut’s tradition is plural in nature and not singular as a common impression notices. the impression that the celebrations of tabut’s tradition in bengkulu are homogeneous has been formed in many people’s perceptions. the plurality of tabut’s celebrations is reflected in the existence of several groups in which some of whom have different views in terms of tabut’s celebrations (handayani, 2018). the followers of tabut strive to maintain the existence of the ritual’s sacredness amid the provincial government’s policies which regard tabut only as a cultural commodity. this case can be seen from the condition that the performance of tabut pembangunan (a governmental program of tabut) is regarded as discrimination by the followers of tabut. the government seems to deny the existence of tabut’s ritual because it is only made a mere exhibition of arts and culture (andoni, 2010). the difference in meaning to tabut’s ritual in bengkulu is inseparable from the insistence of diverse views which have deep roots, but it cannot also be separated from political interests. the diverse views extend to cultural differences including religion and historical claims to the tradition. from these roots, each group has the legitimacy to claim they are not part of each other. this study explains how the existence of tabut is interpreted so that it becomes a tradition in the sunni community. it is important to understand how this ritual is maintained in the midst of the sunni-shia conflicts which continue to occur. previous studies on sunni and shia have been conducted and are more oriented towards analyses of detailed conflicts between sunni and shia (abou-zahab, 2017; douai & lauricella, 2014; holtmann, 2014). however, limited prior studies were oriented towards addressing cultural traditions as the mediators to decrease the intensity of sunni-shia conflicts. the present study thus aims to explain how the existence of tabut in bengulu is interpreted so that it becomes a tradition in the sunni community. it is important to understand how this ritual is maintained in the midst of the sunni-shia conflicts which continue to occur. an ethnomethodology technique has been utilized to interpret social [ 261 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 actions and interactions taking place in the study field (garfinkel, 1967). the members, including the leaders of keluarga kerukunan tabut (kkt) and those of tabut pembangunan as the community handled by the government, were engaged as the participants of this study. the data collection techniques deployed interviews, observations, documentation, and literature reviews as suggested by bachri (2010) to present ethnomethodological data and make critically related argumentations. the data garnered from the aforesaid techniques were presented concomitantly as they had been properly synthesized and analyzed. the data analysis adopted an interactive model (miles et al., 2014). this model was used due to its detailed processes of data mapping and organization. drawing upon this model, this study took on four elements of analysis: data collection, data mapping, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. as previously explained, data were garnered by interviews, observations, documentation, and literature reviews for the sake of reaching rich data on the ongoing discourse. concerning data mapping, the data were condensed and grouped according to the emerging themes. the foregoing was useful for making it easier to present the data systematically, resting upon the focused discourse in an organized way. pertinent to data presentation, the data were displayed systematically based on the theme-based groups. the data were further displayed by providing effective explanations alongside presenting some selected transcripts and discussing the data by making use of theoretical argumentations and interpretations. lastly, the data were concluded comprehensively and representatively by considering the consistent linearity between the raw data and the condensed and grouped data. sunni-shia conflicts as the background of tabut related conflicts according to mansoer (2016), conflicts occur due to four things. first, they are caused by differences in position and feelings of conflicting individuals. second, due to differences in cultural backgrounds. third, groups or individuals have different interests. fourth, because of the rapid and sudden changes of values in the community. based on the explanation pertinent to conflicts above, it can be summarized that the issue which becomes the source of conflicts among the conflicting individuals or groups is due to different views and perceptions of matters. such differences result in rifts among the group’s relationships, changes in attitudes to individuals, and even the likelihood to conquer one of the parties involved in the conflicts (mansoer, 2016; schilling et al., 2018). [ 262 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 conflicts between shia and sunni are the source of conflicts related to tabut in bengkulu. actually, the conflicts between shia and sunni have occurred many times in indonesia. an example of conflict between shia and sunni in indonesia includes the conflict that occurred in sampang, madura. the conflict occurred or arose around 2006 and continued until 2012, culminating in the burning of the house of the local shia leader (ida & dyson, 2015). the other example is the shia-sunni conflict that occurred in bondowoso, caused by the ijabi resistance which was the culmination of community hatred towards shia followers (syaukani, 2009). subsequently, in yogyakarta (generally known to be very harmonious) in 2013, there was a clash between the rausyan fikr foundation that sheltered the shia group with the community (widyadara, 2015). this means that sunni-shia relations between the majority and minority in indonesia occasionally experience friction and clashes. if we look globally, sunni-shia do have long roots of collision (humaini, 2019), as the majority often puts pressure on the minority (warsah et al., 2021). in any particular civilization large traditions and small traditions exist (warsah, masduki, et al., 2019). this condition is often called the elite culture and popular culture. large traditions refer to inheritance and collective knowledge that are universal, while small traditions represent the local traditions and indigenous knowledge (hefni, 2013). in the discourse of culture, there are commonly known three cultural materials: cultural manipulation, cultural behavior, and cultural artifacts. first, cultural manipulation is an effort of a person, a group, or a community in order to describe their attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values with a planned and organized construction of the order (idris, 2020). second, cultural behavior is the behavior displayed by a group of communities. cultural behavior is not identical to an individual’s behavior, as it is behavior that can only be presented by certain groups in a particular community and society (morganna et al., 2020). third, cultural artifacts refer to man-made objects that provide information about the creation and use of culture. artifacts can change from time to time in what they represent, how they emerge, and how and why they are used as cultural changes over time (atha’na, 2010). the essence of tabut in bengkulu pertaining to the context of tabut’s tradition (syiafril sy, 2012) in bengkulu, it is a tradition that is influenced by a shia ritual (daneshar, 2015). this is related to the socio-historical conditions of the sumatran region that came in contact with outside traditions such as india, persia, and europe (sofjan, 2012). this tradition has been believed since a long time ago, and has been passed down [ 263 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 continuously as a ritual carried out from generation to generation, especially by the descendants of the tabut’s doers who established keluarga kerukunan tabut (dahri, 2009; sapsuha, 2013). one of the members of keluarga kerukunan tabut explained the following during the interview: tabut, the traditional religious ceremony, is a social institution that is needed by the community in an effort to fulfill the obligations towards the ancestral heritage. tabut tradition is the most popular tradition among the people of bengkulu city and is a characteristic of bengkulu’s society. as documented from an old manuscript saved by the members of keluarga kerukunan tabut, the sipai people who were regarded as tabut’s followers were initially part of the shia community in bengkulu. the tabut’s tradition was used as a momentum to remember hussein’s death in padang karbala (he was brutally killed by yazid, a tyrannical ruler of the umayyads). but today, the sipai’s descendants who carry out this ritual do not show the religious expression of shia. regardless of the debate concerning the origin of this ritual, bengkulu’s people generally accept this tradition properly (handayani, 2018). besides tabut, in several places of indonesia, there are also similar traditions such as kasan kusen in aceh, tabuik in pariaman (mason, 2016), hari arbain in west java pagelang, and the suro’s tradition in the javanese community. however, unlike others, a leader of keluarga kerukunan tabut explained the following during the interview: tabut in bengkulu lasts longer with its authenticity, whereas in other places such similar traditions have commonly begun to be abandoned by the related community, except for the suro’s tradition which is still mostly practiced by javanese people. however, the purpose of suro’s tradition has changed and not been identical to a tradition of mourning, but a tradition of welcoming the year of hijri. almost, the same tradition as tabut in bengkulu, tabuik in pariaman of west sumatra experiences changes (ekasari, 2012), and the traditions of kasan kusen in aceh, suro and hari arbain also look different (utomo, 2010). in reality, this tradition is very influential and cannot be separated in the life of the sipai’s community and the community of bengkulu in general. throughout history, tabut has become an important part of the lives of bengkulu’s society, both the sipai’s community and that of bengkulu in general. the celebration of the tabut also has an impact on various aspects of people’s lives, ranging [ 264 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 from social, economic, religious, to cultural aspects, and so on (dahri, 2009). as observed during the preparation of tabut’s celebration, although the sipai’s community is a minority, they are still able to maintain the existence of the ritual. according to lubis (2016), a minority group is a category of people with the recognition of race, religion, or ethnic traits that occupy positions with low respect and obtain unequal basic services. this is where multiculturalism shows accommodation, in which the majority gives room for the minority to express their beliefs and traditions (warsah, masduki, et al., 2019). as documented during the study, tabut is a religious tradition carried out every 1st to 10th muharram. there are many things indicating its religious value. to name a few, those of keluarga kerukunan tabut (kkt) interpret the tabut tradition in an effort to commemorate and pray for all who were martyrs in padang karbala, especially husein and ahlul bait. tabut is the commemoration of mourning the death of husein bin abu talib who was killed by yazid bin muawiyah (handayani, 2018). besides commemorating the islamic new year, for generations, this tradition has been continuously carried out by the tabut’s followers in bengkulu. tabut is undertaken through 13 ritual activities (syiafril sy, 2012), namely: prayer for the sake of allah’s salvation, ambik tanah, duduk penja, malam menjara, meradai, arak penja, arak seroban, hari gam, tabut naik pangkek, arak gendang, soja, tabut tebuang, and mencuci penja. all of them have sacred meanings, especially for the members of keluarga kerukunan tabut who continue to maintain tabut’s rituals from generation to generation (anindita, 2013). the interpretation of tabut different from the other group commonly known as the tabut cultural harmony (in indonesian acronym as ketab) which only follows the rituals of tabut besanding and tabut tebuang, a member of tabut cultural harmony defines tabut as follows: as a culture that must be released from the beliefs indicated by the polytheists and affiliated with shia. getting support from the government, they are more focused on managing the tabut pembangunan as a cultural commodity as one of the tourism destinations. the growing news of mass media about the chaos between keluarga kerukunan tabut and the government occurred when the tabut’s followers regarded tabut as a sacred cultural insight, and it needed to be known by many people. it was because the activities of tabut’s bengkulu were categorized as one of the [ 265 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 world’s cultures by the west sumatra’s cultural value conservation agency. tabut must be intensively promoted even to the national level. in addition, keluarga kerukunan tabut refused the funding of 200 million rupiahs from bengkulu’s provincial government because they were disappointed that bengkulu’s provincial government seemed unconcerned about the efforts of keluarga kerukunan tabut that tried to maintain the sacred value of tabut’s rituals. this showed the government’s neglect of the tabut’s cultural development. the problem concerning tabut’s ritual was getting more serious when this ritual was claimed to be a legacy of shia. as the majority of the bengkulu’s community was sunni, these two religious groups always legitimized that their teachings and beliefs were the absolute truth. so, they closed themselves to different teachings despite being part of the same religion. when islam came into contact with a particular culture, religious understanding and practices emerged could not be separated from that culture. then, the understanding of these religious teachings formed various religious expressions such as the appearance of rites, institutions, religious modes, and certain religious organizations (which were very possible between one group and another having different social identities (mustamir, 2015)). the ideological truth in the majority group is sometimes forced through governmental instruments, potentially through legal products, policies, government, or social instruments. the dominance of interpretation of religious teachings by the majority religious group becomes the main means to form public discourse. resting upon the mastery of the religious interpretation as well, truth is reproduced so that the country gives its legitimacy. as a result, the government often acts to represent the aspirations of the majority group. the government even shelters behind the slogan of neutrality when carrying out violent practices against the minority group (wahyudi & wahid, 2015). as highlighted in the above view, this condition even occurred in the implementation of tabut’s rituals in bengkulu. in practice, the implementation of tabut’s rituals was divided into two, the tabut’s rituals and the tabut pembangunan. the government held tabut pembangunan in which there was a competition and the tabut’s festival as the festival of arts and culture which only aimed at raising cultural commodities. this condition was set as if it was as desirable by all people. if connected with karl marx’s theory pertinent to the reality of life which is always related to the concept of capitalism (the new economic life system of profits and markets), karl marx uses the concept of ideology in explaining how capitalists defend and protect their economic interests in dealing with crisis [ 266 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 situations (branston & stafford, 2003). the concept of ideology plays a pivotal role in explaining the patterns of power used by the government in eliminating the sacred values of tabut. this is also aligned with gramsci’s hegemony theory which positions the government as a complex practical activity and in line with the theory of power in the form of policies and legal products to emphasize the ideology of the dominant majority group (wahyudi & wahid, 2015). however, in the dominant ideologies such as gramsci’s concept, it does not predominantly affect the social structure because diversity is ultimately relative (branston & stafford, 2003). since the government of bengkulu was involved in implementing tabut’s tradition, it morphed into a cultural festival with all the existing tourist activities. thus, the tabut’s ceremony for the people of bengkulu contains two objectives. first, to welcome the islamic new year. second to commemorate the heroic story and the death of the prophet muhammad’s grandson, husen bin ali, who died in padang karbela, iraq (marhayati, 2016). this means that there is a compromise between different meanings. dealing with tabut-related conflicts initially, the change in tabut’s tradition was not organized, and that it then became organized seemed to be an appropriate step in anticipating the influence of time’s changes, whereas the management of tabut was aimed to maintain its sacred ritual tradition. to be able to survive in the face of time’s changes that occur, it was considered necessary to have an ability to develop the present conditions more dynamically than those of the previous era. openness to all changes is needed in order to be able to adjust to developments. actually, what is needed to survive in the face of changes is not just adjustment but rather the ability to anticipate changes that are expected to occur in the future (marhayati, 2016). according to gumay, tabut’s ceremony could actually cultivate an excessive individual culture which in principle does not conform to the philosophy of pancasila. however, from the standpoint of regional culture and the culture of the indonesian people generally, tabut’s tradition can be used as one form of regional art that has its own potential in the agenda of indonesia’s cultural richness (marhayati, 2016). the meaning of tabut’s ritual above is associated with pluralism as a theory that includes differences in ideas and identity, and also as stated by gramsci, and is influenced by economic, political, military, and symbolic forces. pluralism in the gramscian context is a floating free of power, and it must [ 267 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 also be understood how these forces can construct differences in ideas and identities, especially in the culture of society (branston & stafford, 2003). the interpretation of tabut through the gramcian pluralism approach can be understood by positioning the bengkulu’s government as the holder of political and economic power, which in turn gives rise to tabut pembangunan as a tourism commodity. as the foregoing, the aim is to improve the community’s economy. keluarga kerukunan tabut as the sole authority of the tabut ceremony’s rituals must show professionalism in every tabut’s organization. it is especially in terms of maintaining the sacredness of the ceremony that has been directed and at the same time trying to make this ceremony a spectacle awaited by the general public. this interpretation is important as a way to maintain tabut’s tradition as locally indigenous in order that it is not isolated from the supporting community, as well as to be able to maintain its sacredness (marhayati, 2016). in interpreting the tabut’s ritual carried out by the tabut’s followers, if linked to the concept of gramsci’s pluralism theory, as part of the floating free of power such as the government, the tabut’s followers also have the power to shape their ideas and identities in this case, that was demonstrated through symbolic power to maintain the sacredness of the rituals. pluralism has a couple of positive aspects. first, it promotes people to increase respect for certain ethnicities, races, religions, and other groups, and also encourages them to develop their own values and culture. no one has the right to obstruct this development as everyone is protected by law. therefore, everyone is free and not bound by oppression or controlled by others with different cultural backgrounds. everyone holds the right to live and develop their traditions and culture. some social and cultural systems or institutions may coexist. optimal relations between the members of different cultures are possible without obstacles from the hierarchy and bureaucracy (bakti, 2013). in the gramscian perspective, pluralism means freedom in determining various kinds of discourse but remains within the scope of the influencing forces (political, economic, military, and symbolic forces). these forces are used by gramsci as the understanding of how ideas and identities are able to provide freedom from one meaning over another (branston & stafford, 2003). besides offering the concept of ideology, gramsci also offers alternative discourses and lived cultures. discourse explains about how one value and identity work together, both with verbal and nonverbal media so as to shape reality. in the meantime, the concept of lived cultures emerged from the power [ 268 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 of the dominant assumptions in the form of material existence including cultural practices and rituals (branston & stafford, 2003). in connection with tabut, the sacred values therein in the form of symbols and prayer sequences succeeded in constructing cultural practices and rituals in the perception of tabut’s followers. according to them, the ritual’s sacredness must be maintained. so, such an effort formed their social identity. finally, the distinction between the tabut’s followers and the government is the diversity of ideologies and identities, which have ethnic and religious links in the context of discourse and lived cultures. in a multicultural view, the continuous implementation of tabut with all its sacredness gives a real depiction of accommodative principles. the majority in multicultural society provides accommodation for the minority to retain their traditional values. besides, in the case of tabut, there was a minority’s effort to be open to making various adjustments to social conditions. as observed during the study, even though there was a conflict in the interpretation of tabut, the two groups did not establish a partition. looking at the sunni-shia phenomenon in bengkulu, it shows that social interactions are going well, and each of which has a strong value. this phenomenon aligns with what was stated by herbert blumer about social interactions which are interpreted as dynamic social relations. the intended social relationship is a relationship between one individual and another, between one group and the other group, and between groups and individuals. in such interactions, there is also a symbol, where the symbol is interpreted as something whose value or meaning is given to it by those who use it. such a process of social interactions according to herbert blumer is when humans act on something based on the meaning that something has for humans. then, the meaning that something has comes from the interaction between a person and fellow people. other meanings are the meanings that are not permanent but can be changed. changes to meanings can occur through the process of interpretation by people when they encounter something. social interaction can also occur if there is social contact and communication between two individuals or groups. social contact is the first stage of social relations, and communication is the delivery of information and the provision of interpretations and reactions to the information conveyed. conclusion drawing upon a field research method to explain how the existence of tabut in bengulu is interpreted so that it becomes a tradition in the sunni [ 269 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 community, the present study revealed that the existence of tabut’s tradition which is claimed to be a tradition originated from shia teachings is able to maintain its presence in bengkulu. this existence survives in the middle of bengkulu’s society that is predominantly sunni. this tradition is capable of being a peaceful path between sunni and shia in bengkulu because each of them succeeds in creating social interactions through the tabut’s tradition as human relations and the symbol they interpret. this study contributes to being a reference in literature, addressing the role of a religious and cultural tradition as a mediator to decrease the existing religious, cultural, and perspectives conflicts amidst societies. however, this study is not free from limitations. the specific and regional context, tabut in bengkulu city, brought in this study is only an example of a cultural tradition which becomes the mediator to decrease sunni-shia conflicts. thus, this study, with such qualitative nature, cannot be generalized across wider contexts. it is recommended that further studies be conducted by addressing several forms of cultural traditions to cope with sunni-shia conflicts. such involvement of various cultural traditions can pave the way for the studies to scientifically confirm and make a generalization across contexts that not only tabut but also other traditions can help decrease sunni-shia conflicts. 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(2019). comparative study of intercultural sensitivity of college students in two distinctive institutions in the u.s. journal of intercultural communication research, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 17475759.2019.1662825 [ 274 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2026 [ 203 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 expression of love for ahl al-bayt in acehnese society lukman hakim universitas islam negeri ar-raniry banda aceh, indonesia email: lukmanhakim@ar-raniry.ac.id syamsul rijal universitas islam negeri ar-raniry banda aceh, indonesia email: literasi.syamsulrijal@ar-raniry.ac.id abstract theologically, the acehnese ordain themselves as loyal followers of sunni islam, but there are shi’a elements in their culture. to date, there are some traditions of expressing love for the ahl al-bayt (prophet muhammad’s family) which is one of the main characteristics of the shi’a. this research is based on the hypothesis that several cultural practices in aceh contain shi’a elements. this study seeks to reveal the cultural practices of the sunni followers in aceh in expressing their love for the ahl al-bayt. this study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive analysis method from a combination of library and field data. this study found that, historically, the acculturation process of shi’a culture into the sunni followers in aceh has coincided with the process of the arrival of islam in the indonesian archipelago. this is possible given the position of aceh in the history of islamization in the indonesian archipelago. this acculturation has left traces of culture inspired by shi’a such as the tradition of ashura porridge, boh husayn cake. all these traditions have been preserved because these shi’a values contain expressions of love for the ahl al-bayt who also have a place in the hearts of the sunni adherents in aceh. keywords: aceh; sunni; shi’a; ahl al-bayt introduction the people of aceh identify themselves as sunni followers, but in cultural practice remains still a form of typical shi’a tradition which is meant to be an expression of love for the ahl al-bayt. expressing love for the ahl al-bayt is a main characteristic of shi’ism, because this school was founded based on fanaticism to ali ibn abi talib who was a friend and son-in-law of the prophet (aslan, 2011; hashem 2001). this is unique and interesting, considering that shi’a and sunni which have been understood as two theologically opposite schools of islam, still influence each other in the socio-religious domain. [ 204 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 it seems unique and surprising because people who identify themselves as followers of sunni have religious-cultural practices influenced by shi’a culture. (saby, 2013) the historical journey of the relationship between the indonesian archipelago and persia, which has existed for a long time, has also provided room for acculturation of theology between the shi’a and the sunni in the form of cultural contestation which later became indonesia’s fascinating treasure. the traces of the shi’a can still be found in almost every region in indonesia. this study specifically seeks to look at the various traditions practiced as an expression of love for the ahl al-bayt which is commonly observed in the sunni muslims in aceh. in the context of aceh, shi’ism is thought to have developed for a long time since islam was present in that region, along with the arrival of islam itself. ali hasjmy, an acehnese culturalist and historian, suspects that shi’ism has been present and developed in aceh since the eleventh century ad in the peureulak region (perlak, east aceh) brought by merchants from persia. this condition lasted for a long time until the emergence of the islamic kingdom of pasee (pasai, north aceh) which followed the school of ahl-al-sunnah wa al-jama’ah (hasjmy, 1983). given aceh’s position as a well-known trading port in the history of the islamization of the indonesian archipelago, it is not surprising that it later paved the way for various schools of islam in indonesia. through this trade route, it is possible to acculturate two theological schools; shi’a and sunni have long been part of the history of islam in aceh this has left traces of religious cultural practices with shi’a nuances in aceh in the form of a culture of expression of love for the ahl al-bayt. this expression of love can be found, for example, in the naming of the month of muharram as the month of “asan-usen” in aceh. both are still preserved as a reminder of the death of husayn, the grandson of the prophet of allah in a historic war (hoesin, 1970; ismail, 2013). in addition, the traces of shi’a also influence other cultural practices in aceh, ranging from religious culture, literary arts, to culinary arts. studies related to the existence of shi’ism in indonesia can be found in some previous literature. moh. hasim has written about the history of the emergence and development of shi’ism in indonesia. the existence of shi’ism has contributed to cultural diversity in indonesia from the past until now (hasim, 2018; latief, 2008; dewi, 2016 and atjeh, 2017). the traces of shi’ism in its history have existed since the beginning of contact with persia along with the islamization of the indonesian archipelago (saby, 2013). evidence of this connection to persia can be found in various archaeological artifacts [ 205 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 in the form of tombstone inscriptions at the samudera pasai historical site (muhammad, 2013). in addition to the works on the history of shi’ism or persia in the indonesian archipelago, several previous studies also discussed acculturation, influence, and the sunni-shi’a conflict in indonesia. fakhriati mentioned the influence of shi’ism on the lives of the acehnese people, especially in pidie district. this conclusion is based on a study of the hasan husen and nur muhammad stories (fakhriati, 2011 and wahyudi 2017). this shi’a influence can be observed in the scientific tradition and the islamic movement in indonesia in general and in aceh in particular (apridar, 2015; faiz, 2016). the acculturation and influence of shi’a with other cultures in the indonesian archipelago do not always run peacefully but also create tension and conflict (sulaiman, 2017; sutriana and mustahyun, 2017; puteh, 2018; jamal, 2011; hamdi, 2012; widyadara, 2015 and shihab, 2017). due to frequent conflicts, the shi’a community started a movement to survive in the political and religious constellation in indonesia (abubakar, 2018). as far as the literature review is concerned, in general, several works have been found based on library data and historical artifacts like books, story manuscripts, and archeological data on tombstones. in addition to using library data, this article uses field data through observations and interviews with 10 informants in each province from academics, historical and cultural observers. this article is built around the hypothesis that there is a shi’a influence in the cultural and religious practices of the muslim community in aceh province. based on this hypothesis, this research was then developed into a literature review and field study, so that adequate data could be collected to answer the predetermined problems. this article seeks to reveal the cultural expressions of the sunni muslims in aceh and west sumatra in expressing their love for the ahl al-bayt. for this reason, this study is built around several objectives, which include: 1) the historical genealogy of the emergence of shi’a nuances among the sunni communities in aceh and west sumatra; 2) how the tradition of expressing love for the ahl al-bayt is formed among sunni muslims in aceh and west sumatra, and 3) how this shi’a-nuanced culture survives in a sunni muslim society. the historical genealogy of sunni and shi’a acculturation in aceh one of the positive traits in society is integrating several elements of civilization [ 206 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 within its function (ahmad, 2012). this trait can be found in the cultural structure that thrives in muslim societies in indonesia in general and aceh in particular. this is because there are so many cultural elements that exist among indonesian muslims, which are “absorbed” from outside cultures, including cultures typical of shi’ism. however, to reduce the community’s resistance, sometimes these cultures are not called shi’a but are simply referred to as of persian origin. as previously explained, the spread of shi’ism in indonesia coincided with the process of islamization in the indonesian archipelago. according to tabataba’i, as quoted by khairunnas jamal, shi’ism is a historical reality in indonesia (jamal, 2011), as is the case in aceh, the connection with shi’ism is a historical fact. it can be seen from cultural aspects that are still deeply embedded and ingrained in the society, which is predominantly sunni. here it is important to see how the contact and acculturation process of shi’a culture in the sunni community took place, although in this regard some views disagree with the fact that the traditions that exist in aceh today are a form of contact between shi’a culture and the indonesian people. concerning whether there is a connection between acehnese culture and shi’ism, two different views are prevalent. first, the views that agree with the notion that there is a process of acculturation of shi’a culture in the sunni community in aceh. second, the views that disagree with the opinion that some traditions still exist in the community are a form of influence of shi’a culture. the first opinion is put forward by experts who say that the spread of shi’a influence in indonesia is an uncertain reality. at least there is historical and sociological evidence that there has been acculturation of shi’a culture in indonesia. muhajir al-fairusi, an acehnese anthropologist, stated that aceh has experienced a long journey of islamization since the 2nd century ad. the region was a port that was initially open to the process of islamization of various schools, including the influence of shi’a. the influence of shi’a or persians in aceh cannot be ignored, because many elements in the structure of acehnese society have been influenced by persians (read: shi’a) at the beginning of the development of islamization. one of the terms used in the kingdom of aceh that received persian influence is the title “shah’’ which was then used by the elite of the acehnese kingdom (muhajir al-fairusy interview, september 13, 2020) in addition, historical researchers, such as taqiuddin muhammad have written articles proving evidence and artifacts that show such contact. there is a sort of acknowledgment that the emergence of persian islam under the rule of the safavid dynasty has become an influential force after the arabs in [ 207 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 the islamic world, which has colored various sides, both in terms of language, literature, philosophy, sufism, etc. (muhammad, 2013). the arrival of islam from various routes made it possible for shi’a teachings to penetrate aceh. as reported by a religious figure in aceh, this may be closely related to the interaction of the acehnese people with the outside world, especially the interaction of several world nations who had visited aceh. various nations of the world often visited the pasai kingdom (now lhokseumawe), and they assimilated culture through trade. thus, undoubtedly the community with the most dominant interaction will leave their culture with the indigenous people (interview with syukri, september 9, 2020). according to khairil miswar, this view has also been recorded in ali hasjmy’s book about sunni and shi’a in aceh which claims shi’ism was once thriving in peureulak (interview with khairil miswar, 7 august 2020) it was confirmed by mr. yusni saby who said during the interview that “islam arrived in aceh through various agents; there were traders, sufi experts, travelers, and even escapees from the middle east. in the context of these escapees, many ahl al-bayt circles were expelled from their homeland due to political pressure and kinship to the ahl al-bayt. many of these descendants of the prophet were expelled because of their status and political intrigues. the titles or names such as habib, sayid, indicate that they are the descendants of ahl al-bayt, the descendants of the prophet, so they are highly respected. at the time, these traditions, which are now called shi’a, were ahl al-bayt traditions; they were not shi’a traditions, because the term “shi’a” at that time had not existed; the term shi’a only appeared later (interview with yusny saby, march 17, 2020). from here, shi’a teachings intersected with other schools of islam in aceh. on the other hand, some groups disagree with the view that there is a contact or influence of shi’a culture in aceh. hermansyah, an expert on acehnese manuscripts, argued there is no strong evidence that the traditions in aceh have been influenced by shi’ism. according to him, the shi’a tradition may exist in aceh, but what needs to be considered is that the presence of shi’ism in aceh from the past until now has not been found, especially when referring to some axiological evidence, namely primary source evidence. for example, as revealed by naquib al-attas, in which he mentioned that islam was brought from arabia, namely yemen. regarding its influence, islam in aceh is strongly influenced by the thoughts of imam syafi’i and ash’ari; in yemen, it also influences imam shafi’i and ash’ari. (interview with hermansyah, 19 march 2020) historically, aceh has always been labeled as an area where the people follow [ 208 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 ahlussunnah waljamaah and the shafi’i school of thought. however, it is also undeniable that the prevalent traditions are similar to the practice of shi’a culture. in this regard, arfiansyah, an acehnese anthropologist, argued that knowledge and experience of islam led to monotheism, so the acehnese themselves in general do not have sufficient knowledge about the schools of aqidah in islam, as well as other various schools of thought at that time. this has implications for the lack of knowledge and understanding among the acehnese regarding the shi’a elements in their culture. (interview with arfiansyah, september 8, 2020). therefore, it’s only natural that even though traditions typical of shi’a culture take root in the sunni community in aceh, in general, people do not know anything about it. furthermore, according to arfiansyah, the first islamic preacher to reach aceh via perlak, was a shi’a. recently, it is strongly suspected that islam first arrived in aceh through lamuri or lamreh today. but it is not clear what sect of islam was brought to aceh through lamuri. for more than 2 centuries, there has been no historical explanation of the schools of aqidah that were adopted until the establishment of the sultanate of aceh darussalam. when aceh was increasingly recognized as an important port, many scholars from the middle east and other muslim areas with sunni aqidah and shafi’i school of thought visited aceh and later introduced these theological schools to the sultanate. this explains why the aqidah ahl al-sunnah wa al-jamaah and the shafi’i school indirectly become the identity of aceh, apart from cultural practices typical of shi’a culture. in light of the above description, there are in fact differences in views among experts regarding the presence or absence of shi’a influence on the socioreligious of the acehnese people. this article is more inclined to the opinion that the cultural practices in acehnese society in certain cases show an influence of persian or shi’a culture. although this is sometimes not recognized by the predominantly sunni acehnese as they hold that such cultural practices do not derive from persia or shi’a but merely a form of love for the ahl al-bayt. cultural practices of expression of love for ahl al-bayt regarding the hypothesis that in the cultural practice of the sunni people in aceh, there are still cultural entities inspired by shi’a belief and culture. this influence can be seen in various cultural practices and is still preserved today. here, it may be necessary to emphasize that this does not necessarily mean that theologically shi’ism still survives and thrives in aceh. this paper will [ 209 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 only explore the cultural side that develops in a society that is inspired by the values of shi’a belief and culture (saby, 2013 & fakhriati, 2011). this influence includes several aspects of culture, such as language, poetry, cultural rituals, culinary, etc. in acehnese society, several cultural entities are observed which are believed to have a close relationship with shi’a belief and culture. according to khairizaman, if explored further, several artifacts and other historical objects, some of the movements in the saman dance have also allegedly originated from shi’a culture. many people mention that some acehnese cultural practices, rites, and literature also originate from shi’ism. the material culture includes texts as well as old rites that still survive today (interview with khairizzaman, 12 september 2020). thus, cultural practices with shi’a nuances exist in acehnese society. aceh is known for its literary texts. among them are the mystical poems of hamzah fanshuri originating from shahr-i naw, which in khairizman’s view, in persian means ‘new city’. shahr-i naw is believed to be ayutthaya, the capital of siam, the former thai kingdom, where the persian community at that time was very large and influential so that many strategic positions of the kingdom and regional leadership were controlled by the shi’a. some stories are suspected to have a relationship with shi’a ideology. one of them is the story of hasan-husayn, a manuscript written in the acehnese language using the jawi script. in a study by fakhriati, it was stated that the story of hasan-husayn has traces of the ideology and practices of shi’a teachings. in fakhriarti’s analysis, it is stated that in terms of the textual title of the story of hasan-husayn, it shows an inclination to the shi’a concept. the story describes the triumphs, successes, and pains experienced by hasan and husayn (fakhriati, 2011). furthermore, muhammad hanafiah’s role as hasan and husayn’s brother in seeking revenge for the death of his brother is also highlighted. in addition to the story of hasan-husayn, there is also hikayat atjeh: struggle of zainab al-qubra which tells the story of zainab, the daughter of fatimah, the younger sister of the caliph hasan saidina, the grandson of the prophet muhammad, and si bungong lidah ali murthada, as stated in the preamble of the hikayat atjeh by mujar ms. the manuscript, which was written in 2006, tells the story of zainab’s struggle in kuffah. the story also tells about the struggle of imam husayn and its relationship to the struggle of zainab al-qubra. similar to the story of hasan-husayn, the hikayat atjeh zainab al-qubra also venerates the ahl al-bayt. there are still several manuscripts in the form of stories that allegedly contain elements of shi’ism in them, such as [ 210 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 the story of imam mahdi and the story of muhammad hanafiyah. even the story of muhammad hanafiah is considered a story filled with shi’a elements. in addition to manuscripts, shi’a elements can also be found in folklore, which is often conveyed in the oral tradition. there are several stories about the prominence of ali and his sons, hasan, husayn, and muhammad hanafiyah, stories about imam mahdi that are also prevalent among the people. as reported by hasbi amiruddin in aceh the story about sayyidina ali is one of the most popular in the community, especially among children. the oral tradition of the story about sayyidina ali describes ali’s traits, from his intelligence on the battlefield to the 99 sword scars he suffered, and how he survived and remained strong (interview hasbi amiruddin, 17 march 2020). in various stories, ali is shown as a noble, kind, humble person, in addition to being very strong. in addition to texts and oral traditions, one of the trivial forms of habit in practice, which is allegedly derived from shi’a culture is hand-kissing. according to prof. hasbi amiruddin, kissing the hands of the teacher is derived from shi’a. similar to the habit of kissing on the cheek that many adults do when they meet, the actual culture of kissing on the cheek is iranian culture. the difference is that our society only kisses the cheek twice, namely right and left, while iranians kiss three times, namely right, left, and right. for iranians, this kiss on the cheek is a sign of greeting when they meet (interview with hasbi amiruddin, march 17, 2020). furthermore, there is also a belief among the people that the game of football is a form of humiliation to the family of the prophet. today, some acehnese forbid playing football because they liken playing football to the incident of husayn ibn ali’s head kick after being beheaded by yazid bin muawiyah’s soldiers in karbala. this belief then holds that football is a form of humiliation to the prophet’s family. this kind of belief is still prevalent among the acehnese as quoted from tgk. hanafi juned as follows: “in the past, we were forbidden to play football by our parents because football originated from the murder of sayyidina husayn ibn ali ibn abi talib (interview with hanafi juned, february 25, 2020). there are other cultural practices among the acehnese as a form of commemoration of the killing of husayn ibn ali ibn abi talib such as naming the month of muharram as the month of asan husen because the karbala tragedy occurred on 10 muharram in the year 61 hijri (hoesin, 1970; ismail, 2013). regarding the designation of the month of muharram as the month of asan husen, according to tgk. jazuli “is a form of profound appreciation of love for the ahl al-bayt shown by the people of aceh, and i think this is [ 211 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 a traditional acehnese cultural offering to remind us all about the story of sayyidina husayn’s murder by yazid ibn muawiyah’s soldiers” (interview with jazuli, 3 march 2020). still, in connection with 10 muharram, it has become a culture among acehnese muslim women to cook ashura porridge or iebu hasan husen. today the tradition of cooking ashura porridge is also still preserved in aceh. for acehnese muslim women, cooking iebu hasan husen is not an observation of certain beliefs but merely as a form of preserving tradition from generation to generation to remember the murder of husayn bin ali in karbala which became a milestone in shi’a history. thus, the history of shi’a has inspired the emergence of culinary culture in aceh. in addition to the ashura porridge, the acehnese also have a type of cookie or snack called boh husen. this cookie is in the shape of a crescent moon. according to dr. safir iskandar wijaya the curved shape like a crescent moon was inspired by the shape of a typical persian sword. while its shape is similar to a persian sword, the cookie’s name depicts one of the shi’a figures, namely husayn (interview with t. safir iskandar wijaya, january 20, 2020). several cultural practices traditionally preserved in aceh to this day provide sufficient evidence of the existence of a shi’a cultural identity in the sunni community. this shows the moderate and open attitude of the acehnese people. moreover, they perceive such cultural practice as an expression of respect and love for the prophet’s family. survivability of love expression for ahl al-bayt one of the factors that make for the persian cultural tradition which is influenced by shi’a teachings acceptable in the indonesian archipelago is their alignment with the ahl al-bayt. regarding this context, the fact that the acehnese themselves love and venerate the prophet and his family has paved the way for persian/iranian traditions and cultures to be easily accepted by the acehnese and these traditions have been preserved for centuries. it seems that the influence of iran was brought via the persian gulf to the indian ocean, while from saudi arabia, it was from the red sea, down to yemen, then to the indonesian archipelago. so, there are three sources of influence: first, the arabs; second, the persians; and third, the indians (ghujarat). sheikh nuruddin ar-raniry, a native ghujarat who died in ghujarat, india was in aceh for 4-5 years). hence, the legacy of the ahl al-bayt veneration in aceh is regarded as being the shi’a teachings (interview with yusny saby, 17 march 2020). [ 212 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 in a similar vein, khairil miswar reported that when it comes to the survivability of shi’a culture in aceh, it is because the acehnese themselves do not see this culture as a shi’a tradition, but rather as an ahl al-bayt tradition. as is known, the acehnese claim to love the prophet dearly, so everything related to the prophet, such as the killing of his grandson, husain, or hikayat asan usen, etc., are preserved as a form of their affection for the prophet. in addition, the celebration of maulid (the prophet’s birthday) in aceh also tends to last quite long, up to three months, even though historically maulid was first celebrated by the shi’a in egypt. therefore, the preservation of this shi’a tradition in aceh is merely a medium to show their love for the prophet and the ahl al-bayt, not following shi’a theologically, because as far as shi’a fiqh model is concerned, it does not apply in aceh. the preserved traditions have nothing to do with beliefs or worship models (interview with khairil miswar, august 7, 2020). it is for the love for the ahl al-bayt that the shi’a culture is adopted as part of the tradition among the sunni. in the context of glorifying the ahl al-bayt, according to faisal m. nur, “one thing that must be noted is that the expression of love for the ahl al-bayt among the sunni sometimes exceeds that of the shi’a” (interview with faisal m. nur, march 23, 2020) for the predominantly sunni people of aceh, all the persian cultural practices they preserve are not meant to perpetuate shi’a teachings, but simply as a display of love for the messenger of allah and his family. furthermore, according to maizuddin, apart from seeing a culture that directly reflects respect for the prophet and his descendants as the dominant factor that contributes to the survivability of shi’a traditions in the sunni community, the respect for the indatu (forebears) also strongly influences the acehnese society. for certain circles, local wisdom is more important to maintain and observe than to show the identity of the culture (interview with maizuddin, august 8, 2020). in line with the statement made by arfiansyah, culture has lived for centuries and is practiced every year. there is a view held among the people that if they abandon the culture, there will be a disaster. moreover, the shi’a nuanced cultures are not seen by the acehnese as shi’a practices, but understood as part of islamic teachings to love god, his messenger, and his family. arfiansyah believes that not many acehnese, especially those in rural areas who preserve the culinary culture of ashura cookie, understand the story of the murder of hasan and husayn, nor do they know who killed the prophet’s grandsons and on whose orders and for what purpose (interview with arfiansyah, 8 september 2020). in other words, they understand that the tradition is only a celebration that is not related to any other faith. [ 213 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 culture is a set of traditions observed in the daily life of the acehnese. adat (custom) and culture are two terms that have close meanings, even customs are part of culture. both custom and culture have become people’s traditions passed down from generation to generation, and are difficult to change as they have become a habit (tabi`at/peukateun). the customs and culture that have been approved by the ulama are likely to last and be preserved by the community, and that is why aceh’s customs and culture are commonly respected and adored by the acehnese since ancient times and used as the basis of life. this acceptance of values with shi’a nuances among the acehnese is then maintained through cultural practices, then continues to be preserved because it is continuously taught orally. according to badruzzaman, “in the past, in the villages of aceh the recital of hikayat hasan-husayn and hikayat ibn hanafiah was very common. in this way, the preaching of shi’a values became a collective understanding in acehnese society (interview with badruzzaman ismail, 29 march 2020). the story and poems that tell the history of shi’a culture are still very much alive today, such as the popular song of hasan ngon husen by rafli, an acehnese singer and culturalist. conclusion several studies have found that in a long historical process, there has been a contact of shi’a muslim culture with the teachings that had long existed in the indonesian archipelago. the contact between these two cultures then gave birth to a cultural formation whose genealogical roots have been influenced by shi’a culture and practices. these cultural formations then develop and continue to be preserved by the sunni community in aceh, and are no longer seen as related to shi’a rituals. they only see it as a profane culture, not sacred theological teaching. this culture is then practiced as an expression of love and respect for the prophet and his family (ahl al-bayt). in the context of aceh, the practices of this tradition can be found in several forms still preserved today, such as ashura porridge (kanji asan usein), boh husayn cookie, the naming the month of muharram as the month of asan usein, recital of stories about important shi’a figures, such as hikayat hasan husen, hikayat zainab al-kubra, hikayat iman hanafiah. based on the view that culture does not conflict with the shari’a and is practiced as an expression of love for the ahl al-bayt, these cultural practices are not considered to be against the faith of the acehnese muslims who are predominantly sunni. interestingly, this expression of love for the ahl al-bayt by the followers of sunni islam has provided room for shi’a culture to continue to exist and even [ 214 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 develop in a sunni society. moreover, the current shi’a theological movement supporters in indonesia do not call themselves shi’a but instead operate under the name of the indonesian ahl-bayt jama’ah association (ijabi). this is intended for minimizing resistance from the majority of sunni muslims in indonesia. bibliography abubakar, r. 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(2011). pengaruh pemikiran husain thabathabai dalam tafsir al-misbah. jurnal ushuluddin. vol xvii/2. 202-213. latief, h. (2008). the identity shi’a sympathizer in the contemporary indonesian. journal of indonesiaan islam. vol 2/2. 300-335. puteh, a. a. (2018). the shi’a turmoil in a sharia soil: an anthropological study of hidden shi’a minority entity in contemporary aceh. aceh anthropological journal. vol ii/ 2. 231-246. saby, y. (2013). jejak persia di nusantara: interplay antara agama dan budaya. jurnal media syariah. vol xv/1. 21-29. shihab, m. q. (2017). sunnah-shi’a bergandengan tangan! mungkinkah? kajian atas konsep ajaran dan pemikiran. jakarta. lentera hati. sofjan, d. ed. (2013). sejarah dan budaya syi’ah di asia tenggara. yogyakarta, sekolah pascasarjana ugm. sulaiman. (2017). relasi sunni-shi’a: refleksi kerukunan umat beragama di bangsri kabupaten jepara. panangkaran; jurnal penelitian agama dan masyarakat. vol i/ 1. 9-33. sutriana & mustahyun, (2017). dinamika konflik sunni-shi’a di indonesia perspektif kuasa michel foucault. pelita: journal of social-religion research. vol 2/2. 93-108. muhammad, t. (2013) jejak kebudayaan persia di kawasan tinggalan sejarah samudera pasai. media syariah. vol 15/1. 31-43. wahyudi. (2017). shi’a dalam perspektif tengku dayah: studi di kabupaten pidie provinsi aceh. unpublished thesis at program pascasarjana uin ar-raniry. darussalam. banda aceh. widyadara, r. t. (2015). konflik sunni-syiah di indonesia. religi. vol xi/2. 109-124. interviews tengku syukri, religious leader in aceh, september 9, 2020. khairil miswar, writer and cultural observer in aceh, 7 august 2020. yusny saby, professor of islamic thoughts, march 17, 2020. hermansyah, aceh manuscript expert, march 19, 2020. arfiansyah, anthropologist, september 8, 2020. khairizaman, pidie district religious leader, september 12. hasbi amiruddin, ma, professor of islamic political thoughts, march 17, [ 216 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2072 2020. hanafi juned, aceh besar traditional leader, on february 25, 2020 jazuli muhammad, aceh besar religious leader, march 3, 2020. t. safir iskandar wijaya, islamic theology expert, january 20, 2020. faisal m. nur, expert in sufism, march 23, 2020. maizuddin, m. ag, academic, august 8, 2020. badruzaman ismail, acehnese traditional leader, march 29, 2020. [ 311 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 socio-religious transformation and resilience of islamic identity in kauman village of yogyakarta muhammad arifin universitas mulawarman, samarinda, indonesia email: muhammad.arifin@fisip.unmul.ac.id nabila ulamy alya institute of anthropology, leipzig university, germany email: uv08togi@studserv.uni-leipzig.de abstract this article aims to study and describe the changes occurring in kauman village. the targeted transformation involves converting kampung islam into a tourist village. this study aims to examine how kauman’s sacred religious space changed into a profane tourist area, from kampung islam (islamic village) to kampung pariwisata (tourist village). this research aims to explore how the religious and sacred kauman neighborhood transformed into a profane tourist space. this study employed qualitative methods that involved observation, in-depth interviews, and a review of relevant literature to collect data. the research findings are presented as an account of direct observations of ongoing religious events and interview findings from respondents. this research shows that muhammadiyah’s entry as a modern movement in religious affairs represents a socio-religious transformation in response to unstoppable global flows of information and globalization. despite various challenges to their values this study found that islamic values have grown stronger and continue to exist. the kauman community shows strong determination and actively works to maintain its identity. while adapting islamic identity materials to represent islam and muhammadiyah, the community ensures that fundamental religious values remain intact. keywords: socio-religious transformation; resilience of islamic identity; tourist village introduction during the ngayogyakarta hadiningrat kingdom period, kampung kauman became the first village established when the kraton and the great mosque of kauman opened on may 29, 1773 ad (darban, 2010). during different time periods, kauman village transitioned from being known as the official religious neighborhood to the royal servant neighborhood, then to an islamic [ 312 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 learning hub, and finally, a batik production center (prasodjo, 2020). it earned the titles islamic village and muhammadiyah village because it served as the starting point for muhammadiyah’s religious social work (zarro, m, et al., 2020) and the growth of religious-based businesses (oktavianto, s.w & azaki khoirudin, 2023). during its initial years, the village stood as a key indicator of changes that shaped java’s islamic development in the early 1900s (woodward, 1999). the name likely developed because most residents follow islam and daily life adheres to islamic law (arifin, 2020; junara et al., 2019). the village functions both as a center for learning and studying islam (darban 2010; triadmodjo 2010). the branding ‘welcome to islamic village’ reinforces this development pattern. visitors entering kauman street through the north alun-alun gate see this slogan at the entrance to kauman. this inscription shows more than just the religious background of this village community which connects to islamic mataram history and muhammadiyah growth. it also marks the start of transforming this village into a tourist attraction in yogyakarta. kauman was selected for this status for several important reasons. the heritage tourism industry keeps growing, while cultural heritage tourism has become increasingly popular (setiawati, 2018). the yogyakarta provincial government has supported multiple villages in gaining tourism status, including kauman village, which became a destination for religious tourism in yogyakarta city. to formalize this initiative, the yogyakarta special region enacted regulation no. 40 of 2020, which established tourism awareness groups and tourist villages. the provincial government supports tourism development through its tourism awareness groups program.1 the residents of kauman village formed tourism awareness groups “saka wisata” and “blusukan kampoeng jogja community” in response to this regulation. governor regulation no. 2 of 2024 established the great mosque of kauman as a world heritage site through article 24, along with other heritage locations in yogyakarta.2 the gedhe keraton mosque at kauman village functions as a religious tourism site, while the neighborhood retains its broader islamic cultural features, including prayer rooms (langgar), small mosques (musholla), mosques, the royal religious leader’s residence, nyi ahmad dahlan’s grave, and an aisyiah kindergarten that serves the local community. these buildings are spread across several neighborhood units (rt) within the kauman settlement area, as illustrated by aryanti (2015) in the following sketch map: 1 https://www.panggungharjo.desa.id/2021/03/pergub-diy-no-40-tahun-2020.pdf 2 https://jdih.jogjaprov.go.id/tahun-2024-tentang-pengelolaan-warisan-dunia. [ 313 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 figure 1. map of the historical relics of the development of islam in kauman village3 their daily religious practices support this physical heritage through prayer and quran recitation alongside religious studies and annual rituals such as the grebeg ritual (pratisara, 2020; nursalam & syahputra, 2023). the village’s deep islamic roots, combined with its many sacred buildings—including langgar (prayer rooms) musholla (small mosques) and muhammadiyah schools—help create the image of kauman as an islamic village representing muhammadiyah (arifin et al., 2019). tourism development now affects many villages in yogyakarta, but kauman village stands out as a distinct tourist destination. it has led to multiple transformations in community life through physical changes to the village design and infrastructure, alterations in land use and building functions, and shifts in social connections and the local economy. despite these changes, the community continues to live with and adapt to the ongoing religious and social transformations in kauman village. 3 source: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/tutin-aryanti/publication/ [ 314 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 the existence of kauman village as an urban village a village represents more than just a place where people live; it also functions as a social tool to separate communities based on physical space requirements. in some cases, the term village refers to a settlement associated with traditional life within a specific environment (see sumintarsih and adrianto, 2014: 3-4). when such a settlement exists within an urban setting, it referred to as an “urban village” (kampung kota). according to funo yamamoto & silas (2002), this term in indonesia denotes a distinct form of informal urban settlement, which emerges as people migrate from rural areas to cities in search of employment opportunities. particularly in yogyakarta, the term “kampung” [village] conveys an idea for most city dwellers, often referred to as wong cilik, or those who identify as village people (sullivan, 1986: 70). the village people who live in urban areas maintain distinct traditions and economic lifestyles that differentiate them from other social groups. different social groups coexist in urban settings, which form separate communities that keep their identity while navigating both social and physical spaces for survival, as shown by kauman village in yogyakarta. this study is structured around three key concepts: urban village, touristic space, and social transformation. urban village urban villages play a crucial role in reproducing specific work methods and labor systems while reflecting the social dynamics of these settlements (newberry, 2008:25). according to song et al. (2016:187), urban villages exist within the boundaries of urban development areas. additionally, hidayah and shigemura (2005) argue that urban villages have become integral to the urban system by providing low-cost rentals that accommodate migrant housing needs. these villages function as essential components of urban development, both spatially and socially. wu hong et al. (2017: 2026) explain that urban villages emerge as a result of both rapid urban development and informal housing markets. this finding aligns with kumar, bipasha, and bhaduri (2018:13091311), who studied delhi, india, to show how development planning created urban villages that later became trapped within metropolitan urbanization. similarly, lai et al. (2014) argue that china’s rapid urbanization over recent decades has contributed to the emergence and expansion of urban villages. urban villages are often perceived as urban problems due to the persistence of slum areas and squatter settlements. according to wu hong et al. (2017:2026), the mismatch between urban village planning and city planning results in unhealthy living conditions, characterized by overcrowded housing, [ 315 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 poor lighting, and inadequate ventilation. the problems of urban villages are also highlighted by kumar, bipasha, and bhaduri (2018) in delhi. they discovered that their irregular building designs make these neighborhoods more dangerous. supporting these findings, lai and tang (2016:482) argue that urban villages lack basic infrastructure, suffer from disorganized land divisions, and are marked by extreme population density. taken together, these studies shows that slum areas are seen as problematic because they suffer from poor public space planning, inadequate infrastructure, disorganized private spaces, and difficult living conditions. the issue of slum areas, as noted by kumar, bipasha, and bhaduri (2018:1324), arises when development fails to follow approved procedures. similarly, lai and tang (2016:482) found that many urban village residents do not have full legal ownership of their buildings. additionally, wu hong et al. (2017:2026) show that illegal urban village settlements tend to be constructed within specific zones of these communities, which create a mix of official neighborhoods and unauthorized settlements within urban village spaces. the basic purpose of settlements as living areas is often shaped by external influences that make them complex to analyze. according to hidayah and shigemura (2005:137-138), many urban village homeowners convert their private spaces into rental units to provide affordable housing solutions for urban communities. as a result, urban village buildings can shift from family living spaces to adaptable rental properties that help communities adjust to new conditions. they experience significant changes in space use because owners and renters share common areas while losing between 10% and 50% of their private spaces (hidayah & shigemura, 2005). these formal and informal housing transformations do not necessarily have negative associations with legal regulations, as urban village buildings did not exceed the residential space limits defined by provincial authorities (hidayah and shigemura, 2005:142). urban village communities must adapt to the effects of urbanization, but not all are equally successful in adjusting to these changes. according to kumar, bipasha, and bhaduri (2018:1311), delhi’s rapid urbanization has created new economic opportunities, yet many former agricultural workers struggle to transition into urban labor markets. this is also supported by song et al. (2016:187), that urban village communities have largely abandoned their traditional agricultural economy to become landlords for migrants. these new urban village economic systems demonstrate how different communities vary in their ability to adapt to changing market conditions. [ 316 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 touristic space heritage now serves as a tool for development rather than as a shield against it (long, in laukkanen, 2018:199). earlier societies viewed traditional practices as backward but now recognize them as assets for regional growth (see laukkanen, 2018). this shift, however, has led to conflicts that some developing nations struggling to balance heritage protection with tourism growth (li et al., 2016:30). the rise of cultural tourism stems from its ability to offer visitors authentic local cultures despite ongoing disputes. cultural tourism objects appear authentic to tourists because they believe modern society lost these cultural elements (culler in wei et al., 2018:91). tourism and space interact not only as tourist attractions but also as tools to reshape regional identities. digitalization and social media drive this transformation, which influence how tourists engage with cultural spaces (stepchenkova & zhan in pauli, 2018:103). the world travel & tourism council (in wearing, stephen, and carmel foley, 2017:99), emphasizes that tourism operates as an economic business that adds substantially to global gdp. however, economic interests remain deeply intertwined with community intervention, as the desire to profit from local economies in historical heritage tourism areas often dictates how tourism spaces are regulated (li et al., 2016:30). urban tourism requires a series of processes that mediate between movement spaces, destinations, memory experiences, and representations (hayllar et al., in wearing, stephen, and carmel foley, 2017:102). similarly, warszyńska & jackowski (in hącia, 2014:61) explain that tourism spaces combine both physical environments and economic functions, which highlight the growth of local commercial areas as a key factor in connecting tourism spaces to the global markets. james and mcdonald (2013) further support this by noting that commercial spaces serve as middle spaces, linking tourists to their travel destinations. while tourism development brings economic benefits, it also raises concerns about sustainability, particularly in heritage sites where rapid commercialization can threaten cultural integrity. discussions on sustainable tourism development often begin with government ideas. laukkanen (2018) argues that governments must address challenges related to local growth and cultural heritage, which often stem from conflicting perspectives among different stakeholders. in the case of cultural heritage tourism, laukkanen (2018:214) shows how local communities and the chinese government view heritage differently from western perspectives, which often separate culture from nature. li et al. (2016:30) suggest that effective tourism development requires recognizing the natural features and behavioral patterns of specific [ 317 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 spaces, as this helps explain how social and cultural systems shape tourism environments. lastly, planning for tourism areas should prioritize holistic solutions that support sustainable regional development (hącia, 2014:67). social transformation hettige et al. (2018: 387) argue that social transformation represents fundamental changes in how society functions through adjustments or resistance to new influences across social, economic, cultural, and political domains. when society transforms, its members expand the meaning of symbols beyond their original definitions. in line with this, calhoun (in zbarauskaitė, 2015:121-122) defines social transformation as the process through which a society alters its core traits, such as social values and cultural products. religious faith systems, for example, use sacred symbols in their spiritual practices, while profane values exist within activities associated with religious practice. in their analysis of the camino de santiago pilgrimage, bona kim et al. (2016, 151-152) demonstrate that participants blend sacred and profane values in their spiritual journey, with motivations that include both religious devotion and personal achievement. shifting social dynamics manifest both in individual behavior and in collective transformations within communities. people with specific values influence how they interact with others, which shape broader group-level changes that drive societal transformation. social change occurs in every social interaction where individuals work toward shared goals. maira and maulsharif (2013:638) found that families in kazakhstan are transitioning from traditional male-led relationships to modern, equal partnerships. over time, both spouses have come to share their roles more freely, which lead to a less rigid division of family labor. as men and women increasingly work in the same environments, families become more adaptable to shared responsibilities. both the economic and social systems undergo transformation over time. economic shifts can be observed through changes in how people manage their financial resources within their local communities. the way actors work together in economic networks determines how a society’s economy functions. lim and endo (2016:493) illustrate this by demonstrating how political forces shape economic systems. the network of actors and entities create power chains that transform government-controlled economies into profit-driven economies. however, while these national-scale economic transformations occur, they often result in a slower rate of development. the global environment extends these changes beyond economic actors and [ 318 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 entities, shaping local industries, land use, and labor markets. as foreign investment in land acquisition increases, manufacturing and service industries expand. this is of then at the expense of agricultural land and rural livelihoods. this shift forces farmers and local communities to adapt to new economic realities. according to jia et al. (2018:411), farmers navigate these economic pressures more effectively when they possess strong personal skills and receive institutional support from authorities. in this context, globalization not only restructures economies but also alters traditional ways of life, requiring local communities to balance economic opportunity with cultural values. kauman village as a center for islamic learning in the past, kauman village served as a religious learning center for santri students and kyai scholars, as it hosted around 30 kyais. these kyais scholars taught santri students from different areas across indonesia. according to local accounts, the kyais of kauman gained deep religious knowledge by studying at islamic boarding schools (pesantren) and abroad, particularly in arab countries such as egypt. the kyais transformed their prayer houses into educational spaces, by accepting students and teaching them about islam. over time, kauman earned its name as kampung santri (student village) because its small kyai-led mosques featured numerous students engaged in religious studies. as explained by mr. bg in an interview: “before the arrival of foreign students, kauman had numerous kyais who achieved complete religious understanding by studying islam at religious schools such as the pesantren or directly under arab teachers. when they returned home, they educated students from kauman and other regions, including sumatra, kalimantan, and sulawesi, who traveled to kauman to study religion. students learned directly from kyais at their homes or prayer houses through sorogan sessions, where students took turns reciting quranic verses while sitting cross-legged. santri from all over java and other islands came to kauman to study at both prayer houses and prayer rooms.” (interview, october 27, 2022) today, kauman village retains its islamic educational heritage, evident in its prayer rooms, small mosques, and historical muhammadiyah buildings. among these is the aisyiah kindergarten, which used to teach children of kauman. several other historical buildings reflecting the village’s rich religious and educational legacy can also be found, as shown in the following figure 2: [ 319 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 figure 2. kindergarten and aisyiyah islamic boarding school in kauman expressing islamic identity: symbols and traditions in kauman kauman village expresses its islamic identity through both tangible and intangible religious elements. the gedhe keraton mosque stands as a central religious landmark, accompanied by prayer rooms (musholla) and small prayer houses (langgar), such as langgar kha dahlan, which serve as spaces for worship and religious education. these architectural and spiritual elements collectively reinforce the village’s islamic character, as seen in the following figure 3: figure 3. gedhe keraton mosque and langgar kha dahlan4 beyond its physical structures, islam is also represented through rules that control religious practices including tadarrusan (qur’an recitation) and qur’anic study sessions. the traditional practices in kampung kauman yogyakarta can be categorized into two distinct groups. the first group consists of customs rooted in the traditions of the yogyakarta palace, which originate from islamic court heritage. these include the garebeg celebration. the second 4 source: https://www.maioloo.com/legendary-points-in-the-kauman-tourismillage/ [ 320 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 group comprises religious practices observed independently by kauman residents, which reflect muhammadiyah teachings and their commitment to uphold islamic principles. people practice mandatory and sunnah prayers, regular qur’an recitation, and religious discussion, all of which align with the five pillars of islam. as illustrated in the figure below, these religious practices continue to shape kauman’s islamic identity through communal rituals: figure 4. routine recitation activities and tadarrusan schedule for kauman residents the kauman community actively upholds islamic traditions through various religious practices. many residents do voluntary fasting on mondays and thursdays as well as regularly performing dhuha [morning] and tahajjud [night] prayers. they also participate in religious gatherings, which are held separately for men and women. the kauman mosque serves as a center for collective worship, hosting collective eclipse prayers and other congregational religious activities. throughout the day, residents dedicate themselves to religious observance, with daily quran recitation and religious education sessions taking place at the gedhe mosque. the kauman community remains deeply committed to preserving and passing down islamic traditions to future generations. beyond religious practices, islamic symbols—particularly those associated with muhammadiyah—are embedded in the visual culture of kauman. these symbols are prominently displayed on household decorations, front porches, and walls, while even tablecloths feature muhammadiyah motifs and religious messages, such as the following: figure 5. symbols and religious messages in households kauman [ 321 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 transformation of kauman: from private spaces to public spaces the rapid growth of yogyakarta’s tourism sector has brought significant transformations to kauman village. these changes are evident in both the village’s physical landscape and its social and economic dynamics. the transformation of kauman village, yogyakarta, is marked by modifications to its spatial layout, repurposing of buildings, and shifts in community activities, particularly following the village’s inclusion in the diy province tourism development program. during our field observations, we identified four houses in kauman village that now operate as homestays, while dozens of other homes have been converted into long-term rental properties, available for monthly or yearly leases. this trend reflects a broader shift in housing functions within the village, as noted by mr. bg, the head of rt. 13 in kauman village, as follows: “many kauman residents now rent their homes as rental houses or boarding houses to both male and female tenants. most renters include students and workers who trade alongside other individuals. daily rental houses, known as homestays, primarily serve tourists and trader family members. i can remember there are four rental houses in this area.” the buildings in kauman now serve both residential and commercial purposes, with grocery stalls, food stands, beverage shops, and hair salons integrated into the neighborhood. the gedhe mosque, which was originally a religious space, has also been repurposed to accommodate tourists. today, the mosque serves a dual function—it remains a place of worship while also acting as a rest area for visitors and a filming location for the soap opera tukang bubur naik haji (porridge vendor performs the hajj). tourism development in kauman village, yogyakarta, has led to the transformation of private spaces into public areas. these changes can be categorized into two types of space conversion. first, residents now share their private spaces with visitors. for example, batik artisans in kauman have opened their homes to tourists as historical attractions, rather than using them solely as family living spaces. second, the government has taken control over formerly private areas associated with the sultanate, converting them into publicly managed spaces. cultural heritage sites, including the gedhe mosque, various prayer halls, muhammadiyah school buildings, and the joglo house of the royal religious leader, now functioned as regulated tourism sites. however, the state’s intervention in kauman’s spatial transformation has sparked concerns. the government’s legal framework, particularly laws no. 24 of 1992 and no. 5 of 1992, has played a role in redefining kauman’s spaces, [ 322 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 often stripping them of their original functions and meanings. the central government’s push to establish yogyakarta as a major tourism destination has been a driving force behind these policy decisions. these transformations have had profound effects on kauman’s social structure and exclusivity. historically, kauman was an exclusive neighborhood, primarily inhabited by religious servants of the palace who upheld strict islamic customs. this exclusivity was reinforced not only by its unique religious traditions but also by its physical layout, which was intentionally designed to maintain privacy and separation from outsiders. the narrow streets, controlled access points, and closely built houses facing inward created a walled-in effect, which limit external influences. additionally, strict vehicle restrictions and spatial planning ensured that kauman remained a protected religious space, where spiritual values were passed down through generations. despite these historical boundaries, kauman has gradually opened to outsiders, particularly as tourism and urbanization have reshaped its social fabric. visitors are welcome, provided they adhere to local rules, such as wearing modest clothing, turning off vehicle engines, and obtaining special permission for street performances. however, social integration did not begin solely with tourism. by the 1970s and 1980s, intermarriage with outsiders increased, and public schools introduced students from beyond the community, which led to greater interaction between kauman residents and the broader yogyakarta population. as explained by mr. hw: “by 1970 several kauman residents had chosen partners from outside their neighborhood. most men from the kauman community chose partners from outside their neighborhood. during the 1980s, numerous young men left kauman to pursue employment opportunities. they left for two reasons: they needed work, and they wanted to escape the bad reputation that made residents appear tough and ready to fight.” (interview, october 29, 2022). the desire to seek economic and social opportunities beyond kauman remains a common theme among its residents. as mr. bg expressed: “if you want to progress, you must leave kauman. according to kauman residents, they need to go beyond their neighborhood because accepting outside connections helps them advance. the expression pushes many residents to move away. despite their deep connection to kauman, they still want to progress and develop, which does not force them to stay in their hometown.” (interview with mr. bg october 2022). [ 323 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 tourism and the renewal of islamic identity in kauman tourism has played a significant role in revitalizing islamic symbols and heritage in kauman. historic islamic architecture, once overlooked, is now being preserved and promoted as a major tourist attraction. the muhammadiyah heritage trail tours have incorporated visits to historic buildings, which enhances kauman’s role as a center of islamic heritage tourism. beyond tourism, academic institutions have also contributed to kauman’s conservation efforts. the architecture department of indonesia islamic university (known locally as uii) in yogyakarta, in collaboration with the national university of singapore (nus) and university of malaya (um), launched the kauman um-nus-uii architectural conservation field school. this program, which took place from july 9 to august 2, 2018, brought architecture students from the three universities to study and engage in conservation efforts in kauman. through this initiative, tourism and academic learning have merged to support historical preservation. tourism-driven revitalization efforts have restored islamic traditions that had previously declined. many islamic identity markers have been reintroduced through modern adaptations, which ensure that kauman’s heritage remains relevant. one such revival is the return of collective prayer practices, where residents once pray together and take turns reciting the qur’an from house to house. this congregational prayer movement, which was reintroduced in 2018, reflects a renewed commitment to communal religious practices. similarly, kauman’s culinary heritage has also been revived. the temporary ramadan market has reintroduced traditional dishes such as goat curry and kicak, which are known as kauman’s legendary takjil. these culinary offerings not only strengthen kauman’s cultural identity but also attract tourists interested in experiencing local islamic traditions. the revival of kauman’s islamic traditions is deeply connected to its historical relationship with muhammadiyah, which emerged as a reformist islamic movement in 1912 in this village. kauman’s residents express their deep islamic devotion to muhammadiyah through the saying “kauman is muhammadiyah and muhammadiyah is kauman.” as tourism continues to grown in yogyakarta, kauman’s residents aim to position their village as an open, globally connected islamic destination. rather than being perceived as strict and isolated, they seek to highlight kauman’s inclusivity by emphasizing islamic cultural tourism as a key feature of the village’s identity. [ 324 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 transformation from an islamic village to a tourist village the introduction of state schools and muhammadiyah private schools has contributed to a decline in the number of islamic students and a reduction in the influence of islamic scholars in kauman. the presence of public schools led to the gradual disappearance of the santri learning tradition, which had long been a defining characteristic of the village. today, it is rare to hear children or santri reciting quranic verses in mosques, prayer rooms, langar, or kyai homes, as they once did. instead, students now spend their time on academic coursework and extracurricular activities that are unrelated to religious learning, both within and beyond the school environment. public schools prioritize secular education, focusing on subjects such as science, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and social studies, while religious education is given minimal time in the curriculum. muhammadiyah’s educational philosophy emphasizes rational thinking as a key component of learning. the movement encourages individuals to embrace truth, accept constructive feedback, and pursue progress as part of their intellectual and spiritual development. however, religious education alone is not considered sufficient to cultivate rational thinking; it must be combined with general education to achieved a balanced perspective. as a result, muhammadiyah has expanded its network of public schools across different educational levels and continuously improving their quality. despite the existence of muhammadiyah’s religious schools such as muallimin and muallimat, many kauman residents now attend public schools as well. the shift from a religious education model to a broader public education system has played a significant role in reshaping kauman’s identity. previously recognized as a santri and kyai village, kauman gradually transformed into an islamic village during the 2000s, driven by its deep historical ties to muhammadiyah. while muhammadiyah was founded in 1912, it was the kauman community itself that reinforced the village’s islamic character and association with the movement. today, with tourism programs expanding in yogyakarta, kauman has undergone another transformation: emerging as one of the city’s recognized tourist attractions. branded as kampung wisata kauman (kauman tourist village), the area now offers various tourism packages, as seen below: [ 325 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 figure 6. kauman village tourism promotion and tour packages5 figure 7. kauman village tour package classification6 figure 8. tourist visits to kauman village, yogyakarta7 5 source: https://diy.jadesta.com/paket/jejak_peradaban_mataram_islam 6 source: https://kampungwisata.jogjakota.go.id/customer/detailpaket/82 7 source: https://pwmjateng.com/napak-tilas-di-kampung-wisata-kauman-kejutan-sejarah-di-tengah-kota-yogyakarta/ [ 326 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 students gain greater intellectual independence through through general education, which encourages critical thinking and diverse perspectives. in contrast, religious education often operates under strict leadership control, where students are expected to accept religious teachers’ interpretations as absolute truth. by integrating general education, students develop new values that extend beyond individual spiritual growth to influence their social, financial, and political engagement. although muhammadiyah actively promotes general education, continued intellectual development remains essential for enhancing all aspects of life within the community. the intellectual movement within muhammadiyah is guided by rational principles, which emphasizes reasoning and critical evaluation in all areas of life. this approach is deeply embedded in the daily lives of muhammadiyah members in kauman, who evaluate social, economic, and religious issues through a rational lens. however, muhammadiyah’s intellectual framework is not confined to theoretical discussions—it also prioritizes practical action that leads to community progress and prosperity. economic development, as advocated by k.h. ahmad dahlan, is a core pillar of muhammadiyah’s mission. the growth of local economies is viewed as essential to broader community development, which provides individuals with financial stability and opportunities for advancement. in kauman, tourism has become a central driver of economic activity. however, while residents recognize the economic benefits of tourism, they emphasize the need for religiously aligned tourism initiatives that reinforce islamic identity and values rather than compromise them. changes in tourism and the resilience of islamic identity as part of the yogyakarta palace administration, kauman village has long been engaged in state and palace policies, contributing to their development and implementation. however, the growth of tourism in yogyakarta has brought an increasing number of outsiders to the palace’s surrounding areas, which affects kauman’s community. despite this, the arrival of outsiders has not altered how kauman residents practice their islamic faith. for over a century, the sekaten and garebeg ceremonies, held at the great mosque of kauman, have reinforced the community’s commitment to islamic traditions. kauman residents actively preserve their religious identity, to adhere strictly to muhammadiyah principles while maintaining a selective openness to external influences. while they reject outside traditions that conflict with their islamic values, they welcome ideas and practices that align [ 327 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 with muhammadiyah teachings, including those introduced through tourism. tourism in kauman is not passively accepted but evaluated and adapted to ensure its alignment with islamic principles. under this islamization approach, kauman’s islamic values are expected to shape both tourism activities and tourist behavior. maintaining modest dress codes is seen as essential for preserving religious norms, while islamic symbols and heritage sites remain central to the tourist experience. located between the yogyakarta palace area and the city’s economic hub, kauman village is regularly exposed to diverse cultural influences. they embrace new information technology without hesitation because mobile phones and television have become familiar parts of their daily life. however, rather than diluting islamic values, technological advancements have instead strengthened the community’s religious identity. kauman residents actively utilize information technology tools to spread islamic teachings and strengthen brotherhood. through radio saka, they disseminate muhammadiyah teachings, while whatsapp groups, email, and facebook facilitate religious discussions and community engagement. while they engage with various cultural and technological developments, their primary focus remains on religious education and community strengthening, as the tarjih (a section that make judgments or decisions on islamic jurisprudential matters) of the muhammadiyah organization sets rules for how its members should use information technology. kauman’s islamic identity is not merely a set of practices but a deeply ingrained way of life. residents continuously assert their religious identity through their daily actions, maintaining adherence to muhammadiyah teachings across various settings and circumstances. their islamic identity becomes part of who they are. this commitment to religious principles ensures that their islamic identity remains integral, regardless of external influences or the expansion of tourism. residents of kauman village do not feel threatened by tourism programs in their community. instead, they see it as an opportunity to display their islamic heritage to visitors. through historical buildings, religious narratives, and rituals, they showcase the revival of their islamic traditions. the intersection of islamic identity, social transformation, and tourism kauman has long maintained a strong islamic heritage, where islamic values define both the identity if its residents and their daily actions. situated in the heart of yogyakarta, within the royal tourism area, kauman is exposed to diverse social and cultural interactions. over time, its residents have become [ 328 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 increasingly open to welcoming visitors from outside their community. the long history of social connections between kauman residents have contributed to both physical and socio-economic developments in the village (arifin, 2019). although tourism has not substantially altered kauman’s physical landscape, it has influenced cultural values and symbols (zbarauskaitė, 2015). mosques and other muhammadiyah heritage sites, once dedicated solely to religious activities, now function as religious tourism attractions that have been commercialized. despite these adaptations, the village continues to preserve its authentic history and cultural identity, utilizing digital and social media platforms to promote tourism programs and contribute to regional economic growth. the community of kauman has undergone various modifications in response to social transformation, including building renovations, shifts in social relationships, transformations in work structures, and political realignments. additionally, private spaces within kauman have increasingly transitioned into public areas, which allow for greater accessibility to outsiders. however, despite these modern shifts, kauman’s religious identity remains firmly intact, as islam continues to serve as the community’s foundational belief system and guiding principle (arifin, 2020). kauman residents remain deeply committed to practicing islam while upholding the teachings of k.h. ahmad dahlan. even in the face of shifting social dynamics and external influences, they continue to strengthen their islamic identity through religious values and practices. at the core of this commitment lies the gedhe kauman mosque, which serves as both a religious symbol and a center for muhammadiyah preaching. institutionally, this movement is reinforced by the three pillars (tiga saka), which provide spiritual and administrative guidance to kauman residents. these pillars consist of the neighborhood associations (rukun warga/rw), representing the royal presence and the state’s role in kauman; the mosque management board (takmir masjid), serving as muhammadiyah’s religious and preaching institution; and the muhammadiyah organization, acting as the overarching islamic authority guiding religious and social life in kauman (interview with bg, october 30, 2022). according to kauman residents, these three pillars integrate muhammadiyah teachings, mosque leadership, and royal administration to create an inclusive and adaptable islamic framework. this accepting mindset has shaped kauman’s open and merciful islamic character, allowing it to remain a peaceful and resilient community (interview with bg, october 30, 2022). tourism has also played a role in shaping new types of community organizations [ 329 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 in kauman. these organizations increasingly combine religious and economic objectives which reflect a shift toward a more integrated socio-religious economy (hettige et al., 2018). by blending islamic principles with economic initiatives, kauman residents continue to engage with modern tourism while preserving their religious heritage. conclusion kauman village has undergone significant transformations since the arrival of muhammadiyah, which introduced modern religious practices to the community. over time, as kauman transitioned into a tourist village, it adapted to global trends and expanding information flows that could no longer be ignored. the community has strategically incorporated tourism into its identity and ensuring that islamic heritage remains central. this transformation follows kauman’s historical evolution from a batik village to a santri village, later becoming an islamic village (muhammadiyah’s influence), and now, a tourist destination that promotes muhammadiyah heritage-based tourism. despite external influences, kauman’s residents have successfully preserved their islamic principles while adapting to changing socio-economic landscapes. the community remains deeply committed to its religious values, even as it modernizes its methods of expression. rather than compromising their identity, they have found ways to commercialize their islamic heritage through tourism, marketing their islamic and muhammadiyah products while maintaining their religious integrity. this demonstrates their strategic ability to manage societal changes while ensuring islamic continuity. this research challenges common assumptions that islam and tourism are incompatible, particularly the notion that tourism inherently aligns with western capitalist ideals. the findings reveal that islam—especially in kauman, a village deeply associated with muhammadiyah—does not hinder tourism development. instead, the community actively supports tourism initiatives introduced by the special region of yogyakarta provincial government, integrating religious and cultural heritage into tourism. to facilitate this, kauman’s residents have established blusukan (engagement and communication with government officials) communities and tourism awareness groups. these initiatives promote islamic cultural heritage (muhammadiyah heritage) as a tourism package, overseen by the kauman mosque management board. however, this study is not without its shortcomings. first, the absence of a [ 330 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 specific time frame limits the ability to assess long-term trends and historical depth. second, the scope of the study is broad, covering multiple aspects of transformation, which may have reduced the focus on specific sociocultural changes. future research could benefit from a more defined temporal framework and a narrower thematic focus to allow for a deeper analysis of kauman’s ongoing transformation. bibliography arifin, m., abdullah, i., triratnawati, a. 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(2017). analysis of physics environment in urban village building. peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th international symposium on heating, ventilation and air conditioning. zarro, m. yunani, dhita, a.n. (2020). muhammadiyah sebagai gerakan islam dan pendidikan. factum: jurnal sejarah dan pendidikan sejarah, 9 (1). 2020. 61-66 [ 333 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3351 zbarauskaitė, a., grigutytė, n., gailiene d,. (2015). minority ethnic identity and discrimination experience in a context of social transformations.procedia social and behavioral sciences. 165. pp. 121 – 130. doi : 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.613 [ 133 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 book review historiographical reflection on the malay world published in kuala lumpur by universiti malaya, 2011 by tatiana a. denisova reviewed by hadenan towpek, phd (academy of contemporary islamic studies, universiti teknologi mara, sarawak) this work began with a very interesting criticism from the author, tatiana a. dnisova, who argued that: “every time there is a need to understand the malay view on various subjects or areas of human life, a researcher must refer to primary sources, i.e. the malay literary treasures, including works on the historiography of islamic malay. “ this is obviously a pure thought of a high academic level based on the study of history which is deeply-rooted in the motive of curiosity and awareness. in addition, historians often find lessons that should be learnt, even though the application and practicality of past experiences in a new context in the current time is no easy matter. here is a description of what denisova has done through this work. denisova is an expert in the malay historiography, a russian citizen, holding a position as a division chief of the islamic historical resource research, institute of oriental studies in moscow. denisova found that the work to understand primary sources requires a lot of time and complicated work, especially for those who are not knowledgeable in the malay historiography, and do not know the jawi alphabet, or have no knowledge of old languages. ultimately, a researcher might end up writing about his study based on secondary sources or references of the west and repeat all the mistakes and misunderstandings that may exist in the referenced sources. denisova acknowledged that this book was written as a reference for various studies on the malay world. denisova did her best to develop an interest and passion of readers and researchers through the search and primary reference materials. therefore, this book presents the treasures of islamic malay literature as a very interesting and useful sources of history. it also introduces materials recorded in the old malay historical texts in order to prove the supremacy of these texts. at the same time, it also indicates that these works carry the ideals of great importance, which serve as the foundation of the civilization of the malay. [ 134 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 simultaneously, denisova also introduced the writing and thought of the malay that created their works from the 13th to the 19th century. in this light, this book incorporates many passages from the historical texts of the islamic malay, then attaches and complements it with some scientific explanation and analysis. this aspect can be viewed through the contents of the book that presents three main parts, i.e. background of malay studies, intellectual life, and economy. in the first part of this book, denisova discussed the background of the study as the introduction to the development of the early history on how western researchers built a tradition of writing in malay studies that began around the 18th century. this tradition clearly showed that the orientalists chose topics related to non-islamic tradition as a subject of study. among them were preislamic tradition, culture, history and customs of hindu-buddhism; while there are a lot of works about the new history and modern situation that have been put aside as they contained the elements and the influence of islam. according to denisova, this is where the real character of the orientalists who regarded islam as a negative factor in the development of the malay world. they refused to see that islam has managed to advance the development of communities of the malay. they were reluctant to admit that islam had a significant influence in an effort to develop culture and thought, including science, philosophy and the malay language. in addition, denisova concluded that the orientalist character was overshadowed by the prolonged conflict between muslims and the west. so, it is not surprising when they generated and used a variety of prejudices and myths about the islamic malay and the heritage of islamic malay history. typically, they had prejudice that islam in the malay world is not as classical, pure or true islam. the malay islam is a mix of some islamic terms with hindu-buddhist tradition and local paganism. their prejudices are also concerned with the arrival of islam into the malay world at that time that occurred merely by accident. it is understood that islam does have any importance in the history of the malay world. islamic presence did not change anything in the society and culture of the malay. moreover, they stressed that the westerners came into the malay world as a peacemaker without aggressive goals, and they helped with the development of the malay community. denisova is trying to frame, analyze, answer, and correct these prejudices by making the primary sources of the malay heritage as a true historical recorder. therefore, denisova stressed that the historiography of islamic malay which [ 135 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 includes the texts of the islamic malay history of the 13th to the 19th century is very important as a source of history. thus, denisova selected six historical texts representing a number of periods and different directions in the history of the development of islamic malay civilization, i.e. hikayat raja pasai (the story of the pasai king), sejarah melayu (malay history), hikayat aceh (story of aceh), peringatan sejarah negri johor (commemoration of the history of johor state), hikayat siak (story of siak), and tuhfat al-nafis. the research methods denisova used were classification, systematization, comparative analysis, and statistical analysis. the second part of this book focuses on three things: myth, science, and philosophy. these mythological elements are entrenched in the history in the form of chronicles or annals. mythology as an important part of the intellectual life is a reflection of the traditional thought that is usually unchanged. this is because the original text cannot be changed according to one’s own views or the perspective of modern times. scientists need to understand the meaning of information and messages they intend to communicate. ore discussion is related to the pre-islamic myths through an analysis of family tree of the kings in kutai kingdom, as the earliest manuscript dated 1849, while the oral version was in fact available earlier, i.e. since the 17th century. while the spread of islam here took place as early as the 16th century, but it also includes many elements of pre-islamic mythology, an overview of the kutai kingdom being isolated from the center of politics, culture and the spread of islam, which is confirmed as the “main story content of islamic nature but the motivation of the arrival of islam and the spread and introduction of the new religion are still traditional in nature, namely excellence through witchcraft and unseen powers. meanwhile the myth of the early islamic historiography can be found in the story of pasai king and the malay history. according to denisova, what is interesting is that the story of pasai king did not the arrival of islam from india or persia, but instead it came from the arabia, i.e. sultan muhammad who was a descendant of abu bakr al-sidiq. in the same way, in the story of the malay told of the malay rulers who descended from king iskandar zulkarnaen, a hero who fought for the religion of allah, the most fair and famous all over the world. then, in the 16th century to the 17th, hikayat aceh can be referred to as representing mythological tradition in the period. once more, king iskandar zulkarnaen was made the concept of the origin of the malay rulers, who still maintained a quasi-historical nature, by introducing the era of sultan iskandar muda. [ 136 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 for the 18th century to the 19th denisova presented the historiography of johor in the language of jawi that continued the transformation of myth of the origins of the malay rulers influenced by islam. the historiography of johor covered three directions of writing history, the tradition of johor malay, tradition of siak-minangkabau johor, and tradition of johor bugis. moreover, after the mythical aspect, the aspect of science is also the core of the discussion in denisova’s book. this is because the rate of development and spread of knowledge on the general view shows the degree of advancement of social awareness and the community development. an analysis of works of islamic malay historiography during the 13th to the 19th century help to understand and explain some of the problems mentioned especially the definition and conceptualization of science, science category, related scientific works, scientists and scientific figures involved, and scientific elements contained. meanwhile, with regard to the philosophical aspect, denisova describes the terminology and related information in the text of philosophy of islamic malay in the 13th to 19th century. among the categories and definitions of the most debated include the source of wisdom, the concepts of nature, afterlife, monotheism, justice, government, punishment or retaliation, hudud, origin of the king, obligation, mysticism, desire, martyrdom, islamic brotherhood, and many others. denisova found that the analysis of the texts shows and proves that the malay world already had a historiographical tradition that has special characteristics. among other things, it reflects that the malay world has extensive international relations covering not only economics and trade, but also in the field of intellectual activities. the malay world during the melaka kingdom had become a well-known islamic center throughout the islamic world and was part of muslims and could not be separated anymore. the information recorded in the texts also reflects that the development process and intellectual life of the community were influenced by islam, from myth to science, and from polytheism to monotheism. the third part, which is the last section, denisova analyzed the economic aspects which include the debate on the details of the economic history of the malay world. she also discussed the sources of economic history, followed by a discussion on islamic malay historiography as economic history. furthermore, the toponym aspect, which is the names of places of economic activities, was also studied by denisova. furthermore, denisova described the malay definition of the terms related to the sea and the weather, as well as the terms for estuaries, bays, straits and rivers. the aspects of ships and shipping were also analyzed, and continued her discussion on aspects of foreign relations. [ 137 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 denisova also included a discussion on the aspects of prosperity and decline in the history of the malay recorded in the primary sources. information about state prosperity was normally used by employees to prove the justice of the sultan/king who ruled the country during the period. in contrast, a description on economic decline reflects tyranny and injustice of the state including imposition of unfair punishment, an unjust government, war, oppression, rebellion, disobedience toward islam and other factors. denisova concluded that information about the number of weapons and military development indicated the security and prosperity of the country, rather than a passion for war and violence. denisova critically analyzed business and financial aspects with a careful study on the primary materials of the historical works of the islamic malay from the 13th until the 19th century. she also covered trading, merchants, purchase agreement, trade methods, prices, weapon business, opium, tin, gold, etc. in addition, denisova also analyzed the records of ships and shipping, sea and trade routes, international relations. the same goes for information about urban development and urban construction, drainage system, mosques, houses, and palaces were also discussed. denisova found that large cities, such as malacca and aceh, served as an entry port in which trade revenues were collected from all of the surrounding areas such as the manufacture of goods, handicrafts such as decorative items, jewelry, weapons, musical instrument and other luxury goods. denisova finally concluded that islamic malay literary heritage is a very important, useful and relevant source of history. these old texts can be regarded as an encyclopedia of the malay life. the research on the islamic malay historiography helps to understand the history of economic development in the malay world. the economic elements recorded in the texts provide us with a description on the role of the malay world in the international economic system and on the skills of the malays in the economic field. [ 265 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 inter-religious tolerance in indonesia from the perspective of pancasila philosophy aufa fitria islam state of university syarif hidayatullah jakarta email: aufit29@gmail.com m. ikhsan tanggok islam state of university, syarif hidayatullah jakarta email: ikhsan.tanggok@uinjkt.ac.id abstract creating peace between religions by building tolerance is required to avoid intolerance. this is one of the ways to respect differences between religions. indonesia is a multi-ethnic cultural and religious country. therefore, building tolerance is a must to achieve healthy inter-religious peace as part of the implementation of the pancasila values. this article aims to explore and keep a record of the perceptions of religious followers, as well as how they are applied in their daily life, especially concerning religious diversity. the ethnographic approach is a method or analysis used to explore and understand information obtained from in-depth individual interviews with religious and community leaders. the findings in this study show that building inter-religious tolerance, especially in indonesia with its diversity of ethnic groups, cultures, languages, etc., is not easy, but the philosophical values of pancasila are able to unite them harmoniously and there is no disagreement between religions, which can be seen from the dynamics of community life in pondok cabe, pamulang, with the diversity of religions (islam, christianity, and catholicism). in this place, different religious adherents can interact appropriately and harmoniously. strengthening the values of pancasila in building inter-religious tolerance needs to be carried out and promoted. this is one of the suggestions from this study. keywords: inter-religious tolerance, peace, culture, pancasila, philosophy. introduction rebuilding interfaith interactions within the framework of the values of pancasila philosophy (mangunsong et al., 2019; mukhlis, 2016; sulasman et al., 2014) is an effort to establish tolerance between religions effectively [ 266 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 and appropriately (sulasman et al., 2014). this is also an important part of achieving peace between religions (mujtahid, 2017), especially in a country with different religions (beliefs), like indonesia. according to the law stipulated in adminduk no. 24 of 2013, indonesia recognizes 6 (six) official religions, namely islam, christianity, catholicism, hinduism, buddhism, and confucianism. the 6 religions, representing a diversity of religions or dynamic community beliefs, have historically had a long journey and been full of intolerance (habermas, 2003). alternatively, this history has paved the way for peace through inter-religious tolerance, which is now being fostered formally through the educational process (formally) (yasi et al., 2018; mu’ti and koirudin, 2009; erawati, 2018), as well as informally (socially), through religious activities (qur’an recitation or the like) and other types of activities that lead to the strengthening of synergy in building solidarity between religions sustainably and flexibly collective and cooperative affirmation between communities and related (religious) institutions can be used as a guide to strengthening the sense of unity in religious diversity towards inter-religious harmony (tolerance). in indonesia, one of the countries that have been able to build a good interfaith interaction, is reflected in mutual respect and mutual assistance. on the other hand, the dynamics of friction between religions still occur (on a small scale), amidst the hustle and bustle of people’s lives on the pretext of promoting “the truth in religion or belief ”. this issue, triggered by fanaticism that surrounds the realm of religious thought in today’s society, has led to an imbalance in understanding and exploring the true purpose or meaning of religion itself (islam, catholicism, christianity). it is a fundamental and dynamic issue that continues to reflect religious diversity in indonesia today and in the future. the dynamics of diversity in religion at this time have been integrated into the social life of the community so that the values of different beliefs among adherents (of islam, christianity, catholicism) do not lead to destructive and acute disputes or friction. this phenomenon can be interpreted as a picture of how the dynamics of society with diversity in religions can adjust to interfaith interactions in a flexible, adaptive, and dynamic manner. on the other hand, the debate still occurs on a small scale (constructive), this is a dynamic interfaith interaction that must be explored, understood, and evaluated in order to create and build peace (tolerance) between religions. so far, the study of religion from the perspective of religious philosophy (thought) continues to go through significant changes and developments (wijaya, 2006). religion has always been an interesting subject or issue to be discussed comprehensively and integratively. this can be understood and [ 267 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 critiqued philosophically, especially with respect to the dynamics of indonesian society with religious diversity in a philosophical frame or pancasila values today and in the future. on the other hand, diversity is part of pluralism (achmad, 2014), which requires a humanist (religious) education model based on multiculturalism (susanto, 2006). the term or concept of pluralism, according to mu’ti and khoirudin (2019), is understood as a concept that continues to generate the pros and cons, so there is a need for a more concrete, real, and more constructive study in exploring and understanding the concept. history has shown that religious diversity in indonesia can represent how religions exist in the midst of a pluralistic community life, which ultimately merges into community life with various diverse backgrounds. this is a portrait of the community life in the area of pondok cabe pamulang. on the other hand, the visionary mission in each religion in both a literal and non-literal sense is quite obvious and can be understood, and indirectly it can trigger disputes in the absence of the implementation of the pancasila philosophical values in it (nur, 2019), which should be able to shelter all forms of religious activities, both socially and institutionally. therefore, the issues of religious diversity today can philosophically lead to religious conflict filled with the issues of sara (ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations). a high sense of fanaticism, with the emergence of the concept of truth, theoretically and empirically may lead to the seeds of inter-religious intolerance. that is part of an interesting study to analyze critically, narratively, and argumentatively based on field data (in-depth individual interviews), literature studies which are then analyzed based on the ethnographic approach. that is an appropriate method to understand the matter critically (joseph l graves jr and bailey, 2009), in exploring and understanding the dynamics of religious intolerance in a diverse society, such as what happened in the pondok cabe pamulang area. in addition, to what extent is the scope of monotheism in the interaction of diversity in religion, which is currently an interesting issue to study comprehensively and integratively, and expected to lead to a synergistic, religious, and dynamic relationship within the framework of pancasila (mukhlis, 2016). this is a reflection of religious life and can serve as a guide in shaping a nuance of life, which is tolerant of various aspects, especially between religions. dynamics of tolerance in diversity studies on issues related to tolerance in religious diversity in indonesia today continue to affect the dynamics of people’s lives today and in the future and form a community system that is tolerant, adaptive, and not easily provoked. [ 268 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 this is the concern of all parties, including the relevant agencies (indonesian ministry of religious affairs). building a community system, of course, is a big hope in shaping and developing a more dynamic and flexible pattern of religious interaction, in addition to being part of the implementation of “harmony between religions”. symbolically, it can be seen in one area, especially in the pondok cabe pamulang. as mentioned in the background above, theoretically and empirically, the dynamics of people’s lives (diverse in religion) have led to a pattern of building tolerance in religion which refers to local traditions or the like, as revealed by zaki m (2019), that the building of tolerance can be adopted and developed from “regional traditional activities”, (widayati, s, 2018) as well as religion, socio-economy, and politics (zaki m, 2019). this can be represented in how the philosophical values of pancasila outlined in the first principle can run well and dynamically, in the midst of people’s lives with various beliefs (pluralism). these are among the findings which are supported by the results of dialog with certain religious figures and officials (figure 1). in reality, the facts that describe a dynamic scope of diverse community life in promoting religious harmony with mutual respect and appreciation, lead] to tolerance. this phenomenon has become an interesting issue to explore or discuss in a comprehensive and integrative manner, amidst the hustle and bustle of the dynamics of social life, which are complex, plural, and dynamic. it can be seen how the current dynamics of religious diversity are acknowledged (in indonesia) and continue to or strive to build mutual understanding. on the other hand, the understanding of religion especially, regarding monotheism, is still filled with dispute or debate, but it is still at a constructive level and is more directed towards humanism. this is a form that is created and built in achieving peace, tolerance, and this phenomenon can be found in the pondok cabe area, pamulang which has been able to implement the values of pancasila appropriately. this can be seen empirically where places of worship can grow and develop without any threat, and even the dynamics of socio-religious interactions can run well in a spirit of brotherhood. the community of pondok cabe area as a miniature the fundamental truth in religion (belief) states that “god” is one which in essence leads to diversity in perceiving his existence. this can be related to the “oneness of god” which in reality can lead to debate or dispute. interactive interfaith dialog as shown in figure 1 (kung, hans, kuschel, 1999; muammar, k, 2013) is very much needed in order to achieve peace based on the values of the pancasila philosophy despite different beliefs. pancasila can be interpreted [ 269 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 as an ideology and philosophy of life (mukhlis, 2016), which must continue to be held and preserved based on the common good in building peace based on the values of religious tolerance (mukhlis, 2016). this can be seen in the dynamics of society in the pondok gede area, pamulang, which is a plural and dynamic community that has been able to create a humanist socio-religious interaction. religious interactions (between muslims, catholics, christians) established in the pondok cabe pamulang area are a form of building togetherness in preserving freedom of belief (between religious adherents). this, of course, can lead to a shared social system construction pattern. it has indirectly built unity on the basis of “sharing”, “helping each other”, in virtue that leads to unity and solidarity. differences in beliefs are no longer a barrier in building a pattern of religious diversity based on the philosophical values of pancasila. it is a development paradigm that can serve as a reference, as well as a reflection for all parties where the pondok cabe pamulang area can be referred to as one of the icons of “tolerance” that needs to be studied and understood comprehensively and integratively. this can be seen from the dynamics of discussion (openness) in a congenial atmosphere based on their beliefs, as reflected in figure 1 which are well-established and developed and dynamic. figure 1 dynamics of interfaith interactive discussion in “participatory research” (attended by priests) source: author’s photographs, 2020. the establishment of a pattern or form of socio-religious interaction in the pondok cabe pamulang area, (figure 1), can empirically be understood as a form of awareness of the importance of the implications of tolerance in building shared peace. on the other hand, it can become a trend or model for [ 270 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 building a sustainable society. this is an illustration of the beauty of interfaith interaction that reflects how the people in it are able to implement the philosophical values of pancasila appropriately, with a peaceful and flexible environment towards inter-religious tolerance. the journey of tolerance built interactively in the pondok cabe area shows a good rhythm in the midst of the rampant issues of sara (ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations) (heru nugroho, 1997) in several regions in indonesia and other parts of the world that have triggered socio-religious conflicts which are vertically and horizontally destructive. this is one of the current religious issues, and in the future where monotheism, according to a study by aufa fitria (2020), still exists and continues to overshadow the tolerance for diversity in religion, so there is a need for mediation or a forum that actively responds to religious issues. referring to the field study (figure 1), which was carried out in the pondok cabe pamulang area, the results can be described empirically and argumentatively. the rhythm of monotheism can still be brought under control, as shown by the openness in narrating their beliefs wisely and with mutual respect. the concept of truth in religion in the perspective of monotheism is still felt among each religion (islam, catholicism, christianity, confucianism). it is a representation of religious dynamics that needs to be continuously studied and explored in order to form and build tolerance between religious followers. there needs to be an effort to build unity, where an imbalance in perceiving the oneness of god, can lead to misunderstanding. there needs to be a nuance of harmony in order to create peace between religions despite the differences. it is expected that humanism in monotheism within the framework of the values of pancasila can be built (sulasman and dewi, 2014). tolerance in the perspective of monotheism and humanism referring to the study by aufa fitria (2020), empirically and theoretically, monotheism can lead to interreligious conflict. the humanist approach is considered more concrete and constructive. the humanism approach is able to bring peace or tolerance between religions concretely and dynamically now and in the future. this is an idealism for inter-religious development, which is expected to be able to bridge diversity in interpreting deity based on their respective beliefs (islam, catholicism, and christianity) or its relationship with belief in “god” is only limited to the “hereafter” (mahfud, 2015). there is a need for mutual understanding in building tolerance, which is full of twists and turns, concerning the argument of the oneness of god, which is [ 271 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 dynamic between religions and symbolically each religion has its own truth. the synergy of religious rhythms is an issue that can represent nuances of intolerance which may lead to inter-religious unity. this illustrates the effectiveness of the philosophical values of pancasila in it, which formally and informally expect an action described in the prevailing policies or laws, to continue to foster a sense of mutual respect between religions now and in the future by prioritizing harmony and tolerance (haliim, wimmy, 2018). building and maintaining unity between religions within the scope of pancasila values is an important part of minimizing or eliminating the seeds of horizontal conflict in the name of religion and its truth (nugroho, heru, 1997). interfaith dialog is a forum for active and effective mediation in creating peace, unity, and of course leading to inter-religious tolerance, which calls for a sense of togetherness in building religious harmony. this is religious tolerance that is formed, built, and developed in the pondok cabe pamulang area, which demographically consists of several religions that are believed to have various cultures or ethnicities in it, with a civilization that is considered capable of leading and forming a “civil society paradigm” (veltmeyer, h , 2008), with all the differences in it, which leads to humanism, where monotheism, when compared to humanism, is more prone to conflict resulting in religious friction based on sara (ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations (aufa, fitria. 2020). mutual understanding and respect between religions with respect to religious tolerance is an important aspect of building a more persuasive and flexible dynamic of community life. on the other hand, religious differences based on truth in belief are certainly prone to conflict, on the pretext of the truth of their respective religions. this is one of the fundamental religious issues which should be responded to actively in order to create humanism-based tolerance, especially in taking more creative and adaptive approaches. conclusion in the midst of the conflicts between ethnic groups and religious followers in indonesia, which are triggered by the issues of sara (ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations), religious tolerance needs to be established with various socio-cultural features. this is the dynamics of community diversity (pluralism) found in the pondok cabe pamulang area which reflects a sense of unity in the dynamic philosophical values of pancasila with a nuance of harmony. this phenomenon has indirectly led to the establishment of a “civil society” that subsequently forms a more flexible and adaptive religious community which is not easily provoked by the issues of sara. this is a [ 272 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1876 religious community development paradigm capable of creating and building unity within the scope of “tolerance” based on the philosophical values of pancasila. it should be a reference or (an absolute) guideline for different religious followers to achieve a more humanist and dynamic nature of peace and harmony between religions, especially about building peace between religions. however, regarding the limitations, this article is more oriented towards the aspects of time and place, and the issues still need to be examined more critically. in addition, the exploration of (qualitative) data still needs to be enriched and further research is required in order to present more comprehensive field data (using mixed methods). bibliography achmad. 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[ 171 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 a netnography analysis of thematic hadith memes distribution on social media ermawati usman universitas islam negeri datokarama palu email: ermawati@uindatokarama.ac.id nurdin nurdin universitas islam negeri datokarama palu email: nurdin@uindatokarama.ac.id ashir ahmed swinburne university, australia email: azamed@swin.edu.au miftachul huda universiti pendididikan sultan idris, malaysia email: miftachul@fsk.upsi.edu.my abstract instead, the use of hadith memes among muslim communities is rampant, and the study of hadith memes is scarce. this study, therefore, aims to examine the use of hadith memes by millennial ulama and the types and content of hadith memes disseminated and exchanged in the virtual world by millennial ulama. this study built thematic hadith memes based on their contents and formats on social media platforms using rajan's (2015) theory of religious memes. this study employed a netnography method, collecting data from the social media sites facebook and whatsapp of islamic millennial ulama. we used a thematic approach in analyzing the data. our results show that hadith memes disseminated on social media sites fall into four themes. the first theme is prayer hadith memes that present the traditions of prayers in islam. the second theme is hadith memes related to sacrifice, which depict messages of muslims' willingness to practice gratitude and to sacrifice to do things according to allah's will. the third theme of the hadith memes is that they present messages about the afterlife, which tells about the end of life, such as life in the grave, hell, and heaven. the last theme is hadith memes about tolerance, which tell about the importance of living in tolerance and respecting each other. we conclude that our study contributed to understanding the distribution of hadith meme themes in the virtual world to enhance the sharing and exchange of islamic teachings. keywords: hadith memes; social media; online hadith; thematic analysis; netnography [ 172 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 introduction the internet has enabled the spread of various forms of digital information for communication purposes. this digital information can be in images, text, videos, memes, and more (rogers, 2021). currently, memes have attracted more attention and become a subject of many researchers across the globe. memes have also become a new media to facilitate the distribution of messages among internet users. studies found that more and more internet users search for memes on google for various purposes, such as marketing, information sharing, and propaganda (beskow, kumar, & carley, 2020). memes have been widely used to spread information through various social media platforms, either just for notification purposes or for campaign purposes on various social, political, and educational issues, and even the dissemination of religious-related information (ratkiewicz et al., 2011). previous studies found that most of the young muslim generation no longer rely on conventional teachers or educational institutions, such as ulama, madrasah, or islamic boarding schools, to learn islam (c.-m. hefner, 2016). a survey conducted by the state islamic university of jakarta, which involved 1214 young generations from 34 provinces in indonesia, also found similar results in which muslim millennials have intensive access to online resources to increase their knowledge of islamic teachings (halimatusa’diyah, 2021). the changing paradigm in learning islam reflects the changing behavior of the young generation in utilizing new media. the young muslim age uses digital media not only for fun but also for educational purposes. as such, the role of digital media in religious studies has also become pivotal for the acquisition and dissemination of religious knowledge (hjarvard, 2008). this caused the emergence of various digital platforms and digital media that interfere with knowledge authorities. as a result of the phenomenon of using the internet for communication purposes through various platforms, islamic da'wah activities are also increasingly prevalent in multiple digital formats through social media and the form of digital memes. more than ten years ago, using digital images to distribute online messages and content caused the emergence of memes as a new digital media to facilitate digital information and knowledge exchange among virtual communities (wood, 2020). likewise, the spread of religious texts that were previously shared and communicated through manual leaflets has been transformed into digital memes, such as the dissemination of hadiths and quranic verses (syahridawaty & qudsy, 2019). even the religious memes of the internet are considered to represent the humanist and spiritual ideas of certain people, which is called sufistic memes. [ 173 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 currently, the young generation tends to distance themselves from conventional religious institutions, such as mosques and churches, to obtain religious-related knowledge because they are busy or attached to new media. thus, creating and circulating aesthetically pleasing short-form videos such as memes has become a new media of religious dissemination that is considered meaningful for conveying more touching religious messages (haden church & feller, 2020). the rampant use of memes has triggered the dissemination of religious teaching in online spaces. the memes support the virilizing of information at a low cost and minimum effort. in addition, internet users can see the memes repeatedly because they are funny and attractive, which causes them to keep them in mind for an extended period and circulate them across internet platforms. the memorable characteristics of memes have caused them to be a practical tool for delivering islamic teaching to online communities. individual muslim scholars or organizations can utilize memes to deliver various religious messages to change muslim communities' knowledge and behavior. islamic education and religious messages can be designed and modified with exciting characteristics and disseminated with memes. for example, hadith related to islamic praying, fiqh, sadaqah, zakat, etc., can be delivered with interesting digital memes through images, videos, and texts. the memes can also be distributed and exchanged using various social media sites that connect muslims across regions and the globe. previous studies (e.g: obadă & dabija, 2022; zulli & zulli, 2022) argue that most online communication modes have used memes on the internet to distribute information and to persuade virtual communities to adopt particular behavior and knowledge. as such, various memes are growing in online space to shape communities and opinions. the memes also deliver various messages based on the creators of the memes' mission (latchem, 2014). for example, business actors might create memes for their product marketing. in contrast, religious actors, such as preachers and ulama, might create and use memes to deliver religious teachings and messages to their followers. this helps muslim communities access knowledge by distributing religious memes, such as hadith and qur'an verses memes, faster and more conveniently. likewise, popular ulama such as abdul somad, adi hidayat, felix siauw, and others have carried out da'wah communication activities through various platforms on the internet. the use of short memes in text, images, and videos is also increasingly widespread by individuals and religious organizations. experts such as bellar et al. (2013) said that religion-related internet memes can shed more light concepts on religious concepts about religious messages in society. [ 174 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 the distribution of religious memes, such as hadith memes, has been found to be able to instill divine experiences of internet users even while transcending the constraints of mobile media that circulates them (haden church & feller, 2020). similarly, the use and distribution of hadith memes across internet platforms are considered to increase the muslim community's spiritual experience and knowledge of various islamic teachings. however, studies on the distribution of hadith memes and their topics shared in online space are scarce. meanwhile, such studies are critical to providing deep insight into the distribution of various types of hadith memes across online platforms to increase digital hadith meme distribution effectiveness among muslim communities. therefore, this study aims to examine and discuss the distribution of the types of hadith memes spread on the internet. this study also intends to classify or categorize what sorts of hadith memes are spread on the internet. in doing this study, we used rajan's theory (2015) of faith meme types to examine the types of hadith memes shared in the social media groups of millennial ulama in central sulawesi, both on facebook and whatsapp groups. this research is expected to provide understanding to academics and practitioners regarding the spread of hadith meme types in increasing public muslim knowledge and spirituality. netnography approach to research this research used a netnography methodology to study community and social interaction in a virtual world (bowle, 2010). the term ethnography comes from ethnography which is a research method to study communities' social interaction within a conventional context, and when the community interactions are practiced in a virtual world, then the ethnography becomes ethnography (morais, santos & gonçalves, 2020; o'donohoe, 2010). in this study, we examined millennial ulama social interaction on the internet and social media platforms when they disseminate and exchange information in a virtual world. communication in this study was related to the spread of hadith memes on the social media platforms of millennial ulama. the observation and examination of millennial ulama interaction on social media sites such as whatsapp groups and facebook were conducted for three months. such observation and reflection resemble the ethnography method where the researchers and online communities (millennial ulama) engage with the millennial ulama and other online communities as practiced by jeacle (2021). through the use of netnograpgy method, we were able to understand deeply the interaction of millenial ulama as virtual communities in sharing and transferring hadith memes. then, we collected types of hadith [ 175 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 memes shared among them and other muslim communities. furthermore, the analysis of hadith memes on the internet was carried out by identifying and classifying the types of memes spread by referring to the theory of faith memes by rajan (2015), which includes prayer memes, sacrifice memes, and end-of-day memes. we used the concepts from the theory to observe and categorize the hadith memes shared by millennial ulama in central sulawesi on their social media groups. however, in this study, we are also open to new themes of hadith memes. in other words, rajan's theory did not preclude our analysis of new themes of hadith memes shared by millennial ulama. the data from social media content analysis related to the spread of hadith memes was analyzed using an online content analysis approach (su et al., 2017). this allowed researchers to understand the cultural context of human action in the context of online communities related to the spread of hadith memes. the content analysis results were categorized through a coding process by following the categories and themes of the memes (seiffert-brockmann, diehl, & dobusch, 2018) communicated in the social media groups of the millennial ulama. understanding the concept of memes the concept of 'meme' was first mentioned by richard dawkins. it refers to the transmission of small units of culture analogous to genes that spread from person to person as genes spread themselves from one pool to another by moving from one body to another. dawkins gives instances of memes such as slogans, fashions, and musical songs. as such, the term memes has been transformed into internet memes when they are used and transmitted across internet platforms in the forms of digital messages and images, and they are quickly designed and transformed into new tools for online communication (mielczarek, 2018). the term of meme has been simplified from the word mimeme, which relates to the concept of memory with genes. memes can be defined as cultural units that duplicate themselves in a process of copying and imitating. in a broad sense, the concept of meme includes repeated lines, phrases, images, behaviors, ideas, or fragments of ideas that are perceived to quickly stick to the minds of users and also spread quickly (susan blackmore & blackmore, 2000). then, memes are widely used as a new metaphor to distribute digital content in online space. the memes are considered to fit new media in online communication, and they are also fitted with other digital media species. the [ 176 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 memes also support delivering various types of messages produced by different individuals and organizations to be disseminated across online environments (zhang & pinto, 2021). internet memes support the production and the creation of online content in a new format to be distributed online across communication environments by adjusting messages to give them subjectivity and generating new ways of communication (wiggins & bowers, 2015). memes can be in the form of images, content, and videos while at the same time adding other language elements to them that are able to adapt to the internet media environment (rajan, 2015). memes present a participatory notion in the context of online communication that leads to the production and utilization of content that often takes the form of humor. memes often take the form of digital photos or images that are humorous and ironic and sometimes aim to provoke humorous and critical ideas in society (brantner, lobinger, & stehling, 2020). internet memes are also considered to be highly visual and emotive online communications media that use images of popular culture with short messages to communicate. internet users use the word meme to describe a medium of absorption and dissemination of certain ideas presented in the form of written text, images, language, or other cultural units (truszkowski, rouff, akhavannik, & tunstel, 2020). these characteristics of internet memes' rapid dissemination and modification characteristics have provided insights into how culture is produced and transmitted in the context of new media. this process describes the participatory culture involving internet users modifying memes to distribute their digital messages. scholars found that the successful engagement of communities in online media space should be supported by the communities' literacy on digital media. social media literacy aims to address the negative effects of social media use (schreurs & vandenbosch, 2021). within religious message distribution, media literacy can help muslim communities participate actively and exchange meaningful content to deliver islamic teachings. in other words, the muslim community must have better technological proficiency in being involved in pop culture discourses to make and design digital media content to enable the spreading of islamic messages virally. such viral distribution of islamic information can lead to live religion (silvestri, 2015), in which the islamic information and teachings are circulated and manifested by literate muslim society. thus, muslim society's ability to understand internet memes as a construction created in the form of images and texts with various themes, such as religious culture or religious traditions, can be combined with our ability to understand elements of popular culture. [ 177 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 memes in religious context previously, memes belonged to political and business institutions to promote their interest and business. in context, the memes were mainly adopted and used by religious believers. however, currently, the memetic culture is consumed by religious believers. their religious institutions also utilize it by creating memes in particular formats, such as a short movie to be distributed online (campbell & sheldon, 2021). such short films may consist of religious preaching that mimics the style and the form of a popular culture meme. it often does not explicitly list the identity of the author of the religious memes. some research shows that posting photos generates more likes, and people will post repeatedly, making it more effective in spreading the message (campbell & sheldon, 2021). religious institutions use this to their benefit by posting meme-image-based religious messages in the hope that they will spread effectively. the distribution of religious memes is particularly important on more fully structured social media sites such as instagram, pinterest, google+, and so on (brubaker, boyle, & stephan, 2017). such used memes are a way of being metonyms for themes preached by religious institutions and thus become more easily disseminated. by attaching images in the dissemination of religious beliefs, the attention of social media users can be attracted and religious materials can spread quickly digitally (burroughs & feller, 2015). the messages of religious institutions online usually aim to instill divine experiences in their followers and must even transcend the boundaries of the mobile media that circulates them. in response to this urgency, religious institutions' messages can overcome communication barriers by using synecdoche or language that represents multiple meanings to create a more complete interaction with god (haden church & feller, 2020). internet religious memes can simplify the dissemination of religious beliefs in a more effective way. the use of internet memes in spreading religion has made religious content more accessible and possibly more relevant in the lives of religious people on social media networks. internet memes can also help promote religious allegiance, but they can also criticize religious beliefs (burroughs & feller, 2015). religious individuals and institutions can act as a creator of religious memes by continually producing and distributing religious memetics on their social sites. religious memetics can be incorporated with various religious teachings and messages to increase believers' knowledge and spirituality. the religious memetic can also be used for worship to make the believers more attached to their religion in online space. for example, muslim society often shares memes related to praying, hadith, and al-quran verses for worship. even though [ 178 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 society does not attend conventional religious learning, such as in schools, mosques, or churches, they still can learn religious teaching and practice it in daily life. this reflects that religious practices have jumped from the pages of scripture into a virtual reality, which is called a new home by millennial individuals, both religious and non-religious. related to memes in the context of religion, there are three types of memes, according to rajan (rajan, 2015), namely: 1. faith memes or prayer memes are the format of memes that are used to encourage societies to build a prayer habit by attracting and persuading the society to read the prayer meme texts or images. the prayer memes also encourage people to interact and communicate with god. the content of prayer memes is often based on values embedded in scripture, compassion, and forgiveness. the prayer memes can influence people to practice their praying even though they interact online. the prayer memes also want to depict that society does not need to spend longer time and get bored doing rituals, but the ritual can be made shorter, understandable, and still with a sincere conversation with god. the prayer memes can also facilitate the practice of prayer and popular religious culture among people who may need to be more religiously literate. 2. sacrifice memesevoke a sense of gratitude that obligates people to follow a particular way of life. these memes reaffirm beliefs through visualizations of sacrifices god encourages people to make. for example, images around us show a selfless lifestyle and encourage others to live the same way. the potency of such imagery creates respect in the minds of people who do not belong to a religious tradition. the messages of such memes are simple and, therefore, appeal to those outside the tradition who are accustomed to the value of sacrifice. the depiction of sacrifice aims to reaffirm the belief in the love of god. 3. end of days memes are formats of memes that use narratives and images to communicate about the coming of doomsday and its signs. these memes also present images of the destruction of the world and stories of life in heaven and hell. end times memes are also used to evoke fear in the mind of the viewer. fear not only works as a threat that affects individuals, but it also requires an understanding of the scriptures that provide references for the separation of good from evil in relation to the day of judgment or the afterlife. allah frees those who do good deeds by admitting them to heaven and punishes those who do evil. these end-times memes, therefore, show the glory and holiness of god only to users who have knowledge of the apocalypse and thus will be motivated by the fear portrayed in the meme. [ 179 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 the distribution of hadith memes on social media the utilization of hadith knowledge acquired online in daily activities shows a high significance level. the use of hadith in everyday life is related to answering fiqh questions asked by the people in the daily lives of millennial ulama, such as issues of worship and muamalah. our study found that millennial ulama uses the hadith knowledge acquired from online sources by sharing them on social media for the public to read. transmitting hadith online has been done using previously popular memes in other fields, such as business, politics, and social affairs. millennial ulama is using memes to spread hadith that can increase the knowledge of islamic society. we found that the use of hadith memes in distributing islamic teachings among millennial ulama is considered an effective way to create participative religious messages and living hadith understanding among muslim communities, as said by a millennial ulama as follows: “i think the reason to use hadith memes in circulating islamic teachings among muslim communities is to increase the participation of muslim communities in creating digital media to ease the distribution of islamic teachings because such memes are easy to make and can be distributed quickly across regions. besides, by using memes in sharing hadith, we can create a live religious experience because religious messages can be created and shared by someone self ” (partcipant anw) the participant statement above shows reasons for the use of hadith memes in the distribution of islamic teachings among muslim communities. the arguments are consistent with research conducted by aguilar et al. (2017) and (campbell, 2017), who found that the use of memes in religious message distribution can create lived religious experiences and digital culture, which become essential resources for presenting popular beliefs about religions. the hadith memes shared include thematic hadiths such as hadith related to prayer, hadiths related to the day of judgment, and related to making sacrifices, and related to tolerance. here are some examples of traditions based on these themes: hadith memes about prayer the hadith memes shared by informants are related to prayers that are often used in everyday life. the prayer hadith memes shared by millennial ulama are prayers that are commonly used by the community. for example, memes of hadith prayers easily accepted by allah swt are shown in picture 1 below. [ 180 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 source: https://www.islamquote.com/2020/04/13/dua-supplication-for-protection-against-evil-diseases/ the two meme hadiths above show prayer for protection from lousy characters and from evils and black magic, commonly practiced by muslim communities. the hadith memes reflect several prayers often shared among muslims and used in their daily lives. millennial ulama even shares hadith prayer memes from their own organization, namely majelisulama indonesia, and also takes hadith prayer memes from other social media, such as mutiara islam.net, which are then shared in their social media groups. hadith memes about sacrifice the second type of hadith memes that millennial ulama often share are those that narrate the theme of sacrifice. the sacrifice hadith memes depict the willingness to do good deeds, sacrifice on hajj, and give alms. some examples of hadith memes with the theme of sacrifice shared by millennial ulama on social media include the hadith depicted in picture 2. [ 181 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 source: https://www.nubontang.or.id/2020/06/berqurban-1-unta-atau-sapiuntuk-7-orang.html the two examples of hadith memes with a sacrifice theme encourage muslims to make charity related to kind words and sacrificial prayers to slaughter animals. such hadith memes can encourage the muslim community to be aware and make charity, such as zakah and infaq, which potentially contribute to the welfare of the muslim community. the distribution of hadith memes about the charity can increase the muslim community's willingness to make infaq, sadaqah, and waqaf. this could help the government and improve muslim society's economic welfare (ascarya, 2022). as such, the distribution of hadith memes about charity and sacrificial animals can play significant roles in islamic economic development. hadith memes about doomsday the third category of hadith memes shared online by millennial ulama are end-of-life hadith memes in which a hadith tells about the end of the world, the end of life, and lives in heaven and hell. these hadith memes are mostly intended to raise muslims' awareness about the future of life and to prepare themselves by doing good deeds. examples of these hadith memes include those shown in picture 3 below: [ 182 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 source: https://kumparan.com/berita-terkini/dalil-tentang-hari-akhir-jangan-diabaikan-1v5tri1awql such hadith memes narrating the story of hell and doomsday can prevent people from doing evil deeds. such stories about hell and doomdays can function as moral apocalyptic instruments (cook, 1997) which can be used as a guidance that prevents them from doing evil things. such hadith memes are commonly shared through millennial ulama's social media site, facebook. the content of the hadith memes narrated about living in the grave and hell can also be used as material for dakwah by other muslims. hadith memes about tolerance the millennial ulama generation also shared several hadith memes related to tolerance on their social media. some of these hadith memes discuss the need to live well with neighbors, namely by loving neighbors as part of a muslim's faith. the neighbors referred to here are not only muslim neighbors but also non-muslim neighbors. an example of a hadith about the need to respect neighbors is shown in picture 4 below. source: https://brainly.co.id/tugas/14909020 [ 183 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 tolerance has become an important issue among millennial ulama since they were trained with religious moderation topics in their ulama cadet program. the religious material given during their ulama cadet program training were implemented daily by distributing hadith memes about tolerance with a neighbor and different race, as depicted in figure 5 above. the roles of religious authorities in promoting tolerance among societies have been found to be significantly important, in particular in reducing inter-race and religious conflict in pakistan (kalin & siddiqui, 2014). given tolerance is an important issue in indonesia (r. w. hefner, 2021; widayati & maulidiyah, 2018), millennial ulama shows their concern regarding the problems by stressing the importance of tolerance behavior and the importance of treating non-muslims in a good manner. the concerns were reflected in the meme hadith they shared on social media as depicted in picture 6 below. source: https://www.fly-cards.com/en/cards/108 the distribution of hadith memes about tolerance is expected to grow a sense of tolerance and respect in the muslim community to the non-muslim minority. the sense of tolerance has become a critical psychological variable in raising mutual respect and forming positive feelings towards other minority groups(dangubić, verkuyten, & stark, 2021). in some memes, tolerance also contains an invitation to love and respect fellow human beings, both fellow muslims and other humans of different religions. the prophet's words, "i will complain (to god) on the day of judgment," reflect the essential of respecting non-muslim minorities. sharing memes and hadith could potentially provoke the muslim community to love other religious believers. memes tolerance has been discussed in the previous study, but it is limited to social and political context (tawadros, 2020) rather than religious context. [ 184 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2778 in this study, religious meme tolerance was found to be shared in the form of hadith memes, which is a new theme. the memes hadith about religious tolerance in this study is different from rajan's (2015) theory, which focuses on three themes: prayer, sacrifice, and the day after memes. therefore, memes about tolerance are the new finding of this study. the finding of hadith memes about tolerance contributes to the development of theory in the context of hadith memes study. the new finding as the result of our netnography method we used in this study allows us to explore online phenomenon of virtual communities (caliandro, 2014; kulavuz-onal, 2015; lizzo & liechty, 2022) of ulama millenial interaction in creating and distributing of hadith memes. conclusion the results of our study show that various hadith memes shared by millennial ulama on their social media can be categorized into four themes. three of the themes are following rajan's (2015) theory. however, in this study, the themes of hadith memes have been adapted to the context of hadith memes so that they are in accordance with the islamic context, namely hadith memes about prayers, hadith memes about the last days such as the grave, and the day of judgment, and hadith memes related to pleasing sacrifices such as selfless sacrifice and sacrifice by giving alms. in this study, we also found a new theme of hadith memes, namely hadith memes about tolerance, which is an important theme in the context of the indonesian state, especially in the context of the department of religion as the spearhead of maintaining moderation among muslims. this research only focused on the themes of hadith shared by the millennial ulama generation through the social media facebook and whatsapp. this research has not studied whether the individuals who share them have an excellent or superficial understanding of hadith. in the future, there is a need for further research that also focuses on in-depth interviews with individuals who often share hadith on social media to find out their level of knowledge about hadith. although some researchers argue that people who learn hadith through internet memes have a superficial understanding of the meaning of hadith, the spread of hadith in the form of various memes can increase people's knowledge of different types of hadith. for example, hadiths related to prayers can increase the piety of people's understanding of multiple prayers derived from hadith. then, the hadiths about sacrifices, such as sacrificing for charity, can increase the willingness of muslims to make charity. 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(2021). changing the world one meme at a time: the effects of climate change memes on civic engagement intentions. environmental communication, 15(6), 749-764. doi:10.1080/1752403 2.2021.1894197 zulli, d., & zulli, d. j. (2022). extending the internet meme: conceptualizing technological mimesis and imitation publics on the tiktok platform. new media & society, 24(8), 1872-1890. doi:10.1177/1461444820983603 [ 189 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 self-islah, gender relation and socioeconomic challenges on tablighi jamaat proselytization practice in indonesia saipul hamdi universitas mataram email: shamdi@unram.ac.id fadli mulyadi universitas brawijaya email: fadli.mulyadi@ub.ac.id fanny henry tondo the national research and innovation agency (pmb-brin) email: fhtondo@gmail.com ahmad muzayyin institut agama islam hamzanwadi nw pancor email: ayengmajidi3@gmail.com abstract this article explores one of the tablighi jamaat (tj) teachings self-islah that develops in its dawah practices. self-islah emphasizes improving oneself through a proselytization program called khuruj from one community to another, from one mosque to another. the phenomenon of tj dawah shows a different approach and pattern where da’i play dual roles not only as subject (preachers) but also as an object (listeners) during that  khuruj  program. self-islah in this context includes strengthening faith, morals, and gender awareness. the gender aspect is strong external critics of tj religious tradition where it does not involve women in their religious activities and even avoids interacting with them. thus, tj members must handle all the needs while staying in the mosque for religious camps, such as washing clothes, cooking, washing dishes, and serving guests from the local and international community. the article investigates changes in gender relations within the tj family in the post-khuruj program. this article also focuses on the economic challenges tablighi members face when they go out of preaching (khuruj), especially those from the lower-middle class. the research findings show that most tj members achieved self-islah and hugely impacted the evolution of spirituality after khuruj. they also acknowledged the transformation of gender relations in the family, but on another side, facing economic crises due to prioritizing dawah activity. i used an ethnographic approach and applied a qualitative method in collecting and analyzing data for two years (2017-2018) in three research locations, lombok, balikpapan, and jakarta. [ 190 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 keywords: tablighi jamaat, dawah, self-islah, gender changes, socioeconomic challenges introduction tablighi jamaat (tj) is one of the most significant transnational dawah movements in the islamic world’s modern history (drury, 2014; gent, 2018; pieri, 2015; siddiqi, 2012).tablighi’s teachings have reached the global community, including secular countries whose minority muslim populations include the united states, britain, spain, the netherlands, russia, germany, and australia through sustainable dawah  traveling (drury, 2014; noor, 2012; sikand, 1998). tj missionaries had targeted muslim migrants in we stern countries through pakistani and indian links. although tablighi members are facing many challenges and obstacles when proselytizing in the field, es pecially in a country in which the muslim community is a mino rity, how ever, their presence contributes a lot in strengthening islamic values, enlivening mosques, activating dawah program, and building islamic educational institution (burki, 2013; hamdi, 2015; siddiqi, 2012). the consistencies in a purely religious activity that are not associated with a political agenda have been attracted local muslim communities to be part of the tablighidawah mission.  tj in indonesia has shown a progressive development since its presence in the 1960s (noor, 2010). tj members have consistently preached about the surrounding local and regional community and took over mosque’s activity even though not all citizens accept their teaching idea. statistically show that a total number of tj members in indonesia is estimated to be between 1-3 million people, and this number is still far below national islamic organizations such as nahdlatul ulama 140 million, muhammadiyah 35 million, and nahdlatul wathan 5 million members (hamdi, 2015; sobary, 2010). although as a minority group in indonesia, the role of tj cannot be underestimated. it has markaz in each province in indonesia, and these are actively leading the dawah program. this article generally examines the phenomena of the tj movement in indonesia related to its religious teachings and practices that have a positive contribution and a negative impact on another side. tj figures successfully improve the members’ spirituality, where they can correct or islah themselves after following dawah activities and guidance. however, the negative impact is also visible in dawah practices when the tablighi doctrine emphasizes that all members sacrifice their time and wealth for dawah, which often becomes a significant issue at the family and community level. specifically, the article examines tablighi’s teaching about self-islah and co[ 191 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 islah in the process of dawah practices called khuruj, a holy trip for conducting a dawah  to different muslim communities. the most prominent purpose of tj dawah is strengthening and reinstalling spiritual elements to proselytizers and the followers who are the object of its dawah. self-islah is the self-effort to correct personal issues in faith and spirituality through cooperation among members in the camp to achieve the highest spiritual enlightenment path. selfislah  and  co-islah  have a significant impact on spiritual transformation at the individual and social level. the educational practice of self-islah and coislah can be found in zikir, taklim, mushawarah, and bayan. tablighi members also take advantage of this dawah program to be more independent, such as washing clothes, cooking, cleaning mosques, and serving other members. members of tablighi acknowledge that this independent attitude is carried away when returning home, where they actively help the wife, including cooking, washing clothes, and other homework. this change in attitudes in the family relation led this article to examine gender relations at the family institution and gender education they gained during their preaching.      tablighi’s doctrine demands a high discipline, commitment, and sincerity to conduct religious dawah into the community (chakrabarti, 2010; drury, 2014; rauf et al., 2019)we revisit russell belk, guliz ger and soren askegaard’s study on consumer desire. we do so in an effort to further advance the extant understanding of desire in consumer research. specifically, informed by lacanian psychoanalytic thought and sharing much affinity with foucault’s central argument in the history of sexuality, we consider how the institution of religion functions as a disciplining force by which to mediate the (potential. tj members have to proselytize during three days, forty days, three months, and a year depend on the ability and seniority. however, to actualize this, it needs many transportation costs, food, and other necessities, mainly going abroad (metcalf, 2002; gugler, 2010; siddiqi, 2018). in addition to that, they also must fulfill the needs of their family who stay at home. without any sponsor for these programs, the economy becomes a crucial issue, particularly for low-middles class people. in many cases, tj members have to sell their land and other assets to fund their dawah. this dynamic leads the article to elaborate on what strategy they use to overcome the economic challenges. this article is based on two years of research (2017-2018) in three locations, including lombok, balikpapan, and jakarta. i applied an ethnographic approach and qualitative method to collect and analyze data. i observed and participated in tj religious and dawah activities, where i spent time with them in mosques. i also interview tj religious figures, members, government, and other external communities to understand their responses toward tj’s [ 192 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 religious teachings. self-islah and co-islahin tj dawah islam encourages muslims to do proselytization, which teaches about islamic teaching to others, whether directed to muslims or non-muslims who do not know and understand islam. the command to preach has been stated in the qur’an and hadith of the prophet muhammad to call on good deeds and prevent evil or bad deeds (al-quran, imron 104). the word dawah means to call, or invitation is a general term that refers to the preaching of islam. in indonesian and malay, languages also use the dawah term, which is taken from arabic. johan meuleman (2011: 236)explains that dawah primarily refers to activities aiming to strengthen and deepen muslims’ faith and help them lead their daily lives in conformity with islamic principles.   dawah activities have continued after the prophet’s death and were carried out by his friends and religious figures (ulama) until this modern century. the teachings of islam have spread to various countries with an estimated 2 billion adherents in the world through communal dawah that the establishment of educational institutions strengthens to build islamic character. dawah and islamic education cannot be separated because it has the same function of developing and strengthening islamic teachings. transnational islamic movements such as tablighi jamaat, ahmadiyah, muslim brotherhood, jam’iyyah al-da’wahwa-al-irshad, and wahhabi have combined these two approaches of dawah and education for the expansion of their religious movements attracting the sympathy of the muslim community to join. the rapid development of the dawah movement creates various methods and objectives that vary from organization to organization. meuleman (2011: 237) states, since the birth of islam, dawahhas been an important aspect of this religion and dawah activities have always been highly appreciated in muslim societies. however, in the course of the twentieth century, dawahactivities and organizations have grown particularly strong all over the muslim world and have adopted new forms and new aims. this phenomenon is related to two major developments which were partly contradictory: a renewed aspiration for international unity of all muslims, on the one hand, and the formation of modern nation-states with their different religious traditions and – more importantly their conflicting political interests, on the other hand. additional factors include the development of modern means of transport and communication as well as christian missionary activities. [ 193 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 the differences in the methods and objectives of dawah in the islamic world, according to meuleman (2011: 237), cannot be separated from various factors such as interpretation of scripture, emphasis on specific issues, economic growth, social and political change, and modernity. the dawah methods and objectives seem to follow the wishes of the audience, and also there is a political intervention by the government in the affairs of this dawah. urban communities that middle-class groups dominate prefer a pattern of preaching that suits their needs. meuleman (2011: 237)also gives attention to the rivalry between the islamic organizations in dawah and the external religious motivation against the missionary movement of non-muslim groups. in indonesia, those organizations such as nahdlatul ulama, muhammadiyah, al-irsyad, hidyatatullah, wahhabi, and salafi compete to gain authority and power in the public arena. he stated that political factors dominate dawah development in indonesia, especially in the suharto era. although meuleman talked over the transnational islamic movement such as tj, ahamdiyah, and ikhawul muslimin, he did not focus specifically on the discussion of paradigm in their dawah, so it is a noticeable gap and will be cover in this article. my focus here is on the tj group related to its dawah methods and goals that are different from other transnational islamic movements. one of tj’s dawah’s purposes is  self-islah, correcting ourselves and not entirely focusing on other people. self-islah learning in tj’s dawah practice is part of its unique approach. tablighi improves this approach after looking at the weakness of islamic dawah, which only focuses on the object without involving the preacher as the subject. the preachers never thought about themselves, but more to others. they only teach the material of religious discourses without giving any attention to themselves. self-islah is one of the main goals in tj’s dawah practices. the concept of self islah is an innovation from the tablighi jamaat, where this concept emerged from the tj group environment to maximize results in dawah. to ensure the continuity of dawah, the tj group prioritizes the  islah of the preacher first. khuruj has become a medium to do a self-islah and also to islah other members who have just joined tj’s khuruj activities. tj members see iman as a mobile phone; when the battery is empty, it needs to be charging to get a new power. on the other hand, iman needs dawah as a medium to recharge the power when humans lost their  iman. tj members who come out for dawah have two purposes, to reform themselves and others. maulana muhammad yusuf (2012)quoted maulana ilyas’s statement saying that the primary purpose of tj dawah is teaching umat  comprehensively what the prophet muhammad taught. according to him, the prophet muhammad made an effort to [ 194 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 change human worship and beliefs, obtain guidance, marriage, meetings, and transactions. to be able to achieve that, there are at least three types of efforts that must be carried out, namely dawah (invitation), mashq (practice), and dua (supplication).  tablighi’s dawah, which is communal, has an impact on self-islah and  coislah that is to improve each other among members. they went out preaching in groups of five people from more than one mosque, and this group would join groups from other mosques and be dispersed in various mosques outside their village. the strength of communality and solidarity between members who come out preaching is what plays a vital role in self-islah.  tj dawah that involved a group of people also influence other members to get islah which i called co-islah. the cooperation and togetherness among tj members in dawah play an essential role in accelerating the piety character and communal islah. self-islah and co-islah happen together naturally during its dawah practices khuruj fi sabilillah. they advise and remind each other to focus on self-changes through maintaining shalat jamaah (daily congregational prayers) and other beneficial religious activities.  all activities in tj dawah become part of self-islah learning process. there is a  taklim, musyawarah, and bayan.  taklim is an arabic word that means learning, where they make a small group study islam by reading the famous book written by maulana zakaria called fadilatul amal. one person read two or three pages of the book, and the other must listen. usually, taklim runs in the morning time like 8.00 to 9.00 o’clock after breakfast time. they take rest after taklim until zuhur pray. they also conduct a musyawarah, a regular meeting to discuss the progress of their dawah program and evaluate the spiritual improvement that they have achieved. they also use this musyawarah moment to share their spiritual experience to motivate and strengthen each other. all members have the same position and equal right to express their opinion, although the final decision will be taken from the majority voices and now body allow requesting after the decision made. usually, musyawarah is performed by sitting side-by-side in a circle from 5-12 people led by an amir, a temporary group leader in the tablighi congregation.  bayan  is a program of religious talk that also becomes an effective medium to achieve self-islah and co-islah because the materials they deliver only about allah, faith, and morality. the preachers do not speak non-religious material in the bayan program, including politics, economy, or family problems. tj uses a different standard of selecting people who will give a bayan, not based on talk skill and mastering knowledge material rather social piety. they believe allah guides them when delivering a bayan because they talk the truth of allah. tj [ 195 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 also build a new religious tradition in its dawah program, where all members have the same position and equality as proselytizers. each member must play double roles as a teacher and as a student. the member possibly becomes a teacher one day when he gives  bayan  or taklim and becomes a student on another day listening to other members delivering a bayan.     khidmat and gender relation khidmat comes from the arabic word khadama, which means to serve or a service. khidmat  is one of the essential programs developed in tj tradition to serve others voluntarily as part of social and religious obligation. khidmat becomes an obligation for tablighi members to eliminate the ego and soften the hard soul. abu hurairah, a tj member from lombok, said his ego decreased after following the regular khidmat during his  khuruj  program. several activities that are part of khidmat are cooking, preparing meals for others, cleaning mosques, cleaning kitchens and dining rooms, and visiting sick people in a hospital near the markaz. food is an essential element in the tj dawah ritual because they stay at the mosque for several days and even several months invite outsiders to join in and eat together. therefore, they provide food to guests and tj members for free. for instance, at an ijtima event, local members are assigned to cook and serve guests from foreign countries. because of this cooking tradition, tj members are well known as  stoves  da’i  (da’i kompor) where they carry stoves for cooking when the preaching is running.  tj members use khidmat as a medium of training patience and releasing the ego. each member has the opportunity to perform  khidmat  solemnly without considering class and social status. either the member is a medical doctor, lawyer, police, or religious figure treated equally regarding taking khidmat program. this section will elaborate on the role of khidmat in changing personal behavior, character, and gender perspective and relation in family. this  khidmat  will lead tj members wiser, more careful, respect toward women, especially their wives. most tj followers in indonesia are from a strongly patriarchal culture. therefore, tj members have to negotiate the nature and nurture patriarchal behavior when doing khidmat work such as cooking, providing food, and cleaning.  the argument was how khidmat changes attitude and gender relations in the family. abu hurairah explains the significant transformation and changes in his behavior toward his wife. usually, he acknowledges that he got an anger problem and very dependent on his wife. his wife must serve him everything, including making coffee in the morning and washing clothes. after khidmat, it was opposite where he takes over her work the previously [ 196 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 the wife did. he said, automatically, he makes coffee on his own and washes his and her clothes. he also acknowledges that his love is stronger to his wife and more sincere to serve her like cook and wash her clothes. he tries to implement what he learned from dawah and maintain consistency following muhammad’s sunnah, particularly assisting the wife in domestic affairs.   ahmad ridho (50 years old), a member of tj from east lombok, also confesses that there is a significant change in his behavior and attitude after taking time for khidmat. he is no longer relying on his wife and instead always helps to complete her work. he was more active than before to do what can do without being ordered by his wife. i went to his house for an interview and met him alone at that time. his wife was, and her family was going out to a beach for vacation. he welcomes and offers me lunch from his cooking. he immediately cooks, cutting vegetables and frying fresh fish and chicken in the kitchen. once cooked, he called the other tablighi members to eat together in his house. before lunch, we went to the mosque for zuhr pray, and after that, we got lunch. i took this moment to interview other members of tj to complete my research data.   from data above show that khidmat has multiple effects, including changes in gender relations within the family. the exchange of social roles and gender segregation without religious awareness is difficult to happen in a muslim community. religious consciousness plays an essential role in raising new awareness beyond gender differences but more on humanity. most tj men willingly and sincerely play a social role usually performed by women or wives during the dawah program. their dawah movement from one city to another had a significant impact on changes in gender relations in which women had to play a double role replacing the husband role. in tablighi’s belief, leaving their wives in performing the dawah program is part of woman empowerment, where women are more independent after living alone and taking care of children. they believe it was heresy and shirk when wives rely on their husbands, not on god. this dawah program gives them training space to be more independent and take over their husband’s work.             religion and poverty: socio-economic challenges in tj dawah religion and poverty are among the discourses that scholars have widely researched and discussed, mainly how religion affects poverty. according to jaco beyers (2014), religion and poverty are two different things. religion is concerned with non-material elements, namely spirituality, while poverty is closely related to a material element. the difference in this dimension (material [ 197 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 and non-material) shows that they do not have a direct relationship so that the study of religion and poverty is seen from the relationship between both. this external relationship can be seen in how religion and poverty influence each other. discourses on poverty can be found in holy texts such as the koran, the bible, the tripitaka, and others (beyers, 2014; kroessin, 2008). religion and poverty are social phenomena inherent in human life that are difficult to separate. these two social phenomena have different impacts on humans, where religion is assumed to be something positive and functions to help humans solve their problems (beyers, 2014; geremek, 1994). meanwhile, poverty is considered to be something that harms the loss of human dignity. religion itself sees poverty in various ways. islam sees poverty as a social challenge that must be faced together by helping each other (kroessin, 2008). christians see poverty as a punishment for the sins that have been committed, while buddhists see it as karma (beyers, 2014: 3). religious texts, especially in the quran, recommend a social action to fight against poverty by paying money and other material in the zakat, charity, and donation system. geremek (1994:11) identifies capitalism as the origin of poverty. it is undoubtedly irresponsible to reduce the origin of poverty to one single aspect. peculiarly enough, poverty, according to geremek (1994:11), contributed to the development of capitalism, and simultaneously poverty resulted from capitalism. along with capitalism came the processes of industrialization and commercialism, fuelling an unstoppable economic engine; for many centuries, some considered capitalism to be the solution to poverty (geremek 1994:11). currently, the introduction of technology is considered by some to be the solution to poverty. technology can, for instance, lead to developing more advanced agricultural machinery alleviating poverty through better farming techniques. in the tj community context, the patterns of dawah and ritual practices have caused poverty in its members. based on my findings, that tj dawah program that spends a minimum of three days and a maximum of one year on going dawah is the primary source of the economic crisis in the tj community. every member must spend much material to finance this dawah cost, including transportation and meal. this pattern has raised a critical question about the strategy to overcome this financial issue. this section elaborates on the economic issue during the dawah program, mainly how tj members manage and control their economy due to the high cost of traveling. this is the major challenge for the tj family when the husband formally takes part in tjdawah activities in the socio-economic contexts. they focus on dawah rather than collecting material. even in many cases, some tj [ 198 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 members sell their assets and property to pay all dawah expenses.  my data shows how tj members prioritized dawah and did not care about the economy. they live in simplicity with inadequate facilities and conditions. the doctrine of sufi asceticism (zuhud) strongly inspired tj followers to live a simple life and significantly influenced a new religious lifestyle, in which they have no ambition to collect material and ignored social competition. tj members believe material orientation is an obstacle to achieve the highest spiritual level of unification with god. however, i found another data that shows a different reality where few tj members have an economic activity surrounding tj markaz. they sell religious accessories such as a robe,  tasbih (prayer beads), siwak (traditional toothbrush from wood), perfume, turban, religious cap, and sarong (scabbard). so, it depends on the intention of tj members. not all of them focus on dawah; rather also they have an economic vision and mission.  as a global missionary movement, tj members come from various nationalities, ethnicities, traditions, languages, and professions. a similar condition also visible in the tj community in indonesia, where tj members are plural in terms of ethnicities, traditions, social class, and profession. some middle-class workers work as businessmen, lecturers, soldiers, politicians, bureaucratic officials in government institutions, school teachers, and some lower classes working as labor, farmers, and security. therefore, the economic strength and capacity also vary to each member, which affects their ability to pay transportation cost in proselytization program. i will focus on tj members in indonesia, who have severe challenges and severe economic impact during proselytization. in january 2017, i traveled to selong city, east lombok attending itjima, an international meeting that involved all members from asia at the grand mosque in selong. i met my cousin in this grand mosque meeting, who is an activist of tj. as a local member of tj, he was assigned as a cookie for guests’ meals during itjima. after serving those guests, he asked me to accompany him to pick up rahman (45 years), a tablighi member who is not active anymore in tj dawah. rahman lives in banjarsari village east lombok only 7 kilometers from the location of itjima. when we arrived at his house, the wife directly attacked us with anger and rude, saying, “do not bring your tj friends here, i do not need them, i need money, our family needs money”. when her husband left his works to conduct a dawah trip, she was traumatized, while no one could replace him as peasant labor. he got a peasant labor job, and it was a primary source of family income. she told us if her husband is responsible to the family and prevents us from taking him away to the dawah arena. she also [ 199 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 said that she had children, and no one cares about us when he was not here.    the real challenges were experienced by the ahmad family (55 years old), who is suffered from dawah activity. he has to sell his cattle to buy a ticket for his dawah traveling all around lombok and java island. he believes that those cattle have the same value as eid al-adha’s animal as long as we intend to be sincere and complete submission to god. he never worried about the economic family. he spends much money on dawah, and he was ready to sell whatever he has as far for allah. he declared, “god will replace with a greater number of what we sacrifice,” as god promised in the qur’an. another case from the rahmawati family (38 years old) in lombok. she cannot do anything when her husband, miftahul huda, is engaged to tj dawah because she has to take care of three little children. she was disappointed in the husband when he left his job as a farmer. she cannot handle his job in the rice fields picking tobacco leaves and drying them. she complained to her father-in-law about her situation, and the father looks for him checking which mosque he stays. he found his son at the mosque participating in tj dawah. he shouted to his son and challenged him to fight. he stated, “let face me, if you are gentlemen, why are you leaving your job and family at home.” huda responded and advised his father to be patient and remember god. he returned home and canceled his dawah program. a similar case from samarinda east kalimantan that happened in fatimah’s family. she threatened to divorce the husband after joining a tj dawah. he went out of town and left his. she cannot handle all the works and responsibilities at the family level, including taking the children to school and managing the family business of motorbike workshops. her husband has a workshop place for motorbike services, which is the primary income resource of the family. consequently, during the dawah activity, he must close the workshop. fatimah gave him two options, whether divorce or continue as tj followers. the husband is aware of this problem and decided to quit tj dawah activities and rerun his business. bandi (43 years old), a young tj member who was previously successful in his business affair, suddenly experienced severe economic problems after being a tj follower. he started his career from the bottom, running his computer rental, radio station, and language course. his wife works as a civil servant in the central lombok government office. bandi said the growth of his economy from his business company did not make him comfortable. there is something disturbing him in mind and soul until he saw a group of people praying in the mosque wearing white robes. they also visited people’s homes and delivered a religious message. although he was curious and did not know about this [ 200 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 group, he feels like deja vu with those people reminded him of the imagination of the prophet muhammad’s life and his disciples in the arab lands of the 7th century. this first meeting with this group impressed him, and he began to join and learn their dawah teachings. he finally leaves the family to conduct tj dawah program without his wife’s permission due to her objection. she did not permit him to do a dawah, although three days. after going out for three days, she starts to accept him, and again he went for ten days and three months to india. because he was too active in tj dawah activity, his business began to collapse. before joining the tj dawah movement, his company usually get a profit from idr. 15-20 million per month, now decreasing to 2-5 million. his brother acknowledged that he could not even pay the business rent.  those data show how tj members struggle with their economic stability while participating in the tj dawah program. in some cases above, dawah has a significant effect on the economy due to different focuses and orientations. the influence of tj ideology “asceticism” is also the most significant challenge on tj’s new members, where they have new motivation and enter a new realm of nonmaterial. most tj members i interviewed in lombok, jakarta, samarinda were not interested in talking about business and economy; instead, they focus on spiritual development. they live a simple life and focus on improving themselves by surrendering to god in total. i do not deny that economic activities are surrounding tj headquarters such as in temboro east java, jakarta, lombok, and samarinda they built stores for muslim clothes, small restaurants, and small hotels. conclusion self-islah is the primary goal of tj dawah that all tj members must achieve. when tj members in a dawah camp program, they have to islah themselves than other people. self-islah program makes tj dawah different from other islamic organizations, in which religious figures only focus on  islah  other people and forget their needs. so, tj dawah changes approach and goal to be more effective and possibly involved both sides to achieve islah. all tj dahwah programs are related to self-islah and co-islah; it strengthens individuals and other members in a group for the dawah camp program in faith, ibadah, and morality. self-islahcan be found in ritual and religious activities such as taklim, zikir, bayan, and musyawarah. self-islah and co-islah are naturally working together in this pattern because every member gives support to each other.  khidmat also another program that encourages transformation attitude more broadly for tj members. all members of tablighi acknowledged khidmat as a suitable training medium for them to be more sincere, gentlemen, and respectful [ 201 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 because through khidmat tj member experience to serve others. khidmat also raises gender awareness and changes the gender relationships in the family. usually, before  khidmat,  tj members have a solid patriarchal perspective due to the cultural construction of gender bias. they have to negotiate and harmonize the internal conflict within themselves. it also happens when they enter the new realm of dawah that leads them to release the ego and ambition to collect material in their life. the transition to be more spiritual close to allah and minimize material influence and economic activity are not always easy because they still have another responsibility toward the family.                  bibliography beyers, j. (2014). the effect of religion on poverty. hts teologiese studies / theological studies, 70(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i1.2614. chakrabarti, a. (2010). soteriological journeys and discourses of self-transformation: the tablighi jamaat and svadhyaya in gujarat. south asian history and culture, 1(4), 597–614. https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498 .2010.507029. drury, abdullah (2014). islam on the move: the tablighi jama’at in southeast asia. islam and christian–muslim relations, 25(1), 136–138. https:// doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2013.847022. gent, bill (2018). becoming ‘good muslim’: the tablighi jamaat in the uk and bangladesh. journal of contemporary religion, 33(3), 602–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2018.1535322 geremek, b., (1994).poverty: a history, transl. a. kolakowska. blackwell publishers, oxford. gugler, thomas k. (2010). the new religiosity of tablīghī jamā ’at and da ’wat-e islāmī and the transformation of islam in europe. anthropos 105 (1), 121–136). https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2010-1-121. hamdi, saipul. (2015). demazhabization of islam,divinity economy and narratives of conflict of the tablighi followers in samarinda east kalimantan. al albab, borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs), 4 (2), 147-168. kroessin, muhammed ralf (2008). concepts of development in ‘islam’: a review of contemporary literature and practice. interpreting, 82. metcalf, barbara daly. (2002). islamic revival in british india: deoband, 1860– 1900. new delhi: oxford university press. [ 202 ] al albab: volume 10 number 2 december 2021 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2087 meuleman, johan (2011). dakwah , competition for authority , and development. bijdragen tot de taal-, landen volkenkunde 167(2-3), 236-269. noor, farish a. (2012). islam on the move: tablighi jamaat in shout east asia. amsterdam: amsterdam university press. pieri, z. p. (2015). tablighi jamaat and the quest for the london mega mosque. palgrave macmilan: new york. rauf, ateeq abdul, prasad ajnesh & abdullah ahmed (2019). how does religion discipline the consumer subject? negotiating the paradoxical tension between consumer desire and the social order. journal of marketing management, 35(5–6), 491–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/0 267257x.2018.1554599. siddiqi, b. (2012). reconfiguring the gender relation: the case of the tablighi jamaat in bangladesh. culture and religion, 13(2), 177–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2012.674956. sikand, y. s. (1998). the origins and growth of the tablighi jamaat in britain. international journal of phytoremediation, 21(1), 171–192. https://doi. org/10.1080/09596419808721147. yusuf, muhammad (2012.). tablighi jamaat & principles and methodology of its dawah. translated by abdur razaq iskandar. [ 273 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 book review the truth behind the text: the study of the qur’an with  the hikmah approach yogyakarta: nusa media, 2013. by: dr. syarif, ma. reviewed by syamsul kurniawan (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) o you who believe, why do you say what you do not do?  (3) it is severely hateful in allah’s sight that you say what you do not do. (qs. as-saff: 2-3) what is true behind the text is what dr. syarif tried to explain in his book, appearance behind the text: the study of the qur’an with the hikmah approach. in this book, one will find many terms on texts that have been examined by some experts of qur’anic interpretation on the literal aspects, but did not introduce the meaning of what is really meant by the text. this book was examined using the hikmah approach. in many references, hikmah is often assumed as wisdom. then if there is a word in the text of the quran, for example alhakim, usually it is translated as “the most wise”, since that word is attached to the mentioning of the name of allah. some people also link the word to the core of philosophy. as described by syarif, by learning to contemplate, philosophers or any person may become wise. however, for syarif, here lies the problem, as the definition of wisdom is not clear and tends to be abstract. according to him, wisdom is often related to who issues something or to whom it is issued. through this book, syarif explained that the definition of wisdom should refer to the quran. as revealed in the quran through the texts. there are several texts related to the phenomenon of the term al-hikmat. first, al-hikmat always goes with the word al-kitab as in qs al-baqarah 02: 129 dan 151. it can also be found rest can also be found in qs al-jumuat 62: 2; qs al-nisa’04: 54, 113; al-maidah 05: 110. it seems that the mention of al-hikmat,  based on  these verses,  requires that  one should first understand  the meaning of al-kitab. in short, we must know the meaning of kitab especially its ontological manifestation. the meaning of  kitab (the book or scripture)  here  can be  ana[ 274 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 lyzed with wisdom by referring to many verses of the qur’an, including qs al-baqarah 02: 2.  this text  becomes  the reading object of  al-’  alaq96:1, qs al-isra’ 17: 14. also in a form of a theme with a different command of reading contained in the qs al-ankabut29: 45. based on these verses, kitab is not a record, not in the form of a scratch of a pen on paper. syarif, who is now serving as vice rector ii at iain pontianak, in his book suggested several reasons: first, that the word we (i.e. the word for god), did not send down a written scripture on a page  (qs al-an-’am 6: 7). linguistically, the kitab also means record/script, not a book as it is often defined, because ‘book’ is the meaning of the word jildat in arabic, namely writings that fill out sheets indexed or bundled in a binder or books. in the qs al-an-’am 6: 7, the kitab is also described as “not in the form of a script of the pen”. it is also related with qs al-ankabut29: 48 (that muhammad never wrote with his right hand). the second reason, the fact that if the command to read in qs alalaq 96: 1, qs al-isra’ 17: 14, and qs al-ankabut is a form of writing of a pen on paper, which was impossible to be done by the messenger, muhammad who did not know how to read and write. that’s why, in syarif ’s opinion, the command of reading is illogical and counter-productive if its object is “script on paper”, and in “arabic”. therefore, it is nnot correct to interpret the words al-kitab in the texts of the qur’an as a book in the shape of a binder of sheets with script on them or factory-printed in arabic. this is because, as he describes about the term “al-kitab”, all the recorded revelations have not been written on a book. according to syarif, the kitab in question is “a scripture in the heart”. based on qs al-ankabut 29: 45-48, the kitab in question is “the verses in the heart”. second, the words al-hikmat and al-kitab are associated with an apostle. this means that al-hikmat teaches the desired people i.e. an apostle. al-hikmat cannot be retrieved from the “regular interpretation”. in the study of al-hikmat, it is necessary to distinguish between muhammad physically and non physically. so far, the distinction between prophets and messengers/apostles already exists, but is still in the epistemological level, i.e. a prophet is one who receives a revelation but there is no obligation to pass it on to someone else, while an apostle receives the revelation to be delivered to another person. in fact, syarif said the prophet himself is a person who brings news to others. a person who does not bring news to others is not a messenger. so the definition of a messenger is in fact contrary to the meaning of al-nabi itself. prophets and apostles have physical and non-physical connectedness. prophet muhammad is a mortal (an arab). the prophet was delivering the news of prophet muhammad, who was in his body (the inner of the prophet). that means mu[ 275 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 hammad the messenger of allah was the inner side of muhammad. in other words, ibn abdillah was the mortal and muhammad saw was the immortal. in an ordinary human like us, the body is on the outside and the spirit is on the inside. however, the inner in the prophet muhammad was not a spirit but “nur of allah”. he refers to it as abu al-arwah (the father of all spirits). the statement can be found in hadith qudsi, ana abu al-arwah wa aadamu abu al-basyar (i am the father of all spirits and adam was the father of all body). the spirit of an ordinary man will never die when the body dies (qs al-baqarah 2: 154), let alone the father spirits, will certainly never die. this belief led syarif to adopt a hypothesis in his book, that allows acceptance of the message of the qur’an that the science of al-haikmat was taught by the messenger because the words yatlu, yuzakki, and yuallimu in the verses are written in the form of fiil mudhari’, which means in progress until the future. third,  that the  messenger,  prior to teaching al-kitab  and al-hikmat, first recited the verses of god, as in qs al-baqarah 02: 129, 151; qs ali imran03: 164; qs al-ahzab33: 34; qs al-jumuah62: 2. in the science of al-hikmat  this should not be read in the context of what is written on paper. the entire text of the qur’an is not written on paper, there should be an ontological explanation or its existence. fourth,  the word al-hikmat is associated with something that has yet to be known. for example, as explained in qs al-baqarah02: 151 dan qs an-nisa04: 113. al-hikmat is something known as the material being taught the messenger, referred to in the texts, i.e. about self, relationships with allah, relationship with muhammad (the non-physical), and the relationship self with baitullah.  this is where, according to  syarif,  we should manifest the  meaning and material of al-hikmat based on what was taught by the messenger. to conclude the review of this book, the hikmah (wisdom) approach used to in the study of this book does not refer to the literal-epistemic source, but to its original source, i.e. the prophet. the representation that the hikmah (wisdom)  approach used in the  study of  this book  made the  prophet muhammad as a primary source, is seen from how the source of the quran and the hadith becomes the dominant reference of this book. specifically  the study of wisdom  in  this book assesses the  terms of texts of the qur’an that have to do with oneself and allah, and how to connect oneself with allah. several things are examined here, namely: first, knowing oneself; second, the relationship between oneself and allah; third, the relationship between oneself and muhammad; and fourth, the relationship with the baitullah. [ 276 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 considering that observing religion must be done with a comprehensive understanding,  meaning that religion is  not  merely  practiced on the outside but also should be accompanied by the non-physical “insights”, which does not rely on logic only. therefore, this book worth reading as part of the enrichment of insight. the advantages of this book, written in terms of the science-inspired wisdom based on the qur’an. *** [ 277 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 riots on the news in west borneo pontianak: stain pontianak press, 2008 by zaenuddin h. prasojo reviewed by dian kartika sari (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) west borneo had a long story of visible social conflict among ethnics dwelling within different parts of regencies in the west borneo many years ago. the conflict itself was not merely about the distinction of ethnicity, however, the powerful factors contributed to the event namely social and economic. furthermore, the conflict which turned to violence became a global issue since mass media kept an eye on the news intensely. the news, moreover, could shower peace among the audience, on the other hand could aggravate the riot. thus, the issue of conflict studies or conflict resolution has caught the attention of many scholars to learn more about conflict from all over the world. one of the scholars who also concerns on the conflict and originally comes from west borneo, zaenuddin has written a book about conflict studies, “riots on the news in west borneo”. this book, actually, is the development of his thesis, hence, it would be highly recommended for those who concerns on anthropology, social, and cultural issues to consume this book. as far as i am concerned, this is an outstanding book because it is fully written in english which means the advanced development of indonesian scholars. besides, it has deep information about riots as well. this book consists of five chapters which elaborates particular issues about conflict. chapter one is introduction, which tells the reader about west borneo in 1990s on the eyes of media and conflict studies. then, the first chapter is divided into three parts which displays an understanding between mass media and the relationships of ethnic groups in west borneo. in addition, zaenuddin also mentions the experts’ thoughts about ethnicities and their relations with media and conflict studies. therefore, in the introduction, the writer tells us about conflicts that happen in west borneo such as ethnic conflicts among the madurese, malay, dayak, chinese, and others. these happened in some places like pontianak, sanggau ledo, sambas, bengkayang, and so forth. first of all, the book states that the conflicts were caused by economic and cultural problems, especially for those directly involved in the community. moreover, this book explains about how the media take a look the conflict especially in west borneo. because this book addresses the questions of how [ 278 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the riots happened and how people perceived those violation by analyzing how their issues were presented by the media. using media as a resource for the analysis is once found in the news about the conflict, this work will contribute to the academic resources of media research especially in west borneo. the focus of this project is to reveal how the conflict between the dayak and the madurese in west borneo during 1997 was constructed by the media especially by the akcaya pontianak post and kompas. the reason why zaenuddin decided to carry out the research through both printed media is their news of the riots has been presented comprehensively and continuously. besides, in chapter one, a writer talks about ethnic relationship in west borneo based on the media. the mass media brainwashes human mind in many aspects, wherever they are. by conducting this research, people will get information about the conflict not only from field of studies but also from media studies. furthermore, zaenuddin used discourse analysis to analyze texts in the media especially in newspapers while conducting his research in the conflict studies. in chapter two, the writer brings the reader to know comprehendly about west borneo especially its people and culture. moreover, the reader will be introduced generally what west borneo looks like, geographical view, for instance. the writer explains about west borneo that is a well-known province which has “thousands of rivers” because its have thousands of both big and small rivers. further ahead, sungai kapuas is famous as the longest river in indonesia. besides, he also talks about the equator line laid through pontianak city which means that west borneo is a tropical area which is damp and has high temperature. therefore, the writer also discusses the agriculture products produced in west borneo, economic structure, living societies, social life and what kind activities they usually perform daily, and at the end of the chapter zaenuddin explains the variety of ethnic and religious relations in west borneo. zaenuddin writes about dayak and madurese once in west borneo in the third chapter. he begins with the history of a broken relationship between the dayak and the madurese. the dayak and the madurese had been dealing with conflict since 1950’s and lasted around 1999. furthermore, zaenuddin cited ibrahim’s thesis about the classifications of ethnic conflicts in west borneo which stated three categpries of ethnic conflicts: close and open conflicts, individual and group conflict, and, vertical and horizontal conflict. besides, the writer tries to recapitulate the researchers’ investigation on the factors affecting this conflict such as cultural issues, economic gaps, educational problem, and political and social access problems. in the end of this chapter [ 279 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the reader will find the reason why many conflicts broke out in west borneo and how the conflicts happening between the dayak and the madurese affects people’s life, which are elaborated greatly by the writer. in chapter four, the writer presents the mass media which is used as medium of the research. it entitles when the mass media talks: pontianak post and kompas on the riots emerging in west borneo in 1997. further ahead, the news is elaborated fairly between two newspapers; pontianak post and kompas, thus, the reader awares of the thorough information about conflicts in west borneo. at the first chapter, the reader has been told why the writer choose these two newspapers, the reason is about comprehensively and continuously the news of conflicts written on these published media. besides, he talks about the risk if the news about conflict has shown up in a society due to public knowledge and perceptions of the riots as reflected in the news. in the last chapter, zaenuddin wraps up the whole writing by concluding and making a reflection in order to create social awareness about living in harmony in west borneo. this book becomes very important not only for people involved in the riots to learn what is reported in the mass media, but also for many people in west borneo to take a lesson from those conflicts. moreover, the distinction among ethnics is unavoidable and should be faced in an open-mindedness through free dialogues or other preventive action. [ 169 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 intrigues behind the harem wall: social, cultural and political construction of life behind the harem of sultan sulaiman i eka hendry ar. pontianak state institute of islamic studies abstract the urgency of exploring the history of the harem is important, not only because of being a rare phenomenon today or no longer in existence but perhaps this work is like opening the pandora’s box, a nightmare for women. this paper is presented as an academic review to portrait the fact that power is always in contact with wealth and attractive women, especially during a period when patriarchy was dominant. sultan sulaiman i was in power between 1520 to 1566 ad, in the 16th century ad. in western literature, sultan sulaiman was known as suleyman the magnificent. the work concludes, first, that the harem to the people of the middle east in the medieval times was considered respectable for the family, especially for women both in the context of the imperial and domestic harem, where it was constructed in the name of honor, comfort and safety for women. second, the construction of social, cultural and religious institutions of harem is the integration between the will to protect and maintain the honor of women, the concept of marriage in islam and the patriarchal system hegemony in the islamic world particularly in the context of the imperial harem. third, the role of sulaiman i who was “brave” to go against the tradition that had been practiced for many years in the ottoman empire, a milestone was important for the emancipation of women of the harem. finally, to respond to the harem tradition, we must be in an impartial position, between the construction of the west and east. keywords: harem, sultan sulaiman i, construction, islamic sultanate. introduction when i read the history of the development of the islamic sultanate, my attention centered on the private lives of the sultans, particularly on the portarait of the lives of women in the sultan’s harem. one might question the urgency of exploring the history of the harem, because in addition to being a rare phenomenon nowaways (or no longer in existence) perhaps this work is like opening the pandora’s box, a nightmare for women. this paper is presented as an academic review to portrait the fact that power is always in contact with wealth and attractive women, especially during a period when [ 170 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 patriarchy was dominant. this study seeks to investigate true meaning of the harem in social, cultural and religious views of the middle eastcommunities in the islamic medieval period. i will also make an effort to reconstruct the structure of the harem institution and social functions that existed behind the harem. finally, the article will explore the intrigues that developed among the harem dwellers in order to maintain the status quo or the struggle for influence (and power) in the harem. to limit the scope of this paper, i focus on the period of sultan sulaiman 1, the 10th ottoman caliph. sultan sulaiman was in power between 1520 to 1566 ad, in the 16th century ad. in western literature, sultan sulaiman was known as suleyman the magnificent. karen armstrong (2002: 155) called him sulaiman al-qanuni (the decision giver). supposedly it was recorded in some historical literature, during his reign, the ottoman caliphate successfully annexed several areas such as belgrade, rhodesia, hungary, a large part of the middle east, north africa, the mediterranean, the red sea and the persian gulf. karen armstrong (2002: 155) argued that, at the time of sulaiman, the utsmaniah kingdom reached its expansion peak. the peak cultural awakening of this dynasty was marked by the works of fundamental architecture, such as palaces and large mosques scattered throughout the country. in addition, the leadership of sulaiman i’s first period was also marked by advancement in the field of art (paintings), history, medicine and astronomy which was marked by the construction of the observatory (1579). karen armstrong also noted that the achievement in this period also included the field of religion, such as the implementation of islamic sharia as the official law for all muslims all over the country. besides his popularity in the conquest of the region and the development of civilization, sulaiman i was also popular with his harem which was filled with beautiful women of different countries. sulaiman’s harem had its own story, which is no less interesting than the success of anexation of areas outside of turkey. colin falconer discussed this reality in the fictional form about the intrigues and competition among the women in the sulaiman’s harem in a novel entitled sulayman’s harem. what is important to note is that also during the period of leadership of suleiman i there was “courage” to change the tradition ingrained in the system of the ottoman empire, the habit of a king having one son. colin imber (2012: 121-122) wrote that, most of the successors to the ottoman empire were a child from the slaves. then since the 14th and 16 century, there was a tradition that restricted a king to sleep with a wife who had given a son to the king. sons from different mothers would live separately, until then they were aged 10, 11 [ 171 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 and 12 years, then the sultan would appoint them as governor of a province, accompanied by his mother who had a great influence. at the time of sultan suleiman i, the habit began to change, not for political reasons, but rather for romantic. the sultan had a son from a different wife (1521), mustafa of a slave named mahidevran, and mehmed of european origin hurrem named roxelana. in the previous tradition, the sultan was no longer allowed to sleep with both the mothers of his sons, but sulaiman was “against” the tradition. evidently, between 1522 and 1531, he had other 6 children, including selim ii (1566-1577). in fact, because he loved roxelana so much that when she died in 1558, he was buried her in the yard of the mosque of sulaiman, next to the tomb of the sultan. (colin imber, 2012: 122) sulaiman first action was considered against the tradition that had for many years been practiced by the family court, even according to colin, it was a “scandal” at that time. these changes, in the future were not just about changing a tradition, but fundamentally changing the policies and political structures of the the dynasty, and opened a larger space for the hurrem (or women) to take on a greater role in the political power of the empire. these women not only became a concubine, but also took on the role as the queen mother when he died and had a great influence on his son (the subsequent ruling sultan). what were the role and the conspiracy of the women in a fight for influence of the sultanate during the period of sulaiman i is the focus of study in this paper. this phenomenon is examined with a critical historical perspective. this historical phenomenon was reviewed with several theories such as the theory of conflict (especially on competition) and contemporary conspiracy theory. the urgency of this piece of writing, despite the focus of the study being on the history of the 16th century, is that the motive of such conflicts is commonly found in the modern era today. harem in the social, cultural and religious frame of the middle east society before going any further, we need understand what a harem is. there are several definitions of the harem including origins of the term itself. harem is a term in the turkish language, which was derived from arabic: مرح haram meaning a forbidden place, sacred, holy, related to ميرح harim, a place that should not be inviolable, female members of the family and مارح haram (forbidden and sacred). (tati rohayati et al., 2013). while there are other opinions arguing that, the word haram (arabic) or harem (in english) means ‘to live isolated from the outside world and illustrates the oxymoronic shelter for women who are also imprisoned inside impenetrable walls. (elizabeth abbott, 2013: 53) haram or harem was found not only in the middle east sultanate, but also in [ 172 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the empire of china. mernissi fajarwati made distinctions of harem into two categories: the royal harem (imperial) and regular harem (domestic) (ana bilqis fajarwati, 2013: 60; fatima mernissi, 1999: 37). the imperial harem is a palace owned by rich and powerful men who bought hundreds of female slaves and kept them in an environment with a harem guarded by castrated eunuchs. meanwhile a regular harem (domestic) is a graceful walled house, not a palace, without the eunuchs and slaves. the house is inhabited by a large family with a view to preventing women to have contact with the outside world. mernissi’s version of the categorical distinction is motivated by the need to clarify the stereotypical views of the west whose opinion of the islamic kings of in the middle east and the maghreb (north africa) still perpetuating the harem institution. the western society still thinks that a harem is filled with the king’s concubines, amounting to tens, even dozens of women and their children. according to fatima mernissi (in ana bilqis fajarwati, 2013: 60) the imperial harem has long been extinct, since world war i and the collapse of the ottoman empire due to the ban by western powers. meanwhile, the domestic harem remains until today, along with the “theological beliefs” rooted in cultural factors to maintain and facilitate the process of keeping wives and daughters from outside influences. the harem whatever the form (read: imperial and domestic) there is a passion to keep a distance between men and women. according to mernissi, the arabs had a culture that explicitly distinguishes between “space” for both men and women. this is, according to mernissi, not merely the “arrogance” of men, but rather the spirit of keeping the lineage and honors. however, in a society that is running the harem tradition, the position of men is superior, so the harem is identified with a form of deprivation of women’s rights by men. the construction of social structure in the harem is an integration of elements of turkish medieval culture that put the position of men, especially the sultan in a very high position and superior and the elements of the islamic faith with sharia rules about marriage and “protection” against the honor of women even though, to most of us who live in the modern era will interpret this phenomenon as a reflection of the “arrogance” of men against women. i wrote term “protection” in quotation marks, because of the desire to preserve the honor has a very slight difference with “oppression”, “restraint” or “control” of men (in this context sultan) against women who live in the harem. although the real information about life of women in the sultan’s harem is very limited, speculation and myth thrive on harem life. christine isom[ 173 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 verhaaren (2006: 178-179) suggested that, western writers, including those who had visited and even lived “close” to the ottoman sultan, still did not know about life in the harem. during murad iii’s reign, it was mentioned there was a european doctor named domenico hierosolimitano who seved as the sultan’s doctor. he then wrote an article entitled relation in around 1611 in rome. this work then was plagiarized by subsequent authors. this work is regarded as an inaccurate depiction of the life of the women in the harem. regardless of the inaccurate information about the harem, various myths about the lives of the harem of the sultan developed in europe. the construction of the western writers about the harem of sultan was more pejorative, because the harem was described as a symbol of oriental despotism. several authors such as domenico of jerusalem, mostesquieu and paul rycaut wrote that the imperial harem of the ottoman empire was a symbol of the middle east, characterized by the tyrannical government and suppression of women (christine isom-verhaaren (2006: 160-161). as a result of poor accurate information about the lives of women in the harem of the sultan, and may be a bias of “sentiment” of the west against the ottoman empire, in my opinion, has prompted many negative stereotypes about the sultan and his harem life. in other words, the construction of the west against the life of the sultan and his harem (the harem derived mainly from the west) further highlights the role of the women (hurem) and cornered the sultan and the harem tradition itself. construction structure and function of social institution in imperial harem the view of the harem is prone to bias of interests of both on the basis of gender and cultural values of a society. diane m. huddleston (2012: 1-5) argued that the western writers (especially male writers) of the 18th and 19th century who had the opportunity to visit the middle east wrote a lot of things such as the cultural sites, flora and fauna as well as the beauty of natural scenery. however, a theme that they were not allowed to talk about was the harem. as a result, the writing of a harem was then vulnerable to the belief of the hegemonic culture and religion of the west that tend to refuse the east. in other words, the assessment of women and harem life in the middle east was written with “prejudice” of the west against the east, or in the term coined by diane (2012: 1) with imagination and fantasy, and not based on a true reality. this view was recently changed after some western female writers began to write about it because they were allowed to enter the world of the harem, observing it and then writing about the lives of women and the harem which was then known as the harem literature. [ 174 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 during the reign of caliph sulaiman 1 (16th century ad), the harem was an educational institution that was devoted to women. in the harem women were taught art and science of reading, writing, dancing, painting, and protocols. all financial needs of the women in the harem were borne entirely by the kingdom. in the ottoman system of government, the central government was the residence of osman, which consisted of the servants of the emperor, the imperial harem, and the palace school. the mother of the sultan (valide sultan) held the highest power over the harem. therefore, she had a very strong position in court (tati rohayati et al., 2013) in the palace of the turkish ottoman empire, there was demarcation of the area which became the authority of men and women’s regional authorities. only the sultan was free to both areas. the area for men was called selank (or selanik) the place where the king and the princes held royal activities and including religious rituals. the area for women was the harem or darus saade (home of happiness). (miftahus shurur, 2013). furthermore, according miftahus shurur, the harem was the area built with a shape like apartments. in the ottoman empire, the harem was built within the topkap palace and dolmabahçe palace. the position of the topkap harem in a palace was located on the right wing from the topkapi palace which was right behind the imperial council building with the justice tower as a symbol of justice for officials and employees who violated the law. whereas in dolmabahçe palace, the harem was located at the rear of the palace, behind the selank. according miftahus shurur (2013), the position or location of the harem had influence on the lives of the royals. the position of the royal harem at the topkapi was far more influential than the harem position in dolmabahçe palace. according to shurur (2013), the women who would inhabit the harem came from a variety of backgrounds, not always from the nobility. according to elizabeth abbott (2013: 55) women and eunuchs who lived in the harem came from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds such as russian, circassian, tartar, greek, serbian, italian, nubian and ethiopian, and the largely christian. one thing that i find surprising is that none of these women and eunuchs was muslim, because slavery was prohibited by law. most of them were prisoners of war or purchased from the slave market or a gift from governors under the rule of the ottoman empire. the beautiful women before entering the harem had to go through several stages and status. first, they got an acemi status (beginner), which was closely monitored by kahya kadn (female supervisors). while undergoing the acemi status, they received a variety of education such as religious education, ethics, morals, skills (such as sewing, embroidery, playing music, storytelling and including how to “serve” [ 175 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the sultan). after passing the beginner status, they would proceed to the next status as cariye sagird gedikli and usta. the rise in status was based on several qualifications such as the level of expertise and the time spent at the harem. the status affected the closeness to the sultan as he would choose those who had achieved the status of usta. sometimes, those chosen by the sultan later became his wife got a title of has odalk or haseki. the haseki had access and influence over the decisions of the sultan, both the decision concerning the harem and political decisions. shurur said that sultan’s wives could affect the ferman (decree) of the sultan. in this context, opportunities of intrigue occurred among the dwellers of the harem, fighting for influence in front of the sultan. this section will be discussed in depth at the end of this paper. the harem of the sultan of turkish ottoman empire was inhabited by several elements i.e. the sultan, the valide sultan, kadin, iqbal, concubines and odalisques and eunuchs. the women’s hierarchy in the harem is listes below. 1. valide sultan (queen mother) was the sultan’s mother who had the highest position. she had occupied the second position after her son. in the old palace, the queen mother was the highest ruler. the queen mother communicated with the concubines of his son not directly but through the middle person called kizlar agha which means the general of the girls, a black chief eunuch (elizabeth abbott, 2013: 54). 2. kadin, the sultan’s favorite women who had the privilege as a wife of sultan. 3. iqbal, the favorite mistress who gave birth to a boy. 4. concubines, beautiful women presented to the sultan and served the sultan at least once. 5. odalisques, a virgin slave girl purchased in the market and then presented to the sultan. if after the “dedication” period (haing reached 9 years) and the sultan no longer needed her, a slave could leave the harem to get married. in addition to women, the harem also had eunuch, and most of them were slaves from africa who had been castrated. they were also called mujhubs, men without a penis. (elizabeth abbott, 2013: 56) the task of this kasem was serving all the needs of women in the harem, except for the purposes of sex. the employees of the harem had the facility from the kingdom such as salary and accommodation needs and consumption. they also wore uniforms that represented the position and status in the royal administration. [ 176 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 intrigue and deviations behind the harem wall the systems and structures applied in the harem, and many beautiful women who lived there, of course, raised many problems. moreover, the pattern of life in the harem was far from normal life, like the relationship of men and women outside the palace. so many beautiful women, filled with all the necessities of life, except sex, who were attended and serviced by kasim who had been castrated, of course, became a factor for possible behavior deviations such lesbian behavior and other sexual deviations. since they grew up in the harem, they would be encouraged to compete to be the best and had the opportunity to be the closest to the sultan. moreover, there were a lot of the inhabitants of the harem. elizabeth abbott (2013: 54) wrote that during the reign of sultan sulaiman, the number of women in the harem was 3000. in such conditions, competition and intrigue among beautiful women were inevitable. at the time of sultan sulaiman i (1520-1566) there was a very famous woman named roxelana, a woman who was said to come from poland. galina i. yermolenko (2009: 1) wrote that the story of roxelana (in western literature written roxolana) spread in the form of legend and controversy in the 16th century. this legend about the role which was considered remarkable (extraordinary woman), not only as the most beloved wife of sultan suleiman i, but she also recognized to have political and social influence. what galina put forward was also supported by abbot’s recount. according elizabeth abbott (2013: 53) in poland there was a story about a woman named alexandra lisowska, daughter of an orthodox priest who was poor and lived in rohatyn, ruthenia, in the carpathian mountains. in an attack by the tartars to the area, alexandra captured by the tartar troops and then sold to the great sultan of the turkish ottoman empire. alexandra was then known by the name roxelana. simon sebag montefiore (2012: 382) made a contemporary portrait of roxelana as a pastor’s daughter who was kidnapped in poland and sold to the sultan’s harem. she was not pretty, but graceful and direct. she had a round face, wide eyes and lips like roses. she was known as a woman who was romantic, so as to attract the attention of sulaiman. her romantism appeared in the poems sent to the sultan. she occupied the position of second qadin or concubine of the king, while the first concubine was a tartar woman named gulbahar (in turkish meaning the rose of the spring season). in her position as first qadin, gulbehar who was the mother of prince mustafa, held the first position. prince mustafa was heir to the throne. to roxelana, gulbehar was a barrier for her to become a major concubine of sulaiman. in recorded history, roxelana played intrigue on how to get rid of gulbehar. among the [ 177 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 intrigue she used was provoking gulbehar to get into a fight with her. when gulbehar committed violence againt roxelana, gulbehar was trapped in the “game” played by roxelana. roxelana deliberately did not fight gulbehar back, resulting in traces of violence on her face and body. when the news got to the ears of the sultan, he was furious and then expelled gulbehar out of the harem. the conflict between roxelana and gulbehar was an example of how political intrigue going on among the dwellers of the harem to gain access and closeness to the sultan. according to elizabeth abbott (2013: 58) roxelana continued to spread “poisonous roses”, with her involvement in the murder of people near sulaiman such as ibrahim pasha, a trust, a leader and brother-in-law of sulaiman. roxelana was also involved in the assassination attempt against prince mustafa, who was a legitimate heir to sulaiman’s throne. roxelana did that because she wanted to save her sons from the threat of fratricide. roxelana managed to fulfill her desire, including influencing many of the kingdom’s policies. seme observers condemned her, some also praised her. she was condemned for playing foul intrigue, making harem politics poisonous, the term elizabeth abbott coined (2013: 60). she was praised because she had shown that a woman could influence the harem tradition with a strong tradition of patriarchal hegemony of men. closing remarks based on the review of the literature above, i have come to some conclusions, as follows: first, the harem to the people of the middle east in the medieval times was considered respectable for the family, especially for women both in the context of the imperial and domestic harem, where it was constructed in the name of honor, comfort and safety for women. second, the construction of social, cultural and religious institutions of harem is the integration between the will to protect and maintain the honor of women, the concept of marriage in islam and the patriarchal system hegemony in the islamic world particularly in the context of the imperial harem, the harem walls were not merely a space of privacy for women, but also symbolized “domination” or superiority of men (especially the sultan) over women. the slight difference between privilage and honor for women with “suppression” or confinement. to those who live in the modern world, it is difficult to understand this phenomenon, especially in the view of “concern” over the position of women. i am well aware of the very wise judgment on the historical events of then past, with the standard set of values that they profess, with a more modern emancipatory perspective. third, the role of sulaiman i who was “brave” to go against the tradition that [ 178 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 had been practiced for many years in the ottoman empire, a milestone was important for the emancipation of women of the harem. although during period of thr previous the sultanate earlier, the political role of women was not completely turned off, which was proved by the mother of the prince who was appointed as governor in the region, and had an important role for his son. however, under the reign of suleiman i, the role of harem women was more important, especially in determining the power of the sultan’s journey. this also became a “battle field” for the women of the harem to fight for access to the center of power, namely closeness to the sultan, especially if the hurem had the intelligence and skill to read the situation and take the role. hurem roxelana was an example, an intelligent woman who could read and utilize the opportunities given by the sultan. the western literature, although aware of the controversial side on the one hand, but on the other hand, showed respect to roxelana a european woman who had an important role in the turkish empire. perhaps this is a great honor, but may also be a form of “cynicism” against the hegemony of the ottoman empire which was considered a “threat” to the western world. in a simple phrase, “a grand turkish sultan was subject to a european christian woman’s love, who is no-one but a slave from poland”. finally, to respond to the harem tradition, we must be in an impartial position, between the construction of the west and east. the construction of the western writers tends to be negative about the harem, where it is regarded as a symbol of government tyranny and repression against women’s freedom. however, the information that formed the basis of the construction was very little, due to the limited access of the visitors, writers and historians to the domestic life of the imperial harem. meanwhile the construction of eastern community (read: the middle east) of the imperial harem or domestic harem is a form of protection for women in order to honor and glorify them. in my opinion, the reason is also too apologetic and misogynistic, because it reflects the perspective of men (or ruler of men), rather than representing the perspective of women. an impartial attitude toward the construction will of course allow us to interpret the historical events of the past in a fair and wise manner. wa allah a’lam bi shawab. references ana bilqis fajarwati. 2013. “islam dan demokrasi membaca pemikiran fatima mernissi” in jurnal religio jurusan perbandingan agama of faculty of ushuluddin iain sunan ampel surabaya. volume 03. nomor 01. [ 179 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 tahun 2013 page: 60-78. christine isom-verhaaren. 2006. “royal french women in the ottoman sultans’ harem: the political uses of fabricated accounts from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century” in journal of world history of the university of hawai’i press. vol. 17, no. 2 tahun 2006. page: 72-83. colin imber. 2012. kerajaan ottoman, struktur kekuasaan sebuah kerajaan islam terkuat dalam sejarah. jakarta: pt. elex media komputindo kompas gramedia. diane m. huddleston. 2012. “the harem: looking behind the veil.” department of history seminar paper. oregon: western oregon university. elizabeth abbott. 2013. wanita simpanan: kontroversi selingkuhan tokoh-tokoh dunia, dari orang suci hingga politisi, dari zaman kuno hingga era kini. jakarta: alvabet (translation). fatima mernissi. 1999. teras terlarang (kisah masa kecil seorang feminis muslim). bandung: mizan (translation). karen armstrong. 2002. islam: a short history (terjemahan: sepintas sejarah islam). yogyakarta: ikon teralitera (translation). philip k. hitti. 2002. history of the arabs (edisi revisi 10). jakarta: pt serambi ilmu semesta. simon sebag montefiore. 2012. jerusalem the biography. jakarta: alvabet (translation). internet: galina i. yermolenko. 2009. reading the other: roxolana in european history and literature. retrieved from http://www.nssa.us/journals/2009-32-1/2009-32-1-22.htm diakses 29 october 2015. miftahus shurur. hareem. retrieved from: http://ppiturki.tripod.com/edisiiii/id7.html. 23 may 2013. gianna carotenuto. domisticating the harem. retrieved from: (http://www. international.ucla.edu/asia/news/article.asp?parentid=93148) on 23 may 2013. tati rohayati dkk. dua sisi harem: penghibur dan pengatur sultan. retrieved from: (http://cacingpadangpasir.blogspot.com/2013/06/dua-sisi-harem-penghibur-dan-pengatur.html) on 3 july 2013 [ 157 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 religion and banking system: the future of syariah banking practices historical and contemporary fiqh perspectives hamka siregar iain pontianak abstract the momentum of  the development of sharia banking has been noticed since the 1970s,  which generally  had two  patterns:  first,  establishing  the islamic bank  side by side with conventional one  (dual-banking  system)  as practiced in egypt, malaysia, saudi arabia, jordan, kuwait, bahrain, and bangladesh; and second,  restructuring  the banking system as a whole  in accordance with  islamic sharia  (full-fledged  islamic  financial  system)  as applied in  sudan, iran and pakistan. the development of the sharia-based banks which have been established across the world since the 1970s, became the motivation of the indonesian ulemas to draft law on sharia banking, so that sharia banking could also be developed. as a result, these last few years, the banking world in indonesia has witnessed the establishment of the public sharia banks and sharia business units, like bank muamalat and bank syariah mandiri to mention a few. using historical and contemporary jurisprudence perspective, this paper provides discussion on the future of sharia banking. keywords: sharia banking, future introduction sharia banking  is a  banking system  which was developed  based on  the islamic sharia (law). in this context, according to the history of the muslim economic system, the funding which is carried out by the appropriate approval of sharia  has become part of  the tradition of  muslims  since the days of  the prophet. practices like accepting entrusted estate, lending money for consumption and business purposes, as well as doing money transfer, has commonly been done since the age of the prophet. this indicated that the three main functions of the bank i.e. accepting deposits of money, lending money, and providing money transfer services have been in practice. therefore, the main functions of modern banking, such as accepting deposits, channeling funds, and doing transfer of fund have in fact been known even become inseparable from the economic wheels of the muslims since the days of the prophet. since 1970s  the momentum  of the sharia banking  development  has [ 158 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 been felt.  in general it had two  patterns i.e.,  first,  establishing  the islamic bank side by side with the conventional one (dual-banking system) as practiced in egypt, malaysia, saudi arabia, jordan, kuwait, bahrain, and bangladesh; and second, restructuring the banking system as a whole in accordance with islamic sharia (full-fledged islamic financial system) as implemented in sudan, iran and pakistan (wibisono, 2009: 3). in  iran,  islamic banks  have been operating  after the  interest-free  banking law was passed in august 1983 and took effect in march 1983. this led to the rapid developments of islamic banks in iran to this day. it is also the case  with  sudan, which in 1978  started to  operate  under the name  “faisal islamic bank of sudan” with a special decree, the entire banks of sudan were islamized. then, bank islam malaysia began operation in july 1983 after the legalization of the sharia banking law no. 276 in march 1983. based on the temporary law no. 13 which was further reinforced by permanent law number 62/1985 then the sharia-based bank began operation in jordan under the name “jordan islamic bank for finance and investment” (wibisono, 2009: 4). the development  of sharia-based  banks that  have been  established  across the world since  the 1970s, became  the  motivation  for indonesian ulemas to draft the sharia banking law, so that sharia banking could be developed. as a result, these last few years, the banking world in indonesia has witnessed the establishment of the public sharia banks and sharia business units, like bank muamalat and bank syariah mandiri to mention a few. this is an indication that  more and  more  indonesian  people  prefer  the islamic  ways of transactions.  this condition  also showed  that the public  is starting to  be aware of the existence of sharia banking as a means for them to manage the deposited funds based on the principles of islamic sharia. another factor is that the conventional  banking system  is considered  incompatible with the  culture of indonesia where the majority of the citizens are muslims. using  historical and  contemporary  jurisprudence  perspective,  this paper will discuss the future of sharia banking. sharia banking: from the time of the prophet to the contemporary  according to  the law  of the republic  of  indonesia  no  21/ 2008  on sharia banking chapter  i:  general provisions,  article 1 makes it clear that sharia banking is anything that concerns islamic banks and sharia business units, including institution, business activities, as well as the manner and process in carrying out  its business  activities.  while the  sharia bank  is a  bank  that [ 159 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 runs  its business activities  based on  sharia principles  and based on is type including  sharia public banks  and  shariah  public financing  banks.  a sharia public bank  is  a sharia bank whose activities  are among others providing services  in  payment  transactions.  while  a sharia  public financing  is  a bank that does not provide services in payment transactions. sharia business units (abbreviated as uus) is a unit of work of the headquarters of a conventional commercial bank that serves as the main office of the office  or unit that carries out  business activities  based on  sharia principles, or a unit of work in the branch office of a bank located overseas that carries out conventional business activities in an office which serves as the main office of the supporting branch office of a sharia bank and/or sharia unit. a branch office is an office of a branch of the islamic bank liable to the headquarters of  the bank with a concrete place of business address corresponding to  the location of the branch office. while according to karnaen a. perwataatmadja and h.m syafi’i antonio (1997: 14),  the islamic bank or sharia bank  is a bank that operates in accordance with the principles of the sharia and its ways of operation refer to the provisions of the qur’an and the hadith. the emergence of sharia banking which is taking part of the historical development of banking in the contemporary era, has in fact been part of the tradition of  muslims since  the era of  prophet muhammad  and  has grown until the  contemporary  era today.  with regard to the  genealogy of sharia banking from the era of prophet muhammad to  the contemporary, the author describes as follows (adiwarman a. karim, 2004: 14-26): 1. the era of the prophet history noted how the messenger of allah, known as al-amin, was trusted by the people of mecca to care for their estate, so at the last moment before the hijra to medina, he asked ali to return the estate to all who possessed it. in this concept, the person --whom people entrust their estate to—cannot take advantage of  the  estate.  a  companion of  the prophet,  zubair  ibn  awwam, chose not to accept entrusted estate. he would prefer to accept it in the form of loans. zubair’s action had different implications. first, by taking the money as a loan, he had the right to use it. second, because its loan, he obligated to return it in full. other  companion, ibn  abbas  was reported  to perform  money transfer  to kufah. also abdullah ibn zubair in mecca had some money delivered to his younger brother, misab ibn zubair, who lived in iraq. the use of checks was [ 160 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 also recognized in line with the growing trade between palestine and yemen, which lasted at least twice a year. even during the reign of umar ibn khattab, he was using checks to pay benefits to those who were entitled. with this check then they could exchange it with wheat at baitul maal which was imported from egypt. in addition, the provision of capital for profit-sharing based businesses, such as the mudharabah, musyarakah, muzara’ah, musaqah, have been known since long ago between the muhajirun and the ansar. it is clear that  there were  individuals who carried out banking  functions at the time of the prophet. some companions carried out the function of caring for someone else’s estate; some provided loans, money transfer service, and capital to start a business. a few terms of modern banking even originated from the corpus of the fiqh. the term credit, for example, (english: credit; latin: credo) which was taken from the term qard. credit in english means lending money; credo means trust; meanwhile the term qard in fiqh means lending money on the basis of trust. the term check french: cheque)  is derived from the word saq  (suquq). suquq  in arabic means market, whereas a check is a tool commonly used to make payment  in the market. 2. the period of the umayyah and bani abasiah obviously the banking institution was unknown in the islamic jurisprudence vocabulary, because it was unknown to the muslims in the time of the prophet, the khulafur rasyidin, the umayyah caliphs, and the abbasids. however banking functions, such as accepting deposits, disbursing funds, and transferring money were common practice done in accordance with sharia. at the time of the prophet, the banking functions were performed by individuals, and usually only one person doing one function only. it was only later, in the age of the abbasids, the three banking functions were carried out by an individual in the history of islam. banking began to develop rapidly when many types of currency were circulating in those days so that it required special skills to distinguish between the currencies. it was necessary because each currency had different gold content. people with this special expertise was called naqid, sarraf, and jihbiz. this was the forerunner of the money changing practice. the term  has been known  as jihbiz  since the time of  muawiyah  (661-680 ad) which is actually derived from persian, kahbad or kihbud. during the reign of sasanid, the term was used for a person who was assigned to collect the land tax. the role of the bankers at the time of the abbasid caliphs began to become popular during the muqtadir administration (908-932m). at the time, [ 161 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 almost every vizier had its own bankers. for example ibn furat appointed harun ibn imran and yusuf ibn wahab as his bankers. then ibn ali isa appointed ali ibn isa, hamid ibn wahab appointed ibrahim ibn yuhana, even abdullah al-baridi had three bankers at the same time: two jews and one christian. the advancement of  the banking practices of that era was marked with the release of saq (check) as a medium of payment. the role of  the banker had even covered three aspects, i.e. accepting deposits, channeling, and transfering money. in the latter case, money could be transferred from one country to another without the need to  physically  transport  it.  money changers  who set up offices in many countries have begun to use checks as a medium of money transfers  and  other payment  activities.  in the history of  sharia banking,  syaf  al-dawlah  al-hamdani  is  reported as  the first person to  issue  a check for clearance between baghdad (iraq) and aleppo (current day spain). 3. the development in europe in a further development, the activities carried out by individuals with regard to  jihbiz  later  were undertaken  by  an institution  which is currently  known as a bank. when the european banks began banking practices, problems began to arise because transactions carried out were interest-based. in the view of islamic jurisprudence, the interest is known as riba (usury), and therefore forbidden. this  interest-based  transactions  increasingly were very common when king henry viii in 1545 allowed interest though still banned riba on condition  that the interest  should not be  excessive.  when king  henry viii died, he was succeeded by king edward vi who forbade the application of interest. this however did not last long. when he died, he was succeeded by queen elizabeth i who revived the interest system. then, europeans began to awaken from from backwardness and went through the period of renaissance. exploration and colonization started to occur all over the world, and the activities of the world’s economy began to be dominated by europeans. at the same time, muslim civilization suffered deterioration and muslim countries fell into the grip of colonial europeans one after another.  as a result,  the muslim economic  institutions  collapsed and  were replaced by the  european’s.  this state of affairs has continued  until  modern times. because current existing banking institutions in majority muslim countries are a legacy of the  europeans, most transactions are interest-based. 4. modern times and contemporary era furthermore, there have efforts in a number of muslim countries to establish [ 162 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 alternative institutions against the conventional interest-based banks, since the interest system in fiqh  is categorized usury (and therefore  forbidden). this happens especially after muslim nations gain independence from european colonization. the first modern attempt to set up the bank without interest was first conducted in malaysia in the mid 1940s. however, the efforts were to no avail. another attempt was made in pakistan at the end of the 1950s, where an financial institution  ran without interest  was established in  a rural area  of the country.  nevertheless,  the  experiment of  the establishment of  islamic banks that was the most successful and innovative in the modern times one founded in egypt in 1963, with the establishment of of mit ghamr local saving bank. the bank got a pretty warm reception in egypt, mainly from among farmers and  rural communities.  the number of  customers  of the bank  increased from the first year 17,560 (1963/1964) to 251,152 in 1966/1967. the amount of savings increased drastically from le 40,.944 at the end of the first year (1963/1964) to le 1,828,375 at the end of the period of 1966/1967. unfortunately, due to  political turmoil in  egypt, mit ghamr  began to decline, so that  its operation was taken over by the national bank of egypt and the central bank of  egypt  in 1967.  the takeover  led to  the principle of  interest-free system of the mit ghamr started to be left behind, so the bank was back  in operation  based on  interest.  in 1971  eventually  the concept of  interest-free  was revived  during the  sadat  regime  through  the establishment of nasser social bank. the purpose of this bank was to run a business based on the concept of that was been practiced by the mit ghamr. the success of mit ghamr became a source of inspiration for muslims across the world, especially the fact that they realized that the principles of islam apparently can still be applied in modern business. when the oic (organisation of islamic cooperation) was finally formed, a series of international conferences began to take place, where one of its economic agenda was the establishment of islamic banks.  eventually, the islamic development bank (idb) was founded in october 1975 by 22 islamic countries. the bank provided financial support for the development of its member countries, helping them to set up an islamic bank in their respective country, and played an important role in the study of islamic economics, banking and finance. now, the bank is based in jeddah-saudi arabia and has had more than 43 member states. later  in the  1970s,  attempts  to establish  islamic  banks were  beginning to spread  to  many countries.  some  countries, such as  pakistan,  iran,  and sudan, even  changed the entire financial system  of the country  in order to adopt an interest-free  system, so that all financial institutions  in the [ 163 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 country  could operate  without the use of  interest.  in  other  muslim countries such as malaysia and indonesia, islamic banks operated side by side with conventional  ones.  now,  sharia banking  has undergone  a pretty  rapid  advance and spread to many countries, even to the west. the islamic bank international of denmark is recorded as the first islamic bank operating in europe, founded  in 1983  in  denmark.  now, the  major banks  of  western countries  such as citibank,  anz  bank,  chase manhattan  bank, and  jardine fleming have also opened the islamic window in order to provide banking services that comply with islamic jurisprudence. in terms of  the process  of evolution,  embryonic  banking  activities  in  islamic society  were conducted by  individuals to  single  banking  functions. then, the profession of jihbiz developed, that is an individual doing the three banking functions. such activities were adopted by the european community  of the middle ages, and the operations  were carried out by institutions, but the activities were interest-based. due to the decline of the civilization of the muslims and the colonization of western nations against muslim countries, the  evolution of  the practice of  sharia compliant  banking  was stuck a few centuries. in the 20th century, muslim independent modern islamic banks  were founded  in  a number of countries  and continued to  go through further development. 5. the development in indonesia in  indonesia,  the first  islamic bank founded in 1992  is the  bank muamalat.  though  it was a bit late  compared to  other muslim  states,  sharia banking  in  indonesia  will continue to grow.  between 1992-1998  there was only one  islamic bank  in  indonesia, then  in 1999  the number  increased to three. in the year 2000, the number of islamic and conventional banks that opened  sharia  business units  increased to  6. meanwhile the  number of bprs (sharia people’s loans bank) have already reached 86 units and will still be growing. in the coming years, the number of islamic banks will continue to increase with the influx of new players recently, increasing the number of branch offices of the existing islamic banks, as well as the opening of the islamic window in conventional banks. the research carried out by karim business consulting (2002) projected that the total assets of islamic banks in indonesia will grow by 1,850% for 8 years, or an average of 356.25% each year. this is a very impressive growth. growing sharia banking assets is due to the certainty of regulation as well as the change of views among the community members regarding the presence of the islamic banks. [ 164 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the development of sharia banking certainly must also be backed up by sufficient human resources, both in terms of quality and quantity. however, the reality shows that there are still many people involved in the sharia institutions have no practical or academic experience in sharia banking. surely this condition quite significantly affects the productivity and professionalism of sharia banking  itself. and this  should  in fact  require the attention of all of us, particularly the resources  that are able to practice sharia economic system in all fields because a good system is unlikely to be able to run without good quality human resources. foundations of sharia banking and whatever you give for interest to increase within the wealth of people will not increase with allah . but what you give in zakah, desiring the countenance of allah those are the multipliers. (qs. ar-rum: 39) those who consume interest cannot stand [on the day of resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by satan into insanity. that is because they say, “trade is [just] like interest.” but allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. (qs.al-baqarah: 275) the verses above  quoted  by authors  to  bring  a kind of  hypothesis  in this article  that the  discourse  and discussion  about  the virtues of  sharia banking in this contemporary era are still driven by the discourse of prohibition of riba (usury), which specifically leads to the prohibition of the conventional bank interest.  there are at least two fundamental opinions that address the issue of usury. the first opinion  came from  the majority of scholars  who adopt  and  interpret the fuqaha regarding the riba as stated in fiqh. another opinion says that the prohibition of usury is understood as something related to an attempt of exploitation, which has very detrimental  impacts economically  to the community. conventional bank interest controversy is still becoming a widely discussed issue in the community.  due to  the interest  provided by by  conventional banks which is forbidden, and the indonesia ulema council (mui) already issued a fatwa  in 2003. the discourse, however,  still  is still a subject of discussion a  many arguments  put forward  to  justify the  interest  that it  is not synonymous with usury. although the qur’an and the hadith are very clear with regard to usury which forbidden. to address the controversy of bank interest and usury appropriately requires a deep understanding  of  the ins and outs  of interest  as well  as  of [ 165 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the  consequences  brought about by the  application of the  interest  system in the economy and by reading the signs and the direction of the definition of usury in the quran and hadith. the term interest according to the american heritage dictionary of the english language, namely “a charge for a financial loan, usually a percentage of the amount loaned  “. interest is the amount of money paid for the use of capital. the amount stated for example with one level or percentage of the capital relevant with it which is called the interest of capital (muhammad mujahidin, 2010). the original meaning of “riba” in arabic is ‘more’ (‘increased’). as for what is meant here by syara’ here usury is the contract that goes with a particular exchange,  but the amount is unknown  or not  according to  the rules of  sharia or belatedly accepted. (sulaiman rasjid, 2002: 290). the first known use of the term  riba  is  based on  the revelation  handed down  at the beginning of the prophetic period in mecca most likely in the fourth year or the beginning of  hijra, especially in  early  period when verses related to usury were revealed.  the classical  exegetes  argued  that the meaning  of riba here  is ‘a gift’. based on this interpretation, according to azhari (d. 370 h/980 ad) and ibn  mandzur  (d.711h/1331ad)  consists of  two forms of  usury,  one that is forbidden and the other is not. however, in reality  the term riba  is only used to interpret the value of the debt that added to the loan (abdullah saeed, 2003: 27). meanwhile, al-jurjani defined usury as an excess payment without any additional/replacement/return, required  for one of  the two parties  that make contract/transaction (muhammad mujahidin, 2010). in this light, generally there is a common definition which asserts that usury is an additional charge, both in buying and selling as well as loan that is wrong or contrary to the principles of muamalat in islam. regarding this, almighty god reminds in his words: “ o you who have believed, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly” (qs an-nisa: 29). in relation to the verse above with regard to the meaning of al-bathil, ibn al-arabi al-maliki, in his book ahkam al-quran, explained that the notion of usury  linguistically is  added value (ziyadah), however what is  revealed  in the verse of the quran is that any additions taken without a substitute transaction  justified by sharia. substitute transaction meant here is business or commercial transaction that legitimizes the addition in a fair manner such as a purchase-sale transaction, pawn, lease, or profit sharing of a project. referring to the explanation of the notion of usury and interest above, it can be concluded that interest is the same as usury. [ 166 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 this is so due to  the fact  that in  the practice of conventional banking,  inte rest  is payable by the customer  to the  bank  for the loan  in the form of an additional charge, because clients do transactions with the bank in the form of loan of cash. in islam, the concept of loan is known by the term qard (qardhul hasan) which is a goodly loan. almighty god said: “who is it that would loan allah a goodly loan so he may multiply it for him many times over? and it is allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to him you will be returned.”(qs. al-baqarah: 245) the qard load has no additional charge, so the amount loaned will then be returned in the same amount. however, it is different in the case of a contract or transaction, rent, profit sharing. so,  in transactions of business  funds,  conventionally  the  lenders  take extra  interest  in  the absence of a  substitute received by the borrower which  is usury that has been forbidden by allah  in the  qur’an  and the  hadith  as follows:  “ allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. “ (q. s. al-baqarah: 275), and also in the hadith the messenger of allah said, “jabir said that the prophet cursed the person who received the usury, the man who paid for it, and one who records it, and two witnesses of this, and then he said, “they are all the same.” (narrated by muslim, no. 2995 in al-musaqqah). all ulemas (islamic scholars) agree on the prohibition of usury no matter the amount. a person must not obtain wealth through usury; and the estate should be returned to the owner, if the owner is known, and he is only entitled to the amount he previously owned. in the context of  bank interest,  current  ulemas  in fact  have  consensus  that it  is still forbidden.  in many occasions of conference, congress, symposium and  seminar held by  world  islamic  economic  experts, umar  chapra  foun d agreement among the scholars  concerning  the prohibition of bank interest.  this means  none of  the experts  said  that bank interest is  allowed.  all of  them  condemned  and prohibited bank interest, both  on consumptive or productive, small and large amount, because interest has led to very bad impacts for the world economy and many countries. the world economic crisis which many countries suffered that happened from 1930 until 2009, was the evidence of the most obvious impact of the bank interest system. the discourse that bank interest  is still forbidden  for muslims on  the basis of  in the development of sharia banking. sharia banking and its future as explained earlier,  discourse  and discussion  about  the virtues of  sharia banking in this contemporary era are still driven by the prohibition of usury [ 167 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 (interest) in  conventional  banks. conventional  bank interest  controversy  is still a hot debate in the indonesian community. this is due to the interest given by conventional banks is considered haraam (forbidden) and the indonesia ulema council (mui) has issued a fatwa (a ruling given by a recognized authority) regarding the  bank interest  in 2003.  this  discourse, however,  is still under discussion, since many arguments put forward to justify the interest where some people think that it is not synonymous with usury. although the quran and the hadith have been very clear that it is usury, and the ruling on is clear that it is prohibited. to address  usury  appropriately, it requires  a deep understanding  of  the details  of the interest  as well  as  of the  consequences  brought about with the applicable system of interest in the economy and it also requires the interpretation of the signs and direction of the definition of usury in the quran and the hadith. the term ‘interest’ according to the american heritage dictionary of the english language is «a charge  for a financial  loan, usually a percentage of the amount loaned “. interest is an amount of money paid for the use of capital. the amount for example is stated with one level or the percentage of the capital relevant with it which is called the interest of capital (muhammad mujahideen, 2010). the original meaning of “riba” in arabic is “more” (increased). as for what is mean here by syara’, usury  is  the contract  that goes with a particular exchange,  the amount  is not known  or not  in accordance  the rules of sharia or belatedly accepted (sulaiman rasjid, 2002: 290). the term riba was first known  based on  the revelation  handed down  at the beginning of  the prophetic  period in mecca  most likely  in the year  or the beginning of hijra. the classical exegetes have argued, that the meaning of riba here is gift. based on this interpretation, according to azhari (d. 370 h/980 ad) and ibn  mandzur  (d.711h/1331ad)  consists of  two forms of  usury,  one that is forbidden and the other is not. however, in reality  the term riba  is only used to interpret the value of the debt that added to the loan (abdullah saeed, 2003: 27). meanwhile, al-jurjani defined usury as an excess payment without any additional/replacement/return, required  for one of  the two parties  that make contract/transaction (muhammad mujahidin, 2010). in this light, generally there is a common definition which asserts that usury is an additional charge, both in buying and selling as well as loan that is wrong or contrary to the principles of muamalat in islam. regarding this, almighty god reminds in his words: « o you who have believed, do not consume one another›s wealth unjustly» (qs an-nisa: 29). [ 168 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 in relation to  the  verse  above  with regard to  the meaning of  al-bathil, ibn  al-arabi  al-maliki,  in his book  ahkam  al-quran, explained that  the notion of usury  linguistically is added value (ziyadah), however what is  revealed in the verse of the quran is that any additions taken without a substitute transaction  justified by sharia. substitute transaction meant here is business or commercial transaction that legitimizes the addition in a fair manner such as a purchase-sale transaction, pawn, lease, or profit sharing of a project. referring to the explanation of the notion of usury and interest above, it can be concluded that interest is the same as usury. this is so due to the fact that in the practice of conventional banking, interest  is payable by the customer  to the  bank  for the loan  in the form of an additional charge, because clients do transactions with the bank in the form of loan of cash. in islam, the concept of loan is known by the term qard (qardhul hasan) which is a goodly loan. almighty god said: “who is it that would loan allah a goodly loan so he may multiply it for him many times over? and it is allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to him you will be returned.”(qs. al-baqarah: 245) the qard  load has no additional charge, so  the amount loaned will then be returned in the same amount. however, it is different in the case of a contract or transaction, rent, profit sharing. so, in transactions of business funds, convent ionally the lenders take extra interest in the absence of a substitute received by th e borrower which is usury that has been forbidden by allah in the qur›an and the hadith as follows: « allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. « (q. s. al-baqarah: 275), and also in the hadith the messenger of allah said, «jabir  said that  the prophet  cursed the  person who  received the  usury, the man who paid for it, and one who records it, and two witnesses of this, and then he said, «they are all the same.» (narrated by muslim, no. 2995 in almusaqqah). all ulemas (islamic scholars) agree on the prohibition of usury no matter the amount. a person must not obtain wealth through usury; and the estate should be returned to the owner, if the owner is known, and he is only entitled to the amount he previously owned. in the context of bank interest, current ulemas in fact have consensus that it is still forbidden. in many occasions of conference, congress, symposium and seminar held by  world  islamic  economic  experts, umar  chapra  found  agreement among the scholars  concerning  the prohibition of bank interest. this means none of the experts said that bank interest is allowed. all of them condemned  and prohibited bank interest, both  on consumptive  or  productive, small and large amount, because interest has led to very bad impacts for the [ 169 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 world economy and many countries. the world economic crisis which many countries suffered that happened from 1930 until 2009, was the evidence of the most obvious impact of the bank interest system. discourse on  the prohibition of bank interest has become a basis for muslims in the development of sharia banking. in indonesia itself, the development of sharia banking has entered a new chapter. the growth of sharia banking  industry  has been transformed  from  merely  introducing  an alternative to the practice of sharia banking into how islamic bank gained its position as  a  major player in the  economic life  in the country.  sharia banking  has great potential to become the main and first choice for customers in the their transactions. this is indicated with accelerated growth and development of the sharia bank in indonesia. these fundamental differences between the interest-based conventional banks and the system of profit sharing of islamic banks. see the following table: interest-based profit-sharing the determination of the interest is made at the beginning of the contract period with projected benefit. the determination of the ratio for profit sharing is made at the time of the contract by analyzing the possibility of profit and loss. the percentage (%) of profit is determined unilaterally based on the amount of money (capital) loaned multiplied by the applicable rate of interest. the ratio for profit sharing is determined based on the amount of profit obtained in accordance with the agreement. interest is paid no matter the business run by the customer results in profit or loss. profit-sharing is done based on the profit from the business run. however, when loss occurs, it will be borne jointly by both parties. interest given to the customer is fixed  though bank profitability has increased. interest (usury) is contrary to the principles of sharia. profit-sharing with customers increases, as the bank gains more profit. profit-sharing is in accordance with the principles of sharia. sharia banking industry until now, according to yuli trisnawati  is enjoying growth better than it did in 2009. this refers to the results of an analysis of the  fundamental condition of the  macro-economic  in  the world’s economy that is likely to recover, as well as the internal dynamics of the sharia bank[ 170 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ing industry (yuli trisnawati, 2011). the factors  supporting  sharia banking  industry are, among others,  the non-organic growth due to the increase of new players in the industry, including public banks, sharia business units (uus) and the bprs (sharia banks specializing in loans). in 2009, the number of sharia banks increased with the conversion of 3public banks i.e. bank jasa artha, bank persyarikatan and bank hasfa  each of which  was acquired by  bank bri,  bukopin  and  bank  panin to become sharia public banks  the growth  in  such  non-organic  was also supported  with  organic  growth  through the increased volume of  business supported by an increasing number of sharia bank offices network. as of early november 2009, the public could to enjoy banking services through the 1,101 sharia banks operated by 6 public banks, and 25 uus sharia business units) and 138 bpr (people’s credit banks). this year, opportunities for increased business volume of sharia banking were open. the reason is that the rate of indonesia’s economic growth next year is still relatively high, along with credit rating that is also enjoying an increase. the educational programs and dissemination of sharia banking by bank indonesia, have caused sharia banking  and  other associated  parties  increasingly  to create  conducive situation to the capital market industry (yuli trisnawati, 2011). research conducted by  an  islamic bank on  approximately  3,200  customers throughout indonesia revealed that over 70% of the customers chose the sharia bank for their banking transactions because of religious beliefs. this indicated that there are still many people who do the financial transactions that do not conflict with religious beliefs. 38%  of the respondents cited quick and satisfactory service as the reason to choose sharia banks and 30% due to the strategic location of the bank’s office, in addition to other rational reasons. with regard to the discussion above,  the actual sharia economic prospects, particularly  sharia banking  is promising  in the future.  this  is  due to  the existence of consciousness in part of the community, especially the highly educated to run economic social life without leaving the values of islam. this trend should be anticipated with readiness and infrastructure to support the development of the economy of optimally in future. the facilities and infrastructure meant here are not only in the physical form, but also non-physical such as the education systems that accommodate those needs, so that the human resources will have the capability to build and develop the sharia economy in the future specifically,  the performance of sharia banking on national  funding (thirdparty  funds) showed  encouraging  growth.  sharia banking  industry  is still able to maintain high growth of the dpk, where year-over-year growth [ 171 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 rates until october 2011 was 43%. it was expected in 2011 that the dpk of sharia banks would still grow rapidly given the sharia banking network was also significantly increasing as a result of the emergence of new islamic banks in the previous year. in the meantime, sharia financing was also expected to enjoy increased growth rate. until october 2010, the year-over-year growth in sharia banks  financing  reached  39%,  far above the  conventional  bank credit growth. this figure is certainly more or less presented the contributions of sharia banking against the corporate world nationwide, especially the world of micro enterprises (yuli trisnawati, 2011). though sharia banking enjoyed high growth, however, the industry still had to overcome some of the challenges, in order to maintain a sustainable growth. there are at least 5 major challenges to the sharia bank. first, the human resources. with the ever increasing number of sharia banks and sharia business units in the future, the demand for sufficient numbers of qualified human resources is also increasing. third, the regulation aspect. the development of sharia banking is inseparable from the regulatory aspect. if the legal condition is not conducive, it certainly will hinder the growth of sharia banking, therefore the support of the legal aspects is urgently required. therefore, sharia economic community and islamic economic organizations in indonesia as well as the mui (indonesian ulema council) should urge the government to immediately issue laws related to islamic banking. fourth, the optimization of the network service. the opening office channeling in shariah banks which began in march 2006 and through 2007 increased quite significantly. the policy of office channeling basically focused on addressing the problem of limited banking service coverage. however, it was not balanced with the educational and socialization programs. fifth, product innovation. the success of the sharia banking system in the future will depend on the ability of sharia banks to come with attractive and competitive products that meet the needs of the community, but in accordance with the principles of the sharia, and that’s why sharia banks should be more creative and innovative in the design of its products. according to the identification of bank indonesia, presented at a seminar in late 2005, the constraints of the development of sharia banking in addition to macro-economic condition, were also affected by the following: first,  the limited office network. second,  the limited professional and competent human resources. third, the  lack of enthusiasm among members of the community despite their knowledge of islamic banks.  fourth,  the lack of policy  synchronization  with  other government  institutions  related to  financial transactions,  such as  tax  policy  and  legal aspects. fifth,  the high  interest [ 172 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 rate regime in 2005 (yuli trisnawati, 2011). bank  indonesia  and  other  related  stakeholders  should be  convinced that  the development of  sharia banks  has  a  high prospect if  the network barriers  can be overcome.  the prospects are as follows: first,  the enthusiastic  response  from people in doing economic activities  by using  the principles of  shariah.  second,  the development of islamic  financial instruments  is  expected to be  increasingly attractive  to investors/business  entry and  will improve  national  sharia  banking  industry.  third, the investment potential from the middle eastern countries in the sharia banking industry nationwide. the challenges  clearly visible  regarding  the future  of  the national sharia banking is how to keep the growth rate of this financial institution with a good performance. in addition, another challenge that also needs to be aware of is that sharia banking is concentrating too much on the low risk contracts especially the economic sectors which are limited in variety and still dominant in the trade and service sectors. apart from  this  visible  physical development,  it is expected in  the coming years that the development of the national sharia banking industry will also increasingly  show its advantage  in the form of  benefit  for the community members, particularly the disadvantaged people. therefore, the developmental variables or the degree of benefit should probably be introduced so as to serve as a parameter of the national sharia banking for the community members that have not been reached by the conventional banking industry. conclusion in the perspective of contemporary fiqh (islamic jurisprudence), the conventional bank interest controversy which is still debatable in society, has somehow been responsible for sharia banking growth in indonesia. in this context, all islamic scholars agree that usury is forbidden, no matter the amount. a person must not control wealth through usury; and the capital should be returned to the owner, if the owner is known, then he is only entitled to the amount he loans only. in the context of bank interest, current scholars have a consensus that bank interest is forbidden. therefore, looking at the trend of the rapid growth and development of sharia banking, there is hope for all of us (muslims) that sharia banking is expected to be able  to  generate  national economic  growth and development. thus, the future of sharia banking is measured from how far it is able to maintain the pace of growth with an excellent performance. other challenges that should [ 173 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 also be noted in this regard is that sharia banking is still concentrating on the  low-risk contracts that include only products in the service and trade sector. despite visible physical development, it is expected in the coming years that the development of the national sharia banking industry will also give benefit to the disadvantaged community members. therefore, the developmental variables or the degree of benefit should probably be introduced so that sharia banking will be able to serve as a parameter for those that have so far not been reached by the established banking industry. to sum up, the future of sharia banking is strongly associated with the commitment from islamic banking management and support from many parties, particularly the muslims themselves (who  historically  practiced islamic banking), so that  not only will it exist but  the national sharia banking will also be able to play a significant role  in the national development, and more broadly in the support of national economy. *** references abdullah saeed, 2003. bank islam dan bunga, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. adiwarman a. karim, 2004. bank islam: analisis fiqih dan keuangan. jakarta: rajawali press. departemen agama, 1995. al-quran dan terjemahannya. yogyakarta: dana bhakti waqaf. karnaen a. perwaatmadja dan m. syafi’i antonio, 1997. apa dan bagaimana bank islam. yogyakarta: dana bhakta wakaf. muhammad mujahidin, 2010. “analisis fiqh kontemporer terhadap keterkaitan antara riba dan bunga bank”, dalam http://mujahidinimeis. wordpress.com/2010/05/02/analisis-fiqh-kontemporer-terhadap-keterkaitan-antara-riba-dan-bunga-bank/ (akses internet tanggal 27 september 2014) sulaiman rasjid, 2002. fiqh islam, sinar baru algesindo, bandung. umer chapra, 1999. islam dan tantangan ekonomi kontemporer. yogyakarta: risalah gusti. yuli trisnawati, 2011. “prospek pertumbuhan bank syariah”, dalam http:// yullitrisnawati.blogspot.com/2011/04/prospek-pertumbuhan-bank-syariah-dan.html. (akses internet tanggal 27 september 2014). undang-undang republik indonesia nomor 21 tahun 2008 tentang perbankan syariah yusuf wibisono, 2009. politik ekonomi uu perbankan syariah peluang dan tantangan [ 231 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 dynamic social integration: social integration of religious followers in ambon saidin ernas ambon state institute of islamic studies abstract the social dynamics in post-conflict ambon, maluku, 1999-2004, indicated that even though people were segregated in the islamic-christian areas, gradually social integration began to occur naturally. the process of integration that occurred also gave birth to new values and inclusive views that give hope to future peace building. using the theory of social integration of dynamic adaptation of the parsonian structural-functional classic paradigm and combined with a qualitative research model, this study successfully formulated several important findings. first, social integration occurred in the city of ambon could run naturally through economic interactions, consensus on political balance and inclusive religious spirit. in addition, the presence of public spaces such as offices, schools, malls and coffee shops served as a natural integration medium that is increasingly important in the dynamics of the society. second, the new social integration has created an increasingly important meaning that leads to a model of active harmony characterized by a process of the increasingly active social interaction between different religions, as well as strengthening pluralism and multiculturalism insight due to campaign by educational institutions and civil society groups. third, this study also reminds us that although there has been a process of the increasingly positive social integration in ambon city, people still need to be aware of the growth of radical religious ideologies at a certain level, and also of strengthening identity politics in the long run that will potentially give birth to primordial and ethnocentric attitudes that are harmful to the development of peace. keywords; social integration, conflict, peace, ambon introduction the conflict that occurred in maluku during the period from 1999 to 2003, was one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies in indonesia. the conflict was manifested in acts of collective violence with strong religious symbols has caused tremendous destruction, both in terms of number of casualties, damage to property and destruction of the moral and social order of the religious communities in maluku whose impact is still felt today. the conflict has also [ 232 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 created social segregation between the muslim and christian communities. not surprisingly, azumardi azra (2000) once referred to the maluku conflict the most devastating social conflict in the history of modern indonesia. it was powerful religious conflicts which could eventually be stopped through a long and complicated dialog process. it all began with the malino peace agreement in 2002, both parties finally agreed to end the conflict as a way to build peace. they were trying to get back to normal life and strived to leave behind a great tragedy that made them hostile to each other for several years. slowly, social relations between people of different religions, ethnic and cultural were reestablished. i started with economic activities, religious momentum and social interaction that naturally occurred through the public space. social phenomena that have become common in ambon, certainly could be referred to as a positive sign of peace. however, the extent of the phenomena which serve a solid foundation for building harmony and peace would require new analytical studies. the study of social integration can serve as the gate to analyzing and evaluating the process of change that has occurred after the conflict, because the concept of social integration today is not just talking about the unification of plural societies of different religions and ethnicities in a common identity, or assimilation between dominant and minority groups (rita pranawati, 2011). furthermore, the concept of social integration as discussed by some social scientists, should be able to show the forms of social relations that are authentic; recognizing each other’s existence, mutual trust and equality (asutosh varsney, 2000). likewise, social integration must be seen in the context of a new morality that has grown to the extent that supports harmony and peace in society that will bind them in a social equilibrium (biku parekh, 2008). this paper is basically a process of critical evaluation of the dynamics of peace building in ambon city at this time, especially with regard to the nature of the efforts of the community to build a more harmonious social relationship in the midst of social segregation. there are still social segregations, where settlements are separated by religious identities: islam and christianity. this phenomenon has become the right moment to examine the changes that occur in the post-conflict maluku. is a process of social integration getting better and authentic between ethnic and religious communities in ambon? then what about the form and process of integration that is taking place at the moment, does it contribute to the strengthening of peace or on the contrary does it hold a potential conflict to re-explode in a dangerous escalation? generally, the focal theory selected as the grand theory in understanding the phenomenon of social interaction and efforts to build peace in ambon is [ 233 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the theory of social integration. in the sociological study, the theory of social integration is part of the structural functionalism paradigm introduced by talcot parson (1927-1979). this paradigm assumes that basically people are in a social system that binds them in equilibrium. this is reflected in two basic understandings of social integration, first, the control of conflicts and social deviation in a particular social system, and second, bringing together certain elements in society in order to create a social order (george ritzer & douglas j. goodman, 2009). this process aims to integrate social groups in society, by bridging the differences caused by a number of factors such as territory, culture, religion, interests, social class and so on, so as to reduce the gap caused by these factors. so far, the study of social integration has often been influenced by a discourse of power of a union in a strong shared identity to overcome the differences. a social commentary that highlights the subordination of the minority forces to submit and to be united under the power of the identity of the majority. then as a continuation of such perspective, a concept of assimilation is promoted, where minority identity and culture are expected to converge with the cultural identity of the majority. in his study of national integration, nazaruddin syamsudin argued that social integration is part of the concept of national integration which basically covers two fundamental issues. first, how to get people to be submissive and obedient to the demands and interests of the nation and state. second, how to improve the normative consensus that governs the positive behavior of the community or individuals in it (nazaruddin syamsuddin, 1996). nazaruddin’s view, actually represents many political scientists of his day who viewed the state as the sole political and social entity whose existence should be taken care of, although in the process it inevitably ignores the diversity and differences that have become a social fact in indonesia. since the 1998 reform, which was characterized by democracy and democratic discourse that encouraged openness, many scientists criticized the concept of integration as part of the discourse of the hegemonic power. many scientists and researchers looked at the concept of social integration as a social science concept that has lost its context in the midst of the demands of democracy and respect for differences. therefore, every study that promotes social integration is regarded as a theoretical activity which is unattractive and pro-status quo. however, from my point of view, what social scientists need to do is to release a scientific concept from power interpretations that have ruled over it. as argued by a sociologist, heru nugroho (1999), social scientists today require balancing the public discourse in a balanced manner to participate [ 234 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 and engage in discourse about diversity, without any coercion from the state to civil society. similarly, this paper seeks to promote the concept of social integration in a democratic society, which sees the difference as a political reality that must be managed democratically. the democratic view of the concept of social integration emphasizes on the importance of equal relations and mutual benefit. biku parekh (2008: 84-87) explained that the process of social integration in a democratic society requires three factors. first, the agreement of the majority of its members to certain social values which are fundamental and crucial (moral contract). second, people are drawn together in various social units of mutual monitoring with potential social aspects. this is to maintain the dominance and control of the majority over the minority. third, there is interdependence between social groups within a community who are assembled for the fulfillment of economic and social needs as a whole. the main reason for the birth of social integration in a democratic society is the existence of a situation where people can communicate and interact in an egalitarian, full of confidence and mutual need. asutosh varsney (2003) referred to such situation is only possible through civic engagement, both through the interaction initiated by groups of civil society (organized civic network) and interactions that occur naturally through the public space of egalitarian (everyday civic network). both of these processes can foster trust which ensures that different groups in the community will not engage in violence to others. social integration also requires recognition of the invalidity of the difference and the right for those differences to live in the community. with such recognition, tolerant attitude towards differences will appear. another important requirement is a moral contract (parekh, 2008), a form of shared values that bind society in equilibrium. a new view of social integration in a democratic society certainly will not deny the existence of conflict as an integral part of social phenomena and changes. conflict, as ralf dahrendrof (see george ritzer & douglas j. goodman, 2009) argued, is a social phenomenon that is always present (inherent/omni-present) in every human society. human communities wherever they are will always have the possibility of conflict (tuhana taufiq, 2000), including in ambon. however, conflict potential does not need to be encountered in a manner of hegemonic power, as the society and the state need to manage a variety of potential conflicts that exist in such a way that they can be accepted by all parties (maswadi rauf, 2000). patterns of social integration in the midst of conflict, social segregation and conflict that still is rampant which i referred to as a “dynamic social [ 235 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 integration”. in other words, the dynamic of social integration is the process of unification of society that occurs naturally, without the subjugation of the majority against the minority, or vice versa. in a dynamic social integration, conflict and disagreement should be constructively interpreted and managed by democratic means which can be accepted by various existing interest groups. no society is completely free of conflict; society’s ability to manage and control conflicts will determine whether or not a potential conflict could develop into a destructive collision. the case of peace building in ambon discussed in this study could be an interesting lesson about a dynamic model of social integration. although the ambon people remain divided over social segregation based on religion, they are involved in an effort to manage the differences by nature, partly through cultural initiatives. the people in ambon have tried to build a process of social integration on the foundation of the values of the new wisdom that will bind them together even though they still recognize the differences between them. shared values that promote harmony and peace that serves as a positive habitus in society (pierre bourdeou, 2008). such habitus will be a mental or cognitive structure by which the people in ambon will strive to restore social relations that had torn them apart. ambon in the context of social and religious the conflict that devastated ambon from 1999 to 2004, has resulted in massive destruction. in addition to the number of victims killed and injured, public facilities and houses of citizens were also destroyed or burnt down. the impact of the conflict also contributed to the split of maluku society into two communities, namely muslims and christians. communities that had lived and settled in a village consisting of diverse ethnic, racial and religious groups have been displaced and separated and drawn together with their respective communities. after the agreement malino in 2002 took effect, the city of ambon was slowly conducive, characterized by decreasing intensity of conflict, destruction of weapons, construction of public facilities and the return of refugees who had been displaced in various places (both in ambon city and other areas). however, the refugees had to face the reality of traumatic and fear to return to their home and meet their neighbors of different religions. then, the refugees usually chose a new settlement with people of the same religion (subair at al., 2008). christian refugees returned to the predominantly christian settlements, as [ 236 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 well as muslim refugees who began to build houses in the muslim settlements. most of the refugees took the initiative to barter residence with those of different religions to acquire a home in their new settlements. muslim communities generally inhabit regions in waihaong, silale and scattered in batu merah village whose inhabitants were increasingly crowded. some houses had to be built on the slopes of the mountain and hill with safety concern, and potential to damage the environment and the preservation of nature. batu merah village was not really big but it was forced to accept thousands of refugees seeking a new place to live in the muslim village. while the christian community chose to live in the subdistrict of nusaniwe, such as latuhalat, amahusu, kudamati, batu gantung, wainitu and mangga dua. christian areas also included karang panjang, ahuru and some other places in the region of galala to paso in the subdistrict of baguala. in fact, christian area still looked wider than the area occupied by the muslim community, but the christian region was also a densely populous. social segregation created sociologically is very worrying indeed. settlements built on group identities, which are homogeneous and exclusive, are certainly unhealthy and will easily give rise to suspicions, social problems and conflict. the main reason is that no other groups that play a role as a catalyst for conflict issues that arise in the community. in a neighborhood where there are residents who embrace various religions, social integration and the opportunity to protect each other would occur. petter blau and schwartz (1984) mentioned the importance of heterogeneous situation to strengthen the dual loyalty in social life. the point is that a person who is affiliated with a certain religion will maintain good relationship with their own group as well as others. it is a consequence of being in the same neighborhood. this is what experts referred to as “dual loyalty”, where the more loyalty a person has in a social circumstance, the more a person has a tolerance and maintain a good relationship to everyone. through the relationship, heterogeneous society can look after and protect each other. however, the views put forward by petter blau, seemed to be subject to correction when observing the phenomenon of conflict in ambon, where neighbors had been attacking and killing each other. they seemed to have no loyalty to their neighbors who have been living for years around them. social integration of variation in ambon after conflict and violence were slowly down, the people of ambon tried to rebuild a social life and social relationship because a feeling of suspicion and resentment is still strong in the community. in spite of this, we can see that [ 237 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 people were starting to learn how to manage social life in an abnormal way. such abnormality was evident when people are forced to accept the fact that life in ambon city has turned into an extreme social segregation and became the new face of this little city. moreover, the shrinking residential land has been difficult for the government to encourage the construction of new housing units that could serve as an “oasis” where people of different religions can live together in peace. indeed, in some places, such as poka and wayame people come from different backgrounds, but overall ambon is a divided city. nonetheless, the phenomenon that occurred in ambon precisely confirmed the veracity of the functional structural theory proposed by parson (19271929) who believed that society is a system that consists of a variety of social units, which will naturally and systematically experience the process of reintegration, and will form a social system which binds people in a social equilibrium (george ritzer & douglas j. goodman, 2009). humans are social beings who are always in need of a shared life, because as the functional structural theorists believe that humans will always seek to find ways to build a better life together, though in the process, multiple conflicts and contradictions might arise. basically, human nature requires certain situations to be able to meet economic, political and cultural needs. conflict and peace finally appear as a contradiction but complementary so that the integrity of variations occurred in post-conflict ambon in maluku. first, social integration will naturally utilize the economic activities in local markets. obviously, the situation of post conflict society of maluku had poor economic conditions. in some places, people had trouble getting groceries and other staple food for their daily needs because the distribution was hampered by social segregation and a distant settlement. each group built its own life, had its own economic activities, its own market, etc. under these conditions there are groups of people from both communities who communicate and conduct transactions of food needs to be sold to the public in their neighborhood. groups with economic interests have taken the initiative to break the ice as a result of conflicts, despite living in segregation they had contact through communication and the exchange of goods between traders. mardika and batumerah market that is geographically located between muslim and christian area in ambon city acts as a medium that brings these communities together. people from muslim and christian community are selling their merchandise here. gradually, the mardika market which was burnt down during the conflict, came back to life and became the first public space for them to meet each other. bugis, makassar and other traders who left ambon, returned into the market and rebuilt the destroyed grocery stores and kiosks. [ 238 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the ambon phenomenon shows that the market is a place which has of social, economic, cultural and political elements. activities in the market are not only about economic values (where buyers and sellers meet to hold the exchange of money and goods), but it also has a social dimension that relates each other in a public life. the role of the market that turned into a social medium of integration, bringing together diverse groups that initially built relationship because of economic necessity. through such contact, the disconnected communication is now re-established. economic activities in the market served to foster the birth of reconciliation movement in ambon, which was done without being engineered, natural and inspirational, occurring in the grassroots, very inclusive indeed, which also proved economy is not only a trigger of conflict but also an agent of unifying the two war torn communities (christian and muslim). second, there were efforts to turn religious events as a medium of social integration. at times we might not realize that ritual and religious events are filled with symbolic meaningful expressions. abdullah (2006) stated that the activities of religious ceremonies and rituals are the momentum to continue to maintain the values and reproduce religious values as a medium of communication and community integration. through community religious events, people can build social cohesion and integration to improve social balance. the development of post-conflict maluku shows that people of ambon used religious events as a medium for forming social integration and bringing togetherness between them. there were two religious events used as a momentum for a medium of integration and harmony, i.e. musabaqah tilawatul qur’an (qur’an recital competition) (mtq) in 2012 and the national gospel choir (pesparawi) 2015. in the event the national mtq in 2012 people of different religions ambon started to build unity through active involvement in the activities. although the mtq 2012 was a muslim religious event, obviously we could see that christians and catholics in ambon were involved and participated in these activities. the forms of engagement that can be noted was the participation of a choir group to sing march songs of the mtq, some people taking role as the committee members in a variety of functions, and providing a venue for the mtq events. some christians offered their home as a place to stay for the mtq delegates from various regions. meanwhile in various major roads to the narrow alleys in the city of ambon, christians put up banners and billboards that made statements supporting the mtq in ambon city. some delegates coming from various regions expressed astonishment at the welcoming gesture shown by christian community of ambon during the [ 239 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 mtq. similarly, the national pesparawi event in 2015, a contest of gospel songs held each year by christians in indonesia, also received a warm welcome from muslims in ambon city. the batu merah muslim community provided their houses as accommodation for pesparawi contingents from different provinces. at the batu merah mosque, people sang shalawat and religious chants to welcome the pesparawi contingents from various provinces that pass through the village of batu merah. they displyed white cloth and ask the pesparawi contingents to get down from the vehicle to walk on foot with them across the village of batu merah as an expression of brotherhood. i also noted the various activities they did together in maintaining a house of worship on the day of religious holidays such as on eid and christmas. during the activities of eidul fitr, a number of christian youth from batu gantung are usually present as volunteers to help keep the eid prayer activities to be carried out safely. similarly, on christmas, many young people from batu merah, waihaong and silale helped to secure the christmas service held at churches in the city of ambon, one of which was in shiloh church. a local mass media mentioned that on christmas 2014, there were 120 members of the mosque teenagers in ambon city who joined the police and the army in securing 48 churches in the city of ambon. according to the chairman of the young generation of the protestant church (amgpm) maluku, elifas tomix maspaitella, what the young muslims did to keep the christmas service safe is the real face of the culture of maluku, and it also proves that the awareness of religious communities in maluku to respect each other began to grow again after the bloody conflict a decade ago. what happened in ambon showed efforts to make religion and ritual moment as a medium for building integration and social harmony. religious events have symbolically become a medium that carried messages and symbols that integrate groups of people of different religions in the religious, cultural consciousness. therefore, according to julian steward, religious ceremonies or events implemented by the community are effort to adapt to the changing environment so that through ceremonies and rituals (both religious and cultural) communities can express themselves, preserve and communicate cultural values in order to be references in realizing social solidarity and social integration (julian steward in bambang hudayana at al., 2012). third, the use of public spaces as an arena for social integration. in the context of life in the city of ambon, the public spaces that play a role in encouraging communication and integration between citizens are centers of economic activities such as the markets, government offices, public schools, and coffee [ 240 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 houses that thrive in post-conflict maluku. government offices have a very important role to bring together people from various backgrounds. the employees are “forced” by the prevailing system in the office to work together in an orderly way, while the school has become a public space for all the students with different backgrounds. although similar to the office, public space during the conflict was based on religious affiliation, even schools were also segregated. however, it began to change, especially for schools located in the border region between muslim and christian, such senir high school 3 of ambon. the research conducted by adam latuconsina (2013) mentioned that an increasingly inclusive school is a place for fostering tolerant attitude in the future. students from various backgrounds learn to get to know the religious identity of each of their fellows’ different religions and beliefs, which are expected to form an inclusive character among the young generation. another public space is the coffee house that flourished in the wake of the conflict in maluku. the coffee house has become a public space that brings together people from a variety of different identity groups. the relaxed, informal, and humorous atmosphere of the coffee shop can be used to build good relationship between visitors who already knew each other well before, even between strangers. conversation and social relations that occur in a coffee shop may not directly resolve the problems that arise in the community, but the encounter between people of different backgrounds here enables communication, and exchange of perspectives. rumors, suspicions and various other forms of negative information get ‘censored’ and clarified through conversation in a coffee shop. rumors are often the ignition of conflict which can be neutralized, or referred to in the literature of peace studies as “being killed” by the process of exchanging information so that it cannot easily be used for the mobilization of conflict. egalitarian public space would be a “bridge” for good relations between religions and ethnicities. referring to the theory varsney (2003) on social capital, pattern of relations in an egalitarian public space will create a pattern of relationships which are not formal in everyday life (everyday forms of engagement). according varsney, informal relationship patterns which have a sturdier resistance to press potential for conflict, is natural and free from political interests and often occurs in formal organizations. however, it does not mean the pattern of formal relationships (association forms of engagement) such as in offices and schools are not important (asutosh varsney in iqbal ahnaf, 2013). both types of relationship patterns can play an important role in preventing polarization-based identity that may potentially be used to mobilize conflict. [ 241 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 fourth, the consensus on the politics of equilibrium, followed by efforts to allocate resources to accommodate all the interests of political identities. this is important because during the conflict, the issues of the balance of important positions in the local bureaucracy were continuously discussed. it even constituted one of the issues fiercely debated in the malino agreement in 2002 (saidin ernas, 2006). in addition to local bureaucracy, the balance in the management of education at the university of pattimura was also criticized by a number of islamic leaders because it was considered to be controlled by the christian community. in a further development, the concept of balance though not formally regulated in the existing regulations in maluku, became political awareness and political consensus in the practice of local politics and government. as a result, the configuration of the political leadership always symbolizes a balanced political accommodation. in post-conflict elections, maluku governor, brigadier general (ret) karel albert ralahalu, a christian took muhammad latuconsina (muslim) as his running mate and then won the election. in the second tenure, karel took said assegaf as his running partner and again successfully emerged as the winner. the city of ambon also adopted the practice of poltical balance. jopy papilaya managed to emerge as the mayor by taking syarid haldler as the vice mayor and in the following period he took olivia latuconsina. the current mayor of ambon (2011-2016 period) is held by richad louhanapesy with syam latuconsina as vice mayor. almost all candidates who are involved in the election of the governor and the mayor still practice this balance politics with candidates coming from different religions, muslim-christian. at the level of local bureaucracy the balance of political consolidation also took place. the government employees were appointed by looking at the allocation based on the balance of religion. so is the case with policy development. as illustrated in several regional development programs, where they were carried out by adopting the approach of balance. for example, the construction of the islamic center was followed by the construction of the christian center and the catholic center, etc. in the past year, the government sent a number of imams to perform umrah which was fully funded by the provincial government. at the same time the government also financed a number of priests and pastors for spiritual tourism to israel. political developments like this according to bachtiar efendi (1996) is an allocative policy, in which the government allocates economic and political resources evenly on all political forces to avoid jealousy and feelings of being treated unfairly. the example of ‘each gets a share’ politics can also be seen from the perspective of political representation which is indirectly implemented as [ 242 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 an integral part in the process of reconciliation for peace. in this case, the representation is defined as the expression of a position of equality in the relations of heterogenic society. democracy itself is often interpreted as the voice of the majority, often eliminating the minority voice that had been assumed to be “submission to the paradigm of public interest. so, one of the adjudications made in the representation as the resolution of conflicts in maluku and ambon is creating a balance composition of bureaucratic positions between different faiths and ethnicities. dynamic social integration and energetic spirit of inclusiveness ambon conflict shows the dynamics where the social system which was formed after the conflict tend to look for a new pattern of relations between communities. despite social segregation, slowly but sure, the people of ambon (muslims and christians) try to find new forms of awareness about peace. it raises awareness of social practices and new social interaction, which is more open and inclusive, even with more powerful energy. this phenomenon could be described as energetic inclusiveness which serves as a model of dynamic social integration in ambon first, the strengthening energetic spirit of inclusiveness in the practice of active harmony. overall, it can be said that the values of inclusive religious understanding is slowly growing and developing within religious communities in ambon, especially among the religious leaders who realize the significance of fostering the values of inclusiveness in favor of peace. even in reality, the values of inclusiveness have given birth to a new model of an active religious harmony. society not only acknowledges differences in society, but actively seeks to learn and improve solidarity in social life. the use of the term ‘active harmony’ is in this paper is to distinguish the general discourse of religious harmony which has been used by the state. for example, in the discourse of the new order regime, this concept seemed to be passive and hegemonic. harmony was interpreted only as not to interfere and meddle in the affairs of people of different religions and cultures. so, during the new order era, the concept of harmony was restricted by policies that seemed repressive. in the sara (tribe, religion, race and intergroup relations) policy for example, for the sake of harmony, one should not discuss matters concerning the differences. this obviously gave birth to a closed attitude toward differences even at the birth of harmony that was created on the surface. some sociologists saw the model of harmony of the new order as a passive harmony, where people only knew there were different beliefs and [ 243 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 political views but obviously they did not get to know the differences, because it was regarded as disrupting social stability. meanwhile, in the concept of active harmony, it not only created tolerance as mentioned above, but also appears to make active efforts for mutual dialog and enhance mutual understanding. harmony is built on awareness, knowledge and trust in those who are different. in the concept of active harmony, an egalitarian and inclusive dialog is very prominent, as people are encouraged to discuss the differences in an effort to learn and recognize differences. moreover, dialog aims to understand the views according to the view of the one’s own construction, not of ours. in this context the term dialog between religions, which is very important in building tolerance, is more than just a passive harmony. the context life between religions in ambon indicated that the values of harmony that develops actively which is marked by the emergence of religious institutions that perform interfaith dialogs particularly among the protestant church of maluku, which officially made the concept of inter-religious dialog part of religious service. education and training curriculum for christian priests in maluku began offering intensive study on inter-religious dialog between islam and christianity, and no longer focusing on a comparative study of religions that contain binary opposition perspective. the strength of civil society that thrived in post-conflict period also emerged as a force that is actively campaigning for the model of harmony, as shown by a number of theologians and activists who joined the agency el-ai-em. since 2005 a number of activists of the institute have been focusing on consolidating public dialogs related to various social problems, not only theological religious issues but also contemporary social problems such as hiv/aids, drugs and domestic violence. public dialogs held to build shared perceptions on several contemporary issues were rolling in daily public discourse in the city of ambon. in addition it also conducted a limited variety of interfaith meeting, to examine and map the development of the security situation periodically. the mapping of the situation is then delivered to multiple stakeholders, with connections and influence in society. an activist of the el-ai-em, wakano abidin said that efforts to establish a dialog is as a way to foster a tolerant attitude and religious life in ambon as part of an active harmony. as described earlier, the role of the communities from different groups of religion in religious events such as the mtq, pesparawi and participation in securing houses of worship during the holidays and christmas is the real form of active harmony. society is not only willing to respect the differences, but also engages in concrete actions to institutionalize the values of harmony as a [ 244 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 way to build a tolerant life together. the concept of active harmony is a new spirit of diversity that is being developed in ambon despite the difficulty to develop it because sometimes the activists have to deal with criticism and a lawsuit from conservative religious groups. in the future, the spirit of active harmony will become new values in the spirit of religious citizens of the city of ambon. here it can be seen that indirectly conflict has prompted new religious models that are much more progressive in addressing the differences of belief. second, the energetic spirit of inclusiveness in the idea of pluralism and multiculturalism as a new form of consciousness to establish peace in ambon city. several local institutions in ambon, such as ngos, religious institutions and universities strive to internalize the discourse of pluralism and multiculturalism in the local people’s life. they make it as a campaign theme, slogan or discussion of religion and culture in public spaces and, of course, in the academic world. in fact, there are universities that adopt it formally as part of the vision and mission implementing it in the academic and socio-cultural program. pluralism is used openly by the malaku protestant church (gpm) in framing religious dialogs. pluralism is usually paired with the practices of local wisdom as pela and gandong. on its 80th anniversary in 2015, the gpm promoted the theme of pluralism as outlined in the texts of the church to the public campaign. pluralism is considered the extraction of the experience of protracted conflict and revitalization on local wisdom as a medium of dialog in diversity. lis marantika of gpm maluku mentioned that the pluralism theme promoted by the maluku protestant church was in line with the spirit of the brotherhood, religious and moral messages in the holy book. what lis referred to certainly has empirical justification when seeing the whole process of transformation of the post-conflict maluku protestant church. gpm continued the program to encourage an understanding of the importance of pluralist attitude in religious practice in maluku. to the leaders of gpm, ambon and maluku society can make pluralism a new narrative to unite themselves in diversity. the process is carried out through egalitarian dialog, and the revitalization of the values of local wisdom. in addition to effort made by the church, the maluku christian university (ukim) also campaigned themselves as the “campus of brotherhood of people”, which according to its president would give the knowledge to all students regardless of religious and ethnic groups. the choice of the theme “ campus of brotherhood of people” put emphasis on the importance of the spirit of brotherhood that is integrated in the learning process at the university. the ukim also launched peace studies center, which specifically examines the conflict and peace in maluku. [ 245 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 meanwhile the muslims also continued to campaign on the concept of multiculturalism as a social discourse to express the spirit of brotherhood. even the state institute of islamic studies (iain) ambon included multiculturalism in the main vision and as a central theme that frames the whole academic activities at iain ambon. multiculturalism was adopted in the academic curricula of all study programs, student activities and other academic activities. as the implementation of the vision of multiculturalism, in 2015, a number of students from the department of sociology, faculty of dakwa and ushuluddin iain ambon sent to apprentice students to the maluku protestant church (gpm). the internship at the church was one of the major breakthroughs made in building iain students’ understanding and knowledge of diversity and differences. through understanding the differences, (by experience) students are expected to have an attitude and character that respect differences and avoid hostility to other groups who have different beliefs referring to diana l. eck (2002), the spirit of pluralism that is being built in ambon can encourage energetic and active engagement in the face of segregation and diversity. an awareness of plurality will encourage inclusive religious dialog to talk and listen, open minds and promote a shared understanding of the reality of differences. through a campaign of pluralism and multiculturalism, various social groups in ambon want to find a way to build mutual understanding and better cooperation despite the fact that geographically and sociologically the people of ambon city still remain in segregation. the academic concept of pluralism and multiculturalism is expected to be used to manage differences and diversity in maluku. challenges of religious radicalism and the appeal of identity politics. even though i have demonstrated various positive developments in the dynamic social integration that occurred in the city of ambon and their new values attached to them, along with that there is still potential conflict that needs to be addressed. it is mainly related to the threat of religious radicalism that is constantly looking for a place in the community of potential conflict, such as what happened in ambon. similarly, the threat of the practice of identity politics tends to highlight the primordial fanaticism which is currently a common symptom of political praxis in indonesia. radicalism network is referred to in this paper is the phenomenon of religious groups who propagate notions of exclusive community of ambon city. the radical understanding can come from both muslims and christians who are not in [ 246 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 favor of the practices of active harmony or the campaign on pluralism and multiculturalism in ambon. it needs to be reminded because among the muslims, a radical network still has cultural roots institutionalized during the conflict in maluku. movements propagated by radical groups such as jihad paramilitary troops still left the cultural bases behind that inherited religious worldview that tends to be exclusive. these groups were born of the ex-combatants who did not return to home. they settled in ambon and built the movement and religious groups that turned out to be different from the religious movement that existed before the conflict: moderate islam. according to the national agency of counter terrorism (bnpt) the movement called itself the salafi movement that simply cannot be categorized as a terrorist movement, although it did not rule in the long run, it will lead to a radical exclusivism that is hard and stiff. while not too prominent, among the christians there are also religious groups that have a religious view that tends to be exclusive. in contrast to the christian understanding developed by the maluku protestant church, christian exclusive groups tend to be aggressive and are considered less tolerant. yance z. rumahuru argued that these groups come from the radical christian groups of charismatic church and pentecostal church groups who are usually aggressive in the deployment of the mission. the pretext is looking for the lost sheep in maluku. in fact, sometimes they also denominated other christians who are not like-minded. however it seems that this group is not dominant, so that its religious views are less developed in the religious discourse in maluku. in addition to religious radicalism, another challenge that needs to be aware of in the process of social integration and religious peace in ambon is the phenomenon of identity politics. identity politics is basically a part of an effort made by certain ethnic, religious, and cultural communities to be accommodated in the local political system. however, it is worrisome when it is displayed in ambon as the city is recovering from the wounds of bloody conflict. the phenomenon of identity politics can bring back the religious and ethnic sentiments that may easily cause violent mobilization. the contemporary indonesian political era today show an uncertain reality experienced by the indonesian related to the strengthening of identity politics. agnes heller (in abdillah, 2002) assumed the identity politics as the politics that focuses on the differences as a major category which it promises freedom, tolerance, and freedom for free play although it raises the patterns of intolerance, violence and ethnic conflict. in the case of indonesia, and more specifically maluku, the temptation of the emerging identity politics tends to [ 247 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 carry ethnicity, religion and political ideology. the operational patterns of this identity politics can be found in today’s community indicated by the number of conflicts of interest and the phenomenon of sectoral ego in ambon, among other things: first, the operationalization of identity politics played its role optimally through the apparatus of government. this is in line with the demands of religious identity and ethnic balance in the local bureaucracy and the political system. identity politics is revealed by rampant issues of ethnicity and primordial phenomena carried through the issues of religion and ethnicity in important moments such as general elections and legislative elections. similarly, it is also the case when talking about ethnicities and immigrant issues, which are made up with the majority and minority. secondly, in the context of identity politics in maluku, it also utilizes religious expression that contains the tendency to “get rid” of other groups who are considered minorities. based on both patterns of operationalization, identity politics seems likely to distort the inclusive religious insight that people have been trying to build in maluku especially in the last decade, where obviously we can witness efforts to increase the political role of the various local groups in ambon continues to take political identity setting (dirk tomsa, 2008). local elections have triggered elite and political practitioners to consolidate political interests in the name of religion and ethnicity which are in fact quite dangerous for peace building. actually, the strengthening of identity politics through the representation of religious and ethnic groups in the allocation of positions in the bureaucracy as being imposed in some government offices in ambon, have somehow managed to, in the short term, reduce conflict. nonetheless, in the long run, this is not conducive to the constructive efforts to maintain peace that has been created in the last decade. conclusion this research indicated that even though ambon is still torn and segregated based on religious identity, islam and christianity, there has been a positive process because a social system that is being established in ambon tends to foster a new spirit of social integration that can be read as a dynamic social integration. with regard to the dynamics in discussion, this research made some important points as the conclusion. first, the dynamic social integration that occurred in the city of ambon took place naturally, because of the pressure of economic needs that bring people together in a place like the market. at the same time, there was also an initiative to revitalize the values of local wisdom as a bridge of brotherhood. society also used religious events such as the mtq [ 248 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 and pesparawi as medium for social integration while enhancing increasingly positive interfaith cooperation. meanwhile, different political interests were manifested through the efforts to revive public spaces such as markets, offices, schools, and coffee shops which are surprisingly thriving in the wake of the conflict. however, there was a strengthening of political balance that gave a representation for the sake of religion and ethnicity in the allocation of political and public positions in the bureaucracy and the local political system. second, the developments in ambon lately also indicated the growing strength of the energy that was portrayed in the inclusivity model of active harmony, which was characterized by the process of increasingly active social interaction between religious followers, in an open and conducive dialog. at the same time, the stakeholders such as religious organizations, the forces of civil society and community of higher education also sought to adopt academic concepts such as pluralism and multiculturalism to strengthen the vision of peace in ambon. third, this study also reminded us that although there is a process of social integration and the development of an increasingly positive peace in ambon, people still need to watch for the growth of the radical religious ideology that at some level still exist in the community, both muslims and christians. at the same time, the appeal of identity politics that emerged in the local political momentum such as general elections and local elections should also be handled with caution, because it indirectly will give birth to primordial and ethnocentric attitudes which are harmful to the development of peace in the future. references abdullah, irwan (ed.). 2008. agama dan kearifan lokal dalam tantangan global. yogyakarta: sekolah pascasarjana ugm dan pustaka pelajar. abdullah, subair, dkk. 2008. segregasi pemukiman berdasarkan agama. yogyakarta; graha guru. ahnaf, mohammad iqbal. 2013. mengelola keragaman dari bawah, ko-eksistensi santr-tionhoa di lasem kawa tengah. yogyakarta; sekolah pascasarjana ugm. azra, azumardi. 2000. muslim and christian relation in contemporary indonesia, makalah pada komprensi tentang “christian and muslim in the commonwealth”, windsor , inggris, 6-9 july. bertrand, jacques. 2004. nationalism anda ethnic conflik in indonesia. newyo[ 249 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 rk: cambridge university press. blau, peter michael dan joseph e. schwartz. 1984.crosscutting social circles: testing a macrostructural theory of interrelation. orlando: academic press. bourdieu, pierre. 1997. outline of a theory of practice. united kindom: : cambridge university. denzin, n.k. dan ys. lincoln. 1994. handbook of qualitatif research. california: sage publication. ernas, saidin. 2006. perjanjian malino dan penyelesaian konflik maluku. tesis magister pada program pascasarjana ilmu politik universitas indonesia. ------------2012, policy of social conflict resolution; implementation of the malino agreement, journal of govermant and politics, volume 3, nomor 2, agustus. eck,diana l. 2000. new religious america; how a cristian country has become the world most religiousy diversy nation. new york; the continum internastional publishing. latuconsina, adam. 2013. relasi agama dan etnik dalam pendidikan. yogyakarta; kemenag ri-tici publication. nugroho, heru, dkk. 1999. konstruksi sara, kemajemukan dan demokrasi, unisia, no.40/xxii/1999. parekh, biku. 2008. rethinking multiculturalism, keragaman budaya dan teori politik. yogyakarta: kanisius. pranawati, rita (ed.). 2011. kebebasan beragama dan integrasi sosial. jakarta: center for study of religion and culture (csrc) rauf, maswadi. 2000.konsensus politik sebuah penjajagan teoritik, (jakarta: direktorat jenderal pendidikan tinggi departemen pendidikan nasional. ritzer, george. 1992. sosiologi ilmu pengetahuan berparadigma ganda. jakarta; rajawali press. rozi, syafuan, dkk. 2006. kekerasan komunal; anatomi dan resolusi konflik di indonesia. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar dan lipi. syamsudin, nazaruddin. 1989. integrasi politik di indonesia. jakarta: gramedia tomsa, dirk. 2008. electoral democracy in devided society; the 2008 gibernatorial electon in maluku, indonesia. journal of south east asia research, 17, 2, pp 229–259. varshney, asutosh. 2003. etnic conflict and civic life: hindus and muslims in india. new haven: yale university. yanuarti, sri, dkk. 2003. konflik di maluku tengah; penyebab, karakteristik, [ 250 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 dan penyelesaian jangka panjang. jakarta: lembaga ilmu pengetahuan indonesia (lipi) proyek pengembangan riset unggulan/komepetitif lipi/program isu. [ 281 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the sasak people of lombok: indigenous communities at the crossroads of globalization ahmad salehudin uin sunan kalijaga email: salehudinyogya@gmail.com abstract this article focuses on changes that have taken place among lombok’s indigenous communities, including sasak bayan, sasak sade, and sasak ende. this study found that in the context of thick globalization where information technology is the driving force, the indigenous communities are no longer as the objects of the global cultural market. instead, they are given the freedom to choose and sort out values that they consider good and appropriate with their needs. in addition, they also exercise the freedom of expression. however, the problem lies in the fact that their choices and ways of expressions are quite often violating old loyalties they have agreed. the communities of sasak bayan, sasak sade and sasak ende provide important information on how indigenous communities respond creatively to globalization based on their needs. keywords: thick globalization; indigenous communities; global culture. introduction many people argued that globalization puts the highest threat to indigenous communities, which could be necessarily right or wrong. hilmar farid, the director general of indonesian culture, said that indonesia’s traditional cultures keep disappearing or even going extinct year after year (saldy, 2018). for example, in 2018 there are at least 14 indonesia’s local languages that have been fading or vanishing (rosmanuddin, 2018). however, there is also a positive trend that many indigenous communities are no longer afraid to show their existence in this global era, such as badui in west java, kajang in sulawesi, and so on. it is obvious that globalization is a threat and an opportunity at the same time (salehudin, 2018: 1-28). globalization provides individuals with the freedom to put aside or adopt certain values according to their needs and express them autonomously in which cases old loyalties are put at risk. in this context, globalization has dramatically transformed people all around the world (keohane, and nye, 2000; ritzer & goodman, 2004: 587). it has affected the levels of welfare, social [ 282 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 interaction, political dynamics, religious expressions, as well as ways of eating, dressing and enjoying life. it can be said that globalization has an influence on almost all aspects of people’s lives, including their identity (wolf, 2007: xi; firmansah, 2007: 10; standing, 2011) unlike the popular opinion, social identity is not just being threatened, but it also finds its vitality to exist in a different way (sinaga, 2004: 5). after being created, identity will not immediately be displaced by the presence of new identities promoted by globalization. however, it will challenge and refuse any threat against it. therefore, in its search a society is no longer able to formulate the essence without an identity, because the problem of identity in principle resulted from a contestation process rather than just a fixation. the issue of identity is self-representation in the face of other powerful party (sinaga, 2004: 5). studies on identity have been abundantly available. for example, muhammad johan nasrul huda (2009) wrote on “imajinasi identitas sosial komunitas reog ponorogo,” which is quite successful in recording the anxieties among the local community, i.e. the reog ponorogo, in facing global cultural challenges. his research provides information on how the local community has been negotiating and revitalizing their various aspects of life in order to survive in the global culture. ni putu suwardani (2015) wrote an article entitled “pewarisan nilai-nilai kearifan lokal untuk memproteksi masyarakat bali dari dampak negatif globalisasi” suwardani explained the importance of inheriting the local values or wisdom for the balinese people in dealing with the negative impacts of social change caused by globalization. globalization has brought significant changes to balinese society, both at the surface (i.e. attitudes and behavior patterns) and deep (i.e. value systems, views of life, philosophy and belief) structures. a. safril mubah (2011) discusses his concern about the penetration of global culture on identity in the form of cultural homogenisation. it does not mean that the cultural groups are passive or silent to the global penetration. agus maladi irianto (2016) explains the significance of commodification in addressing globalization. last yet importantly, salehudin (2018) examines how the community of three mosques “revitalized” their identity in order to live on and continue to grow amid the global culture. in short, global culture is a threat on one side and is an opportunity on the other. however, this work attempts to examine two important questions: how the narratives of changes in sasak civilization are manifested in three communities, i.e. sasak bayan, sasak ende, and sasak sade and how these three indigenous communities respond to the penetration of global culture. the answers to these questions [ 283 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 will give valuable information about how the indigenous communities deal with globalization. lombok island: the changing space of sasak culture the sasak tribe is native to the island of lombok, and constitutes the ethnic majority on the island, which is more than 90% of the total population in lombok. the sasak people are spreading in almost all of the lombok mainland, especially in rural areas. on the other hand, the migrants are usually living in certain areas, such as the balinese1 in west lombok and central lombok. the migrants from the sumbawa island are in general situated in east lombok, while the arabs are settled in ampenan. in the history of lombok’s modern civilization, ampenan region plays a strategic role. the history of lombok started from this region since the 1800s. in sasak language, ampenan means “amben” or a place to stay. as the name implies, ampenan is an area that the dutch developed into a port to challenge the dominance of the kingdoms in bali. like a port city in general, since its opening ampenan has been inhabited by various ethnic groups, such as arabs, malays, bugises, and chinese (tahir, 2012: 35-76). geographically, lombok island, which is relatively small, holds a strategic position. apart from being a center for the growth and development of the sasak ethnicity, lombok island, which is administratively part of the province of west nusa tenggara (ntb), is situated east of bali and west of sumbawa island. in the west, lombok strait stretches which separates it from bali island, while alas strait is bordered to the east by sumbawa. in the northern part of lombok, there lies java sea and indian ocean in the south. during the selaparang kingdom, lombok island was called selapang gumi (tahir, 2012: 36). the number of inhibtants in lombok island is around 3,473,247 peoples, spreading unevenly in four districts and one city, or more than 70% of the total population of the province of west nusa tenggara, which amounts to 4,955,575 people. administratively, lombok is the center of governance of west nusa tenggara. this island has four districts and one city, namely west lombok district (klb), north lombok district (klu), central lombok district, east lombok district, and mataram city.1 in term of religious affiliation, the majority of the lombok people are muslims. according to the data from the bps of the province of west nusa tenggara in 2016, islam is adopted by most of the population (around 93%), followed by 1 for more detail please visit https://lombokutarakab.go.id. [ 284 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 hindus (5.5%), and christianity, catholicism, buddhism, and confucianism share the rest. in general, the migrants are adhering to religion other than islam, such as balinese are mostly hindus and the rest are christians and catholics. as islam is practiced by almost all sasak ethnics in lombok, there appears a slogan that “being a sasak means being a muslim.” in the context of cultural fusion and diffusion, the slogan wants to tell us how close the relation between the sasak-ness and islam is. furthermore, seen from the spread of religion, the more homogeneous sasak people in an area are, the more muslims will be, such as in central lombok district and north lombok district where above 99% of the total population are muslims.2 lombok is also known as the city of thousand mosques, showing a great deal number of mosque, both large and small, in the island.3 when i was exploring lombok island in september and october, or about a month after the devastating earthquake in lombok, especially in north, west and east lombok, i was impressed with the grandeur and number of mosques, even though many of them have been collapsed or ruined. on the way from the lombok international airport (lia) in central lombok to north lombok where the bayan indeginous village is located, it is quite easy to find mosques, which are severely damaged and, therefore, are hardly used for worship. in the center of north lombok, for example, i stopped by at a mosque that stands strong even though some parts of its walls are destroyed. i had to restrain my desire to pray there because of its worrying condition: the pillars are broken or shifted so that even a slight shock would make them collapse. it is quite interesting and challenging to see how islam is practiced by the sasak tribe as the majority people of the lombok island. it is not only because islam is accepted as an “official” religion of the sasak people, but it also presents a distinctive nature and characteristics of islam. sasak islam has its own uniqueness that is built on the cosmology of the sasak people. the natural conditions that depend heavily on agriculture and are dressed in the narratives of mount rinjani, directly or indirectly contributed to the distinctive manifestation of sasak islam or the commonly known as islam wetu telu. however, islam wetu telu has been now under the pressure of or conversion into islam wetu lima due to the massive propagation (dakwah) of islamic group movement who wants to purify islam wetu telu for its animist elements and mixture with other local practices (budiwanti, 2000: 1-4). anyone who is visiting lombok island can enjoy sasak civilization, especially when entering traditional villages and houses which look exotic but ‘lag far 2 visit https://ntb.bps.go.id for further detail. 3 see www.republika.co.id. [ 285 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 behind’ from the modern standards of this country. in the city of mataram or on the beaches of west lombok and east lombok where fundamental changes are undertaking as exemplified by the presence of hotels, we will see sasak people who are different from those living in villages at the foot of mount rinjani or staying comfortably in houses in indigenous villages that look exotic in the eyes of tourists. the sasak people and their culture are mysterious portraits of a civilization: it is easy to enjoy but quite difficult to understand them. the discourse about sasak culture is always intertwined causing a prolonged complexity that is hard to decompose. there is an assumption that the sasak culture was born from a contracted uterus. there are groups who want to ensure that sasak culture has exotic but bordered doors and edges. however, this opinion goes againts the fact that there is similarity between cultures, leading to ambiguity of interpretation. two major narratives are useful to understand the sasak people. the first is legendbased, which is still alive and believed by the sasak people, and the second is empirical evidence for the existence of sasak people. the first narrative is relied on legend, which is, of course, cannot be verified scientifically. however, for a society that is not familiar with writing, a legend provides an authentic evidence of the community’s records on the events that are taking place. through a legend, people want to share an event that they experienced, along the process of which they, of course, use their knowledge and it is the task of scientists to uncover it. the second narrative is the migration. migration is a natural phenomenon as people are moving from one place to another due to various reasons. for example, after being defeated, the paramilitary army of pangeran diponegoro spread into various regions, such as dieng plateau, wonosobo, and central java (salahudin, 2018). the same case applies also to the residents of lombok. a careful study of the current cultural elements, such as language and writing, in lombok showed that the people of lombok have similarities with the balinese, javanese (especially during the era of majapahit), and the madurese as well as others. this cultural style became later a material base to explain the origins of the people of lombok by using a perspective of migration (tahir, 2012: 41). lombok is a portrait of a mosaic, which consists of colorful cultures and values among the communities. this happens partly because in the past lombok was a field of struggle for dominance between various cultures and values which will be explained later (tahir, 2012: 42). the cultural similarities between java, madura, makassar, bali, and lombok resulted from the power expansion between successive kingdoms and the regional proximity that allows easy migration among the people and, therefore, cultural acculturation among them. [ 286 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 globalization within three villages of the sasak 1. indigenous village of bayan: the world stops at the ancient mosque the sun had passed overhead when i arrived in front of the entrance to the complex of bayan ancient mosque. when i saw the bayan ancient mosque from a distance, fatigue and emotion due to the journey from central lombok to the traditional village of bayan, north lombok, was completely paid off. i noticed debris from destruction of buildings outside the area (fence) of the ancient mosque. it seemed that they want to inform me that an extraordinary event had occurred in the area. on the trip from west lombok to north lombok, i saw most of buildings were destroyed or collapsed, making it not possible to stay inside. the bayan ancient mosque is one of the last strongholds of the sasak civilization, religiously known as islam wetu telu. the mosque is a manifestation of the values and ethos that are lived, practiced, and passed on by the community. through this mosque, we will figure out how the sasak people perceive and respond to globalization, which is unstoppable. therefore, discussion about the bayat indigenous village will be centered on the presence of this mosque. the ancient bayan mosque is a clear evidence for the historical development of islam among the sasak people in lombok. situated on a hill and surrounded by several cupola tombs of the islamic transmitters, it is estimated that the mosque had been built hundreds of years ago by a muslim preacher (muballigh). however, it has not been clear yet who was the founder of the mosque and in what date. adopting a traditional architecture typical of the lombok island, this mosque symbolized the ethos among the sasak muslims and recorded their history, tradition and spirituality. the current condition of the bayan ancient mosque, standing in grandeur despite the devastating earthquake that hit lombok several times (private document). [ 287 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the architecture of the ancient mosque is similar to that of traditional houses in the bayan community, which does not look like a mosque in general. those who visited bayan for the first time would not likely think that the building was a very important mosque in the history of the islamization of the sasak people (matindas, 2018). there are special rules regarding who may or may not enter the ancient mosque, including what kind of clothes that they have to wear. the clothes worn by the muslim clerics and the priests of the bayan ancient mosque also have meanings, such as a white color refers to holiness and a red long cloth (dodot) to leadership; the dress is equipped sapuq or bongot (headband) (matindas, 2018). in addition, the rules also said that anyone who enters the area of the ancient mosque should dress in a way that accords the custom. the nuance inside the ancient bayan mosque: a ground floor, a hanging bedug, a simple pulpit, and a place for a prayer leader (imam). (private document) it is interesting to discuss the rules at the ancient bayan mosque because they relate to how the indigenous people of sasak bayan respond to globalization. the sasak people believed that the devastating earthquake, hitting lombok mid-july-august 2018, was divine punishment for violation of the rules regarding the ancient mosques. the earthquake was warning from god to the bayan people for making the ancient mosque as a tourist object. indeed, it was not about the tourist attraction, rather it is more about the fact that tourism at the ancient mosque has caused violations against the customary laws at least in three forms. the first is related to the construction of buildings around the complex of bayan ancient mosque. in order to promote its tourism agenda, the local government built several supporting structures, including a retribution center (a guest book and donation), toilets, and rest areas. the [ 288 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 second concerns on how the visitors should dress. the tradition outlines that the visitors should wear sasak traditional clothing when entering the mosque. when it becomes a tourist attraction, it turned out that many visitors violated the dressing rules, such as wearing short skirts or pants, and so on. the third is regarding the women who come inside the bayan ancient mosque. there is a certain belief in bayan that the mosque is a restricted area for women. as a tourist object, the mosque is now ‘open’ for any gender to visit. seemingly, it is also the reason why the elders, who were also my informants, were reluctant to take me to visit the ancient bayan mosque. i visited the bayan ancient mosque with my research assistant, and then i met my informants. since the beginning, there had been disagreement among the people, especially the elders, in responding to government policies to declare the ancient mosque as one of the leading tourist attractions in the region. some agreed with policy, saying that the adat has changed and, therefore, it is necessary to take the benefit of the ancient mosque as a pillar of community welfare. this group criticized the other opposing fellows for being old-fashioned. on the other side, some others considered that making the ancient mosque as a tourist attraction would alter its sanctity, while accusing the other fellows of being dazzled by money. despite the pro and cons, the local government decided to continue its plans by building supporting facilities in the mosque complex, such as toilets and rest areas for visitors. when i visited the ancient mosque in mid-september 2018, the “supporting” buildings around the complex have been gone. the buildings were all destroyed during the earthquake, but strangely, the bayan ancient mosque itself could sustain from the damages. knowing their tourism supporting buildings collapsed, the indigenous people of sasak immediately cleaned up the debris and piled them outside the mosque compound fence. we may assume that this is a mere coincidence. this phenomenon, nevertheless, showed that making the ancient mosque a tourism object was indeed a mistake. for the people of lombok, the earthquake that struck the island in the middle of july-august 2019 was not a mere disaster, but it is also a warning because of misconducts that polluted the sanctity of the bayan ancient mosque. the narratives on the earthquake as circulated by the sasak indigenous people could serve as a foothold in restoring the sanctity of the bayan ancient mosque. in other words, the narratives on the earthquakes are useful for the indigenous peoples to purify their ancestral lands from the pollution of globalization in the form of tourism activities. 2. sasak ende: change or resist “welcome to sasak ende village,” greets any visitors who enter the gate of [ 289 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 sasak ende village. after passing through the gate, visitors will be welcomed by a beautiful, luxurious, tiled floor small mosque (musholla). after that, they will pass a “voluntary retribution” post that stands between sasak ende village and the outside world. visitors will be asked to fill out the guest book and “pay” the entrance fee on a voluntary basis. that day, a girl of senior high school wearing a veil was taking care of the guest book. the traditional village of sasak ende is one of the most traditional villages that still exist in lombok. the inhabitants carry out their daily activities while strongly adhering to the traditions passed on by their ancestors. in sasak ende there are 35 houses and around 135 people. in 2004, the village gained electricity on a government assistance scheme. since electricity was introduced, the people’s lifestyle has somewhat changed. for example, one or two residents already have a tv and some young people have gadgets. the interest in educational world has also increased. when this research was conducted, some young women were studying in high school, and some were attending colleges. all the houses were covered with weeds and the floor was made of clay mixed with buffalo dung. the roof of the house is made tilted and low (only about 1.50 m) so that guests who visit the house should bow as a tribute to the owner of the house. inside the house, there is only one room with a supporting pillar in the middle with no windows. entering the door, a visitor will find a seemingly large room with an ambient or sleeping place for the husband on the right side, and for the wife on the left side. there are three steps to enter the inner courtyard, a cooking area on the left side, a daughter’s bed in the middle, and a birthing chamber on the right side. the birthing chamber is sometimes used as a bed by the daughter. boys usually sleep in the living room or in a baruga. the floor of the house is made of a dried mixture of buffalo dung, clay, and straw ash. they clean the floor two or three times a week using cow dung. it turns out that the use of new buffalo dung for cleaning leave no strong smells. they argued that using buffalo dung would remove moisture from the floor. at the front of the house, there is also usually a loom. weaving skill is one indicator that a sasak girl is ready to get married, regardless they are still in their teens. the indigenous people of ende is very well known with the tradition of elopement (kawin lari), a marriage custom in which a men of the sasak tribe is escaping her women. marriage is an important socio-cultural event that everyone should undergo. marriage is a basic intermediary in any community. it is also an institutionalized relationship between a man and a woman or a man and several women, or a woman and several men, being formalized [ 290 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 by customs, law, culture and religion procedures in a given community. the traditional marriage of sasak ende is often referred to as merarik (zuhdi, tt: 49). etimologically, the term merarik means “running”, while merari’an refers to melai’an, “running away.” elopement is a traditional marriage system that has been still practiced in lombok. the term is derived from a sasak word “berarik” which means ‘to run’ and it has two meanings: running in the literal sense of the word or fleeing someone’s daughter. the world is changing in which modernization and globalization constitute as the driving forces. likewise, the culture of sasak ende, directly or indirectly, has been also under the pressure of globalization. values that they inherited from their ancestors have been now redefined. in the process of redefinition, these ancestral cultural values could be possibly shifting, fading, or losing their true meanings. this is because the influence of the changing educational orientation, information through television and social medias, and exchange of information through tourism activities. this is exactly what happens to the tradition of peresean, a performance of courage and agility among the sasak people. the practice and orientation of the peresean performance has now shifted from a tradition into a mere spectacle and competition. from a theory of social and cultural change, the shifted or changed orientation in peresean is part of cultural change. similarly, the shift in economic orientation from farmers to tourists has also stirred changes in the adoption of values by the community. the rise of tourism affected particularly the young people. many of them are now reluctant to become farmers for working in tourism is more promising to them. technology brought the biggest changes in almost all aspects of people’s lives, including the sade people. people become now more attracted and attached to high-tech items while forgetting what they really need in their lives. technology has also altered the mindset of many people, especially with the introduction of radio, television and gadgets. technology seems to be a window for the people of sasak ende to look at the world and update their knowledge. of course, those who are able to utilize and/or being influenced by technology are those who have adequate provision, such as skills in indonesian language and financial capability to posses such technology. in the context of sasak ende, technology becomes a contraction between the elders who tend to resist the changes and the youngsters who are more aggressive in adopting modern lifestyles. 3. sasak sade: dilemma of a tourism village not far from the village of sasak ende, heading towards kuta mandalika beach in lombok, there is an oldest traditional village known as sasak sade village. [ 291 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 sade is a hamlet located in rembitan village, pujut sub-district, central lombok district, west nusa tenggara province. sade is a tourist village the atmosphere of which is felt as soon as a visitor sets his or her foot in front of the entrance. the tour guides will readily approach individuals or groups who are stepping closer to the area of sade traditional village. in my case, a friendly guide wearing a typical clothe with no footwear was approaching me. he insisted that it has been the rule for a visitor to be accompanied with a local guide while entering the sade village. the service fees for the guide are voluntarily. this phenomenon is interesting to me, because what is presented in front of me is the presentation of tourism on indigenous villages. in other words, what is happening is commodification of the customary village. entering the gate, i had to stop at a small post where retribution is collected. there is no specific rate, nor is there a rule that “forces” me to pay. i found only a notice to fill in the guest book in which there is a column for how much money that i donated for retribution. once again, there is no rule on how much money that i have to pay for retribution. however, the presence of a waiter inevitably encouraged me to fill it. at a glance, i noticed that the nominal as written in the guest book varied, starting from rp. 5,000 to rp. 50,000. the entrance of the sade traditional village and the retribution post (personal document) after filling out the guest book and “paying” the retribution fee, i was asked to follow my guide to balai tani, which is located at the left side of the retribution post. after sitting down, the guide stood in front of visitors and [ 292 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 began to introduce himself. he explained some basic information about the traditional village of sade, such as the name of the building we are in, the number of houses and the inhabitants, the history of the sade village, the merarik tradition.4; he concluded by taking us around the sade village area. interestingly, my observations and interviews with several guides on different visits showed that there is a similar pattern between each guide: greeting the guests to use their services, inviting them to fill in the guest book and pay the voluntary retribution, intoducing and giving general information about the sade traditional village, the number of traditional houses, population, and the route they are taking the guests around the traditional village complex. when we are going around the sade complex, whether by chance or not, the route and the traditional houses we are entering are always the same, giving an impression that all are set in this way. from the same narratives conveyed by the guides, it is clear that the sade traditional village becomes a sort of stage purposively designed so that it looks beautiful and exotic. it looks as if what appears is necessarily true with no question needed. however, positioning the sasak traditional village as a cultural site, anyone will realize and understand that what appears is not necessarily the truth. some may be true, but some may be also only a mere stage of tourism. again, sade is a traditional village because of which it should not change to preserve the impression of being the oldest traditional village. there are some interesting facts that if examined further there would be only regret and sadness. firstly, the education level of the sade community is very low. the average of the young aged guides graduated only from elementary and junior high schools, and many of them even did not finish their elementary schools, such as the two tour guides whom i interviewed. in carrying out their professions, they look like an installed computer, who will automatically convey the memorized materials by only pressing the ‘play button’. this was apparent from the fact that they looked having difficulty in answering all the questions that i asked. it could be because the questions are not contained in ‘the installed materials’. it is even more unfortunate that most of sade’s women are having lower education; none of them have ever studied in high schools and some even did not finish their elementary schools. women are not permitted to attend high school education because of long distance that they are feared of getting home in pregnancy. a lower level of education will obviously only produce unspecial generation. 4 the merarik tradition literally means doing marriage by running away. in short, it means that the man asks the woman to silently run away from her family following him to stay in his house. the representatives of the man then the following day go to her house to inform her family that the woman has already been at the man’s house. discussion to have the wedding then takes place when the two sides of the bright and groom meet. [ 293 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 secondly, woman in sade village are married in an earlier age and they usually “must” have minimum four children. one of my informants was a 14 years-old married woman. when the interview was conducted, the woman is breastfeeding her child. in sade, there is no minimum age for women to marry. a women with a weaving skill is considered eligible to involve in merarik tradition. this phenomenon is not only happening in sade, but also in bayan and ende. as a result, many teenagers had to become widows while having dependents of one, two and three children. in addition, there is a convention in sade that women should have four children who will in the future hold the four coffin corners of their died parents. the problem is not just about the number of children that a woman should have, but also the fact that a young woman, who is still a teenager and uneducated, has to take care of children in a poor economic condition. consequently, many marriages ended up with divorce. it is common to see a young and poor divorced woman with many children in sade. finally, ignorance and poverty in a systematic and a structured way have been inherited on behalf of local wisdom. a 14 years-old sasak sade woman with her child. (personal document) thirdly, the stage of traditional village forced the sade people to resist changes. even if they decided to change, they should make it unnoticed or unrealized by by the visitors. i got an awkward feeling when the tour guide always directed the visitors to enter only one traditional house. the guide was very eloquent and knowleadable about this traditional house, which has a mixture of dirt, [ 294 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 rice husk and buffalo dung, and is regularly mopped when the ground floor has begun to break or is no longer smooth. they also fluently explained that no building is allowed in the sade area. however, the truth showed that some houses already have cement floors, their own bathrooms, and water reservoirs. in fact, in the corner of sade village there is a mosque that is quite luxurious, black ceramic floored, and equipped with a seemingly modern bathroom and a wudu place. the ‘luxurious’ entrance and room of the mosque (photograph of personal documents) conclusion social and cultural changes share the common aspects: they deal with a way of accepting a new means or improvement by a given society in fullfilling its needs (soemardjan, 1986). change is a necessity in response to socio-cultural and political economy developments driven by modernization and globalization. increased knowledge, because of either education or social interaction, will provide new alternatives for the community in addressing the challenges thay they face. there is no doubt that modernization and globalization have encouraged every individual and society to redefine their values as to be contextual with the various new challenges they are encountered with. this study found that the three indigeneous communities, i.e. sasak bayan, sasak ende, and sasak sade, have currently been in this situation. changing is necessary in an effort to maintain its existence on one side, and to develop or contextualize their values on the other side. this is what is currently being experienced by the indigenous villages of bayan, sasak ende, and sasak sade. these three traditional villages have undergoing changes in their own respective ways and for their own interests, each of which should be ready for [ 295 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 the risks that may follow. the result of this study provides information about the various changes that are taking place in the three traditional villages. the bayan village is sought to maintain its purity by bringing imagination about the past to the bayan ancient mosque. with all the rules and sacred stories, the ancient mosque becomes an anchor for the bayan people’s local genious on how they should respond to the changes. however, the introduction of new information, through either education and/or other information media, more or less has influenced them in perceiving their customary rules and values. the traditional village of sasak ende adapts to changes without having to lose its identity. the available access to electricity in 2004 seemed to wake up the sleeping souls of the sasak ende people. electricity made the sasak ende people know television, radio, and gadgets. they also open themselves to access higher education, not only for men, but also for women. in addition, the presence of sasak ende, which now becomes one of the tourist destinations, has enabled its inhabitants not only to interact with a wider community, but also to become a learning space to make their cultural treasures support their their welfare. the paresean show and merarik ritual are no longer treated as a mere “sacred” tradition but they are also commoditized as a cultural performance to sustain tourism. sade is a traditional village that is now encountered with a dilemma: whether they have to change in order to keep pace with modernization, or they have to persist in order to meet the visitors’ exotic and imaginative emotions about a traditional village. it would be unfair to blame the sade people for undertaking reluctant changes; similarly, it would be also unwise to force them not to change. bibliography asnawi. (2005). respon kultural masyarakat sasak terhadap islam.” ulumuna ix edisi 15 nomor 1. bartholomew, j. r. (2001). alif lam mim; kearifan masyarakat sasak, terjemah imron rosyidi. yogyakarta: tiara wacana. budiwanti, e. (2000). islam sasak: wetu telu versus waktu lima. yogyakarta: lkis, 2000. h.l., w. (?). kebudayaan sasak. presented at the paras kebudayaan lombok, lombok. keohane, r. o. & joseph, s. n. (2000). globalization: what’s new? what’s not? (and so what?).” foreign policy, no. 118 (2000): 104–19. https://doi. [ 296 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 org/10.2307/1149673. kraan, a. v. d. (2009). lombok: penaklukan, penjajahan, dan keterbelakangan 1870-1940. mataram: lengge publisher. marrison, g. e. (1999). sasak and javanese. leiden: kitlv press. mcgrew, a. (2001). globalization and global politics. in the globalization of world politics, vol. second edition. oxford: oxford university press. ritzer, g. & dougles, j. g. (2004). teori sosiologi modern. jakarta: prenada media group. rudy, m. t. (2003). hubungan internasional kontemporer dan masalah masalah global. bandung: rafika aditama. salehudin, a. (2018). the face of mountainous islam: the dynamic of islam in the dieng mountains wonosobo, central java, indonesia. esensia: jurnal ilmu-ilmu ushuluddin. http://ejournal.uin-suka.ac.id/ushuluddin/esensia/article/view/1477/1219. --------. (2018). revitalisasi identitas diri komunitas masjid saka tunggal banyumas, masjid raya al fatah ambon, dan masjid agung jami’ singaraja bali dalam perubahan budaya global.” religió: jurnal studi agama-agama 8, no. 1 (october 11, 2018): 1–28. sinaga, m. l. (2004). identitas poskolonial gereja suku dalam masyarakat sipil. yogyakarta: lkis, 2004. standing, g. (2011). the precariat: the new dangerous class. new york: bloomsbury academic. tahir, m. (2012). tradisi merariq (kawin lari) dalam masyarakat sasak (sebuah telaah konsepsi, responsi, dan implikasi).” in harga diri dan ekspresi budaya lokal: suju-suku bangsa di indonesia, 35–76. yogyakarta: laboratorium religi dan budaya lokal (label). wolf, m. (2007). globalisasi jalan menuju kesejahteraan. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia. http://lombok.panduanwisata.id/wisata-sejarah/menengok-sejarah-masa-silam-lombok-di-kawasan-ampenan-kuno, accessed december 19, 2018 http://makassar.tribunnews.com/2016/06/14/ada-5-budaya-adat-di-indonesia-sudah-punah-alhamdulillah-bukan-di-sulsel. accessed november 4, 2018. http://portalsatu.com/read/budaya/14-bahasa-daerah-di-indone[ 297 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 sia-yang-punah-15197. accessed november 4, 2018. https://ganaislamika.com/islam-di-lombok-8-masjid-kuno-bayan-beleq-2/. “islam di lombok (8): masjid kuno bayan beleq (2) – gana islamika.” accessed december 25, 2018. https://www.wisatadilombok.com/2015/01/masjid-kuno-bayan-masjid-tertuadi.html. accessed december 25, 2018. [ 43 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 sufism and millennial generation movements in modern nusantara elmansyah insitut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, indonesia e-mail: elmans@iainptk.ac.id saimi bin bujang universiti teknologi mara, sarawak, malaysia e-mail: saimi496@sarawak.uitm.edu.my muhammed sahrin bin haji masri universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam e-mail: sahrin.masri@unissa.edu.bn abstract this article aims to show how sufism has survived and existed in the history of nusantara islamic civilization. this is interesting, especially for the millennial generation, as an example of dealing with the swift currents of change and the desire to build the indonesian islamic civilization within islam nusantara context. the data of the work is based on a comparative research project with a historical approach. the work suggets four key findings.first, the emergence of sufism in the 3rd century of hijri was part of the response in changes in islamic civilization. second, to counter the unexpected changes in time, the sufis returned to the spiritual teachings, so as to avoid negativity. third, strong mentality of sufis made them travel around the world to create a new civilization. fourth, tolerant attitudes and models of the sufis are the mainstay in achieving their mission. keywords: sufism, sufis, and millennial, generation, movement, islam, civilization introduction recently there has been a lot of talk about groups of young people who are making drastic changes in attitudes, behavior and dress styles/appearance. women tend to be dressed in a closed fashion, with large headscarves and loose clothes, and many have even started wearing niqab sporting all-black. men have begun to grow their beards and wear cingkrang pants (hanging above the ankle). in matters of worship, study, and memorization of the qur’an, they are not inferior to young people who live in islamic boarding schools. [ 44 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 however, they do not leave the world of technology, or perhaps are even more sophisticated in this field, when compared to others. internet and social media are the main connectors in communication, staying in touch and spreading knowledge within their group and with other groups. other trendy terms among young people include “hijrah”, “getting married young” and “syar’i”. it is not known for sure as to when this kind of movement started among young people in indonesia. however, this movement has continued to grow carrying the islamic symbols they observe. if viewed and read carefully, the phrases that appear on social media and the internet, it begins to lead to the desire to establish the islamic shari’a in nusantara, especially in the case of indonesia. general elections seem to be the right moment to voice their ideas and desires to the public. so it is natural when some people think that this is a serious threat to the integrity of the nation, because it seems as if they wanted to replace the pancasila with islamic shari’a as the basis of the state. furthermore, due to the influence of such a massive political campaign, various pessimistic expressions arose in overcoming the conditions of the nation. hate speeches, written posts, short videos or multi-interpretational memes have made those who read or see them participate in a pessimistic stream. even though based on statistical data, indonesia will face what is called the demographic bonus, where the productive age will be far greater than the non-productive. basically, this is just an ordinary issue in a society’s dynamics. this all happens due to a rapid flow of information and transportation, where distance and time is becoming increasingly depleted. technological sophistication that continues to grow, has become an important factor that causes these changes. young people born between 1980 and 2000, who tend to be different from the previous generation, are often referred to as the millennial generation. millennial generation1is a new generation of this century, which is characterized by their sophistication in operating digital technology2. this century is known as, the age of the intellect. dr. ganesh shermon, has gathered several key terms: easy to deal, speed, flexibility, character, perpetuity, freedom, savvy, multitasking, work ethics, know-how, intelletual arrogance, socially conscious, change friendly, individual & team, i & we, and tech dependent. these terms can be associated with the term millennial. this is because those who are called the millennial generation understand technology better; they believe they can work flexibly, anytime and anywhere unlimited (ganesh shermon, 2017: 22). 1 the term millennial in the english dictionary meansa period of 1000 years, especially calculated before or after the birth of christ. (a. s. hornby, 1995: 739). 2 the word “digital” derives from “digit”, meaningany of the ten numbers from 0 to 9; numberof fingers, thumb or toes (a.s. horby, 1995: 232). [ 45 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 in fact, the termcoined by john palfrey and urs gasser was “digital native”. this generation is a generation born after the 1980s, when digital social technology was widely used. they all have extraordinary skills in utilizing and building these technology networks (john palfrey & urs gasser, 2008: 1). the sophistication of digital technology, on the one hand brings positive values, but on the other hand has implications for negative values. the positive impact of digital technology obviously has brought tremendous benefits among mankind. ease and speed of access to information provides comfort and pleasure in communicating and interacting with each other. however, on the other hand, it creates new issues which sometimes hit the aspects of morality which have been maintained and respected by the community such as pornography, gambling, online prostitution, an instant desire, and social autism (elmansyah, 2016: 68). in light of this reality, there are many things that should be done in order to build a millennial generation that is ready to exist in creating global civilization. the questions are what kind of civilization is desired? what preparation should be made? in this millennial era, it is clear that everything depends on the individual.the future must be created, not just going where the wind blows. therefore, especially for muslims, the civilization offered by sufism, as exemplified by previous generations, can be used as a concrete example in dealing with developments in society. i would like to show the patterns of sufi movements in building muslim civilization. these patterns, i believe, will be able to provide encouragement for the millennial young generation, to defend them selves, as well as to exist and succeed in changing world. mental and spiritual reinforcement is the key to building a strong muslim civilization in the future. sufi civilization a civilization will be created through a struggle of thought which in turn gives birth to a product that improves mankind. in its history, there have been several major themes of thought that built islamic civilization, namely: fiqh, kalam, philosophy and sufism. each of these major themes is basically the efforts of muslim intellectuals in positioning the qur’an and the sunnah, in order to respond to the development of times in all fields of social life, law, politics, and science. in the time of the abbasids, the imams of the four schools who succeeded in formulating positive law, the kalamscholarssuch as the khawarij, murjiahandmu’tazilah could speak in the political order, while the scholars who concentrated on the philosophy succeededin producinguseful works, for example in medical field (elmansyah al-haramain, 2014: 9). [ 46 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 etymologically, the term “peradababan” in indonesian is derived from the word “addaba” which in arabic has quite a lot of meanings. adab, if taken from the sentence, “ta addaba” means the same as “tahadzdzaba” which means, educated. a person who is educated will become “muaddiban”, meaning civilized, polite or well-mannered. when combined with the word related to work, it means the rules of the game (as in the sentence: adab alsuluk, meaning the rules in suluk / behavior). there is another sentence that continues with the word adab, whose meaning becomes quite far, such as: ilm al-adab, which means: literary science (ahmad warson munawwir, 1984: 13). perhaps that is what makes the word “adab” in indonesian, interpreted as subtle character; good morals, language, and courtesy. furthermore, when added the prefix pe and the suffix an, it means “civilization”,and interpreted as advancement (intelligence, culture) physically and emotinally of a nation (tim penyusun, 2008: 9). terminologically, the term “peradaban” according to badri yatim in his book, history of islamic civilization, is a translation of an arabic word that reads: al-hadharah, which means culture. while the word: culture itself is derived fromthe word: al-tsaqafah. therefore, anthropologists distinguish the two terms, where civilization is reflected in politics, economics and technology; while culture is reflected in art, literature, religion and morals (badri yatim, 2001: 1). meanwhile, according to m. amin syukur, sufism is a branch of science in islam which emerged later after prophet muhammad died. scientifically, sufism is the result of islamic culture. the term tasawuf/ sufismwas not during prophet muhammad’s period.at the time,there were titles such ascompanion, thenlater there weretabi’in, andtabi’ittabi’in. these termswere widely know in the 2nd or 3rd century hijri (m. amin syukur, 2004: 3). because this term was not known at the time of prophet muhammad, many have questioned the origins of tasawuf / sufism. for more details, the following is an explanation of the root word of sufism. in general, tasawuf comes from the word ُصوٌْف following the wazan َل َيَتَصَوُّف :so that it becomes َتَفَعّ تََصَوَّف is “تََصُوّْف“ through the formation of words from this wazan, the term .تََصُوّفًا associated (barmawie umarie, 1966: 9).there are several words that are often associated with the term tasawuf. first, the word “shuff” (صوف), fleece, or wool. this word is used to show the simplicity of the sufis that many appear wearing clothing in the form of coarse wool (similar to gunny sacks). second, “ibn al-shauf إبن) ” ,refer tothose who lived before prophet muhammad ,(الصوف who dedicated their lives to serve god. they lived around the ka’bah. third, the word “safa” (صفاء). this word takes the form of mabnimajhulwhich forms the wordmulhaq with the letter ya’nisbah, which denotes a name for people [ 47 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 who are “clean” or “holy” (people who purify themselves before their lord). fourth, the word “shaf” (صف) which refers to people who always try to be in the front row during prayer.fifth, the word “sovia” (سويف), a term that equates its meaning with “wisdom” (حكمة), philosophy (muhammad sholikhin, 2009: 80-81). in light of the description, sufi civilization can be interpreted as a civilization that departs from a trend established to respond to each change (innovative, creative and irreplaceable identity), as can be seen from the word “tashawwafa”, always being in front (as in “shaf”, departs from a pure heart (like the word “shafa”), always drawing closer to god (as in “ibnshauf”), always being cautious (as illustrated in “ahlshuffah” behavior ), and thinking / acting wisely, then producing thoughtfulworks that is useful to the general public (as exemplified by philosophers). furthermore, tracing the actions of sufi scholars, it can be seen how dynamic their thought is. in almost the same time as fiqh and kalam, sufism emerged through more universal concepts. sufism comes with the concept of zuhud in the form of a mental attitude (not adrift in the sparkling worldly life, although still trying to benefit the world)3. the concept of zuhud later developed into khauf (fear of allah) and raja’ (submission only to allah) according to hasan al-basri4, mahabbah (true love) according to rabi’ah al-adawiyah5, wahdatul wujud (unity of existence) according toibnarabi6, wahdatussyuhud(unity of testimony), love and passing awayaccording to ibnfaridh, wihdatulwujud (total submission to allah) according to al-jilli, and so on. these various concepts later became a point of study material that is of interest to both muslim and orientalist scientists. islamic civilization led by the “sufis” is recognized by the world as “the golden age of islam”, as happened during the abbasid dynasty7, 3 in the view of the sufis, worldly passions are a source of human moral degradation. in order to avoid the temptations of lust, humans must be careful of the world and abandon worldly life and breaking away from material influences (mukhtar solihin & rosihon anwar, 2002: 270). 4 hasan basri was a sufi ulama who first appeared with the concept of zuhud. born in medina in 642 ad and died in 728 ad (m. amin syukur, 2012: 30). 5 according to al-taftazani, in the second century hijriyah, rabi’ah al-adawiyah presented zuhud in the form of mahabbatullah (hub allah). one of the goals is to improve morale, amidst the degradation that occurred at that time (abu al-wafa’ al-ghanimi al-taftazani, 1970: 80-81). 6 even with different terms, such as ittihad and hulul as abu yazid al-bustami and al-hallaj, in essence the sufis feel as if there is no distance between themselves and god (m. hasyim syamhudi, 2015: 277). 7 the abbasid daula made a major contribution to the development of islamic civilization, such as the compilation of hadith, state affairs, politics, law and economic subjects. major figures were present there, such as: al-kindi, al-farabi, ibn sina, ibn bajah, ibn thufail, ibn rushd, al-abhari, etc., from the philosophy field. ibn miskawaih, ibn sahal, abu bakkar al-razy, ali bin abbas, ibn sina, etc., from the field of medicine; ibn baithar, rashidun, jubair bin hayyan, etc., from the pharmacy field. in addition, other fields also devel[ 48 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 where science and technology are the basis of development. almost all fields were controlled by muslims at that time, such as: politics, economics, social aspects, culture, to defense and security. although in the end it was defeated by lust and anger. although the abbasids collapsed, the scholars who had abilities in their respective fields could still exist until they were known in various parts of the world. the spread of islam was carried out through wandering throughout the country, until reaching nusantara (the indonesian archipelago). the wanderers were believed to be sufis or students of famous sufis. since then, the people in nusantara gained enlightenment and slowly but surely, became the largest muslim country in the world. hopefully, as stated by nanat fatah nasir, “indonesia, the new synthesis of civilization”, the idea of sufism becoming the starting point of the formation of civilizationis possible, given the condition of a pluralistic indonesia. sufi scholarship in developping civilization in the history of islamic civilization, the term tasawuf/sufism appeared in the 3rd century hijri. even so, sufism has basically been there since prophet muhammad was alive. the emergence of sufism was a reaction from the scholars at that time, when they saw muslims experiencing moral degradation. scholars took a stand, by means of very simple dress, outside the mosque to get closer to god, teaching about eternal afterlife and reminding of the torment which is very painful for the wrongdoers (syukur, 2012: 13). the collapse of the abbasid dynasty in baghdad devastated many. the scholars went wandering, trying to build anaspired new civilization. it was this odyssey which then brought them to the archipelago and spread the teachings of islam which is rahmatanlilalamin. their teaching books wereused in nusantara. their pattern of politeness and tolerancehaswon the hearts of many people, who were basically religious, in nusantara and they became interested and determined to be muslims. in the end, islam grew rapidly in nusantara, resulting in the countryhaving the largest muslim population in the world. therefore, it can be safely concluded that sufi civilization originated from thoughts about human morals. sufism movement is a moral movement in response to inequality and irregularities that occurred in the early days of itsemergence. in the literature of islamic civilization, greek ethical philosophy and persian moral thought were the keys to the success of a dynasty, but were oped, such as astronomy, interpretation, kalam, sufism, and so forth. so, it is natural that montgomery watt, a historian, said that at that time during the first three centuries of islam, it had changed the practice of initially primitive societies into cultured empires (nanat fatah nasir, 2012: 107-108). [ 49 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 more driven by sufi teachings (makdisi, 2015: 273). in fact, the islamic civilization that still stands firmly is sufi civilization. various forms of islamic civilization that came to existence were in fact not built by concepts outside sufism. science was explored in such a way by sufis, so that later it appeared to manifest into various forms of great works recognized by the world. sufis always work on the basis of inspiration from their god, as a gift from their closeness to god. all of that is present by the grace of god, through zikir and a long time thought, until they are so close to god. various forms of islamic civilization that were written in history had the role of sufis; the glory of the umayyad dynasty, the abbasid dynasty, and the safavids in persia (present day iran). islamic kingdoms in nusantara all involved the sufis in establishing a society order, so that they could stand firm and be respected by friends and opponents. without the presence of sufis, perhaps civilization was difficult to build. the safavid kingdom in persia, as an example is the kingdom that was founded by shah ismail i in 907 ah/1501 ad in tibriz, the capital city of the kingdom of alaqkonyulu which it conquered. this kingdom stood on the tradition of sufism built by safi al-din 1301 ad in ardabil. it is junaid, a teacher (muryid) of the safavid tareeqa who made political ijtihad by controlling the kingdom as a jihad in upholding the religion of allah. the safavids experienced a peak during the reign of shah abbas i (ruling from 1588 ad 1642 ad), where the stability of government, economy, art, science, mysticism, and territory was built in such a way that it became the largest islamic empire of its time (abdillah, 2010: 30-42). the contribution of the safavid kingdom was enormous for the formation of the islamic republic of iran in the future and for muslims in general. according to zulkifli abdillah, the positive contributions include: first, laying the foundations for the life of the shiite group in iran which is still visible today; second, providing space for the growth of islamic science, especially philosophy, fiqh and sufism; third, the city of isfahan as a physical contribution with high architecture and art (abdillah, 2010: 47). sufi civilization is created on the basis of the shahada, laa ilaaha illa allah (tauhid). the journey of the sufis is always in order to uphold the tauhid. they strive hard whenever and wherever for the sake of upholding laa ilaaha illa allah. indonesia is another example of the works of the great sufis. islam came in the midst of people who had embraced strong faith and religion. however, islam could be accepted well, without any significant rejection. the greatness and glory of this country can be traces back tosufism. times have changed, although history repeats itself, as sunnatullah (the way allah deals with his creation, so [ 50 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 everything can be used as learning material). therefore, many things can be learned from every event in the past, to be applied in the present. the ability to take lessons, innovate and think into the future, becomes a necessity on earth, so that wecan still exists and have identity. the optimism of nanat fatah nasir indicates that indonesia is a synthesis of islamic civilization. nasir perhaps saw the potential for indonesia to become the center of world civilization. indonesia is known as a melting pot of various elements of civilization. this country is inhabited by people who come from various ethnicities and nations; arabs, chinese, indians, and so on. natural resources and human resources are very sufficient to build a new civilization, which is different from world civilization which is built on only one group, such as the arabs, persians and europeans. islamic civilization and sufism in the mellenial era the needs of the older generation are to build a civilization for the next generations. various efforts must be made, in order to create a great generation in the future. now, the question iswhatis required to create a great generation? the answer is to return to sufism, where many sufis succeeded in building civilizations in the past. the sufi concept, as offered by sufis in general, can be used as an example. aal-ghazaliwas able to reconcile the shari’a conflict with hakikat, then what he exemplified is the science of conflict resolution. most sufis left ustheir works.this means that we should continue to work. they were fighters for freedom against the invaders that set an example for fighting in the path of allah. the shiddiqiyah congregation in jombang managed to build a factoryand whichgives us an example of economic development. the sufis were able to build educational institutions from the elementary to the tertiary level whichexeplifiescreation of civilization. the sufis have never stopped fighting for the creation of civilization and the greatness of the generations to come. indonesia as a large country with the largest population of muslims in the world, with various tribes, customs, cultures and religions, is certainly prone to disruptions. fortunately, since the beginning, this country has been blessed with a mutual agreement called pancasila. had pancasila not proposed, it would have been difficult to unite this nation, let alone to build a great one. recently, a new term has emerged in the world of academics, which is “virally infecting” every theme of scientific activities. the term disruptive is widely used to describe a chaotic state of a nation. the word nation here is a global term that represents the whole of a group of people from generation to generation. in the past, disruption was similar to degradation. then what [ 51 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 exactly is disruption? in english, disruption means disturbance or disorder. disruptive means causing disruptionor being divisive (john echol & hassan sadily, 1995: 189). so it is natural that this earahas been referred to asbeing disruptive, an era full of acts of chaos, disruption and fragmentation. efforts to divide the people and the nation, from the beginning of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri) have never subsided by both internal and external parties. as a result of the influence from various sides, many people were triggered to take disruptive-political actions. to gain influence or benefit economically, they are willing to ‘trade’ their own people, by creating political chaos in this safe, peaceful and prosperous country. it is widely known that 2018 is a political year for indonesia. departing from the experience of 2014, the political arena at the elite level brought pain and damaged the mentality of the nation’s children. the emergence of various “cyber crime”, arguing on social media, disseminating hoaxes, and efforts to create riots, are part of disruption in our society. this year, the political arena will be held again, so being aware of disruption in society is a must! tracing back into the past for a moment, basically sufism is a form of disruption of the established regime in which it first appeared in the 3rd century. through the search of history, the datashow that sufism was born due to injustice and chaos of the islamic caliphate led by yazid (banuummayyad 630-700 ad). the word disruption here is interpreted as an effort to create new order to compete with an established regime. when looking at the deviations of the islamic caliphate principles at the time, sufis rose with different trends, wearing simple clothes in the capacity of those who should be able to wear luxury and have exclusive facilities. the efforts they made were aimed at providing learning as well as protesting against the caliph regarding their wrongdoings. the term disruptive in this context is interpreted as negativity for the authorities who tried to establish a system, and can also be interpreted as positivity in an effort to improve the situation. in this way, the sufis succeeded in returning the principles of the caliphate as applied by the messenger of allah and the companions, so that a highly respected caliph was born who had a strong sufi principle, namely the caliph umar ibn abdul aziz. the presence of caliph umar ibn abdul aziz, gave a new dimension to the islamic caliphate which was in accordance with the islamic shari’a. changes in the tendency of society from time to time were closely followed by the sufis so as to continue to be creative in strengthening their existence among muslims and the world community. fazlurrahman in his book, “islam”, provides information that sufism through its tareqa has always metamorphosed against [ 52 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 change. sufism, which at first did not think about economic issues, turned into business institutions that deserved to be taken into account. not to mention if seen from the history of the arrival and spread of islam in indonesia, it is clear that the sufis paid special attention to the traditions of the local people during propagation of islam. the transformation of culture from local culture to islamic culture became the mainstay of the sufi propaganda pattern. what was done by the sufis, turned out to produce brilliant results, with the spread of islam in the archipelago without any significant rejection from locals who from the beginning had been religious? the earlier description illustrates that sufism in fact always tries to adjust themselves in every situation, without changingits original purpose, namely to make muslims close to their god. in fact, sufism always succeeded in completing its mission. one can see the proof as sufism is still growing now in nusantara. building mental and spiritual foundation the interesting phenomenon in the current millennial generation is the hijrah. ithas emerged since the 2000s, as the antithesis of the phenomenonof glamorous young generation. the phenomenon of hijrah, according to abdul hair, is caused by two factors, namely: first, the loosening of the new order’s government policy towards islamic identity; and, second, because of the sponsorship of the world of industry which contributed to its increase8. according to husnul athia, the millennial generation who did the hijrahwas identical with several changes, including how women dress (who initially wore jeans and tight clothes, turned into more islamic with long and wide veils covering the chest and loose clothes, some even wearing niqab). while men tend to grow their beards and shorten their pants above the ankle.the content they share on social media also tends to be similar, namely short lectures by well-known religious teachers such as ustadz adi hidayat, ustaz khalid basalamah, ustadz hanan attaqi and ustadz abdus somad9. the millennial generation is very interesting to discuss, considering many aspectssuch as education, norms, social awareness, mental conditions, and dependence on the use of technology. there is quite a lot of research that has been carried out related to the topic, one of which was published by heru dwi wahana. heru dwi wahana’s research in 2014 at cijantung state high school 39 east jakarta, with a sample of as many as 186 people, showed remarkable results from the influence of cultural values with the resilience of 8 (abdul hair, on: https://news.detik.com/kolom/d-3840983/ fenomena-hijrah-di-kalangan-anak-muda, accessed in february 13, 2018). 9 (husnul athia, on: https://alif.id/read/husnul-athiya/tren-berhijrah-generasi-milenial-b206839p/, accessed in february 15, 2018). [ 53 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 millennial generation individuals, based on the statistics, cultural values that appeared in their surroundings (school) produce high individual resilience. the characteristics of the millennial generation, as compiled from the results of these studies are as follows: 1) making technology a lifestyle; 2) sheltered generation; 3) born of educated parents; 4) multi-talented, multi-langual, expressive and explorative; 5) always confident and optimistic; 6) simplicity, and everything being instant, accomplishment must be achieved; 7) work and study more interactively through teamwork, collaboration and thought groups, independent and structured in the use of technology, communication gadgets, preferring visual instruction in accessing the internet,; 8) instant communication, real time, network development; 9) more open to various access of information; 10) tendency to be more permissive to diversity; 11) carefree about privacy and willing to share intimate details about themselves with strangers byposting online status a daily activity; 12) having a view that family is a very important pillar of their lives (heru dwi wahana, 2015: 2021). self-resilience is a mental issue for the millennial generation. the twelve points above illustrate the mental conditions of the millennial generation that must be resolved, or as challenges that must be answered by sufism in founding a civilization. one of the main functions of sufism is to build a resilient human mentality, so as to survive invarious situations and conditions around it, while making changes in a better direction. basically, digital technology can be taken from the origin of the concept of the harmony of the universe regarding the concept of life and death. this concept can be seen from the shahada: laa (zero) ilaaha (one) illa (zero) allah (one). in that sentence, there are numbers: 0.1.0.1. the more laailaahailla allahis recited, the more numbers will be created. in the concept of digital technology, basically this technology is formed from binary numbers zero (off) and one (on). therefore, the more on and off the technology, the more harmonious motion that occurs in technological devices. if only on and off can be used as a lifestyle, then one will get closer to god (elmansyah al-haramain, 2014: 158-159). therefore, the millennial generation has the potential to be very close to god, because “it has become their daily lifestyle”. however, they need a comprehensive explanation of the existence of god in the technology they are using. the more they realize the existence of god, the easier the creation of sufism civilization will be. considering that, laaiaahailla allah is the main zikir of the sufis, whenever and wherever they are. this zikir, in the qadiriyahandnaqshabandiyahtareeqa is called zikirnafy (annihilation) istbat (determination). on the other hand, the mentality and spirituality of the sufis [ 54 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 have been shown in such a way by fazlurrahman in his book, islam (1979). as elaborated by hermansyah (2013) the term, “neo-sufism” was known in the modern era. in his conclusion, hermansyah mentioned that sufis can answer challenges, with concerns about environmental issues, social ethics, and the future of humanity. the mainstay of the sufis includes the power of empirical science and mystical spiritual awareness (hermansyah, 2013: 119). thus, mentality and spirituality can be developed simultaneously by strengthening zikir in the millennial generation. there is a lot of evidence from research that shows that zikir (in the broad sense: all forms of ritual worship in islam) can solve the problem of human life. research by moh. soleh of uin sunan ampel surabaya, for example, shows that tahajud prayer can cure cancer. mwanwhile a study conducted bydrsugiran, a surgeon, shows that the prayer movement has physical and mental health effects. prof. m. amin syukurs of uin walisongo semarang had experience that gave evidence that zikir curedhis cancer, and many more, including duha prayer and charitythat promises financial sufficiency10. the description is basically the daily activities of the sufis in a larger portion than the others. this is also what strengthens the mentality of the sufis, both in dealing with world problems and the afterlife, so as to be able to create their own civilization in islamic history. conclusion i have come to understand that the enforcement related to the issu of sufism and its religious values and activities may create an alternative of strategies in dealing with the current mellineal generation in a more acceptable islamic civilization in indonesia, which will draw the world’s attention. mental and spiritual strengthening is the key to the success of the millennial generation. some important points are concluded by this work. first, the emergence of the sufis in the 3rd century hijri was part of the response to changes. this means that the current situation and conditions of the millennial community await the reappearance of sufis who actively play a role in the community, so that they can create better changes in the future. second, in dealing with changes, the sufisshould return to the spirituality. things are changing drastically, which requiresa return to the spirituality. otherwise, there will be a lot of people trapped in emptiness, which will have fatal consequences for future 10 for more detail, read: moh. sholeh, terapi shalat tahajjud: menyembuhkan berbagai penyakit (jakarta: penerbit noura, 2012); sugiran, mukjizat gerakan shalat: penelitian dokter ahli bedah dalam pencegahan dan penyembuhan penyakit (jakarta: qultum media, 2012); m. amin syukur, zikir menyembuhkan kankerku: pengalaman kesembuhan seorang penderita kanker ganas yang telah divonis memiliki kesempatan hidup hanya tiga bulan (bandung: pt mizan publika, 2007); yusuf mansur, merubah keadaan hidup dengan shalat dan sedekah: the amazing power of shalat and giving (jakarta: zikrul hakim, 2011), etc. [ 55 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 development. third, the strong mentality of sufis can be used as an example in building civilization. fourth, the attitude, examples and tolerance of the sufis can be developed in indonesia, which has been proven to be able to spread the face of peaceful islam in society. fifth, the efforts of the sufis in developing science, philosophy, art, religion, etc., can be used as examples in building civilization. bibliography abdillah, z., (2010). kepingan-kepingan sejarah umat islam. pontianak: stain pontianak press. abdul, h., “fenomenahijrah di kalangananakmuda”, (peneliti kajian budaya pop, media dankomunikasi), tuesday, 30 january 2018, on: https://news.detik.com/kolom/d-3840983/fenomena-hijrah-di-kalangan-anak -muda. al-haramain, e., (2014). sejarah peradaban islam dalam tasawuf: sebuah pemaparan awal. pontianak: stain pontianak press. al-taftazani, a. a., (1970). al-madkhalilatasawwuf al-islami. mesir: dar al-tsaqafah. echol, j. & sadily, h., (1995). kamus bahasa inggris – indonesia. jakarta: gramedia. elmansyah. (2016). dakwah sufistik di era digital, al-hikmah: jurnaldakwah. 10 (1). [p. 56-74]. hermansyah. (2013). “neo sufisme: sejarahdanprospeknya”, khatulistiwa: journal of islamic studies. 3 (2). [p. 113-120]. hornby, a. s. (1995). oxrord advanced learner’s dictionary of current english international studen’s new edition. new york: oxford university press. husnul, a., (2018). trend “berhijrah” generasimilenial, thrusday 1 february 2018, on: https://alif.id/read/husnul-athiya/tren-berhijrah-generasi-milenialb206839p/. makdisi, g. a., (2015). citra humanisme islam: panorama kebangkitan intelektual dan budaya islam dan pengaruhnya terhadap renaisans barat. jakarta: serambi ilmu semesta. mansur, y., (2011). merubah keadaan hidup dengan shalat dan sedekah: the amazing power of shalat and giving. jakarta: zikrul hakim. munawwir, a. w., (1984). kamus al-munawwir: arab-indonesia terlengkap [ 56 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 edisi kedua. surabaya: penerbit pustaka progressif. nasir, n. f., (2012). the next civilization: menggagas indonesia sebagai puncak peradaban dunia. jakarta: media maxima. palfrey, j. & gasser, u., (2008). born digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives. new york: basic books, a member of perseus books group. penyusun, t., (2008). kamus bahasa indonesia. jakarta: pusat bahasa. shermon, g., (2017). digital cultures: age of the intellect (lulu.com: lulu publishing services. sholeh, m., (2012). terapi shalat tahajjud: menyembuhkan berbagai penyakit. jakarta: penerbit noura. sholikhin, m., (2009). 17 jalan menggapai mahkota sufi syeikh ‘abdul qadir al-jailani: intisari kitab karta al-jailani, al-fath al-rabbany, sirr al-asrar, al-futuh al-ghayb dan al-ghunyah li thalibi thariq alhaqq. yogyakarta: mutiara media. solihin, m. & anwar, r., (2002). kamus tasawuf. bandung: pustaka rosdakarya. sugiran, (2012)., mukjizat gerakan shalat: penelitian dokter ahli bedah dalam pencegahan dan penyembuhan penyakit. jakarta: qultum media. syamhudi, m. h., (2015). akhlak – tasawuf dalam konstruksi piramida ilmu islam. malang: madani media. syukur, m. a., (2012). menggugat tasawuf: sufisme dan tanggung jawab sosial abad 21. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. ---------. (2004). tasawuf sosial. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. ---------. (2007). zikir menyembuhkan kankerku: pengalaman kesembuhan seorang penderita kanker ganas yang telah divonis memiliki kesempatan hidup hanya tiga bulan. bandung: pt mizan publika. umarie, b., (1966). sistematika tasawuf. sala: penerbit siti syamsiyah. wahana, h. d. (2015). “pengaruh nilai-nilai budaya generasi millenial dan budaya sekolah terhadap ketahan individu: studi di sma negeri 39 cijantung jakarta”, jurnalketahanannasional. xxi (1). [p. 14-22]. yatim, b., (2001). sejarah peradaban islam: dirasah islamiyah ii. jakarta: raja grafindo persada. [ 133 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 book review chinese indonesians: chinese muslims and the collapse of the business republic jakarta: republika by teguh setiawan reviewed by cucu nurjamilah (pontianak state college of islamic studies) this book written by teguh setiawan and published by republika is very interesting to read because from it the reader will get a lot of information about the ethnic chinese in indonesia, among them: the greatness of the chinese muslim leaders and bad luck of chinese muslim community during the dutch colonial period and the heyday of the muslim ethnic chinese in indonesia, and portrait of the chinese muslims from the past. in addition, readers will be interested in doing research on other ethnic chinese, perhaps even you would like to know the ethnic chinese in the rural areas recounted in the book. in this book not only does it tell the fate of chinese society as a result of the cruel policies of the dutch which continued into the new order era, but it is also interesting to learn about the involvement of the chinese in the spread of islam in indonesia, in the fight for independence, as well as their love of islam and even the role of chinese in developing literature and culture of indonesia. this book recounts many young chinese people’s forgotten history, in which they had a role in expelling the dutch and the japanese. in addition, it tells about the chinese leaders that formed youth movements in indonesia during the occupation, but their fate was simply tragic. here, there are a martial arts stories which were very popular in the 1960’s and contain the values of moral education. this is one of the works of the ethnic chinese who loved indonesia. the title of this book is “chinese muslims and the collapse of the business republic.” the author of the book depicts the life of chinese muslim community in indonesia from their arrival in indonesia, their glory until the onset of a massive massacre. there are two groups of the chinese community [ 134 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 in indonesia in the 16th century, the chinese who practiced ancestral belief that lived in exclusive settlements and the chinese muslims who blended with the indigenous communities. the first part of the book is about the chinese muslims. this section tells about the chinese muslims’ involvement in the spread of islam in indonesia who could not let go of their status as a minority within the minority. in this section it is also described by several prominent historians regarding the early phase of the assimilation between the hui (muslim) and the native peoples, muslim chinese and non-muslim chinese in the 1400s, between the chinese and the javanese. this section tells about the chinese muslims who dominated a lot of seaports, became collectors of customs duties, regulated vessel traffic on behalf of the government, and invested with the tile of knight and married elite women. if you have heard about the theories saying islam in indonesia was brought from mainland china, in the book it is elaborated how it was done and who assigned chinese muslim leaders in several areas of major cities in indonesia. the greatness of the chinese muslim leaders who came to indonesia and the fact that they had reached the pinnacle of success in indonesia turn out that they had a close relation with the emperor of china at the time of the ming dynasty. interestingly enough in this section too, readers will know who actually or what clan of the chinese muslim community considered the earliest to come to indonesia and from their looks it is very difficult to guess if they are chinese. this clan claimed that sunan kalijaga and abdurrahman wahid, or gus dur were among the descendants. here there are also different opinions expressed by historians on islamic religiosity of the ethnic chinese. as it is argued that they only know one school of thought which is of the hanafi and do not know any other. but there is also an opinion that their religious orientation is divided into three tendencies, namely: the kejawen or javanese mysticism, orthodox islam, and political islam. this is found in “kawroeh agama islam, karya sya’ir ilmoe sedjati, sya’ir tjioko and petjoen, and in the works of kho tjeng bie entitled sja’ir serikat islam”. with regard to the collapse of the chinese muslims, it began with the conflict in the ethnic chinese community itself, the influence of the political changes that took place in mainland china, also the colonial dutch policies that resented the chinese muslims’ good relations with the indonesian natives, and the presence of the voc policy accusing the muslim chinese community of pretending to embrace islam just to avoid taxes. the peak of the collapse of the chinese society was after the arrival of the japanese army to indonesia [ 135 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 that continued ahead of indonesia’s independence. at the time, the ethnic chinese split into three groups: those who were loyal to their ancestors; those who were loyal to the dutch; and those who belonged to the nationalist groups that supported the independence of indonesia. distinction between the groups and the different alliance with the warring parties that gave rise to the diverse expectations of the various parties was very detrimental to the chinese community. prince diponegoro decided to attack all chinese whether muslims or not, because they are regarded as a source of funding for the dutch government. this is the beginning of the chinese muslims’ return to their ancestors’ beliefs. in addition, the survivors of the massive slaughter during the dutch colonial rule spread into the interior areas of indonesia. one of them is in the hinterland district of tanggerang, where there are original chinese communities who still occupy the “house of kebaya”, ground-floor complete with a sacred desk and a jackfruit wood. this incident has probably caused the chinese society to be unwilling to blend in with the native indonesians. a portrait of the life and movement of the ethnic chinese is recounted explicitly in this book. we hope you will enjoy reading this book. [ 265 ] al -albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 book review crescent on the island of gods, traces of islamic village in kusamba-bali yogyakarta: religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs) graduate school, gadjah mada university yogyakarta, 2012 by i gde parimartha, ida bagus gde putra, luh pt.kusuma ririen reviewed by: farninda aditya (pontianak state college of islamic studies) bali, a beautiful island well known all over the world, fascinates many visitors from various countries, and has a religious identity as its nickname reflects, the island of the gods. although famous as a hindu land, bali has an islamic village, where muslims can live side by side with balinese hindus. in view of the events of the bali bombing, in 2002 in kuta and 2005 in jimbaran, of course, there have been social and religious tensions between these two faiths. the tragedy has indeed left a change of attitude that is a strengthening of political identity of the balinese-ness. this situation is presented in a book entitled, bulan sabit di pulau dewata, jejak kampung islam kusamba-bali (crescent on the island of gods, traces of islamic village in kusamba-bali). i gde parimartha, ida bagus gde putra, and luh pt.kusuma ririen are the authors of the series of monograph of pluralism practice. the book which was edited by aagn ari dwipayana, was published in june 2012 by the center for religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs) of the graduate school, gadjah mada university, yogyakarta. it is the results of research on civic pluralism in kusumba that gives a picture of hindu-muslim relations in bali. the relations have been established through the kinship ties in kusamba, giving rise to self-identification by claiming to be a muslim balinese rather than a nomad. names that are identical for balinese hindus such as wayan, ketut, or nengah are also used as a way of addressing those who are muslims. in this village of kusamba, muslims do not really feel the strengthening of political identity of balinese-ness. they have a balinese id card, living in a muslim community environment that has its own administrative system of government. in contrast to muslim immigrants who have to deal with the tightening of population rules, dealing with sweeping and must have a kipem (temporary identity card) as seasonal migrants. in the village of kusamba, [ 266 ] al-albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 there is also an alternative to temporary residence for the migrants, because the administration is more easily coupled with places of worship. however, not all entrants are accepted by the community of kusamba, although they provide economic benefits. kusamba muslims make special regulations for immigrants, for example if they do not attend the friday prayers three times without any obstacles, they will be expelled from the village. the perception that immigrant residents often create problems also arise among kusamba people. they do not join gotong royong (mutual aid), unbound and mingle with local culture. it shows that muslims who live in kampung islam really love the local culture of bali. as the conclusion is expressed in this 98-page book, that 1) amid the growing ethnosizing of local politics, minority muslim residents are given space to actualize their political aspirations in a communal settlement called kampung in bali. 2) villages can survive because bali has long been implementing dual government at the basic level: traditional villages and official village. the official village is a village that provides administrative services to all residents regardless of religious background. 3) muslim life in bali provides a priceless lesson about how to manage space in a multicultural society this initial conclusion will give you another opinion when it comes to completing the four major sections in it. the first part discusses islam in the midst of hindu village. this section reveals the community institution in bali pluralistic-collectivism as the term used by clifford geetz i.e. working on something by working together, while dividing group loyalty over its roles. this is reflected from the traditional institutions in bali, such as dadia, adat villages, subak, sekaa and pemaksan. in this section also, hindu villages and official villages are depicted both from their political history and the administration and the characteristics of the village. in addition, the reason kusamba became the focus of the discussion is also delivered in this book. one of the reasons is that kusamba is a traditional village that has been a place of muslim settlement for centuries. the existence of muslims in bali certainly raises the question, since when and what causes the existence of muslims there. in a section that discusses the trail villages in bali, one will find the history of the existence of muslims with various opinions and evidence of heritage. in fact, the history of kampung loloan shows that in the 17th-18th century, the puri (palace) accommodated political refugees from pontianak named syarif abdullah bin yahya al qadry with his men who came from bugis malay and arabic tribes. syarif abdullah contributed to a variety in the government of bali at the time, as he established a settlement which later became the administrative village [ 267 ] al -albab volume 5 number 2 december 2016 of muslims, built the fatimah fortress, converted warships into commercial ships that made trade up to singapore and the malay mainland. another expertise of the entourage of syarif abdullah was good at treating various diseases. these skills became the origin of the name kampung loloan. the balinese who asked for a medicine to the muslim shaman always called loloh, and then the name was pinned to the settlers who inhabited the ijo gading river area, then became the name of the village: kampung loloan. the islamic village in kusamba is the third section. this section is interesting because it can be a guide for other writers who want to describe the history and description of the village or community residence. the sub-section provides an explanation of the village history, mosaic of villagers’ life, economic life: from fishermen to traders, village recognition, citizenship service, development redistribution, people dynamics: religious integration and tension. the relations between the muslim community and hinduism that are an important part of this book are provided in section four. the ties that exist between these two communities show mutual respect between the two. bonds of kinship, language, mutual aid activities called metetulung and ngejot are traditions of sending food on special days of muslims and hindus, tolerance in providing halal dish called selam by the people of bali and the participation of muslims not to leave home when hindus are celebrating the day of silence is a proof of good ethnic relations in bali. until the bali bombing tragedy, there was a connection between the muslim community living in kampung and the hindu community in customary village. although the conclusion of this book states that: hindu-muslim relations must be faced with the dynamics that occur outside the village associated with the discourse of strengthening of the identity of balinese-ness due to the bali bombing tragedy. perception changes will emerge and may affect the relations between the two villages in the future. the predicted future perceptions are indeed a concern, but this book shows that hindu-muslim relations in bali remain intertwined from centuries ago. the bali bombing tragedy also proves that hindu villages and kampung can remain side by side. both villages still stand up to now, the bond of kinship becomes the strength, the relationship that lives in the midst of religious differences becomes fortress. traces of kampung islam on the island of the gods is not just a trail that leaves traces, but a guide to take lessons from. peace in the diversity of residents in bali makes the island of god more beautiful. [ 19 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 when culture meets religion: the muludan tradition in the kanoman sultanate, cirebon, west java mohamad yusuf radbout university, nijmegen, the netherlands abstract this article is based on a fundamental question, what is the relationship between practicing the muludan tradition and seeking of power by the royal family of the kanoman sultanate in cirebon? the muludan is a tradition conducted by the royal family, and thousands of people participate in this tradition. this article is aimed to analyze the extent of which the royal family uses muludan tradition to regain their political power as they had in the past. our participatory research shows that the muludan tradition could be defined as a religious-cultural system. this is not only a religious ritual but also a cultural tradition. on the one hand this tradition is done primarily based on the knowledge, beliefs, norms and moral values of religious teachings. people participating in this tradition believe that they would gain god blessing (ngalap berkah) and shafa’at as cited by the quran and the hadith. on the other hand, this tradition involves cultural tradition that has been practiced by the local people since long time ago. this research also found that the royal family fails to use this tradition to gain political power as they intend to do. this tradition could mainly effectively be implemented in terms of the socio-cultural relationship between the sultan and the followers. political power, the royal family aims to gain through conducting the muludan tradition, does not significantly happen. key words: the muludan tradition, power relationship, religious identity, and the kanoman sultanate introduction the celebration of the birth of the prophet muhammad in the kanoman sultanate in cirebon, west java is performed every year and is followed by thousands of people. it is a noble inheritance from which the sultanate maintains and preserves this tradition up to the present. there are series of rituals carried out in the kraton of kanoman, begun on safar 15th.1 . the peak 1 cirebonese people, similar with javanese people use the moon calendar besides the sun calendar. different with the sun calendar, the moon calendar is more difficult in determining new month or new year because the revolving of moon is 29,5, thus in one month can be 29 days or 30 days. we, however, cannot determine which month is 29 days and which one is 30 days. [ 20 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 of the muludan tradition is so-called the ritual of pelal2 or panjang jimat that is performed on rabiul awwal 12th. among the series of the rituals following the muludan tradition, it also includes the performance of the gamelan sekaten or gong sekati started from rabiul awwal 7th at 8 pm. this particular gamelan is inherited by the daughter of sunan gunung jati (a muslim missionary in this area d. 1521). he used this gamelan to spread islam not only in cirebon, but also in all areas in java island. the tradition of celebrating the birth of the prophet muhammad was initially introduced by shalahuddin al-ayyubi who governed baghdad 700 years after the death of the prophet muhammad. the initial purpose of this celebration was to encourage his people to remember the life of the prophet and to take good examples from what the prophet muhammad did during his life. the celebration did not only include reciting the life story and the good example of the prophet muhammad but also by reciting the shalawat nabi3 as a reflection of the love of the prophet. this, furthermore, gained successful to strengthen the spirit of struggle against the christian soldiers. this tradition then spread across the world, including to cirebon. sunan gunung jati and his uncle, who was also the son of pangeran cakrabuwana (the first governor of cirebon), brought about this tradition to the people of cirebon. even though they perform similar ritual from what has been done by shalahuddin al-ayyubi, but, as they also involve hindu and buddhist traditions makes this tradition differs from the one performed by shalahuddin al-ayyubi.4 as mentioned earlier, the peak of the muludan tradition is the ritual of pelal or panjang jimat. this ritual is the climax of the muludan tradition. literally, the word panjang means “eternal” or “everlasting” (lestari). while jimat means “something honorable”. therefore, panjang jimat literally means “something that has an everlasting honor”. contextually, panjang refers to several long plates with the diameter of 50 cm, and full of beautiful ornaments. the panjang ceramics belong to pangeran cakrabuwana, and he got these ceramics from a buddhist monk, sang hyang bango. pangeran cakrabuwana received those ceramics on his way back from padjajaran (150 kms from cirebon) to learn islam. from this, we might see the influence of the buddhist teachings in the muludan tradition. the jimat refers to rice boiled in a special way used special 2 the word “pelal” comes from arabic word, “iflal” means the peak of the something. 3 the command on reciting the shalawat is based on the quranic text. those who recite the shalawat nabi will get blessing from the prophet. innallaha wa malaikatahu yushalluna ‘ala al-nabi, ya ayyuha alladzi na amanu shallu ‘alaihi wa sallimu taslima (q.s.33.56) 4 according to rm. arief rahman, the vice secretary of the family of kanoman sultanate foundation (yayasan keluarga kesultanan kanoman), cirebon has been known as the melting point of various religious beliefs and various ethnicities. the entity of cirebon itself is the syncretization and the acculturation among them. [ 21 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 flavors. this type of rice is believed to be a device of honoring the prophet muhammad. the rice is put in a long plate called panjang suku or panjang rasul, and supplemented with side dishes and nine plates of various fruits. the muludan tradition is obviously an attractive event for the people. the ritual, which lasts for one month and is performed once a year, was originally created to spread islam by adapting local traditions. however, as time passed, this tradition is perceived as being used by the royal family of the kanoman sultanate to regain their political power over the people in cirebon. our assumption is based on the fact that in the era of sunan gung jati until the era of pangeran walangsungsang, the cirebon sultanate possessed strong political authority. cirebon, at that time was the only powerful sultanate in west java, particularly after the collapse of the padjajaran and galuh kingdom. according to unang suharjo,5 there are three phases when the political power of the cirebon sultanate decreased. firstly was occurred after the sunan gunung jati era. after sunan gunung jati died, cirebon was governed by panembahan ratu pakungwati i or pangeran zaenul arifin. cirebon’s power at that time has significantly decreased because cirebon did not have a powerful army, and thus the mataram kingdom could easily conquer cirebon. since then, cirebon became the colony of mataram kingdom. secondly, similar developments took place during the era of dutch colonial. even though cirebon had no more political power, they were suspected by the dutch to revolt against the colonial power. the dutch administration divided cirebon into three sultanates: kasepuhan, kanoman and kacirebonan sultanate. even though the division of the cirebon into three sultanates was presumably caused by internal conflicts among the three sons of panembahan girilaya, but the dutch government took an active part in the process of dividing. thirdly, it happened after the independence period. the new born of the indonesian authority took over the political power of the cirebon sultanates, as also happen in other areas. since then, the cirebon sultanates mainly possess cultural power. even though many cirebonese people realize that the political power of the sultanates in cirebon6 is over, every tradition and ritual conducted by the sultan attracts a lot of people. we might consider that the sultan still possesses cultural and spiritual power. but, there might be an attempt of the royal family of the sultan to regain political power by using the muludan tradition. the royal family might refer to the history that their ancestor, sunan gunung jati, not only possessed religious and cultural power, but also political power. 5 see unang suharjo, meninjau sepintas panggung sejarah pemerintahan kerajaan cerbon 1479 – 1809, bandung: tarsito, 1983. 6 cirebone has three big sultanates: kasepuhan (the oldest and the biggest sultanate), kanoman (the midst sultanate), and kacirebonan (the youngest and the smallest sultanate). [ 22 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 therefore, it is obvious that the muludan tradition that stands in continuity to the religious and cultural inheritance from sunan gunung jati, is considered as an important instrument to regain political power of the royal family of the kanoman sultanate.7 theoretical framework everyone who tries to identify the ritual activity in cirebon will face semantic difficulties when relating to meaning in language or relating to the connotations of words, because there is no proper comparison in the english language. in cirebon, every ritual has its own name. the religious rituals that follow the tradition of the muludan, could be understood as a ritual that contains of myth meaning because the reciting of asyraqalan,8 barzanji, and shalawat nabi are considered spiritual communications between those who believe and practice it and the prophet muhammad. o’dea9 explains that ritual is a ceremony that expresses deep feelings in terms of psychological and sub-consciousness feeling. ritual has high emotional meaning, which is very complex and permanent. it also has functional meaning that is very important to certain people. the worship, giving honor and respect in religious terms, can be used to strengthen community solidarity. another definition is found in alexander’s statement that traditional religious rituals open up ordinary life to ultimate reality or some transcendent being or force in order to tap its transformative power.10 a fundamental problem in defining ritual stems from the basic assumption that what the writer identify as ritual could be sometimes regarded as a crosscultural category with parallels elsewhere. there is no single type of activity called “ritual” that is instantly and universally recognizable, but there are certain forms of behavior that can be identified. s.j. tambiah11 stated that the difference between ritual and non-ritual is relative rather than absolute and suggested the following working definition: “ritual is culturally constructed system of symbolic communication. it 7 according to ratu raja arimbi nurtina, a sister and the spokeswoman of the sultan of kanoman, the kraton should regain the political power from the people just like the era of sunan gunung jati. she, furthermore explains that one of the ways to realize that condition is by regaining the trust of the people and shows that the existence of the kanoman sultanate by conducting ritual. 8 asyraqalan refers to the reciting of asyraqal badru ‘alaina, the adoration to the prophet muhammad that is written by ahmad barzanji. 9 o’dea, thomas, sosiologi agama. jakarta: rajawali, p. 77-78. 10 ibid, p. 139. 11 tambiah sj. a performative to ritual. london: the british academy and oxford university press. [ 23 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 is constituted of patterned and ordered sequences of words and acts, often expressed in multiple media, whose content and arrangement are characterized in varying degree of formality (conventionality), stereotypy (rigidity), condensation (fusion), and redundancy (repetition).” the idea of power of the cirebonese society is hardly separated from their understanding of islam. using anderson’s idea of the concept of power in the javanese society, for the javanese conception differs from the concept of power that has evolved in the west since the middle ages, including the views of the workings of politics and history:12 clarification of the javanese idea of power may be facilitated by schematic contrast with the more significant aspects of the modern european concept, which can be summarized under four main headings: power is concrete; power is homogeneous; the quantum of power in the universe is constant; and power does not raise the question of legitimacy. the practice of the muludan tradition in the kanoman sultanate how is the muludan tradition performed by the kanoman sultanate? the procession of the muludan tradition that is routinely done in kanoman sultanate is begun on rabiul awwal 1st or 12 days before the ritual of panjang jiamat as the peak ritual for the entire muludan ritual in the kanoman sultanate. the tradition is begun with the ritual of making rice, which is called “the nasi jimat”13. the virgin women of the keraton family make the nasi jimat. firstly, they peel the rice one by one then they pound the rice very cautiously in order not to smash the rice. then, the rice is boiled carefully. the rice after it is boiled is called nasi jimat.14 the uniqueness of this event is that the virgin women must do the process and their condition is not in menstruation. after the making of the nasi jimat, the virgin women peel yellow sandalwood (kayu cendana) to make herbal cosmetic (lulur), wax, sour fish, etc. all of these are part of ritual offerings (sesaji) during the “panjang jimat” ritual. what is interesting from this process is that when they boil all these foods, they 12 anderson, benedict r. o’g. the idea of power in javanese culture” in culture and politics in indonesia, claire holt ed. ithaca, new york: cornell university press. pp. 21-22 13 jimat means si (ji) kang di ru (mat) or one thing that must be put up with, which means the kalimat shahadat. thus, the festival of panjang jimat is a symbol of muslim careness to put up with kalimat shahadat in their life. the kalimat shahadat, as i explained above symbolizes the key word to become muslim. therefore, the ritual of panjang jimat asserts the necessity of the muslim to put up with islam in entirely of life. 14 according to some informants, rice is part of god blessing. islam, furthermore, is descended through muhammad as the bless for entire world. the enthusiastic people to get the nasi jimat represent their enthusiastic to get berkah. [ 24 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 must use the coconut oil that is used in the making of sesaji and the coconut must be picked from the coconut tree planted in the pesantren bendakerep. the next ritual is the butchering of buffalo. the meat of the buffalo is shared to the people and the head is put in the center of the palace court (alunalun). all these processes: from the making of the nasi jimat until the ritual of butchering is undertaken from 1-7 rabiul awwal. on rabiul awwal 7th at 9 am, there is a ritual of heirlooms bath that is performed in the mosque near by the palace. before the bathing ritual, the hairloms are processed from the palace to the mosque. during the procession, the people recite the kalimat shahadat and shalawat nabi. during the bath processes, there is also bathing of a set of the gamelan sekaten that will be used for a performance starting at 8 pm. during the process of the bath of gamelan sekaten, hundreds of people attempt to obtain the water from the bathing. they perceive that the water from the bathing of the gamelan sekaten and other heirloms will bring supernatural power (berkah). people use the water to water their plantation and to treat skin problems.15 the performance of the gamelan sekaten begins on 7 rabiul awwal around 8 pm. prior to the performance, the sultan of kanoman, sultan raja muhammad emiruddin gives simbolic speech to open the performence, and gives authority to lurah nayaga to begin the gamelan performance. as a means of spreading islam in west java, the gamelan undoubtedly has historical meaning for muslims. the gamelan is the symbol not only of the harmony between religious and local culture, but also the symbol of the struggle against the darkness. the last and the peak of ritual in the whole series of the muludan tradition is the ritual of panjang jimat. this ritual is performed in rabiul awwal 12th started at 8 pm. the procession of the ritual of panjang jimat is attended by thousands of people from various places in indonesia. our observation found that some of the attendance come from obroad, such as malaysia and brunei darussalam. the procession of the ritual of the panjang jimat has sacred meaning for the people. the procession symbolizes the birth of the prophet muhammad. the procession started from the sultanate palace to the great mosque around 300 meters. this procession consists of four stages before the baby is born. the four processes are symbolized by the so-called four to five pancer (papat kang kelima pancer/ the fourth stage and the fifth stage is the stage of baby is birth). the meaning of that symbol is the series of events of a person’s birth from the breaking of the fetal membrane (kakang kekawah), the birth of the baby (pancer), the stream of the blood from the mother (adi getih), the moving out of the placenta from the womb until the breaking of the navel (tali pusar). all 15 some other people even believe that by washing their face by that water, it will affect their face look younger. [ 25 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 these stages are simbolized foods, sherbet of water, etc.16 next, we would explain the symbol of the rows. the first row is the row of the payung keropak (the magnificence of umbrella that was made from the leaf of palmyra), followed by the penghulu of keraton (the sultanate officials that work for sultan to conduct religious rituals in kanoman sultanate) and their staff. this row is the symbol of abdul muthallib (the grand father of the prophet muhammad) and abu thalib (the uncle of the prophet muhammad). in the back of this row is the row of bandrang keraton (the row of the soldiers of the kanoman sultanate) who bring several traditional weapons, for instance: the ekasula and the catursula spear. in the third row is the row of people who bring the sacred of tunggul naga; one of the cirebon sacred stuffs of the kanoman sultanate. it is a bound of the skin of the dragon, that according to the legend of the cirebon sultanate, is a follower of panembahan ratu, the grand son of sunan gunung jati. the fourth row is the chief minister of kanoman sultanate (patih), pangeran raja muhammad qodiran, who wear the golden long flowing robe and the turban with small crown on his head who represents the sultan. that symbolizes the newborn baby of the prophet muhammad (symbolized by the golden robe), guarded by the elders and the relative of kanoman sultanate. during the ritual and while wearing the golden robe, the patih is prohibited to speak a word. the seventh row is the row of seven kinds of tumpeng jeneng that symbolize the seven days of the birth of human beings. the last row is the row of nasi jimat that consists of ten ceramics of pangeran cakrabuwana the place of nasi jimat and the fruits. the first ceramic and the nasi jimat symbolize the gift from the sultan to the prophet muhammad. the other nine ceramics are used as the gift to the companions of the prophet muhammad or khulafa alrasyidin,17 syekh abdul qodir jaelani, sunan gunung jati, and the leader of egypt sultanate – the family of the father of sunan gunung jati. while, the fruits symbolize the prosperous city as the dream city, that is put on a kind of plate, which is called the dongdang. the rows move from bangsal jinem, the place in which the sultan usually receives the guests, to the great mosque. on the way from the bangsal jinem 16 abdullah, irwan involves the sign and the signal, besides the symbol as the operator in the process of communication. all the three are the expressive action, at which, whether merely say something to the world order, or wants to change the order by metamorphosis. see abdullah irwan. simbol, makna dan pandangan hidup orang jawa analisa gunungan pada upacara grebeg. yogyakarta: balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional. c.f. edmund leach in culture and communication, cambridge university press, 1976. 17 there were four companions who were caliphates replaced the prophet muhammad to govern arabs. there are: abu bakr shiddiq, umar ibn khattab, utsman ibn ‘affan and ‘ali ibn abi thallib. [ 26 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to the great mosque, people recite the shalawat nabi. in the great mosque, they listen to the reciting of the history of the prophet muhammad from the imam of the mosque. around 12 pm, the reciting of the history of the prophet muhammad finishes and the praying to allah closes the ritual. all the charms are put in the mosque surrounding the seat of pangeran patih. in the end of the ritual, all the charms: nasi jimat, fruits, etc are shared with the people. thousands of people in the mid night struggle to obtain part of the charms. they regard the charmes as having spiritual and supernatural power. the muludan tradition: a religious or cultural ritual? having discussed the muludan tradition, we would analyse this tradition particularly with regard to the idea of power existence. the muludan tradition in the kanoman sultanate could be seen not only as a cultural system but also religious norms as this tradition consists of religious teachings and local culture. many people consider that the muludan tradition, which is held once a year in every rabiul awwal month in kanoman sultanate, is a manifestation of islamic culture, because it contains a system of islamic belief, knowledge and teachings. learning a particular cultural system is very important in sociology and anthropology, in terms of people’s social activity, which contains the meaning of cultural symbols, including islamic symbols in the muludan tradition. as a cultural system, the muludan tradition consists of the noble values of human life, especially the honor of the prophet muhammad. the muludan tradition has the meaning of knowledge, because there involves knowledge transfer from across generations.18 people understand the meaning of the tradition from their ancestors and they take for granted the obligation to participate in this tradition. people are aware of the fact that the muludan tradition is symbolized by reciting “barzanzi”, “asyraqal”, and so forth, as the manifestation of the respect and honor to the prophet muhammad.19 the muludan tradition also involves cultural beliefs, because it consists of the belief of the coming of god’s blessing to those who honor the birth of the 18 from the conversations with some people who follow the muludan tradition, i found that they come routinely and from various places such as bandung, jakarta, even from outside java, like medan, padang, lampung, etc. they come to the muludan tradition, of course, for various reasons. most of them, however, need to get berkah and shafa’at. 19 according to muhammad rais, the lurah of the kanoman sultanate, “every rabiul awwal month, almost in every place in indonesia, muslims celebrate the birth of the prophet muhammad. they obviously can celebrate the birthday by various ways, such as sermon in the mosque, etc. however, why they more likely to come to the kanoman sultanate than celebrate it in their own place?” pak rais convinces that the celebration of the prophet muhammad in the kanoman sultanate is not merely the celebration, but it has deep meaning for the people. [ 27 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 prophet muhammad.20 in relation to the historical places that are considered sacred, or the ancient objects that are believed to have extra-natural powers, people believe that myth also has that kind of power. the muludan tradition that is routinely conducted in the area of the kraton provides the chance for people to bring their mystical wishes into reality. in relation with the perception above, eliade21 with the concept of hierophany, proposes the presence of the ultimate reality in the ritual. the muludan tradition also has religious norms and values. people are integrated in the name of religious values and norms. through the participation of the muludan tradition, muslims honor and respect each other, and society can remain unbreakable. boisard22 describes how spiritual patterns are related to the worldly elements. in other words, the influence of religious norms and values that make up the muludan tradition to the daily activities obviously represent the very basic understanding of muslim to islamic teachings. people believe that islam invites its adherents to obey god’s commands. the quran teaches the norms and values to arrange the human relationship so that every muslim as an individual and also as a collective, can ask other muslims to do good deeds and prohibit the bad deeds. the application and the implementation of religious teaching create the transformation of every human being. as a religious and cultural tradition, the muludan tradition appears as the active and dynamic expression of collective interest.23 the symbols that are used in the muludan tradition, such as the reciting of shalawat nabi, asyraqalan, dzikr, show the manifestation of islamic culture that is crystallized in the muludan tradition with the sub-system of knowledge, belief, and social cultural values that have been acknowledged by people.24 the reflection of culture, according to ian craib,25 obviously is an action or what people do on the basis of an idea or ideology that relates to a social system. moreover, culture is a social world that relates to the idea of society, which contains norms and values. 20 the prophet said, “those who honor my birth get shafa’at from me in the hereafter. 21 eliade, mircea, the sacred and the profane, the nature of religion. new york: the free press inc. p, 23 22 boisard, a. marchel, humanisme dalam islam, jakarta: penerbit bulan bintang, 1980, p. 150. 23 islamic tradition has a concept emphasizing the need of collective behavior among its adherents to do in good deeds and refuse bad deeds, the so-called “amr ma’ruf nahyi munkar”. 24 even though some muslim refuse to acknowledge the reciting of barzanji is an islamic tradition – because they only recognize the islamic teachings are merely on what are written in the quran and the hadith, most muslim as majority, however, regard the reciting of shalawat and barzanji are part of islamic traditions. 25 craib, ian, modern social theory; from parson to habermas, trans. paul s. baut, jakarta: pt grafindo persada. [ 28 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 ritual and power relation in the muludan tradition how does the performance of the muludan tradition represent the power relations? there was emile durkheim26 who introduced the concept of understanding society as an independent organic phenomenon. according to durkheim, society has its own regulation, which develops to become a social norm. the entire methodology of durkheim relates to the deterministic argument, explaining that every individual has no power over social boundaries, which are called collective solidarity; consensus or integration that produce the behavioral adaptation based on the social agreement of norms. based on the solidarity concept as the implementation of social agreement, the relation among individuals must be developed on the basis of morality, religion, ideology and tradition that have been acknowledged by the society.27 using the adhesion of the inter-relationship between religion on the one hand, and the tradition on the other hand implements a social solidarity system based on social consensus. what durkheim proposes, is similar to what ibn khaldun’s concept of ashabiah. this concept is known as the concept of togetherness and brotherhood among the various different backgrounds of people. it, however, can be reached because of the similar interest of the people. people are bound by similar interest and goals of life. according to ibn khaldun, no single individual can live alone separate from other people. the ideal of collectivity, moreover, is the collectivity on the basis of religion and ritual. religious ritual is a cohesive power that potentially creates strong social solidarity. the muludan tradition, as a religious and cultural tradition, effectively creates solidarity among many people. the involvement of thousands of people in this ritual, as the followers, proves that the sultan has successfully bound the people into the collective consciousness either in the name of preserving the tradition or in the name of religious activity. in the name of preserving tradition, on the one hand, the muludan is the continuation of the tradition that is performed by sunan gunung jati. on the other hand, the muludan tradition could also be regarded as a religious tradition because the reason that lies behind the tradition is to celebrate the birth of the prophet muhammad. people believe that by celebrating the birth of the prophet muhammad, they will not only get the blessing from god or shafa’at in the hereafter but also that it can bring the success in their live in the worldly life. 26 see durkheim, emile, the rules of sociological method. edited by george e.g. catlin, new york: the free press, 1966 27 ibid, p. 35. [ 29 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 however, the collective solidarity from conducting the muludan tradition could only effectively occur on the level of religious and traditional power. the muludan tradition has succeeded in maintaining the spiritual and traditional power of the sultan. many people during the muludan tradition come and visit the sultan and ask for his blessing and hope to get shafa’at from god. some of them bring sega tumpeng as the offering to the sultan, and bottles of water to ask a prayer from the sultan. they queue up patiently waiting for their turn to be able to see and kiss the arm of the sultan. this phenomenon, however, merely occurs during the procession of the muludan tradition in rabiul awwal month. whereas in another time, the existence of the sultan is almost forgotten by the people the muludan tradition has awakened the consciousness of the people to the existence of the sultan as the descendent of sunan gunung jati. people love the sultan as apart of their obedience to islamic law. the affection of people to the sultan stems from the assessment that the sultan is of the descent of sunan gunung jati. meanwhile, the affection of sunan gunung jati is based on his descendent from the prophet muhammad. whereas, the affection of the prophet muhammad is commanded by god. thus, the affection of the sultan is part of the affection of sunan gunung jati. the affection of sunan gunung jati is part of the affection of the prophet muhammad. the affection of the prophet muhammad is part of islamic teaching. according to ratu raja arimbi nurtina, a personal secretary of the sultan, there are at least three reasons why the sultan conducts the tradition of muludan in kanoman sultanate: 1. as the manifestation of the affection to the prophet muhammad. 2. as the continuity and the preservation of the tradition that was introduced by the founding father of cirebon, sunan gunung jati. 3. as a medium to gather between the sultan and the followers. the three reasons above obviously have attracted people to come and follow the muludan tradition. thousands of people are involved during the procession rituals and they acknowledge that the sultan is their leader, both as the religious leader, and as the tradition leader. the sultan is acknowledged as the religious leader because he represents a person who masters in islamic teachings, called ulama. meanwhile, as the traditional leader, the sultan is acknowledged as the preserver of the tradition. people are obedient to follow all series of the muludan tradition. people believe that their involvement in the muludan could benefit to their life in the world and in the hereafter. historically speaking, the spread of islam, especially in java, implemented the socio-cultural model of the concept of a good relationship between ulama and [ 30 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 umara, in other words, between religious leader and political leader. sunan gunung jati was the model of the unity between these two characteristics. on the one hand, he was ulama, a panetep panata gama rasul, and well known as an islamic missionary; on the other hand, he had political authority as the leader of caruban empire. the unity of those two characteristic brought sunan gunung jati as the ideal person in the history of cirebon civilization. in the context of cirebon at present, however, the position of sultan kanoman only has traditional power as the preserver of the tradition from his ancestors, as well as religious power as the imam in the mosque. concluding remarks using durheim analyses of social solidarity, the muludan tradition could be seen as the adhesive of social solidarity, which aims to create integration not only between the sultan and the followers, but also among the people. the muludan as a religious and traditional ritual is the best way to create communication between the sultan as the conductor, and the people as the practitioners. in addition to the concept of javanese power that is proposed by anderson is appropriately used in the context of cirebon. people believe that the power is something concrete, homogeneous, and constant in total quantity, and without inherent moral implication. as turner has observed that traditional religious rituals like the muludan ritual open up ordinary life to ultimate reality or some transcendent being or force in order to tap its transformative power. in the context of the muludan tradition in the kanoman sultanate, however, those theories can be effectively implemented in terms of socio-cultural relationship between the sultan and the people. the adhesive binding could mainly work in the level of traditional and religious domains. whereas in the political aspect, the muludan tradition, so far, had not any influence. however, the muludan is successfully in awakening people consciousness of the existence of the sultan as their leader. comparing with the kacirebonan sultanate that does not conduct the same ritual, the kanoman sultanate has stronger religious and traditional power. however, the kanoman sultanate has less political power if it is compared with the kasepuhan sultanate because, the kanoman sultanate involved in internal political conflicts, thus the cirebonese does not give political support in the general election. based on the fact above, if the sultan of kanoman aims to gain both political and religious and traditional power over the people he must not only preserve the muludan tradition, but also preserve a conducive condition internally among their internal stuff members [ 31 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 bibliography abdullah, irwan., 2002. simbol, makna dan pandangan hidup orang jawa analisa gunungan pada upacara grebeg. yogyakarta: balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional. alexander, bobby., 1987. ritual and current studies of ritual: overview. in stephen d. galzier (ed.), anthropology of religion: a handbook. westport, ct: greenwood press. anderson, benedict r. o’g., 1972. the idea of power in javanese culture, in claire holt, ed. 1972. culture and politics in indonesia, ithaca, new york: cornell university press. -------------., 1990. language and power: exploring political cultures in indonesia. ithaca, ny: cornell university. bell, chaterin., 1997. ritual theory, ritual practice. oxford and new york: oxford university press. craib, ian., 1999. modern social theory; from parson to habermas. trans. paul s. baut, jakarta: pt grafindo persada. dillistone fw., 2002. the power of symbol. trans, yogyakarta: penerbit kanisius. de graaf and pigcaut., 1989. kerajaan-kerajaan islam di jawa: peralihan dari majapahit ke mataram. jakarta: grafitti press. durkheim, emile., 1966. the rules of sociological method. edited by george e.g. catlin, new york: the free press. --------------., 2001. the elementary forms of religious life. translated by carol cosman, new york: oxford university press. eliade, mircea., 1990. the sacred and the profane, the nature of religion. new york: basic books inc. publisher. geertz, clifford., 1975. islam observed. chicago: the university of chicago press. ---------------., 1976. the religion of java. new york: the free press of glencoe. kuntowijoyo., 2004. raja, priyayi dan kawula. yogyakarta: ombak. schilbrack, kevin (ed.)., 2004. thinking through rituals philosophical perspectives. new york: routledge. nasution, harun., 1994. islam ditinjau dari berbagai aspek. jakarta: universitas indonesia press. o’dea, thomas., 1998. sosiologi agama. trans, jakarta: rajawali. soenardjo, unang., 1983. meninjau sepintas panggung sejarah pemerintahan kerajaan cirebon 1479 – 1809. bandung: tarsito. tambiah sj., 1979. a performative to ritual. london: the british academy and oxford university press. [ 32 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 [ 229 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 women political participation in peacebuilding in southern thailand amporn marddent1 faculty of liberal arts of walailak university email: mamporn@gmail.com abstract this article explores the historical, practical and consequences of women in political participation in the peace process during the ongoing conflict negotiations from 2004 until the present time. the author examines the cases of the malay muslims, who are the dominated populations in this violent conflict region and a significant minority group in thailand, and the non-malays who are also active in paving the way for peace making in various forms of activity in southern border provinces of country. gender analysis of the intertwined ethno-religious and political identities of the malays and non-malays demands a need to reorientation of the concept of peace and security which contributed to illuminate deeply understanding of the society during conflict resolution. keywords: malay muslim women, political participation, peacebuilding, southern thailand introduction: the malays in the south the muslim population in thailand is a minority. islam is the country’s second largest religion.2 the position of muslims in modern thai polity in existing academic works at the turn of the century was confined to the malay muslims of southern thailand and the relationship between the political construction that rejects the legitimacy of the secularized buddhist polity3 and thai buddhist 1 the author would like to aknowledge the support by thai research fund (trf) for this research-based article and expresses her deepest grattitute. it is also the intention of the author to credit the annual international conference on islamic studies (aicis) 2017 organized by the ministry of religious affair of the republic of indonesia in which the author was invited to present the paper. it was held in jakarta on 22-25 november 2017 2 academics and muslim authorities like the chularajmontri consider the official muslim population estimated by the state (4.5 percent) to be on the low side. for more information, see national statistics office of thailand (2005), bajunid (1999) and yusuf (1998). 3 for the term “secularized buddhist polity, see somboon suksamran, “buddhism, political authority, and legitimacy in thailand and cambodia” in buddhist trends in southeast asia (1993, 101-144). interference has occurred since the anglo-siamese treaty of 1909. for example, during the of king vajiravudh (1910–25) — who emphasized allegiance to the thai nation, monarchy, and buddhism — the compulsory primary education act of 1921 required all malay children to attend siamese primary school for at least four years. [ 230 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 political cultures. in the broader context of muslim studies in thailand, however, forbes and scupin made valuable contributions to understanding muslims on the national level, especially within the historical and political contexts of modern thailand (bajunid, 1999). before the great waves of chinese immigration in the early 20th century, muslims were the largest single minority in thailand and were by no means restricted to the southern provinces. bajunid (1988, 2005) distinguishes between ‘assimilated’ and ‘unassimilated’ muslims in thailand. the former consist of diverse ethnic groups such as the arabs, pathans, and thai-malays. the ‘unassimilated’ group consists of ethnic malay muslims in the southern border provinces. with regard to the malays living in central thailand, they were brought there from the former malay state of patani as prisoners-of-war in 1785, when the northern malay sultanate of patani was conquered by siam (wyatt, 1984: 151). many were retained as slaves and principal courtiers of the king and settled in villages near bangkok.4 thai-pattani relations are a source of chronic controversy of nation-state issues in the southernmost boundary which thongchai winichakul (1994) called the ‘geo-body’ of nation. melayu pattani, who are muslims, struggle like other minorities over the notion of ‘thai-ness, since the conceptions of thai chauvinism and geo-body resulted in a territorially and culturally unified siam nation-state with fixed borders. malay ethnic identity as expressed in terms of language, dress, education, history, and custom was consistently discouraged by the state.5 the thai state has attempted to replace malay ethnicity with a religious label, ‘thai muslim’ or ‘thai islam,’ hoping that this change would contribute to the overall goal of assimilation. the notion of an islamic state of pattani, which is closely related to the pattani malay ethnic nationalist movement, is another factor within the contemporary politicization of religion accommodating the violent conflict in southern thailand (jory, 2007; davisakd, 2008; thanet, 2008; kobkua, 2008; yusuf, 2007b; gilquin, 2005; gowing, 1985). it is generally understood that the problem concerning the another important case occurred during the world war ii under the leadership of marshal phibunsongkram, when thai nationalism was imposed in the southern border provinces. chaiwat satha-anand describes how the police tore up malay attire and beat people, men and women, who wore it (satha-anand 2008, 161). 4 the people of the former patani sultanate were usually referred to as melayu (malay), even during the reign of the modernizing king chulalongkorn who abolished the patani sultanate and absorbed of the former sultanate’s territories into the thai state. 5 the perception of malayness, marked by language, cultural practices, religion and an important shared sense of history of being a people conquered by the siamese (thai buddhist) powers, has caused the malays to see themselves as a distinct ethnic group vis-àvis thai buddhists. [ 231 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 identity of the kingdom’s subjects began when the state embraced nationalism as an essential part of its nation building, starting in the first quarter of the twentieth century. consequently, malay muslims in thailand consider themselves different in ethno religious terms. socio-political and cultural aspects of life are interpreted and perceived through the lens of ethnic identity. the thai political invasion in the region in the early twentieth century led to unprecedented cultural confrontation in the area between the malays and the new thai bureaucrats sent from bangkok to rule them. moreover, the rising of malay nationalism in southeast asia in the 1940s has furthered this ethnic divide in southern thailand. by using the terms ‘thai muslim’ or ‘thai islam,’ the thai state moved in the subsequent period to embrace religious plurality. however, buddhism remained closely associated with thai identity6, while malay muslims still appear to resist assimilation into thai society, despite the fact that their identities underwent a great deal of transformation. the political instability of the post-second world war period also threatened to undermine thailand’s claim for political legitimacy in the south. malay muslim elites tried to gain advantages from the political situation in the area, for example by demanding the institution of muslim family law, educational quotas, and dress codes. the revitalization of islam in thailand in the 1970s was related to a new political phenomenon in the earlier age of imperialism when the modern thai state elites opened siam for inter-state relations.7 although thailand was independent, it was compelled to adopt policies similar to the other colonial neighbours in order to survive amidst colonizing powers. the sense of a subsiding identity crisis arose from the growing familiarity with western cultures among the thai elite. the outbreak of a communist insurgency in 1950s brought a new identity crisis for the thai upper class. at the same time, the reworking of thai history concerning 6 according to surin pitsuwan (1985: 68-70), king wachiravut’s rule marked the beginning of a long and torturous struggle to widen the sphere and deepen the level of autonomy for the malay-muslims of patani based on specific ethnic differences. however, the very nature of the thai state and its bureaucratic set-up did not permit such royal policy to be fully promulgated. the bureaucracy was dominated by thai buddhists, who maintained their sense of ethnic thai chauvinism. these bureaucrats could not be expected to conscientiously carry out state policies that would respect regional differences and preserve ethnic autonomy. special treatment of the malay-muslims of patani would have contradicted the single most ideological contribution the king himself made to the thai nation: nationalism. between the two objectives of the cultivation of a thai national identity (with the thai language, thai religion-theravada buddhism, and thai culture implied by it) and the preservation of a minority’s separate identity, the former was always the priority of the thai bureaucrats. 7 the country’s name was changed from siam to thailand during the tenure of the first phibulsongkhram government (1938-44). during this period, which coincided with world war ii, the country was dominated by an energetic and aggressive brand of nationalism which influenced both domestic and foreign policies. [ 232 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 ethnic minorities by various intellectuals has brought the muslim youth into negotiations with the ‘homogenous’ thai identity discourse (jory, 2003). pious patani malay muslim women in transition in searching for contemporary historical literature on malay muslim women and the opportunities for access to political participation, i found a pioneering study in the 1980s by thai anthropologist chavivun prachuabmoh found that ethnic identity maintenance is based primarily on women’s activities in public and domestic spheres.8 she proposed an interesting argument of ethnicity based on cultural background—linguistic, religious, and symbolic features—among the thai, chinese, and malay in thailand’s southernmost provinces. chavivun argues that malay identities cannot be sufficiently explained by history or cultural symbols. the thai muslims of the deep south, she writes, maintain their distinctive ethnicity through various social organizations such as family, kinship, community, friendship networks, and religious education. women have the primary responsibility for maintaining ethnic symbols such as clothing and language. they are expected to minimize interaction with outsiders and their strong opposition to intermarriage. chavivun views the ethnic relations of the malays as gendered. women are expected to uphold prohibitions against intermarriage and to cover their bodies more completely than are nonmuslim women. moreover, women are more inclined to maintain their cultural symbols better than men. they may have greater influence on their children because their teaching of how to be nayu is a more intimate and emotional process, while male ethnicity is more heavily oriented towards formal organizations. men spend more time outside the household and have avoidant relationships with their children (1989: 113-150). even though patani historical studies portrayal an interesting aspect of the sultanah or the queens during 1584 until the mid-1600s which was constituted as the golden age of patani, there is a certain formal political context within. the four women ratu (queens)9 had been involved a top position in political realm. the situation relates to patani’s independence from consolidating buddhist siamese kingdom of ayutthaya who succeeds in defending their land. however, there is 8 her first study is a doctoral dissertation entitle, the role of women in maintaining ethnic identity and boundaries: a case of thai-muslims (malay speaking group) in southern thailand. 9 ratu hijau (the green queen), ratu biru (the blue queen), ratu ungu (the violet queen) and ratu kuning (the yellow queen) expanded their political power to kelantan and terengganu. see, ibrahim syukri. history of the malay kingdom of patani. translated by bailey conner and john n. miksic, southeast asia series. ohio: centre for international studies, ohio university, 1985. [ 233 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 no treat with concerning an agenda for peacemaking from the queens. toward the end of the century when patani was partly as a consequence of siamese invasions in 1674 and 1688, a chinese visitor observed that “patani is a country ruled by a queen and not a country of military prowess.”10 mccargo, a british political scientist who completed research in pattani a decade ago and released tearing apart the land: islam and legitimacy in southern thailand (2008) among other several pieces, states that these former female malay sultanates ruled for a time. moreover, there was no evidence that pattani was ever governed by a council of ulama. the qur’an was also never used as the basic law in this area. moreover, i found a story of the recent group of the “three tiger warriors” (saam taharn sua)’ story compelling, but unfortunately there were no documents clarify their political participation role in the malay muslim community. this lack of documentation includes the debate over the relationship between ethnicity and the malay muslim women’s peace movement, which has not been acknowledged. according to ismail ali, the former director of the college of islamic studies, prince of songkla university, pattani, the name saam taharn sua was bestowed by local malay muslims. the word tiger (sua) refers to women who have the capacity to seek and teach religious knowledge in the community, as well as to establish their own study group. they also helped each other to campaign to vote for one of their younger “inner circle” leader, maraim samoh or kak yae who is a friend of saam taharn sua, to succeed in election under social action party (phak kit sangkhom), however, fail to gain election in 1976.11 this failure did not devalue their leadership in collaborating with malay muslim community to have women’s involvement in political party. in the aftermath of the failure of social action party in pattani, kak yae turned into dakwah, religious mission, activity. she set up an orphaned girl school in her own community in the beginning of 1990s which is usually supported by the people of the surrounding villages, local religious leaders, and the three tiger warriors. situations like this, in which muslim women set up a group and empower themselves as well as other people through religious knowledge and affirm their leadership role in modern political arena, had never existed previously in southern border provinces of thailand. thus, the group challenges the traditional viewpoint of women leadership through sophisticated engagement in political activism and islamic education. 10 lorraine m. gesick. in the land of lady white blood: southern thailand and the meaning of history. ithaca, ny: southeast asia program, cornell university, 1995. 11 after october 14, 1973 uprising against the military dictatorship and the october 6, 1976 massacre of student movement or both october events provided spaces for a certain group of muslim women in the south to be involved in political reform. in case of kak yae, she was encouraged by her husband and local malay politicians to be a candidate for social action party right after her graduation from malaysia. [ 234 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the activity of kak yae with the saam taharn sua’ support represented a major shifted in structures of malay culture, political role, and islamic authority. in malay society and the village in particular, people’s relationship is very close. the views and actions of leaders effected commoners strongly. the alim, religious leader, is at the same time political leader of the village. kak yae has curtailed male domination in leadership, especially in core religious space— orphaned girl school—for decades. she holds the ultimate sources of islamic knowledge, the qur’an and the sunnah, in her school and classes. she pointed to the issue of female authority in seeking and sharing knowledge by choosing the frame of power and responsibility to strengthen society by referring to the hadith and the qur’an12 and saying that “we are a part”. for kak yae, the increasing of women in attendance at prayers and lessons is a good sign of balancing women’s right in muslim community. her role is played in religious and social leadership of the community. within the three tiger warriors group are three women who were recognized for their bravery as well as for their move towards leading a more religious life. the first woman, hamidah adae or kak zu, was awarded an honorary doctorate of islamic studies from fatoni university, the first private islamic university in thailand, in march 2015. in 2011, hamidah retired from the college of islamic studies of prince of songkla university. however, she continues to play a role as an advisor of the network of the southern muslim women’s association. she was also often invited by fatoni university to give lectures and share her knowledge with female halaqah (study groups). hamidah finished her upper secondary school secular education at the same time as thanawiyah or higher religious secondary level from wattanatham islam school, which is known as por ming pondok, pattani.13 it is important to note here that during the sarit thanarat government (1958–1963), thailand attempted to integrate malay-muslim people into mainstream thai society with new educational policies, which included transforming pondok into private islamic schools in 1959. consequently, it increased the number of muslim women who began enrolling in private islamic schools (tawee et al. 1987). in the case of hamidah, she was a female religious teacher at por ming pondok for several years before continuing her studies abroad with the support of the school, community, and her family in particular. her grandfather is a respected tok guru, or religious teacher, of the community. 12 the hadith that kak yae mentioned is about continuously seeking knowledge until death and the qur’an, 20:114 “..., o lord advance me in knowledge...”. 13 islamic private school offered religious and secular knowledge which the government-approved schools were divided into four levels, elementary or primary school curriculum (ibtidaiyah); the middle school curriculum (mutawassitah); the secondary (thanawiyah) and the higher secondary (thanawiyah khassah) school curriculums. [ 235 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 khadijah binti abdul rahman or kak joh is the second of the three tigers. she is currently an educational administrator of her family’s school, bamrung islam school or bra-o pondok, in pattani. the school was initially run by khadijah’s father, abdurrahman japakiya, who is a well-known traditionalist orthodox religious teacher, and later by other male members of japakiya’s family. ismail lutfi japakiya, khadijah’s brother, the most respected contemporary religious leader of the saudi style salafism in southern thailand14, later became chairman of the school. he is the founding of rector of fatoni university (formerly known as yala islamic university). at the present time, khadijah is the administrator of the pre-primary school bamrung islam school. she continues to organize female halaqah with school teachers and the members of religious women’s activist group. hamidah and khadijah wanted to gain more islamic knowledge as well as recognition among men and the community when they experienced teaching at pondoks. in the 1970s the best place for muslim women from the deep south to facilitate higher religious education in terms of common culture and language as well as proximity was malaysia. yayasan pengajian tinggi islam nilam puri or nilam puri islamic higher education institute (nilam puri, for short) in kota bahru, kelantan was a popular destination for many muslim youth from southern thailand to continue their religious study after the thanawiyah level.15 hamidah soon earned a scholarship for a master’s degree in shariah (islamic law) at al-azhar university in cairo, egypt. she has been acknowledged by a number of muslim scholars as a knowledgeable female who was the first pattani muslim woman to achieve a master’s degree from al-azhar university. khadijah returned to her father’s pondok after obtaining an ijazah certificate on islamic theology and community (usuluddin dan kemasyarakatan) from nilam puri in 1987.16 the last leading member of the three tigers is maesonk yusok or kak sonk, a tough, brave, outspoken woman. maesonk is an active teacher at sas sanu patham school or bana pondok, pattani, where she finished her thanawiyah. maesonk was not able to continue her own studies at nilam puri as planned because of poverty, but achieved her goal vicariously by providing her nieces 14 salafism is one of islamic reform movement that urged muslim fellows to return to, and strictly follow the sacred sources, and purify islamic ideas and practices from later innovation (bid‘ah). the salafi movement has advocated for a social change through tarbiyyah (education) by working within the thai constitutional framework. 15 yayasan pengajian tinggi islam nilam puri, the first islamic higher education in kelantan was established by the state government in 1965. the institute offers b.a. for two departments, shariah (islamic law) and education. see abdullah, 1973: 29-75. 16 ijazah means license or authorization. it is an identical instrument of academia in the highest degree of islamic educational system from the classical period of islam. see, j. meri and j. bacharach, medieval islamic civilization, volume 1 an encyclopedia (new york: routledge, 2006), 201–2. [ 236 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 and nephews with funding for higher education. apart from teaching, maesonk obtained administrative experience by running a profitable cooperative school store for more than a decade. she organized muslim youth and women’s camps in the villages every semester with the help of khadijah, hamidah, mariam and other leading malay muslim women in the deep south. the camp, held during the semester break when they returned to pattani. it focused on islamic knowledge and practices, particularly women’s roles and duties according to islam. maesonk and hamidah chose not to get married although a number of men approached them. they relied on the precedence set by umme kulsoom, daughter of abu bakr, a senior companion of prophet muhammad who refused a marriage proposal by umar, an influential caliph. while maesonk accepts that islam encourages muslims marry. however, to be a single woman is not fitna, disorder or immorality. she worries about understanding of people over fitna, which often focused on women troublesome. however, she feels that forced marriage against a person’s will is not an islamic tradition. hamidah views the criticism leveled against her for not being married as a challenge, particularly in her role of active agent in the resurgence of a religious movement. she counters by providing a reinterpretation of the scripture regarding unmarried life as the opportunity to remain autonomous and dedicate her time to social and religious devotion. hamidah, maesonk, and khadijah began teaching in their own villages and the pondoks with which they are connected in the mission of islamic revival. they chose to provide lessons independently without the assistance of traditional male religious leaders, except for an aspiring reformist scholar, ismail lutfi japakiya. their efforts to reach out to young malay women in the three provinces of southern thailand, and pattani in particular were acknowledged for promoting widespread shifts in religious practice among the locals. they later directed groups of malay muslim women in adopting a more islamic observant lifestyle rather than focus merely on women attire. the historical context of muslim women’s veiling is indirectly related to their movement, which reveals the diversity and complexity of the narratives involved. as discussed earlier, the three tiger warriors were not involved with demonstrators at the yala central mosque.17 after finishing their degrees in malaysia in the midlate 1980s, they returned to pattanti to educate the younger generation about islam. 17 one of the most prominent signs of islamic reawakening in thailand is linked with the muslim women’s identity marker, the headscarf, which is often called hijab. the so-called ‘yala teacher training college incident’ (19871988) in yala province discussed below caused the emergence of a more conscious ‘self ’ identification within the muslim community in thailand when muslim women were not allowed to wear the veil in educational institutions. more information, please see “hijab and moments of legitimation: islamic resurgence in thai society.”, 1994. [ 237 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 while they kept their circle away from the yala hijab incident, they recognized that the movement led to the appearance of a symbol of islamic femininity widely and publicly. they based their political agenda in the realm of religious authority to interpret the texts from a women’s perspective, and became intellectuals who transmitted knowledge to others and encouraged their students to dress modestly. however, they also attempted to go beyond the outward appearance of clothing, by emphasizing religious education and philosophy and how it can empower women through knowledge. hamidah states that there are various concepts that define muslim women’s dress. while some terms have been used widely, for instance, hijab (veil) and niqab (face veil), but these terms are not mentioned in the passages of the qur’an. hamidah has observed a certain term, veil. it became a measure of muslim women’s aurah or the intimate parts of body which must be covered with clothes. for hamidah, this is not a specific term limits only on women’s body. thus, she believed that women should have the same religious education as men. she referred to the verses of the qur’an18 which particularly revealed the equal rights and spiritual between men and women. learning was commendable. it helped women to improve their knowledge and change environment also through self-disciplines. preaching islam for the group and their allies was based on good religious education and moral. moreover, hamidah raised the case of a’isha, the wife of the prophet who was a hadith-narrator and believed to have reported and taught 2,210 traditions.19 in practice, these women provided literacy course and basic of qur’anic study groups for women and girls in particular, beside male and female youth in their own communities. their efforts began by reaching out to the muslim women and younger females in leading educational religious circle (halaqah) in the privacy of homes, neighbours’ homes, and educational institutions. there is a 18 “o mankind! reverence your guardian-lord, who created you from a single person created of like nature his mate and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women; reverence allah through whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (reverence) the wombs (that bore you): for allah ever watches over you.” (4:1), “if any do deeds of righteousness be they male or female and have faith, they will enter heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them.” (4: 124) and “for muslim men and women for believing men and women for devout men and women for true men and women for men and women who are patient and constant for men and women who humble themselves for men and women who give in charity for men and women who fast (and deny themselves) for men and women who guard their chastity and for men and women who engage much in allah’s praise for them has allah prepared forgiveness and great reward.” (33: 25). 19 see also spellberg, d. a. politics, gender, and the islamic past: the legacy of a’isha bint abi bakr. (new york, columbia university press, 1993.) and grey, sarah, women’s role as teachers, leaders, and contributors to the waqf in damascus. (research report for julia meltzer, 14, 2014). [ 238 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 leader of each group who received another training course weekly or monthly by the three tiger warriors under the structure of family or cell (usrah). consequently, relationship between halaqah leaders and usrah trainers was a close one. the environment that muslim women could not only read or recite but also discuss the ideas related to the qur’anic verses instead of depending religious specialists is a new system of learning among malay muslim women in southernmost provinces of thailand. joining the three tiger warriors and alliance halaqah meant becoming modern in religious practices. they referred to a particular verse of the qur’an that women were also called to participate in social reform.20 women gathered to pray and learn together as well as recognized as religious leaders. however, they experienced tension from the criticised of traditional malay muslims in the area. they insisted that there should be no obstacles for female teachers and preachers, family and community should gladly allow them to pursue the activity. the core of the three tiger warriors’ ideology is empowering women to religious knowledge and education, women’s attire and veil became an issue for justification when they confronted with traditional religious leaders who possess as the legislative body of religious authority. regarding muslim women’s identity marker, hamidah observed that before the 1980s, many malay muslim women in the southernmost provinces of thailand wore shortor three quarter-sleeved blouses with a long wrap skirt or sarong. the traditional baju kurung, a knee length blouse worn over a long bright floral patterned skirt, was worn on special occasions, such as weddings and certain islamic celebration days known as hari raya.21 these dress patterns were considered modest according to malay tradition. the idea of veiling appeared among educated middle-class modernists and elite traditionalists. working-class women, however, were much less involved in the movement. unveiled women who dress in kain lepas are recognized as not being influenced by the spirit of islamic resurgence. the hijab movement in thailand has changed similarly to the way it has in many other muslim communities. aihwa ong applied soheir morsy’s term “depeasantization” to describe middle-class women and religious nationalism in malaysia. she described the scene in sungai jawa, where groups of village girls enter teacher colleges and universities wearing islamic clothes. in the view of village elders, the religious outfit is 20 the qur’anic verse 16:97 revealed muslim women and their ability to exercise freedom of religious and other life choices. (“anyone who works righteousness, male or female, while believing, we will surely grant them a happy life in this world, and we will surely pay them their full recompense (on the day of judgment)for their righteous works”). 21 hari raya consists of several celebration days, including eid al-fitri, the end of the fast, ramadan, and eid al adha, the feast of the sacrifice or hajj celebration day. [ 239 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 inappropriate for life in the village. it is the costume of an educated woman and a symbol of depeasantization. it has replaced the body-fitting batik sarung-kebaya of the days before islamic resurgence.22 the narratives of women’s religious identity reflect valuable and diverse viewpoints regarding the emergence of the veil in thai society through selfportraits and explanations by muslim women activists who were involved both directly and indirectly with the gradual change in ideas about muslim women’s role in religious life. even though current pious islam is intended to be visible in public, which for women is through the veil, veiling itself is not the main issue that the three tiger warriors and their networks point to as the foreground of the reform agenda. islamic resurgence in malaysia is rooted in the early 1970s and resulted in economic growth and the expansion of educational opportunities among malaysians. at the same time, rivalry among islamization projects has resulted in an intensification of malay gender differences, segregation and inequality. pressures for an islamic state have been especially strong within kelantan, where the opposition islamist party, the pan-malayan islamic party (pas, parti islam semalaysia) has had considerable electoral success. in 1965, the kelantan state government established an institute of islamic higher learning known as yayasan pengajian tinggi islam nilam puri, which was the first islamic higher education institution in kelantan (stivens, 2006). hamidah and khadijah, who came from pattani, enrolled in religious studies in order to improve their knowledge. studying at nilam puri enabled them to experience a new atmosphere that addressed the students’ enthusiasm for islamic studies at a higher education level. moreover, they participated in islamic student groups and islamic missionary activities known as dakwah. students who participated in dakwah activities also organized halaqah (study groups) at nilam puri to discuss political islam. these leading women recognize themselves as initiated female informal political leaders in southern thailand who brought certain changes and knowledge to their communities. hamidah does not deny that there is resistance from traditionalist members who have accused her and other muslim women in the reform network of devaluing malay cultural norms and replacing them with wahhabism.23 the women encountered with resistance from islamic 22 see ong, “state versus islam: malay families, women’s bodies and the body politic.” in ong, aihwa and peletz, michael g. (eds.). bewitching women, pious men: gender and body politics in southeast asia. berkeley: university of california press. 1995:159−194. 23 the wahhabi movement led by muhammad ibn ‘abd al-wahhab of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, gave rise to variegated salafi reform movement offshoots, ranging from political activism – whose main aims are to capture state power through violent [ 240 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 traditionalist members who resent them for devaluing malay cultural norms and replacing them with wahhabism. however, women have been criticized far less than have male reformist leaders. purportedly, the movements backing the three tigers are also influenced by the salafi and muslim brotherhood movement. it showed an emergent islamic radicalism on a global level in local context. in addition, the reformist movement has had subtle influence on religious educational reform.24 khadijah, in our conversation, also notes a significant impact of reformist trends on islamic education in which women play a strong role. in her case, she works at her father’s pondok and provides support and administrative assistance to dr. ismail lutfi, who is currently involved in enhancing higher islamic education. khadijah closed the conversation by emphasizing the process of tarbiyah, which can gradually lead to changes in women. she believes that female leadership in political and peace process implementation scheme in present days became an inadvertent fashion in the deep south thailand. women during the current wave of violent conflict i mentioned specifically earlier about the three tiger warriors group’s activity in relation to islamic revitalization during the last two decades. while the insurgency of ethno regionalist tension in the new wave of violent conflict, since 2004, have represented the tide of resentment in this region. the conflict is primarily the components which the malay muslims at the southern border provinces and the thai state are essentially fighting. historically, malay sultanate of patani, which was established in the 13th century as a buddhist sultanate before islam became the dominant faith in the early 15th century. in 1900s, the means in order to enforce islamic law from the top – to political quietism, whose adherents believe that religious change must come in stages, and that the current context necessitates tarbiyyah (education and cultivation to encourage proper muslim practices). aryud yahprung (2014: 18) states in his recent doctoral study that islamic reform in the southern border provinces of thailand entered a new chapter when a group of pattani male doctoral students who graduated from institutions in saudi arabia returned to thailand in the late 1980s. these leading reformists are ismail ali (1950-), abdul halim saising (1947-), jihad bin muhammad (19512002), and ismail lutfi chapakia (1950-present). they launched a loose network of islamic reformism and called themselves the salafi. 24 the salafi group in southern thailand which i referred to in muhammad ilyas’s study earlier, emphasizes the reform of the muslim community by reforming muslim education. on the one hand, they set up islamic schools, an islamic university, and other learning institutions, such as language colleges, islamic educational foundations, and printing houses. on the other hand, they propagated their islamic reformism through the informal learning process of mosque-based private lectures, study circles, and preaching through local radio stations, and the internet (ibid: 8). see also farish a. noor in the madrasa in asia: political activism and transnational linkage (2008: 141-167). [ 241 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 thai state alternated between implementing strategies of assimilation and accommodation. the thai state has continued its goal of incorporating the malay citizens into an overarching thai identity. within this period, spontaneous and sporadic rebellions emerged, and malay populations struggled against state authority. the current insurgency is also associated with regional economic disparities, unemployment, crime, and illegal drug use. the attempts to establish dialogue as a way towards political solution have been made since 2005.25 the groups of women who are the major victims of the unrest also attempt to find alternative paths to build up peace in their society. studies suggest that muslim and non-muslims women in this region are very heavily engaged with local women’s networks, associations, civil society organization and non-governmental organizations.26 the groups tend to be led by highly capable and well educated middle-class women, who have university degree, and student volunteers from local universities. they also train women from the villages through various workshops and projects that often have support from national and international organizations that are engaged in peacebuilding efforts. for example, “wanita: women’s power for a better society” project is the development plan that had been carried out during 2011-2014 to expand the network of local permanent service for women and children who had been mostly affected by violence. in this part, i explore the continuum of the activity of the three tiger warriors’ network particularly their idea of peace process. according to different vision and framework between women in the islamic reformation movement and the grassroots movement, the notion of peacebuilding consequently carries into various foundations. the former group of women’s movement focuses on the inner sentiment, which the leaders equate with takwa, the feeling of inner peace. malay ethnicity becomes deessentialized, however, religious identity of being muslim women have maintained through faith purification. the greater influence on the young generations from their teachings of how to be peace builder is a 25 mccargo, d. southern thailand: from conflict to negotiations, lowy i nstitue for international policy, 2014. 26 a.k. molnar, “chapter 22: women’s agency in the malay muslim communities of southern thailand” in p. liamputtong, ed., contemporary socio-cultural and political perspectives in thailand. 2016: 350; joint cedaw shadow report 2016 “situation of the rights of malay muslim women in southern thailand”, 2017; assessment report the development of sustainable community extension services for women and children most-affected by the unrest and violence in the southern border provinces of thailand”, 2015; jpf interview, “malay muslim women during the seminar on access to justice of women in the southern border provinces”, 2014; the political participation of village woman development committee in changwat pattani, master of education thesis in community development education, prince of songkla university, 2004.; hafissa salae, muslim women amidst conflict: the transition from victim to peace activist, ma thesis, sociology department of sociology and anthropology, thammasat university, 2010. [ 242 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 more intimate with the inner disposition. they believe that to fight for a better inner spirit of trust in god could lift women’s capacity in responding to peaceful society. meanwhile, bringing ethnicity as a mean to build up society is heavily oriented towards organizations of the grassroots civil society. according to hamidah, she continues to play a key role in the network of the southern muslim women’s association and the council of muslim women’s organization cooperation for peace. these coordinating bodies for women’s movement which she and her allies have been engaged provided a more explicit activity associated with the al-salam institute of fatoni university. this is an institute to promote an outreach program of islamic activity. they view muslim women’s public activities involve in a frame of islamic values. multaqa muslimat, the conference of muslim women, is an important case of women space which the council of muslim women’s organization cooperation for peace relates their activity with the situation of the unrest. they have actively collaborated in the effort to expand dakwah activities and islamic reform knowledge. hamidah considers the meeting as a potential mean of creating a new network to support peace making process from religious perspective. the strategy of the muslim women’s movement could be changed according to local contexts, however. the impact of violent conflict in the region is one of the major forces that led muslim women in the local reform movement, which is basically concerned with islamic education, to be opened for a new frame of thought. nonetheless, hamidah asserts that engaging in the collective community still requires basic principles of the movement, that is, authentic expression of islamic knowledge in corollary with tarbiyah and dakwah ideologies. networks of the three tigers and council of muslim women’s organization cooperation for peace have also engaged with political and governmental bodies in conflict area, such as, the pattani provincial administration organization (pattani pao). the pious malay muslim women desire for justice and peaceful society within their circles amidst several groups of women that have been established during the conflict situation in the region. nevertheless, they have not engaged directly in peace-building efforts in collaborate with non-muslim or buddhist ngos in the deep south unlike the grassroots ngos muslim women’s network that have collaborating openly with the non-believers. discussing further on the role of peacebuilding among the pious oriented malay women, the emergence of boundaries among women of different islamic orientations in southern thailand indicates their presence in public space. this space was initially organized by the first generation of reform activists and islamic intellectuals in coping with mechanisms vis-à-vis the predominant ideology according to women in islamic discourse. my contention is that it still [ 243 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 remains with some observable contexts from reformist women when they have involved in politics, reaffirmation of the inner peace narrative, and partnership of the movement. the inner peace narrative is also a state apparatus of power to national development in modern thailand. additionally, the thai state benefits from these “muslim middle-class morals” and values as they have been interpreted by educated reformist muslims. it contributes to the vigorous public forum with powerfully defined women as the hope of the muslim community. precisely because of the need for development in attempting to create moderate muslim life during times of violent conflict, the state eventually has to engage with reformist muslim women’s activism. observable scenes in regard to the venue of the conference in pattani in 2010 and 2011, people who had been invited to the stage which selected different purposes were politically organized. those who advocated islamic reform to be applied for all women in islamic history persuaded as the primary objective of the forum. they were friends and relatives of the scholars of prince of songkla university and fatoni university as well as being represented by pao institute. conclusion as abu-lughod emphasizes on ethnography of the particular27, which i apply to discuss about people in the communities that i study to write about malay muslim women and conflict resolution, it is regarded as the study of the capacity for selfdetermination or agency of women in conflict area. moreover, women’s agency in mahmood perspective demonstrated in embodied ethical practice. she applies it in her famous study of the muslim women’s mosque movement in egypt that the movement typically involved some degrees of pietization in which the ordinary lives of muslims were increasingly brought within a framework of devotion and pious practice.28 to understand the current situation of pious women’s movement towards the issue of peacebuilding and their roles in malay muslim society, it could be reflected the identity of the minority. the dynamic of making peace in the context of ethnic malay muslim society proved the concept of inner peaceful mind of pious members. it functioned significantly among the groups of islamic movement which adherence to its executive principles throughout the imagined peaceful society. interestingly, they interpreted peace from a 27 abu-lughod, lila. “writing against culture” in recapturing anthropology. richard fox, ed. santa fe, nm: school of american research press: 137-162. 28 mahmood, saba. politics of piety: the islamic revival and the feminist subject. new jersey: princeton university press, 2005. [ 244 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 context-oriented perspective as a metaphor for the problems of the people in southern thailand living with conflict. they finally offered a solution to the community in applying the implementation of the people in islamic history. my argument on the norms of piety was examined in the place where religious women were gathering to participate in order to build up peaceful society. several activities of civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations working in patani area have been portrayed in media and daily activity on the ground for almost a decade. the resources showed that pious salafi women groups in pattani provided a reference on the growth of islamization in different places, such as madani society with the discourse of civil society. malay muslim women’s political participation in peace making appeared to be mainly actors in this instance. women from the perspective of religious purification and inner peace were not singled out rather mingled with the state in the formal political arena. it illustrated that civil society which could certainly contribute to intellectual and social activism as it is essential to develop alongside integrated islamic education. women’s positions have made reference to the influence of the successful of peace building. the notion of agency as accommodated in the complexity of experiences of women was split from the subject-centered goals in an attempt to parochialize the constitutive relationship between action and embodiment, resistance and agency, and self and authority that inform judgment about nonliberal movements. bibliography abu-lughod, l. (1991). “writing against culture” in recapturing anthropology. richard fox, ed. santa fe, nm: school of american research press: 137-162. bajunid, o. (1988). “the muslims of thailand: a survey” in a. d. w. forbes (ed). the muslims of thailand. volume 1. historical and cultural studies. bihar: centre for south east asian studies: 1–30. ________. (2005). “islam, nationalism and the thai state” in w. sungannasil (ed). dynamic diversity in south thailand ). chiangmai: silkworm books: 1–20. cedaw shadow report, (2016). “situation of the rights of malay muslim women in southern thailand.” 2017. [ 245 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 gesick, l. m. (1995). in the land of lady white blood: southern thailand and the meaning of history. ithaca, ny: southeast asia program, cornell university. grey, s. (2014). women’s role as teachers, leaders, and contributors to the waqf in damascus. research report for julia meltzer, 14, 2014. ibrahim, s. (1985). history of the malay kingdom of patani. bailey conner and john n. miksic (trs). southeast asia series. ohio: centre for international studies, ohio university. jory, p. (2006). “from “pattani melayu” to “thai muslim”” in isim review vol. 18 (autumn 2006), pp. 42-43. mahmood, s. (2005). politics of piety: the islamic revival and the feminist subject. new jersey: princeton university press, 2005. mccargo, d. (2014). southern thailand: from conflict to negotiations. sydney: lowy institute for international policy. molnar, a.k. (2014). “women’s agency in the malay muslim communities of southern thailand” in p. liamputtong (ed). contemporary socio-cultural and political perspectives in thailand. springer, dordrecht. ong, a. (1995). “state versus islam: malay families, women’s bodies and the body politic.” in ong, aihwa and peletz, michael g. (eds). bewitching women, pious men: gender and body politics in southeast asia. berkeley: university of california press: 159−194. prachuabmoh, c. (1989). “the role of women in maintaining ethnic identity and boundaries: a case study of thai-muslims (the malay-speaking group) in south thailand” in a. d. w. forbes (ed). the muslims of thailand. volume 2. politics of the malay-speaking south. bihar: centre for south east asian studies: pp. 113–150. satha-anand, c. (1994). “hijab and moments of legitimation: islamic resurgence in thai society.” in c.f. keyes, l. kendall and h. hardacre (eds). asian visions of authority: religion and the modern states of east and southeast asia. honolulu: university of hawaii press: 279-300. spellberg, d. a. (1993). politics, gender, and the islamic past: the legacy of a’isha bint abi bakr. new york: columbia university press. suksamran, s. (1993). “buddhism, political authority, and legitimacy in thailand and cambodia” in t. ling (ed). buddhist trends in southeast asia. singapore: institute of southeast asian studies: 101-144. suwannathat-pian, k. (2008). “national identity, and “sam-sams” of satun, [ 246 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 and the thai malay muslims” in m. montesano and p. jory (eds). thai south and malay north: ethnic interactions on a plural peninsula. singapore: national university of singapore press: 155–172. wyatt, d. k. (1984). thailand: a short history. new haven: yale university press. [ 77 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 multiculturalism and religious-based conflict: events of conflict based on ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (sara) in the city of pontianak lailial muhtifah the graduate school, pontianak state college of islamic studies abstract there is a tendency of similar idea that caught the conflict prevention and management efforts nowadays to the articles of the charter of medina which was religious-based and containing the theory of civil society. it i mostly on the handling of conflict which tends to take preventive measures and to stop the conflict directly, as well as making a comprehensive synergistic effort to mange conflict. conflict prevention is a core component of a comprehensive conflict management program. this paper explores the conflict that occurred in ponianak between a group of people from ethnic dayak and members of an islamic organization in 2012 which includes an important lesson for the people of west kalimantan, both for the government and the community elements especially in dealing with a dispute between different groups of people. an integrative prevention has been proven to be able to answer the question of handling a conflict that has a potential to escalate into a full-scale riot. this work concludes that an integrative conflict handling model may become a viable alternative model to be adopted by the community of west kalimantan in particular and other societies in general. a synergic integrative conflict handling model that reflects local wisdom of the people of pontianak is expected to inspire real peace for various communities with a multicultural background. key words: multicultural, religious-based conflict, ethnicity, religion introduction horizontal conflict, in this case the conflict based on ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations (sara), occurs as a result of the process of marginalization of firmly-held moral standards such as religion and customs, and the unclear regulations. in the era of the industrial and cultural globalization, perhaps the most directly affected is the religious life. the recent development of religious and social life in indonesia generally and in pontianak, west kalimantan particularly showed symptoms that require serious attention and need to get a major priority and efforts in social, [ 78 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 cultural and religious understanding. increased religious understanding in conjunction with socio-cultural conditions in the community has become an important factor in the integrity of the community, including the prevention of the emergence of conflict that may trigger violence or unrest in society (prasojo, 2008). on march 15, 2012, for example, there was a conflict in pontianak, west kalimantan. the conflict began when the moreng youth started to display banners rejecting the presence of habib riziek from the islamic defenders front (fpi) in pontianak, west kalimantan. the banners were installed in front of a dormitory belonging to students from ethnic dayak on k.h. wahid hasyim street. as a result, a conflict associated with ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations (sara) was inevitable. this paper tries to look at ways of conflict prevention and is more focused on efforts in violent conflict prevention, not specifically on the conflict event itself. this is driven by the fact that the components of the society of west kalimantan have comprehensively managed to avert potential violent conflict in the area. the handling of the social and religious-based conflict that occurred in west kalimantan is faced with three major problems. first, the handling of such conflict in general tends to be militaristic in nature and has yet to have a complete instrument. second, the conflict management conducted by both the government and non-government institutions tends to have less legal certainty. the latest development is that the academic and practical studies have yet to find a conflict management model that is more comprehensive, integrative strategic and synergistic. the factors that cause of the problem above are among others: first, the system of handling conflict developed so far has been emphasized on the preventive aspects instead of curative. second, the handling conflict is often done in a militaristic and repressive way. third, the legislation related to the handling of conflicts still is partial, and in the form of regulations issued by the government such as presidential instructions and regulations. fourth, the law enforcement to prevent and resolve conflict tend to be weak because the government regulation (pp) on handling social conflict have yet to have a comprehensive, integrative, and synergistic format. in addition, there is no policy, in the form of perda (regional regulations), decree of the mayor/governor/regent, that elaborates a preventive and curative process with a religious approach, and the provision of sanctions for the actors causing the conflict. fifth, there are negative mental attitudes, such as intolerance, prejudice and religious arrogance. based on the description above, this study focuses on efforts in preventing conflict involving ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations (sara) in [ 79 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 pontianak city, west kalimantan. this study seeks to find a model of conflict management with a higher level of effectiveness for handling conflict involving sara in particular, and conflict of religious teachings and movements in general. conflict management should be conducted through prevention efforts by the government and non-government organizations. conflict involving sara in pontianak regarding the march 15, 2012 case. 1. conflict prevention efforts by the government handling conflict involving sara that occurred on march 15, 2012 in pontianak, west kalimantan should be conducted through prevention efforts by all parties, including the government (city government, relevant agencies, and the indonesian national police) and the non-government institutions (fkub, caireu, fpi, mabm, ysdk, dad, and ikbm). first, the efforts made by the government of the city of pontianak are as follows: 1) procedural handling; 2) handling with a security approach; 3) communicating with the religious leaders (toga),community leaders (toma), and customary elders (toa); 4) conducting the dialogue with muslim and non-muslim leaders; 5) making statements via text messages; 6) facilitating discussion between toga, toma and toa. second, the major efforts undertaken by the security are improving the performance of the police, and the army: 1) facilitating mediation; 2) realizing a program of one policeman for each village; 3) resolving certain issues through the fkpm (police-community communication forum) to reach a win-win solution; 4) empowering the bapulbaket by detecting issues circling aroung in society; 5) empowering the bapinkamtimnas which leads to fkpm; and 6) establishing good communication with toda, toma, toa, and toga. other efforts include: 1) keeping peace in society, 2) developing a system of peaceful settlement of disputes; 3) lowering the potential of conflict; and 4) setting up early warning systems. further efforts include the use of force by the police which consists of: 1) precautions with preventive measures; 2) oral command; 3) control without weapons; 4) forceful empty hand control; 5) use of chemical weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray, or other tools in accordance with the police standard; 6) control with use of firearms or other devices to stop violent acts; and 7) looking for persons responsible for installing banners at the dormitory of the dayak students and handing them back to the group for punishment. the police took step 1-4 to handle the conflict. it was considered successful, scoring 85 points and received an award from the national police. [ 80 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 2. conflict prevention efforts by non-government organizations the efforts made by non-governmental organizations were done in collaboration with several parties. among them are religious-based institutions. first, the inter-religious harmony forum (fkub) pontianak and west kalimantan province: 1) conducting meetings with former and prospective members of the fkub; 2) providing enlightenment to reconcile and prevent people from taking violent actions, asking them to go home, 3) emergency meeting led by the chairman of the fkub, 4) having dialog at local police station, 5) formulating a mutual agreement aiming for unity, peace and harmony, 6) facilitating dialog about religious unity, attended by religious leaders, community leaders, chair of the rw/rt, sub-district head, caretakers of worship houses, 7) having a workshop once a year. second, the center for acceleration of inter religious and ethnic understanding (caireu) stain pontianak: 1) building communication between community leaders and customary law council, and 2) together with fkub providing socialization on religious unity. third, islamic defender front (fpi): 1) asking for people to exercise restraint through the telephone, 2) attending a meeting at the local police station, 3) having a meeting with ethnic, religious, community leaders, deputy mayor, chairman of the malay culture and customary council (mabm), chairman of rabittah, fkpm and fkub alawiyah and 4) communicating through activities to advocate for marginalized communities. fourth, the malay culture and customary council (mabm): attending meetings held by the police. fifth, the institute of dayakology: 1) conducting enlightenment to the dayak community (particularly the youth), 2) teaching and disseminating the message of peace and multiculturalism in seven schools under the institute’s supervision, 3) appealing to the general public not to panic. sixth, swadaya dian khatulistiwa foundation (ysdk): 1) conducting communication, building and strengthening peace networks, appealing to not to be easily provoked. the appeal was made by communicating directly by telephone, 2) meeting with eka hendry (caireu) and several ngos to urge te police to handle the conflict. seventh, the madurese association (ikbm): 1) asking the madurese to exercise restraint in the pontura region as the conflict had nothing to do with religion but between the fpi and the dayak youth, 2) attending dialog at the police station, 3) issuing a statement reflecting the madurese people’s stand on the issue which was also issued in 2003 (the document attached), 4) communicating with the religious leaders from all ethnic groups. eighth, the [ 81 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 academics including: 1) prof. dr. syarif ibrahim al-qadri through efforts of calling the chief of police, customary law elders, religious, and community leaders to resolve the conflict immediately; writing articles in the local newspaper to cool down the mass 2) prof. dr. chairil effendy and dr. moh. haitami salim, both working to prevent further conflict through meetings with religious, community and customary leaders to reconcile the parties involved. other efforts include appeals and advisories. the first appeal was issued by the chief of police of west kalimantan, whose contents include: 1. the community should remain calm and not provoked by the misleading issues; 2. the issue was a misunderstanding between different groups, not a matter of religion; 3. the matter will be handled by the security apparatus and the government; 4. people should filter the information relating to ethnicity, race, religion; 5. people are prohibited from carrying sharp weapons as stipulated by emergency law no. 12/1951; 6. the community should create a conducive atmosphere of security in west kalimantan in order to return to the safe, quiet situation; 7. conflicts that occurred several years ago brought no good to any party. the appeal was signed on march 16, 2012 in pontianak by drs. unggung cahyo who served as the chief of the regional police. caretakers and members of the west kalimantan fkub also issued a statement related to the conflict of 14 – 16 march 2012, which appealed as follows: 1. asking the parties involved to immediately halt the conflict for the creation of security, peace, and harmony between religious, ethnic, and community groups in the future; 2. respecting the law, religions, religious organizations, and ethnic associations in west kalimantan; 3. asking all the parties involved to avoid certain political interests; 4. asking all the parties involved to hand the resolution of conflict to the security apparatus; 5. maintaining harmony between religious and community groups; 6. giving appreciation and thanks to all who have made efforts to reconcile the parties involved, as well as appreciation to all the people and the leaders who have worked to stop the conflict. the statement was issued in pontianak on 16 march 2012 and signed by 29 leaders and important persons in pontianak. related to the event of conflict on march 15, 2012 in west kalimantan, the madurese association (ikbm) also issued an advisory whose contents are as follows: 1. not to bring culture or behavior that does not fit with the culture of west kalimantan; 2. to always remember the message of the madurese elders; 3. not to insult, harass, look down on each other; 4. to respect each other; 5. to resolve problems peacefully, and in the event of a dispute, not to involve ethnicity; 6. to allow legal apparatus to resolve disputes; 7. (for the law [ 82 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 enforcers) to act quickly, decisively, impartially on the outlaws; 8. to conduct a more intensive raid for liquor considering many problem it may cause. this appeal was signed on march 16, 2012 in pontianak by the chair and secretary of ikbm. discussion on conflict prevention efforts description of sara-based conflict prevention efforts is analyzed based on the islamic studies, i.e. the theories of civil society, conflict management and socio-culture. from the perspective of the islamic teachings, conflict prevention is based on surah in the quran: al-hujuraat : 8-9, al-mu’minuun : 160, al-mumtahanah : 10, and al-maidah : 82. based on the viewpoint of the theory of civil society, conflict prevention efforts tend to lead to a model of “the charter of medina.” the charter of medina known as “the constitution of medina” was a document drafted by the prophet muhammad, which is a formal agreement between himself and all the tribes and clans in yathrib (later called medina) in 622. the document laid out clear details with the main objective to stop the fierce dispute between bani ‘aus and bani khazraj in medina. for that that document sets out a number of rights and obligations for the muslims, the jews, and pagan communities of medina; so as to make them unified in a community which in arabic is called the ummah. the analysis found the similarities between prevention efforts in handling the conflict in the city of pontianak and that of medina, namely: first, the prevention efforts can be made together by the indonesian police, the government, relevant agencies, print media and society itself. they encourage the creation of peaceful situation, so they have the awareness to stop the conflict. in addition, the people of pontianak never wanted conflict to occur. in the charter of medina, it is described in article 2-10, article 18, and article 44 that nine clans (the muhajirin of the quraisy, banu auf, banu sa’idah, banu al-hars, banu jusam, banu annajjar, banu amr bin ‘awf, banu al-nabit, dan banu al-‘aws) collaborated to stop a fierce dispute between banu aus and banu khazraj in madinah. second, security aparatuses (the police and the armed forces), the government, and fkub should facilitate conflict prevention efforts through mediation and dialog. in madinah, prophet muhammad facilitated dialog between the tribes and the jews to stop the conflict and create a situation of peace, harmony and security. third, in the process of mediation and dialog, they gave each other advisories, counsel, and promise (article 37 of the medina charter). fourth, the handling of conflict reflects the principles of 1) unity (article 1); 2) humanity (article 2 – 11, paragraphs 13-14); 3) impartiality and indiscrimination (article 13), 4) brotherhood (articles 15 and 16), 5) legal certainty (articles 23, 37, 40, and 42), 6) human rights (articles 25 and 46), 7) sustainability (article 42, and section 45), 8) local wisdom (articles 2 – 10), and 9) equality and justice (articles 17 and 26-35). the results of the analysis on conflict management theory showed [ 83 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 that first, there were conflict prevention measures. prevention of conflict according to michael lund (1996: 37) is “actions taken in vulnerable places and times to avoid the threat or use of force and related forms of coercion by the state or groups to resolve political disputes that can arise from the destabilizing effects of economic, social, political, and international changes.” sanam naraghi anderlini and victoria stanski concluded that prevention of conflict can be identified through actions or policies as follows: 1) actions: preventing the emergence of violent conflict and identifying ways of non-violence in resolving tensions, 2) stopping the ongoing conflict so as not to spread, and 3) detecting the reappearance of violence. second, there was a comprehensive effort in the conflict management. these efforts are handled through the conflict prevention efforts. conflict prevention is a core component of a comprehensive conflict management program. the conflict management program is explained in the following diagram. figure 1: model for comprehensive conflict prevention initiatives the diagram above offers a model for comprehensive conflict prevention initiatives. there are five internal initiatives encouraged and one external initiative. first of all, the concept of ‘conflict’ should be defined. conflict requires incompatibility (disputed claims); the two sides are at the same time trying to get resources available to them. conflict itself is often a constructive element of a dynamic community, but can become very problematic when the parties involved use violent means to advance their cause. however, [ 84 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 conflict resolution not only requires a reduction in the use of force, but also the dissolution of the underlying incompatibilities so that conflict shall not reappear in the future. one way of preventing the parties in a conflict from fighting each other is to prevent them from using violence and to avoid the threat of military intervention. the literature on conflict prevention is largely concerned with steps that can be taken by a third party and is not coercive in nature. the principle behind the thoughts on the prevention of conflict is that conflict is a very destructive and the way of dealing with it will be expensive if the effective preventative measures are not taken earlier. melander, erik; mats bengtsson; patrick kratt & inger buxton (2004: 7-9) outlined that the definition of “conflict prevention” itself is not agreed between researchers. different definitions indeed vary according to the purpose of the prevention which ranges from reducing violence to resolving discrepancies, the perspective of time (short term or long term) and means. they defined the concept of prevention in accordance with different stages of conflict when prevention is implemented. drafting a concept of conflict into a life cycle can help to visualize how the three ideas can be applied. erik melander and claire pigache (2004) argued that the narrow conception (sometimes referred to as primary prevention) implies prevention should happen before the violence breaks out. a broader conception (secondary prevention) includes prevention during the violence; here the conflict is more expanded. the definition according to the boutros-ghali fits both of these types as it pertains to prevent the dispute form escalating into an armed conflict as well as preventing it from spreading. although the most contentious, the concept of the third (tertiary prevention) also includes postconflict peace-building so as to prevent recurrence of violence. the third conception emphasizes that the prevention of conflict in the future can be achieved “through the creation of a safe and secure environment after the achievement of a peaceful solution”. third, handling conflict can be is done through operational prevention or deterrence. sanam naraghi aderlini and victoria stanski outlined that the approach in the prevention of conflict consist of “operational prevention (or direct prevention) .... and structural prevention (or root causes prevention).” direct prevention includes steps to overcome the crisis, and structural prevention is to address the root causes such as poverty, political oppression and uneven the distribution of resources; if left unattended, they may escalate into violence. similar opinions were expressed by david carment and albrecht schnabel (2004: 5) that the prevention of conflict requires structural or interactive way to keep tensions and disputes between countries from [ 85 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 escalating into violence making it hard to resolve peacefully and to reduce the underlying problems including the spread of hostilities in a new place. fourth, conflict management according to the rahim (2002: 208) involves the implementation of a strategy to limit the negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects at a level equal to or higher than where the conflict takes place. in addition, the goal of conflict management is to improve learning and results (effectiveness or performance in an organizational setting). it is not concerned with eliminating any conflict or avoiding conflict. conflict can be valuable for groups and organizations. it has been proven to improve the results of the group when handled correctly (alper, tjosvold, & hukum, 2000; bodtker & jameson, 2001; rahim & bonoma, 1979; khun & poole, 2000; dechurch & marks, 2001). several categories are found in conflict prevention efforts from the perspective of social theory, as parsons (2005: 59) outlined that the value oriented patterns are important in structuring the systems of action, because one of the m defines reciprocal rights and obligations which are the basic elements of common expectations of the role and sanctions. parsons believed that an agreement on the shared values is the heart of the social order. with the shared norms, such as justice and equality, people will harmonize their actions with others. in addition, people will also agree on common standards for evaluating the concrete behavior and patterns of resource allocation. closing remarks conflict prevention and management efforts nowadays tend to have similarities with the articles of the charter of medina which was religiousbased and containing the theory of civil society. furthermore, the handling of conflict tends to take preventive measures and to stop the conflict directly, as well as making a comprehensive synergistic effort to mange conflict. these efforts are made through conflict prevention efforts. conflict prevention is a core component of a comprehensive conflict management program. the conflict that occurred in ponianak between a group of people from ethnic dayak and members of an islamic organization in 2012 was an important lesson for the people of west kalimantan, both for the government and the community elements especially in dealing with a dispute between different groups of people. an integrative prevention has been proven to be able to answer the question of handling a conflict that has a potential to escalate into a full-scale riot. an integrative conflict handling model may become a viable alternative model to be adopted by the community of west kalimantan in particular and other societies [ 86 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 in general. a synergic integrative conflict handling model that reflects local wisdom of the people of pontianak is expected to inspire real peace for various communities with a multicultural background. bibliography abdullah, imron, 2006. studi agama kajian empiris-transendental. cirebon: stain cirebon press. abdullah, irwan, 2009. konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. fisher, simon, dkk., 2007. working with conflict skills and strategies for action. new york. 2007 jurnal manajemen, jurnal manajemen sumber daya manusia, bahan kuliah manajemen konflik komunal di indonesia saat ini. jakarta: indonesian-netherlands cooperation in islami studies (inis) universiteit leiden. 2003 modul sosiologi, mata kuliah kapita selekta, pokok bahasan: system social. bidang studi public relation, fakultas ilmu komunikasi universitas mercu buana, jakarta lund, michael, 1996. preventing violent conflicts. washington d.c.: united states institute of peace press. melander, erik, mats bengtsson, patrick kratt, and inger buxton, 2004. conflictsensitive development co-operation: how to conduct a conflict analysis. stockholm: swedish international development cooperation agency. sanaky, hujair ah., 2003. paradigma pendidikan islam: membangun masyarakat madani indonesia. yogyakarta: safiria insania press. sutrisno, mudji dan hendar putranto, 2005. teori-teori kebudayaan. yogyakarta: kanisius. 2005. seri ii: konflik social bernuansa agama di indonesia. jakarta: departemen agama ri badan litbang agama dan diklat keagamaan puslitbang kehidupan beragama bagian proyek peningkatan pengkajian kerukunan hidup umat beragama. 2003 syarif_untan.tripod.com. makalah : mesianisme dalam masyarakat dayak di kalimantan barat “ keterkaitan antara unsur budaya khususnya kepercayaan nenek moyang dan realitas kehidupan social ekonomi. syarif ibrahim al qadrie tim penyusun puslit iain syarif hidayatullah. pendidikan kewargaan demokrasi, ham dan masyarakat madani. jakarta: iain jakarta press. 2000. [ 157 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 radicalism, jihad and terror yuminah rahmatullah uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta email: yuminah@uinjkt.ac.id abstract as an issue of complexity, radicalism does not stand alone. it has a political and ideological basis. like an ideology that continues to bind, radicalism takes the path of religion to be able to justify all actions of anarchy. the case of today’s islam as being synonymous with radicalism is apart of the complexcity of the issue. religious radicalism is a prevalent phenomenon in the history religions. radicalism is closely related to fundamentalism, which is marked by the return of society to the fundamentals of religion. fundamentalism is a kind of ideology that makes religion the principle of life by society and individuals. fundamentalism usually comes along with radicalism and violence when the freedom to return to religion is hindered by social and political circumstances surrounding the society. islam recognizes jihad that is in some cases misunderstood. jihad is different from radicalism and its derivatives of terrorism. radicalism and terrorism tend to be destructive, uncompromising and closely related to violent behavior in the name of religion. meanwhile jihad is a form of the totality of a muslim’s devotion to god, which is concerned not only with self-defense efforts, but a battle that has a theological legitimacy in which the martyrs are promised by god with various virtues and advantages. the association of jihad with terrorism today cannot be justified due to the fact that jihad in the sense of war (qitâl) involves elements of violence that can be categorized as terrorism. it is the case that the use of violence in the name of religion in contemporary times is, in fact, due to political factors, which then seeks its legitimacy in religious teachings. keywords: radicalism; jihad; terrorism; tolerance; politics; legitimacy of religion introduction radicalism, anarchism and/or religious violence tend to be on the rise or at least appear and disappear in recent years. religious radicalism that gives rise to religious conflict and social violence has spread not only among religions, such as islam versus christianity, but also between religions, such as among islam or christianity.1 facing such phenomenon, the public figures 1 azyumardi azra, the roots of religious radicalism, the role of state apparatus, religious leaders and teachers for religious harmony, paper presented at discussion ‘reinforcing tolerance through schools’ at the habibie center, hotel aston bogor, 14 may 2011 [ 158 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 and the public in indonesia consider the continues increase in intolerance and radicalism in the inter-religious environment even with the state can clearly threaten the unity of the nation and the existence of the nation state of indonesia. the rise of religious radicalism has its roots in the reality of various interpretations, understandings, schools of thought, denominations and even sects within a particular religion. in the case of islam, religious radicalism is derived from literal, piecemeal and ad hoc religious understanding of the verses of the qur’an. such understanding can hardly provide space for adaptation and compromise with other moderate muslim groups. this kind of islamic group has actually emerged since the time of the fourth khulafa ‘al-rashid’ ali ibn abi talib in the form of a very radical khawarij and committed a lot of murders against muslim leaders whom they declared as ‘infidel.’2 religious radicalism has become a mainstream and a global issue. the emergence of political issues concerning islamic radicalism is a new challenge for muslims to answer. the issue of islamic radicalism has long been on the surface of international discourse. islamic radicalism as a historicalsociological phenomenon is a much-discussed issue in political discourse and global civilization due to media power that has great potential in creating the perception of the world community. many labels have been given by western europeans and the united states to refer to this radical islamic movement, ranging from militant groups, extremists, militants, right-wing islam, fundamentalism, to terrorism. even the western countries after the collapse of communist ideology (post cold war) see islam as a frightening civilization movement. religious radicalism is actually a phenomenon that usually appears in various religions. radicalism is closely related to fundamentalism, which is marked by the return of society to the fundamentals of religion. fundamentalism is a kind of ideology that makes religion a lifeline to society and individuals. usually fundamentalism comes along with radicalism and violence when the freedom to return to religion is hindered by social and political situation surrounding the society. radicalism means belief in radical ideas and principles3 and is a radical 2 azyumardi azra, the roots of religious radicalism, the role of state apparatus, religious leaders and teachers for religious harmony, paper presented at discussion ‘reinforcing tolerance through schools’ at the habibie center, hotel aston, bogor, 14 may 2011, p.3 3 as hornby, oxford advanced learner dictionary of current english, (walton: oxford university press. 1989, p.1032. radicalism in the sense of language means a view or school of thought that wants change or social and political renewal by means of violence or drastic. however, in another sense, the essence of radicalism is the concept of mental attitude in carrying change. while radicalism is in another sense the essence of that change [ 159 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 movement or ideology of the political order; doctrine or movement that demands social and political change in a country in a strict way.4 azyumardi azra (2015) mentions that radicalism is an ideology which believes that comprehensive change can only be done in a radical way, not in an evolutionary and peaceful way.5 marx juergensmeyer (as quoted by muhammad harfin zuhdi, 2010) argues that radicalism can be understood as an attitude or position that craves changes to the status quo with total destruction, and replaces it with something new and different.6 nurcholis madjid (1995) explains that islam is a religion of peace that teaches and seeks peace.7 and harun nasution (1995) mentions that radicalism is a movement that is oldfashioned and often uses violence in teaching their beliefs.8 meanwhile, yusuf al-qaradawi, gives the term radicalism with the term altatarruf ad-din or in other words, is to practice the teachings of religion unnecessarily, or to practice religious teachings by taking a tarf or peripheral position, far from the substance of islamic teachings, that is moderate teaching in the middle. usually this peripheral position is heavy or over-emphasized and excessive, which is not reasonable. further al-qaradawi said the position of religious practices like this at least contain three weaknesses, namely: first, it is not favored by human nature; second, it cannot live long, and third, it is very vulnerable to violate the rights of others.9 the term islamic radicalism comes from the western press to point to the hard-line islamic movement (extreme, fundamentalist, militant). the term radicalism is a code that is sometimes unconscious and sometimes explicit for islam.10 the problem in the west and america is not islam itself but the violent practices perpetrated by a group of muslim communities in the process of establishing the identity of the group.11 for examples, there was a tends to use violence. in the arabic term the term radicalism with the actions of extremism (at-tatharuf al-diniy), excessive (ghuluw), narrow-minded (dhayyiq), rigid (tanathu), and hard (tasyadud). 4 eka yani arfina, kamus lengkap bahasa indonesia dilengkapi dengan eyd dan singkatan umum, (surabaya : tiga dua. tt ) 5 azyumardi azra, waspadai paham radikal, kompas, 7 april 2015, guru besar uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta; anggota komisi kebudayaan aipi and council on faith, world economic forum, davos 6 muhammad harfin zuhdi, “fundamentalisme dan upaya deradikalisasi ayat al qur’an dan hadis”, in jurnal religia, vol. 13, no. 1, april 2010, 83 7 nurcholish madjid. (1995). pintu-pintu menuju tuhan. (jakarta: paramadina), p.260 8 harun.nasution, (1995). islam rasional. (bandung: mizan), p.260 9 lihat yusuf al-qardhawi, al-sahwah al-islamiyyah: baina al-juhad wa al-tatarruf (kairo: bank at-taqwa, 2001), p. 23-29. 10 ahmed, akbar s. (1993). posmodernisme, bahaya dan harapan bagi islam. terjemah m. sirozi. mizan: bandung.p.30 11 nurcholish madjid. (1995). pintu-pintu menuju tuhan. jakarta: paramadina.h, 270 [ 160 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 case of disappearance of 12 students of muhammadiyah university of malang who have been recruited into the network of islamic state of indonesia (nii). this latest development indicates that although the national police in this case, densus 88, has succeeded in paralyzing most of the radical network of al-jama’ah al-islamiyah (ji) which carried out numerous bombings including suicide bombings especially since the first bali bomb was clearly a radical group and a cell that remains at large. even it forms new cells that tend to move independently in one way or another, and are still related to each other12. some of the above notes illustrate how religion is not only an ideology, but also a motivation and an organizational structure for the perpetrators of violence. this radical belief in the name of religion is what is often manifested in terrorist acts. madeline albright, in 1998 for example, listed the world’s 30 most dangerous terrorist organizations, and over half of them were religious groups. in fact according to rand-st andrews in the chronology of international terrorism, the number of denominations increased from 16 to 49 terrorist groups identified in 1994, then the following year it became 26 of the 56 registered groups. therefore, it is no exaggeration for warren christopher to suggest that religious terrorist acts (other than ethnic identity) constitute one of the most important security challenges to be faced in relation to the rise of the cold war.13 thus religious radicalism is a philosophy that refers to the beliefs of a particular group that wish to make changes to the religious values considered contrary to their belief. this is carried out by tearing down existing systems and structures to the roots quickly over subjective considerations. the rise of radicalism movement the movement of radicalism is not really a movement that merely appears, but mostly related to some issues driving the emergence of the radical movement. internal factor from within muslims itself is found as an important point. this factor occurs because of deviation of religious norms. secular life in the life of society encourages them to return to the islamic fundamentalism. this attitude is supported by a totalistic (kaffah) and formalistic religious view that is rigid in understanding religious texts. the study of religion is viewed only from one direction, textual, not viewed from other factors, so the actions they take must refer to the prophet’s behavior literally. external factors outside muslims 12 azyumardi azra, akar radikalisme keagamaan, peran  aparat  negara,  pemimpin  agama  dan  guru  untuk  kerukunan  umat  beragama, makalah disampaikan pada diskusi‘memperkuat toleransi melalui sekolah’the habibie center, hotel aston, bogor, bogor, 14 mei 2011, p.3 13 mark jurgensmever, teror in the mind of god: the global rise of religion violence, (trj), m.sadat ismail, jakarta: nizham press 2002), p. 3-4 [ 161 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 is also found as another important point, whether committed by the regime of power or hegemony from the west that does not support the implementation of islamic shari’ah in the aspects of life.14 azyumardi azra (2012) argues that, in the islamic circles, religious radicalism comes from a literal, piecemeal religious understanding of the verses of the qur’an. such understanding barely leaves room for accommodation and compromise with other groups of muslims, resulting in social conflict and intra-religious and inter-religious violence; also even among religious people with the state. the continuation of intraand inter-religious social conflicts in this reform period, again, is also due to a variety of complex factors such as those related to the euphoria of freedom, where each person or group feels able to express their freedom and will, regardless of the other. thus, there are symptoms of decreased tolerance. political and social fragmentation continues, especially among the political, social, and military elites, which continue to infiltrate the grassroots and lead to horizontal conflicts that are latent and widespread. there are various indications, conflicts and religious nuances, even in the provocations of the certain elites for their own interests. the inconsistency of law enforcement also matters. some cases of religious conflict or violence or carrying religious symbolism show indications of conflict between security forces, and even contestation among local elite groups. finally, the widespread disorientation and dislocation in indonesian society, due to difficulties in daily life, is also a proof of the emergence of religious radicalism movements. the increase in the price of other daily necessities makes the society increasingly pressured and marginalized. as a result, these marginalized and splintered people or groups can easily carry out emotional acts, and can even be hired to commit unlawful acts and violence.15 14 khamami zada, islam radikal; pergulatan ormasormas islam garis keras di indonesia (jakarta: teraju, 2002), 95. samuel huntington (1997) with a clash of civilization thesis that sees terrorism as an implication of the clash of two major civilizations in the world: islam vis-a-vis the west. huntington’s logic stems from a realistic viewpoint that views world politics as a struggle for power --a power struggle. huntington departs from the division of the world over what he calls “civilization.” huntington regards the world as a multipolar mix of civilizations, thereby dividing the world into eight major civilizations. the principle of realism that positions interest in the context of power member the second logical basis: competition between civilizations generate conflict. if that logic is used as a tool to interpret radicalism in indonesia, we will come to a point of conclusion: terrorism is the excess of the incompatibility of islamic civilization and the west. this is reinforced by the attributes imposed by the perpetrators of terror, by giving the tint of islam as an argument. see ahmad rizky mardhatillah umar, “tracing the roots of radicalism in indonesia”, journal of social and political sciences, 14 (2) november 2010: 171 15 azyumardi azra, “akar radikalisme keagamaan peran aparat negara, pemimpin agama dan guru untuk kerukunan umat beragama”, paper presented at discussion ‘reinforcing tolerance through schools’ at the habibie center, hotel aston, bogor, 14 may 2011. quoted abdul munip, counteracting religious radicalism in schools, journal of islamic ed[ 162 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 further explanation comes from endang turmudzi (2005). he argues that some factors leading to the emergence of radicalism include the variable of attitude or view of the three issues of application of islamic shari’a, the form of islamic state of indonesia and the islamic caliphate. this attitude is a continuation of the interpretation of the teachings of islam. it is assumed that there are some common attitudes that arise after society interprets islamic teachings. this attitude is symbolized in the application of muslim understanding of their religious teachings. in this case there are three groups: secular or relative, substantialist and scripturalist16. in addition, the variable of attitude that arises when the second variable is confronted with real social conditions in society. these include domestic and international factors. political hegemony by the state or any repression by any group against muslims will give rise to different responses from different groups. the secular do not respond because they are truly indifferent. only the scripturalists are assumed to be radical. the substantial group, despite its concern for islam and its people in various fields, will show moderation. for example they will look good on the islamic state or khilafah islamiyah as well as on (formalization) the application of islamic shari’a.17 according to azra (2003), the emergence of radical groups in indonesia is caused by the euphoria of democracy as well as the revocation of the anti-subversion act by president habibie which in turn provides widespread space for extremist groups to express ideas and activities.18 abuza (2007) also mentions that the fall of soeharto’s authoritarian regime led to the massive birth of civil society forces which in turn provided space to certain groups including radical groups who expressed their interests by spreading hatred and intolerance by using violent means (violence).19 discourse on radicalism and terrorism has been on the rise after the september 11, 2001.20 based on the data, this work indicates that radicalism and terrorism in indonesia are caused by two fundamental problems i.e., economic deprivation (poverty) and political injustice, as also supported ucation uin sunan kalijaga graduate program vol 1. number 2 december 2012, 162 16 endang turmudi (ed), islam dan radikalisme di indonesia, (jakarta :lipi press, 2005), p. 2 17 endang turmudi (ed), islam dan radikalisme di indonesia, (jakarta :lipi press, 2005), p.2 18 azyumardi azra, 2003, bali and southeast asian islam: debunking the myths di kumar ramak rishna dan see seng tan (editor), after bali: the threat of terrorism, institute of defence and strategic studies, nanyang technological university, singapore 19 abuza, zachary 2007, political islam and violence in indonesia, routledge, london and new york 20 khamami zada, islam radikal; pergulatan ormasormas islam garis keras dii ndonesia, (jakarta: teraju, 2002), p.17 [ 163 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 by research findings by khamami zada (2002).21 the labeling of radical to the group that has the character and the general pattern as a movement that demands the enforcement of islamic shari’ah in terminology as mentioned by kallen (as quated by umi sumbulah, 2010).22 radicalization emerges as a response in the form of evaluation, rejection or resistance to the ongoing conditions, whether it be the assumption of value or religious or state institutions. radicalization always seek to replace the existing order with a new order systematized and constructed through their own world view. the strong belief in the ideology they offer is vulnerable to emerge a potential emotional attitude resulting in violence. in this context, islamic mass organizations such as the islamic defenders front (fpi), hizbut tahrir indonesia (hti), majelis mujahidin, laskar jihad ahlussunnah waljama’ah, indonesian committee for islamic world solidarity (kisdi) and indonesian islamic state (nii) have the features as described by horace m. kallen. they fight for islam in a kaffah (totalistic); islamic law as a state law, islam as the basis of the state, as well as islam as a political system so not a democracy that serves the voice of people’s aspirations into a political system. they base their practice of religion on the past orientation (salafi). they are also very hostile to the west with all the products of civilization, such as secularization and modernization. and they resistance to the growing islamic liberalism movement among indonesian muslims. radicalism in the islamic contemporary era what is the radicalist or fundamentalist movement in islam today, especially the contemporary era? it seems to be more influenced by the islamic response to the west although the themes are related to inward orientation that becomes their concern and ideological choice. according to azyumardi azra (2016), contemporary fundamentalism and radicalism arise in reaction to the penetration of western social, cultural, political and economic systems and values, both as a result of direct contact with the west and through muslim thinkers. strictly speaking, modernist, secularist, and westernist groups or regimes of muslim governments that fundamentalists argue are an extension of the western ideas and control.23 there are at least two major problems of concern to this group. firstly, they reject the secularism of western societies 21 khamami zada , islam radikal; pergulatan ormasormas islam garis keras di indonesia(jakarta: teraju, 2002), p.17 22 umi sumbulah, islam radikal dan plularismeagama: studi kontruksi sosial aktivis hizb al-tahrir dan majelis mujahidin di malang tentang agama kristen dan yahudi, (jakarta: balitbang ri, 2010), p.42 23 gerakan radikalisme dalam islam: perspektif historis 13 addin, vol. 10, no. 1, february 2016 [ 164 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 that separate religion and politics, church, and mosque from the state. the western success of secularization is perceived as dangerous, because it can threaten islam as a religion that not only deals with the hereafter but also the world. secondly, many muslims want their society to be governed in accordance with the qur’an and islamic shari’a as the rule of the state.24 therefore, it is not surprising today that an underground movement that aspires to establish an islamic caliphate with the themes of god’s sovereignty, jihad, islamic revolution, social justice, and so forth. the themes are oriented towards the past, especially the early generations of islam as practiced by the prophet muhammad his companions. they assume that the islamic society today is declining because it no longer carry out the teachings of its religion purely. therefore the above agenda must be done to counter western hegemony while imagining the glory of islam. during the new order era, the state always suppressed what was identified as a radical movement. radicalism was seen as the prime enemy and used as common enemy through various media transformation. left or right radicalism is the same. left radicalism such as the new left movement, which had flourished in indonesia around the 1980s and continued to gain momentum in the 1990s through the people’s democratic party (prd), was an exponent of an organization considered an enemy of the state. so strong was the pressure on this left radical movement that many of the members were arrested, tortured, and even some were gone without a trace. the new order was very hard on right radicalism. among the most prominent was the komando jihad in the mid-1980s. many islamic leaders were identified as leaders or members of the komando jihad who were arrested and imprisoned. attempts to suppress these radical islamic movements continued until the period of the rise of the association of indonesian muslim intellectuals (icmi) in the mid-1990s. abdul aziz thaba (1995) finds a connection between islam and the state in three categories including the relationship between islam and the state, which is antagonistic, critical reciprocal, and the symbiotic relationship between islam and the state. an antagonistic relationship occurred at the beginning of the new order25 until the early 1980s and symbiotic relations occurred in the era of the 1990s. several groups called islamic militant groups in indonesia were formed in conjunction with national political events, while others were 24 see karen amstrong, berperang demi tuhan: fundamentalisme dalam islam, kristen dan yahudi (jakarta: serambi, 2001), p. ix. see also leonard binder, islamic liberalism: a critique of development ideologies (chicago and london: the university of chicago pres, 1988), p. 16-49. 25 abdul aziz thaba. (islam dan negara dalam politik orde baru. ( jakarta: gema insani press. 1995). p. 37 [ 165 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 a reaction to events related to conflict between muslims and christians occurring in some areas. each organization has its own background and raison detere as well as differences and similarities, including: fpi (islamic defenders front), fka wj (communication forum of ahlussunnah wal jamaah) and mmi (indonesia mujahidin council).26 an example in the indonesian cases of contemporary radical islamic movements that can be mentioned here is hizbut tahrir indonesia (hti).27 26 this movement case is related to the rise of bj. habibie as the president, after president soeharto resigned, because habibi was considered part of the new order, students demanded a demonstration for the replacement of the new leader, to compensate for the great powers of the students, the tni recruited pam swakarsa from various regions (banten, central java and other), pam swakarsa is the forerunner of fpi. fpi was formed in jakarta, at the pesantren al-umm ciputat leader of kyai. misbahul anam, as a pressure group movement aimed at eradicating prostitution, night house entertainment, led by a young preacher, habib riziq shihab. and the public attention, because the action did not hesitate to eliminate disobedience by using violence. while fkawj (communication forum ahlussunnah wal jamaah) genealogy is closely linked to the jamaah al-turath al-islami in jogjakarta, a movement founded by ja’far and abu nida (chamsaha shofwan), fkawj was declared on 14 february 21999. for the services of m. umar as-sewed, ayif syarifudin and maruf bahrun. this group is a “semi clandestine” movement, because they prefer to hold meetings in secret. no wonder the group is associated with the muslim brotherhood and di/tii movements. the birth of fkawj was motivated by the economic, political and social crisis that plagued indonesia since the reformation, fkawj with its military wing laskar jihad joined the umta islam forum during the habibie administration. third, mmi (majleis mujahidin indonesia, declared in august 2000 in yogyakarta attended by thousands of moslems from domestic and abroad and elected as amir mmi was abu bakar ba’asir. this aesthetic appeals to abu bakar ba’s relationship with the jihad command movement together with abdullah sungkar, the founder of ngeruki pesantren. majda’s main agenda is to enforce islamic law, mmi chooses political and academic paths, so often differing opinion with fpi and laskar jihad. hmi is also regarded as an extension of the southeast asian islamiyah organization that wants to destroy western and south american facilities in southeast asia in addition to the movements, there are three other hardline islamic militant groups, darul islam, hizbut tahrir, tarbiyah islamiyah and muslim brotherhood, although the similarities are found in the application of islamic sharia, but each has group agenda which sometimes becomes a very sharp distinction. (see bachtiar efeendi, sutrisno hado, agama dan radikalisme di indonesia, jakarta: nuqtah, 2007), p.13-18 27 hti launched its movement gradually. in the case of indonesia, there is no strong evidence to show hti’s involvement in acts of violence and terrorism. therefore, it is important to understand the activity and its relation to jihad action. there are three stages or three steps hti in an effort to achieve its political goals, namely: (a) stage tatsqif (coaching and cadre). this stage is to give birth to people who believe in hizb ut-tahrir and to form the framework of a party. (b) tafa’ul stage (interaction), ie interacting with people to be able to carry islamic da’wah, so that people will make it as the main problem in their life, and try to apply it in the reality of life. (c) istilamul hukmi’s stage (takeover of power). this stage serves to apply islamic law in practice and totality, as well as to spread to the whole world. these three stages are used by hti in an attempt to achieve the goal of establishment of islamic state. this indicates that the hti struggle begins with bawap. it is therefore very active in the recruitment of members, the process of cadregation, and the dissemination of information through mass media, famphlets, seminars and street demonstrations as part of strategic steps to achieve the goal of establishing a caliphate see hizbut tahrir organization, [ 166 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 this organization is radical in its political ideas, but emphasizes peaceful ways to achieve its goals. its radicalism is illustrated by the hti struggle that seeks fundamental political change through the total destruction of the nation-state today, and replacing it with a new islamic state under a caliphate.28 these three groups are just some of the other hard-core islamists: darul islam, hizbut tahrir, tarbiyah islamiyah and muslim brotherhood,29 although it is clear that they have similarities in the application of islamic law, but each has its own agenda which sometimes becomes a very sharp distinction. the existence of the group’s agenda, which may be closely linked to political interests, makes such groups often cooperate with others with similar interests, but their similarities, as much as the differences prevent them from uniting in one group. based on their actions and movements, radical islamic groups have made concrete efforts, both through the structural-vertical and cultural horizontal ways. they already have access to the parliament. they also directly enforce amar ma`ruf nahi munkar (promotion of virtues and prevention of vice), such as entering into the poso ambon conflict, the destruction of discotheques, brothels, supporting the ratification of anti-pornography bill, expulsion of the ahmadiyya group, and christian congregation illegal churches, destruction of the editorial office of playboy, etc. they also easily accuse the others of being infidels.30 to some extent, the action of radicalism is the result of the slow pace of the authorities in responding to the development of mass psychology. the violent acts perpetrated by radical islamic groups have unconsciously revealed that islam supports violent acts. but this radical islamic group movement is not mainstream in indonesia. lsi’s research shows that fpi is only supported by 17%, mmi 11% and hti 3% of the indonesian islamic society.31 according to some research, most australians do not know much about islam in indonesia. when asked whether indonesian muslims and middle eastern muslims the same, their answer is that indonesian islam is more moderate and tolerant. when asked about the bali bombing action, they say that it is a sign that radical islam has developed in indonesia. if radical islamic action the methodology of hizbut tahrir for change (london: al-khilafah publication, 1999), p. 32.anzar abdullah addin, vol. 10, no. 1, february 2016 28 karagiannis dan clark mc cauley, “hizbut tahrir al-islami: evaluating the threat posed by a radical islamic group that remannis non violence”, dalam terrorism and political violence, no. 58 (2006), hlm. 318.gerakan radikalisme dalam islam: perspektif historis addin, vol. 10, no. 1, februari 2016 29 bachtiar efendi, sutrisno hadi, agama dan radikalisme di indonesia, jakarta: nuqtah, 2007), p.13-18 30 bachtiar efeendi, sutrisno hadi, agama dan radikalisme di indonesia, jakarta: nuqtah, 2007), p.237 31 saiful mujani,” kelompok islam anarkis”, media indonesia, 12 june 2006 [ 167 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 does not diminish in indonesia, the negative image of indonesian islam in the international world will spread. given the factors causing the contradictions to their religion in such a complex way, everyone should be warned not to hurry to take a hasty conclusion, a kind of sweeping generalization. if there are certain people and / or religious groups committing violence in the name of religion, they are clearly not representation of religion or religious people as a whole. religious radicalism, jihad and terrorism the facts show that there are deviations in understanding jihad that begins to be misused by a group of people who have a hard-line view of the teachings of islam, thus legalizing violence in doing the action. the discourse of religious radicalism among muslims, often using jihad terminology in its action, the fact that the terrorist network (as a radical act of action) behaves in the name of jihad (especially in indonesia), is proof that this theological foundation is very effective in giving suggestions to everyone to do whatever it takes, as evidenced in several bombings (suicide bombings), which are identified as hard-line islamic groups in indonesia that have the motive of killing foreigners, especially citizens of the united states, israel and its allies in indonesia as the embodiment of jihad, as explained by fahruroji dahlan (2008).32 in the qur’an the word jihad, as explained by ma’ruf amin (2007)33, as a noun is often followed by the phrase fi sabîl allah (in the way of allah). jihad if you want to establish the religion of alah is indeed one of the teachings of the qur’an which must be carried out by muslims. for those who implement it will certainly get a good reward, because jihad activities are carried out the implementation of faith and obedience to the teachings of god. when he dies while carrying it out, he is called shahíd whose return is heaven.  at this level, all the consequences of jihad that is done is not something that must be a burden, if successful, the teachings of god will be upright and it must have virtues and benefit to society, and if failed and he dies in the struggle, then the promise of god will still be good that is dying as a martyr and return to heaven. 34 seeing this phenomenon a lot of muslims dare to risk their lives. 32 fahruroji dahlan, “jihad antara fenomena dakwah dan kekerasan mereformulasikan jihad sebagai sarana dakwah”, in el hikmah journal, volume 1/no. i/december 2008/dzulhijjah 1429 p.71 33 k.p. ma,ruf amin. melawan terorisme dengan iman, (ciputat: tim penanggulanagan terorisme, 2007), p. 187 34 jihad is etymologically an arabic word that has been absorbed in the indonesian language, its origin is juhd or jahd, that is, the first, to exert energy, effort, power, while the second meaning is sincerity in work. thus the word jihad is to exert energy and ability to do something with full sincerity. besides the word jihâd also means war, but for the definition of this war, the qur’an uses the other two words namely al-qitâl and al-harb. in the qur’an, [ 168 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 in order to determine the attitude properly and correctly, about the nature of jihad and al-istishad, it must be properly and proportionally considered, because not knowing it correctly can fall on the attitude of al-irhab35, not jihad or al-istishad36. in its development, the definition of jihad is often misinterpreted by the perpetrators of terrorism, such as using suicide bombs as its implementation. to radical groups, jihad is an obligation to fight physically against the unbelievers. then from that sense comes the meaning of being a war between islam and the united states and jews, as well as in the case of bali bombers, imam samudra and other groups, they hold that jews and christians are the ones who wish to destroy islam which are represented by the united states and israel. in their view, in jihad the only way to implement islam is by destroying the united states, israel and its allies.37 in this regard, the indonesian council of ulama releases its fatwa on terrorism by distinguishing between the character of terrorism and jihad. characteristics of terrorism include destructive (ifsad) and anarchist (faudha), the goal is to create fear and or destroy others, performed without rules and the goals are without limit. while the characteristics of jihad include nature requirement of the improvement (islah) and even with the way of war as needed, having the purposes of to uphold the religion of allah and or to defend the rights of the oppressed and conducted by following the rules set by the shari’a with clear enemy targets. therefore, if any religious radicalism which in its implementation may occur in a form of terrorism, one of the reasons is to use improper method in understanding religious texts and erroneous in its application. hence, to al-qitâl is mentioned 13 times and in all derivations 144 times .. besides that there is also a word gazwah which means war joined by the prophet, while also there is the word sariyyah, meaning the war between the muslims and the infidels in the period of prophet muhammad saw. but the prophet did not take part in that war. the word ghazwah is not mentioned in the qur’an, except the word derivation which is guzzan mentioned once in the qur’an. (qsal-imran: 156) .. terminologically the meaning of jihad has various meanings, according to ar-raghib al -asfahani, jihad is a serious fight against the enemy to uphold the religion of allah or against the satan that always leads to the emergence of evil or against lust. meanwhile, according to ibn al-qayim al-jawziyya, jihad is, struggling against lust, fighting satan, fighting infidels, and against hypocrites. (see k.p.ma,ruf amin. melawan terorisme dengan iman, ciputat: tim penanggulanagan terorisme, 2007), p. 188-189 35 al-irhâb artinya terorisme (lihat k.p.ma,ruf amin. melawan terorisme dengan iman, ciputat: tim penanggulanagan terorisme, 2007), p. 204 36 in the word istishâd is a masdar from istashada-yastashidu which means to seek martyrdom, i.e. martyrs when upholding the teachings of allah. the origin of the word is syahida-yashadu, which means witnessing. shahid, the plural form of shuhada can be interpreted as a witness or fallen person for defending the religion of allah. (see k.p.ma`ruf amin. melawan terorisme dengan iman, ciputat: tim penanggulanagan terorisme, 2007), p. 204 37 sarlito w.sarwono, terorisme di indonesia dalam tinjauan psikologiss, (jakarta: alvabert, 2012), p. 10 [ 169 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 avoid any misconduct, every muslim needs to understand the qur’an and the hadith of the prophet by starting using the correct method of understanding, then they should apply that understanding correctly.38 jihad, according to azyumardi azra (1999), is often identified by many scholars, both non-muslim and muslim with holy war, understood as war against the unbelievers. but as peters puts it, the main purpose of jihad is not to force people to enter islam, put forward in western literature. the aim is essentially for expansion as well as defense of the islamic region (dar alislam).39 similar opinion is also held by watt, although the reasons given are quite different and even need to be questioned. according to watt, the jihad terminology with holy war is misleading. jihad for the expansion of islamic territory occurred in the classical period, it is a further development of “razzia “(ghazwah’s military expedition). in this motive, the expansion of religion is not the primary, the acquisition of booty is the goal of the muslim army. watt’s argument is, to some extent, true but the central weakness of this argument is that it reduces religion through a materialistic approach.40according to al mawdudi41 western writers have likened the word jihad to “holy war” until finally jihad became a synonym of war based on religious fanaticism. almawdudi affirmed that islam is not as sacred as the word’s meaning, which seems to indicate the concept that belief is a personal affair no more than a set of customs and standardized worship procedures. this is due to two mistakes in understanding the word jihad, which is to understand it as a war or fanaticism for the purpose of spreading religion.42 nazaruddin umar distinguished the meaning of jihad in exoteric and esoteric manner. exoteric is usually interpreted as holy war, while esoteric jihad as a serious effort to get closer to allah almighty. jihad in the sense of holy war by some experts is seen as a definition that is influenced by the christian concept (crusade). thus the meaning of jihad is different from the qital meaning (including the harb) which has different meanings in the qur’an and the 38 majelis ulama indonesia, fatwa of the indonesian council of ulemas on terrorism, the leadership of indonesian council of ulemas, jakarta, 2005, p. 9 39 azyumardi azra, pergolakan politik islam (bandung: mizan, 1999), p. 128 40 azyumardi azra, pergolakan politik islam (bandung: mizan, 1999), p. 129 41 jihâd is basically the struggle of the muslims to realize the ideals that they always strive. al-mawdudi also divides jihad into two types: for defense and for corrective or reformative purposes. the first type of jihâd is the war to protect islam and its followers from the enemy attack or destruction of dâr al-islâm. while the second can be aimed at anyone who causes tyranny to the muslims who live in their land, azyumardi azra, transformasi politik islam, (radikalisme, khilafatisme, dan demokrasi), (jakarta: prenadamedia group, 2016), p. 172 42 azyumardi azra, transformasi politik islam, (radikalisme, khilafatisme, dan demokrasi), (jakarta: prenadamedia group, 2016), p. 169-170 [ 170 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 hadith. al-qital and al harb are both associated with war. the qur’an when speaking of war commands is very cautious. and even if there is a verse that commands war, it is in order to defend against the intrusion and persecution of outsiders. as explained in the qur’an of surah al-baqarah (2) verses 190194.43 justification of jihad with terrorism in the present day is due to the fact that jihad in the sense of war involves elements of violence that can be categorized as terrorism. but clearly the use of violence in the name of religion in the contemporary era is actually due to political factors, which then seeks legitimacy in religious teachings. the people of indonesia and the international community are currently faced with a very worrying situation due to the rampant acts of terror. indonesia has suffered losses due to acts of terror, because it has caused the loss of lives of indonesian citizens and foreigners, as well as loss of property and worsened the economy due to a prolonged crisis. the series of terror bombs in indonesia, started in legian bali in october 2002, followed by the bombing at the marriot hotel jakarta in 2003, in front of the australian embassy in jakarta on 9 september 2004, the bali bombings ii in 2005, and other bomb blasts tragedies. the bombings reflect a new form of violence and terror in the country. this not only resulted in relatively large number of victims, but also the use of deadly weapons by terrorists that have a greater psychological impact on national and international scales. even worse, the terrorists use suicide bombers. in general, such bombings are very difficult to comprehend among indonesians; it is cruel and inhumane.44 terrorism45 is a view that argues that using violent means of fear is a legitimate means of achieving the goal.46 thus, according to nasir abbas terror is an evil reaction considered “more evil” by the perpetrator, so it is not an 43 nazaruddin umar, (dalam buku jihad, gamal al-banna), jakarta: mata air publishing, 2006), p. vi-viii 44 azyumardi azra, islam politik radikal di indonesia : akar ideologi terorisme, makalah disampaikan pada diskusi kajian tentang terorisme di ditjenstrahan kemhan tanggal 16 januari 2012, p. 14-15. 45 in the dictionary of espionage, terrorism is defined as: “the unlawful use of force or violence to intimidate, coerce, fight and even kill people, community members, government, for political or other purposes.” indian national security guard, act 1986, as follows: “terrorists are groups / individuals who have a specific intention to attack the government or law enforcement by terrorizing people or parts of the community by engaging in actions and activities using equipment, bombs, dynamite, explosives, chemicals, combustible substances, toxins, harmful gases, other substances (biological and otherwise) that may pose risks to nature and the environment, which may be the cause, or may cause harm to injure or even kill many people, individuals or destructive, destroying property, possessions or can be menimb combat chaos and disrupt government or community life (see henry s.a. becket, the dictionary of espionage, new york : stein and day publisher, 1986, p. 182. 46 muchamad ali syafa’at, tindak pidana teror belenggu baru bagi kebebasan dalam “terrorism, definisi, aksidan regulasi”, jakarta : imparsial, 2003, p. 59. [ 171 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 interactionism and can be classified into evil vengeance (hate crimes).47 the term terrorist according to counterterrorism experts refers to perpetrators who are not incorporated in the armed forces or disobedient to the rules of the armed forces. terrorist acts also mean that terrorist attacks are inhumane and have no justification, and therefore the perpetrators (terrorists) deserve cruel reprisals. due to the negative meanings contained by the words “terrorist” and “terrorism”, terrorists generally refer to themselves as separatists, freedom fighters, crusaders and militants. the true meaning of jihad is far from acts of terrorism that attack civilians who are not involved in war. terrorism itself often appears in the name of religion.48 at first terrorism was categorized as a crime against the state but gradually developed into crimes against humanity. terrorism has various characteristics, one of which is the spirit of religious radicalism. religious radical groups are suspected of using terror methods to achieve their interests. political violence in the form of terror is often used as a tool to achieve goals. islamic jihad groups in egypt, islamic jihad in yemen, the national islamic front in sudan, the afghanistan-based al-qaeda, the jemaah islamiyah based in malaysia or radical jewish groups such as haredi, bush emunim, kach kaheni in israel are simply examples elements with the spirit of religious radicalism that tends to promote violence and terror.49 regarding acts of terrorism in indonesia, during the year 2000-2009 it was recorded that the have been 23 bombings, both on a small scale and large scale. started with the philippine embassy bomb, august 1, 2000. the bomb exploded from a car parked in front of the residence of the philippine ambassador in menteng, central jakarta. two people were killed and 21 others wounded, including philippine ambassador leonides t. caday. in 2009, the jakarta bombing, the terrorists blasted jw marriott hotel and ritz-carlton hotel in mega kuningan on friday morning, july 17, 2009 with 9 people killed and 55 injured. however, terrorist acts in indonesia actually started with a bomb explosion that occurred in the complex of cikini college in an effort to assassinate the first president of indonesia ir. soekarno, in 1962 and continued in the following years until august 2001, at plaza atrium, senen, jakarta. the explosion wounded six people, all bombings in indonesia from 1962 to august 2001 only became domestic issues, but since the world trade center (wtc) incident in new york, usa on september 11, 2001, 47 nasir abas, kajian tentang terorisme, paper presented at discussion on terrorism studies at directorate general of defense strategy of the defense ministry on 16 january 2012, p. 1. 48 publikasi,umy.ac.id/index.php/hi/article,kajian_terorisme.p. 2-3 49 luqman hakim, terorisme indonesia, forum studi islam, surakarta: surakarta (fsis), 2004, p. 19 [ 172 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 which claimed 3,000 victims, the issue of terrorism has become global.50 the events of september 11, 2001 initiated a new round of terrorism into a global issue affecting the political policies of all countries in the world, thus becoming the starting point of perception to fight terrorism as an international enemy. the mass killings have united the world against international terrorism. terrorism crime is a form of international dimension of crime that is very scary. in many countries of the world there have been terrorism crimes in both developed and developing countries. the acts of terror committed have taken their victims indiscriminately. this led the united nations in its congress in vienna austria in 2000 to address the theme of prevention of crime and treatment of offenders, including the mention of terrorism as a development of violence that needs special attention. according to muladi (2004), terrorism is an extraordinary crime which requires handling by utilizing extraordinary measures because of various things.51 lukman hakim (2004) mentions that terrorism is the act that creates the greatest danger to human rights, in this case, the right to life and the right to be free from fear. the target of terrorism is random or indiscriminate that tends to sacrifice innocent people. it has the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction by utilizing modern technology. it has also the tendency of negative synergy between national terrorist organizations and international organizations. there are possiblelities of cooperation between terrorist organizations and organized crime both national and transnational. it is also jeopardizing international peace and security. terrorism as a crime has evolved into cross-country.52 crimes occurring within a country are no longer merely seen as the jurisdiction of one country but can be claimed to include jurisdiction over more than one country. according to romli atmasasmita (2000), in its development it can lead to conflict of jurisdiction that can disrupt international relations between countries concerned in handling cases of dangerous crimes that are cross-border. terrorism crime uses one form of transnational crime that threatens the peace the world.53 50 ardison muhammad, terorisme ideologi penebar ketakutan, surabaya : 2010, p. 23. 51 muladi, penanggulangan terorisme sebagai tindak pidana khusus, paper of the seminar on the safeguard of terrorism as special crime, jakarta : 28 januari 2004. 52 luqman hakim, terorisme indonesia, forum studi islam, surakarta : (fsis), 2004), p. 19. 53 romli atmasasmita, pengantar hukum pidana internasional, bandung : pt. rafika aditama, 2000, p. 58. walter laqueur, who spent his life investigating the phenomenon of terrorism, expressed the difficulty of defining precisely. he argues that, terrorism cannot be classified as a war because it differs from war. in addition, also outside the field of guerrilla warfare, war aims for total destruction. conventional war is a revolutionary war to inflict physical damage. while terrorism tends to inflict psychological damage. terrorism is often regarded as a guerrilla action or one of the ways that does not adhere to the principle of guer[ 173 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 i would argue here that fundamentalism and radicalism in islam as well as in other religions, have characteristics that distinguish it from other groups. as martin e. marty (1992) mentions, fundamentalism includes scripturalism, the literal belief in scripture that is the word of god, that is considered to be true. the case of the rejection of hermeneutics. the qur’anic texts in the view of this group should be understood literally as they read. reason is deemed incapable of giving a proper interpretation of the text, even to the contradictory text of each other. the rejection of pluralism and relativism is considered to undermine the sanctity of the text. the rejection of sociological/ historical development is considered to bring humanity farther from the literal doctrine of scripture. the monopoly of truth over religious interpretation becomes a mainstream. radical fundamentalists tend to regard themselves as the most valid and legitimate interpreters, so they tend to disregard other groups that are different from them.54 as quited by muhammad mubarrak (2008), mohammed arkoun sees islamic fundamentalism as two opposite attractions, namely, ideological and political issues. and, islam will always be in the middle. people do not always understand the truth about the case, that fundamentalism is randomly understood in the substantive part of islamic teachings while political and ideological phenomena are neglected.55 understanding islam is an activity of consciousness that encompasses historical, social and political contexts. it is also the case in understanding the development of islamic fundamentalism. political and social attraction has created ideological structure in the human mind. in fact, islam never offers violence or radicalism. the issue of radicalism has been merely the commotion of power that has grown in acute fanaticism. in its history, radicalism was born out of social and political crosses. islamic radicalism in indonesia is a reality of opposite attraction. conclusion religious radicalism is a common phenomenon that arises in any religion. the rise of religious radicalism has its roots in the reality of various interpretations, ideas, schools of thought, denominations, and even sects within one particular religion. in the case of islam, religious radicalism stems rilla itself. in action, murder, kidnapping, rioting, campaigning and other acts always ignore all forms of war rules and procedures. victims in a terrorist act are mostly people who at the time of the incident are near or together with the targeted victims (see adhie s, terorisme, jakarta: pustaka sinar harapan, 2005, p. 10. 54 martin e. marty, “what is fundamentalisme? theological perspective”, in hans kun dan jurgen moltmann (eds.), fundamentalism as a cumanical challenge (london: mac millan, 1992), p. 3-13. 55 mubarak, muhammad, geneologi islam radikal di indonesia, jakarta: lp3es, 2008 [ 174 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 from literal, piecemeal and ad hoc religious understanding of qur’anic verses (interpretation of the meaning of jihad). such an understanding can hardly provide space to accommodate and compromise with other moderate muslim groups. in addition, there are several factors supporting radicalism and terrorism both internal and external factors, namely the continuation of social conflicts between and inside religions in this period of reform, due to various factors that are very complex. the first is related to the euphoria of freedom, in which each a person or group feels able to express their freedom and will. secondly, political and social fragmentation continues, especially among political, social, and military elites, which continue to have impact on the grassroots and lead to horizontal and latent conflicts. there have been various indications, conflicts and religious nuances even the provocation of certain elites for their own interests. third, the inconsistency of law enforcement. fourth, widespread disorientation and dislocation in indonesian society, due to difficulties in daily life. it is necessary to reconstruct the paradigm of both muslims and the west with regards to religious radicalism. the west, for example, must be willing to change they way they look at muslims, not opposing muslims, but treat them as equal partners to build civilization. for muslims, they do reconstruct the definition of jihad in a more progressive direction, which is not only understood to be limited to qitâl (war) physically, but the broader meaning of jihad (including, among other, jihad in the fight against lust, in study, in worship and in work). bibliography abas, n. (2012). “kajian tentang terorisme”, paper presented at diskusi kajian tantang terorisme. ditjenstarahan kemhan on 16 januari 2012. ali, m. s. (2003). “tindak pidana teror belenggu baru bagi kebebasan” in terrorism, definisi, aksidan regulasi. jakarta : imparsial. amstrong, k. (2001). berperang demi tuhan: fundamentalisme dalam islam, kristen dan yahudi. jakarta: serambi. atmasasmita, r. (2000). hukum pidana internasional. bandung :pt. rafika aditama. aziz, a. t. (1995). islam dan negara dalam politik orde baru. jakarta: gema insani press. azra, a. (2015). waspadai paham radikal, kompas, 7 april 2015. [ 175 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 -------. (2003). “bali and southeast asian islam: debunking the myths” in kumar ramak rishna dan see seng tan (ed.). after bali: the threat of terrorism, institute of defence and strategic studies. singapore: nanyang technological university. -------. (2012). “islam politik radikal di indonesia : akar ideologi terorisme.” paper presented at diskusi kajian tentang terorisme. ditjenstrahan kemhan on 16 januari 2012. -------. (2016). transformasi politik islam, (radikalisme, khilafatisme, dan demokrasi). jakarta: prenadamedia group. -------. (1999). pergolakan politik islam. bandung: mizan. -------. (1996). pergolakan politik islam, dari fundamentalisme, modernisme hingga post-modernisme. jakarta: paramadina. -------. (2011). “akar radikalisme keagamaan, peran  aparat  negara,  pemimpin  agama  dan  guru  untuk  kerukunan  umat  beragama.” paper presented at diskusi ‘memperkuat toleransi melalui sekolah. bogor: the habibie centeron 14 mei 2011. binder, l. (1988). islamic liberalism: a critique of development ideologies. chicago and london: the university of chicago press. dahlan, f. (2008). “jihad antara fenomena dakwah dan kekerasan mereformulasikan jihad sebagai sarana dakwah.” in jurnal el hikmah, vol 1/ no. i/desember 2008/dzulhijjah 1429 h. martin, m. e. (1992). “what is fundamentalisme? theological perspective.” in hans kun dan jurgen moltmann (eds.), fundamentalism as a cumanical challenge. london: mac millan. efendi, b. & hadi, s. (2007). agama dan radikalisme di indonesia, jakarta: nuqtah. gholib, a. (2016). teologi dalam perspektif islam, jakarta: uin jakarta press. haitami, m. s. (2016). islam dan persfektif tentang radikalisme agama, http:// www.pascapontianak.com. diakses tanggal 9 oktober 2016. hakim, l. (2004). terorisme indonesia, forum studi islam, surakarta : surakarta (fsis). harfin, m. z. (2010). “fundamentalisme dan upaya deradikalisasi ayat al qur’an dan hadis.” dalam jurnal religia, vol. 13, no. 1, april 2010. hornby, a. (1989). oxford advanced learner dictionary of current english. walton: oxford university pers. [ 176 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 hizbut tahrir organization, the methodology of hizbut tahrir for change (london: al-khilafah publikation, 1999), h. 32.anzar abdullah 12 addin, vol. 10, no. 1, februari 2016 jurgensmever, m. (2002) teror in the mind of god: the global rise of religion violence. (translated by m. sadat ismail). jakarta: nizham press. karagiannis & cauley, m.c (2006). “hizbut tahrir al-islami: evaluating the threat posed by a radical islamic group that remannis non violence.” in terrorism and political violence. no. 58. ma`ruf, a. (2007). melawan terorisme dengan iman. ciputat: tim penanggulangan terorisme. madjid, n. (1995). pintu-pintu menuju tuhan. jakarta: paramadina. majelis ulama indonesia, (2005). fatwa majlis ulama indonesia tentag terorisme. jakarta: pimpinan majleis ulama indonesia. montgomeri, w. w. (1992). islamic fundamentalism and modernity, london: tj. pres. (pradetshow). mubarak, m. (2008). geneologi islam radikal di indonesia. jakarta :lp3es. muhammad, a. (2010). terorisme ideologi penebar ketakutan, surabaya. mujani, s. (2006). kelompok islam anarkis. media indonesia. 12 juni 2006. muladi, (2004). “penanggulangan terorisme sebagai tindak pidana khusus.” paper presented at seminar penanganan terorisme sebagai tindak pidana khusus, jakarta : 28 januari 2004. munip, a. (2012). ‘menangkal radikalisme agama di sekolah.” jurnal pendidikan islam. vol 1. nomor 2 desember 2012. nasution, h. (1995). islam rasional. bandung: mizan. qardhawi, y. (2001). al-sahwah al-islamiyyah: baina al-juhad wa al-tatarruf. kairo: bank at-taqwa. rizky, a. & umar, m. (2010). “melacak akar radikalisme di indonesia.” jurnal ilmu sosial dan ilmu politik, 14 (2) november 2010 s, a. (2005). terorisme. jakarta : pustaka sinar harapan. s. h. & a. b. (1986). the dictionary of espionage. new york: stein and day publisher. sumbulah, u. (2010). islam radikal dan plularisme agama: studi kontruksi sosial aktivis hizb al-tahrir dan majelis mujahidin di malang tentang agama kristen dan yahudi. jakarta: balitbang ri. [ 177 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 syam, n. (2001). “radikalisme dan masa depan agama;rekontruksi tafsir sosial agama.” surabaya: iain press. tahido, huzaimah, yanggo. (1997). perbandingan mazhab, jakarta: logos. turmudi, e. (ed). (2005). islam dan radikalisme di indonesia. jakarta :lipi press. umar, n. (2006). jihad, gamal al-banna. jakarta: mata air publishing. wiryawan, s. s. (2012). terorisme di indonesia dalam tinjauan psikologiss, jakarta: alvabert. yani, eka, arfina, (?). kamus lengkap bahasa indonesia dilengkapi dengan eyd dan singkatan umum. surabaya: tiga dua. zachary, a. (2007). political islam and violence in indonesia. london and new york: routledge. zada, k. (2002). islam radikal: pergulatan ormasormas islam garis keras di indonesia. jakarta: teraju. [ 178 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 [ 3 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 from mushalla to mosque: the formation of south and southeast asian muslim communities in japan1 ali amin iain manado email: aleejtr77@gmail.com abstract since the 1980s, japan has attracted muslim immigrants, mainly from south and southeast asian countries. the emergence of these islamic communities in japan is reflected by the presence of around one hundred mosques and musallas (rooms or buildings for the performance of five daily prayers) on the japanese archipelagos. this paper aims to discuss south and southeast asian muslim communities in japan, and the spaces used for their rituals and social activities as they have developed into full congregations able to support mosque construction and maintenance. i investigate how the transnational aspect of migration has shaped the architectural availability of places of prayer, and the development of the ummah (muslim community). my data was collected from observation of indonesian and indian mosques in the greater tokyo region between 2015 and 2017, and interviews with their congregations. keywords: mushalla; mosque; formation; muslim; community; japan. introduction this paper about the presence of mushalla (prayer room) and mosques as islamic spaces addresses the development of immigrants’ architectural building and the formation of muslim community in japan. in japan, as such spaces are mostly built by transnational immigrant communities from south and southeast asia. this paper aims to discuss specifically the architectural and institutional transformation of mushalla and mosque within the transnationalism framework. the main question is whether the context of “foreign spaces” in japanese host society is represented in the architectural 1 this paper was originally prepared for the 2016 universities art association of canada conference in montreal for a panel ‘beyond the mosque: diverse sites of muslim prayer.’ it was presented with a title “the mushallas of tokyo: the architectural development of islam in japan. i would like to express my gratitude to the panel chair dr. angela andersen (univ. of victoria, ca) who had sacrificed her time to read and provided precious feedbacks for the panel version. although this updated paper has different direction from the original version, some parts of the paper come from our discussion. [ 4 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 building and community development. islamic space refers to a physical and nonphysical territory on which muslims perform activities related to their religious beliefs and custom. it includes institutions, architectural buildings or sites, interiors and exteriors that mark muslim’s presence or visibility (metcalf, 1996). in muslim countries, various public facilities are set to accommodate muslims’ obligation to perform daily prayers. the architectural layout of most public facilities such as schools, shopping centers, tourism spots, train stations, airports but even military bases always provide a space for muslim’ prayers. the jakarta international airport in indonesia for example, provides not only mosques outside and inside the terminal building but also mushalla (prayer rooms) in almost all domestic departure gates. those facilities are created on purpose to help muslim visitors remain cognizant to their islamic obligation of prayers. additionally, in most muslim countries, like indonesia and malaysia for instance, not only private but also public property and institutions provide and maintain their islamic nuance. almost everyday at certain times, there is a call for prayers (arabic adzan) from those prayer rooms which is amplified by outdoor loudspeakers. it signs a time for prayer, when muslim is expected to pause his “secular” activities. in saudi arabia and other muslim regions, when adzan starts, people stop doing any commercial transaction and close their shops, offices, markets. in a brief, living as a muslim in majority muslim countries, one would feel socially facilitated to perform their religious activities because public spaces have been islamically modified (hakim, 2013). in some countries such as saudi arabia, pakistan, and iran, even individual choice for being less or “slow” muslim might be more threatened as local social force is very demanding (algar, 2015). this work attempts to discuss the life of muslims in the current era of global migration, where millions of muslim immigrants earn their lives in non-muslim majority countries. it is interesting to explore how they perform and maintain their islamic faith and practices in the lack of such social force and spaces by taking into discussion of mushalla and mosques and the migrant muslims from south and southeast asian countries living in japan. the definition of mushalla and mosque the arabic term mushalla means a place for prayer. the commonly literal meaning of the word, is no different from “masjid” (from the arabic root sa-ja-da), “mosque,” which is translated as “a place” for worship (syafe’i, makhmud, 2016). sujud, which is also from the “saja-da” root, means to put one’s forehead on the ground, as in the position taken during prayers. [ 5 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 according to the recorded sayings and deeds of the prophet muhammad, known as hadith, as reported by imam ahmad, the masjid denotes the broader concept of muslim prayer. the prophet said, “in the whole earth, wherever you stand is masjid” (fanani, achmad. 2009). in everyday practice, however, a masjid, also called a djami in many languages, refers to a specific building intended as a center of communal muslim activities including congregational friday prayers, sermons, and islamic tutorials. in contrast, therefore, similar structures, buildings, or spaces intended for the use of smaller community or individuals can be defined as mushalla. in rural areas in indonesia and other southeast asian countries, the distinction between mushalla and masjid is very clear, and is rooted in the understanding that mosque is the center of the muslim community (khan, hasan-uddin 1990). based on the strong notion in traditional indonesian society, one cannot establish a new mosque as long as the old mosque remains convenient for the whole village. in that frame of thought, the mushalla is a smaller spatial order used at the periodic convenience of segments of the muslim community, which does not wish to separate itself ideologically from its larger mosque unit and the territorial unit (such as village) as a whole. in urban areas, for the sake of time and convenience, prayer spaces exist in almost every workplace, in shopping centers, and in hospitals, bus stations, schools, government offices, universities, army or naval bases, sport centers, and even prostitution areas. this marks a late twentieth-century transformation in the concept of community, from a group of individuals where they live, to individuals of where they work (urry, john 2012). a mushalla may in fact develop into a mosque because of a need for a larger place of worship in its particular location, along with the establishment of a sufficient number of members and funding resources. this is often the case amongst muslim groups living within predominantly non-muslim communities, and, as i will discuss, the effect of transnational forces upon architecture. in this paper, i will explain first the establishment of musallas in japan by muslim migrants and their associated national governments and business interests, and community groups showing how early muslim neighborhoods or groups and their distinctive prayer spaces are formed in the context of japanese society. secondly i will discuss the process of establishment of mosque showing the formation of larger muslim community than that of mushalla congregation. i will contextualize the background of muslims as a minority in japan, and present several architectural examples of mushalla as the result of my fieldwork with south and southeast asian communities in the greater tokyo area. [ 6 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 islam as minority in japan although islam is considered to be a growing religion in japan, the muslim community numbers between seventy and one hundred thousand people, based on estimates from the past ten years (kojima, sakurai 2012, 2008). making up less than one percent of japan’s total population, most are immigrants from indonesia, china, and south asia. the largest influx of muslim immigrants arrived in japan during the booming industrial period of the 1980s. as japan recovered from the global oil crisis and reached its peak industrialization level, corporations needed more workers to maintain their productivity so the japanese government took the rare step of permitting the entrance of foreign nationals including migrants from muslim countries such as pakistan, iran, bangladesh, india, indonesia, malaysia, and middle eastern countries (kojima 2006).these and more recently arrived workers continue to face discriminatory attitudes from the japanese people, who remain unaccustomed to their cultural and religious practices, and the differences in their physical appearance and customs. this has created challenges to muslims who hope to find better jobs, and to locate housing, education, and marriage partners. the result is insular community formation, often undertaken in isolation from the japanese surroundings. these south and southeast asian muslims are vulnerable to social marginalization, linguistic and cultural barriers, and other problems caused by the recent global stereotyping of muslims as potentially dangerous and suspect. the burden for being muslim migrants is more severe than other foreigners in japan (see sakurai 2008). individual muslims have to overcome not only the language and cultural barriers, but also the facts that islam is too foreign to japanese literature and consciousness (onishi, akiko, and stephen murphy‐shigematsu. 2003). most knowledge and perception about islam are relied on the western media information, hardly from direct interaction between individuals. a survey among high school students in japan, for example, reveals that what japanese students recognize most about islam and muslim are related to negative stereotypes such as strange custom, terrorism, sectarian conflicts, gender inequality, and anti-democracy (maruyama, 2007). mosques and mushallas in japan there are around 80 mosques and mushallas in japan, existing throughout the japanese archipelago from hokkaido to okinawa. the kanto area, consisting of tokyo, chiba, kanagawa, ibaraki and gunma, has the greatest concentration. most mushallas are established by donations from the foreign muslim communities living in japan. a few mosques in central tokyo were [ 7 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 built under the auspices of the turkish and saudi governments, and i will discuss a mushalla/mosque associated with the government of indonesia below. many muslim organizations and local associations in japan, such as the islamic thrust of japan, islamic circle of japan, japan muslims association, chiba islamic community and the muslim associations of sendai, tsukuba, hamamatsu, fukuoka, nagoya and osaka also take a central role in establishing prayer spaces. mushallas in japan are operated by several owner categories, such as private companies and individuals that might also receive donations from others. they may also belong to groups who agree to establish the mushalla and share the expenses, or they may belong to a muslim community or ethnic organization. there are also several japanese mushallas belonging exclusively to business enterprises or offices, stores, muslim restaurants, campuses, airports and train stations, as well as those belong to embassies of muslim countries and state enterprises such as indonesian oil company pertamina and petronas of malaysia. the following descriptions of indo-pakistani mushallas in the nishi kasai and shin-okubo, indonesian mosques in meguro, and tochigi districts have provided insights into how they were established and developed, how they are (or are not) adjusted into the surrounding cultural and architectural fabrics and social fields. nishi kasai mushalla nishi kasai mushalla represents the typical formation of early muslim immigrant community in japan which is not unusual among indonesian community either.2 several co-ethnic or co-national muslims settle in the same area and share the same needs for a mosque where they can perform prayers and other religious activities. first they agree to pray together in someone’s house, then they agree to pray from one place to another circling the member’s’ residences. when the membership gets bigger and face some challenges to accommodate their activities, they start renting a place allowing them think the next steps, building mosque. this step is what exactly i saw from nishi kasai mushalla community formation which now plans to have their own mosque in the near future. most of the following narratives refer to two interviews with the board members of the mushalla and field observation i conducted in summer 2016. nishi kasai neighborhoods called tokyo’s little india has at least 15 families (around 60 people including kids) out of 300 indian settlers are muslim. after recognizing each other through the mosque they attended away from the 2 more information on the mosque please visit http://eibc.jp/ [ 8 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 neighborhood or from online social media, several individuals agreed to pray once a week at someone’s house. they then agreed to pray together weekly at an apartment of the group members on circular basis. when membership number increased they rented sport hall every weekends and ramadan (fasting) month. during ramadan month in 2012-2014 they used to utilize a room at a community hall for night prayer. unfortunately since 2015, the sport hall management has changed its regulation: they closed the building facilities earlier prior to the time of night prayer. in 2015 members of the group agreed to rent a room prayer. in the beginning, process of the building search is quite difficult because of two reasons. first with the limited budget they requested, a location nearby nishi kasai station is a rarely available. secondly the building owners hardly agree with a proposal of religious activities, especially foreigners. there is no way to rent a building under mushalla or mosque contract. after several months of searching, with the help of local islamic organization (itj, islamic trust of japan), they finally decide to rent a vacant office around four minutes of walk from the station, priced 80-90 thousands a month. just like many other nonpermanent (some are permanent) mushalla building in japan which are not officially registered as mushalla or mosque for their property status, the legal name of organization is edogawa islam bunka center under which its registered main activities is cultural and religious services. in addition to daily prayers, the mushalla now run several programs for its members as well as general public. besides five time prayers, they also run quran and arabic classes for children every weekends and one islamic class for public on different day. all the family members also have a bi-weekly and monthly program whose aims to get all the members stay closer to each other. additionally, the mushalla congregation regularly joins voluntarily works with local community. the room for the mushalla is located on the second floor of five floor building. it is basically a studio office which has no separate panel and minimalist facilities. the only facilities available inside the room are a kitchen set, toilet and bath room. it can be occupied by maximum of 20 people in one time. this is because a few spaces are not used effectively. this is also due to the context of japanese architectural design which is structured originally not for the purposes of mushalla. in muslim countries, mushalla building must head toward the mecca (qibla, in japan west direction) and set the entrance at the end back of the building (east direction) while this room has the entrance at the head of the room making it impossible for imam to stand at the middle of the room. also this prayer room has a bathroom and toilet area at the entrance side which is on the west side and connected to the kitchen set along the right [ 9 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 side of the room. this makes one side of the room unfavorite place for the visitors. people would not prefer praying at the closest area to the toilet and kitchen which is in the same room. on the other hands during prayer, people would pray always behind the imam, therefore the empty space and the rest room area in front of imam would not function. having limited space, the mushalla however, have no a specially separated place for female congregation. during the peak session like the evening and night time, female worshiper is hardly seen at the mosque. they do activities mostly on the days during the weekends. shin-okubo mushalla located in a busy district, the shin-okubo mushalla reflects the growth of culturally heterogeneous neighborhoods in japan. the indian, pakistani, and bangladeshi migrant congregations strengthen the impression of plural society of the “koreatown” district dominated by the families of korean workers, and numerous businesses, fast food shops, entertainment, hotels, restaurants, korean merchandise shops, and indian, bangladeshi, indonesian and nepalese restaurants and grocery stores, all of which use their language characters on their shop board name. there are several old shinto and buddhist shrines, and large korean and catholic churches nearby. the shin-okubo mushalla is located adjacent to the shin-okubo train station of yamanote line, the main train track in tokyo connecting all popular industrial and entertainment centers in the city. unlike the shinto and buddhist shrines or the church in shin-okubo, which are visible from the main street, the mushalla is “hidden,” presenting no markers until visitors arrive at the first floor of the building, where a small sign instructs them that there is a “mushalla on the 4th floor”. even if one stands outside facing the building, the mushalla is hardly recognized until someone with a south asian or arab background might be asked for directions. a senior member of the mushalla explained to me that the establishment and development of the site has come together with the success and growth of the corporate owners, green nasco company in shin-okubo, although operator mr. yusuf (alias name) did not wish to elaborate upon why he rented the building in that area almost 20 years ago. the mushalla was originally established by a nepalese muslim shop owner and taken over by nasco, which has also purchased the adjacent building. collectively, the buildings are used for the mushalla, a grocery, halal meat supply, and as family housing and a warehouse. the mushalla space on the fourth floor is approximately 80 square meters, [ 10 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 including three rooms that were formerly used for business or as a studio apartment and toilet facilities for men and women. these are connected by the stairwell and corridor where visitors remove their footwear. women have access to one of the rooms, except during the friday prayer when it is used for the imam and preacher. each room has water taps that are utilized for the ablution ritual prior to prayer, normally performed in a separate facility. these are separated from the prayer space by portable dividers that can be stored during the more crowded friday prayers. unfortunately since men ablution area is on the west side of the room, it creates inconvenience look during friday prayers. as people are ready for prayer, several others remain queuing up for ablution ritual in front of the praying congregation. secondly, as the smaller room unit for woman is isolated in the most westward area. woman congregation cannot follow the man group during their everyday prayers; as such organization makes men behind the women a state which is unlawful according to an islamic jurisprudence. most of south asian mushalla or mosques i visited in japan has no room or have only smaller room for women. the women room is located at separated floor or room, prohibited for men. the shin-okubo mushalla represents a specific kind of south asian tablighi “subculture”. it places a particular emphasis upon communal prayer and activities. a long, pakistani style jubah or robe, a distinctive, popular perfume, and the use of urdu as the “official” language of the mushalla for all written and spoken information, printed calendar, the friday sermon and the thursday night lecture are markers of the space and its community. the mushalla itself sometimes functions as the “transit shelter” of tablighi travelers, who might stay between one and several nights on futons at a secondary prayer room as they conduct islamic propagation in japan. unlike tablighi mosques in south and southeast asia, which allow cooking and laundry activities, the travellers in shin-okubo must buy outside food, and eat together inside the mosque. compared to other mosques in tokyo, the physical appearance of the mosque is underdeveloped. the building looks old as shown from its tainted walls, carpets, curtains and ceilings, as well as old fashioned toilet except one for the women section which is under the standard of japanese public hygiene lifestyle. the mosque’s interiors look below the standard. yet it is very active mosque and overcrowded friday prayer congregation for its location on one of the busiest district in tokyo and have easy access from the main train tracks circling tokyo. additionally its compromise to the workers lunch hours, on friday, the mosque sets the afternoon prayer one hour behind the normal time prayer, making “people able to come here after they had lunch” (at 01.00 pm),” a senior member says. the later friday prayer schedule is also to give [ 11 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 different choices of prayer location on friday. those who prefer earlier time might go to otsuka mosque, or other mosques that start the friday prayers at 12pm. indonesian mushalla located inside the indonesian embassy property, the indonesian school in tokyo’s legal status represents the unique relationship between religion and state in indonesia, which recognizes all existing religions as foundational sources of the state, and an aspect of indonesian cultural identity. therefore, much religious architecture such as mushallas, churches, and temples are constructed on state property. although there is no operational relationship between the indonesian school mushalla communities and the embassy, two unwritten customs determine how the association of the indonesian muslim community in japan, known as indonesian muslim community association (or kmii), is partially dependent on the embassy and vice versa. the mushalla which is now already becoming a mosque sits on a property belong to the embassy, but it is kmii which has a right to claim at as a head quarter of its organization. in addition, the leadership of kmii must include an embassy staff member so the embassy considers this as a part of their social advocacy and citizen monitoring programs. the indonesian school mosque is unlike other public mosques in japan as it is a property of indonesian government, and the congregation is primarily comprised of embassy and school staffs and their friends, family, and business and supporting partners. the practical work of maintaining and cleaning the mosque and running events is undertaken by this congregation. during school hours, the mushalla, is a prayer place for the indonesian school students, although others are welcome. located in the corner of the school building with accompanying ablutions facilities, it is entered by the wider community primarily during morning and evening prayers, after which the imam recites and explains quranic verses. on sunday morning, lectures are conducted in the mushalla area, where people also can enjoy indonesian breakfast. the mushalla space is too limited to accommodate friday prayers, which consequently move to the school auditorium on the second floor, made into the prayer place by covering the floor with carpet and setting up a stage for the imam. srit mushalla as transnational mushalla transnationalism which is a popular perspective in social science is the idea that human relations and social fields are spanning nation borders. it [ 12 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 is according to schiller (1992: 1) and levitt (2001) “the process by which immigrants build social fields that link together their country of origin and their place of settlement.” in other words, it relates to a new phenomenon of migration which does not only engage activities in the new society, but also in their sending countries and beyond (levitt, 2001). in that frame, i consider that the srit mushalla is a transnational space and organization which advocate two cultures at the same time: the hosting culture: japan, and the origin or the sending culture indonesia. the srit mushalla congregation lives in japan earning life, working with japanese companies, and environment where they are exposed to the japanese culture. on the other hand, their thoughts, their communication, their friends and contacts, their foods, even their dress and some of their custom remain indonesian. the srit mushalla is one of the agents that maintain the national identity of indonesian muslim in japan. once one steps the srit ground, she or he will seemingly no longer feel he/she is in japan. they will no longer feel the stress of being immigrants and muslim in japan with their problem of language, or food and of course minority status. kmii with its jms has become the main organization that provides this indonesian atmosphere to its congregation. individually, facilitated with the advanced of communication technology, indonesians just like other current immigrants can easily communicate with their contacts in their origin places in indonesia. yet they feel remain lonely without being affiliated to ethnically indonesian groups. in terms of their religious group membership, kmii might provide a needed solution for this kind of being in a group as well as make them remain connected to their home culture. some of indonesian and japanese customs are used representing the transnational culture of the indonesian immigrants, as similar kind of customs which also popular in another indonesian mosque; sano mosque in tochigi. sano mushalla sano mushalla (now called mosque) in tochigi, about two hours from tokyo, is another mushalla of indonesian community in japan. unlike srit mushalla whom most congregation are students, professional and their family members, the sano mushalla congregation members are a representative mosque from the working class; mostly indonesian trainees (kenshusei) whose maximum formal education is senior high school. as commonly known, training program in japan are often partially considered as a camouflage program to invite cheap workers from outside japan. trainees who supposedly learn [ 13 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 to increase their work skills and upgrade their experiences are “trapped” in the kinds of extremely hard works. a very little work experience that they can learn and bring back to their country with the condition that most of the works in japan has been automatized. most of the trainees i met feel exploited by the heavy and demanding works. on the weekdays they do not have time to enjoy interaction with others. they depart around 7 am from their shelters and arrive from the work between 6 and 8 pm. the salary they got however far less than the japanese workers while their work responsibilities are equal to or even harder than that of their japanese fellows. in that sense, sano mosque becomes a very vital place for kenshusei to share their distress and feeling of solidarity and togetherness. many expressed that the existence of sano mushalla for them is like an oasis in the desert providing spiritual and religious understanding. the whole old sano musholla before relocation was structurally an old wooden warehouse. before the sano muslims used it for mushalla, a bangladeshi immigrant rented it for halal meat shop therefore a shop billboard until currently remains there. the congregation members have chosen it for a mushalla after exhausting time searching for possible building for their religious activities. the house has around 150 meters square consisting of the two floors with some facilities including big hall (used for prayers), two toilet rooms, bathroom, kitchen, guest room, and living room. all those facilities excluding the hall and one toilet are on the second floor. although they remain functional, most of the facilities look out of mode, and need repairing. the mushalla congregation also established a temporary ablution area in the side of the building by installing several water taps. the mushalla rented the building for 40 thousand yen a month which is collected from the member’s donation. since the founders and most of its congregation are indonesian tabligh members, the two dominant cultural expressions in the mosque are indonesian culture and tablighi customs. they communicate and talk in indonesian language or their regional native languages. they also eat indonesian foods, as well as practice indonesian culture. their tablighi transnational subculture appears in their everyday appearance, habit and customs including wearing south asian robes when praying, preaching specific hadis after every prayer, visiting a friend missing the everyday prayer, a group dinner one plate for at least three people commonly practiced by tablighi members in south asia. the mushalla also has become a tablighi shelter for the travellers from around the world when they visit japan. the mushalla congregations including the “on duty” kenshusei have to do two hours missionary agenda everyday: to [ 14 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 talk and visit people inviting them to mosque. in the evening, they check if there are indonesians around them who do not come to the mosque. in the weekends, they can visit any indonesians living in sano as far as 15 minutes driving away from the mushalla. they pick up them by car and return them back after isya prayer. yet with the arrival of imam ustaz hashim who has strong root in nahdlatul ulama tradition, the religious discourse circulating among the mushalla members is culturally nu discourse influence. in indonesia, like in other muslim worlds, islamic discourse has been spoiled by the interpretation of transnational neo-islamism of wahhabism which upsurges the idea of islamic purification from non-islamic culture. this in return has challenged the existing tradition of islam which is very friendly with the local tradition where islam exists. in india, africa, and south asia, islam has been friended with the local culture which are relatively very tolerant to the other coexisting cultures. the new interpretation of wahhabism with its purification idea has marginalized the old tradition as well as incites opposition from them in many muslim worlds. as many of those who come to japan are influenced by this idea from their home countries, or during their interaction with other muslim fellows in japan, ustadz hashim, the sano imam has responded emphasizing on traditionalist islam representing the current discourse circulating in indonesia. the purified group insists on the free interpretation of islam based only on quran and hadis. the traditionalists provide additional resources to more understand quran and hadis through the interpretation of ulama (muslim scholars). ulama are the trusted resources to understand the words of god and the words of prophet. we only follow what the ulama have said, ustadz hashim says. in many cases, i saw the traditionalist nuance of islamic teachings being taught in sano is countering the modernists notion of islam which is dominant in kmii mushalla. many islamic discourses such as performing rituals of “slametan” (prayers for the dead), which is prohibited according to modernists, is allowed according to sano mushalla. this is an interesting topic to elaborate. for more discussion on this issue will be provided in a forthcoming paper. architectural transformation before entering the mosque or musalla to perform prayers or to recite the holy quran, muslims must do a purification ritual (wudhu) which contains ritual of washing face, hands, and feet. in muslim countries the wudhu location or midoah (arabic) is commonly separated from the prayer area. as wet area, in the rural areas of indonesia even the midoah is often placed on the different building or floor where people walk a few meters steps to the main prayer [ 15 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 room. the contemporary common design of midoah in indonesia is just like typically public restroom with some water taps attached to wall. some old mosques remain preserving traditional model of structure, where people do the wudhu from the big bath pool. some midoah are made in mixed style between the old and the modern one where people do the wudhu from the water taps, but do sink their feet in the small and shallow pool upon entering the prayer area. midoah of japanese mosques is also usually built on the back area of the prayer hall although some transformations are made on the midoah structure, design and appearance due to some budget and cultural adjustments. the midoah building is usually structured and designed according to the midoah of muslim home country. they function the building as a wet area similar to ordinary bathrooms in japan. this is exactly what i saw in camii mosques, saudi arabia mosques, indonesian mosques, and almost all mosques affiliated to icoj. on the contrary, some rented building functioning for mosques remain in the japanese style, dry area where one can wash their hands on the hand wash basin and put one’s feet on it. the shin-okubo mosque is an example of this type. likewise, due to their custom of doing ablution/purification before every prayer (five times a day), most muslims, especially those from tropical countries prefer wet toilets than the dry one. in indonesia, for example, most of the luxurious supermarkets and hotels have small mosque where muslims perform their daily prayers. likewise in indonesia wherever we go, be it at to either gas station or five star hotels, we will find additional facilities for muslim purification rituals. muslim do ablution rituals before five daily prayers, and most of them (indonesians) do not use tissue papers for cleaning their body. surprisingly the japanese technology with a new faucet toilet machine is very friendly to the muslim customs. every muslim seems preferring water to paper tissue for their “cleaning activities”. in muslim countries, it is common to hear azan, call for prayer lauded through the public air five times a day. while in tokyo or new york we hear ambulance or firefighter serine almost every hour, in muslim cities like jakarta or cairo we will hear call for prayers from loudspeakers. community transformation since 2017, the two mentioned indonesian mushalla have transformed into a mosque. the srit mushalla once a small room inside the school building, now is a permanent and independent building taking a place on another part of the srit ground. named masjid indonesia tokyo or mit, the mosque [ 16 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 was launched in ramadhan 2018. it is used for daily and weekly (friday) prayers. previously, in 2017, after clearing their building purchase, sano mosque was also launched. having their own building complex, once was a abandoned warehouse, the kenshusei congregation in sano gradually left their old rented mushalla and officially moved into a new and much larger space for their communal activities. the establishment of two mosques owned by indonesian community marked a new phase of indonesian muslim’s roles within international muslim communities in japan. south asian immigrants have played important roles among muslim immigrant communities in japan. they have grown up since the 1970s and played an important role in the muslim community leadership of the country. most of the foreign muslim’s religious activities were managed by the south asian origins especially pakistani. they occupied not only mosques affairs, but also some other “islamic” fields such as halal grocery, hajj and umrah (traveling) to the holy lands, islamic school or madrasa, and the dead burials. lately the increasing entrance of indonesian students, trainees, nurses, workers and tourists has enacted alternative players from within indonesian muslim immigrants. many indonesian permanent residents also run their own enterprises such as halal shops, restaurants, online grocery, tour and travel and money remittance. with the growing number of indonesian muslim community, while south asians remain dominant in halal business, and grocery, they aware indonesians are the largest market of their “islamic” products. therefore currently indonesian imported products such as seasonings, noodles, meat balls, tempeh, soy beans, and other sources are always available at south asian stores. the influential role of the south asian immigrants among the international muslim communities is recognized because majority of them are permanent residents (or japan citizens). unlike indonesian immigrants who do rarely intend to live permanently in japan (as a japanese citizen), large number of young and middle aged south asian are japanese citizens or permanent residents. many of pakistani and bangladeshi men are married to japanese, having children and get japanese passport (kudo, 2009). after long time life in japan, they imagine japan as their homeland and will live there for the rest of their life. this shared situation among pakistani/bangladeshi-japanese spouses for example produce strong will among them to establish mosques, not only a place for prayer but also a community center. they envision new place which present them cultural environment they used to live with in their origin countries. establishing a mosque is an important step to fulfill their desire to live in this world’s most advanced country and remain with their [ 17 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 cultural origins. since the 1990s, while the number of south asian immigrants stag, the number of indonesian immigrants increases (kojima, 2006) due to a new policy allowing unskilled and “semi” skilled employment. the policy creates opportunity for young indonesians to work in japan under various programs namely training (internship) and “health care. those programs along with growing interest of studying in japan make the number of indonesian immigrants in japan grows. soon they need more spaces for not only religious rituals but also socialization. the presence of mosques allows more number of congregation or participants to attend or participate in rituals and events organization. indonesians living nearby the mosques no longer go to the south asian mosques rather some international muslim communities do their prayers at indonesian mosques, instead. consequently this situation, as i found among my foreign informants, makes a positive impression on indonesia and its citizen. one of the rohingya informants for example says “indonesians are good muslims” they have a good and strong unity. they regularly make religious meeting not only at indonesian mosques but also at our (south asian) mosques. they are also very generous doing fundraising for our brothers and sisters in rohingya as well as donation support for our mosques. islam in indonesia seems very powerful. they support greatly for palestine! recently, you know, indonesians make the largest historical demonstration against holy book defamation by a governor (ahok!). we are proud of indonesia (islam in indonesia). please do not stop supporting us brother!” ramadan 2018 proves to be the first time for indonesian muslim community to host “ru’yat hilal” meeting to observe the end of ramadan participated by muslim representatives from international communities in kanto area. an indonesian muslim leader acted as the meeting chair, welcoming the guests, reporting about the mosque building process and activities and finally signing up the decision letter from the meeting members. indeed the establishment of the mosque not only a religious mobilization for the indonesian congregation in tokyo but also providing equal role for indonesians before the international muslim communities in japan. indonesian muslim association signature has been long time drawn on the official letters of muslim communities in japan but only recently it sounds a pride identifying masjid indonesia tokyo as their official address. conclusion the existence of muslim immigrants in japan has contributed to the dynamics [ 18 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 of muslim diaspora discourse within the issue of modern muslim world. for the case of muslim diaspora in japan, especially with the origins of south asia and southeast asia discussed in this work, two important points i have drawn in. first is about the social functions of mushalla as giving the transnational spaces for its congregations. the mushallas of shin-okubo, srit (kmii) and sano have provided their members a home culture such as language, dress, food, customs, music, hands crafts, and the existing social, political, and religious discourses in indonesia. for their congregation, the presence of such environment at the mushallas has provided the spaces to get rid from the tense of their workplaces, and being minority group as well as being away from their home. secondly, studying mushalla’s architectural development makes us understand the early formation of immigrant community in japan which continuously will grow in the future. the growing number of mushalla and mosques provides evidence the growth of muslim population as well as muslim visitors. most of the existing mosque buildings currently in japan began as a mushalla and non-permanent prayer rooms established by individuals or small groups of muslims. as the mushalla communities grew and were able to expand, they worked to establish a larger, permanent building or site for their mosque. lastly, besides sano and mit mosques, some mosques have been constructed by international muslim community in japan such as of that in tsukuba, chiba, sendai, kyoto, shinjuku and and shibuya. it is interesting that indonesian community appears recently to be very strong supporters in those projects. they do not only do a fundraising from among the indonesian immigrants in japan but also from the public indonesia. providing a discussion on mushalla, study on the similar theme and the growing mosques and their communities including the indonesian ones could be one of many ways to understand muslim immigrant groups in japan. bibliography algar, h. (2015). constitution of the islamic republic of iran. bookbaby. douglass, m., & roberts, g. (2015). japan and global migration: foreign workers and the advent of a multicultural society. routledge. fanani, a. (2009). arsitektur masjid. bentang pustaka. glick schiller, n., & caglar, a. (2010). locating migration: rescaling cities and migrants. cornell university press. hakim, b. s. (2013). arabic islamic cities rev: building and planning princi[ 19 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 ples. routledge. khan, h. u. (1990). the architecture of the mosque, an overview and design directions. expressions of islam in buildings, 109-127. kojima, h. (2006). variations in demographic characteristics of foreign muslim population in japan: a preliminary estimation. the japanese journal of population, 4(1), 115-130. kojima, h. (2012). correlates of cross-border marriages among muslim migrants in tokyo metropolitan area: a comparison with seoul metropolitan area. waseda studies in social sciences, 13(1), 1-17. kudo, m. (2009). pakistani husbands, japanese wives: a new presence in tokyo and beyond. asian anthropology, 8(1), 109-123. liu-farrer, g. (2011). religion and migration in northeast asia1. journal of asia-pacific studies (waseda university) no, (16), 59-75. maruyama, h. (2007). diversity as advantage in a “homogeneous” society: the educational environment for muslims in japan. shingetsu electronic journal of japanese-islamic relations, 1(march). metcalf, b. d. (ed.). (1996). making muslim space in north america and europe (vol. 22). univ of california press onishi, a., & murphy‐shigematsu, s. (2003). identity narratives of muslim foreign workers in japan. journal of community & applied social psychology, 13(3), 224-23 sakurai, k. (2008). muslims in contemporary japan. asia policy, (5), 69-88. syafe’i, m. (2016). “masjid dalam perspektif sejarah dan hukum islam.” online).(http://file.upi.edu/direktori/fpips/m_k_d_u/195504281 988031makhmud_syafe’i/masjid_dalam_prespektif_ seja rah_dan_hukum_islam_ (10_halaman). pdf) (2016 urry, j. (2012). sociology beyond societies: mobilities for the twenty-first century. routledge.2. www.://eibc.jp/ www.kmii-jepang.net http://www.islam.or.jp/en/ http://www.icoj.org/ [ 20 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 [ 3 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the politics of multiculturalism of the towani tolotang minority in south sulawesi zuly qodir university of muhammadiyah,yogyakarta abstract this article provides a description of the ethnographical and political issues of the minority group located in south sulawesi, i.e. the believers of towani tolotang that still exist there even in the national political scene as they have representatives in the legislature. the community seems to be playing the politics of towani tolotang accommodating and making use of the will of the political regime of muslims and hindus, where both of them are scrambling for mutual acknowledgment and entering into the tradition of the religion: islam or hinduism. as a minority group, the towani tolotang community has a variety of strategies to survive and fight in various kinds of interest. economic and political gain, and commodification of ethnicity and religion are rampant in the area due to decentralization. this article is based on field library and research on the minority people who have been dealing with political suppression and discriminatory treatment. keywords: towani, tolotang and minority, political rights. introduction tracing the history and ethnography, indonesia is clearly known as a country with many ethnic, tribal and religious groups (popularly known as sara in the new order era). unfortunately, the multi-ethnic relations in indonesia are contrary to the reality. a study conducted by denis lombart, a french historian who wrote about indonesia and the history of java gave an explanation that the land which experienced colonial rules the europeans (referred to as the others) had so many tribal, the ethnic and religious groups. there were not less than 100 of indigenous religions and each had adherents in different parts of the archipelago. the europeans, who were referred to as the others, wrote that ethnographically the islands now known as the archipelago really had diverse traditions, languages, peoples, religions and cultures. other ethnographic notes mention that indonesia has long had a diversity of [ 4 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 300 thousand ethnic, religious, linguistic, and cultural groups. for the colonial dutch, the diversity was used as a means of creating social segregation and implementing a centralized bureaucracy of government, so it was easy to control all power in the community. the dutch understood how important the strength of the social power, so they needed to apply strict bureaucratic policies to easily dictate and reduce the authority of the groups scattered throughout the archipelago. the dutch applied bureaucratic politics as capital for economic control of the archipelago so as to easily rule the territories from the islands of sumatra, sulawesi to ambon and timor. regarding such diversity, sukarno --a figure referred to as ‘an intelligent man’ by benedict anderson and a messiah by some indonesians-used the term ‘bhinneka tunggal that was used in the book of sutasoma by empu tantular, rather than unity and the unification of indonesia, as used the new order. sukarno gave a positive appreciation of the diversity that has long existed in the archipelago, while suharto gave the imposition upon the diversity of the country. that is the main difference between the accommodating politics of sukarno as compared to suharto with the repressive politics toward his own people. the diversity of this country, in fact has not changed since the colonial era as argued by j.s. furnivall, an expert in political economy of indonesia who wrote about the levels of the indonesian people from the perspective of political economics and ethnicity. furnivall wrote about the diversity of indonesia as follows: “that it is the strict sense of medley for they mix but do not combine. each group hold by its own religion, by its own culture, own ideas, and own ways. as individual they meet but only on the marketplace in buying and selling. there are pluralist societies with different sections of the community living side by side but in the same political unit.” with regard to what is said above by furnivall, an economic anthropologist, we as a nation have long been diverse. it is unfortunate that the recognition and management of the pluralism by the political regime in power have “failed”. because of the failure to manage and acknowledge the factual pluralism in indonesia, we have often witnessed conflicts, resistance, and even revolt by ethnic communities, both religious and cultural communities that live and thrive in the society of indonesia. pluralism has failed to function as a social basis of political regime to rule as desired by our constitution. pluralism was even forbidden. [ 5 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 the regime of power even tended to apply political harmonization by suppressing the minority groups except those seen to have an emotional attachment and used serve as a base of support in the exercise of political power. thousands of minorities as simon philpot described above were not given freedom, and they actually became a real minority and were controlled in a peaceful coercive way politically by the new order regime. this article provides political and ethnographic description of the minority group in south sulawesi, i.e. the followers of the towani tolotang that still exist there even in the contemporary national political scene as they are “blessed” because they have elected representatives in the legislative body. the community seems to be playing the politics of towani tolotang accommodating and making use of the will of the political regime of muslims and hindus, where both of them are scrambling for mutual acknowledgment and entering into the tradition of the religion: islam or hinduism. the position of indonesian islam among local religions indonesia, despite not being an islamic state, has no less than 88. 6% of muslims, a population of 223 million (2005), see aris ananta on indonesia’s population and ethnicity. currently, the population of indonesia has reached 237.4 million which makes it appropriate to refer to it as an islamic society. though its constitution does not allow a person to have no religion, according to a survey conducted in 2000 indonesia had 2.9% of atheist population. despite the fact that atheism is not recognized in the country as its constitution does not regulate it, the reality is that there are communities who do not embrace any of the official religions, so they are similar to the nihilists. muslims often exercise a standard to judge whether a society is religious or not by the belief in god. therefore people who have faith but do not believe in god will be grouped as the unbelievers. in fact, if there are communities who have different interpretation of the teachings of the islamic pillars of faith, they will be categorized as those who have gone astray. examples in this regard are numerous, such as the communities of ashidiqiyah, jamaah islamiyah, jamaah salamullah and ahmadiyah that have been grouped as the lost society by the mainstream islamic community in indonesia. in indonesia sociologically and anthropologically there are many variants of islam. the indonesian islam is not the sole islam but the dominant islam as expressed by historians as the islam of the school of syafiiyah, ahlusunnah waljamaah with its fiqh dimensions being stronger than sufism. even in certain dimensions, sufism in indonesia is often considered less acceptable [ 6 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to the mainstream muslims, for sufism could be regarded as society opposing the islamic shariah which stresses on formalism, while sufi islam is closer to substantialism. the shariah islam is the exoteric islamic style. sufism is also considered syncretic islam and less pure, and thus will destabilize the shariah islam or disrupt the pure wahabi islam. under such dominant islamic conditions, it has become clear that the position of local islam developed by muslim actors in the communities of sunda, java dayak, sulawesi and several other regions in indonesia is apparently often considered heretical by shariah islam which emphasizes on formalism. local islam is regarded as syncretic and impure islam that needs to be straightened out, while shariah islam is considered to be in accordance with the teaching of the scriptures and the prophets. the indonesian muslims eventually can no longer critically position local islam and metropolitan islam as a variant of islam that have sociologically and anthropologically developed in the archipelago centuries prior to indonesia’s independence and the coming of islamic missionaries from persia and other middle eastern regions in the seventh or the 13th century. in this light, islam is clearly very important and strategic in indonesia. when islam has emerged in the form of violence in the last five years, since the numerous acts of terrorism have allegedly been carried out by muslim people, the religion has suffered a slap in the face as it is often associated with violence and terrorism. islam and terrorism are obviously not the same as normative islam does not teach people to be terrorists. theoretical and literary perspectives to explain the towani tolotang community, this paper adopts a perspective from “the belief community” rather than from an outsider. therefore, there is a possibility of a defense or partisanship over the towani tolotang minority in study. the defense of the towani tolotang community is intended as a form of proof of the various issues faced by the community itself, in addition to the presence of elements of accommodation and strategies employed as this community has experienced various forms of political or legal discrimination in indonesia, particularly by the majority of islamic community of the bugis (south suawesi). from here it is expected that this paper will give description of the fate of the minority in the midst of the muslim bugis majority and mui (indonesian ulema council). the indonesian ulema council (mui) is a religious institution that is a representation or claims to represent indonesian islam, but often marginalizes [ 7 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 local religious groups. in fact, the attitudes and actions of mui toward local religious groups are at times inhumane. local religious groups are often banned, in other words, forbidden to live in indonesia even though they claim to be local religions that profess to islam or believe in god. therefore, local religions in indonesia are forbidden and heresy that need “to be reconstructed” to get back on the right path, of course in accordance with the mui version. the main purpose of the mui is to accommodate the aspirations of indonesian muslims in terms of taking care of the issues of the ummah rather than questioning other people’s belief or accusing someone of heresy. the towani tolotang is positioned as a minority that should get the “attention” in this case to become muslims or a hindus, though they are actually refuse to be both. the mui’s issuance of a fatwa that pluralism, secularism and liberalism are forbidden is the perfect example of the attitude and actions of the mui which tend to be defensive and coercive toward local religions regarded as unfit to the culture of the six officially recognized religions in indonesia. there are many small ethnic groups with their local religions (indigenous religions) in the archipelago. however, their existence is often unknown in detail to religious organizations including the mui as they are scattered on remote islands in the country. local religions are part of the wealth of indonesia, each with its diversity. the mui and other islamic organizations often treat these local religions as targets of “anger” as they often become victims of vigilante actions such as destruction of the facilities belonging to them, dispersion and even expulsion by force. however such things are not taught by normative islam, because islam does not allow expulsion and violence let alone the destruction of property of another person unless the person accused of “heresy” is doing the expulsion, violence and murder of the muslims. the towani tolotang community being the focus of this paper is not popular among the community of indonesia except for some people who have a strong interest in local religions such as anthropologists or social researchers. if no one cares about the towani tolotang, they will have similar fate to the sedulur sikep in blora, the sunda wiwitan in cigugur, the kaharingan in the interior of kalimantan, the parmalim in north sumatera, the an-nadhir that perform pilgrimage on the mount bawakaraeng in south sulawesi whose existence is ‘unknown’ in the indonesian literature, let alone in the literature of religious institution of the mui. there are still so many local communities in indonesia and they already practiced their own religion before the official staterecognized religions came to them. the mui should be concerned with the issue as local religions had been embraced by the community particularly in the rural areas long before islamic organizations were founded in the country. [ 8 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 when discussing the “alienated” communities, what often appears is various kinds of “punishment” over them. they are considered heretical, regarded as harming the public order and violating religious norms shared by the majority. unfortunately the majority of communities show little empathy to them and do not give a positive appreciation, and even worse the existence of this socalled ‘alienated’ community is often seen as an enemy of the majority. this happens to the sedulur sikep in blora, kaharingan, and of course the towani tolotang. the majority of people and the state have become coercive over the towani tolotang because they are considered as going astray from islam. what should be done is to guide and provide insight into the diversity of religions. religion in indonesia is not single depending on the perspective where we see it from. if we insist on exposing islam in perspective of right and wrong, then local islam and metropolitan islam will always be regarded as heretical and there will always be syncretic islam against shariah islam or pure islam. a study by atho mudzar, former rector of iain yogyakarta, among the research that provides a picture of the towani tolotang and gives an explorative idea of what the islamic community of bugis towani tolotang is like. the bugis muslims perceive that the towani tolotang are not part of islam as they practice hindu traditions. atho mudhar described how the community of towani tolotang interacted, adapted to social change, and accommodated as well as resisted the state and the islamic community of bugis. he did not elaborate on the cultural and structural issues when the towani tolotang were about to be included into one of the official state religions. mudzar also specifically did research on the towani tolotang in relation to the position of the state that put various kinds of social conflicts between the towani tolotang and the community around them. mudzar stated that the towani tolotang in sidenreng rappang and amparita often had conflict with the muslim bugis community. the towani tolotang also had to encounter the state as they intented to include the towani tolotang belief into one of the official state religions (islam, christianity, hinduism, buddhism) with the various regulatory and repressive actions as well as discrimination against them. however mudzar failed to give attention to the sustainability of the towani tolotang and the impact of various forms of regulation imposed by the state. a study conducted by nasir baki on the towani tolotang explained that islamic organizations, such as the whabi-influenced muhammadiyah, are unable to accept the existence of the towani tolotang because many things practiced by the community are considered straying from the modernist creed of islam. the towani tolotang, if they keep practicing their current belief, should [ 9 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 become hindus not muslims as they have gone astray from islam in terms of worship and belief. meanwhile, the nu (nahdhatul ulama) in bugis are not so vicious against the towani tolotang who live around the mountains near lake sidenreng rapang. the nu seems to be more accommodative than the muhammadiyah in south sulawesi. in short, the towani tolotang in eyes of the modernist islamic organizations are not an islamic community, and should they wish to be one, they have to leave the things considered by modernist islamic organizations as heresy, khirafat and shirik such as the worship of stones, trees, planting and throwing the corpses through the window instead of the door during a funeral. nasir tray explained that towani tolotang are not considered an islamic community by the bugis (makassar). ibnu qayim’s research (2004) on local religions, religiosity of the communities such as the tolotang and patuntung, parmalim, saminism and sunda wiwitan explained that the country actually is in a position of setting up a formal regulation of local religions in various regions in indonesia. local religions in view of ibnu qayim have been placed in the shadows of the dominance of the state policies and formal religions. the state policies that require religious formalization have indirectly marginalized local religions, and failed to acknowledge their existence. local religions have lost freedom to practice their beliefs and rituals. in his research, qayim said that local religions have suffered a wide range of discriminatory actions by the state and other official religions by requiring them to follow the state policy of religious formalozation. the position of local religions such as the towani and the like is actually being suppressed by two major institutions: the state and the religious institution called the official/state-recognized religions. muslimin (1996) reviewed leadership of the towani tolotang in detail. muslimin explained that the position of uwa (a figure that is considered to have the leadership qualities) is so high that every member of the towani tolotang society who intends to planting rice always asks for tips from the uwa. the role of the uwa is very dominant in the society, although the towani tolotang according to muslimin were not economically well-off. uwata is a figure that is asked for advice regarding various terms related to “fate”. although in some cases, the advice of uwata is not accurate, his position remains dominant, since the towani tolotang are uneducated and there is a tendency education is often overlooked. they even consider those attending schools to be no longer a member of the towani tolotang. syamsul maarif (2001) compared the towani tolotang with the ammatoa community in south sulawesi. in his research maarif expleined that the position of the towani tolotang was in fact similar to the ammatoa community [ 10 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 in that they were both discriminated in the form of discriminatory rules set by the state. some regulations were issued to make local religious followers unable to freely to observe their beliefs, rituals and activities as part of their conviction. the local religious communities have been marginalized through the regulations issued by the state. maarif described that local religious issues such as those of the ammatoa and the towani were developed by the state as a method to marginalize the local communities’ social and political roles and to hamper the inclusion of local religions to become one of the state-recognized religions. with a theoretical representation of the minority in the perspective of the state, and an inside look at the position of the towani tolotang by researchers, it is clear that the local community has received a positive response from researchers not from islamic organizations such as mui, muhammadiyah, and of course the wahabi islamic islamic groups that are more concerned with the purification of islamic teachings. meanwhile, the nu has shown a more tolerant attitude toward this community. moreover, the hindu dharma indonesia recognizes the towani tolotang as part of the hindu religion. it can be seen here that there is actually a fight between islamic organizations and those outside the islamic community for recognition of the towani tolotang in bugis sidenreng rapang. however as the towani tolotang is deemed incompatible with islamic teachings by the wahabis, they feel obliged to reconstruct the tolotang in south sulawesi to conform with islamic doctrine believed by the majority islamic sects. on the other hand, the nu does not question the existence of towani tolotang for some of their activities are considered common; it is just with a different method. the towani tolotang are not considered heretic or infidels. variants of indonesian islam indonesian islam is interesting to note from one political regime period to another. from there, we can grab multiple variants of the “faces of indonesian islam”. john l esposito, an observer of islam based in georgetown, united states, gave appreciation to islam indonesia in the form of “colorful islam” which all leads to one god. many variants of indonesian islam should be seen within the framework of diversity (plurality) that complements each other and serves as part of the country’s riches. islam in indonesia is clearly different from that in the middle east, sub-saharan africa or in other southeast asian countries though they also observe the ahlus sunnah waljamaah which is part of the schools of shafii and hambali, in addition to maliki and hanafi. in indonesia sufic islam such as the schools of al junaid and al ghazali which [ 11 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 are very popular in java. meanwhile other sufic sects i.e. al maturidiyah and local sufism are also developing, such as the rifaiyah in pemalang, indonesia, and even sadzaliyah in jepara and rembang. other sufic sects found in the country are the naqsyabandiyah and the qadariyah in addition to the jabariyah that have become the majority of sufism in indonesia. sufic islam is believed to be the exponent of islam that gives color to the moderate islam by developing islamic dakwah among the public which has triggered the emergence of “wali songo” tradition in java and the sufis in sumatra, sulawesi and kalimantan such as hamzah fansuri, sheikh yusuf and sheikh al banjari of banjar south kalimantan. in the recent development, we also find more variants of islam, as reported by kuntowijoyo that indonesian islam contains islamic patterns as diverse as islam without mosques, peasant islam (messiah of islam), political islam and substantial islam. kuntowijoyo’s description provides diverse maps of indonesian islam in historical perspective and social movements. in addition to kuntowijoyo, bahtiar efendi and fahri ali also divided indonesian islam into several categories, the modernist islam, formalist islam, neo-modernist islam and traditional islam. bahtiar and fachri’s explanation revolves around the social and political muslim intelligentsia in responding to modernity and contemporary issues.(see bahtiar efendi and fahri ali, merambah jalan baru islam indonesia, 1986). m. syafii anwar also categorized indonesian islam into variants of substantial islam, ideal islam, historical and political islam. meanwhile, the recent development zuly qadir also conduvted a study on the format of indonesian islam which was different from its earlier form. the author gave an overview of the various kinds of variants of islam in indonesia which are struggling to exist in the public sphere. indonesian islam has appeared in the format of the revivalist islam (political islam), neomodernist islam, neo-traditionalist islam, progressive islam, sufic islam or popular islam. all the forms of islam mentioned are competing to gain public recognition in the country. their activities include offering certain programs, conducting recruitment, promoting ideology from villages to campuses. the diversity of indonesian islam was also reviewed by abdullah ahmed annaim, an islamic law expert from sudan who provided a very interesting explanation though not at length about the state of indonesian islam which he reported as showing respect toward pluralism and being liberal. therefore, prof an-naim stated that the development of islam in the world will actually depend on the maps and development of islam in indonesia. if indonesian islam shifted from the pendulum of pluralist, inclusive, and liberal islam to [ 12 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 conservative, radical and revivalist, the state of islam in the world would look like that in indonesia. this is due to the fact that indonesia has the largest number muslims in the world and it is growing fantastically. indonesian islam varies and is embraced by no less than 88% of the country’s population. the number of such large islamic population of indonesia would have influence on the development of islam in the world, and at the same time the positive or negative image of the islamic world would be reflected from indonesia. based on the literature survey on the variants of indonesian islam we can draw a conclusion that indonesian islam is not single. indonesian islam has many faces, not only the shariah islam which is now part of the discourse of indonesian islam, but also substantialist islam that has become a reference for most middle-class indonesian muslims and urban sufic islam which is a trend among the urban islamic culture. all three are scrambling to get public space for existence. however shariah islam seems to be the one that is making every effort in the islamic community that it appears to rule indonesia. in reality as the surveys conducted by survey institutions such as the center for the study of islam and the community stated that those who agreed with the idea of the islamic state of indonesia only reached 34%, while those agreeing with the pancasila reached 88%. it means that shariah islam that often claims to get support from the majority of muslim population in indonesia cannot be justified. that muslims agreeing with enforcing shariah reached 87% is not fabricated, but that it does not mean the indonesian muslims agree with the establishment of the islamic state of indonesia which is said to be the alternative to the secular state. in later developments in contemporary indonesia it seems that the school of native islam which is deep rooted in the islamic culture of indonesia, as desired by abdurrahman wahid, often referred to as indigenous islam or archipelago islam, did not really develop. in the world of indonesian islam, pure islam or wahabi islam seems to have so strong an influence that shariah islam of formalist islamic in addition to revivalist islam in the form of the establishment of islamic political parties. nusantara islam or indigenous islam lacks the publicity and recognition from the mui. the mui, as the institution that seems to have the right to “define the islamic religion,” has placed islam in its own construction. thus, what is the position of the towani tolotang in indonesia? are they one of the islamic groups in indonesia, or shall they remain in their culture? this is what will be the next focus of this paper. towani tolotang muslim minority the ethnography of the towani tolotang is, to a certain extent, important to [ 13 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 this community in south sulawesi and indonesia in general. one can take note on the social and demographic data of the towani tolotang in sidenreng rapang, amparita, south sulawesi which is a province with a strong bugis islamic characteristics, even lately regarded by some as radical. here, muslims insisted on enforcing shariah-related regional regulations voiced by the committee of the preparations for the enforcement of islamic sharia law in south sulawesi (kppsi) that have issued legislation concerning mandatory reading and writing of the quran to civil servants who wish to be promoted to a higher rank at the government of bulukumba, regional regulations on zakat in bulukumba and liquor and prostitution in the city of makassar. the ethnography of the towani tolotang can be described as follows. they inhabit most of the sidenreng rappang district in south sulawesi; they live with other communities in amparita. the distance is 231 km from makassar city. when using land transport (private cars or taxis) it will take 4.5 hours with a fee of thirty thousand rupiah. when renting a car, it costs three hundred and fifty to four hundred thousand rupiah to arrive at sidenreng rappang. to get to amparita, we can use pete-pete or take a motor cab that costs fifteen to twenty-five thousand rupiah depending on that bargain we make with the driver. it takes about fifteen minutes to amparita where we can find settlement houses lined along the streets. as an urban area, amparita has sufficient infrastructure such as highways, roads, electricity, telephone lines, and even the cellular phone service, clean water and public transportation. however, during the dry season, amparita is very hot and dry and dusty. dust is always found around the area due to a lack of vegetation. the existing road facilities at amparita are severely damaged at some spots because of the heavy traffic of vehicles and the poor asphalt quality. people of amparita have diverse livelihoods. most of them engage in fishing at the lake. freshwater fish are a blessing for the people. however, the majority of them choose agriculture as the main source of earning due to its topography. the lowland stretching with hills serves as fertile farmland and is therefore very promising to the community. the agricultural area covers 478. 10 hectares and for the settlement area is more or less 37.10 hectares. the community has been familiar with modern tools such as the tractor instead of plowing with cows or buffaloes. so the people of amparita are flexible to adapt to modernity. the towani tolotang are ethnic bugis. in general, they wear clothing like that of the bugis. the difference between them can be seen when the towani tolotang come to a place of worship to perform rituals before the uwata (community leader that leads the ritual). the towani tolotang jointly perform the ritual with the uwata only once a year in january. another difference is [ 14 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 when a member of the community dies. the dead body is planted in trees instead of being buried, and before planting it in a tree, the corpse is thrown out through a window or an opening that is not the exit door. regarding marriage, there is a little difference from the bugis community. the community of islamic bugis does not perform ritual outside the islamic tradition, while the community of the towani tolotang still practices the tradition of hinduism that they are often regarded as practicing syncretic islam. the debate about the practice of syncretic islam as opposed to pure islam has drawn a lot of attention from many writers on islam such as azyumardi azra, bambang pranowo, taufik abdullah, moeslim abdurrahman and kuntowijoyo when observing indonesian islam in general. the practice of marital rituals not only rests on the islamic tradition but also on that of the pre-islamic bugis which is held by the majority community of the towani tolotang in amparita sidenreng rapang, south sulawesi. minority politics of the towani tolotang until 2007, the population of the towani tolotang at amparita was 6,620 (60%) of the total population of sindenreng rappang. muslim population was 4,711 (37, 36%) out of a total of 12,279 inhabitants. (bps, subdistrict of tello limpoe, 2007). the community towani tolotang is generally divided into two large categories: the towani tolotang, later called the towani by atho mudzar as they have been reluctant to convert from the towani who were not muslim, and the towani benteng who were willing to convert from their original hindu religion but also not willing to be referred to as muslims. they are better known as the towani benteng (fortress towani); since they did not remain in their fortress, then they were referred to as the towani tolotang. (mudzar, 2002). meanwhile hase juba called them ‘islam tolotang’ because they converted to islam. the towani tolotang community comes from wajo and luwu an area near sidenreng rappan. following a clash between the kings of wajo and luwu, they fled to sidenreng rappang in the south and thus they are called the southerners and referred to as tolotang. they refer to themselves and their teachings as the towani tolotang according to matulada (1982). they came to sidenreng rappang around 1666, as islam was spread there in 1606. the religious pillars of the towani tolotang are as follows. first, believing that there is no god worthy of being worshipped except the dewata seuwae; saying prayer through the ancestors; saying prayer in the mornings and afternoons and when the harvest comes. second, performing the obligation [ 15 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to the ancestors (attomatoangeng) namely doing all that is inherited from the ancestors such as the ritual of funeral in which the dead body is prepared with a mattress, pillow, bed and dishes, and this is still performed to date. third, promoting malilu sipakainge, a pillar of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. for example, if one makes a mistake other will remind and forgive them. fourth, marrelau (praying), which is done by gathering at the perriyameng near the ancestral graves through the medium of uluwwatu. viewed from their pillars of the faith there are several differences and similarities between the towani tolotang and other religions. the similarities lie in the teaching about god, charity, and prayer. the differences are among others: prayer being said through the uluwwatu, death rituals, and offerings to the ancestors. we can see that in indonesia religion and the state are pretty important, especially the majority religion (in this case islam), so in the political strife, islam has always occupied a significant position. religion and the state may take advantage of each other as argued by milton yinger, that religion in indonesia is often used in the interests of the political power of the ruling regime and at the same time may be used by the opposition over the regime in order to gain influence and position. i use this term ‘official religions’ also to refer to religions which are not recognized by the sate such as the local religions of towani tolotang, parmalim and the like whose position is not strong. on the other hand, the official religions are very strong in the two sides, gaining recognition and being controlled by the regime in power. the official religions are locked up tight by various regulations and guidelines as required when dealing with ‘unofficial religions’ as reported by karel steenbrink. the towani tolotang were ‘safe’ when the king of wajo implemented islamization. when they showed disobedience, they were expelled from wajo and ultimately ended up in sidenreng rappang today. the towani tolotang chose hinduism as their religion with various consequences. in 1966, the regent of sidenreng rapang issued a decree that ruled out that the towani tolotang were not a hindus, not even a religion, so that any form of religious practice should be eliminated and should not be performed by the community. they were required to choose either hinduism or islam as a religion. in 1966, with the issuance of the decree of the minister of religious affairs and the district attorney, the towani tolotang religion was dissolved. under such condition, the tiwani tolotang temporarily chose to remain under islam while waiting for the political conditions and the decisions of the central [ 16 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 government. several islamic figures recognized the towani tolotang as islam while several hindu leaders said that the thay were part of the hindu religion. rivalry of control over the towani tolotang was inevitable between islamic and hindu institutions as both were the official state institutions that deal with the religions in the country. the rivalry between the islamic and hindu institutions can be seen in three forms: first, the islamic elites’ desire to include the towani tolotang into islam because of the regulations issued by of the district authorities of sidenreng that there can be no other than muslim communities in sidenreng rapang; second, the muslim elites’ desire to get rid sidenreng rappang of communities other than muslims; and third, the long-term political interests given the number of followers of the towani tolotang. the golkar is the political party that has giving attention to the community for their political support in elections. responding to the debate about the towani tolotang, the elites have chosen to side with the powerful party. the towani tolotang have joined the golkar party. by being part of the golkar, the towani tolotang have become part of the country and integrate themselves with islam as the majority religion in indonesia including south sulawesi and sidenreng rappang that tried to exclude any community other than the muslims. in this light, the towani tolotang display an inclusive and accommodating attitude on developments and realities in sidenreng rappang. the accommodating attitude of the towani tolotang includes receiving the influx of foreign cultural elements in everyday life, such as the use of modern tools and means of communication. they also showed an inclusive attitude of mingling with other communities especially muslims and hindus. however, their exclusive attitude has remained unchanged, i.e. not allowing outsiders to be involved in their annual ceremony at sipulung rituals. to respect other communities, they host the massempe ceremony for outsiders. conclusion looking at what happened in indonesia over its history (so to say), the treatment of political regime to a religious community that is not the mainstream, such as the community discussed here the towani tolotang, we have some important notes to take. indonesia is a country that since the beginning of time has been plural. in the last few decades due to economic and political interests, the differences have been dwarfed. political coercion over minority groups has been very common. three are at least three important agenda that should be considered by the regime in power. first, the unitary state of the republic of indonesia was proclaimed by the founding fathers without applying the [ 17 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 principle of a specific religion. although islam is the majority, but it has never served as the basis of the state, and it is a political commitment of the country to remain this way. that the country is in the process toward a prosperous, fair, and independent state should maintain the pluralist characteristics. the state should provide control over space and simultaneously the aspirations of the citizens to communicate their will, such as local culture and religions. on the contrary, the state should also warn any group of citizens who wish to change the basic principles of the unitary state with a particular religion. this must be done to prevent a breach of human rights as there will be a greater human rights violations committed by certain groups over others. second, the state should be willing to enforce the law firmly and consistently so that the state is seen to have a resolute attitude of defending the human rights and enforcing the law in indonesia. it is true that in indonesia there are customary law, religious law and positive law, but the state is based on the national constitution (positive law) that is progressive. so when there is a group with an attitude of wishing to dissolve a religious community, the state must immediately act in the corridors a productive and positive law to stop such unlawful acts. third, the state must intervene over human rights violations that have occurred over the minorities in the country. if the state is reluctant or even afraid of intervening over human rights violations, then the state has no true political attitude and good will to uphold the law and various regulations made in this country. the state should not run away from the responsibility to eradicate the groups that often claim to represent the majority. the state must really take a decisive action to crack down on the offenders of the human rights including the cases of dissolution of the existing minority communities in indonesia. the state should not be subject to the strength of small groups that often threaten and manipulate their activities under false religion claims for their own political and economic interests. minority groups should not be removed and merged with a larger group because they have their own guidelines and conviction clearly stipulated in article 28 of the constitution. in this context, the minority communities should continue to live and survive in their own conviction as expressed by benedict anderson in his works on the minority communities in indonesia. bibliography abdullah, taufik, islam dalam lintasan sejarah, lp3es, jakarta 1987 anderson, benedict rog, imagimen communities, cornel university indonesia project, usa, 1981. edisi indonesia, komuitas-komunitas ter[ 18 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 bayangkan, yogyakarta: insist 2002 an naim, abdullah ahmed, islam dan negara sekular, 2009 anwar, m. syafii,peta pemikiran dan aksi islam indonesia dibawah rezim orde baru, paramaidna, jakarta 1998 bagir, zaenal abidin,politik kewarganegraan, mizan crcs ugm, 2011 budiman, hikmat (ed), hak minoritas : dilema multikulturalism di indonesia, interksi dan tifa indonesia, 2007 effendy, bahtiar dan fahri ali, merambah jalan baru islam indonesia, mizan, bandung 1986 furnival, js.indonesian economic society, usa, 1978 helen james, civil society religion and a global governance, 2009 heru prasetio, lintas batas towani tolotang dan artikulasi towani tolotang, dalam jajang jahroni, dan endang turmudi, radikalisme islam di indonesia, ppim dan lipi, 2001 juba,hase, keberadaan towani tolotang di kabupaten sidenreng rappang sulawesi selatan, ugm, 2012 kuntowijoyo, paradigma islam: interpretasi untuk aksi, mizan, bandung, 1996 maarif, syamsul, religious freedom in indonesia, islamization of amatoa of sulawesi, ugm, 2003 martin van bruneisen, pesantren dan kitab kuning, 1997, naqsabandiyah qadariyah di indonesia, mizan, bandung, 1996 mudhar, atho, pendekatan dalam studi islam, pustaka pelajar ,yogyakarta, 2002 mudhar, atho, masjid dan bakul keramat, pustaka pelajar, yogyakarta, 1985 nasir baki, towani tolotang dalam masyarakat sidenreng rappang dan amparita, sulawesi selatan, 1990 nur khoiron, hak minoritas dalam dilema negara bangsa, yayasan tifa, 2007 lombart, denis, silang nusa jawa, jilid, 2, gramedia, jakarta, 2001 l. esposito,john, islam warna warni, paramaidna, jakarta 2001 qodir, zuly format islam indonesia kontemporer, dalam ulil abshar abdalla dan luthfi as syauknai, pembaruan pemikiran islam di indonesia,jakarta, lsaf, 2012 qayim, ibnu, religi dan pandangan hidup : kajian tentang masyarakat penganut religi tolotang dan pantuntung, sipelebegu (parmalim), saminisme, dan agama jawa sunda wiwitan, yayasan tifa jakarta, 2004 philpot, simon, menjadi indonesia, lkis, yogyakarta, 2002 [ 177 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 transboundary haze: islam prohibits destruction of earth1 nurzawani md sofwan faculty of health sciences, universiti teknologi mara sarawak, malaysia e-mail: nurzawani@sarawak.uitm.edu.my hartini mahidin faculty of applied sciences, universiti teknologi mara sarawak, malaysia e-mail: tiniewinnie@sarawak.uitm.edu.my edmund shah tambi institute aminuddin baki sarawak branch, malaysia e-mail: edmundshah@iab.edu.my abstract recurring episodes of transboundary haze have been similarly to an annual event in malaysia since the 1980’s. transboundary haze is typically haze caused by forest fires in sumatra and kalimantan, indonesia which moves thousands of miles and encompasses neighboring regional countries. this is caused by human hands that continue to pursue unplanned development without taking into account the aspect of environmental sustainability. this study looks into and the understanding of recurring occurrences of transboundary haze in sarawak. from the perspective of islam, by making the holy quran as the absolute source of reference, god forbids the destruction of nature and calls upon mankind to do good not only to other humans and animals but also to the environment. human beings are endowed with a great mind that can guide them to make and do the right thing, thus, various efforts need to be taken into consideration and be done collectively amongst the asean countries in a joint effort towards reducing or preventing continuous episodes of transboundary haze within the region. keywords: transboundary haze, air pollutant index, forest fires, air pollution introduction haze is a phenomenon of air pollution caused by particulates or fine particles 1 acknowledgment is extended to the natural resources and environment board (nreb) of sarawak for providing the authors with invaluable air quality data. our appreciation and thank you is also extended to universiti teknologi mara (uitm) of the sarawak branch for their continuous support in conducting this study. last but not least is that the authors would like to record sincere appreciation to the konferensi antarabangsa islam borneo (kaib) xi 2018 held in pontianak as the paper was selected to be presented. [ 178 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 which cannot be seen by the naked eyes that are suspended in the atmosphere in high concentrations. among the natural factors that lead to formation of haze are natural phenomenon such as volcanic eruptions, soil dust and sea breezes that contain salt. on the other hand, some of the man-made factors arising from the release of pollutants are from motor vehicles, open burning, emissions from industries through chimneys, land development and construction works. however, the high concentration of haze that occurred in malaysia particularly in 1983, 1997, 2005, 2013 and 2015 are called transboundary haze due to the fact that the main source came from the open burning carried out at large-scale oil palm plantations mainly in sumatra and kalimantan (afroz et al., 2003). these findings were based on studies carried out and the findings showed that the rate of the formation of haze had a positive correlation with sulfur, whereby the occurrence of forest fires or biomass materials will release sulfur and potassium into the air. in 2002, the association of south east asian nations (asean) had agreed to sign an agreement on cross-border haze pollution and to find ways to prevent re-occurrence of forest fires that will lead to formation of haze. indonesia, however, did not ratify the agreement (asean, 2002). the occurrences of haze will cause various problems in terms of 1) forest fires that leads to emissions of greenhouse gasses, the destructions of the biodiversity and habitat for the flora and fauna, 2) increases health risks especially to the elderly, children and the sickly people, 3) negative effects on the economic and tourism industries, and 4) threatens diplomatic relation between neighbouring countries (glover et al., 2003; narayanan; 2002). it could worsen if the occurrence of haze leads to high biomass combustion causing changes in earth temperature and eventually global climate (huang et al., 2013). thus, this study contributes to the understanding of the occurrence of transboundary haze in the state of sarawak with reference to the islamic prohibition as mentioned in the holy quran. malaysia adopts a computational system called the air pollutant index (api) system. this index system was developed by the department of environment (doe) of malaysia and it was translated into api readings as in table 1 to facilitate relaying of information and understanding to the community at large. the api reading is developed in easily understood ranges of values as a mean of reporting the quality of air instead of using the actual concentration of air pollutants. the higher the api value, the higher the level of air pollution where it is used to inform the public about the health status of the air quality as stipulated in the national haze action plan. the reading involves measuring 5 types of air pollutants: carbon monoxide (co), sulfur dioxide (so2), ozone [ 179 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 (o3), nitrogen dioxide (no2) and fine particulate matter with diameter size less than 10μm (pm10). the malaysian api system closely follows the pollutant standard index (psi) developed by the united states environmental protection agency (usepa). table 1. air pollutants index (api) api status 0 50 good 51 – 100 moderate 101 200 unhealthy 201 – 300 very unhealthy ø 301 hazardous source: department of environment sarawak had the worst impacts of haze across the country by recording a percentage of 23.8% of the unhealthy days (afroz et al., 2013). the state of sarawak, which borders on kalimantan, allows it to receive a high amount of haze brought by wind factor. therefore, the national resources and environment board of sarawak (nreb) is committed to develop three air quality monitoring stations focusing on border areas with indonesia, namely tebedu, lubok antu and lawas as shown in figure 1. on top of that, the monitoring of air quality mainly in the residential and industrial area is under direct supervision of department of enviroment (doe). based on the available data and the analysis process, this work provides the explanation of the detail occurrence of the haze, its impacts to human healthiness and the responses of human being to the transboundary haze based on religious teaching, especially islam for the seeks of better initiatives. [ 180 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 figure 1. three air quality monitoring stations under nreb supervision the chronology on haze occurrences in sarawak sarawak recorded the worst episode of haze with the highest api reading of 860 in 1997 which caused the government to declare a state of emergency for 10 days from september 19 to 28, 1997. this transboundary haze was due to forest fires in kalimantan as a result of combustion of biomass activities in agriculture. it was exacerbated by the el nino factor that affected the rainfall which caused a long dry season. the effects of the horrendous haze of 1997 caused 10,000 people to get treatment due to illness caused by haze such as breathlessness, eye sore and sore throat. smoke, dust and gases emitted from this biomass combustion was carried by the southwest monsoon from sumatra and kalimantan to malaysia. the haze was also trapped by mountain systems and ranges. according to doe, the top air pollutant parameter for the worst haze in southeast asia in 1997 was pm10. a haze study conducted by anwar et al., (2010) in riau in 2006 found that the highest concentrations of pm10 and o3 were during the haze season as compared to the non-haze days. in august of 2006, several areas in kuching, sibu, samarahan, sarikei, sri aman, petra jaya and bintulu recorded unhealthy api readings. the air quality worsened in late september and by early october of 2006, the town of sri aman recorded an apis of 224 on 6 october 2006. several series of haze emanating from transboundary haze occurred from may to september 2011 that was a result of forest fires in central sumatra and kalimantan during the [ 181 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 dry season. haze once again recurred in 2012 from june to august and this time around it was exacerbated by mangrove fires in miri as well as forest fires in the northern and central region of sumatra (doe, 2018). several divisions in sarawak recorded an extremely unhealthy api reading from july to september 2014. in sibu for example, a reading of 270 was recorded on july 28, 2014. in several states of peninsular malaysia in the same year, severe unhealthy concentration of haze was also recorded. while in 2015, during the southwest monsoon season, malaysia once again received a slump in air quality due to the opening of large agricultural fields that led to forest fires in sumatra and kalimantan. on september 15, 2015, 34 areas recorded unhealthy air quality status for the first time in malaysia’s history since 1997. several schools around kuching, samarahan, putrajaya, negeri sembilan and malacca were ordered to be close. (doe, 2018). figure 2 shows the concentration of pm10 as recorded at tebedu station a small town in sarawak bordering kalimantan, indonesia. figure 2. pm10 concentration in tebedu in september 2015 number of hotspots a hotspot represents an area of 1 x 1 km2 which means forest fires as large as the size of the pixel shown. a total of 3918 hotspots were detected in kalimantan, indonesia, sarawak in september 2015 as shown in figure 3. during the same period, 2691 hotspots were detected in sumatra and 10 in sarawak. through the image of the national oceanic atmospheric association (noaa) 18, the highest number of hotspots was detected on september 22, 2015, where 479 fire events were detected in kalimantan. malaysia took some very important [ 182 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 precautionary measures by reminding people not to conduct open burning which could have aggravated the hazy conditions. the advice was done when an increase in hotspots was spotted across the country. figure 3. number of hotspots in kalimantan in september 2015 the regional haze map as issued by the asean specialized meteorological centre (asmc) on 8th september 2015 as shown in figure 4, shows the thick and medium structured haze smog movement from the fire areas in kalimantan, indonesia to the west of sarawak, whereas thick and moderately formed haze structure from fire areas in central and southern sumatra, indonesia is found to have covered most of the west coast of peninsular malaysia. impact of air pollution on human health exposure to air pollution, either in the short or long term, does affects human health. during the occurrence of haze, sunlight will be dispersed by suspended particles, causing harmful bacterial and viral reproduction (beardsley et al., 1997). in addition, suspended particles contain chemical and organic compositions such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (pah) known to be a form of cancer agent. haze not only affects the quality of human health but affects economic and school activities. this is because in many incidences, schools will be directed to close by the malaysia ministry of education, if the api level reaches a dangerous level. in this unhealthy condition, affected school going children have been reported to be breathing faster and thus more of the unhealthy particles will be inhaled as compared to adults. another [ 183 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 related issue would also be inadequate (perhaps incomplete) immunization levels given to the children and adults concerned (mohamad et al., 2016). a study conducted by nasir et al., (2000) showed that the haze of 1997 had caused 285, 227 cases of asthma attacks, 118, 804 cases of bronchitis in children, 3889 chronic cases of bronchitis among adults, 2003 related cases of individuals being detained in hospital due to respiratory problems, and 26, 684 emergency treatment cases. indirectly, medical costs increased significantly during that historical hazy season. the number of outpatients seeking treatments at hospitals in kuching, sarawak also increased from two to three times higher than normal during that severe haze phenomenon that struck the country in 1997. in addition to respiratory problems, infectious cases such as conjunctivitis also increased dramatically during the haze season. in selangor for example, the increase was recorded, from only 207 cases in june of that year to 3496 cases in october. the same pattern was also recorded in sarawak where it was closely linked to the increase of api (afroz et al., 2003). the holy quran prohibits destruction of earth haze is categorized as man-made damage because its main cause is from uncontrolled human activities. mohamad (2005) described the act of polluting air like open burning is categorized as a nuisance to mankind as its unhealthy effects enter the airspace in neighbouring countries. the islamic school of thoughts of scholars like maliki and hanbali assert that any form of nuisance activities and also purposeful destructions caused by mankind must be stopped immediately. there are many quranic verses that clearly explain about the need to protect the environment such as the order of not doing damage to the earth, the effects and consequences of human acts, the rewards for the arrogance and the reprisal of the corrupt. among the surahs and verses of the quran mentioned in relation to the environment are provided below. 1) order not to do damage to the earth “…and when it is said unto them; do not make mischief in the land, they say: “we are the only ones who make good”. surah al-baqarah verse 11 2) cause and effect of human destruction “there was visible damage on land and in the sea due to human hands; allah wishes them to taste some of their evil deeds, that they may return [ 184 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 (to the right path)”. surah ar-rum verse 41 3) requital to those who destroy allah’s creation “..and those who breaks god’s (covenant) after it has been decided upon, thus god commanded to be reattached, yet they are mischievous and continue to make destruction on earth – (allah) be cursed upon them to those who do evil and they will be rewarded with the worst of days in the hereafter”. surah ar-ra’d verse 25 4) comparisons between believers and those who are cruel to the environment “… then should there be among the people that had been destroyed before you, are those who are excesses of reason that forbid their people from evil deeds on earth but, what a pity..! there is none to forbid except a few, those whom we have saved amongst them, and those who do not forbid, are the ones who choose luxury bestowed to them (over faith) and they are the ones who are sinners ”. surah hud verse 116 based on the above arguments and proofs from the holy quran, it is clear that islam staunchly forbids humanity to make damage to the earth because the consequences are not confined within our country but can also do harm to other areas such, thus the occurrences known as cross-border haze. however, sadly, very few individuals are willing to partake the effort and responsibility in protecting the environment and also preventing others from damaging the environments around us. development, of course, cannot be separated from our present life. however, human wisdom in balancing development and the preservation of the environment around us is important in ensuring the continuous survival of future generations. the need for this balance in the environment correlates with the concept of al-mizan as emphasised by the islamic teaching. according to halim and akhir (2016), based on this concept, god has given roles and responsibilities to all of his creation. if the roles or responsibilities entrusted are not done, then this natural system allah has created will change. the system that allah has created will not be affected if greed and human exploitation of nature for the purpose of development is avoided and controlled. this is because the system will form an equal balance through order and harmony in nature that [ 185 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 will complement each other (akhir, 2004). conclusion various efforts have been introduced since 1995 to formulate plans to prevent peat and forest fires in the region through improved policy, continuous enforcement and state of the art monitoring mechanisms. however, this effort requires strong co-ordination and cooperation from all countries involved within the southeast asian region to ensure all the planned efforts that have been agreed upon being successfully implemented. the work also suggests that the efforts of encouraging the participation of more individuals on reducing the transboundary haze need the support by religiously based initiatives. this is in line with the command of allah to humanity preventing man from doing any damage to the earth that human beings should therefore act as a caliph and take responsibility for what they do to the environment around. god has entrusted this world of ours for us to save and keep and that is what the people have to do for the benefit of humanity today and tomorrow. this work recognizes that in embracing the industrial revolution 4.0, malaysia is in full force in taking challenges of the new era with the implementation of digital technology in many aspects. the doe has introduced a myipu smartphone application for air pollutants index (api) as part of the new government’s ongoing commitment to improve service quality for the people. the apps, which can be downloaded via all smartphones applications platform aims to inform the public on the current status of api readings throughout the country. in addition, all weather information, hotspots, rainfalls and haze-related statistics are also available directly from relevant websites. this initiative is intended to help people to have early warning awareness so that they are able to take immediate responses as necessary. bibliography afroz, r. hasaan, m. n., & ibrahim, n. a., (2003). review of air pollution and health impacts in malaysia. environ. research, 92, 71-77. akhir, n. s. m. (2004). rohani manusia dan alam sekitar dari perspektif islam. jurnal ikim, 12 (2). anwar, a., juneng, l., othman, m. r., latif, m. t., (2010). correlation between hotspots and air quality in pekan baru, riau, indonesia in 20062007. sains malaysia. 39, 169-174. asean, (2002). asean agreement on transboundary haze pollution. asso[ 186 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 ciation of south east asian nations secretariat. jakarta. beardsley, r., bromberg, p. a., costa, d. a., devlin, r., dockery, d. w., frampton, m. w., lambert, w., samet, j. m., speizer, f. e., & utell, m., (1997). smoke alarm: haze from fires might promote bacterial growth. sci. am. 24–25. doe, department of environment., (2018). kronologi episod jerebu di malaysia. retrieved may 28, 2018, from doe portal: https://www.doe. gov.my/portalv1/en/info-umum/info-kualiti-udara/kronologi-episod-jerebu-dimalaysia/319123. glover, d., jessup, t., banks, g., (2003). indonesia’s fires and haze: the cost of catastrophe. review of indonesian and malaysian affairs. 37, 150–152. halim, i. a. & akhir, n. s. m., (2016). tafsir ayat-ayat al-quran berkenaan penjagaan alam sekitar. afkar. vol. 18 (1), 91-130. huang, k., fu, j. s., hsu, n. c., gao, y., dong, x., tsay, s. c., lam, y. f., (2013). impact assessment of biomass burning on air quality in southeast and east asia during baseasia. atmos. environ. 78, 291–302. mohamad, a. b., (2005). undang-undang dan pengurusan alam sekitar menurut islam. malaysian journal of environmental management, 6, 107-124. mohamad, n., latif, m. t., & khan, m. f., (2016). source apportionment and health risk assessment of pm10 in a naturally ventilated school in a tropical environment. ecotoxi. and environ. safety, 124, 351-362. narayanan, s. (2002). assessing the economic damage from indonesian fires and the haze: a conceptual note. singapore economic review. 47, 229–241. nasir, m. h., choo, w. y., rafia, a., md., m. r., theng, l. c., noor, m. m. h., (2000). estimation of health damage cost for 1997-haze episode in malaysia using the ostro model. proceedings malaysian science and technology congress, 2000. confederation of scientific and technological association in malaysia (costam), kuala lumpur. who, world health organization., (1998). report of the bioregional workshop on health impacts of haze related air pollution. manila: the philippines. [ 163 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 academic approach for religious radicalism akhmad siddiq state islamic university of sunan ampel, surabaya email: a.siddiq@uinsby.ac.id abstract blaming or demonizing other could appear from misunderstanding paradigm toward knowledgeable entities: individually or collectively. inclusive approach to know and understand other religious groups is a basic principle to build interreligious relation. in his dialogue decalogue, leonard swidler suggests that to build interfaith dialogue is to learn and understand (other) realities. in this regard, religious radicalism could be perceived as an outcome of misunderstanding that allows people to exclude or ignore others. this paper aims to explore several books of muslim scholars, both in classical and contemporary period, relating to comparative study of religion. it is the finding of this work that understanding other religions (or religious others) as articulated in the book will create a level of acceptance within religious believers. keyword: comparative study, interreligious dialogue, radicalism, religion, and islam. introduction i will begin this paper by giving some examples of disappointed feeling for being radical or joining radical community. through these examples, i want to emphasize that misunderstanding and inappropriate knowledge could drive someone to commit violence and stand with radical movement. first, in the end of 2015 many of indonesian citizens went to syria for joining isis and living under the islamic caliphate. they were informed that the government of isis will build a muslim society based on sharia where all citizens will be equally recognized and lawfully considered. this year some of them came back to indonesia, after long journey of horrible adventure with isis community, and revealed regret: they have been wrong. they misunderstood isis government and knew islamic radical movement in syria wrongly (kompastv, 2017).1 they apologized for being trapped in deception and deceitfulness. it was a fundamental mistake because their misunderstanding relates to radical 1 http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2017/09/15/12500001/wni-eks-simpatisan-isis-saya-khilaf-menyesal [ 164 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 thought and movement of isis. second, several months ago, a german young lady, 16 years aged, came with a similar story: she announced her regret joining radical group of isis after receiving consular assistance in iraqi prison. this teenager joined isis with three other german girls in recent year, and now—after political and military decline of isis—requested to be extradited to her country and aims to cooperate with the authority.2 this girl found that everything she had ever dreamed about isis was incorrect. third, in 2008, one of the bali bombers (2002), ali imron, expressed his regret on exploding tourism area in denpasar. in his interview, he said that he would always apologize for all the victims, the family, and every person influenced by the explosion.3 his repentance related to miscalculation on gigantic effect of the bomb. he persisted that he had reminded his companions to reconsider the effect of bali bombing. his regret, to some extends, represented unknown space and incomprehensible mind which eventually influenced him to apologize for what he did. in line with ali imron, ali fauzi (another ex-bali-bomber) stated his guilt for being involved in bali bombing. he felt disappointed for being easily recruited and joined radical movement.4 the previous examples underline that someone has to know exactly and understand every path of his/her action, especially by which other people can be influenced. social movement which is rooted on religious purpose will affect social life not only in theological matters, but also cultural, economic, and political. having a religion means having an understanding of certain faith and recognizing other faiths of different group. in the qur’an, god explicitly insist that human diversity in term of religious faith has been intentionally designed for human kindness.5 in this regard, knowing and understanding—in term of religious studies— are basic principle to construct self-conviction and perceive religious other. misunderstanding and misperception of other (faith, movement, community, society, state, etc.) would produce prejudice and hatred. in the dialogue decalogue: ground roles for interreligious dialogue (1984), leonard swidler insisted that understanding other becomes fundamental element in conducting relational and dialogical process. he wrote that interreligious dialogue is “an attempt to understand the other’s position as precisely and, as it were, as 2 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/24/home-linda-wenzel-germanteenager-joined-isis-speaks-of-regrets 3 https://soundbiteasia.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/ali-imron-minta-maaf-bom-bali/ 4 workshop “pelatihan penguatan perspektif korban terorisme di kalangan tokoh agama” held by aida (aliansi indonesia damai), surakarta, march 4-5, 2017. 5 qs. 10:99 and qs. 16:93. [ 165 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 much from within, as possible.” 6 to strengthen and prove one understands, somebody must confirm his/her understanding by crosschecking it into reality as well as covering both-sided perception. it is insufficient to embrace only one view and exclude other different views, because—referring to max muller—it means nothing. muller said, “he who knows one, knows none.”7 it is true that to believe is to know and understand, but to believe a religion does not mean to know only one religion. there are hundreds of faiths in the world where each of them has its own uniqueness. when every religion has culturally interconnected for long times before, it is proven that hybridity of religions became a decisive reality. religious borders represent fluid and progressive entity that should be approached as a research object and method. in his book, the christian muslim frontier: a zone of contact, conflict or cooperation, mario apostolov (2004) elucidates that religious society is one whole. what influences and creates element of social order is structural division along civilizational frontiers. apostolov believes that frontiers are specific, binding elements in the institutional network of the world.8 to build and shape boundaries between one culture to another is to make blockingstones on connecting a reality with another. it is such an imagination where people tend to separate social spaces based on their political, social, or cultural orientation. apostolov said, “any frontier, be it political, social or cultural, is the product of human imagination and an instrument for shaping the structure of human society.”9 imagination, here, is a space of knowing and understanding. people conceive something based on what they have understood before. in the process of making religious harmony and avoiding radicalism, it is necessary for religious believer to have comprehensive understanding of religions (plural) and not to support exclusive knowledge of religion (singular). learning other religions could avoid someone from misunderstanding and misperception on it. dhun-nun al-misrī, a prominent egyptian scholar, persists that people tend to victimize and demonize what they ignore: al-nās a’dā’u mā jahilū (people are enemies toward everything they did not know).10 to respect religious others means to know them rightly and appropriately. 6 leonard swidler, “the dialogue decalogue: ground roles for interreligious dialogue”, journal of inter religio 5, spring, 1984, 30-33. 7 jacques waardenburg, classical theories of the study of religion: aims, methods, and theories of research (berlin: de gruyter, 2017), 90. 8 mario apostolov, the christian muslim frontier: a zone of contact, conflict or cooperation (new york: routledge, 2004), 3. 9 ibid., 1. 10 read ah}mad ‘abdul karīm al-ghāzī al-‘amirī, al-jadd al-hasis fī bayāni mā laisa bi hadīth (beirut: dar ibn h}azm, 1997), 244. [ 166 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 in line with this statement, the quran alerts that people tend to perceive the opposite side of their faith as fairytale (qs. 46:11). based on this background, i attempt to explain muslim opinion concerning other religions, especially in term of comparative study of religion through describing several books written by muslim scholars, both in classical and contemporary period. through this paper, i will argue that understanding other faiths is necessary to build respectable relationship and create a level of acceptance within religious believers.11 it is worth noting that some radical thoughts and movements toward other religion have been planted among illiterate communities. in this context, it is important to reinvent academic approach for sidestepping radical thought and action. apologetic approach as a dialogue in his book, muslim-christian conflict resolution in islamic perspective (published in bahasa indonesia, mengurai konflik muslim-kristen dalam perspektif islam), mahmoud mustafa ayoub argued that history of muslimchristian relationship is in general a story of untrusted-ness, suspicion, and misunderstanding.12 picturing the history of the crusade, ayoub pointed three discourses in which muslim and christian had been contested for prolonged period: colonialism, evangelism, and orientalism.13 these elements represented a melting pot of religious encounter with politics, economy, and power. ayoub dreamed about harmonious relationship between the two largest religious communities in the world (muslim and christian) through sincere dialogue and communication. to reach this purpose, widespread understanding and comprehensive knowledge about religious other are needed. exploring modern muslim scholar’s thought, ayoub mentioned two conventional approaches which have been practiced among muslim scholar on perceiving christianity (and other religions): apologetic and polemical. ayoub took at least four exemplary books of modern muslim scholar (muhammad ‘abduh, rashīd ridā, ahmad shalabī and abū zahrah), which discussed christianity using polemical-apologetic approach. according to philip johnson, apologists tend to pursue their doctrinal refutation and alert certain 11 read paul knitter, introducing theologies of religions (new york: orbis books, 2002), 216-224. 12 mahmoud mustafa ayoub, mengurai konflik muslim-kristen dalam perspektif islam (yogyakarta: fajar pustaka baru, 2001), 240-241. 13 ibid. read more about this topic in edward said, orientalism (new york: vintage book, 1979); omar farrukh, al-tabshīr wa al-isti’mār fī al-bilād al-‘arabiyyah (globalization and colonialism in arab land) (beirut: 1982). [ 167 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 religious believer about the errors of their religions.14 this approach reinforces religious believer to perceive and recognize religious others as “infidel”. to justify their argumentation, apologists use scriptural texts to claim that their standpoint is authoritatively correct. while ayoub described the approach within muslim scholars, johnson examined it among christian discourses. in paul knitter’s term, this position was called “the replacement model”, the very basic model among the three others: fulfillment model, mutuality model, and acceptance model.15 in the following, i will elucidate several books written by the classical muslim scholars and other several books written by modern muslim scholars. these books represent different period of time but following the same approach on writing religious other: polemical-apologetic. however, i will argue later that this approach is part of dialogical relationship between one religious community to another. it is an academic and literary approach by which religious intellectual expressed their peaceful dispute and argument. they prefer to use words than swords on “attacking” religious others. let’s start with the book of al-milal wa al-nihal written by al-imām abī alfath muhammad ibn ‘abdul karīm al-shahrastānī (1086-1153). this book has become a magnum opus on comparative study of religions in islamic tradition. shahrastānī was a prominent muslim scholar on islamic philosophy, theology, and religious study. among of his books are nihāyah al-iqdām fī ‘ilm alkalām, al-irsyād ilā ‘aqā’id al-‘ibād, tafsīr sūrah yūsuf bi uslūb falsafī, talkhīs al-aqsām li mazāhib al-anām, musāra’āt al-falāsifah, and mafātih al-asrār wa masābih al-abrār. sharastānī divides al-milal wa al-nihal into two volumes. the first volume is about believers of faiths and religions (arbāb al-diyānāt wa al-milal) and the second is about the people of thoughts and cults (ahl al-ahwā’ wa al-nihal). in the first he classifies three chapters on (1) muslims, (2) ahl al-kitāb (believer of the book), and man lahū syibhah kitāb (believer of the pseudo-book). it is interesting noting that shahrastānī uses term of practice or religious believer (muslim) and not use term of the doctrine or religion (islam). he seems to hold anthropological perspective which concerns on phenomenological reality on seeing religion.16 in other words, he focuses more on how people know and understand their religion, not religion itself as a structure. for instance, when he explains al-yahūd (jews), he starts by defining them as “the people of 14 philip johnson, apologetics, mission and new religious movement: a holistic approach (salt lake city: st academic press, 2010). 15 knitter, introducing theologies of religions, 19-56. 16 read james cox, an introduction to the phenomenology of religion (london: continuum, 2010), 146-172. [ 168 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 moses. their holy book is torah, the first holy book given by god.”17 when he describes al-nasārā (christian), he also starts by defining the people and not the doctrine or religious values in christianity. “christian are the people of jesus, the son of maria, the prophet of god, the logos, committed after moses, who was mentioned before in the torah.”18 in the second volume, shahrastānī explores what he called ahl al-ahwā’ wa al-nihal (the people of thoughts and cults). in this volume, like the previous volume, shahrastānī underlines his account on the people, e.g. al-muta’akhirūn min falāsifah al-islām (the latest of islamic philosophers), ‘abadah al-kawākib (the star worshipers), etc. although the title of his book is al-milal wa al-nihal (religions and cults), but shahrastānī emphasizes on discussing the believer of the faith more than the doctrine itself. it means, again, that how religious believer know and understand their religion—in shahrastānī’s view—is the essential of “the religion” itself. this method remains significant in the whole explanation of shahrastānī’s book. more than fifty years before shahrastānī, ‘abdul qāhir al-baghdādī (1037) wrote his book, kitāb al-milal wa al-nihal (the book of faiths and religions). this manuscript has the same tittle with shahrastānī’s book, but it focuses only on islamic thoughts and cults. in this manuscript, al-baghdādī explores several sects in islam, e.g. al-khawārij, al-mu’tazilah, al-murji’ah, najjāriyyah, and al-jahmiyyah.19 besides this manuscript, al-baghdādī wrote several books in the same topic, such as fadā’ih al-mu’tazilah, ibtāl al-qaul bi al-tawallud, al-īmān wa usūluhu, nafy khalq al-qur’ān, and al-farq baina al-firaq (the differences among different groups).20 in the last book, al-baghdadi deepens his explanation on distinctive islamic cults to enrich muslim’s perspective on ideological differences among muslims. within this era, there was another prolific muslim scholar who wrote in many disciplines of islamic studies, such as islamic jurisprudence, islamic law, poetry, history, ethics, and religious study. just to mention few of them are al-ihkām fī usūl al-ahkām, al-muhallā bi al-ātsār, tuq al-hamāmah, alakhlāq wa al-siyar, and al-fasl fī al-milal wa al-ahwā’ wa al-nihal. he is abū muhammad ‘ali ibn ahmad ibn sa’īd ibn hazm (994-1064), well known as ibn hazm al-zahirī al-andalūsī. in term of religious study, his book al-fasl fī almilal wa al-ahwā’ wa al-nihal has become a main reference for next muslim scholar who wrote on the same issue. in this book, ibn hazm wrote his ideas 17 al-shahrastānī, al-milal wa al-nih}al (beirut: dar ibn h}azm, 2005), 142. 18 ibid., 149. 19 abū mans}ūr ‘abdul qāhir al-baghdādī, kitāb al-milal wa al-nih}al (beirut: dar al-masyriq, 2006). 20 al-baghdādī, kitab al-milal wa al-nih}al, 40. [ 169 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 on religious study based on socio-political situation at the time. however, he used textual-epistemology to analyze and examine the truth claim of each religion, through criticizing its holy scripture. he comparatively discussed religions (such as islam, christianity, and judaism) referring to its textual scripture as the ultimate reference. this method has been well known as ibn hazm’s distinctive analytical approach (al-zahiriyyah/textualism).21 in the context of religious studies, some muslim scholars have also written specific topic concerning specific religion. al-bīrūnī (973-1048) wrote his book mā lil hind min maqūlah maqbūlah fī al-‘aql aw mardhulah (hinduism: between accepted and rejected logic), abū al-ma’ālī al-juwainī (1028-1085) wrote a book shifā’ al-ghalīl fī al-radd ‘alā man baddala al-taurāh al-injīl (answers for whom substituted the torah with the bible), al-imām al-ghazālī (1058-1111) wrote his book al-radd al-jamīl li ilāhiyyah ‘isā bi sarīh al-injīl (responses on divining jesus based on the bible), al-imām ibn taimiyya (1263-1328) wrote on al-jawāb al-sahīh li man baddala dīn al-masīh (right answer for whom exchanged religion of christ), etc.22 from this phenomenon, we understand that many classical muslim scholars responded religious plurality and cultural differences through making meaningful book discussion and polemics. they have been fighting for and justifying their own religion by explaining what they academically understood and trusted. no matter they opposed each other, religiously and academically, they preferred to reveal their standpoint by giving an academic argumentation. this approach avoids them from taking extreme or radical response toward the opposite other. to know and have comprehensive understanding of other could build inclusive approach on responding conflictual situation. referring to jeroen adam (2010), we can call such approach as a part of “integrative approach”: providing many innovative insights toward communal violence occurred.23 in other words, academic approach—although it was polemical and apologetic—represents one of constructive factor for accepting and recognizing other. following the path of previous muslim scholars, many scholars in the modern era also wrote books on religious studies to enrich muslim’s understanding in term of their own and other’s religion. muhammad ‘abduh (1849-1905), 21 amr osman, the zahiri madhhab: a textualist theory of islamic law (boston: brill, 2014), 77-88. 22 read muh}ammad ‘abdullah al-sharqāwī, “ahammiyyah al-bah}th fī muqāranah al-adyān” in al-imām al-ghazālī, al-radd al-jamīl li ilāhiyyah ‘īsā bi s}arīh al-injīl (beirut: dar al-jail, 1990), 18-20. 23 jeroen adam, “how ordinary folk become involved in the ambonese conflict: understanding private opportunities during communal violence”, bijdragen tot de taal-, landen volkenkunde, vol. 166, no. 1 (2010), 25-48. [ 170 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 known as muslim philosopher and reformer, wrote his book al-islām wa alnasrāniyyah ma’a al-‘ilm wa al-madaniyyah (islam and christianity: between science and civilization). in this book, muhammad ‘abduh answered some topical issues concerning islam, christianity, modernity, philosophy, and civilization. the book is a compilation of ‘abduh’s essays published in almanār magazine. he argued that religion, namely islam, does not urge muslim society into social failure and political weakening. it was politics and powerbased motivation that interfere with human development.24 strengthening ‘abduh’s manuscript on polemical discourse of islam and christianity, sayyid rashīd ridā (1865-1935) wrote shubuhāt al-nasārā wa hujaj al-islām (the confusions of christianity and the arguments of islam). this book consists of sixteen essays published previously in al-manār to answer questions and disagreements toward islam. rida aims to explain moses, jesus, and muhammad as well as to explore polemics of islam and christianity. he also discusses several topics which underlines that islam is religion of rationality. in line with ‘abduh, he insists that islamic theology has no relation with social problem of muslims: it is not about the teachings, but the muslim’s practice.25 muhammad ‘abduh and rashīd rida share their concern on responding alghazw al-fikr (intellectual invasion) toward islam and muslim society. through their publication, al-manār, they endorse logical and rational thought of islam. this effort intends to create interactional space between muslim and other believers, in term of debatable issues and theological polemics. academic discourse does empirically build more understanding than misunderstanding and downgrade cynical attitude among religious followers. besides physical meeting with other devotees, muslim needs to conduct intellectual encounter for discussing religious ideas. continuing this apologetic approach, muhammad abū zahrah (1898-1974) wrote at least two volumes on religious studies. first volume is about religion of egypt, brahmanism, buddhism, and confucianism. interestingly, in this volume abū zahrah preferred to use brahmanism (al-barahmiyyah) on describing indian religions than hinduism (al-hindūkiyyah).26 he followed shahrastānī on using the term, although they were living in different era. second volume is specific about christianity. in this volume, abū zahrah 24 muh}ammad ‘abduh, al-islām wa al-masīhiyyah baina al-‘ilm wa al-madaniyyah (cairo: dar al-manar, 1953), 145-150. 25 sayyid rashīd ridā, shubuhāt al-nas}rāniyyah wa h}ujaj al-islām (cairo: dar almanar, 1947), iii. 26 in his book, al-islām wa al-adyān, mus}tafa h}ilmī uses both of these terms interchangeably without clear explanation of practical differences between them. see mus}tafa h} ilmī, al-islām wa al-adyān (beirut: dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah, 2004), 40. [ 171 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 explored history of christianity, doctrine, and its sects.27 he emphasized that his method in comparative study of religion is to read, observe, and analyze other religion from the holy book and other key-document of each religion. he also persisted that islam remains rational and logical religion that encourages human for advocating humanity (sālah al-insāniyyah).28 this approach illustrates abū zahrah’s apologetic position on studying religions. another prominent muslim scholar who concerns on comparative study of religions was ahmad shalabi (1915-2000). he wrote several books on comparative study of religions, such as hinduism, judaism, christianity, and islam.29 his writing often attacks the essence of other religion as a common form of apologetic approach. he wrote in his introduction, for instance, that christianity was a simple faith in the era of christ but christian believer made it more difficult and complicated.30 shalabi persisted that comparative study of religion is an islamic invention because, according to him, islam is the only religion which accepted religious diversity. religions outside islam tend to identify other faith and other religious community as “infidel” and “heretical”.31 in 2004, a book written by mustafā hilmī was published in egypt. the book represented compiled lectures of him during his fellowship at the umm al-qura university, saudi arabia. in this book, hilmī describes at least six religions: hinduism, buddhism, zoroaster, judaism, christianity, and islam. he emphasized on differentiating islam as divine-based religion with other religion with human-based affiliation. he referred to traditional discourse on what he called as philosophical approach and religious approach. according to him, islam did not recognize philosophy as conceived and understood in greek and the western world. he developed al-istidlāl al-‘aqlī (logical argumentation) which has been practiced by traditional and modern intellectual of muslim.32 hilmī tends to face islam with western modernity and attempts to reconstruct romanticism of islam far from the shadow of western achievement.33 27 muhammad abū zahrah, muqāranah al-adyān al-diyānah al-qadīmah (cairo: dar al-fikr al-‘arabi, 2006), 5. read also muh}ādarāt fī al-nasrāniyyah (cairo: dar al-fikr al-aarabi, 2006). 28 ibid. 29 he wrote several volumes on comparative religion, such as al-yahūdiyyah (judaism), al-masīh}iyyah (christianity), al-islām, and adyān al-hind al-kubrā (religions of india). all volumes are published by dār al-nahdah al-mis}riyyah. 30 ahmad shalabi, muqāranah al-adyān: al-masīhiyyah (cairo: dār al-nahdah al-mis} riyyah, 1993), 21. 31 ahmad shalabi, muqāranah al-adyān: al-yahūdiyyah (cairo: dār al-nahdah al-mis} riyyah, 1996), 27. 32 mus}tafa h}ilmī, al-islām wa al-adyān dirāsah muqāranah (cairo: darul kutub al-ilmiyah, 2004), 15. 33 mus}tafa h}ilmī, al-islām wa al-adyān dirāsah muqāranah, 16. [ 172 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 in indonesia, comparative study of religion could be rooted from nuruddin ar-raniri’s book, tibyan fi ma’rifah al-adyan (description on understanding religions). he was an indian-arab origin who worked as shaikh al-islām in the sultanate of aceh during 1637-1643. in this book, raniri in general followed shahrastānī’s outline on elucidating world religion and exploring 72 sects in islam. karel steenbrink persisted that the work of raniri was exceptional because it was the only book of comparative study in indonesia written before the 20th century.34 other indonesian muslim scholars continued raniri’s work in the 20th century, starting from mahmud yunus who wrote his book al-adyān (religions), zainal arifin abbas who wrote perkembangan fikiran terhadap agama (the development of ideas concerning religion), mukti ali (the first dean of the faculty of comparative religion in yogyakarta) who wrote many articles relating to religious studies such as asal-usul agama (the origins of religion) published by journal al djami’ah. this historical lineage on comparative study of religion in muslim society asserts that to know other religions (or religious others) is not less important than to know our own religion. muslim scholars tried to bridge our religious knowledge with religious knowledge of other. in this regard, we may mention what fuad hassan explained as “togetherness” in his book kami and kita: the basic modes of togetherness.35 in other words, to involve religious others into our life is to know better and accept them through inclusive approach. we should learn to habituate of being kita more than of being kami as exclusive attitude which tends to exclude opposite community. in kita-world, different community (i and you) can exist and coexist as pronounced subjectivity in one reality.36 recognizing others as a religion, islam endorses peaceful spirit through its foundation, the qur’ān and hadīth. in islamic tradition, it is renounced that everyone cannot be religious if he or she still commits violence against religious others.37 the prophet muhammad said, “spread a peace (al-salām) between you.”38 in another hadith the prophet insisted that “a muslim is a person who advances peaceful relation toward other muslims (and other people), through his 34 karel steenbrik, “the study of comparative religion by indonesian muslims”, numen, vol. 37, fasc. 02, (december 1990), 144. 35 fuad hassan, kita and kami: the basic modes of togetherness (winoka, 2005). 36 fuad hassan, kita and kami, 26. 37 majdī riyād, al-muqaddas wa ghairu al-muqaddas wa qadāyā al-fikr al-islāmī (cairo: akhbār ta’līm, 2004), 19. 38 hr. muslim. (translation is mine) [ 173 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 mouth (statement) and hand (action).”39 the hadith is adequately ample to affirm that islam, in its basic principle, condemns violence, extremism, and radicalism. islam supposes to challenge every single contradictory position through a peaceful dialog and a better discourse.40 to reach the “acceptance level” for recognizing other existence, muslims need to have thorough understanding about their religion as well as religion of others. elucidating some muslim countries such as indonesia and senegal, alfred stepan introduces what he called as “co-celebratory” to articulate accommodative relation between state and religion. in this context, “religion is publicly acknowledged by the democratic state as being an important part of the private and public life of all citizens.”41 the accommodative action requires recognition, and recognition entails an apt awareness of other. referring to taylor, he highlights “mutual recognition” to achieve harmonious integration.42 the idea is essential to reinvent academic approach toward religious diversity as an empirical evidence of multiculturalism. having many religious sects and movements, indonesian people are used to experience not only their own religious ceremony but also religious festival of other community. on the one hand, this phenomenon can reproduce social awareness as well as reveal social pathology and detestation, on the other. comprehensive understanding and inclusive approach may bridge ideological or theological disparities between two or more faiths, to attach them within philosophical boundary of toleration. looking at the previous case of regret feeling of the isis followers, we may ponder two different realities: experienced bad life in the past and imagined good life in the present. people are moving away from wicked reality to achieve better and more respectable actuality. to some extents, such condition is conducted by changing knowledge and transformed understanding about the real life, including how they perceive religious life. radicalism, as a part of current religious phenomenon, cannot be separated from this touching influence. indeed, everyone must have right understanding about something (idea, action, movement, state, religion, etc.) in which he or she involves. cultivating his idea of communicative action, habermas argued that reason is essential domain where someone’s understands and reflection are embedded 39 hr. bukhari muslim. (translation is mine). 40 see qs. al-nah}l: 125. 41 alfred c stepan, “moslem and toleration: unexamined contributions to the multiple secularism in modern democracies” in alfred stepan and charles taylor, boundaries of toleration (new york: colombia university press, 2014), 275. 42 eduardo mendieta (et.al), the power of religion in the public sphere (new york: colombia university press, 2011), 129; charles taylor, “the politics of recognition” in amy gutmann (ed.), multiculturalism: examining the politics of recognition (princeton: princeton university press, 1994), 25-73. [ 174 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 and embodied within.43 in this regard, interaction could represent equal conversation between one group to another, one community to another, and one person to another. it indicates that understanding other could enrich social encounter and, in some degree, reduce radical response toward other. here, notion of academic approach appears as a tool for building peaceful network and fruitful communication. when muslim scholars (both in traditional and modern era) wrote the books on comparative study of religion, they aim to extend muslim understanding concerning other religions and sects. they realize that understanding religion, namely islam, becomes a necessity to strengthen religiosity and conviction of the believer.44 though this approach tracks on apologetic and polemical approach on describing or attacking other religions, legacy of comparative religion still remains definite and relevant to reinvent academic discourse. to focus more on intellectual assessment is to elude, for some reasons, radical action. closing eyes from other religious insight tends to claim for having and acting based on “the mind of god”. juergensmeyer argues that “religious ideas and the sense of religious community have been endemic to the cultures or violence from which terrorism has sprung.”45 he warns us to look carefully at general belief that continues reproducing what it is called “cosmic war”.46 considering that our belief is the only truth and imagining others as always wrong may create oblivious seed of demonization. this kind of excessive piety will easily ignore religious others. in his book, al-islām baina al-ghuluw wa al-jafā’ wa al-ifra' wa at-tafrit, ‘abdullah ibn jibrīn describes three different religious individual or group based on their thought and practice.47 first, it is individuals with neglecting attitude toward their religiosity who easily ignore and disregard religious teaching. these individuals perceive religious doctrine as “profane” object in which people can rationally play with. in islamic tradition, this standpoint is called tafrit. second, it is individuals with excessive obedience toward religious order. they attempt to perform not only an obligatory order of religion but also another voluntary practice of it: without scrutinizing and examining validity of the order. it is called ifra'. both of tafrit and ifra' are pleonastic. in 43 jurgen habermas, the theory of communicative action (boston: beacon press, 1984), 1-42. 44 muh}ammad ‘izzat t}ah}t}āwī, al-mīzān fī muqāranah al-adyān: haqāiq wa wathāiq (damascus: dar al-qalam, 2002), 10. 45 mark juergensmeyer, terror in the mind of god (barkeley, university of california press, 200), 216. 46 ibid., 145. 47 ‘abdullah ibn ‘abdurrah}mān jibrīn, al-islām baina al-ghuluw wa al-jafā’ wa al-ifrat} wa al-tafrit} (kitab, inc., 2015); mālik mus}tafā ‘amilī, maqās}id al-syar’i baina al-ifrat} wa at-tafrit} (beirut: dar al-hādī, 2007). [ 175 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 term of intra and inter-religious interaction, excessive religiosity could neglect religiosity of others. third, it is people with moderate religious practice. they perform religious practice as it is ordered without ignoring or rejecting different religions and sects. referring to paul knitter, this approach can be classified as “the acceptance model” where believer respect and recognize religious belief of others as it is.48 using practical term of medical science, the second approach (ifra') may be named as “religious obesity”. in medical science, obesity can be identified as having high percentage of body fat. it distinguishes than overweight which means having more body weight than is considered normal.49 the first may increase risk of body health, while the second may only overlook ideal weight of body. in this regard, radicalism could be classified as having high percentage of excessive religiosity that may defeat religiosity of others. furthermore, comprehensive knowledge about other religions must be outspreaded. conclusion in some cases, radicalism is a product of misunderstanding and idiocy. literary activism could be an academic preference to avoid it. when muslim scholars, both in traditional and modern period, wrote books on comparative religion, they experienced by themselves to accommodate different faiths through academic discourse on the one hand, whereas their books enlightened readers to appreciate the existence of other different religions on the other. understanding will lead someone to recognition as a basic attitude on building inter-religious harmony. it is worth noting that our response to certain contradictory condition depends on our understanding on it. the more we understand, the more we appreciate. in this regard, literacy is needed to nurture academic approach toward fundamental and radical movement. bibliography ‘abduh, m. (1953). al-islām wa al-masīhiyyah baina al-‘ilm wa al-madaniyyah. cairo: dar al-manār. ‘amilī, m. m. (2007). maqāsid al-syar’i baina al-ifrat wa at-tafrit. beirut: dar al-hādī. adam, j. (2010). how ordinary folk become involved in the ambonese conflict: understanding private opportunities during communal vio48 paul knitter, introducing theologies of religions (new york: orbis books, 2002). 49 judith s stern and alexandra kazaks, obesity: a reference handbook (santa barbara: abc-clio, 2009), 4. [ 176 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 lence. bijdragen tot de taal-, landen volkenkunde, vol. 166, no. 1. al-‘amirī, a. ‘a. k. g. (1997). al-jadd al-hasis fī bayāni mā laisa bi hadīth. beirut: dar ibn hazm. al-baghdādī, a. m. ‘a. q. (2006). kitāb al-milal wa al-nihal. beirut: dar al-masyriq. al-ghazālī. (1990). al-radd al-jamīl li ilāhiyyah ‘īsā bi sarīh al-injīl. beirut: dar al-jail. al-shahrastānī. (2005). al-milal wa al-nihal. beirut: dar ibn hazm. apostolov, m. (2004). the christian muslim frontier: a zone of contact, conflict or cooperation. new york: routledge. ayoub, m. m. (2001). mengurai konflik muslim-kristen dalam perspektif islam. yogyakarta: fajar pustaka baru. cox, j. (2010). an introduction to the phenomenology of religion. london: continuum. farrukh, o. (1982). al-tabshīr wa al-isti’mār fī al-bilād al-‘arabiyyah. beirut. gutmann, a. (ed.). 1994). multiculturalism: examining the politics of recognition. princeton: princeton university press. hilmī, m. (2004). al-islām wa al-adyān. beirut: dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah. habermas, j. (1984). the theory of communicative action. boston: beacon press. hassan, f. (2005). kita and kami: the basic modes of togetherness. jakarta: winoka. jibrīn, ‘a. ‘a. (2015). al-islām baina al-ghuluw wa al-jafā’ wa al-ifrat wa al tafrit. ksa: kitab, inc. johnson, p. (2010). apologetics, mission and new religious movement: a holistic approach. salt lake city: st academic press. juergensmeyer, m. (2009). terror in the mind of god. barkeley: university of california press. knitter, p. (2002). introducing theologies of religions. new york: orbis books. mendieta, e. (et.al). (2011). the power of religion in the public sphere. new york: colombia university press. osman, a. (2014). the zahiri madhhab: a textualist theory of islamic law. boston: brill. [ 177 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 ridā, s. r. (1947). shubuhāt al-nasrāniyyah wa hujaj al-islām. cairo: dar al-manār. riyād, m. (2004). al-muqaddas wa ghairu al-muqaddas wa qadāyā al-fikr al-islāmī. cairo: akhbār ta’līm. said, e. (1979). orientalism. new york: vintage book. shalabi, a. (1993, 1996). muqāranah al-adyān: al-yahūdiyyah. cairo: dār al-nahdah al-misriyyah. steenbrik, k. (1990). the study of comparative religion by indonesian muslims. numen, vol. 37, fasc. 02. stepan, a & charles, t. (2014). boundaries of toleration. new york: colombia university press. stern, j. s. & alexandra, k. (2009). obesity: a reference handbook. santa barbara: abc-clio. swidler, l. (1984). the dialogue decalogue: ground roles for interreligious dialogue. journal of inter religious. 5. tahtāwī, m. ‘i. (2002). al-mīzān fī muqāranah al-adyān: haqāiq wa wathāiq. damascus: dar al-qalam. waardenburg, j. (2017). classical theories of the study of religion: aims, methods, and theories of research. berlin: de gruyter. zahrah, m. a. (2006). muhādarāt fī al-nasrāniyyah. cairo: dar al-fikr al‘arabī. zahrah, m. a. (2006). muqāranah al-adyān al-diyānah al-qadīmah. cairo: dar al-fikr al-‘arabi. [ 178 ] al albab volume 8 number 2 december 2019 [ 87 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 lilen san juan: the light of social cohesion and religious moderation anselmus dore woho atasoge sekolah tinggi pastoral atma reksa ende, indonesia email: anselsoge@stiparende.ac.id damianus dionisius nuwa sekolah tinggi pastoral atma reksa ende, indonesia email: denynuwa@stiparende.ac.id fransiskus yance sengga sekolah tinggi pastoral atma reksa ende, indonesia email: chensr@stiparende.ac.id mikael alfianus mulan kabelen de la salle university, manila, philippines email: mikael_kabelen@dlsu.edu.ph christianus watu pontificio istituto liturgico di sant’anselmo, roma email: christianus.watu@anselmianum.com abstract the rituals and the symbols embedded therein serve as markers of national identity and sources of inspiration for harmony within indonesia’s multi-religious society. the researcher posits that the san juan ritual and its accompanying symbols function as mediums for fostering social cohesion and hold significant implications for the promotion of religious moderation in indonesia. this study seeks to explore the spiritual significance of the san juan ritual as a contribution to the formation of a cohesive society grounded in the principles of religious moderation. the study adopts an anthropological and sociological approach. data were obtained through field observations and structured interviews with 25 informants, including cultural leaders, religious leaders, government officials, educators, and youth. the data were analyzed in three stages: data reduction, data presentation, and data verification, utilizng two analytical techniques— descriptive analysis and content analysis. the analysis of the rituals, their symbols, and the behavior of ritual participants is key to understanding the social structures and processes, as well as the broader social phenomena at play. this study finds that, in light of victor turner’s theoretical framework, the san juan ritual—especially the candle (lilen) as its central symbol—serves both to reinforce the identity of the san juan community and to act as a conduit for fostering social cohesion that supports religious moderation in indonesia. this implica[ 88 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 tional meaning also contributes to the scholarly discourse in the sociology and anthropology of religion. keywords: lilen san juan; social cohesion; religious moderation introduction the san juan ritual, performed by both indigenous people and catholics in lebao village, larantuka, east flores, serves as mediums for fostering social cohesion and hold significant implications for the promotion of religious moderation in indonesia (aksa & nurhayati, 2020; zahra et al., 2022; mujahid, 2023; fuadi et al., 2023; harahap et al., 2023)north sumatra requires a long transformation within the framework of religious moderation to build harmony and maturity. this study aims to reveal the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the bubble of north sumatra’s local wisdom. this research employs a descriptive qualitative method by involving six subjects who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. subject criteria are natives of north sumatra and have sufficient knowledge of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatra. in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect the required data. this study reveals a vast spectrum of diversity among the north sumatrans. in the meantime, religious moderation is evidence of upholding religious ideals integrated with the local culture. moreover, this research also shows how the people of north sumatra from the following three regions, (1. rituals in general—including the san juan ritual—function as repositories of symbols that victor turner identifies as “dominant symbols” imbued with supernatural significance (turner, 1968; bull et al., 2015). in this context, rituals play a role in uniting individuals from diverse backgrounds. among the ndemu community, which forms the basis of turner’s research, rituals address divisions stemming from traditional political contestation and social conflict. according to turner, through ritual practice, members of a community experience a profound emotional and spiritual bond, which in turn fortifies social cohesion (sahar, 2019). turner interprets rituals as symbolic vessels that are rich in meaning for both social and religious life. these symbols not only reflect cultural values but also possess the power to connect individuals and communities with the transcendent or supernatural dimension (bruner et al., 1986; turner, 2000; haggar, 2024). in turner’s perspective, ritual symbols generate shared values and norms (dawsey, 2021), which—within the context of this study— [ 89 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 are understood to contribute to the construction of social cohesion and to support the idea of religious moderation. participation in such rituals allows individuals and their communities to engage simultaneously in two interconnected dimensions: symbolic action and the internalization of shared values and norms essential to their collective identity (tawabie & amin, 2024). during filed observations, researchers found that lilen (candles), one of the central elements in the san juan ritual, embody symbolic dimensions as proposed by turner (turner, 2000; sahar, 2019; uhrin, 2020; kapferer & gold, 2024). in the san juan ritual, candles—traditionally representing the divine light or the presence of god in christian, particularly catholic, liturgical practice (martasudjita, 1998; martasudjita, 2011) —are accorded a place of special reverence (ege, 2010; anikpe et al., 2021). within the ritual, lilen (candles) serve as a medium for the encounter between “the social” and “the divine.” the social dimension pertains to the religious aspects of communal life, including moral norms, interpersonal relationships, and the collective identity of the community. the divine dimension pertains to the connection between individuals and society with the transcendent or the sacred, and its impact on social action (weber, 1930). according to the researcher, the encounter between “the social” and “the divine” holds significant implications for the fostering of social cohesion and the internalization of religious moderation—particularly from within the practitioner community itself—and can further serve as social capital in building external social cohesion. this perspective is rooted in the foundational assumption that the san juan ritual guides its participants from the profane realm—associated with the concerns of everyday life—into the sacred one (ashkelon, 2020), and then returns them to the profane realm with transformative consequences. this two-dimensional encounter ultimately affects interpersonal relations in the profane realm, as the renewed bond with the divine—strengthened through ritual and symbolic action—shapes subsequent social behavior. for the researcher, analyzing ritual behavior and symbols within the ritual is key to understanding the social structures and processes that characterize a society, as well as the broader social phenomena at play. studies on religious and cultural symbols have been carried out by numerous scholars, including those on ritual symbols in relation to community identity and symbols and social harmony (iswanto & kawanggung, 2021); religious symbols and consumer brand preferences (agarwala et al., 2021); the orchestration of the islamic call to prayer (adhan) and the tolling of church bells as sacred symbols in fostering social harmony (zahra et al., 2022); [ 90 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 symbols as elements of human life as homo symbolicus (neacșu, 2024); and wayang as a national symbol of indonesia and a medium for contextualizing religious teachings (rumbay et al., 2024). however, these studies have not deeply explored how the creation and use of such symbols affect social cohesion and religious moderation. this gap is precisely what the present study aims to address, drawing on victor turner’s theoretical framework (perspective). the researcher posits that rituals and their symbols serve as media or instruments for fostering social cohesion within society (wirata, 2023; azka et al., 2024; atasoge et al., 2022). lilen as the central symbol of ritual practice, communal gathering, and collective participation, holds significant implications for efforts to build a cohesive society. the ideal of building a cohesive society is also part of the promotion of religious moderation in indonesia (fuadi et al., 2023; pajarianto et al., 2022; wisnarni, 2023; gaffar et al., 2022). however, these studies do not specifically examine religious moderation in relation to religious and cultural symbols or social cohesion within a multi-religious context. in this regard, the main point that distinguishes this study from previous studies is the argument that the san juan ritual, along with the understanding of its accompanying symbols, enables its practitioners to foster social cohesion and ground the ideal of religious moderation within the multi-religious context of larantuka in particular, and indonesia in general. the researcher maintains that the san juan ritual can serve as both inspiration and guiding spirit in efforts to fortify and strengthen the idea of religious moderation—an ideal that culminates in the preservation and nurturing of social harmony in indonesia, viewed through the lens of local wisdom (yusuf 2022; sunarno et al., 2023). this study supports and enriches the study of religious moderation in a multicultural and multireligious society in indonesia from a sociological perspective that uses local wisdom as its foundational approach. this is important, as such studies can contribute to strengthening national unity and reducing the potential for discrimination and social conflict among communities, while also harnessing indonesia’s diversity to foster social cohesion (anggoro, 2022; regus, 2022; sunarno et al., 2023). the study of the san juan ritual within the framework of social cohesion and religious moderation was conducted using qualitative research methods, aligning with the researcher’s objective to explore and analyze the knowledge, experiences, opinions, and sentiments of informants regarding the process, implementation, and implications of the san juan ritual. the study took place from january to june 2025. the research approach integrated both [ 91 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 anthropological and sociological perspectives. from an anthropological standpoint, with an emphasis on the etic perspective, the researcher examined the relevance, purpose, and benefits of the study, interpreting and treating the field data in accordance with its nature and quality, while also taking into account the emic perspective (ratna, 2010). meanwhile, from a sociological perspective, the researcher examined the interaction between the worldview and everyday practices of the san juan community as the principal custodian of the ritual tradition (northcott, 2020). participatory observation was chosen as method to obtain objektive data. this dual perspective facilitated a comprehensive understanding of the social structure, interpersonal interactions, and social phenomena present among members of the san juan ritual community (northcott, 2020). the community targeted in this study comprises 11 neighborhoods within the san juan lebao parish, larantuka, east flores, ntt. these include the neighborhoods of senhora lajari gege, santa anna lebao ii, santu aloysius lebao i, santu antonius riang nyiur, hati amat kudus yesus tabali, tuan meninu kota rowido i, santu yoseph kota rowido ii, santu fransiskus kota rowido iii, santu antonius kota sau i, and santu paulus kota sau ii. data were obtained through field observations and structured interviews with 25 informants, including cultural leaders, religious leaders, government officials, educators (both male and female), and youth (both male and female). informants were selected using probability sampling based on four criteria: (1) the extensive knowledge held by cultural, religious, and governmental figures regarding the san juan ritual; (2) gender representation; (3) generational representation, encompassing both elders as tradition custodians and youth as tradition successors; and (4) the potential for dissemination of study findings through educators. to ensure the study’s validity and reliability, triangulation techniques were used (bekhet & zauszniewski, 2012). the data of field analysis proceeded in three main stages: (a) data reduction, involving the organization of raw data into a more systematic and thematic format; (b) data display, involving the presentation of study findings in the form of direct quotations from interviews; and (c) data verification, involving the reexamination and interpretation of the data obtained in line with emerging patterns and trends. the processed data of field were then analyzed through two analytical techniques. first, descriptive analysis was conducted as the basis for contextual interpretation. second, content analysis was conducted by following the procedures outlined in the research methodology (sugiyono, 2016). these analytical stages and techniques were utilized to formulate valid and meaningful conclusions. [ 92 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 ritual in victor turner’s perspective victor turner closely examined each object, gesture, song or prayer, spatial setting, and temporal moment used in the rituals of the ndemu community. he understood that the presence of these elements—objects, gestures, songs or prayers, spatial setting, and temporal moment—symbolized something beyond their immediate appearance. for turner, all of these elements point toward a transcendent or “other” reality that surpasses their literal form: specifically, the creation and maintenance of ordered social relations within the ndembu community. in his study of the rituals of the ndemu community, turner emphasized the role of symbols as a cohesive force binding individuals in the construction of communal life. he thus regarded symbols as integral elements within the broader system that governs social life (turner, 1977). furthermore, turner showed that analyzing ritual behavior and the symbols contained within rituals provides a key to understanding the social structures and processes, as well as the broader social phenomena at play. according to turner, rites are formalized behaviors performed at specific times that cannot be reduced to mere technological or utilitarian routines, as they are rooted in beliefs concerning mystical beings and supernatural powers (turner, 1967). he defined rituals as repositories of authoritative symbols imbued with supernatural potency, manifested in the form of objects, actions, words, relational dynamics, events, bodily movements, or spatial configurations (turner, 1968). for turner, symbols operate as catalysts within observable social processes. they are capable of inspiring collective action, strengthening communal norms, and mediating conflict. turner views that rituals can assume or compensate for the absence of effective mechanisms of social control—roles that are typically fulfilled by political authorities or kinship systems. rituals serve to remind participants (families, clans, communities) of the core values upheld by the collective. even this regulatory and admonitory function is not exempt from emotional dynamics and potential conflicts. in this process, symbols may reflect both natural needs and social desires. turner asserts that, at this juncture, a symbol unites what is obligatory and what is desired—achieving an intimate synthesis of the material and the moral (turner, 1967). according to turner, such a role is possible because a symbol condenses multiple associations into a single object, expressing seemingly disparate meanings that are interconnected through analogical relationships or associations of facts and ideas (turner, 1967). the symbol simultaneously encompasses two poles of meaning: the ideological or normative pole, which refers to the moral and social order and to broader principles of social organization; and the sensory or [ 93 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 orectic pole, which refers to natural or physiological phenomena and processes, thereby evoking desires and emotional responses at a more fundamental level. for instance, in the rituals of the ndemu community known as nkula—a ‘ritual of suffering’ related to the reproductive or menstrual ailments of female patients—the ritual uses parts of the mukula tree. this tree produces a red sap referred to by the ndembu as “mukula blood.” within the ritual context, this ‘blood’ represents the orectic pole (associated with childbirth) and the normative pole (representing the matrilineal structure of society) (turner, 1968). turner argues that ritual symbols are effective not because they possess a singular, fixed meaning or because they can be clearly and consistently articulated. rather, their significance derives from their multivocality. this multivocality—the capacity of a symbol to convey multiple meanings simultaneously—is especially potent in ritual contexts, and its strength lies in its rich associative potential, particularly when the social order is fragmented or under strain (coleman, 2013). according to the researcher, one of the factors that gives rise to multivocality is what duncan refers to as “significant symbols”—signals that simultaneously stimulate and evoke a shared meaning in both the sender and the receiver (duncan, 1968). when these signals are produced collectively, the symbols that emerge carry dense associative meanings within communal settings. duncan affirms that symbols are not merely personal or subjective; rather, something is symbolized through something else, and that something else is made publicly accessible and socially meaningful. another perspective suggests that rituals and symbols not only serve as means of social order and connection to the transcendent, but also carry subjective meanings that enrich individual experiences. rituals not only unite groups but also serve as arenas for conflict, relational change, and social transformation, especially in the digital age. turner argues that symbols in rituals represent social order; however, this approach can be considered reductionist as it neglects the subjective dimension and the diversity of meanings for individuals who experience them. this is supported by barrett (2023) who states that symbols are not solely connected to transcendental meanings but also enrich life experiences in a more subjective and personal way. symbolism functions to clarify existing meanings and serves as a source of emotional strength in religious practices. in this regard, johannessen & collins (2024) emphasizes that rituals, as social mechanisms, not only unite groups but also facilitate conflict and the transformation of social relations. unlike turner, who associates ritual [ 94 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 with symbol-based order, johannessen & collins highlight the significance of direct physical presence, even as rituals continue to evolve in the digital era. similarly, tavory & hoynes (2025) stress that rituals are not exclusively connected to the transcendent but also operate as social mechanisms that shape and transform interpersonal interactions. the theory of interaction rituals underscores that rituals not only reflect social structures but also promote self-transformation and the reshaping of social relationships. rituals thus open new possibilities for understanding social dynamics and addressing inequalities within interactions. the idealism of a cohesive society in the framework of religious moderation according to gough and olofsson, the concept of social cohesion has emerged and developed through a long and complex history within the realms of social, political, and economic thought. in the 19th century, concerns regarding social order and cohesion became central themes in sociology, as articulated by foundational thinkers such as karl marx, with his emphasis on the division of labor; herbert spencer, with his theory of social evolution; and émile durkheim, with his specific theory of social development. these foundational ideas were later extended by talcott parsons, who emphasized societal integration through a normative system rooted in civil and political culture within the framework of the modern nation-state (gough & olofsson, 1999). marx introduced what is commonly referred to as conflict theory. he maintained that within every social order, regulation of conflicting interests is inevitable. according to marx (and those following his school of thought), the dynamic of conflict between individuals and social groups is an inherent and important element of all societal structures. durkheim, conversely, introduced is commonly referred to as harmony theory. he asserted that the defining feature of any society is the cooperative interaction of social actors, especially in small-scale communities that are already well-integrated. durkheim placed his confidence in the notion that harmony—not conflict—is what defines both the existence and functioning of society. his work was grounded in the analysis of social phenomena that highlight the roles and functions of each member of society in forming and producing what is termed social cohesion. andy green, john preston, and jan germen janmaat state that the term social cohesion refers to a relatively harmonious social condition characterized by low crime rates and high levels of interpersonal and societal trust (green et al., 2006). when expanded, this notion of a relatively harmonious social [ 95 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 condition includes a society marked by high levels of tolerance—both among individuals and between cultures and religious traditions. such a condition is considered a fundamental prerequisite for fostering cooperation between individuals and between individuals and the broader community. in line with this, jensen defines social cohesion as the process involving commitment, willingness, and the capacity to live together in harmony. however, jensen warns that the pursuit of cohesion must be balanced; involving too many social “ties” or insisting on value conformity may lead to stagnation and create a closed, insular community (jensen, 1998). on the other hand, maxwell (as cited in green et al., 2006), emphasizes that social cohesion entails the fostering of shared values and a sense of community. this shared experience generally allows individuals to perceive themselves as participating in a common endeavor, facing shared challenges, and belonging to the same collective identity. (green et al., 2006). the desire to commit to harmonious coexistence among diverse community groups—particularly across ethnic and religious lines—is a central ideal of religious moderation in indonesia. religious moderation is understood as a perspective, attitude, and behavior, both individual and communal, that consistently seeks a middle path, upholds justice, and avoids religious extremism (ministry of religious affairs, 2019; aksa & nurhayati, 2020; rohmadi et al., 2022; mujahid, 2023; mutawali, 2023). a just and balanced disposition constitutes the foundation of religious moderation, alongside core values such as tolerance, egalitarianism, deliberation, uprightness, and principled firmness (rahman et al., 2022; wisnarni, 2023). from this perspective, religious moderation is key to fostering a climate of tolerance and harmony within indonesia’s multi-religious society (salim, 2022; sukrawati et al., 2023; hakim et al., 2023). it encourages a balanced way of life that integrates devout practice of one’s own religious beliefs with deep respect for the religious practices of others. this perspective represents a via media (middle way), preventing adherents from falling into extremism or fanaticism (kruja, 2021; bowling, 2021; hefni & muna, 2022; jati et al., 2022). accordingly, the primary goal of promoting religious moderation in indonesia is the creation of harmonious interreligious relations—realized through the practice of one’s own religious beliefs in a way that is balanced, inclusive, and respectful of religious diversity (suhendi & rahman, 2022; yanti et al., 2023; purba et al., 2023). religious moderation is also understood as a means of preventing intolerance and radicalism in religious practice. the concept of moderation is viewed as a response to the rise of violence perpetrated in the name of religion by [ 96 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 groups categorized as extremist, fundamentalist, terrorist, and even certain liberal factions (fuadi et al., 2023). in this context, religious moderation is considered a viable solution to all forms of intolerance that endanger the harmony of religious life. moderate religious attitudes are reflected in four main dimensions. first, a commitment to the nation that respects pluralism and cultural-religious diversity. second, the practice of tolerance, which includes respecting differences in beliefs, doctrines, and religious practices (ridwan & abdurrahim, 2022; manahung et al., 2022). third, the categorical rejection of all forms of violence carried out in the name of religion (santos, 2022); wibowo & pelupessy, 2022). fourth, the recognition, acceptance, and accommodation of the richness of culture and tradition that live and develop within society (sulistyani et al., 2020)minority groups are embedded in the discourse of nationality and social harmony in indonesia. the term social harmony signifies that each race, ethnicity, or religion must be placed in an equal standing/position. the research focuses on understanding the identity negotiation strategies, in establishing the social harmony, that are used by adherents of local religions which are considered minorities in a community where the majority of people believe in formal religions. this study uses the co-cultural theory and employs a phenomenology research method to explores the way in which co-cultural groups’ members negotiate their cultural differences with the members of dominant groups. the groups that are chosen as the subject of this research are the religious groups that live in a relatively supportive community (kawruh jiwa. thus, religious moderation essentially encompasses teachings, principles, and values regarding how the faithful should embody and live out their religious convictions—especially in fostering respectful and constructive relationships with others, both within their own religious community and across different faith traditions (rahman et al., 2022). the encounter between the san juan ritual and the ideals of religious moderation invites both cultural practitioners and religious adherents to express a spirit of unity, solidarity, and harmony in diversity (harahap et al., 2023north sumatra requires a long transformation within the framework of religious moderation to build harmony and maturity. this study aims to reveal the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the bubble of north sumatra’s local wisdom. this research employs a descriptive qualitative method by involving six subjects who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. subject criteria are natives of north sumatra and have sufficient knowledge of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatra. in[ 97 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 depth interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect the required data. this study reveals a vast spectrum of diversity among the north sumatrans. in the meantime, religious moderation is evidence of upholding religious ideals integrated with the local culture. moreover, this research also shows how the people of north sumatra from the following three regions, (1; wiguna & andari, 2023). therefore, in the context of religious life, the willingness to engage with and accommodate local culture encourages the faithful and broader society to adopt an inclusive and tolerant attitude toward diversity, thereby fostering a religious atmosphere that is peaceful, dynamic, and enthusiastic (harahap et al., 2023)north sumatra requires a long transformation within the framework of religious moderation to build harmony and maturity. this study aims to reveal the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the bubble of north sumatra’s local wisdom. this research employs a descriptive qualitative method by involving six subjects who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. subject criteria are natives of north sumatra and have sufficient knowledge of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatra. in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect the required data. this study reveals a vast spectrum of diversity among the north sumatrans. in the meantime, religious moderation is evidence of upholding religious ideals integrated with the local culture. moreover, this research also shows how the people of north sumatra from the following three regions, (1. the ritual of san juan as a symbol according to turner, rituals serve as symbols of broader realities, particularly social order. social order refers to the condition of a society that lives in harmony, which in this study is interpreted as social cohesion—a consequence of communal adherence to shared rules, norms, and values (azizah et al., 2021). the san juan ritual is governed by a series of regulations and stages that are executed based on collective agreements within the community, under the guidance of two main institutions: adat (traditional institutions) and the church. adherence to these is essential to ensure order throughout each stage of the ritual. this adherence is most visibly manifested in the process of making lilen (candles), which follows specific requirements in terms of raw materials, shape, and quantity according to the ritual’s needs. the ethnographic field study of the san juan ritual examines the ritual as a symbolic action, consistent with turner’s perspective. the san juan ritual, as a cultural and religious symbol, serves to reproduce and reinforce the shared values and beliefs of the community (haggar, 2024). these shared [ 98 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 values and beliefs constitute the moral and spiritual principles, worldviews, and convictions held by the people, shaping behavioral norms, interpersonal relations, and the communal understanding of what is good, true, and ideal (al-fairusy et al., 2024). the following are excerpts of ideas from informants that affirm this perspective: “truly living out faith in jesus christ and having the willingness to repent and return to the righteous path.” (i-11). “the san juan procession is an opportunity to foster unity and strength among the seven neighborhoods (villages) without neglecting the celebration of sacred rituals.” (i-16). “praising and glorifying the greatness of god through saint john the baptist as the patron saint of the parish, while fostering closer brotherhood and togetherness.” (i-20). “the faithful of san juan parish understands this as a symbol of unity— by being fully involved from the eucharistic devotion to the evening procession.” (i-23) turner, as cited by al-fairusy, suggested that values and beliefs form a collective identity for the community that observes ritual practices and serve as guiding principles for their actions. these shared values and beliefs also foster the preservation of social order and encourage cooperation among members of the community (al-fairusy et al., 2024). in this context, the san juan ritual affirms turner’s theoretical ideal, as reflected in the following excerpts of ideas from informants: “in addition to practicing devotion and reverence toward the sacrament, there is also cooperation, solidarity, and collaboration among the faithful, the government, the church, and traditional institutions.” (i-6) “all members of the faithful are called to support one another, to strengthen each other, and to live in the love of brotherhood at all times and in all places, both in joy and in sorrow.” (i-9) “as a community, this ritual increasingly binds individuals together in a spirit of unity, familial bonds, and neighborly relations, involving both those physically present and those participating morally.” (i-13) “we respect and appreciate one another—the faithful of san juan parish, the faithful from nearby parishes, fellow catholics, and those of different religious traditions.” (i-17) “the central message of this ritual is to continually uphold harmony within the family, the community, and the religious diversity that exists within the territory of san juan parish in lebao tengah.” (i-18) “the unity fostered through this ritual serves as a foundation of strength within diversity.” (i-22). [ 99 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 when functioning as a moral and spiritual guideline for its participants, the san juan ritual also creates a framework for regulating their actions. this element of regulation is evident in the structured sequence of ritual stages, such as the registration of mardomu, the pouring of candles (tuang lilen), the peresa lilen, the san juan procession (persisan), and serah punto dama. the roles assumed by traditional leaders and institutions, the mardomu and the broader community form an integral part of the social order that serves as a prototype for achieving social cohesion (kasidi et al., 2023; akbar et al., 2023). traditional leader and local institution often serve as mediator in social conflicts, including those involving differences in belief. they posses cultural authority to cultivate a spirit of tolerance and diversity. on the other hand, the role of mardomu (which can be understood as figures who nurture or safeguard social values) is vital in fostering harmony. they can serve as models of integrity, preserving religious values the remain inclusive and peaceful. likewise, the broader community acts as a space for cross-identity interaction. when moderate values are instilled through local culture, society can coexist peacefully despite religious defferences. these elements are the very essence of religious moderation. in the san juan ritual, candles (lilen) are one of the central symbolic elements that attract the focus and devotion of the community. turner highlights the role of symbols as cohesive agents in human social relationships, contributing to the creation of shared life and mutual understanding. he argues that symbols integrate the obligatory and the desireable—forming an intimate union of the material and the moral (turner, 1967). in this context, the researcher have identified two underlying aspects of the symbolic role of candles. first, the san juan ritual and lilen (candles) function as symbols that shape and express the collective identity of the participating community. second, the san juan ritual and lilen, as its central symbol, act as social mechanisms that strengthen the solidarity of community groups. the ideas shared by informants, as previously discussed, affirm these findings. during the san juan ritual, thousands of candles are burned (lit) along the path traversed by the image of saint john the baptist, represented by a statue, and by christ, present in the blessed sacrament. these candles also accompany the faithful—those who participate in the ritual by carrying candles in their hands, walking in procession with saint john and the eucharistic christ, while praying and singing together (valdés, 2022). the faithful come bearing countless permesa (form or intention: progress in household economic endeavors, protection from disasters and dangers, abundant harvests, and the restoration of unity among divided families and tribes are highly valued). [ 100 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 conversely, realities such as family poverty due to crop failure, the collapse of the family economy, and persistent disputes and conflicts within families and tribes are perceived as dark situations that burden this region. the candles in the san juan ritual serve as a metaphorical unveiling of the darkness that covers the land of san juan; they bring forth a new spiritual atmosphere in which what was hidden is revealed, what was veiled is interpreted, and what was in darkness is enlightened. in the christian tradition, candles symbolize christ and those who profess faith in him. “christ is the light of the world” (john 8:12), and this light is extended to all christians, as jesus proclaimed in matthew 5:14,16: “you are the light of the world.” (rachman, 2009). when this theological symbolism is inculturated into the context of the san juan religious tradition, its meaning and significance can be interpreted as follows: the candles in the san juan ritual symbolize both christ and the faithful of san juan parish. from this, two logical consequences arise, each carrying profound meaning. first, the candles in the san juan ritual are christ. the candles in the san juan ritual are made collectively: women boil the wax, pour it over a wick, compact it, pour again and compact it repeatedly; the traditional leaders and institutions observe the process attentively; and all participants present are involved in assisting the making of the candles. this process demonstrates the cohesiveness of the san juan community. in this, christ—as the symbol of the light of the world—is being symbolically created in san juan: he is heated to a boil (discussed, preached, prayed to, sought, worshiped) in the crucible of san juan communal life; he is poured over the threads of their lives (lives marked by burdens and suffering) (malbrough, 2016). he is then lined up—set in place along bamboo fences throughout the procession route—as a light that illuminates everything: the faithful and their surroundings (olaveson, 2001). he who is symbolically “created” becomes the one who brings light (gamu & manik, 2023)—the light that frees them from the darkness of oppression, intimidation, conflict, and hardship, including failed harvests, poverty, and the social challenges endured by migrant families. second, the candles in the san juan ritual represent the faithful of san juan parish. just like christ, the faithful of san juan parish are also engaged in their own transformation. they gather, refine themselves, and are “heated” (working, studying, striving to survive) until they are poured into the threads of their lives (family, clan, community). like christ, they are ultimately set in place as light on the night of san juan, june 24th each year. they, too, appear as light illuminating their surroundings (shedding light on what is hidden, bringing wrongdoing, falsehood, and evil into the open to be confronted and [ 101 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 resolved). they illuminate a troubled world—confused, impoverished, and suffering—while simultaneously revealing more clearly the face of christ: christ who is discussed, preached, prayed to, sought, worshiped; christ who lies down with an empty stomach; christ who is evicted from the markets of larantuka by tax collectors; christ who hauls boats with empty baskets; christ who is abandoned by her husband, terrorized, and stripped of her rights. the unity among the faithful reveals their shared social existence—joined hand in hand as they walk together through the struggles of life (tawabie & amin, 2024). christ and the faithful of san juan parish both manifest as lilen (candles). these candles share the same mission: to make all things bright, visible, understandable, and meaningful. though both are candles, christ is presented as the main candle (main lilen), from whom new light flows to the other candles—the faithful of san juan parish. this pilgrimage of light from the main candle to the smaller candles evokes the catholic church’s easter vigil liturgy: the lighting of the paschal candle (windhu, 1997; martasudjita, 1998b). the paschal candle is the symbol of the light of the risen christ. the faithful bring their own candles and light them from the paschal flame. through this act, they commit themselves to carry the light of christ into their daily lives. likewise, by receiving light from the main candle in the san juan ritual, the community steps into its own troubled world carrying the light—seeking to illuminate problems and discover paths toward resolution. socio-religious consequences of promoting religious moderation the faithful’ anxiety and hope, together with the testimony and gaze of the candles, reflect their concern for the future, their longing for a life of beauty and dignity, as well as their witness to a prevailing darkness—a gaze that expresses a cry for solidarity. this solidarity is a recurring plea: to be truly enlightened and accompanied. from this phenomenon, several consequences can be analyzed in relation to the dimensions of anxiety, hope, testimony, and expression, particularly within the context of the san juan church. as a church that serves as a sign and instrument of salvation (sacramentum salutis), san juan plays a vital role in offering a space for spiritual reflection, especially for individuals seeking meaning and in responding to various forms of socio-religious distress. this perspective highlights the church not only as a theological institution but also as a social agent that upholds human dignity and solidarity, contributing to the construction of a more meaningful and just life for the faithful. [ 102 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 first, the faithful who are burdened by personal anxiety and suffering need the comforting outreach of the san juan church—a hand that extends the light of peace and hope, fostering assurance, unity, and solidarity. this embodies the church’s preferential option for the poor, the weak, and the suffering. in this context, partisanship refers to an ecclesial solidarity—an intentional and committed choice to embrace the struggles, challenges, and full participation of the marginalized as one’s own. this solidarity is essential to building a just and harmonious society. it aligns with the vision aspired by the promotion of religious moderation in indonesia (inayatillah et al., 2022; ma’arif et al., 2023; wisnarni, 2023; harahap et al., 2023)north sumatra requires a long transformation within the framework of religious moderation to build harmony and maturity. this study aims to reveal the dynamic spectrum of religious moderation in the bubble of north sumatra’s local wisdom. this research employs a descriptive qualitative method by involving six subjects who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. subject criteria are natives of north sumatra and have sufficient knowledge of religious moderation in the local custom of north sumatra. in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect the required data. this study reveals a vast spectrum of diversity among the north sumatrans. in the meantime, religious moderation is evidence of upholding religious ideals integrated with the local culture. moreover, this research also shows how the people of north sumatra from the following three regions, (1. in the context of grounding the ideal of religious moderation, a key step that must be considered is building a san juan church that is inclusive of social realities. an inclusive san juan church can be recognized through the following expressions of its presence. the church holds a strategic role in providing spiritual accompaniment to pilgrims who experience anxiety and suffering, through counseling, faith reflection, and pastoral guidance oriented toward psychosocial recovery and spiritual well-being. religious community-based support can significantly increase individual resilience in facing emotional and social crises (borualogo et al., 2023). in addition, a pastoral approach that emphasizes the strengthening of hope and a sense of belonging within the faith community aligns with the concept of spiritual well-being developed in the psychology of religion (bili et al., 2022). in this way, the church functions not only as a place of worship but also as a space of healing for those seeking meaning and peace on their spiritual journey. one tangible expression of this vision is the community’s economic empowerment through skills development and entrepreneurship programs aimed at promoting the independence of the poor and vulnerable. this [ 103 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 approach is consistent with the concept of a community-based economy that prioritizes solidarity and shared prosperity (mannahali et al., 2024). community-based initiatives, such as agricultural or handicraft training, can increase access to economic resources and strengthen social resilience in multicultural and multireligious environments (kasman, 2024; sagajoka & fatima, 2023). in this way, the church functions not only as a spiritual center but also as an agent of social transformation that contributes to equitable and inclusive economic development. in more specific contexts, the san juan church can function as a facilitator in promoting religious moderation and social solidarity through regular interfaith and intercultural engagements, such as dialogue sessions, social outreach, and religious festivals. these initiatives align with the concept of religious moderation, which emphasizes tolerance, inclusivity, and dialogue (nurlaili et al., 2024; munif et al., 2023; aelbrecht & stevens, 2023). moreover, this community-based approach is supported by the theory of social cohesion, which shows that positive intergroup interactions can strengthen solidarity and harmony in a multicultural society (hellgren & zapata-barrero, 2022). in this way, the church functions not only as a place of worship but also a center of social dialogue that contributes to the fostering of a more peaceful and balanced communal life. from the perspective of a multireligious society and the principles of religious moderation, the san juan church must function as a space of inclusivity and solidarity for communities on pilgrimage and those striving to live a dignified life. as part of the broader communion of the church, its leaders and faithful are called to move beyond institutional comfort and engage with smaller ecclesial communities and marginalized groups experiencing social, economic, and political distress. the san juan church, inspired by the spirit of lilen utama, must become a beacon of light for a multicultural and multireligious society, embodying the values of religious moderation that prioritize dialogue, tolerance, and a preferential option for the vulnerable (albahri & alfauzan, 2023; nurlaili et al., 2024; fuadi et al., 2023; mutawali, 2023). a church that stands with the poor and suffering is not one confined to grand altars, but one actively present in the social struggles of its people. this vision is aligned with the principles of liberation theology, which emphasize prophetic action and engagement in the pursuit of social justice ( missa, 2024). therefore, the san juan church is called to reflect on how lilen utama can truly serve as a guiding light in the midst of social darkness—by advocating for the rights of the oppressed and fostering interfaith solidarity as a foundation for building a more just and harmonious society. [ 104 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 second, in the context of religious moderation, the san juan church bears a moral and social responsibility to embrace and support smaller churches facing various challenges, such as poverty, oppression, and social conflict. indifference to these realities indicates that the san juan ritual has not yet fully functioned as a transformative force within society. in line with the concept of social cohesion, the church must act as an agent of solidarity—one that not only strengthens spiritual bonds but also brings tangible improvements to the social welfare of its faithful (alfiansyah, 2023). religious rituals that fail to address the needs of vulnerable communities risk becoming mere ceremonial expressions, devoid of the substance necessary for real social transformation (tawabie & amin, 2024). therefore, the church must take proactive steps to ensure that the spirituality it promotes is not exclusive but actively contributes to social justice and the common good. the social cohesion fostered through the san juan ritual holds significant potential to reinforce religious moderation, particularly in multicultural and multireligious contexts. this ritual should serve as a space where diverse groups can engage in positive interaction, cultivate mutual understanding, and strengthen interfaith solidarity (hasanah, 2023; hulu et al., 2024). when religious communities unite in shared social commitment and communal life, they can become a powerful force in addressing social and economic disparities (fakhrudin, 2024). in this regard, religious moderation should not be seen as passive tolerance but as active engagement that affirms the values of justice and the common good. at this level, religious moderation becomes not only a conceptual framework but also a grassroots social movement involving community actors in the pursuit of harmony (wardi et al., 2023; wiguna & andari, 2023; nurlaili et al., 2024). thus, the san juan ritual should be further oriented toward fostering harmonious social relations and cultivating collective awareness of the need for concrete action in building a more inclusive and just society. conclusion rituals and symbols play a vital role as mediating instruments and gateways in fostering social cohesion in indonesia—a nation characterized by profound religious and cultural diversity. through various religious rituals, communities experience a sense of togetherness, strengthen the values of tolerance, and foster mutual respect among groups of differing faith traditions. religious symbols—whether expressed through customs, sacred architecture, or other forms of cultural expression—also function as cohesive elements that bind individuals to their communities, reinforce a shared identity, and promote [ 105 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3566 harmonious intergroup relations. when embraced as instruments of unity, rituals and symbols serve as effective vehicles for realizing the ideals of religious moderation, in which each individual is nurtured in a deeper understanding of the value of pluralism and a commitment to sustaining a peaceful and respectful religious coexistence. these efforts form a crucial foundation for building an inclusive society grounded in the principle of unity in diversity. this study affirms and supports various initiatives led by the indonesian government and local communities that seek to safeguard religious rituals as expressions of local wisdom—which carry deep cultural and theological significance. these efforts aim to preserve traditions that function not only as expressions of religious devotion but also as markers of social identity that reinforce solidarity and harmony within a pluralistic society. by sustaining these rituals, communities are able to deepen their spiritual values, enrich their cultural heritage, and open meaningful spaces for inclusive interreligious and intercultural dialogue. this study highlights the importance of safeguarding ritual practice as an essential component of the social ecosystem—preserving the delicate balance between tradition and progress. subsequent studies can be undertaken to explore how religious moderation is implemented within various religious rituals in multicultural societies. they could compare interfaith dialogue strategies in indonesia with those in other asian and global contexts to identify effective patterns of interaction in fostering social cohesion. another important area for exploration is how religious rituals can be transformed to become more inclusive of vulnerable groups, such as religious minorities and individuals with special needs. such studies are expected to critically assess the role of rituals as instruments of unity that remain relevant amid ongoing social and technological change. bibliography aelbrecht, p., & stevens, q. 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(2023). the religious moderation in the family and the character education: appreciating local cultures and other religions. logos (lithuania), 115, 159–169. https://doi.org/10.24101/logos.2023.40 yanti, d. h., adde, e., solihin, m., & armadila, a. (2023). toleransi antar umat beragama perspektif al-quran. pawarta: journal of communication and da’wah, 1(2), 101–112. https://doi.org/10.54090/pawarta.275 yusuf, m. a. (2022). integrasi, komunikasi komunitas santri batang dalam pencegahan intoleransi beragama. jurnal indonesia sosial sains, 3(08), 1149–1158. https://doi.org/10.36418/jiss.v3i8.632 zahra, f.-, basri, m. h., arifin, z.-, & surachman, a. i. (2022). subuh orchestra of religious harmony of baitunnur mosque and santo yusuf catholics church in pati central java. fikrah, 10(1), 19. https://doi. org/10.21043/fikrah.v10i1.12065 [ 115 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 resistance of traditionalist islam to the influence of transnational movements within campus environment ilyya muhsin universitas islam negeri (uin) salatiga email: ilyya_muhsin@uinsalatiga.ac.id miftahuddin universitas islam negeri (uin) salatiga email: miftahuddin@uinsalatiga.ac.id muhammad chairul huda universitas islam negeri (uin) salatiga email: choirulhuda@uinsalatiga.ac.id sukron ma’mun universitas islam negeri (uin) salatiga email: sukron.mn@uinsalatiga.ac.id roma wijaya ankara university, ankara, türkiye email: rwijaya@ankara.edu.tr abstract this study aims to analyze the efforts of traditionalist islamic groups within indonesian universities to counter the growing influence of transnational islamic movements. employing a qualitative research methodology, the study provides a comprehensive examination of the dynamics between transnational movements -such as hizbut tahrir indonesia, jamaah tarbiyah, and jamaah salafiand traditional islamic organizations, notably nahdlatul ulama (nu) and the indonesian islamic student movement (pmii), within the context of the university of yogyakarta. the findings reveal that transnational islamic movements have strategically utilized existing campus infrastructure to expand their influence. the ideological contestation is accompanied by movement-based tensions, as traditionalist groups actively resist the growing presence of these transnational actors. the study concludes that universities play a critical role in mitigating radicalism by engaging constructively with the ideological frameworks of transnational islamic movements. keywords: traditionalist islam; transnational movements; higher education environment [ 116 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 introduction campus radicalism remains a persistent concern in indonesia (harahap, et. al., 2018). several violent incidents have highlighted how radical ideologies have infiltrated university environments. on june 3, 2019, a suicide bombing in surakarta was carried out by rofik ansharuddin, a university student, who had previously declared allegiance to isis leader abu bakr al-baghdadi via social media (antara, 2017). later that year, on november 13, rabbial muslim nasution detonated a bomb at the medan police headquarters, killing himself and six others; nasution was just 11 years old and still in school (bnpt media centre for peace). these cases underscore the role educational institutions may play in fostering or failing to prevent radicalization. empirical data reinforce these concerns. according to a survey by the indonesian national counterterrorism agency (bnpt), 39% of students in 15 provinces expressed sympathy for radical ideologies (antara, 2017). similarly, the state intelligence agency confirmed that 39% of students at public universities (perguruan tinggi negeri/ptn) showed signs of extremist leanings (unusia, 2010). the setara institute further identified ten indonesian universities as particularly vulnerable to radical influences. president joko widodo has also acknowledged the infiltration of radical ideas into educational institutions, including universities. scholars have extensively examined the role of transnational islamic movements in shaping campus radicalism. research by lppm unusia (2010) indicates the political dominance of the muslim brotherhood (ikhwan al-muslimin) in universities across central java and yogyakarta, while salafi-jihadist groups focus more on religious propaganda. tahir (2015) highlights that students are often recruited by religious figures lacking formal theological education, using ideological indoctrination that leads to radical behavior and violence. khamid (2016) emphasizes that radical islamic violence is often justified through selective and literal interpretations of scripture, particularly targeting university youth. rijal (2011) traces the roots of hizb al-tahrir indonesia (hti) to transnational islamic actors who disseminated their ideology through campus da’wah institutions, notably at itb and ipb. adiwilaga (2017) warns that puritan movements such as these not only undermine the indonesian state ideology of pancasila but also foster intolerance and exclusivism. building on these studies, this research focuses on the university of yogyakarta (uy), a historically significant and nationally respected state university (andries, 2012), as a case study for understanding the contemporary dynamics of campus radicalism. this article investigates how transnational islamic movements at uy pursue their ideological agendas and how traditional [ 117 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 islamic actors respond in efforts to resist radicalism and uphold inclusive religious practices. the choice of uy is deliberate, as it serves as a microcosm of broader national trends in the intersection between transnational islamic movements and student activism. this study adopts a qualitative research design, utilizing interviews, document analysis, and field observations (andries, 2012). participants were identified using purposive and snowball sampling, targeting student activists affiliated with transnational islamic movements. one challenge in data collection stemmed from the disbandment of hti in 2017, which forced affiliated student groups like gema liberation to operate clandestinely (prasetio, 2020). nevertheless, insights were gathered from both primary sources, including interviews and organizational documents, and secondary literature, such as academic books and journal articles. for analysis, this research employs the triangulation method developed by miles et al. (2014 and 1994), which involves an iterative cycle of data collection, reduction, display, and verification to ensure reliability and validity. the triangulation process allows for the systematic interpretation of patterns in how transnational islamic groups operate within university environments. this study underscores the urgency of examining radicalization among transnational islamic groups on university campuses. these groups view students as key targets for recruitment, considering them future leaders and opinion shapers (aper & hinkle, 1991). if left unchecked, the spread of radical ideologies among university students may pose a serious threat to indonesia’s national integrity and social cohesion (singh, 2004). understanding the mechanisms by which transnational islamic movements mobilize resources and influence student bodies is crucial for designing effective counterradicalization strategies. in this context, moderate islamic groups must develop a nuanced understanding of these movements to offer viable ideological alternatives and promote tolerance on campus. transnational islam in the theory of mobilization wahid (2009) defines transnational islam as indonesian islamic religious movements controlled by transnational networks. their presence threatens the nation and state because he divides the community with islamism. islamism is an islamic movement that governs all aspects of human life, including economic, legal, social, political, and state administration (berman, 2003). the transnational islamic movement views islam as a political ideology rather than a religious movement with the goal of establishing an islamic state (roy, [ 118 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 1998). this ideology is textual, scriptural, fundamentalist, and intolerant. islamic symbols are used to stir up religious fundamentalism with slogans like “syar’i” and “hijrah” this radicalism encourages violence and destruction in the name of religion, kills people in the name of god’s verses, and doesn’t believe other muslims. this movement aims to purify islam’s teachings and eliminate indonesia’s moderate islam. parts of islam in indonesia that fit with customs, traditions, culture, and “volkgeist” are called superstition by islamists. moderate islamic practices in indonesia, like slametan, tahlilan, manaqiban, and grave pilgrimages, are shirk. a number of transnational islamic movements, including the hti, the muslim brotherhood, jamaah islamiyah, wahhabis, and salafi jihadists from iraq and afghanistan, have made their way into indonesia (fox, 2004; suharto, 2014). despite their distinct historical backgrounds, these organizations are all on the same spectrum when it comes to establishing a caliphate and enforcing islamic sharia law. because it has the largest muslim population in the world, indonesia is a prime target for islamists and other types of radicals. islamism was introduced to indonesia in the 1980s by graduates of indonesian universities who had studied in the middle east. in the beginning, it made use of underground movements to disseminate propaganda to students attending public universities. university campuses became production centers for congregations and regeneration centers following the overthrow of the suharto regime (van bruinessen, 2002) and the growth of democracy in indonesia. congregations of an islamist student group can be found on most campuses. students from the indonesian muslim student action unit (kesatuan aksi mahasisswa mulsim indonesia, kammi), which is a wing of the islamic movement (ikhwanul muslimin, im), gema liberation (gerakan pembebasan, gp), which is a wing of the holy trinity institute (hti), and salafi jihadist students who lead cultural movements in campus mosques. this wing organization’s goals include the establishment of student congregations and the rectification of islam. after the reforms in indonesian higher education, this islamic student organization flourished there. the student wing of the transnational islamic movement will be analyzed through the lens of social movement theory by the researcher. according to locher (2002), social movement theory can be categorized into four main approaches: mass society theory, relative deprivation theory, political process theory, and resource mobilization theory. mass society theory posits that social movements arise from the alienation of individuals from established social structures, particularly in contexts of rapid social change or modernization (kornhauser & horowitz, 2017). relative deprivation theory, [ 119 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 on the other hand, emphasizes the perceived sense of injustice experienced when social expectations exceed actual conditions (davies, 1962). political process theory conceptualizes social movements as outcomes of the interaction between political opportunity structures, organizational capacity, and cognitive readiness among participants (mcadam, 1999). shifts in political power dynamics are seen as enabling conditions for collective mobilization. resource mobilization theory, initially developed by oberschall (1973), focuses on the strategic and organizational capabilities of movements to mobilize and utilize resources such as funding, networks, information, and leadership. this framework was later refined by mccarthy & zald (2012), who introduced the concept of social movement organizations (smos) as key actors in sustaining mobilization. among these perspectives, resource mobilization theory is regarded as the most influential in contemporary social movement research, offering a robust and practical analytical lens through which to examine movement dynamics and longevity. transnational islamic movements and their influence on university of yogyakarta we typically rejoice at the toppling of oppressive governments. the hope for greater freedom and democracy following the collapse of the previous regime created the illusion of surplus. it offers a fresh premise on which to build the democratic success of a nation (huntington, 2005). that occurred on may 28, 1998, when president soeharto’s new order regime finally fell after 32 years in power (romli, 2006). since then, many facets of indonesian society have undergone rapid transformations as a direct result of the widespread turning on of the democracy faucet. even within the muslim community, there are currently active religious groups or movements with clear missions and recognizable symbols. some members of the islamic movement seek to establish an islamic caliphate and base their fight on islamic law. in other words, the rise of radical islamic movements like the transnational islamic movement followed the fall of the new order. several months prior to suharto’s resignation, on february 14, 1998, the ahlu sunnah wal jamaah communication forum (forum komunikasi ahlu sunnah wal jamaah, fkawj) was established in solo. the organization operates from the ihya’ as-sunnah islamic boarding school, located on kaliurang street, approximately 15 kilometers from degolan, pakem, sleman, yogyakarta (nashir, 2007; shaleh, 2001). fkawj was founded by ja’far umar thalib, a prominent indonesian salafi leader. the movement was significantly influenced by the practical application of wahhabi teachings (yusanto, 2003a). [ 120 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 the forum komunikasi ahlus sunnah wal jamaah (fkawj) was founded by ja’far umar thalib in 1998 in response to what he perceived as widespread misunderstanding of islamic teachings and the growing influence of democratic ideas (yusanto, 2003b). rooted in salafism, fkawj rejects independent interpretation (ijtihad) and traditional religious practices (amal & panggabean, 2004). amid indonesia’s political and economic turmoil in 1998, thalib established laskar jihad as fkawj’s militant wing, gaining notoriety through its involvement in the maluku conflict. after witnessing sectarian violence in ambon, thalib issued a three-month ultimatum to the government before mobilizing laskar jihad to the region. on 8 january 2001, local islamic organizations in maluku declared the enforcement of islamic law at the al-fattah mosque (yusanto, 2003b). a controversial incident followed on 27 march 2001, when a laskar jihad member, abdullah, was stoned to death for adultery in ahuru village, reportedly with his consent. thalib was later arrested on 4 may 2001 in connection with the case. laskar jihad was officially disbanded three days after the 2002 bali bombings. members of the islamic defenders front (front pembela islam, fpi) include ulama, dai, and habaib within the islamic community. the organization was founded in 1998 at the al-umm islamic boarding school in ciputat, south jakarta (ngatawi, 2006). according to al-zastrouw’s historical account, the fpi was established to uphold the islamic principle of amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (promoting good and preventing evil). it operates as a nationwide private organisation, claiming a membership of up to five million across 17 provinces, according to its leader, habib rizieq (tempo, 26 november 2000). the group’s paramilitary wing, laskar pembela islam, functions in a quasimilitaristic capacity, often described as enforcing a form of religious morality, leading to the group being labelled by some as a “sharia police”. rather than institutional reform, the fpi prioritizes a movement-based approach aimed at eradicating perceived moral deviance. as noted by fpi secretary general ahmad sabri lubis in an interview with al-zastrouw, the organization values its mission over formal organisational structures, which are seen as contingent upon specific times and contexts. the indonesian mujahideen council (majelis mujahidin indonesia, mmi) was established following the first mujahidin congress held in yogyakarta on 7 august 2000. during this congress, abu bakar ba’asyir was appointed as amir mujahidin (the top leader), marking the formal inception of the movement. in 2003, irfan suryahadi awwas was subsequently elected as chairman of the lajnah tanfidziyah (executive committee). the first mujahideen congress was held in the mandala bhakti wanitatama [ 121 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 building in yogyakarta, indonesia, from august 5-7, 2000, and was attended by over 1,800 people from a wide range of islamic and political groups, including laskar santri, laskar jundullah, badr company, taliban brigade, mujahidin command, and the islamic party. at the conference, participants talked about caliphate, imamate, and jihad (afadlal et al., 2005). for instance, the majority muslim population in indonesia was validated and acknowledged as having the right to practice and enforce islamic law at this first meeting of the yogyakarta charter. islamic law is seen as the only solution to all social and humanitarian crises. according to a 2004 report (amal & panggabean, 2004), the main recommendations for enforcing islamic law in indonesia came from the 1st mujahideen congress. according to this document (awwas, 2001), efforts should be made to strengthen the muslim brotherhood, islamic law should be implemented, and a secular state should be rejected. the document also encourages muslims to cultivate a spirit of tasamuh (tolerance) and to work toward the establishment of islamic law. on 26 march 2001, at istora senayan in jakarta, radical islamic leaders formally declared the establishment of the indonesian mujahideen council (mmi). the organization aims to incorporate islamic law into indonesia’s legal system through constitutional reform, drawing inspiration from the yogyakarta charter. mmi asserts that the country’s ongoing multidimensional crisis can only be resolved through the implementation of islamic law (amal & panggabean, 2004). yogyakarta is considered a central hub for the radical islamic movement in indonesia, coinciding with the emergence of more structured and institutionalized transnational islamic groups, including jamaah tarbiyah, hizb al-tahrir (ht), jamaah tabligh, and the salafi movement. in this context, the salafi movement occupies a peripheral position within university life, with its adherents often establishing mosques in residential areas beyond the immediate proximity of university campuses. these mosques serve as strategic bases for disseminating their ideology and garnering support. this trend has emerged as a widespread phenomenon across indonesia, including in yogyakarta. the nature and content of the teachings promoted by the salafi movement significantly influence the religious literacy of young people who are still in the formative stages of understanding their faith. consequently, the salafi movement, exemplified by the figure of ja’far umar thalib, can be seen as a prominent representation of islamic activism in yogyakarta. the tablighi jamaat has a significant presence in yogyakarta, which has emerged as one of the movement’s key centers of activity and religious study. yogyakarta also serves as a hub for its publication efforts, with institutions [ 122 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 such as al-thaha and pustaka illahi, located in doha near islamic university of yogyakarta, actively disseminating tablighi literature. according to a shura council expert from the jami kebon jeruk mosque—who oversees tablighi jamaat activities nationally, including its publishing—these initiatives reflect the group’s strategic role in the region (ichwan & shaleh, 2019). in addition to tablighi jamaat, yogyakarta is home to a number of other islamic groups, such as gpsi (gerakan pemuda surga indonesia), the kaaba youth movement, the anti-drug movement (gerakan anti narkoba or “grenades”), laskar sabilillah, laskar jundullah, and the mosque youth gathering forum. these groups have been particularly active in campaigns against gambling, alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. moreover, the islamic community forum (fui) and the islamic jihad front (fji) are notably prominent in defending islamic values in yogyakarta. if the radical islamic movement in yogyakarta aligns with the characterization often attributed to it, it seeks to establish islamic law, or even an islamic state, within indonesia. the potential influence of such movements on students at uy is therefore significant, especially considering the geographical proximity of various radical islamic groups. for example, the al-jihad mosque—associated with the tablighi jamaat—is located just north of the campus, adjacent to the al-ridha mosque (mpr), which functions as a salafi base. additional salafiaffiliated centers, such as the mpd and other mpr mosques, are also situated off-campus near public hospital. yogyakarta is also a notable base for hizb altahrir indonesia (hti), having played a central role in the movement’s early development. key figures such as ismail yusanto (hti’s secretary general), dwi condro (one of the early prominent members), rasyid, yoyok tindyo prasetyo, and bukhari were instrumental in establishing hti’s presence in the region. dwi condro, an alumnus of both uii and ugm yogyakarta, was particularly influential. hizb al-tahrir was first introduced in yogyakarta in 1992, and its presence later expanded to other regions, including bogor, after a decade. hizb al-tahrir (ht) established its presence in yogyakarta through a student group led by rasyid, known own as santer (flying santri). this group served as a forum for students from institutions such as uy who sought deeper religious knowledge but had limited access to it. these students perceived the religious education offered at university as insufficient. in response, hti initiated santer in 1986 as a platform dedicated to the study of islamic religious teachings (muhsin, 2007). rasyid (chairman of dpd i hti yogyakarta), dwi condro (lecturer at stie hamfara yogyakarta and phd in economics from malaysia), abu hanif [ 123 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 (stm development educator), and dr andang (lecturer at uy), along with abu haliya, aris, and karnadi, emerged as key figures in the leadership of hizb al-tahrir indonesia (hti) in yogyakarta. in 1992, twelve leaders from the santer group, who were then hti cadres but not full members, underwent formal ideological training, marking the formation of hti’s regional leadership in yogyakarta. these twelve individuals played a significant role in disseminating hti’s ideology, particularly within uy, highlighting a strong link between hti’s growth and its presence on the uy campus. this connection has significantly influenced student activities at uy. transnational islamic movements such as hti, tarbiyah, salafi jamaat, and tablighi jamaat have established a notable presence at uy. despite uy’s formal identity as a public institution, it has increasingly become a central hub for transnational islamic movements in both yogyakarta and indonesia. undoubtedly, this movement has continued to expand, particularly after 2021 and in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic. however, as this study is limited to the period prior to 2020, the researcher did not incorporate postpandemic developments. nevertheless, the analysis presented above offers a comprehensive overview of how the involvement of various islamic tarbiyah movements has shaped the dynamics of control and influence exercised by tarbiyah-oriented groups. transnational islamic movements and counterradicalism contestation any movement, including transnational islamic movements, must consider its available resources when seeking influence on campus. hizb al-tahrir indonesia (hti) and jamaah tarbiyah are able to mobilize effectively due to their strong internal consolidation and highly structured, systematic, and sometimes militant organizational frameworks (chaqoqo & ma’mun, 2022). in contrast, salafi jamaat and tablighi jamaat exhibit less formal organizational structures but operate through influential religious figures. key salafi leaders such as ja’far umar thalib, abu nida, abdul qadir jawwas, khalid basalamah, syafiq riza basalamah, and firanda play pivotal roles in coordinating their movement. meanwhile, tablighi jamaat functions as an enclave-orientated group, with strategic guidance from its shura council based in jakarta (mamun, 2019). these distinctions highlight the organizational diversity among transnational islamic movements: hti and jamaah tarbiyah rely on formalized structures, while salafi jamaat and tablighi jamaat depend on charismatic leadership and decentralized networks. these differences underscore the varying capacities for resource mobilization among the four movements. [ 124 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 the theory of resource mobilization was first introduced by anthony oberschall in his 1973 critique of the dominant mass society theory. oberschall’s formulation addressed the limitations of earlier research by offering a new perspective on collective action (citend in locher, 2002). he, along with other scholars, challenged the assumption that actors involved in collective mobilization are necessarily socially alienated or motivated by psychological tension. instead, the resource mobilization paradigm posits that modern social movements require sophisticated communication networks and organizational structures (singh, 2010). the theory emphasizes the formation of groups that strategically mobilize resources to achieve collective goals (oberschall, 1973). collective goals cannot be achieved without the presence of groups, associations, or organizations. resource mobilization theory posits that individual frustration, effort, or conviction is insufficient in the absence of structured organization and leadership. while protests or uprisings may occur spontaneously, sustained and meaningful change requires the strategic mobilization of resources (locher, 2002). as salafi jamaat and tablighi jamaat are not structurally organized movements, this analysis of transnational islamic resource mobilization will focus solely on jamaah tarbiyah and hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti). the influence of salafi and tablighi groups on campus is minimal, as they operate largely on the periphery. in examining resource mobilization within transnational islamic movements, this study will analyze the cases of jamaah tarbiyah and hti across three research campuses, considering their mobilization of moral, cultural, socio-organizational, human, and material resources (mccarthy & zald, 2012). collective goals cannot be achieved without the presence of organized groups, associations, or institutions. resource mobilization theory argues that individual frustration, effort, or perceived truth is insufficient without effective organization and leadership. while protests or uprisings may occur, lasting change depends on how well movements mobilize and structure their resources (locher, 2002). given that the salafi jamaat and tablighi jamaat are not formally organized, analysis of transnational islamic movements’ resource mobilization will focus on jamaah tarbiyah and hti. furthermore, as salafi and tablighi groups operate largely on the periphery of campus life, they are less relevant to discussions of campus contestation (mamun, 2019). in this context, the study examines how jamaah tarbiyah and hti mobilize moral, cultural, socio-organizational, human, and material resources across three research campuses (mccarthy & zald, 2012). moral resources, such as legitimacy, solidarity, public sympathy, and [ 125 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 endorsement by prominent figures, are central to resource mobilization, with legitimacy receiving the most scholarly attention due to its role in linking cultural contexts to organizational processes. cultural resources include knowledge of protest legality, organizing press conferences and meetings, and forming associations. socio-organizational resources are either intentionally formed for movements or appropriated from existing organizations, enabling access to networks, volunteers, and communication channels. human resources—skills, labor, and leadership—are essential, as are material resources, particularly financial support, which remains critical regardless of other resource types (mccarthy & zald, 2012). the resource mobilization approach examines the variety of resources a social movement must mobilize, the interrelationships between social movements and other groups, the social movement’s dependence on external support to succeed, and the tactics used by authorities to control or carry out social movements (mccarthy & zald, 2012). the movement’s success depends on how many people join, how determined they are, what sacrifices they make, and how their opponents react (locher, 2002). the theory of resource mobilization is relevant when looking at transnational islamic groups and their opponents on campus. moral resources organizations require moral resources, particularly legitimacy gained from influential figures, patrons, or institutions. at uy, the jamaah tarbiyah movement—through kammi—has built a strong legitimacy network supported by urban muslim communities and sympathetic campus elites. fatih, kammi uy’s newly elected chair, notes that the group was founded by fahri hamzah in 1998 in malang (personal communication, october 1, 2020). since then, kammi has systematically mapped and mobilized support from external networks, faculty, and university bureaucrats aligned with its cause. this legitimacy has bolstered the group’s influence, enabling its members to secure the student body presidency (presiden mahasiswa) six times in the past decade (rahman, personal communication, september 30, 2020). in contrast, hti also cultivates legitimacy at uy but adopts a more exclusive and hierarchical approach, with internal structures kept deliberately opaque—even to lower-level members—to maintain organizational secrecy and control (aris, personal communication, october 4, 2020; fatih, personal communication, october 1, 2020). [ 126 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 cultural resources culture plays a pivotal role in supporting social movements, particularly within jamaah tarbiyah, which has developed mature stakeholders, dynamics, and challenges. the movement is well-organized, with kammi uy’s leadership recruiting students from elementary schools as cultural resources. jamaah tarbiyah runs islamic schools at both the elementary and high school levels, while in public schools, rohis (rohani islam) organizes islamic studies that introduce the tarbiyah manhaj and movement, thereby fostering future supporters of kammi (rahman, personal communication, september 30, 2020). cultural mobilization in jamaah tarbiyah began with the establishment of schools as key institutions for spreading its message. rohis initiated tarbiyah da’wah, a sentiment echoed by imaduddin fadlurrahman from uy. similarly, hti boasts significant cultural resources, bolstered by prominent social media figures like felix siauw, who propagate hti’s ideology across indonesia. yogyakarta hosts key hti leaders, including ismail yusanto, dwi condro, rasyid, yoyok tindyo prasetyo, and bukhari, who played instrumental roles in founding hti and spreading its influence within uy. the “santer” movement, initiated by rasyid and condro, served as a cultural gateway for hti’s expansion, with prominent leaders such as dr. andang—an influential “santer”—instilling hti’s philosophy within uy. despite hti’s strong cultural presence, identifying the movement’s cultural resources remains complex, as it operates discreetly and strategically (aris, personal communication, october 4, 2020; dullah, personal communication, october 10, 2020). key members such as aris and dullah play crucial roles within hti and gema liberation, contributing to the movement’s quiet mobilization. socio-organisational resources according to edwards and mccarthy (2007), social resources refer to organizations structured to achieve movement goals. snow (2004) further categories socio-organizational resources into infrastructure, social networks, and formal organizations. these components are instrumental in facilitating transnational islamic movements on campuses. at universitas yogyakarta (uy), jamaah tarbiyah effectively utilizes its socio-organizational resources through the lembaga dakwah kampus (ldk), kesatuan aksi mahasiswa muslim indonesia (kammi), and the prosperous justice party (pks), which functions as a platform for political engagement (cahyono, personal communication, october 2, 2020). despite its denial of formal affiliation, kammi is considered an extension of pks, alongside other groups such as garda keadilan, indonesian muslim students’ action union( kesatuan aksi [ 127 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 pelajar muslim indonesia, kapmi, and asia-pacific youth and students foundation (yayasan pemuda dan pelajar asia pasifik, yppap) (ilyasin & ridho, 2021). these organizations help disseminate jamaah tarbiyah’s ideological framework (manhaj) across the student body (muhsin et al., 2019). jamaah tarbiyah strategically utilizes “appropriable social organizations” to advance its agenda, notably through student orientation programs (open recruitment, oprek), introductory islamic courses (assistensi agama islam, aai), and targeted residential networks designed to consolidate its ideological influence. during the 2010s, the uy administration intervened to reassert control over oprek and aai, recognizing the depth of jamaah tarbiyah’s institutional embeddedness. hizb al-tahrir indonesia (hti), while structurally different, shares a comparable reliance on organizational resources. at uy, hti operates through tightly knit cell systems that obscure their hierarchy and operational structures. this clandestine approach has made it difficult for researchers to identify specific individuals and gather data. interviews with uy’s gema liberation members, such as dullah and aris, suggest that even members lack knowledge of the full organizational structure, knowing only their immediate mentors ( aris, personal communication, october 4, 2020; dullah, personal communication, october 10, 2020). hti’s organizational strategy is centered on promoting a global islamic caliphate governed by sharia law, rooted in the teachings of its founder, taqiyuddin an-nabhani (nashir, 2007). hti views the application of sharia as encompassing all human actions— from faith and worship to societal interactions and legal sanctions (yusanto, 2003a). it perceives the modern absence of the caliphate as the root of muslim societal decline following the collapse of the ottoman caliphate in 1924. consequently, hti refuses to separate its resources from its political vision, linking its ideology, sharia, and the caliphate as an indivisible triad. to advance this agenda, hti collaborates with student groups like gema liberation, reinforcing its influence within university spaces. despite hti’s formal disbandment by the indonesian government, its network remains operational in a subdued form, continuing to engage with students and propagate its ideological goals. human resources human resource management plays a vital role in the success of social movement organisations. edward and mccarthy ( 2007) highlight the significance of actors’ skills, expertise, and experience as part of human resources, crucial [ 128 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 to advancing a social movement. transnational islamic groups, particularly jamaah tarbiyah, have effectively utilized this understanding to consolidate their presence in indonesian state universities, including uy. to ensure sustainability, jamaah tarbiyah strategically mobilizes human resources through a structured framework of da’wah, referred to as “da’wah ilallah”, which includes 21 core principles. one central principle is the importance of a correct and comprehensive understanding (al-fahmu), which forms the basis of right action. hasan al-banna emphasized this in his ranking of arkanul bai’ah, placing al-fahmu at the top, describing it as the belief in a solid islamic worldview based on twenty guiding principles (parman & badawi, 2006). jamaah tarbiyah specifically targets university students for several reasons: campuses serve as youth hubs, students hold social prestige, universities are centers of knowledge, and campus da’wah is strategic for cadre development and leadership cultivation (abdillah, 2012). since the 1980s, jamaah tarbiyah has established a stronghold in elite state universities across indonesia. the movement starts its regeneration as early as primary and secondary school, continuing into university, where incoming students are welcomed through initiatives like registration assistance, free islamic boarding recommendations, and orientation programs (aai). furthermore, campus mosques are leveraged for tarbiyah’s activities, facilitating mass recruitment annually. once on campus, new members undergo systematic cadre development categorized into four levels: beginner, young, intermediate, and mature. each stage involves halaqah sessions covering themes such as islamic fundamentals, personal development, islamic thought, and societal engagement. halaqah and liqa’ have become synonymous with jamaah tarbiyah’s presence in campuses. this structured hr approach has enabled jamaah tarbiyah to dominate uy’s social-political landscape. for example, uy student president sultan fafa revealed that tarbiyah-aligned groups held strategic positions at uy six times in the past decade (personal communication, july 23, 2020). hizb al-tahrir indonesia (hti), though similar in structure to jamaah tarbiyah, could not achieve the same dominance due to tarbiyah’s earlier establishment. hti uses a cell system in which members remain unaware of leadership hierarchies above their immediate mentors. the hti cadre formation begins with recruitment efforts using oprek and continues with attempts to penetrate student organizations like bem, dema, and ldk. after hti’s dissolution by the indonesian government in 2017, the group reverted to clandestine operations under the guise of gema liberation. despite this, hti continues to influence uy by operating through informal channels. hti’s human resource development follows three key stages: cadre recruitment [ 129 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 and education (marhalah tatsqif), public interaction (marhalah tafa’ul ma’a alummah), and eventually, political takeover. the first phase includes intensive ideological education via halaqah systems. at uy, halaqah ’am, general halaqah sessions, serve as introductory platforms. weekly meetings cover islamic belief systems, law, history, politics, and the obligation to restore the islamic caliphate. each member must attend these sessions, which are designed to identify and develop new potential cadres. the more advanced stages, like halaqah aris and halaqah hizb, require members to study foundational ht texts such as nizhamul islam, takattul hizbiy, and mafahim hizb ut-tahrir. the cadre development process within hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti) places strong emphasis on adherence to islamic teachings and organizational discipline. members who violate the principles of ht or shari’a norms may be deemed morally compromised (arifin, 2005). recruitment and ideological indoctrination are designed to ensure that individuals are deeply committed to the movement’s objectives. even following hti’s official disbandment, these ideological bonds have sustained the group’s continuity through covert networks such as gema liberation. in the second phase of human resource mobilization—public engagement— hti seeks to disseminate its ideology to a broader audience by framing discourse around islamic law and the caliphate, employing both direct action and media outreach. although public activities have declined following the ban, online platforms continue to serve as vital tools for ideological propagation. if successful, this phase aims to culminate in the final stage: securing political control (rahmat, 2005). before its dissolution, hti had effectively mobilized human resources at uy by embedding sympathizers within student government, campus mosques, and student organizations. despite the ban, these individuals continue to operate discreetly. gema liberation, while formally separate, remains ideologically aligned with hti and functions as its clandestine campus extension. their continued presence suggests that hti’s human resource strategy remains potent in sustaining its influence within uy’s socio-political landscape. material resources social movements rely heavily on material resources. given the scale of mobilization and the diversity of interests involved, sustaining a movement requires substantial financial support. ideally, this funding is generated independently, depending on how effectively the movement manages its human resources and organizational structure. jamaah tarbiyah, for instance, [ 130 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 funds its activities at uy through self-reliant means. according to fajar cahyono, cadre training is supported through modest member contributions, with each individual contributing approximately rp. 1,000 per week (personal communication, october 2, 2020). recruiting 100–200 students thus provide a significant fundraising base. additional funds are generated through large religious gatherings, during which donations are collected via charity boxes to support the movement’s operational needs. table. 1. comparison of resource mobilization resource type jamaah tarbiyah hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti) moral resources legitimacy from campus elites, support from urban muslim networks, frequent wins in student leadership elections (kammi). legitimacy through exclusivist, hierarchical networks; secrecy and control through closed structures. cultural resources islamic schooling system (elementary to high school), use of rohis, early cadre building, structured da’wah through schools and campus. cultural propagation via public figures (e.g. felix siauw); key founders and ‘santer’ movement influence at uy. socioorganizational resources leverages kammi, ldk, and pks; operates through oprek, aai, and structured residential networks. operates via cell-based clandestine structures; uses gema liberation; opaque hierarchy even to members. human resources structured cadre system (halaqah), from elementary to university; systematic recruitment; influence in campus leadership. three-stage cadre development: education (halaqah), public engagement, and political takeover; covert mobilization post-ban. material resources weekly member contributions (rp. 1,000), donations from large events, financial self-reliance to support movement. member-driven support before disbandment; ongoing discreet financial contributions through gema liberation. counter radicalism against transnational islamic movements islamic religious assistance (aai) is under strict control as part of a counterradicalism strategy against transnational islamic movements, with the goal of making aai a monopoly not only for islamic religious subjects but also for other religions taught in indonesia. uy and other subjects in need of help are examples of this (muhsin, 2020). according to asnawi, the university is now in charge of ppsmb activities, which were previously under the control of student bodies. under the control of the university, all first-year students are gathered in one location (personal communication, august 7, 2020). the [ 131 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 national character strengthening movement was introduced to them there. in the last decade, uy has implemented the principle of strengthening the national character. student creativity programme (program kreativitas mahasiswa, pkm) in five fields is a programme that encourages students to be productive in their areas of expertise to love and defend the country, such as information technology and appropriate technology. students will no longer have time to keep up with various movements, including the transnational islamic movement, because of the plan. one of the biggest concerns for the campus, however, is that the campus mosque serves as a gateway for the transnational islamic movement to exert its influence on the campus. for example, the campus mosque in balaisiswa and the al-ridla mosque, which is close to the public general hospital, are both important symbols of religious life at uy. hadipro laid the first stone on the balaisiswa campus mosque on may 21, 1998 (personal communication, oktober 2020). the mosque construction committee started with idr 60 million. thanks to the committee’s persistence and the donations of various donors, the funds collected were enough to build a magnificent and representative campus mosque to fulfil the ideal concept of a mosque. after spending rp 9.5 billion, the uy campus mosque opened on december 4, 1999, five days before 1 ramadan 1420 h. the mosque’s first and second floors and courtyard can hold 10,000 worshippers (kemenag, 2020). asnawi says this mosque was originally owned by a foundation that collected funds from the community and campus residents, not the campus. the mosque became part of the university’s infrastructure in 2017, so it must be in line with the university’s vision and mission. the takmir manages this mosque, and bpm is written above it (massage management agency). this bpm will maintain all campus mosques according to the university’s vision and mission. certain flags shouldn’t use this mosque. efforts have been made to safeguard the uy campus mosque from the influence of transnational islamic movements. prior to 2017, the mosque was frequently utilized by groups such as hti, salafi, and tarbiyah for research and da’wah activities, often involving external participants, according to m. nur, the mosque’s imam. although permits were issued, they did not authorize any specific organizational affiliation. over time, however, the mosque became associated with radical islamic activity. since 2018, the al-ridla mosque has undergone significant renovations, completed in mid-2020, as part of uy’s initiative to reposition it as the university’s islamic centre. previously dominated by salafi-wahhabi influence, the mosque was a key hub for their gatherings. the renovation aligns with [ 132 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 uy’s national and populist vision, aiming to foster a moderate and inclusive religious environment. the newly redefined mosque is intended to support progressive islamic thought and equip students with essential skills relevant to the digital and technological era. in response to the presence of transnational islamic extremist groups, uy has undertaken a deradicalization strategy aimed at reclaiming control over its campus mosques. deradicalisation seeks to reduce the spread of radical ideologies that may lead to violence, terrorism, or other threats to humanity (arifin & bachtiar, 2013). however, this approach has faced internal resistance. asnawi, for example, opposed the involvement of external actors such as the national counterterrorism agency (bnpt), arguing that uy is an autonomous academic space and should remain free from such interventions (asnawi, personal communication, august 7, 2020). he warned that external deradicalization efforts might contradict university policies and create friction. nevertheless, moderate student groups have largely supported uy’s internal deradicalization initiatives, viewing them as opportunities to influence and shape the university’s socio-political landscape. organizations such as the indonesian islamic student movement (pergerakan mahasiswa islam indonesia, pmii) and the nahdlatul ulama student family (keluarga mahasiswa nahdlatul ulama, kmnu) have increasingly engaged in extracampus activities. similarly, the indonesian national student movement (gerakan mahasiswa nasional indonesia, gmni) has reasserted its presence within extra-campus organizations (interview with asnawi). notably, in 2020, a moderate student affiliated with gmni was elected president of the student executive board, marking the end of a decade-long dominance by kammi, a student organization aligned with the tarbiyah movement. this shift is emblematic of uy’s broader institutional identity as a “university of struggle”, “a university for the people”, and a “cultural center”. all campus policies, including those addressing radicalism, are informed by this foundational ethos. further deradicalization measures have also been implemented by uy. according to discussions with asnawi, several concrete steps have been taken. first, hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti) and anti-nkri groups have been prohibited from using the uy mosque for cadre formation, a privilege they previously enjoyed without restriction. second, permission is no longer granted to wahhabi-affiliated groups, whose sermons often denounce other islamic groups. previously, salafi-wahhabi activists conducted weekly sermons every sunday morning at the uy mosque, drawing followers from yogyakarta and surrounding areas. third, preachers for friday prayers and islamic holiday [ 133 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 commemorations at the uy mosque are now selected from moderate islamic organizations such as nahdlatul ulama (nu) and muhammadiyah. finally, a small mosque owned by uy and previously used as a center for jamaah tabligh activities is now directly managed by the university. a lecturer affiliated with nu has been appointed as the head of the takmir (mosque management board), while other members are drawn from nu and muhammadiyah circles. religious events at the mosque are now consistently led by moderate religious figures. conclusion this study has examined how transnational islamic movements strategically mobilize moral, cultural, socio-organizational, human, and material resources to influence student life at the university of yogyakarta (uy). focusing on jamaah tarbiyah and hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti), the research reveals that these movements adopt highly structured and ideologically driven mobilization strategies to penetrate campus institutions and cultivate future cadres. in contrast, moderate islamic actors—primarily rooted in traditionalist organizations—have begun to counter these influences through internal deradicalization programs and the reinforcement of inclusive religious values. by applying the resource mobilization theory, this study demonstrates that ideological contestation on university campuses is not only a battle of beliefs but also a contest of organizational capacity and strategic resource use. the findings underscore the importance of campus-based interventions that support moderate islamic frameworks and safeguard pluralism. as transnational movements continue to adapt, universities must actively reclaim their educational and religious spaces to prevent the entrenchment of exclusivist ideologies. ultimately, the study highlights the university’s dual role as both a target of ideological contestation and a critical actor in shaping counter-radicalism strategies in indonesia’s higher education landscape. disclaimer to protect the privacy of research participants and the institution, the names of individuals and the university discussed in this article are presented using pseudonyms. ` [ 134 ] al albab: volume 14 number 1 june 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i1.3568 bibliography abdillah, a. 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[ 119 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 renewal paradigm of the ldii community in kediri hilmi muhammadiyah stai nahdlatul ulama jakarta, indonesia e-mail: hilmi_elsas@yahoo.com abstract this article attempts to explore the dynamics of the lembaga dakwah islam indonesia (ldii) or indonesian islamic da’wah institution community in kediri of east java, indonesia in maintaining its existence, transforming and seeing the processes, patterns and strategies that developed by the ldii. the article elaborates how social actors of the ldii carry out social practices continuously, so that ldii can continue to survive, develop, and reform the doctrine and religious identity paradigm and its organizational identity thus being accepted by people in the region. the role of the actors as the agent in changing the character of the movement is discussed in this work. they have made strategies including building closeness to the authorities, building attitudes of openness, changing the image of the organization, strengthening identity, establishing dialogue and public cooperation with the indonesian ulema council (mui – majelis ulama indonesia) that positioning ldii as a heretical and splinter organization, and establishing cooperation with religious community organizations (ormas) that are considered mainstream, such as nu (nahdatul ulama) and muhammadiyah. this work attempts to provide materials and considerations in dealing with the issue raising between the flow of splinters and established groups. keywords: cooperation, ldii, renewal, paradigm, kediri introduction community of indonesian islamic da’wah institutions (ldii) is originally known as jamaah islam. ldii or islamic jamaah was founded around the 1970s. the people of kediri are publicly understood to adhere to the ideology of the jamaah islam. the ideology of the ldii has been able to influence the daily activities of its members marking them to have a different character from most muslims in the region. unlike the followers of mainstream islam, ldii/ islamic citizens jamaah often get discriminatory treatment, both from adherents of mainstream islam and from the government. this was triggered by religious behavior practiced by jamaah islamic groups. the state [ 120 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 (government) has a strong intervention to determine which religion is worthy of being embraced by its citizens. because that is not surprising if the type of freedom practiced in indonesia as limited pluralism (limited pluralism) (howell, 2005). not only determining a number of official religions that are recognized for being embraced by their citizens, more than that, the state also regulates that the flow and community does not deviate from the mainstream of the recognized religion. the ldii controversy among other groups is the use of the concept of congregation. the concept stipulates ldii to choose an exclusive path, even denying the islam of other groups, for example the command of prayer must be led by people who only come from their group. among them also developed the assumption that people who were not his group were considered unclean, people who entered the mosque, the mosque had to throw up or dipel the floor. accompanying the congregation’s doctrine includes the concept of bai’at and imamat, namely the provision of the system of bai’at by a leader can become a member. this gift is also a way or entrance to enter heaven. the doctrine is well known in jamaah islam, for example: “whoever does not follow the pledge of loyalty to the imam , they have not become muslims; other than that, a legitimate congregation that is recognized by one, namely a congregation that has pledged allegiance to their imam who holds the title of believer in the faith. “ the next controversial doctrine is the manqul doctrine, which is the transmission of knowledge originating from the qur’an and the new sunnah which is considered true or has a background or out of the mouth of the imam or amir, namely nur hasan al-ubaidah’s decision. asam, the traditions included are history or excerpts from nur hasan al-ubaidah. other doctrines are the teachings of taqiyyah, fathonah, bithonah, “budi luhur luhuring budi kerana allah”. taqiyyah is actually similar to the shiite concept of silence. in the initial phase of the establishment of the ldii community in kediri, nur hasan al-ubaidah faced the nahdlatul ulama community who had religious rituals that were tradition. the community at that time had been formed as muslims who did not feel deprived of their cultural roots. the community groups with javanese islam (woodward, 2006). the process of islamization in java has not been completed due to two things (azra, 2000). first, java has the most established indian court tradition compared to other countries in the archipelago that accept islam. second, taking away from being involved in the international islamic network in the 19th century in java is more clearly than other regions in indonesia. the word darul hadith, which was inaugurated by nur hasan al-ubaidah, is a [ 121 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 form of reform of traditional islam that developed in his area, kediri, east java. borrowing weber’s theory in giddens (1986: 154), nur hasan al-ubaidah’s rift with traditional islam produced a calendar of traditions in general, and specifically extinguished religious institutions in their old-fashioned form (giddens, 1984, 1990, 2016)its deep undercutting of traditional habits and customs, and its global impact. it also radicallly alters the general nature of daily life and the most personal aspects of human activity. in fact, one of the most distinctive features of modernity is the increasing interconnection between globalizing influences and personal dispositions. the author analyzes the nature of this interconnection and provides a conceptual vocabulary for it, in the process providing a major rethinking of the nature of modernity and a reworking of basic premises of sociological analysis.building on the ideas set out in the authors the consequences of modernity, this book focuses on the self and the emergence of new mechanisms of self-identity that are shaped byyet also shapethe institutions of modernity. the author argues that the self is not a passive entity, determined by external influences. rather, in forging their self-identities, no matter how local their contexts of action, individuals contribute to and directly promote social influences that are global in their consequences and implications.the author sketches the contours of the he calls high modernitythe world of our dayand considers its ramifications for the self and self-identity. in this context, he analyzes the meaning to the self of such concepts as trust, fate, risk, and security and goes on the examine the sequestration of experience, the process by which high modernity separates day-to-day social life from a variety of experiences and broad issues of morality. the author demonstrates how personal meaninglessnessthe feeling that life has nothing worthwhile to offerbecomes a fundamental psychic problem in circumstances of high modernity. the book concludes with a discussion of life politics, a politics of selfactualization operating on both the individual and collective levels.”,”author”:[{“droppingparticle”:””,”family”:”giddens”,”given”:”anthony”,”non-droppingparticle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”social theory re-wired: new connections to classical and contemporary perspectives: second edition”,”id”:”item-1”,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2016”]]},”title”:”m odernity and self-identity”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley. com/documents/?uuid=a31fdcb7-2f06-41de-9641-bfa5dd9e98dc”,”http:// www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=23d3bbc2-8cc4-47ce-99d60ebd8be4b015”]} , {“ id” :” item-2”,”itemdata” : {“d oi”:”10.1007/ bf01173303”,” isbn”:”978-0-520-05292-5”,” issn”:”0147-5916 , 1573-2819”,”pmid”:”2418146”,”abstract”:”anthony giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. in \”the [ 122 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 constitution of society\” he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. a particular feature is giddens’s concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. in presenting his own ideas, giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. \”the constitution of society\” is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle” :””,”family”:”giddens”,”given”:”anthony”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parsenames”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration”,”id”:”item-2”,”issued”:{“dateparts”:[[“1984”]]},”title”:”the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/ do cu ments/? uuid=c90c3e3c-b2ad-40de-82b7-9e87924d420c”,”http:// www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=feb3ab9b-cfdb-4556-a011ab84b3f75cc1”]},{“id”:”item-3”,”itemdata”:{“doi”:”10.2307/591454”,”isbn ”:”0745609236”,”issn”:”15562646”,”pmid”:”3401163”,”abstract”:”in this major theoretical statement, the author offers a new and provocative interpretation of institutional transformations associated with modernity. what is modernity? the author suggests, \”as a first approximation, let us simply say the following: ‘modernity’ refers to modes of social life or organization which emerged in europe from about the seventeenth century onwards and which subsequently became more or less worldwide in their influence.\” we do not as yet, the author argues, live in a post-modern world. the distinctive characteristics of our major social institutions in the closing years of the twentieth century suggest that, rather than entering into a period of post-modernity, we are moving into a period of \”high modernity\” in which the consequences of modernity are becoming more radicalized and universalized than before. a post-modern social universe may eventually come into being, but this as yet lies on the other side of the forms of social and cultural organization that currently dominate world history. in developing a fresh characterization of the nature of modernity, the author concentrates on the themes of security versus danger and o trust versus risk. modernity is a double-edged phenomenon. the development of modern social institutions has created vastly greater opportunities for human beings to enjoy a secure and rewarding existence than in any type of pre-modern system. but modernity also has a somber side that has become very important in the present century, such as the frequently degrading nature of modern industrial work, the growth of totalitarianism, [ 123 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the threat of environmental destruction, and the alarming development of military power and weaponry. the book builds upon the author’s previous theoretical writings and will be of great interest to those who have followed his work through the years. however, this book covers issues the author has not previously analyzed and extends the scope of his work into areas of pressing practical concern.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”giddens”,”give n”:”anthony”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”the consequences of modernity”,”id”:”item-3”,”issued”:{“dateparts”:[[“1990”]]},”title”:”introduction”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http:// www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=55fecd06-735b-4760-9e83f2cdd2f4d482”,”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=a2c7938d65a8-4068-a39b-72138ba7e48c”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedcitation”:”(gidde ns, 1984, 1990, 2016. nur hasan al-ubaidah had indeed escaped his followers from the control of the islamic tradition that had developed at that time. nur hasan al-ubaidah also introduced the concept of darul hadith strictly so that her followers did not have time to relax and have fun with their old traditions. the ldii community also transforms from a closed community to an open one. even though it is more open now, the ldii community is able to maintain its religious doctrine and identity and organizational identity. ldii’s convincing identity and symbol to exist with its distinctiveness as a form of expression of belief that has encouraged the understanding of society and the state to respect different beliefs, and support a calm and friendly life in a pluralistic society. the fundamental change made by ldii is that they began to open up to other communities and groups. the birth of the mui went hand in hand with the surrender of moral authority from the government to the mui is indirectly benefiting ldii. mui products have compressive power and save force. this condition was used by ldii, so they preferred to approach the mui rather than approach religious organizations such as nahdlatul ulama (nu) and muhammadiyah. however, lately the ldii community also approached religious organizations such as nu and muhammadiyah. in addition, according to azis (one of the administrators of the ldii burengan islamic boarding school), ldii has now undergone changes, both from the pattern of internalization of the culture instilled and from social interaction with other groups. this work reveals the paradigm of a typical religious community in carrying out strategies to maintain its existence so that it can survive in facing various problems of socio-religious discrimination. this research is expected to be a reference for leaders or anyone in determining attitudes or policies towards socio-religious issues. [ 124 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 religion, agency, regionalization, and globalization the study of religion has been developing for a long time. some theories about religion can also be learned. among them is what was done by durkheim (giddens, 1984) who states that the idea of society is actually the spirit of religion. this opinion was written in a book entitled the elementary forms of the religious life, which was published in 1915. durkheim’s interpretation gave meaning that religion basically was crucial for the presence of social dynamics of a society. religion plays a very important, even decisive role in building the social world. religion is not only a means of control for all the actions of its followers, but also becomes a color giver for the social dynamics of society. the more religion is believed by the true beliefs of the adherents, eating will make the “color of religion” more thick on the character of the person concerned. so, all human actions are strongly influenced by religion. the other influential scholar within the studies of religion is radcliffe-brown. in understanding religion he followed durkheim by arguing that there was no point in seeking the epistemological status of religion as a false illusory belief. similarly, there is no point in examining the origin of religion. on the contrary, we must view religious belief and worship as part of a complex system by which humans begin to live together in a regular form. according to him we must look at the social function of religion, namely the contribution he gives in shaping and maintaining social order — we must focus more on rituals than beliefs (morris, 2003). in a different perspective, religious teachings are a spirit for humans in shaping civilization (anonymous, 1986). in this context, modern theory clearly looks at the existence of religion as a functional value. functional value is a value that can build people towards future progress and order. it is this life’s order that is the main target or target of the human soul as a creature with two dimensions — the dimensions of the body and soul. religion provides answers to statements about the origin of the universe and questions about human life after death (giddens, 1984, 1990, 2016)its deep undercutting of traditional habits and customs, and its global impact. it also radicallly alters the general nature of daily life and the most personal aspects of human activity. in fact, one of the most distinctive features of modernity is the increasing interconnection between globalizing influences and personal dispositions. the author analyzes the nature of this interconnection and provides a conceptual vocabulary for it, in the process providing a major rethinking of the nature of modernity and a reworking of basic premises of sociological analysis.building on the ideas set out in the authors the consequences of modernity, this book focuses on the self and the emergence of new mechanisms of self-identity that are shaped byyet also shapethe institutions of modernity. the author argues that the self [ 125 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 is not a passive entity, determined by external influences. rather, in forging their self-identities, no matter how local their contexts of action, individuals contribute to and directly promote social influences that are global in their consequences and implications.the author sketches the contours of the he calls high modernitythe world of our dayand considers its ramifications for the self and self-identity. in this context, he analyzes the meaning to the self of such concepts as trust, fate, risk, and security and goes on the examine the sequestration of experience, the process by which high modernity separates day-to-day social life from a variety of experiences and broad issues of morality. the author demonstrates how personal meaninglessnessthe feeling that life has nothing worthwhile to offerbecomes a fundamental psychic problem in circumstances of high modernity. the book concludes with a discussion of life politics, a politics of selfactualization operating on both the individual and collective levels.”,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”giddens”,”giv en”:”anthony”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”social theory re-wired: new connections to classical and contemporary perspectives: second edition”,”id”:”item1”,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2016”]]},”title”:”modernity and self-identity”,”type ”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=23d3bbc28 c c 4 4 7 c e 9 9 d 6 0 e b d 8 b e 4 b 0 1 5 ”,” ht t p : / / w w w. m e n d e l e y. c o m / documents/?uuid=a31fdcb7-2f06-41de-9641-bfa5dd9e98dc”]},{“id”:”item2”,”itemdata”:{“doi”:”10.1007/bf01173303”,”isbn”:”978-0-520-052925”,”issn”:”0147-5916, 1573-2819”,”pmid”:”2418146”,”abstract”:”anthony giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. in \”the constitution of society\” he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. a particular feature is giddens’s concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. in presenting his own ideas, giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. \”the constitution of society\” is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.”,”author”:[{“dropping-part icle”:””,”family”:”giddens”,”given”:”anthony”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parsenames”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration”,”id”:”item-2”,”issued”:{“dateparts”:[[“1984”]]},”title”:”the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley. com/documents/?uuid=feb3ab9b-cfdb-4556-a011-ab84b3f75cc1”,”http:// [ 126 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=c90c3e3c-b2ad-40de-82b79e87924d420c”,”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=9cae99ad56f9-4f33-8c3b-d60f386c9fa8”]} ,{“ id”:”item-3”,”itemdata”:{“d oi”:”10.2307/591454”,”isbn”:”0745609236”,”issn”:”15562646”,”pmid”:”3401163”,”abstract”:”in this major theoretical statement, the author offers a new and provocative interpretation of institutional transformations associated with modernity. what is modernity? the author suggests, \”as a first approximation, let us simply say the following: ‘modernity’ refers to modes of social life or organization which emerged in europe from about the seventeenth century onwards and which subsequently became more or less worldwide in their influence.\” we do not as yet, the author argues, live in a post-modern world. the distinctive characteristics of our major social institutions in the closing years of the twentieth century suggest that, rather than entering into a period of post-modernity, we are moving into a period of \”high modernity\” in which the consequences of modernity are becoming more radicalized and universalized than before. a post-modern social universe may eventually come into being, but this as yet lies on the other side of the forms of social and cultural organization that currently dominate world history. in developing a fresh characterization of the nature of modernity, the author concentrates on the themes of security versus danger and o trust versus risk. modernity is a double-edged phenomenon. the development of modern social institutions has created vastly greater opportunities for human beings to enjoy a secure and rewarding existence than in any type of pre-modern system. but modernity also has a somber side that has become very important in the present century, such as the frequently degrading nature of modern industrial work, the growth of totalitarianism, the threat of environmental destruction, and the alarming development of military power and weaponry. the book builds upon the author’s previous theoretical writings and will be of great interest to those who have followed his work through the years. however, this book covers issues the author has not previously analyzed and extends the scope of his work into areas of pressing practical concern.”,”author”:[{“droppingparticle”:””,”family”:”giddens”,”given”:”anthony”,”non-droppingparticle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-tit le”:”the consequences of modernity”,”id”:”item-3”,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“199 0”]]},”title”:”introduction”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley. com/documents/?uuid=a2c7938d-65a8-4068-a39b-72138ba7e48c”,”http:// www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=55fecd06-735b-4760-9e83f2cdd2f4d482”,”http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ce3a3f1-aa2c45ca-9781-66cfe0c7400b”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedcitation”:”(giddens, 1984, 1990, 2016. this indicates that the explanation and meaning inherent in [ 127 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 religion transcends the limitations of human mind and logic. for the giddens, there are always “objects” or supernatural beings whose existence is beyond the reach of the human senses and brings a feeling of awe. according to the giddens, the creature could be a divine power or personalization of the gods. in islam the power manifests itself in the existence of allah. in hinduism, the supernatural creatures that are being worshiped are single. they appear in many manifestations, such as deities, ancestral spirits, and others. however, giddens underlined that religion establishes moral guidelines that control and limit the behavior of its adherents. ldii’s existence can be read from the perspective of the structuration theory developed by giddens (1984). the core of the structuration theory is seeing agents and structures in relations of duality. however, agents are involved in structures and structures involving agents. according to him, all social actions require structure and the entire structure requires social action. the giddens refused to see the structure merely as a force against agents (such as durkheim). he looked more at the structure both as an enforcer and provider of opportunities. structure not only functions to inhibit and determine forms of behavior, but also provides the ability for behavior. in other words, the structure provides opportunities and restrictions at once. furthermore, giddens placed humans in a very significant position which he called “agency”. that is, with this position humans can reproduce and have abilities, and understand the intent and purpose of all the actions they take. agency is anything that an actor does in a particular situation that has certain consequences, even though the consequences do not have to be as intended by the perpetrator himself. the actions of every human being, therefore, must be seen as one duree or a series of actions that are stretched in a long dimension of space and time which have certain consequences. another structuring theory is regionalization. the character of the interaction location can be explored in relation to the different locations through which daily activities of individuals are coordinated. location is not just a place, but a setting or setting of regionalization interactions. this location must be understood not only as localization in space, but also refers to the determination of space-time zones in relation to routine social practices. for giddens, to live in today’s modern society we must shape and reshape ourselves to be able to deal with changes in our environment. giddens views that globalization is a restructuring of the ways people live their lives in a very deep way. but he also acknowledged that globalization was a two-way process, with america and the west being the most affected regions. globalization also weakens local culture and revives it. giddens said that globalization “sneaked [ 128 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 aside” produced new areas that might cross nations. he gave an example of the area around barcelona in northern spain whose area extends into france. the main clash and challenge that occurs at the global level today is between fundamentalism and cosmopolitanism. giddens (1990) saw the emergence of a “global cosmopolitan society”. however, even the main forces that oppose it traditionalism are products of globalization. furthermore, fundamentalism uses global forces, such as mass media, to expand its objectives. fundamentalism can take various forms including religion, ethnicity, nationalism, and politics. this work is based on the studies of the people who have knowledge and information about the history of ldii that was established as an islamic jamaah and immediately felt the condition of islamic congregation and the next generation that had joined since it changed to ldii. in-depth interviews were also conducted with religious, community and government leaders. the observation is the basis of the study of cultural anthropology carried out by researchers, considering that this method is a pattern of data collection which is the estuary of ethnographic processes. in the context of the involved observation, researchers are at the level of complete involvement with ldii. the observations done by the researcher do manifest in social and emotional relationships. actors are people who become objects of observation in a natural setting (spradley, 1979). a person must blend in daily activities and experiences more closely, both physical closeness and social closeness, to record the daily activities of the community being studied (emerson, 1995). therefore, researchers entered the center of the ldii community’s life to get to know them closely, both those that took place in mosques, study rooms, and recitations and meetings, to absorb what they experienced and understand their activities. the immersion of researchers into ways of life, speech, behavior, and thinking of the society they study is highly recommended to obtain data as complete as possible (fetterman, 2010). ldii within burengan islamic boarding school and nur hasan al-ubaidah’s boarding school burengan islamic boarding school is located at jalan h. o. s. cokroaminoto 195, kediri city, precisely in banjaran village with an area of +126 hectares (anonymous, 1999). currently burengan is home to around 3,000 students. burengan cannot be separated from the figure of a kiai named kh nur hasan al-ubaidah, the main character and founder of the pesantren around 1952. according to kuncoro, one of the informants in the fields and a ldii senior activist, former head of the ldii burengan islamic boarding school, and former village head, the full names of important figure in ldii is nur hasan [ 129 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 al-ubaidah lubis bin abdul bin thahir bin ershad, born in bangi village, purwosari district, kediri regency, east java, in 1915. in his childhood, nur hasan al-ubaidah received direct religious guidance from his own father, h. abdul aziz bin tahir bin h. isyad. after growing up, nur hasan al-ubaidah began studying from one hut to another cottage, such as pedes, samelo, perak jombang, balong jeruk, even once boarding at lirboyo, the largest pesantren which became the base and was known as “nu pesantren”. as told by k. h. idris marzuki when interviewed at the lirboyo kediri islamic boarding school, “nur hasan al-ubaidah once boarded here at lirboyo, but not for long. his son was quite intelligent and at that time like most santri who were here, followed the study diligently. i do not understand, suddenly he became an islamic leader of the jamaah, where did he get that understanding? even though in this pesantren it is not like that understanding. ” in the beginning, the target of nur hasan al-ubaidah’s da’wah was his own family, then spread widely to the community. the precious moment of the da’wah process began with the allegiance of loyalty to nur hasan al-ubaidah as a leader by his followers which occurred in 1941. when getting more followers of his recitation, a community was formed and called the jamaah of the quran and hadith. since then, there has been a legitimate community with legitimate leaders. as for the start of the movement, nur hasan al-ubaidah community has made recruitment of members voluntarily. his teachings affirm the characteristics of the group as a religious group that is different from other islamic groups. the presence of nur hasan al-ubaidah empirically is a phenomenon of a figure that is able to construct culture. nur hasan alubaidah can educate someone who cannot read at first to be able to recite. the method is to read first, while the tajwid is learned after being able to read. the doctrine to return to al-qur’an & hadith based on interviews with kuncoro (ldii activist) and “lecturers” at the ldii burengan islamic boarding school, nur hasan al-ubaidah introduced the points of doctrine back to the qur’an and hadith. therefore, the activities of santri cannot be separated from studying the qur’an and hadith. reading the qur’an is done with the target of completing the recitation of the qur’an in a certain time, then in time the santri faces the teacher who has been assigned to check the reading and memorizing abilities at the level of each santri. the themes for holding fast to the qur’an and hadith are central themes in ldii recitations. some of the doctrines taught by nur hasan al-ubaidah include, first, the manqul doctrine (transmission of science), that the followers of islam [ 130 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 jamaah must have scientific transmission from their leaders. second, the bai’at doctrine, which is the promise of loyalty to god to be consistent with the religion witnessed to muhammad saw or the leader (in this case is nur hasan al-ubaidah). loyalty is the command of god and the apostle. third, the doctrine of jama’ah (community), nur hasan al-ubaidah emphasized that muslims must have community in order to survive. communities are not limited to carrying out prayers, but also in other activities. fourth, the doctrine of imamah (leader). his teaching recognizes someone who is appointed as a single leader with a system of loyalty. the leader has the authority to determine everything, both the issue of religious rituals and profane activities. fifth, the doctrine of amal saleh, 9 (nine) virtuous deeds which must be adhered by ldii worshipers, namely to increase introspection and ask forgiveness to god; increase financial sacrifice for good; increase communication; happy to respect guests; trying to be honest and trustworthy; increase submission to god; always prejudiced good to god; order night rituals; and contemplate in one third of the night. ldii: from kediri to jakarta as a religious group, this school initially named itself as darul hadith and centered in east java. because it was considered disturbing to the community, east java’s trustees of public trust (pakem) banned the teachings, so the decree of the east java regional military commander viii was issued signed by mayjen jasin in 1967 concerning the prohibition of the teachings of darul hadith. the ban was responded to by changing the name of pondok darul hadits to the jamaah islamic education foundation. in various regions, various names have emerged with the same content of teachings. nur hasan al-ubaidah’s followers in jakarta named his group with the national education board foundation (yappenas); in the tanjung karang jamaah darul hadits; in bogor darul hadith movement; in yogyakarta and the lamlus sunah wal jamaah educational institution; in gunung kidul pure islamic congregation; and in bantul manqul islamic jamaat. the vital role of nur hasyim was able to elevate the image of the jamaah islamic suburban movement into a middleclass movement that was equal to other groups, thohir nur hasyim, the jamaah islamic reformist group (thohir, 2009). the significant contribution of nur hasyim was also in the form of two books on the subject of jama’ah islamic teachings which now become their main points. seven facts as the shahah of jamaah leadership in indonesia and delaying the claim of harming themselves nur hasyim was also in the islamic community of the jamaah as the second person of the jamaah islamic teachers. [ 131 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 the efforts of nur hasyim to rationalize the islamic doctrine of the jamaah in fact cannot avoid this group from the public spotlight. one of the implications of public attention is the colorful names of islamic group followers of nur hasan al-ubaidah. nur hasan al-ubaidah’s followers make movement with various names in the area lasted until the publication of a ban from the government. islamic jamaah/ darul hadith was banned by the attorney general of the republic of indonesia in 1971 (anonymous, 1971), because it was seen as a deviant group of mainstream islamic groups. some of the religious doctrines of nur hasan al-ubaidah’s followers and practices are considered controversial. the prohibition from the government caused nur hasan al-ubaidah’s followers to experience difficulties in carrying out their activities. several steps of approach and cooperation to all religious groups are increasingly increasingly fierce, including approaches to authorities at all levels. some of nur hasan al-ubaidah’s students in east java, including nur hasyim, r. eddi masiadi, bahroni hartanto, soetojowirjoatmodjo, and wijono, initiated the idea of forming the lemkari organization as an effort to encourage recitation activities more openly to the community. they then went to the notary who lived in surabaya, mudiomo, to make and sign the lemkari establishment deed on january 3, 1972. the colorful names of these institutions in various conquered areas became the lemkari foundation based on a decision taken at the ldii islamic boarding school alumni meeting date 9–10 february 1975. the organizational structure was perfected a year later through working meetings in kediri on 2–3 february 1976. the existence of lemkari gave rise to a new strategy by approaching the statein this case the ruler who was then dominated by golkar by declaring itself to be in line with golkar. with the new name lemkari and taking refuge under golkar, this group was able to build a broad network and be free to all corners of the archipelago. however, the challenge that must be faced is not over. lemkari was again confronted with a freeze by the governor of east java, soelarso, with decree no. 618 of 1988. the freeze came into effect on december 25, 1988 at the insistence of the east java mui because lemkari was considered disturbing the community. the change of name of this movement occurred again in 1990, in the lemkari vi grand consultation forum in jakarta which decided the name lemkari to change to ldii. ldii developed an effort nalemy “success chess”. the first success chess is trying to improve organizational performance by organizing and improving the existence of ldii as a community organization that focuses on religious activities and community education. the second success chess is to increase human resources by establishing training centers, such as craft workshops and building skills as well as english and computer courses. the third success [ 132 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 chess is empowering the potential of the people. success chess is directed at gaining happiness in life based on harmony in the world and the hereafter, namely by mobilizing joint business groups in the fields of fulfillment of basic needs, workshops, and contracting companies. the change of name to ldii is not in vain. islamic groups that often voiced opposition began to subside. ldii is also getting closer to the government. another development is the spread of ldii which has expanded to have representation in almost all provinces in indonesia. ldii also established intensive communication with other religious organizations, such as nu, mui, muhammadiyah, persis, and others. ldii carried out structural consolidation along with the process of ideological renewal. in this context, ldii positioned the burengan islamic boarding school as the ideological basis and center for the organization’s ideological cadre nursery. some ldii activities were even able to show their existence in the community. ldii’s organizational network is growing and economically stronger. one of the administrators explained the pattern of relations between science and economics below. “science and economic activity go hand in hand because the economy is the source. with knowledge will bring economy, whereas without science the economy will not emerge. ldii knows the doctrine: if you look for the hereafter it will get the world. to the market for buying cattle, the bridle will also be able to win. but if you buy a bridle, you can’t get a cow. fundraising in ldii is done by not smoking. one third of the cigarette is for good deeds, one third for families, and one third for savings. the effect will be healthy and god willing, it will collect fantastic money for the people.” according to h. usman, ldii membership has two types: the permanent and the non-permanent. permanent members include administrators and teachers, while non-permanent members include pengajian worshipers. the ldii membership system is open; anyone may join. renewal paradigm some people understand the ldii as an integral part of its historical roots, namely jamaah islam. therefore, ldii also carries out certain strategies to maintain its existence. the first strategy was to change the outer skin of organizational identity by making a change of name and reformulation of the movement. this strategy was chosen given that state protection at that time could also be influenced by other dominant group battles which encouraged the government to judge ldii. the second strategy is to reformulate ideology, [ 133 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 namely the ideological paradigm shift and changes in religious behavior from the original to become more inclusive. when the first time went to kediri, the researcher was accompanied by one of the ldii activists and ldii central management. at juanda airport, a number of ldii east java officials have been waiting and we were warmly welcomed. after getting acquainted we were invited to the car that had been provided. but before leaving surabaya for kediri we were invited to lunch at one of the restaurants in the juanda area. later, researchers learned that such a thing was ldii’s fixed procedure in receiving guests or anyone who would come to ldii. furthermore, this turned out to be part of the implementation of ldii teachings to respect guests. a ldii activist explained: “ldii has the task of straightening out jamaah islam. so how can we be the successors of the jama’at islam even though we were given the task of straightening out jamaah islam? this is what non-ldii friends need to understand. some time ago a new identity was attached to us as a new paradigm group. we actually do not fit the term new paradigm because if there is a new paradigm, we have an old paradigm. even though we are ldii, it is not related to any organization or group before.” ldii changes to be an open organization and community together with fundamental changes in culture that occur in it. from a traditional religious group that has a cultural center in the countryside, ldii gradually becomes a religious group that is not only a splinter, but transforms into a religious group that has followers of the upper middle class even though its centers in the villages still survive. for people outside ldii, it is hard to get them to talk. but now there is openness. they are easily invited to dialogue, no longer close exclusive. indonesian traditional society basically has dynamic characteristics (dove, 1988). traditional societies always experience continuous social change according to internal challenges and external forces that influence it. the change in the paradigm of religious behavior from close to open is an inevitable change, because the ldii community interacts with the outside world in the era of globalization. according to sahlins (1981) almost certainly there is not one society in the world that does not interact with the culture outside themselves. therefore, the ldii community has undergone a change from only the religious community to a religious organization that applies modern organizational principles and complies with the prevailing laws and regulations. changes that occur are caused by increasingly heterogeneous ldii citizens, both in terms of educational and professional backgrounds, [ 134 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 which provide a distinctive nuance in the change of view. the occurrence of marriage between ldii residents and non-ldii citizens is also unavoidable. for example, mr. h. usman, chair of the ldii kediri branch, who is married to a member of fatayat (nu youth organization). although in the early days of the islamic establishment of the jamaah, nur hasan al-ubaidah did not allow marriage outside the islamic community of the jamaah. internal actors play an important role in internal changes in the ldii kediri environment. the first is sunarto, which is intensely in the midst of the ldii kediri community. sunarto was born on october 28, 1952. sunarto said, “at first i did not understand, but after learning gradually (i understand). in the past, only learned about the procedures for prayer, then the sunnah prayers, the arguments of discipline, and obedience. now the teaching has developed. “the methods and teachings conveyed through the recitations carried out by ldii were deemed suitable by sunarto, so that through his recitation he succeeded in studying and deepening the qur’an and hadith. according to him the teaching methods and subject matter in the ldii study have become a tradition that has lasted until now. the role of sunarto in the ldii community is to provide understanding to the public about the importance of management in managing organizations or institutions. he also conducted intensive communication with various levels of society to build a positive image of ldii which had been considered tilted by the community. the second is h. usman, who currently serves as chair of the ldii of kediri regency. he represented ldii at the kediri regency indonesian ulema council. the author witnessed several roles of h. usman in establishing communication with community elements such as the police and the army. he pioneered the construction of a tennis court that was specifically owned by ldii and always shared to people from other agencies three times a week for having exercise together. they initiated tennis championships conducted in an atmosphere that is harmonious, cheerful and full of family spirit among players from different agencies. the third figure is kuncoro. for kuncoro, the religious movement against the government was never lasting. according to him, basically pancasila has provided an opportunity for the community to embrace the religion they believe in, so that it is suitable for a diverse indonesian society. the fourth update figure is h. m. bayu afiudin, s.e. this figure holds the principle that islam is a religion that is a blessing for all nature. he has developed 4 (four) things in the development of ldii, namely advancing the economy of citizens by empowering joint ventures (ub), developing concern for the social environment, developing awareness of the environment, and revitalizing political power. [ 135 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 conclusion it is the fact that before the new era of the renewal organization, the ldii people are not easy to give answers to questions before getting permission from the emir. even when a community member speaks they will be accompanied by several people; they do not dare to be alone in having discussions with strangers. the development has been very surprising that the ldii has grown to a more open community. the members have been familiar to ask questions and convey their thoughts and proposals. when asked for an explanation, they can provide a complete and good explanation. but when there is a meeting of figures, the instructive tendency to the congregation is still visible. even though the ldii members are the latest, they appear to be afraid to be unwilling to submit obediently. these are remnants of past habits that are still visible and have not disappeared until now. the four ldii activists have renewed the changes in the socio-cultural paradigm that is usually the other group, so that until now ldii still exists in the community. ldii with its new face at this time also begins to be able to give hope for the expectations of nonldii groups, at a minimum on demands that ldii be moderate and tolerant. this achievement is inseparable from the actors of usman and sunarto. in addition to ldii activists at the local level, nationally this organizational reform was supported by the headquarter of the ldii office which always made fundamental changes by cooperating with government and religious organizations, so as to be able to build ldii’s branding as a more inclusive and open organization. bibliography anonymous. (1971). surat keputusan jaksa agung ri no. kep-089/da/10/1971 tentang pelarangan terhadap aliran-aliran darul hadits, djamaah jang bersifat/ beradjaran serupa. anonymous. (1986). kapitalisme dan teori sosial modern : suatu analisis terhadap karya tulis marx, durkheim dan max weber/anthony giddens. jakarta: penerbit universitas indonesia (ui-press). anonymous. (1999). potensi wisata kotamadya kediri. kediri. azra, a. (2000). renaisance islam asia tenggara. bandung: rosda. dove, m. r. (1988). traditional culture and development in contemporary indonesia, dalam the real and imagined role of culture in development, case studies from indonesia. honolulu. emerson, r. m. (1995). writing ethnographic notes. in ethnographic fieldnotes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aprim.2016.06.011 [ 136 ] al albab volume 8 number 1 june 2019 fetterman, d. m. (2010). ethnography: step-by-step. sage. https:// d oi . org / 1 0 . 1 0 0 2 / 1 5 2 1 3 7 7 3 ( 2 0 0 1 0 3 1 6 ) 4 0 : 6 < 9 8 2 3 : : a i d anie9823>3.3.co;2-c giddens, a. (1984). the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. in the constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01173303 giddens, a. (1990). introduction. in the consequences of modernity. https:// doi.org/10.2307/591454 ---------. (2016). modernity and self-identity. in social theory re-wired: new connections to classical and contemporary perspectives: second edition. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315775357 howell, j. d. (2005). muslims, the new age and marginal religions in indonesia: changing meanings of religious pluralism. social compass. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0037768605058151 morris, b. (2003). antropologi agama. yogyakarta: aka group. spradley, j. p. (1979). the ethnographic interview. new york. https://doi. org/10.5615/neareastarch.77.3.0176 thohir, m. (2009). islam jamaah dan ldii; doktrin islam jamaah dan sosialisasinya dalam membentuk kesalehan warga ldii. kediri. woodward, m. r. (2006). islam jawa. yogyakarta: lkis. [ 85 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religious pluralism: between syncretism and tantularism moh. toriqul chaer stit islamiyah karya pembangunan paron, ngawi, east java abstract this article has several objectives: first, to discover the background of religious pluralism in javanese society, notably among the communities in ketanggi; second, to recognize religious practice in ketanggi; and third, to explore the religious attitudes of ketanggi people towards religious pluralism. this article is based on field research carried out in ketanggi sub-district of ngawi, east java, which is inhabited by the communities with different religious backgrounds. this paper argues that religious commitment among ketanggi people is partly based on ‘tantularism’, a sort of ethical principle which emerges as a result of the encounters between religion and local wisdom. the reception of ketanggi people towards religious and cultural pluralism is expressed through the concept of lilo legowo (voluntary reception towards the other) which in turn becomes foundation of religious tolerance in that area. keywords: religious pluralism, tantularism, and javanese culture. introduction indonesia is one of only a few countries in the world that has the characteristics as a multi-ethnic country. it has around 931 ethnic groups with 731 languages. it is also a  country that has  fairly strong  religious traditions.  there are five major religions in indonesia, namely islam, protestantism, catholicism, hinduism,  and buddhism  (taum, 2006:  32). as  a pluralistic country, the potential  of conflict  is quite high. various forms of of  conflict  could occur in various forms, such as: conflict between religions, between ethnic groups, between cultures, between tribes, between different interests, between people from different provinces or regions. conflicts between the followers of different religions usually occur when the norms and religious values harassed by people other  faiths  (pahrudin  et al, 2009: 148).  it is an inevitability in religious pluralism, the presence of truth claim and the missionary character of each religion  had  possibility of clashes  in  the religious life  and  the emergence of inter-religious misunderstanding  became  wide open (komarudin, 1993: 11).  mukti  ali  in rahmat  (2004: 20)  said  that religion  is always welcome and experienced subjectively, hence people often define religion in accordance with their own  experience and  observance.  further  he said [ 86 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 that  religion is the  belief in  god almighty  and  the laws that  revealed to his messengers to the joys of human life in this world and the hereafter. malinowski was cited by karel a. steenbrink  (1988: 23) argued that religion is “wishful thinking” despite the belief of religious truth is considered nihilistic, but still capable of helping people to have a positive sense against frustration and  potential  in realizing  social  unity. this function can retain religious integration, integrity  and  social  order  so that conflict, mass violence and unrest can be avoided (fajar, 1998: 187). while nottingham (1997: 31) said that  in terms of the function of  society, religion  plays a role  in addressing the  issues  that arise  in the community  that cannot be  resolved  empirically because of  limited ability  and uncertainty.  therefore, religion  is expected to  carry out  its functions  so that people  feel  secure,  prosperous,  stable, and  so on. in addressing  religious  pluralism,  some experts came up with concepts  regarding  religious  attitudes, for example,  hans  kung  who promoted  the idea of  global  ethics, and john  hick  with his global  theology. exclusive  thought of globalized religion melted  in order to be known by the idea of so-called inclusive theology. this theology emphasizes that all religions are essentially the same; everything is true because without exception, they all teach good things and submission to the almighty and the righteous. therefore, there is no religion at this point is more superior than others. culturally  the javanese community  is the community  that has  the identity of  either  speaking the javanese language or practicing the javanese culture despite living outside the island of java (koentjaraningrat, 1982: 82). for the javanese, religion has its own definition and outlook of “agama ageming aji” (religion as a means of good deeds and virtue), no matter what religion, it is considered the same because all religions teach salvation. the meaning of the word “aji” is «queen» which explains that the religion embraced by the king or queen is the religion of the community (damami, 2002: 21). no wonder the javanese in the past converted to different religions to follow the religion and beliefs of the king or his queen. in javanese society, apotheosis and myths of the spirit of the ancestors resulted in the ancestor worship that gave birth to the customary law  and the relationships  of its supporters.  the implementation of the  slametan  ritual,  the spirit  of the ancestor becomes  a  guardian  for the family  members who are still alive.  stange  (1998: 12)  referred to it as “spiritual loyalty” which is conditioned by the existence of cultural spirit. the actualization of religious commitment in the form of extraordinary tolerance becomes the basis of  the spirit of  honor,  living  and  practicing  all the values of any source which is based on the belief of the javanese people, [ 87 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religion  is merely  a means of  reaching an eternal  life  and an outlook  that «punika agami  sadaya sami” (all religions are basically the same) (sujamto, 1992: 8).  the spirit of  tolerance  in  the religious life  is the  outlook of the  values  of javanese  cultural traditions  that emphasize  on the aspects of morality, harmonization and ethics. muhaimin (2001) added that the side of morality and ethical harmonization in the javanese community that needs to be underlined is the nature of a tolerance, accommodating and flexibility of the  javanese community  itself. the data  obtained  from research, development  and statistics  agency of ngawi district in 2009 shows that  in  ngawi  overall  there were  1,382  mosques,  3,960 small mosques, 77  churches, 1  temple and  1  chinese religion temple.  in the  ngawi subdistrict there were 87 mosques, 135 small mosques, 13 churches, 1 temple and 1 chinese religion temple.  the religious pluralism found in ketanggi  urban village  which  is administratively  part of ngawi sub-district.  religious  and ethnic pluralism  in  ketanggi  is  indicated  by the existence of  places of worship of different religions i.e. the mosques and churches and temples. the chinese temple in ketanggi is the only one in the area of ngawi district. in addition to the existence of a religious pluralism, ketanggi  is also known for its ethnic pluralism, especially in sido makmur. ketanggi urban village has grown and developed into the center of government and economy in ngawi. in fact,  the study of  the javanese community  has  been done, not only  by  indonesians but also  by foreigners.  there are  scientific  works that raised the issue and the theme of the study of the javanese community that need to be revealed to complement the insight of this paper. an overview of the javanese community religious life can be found in the work of clifford geertz, “santri, abangan, and priyayi in the javanese community. geertz (1981) said that: “(javanese) syncretism is clearly visible in the religious life in java that indicated an influence from the outside. although animism has been deeprooted  since ancient times,  the javanese  successively  accepted  hinduism, buddhism, islam and christianity, then “javanized” them all. it can be found on the worship of spirits which is still there  in  the deepest psychological  level of the javanese. the translation  of the  works of  niels  mulder  (2001) entitled,  “the javanese mysticism, ideology in indonesia”  revealed  the ideological  views  of the javanese community with its world  (microcosm) and the javanese view of life on the spiritual-religious  world (macrocosm). in addition, his other works include  “the javanese personality and national development”, published by gajahmada university press 1986, reviewed the themes of morality, a way of thinking and philosophy of life of the people of java, as well as the study of the [ 88 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 relationship between modernization and traditional life, and portraits of national development  in southeast asia. there is also another work by paul stange, entitled  “politics of  attention, a sense in  the  javanese culture”  published by lkis, yogyakarta in 1988 reviewing  kejawen as a text or praxis among the javanese.  the work  of sujamto,  “reorientation  and  revitalization of  the javanese view of life, published by dahara prize semarang 1992, examined the javanese syncretism, tantularism, kejawen and belief in god almighty. research by herlani (2010) examined the relationship between the strength of character and happiness in the javanese society, especially about how the strength of character contributed to happiness. results of the study revealed that the level of happiness of the javanese people quite high. the strength of character at the same time provided a significant contribution d towards happiness at 48.6%, whereas  7  of the strengths contributing to happiness, namely  tenacity, creativity, perspective, justice, vitality, curiosity, and forgiveness. five of the most prominent  strengths of character  are gratefulness, virtue, population, justice,  and integrity.  of a few  scientific papers  found, none  discusses  the pluralism of religions and cultures in ketanggi urban village, sub-district of ngawi, district of ngawi.  besides that,  this study specifically  discusses  the javanese  community’s awareness about harmonization within religious diversity. ketanggi community in ngawi, east java ngawi is located on the western part of east java province bordering central java province.  ngawi  is  an area of 1,298.58  km2  where about  39%  or approximately  504.8 km2  is an area of paddy field.  in accordance with the local regulations (perda) in 2004, the district of ngawi area is divided into 19  sub-districts and  217  villages, where  4 of  217  villages  are the  urban villages.  administratively,  ketanggi  consists of 29  rt (neighborhood association) and 6 rw (ward) with an area of about 80 ha. the population of ketanggi is about 6,031 with 2,785 males and 3,246 females (monographic data, ketanggi  urban village, september 2014). originally, ketanggi was a village like other villages in ngawi in general, and in 1950 ketanggi officially changed administratively from a village to an urban village. ketanggi is divided into 6 administrative areas, namely the area of kluncing, cabean lor, cabean kidul, sido makmur, sido mulyo dan krijan,  where each area is headed by an area chief. in the ketanggi community, religious and cultural interaction is intensive because of the potential of ketanggi as a business center in the region of ngawi in addition to the administrative center of the district. the distance to this village isless than 500 meters to the center of [ 89 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 government, and as a business center, it offers variety of daily needs for the community of  ngawi  that makes  ketanggi a destination  for migrants  from outside the district of ngawi. the business center in ketanggi is located along the ar. suprapto and sultan agung streets which is largely dominated by shops offering a variety of food products,  garment  and electronics.  there are  other business  centers  along the streets of ronggowarsito  and dr.  sutomo  with many shops that  carry the everyday needs, such as alfa mart, indomaret, and delima store as the center for  wholesale of educational  equipment  in  ngawi.  in addition,  the existence of  the grand market of ngawi  on  mangkubumi street,  ketanggi contributes to the increasing rate of growth and development of the economy in the region.  the existence of the grand market as the center of  people’s economy  also contributes to dynamic growth of  the economy  compared with other areas  in the district of ngawi. the high economic circulation at ketanggi  makes this area  the main goal  for the investment  in  the business world.  this  then  triggers  the intensity of  the interaction between  cultures, religions  and  ethnicities  in  the region.  as  a place with different religions, ethnicity  and culture,  ketanggi  has  a  unique  blend of  culture, among local and migrants. with regard to the pluralism of religion of the ketanggi people, it not only occurs at the level of society, but also at the level of family. results of the study  found that several families have  a different  religious background, including the family of hendrik (aged 57) who live on mangkubumi street. hendrik who was earlier christian converted to buddhism. meanwhile, his kids embraced the christian religion and catholicism. mr. hendrik said that;  “commitment  to build  an atmosphere of  religious life  at the family level with harmonious  relation based on the belief  of the practice  of  the religious  values  they  observe in order to  do the best to a fellow  human being» (interview with hendrik (aged 57 on october 19, 2014). the view the pluralism of  religion  on society  of ketanggi  as reported byhendrik  (aged 57), is about the purity of religious teachings that they profess. besides that the influence of the javanese culture that emphasizes on a syncretic attitude lowers the potential conflict. this is not merely rhetorical, but it gives an example in action especially regarding the appreciation of differences including different religions . johan  hendrik  caspar  kern  in  his  “over de vermenging van civaisme en buddhisme op java, naa aanleiding van het oudjavaansch gedicht sutasoma” did not use the term syncretism but instead he used the term vermenging which means  mixture.  meanwhile gonda  called it  by the term  ‘coalition’,  besides that  there are other terms such as blending, fusion and amalgamation. the [ 90 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 term syncretism and javanese syncretism was used by rasers who used the term “the javanese religion” to name the product of mixed religion happening to the javanese community (sujamto, 1992: 15). from the explanation, it can be concluded  that the  harmonious  relations between religions  in  ketanggi  society is not merely the javanese syncretism  but rather a remarkable javanese tolerance which is based on respect and passion for living and practicing all the values of truth from any source. this spirit is identical with tantularism; the source is drawn from empu tantular’s bhinneka tunggal ika tan hana dharma mangrwa (unity in diversity). “the pluralism of religion in ketanggi is not an obstacle to build a relationship in the form of dialog between  religious  folowers, this is because  the spirit of benevolence (sabba danam dhamma danam svaha). the spirit of assimilation by ethnic chinese is done with the realization that what they do is an effort to be part of the ketanggi  community “, (interview with ali handoyo  (71 years),  caretaker of the  sie  hienkyong temple,  ngawi  on 26 october  2014). the interview  above,  indicated that  the  strength  of the dialog on pluralism  of  religions and  the ethnic  harmonization  among the ketanggi  as an attempt  on the general  understanding of religion as a comprehensive  commitment and  driving integrative  motive  that govern  all aspects of human life in addition to the javanese culture that emphasizes on harmony. religion  is understood and  accepted as  a  unifying  factor  as proposed by gordon w. allport, or in other words how religion serves as a guide, the philosophy of life. this is the way the values of the religious teachings should be implanted  into  the believer  and practiced  in life.  in allport’s study, way people observe religion makes religion a philosophy of life that emphasizes on the aspects of compassion  called an “intrinsic  way of religiosity”  capable of creating a harmonious, peaceful and affectionate society. the view of the teaching of religion as teaching for doing good things toward others is observed by the community of ketanggi, and it is understood and applied in daily life. the javanese people  could not  be separated from  their society;  the  community is autonomous  and  governs the  overall  life  of its  participants.  rust  en  orde or peace and harmony of the javanese which is the basis of morality; it can be found in the relationship between people in their own community (mulder, 1986: 37). harmonization of  the pluralism of  religion  in the society  of ketanggi  is supported  by the existence of  an active role  of  religious  leaders  who encourage  the religious followers/residents  to always  do good  and to  appreciate  the differences  within  the community.  conflict related to [ 91 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religion  indeed  occurred  in 1980 in  ketanggi  but  it was  triggered by  the presence of  an internal  process of  propagation  carried out by  a certain religious group  with  a rigid,  extreme way of proselytization and tended to be  anarchist.  the events of  the 1980s  was not a  conflict  in the name of religion, but a question of internal religious way of da’wah carried out by certain  organizations/groups  (the results  of interviews with  head  ketanggi urban village on 20 november 2014). the religious practices of the ketanggi community  the community  of ketanggi,  in addition to  having plural  religions,  is also  ethnically  plural. residents living  in the neighborhood  ketanggi  are mostly ethnic chinese settlers who were born and have been living in java. the teachings of the ancestors of the ethnic chinese continue to be practiced and preserved  orally,  though  they already  adhere to a  different  religion or belief formerly embraced by their ancestors. ethnic chinese ritual practices in ketanggi  are mostly done at the  sie  hien  kyong  temple where they still observe the tradition of ritual and  belief  of  the sacred  guardian  spirit,  as well as magical objects as commonly practiced by the javanese natives who still remain entrenched in the javanese culture. the javanese apotheosis and myth of the spirit of the ancestors resulted in the worship of ancestral spirits that ultimately gave birth to the customary law and the relationships of its supporters. with the ceremonies, they show respect to the spirit of the ancestors that becomes a ‘guardian’ for families who are still alive. performing a ceremony or ritual at the sacred places is a religious act which is part of  the culture.  this activity  is based on  and  driven by  the existence of  religious emotion,  a  spiritual  vibration  believed to  be  able to move  the human spirit. some experts pointed out that religious ritual activities are the process by which the human soul enters the light of god (koentjaraningrat, 1985: 144). underhill  (1992)  in  djam›amnnuri  (1997: 34)  said  that the practice of  ritual  is always addressed to  god,  no matter how  thick  the veil  being used  to understand  him and  no matter how  strangely  the  disguises  people use. the main feature of this service is that there is a balance between birth and  inner,  because  human beings are not  just  made of  intellect or  spirit  only.  cultural  historians believed  that the introduction  of  such tradition is derived from the worship of spirits and the objects. worship of the spirit  is referred to as  animism  and the  worship of  the inanimate object  is called  dynamism.  animism  and dynamism  is  the oldest  javanese society’s religious belief. that belief is embodied in the cult of the spirit and strength of [ 92 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the objects through a petition for a blessing. dirk in sham (2005: 19) mentioned that in rituals, more emphasis is put on the form of the ritual as a strengthening of the social traditions and individual bonds with a social structure of the group. this integration is strengthened and perpetuated through ritual symbolization or mysticism. so rituals are seen as the essential embodiment of culture. it was further stated that the ritual was… as dramatizing the basic myths and vision of reality, the basic values and moral truths, upon which...the world rests. ritualictic expressions in practice now also can be found in the mix of elements of islam with the local culture. the example of the most popular and is currently still being debated among muslims is a prayer for those who have died, done on the 3rd, 7th, 40th, 100th and 1000th day of their death. this ritual in the  event  a tradition called selametan, a word derived  from arabic, namely islam, salam and salamah that mean asking for safety and peace, and the ceremony is often associated with the term tahlilan or tahlil where people read the sentence of thayyibah, la ilaha illa allah together. to the javanese, especially the ketanggi community, an outlook that life is filled with ceremonies, both  ceremonies  related to the  environment  and sacred ritualistic ceremonies. these ceremonies accompany human life from the early existence in the womb of the mother, birth, childhood, teens, adulthood, until the time of the death  in addition  ceremonies of  everyday activities related to making a living, among others: kenduren or selametan, mitoni, circumcision and so on. djam’amnnuri (1997: 35) said that the main thing that distinguishes acts of worship by human deeds is intention, or goal, not the deed itself. here is a more important distinction between etnic religion and universal religion in expressing religious experience theoretically  or  intellectually.  ethnic  religions  emphasize on accuracy and precision of the execution of the deed itself, opus operantum, while universal  religions give  judgment on the  inner attitude and intention of individuals as a measure of the purity of faith. without true inner  attitude  and intention,  the execution of  an act  of religion  would be of no value at all. the view of the ketanggi community on the importance of observing religious teachings properly and correctly is an obligation that must be met. on the other hand they also have the obligation to keep alive the traditions in the forms of ritual and ceremony. the synergy between religious tradition and religious attitude of the ketanggi  community  is complementary,  where it occurs on one side of the religious attitudes that they have supported the formation of religious tradition, while the religious tradition as a neighborhood  life also gives  the values and norms of religious behavior patterns. thus, the religious traditions [ 93 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 influence  the shaping of  experience and  consciousness  of religion so that religious attitudes can be formed in the community in the environment of certain traditions. durkheim argued that religion is the manifestation of the collective consciousness though there is always some other embodiment. god is considered the symbol of  the society  itself, which as a collective consciousness  then  transformed  into  a collective  representation.  god is the  idealism  of  the community  itself which  regard it as  the most perfect  creature (god  is the personification of society) and exceeds what is owned by a man. durkheim argued  in this case  that there are two things crucial in religious rites and ceremonies. the belief  is a thought  and  the ritual  is the action. religion is  a means to strengthen the collective consciousness as religious rites. people involved in religious ceremonies and their awareness about collective consciousness is growing strong. religious sustainability and atmosphere of religious ceremonies  are brought  in everyday life,  then  the  collective  consciousness gradually grew weaker again. the practice religious rituals in the community of ketanggi is a means considered to be able to play a role in creating a collective awareness among the society, or in other words the religious ritual they perform is an attempt at re-charging for man to return to his god. ali handoyo (aged 71) said that ethnic chinese who were born and live  in ketanggi feel that the javanese tradition, culture and rituals are filled with wisdom and life that co-exist with the attitude of the religious belief that they have the strength to be synergistic virtue in a harmonious relationship between different religious beliefs or etnicities. ethnic chinese  living with the local people  in ketanggi still preserve the chinese tradition, one of which is gong zhui, a regular meeting  for ethnic chinese  in  ketanggi.  the agenda  of the  gong  zhui  also usually  discusses  issues of topics related to business.  at  the final  session of  the meeting,  they usually  collect donations  that will  be used  to help residents around them or as an aid for the benefit of other charities in the region of ketanggi (interview with ali handoyo (aged 71), on november 28, 2014) the explanation above can be concluded that the understanding and practice of religion in the ketanggi society is similar to what robert c. monk said. he explained that religious tradition has two main functions that have multiple roles;  first,  religious tradition  as a force  that is able to  create  stability, harmonization and alignment for the individuals and society; second, religious tradition serves as a change agent in society and individuals, even in a conflict situation. the view and practice of religion in the ketanggi community took place in a dual function,  on  the one hand  as social  stability bring people [ 94 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 closer,  and on  the other hand  as a progressive  change movement  for improvement of social life (rakhmat, 2004: 227). the dialectic  process between  religion and  local javanese  culture  tha happened  in  ketanggi society  at least  produce  a synthetic  culture  which is the inevitability of history as a result of dialog between religions and the values of the local javanese cultural traditions. the birth of the ritual expressions with values  of the instrument  is a  local product whereas the  materials  have content of religious  nuances.  the relation between  religion and culture  in ketanggi  does not  immediately  eliminate the  fundamental  values  of the teachings of the religion they believe. so is the case with the traditions and culture of the  ethnic chinese,  where ethnic chinese  community  who live in ketanggi despite embracing the religion of their choice, still maintain and preserve the tradition and culture of their ancestors. the religious commitment of ketanggi society  the differences  that exist in god’s creation  at the center of  the universe is  an  inevitability  that ought to be  accepted  as a gift  to  be grateful for. such things should become more evident in the religious life in the midst of  religious diversity as an accepted  inevitability and we should be grateful for the gift of god. ir. henry suwarto (aged 53), said that the teaching of the christian religion (catholicism) is also similar to other religions. the leaders or religious figures also appealed to the people to coexist with other religious followers because christianity  is  taught  by  jesus christ to  love one another. so individuals who believe in jesus, his life must be compassionate to indicate that when there are christians, they should coexist with followers of other religions without religious dispute (interview with ir. henry suwarto, chief of  the pentecostal  messenger  church  indonesia, in  ngawi  on 10 december 2014). basically, human is god’s creation so that being difference does not need to give rise to discrimination  based on different  religion,  ethnicity,  or  status and  so on.  the desire to  live peacefully,  side by  side  between  different religious  groups  is a representation of  the desire  to live a life  meaningful for  oneself, a family and  a community.  as  the main  motivation  for this  desire  is to be  a dignified,  honorable  and valuable  person  with activities  that  focus on the purpose and meaning life. rohmat (60 years), a religious figure in  ketanggi  mentioned that  the process of spreading  the islamic values and the process of dialog between religions that is conducive in the  long run  was done through intense  dialog. he  revealed that  the area around  dr.  sutomo  street previously in  the 1980s  was a paradise for  fans [ 95 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 of  liquor.  with  the intensity of  propagation, commitment and hard work  of religious  leaders,  community leaders  and  neighborhood  officials, the darul jannah mosque was built for the muslims there. the darul jannah mosque is located next to the pentecostal messenger church indonesia that was constructed first i.e. around 1986. the presence of  darul  jannah mosque,  a  religious  atmosphere of the muslim  community  began to  surface and activities of  drunkenness  in the area slowly began to  disappear.  the construction process of  darul  jannah, which located next to the  pentecostal  messenger church  indonesia,  went smoothly. this was due to the intensive dialog and communication between ketanggi  religious and  community leaders  as well as neighborhood officials  (interview  with rahmat  (aged 60)/community elder  on november 25, 2014). damami (2002: 45), revealed that religious diversity as well as the diversity of  ethnicity, tribe  and nation,  should also be understood  in a perspective of humanity that coexist in the community of ketanggi with its distinctness to  build a better life  together,  and its uniqueness should not be seen as a  threat to  the  other followers of religion.  as  expressed by  damami  that  there is a view in the  javanese  community  and  its own definition religion as in “agama ageming  aji”  from  which the definition of the expression appears. the definition that religion is the basic guidelines of life, meaning that any religious teaching is all good for the safety and welfare of the  people  living  in this world  whatever  religion  embraced being  the same  because  all religions  teach  salvation. the perception  about god  in the javanese community is reflected in a saying tan kena kinayangapa which contains the meaning that every time people try to describe or explain about the nature of god, surely they will not be able to describe the actual nature of god. the view of ketanggi  people  in  an attempt to  reach  god is  nothing more than a group of blind men trying to describe an elephant. some of them may touch the tusk,  some touching the  belly,  the tail,  or the  leg. each has  a different perspective about the nature of an elephant. being aware of the fact, the ketanggi community tends to avoid debates on the establishment or beliefs about god and religion. they refuse to say that a certain religion or belief is true and  the other  false.  it is this attitude  that becomes the strength of the javanese community in building harmony, good tolerance in religious life as well as in other fields. religious harmony in the ketanggi society can be seen from the harmony of relations between different religions. among the example set is participation in the construction of places of worship, the celebration of the religious holly days. participation among believers in ketanggi is also in the [ 96 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 form of donations of money or other material submitted voluntarily without coercion  (interview  with  didik,  head of people’s welfare division, ketanggi urban village, october 25, 2014). religious  harmony  in the society  of  ketanggi  is the result of  hard work of various religious leaders who socialized this attitude to their congregation. the government  administrative apparatus in  ketanggi  also have also been working with religious leaders with regard to creating harmony with a view of that religion or belief is just one of the ways for an individual or community to  achieve  life goals, namely  to  reach the holy  nature  or heaven.  so in other words,  all religions are good; all religions  teach virtues. this thought or  view  is  used  by the ketanggi  apparatus  to ensure religious harmony is preserved.  religious figures of  islam, christianity, hinduism  and buddhism  socialize  the importance of harmonious relation to their followers. socialization  is done  in each  religious  activity  conducted by respective religious group.  for example,  for  the muslims, it  is done  during the recitation of yasin, tahlilan at a mosque and surau (smaller mosque), the christians at a sunday mass or other days at the church, the buddhists during a prayer ritual at the temple. religious  commitment  on  religious  diversity  in the  ketanggi  community  is unique  representation of the religious figures.  it can be seen  from the religious  commitment of  the respective leaders  to build  an atmosphere of  harmonious  religious diversity  in  the area.  as  durkheim  argued  with his phrase “religion  as  a  societal  glue”,  although religion  is  destructive  on one hand, but  on  the other hand  it is  a vehicle  for  constructive interaction and commitment to dialog between believers. dayakisni (2009: 160) said that commitment is a feeling of togetherness and the intention to maintain the relationship. duffy and rusbult (1986) stated that people will be more committed to a relationship when: (1) they are satisfied with the results; (2) the absence of an alternative to other relationships  that they can enter; and (3) they have invested considerable resources in that relationship (such as time, effort, self-disclosure, reciprocal friendship and shared property). speaking  of commitment, the community  ketanggi  cannot be separated from any social interaction among them, where during the process there is a reciprocal relationship, mutual influence on one side and corroboration of their identity as the javanese community has a duty to preserve harmony among them.  soekanto  defines  social interaction  as the relationship  between  persons or between human groups. social interaction will not be possible if it does not meet two conditions: (1) the existence of social contacts; and (2) communication. according to glock & stark  in ancok  (2008: 76) there are five differ[ 97 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 ent dimensions of diversity, i.e, the dimension of beliefs (ideological), dimension of religious practice (ritualistic), dimension of experience (experiential), dimension of the implementation (consequential), and dimension of religio us knowledge (intellectual). religiosity or religious activities not only happens when someone performs the ritual behavior (worship), but also when doing other activities driven by supernatural powers. it means not only activities that can be seen, but also what takes place in one’s heart. the caretaker of sien hien kyong temple in ngawi, ali handoyo (aged 71) said that the commitment to always maintain religious harmony within a group of a certain religion is urgent, because the bigotry will contribute to nothing but to  hostile actions.  this perspective  is based  on the fact  the majority of ethnic chinese are christians or confucians, who historically are not natives of  ketanggi. purwoko  (aged 47), chairman of the  darul  jannah mosque ketanggi said that there is something unique about the community of ketanggi, especially on  aspects of  cultural and  religious diversity.  he  mentioned the fact that a mosque and a church could exist side by side, indicating that the muslim community can live next to the christians in harmony. ethnic chinese have blended in and adapted to the culture of local communities of ketanggi. at the beginning of  the construction of darul  jannah mosque, there was a misunderstanding  triggered by  lack of communication  especially with regard to the worship activities of the muslims and the christians. how ever, after a dialog was held between figures from the darul jannah mosque and the pentecostal church, a deal was reached to be able to understand and appreciate  each other  particularly when each group needed to perform worship (interview  with  purwoko  on 25 november  2011). in this light, as reported by the religious figures  and  the administrative  apparatus, it reflects  that the efforts to maintain stability and harmonization of religious diversity are carried out continuously  in the form of commitment and tolerance among religious  leaders,  law enforcers  and community  members of ketanggi.  the javanese  culture and tradition  that  seek  harmony  has delivered  a strong influence on the society of ketanggi. the ketanggi  community’s  commitment  in the form of  appreciation of  the pluralism  is capable of  preventing the occurrence of  religious conflict  and proved  effective in creating  a climate that  is conducive  to the  harmony and  pluralism of  the religious life  within the community.  durkheim  described that religion  in the form of  its adherents’ true understanding has a function as  social  adhesives. the ketanggi  society believes that religion  requires its adherents to continue living in peace and harmony. therefore, it can become a model of how religious commitment that underlies every activity [ 98 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 related to the motion and behavior of the followers is able to bring a peaceful, safe and serene atmosphere to everyone. conclusion study of the dialectics of religion and culture in the javanese community as analyzed by dister  (1994: 102) who argued that  the interactions between culture and religion on the other hand, potentially reduce the values of the sacred teachings of the religion itself. he explained that there is a danger that threatens  when  religion and  ethics  are closely combined;  first,  religion and ethics will lose their own intention and idiosyncrasies. religious intention is associate with with god, as association with him is not the same as that in human life. moral values are autonomus; second, it  is a threat when people use religion  as a means to  assure  the socio-moral  life  runs smoothly but is used by the rulers to maintain the status quo that favors the position of ruler concerned. in view of  the arguments  put forward by  nico  syukur  dister  above  in analyzing  what is happening  in  the process of  dialog between  religions and  ethics  (cultural tradition) in the  ketanggi  community  on  the one hand  what he said is true.  the sacredness of the values of religious teachings  in  community  of ketanggi  is arguably  biased,  reduced  by the ritualistic  cultural  values  of javanese people.  the process  that occurs between the  interest of religious  and  cultural  rituals  in  the community  is typical of the javanese  society in general with  the nuances of  culture and tradition in religious ritual ceremonies. it takes a deep study and focus on the interaction of culture and religion particularly on religious ceremonies in the javanese socity. the religious commitment in the community of ketanggi on the one hand is influenced by an outlook based on the teachings of religion, but on the other hand, such commitment has been heavily shaped by the javanese culture.  there are concerns  when  religion and  culture  are combined  in such a way, as  described  by nico,  it tends to eliminate intention, religious distinctivenes is considered something that is  “taken for  granted”  with ethics based on human culture. even in the other perspective, religion can be used to ensure social stability and to maintain the status quo for the authorities. based on the analysis above, it can be concluded that the process of intensive dialog between religion and culture in ketanggi socity and the javanese society --in general—has created a condition where  religion  at some point  serves as  a  formal  legal  basis  for  the cultural traditions  of the community. such circumtances  could  give rise to  bias  and the reduction of religious ritual behaviour or the ketanggi society as a representation of javanese itself. the [ 99 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 dialectics  of religion  and culture  in  the ketanggi community  tends to strengthen  the cultural legality  as  a  driving force of  the collective consciousness when compared to the power of religious social morality. references ancok, djamaludin dan fuat nashori suroso. 2008. psikologi islami; solusi islam atas problem-problem psikologi, yogyakarta: penerbit pustaka pelajar, cet. vii balai penelitian, pengembangan dan statistik kabupaten ngawi. 2009. ngawi dalam angka, ngawi: cv. mahardika. bastaman, hanna djumhana. 2005. integrasi psikologi dengan islam; menuju psikologi islami, jakarta: pustaka pelajar, cet. iv, damami, muhamad. 2002. makna agama dalam masyarakat jawa, yogyakarta: lesfi. dayakisni, tri dan hudaniah. 2009. psikologi sosial. malang: umm press. dister, nico syukur. 1994. pengalaman dan motivasi beragama, yogyakarta: penerbit kanisius. djam’amnnuri. 1997. ekspresi keagamaan, yogyakarta: fakultas ushuluddin iain sunan kalijaga. furnivall, js. 1967. netherlands india: a study of plural economy, cambridge at the university press. hidayat, komarudin,. 1993. ilmu perbandingan agama: ketegangan antara dialog dan dakwah, ulumul qur’an, jurnal ilmu dan kebudayaan, no. i, vol. iv. koentjaraningrat dan donald k. emmerson (ed), 1985. aspek manusia dalam penelitian masyarakat, jakarta: penerbit pt gramedia. muhaimin, a.g., 2001. islam dalam bingkai budaya lokal potret di cirebon, jakarta: pt. logos wacana ilmu. mulder, niels. 1986. kepribadian jawa dan pembangunan nasional, yogyakarta: gadjah mada university press mulder. niels. 2001, mistisime jawa, ideologi di indonesia, yogyakarta: lkis najati, utsman. 1985. alqur’an dan ilmu jiwa agama, bandung: pustaka, 1985 rakhmat, jalaluddin. 2004. psikologi agama sebuah pengantar, jakarta: penerbit mizan. riyadi, hendar. 2006. melampaui pluralisme: etika al-qur’an tentang keragaman agama , jakarta: rmbooks & psap. stange, paul, 1998. politik perhatian: rasa dalam kebudayaan jawa (terj.) yogyakarta: lkis. sugiyono. 2010. metode penelitian pendidikan : pendekatan kuantitatif, kual[ 100 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 itatif dan r&d, bandung : alfabeta sujamto. 1992. reoreintasi dan revitalisasi: pandangan hidup masyarakat jawa semarang: dahara prize. suseno, franz magniz. 2003. etika jawa; sebuah analisa tentang kebijaksanaan hidup jawa, jakarta: pt. gramedia pustaka umum sunardi. 1994. “dialog: cara baru beragama, sumbangan hans kung bagi dialog antar-agama,” dalam seri dian i/tahun i: dialog kritik dan identitas agama, yogyakarta: dian. syam, nur. 2005. islam pesisir, yogyakarta: penerbit lkis. taum, yoseph yapi, 2006. “wawasan kebangsaan dari perspektif budaya flores.” makalah dialog budaya daerah “merumuskan kembali wawasan kebangsaan melalui perspektif budaya lokal” yang diselenggarakan balai kajian sejarah dan nilai tradisional yogyakarta, 18 – 19 april 2006 di wisma kinasih kaliurang. wijayanti, herlani. 2010. jurnal psikologi, volume 3, no. 2, juni 2010 [ 3 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 religious violence in the indonesian democratic era hasse j. universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta email: hasse@umy.ac.id mega hidayati universitas muhammadiyah yogyakarta email: mhidayati@gmail.com abstract the indonesian democratic era has provided hope for the growth of mutual social practices established upon diversity of ethnicity, religions, race, and inter-group relations. yet, in the last decade, various forms of violence were often carried out on behalf of religion instead. these acts of violence were not only physical but also psychological (cultural), in the forms of discrimination, abuse, expulsion, insult, and threat. the ahmadiyya and shia cases, for instance, provide an outlook regarding the prevalence of violence within social practices in the community in response to differences. why does such violence remain to occur in indonesia? the work finds that, aside from a ‘failed understanding of religious texts’, excessive truth claim also triggers acts of religious violence in the current era of indonesian democracy. it is of utmost importance that people’s understanding and interpretation of differences be set straight so that any response to differences can be considered as an embryo of national power that serves as an instrument employed for uniting the people of this nation instead of disuniting them. it is also strongly indicated by the work that religious violence may be avoided by changing the understanding of the meaning of differences. keywords: religious, violence, diversity, democratic, era introduction the reality of diverse ethnicities, races, and religions found in indonesia is a blessing that makes for more complete and dynamic order in life. the diversity of this nation has evolved and developed into the strong pillar that it is until this day. during the pre-independence era, the diverse entities of the region became united into fight against the colonialists. however, such diversity does indeed bear consequences in the relational patterns of each element, particularly regarding the relations of religions (read: religious followers). aside from established compromises that led us to harmony, there [ 4 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 were also contestation and even violence/conflict which followed along this nation’s journey. historically speaking, religious diversity in indonesia has undergone highly varying and fluctuating relations in which it is at times interspersed by violence that largely resulted in numerous casualties and losses of both lives and wealth. some of the cases which had occurred in the past two decades were those found in poso, ambon1, papua, and sambas along with other cases which emphasize that interreligious relationship in indonesia experiences a stage that waxes and wanes. the open conflict between islam and christianity becomes a phenomenon that is often observed in indonesia’s religious ‘contestation’. the case of maluku is one of significant conflicts in indonesia which brought huge damages in facilities and societies. this case also demonstrated that a conflict involved many players. john braithwaite and leah dunn (2010:195) found that ambonese christian and muslim youth gangs in jakarta and ambon, indonesian military, indonesian police especially brimob, laskar jihad, laskar mujahidin, laskar kristus and other militias, and moluccan politicians playing with religiously based political game were the key-war making actors. they also concluded that “maluku is the first of a number of indonesian case that are challenging our starting theory that reconciliation without truth is not possible. the current indonesian contemporary-democratic era should not be littered by interand intra-religious contestations that lead to conflict, but it should be more accommodating and open to mutual compromise for the sake of attaining a more harmonious and humanistic indonesian society at all levels of life. it seems that romanticism toward either intraor inter-religious relations is merely an ‘empty memory’ when referring to the various occurring cases of violence. these acts of violence involving followers of the same religion or of different ones continue to happen. why is that so? this article attempts to discuss the question by starting to provide the cases of religiously motivated violence in indonesia. 1 jacques bertrand (2002) observes that violence or conflict in ambon does not stand alone, and it’s not purely caused by religion. he opines that problems of economy, politics, and past history also triggered violence to happen there. during the colonial era, christianity was the dominant group and they had control over almost all sectors of life. muslims were the marginal group at the time. this condition was subsequently overturned when indonesia gained independence, wherein christian dominance has since been gradually taken over by the muslim group. [ 5 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 religious violence in numbers the wahid foundation (institute), setara institute, and center for religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs) periodically provide information and data analyses concerning religious violence in indonesia. according to the data, phenomena of violence involving religions have repeatedly occurred with similar patterns. setara institute in 2016 showed that throughout 2015, as many as 197 incidents relating to violence involved religious groups either internally or externally. christians (29 incidents) and shia followers (31 incidents) were the groups that mostly became victims of violence/protests (setara institute, 2016). the most dominant type of violence confronted by the two groups were violations in the form of forcing a belief or forcing to conduct religious teachings. the burning of the saman church in bantul, yogyakarta and the demolition of three churches in the regency of aceh singkil are some examples of the incidents. the wahid institute also presents various incidents of violence experienced by certain religious groups. for instance, in 2015, there were 158 incidents with 187 acts and a number of these cases involved state or non-state actors (laporan tahunan, 2015:12). the amount above showed a 12% drop than previous year. the types of violation also varied, such as sealing off house of worship, criminalization, and discrimination based on religion, accusation as heretical sect, and intimidation of certain religious group. the perpetrators of violence were from various elements, including religious institutions, mass organizations, the masses, and other organizations. the center for religious and cross-cultural studies (crcs) periodically launches a report pertaining to religious life in indonesia. in 2008, conflicts relating to house of worship remain prevalent. there were 14 cases relating to house of worship such as destruction, prohibition of worship, dismissal during worship, demolition, conflict of religious followers, residents’ refusal of religious activities, and stopping activities of worship (crcs, 2009: 18-20). in 2009, crcs reported 25 cases relating to discourses on heretics and religious blasphemy, and 20 similar cases in 2012 (crcs, 2012: 59-65). in 2010, crcs launched issues relating to houses of worship. since january to december 2010, there had been 20 cases of violence in relation to houses of worship, such as destruction, eviction of religious followers, burning of houses of worship, and even demand for imprisoning certain religious figures. in 2011, the number of violence relating to houses of worship had risen to 36 cases (crcs, 2011: 48-53). the cases of violence above generally involved christianity and islam. cases prohibiting the building of churches, dismissing christians’ services, [ 6 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 attacks on christians became another ‘color’ of religious life in recent years. in addition to violence concerning other religions (christianity), issues involving the ahmadiya sect were also quite prevalent during the 2000s. crcs stated that in 2009, there were 11 cases relating to ahmadiyya. the public’s demand regarding the ahmadiyya sect was varied, some demanded them to be dispersed, completely banned, monitored, and even consecration of ahmadiyya followers by renouncing their faith and converting to mainstream islam. acts of violence are still experienced by ahmadiyya followers today (2017) by means of various patterns. in 2015, religious conflicts were varied as politics had become infused into them. religious politicization emerged in many forms such as the use of houses of worship as campaign media and the use of the anti-shia issue in campaigns which were among methods used by certain regional head candidates to gain more electorates as is the case in sampang, madura, east java (crcs, 2015: 17). this case provides an outlook in which the use of identity, including shia, still adorns the map of both local and national politics. triggers of religious violence in any religious tradition, claims of truth and the superiority of one’s religion constantly arise as it is an essential part of the construction of faith. as accentuated in islam that, “indeed, the religion in the sight of allah is islam” (qs. ali imran: 19) and “and whoever desires other than islam as a religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the hereafter, will be among the losers” (qs. ali imran: 85). the verses above emphasize a ‘single’ form of truth that solely belongs to islam. such claim is constantly maintained and institutionalized through various media such as forum for religious studies, learning, speeches, and other media as an effort to strengthen the followers’ faith concerning the truth of their religious teaching. this may be interpreted as a claim of absolute truth. every religious follower is even ‘obligated’ to embrace such attitude and it is not considered a mistake because such effort or attitude is carried out for the sake of ‘justifying’ the follower’s choice in the religion adhered to. however, a grave problem will come to surface when outsiders are coerced to follow what is believed to be the truth. preaching one’s religion may indeed be the obligation of every religious follower, but it should be conducted elegantly (in the quran it is mentioned to be done through hikmah or wisdom) and countering (opposing) opinions should also be done through proper means. it is said in the quran to “invite to the way of your lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best...” (qs. an nahl: [ 7 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 125). this means that the method of hikmah (wisdom) serves as a significant indicator in inviting others to follow islam. it is for this very reason that violent methods or means are not justified. truth claim2 that may become ‘excessive’ will have an impact in establishing relationships that tend to be closed-minded toward people/group of other religions. truth claim of one’s religion should be equally coupled with openness (inclusivity) and should still provide space for other people/groups to practice what they believe. an exclusive attitude has the potential to bring about suspicion, hate, and the notion that other people/groups are non-existent and they do not have any chance of attaining good. actually, the humanistic aspect of religion may be approached from the reality that religion is also regarded as a primordial human nature (fitrah) that is revealed. this is aimed at fortifying the primordial human nature that is already inherent within the human self. humanistic values should not be in opposition to religious values, and vice versa (madjid, 1992: xvi). violence often becomes the main option in dealing with differences, wherein one of the triggers is excessive truth claim which might be related to phychological dimension of religious practices (tomas lindgren, 2017). among its causes is the lack of understanding about one’s own religion, even narrow-minded understanding which leaves no room for truth of other religions is included. self righteous attitude (in the context of differing belief/ religion) has a clear theological basis. however, a complex issue lies in the ‘negation’ of other religions and other religious followers. oddly enough, there are quite a few islamic followers who condemn or consider their fellow muslims as infidels (takfiri) deserving to be eliminated. people or groups that hold differing views are considered deviants, wrong, conservative, and infidels. they are opposed because they are positioned as people/groups that are outside the ‘mainstream islam’. in the indonesian context, the acts of violence experienced by the jamaah ahmadiyah indonesia (jai) and shia followers serve as striking cases. both these groups became easy pickings for certain islamic groups that are based on different understanding of islam. difference of opinion/understanding is actually nothing new in islam. differences in islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) were actually quite deep in terms of worshipping practices in the islamic world. 2 aside from truth claim, interpretation of texts also plays a role in making certain group or people to take action. truth claim and narrow interpretation of texts, both contribute in the progressively strengthening assumption that differences are the source of violence or conflict (hasse jubba, 2011). very textual interpretations tend to provide literal understandings and they are considered insufficient to analyze the phenomena of differences among religious followers today. regarding the matter, contextual interpretations that do not leave out inherent textual substances are undoubtedly necessary. [ 8 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 there are four main schools of thought (madhhab) of imams within fiqh that remain to be observed by muslims today. all four have differing interpretation to ritual matters, but they remain within a single frame of theological understanding. they have the same main source of reference, namely the quran and hadith. they have the same shahada (islamic testament of faith) and the same messenger. yet, they do not blame or condemn each other, let alone consider them as infidels and negate or mutually annihilate each other. jai in kuningan, west java, for example, was a victim of violence, both violence of physical battery, and discriminative actions, including verbal violence through various inappropriate expletives (andreas harsono, 2010). such was also the case for the shia group in sampang, madura that was attacked in which their mosque and residence were burned. the two groups experienced similar position, wherein they were placed outside of mainstream islam thereby requiring to be dealt with without due process of law. vigilantism was instead promoted by conducting these attacks on jai3 and shia groups. the excuse often used to perpetrate acts of violence against a particular group (including jai and shia) is because it is regarded as a ‘splintered’4 or ‘deviant’ group. this means a group that has separated itself from the common religious teachings (read: mainstream). herein lies the dimension of ‘sin’, when a group/sect is immediately considered as being deviant merely due to differences in opinion and argumentation of a religious text, and even merely because of differences in religious practices. the secession of a group from the mainstream standard is not something which instantaneously happens. it is very much influenced by the dynamics of social context. a shia follower, for instance, may have different understandings to sunni (mainstream group in indonesia), but it should at least be positioned as an ‘equalizer’, instead of a competitor to the majority group. the advent of islam itself, was not determined by a single dominant factor, as there were numerous factors which influenced islam such as social, political, economic factors, and religious tradition. islam, as do other religions, develops through various means; and its development has brought about many 3 ahmadiyya in indonesia has long become a ‘commodity’ for debate. a contra attitude toward ahmadiyya has been observed to occur since 1929 when muhammadiyah positioned ahmadiyya (followers) as a faithless group. this continued in 1965 when east sumatra ulema issued a fatwa rejecting ahmadiyya, which was followed by opinion of ulemas in several places emphasizing the similar statement that the teachings of ahmadiyya are heretical (crouch, 2008: 7-8). 4 this term is often stated by abdurrahman wahid (gus dur). he used this terminology as a translation for “splinter group”. the word itself has no particular connotation to any religious sect, but it is used for small groups that separates itself (splinters) from a party or social and political organization. the word ‘splinter group’, in terms of terminology close to religious matters, relates to the word ‘sect’ (ernas in rajab and basri, 2016: vi). [ 9 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 differences among its followers (al makin, 2016: 123). islam is also practiced through a variety of ways depending on the selected school of thought. in a number of places in indonesia, islamic practices that are different to other places are easily found. they have a different way of expressing islam because it has infused into the tradition/culture leaving its followers to practice islam according to the context it is in. however, as hans georg gadamer found, tradition becomes human limitation and it makes human beings not possible to understand something outside their tradition. therefore, they need to have a dialogue with the others to make their understanding larger than before. this is what he called as fusion of horizon. (gadamer, 1075). thus, it is impossible to push someone to be exclusivist or inclusivist since human limitation, but the changing is truly possible when someone opens themselves through dialogue and fusion of horizon occurs. one of important things in this case is the awareness that human’s ability to understand are limited, thus different understandings are not something disturbing which in turn make people respect to the others (hidayati, 2010). the dynamics and escalation of global politics also contribute to the prevalence of various forms of violence conducted on behalf of religion in indonesia. the various discriminatory actions experienced by muslims in several corners of the world incited rage within islamic groups in indonesia. the most recent case is the eviction of rohingnya muslims in myanmar. this incident immediately triggered responses of many muslim countries, including indonesia. the rohingnya case may, arguably, not be a case of religious violence, yet such argument remains difficult to accept. this is because, those being evicted are muslims and the fact is that they reside in a country of non-muslim majority. as a response based on islamic camaraderie, the sympathy of the muslim world flowed generously. various acts and rallies were conducted to show solidarity and commitment of defending their muslim ‘brothers & sisters’ who are facing violence. the case of rohingnya muslims is purely considered as religious violence, instead of a mere domestic issue of a country where it might be the case that religion only plays a small part in the whole incident. nevertheless, several groups in indonesia consider the rohingnya case as acts of violence perpetrated upon muslims living there (see, bawazir, 2015). this claim is not wrong, since those experiencing violence are indeed muslims. it is, however, indirectly concluded as a case of religious violence despite there being several factors which led the incident to its current state. the responses given for cases experienced by muslims in other countries prove that the world muslim solidarity remains very strong, although it [ 10 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 may be temporary and casuistic. what is felt and experienced by muslims in other countries will garner similar response in other muslim countries, as is often observed in indonesia. however, these responses are often expressed ‘excessively’, because the violence experienced by muslims on the other side of the globe may be dealt with through similar means. meaning that violence occurring in another place is subsequently countered with ‘violence’ in indonesia as well. ultimately, a non-conducive atmosphere flows vigorously into the country instead because violence is replied with violence although through relatively different means. such conditions may even be camouflaged in various forms, starting from open violence such as attacks, rallies, and eviction of other groups particularly the minority. based on the above explanation, religion and violence or conflict are inseparable. andreas hasenclever and volker rittberger (2000) present three theoretical perspectives which may be utilized in reading the relation between religion and conflict. first, the primordialists argue that religion in itself contains inherent element that leads to conflict. when ‘religious conflict’ happens, religion is viewed as an independent variable, which is the element that does not depend on other aspects, and the difference in religious identity itself may be enough to stimulate conflict. the jai and shia conflicts in indonesia can be a reference point for this perspective since they are considered to have deviated from mainstream islam leading them to become a target of violence and trigger for conflict. meanwhile, the second perspective, the instrumentalists view the role of religion in ‘religious conflict’ as a mere instrument. religion has no objective role in and of itself, thus conflict is triggered by the presence of economic and political interests. religion merely serves as a rhetoric, its relation to conflict is a quasi one. take the examples of the jai and shia cases, many people saw them as not merely a religious issue, but more concerning a political one. elite politics directs the public to consider them merely as religious matters. religious instrumentalization by the elites, even religious politicization seems effective in garnering attention and support of the masses. muslims in indonesia eventually considered shia followers as deviant religious adherents who must be corrected and converted to pure islam. jai in kuningan was not a mere ideological matter as well, since it was also imbued with nuances of religious politicization that was simply accepted by the public. the third perspective is the constructivists. this theoretical perspective lies between the two approaches in the above passages. constructivists are in line with instrumentalists who view that the fundamental cause of conflict is not religion, but interest. constructivists agree with primordialists who [ 11 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 see religion as having a real objective role, meaning that although religion is not the main cause of conflicts, it helps to accelerate them. in this case, once religion is involved in conflict, it may exacerbate the conflict into becoming more fatal. but, they disagree with the primordialists who argue that religion is an independent variable in conflict. this is because in their opinion, religion operates dependently, being reliant on other economic and political factors surrounding the conflict; to what extent does religion contribute in escalating conflicts depends on how acute are the clashes between economic and political interests in the conflict. understanding differences differences or diversity is an unavoidable social reality. it is the course of god or sunnatullah. diversity is god’s decree and it is unquestionably absolute. in qs. al maidah: 48,” we have sent down to you the book with the truth, confirming what was before it of the book and as a guardian over it. so judge between them by what allah has sent down, and do not follow their desires against the truth that has come to you. for each [community] among you we had appointed a code [of law] and a path, and had allah wished he would have made you one community, but [his purposes required] that he should test you in respect to what he has given you. so take the lead in all good works. to allah shall be the return of you all, whereat he will inform you concerning that about which you used to differ”, it is mentioned that it was god’s will not to have made mankind into one nation (united in religion). in qs. al hujurat: 13 “o mankind! indeed we created you from a male and a female,and made you nations and tribesthat you may identify yourselves with one another.indeed the noblest of youin the sight of allahis the most godwary among you.indeed allah is all-knowing, all-aware”, also reiterates that allah created mankind into peoples and tribes with the aim that one may know another. and by knowing one another, mankind has the potential to gain mutual understanding so that all forms of disputes may subsequently be avoided. differences in ethnicity, race, religion, and such complete the life of man in this world. it is difficult to imagine mankind originating from one ethnicity, one race, and one religion. perhaps, life will be monotonous without any variations eventually leading to ever present boredom and dreariness. in truth, religious differences may be interpreted and positioned as a means to understand one’s own religion. islam, for example, can be widely known because it is compared to other religions such as christianity and judaism. hence, differences provide the opportunity for all people/groups to learn from each other and produce [ 12 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 a sense of mutual understanding and respect. yet, concerning the reality observed in the life of the nation, it is instead the opposite wherein differences become a means for attacking and condemning each other leading to disputes and even conflicts occurring every where. the low level of tolerance in accepting a different other which may well lead people toward becoming egoistic and fanatical. egoism appears in the form of rigid claims that consider everything of foreign origin as something erroneous. they consider that only one truth prevails and it is one that comes from their own self and group. whereas the presence of other people and groups are negated, both existentially and their roles in life. other people or groups are positioned as competitors and enemies that must be annihilated even through violence. violence has even become a means for coercing their will against others. in addition to religious teaching which boldly instructs muslims to invite others by way of hikmat or wisdom, the indonesian nation also has a mechanism that has been proven to be effective in establishing harmony and resolving conflicts between differing communities. a local mechanism which is widely known as local wisdoms are present in every community throughout the indonesian archipelago. for example, in the maluku community, pela and gandong is recognized as a media for uniting two differing ethnicities into one amicable camaraderie. these institutions serve as a media for reconciliation and for strengthening social cohesion (see. al qurtuby, 2016:104). the people in those communities do not come from the same lineages (genealogy), yet they can live together in an atmosphere of peace founded on the spirit of friendship. despite originally coming from different villages or regions, they are joined in a single alliance through the use of pela and gandong. thus is also the case in the bugis community, wherein a local wisdom called sipakatau is widely recognized. sipakatau literally means to humanize human beings. this is similar to the spirit of ngewonke wong found in the javanese community. by using such spirit of determination, whatever differences there may be will be reduced to a single union, that is a union of respect to human dignity. this means that there should be no room for condemning each other let alone for eliminating one another for the mere sake of differences. within the context of the life of the people and of the nation, differences or diversity should be understood as a source of power because it is a ‘basic element’ for establishing togetherness. togetherness itself is not something that can be created in an instant, it is present through a long developing process. the togetherness or intimacy present within the frame of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri) may be considered as undeniable evidence [ 13 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 concerning the results created from intermeshing existing differences. any differences should be understood as a natural condition, hence, the existence of other identities would not be positioned as threats, but as partners who will mutually strengthen each other instead. differences should also be understood to mean grace and blessing so that our lives become more meaningful. and not the other way around, wherein differences are understood as a curse, source of disaster, source of disintegration, and source of conflict leading to mutual hatred and admonishment then ending in mutual annihilation. this is one of the challenges faced by humanity, particularly indonesia as a nation of pluralities and established upon differences in ethnicities, race, religion, and other differences. indonesia is, indeed, required to constantly reproduce its symbols of cohesion and unity to function more effectively so that disputes and violence (conflicts) no longer become a part of this nation. diversity can actually be managed based on a multicultural scheme (nurkhoirin, 2007:3). it is a proven fact that there is a strong desire to carry out arrangements based on the spirit of uniformity rendering one of the distinctive features of the indonesian nation, namely religiosity and pluralism, to be cut off. management of differences and diversity, particularly concerning religion, should unconditionally be conducted accurately. the paradigm of management should also be directed at understanding the meaning of religious differences as something that must be accepted, not annihilated. differences are an invaluable grace of god that should be maintained and preserved, not annihilated for the sake of any interest. this thought should be existed in religious institutions especially at local or grassroot level since they are directly interacted with various communities. this also leads to the significant role of religious insitutions in preventing communal violence. as juan, pierskalla and vuller (2015) found, ‘a high density of local religious institutions decreases the likelihood of communal violence.” conclusion the still prevailing religious violence in the current era of democratic indonesia provides an illustration about the presence of a people/group relationship that is highly dynamic but tends to be closed-minded. the series of religious violence, either inter or intra-religious ones, are phenomena that have various implications in the efforts of creating a more harmonious and open relationship. violence may happen from time to time and it causes fluctuating relations among religions and religious followers of the same belief. violence itself, within the context of this article, may be observed from two opposing [ 14 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 contexts. firstly, contestation of either interor intra-religion are very intense. contestation does not only relate to ‘struggle for followers/adherents’, but also the struggle for influence in all things including the political field. secondly, truth claims among religions become one of the tools of ‘attack’ causing violence to often become an option even a priority due to availability of text interpretations that only refer to the argument of their own group. thirdly, the conditions of religious followers in other countries also influence the response of muslims in indonesia who conduct their actions on behalf of religion to pass judgment upon a particular group as a form of solidarity. religious violence may be avoided by changing the understanding of the meaning of differences. this can be accomplished through the following measures. firstly, changing the paradigm in defining an existing difference. differences that in many ways are considered as the main cause of violence, should currently be considered as main source of strength in building unity or togetherness. differences are a main source of power. differences which are regarded as a means to compete, can be changed to become a media for mutual synergy. secondly, establishing awareness on the beauty and significance of differences. differences should be understood as a way to do our best, not who is the best. therefore, differences will no longer be seen as a source of disaster, differences will become a blessing that is most meaningful in a dynamics of social life that is religious and diverse. bibliography al-makin, (2016). keragaman dan perbedaan: budaya dan agama dalam lintas sejarah manusia. yogyakarta: suka pressal jami’ah research center. al qurtuby, s. (2016). religious violence and reconciliation in indonesia: christian and muslim in moluccas. london and new york: roudledge tylor and francis group. bawazir, t. (2015). jalan tengah demokrasi: antara fundamentalisme dan sekularisme. jakarta: pustaka al kautsar. braithwaite, j. and dunn, l. (2010). “maluku and north maluku.” in braithwaite, v., braithwaite, j., cookson, m & dunn, l. anomie and violence: non-truth and reconciliation in indonesian peacebuilding. canberra: anu press. [ 15 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 bertrand, j. (2002). legacies of the authoritarian past: religious violence in indonesia’s moluccan islands. university of british columbia: pacific affairs, p. 57-85. accessed: 23-09-2017. crcs, (2009). laporan tahunan kehidupan beragama di indonenesia 2009. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. --------, (2010). laporan tahunan kehidupan beragama di indonenesia 2010. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. -------, (2011). laporan tahunan kehidupan beragama di indonenesia 2011. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. -------, (2012). laporan tahunan kehidupan beragama di indonenesia 2012. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. -------, (2015). serial laporan tahunan kehidupan beragama di indonenesia: politik lokal dan konflik keagamaan. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. crouch, m. (2008). indonesia, militant islam and ahmadiyah: origins and implications. melbourne: melbourne law school, the university of melbourne. ernas, s. (2016). “kata pengantar: membaca ulang gafatar gerakan sempalan atau gerakan sosial.” in rajab, h. (at.al). respons pemerintah dan resolusi penanganan gafatar pasca pembubaran: studi kasus di provinsi bangka belitung. yogyakarta: the phinisi press. gadamer, h. g. (1975). truth and method. london: bloomsbury. hasenclever, a. & rittberger, v. (2000). does religion make a difference? theoretical approaches to the impact of faith on political conflict. millennium journal of international studies. vol. 29. no. 3. p. 641-674. harsono, a. (2010). ‘agama’ saya adalah jurnalisme. yogyakarta: kanisius. hidayati, m. (2010). human finitude and interreligious dialogue. adelaide: atf press. juan, a., pierskalla, j.h. & vuller, j. (2015). “the pacifying effects of local religious institutions: an analysis of communal violence in indonesia.” in political research quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2 (june 2015), pp. 211-224. jubba, h. (2011). “reproduksi kekerasan.” in jurnal at-tafkir vol. iv nomor 2 desember. langsa: stain zawiayah cot kala langsa, p. 1-11. [ 16 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 lindgren, t. (2017). the psychological study of religious violence: a theoretical and methodological discussion. al-albab, 5(2), 157 176. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i2.471 madjid, n. (1992). islam dan doktrin peradaban. jakarta: yayasan wakaf paramadina. nurkhoiron, m. (2007). hak minoritas: multikulturalisme dan dilema negara bangsa. jakarta: the intersksi foundation. the wahid institute. (2014). laporan tahunan kebebasan beragama/berkeyakinan dan intoleransi 2014: “utang” warisan pemerintah baru. jakarta: the wahid institute dan the body shop. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 2 december 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 2 (december 2021) contents 1. lgbt and religious negotiations: a case study of youth interfaith forum on sexuality (yifos) roni, fatimah husein, dewi candraningrum .............................................. 161 2. pinah laman: the construction of religious and ethnic identity within the mentuka dayak of west kalimantan felisitas yuswanto, sekar ayu aryani, ahmad muttaqin .......................... 177 3. face veil and lawo-lambu: negotiating religious practices among muslims and catholics in ende city yosep aurelius woi bule, adison adrianus sihombing ............................. 199 4. preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah, faisal abdullah, mochamad hamdan .................................. 221 5. cultural resistance and sharia-based ecology in the fishing community in aceh zubir, abdul manaf, abdul mugni, noviandy ............................................. 245 6. ethnicity, religion and the changing community structure within fakfak society in papua ade yamin, musa rumbaru, nining lestari, mufliha wijayati ............... 267 7. religious solidarity for coping with economic crisis during the covid-19 pandemic luqman, ilhamdi .................................................................................................. 287 8. portrait of moderate islam within muslim university students in indonesia ahmad jais, sumin ............................................................................................... 301 [ 221 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 preserving diversity: lessons from batang tarang village of west kalimantan hermansyah iain pontianak email: hermansyahii@yahoo.com faisal abdullah iain pontianak email: faisal_navilah@yahoo.co.id mochamad hamdan iain pontianak email: mochamdan95@gmail.com abstract the recurring communal, racial conflicts in west kalimantan have left unpleasant memories among the local community. unfortunately, some people believe that similar events will keep happening. this article was based on field research that relied on interviews and observations involving several crucial things. this research argues that communal conflicts in west kalimantan can be averted by empowering internal forces to maintain balance in a plural society. this article found that conflict-prone societies such as those in batang tarang have the capacity to build harmony through togetherness, inter-ethnic marriages, the moderate practice of islam, fair practice of adat [customary law], and strengthening awareness of shared origins. keywords: preserving diversity; harmony; ethnicity; religion; batang tarang introduction recurring conflicts in a plural society in west kalimantan have brought about pessimism among some experts. arkanudin (2006: 185), for instance, claims that it is difficult to avoid the tendency for conflict to arise in a society of different ethnic groups that could inevitably lead to recurring inter-ethnic conflicts in west kalimantan. arafat (1998), alqadrie (1999), and petebang et al. (2000) found that there were at least 10 to 12 violent clashes between 1933 and 1999. although these three sources indicate different frequencies of conflict, all of them at least refer to the idea that disputes often occur and continue to recur. ten to twelve wars had occurred in the previous 50 to 60 years (an average of one conflict every four to five years) (bahari, 2005). due [ 222 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 to the repetition of similar incidents, alqadrie (2010) refers to it as a 30-year cycle of violence that has the potential to happen again. based on these data, human rights watch has classified west kalimantan as a conflict-prone area. inter-ethnic relations are considered positive where different ethnic groups - malays, dayaks, madurese, chinese, javanese, etc. -interact without conflict in various realms of life. however, in reality, because of the difference between what it means to be indigenous and what it means to be a migrant, the social reality of everyday life is filled with low-level hostility. control of economic resources and natural resources that are not profitable for native people, who claim that they are indigenous people and are still under pressure from the presence and role of migrants, also contribute to the construction of ethnic identity that can be contested (haba, 2012: 42). this unique situation, as haba describes, occurred several years before the major ethnic riot in 1999. haba’s findings above are supported by the fact that fights between individuals could easily lead to communalism. for example, at least until the late 1990s, people in batang tarang lived in a tense atmosphere. even though the conflict did not surface, people lived in suspicion. the two main ethnic groups, namely malays and dayaks, felt unsafe even though they lived in the same environment. the malays, for example, felt that they were living under the siege of the dayaks, who could attack them at any time or impose customary law arbitrarily. the dayaks feel suspicious of the chinese and other migrant groups who were considered more intelligent and used their intelligence to deceive the dayaks. however, the dayaks and malays also have wisdom that can maintain the foundations of peace in society. hermansyah (2018b) found that the malays of west kalimantan have inherited collective memories, including oral traditions, beliefs, and diverse ways of life, such as the agricultural system from their ancestors. thanks partly to this piece of collective memory, they can now recognize their common ancestry with contemporary dayaks. this collective memory is an important aspect that awakens them to be able to live together with their brothers and sisters, who were shunned by divisive colonial politics. with a more positive perspective, a violent conflict hypothesized to recur in a 30-year cycle, as described above, can be prevented, among others, by strengthening local mechanisms. however, we must also realize that the public position that specific cultural practice is divided into small groups that support their respective sub-cultures to ensure the accommodation of individual and group interests (abdullah, 2009, p. 7). community harmony in a small sub-district capital in west kalimantan [ 223 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 with a population of less than 3,000 can teach how traditional values can become a local mechanism for preserving the dynamics of plural community relations. the name of this village is batang tarang, the capital of the balai sub-district, sanggau, west kalimantan. for example, adat [customary law] is a trusted source of law in the community and is supported by groups from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. in fact, in other places, there are customary “thugs” who make some people lose confidence in the capacity of this traditional heritage to solve problems. thus, due to the prevalence of this practice, the head of the customary justice division of the central council of the national dayak customary panel of judges (dpp mhadn), tobias ranggie sh, said that currently, it is challenging to eradicate customary law business practices or the “thuggery” of dayak customary law (suara pemred, 20 december 2021). awareness of the importance of maintaining peace within the batang tarang community has strengthened partly due to the terrible experience of ethnic riots at the end of the 20th century in several areas in west kalimantan. there have been reinforcements initiated by local leaders, as well as cultural movements, to maintain harmony. for example, several ethnic associations have emerged, accommodated by forums bridging this diversity. the situation is different in enggano, where people can have harmony. however, migrants are “forced” to eliminate their original identities and be united with a new identity called kaamay (sari, 2020, p. 84). in batang tarang, inter-ethnic and religious marriages are common despite being considered a big problem in many places. other factors contribute to maintaining harmony, such as the moderate practice of islam by the majority group and life in an environment without segregation. in light of the explanation, the article aims to describe the values and life practices of the batang tarang community, which function to maintain the harmony of a plural society in the region. social relations in batang tarang this article is based on a study carried out in batang tarang. batang tarang is the name of a village located in hilir village, where there are four hamlets: hilir hamlet, hulu hamlet, sembatu hamlet, and melaban hamlet. batang tarang is located in sanggau regency, west kalimantan. it is located on an axis road that connects several regencies in the eastern region of west kalimantan with pontianak, the provincial capital. the transportation route that crosses batang tarang is also connected to the roads of all the main routes in the province to the east, west, and north, as well as the two districts in the south. the road is also connected to the axis that connects west kalimantan with sarawak, [ 224 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 east malaysia. the distance from batang tarang to sanggau is 78 km. it takes approximately 2 hours to pontianak across 121 km. from batang tarang to the indonesia-malaysia border in entikong is 124 km. in the past, when the river was the only route to the surrounding villages and the city center, batang tarang was a transit point. people from villages located upstream of the river came to batang tarang to sell forest, agricultural, and plantation products, which intermediary merchants then sold to tayan. in batang tarang, people from the villages bought groceries from tayan. this situation made batang tarang a business center that attracted not only local people but also migrants. it is no wonder the people of batang tarang are relatively more diverse than those in other villages around it. even though there is still a rural atmosphere, very few people work in the agricultural sector. the agricultural and plantation businesses in this place are mainly rubber and palm oil, in addition to rice farming. a famous gardening product is palm sugar, known as ‘tayan sugar.’ besides that, the batang tarang durian is renowned in west kalimantan, especially pontianak. most of the residents work in the service and trade sectors. as the center of economic life that supports the surrounding villages, there are relatively many financial institutions in batang tarang. there are two sub-branch offices of government-owned banks. there are at least five cooperatives in the form of credit unions. the plural population of batang tarang, among others, can be seen from the religious followers, which amount to 2,428. of that number, 59.76% or 585 people are muslims, 585 catholics or 24.09%, followed by 224 christians (9.23%). the remaining 155 are buddhists (6.3%), hindus, and confucianism less than 1%. compared to two neighboring villages, such as semoncol and cowet, in the same sub-district, there are only muslims, catholics, and christians1. unfortunately, there needs to be official data regarding the existence of ethnically based residents in the area. based on the oral account, the batang tarang population consists of malays, malian dayaks, and chinese, in addition to several other ethnic groups such as javanese, minang, batak, and flores. in recognition of the existence of this diverse population, ethnic group associations have been founded in batang tarang, such as the malay cultural council (mabm), the dayak customary council (dad), the chinese cultural council (mabt), the east nusa tenggara people’s association (flobamora: flores, sumba, timor, and alor), and the association of the javanese. 1 see sidompu, the official website that details the government of sanggau regency. [ 225 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 in 2016 the public in indonesia was shocked by basuki tjahaja purnama (ahok)’s statement that indonesians should not be deceived by those who use surah al-ma’idah (5:51) about the prohibition of electing non-muslims as leaders. this statement sparked a fierce debate among indonesia’s muslim population, leading to ahok’s two-year prison sentence for blasphemy. however, long before that, using the same method, several members of the campaign team for one of the candidates for the elections of sanggau regentdeputy regent for the 2009-2014 period had caused public unrest in batang tarang: “before the year 2000, there were problems with relations between communities. some people often made trouble in the market, and there was no effort to prevent it. there was suspicion between people of different ethnicity and religion. there was ‘segregation’ between the upstream and downstream villagers, etc. in the past, there was suspicion between different ethnic groups. people here still had their own blocks, especially during a regional head election. there was once a member of the campaign team distributing leaflets containing verses from surah al-maidah about the prohibition on electing non-muslim leaders during the election of the sanggau regent. at that time, one of the candidates running for regent was a muslim named setiman.2 finally, it was found that those who created and distributed the leaflets were non-muslims. the aim was to provoke the dayaks not to vote for a muslim regent candidate. in the end, three perpetrators were arrested and jailed for eight months after going through twenty times of court hearings” (samlana, interview, 17 june 2022). the unrest occurred because of identity politics, pitting one against the other, coupled with memories of the significant social riots with ethnic backgrounds in west kalimantan, which has given rise to feelings of suspicion among residents. previously, individual fights could spread to war between villages, as described by the chairman of the dayak customary council as follows: “…once we were attacked from outside, which was known as the jam (name of person) case. jam was a malay... so it was a fight between ordinary individuals, but because the situation was not conducive, the issue became big because the handling was slow. there were no devices like we have today, and communication was not working, so they used violence as revenge. those who attacked were from the sosok area, and those who were attacked were the malays from batang tarang, and those who attacked were the dayaks from sosok (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022). 2 elected as regent of sanggau for the 2009-2014 term. [ 226 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 several important events that disrupted the harmony of the people of batang tarang have awakened the community to return to live in peace in diversity without suspicion. the conditions have changed a lot, as they live in an environment without segregation. customary law of the dayak people can be applied, accepted, and used as a reference outside the community. good relations have also led to many intermarriages. some of these factors are creating a harmony of life in batang tarang. in the following section, we will describe aspects of community life in batang tarang that have the potential and have been proven to be able to preserve diversity. togetherness for harmony preservation as stated in the previous section, batang tarang is inhabited by a majority muslim population of 1,451 (59.76%) and malay ethnicity but is surrounded by non-muslim dayaks. although no statistical data classifies the population based on ethnic groups, most of the areas surrounding batang tarang are villages where the dayaks inhabit the majority. a statement made by the chairman of the balai sub-district dayak customary council confirmed the fact as follows: “so we (dayaks), because here we are a large ethnic group and it has been agreed that i lead the inter-ethnic forum. i will be the chairman with the consideration that it has recently been established, and we still need to work on many other things. because when there is an interethnic problem, it is easier to handle it for the time being” (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022) the relationship situation between residents in batang tarang can affect those in other villages in the vicinity. should a conflict lead to ethnic and religious issues, it will, without a doubt, spread to the surrounding areas. realizing this, the residents of batang tarang do their best to maintain a conducive relationship between residents through solidarity: “... even though dayak villages surround the majority of malays in batang tarang, if there is a conflict related to ethnicity or religion, it will be hazardous. while the dayaks used to feel inferior to the malays because many did not go to school, now they are smarter and are going to school. the dayak people in batang tarang also know themselves well. for example, they do not take it for granted in applying customary law. we also live here as neighbors with people of other ethnicities and religions. people here do not choose their neighbors; sometimes people in other places do not want neighbors of different religions or [ 227 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 ethnicities. in addition, for example, the dayak people keep dogs; for us here, it is normal. our father sold land near our house to bang baek, a dayak. now he is building a house there, near our house. it’s the same in other villages; malays or other people may buy land in the dayak areas. likewise, at the ilek market, those who have shophouses are chinese, malay, dayak, javanese, and batak. [there are] various ethnic groups there. in addition, business relations between the dayak, malay, and chinese in batang tarang are mutually beneficial. the dayak people bring agricultural and plantation products from the village. malays and chinese are the buyers. the malays and chinese buy durian, palm sugar, and vegetables from the village. the malays and chinese make dodol [pumpkin cake], lemang [sticky rice cake], and lempok [durian cake]; the ingredients are purchased from the dayaks. those who help cook dodol or roast lemang are the dayak people; they are really good at it (suhardiman, interview, 5 august 2022). in addition to being surrounded by dayak villages, batang tarang also contributes to an atmosphere of friendliness and togetherness. residents’ houses built without segregation have also strengthened community harmony. the malays, who have lived here for a long time, provide a place for chinese, dayak, and other communities to build or house without questioning different backgrounds, as stated by the following informant: “people here are peaceful and united; it is hard to distinguish a dayak from a malay. their homes are not far from each other; they blend in. for example, near my house, there are dayaks and malays. in the market, too. the shophouses in the market are not only owned by the chinese; there are malays and dayak owners as well. we invite one another if there are wedding receptions and other events” (khi sen, interview, 18 june 2022). in line with that, amuy, a hawker, stated: “relations between people here are good. when a member of someone’s family dies, they usually attend the funeral. it is normal for the chinese to give a big donation to the malays at funerals. the chinese also usually donate when someone is sick. people here like to open the house door to hear neighbors on the left and right. we know of the problems of our chinese, malay, and dayak neighbors. my neighbor used to ask me to help clean the fish. they bring me fish to fry. chinese, dayak, malay do the same” (amuy, interview 18 june 2022) the sense of togetherness that grows in a social environment without [ 228 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 segregation has strengthened harmony in batang tarang. the harmonious and friendly atmosphere created between plural citizens is very different from the relationship between residents in makassar and ethnic chinese, as reported by darwis (2013). the report stated that because each ethnic group lived in groups, the interaction between the chinese and makassarese was less intense in their environment. as a result, the makassar people have stereotypes and prejudices that the ethnic chinese are selfish and only consider profit and loss when dealing with neighbors. residents of chinese descent close themselves with a closed-house model; they still uphold and maintain traditions. disharmonies arise when two ethnic groups do not realize the importance of communicating with each other and blending in everyday life. in batang tarang, this sense of togetherness and kinship is manifested in the form of mutual assistance and visits between residents: “togetherness in batang tarang is strengthened by various activities such as mutual visits and assistance when a funeral, wedding, or other events occur. in addition, people here visit each other on religious holidays such as eid al-fitr. they come to the homes of malays, chinese, and dayaks. it is the same with the lunar new year when dayaks and malays visit chinese homes. for christmas, the chinese and malays visit the dayaks. we feel that we are one big family here despite different ethnicities and religions” (marsudin, interview, 17 june 2022). segregation and lack of interaction between plural citizens have given rise to a lack of harmony among community groups. recurring conflicts in ambon, among others, are influenced by settlement segregation between residents of different religions, as reported by ansori et al. (2014). as an example of this segregation, the gunung nona area in ambon is inhabited by a majority of christians, and a muslim majority inhabits the leihitu peninsula. other areas, such as passo, are synonymous with the christian region, while batu merah is synonymous with the muslim region. inter-ethnic marriage and harmony marriages between people of different religions and ethnicities sometimes go smoothly. they often face opposition from the family. hermansyah’s research (2018a) shows that there is rejection by chinese families of their family members who marry and then follow their partner’s religion—especially malays who are muslim. this phenomenon is different in batang tarang. in a small sub-district town with a population of 2,428, marriages between people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds are considered “common” by the local community: [ 229 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 “there are many couples who are of different ethnic groups. for example, a chinese marries a dayak or a malay. there are also dayaks who marry malays. for us dayaks, chinese and malays are the same” (marsudin, interview 17 june 2022). based on interviews with several informants, there were at least 22 married couples of different ethnicities, as shown in the following table: table 1 interethnic marriage couple in batang barang no. husband’s name ethnic group wife’s name ethnic group 1 hardiman dayak mung chinese 2 lorensius panggel dayak lusiana chinese 3 atung chinese nurfah malay 4 abdul gafur javanese vivi chinese 5 abdul gani malay aman chinese 6 julkurniansyah malay selin dayak 7 bujang yahya javanese nursiah longgil dayak 8 brian javanese nurul malay 9 nazirin malay juliati dayak 10 lexy flores yanti chinese 11 adi chinese ica dayak 12 sutata javanese julita dayak 13 aci chinese nikemoni dayak 14 waluji malay meriam dayak 15 ramlan malay ana dayak 16 tan dayak titin malay 17 deki malay farida dayak 18 aut chinese reni malay 19 surya malay amuy chinese 20 dedi malay silvia chinese 21 boni chinese tiara malay 22 martinus ala dayak sumaria tobing batak source: collected from interviews with several informants some of these inter-ethnic marriages in batang tarang resulted in religious conversions. sometimes religious conversion is one of the triggers of conflict in society (lukito, 2008). however, it did not happen in batang tarang. marriages between people of different backgrounds have strengthened the [ 230 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 process of integration in batang tarang. customary boundaries, especially the dayak customary law, which regards this marriage as a problem, can also be resolved through custom. if someone of a different ethnic background than the dayak—especially non-dayak men—intends to marry a dayak woman, they must pay a customary fine. with the payment of the fine, the man can marry a dayak woman and be entirely accepted in the dayak community, as reported by the following informant: “here, we live side by side without any problem. like now, i’m hanging out and having coffee with the hamlet head, a malay. if there is a problem, the leaders will solve it first. since ancient times, the malays have visited tembawang (fruit gardens), bringing salt, sugar, fermented fish, and salted fish in exchange for durian, rice, chicken, and other fruits. we help each other during the funeral. we help each other with the meals when there’s a wedding. muslims used to help cook with different utensils at a dayak person’s home. there are many couples of different ethnic groups here. the dayaks have no problem if a member [of the dayak ethnic group] marries a malay as long as they pay for the customary rituals and it’s considered done” (abuer, interview, 17 june 2022). a chinese informant also confirmed the fact that interethnic marriages are acceptable. “marrying someone of a different ethnicity is not a problem. it’s the same thing. people here usually intermarry between chinese and dayak or malay. god has determined destiny. religion does not teach hostility; what we get will all return (die)” (amuy, interview 18 june 2022). this phenomenon is similar to what happened in enggano, bengkulu, where the indigenous people have relatively no problem when marrying migrants called the kaamay ethnic group and follow the religion of the kaamay people (sari, 2020). because it is considered normal, inter-ethnic marriages in batang tarang have strengthened community integration. it is based on mutual respect, which helps people adapt to their environment and psychology, both of which influence cultural awareness to promote personal growth and a reduced sense of ethnocentrism so that they can learn about other cultures well through their partners. in addition, they can see other civilizations with a more open attitude, such as research findings on marriages between members of the javanese and chinese in solo (kurniawan, 2019). interaction through marriage is a blend of cultural values, behavior, and customs. in addition, [ 231 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 intercultural communication in marriage influences married couples who tend to have a high tolerance level. since there have been more and more interethnic marriages, inter-ethnic relations have also grown more robust as a result of the extended family ties involved, as reported by the following informant: “maybe more and more of our people (malays) take (marry) village people (dayaks). so more and more people here are related to people of different ethnic groups. many chinese also marry malays or dayaks” (abdussamad, interview, 19 june 2022). moderate islamic practices as a religion embraced by most of the population, islam strengthens social harmony in batang tarang. the religious (islamic) ideology adhered to here is generally the same as most of its adherents in indonesia which is moderate and accommodating to local culture. islamic religious figures, especially preachers such as khatibs who deliver religious messages regularly on fridays, prefer the peaceful islamic model. islam can coexist with people of various religions and beliefs. this fact is recorded, among others, in the following field notes: “after visiting the sub-district office to report the purpose of the research team’s arrival at batang tarang, we decided to perform friday prayer at the aljihad mosque, the oldest muslim house of worship in batang tarang. members of the research team and i went to the mosque around 11.30. before entering the mosque, we did our ablution first while looking around the mosque. across the small road opposite the qibla of the mosque, there is a low-roofed building. in the building without walls and floors, there are three tombs, one of which is the tomb of prince saleh. according to his descendants, prince saleh was a community leader in batang tarang who was appointed by king tayan, gusti tamjid, to become the representative of the tayan kingdom in batang tarang. after seeing the tomb, we took ablution and entered the mosque. more and more people were coming. not long after, the call to prayer as a marker of the start of the friday prayer time was recited by the muadhin at 12.41 west indonesia time. after the call to prayer was recited, most of the congregation performed the sunnah prayer of two rakats. after a while, the khatib [person who delivers the sermon] climbed onto the pulpit. the khatib, also the imam on that day, whose name we later found out was sukmajaya, was a former village head, giving a sermon on guarding the tongue. in his sermon, the khatib delivered a message about the importance of guarding one’s tongue against anyone because humans are basically the same, coming from the same ancestor. guarding one’s tongue is not limited to fellow muslims. after about 12 minutes, the sermon ended with prayer. after friday prayer, [ 232 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 it was continued with wiridan and prayer recital. after the prayer, the congregation dispersed, and some shook hands and continued with the sunnah prayer. we returned to the lodging to immediately record the results of our observations” (field notes hr1706221). this model of islamic understanding refers to the fact that islam teaches its followers to safeguard the rights and safety of the people around them and their surroundings. a person who adheres to religious rituals must also protect the honor, dignity, and property of others (bensaid, b and machouche, s. 2019: 59). for this purpose, the prophet muhammad was reported to have said: “a muslim is the one who avoids harming muslims with his tongue and hands. and a muhajir (emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all that allah has forbidden.” (hr, muslim). in line with this, the qur’an teaches to spread peace which is symbolized by saying peaceful words, including those who are ignorant: “the true servants of the most compassionate are those who walk on the earth humbly, and when the foolish address them improperly, they only respond with peace.” (qs. al-furqan: 63). even so, in batang tarang, there are also followers of islam who believe that being muslim must be the same and compatible with their group. it is considered heretical if the religion is not like the islamic model they practice. only a few support this group. the supporters of such religious understanding and practice are what bruinessen (2013: 17) refers to as “fundamentalists” because they concentrate on the qur’an and hadith, the two primary sources of islamic law, and follow literal and rigid interpretations of both. they undoubtedly agree with some of the majority viewpoints, including conservatives. like rejecting hermeneutical interpretations and rights-based ideas, perhaps these fundamentalists also conflict with conservatives about traditional values that do not have strong pillars in the holy scripture, such as tahlilan, selamatan, including practices related to formal worship, such as wiridan and reciting prayer together after obligatory prayers. at first, the presence of the followers of this group caused problems in the community, as reported by an informant: “there is also a strong interaction with this influence, but there is no mutual understanding. for example, yesterday, there was a group of people wearing robes, and they were rejected not only by the muslim group but also by non-muslim groups, and there was disagreement among them here. but after we explored it further and discussed it with other groups and community groups, things like this must be ‘filtered’ to create peace in our place. something like that usually gives someone [ 233 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 an opportunity, and it has to be under surveillance by the police so that it doesn’t become a daily [concern] in conversation” (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022). however, this style of understanding of islam does not “sell” in batang tarang, as the following informant stated: “there is also one muslim who practices a religion that points out other people’s faults but has no followers. because most people here don’t fit such a religious model, he finally built a small mosque in his house. previously, he was active in community activities. since joining that sect, he has no longer been active in religious activities. but if someone dies, he’s still involved in the funeral, for example, digging a grave” (samlana, interview, 17 june 2022). in the end, the group that consisted only a few people no longer participated in the activities of the muslims in batang tarang, which they considered to be heretical, as reported by the following informant: “many years ago, someone passed away studying religion at the jamiatul muslimin recital group in tayan. he was a knowledgeable religious figure. after studying with the group, he forbade people here to call to prayer twice on friday, even though people here had practiced the call to prayer twice. he forbade dhikr together after congregational prayers. since then, he had hardly ever associated with people, even though previously he was very active in society. in the past, relations with non-muslims were also good. after joining the recital group, it was not good; his female family members wore the face veil. he severely changed religious habits because, according to him, [people] deviated from the true teachings of islam. he resigned as a civil servant to focus on preaching. during his life, there were 3-4 people who followed this ideology because he was a knowledgeable person. however, this sect was not growing, as the people of batang tarang were not compatible with this model of a religious sect, because they do not respect differences and non-muslims” (suhardiman, interview, 5 august 2022). however, in funeral activities, these people provided help, especially as gravediggers, as seen in the following observations: “the brightness on sunday morning kept us excited to collect data. whether coincidentally or not, there was a funeral procession for a muslim resident in batang tarang on that day. we also paid a visit to the funeral home at 7.30 to a resident’s house not far from our lodging. we followed a series of funeral activities that day. there was something unique in that those who came to the funeral were not only muslims but people of other religions and ethnicities who also took part in the [ 234 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 takziyah, except praying for the deceased. it was also seen at the funeral that several people digging the grave had a distinctive look, growing a beard and wearing cropped pants. later we were told that one of them was a follower of the wahhabi salafi ideology and used to be active in almost all islamic activities. however, he is no longer active recently; even if he prays, he does it in the small surau next to his house and the congregation with his family members. after the whole procession, we returned to the lodging to rest a while” (field notes hm190622). only when this research was conducted did residents give room for the radical and anti-diversity religious beliefs and practices in the public sphere. exclusive religious understanding is believed to undermine community relations that have been built in harmony. adat and customary law traditional customs and wisdom have recently gained momentum to be revived to preserve harmony and peace. its proponents assert that indigenous approaches to peacemaking that are relational and participatory have a higher probability of reaching peaceful solutions than peace initiatives pursued through “liberal peace” (mac ginty, 2008). a study conducted by rumahuru and gaspersz (2021) on the post-conflict maluku community provides evidence of the social reality in the tual area that the cultural approach is still valuable for efforts to stop inter-group conflicts and promote community peace. meanwhile, samiyono (2017) states that local wisdom has a significant role in building social harmony in society, although it still needs further elaboration, especially when it has a national impact. this is because local wisdom is generally still verbal and not fully documented. in batang tarang, adat [customary law] has played an essential role in resolving disputes and problems, including those that have the potential to escalate into ethnic and religious conflicts. for example, when this research was carried out, traditional leaders were resolving the case of a dayak woman remarrying while she was still married to a malay man. sensitive matters like this can lead to inter-ethnic clashes if not handled properly and thoroughly. the following is the statement by the chairman of the balai sub-district dayak customary council: “well, we have just finished dealing with the divorce between a malay and a dayak because the claimant is malay and muslim. the only two things i asked the temenggung [tribal chief] were, first, when the marriage was performed or not, and whether it was done according to adat or not; if it was, then it was legal according to adat if we deal with [ 235 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 this in accordance with adat. the second was that today it was legal and convincing whether or not she has remarried and left her marriage; now it cannot be denied anymore; even though he is a malay, he still has the right to sue, and this is where we give justice. so, we do not defend that these are malays and dayak people, and we justify the dayak people, and i do not justify that even though there is a tendency in it, i think there is still tolerance. if, for example, there is still tolerance, that’s fine because it must follow customary rules, and then both parties must be able to accept it, and it is done. i was asked how fair this customary law is. moreover, i answered that both parties could accept according to customary rules, that is it. that is justice, and how else do you want to seek justice” (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022). although the majority population in batang tarang are malays, the customs and culture of other community groups have a place to live. in addition to the malay cultural customary council (mabm), which facilitates the majority of the population, there are the dayak customary council (dad) and the chinese traditional and cultural council. several ethnic groups can also be found here. these traditional cultural institutions enliven and develop their respective customs and culture. it has become an unwritten consensus that should an incident violate customs involving different ethnic groups; it will be resolved by applying the respective ethnic groups by prioritizing deliberation and amicability. if in this way, an agreement is not reached, the parties involved can choose to settle it through customary law or state law. only the dayak people have customary laws and instruments in batang tarang. even though the resolution of the problem is left to the respective ethnic groups involved, the implementation of dayak customary law, which is authoritative and is considered capable of fulfilling a sense of justice, has won the hearts of the local community, including nondayak people. so it is common for problems involving non-dayaks to have a settlement with dayak customary law. as an example, the following informant reported: “there were fights involving two parties; for example, chinese and malay had problems and complained to us (the dayak customary council), asking to be resolved, and we tried to mediate them. we also let them communicate with other community leaders, and they hand it over to us, and we resolve it amicably and peacefully. still, it must be handled in accordance with customary law. so, they agreed to [resolve the matter using] the dayak customary law” (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022). [ 236 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 the resolution of problems through customary law accepted by these parties has contributed to maintaining harmony in society. a malay informant reported that he felt safe owning property in the form of land in the dayak area because he received protection from the dayak customary law. here is his statement: “because according to the dayak customary law, as far as i know, whatever happens on their land, in their area, if something happens or an accident occurs, and it bleeds, and that is obligatory to get rid of bad luck, and that is why there is a term for which is sangka parang, so they make offerings and keep a jar at the scene of the incident because there was blood earlier. moreover, don’t let it happen again in the future, and as a prevention…because it has always been like that, and we also do not consider it shirk [polytheism]. still, we consider it their custom, which doesn’t harm and disturb and actually saves [us]. for example, yesterday, i bought a piece of land in the kampung dalam area, where the majority are dayak people. so when you have bought the land and the way they refer to it, there is that if you have bought this land with person a and person a has handed it over to you. but your land borders the land of b, c, d, etc. so they have to know too. so if something happens, local customary law will help if there is theft and, for example, the land is taken over, and we will help with that matter” (dedi bastian, interview, 30 july 2022). regarding any land that is newly owned and located in dayak customary areas and adjacent to land owned by dayak people, the buyer must pay adat for the ceremony. if the buyer complies, then after the customary ritual is held, the land he bought becomes part of the customary system, which receives protection from the local community’s traditional leaders. this means that if something happens, for example, theft or someone moves the border markers, the traditional leaders are also responsible for resolving the problem. thus, the existence of adat has provided a sense of security among the people. in the context of adat, it guarantees the safety of humans and the property they own. in addition, adat also serves as a means of settlement in the event of a dispute to prevent more significant conflict. this finding is in line with several other studies, such as those conducted in enggano, bengkulu. with their local wisdom based on customary rules, the enggano people settled differences and turned them into peace. ethnic and religious differences that have been seen as dividing the nation have never occurred in the case of the enggano people (sari, 2020, pp. 84-85). unlike in enggano, the people of batang tarang are given the freedom to assert their ethnic identity and are given room to practice their culture through their respective ethnic associations. newcomers to [ 237 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 enggano, regardless of their origins, are forced to merge their ethnic identities into the kaamay (sari, 2020 p. 84). strengthening awareness of common origins the politics of divide et impera [divide and rule] practiced by the dutch colonialists were implemented as segregation of the ethnic population based on religious affiliation. the previously unknown labels dayak and malay were used to describe the indigenous people of west kalimantan before the arrival of europeans. traditional tribal names associated with a person’s place of origin are a general form of local identification such as language, name of a river, or village. within certain parameters, this identification is still used as a marker of a person’s origin. the dutch came and provided the local people in borneo with a new identity structure in the form of two main categories: dayak and malay. meanwhile, the leading indicator of the construction of ethnic identity is religion. residents who followed traditional beliefs—and later christianity— were called dayaks. at the same time, those who had converted to islam adopted malay as their new ethnicity (hermansyah, 2018b). even though people in batang tarang, especially malays and dayaks as the majority ethnic groups, are classified as members of different ethnic groups due to religious differences, most are aware of the same historical origins. there is an increase in awareness, especially when more and more local people are educated and socialize more broadly. a dayak informant reported the following: “because this religion is something of our choice, but ethnicity is not, but it’s destiny. even though today we see a dayak marrying a muslim or malay, their ethnicity is still dayak, even though their religion is muslim or islam. well, this makes us harmonious, but in the past, it was different because of dutch brainwashing; originally, a dayak married a malay and converted to islam, and they said the dayak became malay. so, it must be fixed, and we are slowly fixing it. moreover, it doesn’t matter if we want to convert to any religion, but the ethnicity remains the same. moreover, we start slowly so as not to question it. so if he already loves his culture, even though he is a dayak who has converted to islam, he will not get rid of his identity because he already loves his culture. furthermore, i once participated in the dayak national congress in east kalimantan, the dayak youth movement. that was the first national congress, and the organizers wore a turban, etc., which was not a problem because they were muslims but also dayaks. we also [ 238 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 saw that in east kalimantan, and this is what we want to instill so that people don’t clash later, we were all brothers, especially in balai, which we are the descendants from mangkit, from beruak, from birang, from muyak and it will be a great loss if we let certain party pit us against each other because we are brothers. so, let’s start slowly to open up people’s insight, so we don’t clash. so if it’s like this, there will be no problem; no matter what religion we follow, we are still one ethnic group” (salipus sali, interview, 30 july 2022). a malay informant said, “in fact, the dayak people and we are from the same village. our ancestors were village people too. so we are of the same origin” (rukiyah, interview 19 june 2022). because they realize that they have blood relations with each other, ethnic differences due to religious affiliation are not a barrier to living in harmony. for them, the bonds of brotherhood originating from the same ancestor cannot be removed, even though there were past colonial efforts to eliminate them. more and more educated people in the local population recognize this common origin. understanding family relations because they originate from the same ancestor has increased their awareness to coexist sincerely with their ‘distant’ relatives. the fact that the people of batang tarang are knowledgeable about the same origins is in line with a study by nasrullah (2014) on the bakumpai people in south kalimantan and hermansyah (2018b), who researched the malay people in west kalimantan. bakumpai and malay people realize that their ancestors were local people of the same ethnicity as those called dayak today. conclusion in light of the aerlier description, it can be concluded that several experts are concerned that the existing forces in society can avoid recurring conflicts due to differences. several internal forces in the batang tarang community have been proven to successfully preserve harmony between people who used to live in a tense atmosphere. this article argues that togetherness in various events –good and bad–, inter-ethnic marriages, moderate islamic practice, fair implementation of adat [customary law], and strengthening awareness regarding the fact that the people in batang tarang originate from the same ancestors are among the factors of the community’s strengths to build harmony: (a) despite being the majority, malay-muslims in batang tarang are aware that they should maintain good relations with other residents, especially the dayaks because if a problem involving ethnic and religious issues occurs and spreads, there is no doubt that it will trigger major conflicts with neighboring villages where the majority are non-muslim dayaks. this cultural atmosphere has given rise to community solidarity to face the good and evil of fellow [ 239 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 community members. in addition, the pattern of settlements that blend in without segregation strengthens the unity of the local population; (b) inter-ethnic marriages, which are increasing and have no opposition from locals, have also contributed to the preservation of harmony in batang tarang; (c) the practice of moderate islam also significantly contributes to maintaining an atmosphere of harmony, because an extreme religious model that can disrupt the community’s religious life does not get the sympathy of the local people; (d) in batang tarang, adat [customary law] plays a crucial role in resolving disputes and conflicts, including those that have the potential to escalate into ethnic and religioius conflicts. here the dayaks have no problem applying their customs, even though most of the population is malay. the opportunity to implement adat in a fair manner without discrimination, and to promote deliberation and tolerance when it comes to people outside their community, has made adat and its instruments a trusted reference for solving problems for all groups; and (e) recently, the people of batang tarang have become increasingly aware that they, in particular the malays and dayaks, mainly originate from the same ancestors. religion, which was previously considered a significant factor in changing the identity of local people, is increasingly understood as an individual choice and cannot change one’s origins. therefore, differences are formed because of people’s choices, and it should not create a gap between people, let alone trigger conflict. further studies are needed to understand the findings in this research, especially on fostering inter-ethnic and religious harmony in the interior of west kalimantan, because this article merely presents a basic portrait of it. bibliography abdullah, i. 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(2015). “dimensi sosio-politik konflik ambon”, sosiologi reflektif, vol. 10 (1). rumahuru, y.z., gaspersz, a.c.w. (2021). community-based diversity management: analysis of community activities building post-conflict social harmony in tual, maluku province, indonesia humaniora. vol. 33 (1). samiyono, d. (2017). membangun harmoni sosial: kajian sosiologi agama tentang kearifan lokal sebagai modal dasar harmoni sosial. jurnal sosiologi walisongo, vol. 1 (2). sari, i. p.. (2020). “agama, etnisitas dan perdamaian di pulau enggano provinsi bengkulu,” hanifiya: jurnal studi agama-agama, vol. 3 (2). scott, j. (2012). teori sosial: masalah-masalah pokok dalam sosiologi. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. soelaeman, m. (2006). ilmu sosial dasar, teori dan konsep ilmu sosial, bandung: pt refika aditama. strauss, a., & corbin, j. (1990). “grounded theory research: procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria,” qualitative sociology, vol. 13, (1). superman. (2017). peristiwa mangkok merah di kalimantan barat tahun 1967. historia, vol. 5 (1). taufiqurrahman dan wijaya, hb. (2013). kemitraan sektor swasta dalam layanan pemadam kebakaran di kota pontianak. jurnal pembangunan wilayah dan kota, vol. 9 (3). wilson, c. (2008). ethno-religious violence in indonesia from soil to god. london and new york: routledge. [ 243 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 sumber internet: https://pontianak.tribunnews.com/2017/11/17/kalbar-rawan-konflik-pilkada-ini-indikator-kapolri. akses 10 desember 2019 https://www.suarapemredkalbar.com/read/nasional/20122021/premanisme-hukum-adat-dayak-sulit-diberantas-karena-hantu-teriak-hantu. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/jakarta-governor-ahokfound-guilty-of-blasphemy-jailed-for-two-years kemendagri. (2019). https://www.kemendagri.go.id/files/2019-05/kode&data%20wilayah/61.kalbar.fix.pdf. interviews marsudin, 17 june 2022 abuer, 17 june 2022 samlana, 17 june 2022 amuy, 18 june 2022 khi sen, 18 june 2022 salipus sali, 30 july 2022 dedi bastian, 30 july 2022 suhardiman, 5 august 2022 [ 244 ] al albab: volume 11 number 2 december 2022 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v11i2.2420 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 69 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang iain pontianak email: saifuddin_herlambang@yahoo.co.id abstract the character and style of a text describes and reflects the cultural structure and nature of the author’s mind. this work attempts to describe social criticism and the interpretation of hamka—the eminent indonesian exegete—in the al-azhar (a fairly recent encyclopedic quran commentary) of the verses which are legitimized as the verses of polygamy. this study finds that hamka’s interpretation of “polygamy verses” is influenced by the social dynamics of his birthplace, minangkabau. hamka criticized religious and adat leaders for the polygamy tradition in minangkabau. paradigmatically, hamka contributed a unique tradition in the dynamics of the interpretation of the quran in indonesia where interpretation becomes a social critic. this study reaffirmed the statements that the contestation in interpreting texts is a reflection of social and political contestation and not merely theoretical contestation and that each product of text interpretation expresses empirically the socio-political conditions of the interpreters. this work offered the idea that the interpretation of the quran with a social approach is to voice criticism of the application of the text to be an alternative to continue in contextualizing the quranic messages. keywords: hamka, al-azhar, social criticism, polygamy, minangkabau. introduction this study discusses hamka’s interpretation and social criticism of polygamy verses of the qur’an and practices in minangkabau. the work is supported by the data that was collected through searching of library materials as data sources. the data sources used in this study are literatures that are directly related to the area of the research, namely the book tafsir al-azhar by hamka and other books that talk about verses claimed to justify the practice of polygamy. this research is also accompanied by the use of explanatory analysis that serves to provide a more profound explanation rather than merely a description of a text. this content analysis provides understanding, among others, about why and how the facts emerge and the reasons for what lies behind them (soekanto, 1986: qudsy at.al., 2017). so, in this study, explanatory analysis is used to view [ 70 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 thoughts that influence hamka’s interpretation of the verses claimed to justify the practice of polygamy. there are a number of previous studies which agree with this research. nur azizah (2015) in hamka’s thoughts on polygamy in al-azhar’s interpretation, for example, concludes that hamka’s position tends toward monogamous marriage when interpreting the verse of al-nisa: 129. the approach taken by azizah is descriptive-normative without trying to elaborate on the socio-cultural background of the people of minangkabau that influenced hamka’s interpretation. sudrajat (2016), in “shaykh nawawi al-bantani, buya hamka and quraish shihab: legal views on polygamy and its background,” put forward two of his assumptions on the basis of psychological and social approaches, but has yet to touch the psychological and social aspects that focus on the minangkabau community where hamka originated. in other words, sudrajat describes the psychological and social approach on a very general level. ranuwijaya (1998) in the hadiths of hamka’s tafsir al-azhar: analysis of the sanad (chain of narrators) of hadiths on verses regarding the law of marriage inventoried the verses regarding the law of marriage. he also collected hadiths contained within the verses, referred them to the main book, and then ensured the sanad of the hadiths quoted by examining their quality. ranuwijaya found the hadith reference used by hamka in interpreting the marriage law verses in the al-azhar interpretation book. in addition to bukhari and muslim, he also used the hadiths from abu dawud, al-tirmidzi, al-nasa’i, al-darimi, al-dailami, ibn al-mundhir, al-daruquthni, and al-thabrani. ranuwijaya concluded, especially considering the hadiths about justice to wives, the quality of the sanad deems them valid. the validity of this hadith is included in seven categories of valid hadith. three hadiths are used in the hasan category and 1 hadith in the da’if category. although hamka wrote tafsir alazhar which contained marital issues, there has not been a researcher who has specifically examined his interpretation of the verses that are believed to be the legitimacy of the practice of polygamy and his criticism of the practice of polygamy in minangkabau. this research is thus the first of its kind and fills a unique niche in academia. criticism in the qur’anic discourse has begun since the time of prophet muhammad, although it is still in abstract (embryonic) form. in the next stage, along with the rise of sectarian interpretation, the discourse of interpretation criticism strengthened and found its form. there was also strengthening of the paradigm of interpretation absolutism which assumes the interpretation of a person or group is the most correct (ridwan, 2017). due to humans’ natural need to change, criticism is inevitable (amin, 2019). critical thinking always [ 71 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 emphasizes reflective judgment and criticism. therefore, critical thinking to read and understand reality in a broad and diverse perspective should be directed toward reform and reformulation of the products of thought. thus, critical thinking is a way to seek understanding of the reality, events, and statements behind meaning (sirri, 2014; irfan hamka, 2017). among the interpreters who were considered to be critics of the social conditions of his time were abduh, sayyid qutb, al-zahabi, and al-farmawi (mahfudz, 2013). according to hanafi (1989), there are five stages that must be followed by a mufassir (interpreter) in interpreting the qur’an. first, let the revelation stand as is, neither negated nor confirmed. second, interpret the revelation as other works, such as history, literature, philosophy, etc. methodologically, the qur’an cannot have a special position because it is interpreted according to the same rules. third, understand the relativity of a truth. thus, there is no absolute interpretation. there are only differences in approach to the text due to differences in motivation and interests. fourth, understand that there is no single interpretation. the nass interpreted by a mufassir is only an instrument of interest, even human ambition. it is interpreters who then contextually color it. fifth, understanding that the struggle in interpreting the nass is a reflection of the socio-political struggle and not a theoretical struggle. each product of nass interpretation expresses empirically the socio-political condition of the interpreter. according to saenong (2002), the hanafi model in interpreting texts is the implication of the reduction theory in husserl’s phenomenology which states: to look for the essential nature of reality is to let the phenomenon speak alone without any presupposition (presuppositionlessness). according to husserl, to capture the nature of objects, at least three reductions are needed. first, getting rid of subjectivity; second, placing the object as the main object and source while getting rid of all knowledge about the object investigated and obtained from other sources; third, getting rid of the whole reduction of knowledge by ignoring everything that is already considered correct by others. symptoms can manifest themselves if these reductions are accomplished (muslih, 2008; hamersma, 1983: 117; syarif, 2019). with regard to the theme of interpretation and social criticism, engineer as quoted by nuryatno (2007), has provided space for modern interpreters to interpret verses because the quran itself has normative and contextual sides. there are three approaches to understanding verses about the position of women including verses on polygamy. first, the quran has two components, normativeness and contextualism. the quran’s normativeness is a fundamental principle and values, such as equality and justice that is eternal and can be applied in a variety of social contexts. on the other hand, [ 72 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 contextual revelations are in line with the verses that are in accordance with social-historical problems. second, the interpretation of the quran verses depends on one’s personal perception, his world view, and the sociocultural background in which he lives. therefore, a pure interpretation of the scriptures is impossible because it will always be influenced by social-logic circumstances. third, the verses of the quran vary from time to time. the interpretation of contemporary scholars can be radically different from that of classical scholars. this is because the verses of the quran always use symbolicmetaphoric language. on one hand, they look ambiguous. on the other hand, this ambiguity offers flexibility and creative change. these three approaches can be used in understanding the interpretation of verses related to women in islam, and of course, verses on polygamy. short biography of hamka hamka is an abbreviation of haji abdul malik karim amrullah. this lengthy name contains the names of his father and grandfather. his father’s name was muhammad rasul abdul karim amrullah and his grandfather was named muhammad amrullah. his parents named him abdul malik. the name was chosen because hamka’s father highly respected one of his teachers, sjech ahmad chatib, while studying islam in mecca. therefore, he named his child after his teacher’s son, abdul malik. later on, hamka deliberately combined the names of the two men who he respected highly and hoped to emulate. in addition to being known as hamka, he also had other pseudonyms: a.s. hamid, indra maha, and abu zaki (hamka, 1979: pp. 3, 57, 58, 66). hamka was born into a family of scholars in minangkabau. his grandfather was tuanku pariaman, a minangkabau cleric widely known as abdulmalik ibn abdulkarim ibn muhammad amrullah ibn tuanku abdullah saleh. abdullah saleh is also known as sheikh guguk katur. he was a student of abdullah arif, an ulema from pauh pariaman who allegedly came from the middle east at the beginning of the 13th century ad, a teacher of sheikh burhanuddin. in 1928 hamka visited the land of deli after returning from mecca for his pilgrimage in 1927. he lived there for more than seven months. the name of hamka was first introduced and popularized through the weekly magazine, pedoman masjarakat (community guidelines) in 1934, when he and m. yunan nasution (d. 1996) led the magazine. that year, many sumatran pilgrims left for hajj. this was also the year with a significantly rising price of latex on the island and also the year with the highest number of pilgrims compared to the previous years. hamka, then 18 years of age, was a young pilgrim who was “stranded” in the land of deli. when returning from mecca, he did not [ 73 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 return directly to his hometown in maninjau nor settle in his father’s house in padang panjang since it was ravaged by the 1926 earthquake that struck the region. this period was his initial phase in the deli land. having received an education in thawalib padang panjang and thawalib parabek-bukittingi and gained experience in organizations, he then returned to study religion, sociology and logic in java from a number of national figures in yogyakarta, surabaya, and pekalongan. these important figures were people such as h.o.s. tjokroaminoto (d. 1934), haji fachruddin (d. 1929), r.m. soeryopranoto (d. 1959), ki bagus hadikusumo (d. 1954), and buya h.a.r. sutan mansur (d. 1985), as well as the performing of the fifth pillar of islam in the holy land, hamka’s destiny finally took him to the deli land despite spending the last period of his life in jakarta and died there. hamka received a request from the delegation of deli plantation workers to become a religious teacher at pekan bajalinggai, a small marketplace near tebing tinggi where small traders were domiciled. although he received a stipend and room and board from this job, he continued with his passion of writing. before becoming the author of a famous romance book, he wrote a minang novel titled si sabariah (1926), which he wrote in arabic-script malay. the novel was published in bukittinggi and padang panjang. this novel has yet to be read by many people, as hamka was not widely known before he set foot in medan. in his book, memories of life volume i (1974: 153), he said that his purpose of coming to medan was to enter the world of literature. he met with the editor of pelita andalas, a dutchman named j. koning at ninewemaarkt 16-18 (now perniagaan kesawan street, medan). he later said that he had come to medan because this city had opened his eyes, inspired him and his pen which never dried. while busy with this activity, his uncle buya h. ar. sutan mansur, who had been the chairman of pb muhammadiyah (1956-1959), picked him up to return to his native hometown in maninjau. in his village, on the 5th of april 1929, hamka married siti raham (d. 1971). but before returning home and getting married, he published a series 1928 in medan entitled di bawah lindungan ka’bah (under the protection of the ka’ba). another series that was published a year after that (1929) was tenggelamnya kapal van der wijck (the sinking of the van der wijck ship). in addition to his earlier works, hamka also produces a very well-known book of tafsir: tafsir al-azhar. it is unique because it displays multi-dimensional features such as literature, history, politics, language and dakwah. the development of indonesian interpretation from the beginning of the 20th century through the 1960s provides three interpretive features, namely: first, interpretation of certain verses; second, interpretation of certain juz; third, [ 74 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 overall interpretation of the quran. examples of the first style include tafsir al-qur’an al-karim yaasin by adnan lubis published in medan in 1951. this interpretation only interprets one surah, namely yasin. an example of the second style is al-burhan, tafsir juz ‘amma by h. abdul karim amrullah, published in padang in 1922. while hamka’s tafsir al-azhar became one of the third interpretation models, namely a complete 30 juz (parts). this interpretation was first published in jakarta in 1967 (gusmian, 2003: 67). tafsir al-azhar contains social problems, therefore, this interpretation is categorized as tafsir ijtima’ (muradi, 2007). hamka and social criticsm the teachings of the young people have progressed quite significantly and phenomenally among the people. the deadlock of discursive moments between these youth and elders encouraged the elders to make a correspondence with the scholars of the holy land of mecca about the religious trends of the muslim community in minangkabau. finally, from mecca, a circular, known as the mecca fatwa, was published containing 17 social-religious issues. hamka thought that the elders’ disagreement with the youth was not purely religious, but rather tinged with economic motives. this point later becomes the basis of social criticism of hamka to the dynamics of social life in minangkabau and nusatara in a broader field. table 1 contestation between the elders and the youth in minangkabau no practice actors 1 cindur-buta penghulu (muslim wedding officiants) and public figures 2 kenduri penghulu 3 fidyah salat ulemas in dealing with social practices in his surrounding, hamka produced si sabariah in 1928. this work differs from hamka’s previous writings on marital matters. this first work took a story idea from his hometown of maninjau. the language minangkabau is used in this work. the work illustrates a deep sympathy for those who are weak, poor, or persecuted, as the story revolves around an impoverished husband and wife. the difficult situation pushed pulai, sabariah’s husband, to commit suicide by hanging himself. he was not strong enough to live a poor life. the story in this novel illustrates that readers should care about their surrounding environment. in addition to [ 75 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 taking story ideas from his hometown, hamka also often poured experience from places he had visited into his literary works. the experience of the hajj (pilgrimage) gave him inspiration. as a religious pilgrim, he felt that humans are all equal when they go to meet allah. therefore, he wrote a novel entitled under the protection of the ka’aba. among the issues raised in this novel are the classification in minangkabau society based on wealth, rank, and descent which makes the two human children unable to get married. hamid and zainab could not be united in love because of the vast status gap between the two. zainab’s family is higher in status than hamid’s, both in terms of wealth and descent. those two works is one of the ways he criticized the minangkabau custom which often distinguishes people based on wealth, rank, and descent. according to hamka, the custom is contrary to the islamic values which put the position of humans equal before allah. the difference is the piety and faith of a person to allah. even it cannot be judged from the outside, like how a person dresses because it is a more complex human relationship with god. the emphasis of islamic teachings in the story written by hamka is an important factor. this has become one of his characteristics in each literary work by writing something that should be in line with islam. the earlier point was repeated in hamka’s novel entitled the sinking of the van der wijck ship. the idea of the story in the novel emerged from his association with the people of makassar. he heard a lot about unrequited love because of ethnic differences, especially those of the minangkabau group trying to maintain their ethnic purity. this story discusses the fate of the love of two human beings that ended tragically. zainudin has makassar blood from his mother, while hayati is a native minangkabau. therefore, hayati’s family does not allow her to marry an outsider. when she instead married someone else, zainudin went from his hometown to surabaya in order to forget her. in the end, hayati’s marriage did not last long and she went to surabaya to find zainudin. however, her arrival did not get a positive response from him. finally, hayati returned to her hometown aboard the van der wijck ship. unexpectedly, the ship sank and she lost her life. zainudin regretted what he had done to hayati before she died. in this work, hamka addressed the minangkabau custom that is contrary to the islamic religion. he criticized minangkabau customs which prevent marriages to people outside the minangkabau area. most minangkabau people try to maintain the ethnic purity of their offspring by marrying their children to people of the same ethnicity or village. according to hamka, in this way they can prevent bad things from happening to their children’s marriage. as part of the [ 76 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 minangkabau community, hamka wanted a change in the implementation of a good marriage for the minangkabau community. therefore, his efforts did not stop by relying on sermons. he also poured ideas on the implementation of absolute minangkabau custom through his written works. in his works, his authority to write stories was indisputable. it is possible that the characters and themes are fictitious. however, there is one thing that is noticeable in his writings. he was determined to continue preaching under any circumstance. although it was his own people that he criticized, nothing would stop him. similar to previous works, merantau ke deli (setting out for deli) also criticized the minangkabau custom of marriage and its diaspora culture. a character named leman, a native of minangkabau, set out for deli to look for a job. there, he married poniem, a javanese woman. when they visited minangkabau, the leman family wanted to marry him to a native minagkabau woman. his family thinks that it would be incomplete if leman does not have a wife from his own village. eventually, the marriage occurs and leman abandons poniem. with this work, hamka criticizes the judgment about marriage within one ethnic group or region as it, in fact, did not guarantee marriage will be everlasting. in addition, he also describes the cultural view of migration from the perspective of the minangkabau people. most minagkabau people assume that migrants returning to their villages must have a lot of money and high positions. so, being wealthy is a must for anyone who migrates. in fact, wealth is not the only guarantee that life will be happy. hamka also wanted a change in the minangkabau community’s evaluation of the success of migrants, instead of merely a monetary assessment. a number of literary works produced by hamka also show he wanted a change in the minangkabau people regarding their traditions. he did not want the minangkabau community to believe that traditions are always good to be used without question or reevaluation. in addition, he also wanted the custom to be implemented according to the minagkabau customary principle and teachings of the qur’an. table 2 hamka’s criticism of the minangkabau custom through written works no works criticism 1 si sabariah the indifference of the minangkabau people toward a husband and wife who live in poverty without the care of local residents when finally sabariah, the wife, hanged herself as she cannot bear the burden of life [ 77 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 2 di bawah lindungan kabah (under the protetion of ka’ba) minangkabau custom which classifies people based on wealth, rank, and descent causing two people to be unable to get married. 3 tenggelamnya kapal van der wijck (the sinking of van de wijck ship) minangkabau custom that prevents marriages to people from outside the area of minagkabau 4 merantau ke deli (setting out for deli) customs that prefers marriage within one’s own ethnic group/region 5 tafsir al-azhar polygamy in matrilineal system in minangkabau custom hamka and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau in minangkabau, the issue of polygamy was once a hot topic of discussion in the community. the polygamy rate in minangkabau, west sumatra, based on data released by reports of a leading newspaper namely bintang hindia, was very high. suryadi sunuri (as quoted by arya, 2017) said that polygamy in west sumatra, compared to a number of regions such as java, madura, tapanuli, aceh, bali and lombok, was the highest. the report stated that the number of polygamists in west sumatra reached 78 per 1000 people. this figure was the same as that of lampung but higher than java and madura, aceh, tapanuli and bali, and lombok. according to the report, polygamy in west sumatra was due to prevailing custom and it was also the case in lampung. the high rate of polygamy in west sumatra was due to the semanda custom (poespasari, 2018: 35), where the husband relinquished his customary citizenship to acquire the customary citizenship of his wife upon marriage. the data show that the level of polygamy in minangkabau was among the highest at the time. it was also reported that the voices that opposed the polygamy tradition in minangkabau have been around for a long time. many women voiced their objection to their husband marrying another woman. this trend continued and only after the new order era, the tradition of polygamy began to fade away (arya, 2017). according to keimmy (2018), throughout indonesia’s history, male political leaders, influential figures, and even clergy have adopted the tradition; including the nation’s first president, sukarno, who took more than five wives. in indonesian muslim society, perception of the principles of marriage in islam is polemic. hamka, for example, was a scholar who thought that the ideal marriage is monogamy, despite there being many practices of polygamy in his time. he criticized the practice of polygamy because a sakinah (peaceful/ serene) family is difficult to achieve if the husband is polygamous. as quoted by rush (2016: 89-90), from hamka’s statement that polygamy in minangkabau [ 78 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 was not polygamy that originated from islam but originated from the custom of the minangkabau people (the polygamy of minangkabau was customary polygamy, not islamic). for those who practice polygamy, the normative reason in the surah an-nisa, verse 3 is always used as a justification for their attitude. although hamka rejected polygamy, women in west sumatra gave their support to polygamy. this was conveyed at the 1930 aisyah congress held in bukittinggi. various parties debated pros and cons during this event. the purpose of this support was for men not to cheat and to prevent an increase in children born out of wedlock. according to lecturer and researcher from the university of leiden, the netherlands, suryadi sunuri (as quoted by arya, 2018), the data was based on a report from the islamic defender magazine published in bandung, west java in april 1930. the report reads: congres aisjiah fort de kock. motie kaoem iboe. (polygamie) menoeroet warta aneta, congres aisjiah [itoe] dikoendjoengi oleh koerang lebih 4000 perempoean. congres menjatakan anti karena penghapoesan polygamie, takoet nanti kelahiran anak-anak [di] loear pernikahan mendjadi bertambah adanja. maksoednja: bahwa congres aisjiah anti kepada gerakan jang menghapoeskan polygamie. (aisha fort de kock congress. women’s motion. (polygamy) according to warta aneta, the aisha congress was attended by around 400 women. the congress stated its rejection of the abolishment of polygamy, fearing that more children will be born out of wedlock. it means that the aisha congress is against any movement that aims to abolish polygamy). this congress was part of the muhammadiyah grand congress, also held in bukittinggi, on march 24-26, 1930, recorded as the first muhammadiyah congress outside java. the interesting point from the report is that women who were members of the aisha organization (previously spelled: aisjiah) apparently supported polygamy. “they firmly rejected the anti-polygamy movement which began to become widespread at the time,” the reason, according to suryadi, is that women were worried that the monogamy movement would encourage infidelity among men. in addition, they were also afraid that the number of children born in wedlock would increase. suryadi explained that this report illustrates that the tug-of-war between the pro and anti-polygamy has always occurred in predominantly muslim indonesian society. this disagreement to some extent might reflect the conflict between the two secular and modern camps with the conservative one based on islam (arya, 2018). [ 79 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 according to djafri datuk lubuk sati, a member of the minangkabau indigenous custom advisory board, polygamy in minangkabau had become a tradition and a symbol of honor until the 1970s. datuk lubuk mentioned several minang men who were polygamous: the scholars, customary leaders, the rich, the educated, fighters, and those in high positions. however, polygamy was not entirely their own will. there was also the request of the prospective wife’s family (karni, 2003). interestingly, unlike polygamy in various world civilizations strongly influenced by property, legacy, and authority factors, it occurs in minangkabau when men do not have access to the ownership of harato pusako (property). the motivation for polygamy in minangkabau is not due to wealth but rather to honor, protection, and offspring. gatra once held an interview with a member of the minangkabau indigenous custom advisory board, djafri datuk lubuk sati, regarding the phenomenon of polygamy in his community. he said that until the 1970s, polygamy in minangkabau was a tradition and a symbol of honor because respected and responsible men are considered superior as well as protectors and honor for his wife’s family. sometimes kawin batambuah (local term for polygamy) is not due to the will of the man concerned, but rather driven by the wishes of the family, both his own family and the prospective wife’s family who are willing to be made “second-third-or fourth.” table 3 attitudes toward polygamy verses no public figure attitude reason 1 hamka recommended monogamy sakinah (peaceful/serene) family is difficult to achieve if the husband is polygamous 2 aisha rejected monogamy monogamy encourages infidelity among men. children could be born out of wedlock 3 customary community rejected monogamy polygamy is requested by family of prospective wife hamka’s view of monogamous marriage is quite interesting when referring to the background of his parents’ marriage life, where his father had nine wives. when he was a child, his father remarried, and divorced his biological mother. in fact, in his earlier time, there had never been a major conflict between [ 80 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 his parents. after his father’s marriage to another woman, his mother also remarried another man. seeing this fact, hamka was sad and disappointed. when he visited his father, he met his stepmother, and when he visited his mother, he met his stepfather. he criticized his father for this polygamy. faced with such criticism, as he approached his final years, his father was frank that he was the victim of the custom. in the minangkabau tradition, the position of ninik-mamak (customary leader) and ulemas is most influential. therefore, many ninik-mamak wanted his niece to be a wife of an ulema. if a mamak (uncle) has succeeded in marrying his niece to a cleric in his region, the ulema become a member of his family. it was in this structure of society, haji rasul, hamka’s father, lived so he had many wives (hamka, 1979; 1982). hamka believes that justice is difficult to fulfill as stated in the quran surah al-nisa, verse 129. hamka interpreted surah al-nisa verse 129 with the following hadith (dawud, 1990: 473). “musa ibn ismail narrated to us (he said): from ayyub, from abu qilabah, from abdullah ibn yazid al-khatami, from aisha, saying: the messenger of allah (may peace be upon him) used to divide his time equally among his wives, then he would say ‘o allah, this is what i am doing with regard to that which is within my control, so do not hold me accountable for that which is under your control and is beyond my control.” from the mentioned hadith, it is known that justice to wives is an act that is difficult for anyone, as the prophet himself declared to allah almighty in one of his prayers. according to hamka (2015: 45-56), human difficulties in dealing with wives are in the case of justice of love and sexual tendencies. the apostle, in his opinion, was the fairest example of the division of time, but in his heart he did not feel right. the movement, within and outside of minangkabau, appears to be stubborn in preventing many of these abusive practices, especially initiated by young people. this movement can be likened to the movement of the paderi (those who uphold the islamic teachings). even though in the former minangkabau tambo (legend), the paderi were their enemy, in the young people’s perception now the purpose of the movement was to abolish all customs that impeded progress. among the regions in indonesian, minangkabau had the highest rate of polygamy. based on the census in 1920, minangkabau had the highest record in indonesia on polygamy. in the past, a tuan laras (head of region) had three to four wives. it was not his own intention alone, but it was the splendor of his wives or relatives that led him to be polygamous. [ 81 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 a man whose sister is married to a head of region would be embarrassed when his brother-in-law did not have many wives, so it was often the case that he would find his brother-in-law an additional wife. even though she was in pain, the first wife also would take another woman for her husband because seeing other men practicing polygamy, she also wanted to take one for her husband. this “shame” is the biggest taboo for minangkabau women. to protect her husband’s shame, and to raise her husband’s esteem in public, she would sacrifice her own happiness (harahap, 1926). hamka wanted the people to understand and implement the teachings of islam, free from non-islamic external elements, and emphasized to revisit the opinions of classical scholars without having to accept them blindly. he also emphasized the importance of performing ijtihad (yusuf, 2005). a barren wife could be a reason for polygamy. when it becomes known that the wife is barren, the husband can remarry. hamka stated that the desire to have children of his own blood is the instinct of every man (yusuf, 2005). hamka neither allowed nor forbade polygamy. he allowed polygamy with restricted permission. methodologically, hamka’s interpretation of polygamous verses is similar to hassan hanafi’s interpretation of the qur’an with social approaches. with this method (al-manhaj al-ijtima’i fi al-tafsir), according to hanafi, as quoted by saenong (2002), an interpreter not only deduces the meaning of the text, but also can induce the meaning of the reality into the text, and places it in an empirical and rational structure. in his book of tafsir al-azhar, hamka also indicates the seriousness of the issue of polygamy in minagkabau. he believes that there is a correlation between polygamy and protection of women’s ownership in minangkabau. the minangkabau matriarchy itself has become a strong fortress for women who are vulnerable to socially and economically discriminatory treatment. although in terms of feelings and psychology, polygamy has an effect that cannot be underestimated. even if a woman has to give up her husband to another woman, she still gets security and livelihood protection because she gets the supply of needs from the production process carried out by her own “kind”. despite current tendency for people to avoid polygamy, there is no effect on the integrity of the matriarchal system that the minangkabau community continues to maintain (hamka, 2015). to fight against polygamy in minangkabau in the past as well as at present, it still requires tremendous effort (gunawan, 2017; anggun, 2017). table 4 indicates the shifting point of responsibilities that relate to marital life in minangkabau. currently minangkabau people, especially women, tend to see polygamy as an evil deed. they attach a stigma to every man with more than one wife as someone who [ 82 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 does not respect women and indulges in sexual desires. this perspective seems contextual and not at all strange, but it still raises questions. why was it that when islam underwent a revival in minangkabau, polygamy which is actually permissible in islam, was opposed by most minangkabau women? (chatra, 2005: 74). table 4 comparison between the past and present domestic life in minangkabau no then now 1 living expenses were from the wife’s wealth living expenses are born by both husband and wife 2 the house was built by mamak (uncle) the house is built by the husband 3 women had arranged marriage women are difficult to get a husband 4 men were picked up by the family of the prospective wife on the wedding day men are embarrassed to picked up on the wedding day 5 sons-in-laws live with in-laws living away from in-laws 6 men were paid to take a wife and a another wife men are no longer paid to take a wife source: tafsir al-azhar conclusion the discourse of polygamy in the muslim world and the practices of the polygamy within muslims have been very interesting to many muslims and non-muslims. this work attempts to see how a prominent muslim scholar, hamka, from minangkabau which is well known to follow the matriarchal system, provides critics to the teachings and the practices of polygamy within minangkabau people in sumatra of indonesia. the work concludes that hamka has been very critical to the practices of polygamy in minangkabau with three arguments. first, hamka’s interpretation of the marriage verses shows his tendency toward monogamous marriage which according to him is ideal to be practiced. second, monogamous marriage is ideal, according to hamka, because of changes in the economic conditions of muslim families. the fact that the household model today has evolved from a traditional family to a single family leaves the burden to the single head of family if polygamy is still being practiced. third, the experience of being a child from a polygamous father also influenced hamka’s interpretation in rejecting polygamy.  this [ 83 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 work leaves some thoughts that have yet to be discussed. one of the issues that require further research is what really affects his interpretation of polygamy. is it because of his father’s polygamous marriage or his parents’ divorce? this leads to a further study recommended to be conducted by subsequent researchers to answer this particular question. bibliography amin, a. (2019). from mushalla to mosque: the formation of south and southeast asian muslim communities in japan. al-albab, 8(1), 3 20. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v8i1.1050 anggun, g. (2017). matriarkhat, poligami, malakok. in padang today, www. padang-today.com 6 mei 2017. accessed on 8 agustus 2019. arya, m. (2017). poligami di sumatera barat tahun 1925, tertinggi di masanya, in padangkita, http://padangkita.com/poligami-di-sumatera-barattahun-1925-tertinggi-dimasanya/. monday 09/10/17. accessed on 12 agustus 2018. --------. (2018). mendukung gerakan poligami dari ranah minang, in padangkita, http://padangkita.com/mendukung-gerakan-poligami-dari-ranah-minang/. saturday 24/02/18. accessed on 6 september 2018. azizah, n. (2015). pemikiran hamka tentang poligami dalam tafsir al azhar, in yurisprudentia, vol. 1, no. 1, iain padangsidempuan, juni 2015, p. 100-110. chatra, e. (2005). orang jemputan: regulasi seksualitas dan poligami di minangkabau. unpublished thesis. padang: fakultas ilmu sosial dan ilmu politik universitas andalas. dawud, a. (1990). sunan abi dawud, jilid i. beirut: dar al-fikr. gusmian, i. (2003). khazanah tafsir indonesia: dari hermenuetika hingga ideologi. jakarta: teraju. hamersma, h. (1983). tokoh-tokoh filsafat barat modern. jakarta: gramedia. hamka, i. (2017). ayah. jakarta: republika. hamka. (1979). kenang-kenangan hidup. jakarta: bulan bintang. --------. (1982). ayahku. jakarta: umminda. --------. (2015). tafsir al-azhar (diperkaya dengan pendekatan sejarah, sosiologi, tasawuf, ilmu kalam, sastra, dan psikologi), jilid 2 juz 4,5,6. jakarta: gema insani. [ 84 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 hanafi, h. (1989). al-din wa al-tsawrah fi mishr 1952-1981: al-yamin wa alyasar fi-fikr al-diniy, vol. 7. kairo: maktabah madbuli. harahap, p. 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(2007). examining ali asghar engineer’s quranic interpretation of women in islam, in al-jami’ah, vol. 45, no. 2, 2007, p. 389414. doi: 10.14421/ajis.2007.452.389-414. poespasari, e. d. (2018). pemahaman seputar hukum waris adat di indonesia. jakarta: kencana. qudsy, s., abdullah, i., & qodir, z. (2017). the symbolic power of sleeping without mattress practice in kasuran village of yogyakarta. al-albab, 6(2), 281 300. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v6i2.726 ranuwijaya, u. (1998). hadis-hadis kitab tafsir al-azhar hamka: analisis sanad hadis pada ayat-ayat hukum bidang perkawinan”, in unpublished thesis. jakarta: program pascasarjana iain syarif hidayatullah. ridwan, m.k. (2017). tradisi kritik tafsir: diskursus kritisisme penafsiran dalam wacana qur’anic studies, in jurnal theologia vol. 28 no. 1, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21580/teo.2017.28.1.1418. 55-74. rush, j. r. (2016). hamka’s great story: a master writer’s vision of islam for modern indonesia. wisconsin: the university of wisconsin press. saenong, i. b. (2002). hermeneutika pembebasan, metodologi tafsir al qur’an menurut hassan hanafi. jakarta: teraju. [ 85 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 sirry, m. (2014). sciptural polemics; the qur’an and other religion. new york: oxford university press. soekanto, s. (1986). pengantar penelitian hukum. jakarta: universitas indonesia. sudrajat, a. s. a. (2016). syekh nawawi al-bantani, buya hamka dan quraish shihab: pandangan hukum tentang poligami dan latar belakangnya,” in unpublished skripsi, malang: fakultas syariah jurusan al-ahwal asysyakhsiyah uin malang. syarif, s. (2019). spiritual education mission in the mufassirin perspective. al-albab, 8(2), 237 262. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab. v8i2.1444 yusuf, m. (2005). hamka’s method in interpreting legal verses of the qur’an, in abdullah saeed (ed.), approaches to the qur’an in contemporary indonesia. london: oxford university press. [ 86 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1593 [ 249 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 religion and harritage: the islamic manuscript of the quran by abdurrahman husin fallugah (w.2010) faizal amin pontianak state institute of islamic studies abstract this article is extracted from the philological-codicological research on the mushaf al-qur’an (codex or collection of sheets of the qur’an, hereafter referred to as the mushaf) manuscript in west kalimantan, especially the collection of abdurrahman husin fallugah (hereafter referred to as ahf). overall, the qur’an manuscript collection of ahf is 20 copies, consisting of 15 mushaf in complete condition and six other mushaf which are not complete. the study only focused on 15 mushaf which are intact and complete. the findings of this research showed that: first, judging from its origins, not all of the mushaf manuscript collection of ahf came from west kalimantan. in addition to west kalimantan, the 15 complete mushaf also came from aceh and central java. the initiators and supporters of the writing of the manuscript were probably members of a royal family since the qur’an manuscripts in west kalimantan were originally obtained from a royal family. second, the condition of 15 mushaf collection of ahf is generally quite well preserved despite some physical damage especially on the edges of the sheet of paper. if seen from kind of material used, the mushaf collection of ahf were made from different materials, some made from the local paper, some made from european paper and some also made from animal skins. meanwhile, the collection of the 15 manuscripts is complete; each consists of 30 juz (parts) covering 114 surah. the oldest mushaf manuscript is coded ahf-06 made by h.m. said al-katib in 1067 ah or 1657 ad, while the latest manuscript coded ahf02 written by h. sarqawiy in 1243 ah or 1828 ad. keywords: manuscript, west kalimantan, abdurrahman husin fallughah introduction the guarantee of preservation of the qur’an has in fact been mentioned explicitly by the allah almighty: “indeed, it is we who sent down the qur’an and indeed, we will be its guardian.” (q.s. 15:9). however, by no means, the efforts of  preserving the qur’an  were not done  by muslims.  since  the early days of  islamic  development, preservation of the  quran  has become a tradition  carried out  by prophet muhammad  and  the muslims  in the early days of islam. writing mushaf al-qur’an has become an inseparable part of the  efforts in  the preservation of the  qur’an  by muslims.  the tradition [ 250 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 of maintaining the qur’an has been performed by prophet muhammad and his companions since the early development of islam. the messenger of allah always repeated his recitation of the qur’an every year with the guidance of  the archangel gabriel.  in addition,  the prophet  also  appointed  several companions to be the katib al-wahyi (writer of revelation), such as abdullah ibn tasbit. the reading of  the qur’an over and over again has resulted in the qurra’ (memorizer of the qur’an), while the writing of the qur’an was done on wooden barks, stone slabs and animal skins has resulted in artifacts that have been collected and written or copied back into the mushaf. the two  types of tradition of the qur’an preservation developed  from generation to generation  through the  dimensions of  space and time.  nevertheless,  the development of  a tradition  of writing  the qur’an includes special restrictions for people allowed to rewrite it and restrictions regarding the writing style that serves as a common reference. in the context of indonesia, the tradition of re-writing or copying the mushaf al-qur’an has been in practice for a long time and done in various regions across the country.  the research on mushaf al-qur’an in indonesia  was conducted  by  the research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs in 18 regions of research from 2003-2005 and has found 241 mushaf manuscript.  this research was conducted in banten, west java, central java, yogyakarta, east java, bali,  west nusa tenggara, south sumatra, west sumatra, riau, north sumatra, aceh, west kalimantan, south kalimantan, east kalimantan, south sulawesi, central sulawesi, southeast sulawesi  and  ternate (fadhal ar bafadhal and rosehan anwar, 2005: xiii). meanwhile,  the research on  classical  manuscripts  in the city of  pontianak (faizal amin, 2011) found as many as 15 manuscripts of mushaf al-qur’an from the collection of abdurrahman husin fallugah al-maghfurlahu (hereafter referred to as ahf). the fifteenth mushaf al-qur›an manuscripts from the collection of ahf have recently been recorded in the  inventory data  in conjunction with the findings of other classic texts. in addition, to date there has been no research that is specifically conducted on the mushaf manuscripts from the collection of ahf. nevertheless, this study was not the first because in 2005 there was a similar research in west kalimantan conducted by muhammad shohib, sponsored by the research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs. the study was conducted in three locations, namely  the city  of pontianak,  mempawah  distsrict,  sambas  district, and  then found thirteen mushaf al qur’an. the the thirteen mushaf are kept separately by individuals as many as 3 manuscripts, the regional office of the ministry of religious affairs 2 manuscripts, the kadariah palace  pontianak 3 manu[ 251 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 scripts, the state museum pontianak 4 manuscripts, and the islamic boarding school 1 manuscript (fadhal ar. bafadhal dan rosehan anwar, 2005 : 169196). therefore, an analysis on the 15 mushaf al-qur’an from collection ahf is relevant to complement the historical data of the mushaf al-qur’an writing  in west kalimantan. in the context of indonesia, the effort of research on the mushaf al-qur’an has actually been carried out by  the research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs in 2003-2005.  the research on the mushaf  themed  “the history of mushaf  al-qur’an in indonesia”  was carried out  in 18 provinces and have successfully inventoried 241 mushaf. there were five research findings from the study of 241 mushaf , namely: (1) first, the condition of the manuscripts of the qur’an that are found is generally poorly-preserved, so much  of the  paper  of the manuscript was already  damaged  and  eaten by termites and very difficult to read. (2) only a small portion of the manuscripts found are written with the rasm utsmani. the rest are written with imla’i rasm. (3) all manuscripts contained errors and  deficiency in writing the text of the verses, but there is a direct repair effort by adding a sentence on the outer edge of the pages of the text, or in between the lines, but some has yet to be fixed. (4) the calligraphy used in the manuscripts of the mushaf is simple, but all of the script is fairly consistent, as seen from the font size, density, as well as the style. (5) the illumination on the mushaf found is generally on the ulumul qur’an, nisful qur’an and khatmul quran, on the heading of the surah (‘unwan), and on the edges of the page, especially for signs of juz, nisf, hizb,  mid hizb and so on. based on the findings of research on mushaf done by the research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs  in 2003-2005,  the oldest was written in 1585 ad from ambon. the16th century was the early  development of the  mushaf  writing  in  indonesia. islamic scholars (ulama) in various other places in indonesia probably also did the same, because the texts of ancient qur’an are also found on other islands; java, nusa tenggara, sumatra, kalimantan and sulawesi as the data above shows. research on mushaf  conducted by  the research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs  indicated that the writing  of the mushaf  al  qur’an  in  indonesia  has  begun  since four centuries  ago.  the oldest  mushaf  is thought to be  written by a  cleric  of al-faqih  al-salih  ‘abdul baqi afifudin ibn ‹abdullah al-›adni, in 1585 ad in wapanwe, kaitetu, and  by a person  named  nur cahya  (1590  ad)  who completed  the writing of  the  mushaf  in the mountain of wawane, ambon.  the 16th century was the early development of the mushaf writing in indonesia. some an[ 252 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 cient  manuscripts of  the qur’an  are also  found in  java, sumatra,  sulawesi, kalimantan,  west nusa tenggara, bali and  so on.  until now  there has not been a monograph book describing the history of  the mushaf writing from time to time. similarly, little is known about the writers and places where the mushaf were written. specifically, this paper will be limited to a discussion about the two main issues, i.e. the: first, physical description of the 15 manuscripts of the mushaf al qur’an from the collection of ahf in pontianak, which includes physical condition, material they were made of, the completeness of the writing, and the time of the making; second, the origin of the 15 manuscripts of the mushaf al qur’an from the collection of ahf in pontianak, which includes the writers, initiators and supporters of the writing the mushaf in west kalimantan. abdurrahman husin  fallugah and west kalimantan manuscript born in the city of pontianak on february 5, 1966 ad or on saturday the 14th day of syawal 1385 ah, ahf was a descendant of the arabs who originated from the region of  hadramaut.  his father  was  husin  ibn  salim  ibn  ahmad, while his mother was jamilah bint ahmad  ibn ali  saewad. if  traced  to his family  lineage,  hence the name  ahm  was  abdurrahman ibn husin ibn salim ibn ahmad ibn salim ibn ahmad ibn muhammad ibn umar ibn fallugah. ahf had five siblings, but one of them died in infancy. ahf was married to a woman named anita ahmad ali attamimy and had five children named: sirkafi,  fizraivi,  devwirvi,  laza  delvi,  zad  syarafi.  ahf  died  in 2010  in pontianak at the age of 46. his remains were buried in the kampung arab in the mambausshafa boarding school complex he built. his father died when he was nine years old. based on his father’s will, ahf traveled to east java to study yapi boarding school in bangil, pasuruan. in 1983, after six years of studying there, he won a scholarship to continue his studies in  syria.  however,  his departure  to syria was canceled due to  the unrest  in  the border area of  the country.  finally, ahf  decided to  return home to pontianak.  in the same year,  ahf  continued  learning  from some  leading  scholars  in west kalimantan.  al-habib  ibn saalih  alhaddad,  shaikh  abdurrani  mahmud  and ustadz  thoyyib  saman  almaghfurlahum  were  among the great  scholars  in the  city of pontianak from whom  ahf  learnt  islam.  ahf  also  had a chance to learn from sheikh ramadan and together they established khulafaurrasyidin boarding school. since  he was young,  ahf  was one of the people who paid attention [ 253 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 to and  loved to collect  classic manuscripts.  according to  his wife, anita ahmad ali attamimy (interviewed june 2012), he had spent a lot of money to get the classic texts that he was interested in. ahf had traveled from the regions of aceh on the island of sumatra to java to hunt for classic manuscripts. similarly, he did the same thing to trace the whereabouts of the manuscripts in kalimantan region, especially in west kalimantan. in addition to hunting for classic manuscripts, ahf also often gained the trust of the community to preserve manuscript collection. with the charisma as a da›i (islamic preacher) and his background,  ahf  often received  gifts in the form of classic texts  or  manuscripts  from  people or members of  the majlis ta’lim (gathering for the study of islam). in general, they voluntarily handed over  a collection of  classic  texts  belonging to their family to  ahf  because they believed  he  could  make  the  texts  more  useful to  muslims.  it  is also because their generation could no longer understand texts written in arabic or  malay  with  jawi  or  arabic script.  they also believed that  by handing over the classical  manuscripts  to ahf, the text will be well preserved.  in addition, the physical  form of the classic texts were generally made of “low quality paper» which will only make their home look dirty, but if discarded they believe it will bring bad luck, natural disasters or misfortune for themselves or family members who have inherited it. this is another reason why ahf had a large collection of classic texts or manuscripts. description of the mushaf from the collection of ahf the description of the  codicological data  of  the mushaf  manuscripts from the collection of ahf is based on the results of observation of softcopy version in the form of digital photographs that  i obtained. several notes on a copy of the manuscript made by ahf on a piece of paper were also used to add information in the colophon.  in addition, i also used  information from interviews  with  anita  ahmad  attamimy, the wife of ahf.  due to limited space for describing the entire codicological data, table 1 is an example of a 15 pieces of description that have been made. [ 254 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 tabel1 deskripsi data kodikologinaskah mushaf ahf-01 no aspect remark 01 publication of the manuscript not available 02 number and code of manuscript ahf-01 03 title -[al-qur’an al-karim] 04 author 05 copyist h. al-haafiz muhammad anwar as-sambasy 06 year of writing 1083 ah (1672/73 ad) 07 place of storage home of anita ahmad ali attamimy, the wife of the late ahf. 08 origin of the manuscript sambas district, west kalimantan 09 owner of the manuscript h. abdurrahman fallugah husin al-maghfurlahu. 10 type of cover local paper 11 physical condition fairly good (little damage on the edge of paper) 12 binding fairly good (the middle part starts to tear) 13 watermark & countermark not available 14 thick and thin lines not available 15 thick line distance not available 16 number of thin line not available 17 guide lines not available 18 text frame available 19 number of folded sheets ? 20 number of sheets 309 sheets 21 number of pages 618 pages 22 blank pages 10 pages 23 number of lines per page 15 lines 24 length and width of the manuscript 32 x 24 cm 25 length and width of text 19 x 12 cm [ 255 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 26 page numbering not available 27 verse numbering not available 28 translated words yes, several 29 letter arabic 30 language arabic 31 types of calligraphy/ handwriting naskhi almost like muhaqqaq 32 types of rasm rasm imla>’i>/qiya>si>/is}t}ila>hi> dan rasm ‘usma>ni> in certain words such as الصلوة – الزكوة – القيمة – السموت. 33 punctuation not available 34 color of letter black, red, green 35 colophon available 36 images 37 illumination there are floral swirl (style. colors: red, green, yellow, black and white) 38 rubricated image available 39 marginalia available 40 content summary complete quran 30 juz : and 114 surah (with a note on qur’an khatmil prayer) . source : digital photographs, zarkasyi:2012 the mushaf  ahf-01  was written  by h>. muhammad anwar alhafidz as-sambasy in 1083  ah.  this information  can be found on the colophon: “sambas,  on saturday  two  muharram  1083;  written  by alhajj muhammad anwa r al-hafidz al-sambasiy “. for better description, here are examples of some of the important parts in the mushaf from the collection of ahf: [ 256 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 figure 01 illumination on first page of mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph faizal amin 2012 figure 02 rubrication and marginalia on mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph faizal amin 2012 figure 03 rubrication and marginalia on mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph, faizal amin 2012 [ 257 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 figure 04 marginalia and heading on mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph, faizal amin 2012 figure 05 illumination on the last surah of mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph, faizal amin 2012 figure 06 teks doa pada mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph, faizal amin 2012 [ 258 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 figure 07 colophon on the last page of mushaf ahf-01 source: digital photograph, faizal amin 2012 physical state of the qur’an manuscript of ahf linguistically,  the word  mushaf  (plural  masa  hif)  is synonymous with  ‘book’.  terminologically,  in  daily definition, the word  mushaf  usually understood as the holy book of muslims. so al-mushaf al-syarif means the glorious qur›an. a mushaf is a copy of god›s revelation (qur›an) in the form of written sheets of paper. in fact, a mushaf can be in the form of sheets that are incomplete due to missing or corrupted. the definition of mushaf also includes additional notes in a one-page form that deals with the main verse recitation  of the qur’an. nevertheless,  the tafsir book  is not included  in  the notion of  mushaf.  thus,  the definition of mushaf  in this research  is  a copy of the qur›an as a whole, which includes the text of verses (nas), illumination (decoration around the text) and other physical aspects such as the paper, size of the paper, binding, etc. all  the mushaf  manuscripts  examined  in  this research  belong to  the late ahf. overall, there were 21 copies. there were 15 copies of the mushaf written in full 30 juz, while 6 others were incomplete. when   preliminary research was conducted in october 2011-june 2012, all manuscripts had yet to be recorded, and nor had they been digitized. however in september 2012, when i was attending the training of the philological research method short course in jakarta  for three months  (july – september 2012), all mushaf al qur’an  from the collection of  ahf  had been  photographed  digitally  by mr.  zarkasyi, an employee  at the lajnah pentashih al-quran  under  the research and development agency of the ministry of religious affairs. this then resulted [ 259 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 in  the  constraints  on  the continuation of  the process of collecting  research data because the entire collection of manuscripts of ahf could only be accessed  through  one person  related to the family members  and  appointed with specific requirements. since then i could no longer access the manuscripts of mushaf al qur’an  from the collection of ahf directly.  i lost  the opportunity to do direct observation of the manuscripts. i only received digital photographic data so that a large part of the data collected was obtained through digital photography only. until to  this research  was carried out, all  hard copy  manuscripts of the collection of ahf were located at the home of anita ahmad ali attamimy, the wife of the late ahf. meanwhile all soft copies of the digital photographs kept by two persons in two places, i.e. mr. zarkasyi in bait al-qur’an museum in jakarta and mr. arief rachman in pontianak.  mr zarkasyi re-coded all the manuscripts of the mushaf  al  qur’an  owned byahf  with  arf-01through arf-21. however in my opinion, the code ‘arf’ is not suitable since it does not  correspond to  the initials of  the  name of the  ahf  and  could give rise to misunderstandings about the actual owner of the manuscripts. ‘arf’ is closer to the initial “arief rachman” as compared to “abdurrahman husin fallugah” or “abdurrahman fallugah”. therefore, i chose to use the code ahf to record and describe the physical condition of the manuscripts in this research. overall,  the physical state of  15  texts  from the collection of  ahf  is  still quite  good  and complete. thread and  glue  were used in the binding process with cover made of animal skin and blackish-brown colored paper. of the 15  copies of  the  mushaf,  one of them presumably does not  belong to  ahf.  according to  anita ahmad  attamimy,  ahf’s wife,  the fifteenth  mushaf  al  qur’an  manuscripts  were  borrowed  by a singaporean. all the mushaf were taken tohis country to be photographed digitally. however,  it turns out there was one mushaf returned to anita that does not belong to ahf. therefore the manuscript was stored separately by anita ahmad attamimy because it would be exchanged by the singaporean who took hold of the mushaf belonging to ahf. the average size of the mushaf is 32 x 24 cm, while the size of the text in average 19 x 12 cm. the manuscripts in average have 618 pages with several blank pages; some even have10 blank pages without any script like ahf-01. the average number of lines is15 per page, except on three manuscripts coded ahf12 ahf-13, and ahf-14 where there are 13 lines per page. on the illuminated pages of the qur’an, the number of lines is between 6 to 7 lines per page. the manuscript materials can be classified into three kinds, namely local paper, european paper and animal skin. the local paper material consists of some [ 260 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 sort of degree of smoothness and gradation. the researcher has not conducted laboratory test specifically to determine the type and age of paper used. the european  paper material  can be identified  from  the  watermark  and  countermark that can be seen  if  the sheet  of paper  is seen through.  for example, the mushaf al qur’an coded ahf-09 uses paper type of pro-patria with a code ‘dcc’. the complete  data for  new research  can  present  two pieces  of  codicological description of the 21 manuscripts of mushaf al qur›an from the collection of ahf. it was due to my limitation as a researcher to get the whole data of the digital softcopy made by zarkasy, an employee of the lajnah pentashih al-quran under the research and development agency of the ministry of religious affairs. i was not allowed by the family of ahf to examine the physical manuscripts directly. therefore, i chose two pieces of manuscripts to the best of my ability. the two mushaf al qur›an were the ones codes ahf-01 and ahf-09. the second selection was based on several considerations. first, the information on the colophon mentions that the author or the copyist of the mushaf  is a person from sambas and it was written in sambas. therefore an attempt to describe the existence of “the mushaf al-qur’an manuscripts of west kalimantan”  in this research can be carried out despite obstacles mentioned earlier. second,  the page display  of the  manuscripts,  especially  on the illuminated parts, both mushaf have similarities. third, although both of these manuscripts have similarities to each other, they also have striking differences. the ahf01 has a lot of marginalia, both containing notes about passages written at the time of copying or writing or other explanations related to a verse or surah in the qur›an. in addition to both manuscripts, i could not get data about the exixtence of watermark or countermark on the paper, thick lines and thin lines, thick line distance, number of thin lines, total  number of  sheets,  folded sheets,  number of pages, size of paper, and size of  the text in  the manuscript  as i did before  all  pages were photographed digitized.  this  has caused  the description of the codicology of the manuscripts from the collection of ahf to be incomplete, especially for the purpose of providing data for making a catalog. table 2 ahf’s mushaf based on place of origin no code writer/copyist place of origin 01 ahf-01 h. muhammad anwar al-hafidz as-sambasy sambas – west kalimantan 02 ahf-02 h. syarqawi al-hafidz [west kalimantan] [ 261 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 03 ahf-03 sayyid muhammad hasan al-qadriy [west kalimantan] 04 ahf-04 not available [west kalimantan] 05 ahf-05 not available [west kalimantan] 06 ahf-06 h. muhammad sa’id al-katib [west kalimantan] 07 ahf-07 syeikh abdul manan and his students [west kalimantan] 08 ahf-08 haji asy’ari al-hafidz sambas – west kalimantan 09 ahf-09 h. usman bin umar al-bugishiy [west kalimantan] 10 ahf-10 m. ambo’ arifin [central java west kalimantan] 11 ahf-11 h. muhammad ridwan [west kalimantan] 12 ahf-12 h. abdus shamad [west kalimantan] 13 ahf-13 h. ismail al-hafidz [west kalimantan] 14 ahf-14 yusuf bin hasan aceh – sumatera 15 ahf-15 not available [west kalimantan] source : codicological data fourteen out of fifteen manuscripts  i  gathered have colophons  on the last pages before the back cover. one manuscript that does not have a colophon the one coded ahf-05. the information found in it generally only mentions the name of the copyist and time or year of completion. there are two manuscripts that mention the origin and place where the texts were copied from. the colophon in the mushaf coded ahf-01 says that the manuscript was copied in sambas on saturday the 2nd day of muharram 1083 ah or on saturday april 30, 1672 ad.  the manuscript  was written  by h.  al-haafiz  muhammad  anwar  assambasy.  meanwhile  the colophon in the mushaf  al  qur›an  coded  ahf08 mentions that the manuscript was completed in sambas by haji al-haafiz alash’ari on 2nd day of safar 1072 ah or on tuesday 27th september 1661 ad. table 3 ahf’s mushaf based on the age code writer/copyist the year the manuscript was copied age of manuscript ahf-01 h. muhammad anwar al-hafidz as-sambasy 1083 ah (1672/73 m) 339/340 ahf-02 h. syarqawi al-hafidz 1243 ah (1827/28 ad) 184/185 [ 262 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ahf-03 sayyid muhammad hasan al-qadriy 1221 ah (1806/07 ad) 205/206 ahf-04 not available not available ahf-05 not available not available ahf-06 h. muhammad sa’id al-katib 1067 ah (1656/57 ad) 355/356 ahf-07 syeikh abdul manan dan murid-muridnya 1120 ah (1708/09 ad) 303/304 ahf-08 haji asy’ari al-hafidz 1072 ah (1661/62 ad) 350/351 ahf-09 h. usman bin umar albugishiy 1205 ah (1790/91 m) 221/222 ahf-10 m. ambo’ arifin 1223 ah (1808/09 ad) 203/204 ahf-11 h. muhammad ridwan 1153 ah (1740/41 ad) 271/272 ahf-12 h. abdus shamad 1152 ah (1739/40 ad) 272/273 ahf-13 h. ismail al-hafidz 1121 ah (1709/10 ad) 302/303 ahf-14 yusuf bin hasan 1201 ah (1786/87 ad) 225/226 ahf-15 not available 1231 ah (1815/16 ad) 196/197 source : codicological data based on  the above  table,  the oldest mushaf is old  355  or  356  years old.  it was written by h. muhammad sa’id al-katib. meanwhile, the most recent is 184 or 185 years old which is coded ahf-02, written by h. sarqawiy on 3rd day of syawal 1243 ah or on friday 18th day of april 1828 ad. meanwhile there are two manuscripts whose copyist and time of writing them are unknown as there is no information can be obtained from the colophon or other sources. on each page there are text frames in the form of thick and thin lines. the thick line is on the outer side made of three thin lines combined with the red color to the outer edge and two black lines. the thin lines are made with black color and spaced in such a way to form a frame and with pale yellow color. as  a  handwritten  manuscript, all  mushaf  al  qur›an  from the collection  of ahf have never been recorded in an official catalog and published. according to  ali  akbar (2012, http://lajnah.kemenag.go.id/artikel/45-sejarahpenulisan-mushaf/117),  the national library of  the republic [ 263 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 of indonesia (pnri) jakarta houses a lot of mushaf manuscripts. the catalog of  indonesian  manuscripts, vol.  4:  the national library of  the republic of indonesia edited by t.e. behrend (jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia and the école française d’extrême-orient, 1998) mentioned the existence of 65 qur’an at pnri, alongside  other texts  related to the  qur’an  namely  passages  of the qur’an such as juzamma, surah yasin, surah al-kahf, etc. (15 manuscripts in total); the works of tafsir al-qur’an, including tarjuman al-mustafid, tafsir aljala, and other tafsir al-baghawy (26 manuscripts); and the sciences of  the qur’an , such as tajwid, qiraat, etc., (22 manuscripts). in the list of the manuscripts, this catalog also includes  a wide range of  collections,  namely  arabic(a), abdurrahman wahid  (aw),  j.l.a.  brandes  (br),von de wall  (w), a.b. cohen stuart (cs), malay (ml), and miscellaneous (m). all the mushaf manuscripts in the pnri catalogare entitled al-qur’an or alqur’an  al-karim.  the manuscripts under this title  65  pieces,  namely  a.46, a.47, a.48, a.49, a.50, a.51a-e, a.52a-k, a.53a-k, a.54a-e, a.205, a.214, a.221, a.265, a.269, a.270, a.271, a.272, a.568a, a.575, a.584, a.600, a.613, a.616, a.618, a.619, a.628, a.630, a.632, a.633, a.635, a.641, a.642, a.645, a.646, a.647, a.648, a.650, a.663, a.680, a.694, a.700, a.733, a.734, a.735, aw.102, aw.104, aw.106, aw.129, aw.4, aw.6, aw.88, aw.91, aw.92, aw.93, aw.94, aw.95, br.204, m.75x, m.78x, ml.319, ml.542, ml.41, ml.116, ml.290, dan w.278.  however,  some of them  turns out to be not the mushaf. the manuscript ml.41 is a translation of the qur’an without verse texts. while the ml.116 is a translation or concise interpretation of the qur’an;  the verse texts  are written  in red, while the translation  is written in black ink, written continuously, one after another. as for the manuscript ml.290, it is not the qur’an, but the book of sihahal jauhary. explicitly,  i did not find  a single title of the  15  manuscripts of the mushaf al qur›an from the collection of ahf. based on its content, i gave the  name of the  al-quran  al-karim.  the texts in  the  15  mushaf  from  the collection of  ahf were  written  or copied  in full, comprising  30  juz  and 114 surah. there are a number of texts which even are equipped with a prayer text written on the final page after surah al-nas. meanwhile in the  pnri catalog,  the mushaf  al  qur›an  which was given  the title of  al-quran  and al-qur›an  al-karim  are not  sorted, among  which  some have 30 juz  in full,  some have only have a  few  surah. however,  a description of  the existing  number of pages will be useful for researchers as they can  predict whether  a manuscript  is  complete  with 30 juz  or not.  a  complete  mushaf  usually  contains  about 450  pages or more. the mushaf under the title al-qur›an that have pages fewer than this [ 264 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 amount  can be  quickly  judged as incomplete.  for example,  manuscripts  of the qur’an  coded  aw  (abdurrahman wahid), totaling  12  manuscripts, all of which  use paper  made from bark.  manuscripts  that seem  to originate from the pesantren quoted from the qur’an, generally in  the first part only have about 200 pages or fewer. so is the case with other 27 manuscripts, they simply contain text passages of the qur’an which are less than 30 juz/114 surah. more detailed information — as suggested by t.e. behrend in the preface of his book— found in the two catalogs of special old arabic manuscripts. the first catalog was the work of l.w.c. van den berg & r. friederich, codicum arabicorum in bibliotheca societatis artium et scientiarum quae bataviae floret asservatorum catalogum, (batavia: bruining et wijt; hagae comitis: m. nijhoff, 1873), which contains the coded texts  from a. 1 to a. 159. another catalog  was the work of  ph.  s.  van ronkel,  supplement to the  catalogue of  the arabic manuscripts preserved  in the museum of the batavia society of arts and sciences, (batavia: albrecht, 1913), which contains the coded texts from a. 133 and a. 160 to a. 679. the two catalogs contain a more detailed description of the arabic-language , including the manuscript of the qur’an. manuscripts of the qur’an in the catalog of van den berg published  in «pars altera»,  the second part of this catalog was written by van den berg himself,  i.e.  the manuscripts a.46, a.47, a.48, a.49, a.50, a.51a-e, a.52a-k, a.53a-k, a.54a-e. in his classification, van den berg put the qur’an on the first order amongst the branches of science, such as tafsir, hadith, history, mysticism, theology, and law. in van ronkel catalog, which  in terms of data of collection  is a continuation of the catalog made by van den berg,  the manuscripts related to  al-quran  (all  71  manuscripts) are sub-classified  into  five categories, namely (1)  qur’an  30 juz in full  [8  manuscripts];  (2)  the passages  of surah  [27  manuscripts];  (3)  the  qur’an  accompanied by translation  [2  manuscripts];  (4) tajwid  [9  manuscripts];  and (5)  tafsir alqur’an [25 manuscripts]. this catalog can quickly help researchers who deal with the study of the qur›an, because the classification and the description are quite clear. van ronkel put classification related to the qur’an at the first order amongst the classification of other science branches i.e. hadith, theology, law, history and biography, a variety of sciences, philology, poetry, and stories. one thing that is important but not found in the mushaf manuscript collection of ahf is  verse  number  and  page number  of the mushaf.  if you don’t have  good  memory,  then there is no  other way to  find  a verse  in the  mushaf  except by counting the  sequence  from the  first  verse.  the only sign that is used to distinguish one paragraph with the next is a sign of a yellow [ 265 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 or gold circle, or a plain circle at the end of each sentence. in the meantime, to distinguish  one page  with the other, it  can be seen  by  looking at  the previous paragraph or sentence connection. the other easy way is to look at the translation, but not all manuscripts have this feature. if ever the translation is found in a manuscript, then usually not all pages have them. the absence paragraph numbering and page numbering on the mushaf is very common and it also occurs in manuscripts of al-quran mushaf  from other provinces in indonesia. the tradition of numbering the paragraphs and pages in the mushaf al qur’an in indonesia probably began at the beginning of the 20th century (ali akbar, 2005: 105). another interesting  thing  found in the mushaf  of ahf collection  is the marginalia, i.e. special note made by the copyist of mushaf. the text in the note was  written on  the margin, the  bottom,  right-hand  and  left-hand  margin. the note sometimes describes a range of qira’at and hadith or story around the fadilah  or  the virtue of  reading  a verse  or  surah  in the  qur›an.  in addition,  marginalia  are also used  to record  the  missing  passages  in the  manuscript page.  this is a  regular  phenomenon  in the tradition  of writing/copying  mushaf  alqur›an  in  indonesia.  according to the  results of the  research  on the mushaf of the qur’an  conducted by research and development center of the ministry of religious affairs in 2003-2005, that all  manuscripts contained  errors in writing  the text paragraphs.  the errors  indicate that the writing of  the text paragraphs  of  the mushaf  was not through a process of pentashihan. these errors were corrected directly by adding words at the outer edge of the page of text, or  in between the lines, and some were not fixed. marginalia notes are also commonly used to signify variation on reading the qur’an. as we know, the qur’an can be recited using a number of different methods. generally, in indonesia, people use the qira’at hafs for reading. there are several other types which are also known in the islamic world, for example qira’at warasiy, qira’at qunbul, qira’at nafi’, qira’at qalun, and so on. if seen from the aspect of recitation, the mushaf manuscripts from the collection of ahf are written by using qira’at hafs. the word ملكis written as مالك intended for ishbat alif after mim; the word صراط is pronounced with kasrah on ha’ and sukun on mim jama’; the word عليهم the word ;(sad) ص ha’ kinayah is provided with regular harakat kasrah anf not pronouncedفيه هدى with silah; the word يؤمنونhamzah mufrad is provided with sukun meaning it should be pronounced tahqiq; and the word كفوا after fa’ comes waw while other than hafs variation, it is written كفؤا written with a hamzah. [ 266 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 origin of the collection of ahf’s mushaf    there is no authentic written data that explains the origin of all the mushaf from the collection of ahf. the interviews with anita ahmad ali attamimy (june 2012), the wife of ahf provided information that during his lifetime, ahf was fond of  collecting  classic  texts.  with the  charisma  and the background  of his leadership,  ahf  frequently  received gifts  in the form of a number of classic texts from community members or members of his majlis ta›lim. in addition,  ahf  also traveled  from aceh  of sumatra  to  java  to  hunt  for manuscripts.  according to  ms.  anita ahmad  ali  attamimy,  ahf  also often purchased old manuscripts for his own collection. in addition, ahf also did some maintenance to and made notes on the mushaf. however, his work could not be completed as he died in 2010. even though the 15  manuscripts  that i found,  all  have colophons and/ or  notes made  by ahf, due to  the limitation of  the existing  data sources, i could not get information about the initiators and supporters of the copying process.  however,  it can be assumed  that  there was  close  link  between the author  of the mushaf and the  ruling sultanate.  the  sultans were thought to  advocate  the copying  of the mushaf  al-qur’an, in addition to  islamic scholars,  students, and proponents of  the islamic religion in the past.  it is based on the findings of a large number of mushaf written  in the past, and most of which were in the possession of the family of the sultanate. what’s interesting is  that there is one  mushaf  coded  ahf-07  whose colophon mentions  that it was jointly written by sheikh abdul manan and his students.  it is also the case with  the  illumination and rubrication. i assume that  the picture  ornament  on the mushaf  must have been made by an illuminator separately and not by the author or the copyist. it can also be seen from the blank pages commonly found in the section before and/or after pictures of the illumination. conclusion based on the description of data on 15 manuscropts of mushaf al qur›an from the collection of ahf, in this section i would like to present the findings to answer the research questions. first, to answer the questions about the physical description of  15  manuscripts  of mushaf  collection of  ahf  in pontianak, it can be described that in general the condition quite well preserved. there are several manuscripts  that have suffered damage, for example,  lost sheets at the beginning and at the end parts of the manuscript, some of the paper is torn and the ink has already faded, the binding is no longer is good state, and other damages resulting from a lack of care. there are 6 manuscripts in [ 267 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the collection that were not included in this study that have suffered serious damage, including missing pages and the text verses no longer intact. in fact there appears to be an effort of the owner or the heirs to take care of the mushaf such as using paper patch or overlay the torn page with transparent plastic tape. however, due to the possible lack of technical knowledge about the  care  or  preservation of the manuscript, the  attempt to fix the damage only caused  further damage to  the manuscript.  what’s interesting is  there is an effort made by ahf to inventory his collection by making a note on a piece of paper inserted in the musahf manuscript of the qur’an. nevertheless, the data need to be  re-examined because  the paper sheet belonging to one manuscript might sometimes be inserted into another. if  seen from material used,  the mushaf manuscript collection of ahf were made of paper and  animal skins.  these  materials were derived from  the local paper and some from europe. with regard to the completeness of the manuscript collection of ahf, 15 of them are complete manuscripts consisting of 30 juz covering 114 surah, while 6 of them –which were not included in this study– were incomplete.  as for the  time  of the making,  the oldest mushaf is 355 or 356 years old, coded ahf-06 made by h.m. said al-katib on 15th rabi’al-akhir 1067 ah or on wednesday, january 31st, 1657 ad. whereas the most recent manuscript is  184  or185  years  old coded  ahf-02  written by h. sarqawiy on 3rd syawal 1243 ah or on friday 18th april 1828 ad. second,  to answer the question about  the origin of  the 15 manuscripts of the mushaf  collection  of ahf  in pontianak, it  can be concluded  that there is a manuscript that originated from west kalimantan. the description found on the colophon written in  jawi  script  of malay  clearly  mentions that  the manuscript  was written  in  sambas  by  a person (persons)  originating  from the region of sambas, one of the districts in the northern part of the coastal area of west kalimantan. meanwhile, the colophon on some other texts also mentions that its author carried al-qadry name, but it was uncertain if it was written by a person from pontianak. this is because there is a manuscript that originated  from outside  west kalimantan,  i.e. aceh  which is  described  in the arabic text of  the colophon.  there is also  a script  of colophon written in the pegon character of the javanese language which is presumed to have come from central java. among the writers/copyists, there was a person who originated from west kalimantan. with regard to the initiators and supporters  of the writing  or  copying  of the mushaf  manuscripts in west kalimantan, i shared  the ideas of muhammad  shohib  (2005: 193) who argued they were the nobles of  the kingdom  because as  individual  collections, many of  the mushaf  in west [ 268 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 kalimantan are found among the royal family. this phenomenon is interesting because  west kalimantan had a number of  islamic  kingdoms  in the form of  sultanates that accomplished  a lot of achievements but have yet to be revealed by history. references a. rustam, hermansyah, erwin dan rusdi sulaiman. 2010. “islam sufistik di kalimantan barat : studi filologi atas naskah h. muhammad saad selakau, sambas”. laporan penelitian. pontianak : p3m stain pontianak ab. karim, ab razak. 2006. analisis bahasa dalam kitab tib pontianak. kuala lumpur : dewan bahasa dan pustaka. akbar, ali. 2005. mushaf-mushaf banten : mencari akar pengaruh dalam fadhal ar bafadal dan rosehan anwar (ed.) mushaf-mushaf kuno di indonesia. jakarta : puslitbang lektur keagamaan balitbang dan diklat keagamaan departemen agama ri. hal. 97-109. akbar, ali. 2012. “naskah mushaf al-qur’an koleksi perpustakaan nasional ri, jakarta”. lajnah pentasihan mushaf al-qur’an badan litabang dan diklat kementrian agama ri. http://lajnah.kemenag.go.id/artikel/45-sejarah-penulisan-mushaf/117-naskah-mushaf-al-quran-koleksi-perpustakaan-nasional-ri-jakarta.html amin, faizal. 2009. “pergeseran literatur pondok pesantren di kalimantan barat”. laporan penelitian libang lektur jakarta. amin, faizal. 2011. “startegi masyarakat kota pontianak dalam melestarikan naskah klasik islam : studi awal potensi naskah klasik di kalimantan barat, laporan penelitian p3m stain pontianak. azra, azyumardi. 2004. jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii & xviii : akar pembaruan islam indonesia. edisi revisi. jakarta : kencana baried, siti baroroh dkk. 1994. pengantar teori filologi. yogyakarta : badan penelitian dan publikasi fakultas sastra, universitas gadjah mada. chambert-loir, henri dan oman fathurahman. 1999. khazanah naskah : panduan koleksi naskah-naskah indonesia sedunia. jakarta : encole francaise d’extreme-orient-yayasan obor indonesia. dahri, harapandi, dkk. 2009. untaian mutiara dalam khasanah naskah nusantara. jakarta : balai penelitian dan pengembangan agama deroche, francois, 2006. islamic codicology: an introduction to the study of manuscripts in arabic script. london: al-furqan islamic heritage foundation. edisi bahasa arab diterbitkan oleh penerbit yang sama [ 269 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 pada tahun 2005 dengan judul al-madkhal ila ‘ilm al-kitab al-makhtut bi al-harf al-‘araby, diterjemahkan ke bahasa arab oleh ayman fuad sayyid. ekadjati, edi s (ed.). 1998. naskah sunda: inventarisasi dan pencatatan. bandung: universitas padjadjaran. faisal, sanapiah. 1995. format-format penelitian sosial: dasar-dasar dan aplikasi. jakarta: rajawali pers. fathurahman, oman. 2010. filologi dan islam indonesia. jakarta : badan litbang dan diklat puslitbang lektur keagamaan. fathurahman, oman. 2011. “pengantar teori dan metode filologi”, handout presentasi yang disampaikan pada diklat peneliti museum keagamaan di kampus pusdiklat kemenag ri yang diselenggarakan di jakarta, 26 september s.d. 10 oktober 2011 heijer, johannes den. 1992. a guide to arabic transliteration = pedoman transliterasi bahasa arab. (edisi dwi bahasa, seri inis jilid xiii). jakarta : inis. hermansyah. 2009. islam dari pesisir sampai ke pedalaman kalimantan barat, pontianak : stain press. hermansyah dan yusriadi. 2006. “islam di pedalaman kalimantan barat berdasarkan naskah fiqh bilal lumbuk”. laporan penelitian p3m stain pontianak. hermansyah, erwin dan rusdi sulaiman. 2010. “naskah abdul malik bi haji abu bakar krui”. dlm. jurnal penelitian keagamaan. iain mataram jabali, fuad. “manuskrip dan orisinalitas penelitian” dalam jurnal lektur keagamaan, vol. 8, no. 1, juni 2010. halaman 1-30. mahayudin hj. yahaya. 1996. “islam di pontianak berdasarkan kitab hikayat al-habib husain al-qadri” dalam moh. taib osman & abdul latif bin ibrahim (pnyt.) prosiding international seminar on brunei malay sultanate in nusantara i, hlm. 220-230. bandar seri begawan: akademi pengajian brunei, hlm. 220-230. mahsun. 2005. metode penelitian bahasa: tahapan, strategi, dan tekniknya. jakarta: rajawali pers. mulyadi, sri wulan rujiati, 1994. kodikologi melayu di indonesia, depok : fakultas sastra ui munawwir, a. w. 1984. kamus al-munawwir: arab-indonesia terlengkap. yogyakarta: t.tp. muhammad, nazir. 1985. metodologi penelitian. jakarta: ghalia indonesia. nawawi, hadari. 1987. metode penelitian bidang sosial, yogyakarta: gajahmada university press. pedersen, j. 1996. fajar intelektual islam : buku dan sejarah penyebaran in[ 270 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 formasi di dunia arab. terj alwiyah abdurrahman. bandung : mizan. puslitbang lektur keagamaan. 1998/1999. pedoman umum penulisan dan pentashihan mushaf al-qur’an dengan rasm usmani. jakarta : balitbang agama. puslitbang lektur keagamaan. 1999. katalog naskah kuno. 2 jilid. jakarta. puslitbang lektur keagamaan. 2007. laporan hasil penelitian naskah klasik keagamaan nusantara. jakarta. rachman, arief. 2009. “pemikiran dan gerakan dakwah syaikh abdurrahman husin fallugah”. skripsi. prodi bpi jurusan dakwah stain pontianak rahman, ahmad. “lektur keagamaan dalam naskah klasik sulawesi selatan”, dalam jurnal lektur keagamaan, vol. 8, no. 2, desember 2010. halaman 183-206. rukmi, maria indra. 1997. penyalinan naskah melayu di jakarta pada abad xix : naskah algemeene secretarie kajian dari segi kodikologi. depok: fakultas sastra ui. saefullah, asep. “tradisi produksi naskah keagamaan di jawa barat : studi kasus di cianjur”, dalam jurnal lektur keagamaan, vol. 8, no. 2, desember 2010. halaman 251-282. safadi, yasin hamid. 1978. kaligrafi islam terj. abdul hadi wm, jakarta : pantja simpati. shohib. muhammad. 2005. manuskrip al-qur’an di kalimantan barat dalam fadhal ar bafadal dan rosehan anwar (ed.) mushaf-mushaf kuno di indonesia. jakarta : puslitbang lektur keagamaan balitbang dan diklat keagamaan departemen agama ri. hal. 169-2012. sweeney, amin. “pernaskahan melayu dan masa depan banga indonesia” dalam jumanta: jurnal manuskrip nusantara. vol. 1 no. 1 tahun 2010. hal. 155-177. tjandrasasmita, uka. 2006. kajian naskah-naskah klasik dan penerapannya bagi kajian sejarah islam di indonesia. jakarta : puslitbang lektur keagamaan, badan litbang dan diklat departeman agama ri. wehr, hans, 1980. mu’jam al-lughah al-‘arabiyyah al-mu’ashirah. beirut: maktabah lubnan. websites : www.manassa.or.id www.melayuonline.com http://naskahkuno.blogspot.com/ http://ppim.or.id http://www.republika.co.id/ [ 271 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 http://ricasdb.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/daiber/db_index.html h t t p : / / t i i m . p p i m . o r. i d / i n d e x . p h p ? f i l t e r b y = p r i n t e d & p r i n t ed=2011101210030511 http://yusriadiebong.blogspot.com/2009/07/naskah-klasik-dari-kalbar.html http://lajnah.kemenag.go.id/artikel/45-sejarah-penulisan-mushaf/117-naskahmushaf-al-quran-koleksi-perpustakaan-nasional-ri-jakarta.html [ 272 ] al-albab volume 3 number 2 december 2014 [ 69 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 religion and social culture of the people of west kalimantan’s penata island d. darmadi ja malay corner of iain pontianak abstract the penata island, also called the fishermen’s contact village, exemplifies the indonesian  people’s characters in general.  these characters are preserved  to this day  in the village  to reflect  social  behavior of the people as native culture  of indonesia,  such as  helping each other,  a sense of community life,  and work discipline.  when  they have  problem, they are able to  resolve it wisely through community leaders. when the problem is not resolved, it will be taken to the police and resolved through other legal ways. from the results of this study, the researcher saw a few things that have not been done properly, for example, the fishermen have yet to perform the five-time prayers. some of them are involved in gambling and liquor-drinking, though it is a restricted case that does not have any influence on behavior patterns of the community members in general especially with regard to the practice of islamic religious teachings. keywords: religion, social, culture, penata, island and islam introduction the people of indonesia have long been known for its wide range of cultural and social life. it is this nation’s wealth that synergizes with the plurality, ethnicity, culture and religion where each  ethnic or  cultural group, and  different religions  will provide direction,  guidance  and guidelines for  the social life  of the people.  according to ibrahim,  et al  (2012), studies and  research on  socio-cultural  society  needs to be continued  and  expanded further, particularly on the malay people and other ethnic groups generally as an effort to anticipate the loss of native cultural society in the middle of a range of threats and  the influence of  global  freedom. in examining  socio-cultural  sphere, especially the maritime community, we must examine the empirical area that that becomes the community’s character based on local wisdom. it should be noted that a conflict in a village or area is often due to cultural differences in the process of social interaction. it is then worsened since the process of social interaction  is  not accompanied by  appreciation  or  respect for the  local culture. the writer believed that local wisdom practiced by the island’s coastal [ 70 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 communities, i.e. fishing communities  must  continue to be  preserved especially  among  the fishermen  of the coastal  islands, particularly  in west kalimantan, and generally in the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. the study focuses on the fishing  communities on the  islands  fishing communities with multi-ethnic and  religious groups especially the  sociocultural aspect. in addition, the multi-ethnic community has its own character, as a fishing community of the penata islands. such maritime study on sociocultural  outlook  is still very  limited.  the limitation is  because  experts  are more interested in other fields like the study on economics and education. the seventh president of the republic of indonesia introduced his nawacita (nine objectives) which gave priority to the maritime potential, and it had a significant effect on awakening of the indonesian maritime world. in this paper, the author will trace the social culture that flourished among the islands people, precisely the community of penata island, sungai raya subdistrict, bengkayang regency, west kalimantan province, indonesia. this simple piece of writing, attempts to  provide the philosophy of socio-cultural life because religion provides authentic cultural space which is spirituality. in short, the author seeks to  describe  the lives of  socio-cultural aspects  of  penata people  from the theoretical study. this study  is also a way of expanding our horizon on the social life of indonesia from a cultural perspective on the the islands people’s daily life. various social aspects of culture that thrive on the penata island will be presented in this paper, such as gotong royong (shared community work), traditional ritual for the safety of the island,  recitation of  al-barzanji, wise advice, as well as various other community social aspects which deals with the socio-culture of a religious community. to enrich the social conception of culture on the nation indonesia, then it is important to examine the empirical conceptions of socio-culture thriving in a  grass roots community.  this  is certainly  very interesting  to study  as  it provides reference to the conception of a socio-culture to anthropologists. in addition, this study focuses on coastal communities living on the islands based on local wisdom where a variety of socio-cultural aspects is still practices and preserved to this day. the socio-cultural concept applied in indonesia is tends to be anthropological rather than philosophical. that is, the practice of social life is not  directed toward  humanitarian  goals, but it is engineered  for the sake of a political expediency in which socio-cultural process is often driven from the powerful, either the power of knowledge or the state. this is where the anthropological characteristics become vital because socio-cultural life requires replacement of norms at the level of people’s behavior. here we come into contact with evolutionism and functionalism in the form of a materialist [ 71 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 perspective of socio-cultural aspects. at the level of culture, we have gone through various typology of cultural characters, either through structuralism and interpretivism, as in the study of ethics by niels mulder on javase ethics and clifford geertz in sorting the three religions of java. williams (in mudji sutrisno and hendar putranto, 2005) argued that the historical changes could be reflected in terms of culture into three categories including 1) changes that refers to the development of intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic traits of an individual, a group, or community, 2) changes that try to include intellectual activities and artistic treasures as well products produced (film, artistic objects, and theater), and 3) changes that describe the whole way of life, activism, beliefs, and customs of a number of people, groups, or communities. abdullah, irwan (2009) explained that in a social environment, conflict and integration are equally managed in inter-ethnic social interaction. in order to take a look at the process of social interaction in a particular social setting, there are three important things to consider. first, the articulation of the existence of an ethnic group where the presence of other groups has to go through a process of insightfulness both by the ethnic group concerned and by others in a social environment. second, the existence of a public space where inter-ethnic differences become weaker in the public space especially in the process of assimilation. in a certain public space, various ethnic groups will learn to communicate in a way more acceptable in general, and each group should learn to accept differences of the other groups (green, 1995). third, the symbols of inter-ethnic communication are the key in the process of assimilation. symbolic human beings tend to live in the process of creating symbols and reading or interpreting the symbols in the process of social interaction. there is no doubt that these symbols will undergo a construction process that takes place in a dynamic manner. the inter-ethnic socio-cultural life may share symbols and need to pay attention to a common understanding of those symbols in an inter-ethnic communication process. these cultural symbols belong to all groups and should be preserved when it is regarded as functional in fulfilling the groups’ needs. third, the three aspects above are considered important in explaining the process of assimilation that occurs in a particular social environment, especially for the islands communities. the social context in this case provides a framework and helps to form ethnic characters and the relationship between ethnic groups in the case of the dominant culture, social environment has an important influence in building a culture of communication in the process of inter-ethnic interaction. in line regard, the social environment has a historical background crucial to be studied and has an objective reality (berger and [ 72 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 luckmann, 1991). in an environment where multi-ethnic groups exist, there should certainly be a universal symbol that can be encoded or read, at least by nearly all ethnic groups. with this symbol, they can maintain an integrated social system. the symbols of communication are built together and preserved in a public space whose existence is also negotiated in a series of interactions. in the social interaction between ethnic symbols, each group actually absorbs and enriches cultural expressions of another group in a residential neighborhood. as a result, the differences do not always lead to inter-ethnic conflict, rather they have somehow enriched each other with mastery of language, personality development, insight, maturation, and social practices that are more colorful in terms of values. with this kind of context in mind, public relations should also pay attention to the fundamentals of social accommodation that allows assimilation to take place. in an effort to revive local wisdom as a strategy of conflict resolution and peace-building, a cultural approach is often suggested by the media to explain the events of conflict. culture is a factor that forms a group, allowing the group to have shared understanding of their identity, their origins, other things they share, and a general understanding of their shared objectives. usually, this is a system of values and meanings expressed through language, symbols, rituals, gestures and traditions. taking into account of several experts’ opinions on socio-cultural in the previous discussion, we can have an understanding that it is important in social life to manage conflict and integration together in a social interaction particularly between different ethnic groups. moreover, we need to continue to revitalize the indigenous culture that should grow and be sustainable under current society. the people of penata island penata island is an exotic island, surrounded by other naturally beautiful outer islands that are amazing to see. in addition to its beauty, if we examine more in terms of the social and cultural life, the people of this island are unique particularly their closeness to the natural surroundings. the penata island people also have a high sense of solidarity in the community in various aspects and activities of daily life, one of which is the community work of making bagan. the high sense of solidarity in the community illustrates the real character of the indonesian people. these people who inhabit the island of penata are migrants who come from different regions, ethnicities, and religions. many of [ 73 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 them come from sulawesi, sambas, singkawang, bengkayang, sungai pinyuh, padang tikar, and so on. they also come different ethnic groups, such as ethnic chinese, dayak, bugis, and malay. the people of penata island also belong to different religious groups i.e. muslims, christians, and chinese religion. since their backgrounds are different, they often call themselves the inhabitants of kampung kontak nelayan (fishermen’s contact village). what kampung kontak nelayan means here is that it is an island used as a temporary village as a stopover for fishermen of various ethnicities, religions, and regions of origin with the same goal of looking for sea products. kampung kontak nelayan serves as the location for a making a living as well as a resting area. they have a house made of wood and there are only 3 to 4 permanent houses made of cement. the penata island average person has a permanent house in his native village. administratively, the penata island residents have no identity card. they have an id card of where they are from. previously, the overall population of all ethnic groups on the penata island was 200 households. currently, there are about 100 households. between 1960-1965, there were still a lot of chinese communities living on the island, especially on the west side of the island (5 families) and on the south with approximately 7 households. until now, the island was used as a stopover as well as a place for making a living for the fishermen. in addition, penata island also serves as the fishermen’s contact village where they communicate, interact, establish good relationship and build the character of local culture together as the penata people. they live side by side, peacefully, with the impressive spirit of togetherness. culture of helping each other and sense of togetherness the data in this study was obtained from interviews with an informant called tagi ‘/pak aji (aged 55) on 26 october 2014 during a kampung research activities carried out by the state institute of islamic studies (iain) pontianak. from the results of these interviews, various socio-cultural activities of the penata people were revealed. the activities of the penata people have grown and developed into a culture that becomes a unique character of the people on the island. the characters will be presented as follows. 1. community work of caring for the boat the fishermen rely on fishing boats to go fishing, for example, when they need to set up nets in the bagan. every afternoon before the evening comes, the fishermen go to the bagan on their boat. as a means of transportation, the [ 74 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 boat is used every day, so it needs to be well maintained. care is required when the fishing boat is partly damaged, thereby disrupting the work to catch fish on teluk suak or around the samudera beach. it is common that the care for the boat is done before the arrival of transition season. the season can be forecast by the arrival of the monsoon season that hits in the west, north and east, which leads to the fishermen’s bustle. the transition season may sometimes cause the bagan to be damaged, shatterred, broken and washed away, except the one in the south where the bagan can still be installed. the transition season usually arrives between november to january. as it is impossible for the fishermen to go to the bagan, the results from fishing activities are also not much. therefore, the transition season is the right time to perform maintenance and repair the boats. according to another informant, bang udin (aged 30), the boat maintenance includes servicing the engine and body of the boat, such as replacing the damaged belian or leban wood that serves as the pillar of the boat frame, hammering some nails to make it stronger, and replacing the keruin (adhesive), then painting the boat to the taste of the boat owner. the boat is usually towed to shore to be repaired. members of the community come to work together on the boat. mutual cooperation is done spontaneously when the residents of fishermen’s contact village saw or heard of a boat that needs maintenance. then without any command, they will get together and jointly tow the boat to the shore. during my first time visiting the island, i joined the local people to tow a boat ashore. after the boat was towed ashore, people immediately went back to their own business, some stayed to help clean it. the place for the maintenance facilities of fishing boats can be found in the northern part of the island, next to tagi’s house. each day, one to two boats are normally repaired here. the repair period depends on the damage, taking two or three days to months. the time needed to fix fishing boats sometimes also depends on the owner, whether he is busy or not with his work taking care of the clove farm. after fixing the boat, the residents of kampung kontak nelayan will gather to help the owner of the boat lower the boat back onto the sea. the boat owner sometimes only says thanks to the people who have helped him, sometimes he also provides free cigarettes. when the work is completed, residents will disperse spontaneously usually accompanied by laughter and puff of a cigarette as a sense of satisfaction. to tow the boat ashore and to take it back to the water usually requires some tools such as ropes, axes, machetes, and wooden girder. as soon as the boat is back on the water, the owner will check for leakage or any equipment left behind or parts of the engine not installed. when all the problems are solved, the boat is ready to go back to be [ 75 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 used as a primary means of transportation in fishing activities. 2. boiling the catch based on the author’s observations, the sense of togetherness is also practiced in the communities of penata island especially boiling fish caught from the bagan. the catch is in the form of fish and cuttlefish boiled in the paon belonging to fishermen who have returned from the bagan. the togetherness is evident from the solidarity of the fishermen when the catch is not much, only about one to two baskets. they will come to boil fish or cuttlefish in the paon owned by fishermen who have returned earlier. helping each other in boiling the catch has already become a tradition for the fishing communities on the island, so no pay is required. the point is simple that when one needs help, others will come to do the favor. when the catch is only a little, the fishermen usually boil the fish at a neighbor’s place. based on the observations and the interview with the respondents, the tradition of helping each other in boiling the fish caught is done to save firewood because they usually buy the firewood purchased from teluk suak to boil the fish and cuttlefish in the paon. teluk suak is a port that also serves as a place for the fishermen to shop for groceries and sell the catch. teluk suak port is also used to ferry up and down (home and away) to the nearby islands, such as lemukutan, penata, kabung, randayan and other islands. at the teluk suak, firewood is sold for boiling fish in the paon. the price of firewood is around idr 700-800 thousand for one truck, so it is quite expensive for the islands fishermen. the attitude of helping each other in the daily activities among the islands community provides us with an example of the importance of solidarity in life. this character unfortunately has faded in urban communities where people tend to live without thinking about the burden of others, let alone reducing the suffering of the neighbors. we should take example of the character of the penata island community in mutual assistance to ease each other’s burden of life. 3. sharing unconditionally this part will explain about other habits of people of penata island especially the way they share fish unconditionally to the neighbors. for example if we want to eat fish or cuttlefish, we can simply ask for some to the owner. they think it is all right to take some of the catch for eating. for the residents of fishermen’s village and guests, taking some fish for everyday dish, especially certain fish species like sardine. as reported by bastian (50 years), the above [ 76 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 habit was apparently the truth. this was proved during our research activities on the island where we never bought side dish. the penata island residents offered us some fish or cuttlefish from their catch which was still fresh or already dried. they even sometimes directly put some into a plastic bag not only to be eaten at the location during research activities, but also to bring back to pontianak. for us as guests, the hospitality we showed to the fishermen somehow also contributed to their generosity. it was fun to choose a side dish we wanted to have be it small fish, cuttlefish, sardine and so forth. bastian (50 years) further revealed that the habit of sharing is done with sincerity. in addition, they also believe with sincerity, they will certainly maintain good relationship and be rewarded by allah especially during their trip to the sea to catch fish at the bagan. connecting to teluk suak and some cultural activities going back and forth to the teluk suak port is done by the fishermen for the purpose selling their catch and shopping for their daily needs. the catch of the fishermen in kampung penata island is sold for cash and partly for logistics and maintenance of fishing equipment. among the merchandise they buy: gasoline, diesel, lights, and nets. the logistics for supplies they buy such as cigarettes, sugar, rice, cooking oil, spices and pastries, as well as other things according to their needs. as a comparison, in labuhan haji, pelapis islands, north kayong, we can find a community of fishermen who sell their catch to purchase logistics such as diesel fuel, nets, rice, sugar, cooking oil, etc. i need to explain that the meaning of the word naik (going up) means departing from the penata island to the port of teluk suak or smaudera beach. the fishermen took their catch with them i.e. dried anchovies and cuttlefish. when they “go up”, they not only go to the port, but some fishermen also go to singkawang or elsewhere. they do this to visit their home and to see their children who leave for school, to shop or to do other things. while the word “come down” means the fishermen return from the port of teluk suak to penata island or other islands. this normally done after all they have done all their business. they usually leave for the port early, and in the afternoon they return to the island. most of the time they go down or return to the island before the “working hour” starts (going to work) at the bagan, which is around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. at first, we thought when the people of penata island go back and forth from the island to teluk suak, they need to pay for transportation fees. apparently, they can simply come with the owner of the ship. even though their life on the island is a little “hard”, they are very [ 77 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 generous. so, when there are people going back and forth, other can simply join them and save some money. that’s how we should live, helping each other. selamatan pulau the cultural activities such as selamatan pulau (ceremony held for safety of the island) have magical powers to build good ethnic relations. usually this kind of cultural event involves various ethnic groups, women, youth, and children. with cultural activities, they achieve mutual understanding between ethnic groups. the selamatan tradition has already been on island since long ago, and has become a culture which is passed down from their ancestors. it is unknown as to when it was held and who held it first. according to information obtained from an informant, named tagi /pak aji (aged 55), the selamatan culture was passed down by the malays who came from sambas. the malay are muslim, speak malay, and practice malay customs. in the context of the culture, the owner of the selamatan culture is the malay originating from sambas area with sambas malay language and sambas malay customs. in fact, administratively, the penata island and surrounding islands were part of the territory of the kingdom of sambas. however, in recent years the islands have become part of bengkayang regency and singkawang city. in the past, the two districts and the city of singkawang belonged to the sambas regency. the proof that the penata island and other islands around it were part of the kingdom of sambas was the primary language used by the people on the island which is sambas malay, even no matter if they are bugis and chinese by ethnicity. the selamatan pulau is the custom or tradition that is performed when you first set foot in sambas. “we follow the custom of sambas,” said tagi. it is an attempt to honor people who first occupied these islands. as long as it does not violate the religious law of islam, it is not wrong to hold this ceremony. we just leave everything that we do to allah almighty. all processes are carried out, including giving offerings through an intermediate as a form of gratitude to nature as part of god’s creatures. the question that needs to be answered is why do the sambas malay inherit the tradition of selamatan ? the answer is because the penata island was first settled by the sambas malay hundreds of years ago who came from the sambas kingdom (informant: tagi ‘/ pak aji, aged 55). proof of the malays as the earliest inhabitants of the penata island can be seen from the ownership of the coconut plantation which is estimated to be hundreds of years of age. the coconut farm has been owned for generations until today by the sambas malay. decades later the chinese and people from sulawesi especially from buton and bugis came to the island. today, the penata island is inhabited by [ 78 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 the malays, bugis, and chinese. the tradition of the selamatan pulau can be understood as a ritual activity of the penata island people to ask for safety and  abundant  results  from fishing (interview with  tagi›/pak aji,  55 years old). this tradition  has become  the hallmark of  a  society  that inhabits  the coastal areas of the island. often the respect for the nature or the universe is expressed with the various ritual and spiritual processions. this tradition also suggests the closeness of nature surrounding the islands people. the selamatan pulau is usually held around the seventh month (july) until the eighth month (august) every year. it is clear why it is held in those months. i personally think  that between july and august,  the sea is usually calm and the wind  is not blowing too hard so the results of the fishing activities will be abundant. in carrying out the traditions of selamatan pulau, the people on the island usually  celebrate by serving lamb as food. they never serve beef. if lamb is not enough, they add some chicken. during the celebration, lamb and chicken are considered quite exceptional. fish is is not served either as they normally have it on a daily basis, and vegetable  is seldom found on the island, if any, it is purchased from teluk suak, such as like cabbage, long beans, carrot and so on. recital of the qur’an and the barzanji according to the  informant  bastian  (aged 56), in the past  the  qur›an recitation  from house to  house was often held.  however,  this  is no longer in practice because  there is no one to  lead them.  previously, a qur’an teacher of sambas, rachmawati was invited to do the job. in addition to learning to recite the quran, the people on the island of penata also had a tradition of  reciting the barzanji (panegyrics of prophet muhammad). the tradition of reading the barzanji is held in events such as celebrating the tradition of selamatan pulau.  the tradition of  reading  al-barzanji  was conducted  in turns, depending on  who  had the  intention, sometimes conducted  in the northern region of the island, the eastern region, and the western region. the reading activities was usually led salim, who also became leader in the daily five time prayer. the traditions of the recitation of the qur’an and reading albarzanji have now begun  to disappear.  the main reason according to the informant is because there is nobody to lead the activities anymore. salim, the person who  led  the reading of al-barzanji is busy taking care of his sick wife and working to catch fish. most fishermen  on the island  work  at the bagan, processing the catch, and preparing to go back to the sea. [ 79 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 wise advice about life on the penata island the penata island people have high respect for parents. parents become a key figure  in the everyday life  of the people on the island.  since there is no structure of hamlet or neighborhood association, the important figures on the island become supervisors and policy makers. the following is a glance at some of the key figures on the island. in the 1980s there was an important figure  named  h.  tanra› (the late).  he was  highly respected  because of  his wealth. as a wealthy person, of course, he left a lot of estate such as land and farms. as reported by his heirs, the land where the mosque is located now in the east up to the tagi’s house belonged to h tanra. in fact, tagi› also bought the land where his house is built on from the late h. tanra’ for idr 5 million. it was purchased from his wife at karimunting. there was  also  another figure  here  named,  h.  karim  (deceased).  he  was like an elderly leader whose responsibility was to resolve various problems that occurred in this village such as  conflict  about  permission to  build the bagan, disputes between residents,  and so on. on the western part of the island,  there is a  figure named  mahli  (aged 60).  mahli  is an ethnic  malay originated from sambas. the researcher  travelled directly to his home. the location of his house is on western tip of the island. it is the only house in the area. his neighbors are bugis and chinese people. previously, mahli worked for a chinese person to care for the bagan. now he has hiw own bagan,  so with evry he gets, he will take it to the chinese person who had once helped him.  there are many  bagans  belonging to  mahli.  the condition  is  a bit old but they are not far from his home, can be reached using a small fishing boat.  when we saw mahli  drying  fish and  cuttlefish  from his catch the night before, the writer and bang erwin participated and tried to dry some anchovies and cuttlefish on a small mat approximately 30 cm x 50 cm in size. the writer was amazed at the persistence of mahli, as he is not young anymore but is still working hard to take care of the bagan to make a living for his family in sambas.  around his house  there are several  fruit trees, such as  mango, banana, and papaya. there is another important figure known by the name of yusuf. as reported by tagi  ‘, yusuf comes from suak village, sub-district of  sungai raya islands, bengkayang district.  he has  a lot of  relatives  in teluk suak  and certainly know many people  there.  yusuf ’s  role  in  the community is crucial as he usually deals with the village authorities and takes care of various other matters. he is originally a native of kampung suak, a small not far from the penata island. teluk suak village  is  well known and  synonymous with  its port as it is  very strategic.  the port is  busy  serving  up  the people of  the island [ 80 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 with  various purposes including serving as a gate for tourists  who  will be  visiting  various  islands  around the  island, such as  penata island, lemukutan  island,  randayan  island, and  other islands. in the northern part  of the  penata island  to  the east, there is also  a figure  name  tagi›.  his role and existence are always highly anticipated and respected by the people of  the island.  he  always reminds the  residents  that the fishermen contact village should hand-in-hand resolve problems or look for a way out. in fact, recently he reprimanded a fisherman who stored his catch at the mosque. thank god, the fisherman listened to what he said, and promised not to do it again. until now, tagi’s role as a community leader is very important. he is capable of becoming the keeper of the harmony between the island’s ethnic groups. he is also known for his sense of humor and does not hesitate to joke with people younger than  him, though  he may look  unruly with his  thick  mustache, in actuality  he has a big heart.  during my stay at the research  site, some time ago, i often chatted with him and some other people also joined over some coffee and cake at the paon belonging to tagi’. the figures mentioned above, such as tagi’ and other figures are crucial in playing a role in maintaining harmony, order, and peace in the village of the penata island. in addition they also serve to ensure socio-cultural and religious values amongst the people are observed. in the future, there must be a successor to these figures that set a good example for the younger generation on the island. the people on the penata islands have wise advice that they keep alive as basic principles in life. these principles are very important and meaningful. in my opinion, the principles contain deep philosophical meaning that they use as a guide to struggle for a better life in the region. the principles, in the form of wise advice passed down from the ancestors, range from social, economic, educational, family matters to religion. the advise is preserved until today. the following will be displayed in sederhanaterkait various tips that people use the penata island. wise advice that is commonly heard among the people on the island is “dimana bumi dipijak, disitu langit dijunjung” which literally means “wherever ground is stood on, the sky is hold high, meaning: wherever we live, we must observe the local custom (equivalent to when in rome, do as the romans do --informant: tagi’) most indonesians know  this  saying, let alone the malay as it is derived from the malay culture.  mr tagi’ gave another advice: «once banned, it remains banned; once told, never ban it”.  this  tip  intends  to tell  parents  to be consistent  in educating  their children.  when parents  forbid  their children  to do something,  they themselves  should set an example such as  drinking, gambling, and the like.  basically, it means that parents should be consistent with what they [ 81 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 say. conversely, any acts parents tell their children to do, such as asking his son to work at the bagan, they should never prohibit their son to go to the bagan. so consistency of attitude and behavior of parents in educating their children is very important, as children will surely listen and imitate everything taught or exemplified by their parents. there is also another advice according to tagi  ‘  that in educating children, parents should do it first. for example, when parents ordered their children to say  prayer  five times day, then  the  parents should  provide examples.  the words and the deeds should be in consistency. this principle is important in life, especially when educating the children in the household. bastian (aged 50), an  informant  who is also  one of the  community elders,  also gave an account of the principle in his life, i.e. to share and help each other. according to  him, when we  share  with and help  others sincerely, god will reward us with more returns. the principle of life is always is practiced when doing his job on the island or when wandering out of his territory. based on the work of  sumama  (2014),  some other principles were reported about  life  on the island. these principles include “better to quit school than to quit reading the qur’an (interview with tagi ‹). the principle of life stresses on the importance of religious education within a family, especially among the bugis people on the island. however, in my opinion, education in the sense of formal education is very important because it is a fast way of transforming human civilization, from poverty to prosperity, from ignorance to enlightenment. on the other hand, religious education  serves as the  balancing  aspect of human life.  religious education is also beneficial for the success of human life in the world and in the hereafter. according to firman (an informant, aged 23), the principle in his life is “forgetting about his dreams for the sake of helping letting his younger siblings to go to school”. he is ready to sacrifice his ideals so that his brothers and sisters could enjoy high education because his parents are already old. there is saying among the bugis people, “don’t get married before circling the kitchen seven times” (interview with tagi’s wife). the purpose of this advice is that marriage is likened to various seasonings in the kitchen. chili is spicy, salt salty, sugar sweet,  vinegar  sour, and so on.  according to the  bugis people the kitchen symbolizes marriage in real life as marriage has ups and downs. the number 7 means that there are seven levels or the terms of which must be understood before starting your own family. first, mental readiness; second, the maturity of thought; third, understanding of the responsibility; fourth, ability to  become a leader;  fifth,  ability to  be  wise;  sixth,  ability to be  a good  role model; seventh, ability to be a consistent person. a description of the range [ 82 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 of  advice  used as  the principles of  life  among the  people of penata island mentioned above, can be regarded as non-formal education for the fishing communities  on the penata island.  cultivation of  noble  character  and behavior through the advice is passed down from parents to their children from generation to generation of the maritime community. conclusion the penata island, also called the fishermen’s contact village exemplifies the indonesian people›s characters in general. these characters are preserved to this day  in the village  to reflect  social  behavior of the people as native culture  of indonesia,  such as  helping each other,  a sense of community life, and work discipline. when they have problem, they are able to resolve it wisely  through  community leaders.  when the problem is not resolved, it will be  taken to the  police  and  resolved through other legal  ways. from the results of this study, the researcher saw a few things that have not been done  properly, for example,  the fishermen have yet to perform the fivetime  prayers.  some of them are involved in  gambling and  liquor-drinking, though  it is a restricted case that does not  have any influence on  behavior patterns of the community members in general especially with regard to the practice of islamic religious teachings. hopefully, this simple research will be able document a description of socio-cultural life of the fishermen, especially on  the penata island.  it is also expected that readers can  take a lesson, so that the nation’s children will inherit the real indonesian people›s characters, in the form of local wisdom and to put it into practice today and in days to come. references abdullah, irwan. 2009. konstruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. pustaka pelajar: yogyakarta. amirrachman, alpha (ed.). 2007. revitalisasi kearifan lokal. jakarta: international for islam and pluralism (icip). arif, syaiful. 2010. refilosofi kebudayaan, pergeseran pascastruktural. jogjakarta: ar-ruzz media. atok, kristianus, dkk. 2006. merajut damai, pembelajaran dari promosi pluralisme dan perdamaian di bumi kalimantan barat. pontianak: grahafika utama press. darmadi, didi, dkk. 2013. serba-serbi dari pulau,catatan perjalanan tim [ 83 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 kampung riset p3m stain pontianak ke dusun besar dan pelapis kayong utara. pontianak: stain pontianak press. ibrahim ms, dkk. 2012. pantang larang melayu di kalimantan barat, kajian kearifan komunikasi dalam pantang larang melayu di nanga jajang kapuas hulu. pontianak: iain pontianak press dan malay corner stain pontianak. ruslan ismail, dkk. 2015. laporan kelompok kerja sistem nasional pemantauan kekerasan (snpk) kalimantan barat. kerjasama habibie center jakarta, elpagar, dan kelompok kerja snpk kalimantan barat. sumama. 2014. kehidupan nelayan di penatah kecil. pontianak: iain pontianak press. yusriadi. 2009. memahami kesukubangsaan di kalimantan barat. pontianak: stain pontianak press. informans: pak bastian (50 tahun) bang yos, 36 tahun). pak tagi’/ pak aji, 55 tahun). bu tagi’/ nirwana 2014. bang jabir (25 tahun) bang udin (30 tahun) pak mahli (60 tahun) [ 84 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo international editors afifi al-akiti (faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom) yasien mohamed (university of the western cape, south africa, south africa) irwan abdullah (gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia) zainal abidin bagir (universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia) hans-christian günther (department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany) kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir (nanyang technological university, singapore) mohd roslan mohd nor (university of malaya, malaysia) giuseppina strummiello (university of bari aldo moro, italy) abdul razak abdulroya panaemalae (walailak university, thailand) florian pohl (oxford college of emory university, united states, germany) mujiburrahman (iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia) minako sakai (director of social sciencesresearch group, australia) busro busro (uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia) tassim abu bakar (universiti brunei darussalam, brunei darussalam) assistant editors faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia saifuddin herlambang, iain pontianak, indonesia syamsul kurniawan, iain pontianak, indonesia section editor setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 9 number 1 june 2020 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 9 number 1 (june 2020) contents 1. music in the liturgy of the catholic community in jakarta, indonesia adison adrianus sihombing .............................................................................. 3 2. muhammadiyah’s criticism towards government policies in the era of din syamsudin’s leadership tohari, sjafri sairin, muhammad azhar, m. nurul yamin ....................... 19 3. why indonesia prefers a mono-religious education model? a durkhemian perspective mohamad yusuf .................................................................................................... 37 4. the borneo islamic heritage and the significance of idahan jawi manuscript suraya sintang, rosdiana onga, siti aidah hj lukin, asmady idris ...... 55 5. hamka, social criticism and the practices of polygamy in minangkabau saifuddin herlambang ........................................................................................ 69 6. social capital and civic engagement in times of tension: an evidence from interethnic relation developed in stella maris credit union pontianak, west kalimantan alanuari, mohammad iqbal ahnaf .................................................................. 87 7. the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish ..................................................................................................... 107 8. the style of sufistic interpretation: a philological study and content analysis of the manuscripts by three popular ulemas in west kalimantan syarif ......................................................................................................................... 123 [ 107 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 the myth of religious “radicalism” amanah nurish university of indonesia email: amnurish@gmail.com abstract this work examines an academic exposure on the issues of religious radicalism increasing globally not only in the west but also in the east countries. as a majority muslim populated country, indonesia is one of the reluctant examples in facing the problem of religious radicalism. in addition, this research paper examines the term of “radicalism” politically associated with extremism and terrorism. the primary issue is explicitly addressed to religious radicalism in terms of meaning and image. hence, we perceive that religious radicalism can be understood as mainstream feature on religious behavior including religious actions leading to the steps of violent extremism or terrorism. religious radicalism today is massively defined as a negative rather than positive connotation. such glimpse traps us to be “narrow minded” in perceiving the role as well as the holy spirit of religions. therefore, the critical questions of this research paper include what happens with the framing of religious radicalism today; how is the historical narration of radicalism; and is it a problem when someone being radical to practice and understand religions or beliefs. lastly, how philosophical meanings of the word radicalism alone response such debate. however, the general terminology of religious radicalism has led significant social, political, and cultural impacts toward religious harmony and religious life particularly in indonesian context. keywords: religion; radicalism; image; narration; media. introduction it is undeniable that nowadays human beings live under digital age and internet society that possibly admits modern humans to consume information including the discourse of religions. by using internet, religious discourse and knowledge are abundantly accessible and able to spread widely with borderless. digital and virtual live is the element of information which plays pivotal roles in shaping social, cultural, political and religious life. in the history of human civilization, technological development was aimed to help human’s problem where philosophy and religion could not provide material needs in our modern life. technology makes everything easier that even connects [ 108 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 society to practice their faith or religion. for instance, virtual dakwah or online worship is commonly found today. to gain knowledge of religion in virtual life seems to become “instant” where people may attend or participate to religious ceremonies as well as rites through internet, without attending churches or mosques just to listen the preachers in front of smartphone or gadget. this is in fact that technological development does not always relate to capital economy, yet, they connect to religious activities on virtual life. debate of religious issues in virtual life has been discussed enormously by experts and scholars (mark, 2002; leitch, 2004). technology had emerged in the beginning to be more rational to respond modernity; meanwhile it seems far away from superstitious life in which it is one of the religious elements. nowadays, people however tend to worship technology and religion in the same level. today we also have seen people looking for religious belief through online such as youtube, facebook, twitter, etc. this is the evidence that technological development helps us to do so. in indonesian case, especially urban people who are aware with technology they become formally more religious compared with one or two decades ago, and it happens because of technology. technology becomes everyday life as religion, although in one aspect, we are facing “spiritual crisis” which means a phenomenon where people embrace religions, yet they ignore spirituality (lewis, 2008), and they become fanaticism with their belief that affects religious conflict as well as violence. the “spiritual values” of religions for peace, harmony, and tolerance, has been absent (kale, 2004). recently, religions become “soft power” of political interest in the body of government and political agencies (fontana, 2008; sewell, 1992). obviously, technological platform like internet today plays important role in the campaign of “religious radicalism” that support extremism. the use of technology and internet is for the media tool to recruit individuals for the purpose “brainwashing” of extremism and terrorism. in relation to academic scholarship of technological development and internet society, bakardjieva argued, “technology therefore is not neutral. as far as particular interests have shaped it, it carries a class bias and helps to entrench capitalist power” (bakardjieva, 2005: 15-16). however, religion and internet are not separable. if karl marx (1818 – 1883) ever said that “religion is opium”, then i argue that today internet is a new “opium” (nurish, 2019). the issue of religious activism is well developed throughout internet and virtual links and it triggers young generation to gain knowledge of “religions” by social media and this is why information served by social media creates the spread of knowledge on “religious radicalism.” [ 109 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 at this point, the term “religious radicalism” is currently associated with fundamentalism and anarchism that aim to the step of violent extremism and terrorism. religious radicalism becomes popular term to identify islamist group after tragedy of 9/11 known as terrorist attack. such bombing and terrorism awakened us to be more aware with religious ideology, although terrorism is not always related to religions—and religious terrorism emerged since centuries ago (siddiq, 2019). terrorism in this context is defined as violent action that threaten security, social, cultural, and religious harmony, and so forth that destroy human life. according to tweeten, “terrorism means unlawful acts of violence against property or people designed to accomplish political objectives through fear and intimidation” (tweeten, 2003: 1). the global terrorism is associated with political phenomena of ideology of islamic sect such as salafi jihadi movement (rahmatullah, y., 2017; fatmawati, f., noorhayati, s., & minangsih, k., 2018). solahudin has stated that salafi jihadi taught by abdullah azzam (1941-1989), a palestinian member of muslim brotherhood, saying that “one of azzam’s views on jihad was permissible to carry out terrorist acts during a jihad” (solahudin, 2013: 14-15). although this movement misused religion as the reason for acts of violence, there is ambiguity of the essential spirit of religion that requires its follower to create peace among human beings, and of course religion is not the root as well as cause of violence. if people act violence with the basis of religious ideology and its reasons, they fail to interpret and understand the spirit of religion. this debate reminds me on richard dawkin’s argument on his book entitled god delusion saying only religious faith is a strong enough force to motivate violence. “there is a violent essence inherent in religion”. richard dawkin’s statement makes karen armstrong to argue that dawkin’s theory is “wrong”. according to karen armstrong on her writing “the myth of religious violence” clearly stated that the problem of violence and wars like isis does not relate with religion, it is linked to secular military dictatorship and political agendas.1 academic scholarship on religious violence connects with political and theological debate. unlike armstrong, walter benjamen has different critical glimpse on the subject of violence distinguished into two categories; mythical and divine violence. according to benjamin, “mythical violence seeks to stand in for god and it produces lawmaking, while divine violence is law destroying” (martel, 2012: 51). religious violence often uses the name of god as the reason for law enforcement and this is what terrorist groups like isis conduct to achieve 1 armstrong, karen. 2014. the myth of religious violence. can be found: www. theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/-sp-karen-armstrong-religious-violence-myth-secular. accessed, august 22, 2019. [ 110 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 triumph, although it has been fail. since isis emerged, the issue of terrorism associated with religious radicalism began constricting mass media being highlighted news. later, all of us also started to discuss the relation between religious radicalism and violent extremism or terrorism. the public speeches that condemned terrorist attack have been campaigning to fight religious radicalism for the purpose of counter-terrorism. in western countries such as europe, united states of america and australia, islam phobia has been common in social and political turbulence of which discrimination and conflict may occur. for this issue, we can find how social media creates a frame so-called “religious radicalism”. we can easily judge certain religious groups to be “radical” with negative image without understanding or tracing back the meaning of radicalism. the term “radicalism” makes chaotic perspective in perceiving religious groups that may cause more problems when we raise the issue of radicalism. to achieve spiritual stage requires radical knowledge. religious radicalism, in fact, leads to understand supernatural, metaphysical, and transcendental meanings in human’s experience. radicalism is a divine approach that rejects ‘sense of frightening’ to fight. as a phenomenology, radicalism must be linked to philosophical or theological rather than political orientation. “radicalism”: the matter of perspective my point of view to perceive radicalism is something positive. in addition, it is necessary and kind of intellectual requirement that we need to be radical in our discipline including our belief or religion. unfortunately, the word radicalism is associated with pejorative meaning. although there is no clear justification of the meaning of radicalism, mclaughin stated that we shall distinguish the meaning of radicalism within two categories. for socialist groups they will define radicalism as a good narrative, while conservative groups perceive radicalism as a bad narrative. according to mclaughin, the term radicalism is divided in two types of dictionary, british and america. american dictionary, we will find the word of radicalism with the image of villainy. meanwhile british dictionary defines the word of radicalism is not a bad thing and it is not a synonym of extremism while american defines the word radicalism fanaticism, extremism, dogmatism, etc. there have been two periods the term of radical started to have different meaning during the fourteenth and nineteenth century. mclaughin argued that there are three steps to define the term of radicalism. the first definition of radicalism relates to socialist (as a good thing) and conservative (as a bad thing). secondly, [ 111 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 radicalism has connotation of revolution and extremism. the third definition says that radicalism is utopianism which can be similar with illusionary and it is able to aim violent action (mclaughlin, 2012: 8-11). what mclaughlin mentioned above is a product of a historical usage of the word on radicalism. he also stated that “the broad etymological terms, therefore, radicalism would appear to amount to a certain orientation (practical or theoretical) towards “the roots”, “foundations”, or “origins” of something ((mclaughlin, 2012: 18). i think from his definition that it is etymologically acceptable that the historical usage of the term on radicalism depends on different perspective and approach. since 19th century, the usage of the word radicalism is mostly associated with fundamental political change. in one side radicalism can be understood as positive. another side of radicalism is also pejorative connotation. “acts, undertaking, means, and measures may be called ‘radical’ when they reach down to the roots: of a problem, a challenge, a task. note, however, that the latin noun ‘radix’ to which the metaphorical uses of ‘radical’ trace their pedigree, refers not only to the roots but also to foundations and to origins” (mclaughlin, 2012: 19; bauman, 2009: 25). thus, the fundamental question is what’s wrong to be religiously radical? we might have different options to answer. thus, it depends on what perspective (between the connotations used by american or british dictionary) that we have chosen. the word of ‘radicalism” associated with religious ideology of extremism proves that we sometimes easily judge certain religious groups to claim and to categorize as political threat. i argue that the connotation of radicalism in indonesian context follows american dictionary which has negative and villainous sense that must be fight. in other words, we might say that radical groups become a serious threat for nation and democracy. however, the term of radicalism sounds very political nuance and radical groups are put as dangerous enemy although not all radical people join with extremist or terrorist organizations. this word is exactly a political propaganda that we need to problematize. in addition to criticize the word of radicalism, we should be aware that such word implies prejudice to certain ideology so-called radical. the connotation of radicalism commonly describes religious groups linked to extremism or terrorism with certain categories with identification of religious sects or ideology, religious custom, religious attitude, and so forth. the general category of radical groups is nowadays linked to fundamental islam. since the catastrophic 11/9 attack, the word of radicalism and terrorism started to be popular among us. indonesia, as the biggest muslim country, takes a part of against of religious radicalism after george w. bush announced publicly in media to against fundamental and radical groups. i think this was a [ 112 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 historical event during 21st century in usage the term of radicalism associated with villainy and terrorism. then my following question, who is radical groups? if we answer with above category of radical groups refer to radical muslims who commit with terrorist organizations that anti-western ideology. although we agree that anyone from any religion may commit with terrorism or extremism. yet, if we look at media framing terrorism there will always be a phrase appearing on media like “muslim radical groups” with bombing suicide. of course, we may not deny that radical muslim groups are dangerous and become the first target of terrorist links where they connect globally with their networks. this is what makes western society feels threaten by radical muslim groups living in the west or east countries. radical muslim groups become global threat that disconnects and disapproves with democratic governance, because in the perspective of american connotation, radicalism has imaginary society to be islamic country as new world order. radicalism (american connotation, as mentioned before) never tolerated secularism and liberalism which has root from “western” who are “anti-islam”. since the last decade, we started campaigning to run program in all levels for de-radicalization (which means islamist groups). mass media plays significant role in the campaigning of the connotation of radicalism in negative image, and media has been successful to frame the word of radicalism as global fear and threat. i strongly argue that the issue of religious radicalism and terrorism is propaganda. although in one side i agree that religious radicalism and terrorism associated with islam is “annoying”, “anomie”, and “terrible”. the trouble of islamist groups is not the matter of radicalism yet it is mostly related to equality, justice, education, and so forth. most importantly it is also linked to political agenda and power. islamist groups being anti-western ideology never accepted system of democratic governance and liberal politics; these are not from the root of the history of politics, nation, and state in islam. this explanation describes what we call “jihadist” not “radicalism”, in my point of view. jihadist and terrorism groups are interrelated. this refers to the scholarship of jihadist written by muhammad hassan khalil (although i disagree with his statement and definition of muslim radical). he states that: “muslims generally understand jihad to be a noble “struggle” or “striving” for the sake of god. it comprises various actions, from fighting on the battle field to endeavoring to attain inner peace in the prayer hall. it is, therefore, simplistic to define it as many writers do as “holy war.” it is also problematic to insist as many apologists do that it has nothing to do with warfare. in fact, in the specific context of islamic law, jihad [ 113 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 typically denotes an armed struggle against outsiders” (khalil, 2018: 2). jihadist and radicalism have different dimensions in terms of movement. despite radicalism sometimes contains “negative image” it does not mean they are violent, while jihadist is close to violent extremism without being religiously radical. this is why we shall distinguish between jihadist groups and radical groups. of course, the word ‘jihad’ is also debatable among scholars. “muslims generally understand jihad to be a noble “struggle” or “striving” for the sake of god” (khalil, 2018: 2). though jihad refers to quran and hadith and rhetorical passages urging the believers to participate in the wars to against the enemies of god (bonner, 2006: 3). jihad can be understood as exclamation of “holy wars” by misusing the passages of qur’an and hadith. bonner stated that: “jihad, for the historian, it thus only about clashes between religions, civilizations, and states but also about clashes among groups within islamic societies. while philosophers defined the term jihad in one hand is part of the divine law of islam, and, on the other hand the phenomenon of warfare, which has occurred throughout history in all places inhabited by humans” (bonner, 2006: 4-6).” there are different debates of jihad, which according to bonner jihad is applied in the history of islamic law which means exclamation of “wars or killing enemies of god” that we know as “holy war”. yet, the meaning of jihad is philosophically known as non-violent actions, building peace, and developing islamic dakwah peacefully, including against wars and socio-economic injustice. it depends on which islamic group or ideology that we would define the term of jihad. some theological sources prove that the exclamation of jihad and terrorism relates to the doctrine of wahabi supported by saudi. “reaching some small understanding of islamist’s terrorism sources in saudi arabia and its migration to south asia began to help unravel the mystery of who these people were. it was illuminating to discover that there was puritanical religious and educational structure in saudi arabia in which separatism from other peoples and religions. as schwartz wrote, “wahhabism exalts and promotes death in every element of its existence: the suicide of its adherents, mass murder as a weapon against civilization, and above all the suffocation of the mercy embodied in islam” (millard, 2004: 34-35). i would prefer saying that not all wahabi committed with violent extremism [ 114 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 and jihadist groups although they are radical. the media propaganda is when a frame of radicalism being connected with the fundamental step of jihadist and terrorist groups. the relationship between religion and media have been discussed into public debate, due to the role of media in framing religions is very influential. media’s industries have power to evoke opinion as well as mobilization in public reaction including the issues of radicalism. since the last two decades, muslim society has been portrayed by western as “scapegoat” of terrorism. saba mahmood and lila abu-lughod, muslim anthropologist, paid critical attention how islamist movement. in this sense, saba mahmood in the “politics of piety” clearly stated the september 11th tragedy triggered political and islamic sentiment in the west. in another hand, according to saba mahmood “if muslim supporters of the islamist movement, their now almost taken for granted association with terrorism has served to further reaffirm their status as agents of a dangerous irrationality” (mahmood, 2005). muslims are presented as a special and threatening culture—the most homogenized and the most troubling of the rest of western world (abu-lughod, 2013). meyer and moors wrote “equally important, the media imply particular formats and styles often taken for granted, and operate in new infrastructures. these factors shape the specific modes by which religions go public, modes that are difficult to control by religious establishments. new media thus have both a destabilizing and an enabling potential for established practices of religious mediation” (meyer & moors, 2006: 11). the contestation of meanings on radicalism starts to happen not only by framing of media, but also the connotation and bad image of radicalism supported by academia and universities, intelligent agencies, government and non-government organizations, and other spots of agencies that agree with the term of radicalism as bad image and this must be swept. instead of making clear on the definition of radicalism, we easily keep labelling radical groups with “cynical sense”. in addition, we keep busy running program on anti-radicalism because they are not ideal groups and must be cleaned from the system of democratic governance. fighting radical groups is not solution to reduce extremism or terrorism, because the problem is not with radical groups. the problem is that we are living into divided ideology and we are fragmented by social, religious, and cultural categories. we are divided by fundamental categories that may refer to political catastrophe such as terrorism, a global enemy that we are fighting. my suggestion is that we should be aware in using categories of which linkages between radicalism and terrorism. i think we need to re-conceptualize not only the meanings but also the programs of de-radicalization supported [ 115 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 by government, media, academic institutions, international donors including non-government organizations, and all related communities. in the history, radicalism had never been problem—meanwhile extremism or terrorism does. this is what we need to rise serious and significant critics to those who concern with the issues of radicalism and terrorism. “radicalism”: language and myth radicalism is the matter of ‘word and language’ interrelated to our social life (arnswald, 2009; chomsky, 1956, 2005, 2013; cook, 2000; das, 1998; fitch, hauser, & chomsky, 2005). radicalism as ideology might illuminate positive values if we follow the essential meaning of it. i strongly argue that radical groups are neither bad nor threatening groups. they may be radix in understanding and practicing religions or beliefs as mentioned earlier. the problem is that we perceive relationship between radicalism with bigotry, and it is deeply signified as “bias meanings” that i already mentioned above. there is massive campaign to fight religious radicalism because this group impeded world peace and democratic stability. as we live under the information of age and “mythology” where the game of language derives “spots” to mobilization or even movement. religious radicalism is a phenomenon where language and “myth” rooted by political orientation. what happens with religious radicalism today proves that radicalism associated with dangerous and evil is “a new myth” after 9/11 attack. karen armstrong has discussed the myth with very impressive approach. myth as human experience that today the word “myth” is often used to describe something that is simply but not true. she added that “a myth therefore is true because it is effective, not because it gives us factual information. if, however, it does not give us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed” (armstrong, 2005). this statement prevails to the public opinion nowadays on radicalism. the “myth” of theological meaning on radicalism driven by the sense of cynical feelings and suspicious one to another among religious groups (barthes, 2007; levi-strauss, 1955, 1979; nasto, 1996; ziegler & findley, 1997). when we mention radicalism denotes to the sense of frightening groups. it seems we are under control of “sense” of the word radicalism. following wittgenstein’s idea of “sense of life”, it is reasonable to say that “the meaning of ‘sense’ is also elucidated from this standpoint. the expression that seems to include a totality raises the suspicion of an objectification” (wittgenstein, 2009: 41). by referring wittgenstein’s philosophical view, i would say that the interpretation of the word ‘radical’ has implication to ethical action in which the product of meanings on ‘radical’ signifies the motif of prejudice. [ 116 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 the word ‘religious radical’ defined by political orientation might be a popular myth in our global issue today. it does not matter with defining “true” or “false” on the word radicalism. when every day we repeat to mention the word ‘radicalism’ with negative context, then it will produce symbolic meaning that ‘radicalism’ is something bad and must be avoid. referring to bourdieu, he argued that: “the naïve question of the power of words is logically implicated in the initial suppression of the question of the uses of language, and therefore of the social conditions in which words are employed. in fact, the use of language, the manner as much as the substance of discourse, discourse depends on the social position of the speaker, which governs the access he can have to the language of the institution, that is, to the official, orthodox and legitimate speech” (bourdieu, 1991: 107-109). the power of words does not only express the message of discourse, it compromises a condition where there is particular interest behind the words, no matter about politics, ideology, and other related. the clash and the war of ideology becomes real evidence as our problem in this century; the rising of isis, islam phobia, anti-secularism, anti-atheism, and so on. we proudly blame one to another for the sake of making peace, fighting terrorism, or even framing a new myth that we call as radicalism, fundamentalism, liberalism, etc. in my opinion, the problem is not about such ideologies in our society but it is contestation of power relation which might be legitimated by our language. radicalism is one of the elements among those links that dominate the global issue funded by ‘western’ orientation. it seems that we are declining in our ethics to perceive phenomena of religions in diverse society within plural sectarianism. we have currently failed to unite that “all is one” as the spirits of our faith. we are fragmented by perspective and meanings in our game of language to respond the problem of ‘global evil’, and then we blame ‘religious radicalism’ as the root of conflict as well as war. religious radicalism is not the problem in the global terrorism, it is our failure to justify religious radicalism as an instrumental myth. myth and language are interconnected in our social communication and interaction. since the history of human’s civilization, the role of language has been so powerful. it is not only a tool of social and cultural communication, but also a product of power. language and power are being habit as discussed by bourdieu. according to bourdieu language that we used in social interaction develops ‘habitus’. in his theoretical argument, bourdieu has stated that: [ 117 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 “the habitus is a set of dispositions which incline agents to act and react in certain ways. the habitus also provides individuals with a sense of how to act and respond in the course of daily lives. it orients their ‘actions’ and inclinations without strictly determining them” (bourdieu, 1991: 12 – 13). as cultural product, language maintains human’s action in which bourdieu concerned with the discourse of habitus. the way we practice our language will require repeatedly acts that we understand as habitus. language does not only represent ‘text’ but also ‘context’. what i meant by ‘text’ here refers to the message of the word, meanwhile ‘context’ contains locus and tempus that of existing ‘text’. ‘text’ is reality which includes language, culture, art, science, religion, and so forth that we have seen in our daily lives. therefore, ‘text’ always creates the ‘meaning of life’ like what wittgenstein said. there is always existence of morality in the structure of language that we use. in the military tactic and strategy, language plays important tool when they operate to spy opponent or enemy. in the history of world war ii hitler and his troops also used “code of language” for genocide of jews people. they created “hate speeches” with negative prejudice and stigma, intolerance, dangerous and hostile people that jews people threaten germany. hitler on his public speeches continually delivered message of hatred to jews people and he accused jews by using his racist language to appeal his followers for genocide. what nazi did violence to jews people was supported by his followers and media because negative stigma, intolerance, and hate speeches were regarded as the ‘truth’. i mean to say that this is merely an example where ‘code of language’ can be a powerful weapon to justify moral actions. it is undeniable reality that our lives contain structure of language. language is uncountable reality that sometimes media propaganda has been successful to promote the negative image on religious radicalism. for example, the word ‘religious radicalism’ today that has been framed as negative connotation by media associated with the tragedy of 11/9 and related to muslim society. media, sometimes, are easy to judge and claim “radical or terrorist groups” by their custom or appearance such as burqa, niqab, beard, etc. “in the west today, muslim communities are regularly portrayed as backward and prone to violence. in the new common sense, international confl icts are reduced to a “clash of civilizations” in which entire regions of the world are represented as rejecting values such as freedom and nonviolence” (abu-lughod, 2013). in the social relation, even we have seen in many cases that there is always negative prejudice to those who wear niqab or burqa. radical groups literally and physically are equivalent with such particular customs. this category [ 118 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 tends to be irrelevant for the meaning of religious radicalism. in addition, this might be happening because media blows the image on radical groups with particular customs of old-middle east fashion that does not relate with the meaning of religious radicalism. if we keep in our mind that radicalism connected to such customs, then we repeat to create ‘imagination’ and a new myth. conclusion after analyzing the term of “religious radicalism”, we are being aware that currently there is a complex challenge where the role of language in religions ties to global politics. the phenomenon of radicalism is a pivotal discourse as critics to the concept of de-radicalization associated with violent extremism and terrorism. there have been linkages between religions and global political situation that misused language. like what huntington said there is a serious clash between “east’ and “west” after 9/11 attack. we are fragmented by ideology which drives us to fight and prejudice each other by what we call as “religious radicalism” that becomes our global enemy today. through media, divided society into different ideology has been shaped by language, symbols, and category of class. we proudly spent billion dollars for budgeting the programs of counter terrorism or de-radicalization, yet, we never seen the real problem why religious violence remains to happen—and why terrorism never stopped their actions. even, their viruses are growing more from time to time. violent extremism/terrorism and religious radicalism by which they mean bigotry as well as negative connotation are threatening our peaceful values. i am, of course, not denial on such statement. as we already know that terrorist organizations with different surface have existed centuries ago, not only in this contemporary time. the way we, in the context of indonesian situation, overcome the problem of “religious radicalism” is too “naïve”. there is “hyper reality” in our abundant projects of facing the problem “religious radicalism”. “hyper reality” in this context can be understood as baudrillard’s theory saying that there is unconsciousness of human beings to distinguish between realities and fantasy where imagination, facts, authenticity, artificiality, or lie is difficult to measure. everything just collides to be unmeasurable assumption (luke, 1991; nunes, 2016; perry, 2012; robinson, 2012; stolze & stolze, 2019). “hyper reality” and unconscious condition have possibly driven to prejudice, and this might work on the issue of “radicalism” especially in indonesian experiences to face the problem of terrorist organizations linked to islamist groups. supported by media, “hyper-reality” creates an image of “enemy” that must be fight. this [ 119 ] al albab: volume 9 number 1 june 2020 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v9i1.1546 example can be seen through movies, entertainments, newspapers, memes on twitter-facebook-or instagram, etc. imagined as “the other”. “the other” here means both what we call “religious radicalism” and none “religious radicalism”. can we imagine then these two groups fight and against each other? yes, this is now happening in our reality that we may not ignore. we seem like pretending anti violence by fighting “radical groups” as negative connotation and as enemy, yet, our understanding and our campaign of spreading the word of “radicalism” with negative connotation contain violence to others groups. if we realize that there is something clumsy in our method to resolve a problem of terrorism in the philosophical and sociological perspectives, then i believe that we will try to seek a new way and a new method for facing the “roots of terrorism”. however, in the basic humanity, everyone feels unpleasant if they are categorized as radicalism with negative prejudice although they are supporting “terrorism”, yet, in their head there is never negative values. i think this is what i mean to change or to create a new approach in using word and language of ‘religious radicalism”. in the past, religions were unique and peaceful component to reach transcendental understanding by the virtue. “holy war” and terrorism had never been accounted in the spirit of religions. although we have seen in many cases that there is a ton of violence in the name of gods and religions. islam is one of the examples which prove us that the misuse of some verses in the holy qur’an to support killing non-muslim actions used by terrorist groups. our job is not to continue giving a negative stigma on religious radicalism, yet, we need to liberate negative meaning on religious radicalism to be more positive based on the history of usage of radicalism. however, the social and cultural implication of using the word “radicalism” today are “stereotyping” affecting prejudice or even “neo-violence”. referring to chomsky (1928), language plays pivotal role in the social relation and it has dominant line in our social, cultural, and religious activities. language drives social and cultural influence to express human’s actions because it has value. this analogy describes how society behavior is inspired by language that regularly we heard as the legitimation of the truth. the same thing like we heard the voice of the word “radicalism” because today we believe that “radicalism” is bad, although it’s never been like that (nurish, 2019). maybe, it is time to change “a global myth” what we call “religious radicalism”. 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(2013). the roots of terrorism in indonesia. sydney: unsw press book. stolze, t., & stolze, t. (2019). contradictions of hyperreality: baudrillard, žižek, and virtual dialectics. in becoming marxist. https://doi. org/10.1163/9789004280984_012 tweeten, l. (2003). terrorism, radicalism, and populism in agriculture. lowa: lowa state press. vincent b. leitch. (2004). postmodern theory of technology : agendas. jstor, 12(1), 209–215. ziegler, h., & findley, t. (1997). myth and metaphor. in rewriting history. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-04274-3_3 [ 19 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 biblical leadership spirituality in developing the quality of catholic education florensius sutami stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: sutamimei1972@gmail.com fransiskus gregorius nyaming the john paul ll catholic university of lublin, poland email: frang17grego@gmail.com subandri simbolon radboud university, netherland email: subandri.simbolon@mail.ugm.ac.id angga satya bhakti stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: anggasatya25@gmail.com yusi kurniati stakat negeri pontianak, indonesia email: yusikurnia170@gmail.com abstract catechists preach the bible through the practice of catechesis. the proclamation is carried out in a methodical and organic manner. catechist actors, in particular, focus on evangelizing the general public, both clergy and laity. in the real-world development of the christian faith, laypeople who become catechists have a complicated responsibility. because they are directly involved in the lives of the people, they are at the forefront of the ministry work. they are also, in another sense, among people who share god's word with others. the lay catechists' experiences in life have become so ingrained in people's lives. the realities of today are extremely diverse. even though they live in a time of globalization and modernity, there are still a lot of areas in which civilization has not been particularly developed. border areas are in many cases being ignored, like places that are sometimes still harder to get to than the development of government centers, like roads that are hard to get to. catechists face difficulties in providing services due to the scattered location of their service stations. to continue serving under the most difficult circumstances, the catechists need a spiritual spirit to support their efforts in developing religious education in this global world. keywords: leadership spirituality; catechesism; catholic education [ 20 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 introduction the primary disciples of jesus christ are referred to as the apostles. jesus christ himself had followers. the message that the disciples spread is the testimony of jesus christ himself. mark 16:9–15, the apostolic spirit is the will of jesus christ that he communicated to his disciples. preach the gospel to every creature in the world. it can be seen from the passage from mark that the lord jesus really wanted his disciples to be able to share the gospel with all living things. therefore, it is not surprising that catholics now exist throughout indonesia. educational spirituality plays an important role to catechists’. one of indonesia's provinces with a large number of catholics is west kalimantan. some of them can be found in the beduai subdistrict, which is near the indonesia-malaysia border. naturally, this cannot be separated from the catechists' role. a far cry from the center of government is the border region. the infrastructure and economic situation along indonesia's and malaysia's border are still severely lacking. the border community is a society that must endure this deprivation in order to survive. catechists faced a challenge in and of themselves with these limitations and deficiencies, particularly when it comes to preserving the faith of the parishioners. on the one hand, they were also having issues with infrastructure and the economy. they must, on the other hand, proclaim jesus' testimony. naturally, every catechist who conducts services in this malaysian-indonesian border must be enthusiastic about this. the catechists were able to endure limitations thanks to this spiritual spirit. their excitement was something that should be investigated to be a motivation for catechists any place they are. the indonesian west kalimantan borderland, which is located far from the central government, presents a number of difficult life issues in educational spirituality. normally, catechists faced different challenges than catechists in more advanced regions as church ministers working in the field of evangelization in border areas. the formulation of the study's problems: how does the catechists' preaching experience of faith relate to the situation in the border regions? how do the border catechists live out their service-oriented spirituality? what obstacles confront the border regions' catechetical workers? how do the catechists deal with the difficulties that come with preaching in border regions? how do catechists deal with these obstacles? the purpose of this study was to explore the issues in the educational spirituality of catholic church services in the indonesian and malaysian borderland. as a worldwide church, the spirit of synergy as co-reporters must remain coordinated, which is why this research is so important. naturally, [ 21 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 the catechists come from a variety of backgrounds, particularly when it comes to their motivations for preaching. the goal of the research was to determine how this motivation can inspire people to preach. catechists' consistency as preachers and willingness to endure the repercussions can be influenced by their growing commitment. the researcher learned more about the actual situation and the difficulties catechists face in border regions. the difficulties catechists faced in overcoming obstacles in border regions should be investigated and discussed with fellow catechists wherever they are. the church's status as a worldwide church will be bolstered by this. a type of visitation from researchers to catechists was another goal of this study. the researchers were from the pontianak state catholic college (stakat), which trains future journalists and makes it possible for them to work in the indonesian and malaysian border regions. as a member of the universal church, stakat negeri pontianak wishes to pay attention to catechists in border regions by being present among them to listen to their concerns and assist them in locating solutions. this research provides a true picture of the news situation in border regions. the testimonies of catechists are an encouragement to catechists everywhere. this testimony is certainly an experience. there is value in seeing catechists continue to struggle under limited circumstances. the enthusiasm and actions of catechists who persevere in their work of service can touch and inspire the hearts of catechists everywhere. in other words, this survey can be a means of sharing the evidence of fulfilling one's duties as a catechist. this study can also inspire members of the church and further promote a spirit of mutual respect and affirmation as part of the universal catholic church. the difficulties faced by catechists may also be noted in other catholic churches in other dioceses. the 4,444 parishes with members can provide spiritual and temporal motivation for catechists in border areas. for pontianak stakat, this study will help gain insight into the enthusiasm of catechists. pontianak state law among other things, it is also very useful in educating aspiring catechists based on data about the real problems that catechists face. pontianak stakat is able to study existing problems and train individual catechists to be strong and responsible in carrying out their duties and service tasks. this study was classified as qualitative r, also known as interpretive research. it was a methodology borrowed from scientific disciplines such as sociology and anthropology and adapted to educational settings. qualitative researchers utilized inductive reasoning methods and strongly believe in the existence of multiple perspectives. qualitative research was characterized by its focus on exploring research problems that have limited knowledge or understanding, [ 22 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 aiming for a comprehensive understanding of the central phenomenon. in this type of research, data was collected through general questions that allow participants to provide answers. in the case of this research, it was conducted as field research to investigate the spirituality of catechists in border areas. the findings were presented and described in the form of text or words, obtained through interviews and observations conducted directly in the field. the study is conducted in stages and over a specific period of time. the researcher aimed to present the obtained data in a descriptive manner, making it easier to comprehend based on the field observations. additionally, the research also included the presentation of data through photographs taken by the researchers. the research process commences by identifying the research subject. in this case, the research subject chosen was catechists in the border region between indonesia and malaysia. once 20 research subjects were selected, the researcher proceeded with conducting observations and reviewing relevant literature on catechist spirituality to support the research. the subsequent step involves data collection. through this process, both primary and secondary data were obtained. primary data was gathered through interviews with informants or sources, while secondary data was obtained from previously conducted research documents. the collected data is then analyzed to address the problem formulation that was formulated earlier, leading to the final conclusion. the spirituality as a guide the word spirituality comes from the latin root word 'spiritus'. in indonesian the word spirit means 'spirit', 'power', 'spirit'. spirituality is an aspect of a person's self that is able to provide power, energy and motivation. spirituality is a force that moves or awakens a person, such as spirit, breath, passion for life, and the enthusiasm to stay and continue living. a dignified and humane human existence is influenced by the spirituality of his life. with spirituality a person dares to enter into silent experiences and deepen the existence of his life. like socrates' statement, "a life that is not worth reflecting on is not worth living", spirituality brings humans into reflection on their lives. human life runs in time and space, various events and experiences certainly become the dynamics of life. daeli in the journal melintas (2018:97) stated that spirituality encourages people to explore and find something essential by daring to doubt artificial tendencies that are decorative, but poor in content. spirituality directs humans to be steadfast in entering the depths of human experience in seeking and defending high values. spirituality can be closely related to a [ 23 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 person's actions. spirituality makes a person able to feel, reflect on, and absorb the presence of god/power in life events. so spirituality greatly influences a person's thought patterns, feeling patterns and action patterns. spirituality can become very visible when someone is able to continue to struggle in their work of service even though they are faced with many challenges. humans are unique creatures and different from other creatures. humans have the ability to reason and interpret events. in their lives, humans grow up with various things that can color every experience of their lives. human life is not just based on life instincts like animals. for example, when you are hungry you have to eat, when you are thirsty you have to drink. on the other hand, humans are able to understand what they eat for? how does he get food? when to eat and when to stop eating? max weber, a german sociologist, explained that humans are "meaning makers" (cf. bowie, 2000:34). meaning makes humans have a meaningful, efficient and dignified life. humans are able to understand the purpose of their life, take lessons from everything they receive, and how they must survive all the challenges that exist. spirituality becomes the power for humans to do all these things. spirituality can become a priority for humans. spirituality is part of human existence to become an authentic person (cf. bunjamin, 2008: 178). even though humans are in different loci and times as well as the cultures that influence their lives, there are elements that humans have in common, namely the ability to grow, the ability to relate and act, the ability to reproduce (cf. mondin, 1985:37). humans, as "an intelligent being" are also "a spiritual being". spirituality is an ontological principle that shows the essence and existence of humans which is different from other creatures. spirituality as a "spirit" that moves, in a certain sense spirituality is the power of humans. spirituality does not make people give up easily. spirituality is able to bring humans to know themselves, each other, nature of creation, and the supreme being. by understanding the purpose of life, spirituality as part of human life acts as a principle of life. humans will continue to act with confidence in their lives as a manifestation of their dignified existence. in this case, the values of a religion are able to act as the spirituality of human life. the christian spirituality in a christian perspective, the meaning of spiritus based on etymological understanding develops to a broader meaning and is more focused on the spirit of god, the holy spirit. so it can be said that spirituality means a way, style, power and enthusiasm to build and realize oneself in one's ideals completely and comprehensively in god, the source of salvation. or an awareness of the [ 24 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 people to live in god and the willingness of believers to be formed by the spirit of god. spirit 6 of god is a source of inspiration in the maturation of spiritual life for every believing human being (meran, 2017: 74). the spirit of god in the holy bible already exists in every human person. according to the book of genesis, in the process of creation, humans became noble creatures, because god himself breathed his spirit into humans (cf. genesis 2:7). humans are special creatures in whom there is divine power and must always be protected (1 corinthians 6: 19-20). markus meran elaborates on the five key aspects of christian spirituality: the presence of jesus christ is manifested in his body, the church, and its members. christ has bestowed his spirit upon the church, enabling believers to encounter and unite with the father. the father, in turn, grants the church the charisms of the spirit to proclaim the gospel and contribute to god's work of salvation. the spirit of christ guides and shapes the individual personalities of church members, allowing them to experience the richness of spiritual life. this experience strengthens their faith, hope, and love for god, empowering them to serve others. through the holy spirit, subjective inner experiences are translated into tangible actions. believers respond to life events by striving to fulfill the father’s will. the work of the holy spirit infuses divine love, fostering unity among all members of the church with christ as their head. this deepens the spirit of "comunio" through continuous communication of faith, resulting in a vibrant and authentic spiritual life. ultimately, the spirituality of christian life originates from the joyful news of jesus christ. the church is called to embody ideals, attitudes, and behaviors that bear prophetic witness to humanity. this dynamic process involves both self-evangelization and evangelization of others. in essence, christian spirituality emanates from jesus christ himself. his actions and words serve as the primary proclamation, while the holy spirit safeguards and empowers the church. this aligns with the perspective of douglas g. bushman, s.t.l, who emphasizes christ as the focal point of spirituality. through christ, believers attain a profound appreciation of the triune god. in the present age, understanding of christ is attained through the guidance of the holy spirit, which is bestowed upon the church. the church upholds and proclaims this divine gift in its ongoing dynamics. the cathecism catechesis, derived from the greek word katekein, refers to the oral teaching of religious principles. it encompasses the instruction of the christian faith, drawing from scripture and church doctrine. the primary recipients of [ 25 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 catechesis are individuals who have not yet been baptized and those who seek to deepen their understanding of the christian faith. essentially, catechesis aims to proclaim the good news to those who are still developing their faith, with the hope that they will eventually be baptized or grow into mature followers of christ. as stated in catechesi tradendae, chapter 3, article 20, the specific purpose of catechesis is to foster the growth of a budding faith, with the assistance of god, so that it may gradually expand and strengthen the christian lives of believers, both young and old. catechesis is an act of service that contributes to the development of faith. this growth is achieved through the imparting of fundamental knowledge about the richness of christian life, which is derived from the teachings found in sacred texts, traditions, and the authority of the church. for christians, the holy scriptures, tradition, and magisterium serve as the means through which the holy spirit guides their conduct. these sources contain valuable life principles that can guide believers. initially, these principles are acquired as knowledge, but the ultimate goal is for this knowledge to shape their way of life in accordance with christian values. catechesis specifically targets adults in the faith, presenting christian teachings in an organic and systematic manner, with the intention of leading them towards a complete christian life. the delivery of catechesis is carried out by individuals or groups who are dedicated to this task. according to the book of canon law (khk), the process of catechesis itself serves as a specific means of evangelization. the teachings of the gospel hold utmost importance in this process. in general, all baptized christians have a unique calling to proclaim the word of god. this act of preaching is primarily carried out by special preachers who are clergy and non-clergy known as catechists. catechists are individuals who dedicate themselves to the education of faith in jesus, possessing expertise in the field of education and catholic religious teaching. they play a crucial role in teaching christian values to believers, nurturing their faith within the church and formal educational settings. the congregation for evangelization of peoples (cep) places great importance on catechists, recognizing them as the main pillars in spreading the gospel. catechists undergo formal religious education, studying subjects such as philosophy-theology, catholic religious education and teaching, pastoral science, as well as non-formal education with a religious emphasis, such as in monasteries and seminaries. overall, catechists are entrusted by the church to educate and foster the faith of the people. while not all of them have received formal religious education, they receive specialized training through seminars and other means. this aligns with the teachings of kan. 785, which states that catechists should be involved [ 26 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 in missionary work. they are lay christian believers who are well-trained and exemplify a christian way of life. under the guidance of a missionary, they dedicate themselves to conveying the teachings of the gospel and organizing liturgical activities and charitable works. catechists should be established in schools or, if not available, work under the direction of missionaries. from a theological standpoint, catechists are encouraged to emulate the actions of. in indonesia, individuals who serve as catechists can include priests, nuns, catholic religious teachers, and counselors. their actions are considered acts of service, and they are not limited to the wages they receive. these catechists operate under the guidance of the central church as they proclaim the word of god. the role of spirituality plays a significant part in the life of a catechist. spirituality, which encompasses power and the spirit, ultimately determines the quality of a catechist. spirituality assists catechists in understanding their own lives. harjanto msf's revelation serves as a vivid example. drawing from sandra schneiders' insights, he perceives spirituality as a collection of ideas. spirituality is not merely an abstract concept; it is an experiential encounter with god. it is a profound event that deeply impacts an individual's life. these experiences shape and even transform a person's life. they required individuals to be aware of, appreciate, and pursue the values embedded within these experiences. these life experiences are not mere rituals; they are personal encounters that can also have a communal impact. encountering god is a testament to his love. it is god who extends an invitation to humanity, and it is up to individuals to accept and realize this invitation. therefore, catechists are called to delve deeper into all of their life experiences, particularly those that involve encountering god, as these experiences have the power to save and positively influence human life. catechists, like journalists, must cultivate strong relationships as they live out their lives and report on their experiences. a catechist's life, which is directed towards god, should be a testament to his presence and accompanied by his power. catechists are considered to be intimately connected to the word of god. through their spirituality, they are able to reflect upon and make sense of all the life events they encounter. reading god's word and attending church services are not mere rituals, but rather meaningful acts that deepen their spirituality. border area and the faith experience the geographical distance between various locations often poses challenges for catechists in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities. this has left a profound impact on many catechists, who selflessly carry out their service without considering the financial rewards. among these catechists are [ 27 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 catholic religious teachers who are actively involved in formal education at elementary, middle, and high schools. some hold civil servant positions, while others do not. in addition to their role as religious educators, some of them also serve as catechists within the church, entrusted by the pastor with this important responsibility. the faith experience of these catechists in border areas is characterized by a demanding and dedicated service that requires immense enthusiasm and hard work. they willingly sacrifice their time and energy to fulfill their reporting duties in these remote regions. their commitment as catechists is unwavering, as they serve for the greater glory of god. typically, these catechists have received education specifically tailored for their role. they have completed studies in catholic religious education and teaching, as well as theological philosophy education. some have even pursued further education to become brothers or servants. this comprehensive education equips them with the necessary skills to effectively proclaim god's message of love within the communities surrounding entikong. this commitment further strengthens and purifies their faith, especially when confronted with the unique challenges of the border areas. on the other hand, the border areas are home to a significant population, and the catechists are acutely aware of the great need for their presence. this realization fuels their passion to continue their work in these remote regions until the very end. they firmly believe that their presence has a profound impact on the lives of many individuals, particularly through pastoral care services such as assisting pastors in preparing worship celebrations, providing faith counseling, and leading various religious practices. the challenges faced by catechists in border regions the border area between indonesia and malaysia in sanggau regency presents various challenges for catechists. this region is characterized by hilly plateaus, swamps, and rivers such as the kapuas river and the sekayam river. the soil type in sanggau district is predominantly podzolic, which is evenly distributed throughout the sub-district. additionally, the area is surrounded by rubber and oil palm plantations, making the majority of the population engaged in farming these crops. the geographical location of this region poses a significant challenge for catechists in providing their services. development in these areas has not been evenly distributed, resulting in inadequate access to basic facilities such as roads and public transportation. this lack of infrastructure hinders the reporting process for catechists. furthermore, not all catechists reside in the areas where they work, requiring them to travel long distances of 2 to 3 hours [ 28 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 by motorbike. some locations are inaccessible by private transportation, necessitating the use of boats and walking. in addition to the challenges posed by inadequate facilities and infrastructure, catechists also face the issue of an imbalanced ratio between the number of people and the number of catechists. many state schools in the region do not have catholic religious teachers, which is a particular concern for catechists. it is disheartening to find numerous catholic students in state schools without access to a catholic teacher. one catechist shared that he had to visit fifteen sub-districts and discovered that many catholic schools lacked religious teachers. consequently, many community areas have individuals but lack worship ministers due to the shortage of catechists. the beduai parish, which serves 21 stations/villages, faces these challenges on a daily basis. the list of stations/villages includes beduai parish center, pemodis village, and muara ilai village. despite the difficulties encountered, catechists continue to persevere in their mission to provide spiritual guidance and support to the catholic community in these border areas. addressing the challenges of preaching in border areas catechists approach the challenges they face with a sense of gratitude. these challenges provide them with an opportunity to align their lives more closely with the life of jesus christ. as they navigate these challenges, catechists are able to enhance their ministry and delve deeper into the teachings of god's love. they also find meaning in their own life experiences by strengthening their faith, reflecting on their journey, and embracing the missionary spirit that guides them. despite the obstacles they encounter, jesus christ remains unwavering in his mission to proclaim the kingdom of god. his suffering and death served as the catalyst for his glorious resurrection. the path to becoming a catechist in a border area is filled with numerous challenges, albeit on a smaller scale compared to the preaching carried out by christ. catechists strive to emulate christ's perseverance and maintain their enthusiasm for serving, despite the limitations they face and the various challenges that arise. catechists confront these challenges through prayer. prayer serves as a means of connecting believers with god, much like how christ prayed in the garden of gethsemane. catechists emulate christ's attitude of surrender to his heavenly father (cf. matthew 26:36-46). christ's prayer in the garden of gethsemane exemplifies his human limitations. his plea to the father reflects the fear that any human would experience when faced with impending events. however, christ also recognized that this was his purpose in the world. his suffering [ 29 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 and death would become part of the mysteries of god's salvation. through prayer, christ regained his strength and enthusiasm. prayer represents the deepest expression of a person's faith in god. by praying, catechists gain a deeper understanding of their role as messengers. prayer serves as a reminder of their purpose as catechists, which is to proclaim the work of god in the world. conclusion spirituality encompasses the inner force that motivates and awakens an individual, including their spirit, breath, zest for life, and the enthusiasm to persevere and continue living. the spirituality of one's life greatly influences their dignified and humane existence. through spirituality, individuals are able to delve into profound experiences and deepen their understanding of life. in a way, spirituality acts as a driving force, empowering humans to face challenges without easily giving up. it enables individuals to discover themselves, connect with others, comprehend the nature of creation, and seek a connection with a higher power. by recognizing the purpose of life, spirituality becomes a guiding principle in human existence. in the context of christianity, the spirituality of a christian life originates from jesus christ himself. christ's actions and teachings serve as a testament to his spirituality, and he safeguards his church by bestowing the holy spirit upon it. the holy spirit's work instills the power of divine love, uniting all members of the church under christ's leadership. this fosters a sense of "comunio" through continuous communication of faith, which radiates a genuine life force. sustaining this communication is crucial for nurturing faith, fostering brotherhood, and engaging in acts of loving service. therefore, catechesis plays a vital role. the specific objective of catechesis is to develop and expand the budding faith with god's assistance, strengthening the christian lives of believers, both young and old, day by day. catechesis is a form of service that contributes to the growth of faith. catechists in border areas typically possess religious teaching or education in philosophy and theology, in accordance with khk canon 785. catechesis in these regions is a challenging endeavor, as catechists face obstacles such as a shortage of personnel, inadequate facilities and infrastructure, and the remote locations of their mission areas. as indicated in the analysis, this work finds important recommendations regarding the spirit of catechists. catechists should strive to be role models of faith, particularly in fostering a sense of community among believers. catholics should also find inspiration from preachers or catechists. it is important for catholics to recognize and appreciate the efforts of catechists [ 30 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 in meeting the spiritual needs of fellow catholics. for catholic universities, there is a responsibility to impart the spirituality embraced by catechists in border areas to the students. these students will eventually become future catechists in border areas themselves. bibliography ad gentes. (1965). decree on the mission activity of the church. second vatican council. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. bowie, fiona. (2000). the anthropology of religion: an introduction. blackwell publishing. catechesi tradendae: on catechesis in our time. (1979). john paul ii. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. catechism of the catholic church (ccc). (1993). vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. code of canon law. (1983). codex iuris canonici. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. congregation for the clergy. (1997). general directory for catechesis (gdc). vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. congregation for the evangelization of peoples. (1993). guide for catechists. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. dei verbum (dogmatic constitution on divine revelation). (1965). second vatican council. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. evangelii gaudium (the joy of the gospel). (2013). pope francis. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. frankl, viktor e. (1985). man’s search for meaning. revised and updated. new york: washington square press. freire, p. (1970). pedagogy of the oppressed. new york: continuum. gaudium et spes. (1965). pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world. second vatican council. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. groome, t. h. (1980). christian religious education: sharing our story and vision. san francisco: harper & row. lumen gentium (dogmatic constitution on the church). (1964). second vatican council. vatican city: libreria editrice vaticana. maddi, salvatore r., & khoshaba, suzanne c. (2005). resilience at work: how [ 31 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 to succeed no matter what life throws at you. amacom. mezirow, jack. (1997). transformative learning: theory to practice. new directions for adult and continuing education, 74, 5-12. mondin, battista. (1985). philosophical anthropology: man: an impossible project? bangalore, india: published for pontificia universitas urbaniana by theological publications in india. moran, g. (1983). religious education as a second language. birmingham, al: religious education press. palmer, parker j. (2000). let your life speak: listening for the voice of vocation. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. rahner, k. (1965). theological investigations, vol. 7: further theology of the spiritual life. london: darton, longman & todd. schneiders, s. m. (2003). religion and spirituality: strangers, rivals, or partners? theological studies, 62(3), 681–706. wilhoit, jim. (2011). spiritual formation as if the church matterted: a reformed perspective. grand rapids, mi: baker academic. [ 32 ] al albab: volume 13 number 1 june 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i1.2877 [ 179 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 the theology of the body as a pastoral approach to preventing juvenile delinquency dominikus doni ola stp dian mandala gunungsitoli nias, indonesia email: donioladominikus@stpdianmandala.ac.id risni karina bu’ulolo stp dian mandala gunungsitoli nias, indonesia email: risnikarinabuulolo@gmail.com evimawati harefa stp dian mandala gunungsitoli nias, indonesia email: harefaevi@stpdianmandala.ac.id megawati naibaho stp dian mandala gunungsitoli nias, indonesia email:carolinekym79@stpdianmandala.ac.id yusuf nataeli lase biblical theology pontifical urbaniana university, rome, italy email: lase.25643@urbaniana.edu abstract theology of the body is a theological and philosophical reflection that seeks to help adolescents understand their identity as human persons created in the image and likeness of god. this study aims to examine the theology of the body and deepen understanding of the meaning of the human body and the value of human dignity in adolescent life, based on the teachings of pope john paul ii. the method used is library research, involving the collection of relevant literature, critical reading, and the analysis of academic sources. the findings suggest that a comprehensive understanding of the theology of the body can foster a greater respect for the dignity of the human person and an increased awareness of the purpose of creation. in practical terms, these insights may be applied through character education programs rooted in the spirituality of the body within catholic schools, pastoral accompaniment for adolescents that emphasizes the body as a gift, and the development of catechetical modules that integrate theology of the body with contemporary issues such as pornography, premarital sex, and identity crises. the scholarly contribution of this study lies in its formation of a theoretical framework that supports further development in the fields of theology, philosophy, and moral education for youth. moreover, this study provides space for interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and the social sciences in [ 180 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 addressing the complexity of juvenile delinquency in a more holistic and contextualized manner. keywords: theology of the body; pastoral approach; preventing juvenile delinquency introduction the theology of the body, as proposed by pope john paul ii, is a systematic study that emphasizes the meaning and value of the human body in the context of the christian faith, particularly in understanding human sexuality and authentic love for others. this teaching invites each human person to explore the nature of the body through the perspective of faith—an approach that regards the body as an integral part of the divine plan. in the christian tradition, the human body possesses inherent dignity before god, as the human person is created distinct from other creatures, endowed with reason and conscience, and entrusted with the responsibility to care for and respect both their own existence and that of others (beetz-kleden, 2014; firmanto, 2020; blegur, 2024; tolo & manca, 2024; mayolla & rynanta, 2024). however, in an era of increasingly rapid technological advancement, the body is often treated as an object of visual consumption for particular interests, which frequently leads to the neglect of its dignity and sacred value. one phenomenon that has drawn attention in contemporary theological discourse is the shift in the meaning of the human body—from a spiritual reality to a material object subject to exploitation. once understood as bearing the image of god, the body is increasingly stripped of its sacred value under the influence of mass media and popular culture. the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency—including promiscuity, sexual violence, drug abuse, and the commodification of the body through social media—reflects a profound crisis of values and morality, which threatens the physical, psychological, and social well-being of adolescents. from the perspective of pope john paul ii’s teachings, he strongly emphasized the importance of caring for and respecting the body through the lens of faith, which serves as the moral foundation for life (primus, 2014;valdo et al., 2024). the theology of the body is not merely a reflection on the physical aspects of the human person, but also underlines that the body is the centre, source, and means through which human life is formed and fulfilled in its entirety, in accordance with god’s will and plan (steinberg, 2014; santrock, 2020; darnoto & dewi, 2020; susanti, 2022; mawaddah & prastya, 2023; indari et al., 2023; rabim & made, 2023). [ 181 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 so far, previous literature on the theology of the body in indonesia highlights the relevance of this theme in the context of adolescent formation and sexuality education. dessi christanti et al. developed a psychoeducational approach for parents in guiding adolescents’ sexual development, grounded in the theology of the body (christanti et al., 2025). this initiative seeks to equip catholic parents to assist their children in navigating sexual influences and social pressures in accordance with the teachings of the church. meanwhile, david rabim & raymundus i made critique the commercialization of the human body in consumer culture through the lens of pope john paul ii’s theology of the body (rabim & made, 2023). while christanti et al. emphasize psychoeducational support for parents, rabim and made underscore a cultural critique of bodily exploitation. in contrast, this present study centers on the formation of adolescents’ spiritual identity and character education through the framework of the theology of the body. the distinctiveness and key contribution of this study lies in its approach that places adolescents as the primary subjects in the formation of spiritual identity and self-awareness, grounded in the teachings of the theology of the body. this contrasts with previous studies that have focused more on psychoeducational support for parents (christanti et al., 2025) or cultural critiques of body commodification (rabim & made, 2023). this research develops the theology of the body as an integrated pastoral framework for preventing juvenile delinquency, building bridges between theology, education, and pastoral praxis—an intersection that has not been explicitly explored in earlier scholarship. the body is understood not merely as a spiritual symbol, but as a center of ethical and moral formation, thereby expanding the theology of the body from a theological domain into practical education with direct implications for curriculum development and youth formation programs in indonesia. the main objective of this study is to examine how an understanding of the theology of the body, as taught by pope john paul ii, can help adolescents recognize their identity as human persons created in the image of god and cultivate a spiritual awareness of the dignity of the human person. furthermore, this study explores how the implementation of the theology of the body can foster respect for human dignity through body-centered education. this study employs the method of library research—a systematic, analysisbased approach conducted through the collection, documentation, selection, and processing of data from various relevant reference sources. this process includes critical reading of literature, examination of related concepts, and interpretation of findings from previous studies to construct a robust [ 182 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 theoretical foundation (zed, 2004; boaheng, 2024). the sources used include church documents, books by pope john paul ii, scholarly journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and credible online publications. the selection of these sources is based on the consideration that church documents and the works of the pope serve as primary authorities in the teachings of the theology of the body, while academic and scientific literature provides conceptual and contextual frameworks that enrich the analysis. to ensure the validity and relevance of the information gathered, the researcher applied inclusion criteria comprising: (1) sources that directly discuss the theology of the body according to pope john paul ii; (2) literature addressing adolescent formation, character education, and contemporary christian anthropology; and (3) publications with academically and theologically accountable foundations (dekkers et al., 2022). sources that do not meet academic standards or are irrelevant to the research focus were excluded from the analysis. data analysis was conducted using content analysis and theological hermeneutics. content analysis was employed to identify thematic patterns in theological and pastoral texts and to explain the characteristics of messages contained in written sources (badzinski et al., 2021). meanwhile, the hermeneutical approach was used to interpret the theological meaning of texts within the context of adolescent life and the church’s pastoral praxis (briggs, 2020). these two approaches complement each other in producing conceptual synthesis and contextual understanding of the theology of the body. the validity of this method lies in the systematic nature of the analysis and the depth of interpretation of relevant primary and secondary sources. however, its limitations include reliance on available literature and the potential for interpretive bias by the researcher in reading the texts. therefore, the findings of this study are reflective and theoretical in nature and should be further tested through field studies or empirical approaches to strengthen their application in the context of youth education and pastoral ministry. the concept of theology of the body the theology of the body, as proposed by pope john paul ii in a series of general catecheses delivered from september 1979 to november 1984, is a systematic study that reveals the glory of god’s love as manifested in the existence of the human body, both male and female. through this teaching, pope john paul ii emphasized that the human body possesses great dignity as an embodiment of the divine image. the body not only reflects god’s love and [ 183 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 goodness but also plays a fundamental role in interpersonal relationships, the vocation of the human person, and the fulfillment of the purpose of creation. thus, the theology of the body does not merely address the physical aspects of the human person but also explores the spiritual, anthropological, and moral meaning of bodily existence in the light of the christian faith (kleden-beetz, 2014). according to pope john paul ii, the visible human body is a reflection of the invisible god, making it an entity that carries a symbolic and theological function in revealing the divine presence in the world. from the perspective of the theology of the body, the human person is understood as theoslogos, that is, as a living theology that reveals the mystery of god through physical existence. the body is not merely a biological reality but also a means of revelation, playing a role in communicating and manifesting the eternal mystery of god within the context of worldly life. the existence of the human person not only reflects god’s truth and love, but also serves as a means of revelation that brings spiritual and transcendent reality into the material world. through the body, the human person concretely participates in divine life, making the physical dimension a manifestation of an existential relationship with the creator (paul ii, 2005; mayolla & rynanta, 2024).. as a creation willed by god, the body is endowed with high dignity, becoming a tangible sign of his love in worldly life. the physical existence of humans is not merely a biological reality, but also a symbol of spiritual existence that unites the material dimension with the divine essence. this concept underscores that the human body possesses noble dignity because it contains spiritual values that unite the human person with the creator and reinforce the harmony between the physical and spiritual dimensions of life (2009; paul ii, 2005; blegur, 2024). pope john paul ii emphasized that human dignity exists from the beginning of life, from the moment of conception in the womb, because human beings are creatures that possess a unity between the physical and spiritual dimensions (paul ii, 2005). the divine presence is not only reflected in human existence, but is also manifested in every action and relationship expressed through the body. thus, the body acts as an instrument of revelation that actualizes the mystery of creation and reveals god’s love as the foundation of all life (paul ii, 2005; valdo et al., 2024; kleden-beetz, 2014; kayaman, 2025). theology of the body is currently being developed as a living spirituality that helps adolescents understand sexuality in a holistic and responsible amid the challenges of the digital age (prihartanti & andalas, 2025). the study by rabim & made (2023) also critiques the exploitation of the body in consumer culture, [ 184 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 which contradicts the dignity of the human person as a reflection of god. this perspective is reinforced by the understanding that the body is a sign that embodies both spiritual and divine reality. thus, theology of the body offers a relevant anthropological and spiritual framework for responding to the crisis surrounding the meaning of the body and sexuality, while also serving as a critique of the objectification of the body in contemporary popular and digital culture. the document gaudium et spes affirms that the dignity of the human person is rooted in their identity as a creature created in the image and likeness of god (gaudium et spes, 1965). this concept emphasizes that the human person possesses intrinsic worth that does not depend on social, economic, or physical status, but on their very existence as a reflection of the divine. as the image of god, the human person is called to live a life that reflects god’s love, justice, and wisdom. this identity is foundational for understanding human existence in the world and for embracing the human person’s responsibility toward creation and fellow human being. the first dimension of the human person as the image of god concerns their relationship with the creator through the profound spiritual dimension of their being. the human person, as a rational being endowed with intellect and free will, has the capacity to establish a personal relationship with god. this relationship is realized through prayer, spiritual reflection, and moral actions that align with the divine will (gaudium et spes, 1965). this spiritual capacity provides the human person with an awareness of their ultimate purpose and their vocation to seek the truth and to live in harmony with divine law. theology of the body as a pastoral approach to young people adolescence, meaning “to grow toward maturity,” is a developmental phase encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and social changes that influence the formation of an individual’s identity as they transition from childhood to adulthood. the age range for adolescence is generally considered to span from 12 to 21 years and is characterized by the search for identity, the development of abstract thinking, and changes in patterns of social interaction (santrock, 2020b). beyond psychological development, social and cultural contexts also play a significant role in shaping adolescents’ self-concept. environmental influences such as family, peers, and media substantially affect their thought patterns and behaviors. positive social support has been shown to help adolescents navigate developmental challenges and enhance psychological well-being (steinberg, 2014). therefore, a comprehensive understanding of [ 185 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 adolescence is crucial for parents, teachers, and communities in fostering an environment that promotes the holistic and optimal development of adolescents (gunarsa, 2008). adolescents increasingly play a significant role in contemporary society, particularly in the social and political spheres, demonstrating a growing participation and awareness of public issues. however, they also face numerous challenges in adapting to the demands of modern life, including academic and social pressures, as well as expectations placed upon them as the future of both the nation and the church (steinberg, 2014). these challenges can significantly affect mental health and identity formation, thereby necessitating strong social support systems provided by families, peers, and communities (santrock, 2020b). the capacity to foster harmonious relationships and engage in constructive dialogue is a vital component in building adolescents’ psychological resilience, enabling them to overcome uncertainty and doubt during their transition to adulthood (arnett, 2014; steinberg, 2014; indari et al., 2023). in this context, pope john paul ii emphasized that adolescents have a fundamental role in embodying the teachings of the gospel in their lives. he asserted that the transformation of the world largely depends on their active participation in living out christian values. adolescence is viewed as a dynamic phase marked by inner exploration, existential questions, and the potential for restlessness, anxiety, and frustration—factors that require attentive pastoral accompaniment by the family, the church, and society, so that adolescents may develop character and actualize their vocation according to god’s will (tse, 2011). in this regard, adolescents’ social interactions become a crucial factor in shaping the trajectory of their lives, particularly when confronting serious social threats such as drug abuse. pope john paul ii identified drug abuse as a grave danger to adolescents because of its destructive effects on physical and mental health, as well as on the quality of social life (paul ii, 2005). data from the indonesian child protection commission (kpai) in 2024 recorded 2,057 complaints of children’s rights violations, 409 of which involved adolescents aged 15–17 as victims of physical and psychological violence. this age group ranks second highest after toddlers, indicating the vulnerability of adolescents to various forms of violence within family, educational, and social environments. these figures highlight the urgent need to strengthen child protection systems that are responsive to adolescents’ specific needs and to increase public awareness regarding their rights. preventive and rehabilitative efforts—based on a multidisciplinary approach—are essential to fostering a safe and supportive environment for the holistic development of adolescents. [ 186 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 meanwhile, data from the national population and family planning agency (bkkbn) indicate a concerning trend in sexually active behavior among indonesian adolescents: 74% of males and 59% of females aged 15–19 reported having engaged in sexual intercourse. globally, although rates of juvenile delinquency decreased by 18% between 2016 and 2022, the world health organization (who) and the office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention (ojjdp) documented a 65% increase in cases of armed violence involving adolescents. this trend suggests a behavioral shift toward more extreme forms of delinquency, necessitating an interdisciplinary response that includes values-based sexuality education, family resilience, and communitybased social interventions. within the framework of the theology of the body, empirical data on violence and risky sexual behavior among adolescents underscores the urgent need to re-examine the dignity of the human person and the human body as a divine gift to be respected and protected. as taught by pope john paul ii, the theology of the body affirms that the body is not merely a biological reality but a spiritual medium that expresses god’s love and facilitates meaningful relationships between the human person and god. when adolescents experience physical and psychological violence, as reflected in the 409 reported cases involving 15–17-year-olds (kpai, 2024), or engage in sexually active behavior (bkkbn data), it signals a deeper crisis in understanding the sacred value of the body and sexuality as part of a divine vocation. the theology of the body offers a values-based framework for sexuality education that emphasizes not only self-mastery but also the development of an awareness of one’s spiritual identity as a person created in the image of god. in this vision, the body is not an object of exploitation or a mere outlet for desire, but a place of the revelation of love. therefore, sexuality education rooted in the theology of the body is a vital strategy for cultivating adolescents’ moral and psychological resilience and for preventing behaviors that degrade the dignity of the human person. this approach also necessitates the active involvement of families, the church, and broader communities in fostering a transformative support system—one in which adolescents’ bodies are cherished as reflections of god’s love rather than commodified by a permissive culture. social phenomena in indonesia reinforce this urgency. in ponorogo, 191 junior high and high school students applied for marriage dispensations due to early pregnancy, the majority of them under the age of 19 (pebrianti, 2023). in the digital realm, unicef reports that up to 56% of incidents involving the online sexual exploitation of children go unreported, highlighting both a weak [ 187 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 protection system and a lack of awareness regarding the dignity of the human person. these facts indicate that adolescents’ bodies are increasingly treated as objects rather than as subjects endowed with spiritual and moral value. when the body loses its sacred meaning, adolescents become more vulnerable to identity crises, psychological disorders, and social isolation. the theology of the body affirms that the human body is a visible sign of the invisible—the spiritual and the divine. the body is not merely a biological function or an object of moral regulation, but a living sacrament that expresses god’s love and serves as a means of forming meaningful relationships. when adolescents’ bodies are exploited—whether through violence, promiscuity, or a permissive culture—it harms their spiritual identity as persons created in the image of god. therefore, a pastoral and educational approach rooted in the theology of the body is essential for cultivating adolescents’ awareness that their bodies are gifts bearing moral and spiritual responsibilities. the body must not only be protected from violation but also respected as a sacred space for the revelation of god’s love. holistic support from the family, church, and community is essential to enable adolescents to actualize the dignity of the human person in a life aligned with god’s will (santrock, 2020; rodriguez, 2023; kayaman, 2025). while christian theology-based approaches possess significant ethical and spiritual value, they must be examined critically and contextually. in today’s pluralistic and multicultural society, adolescents no longer grow up in culturally or religiously homogeneous environments, but instead navigate a diverse spectrum of values, ideologies, and moral frameworks (taylor, 2007; santrock, 2020). the formation of adolescent identity is shaped not only by church teachings but also by media, educational institutions, economic realities, and complex socio-political dynamics (marcia, 1980; rodriguez, 2023). consequently, a purely theological approach—if disconnected from contemporary social realities—risks being reductionist and less effective in addressing the multidimensional challenges of the holistic development of adolescents. to avoid an overly theological and reductionist approach, churches and christian educational institutions are encouraged to design thematic and contextual curricula for adolescent development. each weekly or monthly theme could address relevant issues—such as mental health, social media pressure, or environmental justice—while linking them to values drawn from the christian faith through bible study, group discussions, and personal reflection. these themes may be reinforced through practical methods such as faith journals, case studies, and social action projects that allow adolescents [ 188 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 to apply christian principles in real-life situations. learning materials should be created with flexibility and interactivity, incorporating digital media, short videos, and communication platforms familiar to adolescents (livingstone, 2014; rodriguez, 2023). this strategy aligns with the principles of experiencebased education and contextual theological reflection, which emphasize the active engagement of adolescents in their identity formation process (bevans, 2002). in addition, churches can form interdisciplinary teams composed of clergy, religious teachers, psychologists, and youth facilitators to design and implement development programs. activities such as cross-value seminars, small-group mentoring, and pastoral counseling can be organized regularly to support the holistic formation of adolescent identity. churches may also collaborate with schools, local communities, and social organizations to broaden learning opportunities and increase adolescents’ engagement with social issues (santrock, 2020; marcia, 1980). through such efforts, faith education becomes not only a space for doctrinal instruction but also an arena for character development and spiritual formation that is relevant, reflective, and socially transformative. this approach empowers adolescents to critically and constructively integrate their faith with the complex realities of life in a pluralistic world (taylor, 2007). cross-disciplinary collaboration in the context of the theology of the body, the approach to adolescents experiencing violence and risky sexual behavior must be enriched with a holistic anthropological and spiritual perspective. the theology of the body, as taught by pope john paul ii, affirms that the human body is not merely a biological entity or an object of moral regulation, but rather a living sacrament that expresses god’s love and serves as a means of fostering meaningful relationships between human beings and god. pope john paul ii’s vision of the body as a medium of divine revelation and an expression of human dignity is in line with the perspectives of contemporary theologians such as setiawan, müller, and haack. setiawan (2022) argues that sexuality and the body are transcendent expressions of human dignity as the image of god, not merely biological realities. the body is not merely a biological instrument, but also a sacrament that reveals the divine mystery in human life. this idea is further reinforced by müller’s work, which explores the contribution of the christian tradition to the understanding of human dignity and rights through four key dimensions: anthropological, moral, legal, and practical. he places particular emphasis on the imago dei paradigm and [ 189 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 the dignity of the human person. müller argues that christian thought offers a strong foundation for ethical narratives and engagement, but warns that interpretations that ignore the universal aspects of this paradigm can hinder comprehensive understanding—thus calling for ongoing ecumenical dialogue (muller, 2020). similarly, haack emphasizes that human dignity, as an expression of transcendence, can only be fully understood through christian theological anthropology—particularly through this concept, in which the body becomes the place of revelation of god’s love and the ethical foundation for social relations (haack, 2012). all three emphasize that the body is a spiritual manifestation of human identity as the image of god. in the theology of the body, the body is not only biologically functional but also sacramental—expressing divine mystery and serving as an ethical basis for social and moral engagement. this perspective broadens the understanding of human dignity as a unity of body and soul, which has intrinsic value from the beginning of life. this theological vision is in line with gaudium et spes, a key document of the second vatican council, which affirms that human dignity is rooted in the identity of human beings as creatures made in the image and likeness of god (gaudium et spes, 1965). this document emphasizes that human value does not depend on social, economic, or physical status, but rather on human nature as a reflection of the divine. as bearers of god’s image, humans are called to live in love, justice, and wisdom, and to be responsible for creation and their fellow human beings. therefore, both the theology of the body and gaudium et spes emphasize the integral spiritual and social role of the body in realizing human dignity and fulfilling the human calling. the theology of the body approach offers a holistic preventive strategy that encompasses spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions. this aligns with erik erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which posits that adolescence is a critical stage of identity formation versus role confusion. adolescents require a healthy environment for exploration, robust social support, and deep value-based education in order to form a stable identity (erikson, 1968; kamilla et al., 2022; julieta, 2023). in this regard, santrock emphasized that adolescent development involves the interaction of biological, cognitive, and socio-emotional aspects, which collectively shape an individual’s self-concept and behavior (santrock, 2020a). the theology of the body complements this psychological framework by offering a spiritual foundation that affirms the body as both a gift and a responsibility—never merely a biological mechanism or moral object a study by kalalo et al. (2025) demonstrates that a holistic christian educational [ 190 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 approach—integrating spiritual, social, emotional, and physical dimensions— has a positive impact on the personal development and the psychological wellbeing of adolescents. in this framework, teachers and teachers serve not only as academic instructors but also as spiritual mentors who nurture adolescents’ emotional and mental development, enabling them to face the challenges of the digital age with integrity and wisdom. accordingly, the theology of the body functions not only as a theological doctrine but also as a practical foundation for designing comprehensive, relevant, and transformative educational and pastoral interventions for today’s adolescents. the implementation of the theology of the body in catholic settings, particularly for adolescents, can be effectively realized through catechesis that is informed by erikson’s psychosocial development theory—especially the fifth stage: identity versus role confusion. erikson noted that adolescence (approximately ages 12–18) is a pivotal period for forming self-identity, during which individuals explore values, beliefs, and social roles that will shape the direction of their lives. at this stage, adolescents are especially vulnerable to identity confusion when they lack sufficient guidance from both social and spiritual environments. the theology of the body, as articulated by pope john paul ii, provides a robust spiritual framework to assist adolescents in understanding their bodies as both gifts and vocations—not merely biological or moral entities. the body is viewed as a living sacrament that manifests divine love and facilitates communion between humans and god. through catechesis grounded in the theology of the body, adolescents are encouraged to recognize the dignity of the human person and their own bodies as images of god, empowering them to cultivate a holistic identity encompassing spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions. catechetical programs have shown the effectiveness of this approach. psychoeducational sessions offered to parents and caregivers of adolescents have deepened their understanding of bodily dignity and sexuality within the framework of catholic faith. catechetical materials—addressing themes such as “who am i?”, “body and soul,” “sexuality and purity of heart,” and “hope and the future”—have supported adolescents in developing identities aligned with gospel values, helping them to resist role confusion often exacerbated by peer pressure and a permissive cultural climate. thus, the theology of the body is not merely a set of moral teachings; it is a relevant and transformative pastoral approach that supports adolescents in their search for identity. when integrated with erikson’s developmental theory, the theology of the body functions as a spiritual intervention that strengthens [ 191 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 identity formation, prevents role confusion, and guides adolescents toward a responsible and faith-grounded adulthood rooted in the love of god. according to pope john paul ii, every believer has the right to receive proper catechetical instruction, and religious leaders have the responsibility to provide it. catechesis plays a crucial role in shaping adolescents’ understanding of the faith and fostering a profound respect for the dignity of the human person. adolescents are often drawn to the pursuit of worldly pleasures that can obscure the deeper meaning of life. therefore, faith formation through catechesis is an essential means of guiding them to discover the true purpose of life and to build meaningful relationships with god and others. through catechesis, adolescents are led to develop attitudes and behaviors that align with the divine will, enabling them to live according to moral and spiritual values. in addition to nurturing their understanding of the faith, catechesis contributes significantly to character formation, equipping adolescents to face contemporary challenges with firm christian principles. thus, this form of education serves as a compass for adolescents in fostering harmonious relationships with god, others, and the environment in a sustainable way, helping them to fulfill their vocation as evangelizers in daily life (keron & tarihoran, 2024). next, specific implementation strategies will be described, involving pastoral agents within the catholic church, including the integral role of parents in the family and catholic teachers in educational institutions. these efforts form part of a systematic approach to accompanying and holistically shaping adolescents. the active involvement of these agents is crucial in transmitting the values of the theology of the body through catechesis, character education, and contextual spiritual formation, in order to strengthen adolescents’ understanding of the dignity of the human person, self-identity, and moral responsibility in the light of the catholic faith. actors for the prevention of juvenile delinquency adolescents need to be equipped with fundamental values that can shape their character and support their development in a positive direction. in guiding adolescents towards a dignified adulthood, various actors have strategic roles, especially the family as the first and primary educational community. pope john paul ii emphasized that the family is a community of love and life, which serves as the foundation for the formation of the human person. in this context, parents act as the primary educators who instill essential human values, particularly the value of love. this love becomes the foundation for [ 192 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 adolescents to develop respect for the dignity of every human person and to foster a spirit of harmony and peace within their social environment (wijaya, 2009). in addition to parents, catechists (faith educators) play a crucial role in guiding adolescents in understanding and living the christian faith. as teachers and spiritual mentors, catechists help adolescents to deepen their knowledge of the teachings of christ, so that they may personally encounter the presence of god in their lives. through the process of faith formation, adolescents are not only introduced to moral and spiritual values, but are also encouraged to internalize the message of salvation offered by christ. catechists thus contribute significantly to the formation of the religious character of adolescents, which can guide them towards a meaningful life aligned with christian values (pope john paul ii, 2016). in the development of adolescent faith and character, catechists have a strategic role in teaching two main aspects: first, the understanding of religious values. through structured and continuous catechesis, catechists assist adolescents in internalizing and deepening their faith. this process not only involves understanding christian doctrines and teachings but also encourages adolescents to integrate spiritual values into their daily lives; second, the formation of social awareness in adolescents. at this stage of development, adolescents often face various value conflicts, attitudinal struggles, and social responsibilities. catechists play a crucial role in guiding them towards positive behaviors by encouraging participation in activities that foster their potential. through a community-based approach, adolescents can learn to appreciate diversity, develop empathy, and abandon attitudes and behaviors that are not in accordance with christian values. with consistent, faith-based, and value-oriented accompaniment, catechists contribute to forming adolescents who are faithful and have high social responsibility (paulus, et.al., 2020). in addition to parents and catechists, catholic religious education teachers have an important role in guiding adolescents towards a deeper understanding of the faith and the dignity of the human person. in his address (lecture) to catholic educators in new orleans in 1987, pope john paul ii emphasized that catholic educators have the primary responsibility to convey the truth about the dignity of the human person, who is created in the image and likeness of god. catholic religious education (pak) teachers are not only responsible for imparting religious knowledge but also serve as spiritual guides who accompany students to live in the light of christ through the guidance of the holy spirit. furthermore, catholic religious education (pak) teachers also function as counselors, who provide pastoral attention to the various challenges [ 193 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 faced by adolescents. as counselors, teachers are called to conduct a careful and comprehensive discernment regarding the difficulties experienced by their students, so that the guidance they offer can effectively help adolescents to find solutions that are aligned with christian values. through this holistic approach, the role of catholic religious education (pak) teachers becomes essential in the formation of adolescents who are faithful, who possess a wellformed character, and who demonstrate high social responsibility (sukarman, 2021). building positive attitudes and respecting human body pope john paul ii taught that the human body possesses a profound spiritual and moral dimension, serving as a means of self-expression that reflects the soul and the personality of the human person. from the perspective of the theology of the body, the human person is called to understand the body as a sign of god’s presence in the world, so that its use should always reflect gratitude for the divine gift and deep respect for the dignity of the human person. for adolescents as the next generation, developing an awareness of the true meaning of the body is a crucial aspect of character formation grounded in christian values. the positive use of the body—through acts of service to others, the expression of creativity, and the building of healthy interpersonal relationships—is a concrete form of respect for human dignity. with this understanding, adolescents can foster a responsible attitude in using their bodies as instruments for realizing authentic love and peace in social life. one of the positive attitudes that must be fostered and developed in adolescents is active participation in world youth day (wyd). this event is a manifestation of saint john paul ii’s profound pastoral concern for young people. it serves as a platform for dialogue, deepening of faith, and the strengthening of a solid christian identity amid the complexities and challenges of contemporary society. world youth day (wyd) offers various activities that strengthen spirituality and foster a spirit of communion, such as the celebration of the eucharist, the procession of the wyd cross, communal prayers, artistic and cultural performances, religious music concerts, as well as social outreach and community service. through participation in these activities, adolescents not only experience a personal encounter with christ but also strengthen their solidarity as members of the living and dynamic body of the church. by instilling the value of involvement in wyd, adolescents are invited to become more aware of their vocation as part of a community of faith that contributes [ 194 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 to building a world more deeply rooted in love and peace (natalia, 2021). in addition to participation in religious activities, fostering the cultural engagement of today’s adolescents is an essential element in shaping their identity and character. the younger generation serves as agents of change, bringing new approaches to social realities with characteristics that are unique and distinct from those of previous generations. in the era of rapidly advancing digital transformation, adolescents are accustomed to the use of technology, dynamic lifestyles, and active interactions through social media. their openness to diverse perspectives and cultural plurality is a defining trait, enabling more inclusive cross-cultural and social relationships. therefore, it is essential for adolescents to continue developing dialogical, appreciative, and collaborative attitudes, so that they can prudently use the cultural potential of their time to build a more harmonious and respectful environment. by engaging in activities that promote cultural and social values, adolescents not only strengthen their own identity but also contribute to the formation of a society that is more open and respectful (synod of bishops, 2019). furthermore, social commitment is one of the defining characteristics of today’s adolescents, which is reflected in their readiness and willingness to participate in various voluntary initiatives aimed at strengthening solidarity within society. this spirit of volunteerism needs to be properly directed and supported so that the potential possessed by young people—including their talents, abilities, and creativity—can be developed optimally. with appropriate guidance, social commitment becomes not only a channel for expressing compassion but also a means of fostering a sense of responsibility in fulfilling the tasks entrusted to them (synod of bishops, 2019). the synod of bishops emphasized the importance of the participation and active involvement of adolescents in both social life and the life of the church. this involvement encourages the emergence of new ideas and initiatives, especially in using digital communication as a tool for social mobilization and constructive political advocacy. through meaningful participation, adolescents contribute to defending the welfare of the weakest and most marginalized members of society, thereby fostering a stronger culture of solidarity and social concern (synod of bishops, 2019). pope john paul ii’s theology of the body emphasizes the unity of body and soul as a spiritual expression that reveals god’s love and affirms human dignity. this stands in contrast to secular psychological approaches, which often separate the spiritual dimension from the analysis of human behavior. secular psychology, in many cases, operates within frameworks of materialism or atheistic naturalism, recognizing the body and mind but neglecting the soul or [ 195 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 transcendent aspects (ashcraft, 2021). as a result, psychological interventions frequently focus on symptoms and behaviors rather than the spiritual roots of identity crises or juvenile delinquency. nevertheless, the discourse surrounding theology of the body is not without critique, particularly from feminist theological circles. some feminist theologians argue that the teaching remains rooted in patriarchal frameworks, emphasizing the role of the body within heterosexual relationships and marriage, thereby offering limited space for diverse and contextualized experiences of the female body (moulaison, 2007). feminist theories of the body highlight how women’s bodies are often subjected to social and religious control, and they frame the body as a site of resistance and transformation against oppressive norms (cleary, 2015). in this context, theology of the body must be further developed to address critical questions of gender, sexuality, and bodily justice in light of christian faith. some critiques also suggest that the teaching is overly idealistic and insufficiently grounded in the complex realities of adolescent life—particularly within digital culture and value pluralism (johnson, 2001). therefore, advancing a more inclusive and contextual theology of the body is essential to bridge bodily spirituality with contemporary social dynamics. conclusion this study affirms that an understanding of the theology of the body, as taught by pope john paul ii, offers a significant contribution to the formation of adolescents’ spiritual identity as persons created in the image of god. the body is understood not merely as a biological entity, but as a living sacrament that reveals god’s love and presence within human relationships. in addressing contemporary challenges such as sexual disorientation and moral fragmentation, this spiritual approach provides a relevant foundation for cultivating awareness of the body as both a gift and a moral responsibility. the contributions of this research include: a) theoretical contribution: the development of theological anthropology that views the body as a spiritual and moral expression; b) practical contribution: a contextual and pastoral model for character education for adolescents in the digital age; c) future research directions: recommendations for systematic and interdisciplinary educational strategies that integrate the theology of the body with developmental psychology, digital ethics, and christian spirituality. thus, this study strengthens the theological and pedagogical foundations of the church in forming a generation of young people with spiritual integrity, moral awareness, and deep respect for human dignity as the image of god. 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[ 200 ] al albab: volume 14 number 2 december 2025 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v14i2.3707 editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 45 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim pascasarjana universitas islam negeri muslim email: supratman.almunzy@gmail.com suprapto pascasarjana universitas islam negeri mataram email: suprapto@uinmataram.ac.id jamaluddin pascasarjana universitas islam negeri mataram email: jamaluddin.spi74@gmail.com abstract pesantren (islamic boarding schools) is a religious educational institution that has long history in indonesia. pesatren has an important role in producing religious figures, including kyai (an expert of islamic teachings) or tuan guru (grand teacher). however, this role began to fade as many secular educational institutions emerged due to modernization and globalization, and at the same time pesantren began to change a lot to adapt to this new system. this study aims to explore the role of the ma’had dar al-qur’an wa al-hadith nahdlatul wathan (mdqh nw) islamic boarding school in maintaining the tuan guru (grand teacher) tradition, and the strategies used to maintain this tradition. this study used a qualitative method with data collected through techniques of participatory observation, in-depth interviews and documentation. the results indicate that the mdqh nw has a significant contribution in maintaining the tuan guru tradition. this is demonstrated by the pattern of education and all institutional activities oriented to the pesantren culture with the study of the al-mu’tabarah book with the halaqah system. the strategies include strengthening traditional education, strengthening socio-religious relations, and strengthening islamic da’wah. continuity is also seen in the social relations built with the masyayikh (internal quality assurance) at madrasah shaulatiyah makkah. changes also occurred at the mdqh nw in pancor regarding the duration of studies, especially for the talibat (female students) who previously took 3 years then extended to 4 years, which is the same duration as the tullab (male students). however, the mdqh nw islamic boarding school in anjani still maintains the rule that has become the legacy of its founders, namely three years for the talibat and four the tullab. keywords: tuan guru; tradition; nahdlatul wathan; pesantren [ 46 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 introduction pesantren is the oldest and indigenous indonesian islamic educational institution having produced ulemas (islamic scholars) and leaders contributing to the indonesia’s independence. as the oldest islamic educational institution, pesantren is at the forefront of providing education and instruction, as well as developing and spreading islamic knowledge [tafaqquh fi al-din] (hamdi, 2017; nasir, 2010: 80). in addition, pesantren also serve as the fortress of defense for the ummah, a da’wah center, and a center for the intellectual development of the islamic community (encyclopedia of islam, 1994:99). thus, the existence of pesantren is believed to provide the best solution with regard to improving the intellectual life of the nation. as an educational institution, according to dhofier, pesantren has at least five main elements, namely, pondok (boarding school), mosque, instruction of classical books (locally known as kitab kuning or yellow books), santri (students), and kyai (an expert in islam who leads the pesantren) (dhofier, 1984: 44-45; hamdi, 2018). in pesantren community, the kyai or tuan guru (the term used in lombok which literally means ‘grand teacher’) is a figure who has a strategic role because in addition to being a teacher, he is also the leader of a pesantren who teaches kitab gundul (books written in arabic without vowel marks) or also known as kitab kuning [yellow books]) (dhofier, 1984: 55). jamaluddin reported that tuan guru has a great influence and a strategic social status among the people of lombok, and it is not limited to the pesantren community but also applies in society in general (jamaluddin, 2019: 123; smith & hamdi, 2014). the great influence of tuan guru in the sasak community is because they are considered to have high religious knowledge (alim saleh), and they have also performed the pilgrimage to mecca as the fifth pillar of islam. therefore, the title of tuan guru in the sasak community cannot be separated from the concept of “hajj” as a form of implementation of the fifth pillar of islam. the islamic tradition will be well maintained through the tuan guru tradition which originated from the pesantren tradition (see hamdi, 2019). this work aims at exploring these three research questions. first, what is the contribution of ma’had dār al-qur’an wa al-hadith (mdqh) in maintaining the tuan guru tradition? second, what are the strategies used by ma’had dār al-qur’an wa al-hadith’s (mdqh) to increase its contribution in maintaining the tuan guru tradition? and third, how is the continuity and change in the mdqh nw in maintaining the tuan guru tradition? the mdqh nw as a non-formal and non-degree educational institution provides a different perspective compared to other educational institutions, both general education [ 47 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 and pesantren in general. however, the mdqh nw in its educational activities cannot be separated from the definition of education in general as stated by carter v. good that education is “a social process by which people are subjected to the influence of a selected and controlled environment (especially that of the school) so they may attain social competence and optimum individual development.” in the islamic world, education is called tarbiyah, which is a process of transforming knowledge from educators (rabbani) to students so that they have attitude and enthusiasm in understanding and realizing their lives, so that piety, character, and noble personality are formed (mujib and mudzakkir, 2006:13). according to tgh [tuan guru haji] anas hasyri that a tuan guru must be able to read the ‘yellow’ book and have a noble character like a scholar because he is the heir of prophets (warasatul anbiya’). as heirs of prophets, ulemas (islamic scholars) must also be able to show the attitude and behavior possessed by the prophets such as being honest (siddiq), trustworthy (amanah), spreading da’wah (tabligh), being intelligent (fathanah) (fahrurrozi, 2015:102). in light of the above discussion, it can be said that a tuan guru is an ulema that serves as a role model for the community, has charisma and provides religious instruction to the community through majlis ta’lim, pesantren, and has met certain criteria and requirements. the criteria for someone to be recognized as a tuan guru include: (1) having a high or broad understanding of religious knowledge, (2) having charisma and being a descendant of a tuan guru, (3) the leader of a boarding school or majlis ta’lim, (4) has arabic language skills and reads the ‘yellow’ books (books written in arabic without vowel marks), (5) has performed the pilgrimage to mecca, and (6) has received recognition or acceptance from the community (social recognition). this article is based on case study research. the approach used was the ethnographic approach as one of the strategies in qualitative research in which we examined a cultural group in a natural environment over a long period of time in collecting main data, observation data, and interview data (sugiyono, 2017). in addition, we also used a historical approach, namely a study of sources of information about the past. data collection techniques used are participatory observation, interviews, documentation, and triangulation. the data analysis was carried out using data reduction, data display, verification and conclusion drawing. islam and acculturation in lombok religious life in west nusa tenggara province, on lombok island in particular, is colored by sasak traditions or culture which is based on spiritual [ 48 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 and religious values (hamdi, 2019; 2015). it is not regarded as sasak culture if it is not in line with tradition and religion. culture is a contextual practice of religion, and it developed to preserve religion. culture has become one of the elements of the character of the sasak people in their customs. sasak and islam or more specifically the sasak people and islamic values are two things that are difficult to separate. they are like two sides of a coin, one and the other are interrelated and complement each other. one of the facts that is used as evidence in this respect is that oral folklore and the sasak sagas reveal a lot about islamic values and are used as a means of instilling them. an example of the oral folklore is the myth of pamali (pemali) which is implicitly used to instill the values of islamic education; stories from the sasak area that contain religious (islamic) values are, among others, the story “wali nyatok, sinful tuan guru, and haji ali batu”; and the sagas that contain strong islamic teachings are, among others, shari’a as the allegory of the body, tariqa as the allegory of the heart, haqiqa as the allegory of life (fakihuddin, 2018: 2) lombok island is inhabited not only by the sasak tribe who are almost entirely muslim, but also by other ethnic groups such as balinese who are hindu and buddhist, bugis, javanese, malay and sumbawa. thus, the sasak culture is also heavily influenced by the culture of other communities. regarding its close connection with javanese culture, it can be traced from the contents of the babad lombok, which contains information about the relationship between lombok island and giri (gresik). similarly, the connection with the malay and balinese culture can be traced to the presence of lontar written in javanesebalinese language, sasak-balinese language, and kelayu language. the infiltration of islamic norms towards the sasak community can illustrate the state of religiosity in lombok where islam has become the majority religion of the people in west nusa tenggara province, especially on lombok island. this is an indication that religious leaders, tuan guru, are quite successful in acculturation to present a moderate face of islam. local islam basically reflects a creative form of islam which is constructed through a dialectical process. in this process there is mutual support, give and take, through continuous interaction without ignoring the inclusion of local elements. sasak islam is not only a transferral from the middle east, but at the same time also a creative combination with local culture. the two religious patterns of the wetu telu and islam waktu lima communities can still coexist, and even complement each other as seen in a number of rituals. to date, tolerance between people of different religions on lombok island continues to be maintained. tolerance between religious communities should be the responsibility of the government and society to continue to maintain [ 49 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 and develop it. according to historical records, with regard to hindus and muslims in lombok, tolerance has been built since hundreds of years ago. the tradition of perang topat (topat war) in lingsar involving hindus and muslims is clear evidence of the establishment of harmony between these two peoples despite different beliefs. every year on the seventh full moon according to the sasak calendar and the sixth full moon according to the balinese calendar or around december, there is a perang topat (topat war) accompanied by a hindu pujawali ceremony at lingsar temple. although it may sound frightening as there is the word “war”, it is not a conventional war that is meant to cause casualties, both in terms of property and life. this war is a war of peace, the weapons used in that war are not live bullets, revolvers or missiles or other types of lethal weapons. the weapon used is only a small ketupat (rice cake) with a weight approximately the same as a rambutan fruit. so, when the enemy is hit, not a scream of pain is heard but screams and shouts of joy. tuan guru and the tradition of tuan guru in lombok terminologically, tuan guru in the lombok sasak community is an honorary title for someone who has a high and honorable social status, a role model for the community, and a leader in enforcing amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (promotion of virtue and prevention of vice). as stated by asnawi (2006: 23; hamdi, 2017) as follows: “tuan guru in the perspective of the islamic community on lombok island is a religious title given by the community to someone who has scientific competence in the field of religion, and the naming of this title grew out of the community in general that the figure called ‘tuan guru’ has a pesantren and community-based followers, and has also performed the hajj (pilgrimage to mecca).” for the sasak people of lombok, as fahrurrozi (2015:68) reported, a tuan guru is considered a superior person who has everything it takes to be a leader, so whatever he says is what his congregation will do. this is simply because it is not easy to be a superior person as it requires comprehensive processes and requirements. this is in line with jamaluddin’s opinion which stated that a person who is entitled to the title of tuan guru at least meets the requirements such as having adequate religious knowledge, having studied with prominent scholars in the middle east (haramain), having community recognition, and having karomah [god’s blessings]. jamaluddin, 2019:150). according to tgh [tuan guru haji] anas hasyri that a tuan guru must be able to read the ‘yellow’ book and have a noble character like a scholar because he is [ 50 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 the heir of prophets (warasatul anbiya’). as heirs of prophets, ulemas (islamic scholars) must also be able to show the attitude and behavior possessed by the prophets such as being honest (siddiq), trustworthy (amanah), spreading da’wah (tabligh), being intelligent (fathanah) (fahrurrozi, 2015:102) in light of the above discussion, it can be said that a tuan guru is an ulema that serves as a role model for the community, has charisma and provides religious instruction to the community through majlis ta’lim, pesantren, and has met certain criteria and requirements. the criteria for someone to be recognized as a tuan guru include: (1) having a high or broad understanding of religious knowledge, (2) having charisma and being a descendant of a tuan guru, (3) the leader of a boarding school or majlis ta’lim, (4) has arabic language skills and reads the ‘yellow’ books (books written in arabic without vowel marks), (5) has performed the pilgrimage to mecca, and (6) has received recognition or acceptance from the community (social recognition) (hamdi, 2019). as a central figure, a tuan guru is not only responsible for advocating for the muslim community, but as quoted by suprapto (suprapto, 2017:11) he also has the ability to build harmony between religious communities. “mechanism of conflict prevention and peacebuilding will be sustainable when people are willing to establish two engagements: bonding engagement within a group and bridging engagement between diverse groups”. in the context of conflict resolution, the role of the tuan guru as a religious figure is stronger than the role of traditional leaders (suprapto, 2013:311). the authority and character of the tuan guru when compared to traditional leaders is much more capable of creating mass obedience, because a tuan guru’s advice is far more effective and able to reach a wide audience. mdqh nw’s contribution in maintaining the tuan guru tradition to find out how far the contribution of the mdqh nw in maintaining the tuan guru tradition, let us first describe a general picture starting from the philosophy and history of the establishment of the mdqh nw as the object of research. furthermore, the institutional activities which are the main research variables will be described as the basis for analyzing and assessing the contribution to the maintenance the tuan guru tradition. the institutional activities ranging from input, process, and output as well as outcomes will be described in order to obtain a detailed picture related to the mdqh nw’s contribution to the maintenance of the tuan guru tradition. it is also important to describe the role of mutakharrijin/mutakharrijat (mdqh nw’s alumni) as heirs to the tuan guru tradition. [ 51 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 the philosophy of the mdqh nw can be found in a poem and at the same time becomes the marching song of the mdqh nw composed by its founder, almagfurullahu mawlana al-shaykh tgkh muhammad zainuddin abdul madjid. this philosophy provides an understanding of what the mdqh nw is, what it is founded on, and what its objectives are. the mdqh nw is an inseparable part of nahdlatul wathan’s long history of education which was born out of the maturity of the thinking of the mawlana and the maturity of experience in establishing various madrasas at various levels. with the ability to do ijtihad [independent reasoning byan expert in islamic law] in the world of education, the mdqh nw is a methodological-pedagogic educational formulation that was specifically established to study the books inherited from his teachers in mecca al mukarramah. at the beginning of its establishment in 1965, the number of tullab [students] was quite a lot, i.e. between one hundred to two hundred who were none other than mawlana shaykh’s chosen students. the maturity of the tullabs is shaped in such a way at the mdqh nw so that they can be expected to become leaders or tuan guru in the midst of society. there is no madrasa that mawlana shaykh was so fond of other than ma’had. “ ma’had taoqne tumpah kesyukuranku” [ma’had makes my heart spill over with gratitude], said mawlana shaykh. he praised it with respect and his tullab/talibat [male and female students] were declared as his children. “i only have two daughters, you will be my sons,” he said. in fact, he once said of his admiration for ma’had graduates, “seandene araq mdqh nw banat laeq ie genku bait” (if there was a female [student] who graduated from ma’had, i would take her or marry her). the mdqh nw certainly did not emerge in a vacuum, but it was present in the midst of the people who were in need of it, namely the need for an understanding of religious sciences as spiritual provisions like plants that expect rain to fall from the sky. on that basis, almagfurullahu mawlana syaykh’s strong intention to found the mdqh nw could be realized. his internal thought and movement included efforts to preserve the introduction, appreciation, teachings and practices within the nahdlatul wathan environment. the teachings and practices referred to are the aqidah ahl alsunnah wa al-jama’ah, ala madhabi al-imam al-shafi’i radiyallohu anhu. the affirmation of the importance of preserving aqida is as quoted by jamaluddin (2017:28) in his will that was recited on the 17th anniversary of nw before the students of the mdqh nw in pancor on march 1, 1970 which coincided with the 24th dzulhijjah 1389 h, namely: [ 52 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 aduh sayang! azas nw jangan diubah sepanjang masa sepanjang sanah sunnah jama’ah dalam ‘aqidah madzhab syafi’i dalam syari’ah [oh dear! don’t change the nw principle all the time all the time sunnah of the congregation in ‘aqidah shafi’i school in shari’a] the mdqh nw as an institution for tafaqquh fi al-din [religious studies] is increasingly convincing for those hoping to obtain religious knowledge in the life of the nation and state. by firmly maintaining the traditional pattern of education (salafiyah) through special learning to study the books of almu’tabarah (the yellow books) with the halaqah system which is a pesantren tradition, alumni or mutakharrijin of the mdqh nw are cadres of tuan guru who are always faithful in giving their service to the community, religion, homeland, and nation. another variable that can describe the contribution of the mdqh nw to the maintenance of the gurun-guru tradition is the activities of the mutakharrijin and mutakharrijat [male and female alumni]. essentially, the task carried out by the alumni is very heavy. one of the main tasks after completing their studies at the mdqh nw is to always be at the forefront of taking a role in upholding the religion of allah almighty (li i’lai kalimatillah,wa izzil islam wa al-muslimin). the alumni’s capacity to serve the community can be seen from the intellectual, functional, and kinship perspectives. the mdqh nw alumni as stated by fahrurrozi can play a role in four forms of leadership, namely first, they may emerge as community leaders; second, as intellectual leaders; third, as spiritual leaders; finally, as administrative leaders (2019:58). one of the important indicators in assessing the contribution of the mdqh nw (pesantren) in passing down the tuan guru tradition is by looking at the alumni’s activities which is playing an active role in social activities. in this context tuan guru haji ishaq abdul gani (interview 3 may 2020) said: “the presence of the mdqh nw alumni in the midst of society is like stars that emit light in the darkness of night. that is, if viewed from the scientific aspect of the alumni, they can work as tutors in providing advocacy related to islamic issues to the community. in carrying out social activities, the alumni [ 53 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 should always take part and never miss out. therefore, these alumni should play not only double, but also multiple roles”. the presence of pesantren that are managed directly by the mdqh nw alumni can illustrate the fulfillment of the six criteria for the tuan guru which also reflect the contribution of the mdqh nw in maintaining the tuan guru tradition. of the 692 pesantren in west nusa tenggara, 30.6 percent or 212 them are managed by the mdqh nw alumni or mutakharrijin. this is a fairly high number of alumni from an islamic university-level educational institution in the pursuit of da’wah where the tuan guru is a central figure in islamic culture. so, it is quite reasonable to say that the mdqh nw has a significant contribution to the maintenance of the tuan guru tradition. in addition, with 127,799 students and 7,865 teachers involved in the learning process at the pesantren which is managed by the mutakharrijin, there is no doubt about the significant contribution of the mdqh nw in maintaining islamic culture and traditions in the midst of society in west nusa tenggara. mdqh nw strategies in maintaining the tuan guru tradition in general, strategy can be interpreted as a careful plan of activities to achieve specific goals. in other words, strategy is the outline of the direction in action to achieve the planned goals. the mdqh nw has several strategies in carrying out instructional activities to achieve educational goals, i.e. first, strengthening traditional education (salafiyah); second, building socio-religious relations; and third, strengthening islamic da’wah. regarding the strategy of strengthening traditional education (salafiyah), the mdqh nw --as one of the pesantren-based religious education institutions, in carrying out activities as a place to maintain islamic traditions-always refers to the learning activities of salaf pesantren which has become its benchmark. the strategic steps of the mdqh nw in carrying out learning activities are the tradition of entrustment and admission of students, the tradition of learning the yellow books (books written in arabic with no vowel marks), and the tradition of halaqah instruction. the nw mdqh tradition does not use the words mahasiswa and mahasiswi (indonesian word for male and female college students respectively) and but uses the words tullab and talibat. new tullab/talibat are admitted with a simple and flexible recruitment system, meaning that the mdqh nw does not recruit tullab and talibat with a strict administrative system as required by other government or private higher education institutions. anyone who has graduated from the madrasah aliyah (islamic senior high school) and wants [ 54 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 to study at the mdqh nw cannot be turned down and there is no limit to the number of quotas for tullab/talibat candidates to enroll. because in principle, tullab/talibat who study at the mdqh nw are likened to those who come to seek knowledge (reciting the qur’an), so it should not be limited or even turned down. this has become a tradition since the time of almagfurullahu mawlana shaykh and is unique for mdqh nw because it does not apply to educational institutions elsewhere. as for the tradition of entrusting students to the mdqh nw, haji syarwani (interviewed on 22 march 2020) said that, in fact, the oath and allegiance taken by tullab and talibat contain complex meanings. this means that the pledge of allegiance in addition to its meaning is a pledge of loyalty to be obedient to allah and his messenger, which is also a pledge of loyalty to carry out the mandate in the nahḍatul waṭan’s struggle. in other words, the pledge, oath, and allegiance are sacred bonds between teacher and students. therefore, the meaning of the pledge, oath, and allegiance has a moral responsibility in this world to eternal life in the hereafter. furthermore, the tradition of studying the yellow books has become a culture or pesantren in general, as is the case with the mdqh nw. for the mdqh nw, learning based on pesantren culture has become its inherent identity. one of the pesantren traditions that cannot be abandoned, let alone abolished, is studying the yellow books. should the yellow books be omitted from pesantren education, it is no different from madrasas or colleges with a dormitory system (satria, 2019:7). studying the yellow book is actually a characteristic of learning that has become a pesantren benchmark and its implementation uses the halaqah system as the adab (islamic etiquette) of the people who recite the qur’an which is the legacy of the al-sabikun al-awwalun or ‘salaf al-shalih’ scholars. the tradition of studying the yellow books is a tradition that has been maintained since the early generations where the subjects come from the books of the salaf al-shalih scholars, be it books of fiqh, tawhid, sufism, and science such as nahwu, sharef, balaghah, and qawaid al-lughah. the yellow book instruction at the mdqh nw is carried out from level i to level iv regularly. at the initial level, all the thullab and thalibat are only mustami’ or listeners, meaning that the mashaykh [educated muslim scholars] never ask thullab and thalibat to read the yellow books because they are still in the beginner stage. it was only after level ii that the representatives of the thullab and thalibat will be required to read the books. in other words, the tradition of studying the yellow books is a pesantren tradition that has been practiced since the early generations and has been maintained to this day. studying the yellow book is a must for thullab and thalibat mdqh nw. the yellow book instruction is carried out not only during formal teaching and learning [ 55 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 activities, but also during extra-curricular activities where they continue to discuss classical books. finally, the halaqah learning tradition which is learning activity done by sitting cross-legged around the mashaykh (instructor/scholar). the halaqah instruction aims to maintain the traditions of the salaf al-salih scholars and preserve the sunnah of the prophet as reported by tuan guru haji yusron azzahidi, one of the mdqh nw mashaykhs in anjani (interviewed on 21 march 2020): “instruction with the halaqah system which is traditional in the ma’had (pesantren) is a symbol of obedience in reviving the sunnah of the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him). in addition, we can also draw an i’tibar or lesson on the attitude of the angel gabriel when asking the messenger of allah (peace be upon him) about three main issues related to matters of faith, islam, and ihsan. therefore, all activities that have become a tradition in the ma’had (pesantren) are the legacy of the previous teachers that must be guarded and maintained.” this is in line with the explanation of tuan guru haji lalu anas hasyri, one of the mdqh mashaykhs (interviewed on 26 march 2020) who reported that the learning process that took place at mdqh nw is much different from that in other educational institutions in general. for example, in the case of classroom division, the number of tullab and talibat reaches 200 to 300 respectively in one classroom where the learning process takes place with students sitting cross-legged on the floor. this is certainly far from the principle of effectiveness when referring to standards of teaching and learning activities. in other words, in the division of classrooms at mdqh nw, the number of tullab and talibat in one classroom is never considered ineffective even though there are hundreds of students in one group. regarding the strategy of building socio-religious relations, the mdqh nw as an educational institution always fosters good relations which is a necessity within the framework of carrying out the duties and institutional functions. the social relations that are built are at least reflected in two aspects, namely within its internal institution and with external institutions. internal relations occur in the internal environment of the institution such as the relations between the tullab/talibat and the mashaykh as educators. while external relations occur between the institution and the community or related stakeholders. the relations that are built at mdqh nw are between teachers and students as well as between the mdqh nw and madrasa shaulatiyah. [ 56 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 in zanuji’s view, one of the absolute requirements that must be met for someone who seeks knowledge is to build good relations with the teacher. maintaining good relations with teachers as exemplified by almagfurullahu mawlana shaykh can be done by maintaining the continuity of the knowledge transmission of his teachers while studying in mecca al-mukarromah. maintaining the integrity and continuity of genealogies of science is an indicator in assessing the level of originality of one’s knowledge. the genealogical approach is also used to view and trace the history of science from the past through scientific studies (books and their authors) as well as the scientific concept of the kyai or tuan guru which is one of the characteristics of pesantren scholarship. knowing scientific genealogy means knowing the origin of a science, including the type, where it is obtained, who the teacher is, and how it is obtained. shaulatiyah is an educational institution in the form of a madrasa founded by shaykh rahmatulloh al-kiyanawi al-hindi in the 1800s ad or 1290 ah. the establishment of this madrasa was initiated by the mufti of shafi’i madhhab, namely shaykh zaini dahlan and passed down from generation to generation to his family (fahrurrozi, 2019). this can be seen from the madrasa heads (mudir) who have managed the madrasa al-shaulatiyah and been successively appointed from his descendants. currently, the mudir is the fifth generation of shaykh rahmatulloh descendants. according to historical records, the shaulatiyah madrasa was never led by anyone outside of shaykh rahmatulloh lineage. however, despite the absence of intervention and management of other people, the shaulatiyah madrasa is still relatively well-established. almagfurullahu mawlana shaykh is one of the natives of sasak who had studied at the al-shaulatiyah madrasah in mecca al-mukarromah. he took the trip with by his parent, a mukminah teacher known as datok madjid, during the pilgrimage season to live in makkah as it was his intention to settle down there to study for several years in the holy city. there is no doubt that it was not only mawlana shaykh who came to mecca from lombok island to study, but there were also many other students over the years such as tuan guru haji umar kelayu, tuan guru haji muhammad saleh hambali bengkel from west lombok, tuan guru haji muhammad rais sekarbela from mataram, etc. there was a traditional close relationship between mawlana shaykh and madrasah al-shaulatiyah makkah al-mukarromah. as for the tradition of strengthening islamic da’wah, the mdqh nw as an educational institution that produces cadres of tuan guru, it certainly cannot be separated from da’wah activities which are the implementation of scientific values acquired during studies and will be applied in the community. theoretically, the concept of da’wah that is built is based on the qur’an and al[ 57 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 sunnah and on a practical level always synchronizes the learning material with the situation and conditions of the people. as the tullab/talibat of the mdqh nw will someday return to the community, they should prepare themselves by building professionalism through intra and extra-curricular activities. in addition to the strategies described above, in order for the mdqh nw to remain in the world of education, other strategies are also needed. to find these strategies, a swot analysis is used, which is a situational analysis tool that examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (rangkuti, 2008:19). based on the results of the swot analysis and the litmus test, it was found that there were four strategic keywords needed by the mdqh nw in maintaining the tuan guru tradition, namely csrr (collaboration, synchronization, role, and relationship). continuity and change in the mdqh nw in maintaining tuan guru tradition the mdqh nw which was founded in 1965 or 56 years ago does not rule out the possibility that there has been a change in the midst of efforts to maintain the its basic values that have been instilled by its founder. changes and continuity of the mdqh nw institutionally can be viewed from several aspects, namely educational patterns, scientific traditions, da’wah patterns, and mutakharrijin assignments outside the region. mawlana shaykh tgkh muhammad zainuddin abdul madjid succeeded in designing an instructional model at the mdqh nw by preparing graduates who will be able to bring about socio-religious change in society. the education patterns applied by the mdqh nw have always be aimed at maintaining a classical system that is identical to the medieval education patterns. it is apparent that to date the mdqh nw still adheres to a 100 percent religious education system with references to old books (turas), the tullab/talibat and the mashaykh interacting in a regular fashion of qur’anic recitation sitting cross-legged on the floor in a large number. this is commonly known as the traditional education pattern (salafiyah). the pattern of education (salafiyah), according to maimun, is typical pesantren education that adheres to the old or previous system, which can be traced to three generations of salaf al-saleh, namely, the generation of companions, tabi’al-tabi’in, not salafiyah in the context of belief. (maimun, 2017: 216). the pesantren scientific tradition is an academic tradition rooted in classical islamic education which has a long history of finding forms of education (shiddiq, 2015). the mdqh nw obviously has a scientific tradition with a pesantren character, namely providing studies of islamic sciences from the [ 58 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 mu’tabarah (standard) books. as an educational institution under the auspices of the nahdlatul wathan organization, it focuses mainly on studies of books with the ideology of ahl al-sunnah wa al-jamaah. the pesantren scientific tradition is still oriented toward internal conditions (inward looking) and does not pay attention to external developments (outward looking). this is evident from the books used as references and learning methodologies which in general still do not have a detailed curriculum. a curriculum is a number of subjects that are prepared based on a systematic, planned and coordinated design within the framework of achieving the expected educational goals. most islamic boarding schools still use conventional references to classical books (yellow books) such as tafsir, hadith, fiqh, kalam, tasawwuf, tarikh, usul fiqh, nahwu, and sharaf, hereinafter referred to as “al-kutub al-mu’tabarah.” (faahrurrozi, 2017:243). the curriculum used by mdqh nw is still the same as the one used at the beginning of its foundation. conclusion this study concluded that the mdqh nw makes a significant contribution to the maintenance of the tuan guru tradition. it is evident in the way it maintains the traditional pattern of education (salafiyah) through institutional activities that almost all lead to strengthening the tuan guru tradition. the curriculum, teaching-learning process, and pesantren-based scientific tradition that focuses on studies of the mu’tabarah books which contain religious sciences and are a representation of the scholarship of its founder, almagfurullahu mawlana shaykh tgkh muhammad zainuddin abdul madjid with his madrasah alshaulatiyah makkah almukarromah. teaching and learning activities are carried out traditionally where students wear white sarongs, white koko longsleeve shirts, and white caps (all white attire), practicing the halaqah system (sitting cross-legged on the floor). the scientific tradition of mdqh nw has a pesantren character based on the i’tikad of ahl-sunnah wa al-jamaah islam in accordance with imam al-shafi’i madhhab (school of thought). the role of the mdqh nw’s mutakharrijin/ mutakharrijat (alumni) as religious leaders, community leaders, and pesantren leaders can be seen from the number of pesantren led by approximately 30.06% of the existing 692 pesantrens. therefore, the mdqh nw is considered the indonesian miniature madrasah al-shaulatiyah makkah al-mukarromah which serves as the fortress of defense of ahl-sunnah wa al-jamaah islam in accordance with imam al-shafi’i madhhab (school of thought) and the mutakharrijin/mutakharrijat (alumni) deserve to be regarded as the heirs of the tuan guru tradition. [ 59 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 the mdqh nw’s strategies to maintain the tuan guru tradition based on ethnographic data can be describes as follows: strategies for strengthening traditional education (salafiyah), strategies for strengthening socio-religious relations, and strategies for strengthening da’wah islamiyah. through the swot analysis, the strategy formulation includes: strategies aimed at increasing collaboration with relevant stakeholders; strategies to synchronize the mdqh nw’s programs based on community needs; and strategies to build a harmonious relationship between the mdqh nw and the community. thus, the mdqh nw’s strategies to maintain the tuan guru tradition involve strengthening salafiyah education, strengthening socioreligious relations, and strengthening islamic da’wah in the framework of collaboration, synchronization, and relations abbreviated as csr and based on the principles of belief, sincerity, and istiqomah (consistency). based on the strategies discussed above, this study concludes that the tuan guru tradition will be preserved as long as the strengths of the “three dimensions” can be maintained. the continuity and change in the mdqh nw regarding the maintenance of the tuan guru tradition can be viewed from the aspects of education, scientific tradition, and islamic da’wah. from these three aspects, continuity occurs in the substantive and technical elements, especially those that become the traditions and legacy of its founder, almagfurullahu mawlana shaykh tuan guru kyai hajji muhammad zainuddin abdul madjid. the theoretical implementation demonstrated by this research is that the mdqh nw has contributed quite significantly to the maintenance of the tuan guru tradition which proves that education is a process of developing one’s skills in the form of attitude and behavior that apply in society as stated by carter v. good. the mdqh nw is able to produce alumni who can meet the criteria for future tuan guru who are competent in reading the yellow books, having noble character of an ulema because they are the heirs of prophets (warasatul anbiya’). as heirs of prophets, islamic scholars (ulemas) must also be able to demonstrate the attitude and behavior of the prophets such as being honest (siddiq) and trustworthy (amanah), doing da’wah (tabligh), being intelligent (fathanah). despite its tendendy to maintain the traditional patterns of education (continuity theory), the mdqh nw’s existence has remained unchallenged to this day as it keeps promoting the culture of the islamic community which is rooted in and grows out of the struggle of the tuan guru in line with the mdqh nw’s goals and objectives established by mawlana al-shaykh tgkh muhammad zainuddin abdul madjid [ 60 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 bibliography anwar, m. (2017). filsafat pendidikan. jakarta: aditya andrebina agung. arifin, m. (2000). filsafat pendidikan islam. jakarta: bumi aksara. azra, a. (2000). pendidikan islam, tradisi dan modernisasi menuju milinium baru.jakarta, logos wacana ilmu. dewan redaksi ensiklopedi islam. 1994. esiklopedi islam. jakarta: ichtiar baru. dhofier, z. (1984).tradisi pesanteren, studi tentang pandangan hidup kyai. jakarta: lp3es.1 fahrurrozi. (2019). “the contribution of the islamic wasathiyah of makkah al-mukarromah in the spreading of islam in lombok indonesia.” jurnal pemikiran islam akademika, vol. 24(2). ……….... (2017).“tradisi pengajian kitab turats melayu-arab di pulau seribu masjid dan seribu pesantren, lombok, indonesia”. jurnal kebudayaan islam ibda’, volume 15(2). hamdi, s. (2019), nahdlatul wathan di era reformasi: agama, konflik komunal dan peta rekonsiliasi.mataram: pulham media. ………… (2017). integrasi umat, kemiskinan, dan radikalisme dalam jamaah tablighi di indonesia. jurnal review politik, vol. 7(1). …………(2017), pesantren dan gerakan feminisme di indonesia.samarinda: iain samarinda press. …………(2015) ‘tuan guru, politik dan kekerasan ritual dalam konflik nahdlatul wathan di lombok nusa tenggara barat’ teologia, vol. 26(2). jamaluddin. (2019).jejak-jejak arkeologi islam di lombok.mataram: sanabil. …………….. (2017). “sistem pendidikan pesantren dalam penguatan kualifikasi abituren mdqh al-majidiah asy-syafi’iyah nahdlatul wathan pancor.” jurnal schemata, volume 6 (1). fakihuddin, l. (2018). “relasi antara budaya sasak dan islam: kajian berdasarkan perspektif folklor lisan sasak.”jurnal pendidikan bahasa dan sastra indonesia, vol. 1(2). maimun.(2017). “pola pendidikan pesantren”.jurnal dirosat, volume 2(2). mujib, a. dan mudzakkir, j. (2006). ilmu pendidikan islam. jakarta: kencana. nasir, r.m. (2010).mencari tipologi format pendidikan islam ideal pondok pesantren di tengah arus perubahan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. [ 61 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 rangkuti, f. (2008). analisis swot tehnik membedah kasusu bisnis. jakarta: gramedia. satria, r. (2019). “intlektual pesantren: mempertahankan tradisi di tengah modernitas”.jurnal penelitian dan pengabdian,vol.7(2). shiddiq, a. (2015). “tradisi akademik pesantren”.jurnal tadris, volume 10 (2). smith. b.j. & hamdi, s. (2014). ‘between sufi and salafi subjects: female leadership, spiritual power and gender matters in lombok’, in bianca j. smith & m woodward (eds.), gender and power in indonesian islam: leaders, feminists, sufis and pesantren selves. ny and oxford: routledge sugiyono. (2017). metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan rd.bandung: alfabeta. suprapto. (2017). “sasak muslim and interreligious harmony”, journal of indonesian islam, volume 11(1). …………….. (2013). semerbak dupa di pulau seribu masjid; kontestasi, integrasi, dan resolusi konflik hindu-muslim. jakarta: kencana prenadamedia group. subhan, a. (2012). lembaga pendidikan islam indonesia abad ke 20, pergumulan antara modernisasi dan identitas. jakarta: kencana. [ 62 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2193 [ 187 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 dynamics of local islam: fatwa of muhammad basiuni imran, the grand imam of sambas, on the friday prayer attended by fewer than forty people hamka siregar pontianak institute of islamic studies abstract this article is an analitical work based on local islam dynamic of sambas society in the era of sambas sultanate. the work attempts to promote intellectual heritages such as the book of cahaya suluh, which could at least give us an idea that in a process of setting certain rules or istinbat, there is a need for flexibility. as can be observed from the whole argument built in this book, the process is completely flexible, not merely following one school of thought. as indicated in this paper, especially in the discussion of his thought, muhammad basiuni imran used various references for his propositions. although he was an advocate of the school of syafi’i, he was still open to the other schools of thought. as a matter of fact, in the case of friday prayer, his position was different from the school of thought he supported. he took that position because he considered the socio cultural conditions of sambas at the time. intellectual spirit shown by the grand imam of sambas should continue to be emulated and expanded. it is a way to avoid the ‘blind’ taqlid against a certain school of thought, as such attitude can narrow human intelligence and reasoning which will eventually lead to collision with local reality that sometimes contains values that do not contradict with religion. in addition, the approach to the interpretation of law should look at its socio-cultural and historical background as this will keep the law strong and sustainable. in this way, islam will be easily accepted without having to impose foreign culture on local people. keywords: dynamic, islam, sambas, grand imam, muhammad basuni imran introduction islam is, in fact, not a native religion of indonesia. long before the arrival of islam, other religions, such as hinduism and buddhism, were already embraced by most of the inhabitants of the archipelago. traces of the two religions can still be seen in many parts of the country. by the will of god, within quite a long time, things changed. islam then took the position of the two religions. the spread of islam significantly occurred in the 12th century and the process of islamization appears to have accelerated between the 12th and 16th century (muhsin, 2007: 6). during this long period, the islamic [ 188 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 religion had been “naturalized” with the natural taste of the archipelago so that it experienced a variety of adaptations. as it arrived at different natural conditions, different social construct, and different psychological, islam should be ready for adjustment. this “guest” religion had to cleverly communicate itself into the local community that had its own belief system. therefore, it is not uncommon when religion is presented to the public sphere, it must be packed in such a way in order to respond to and accommodate local values and interests, without having to remove the substance or the essence of the teachings of the religion itself. the first wave of the transmission of islam to indonesia according to historians was done through sufis who came for religious proselytization and commercial interests. this sufic pattern made the entrance to spread islam in the society (mu’jizah; 2005: vii). with this sufic approach, it seems that the sufis have a place in the hearts of local residents. the sufic religious nuances are still strong in indonesia’s muslim community, particularly among those who maintain traditional religious values such as the tariqa groups (tariqah naqasabandiyah, satariyah, khulwatiayah etc.). although not very open, these groups still exist and have a lot of followers. the momentum accelerated the spread and absorption of the religious messages considerably. more importantly, with this pattern, the dissemination and absorption of this new religion in society did not experience a clash of values. it can be said, as reviewed by azhar arsyad – rector of the uin makassar---islamization process archipelago run in cool and peaceful (in komarudin hidayat; 2006: 73). a person could become a muslim without losing his/her distinct identity. it can be seen how islam is negotiating with local culture of javanese, sundanese, malay, batak and land parmalim, etc. although culturally retaining their traditions, but they have enriched the values of islam with their distinct local exquisiteness. further development shows that the definition of the islamic tasamuh (tolerance) that gives space to and considers the local values is changing. in recent years, there have been movements to bring purification of islam to its authentic form in the midst of the community. they intend to revive islam to its original version of its birthplace (mecca). they view the current islamic teachings have been mixed with traditional values, and these local values have corrupted the purity of islam. therefore, certain groups immediately want to clean it up so that the sanctity of religion will not be contaminated with heresy, superstition and idolatry. authentic islam, so they expect, should replace the islam that has been mixed with local traditions. the process of purification and authentication that can be referred to as “radical salafi” project has triggered [ 189 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 tensions between religion and local traditions. in the end, the obsessive purification will hurt the harmony between islam with the local culture. since then, the tension could no longer be properly mediated. in fact, religion and culture are inseparable; there is no distance between them. even though religion is not a human product, when it is understood by humans, then it will experience the process of humanity known as “contextualization”. this is a process of understanding the contextualization of religion empirically or religion that appears in its formal form in the community (abudinata; 2002: 49). religious experience is processed by the believer through reasoning from the source of religion, i.e. revelation. when reading the book of fiqh, for example, one should see it as derivation of the qur’an and the hadith. therefore, the fiqh practiced by certain groups in a community is the result of reasoning known as ijtihad. thus, religion can be said to be the product of god as well as humans. religion that appears in its form is related to the culture that developed in the community where the religion flourished. therefore, through a correct understanding of culture, one will be able to apply their religious teachings without conflict. erich fromm in nourouzzaman shiddiqi (1996: 258) argued that there is no culture which is not rooted in religion. interconnection between religion and culture thus creates civilization as illustrated in following diagram: 95 418 109 103 515 animisme budha islam konghucu kristen distribution of religions of the indigenous people in penyengat village (village monograph, 2012) green vision of religions green consumption green engagement religion culture civilization the relationship between religion and culture, especially in indonesia, can be seen in research conducted by geertz (1956) in a small town in central java, mojokuto. he found out that islam has become an ideal culture in indonesian society, especially in rural areas. the discovery of geertz’s observations was supported by van der kroef (1959), a dutch historian. geertz and kroef ’s observation was reinforced by s soebardi and woodcraft-lee (1982) who argued that any attempt to understand the character of the present indonesian community and its cultural heritage cannot be separated from the study of the role of islam, both as a religion and as a social and political force. therefore, the relationship between religion and culture has become indonesia’s cultural character. (nourouzzaman shiddiqi; 1996: 258) [ 190 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 thus the truth of islam is expressed in a variety of colors and forms, in line with the inevitability of different languages, cultures and customs and adherents. to that end, all religious expression within a cultural frame should be seen as a religious expression and can hardly be separated by cultural aspects. religion and culture go hand in hand because religion teaches the truth and culture accommodates positive things that do not reject anything that is not contrary to the local wisdom. local wisdom will provide space with the reality of various faces of islam. when islam encounters variants of local culture, then it progresses to a process of enriching each other. thus, the emergence of various variants of islam in indonesia, such as javanese islam, madurese islam, malay islam, sasak islam, and so on, each of which features the distinct characters from each other. the attachment between religious values with local culture can be seen in the intellectual works of the scholars who used local languages, such as javanese, bugis, sundanese, madurese and malay. nihayatuz zein, for example, is a book written in javanese by sheik nawawi al-bantani a scholar from banten. cahaya suluh by muhammad basiuni imran– the subject of discussion in this paper—was written in arabic-malay. they, the scholars of the past, in general wrote religious books which served as reference for their students and other muslims when they left for other areas or died (erwin et al., 100: 2003). azra azumardi (1995: 243) stated that in the 18th century until the early 19th century there were several leading scholars of malay indonesian from different regions and ethnic groups, such as those from sumatra, java, kalimantan and sulawesi. the most important among them was syihab al-din bin abd. allah muhammad, kemas fakhr al-din, abd al-shamad al-palimbani, kemas muhammad bin ahmad and muhammad muhyi al-din bin syihab al-din. furthermore, muhammad arsyadal-banjari from south kalimantan, abdul wahhab al-bugisi from sulawesi, abd al-rahman al-mashri al-batawi of batavia (jakarta), and daud bin abdullah al-fatani (southern thailand). although the information concerning most of the scholars is limited, the works and their careers indicated that they were intensively involved in a social and intellectual struggle. theese scholars had a network. when combined, they were the most important scholars in the archipelago in the 18th century. the intellectual works of the scholars were generally concerned with the islamic law or the fiqh. although these books in part used local languages and adopted local values, hasby ash-shidiqy (in nourouzzaman, 1996: 236;) argued that these books undeniably had “outside” influence. that is, these works had strong hijazi, misri and iraqi influence as they used the values from the places mentioned. according to him, there are parts of the fiqh based [ 191 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 upon the middle eastern values, then customized with a legal sense of the society of indonesia. surely, some parts of such jurisprudence are not fully in accordance with the indonesian values but remain “imposed” on the basis of taqlid. the book, cahaya suluh, by muhammad basiuni imran (grand imam of sambas) will be reviewed, to see how the process of istinbat law on the legal status of friday prayer attended by fewer than forty (40) people. at the time, there was a controversy as to the validity of friday prayer attended by forty people. basiuni’s book was a response to questions dealing with the case. generally, the sambas muslim community follow the opinion of imam syafi’i who argued that when there are fewer than forty worshippers, people do not need to perform a friday prayer. this means that when a place has an insufficient number of worshipers, people must look elsewhere to establish a friday prayer. overview of sambas before discussing the position of muhammad basiuni imran as the imam of sambas sultanate, first let us take a glimpse of the history and social conditions of sambas. with regard to the origin of sambas, there are two versions. first, j.u. lontaan in the history, customary law and customs of west kalimantan said that the name, sambas, derives from the event of the attack by the british troops into the northern coast of west kalimantan in 1812. then spontaneously the three ethnic groups that inhabited the area, --the malay, dayak and chinese-united to defend the north coastal areas. the attack was crushed by the chinese, and the battlefield was called sambas (sam = three and bas = nation). second, the opinion expressed by lutfi akbar in an internal bulletin of muare ulakkan, second edition no. 5 january 1994. in this paper, he said that the name derives from the quran, i.e. asy-syam (meaning sun) and basmallah (meaning with the name of allah). this corresponds to raden sulaiman as the founder of sambas who embraced islam. both words are associated with the relevant symbol on top of the palace of the sultanate of sambas in the form of the sun with the words al watzikhoebillah (fear of god) underneath it (www. pontianakonline.com). sambas was founded around the 1620s by king tengah, the father of raden sulaiman. king tengah was a son of the descendant of sultan of brunei, a younger brother of the monarch of sukadana kingdom, sultan muhammad shafiudin. on the 10th dzulhijjah 1040 ah, circa 1630 ad raden sulaiman [ 192 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 was crowned as the first sultan of sambas with the title of sultan muhammad shafiuddin (1903: 48). since then, the sultanate of sambas has formally been established. this sultanate lasted formally over three centuries, and was governed by fifteen (15) sultans, from raden sulaiman to the reign of sultan ibrahim who was killed by the japanese in 1943. now, based on existing data, sambas district has an area of 5,554 .70 km2 or 639,570 ha. (4,36% of the land area of the province of west kalimantan). the district is located on the northernmost part of the west coast of the province of west kalimantan. the length of its coastal line is128,5 km, and its border line is approximately 97 km. geographically, sambas is situated between 1 ‘ 23 “north latitude and 103 ‘ 40” east longitude. the district is bordered by both several regions within indonesia and that of a neighboring country. the north side of the district is bordered by east malaysia (sarawak), the south by singkawang, the east by bengkayang, and the west by the natuna sea. sambas administrative regions include 19 sub-districts and 183 villages (in 2008). as of 2007, the population of sambas district was 538,944 inhabitants consisting of male population of 273,695 and female population 265,294. meanwhile, the average population density was 76 inhabitants/km2. most people in sambas, especially the malays, are muslims. other religions are also embraced such as christianity, buddhism and confucianism. generally, the dayaks are either catholics or protestants, though basically their religion is kaharingan (a kind of animism, the belief in ancestral spirits who possess magical powers). religious grouping has resulted in the malay being identified as muslims while the dayak as christians. muhammad basiuni imran and his works muhammad basiuni imran was born in sambas on 25 zulhijjah or about 1883 ad. he was the eldest of four children. his mother died when he was a child and later he was raised by his stepmother, badriyah. by lineage, the third imam of the sambas sultanate was a descendant of king gipang, ruler of the hindu kingdom located in sabung, paloh (ismail, 1993: 11). in fact, as mentioned in these sources, all previous imams of sambas sultanate were descended from king gipang. since the age of 7, muhammad basiuni imran had undergone formal education. ten years later, when he was a teenager (17 years of age), he went to mecca to perform pilgrimage and simultaneously to continue his study in the holy city. he studied there for five years, from 1902 to 1907. in this holy city, he was trained by scholars, such as syeikh ali al-malik, umar sumbawa, [ 193 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 usman serawak, muhammad khatib minangkabau, etc. after two years of returning home, namely in 1909 muhammad basiuni imran left again for cairo, egypt, this time with his younger brother muhammad fauzi and two friends, ahmad and sood to continue study in cairo. during his time in egypt, muhammad basiuni imran studied one year at the madrasah dar al-da’wah wa al-ershad and three years at al-azhar university. his studies actually were not finished yet, but in sya’ban, 1331ah/1913 ad, muhammad basiuni imran had to return to sambas since his father was very sick. a month later, in ramadan 1331ah, his father died. and, some time later in the same year, muhammad basiuni imran was appointed by sultan muhammad ali syafiuddin as the the 4th imam of the sultanate succeeding his father. he was relatively young at the time, i.e. 31 years old. he was arguably small enough in stature. muhammad basiuni imran’s height was only 159 cm, and his weight 48 kg. however, though small in stature, he was highly regarded and respected by the society, especially in sambas. expertise in the field of islamic law made his position very important. in addition to the sambas sultanate imam, he also had a long socio-political career. he served a variety of terms in office. from 1919-1935, he served as the director of madrasah al-sulthaniah sambas, adviseur commisssie bestuur of sambas from 1946-1951. then, from 1966-1975, he became the sharia court chairman of west kalimantan, a member of the indonesian constituent assembly. after the 1955 general elections, he became a representative of masyumi of west kalimantan and a member of the rumbber commissie in pontianak. his age was long enough, that is 93 years old. he died in pontianak, on july 25, 1976 and was buried in his birthplace (sambas, 1993: 41). upon his return to sambas, he was determined to reform the islamic teachings. it was inspired by his teacher, rashid ridha an innovator in the islamic world. his teacher is very concerned about the fact that the muslims were increasingly left behind. in line with the spirit of this innovation, basiuni imran wanted to clean up religious practices which were against the islamic teachings in the midst of the community. according to him, many religious practices had be straightened out immediately before such practices became increasingly entrenched and difficult to distinguish from the teachings which are sourced from the quran and hadith. his action was quite successful. he managed to make sambas a center of religious science so as to become the veranda of mecca. in addition, imran also encouraged reform in the islamic education so that it would not get left by the western education. he argued that islamic schools had to adopt western educational systems in addition to the existing islamic educational system. [ 194 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 muhammad basiuni imran produced several works, both in the form of translation and his own books. generally, these works were written in the malay language using jawi (arabic-malay) characters. all his works are relatively short. he was like a sprinter who focused on what the local community needed, i.e. to answer the actual problems that developed at that time. his works were written in the style of a fairly simple language in order to be easily understood by the people of sambas. among his documented works are as follows: 1. translation of darus attarikh syariat which is a translation of a summary of the book durus tarikh at-tasyri by muhammad ibrahim al-haitamy. this translation was completed on the 17th of ramadan 1330 ah/1912 ad by muhammad basiuni imran while he was still in egypt, a year before he returned home. the manuscript, consisting of approximately 56 pages, contains history of human beings, history of the prophets, history of the development of dakwah and islamic law. his translation is very systematic with summary and evaluation in each chapter. 2. the book of cahaya suluh. initially, this book outlines of propositions and opinions regarding the validity of friday prayer. the book was written in order to mediate the debate about the minimum number of people attending a friday prayer in a mosque. after a careful study on religious references and opinions of ulamas, basiuni imran stated in this 19 page book, that it is valid for friday prayer attended by fewer than forty people. he also quoted earlier opinion of imam syafi’i that 4 people would make friday prayer valid. 3. the book of tazkir sabil an-najah ‘fi tarik al-shalat, a book which discusses the issue of prayer (a sort of fiqh of prayer). the book, consisting of 36 pages, was written in sambas and printed in singapore in 1931. the main discussion in this book centers on the sin for those who leave the five-time mandatory prayers except for old age as stipulated by religion. one of his stern fatwas is that a husband or wife who leaves the mandatory prayers is regarded as “infidel” and their marriage is no longer valid. so they do not repent and not renew vow as husband and wife, both will be regarded as committing adultery. 4. the book of al-janaiz. in accordance with its title, this paper discusses the issues that broadly deal with death and management the corpse. the book consists of 50 pages, and was written during japanese occupation, i.e. in 1943. [ 195 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 5. the book of bidayah al-tawhid fi ilm al-tawhid. the 60-page book contains issues relating to beliefs/aqida. printed in singapore in 1344 ah. 6. the nur al-siraf fi al-isra wa al-mi’r. this 26-page book contains the story of isra ‘ and mi’raaj (the ascension) of prophet muhammad which is purely based on the qur’an and hadith. it was printed in singapore in 1938. this book is intended to straighten out the history of the isra ‘ and mi’raaj, which corresponds to a valid propositions. his references for this book are the books of hadith such as sahih imam buhkari and its explanation by al-allaamah al-qastalani, the book of tafsir by muhammad ibn jarir, interpretation of the book of sahih muslim by imam al-nawawi, the book of zad al-ma’ad by imam ibn al-qayyim, and nur al-yaqin by muhammad al-khudhari al-mishri. 7. the book of khasanah al sirah al muhammadiah. the nature of islamic proselytization, printed insingapore in 1351 ah/1932 ad. this book is a translation from the arabic version by muhammad rashid ridha. this 101-page book contains the history of the life, da’wah and struggle of prophet muhammad (pbuh). the opinion of some schools of thought on the issue there is a difference of opinion in the law with regard to the minimum number of friday prayer worshipers. imam abu hanifah, for example, argued that the ruling for friday prayer could be done by a minimum of three people, even though they are on a journey or sick. the number of people, as many as 40, does not include in the terms of valid friday prayer. however, the more the number, the better the prayer is. his opinion is based on the generality of hadith of prophet that says: “the prayer of a man followed with another man is better than praying alone. the prayer of a man followed by two men is better than a prayer followed by a man. the greater number, the more it is favored by allah azza wa jalla “. (narrated by abu dawud, no. 554 and nasa’i no. 843, verified by al-bani).however, if there are only 3 people who gather at a mosque, it is legitimate for them to perform friday prayer at the venue. it is based on the prophet’s hadith that reads: “narrated by abu said al khudri: “the messenger of allah, peace be upon him, said: “if they consist of three people, then let one of them to be the imam. the one who is most entitled to be the imam is he who has the most pleasant reading of the quran “. (muslim, no. 1077). the opinion of imam abu hanifah is viewed as the most valid opinion of a wide range of opinions. friday prayer does not have to be performed by 40 people as required by one of the scholars of islamic law, namely syafi’i. this opinion was selected by ibn taymiyah in the book of al-ikhtiyarat al [ 196 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 ilmiyyah: 119-120, and also of the opinion of imam ahmad ibn hanbal (see sharh ushulul al-ihkam ahkam, abdurrahman bin al-qasim 1: 442-444), and likewise the opinion of sheikh abdul aziz bin bazz (shalatul mukmin, syeikh saad al-qahtani 2: 802). in contrast to imam abu hanifah, imam malik argued that the minimum worshipers for friday prayer should be 12. this opinion is based on the hadith narrated from jabir that once the prophet was preaching on a friday, the sermon was underway and suddenly some traders from sham arrived. the arrival of these traders had caused the friday worshipers to turn away from the prophet and only 12 people were left. this even was the cause of the revelation for quranic verses) surah al-jumu’ah verse 11 that reads “but when they saw a transaction or a diversion, they rushed to it and left you standing (preach)”. judging from this, imam malik believed that friday prayer can be exercised with 12 people. meanwhile, imam syafi’i, as expressed above, argued that friday prayers can only be done with a total of 40 people or more. in addition to the number, this school also made additional terms for the imam. one who acts as the imam of the prayer should be local, having reached puberty, sensible, independent and male. although a traveler s allowed, the number performing friday prayer should be forty people or more. the evidence used is the hadith narrated by al-baihaqi from ibn mas’ud as saying the prophet performed friday prayer in medina and the number of people was forty. (fiqhul islami wa adillatuhu. volume ii: 1295-1297). in addition to the above opinion, hasbi ash-shiddiqy – one of the indonesian fuqahas, who served as dean of the faculty of sharia of uin yogyakarta--has a slightly different opinion. hasbi ash-shidiqy argued (1997: 398) that friday prayers do not require any number of worshipers. the difference between obligatory prayers and friday prayer is simply the sermon. therefore, according to him, it is compulsory upon every person to establish friday prayer even though there are only a few people. as for the dhuhr prayer after friday prayer because there are fewer than 40 people, is not justified. this opinion is based on the opinion of al-asybily in his ahkam as saying that “there is no valid hadith which determines the number of friday prayer worshippers.” it is also, based on the opinion expressed by imam as-suyuthy in nurul lam’ah (ash-shidiqy; 1997: 390). if observed further, the opinion of this hasbi ashshiddiqy is closer or similar to hanafi’s opinion which also does not make restrictions against the number of worshipers on fridays. regarding the prayer of dhuhr as a complement to the shortage of the number of worshipers to pray friday, as briefly described above, it is still debatable. [ 197 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 muhammad shakir (2006: 231)-former rector of uin jakarta---said that friday prayer is the replacement for dhuhr prayer. therefore, there is no obligation or recommendation to those who have performed friday prayer to establish dhuhr prayer, although the number of its worshippers did not reach 40. according to him, two sermons in friday prayer is the replacement of the two rak’ahs of dhuhr prayer. in fact, for those who miss friday prayer are not required to pray dhuhr. but, if a person only completed one rak’ah, then he must improve his prayer into four rak’ahs, although his intention when standing was to establish friday prayer. basiuni imran’s opinion on friday prayer fewer than 40 people the book of cahaya suluh is a book which elaborates on propositions and opinions regarding the question of muhammad basiuni imran on conditions valid for friday prayer. this book was written in order to mediate the debate about the minimum number of worshipers praying on a fridaywhen there are fewer than forty people. the controversy arises because there is a difference of opinion among the scholars concerning the determination of the number of friday worshipers. hanafi is in contrast to maliki, while syafi’i also determines a different number of worshippers. muhammad basiuni imran began to express his opinion when people asked him about the law for friday prayer attended by fewer than forty people and about the obligation for dhuhr prayer (basiuni imran; the book cahaya suluh, 1339: 1). to avoid conflict, a legal fatwa from imam of sambas was required. with a fatwa on this issue, the sambas community was expected to know the legal position. the core problem is the existence different opinion from that of syafi’i regarding friday prayer. meanwhile, as generally understood, indonesia’s muslims adhere to acknowledge imam shafi’i’s who argued that friday prayer can be implemented when it meets certain conditions, one of which is the number of worshipers should be forty people. in cahaya suluh, it is mentioned that the valid terms for friday prayer (basiuni imran; 1339: 3) are as follows: 1. the place of residence (country or village) that is recognized by people who pray on fridays. 2. the number in the friday prayer should consist of 40 male worshipers who are muslims, have reached puberty, are independent and remain in the country or village where friday prayer is established with provisions that they are not traveling elsewhere at the time except when they have to (for trade or [ 198 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 other purposes). 3. it should be done at dhuhr time. in other parts, basiuni imran made important note that friday prayer is valid although attended by fewer than 40 worshipers. this view is based on imam al-syafi’i qodim qawl. in the hadith of shahih muslim (al-jumu’ah bab fi qaulihi ta’âla chapter iii: 351) it is suggested that the prophet performed friday prayer with 12 people. in this hadith, it does not require 40 people to establish friday prayer, just 12 people. so, when a village does not have 40 people and they cannot go to a prayer attended by 40 people, then they must establish friday prayer in their place (village) (basiuni imran; 1339: 2) muhammad basiuni imran’s view is a little bit controversial if linked to his position as an advocate of imam syafi’i. but, it seems, for the consideration of socio-culture of sambas society, he then preferred the school of imam syafi’i. this is because the qawl qadim was viewed to be in line with the conditions of society at this time. qawl qadim is the view of imam al-syafi’i which is regarded as rational, while qawl jadid is the opinion based on the hadith (textual). to explain this issue, the view of muhammad basiuni imran is quite comprehensive since he not only used but aqli propositions but naqli proposition as well. based on his naqli opinion on the hadith which was narrated by muslim as saying that the prophet once performed friday prayer with 12 people. as mentioned in the syarh muslim from jabir bin abdullah that the prophet was reading a sermon on friday, and when the sermon was being conducted, all of a sudden trade groups from the sham arrived there. the friday worshippers rushed to see the traders and only 12 men were attending the prayer. the event was recorded in the qur’an surah jumu’ah verse 11. as argued by imam nawawi this verse is the evidence presented by imam malik about friday prayer being valid with only 12 worshipers. with regard to this evidence, muhammad basiuni imran had the opinion that the minimum number of people for friday prayer can be fewer than 40. thus, according to him the qawl jadid for the minimum number of 40 people in friday prayer is not strong. meanwhile, his aqli opinion was based on the consideration of socio-culture state of the sambas society at the time. the villages in the region of sambas had population of not less than one hundred people, but sometimes those who came to the mosque for friday prayer was fewer than 40 people. if one only considers the opinion of imam syafi’i (qawl jadid) which requires that the exercise of friday prayer with at least 40 worshipers, it would bring [ 199 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 serious implications. the strict enforcement of this requirement would cause or trigger problems in various villages and hamlets because people in many villages and hamlets would not establish friday prayer. therefore, it is highly rational when muhammad basiuni imaran as the grand imam of sambas issued a fatwa friday prayer is valid even though there are fewer than 40 people in attendance. with the issuance of this fatwa, the controversy regarding the minimum number of worshipers to pray on fridays could be resolved. from the purposive viewpoint, the fatwa was very smart because it took local conditions into consideration. the next question which must be answered is the legal position of the dhuhr prayer. as commonly practiced, friday prayer is attended by fewer than 40 worshipers, it then must be complemented with dhuhr prayer. to address this issue, muhammad basiuni imran mentioned that there is no provision of law requiring the implementation of dhuhr prayer. according to him, the opinion that requires implementation of the mu’adah dhuhr prayer is the view of imam syafi’i. in fact, its legal status is actually sunnah. that is, there is no argument for performing mu’adah prayer after friday prayer, although the latter is performed by only several people. (imran basiuni; 1339: 12). if analyzed, his answer to the issue is interesting and controversial. from the viewpoint as the advocate of syafi’i, his opinion is contrary to his school of thought. that is, even though he was an adherent of the school of syafi’i, he did not fully “comply” to it. however, although he had a different opinion in this case, as the grand imam of sambas he took a wise stand. even though he never perfeorm dhuhr mu’adah prayer, he never banned this practice. (imran basiuni; 1339: 14). the reference he used was the prophet’s hadith narrated by bukhari and muslim, which reads: “pray and be cautious with the prayer of the messenger who performs two rak’ahs of friday prayer and two rak’ahs of sunnah prayer after friday prayer.” this hadith confirms that the prophet performed two rak’ahs of friday prayer and two rak’ahs of sunnah prayer. the prophet never performed dhuhr prayer after friday prayer. indeed there is a hadith which suggests four rak’ahs of prayer after friday prayer, reads: “idza shalli ahadukumu al-jum’at, fa al-yushalli ba’daha arba’an” (when one has completed friday prayer, he should perform four rak’ahs of prayer). however, he (basiuni imran) said that this hadith is not related to mu’adah dhuhr prayer, rather it is just an affirmation of the importance of the sunnah prayer after friday prayer. (imran basiuni; 1339: 15). thus, it can be concluded that the pattern of thought of muhammad basiuni imran is flexible and moderate enough. in addition to referring to the text, he also considered the social and cultural conditions in istinbat (the [ 200 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 process of deriving certain rules or meanings from a text). conclusion the reading of the intellectual heritage such as the book of cahaya suluh, will at least give us an idea that in a process of setting certain rules or istinbat, the re need for flexibility. as can be observed from the whole argument built in this book, the process is completely flexible, not merely following one school of thought. as indicated in this paper, especially in the discussion of his thought, muhammad basiuni imran used various references for his propositions. although he was an advocate of the school of syafi’i, he was still open to the other schools of thought. as a matter of fact, in the case of friday prayer, his position was different from the school of thought he supported. he took that position because he considered the socio cultural conditions of sambas at the time. intellectual spirit shown by the grand imam of sambas should continue to be emulated and expanded. it is a way to avoid the ‘blind’ taqlid against a certain school of thought, as such attitude can narrow human intelligence and reasoning which will eventually lead to collision with local reality that sometimes contains values that do not contradict with religion. the ulamas should serve as ‘soothers’ and be able to accept other people’s opinions so as to avoid tension in the lower levels of society which in the end will only hurt the muslims themselves. the approach to the interpretation of law should look at its socio-cultural and historical background as this will keep the law strong and sustainable. in this way, islam will be easily accepted without having to impose foreign culture on local people. a religion spread wisely will not be incompatible with local culture, but in fact both will be able to mutually enrich and co-exist. bibliography abudinata (2002): ”metodologi studi islam”, rajawali press, jakarta. azyumardi azra (1995): ”jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii dan xviii”, mizan, bandung basiuni imran (1339); ”kitab cahaya suluh”, singapura. erwin mahrus dkk (2003); ”shykh khatib sambas, sufi dan ulama besar dikenal dunia (1803-1875), untan press, pontianak ibn rusyd (tt): ”bidâyat al-mujtahid”, beirut; dâr al-fikr [ 201 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 imam muslim dalam shahîhnya kitab al-jumu’ah bab fi qaulihi ta’âla jilid iii ismail (1993); ”mengenal muhammad basiuni imran, maharaja kerajaan sambas”, untan, pontianak komaruddin hidayat & ahmad gaus af (2006); ”menjadi indonesia, 13 abad eksistensi islam di bumi nusantara”, mizan, jakarta m. quraish shihab (2006); ”tafsir al-mishbah”, volume 14, lentera hati, jakarta muhsin z (2007); artikel ”teori masuknya islam ke nusantara”, universitas padjajaran, 2007, jatinangor mu’jizah (2005); ”martabat tujuh, edisi teks dan pemaknaan tanda serta simbol”, jambatan-yayasan naskah nusantara dan the ford foundation , jakarata nourouzzaman shiddiq (1996); ”jeram-jeram peradaban muslim”, pustaka pelajar, yogyakarta pabali musa (2003); ”sejarah kesultanan sambas kalbar”, stain pontianak press dan the ford foundation, pontianak wahbah zuhaily (1996); ”al-fiqh al-islami wa adillatuh”, jilid ii, beirut; dâr al-fikr [ 202 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 [ 137 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 sinetron leads to negotiation of identity: christian identity and the representation of religion in indonesian popular culture kristi center for religious and cross-cultural studies, universitas gadjah mada email: kristi@gkj.or.id gregory vanderbilt center for religious and cross-cultural studies, universitas gadjah mada email: gvanderbilt@gmail.com abstract having pancasila as its ideology, with its first pillar of ketuhanan yang maha esa (the belief in one deity), indonesia is neither based on a certain religion, nor giving a privilege to a certain religion. in the context of the resurgence of religion, islam obviously becomes the only normative in everyday life, including in popular culture. this paper analyzes the way indonesian christians see the representation of religion in sinetron, the television soap opera tat is considered the predominant form of popular culture in indonesia, and negotiate their identity as religious minority. the work is based on a research project conducted in gereja kristen jawa (gkj/christian church of java) gondokusuman in yogyakarta. a random survey about sinetron titles watched by the embers of the congregation show that eight titles are popular. a more intensive questionnaire is distributed to the church council as the representation of christians who are active in church activities. it is also intended to show the most-watched sinetron in 2017. from the survey, there are two most watched sinetron: “tukang ojek pengkolan” (top/motorcycle-taxi driver on the corner) and “dunia terbalik” (dt/upside-down world). eighteen people who watch both top and dt then were interviewed. using the framework of first generation of reception study, the work finds that christians’ reception on the representation of religion in sinetron can be categorized into three patterns: mirror of reality, watching for pleasure, and religion is necessary. those three patterns show that christians’ reception is in negotiation position. keywords: religious, representation, popular culture, christian identity, negotiation introduction indonesia has pancasila (literally means “five pillars”) as its ideology. the first [ 138 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 pillar is ketuhanan yang maha esa which means the belief in one deity. this pillar shows that indonesian ideology is not based on one religion. it also does not mean that indonesia gives any privilege to certain religions. every religion is, in principle, equal. the practice, in fact, speaks differently. as it also happens in other places, that the majority is usually more dominant, islam as the majority religion in number seems to dominate in every aspects of everyday life in the country. it can be seen in the use of islamic prayer in public schools, the use of islamic greeting in public event, and the fact that most of muslim women wear jilbab (islamic head cover) publicly. it makes difficult for nonmuslims to get equal rights in every aspects of everyday life. it does not only in the term that they are discriminated in public sphere such as participation in politics and academia, but also in the representation in popular culture, which is both public, as shared culture, and private, consumed by people, including christians, in their homes. this is what i understand from the point of view of the minority group. the form of popular culture chosen in this research is sinetron, an indonesian genre of soap opera. it is chosen because sinetron and television share cultural experience of indonesian. initially, television, which the project was started in 1962, was used by the state to weave the unity of indonesia (kitley, 2014: 24-25, 28). by watching the same programme, the state hopes that the indonesian share one national culture. it can be done when communication satellites make it possible for almost all area of indonesia access television and the yearly programmes are centrally arranged in jakarta (sen and hill, 2006: 110). but the appearance of private television and the easiness to get video cassette in the late 1980s, gave opportunity for audience to find various kind of entertainment programmes, especially foreign ones. the condition was responded by the state by making a programme that can show the identity of good indonesian. sinetron was then chosen (kitley, 2000: 104). the storyline was focused on four normative ideologies: familyism, neighbourliness, simple life, and national ideology (wawasan nusantara). all good indonesians must live those normative promoted by the state (kitley, 2000: 147). the collapse of the new order in 1998 brought a kind of liberation, not only in politics that are characterized by the existence of multi political parties and the decentralization of government, but also in popular culture that is characterized by the freedom of content of television programme. the normative was slowly changes, especially in the representation of religion. while in the new order era, the representation of religion was very strict. after 1998, religion is freely represented. it leads to single representation of islam. islam is more and more represented in television in various ways [ 139 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 (sofjan with hidayati, 2013: 36-50). in sinetron, it was started by sinetron religi, that obviously show islamic elements, which firstly broadcasted during ramadan month (rakhmani, 2016: 54, subijanto, 2011: 243). but in the late 2000s, sinetron religi broadcasted everyday throughout the year (rakhmani, 2016: 47). moreover, in sinetron that are not included in sinetron religi, there are also islamic representations in it. in contrary, christian sinetron is only recorded being broadcasted in holy day season but not every year and not in every television channel. the condition explained above leads to questions about the way christians see the single representation of religion in popular culture. further, it also raises a question about the way christians negotiate their identity belonging in indonesia as a minority related with the lack of representation of their religion in popular culture. to reach the answer, the framework used is that television audience is not passively affected by television they watch as the paradigm that media is a propaganda tool and audience are only passive consumers (brooker and jermyn, 2003: 5-6, adorno, 2003: 55-56, horkheimer and adorno, 2002: 95-97). instead, every television audience is active. they can choose to accept the meanings brought by the media or create their own meanings (brooker and jermyn, 2003: 91-92). this is what is meant by reception. sandvoss argues that reception is about the interplay between the reader and the text (sandvoss, 2011: 231). the reception theory used here is of the first generation (alasuutari, 1999: 2-4). it is based on stuart hall’s theory of “encoding” and “decoding”. by using those terms, hall argues that television program have meaning to be circulated as created by the producer. it is called as encoding process. but the audience has their free choice to understand the meaning based on their backgrounds. it is the one called as decoding. it means that audience do not always receive the same meaning as the one transmitted and each audience also can get different meaning from same programme (hall, 1973: 4-5). for the decoding process, there are four types. the first is the dominant or hegemonic code. audience in this type receive meaning as put by the producer; the dominant and preferred meaning. the second is the professional code, when a professional broadcaster transmits meaning according to the dominant or hegemonic one. the third is negotiated code. in this type, audience’s response is the combination between accepting and opposing the transmitted meaning. they understand the meaning brought by the programme but do not wholly accept it. the fourth is oppositional code, where the audience is fully understands the meaning transmitted through a programme but fully oppose it by decoding the meaning in contrary way (hall, 1973: 16-18). [ 140 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the studies of representation of religion in popular culture to position this paper among the scholars, there are three aspects that must be considered. first is study about christian identity in indonesia in post1998. one of it is “christianity and religious freedom in indonesia since 1998” (2016) by zainal abidin bagir and robert w. hefner. it talks about that christians in indonesia feel better condition before the reformasi in 1998. after, they feel more pressure and more limited access to politics and academia positions. they also feel that the public is coloured by islamic bylaws. while most study about christian identity in post-1998 mostly focus on participation in politics and academics, this paper focus on the participation of christians in popular culture. second is study about the representation of religion in popular culture, especially television. there are many studies about it. in “television” (2015), elijah siegler argues that the representation of religion in television can function as priest, prophet, or rabbi. it has priestly function when television maintaining religious values. prophetic function can be seen when television criticize religion. rabbinic is seen when television catalyses religious debate and changes in lived religion. dicky sofjan with mega hidayati in religion and television in indonesia: ethics surrounding dakwahtainment (2013) argues that television can mediate religion for audience or mediatised religion to make it fit with the consumer’s needs. ariel heryanto in identity and culture: the politics of indonesian screen culture (2014) states that after the new order collapsed, islam was the only normative that comes into sight in public, including in popular culture. he sees the phenomena as the result of indonesian history that open the space for islam to be manifested in public and the way market seized the opportunity. riane subijanto argues in “the visibility of a pious public” (2011) that in post new order era, islamic piety’s presentation in media is increasing as popular piety culture that shapes and is shaped by its public. while most study about representation of religion in television focus on the representation itself, this paper focus on the way the representation is seen by the audience, especially those who have different religion with the one represented. third is study about the islamic piety in public. noorhaidi hasan in “the making of public islam: piety, agency, and commodification on the landscape of the indonesian public sphere” (2009) and greg fealy in “consuming islam: commodified religion and aspirational pietism in contemporary indonesia” (2008) focus on the increase of islamic appearance in public. the appearances are in many sectors, but mostly in popular culture, in everything that can be [ 141 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 consumed. hasan argues that the phenomenon is the part of resurgence of religion and the way muslims show their piety. fealy argues that it is the way muslims show their identity as pious. this paper investigates islamic piety in sinetron but not focus on the way muslims show it in public, but the way christians (non-muslims) see islamic pietism in popular culture, which is both public and private. this work is based on the research conducted in gereja kristen jawa (gkj/ christian church of java) gondokusuman in yogyakarta. it is located in yogyakarta, the place of the first television station outside jakarta (august 1965). it is the oldest gkj in yogyakarta (in november 2018, it will turn 105 years old). it has a large and diverse congregation, and is located in an urban area which is intensively affected by popular culture. the members mostly are javanese, but there are also many non-javanese. most of them have married members of gkj gondokusuman and chosen to become members as well and others are students or workers who moved to yogyakarta and decided to be the member of gkj gondokusuman. the range of the age of the members is very wide; from new-born babies until those who are in age 90s. at least, the oldest council member is 81 in 2018. the congregation members mostly live in gondokusuman kecamatan (sub-district) where the church building is located. others live in other kecamatan, some even outside the city of yogyakarta. the sunday services are held in three languages: bahasa indonesia, javanese, and english (only in third sunday) to accommodate the diversity of the members. the research combines quantitative and qualitative methods. the quantitative is used twice. first, it was random survey through whatsapp message to know the sinetron title watched by congregation members of gkj gondokusuman. it was conducted in october 10, 2017. i sent random broadcast whatsapp message to 250 congregation members at october 10, 2017. i asked them whether they watch sinetron or not and if they watch what is the title. there were 70 people who responded and from those people, 21 watch sinetron. from this first survey, there are eight sinetron titles that are watched including dunia terbalik, tukang ojek pengkolan, ok jek, anak langit, dua wanita cantik, anak jalanan, dia, and cinta dan rahasia. this first survey is continued by other survey. this second survey was conducted among the council which consists of 106 members in january 11-13, 2018. they are considered as representation of congregation members because they are directly chosen by the congregation members to be council members. they are also considered as representing active christians because they in charge of all church’s programmes and elected because the trust of their piety. from 106 members, [ 142 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 there are 71 men and 35 women. of them, 38 watch sinetron during 2017, 23 males and 15 females. the most watched sinetron in 2017 according to the survey are tukang ojek pengkolan (motorcycle-taxi driver in the corner) and dunia terbalik (upside-down world). there are eighteen members that watch both of them. after the survey, i start the qualitative method by doing interview and categorizing the interview result in a pattern. the interviewees are those eighteen members who watch sinetron. the interviews were guided by a list of questions but also open for more explanation and story from the interviewees. the main questions are about religion they see in sinetron they watch, their opinions or feeling about the representation of that religion in sinetron, and the need of religion represented in sinetron. some interviews are recorded by voice note in my iphone. two interviewees refuse to be recorded and some could not because of noisy conditions and technical failures. besides recording, the interviews are well noted in book note. both recordings and notes are typed in a form of summary of each question for each interviewee. the representation of religion in sinetron two most-watched sinetron by christians in 2017 are tukang ojek pengkolan (top/motorcycle-taxi driver in the corner) and dunia terbalik (dt/upsidedown world). both sinetron are not categorized as sinetron religi which the title usually used arabic words and show islamic teaching explicitly. but as will be shown below, those sinetron contain islamic elements in them. firstly, the representation of religion in those sinetron can be observed through markers of identity. it means that something observable that commonly identified as owned by certain religion. the first marker is the dressing. it can be easily observed that some women wearing jilbab (islamic head cover) and men wearing baju koko (shirt commonly identified as muslim fashion for men) and some kinds wearing hat that is especially identified as islamic (kopiah, peci). the second marker is the religious activity. there are pengajian (reading quran), shalat, preaching about islam, wedding and funeral in islamic way, and adzan (the call for worship). in dt, this second marker is shown more explicitly. the third marker is the language. the characters often use arabic terms that commonly identified to islam, such as assalamu’alaikum (peace be unto you), alhamdulillah (praise be to god), astaghfirullah (may god forgive me), and in sha allah (god willing). the fourth marker is the religious role models. there are haji (appellation for muslim men who already do hajj pilgrimage) that is being respected more than other people and ustadz as islamic religious teacher that has authority to teach, preach, and give advice [ 143 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 to muslims. the fifth marker is the place of worship. in top and dt, there is only mosque mentioned or showed, no reference of other religion’s place of worship. secondly, the representation of religion is shown through religious values. islamic values are presented through the advice given by elders, haji, and ustadz. they give advice in the midst of quarrel or struggle of life. other values are shown through the gesture of the characters. for example, women kiss her husband’s hand. it is based on the islamic value that husband is the imam of the family. thirdly, the representation of religion is shown through direct dakwah (proselytizing) in the story line. this marker is only appears in dt. there are scene in the mosque where ustadz kemed or his assistant, kusoy, preaching islam. for example is in the episode of april 25, 2017. there are two scenes showing kusoy, the assistant of ustadz kemed, teaching the history about nabi musa (“prophet” moses) according to quranic version. the scenes are in the mosque and showing the lesson, with kusoy preaching, children and adult listening, and ustadz kemed proudly smiling seeing his assistant giving well preaches. from those three ways of religion is represented, it is clear that there is only islam represented in it. although the title do not contain any “islamic words” and broadcasted daily, not in islamic holy day season, the two sinetron show islam as the only religion and normativity. three patterns of watching sinetron by christians i argue that christians become active audience in the case of watching sinetron in tv program. the way they see the representation of religion in sinetron is not automatically influenced by the portrayal of religion in sinetron. they have their own backgrounds, experience, and understanding that form their reception on the representation of religion in sinetron. their answers can be categorized into three patterns. the first pattern is that they identify sinetron they watch with their real life. i call this pattern as the “mirror of reality”. this first pattern is expanded to the way they see religion represented in sinetron, the way religion represented, and the representation of islam and muslim compared with the reality in interviewees’ daily life. the second pattern is that they choose to start and keep watching these sinetron for their own enjoyment. they choose the less islamic sinetron ones. they do not pay attention to the religious side of the sinetron and choose to enjoy only the entertainment side. i call this second pattern as “watching for pleasure”. the third pattern is that they think religion must be presented in sinetron. this opinion does not depend on the genre of sinetron they watch but based on their understanding of sinetron and common life. i call this third pattern as “religion is necessary”. [ 144 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 pattern 1: “mirror of reality” in the case of this work, christians like watching sinetron that shows reality. they choose tukang ojek pengkolan (top) and dunia terbalik (dt) because they see these sinetron show reality. they use the words masuk akal (make sense), merakyat (grassroots), seperti kenyataan (like reality), keseharian (daily life), seperti bukan sinetron-seperti kehidupan sehari-hari (like not a sinetronlike daily life), tidak mengada-ada (not making up), cermin masyarakat indonesia (mirror of indonesian society), gambaran hidup (portrayal of life), and tidak dibuat-buat (not artificial). the identification with reality is further reflected in terms that the characters of these sinetron wear ordinary clothes, not glamorous, not weird. it is different from other sinetron or other kinds of tv dramas that mostly show the high class way of life. speaking about reality, in relation with main plot of dt, which background is husbands who are left by their respective wife to be migrant labourer, some interviewees cannot connect it with their daily life. it is related with their condition in yogyakarta where the existence of migrant labourer is rare. others mention that the phenomenon of women migrant labourer shows that women can be strong and responsible for the family. negative impact of a story about women migrant labourer also mentioned because this sinetron is indicated as push women in rural area to be migrant labourer and leads the husband to be not responsible. the comments about women migrant labourer shows that the ideal of husband as breadwinner in a family still dominating christians so that although they somehow feel distance with the reality they see in dt. the discussion about sinetron and reality can be further expanded to religious representation. most of the interviewees think that the religion of all the characters in top and dt is islam. they say that it is because the characters in sinetron resemble muslims in their daily life. they mention about dress, religious activities, language, place of worship, and religious character which are identified with islam. they also can mention values that they see as islamic. actually, this single portrayal of religion does not fit with reality because indonesia consists of various religions. the interviewees’ neighbourhood also home for people with various religions. it leads to a statement that in reality there is no harmony between different religious adherents, while in sinetron there is no diversity of religion. nevertheless, in the same time, some interviewees see this as portraying the reality experienced by them. in their daily life, christians, as minority, are always left aside. it is the same, in sinetron, christians also get no place. responding to single representation of islam in sinetron, the interviewees [ 145 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 relate it to the fact that islam is majority in indonesia. it is understandable to them that only islam is put in sinetron. it is to attract muslims, the majority of indonesian population, to watch those sinetron. it is related with ratings and advertising. it means that christians’ number do not count as important to gain popularity and money for the sinetron producer and television station. in representation of islam and muslim, most of the interviewees see that it is different with what they see in daily life. some muslim in sinetron is better than in reality because they are diligent and full of peace, while in their daily life, muslims they know are lazy to do worship and fanatics to other religion. on the other hand, other interviewees see that muslims in the daily life are more diligent to do worship than in sinetron. the other points directly to the fact that in daily life there are more muslim women wear jilbab than in sinetron. these opinions show that christians understand what kind of islam brought by sinetron. but they have their own knowledge about islam in their daily life. they do not automatically and fully receive the portrayal of islam in sinetron. they negotiate their knowledge with their observation of sinetron and daily life. from this first pattern, it can be seen that christians can partly identify themselves with the reality shown by the sinetron. the identification is mainly about way of life, especially in ordinary or simple life living by the characters. but they cannot identify the sinetron with the reality of diverse indonesia and with their fellow muslims. ironically, they can see their powerlessness as religious minority so that they are not considered important to be represented in sinetron because their number will not significant in raising rating and advertising. pattern 2: “watching for pleasure” in the search for entertainment, as other people in indonesia, christians watch sinetron. among many options of sinetron title, two become most watched. as mentioned in pattern 1, the “reality” becomes one of the reasons of the choosing of these sinetron. other reason that is mentioned is the humorous elements on it. they need to be refreshed and feel relief when they can laugh when watching these sinetron. they do not really pay attention to the story and conflict there. most of them even get difficulty to remember the name of the characters. those reasons also explain why the christians keep watching these sinetron although religion represented there is only islam. they already choose the less islamic ones among many other sinetron titles. they keep distance with the religious elements, do not pay attention to religious side, and feel confidence with their own faith that will not be affected by islamic elements in the sinetron. they also see that goodness portrayed in sinetron [ 146 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 actually is universal, not exclusively owned by islam, although the characters are muslims. on the other side, there are also statements that show the powerlessness of christians in popular culture. they say terima apa adanya (accept what it is), menghargai (appreciate), tidak menjadikan sinetron sebagai sumber didikan (do not make sinetron as source of education), tidak masalah karena islamnya tidak terlalu tampak (no matter because the islam is not very visible), tidak ada pilihan lain (no other choice), tidak ada tontonan kristen (no christian programming), adanya itu (only that exists), ambil yang baik-baiknya saja (take only the goodness). those phrases show that they long for christianity element in sinetron or at least no islamic element, but they do not have other choice than to enjoy what is offered. it shows the way christians negotiate their identity. they need entertainment but the choice is limited to islamic coloured programmes. they choose the less islamic sinetron, do not pay attention to religious elements in it, and think that goodness portrayed is universal. they understand of their powerlessness but keep to make active choice to get them entertained by the confidence that their faith will not be affected. pattern 3: “religion is necessary” regarding to the religious element in sinetron, most of the interviewees say that it is necessary to include religion in sinetron. some say it without condition. they say that religion can be more easily understandable in popular language of sinetron than by preaching in worship places. other says that religion is needed to guide the audience to remember god and do goodness. nevertheless, most of them require certain condition in representing religion in sinetron. they think that it is better to represent various religions in sinetron so the audiences can be reminded about the real condition of indonesia. other condition that mentioned is that religion is better presented through the manner of the characters, not by religious symbols, and also that the representation leads to good relationship among neighbours. if the condition cannot be met, it is better to exclude religion from sinetron. the fact that most christians see that religion is necessary to be represented in sinetron show the changes in normativity in television. while before 1998, national ideology is the only ideology that must be represented in television, after 1998, religion becomes the only normativity represented. christians may be affected with the representation of religion that have already coloured television during twenty years after reformasi so they see that religious must be represented in sinetron. but at the same time, they also keep the value of national ideology because they want the representation of religion show the [ 147 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 diversity religion in indonesia and become guidance to live harmoniously with others. this opinion is also applied to christianity. if the sinetron represent christianity, they also want the same condition applied. in this pattern, christians negotiate their identity as a christian and an indonesian. they do not want to wholly accept that islam is the only normativity that should be followed. they understand that islam can bring goodness but must be accompanied by other religions and in a bigger frame as in indonesian context. conclusion the reformasi era has brought a new form of freedom to indonesian democratic system, not only in political dynamic but also in popular culture. it is understood that before the reformasi era, the national ideology was the basic normativity. after the reformasi, islam has been seen as the obvious normativity offered. sinetron, as the predominant form of popular culture, has shown a single representation of religion; islam. in the case of the audiences of sinetron in tv, the christians who watch the sinetron choose to negotiate their identity when watching the sinetron representing only islam according to their points of view. christians identify the sinetron not only with the reality life, especially in the way ordinary people live, but also in the fact that christians are left aside by muslims. as in sinetron they do not get a place, they also understand that islam presented in the sinetron is not always the same with islam they know in their neighbourhood. they consume sinetron only for their own pleasure, choosing the less islamic ones, and do not pay attention to religious sides on it as they think the goodness portrayed is universal values and they are confidence that their faith will not be affected. they think that religion is necessary to be included in sinetron but in a more ideal way by showing various religious norms to support a building harmony among indonesians. these three patterns show that christians receive the message brought by the sinetron in negotiation code. they understand that the sinetron bring dominant message about islam and their dominance, but they choose to receive the meaning in their own way, based on their background, experience, and benefit. bibliography adorno, t. w. (2003). “culture industry reconsidered”. in brooker, w. & jermyn, d. (eds.). the audience studies reader. psychology press, pp. 5560 [ 148 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 alasuutari, p. (1999). “introduction: three phases of reception studies” in alasuutari, pertti (ed.). rethinking the media audience: the new agenda. london, california, new delhi: sage. bagir, z.a., & hefner, r. w. “christianity and religious freedom in indonesia since 1998”. in hertzke, a.d. & shah, t.s. (eds). christianity and freedom: contemporary perspective. new york: cambrige university press, pp. 191-221. brooker, w. & jermyn, d. (eds.). (2003). the audience studies reader. psychology press. fealy, g. (2008). “consuming islam: commodified religion and aspirational pietism in contemporary indonesia”. in fealy, g and white, s. (eds.) expressing islam: religious life and politics in indonesia. singapore: iseas publishing, pp. 15-39. hall, s. (1973) encoding and decoding in the television discourse. centre for contemporary cultural studies, stencilled occasional paper no. 7. birmingham: university of birmingham. hasan, n. (2009). the making of public islam: piety, agency, and commodification on the landscape of the indonesian public sphere. contemporary islam, 3(3), pp. 229–250. heryanto, a. (2014). identity and pleasure: the politics of indonesian screen cultures. nus press and kyoto university press. horkheimer, m. & adorno, t.w. (2002). dialectic of enlightenment: philosophical fragments. standford university press. ida, r. (2006). watching indonesian sinetron: imagining communities around the television. unpublished ph.d thesis, curtin university of technology, perth. kitley, p. (2014). television, nation, and culture in indonesia. ohio university center for international studies. rakhmani, i. (2017). mainstreaming islam in indonesia. new york: palgrave macmillan. doi 10.1057/978-1-137-54880-1 sandvoss, c. (2011). “reception”. in nightingale, virginia. the handbook of media audiences. blackwell publishing ltd, pp. 230-250. sen, k., & hill, d. t. (2006). media, culture and politics in indonesia. jakarta, indonesia: equinox publishing. [ 149 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 siegler, e. (2015). “television”. in lyden, j.c. & mazur, e. m. (eds.) the routledge companion to religion and popular culture. oxon and new york: routledge. sofjan, d. with hidayati, m. (2013). religion and television in indonesia: ethics surrounding dakwahtainment. geneva: globethics.net subijanto, r. (2011) the visibility of a pious public, inter-asia cultural studies, 12:2, 240-253, doi: 10.1080/14649373.2011.554651 [ 150 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 [ 155 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 the psychological study of religious violence: a theoretical and methodological discussion tomas lindgren umeå university, sweden tomas.lindgren@umu.se abstract the aim of this article is to discuss the use and usefulness of psychological theory and psychological methods in the study of religious violence. my analysis of previous research revealed an imbalance between data, method and theory. there are few psychological studies on religious terrorism based on first-hand empirical data. the analysis also showed that psychological explanations of religious terrorism are, in general, not sensitive to cultural factors. religious terrorism is a culturally constituted phenomenon. it is therefore important that research on religious violence is based on theoretical and empirical approaches sensitive to the cultural construction of violence. this means that psychologists of religion must be willing to use novel and creative methods sensitive to the unique cultural context where the violent behaviour is acted out and interpreted by the actors of the violent drama, for example, discourse analysis or narrative research. in the self-corrective and growth-inducing feedback process between these methods and primary data it would be possible to develop valid psychological explanations of religious violence. keywords: psychology, religious, violence, theory, method introduction religious violence is a global phenomenon, involving all of the world’s major religious traditions in one way or another. the theatrical ways the violent acts are staged and performed have attracted the media and hence covers the headlines of our newspapers and magazines on a regular basis. religious violence is therefore something people talk about in dining rooms and offices all over the world, but talking about religious violence is not necessarily the same thing as explaining it. media describe these horrible events and sometimes they even try to explain certain aspects of the religious violence in the contemporary world. however, these explanations seldom contribute to a more thorough understanding of the individuals who are committing and [ 156 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 suffering from these acts. religious violence is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon, involving, among other things, political, sociological, and psychological processes. a thorough understanding of this complex drama therefore requires analyses of political processes on national and international levels, social processes on regional levels, and psychological processes on individual levels. political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists thus have the potential to explain different aspects of religious violence and no one interpretative scheme from these disciplines can by itself explain the origin, nature, and dynamic of religious conflicts and terrorism. the aim of this article is to discuss the use and usefulness of psychological theory and psychological methods in the study of religious violence. the focus on theory and method is (or at least, ought to be) self-evident in the context of psychological research on religious behavior. mainstream psychological research aims to establish (method) facts (data) and to explain human behavior by discovering the underlying influences that shape the way people think, feel, and act (theory). the proper aim of psychological research has been debated among psychologists during the last decades leading to a methodological and theoretical rethinking in contemporary psychology (of religion) (e.g., kvale, 1992; smith, 1995; carrette, 2001; belzen, 2009). however, most researchers seem to agree that there ought to be a self-corrective and growth-inducing feedback process between data, method, and theory in well-functioning psychological research. methods and sources political scientists and sociologists have published quite a few empirical studies of religious violence based on first-hand empirical data (e.g., jurgensmeyer, 2003; stern, 2004; oliver & steinberg, 2005; bloom, 2005). the structural, political and socio-economic conditions that lead to religious violence are thus fairly well understood. there is, however, an obvious lack of empirical examinations of psychological aspects of religious violence. we are then, to paraphrase jerrold post, still “primitive” in understanding the psychology of religious terrorism (post, 1987). this is remarkable since religious violence is always committed by individuals; religious actors who have been formed by a religious community and who are acting with the intent to uphold, extend, or defend its values and precepts. my analysis of previous psychological research revealed an interesting imbalance between data, method and theory. most studies are based on [ 157 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 secondary sources, such as books and newspaper reports (e.g. avalos, 2005; jones, 2008). this means that the religious perpetrators are seldom given the opportunity to explain the motives for their acts. this fact has, to some degree, been compensated by the insights we can get by reading autobiographical material written by terrorists (e.g., khaled, 1973). nevertheless, it is not unproblematic to base a psychological analysis exclusively upon secondary sources and autobiographies, the main material used in many case-studies and psychobiographies (e.g., dennis, 2005). one obvious problem is related to the fact that secondary sources will never give the researcher any possibility to ask the perpetrators the theoretically saturated questions that might be needed in order to develop valid psychological explanations. the main reason for the lack of primary data on religious perpetrators is a lack of fieldwork. i think john horgan is right when he says that “there is a worrying tendency for the ‘favorite method’ of social scientists to come first, when systematically devised research should first identify ‘the puzzle’. this has been one of the most significant problems that has bedeviled psychological approaches to understanding why people become terrorists. what psychological theorizing does exist on violence is frequently built on unreliable, invalid, and unverifiable data, frequently due to a lack of efforts to ‘go native’” (horgan, 2005, p. 37). thus, a certain degree of rigidity, or conservatism, concerning choice of methods might be one reason why we have a lack of primary data in psychological research on religious violence, but there are also other factors that complicate empirical studies on suspected religious terrorists. rex a. hudson writes: “researchers have little, if any, direct access to terrorists, even imprisoned ones. occasionally, a researcher has gained special access to a terrorist group, but usually at the cost of compromising the credibility of his/her research. even if a researcher obtains permission to interview an incarcerated terrorist, such an interview would be of limited value and reliability for the purpose of making generalizations. most terrorists, including imprisoned ones, would be loath to reveal their group’s operational secrets to their interrogators, let alone to journalists or academic researchers, whom the terrorists are likely to view as representatives of the “system” or perhaps even as intelligence agents in disguise. even if terrorists agree to be interviewed in such circumstances, they may be less than candid in answering questions” (hudson, 2005, pp.23-24). i know, based on my own experience of collecting primary data in south east asia, that it is very difficult to establish first-hand contacts with radical religious groups (lindgren, 2014). however, i still think that it is possible – [ 158 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 even though it might be time-consuming – and important to establish the confidence-inspiring contacts that make psychological analyses of religious perpetrators, as well as victims, possible without compromising our credibility as researchers. as a matter of fact, some psychologists have succeeded to establish such contacts and making interesting psychological studies on religious violence, for example taylor (1991), kakar (1996), and atran (2010). moreover, there are scholars within allied fields who have gathered important materials of religious perpetrators during extensive fieldwork that can be (but is not) interpreted from a psychological perspective, for example oliver’s and stenberg’s illuminating study of suicide bombers in palestine (2005). method, culture and meaning violence has been a part of human experience throughout human history. it is present in each one of us as a possibility, but that does not mean that we are born as religious perpetrators. on the contrary, there are empirical studies indicating that is quite difficult for people to overcome a profound disinclination to kill others, even during war and serious ethnic conflicts (e.g., grossman, 1996; scheper-hughes, 1997). killing, then, is something that has to be learned in the same way as we learn other cultural practices. it is important to remember that religious violence is a culturally constituted phenomenon. as a cultural phenomenon, it is located within and between individuals in shared meanings and practices. these meanings are rooted in both the personal life histories of the participants of the violent drama and culturally available meanings. it is these meanings that give religious violence its tremendous power. the cultural construction of religious violence ought to have methodological and theoretical consequences since it indicates that various forms of religious violence can never be completely explained and understood in terms of a de-contextualized biology, physiology or psychology. to do so is to miss the point of these horrendous acts. the editors of the handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (2005) have argued successfully, i think, that “meaning holds much promise as a unifying construct in psychology” (paloutzian & parks, 2005, p. 13). however, the crucial thing here is how meaning is understood and how it is analyzed within the context of psychological research on religious violence. israela silberman (2005) has offered a model for analyzing how internalized religious meaning-systems can facilitate violent activism. drawing on secondhand sources, silberman’s discussion focuses on five processes through which religion can facilitate religious violence, for example, that “religions often contain values and ideas that may facilitate prejudice, hostility, and violence [ 159 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 by encouraging the consciousness of belonging to a select and privileged community, and by emphasizing the ‘otherness’ of those who are not following the tenets of the religion or those who belong to other religions” (2005, p. 535). silberman’s analysis of the meaning of religious violence indicates the importance of taking into consideration the context of the acts; for example, sacred texts, doctrines, sermons, symbols, and narratives. these linguistic conventions are important since they stimulate and organize religious violence as a psychological phenomenon. however, by basing her work mainly on an unhistorical scriptural understanding of religions, silberman’s analysis is not sensitive to how different historical and socio-cultural contexts promote various interpretations of a specific religious meaning-system. in other words, the religious meaning system is idealized as an essence rather than analyzed as an unfolding culture-bound dynamic of belief and behavior. silberman offers then a model for analyzing how de-contextual religious meaning-systems can facilitate religious violence (usually in hypothetical situations, as if every member of a particular religion is equally prone to follow every prescription in the scripture), but it can not explain with any certitude why, how and when certain religious discourses facilitates specific violent acts, and it can not explain the idiosyncratic meaning of specific violent acts in certain religious discourses or cultures. the meaning of the texts that concerns us as psychologists of religion, according to me, lies not in what is written into them but in what religious people read out of them and what they do with them. therefore, it is very important that psychological research on religious violence is based on empirical approaches sensitive to the socio-cultural modelling of various religious meaning-systems. this imply that the psychologists of religion must be willing to use novel and creative methods sensitive to the unique cultural context where the violent behaviour is acted out and interpreted by the actors (perpetrator and victim) as well as the audience of the violent drama, for example discourse analysis or narrative research. these forms of analyses focus on how psychological phenomena are organized in actual speech and texts. hence, the analysis of religious violence will focus on the discursive dimensions of religious violence, for example, how certain actors within a religious community secure a preferential right of interpretation by using various linguistic devices, and how priests/pastors/imams use metaphors, images, and stories in order to create a convincing version of an actual conflict during sermons in churches or mosques. in other words, the analysis focuses on the rhetoric and linguistic organization of religious language in speech and texts and its behavioral and experiential consequences. in the self-corrective and growth-inducing feedback [ 160 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 process between these methods and primary data it would be possible, i think, to develop valid psychological theories of religious violence. psychological explanations the simple fact that we are not born as perpetrators of religious violence means that we must become perpetrators one way or another. the process of becoming a violent perpetrator entails numerous possibilities. in order to understand religious violence, it is therefore important to describe and explain both how and why certain people choose to become part of a violent community while other people prefer to remain, or become, non-violent (which is not necessarily a passive attitude as it can entail a non-violent fight against oppression), even in times of serious conflicts. however, answering questions about why people may wish to become involved in religious violence may have little bearing on the answers that explain why people commit violent acts and why they maintain a violent pattern of behavior. a hallmark of religious violence is that the violent acts are coordinated by a group of people belonging to the same reference group. mark juergensmeyer mentions that “it takes a community of support and, in many cases, a large organizational network for an act of violence to succeed. it also requires an enormous amount of moral presumption for the perpetrators of these acts to justify the destruction of property on a massive scale or to condone a brutal attack on another life, especially the life of someone one scarcely knows and against whom one bears no personal enmity. and it requires a great deal of internal conviction, social acknowledgement, and the stamp of approval from a legitimizing ideology or authority one respects. because of the moral, ideological, and organizational support necessary for such acts, most of them come as collective decisions…” (juergensmeyer, 2003, p. 11). this fact indicates that involvement and engagement in religious violence might best be understood as a process whereby an individual joins a specific group and internalizes its values and norms. an important area of research, then, is to explain how people become involved, and why certain people want to become involved, in violent religious groups. research on militant religious groups indicates that they tend to attract people from relatively deprived strata of the population (pape, 2006; hudson, 2005; atran, 2010). contextual factors, such as political repression, marginalization, unemployment, and the pattern of distribution of wealth and income, thus may create a pool of potential recruits for terrorist acts since they have less to [ 161 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 lose and a great deal to win if the social order is changed. but intensification of grievances or relative deprivation is not a cause in itself of radicalization. potential recruits must be convinced that their problems are not inevitable and therefore can be changed through collective actions. the process of joining a terrorist group follows, in general, a pattern quite similar to the pattern found in research on joining new religious movements: “potential terrorist group members often start out as sympathizers of the group. recruits often come from support organizations, such as prisoner support groups or student activist groups. from sympathizer, one moves to passive supporter. often, violent encounters with police or other security forces motivate an already socially alienated individual to join a terrorist group. although the circumstances vary, the end result of this gradual process is that the individual, often with the help of a family member or friend with terrorist contacts, turns to terrorism. membership in a terrorist group, however, is highly selective. over a period as long as a year or more, a recruit generally moves in a slow, gradual fashion toward full membership in a terrorist group” (hudson, 2005, p. 24). it is important to observe here that the process is characterized by a slow gradual process into committed involvement in terrorist activity and a simultaneous gradual movement away from conventional society (cf. kellen, 1982; taylor, 1988). moreover, it is important to observe the function of significant others in this process. this analysis of the process of joining a terrorist group is most likely valid for joining many violent religious groups as well. however, many questions still remain to be answered. for example, given that many people are exposed to the grievances that generate religious violence, very few will, according to recent research (e.g., barber, 2003), proceed to increased engagement and subsequently become operational activists for a terrorist group. why? moreover, there are reasons to believe that the psychology of joining a violent religious group and acting as a religious perpetrator may differ between different individuals depending on, among other things, cultural factors. if so, how shall we account for these differences? psychopathology and personality in earlier research, it was quite common to explain violent behaviors in terms of psychopathology, for example, antisocial personality disorder (cooper, 1977; kellen, 1982) and narcissistic personality disorder (post, 2004). however, it is important to realize that most of the studies indicating psychopathology among terrorist are based on secondary sources. the terrorists are thus [ 162 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 diagnosed at a distance, a quite controversial procedure that many readers seem to overlook. moreover, it is true that there are some superficial similarities in the behavior of sociopaths and terrorists, for example, the readiness to kill, and a lack of empathy and compassion. but there are also many important differences making the explanation problematic. for example, antisocial personality disorders are characterized by egocentricity and an unwillingness to conform to communal rules. these persons are then not easily used in terrorist organizations or armies of any kind. further, there are differences in the way the perpetrators chose victims; the sociopath kills for personal reasons or personal fantasies while the terrorists are motivated by ideology and choose symbolic victims for their acts. more than thirty years of first-hand empirical research has revealed little evidence that terrorist are suffering from any form of severe psychopathology (merari, 2010). however, this does not mean that pathological personalities are never found in terrorists groups. some researchers have found such individuals in their samples, but they “were a rarity, being the exception rather than the rule,” and when they do appear “such personalities tend to be fringe members of the terrorist group, rather than central characters” (silke, 2003, p. 32). thus, as most simple answers to difficult questions, the suggestions of psychopathology have proved to be a false explanation of terrorist behavior. as clark mccauley put it in the following statement. “indeed, terrorism would be a trivial problem if only those with some kind of psychopathology could be terrorists. rather we have to face the fact that normal people can be terrorists under some circumstances. this fact is already implied in recognizing that military and police forces involved in state terrorism are all too capable of killing noncombatants. few would suggest that the broad range of soldiers and policemen involved in such killing must all be suffering some kind of psychopathology” (mccauley, 2004, p. 37). there are no indications that religious perpetrators would differ from terrorists regarding their mental health. but what about personality or personality traits? the reason why certain individuals seems to be more attracted to become members of violent groups than others, is sometimes explained in terms of personality or personality traits in previous psychological research (e.g., shaw, 1986). for example, some terrorist leaders have been diagnosed as extraverterted personalities while other leaders have been diagnosed as neurotically hostile (post, 1998). there are many serious problems related to these explanations (taylor, 1988). in order to keep this article to a reasonable length, i will only highlight one problem related to cultural influences on [ 163 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 psychological functioning. we must take into consideration that institutionalized religious violence takes place in various cultural contexts and that the actors involved in the violent acts are cultural beings. during the last decade, several different approaches and methods have been used within psychological anthropology, cultural psychology, and cross-cultural psychology to examine the relationship between culture and personality. although considerable evidence points to the universality of some aspects of personality, for example the five dimensions (“the big five”) of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness (e.g., mccrae et al, 1998), a considerable amount of evidence also indicates the existence of indigenous constellations of personality traits (e.g., ho, 1998), as well as cultural differences in supposed universal personality domains, such as locus of control (e.g., hamid, 1994), self-esteem (e.g., crocker & lawrence, 1999), self-monitoring (e.g., gudykunst et al, 1989), cognitive styles and field dependence (figueroa, 1980), and authoritarianism (lederer, 1982). thus, cross-cultural psychological research of personality dimensions has revealed many ways in which cultures differ in mean levels of personality. these cross-cultural differences might reflect a difference in the underlying trait that has been measured or that personality traits are not the same across cultures. this indicates that it is very problematic to use personality or personality traits, at least as they are defined and function in a western context, to explain why certain people in various non-western cultures become attracted to violent religious groups. the focus on the proposed psychopathology of religious perpetrators, or on abnormal personality traits, tells us more about our own personal wishes about who commits violent acts than it does about the real perpetrators: it makes it possible for us, normal people with normal human capacities, to distance ourselves from them. moreover, these explanations single out certain inherent characteristics of the perpetrators as the crucial factors influencing violent behaviors. that might illustrate a tendency among westerners to overestimate internal factors and to underestimate situational factors in explaining the behavior of other people, the so-called “fundamental attribution error”. when the behavior of others are defined as “terrorist acts”, it is not a giant leap to declare the other as mentally deranged or deviant in one way or another; crazy acts are done by crazy people. this kind of reasoning is a typical example of circular reasoning: crazy people do crazy things and we know that they are crazy because they are doing crazy things. however, most research indicates that they are not crazy and we can not identify any single personality or [ 164 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 personality traits that can thoroughly explain violent behaviors. thus, the decisions to join a violent religious group and commit violent acts might be a normal thing to do under certain circumstances. what are these circumstances? when and why do normal people commit violent acts like hijacking of airplanes, fake executions, denotations of vehicle bombs on city streets, and suicide attacks on public busses? previous psychological explanations of these types of behaviors center on, among other things, biological factors, cognition, emotions, and social dynamics. biology, cognition and evolution psychological explanations of violent behaviors in terms of instincts, or other biological factors, have a long history within psychology and allied disciplines. one of the first representatives for this perspective was sigmund freud in his theory about dual human instincts: life instinct and death instinct. he thought that the death instinct is primarily directed to ourselves, but gets displaced onto others in certain circumstances. later, konrad lorenz (1982) developed a theory that humans have inherited aggressive impulses during their evolution that might explain the way violent behaviors are expressed among human beings today. theories about the evolutionary and neuropsychological origin of violent behaviors have been developed within modern biopsychology. these theories, emphasizing the evolutionary advantage of violent behaviors in human prehistory, explain why these types of behaviors have survived and they locate the origin of violent behaviors in specific parts of the brain (e.g., valzelli, 1981). the modern cognitive science of religion has explicitly addressed the problem of religious violence and explained it terms of cognitive and evolutionary psychology (e.g., boyer, 2001; atran, 2010). for example, pascal boyer’s explanation of fundamentalism and religious violence takes it point of departure in coalitional dynamics, a common feature in human interaction. coalitions are a special form of association that “presupposes an activity in which joining is (presumably) voluntary, defection is possible, benefits accrue with cooperation and there is a notable cost in being a cooperator when others defect” (boyer, 2001, p. 126). this form of association requires sophisticated computations of other peoples’ reliability, since it is very important to be assured of other members’ loyalty. the problem of possible defection is manifest in all coalitions in several ways, for instance, in a desire to punish those who have defected, a wish to punish those who have failed to punish the defectors, and a wish to “screen people by submitting them to various ordeals [ 165 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in which they have to incur substantial costs to demonstrate their loyalty” (boyer, 2001, p. 127). fundamentalism and religious violence, according to boyer, can be explained in terms of coalition dynamics. he understand fundamentalism not as a religion in excess or politics in disguise, but as a reaction to the pluralism and value relativism of modern society. the modern society signals to the religious coalition that it is possible to believe and act in various ways without paying a heavy prize for that. this means that defection from a specific reality construction is not only cheap but also very likely. religious violence thus “seems to be an attempt to raise the stakes, that is, to discourage potential defectors by demonstrating that defection is actually going to be very costly, that people who adopt different norms may be persecuted or even killed” (boyer, 2001, p. 295). the coalitional background explains several features of modern fundamentalism and religious extremism, according to boyer, for instance, a concern with control of public behavior; a propensity to make the punishment of immoral behavior public and spectacular (in order to send a message to potential defectors of how costly defection can be); that most violent acts are directed to members of the same cultural and religious group; that the main target usually is a local form of modernized religion (boyer, 2001, p. 295-296) this explanation, mainly based on secondary sources, is interesting and consistent with the theoretical and methodological approach of the modern cognitive science of religion. but there are also obvious limitations to this explanation. first, the emphasis on the individual rather than the sociocultural factors means that he neglects political and socioeconomic factors in the dissemination of religious violence. second, in spite of the fact that he focuses on the individual, he fails to explain individual differences in violent behavior on an empirical/ethnographic level. we still don’t know for sure why certain people join violent religious groups and commit violent acts while most people refuse to do so. david hubbard (1978) explained individual differences in violent behaviors in biological terms. he examined eighty imprisoned terrorists in eleven countries and found that nearly 90 per cent of them had defective vestibular functions of the middle ear. this impairment causes poor balance and coordination and he suggested that it was linked with antisocial behavior designed to gain attention and an inability to relate to other people. his argument was, however, “fatally undermined by serious doubts over the validity and reliability of his work. he never released detailed descriptions of the data he gathered or of his analysis procedures, and there have been no replications of his very unusual findings [ 166 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 since” (silke, 2003, p. 35). there are, nevertheless, some indications that biological factors might influence violent behaviors, for example, that men in general are more aggressive than women (e.g., potts & hayden, 2008) and most of the recruits to various terrorists groups are also young men (e.g., sageman, 2008, atran, 2010). however, we do not have any valid scientific evidence that biological factors can exclusively explain why certain people behave in a more violent way than others. biopsychology is most likely a factor in combination with others that might predispose some individuals to engage in religious violence. the identification of important biological factors and analyses of how biopsychology might interact with socio-cultural factors in the constitution and dynamic of religious violence is therefore an important area of future research. passions of violence it is a well-known fact in psychology that behaviors are affected by both cognitions and emotions. religious violence has been interpreted as an emotional expression. this means, for example, that the religious perpetrators are interpreted as furious actors blinded by uncontrolled emotions of anger or hatred. this line of reasoning is usually based on an idea of a relation between frustration and aggression. john dollard (1939) thought that a sense of frustration appears when people are thwarted from attaining an expected goal and this frustration causes aggressive behavior. consequently, when an aggressive behavior occurs, a frustration is identified as the cause of the behavior. when it is impossible to identify the cause of the frustration, the aggression is usually displaced on something else instead. the theory of a causal relation between frustration and aggression was later on developed by berkowitz (1965), runciman (1966), and friedland (1992). it has become a popular explanation of terrorism and religious violence (e.g., avalos, 2005) religious groups involved in various forms of violent acts are usually suffering from some form of economic frustration, insult or humiliation that is expressed in the performance of the violent attacks. some of the members of these groups have experienced these sufferings and frustrations themselves while others have experienced them indirectly through group identification. we know that one motivating factor for joining violent groups is hatred and revenge. the theory of frustration and aggression then has its advantages as it highlights certain important circumstances that might function as necessary, though not sufficient, causes of religious violence. [ 167 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 however, there are some problems with this theory as well, particularly when it is applied to religious violence. first, even though there are experiments supporting the hypothesis that frustrations led to increased aggression on an individual level, some studies do not back up this argument. for instance, studies that take into consideration the time factor have revealed that frustrations are not very long-lasting, and this indicate that frustrations might not be a prime motivator for well-organized violent behavior. moreover, stanley milgram’s experiments reveal that some forms of aggression are not caused by frustrations at all, but obedience to authorities. as will be shown below, there are important individual and cultural differences regarding socialization and obedience that might explain some features of religious violence in a more plausible way than the frustration-aggression theory. finally, there are reasons to believe that frustrations might be a better explanation for expressive than instrumental violence and, as is known by now, most institutional religious violence, such as terrorism and ethno-religious warfare, are instrumental since it tends to achieve a goal beyond the violent act. the individual and the context we know a great deal about the power of the situation and the group processes by which violent behaviors are created. these processes include, for instance, obedience and deferring to authorities (milgram, 1974; bandura, 1998), peer pressure to conformity (kelman & hamilton, 1989), deindividuation of the actors (kelman & hamilton, 1989), groupthink (janis, 1972), discounting the effects (bandura, 1998), dehumanizing the victim (brennan, 1995), training, and routinization of the violent acts (grossman, 1996). recent studies indicate that engagement in terrorist groups might best be understood as a result of idiosyncratic learning experiences. if that is true, then we have to focus our interest on the perpetrators’ life choices and try to “identify factors in any particular situation that helps us understand why particular life choices have been made” (taylor & quayle, 1994, pp. 34-35). horgan has identified six situational-experiential factors – formulated as working hypotheses – that might predispose an individual for increased engagement in violent groups: (1) the degree and nature of previous relevant engagement, including prior knowledge of the conflict situation and exposures to the accompanying lures of engagement; (2) the nature and extent of relevant early experiences, for example victimization at the hands of security services; (3) the nature and extent of adult socialization, which might both affect the individual’s openness to increased involvement and the willingness of the group to accept the adept; (4) a sense of dissatisfaction or disillusionment [ 168 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 with current persona and activity; (5) the nature of the community context and its consequences for the individual regarding, for instance, an expected value of involvement; and (6) the nature and range of competing alternatives and opportunities (horgan, 2005, pp. 102-103). this indicates, as drummond (2002) argues, that a critical conjunction of societal events and personal triggers lead certain individuals to become perpetrators of religious violence. horgan’s process model, based on rational choice theory, is immune to the aforementioned critique of the explanations that focus on personality and personality traits since it is not trying to explain why people become violent exclusively on the basis of certain internal psychological characteristics, but focuses instead on the interaction between the individual and external factors in concrete situations (for example, rewards and status enhancement accompanying increased involvement in a violent religious group within certain social strata) that might “push” the individual towards an increased engagement in violent terrorist groups. nevertheless, horgan’s model is also lacking in cultural sensitivity since it does not take into consideration cultural influences on human behavior. terror management theory, a recent theory in social psychology, begins from the idea that humans are the only animals that are aware that they are mortal (pyszcynski et al. 1997). attitudes are substantially affected by heightened awareness of one’s own mortality, according to recent experimental research. after priming with mortality related themes, subjects are more punishing, less tolerant of ethnic differences (greenberg et al. 1990), more attached to cultural symbols and values, and more aggressive against people who threaten one’s own cultural world view than controls (mcgregor et al. 1998). thus, attachment to social identity is a consequence of the terror induced by mortality. “many cultural institutions – shared symbols, shared values, a sense of group membership – are seen as buffers against this natural anxiety. according to terror-management theorists, cultural institutions are a (somewhat illusory) remedy to such feelings because they provide safety and protection” (boyer, 2001, p. 205). religion has proved to be a powerful terror management since it provides ultimate safety and protection in the face of mortality during ethnic and national conflicts (mccauley, 2002). terror management theory indicates that situations of heightened awareness of mortality might affect human behaviours in various cultures in similar ways. thus, the influence of values of traditional cultures might not play such a decisive role in the socialization into violent behaviour during a violent conflict. this is, i believe, related to the fact that violence is mimetic and creates a culture of violence that affects peoples’ cognitions and behaviours [ 169 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in a more dramatic way than traditional cultures. a culture of violence, then, transforms not only the geographical space, but also shared meanings and practices of a distinct cultural group. nevertheless, the significance of a culture of violence and its impact on the individuals does not mean that traditional cultures are of no interest at all in situations of serious conflicts, because a culture of violence is always mixed up with cultural, beliefs, values and behaviours. a challenge for psychological research on religious violence is then to examine the mixture of cultures and their effects on the individuals. these examinations require extensive ethnographic research, combining various forms of primary and secondary data, for example, participant observations, interviews, archives, diaries, sermons, leaflets, daily papers, photographs, and graffiti. drawing on these data, it would be possible, i think, to develop valid psychological explanations of how and why people in concrete situations become engaged in religious violence. closing remarks religious terrorism is a culturally constituted phenomenon. it is therefore important that research on religious violence is based on theoretical and empirical approaches sensitive to the cultural construction of violence. this means that psychologists of religion must be willing to use novel and creative methods sensitive to the unique cultural context where the violent behaviour is acted out and interpreted by the actors of the violent drama, for example, discourse analysis or narrative research. in the self-corrective and growthinducing feedback process between these methods and primary data it would be possible to develop valid psychological explanations of religious violence. this work is a matter of discussion if or how religious violence is different from other forms of political violence. many researchers, however, argue that religious violence is particularly violent (hoffman, 1998; laqueur, 1999; harmon 2000; jurgensmeyer, 2003; avalos, 2005; jones, 2008). if that is true, it means 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[ 174 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 silberman, i. 2005. “religious violence, terrorism, and peace: a meaning-system analysis.” in r. f. paloutzian & c. l. park (eds.), handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. new york: the guilford press. silke, a. 2003. “becoming a terrorist.” in a silke (ed.), terrorists, victims and society: psychological perspectives on terrorism and its consequences. chichester: wiley. smith, j. a. (ed.). 1995. rethinking psychology. london: sage. stern, j. 2004. terror in the name of god: why religious militants kill. new york: harpercollins. taylor, m. 1988. the terrorist. london: brassey’s. taylor, m. 1991. the fanatics. london: brassey’s. taylor m. & quayle, j. 1994. terrorist lives. london: brassey’s. valzelli, l. 1981. psychobiology of aggression and violence. new york: raven. [ 265 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 harmony in religious and cultural diversity, case study of sungai penuh city society masnur alam institut agama islam negeri kerinci masnur.alam@yahoo.com abstract this article was motivated by recent development in indonesian society whose religious and cultural diversity has raised a lot of racial issues that lead to tension and suspicion among communities in the sungai penuh, kerinci regency, jambi province on sumatra island. the impact could potentially trigger conflict, damage, inconvenience and could further threaten national unity and national integration. this article gives an overview that religion (islam) has a very positive philosophy that in fact humans are created in religious and cultural diversity. diversity is the law of god, something that is commonplace, rule of time, a must, and divine grace to be grateful for, a form generosity from god to humans as the strength, the reason to do good. the government together with the community has been able to build harmony in diversity, creating peace, moderation, compassion, love of peace, tolerance, avoiding conflict, so as to build the country as planned. in socializing the attitude of harmony, the government can do it through formal and non-formal ways, eventually people can implement it in their daily lives. thus, the government and the public can establish harmony in diversity, creating peace, security, order, justice, tranquility, comfort as well as brotherhood and compassion. the government together with the community can come together, foster mutual cooperation to achieve the goals the country’s development. this paper also recommends to religious communities with diverse cultures to always build harmony as one of the solutions in creating peace and free from conflict, as well as serving as capital to build the country, nation, state and religion. keywords: harmony, religion, culture, sungai penuh. introduction indonesia when seen from the number of people is a very diverse country with a population of over 250 million, inhabited by 700 ethnic groups speaking some 500 languages, home to thousands of cultural traditions, 6 “officlal” religions and hundreds of forms of mysticism and local beliefs. with such diversity, or heterogeneity of society, it will be very easy for radical groups to grow into [ 266 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 violence and extremity. thus it would be prone to conflict, such as enmity, strife, animosity and disharmony, discrimination against different groups, particularly against minorities. conflicts in indonesia can be seen from two factors, namely internal and external. internal factors include the fact that this country is facing the emergence of separatism and conflict or unrest tinted with racial intolerance, fundamentalism, extreme groups who believe that they have the absolute truth and that their values should be applied. for example, the emergence of mass organization called gerakan fajar nusantara (gafatar) which was suspected of affiliation with the organization of the islamic state of indonesia (nii) which is indicated as heretical, has a progressive movement, with advanced thought. it is very disturbing as a lot of missing people have been found as a follower of the gafatar. likewise, the emergence of the east indonesia mujahidin (mit) led santoso, a militant group that was not in accordance with the teachings of religion and humanity. in addition, the external factors are also affecting the situation in this country, namely the various movements to take root in the middle east or elsewhere that wish to establish a caliphate, a single universal islamic political entity, either through “peace” or “radical” ways or employing terrorist attacks which are increasing open. further, the emergence of militant islamic state of iraq and syria (isis) whose henchmen have spread to many countries in the world including indonesia. the isis claimed to be the group responsible for the ‘concert’ (terror) in the capital of indonesia in jakarta on january 14, 2016. on july 5, 2016, muslims who were expecting eid were shocked by terror attacks on the police headquarters in surakarta, central java and indonesian citizens held hostage by the abu sayyaf of the philippines. global issues that catch the international attention are terrorist attacks, radical movements with religion as the culprit. yet every religion and culture does not have the term radicalism and terrorism. so with such treatment, the atmosphere of indonesia which is known so far as a very safe and conducive place, once there was a terror bomb, it turned into a chaotic, uncontrolled area. this atmosphere if not anticipated, will continue to occur endlessly, and always haunt us all the time. casram (2016) argues that indonesians are in the possition of supporting the efforts of building better tolerance in a pluralistic society. in addition, it is also common knowledge that there are people who are exclusive, extreme, intolerant of differences. exclusive attitude refers to the belief in the absolute truth of religion, denying the truth of other religions, eventually growing the seeds of extremity, seeing things as black and white, assuming they are right and others are wrong. one can do something outrageous, taking actions that lead to violence against other groups. furthermore, extreme [ 267 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 attitude can lead to the inability to be tolerant, which arises because we cannot or do not want to accept and respect differences. religious and cultural intolerance can lead to strained relations between people or communities, faiths and different cultures. thus the atmosphere will not be harmonious, because they do not appreciate and respect diversity. with these conditions, we will not be able to build the country well, because we’ve been busy with the split, even if this condition continues massively, this republic will not be secure anymore. this situation should be avoided, because it gives rise to tension, friction and even massive conflict. all humans wish for harmonious and peaceful life and no one wants conflict and violence. once conflict and violence get in the way of building harmony, peace becomes fragile and not easily reestablished. moreover, mutual trust and respect of the beliefs of others will fade. so, it is necessary to endeavor to establish peace. such situation, if not anticipated, could threaten national integration. zaenuddin hudi prasojo (2016) gives an example of the situation in west kalimantan in which three influencial ethnic groups live tother; the tidayu as from tionghua (the chinese indonesian, dayak and malay). he further explains that there has been a potential of politicing the ethno-religious identity in the region including the three groups but they have come up with appropriate anticipation. the phenomena described above reflect an idea that radicalism in indonesia has spread to every line, religion, culture, mass organization, both in rural and urban areas. the attitude of radicalism, mutual mistrust, prejudice, exclusiveness and extremism should be stopped or minimized in order not to spread, to maintain the unity. we must be able to create a pluralistic indonesia as divine grace to be grateful, as well as the strength, the nation’s capital for development that must be managed to face the emerging challenges in the era of globalization. one of the efforts that must be done is to build harmony in religious and cultural diversity so that we can build the country with a variety of achievements and develop a sense of moderation, tolerance and peace, especially for cities or areas that have a high level of diversity in terms of culture and religion. sungai penuh as a heterogeneous city as is found in the research data that sungai penuh city of jambi province has a heterogeneous community with various characteristics and diversity of religions and cultures, tribes, traditions, customs, and languages. such conditions can only last if the community maintains harmony and appreciate the diversity of religions and cultures so that the creation of peace and mutual respect, respect for the diversity, [ 268 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 and free from conflicts and disturbances can be sustainable. in the spirit of mutual and beneficial cooperation, regardless of differences of religions, culture, ethnicity and languages, they can develop the country, make achievement in the era of globalization. this is a typical local wisdom that deserves to be imitated, emulated and guided. this paper is written from the results of research using a qualitative approach. the collection of primary data was done through interviews with key informants to determine the roles, namely representatives of regional work units (skpd), chairman of the indonesian ulema council (mui), chairman of the forum for religious harmony (fkub), chairman of the national assimilation forum, chairman of indigenous people. interviews were conducted to determine how the government socialized the attitude of harmony in society. the observations were made to reveal the reality, grasp and understand the phenomenon and the real condition of the actual, observed the research object, the communication process of government and members of the community in terms of socialization of the attitudes in building harmony in religious and cultural diversity, as well as the results of development which have been achieved by the government of sungai penuh city. study of documents was made on the literature relevant to the education of harmony, religion and culture and on warta kota magazine of sungai penuh city. from the results of research conducted by the author, it can be revealed that the sungai penuh is a city that has a very high diversity. cultural diversity occupies the highest rank, followed by ethnic diversity and diversity of belief or religion. local religion practiced by people who assimilated with islam, christianity, hinduism and buddhism which shapes sungai penuh to be a place with with a high diversity of beliefs. hence, the public also has high dynamics, both in relation to everyday life and in the context of the people and the nation. the role of governments and civil society organizations becomes an important part of community life in the dynamics of sungai penuh city. philosophy of harmony in diversity according to the english indonesian dictionary, the word ‘harmony’1 is translated as: keselarasan, keserasian, kecocokan, kesesuaian, kerukunan. h.a.w. wijaya 2 stated that harmony actually has become a priority for national 1 john m.echols dan hassan shadily, kamus inggris indonesia, (jakarta. gramedia, 1984), p, .290 2 h.a.w. widjaja, pedoman pelaksanaan pendidikan pancasila pada perguruan [ 269 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 development objectives, namely the development in the field of religion and belief in god almighty which is reflected in an atmosphere of harmonious life, as well as the strength of national unity in harmony with appreciation and practice of pancasila. the creation of a harmonious life is characterized by the dominance of the spirit of friendship, and conflict is characterized by the dominance of feelings of hostility and enmity. so to manage harmony in life of the nation can be done through familiarizing friendship, and appreciate the surrounding communities, national society and the global community. committed to building a harmonious life is to recognize the diversity of religion and culture and appreciate and respect each other’s differences gracefully. thus only through creating peace, national integration, national unity can the realization of a prosperous, safe, and peaceful country be achieved. in order for people to live in harmony with others, they should not limit their love for themselves and be selfish. they also should balance such affection to others, work together or provide assistance to each other, like sharing with each other, compassion, love others as they loves themselves, especially those who need help. thus they should be able to balance between their love for themselves with their love to others. according to m. jusuf kalla,3 the vice president of indonesia, basically, the realization of brotherly love, unity, happiness, and cooperation is the purpose of our life together as a religious community. the harmonious atmosphere is supposed to be created in a life of diversity of religions and cultures, ethnic groups, because man is created in diversity. god has made humans in various nations (q.s. alan’am [6]: 42), or some peoples (q.s. al-an-fal [8]: 53). god also created various tribes and nations “o mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.” (surah al-hujurat [49] : 13). this verse explains that we are created god not in uniformity, but in diversity and differences. diversity is the law that cannot be denied. as written by m. nur kholis setiawan4, diversity is not something negative, but a positive situation that contributes optimally. dede rosyada et al.5 also argued that if there are efforts and policies of cultural uniformity by the state, it is a violation of the human rights, as it leads to the elimination of multiculturalism of the tinggi,(jakarta: raja grafindo persada, 2002), 2nd edition p. 284 3 m. jusuf kall, kompas, monday, 23 may 2016, p. 1 4 m. nur kholis setiawan, pribumisasi al-quran: tafsir berwawasan keindonesiaan,(yokyakarta: kaukaba,2012), p. 34 5 dede rosyada dkk. demokrasi dan hak asasi manusia & masyarakat madani, (jakarta icce uin syarif hidayatullah, 2003), p. 206 [ 270 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 identity of the citizens and the wealth of a nation. mulciculturalism is a synonym of pluralism and diversity. pluralism of religions and cultures is a necessity for the salvation of mankind. pluralist attitude, as put forward by muhammad ali,6 is the attitude of believing the truth, trying to understand, appreciate, and accept the possibility of the truth of the others, and furthermore, being ready to cooperate actively in the midst of differences. at present and in the future, we cannot avoid pruralism, both religious and cultural. in religious pluralism, komarudin hidayat7 said the recognition is to provide place for other religions as a truth recognized by its respective followers. similarly, nurcholish madjid 8 stated that recognition of other religions is a form of implicit muslim faith, even though he still believes that their religion is the best and right, yet at the same time, they have the tolerance and friendship with people of other faiths. so under these conditions, tolerance should be encouraged in order to create peace in the society and the nation. with the creation of peace, it will create harmony in the diversity of religions and cultures. nur syam said9 that plurality is defined as a colorful, heterogeneous life, and acknowledging other people who are different, but can live in a single locus and habitus with social and cultural dynamics, not something that is contrary to the sunnah of allah which is indeed necessary to establish the pluralism. the words of god says “ and if it were not for allah checking [some] people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted, but allah is full of bounty to the worlds” (q.s. al-baqarah [2]: 251). in understanding this verse, budhi munawar rahman10 said an affirmation that god created supervision mechanisms and balance between humans to maintain the integrity of the earth, and is a manifestation of god’s abundant mercy to mankind. pluralism must be interpreted as a logical consequence of the divine justice. religion should participate to reconcile conflicting realities to achieve harmony. according to burhanuddin daya,11 religion on the one hand is a force for 6 muhammad ali, teologi pluralis-multikultural: menghargai kemajemukan menjalin kebersamaan,( jakarta:penerbit buku kompas, 2003), p.xii 7 komarudin hidayat & muhammad wahyudin nafis, agama masa depan, persfektif filsafat perinial, (jakarta paramadina, 1995), p. 71 8 nurcholis madjid, foreword: grose & hubbard, p. xix. 9 nur syam, mazhab-mazhab antropologi, (yokyakarta: lkis, 2011),p. 203 10 budhi munawar rahman, islam dan pluralis kesetaraan kaum beriman, (jakarta: paramadina, 2001), p.31 11 burhanuddin daya & herman l. beck (redaktur), ilmu perbandingan agama di indonesia dan belanda, (jakarta: inis, 1992), p. 168 [ 271 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 movements of humanity, justice and peace, but on the other hand can lead to religious discord and even violence. in this regard, nurchalis madjid12 revealed that the development of religious life and diversity now generally tends to look at the differences rather than the similarities, it is true and very commendable, as long as it does not cause social destruction. in the face of these conditions, farooq kathwari13 president director of ethan allen furniture said, in the face of diversity “let’s share diversity and tolerance, and look at freedom of religion and culture as important. thus the condition could be more neutral and safer. human differences of languages and skin color must be accepted as a positive reality (q.s. ar-rum [30]: 22). differences should not be “reprimanded” in life, and should be used as a base of strength and good deeds. islam considers that all or part of the human race are the same as the word of the prophet. “all men are the same as the teeth of the comb, an arab is no better that on a ajam (non-arab) except for his piety”. human community and cultural diversity are no longer in the boundaries, but everything is widespread, broad and global. thus it can be understood that the religious and cultural diversity is the law of god, la of the times, something that is commonplace, but how we strive to be a people or nation capable of creating a sense of peace and prosperity in the midst of the social life, instead of resentment and hatred of one another, or hostility due to differences in religious beliefs. according komaruddin hidayat14 attitude of muslims should be able to tolerate differences and reward appropriately to everyone, not only confirms their own beliefs and denying other people’s creed. likewise johan efendi15 revealed that we should be able to get out of the storm of narrow religiousness, into the diversity of the a more mature future. in the same way, the chairman of the national movement of advanced indonesia (pim), din syamsuddin,16 in a speech said “ indonesia’s pluralism is a divine blessing which we should be grateful for. pluralism should be a force for the betterment of the nation and not a weakness that triggered the split”. the most important thing in such diversity is the creation of peace between them. islam is a religion that loves peace and people are inclined to peace. “and if they are incline to peace, then incline to it and put thy belief in allah” 12 nurchalis madjid, tradisi islam peran dan fungsinya dalam pembangunan di indonesia, (jakarta: paramadina, 1997), p. 70 13 farooq kathwari, republika, saturday, 2 may 2016, p. 12 14 komaruddin hidayat dan ahmad gaus af (editor), islam negara & civil sosiety, gerakan dan pemikiran islam kontemporer, ( jakarta: paramedina, 2005), p. 502 15 yusnar yusuf, (pengantar djohan efendi), prasangka ber-agama, (jakarta:penamadani, 2004), p.xxiv 16 din syamsuddin, kompas, monday, 23 may 2016, p 5, column 1 [ 272 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 (q.s. al anfal [8]: 62). according komari a. ahmadi, prophet muhammad17 never refused to live in peace, always accepted invitations to peace, although was always betrayed by the enemy. according to tata m. taufik 18, greeting “assalamualaikum” in addition to containing a prayer for peace for anyone to find, also means that it is able to bring the spirit of peace, “to see you with a spirit of peace” or “i have come to bring peace to you”. thus it can be understood that it is not simply word of greeting, but further it can give birth to peace in the midst of society. in terms of communication or interaction between muslims and non-muslims, we should be able to maintain the character of muslims to become sympathetic, should not be a provocateur that could result in a conflict, but should be the one to spread peace with other human beings. in accordance with the mission of spreading the islamic teachings of peace and well-being, the islamic concept of social interaction is more oriented towards achieving “peace” and “harmony” between human beings, regardless of religious background or race. peace can be understood as a harmonious state of physical, mental, spiritual, and social, at peace with god through obedience, and peace with our fellow human beings to avoid intrusion. islam requires its followers to seek peace in all areas of life. islam is very committed to freedom, justice, equality, and peace in the world. as good citizens, we should be compassionate to one another, and can show consideration and concern for others. according to abdullah nashih ulwan,19 compassion is a softness in the heart, smooth feelings in the conscience, and an excellent sense which leads to gentle treatment of others, feeling of caring, compassion toward them and the effort to eliminate grief and suffering of others. the affection is not limited to the brothers who are believers, but even abundant to all humanity. thus creating a harmony that is a reflection of mutual relations characterized by mutual acceptance, mutual respect, solidarity, and tolerance that is able to accept that the differences with what has become self-confidence. tolerance, cited from the dictionary of al-munawir20 is termed with 17 komari, a. ahmadi, perang dan damai dalam islam, (bandung: pustaka setia, 1995), p. 274 18 m. tata taufik, langkah-langkah menuju surga, gema mui edisi xvi, jum’at 26 rabiul tsani 1427 p/23 june 2006. 19 abdulllah nashih ulwan,(terj.saifullah kamaile), pedoman pendidikan anak dalam islam,( semarang, cv. asysyifa’, 1993), p. 400 20 ahmad warson munawir,kamus al-munawir, (yokyakarta: pp krafyak, 1994),p.702 [ 273 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 the word tasamuh meaning graceful gesture. a. zaki badawi 21 said tasamuh (tolerance) is the willingness to accept a wide range of views and diversity, tolerance, mutual respect and mutual respect. in big indonesian dictionary22 means tolerating. yayah khisbiyah 23 explained, tolerance is build better social relationships. thus, it will give birth to harmony in the nationhood and statehood, building harmony in diversity of religion and culture in building harmony, sungai penuh government is making use of the structural model of top-down to make policies in achieving harmony for its citizens. first, they disseminate the message to all levels of government and society using both formal and non-formal means of communication. as for the formal channels, it is done by the government itself through the flag raising ceremony at the regional work units (skpd) which is held on every monday morning. in addition to the main message, the ceremony participants are also presented with spiritual nourishment or religious education for seven minutes. among the materials of the message oare the harmony in diversity, no anarchy, maintaining security and order in their respective environments, creating conducive conditions, peace, maintaining harmony in the workplace. likewise it is also done through both educational institutions and islamic schools from early childhood level, to high school. at the flag ceremony, message associated with harmony and peace is given. likewise, every friday in activities of qur’an reading, recitation of surat yasin, the recitation of most beautiful god’s names, tahlil and prayer together, so as to ensure the country and the nation to remain safe, orderly, peaceful, so as to carry out the development programs, as well as staying away from temptation, disasters, and plagues. in addition, through formal, non-formal waya, the message is also disseminated through the friday sermon, lecture between maghrib and isha, after dawn prayer, during informal gatherings which have a network from city level up to rt / rw, among the mosque youths, and qur’an education centers, etc. based on the results of interviews with nusyirwan24 chairman of the indonesian ulema council of sungai penuh city, the city indeed reflects a 21 a. zaki badawi, mu’jam musthalahat al-‘ulum al ijtima’yat, (beirut: maktabah lubnan, 1982), p. 426 22 departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan, kamus besar bahasa indonesia,(jakarta: balai pustaka, 2005), p.1204 23 yayah khisbiyah, menepis prasangka, memupuk toleransi untuk multikultural: dukungan dari psikologi sosial,(surakarta:psb-ps ums. 2007),p. 4 24 nusyirwan, ketua mui kota sungaipenuh, interview, dated, 16 september 2016 [ 274 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 religious diversity, although the majority embrace islam, between religious communities there has never been a conflict; the minority never felt oppressed by the majority. mui always puts forward the attitude of tolerance between religious groups should not have suspicion of each other especially the majority and the minority. it should not be rigid on the opinions and beliefs of the others, viewing other as always wrong causing antipathy to the other people’s belief. by maintaining such conditions, the relations between religions are always harmonious and peaceful, even among religious groups always working so well with the government, and the government also expects such inter-religious harmony, always promoting moderation, which is located at the middle position of the two conditions, namely: and shortage and excess. moderate education is building the spirit moderation, or not the of extreme, radical, conservative, liberalist behavior. in this way, we can build a sense of togetherness, the feeling of closeness and love one another in unity with others. we also need to promote mutual respect for differences (to agree in disagreement), live side by side with one another, creating anti-hegemony and anti-domination. in preventing the attitude of radicalism and conflict, the government has formed forum for community early vigilance (fkdm) which is a strategic element both for horizontal and vertical relations, which serves to create a conducive atmosphere, especially related to security issues and to invite the community to be more persuasive when discovering potential for violence and conflict and not to cause anxiety in the community. religious groups should also be aware that religious and cultural diversity is inevitable, then they should be aware of religious and cultural diversity, as well as be able to apply inclusivity and diversity in the behavior of religious life, having a sense of moderation in defining the differences and behavioral diversity in society. religious followers should avoid violent behavior, coercion which will cause the loss of tolerance. indonesian society in general is composed of people of different ethnicity, race, creed, religion and political ideology. likewise, sungai penuh city specifically, should share the responsibility to maintain harmonious relations between diverse communities. diversity is a blessing for all, thereby creating harmony in diversity, will be a realization of peace in the life of the nation. the chairman of the forum for religious harmony (fkub) sungai penuh city, ahmad zuhdi25, in an interview said that there are various 25 ahmad zuhdi, head of fkub sungai penuh city, interview, in sungai penuh city, dated 19 september 2016 [ 275 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 religious groups here, muslims, protestants, catholics, hindus, buddhists and confucians. in this forum, all religions are represented as a member of the executive board. by agreement, all religious groups shall contribute to creating harmony and peace between them, one of which is through this forum that promotes moderation, tolerance, mutual trust, not interfering with each other and always put togetherness first. the forum has also established the council for religious deliberation which basically regulates cooperation between religious communities and seeks solution to inter-religious issues as well as supports the government in maintaining national integrity. in addition, regarding the diversity of culture, race or ethnicity, the sungai penuh city has established the nation’s assimilation forum (fpk). based on the interview with the chairman of fkp, masrur lubis26, in sungai penuh city there are several ethnic groups, namely kerinci, jambi, minang, muslim batak, christian batak, java, palembang, malay, and chinese. meanwhile, based on observation, many other ethnic groups have not been integrated into this forum such as aceh, riau, bengkulu, banjar, etc. this forum has agreed to remain united to establish regular communication and keeping the unity with respect for differences, to always prioritize togetherness, thereby bringing harmony and peace into society. even the sungai penuh city has become the safest city in the province of jambi. when asked what is indonesia? the answer would be it is a country whose people live on thousands of islands with various religious, ethnic, and language groups. they live with the spirit of building harmony and peace to achieve common prosperity, with the four pillars of nationality, namely “1945 constitution, pancasila, bhinneka tunggal ika, and the unitary state of the republic of indonesia”. the mayor of sungai penuh, as the first person in charge of security, order and peace in the region, after taking several policies and establishing forums that deal directly with religion and culture, also personally always called on the entire people of sungai penuh to avoid radical actions, brawl, mischief, and that they should be able to implement the attitude of harmony, and observe the tolerance values in everyday life. this appeal is delivered on sungai penuh city regional radio periodically. he also extended such call on each anniversary of islamic holidays, safari ramadhan, ied al-fitr, ied aladha and on other occasions, thereby creating security and order and 26 masrur lubis, head of fpk, sungai penuh city, interview, in sungai penuh city, dated 23 september 2016 [ 276 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 harmony. communities can accept a deviation from what is believed or practiced despite the differences. efforts to promote harmony in diversity is carried out through educational institutions as marwan27 a supervisor at the ministry of religious affairs of sungai penuh said that based on the regulation of the minister of education and culture number 69 / 2013 concerning the basic framework and curriculum structure of high school/madrasah aliyah, basic competence of religious and moral education, there is one subject that teaches students to appreciate and practice caring nature (mutual aid, cooperation, tolerance, peace) and to maintain harmony. then the supervisor also stressed that teachers of religious education in schools and madrasah can internalize these values to the maximum, so that all students can implement in the school environment, family and society. as reported by one of the teachers of religious education, aflizar,28 based on the regulation of the minister of education and culture no. 82 / 2015 the violence in the field of education should not happen, and the school should be a safe and comfortable zone for learners. there should be no violence committed by educators, if committed they shall be punished. however, we as teachers also need protection in teaching, because currently many teachers have been reported to police by parents because taking minor disciplinary actions against students, while the teacher has the right to educate children including disciplining students with sanctions. in addition, efforts have continued to build harmony in diversity because our students come from a variety of ethnic and tribal as well as religious backgrounds. we have been doing a school culture in the form of smiles, greetings, politeness and courteous manners, smiling are required when they run into each other, regardless of religion, ethnicity and descent. thus the higher their tolerance, fellow students will find friendship, the friendship between them will be more closely. based on the results of interviews with one of the community leaders, m. nawir,29 the community of sungai penuh city has always been very heterogeneous and multi-cultural from various regions in indonesia, but their arrival has received a positive response from the natives. they really appreciate and respect the presence of migrants from outside the area with a variety of tribes, ethnicities. even neighbors can be friends. some of them intermarried 27 marwan, supervisor at ministry of religious affairs sungai penuh city, interview, 7 october 2016 28 aflizar, religious education teacher, sman sungai penuh city, interview, 10 october 2016 29 m. nawir, community leader sungai penuh city, interview, dated, 4 november 2016 [ 277 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 and have children. they already feel that life must be harmonious to share diversity, and this is a necessity that must be nurtured, cared for, built to form a force in reaching goals. similarly, the results of interviews with the indigenous leader of sungai penuh city, m. sudin30 revealed that in carrying out marriage to indigenous people, they do not prohibit the use of each other’s culture; in fact they are free to use the traditional clothes, for example the marriage between kerinci with minang tribes, the traditional clothes kerinci and minang are used interchangeably so that both parties feel equally pleased. thus the sustainability of each culture can be well preserved. this is also in line with the results of the field observations conducted at an intermarriage party, which at certain time, the bride and groom changed traditional clothes. with this mixed marriage, the whole family looks happy with diversity harmony, peace, friendship, cooperation, and mutual respect between them. this fact is suppurted by the argument proposed by zaenuddin hudi prasojo (2015) that local culture is an important element in the efforts of building harmony in the multicultural society of indonesia. customary law as apart of local genious elements is in the positition to be empowered to support the efforts of building peace and harmony. if harmony is already established, it will create peace, justice will be realized, the country will be free of conflicts, disputes, and chaos. only in this way can the government together with the community be able to carry out development in all fields. likewise, at the national level several accomplishments have been made such as the satya lancana pembangunan (development award) from the president, the wahana tata nugraha (transportation award) from the ministry of transportation, received unqualified opinion in terms of financial management from the supreme audit agency, won a certificate and trophy of adipura for clean city 2015, caring and environmentally aware school from the ministry of education and culture and the ministry of environment and forestry. it is expected that the target of becoming an economically independent city in 2016 can be achieved. therefore, sungai penuh city, which is part of the indonesian nation, has participated in building the nation, strengthening the unitary state of the republic of indonesia based on pancasila and the 1945 constitution in order to achieve a just, safe, and prosperous country. 30 m. sudin customary leader of sungai penuh city, interview, dated 11 november 2016 [ 278 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 conclusion humans are created in religious and cultural diversity, not uniformity. diversity is the devine law, divine grace to be grateful for, the law of the times, something that is commonplace, a must, a nation integrity, which must be accepted as a positive reality and does not need to be deplored, and be used as a force that should be maintained for unity of the nation. diversity is a form of god’s abundant mercy to humans, and we should be able to share such diversity, in addition to religious diversity which is a blessing for all and cultural diversity is a grace of god the creator. sungai penuh city government has successfully built harmony in religious and cultural diversity, which is done through formal channels which are implemented in a hierarchical manner, and non-formal through religious organizations. in general, the government and society have achieved a seamless harmony in diversity to create peace, compassion, caring, civility, tranquility and security. the society has also responded positively and implement it in daily life. sungai penuh city thus has been able to carry out the development programs evenly and equitably. it can be proved with a lot of awards and certificates for its success in development, as well as the accomplishments that were achieved at the provincial and national levels, so that the target of sungai penuh to become an economically independent city in 2016 can be achieved. recognition of religious and cultural diversity in our society is beginning to fade as each religious and cultural group thinks that it is only group that is right, so suspicion between religious and cultural groups has begun to emerge which trigger the concepts of islamic and christian state. this is a threat to the national integration. every religion and culture should be able to re-evaluate the negative attitude toward religious and cultural diversity, which lead to a wider conflict if not managed. it, should be able to create harmony and peace in the society. therefore, the efforts in building harmony should continue to be developed, civilized, socialized, and conditioned in daily life of the community, so that the atmosphere would be safe and orderly, equitable development can be implemented, and people will have a better and happier life. [ 279 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 referensi abdullah, m.a. (2000). dinamika islam kultural pemetaan atas wacana keislaman kontemporer, bandung: mizan. ali, m. (2003). teologi pluralisme-multikultural: menghargai kemajemukan menjalis kebersamaan, jakarta: buku kompas. azra, a. (2003). pengantar dalam dede rosyada, pendidikan kewargaan (civic education): demokrasi, hak asasi manusia & masyarakat madani, jakarta: icce uin syarif hidayatullah. ----------, (2005). syariat islam dalam bingkai nation state, islam negara & civil society, gerakan dan pemikiran islam kontemporer, jakarta: paramadina. badawi, z. (1986). mu’jam musthalahat al-ulum al-ijtima’yat, beirut: maktubah lubnan. casram, c. (2016). membangun sikap toleransi beragama dalam masyarakat plural. wawasan: jurnal ilmiah agama dan sosial budaya, 1(2), 187198. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15575/jw.v1i2.588. daya, b. & beck, h.l. (eds.) (1992). ilmu perbandingan agama di indonesia dan belanda, jakarta: inis. hidayat, k. & a.f.a.g (eds.) (2005). islam negara & civil sosiati, gerakan dan pemikiran islam kontemporer, jakarta: paramadina. hidayat & nafis, m. w. (1995). agama masa depan, perspektif filsafat perinial, jakarta: paramadina. khisbiyah, y. ( 2007). menepis prasangka, memupuk toleransi untuk multikultural: dukungan dan psikologi sosial, surabaya: psb-ps ums. komari, a.a (1995). perang dan damai dalam islam, bandung: pustaka setia. majalah kota sungai penuh (2015). sehalun suhak selatuh bedil warta kota, sungai penuh: humas dan protokol setda. madjid, n. (1997). tradisi islam peran dan fungsinya dalam pembangunan di indonesia, jakarta: paramadina. mawardi, a.h.b. (2002). etika agama dan dunia memahami hakikat beragama dan berinteraksi di dunia, bandung: pustaka setia (translation into indonesian). muhit, h. (at.al). (2008). sarung & demokrasi dari nu untuk peradaban keindonesiaan, surabaya: khalista. [ 280 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 munawar, a.w. (1994). kamus al munawar, yokyakarta: pp krapyak. prasojo, z.h. (2015). indigenous community, customary law and multiculturalisme in indonesia. al-albab, 2(1). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v2i1.26 ----------, (2016). social change and the contributions of the tionghoa, dayak and melayu (tidayu) in west kalimantan. in victor t. king, zawawi ibrahim &noor hasharina hassan (eds.). borneo studies in history, society and culture. singapore: springer. p: 427-442. rahman, b.m. (2001). islam dan pluralis kesetaraan kaum beriman, jakarta: paramadina. rosyada, d. (2003). demokrasi dan hak asasi manusia & masyarakat madani, jakarta: lkis. susanto, t. (2007). melampaui toleransi: merenung bersama walzer dalam ihsan alifauzi, dkk. demi toleransi demi pluralisme, jakarta: paramadina. setiawan, m.n. (2012). pribumisasi al-qur’an: tafsir berwawasan keindonesiaan, yokyakarta: kankaba. syam, n. (2011). mazhab-mazhab antropologi, yokyakarta: lkis. taufik, m.t. (2012). etika komunikasi islam, bandung: pustaka setia. ulwan, a.n. (1993). pedoman pendidikan anak dalam islam, semarang: asysyifa’ (translation into indonesian). widjaja, h.a.w. (2002). pedoman pelaksanaan pendidikan pancasila pada perguruan tinggi, jakarta: raja grafindo persada. yusuf, y. (2004). prasangka beragama, jakarta: penamadani. [ 197 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 religious spirituality: sufi healing for rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency try riduwan santoso iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya email: tryriduwan165@gmail.com asep salahudin iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya e-mail: asepsalahudin@gmail.com faiz abdul salam al-azhar university e-mail: faizabdulsalam0165@gmail.com muhammad shahinshah kafiul khuluq nanjing university of information science and technology e-mail: kafihamzah07@gmail.com nana suryana iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya e-mail: suryanaaljoe@gmail.com abstract sufi healing therapy is a spiritual or non-medical therapy which is conducted through sufi practices during the suluk process. the purpose of this paper is to discuss the manner in which sufi healing model is applied in the process of reforming juvenile delinquents. in this study, the description of the data is qualitative which has been collected through observations, interviews and documentation. this study has shown that there is a sufi healing model in rehabilitating the juvenile delinquents at the rehab center employing sufi tradition through rituals. according to the sufi healing model, the following are the factors; doctrine of tariqa teachings, murshid [mentor] and coach. the prescriptions for the juvenile delinquents in sufi healing aim to improve self-awareness and personal self-control. the sufi healing ritual is also capable of making the pious individually and socially positive of adolescents who have such personalities, as well as enhance human consciousness and self-governance to perform positive actions. this paper established that sufi healing is an example of an alternative model of therapy for rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency based on spirituality. from this research, it is recommended that mental health remains a central control and command point in people’s lives. keyword: religious spirituality; sufi healing; rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency, [ 198 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 introduction sufi healing is among the islamic healing system with spiritual practice as a concept (fahriannor, 2022). sufi healing treatment method is a kind of non medical treatment that affect physical and spiritual wellbeing of humans. sufi healing in treatment is somewhat related to the tradition of the sufi in the use of ritual process. spiritual healing rituals have the advantage of treating not by medical means through drugs rather the religious rituals as a basis of performing a therapeutic treatment and has impact to human psychology (subandi, 2014). therefore, sufi healing is an example of an alternative complementary therapy using sufi practices in the human body to improve physical and soul well-being (aqib, 2009). as the creations of god, humans in their simplest sense have features not only outside but also inside them (sutoyo, 2016). god has given human nature as the asset and ability to communicate not only with god but also with his creation. it is a guideline that humans should live happily and in unison because this capital of intelligence, and faith. god also assigns the name leader to humans in a way that serves as an authority over the contents of the earth in advance. therefore, the human inner aspect plays a role in human conduct in daily life (syatori, 2020). in more detail, the process of human inner development according to sufism starts from puberty or adolescence. while there has been a lot of theoretical research done on sufi healing, there remains a lack of research on the actual practice of sufi healing. early issue, future and social illness (social pathology) of juvenile delinquency has relation with diversity of the nation in the future (resdati & rizka hasanah, 2021). the starting point of diversity is the unity and preparedness that indonesian youths displayed in the youth pledge of 1928. it turned into a historic event because the birth of diversity brought by youths from different areas of indonesia to decide the future of the indonesian nation (naviah, 2022). these teenage mischiefs have greatly detracted the growth of the teenager’s positive attitude to be productive for the future of the nation. juvenile delinquency is by behaviour as presented in the mass media, high school brawls, case of child assault by mario dandi et al in 2023, drug abuse by youth in east java in 2021, and alcohol consumption by youth leading to death in central java in 2020. according to mutiara jasmisari, (2021), there were 8750 cases of juvenile delinquency. these cases define a condition that requires a solution and the development of prevention measures. therefore, cases of juvenile delinquency have been occasioned by psychological disorders where they are in the process of establishing their identity and are susceptible to a social diseases (cheng & li, 2021). [ 199 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 therefore, it is the intention of this research to build on the existing literature with regards to sufi healing. up to the present time, sufi healing has only been linked with sufi ceremonies and sufi therapy in the mental treatment by adopting an islamic method. furthermore, the research on sufi healing has only been linked with drug addicts that have been conducted at the suryalaya islamic boarding school. sufi healing technique practiced at the rehab center can cure drug addicts through the sufi ritual process. inabah [repentance or turning back to allah] method has favorable effects on the mental health of drug victims. however, this paper is about how sufi healing is employed in psychotherapy for the juvenile delinquency offenders in the process of enhancing self-esteem and self-identity. therefore, the investigation of the sufi healing model for the reintegration of juvenile offenders increases and enriches prior findings. the offenders of juvenile delinquency are in two areas, first; he is punished for violating the relevant criminal law and second; he is in a rehabilitation center as a process of healing from character transformation (sartika, 2022). the punishment given for juvenile delinquency is not yet said to be a pure juvenile delinquents, but they are still in developmental stage that need social and psychological help in order to know who they are. some of the juvenile delinquency offenders are products of mental and psychological backgrounds and are least expressive when it comes to communication. as such they require help through a spiritual way, to ensure that there is development of understanding that helps one realize who they are. therefore, the sufi healing model is not only sufi treatment to get closer to allah s.w.t, but also as a form of psychotherapy for offenders of juvenile delinquency to regain the original nature of man in order to become a healthy human being. the sufi healing model once again supports that sufi method is more beneficial than abstract teachings for adolescents. concept of spiritual rehabilitation for juvenile delinquency rehabilitation is a place to treat patients with mental and psychological disorders (hidayataun & widowaty, 2020). public perception of rehabilitation is not only a place to camp but on how best to change such behaviors and attitudes which are deemed wrong or do not fit the society’s standard norms, beliefs and practices. discipline and assignments are based on character education in rehabilitation centers; role models, assignments, and interactive help between patients and teachers (ibipurbo et al., 2022). the instructor or officer in the rehabilitation process plays a central role in influencing changes [ 200 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 in the behavior of patients in order to follow the stages that apply during the rehabilitation process (kamaludin, i. & ula, 2019). therefore, rehabilitation is a place and process to promote awareness according to the stages defined to alter patient’s attitude and actions (suryaman et al., 2018). rehabilitation is one of the place that is used for purpose of changing oneself and reflecting on the mistakes committed (hidayataun & widowaty, 2020). teenagers also undergo developmental changes that are psychological and physical during a transitional period. these changes need the right receptacle and direction in which they can progress physically and mentally in a proper manner. when the child cannot control his/her emotions or physicality or the emotions and physicality are not applicable to the child’s interests and talents, there will be conflict within the child and stress. stressful conditions in children will have an impact on the mental conditions of the child and lead to mental disorder (suryaman et al., 2018). thus, that adolescents require help in how and when to share their interests and skills with others and to the better advantage. therefore, rehabilitation has in fact provided a vessel and floor to demonstrate the interests and potential of the adolescent so as to form a healthy and strong next generation (aris, 2023). sartono (1998) argues that juvenile delinquency that happens in society is a social pathological disease among young people due to social abandon. delinquency is a way of asserting that is unlawful (spruit et al., 2016). delinquency among youths is as a result of internal and external factors. external stimuli are social situations where there is distortion by immediate family, teachers, friends who offer input into their thinking and behaviors. whereas internal factors refer to the psychological or mental state of children who are still incoherent, due to such conditions they find it hard to make a decision on every event that happens to them. of course, an unstable psychological condition significantly affects behavior in choosing or deciding something (hidayah, 2020). they require care and direction to discover who they are, what they can do and what they are good at so that those attributes can be used positively. consequently, juvenile delinquency has both endogenous and exogenous factors that compel children to think and act (ketut et al., 2022). juvenile delinquency cases are the most important matters that must be addressed in detail. delinquency is a form of rebellion of youths against social transformation that is contrary to their wish. juvenile delinquents are known to be more or less simplistic in their thinking and approach to life issues. the issues which come to them pose need for intervention by adults, parents, teachers, community, and religious leaders to engage in addressing teenage issues. the challenge faced by adolescents is that they are not well suited to [ 201 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 the environment and they have poor individual and group accommodation. this leads them to condemn their own style of how they react and perform on the issues they encounter. so juvenile delinquency is not only caused by psychology that is still developing and hard to settle, and environment that is not conducive or provides little direction so that they act practically and pompously when it comes to problems. this work is hearkened as qualitative which is normally done through field research. the field study selected is to gather extensive information on preventing juvenile delinquency with the aid of sufi healing as an alternative treatment. the data under consideration in this study are of the following types: characteristics of information, values and practices of sufi healing applied to juvenile offenders. while primary data were obtained from interviews, secondary data include documents, letters, videos, photos, and the guidebooks observed during sufi healing rituals. the research data were analyzed according to the stages postulated by hubermas and milles (2000) which included data reduction, data display and lastly data verification. data reduction was performed by going back to the themes of the interview findings. on the same note, research questions were used as the framework for data organization. data display was done by way of tabulation and restatement of interview findings. interpretation was used as a method of conclusion in the process of data verification. interview data were then interpreted by restating the findings of the study in the following manner. sufi healing model as islamic therapy frager (2014) pointed out that these are not only religious rituals but also strengthening of the human psychological and mental functions in everyday life. according to mulyati & nihayah (2020), sufi healing is a healing process to bring human being back to the proper status as social and spiritual beings. sufi healing is a kind of therapy that is non medical and spiritual in nature that is practiced by sufi groups (syukur, 2012). spiritual therapy is well grounded and is among the forms of therapy for muslims and is derived from the qur’an. sufi healing is popular among sufi groups as a method of enhancing the moral standards of students by performing only allah’s orders and abstaining from his prohibitions (hayat, 2023). the activities performed in sufi healing therapy are part of activities performed by tariqa practitioners as an attempt to regain human essence as divinely and socially endowed beings. sufi healing seeks to prepare pious individuals in the society (sbullah daud et al., 2020). thus, sufi healing therapy as a non-medical alternative treatment has become a solution to build human awareness to maintain good relationships vertically with god and with horizontally humans (saari et al., 2020). [ 202 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 sufi healing as a form of spiritual therapy that is religion-focused on the improvement of faith, islam, and ihsan [excellence or perfection in faith]. based on the three significant postulations of religion as the foundation for attaining the physical and spiritual well-being of a human being (zhirra, 2022), sufi therapy was developed. sufism is the inner or emotional aspect that is in humans. sufis have it in them that the worst enemy of human beings is their own selves. it is much harder to manage, self-reflect and correct oneself than it is to correct someone else. in humans there are lusts that drive and enslave humans to act and feel inferior. hence they can be dissatisfied with the possessions, and gifts that have been provided by god. in the end, they do things that are beyond the limit. especially at a young age who still have difficulty controlling themselves and doing things beyond the limit. therefore, sufi healing as a therapy for juvenile delinquents who practice sufi rituals to develop self-identity and self-discipline. sufi healing therapy is the use of sufi practices performed by the salik in observing the rules of the tariqa. in tariqa discipline, the aspect of ubudiyah is seen to be dominant in the operationalization of the tariqa. tariqa teachings indicate that the most significant practice of rituals is dhikr. dhikr as the main practice in the qodiriyah naqsabandiyah tariqa at the suryalaya islamic boarding school. dhikr is of two kinds, dhikr jahar which is recited aloud and dhikr khofi which is recited silently. dhikr jahar is performed by those who commit juvenile delinquency after five compulsory prayers of the day namely fajr (early morning), dzuhur (noon), asar (afternoon), maghrib (sunset) and isha (evening). there are 165 individual or congregational dhikr readings. the dhikr ritual is the central aspect of the practice of sufi healing therapy treatment at the inabah rehabilitation center. therefore, the implementation of dhikr is the main work to reduce juvenile delinquency so that the perpetrators are expected to always remember allah in all situations and at every place. dhikr method is one of the aspects of the quran and hadith. dhikr can be a virtue in increasing faith as the hadith of the prophet [p.b.u.h] that said, “jaddidu imanakum bi khasroti khouli la ilaha illallah” (keep your faith strong by saying la ilaha illallah). for each salik [spiritual seeker or one who studies sufism] this hadith is the main doctrine. this doctrine is part of the treatment that is administered to the sufi groups in the treatment of juvenile delinquents. turuq in congregation, apart from making faith strong, is also a cure for the soul by the process of isti’za and istishnaa with the sentence of tauhid. thus, dhikr is a ritual process to enable a person have faith through the remembrance of god in jahar (loud) and khofi (soft). [ 203 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 figure 2. congregational prayer figure 1. congregational dhikr the ceremony of dhikr jahar is done after the congregational prayer as in pictures 1 and 2. this makes dhikr to have an effect on the aspect of peace of mind as the quran says in surah ar-radu verse 28, “surely in the remembrance of allah do hearts find comfort.” therefore, dhikr can also benefit juvenile delinquents to improve their souls to be steady and not hasty. the night bathing is one of the practices of the sakil carried out at the rehab center of suryalaya boarding school. bath in the night is very effective for physical and mental health of a person. night bathing is done at 02.00 in the morning after a prayer is recited. that is why the night bathing has been implemented in the morning to take care of the water condition at 02.00, which is neutral. also, water also has positive attributes that counteract with blood flow. blood will circulate better and heal tissues and cells that were affected by the disease. it is thought that night bathing is capable of repairing damaged nerves of those who are engaged in juvenile delinquency related to doctrine and dependency on goods or games. therefore, night bath is a sufi healing therapy which is helpful for repairing the juvenile delinquent’s damaged nerves. sunnah prayer is included into the sufi healing ritual to enhance the servant’s disposition before the creator. prayer has an impact on a person physically and spiritually. in the physical sense, prayer movements are a number of healthy movements for the work of organs of the body to be better and healthy, whereas inwardly or spiritually prayer may hinder negative character attributes (dewi, 2021). in a personal interview with inabah supervisor mr. dudin (31) it was revealed as follows; “sunnah prayer is very important in the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency. inabah students need to be discipline to the schedule set by the murshid in accordance to the rules and regulation. however, the quran says that prayer negates bad and false attitudes. it, therefore, means that by conducting the prayer service, the students will be [ 204 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 dressed with good attitudes and leave out the bad ones. [interview with the respondent, 23 october 2023]. data show that prayer is a sequence of sufi healing therapy for enhancing self-identity. prayer builds a disciplined personality as a result of constant, rhythmic actions (hariyanto, 2003). the sunnah prayer ritual is performed according to the regulation provided by the murshid of tqn [tariqa qodiriyah wa naqsyabandiyah] as a guidelines to practice the teachings. it is done on a daily basis and it is done under the supervision of the mentors for religious practices. therefore, the sunnah prayers, which are the main teaching in practicing tqn, are also another therapy conducted with the aim of teaching discipline and patience of the juvenile delinquents in the formation of good character. tariqa teachings as a basis for sufi healing tariqa is a religious institution that concentrates on the religious-based ceremonies. tariqa teaches a sequence of rituals that are derived from the quran as well as the hadith of the prophet [p.b.u.h]. tqn teachings are traced with clear linkages to the prophet [p.b.u.h] thus an unbroken sanad. tqn suryalaya seeks to rehabilitate the human instinct physically and spiritually through performing dhikr, khataman and manaqib. tqn teachings doctrine is in tanbih (will) which has information and direction on how to implement the teachings. tanbih is the opinion or advice given by the teacher, murshid abah sepuh, to his disciples. tanbih is derived from the quran and hadith of the prophet [p.b.u.h] and acts as a guide for the tqn suryalaya. the doctrine of tanbih is always read at every ritual event of the manaqib study once a month and general activities. when reading tanbih is done repeatedly, it will be assumed to be an externalization of the values of the tqn teachings to become humans with perfect morality and physical appearance. as a result, tanbih becomes a foundation and minimal code of conduct for every student not only in practicing tqn teachings, but also in performing daily activities. the doctrine of tanbih as a reminder of life is read in every formal and informal rite and has a great impact on the juvenile delinquents as a life orientation in daily life. the importance of reciting tanbih for tariqa practitioners was explained by the inabah 4 trustee, ustadz dudin who is 31 years old; “in my opinion, tanbih is the work of a murshid teacher that is recited every time during the manaqib ritual, and every formal event at the suryalaya islamic boarding school which has a very positive impact. we are always alerted by the teacher’s message. to my mind, tanbih is [ 205 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 not only read but we also try to act upon the message from abah sepuh. besides, we always seem to be reminded when listening to the will in tanbih” (interview held on 14 january 2024). data further reveal that tanbih is core in tqn teachings which holds idealistic values in behavior. tanbih also narrates a witness from teachers to their students where there is affection between the teacher and the learner concerning implementation of religious directives. tqn congregations always say tanbih in formal and informal functions to affirm and strengthen the affective bonds with teachers as well as to obey and obey the teacher’s orders. therefore, each tqn congregation is presented with a guidebook in the form of tanbih’s testament to be practiced at all times to be happy in this world and the afterlife. riyadah is a tariqa ritual connected with the practice to be performed by a mentor teacher or his students who have been granted a diploma to perform religious practices. the intention of riyadah is to encourage more worship and fight the inclination towards lust in oneself. group and individual practical assignments performed by inabah students. the performance of riyadah starts with night bath, dhikr, sunnah prayer, fasting and other acts of devotion. consequently, riyadah is a ritual that is intended to decrease lust and purify the worship in its effort to become closer as well as more obedient to the command of allah. tariqa is a kind of religion organization which explains how to reach allah. tariqa teachings are sufism ritual activities that emphasize elements of spiritual values (feriyanto, 2020). all of the juvenile delinquents have to obey the ritual teachings of the tqn suryalaya islamic boarding school. hence, the foundation of sufi healing in inabah rehab center derives from the principles engraved by tqn. tqn suryalaya has a sufi healing model used in the rehabilitation of drug victims at the rehab center founded in 1972 by abah anom. the figure of abah anom as a murshid (mentor) who is a kamil mukammil has a solution formula for handling drug victims who continue to rise every year. this anxiety led to the development of rehabilitation facility for the treatment of drug victims which is called inabah by abah anom. the inabah implementation guidelines has to be followed by the juvenile delinquency performers. it will be important to note that the murshid plays an important role in leading the congregation that is learning tariqa. the murshid is also accountable for the students who have been under him. that is why the role of the murshid is crucial for the success of his students to be obedient and conscious of the creator and his creation (pratama, 2018). [ 206 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 religious spirituality for juvenile delinquency the sufi healing model is an attempt to strive towards god. it is demonstrated by self-regulation activities to listen and evade restraints from the teacher. another of the goals of the sufi healing ritual is the development of the ability to control one’s self. religiously, spiritual practice is one of the riyadah or spiritual practice. thus, riyadah is not only performing worship rituals, but even more so doing good and refraining from the bad. the disposition to do good and bad is a form of self control strength to act. juvenile delinquents, the ones who commit juvenile delinquency, implement the tqn teachings in accordance with the guidebook. they do it with full sincerity for a purpose of altering their behavior for the better. they obey the inabah mentor in performing worship and dhikr ceremonies. they are also engage in social activities like doing community service and not engaging in behavior that fights others and respecting diversity. as shown by inabah student ridho (22) who described the process when they did community service; “i joined in community service at the kejembaran rahmaniah boarding school to clean the bathroom and the backyard.” it’s not just that we were working on our tasks but we always assist each other on how to do the tasks. we assisted each other to try and help each other to be on reminder to ensure that we accomplish the tasks” (interview on 5 january 2024) data show that the activities at inabah 4 are very disciplined by providing tasks and assignments for doing community service individually and in groups. they are supposed to clear the room and sweep the bathroom floor. the task is a component of training of juveniles that are in a delinquent category to be more sensitive and be concerned with the tidiness of their environment. this effort has a huge influence to the degree of students’ freedom and self management to grasp on their roles and responsibilities of the tasks assigned. moreover, this task is also the reinforcement of self-control so that they concerned the environment and cooperate in goodness. the tqn ritual that has been practiced in this study has a soothing effect on the soul as stated by one of the former resident of inabah 4, dimas (29) who did inabah for 3 years at inabah 4 pagerageung. he reported as follows; “this change after doing riyadah, i can concentrate more in memorizing the uqudul jumaah book because this is one of the rewards of taking bath at night. next are the effects of the rest of the inabah practices including fasting and sunnah prayers assist me to focus faster because i used to feel that i had a slow brain, this being as a result of excessive alcohol [ 207 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 and illicit drug consumption. i think that’s what made my mind dull. i believed that when i perform riyadah accompanied by a sheikh, changes would occur to me” (interview conducted on 23 february 2024). data reveal that there were perceived changes in dimas after taking a night bath, praying sunnah and dhikr. he had serenity of mind in order that he could attend to and concentrate on the issues that befell him. he got to think more about doing better things in his life which made him have peace of mind. after passing through the sufi healing rite, dimas went to university and was able to complete a bachelors course. therefore, the riyadah ritual as a form of sufi healing model that is successful and effective in handling juvenile delinquency in controlling emotions and reactivating lost focus. figure 3. activities of teenagers reciting the qur’an in rehabilitation one aspect of humans is self-consciousness, in which the person knows who he really is. human beings are not only given the bodily components and rationality but also the heart as the primary source of human consciousness (mulyati, 2010). the juvenile delinquents, learners at the rehab center, not only learned how to perform the night bath ritual and sunnah prayers, but also reciting quran as part of their self-awareness in reading and practicing the quran as a shown in figure 1. the performance of this ritual is a duty that has to be done each morning at 2 am. the 2 am repentance bath is followed by prayer and the guidance of the inabah instructor. the purpose of the night bath as expressed by ustad dudin (32) one of the inabah instructors who explained the importance of the ritual: “i am expected to coach inabah students for 7 years to do the tqn amaliah [religious practice] ritual each day. from the moment when the repentance bath is taken at 2 in the morning. this bath first is intended to wash the body. second, repentance bath serves to wash the mind so [ 208 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 that thinking is inclined towards optimism. the third bath of repentance serves to purify the soul or the mind from the sins performed the third bath of repentance serves to wash the soul or the mind of the sins committed” (interview on 24 december 2023). according to the collected data, the function of the ritual of bathing repentance has three very significant implications for juvenile delinquents. one of the interesting features of behavior in acting is that juvenile delinquents tend to think very short term. at times they also like to be practical in handling individual issues, which results in new issues affecting them. other uses of bath repentance include also affecting the mental health so that thinking becomes more of an optimistic nature. optimism is an attitude and in life is an act of self awareness to better oneself on how to position oneself in social space in society. hence, bathing repentance can develop self-consciousness in the course of positive and optimistic thinking in everyday activities. implictions of sufi healing on mental health unlike other aspects of sufi teachings and practices, the application of sufi healing involves the use of a guide or a mentor who always leads and who always accompanies during the period of rehabilitation. mentorship plays a significant role in speaking to the healing mental health of juveniles who are delinquent. ridho described how it is crucial to have a role model to help me through healing in mental health; “at first i was asking myself what to do and i wanted to live a better life. then i met ustad asep who guided me at the rehabilitation centre. he taught riyadah [spiritual pracitices or exercises that aims to purify the heart] and ngaji [reciting the qur’an] from iqro book to the qur’an to all students. also, he also asked me to go around to attend to dhikr, khataman and keliling events. sometimes he advised and directed me not to stop riyadah even though i had recovered. he never raised his voice and always listened to my friends’ grievances. and that was done every day so we felt like he was our second parent. “ (interview on 23 november 2023). data illustrate that the position of the mentor in the process of mental health healing is not only to accompany and assist in performing the sufi healing rite but also as a psychologist and as an example in everyday practice. guiding students in the rehabilitation process is a sensitive task as well as time consuming. the main aspect of the work done in the framework of coaching, the mentor is capable of giving a lasting help. therefore, in the process of [ 209 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 integrating sufi healing into the prevention of recidivism, the mentor is not only a friend, but also a psychologist in building up the client’s mental health and as a positive role model for perpetrators of juvenile crime. sufi healing as one of the sufi practices that is directed to improve the relational aspect of the human being and god (ivanishkina et al., 2020; syukur, 2012). it was indicated in the case of sufi healing ritual that the healing is not only for the body but also the mind and spirit. the interaction between man and god is demonstrated by responding to directives and refraining from forbidden acts. this attitude is as much a faith as it is a way that creatures relate to their god. the sufi healing process is not only a relation-building process with god but also a desensitization process towards his creations. in my opinion, the beginning of a good relation with god will affect the relation with humans and other creatures through love and affection. therefore, the orientation of sufi healing is not only a ritual to enhance faith but also has an orientation to do with physical and mental health. (mulyati, 2010). according to frager (2014), sufi rituals are about physical and mental health. the sufi healing ritual as an intervention that may enhance human character or soul not as a medical treatment (subandi, 2022). this ritual has a strong backing from the quran and the hadith of the prophet [p.b.u.h]. the sufi healing model that has been created at the rehab center is an attempt to become accustomed to always being obedient and subservient to god’s will. the foundation of applying sufi healing is built based on some aspects of sharia and nature and does not go beyond the principles of islamic monotheism. the sufi healing ritual model has been helpful to drug addicts as practiced at the inabah of suryalaya pesantren rehabilitation for the juvenile delinquents’ emotional and mental aspects. moreover, the sufi healing ritual also plays a role in teaching the juvenile delinquents how to get close to allah. therefore, the sufi healing ritual is an attempt to bring back humans to always listen to their god and being kind to other beings (mahmudah & muhammad, 2022). sufi healing is among the options in non-allopathic complementary and alternative medicine cam option (saifullah et al., 2018). the fact that juvenile delinquents can change their attitude and behaviour make sufi healing as a non-medical approach to be more reinforced. they also experience better psychic and spiritual transformation characterized by heeding to word of god and being kind to others. their obedience is in congregational prayers and fasting and learning how to read the qur’an. this change is an act of individual religiosity. on the other hand, the converted attitude of helping each other, respecting and working together demonstrated by juvenile delinquents is a form of social piety (laely & ningsih, 2021). therefore, sufi healing practice [ 210 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 involves a manner of building a pious person spiritually and corporately. subandi (2014) said that the sufi healing ritual can shape individual and social piousness which are not separate from the tqn suryalaya teachings that seek to shape a human being who is has a perfect physicality and spirituality. it is stated in the tanbih abah sepuh which is recited during the tqn religious ritual. in addition, the tqn teaching also has riyadah in the sunan prayer rituals, night baths, dhikr and fasting also shape the personality and character of juvenile delinquency offenders. this riyadah is performed for forty days continuously and it is beneficial for human character. therefore, healing ritual performed at the inabah 4 (rehab center) of the boarding school involve the teaching ritual called tqn that consists of doctrine and riyadah that embraced sufi principles (wahyuningsih & mukari, 2023). for example, alba (2014); jalaludin (2022) said that sufi healing in sufism teachings is aimed at making salik prepared to get closer to god. sufi healing is the sufi practice in a ritual that is expected to enhance the quality of self (ivanishkina et al., 2020). salik’s efforts are a process of how a person wishes to transform himself to be better in prayer and in treating his fellow beings. sufi healing influences the state of mind of the juvenile offenders and contributes to higher level of selfregulation and personal insight. juvenile delinquents’ self control is brought out by their ability to be accommodative and are not quick to anger over issues of difference. they also say that they are easily able to coordinate in collaborative tasks such as cleaning the bedroom, or bathing and the environment. the positive effects of sufi healing in building self identity are represented in the way they perceive the words of god in the quran to pray and perform the five times daily prayers and dhikr. they also have a better understanding of teachings of islam and it is not only the sharia which means the rules of worship but also the spirit of life to follow the word of allah. thus, sufi healing affects the processes of improving self-discipline and consciousness, which is created by means of rituals and practices to address god, as practiced by a salik (one who studies sufism) (saefulloh, 2023). the results of sufi healing are not limited to mental and psychological disorders but also in terms of look (chakravorty, 2023). tqn teachings are focused on aspects of the main character and perfect body that is evidenced by the appearance which is permitted under islamic sharia law. looks are an embodiment of character. clothing also explains how we handle our bodies through the kind of clothes we wear and how clean, neat and polite we should be. this proves that there is an effect of sufi healing on the manner in which the juvenile delinquents respect themselves through neat and polite looks. therefore, the benefits of sufi healing do not only reflect in the mental health, [ 211 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 but also in the physical well being which is evidenced by the presentable appearance of juvenile delinquents who are neat, clean and polite. indeed, the study shows that implementation of sufi healing at inabah 4 has a positive effect on the psychological well-being of the juvenile delinquents, though, in the process, it still needs good monitoring for the diet and nutrition provided to the juvenile delinquents. they are teenagers who are growing and developing, so they require nutrition for the body’s balance. however, the administrative payments at the kejembaran rahmaniah rehabilitation boarding school are still voluntary, which hampers the nutrition services to the students. therefore, rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency has to be contingent on supervision from the government to ensure that appropriate nutrition and facilities are provided to ensure the proper functioning of rehabilitation. the islamic model focuses on some parts of the islamic practice with sufi processes. implementation often incorporates elements of role models and assignments derived from a mentor in the process constantly. this still appears very conventional and organic. mentors as keywords in the process of applying sufi healing therapy for juvenile delinquency. meanwhile, the therapy model in indonesia needs a technology and professional human resources in handling juvenile delinquents. the technological approach also has the effect of ensuring that implementation is backed by appropriate and sufficient facilities. however, food and nutrition services must also be provided to ensure mental as well as physical health of the juvenile delinquent patients. enhancing the knowledge of mentors as human resources is required to deliver the strengthening insight in the coaching process of juvenile delinquent performers. therefore, modern sufi healing needs reinforcement in terms of facilities and human resources that manage not only religious knowledge, but also the general knowledge about the mental health. conclusion sufi healing is not only the sufi practice but also as the non-pharmacological treatment and to promote well-being for the juvenile delinquents. sufi healing has influence on mental and physical health and is expressed in the willingness to have a polite, respectful and tolerant attitude towards others, and be clean in appearance. the sufi healing model is the non-medical therapy with an islamic concept for overcoming juvenile delinquency, which has natural effects on mental health. therefore, sufi healing is one of the possible ways to prevent and minimize juvenile delinquency as the early solution for juvenile delinquency cases in indonesia. in addition, there are issues of professionalism [ 212 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.2966 that must also be addressed when applying the sufi healing model and these includes the following: there is a therapy curriculum that should be followed; the therapy requires adequate facilities, and last but not least there are well qualified human resources. juvenile delinquency has become a threat to the sustainability of the future of adolescents towards golden indonesia 2045. each year it becomes alarming to find that cases of juvenile delinquency are on the rise. the government seeks to address this issue through the holistic model, one of which is sufi healing – a non-medical spiritual intervention. the sufi healing religious approach is quite effective as an alternative to reduce and handle cases of juvenile delinquency which interferes with the condition of mental health for adolescents. therefore, the sufi healing model is adopted as a recommendation for the treatment and prevention of juvenile delinquency cases in institutions of formal and non-formal learning. however, for the application of sufi healing, it is also necessary to consider the aspect of nutrition and public facilities as well as cooperation with the government authorities, especially the office of health and social affairs. the sufi healing model is viewed as an attempt to address preventive effort of juvenile delinquency cases that typically happen in educational and community setting. the use of the sufi healing model is still controversial in terms of formal educational institutions, which are more prevalent than religious teachings in general. this will make it hard for the instructors to use the sufi healing ritual in schools. this study calls for further review on how efficient for public schools to implement the sufi healing model as an effort to minimize juvenile delinquency. therefore, more profound further research is required for the application of the sufi healing model for juvenile delinquents in formal and informal contexts. bibliography abdullah, i. 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(2012). psikologi islam. yogyakarta. gama press. suryaman, m. a., stanislaus, s., & mabruri, m. i. (2018). pengaruh religiusitas terhadap resiliensi pada pasien rehabilitasi narkoba yayasan rumah damai semarang. intuisi : jurnal psikologi ilmiah. https://doi. org/https://doi.org/10.15294/intuisi.v6i2.13319 sutoyo, s. (2016). tasawuf hamka dan rekonstruksi spiritualitas manusia modern. islamica: jurnal studi keislaman. https://doi.org/10.15642/ islamica.2015.10.1.108-136 syatori, a. (2020). karakteristik manusia dalam pandangan tasawuf. putih: jurnal pengetahuan tentang ilmu dan hikmah. https://doi. org/10.51498/putih.v5i1.64 syukur, m. a. (2012). sufi healing: terapi dalam literatur tasawuf. walisongo: jurnal penelitian sosial keagamaan, 20(2), 391. https://doi. org/10.21580/ws.2012.20.2.205 wahyuningsih, e., & mukari. (2023). nilai-nilai sufistik islam nusantara dalam terciptanya kerukunan umat beragama. peradaban journal of religion and society. https://doi.org/10.59001/pjrs.v2i1.49 wilcox, l. (2003). ilmu jiwa berjumpa tasawuf; sebuah upaya spiritualisasi psikologi. jakarta. serambi. zhirra, v. (2022). konsep sufi healing menurut mustamir pedak dan penerapannya dalam proses terapi di klinik griya sehat syafa’at (grissf) 99 semarang. skripsi, 1–84. [ 199 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 jihad penista agama jihad nkri: antonio gramsci’s hegemony theory analysis of radical da’wah phenomena in online media fatmawati1 uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta e-mail: fatmawati@uinjkt.ac.id kalsum minangsih uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta e-mail: kalsumminangsih@uinjkt.ac.id siti mahmudah noorhayati institut agama islam sahid bogor e-mail: noorhayatimahmudah@gmail.com  abstract this article explores the new trends of islamic radicalism through missionary jihad against a blasphemer (ahok) as part of the jihad for the nkri (unitary state of the republic of indonesia). the trend of radical dakwah in online media is interesting to research, regardless of the interest of the local election, or caliphate and nkri sharia on the other hand. the purpose of this research is to find out the trend of radical dakwah in online media by calling jihad against a blasphemer as part of the nkri jihad and its implication. the questions in this study will be examined using the theory of domination of interests (hegemony), given the position of the radicals is to seize the hegemony of society through online viral media. in conclusion, the use of the term jihad against a blasphemer, and political branding that radical groups still maintain the integrity of the nkri is a hegemonic form to defeat the cultural power of the moderate, tolerant, and plural muslims.  these radicals, together with the intellectual actors behind them, realize that in order to gain legitimacy of religious power, they must collaborate with the mui (fatwa institution), then use social media to invite all to participate to do counter discourse. after that, they collaborated with politicians to advocate the idea they propose. finally, they use symbolic islamic slogans to bring muslims to the struggle that they do.             keywords : blasphemer, hegemonic  jihad, radicalism 1 the authors would like to record special appreciation and credit to the funding support for the research project. this research was possibly accomplished with the financial support by the boptn dipa uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta fund through the decision of the budget user of uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta number: un.01/ kpa/569/2017 concerning recipients of financing for research at the uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta 2017 fiscal year, research cluster of development of islamic studies on 25 july 2017. [ 200 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 introduction it was tuesday, 27 september 2016 when a story began. a speech delivered by the jakarta governor, basuki cahaya purnama or often called ahok during his visit to the pramuka island of seribu islands is considered to be blasphemy. in his visit to the cultivation program funded by the provincial government of jakarta, ahok mentioned surat al-maidah verse 51 as one of the verses used to “deceive” the public. nine days after this speech was delivered, precisely on 6 october 2016, a video recording of ahok’s speech was uploaded via buni yani’s facebook account entitled “blasphemy against religion?” with ahok’s speech transcription. ahok’s speech on seribu islands left many problems in the future. reports and complaints to the police came in a row, both from fpi and mui, participating as the reporter.2 various media outlets responded to ahok›s viral speech as hot news from the capital city of jakarta. it even became national scale news delivered to the indonesian people from sabang to merauke, although ahok has offered his apology to the public. 3 viral online media about blasphemy led to mass mobilization of muslims, the islamic community movement 411, the muslim movement 212, to the muslim movement 505 who are radical and intolerant. mobilization and call for radical dakwah through the moment and event of the islamic movement is inseparable from the role of online media, both news and social media such as twitter, facebook,  youtube, blogs  or whatsapp  applications  by blowing up the case massively as a radical propaganda to attract the sympathy of muslims.  in this case, tri pujiati considered that social media propaganda was used as a useful means of radical dakwah. openly, the propaganda was carried out to recruit as many people as possible face to face. as a result, a large number of victims were those in their teens who in fact were active users of social media. the age range of 15-25 years is vulnerable and easily influenced and swayed to show self existence.4 nafi muthohirin argued that  in the second decade of the 21st century there appeared the tendency of radical groups to increase their interaction 2 ismantoro dwi yuwono, gara-gara ahok dari kegaduhan ke kegaduhan (yogyakarta: media pressindo, 2017), 311-314; for further reference, see also abdul malik, “agitasi dan propaganda di media sosial (studi kasus cyberwar antar-netizen terkait dugaan penistaan agama oleh basuki tjahaja purnama),” jurnal lontar, vol 4 no 3 (september – desember 2016), 7-8. 3 ahmad junaidi, “media dan keberagaman: analisis pemberitaan media daring seputar pemilihan kepala daerah dki jakarta,” jurnal muara ilmu sosial, humaniora, dan seni, (vol. 1, no. 1, april 2017), 330-334. 4 tri pujiati, “dakwah radikal dan propaganda media sosial,” in http://jalandamai. org/dakwah-radikal-dan-propaganda-media-sosial.html [ 201 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 and propaganda.  they make certain pages to spread ideas and hate, radicalism, threats, and provide tutorial on how to make bombs. a number of websites have their identities hidden with unknown encryption technology tools. even with such tight control, radical groups can still find their way and continue to use anonymous accounts. the use of pictorial memes containing radical messages is also created in order to attract the sympathy of young people.  then, consistently and creatively, the meme images are posted and shared on facebook, twitter, instagram, and whatsapp reaching thousands of netizens in a short time.5 radical dakwah in online media regarding ahok’s speech on the pramuka island of the thousand islands gave a real picture of the radical resistance movement to the existing situation. even the slogans and jargons that have always been the source of online media struggle by radicals call for dakwah to carry out jihad against the blasphemer as part of the nkri jihad. the slogan that is always echoed is: “ready for jihad? ready to defend the country, ready to defend islam, ready to defend nkri (the unitary state of the republic of indonesia?).”6 this slogan became a hash-tag on various social media by always referring to ahok as “the blasphemer” of ethnic chinese who has disturbed the harmony and sovereignty of muslims in the republic of indonesia. even the radicals have publicly stated that ahok is the threat that divides the tribes and nations and the unitary state of the republic of indonesia is under threat and expansion of the chinese state.7 with regard to the various polemics and discourses, this will  give birth to a hypothesis that the hashtags of jihad against the blasphemer, jihad nkri became a propaganda trend for radicals in some online media that are always viral in the last period in this country.  all radical propaganda, issues and movements have made the speech of “the blasphemer” the beginning of resistance (jihad) which bring diverse responses and analyses. is it for the sake of dki jakarta elections on the one hand, or for the interest of the caliphate and nkri in sharia on the other. in this light, it is interesting to carry out this research. 5 nafi muthohirin, “mewaspadai radikalisme islam di media sosial,” in http://geotimes.co.id/mewaspadai-radikalisme-islam-di-media-sosial/ 6 the call for jihad bela nkri is first launched by habib rizieq acting as the imam besar front pembela islam in the middle of the crowd for his special speech in for the forum umat islam (fui) members and supporters doing protest vigil in front of the house of parliament (gedung dpr ri). the related news about the fpi and radical movement organizations with the slogan of jihad nkri can be read here http://nasional.kini.co.id/2017/02/21/20880/ habib-rizieq-ajak-massa-jihad-bela-negara-bela-islam-dan-nkri 7 the statement by radicalism movements can be found here https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=lalkdqipli0 [ 202 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 to frame this research as a scientific product, there are two aspects that the writer focus on. why did the radical dakwah trend occur in online media by calling on jihad against the blasphemer as part of the nkri jihad? what are the implications of the radical dakwah trend in online media by calling on jihad against the blasphemer as part of nkri jihad? two focus issues will be explored using the qualitative research method and antonio gramsci’s theory will be used as a perspective framework of the phenomenon. in addition, the author will also limit the phenomenon of jihad against the blasphemer in the jakarta local elections because the issue of blasphemy and the anarchic behavior of radical groups against others is often seen not only in the momentum of the local elections. islamic radicalism in media consideration it was  the dictum  after 9/11 2001  tragedy,  which became the beginning of islam, radicalism, and terrorism to be re-discussed;  whether it is academic discourse, mass media and electronics, or ethnographic translation discussed by people in their respective environments.  j. esposito said that this 9/11 2001 tragedy was a global shock and had a poorly perceptual impact on islam itself. moreover, this call for resistance to islam was carried out by a president of a superpower like america. j. esposito revealed: “for many, understanding islam and muslims can be confusing. muslim leaders speak of islam as a religion of peace and justice;  osama bin laden and other muslim terrorists slaughter non-muslims and muslims globally. president george w. bush referred to islam as a religion of peace; the franklin graham evangelist called islam an evil religion; samuel huntington, prominent harvard professor and author of the clash of civilizations, wrote, ‘islam has bloody borders. . . and innards. ‘’ but, as president barrack obama has pointed out, ‘’ islam has demonstrated through words and the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality. . . . partnership between america and islam must be based on what islam is, not what it isn’t.’’8 the ambiguity of this diverse definition of islam finally presented the religion in various new ‘logos’.  radical islam, fundamental islam, liberal islam, moderate islam, and inclusive islam.  all of these logos have an impact on the choice of attitudes of muslims in the world including in indonesia. today, when discussing indonesia’s islam, it cannot be completed in the space of moderation of the two major powers of islamic organizations (nahdlatul 8 j. esposito, the future of islam, (new york : oxford university press, 2010), 01 [ 203 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 ulama and muhammadiyah). in indonesia, many islamic variants have been reduced rather than ways of thinking, acting, and they are associated with one another. the discourse variants related to the islamic attitudes above are inseparable from the global concessions, especially the tragedy in the reform era (burning of christian houses of worship in some areas) and the bali bombing tragedy in 2002. at that time, the contestation of islamism (read: islamic ideals and attitudes, not islamic ideology) are again discussed in the public space. there are many intellectual actors who will return the islamic discourse in that era. among those who represent moderate groups are abdurrahman wahid, nur chalis madjid, as well as nahdlatul ulama and muhammadiyah muslim scholars.  the liberal group is represented by ulil abshar abdallah, lutfi a., muqsith ghazali, and those who are gathered in the jakarta utan kayu community.  on the other side, there are isamail yusanto, hatono ahmad jaiz, and addian husaeni, intellectual groups who are more conservative in their thought. on the movement side, names such as abdullah sungkar, abu bakar baasyir, and imam samudera, were represented by the jemaah islamiyah movement group which in the soeharto era was alienated due to rebellion to establish an islamic state in indonesia.9 because of the length of the debate on islamism and the attitudes of nationalism in indonesia, all of them have been recorded by academics to read the current phenomena. so this study focuses on two important aspects: first, reframing the contestation of islamic radicalism and religio-nationalism in the online media in recent years, particularly in the past ten years. of course by making representation of the two groups that have debated on how to present islam in indonesia. second, the shift of radical groups in campaigning their radical ideas through radical group organization websites, social media, and several articles submitted to islamic nuance newspaper like republika.               at the beginning of the reform, access to information and radical ideas was not as easy as it is today. transmission of information related to radicalism, its tendency, can only be accessed through print reporting, very rarely based on online networking. therefore, this paper will seek to discuss the discourse on islamic radicalism in media coverage, and patterns of change.  the first period, in the 2001-2005 era, where the contestation of islamic ideas took place in a narrow space especially in the newspaper information booth. the second period, 2005-2010,  internet-based information  access  has begun to spread in indonesia.  the internet could even be accessed by the village community, although it is still based on internet provider stalls. in the same 9 din wahid, “kembalinya konservatisme islam indonesia,” studia islamika, (vol. 21 no. 2 2014), 387. [ 204 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 year, social media has also begun to be in demand by the community as an alternative media to get the latest information. finally, in the period of 2010 to present, where access to information is already in the grip of a smart phone, the community involvement in social media has become more active than before. this is coupled with the existence of news television station which has become the dominant source of information in the community. borrowing the terminology in the media center of political actors,  today is the era of generation z, the generation that understands and wants to always be involved in every activity of (digital) virtual life. in this early period, radical groups and at the same time moderate groups in indonesia contested through print media; whether it is owned by religious organizations, or national media that provides a column of opinions where the outside community can contribute their thoughts. syamsul rizal’s research identified several magazines / print media that had affiliations with radical groups. for example; sabili, ummi, annida, tarbawi, saksi, 10 arie styaningrum pamungkas also conducted a similar research on several radical media in indonesia that were disseminated by radical groups. unlike rizal, pamungkas is more specific about talking about the impact of “ummi’s da’wah media” in the process of constructing an understanding of islamism and radicalism in indonesia.11 in the national newspaper contestation which has more concern about the pattern and islamic life in indonesia such as republika. discourse related to radicalism can be more open compared to magazines that are made and published by themselves. the following are some of the contestations that occurred after radicalism emerged into open space in indonesia in that period in the republika newspaper. there are two important ideas related to islamic radicalism in indonesia; first groups that calls on the government (as a regulator) to fight such movement because it would pose a serious threat to the condition of plurality in indonesia, as well as the idea of the need for the re-actualization of values that did not have the motive of forced ideology to be understood. second, a counterdiscourse that calls on the government not to juxtapose terrorists and radical attitudes with islam. in this context, almost all islamic dakwah media have the same tendency. the first groups are, for example the works of rumadi,12 10 syamsul rizal, “media and islamism in post new order indonesia; the case of sabili, studia islamika vol 12 no 3 , 2005, 431 11 arie setyaningrum pamungkas, “the dakwah media in post soeharto indonesia; from politics identity to popular culture; the case of ummi, phd thesis universitas berlin 2015. 12 rumadi, “demokrasi dan radikalisme agama” in surat kabar republika jakarta, edisi kamis, 2 juni 2002. [ 205 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 riza sahbudi13, umarudin masdar,14 and dawam rahardjo.15 while from the second group, there are papers from addian husaeni and isma’il yusanto who defended islamism from the frame of absolute universalism. that is, islam cannot be identified with radical and explosive movements as broadcast in the context of terrorism in indonesia.16 contestation as i stated above, can only be accessed by a number of community groups. the spread of magazines and newspapers made by radical groups is certainly very minimal, community-based, and those who are interested in islamic issues in indonesia. framing islamism and how discourse contestation in newspapers, electronic media, and several other magazines are not as numerous as in hidayatullah, sabili, republika, etc. almost all national newspapers focus more on reporting on economic, political, and social conditions, as well as sports, which in segmentation of market share is more favored than raising ideas and islamic contestations that have been debated time after time in indonesia. another possibility is that in the national newspapers and television, the editors are more aware of the importance of the idea of multiculturalism, pluralism and tolerance, rather than framing the importance of islamic-based life in indonesia. in the second period, the period that has begun to change from the print tradition to virtual and online based. this seems to make the government and other elements of society who are anxious about the existence of radical groups begin to think to find ways to anticipate it. the researchers have also shifted from a large paradigm to a more post-modernist tradition, where one postulate is framed in certain conditions and realities. it is almost impossible to generalize what websites created by these radical groups are identified to automatically have affiliations with certain groups. in fact, as explained by the ministry of communication and information of the republic of indonesia, starting from the beginning of 2010 there have been 814,594 sites contending the call for radicalism blocked by the government.17 after the 2008 ite law was passed, the government did not hesitate to publish to the public to be 13 riza sihbudi islam, “radikalisme dan demokrasi,” in surat kabar republika jakarta, edisi kamis, 23 september 2004. 14 umaruddin masdar, “globalisasi dan radikalisasi massa” in harian pagi republika jakarta, edisi jumat, 04 juli 2003. 15 m. dawam rahardjo, “fatwa mui cermin radikalisasi syariat islam,” in harian pagi republika, edisi jumat, 20 desember 2005. 16 adian husaini, “simpang siur radikalisme,” in harian pagi republika edisi jumat, 01 desember 2005. 17 see also that the kominfo has blocked the sum of 814.594 sites. https://kominfo. go.id/index.php/content/detail/5083/kominfo+sudah+blokir+814.594+situs+radikal+/0/ sorotan_med (retrieved on 21 nopember 2017) [ 206 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 more self-aware in rsponding radical sites in indonesia.18 the government’s assertive attitude towards radical groups shows that the existence of radical sites began to disrupt the stability of muslims in indonesia, as well as escalating dynamics of the national politics. the government explained that the blocking was carried out because of the content with nuances of resistance to the government, an invitation to jihad against the government, and a distortion of the pancasila ideology that had been agreed upon by a pluralistic indonesian society. in this context, the government did not fight against islam, but rather the islamic groups who began inviting ways of treason against the state. however, what is unique is perhaps in the era of democracy, taking sides which has been demonstrated by the government as previously discussed, is not necessarily acceptable to the people of indonesia. the battle ideas reappeared to adorn the debate on partiality. the general trend is that first, radical group sites have framed government policy as an arrogant and anti-democratic form of democracy. second, the government treatment is considered part of a political strategy to eliminate islam. third, the government treatment is anti-islamic and supports the secular paradigm. and the most interesting thing is that whatever the problem and policy made by the government, they always offer an islamic system and an islamic state as a solution to their readers. in fact, they did not argue whether the islamic system offered provided space for freedom of expression as democracy implanted in the values of its government. the last is the millennial era where the government has to work extra to be able to stem radicalism and how they spread radical ideas. the era where all media can be created, privatized, then distributed without people being able to monitor simultaneously. in this era, the existence of websites, blogs, and other online media products, has been linked to private space like bbm, twitter, whatsapp, telegram, and facebook. in this private room, as a rule of thumb, the provider is very guarded. no one can manage this space, unless they make it. recently, the government asked the owner of the telegram social media to give the government access in order to be able to observe radical groups on their sharing channels.19 like it or not, telegram provides some features that are timed and can disappear without the government’s knowledge (secret chat). according to the government, the telegram channel also provides content that has nuances of radicalism, terrorism and calls to assemble bombs.20 in 18 see also that the kominfo bnpt asks for the ban of 22 sites https://kominfo.go.id/ index.php/content/detail/4627/bnpt+minta+kominfo+blokir+22+situs+radikal/0/berita_satker (retrieved on 21 nopember 2017) 19 https://news.okezone.com/read/2017/07/16/337/1737475/telegram-diblokir-jokowi-kita-sudah-lama-amati-dan-ini-demi-keamanan-negara 20http://tekno.kompas.com/read/2017/07/14/20495927/ini-alasan-pemerin[ 207 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 privatized spaces like this, reframing what is actually spread by radical groups is no longer easy. what is certain is that they voiced themselves for jihad against the government, jihad against the west and american antagonism, and other ideological content, as already described in the general character of radical movements in indonesia. result and discussion apart from the dimensions of political strategy, debates on social media, to mainstream media, between islamic groups to fight the political power of ahok, there is a topic that will actually be discussed more in this study, namely the call for jihad to fight religious enemies and jihad for the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. jihad against religious enemies because of the momentum of rizieq shihab’s speech at the second 212 demonstration (february 21, 2017) in front of the parliament’s office. the speech was actually a common occurrence in radical islamic circles, especially for the islamic defenders front.21 however, the unique thing is what it really means by defending the unitary state of the republic of indonesia in the frame of this radical group. are they going to present islam as a political system, or just call the substantive norms of islam become the basis of the process and basis for determining the existing policies in indonesia.22 other facts related to radical groups and the unitary state of the republic of indonesia, such as fpi, fui, and other groups that still consider that the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia need not be changed are available on the official website of the islamic defenders front. (http://www. mozaikharokahfpi.com/search/label/politik) and official habibrizieq.com (although in the process of this research, the site has been blocked / hacked, because it was inaccessible). these pages clearly state that they want to defend the unitary state of the republic of indonesia (nkri) from liberalism,23 communism,24 and foreign imperialism.25 on the other hand, the activities of this group are not in accordance with the ethical patterns that exist within the framework of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. they tend to tah-blokir-telegram 21 http://www.voa-islam.com/read/indonesiana/2013/02/26/23405/wawasan-kebangsaan-habib-rizieq-soal-nkri-dan-gerakan-separatisme/#sthash.8wnoaynj.7cyucjr4. dpbs 22 http://www.voa-islam.com/read/indonesiana/2014/06/06/30786/habib-rizieqper dasyariat -sejalan-dengan-konstitusi-nkri-ideologi-pdip-anti-islam/ 23 http://www.mozaikharokahfpi.com/2015/09/fpi-dengan-dukungan-penuh-kopassus-dan.html 24 http://www.mozaikharokahfpi.com/2015/08/pernyataan-sikap-dpp-fpi-terhadap. html 25 http://www.mozaikharokahfpi.com/2015/07/ada-israel-di-tolikara.html [ 208 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 use anarchic methods to uphold their beliefs. they are also very concerned about the issue of defamation and the existence of religion, especially islam. moreover, they also pay attention to what is done by campus activist groups who tend to have western thoughts, and so on. in this light, it is not wrong then if the government and several regional heads urge fpi to continue to work on the whole the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. for example, at the 19th fpi anniversary event aneis baswedan congratulated and hoped that fpi could maintain the integrity of the unitary republic of indonesia and the diversity that has existed in indonesia.26 the coverage by hidatullah.com also gave the title “affirm the commitment to protect the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia, fpi held the 19th anniversary and the commemoration of the republic of indonesia’s anniversary.27 or the coverage by merdeka.com is similar; the headline used is that fpi will guard the nkri from divisive groups.28 even so on the official fpi website, they made a title that was more interesting, they mentioned that fpi celebrated the anniversary and at the same time committed to maintaining the integrity of the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia.29 and there are still many other reports that mention similar patterns related to the relationship between fpi and the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. different on official pages, or in other radical islamist groups, national media often frames fpi and some groups uphold islamic sharia without changing the nkri (unitary state of the republic of indonesia) into an islamic state, as an anti-nkri group. this is because what is disclosed and implemented in the form of action does not apply equally. for example in several cases fpi carried out activities that “violated” compliance as citizens against existing constitutions; insulting pancasila,30 cross out the red and white flag,31 refused the construction of houses of worship of other religions,32 or the rejection of groups that do not agree with them through anarchic means. therefore, portraits and slogans campaigned and endorsed by political actors on the 26 https://www.antaranews.com/berita/647554/anies-minta-fpi-jaga-nkri-dan-kebhinekaan 27 https://www.hidayatullah.com/berita/nasional/read/2017/08/19/121780/teguhkan-komitmen-jaga-nkri-fpi-gelar-milad-ke-19-dan-peringatan-hut-ri.html 28 https://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/fpi-kami-akan-jadi-garda-terdepan-jagankri-dari-kelompok-pemecah-belah-bangsa.html 29 http://www.mozaikharokahfpi.com/2015/09/fpi-dengan-dukungan-penuh-kopassus-dan.html 30 http://www.hukumonline.com/berita/baca/lt581324d499b3f/dinilai-menghina-pancasila--ketua-fpi-dilaporkan-ke-bareskrim 31 http://news.liputan6.com/read/2833684/polisi-pembawa-bendera-dicoret-tersangka-dan-simpatisan-fpi 32 http://www.beritasatu.com/megapolitan/421380-ini-alasan-massa-tolak-pembangunan-gereja-santa-clara.html [ 209 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 existence of fpi wanting to keep the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia needs reinterpretation. this seems like the lips service of fpi leaders in order not to be the main opponent of the government. the same pattern is also true for other radical groups, if one looks at what appears in cyberspace coverage. the prosperous justice party (pks) which is the accomplice of the transnational movement, hizb ut-tahrir indonesia, and several other groups that play the political stage as models of their movements, often mention that nkri is final. nkri has become the result of joint ijtihad which cannot be contested. the following is some news related to pks supporting the nkri; republika.co.id “pks initiates the integrity of nkri”33, on the party’s official website, “pks legislator, nkri is undisputed” 34 and “pks shows a sense of nationalism and nkri is undisputed”35. this is the case with hizb ut-tahrir indonesia (hti) , which today is on the verge of dissolution by the government. on various occasions, the chairman of hti has always emphasized that hti activities are not in conflict with the pancasila and nkri,36 hti contributes to strengthening the unitary state of the republic of indonesia by educating the public,37 and hti only provides ideas for discussion to find the best format for the republic of indonesia.38 from this fact it is clear that calls of anti-pancasila, the unitary state of the republic of indonesia, and bhinneka tunggal ika (unity in diversity) are only made in closed spaces. they do not declare themselves as a group that wants to establish a different system with four national pillars in indonesia. occasionally they did not agree on pancasila, the 1945 constitution, and the diversity that existed in indonesia, but they still wanted to take refuge behind the term of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. or conversely, they doubted the existence of a unitary state system (republic), but still acknowledged the diversity that existed in indonesia as an authentic form and destiny of the almighty. moreover, it must be admitted, the diction and logos that they use in political contestation are indeed more often hypocritical, just to get support from the plural indonesian society. they did not hesitate to claim to be the most nationalist and supporters of the republic of indonesia if 33 http://www.republika.co.id/berita/gaya-hidup/trend/17/05/03/en/islam-in-archipelago/13/11/21/nasional/daerah/13/10/30/mvh5rm-pks-sulut-keutuhan-nkri-harga-mati 34 http://pks.id/content/legislator-pks-nkri-harga-mati 35 http://www.pkskabsmg.id/2017/10/09/kader-pks-tunjukan-sikap-nasionalisme-yang-tinggi-nkri-harga-mati/ 36 https://nasional.tempo.co/read/873786/disebut-usung-konsep-khilafah-di-indonesia-ini-pengakuan-hti 37 https://nasional.sindonews.com/read/1203734/13/ismail-yusanto-kegiatan-hti-tak-bertentangan-dengan-pancasila-1494310247 38 http://www.tribunnews.com/nasional/2017/05/09/hti-bantah-tudingan-tidak-punya-kontribusi-bagi-negara [ 210 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 they were already in a state of political contestation. or, this is just an anecdote on social media, these radical groups are impromptu nationalist groups. suddenly nationalists after being suspended, suddenly nationalists after being disbanded, were suddenly nationalist after their followers were abandoned. as explained above how radical groups wrap up their political movements in the online media space. the simple thing to translate is that they show islamic symbols as part of their struggle. in addition, hey do not display treason efforts as often directed at them. they, in my one-sided perspective, play the role of islamism on the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia frame. so, in this way, their existence cannot be rejected by all groups in indonesia, especially muslims. perhaps it will be a little different if the islamic features they use exactly the same as the covert ideology they indoctrinate to all members of the organization. for example they use different names than the origin of their group. the callers’ association of jihad against religious opponents is the national movement for guarding the fatwa of the indonesian ulema council (gnpf mui). they are separated from one institution and side by side with the religious authority in indonesia. in addition to hiding some of the radical39 characteristics of the group, they also played with the sentiment of muslims through a very provocative diction. for example, jihad, infidels, religious opponents, and chinese. the word jihad, in the islamic tradition is an attitude of sincerity to defend religion. the word jihad also has implications for sacrifices that have no limits for those who have the power to do it. the word jihad also means warfare to those who persecute society. and, what is shown in the jakarta regional election, ahok is often illustrated as a very anti-islamic figure,40 ahok interpreted the scriptures of others, and ahok evicted poor muslims in jakarta and collaborated with chinese people who have more capital to build grand buildings in jakarta. and there are still many other issues framed by this radical group. therefore, the simple answer to the question why it was viral on social media, because they played with the sentiment and sense of ownership of muslims in religion which is believed to be true. in addition, they also categorized ahok as an infidel. the infidels in the islamic dictionary are indeed prohibited from being a leader. the word kafir is “the enemy” of the prophet muhammad when leading islam. the word kafir is a word intended for anyone who is hostile to islam. and, it must also be realized that, the prohibition of an infidel as a leader is certain (qath’i). as 39 atmaja (2016) provides a discussion of the ambiguous terminology of what is so called terrorism. this might be true for the case of the terminology of radicalism as well. 40 https://www.eramuslim.com/berita/nasional/heboh-ahok-melarang-sembelih-kurban.htm [ 211 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 for the debate of muslim scholars, in a space far from the crowd related to the kafir interpretation, it seems that it cannot be accepted by the majority of indonesian people who have experience in religious education in a very rural environment. therefore, when the word kafir is identified with ahok, there is no other reason to see the true side of ahok; ahok is a non-muslim. moreover, when ahok had to face the verdict as a person who defamed islam by the religious decision of the indonesian ulema council (mui), the mui deputy secretary general tengku zulkarnain defined ahok as a person to fight against and his blood is permitted to kill, in the dialog at the indonesian lawyer club. on the other hand, ahok is a non-indigenous person. ahok comes from ethnic minorities, but has a history of dominating the economic sphere in indonesia. so clearly, people’s sentiment against the figure of ahok can be framed from these various aspects. ahok can be drowned out through the issue of religion-based, because he is practicing blasphemy, and this is still a living conflict that has no base in indonesia. ahok is also a figure of ethnic chinese descent who has a dark history in indonesia, and ahok also has conflicttual political communication and no-compromise attitude when dealing with other political actors.41 finally, this is perhaps very subjective, but it can be verified. the ahok factor and the strengthening the attitude of conservatism and islamism in the world, as well as the moral support provided by the mui, and there is one more namely the team buzzer and the media center of the political parties of all parties who contested in the jakarta regional election, have contributed to such contestation. for political observers, social media, and young people, today’s cyber war is definitely supported by trained human resources. the media center teams of each candidate can play various social media accounts in one hand. they can make tranding topics using robotic accounts and networks that they have. in my observation, all social media teams in the jakarta regional election played like they were fighting in the real sense. it was obvious how the three candidates’ hash-tags appeared when the debate took place in the election process. in my opinion, all these elements provide a very strong slender for why the issue of jihad against religious issues can hit the social media. there are two effects of islamic radicalism preaching that took place in the jakarta election: first, the impact on the internal muslims themselves. second, the external impact on the integrity of the unitary republic of indonesia 41 for further information about ahok profile’s, see rudi valinka, a man called ahok: sepenggal kisah perjuangan & ketulusan (kurawa: 2016). [ 212 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 based on pancasila, bhinneka tunggal ika, and the 1945 constitution. in the first part, radical groups’ propaganda through social media has implications for demystification of islamic teachings and figures who support ahok in the post-conflict local election era. that is. for example, how pluralist figures such as syafii maarif, said aqil siradj, musthofa bisri, nadirsyah husen, and ahmad sahal were identified with groups who did not understand islam correctly. in fact, everyone knows, these islamic thinkers have very much work and contributions in terms of moderate islamic attitudes in indonesia. radical groups have succeeded in drawing lines of demarcation, which ones are truly islamic, and which groups whose islam is defeated by tolerant and westernized attitudes. in addition to moderate islamic figures, this line of demarcation has finally stunned young people in this moderate group. because they are still young, the attitude they take is different from that of their neighbors who are wiser in acting. moderate and radical group battles are very visible; such as the rejection of banser and ansor against habib riziq in bangil pasuruan, rejection of felix shauw and basallamah in surabaya, and many other actions which were a reaction to the demystification of radical groups to kyai who became role models in the nahdliyin in particular. in addition, the nahdlatul ulama youths are in fact also very creative in conducting cyber-war. they duplicate sites that have islamic radicalism to make it more tolerant. they create blogs, twiter accounts, and facebook fanspage to counter-fight radical groups who have already done so. as for the external impact, of course, disharmony in the harmony of religious people. the discriminatory treatment of ahok finally has an impact on the rejection of radical-islamic figures in areas where the majority are christian or other religions. there are many facts of rejection of these radical groups in several regions, in bali for example, or the strict rejection of the dayak community against tengku zulkarnaen in sintang. and several other regions. in fact, in the analysis of idrus al hamid, the jakarta effect also approached jayapura, manado, and ambon maluku. in areas with a majority that are not muslim, they begin to think about how they also want to make rules so that prospective regional leaders must have the same religion as the majority of the religious communities around them. of course, this has become very counterproductive to the patterns of religious harmony that have long been built in indonesia. it is counter productive to tolerant and moderate symbols developed by the government. there are four important concepts in discussing the thoughts of antonio gramsci; culture, hegemony, intellectualism and crisis. in the cultural position, [ 213 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 gramsci talks about how the ruling group plays its role, or it can lose its power. in this cultural position, also, the war of position and war of maneuvers are defined by gramsci. in this context, according to gramsci, a large group that has a strong role in forming and developing a cultural value system of a country can be defeated by attitudes and maneuvers carried out by militant groups. he gave an example of how the hegemonic dogma carried out by the designers of the power of global capitalism could be defeated by communist groups in russia. for gramsci, a regulation and a search for strategic positions is very important to form the supra-structure of culture in a particular country. stave jones concludes gramsci’s view as follows: “..the notion that the economic base determines the operations of an ideological and cultural superstructure. he proposes instead that we see the relationship between base and superstructure as a reflexive and dynamic one. within this formation, he isolates civil society as having a key intermediary role and proposes that both conservative and transformative projects attempt to occupy consciousness and everyday life through the functioning of a civil society created in their service. to change society involves a protracted period of negotiation carried out in all the institutions of society and culture.…since it involves elaborating subaltern and subordinate elements into a broader cultural and political project without dismissing their cultural distinctiveness.”42 this quote means that a cultural value and ideology of a nation will continue to run dynamically, not statically. he is different from thinkers such as althusser and karl marx who consider that the cultural space is influenced by piloting ideology and capitalism that play behind a nation’s ideology. for gramsci, an ideology will continue to be dialectically based on the supracultural forces in society. this belief is the one that was found behind the phenomena with radical preaching which overcame a long discourse on moderatism, liberalism, pluralism and tolerance in indonesia. the indonesian society has returned to an era where ideology of religion and indonesian-ness is contested through hidden strategies. they, the radical groups, are very well aware of not being able to bring up the issue of anti-nationalism in front of indonesian society, but can bring radical islamism into a political contestation in indonesia, especially in a democratic society. this is in line with the theoretical assumptions developed by greg fealy and anthony bubalo which stated that democracy has a dual role; giving freedom to act, while providing space for developing conservatism and fundamentalism, so that they can rein 42 stave jones, antonio gramsci, (madison eve, new york: routledge, 2006), 99. [ 214 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 in the condition of society in indonesia.43 the nest is hegemony. theoretically gramsci defines hegemony, as quoted by steve jones as follows: “instead of seeing the economy as determining culture and politics, gramsci argues that culture, politics and the economy are organized in a relationship of mutual exchange with one another, a constantly circulating and shifting network of influence. to this process he gives the name hegemony and ..... how hegemony differs fundamentally from domination. seeing hegemony as a dynamic process militates against the view that students of culture can understand the meaning of a text in isolation. in this sense, asking you to analyse a single participatory programme was mildly disingenuous, since no one representation can capture the nexus of power at any one moment – it is indeed, for gramsci, precisely not something that one can pin down since it is always ‘in the process of becoming”.44 it means that gramsci interprets the word hegemony instead of focussing on domination and the pressures made by certain groups or social classes. however, the word hegemony means a dynamic on-going processes which can be done in several ways and enforcement. hegemony, according to gramsci has many factors and variables that can be analyzed, not always dominated by aspects of politics, economy, and culture. the basis of gramsci’s epistemology in this hegemony can be assumed to originate from the concept of consciousness. a new knowledge or ideology or belief that is put in disguise, habituation and implementation (doctrination) into the atmosphere of the collective-mass consciousness, giving rise to a relatively new awareness. the source of knowledge possessed by individuals in a group, is not always easy to guess its origin, but it could be that awareness and knowledge that have been settling in society is a hegemonic program instilled by certain group subjects. hegemony refers to the notion of a socio-political situation which in gramsci terminology is called a moment, where philosophy and social practices are united in a balanced state. domination is the concept of reality which spreads through society in an institution and individual manifestations. the influence of this spirit is in the form of morality, customs, religion, political principles and all social relations, especially from the intellectual. hegemony is always related to the state as a dictator class.45 gramci changed the meaning of hegemony from strategy which, according to lenin, becomes a concept like 43 greg fealy dan anthony bubalo, jejak kafilah, terj, akh. muzakki (bandung: mizan, 2007), 78. 44 bid. 78. 45 ibid., 90. [ 215 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 the marxist concept of power and relations of production, class and state, and also becomes a means to understand society in order to change it. he develops ideas about leadership and their implementation of hegemony. a social group can even have to exercise leadership before seizing power of government (this is clearly one of the main requirements for obtaining that power); such readiness, in turn, becomes very important when the group exercises power, they must constantly “lead”. this concept of hegemony can be traced through gramsci’s explanation of class supremacy. according to him, the supremacy of a group manifests in two ways: domination and intellectual leadership. hegemony refers to the strong influence of leadership in moral and intellectual form, which forms a classled attitude. this becomes a consensual image. the consensus that occurs between these two classes is created through coercion and covert influence through knowledge spread through the apparatuses of power. in other words hegemony is a chain of victories obtained through a consensus mechanism rather than through oppression of other social classes. basically, hegemony is an attempt to lead people to assess and view social problems in a defined framework.46 practically, according to gramsci, one can gain hegemony through three processes of internalization as follows; first, identity, which is a locus that is pinned to someone, whether it is a form of profession or someone’s psychological nature. second, representation, i.e. a person must be able to represent another person’s anxiety and similarity that will be influenced by his subconscious. third, institutionalization, namely the institutionalization process of ideas and identities that have been read before. therefore, if one looks at what happened in jakarta, the fight and stakes of whose identity is the most islamic and not full of islam is carried out by radical groups in launching their preaching. they also represent the group from all elements, for example; there are islamists from nahdlatul ulama ‘, as is often stated, following kh. ma’ruf amin who is in fact the chairperson of nu’s syuriah. din syamsudin and amin rais from muhammadiyah, as well as other islamic groups who could be moderate, were not radical. even nationalist groups cannot escape the representation of their groups; there are figures such prabowo subianto, kivlan zein, and several retired high ranking military officers who seem to be under the strengthening of islamism in indonesia. they also called on the mui as an institutionalization of their ideas and ideas. next is intellectualism. for gramsci intellectualism is an important tool in carrying out hegemony or winning ideological or cultural settings. in his book 46 peter mayo, gramsci and educational thought (oxford: wiley blackwell, 2010), 23. [ 216 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 prison, gramsci defines what he means by intellectualism in social functions; “distinct social category independent of class is a myth. all men are potentially intellectuals in the sense of having an intellect and using it, but not all are intellectuals by social function. intellectuals in the functional sense fall into two groups. in the first place there are the “traditional” professional intellectuals, literary, scientific and so on, whose position in the interstices of society has a certain inter-class aura about it but derives ultimately from past and present class relations and conceals an attachment to various historical class formations. secondly, there are the “organic” intellectuals, the thinking and organizing element of a particular fundamental social class. these organic intellectuals are distinguished less by their profession, which may be any job characteristic of their class, than by their function in directing the ideas and aspirations of the class to which they organically belong.”47 in the jakarta regional elections, eep syaiful hidayat, yunarto widjaya, and several branding teams of candidates who have the ability to read voter tendencies and islamic attitudes in indonesia which can be used by intellectual groups that seek to play the issue of diversity becomes viral in the media. such accurate analysis, of course, cannot be done by just anyone. even by muslim intellectuals themselves. we can still remember that after the jakarta election, syafii maarif targeted successful teams of certain candidates who collaborated actively with radical groups in jakarta. on the same occasion, one of the successful teams responded to the statement of concern by demonstrating strategic steps to reconnect religious conflicts in jakarta. he gave an example of how at first jokowi and prabowo contested, but soon their relationship improved, forming indonesian reconciliation faster than predicted. the last of the processes of defining gramsci’s theory is crisis. for gramsci the existence of a crisis is also an important factor in practicing hegemony. he said that: “in every country the process is different, although the content is the same. and the content is the crisis of the ruling class’s hegemony, which occurs either because the ruling class has failed in some major political undertaking for which it has requested, or forcibly extracted, the consent of the broad masses (war, for example), or because huge masses . . . have passed suddenly from a state of political passivity to a certain activity, and put forward demands which taken together, albeit not organicall formulated, add up to a revolution. a ‘crisis of authority’ is spoken of: this is precisely the crisis of hegemony, or 47 antonio gramsci, selection from the prison notebook, quintin hoiare dan nowell smith (ed), internasionale, pullisher new york, 2000. 105. [ 217 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 general crisis of the state.”48 in this case, from my point of view, the demonstration of binding and the playing of social media is an attempt to carry out illegal acts on the authority of the state so as to create a crisis of trust in the government. the government itself has made many efforts to form a different movement pattern.49 however, the government maneuvers and political movements would not be able to stop what happened in jakarta. jakarta has become a vortex of the power of radical islamism, the stage of intolerant groups, and gained the power legitimacy of the indonesian ulema council as a representation of muslims in general.50 basically, in my opinion regarding the dynamics of the jakarta election, the use of the term jihad against religious enemies, and political branding that radical groups maintain the integrity of the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia is a hegemonic form used to defeat the power of the moderate, tolerant and plural muslim culture. they, along with the intellectual actors behind them, realize that to gain the legitimacy of religious power, they must collaborate with mui (the fatwa institution in particular), then play social media card to invite all to participate, counter discourse either through their own online media or become resource persons in the national media.51 after that, they share with politicians who have an interest in advocating for ideas that are initiated. finally, they use symbolic slogans with islamic nuances to bring muslims closer to the struggle they will carry out. this is similar to the pattern described by masdar hilmy regarding how radical groups carried out political-strategic resistance to the de-radicalization program launched by the government. needless to say, that they did not carry out terrorist acts in the jakarta election contest. conclusion in conclusion, radical propaganda became viral and draws attention of muslims in indonesia is caused by several factors; first, the political battle that presents identity politics in the country. second, there is a shift in the 48 ibid, 192 49 compare to m. husein maruapey, “penegakan hukum dan perlindungan negara (analisys kritis terhadap kasus penistaan agama oleh patahana gubernur dki jakarta,” jipsi: jurnal ilmu politik dan komunikasi, vol 7, no 1 (2017), 28-29. 50 compare to rahmatul izad, “fenomena penistaan agama dalam perspektif islam dan filsafat pancasila (studi kasus terhadap demo jilid ii pada 04 november 2016,” jurnal panangkaran, (vol. 1, no. 2, 2017), 178-180. doi:https://doi.org/10.14421/panangkaran.2017.0101-10. 51 s. hamdi, “conflicting religious identities: blaspheming islam and the future of democracy in indonesia,” al-albab, 6(2), (2017), 247 262. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v6i2.778 [ 218 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 attitude of islamism in indonesia; from moderatism to conservativism. third, the diction selected by using an islamic symbolization approach which are literally islamic teachings. fourth, the support of the campaigning team and intellectual groups in the process of dissemination. there are two impacts resulting from this radical dakwah process; first, there was a de-mystification of religious leaders (especially those with moderate thought) and the division of muslims in the grassroot. second, the strengthening of the intolerant attitudes shown by muslims and vice versa of non-muslims in some regions. theoretically, the way we look at today’s media cannot be immediately seen from mainstream journalism products, but it is also important to see mutualistic relations between social media, political actors, and intellectual actors who act play behind the news. at least, through such interpretation, it will produce a holistic understanding; including the politics of media owners. practically, this research can be used as a basis for re-interpret how radical groups use the issue of saving the the unitary state of the republic of indonesia as a hiding space from the ideology they want to display. the government needs to rethink how religion and identity politics should be presented in indonesia, so that similar patterns are not copied by other regions in the country. the government, despite the fact that it has been done, need not be afraid to block the sites that provide calls for radicalism in indonesia. bibliography atmaja, d. 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(2016) a man called ahok: sepenggal kisah perjuangan & ketulusan. kurawa: 2016. [ 220 ] al albab volume 7 number 2 december 2018 wahid, d. (2014). “kembalinya konservatisme islam indonesia,” studia islamika. vol. 21 no. 2 2014. yuwono, i. d. (2017). gara-gara ahok dari kegaduhan ke kegaduhan. yogyakarta: media pressindo. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 131 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 book review whe god talks back. understanding the american engangelical relationship with god. alfred a knopf, new york. by luhrmann, tanya reviewed by: hatib abdul kadir (departement of anthropology university of california-santa cruz, usa) th is book is started with the main question, how come some people in the usa believe in an invisible being, that is god. how has belief in god come to infl uence people’s lives? how has god come to be really present in human life? almost 100 percent people in the us, believe in god according to a gallup poll (luhrmann, 2012: xi). in addition, religious enthusiasm for american has grown increasingly rapidly. th roughout the 20th century, american churches and congregations have developed remarkably (luhrmann, 14). even luhrmann gives an example about the paradoxical things. many people thought that the hippie vision would bring radical revolutionaries movement that threated the right wing. as a contrary, christian hippies play signifi cant roles in making religion to be able publicly accepted (even though there were on drugs) (luhrmann 16-17) she also examines how god in the modern era is imagined. each generation, even each individual have their own way of imagining god. god is experienced personally and intimately (by everyone? or just some people). each person has their own image of divinity (luhrmann, xv). even when people sing together, the worship is intensely individual (luhrmann, 4). th is is diff erent from durkheim’s thesis saying that as a social fact, god’s presence is imagined collectively (durkheim, 1915). luhrmann asserts that god is no longer depicted as a “sacred canopy.” as a sociologist, peter berger, claimed but more than like a “collection of umbrellas” in which there are many diff erent ways to interpret god from various streams (luhrmann, 13). as a psychological anthropology, luhrmann attempts to explain how to understand how god can be real for modern people. she uses the personal and cognitive method. she found that people who believe in divinity can live happier, healthier, and longer; believing in god can diminish loneliness and depression (luhrmann, xvi). here i can fi nd that,if durkheim argues that [ 132 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 religion has a function in structuring society, luhrmann considers that religion is useful for the personal mind and cognition. in addition, the presence of divinity does not emerge from the senses directly, and it also does not come from repeated experience (custom) or inherited knowledge. religion is not taken for granted as something that comes from believers’ parents (luhrmann, xxii). god is also seen deeply just like a friend, rather than god himself. he is very close to every individual and depicted as being light hearted and cheerful. jesus is even depicted wearing suspenders, orange fl uff y bedroom slippers and a superman t-shirt (luhrmann, 20). th e image that god is a friend develops through praying. god talks back through mental images in our mind and through physical feelings that happen to the body of the person who prays (luhrmann, 41). evangelical christians believe that god can be a close friend because he talks back through the bible. when people read the words, there is something that seizes the supplicant’s heart (luhrmann, 59). nevertheless, god is considered as a magician and has supernatural power. for instance, in the jesus story, through his fi ngers, he can heal his adherents (luhrmann, 37) god also can create fertility to make a woman pregnant (luhrmann, 57). as the world changes, the interpretation of god is also changing (luhrmann, 226). it seems to me that the position of god is quite new. th ere is a radical shift in imagining god since the post industrial era. he is seen neither like in the bible, nor as an ordinary human being. hannah, for instance, a wiry young woman, does not treat her liaison with god as a relationship with a human, despite her close and chatty relations with god (luhrmann, 80-82). on the other hand, god is no longer characterized by intense anger like in the interpretation of god during the middle ages or 18th century (luhrmann, 103). th e depiction of god at that time, given by the preachers, unnerved the audience and made the believers afraid of god. th is was because god was depicted as the one who gave punishment in hell for the sinner. and hell itself is full of severe physical and mental suff ering. on the contrary, god now is depicted as a psychotherapist (luhrmann, 110, 119). th e prayers can be childish, insecure, outraged but god’s feelings will not be hurt. god is even more available than a human therapist, because people can talk to him anytime throughout the day (luhrmann, 120). people can talk to god anytime, anywhere in a very relaxed situation. defi ning god’s position is not straightforward. even though god is positioned in a sacred rank, god is also everywhere. he is located in the “profane” level. he can be found in daily lives. th e place could be in a garden, in a city park, in a neighborhood, anywhere (luhrmann, 74-5). recognizing god is also like [ 133 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 learning to taste wine. to experience wine is about training perception. just like tasting wine, recognizing god is a sensation that the supplicant cannot translate into words. some people can become experts in tasting wine, but many others fail (luhrmann, 60-7). th erefore, as an anthropologist, luhrmann does not judge those who pray as mentally ill or crazy, instead she positioned herself as more empathetic. what the prayers carry in their mind are grace for themselves, instead of hallucinations (luhrmann, 226-9, 266). to me, the book leaves questions and criticisms. can we assume that belief in this evangelical christianity is an embodiment of irrationality if we see it from david hume’s standpoint? as luhrmann fi nds, to believe in god is not necessarily based on empirical experience. faiths also ask people to consider that the evidence for divinity does not directly come from the senses, but usually comes from unreliable sources such as feelings, emotion and hallucination. th e author also does not explain further about what is the social function of believing in the presence of god. does dialogue with god aff ect external lives, for instance, tolerance to others? are people more generous toward “others” since becoming devout to god? th e mode of praying looks “selfi sh” since the prayer only concerns and pays attention to the internal sensation, but they apparently do not oft en to pray for social goodness (such as a neighborhood, minority, or collectivity for the community). luhrmann also does not focus on the signifi cant roles of the church and preacher in transferring the teaching of religion. but she emphasizes that the central point is a personal relationship between god, and prayer as the elementary form of religion (luhrmann, 133, 144). furthermore, she notices that now the position of the pastor is to “teach” not to give a “sermon”. in sermons, the position of the speaker himself is central, while in teaching, the pastor is less important (luhrmann, 11-12). in conclusion, this book shows blatantly that the secularization hypothesis assuming modernity gradually induces religious lives to collapse or disappear is not proven (luhrmann, 300-302). on the contrary, supplicants are passionate about supernatural miracles; god power; magic, have resurged in the most advanced society, that is the people of the united states. [ 217 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 religious ambience on social media: a case study in a pandemic situation paranjoy bordoloi fulbright conflict resolution fellow, india email: paranb@rediffmail.com abstract social media has been crucially important today in the pandemic situation. this work is rooted in key questions: whether social media consumption increases during a pandemic and does the communicative action of social media target religious ambience? the findings show that the flow of messages has increased on social media platforms during pandemic. however, the communicative action of social media is not targeted toward religious ambience. this work is based on data collected through a qualitative survey in the context of assam, a state of india. the study concludes the communicative action of social media depends on its users’ profiles. users’ profile is perhaps the determining factor regarding religious ambience on social media. keywords: religious ambience, social media, pandemic, covid-19. introduction india has witnessed a unique environment during the initial phase of the covid-19 emergency. the government of india has to deal not only with the medical threat of covid-19, but also with intense religious tensions as most of the initial cases were linked to a religious organization. the initial cases were from the participants of a gathering held at the tablighi jamaat of new delhi (capital of india), a conservative islamic missionary group. the gathering was organized in the third week of march 2020 where muslim participants came from countries including indonesia, bangladesh, and malaysia. apart from foreign participants, several thousand indian nationals also came from different states of the country to attend the function. the situation worsened when infected participants spread out through the country and abroad. more than 30% of the few hundred initial cases of the country were members of the tablighi jamaat. the scenario was more threatening in some indian states such as assam where around 90% of the initial covid-19 cases were jamaat participants. the tension intensified when the head of the tablighi jamaat, along with its [ 218 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 members, could not respond to the government’s call. in april 2020, they did not cooperate with the indian administration, and hid at religious institutions with the infection instead while behaving rudely towards doctors and health staff. this situation was not only in the capital new delhi, but also in indian states including uttar pradesh, rajasthan, maharashtra, madhya pradesh, and assam. the behaviour of the jamaatis fuelled many radical hindu organizations to mobilize communal tension in the country by spreading anti-muslims messages. the cnn (cable news network) news channel on the 24th of april 2020 aired a report indicating the intensity of the scenario by using the headline: “india’s muslims feel targeted by rumors they are spreading covid-19” (“india’s muslims,” 2020). when the rumors on religious sentiment began, the traditional medium of mass communication, the indian newspaper industry, was negatively affected due to the spread of rumors related to covid-19. the rumors spread through social media, especially whatsapp, that newspapers are covid-19 carriers. henceforth, the newspaper vendors did not agree to distribute newspapers to its readers. as circulation of newspapers, one of the major mass communication channels, was negatively affected, readers were deprived of receiving crucial information during the pandemic. the lack of print media also created an opportunity for social media to emerge as an alternative channel of information. the newspaper industry in assam was badly affected along with many other indian states. nava thakuria, an eminent media activist of north east india, commented that newspapers published from the northeast region would not be able to sustain their publication for extended periods (thakuria, 2020). in many indian states, newspaper vendor associations came forward towards the safety of their members. the situation became such that the government of india issued a circular and scientist of the indian council for medical research (icmr) nivedita gupta who came to reassure people that “covid-19 is a respiratory infection and there is no risk of catching it through newspapers and packages” (thacker, 2020). gupta indicated that the whatsapp messages and forwards regarding this information was not based on facts (thacker, 2020). however, the damage had already been done and advertising revenues of newspapers fell drastically. few assamese vernacular newspapers and news magazines like sadhin, satori, and prantik suspended their ongoing issues. the scenario worsened within a month as the demand from the indian newspaper society led to the removal of a 5% customs duty on newsprint and a two-year tax holiday for newspaper establishments to face the situation (roy, 2020). the discussions highlighted the following consequences, especially in the [ 219 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 context of india which occurred during the covid-19 initial phase. firstly, the covid-19 pandemic posed an immense medical as well as a religious threat in india. secondly, the newspaper circulation was badly affected, which created a vacuum in respect to the channel of mass communication in the country. people feared receiving the oldest and most reasonably reliable medium of information during the initial phase of covid-19. thirdly, the absence of newspapers provided an opportunity for social media to gain prominence in the mass media space. these consequences indeed prepare an interesting topic to study religious ambience on social media during the pandemic. understanding communicative action on social media in an environment of suspicion and religious hatred is the core theme of this study. it is also important to highlight that the nationwide lockdown started on the 25th of march 2020 and the mobility of the citizens was significantly restricted when people had to stay at home. perhaps, this gave people more time to connect with social media. the study selected assam for the context where 90% of initial covid-19 cases were linked to the conservative muslim group. second, the mass media industry of assam was affected to a considerable extent due to readers’ lack of access to newspapers. the demographic profile of the state also makes it an evident choice since it is a land of diverse ethnic and religious communities. the central thesis of the research is based on the following questions; does social media consumption increase during pandemics? and is the communicative action of social media targeted towards religious ambience? the timeline of the research was the first two months of the covid-19 lockdown in april and may 2020. before moving into analysis, the concept of communicative action of social media needs to be explained. communicative action means social interaction through the notion of mutual understanding. habermas, the chief academic on communicative action, states that it can happen among subjects for interpersonal relations through verbal or by extra-verbal means who are capable of speech and actions (nah & chung, 2016). this study examines whether the communicative action, especially the exchange of messages in social media, is religious or not. the communicative action provides a larger social context and indicates that the media functions as democratic communications in a civil society. social media is a relatively new member of democratic communications and is examined if it is targeted towards religious ambience. according to habermas, the communicative action is expanded by the use of mass media in the public sphere, and obtains dual status as a sphere both in physical and mediated realms (nah & chung, 2016). introduction of the internet and social media like other mass media [ 220 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 channels receive important status as public spheres in which public opinion forms through open and rational discussions. more importantly, the internet created multiple public spheres by being interrelated and interconnected through the networked public (nah & chung, 2016). it would be an immense task to examine all social media tools; henceforth on the basis of popularity and accessibility in india, whatsapp has been selected. social media in mass media sphere social media focuses on social interaction and provides a platform to share information and express feelings, views, and opinions. the sender and receiver of communication are direct in social media where messages are created and shared by users. this is indeed a distinctive feature of social media in comparison to traditional mass communication channels. the responsibility of content within social media lies solely on its users, along with distribution and filtration. the gatekeeper’s role is not omnipresent in social media, which is indeed an essential element for print and electronic media. the prudent outcome of the feature gives those whose voices are underrepresented a platform to create materials and be heard. thus, a group of mass communication researchers views social media as a means of dissemination of marginalized voices even in the most authoritarian states. another important element of social media is the potential to depolarize people’s opinions through the exchange of messages for mutual understanding and tolerance toward the other side (lu, et al., 2020). the communicative action on social media enhances an opportunity to transform viewpoints to be more moderate on a given topic after conversing on social media. madden and zickuhr’s study concluded that 83% of internet users within the ages of 18-29 years adopted social media for interaction with colleagues (ansari & khan, 2020). on the other hand, kabilan, ahmad, and abidin found that social media infuses a constructive attitude while also having an educative value too (ansari & khan, 2020). the utility of social media in the social sphere received a new limelight during the egypt arab spring (2010) revolution that started from the facebook page of egyptian activist wael ghonim. this social movement was an enlightening case of social media’s unique role to facilitate real change. there have been many episodes where individuals and groups coming together through social networking sites are able to create social protests in countries, and india is not an exception. on the other side, there were many instances of dark episodes caused by social media. for example, in assam, on the 9th of july 2012, a girl was assaulted by a group of men in the middle of guwahati city. it was telecast live by a private [ 221 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 television channel and later the entire footage of the episode was uploaded on popular video social media ‘youtube’. the web availability of the incident allowed national and international media agencies to carry the news of the incident as the ‘gs road episode of assam’. the incident itself portrays the growing popularity of social media and its negative consequences for society. another aspect that is important to understand is media consumption is not determined ethnically but, rather, socially (madianou, 2005). the use of mass media and integration in people’s daily lives is a complex process and technologies are enabling, offering choice, and allowing people to switch to different languages and broadcasting systems including the use of various social media tools (madianou, 2005). although media does not determine identities, it does contribute to the creation of symbolic communicative spaces that either include or exclude, thereby affecting audiences’ lives and discourses about their identities (madianou, 2005). social media has been blamed for being an incubator of extreme opinions and like-minded echo chambers in this digital age (lu, et al., 2020). the ease of posting immediate responses on social media can facilitate the expression of extreme opinion. in addition, some evidence suggests that  social media algorithms favour pro-attitude news stories over other types of media content (lu, et al., 2020). hence, it is conceivable that  social media use is likely to polarize people’s opinions and like-minded information about the issue. this is an interesting finding to study the religious ambience on social media in an environment when religious tensions are intense in the indian society. since its emergence in the larger media scene, social media has played different roles from informer to the catalyst during health emergencies like ebola and covid-19. tara kirk sell, divya hosangadi, and marc trotochaudin their study on the ebola crisis informed that social media may increase its effects, serving as both a source of misinformation and a catalyst for its dissemination during health emergencies (sell, et al., 2020). they indicated that during crisis situations, fear, uncertainty, lack of knowledge, and information-seeking behaviour among the public may increase opportunities for the propagation of misinformation (sell et al., 2020). however, the result of their study highlighted that misinformation was not a dominant feature but still notably present, and there was evidence regarding the presence of provocative, discordinducing messages in response to public health measures. on the other hand, david e. alexander’s article on social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management points out that social media has provided a remarkably democratic form of participation in public debate and during emergencies (alexander, 2013). however, its tendency to coalesce opinions (or stimulate [ 222 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 monetary donations) shows the capacity of revealing some aspects of the mental and emotional state of a nation (alexander, 2013). he added that during a pandemic, social media can also be used to monitor a situation to improve responses. it is important to mention that in the japan disaster, 49% of twitter messages were either positive or somewhat positive in their attitude to emergency preparedness and only 7%were negative (alexander, 2013). us audiences found that 80% of its general people have shown confidence that it would be beneficial for national emergency response organizers to monitor social networking sites regularly (alexander, 2013). researchers note that people caught up in the disaster reported feeling more supported and more optimistic about the future when social media was extensively involved. an american red cross survey of social media indicated that 24% of the us population and 31% of the online population would use social media to inform family and friends they are safe (alexander, 2013). perhaps the greatest challenge of using social media is that the messages can go viral immediately and reach millions. the future of social media depends on new methodologies to judge the public mood and the utility of information supplied by the public. the theory of social responsibility places stress on the fact that the media needs to keep society’s interest a top priority. the sensational and provocative words should be avoided while communicating information. this parameter of needs will be useful to analyse social media in the covid-19 context. why whatsapp? among social media tools, whatsapp has had a unique role in india. in the last few years, the mobile market in india has revolutionized as the numbers of mobile internet users has increased. the use of social media tools has increased and impacted society even in the small and medium level states of india (which is the category assam falls under). the substantial growth has been witnessed across nearly all social media platforms, with whatsapp the most popular. users of this platform have crossed 400 millionin the country since 2017. this popular messaging service has been used to communicate different types of text and multimedia messages between users or groups easily. the 2017 study kumar & sharma shows the popularity of whatsapp has also impacted its users significantly as 66% of adopters believe this platform has improved their relationship with friends (kumar & sharma, 2017). the study in a pandemic context shows that informal whatsapp chats seem to be highly valued and trusted during pandemic situations (“the role of a whatsapp”, 2020). [ 223 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 even medical information is shared actively daily through whatsapp. the open and rapid dissemination of relevant findings through whatsapp groups provide benefits during public-health crises. the study in pakistan indicates that the participants in the study mentioned using whatsapp  groups as a learning tool. a majority (94.40%) of the 72 members participants in the survey found the discussion in  whatsapp  group related to covid-19 as extremely helpful (“the role of a whatsapp”, 2020). 94.40% members in the survey found their knowledge related to covid-19 increased through the group communication (“the role of a whatsapp”, 2020). understanding its vast reach and impact, whatsapp has teamed up with the world health organization (who) and the government of india to disprove myths and share authentic information during the covid-19 emergency. significant numbers of fake news, rumors, and hate speech went viral through whatsapp as highlighted by the police department (minhas, 2020). for example, the police of maharashtra (one of the largest indianstates) emerged with an advisory for whatsapp users during the lockdown with the objective to tighten its message forwarding restrictions. the advisory instructs the group administrator to inform all group members about the rules of posting in the groups; warn all members and prevent them from sharing objectionable content, and regularly monitor the content shared in the group. as the company’s blog, the messaging service provides the opportunity for its users to chat one-on-one, chat with a group, send attachments, record voice notes, and make voice calls across android, iphone, windows phone, nokia s40, nokia s60, blackberry, and bb10 (greene, 2020). social media is one of the main channels updating covid-19 information (gao, et al., 2020). whatsapp developed a who chatbox and mygov corona helpdesk. it also unveiled a $1 million grant to curb misinformation. media scanner, a fact-checking platform, compiled a list of at least 69 fake videos against muslims and listed at least  28 attacks  prompted by online abuse (jain, 2020). the information or misinformation, keeping this on track, the study produces the following findings. the results: a survey was conducted among 100 whatsapp users of the state across different geographical and demographic profiles. a questionnaire was sent to these 100 participants through whatsapp. for the efficacy of the survey response, participants were asked for consent and requested not to forward it to others outside of the survey (ameen & praharaj, 2020). out of 100 users who were sent the questionnaire, 64 filled out responses and 56 were analyzed. [ 224 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 the researcher admits that as like other online and whatsapp surveys, there is no way to assess the magnitude of selection bias. however, sufficient attention has been given to the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. the response rate of our study was 64%, proving statistical validity. the demographic and education profile of the participants: chart 1 indicates that the number of participants whose age groups are “more than 35” and “more than 45” are higher compared to “more than 25”. however, there are few mixed age group participants as well. regarding the education profile per chart 2, the graduate respondent numbers are more than the postgraduate as well as the higher secondary (10+ 2). the inference could be made that the survey participants are middle age and educated. the affiliation with the group is an important factor to understand the nature of the whatsapp group, which will also impact the accuracy of the responses of a participant. it is interesting to know how long a participant has been associated with a particular group. here, the findings show participants belonging to groups are the same with regard to different categories. there are [ 225 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 very few participants who are new members of groups. perhaps, this indicates the participants are well versed with the group’s culture and communicative action. the results show that most of the participants selected their friendship group and/or professional group. it also needs to be mentioned that any other category is also notable in numbers where 14 participants belong to this category, selected either their family or news portal group. this chart is indeed the core finding of the study. this shows that 48 participants admitted that messages have increased during the initial phase of the lockdown period. on the other hand, 42 participants observed that more than one covid-19 related post shared daily in the group. [ 226 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 the results show that 42 participants confirm that there are no religious posts in the group and 36 participants informed that the posts are authentic in regard to covid-19. the finding revealed that communication actions referring to the exchange of posts in most groups are not religious, and rather used to channelize authentic information related to covid-19. 20 participants said that the group used the member/administrator to delete posts to control fake or religious posts. the next highest responses (12) were made for any other category where the group assigned administrators to approve the post before sharing during the emergency period. however, the group adopted this mechanism after the government, and a whatsapp appeal could not be clarified in the study. this made it clear that the groups have set up mechanisms to increase the reliability and authenticity of information. [ 227 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 conclusion this study is an attempt to analyze religious ambience on social media during a pandemic. the finding show that the flow of messages has increased on social media during the pandemic. interestingly, the study indicated that covid-19 related authentic information communicated on social media. the data collected gives a picture that covid-19 information circulated on whatsapp looks authentic for its members. however, the mechanism through which the users feel the information authentic is not known in the study. in addition, the constant push from whatsapp and the government of india to stop the spreading of rumours through social media may also alert the groups to avoid fake news or jokes related to covid-19. secondly, the communicative action of social media is not targeted towards religious ambience. most of the participants in the survey were graduates or postgraduates and their higher education background may result in less provocative religious posts in their groups. this is an indication that the role of social media in an emergency situation may depend on the specific user’s profile. rather than generalizing comments, we may predict users’ profiles determine the course of religious ambience of social media. thus, this study suggests important recommendations including the following points. first, the communicative action of social media is dependent on its users’ profiles. second, government and social media joint awareness efforts may help reduce the circulation of fake news or rumours to a tremendous extent. third, a further study is needed to understand the relationship between user profiles and the communicative action of social media in different situations. bibliography afzal, h. s., aziz, n., waseem, m., kamal, z., jamil, a. z., &iqba, m. j. (2020). the role of a whatsapp clinical discussion group in the clinical management of covid-19 cases: an experience of tertiary care hospitals in punjab, pakistan. (2020).  pakistan armed forces medical journal, (covid-19 (2)), s539. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/ a636057786/aone?u=ussd&sid=aone&xid=0a3a0b50 alexander, d.e. (2013). social media in disaster risk reduction and crisismanagement. science and engineering ethics, 20(3), 717-733. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11948-013-9502-z ameen, s., & praharaj, s. (2020). problems in using whatsapp groups for survey research. indian journal of psychiatry, 62(3), 327. https://link. [ 228 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 gale.com/apps/doc/a624394291/aone?u=ussd&sid=aone&xid=2864018b ansari, j.a.n., khan, n.a. exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning, the new domain of learning. smart learn. environ. 7, 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7 busting myths: newspapers do not spread covid-19, they are safe. (2020, march 24.). economic times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ news/politics-and-nation/newspapers-not-covid-19-carriers-say-topscientists/articleshow/74784386.cms?from=mdr gao, j., zheng, p., jia, y., chen, h., mao, y., chen, s., et al. (2020). mental health problems and social media exposure during the covid-19 outbreak. plos one 15(4): e0231924. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0231924 greene. (2020). april 6th. whatapp-the-fbi-s-worst-nightmare.html. network world. https://www.networkworld.com/article/3052229. jain, r. (2020). covid-19: how fake news and modi government messaging fueled india’s latest spiral of islamophobia.https://scroll.in/article/959806 kumar, n.& sharma, s. (2017). survey analysis on the usage and impact of whatsapp messenger. global journal of enterprise information system. 8. 52. 10.18311/gjeis/2016/15741. lu, y., ray, r., ha, l., & chen, p. (2020). social media news consumption and opinion polarization on china’s trade practices: evidence from a u.s. national survey. international journal of communication [online], 3478+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/a632441943/aone?u=ussd& sid=aone&xid=5826389a. madianou, m. (2005). contested communicative spaces: rethinking identities, boundaries and the role of the media among turkish speakers in greece. journal of ethnic and migration studies. vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 521_/541 minhas, g. (2020. in times of corona, think twice before forwarding social media posts. governancenow.https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/ a619958138/itof?u=ussd&sid=itof&xid=536ee723. nah, s., & chung, d. s. (2016). communicative action and citizen journalism: a case study of ohmynews in south korea. international journal of communication  [online],2297+.  https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/ a595027039/aone?u=ussd&sid=aone&xid=924f8e244 [ 229 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 cnn.org. (2020). india’s muslims feel targeted by rumors they’re spreading covid-19. retrieved on 2020, april 24 at cnn. www.cnn.org roy, s. (2020).ins demands a package for print media in the face of unprecedented coronavirus crisis. retrieved on 17 april 2020 at www.deccanherald.com/business/ins-demands-package-for-print-media-in-theface-of-unprecedented-coronavirus-crisis824547. sell, t. k., hosangadi, d., &trotochaud, m. (2020). misinformation and the us ebola communication crisis: analyzing the veracity and content of social media messages related to a fear-inducing infectious disease outbreak. bmc public health, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889020-08697-3 thakuria, n. (2020). can indian newspapers survive the covid-19 pandemic! retrieved on 5 april 2020 at https://indianprinterpublisher.com thacker, t. (2020). busting myths: newspapers do not spread covid-19, they are safe. retrieved on 24th march 2020. at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/newspapers-not-covid-19carriers-say-top-scientists/articleshow/74784386.cms?from=mdr [ 230 ] al albab: volume 9 number 2 december 2020 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v9i2.1788 [ 169 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 religion, marginality and power relations: religious conversion and religiosity of the indigenous people in penyengat muhammad ansor state islamic college of zawiyah cot kala langsa laila sari masyhur state islamic university of sultan syarif kasim, pekanbaru abstract using a theory of power relation of michel foucault, the following research analyzes the behavior of religious conversion in the community of the indigenous people of anak rawa in penyengat village, siak district, hereinafter referred to as the native people. the research will show that in the middle of the domination of the state and theologians, the community of indigenous people actualizes power to maintain its identity in the midst of the invasion of new values and culture. to support the argument, the researchers traced the religiosity of the indigenous people focusing on several events of everyday life such as traditions of marriage, death, and celebration of religious holidays. in addition to adapting to the country’s religious traditions they have adopted, this community also modifies the ritual traditions of each religion so that these traditions become a means of preserving their communal identity as a native tribe. the research ultimately shows the interplay between the state and theologians as the dominant group, on the one hand, and the indigenous community as a subjugated group, on the other, in the use of power. keywords: indigenous people, religion, power relation introduction the indigenous people is one of the indigenous communities in riau, in addition to sakai (bengkalis), talang mamak (indragiri hulu), bonai (indragiri hilir), petalangan (pelalawan) and akit (bengkalis and meranti islets). responding to the urge from the state and theologians the majority of the indigenous communities, such as sakai, petalangan and bonai converted into islam. however, the talang mamak people and the ingenous people showed different response. the talang mamak split in two groups, the followers of the old and the new measures. the old measures are those who embrace the indigenous religious beliefs, while the new measures is a term for those who convert to christianity or islam. unlike the talang mamak people, the ingenous people convert into christians, buddhists, confucians, and a small [ 170 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 number of them to islam. in other words, among the indigenous communities in riau, the indigenous people have converted into various religions. the indigenous community has become the contestation of buddhist, confucian and muslim theologians in the spread of their respective religions. as a result, some thirty years after the state religions were introduced, nominally, the majority of them converted to certain religions. before that they all still adhered to their old religious beliefs. except for the success of the strategies the theologians, the indigenous people’s response over the presence of religions was probably the strategy of self-defense. the following research, in addition to analyzing the power relation that affected the behavior of conversion of the indigenous people, also identifies the impact of conversion on social changes. the research set out from the argument that religious conversion behavior the indigenous people of anak rawa is an expression of the power relation between the state and the theologians in one hand, and the community of the indigenous people on the other, in the realization of their respective agendas. the researchers will show that the community of the indigenous people is active in responding to the domination of the state and the theologians over them. using a socio-anthropological approach, the field data was formally collected in 2013. however, the researchers utilized data obtained from interactions with the community in 2009 and 2011. in 2009, the researchers were the program coordinators of fpic (free prior inform consent) at the kampar peninsula with penyengat being one of work areas. in 2011, the researchers became members of the research facilitated by fkpmr (communication forum of riau community leaders) to examine the socio-cultural life of the indigenous people. the two projects did not discuss the question of the religious life. but the researchers took the opportunity to collect ethnographic data related to their religious life. the data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, group discussion, and fgd (focus group discussion). the researchers conducted observations on the indigenous people by living with them and interviewing the elite society or ordinary citizens to collect information. the researchers discussed with christian, buddhist, muslim and confucian religious figures involved in the spread of religion to the indigenous people in penyengat. the archives and records obtained during field research in penyengat between 2009 and 2011 were used to frame this paper. the subject of power relation of and indigenous people is not a new theme in the social study even though research on the indigenous people in penyengat [ 171 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 is still regarded as a pilot project. the sakai, talang mamak and petalangan often became subject of research. study conducted by by parsudi suparlan (1995) and nathan porath (2002) on the tribe of sakai. yonhee kang (2005) looked into the mantra of petalangan people. the study that deals with the indigenous people, among others, was conducted by timothy p. bernard (2006) the double power center: the community and the nature of siak and eastern sumatra, 1674-1827. however, the study bernard conducted did not focus on the indigenous people because the main focus was the classical kingdom of siak. advanced studies that focused on the power relation between the state and the indigenous communities can be found in the works of tania murray li (2012). li examined the impact of the state regulation on the indigenous communities in the mountains of sulawesi, with the use of the theory of power relation and control proposed by michel foucault. christopher robert duncan (1998) examined the relationship between ethnicity, christianity and religious conversion in the indigenous community of on halmahera island. similarly, study conducted by liana chua (2012) on religious conversion among the indigenous communities in malaysia (sabah and sarawak) to christianity. liana chua managed to reveal the reasons the native people chose to convert to christianity rather than islam which becomes the national identity of malaysia. syamsul maarif (2012) in his dissertation on the religious dimension of the ammatoa of sulawesi elaborated the community’s conversion to islam. maarif revealed that religious conversion strategies of the ammatoa community are a response to the insistence of the state to religious conversions. nevertheless, islam practiced by this community has its own uniqueness as compared to islam in general. maarif said in his study that the ammatoan religion in an independent religion mixed with islam. ethnographic portrait of the indigenous of anak rawa 1. the indigenous people and their history prior to the arrival of the malays at the territory of the indigenous people of anak rawa, the region was very isolated and closed. the malays have acquainted with the indigenous people since the time of the kingdom of siak. at that time the sultan of siak needed support of the indigenous people to establish authority in the area of the east coast of sumatra. according to nathan porath (2002), the kingdom of siak gathered the indigenous people to establish sovereignty in the region. the indigenous people were known to [ 172 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 have special skills such as mastering the knowledge about forest resources and having inner power that could be relied upon to expand its power. their privileged position in the circle of the kingdom of siak was revealed in studies by timothy p. bendard and leonard y andaya. bendard (2006) and andaya (2008) discussed the critical role of the indigenous people in international trade activities in the kingdom of siak. according to andaya (2008: 203), at the beginning of the 19th century, the relationship between the malays and the indigenous people was formed by mutually beneficial through economic relations. small groups consisting of the indigenous people collected forest products for international market demand, while the malays provided facilities for trade between countries. andaya (2008: 217) reported that the alliance between the malays and the indigenous people was formalized through a mutually beneficial agreement that both groups headed their respective communities. the malays, in this context being the elites of the kingdom of siak, purchased natural products collected by the indigenous people. the indigenous people provided their resources in the form of economic and political power to the kingdom of siak. they were also involved as part of the army of the kingdom in the face of invasion from outside powers. in addition they also played a role in providing spiritual and magical power to the community of the kingdom. however, this relationship experienced a shift when the kingdom of siak was taken over by the dutch. the indigenous people‘s skills and knowledge of the nature, especially forests, were also used by the dutch and the japanese. during the dutch occupation, the demand for timber for construction and military involved the indigenous people in such jobs. however, the literature findings showed that the role of the indigenous people as collectors of natural products and the malays as traders of such products clearly experienced a shift when the economy in the territory of the kingdom of siak was taken over by the dutch. according to andaya (2008: 202), the special relationship later changed along with the economic transformation of land from forest products into the agriculture-based economy of plantations in the mid 19th century. pressures of modernity, the concept of nation-state and transmission of the malays with an increasingly global economy undermined the position of the indigenous people. the existence of the indigenous people experienced a further shift in post independence indonesia. a political construction formed by the state identified them as an alienated, isolated indigenous community. the term was later changed to the remote indigenous community. although there was a change in the term, their position remained politically marginalized [ 173 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 and placed outside the orbit of civilization. it was completely different from the conditions at the time of the kingdom of siak, where they had a special position and were respected because of their origin and way of life. at the time of independence, their way of life is thus considered backwards. 2. penyengat and demographic conditions penyengat is a village in the district of sungai apit, district of siak sri indrapura. penyengat village consists of three hamlets, penyengat, tanjung pal that served as the administrative center of the hamlet, and tanjung mungkal which is located far enough from the two hamlets. tanjung mungkal can only be reached through sea routes with a trip of around 90 minutes from tanjung pal using a motor boat (pompong). penyengat village on the north is bordered by the selat panjang sea, on the south by dayun village, on the west by sungai rawa village, and on the east by teluk lanus village. the distance to the sub-district of sungai apit is approximately 63 kilometers, to the provincial capital of riau about 196 kilometers. the area of penyengat village is 52,000 ha. the majority of the village is a concession area of big companies, oil palm plantations and industrial plant forests. only a third of the territory of the is the area of the village. the location of the settlement is located along coastal areas. the number of households of penyengat is recorded as many as 301, consisting of 265 (88.04%) male households and 36 (11.96%) female. the number of population is 1,240, consisting of 625 males (50.40%) and 615 females (49.60 %). based on the level of education most people in penyengat (35.56%) never attended school. the number of people with elementary school education is the second place reaching 19.11 percent. the population that has not yet attended school is 16.94%, and the percentage of people with a threeyear college education and with a bachelor’s degree is 0.40 and 0.32 percent respectively of the total population. the source of livelihood of the population is quite diverse. based on the data obtained, about a quarter of a percent of the total population of the village is unemployed. a person having a job according to the village census clerk is a person who has economic activities for their families, regardless of the activities. in fact the indigenous people in the village do not have a steady income. they usually collect timber in the forest. it means that unemployment in the village is much higher than expressed by this data when the profession of housewives and other is classified as ‘not working’. [ 174 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 indigenous people’s religion and state religions in the past, at least until the program of settlement relocation in the 1980s, almost all of the indigenous people embraced religious beliefs. they were originally not the adherents of one of the government’s official religions. the religious core of the indigenous people’s is composed of two natures, namely the real nature and the supernatural. according to mr. kehong, people can never live off of the supernatural. they believe the presence of supernatural creatures and supernatural powers can affect people’s lives. the practice of belief is abstinence and rituals to repel bad luck. all places, such as forests, trees, land, border areas, and etc., have a caretaker. man must submit to and respect the caretakers. the ritual of worship is not a plea for mercy, but the release of the vow because, for example, ‘god or gods’ have answered their prayer. mr. kehong said, “worship is not for the forgiving of sins. worship is to fulfill a vow. when we see fabric of many colors tied to a tree --yellow, black, white- it’s actually not to ask for the forgiveness of sins. because our great grand parents did it for medical treatment, that’s where they made a vow to heal diseases; they asked for the help to cure diseases. they knew that god exists. but they asked for permission first by giving the offerings; it is just an intermediary, beneath the god’s power there were other powers, like the gods. the gods are definitely there, but where the position of the gods, they don’t know. the gods help resolve difficulties. the hardship is from god, they asked for prayers on a deity or occupant of a specific place, when my intention is granted, then i’ll do that. for example, when we want to clear the land, we give offerings, ask for help, and after three days, the land can be worked.” for the last three decades, significant changes related to the religion and beliefs of the indigenous people have begun to change. according to duncan (1998: 134), residential relocation programs that accompanied the “civilization” project among others are in the form of religious instruction. they welcomed the official religions that came into their lives. mr. kehong said, “religion is a matter of faith each of us chooses. all religions are all for the good path. islam, christianity, buddhism and other religions have a good purpose. although different, the goal is the same to god.” mr. kehong likens religious people someone choosing to walk or ride a pompong to accomplish a specific goal. the way is different, while the goal is the same. views like this make a difference in religion has never been a problem, both in everyday social interaction and marital matters. the indigenous people gave freedom to their children to embrace any religion of any kind. they consider conflict that goes on between them is not influenced by religion, but it is strictly [ 175 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 personal. “religion,” according to mr. kehong, “since the beginning, has never told anyone to be evil. the indigenous people who have no religion never ask others to do evil, let alone god.” during the last thirty years, the indigenous people converted to state religions. in this relatively small village, there are five faiths: animism, buddhism, islam, confucianism and christianity. the majority of the population of penyengat are christians, reaching 41.53 percent, followed by buddhists 33.71 percent, muslim 8.79 percent, and animism 7.66 percent. each religion has a place of worship. there are one mosque, one temple and two churches. see the following diagram. 95 418 109 103 515 animisme budha islam konghucu kristen distribution of religions of the indigenous people in penyengat village (village monograph, 2012) green vision of religions green consumption green engagement religion culture civilization islam and christianity were introduced in this village in the 1980s when the government implemented settlement relocation programs for isolated peoples. people who were interviewed, reported that the hkbp (harajoan kristen batak protestant) church was built in the village in the 1980s. buddhism was brought by the local chinese people. in various places in bengkalis, siak and meranti islets, most indigenous people were born from the inter-marriage between them and the chinese. however, given confucianism was not recognized until the reform era, in their civil registration it was written as buddhism. at the time of the population census “requiring a” local religion to be grouped into one of the five state-recognized religions, the indigenous people preferred to be recorded as followers of buddhism, despite their adherents of indigenous beliefs. the presence of the new religions was easily acceptable with varying levels of acceptance. religious belief remains the core of their religious identity. the acceptance of the official state religions for some people was due to the fact that there were rules that required them to embrace the six state-recognized religions. when they are faced with difficulties to apply for the civil registry administration — such as id card or certificate of marriage —they keep their [ 176 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 indigenous religion and have a certain state religion written on their official documents thus allowing them to get married in accordance with one of the recognized state religions. the insignificance of religion can be seen from reality that in an indigenous people’s household where one can easily find that the members have different religions, although it will never be found in the official documents or reported to the state. this phenomenon can be understood as one of the ways of resistance over state repression. ‘on the paper’ they have to follow the government regulations by choosing one of the official religions, but in reality they remain in their original identity, being adherents of the indigenous religious belief. some indigenous people we met with said they chose christianity or buddhism in order to take care of the administration of official documents. conversion and the power of the state in religious for the indigenous people, religious conversion is a form of negotiation toward social change taking place around them. the presence of religions in the post settlement relocation programs decades ago has turned them on the limited options: remain in local beliefs with the consequences of an increasingly limited social access; or convert into one of the state religions so that social transformation and access of the rights of citizenship is easier. conditions that confront them on the option of converting into one religion can be explained as follows. when they want to get an id card (ktp), they are required to choose a state religion. this is due to the fact that their id card application will not be processed the local government without mentioning an official religion. before applying for the id card, a person must first apply for the family card. the latter also requires the mention of a state religion. surprisingly, although the constitution recognizes indigenous religious beliefs, the indigenous people are not allowed to write down their belief on a column on their family card. a person who does not have an id card has limited access to some of the rights of citizenship. alit, while still a student, could not apply for a scholarship offered by the government of riau since he did not have a birth certificate. birth certificates could not be issued because his parents ‘ marriage was not registered at the local civil registry office. in 2011, several students from an elementary school in penyengat won an arts contest held at the sub-district level, but were denied to join the contest at the district level, due to the requirements of the family card. unfortunately, their parents did not have the [ 177 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 required document as their wedding was traditionally conducted, and was not recorded at the civil registry office. in this village, people got their id and family cards in 2010. the direct impact of civil registration is the emergence of religious conversion behavior. but in some cases, the conversion merely took place administratively. alit said until now, the people in his village have yet to grasp the true meaning of religion. alit himself confessed to not fully trust religion as a guide to life. according to him religion does not guarantee a person’s behavior for the better. the corruptors in indonesia, according to the alit are religious people. but, religious beliefs are not able to prevent them from corruption. when asked why chose conversion to christianity, he said it was because the government asked about his religion. thus, religious conversion is a strategy for the indigenous people to get more rights as a citizen. negotiating identity in post religious conversion 1. negotiations in the tradition of marriage according to the indigenous people’s tradition, a person has the freedom to choose a spouse. they do not practice arranged marriage by parents. they also do not prohibit marriage across tribal or religious groups. matter of an arranged marriage, mr. kehong reported: “many indigenous people are married to the javanese, batak, chinese, sumbawa and flores. they never have dispute over inter-marriage. their destiny is determined by god. their customs are not disturbed either. for example, an indigenous person who has no religion is married to a javanese muslim, for most of us, it will be difficult to face the challenge due to difference in religion. but for the indigenous people it doesn’t matter even if they should join the religion of the javanese muslim. what comes first is the responsibility and obligation of the marriage. the issue of religion is up to the individual, whether they want to embrace islam or remain in their indigenous belief. in the tribal parents’ view, whatever religion their children embrace, they are still family. they cannot be separated like the sea and the beach. the religions may be different, but our social relations will remain the same. marriage in the indigenous people’s community is done before a batin witnessed by two people. it can take place at the bride’s home or at the batin’s. at present, the indigenous people’s marriage is evidenced by a letter of statement signed by the batin and verified by the village chief, an elderly leader, and two witnesses. this mechanism is actually not known in civil marital recording system in indonesia. in indonesia, marriage certificates are issued through [ 178 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the office of religious affairs. among christians, buddhists, or muslims, the marriage contract could be done before a religious leader but must be carried out in accordance with the procedures of the office of religious affairs. mr. abon, a staff at the local administration, reported that indigenous people usually get married by custom, and remarry in accordance with a state religion in order to obtain a marriage certificate from the government. this is a problem because this mechanism requires that they convert into one of the recognized state religions. he further said: if we want to record our marriage, first we prepare it in the village. in the christian religion, we need a letter of marriage blessing from the church. then submit it to the government civil registry office, then they will issue a marriage certificate. if you’re a buddhist, you take a letter of marriage blessing from the temple .... we’ll be asked, what our religion is. when we answer it’s animism. then they explain that there are five recognized religions. we are told to pick one ... we get married according to our customs of animism. after that we remarry to get a letter of blessing from the temple. people do not know about animism... animism does not issue a letter of blessing. it’s not valid according to the state. we must have a letter of blessing from a church, temple or islam. a married person in animism, .. to be able to get a letter of blessing, they should repeat the marriage in (a state recognized) religion ... many people asked for marriage licenses from the church. the church said they had no right to issue marriage certificates, with the exception that the marriage is blessed by the church. the above interview shows that its marriage is problematic due to “the absence of recognition of the state. their customary marriage is not recognized. in order to obtain the recognition of marriage, they have to get it from the religious affairs office, and it applies to muslims, christians or buddhists. it is often the case that a person converting to a certain religion for reasons of wanting to get a letter of marriage blessing, although afterwards they do not observe the religion. 2. negotiations in the tradition of death according to the tradition of the indigenous people, when a person dies, his bode lies in state for three nights before burial. each night the family and relatives and community members will be staying up and fill the time by playing cards or doing other fun activities. it is not unusual for them, both men and women, to play cards by placing a bet when family members or community members pass away. [ 179 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 while data collection was in progress in august 2013, two family people died at different times, the wife of mr. kehong (village head), and pak din (a respected shaman in the village). mr. kehong’s wife converted into a devout buddhist, while pak din is an animist, although in his id card it is written as buddhism. for three nights, mrs. kehong’s dead body lay in state. festive atmosphere could be seen where community members stayed up late as an expression of respect for the dead. for three nights, people in his home did various activities that merely for entertainment or gambling. on one night, the researchers were staying up, joining the people playing a local game. but they (researchers) could no longer continue after 3 a.m. the researchers chose to sleep next to the corpse of mr. kehong’s wife, while in the same group of people are playing cards, betting 10 thousand to 50 thousand until dawn. ponton, a community leader, said that the event is an expression of last respect to the corpse before funeral. he said a month earlier, when his mother died, his mother’s corpse lay in state for seven nights. people gave a tribute in the same way. it is interesting to note that ponton is a devout muslim, although on his id card, he is a buddhist. people who attended the event came from different religious backgrounds. the diverse religious conversions among the indigenous people do not break the bonds of their collectivity and is clearly expressed in the funeral tradition. in penyengat, the cemetery complex is for various different religious followers in one location. when burying the body of mr. kehong’s wife, the researchers saw that the burial area for muslims, christians, buddhists and animists was located in one complex. abok agustin, the penyengat village secretary said that the reason to locate the funeral in one location despite different religions indicates their religious harmony. 3. negotiations in the celebration of religious holidays two or three days before muslims celebrate the idil fitr, the indigenous people organized the seven-night likur. this is the ‘holy’ day for them. the sevennights of likur is believed to be the day on which the spirits of their ancestors come back to their home. therefore, to welcome the important moment, they hold a celebration party by eating or drinking all night long, or giving food offerings in front of their respective houses or under the trees on the streets. on the afternoon of the 26th day of islamic fasting month, the indigenous people prepare dishes, fish, chicken, pork and whatever type of food they can provide. some families make spicy sour dishes, fried pork or beef rendang, vegetable, or any other foods according to their economic [ 180 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 capabilities. in the evening, at around 8 p.m., they begin to visit each other. the host would invite guests to eat dinner. parents buy new clothes for their children. the youth usually use the occasion for throwing a typical party of the indigenous people. in the middle of the night, some of them drink liquor. there is no distinction between men and women in the celebration. the seven-night likur is not only in celebrated in the village of penyengat. the indigenous people in rupat (bengkalis), rangsang island (meranti islets) and tanjung selokop (pelalawan) also celebrate it. it is interesting to trace the historical roots of the seven-night likur, especially when associated with the fact that they celebrate it on the 27th night of ramadan (islamic fasting month). unfortunately, the indigenous people in penyengat are not willing to give explanation about the origins of the feast of likur. the fact that adherents of animism have a day of celebrations was shown by sociologists and anthropologists. emile durkheim, clifford geertz, brian morris, as well as other sociologists or anthropologists analyzed the indigenous people’s belief system based on their system of rituals. in this case, their indigenous religion is also expressed in the ritual of their holy day. the likur feast is not only celebrated by those who embrace a local religion. people who have already converted into one of the official state religions also celebrate the ceremony of the seven-day likur. of the 47 families who celebrated the likur in 2013 (about half a month before the researchers arrived), adherents of christianity, buddhism and confucianism were preparing for the feast. the researchers did not find a muslim family on the night of the celebration of the seven-day likur. nevertheless, the tradition of visiting each other on the holy day is not limited to only certain religions, but also done by the muslims. the tradition of celebrating each other’s big day is done by adherents of different religions. during idil fitr holiday in the village, the researchers could obviously feel the festive atmosphere in some muslim households. the researchers joined a group of teachers who visited each other during the idil fitr holiday. one of them was alit, a christian. when a muslim village secretary invited the villagers to lunch at his house for lebaran (muslim feast), the researchers found out that people who came were not only muslims. how religious holidays are celebrated a family which consists of many different religions is interesting to explore. alit is unmarried and still living with his father (closer to confucianism) and his mother who is a buddhist. hendry, one of his older brothers had embraced islam due to marriage. her sister converted to christianity, also because of marriage. in alit’s family, there is a buddhist family member (mother), a christian, a muslim, and a confucian, [ 181 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 but they are all united by the identity as the indigenous people who all are convinced of the importance of preserving the traditions of their ancestors. during a chinese holiday, alit always prepares in his home to welcome the feast. when christmas comes, he chooses to join his brother at home to celebrate it. when the researchers visited hendry’s house, they found alit, his mother and his sister there joining hendry celebrating the idil fitr. alit said that he was proud of his multi-religion family, and of the fact that they can celebrate the feast of all religions and get along well. pak hok, alit’s father, said that he did not question his children’s conversion to any religion, as far as there is one of them who still embraces the ancestors’ belief (confucianism). according to pak hok, other religions are not paying attention to the ancestors, but if there is family member who still embraces confucianism or buddhism, later when he dies, he will find a way to pay a visit to his family. pak hok, although his religion is closer to confucianism, enjoyed listening to taped sermons by zainuddin mz. those who marginalize (are marginalized): a theoretical contribution previous discussion shows the negotiation of identity of the indigenous people regarding their religious conversion and behavior during religious holidays, as expressed in the tradition of weddings, funerals, and celebrations of religious holidays. in the following section the researchers will focus on analyzing how these religious practices contribute to explain the pattern of relationship between the power to marginalize and those marginalized. according to james c. scott (1990), the relationship between the marginalized and those who have power to marginalize always form a resistential relationship. in contrast to gramsci (1996) who put the marginal party as targets of hegemony, foucault argued that marginalized parties are not in the passive position at all. according to foucault (1977: 213), power is scattered everywhere. the difference is whether or not it is actualized. in addition, the difference in the desire to actualize the power also influences the difference of effects of power on an individual (1977: 215). power relations according to foucault (1994: 344-345) occur due to the differentiation of social systems, the different goals in the community, the attainment of objectives, the instruments and forms of social institutions. related to the difference of social systems, the phenomenon is thus clearly seen on the mindset between countries and theologians as the dominant power on the one hand, and tribal communities on the other. the state has the power to define what is civilized and what is not. the instruments of civilization [ 182 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 are formulated by the state and its apparatuses (intellectuals, humanists, theologians and the like) to determine that persons outside the criteria are not civilized. this is for foucault (2002) similar to how healthy people (doctors) make a specific instrument to define about being insane and insanity. crazy people, according to doctors are those who do not qualify as healthy people. meanwhile the crazy people themselves are unable to actualize power; doctors have absolute power. in madness and civilization, foucault asked what if the logic is reversed: a crazy man who defines what is healthy and what is not. the phenomenon of the indigenous people of the anak rawa is constructed as a community lacking civilization, essentially with regard to the difference between their conceptualization and that of the state. one of the indicators of being civilized defined by the state is practicing a state religion. because the state has access to actualize power over the definition formulated, tribal communities are forced to follow the state’s conception of being civilized. the field data indicated that without any religion, the tribal community has its own standards of morality and being civilized. similarly, there is a big difference between their definition and that of theologians. theologians believe that happiness in life is following a certain religion whole-heartedly and thus denying the conception of happiness without the state religion. marginal communities have always had the power. the dynamics of religious conversion of the indigenous people showed their strategy in actualizing power. their seemingly acceptance of the conception of the theologian and the state on the need to be civilized obtained through religion. meanwhile, simultaneously they express resistance over the conception. they question why they should embrace one of the state religions. however, they have their own definition of religiosity. religious celebrations have served as an exclusive space for the religion in question, for example, anyone without restricted religious differences can join any religious celebration. this phenomenon is, in the view of james c. scott (1990), a technique of subordinate group to express their resistance against the dominance they experience. according to foucault (1994: 344), the difference in the means of achieving goals also leads to power relations. for the indigenous people, the expression of gratitude to the unseen (god, gods, ancestral spirits, etc) is an expression of thanks for wishes granted, not a plea for forgiveness for the act of sin. sin in the view of the indigenous people will not be eliminated by asking for forgiveness from god, gods or ancestors because it involves evil deeds we commit against fellow human beings. if a person steals, for example, he cannot ask for forgiveness from god, but from people who suffer the crime. therefore, the sinner should apologize to the people that he had stolen from [ 183 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 as an expression of remorse over the crimes committed. similarly, differences in social institutions also have an effect on power relationship between the pattern of marginal communities and those who marginalize them. in this case, the institution of state is recognized to have almost absolute power in shaping social behavior of the indigenous people. the state, through the bureaucracy, has the ability to exclude someone who does not follow the criteria formulated by the state. without an id card, for example, a person is not recognized as a citizen. they will be denied of their rights of citizenship. for tribal communities who have no social institution as powerful as the state, then the available option is to conform to the will of the state. yet, they have their own strategy in actualizing power through social institutions at their disposal. they realize that social cohesiveness must not be removed due to religious differences. consciously, they struggle to keep space to mingle, taking off each political faith and blending themselves into communal identity as the indigenous people. the events of marriage, death, celebration of religious holidays serve as their social institutions that keep social space being blocked by religious differences. such phenomenon shows that amidst the dominance of superior groups, they have a strategy to bring the power of defense within the framework of communal identity. although it could result in weakening their criteria about the definition of the indigenous people, the efforts are made in order to preserve their identity in the midst of the pressure of the dominant power against them. conclusion based on the above discussion, the researchers drew several conclusions. first, the conversion of religion among the indigenous people correlates with how the state and theologians actualize power. the state formulates criteria for being civilized and defines that the indigenous people are outside the orbit. this is also related to the view of theologians who look at happiness and civilization can only be reached through religion. in such situations, the indigenous people are led to the necessity of religious conversion. second, religious conversion has an impact on the pattern of significant social changes. the researchers analyze the behavior of everyday life related to weddings, funerals, and celebrations of religious holidays. conversion of religion requires them to leave behind the inherited ancestral traditions and to adapt to new religious doctrinal conceptions. but they offer a creative formulation which allows them to include the ancestral traditions being [ 184 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 practiced in the new religion. the researchers recommend that the government and theologians stop using excessive power in shaping the social behavior of the indigenous people. power approach used in shaping the social behaviour of the indigenous people will often result in resistance. the government and theologiand need to formulate steps to the recognition the existence of their cultural identity. instead of imposing a particular religion, the government should facilitate the indigenous people to be themselves. bibliography andaya, leonard y., 2008. leaves of the same tree: trade and ethnicity in the straits of melaka. honohulu: hawai university press. bernard, timothy p, 2006. pusat kekuasaan ganda: masyarakat dan alam siak & sumatera timur, 1674-1827. seri monograf pusat penelitian kebudayaan dan kemasyarakatan unri, pekanbaru, vol 2 no 2 september. budiman, hikmat (ed.), 2005. hak minoritas: dilema multikulturalisme di indonesia. jakarta: tifa dan interseksi foundation. chou, cynthia, 2005. indonesian sea nomads money, magic, and fear of the orang suku laut. london and new york: routledge. chua, liana, 2005. the christianity of culture: conversion, ethnic citizenship, and the matter of religion in malaysian bornoe. new york: palgrave macmillan, 2012. data kependudukan desa penyengat tahun 2012. dokumen desa, tidak dipublikasikan. duncan, christopher robert, 1998. ethnic identity, christian conversion and resettlement among the forest tobelo of notheastern halmahera, indonesia. a dissertation of yale university. foucault, michel, 1982. afterword: the subject and power. dalam h.l. dreyfus and p. robinow (ed.), michel foucault: beyond structuralism and hermeuneutics. brighton: harvester. foucault, michel, 1991. governmenality. dalam g. burchell, c. gordon dan p. miller (ed.), the foucault effect: studies ini governmentality. chicago: university of chocago press. foucault, michel, 1994. essential works of foucault 1954-1984. p. robinow (ed.). frence: the new press. foucault, michel, 2002. kegilaan dan peradaban: madness and covilazation. yogyakarta: ikon. [ 185 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 foucault, michel, and gilles deleuze, 1977. “intellectuals and power”, dalam language, counter-memory, practice: selected essays and interviews. d.f. bouchard (ed.), new york: cornell university press. gomes, alberto g., 2007. modernity and malaysia: settling the menraq forest nomads. new york: routledge. gramsci, antonio, 1996. selection from the prison notebooks, new delhi: orient longman. kang, yoonhee, 2005. untaian kata leluhur: marjinalitas, emosi dan kuasa kata-kata magi di kalangan orang petalangan riau. seri monograf pusat penelitian kebudayaan dan kemasyarakatan unri, pekanbaru, vol 1 no 1. li, tania murray, 2012. the will to improve: perencanaan kekuasaan dan pembangunan di indonesia, terj. hary santoso dan pujo semedi, yogyakarta: marjin kiri. maarif, syamsul, 2012. dimension of religious practice the ammatoans of sulawesi, indonesia. a dissertation of arizona state university. milner, anthony, 2008. the malays. west sussex: willey-blackwell. monograf desa penyengat tahun 2010, dokumen desa, tidak dipublikasikan. porat, nathan, 2002. a river, a road, an indigenous people and an entangled lanscape in riau, indonesia. dalam bijdragen tot de taal, land en volkenkunde, on the road the social impact of new road in southeas asia, leiden, 158 no 4. hal. 769-797 rab, tabrani, 2002. nasib suku asli di riau. pekanbaru: riau cultural institute. suparlan, parsudi, 1995. orang sakai: di riau: masyarakat terasing dalam masyarakat di indonesia. jakarta: yayasan obor indonesia. interviewees: abet (33), penyengat village chief. abok (40), penyengat village secretary. apui (35), penyengat resident. aseng (40), penyengat resident. buter (46), penyengat resident din (60), penyengat community leader. dum (58), penyengat batin chief and community leader. ebon (49), buddhist leader dan penyengat resident. hamid (40), penyengat elementary school teacher. henry (34), former penyengat youth leader. kehong (45), penyengat community leader. kiat (60), penyengat customary leader. [ 186 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 navid (40), staff at the local administration of penyengat. res (49), penyengat community leader. wiharsono (33), head of tani wirid yasin group of penyengat. yanto (34), penyengat resident. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 27 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar fakultas syariah iain pontianak email: abubakar@iainptk.ac.id abstract this study describes the unresolved problem of the fight for the throne in the restoration of the kubu kingdom and reveals the underlying root causes. the description of the problem is based on historical accounts and continuous local mass media coverage related to the fight for the throne. the problem is placed in its indonesian political context, namely regional autonomy era which seeks to promote the preservation and development of local culture. nasab fiqh (islamic jurisprudence concerning lineage) is used as the perspective of the review. this study explains that the kubu restoration was hindered by the fight for the throne because the nasab (lineage) requirements were used as the sole instrument. in turn, the lineage requirement has made the issues related to kubu throne a primordial fight among the king’s descendants. this sheds some light on the fact that the throne has high heirloom value or shared inheritance which is attached to material rights. these material rights are granted by regional autonomy which provides opportunities for the king to revive local cultural roles. keywords: royal throne of tuan besar; kubu kingdom restoration; regional autonomy era; nasab fiqh. introduction kubu was one of the kingdoms in west kalimantan that emerged at the end of the 18th century ad led by a monarch who held the title of tuan besar [literally means grand lord]. information about the kingdom can be traced in historical accounts, both from local and the dutch colonial sources (dewall, 1862, pp. 138-141 and al-aydrus, 1932). the post-independence kubu was declared part of the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. after that, because of the centralized system of the new order, the kingdom was neglected, until its existence came to an end, not only the institution of the throne but also the building of the royal palace. the name kubu, as a royal institution that helped build west kalimantan in the past, once again came to people’s attention in the era of regional autonomy. the enactment of law no. [ 28 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 22 of 1999 which started this era has provided space for the preservation and development of regional culture (rasyid, 2005, pp. 3-25). the existence of the law was responded positively by the kubu community who wished to revive their kingdom. the earlier mentioned context gave birth to the idea of restoring the kubu kingdom, not in the realm of politics and government needless to say. traditional leadership in the kingdom is needed to preserve long-neglected local values (suara pemred, 2015), because of its position as a cultural center for the community. the efforts to materialize this idea were getting stronger with the creation of a new district called kubu raya regency in 2007 in the former kingdom’s territory. restoration of kingdom in the era of regional autonomy is a common phenomenon in west kalimantan. the names of the kingdoms in the past resurfaced in society, followed by the election of their king. in general, nasab (lineage) institution provides a solution in the election of traditional leaders, such as the pontianak sultanate with the coronation of sultan abu bakar (surat kesepatan bertiga [agreement of three parties], 2002). meanwhile, kubu has not succeeded, because they are trapped in a fight for the throne that involves three parties. the lineage institution still failed to hold the election of a tuan besar [grand lord] who would take the throne. as a result, the restoration of the kingdom until 2020 had yet to bear fruit. the polemic among the descendants of the king on the right to the royal throne related to nasab institution occurred in many areas. in 2015, the pontianak sultanate allegedly had similar fight for the throne. the same also occurred in the surakarta sultanate, which began in 2004. the royal throne was claimed by the two sons of king of paku buwono xii. in the kasepuhan palace, cirebon, the same polemic emerged after the death of sultan sepuh xiv. previously, the palace had been shaken by a series of fight for the throne between the descendants of the sultan, and it was not completely resolved until 2020. the sultanate of yogyakarta currently is also facing the same problem as to who should inherit the throne. the problem is related to the candidate for successor to sri sultan hamengku buwana to x who has not been accepted by the royal family. all these polemics are concerned with the issue of lineage. the fight for the throne of tuan besat in the restoration of the kubu kingdom raises academic questions regarding the issues surrounding it. it is important to conduct research on the issues considering the same phenomenon is found in many areas, including in the kingdoms of java. several solutions have been offered, but none have not yielded results. deliberations, formation of institutions, and inauguration only gave rise to new tensions. in this regard, the study of the restoration of the kubu is necessary in the effort to shed [ 29 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 some light on the subject. the results are expected to contribute to academic knowledge about the issue of the fight for the throne. kubu in academic literature has not received much attention from researchers or writers. bakar (2018) wrote a book entitled al-idroes family and the kubu government which was a historical account about the kubu kingdom. it is a literature study using both local and dutch colonial sources. the book describes the founder, origin and establishment of the kingdom, as well as a description of the kubu government in the past (bakar, 2018, pp. 15-57). previously, mahrus also conducted research on the development of islam in the kubu. his research was based on a literature study. the results revealed a number of media as channels for the development of islam in the local kubu community (mahrus, 2012, pp. 77-91). in addition, there is a brief text of the history of the kubu written by djunaydi explaining a period of the leadership of tuan besar kubu and his family (djunaydi, 2001, pp. 3-11). handwritten accounts about the kubu kingdom were found in the community with almost the same theme. the issue of the fight for the throne above has not received much attention from researchers. there was a study that sought to provide arguments for solving the problem, but it has yet to resolve the issue. the research was conducted by nurcahyani et al., a research team from the department of culture and tourism of the pontianak historical and traditional value preservation center in 2008 with the title “syarif hasan bin zein al idrus”. this research sheds light on the position of syarif hasan in the post-japanese occupation kubu government (nurcahyani, 2008, pp. 3-9). some of these issues were discussed by husin in 1977. he discussed them as a critique of lontaan’s 1975 work entitled “recollections of the former bestuurscommissie of the kubu kingdom: stories and discussions on the history of customary law and customs of west kalimantan (1975) between two former members of the kubu royal assembly” (husin, 1977, pp. 4-7). however, the problem of the fight for the tuan besar throne in the restoration of the kubu kingdom is still neglected by most researchers, except for the discussion of important figures. restoration of the kubu kingdom in the era of regional autonomy the kubu kingdom stood for more than one and a half century. the kingdom ended as a result of the japanese expansion into west kalimantan. the kubu royal family still filled the government posts in their former territory during the span of 1944-1950 with the status of a royal government. kubu later became a self-governing area which marked its integration into the government of the [ 30 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 unitary state of the republic of indonesia. kubu in 1953, along with landak and mempawah, was merged into one administrative district of the pontianak regency. the policy of the central government immediately drowned the kingdom and the royal family in the midst of its people. they were replaced by the new government and bureaucracy. regional autonomy as a result of reforms in indonesia gave rise to hope for the descendants of the kubu king to revive the royal throne in the midst of traditional society. the lineage was found to be an institution that could gather those who had been dispersed from kubu. they also used it to enthrone a potential tuan besar who would play a cultural role. it was never granted by the old and new order governments that view regions in indonesia from the perspective of jakarta as a centralized government. law no. 23 of 2014 has proven to provide an impetus for the region to revive its culture. the regional autonomy enacted by the law has made it possible for regions to manage their affairs in the context of development and community welfare in accordance with their regional characteristics. specifically, regional autonomy provides opportunity and hope for the restoration efforts of the kubu kingdom to achieve its goals, because restoration requires the preservation of local culture which is a regional typicality. it was also greenlighted by the regent of kubu raya. he showed evidence of the local government’s attention by providing assistance for the construction and preservation of the kubu royal site. the regional head’s statement demonstrated the government’s support for the revival of local culture (pontianak tribunews, 2017). replica of kubu palace in kubu village [ 31 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 ibrahim, a descendant of the kubu king, also initiated the restoration of the kingdom. the restoration of the kubu kingdom, according to him, is an effort to bring back the royal institution into society. its presence is expected to maintain and, at the same time, serve as a forum for the development of local culture as regional treasures. this is considered urgent because the preservation of the previous kubu kingdom has long been neglected. the effort began with the excavation of the historical sites of the kingdom. rafik in previous years had explored a number of historical places to find information regarding the kubu palace. in the context of regional autonomy, the presence of the kubu kingdom is seen as a center for the development of culture, arts, and tourism, so that it will contribute to the regional advancement, not being limited to the local economy (infopublik, 2017). previously, a replica of the palace had been erected in kubu by the local government which involved the descendants of tuan besar viii. the palace replica does not seem to be supported by a concept of developing local culture. in addition, the building is not integrated with other infrastructure developments. as a result, the replica failed to play a cultural role. this incident seemed to be anticipated by ibrahim who came up with a concept of a new palace replica in the district’s city center. regional autonomy is expected to provide an opportunity to materialize their ideas. thus, the kingdom from ibrahim’s standpoint should serve as the government’s partner in local value-oriented development. the same idea is shared by abas, another descendant of tuan besar. in his viewpoint, the restoration of the kingdom should be designed as an institution that maintains the traditional order of the kubu people which is considered a support for peace in the community. regional autonomy requires local wisdom for regional development. this can be materialized through the existence of tuan besar kubu as he is considered to be a guardian of cultural and historical heritage that deserves attention in the regional development (kompasiana, 2017). the effort began with the restoration of the kingdom. it was confirmed by the regent of kubu raya, rusman ali. the kubu kingdom is considered a cultural asset in its territory that should be developed to advance the region according to local characteristics (suara pemred kalbar, 2017). [ 32 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 traditional ceremony of robok-robok at keraton kertamulya of tuan besar kubu vi in teluk pakedai, kubu raya regency the existence of a royal institution in the era of autonomy is recognized as having contributed to regional development, because the king could play cultural roles that accommodate local interests, from identity, wisdom, to socioculture (prabandani, 2011, pp. 29-33). many cities in west kalimantan have successfully explored their regional culture by placing the royal institution as the main actor. the revival of local identity based on the ties of primordialism in that context is present in the community. this phenomenon is marked by the revitalization of customs to be displayed in cultural celebrations (budiman, 2012, pp. 4-10). it has been demonstrated by the king of sanggau in paradje ceremony. the presence of culture gives value to knowledge, religion, socioeconomy, and politics. it is filled with traditional music, dance, local games, people’s markets, social identity and solidarity, and rituals (diskominfo sanggau, 2019). all of these features can be presented as a tourism event. the paradje in west kalimantan is a typical representation of sanggau (natsir, 2013, 6-20). this role seems to be expected to be played by the kubu kingdom, which unfortunately has not been successful in its restoration. traditional institutions such as the kingdom are among the things local governments should revive when play their cultural role. a local kingdom can contribute to the development of the region. the failure in the restoration of the kubu kingdom has had an impact on the government in reviving local culture. government activities related to arts and culture aimed at building regional identity have lost their value, because they are only filled with participants from government agencies, regionallyowned enterprises, and private institutions. the series of activities serve [ 33 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 only as a formal celebration, so they have contribution to local development. zulfi and ibrahim tried to fill the void by holding a robok-robok celebration in kubu along with a number of other arts and cultural activities. another event was created by ibrahim highlighting the concept of customs and ethnic culture of the kubu raya community. they wanted to represent themselves as a symbol of the kubu kingdom in an effort to make a name for themselves as the king and prince of mangkubumi. at the same time, syahril also held a celebration of arts and culture in teluk pakedai despite being poorly planned. the restoration of the kingdom that presents traditional leadership in that context is expected to provide a solution to the problem, because its role in the cultural context provides legitimacy for activities in the region. on the other hand, the failure of restoration will hinder the revival of culture. the throne of tuan besar kubu tuan besar is a title that is well known in the malay culture, both in west kalimantan and in peninsular malaysia. historically, the term tuan besar was commonly used as a designation for respected scholars from the arabian peninsula who became role models and figures of scientific references for people in a certain area. tuan besar muhammad ibn zayn in the terengganu sultanate, for instance, was known as a royal scholar under sultan umar (mohd., 2006, pp. 112). in mempawah, husin bin ahmad was known in history as a tuan besar, who was an ulema (islamic scholar) and became a reference for muslims in west kalimantan and the surrounding area (bakar, 2020, p. 13). the term is often followed by the name of the region, and hence tuan besar mempawah. in his area, a tuan besar is the highest scholar in religious matters, such as muhammad ibn zayn who occupied the position of shaykhul ulama. the term tuan besar first appeared in the middle of the 18th until the beginning of the next century. at first, tuan besar kubu was a term for a scholar named aidrus ibn abdurrahman. he got the title after he succeeded in clearing the forest to establish a new state in 1769 ad which was later called kubu. he was different from the other tuan besar who were mostly ulemas. the state was declared a kingdom in 1780. in colonial literature, there is no mentioning of aidrus’ involvement in a political-government contract with the dutch. this indicates that he reigned as a free king. he led the community assisted by a number of ministers. his reign was succeded by his eldest son, muhammad. he used his father’s name, making the title of tuan besar kubu institutionalized as a king’s title (bakar, 2018, pp. 10). tuan besar kubu in the next period became a crown institution. the title [ 34 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 holder declared himself to be the highest ruler in his territory because he was king. culturally, tuan besar is the title of a king who lives in the midst of the culture of his people. the title is found in dutch colonial literature. dewall (1862, p. 140) wrote that aidrus was succeeded by his eldest son, muhammad, followed by the use of the title of tuan besar kubu. the same thing was written by enthoven (1902, p. 877) when he made the chart of the kubu kings in his book. the information is in line with the oral tradition of the history of the kubu kings who were styled tuan besar. however, this title in government affairs was not written in full. in official royal documents, they had the title tuan or heer van kubu and it was sometimes written as seri paduka tuan kubu. presumably, it was related to the local king’s habit of referring to west kalimantan residents as tuan besar residen (letter of tuan kubu vii, 1919 & land register of the kubu kingdom, 1924). the king of kubu formally seemed to avoid using the same title, because of his position in the administration of the dutch east indies. tuan besar kubu ii was muhammad, who reigned from 1789 to 1829 ad. after his death, the throne of the kingdom was passed on to his son, abdurrahman, as tuan besar iii. the next tuan besar was ismail ibn abdurrahman. he became the fourth king. at the beginning of his reign, the royal throne was in his uncle’s guardianship, because he was not yet an adult. after that, the reign of tuan besar was succeeded by hasan, ismail’s brother, because the crown prince died in sarawak. meanwhile, ismail’s other child, zain, was still a child. abbas bin hasan became the sixth tuan besar to succeed his father. however, the throne was not returned to zain. he became the seventh tuan besar after abas was brought down by the dutch due to tax refusal. the dutch administration at the time was the holder of the highest power which had the power to determine a tuan besar. in 1919 ad, zain stepped down from his throne which left kubu without a king. abbas and zain’s sons did not succeed the tuan besar throne. two years later, saleh, the son-in-law of tuan besar v was crowned tuan besar viii who ruled the kingdom until 1944 ad. he died at the hands of the japanese invaders along with his son, tuan muda ahmad, who would have been his successor (bakar, 2018, pp. 50-56 ). the kubu kingdom had a territory between the punggur river and the mayah river and its coastal area. it was recognized by the dutch in 1823 as stated in the political contract between tuan besar kubu, muhammad, and commissioner tobias. the area originally belonged to sultan ratu simpang which was lated granted to tuan besar aidrus. kubu in the north was bordered by the pontianak sultanate. in the south, it was bordered by the simpang-matan kingdom. meanwhile, the lida and mendawai rivers serve as boundaries with meliau. [ 35 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 the islands between the punggur besar river and nuri bay on the coast belonged to kubu. in west kalimantan, kubu’s sovereignty was recognized by local kings from the start, so there were no border conflicts. there wre thousands of people including ethnic malays, bugis, dayaks, and chinese living inside this kingdom. their settlements spread into three administrative areas, consisting of kubu, teluk pakedai, and padang tikar. they became the people of the kubu kingdom under tuan besar (bakar, 2018, pp. 40-41). tuan besar kubu as a result of its history has become a throne whose institutional nature is dynamic, so it is difficult to find rules as an urgency to underlie the restoration. the urgency of the king’s son as the crown prince is not permanent in kubu. it was closely related to the dutch political policy in interfering in royal affairs. this problem re-emerged in the era of regional autonomy when the descendants of the kings wish to revive the royal throne. they face each other with their kinship background to fight for the throne that can only be taken by one tuan besar kubu. fight for the throne from the nasab fiqh perspective in 2015, rafik was inaugurated as the king of kubu, but he was not a tuan besar. the inauguration event was claimed to be the outcome of an islah (reconciliation) of the descendants of the founder of the kingdom. this was stated by the chairman of the ashadi event committee in a number of local mass media, such as the pontianak tribune and pemred. previously, zulfi received a mandate from ismail ibn hasan ibn tuan besar zain to hold the election, appointment, inauguration, and at the same time the coronation of the king. through this mandate, rafik was appointed king (antaranews, 2015. his appointment was made in order to fill a leadership vacuum. therefore, he was given the title of pangeran mangku negara (prince of mangkunegara) of the kubu kingdom. his dis not stay long on the throne and was brought down from the position of king. the coronation of rafik as king by the descendants of tuan besar zain immediately faced rejection that started an open fight for the throne among the king’s descendants. the first rejection came from tuan besar abas’ lineage group. this was represented by ahyar ibn alwi through his statement at the pontianak post daily newspaper. he considered rafik’s coronation a unilateral act that did not represent the entire heirs to the royal throne. rafik was considered unfit to be crowned as king. ahyar’s group unanimously rejected him. another rejection came from the descendants of tuan besar saleh, represented [ 36 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 by djunaidy. he considered rafik’s coronation a violation of royal customs, because he was not a descendant of the last king. at the same time, he considered that tuan besar zain’s group had no right to carry out the coronation of the king, because the heir to the kubu throne is a descendant of the last king. basically, rafik was an illegitimate king. djunaidy, with regard to his rejection, was not a member of ahyar’s group. he and his group belong to another camp (djunaydi, 2015, p. 2). in the following year, ismail ibn hasan ibn tuan besar zain was inaugurated as tuan besar x, on 27 august 2017 to be precise. the inauguration was based on the claim that his father was tuan besar ix. the claim was of course rejected by other groups. ismail’s inauguration ceremony was held in the area of the former kingdom. the venue was selected to provide historical and cultural legitimacy. in the local mass media, it was reported that the event would be held on a large scale by involving thousands of invited guests, both domestically and abroad, such as malaysia and brunei darussalam. in addition, there was an inauguration ceremony for a kubu king, named zulfi, who replaced rafik (suara pemred kalbar, 2017). the above series of events were previously known to the group of tuan besar abas’ descendants. they immediately planned a rival event to be held earlier. at the event, syahril was appointed tuan besar kubu on august 26, 2017. he was crowned in kertamulia by the panembahan [respected members of the king’s court] of the kubu palace. the coronation was the result of the agreement of the supreme council of the royal assembly regarding the coronation of syahril. the event was reportedly held lively by involving thousands of guests with the accompaniment of tambourine music and a marching band. also present were the regent of kubu raya and the ranks of the local government (kompasiana, 2017 & pontianak tribunnews, 2017). the descendants of tuan besar saleh simply let the other two groups to compete. they already have djunaidy. he is considered to have been elected and appointed at the grand meeting forum at the pontianak peace agreement complex attended by the descendants of the kubu king, which took place in 2008 (kamaruzzaman’s statement letter, 2008). at the same time, he obtained academic legitimacy from research results from the department of culture and tourism, the pontianak historical and traditional value preservation center and the research observation institute for the indonesian kratons [palaces], chaired by kanjeng pangeran haryo gunarso g. kusumodiningrat. this implies that his great-grandfather was the tuan besar of the last kubu king, so that the heir to the throne is in his hands. he, as a master, has at least obtained recognition from the indonesian palaces (invitation to the indonesian palaces [ 37 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 gathering forum, 2008). therefore, djunaidy did not build a support base in the community. he had no support groups. meanwhile, other groups had royal attributes and escort troops. he did not develop symbols or ceremonies as a tuan besar. the fight for the throne above is triggered by the application of nasab fiqh as an instrument for selecting a tuan besar. this can be seen in zulfi’s outlook in the pontianak tribune. he stated that he had selected the descendants of the kubu lineage in order to enthrone a king. the same thought was developed by the tuan besar abas’ group. they argued that the appointed tuan besar must be a descendant of the tuan besar lineage. this lineage must be understood in relation to traditional leadership theory. the theory is built based on customary norms in society (soekanto, 200, p. 324). leadership will be accepted by the community when it has legal legitimacy that was also applied in the past. the nasab fiqh as an institution that lives among the descendants of the founders of the kubu kingdom should be used as a basis that underlies the law for the election of a tuan besar. the traditional leadership of a tuan besar without royal lineage is considered to be losing its value. lineage in traditional leadership is recognized as important in the history of muslim empires in many areas, because it provides the legitimacy of fiqh laws. in that tradition, the lineage of rulers is often associated with previous great leaders. the founder of the sultanate of sambas, raden sulaiman, in consolidating his new power in lubuk madung linked his lineage with the sultan of brunei (risa, 2014, pp 108-110). the same is true for the mempawah kingdom. panembahan adiwijaya ibn daeng manambon who founded a new kingdom in kuala mempawah linked his lineage to the muslim king of luwu in sulawesi (ema, 2008, p. 18). the king of tanjungpura in its history displays the mythological story of princess junjung buih and a prince who had lineage to the king of majapahit. their descendants were the kings of tanjungpura to the sultan of matan. the nasab fiqh in kubu with respect to the restoration of the kingdom is required to have continuity from generation to generation to the king. the truth of the lineage must be verified in the community. the descendants of the kubu king have a large family genealogy which is published together with the genealogy of sultan usman pontianak (sultan usman’s family tree, 1969). in addition, his lineage is not flawed according to fiqh, for example due to adultery of parents and the presence of an oath as proof. by law, the nasab (lineage) requirement is based on religion. al-sya`rawi defines the term nasab in al-furqan verse 54 as attachment of something below to something above it, so that we can say so-and-so son of so-and-so. (sya`rāwi, 1991, p. 1471). [ 38 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 nasab fiqh ensures the legal status of a child concerning his/her biological father which has implications for a number of rights. the royal throne as a king’s right in that respect can be given to his descendants. basically, the importance of lineage has a legal basis in the succession of kings. a prospective tuan besar shall be a male descendant of the kubu king. it has precedents in the history of kubu. halid in cerita negeri kubu [chronicle of the kubu state] reported that abdurrahman as the third tuan besar kubu was crowned after receiving the delegation of power from his relative who was born as a daughter of the queen. meanwhile, he was not the son of the queen, but his status as a male was preferred over a female. women in the kubu lineage institution that adheres to a patrilineal system have the potential to end the royal family’s line of power, because children are regarded as not being related to them. a daughter as an heir to the throne is currently faced by the family of the sultanate of yogyakarta (nasional tempo, 2021). the choice of a male descendant is understood to be related to the issue of leadership and at the same time its continuity among the descendants of the family of a tuan besar. however, the application of nasab fiqh in the selection of a tuan besar seems to have failed, because the history of succession of the kubu ruler does not indicate the necessity of a candidate for tuan besar to have the lineage to the previous last king. the history of the kingdom has an unusual tradition of succession. hasan became the fifth tuan besar succeeding his brother. meanwhile, zain became the seventh tuan besar replacing his cousin. the son of a tuan besar will not automatically become king, even the sons of abas and zain had never taken the throne. nasab fiqh provides limitations on the criteria for prospective tuan besar, and does not give alternative choices. in fact, the history of the succession in the kubu kingdom was showed deviation from the tradition of succession to the rules of the kingdom. this was the case in the coronation of saleh as tuan besar viii. he continued the reign of the previous tuan besar, but was not the son of the sixth or seventh king. the coronation shows the flexibility of nasab fiqh in its previous practice. saleh’s coronation in the era of regional autonomy set a precedent in the restoration of the kingdom, so that the names of rafik and zulfi emerged as kings. however, both of them were rejected by other groups, because their lineage did not meet the criteria. the application of nasab above in the era of regional autonomy has the potential to be misused for the benefit of placing the throne as an inheritance. the throne, in the context of lineage, has been perceived as an heirloom. as a result, the heir to the kubu throne is not one individual. this is understandable [ 39 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 because lineage binds and connects one generation to another and at the same time one family to another, thus forming family clans (al-zuḥailī, 1984, p. 7247). the heirloom is viewed as an inheritance belonging to the descendants of the kubu kingdom. in islam, material rights are recognized as inheritance (almausu`atul fiqhiyah, 1983, p. 208). the throne in history have often been seen as equivalent to material rights. the king through the throne owns the kingdom and all its wealth, so he has the right to use it. regional autonomy has, to a certain extent, brought the throne of tuan besar back to its past glory. certain interests related to the throne arise behind the application of nasab in the restoration of the kingdom. regional autonomy gives hope for certain parties in the fight for the throne for the material rights attached to it, such as operational funding assistance from the government. it is widely known that many local kings in carrying out their institutional activities receive hundreds of millions of funding from the regional budget every year. the throne at the same time allows the king to play a role as the government’s partner in cultural, social, ceremonial fuctions, and other related matters. this was demonstrated in the governor’s remarks read by the head of the social welfare bureau of the west kalimantan provincial government during an event in kubu (west kalimantan antaranews, 2015). the king became a new social elite that could transform into a local political force. his role in the community can be managed to serve as political capital during regional head elections, as in the case of candidates for regent and deputy regent of kubu raya, werry s. and h.m. nasir m in the 2017 robok-robok event organized by certain parties from the kubu kingdom. their picture could be seen on billboards (delikkalbar, 2017). material rights related to the throne in that context can give political, social, and economic advantages to certain parties in the fight for the throne of tuan besar kubu. the application of nasab to a certain extent can be viewed as identity politics of the kubu kings’ descendants to confirm their blood relation to tuan besar aidrus who was a well-known arab ulema. identity politics here means building interests within the boundaries of its primordial groups (anam, 2019). they managed to get the context along with the strengthening role of arabs in indonesia. the response of west kalimantan muslims to sheikh ali jaber in a number of mosques is an example of those who take a place of honor in society. (tribun pontianak, 2016 & sounds of the hedgehog, 2018). it is certainly valuable in creating legitimacy of the kingdom. through identity politics, they have communicated to the public about their position as a legitimate social group to take the royal throne. the future of the kingdom in its restoration is determined by its primordial environment. this seems to [ 40 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 prevent them from leaving their lineage in order to end the fight for the throne. conclusion the restoration of the kubu kingdom, despite the opportunities in the era of regional autonomy, has not materialized due to the fight for the throne. nasab (lineage) as the fiqh (islamic jurisprudence) of muslim family ties chosen as a method in the election of tuan besar failed to be applied in the restoration because it was practiced for the benefit of the group that triggered conflict with each other. they were trapped in a primordial identity struggle that view the restoration of the kingdom as an internal problem in their community. they were also so stuck on the lineage instrument that the role of society was neglected. such context gave rise to a never-ending fight for the throne among the descendants of the king. several groups, based on their nasab fiqh interpretation, claimed to be entitled to the throne whose power cannot be shared. at that point, the restoration of the kingdom that was offered by regional autonomy to revive local culture was held hostage by the claimants’ predicaments. in turn, the interests regarding the kingdom revival are no longer the focus of attention. they further made it a contestation for the throne. this context puts the local government in a state of uncertainty in the midst of the issues of kubu. the nasab fiqh that gave birth to the perception of the royal throne as an heirloom or shared inheritance is assumed to be the reason for certain parties to defend its ownership right. the social, political, and economic advantages that come with the role of tuan besar in society explains such assumption. regional autonomy with an interest in the role of the kingdom in local culture has further projected the restoration of the kubu kingdom as an heirloom as it comes with the material rights. this right emerged through the king’s roles in cultural events supported by the local government as a manifestation of his autonomy. lineage, in this regard, has become an irreplaceable instrument because of its legitimacy value for the transfer of material rights, not only a matter of kingdom restoration. bibliography al-aydrus, s. h. z. 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(2017). “kerajaan mempawah pada masa opu daeng manambon tahun 1737-1761 di kabupaten pontianak, p. 18 dalam sosioedukasi, vol. 6 no. 1. enthoven, j.j.k. (1902). brijdragen tot de geographie van borneos wester afdeeling deel ii. leiden: d.j. brill. dewall, h. (1862) “matan, simpang, soekadana, de karimata-einlanden en koeboe: wester-adeeling van borneo” dalam tijdschrift voor indische taal, land, en volkenkunde uitgeoven door het bataviaasch [ 42 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 genootschap van kunsten en wetenschappen, deel xi, edt. j.a. van der chijs. batavia: lange & co. husin, s. y. (1977). kilas balik ex. bestuurscommissie kerajaan kubu: kisah dan pembahasan kembali mengenai sejarah hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan barat (1975) antara dua mantan anggota majelis kerajaan kubu. pontianak: unpublished document. kamaruzzaman. (2008). surat pernyataan pewaris kerajaan. pontianak: unpublished document. lontaan, j. o. (1975). sejarah hukum adat dan adat istiadat kalimantan barat. pontianak: pemda kalbar. mahrus, e. (2012). “the development of islam in the kubu kingdom (17681944)” dalam albab: borneo journal religious studies, p. 77-91, vol., 1, no. 1. natsir, m. (2013). paradje sebagai budaya dan ritual melayu sanggau. sanggau: dinas kebudayaan dan pariwisata kab. sanggau. nurcahyani, l. dkk. (2008). syarif hasan bin zein al idrus, pontianak: departemen kebudayaan dan pariwisata balai pelestarian sejarah dan nilai tradisional pontianak. pandil, s. dkk. (1985). upacara tradisional yang berkaitan dengan peristiwa alam dan kepercayaan daerah kalimantan barat. pontianak: depdikbud kalbar. prabandan, h. w. (2011). “pembangunan hukum berbasish kearifan lokal” p. 29-33 dalam majalah perencana bappenas, edisi 01/thn. xvii. rasyid, r. (2005). “otonomi daerah: latar belakang dan masa depannya” dalam desentralisasi dan otonomi daerah edt. syamsuddin haris. jakarta: lipi. risa. (2014). “islam di kerajaan sambas antara abad xv-xvii studi awal tentang islamisasi di sambas, hlm. 108-110 dalam khatulistiwa-journal of islamic studies, vol. 4 no. 2. soekanto, s. (2000). sosiologi: suatu pengantar. jakarta: raja grafindo persada. sya`rāwi, m. m. (1991). tafsīr sya`rāwī, mesir: dār akhbar al-yaum. [ 43 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 online mass media andilala. syarif rafik dinobatkan sebagai raja kubu, (2015, 11 januari) retrieved from https://www.antaranews.com/berita/473417/syarif-rafik-dinobatkan-sebagai-raja-kubu. iwan. syarif syahril alaydrus dinobatkan menjadi raja kubu dengan gelar tuan besar raja kubu, (2017, 27 agustus). accessed from https://www. kompasiana.com/jurnalwicaksana/59a279d2a25c5f6801308922/syarif-syahril-alaydrus-dinobatkan-menjadi-raja-kubu-dengan-gelar-tuan-besar-raja-kubu?page=all. izar. festival budaya paradje ke-11 resmi dibuka, ini pesan wagub provinsi kalimantan barat, (2019, 18 september). accessed from https:// diskominfo.sanggau.go.id/baca/18-09-2019/festival-budaya-paradje-ke-11-resmi-dibuka-ini-pesan-wagub-provinsi-kalimantan-barat khusyairi, m. bupati: paradje pasaka jadi program kunjungan wisata, (2015, 7 september). accessed from https://kalbar.antaranews.com/berita/335847/bupati-paradje-pasaka-jadi-program-kunjungan-wisata. madrosid. rusman ali: kerajaan kubu aset masyarakat kalbar, (2017, 20 agustus) accessed from https://pontianak.tribunnews.com/2017/08/20/ rusman-alikerajaan-kubu-aset-masyarakat-kalbar. hadiri dua penobatan dualisme raja kubu, ini pesan bupati rusman ali, (2017, 28 agustus) accessed from https://pontianak.tribunnews. com/2017/08/28/hadiri-dua-penobatan-dualisme-raja-kubu-ini-pesan-bupati-rusman-ali. mahardika, r. syekh ali jaber beri tausyiah, ini pesannya untuk warga landak, (2018, 22 september). accessed from https://www.suaralandak. co.id/2018/09/syeh-ali-jaber-beri-tausyiah-ini.html. oxtora, rendra. pemprov harapkan peran kerajaan, (2015, 26 april) accessed from https://kalbar.antaranews.com/berita/332755/pemprov-harapkan-peran-kerajaan-dalam-pengembangan-kebudayaan. sp. tuan besar dan raja kubu resmi dinobatkan, (2017, 29 agustus). accessed from https://www.suarapemredkalbar.com/read/advertorial/29082017/tuan-besar-dan-raja-kubu-resmi-dinobatkan. tim d. warga desa kubu peringati robo-robo, (2017, 15 november). accessed from https://delikkalbar.com/2017/11/15/warga-desa-kubu-peringati-robo-robo [ 44 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2182 wicaksono, p. adik tiri sultan hb x bilang nasib keraton yogyakarta tergantung nasab dan nasib, (2021, 24 januari). accessed from https:// nasional.tempo.co/read/1426074/adik-tiri-sultan-hb-x-bilang-nasib-keraton-yogyakarta-tergantung-nasab-dan-nasib. yonavilbia, e. kerajaan kubu bakal gelar penobatan tuan besar, (2017, 9 agustus). accessed from http://infopublik.id/kategori/nusantara/215830/kerajaan-kubu-bakal-gelar-penobatan-tuan-besar?show. viduka, a. (foto-foto) ribuan ummat khusyuk dengar ceramah syekh ali jaber di masjid raya mujahidin pontianak, (2016, 12 september). accessed from https://pontianak.tribunnews.com/2016/09/12/foto-foto-ribuan-umat-khusyuk-dengar-ceramah-syekh-ali-jaber-di-masjid-raya-mujahidin-pontianak [ 141 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 contesting the meanings of disaster: an anthropological study on yogyakarta people’s responses to the may 27, 2006 earthquake mohammad hasan basri arouna institute, jakarta abstract secara geografis, indonesia merupakan negara yang sangat berpotensi atau rawan terjadi bencana baik berupa bencana alam (natural disaster) maupun bencana akibat ulah kelalaian manusia (man-made disaster). namun sayang sekali, para akademisi dan para peneliti masih sedikit yang tertarik untuk lebih jauh mengkaji bencana utamanya dalam perpektif ilmu-ilmu sosial. sebagai salah satu upaya memulai kajian bencana di negeri ini, thesis ini diharapkan menjadi titik awal pengembangan ilmu-ilmu sosial dalam kajian bencana. paper ini menyimpulkan bahwa proses kontestasi pemaknaan masyarakat dalam merespon bencana gempa dipengaruhi oleh tiga aspek, yaitu agama (religious meaning), budaya jawa (javanese meaning), dan penjelasan sains (scientific meaning). walaupun ketiga aspek tersebut saling mempengaruhi satu sama lain, berdasarkan respon masyarakat wonokromo, aspek agama sangat mendominasi pikiran mereka. ada empat variasi pemaknaan yang didasarkan pada aspek agama, yakni bencana sebagai hukuman, cobaan, tes, dan surat cinta dari tuhan. respon ini secara implisit masih problematis terutama jika dikaitkan dengan masalah theodicy (problem of evil) di dalam teologi dan proses pemulihan bencana karena pandangan seperti ini cenderung memojokkan korban (blaming the victims). kata kunci: kajian bencana, gempa, agama, jawa, dan sains. introduction our present life and also of course, the future, is in a challenging time indeed. we are in the threat of natural disasters and man-made disasters. we can see the indication such as global warming, extreme climate change, and environmental crisis hitherto. according to dore,1 all kinds of disaster have extremely increased in the current decade. those disasters comprise 1 mohammed h.i. dore and david etkin, “natural disasters, adaptive capacity and development in the twenty-first century” in mark pelling, natural disasters and development in a globalizing world, p.77-79. yusniardi stamp yusniardi stamp [ 142 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 hydro-meteorological disasters like droughts, extreme events, floods, and windstorms; geophysical disasters including earthquakes, slides, volcanic eruptions and wave/surges; and other disasters including epidemics, famines, insect infestations, wildfires, etc. the recent disaster that has been fresh in the mind of indonesian people is the yogyakarta earthquake. it occurred on saturday morning at 5:54 a.m., 27th may 2006. the influences of the 5.9 quake on the richter scale were more than 6,000 people died, more than 50,000 people injured, and around 70,000 buildings were damaged. it was historically the worst earthquake that has ever shaken yogyakarta.2 the occurrence was so terrible, since it caused not only a great loss of life and buildings but also psychologically, it left trauma over the hearts of the victims. besides, on a cognitive level, the earthquake’s occurrence challenged people’s worldview with profound existential questions that produce various responses. interestingly, based on my observation as a volunteer in a recovery and relief project, i found various responses that emerged during and the aftermath of the earthquake. one of the common responses is bringing up the name of god or in other words, they responded with religious terms to get the meaning and explanation. regarding this tendency, hoffman and oliver-smith also affirmed that to search for meaning and explanation of the disaster, people in some extents, come to the fore in matters of religion. individuals and societies face numerous cosmological dilemmas and concrete problems that provoke distress and require solution. people search for meaning and explanation, bringing to the fore matters of religion and mortality. they launch observances and rituals. they devise ways to express grief and mourning.3 nevertheless, in the javanese societal context, i was convinced that religious meaning is not the only way people responded. when the earthquake happened there were other explanations such as myth, in which people attempted to relate it with the occurrence of the earthquake and scientific explanations published in newspapers or broadcasted on television. 2 before 2006, the earthquake have shook yogyakarta in 1867 (5 people died and 372 buildings destroyed), in 1943 (213 people died, 2.096 people injured, and 2.800 buildings damaged), and in 1981 (no people died only ambarukmo hotel’s wall cracked), see the special reportage on 27th may 2006 earthquake in tempo, june 11, 2006. 3 susanna m. hoffman and anthony oliver-smith, “anthropology and the angry earth: an overview” in anthony oliver-smith and susanna m. hoffman, the angry earth: disaster in anthropological perspective, p. 8. [ 143 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 according to fahmi amhar, when a disaster happens people tend to find explanation whether from myth, science, or faith (religion): at the last time, when a big storm attacked yogya, people made 17 colors of porridge as offerings to the spirit. this kind of ritual is of course not scientific, but as the matter of fact, it has been carried out for centuries. when scientific explanation cannot much help in understanding an occurrence of natural phenomena such as disaster, people usually return to the myth or mystical practices. not only in yogya, in the advance countries like japan and usa, myth still exists. this matter is actually related with the need of people to the spirituality as human being’s primordial substance.4 this point inspired me to inquire further the other aspect beyond religious meaning. i then decided to scrutinize the inquiry by doing field research in wonokromo village, ten kilometers to the south from yogyakarta city. conducting research in this village is interesting for several reasons. wonokromo is wellknown as a“santri village”, there are many pesantren there (11 pesantren) in which many students who have been studying in some universities in yogyakarta city live in the pesantren. in the village, i also attended the annual ritual “rebo bungkasan” to commemorate the first religious figure who initially had brought islam in the village. in addition, when the earthquake happened on may 27, 2006, wonokromo was one of the villages with serious damages and losses (91% totally destroyed). based on the aforementioned impression, i hypothesize religion, myth and science will be a basis of understanding in the way people respond to the occurrence of the earthquake. additionally, to study a disaster such as an earthquake is as natural laboratory to learn many aspects of society and culture, as susanna m. hoffman’s suggestion: it has been suggested that disasters function as the closest thing a student of society ever approaches to a natural laboratory. calamities take a people back to core, and in the rubble remaining, a researcher can behold the fundamental constructs that underpin the social world and, thread by thread, observe the web of the world and worldview as they are spun again. many aspects of a society and culture are unclothed in the aftermath of a disaster.5 4 fahmi amhar, “mitos, sians dan iman in the midst of disaster” in kedaulatan rakyat, june 12, 2006. 5 susanna m. hoffman is an independent researcher in anthropology. she wrote some books on disaster study on anthropological perspective. see further one of her writings, “after atlas shrugs: cultural change or persistence after a disaster” in anthony oliver-smith and susanna m. hoffman (eds), the angry earth: disaster in anthropological perspective, p. 310. [ 144 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 in sum, at a time of scarce of disaster study in this country, i expect this work will give a significant contribution academically and open the broader discussion of disaster studies particularly in terms of social and cultural sciences. the construction of meanings by recognizing the chronicle occurrence and the villagers’ responses to the earthquake, it is obvious that the occurrence of the earthquake was not a mere tragedy that is full of personal sufferings and losses, a disaster also affects social function of society. in this point, charles e. fritz explains the impacts of disaster in socio-cultural context: a disaster is an event that disturbs the vital functioning of society. it affects the system of biological survival (subsistence, shelter, health, reproduction), the system of order (division of labor, authority patterns, cultural norms, social roles), the system of meaning (values, shared definitions of reality, communication mechanisms), and the motivation of the actors within all of these systems.6 from fritz’s categorization on the affects of a disaster to social function above, one point that i want to emphasize in the next discussion is the effect on the system of meaning. this means that the earthquake occurrence on the 27th may 2006 will be the main focus in which i attempt to scrutinize how far the occurrence affected wonokromo villagers’ system of meaning. in doing so, meredith b. mcguire’s concept on meaning system construction is helpful. according to her, an individual’s meaning system is not constructed from nothing, since each individual has a set of meanings that is greatly influenced by family, friends, institutions (e.g. education), and the larger society. the main means of the meaning construction is socialization where an individual comes to accept, reject or modify meanings. in other words, an individual will choose which meaning among several competing meanings.7 hence, in the following discussion, i would like to look at the villagers’ responses by tracing their meaning system construction, what factors influence them and how those meanings are contested. there are three kinds of meanings constructed in which i can categorize from the villagers’ responses. the first category is religious meaning. to categorize responses into religious meaning, i primarily look at some terms and themes in which they employ 6 charles e. fritz affirmed that these two perspectives must be kept in mind in any balanced treatment of the social aspects of disaster. see, his writing “disasters” in david l. sills (ed) international ecyclopedia of social sciences, vol. 4, p.202. 7 meredith b. mcguire, religion: the social context, p.24-25 [ 145 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 religious reflection and articulation regarding the occurrence of the earthquake. the first thing that i categorize as religious meaning is the reflexive utterance referring to the transcendent/supernatural. they stood on their personal meaning system in believing that whatever and whenever happen in this world is god’s will. karen armstrong said that during a period of extremity, people indeed need an infusion of divine energy.8 thus, that’s why the first expression then is returning to god. in this condition, an individual is questioning the existential matter as being in a very crucial state. according to meredith b. mcguire, the extra ordinary event such as earthquake is a time of meaning-threatening9, which touches an individual’s existing personal meaning system. one will try to reflect the event with the very fundamental and existential question; what kind of understanding and perspective that could affirm or contradict with the existing meaning system. as regards this point, anthony oliver-smith pointed out that the extreme conditions created by disaster occurrence frequently challenge people’s worldviews with profound existential question for which meanings consistent with circumstances must be elaborated.10 since the existing personal meaning in the minds of the villagers is shaped by religious understanding, they tended to respond to the extreme events religiously. it can be seen in the ways in which the villagers correlated the earthquake with the transcendent power since they have no explanation except from a religious perspective i.e. returning to the omnipotent being as the creator of the earth. at this point, by infusing the divine energy in the meaning system, an individual will escape from, in terms of logotherapy, the existential vacuum 11. one attempts to search within him/herself for a meaning that compromises or adjusts with the existing meaning system. in the case of nurhidayati12, she felt that there was a spirit or divine energy that tried to inform something. in the psychology of religion, this kind of feeling 8 karen armstrong, a short history of myth, p.70. 9 mcguire, religion: the social context, op. cit. p.26. 10 anthony oliver-smith, ”theorizing disasters: nature, power, and culture” in catastrophe & culture: the anthropology of disaster, p. 38. 11 existential vacuum is a stance when one has no meaning or in the state of meaningless. this concept was introduced by viktor e. frankl in his well-known theory “logotherapy”. see further his concepts in man’s search for meaning. in indonesia, this concept has been developed by hanna djumhanna bastaman, see his initial analysis on logotherapy, dimensi “spiritual” dalam teori psikologi kontemporer: logoterapi viktor e. frankl, in ulumul qur’an no.4,vol.v,1994, 12 nurhidayati is 42 years old teacher; she has been teaching physic in junior high school. besides, she is also a local religious leader of islamic organization (muhammadiyah) in the district stage. the interview was held on april, 18 and 23, 2007. [ 146 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 is taken as experiential dimensions that belong to an individual to indicate the presence or absence of a divine spirit.13 when they got an adjustment, they would feel the presence of god that made them more released from their meaningless state. they would be more accepting to whatever they are. while in the case of imaduddin14, the pattern of his adjustment is related to his position in the community, as a religious figure who leads the prayer in funeral processions. when he got a feeling to memorize the words of prayer, he also felt the presence of divine energy that was adjusted with its function to later use what he has memorized. so, he got functional legitimization from his memorization not only as an individual to release his existential vacuum but also as religious leader. i come to the second thing that i categorize as religious meaning. the categorization i made by looking at the religious terms in which the villagers named or gave meaning to the earthquake. there are four categories expressed by the villagers. the first category is that the earthquake was a punishment from god. like indicated in the case of imaduddin, this term is used by the villagers to recognize that the miscreants and the sinners were the cause of the earthquake. the second category is a warning. god warns human beings through the occurrence of the earthquake, to remind and repent to god’s teachings. based on the villagers’ responses, a warning from god is the most common and frequent religious response recognized by them. for instance, katib’s15 expression, the warning was addressed to muslims, since for him god wants to warn his believers strengthen their faith. while in the mind of daman16, god warned the corruptors to change their wrong deeds and 13 see further, raymond f. paloutzian, invitation to the psychology of religion, p.1718. 14 imaduduin is a 63-years kiai (religious title for islamic leader) who is teaching and guiding around 50 children to learn the qur’an. he continued his father’s dedication to develop pesantren al-baiquniyyah, it is located in the western part of wonokromo village. the interview was conducted on march, 12 and 14, 2006. 15 katib is also a kiai who leads pesantren fadlumminallah. he is 48 years old. there are around 100s students who study there. when i met him, he was repairing his motorbike in front of his unfinished house; the household goods and equipment look a mess. i was asked to come into the guest room, eventhough the room has been renovated, also the situation became so familiar since he welcomed me with warm acceptance by serving a cup of tea and crackers. the interview conducted on march 12 and july 8, 2007. 16 daman is an old farmer; 71 years old. when i met him, he was just getting rest after cutting grass for his goats on the bund of his rice field. on may 2, 2007, i was interviewing him while he was enjoying his cigarette by rolling little tobacco and a piece of paper. and on july 8, 2007, i met him again in his house. on this second meeting, he also showed and told me that javanese people used to natural sign such the above story and they also usually read primbon (javanese prediction book) to see the meanings behind a certain occurrence, in that book stated what would happen in the society when the earthquake occurred. hence, he argued that today, javanese people seldom to use it again, probably only the old people [ 147 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 to remember the omnipotent. and in nurhidayati’s reflection, the warning from god was more personal in the sense of strengthening worship with god. the third category is a test, whether human beings can pass the examination given by god or not. in husnan’s17 understanding, if human beings are able to accept the test, s/he will get guidance from god. those categories are religious terms in which, historically, have been disputed over generations for centuries to reconcile god’s mercies on one hand, but on the other hand there are many sufferings and evils in this world or this matter is called theodicy. one of the explanations that can be given for these four expressionsand that may explain the dominance of religious meaning is theological. it has been a subject of controversy since the early period of islam. and one strain of it was carried down through generations, reaching the majority of muslim consciousness today. the second category is javanese meaning. the term “javanese meaning” here refers to the local recognition and beliefs regarding the occurrence of the earthquake. it refers to the narratives that emerged during the earthquake i.e. javanese mythology that has been orally generated in the mind of javanese people, for instance, like the three versions of the mythology of nyai roro kidul and the mythology of kyai antoboga as described in the previous chapter. thus, the javanese meaning here is only simplified in the mythology raised when the earthquake occurred. in this part, it is important to discuss what relationship and function of those mythologies in the minds of javanese people. to see and to analyze the javanese mythology and the earthquake in yogyakrata, heddy shri ahimsaputra’s view is helpful to see the relational pattern of the elements within the mythology.18 one of the relational patterns to understand the javanese mythology is prophetic relation. according to ahimsa-putra, prophecy is the significant element in the life of javanese people. a certain prophecy becomes a means of legitimization by the authority or an explanation on the occurrence in a certain time. yet, a prophecy is also multi-interpretable. thus, it will be tried to be matched and justified with a certain occurrence. in javanese life, there 17 husnan is a 76 years-old islamic leader; he manages islamic kindergarten school and islamic elementary school. on march 14, 2007, when i was interviewing him, he was looking after his granddaughter in the veranda of his simple house since the house has been renovated. 18 by analyzing the mythology in the text of babad tanah jawi and the process of syncretism in javanese culture, heddy shri ahimsa-putra categorized some relational patterns in analyzing javanese mythology i.e. genealogical, analogical, empiric, prophecic, and cooperative relations. see further, strukturalisme lévi-strauss: mitos dan karya sastra, p.349-386. [ 148 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 is a well-known term “othak athik”, “gathuk”, and “nggathuk-nggathukke”. the terms mean assuming things that seemingly have no relationship to one another, as if they are really interrelated and understandable.19 this prophetic relation can be seen in the three versions of the myth narrated by the villagers. in the first and the second version, the relational pattern can be explained that javanese people try to relate and justify the occurrence of the earthquake with two powers in javanese mythology i.e. nyai roro kidul as the queen of southern ocean and eyang sapujagat as the king of mount merapi. in the first version, the occurrence of the earthquake was related to the jealousy and the anger of nyai roro kidul since the people of yogyakarta paid more attention to mount merapi (people were aware of the activity of the mount) rather than the southern ocean. while in the second version, the relational pattern is seemingly more reciprocal in the sense that nyai roro kidul welcomed and agreed to marry her daughter off eyang sapujagat. in the last version, the relational pattern is linked with the process of the river opak formation and the sound coming from beneath the river. by recognizing the mythology it can be fathomed that in the past, the people used to believe the occurrence of the earthquake was influenced by the eruption of mount merapi (volcanic earthquake). this prophetic relation can also be traced in ancient texts as explained by daman when he told about the gold chart before the earthquake happened that javanese people used to understand a certain occurrence by connecting it with natural phenomena as stated in the primbon. the third category is scientific meaning. by scientific meaning, i mean it as natural explanation to natural events. the villagers’ responses showed that they have a little scientific understanding of the earthquake that happened on 27th may 2006. however, i think they actually have such understanding, but ultimately it was subsumed under their religious understanding. in the case of katib, he was convinced that scientific inquiry was more sensible rather than the myth that nyai roro kidul was angry. he perceived that the occurrence of the earthquake was part of the cause-effect law (sunnatullah). yet, he stated that the cause of the earthquake was the people were careless of god’s commandment. they knew the explanation of the earthquake from scientists through newspaper and electronic media such as television and radio. we can also see in the case of yunus20 nurhidayati, to understand a natural phenomenon such as an earthquake, yunus needed more acceptable and more rational evidence i.e. by scientific explanation. while nurhidayati, 19 ibid, p.373. 20 yunus is a youth (25 years old) who involved in sub-district (kecamatan) development program (ppk), i interviewed him twice; on 16th may 2007 and on 5th july 2007. [ 149 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 as a teacher, he wanted to broaden her knowledge about natural changes. however, at the same time, yunus stands on his religious belief of god’s predestination, while nurhidayati perceived that to broaden her knowledge is to realize a sign of god’s omnipotence behind the natural phenomena. the next discussion that i want to emphasize is to relate the condition of people having little knowledge or understanding on the earthquake (natural explanation) with the concept of vulnerability. in terms of disaster studies, people’s vulnerability is an urgent and interesting discussion, since to talk about the concept of vulnerability is not simply understanding societies in the risk condition, yet it is a also about their perception and knowledge.21 there are two ways to understand the vulnerability of people to an earthquake in a particular area; ex ante (potential) and ex post (what happens after the initial shock and the process of recovery).22 thus, in this way, i attempt to see the villagers’ experience in the early moments when the earth shook yogyakarta, when the issue of a tsunami spread out, how the people dealt with the disaster, and how the process of recovery ran as a means to look at how vulnerable the people were at that time. first, to exemplify the ways of vulnerability (ex ante and ex post), we can see the case of daman and nurhidayati. when the rumor of a tsunami spread out, daman climbed a coconut tree and nurhidayati brought his family to the hill. how panic and chaotic the situation was at that morning, there were a large number of people that strived to save their life by going to the northern area as the higher region in yogyakarta or by reaching to the higher place. on the other hand, there were a number of people who were convinced at that time that it was impossible for a tsunami to reach yogyakarta. so, they persuaded the people to stay and go nowhere, like what was done by akhid23 (he knew and he was very sure that the tsunami would not happen) and imaduddin in convincing the people and get rid the chaotic situation. from this example, the way of vulnerability emerged related with the potential (ex ante) of the people to face and deal with the earthquake and the rumor of a tsunami. when the people lacked understanding and knowledge, they tended to be vulnerable in the sense that they had no knowledge about what 21 vulnerability is a broad concept that needs multidisciplinary approaches. thus, what i discuss here is only related with vulnerable people regarding to their understanding, perception, and knowledge on earthquake. to know the conceptualization of vulnerability in the more comprehensive and more holistic way, see greg bankoff, georg frerks, and dorothea hilhorst (eds), mapping vulnerability. 22 see, ben wisner, piers blaikie, terry cannon, and ian davis (eds), at risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, p.276. 23 akhid is a teacher in islamic senior high school. he is 44 years old. he teaches geography on the third year class. the interview was carried out on april 17, 2007. [ 150 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 they should do in the chaotic situation. moreover, in this point, the situation was worsened by the disability of the authority (such as governmental agency and public media) to give sufficient procedure of mitigation and of recovery (ex post). inversely, although only a few number of individuals who had knowledge and cognitive consciousness in overcoming the chaotic situation, the vulnerability could fade away a little bit. thus, the vulnerability depends on the access of resources and the capability of applying knowledge.24 the more people can access and apply their knowledge, the more people’s vulnerability can be reduced. the contestation of meanings after exploring and categorizing the meanings recognized by the villagers, it is time to discuss the contestation of those meanings in the cognitive level of the villagers. to show the pattern of contestation among those above three meanings, the scheme below is probably sufficient. through the scheme above, it can be described that there are three streams of meanings that influence and shape the process of meaning construction in the minds of the villagers. every meaning necessarily affects each other in a cognitive way. thus, in the case of the 27th may 2006 earthquake, the process of meaning construction in the personal meaning system belonging to every villager will be respectively diverse from one to another. i see the intertwined relationship among them; one stream seems to defeat another stream, and so forth. it depends on how far those three streams (religion, javanese belief, and science) cognitively affect him/her to respond to the occurrence. wonokromo villagers’ responses religious meaning javanese meaning scientific meaning 24 ibid, p.277. [ 151 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 nevertheless, from the scheme, the villagers’ meaning construction can be simply described as religious meaning being the strongest influence in the way they perceive the occurrence of the earthquake. while javanese meaning and scientific meaning, although both of them also affect the villagers’ mind, they are under the influence of religious meaning. to clarify the religious meaning domination within the process of the contestation, i attempt to analyze the contestation between religious meaning with javanese meaning and between religious meaning and scientific meaning. religious meaning vs javanese meaning syirk, is the very idea of thought considered by muslims in some extents in understanding javanese notions. they think that believing in a certain notion especially in spirits will deprave the faith. in the earthquake matter, this perception was also raised and contested in the mind of the villagers. we can see it in the case of mujtamar that he was very worried of committing syirk if he believed in the existence of nyai roro kidul or in nurhidayati’s recognition that she was very committed to obliterate what she called “syirk”, like believing in spirit or rituals. i think, the root of the contestation originates in the idea of purification of islamic perspective that influences muslims’ perception to fathom the javanese notion. people hitherto tend to perceive some javanese notions like the mythology of triangle power as discussed in the previous chapter as a kind of superstition rather than symbolic relation (as analyzed by heddy ahimsaputra) that used to be recognized by javanese people and integrated in their daily life.25 historically, islam came and was accepted easily by javanese people because of the openness and flexibility of javanese culture on one hand, and because of creative and peaceful propagation as initiated by wali songo as the islamic missionaries who first brought islamic teaching to java. hence, both traditions then are amazingly assimilated, acculturated, and syncretic.26 i appreciate ahimsa-putra conceptualization that the process of acculturation between javanese culture and islamic culture is through symbolic relation; genealogic relation, analogical relation, historic relation, prophetic relation, 25 y. argo twikromo, mitologi kanjeng ratu kidul (the mythology of the queen of southern ocean), p.13. 26 to know the early islam in java, see mark. r. woodward, islam in java: normative piety and mysticism, p. 83-118, while about the process of acculturation and syncretization between javanese culture and islam, see heddy shri ahimsa-putra, strukturalisme lévistrauss: mitos dan karya sastra, p.349-386. [ 152 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 and cooperative relation. however, he indicated that those patterns tend to decrease although do not completely vanish. thus, he suggested to continually reinterpreting those symbolic relations in order to be more accepted in the mind of javanese people. he offered what he named as logic-transformational relation.27 unfortunately, he did not mention the example of the relation. in this point, i attempt to offer that kind of relation, i.e. what i call cosmological relation. it means that we can take and contextualize one of the important notions in javanese culture i.e. the cosmological concept, to see the nature as an inseparable and integrated entity of human beings and to always sustain the balance of jagad cilik (micro cosmos) and jagad gede (macro cosmos). this is probably one way to reinterpret the javanese notion in order to be more acceptable and more rational in the minds of people hitherto. on the other hand, in the current decade of indonesia, there is an indication of purification and arabization in the sense that islam in indonesia is perceived as less islamic or not authentic rather than what is perceived as original islam.28 this movement is explicitly obvious in the way islamic leaders encourage people to be aware of some javanese notions and rituals in which they assume as superstition and un-islamic, and implicitly evident that in some extents, the people perceive javanese culture as syirk. we can see this tendency in the case of nurhidayati in that she commits to purify her communities’ faith from what she calls a kind of syirk such as believing in the myth of nyai roro kidul, attending some javanese ritual, etc. we can also see this in the case of rebo bungkasan ritual in which the decreased number of visitors is related to the people’s perception that the ritual is also a form of syirk. this pattern of contestation indicates that javanese notions and islamic notions are in a strained relation. the process of acculturation between those two cultures that has been amalgamated for centuries, today they have come under tension. 27 ahimsa-putra, p. 383. 28 the purification movement was intensified since islamic leaders adopted and claimed arabic islam as the purest islamic notions. this movement met its momentum when iran revolution proclaimed as the initial awakening of islamic state. it then has been affecting the plurality of acculturation between islam and local culture such as going on in indonesia. to see the discussion of local islam in indonesia and the notion of purification and arabism, see abdul mun’im dz, “mempertahankan keragaman budaya” (to sustain plurality of culture) in tashwirul afkar. no.14, 2003. [ 153 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 religious meaning vs scientific meaning to see the contestation between religious meaning and scientific meaning, let me exemplify what katib stated: so, the earthquake is part of the law of cause-effect and the cause-effect law is reasonable law. it means that there is nothing in this world that cannot be searched, however, god also creates something beyond logic for example the creation of the christ. it is the way god reminds and warns human being in order to not deify intellect. the earthquake is a warning, in which the ability of intellectuality is limited, that’s why it cannot be predicted yet until today. yet, for me, the first thing that we must stand is our faith, what scientific achievement will always support religious notion and strengthen the faith. not inversely; not believing in religious notion after sciences strengthening what religion teachings have explained. he was implicitly worried that science will replace the role of religion in the sense that science should not be placed in the first stage; religion is the first one to be recognized as a viewpoint. however, he assumes that science will be always in line with religion, and he also expects that what science will reach could support religious teachings. we can see in the case of nurhidayati and akhid, from religious teachings they conceive that a certain occurrence like earthquake happen because of god’s will. everything is under the predestination of the omnipotent, yet they need more explanation why it happens. in the terms of yunus, we should not end in takdir (predestination). we need to understand and explain a takdir by scientific achievement. from this ambiguity in fathoming religious teaching and scientific inquiry, it can be simplified that the villagers actually need more rational explanation to understand natural phenomena such as an earthquake. however, they are worried if they believe scientific explanation they will lose their religious perspective. they are in a dilemma; “which one comes first; explanation based on revelation or reason, revelation or reason that should be taken first to respond and to understand something surrounding human being”. closing disaster study is a very broad area of study, yet in indonesia, it is very scarce in which students and researchers who are interested in the topic especially from a social and cultural point of view. this paper is just a starting point in disaster studies that i attempt to contribute to academically. it is, of course, full [ 154 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 of critical and debatable spaces that can be discussed further in a broader and in more comprehensive way. as aforementioned discussion, the focus of this study is to scrutinize yogyakarta people’s responses to the earthquake that happened on may 27, 2006. in doing so, i trace the way they construct their responses. there are three roots behind the minds of the villagers in responding to the earthquake; religious notions, javanese beliefs, and natural explanation. those three streams contest each other. nevertheless, the result of the research is that the villagers’ responses are dominated by religious notions (religious meaning) rather than javanese beliefs (javanese meaning) and natural explanation (scientific meaning). however, although religious meaning is dominant, it is not a single response. there are variations behind the religious response i.e. earthquake as a punishment from god, a warning from god, and a test from god. these responses are still problematic both in the light of theodicy and in the light of the recovery process that tend to blame the victims. finally, to sum up the discussion, i would like to propose that some propositions in this paper will be a means to shift our paradigm in order to conceptualize a more holistic and more acceptable worldview in our era of disaster prone country and environmental crisis. indeed, it needs further discussion through more comprehensive study and more fruitful dialogue among scientists, social scientists, theologians, and local leaders. bibliography abdullah, irwan, 2006, dialektika nature, kultur dan struktur: analisis konteks, proses, dan ranah dalam konstruksi bencana, yogyakarta:ugm. afnan, soheil m., 1958, avicenna: his life and works, london: george allen & unwin ltd. ahimsa-putra, heddy shri, 1997, “sungai dan air ciliwung: sebuah kajian etnoekologi” in prisma 1, januari 1997. amhar, fahmi, 2006, “mitos, sains dan iman di tengah bencana” in kedaulatan rakyat, june 12, 2006. anderskov, christina, 2004, anthropology and disaster, www.anhtrobase. com armstrong, karen, 2005, a short history of myth, new york: canongate. bankoff, greg, georg frerks, and dorothea hilhorst (eds), 2004, mapping vulnerability, london: earthscan. benz, arnold, 2003, “tragedy versus hope: what future in an open universe?” in willem b. drees, is nature ever evil? religion, science and [ 155 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 value. new york: routledge. blaikie, p., t. cannon, i. davis and b. wisner. 1994. at risk: natural hazards, people´s vulnerability, and disaster. london. routledge. cahanar, p., 2005, bencana gempa dan tsunami, jakarta: penerbit buku kompas chester, david k., 2005, theology and disaster studies: the need for dialogue, journal of volcanology and geothermal research 146 (2005) 319-328. drees, willem b, 2003, “this vale of tears – the best of all possible worlds?” in willem b. drees (ed.), is nature ever evil? religion, science and value. new york: routledge. fritz, charles e., 1989, “disasters” in david l. sills (ed) international ecyclopedia of social sciences, vol. 4. garcía-acosta, virginia, 2002, “historical disaster researh” in susanna m. hoffman and anthony oliver-smith (eds), catastrophe & culture: anthropology of disaster, santa fe: school of american research press. hefner, philip, 2003, “nature good and evil: a theological palette”, in willem b. drees, is nature ever evil? religion, science and value. new york: routledge. hoffman, susanna m. and anthony oliver-smith, 1999, the angry earth: disaster in anthropological perspective, new york: routledge. homan, jacqueline, 2001, a culturally sensitive approach to risk? “natural” hazard perception in egypt and the uk, australian journal of emergency management, winter-2001. inati, shams c, 2000, the problem of evil: ibn sînâ’s theodicy, new york: global publications. koentjaraningrat, 1994, kebudayaan jawa, jakarta: balai pustaka. martin, richard c., and mark r. woodward with dwi s. atmaja,1997, defenders of reason in islam: mu’tazilism from medieval school to modern symbol, oxford: one world. mcguire, meredith b., 1981, religion: the social context, california: wadsworth publishing company. munjid, ahmad, “memperebutkan makna bencana” in koran tempo, april 13, 2007. ngelow, zakaria j.(ed.), 2006, teologi bencana, makassar: oase intim novriantoni, 2005, tuhan pasca-tsunami, kompas (opini), january 14, 2005 oliver-smith, anthony, 1996, “anthropological research on research and “disasters” in annual review of anthropology.1996.25: 303-28 oliver-smith, anthony, 1996, “disaster studies” in david levinson and melvin ember (eds), encyclopedia of cultural anthropology, new york: henry holt and company. [ 156 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ormsby, eric l., 1984, theodicy in islamic thought: the dispute over al-ghazali’s “best of all possible worlds”, new jersey: princeton university press. pelling, mark, 2003, “paradigms of risk” in natural disasters and development in a globalizing world, new york: routledge. radford, luis, 2006, “the anthropology of meaning” in springer 2006. schlehe, judith, 2007 “cultural politics of natural disasters: discourses on volcanic eruptions in indonesia” in michael j. casimir and ute stahl (eds.) culture and the changing environment: uncertainty, cognition, and risk management in cross-cultural perpsective, new york: berghahn. spradley, j.p., 1975, “adaptive strategies of urban nomads: the ethnoscience of tramp culture” in j. friedl and n.j. chairman (eds), city ways: a selective reader in urban anthropology, new york: thomas y. cromwell. winardi, a., at al, 2006, gempa jogja, indonesia, and dunia, jakarta: gramedia. wisner, ben, piers blaikie, terry cannon, and ian davis (eds), 1994, at risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, new york: routledge. woodward, mark. r.,2001, islam in java: normative piety and mysticism (transl.), yogyakarta: lkis. zoetmulder, p.j., 1983, kalangwan: a survey of old javanese literature, jakarta: djambatan. editor-in-chief zaenuddin hudi prasojo, (scopus id: 36731458100; wos researcherid: aae-4432-2020) iain pontianak, indonesia editorial board • amporn marddent, (scopus id: 56053673400; h-index: 2) walailak university thailand, thailand • ahmad sunawari long, (scopus id: 55694934400, h-index: 6) universiti kebangsaan malaysia (ukm), malaysia • afifi al-akiti, (scopus id: 57215344071) faculty of theology and religion, oxford university, united kingdom • yasien mohamed, (scopus id: 51565191100; h-index: 2) university of the western cape, south africa, south africa • irwan abdullah, (scopus id: 57204549651; wos researcherid: aaf-1276-2020) gajah mada university, yogyakarta, indonesia • zainal abidin bagir, (scopus id: 55228684200; h-index: 3) universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta, indonesia • kamaludeen bin mohamed nasir, (scopus id: 23489919500; h-index: 7) nanyang technological university, singapore • muhammed sahrin, (scopus id: 57216433056) universiti islam sultan sharif ali, brunei darussalam • hans-christian günther, department of classics albert ludwigs university of freiburg, germany, germany • giuseppina strummiello, university of bari aldo moro, italy • mujiburrahman mujiburrahman, (scopus id: 57203539725; h-index: 2) iain antasari banjarmasin, indonesia international editors • tomas lindgren, (scopus id: 53564098900; h-index: 1) umeå university, sweden • florian pohl, (scopus id: 14523132900; h-index: 1) oxford college of emory university, united states, germany • minako sakai, (scopus id: 55566307000, h-index: 5) director of social sciencesresearch group, australia • mohd roslan mohd nor, (scopus id: 54793295000; h-index: 7) university of malaya, malaysia managing editor imron muttaqin, (scopus id: 57363251600; institut agama islam negeri (iain) pontianak, west borneo, indonesia, indonesia) editors • busro busro, (scopus author id: 57205022652) uin sunan gunung djati bandung, indonesia • syamsul kurniawan, (scopus id: 57209681679) iain pontianak, indonesia • faizal amin, iain pontianak, indonesia assistant editors • segu atio, iain pontianak, indonesia • setia purwadi, iain pontianak, indonesia language advisor jennifer h lundt, colgate university scholar, new york, united states al-albab volume 11 number 1 june 2022 al-albab issn 0216-6143 (print) and issn: 2502-8340 (online) is an interdisciplinary journal published twice a year in print and online (e-journal) by the pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak. our academic publication concern includes the studies of world religions of islam, buddhism, christianity, hinduism, judaism, chinese religions and other religions. interdisciplinary studies may include the studies of religion in the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, cultural studies and other social sciences. since the journal is published twice a year, special issue would be made available for special condition. the regular issues include june and december editions each year. the journal publishes research-based articles in the area of religious studies. all prospective contributors from various background are welcome to contribute to the journal publication. contributions in english should be typed single-space and contain minimum of 4.000 and maximum of 8.000 words. the citation should follow apa style with footnotes. editorial office: al-albab, gedung saifuddin zuhri pascasarjana iain pontianak, jalan letjend suprapto no. 19, pontianak selatan pontianak 78122, kalimantan barat, indonesia. phone: (62-561) 734170 fax: (62-561) 734170 ; handphone/wa: +6281256738348 e-mail: redaksi.bjrs@gmail.com website: http://jurnaliainpontianak.or.id/index.php/alalbab al albab volume 10 number 1 (june 2022) contents 1. religion and public policy: digital-based islamic political economy and human security on covid-19 handling sri haryaningsih, elyta ........................................................................................ 3 2. the royal throne of tuan besar in the restoration of kubu kingdom: a nasab fiqh perspective abu bakar ............................................................................................................... 27 3. the tuan guru tradition of nahdlatul wathan in pesantren supratman muslim, suprapto, jamaluddin .................................................... 45 4. religion and diplomacy: the dynamics of indonesian-afghanistan relations during president joko widodo government fatimatuzzahro, gonda yumitro ...................................................................... 63 5. likang telu: cultural basis for muslim-catholic relations in manggarai hironimus bandur, adison adrianus sihombing ........................................ 81 6. syncretism on catholic symbols in the invulnerability rituals in west borneo arius arifman halawa, lukas ahen, cenderato .......................................... 103 7. religion, lifestyle, and identity affirmation within middle class malay muslims in pontianak of west borneo nur hamzah, sangkot sirait, zulkipli lessy .................................................. 121 8. reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun, eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu ............................ 139 [ 139 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 reorienting ecological paradigm for harmonization of humans and nature: a christian perspective johanna silvana talupun institut agama kristen negeri ambon email: talupunj@yahoo.com eklepinus jefry sopacuaperu universitas kristen indonesia maluku, ambon email: ekleteologi@yahoo.com abstract the ecological crisis that is very alarming at the moment is caused by, among others, the “poor” ethics in the relationship between humans and the universe. humans tend to see themselves as high and mighty, also the most decisive (superior). conversely, nature is perceived as less important, of lower class, not human (inferior). inequality in the relationship between humans and nature has further wosened the “ethical poverty” and the relationship is increasingly immoral. thus, ethical poverty forms paradigm disorientation, dysfunction of action and disintegration of relations. therefore, this article aims to reorient the paradigm, and to encourage the creation of harmonious relations based on a paradigm shift in favor of life. everything begins with a search for social ethics that observes the events of the ecological crisis, investigates in-depth and hears various calls for a paradigm shift, identifies ethical-ecological principles and seeks a hermeneutical-biblical ethics as a religious interpretation that goes beyond the anthropocentrism of interpreting the holy scriptures. the method used in this research is a literature study. data related to the issue of the ecological crisis was collected and then an in-depth analysis was carried out and finally conclusions were made. the issue of ecological crisis used as a reference in this research is the case of mining on romang island. this case is analyzed with a social ethics and a religious ethics approaches. the results of the analysis serve as a reference for transformative actions. keywords: reorienting ecological paradigm, harmonization of humans and nature, maluku introduction indonesia is known as a country of extraordinary mega-biodiversity because it is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world, and its geographical structure has a very high endemism or the uniqueness [ 140 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 of ecology and organisms. all of this can become the basic capital of sustainable development. however, bear in mind that there has been serious environmental damage and alarming ecological degradation that threatens the sustainability of indonesia in the future (bagir, 2006). data from the global footprint network (2022) show that indonesia is listed as one of countries that faces an ecological-biocapacity deficit by 38%. meanwhile, the global forest watch (2022) reported that in 2001 indonesia had 93.8 mha of primary forest covering 50% of its land area. however, in 2021 there was a loss of 203 kha or equivalent to 157 tons of co2 emissions. the figures that show an increase in the environmental damage mean that there is a wave of ecological crisis that is hitting indonesia both at the national and regional levels, in the provinces, districts and cities to the rural areas. this includes the province of maluku which is an island province that has also been hit by ecological crises with regard to mining issues on romang island with various implications for environmental damage. the issues of mining on romang island is a portrait of reality that tells a miserable story of the ecological crisis in maluku that should be seen not only as a socio-economic issues but also a question of the ethical dimensions that arise and ethical attitudes towards the ecological crisis that occurs. the social ethical perspective used to view the environmental crisis will focus on 2 approaches, namely the theoretical approach (social, philosophical, ethical theories), and the morality approach (law, ethical principles, values, norms). a social-ethical perspective on the ecological crisis is needed because environmental ethics in religious (christian) theology has long been neglected, since biblical eschatology has become a misinterpreted focus, at least at the popular level. the hope of the coming of the last day (escaton) which is the orientation of religious life, often leads to a notion that the “current world” will be destroyed and a “new world” will come. therefore, maintaining the “current world” is considered unnecessary, even futile. the future salvation will not involve the environment, as it will end the current world with all the ecological diversity in it (mandaru, 2011). therefore, the ethical response to the ecological crisis is very important not only as a manifestation of the moral-ethical responsibility of religions (körtner, 2016), but also the religious public’s role (sunarko, 2019), and it serves to empower religion (sudiarja, 2006). the complexity of the ecological crisis must be approached collectively by involving multiple perspectives (meylahn, 2015), including religion (theology) and philosophy (ethics) (qodir & singh (2021). buitendag (2018) wrote that “many perspectives, including those derived from religion and philosophy, are needed in the important task of rethinking human-earth relations (ecological-harmonious relations)”. the development of social ethics [ 141 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 in the ecological crisis is part of religious efforts to direct people to regular moral actions, and seek equality and avoid violence and brutality against the environment (servatius lon, 2020). the current ecological crisis when viewed from an ethical point of view, is caused by the lack of ethical content in human relationship with nature. the lack of ethical content is because humans only value nature as a means to be exploited so that nature or the environment has no intrinsic values (borrong, 1999). the “poor” ethical content in the relationship between humans and nature is viewed by johan detavernier as having implications for the emergence of a “conflict of interest” between humans and nature, and therefore detavernier sees an ecological or environmental crisis as follows: “environmental crisis refers to mutual conflict between groups of people and nature as a consequence of human action such as can be considered undesired by people and undesirable for nature and animals”(detavernier, 1 994). the emphasis on the consequences of human action or behavior (as a consequence of human action) in the definition expressed is in line with the thesis put forward by a. sonny keraf who believes that environmental problems are moral issues, or the issues human action. he argued that today’s environmental issues inevitably stem from irresponsible human action that does not care about nature, and is only selfish (keraf, 2010). the two main pillars that contribute to the current ecological crisis are; first, the development paradigm that prioritizes economic growth, so that nature is only viewed as an economic value and not an ecological one. second, exploitativedestructive behavior which is closely related to disproportionate consumption patterns (borrong, 1999). therefore, it is appropriate to say that ecological destruction is the negative facts of the globalization process that manifests in disproportionate consumption patterns. (aria dewanta, 2003). from here, the issue of consumption ethics also arises; especially regarding how to organize a proportional and non-consumptive pattern (niemandt, 2015). thus the current ecological crisis is merely the tip of iceberg of modernity in the fields of ethics, social, culture and spirituality (callaway & crisp, 2022). solving the ecological crisis is not only limited to efforts to reduce co2 emissions or reforestation of land that has already been burned, but it is broader than that, as the solution must address the relationship between humans and nature. the restoration of human relationship with nature must not only stop at the stage of restoring social relationship but also moral-ethical relationship. because the real ecological crisis is not only a reality of the social conflict between [ 142 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 humans and nature in social space but also a moral conflict, a moral-ethical issue. (bayu risanto, 2016). in addition, anthropocentrism-triumphalism also legitimizes destructive behavior towards nature which is viewed as a non-human. dzwonkowska (2018) suggests at least two types of anthropocentrism that perpetuate acts of destroying nature. first, ontological-anthropocentrism which assumes humans as the center and the owner of a special position on earth. humans are superior to biotic and abiotic creatures. second, ethical anthropocentrism that limits intrinsic values only to humans, that nature has no intrinsic values, because nature is valuable insofar as it is used by humans. thus, the ecological crisis has become a socio-religious-ethical issue that must be addressed wisely by involving the content of social ethics. social ethics shows a very strong correlation between context and ethics (ethics) (elsbernd, 2005), so that building social ethics is inseparable from the context of ethical-moral issues and how to communicate them with ethical dimensions or ethical aspects that are elaboratively dialogic (folarin, 2011). in other words, it can be stated that there is no social ethics that does not start from a certain context, and there is no social ethics that does not consider that particular context. it means that building a social ethical response is in fact building a contextual theology. in the context of indonesia, the task of social ethics is to tell between good and evil, right and wrong, with three main motivations that characterize it, namely; first, to understand what is good and what is bad in this country. second, so that bad and evil conditions will change for the better. third, so that we change and become good people in the harsh reality of today or any future reality (adeney risakotta, 2003). ethical (social) contribution to environmental issues as ethical-moral issues (körtner, 2016)(rossing & buitendag, 2020) includes; (1) providing relevant ethical views and beliefs; (2) instilling basic and general ethical principles; (3) emphasizing the importance of a good inner attitude in humans who are responsible for their conscience; (4) introducing appropriate ethical norms. in the same tone, bernard adeney risakotta (2003) emphasizes six methods of social ethics, namely: (1) moral rules and laws; (2) ethical principles; (3) social sciences; (4) inner transformation; (5) practice of virtue; (6) true stories. social ethical response measures according to mary elsbernd (elsbernd, 2005) are; (1) taking into account the history or background of events/stories, (2) focusing on the problem, (3) setting the framework in responding to the situation, (4) searching for ethical-theological-biblical sources, (5) identifying ethical principles, (6) planning concrete strategies and establishing specific ethical norms. [ 143 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 social ethics and ecological crisis on gold mining in maluku there are three frameworks in environmental ethics (elsbernd, 2005) namely: first, case study method; second, the inter-disciplinary approach; third, the religious ethical framework. the first framework views the problem of the ecological crisis that occurs on romang island, maluku. the case study method used as a framework views the situation (context), the history of the problem or the root of the problem, then looks at the relevant ethical theoretical framework by considering existing government policies. after that, a social analysis is conducted to bring up ethical principles to guide the transformative actions. the ecological damage described through a case study on the mining activities on romang island, maluku can be seen in the following facts. pt. gemala burneo utama was closed in 2017 by the governor of maluku said assagaf through the governor’s decree. the maluku provincial government closed pt gbu’s mining activities due to environmental pollution and strong resistance from the community regarding customary rights which resulted in a court process. however, the company was back in operation, allegedly the new governor of maluku murad ismail gave a recommendation for pt gbu to resume exploration on romang island. (jpnn.com, 30 may 2021). the problems on romang island since the presence of pt.gemala borneo utama have been very complex. starting from the rift in the customary order due to the pros and cons of landowners, environmental damage caused by the excavation of mining pits, economic constraints due to a plants belonging to local residents in the mining area being destroyed, allegations of human rights violations as well as the threat of conflict and genocide. findings by a team appointed by the university of pattimura that showed that most of the residents in the village in romang, namely the hila, jerusu and solat, rejected the mining activities. the data collected by the save romang coalition showed that 2,300 people out of a total of 2,560 romang residents voted in the 2015 regional parliament elections also rejected the presence of the company (save romang, http://www.michr.net/save-romang.html). kontras (commission for missing persons and victims of violence) reported that mining on romang island has been carried out for quite a long time. from 1988 to 1992, pt muswell brook mining in collaboration with pt ashton mining conducted explorations on romang island but there was no continuation. furthermore, pt gbu, which is a subsidiary of robust resources, entered into a contract agreement to explore a mining area of 25 thousand hectares of the entire romang island in 2008. the people of romang [ 144 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 island in the southwest region of maluku province, who mostly work as fishermen and farmers, feel disadvantaged by the gold mining activities of pt gemala borneo utama, (gbu). the mining activities, which have been going on for about 10 years, are thought to have damaged the environment and contaminated the water in their place of residence. the water becomes cloudy, and the plants dry up. kontras found a number of alleged violations as a result of these mining activities. the staff of the kontras economic, socio-cultural rights advocacy division, rivanlee anandar, said that the mining activities have caused damage to several types of vegetation, such as cloves and nutmeg. in addition, the previously abundant seaweed, now no longer exists. this mining activities, he said, is also thought to have an impact on reducing honey yields around the mining site due to the noise from mining equipment. even though the majority of the people there work as farmers and fishermen, they are very dependent on nature (pratiwi, 2016). in addition, there are also drilling errors that have a fatal effect on the quality of drinking water people consume, because it is not in accordance with the drilling guidelines issued by the government based on law no. 1/2014 concerning amendments to law no. 27/2007 concerning coastal area planning and small islands (small islands have an area of less than 2,000 km2) pt gbu, a subsidiary of pt robust resources ltd, uses the forest area by obtaining a borrow-to-use forest area permit (ippkh) from the minister of forestry in 2012. based on kontras report, exploration is not in accordance with ippkh because the number of drill locations is more than 60 and the distance between holes is less than 10 meters (buano, 2021). it is necessary to conduct an environmental impact analysis (amdal) because of they use of chemicals such as mercury, etc. to break rocks and dig soil (wells). the residue of mercury is mixed with water. water is contaminated with these chemicals flows from the forest into people’s plantations, polluting crops and long-living trees (buano, 2021). addressing the theoretical and moral-ethical ecological crisis social (environmental) ethics: theoretical approach there are several theories of ecological ethics, namely: anthropocentrism (shallow ecological ethics), biocentrism, ecocentrism (deep ecological ethics), and ecofeminism (keraf, 2010). based on these ethical theories, it can be seen that the ethics of anthropocentrism characterize the ethical behavior (actions) of the companies that run mining activities on romang island, maluku. of the 9 emphases that borrong uses as an ethical anthropocentrism group, there [ 145 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 are 4 emphases that become the company’s orientation; (1) the main norm is profit and loss, (2) prioritizing short-term plans which are the interests of the company and do not consider long-term issues; (3) emphasizing economic growth and ignoring ecological concerns; (4) management of natural resources is for the human benefit (borrong, 1999). in line with borong, keraf also classifies the activities of the pt. gbu company in conducting mining on romang island into “anthropocentric ethics or shallow ecological ethics” for 2 main reasons: first, the company ignores environmental issues that arise and have an impact on the people of romang island. second, the company’s focus is on short-term interests, especially economic interests (profit making). negative impacts and long-term environmental damage are not a concern of the company (keraf, 2010). in addition, the actions of the companies that run mining activities that are not ecologically (environmentally) friendly and do not bother to address environmental pollution have made it difficult for the companies to be classified into biocentric and eco-centric ethics groups. because a biocentric or eco-centric ethics according to johan detavernier aims to find a way out of the conflict of interest that occurs between the human community and nature, among others through the christian ethical way. the attitude of respect for nature is a fundamental attitude in the ethics of biocentrism and ecocentrism. this is not found in the companies’ actions (detavernier, 1994). regarding the case of gold mining carried out by pt. gbu, it also shows that changing awareness of the ecological-ethical framework is not enough because it requires another approach, namely “political ecology”. this “political ecology” approach is interesting because efforts to study environmental change are seen as more complex than just bio-physical systems and it also concerns the distribution of power in a society. the “political ecology” approach helps to better understand the causal process of environmental degradation and why there is inequality in the control and use of resources. this approach also views environmental management from the perspective of environmental rights and justice (bagir, 2006). on the basis of the principles of rights and justice for the environment, there are two strategies that can be applied as part of “political ecology”, namely: first, making structural changes to the legal framework and political practice of natural resource management, especially those that provide more opportunities and control for the regions, local communities and farmers/ fishermen to access natural resources. this strategy is very crucial, especially with regard to changes in the legal substance concerning natural resources which are in favor of small, local communities, farmers/fishermen. second, [ 146 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 strengthening local community institutions and farmers/fishermen. the process of agrarian politics, mining and other resource-based business issues have so far been more profitable for investors, company owners and state development politics that are not in favor of small communities, farmers/ fishers and local residents who are victims, oppressed and powerless. therefore, it is necessary to strengthen local community institutions. socio-ecological ethics: moral approach through the moral approach, the ethical principles can be developed and it paves the way to see the normative or legal-formal considerations of state law. ethical principles that can be developed in responding to the current ecological crisis are as follows (keraf, 2010): first, an attitude of respect for nature. as moral actors, humans should have a moral responsibility to respect nature. respect for nature is a basic principle for humans in building life in the order of the cosmos. second, the principle of responsibility (moral responsibility for nature). the principle of responsibility is not only individual but also collective. the principle of moral responsibility requires humans to take real joint initiatives, efforts, policies and actions so as to preserve nature as a shared responsibility. third, the principle of cosmic solidarity. humans in viewing themselves as part of the whole universe evoke a sense of solidarity, a sense of shared responsibility as fellow beings in the cosmos, which is called cosmic solidarity. the principle of cosmic solidarity encourages humans to side with nature, be in solidarity with nature and oppose any actions that destroy nature. fourth, caring for nature. caring for nature is based on the fact that as fellow members of the ecological community, all living things have the right to be protected, nurtured, not hurt and always cared for. in addition to the ethical principles, there are also several ecological principles suggested by capra as put forward by keraf (keraf, 2014). first, the principle of interdependence. this principle aims to emphasize the essential reality in nature that ecological communities in nature, including humans, exist, live, and develop in a single chain that is inseparable from each other in the life’s network of relationships. second, the principle of partnership, the principle of interdependence can only be sustainable if there is partnership and cooperation among members of the community of life. human community only develops sustainably in partnership with all components of life. third, the principle of flexibility; this principle allows nature to adapt to various changes and conditions that arise in the process of natural development itself. with this principle, nature easily returns to maintain and sustain its balance and [ 147 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 integrity when dealing with or colliding with various deviations (anomalies). fourth, the principle of diversity; this principle is based on the attributes of nature and life in diversity. it is this diversity that allows nature and life to develop as they are, including opening up to independence and flexibility, accepting and absorbing various external influences while still influencing the development of other forms of life. the higher the diversity of life in nature, the more resilient the ecosystem is to various shocks and obstacles. ecological principles require the creation of a sustainable human community, based on the principles that apply in the ecological community. therefore, the human community that has been mismanaged due to abandoning ecological principles must be reorganized, so that it is in line with the principles of ecological community life. through this path, efforts are made to build a sustainable ecological community (meylahn, 2015). breaking down anthropocentric ethics and building a pro-life paradigm proper ecological awareness is in fact only possible if there is a paradigm shift. because the basis of ethical attitudes towards the environment must rest on a change of anthropocentric paradigm by not making humans the only central element of existence but seeing each microcosm with its intrinsic values. this sort of courage should constitute the basis of ecological appreciation (callaway & crisp, 2022). one of the uncivilized acts in this country is in terms of environment (ecology). the word “uncivilized” is contrasted with “civilized” which is closely related to the behavior of civil society which is concerned about nature (binawan, 2007). so far, the “anthropocentric” notion has been accused of being one of the causes, even the main cause of the environmental crisis we are currently experiencing. the ecological crisis occurs because human behavior is influenced by the “anthropocentric” perspective (keraf, 2010). this “anthropocentric” view perpetuates “exploitative” efforts and actions against nature, even legitimizing various greedy actions that cause humans to take all their needs from nature without thinking and considering its preservation. by recognizing humans as the center, humans can freely take any action against nature; nature becomes constrained by destructive, exploitative and selfish human freedom. humans and their interests are considered the most decisive in the ecosystem order. humans and their interests have the highest value while everything else in the universe will only get value and attention insofar as it supports human interests. therefore, nature becomes an “object”, a tool and a means to fulfill human needs and interests, and thus [ 148 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 nature has no intrinsic value.(dzwonkowska, 2018). in light of the above discussion, it appears that the current global crisis and ecological disaster are in fact caused by the crisis of the anthropocentric paradigm (meylahn, 2015). therefore, the paradigm shift will be used as a framework to find a new paradigm that serve as an alternative solution and an offer to replace the old paradigm which has experienced a crisis and can no longer explain the existing reality. in response to the current ecological crisis, there are various calls for a paradigm shift as a form of solidarity with nature. calls for a paradigm shift were heard, among others, first, ethics and morals. studies on ethics and morals have shown that the environmental crisis actually stems from fundamentalphilosophical errors in the understanding or perspective of humans about themselves, nature and the place of humans in the whole ecosystem. the error in this perspective originates from anthropocentric ethics and anthropocentric moral theological paradigms, which view humans as the center of the universe while the universe and other creations are only instrumental to humans. even humans are viewed as rulers over nature who can do anything to nature. this perspective and paradigm give rise to exploitative attitudes and behavior towards nature. because the problem is a perspective or paradigm of thinking, the improvement must also be about improving the perspective and changing paradigms (keraf, 2010). second, the economy. suryamaatdja argues that nowadays various environmental problems emerge due to human error in treating the economy and ecology. humans follow an economic way of thinking that considers the natural environment (ecology) to be free, assuming that humans can do anything in terms of production. the emphasis on economic principles whose main concern lies in the productive function forms a mindset that prioritizes “the rate of economic growth” without paying attention to the consequences of ecological changes. the focus of humans on exploiting nature with this kind of economic principle for their own benefit and ignoring nature is one of the causes of the current ecological crisis. therefore, it is high time we called for the importance of adopting a change in the value system, namely the exploitative economic perspective (paradigm).(harun, 2013). third, biblical hermeneutics. the origins of the current ecological crisis are partly due to the biblical hermeneutics of the book of genesis which places too much emphasis on anthropocentrism, rather than other aspects of nature. (manus & obioma, 2016). in this regard, lynn white criticized the hermeneutic study of scripture in his 1967 article, the historical roots of our ecological crisis, which revealed that the historical root of the current [ 149 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 ecological crisis is the very view of christian theology (judeo-christianity) which is anthropocentric and ignores nature. christian teachings about human power (anthropocentrism) over the earth in genesis. 1:28 resulting in today’s alarming ecological crisis (stanislaus, 2001) in addition to lynn white, there are other names such as frederick ferre who mentions two reasons as an ecological crisis, namely; theological roots which are a logical consequence of biblical hermeneutics and the roots of knowledge as a radical consequence of the development of science and technology in the western world, and also h. paul santmire who argues that there is a spiritual motive or impetus that moves humans to reach god in order to achieve salvation; because of that goal, nature is only a means of salvation and not an important thing; isn’t nature important to be saved as well? is it true that nature will also be saved along with humans? these views encourage revisiting the paradigm that has been prevalent so far (harun, 2013). furthermore, john cobb argues that science and christianity cannot be contradicted because science is trying to find out what is in the universe and the events that occur in it. this shows the closeness between the christian tradition and the world of modern science. because of that closeness, christianity has become less concerned with the impact of scientific and technological advances that destroy nature. robert setio criticizes cobb’s opinion by following the argument of richard dawkins who argues that between religion and science there is a sharp difference; the work of theologians and the church (religion) maintains the existence of mysteries while science uncovers mysteries, so that the way of thinking between religion and science is different (setio, 2013). furthermore, setio argues that perhaps the problem lies not in the fundamental similarities between christianity and science, but in the dichotomous way of thinking: heaven vs earth. in the dichotomous way of thinking, heaven is viewed as the ideal and not the world, because the ideal is in heaven, the world is viewed as temporary so that nature becomes unimportant. the dichotomous-dualistic way of thinking that makes a distinction between spiritual phenomena (heaven) and physical phenomena (world) which sees the spiritual phenomenon (heaven) as more important, more noble, superior and even better than other phenomena (world). as a result, nature is placed inferior below heavenly phenomena, and because nature is in an inferior position, humans are free to treat nature arbitrarily. (setio, 2013). the anthropological concept of the universe is also very strong in christian frame of thought which is influenced by the stoic philosophical idea which highly favors humans as the most noble creature because they have pneuma (spirit) implanted in the physis (body). pneuma which is the emanation of [ 150 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 the logos will direct humans to have a kathekon (something more appropriate function) for human life itself. the universe only helps humans to reach human achievement. this stoic concept is also supported by the hermeneutic biblical view that humans are given the power to “rule over nature”. (mali, 2008). the three appeals mentioned earlier indicate an imperative to move towards a paradigm shift from the old to the new paradigm. because if our paradigm has not changed towards respect for all creatures, it will be very difficult to eliminate the dominative-destructive-exploitative attitude of humans towards nature. in this crisis people begin to question the “single paradigm”. at this stage, scientists no longer undergo the normal phase of science, because they are faced with the choice to maintain or return to the old paradigm or switch to a “new paradigm” to solve problems. should the choice be switched to a “new paradigm”, a paradigm shift will occur and then a “scientific revolution” will also occur (wessels, 2020). the ecological crisis is a result of the anthropocentric paradigm in the current global ecological crisis situation. and the “anthropocentric paradigm” is a paradigm that has been adhered to and has so many loyal followers, or is no longer able to explain the reality of the ecological crisis, then anomalies emerge. when these anomalies arise and cannot be explained by the existing paradigm (anthropocentric paradigm), then a crisis will form (paradigm crisis). and when there is a crisis of understanding and the existing paradigm (normal science) in this case the “anthropocentric paradigm” can no longer explain the crisis, at this point there is an urge to find a new explanation and understanding of a reality and the problems (the reality of the ecological crisis) with a “new paradigm”. the paradigm shift here involves not only fundamental changes in thought, understanding and perspective, but also changes in values and behavior based on a new particular paradigm (keraf, 2014). beyond interpretational anthropocentrism of religion: a christian prespective the hermeneutic biblical roots that contribute to the “anthropocentric” paradigm perpetuate the exploitative efforts towards nature through the textual legitimacy of the story of creation in genesis 1 which tends to see humans as the “crown of creation” or “ultimate” creation of god. it must be admitted that the anthropocentric paradigm is dominant in the bible, but that doesn’t stop us from blaming the bible entirely. because the problem often arises not in the bible itself but in how to interpret it or in ourselves as readers (setio, 2013). when genesis 1 is used as the basis for generating an anthropocentric perspective, then the story of creation according to genesis 1 [ 151 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 must be interpreted in its entirety. the story of creation according to genesis, chapter 1, does not stop at the event of human creation (gen. 1:26-27) but continues until gen. 2:4 “this is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created”(folarin, 2011). after the creation of man on the 6th day, the story of creation did not stop but continued on the 7th day, and “by the seventh day god had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (gen. 2:2). manus & obioma, 2016) state that, “the creation hymn ended in seven stanzas” or it was in the seventh stanza that the creation hymn was ended by the creator. furthermore, stanislaus argues that the divine sabbath becomes a model for the human sabbath, so that humans in carrying out all their work observe the “sabbath over nature” that is, to stop exploiting nature without limits. this is, as stanislaus argued, an alternative answer to addressing the ecological crisis (stanislaus, 2001). therefore, the “anthropocentric” paradigm which views humans as the center cannot be maintained and must be shifted and even transformed to a paradigm that makes god the center (theocentric) of all events of creation. martin harun (harun, 2013) is absolutely right when saying that in the story of creation, there is in fact no absolute “anthropocentrism” or that it is separated from “theocentrism”. the “theocentric” paradigm becomes an alternative solution in responding to the ecological damage caused by the “anthropocentric” paradigm that has been adopted so far. the “theocentric” paradigm which sees god as the center, encourages changes in attitudes and behavior towards nature, from indifference to partiality. the act of partiality should be in favor of the sustainability of the created world (pro-life), because god who is the center is god who gives life and is in favor of life (stanislaus, 2001). darmaputera (1996) reveals that siding with life is noble, even very sacred. according to him, in the dilemmatic choice between economics and ecology, it does not have to be responded with rejection or acceptance of one of the two. this means that ecological choices do not necessarily sacrifice the economy, or vice versa. therefore, it he also emphasizes that we must go beyond the two choices, towards a more noble choice of life. it is explained in detail about the choice of “life” (pro-life) which is more than just “existing” physically but also “being” here, namely living in all its fullness quantitatively and qualitatively and not limited to only human life, but the life of all creatures, life that is being for others (darmaputera, 1996). the “pro-life” paradigm in religious interpretation (christian perspective) inspired by the “divine sabbath” in gen. 2:2-3 (manus & obioma, 2016) brings about changes in life values and the relationship between humans and nature, from subject-object relationship, subordinate relationship, asymmetric relationship, even domination [ 152 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 relationship and human power relationship with nature, to relationship that are just, liberating and pro-life. the principle of the “just” relationship between humans and nature is rooted in the “manna” story (ex. 16:22-30). epistemologically the term “sabbath day” first appears in the story of “manna” through the prohibition of collecting manna on the sabbath. the story of manna according to margaretha hendriksririmasse shows the dimension of ‘justice’. according to her, the theme of ‘justice’ framed the text of ex. 16:22-30 which derives from the principle of taking as needed or in moderation. therefore, the “theocentric” paradigm inspired by the “sabbath” is also a paradigm with the principle of “justice”. anyone who observes the sabbath should display justice in all aspects of life, including justice for nature and fellow creatures by not taking and destroying them arbitrarily. according to the book of exodus 20, the sabbath commandment originates from the creation sabbath in gen. 2:2-3. this is seen in verse 11 “for in six days the lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” it is clear that the divine sabbath became the pattern for the observance of the human sabbath. the two verbs that are typical of the sabbath law according to exodus are; “remember” (zakar) and “consecrate” (qadas). it can be further explained that the consecration of the sabbath is intended to set the sabbath apart from other days. however, the sabbath according to the d school (deut. 5:1-22) uses the word shamar --to keep/guard) which has more social motives than the deuteronomy version which tends to be religiousliturgical. the basis of the sabbath in the d school is the event of the liberation of the israelites from slavery (deut. 5:15). the idea put forward by the d school of thought is interesting because the sabbath not only cover religious or liturgical aspects as in version e (ex. 20). stemming from god’s liberating work, the sabbath in version d is a pro-life or liberation sabbath. sabbath is not only limited to humans, livestock but also the universe (earth). the earth created by god is freed from all actions of exploitation due to human greed. the response to god’s work of liberation must also be actualized through the liberation of all creation, so that the universe and the earth are also freed from humans’ cruel actions. conclusion humans’ understanding of nature affects the attitude they display. the anthropocentric paradigm is a paradigm that has been developed by humans towards nature and has contributed to the ecological damage that is taking [ 153 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 place globally, nationally and locally. in fact, the anthropocentric paradigm is considered the main cause of the current environmental crisis. consequently, a paradigm shift (paradigm reorientation) is needed from an anthropocentric paradigm to a pro-life paradigm. this research recommends the importance of a pro-life paradigm that views life in all its fullness both quantitatively and qualitatively. the pro-life choice is interpreted as more than just “existing” physically but also “being” here. nature must be treated as having intrinsic values and not merely instrumental values for humans. in christianity, this paradigm shift can be achieved through a profound understanding of christian teachings that originate from the holy scriptures (bible). good apprehension is largely determined by how to read and interpret the bible. in fact, christian teachings originating from the bible have taught about harmonization between humans and nature. harmonization must be applied in building the relationship between humans and nature. the study of biblical texts, especially the old testament, shows that god wants humans to apply the principles of justice and liberation, and pro-life ethics. it aims to free nature from exploitative actions due to human greed. humans must be able to take advantage of nature in moderation, and avoid excessive exploitation so as to properly maintain the balance of life between humans and nature. bibliography adeney-risakotta, b. (2003). etika sosial dalam era kegelisahan indonesia: perspektif kristen. in w. s. aminah (ed.), sejarah teologi dan etika agama-agama. interfidei. bagir, z. a. (2006). krisis lingkungan: antara etika dan politik lingkungan. in ilmu, etika dan agama: menyikap tabir alam dan manusia. crcs ugm binawan, a. a. l. (2007). habitus religius berwawasan lingkungan. rohani, no. 8 (agustus). borrong, r. p. (1999). etika bumi baru: akses etika dalam pengelolaan lingkungan hidup. bpk. gunung mulia buano, t. (2021). kala pohon pala di romang tak bisa di goyang lagi. https:// kanalkomunikasi.pskl.menlhk.go.id/tag/romang/ buitendag, j. (2018). a faith-based environmental approach for people and the planet : some inter-religious perspectives on our earth-embeddedness. 1–7. [ 154 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 callaway, k., & crisp, o. d. (2022). restoring human nature: constructive theological anthropologies engaging the psychological sciences. theologica, 6(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v6i1.65573 darmaputera, e. (1996). ekonomi dan ekologi: perspektif seorang kristen indonesia. in j. b. banawiratma (ed.), iman, ekonomi dan ekologi: refleksi lintas ilmu dan lintas agama. kanisius. detavernier, j. (1994). ecology and ethics. louvain studies, 19(3) dewanta, i.a. (2003). upaya merumuskan etika ekologi global. basis, no.12. dzwonkowska, d. (2018). is enviromental virtue ethics antropocentric? journal of agricultural and enviromental ethics, 31(6). elsbernd, m. (2005). social ethics. theological studies, 66. folarin, g. o. (2011). from primordial curse to eschatological restoration: ecological challenges from genesis 3:14 20 and romans 8:18 25. verbum et ecclesia, 32(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v32i1.492 harun, m. (2013). alkitab: sumber teologi lingkungan hidup. in iman yang merangkul bumi: mempertanggungjawabkan iman di hadapan persoalan ekologi. obor. keraf, s. (2010). etika lingkungan hidup. kompas. keraf, s. (2014). filsafat lingkungan hidup. kanisius. körtner, u. (2016). ecological ethics and creation faith. hts teologiese studies / theological studies, 72(4), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3296 mali, m. (2008). ekologi dan moral. in menyapa bumi, menyembah yang ilahi: tinjauan teologis atas lingkungan hidup. kanisius. mandaru, h. (2011). menerawang paulus: catatan tentang etika membaca dan eko-etika. in y. seto marsunu (ed.), tak berbatas, tak bermegah. lembaga alkitab indonesia. manus, c. u., & obioma, d. (2016). preaching the ‘green gospel’ in our environment: a re-reading of genesis 1:27-28 in the nigerian context. hts teologiese studies / theological studies, 72(4), 1–6. https://doi. org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3054 meylahn, j. a. (2015). doing public theology in the anthropocene towards life-creating theology. verbum et ecclesia, 36(3), 1–10. https://doi. org/10.4102/ve.v36i3.1443 niemandt, c. j. p. (2015). ecodomy in mission: the ecological crisis in the [ 155 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 light of recent ecumenical statements. verbum et ecclesia, 36(3), 1–8 https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i3.1437 qodir, z., & singh, b. (2021). tension of muslim-christian relations in indonesia: the case of conversion and celebrating christmas. al-albab, 10(2), 295-309. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v10i2.2095 risanto, c. b. (2016). laodato si: persimpangan jalan peradaban. basis, no. 7-8. rossing, b. r., & buitendag, j. (2020). life in its fullness: ecology, eschatology and ecodomy in a time of climate change. hts teologiese studies / theological studies, 76(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v76i1.6245 servatius-lon, y. (2020). misi ekologis dalam diakonia gereja dalam kearifan lokal manggarai. in diakonia gereja: pelayanan kasih bagi orang miskin dan marginal. obor. setio, r. (2013). dari paradigma “memanfaatkan” ke paradigma “merangkul” alam. gema teologi, 37(2) stanislaus, s. (2001). kejadian 1:28: sabat dan kepedulian ekologis. forum biblika, 14. sudiarja, a. (2006). agama di zaman yang berubah. kanisius sunarko, a. (2019). agama dalam masyarakat post-sekuler: refleksi teologi. obor. wessels, w. j. (2020). the earth mourns: interconnectedness of yahweh, people and land in jeremiah 23:10 and 15. old testament essays, 33(2), 306–322. https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2020/v33n2a9 [ 156 ] al albab: volume 11 number 1 june 2022 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v11i1.2228 [ 111 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 book review critique of religious text perspective pontianak: iain pontianak press, 2013. by luqman abdul jabbar reviewed by syamsul kurniawan (pontianak state institute of islamic studies) the phenomenon commonly found in the field of interpretation often portrays the claim of truth. as a result, the truth is hard to define. it is certainly something that is reasonable, given the task instead of a human is not to determine who is right and who is wrong. only god almighty who has the right to become the holder of the authority of the truth. this is what luqman abdul jabbar tried to explain in his book, critique of religious text perspectives. each individual and even a community often has different perspectives of looking at or understand something. the difference is human nature, and therefore it is difficult to avoid. of course the difference of opinion is not to be contested, but it should becomes a means to achieve essential understanding in a process of searching for the truth. in a book published by the stain pontianak press, luqman argued that difference in opinion can be understood from our definition of the “justification”. hermeneutically, most individuals often justify someone else’s fault, but in fact, they are also part of a community of “truth seekers”. it should not be the case, however, because we are part of that community that has no legal authority to justify the truth from god. this is the writer called “framing”. to quote william e. paden, luqman argued that this framing attitude has made everyone different in everything including perspectives. (p. 31-32) in the perspective of sayid abu al-a’la al-maududy for example, in the discussion about the quran, he argued that the quran is not a book that contains a detailed matters, but it is a book containing the basics of general and global issues. therefore according to luqman, al-maududy viewed that reading the qur’an is certainly not the same as reading other texts, which are also written. al-maududy explained that the qur’an written in human language (read: arabic) is essentially the words of god even its verse system, as acknowledged [ 112 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 by the majority of muslims. even the qur’an was not written to follow systematic writing in chapters like commonly found in other books. al-quran with its in typical language style covers issues such as faith, morals, law, appeal, advice, example, criticism, restrictions, threats, advice, history, and so on as the instructions of allah almighty. (p. 22) in addition to al-maududy, ignaz goldziher also had different perspectives about the quran, more precisely his criticism as an orientalist on the quran. ignaz goldziher, an orientalist who was born in szekesfeherva hungary on june 22, 1850 argued that at least there are five aspects that became a focal point for research in his criticism of the interpretation of the qur’an, i.e. first, interpretation of the classic period; second, the interpretation in perspective of rational theology; third, the interpretation in perspective of sufism; fourth, the interpretation in perspective of a religious sect; and fifth, the interpretation of the awakening era (p. 48). in this context, luqman abdul jabbar maintained that goldziher presumably preferred a descriptive method in approaching the history and development of the interpretation of the quran (p. 63). in addition to various perspectives of religious texts, the book written by luqman abdul jabbar also discussed matters related to living qur’an. citing paden, luqman abdul jabbar, mentioned that there are two components always present in the effort to interpret religious texts i.e. purpose and context. purpose is one’s interests and objectives when looking at an object, while context is socio-cultural conditions and everything that affects the way and pattern a person thinks in looking at and addressing something. purpose and context will always give its own colors to the text interpreter, and there is no exception whether it is literary or sacred religious texts. in the context of living quran, the holy book is not only about the “interpretation” but has also been transformed into religious social phenomena such as the teaching of qur’an reading, recitation of the quran, writing certain part of the quran in particular places, writing extracts of particular verses as a decoration, extraction of units of the quran which later became formula for treatment of illness, prayers, supernatural powers and so on. (p. 84) in addition to the discussion of the above subjects, the book also presents a study on how we should read texts in the perspective of gender as well as culture and pluralism (p. 109-204). luqman discussed two important points in addressing “reading texts in gender perspective”, i.e. first, reading masculine dimension of the quran; and second, the reflection of misogynistic hadith (violence against women). meanwhile the last section dealt with “reading texts in the perspective of culture and pluralism” includes a discussion of, first, the peace signals in the teaching of religions in indonesia; second, the rites of [ 113 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 religion (a description of the plurality of ways of religion); finally, the nation state in the quran. in outlining the concept of gender in the qur’an, abdul jabbar tended to use e syntactic, semantic and hermeneutic method. for example, when he described why patriarchal culture exists in the islamic world. in his opinion, patriarchal culture in the structure of arabic – the language of the qur’an (god’s words) – is khitab (do’s and don’ts) using the mudzakkar form. in the structure of the arabic language, the use of the mudzakkar does not only contain the notion of male but also muannats (women) sexually. so, if both genders are intended for in the khitab, then it is enough to use the mudzakkar form because women are automatically included. thus, because the quran uses the language of the arabs whose culture is patriarchal, then no wonder the quran is often accused of gender bias. in this context, luqman abdul jabbar detailed some of the verses that often become contentious because of gender bias, such as: first, qs al-baqarah: 221-223 that talks about marrying polytheist women and menstruation; second, qs al-baqarah: 226-242 about ignorant behavior toward women, and thalaq (divorce), husband-wife interaction, khitbah (marriage proposal) and widowhood; third, qs al-maidah: 3 about the marrying with a woman of ahl al-kitab; fourth, qs an-nur: 31-33 about keeping women’s honor and wearing of jewelry for women; fifth, qs al-ahzab: 30-59 about solution to household problems and taking example from the wives of the messenger of allah; sixth, al-mujadalah qs: 1-4, about the dzihar; seventh, al-mumtahanah qs: 10-12, about the equal rights between men and women; and eighth, qs at-tahrim: 1-5, 10-12 about things that apply to the prophet’s wives including this case the wife of every muslim and about obligations and responsibilities that must be borne by women themselves. (p. 120) according to luqman, in his book, more specifically there are five aspects of referable analysis to uncover the verses of the qur’an that give rise to the gender bias issues in the interpretation of the quran; first, bias in vocabulary; second, bias in the structure of language; third, bias in the dictionary of the arabic language; fourth, bias in the method of interpretation; and fifth, bias in the reduction of meaning. (p. 121) this 213 page book, in spite of its shortcomings, in my opinion should be considered by enthusiasts of studies of the quran and socio-religious subject. this book is part of a writer’s perspective (luqman abdul jabbar), a lecturer whose research deals a lot with the study of the quran. [ 181 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 crusade and its effect on the east and the west ahmad sahide university of gadjah mada, yogyakarta abstract the crusade is an important part of the history of islamic thought, development, culture and civilization. the crusade which changed the path of human historical development, especially of the islamic world, had a major influence on the encounter between the west and the east (the islamic world) today. by understanding the history, the crusade, we can find the correlation of the hegemony of the western countries, especially between the united states and the islamic world today, especially in the middle the east region. the western presence in all aspects of life of the contemporary islamic world, which is far left behind, has historical relevance of the crusade. this paper seeks to review the crusade and its influence on the development of the contemporary islamic world and the west. keywords: crusade, encounter, islamic world. introduction the crusade was a form of encounter between the west (europe) and the east (islamic world). the encounter, which shed the blood of thousands of human beings without feeling guilty or innocent on the parties involved in war because it was regarded as one of god’s commandments. james turner johnson referred to it as the holy war, a war that has the power to shed blood, the conflicts that have strong social, motivational, and ideological relationship with a great religious tradition. in the western culture, the idea of a holy war appeared in three major historical contexts: the old testament, the crusade and the religious wars in the post-reform era (james turner johnson, 2002). the first encounter between europeans and islam occurred as a result of the expansion policies of the new muslim state, which was formed after the passing of the prophet muhammad in 632. a century later, muslims had crossed the mountain range between france and spain and conquered territories stretching from northern india to southern france (carole hillendbrand, 2005). the encounters which were also regarded as a conquest were fierce battles, a bell awakening the muslims and the arabs at the beginning of 7th century, and a sign of destruction of the sasanian and roman empire that enjoyed the glory days before the arrival of islam (hugh kennedy, 2008). the [ 182 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 flow of expansion was increasingly unstoppable. islam made the west anxious and frightened to be ruled. finally, crusade was inevitable (m. abdul karim, 2009). the idea of the crusade is what i will describe further in this paper to determine the factors that contribute to the war in the name of the god as well as the extent of its influence on life for the people of the east and the west that lasts until today. the crusade which is derived from the word “cross” (crux in latin) was a military expedition that took place approximately three hundred years, from 11th through the 13th century, with the victory on both sides alternately. the crusade was a movement of all christians in europe to fight the muslims in palestine repeatedly aimed at liberating the holy land from muslim rule, and building churches and latin empire in the east. the europeans who fought in this battle wore the cross sign on their right chest as a symbol of the sanctity of their cause. thus it is called the crusade (jatmika sidik, 2004). this war began when emperor alexus comnesus appealed to pope urban ii in 1095 to help him, because his power in asia had been attacked by the saljuks along the coast of marmora. the muslims attacked the power that threatened constantinople. upon request and petition the emperor alexus, on 26 november 1095, pope urban delivered his speech at clermont, the south eastern part of france, and commanded christians to “enter the neighborhood of the holy sepulchre, capture it from the evil people and hand it back to them”. the evil people in question were the muslim rulers (saljuk). perhaps, it was the most influential speech ever delivered by a pope throughout recorded history. people who were there shouted slogans deus vult (god wills) while raising their arms. in the spring of 1097, 150,000 men, most of them were franks, norman, and some ordinary people welcomed the pope’s call to gather in constantinople (phillip k. hitti, 2008). at that moment the drums of the crusade began. bainton (in james turner johnson, 2002), based on his study of the puritan revolution in england, characterized the idea of the crusading idea as follows: “the crusading idea requires that the cause of war be sacred (and there is no cause more sacred than religion), that the war be fought because of god and with his help, the crusaders are pious and the enemies ungodly, that the war will be executed without mercy. “ there are a great deal of opinions regarding the causes of the crusade. abdul karim, a professor of islamic history at uin sunan kalidjaga yogyakarta, for example, mentioned that the crusade happened because of religion, politics, economics (trade), psychology, etc. (m. abdul karim, 2009). philip k. hitti [ 183 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 explained the geographical facts about the differences between the east and the west can only be considered as an important factor of the crusade when put next to conflicts between religions, tribes, nations and language differences. in fact, the crusade is specifically described as the reaction of christians in europe against muslims in asia, which had attacked and controlled the christian regions since 632, not only in syria and minor asia, but also in spain and sicily. there were various things that caused the crusade, some of which can be mentioned here i.e. the tendency of a nomadic lifestyle and militaristic of the german teutonic tribes who had changed the map of europe since they entered the stage of history; and the destruction of the holy sepulchre belonging to the church, a place of european pilgrimage whose keys had been handed over in 800 to charlemagne with blessing of the bishop of jerusalem by al-hakim (philip k. hitti, 2008). the hatred, anger, and hostility of the christian europeans against islam had begun since the time of caliph al-hakim bin amrillah (996-10214 m), the 6th ruler of fatimid dynasty who destroyed the holy sepulchre (a holy church in jerusalem) and the muslim rulers of the turkish saljuks who interfered and treated christian pilgrims to jerusalem poorly (m. abdul karim, 2009). the pope and kingdoms in europe received news about the damage to the reputation of the islamic ruler, al-hakim, at the time. al-hakim’s actions are what is usually considered a factor drove the growing desire of the european christians to launch the first crusade to protect what they regarded as holy places of christians. during the first centuries of muslim rule, christian pilgrims from europe could usually visit the holy places of their religion in jerusalem and the holy land. they traveled by land through the balkans, anatolia, and syria or by sea to egypt or palestine (carole hillendbrand, 2005). pilgrimage, for christians, has an important role for their piety by visiting the holy places and respecting the sacred historical objects for salvation. jerusalem, the center of the birth of christianity, is a symbol of the city of god, so this place is sacred (jatmika sidik, 2004). karen armstrong (2000) referred to jerusalem as the city of the three faiths. crusade occurred because of many factors, such as religion, politics, economics (trade), psychology, etc., but politics is the most dominant factor as the trigger of this war. it can be seen from how this war began when emperor alexus comnesus appealed to pope urban ii in 1095 to help him, because his power in asia had been attacked by the saljuks along the coast of marmora. where the muslims attackers were a threat to constantinople. other indicator is that the war occurred because of the loss of freedom of the [ 184 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 christians to perform a pilgrimage to jerusalem. at the time of bani fatima’s reign of these areas, christians had the freedom to perform pilgrimage and worship there. however, when the power was taken over by the saljuks, the christian pilgrimage became depressed and the road even closed altogether. apart from that, the pope (churches of the west) had a desire to control the entire messiah world and the ideals of european christians to establish the kingdom throughout the east (jatmika sisik, 2004). crusade in history timeline earlier in this paper it was mentioned that the crusade lasted for approximately three centuries. however, the classification and division of the crusade to the exact number, such as seven to nine times, are not satisfactory. it is because the war continued to occur and there were no clear boundaries between one war and the next. a more logical division would be started from the first conquest period until 1144, when atabegh zangi from mosul took back the city of ruha; second, a period when muslims put staunch resistance started by zangi, and reached its peak during the salah al-din (saladin); third, a period of civil wars and skirmishes between syrian-egyptian dynasty ayyubiayah and mamluks in egypt, which ended in 1291, when the crusaders lost their stronghold in mainland syria (phillip k. hitti, 2008). graham e. fuller (2011) called the crusade as something that is closer to the ‘clash of civilizations’ (the crusade was probably the closest thing to a “civilizational conflict” ...). first crusade the burning spirit to expel the muslims from palestine and supported by congress clearmont in 1095 in france, then, the crusaders were comprised of not less than one hundred thousand troops with a full arsenal and six hundred thousand more comprised of the pastors and children graham e. fuller, 2011). the first crusade, although launched with a number of leaders in the field, including raymond of toulouse, bohemond of sicily, and godfrey of bouillon, achieved significant military success when they were on a journey through anatolia. the franks conquered the capital of the seljuq in iznik in june 1097, and made the seljuq army under the leadership of sultan qilij arslan suffer a massive defeat in the battle dorylaeum in july of the same year. upon arriving in antioch, northern syria, the crusaders besieged the city in october 1097. finally, antioch fell to the crusaders in june 1098 and in january the following year (1099) united antioch inaugurated under the leadership of the ruling norman, bohemond, from sicily. the main target jerusalem captured on july 15, 1099 and godfrey of bouillon became the first ruler there (carole hillendbrand, 2005). [ 185 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 the invaders stormed the city, killing all the inhabitants without distinction of age and sex so that the pile head, arms, and feet could be seen all over the streets and squares of the city (philip k. hitti, 2008). there were 70,000 human lives were lost to successfully occupy the city of jerusalem, and also the eastern christians never agreed with the crusaders (jatmika sidik, 2004). the attitude of muslims in response to the crusade was initially apathetic as they were busy with internal problems. the early decades of the twelfth century were a period of divisions that occurred on a large scale among the muslims. the crusaders, who faced the disunited muslims became stronger so that the first decade of the early twelfth century was the decade of takeover of most ports in the eastern mediterranean region by the franks. the muslims themselves occasionally tried to fight against the crusaders at the beginning of the twelfth century but with no coordination (carole hillendbrand, 2005). second crusade the ascension ‘imad al-din zangi, the blue-eyed atabegh of mosul (1127-1146) to the throne, marked the end of development and grandeur of islam. zangi was among the forerunners of the enemy to the crusaders that culminated in the figure of salah-al-din (saladin), and extended the period of the next halfcentury to mamluk dynasty. zangi was a ’beater hammer’, the firmest to the force of the crusaders that deserved to be fought and destroyed. the first battle he led took place in edessa. because of its proximity to baghdad, as well as its control over the main route between mesopotamia and the mediterranean, the city became a fortress for the entire nation outside the latin in syria for half a century. after the attack for four weeks, zangi captured it (in 1144) from joesclin ii. the takeover of this territory indirectly eliminated the breakdown of confidence among muslims in syria and iraq. in europe, this event marked a new period, which was usually called the second crusade (1147-1149), led by conrad iii of germany and louis vii of france. they successfully seized damascus but this crusade did not produce anything (philip k. hitti, 2008). zangi’s power over syrian territory was replaced by his son, nur al-din mahmud (nuruddin) zangi. during the next phase of the revival of the muslims, nurruddin (d. 1174) combined a powerful political weapon with a very astute religious propaganda. in the context of personal and his family’s ambition, nuruddin gradually united egypt and syria and surrounded the remaining frankish states, beginning with antioch. nuruddin conquered damascus in 1154 and appointed himself supreme ruler of the muslims in syria. both nuruddin and the crusaders then switched their attention to egypt and the fatimids who were suffering and weakened by internal conflicts [ 186 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 (carole hillendbrand, 2005). nuruddin had a capable military leader named syirkuh who had gained some military and diplomatic victories in egypt, started up a political career by accepting the post of minister (1169) under the leadership of al-’adid (11601171), the last fatimid caliph. after syirkuh died, he was succeeded by his nephew, salah al-din (religion savior, saladin) ibn ayyub (philip k. hitti, 2008). al-malik al-nasir al-sulthan salah al-din yusuf was born in tikrit, the tigris, in 1138 under the guidance of the kurds. saladin had two major ambitions in his life, to replace shia islam with sunni in egypt, and to fight against the franks in the holy war. the efforts to realize the greatest ambition, i.e. to reach the syrian muslim sovereignty over the region, became a must. his efforts made his relationship with nuruddin sour because in this area nuruddin was in power. however, after the death of nuruddin in 1174, salah declared independence of egypt and seized syria and isma’il which was only seven years old (philip k. hitti, 2008). in may 1175, saladin personally asked the abbasid caliph, where the caliph was not strong enough to resist, to rule over the territories of egypt, morocco, nubia, western arab, palestine, and central syria. ten years later, he conquered mesopotamia, and made several kings his followers. nuruddin’s ambition to expel and destroy the franks was realized by a very famous successor, salah al-din. this is a great victory for the muslim army in which the peak of this victory was when saladin recaptured jerusalem on october 2, 1187. in 1187, only some parts of the latin kingdom of jerusalem which was still controlled by the crusaders, especially tirus (carole hillendbrand, 2005). third crusade the muslim force’s victory in the second crusade ignited the next crusade. three of the most powerful kings of the western europe, frederick barbarossa of the holy roman empire, philip of france and richard the lionheart of england, launched the third crusade. this war began when the crusaders attacked acre which finally captured by the crusaders in 1191. the crusaders won despite this, also several other victories over saladin. the third crusade ended with an armistice in 1192, with an agreement that the frank will dominate large parts of the sea, while jerusalem remained under the muslim rule (carole hillendbrand, 2005). saladin died a year later, but the muslims were still superior and the states of the crusaders were very weak. the crusader states only controlled a small [ 187 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 part of harbor and a small inland area. however, with these privileges, the muslims did not expel the crusaders. the muslims instead treated them as rulers by making political alliances and trade agreements with them (philip k. hitti, 2008). in 1228, frederick ii of sicily arrived in palestine to launch the crusade. sultan ayyubiyah al-kamil, whose family was threatened by internal disputes, preferred to negotiate rather than to fight and made an agreement with frederick a year later, with the surrender of jerusalem, bethlehem, nazareth, and other districts to the crusaders. the third phase crusade is also called the phase of crusade that began to melt. political compromises happened to trade along with the discovery of several coastal areas that were quite tempting for trade. the encounter between the west and islam was no longer just a war, but diplomacy (economy) as well (carole hillendbrand, 2005). crusade and its effect the crusade, which lasted around three centuries, has formed an important chapter in the different but interconnected history of the west and the east. to the west, the crusade was part of the evolution of the medieval period western europe. its importance has long been recognized and by many generations of the western scientists. as to the muslims, the medieval period was pain, as the crusade was none other than the western european intervention in the region and in the lives of muslims (carole hillendbrand, 2005). in karen armstrong’s view, even the crusade against islam in the middle the east failed, at least the muslims had been expelled from spain. in 1499, the muslims of spain were given two choices: convert or be deported. since then, for several centuries, spain was free from muslims. if seen from the columbus incredible journey, europeans were on the banks of the new world. their insights became wide, exploring the world that had never been explored, geographically, intellectually, politically, economically, and socially (karen amstrong, 2000). therefore, the crusade reflects the triumph and destruction of the early modern period, the early phase of awakening for the europeans later until today, and resulted in the islamic world experiencing weakness and destruction of civilization, characterized by the destruction of the books of the works of islamic scholars (jatmika sidik, 2004). according to m. abdul karim (2009), the energy drained away during the crusade had caused an islamic caliphate (abbasid) in baghdad to have no power to resist the attacks that came from the mongols in 1253 by hulagu khan, grandson of genghis khan (philip k. hitti, 2008). [ 188 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 finally, all the grandeur, beauty and greatness of baghdad which was first built by caliph al-mansur are now only a memory. everything is like being carried away by the tigris river, after the city was burnt down by the mongols led by hulagu khan in 1258 ad. all the buildings of the city, including the golden palace, were destroyed. the mongol troops were also destroyed the library which was a storehouse of knowledge and burnt the books kept in it (badri yatim, 2008). hulagu killed many people and threw their bodies into the tigris river, so that the river water turned red, then turned into brown because of the many books handwritten by scientists were dumped into it (m. abdul karim, 2009). the crusade is widely seen as the beginning of the revival of europe and a defeat for islamic world, but it does not mean that the crusade has no positive impact at all for islam. among the positive sides to the muslims is that because of the crusade in 12th century ad, exchanges occurred between the traditions of the west and the east, for example, the use of spices from each country. the import of fabric from the islamic countries has contributed to the international commerce. in addition, egypt and syria served as the international trade traffic, and this has resulted in the abundant wealth of the kingdom and the people (jatmika sidik, 2004). history of the crusade as a source of inspiration harun nasution divided the stages of the development of islam into three major phases, i.e. first, the classical age of islam (650-1250). this phase is the phase of the development of rational thought marked by the rise of islam. second, the islamic middle ages (1250-1800). this phase began with the conquest of baghdad earlier by the mongols (1253) and ended at the time when napoleon bonaparte led france to the invasion of egypt. in the islamic world, this phase was characterized by the development of traditional thinking and the underdevelopment of islam. on the contrary, it was the beginning of the rise of europe, as mentioned above. third, the modern age islam (1800s now). in this phase was marked by the development of europe (the west) in the world of science and technology, the backwardness of islam, and the islamic world by european colonialism and the west (harun nasution, 1996). if carefully traced, the history, underdevelopment and oppression of the islamic world today are inseparable from the history of the crusade. bernard lewis showed us that the west was once underdeveloped compared to the east, but the west responded by developing science and technology. to keep up with the underdevelopment, the west tried the institutionalization doubt, because it gave birth to an idea to achieve the level of advancement. lewis did [ 189 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 not find this in the islamic world in responding to the progress of the west. in fact, the institutionalization of terrorism arose from islamic fundamentalists in response to the western progress and modernization in the muslim world, the middle the east in particular. therefore, the islamic world should learn from the west to catch up by building a culture of science and knowledge. thus, the culture must be built with a strong science in the islamic world, of course. philip k. hitti wrote the book history of the arabs that contains 981 pages. this indicates a serious scientific culture in the world of the western science. if you read the preface in it, the book he wrote was based on research he conducted in the arab world for more than ten years (1927-1937). the question is, are there any scientists of the islamic world that is able to match the caliber of work produced by hitti? if not, it shows that we have yet to possess the cultural knowledge of the west. another book history of modern indonesia, 1200-2004 was written by m.c. ricklefs of the australian national university. it would be difficult for us to find a serious work of the caliber of history of the arabs and history of modern indonesia, 1200-2004 on the shelves of our library written by muslim scientists. this is an indicator that we have not been able to compete with the scientific culture of the west. thus, we have not learnt from history that the west destroyed the islamic civilization by destroying the library and they built a civilization with a strong library culture (scientific culture). this is in line with what was said by milan kundera, of the czech republic, “if you wish to destroy a nation, it’s easy; destroy its library.” conclusion the consequences of the crusade are indeed beneficial to europeans (the west) to awaken and it can be seen until now, but not for the east (islam). in hillenbrand’s view, it is because of the different response of both parties. to the westerners, the crusade is a popular field of study that deals with the study of medieval west. therefore, there is seriousness to examine the historical events. as for the muslims in the east, the crusade in fact plays a temporary role but not forgotten. the crusade has influenced the awareness of muslims until now (of the intervention of european christians). however, the knowledge produced of the crusade in the middle the east is very poor, hillendbrand argued. with this conclusion, the west and the east actually have interests in the study of the history of the crusade. [ 190 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 references armstrong, karen. 2000. berperang demi tuhan, fundamentalisme dalam islam, kristen, dan yahudi. bandung: mizan. fuller, graham. 2011. a world without islam. new york: back boy books. hillendbrand, carole. 2005. perang salib, sudut pandang islam. jakarta: serambi ilmu semesta (translation). hitti, philip k. 2008. history of the arabs. jakarta: serambi ilmu semesta (translation). jatmika, sidik. 2004. politik timur tengah (bahan ajar perkuliahan). yogyakarta: umy. johnson, james t. 2002. ide perang suci. yogyakarta: qalam (translation). karim, abdul, m. 2009. sejarah pemikiran dan peradaban islam. yogyakarta: pustaka book publisher. kennedy, hugh. 2008. the great arab conquests, penaklukan terbesar dalam sejarah islam yang mengubah dunia. tangerang: alvabet (translation). nasution, harun. 1996. islam rasional, gagasan dan pemikiran. bandung: penerbit mizan. yatim, badri. 2008. sejarah peradaban islam. jakarta: pt rajagrafindo persada. [ 217 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 contradiction of power within muslim women in minangkabau matrilineal society lukis alam institut teknologi nasional yogyakarta e-mail: lukisalam@itny.ac.id atha mahdi muhammad marmara university e-mail: atha.mahdi@marun.edu.tr abstract this research explores the relationship between power and gender, focusing mainly on minangkabau muslim women. the study integrates a literature review with ethnographic methods to understand how these women navigate societal structures that prioritize male authority, commonly referred to as ‘patriarchal frameworks ‘, while adhering to cultural traditions. data were collected from academic sources, community reports, and fieldwork, highlighting women’s lived experiences in key lineage and household leadership positions. the findings indicate that while minangkabau muslim women are empowered by their roles as lineage bearers and heads of households, they encounter significant challenges due to the intersection of gender and islamic norms. tensions emerge between their matrilineal heritage and the patriarchal structures reinforced by specific interpretations of islam, which restrict their economic participation, decision-making power, and access to resources. despite these constraints, women utilize strategies such as pursuing financial independence, engaging in education, and reinterpreting islamic teachings to align with their cultural and gender identities. this research emphasizes the complexities of gender dynamics in matrilineal societies, especially where islamic norms intersect with local traditions. it highlights the importance of evolving cultural practices in fostering more inclusive and equitable social structures, offering a potential pathway for positive change within the minangkabau community. keywords: contradiction of power; muslim women; minangkabau matrilineal society introduction the minangkabau society, renowned for its distinctive matrilineal framework, offers an intriguing case for exploring the interplay between gender and [ 218 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 power dynamics. situated predominantly in west sumatra, indonesia, this community has long been lauded for its cultural traditions that elevate women as central figures within familial and societal structures. in addition, the minang have been known as devout followers of islam (simon, 2014). matrilineality within this context allows women to inherit property and assume leadership positions within the family, thereby establishing them as pivotal stakeholders in community life. this unique social structure bestows women significant cultural authority, enabling their participation in decision-making processes at both the household and community levels. however, beneath the surface of matrilineality lies a complex web of patriarchal influences that challenge women’s autonomy and authority (goswami, 2024). this paradox presents a fertile ground for exploration, as societal norms traditionally empower women to coexist with structures that constrict their roles and diminish their agency. despite matrilineality being often regarded as a progressive framework fostering female empowerment, it is imperative to acknowledge the enduring patriarchal norms that undermine such empowerment (matlock, 1995). these norms manifest in various forms, encompassing societal expectations regarding gender roles and the influence of male relatives who may exert control over women’s decisions and liberties. within the minangkabau culture, men are frequently perceived as custodians of tradition and family honour, perpetuating patriarchal attitudes that can curtail women’s agency, even within a system ostensibly supportive of them (syahrizal & meiyenti, 2022). consequently, women in the minangkabau community find themselves delicately balancing their identity as matrilineal heirs with the pressures imposed by traditional patriarchal structures. this duality evokes critical questions about how minangkabau women perceive their positions within these conflicting frameworks, thus highlighting the intricacies of their lived experiences as they endeavour to assert their rights and agency in a world that often seeks to confine them (stark, 2013). comprehending minangkabau women’s strategies to negotiate their identities and assert their independence is paramount for a nuanced analysis of gender dynamics within this matrilineal society. many women employ a range of tactics to counteract patriarchal pressures and claim their rightful space within both familial and social contexts (nasir & halim, 2022). by leveraging community support networks, engaging in economic activities, and reshaping cultural narratives, these women actively resist the constraints imposed by traditional norms. for instance, some women participate in local economic initiatives, bolstering their financial independence and challenging conventional gender roles. this participation empowers individual women and fosters a collective [ 219 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 consciousness aimed at redefining the cultural narratives surrounding gender in minangkabau society, enabling women to reclaim their identities as both matrilineal heirs and active participants in the socio-economic landscape (elfira, 2023). the interplay between matrilineality and patriarchal influences in minangkabau society presents significant inquiries regarding the intergenerational transmission of values and practices related to gender (zenth et al., 2023). as mothers transmit cultural norms and expectations to their daughters, the amalgamation of matrilineal heritage and patriarchal constraints becomes intrinsic to family life. this phenomenon engenders a unique paradox wherein women are empowered by their matrilineal rights yet concurrently encumbered by ingrained patriarchal beliefs that govern acceptable behaviours and roles (rimoldi, 2011). comprehending how these dual influences shape the identities and aspirations of minangkabau women is imperative to comprehend the complexities of gender relations in this society. by examining how women navigate their roles in light of these conflicting teachings, we can discern the subtle ways in which cultural narratives evolve and adapt to the realities of contemporary life (fithri & ulfah, 2022). the investigation into the role of education and socialization in transforming gender norms within minangkabau society has emerged as a significant area of scholarly inquiry. however, a notable deficiency exists in understanding the active role of educational institutions play in facilitating this transformation. while the existing literature underscores women’s empowerment through education (bahauddin et al., 2013); chowdhury, 2021), a paucity of research focuses on the specific mechanisms by which education challenges patriarchal and matrilineal structures. much of the academic discourse has concentrated on general empowerment or rights within a matrilineal context, neglecting to examine how educational practices within schools, universities, and community organizations contribute to the redefinition of gender roles in minangkabau society. this void presents a distinct opportunity to investigate how educational environments equip women with the necessary tools to engage with and critique patriarchal systems while navigating the interplay with cultural traditions. in this regard, the originality of the proposed research resides in its focus on the intersection between educational practices and the distinctive matrilineal framework of the minangkabau. this research, with its potential to reveal how women in minangkabau are not only exposed to teachings of gender equality but also actively engage with the complexities of their cultural and educational identities, could significantly impact our understanding of gender dynamics. by emphasizing the influence [ 220 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 of educational spaces in providing women with critical perspectives on patriarchal structures and matrilineal rights, this study aspires to present a more nuanced understanding of how women’s agency is cultivated within the contemporary minangkabau context. this methodological approach contributes to a deeper comprehension of gender transformation in a society where traditional structures coexist with progressive educational reforms. recent scholarly studies have uncovered similar themes, offering insights into the evolving role of education in gender dynamics. parkin’s (2020) research examines how school curricula in indonesia address gender stereotypes, while bhutia & liarakou (2018) emphasize educational policies to promote gender equality in rural regions. additionally, vicente (2024) analyses the impact of community-based education programs on women’s empowerment throughout southeast asia. concurrently, goswami (2024) investigated the socialization of gender roles through extracurricular activities in educational settings. hurtado & franco (2021) explore the role of higher education institutions in fostering feminist leadership. while these studies are informative, they do not specifically examine the intersection of education with the matrilineal culture of the minangkabau, a gap in the literature that this research aims to address and potentially contribute to. lastly, the impact of globalization and modernization on minangkabau women’s identities and agency warrants attention, as these forces introduce new dynamics into the traditional framework (indra et al., 2022). the influx of global ideas and practices often creates opportunities for women to engage with external economic and cultural spheres, broadening their horizons and challenging local norms. through exposure to diverse perspectives on gender equality and empowerment, minangkabau women can draw inspiration from international movements while navigating the complexities of their cultural identity (du et al., 2023). this engagement with globalization allows women to leverage their unique position within a matrilineal society to redefine what empowerment means in their context. as they synthesize traditional values with modern aspirations, these women contribute to a richer understanding of agency that reflects their heritage and ambitions, ultimately shaping a more equitable future for themselves and future generations (rink & barros, 2021). this research investigates the intricate dynamics between matrilineality and patriarchal influences within minangkabau society, with a specific focus on how these dual forces shape women’s identities, aspirations, and agency. by examining the intergenerational transmission of gender-related values, particularly the pivotal role of mothers in conveying cultural norms within [ 221 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 the constraints of patriarchy, the study aims to illuminate how minangkabau women navigate their societal roles and assert their autonomy in a context where traditional structures coexist with progressive educational reforms. notably, it seeks to explore the influence of academic institutions in transforming gender norms and empowering women to engage with and critique patriarchal systems while negotiating their cultural identities. through this exploration, the research intends to elucidate the evolving roles of minangkabau women as they reconcile their matrilineal heritage with contemporary global influences. this examination offers critical insights into the intersection of tradition and modernity. ultimately, the study aspires to enhance the understanding of gender dynamics, revealing how women’s agency is cultivated within a sociocultural context affected by patriarchal constraints and matrilineal empowerment. furthermore, it aims to contribute to broader discourses concerning gender, power, and societal transformation. this research employs a qualitative and ethnographic methodology to explore the complex dynamics of power and gender within the minangkabau community. it specifically focuses on the lived experiences of minangkabau women and investigates how they navigate the dual influences of matrilineal traditions and patriarchal systems. the data collection process included indepth interviews, participant observation, and focus group discussions, all designed to ensure a diverse representation of women from various socioeconomic backgrounds in the minangkabau region. participants were selected through purposive sampling, providing insights from different generations and life stages. this approach facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the evolving experiences of these women, a depth of study that is essential for advancing the academic discourse on gender and power dynamics in matrilineal societies. this method provided an understanding of how cultural norms, family dynamics, and societal expectations shape women’s roles and identities. the data analysis utilized a thematic coding process that identified key themes related to empowerment, autonomy, generational shifts, and strategies for navigating gender roles. the findings were then triangulated with existing literature on gender, matrilineality, and patriarchy to place the results within broader theoretical frameworks. the methodological design emphasizes an intersectional perspective, acknowledging the complex interplay between cultural traditions, socio-economic factors, and gender in shaping women’s experiences. this study, with its thorough exploration, sheds light on how minangkabau women assert their agency and challenge traditional norms while preserving their cultural identity. the immersive nature of the fieldwork [ 222 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 allows the audience to feel respected and acknowledged when interpreting the research process, thereby enhancing their engagement with the findings. minangkabau muslim women the minangkabau people, an ethnic group native to west sumatra, indonesia, are renowned for their matrilineal society, where inheritance and family lineage are passed down through the female line. this unique cultural structure has long captured interest, particularly regarding gender roles within the minangkabau muslim community. minangkabau muslim women, often regarded as symbols of tradition and modernity, navigate a complex space where islamic teachings intersect with a rich cultural heritage. islamic influence in minangkabau society dates back to the 16th century(stark, 2013). since then, minangkabau muslim women have experienced the intersection of two powerful forces—islam and matrilineal customs. islamic teachings, which promote modesty, piety, and the role of women within the family, have shaped how women navigate their societal roles. minangkabau women wear the kerudung (headscarf) according to islamic dress codes while retaining control over familial and economic matters. this fusion of islamic values with matrilineal practices has led to the development of a unique and intriguing religious and cultural identity for minangkabau muslim women. in minangkabau society, women traditionally hold significant roles within the family and the broader community. this is mainly due to a matrilineal system that emphasizes maternal descent and the authority of women in both domestic and economic spheres. however, the rise of conservative islamic interpretations, particularly in recent decades, has created tension between these cultural practices and evolving religious discourse. islamic frameworks that emphasize gender segregation, modesty, and women’s domestic roles often conflict with minangkabau traditions, where women historically enjoyed greater public autonomy and decision-making power. conservative islamic teachings assert that women should primarily occupy the private sphere. this contradicts the minangkabau matrilineal system, wherein women have long been central figures in property ownership and family governance. while the quran emphasizes the complementary roles of men and women, it also presents a vision of modesty and privacy for women (quran 33:59, 24:31). some interpretations of these verses advocate for a more restricted role for women in public life. as a result, these religious norms can challenge the traditionally more egalitarian roles that minangkabau women once enjoyed. furthermore, some islamic scholars and movements advocating for conservative gender roles argue that the ideal muslim woman should prioritize family [ 223 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 life and modesty (asmaniar, 2018; iska et al., 2023; siregar et al., 2022). this is reflected in the hadith and the teachings of the prophet muhammad regarding the importance of women’s roles within the household (sahih bukhari, hadith 6039). such teachings reinforce the notion that a woman’s primary role is in the home, contrasting sharply with the historically more public roles of minangkabau women (dendi et al., 2005; hartati et al., 2021). consequently, many women in the region find themselves navigating a challenging path between honouring their cultural heritage, which affords them a broader scope of economic and familial participation and adhering to the evolving expectations set by more conservative islamic authorities (dermanto, 2023; dewi, 2021). this creates a complex dynamic where cultural identity, religious belief, and gender roles intersect, forcing women to negotiate between their ancestral autonomy and the spiritual framework that increasingly seeks to confine them to traditional, domestic roles. minangkabau muslim women, with their increasing presence in public life, embody a unique blend of cultural resilience and modern empowerment. the traditional minangkabau society has long granted women significant autonomy, particularly in familial and economic matters (blackwood, 2001). this matrilineal system, which strongly emphasizes maternal lineage and women’s roles in property ownership, has laid a robust foundation for women’s authority within the community. with the advent of educational and professional opportunities, minangkabau women are not just embracing their cultural heritage but also navigating modern societal roles with resilience. their active involvement in education, business, and politics mirrors the principles of islamic egalitarianism, which acknowledges the equal intellectual and spiritual capacities of men and women (cipta, 2019). verses such as 49:13 in the quran reinforce the equality of men and women in the eyes of god, stressing that individual worth is determined by faith, piety, and good deeds, not gender. this quranic perspective empowers minangkabau women to assert themselves in public spheres while staying rooted in their religious and cultural identity. furthermore, islamic teachings emphasize women’s empowerment in various spheres of life, particularly in pursuing knowledge (nasir et al., 2021). the prophet muhammad said, “seeking knowledge is obligatory for every muslim, male and female” (sunan ibn majah). this teaching has been central to the drive for education among minangkabau women, who now excel in diverse fields ranging from law to business to social activism. while conservative interpretations of islam often encourage women to limit their public roles, many minangkabau muslim women find ways to engage in [ 224 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 public life that are consistent with their religious beliefs (eficandra, 2022). for instance, they balance their professional ambitions with their responsibilities as caregivers, adhering to the islamic emphasis on family while pursuing careers and leadership roles. this delicate balancing act between faith, family, and professional growth is an example of how islamic principles can be interpreted and applied to support gender equality and the active participation of women in modern society. minangkabau women today are not just reacting to external changes but actively reshaping the cultural and religious landscape in which they live. their advocacy for social justice, gender equality, and reforms in education and healthcare represents a broader movement that seeks to integrate islamic values with progressive societal goals (n. y. dewi, 2023). the quran supports such reformative actions, emphasizing the importance of justice and social equity, as seen in verse 4:32, which calls for equitable treatment between men and women. islamic history also offers numerous examples of women who were leaders, scholars, and activists, including figures like aisha bint abi bakr, who played a significant role in early islamic politics and scholarship. minangkabau women today, drawing on these historical precedents, are redefining their roles within society and demonstrating that islam and modernity need not be at odds (stark & yahaya, 2021). instead, their ability to navigate and adapt to the evolving dynamics of religion, culture, and gender highlights the potential for a harmonious coexistence of islamic faith and progressive social change, offering hope for a future where cultural heritage and modern aspirations can thrive (knorr, 2022). matrilineal strength: minangkabau women unveiled the minangkabau culture is known for its matrilineal family structure, which is a fundamental aspect of their cultural identity. however, it can also feel burdensome at times. this system is supported by a comprehensive set of rules, traditions, and beliefs known as adat, reflected in numerous proverbs and sayings. the adat of the minangkabau mainly revolves around the matrilineal family system and its impact on behavioural norms and sociopolitical organization (marbaniang & rajput, 2023). the social structure can be summarized as follows: the most significant social units are the suku or matrilineal clans. their cohesion is primarily based on a shared name; a child belongs to its mother’s suku at birth. the suku is not strictly exogamous, which means that a member can marry someone from the same clan as long as they are not from the same village. however, a special ceremony is needed for such unions (games & sari, 2023). at the village level, the suku function as natural [ 225 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 groups that are exogamous and led by a male chief known as the penghulu. ideally, each village comprises four suku residing in distinct quarters. the penghulu of the various suku previously formed a council that governed the village. historically, villages enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, with minimal central authority, allowing each village to cultivate its unique style within the shared adat tradition. since the early 20th century, the minangkabau have become integrated into larger organizational frameworks, leading to a significant loss of village autonomy and a reduction in the power of the penghulu (nurdin & tegnan, 2019). the roles of the penghulu now primarily revolve around family matters, marriages, and issues related to inheritance and communal property. within the village, suku are further divided into smaller units called “extended families,” which typically include one or more women, their married and unmarried daughters, and the young children of those daughters (stark & yahaya, 2021). traditionally, members of an “extended family” resided together in a longhouse, the iconic minangkabau house characterized by its distinctive “horns”. the head of the family is usually one of the eldest brothers of the mother or grandmother (elfira, 2023). the term mamak refers to the mother’s brother, and one of them is designated as the head of the household. his sister’s children are his kemanakan (hartati et al., 2021). boys are expected to leave their mother’s house around 7 or 8 and transition to the surau, a men’s house used for religious instruction until they marry and move into their wife’s home. even after marriage, men have ongoing responsibilities towards their mothers, sisters, and their sisters’ children, requiring regular visits to their maternal household(mutolib et al., 2016). if a man returns home too early in the evening, he may face ridicule. in old age or illness, he is taken back to his sister’s house to pass away and be interred in the ancestral burial grounds. this ambiguity regarding the notion of home is often believed to be connected to the merantau pattern, which refers to the traditional practice of young men migrating (murad, 1980). while the idea of merantau exists in other regions of indonesia without being associated with matrilocal residence, the uncertain status of men likely reinforces this practice. in minangkabau society, women assume a stabilizing role by commonly residing in their natal homes alongside their families. upon significant expansion of the extended family, the household may undergo division, leading to the construction of a new residence nearby (hurtado & franco, 2021). the traditional minangkabau dwelling is longitudinally structured, featuring a spacious rectangular front room serving as a communal living and reception area. adjacent to this central space are multiple smaller rooms, each [ 226 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 designated for a daughter and her respective family, while a kitchen serves as a shared facility for female household members (schrijvers & coster, 1977). the residence is on collectively owned land, encompassing communal assets such as rice fields and esteemed heirlooms. the sale of these shared properties is strictly prohibited, except under specific circumstances, as they are considered sacred assets of the extended family, denoted as “harto pusako.” conversely, individually owned property, known as “harto pencarian” (literally signifying “acquired property”), comprises personal earnings from trade or wages and land utilized for cash cropping. a man retains the prerogative to bequeath his “harto pencarian” to his offspring, while the “harto pusako” remains the collective property of his “kemanakan” (schrijvers & coster, 1977). the minangkabau, known as the largest matrilineal society globally, has long captivated social scientists with its gender roles and the interactions between men and women. surprisingly, a significant knowledge gap persists on these subjects: most anthropological studies and indigenous analyses of adat predominantly centre on men’s perspectives (hartati et al., 2021). while considerable attention has been paid to exploring a man’s role within his mother’s or wife’s household, minimal emphasis has been placed on women’s positions and their influence in decision-making processes. in the context of adat, an examination of the life cycle of a woman’s role reveals that minangkabau girls are revered and cherished as infants, symbolizing the perpetuation of the matrilineal lineage, with the belief that a more significant number of daughters fortifies the family unit. gender differentiation is minimal until the age of seven, during which both boys and girls are nurtured within an environment characterized by warmth and affection (stark & yahaya, 2021). however, a discernible shift occurs as they surpass this age, with girls increasingly subjected to the vigilant guidance of their families and encountering greater regulation compared to their male counterparts. the focal point for girl’s transitions towards preparing them for their prospective roles as mothers and homemakers, as they are instructed in essential skills such as culinary expertise and sewing, ensuring their adeptness in domestic duties. this transition underscores societal expectations that women will adhere to familial customs and contribute to the stability of their households (knorr, 2022). consequently, while girls are initially embraced as equal constituents of the family entity, societal norms gradually steer them towards more defined roles that align with the matrilineal values inherent in minangkabau culture. traditionally, marriage arrangements were primarily orchestrated by the older generation. the mamak’s consent was crucial, and both parents, mainly the girl’s mother, were actively involved. marriages were ideally arranged [ 227 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 with cross cousins, particularly favouring the son of the father’s sister. while such unions were highly regarded, they are now rare in contemporary society. another important stipulation was that both partners should come from the same village, a standard still strongly upheld today (quisumbing & otsuka, 2001). in many areas, councils of penghulu continue to advocate for such marriages, reflecting the cultural preference for this arrangement. many informants expressed that these unions represent the ideal marriage. however, they also acknowledged that they would not impose this choice on their children if they wished to pursue different options. historically, minangkabau girls were married off at a young age, partially to mitigate the risk of premarital intimacy (mutolib et al., 2016). in this cultural context, remaining unmarried as an adult is relatively uncommon for women, usually occurring due to the dissolution of a marriage or the death of a spouse. as proposed by lévi-strauss, this social structure highlights the significance of kinship and marriage alliances in maintaining social cohesion and the continuity of familial ties within matrilineal societies (zerkowski, 2019). the examination of minangkabau society has predominantly centered on adat thus far. however, it is essential to acknowledge the historical introduction of islam to the region over four centuries ago, which brought with it a solid patriarchal tradition (halimatussa’diyah et al., 2024). presently, nearly all minangkabau people identify as muslims, albeit with varying degrees of adherence. since the early 19th century, west sumatra has become a stronghold of islam characterized by a strict and fundamentalist interpretation. the fusion of adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective traditions. nevertheless, there are significant areas of tension where the two systems conflict. neither has completely supplanted the other; instead, they coexist, each maintaining its unique influence. the disparities became particularly pronounced in the early 20th century with the emergence of islamic reform movements from the middle east in west sumatra (dermanto, 2023). these movements encompassed both fundamentalist and modernist elements, seeking to purify islam by discarding local customs and returning to its foundational principles—the quran and the sunnah (holy tradition). the aim was to redefine islam in a manner that aligns with contemporary values, free from superstitions and outdated rituals, and compatible with the modern spiritual landscape (dendi et al., 2005). organizations such as muhammadiyah and its female counterpart, aisyiyah, founded in java in 1912 and 1917, respectively, have played a pivotal role in promoting these new religious trends. the integration of reformist ideologies can be comprehended [ 228 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 through social change theories, which suggest that tensions often arise between traditional practices and modern influences as societies evolve (azaria & aristiawati, 2022). the minangkabau case illustrates this dynamic, demonstrating how cultural and religious identities are continually negotiated within a framework of evolving social expectations and global influences. this ongoing dialogue between adat and islam shapes individual lives and reflects broader societal transformations in response to the modern world (wanto, 2017). rationalism and individualism have emerged as pivotal elements of the new islamic movement in west sumatra, leading to discord with the region’s traditional collectivism rooted in adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective tradition. within islam, an individual’s accountability is exclusively tied to allah rather than the community (stark, 2013). this perspective fundamentally reshapes the concept of property; islam recognizes only individual ownership and disregards communal rights linked to the family. according to islamic law, the accepted family structure is patriarchal, potentially allowing for polygynous arrangements, with the father serving as the primary authority figure. consequently, a woman’s dependence on her brother for protection and support for herself and her children becomes unattainable. while both adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective traditionand islam confine women to domestic roles within the family structure, the level of reliance experienced by women is significantly greater under islamic principles (nurdin & tegnan, 2019). in the islamic context, women are often perceived as part of their father’s or husband’s property, thereby diminishing their autonomy. conversely, under adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective tradition, women are esteemed as essential custodians of the matrilineal family, entrusted with managing family property and assets. this contrast exemplifies a fundamental divergence in the perception and valuation of women’s roles within each system. the tension between the individualism advocated by islamic teachings and the collectivist ethos of adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective tradition underscores the complexities of gender relations in minangkabau society. as posited by social change theories, cultural value shifts often lead to reassessing roles and identities (elfira & wibawarta, 2019). the introduction of individualism challenges traditional communal bonds, necessitating a re-evaluation of women’s placement within these evolving structures. this intersection of ideologies presents a rich tapestry [ 229 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 for comprehending the dynamics at play within minangkabau society. the conflict between the ideals of rationalism and the deeply ingrained communal values of adat and islam has led to a synthesis that often blurs the distinctions between their respective tradition not only influences individual lives but also reflects broader societal transformations (silk, 1994). as the minangkabau navigate these competing frameworks, they engage in an ongoing discourse concerning identity, authority, and the role of women within their culture, illustrating the complexity and adaptability of social norms in a changing world (rink & barros, 2021). the negotiation between adat and islam within minangkabau society represents a unique and ongoing balancing act that allows both traditions to coexist and influence one another. this balance, although not without its tensions, has created a cultural space where both systems of thought shape social practices, gender roles, and family dynamics (halimatussa’diyah et al., 2024). historically, the matrilineal structure of adat has granted women significant power and authority within the family, particularly in terms of property rights and decision-making. as custodians of family property, women have enjoyed a level of autonomy that stands in contrast to the patriarchal norms prevalent in many other islamic societies (fatimah, 2012). simultaneously, islam has introduced a new framework for gender roles, emphasizing patriarchal family structures and personal accountability before allah. this shift has changed some of the power dynamics within minangkabau society. however, rather than eradicating matrilineal customs, the interaction between adat and islam has led to a synthesis where both systems adapt, creating a hybrid social structure (aziz et al., 2020). for example, while the adat system continues to emphasize women’s roles as property custodians, islamic teachings have influenced how these roles are expressed, emphasizing the moral and spiritual aspects of women’s responsibilities within the family. this synthesis has not remained static; over time, it has resulted in new forms of gender relations in minangkabau society. women, in their resilience, have navigated the intersection of adat and islam, often negotiating their roles within the family and community, inspiring us with their strength and determination (siregar et al., 2022). in many cases, the maternal family continues to play a central role in a woman’s life, giving her significant influence over property and inheritance matters despite the increasing prominence of patriarchal norms in other life aspects. however, the introduction of reformist islamic ideas has also presented new challenges. the influence of islamic reform movements, particularly those advocating for individualism and the primacy of patriarchal authority, has [ 230 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 prompted a re-evaluation of traditional roles (dermanto, 2023; nasution et al., 2023). this re-evaluation has led some women to reconsider their positions within the matrilineal structure and the broader islamic framework, seeking ways to reconcile these sometimes-conflicting demands. it’s important to respect their agency in this process. therefore, the relationship between adat and islam has allowed for a fluidity that enables women to embrace both cultural traditions, drawing strength from each in ways tailored to their unique social contexts. looking to the future, the continued negotiation between adat and islam will likely evolve in response to both internal and external pressures (wanto, 2017). as globalization and modernity continue to shape social and cultural norms, the balance between the collectivist values of adat and the individualistic tendencies within islamic thought may shift again. the rising influence of education, economic mobility, and the increasing participation of women in the workforce will likely advocate for a reconfiguration of traditional gender roles. simultaneously, the strong cultural ties to adapt, particularly in rural areas, suggest that women will continue to play a pivotal role in preserving and passing down these traditions. the future dynamics of this negotiation will likely result in a more inclusive interpretation of islam that respects the cultural uniqueness of minangkabau matriliny while also addressing the evolving needs and aspirations of women in contemporary society, offering hope for a more equitable future (lindayanti, 2019). the ongoing dialogue between adat and islam will continue to shape the identities, roles, and status of minangkabau women, offering a model for other matrilineal societies grappling with similar challenges. decoding patriarchy: the complexities of gender the concept of patriarchy has been extensively scrutinized in the context of gender dynamics, serving as a framework for comprehending the systemic power structures that privilege masculinity over femininity. as a social system where men predominantly wield authority, patriarchy manifests in diverse forms across cultures, influencing various aspects, ranging from familial configurations to institutional hierarchies (idriss, 2022). this intricacy necessitates a comprehensive analysis of the formation, perpetuation, and contestation of gender roles within different socio-cultural milieus. recent anthropological research underscores the fluidity of gender identities, underscoring the imperative of recognizing the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality in understanding patriarchy (mudgway, 2021). the discourse has evolved toward a more intersectional perspective, acknowledging that gender is not uniformly experienced. for instance, eileen [ 231 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 barker’s (2022) research accentuates how women’s encounters in patriarchal societies are markedly influenced by their ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. this perspective aligns with r.w. connell’s concept of “multiple masculinities,” positing the existence of varied forms of masculinity, often in competition within patriarchal frameworks (connell, 2005). by scrutinizing these distinctions, researchers can glean profound insights into the localized manifestations of patriarchy and the resultant gender dynamics. furthermore, the complexities of patriarchy are compounded by cultural narratives that shape conceptions of gender roles. lila abu-lughod (browers, 2014) contends that these narratives are pivotal in upholding patriarchal norms by delineating women’s agency within predetermined roles. this underscores the necessity of delving into the cultural and historical contexts that shape gender dynamics. anthropological studies can illuminate the genesis, dissemination, and resistance of these narratives across different societies, furnishing a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges confronted by individuals navigating patriarchal environments. the advent of global feminism has engendered critical dialogues concerning the concept of patriarchy, particularly about transnational issues. arlie russell hochschild (2013)observes that globalization has transformed gender roles, facilitating greater female participation in the workforce and challenging traditional patriarchal structures. however, this transition is full of contradictions; while women attain economic independence, they may concurrently encounter new forms of exploitation and discrimination in the labour market. hence, investigating the nexus between globalization and patriarchy is pivotal in grasping contemporary gender dynamics. unravelling patriarchy necessitates a comprehensive approach that considers the intricate interplay between cultural narratives, social structures, and personal experiences. by integrating insights from contemporary anthropological theories, scholars can adeptly navigate the nuances of gender within patriarchal societies. subsequent research should prioritize the evolving nature of these dynamics, particularly in light of globalizing influences, ensuring that the perspectives of those affected by patriarchy remain central to the ongoing discourse(du plessis & sørensen, 2017). in indonesia, patriarchal norms exert significant influence over both rural and urban settings, delineating gender roles. despite strides toward gender equality, entrenched traditional expectations often curtail women’s prospects (shahriar, 2018). notably, in numerous rural communities, women are predominantly relegated to the roles of caregivers and homemakers, while men wield authority in decision-making processes. such cultural patterns perpetuate gender [ 232 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 disparities, impeding women’s educational and professional advancement (ganguly & singh, 2021). addressing these challenges necessitates targeted interventions to reshape societal perceptions of gender roles and dismantle patriarchal frameworks. furthermore, indonesia’s political landscape underscores the intersection of patriarchy with power dynamics. women’s representation in governance remains markedly low, with prevailing cultural attitudes framing leadership as a male prerogative. as of 2023, women occupy a mere 20% of legislative seats, emblematic of systemic impediments thwarting women’s political engagement (díaz et al., 2023). mitigating these disparities demands comprehensive policies championing female leadership and empowering women to actively participate in the political arena, thereby challenging deeply rooted patriarchal norms. patriarchal attitudes also significantly influence girls’ educational access. while indonesia has made notable headway in achieving gender parity in primary education, girls encounter hurdles in pursuing higher education and vocational training. societal expectations frequently pressure girls to prioritize familial obligations over their educational aspirations, perpetuating a cycle of dependency and constraining their professional potential(schwab, 2019). initiatives promoting gender equity and encouraging girls to pursue academic interests are imperative in dismantling these patriarchal barriers. the rise of digital activism has made social media a vital tool for women’s resistance against patriarchal norms in west sumatra. the courage of these women, who are using these platforms to challenge traditional gender roles and advocate for more equitable social dynamics in a region where cultural conservatism and patriarchal values are deeply entrenched, is truly inspiring. social media has become an empowering space for women to express their dissent (salliyanti et al., 2023). activists and ordinary women share personal stories of resistance on platforms such as instagram, twitter, and facebook, calling attention to the marginalization women face in various aspects of life. these platforms foster solidarity and raise awareness of local issues, sparking essential discussions on topics such as child marriage, domestic abuse, and gender equality in the workplace. grassroots campaigns, such as #perempuanminangkabau (minangkabau women), have successfully highlighted how gender-based violence intersects with cultural practices and religious doctrines, challenging the notion that tradition justifies the subjugation of women. additionally, women in west sumatra are using social media to advocate for their rights and reshape societal perceptions of femininity and empowerment. the power of storytelling through digital media, often enhanced by hashtags [ 233 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 and viral content, has led to new narratives that prioritize women’s voices and shift public discourse. women have shared their experiences with educational barriers, social expectations, and religious constraints, using these platforms to resist the normalization of these injustices collectively (dendi et al., 2005). these online movements function as individual and collective acts of resistance, allowing women to engage in transnational feminist discourses while asserting their local identities (pierik, 2022). however, challenges persist, including backlash from conservative sectors and the digital divide, which may limit access for some women. therefore, although social media offers a transformative avenue for resistance, it must be supported by offline efforts to address structural inequalities. this comprehensive approach ensures that women from all backgrounds can equally participate in these empowering conversations, highlighting the necessity of both online and offline support in activism. valor voices: empowering minangkabau women the contradictions of power within the minangkabau context, stemming from the tension between the matrilineal cultural structure and the socio-cultural, economic, and political barriers, are of significant importance. traditionally, minangkabau women play significant roles in preserving cultural heritage and maintaining familial lineage. however, their influence often does not extend to the economic and political realms. despite their central position in family and social dynamics, these women frequently face significant obstacles in accessing resources, education, and opportunities for advancement. this paradox reveals how cultural norms, while seemingly supportive of women’s roles, actually uphold traditional patriarchal values that restrict their participation in decision-making and economic activities, thereby reinforcing gender inequalities. furthermore, the growing tension between preserving traditional minangkabau values and pursuing modern gender equality complicates this power contradiction, underscoring the importance of understanding these dynamics. the minangkabau matrilineal system, which grants women authority over property and lineage, is often seen as a progressive model in a traditional cultural context. however, the rise of contemporary gender movements and the integration of global empowerment frameworks have created a conflict between cultural preservation and the need to challenge gender-based discrimination. as women strive for expanded roles in the economy, politics, and society, pursuing greater gender equality often clashes with deeply ingrained customs that still restrict their potential. this contradiction reflects [ 234 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 a broader global struggle where cultural heritage and modern aspirations for women’s rights must be negotiated, resulting in tensions between tradition and the drive for transformative empowerment. this part seeks to identify the underlying factors contributing to these obstacles, including entrenched socio-cultural norms, economic inequalities, and restricted access to educational opportunities. the “valor voices” initiative, a beacon of hope, aims to establish a platform where minangkabau women can articulate their experiences, aspirations, and challenges. this initiative transcends mere empowerment, constituting a transformative effort to redefine the narratives surrounding women’s roles in minangkabau culture. prioritizing storytelling as a powerful self-expression can cultivate a deeper appreciation for the complexities these women navigate daily (schrijvers & coster, 1977). this approach resonates with modern empowerment theories that underscore the critical need for voice and representation in pursuing gender equity. incorporating cultural relativism, this article advocates for understanding the minangkabau women’s experiences within their cultural context. cultural relativism emphasizes that beliefs, practices, and values must be understood within the framework of the culture in which they exist, thereby acknowledging the diverse experiences of women in different societies. this theoretical lens allows for a more nuanced analysis of the intersection between tradition and modern empowerment, highlighting how cultural narratives can both constrain and enable women’s agency (sismarni, 2011). by recognizing the cultural dynamics at play, we can better appreciate the significance of the “valor voices” initiative as a means of fostering empowerment while respecting the rich cultural heritage of the minangkabau community. it posits that the active involvement of stakeholders—from local leaders and national figures—is vital for establishing a supportive environment for minangkabau women. by encouraging collaboration among these actors, we can devise comprehensive strategies that dismantle systemic barriers and celebrate the rich cultural legacy of the minangkabau people. such an integrative approach is crucial to ensure that empowerment initiatives are sustainable and culturally relevant (muchlian, 2019). the relationship between cultural identity and empowerment is a significant theme in the minangkabau context. preserving cultural practices must not infringe upon women’s rights and opportunities. this perspective advocates for a balanced perspective that honours cultural traditions while simultaneously championing the advancement of women’s rights. it calls for a critical reassessment of traditional practices that may inadvertently perpetuate gender inequalities, thereby fostering a [ 235 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 more inclusive cultural narrative that recognizes and values the contributions of minangkabau women. the “valor voices” initiative symbolizes a critical advancement in the quest to empower minangkabau women by amplifying their voices and promoting their active engagement in societal progress. this argument also aspires to enrich our understanding of women’s empowerment within culturally diverse settings by addressing their diverse challenges (bahauddin et al., 2013). by celebrating their stories and experiences, we can cultivate a more equitable society that acknowledges and honours the contributions of all its members, particularly those who have historically been marginalized. in this manner, we pave the way for a future where women’s voices are heard and celebrated, reinforcing the notion that true empowerment stems from recognition, respect, and opportunity. in recent years, there has been a growing recognition of women’s vital contributions in indonesia, particularly those from the minangkabau ethnic group. the intersection of traditional values and modern aspirations presents opportunities and challenges for these women as they navigate their societal roles. as they strive to maintain their cultural identity while pursuing personal and professional goals, minangkabau women are redefining the boundaries of women’s empowerment. noteworthy figures such as nurhayati subakat, acknowledged as an expert in the cosmetics industry over the years, revolutionized the indonesian cosmetics industry through her beauty empire, exemplifying the potential of minangkabau women to break barriers in various sectors (nurhyansa, 2022). their stories highlight individual successes and serve as a catalyst for a collective movement advocating for women’s rights and empowerment within their communities. nurhayati subakat is a prominent indonesian entrepreneur renowned for her significant contributions to the beauty industry as the founder of wardah cosmetics. with a solid commitment to empowering women and promoting beauty products that cater to the needs of indonesian consumers, she has established wardah as one of the leading cosmetic brands in the country. her journey from humble beginnings to becoming a successful businesswoman inspires many aspiring female entrepreneurs (sulaiman, 2019). born and raised in a traditional minangkabau family, nurhayati’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident early. she pursued her education in pharmacy, which laid the foundation for her future career in the cosmetics industry. in 1995, she founded wardah cosmetics, focusing on creating high-quality, halal-certified beauty products that reflect indonesian women’s values and cultural identity. under her leadership, wardah has grown exponentially, offering a wide range [ 236 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 of skincare and makeup products that cater to diverse beauty needs. nurhayati subakat’s vision extends beyond business success; she is dedicated to empowering women through her brand. wardah has become synonymous with promoting positive beauty standards, encouraging women to embrace their natural beauty while enhancing their self-confidence. her commitment to social responsibility is reflected in various initiatives that support women’s empowerment, education, and entrepreneurship, reinforcing the brand’s values and mission. in recognition of her outstanding achievements, nurhayati has received numerous awards and accolades, including being named one of the most influential women in indonesia. her leadership style, characterized by compassion and a focus on community, has earned her respect and admiration in business. she is often invited to share her insights on entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, and the importance of ethical business practices, making her a sought-after speaker at various conferences and seminars(simanjuntak & prihatini, 2020). through her work with wardah cosmetics, nurhayati subakat has impacted the beauty industry in indonesia and beyond. she continues to inspire countless women to pursue their dreams and challenge societal norms, proving that with determination and a strong vision, women can lead in any field. as a trailblazer in the beauty sector, her legacy will undoubtedly influence future generations of female entrepreneurs, encouraging them to carve their paths and contribute to women’s empowerment in society. another woman’s profile, asri astianingsih, is a dedicated activist and entrepreneur known for pioneering work in promoting waste management and environmental sustainability through the “bank sampah” (waste bank) in indonesia. with a solid commitment to her community and a passion for ecological conservation, asri has played a pivotal role in raising awareness about the importance of waste segregation and recycling. her journey began in her hometown, where she recognized the pressing issue of waste management and its detrimental impact on the environment. determined to make a difference, asri established a waste bank initiative that empowers residents to collect, sort, and recycle waste materials. this innovative approach reduces waste in landfills and provides economic benefits to participants, who can earn money from their recyclables. under asri’s leadership, the waste bank has become a model for community-based waste management, showcasing how collective action can lead to significant environmental improvements. asri’s work extends beyond the waste bank itself. she actively engages in educational campaigns, workshops, and community events to educate people about the significance of proper waste management practices. by collaborating [ 237 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 with schools, local governments, and environmental organizations, she strives to instil a sense of responsibility towards the environment in the younger generation. her efforts have transformed waste management practices in her community and inspired many to adopt sustainable habits in their daily lives. asri astianingsih’s dedication to environmental activism has earned her recognition and respect within her community and beyond. she advocates for sustainable practices and policies prioritizing environmental conservation, empowering others to act for a cleaner and healthier planet. through her work with the waste bank initiative, asri exemplifies how grassroots efforts can lead to meaningful change. she is crucial in the movement towards a more sustainable future in indonesia. in the maritime industry, lisa yulia is a distinguished entrepreneur renowned for her innovative approach to shipping and logistics. with a maritime studies and business management background, she has successfully carved a niche for herself in a historically male-dominated industry. lisa’s journey in the maritime field began with her passion for the ocean and a desire to contribute to indonesia’s thriving shipping industry. as the founder and ceo of a shipping company, lisa has made significant strides in modernizing operations and improving efficiency within the sector. her company provides reliable and sustainable shipping solutions, focusing on domestic and international routes. under her leadership, the organization has embraced technological advancements, utilizing digital platforms to streamline logistics and enhance customer service. lisa’s commitment to sustainability is evident in her efforts to implement eco-friendly practices, ensuring that her company contributes positively to the marine environment. in addition to her business acumen, lisa is a vocal advocate for women’s empowerment in the maritime industry. she actively participates in various initiatives to promote gender diversity and inclusion, encouraging more women to pursue careers in shipping and logistics. lisa believes women’s perspectives and contributions are invaluable in driving innovation and fostering a more inclusive industry. her mentorship programs aim to inspire young women to explore opportunities in maritime fields, helping them develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed. lisa has received numerous accolades throughout her career for her contributions to the maritime sector and her efforts to empower women. she is a role model for aspiring female entrepreneurs, demonstrating that women can thrive in any industry with determination and vision. lisa yulia’s story is a testament to the potential of women in the maritime industry, inspiring future generations to follow in her footsteps and contribute to the growth and development of this vital sector. [ 238 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 besides lisa, yusneti is a prominent figure in the jewellery industry, recognized for her innovative designs and commitment to sustainable practices. hailing from the minangkabau culture of indonesia, she has successfully blended traditional craftsmanship with modern aesthetics, creating a unique brand that resonates with local and international markets. her passion for jewellery design began at a young age, inspired by the rich cultural heritage of her community, where intricate craftsmanship and artistry are highly valued. as the founder of her jewellery line, yusneti has carved a niche in a competitive market. her pieces are characterized by their elegance and attention to detail, often incorporating traditional minangkabau motifs that celebrate her cultural roots. by utilizing locally sourced materials and collaborating with artisans from her community, yusneti supports the local economy and promotes the preservation of traditional crafting techniques. this commitment to sustainability and ethical production has garnered her a loyal customer base that values quality and cultural significance. in addition to her business success, yusneti advocates for women’s empowerment in the entrepreneurial landscape. she actively engages in mentorship programs to inspire young women to pursue careers in business and entrepreneurship. through workshops and community outreach initiatives, she shares her knowledge and experiences, empowering the next generation of women to break barriers and achieve their aspirations. yusneti’s journey is a powerful example of how women can thrive in business while remaining true to their cultural identities and values. yusneti’s contributions extend beyond her jewellery business; she is also involved in various charitable endeavours focusing on education and community development. she aims to create a lasting impact and foster positive change within her community by reinvesting some of her profits into local initiatives. through her multifaceted approach to entrepreneurship, yusneti exemplifies the potential of minangkabau women to lead, inspire, and drive economic growth while honouring their heritage. her success story continues to motivate aspiring entrepreneurs, proving that with determination and creativity, women can excel in any industry. the empowerment of minangkabau women is not merely a narrative of individual achievements; it reflects a broader societal shift towards gender equality and community development. the minangkabau community fosters an environment where women can thrive and contribute meaningfully to societal progress by amplifying their voices and celebrating their successes (pangulu et al., 2022). this paper aims to delve into the unique cultural dynamics that shape the lives of minangkabau women and explore how their collective [ 239 ] al albab: volume 13 number 2 december 2024 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v13i2.3202 achievements can inform policy frameworks and community initiatives to enhance women’s empowerment. ultimately, the study seeks to underscore the significance of cultural context in shaping women’s empowerment narratives, advocating for practices that honor and elevate women’s voices in all spheres of life. conclusion this study explores the complex relationship between minangkabau’s matrilineal traditions and the patriarchal frameworks that shape women’s roles in west sumatra. the matrilineal system, with its unique feature of women holding authority over property and lineage, is juxtaposed with patriarchal interpretations of islamic norms that impose limitations on their autonomy, particularly in economic and decision-making areas. the findings reveal the tensions that arise as minangkabau women navigate their identities within these dual systems, balancing their cultural heritage with changing societal expectations. their experiences highlight the urgent need for strategies that preserve cultural traditions while promoting gender equality. the resilience of minangkabau women, evident in their adaptive strategies such as pursuing education, achieving financial independence, and reinterpreting islamic teachings in a way that aligns with egalitarian values, is a testament to their strength. these efforts are further supported by globalization and educational reforms, which create opportunities to redefine traditional narratives and challenge restrictive norms. by leveraging these resources, minangkabau women are preserving their cultural identity and actively contributing to the broader conversation on gender equality. their experiences showcase the transformative potential of combining local traditions with progressive frameworks to foster inclusivity and empowerment, offering hope for the future of gender equality. this research enhances our understanding of gender dynamics in matrilineal societies by emphasizing the significance of cultural context in shaping women’s agency. it highlights the potential for intergenerational change through education and social reform, urging stakeholders to address systemic barriers restricting women’s participation in public and economic spheres. the minangkabau case is a compelling example of how tradition can be reconciled with modernity, providing valuable insights for developing equitable social structures and inspiring global efforts toward achieving gender equality. 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(2019). claude lévi-strauss, jacques lacan and sorcery. in lud (vol. 103). https://doi.org/10.12775/lud103.2019.16   [ 87 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 inter-religious dialogue within the hare krishna mandir community yogyakarta vanny suitela universitas kristen indonesia maluku abstract this paper aims to know how inter-religious dialogue was grasped by hare krishna mandir community in jogjakarta. hare krishna mandir is one of hindus community boarding schools (asram) which being in indonesia beneath of the umbrella of international society for krishna consciousness (iskcon). results show that core of tenet of hare krishna mandir community emphasizes on the development of individual knowledge and spirituality of student as a hindus. somehow, the community is being aware on pluralism context of indonesia, therefore it also gives special attention on its community relationship to the others who live surround them. the community claims the necessity to develop interreligious dialogue as basic daily approach of communication with the others. sunday face comprises of the embodiment of that understanding. it is a program heading on sunday, every week, involving many participants from different backgrounds. they gather together, they talk and share some relevant issues, and they learn from one and another point of views on solution as well as contribution to those. the program obviously contributes to sustaining religious harmony in jogjakarta, and of course it gives better understanding for indonesian people on the importance of inter-religious dialogue in a plural society of indonesia. in addition to, it also contributes to shape open minded, necessity to hear, to learn, and to respect one and others among not only religious people, also society at all. key words: hare krishna mandir, interreligious dialogue, sunday face introduction in a multicultural world, different experiences of the divine are inevitable. a true experience and knowledge of the divine is impossible to be claimed only as part of certain religion tradition. religion is much more relating to the divine privately, however, it is also a connection with humanity. those two dimensions for long times had brought people from different religions into some confrontations and wars which were done on behalf of religions for thousand years. despite religions relations were historically marked by confrontation, rivalry and war, the last two decades have seen many efforts towards new understanding between religions in the world. the religious [ 88 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 encounter between people from different religions in the world postulate the need to know, to understand and to respect one and other in order to prevent conflict and violence like what that happened in the past. breaking down silence, entering dialogue is both smart idea and action ever done by religious people in order to open better understanding among religious people as human being. dialogue is necessary. it is primarily an act of communication in which two ways process occurs occasionally. through dialogue, then decode information and encode a response from the speaker and the listener occur in switching roles and in linearity process (sugunasiri, 1996:145). to be sure, dialogue among religions nowadays may takes place as very effective way in enhancing and nourishing people understandings on the others. through such kind of dialogue, everyone has chance to share his/her values, along with that she/he can listen, and can learn from the other’s values and also it can take place at different levels. interreligious dialogue is the encounter of two worldviews. however, it has important role in facilitating not only interreligious tolerance but also interreligious action. interreligious dialogue is not only covering the ability to live together but also the ability to work together (swidler and mojlez, 2000:147).this statement means that one always like or not meet the others in everyday activities. we talk each other and also we interacts one and other. in a country which is home to people belonging to different racial and religious background like indonesia then real interreligious dialogue isn’t easy. however, it has always been a very important factor to unite peoples and to make them as parcels of one and same country. everyday encounter among indonesian which come from different races, religions, cultures, provinces and etc on one hand will potentially arise possibility of tension, clash, and conflict to be happened between one and others. one another hand, it is possible to trap one in such kind of chit-chat dialogue, or such kind of masked relationship. therefore, those are needed to be negotiated wisely through some actions in which everyone is able to speak for him/her and along with that wants to hear what other say. speaking for him /herself of course postulates a necessity of a space in which she/he confidentially able to speak for him/ herself. then, interreligious dialogue is an offering. however, we have to able to distinguish between untrue religious dialogue and true religious dialogue. knitter mentioned that true interreligious dialogue goes beyond than just chit-chat process in which someone talks mainly to be nice to each other. it is more than just an exchange of information so that one can understand each other better ( knitter, : 4). it goes beyond than a masked relationship because [ 89 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 it is a real conversation in which one both talks and listens, one both speaks his/her mind and also opens mind to the others. in addition, it is a space in which both one tries to persuade the other of the truth and value of what she/he believes, at the same time, is ready to be so persuaded by what his/her partner holds as to be true and valuable. since the country is a multi-culture, then interreligious dialogue should become part of indonesian social life. however, we cannot deny that its effort is still in ongoing process in indonesia. therefore, it should be supported by all components of the country. despite there some obstacles occur on it process, every indonesian has duty to promote it in his/her everyday encounter with the others in order to shape better understanding as well as better interrelationship with others. like what is done by hare krishna mandir community in jogjakarta. even though it is just a small hindu’s community, its teachings and programs is directed to develop better understanding of hindus on their own spiritual values as well as better relationship with the others from different religions. this paper reveals how that community has grasp and has utilized inter-religious dialogue for establishing their internal and external relationships with the others nicely. it will elaborate firstly the profile and its relevant pertinent of roles. secondly, it will focus on inter-religious dialogue process which is availed by it and also some discussions on it. this study is based on data gathered by the author in the research conducted in 2010. both interviews and observations were done with members of hare krishna mandir from different genders in order to get data. model used a qualitative research. the participants were queried informally and formally about their willingness to take part in this research primarily to answer the question how does hare krishna mandir community understand and develop inter-religious dialogue. the non structured interviews allowed respondents to share their views, beliefs and attitudes about interreligious dialogue. data had simultaneously been analyzed through data’s collection, reduction, display, verification, presentation, conclusion and the last one data clarification. all information had been interpreted and those processes of analysis done interactively based on those components. profile of hare krisna mandir community ashram narayana smerti or hare krishna mandir is one of hindus community, located at sudarsan chakra no 3, kampung depok, maguwoharjo, sleman jogjakarta. it is part of hindus world organizations beneath of international society for krishna consciousness (iskcon). iskcon established by om vishnupada a.c. bhaktivedanta swami prabhupada in july 1966 in new [ 90 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 york usa. this is an international community for worshippers of sri krishna which come from all over of the world. hare krishna mandir is one of iskcon prolongation hand in indonesia. it was precisely established in 1996 in jogjakarta. as hindu’s community, hare krishna mandir has a great vision in developing its community in order to be accepted by hindus in indonesia, and largely by indonesian society at all. vision of hare krishna mandir is actualizing roles as a hindus religious education community which able to educate students to get full comprehension about hinduism and to become better hindus based on sri krishna’s religious teachings. it has three missions. (1) to conduct and to develop such kind of analysis of tattwa or hinduism’s philosophy based on some teachings of veda for hindus especially for young generation. (2) to conduct such kind of studies in action on ethics and moralities relate to hinduism’s teachings, along attempts to apply those obviously within society life at all. (3) to develop action in doing ritual of veneration and sadhana which appropriate to the tradition of veda. besides those missions, it has seven aims why it has been developed. first, it tries to increase comprehension of hindus about teaching of veda, in particular, related to all teachings being inside both book of bhagavad-gita and bhagavata purana based on waisnawa’s paradigm. second, is to help large society to be able in differing reality from illusion, differing spirituality from worldliness, and also differing eternal from transitory. third, is to expose negative impacts of materialism. fourth, is to give guidance of hinduism’s spiritual practices for hindus within everyday life, fit to all techniques already explained by veda. fifth, is to conserve and to spread abroad culture of veda. sixth, is to conduct and to spread abroad true spelling of holy names of god as taught by sri caitanya mahaprabhu. seventh, is to help each hindus to memorize sri krishna, and to serve him. ashram as model of community hare krishna mandir takes model of ashram as its core of community. it is actually based on hinduism’s concept of educational system. there at least two popular models of traditional educational system developed by hindus around the world to educate their young generations. first, is called ashram and the other one so-called gurukula. ashram is hinduism’s traditional educational system which obligates its students to live in a board. further, it emphasizes more on hinduism’s spiritual education for its community. gurukula means a living house of a teacher. in this model, members who are interested in to learn hinduism’s concepts will live together with a teacher at his home, or at [ 91 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 certain place which functions as living house for them. members will become part of teacher’s family. both ashram and gurukula are very popular in india’s traditional educational system. in indonesian context, koentjaraningrat in his research mentioned that educational system of ashram ever developed in pre-islamic period. however, it almost disappeared from indonesia’s model of education shortly after the coming of islam and christianity, and also in periods during colonization. shortly after the independence era, then it again began to be developed by indonesian hindus. better access going back and forth to india being primary reason for ashram to be grown faster in indonesia. in fact, the development of ashram is not just occurred in indonesia, it also occurs in many of western countries and africa as well. as an ashram, hare krishna mandir grows and practices some of hinduism educational rules for its all members, in particular for students who are interested in to learn about krishna. students of hkm usually come from various backgrounds of ages, races, genders, education, and occupation. some of them come from different provinces of indonesia, even there are some foreign students who come from different states around the world. most of hkm students are living in the ashram, it provides rooms for them either for male or for female. however, there few of them are back and forth to the ashram, because their homes are near to it. students daily activities are divided into three in common, they pray and listen to some teachings. they usually take some courses related to hinduism’s philosophical and spiritual teachings. this activity formally will lead a student attain a higher level in hinduism’s philosophical and spiritual formation than before. they involve in ashram’s everyday discussions on actual issues run after courses class. practicing yoga is unavoidable for students at all. this is the core exercise for all members. living simply and humbly is the motto of the hkm community. those mean that men show his/her dignity as human being while he/she able to live in simple way, able to become humble being both in vertical relation to god as well as in horizontal relation to the other, and also able to become humble to live in harmony with nature. those principles obvious realized through students paths of dressing up, eating, and attitude in relating to one and others. students both male and female usually wear simple clothes, used to worn by guru. it consists of white and yellow clothes. wearing those colors determined on spiritual stages achieved by students. hkm community usually provides simple meals for its all members; no meats, no milk, no snacks, and etc from animal. in other words, they just cook and eat food from plant and its all products. they believe in that both human and animal are living things. those have some similarities. one of similarities is that those are bloody living [ 92 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 things. therefore, they will get unhappiness feelings if they eat products of animal. eating animal products mean doing harm to another living thing and it violates dharma. in addition to, living simply and humbly means too that students have responsibilities to both respecting and treating well to the teacher (guru) as well as to one and others. one and others should live in love and harmony. one wants to understand and to respect to rights of others fully. in other words, don’t do harm to both others and nature is core principle of the community. basic role of hare krishna mandir hare krishna mandir is intrinsically one of hindus’s ashram focuses on internal development of the hindus spiritualities, primarily on individual consciousness. the decision to focus on hindus spiritualities is actually based on its understanding of basic concept about sri krishna and his teachings. in hinduism’s tradition, worshiping sri krishna is an old tradition which takes root in the teaching of bhagavad-gita. bhagavad-gita is the utterance book of sri krishna to arjuna five thousand years ago before the war of bharatayudha occurred. it is the spiritual teaching’s book for the hindus. i made sarva, a pujari (priest) of hare krishna mandir mentioned that hare krishna mandir was established in order to help hindus particularly young generations to learn hinduism’s knowledge. in hinduism, there are two kinds of knowledge. first, so-called para wirdaya means spiritual knowledge. second, para widya means material knowledge. as a community that was established based on krishna consciousness movement, then it tries to develop consciousness about krishna to its all members of community through those studies above. here, the role of hare krishna mandir is to give illumination of hindu’s knowledge for the students theoretically and practically. therefore, focus of this community is on the development of hindus religious theories and practices instead of developing all kinds of community development programs. in line with its focus, then it has been advancing its role in advocating the hindus who want to know deeply about krishna and also advocate them to live accordingly with krishna teachings. here, individual progress in knowing and in practicing the teachings of krishna is privileged. it is important for someone to know deeply about the universe, all kinds of harmonization and balancing of life, between what is called as spiritually and what is called as worldly. indeed, those knowledge and practices by hindus in this world are just dedicated to sri krishna. in order to support the notions above, then it develops sri krishna’s teachings and practices based on the concepts of [ 93 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 harmonization and balancing of life such as love to one and others and also love to nature. ahimsa: core teaching for doing inter-religious dialogue in its practice, hare krishna mandir is aware on pluralistic context of indonesia. therefore, it considers developing those intern teachings above integrally with this pluralistic context. the community emphasizes on appreciation for other’s life. this appreciation is obvious through its member’s understandings of how to treat the others with all kindness as well as respectfulness. the community grasps that the good manners in treating the others are based on hinduism famous concept of ahimsa. ahimsa derived from sanskrit, from term “a” means non, without and himsã means violence. ahimsa means respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others (judy pearsall: 1999, page 27). it is the core principle of hindus in doing everyday activities in everyday life. it is also adopted as the basic principle or approach in doing dialogue with others. indeed, hkm community attempts to apply and to embody that philosophy as the basic teaching and also as the basic rule in developing individual’s understanding on krishna and on daily social life as well as along as basic response in developing intra and inter relationship to others. treating the others well is valuable. it is embodiment of a balance of love to god. how could a hindus love to god, if he/she couldn’t able to build harmonious relationships to the others. most of informants interpret this sentence means that true love to god could just be embodied in a good relationship with other human beings and also other living things. moreover, they argue how come someone can speak that he/she loves to god whereas he/she hates, or gets mad for his/her brothers and sisters. how does he/she claim love to god whereas he/she damages nature without taking responsibility on what that he/she does. in other words, treating others as well as nature well is the key to understand the concept of love to god. love to god means avoiding doing harm on the others life. it also means avoiding appearing unhappy feeling of the others. hindus have duties to spread love and happiness on all living things in the world. interreligious programs at hare krishna mandir community as the response to pluralistic context of indonesia and also their understanding on the concept of love to god above, this community from time to time attempts to accommodate and to develop both its curriculum and program [ 94 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 to be acceptable not only for insiders, but also for outsiders. to become a good hindus means one should not only has good individual knowledge and spirituality of hinduism, but also should has extra understanding on other religions teachings. therefore, this community develops interreligious teaching method in delivering subjects to students. a subject is firstly approached from hinduism perspective, and then added by other religions perspectives on it. kade ariasah (a pujari: hindu’s priest) mentioned that the perspective of inter-religious dialogue can actually be started from internal community of one religion through the model of teaching. when someone teaches students or other people, he/she should not just teach that concept from his/her own religion perspective. he/she should also understand this concept from other religion and he/she should teach it in a comprehensively understanding. by doing this, he/she together with students /adherents will be assisted obtaining new sense of sympathy to others. in addition, it will also help us going out from such pity minded and exclusive attitude toward open-minded and open attitude. to see others, should be started from a sense of solidarity to them. we are the same. hindu, islam, christianity etc, is not important. service of love to god is the most important. it means that duty of hindus is assisting someone to understand and to recognize krishna better instead of converting his/her to be a hindus. as further action of that approach, the community develops inter-religious dialogue program so-called sunday face. it is the program open to do dialogue together between members of this community with other people from other different religions. the aim of this program is to enriching and enhancing hkm community understanding on other religious people and their religions, and also to strengthening the existence of the community is not only as hindu’s belonging community, but also is as a cross religious community. it is usually conducted on every sunday at 13.00p.m. it involves many people from different religions. hindus, muslims, christians, buddhist and others people from indigenous religious branches which being in jogjakarta are invited to this dialogue. participants that attending this dialogue are coming from different levels of education; from ordinary people to scholars; from various background such as economists, socialists, theologians, anthropologists, farmers, traders and etc. in order to avoid frozen dialogue, then it is usually arranged in informally situation. in every activity, then every participant is expected want to acquaint others before coming to sharing process. one wants to directly introduce and to speak for him/herself without interferences of others. by doing this, all participants expect able to shape friendly circumstance between one and others before they involve in deeper dialogue about some issues. there some issues are usually shared together such as theology issues, [ 95 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 about humanity problems, social issues and even ecology problems. the participants from different religions are given times to speak for themselves as well as to listen from the others point of views on those issues. afterwards, as following up of the activity then the participants are possible coming with and address some recommendations or solutions to parties who have competence in. however, failed to address solution is possible too. for hkm community, sunday face becomes important time for them to explore more as well as to deepen knowledge about other religions as well as some urgent issues that occur in the context of indonesia recent time. through this dialogue, they can learn directly about religions, those tenets and practices and even some positive experiences from those adherents. besides that, they are also given chances to involve together with the others in not only giving response but also in managing some serious problems that are occurring in society of jogjakarta and even indonesian society largely nowadays. niluh wayan reveals that she feels happy following the program because it gives some positive impacts on hindus relationships with other religious people in jogjakarta such as the program reduces negative images, stigma, stereotype, prejudices from others to hindus and vice versa. it also reduces possibilities of new tension, clash, and new conflict that maybe can appear between one and others participants. more often the participants meet one and others, talk to one and other, listen to one and others, then those will nourish them into new better perceptions as well as better attitudes about others. further, most of the members convince that inter-religious dialogue is important because as human, then they have duty to build harmonious relationship with others. harmonious relationship is just possible through deeper acquaintance of and to others. they claim that interreligious dialogue is not only embodiment of ahimsa, but also embodiment of sri krishna’s teaching about four ways of yoga (catur marga yoga). it is four ways offered for those who want to be more nearer to attain to god. those fourth yoga are (1)karma yoga. (2)jnana yoga. (3)raja yoga and (4)bhakti yoga. all those emphasize on the development of senses of bhakti, love, and surrender as requirements of men more near to attain to god. inter-religious dialogue is part of bhakti yoga. in addition, the community is not only programming its own program but also involving in another interreligious organizations being in jogjakarta such as fkub (forum kerukunan antar umat beragama). besides those, they also lead seminars, conferences, discussions concern on both social-humanity problems and ecology problems. they do those activities in coordination and cooperation with others from different religions. besides that, as an [ 96 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 appreciation for people who are living surrounding them, then they often involve in kerja bakti together with people from kampung depok. for them, kerja bakti gives them more times to interact with others, talk each other and also to know one and others. they will get happy if they can help others and can tie together with them. discussions multiculturalism is indonesian’s fact. however it is often becoming a fuel factor for some conflicts to be occurred in society instead of becoming a glue factor for bounding them. willingness of people to respecting and accepting one and others well is often put on fire because of missing and less both understanding and knowledge of others. hare krishna mandir community contributes to transform above circumstance of indonesia, and also educate indonesian people about how to manage diversity as the strength to produce better society of indonesia. there some positive impacts arise from hkm community and its interreligious dialogue programs at the grass root level. largely, it contributes to pluralism in indonesia. how does pluralism managed it becomes a good starting point in developing better understanding and better interreligious relationship among religious people in jogjakarta, even in indonesian context largely. in micro context, interreligious dialogue indeed gives great influence for hindus and other participants both personally and as community. hindus and other participants (christians, muslims, buddhists, etc) are given opportunities to talk and to know each other. of course, this nourishment knowledge leads to growing respected attitudes between them as well. as a consequence, it will reduce prejudices and stereotypes among them that probably ever occurred before. dialogue process which occurs every week will enhance quality of relationship between them. they will be more open than to one and other, and want to listen too. it will lead them to changing and to growing in good perception and good understanding about others and then able to acting respectfully. these circumstances of course bring some benefits for social life of communities in jogjakarta. more and more participants from different religions and different locations involving in this interreligious dialogue then side by side better communities are possible to be established. in macro context, those of course encourage positive appreciation between christians, hindus, muslims, buddhist, etc to promoting harmonious life either in jogjakarta or for indonesian society at all. the dialogue offers some concepts of hindu which can actually be dialogued with christianity, islam and other religions teachings. religion’s concepts as well as tenets of different [ 97 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 religions can be dialogued if all components have mutual trust between one and others, and also based on feeling of honesty and sincerity to listen, and to learn from the others such as mentioned by hkm community. learning from sunday face’s program, then mutual trust, honesty and sincerity can be strengthened as good inner modals for fostering better indonesian individual character and better indonesian communities as well. further, it will encourage religious people to maintain better religious relationship. indeed, since it is a multicultural country, then better harmonious relationship is important in order to avoid ourselves from religious fanaticism and selfish-ism. as we know, each person lives in his/her own principle as well as own faith differ from others. deepest understanding toward others will lead someone to better manners in respecting and treating others existences. of course, it will liberate religious people from antipathy toward emphatic thinking and feelings to others. through dialogue space of hkm community, then hindus, christians, buddhist, muslims etc are aided to reduce social estrangement as well as social distance which occur among them. it will assist them to recognize and to comprehend wrestling of others. of course, this pattern of interreligious dialogue is important to be done continually in order to promote harmonious life of religious people in indonesia. the providing of adequate space to do dialogue will provide to hindus, christians, muslims, buddhist, etc some possibilities to encounter intensively and also will assist them to create a dynamic society. from hare krishna community, we learn about the importance of dialogue and cooperation among religious communities in order to pump up and to create better understanding and strong relationship in society. conclusion inter-religious dialogue and cooperation between religious communities are important because through those, religious people will be assisted, and be encouraged to change mistake perceptions, stereotypes, stigmas, prejudices and even wrong images on others. the concepts of ahimsa in hindu, love in christianity, and also mahabbah in islam can be uttered as the doors entering dialogue in order to create harmonious and balancing of life. a selfdialogue ability, an ability and a willingness to do dialogue with own self, is probably could be an offering in order to build better mind and attitude toward others. we need to build self-dialogue ability as the basis to construct sort of dialogical in thought too. from hare krishna community, we learn how inter-religious dialogue can be developed as life style of religious people in indonesia. from inter-religious dialogue we can create positive, creative, [ 98 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 1 june 2013 and constructive understanding between one and others based on openness, honesty, and sincerity. bibliography banawiratma and husein, fatimah. 2009. interreligious dialogue: theories and practices, jogjakarta: crcs gadjah mada university knitter, paul f, christian attitude toward other religions: the challenge of commitment and openness, unpublished paper pearsall judith, 1999, the concise oxford dictionary tenth edition, new york: oxford university press sugunasiri, suwanda hj, 1996, “spiritual interaction, not interfaith dialogue: a buddhist contribution”, buddhist-christian studies vol: 16 swidler, leonard and mojzes, paul, 2000, from the age of monologue to the age of global dialogue, in the study of religion in an age of global dialogue, philadelphia: temple university press swidler leonard, 2007, trialogue, new london: twenty-third publication. [ 75 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the involvement of religious leaders in conflict resolution within tolaki people of konawe district erens e. koodoh gadjah mada university email: koodoherens@gmail.com heddy shri ahimsa-putra gadjah mada university email: ahimsa_putra@yahoo.com setiadi gadjah mada university email: setiadi_antro@ugm.ac.id abstract this study aims to identify the various socio-cultural conditions of tolaki people in konawe that often engaging in inter-family conflict. the process of identifying the socio-cultural conditions leads to find the correlation between socio-cultural conditions and the types of inter-family conflicts and how they get resolved at the community level. religious leaders are part of the efforts of solving the conflicts. in addition, this study is also aimed to determine and analyze the types of inter-family conflicts that exist and the processes for conflict resolution among families in the tolaki in konawe. the research data is based on two categories of informant; traditional leaders and ordinary informants that are public figures such as religious leaders, government officials within the scope of sub-district, village, and community members both at the level of individuals, families, and communities. the traditional leaders get involved in conflict resolution while public figures have experience on dealing with such conflicts and are sometime involved in a conflict. the work indicates that the conflicts in the tolaki people take the form of closed and open conflicts. while the sources or the causes of the conflict come from tulura (speech), peowai (actions), and powaihako (behavior). the sources of the conflict then are manifested in the daily life of tolaki people and become sisala’aineperapua (conflict in marriage), sisala’aine hapo-hapo (conflict by treasure), and conflict in social relations. social and cultural conditions that often lead to inter-family conflicts are the difference in social strata, economic inequality, and religious differences. tolaki people then settle their conflict through the expertise and charisma of religious and cultural leaders by the completion of melanggahako, mesokei, peohala, mombopoo’rai, sombalabu, and mosehe. keywords: tolaki, religious, leader, inter-family, conflict, resolution. [ 76 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 introduction there are two patterns of conflicts commonly found arising in the life of human beings namely vertical and horizontal conflicts. vertical conflict is the conflict between communities and the government. the use of instruments of state violence, causing casualties among people is something commonly seen in such kind of conflict (susan, 2009:99). while horizontal conflict is a conflict involving agencies at the community level or that occur among the people themselves. horizontal conflicts can occur internally and externally as well. internal conflict is normally involving agents contained in a community. interpersonal conflict is targeted at the persons in the group and externally involving agents in a community with agents from other communities (tomagola, 2006:41). horizontal conflict in a society can arise for many reasons such as those based on inter-ethnic and inter-religious causes including what happened in poso known as the poso conflict (li, 2010; sangaji, 2010; klinken, 2007; hasrullah, 2009, trijono, 2006; karnavian dkk, 2008), conflict in maluku (klinken, 2007:147-148; tumanggor, 2006:279) and conflict between dayak and madurese in west kalimantan (davidson, 2010:245-268; prasojo, 2011). in addition, the social condition of a society often raises the trigger of a conflict (maunati 2006:194-195; suparlan 1993:37). conflicts between the members of society, both inter-ethnic conflicts, religious conflicts, internal conflicts within society or community, as well as other conflicts in any form will be the same also for the community causing loss of life, social relations, and possessions. the efforts of conflict resolution can be reached in many ways including negotiations such as what have been done in poso and maluku (karnavian at.al, 2008:206; hasrullah, 2009: ix; waileruny, 2010:225). tolaki people have recognized their various traditional mechanisms adopted to resolve conflicts in their lives. conflict resolution in the tolaki community closely related to one of their ways of life namely tolaki inae kona sara iyee pine sara, inae lia sara iyee pinekasara. it means that someone who knows customs will be appreciated, but those who do not appreciate the indigenous values will be sanctioned. in addition, the community requires for moambongi (forgiveness) when a conflict occurs. the community would demand for monggolupe (forgetting) when the conflict is resolved. the tolaki is the tribe who inhabit the island of sulawesi and southeast peninsula known as the mainland of southeast sulawesi province. currently the tolaki people inhabit five districts of the eleven districts/cities in the province. the work is based on research in the five districts in which the tolaki people have walked together with other tribes such as bugis, makassar, java, bali, lombok, muna and buton, who also came to the region persisting [ 77 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 for several generations until today. in addition to ethnic diversity, there is also a diversity of religions in the region. islam, christianity, catholicism, and hinduism have coexisted since the times of their arrival. this paper highlights the lives of the tolaki people as they have shown different from what happened in some locations experiencing conflicts between ethnic groups in the region. the tolaki people, who also coexist with other tribes, have almost never experienced ethnic conflicts. the conflicts that often occur in their everyday life precisely occurred among their own fellow tolaki people. the conflicts that have been found is in a form of a conflict that involves a family with another family members or conflicts within family members. the work is supported by data that is obtained through very intensive observations and depth interviews with important key informants. the observation is conducted in the setting of direct experiences being in the situation of the phenomenon. in other words, it is based on a direct view of concrete events that occur in the society being studied (hasan & koentjaraningrat, 1997:9; bachtiar, 1997:112). thus, this observation is an activity to gather as much information on the basis of what is visible on the targeted research (bachtiar, 1997:114). while in-depth interview is aimed to collect information or data about human life, in this case the tolaki community and convictions of those engaged in it (koentjaraningrat, 1997:129). theories of conflict and the tolaki people experts on the conflict studies have provided some definitions. for example mismatch belief, interest opposition, rivalry, disagreement and debate (williams, 1970). it is also understood as a result of the interaction between the goals of two or more parties in a competitive situation (oberschall, 1978), physical confrontation between parties (webster as quoted by pruitt & rubin 2009: 9), as a competition (schmidt, 2001:2) and as an example of contention between the “indigenous” majority against the minority from outside (chua, 1999). in this paper, the authors are much influenced by the theory of conflict proposed by pruitt and kim (2004:7-8) defining conflict as a perceived divergence of interest, a belief that the parties current aspiration are incompatible. a wide variety of major conflicts often arose from a dispute that seems trivial, whether it is between individuals or between families (ahimsa-putra, 1999:142). the work focuses on conflicts that occur between families and refer to pruitt and kim (2004), oberschall (1978), and bartos and wehr (2002) believing that conflict between families can be interpreted as differences of perception about the importance of a family with other families. it refers to [ 78 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the behavior that implies opposition or competition in the objectives of the parties that are mutually dependent. the family here is meant to be a social entity that is formed as a result of a marriage, often referred to as a household. this work also uses a functional-structural paradigm where its origin can be found in the works of auguste comte (poloma, 2010:23). this paradigm is sometimes called the theory of consensus with the argument that the rules of the culture of a community, or a structure may determine the behavior of its members, to channel their actions in ways that may be different to other communities (jones, 2009:8-9). besides comte, structural functional theory proposed by talcott parsons also produces the most extensive elaboration of the structural and functional theory a major contributor to the earlier theory (haryanto, 2012:19; ritzer, 2012: 408-410). emile durkheim is also a thinker who contributed to the structural functional theory. according to durkheim, a society in which there are various kinds of social institution is a social organism. these social institutions, as well as the body parts of a living organism, have their respective functions. the function of social institutions is conformity (correspondence) between these institutions with the needs of the social organism (ahimsa-putra, 2007:181). in addition to durkheim, one of the most important scientists in the field of anthropology is a.r. radcliffe-brown (turner & maryanski, 2010: 63) adopting a functional method of structural durkheim. brown, in applying the concept of function as one of the main concepts in functional-structural paradigm, often makes the analogy between social life and organic life. because of a certain perspective, social life has in common with the life of the organism. the function of this social institution is the correspondence between the institutions with the needs of the social organism. as disclosed by brown: “durkheim definition is that the ‘function’ of a social institution is the correspondence between it and the needs of the social organism. i would like to substitute for the term ‘needs’ the term ‘necessary conditions of existence” (brown, 1965:178). the concept of the needs of durkheim, by brown replaced by the conditions of existence (conditions of existence) that the conditions necessary for the existence or existence of something or the conditions required. for example brown will see the essential conditions of social systems to reveal the continuity that is as the maintenance of rights and obligations between people so that interaction can take place (turner dan maryanski, 2010:74). the use of the concept means also for their acceptance of the notion that human society is also necessary existence of certain conditions, as well as in the world of animals or other living things (ahimsa-putra, 2007:182). in addition, it is important to mention here the concept of conflict resolution. [ 79 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 conflict resolution is any effort made to provide a solution to the controversy/ conflict, which can be accepted by all parties (pruitt & rubin, 2009:311). many ways of resolving conflicts or disputes in indonesia, such as the war of words and mutual silence, compensation, bargaining through intermediaries, deliberation, and fighting ability (“war”) (ahimsa-putra, 1999:159-164). the tolaki people view conflict as a dispute, misunderstanding of both intentional and unintentional that causes quarrels, fights until finally breaking of the rope silaturrahim or kinship, as well as the breakdown of communication between individuals with other individuals. conflict in tolaki people’s perception is something that is highly undesirable to happen in their lives. but there is no denying that in the end, the conflict is a phenomenon that cannot be separated from public life in general and in particular the people tolaki. the following will discuss several issues related to the conflict and more specifically in relation to inter-family conflicts such as type, shape, and a source of conflict in the people tolaki in konawe. tolaki people share some kind of conflict that often occurs in their lives namely (1) conflicts between man and nature, (2) conflicts between humans and the supernatural, and (3) conflicts between man and man. the types of conflicts emerge or transform in the form of covered or silent conflicts. no talk and interaction is found among those involved in the silent conflict. those who are involved in the conflict will also avoid meeting both individually and in meetings involving many activities, for example in the wedding and other public gatherings. beside silent, open conflict is also found within the tolaki people. the open conflict is often openly manifested in the form of a fight and even murder cases. sources of conflict within the tolaki people some sources or causes of the conflict are found within the tolaki people. they are identified in local language. the work provides the desciption of them with more detail explanation of tulura (speech), powaihako (behavior) and peowai (acts). tolaki people believe that one of the causes of conflict in daily life is because of a person’s words and also how someone speaks the word. they call it tulura (speech). therefore, tolaki people maintain ethics in speaking; to always pay attention to who is whom they speak with. for example, talking to an older person would not be the same as when talking with someone younger. in tulura or speech that may be the cause of this conflict, there are some specific things that are often a source of conflict in the people of tolaki including mowukuti or criticizing others, mowinduki or defamatory, mososangge or disgrace tell someone, monduutulu or accused, [ 80 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 and mondomboka or convicted/accused. powaihako (behavior) that often leads to conflict is a behavior that does not comply with the rules and regulations, norms, and ethics in the life of man tolaki. powaihako actually a behavior or a behavior that does not directly harm another person, for example, throw spit in front of people or grumpy and say rude words in front of people without a clear purpose which direction the anger and harsh words were. fraternal relations, kinship, may be disrupted or interrupted as a result of such behavior that is not in accordance with the general norms. peowai or acts that often cause conflicts are actions that are considered inappropriate because it does not correspond to the prevailing customary norms. the inappropriate actions include, for example, intentionally holding or touching another man’s wife on inappropriate parts such as the breast or sexual organs. the misconduct example is an act that is not in accordance to the customary norms of decency and considered to trample on women’s dignity, especially the family of her husband. various sources of conflict between families that often occur in the lives of the tolaki are also identified in this work. the conflict is usually originated from marital life which is derived from social relations and sometimes comes from possessions. the following are some important terminologies of marital based conflicts within the tolaki people. the tolaki people recognize mombolasuako that means running/fleeing. this happens when a man and a woman agree to run or go from their homes to a place, for example to the house of a traditional leader (tolea, pabitara, toono motuo, or puu’tobu), to the house of a government official (rt, rw, or village head), or to one of the families either side of the family. there are three reasons why elopement is commonly happening in the tolaki community. first is molasu in which a man and a woman agreed to run away together because their parents do not approve their relationship. second is pinolasuako where a man and a woman agreed to run for one of the parties, especially her parents disapproved of their relationship. and third is mepolasuako in which a woman invites a man to elope or a woman complained relation to the traditional leaders (toono motuo, tolea, pabitara) or to the priest and asked them to keep her taken care to mate with a male. they also know momboko mendia or unwed pregnancy. momboko mendia occurs when a man impregnates a girl and they are not in marriage so that conflict occurs within the two families. the cause of conflict between other family originating from a marital problem is if there is a terako or being captured. this happens when a man, whether he is a young man or married, found being together with a woman in a deserted [ 81 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 place and are doing something improper done by those who are not bound by a marital relationship. the tolaki believe that this kind of act violates traditional norms of decency and gives a shame to the family. in addition, the tolaki people also know umo’api (cheating). umo’api can be interpreted as infidelity and is considered as one of the very serious conflict in the social life. umo’api is one of the actions that is forbidden and considered a very despicable and embarrassing. they even believe that umo’api may not only cause a big conflict but also give a bad impact to the social life of the people such as natural disasters including floods, drought or prolonged rain or harvest failures. the tolaki also recognize property-based conflicts or sisala’a ine hapo-hapo. conflicts between families due to the problem of property is more specialized to land inherited from their elders. in this case, there are several types of land ownership to be a source of conflict between families in the life of the tolaki. wuta tiari or land legacy is inherited from a common ancestor to his descendants. wuta walaka is the land area of the former buffalo preservation. walaka wuta is owned by a broad family originating from a common ancestor and in walaka that each of the family of a broad family originating from a common ancestor can release the buffalo. waworaha which is the land of former residence of a family grove is characterized by the presence of plants or plant long-term and sago clumps on it. o’epe is the area where the growth of sago and o’galu or rice fields that belong to a large family of one cluster of common ancestors. in short, those all sources of conflict that can be the trigger for this land issue is land that formerly belonges to the family grove from a common ancestor that can be inherited. conflict resolution and local believe of the tolaki people several principles of resolving conflicts in the people tolaki are identified. first is the principle of mbendeporombu or deliberation. deliberation is a form of cooperative spirit which has always pursued and carried out by the traditional leaders, community leaders, including religious leaders, the elders in the community, and government. the elements that are always played an active role bring together the parties involved in the conflict along with his whole family. the second is mbeokotu kombo, mbeohai (literally are siblings, children). it means that all people tolaki brothers, whether it’s siblings, a close relative, or brothers away. therefore, the second principle is more emphasis on kinship or blood relationship or kinship. below are some important findings from the tolaki community in dealing with conflict. [ 82 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 1. the patterns of conflict resolution the process of conflict resolution in the people tolaki inseparable from the role carried out by traditional leaders, community leaders, and local authorities. the pattern of conflict resolution performed by traditional leaders, community leaders, and the government in resolving the conflict in the tolaki is a pattern pesoro mbondu or mediation, mbetulura or dialogue, metawari or negotiation, and mombesara as the last part in conflict resolution. but in the case of certain conflicts caused by umo’api (cheating) and mombetudari (oath), then the last part of the settlement of the conflict is mosehe. those kinds of pattern have been done since the time of immemorial and are still implemented by the tolaki people. pesoro ndulura (mediation) every conflict, then that becomes the first step in the process of conflict resolution in society tolaki is the process in the form of mediation. which is a mediator in the mediation process is puutobu, toono motuo, and tolea / pabitara (referred to as traditional leaders), religious leaders, their elders in a society that is often referred to as community leaders, and government in terms of the rt, rw, village head, and head. but the mediator, especially in the mediation process are the traditional leaders as they will facilitate communication of those two parties were involved in a conflict. the core of the mediation process undertaken by traditional leaders are asking the willingness of the parties involved to meet and dialogue to bring the parties to the conflict, the government, the elder, and presenting those who directly witnessed or know exactly sit the case of the causes of conflict (eg, to know the exact history of a piece of land that is a source of conflict). mbetulura (dialogue) the next stage should be done in the process of completion of the people tolaki conflict is dialogue phase. phase dialogue was conducted to determine what is really the main cause of the conflict or what underlies that dispute. in addition, the dialogue is also intended to seek a solution completion, open space of peace for the parties who are involved in the conflict, as well as the initial communication either by traditional leaders, community leaders, local authorities, and they are in conflict. with dialogue involving many parties, who cut off communication between the conflicting will reconnect. [ 83 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 metawari (negotiation) according to fisher (2001:115) in the process of negotiating a settlement of conflict is the first step made by those who are in conflict when communication lines are completely cut off. according tolaki, metawari or negotiation done to reopen the closed communication between those in conflict. metawari process is actually to deliver custom stages that must be passed in the process of conflict resolution and what the obligation of one party against the other party. the most important thing in this metawari process is determining which side should fulfill its obligations and which side to accept it as the right stages, conditions, and obligations to be fulfilled by one party to the other later so that become a customary decision. the next step is a consultation to determine the final process of conflict resolution, which is called mombesara. mombesara (laying down of adat) the last stage in the pattern of conflict resolution in the tolaki community is mombesara. it is conducted by tolea/pabitara with kalosara before pu’utobu (traditional leader), with the essence of the talks: the preface, containing the purpose and objective of the meeting; explaining in detail all the information and recognition of the offender, including evidence of his actions or the offense as well as his appeal to the customary meeting to be reconciled; describing in detail the particulars of the victim; an opinion or advice on alternative forms of punishment or fines imposed on the offenders deserve in accordance with the form of acts committed by the offenders. it is followed by comments, suggestions, and opinions of the puu’tobu (traditional leaders) and suggestions and opinions from toono motuo as the chairman of the customary village. then suggestions and opinions of indigenous elders or those who are elder in the village are being heard. requesting the demands from those representing the victim’s family is also found here. then it is followed by request and apology from those representing the perpetrator. submission of conclusions by the puu’tobu to ratify the legal decisions is handed down to the perpetrators, including the claim that the decision is final, binding, and undeniable. it is also found in this stage the determination and execution of providing any liability that has been required in the process of metawari from the perpetrator to the victim, represented by tolea. the word-the closing words of pabitaraalso marked that the case has been completed and the custom event of mombesara also been completed. [ 84 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 2. models of conflict resolution based on local belief the tolaki people only know their fines or restitution in the settlement of the conflict. fines are applied in a provision that is standard according to customary of the tolaki. here are three different ways or mechanisms for resolving conflicts, particularly the conflicts among families, according to the custom of the tolaki people in konawe. melanggahako the people of tolaki recognizes what they call melanggahako. it is a way of conflict resolution having function to solve several types of conflicts including momboko mendia or pregnancy of an non-married woman. this occurs when a man impregnates a girl or a widow. in this melanggahako ritual, the man is obligated to pay a penalty to the woman’s family. the first option is to pay powoka obiri consisting of two elements; goods and pohunggai worumata (one piece of sarong). the second option is to pay pohunggai sokibiri (one piece of sarong and pelanggahako (a piece of cloth). the last is the indigenous taapombonaanaa a’koa consisting of two (2 eyes), namely two pieces of gloves and a buffalo. after the above conditions have been paid to the woman through mombesara, then the process continues with the administration of customary marriages under a normal marriage procession of the tolaki community. terako or telangga nirako (being caught) terako or telangga nirako is also called busted situations. this happens when a man and a woman, whether a girl or a widow staying together without anyone else, doing things that are not appropriate to religious and customary norms. the fines or compensation should be given by the deemed guilty in two cases. the first is powoka obiri consisting of two subjects, namely pohunggai worumata (1 sheet of cloth and gloves) and pohunggai sokibiri (1 sheet of cloth and gloves). the second is pelanggahako (1 piece of cloth) and indigenous taapombonaanaa akoa (2 pieces of gloves and one buffaloe/cow). the current situation the buffalo can be replaced by paying an appropriate sum of money. if all the fines mentioned above have been submitted through the customs or mombesara, then the process continues with customary marriages under normal marriage of the tolaki tradition. peohala conflict resolution through this peohala will be executed if the community [ 85 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 finds information from someone that a man and a woman having inappropriate intercourse outside of a marriage but the news was not true after being investigated. the person who spreads the news will later be penalized to pay for a fine. the application of penalties in this peohala differs according to the status of the contributing case. the application of the financial penalties is dependent on the case as well. if the maligned person is a girl (not married), then this is called peohala mohewu (mohewu = small). the penalty is by one piece: one piece of cloth/white gauze gloves or a single sheet. if the slandered person is a woman who has a husband, then this is called peohala owose (owose = large). the penalty is in the form of one (1) piece of kaci (white cloth) and a buffalo. if the slandered person is a girl who is being engaged, the sanctions fines equal to the peohala owose. for the mentioned types of peohala, the sanctions of defaming the fine is to be handed to the maligned through customs or mombesara. mesokei the mesokei process of resolution is conducted when the community finds a case of a man and a woman who had a relationship of molasu (escaping from the community). molasu means running away. the couple should get married immediately. this kind of marriage can occur because of three conditions. molasu conditition is when the relationship is not approved by both parents of the men sides and the girl side. pinolasuako occurs because a man and a girl agree to get together but the girl’s parents did not approve their relationship while the parents of the man have agreed. mepolasuako occurs because a girl invites a man to elope in the house of a priest, traditional leader, or a government official to get married. mombolasuako is the opposite of mepolasuako where a man takes a girl in to the house of a priest, traditional leader, or government official to get married. the financial penalties imposed on the male are called rembinggare (two pieces of gloves), sokei aso kasu (one piece of cloth), peosawa’akoa (one buffalo/indigenous buffalo, pekopu (custom delivery of children to their parents) with one copy of female dress and one long linen sheet. after the fine is paid and delivered through mombesara, then the community continues with mesambepe which goes on to an agreement for the implementation of a marriage for those who are being caught. somba labu or popolo soro the term of somba labu is actually equal to marriage and divorce. somba labu or popolo soro happens usually caused by two conditions. first, it is when found [ 86 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 a pregnant woman but her pregnancy is suspected to have an unidentified biological father. this happens because the woman has sex with more than one male (for many different causes). intimate relationships by more than one female and one male can occur because of rape or other causes. second, somba labu or popolo soro is implemented if found a pregnant woman but the families do not want the unification of the pregnant woman and her male partner in a marriage. it can occur because of differences in their belief background. financial penalties are applied to men in somba labu or soro popolo. the man should pay fine of melanggahako, consisting of one piece of linen, one buffalo/ custom buffalo, two pieces of gloves, a pack of chalk series, areca and tobacco, wrapped in one copy of glove. the other penalty is for the man to pay for all the requirements of a normal marriage. another option is mobinda, to pay a fine of one piece of fabricate linen and one buffalo. the last is to pay a penalty in the form of fees for waiting for the baby’s birth and his living expenses for two years. fees and living cost for waiting the birth of a child during the two years is tentative and depends on the outcome of deliberations. mobinda process or mowea (divorce) can be done at the time of the payment of fines and can also be done three months after the woman giving birth to her baby. it depends on the outcome of deliberations both sides. mombopo o’rai mombopo o’rai happens if the community finds a husband and his wife to decide to divorce. financial penalties are applied to people asking for a divorce. the penalty is equal to both the husband and the wife. the penalty fee is one piece of linen cloth and one buffalo (indigenous buffalo). mosehe literally, mosehe an amalgamation of two words seheand mo. mo means to do something, and sehe which means holy or health. mosehe means selfpurification efforts of all wrongdoing. or in other words, mosehe is liberating people from various disorders and problems that make people depressed, threatened, and which cause discomfort. mosehe on the tolaki consists of five kinds: mosehe ndiolu (purification ceremonies themselves by using an egg as a victim), mosehe manu (purification ceremonies themselves by wearing a chicken as its victims), mosehe dahu (purification ceremonies themselves by wearing a dog as its victims), mosehe ngginiku (purification ceremonies themselves by wearing buffalo as its victims), and mosehe ndoono (purification ceremonies themselves by using its human cost) (tarimana, 1988: 236). at the [ 87 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 present time, mosehe dahu (purification ceremonies themselves by wearing a dog as its victims) and mosehe ndoono (purification ceremonies themselves using humans as its victims) no longer practiced. it began after the arrival of islam in the tolaki and therefore deemed to be inconsistent with religious norms. there are two kinds of mosehe functions including the function of resolving conflicts that occur between men both individuals and between families and the function of as purification of domestic/village if there is a variety of things that bring misery to humans such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or failure prolonged harvest. mosehe in the tolaki community is to apply when there is umo’api or infidelity. conclusion socio-cultural background is very important to understand the conflict within the tolaki community. the study shows that the conflict between families that frequently occurs is triggered by differences in social class, level of economic life, and religious differences. indeed, the social classes have now experienced a shift in meaning, especially to the traditional societies with social class system. in the past, the tolaki people recognize this social class in the forms of royal and non-royal. however, this classification often appears to be raised again in case of a conflict involving either among individuals or families. in the context of the individual relations (relationship of men and women), people count on social structures that sometimes triggers a conflict. similarly, with to doing marriage, someone usually questions others of their social status. religious leaders would have an important role here as the important elements in the society with better social status. the conflict resolution mechanisms within the tolaki, such as melanggahako, peohala, mesokei, somba labu or popolo soro, mombopo o’rai and mosehe, show that all things pertain to the settlement of the conflict within the framework of maintaining the ties of kinship between people. in any case, the tolaki believe that they have ties of kinship and blood ties that can be traced through the family tree (kuku’aha) inherited and transformed from generation to generation. in this process people need someone who are highly respected due to their capacity and status. religious leaders play a significant role here as the knowledgeable person who get people’s trust. customary law, which is believed to be the important public norm within the tolaki community, actually has an element of force, in the sense that the community should be subject to the customary rules. it is in place to maintain [ 88 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 the harmony of life. therefore, provisions which are governed by and through customs should not be violated. the rule breakers will be punished socially and with the punishment of sangia (god in old tolaki tradition. the belief now has changed, the tolaki believe in allah swt since the hold islam as their religion). the phrases of inae kona sara iyee pine sara, inae lia sara iyee pinekasara is derived from the value of kalosara that is still very effective in resolving conflicts between families. a person or a family who will not be reconciled through the media of kalosara means the person or the family is the person or family who mate sara deserving social condemnation and punishment from allah, the almighty. another important point that should be noted is that although the tolaki are sometimes in conflict, they are very easily reconciled. in many cases of conflict, the kalosara is still regarded as a symbol to unite all parties. the sacred values of the kalosara is highly respected and regarded as a source of values that can solve all the problems within the tolaki society. through the media of kalosara, all things associated with the error, no matter how it is, is inexcusable. tolaki people who make mistakes can be rehabilitated through the mechanism of settlement of indigenous tolaki systems. bibliography ahimsa-putra. s. h. 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(3): 217-225. jurnal bjrs___edisi 1 tahun 2012____english version.indd [ 109 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 pesantren-based madrasah management fatah syukur iain walisongo semarang abstract historically, the existence of madrasah can be separated from the development of pesantren in indonesia. th e rise of pesantren, as an eff ort to modernize the classical educational system as well as the response to the ethical politics of the colonial government, gradually got attention from community members. nevertheless, this does not mean that madrasah developed without any problems. as an education institution, the madrasah wanted to reach progress like that of public schools. legally, there are a number of regulations enacted to make the madrasah equal to public schools. so far the madrasah is still seen as a ‘second class’ school. applying a case study on the madrasah roudlatul ulum, guyangan pati, central java, this article aims to conceptualize and describe a relatively progressive madrasah and even it has a pesantren under its management. keywords: madrasah, pesantren, management introduction th e madrasah is part of the national education system in indonesia that has the status, rights and obligations equal to public schools in general. viewed from the history of the development of the madrasah, initially it started from the mission of preaching which becomes an obligation for every muslim (ballighu anni walau ayah). th us the madrasah was established in order to meet the community’s demand to instill and practice religious teachings (teaching the reading of the qur’an, carrying out the pillars of the faith, and the pillars of islam). th e madrasah has specifi c characteristics, not only carrying out the duties of teaching and education of islam, but also providing guidance to life in society. th e the madrasah that serves such theological functions will run along with theological consciousness of the community based on needs to deepen and practice religious studies. th erefore, the madrasah belongs to the community and blend in with the values that have lived and grown in culture. th e ideals of establishing a madrasah with regard to ibadah and getting god’s blessings associated with social functions of worship should become the task of the community. th is is why the madrasah is instrumental in educating the nation. in line with eff orts to reform the education system into a system that is more [ 110 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 relevant to the needs of the present and the future (global community), the madrasah should be ready and able to adopt development models and new patterns in terms of organizing educational programs to improve poor education systems to bridge the demands and new challenges through three approaches: professionalism, effi ciency and eff ectiveness, without having to leave the culture that the madrasah was born from, i.e. the pesantren. th e change from pesantren to madrasah appeared at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of feeling less satisfi ed with respect to the pesantren system which was too narrow and limited to the teaching of fard ‘ain religious knowledge. th ere are at least two factors which infl uenced the development of the madrasah system in indonesia: fi rst, the factor of the islamic reform movement; and second, the political response to the dutch east indies education; and the islamic reform movement that took place in the middle east led by jamaluddin al-afghani (1839-1879), muhammad abduh (18491905), rashid ridlo (1865-1935). long before the three fi gures appeared, there was already a reformer namely muhammad bin abd wahab (1703-1787) and ibn taymiyyah (1263-1328). th e movements in principle were aimed at awakening the existence of muslims who were underdeveloped as a result of the withdrawal from the intellectual and cultural practices of worship that deviated from islamic teachings among muslims. to bring awareness to these conditions, one of which can be done through education and the mass media to disseminate the ideas of reform. several fi gures from indonesia, who at the time were studying in the middle east, among others, k.h. ahmad dahlan and kh. hasyim asy’ari, brought the reform ideas to their home country. th erefore the emergence and development of the madrasah could not be separated from the islamic reform movement initiated by a number of prominent muslim intellectuals and then developed by islamic organizations in java, sumatra and kalimantan. in addition to the infl uence of islamic reform movement in the middle east, the emergence of the dutch east indies ethical politics movement also infl uenced the development of the madrasah in indonesia. th e politics of the dutch east indies government regarding education by opening up wider educational opportunities for indigenous people, which was originally limited to the nobility, as well as the ethical politics was an attempt of the dutch east indies government to subdue the indigenous communities through education. according to hurgroje, that the western education system is the best means to mitigate and ultimately defeat islam in the dutch colonies, because islam would lose against western education attraction and the unifi cation of culture. snouck defended this argument by pointing out the tendency that [ 111 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 until 1890 the number of the pesantren was growing, while 20 years later it was the dutch-style schools that attracted more students. with this phenomenon, at the beginning of the 20th century, the life of the pesantren went through an important change, namely the inclusion of the madrasah system/classical system into the pesantren. in a more siple language, it can be said that the madrasah to a certain degree were the dutch educational institutions with religious subjects. it was considered the counterpart of the rapid growth of the schools who apply the western system of education. education is seen as a strategic aspect in shaping the point of view of the islamic society. in fact, education oriented too much towards religious studies (ubudiyah), as commonly found in the education conducted in mosques, surau and the pesantren, has resulted in the islamic community evidently giving less attention to social problems, politics, economy and culture. th erefore, in order to change the views and actions of the community, the strategic step that must be taken is reforming the education system. th e success of the madrasah in preparing students to face more complex future challenges will produce graduates who will become leaders involved in determining the development of the nation. on the other hand, the failure of the madrasah in preparing students to face the challenges of the future will produce graduates who are frustrated, marginalized, and become a burden on society. here lies the importance of eff orts to improve the quality of eff ective management of the madrasah. th e eff ectively and well managed madrasah is one that has the understanding and the general philosophy, mission, goals and objectives, curriculum, eff ective teaching-learning strategies, and interactions with stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, environmentalists and related offi cials), and produce reliable graduates. an eff ective madrasah shows higher achievement in comparison with similar schools. th e synergy of the management of the madrasah as an educational institution with a modern system and the pesantren culture that teaches students to be independent should be in the madrasah management. th e madrasah, originally born from the pesantren and still holding to the pesantren tradition are expected to not leave its cultural roots. in other words, the madrasah is expected to be able to catch up with the development of a modern system of education without leaving its roots i.e. the pesantren. here lies the importance to formulate the pesantren-based madrasah management. th e law of national education system number 20/2003 puts the madrasah not only parallel to but also equal to public school. in the law, article 17, [ 112 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 paragraph 2 reads: basic education is in the form of elementary school and madrasah ibtidaiyah (mi) or other equal forms, and junior high school (smp) and madrasah tsanawiyah (mts) or other equal forms. next in the second part, secondary education article 18, paragraph 3 reads: secondary education is in the form of senior high school (sma), madrasah aliyah (ma), vocational high school (smk) and vocational madrasah aliyah (mak) or other equal forms. from the juridical aspects, the madrasah has the same legal status, rights and obligations as public schools. th erefore, the madrasah has a strategic role for education of muslims younger generation because it is where the majority of students prepare for their important roles for the community in the future (arief furchan, 2004). in government regulation no. 7/2005 on national education standards chapter viii article 49-58, the standards for education management are established by the education unit. as for the management of the educational unit in question includes program planning, preparation of curriculum, learning activities, empowerment of teachers and educators, management of educational infrastructure and facilities, assessment of learning outcomes, and supervision. in the management of the educational unit at the level of primary and secondary education, school-based management should be implemented, indicated by self-reliance, partnerships, participation, openness and accountability. ministry of religious aff airs as a patronage of the madrasah in its ‘profi le of the future madrasah, has stipulated that the ideal madrasah at the level of primary and secondary education is expected to implement school-based management, indicated by self-reliance, partnership, participation, openness and accountability. th e madrasah is led by the head of unit as management of education. by having several representatives at level of mts and ma/mak, decision making shall be done in the meeting of the board of educators, the committee of th e madrasah, through deliberation for improving the quality of education. guidelines for the madrasah shall be decided by the meeting of the board of educators and the committee and shall be done in cooperation with the head of the madrasah. th e guidelines specifi ed by the head of the madrasah shall be decided aft er considering suggestions from the board of educators and the committee. every madrasah is managed on the basis of an annual work plan for the mid-term covering a period of 4 (four) years. th e madrasah has an important mission: to prepare the younger generation of muslims to take a role in the development of people and nation in the future. th e importance of the [ 113 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 mission of these institutions due to the fact that nearly a hundred percent of the students who study at the madrasah educational institutions are the children of the family of the students. nevertheless, the quality of the institutions that undertake this important mission, according to arief furchan, ph.d., former director of the higher education of islamic studies, is still poor. th e quality of education in the madrasah outside the pesantren, especially those under foundations with less fi nancial support is oft en below standard, both in terms of religious education as well as in terms of public education. in the fi eld of religious education, these madrasah are relatively lower in quality compared to those under management of a pesantren, and similarly in the fi eld of public education, they are also inferior to public schools. th e madrasah in the pesantren are still somewhat passable. although the quality of education is generally lower if compared to the standard public schools. in the fi eld of religious education, most of them have better quality. th ere are indeed exceptions. th ere are madrasah whose quality is higher than public schools, such as min malang 1, however there are only a few. th e ineffi cient management of the madrasah has resulted in the madrasah being left out of the public schools. on the other hand, the management of the madrasah leaving behind the pesantren system has set the madrasah away from the characteristics of the islamic school. th e eff ect of such management, among others, in the fi eld of public education, the madrasah will not be able to compete with public schools, whereas in religious education it will lose to the pesantren. th e poor quality graduates of the madrasah in general will have impact on their competitiveness to enter the level of general education at the level above it. to enter a senior high school, the graduates from the madrasah generally cannot compete with public junior high school graduates. similarly to enter public universities, they are generally inferior to public high school alumni. th e following data shows the passing grades of fi nal exams at the madrasah in central java in 2004/2005: level number of students participant pass fail madrasah ibtidaiyah 65,175 62,880 (96.48 %) 2,295 (3.52%) madrasah tsanawiyah 101,499 99,950 (98.48 %) 1,545 (1.52 %) madrasah aliyah 29,001 28,559 (98.48 %) 442 (1.52 %) source: information on development of education and culture in central java, offi ce of education and culture, 2005 th e data above shows that the number of students who failed in the fi nal [ 114 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 exam at the madrasah is still quite high. why did that happen? how is the management of education in the madrasah done? are the educational planning, implementation, and supervision at the madrasah not in compliance with the national standard of education? th e madrasah, as formal institutions are protected by the law and have the same rights and obligations as other formal educational institutions, should be able to compete in producing quality graduates. th e question is “why are most of the madrasah far from ideal? why do madrasah graduates in general fail to compete with public school alumni? how should madrasah be managed so as to ideally meet the standards as stipulated in legislation and government regulations? in this light, the author intends to conduct research on the private madrasah that have pesantren as its base, namely the madrasah raudlatul ulum guyangan pati. at this madrasah, the pesantren and the madrasah are under the same management. th e headmaster is also a teaching staff of the pesantren. all the pesantren students are also the students of the madrasah and all the subjects are included in the madrasah curriculum. th e excellence in management is expected to be emulated by other madrasah and conceptualized into the pesantren-based madrasah management which includes program planning, preparation of curriculum, learning activities, empowerment of teachers and educators, as well as infrastructure and facility management. th is paper aims to gain more concrete picture of the pesantren-based madrasah management in three madrasahs. th is study is expected to formulate a concept of an ideal pesantren-based madrasah management. to achieve that, a will be used. th e following table indicates the data sources and data collection techniques: data source collection technique education program planing head of madrasah, head of pesantren, committee of madrasah documentation and interview curriculum preparation head of madrasah, head of pesantren, and vice headmaster for curriculum documentation and interview learning activities head of madrasah, head of pesantren, and teachers observation, documentation and interview management of facilities and infrastructure of madrasah head of madrasah, head of pesantren, and vice headmaster for facilities and infrastructure observation, documentation and interview [ 115 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 meanwhile, the data analysis used in this study is the analysis of qualitative data, following a concept proposed by miles, huberman and spradley. miles and huberman (1984), suggested that activities in the qualitative analysis should be done interactively and run continuously at each stage until the research is completed, and the data has reached a saturation point. activities in the data analysis include data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verifi cation. th e three strands of activities can occur simultaneously, namely: data reduction (classifying, directing, organizing and disposing of unnecessary data), data display (fi nding patterns of signifi cant relationships and providing opportunities for conclusion drawing) and conclusion drawing/ verifi cation (making a pattern of meaning about events that occurred). furthermore, according to spradley, the technique of data analysis can be tailored to the stages in the research. at this stage of exploration with the data collection technique of grand tour question, data analysis is done with the analysis domain. at the stage of determining the focus, the data analysis is conducted using the taxonomy analysis. at the stage of selection, data analysis can be done with the componential analysis. th e next stage will generate the title with the analysis of the theme. madrasah raudlatul ulum 1. portrait of the madrasah th e atmosphere of a student village is obvious when entering the path to the village of guyangan. th e santri (students of pesantren) as well as students, can be seen walking to attend school (madrasah). male students attend school in the morning while female attend in the aft ernoon. as for madrasah diniyah, male students attend during in the aft ernoon and female attend in the morning. as reported by kh. humam suyuti in the ceremony welcoming the new students of madrasah raudlatul ulum, july 13, 2008: “th e students in this madrasah do not for six days, but nine days, six days at the formal madrasah and three days at madrasah diniyah”. th ere is almost no time left for students here for lazing. th e new students, especially students of mts, in addition to adjusting to the boarding school environment, they are required to memorize alfi ah verses as many as 1000 verses within three years. “everywhere we go we take with us the ‘pocket book ‘ so that we can read and study, particularly the lessons to be memorized, such as alfi ah ibn malik manuscript,” said ‘abiq, a new mts student from semarang. madrasah raudlatul ulum is part of the raudlatul ulum boarding schools. when one looks around, they can see the more dominant symbols of the [ 116 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 islamic boarding schools compared to the name of the madrasah. for example, the logo used as a symbol of the islamic boarding school bears the ‘pesantren raudlatul ulum’ instead of ‘madrasah raudlatul ulum’. likewise, a banner, installed at the time of the visit by the director of the madrasah of the ministry of religious aff airs, drs. h. firdaus, m. pd. on july 26, 2008, also read “welcome to pesantren raudlatul ulum” instead of “welcome to madrasah raudlatul ulum”. th e creation of a boarding school climate at this madrasah is quite noticeable. th e students of the madrasah are also students of the pesantren and the lessons are integrated in one curriculum. th erefore, the evaluation undertaken here not only includes curriculum material from ministry of religious aff airs and ministry of education, but also manuscripts. students will not be able to be promoted to a higher level if their academic achievement is poor, or if they fail to memorize the required manuscripts, or if they do not behave. th ese three components are inseparable. anyone who has not met these three targets has to stay in the same class for another year. gus najib (drs. kh. najib, m. ag.) reported that his nephew did not meet the target of these three components, and he had to retake the class. geographically madrasah raudlatul ulum is located in the village of guyangan, sub-district of trangkil, district of pati, central java. th e village is located approximately 80 km from semarang the capital of central java, and about 15 km from the city of pati. its position is very strategic, located in the middle of the community and the mosque, not far from public transportation (between juwana and tayu). at the beginning of the establishment of madrasah raudlatul ulum, it was named madrasah manba’ul ulum (mmu), which was established by almaghfurlah kh. suyuti abdul qodir in 1929 in the village of guyangan. as the situation did not allow for developing educational institutions due to pressure from the colonial government in 1940, madrasah manba’ul ulum experienced a total stagnation. th en, aft er independence in 1950, with support and help the scholars and public fi gures, madrasah manba’ul ulum was revived by kh. suyuti abdul qodir with a new name i.e. raudlatul ulum. at the beginning of its establishment until 1955, madrasah raudlatul ulum used the following terms to indicate the level of education: shifi r awal, shifi r tsani, dan shifi r tsalis. seven years later, in 1962, the terms were changed to pgap 4 years and takhoshush 2 years. over the next decade changes were made again to pgap 4 years and pgal 2 years. [ 117 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 in order to reorganize the management and to meet the demands of the development of education, in 1972, in front of a notary public in kudus, rm. mardagoeng poerbokoesoemo, an institution bearing the name the foundation of islamic school of raudlatul ulum (ypru) was formally established, under the establishment certifi cate number: 17/1972 dated january 26, 1972. later in 1974, the education system pgap pgal 4 years and 2 years was changed to mts 3 years and madrasah aliyah 3 years. th en in 1993 the accreditation level of madrasah aliyah raudlatul ulum was upgraded from ‘listed’ to be ‘recognized’ by the ministry of religious aff airs. in 1997 madrasah aliyah raudlatul ulum was fully accredited (muadalah) from al-azhar university of cairo. and in 2000 madrasah aliyah raudlatul was fully accredited by the ministry of religious aff airs. today, madrasah aliyah and madrasah tsanawiyah raudlatul ulum have been accredited ‘a’ by the accreditation council of madrasah (dam) of the ministry of religious aff airs. th e foundation of islamic school of raudlatul ulum (ypru) currently runs the following educational institutions: madrasah ibtidaiyah (accredited b), madrasah tsanawiyah, and madrasah aliyah (accredited a). in addition to formal institutions, ypru also runs madrasah diniyah to prepare students to enter madrasah tsanawiyah. basically all registrants at ypru will be admitted as pupils/students. th ey usually have to take an entrance test. however, the test here is not to determine admittance, rather it is used for placement; whether they can be admitted directly in the madrasah tsanawiyah or madrasah aliyah, or madrasah diniyah fi rst. according to kh. humam suyuthi, the reason why all applicants are admitted is because this madrasah belongs to the community. “if we make a selection and the results turn out to be those from outside guyangan being admitted, we will receive protests. th erefore, all applicants will be admitted. th ey will be placed based on their test scores. let the natural selection determine if they can survive here. th e learning system here is very tight. to be promoted to a higher level, one must pass three qualifi cations: good academic results, good manners good and good memorization. “ since its foundation, this boarding school continued to show rapid growth. in the past, the school had only a dozen students, but there were up to 3,000 students in 2007/2008 academic year. th e infrastructure was previously very simple, but currently it is quite suffi cient. upon the death of the founder, this pesantren was taken care of by his sons. at fi rst, it was kh salim suyuthi who was in charge. however, aft er kh [ 118 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 salim passed away, the chairmanship was held by the other three sons of the founder: kh faruq suyuthi, drs. kh humam suyuthi, mhi, and drs. kh najib suyuthi, m.ag. th e internal aff airs were handled by kh faruq and kh najib. while the public relations were handled by drs. kh humam suyuthi, m.h.i. he has forged good relations with the middle east and other countries to develop the boarding school. his good relations have made the pesantren famous both at home and abroad. one of the madrasah aliyah buildings was funded by his colleague from malaysia, prof dr hm. saleh suwandi. kh humam has two sons: muhammad zuhrufus zaman, currrently doing ph.d in malaysia, and nur iff ah --the second son-is studying medicine at sultan agung islamic university in semarang (unissula). 2. educational planning of pesantren-based madrasah educational planning programs should be “future oriented”. th is means that the intended goals in the planning of education can be expected both in the short and long terms. th e defi nition of short and long terms here is very relative. generally short term educational planning is for around 1 year, midterm 5-10 years and long term 25-30 years. educational planning is oriented on a strategy of action. th us education planning not only collects data and information or spreads information but it also includes goal oriented activities. it means that any action needs to be arranged in an effi cient pattern so that the intended purpose can be achieved with the most economical ways and tools. th e education planning programs of madrasah raudlatul ulum guyangan can be seen from its vision, mission and objectives. it’s vision is “a step further in the achievements with science and charity.” indicators of the vision are: a. more advanced in mastering the science of al-diniyah (the salaf manuscripts) b. more advanced in an eff ort to ensure graduates to be admitted at higher educational institutions (both religious and public) both within the country and abroad. c. more advanced in creativity. d. more advanced in arts. e. more advanced in sport. f. more advanced in discipline. g. more advanced in religious practices. [ 119 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 h. more advanced in social concern. i. more advanced in mastering arabic and english. while the missions are: a. developing and preserving the teachings of islam. b. improving the quality and development of islamic sciences (tafaqquh fi ddin) that are relevant to the demands of the times in the context of the present and the future in order to form quality human resources that are knowledgeable, put their knowledge in to practice and have good manners. c. establishing the institution as a center of learning for islamic knowledge development network that competitive and relevant to the demands of science and technology. as for the objectives of madrasah raudlatul ulum are as follows: short term goals: a. encouraging the improvement of eff orts to ensure that the graduates will be admitted to higher educational institutions (religious and public) at home and abroad. b. having potential students in the selection of exemplary students both at the district and provincial level. c. having a sports and arts team that is capable of competing in various events both at the district and provincial level. long-term goals: a. making eff orts to ensure as many graduates as possible to be admitted to colleges and universities (religious and public) both at home and abroad. b. having a group of teenagers who write scientifi c papers to compete at district and provincial level. c. having a scout team that is capable of working and competing in the regional or national jamboree. th e description of the vision, mission and goals of the madrasah raudlatul ulum refl ects that boarding school system and culture has always been a base for the development of educational programs at the madrasah. 3. curriculum and learning activities raudlatul ulum pesantren is an “integrated” type of boarding school that carries out the education system of the salaf and khalaf. th e education system of the salaf teaches islamic studies from the yellow books written by scholars [ 120 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 of the salaf. th e curriculum in the education system of the salaf is based on the level from easy to diffi cult depending on of the issues discussed in the book. th e system used was a tiered system, i.e. from beginner, intermediate and advanced combined in formal education and evaluated in accordance with the level of formal education. th e manuscripts used for teaching, among others: sanusiyah, aqidatul awam, tafsir jalalain, durrotun nasihin, fatkhul qarib, taqrib, al-iqna’, irsyadul ibad, al-maqsud, alfi yah ibnu malik, dan ta’lim muta’allim. the khalaf system used by the raudlatul ulum boarding school is a madrasah system from formal elementary to senior high school level, fully implementing the curriculums of the ministry of religious aff airs and the ministry of national education. th e fi eld of religious studies that refer to the curriculum of the religious ministry taught with additional locally-designed materials (al-ulum ad-diniyah). basically all students that study at raudlatul ulum are ypru students because of the lessons taught at the madrasah and the pesantren are integrated. th e students at raudlatul ulum boarding school can be grouped into two categories, namely, the students who live at the boarding school and those who do not. students from outside the city or is more than 10km away from the school are required to live at the boarding school, while those who live nearby are not required to. both groups of students above have to study yellow books and join extra-curricular activities in the morning or in the aft ernoon. especially for the students who live at the pesantren, there are extra lessons, i.e. every evening aft er sunset they hold book studies known as mmk (manuscript reading). th e manuscripts discussed among others: riyadus sholihin, tuhfatul atfal, tuhfatul ain and so on. mmk is directly taught by kh human, kh. faruq dan kh. najib. in addition to the study of the book, there are also auditions, drama rehearsal, khitabah, etc. on th ursday evening, there is recital of majmuk al-barjanzi. th e following books are also studied: nahwu, sharaf, bahasa arab, fi qih, tafsir, hadits, tauhid, akhlaq, tajwid, etc. which are included in school curriculum and evaluated like other subjects. regarding book studies at the pesantren integrated into the madrasah curriculum can be seen from the list of books used, among others: [ 121 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 a. madrasah ibtidaiyah no. name of book no. name of book 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. nahwu wadih amsilatu-tasrifi yah lughah arabiyah durusu fiqhiyah tafsir jalalain arbain nawawi 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. kharidah bahiyah fatkhul majid akhlaq al-banin khulasah nurul yaqin tuhfah al-atfal b. madrasah tsanawiyah no. name of book no. name of book 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. latahoif isyarah jauhar maknun dasuqi al-husun al-hamidiyah taklim muta’allim tafsir jalalain bulughul marom 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. matan rahabiyah alfi yah ibnu malik durusul falakiyah minhajul mughis mukhtasar as-syafi ’i c. madrasah aliyah no. name of book no. name of book 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. fatkhul wahab ghayah al-wusul jauhar maknun faraidh bahiyyah tafsir jalalain maroki al-ubudiyah 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. tajrid al-sarih idah al-bubham fath al-rauf al-manan ulum al-tafsir tarikh tasyrik islami th e earning method used for book studies is called bandongan system and sorogan system. in the bandongan system, the teacher reads a book, and the students do the maknani, listen and write the meanings not yet fully understood. in maknani system, the students not only translate the meaning to another language (javanese), but also explain the meaning, position of a [ 122 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 word in a sentence and give other explanations. in the maknani process the students also study nahwu, sharaf, balaghah and so on. meanwhile, the sorogan system is usually aimed at memorizing certain books and then reciting the verses of the book before their teacher. th e focus of learning ypru pesantren is studying islamic law while also studying the general sciences. both are taught together. for instruction at the madrasah, the assessment system is exactly the same as that held at public schools, i.e. formative and summative tests. th e book studies at the pesantren are assessed on the basis of students’ memorization. 4. extra-curricular activities extra-curricular activities at this boarding school include sports activities, art, skills as follows: a. book reading b. bahsul masail ad-diniyah c. speech exercise d. qur’an reading e. arabic course f. english course g. sewing and embroidery course h. scouting i. martial arts j. basketball k. marching band b. decorating skills d. yellow book studies n. music o. journalistic practice. p. red cross q. basic training course (batra) r. household maintenance course s. student cooperative t. wall magazines, etc. in addition to these activities, the boarding school also organizes incidental activities, for example muwadda’ah/akhirussanah. commemorative activities [ 123 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 of islamic major holidays, and so on. 5. facilities and infrastructure in brief, the facilities owned by ypru consist of: mosques, qur’an reading room, classrooms for kindergarten/ra, mi, ma, mts, secretariat/administration/ offi ce, library, natural science laboratory, language laboratory, the telephone booths, kitchen, student rooms, school cooperative, guest rooms, bathrooms, convenient rooms, living room, teacher housing and warehouses. th e facilities based on level of education, consist of: a. kindergarten/ra (raudlatul athfal) b. mi raudlatul ulum, accredited b. c. madrasah diniyah raudlatul ulum: mdpts (preparatory school for madrasah tsanawiyah). since three years ago it has been combined with madrasah tsanawiyah. th ose who enter this madrasah diniyah can directly study in mts. mdpa (preparatory school for madrasah aliyah), for students who come from public high schools or other islamic high school who did not pass the selection placement at madrasah aliyah raudlatul ulum. d. madrasah tsanawiyah raudlatul ulum, the accredited status ‘a’ and “fully accredited” by al-azhar university cairo, egypt. e. madrasah aliyah raudlatul ulum, the accredited status ‘a’ and “fully accredited” by al-azhar university cairo, egypt. th is chool has three main program options: natural science, social science, and language programs. f. madrasah ibtidaiyah, raudlatul ulum boarding school branches g. lppba raudlatul ulum (arabic language improvement center) h. ecc ru (english conversation club raudlatul ulum) particularly for female students. i. raudlatul ulum economics center j. pik2m raudlatul ulum (information and family consultation center) k. usp raudlatul ulum (loans and savings unit) l. english speaking progrma of raudlatul ulum (esp-ru) particularly male students. m. raudlatul ulum religious study club n. kbih (hajj guidance) ar-al-rawdah. th is pesantren covers an area of more or less 6 hectares, comprising: a. male students dormitory on the 2nd fl oor (2 units), and on the 3rd fl oor (one unit) [ 124 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 b. female students dormitory on the 2nd fl oors (3 units) c. buildings for madrasah ibtidaiyah, diniyah, tsanawiyah, and kindergartens with 24 classrooms in total. d. building for senior high school on the 3rd fl oor having18 classrooms e. building for senior high school on the 3rd fl oor having18 classrooms (prof. dr. h. moh. saleh suwandi malaysia building) having 8classrooms. f. building for mts on the 3rd fl oor with 9 classrooms g. computer laboratory h. language laboratory i. natural science laboratories j. tailoring workshop building k. cooperative building l. cairo al-azhar lecturers housing m. teachers offi ce n. library o. auditorium p. etc. th e facilities and infrastructure are under the management of the madrasah and the pesantren. 6. student administration system admissions into the pesantren and the madrasah take place at the same time which is at the start of a new academic year. prospective students can enroll earlier that the admissions date in order to get used to the boarding school. th ere is no special selection in the admissions of prospective students. th ey walk in with parents and bring with them a to whem it may concern letter from a village chief. th ere is a placement test. th e cost of living at the pesantren is relatively cheap. th e educational activities cost idr 3,500 monthly; and registration idr 20.000; building fee idr 175,000; the cost of meals idr 180,000/month for three time meal a day. starting syawal 1429 h, it was increased to idr 200,000/month. th ere are students who have catering service for meals; some cook by themselves. in general, all students should not be out of the pesantren, unless there is an emergency and should get permission from the teacher. th e pesantren complex is equipped with fences and locks. th e gate is only opened in the hours of starting and fi nishing school, and ahead of the maghrib (sunset [ 125 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 prayer). except for these hours, students should not be out of the pesantren. male students are kept separate from female students. th ey should be dressed in muslim attire and keep the good name of the pesantren. if they violate the rules, then they will get sanctions/takzir. th e dorms for male and female students are separate. th e students are always supervised by the teachers, senior students as well as by the managers of the boarding school. similarly, in their formal schooling, boys and girls are also kept separate. th e meals at this pesantren are not managed by the management but instead there is a person appointed to take care of the matter. th ere is also a snack stall and only a handful of students who cook for themselves. th e placement of students in certain dorms is not based on the region of origin, rather it is according to the kind of education they attend. th e number of students who live at the pesantren and those who come only during lessons is 2,967 consisting of 1,391 females and 1,644 males. th e number of those who live at the pesantren is 2,057 and those who live at their home 1,080. th e data of ypru guyangan alumni in detail can be found in the profi le of alumni book. in general aft er they complete their studies at the pesantren, these alumni continue their education at home and abroad. for overseas universities, they usually continue to al-azhar university, egypt. as for the domestic colleges, they go to among others gadjah mada university, yogyakarta; undip semarang, iain, unnes, unissula and so on. all students who live at the pesantren are required to remain within the pesantren compound unless there is an emergency and should get permission from the teacher/supervisor. th e student activities are mostly around the pesantren and around the mosque and the madrasah. discussion th e pesantren as one of islamic educational institutions have proved its existence and its success in improving the human resources. in the last century, it has been proved that a lot of community and national leaders came from the pesantren. the pesantren have also given the nuances to the pattern of people’s lives in the vicinity. in other words, the pesantren is also a solid defense in the face of cultural infl uence which is not in accordance with the divine values. history has recorded the achievements of the pesantren as a unique islamic culture forming known as “javanese santri culture”. th e uniqueness of the pesantren lies in its craft iness in combining the local culture with the substance [ 126 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 and spirit of islamic life. th e pesantren as an institution is very potential. th is is due to the fact that the pesantren has a historical root of solid ideology and culture. th e power of the pesantren also lies in its consistency such as “jihad war in fi ghting against the invaders.” according to kh humam suyuthi, the main challenges the pesantren faces is not only against the invaders in physical form but it should also show its existence as an institution capable of shaping the future leaders equipped with worldly and religious sciences. th e two are inseparable. he did not agree with the notion that there should be a separation between religious and nonreligious knowledge. th erefore, the santris are trained here to master general and religious sciences. for those who wish to continue to study religious studies, they go to the middle east while those who are interested in general sciences choose to continue to public universities. in addition, the santris also learn three international languages i.e., arabic, english and mandarin. arabic teachers from al-azhar university egypt have created an active learning atmosphere of arabic at the raudhatul ulum pesantren. from the history we learn that the greater challenge faced by the pesantren, the more resistant and sophisticated the pesantren has become. when the dutch tried to restrict the religious life in the second half of the 19th century, two pesantren ulama of international caliber namely nawawi al bantani (died in 1897) dan mahfud termaz (1868 1919) who are both known as imamul haramain, professors in mecca and medina with papers all written in arabic. th e two productive scholars is a phenomenon of the pesantren which is rarely known. th e pesantren is oft en seen as a world of oral speech, and podium. one needs to read the history as a whole to have a balanced view. th e pesantren as the academic muslim community should be able to bridge a dialogue with modern culture, and actively fi ll it with islamic substance and nuances. th is can only be done if we understand the meaning of globalization correctly and keep ourselves updated with the actual information and the global trend. changes are not something new. th e pesantren has been familiar with the principles of al-muhafadhah ala qadim al-shaleh wa al-ahdu bi al-jadid alashlah meaning “preserving good tradition and adopting a better innovation”. in the past, the pesantren was considered to be a neglected place and a kyai was a traditionalist fi gure, and now the impression has to be left away. th e keyword to anticipate changes in the present and the future is information [ 127 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 and knowledge. th e two words mentioned is not a new for the muslims. from the time of the prophet until the 11th century, islam was able to bridge a dialogue with the era, and was even capable of converting many people in many areas. th is progress was certainly impossible without a basic understanding of how to appreciate time, civilization, the value of knowledge and information among the muslims. in this era of globalization, to face the free market the peantren needs to improve the quality as a solid ‘defensive fortress’. it is diffi cult to achieve if the pesantren does not a strong, prospective vision, and an eff ective managerial system. prophet muhammad said that everyone will be useless except those who think; the educated will be useless except those who practice their knowledge; people who practice their knowledge will be useless except those who do with sincerity. th erefore the purpose of islamic education is to promote morals, improve manners, promote humanitarian values to draw closer to god. alghazali, with his fi ne teachings, is of course still a main reference for the world of the pesantren. however, it does not mean that islam ignores the science that teaches specifi c skills. all sciences that bring benefi ts to humans must be learned. any form of science, technology, mathematics, astronomy, etc., should be studied and should promote better morals, so that people will be aware of the responsibility of their knowledge. th is should be based on the islamic values, so people who think and fi nd out the secrets of nature will bring benefi ts to others. alghazali taught that knowledge that comes from outside should be sorted out to fi t in accordance with the islam laws. in addition, basically all sciences are useful unless it is in the hands of unscrupulous individuals. conclusion educational program planning at the madrasah raudlatul ulum guyangan can be seen in the vision, mission and goals of the madrassa that refl ects that the cultural system of the pesantren has always been a base for the development of its educational programs. as explored, the raudlatul ulum pesantren is a kind of school classifi ed as an “integrated” pesantren as it carries out the education system of the salaf and khalaf aimed at balancing between the religious values and modernization. [ 128 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 references a. shalaby, history of muslim education, beirut: daar el kashaf, 1954. a. shamad hamid, islam dan pembaharuan, surabaya: bina ilmu, 1984. abd al-madjd abd al-futuh badawi, al-tarikh al-siyasi wa al-fikri, beirut: al-manshur mathobi’ al-wafa, 1988. ali yafi e, tajdid adalah suatu kemestian, pesantren, no.i vol.v 1988. azyumardi azra, pendidikan tinggi islam dan kemajuan sains (sebuah pengantar), dalam charles michael stanton, pendidikan tinggi dalam islam (terj.), jakarta: pt. logos publishing house, 1994. bryson, john m., perencanaan strategis bagi oraganisasi sosial (terj. m. mift ahuddin), pustaka pelajar, yogyakarta, 2000, c.ii. departemen agama ri, nama-nama dan data potensi pondok-pondok pesantren seluruh indonesia, jakarta: departemen agama dan p3m, 19841985. djamil latief, himpunan peraturan-peraturan tentang pendidikan agama, jakarta: ditbinpendais depag ri. e. mulyasa, dr., m. pd, menjadi kepala sekolah profesional dalam konteks menyukseskan mbs dan kbk, pt. remaja rosda karya, bandung: 2003. e. mulyasa, pedoman manajemen berbasis madrasah, departemen agama ri 2004, hlm 83. ensiklopedi islam, jakarta: pt. ichtiar baru van hoceve, 1993. george r. terry dan leslie w. rue, dasar-dasar manajemen, bumi aksara, jakarta:2003 ghulam farid malik, dr., pedoman manajemen madrasah, yogyakarta: basic education project (bep) depag ri bekerjasama dengan forum kajian budaya dan agama (fkba), 2000. h.a.r. tilaar, prof., dr., m. sc. ed., manajemen pendidikan nasional kajian pendidikan masa depan, pt. remaja rosda karya, bandung:1999. haidar nawawi, perundang-undangan pendidikan, jakarta: ghalia indonesia, 1983 ip. simanjutak, perkembangan pendidikan di indonesia, jakarta: departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan, 1972/1973. ira shor & paulo freire, menjadi guru merdeka, lkis, yogyakarta, 2001. karel a steinbrink, pesantren, madrasah, sekolah, jakarta: lp3es ma. sahal mahfudh, madrasah dari masa ke masa, dalam nuansa fiqih sosial, yogyakarta: lkis, 1994. mahmud yunus, sejarah pendidikan islam di indonesia, jakarta: mutiara sumber widya, 1995. majlis ulama indonesia., amanat sejarah ummat islam indonesia, keputusan [ 129 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 1 number 1 december 2012 rapat pengurus paripurna ke ii, jakarta: sekretariat mui, masjid istiqlal, 1986. maksum, madrasah sejarah dan perkembangannya, jakarta: logos, 1999, hlm 60. marwan saridjo, drs., bunga rampai pendidikan agama islam, jakarta: cv. amisco, 1996. mastuhu, dinamika sistem pendidikan pesantren, jakarta: inis, 1994. mulyanto sumardi, sejarah singkat pendidikan islam di indonesia 1945-1975, jakarta: lpaiak balitbang agama depag, 1977.. mas’ud, abdurrahman, why the pesantren in indonesia remains unique and stronger, college of islamic studies psu pattani: paper 25-28 june 1998. pitts robert, a. and lei, david, strategic management, building r. edward freeman, manajemen strategik, jakarta, pt. pustaka binaman pressindo, 1985. ratminto dan atik septi winarsih, manajemen pelayanan, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar, 2005. soebagio atmojdiwirio, manajamen pendidikan indonesia, ardadizya jaya, jakarta, 2000.ibtisam abu-duhou, school-based management, logos, jakarta, 2002. sondang p. siagian, prof., dr., analisis serta perumusan kebijaksanaan dan strategi organisasi, cv. haji masagung, jakarta:1994. undang-undang republik indonesia, nomor 14 tahun 2006, tentang guru dan dosen uu sisdiknas no. 20 tahun 2003, sinar grafi ka, jakarta: 2003 wasty soemanto, landasan historis pendidikan indonesia, surabaya: usaha nasional, 1983. wjs. poerwadarminta, kamus umum bahasa indonesia, jakarta: balai pustaka, 1990. zamakhsyari dhofi er, tradisi pesantren, jakarta: lp3es, 1985. zamakhsyari dofi er, dkk, kebijakan departemen agama dari masa ke masa dalam kurun setengah abad, jakarta: badan litbang agama departemen agama ri, 1996. zuhairini, dkk, sejarah pendidikan islam di indonesia, jakarta: dirjen binbaga islam, 1986 [ 290 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 arguing the just war in islam massachusetts: harvard university press, 2009 by john kelsay reviewed by ridwan rosdiawan (universitas islam negeri jakarta) one of the magnitude effect of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks on the united states and the subsequent war against terror campaign is a political rhetoric that divides the international world into two rigid poles,” the evil terrorist” in one side and the “righteous, just enlightened victim” in the other. the united states administration has succeeded in placing itself as the protagonist side and its rally for retaliatory war campaign has not only gained international support but also affirmed its position as the leader of the ‘the key-holder of freedom, liberty and humanity’, who waged war against the barbaric evil terrorists. by calling ‘either with us or against us’, the us leaves no room for the rests of the world to be in ‘grey’ area. those who are not in favor will be considered as enemy and therefore deserve to be punished. all words in quotations above, which are taken from several official speeches spoken by president george w. bush, are certainly functional. they must be articulated in a way that produces the useful meaning in differentiating the good ‘us’ against the evil ‘them’. this meaning, in turn, will be the ideological basis that justify the good ‘us’ to take any necessary action to punish the bad them even in the worst form. this is the simplest way to comprehend why almost all states in the world appear to be in one voice supporting the us action in launching war campaign and attacking those who considered as terrorist. the subsequent problematic consequences then emerge. the targets of the us war against terror campaigns are heavily imbued with symbols affiliated to a large part of world’s community. osama bin laden, the taliban and saddam hussein of iraq are often perceived as the representative symbols of islam since they always speak on behalf of defending islam and muslim. they argue that each of their political and mostly violent actions are divinely inspired and waged under the spirit of ‘jihad’. this reasoning initially raises some questions to the world’s audiences particularly those who unfamiliar with islamic teachings: how can the religion which means peace and attracts more than 1.3 billion people of the world tolerate violence? how can noble teachings of [ 291 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 the religion inspire its adherents to murder innocent civilians? why is there also a large portion of muslim community who condemn the violent actions perpetrated by their fellow muslims? it is in the light of this issue that john kelsay, a research professor of religious ethics at florida state university, wrote one of his monumental book s entitled arguing the just war in islam. raising objection to the notion that the former attacks on us interests abroad and on the civilian targets homeland has nothing to do with islam, kelsay argued that the attacks are better construed as religious. “those who wish to argue that islam has nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11 or with the tactics of iraqi “insurgents”…..”, kelsay continued, “… will find no comfort here. the facts are plain. osama bin laden, ayman al-zawahiri, and other militants lay claim to some of the central practices and themes of islamic tradition.” (p.3) in the easier terms, kelsay pointed out that those carrying out the attacks were and are muslims. they cite islamic sources and speak in islamic terms. even though kelsay clearly stressed the point of his logic departure, the linkage between islam and violence is obviously not the main concern of his writing. arguing the islamic just war does not mean that kelsay criticized how muslims formulate the concepts, definitions and practices of jihad. rather, by this book, he tried to make an introductory remark by approaching the nature of islamic tradition surrounding the issue. “muslims today are involved in a serious argument about political ethics…”, he said, “… [and] this argument is framed in terms of practices that are central to islamic tradition.” (p. 4) muslims, to kelsay, believe that humans being must live within divinely ordered limits and not all ways of ordering life are morally equivalent. islam, thus, is a living tradition, in which men and women attempt to forge links between the wisdom of previous generations and the challenges posed by contemporary life, in hopes of acting in ways consistent with the guidance of god. the divine guidance embodied a concept of governing law, the shari’a, and its reasoning is one of the modes, if not the primary mode, in which contemporary muslims make this attempt. it is within this framework that kelsay constructed his book discussion. the focus was put on the debate over armed force and political ethics inspired by the arguments of militant activists while the description on the practice of shari’a reasoning among contemporary muslims was employed as an explanatory background. according to kelsay, militant activists such as bin laden and his comrades justified their violent actions under the basis of complex interpretation of shari’a. they applied the strategic logic of reasoning that is borrowed from the tradition of their predecessors within the last two [ 292 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 centuries. the situation is also quite similar to those who are regarded to be ‘moderate’ muslims. their condemnation to the conducts of their fellow militants was mainly based on the consideration of shari’a reasoning. the form of argument associated with shari’a reasoning involves appeals to tradition. kelsay explained, “arguments are evaluated as better or worse, persuasive or not, in terms of the ways in which advocates of various positions make use of historical precedents.” he continued that differences between the political ideas advanced by militants and those advanced by other muslims are not settled by way of appeals to broad or abstract principles like equality or respect for the autonomy of persons. rather, those engaged in shari’a reasoning cite texts, which are interpreted in connection with particular instances in the story muslims tell about the beginnings and subsequent development of their tradition. respect for tradition manifests itself in the ways in which people interpret, for example, the prophet muhammad’s orders to muslim soldiers or the military response of abu bakr, the first khalifa, or leader, of the muslims following the death of the prophet in 632, to the “turning” or “apostasy” of certain arab tribes. to comprehensively understand how contemporary muslims articulate the notions of the just war requires a good deal of knowledge about the ways muslims tell the story of the emergence and development of their community. kelsay elaborated the topics by firstly emphasizing the focus on answering the question “what is islam?” and providing the answer in forms of historical and religious context in which muslim arguments about war and political ethics make sense. he, then, went on discussing how muslims came to a consensus regarding the range of sources appropriate for those engaged in shari’a reasoning, as well as the rules governing the interpretation of approved texts. in this section, kelsay put much emphasis on describing the growth of a class of specialists, al-‘ulama’. he also outlined the most important political and military judgments advanced by members of this class between 750 and 1400 c.e. the contemporary muslims’ effort, he argued, in measuring the rights and wrongs of specific proposals regarding the political uses of military force borrows much of its concept to a set of standard references or “consensual precedents” established in that period. it was in this period muslim political power was at its height and that most of the ahkam al-jihad, or judgments pertaining to armed struggle emanated. the sub-ordinate position of the world of islam under the domination of western colonization has forced muslims to develop some sets of new codes that govern their conducts. the shifting power of muslim in global arena following the decline of the ottoman empires provided chances to muslim [ 293 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 2 number 2 december 2013 community to produce new ways of arguments. some pursued to modernize their thought by fully adopting advanced western cultures. there were also muslims who try to produce arguments based on reasoning by reconciling the modern thought and the islamic teachings. at the other end, militant muslims produced their arguments as an antidote to the presence of western cultures in their milieu. kelsay highlighted the ways in which today’s militants may be understood as the most recent exponents of an argument advanced by numerous muslims over the last two centuries. the concept of just war in the mind of contemporary muslim militants, according to him, is in fact a reproductive process by way of an attempt to “stretch” the consensual precedents associated with the pre-modern ahkam al-jihad to the new situations created by european colonialism and, more recently, by the geopolitical predominance of the united states. kelsay also demonstrated that the controversy over militant justifications of armed resistance indicates a crisis of legitimacy in muslim thought. arguments on all sides in this controversy reflect the lack of muslim consensus regarding the identification of legitimate or right authority in affairs of state. they may also be interpreted as reflecting a crisis in the practice of shari’a reasoning itself. kelsay concluded that the fate of muslim democracy may well be connected with the conduct of the war on terror. the conflict between advocates of democracy and islamic militants is a defining moment for humanity. for osama bin laden, the conflict has similar import. in the current political setting, the give-and-take between muslims and non-muslims regarding the just war constitutes a critical aspect of democratic practice. even as the war on terror will have an impact on the cause of muslim democrats, so the fate of muslim democrats is going to have an impact on the political future in the united states, the european union, and around the world. overall, kelsay’s arguing the just war in islam is worth of reading. its excellent detailed explanations help readers new to information about islam in grasping the word of jihad and understanding how the word interpreted and debated within the muslim world along the course. despite the fact that kelsay employed secondary resources (references in forms of translation) when discussing the sensitive case of islamic teachings, the book can be the entering point to the deeper study of comprehensive understanding on islam and muslim. [ 55 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 islam and local culture in indonesia hermansyah pontianak state institute of islamic studies, pontianak abstract muslims believe that their religion is universal, suitable to all places and time. consequently, in practice, islam can be adapted to various situations and conditions. therefore, the diversity in islam is inevitable. diversity is especially related to aspects of interpretation and religious branches, not things that are principle. this article is about the relationship between islam and local culture. as recognized by many experts, islam in indonesia was spread by peaceful means. local elements were used in the process of islamization. as a result, islam could be accepted by most of society of indonesia. islam expressed here shows a distinctive face. islam can live hand in hand with local culture, especially the culture that is not incompatible with islam. keywords: islam, islamization, local culture, diversity. introduction islam was first revealed in mecca almost 15 centuries ago in its form in addition to showing some similarities also some differences. the similarities are especially concerned with the basic fixed and unchanged doctrine. meanwhile diversity is more about the area of interpretation and the actualization of this religion in the world. the diversity of interpretations and it actualization appear because the religion has a critical interaction with human reality, including culture. the diversity is noticeable once we compare the actualization of islam in different parts of the world. in the face of local culture, muslim scholars and educators at least generally take two attitudes. first, adjusting the pattern of da’wah and education with the current socio-cultural processes. for them, the changes of society should be done gradually according to a socio-cultural conditions of the individual people and communities. it is based on the view a person’s islamic kaffah is easy, fun and convenient for everyone else to do during their lifetime. (see abdul munir mulkhan, 2002: 1). this kind of patterns usually view syncretic modernist, and traditionalist label, and the like as the stages of diversity of a person or community. this diversity is a socio-cultural process which will change along with social, economic, and cultural changes in a person or [ 56 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 community. meanwhile the second pattern emphasizes more on prohibition and threats based on belief, morals, and worship (fiqh) in order to change the behavior of a person’s and community’s religious behavior. the religious behavior of someone who has not been in accordance with the basic principles of islam is called un-islamic or sometimes other labels are given. patterns such as these tend to be more political through the development of law and legislation. the success of the spread and development of islam in indonesia has most like been due to the use of the first such pattern, and it will be outlined below. of course the second pattern also contributes to a certain segment of society especially among the middle class especially in the period of consolidation of islam. if we divide the islamic practice in two models, i.e. sharia and sufism, then the first model is more easily accepted by merchants, employees and higher social classes. the second model is more readily accepted by farmers, workers and communities experiencing socio-cultural transition, or industrial society that is experiencing a massive rationalization. the first model of islamic practice is developed through da’wah and rationalization of education, while the second through a spiritualization or sufism. the process of islamization in indonesia mostly used the second model. the success of the adherents of sufic islam in indonesia’s islamization, is among others due to this pattern of islam --in some respect-‘ fits ‘ with the background of local people who have been influenced the hindu-buddhist asceticism and syncretism of local belief. this article elaborates on the relationship of islam and local culture in indonesia. this paper is primarily based on the beliefs and practices of islam in that region that illustrate relationships and interplay between islam and the local heritage culture. the interactions between islam and local culture islam is believed by its followers as a religion that is suitable for any place and time. this belief among others is based on the view that islam is a religion that fits with nature of humanity. further implication of this view is that all the efforts and results of human creativity which correspond to the nature of humanity is islamic in itself. on the other hand, muslims believe that islam is universal. islam’s universality concerns the basic teachings and products that apply in all places and time. islamic universality especially concerns the teaching of basic values and is believed to be originated from the revelation of god that does not change and cannot be changed. because it only concerns the teaching of basic values and [ 57 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 then not all answers the humanitarian issues have been provided technically by islam. it is inevitably derived from the teachings of islam when the dynamics of historical society involve the creativity of human understanding and culture where the religion comes to strengthen it. thus the reciprocal relationship between islam and local culture is natural. this is in fact reinforced by the nature islamic religion that is present not for a specific group but for all mankind. thus islam that was reveled in saudi arabia is not only articulated in the context of arab society. its universality can accommodate the diversity of human cultures scattered in all corners of the world. therefore, local cultures could not and should not be omitted altogether just because the community embraces islam. this is perhaps the meaning of the phrase al-islam salih fi kulli makan wa fi kulli zaman. however, not all elements of the local culture by itself are in accordance with the teachings of islam. of course there are incompatibilities. elements that are contrary to the principles of islam are what must be changed, adapted and altered or even abolished. in other words, the coming of islam must always result in an overhaul of social transformation or heading into a better direction. nevertheless, at the same time, the coming of islam does not necessarily break a society from their past. islam also can preserve what is good and right of the past and can be maintained in the test of the universality of the qur’an. this is a long process that occurs in the spread of islam across the world. when islam was present and embraced by the persian community, then we saw the results: philosophy, science of kalam, and sufism. similarly, in other areas, islam’s encounter with the local context has produced distinctive islamic style. in short, by realizing the universal dimension of islam as well as the existence of human freedom to solve the problems, then the actualization of islam in west kalimantan might be different from that fellow muslims in java or the middle east and other places. this sort of awareness is what makes the spreaders of islam in indonesia in general made use of local resources in the framework of the process of islamization. according to the history, the king of patani in southern thailand converted to islam because he was cured by a sheik from pasai. in west kalimantan, there are a lot of local mantra texts that have islamic content as also found in the malay peninsula (skeat, 1967). the acceleration of the transformation — in line with the fall of majapahit—the javanese feudalistic culture turned into an islamic egalitarian society driven by the spreaders of islam using local elements. another example is the use of wayang (javanese puppets) by sunan kalijaga, a ceremony for ‘islamized’ people who recently died, and various other cultural events. this sort of phenomenon also happens everywhere. many other traditions can be referred [ 58 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 to as examples. researcher abdurrahman abror (2003) for example, found that the malay pantun in pontianak, is not only a spoken art passed down orally from one generation to the next, but also used to transform universal great values including specifically the values of islam. islam can be reconciled with the local culture. this peaceful islamic character is recognized by many researchers of islam in the archipelago. in contrast to the emergence of a dominant religion as catholicism in the philippines and latin america since the 15th century after military conquest and abolishment of culture (azyumardi 1999: 37). to a certain degree, it must be recognized also that the spread of islam to europe in the past involved military forces. as a result, islam could not survive for a long time. this pattern of the spread of islam only sowed some hatred that can be felt to this day called islamophobia among most western societies. before islam came to indonesia, the local beliefs were mostly oriented toward the supernatural forces that exist in the river, trees, hills and other places or characterized by hindu-buddhist influence. however after islam arrived, the orientation shifted to islamic belief system, though admittedly it is not fully complete yet given a number of practices are still common among the society. in view of this relationship, there are at least two types of assessment put forward by scientists. first, they see that islam in indonesia, in a wider context, in the indonesian archipelago, is syncretic nature. in this view, islam is considered to have mixed with local culture. islam in indonesia is at the peripheral position, second class and not authentic. this view is represented among others by winstedt and geertz. winstedt, for example, argued that the presence of this religion is nothing more than changing the name or label with islamic nuances to the local belief system of the animists and hindu-buddhist in nature. meanwhile the substance of the belief has not changed. the second scientist argued that islam in indonesia is unique. for them the authenticity of islam in this region is not necessarily congruent with islam in arabia. the encounter between islam and local culture has produced a distinctive islamic form without losing the essence and the spirit and this is inevitable. islam here is also authentic and is on the mainstream. the scientists who supported this view, among others, are al-attas, azyumardi azra, and woodward. according to al-attas (1969: 4-7) that the malay archipelago displacement of the belief system of the hindu-buddhist tradition is comparable to the transition of the western world view which was heavily influenced the greek mythology, to the world of reasoning and enlightenment. [ 59 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 in fact, cultural changes occur continuously. as part of culture, tradition also goes through changes from time to time; or at least culture adapts to its surrounding. such changes may apply from within those traditions or may also result from acceptance of influence of the tradition from outside. usually changes from within the tradition take place rather slowly compared to the influence of tradition from outside. in the context of the islamic community in the archipelago, the change can be exemplified with the cosmology of some people who previously believed in the myth, then it was replaced with a new cosmological traditions of the empirical material and style. of course this is not always the case or, in other words, is not applicable to the whole islamic community of indonesia because there are still many islamic communities who also maintain the islamic traditions. when looking at the relationship between islam and local culture in indonesia there are three patterns as can be seen in the following graph: the graphic pattern of the relationship between tradition and islam                                     bakumpai dayak tradition islamic  tradition islam islamization tradition  source: hermansyah (2010) the first pattern, the eternal tradition the arrival of islam has brought many changes to the communities of indonesia who chose to embrace the religion, including in terms of culture. as times change, especially with islam getting stronger, some traditions are lost. although most of the heritage of belief was still practiced in the same way it was to this day. this could be seen in a form of the tradition of animism and hindu-buddhism. some communities still live their life in the way local people of the archipelago in the past did. some examples can be presented here. in many islamic communities in indonesia, we can still find ceremonies of giving sacrifice in order to obtain [ 60 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 salvation. this belief is related to the belief that nature is controlled by certain supernatural creatures. supernatural beings are believed to affect people’s lives. one of the forms of this belief is common among the coastal communities where several forms of ceremonial ‘feeding’ of the supernatural powers considered to have control over the area are still widely performed. in some areas, people living near the sea or river often perform ceremonies of dumping food into the river or sea called buang-buang (throwing away). similar ceremonies are performed by hanging offerings at the intersection or under a specific tree. the ceremony is in some places called hanging the ancak. the two types of traditional ceremony are relatively in the original. this kind of practice also can be easily found in non-muslim communities. today, there are still many muslims who practice traditional medicine which involves calling for invisible spirits to enter the body of a shaman as a medium to inform patients about diseases and as ways of treatment. this method is called in shamanism. the pattern of islamic society is mainly found in villages that are a bit far from the center of the development of islamic da’wah and education and community groups who recently embraced islam. this condition is reasonable since the transformation of a society usually requires a relatively long time even takes several generations to complete. the second pattern, the blend between islam and tradition or in the process of islamization in addition to the presence of inherited traditions of belief and practice still in existence without undergoing a lot of changes in the islamic people of indonesia, there has also been a mix between tradition and islam teachings. the blend between the two elements —tradition and islam-namely the old and the new, is in the state of continuum and not a separate entity (dichotomy). in other words, in the belief and practice of islamic societies in this area, it still contains old tradition that goes hand in hand with new elements. the continuity of the culture is made possible due to among others the resemblance of the old culture with islamic faith. for example belief about immortality of the spirit in the teaching of islam is similar to the belief about life and the spirit among the people of the archipelago. for example, in one of the dayak sub-ethnic groups in west kalimantan particularly dayak taman, as reported by yc. tambun (1998: 81-90), they believe that after death, a human’n sumangat (spirit) will live another life in several worlds and ends at the banua so’soak and banua ti’asu — where the sumangat will eternal. banua so’soak is for sumangat who did good deeds during their life and is an eternal place, while banua ti’asu for evil. dayak ngaju, the largest group of dayak in [ 61 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 central kalimantan, even hold a special ceremony called tiwah to deliver the spirit of someone who has died to enter a new world (schiller, 1997). similarly the concept of ghost among people in the archipelago has similarities with the concept of jin and the satan in islamic belief. there are many other examples that could be cited. selamatan ceremony is practiced by many islamic people in indonesia. the roots of this kind of ceremony can be traced prior to the arrival of islam. however, the muslim community has added some nuances, modified and altered the ceremony so as to become an islamic tradition. another example, a lot of spells and the like which are practiced by local muslims are visibly to be derived from local sources but at the same time have been enriched by islam (see hermansyah, 2006, 2010). conversely there are also islamic belief and rituals that have been mixed with local traditions. many of the teachings of islam are gaining local color in their expression. the indonesian muslims hold a lot of ceremonies such as childnaming, circumcision, wedding, and funeral which are the application of islamic teachings, and in practice they get an extra local color. there are a lot of variations in the implementation of the ceremonies. the efforts of the scholars and former educators to incorporate the elements of islam into local traditions or vice versa were not actually meant to reinforce existing traditions. it was the first step to introduce islam to those who had not known anything about the religion. this is a tiered effort. as a result of this process of islamization, islam was accepted by the entire community of the indonesian archipelago. this is not surprising because as described azyumardi azra (1999) that islam could be propagated up to remote places in the country thanks to the teachers and the sufi travellers who moved from one place to another to spread it. the presence of the sufis is acceptable because, to a certain extent, the sufis are more tolerant and even take advantage of local traditions as a means to islamize the society. research conducted by hermansyah (2006, 2010) found that the practices among the sufis were similar those of the communities in the indonesian archipelago especially with regard to magic, which in the local language is called ilmu (malay) or ngelmu (java). for example, among the followers of sadziliah in egypt believe that certain chants have magic power, like hizb al-bahr which was used as a spell of protection during a trip (schimmel 1976: 178). similarly, the role of islamic religious figures ‘kiyai’ in java is important in terms of the belief in magic as in the determination of the wedding day (vredenbregt 1990: 62); so is the case with the santri (students of islamic boarding school) who use verses from the quran for the purposes of [ 62 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 treatment as reported by geertz (1989: 118-119) similarly, the spreaders of islam in indonesia, especially the sufis, were also believed to have the ability to heal in a way unseen so it caught the attention of the local community who then sympathized with and embraced islam. for them, the sufi figure could fulfill their pragmatic interests. therefore, islam embraced by most of the people in the archipelago in the early stages of islamic period in this region, is actually still alive in the mental world inherited by local culture and gave birth to the syncretic style of islam. in this light, lapidus (1991: 487-488) stated that while many muslims adhered to the high tradition defined by ulema and sufi teachings, many, if not most lived in a mental world defined by the heritage of local cultures. for most southeast asian villagers, islam was an element of a more complex social and religious identity and not the exclusive symbol of personal and collective life. in contrast to the traders or the trade world which generally is centered on the coastal areas that are open and cosmopolitan, the sufi travelers/teachers penetrated the interior areas which have agrarian culture and typical cosmopolitan views. sufi masters have inclusive views or weltanschaung, and distinctive agrarian culture that tend to be syncretic. islam no longer appears in strict exclusivism as a religion of revelation; but it is quite accommodating to local values and belief systems that have been established. this is also recognized by researchers from outside who found that the encounter between islam and traditional beliefs was the secret to the success of islam in the indonesian archipelago (see lapidus 1991: 468, bellah 2000). the third pattern, “pure islam” as pointed out above that some of the old traditions and beliefs still existed without any influence from islamic teachings. there are also traditions that are interwoven with elements of islam. in the implementation, islamic elements indicated ‘victory’ over the traditions. the teachings of islam — especially its formal aspects — increasingly showed dominance over local traditions, especially those that are contrary to islam. many aspects of local belief and practice have been abandoned and replaced entirely by the teachings of islam. however, all forms of practices of local beliefs that have no conflict with the principles of islam are retained and even reinforced. thus the “purity” of islam in indonesia remains in typical space and time. as an example of such a pattern is the teaching about cleanliness. in west kalimantan, for example, the implementation of thaharah (body cleaning) which is called a “balimau” bath or a “srotu” bath on the upper kapuas river [ 63 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 is a typical local thaharah practice. practices like this in no way contain elements of trust locally, just use a distinctive way. another example of local belief concerning ghosts is slowly replaced by islamic belief about the jinn and devils. beliefs about semangat (spirit) was replaced with faith about the spirit and the soul (nafs). there is also the spirit of local culture and practices that are maintained as it in line with islam such as family, community, and tolerance originally passed on by the ancestors are retained by the muslims here. muslims in indonesia choose the sarong --commonly also worn buddhist people in other parts of southeast asia as clothing and the white skullcap made in china to cover the head when going to mosque-are not necessarily less faithful compared to their fellow muslims who wear robes and turban when going to the masjid al-haram in mecca. similar clothing that is worn also by some christian communities in africa to go to church, because it is their everyday clothes. earlier scholars continued good traditions that already existed in the community completely departing from an understanding of islamic teachings. isn’t this religion the successor of the traditions of abrahamic religions? islam is not entirely new. muslims are told to believe in the past abrahamic religious teachings and set things straight and leave the teachings that are in contrary to the basic principles of islam (for example: qs. al-baqarah [2]: 41, 89, 91, 97, 101; ali imran [3]: 3; al-an’aam [6]: 92). based on this belief, the establishment of islamic law should follow the principles of al-muhafazhah ‘ala al-qadim al-shalih wa al-akhdz bi al-jadid al-ashlah (holding on to the old and good one, and to the better new one) and al-‘adah al-muhakkamah (customs that could be a basis of the law), which are derived from good habits that grow and flourish within the community, as long as they are in line with the basic principles of the qur’an and sunnah. “purifying” islam — in the context of locality — in indonesia and various other parts of the world is experiencing rapid development in line with the increase in da’wah and education. scholars have contributed to the improvement of the quality of the islamic community. even lately there are also movements of “purification” of islam which are less likely to appreciate the locality. for supporters of this form of islamic movement, pure islam means that it must be congruent with islam in its native land. conclusion belief and practice as part of the culture that existed in the islamic society [ 64 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 of indonesia now are not something that grew and flourished in an empty space. all of this existed as a continuity of treasure of humanity. derivation and redirection of a tradition towards the formation of a new, more complex culture is reasonable and necessary. there is no culture and civilization in the world that is built without relationship and interaction with other cultures and civilizations. the diverse islamic actualizations are historical facts in a socio-cultural process, where islam develops. the spread and development of islamic da’wah and education through the efforts by utilizing local culture should not draw the line between ‘pure islam’ and ‘syncretic islam’ but it should accelerate change through empowerments or socio-economic advocacy and education. ways of spreading and developing patterns of islamic teachings which tend to demean other people’s faiths, could be counter productive. the pattern of the spread and development of islam that emphasizes bans and threats based on faith, morals, and worship (fiqh) in order to change the religious behavior is relevant with community with better level of education, of course with an emphasis on the mauizah al-hasanah method. the indonesia muslims are being tested to resolve various problems facing this nation. the religion and the people being tested on which religion pattern can significantly bring indonesia to become better nation. this “history test” will prove whether (the pattern of) islam chosen and practiced by the majority of the people of this nation will bring indonesia toward success or otherwise. bibliography abdul munir mulkhan. 2002. “dakwah kultural dalam tradisi keberagamaan di indonesia,” paper presented at sidang tanwir muhammadiyah di denpasar bali 24-27 januari. abdurrahman abror. 2003. pantun etnik melayu pontianak. disertasi pada universiti malaya. attas, syed m. naquib al-. 1969. preliminary statement on general theory of islamization of malay-indonesia archipelago. kuala lumpur: dewan bahasa dan pustaka. azyumardi azra. 1999. renaisans islam di asia tenggara,sejarah wacana & kekuasaan. bandung: remaja rosdakarya. bellah, robert n. 2000. beyond belief: menemukan kembali agama, esei-esei tentang agama di dunia modern. terj. rudy harisyah alam. jakarta: paramadina. [ 65 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 geertz, c. 1989. abangan, santri, priyai dalam masyarakat jawa. jakarta: pustaka jaya. geertz, c. 1989. abangan, santri, priyai dalam masyarakat jawa. jakarta: pustaka jaya. hermansyah. 2006. alam orang melayu: kajian ilmu di embau, kalimantan barat indonesia. disertasi doktor pada institut alam dan tamadun melayu, universiti kebangsaan malaysia. hermansyah. 2010. ilmu gaib di kalimantan barat. jakarta: gramedia, efeo, stain, kitlv. hermansyah. 2013. islam dan toleransi beragama dalam masyarakat muslim kanayatn dayak kalimantan barat. dalam. islamica. vol. 7. no. 2. maret. hal 340-359. lapidus, ira m. 1991. a history of islamic societies. cambridge: cambridge university press. malinowski, b. 1961. the dynamics of culture change. new york: yale university press. nurcholish madjid. 1992. islam doktrin dan peradaban: sebuah telaah kritis tentang masalah keimanan, kemanusiaan dan kemodernan, jakarta: paramadina. schiller, anne. 1997. small sacrifices: religious change and cultural identity among the ngaju of indonesia. new york, oxford: oxford university press. skeat, w.w. 1967. malay magic: being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the malay peninsula. new york: dover publication. [first published 1900] vredenbregt, jacob. 1990. bawean dan islam. jakarta: inis. winstedt, r.o 1985. the malay magician being shaman, saiva and sufi. kuala lumpur: oxford university press. woodward, mark r. 1989. islam in java: normative piety and mysticism in sultanate of yogyakarta. tucson: university of arizona press. yc. thambun anyang. 1998. kebudayaan dan perubahan daya taman kalimantan dalam arus modernisasi. jakarta: grasindo dan kitlv. yusriadi. 2002. “fenomena masuk islam di kalimantan barat: menyusuri etimologi lubuk melayu.” khatulistiwa. 2. hal. 1-12. [ 66 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 1 june 2014 [ 247 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 conflicting religious identities: blaspheming islam and the future of democracy in indonesia saipul hamdi1 politektik pertanian negeri samarinda email: hamdiugm@gmail.com abstract the paper explores the phenomena of conflicting religious identities among indonesian politicians in jakarta’s regional election (pilkada) in 2017. the 2017 most dramatized jakarta regional election has been seen as a very important political phenomenon in recent time as it revealed the conflicting social-political identity construction across religious and ethnic groups in the region. this work attempts to provide explanation from the perspective of religious studies on the roles of religious identities in the political realm as well as religioous and political symbols as tools to achieve political supports. the case of ahok mentioning one of the qur’anic verses of al-maidah 51 in kepulauan seribu exposes the fundamental question of wheter it is apart of blaspheming islam and insulting ulama. it also shows how the islamist groups respond to it by using the case of the politicizing al-maidah 51 to reduce ahok electability and disqualify him from political contestation by accusing him to blaspheme islam. the complexity of applying quranic texts to the modern political platform brings this article to outline how muslim scholars interpret al-maidah 51 and how they situate the text into the context of modern politics in indonesia as well as how it influences the future of indonesian democracy. keywords: religious identities, blasphemy, al-maidah 51, indonesia and democracy introduction religious identities play a pivotal role in the contemporary indonesian politic landscape since the fall of the suharto regime in 1998, which has been marked by reinforcement of islamist political movement. for three decades after taking over the country rule in the early 1970s, suharto regime has 1 the author would like to aknowledge the support by politeknik negeri samarinda for this research-based article and expresses his deepest grattitute. it is also the intention of the author to credit the annual international conference on islamic studies (aicis) 2017 organized by the ministry of religious affair of the republic of indonesia in which the author was invited to present the paper. it was held in jakarta on 22-25 november 2017 [ 248 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 controlled indonesian politics over indonesian archipelagos and strained opposition resistance including islamist faction (assyaukanie, 2013; aspinal, 2005; hamdi, carnegie, & smith, 2015). ken miichi (2006: 129) describes this strategy to disempower islamist political movement and reactivates them as a puppet for encountering socio-political critics of human right violation and unsecured freedom. since the new orde’s fall, a new politics system has been constructed after a national reformation movement took place in 1998 lead by muslim activists, lecturers and students. this political situation has provided open space for freedom and new democracy. in this new freedom all politic wings grow rapidly including the islamist groups where they take advantage to strengthen and re-expand their political wings through parliament and nonparliament. the rise of islamist movements takes us back to similar situation in early independent 1950s, in which they focus on upholding syari’ah campaign like what masyumi party strugled. in addition to that, the extremist group of darul islam and indonesian islamic army (di/tii) had struggled to reinstall islamic state system (khilafah islamiyah) instead of secular state of pancasila (effendey: 2003: 2: platzdasch, 2009: 2). the new era of indonesian politics has been marked by reformation on political system and government bureaucracy followed by the assurance of civil rights and freedom, and equality (hamdi, 2011). as i mention earlier, islamist groups take part in contemporary politics contestation either in parliament or non-parliament. prosperous justice party (partai keadilan sejahtera) is representing the fundamentalist muslim voice in parliament. together with crescent star party (partai bulan bintang), pks carries a great islamic agenda in re-upholding sharia as indonesian official law replacing secular law (platzdasch, 2009: 337; buehler, 2009: 59). from its political platform, pks has been inspired a lot by islamic fundamentalist party ikwhanul muslimin in egypt through al-azhar university alumni, however it has transformed to a local politics and culture stetting of indonesia. pks has a solid constituent around 8.19% voters in 2004 and 6.79% in 2014 (bawazir, 2015:210). pks also runs education institution to regenerate young intellectual as well as young politicians. most islamist members from hti, fpi, muhammadiyah have affiliated to pks party as supporters, even in some ways they have different approach to actualize islamic state agenda. the article examines the role of islamist groups in regional election politic of indonesian capital jakarta 2017, and the way they conflicted religious and ethnic identities. politicizing religious and ethnic identities commonly occur as a propaganda strategy to win political contestation. the phenomenon of jakarta regional election 2017 shows how religion and ethnic identities [ 249 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 have been played by the islamist groups to resist and challenge non-muslim leadership. they clearly use religion especially al-maidah 51 to refuse a nonmuslim leader by arguing that islam has banned appointing a leader from non-muslim in the majority of islamic community (lim, 2017:3; hadiz, 2018: 262). the islamist figures such as habib rizieq, al-khattat and amin rais rise up this issue by mobilizing mass for demonstration even demanded ahok to fall down for his status as governor and stop him to be candidate in the next election. in response to the pressures from islamist groups, ahok accidently mentioned al-maidah 51 in his formal speech in kepulauan seribu said, “almaidah 51 has been used by politicians to cheat other muslim to support their political agenda, so do not want to be cheated by using al-maidah 51 and so on, even you do not vote me do not worry, this project keeps continue until my contract finish”. this statement generates controversy and political drama after his video was cut and circulated by buni yani on youtube. yani put transcript and take off some word to stimulate anger emotion from muslim community across indonesia. yani was successful accusing ahok for blaspheming islam and stimulating muslim activist to a demonstration. muslim activist come down to street protesting ahok with the largest mass mobilization. looking at this wild issue, his political opponents together with islamist groups took advantage to carry this case into politics domain as religious capitalization of jakarta election. the islamist group accuses ahok for blaspheming quran and insulting ulema and this is the only way to defeat him in this regional election contestation. therefore, islamist groups give pressure to indonesian police and president to detain him by mobilizing insistently the largest demonstration in indonesian history called “the peace action of defending islam 411 and 212”. they also warn the government, who are politically in coalition with ahok, never protect and has to detain him. the government considers the muslim voices by carrying this case to the state court in order to avoid muslim revolution and violence action. after indonesian ulema council release an attitude toward ahok statement as part of blasphemy, the police put this case officially to the court (lim, 2017: 4). how muslim scholars respond to blasphemy accusation and how they interpret al-maidah 51 will explore in next discussion. this case has been tremendous effect to ahok politics career as minority, where he defeated for the second term and charged for penalty during two years in jail after the election. i believe that phsycological deminsion is also important in the case of convlict including religious groups (lingren, 2016). for the latest, the deeper studies on the ahok case is indeed needed as an addional to this work. [ 250 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the anti blasphemy law and politicizing the sacred text blasphemy cases on religion usually remain a big question and a social controversy not only in indonesia, but also around the world. from human rights perspective, blasphemy transgresses the basic values of democracy in which provide freedom and equal right for all the people delivering critics and argument through writing and talking about socio-political phenomena including justice and religious symbol (gubo, 2015:2-3). however, it was misunderstood and confused regarding the different element between insulting and critics to the sacred thing or symbol. if there is a new interpretation of the sacred text coming up deviates from orthodox discourse and understanding, it will be excluded, judged and accused for conducting blasphemy. some have shown that because they have different interpretation of the sacred text to majority understanding, they have been called as “deviant”.2 blasphemy is defined as the act of insulting or showing contempt to a deity, holy person and sacred things. some religions in the world consider blasphemy as religious crime and there are anti-blasphemy law in 32 countries and hate speech laws in 87 countries that cover defamation of religion and public expression of hate against a religious group (gubo, 2015: 4). blasphemy law is common in muslim majority nations such as those in the middle east and north africa, although they also present in asia and some european countries. in the united nations, blasphemy has become a critical issue for the 21st century, when islamic countries did a massive campaign for worldwide criminal penalties for the ‘defamation of religions’. however, the campaign ended in 2011 when the proposal withdrawn in geneva, in the human rights council because of lack support (council of europe, 2010: 11). anti-blasphemy law in indonesia is part of colonial inheritance law. originally it is not related to religious defamation, rather than protection law for the dutch people from local resistance following challenges toward colonial authority. however, 1965 sukarno has been repressed by conservative muslim groups to develop anti-blasphemy law from the dutch law for the protection of religious purity and reduction of religious deviance (heresy) practices. sukarno gave attention to the conservative voices due to the vulnerability of religion under the significant proliferation of spiritual movements (aliran kepercayaan) across indonesian islands, that able generate a negative effect to fundamental structure of islamic religiosity. in response to the demand of conservative 2 see the wokk by prasojo (2017) for the case of ethnic and religious group relation in west kalimantan consisting of tionghua, dayak and malay. see also the works by ernas (2016) and rumahuru (2016) for the case of inter-religious relation in ambon consisting of muslim and christian. [ 251 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 voices sukarno creates presidential decree no. 1/pnps/1965 anti-blasphemy law that consist of two articles 156 and 156a. however, the antiblasphemy often abused to repress and disempower the minority group; even now it is used for achieving political interest including in regional elections process (crouch, 2012: 2; legal, 2017: 4). suharto transformed presidential decree 1965 of religious blasphemy to be official constitution or undang-undang no. 09/1969 to prevent social dispute and protect the state stability. indeed, suharto often abused the blasphemy constitution, especially the article 165 and 165a to protect his regime authority from critics and resistances. in several cases, suharto applied an aggressive policy attacking muslim activist, including tanjung priok case 1984, where military member shoot demonstrators in tanjung priok harbor. this precedent started by activists who protested upon apprehension of their colleagues after little dispute with military member who come in to the mosque without taking his shoes. blasphemy becomes national debate after ahok statement accused as insulting ulema and the quran. it attracted national attention because ahok is governor of indonesian capital and one of the most controversial leaders in contemporary indonesian politic. his reformation agenda for a clean and professional government inflicts cultural shock not only for the staffs, but also for the communities, who are not ready to accept his idea of changes and transformations. so, i argue that this blasphemy case is a big design to fall him dawn as governor and dissuades him for the next election. far away before the regional election takes place in jakarta, islamist groups especially fpi has been protested to his inauguration as governor after jokowi jumps to president chair. by carrying religious and ethnic identities as legitimacy to disempower ahok authority and delegitimize a non-muslim leadership is the only way to get him dawn (hadiz, 2018: 263). blasphemy is a key to reduce ahok electability that four month before has reached over 60%. even he did not mention al-maidah 51 for instants, he already accused to blaspheme islam because he is not muslim and banned to be leader in the majority of islamic community base on al-maidah 51. defamation issue has taken place for a long time since he became mayor in east belitung and governor candidate in the banka belitung province in regional election 2007 (ginting, 2008: 40). another fact shows that ahok has been defied by islamist groups in jakarta when he accompanied jokowi in the previous jakarta election 2012. al-maidah 51 has been spread out to ignore ahok and jokowi duet due to his different religiosity and ethnicity. for a decade, al-maidah 51 becomes a political verse in several regional elections [ 252 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 that often appears during the campaign process and disappears in the end of the election(hadiz, 2018: 264). during regional election of jakarta, the islamist groups use blasphemy issue as demonstration moment. the largest mass mobilization called 411 and 212 in 2016 presented by muslim across indonesian archipelago. around 1 million people down to street for a long march from istiqlal mosque to the national monument, bundaran hi, then to president palace demanding jokowi to detain ahok. the movement of 411 was attended by some religious figures, artists and politicians, including a. a gym, fadly zon, fahri hamzah, ahmad dani, and amin rais. politically, those figures are opposition to jokowi’s government, where they come from a different political party. at that demonstration protesters appeal a meeting with jokowi to discuss about ahok case, but no response from him and he chooses to leave the palace and ignore those demands. because they failed to see jokowi those protesters attack the police and make chaos and violence. there are groups of motorbike gangster in many spot around demonstration area goes to robbery targeting chinese stores. the same schema in the following demonstration action called 212, presented by mass around 700.000-1.5 million people. at this time, jokowi and yusuf kala decide to see those demonstrators and give a short speech to calm down their emotional and appreciate the peace commitment for demonstration process(lim, 2017: 3). under a strong pressure finally ahok delivers a deep sorry through media for his mistaken statement in kepulauan seribu. he explains that he has no aim to insult ulame or blaspheme the quran, it is a pure critic to muslim politician who often abuse the quran as weapon of politics goal. ahok emphasizes that there are some politicians play this issue to disqualify him for the next jakarta election. it is not making sense for me to blaspheme islamic symbol, while the majority of my supporters are muslim, ahok said. he shows his effort to help muslim people to mekkah for hajj and build religious facilities such as mosques. after the police carried this case to official court it influences his electability. ahok has to undergo the blasphemy trial in the court during his campaign time and face horrified experience in the field. anywhere he and the team socialize his program during the campaign; he has been refused and attacked by certain group systematically. the verse of pilkada: challenging an orthodox interpretation ahok is a new phenomenon of indonesian modern politician leader together with jokowi, promoting mental revolution and anti-corruption. they have [ 253 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 strong chemistry as politician pairs where jokowi is well known with his downto-earth character, hard worker, and close to people, while ahok is assertive, reasonable, and professional (hamid, 2012: 335; prasetyo, 2014: 3; mulyadi, 2016: 130). jokowi encourages respecting plurality and diversity as well as equality rights among indonesian, including the engagement for minority group in country development process. his political approach made jokowi as one of young successful leaders in contemporary indonesian politics. in 2010, jokowi-and fx hadi rudyatmo reach 90.09% voters for the second election term in solo. no resistance from islamist group regarding jokowi’s politics step in solo engaging non-muslim politician as vice mayor (prasetyo, 2014: 8). different situation in jakarta election, he experiences a serious challenge from islamist groups that rejected his idea choosing a christian politic background. ahok is becoming an object for religious critics refer to textual interpretation of al-maidah 51. even there is a strong ignorance of ahok status, the islamist groups cannot override him from governor chair following the indonesian constitution. however, the engagement of islamist political domain has generated a socialpolitical drama not only in jakarta election, but also in all over indonesian archipelagos as the result of media exposure. the battle of political ideology and religious identity extremely happens when ahok replaces jokowi as governor after winning the presidential election in 2014. during the presidential election campaign, jokowi also experiences the attack through social media, where they were questioning his religious and ethnic identities. they accused him as a christian and chinese decedent blood. the rumor has been outbreak to jokowi family’s political identity that indicates partisan of indonesian communist party member in 1960s. at the same time islamist group continue to challenge ahok new status as governor by mobilization of militia to stop his inauguration by president (lim, 2017: 4). in order to understand the reason why islamist groups were challenging ahok authority and accusing blasphemy, we need to explore the way they understand and interpret al-maidah 51. al-maidah 51 has been public discourse and national debate not only related to its contents, but also its interpretation when it was connected to contemporary context of indonesian politics and its compatibility in implementation in the new democracy system. this verse unfolds the controversy and more complex question in modern politics era especially in the plural community, where muslim is minority group. it is potential to politicize for achieving political interest by certain group of muslim who used to stand behind the quran. in fact, al-maidah 51 is well known special verse of pilkada, which often appears when the regional election [ 254 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 event comes and disappears when it finish. in doing so, this article examines the plurality of al-maidah 51 interpretations among muslims scholars and how they contextualize it in modern democracy (lim, 2017:6-7). ahok was blamed for his comment about al-maidah 51 as assaults the quran and insults ulama, however he believes it is purely a critic for bad manner of muslim politician who abusing the quran to support their political agenda. ahok tries to challenge the orthodox interpretation of almaidah 51 by following gusdur interpretation that opposite to orthodox understanding. gusdur is a charismatic and a pluralist figure from traditional organization nahdlatul ulama, who protect minority group from violence and discrimination. gusdur is ahok spiritual teacher and politics advisor since they made contact to collaborate in previous regional election of banka belitung, in which pkb party support ahok. the reason gusdur assisted him because his achievement program during to be mayor in east belitung 2005-2006. al-maidah 51 has been erupted during the process of political campaign in that regional election, in which directly influence the grade of ahok electability. ahok and eko cahyono lost in this pilkada contestation. according to eko al-maidah 51 becomes tsunami attack for him and ahok it was used as a political weapon. al-maidah 51 disseminated as religious propaganda refusing on-muslim leadership.3 the muslim candidate use kyais to spread out this propaganda agitating other muslims to vote candidate from the same religion. so, what happen was the current case of ahok in jakarta is repetition from previous experience. there are varied interpretations of al-maidah 51 among muslim scholars in response to ahok case. the word aulia in al-maidah 51 is main objet for the discussion and argument related to the meaning and the connection to the modern political context. gusdur said, al-maidah 51 did not relate to leadership matter, rather a critic and warning to the unethical manner from muhammad friend who want to fracture islamic community by creating alliance with non-muslim including the christians and the jews. this is the reason why this verse down through to remind muhammad of his potential internal enemy. according to gusdur ahok has no bad intention like what it shows in this verse, on the contrary he made a good relation to muslim people and has adopted father from muslim family. he cares upon muslim necessities even he is christian leader. he prioritizes all the muslim needs like building mosque and fellowship for hajj. so, it is wrong to use this verse for targeting 3 see http://medan.tribunnews.com/2017/03/07/pernah-kalah-saat-jadiduet-cagub-cawagub-ini-kesaksian-eko-cahyono-soal-ahok-yang-mengejutkan?page=2, downloaded in march 7, 2017. [ 255 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 ahok in order to achieve the politics interest, gusdur said. nazarudin umar, a great imam of istiqlal mosque and professor in state islamic university of syarif hidayatullah jakarta re-strengthens gusdur interpretation on al-maidah 51. in a special interview by private channel tvone 2016 umar states that there are various interpretations of al-maidah 51 from muslim scholars, but no one translates auliya as a leader either in english or arabic book of interpretation. he said, there are 10 translations of the quran he had read including english translation by abdullah yusuf ali where he translates auliya as protector, close friends and alliance. only a translation from ministry of religious affair translates auliya as a leader. in his opinion, it was influenced a misleading of understanding by muslim about this verse. however, he deplores ahok statement mentioned al-maidah 51 that probably was causing a hurt for muslim. he suggests let muslim interpret their own sacred text even there are many approaches to understand the meaning of auliya in al-maidah 51. he also criticizes the single approach by islamist interpretation of auliya as a leader, which has socio-political consequences especially for minority groups. the same opinion by qurays shihab, a prominent muslim scholar for quranic interpretation said, auliya does not mean a leader in this context, but mean protector, alliance or close friend. close friend mean the one who has access to the secret matter and the private information like mayor closes to his people; marriage guardian wali nikah closes to his daughter. he illustrates a leader like a pilot, we choose based on capability, not identity. which one will will choose non-muslim pilot with a great experience and was a senior or muslim pilot with a poor experience and still junior. emha ainun najib challenges the islamist judgment about ahok as “kafir”. according to najib ahok is not kafir because he believes in god and admires the truth of quran, even he criticize his own religious tradition as irrational religion. so, he is not kefir but hypocrite or shirk, najib said. he also questions the islamist attitude refusing ahok as governor candidate of jakarta in the next election, while he is already our governor now. syafi’i maarif and mustofa bisri interpret al-maidah 51 in a moderate way saying that this verse is not connected directly to leadership matter. they believe no harm for muslim to vote non-muslim leader especially in the modern political context if they have ability. the verse of al-maidah 51 come down in war situation where not allowed to made alliance with enemies because could endanger muslim itself. so, we cannot use this verse as legitimacy and weapon for politics agenda. they see ahok statement as deep critics to muslim politician being unethical, hypocrite and corrupted. they suggest [ 256 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 forgiving ahok after him apologies and regret to his comment. informal ahok’s spokesmen during jakarta election, nusron wahid commented on the blasphemy case of al-maidah 51 as political trick and strongly connected to jakarta election. nothing to do with blasphemy, it just the way to decrees ahok electability. nusron argues, ahok is not the only christian governor in the muslim history; it existed since islamic kingdom era, where some christian figures sit in a strategic position including as governor. so, he challenges the orthodox interpretation of al-maidah 51 that no more suitable upon modern political context. habib rizieq, the head of fpi accused those muslim scholars and ulame who support ahok leadership as zindiq and hypocrite. rizieq regrets with their efforts of misleading the real al-maidah 51 interpretations to fit with their interest. he explains even the meaning of auliyah varies including alliance, close friend, protector, and leader, but it is not fair to take only one meaning to suit politics interest and withdraw others. we need to see the local context base one religious guidance where jakarta population is the majority of muslim. he believed, the true meaning of auliya in indonesian context is “leaders”. so, allowing non-muslim to be a leader in the majority of muslim community, including as governor is a deviant teaching of islam. similar opinion from yunahar ilyas, muhammadiyah scholar said, non-muslim is prohibited to be leader in a majority muslim community. not only al-maidah 51 clearly discusses about this issue, but also in other verses of quran that banned non-muslim leadership. he refers the story of umar bin khattab, who was angry upon the attitude governor of musa al-asyari appointing nonmuslim as accountant. musa al-asyari was invited for report presentation on his financial administration in front of umar and the result was good and impressive. umar asked to see his accountant, but asyari refuses to take him because he is christian. he was angry to al-asyari because of this issue. saik aqil husin al-munawar, ex-ministry of indonesian religious affair emphasizes the textual meaning of al-maidah 51 that clearly has banned nonmuslim (jews and christian) to be leader in a majority muslim community. no need to reinterpret this verse because it has a clear meaning. there is a prohibition word in this text by using proposition “la” in the beginning of sentence which means “no”. he understood it had banned not only on leadership matter, but also supporting or asking assistance from both groups. aa gym, a charismatic cleric from west java believes that auliya has plural meaning including a leader. for indonesian context the meaning of auliya more contextual toward leadership because we are the majority group, he said. he expresses his disappointment to ahok statement that was assaulted islamic [ 257 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 values and played sacred symbol. it was really hurt for us, but we have to pray for him to get guidance or hidayah, aa gym said. from those different interpretations about al-maidah 51 above, at least there are two groups have contested the discourses related to muslim response on leadership status of non-muslim in majority group. the first group follows orthodox ways using a normative interpretation of the text. they understand the text literally as a reference without considering the current local context. fpi, hti, fui, muhammadiyah, and pks are part of this group representing the orthodox way; even not all members have the same interpretation, but the majority of them are. the second group is the challenger of orthodox method and promotes heterodox way to contextualize the text to the current socialpolitical reality. this group represented by nahdlatul ulama (nu) scholars, the majority of muslim organization in indonesia. the young scholars of nu such as zuhairi misrawi, guntur ramli and nuron wahid promotes a new method to understand the text. their opinion some time creates a social controversy in the society due to negative response from the majority group that used to refer a traditional and orthodox way. zuhairi misrawi for instance stated, no significant influence by ahok statement destroy our belief. so, we cannot accuse him blaspheming quran and insulting ulame only because of this instant statement. misrawi said, his statement intend to criticizes the bad behavior of muslim politician using religious symbol for personal and group interest. al-maidah 51 is the verse of war, so it is difficult to apply literally in the new modern indonesian democracy and politics context. he believes the main reason of anti ahok rises up this issue only because he is clean, honest and anti-corruption, so no space for them to corrupt. it is very important to say here that there is misunderstanding upon ahok thought, especially the way he think and hold his commitment to a clean bureaucracy. ahok is a very critical thinker and talk philosophical way to analyze the socio-political reality. however, not everybody can accept his way of thinking and uncomfortable to hear deep critics. in addition, ahok is a brave person to say openly what he wants and refuses things do not make sense. his book about “mengubah indoenesia” is representation the way he thinks and applies highly religious ethics in practice for policy making and decision. in that book he already mention al-maidah 51 base on his experience in the previous regional election of bangka belitung 2007, in which he was attacked by this verse during campaign time and make him loss in that regional contestation (ginting (at.al), 2008). [ 258 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the future of indonesian democracy the future of indonesian democracy recently is in a serious vulnerability and challenges by the emergence of islamist groups that play a significant role in the new indonesian political landscape. in fact, the presence of islamist group is causing social and political turbulence shaking indonesian stability by carrying identities of religion and ethnic in conflict. since they problematize ahok status as vice governor of jakarta province 2012 and governor in 2014, the conflict of religious and ethnic identities is stronger and more sensitive especially between christianity and islam. this conflict is not purely about religion but more about politics interest and election contestation that carries religious symbol on war. the culmination of this conflict has been visible clearly when the islamist group challenges ahok decision as candidate of jakarta in regional election 2017 with djarot saiful hidayat, who supported by pdip, golkar, nadem and hanura. the tension between majority and minority group is sharper after ahok accused guilty on blasphemy case by state court and had been punished for two years detained. it was a long process since he charged assaulting islam, quran and ulame after delivering formal speech, in which follow by the largest religio-politics demonstration called 411 and 212 lead by fpi. this penalty has big impact on social relation stability among indonesian that put a fractured in national level. indonesian people including national figures divided and fractured in two groups. physical and non-physical identity conflicts take place not only in jakarta, but also in some places where various persecutions happen toward respective fanatic followers. the war is more visible through social media assaulting another figure and praising their own. ahokers have been persecuted by fpi militia members because they have assaulted the fpi imam, habib rizieq, a main actor behind the fall of ahok authority. the same event takes place upon certain religious figures, which insult and condemns ahok excessively. mui members and politicians who are “anti ahok” had been refused by local community when they visit to other provinces such as papua, west kalimantan, maluku and east nusa tenggara, and bali where non-muslim is the majority. the secretary of mui, tengku zulkarnain was attacked right when he come down from the plane in his visit for da’wa in sintang, pontianak january 12, 2017. the dayak community refused his attendance in pontianak by holding banner states that “we are kafir, this is our land and the kafir land, so do not come here”. this sentence is an expression to resist his racism attitude toward minority in social media.4 they also demand the government to dissolve 4 see https://nasional.tempo.co/read/835563/beginipenghadangan[ 259 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 fpi and other radical organization that was actively campaign for intolerant, violence, anti-pancasila and anti-constitution of indonesia. jonru and fakhri hamzah also ignored by local community in their visit because of racism and brutal comment and hatred worldwide on social media. in his social activities in sikka, flores, east nusa tenggara jonru aims to help poor people especially muallaf people (the new muslim convertor), however local communities stop him and protest his attendance following his discriminative comment in social media. fakhri hamzah, pks politician also was refused in manado by a hundred people who are disappointed to his political attitude. the airport was surrounded to look for him and push him to return to jakarta. the protestors yell at him said that no place for provocative people in manado land. the police evacuated hamzah from mass attack and take him to the event he has to present. however, hamzah decides to return before the event close to anticipate the next demonstration.5 the female doctor fiera lovita from solok, west sumatra identified as ahoker updated a new status on her facebook making comment about sex scandal of the great imam, habib rizieq. as soon as possible fpi militias come to her house and intimidate her through verbal violence demanding official sorry for what she said in her facebook. after negotiation with fpi members, she was asked for writing an official letter for saying sorry and regrets comment and never repeats it again. fpi members in west sumatera will take action until she acknowledged her mistake and write special letter. even she wrote a letter fpi members are not satisfied and still intimidate her by spreading agitation on facebook accused her deliberately insulting ulame and islam. she was suffered from this event and asks mutation to another place to save her children from mental damage. another persecution on video circulates in yutube, where a teenager has been tortured by fpi members after defamation fpi top leader about his porn chat scandal. five members from fpi have done serious interrogation and strike his face and shake his head. they guide him to say sorry for what he was done and never repeat it again. this interrogation takes place in the middle of the night by aggressive and violence approach under recorded camera. his mother just surrenders watching this event and unable to protect her son. however, the police quickly remove him and arrest those fpi members charged for child violence. those mentioned events show that indonesian democracy and freedom are on threaten as the result of religious and ethnic interfering in the politics realm. mui-dan-fpi-oleh-warga-dayak-di-sintang, january 15, 2017. 5 https://regional.kompas.com/read/2017/05/14/08135951/kenapa. fahri.hamzah.ditolak.di.manado, mei 15, 2017. [ 260 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 the conflict identities have injured the values of indonesian democracy by polarization of indonesian citizen base on religious and ethnic orientation. it is the biggest challenges of indonesian current democracy, where the islamist put identities in conflict and violates the indonesian constitution of pancasila in such all citizens are equal in allover spaces. islam and pancasila have a strong connection and can stand side by side without withdrawing one and another. however, the islamist groups still imagine replacing pancasila by islamic syari’ah through upholding islamic state as the best solution for indonesian problems of nationhood. the strength of islamist political movements after ahok defeat in jakarta’s election is the signal of the serious threat of indonesian future of democracy where they are not only voices an islamic syari’ah, but also attacking the minority group in politics rights. conclusion the conflict of identities among indonesians d has become stronger after ahok was charged a penalty for two years detained related to his formal speech in kepulauan seribu mentioned al-maidah 51 as a tool for political conspiracy to defeat minority candidate. for some muslims the critic is normal but for some other groups they would understand that the critic is a form of blasphemy to islamic symbol and ulame. ahok is accused for taking too far the sacred text in which it is not his domain as non-muslim, even though his reason to do it is as a reaction to high pressure from islamist group by carrying this verse. ahok defends himself with say no intention to blaspheme islamic symbol, just to remind muslim politicians that they should play fairly and not to use religious symbol for political interests. al-maidah 51 is a potential verse to be politicized by muslim politicians in each election moment especially contested to non-muslim candidate. it happens in regional election of jakarta 2017 where ahok is political enemy for conservative muslim politicians. previously, this verse was also used by politician in regional election of bangka belitung 2007 when ahok became candidate from a minority group. so, it is difficult to conclude that this case is purely blasphemy on islamic symbol and insult ulame because of the subjectivity to interpret the phenomenon. this case cannot be separated from the political context where there are groups of fundamentalist muslims disagree to a leadership position of non-muslim in the community of islamic as majority. if they are consistent to this attitude, they should apply al-maidah 51 in another region, not only in jakarata. the interpretations about al-maidah 51 show the plurality and diversity of understanding of its content and context. the central debate is on the meaning [ 261 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 of “auliya” word that influence to social-political practice. some scholars give a meaning of auliya as close friend and alliance, and some mean it as leader. but the majority of scholars understand auliya as a close friend or alliance. in indonesian context the basic question is how is al-maidah 51 compatible with indonesian constitution and democracy system that guarantees to everyone has equal right to vote and be voted? this verse is easy to use for personal and group political interests in the name of islam. it is wise to conclude that indomesian muslims need to re-contextualize it to be more suitable with indonesian constitution and democracy system. bibliography aspinall, e. (2005). opposing suharto: compromise, resistance, and regime change in indonesia. california: stanford university press bawazir, t. (2015). jalan tengah demokrasi: antara fundamentalisme dan sekularisme. jakarta timur: pustaka al-kautsar. buehler, m. (2009). islam and democracy in indonesia. insight turkey. vol. 11(4): 51-63 council of europe. (2010). blasphemy, insult and hatred: finding answers in a democratic society. strasbourg cedex: council of europe publishing. crouch, m. (2012). indonesia’s blasphemy law: bleak outlook for minority religions, asia pacific bulletin, (146). effendy, b. (2003). islam and the state in indonesia. pasir panjang: iseas. ernas, s. (2016). architecture of peace in ambon: reading dynamics of peace after ten years of conflict. al-albab, 5(2), 219 236. doi:https://doi. org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i2.504 gubo, d. t., (2015). blasphemy and defamation of religions in a polarized world: how religious. london: lexinton books. ginting, j. (et.al). (2008). merubah indonesia: the sory of basuki tjahaja purnama. jakarta: the center for democracy and transparency. glrc. (2017). blasphemy and related laws in selected jurisdictions, the law library of congress. hadiz, v. r. (2017). indonesia’s year of democratic setbacks : towards a new phase of deepening illiberalism. bulletin of indonesian economic studies, vol. 53 (3): 261–78 [ 262 ] al albab volume 6 number 2 december 2017 hamdi, s., carnegie, p. j., & smith, b. j. (2015). the recovery of a non-violent identity for an islamist pesantren in an age of terror. australian journal of international http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2015.1058339 hamdi, s. (2011). ahmadiyah di era reformasi. jurnal alulum, vol. 11 (1):27-46. ---------. (2012). indonesian politics in 2012 : coalitions, accountability and the future of democracy. bulletin of indonesian economic studies, vol. 48 (3): 325–45. lindgren, t. (2017). the psychological study of religious violence: a theoretical and methodological discussion. al-albab, 5(2), 157 176. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i2.471 miichi, k. (2006). “penetration of moderate islamism in contemporary indonesia, in masatoshi kisaichi, popular movements and democratization in the islamic world. new york: routledge. lim, m. (2017). freedom to hate : social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in indonesia. critical asian studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2017.1341188 mulyadi, (2016). ahok: simbol anomali bahasa kelas penguasa. okara journal of languages and literature, vol. ii(5):123-134. platzdasch, b. (2009). islamism in indonesia: politics in the emerging democracy. pasar panjang: iseas prasetyo, d. (2014). persepsi masyakarat dki jakarta terhadap figur dan komunikasi politik basuki tjahaja purnama (ahok), politika, vol.5(2). prasojo, z.h. (2017). social change and the contributions of the tionghoa, dayak and melayu (tidayu) in west kalimantan. in: king v., ibrahim z., hassan n. (eds) borneo studies in history, society and culture. asia in transition, vol 4. springer, singapore rumahuru, y. (2016). socio-religious movement of religious affiliated student organizations after social conflict in ambon. al-albab, 5(2), 251 264. doi:https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v5i2.505 [ 31 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 edwin wieringa and the exoticism of the minds of indonesian muslims media zainul bahri1 uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta zainul.bahri@uinjkt.ac.id abstract this article elaborates in-depth the views of edwin wieringa on indonesian islam. wieringa is professor of indonesian philology with special reference to islamic cultures at the university of cologne, germany. in addition to philology, wieringa also concerns himself with the indonesian contemporary islamic issues. according to wieringa, various aspects of the minds of indonesian muslims in the past and present are always exotic, in the sense of “unique” and “attractive”, and therefore motivates him to examine a lot of things about indonesian islam. for wieringa, indonesian muslim cultural exoticism also shows a high civilization that must be appreciated by the indonesian muslims themselves. dozens articles of wieringa which explore the culture of islam in this country shows that he has a remarkable contribution to the development of indonesian islamic and cultural studies. keywords: edwin wieringa, exoticism, culture, mind, indonesia islam introduction this article elaborates the views edwin wieringa that shed light on islam and indonesianism which he poured through articles in international publications. edwin wieringa, a professor of indonesian philology with special reference to islamic cultures at the university köln germany, is a senior researcher of ancient islamic javanese manuscripts and the phenomenon of contemporary indonesian islam. engaging in the studies of southeast asia, particularly indonesia, from the beginning to college at leiden university in the netherlands, to pursue a ph.d in the field of language and culture of indonesia, has made wieringa’s views on indonesian islam clear and 1 i would like to thank professor edwin wieringa for letting me interview him on many occasions in köln-germany and leiden-netherlands for the purposes of this article. i would also like to thank him for inviting me to do posdoctoral research at the institute of indonesian islam (institute he headed) for four semesters (march 2012-december 2013) on the sponsorship of the alexander von humboldt stiftung, germany. [ 32 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 authentic, and in some respects quite surprising. pak edwin, he was popularly klnown among colleagues in indonesia, is the last generation trained in javanese literature program in the 1980s, a time when literature and culture at the university of leiden java was still a “prima donna”. after he graduated in 1994, the program was closed until today. however, the interesting part of wieringa is that he has also conducted a lot of research and publications on contemporary phenomena of popular islam in indonesia and malaysia. more about edwin wieringa in the study of philology of indonesian islam, edwin wieringa is a very familiar figure. every year, at least twice wieringa comes to the event of the congress of manassa (indonesian manuscript society), and another event at the ministry of religious affairs or becomes a guest speaker at academic events held by uin jakarta, ui and ugm. in 2013, he also served as a visiting professor at the graduate school of uin jakarta for half a semester. edwin paul wieringa was born in groningen, holland, august 31, 1964, to native dutch parents. his father was an accountant at a beverage factory in groningen. when wieringa was nine years old, he and his family moved to roosendaal, southern holland, an area close to the belgian border. the family had to move because the factory where his father worked in was closed in groningen and moved to roosendaal. wieringa lived in roosendaal until graduating from high school in 1982, and immediately continued his studies at leiden university, department of history.2 wieringa in fat “fell in love” with the world of asia, including indonesia, since he was a teenager. he liked anything about asia. he often read novels and books on asia. during school visits to the museums, it was always interesting for him to see the world of asia and indonesia. according to wieringa, in his school years, he did not know anything about asia, but he already had the passion and imagination of asia as a “beautiful and exotic” place, very different from western culture. his interest might have something to do with his family background which has a conncetion with indonesia. his father, jan wieringa, was born in batavia in 1932 (in the dutch colonial period). at that time, his grandfather, menne wieringa, had a career as a teacher in batavia. his grandfather taught in hollandsch-chineesche school (dutch-chinese school in batavia). with his grandfather, wieringa’s father settled in batavia until the age of fifteen. after indonesia declared itself as an independent state, the family then returned to the netherlands. “in fact, the so-called” return “fits for my grandfather because he was born and raised in the netherlands. but in 2 interview with edwin wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. [ 33 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 my father’s case, it cannot be called “return” because he was born and raised in batavia, “wieringa said in a conversation. “until my teenage years, i can still remember clearly in our house (in the netherlands) there was a large map of batavia at the time when my grandfather was there. the map was posted on the wall. in everyday conversation, my father often used indonesian words, for example duit, makan, minum, tidur, pagi, siang and malam (money, eating, drinking, sleeping, morning, noon and evening), etc.“ wieringa recounted about the nostalgia of family’s connection with indonesia.3 several times i asked him whether his interest was closely related to his grandfather’s past in indonesia. he answered it was very likely but not important.4 the most important is that his interest and passion for indonesia have led him to a more serious academic world. it was not enough just to romance about his family’s past. after two years of studying at the history department wieringa moved to the department of indonesian studies. he was disappointed with the materials in the department of history, which is too eurocentric. discussion about asia also always within the european framework. on this wieringa recounts: at the time he was a student in the department of history, the required history textbook was a history of the modern world (first printed in 1950) the work of three american historians, robert roswell palmer, joel colton, and lloyd kramer. however, after seeing the contents of the history of the modern world, the first map was europe. i began to wonder: what kind of book is this? it seems as if europe was the most important. the first chapter is about the rise of europe and the european leadership, i.e. western europe became the leading forces, and other things about europe. then there is discussion about asia, but under the sub-chapter of europe world supremacy, how europeans colonized and dominated asia. so, this book is all about europe, asia is discussed after europe dominated asia, and after the second world war with the emergence of several independent states, then that is the end of the book with almost 1000 pages. america is discussed but viewed as the successor of the european culture, because europe is considered a determinant of the modern world. american which became modern in the 19th century is regarded as the successor to european culture, and america is a “new form” of europe that is more powerful than anything.5 with such materials, wieringa’s thirst on asia from the perspective of the asians themselves was not met. everything was always from the perspective of the west (europe). after moving to the department of indonesian studies, 3 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. 4 interview with wieringa, leiden-belanda, 12 november 2012. 5 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. [ 34 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 wieringa then attended an indonesian language lecture by professor blust. this lecture was interesting and increased his interest in the indonesian culture. this department in fact offered two concentrations, i.e. asia (indonesia) concerning its modern socio-politics and economy, and the second was the traditional culture. wieringa chose the second concentration, especially javanese and malay manuscript. in fact, at the time, the study of ancient manuscripts was among the most favorite at leiden. finally, wieringa dicided to choose indonesian studies without considering his future career prospects. the important thing was merely to satisfy his passion and interest.6 according to wieringa, it is important to note that in leiden in the 1980s, the influence of 19th century dutch scholarly traditions was still very strong. for example, many people assume that java was the same as indonesia. in addition, the use of texts as historical sources was still unusual. manuscripts were read and studied as literature. it was actually quite disappointing for wieringa because he wanted to use the ancient texts as historical sources. according to wieringa, historians and manuscript experts usually did not care about each other, even though they studied the scripts that are closely related. however, these conditions posed a challenge to wieringa. after successful completion of the indonesian studies for four years, wieringa received an offer to be a researcher in southeast asia and oceania and needless to say got a salary. this research program was a project that had existed since the colonial period. at first, the program --which was equivalent to a doctorandus degree (drs.)-was held for the colonial civil servants. however, after indonesia’s independence until the 1970s, there were no students taking the program anymore. after 1970, there were several students interested in indonesia and the concentration of the same study, the ancient javanese culture. when wieringa accepted the offer for this program in 1984, the subjects preferred were still on the javanese history and literature such as kakawin, babad, poetry, and saga. almost nothing about modern indonesia. however, in the following years, there was a very fundamental change in the program. this time, indonesia was discussed in more common materials with its modern aspects. the lectures on traditional culture, including the subject of ancient manuscripts were no longer delivered. with this change, the old javanese literary tradition became disconnected, and wieringa could be referred to as the last generation of the program within the university of leiden.7 in 1988 wieringa attended a postgraduate program in a project called aio (assistent in opleiding), a program which allowed fresh undersgraduates 6 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. 7 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. conversation with wieringa in leiden-belanda, 12 november 2012. [ 35 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 (drs.) to directly write the dissertation. through this program, postgraduate students, including wieringa, was prepared to become a teaching assistant, but the main obligation was to write a dissertation. wieringa then took javanese script studies as his concentration, with a draft of the dissertation on sunan pakubuwono vi. for his dissertation research, in 1991 for the first time, wieringa arrived in indonesia. with official permission from lipi, he began his adventures in the libraries in jakarta, central java, and ambon to look for references and texts related to his research. in central java, he traveled around surakarta (solo) and yogyakarta. in these places, he found many versions of the manuscript on pakubuwono vi. in yogyakarta he got a “special assistance” from an expert on javanese script, professor darusuprapta who gave him flexibility for research. over a year wieringa stayed in yogyakarta and solo. during this time in yogyakarta, he met hesti widyawati, a sweet girl from solo. wieringa fell in love and began to approach her.8 according to hesty, wieringa revealed to him that she was his first love.9 apparently for wieringa, java is not only beautiful and exotic in terms of culture. javanese girls are equally beautiful and alluring as manuscripts are. they got married in 1991 at the home of hesti’s parents in solo, and now have two daughters with a dutch-javanese mix. to date, his family settles in hurth, a small small town in the neighboring big city of cologne, western germany. wieringa wrote his dissertation about the history of the life of sunan pakubuwana (pb) vi, better known as sunan bangun tapa since he was exiled (a.k.a mbangun tapa) in ambon. in the literature of surakarta, the exile of pb vi attracted the attention of many people that there are dozens of javanese scripts that describe the history of the king. pb vi’s exile occurred after diponegoro war in 1830 and it was linked to political reasons, i.e. pb rebellion against the dutch. as a consequence, pb vi was then made a national hero in indonesia because he was regarded as a resistance fighter. however, by reading ancient javanese manuscripts about pb vi, soon we know the real facts that pb vi had personal problems with his wives, especially with his favorite one, i.e. ratu anom. therefore, on june 6, 1830, he suddenly left the palace without asking permission from the dutch government; he wanted to “retreat” to imogiri and parangtritis. in these two places that are considered sacred, the king expected to receive guidance for solving his household problems. however, the dutch government had another perception. they arrested pb vi on the grounds that the king was planning a rebellion.10 8 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. 9 conversation with hesti, cologne, 27 november 2012. 10 according to wieringa, the dutch were very upset by pb vi who was stubborn [ 36 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 javanese manuscripts about pb vi consist of many versions, and wieringa’s dissertation took the oldest edition with a dutch translation and related notes. he also made detailed notes of the manuscripts of other versions of pb vi. according to wieringa, there are a lot of history books that talk about pb vi, but a study of ancient javanese texts that discuss the history of pb vi hae yet to be conducted, whereas the javanese sources are much deeper and broader than the dutch. he did what seems to have never been done by other scholars, including indonesians. strangely, however, to date the dutch references still take precedence over indonesia’s own resources. for wieringa, everything about indonesia would be more attractive if one can access and understand directly from the sources of indonesia and the indonesian people’s views rather than the views of non-indonesians.11 in 1994 wieringa completed his dissertation cum laude, the highest academic achievement in leiden and rarely given to post graduate students. wieringa was then given a job as a catalog maker for malay and minangkabau manuscripts at the library of the university of leiden. previously, in 1992, after returning from indonesia, wieringa taught javanese literature for undergraduate and graduate students replacing professor ras, his own supervisor who retired in 1992. later, from 1996 to 1998, together with prof platenkamp, he got a chance to do a postdoctoral research with a scholarship from the alexander von humboldt, germany. for two years, wieringa and his family lived in münster. for him, being a researcher at the german postdoctoral program was happiness and new hope to a better life and career because in holland he never had a fixed position both as a academic and a researcher.12 it was in 2004 wieringa got what he wanted, as he was appointed a full professor in the field of indonesian philology with a specialization in indonesian islamic culture at the university of cologne, in cologne, germany. as a prolific writer, since 1990 to date, wieringa has written five books and tens of articles in english, german, dutch, and indonesian. reading the history of demak mosque with a chronogram in the history of indonesian islam, the demak grand mosque in demak, central java is considered the oldest mosque in indonesia. the mosque is and unruly. the dutch was furious when pb vi went to imogiri without asking for permission. the departure without permission was considered as rebellion. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, february 10, 2013. 11 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 februari 2013. 12 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012. [ 37 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 believed to be a gathering place for wali songo (nine guardians) who spread islam in java. the founder of this mosque was supposedly raden patah, the first king of the demak sultanate around 15th century ad. raden patah together with wali songo constructed this mosque by inscribing an image of an animal (turtle). it is a candra sengkala memet, meaning sarira sunyi kiblating gusti or the year 1401 saka. the body of a turtle consists of a head which means the number 1 (one), 4 feet means the number 4 (four), the body mean the 0 (zero), the tail means the number 1 (one). from this symbol, it is estimated that the demak mosque was constructed in 1401 saka. this mosque was founded on 1st day of shofar.13 according to wieringa, what is intesting about the demak mosque is in addition to being a symbol of the advent of islam in java, it also has an fascinating history of its construction: when exactly was the demak mosque constructed? western scholars or historians trained in the western tradition always want to find out the facts. the demak mosque is believed to be the oldest in indonesia. therefore, western historians will look for facts: when was the mosque constructed? in what year? according to wieringa, questions regarding the history of the mosque cannot be answered with the west methodology because there are many javanese sources (ancient manuscripts) containing symbols that are complex and differ from one another. however, the official explanation about the construction of the mosque is that it was constructed in the saka year of 1401 as mentioned above. for wieringa, it is interesting to trace the historical records of the demak mosque by reading the chronograms of demak, yogyakarta and solo, and the chronograms of found in serat centini, babad tanah jawi, and babad cirebon.14 in kamus besar bahasa indonesia [the great dictionary of the indonesian language] (2008) dan kamus besar ilmu pengetahuan [the great dictionary of science] (1997), kronogram is defines as a sentence, a word, or a sign that denotes a year or era. so, kronograms are symbols in the form of words, sentences or sign denoting a year, time or period.15 according to wieringa, the determination of the numbers in the chronogram is in accordance with the views of the ancient javanese people based on indian-hindu mythology, and was further developed by the wise javanese people.16 furhermore, wieringa 13 “masjid agung demak,” www//http.id.wikipedia.org, article diakses tanggal 2 july 2015. 14 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 februari 2013. 15 department of national education, kamus besar bahasa indonesia (jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama, 2008), p. 743. see also save m. dagun, kamus besar ilmu pengetahuan (jakarta: the national institute of cultural studies, 1997), p. 546. 16 department of national education, kamus besar bahasa indonesia (jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama, 2008), p. 743. see also save m. dagun, kamus besar ilmu penge[ 38 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 argued that javanese sources also do not mention the fact for sure, but merely through symbols or sengkolo. such symbols have typical meaning. the mention of the saka year of 1401 is a symbol that represents the beginning of a new era, the era of islam.17 for the javanese, saka yearof 1400 (about 1478-9 ad) is the fall of the kingdom of majapahit that represented hindu-buddhism. a year after that, i.e. in 1401 the demak sultanate was founded and led by the adipati raden fatah, a chinese muslim, who had a chinese name jin bun. her mother is a pure chinese. his arabic name “fatah” most likely means “victory,” meaning the victory of islam over the majapahit and a beginning of a new era of islam. the history of raden fatah mentions that he was the first demak king who ruled from 1500 to 1518.18 according to wieringa, one of javanese historical records which he read from a javanese chronicle written by prince suryanagara in yogyakarta in 1865 mentions that: the number 1400 was the year of ba (of an eight year cycle), the period of the fall of majapahit, brawijaya fled with his wives and children, marking the end of buddhism. the number 1401 was the year of wawu, i.e. the period of the demak palace, raden patwa (fatah) started to rule the kingdom and was styled sultan bintara.19 another chronicle, babading sangkala, written in 1738 also mentioned the fall of majapahit in the saka year of 1400. therefore once again, the saka year of 1401 was a new era of the rule of javanese islam. this year is believed to be the year raden fatah became king, however, there is no definitive data that mentions that it was the year the demak mosque was constructed. according to wieringa, the history of the demak mosque is surrounded by legends that make it difficult for historians to reconstruct objectively about when exactly it was constructed. one popular legend mentions that it was constructed by the wali songo in one night. sunan kalijaga, one of the wali songo, stated that he had played a very important role in the the final construction of the mosque, especially diciding on the direction of qiblat in the mosque. another interesting legend is the story of ki gedhe sesela or ki ageng sela20 who was said to catch lightning while on the farm. the lightning tahuan (jakarta: the national institute of cultural studies, 1997), p. 546. 17 edwin wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java: chronicles and chronograms on the grand mosque of demak,” in dietrich boschung and corinna wessels-mevissen, ed., figurations of time in asia (münchen, germany: wilhelm fink verlag, 2012), p. 62. 18 “raden fatah,” http//www.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. 19 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 162. 20 kyai ageng sela or ki ageng ngabdurahman was a spiritual leader and the ancestral king of the sultanate of mataram. he was a teacher of sultan adiwijaya pajang founder of the sultanate, and was the grandfather of the founder of the sultanate of mataram of panembahan senapati. the story of his life in general was a legend, according to the chronicle manuscripts. “ki ageng sela,” http//www.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. [ 39 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 later turned into an old man who was presented as a prisoner to the sultan of demak. however, the old man later escaped from prison.21 to commemorate the miracle of ki ageng selo, the entrance of the grand mosque of demak was called kori bledheg or lawang bledheg (door of lightning), carved with ornamental plants having an animal head as a symbol of lightning caught by ki ageng. in fact, some javanese people until today will immediately say that they are the grandchildren of ki ageng sela when there is a lightning, hoping it will not strike them.22 according to wieringa, four javanese chronograms provide different information regarding the construction of the demak mosque. the first or the oldest chronogram also known also sengkala memet 23 describes the door of lightning (lawang bledheg). the carving on the door indicates the chronogram of naga sarira wani, which is interpreted as the year of saka 1388 or 1466 ad. the second chronogram is the chronogram of turtle found in the sanctuary, which reads sarira sunyi kiblating gusti. sarira. sarira or body equals to the number 1, sepi (silent) is 0, the qiblat is the number 4 and gusti is the number 1, which is interpreted as the saka year of 1401 or 1479 ad. the third chronogram is the chronogram of demak which mentions lawang trus gunaning janmi. lawang or the door equals to the number 9, trus equals to the number 9, guna or usefulness equals to the number 3 and janmi or human equals to the number 1, which is interpreted as the year saka of 1399 or 1477 ad. the fourth chronogram is the chronogram lightning door itself (kori bledheg). on the door there is a sentence that reads kori roro gawening wong. kori which means the door equals to the number 9, roro is the number 2, gawening or conducted equals to the numbers 4 and wong is the number 1, so it is interpreted that the demak mosque was constructed in the saka year of 1429.24 in addition to the four chronograms above, there are other chronograms in the different chronicles with different information. for example, at the entrance of the demak mosque it is now officially written that the mosque was constructed by the walis with certain time, i.e. 1st dzulhijjah in the saka year of 1428 or 1506 ad. 1st dzulhijjah means the first day of the month of pilgrimage and the last month of the islamic calendar. this information seems to be based on the babad tanah jawi (tanah jawi chronicle) containing one chronogram mentioning kari roro karyeng janma: kari (left) equals to the 21 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 168. 22 “ki ageng sela,” http//www.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. 23sengkolo memet means the expression of years of an event but does not use words, only through symbols. 24 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 170. [ 40 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 number 8, roro equals to number 2, karyeng or work together equals to the number 4 and janma or humans equals to the number 1, so it is interpreted to be the saka year of 1428.25 according to wieringa, there is another version of the yogyakarta chronogram written in 1777. in the chronogram, it was mentioned that the construction of the demak mosque was not at the end of the islamic calendar, in the month of dzulhijjah; it was constructed in suro or muharram in the islamic calendar. chronogram it mentions paksi kerdha neng samodra: paksi or equal to the number 1 bird, bird kerdha is 1, neng or is number 1, and samodra or the ocean together with the number 4, so it is interpreted to be the year saka1114.26 according to wieringa, in addition to the two chronograms above, there are other two chronograms, i.e. the chronogram in serat centini and the chronogram in the babad cirebon. serat centini was one of the greatest literary works in new javanese literature. serat centini is also a collection of all kinds of knowledge and javanese culture, so as not to become extinct and remain stable over time. it is delivered in the form of songs and the writing is grouped by type of songs. overall the songs amounted to 725. centini was written in 1814 ad in surakarta on the will of kanjeng gusti pangeran adipati anom in surakarta, a son kanjeng susuhunan pakubuwana iv. later adipati anom was crowned sunan pakubuwana v.27 centini recounts the adventaures of the three children of sunan giri, i.e. jayengresmi, jayengsari, and rancangkapti after being defeated by prince pekik of surabaya, brother in law of sultan agung of mataram kingdom. the three of them left after the power of giri was destroyed by mataram.28 it was narrated that jayengresmi headed west, while jayengsari and rancangkapti headed southeast. one of the areas visited by jayngresmi was demak and the demak mosque. centini mentions that the demak mosque was constructed by the walis. centini then wrote the chronogram of the construction of the mosque by mentioning: kori roro gawening wong engelneki, which means kori (door) is the number 9, roro the number 2, gawening the number 4, and wong is 1, so according centini, the demak mosque was constructed in saka 1429. however, centini never mentioned the picture of turtle or chronogram about turtle.29 additional information that appears in the chronicle of cirebon tells an 25 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 173. 26 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 17374. 27 “serat centini,” http//www.id. wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. 28 “serat centini,” http//www.id. wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. 29 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 17677. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 february 2013. [ 41 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 interesting expression of sunan kalijaga. in the chronicle of the sunan said: jebleng gegatheleng ngasu punika iki sangkalaning masjid iya masjid demak sunan kali kang nganggita para wali anduluri ing kersanira kersane sunan kali 30 according to wieringa, an expression of the sunan: jebleng gegatheleng ngasu contains an interesting chronogram because it was mentioned by sunan kalijaga, one of the leading walis believed to have completed the construction of the demak mosque. the full chronogram version of the jebleng sentence is mungal-mangil mungup jebleng gegatheleng ngasu: mungal-mangil equals to the number 1, mungup equals to the number 1, jebleng equals to the number 4, and gegatheleng ngasu equals to the number 1. thus, according to wieringa, through this chronogram sunan kalijaga demak asserts that the construction of the mosque was completed in the saka year of 1411/1489 ad, and its development had been approved by the walis. and again, in this chronicle, it does not mention the image of the turtle.31 according to wieringa, all chronograms above show that the construction of the demak mosque took place in the 15th century or 16th with dates, months, and years that vary. this fact is quite interesting for researchers to study. there are no uniform, singular, definite and convincing data or facts. even more interesting for wieringa is an image of a turtle on the mihrab of the mosque. the ancient javanese texts did not mention anything about the picture of the turtle. centini which tells the story of prince jayengresmi’s pilgrimage and fell in love with the demak mosque, according to wieringa, did not mention the turtle.32 in another note, raden mas rahmat (a.k.a raden sumasari or mas juragan sumareja), a javanese aristocrat that became a demang in demak in 30 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 181. 31 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 181. 32 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 february 2013. regarding jayengresmi who fell in love with the demak mosque, it was told by centini as follows: kredyating tyas kapencut arsa udani// ing masigit demak//iyasaning para wali//tan cinatur laminira. according to wieringa, jayengresmi telah kredyating tyas means “wonder in the heart”, dankapencut means “interested, fall in love or be tempted” to the mosque of demak (ing masigit demak). see wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 177-78. [ 42 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 the 19th century and claimed to have descended from the teachers demak kept a diary in the 1880s about his pilgrimage to ancient hindu temples of and some boarding schools in java. mas rahmat also stayed in the demak mosque to get blessings of the walis. in the diary, when describing the demak mosque, he did not mention the image of turtle.33 thus according to wieringa, the picture of the turtle was not significant or even did not exist in the 19th century though it has now become an important ornament and symbol in the demak mosque. many questions arise that require further research: is it true – as believed-that the turtle had been there since the mosque was constructed? did the writers in the 19th century who made a pilgrimage to the demak mosque consider drawing of a turtle did not really matter that it escaped their attention? or did the picture of the turtle emerge recently when the mosque was renovated in the 20th century? everything is still shrouded in mystery.34 with different information about the year of the construction of the mosque and puzzle of the turtle, wieringa stated that he was actually still felt curious or had a lot of questions about the mysteries of the demak mosque with all attributes. according to him, by questioning a lot of things, he would like to invite readers in indonesia to be critical. however, wieringa insisted that he did not say that the stories of demak mosque were merely a myth, a lie, or a fairy tale that do not correspond to the facts. there are two important things wieringa wanted to say. first, there are many sources that should be read with a variety of perspectives. each chronicle and chronogram has a different interpretation, because the scientific capacity and experience of the authors were different from each other. however, this fact also illustrates the wealth of javanese sources that show the culture, civilization, intelligence and mindset of the javanese people in the past were very high and complex. only a civilized society that is capable of writing a story or event by using complicated symbols. second, it also shows the concept of time for the javanese community in particular and southeast asia in general. the concept of time for them is very different from those of europe, for example. for the javanese, the meaning of time is “special,” not just a series of numbers, dates, and events, but it always symbolizes something, especially something sacred. therefore, the book of primbon for instance, which contains good or bad time to do something, is considered important to the javanese. again, the saka year of 1400 is believed to be the fall of the hindu and buddhist majapahit, and one year after, it was the islamic new year in java, though not necessarily understood that in 1400 the lives of hindus and buddhists were over as they all converted to islam.35 33 wieringa, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java,” p. 175. 34 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 february 2013. 35 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 february 2013. [ 43 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 reading other side of the mecca and medina poetry from the minds of the javanese people regarding the demak mosque, now we move on to another work of wieringa on the minds of the minangkabau muslims in understanding of what is right and wrong in religion in the syair mekah dan madinah (abbreviated smm). in 2002 wieringa wrote an interesting article titled a tale of two cities and two modes of reading: a transformation of the intended function of the syair mekah dan madinah which portrayed two perspectives in reading the syair mekah dan madinah. this poetry was written by sheik daud, a religious teacher of shafi’i mazhab to avenge his defeat in a debate with tuanku lubuk ipuh, a syattariyah scholar who adopted the martabat tujuh (dignity seven).36 at this time in minangkabau, syattariyah congregation was called the ulakan or orthodox religion. it was narrated that at the beginning of the 19th century, sheik daud who had just finished studying theology at darek (interior of minangkabau) and to some extent had been affected by the view of the puritanical padri, returned home to sunur in pariaman (the coastal area) where the orthodox (syattariyah tariqa) were strongly entrenched.37 in the village, sheik daud spread a reformist form religious view and often criticized the tariqa. tuanku lubuk ipuh, a prominent syattariyah figure invited sheik daud to debate theological issues in public. in the debate, sheik daud lost. embarrassed, he then “escaped” to mecca for pilgrimage and sought knowledge.38 according to wieringa-quoting sheik daud arnold snackey-sheik write smm in mecca in 1838 concurrent with the pilgrimage which he did in that year.39 in a poem written in mecca, sheik daud showed his opposition to the followers of the ulakan religion. in the study of sufism (the science of truth), for example, sheik daud warned the javanese pilgrims to be careful in choosing a teacher, so as not to “go astray” as the adherents of syattariyah. sheik daud wrote, as quoted by suryadi: 36 edwin wieringa, “a tale of two cities and two modes of reading: a transformation of the intended function of the syair mekah dan madinah “ die welt des islams (2002), p. 186. 37 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji pertama in bahasa melayu,” in a.b lapian et al., ed., sejarah dan dialog peradaban: persembahan 70 tahun prof. dr. taufik abdullah (jakarta: lipi, 2005), p. 276. 38 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 186. suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 276. 39 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 186. [ 44 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 tuan belajar ilmu hakikat, betul di innya jalan makrifat, carilah gurumu janganlah sesat, satukan syariat dengan hakikat. ilmu yang salah banyak sekarang, sebab muftinya tiadalah terang, setengah iktikad tiada sembahyang, puasa dan zakat ia dilarang [you learnt the science of truth, true in it the way of gnosis, look for your teachers, do not go astray, combine the shari’a with truth. mad science is widespread now, for the mufti are not bright, half-faith and no prayer, fasting and alms were banned.]40 according to suryadi, what sheik daud meant by the mufti prohibiting fasting and alms were none other than the scholars of the orthodox. sheik daud this time lived in mecca to fight and attack the syattariyah through his poems though he no longer came face to face with the sheik lubuk ipuh.41 he also criticized the attitude of the orthodox who claimed to be muslim but did not perform the friday prayer in congregation: sungguhpun satu baginya firak, bukan ittihad pada segenap pihak, wahidnya dan kaim (kebakaan) jumatan tidak, mustahillah pulak in khalayak [even though one for them is firak, not ittihad for everyone, his oneness and kaim (immortality) not performing friday prayer, impossible to be in the audience.]42 40 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 297. 41 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 297. 42 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 298. [ 45 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 according to suryadi, in the years when sheik daud was living in mecca, wahhabi movement pioneered by muhammad bin abdul wahhab, was rampant. the movement that focused on purification of puritanical monotheism and resisted sufism, especially wahdatul wujud and martabat tujuh. according to suryadi, in sumatra, religious reform movement was already known in the late 19th century brought by three hajj of minangkabau: haji miskin, haji sumanik, and haji piobang. now in mecca, sheik daud went through and witnessed the wahhabi wind of change that was blowing hard.43 in smm, sheik daud also reported that the doctrines of martabat tujuh had been banned in mecca by the wahhabi: martabat tujuh masa sekarang, di negeri mekah sudah dilarang, berapa kitab sudah dibuang, ahlinya tiada muftinya jarang. mufakat ulama di mekah madinah, demikian lagi mesir dan kufah, martabat tujuh sekarang tertegah, menuntut dia akhirnya salah [martabat tujuh now, in the land of mecca has been banned, several books have been discarded, no scholars, its muftis are rare. consensus of scholars in mecca medina, so are egypt and kufa, martabat tujuh now is losing ground, it claims but finally lost.]44 even though he rejected sufism wahdatul wujud and martabat tujuh, sheik daud was fond of al-ghazali sufism. therefore, in the smm he often praised imam al-ghazali and his books like ihya ulum al-din, bidayat al-hidayah, and minhaj al-abidin. in the poems, he also recommended muslim students to study the works of al-ghazali. 43 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 298. 44 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 195. see also suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 298. [ 46 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 in general, in addition to the fight against syattariyah in minangkabau, smm also contained long account of beautiful and distinctive cities of mecca and medina, the atmosphere of intellectual and academic traditions in mecca, many famous scholars of mecca, the virtue of studying islamic sciences such as sciences of mantiq, ma’ani, tools, tafsir, hadith, tawhid, mysticism (sufism), etc. related to the fact that many poems in smm were about the importance of pilgrimage and the primacy of mecca and medina, the smm is often referred to as syair rukun haji (srh) [poetry of the pillar of hajj].45 according to wieringa, the unique features of smm or srh are the fact that the poems turned out to have three interesting sides. first, smm written by sheik daud was actually intended for a small group of minangkabau people, especially to show resistance to the syattariyah in his hometown of sunur village in pariaman. therefore, according to wieringa, a book of poetry was indeed localized only to a limited audience, i.e. the context of the minangkabau, or readers who understood malay.46 why sheik daud wrote it in mecca? according to wieringa, it is because mecca had a very special place for indonesian muslims of the 18th and the 19th century, and by writing poetry in mecca, sheik daud showed that he now had a higher authority than when he was living in minangkabau in terms of knowledge of islam. by using “mecca” sheik daud also wanted to show that he was in a superior position and enemies in minangkabau in inferior position. as mentioned earlier that mecca for a long time even until the end of the 20th century was regarded as the “intellectual and spiritual center of muslims”. mecca was considered a very “sacred, holy, and pure” place for them not only because of the kaaba, masjid al-haram and the birth of prophet muhammad, but also because there is a “center of islamic scholarship” that directs the activities of worship and islamic scholarship throughout the islamic world at that time. what was decided or issued in the form of fatwa by scholars of mecca will be followed by muslims, including indonesian muslims. by writing in mecca and distributed to minangkabau, sheik daud hoped that he would be considered to have “special position” among muslims of minangkabau.47 second, at the end of the 19th century, a publisher in singapore was looking for a script to be used as a guide book for the indonesian haj pilgrims. the publisher then found smm, so these poems were published for the pilgrims of indoensia and southeast asia that transited in singapore. it turned out that this book was a best-seller or enjoyed great success commercially. as is the case of commercial magazines today, the book was later published with 45 the description of this can be found in suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 290-297. 46 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 202. 47 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 192-193. [ 47 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 commercial advertisements in it. it was something new at the time to turn a manuscript into a commercial book.48 when printed by publishers in singapore, the text appeared with a new commercial face with an interesting book cover. for example, in the middle of the cover it is written: “these are the poems of mecca and medina whose stories are too beautiful.”49 on the top side of the cover of the book it is also written: “these are the poems of the new kind of fairy telling people going haj from the land under the wind to the land over the wind like jedda and mecca and medina and so forth.” then, on the bottom of the cover of the book it is also written: “whoever wants to know the beauty of mecca, medina and the tomb of the prophet salla ‘llahu’ alayhi wasallam, and the behaviors of people who go to perform haj please check out these poems.” all of this additional information on the cover certainly did not come from sheik daud but an advertisement from the publisher to attract hajj pilgrims to make a purchase.50 according to wieringa, on the cover of the book there are words that are emphasized such as “too beautiful a story” and “elegance of makah medina” again for wieringa, the words “beautiful” and “elegance” were emphasized by publishers to impress prospective readers that the book was indeed “unusual and awesome” and was full of beautiful poems that would make readers fall in love, and the most important was to make them amazed at mecca and medina. all the advesrtisement campaign was none other than a trick to sell a bestselling book.51 eventually, smm which was then called srh were originally written to challenge the martabat tujuh in minangkabau has now turned into a pilgrimage commercial handbook. according to wieringa, the process of commercialization of a book is common and natural, not a bad or evil thing. things that are spiritual in some cases can also be also associated with economic or political motive. sacred and profane relationships are common, and not something that should be viewed negatively.52 again, in terms of the purpose of writing, after being printed with an attractive cover, then the text of smm which was originally intended for those in his hometown in minangkabau, has now been printed with a new face and with a new purpose, i.e. as a guidebook for pilgrimage. according to wieringa, when viewed from 48 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. see also wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 198. 49 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 200. 50 wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 201. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 51wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 200-202.interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 52 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. [ 48 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 one side, for example, from the scientific side, the reduction of smm text into a haj handbook has made the manuscript no longer of interest to researchers. however, when viewed from the other side of the “fresh” printing of the text makes the script popular and in many ways beneficial knowledge for pilgrims who do not have any knowledge of the details of the land of mecca and medina.53 third, with the publication of smm as a new event, then the printing was considered modern and new, although the idea that was printed was something old. wieringa agrees to the view that a new technique or technology brings renewal, new ideas and change. but according to wieringa, one must understand that in order to “start something new, it needs something old.” in the first stage, printing as a new technology or idea, actually printed the old writings. the idea was actually an old idea but printed with a new technology. there is always a gradual process from an old tradition to a new model. there is no new thing --a revolutionary way-directly breaks the old traditions. in the second stage and the following period, the printing or publisher published new ideas, though often the publishers still published an old idea with a new look.54 according to wieringa, scientific studies or research on smm text has not been done by any scholar. he was the first scholars to examine the smm. during his study of the poems, wieringa was quite surprised to find a lot of interesting things.55 after wieringa published his article on smm in 2002 in leiden, three years later suryadi wrote about smm in indonesian entitled kitab manasik haji pertama in bahasa melayu (the first hajj guide book in the malay language (2005). suryadi’s article was written as a tribute to 70th birthday of professor taufik abdullah. suryadi is indonesian scholar who became a lecturer and researcher at the university of leiden, and according to wieringa, he and suryadi used to teach together for undergraduate and graduate students at the university of leiden. after reading suryadi’s article, wieringa revealed that he, in some ways, appreciated the work, but there were other things he did not agree with suryadi.56 on page 281, for example, suryadi wrote: wieringa’s conclusion: publishers in singapore intentionally comercializing srh by printing it repeatedly, advertising it, and market it in order to make profit and take advantage of the strategic location of singapore as a port of 53 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 54 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. see also wieringa, “a tale of two cities,” p. 202-204. 55 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 56 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. [ 49 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 embarkation of the indonesian hajj at the time.57 according to wieringa, it is not true if he concludes the printing of smm was “solely to make a profit.” he only wrote that the book is now highly commercial in which the publication is presented.58 according to wieringa, he only described the “old face” and the “new face” or the “old orientation” and the “new orientation” in smm to be a commercial book. again to wieringa, commercialization aspects of religion are common and normal, it can happen anywhere, and not something negative. however, to wieringa, suryadi’s article had “judged” him as a western scholar with a negative view on the commercialization process of smm text. wieringa was not “comfortable” with the expression suryadi used to refer to him as a “foreigner” who accused publishers in singapore of merely looking for profit.59 another thing --according to wieringa-about suryadi;s article which is improper when commenting on wieringa’s work, suryadi had a conclusion that at first there were traditions (writing) of the text and then a printing technology emerged. the former was traditional while the latter modern. according to wieringa, no drastic or radical change from traditional to modern. the change was gradual and slow. to wieringa, printing technology is not synonymous with modernity or all considered modern because people often publish old ideas or traditions using print technology. the existence of new features does not necessarily break the continuity of the old. it is simply a process of gradual changes that occur in many aspects of life. according to wieringa, suryadi had simplified the complex work of wieringa and therefore suryadi had a false conclusion. personally, according to wieringa, he was quite uncomfortable being labeled by suryadi as “foreigner” or “westerner” who did not understand anything about the indonesian noble traditions. wieringa regarded suryadi as a “friend” and hs friend considered him a “foreigner.”60 one of the reviews often cited by wieringa is a privileged position of mecca for indonesian muslims. in syair mekah dan madinah wieringa also had a review on the subject. in factdeed, as azyumardi azra noted, that since the 17th century mecca and medina or also known as haramayn al-syarifayn (two holy lands) have got a special position for indonesian muslims who performed pilgrimage in quite a large number in the century. according azyumardi, there are two principal reasons why the haramayn have got a very special position and very high for the indonesian muslims since the 17th 57 suryadi, “kitab manasik haji,” p. 281-282. 58 wieringa,”a tale of two cities,” p. 200. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 59 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. 60 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. [ 50 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 century. first, the combination of the eminence of mecca and medina and the teachings of the qur’an and the hadith of the prophet to study, eventually give a special position on the appreciation of science or knowledge acquired in haramayn. knowledge obtained in haramayn is deemed of greater value than that obtained in other scientific centers. for many muslims, especially indonesian, scholars studying in haramayn are considered more respected than those who receive education in other places. second, the pilgrimage season is the largest gathering of muslims from around the world in both the holy cities. haramayn serve as the intellectual center of the muslim world: scholars, mystics, philosophers, poets, businessmen and muslim historians meet and exchange information there. this is one of the reasons, azyumardi argued, why the ulemas and students who teach and learn in mecca and medina have a more cosmopolitan religious view than those in other muslim cities.61 in an interesting article entitled mecca has spoken, case closed: muhammad hasan b. kasim’s 1913 meccan poem of advice on sarekat islam (2008), wieringa once again revealed the special position of mecca for the indonesian muslims in the first decade of the 20th century the article reviewed the emergence of sarekat indonesia (si) in java in the 1910s and letters sent from javanese muslims to mecca asked for a fatwa about how muslims should respond to the emergence of the si. muhammad hasan bin kasim, a muslim originally from lengkong, tangerang (banten) who lived in mecca from 1913 to 1914 for haj and studying, claimed to have received many letters from muslims in java who asked him if si was an “ islamic “organization that was worthy of being followed or not? many religious leaders in java stated that the si organization was “un-islamic”, its programs were ignorant and therefore must have been prohibited by prophet muhammad.62 according to wieringa, the questioners of java were actually the people who asked for a fatwa to hasan ibn kasim about the status of the si and permissibility of becoming a member of the organization. asking for a fatwa to mecca or to scholars of mecca since the 17th century and even until the mid-20th century has been very common for indonesian muslims if they ecountered quite complicated religious problems. again, it happened because mecca is regerded as the spiritual and inetellectual “center” or “axis” of islam. in the case of hasan ibn kasim, because he felt he was just a student in mecca 61 azyumardi azra, jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii & xviii: akar pembaruan indonesian islam (edisi revisi) (jakarta: prenada media, 2004), p. 51-52. 62 wieringa,”mecca has spoken, case closed: muhammad hasan b. kasim’s 1913 meccan poem of advice on sarekat islam,” in k.d hulster and j. van steenbergen, ed., contuinity and change in the realms of islam (leuven: peeters, 2008), p. 637. [ 51 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 and not a cleric who has authority, consequently he could not be a mufti and therefore he did not dare to issue a fatwa to the respondents. so what did he do? first, he sought out and gathered information about the si from indonesian pilgrims he met in mecca. second, the information he received was consulted with teachers who lived in mecca, who also originated from banten such as raden muhammad mukhtar atarid, hasan syadzali, tubagus muhammad syadzali, ahmad jaha al-bantani and ahmad marzuki tanara al-bantani and some scholars of mecca who were considered authoritative (whose names were not mentioned). from the information, discussion, and consultation, hasan ibn kasim believed that the si in accordance with the teachings of the sharia and islamic struggle. he and the teacher, raden muhammad mukhtar later became members of the si in mecca. they were both inducted into the membership by raden aom abdul malik, a commissioner of the si branch of cianjur, west java, who was in mecca.63 hasan ibn kasim then wrote a thin book containing poems about the glory of the si and advised the indoneian muslims to become members. the book title was in arabic, the advice al-arham li al-dukhul fi amr syarikat al-islam, but it was poetry in malay. the poems were later known as the poems of advice of syarikat islam (shsi).64 among the support to the si ibn qasim wrote in poems: telah datang khabar ke negeri mekkah berhamburan syarikat al-islam punya aturan dari negeri batavia bogor sekalian kuliling negeri hindia nederlan ulama mekah dan awam sekalian suka cinta hati senang pikiran sebab dengar di negeri jawi bagus aturan perkara agama banyak menyebut pangeran allah taala beri hidayat dan pertolongan akan sekalian orang jawi kemenangan65 63 wieringa, “mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 637. 64 wieringa, “mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 636-37. 65 wieringa, ”mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 646. [ 52 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 ketahui olehmu sekalian ikhwan bagusnya syarikat al-islam punya aturan dia menyuruh sembahyang jumat kumpulan sekalian perintah yang wajib kemestian66 itulah aturan yang tersebut sekalian kelewat bagus menurut hukum qur’an sekalian ulama mekkah memuji ini aturan dan syukur akan allah taala punya kurniaan67 mudah-mudahan allah taala berikan sekalian orang jawi dan orang tangerang akan syarikat islam punya aturan supaya dapat rahmat ridha pangeran68 sekalian orang negeri mekkah puji sekali aturan syarikat islam di batavia mudah-mudahan allah taala memberi aturan syarikat sekalian negeri69 [the news in great amount has reached the land of mecca syarikat al-islam has rules of the lands of both batavia and bogor around the dutch indies the clerics and laymen of mecca happy thoughts and joyful heart for hearing good rules of the java land cases of religion a lot of mentioning the prince allah almighty, give hidayat and help so all the people of jawi with victory all brothers, be aware the good syarikat al-islam has rules asking people to perform friday prayer in congregation including all mandatory orders that is the all the stated rules 66 wieringa, ”mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 646. 67 wieringa, ”mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 647. 68 wieringa, ”mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 648. 69 wieringa, ”mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 648. [ 53 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 too good in accordance with the law of the qur’an scholars of mecca praised of these rules and praise god almighty for the blessings hopefully allah ta’ala gave all the people of java and tangerang with syarikat islam’s rules in order that the prince will be pleased all the people of mecca gave praises the rules syarikat islam in batavia hopefully, allah almighty gave the rules syarikat all over the land] hasan ibn kasim’s confidence was getting stronger when he learned that habib utsman (a.k.a sayyid uthman), a very influential scholar of batavia in the colonial period also praised the si as a “noble and true” islamic organization. hasan ibn kasim’s poems also showed that the membership of the si included the traditional followers of ahlussunnah wal jamaah: apalagi ini aturan sudah mufakat sekalian ulama ahlussunnah wal jamaat apalagi sudah mufakat dengan habib utsman bintang batavia di ini zaman mesti kita ikut diah punya aturan jangan sekali dari diah bersalahan ialah kita punya imam perikutan ialah bintang agama yang menerangkan jalan ialah sayyidul ulama di negeri batavia yang menerangkan agama di negeri jawi70 afterall this is already a consensus all scholars of ahlussunnah wal pilgrims particularly a consensus with habib osman batavia star in this era we must follow his rules never question his rules he is the imam we must follow 70 wieringa, “mecca has spoken, case closed, p. 650. [ 54 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 he is the star of the religion that lights the way he is the leader of the ulemas in batavia that explains religion in java according to wieringa, an interesting case of the shsi is the fact that javanese muslims asked for a fatwa to mecca, but the scholars in mecca had to seek information from the javanese who also visited mecca. it seems as if mecca knew everything. however the important point was the privileged position of mecca, irrespective of religious views that issued as fatwa will have a significant impact on the religious mindset and attitude of indonesian muslims. wieringa argued further that shsi documents also gave very important information, i.e. the membership, role and support of the students and scholars who were traditionally very enthusiastic in supporting the si movement. in the official history, the si always mentioned three groups of active members, i.e. the nationalists, socialists and muslim modernists. it was almost never revealed about the role of the traditional students and scholars in the si. the shsi documents turned out to uncover the important role and support of traditional students to the si organization in the early days of its emergence. in the early days, the si was a magnet for islamic groups to join, including the traditionalists. however, the development the si suffered internal divisions.71 “meaning of adiluhung” of indonesian culture as mentioned earlier, because he was attracted to the mindset of indonesians, wieringa focused his research on the thoughts and culture of the people of indonesia. in his imagination, what is called indonesia is not limited to the “republic of indonesia” but more than that, i.e. all those who speak malay. so for wieringa, indonesia is the entity and identity vast enough that exhibit similarities of culture and language, in this case the malay language. wieringa’s view was typical of western scholars who see the east or asia within a framework of cultural similarities and language, instead of the territorial boundaries of a country. however, specifically, wieringa was more interested in the javanese culture. “i’m interested in the culture of the malay and javanese. if i had to choose, i would more inclined to the javanese culture,”72 thus he asserted. it was proved that he has written a lot about javanese culture. according to wieringa, the interesting part of javanese culture is the myth, legend or fairy tale. the terms such as myth, legend or folklore are new terms borrowed from the west, but usually there have been “negative” or “pejorative” 71 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 april 2013. 72 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 17 april 2013. [ 55 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 connotation in those terms. western people who pursue the world of literature will look at fairy tales, stories or legends in a literary work or fiction, not necessarily factual or not necessarily containing historical truth. according to wieringa, the works of literature in javanese culture are not like that. there are considerable differences and obvious and significant correlation between the view of the werterners and that of the javanese who observe them. did the early javanese consider stories or fairy tales merely a legend or a myth? according to wieringa, absolutely not! for most javanese, all the stories were considered myths or legends by the present generation in fact had true sublime meaing, at least in the structure of javanese culture.73 suwardi endraswara, a scholar of javanese religion and culture confirmed that the javanese religion consists of two main aspects: an insight into the spiritual and religious practices. first, the javanese are believe in the transcendent or the spiritual. for them, the so-called “transcendent” or “spiritual” means there is power above humans. power is better understood as the unseen which is hard to touch and it is also sublime as well as subjective.74 with regard to the spiritual, it is the concept of heresy and myths. two terms are very close to the javanese culture and religion. klenik and klenikology or the science of klenik highly influences the life of thejavanese in general. according endraswara, the word “klenik” is always interpreted negatively by many people. whereas, in klenikologi, the word “klenik” does not always have a negative and bad meaning. klenikologi is the science that explores matters of how javanese people live a complex life and practice the klenik. according endraswara, based on the klenik, the javanese religion becomes more advanced and better known.75 another thing related to the klenik is a myth. to endraswara, the javanese religion is always closely intertwined with myths. religion is a “close friend” of mythology. the myth of merapi, nyi roro kidul, mount lanang, sukuh and others are among the javanese religious phenomena. to the javanese, the myths and the klenik have “special menaing” to explain the world. unfortunately, according to endraswara, things that are considered to be supernatural, sublime and spiritual are often used by certain parties to degrade the nature of javanese religion and consider it a “belief ” in stead of religion.76 second, to the javanese, religion is an act, practice, lelaku or ngelakoni. the javanese religious practices such as worshiping or praying for the ancestors 73 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 17 april 2013. 74 suwardi endraswara, agama jawa, menyusuri jejak spiritualitas jawa (yogyakarta: lembu jawa, 2012), p. 26. 75 endraswara, agama jawa, p. 23. 76 endraswara, agama jawa, p. 26. [ 56 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 show that the religious traditions of the javanese are very old and reflect the civilization itself, i.e. the javanese civilization that is very old.77 with the views of religion and belief among the javanese people as described by endraswara, wieringa on several occasions expressed his concern about many indonesians and javanese today who ignore the valuable meanings of the javanese culture resulting in the fact that there are no serious efforts to preserve it. for example, it is rare to find javanese language newspapers today, and newspapers or magazines no use the ancient javanese language (hono-coroko). wieringa recalled that in 2012 he became a guest speaker for an international conference organized by the university of gadjah mada (ugm) in yogyakarta. at the conference there was a javanese historian telling the life story of sultan agung. then he cited a chronicle saying that sultan agung, every friday always performed friday prayer in mecca and returned to java in the afternoon. what was the reaction indonesian people in attendance? everyone laughed out, thnking that the story was funny; how could it be possible? wieringa had a strong impression that many indonesians who attended the seminar thought that the story is just a fairy tale or a legend. wieringa was concerned that many indoensians could not understand “an important message” in the story, i.e. that sultan agung was a person who observed religion; he was a pious muslim king. the story of the friday prayers in mecca was a kind of illustration that wanted to emphasize the importance of islam in the life of sultan agung. thus, the story that has an important message is no laughing matter because laughing is seen as ‘degrading’ even ‘insulting’ the noble javanese culture.78 in addition he was also a king who in the javanese tradition also held the title of sayidin panatagama (religious leader) and was also considered a dzillullah or shadow of god or god’s representative on earth? according to wieringa, as scholars from outside indonesia he did not have the capacity to judge right or wrong of a story and nor did he have the ability to make an assessment or judgment. however, he just wanted to emphasize that a scholar or anyone should read the text in accordance with the culture which gave birth to it, and should not view it through other cultures. it is not appropriate for westerners to judge that story or fairy tales in javanese culture as an empty fairy tale. similarly, it is also improper for the javanese to view the western culture as very poor with spiritual values. every culture has “typical and unique” values and meaning which cannot be measured by other cultures which have their own world view.79 77 endraswara, agama jawa, p. 30. 78 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 17 april 2013. 79 interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 17 april 2013. [ 57 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 closing remarks edwin wieringa wrote many aspects of the minds of people in indoensia in the past and the present as well as the phenomena of indonesian muslims. wieringa, for example, wrote a very interesting article about islam manga comics in indonesia and malaysia (2013)80 which describe the islamic view of the modern comic writers considered to represent a model of urban muslim indonesians (who tend to be ideological). another interesting article is the commercialization of the ancient manuscripts of the qur’an in indonesia.81 wieringa carried out study on a codex that was considered ancient and therefore had a high commercial value in the international market when it turned out to be a regular manuscript written by an ordinary student at a boarding school. to wieringa, various aspects of the minds of indonesian muslims in the past and the present will always be exotic, in the sense that they are “special”, “unique” and “interesting”, and therefore he is always interested in studying a lot of things about the indonesian muslims. the exoticism of muslim culture in indonesia also indicates a high civilization that must be appreciated by the indonesian muslims themselves. tens of wieringa’s works which explore the culture of islam in this country show that he has contributed a lot to the development of research and indonesian islamic culture. references “ki ageng sela,” http//www.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. “masjid agung demak,” www//http.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. “raden fatah,” http//www.id.wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. “serat centini,” http//www.id. wikipedia.org, article accessed on 2 july 2015. azra, azyumardi, jaringan ulama timur tengah dan kepulauan nusantara abad xvii & xviii: akar pembaruan indonesian islam (edisi revisi). jakarta: prenada media, 2004. 80 the article is entitled “islamic manga in indonesia and malaysia” (2013). it has not been published but was presented at the international conference at the metropolitan university prague, czech republic (november 2013) and a national seminar at the faculty of ushuluddin, uin syarif hidayatullah jakarta (april 2014). 81 the article was entitled “the idea of an old qur’an manuscript: on the commercialization of the indonesian islamic heritage.” the article was published by the journal of heritage of nusantara, international journal of religious literature and heritage vol. 3 no. 1 june 2014. the journal belongs to center for research and development of religious culture and literature, the ministry of religious affairs, republic of indonesia. [ 58 ] al albab volume 5 number 1 june 2016 dagun, save m., kamus besar ilmu pengetahuan.jakarta: the national institute of cultural studies, 1997. department of national education, kamus besar bahasa indonesia.jakarta: gramedia pustaka utama, 2008. endraswara, suwardi, agama jawa, menyusuri jejak spiritualitas jawa.yogyakarta: lembu jawa, 2012. suryadi, “kitab manasik haji pertama in bahasa melayu,” in a.b lapian et al., ed., sejarah dan dialog peradaban: persembahan 70 tahun prof. dr. taufik abdullah. jakarta: lipi, 2005. wieringa, edwin, “a monument marking the dawn of the muslim era in java: chronicles and chronograms on the grand mosque of demak,” in boschung, dietrich and wessels-mevissen, corinna (eds.), figurations of time in asia.münchen, germany: wilhelm fink verlag, 2012. wieringa, edwin, “a tale of two cities and two modes of reading: a transformation of the intended function of the syair mekah dan madinah “ die welt des islams, 2002. wieringa, edwin,”the idea of an old qur’an manuscript: on the commercialization of the indonesian islamic heritage,” in heritage of nusantara, international journal of religious literature and heritage vol. 3 no. 1 june 2014. wieringa, edwin, “mecca has spoken, case closed: muhammad hasan b. kasim’s 1913 meccan poem of advice on sarekat islam,” in k.d hulster and j. van steenbergen, ed., contuinity and change in the realms of islam.leuven: peeters, 2008. interview with edwin wieringa, cologne, germany, 12 november 2012, interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 24 december 2012, interview with wieringa, leiden-belanda, 12 november 2012, interview with wieringa,cologne, germany, 10 february 2013. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 7 march 2013. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 10 april 2013. interview with wieringa, cologne, germany, 17 april 2013. [ 3 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 religion, science, and culture amidst the covid-19 pandemic: muhammadiyah’s worship guidance and members’ responses ahmad muttaqin uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta, indonesia email: ahmad.muttaqin@uin-suka.ac.id abstract how have religious organizations responded to the covid-19 pandemic? why have some religious organizations responded to this outbreak from a scientific perspective, but many others have not? this paper explores the muhammadiyah’s proactive role in responding to the covid-19 outbreak through an integration-interconnection perspective of religion, science, and culture. apart from establishing the muhammadiyah covid-19 command center (mccc), muhammadiyah have been actively providing religious guidance amidst the pandemic. through a review of organizational documents and an auto-nethnography study of the responses of muhammadiyah members and their community, this paper examines the content and process of disseminating religious guidance, as well as the responses of the organization members and society generally. the dynamics of the response of muhammadiyah members and sympathizers to religious guidance issued by the central board of muhammadiyah will be read from the perspective of the religious authority in the vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) era. this paper underlines that the muhammadiyah have shown efforts to integrate religion, science, and culture through mccc to deal with the outbreak. this confirms that the muhammadiyah movement is both rational and pro-science and serves as a shred of evidence that religious organizations can be problem solvers, although authorities are potentially challenged in the vuca era. keywords: covid-19 pandemic; integration-interconnection; muhammadiyah; religion; science; culture introduction the covid-19 pandemic has been responded to differently by various religious organizations. there are religious groups who underestimate the danger of the pandemic and consider it merely a conspiracy of certain groups to rule the world. those who believe in these conspiracies note that they are not afraid of covid-19, and that their faith will be able to prevent the threat of [ 4 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 the virus. other groups directly undermine the calls of health experts, leaders of religious organizations at the central level, and the government. however, other religious organizations and groups are taking it seriously, and thus taking strategic steps to tackle the spread of the disease. the first two groups only realized the danger of covid-19 after it was discovered that some of their group members were exposed, became sick, and eventually passed away. some church and mosque congregations and members of certain religious groups are even known to be “super-spreaders” of covid-19 due to their disregard and neglect of the threat of this pandemic. muhammadiyah, an islamic organization founded by k.h. ahmad dahlan in 1912 and “the most powerful islamic reformist movement in southeast asia, perhaps in the world” (peacock, 1978: 19), is one of the few faith-based organizations that took strategic, measured, and programmed steps against the covid-19 pandemic since the very first rise in cases. in these first three months of the covid-19 pandemic in indonesia as recorded by djelante., et.al., “muhammadiyah has transformed itself to be one of the most agile promoters of health-based and hospital-based emergency response.” (2020: 6). the muhammadiyah group issued announcements, formed a task force team with corresponding programs and actions to tackle covid-19 nationally, and actively issued religious guidance. muhammadiyah’s organized and proactive steps were often in conflict with governmental policies which were frequently changing. for example, muhammadiyah reminded the government not to recklessly implement the large-scale social restrictions (lssr) easing policy merely for economic reasons. the muhammadiyah also disagreed with the term “new normal” used by the government and offered other more appropriate terms, such as “new reality” (cnn indonesia, 8 june 2020). the muhammadiyah’s disagreement with government policies they considered reckless was later justified by the government (kumparan news, 10 july 2020). the emergency religious guidelines for the pandemic period issued by the central board of muhammadiyah were often ridiculed by groups with different viewpoints. even some members and lower-level organizational leaders denied and delegitimized these circulars and guidelines. this raises the question of how effective and influential the religious guidance of the central board of muhammadiyah is; and raises concerns about the possibility of the modernist organization’s religious authority being challenged amid the vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) situation. there are countless studies on the muhammadiyah. based on the background of the researchers, the literature and research on muhammadiyah can be classified into two groups. first is research and literature written by insiders [ 5 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 such as organization leaders, cadres, members, or sympathizers. among those who actively write and study the muhammadiyah and its autonomous organization, syamsyiatun from an insider perspective are haedar nashir, the current chairman of the central board of muhammadiyah, abdul munir mulkhan, amin abdullah, abdul mukti, achmad jaenuri, najib burhani, hilman latief, ruhaini, and more. even though they are insiders, they do not lose their objectivity so that their work remains critical, academic, honest, and reflective. their writings and studies on the muhammadiyah include aspects of ideology, thought, social, history, philanthropy, education, and interactions with other groups, to religious movements at the global level. the second group of academic research has been carried out by outsiders – neither muhammadiyah members nor leaders. among the outsiders who studied the muhammadiyah are western academics or non-indonesian citizens, such as james peacock, nakamura, hyung jum kim, and herman l. beck. they study muhammadiyah from a historical, sociological, anthropological, and religious movement perspective. in terms of themes, studies on muhammadiyah can be classified into several groups. studies on muhammadiyah ideology and thought can be found in the works of peacock (1978), jaenuri (1997, 2007), abdullah (2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2019), and nashir (2007, 2010, 2015a, 2015b, 2018). whereas nakamura (2012), mulkhan (1990, 2000, 2010), kim (2007), alfian (1989), and burhani (2005, 2019), known for their study on the history and dynamics of the muhammadiyah movement sociologically, anthropologically, and politically. studies on muhammadiyah education and relations with other religious communities have been carried out by mukti and fajar, (2009), mukti (2019a, 2019b) and shihab (1998); on philanthropy of the muhammadiyah by latief (2012) and nashir and latief (2020); on sufism and spirituality in muhammadiyah by masyitoh (2008), beck (2014), and biyanto (2017); and about gender studies and women’s lense in muhammadiyah by syamsiatun (2007, 2008), ruhaini (2015), and ro’fah (2016). there are continued studies on the muhammadiyah through ba theses, ma theses, ph.d. theses, legal proceedings, as well as thousands of articles in scientific journals. as an illustration of how massive the number of studies on muhammadiyah, when the word “muhammadiyah’’ is typed into the google scholar database, within 0.09 seconds, 81,400 entries appear. a limitation in the study is that among the existing studies on muhammadiyah, it has been difficult to find a study on muhammadiyah from the perspective of integration and interconnection of science in religious praxis, especially related to the covid-19 pandemic. one of the studies on muhammadiyah [ 6 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 with the integration-interconnection approach was carried out by setiawan (2018) entitled pembelajaran al-islam dan kemuhammadiyahan [aik] yang menggembirakan (dengan pendeketan integrasi-interkoneksi) [learning al-islam and kemuhammadiyah [aik] with fund (the integrationinterconnection approach), focusing on the development of aik material in an integrative-interconnective manner between religious and general sciences at aisyiyah university of yogyakarta. a study on the role of muhammadiyah as a religious movement responding to the covid-19 pandemic was written by najib burhani (2020) entitled comparing tabligh jamaat and muhammadiyah responses to covid-19. according to burhani, muhammadiyah is an example of a religious organization responding positively to the covid-19 pandemic through jihad kemanusian (humanitarian jihad), which does not conflict with government policies through various efforts ranging from healthy living campaigns, religious guidance, to mobilizing all resources for its cadres, autonomous organization, and health and education institutions all actively involved in stopping the spread of the pandemic. the muhammadiyah’s proactive role is the result of an inner-worldly religious orientation. on the other hand, the tablighi jamaat’s strict voicing against calls for restrictions on worship in mosques and religious activities that gather many people is an example of a passive and fatalistic response in response to disasters. this is one of the consequences of their otherworldly religious orientation. unlike the above studies, this paper examines the process of integration between religion, science, and culture in religious guidance and practice of the muhammadiyah during the covid-19 pandemic, focusing on three main issues. first, how has muhammadiyah responded to the pandemic? second, from the perspective of integration and interconnection of science, to what extent are the dialectics of religious reasoning and scientific reasoning used by the muhammadiyah leadership in providing religious guidance during the pandemic? finally, why did various responses emerge from members of the organization to the central board of muhammadiyah’s religious guidance in the pandemic era, and what are its implications moving forward for the religious authority of the ulama and muhammadiyah leaders? methodologically, this paper combines document studies and autonethnography or auto-ethnography on the internet and social media. data on religious views, programs, and organizational activities related to the pandemic was gathered from a study of official documents of the central board of muhammadiyah and official publications: press releases, books, official web channels, social media of the organizations, and literature on [ 7 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 muhammadiyah studies. data on the responses of cadres, members, and sympathizers to the muhammadiyah policies and programs on covid-19 pandemic was collected by auto-nethnography method, which allowed me, as an activist and administrators in one of the council at the central board of muhammadiyah, to discern and reflex the dynamics responses in a digital space spreading across various websites and social media platforms and online chat groups. as noted by villegas (2018), auto-nethnography allows “the researcher explores their feelings, emotions, and evocations in order to understand a cultural experience in an online community of its own people.” the collected data was processed and analyzed using three models of integrationinterconnection of religious science and culture according to amin abdullah’s version: semipermeable, intersubjective testability, and creative imagination (2013, 2014). to discern the dynamics of the relationship between the policies of the central board of muhammadiyah and the response of its members, this study implements the perspective of the challenge of religious authority in the vuca (mack et al. 2016). the following sub-chapters will, in sequence, elaborate muhammadiyah’s religious reasoning, muhammadiyah’s religious guidance during the pandemic with analyzing integration-interconnection of science in it, the response of muhammadiyah members, and the challenges of religious authority in the vuca era. muhammadiyah religious reasoning outsider-observers on muhammadiyah tend to be biased in evaluating muhammadiyah. due to its puritanical aspects in religious views and practices, muhammadiyah is categorized as a salafi movement, though some even call it wahabi. in fact, referring to the official documents of the organization, muhammadiyah is a religious movement that combines revelation and mind, both in religious thought and practice. the principles of beliefs and ideals of life (matan keyakinan dan cita-cita hidup [mkch]) of muhammadiyah point 3, for example, clearly states that muhammadiyah’s religious understanding is based on the qur’an and sunnah maqbulah using the mind, which is in line with the spirit of islamic teachings. the 3rd item of the mkch formula is: “muhammadiyah in practicing islam is based on: (a) the quran: the book of allah which was revealed to the prophet muhammad (pbuh). (b) the sunnah of the prophet: the explanation and implementation of the teachings of the qur’an given by the prophet muhammad using reasoning according to the spirit of islamic teachings.” (manhaj gerakan muhammadiyah, 2009: 51). [ 8 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 based on this formula, in the view of muhammadiyah, being religious is based not only on the arguments of religious texts in a textual and literal manner, but also on concepts of reasoning. in the final part of the mkch point 3, it is explicitly stated: “... using reasoning according to the spirit of islamic teachings.” this phrase emphasizes that the use of the mind in religion is not solely based on speculative reasoning, but also on the logic that is in accordance with the spirit of islamic teachings. because islam supports the development of science, so the logic and mind used are based on the results of scientific research. the assertion of muhammadiyah for appreciating science, technology, and culture in religion can also be found in the document of muhammadiyah members’ islamic life guidelines (pedoman hidup islami warga muhammadiyah [phiwm]). these guidelines provide a model for muhammadiyah members in various life fields: personal life, family life, society, organizations, managing charity, doing business, developing professions, being part of a nation, preserving the environment, developing science and technology, and living life artistically through arts and culture. the combination of revelation and mind in muhammadiyah religious reasoning and practice is strengthened by its manhaj tarjih which combines three elements: burhani (religious holy text); bayaani (science-based empirical facts); and irfani (the knowledge acquired through sincerity and inspiration, that lead to pure heart and ihsan, as ethical considerations for humans and nature). in practice and as a religious movement, muhammadiyah and its various charitable enterprises are the implementers of the faith and good deeds framed in a modern organization. through this perspective, the existing problems of worldly life are not to be avoided and shunned but should instead be approached and resolved through collective charity action. fatwas and religious appeals issued are always viewed holistically, not only prioritizing religious reasoning (bayani), but also viewed from the perspective of science and technology (burhani), as well as ihsan and ethical-spiritual considerations for the sake of common benefit (irfani). that is why since the one century muhammadiyah congress in yogyakarta in 2010, the muhammadiyah movement has carried the idea of islam berkemajuan (islam with progress). in the pernyataan pikiran muhammadiyah abad kedua (the second century muhammadiyah thought statement / azhawahir al-afkar al-muhammadiyah li al-qarni al-tsani), which was the decree of the one century muhammadiyah congress (known also as the 46th muhammadiyah congress), it was stated: “islam highly respects charity equal to faith and knowledge, so that islam [ 9 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 is present in the understanding of balance and at the same time being wellestablished in life” (pp muhammadiyah, 2015: 8). since its establishment until today, the ethos of muhammadiyah has been the integration of faith, knowledge, and good deeds in an organization. kyai dahlan’s initial efforts to shift the praying line of the grand mosque of kauman to be more precise in facing the qibla by using a map, is a merely one example of the implementation of science in religion at that time. the choice of using organizational instruments as a medium for the actualization of faith based on common sense rooted in science and technology and the implementation of good deeds is respected by many. it is through this modern organization that muhammadiyah shows its role in the fields of education, health, social services, community empowerment, disaster management, and philanthropy. muhammadiyah’s charitable enterprises in education from kindergarten to higher education, and in health services in hundreds of clinics/hospitals around indonesia, can be categorized as muhammadiyah scientific charity institution because they are managed professionally whilst implementing principles of science and technology based on islamic ethics and teachings. covid-19 outbreak response and guidance for worship during the pandemic responding to the covid-19 outbreak, the muhammadiyah movement has devoted all its resources to fighting and overcoming the pandemic as a form of “jihad kemanusian’’ or humanitarian jihad (muis, 2020). through notice letter number 02/mlm/i.0/h/2020 concerning the 2019 coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic, the central board of muhammadiyah formed the muhammadiyah covid-19 command center (mccc) as a task force to coordinate and implement programs and actions for handling covid-19. the formation of the mccc coincided with the time when the government of indonesia declared the coronavirus as a national disaster, march 14, 2020, or 12 days from the first case of a positive patient in indonesia with covid-19 on march 2, 2020. the mccc is a task force team consisting of representatives from councils, centers, institutions, and autonomous organizations under muhammadiyah such as the public health advisory council, muhammadiyah disaster management center (mdmc), ‘aisyiyah, lazismu, council of higher education, research and development (diktilitbang), council of primary and secondary education (dikdasmen), majelis tabligh, muhammadiyah students association (ipm), muhammadiyah universitystudents association (imm), nasyiatul ‘aisyiyah (young women), and [ 10 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 pemuda muhammadiyah (youth), hizbul wathan (scout), and tapak suci putera muhammadiyah (martial arts). in addition to being created at the central level, the mccc was also formed at the regional level which exists in 30 regions around indonesia. mccc also collaborates with various institutions, both national and international. the detailed progress of muhammadiyah’s response to the covid-19 pandemic was documented by the mccc’s information, dissemination and publication team in the form of an e-book entitled optimis menghadapi pandemi covid-19: catatan kajian dan respon muhammadiyah [optimism in facing the covid-19 pandemic: notes on muhammadiyah studies and responses] (2020). the mccc report on december 31, 2020, or about 10 months of providing community services, they had succeeded in carrying out activities such as collecting and distributing items (personal protective equipment (ppe), hand sanitizers, and disinfectants; providing medical equipment and medical ppe); distributing food and groceries for negatively impacted families; promoting healthy life and socializing covid-19 activities; producing virtual education technology and devices for online learning; hospitalizing infected patients and providing shelter for non-symptoms patients; supporting internet data packages; providing tuition waivers for university student; and more, with a total expenditure approximately idr 308.4 billion (excluding treatment costs at muhammadiyah-aisyiyah hospitals). more than 28.5 million people were directly assisted because of these efforts. this activity has positioned muhammadiyah as the most concerned organization in mitigating the covid-19 in indonesia.1 in the context of providing religious guidance during the pandemic, until the end of june 2020, the central board of muhammadiyah issued several edicts, circulars, and religious guidance for specifically muhammadiyah members in addition to the indonesian muslim community in general. these edicts and circulars included guidance on procedures for worship during the covid-19 pandemic such as for worship at home, ramadan, and idul fitri as well as guidance on eid al-adha prayer and qurban (animal sacrifice) ritual during the pandemic. the following discussion will elaborate upon muhammadiyah’s religious guidance for worship during the emergency period of the pandemic. after detailing this guidance, at the end of the sub-discussion, an analysis of muhammadiyah religious guidance and practice will be presented from the 1 this appreciation, for example, was made by the development strategy study institute (lksp), a big data-based study institution to formulate development based in jakarta, which, based on the results of its survey, stated that muhammadiyah is the mass organization that cared the most about the covid-19 pandemic. (see https://lksp.or.id/kajian/survei-lksp-muhammadiyah-dan-pks-dipersepsi-lebih-peduli-saat-pandemi/). [ 11 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 perspective of integration-interconnection of science. 1. praying at home and ramadhan during the pandemic period guidance for worship at home during the pandemic was first issued by the central board of muhammadiyah through edict number 02/mlm/ i.0/h/2020 concerning the coronavirus disease pandemic 2019, on 19 rajab 1441 ah / march 14, 2020 ad. the edict contains 5 points: (1) postponement of activities within the muhammadiyah organization that involve masses or large numbers of people such as religious courses, seminars, meetings, and social activities; (2) religious worship activities; (3) educational activities should be in line with government policies; (4) the muhammadiyah and aisyiyah hospitals should prepare for covid-19 handling, the public health advisory council (mpku) to synergize with other majlis, institutions, autonomous organizations, and other muhammadiyah charitable enterprises; and an assertion that the central board of muhammadiyah has established the mccc; and (5) adhere to a healthy lifestyle, and to limit travel to places with high risk of covid-19 transmission. the edict specifically mentions worship activities during the pandemic in point number 2, stating: “religious activities such as congregational prayers and friday prayers in mosques are still carried out with the following conditions: (a). those who are sick are advised to pray at home. (b). if deemed an emergency, friday prayers can be replaced with dhuhr prayers at home, and congregational prayers can be performed at home.” point number 5 concerning the recommendation not to travel to areas that are at risk of covid-19 transmission is accompanied by a quote from a hadith from usamah bin zaid, and a prohibition of residents living in the pandemic areas from leaving the area. it is also stated that the hadith narrated by bukhari and muslim from abu hurairah is about the prophet’s prohibition not to mix the sick and the healthy; as well as the hadith about the prohibition of doing bad and harmful things, the narration of ibn majah and ahmad bin hambal from abdullah bin abbas. the hadiths quoted in the edict are the naqli (from the qur’an and the prophet) argument for handling infectious disease outbreaks through regional quarantine or recently known as lockdown, psbb, and other related terms. considering statistical data about the covid-19 cases which continue to increase and spread to several regions in indonesia, on march 20, 2020, the [ 12 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 muhamadiyah central executive board issued an appeal for friday prayers to be replaced with dhuhr prayers at home, and congregational prayers at home. circulars and appeals were also followed by various online agreement forums held by the majlis tarjih, tajdis, and the muhammadiyah charitable enterprises. on march 24, 2020, the central board of muhammadiyah issued a subsequent circular number 02/edr/i.0/e/2020 concerning worship guidelines in emergency conditions of covid-19 which is equipped with attachments of worship guidance from majlis tarjih and tajid. this circular is a followup to, and refinement of, the maklumat [declaration] of central board of muhammadiyah number 02/mlm/i.0/h/2020 concerning the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic and circular number 03/i.0/b/2020 concerning the implementation of congregational obligatory and friday prayers during the covid-19 pandemic. the guidance of religious ritual during the pandemic was the result of a meeting among three main institutions in the central board of muhammadiyah, they are the tarjih and tajdid council, public health advisory council, and the mccc. in detail, the attachment to this circular contains 19 points of guidance starting from the aspect of aqidah [faith] in viewing and responding to covid-19, guidance to continue making a strong effort to prevent and handle covid-19, guidance to carry out safe religious worship in accordance with health protocols amidst a pandemic, as well as guidance to practice recommended religious rituals during pandemic time as a spiritual effort to strengthen faith and social solidarity. prior to discussing the 19 points of worship guidance, it is crucial to provide an explanation of the basic values of faith which are used as guidelines in making decisions about worship guidance during the pandemic period. they include, first, the belief that whatever befalls humans cannot be separated from the will of allah, the almighty, the most just, the most beneficent and the most merciful. all disasters are tests from allah who intends wisdom behind each action. humans should maintain good and healthy quality of the environment, avoid being destructive towards the environment, and avoid causing disease because the cosmic function of humans is to help nature to prosper. second, the consequence of faith in allah in facing catastrophe humans must be optimistic and believe that with every difficulty, there must be a way out by attempting to find solutions and by continuing to believe in allah (thus being safe from religious wrath). the third is about the nature of religion that was revealed to humans as the blessings for the universe and bringing benefits in the form of protection for humans, their religious lives, their bodies and souls, [ 13 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 their minds, their family institutions, and their wealth. the implementation of religious teachings during the covid-19 pandemic must avoid any harm and difficulties in favor of prioritizing convenience and a sense of security. the nineteen points of guidance of worship during the pandemic can be grouped into three parts. the first five points are related to theological views; aspects of faith and aqidah in viewing and responding to the pandemic including: (1) the belief that “the covid-19 disaster is a test from allah based on the attributes of the most beneficent and the most merciful of allah, so that muslims must face it with patience, reliance on god alone, and effort.” (2) “ covid-19 patients who die though trying with full faith to prevent and/or treat the disease will receive rewards like those of martyrs.” (3) “active efforts to prevent the spread of covid-19 are a form of worship that has the value of jihad, and on the other hand, deliberate actions that carry the risk of transmission are bad / wrongdoing.” (4) “treatment as a form of effort is mandatory. therefore, experts including the government are obliged to make these efforts at the same time providing all the necessities related to it.” (5) “in order to avoid the adverse effects of covid-19, various guidelines and protocols have been established by authorities, including social distancing (attabāud al-ijtimāī) and efforts to stay at home or work from home as preventive measures, while maintaining work productivity levels.” the next seven points are about worship: 1. explaining the law of required prayer that must be carried out under any circumstance. 2. in the context of implementing social distancing and avoiding the harm of transmission of covid-19 3. the fardhu prayer should be carried out in respective homes, not in the public prayer room or the mosque 4. the ability to carry out prayers for the medical staff on duty 5. friday prayers are replaced with midday prayers for four cycles in each house 6. guidance on replacing the call hayaa ‘ala shalah with shollu fii buyutikum or shallu fii rilaterallikum 7. finally, guidance for worship in the month of ramadan was included: guidance on evening prayers (tarawih) in each house, noting fasting is still mandatory except for those who are sick, clarifying that medical personnel with heavy burden of work and duties are not required to fast but are obliged to make replace it at another time, and if covid has not gotten better before the holy month, eid prayers and their sequential activities (homecoming, takbir parade, halal bilhaalal, etc.) shall not not held. the next two points are about ihsan behavior and social solidarity which related to guidance to increase care for other people through “increasing zakat, donations and alms and maximizing distribution of items connected to prevention and control of covid-19 and promoting good behavior (ihsan) [ 14 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 and community members helping each other (taawun) and especially helping vulnerable groups distributing masks, hand sanitizers, or meeting the basic needs of directly affected families and not panic buying so essentially supplies are still available. the next three points contain guidance on the care of the covid-19 dead bodies, which, emphasizes its management must follow health protocols; if deemed necessary and to avoid virus exposure to the organizing staff, the corpse should not be washed, and the execution of the funeral prayer can be replaced by ghaib praying in each house. the next point is about spirituality and ihsan by advocating “lots of istighfar, repentance, praying to allah, reading the qur’an, doing dhikr, sending greetings to the prophet, and taking vows individually and with conviction and positive thinking about allah’s provision, may covid-19 soon be eliminated by allah swt.” in each prayer guidance for the covid-19 emergency period in the attachment to the muhammadiyah central executive board’s circular detailed above, it is always accompanied by logical arguments that come from the qur’an and hadith. this is important, emphasizing that the guidance issued is not only based on health protocol considerations, but also has grounding in authoritative, valid, and maqbulah [acceptable] religious arguments. 2. eid al-adha dan sacrificial ritual during the pandemic on june 24, 2020, the central board of muhammadiyah issued circular (surat edaran) number 06 / edr / i.0 / e / 2020 concerning guidelines for arafah fasting, eid al-adha, and the protocols for sacrificial ritual during the covid-19 pandemic. this guideline was issued for eid al-adha in 1441 ah (friday 31 july 2020) which health experts predicted would be during the covid-19 pandemic. for this reason, worship activities which usually involve large mass gatherings need guidance to comply specifically with health protocols. this guidance regulates three main things. first, about the timing of arafah’s fasting based on the essential reckoning of the form of the hilal of majlis tarjih and tajid which explains that the arafah fasting which occurs on 9 dzulhijah 1414 ah coincides with thursday, july 30, 2020. the second is about the implementation of eid al-adha on 10 dzulhijjah which coincides with friday, july 30, 2020 so that: (a) eid al-adha prayers in the field should not carried out; (2) for those who wish, eid al-adha prayers can be carried out in their respective homes; and (3) for those who are in a green or safe zone not [ 15 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 affected by covid-19, eid al-adha prayers can be carried out in small fields or open spaces around homes, while still abiding by health protocols. the third is about the sacrificial ritual (slaughter of sacrificial animals / udhiyah) during the pandemic which is briefly directed as follows: (1) the law of sacrifice is the sunnah of muakkadah; (2) during a pandemic it is more important to give alms than to slaughter a sacrificial animal; (3) those who are able to make sacrifices and help with the economic impact of the covid can do both; (4) sacrifices should be converted in the form of funds and channeled through lazismu to be distributed to people in need; (5) those who will carry out sacrifice by slaughtering animals must pay attention to health protocols (edaran pp muhammadiyah, no: 06/edr/i.0/e /2020). based on the circular of the central board of muhammadiyah regarding the guidance for eid al-adha worship during the pandemic, the mccc held a press conference on june 24 to inform the public about the circular and to clear up any questions. the press conference explained the technical implementation of eid al-adha prayers, as well as the mechanism for slaughtering and distributing sacrificial meat based on health protocols, which emphasized: (1) carrying out eid al-adha prayers at home with family; (2) eid al-adha prayers outside the home can be carried out in areas that are deemed safe by the government, or the green zone, so small groups are created and not concentrated in one place while still paying attention to health protocols; (3) calls for not holding takbir tours and trips outside the city; (4) the procedures for receiving, slaughtering and distributing sacrificial animals/meat are in accordance with health protocols such as the use of slaughterhouses, use of personal protective equipment for the committee, provision of hand sanitizers, soap, gloves, and application of the physical distancing procedure. (https:// covid19.muhammadiyah.id/tuntunan-sholat-idul-adha-di-tengah-pandemicovid-19/). in the eid al-adha guidance and sacrificial ritual guidance above, it is clearly illustrated that the aspects of religious worship are integrated with the view of health science in this pandemic period. the integration and interconnection between religion and science, is on one hand, to ensure that religious worship activities for community members can still be carried out during the pandemic, but its implementation still considers safety and the common good through health science considerations. obviously, the combination of religion and science during this pandemic has created a worship practice that is different from normal times. this religious innovation is designed for a temporary period, i.e., the emergency response period, but because it is not clear when the covid-19 pandemic will end, [ 16 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 gradually this new method will set new norms with potential to become newly created “culture” or a “tradition” in the way people observe religion… particularly if the pandemic continues for longer. the emergence of new innovations, which may be easily understood by leaders at the central and regional levels, often raises doubts or rejection from members and leaders at the branch and sub-branch levels. this matter has been recognized by policy makers at the central level, so in addition to being followed up by a press statement by the central board of muhammadiyah and the relevant majlis, mccc made a presentation material on “sacrificial worship protocol”. the central board of muhammadiyah also held an online public recitation with the theme “eid al-adha during the covid-19 pandemic”. interestingly, the sources in the recitation were representatives with authority in their respective fields. the most prominent figures in this event were prof. dr. h. haedar nashir, m.sc., chairman of muhammadiyah central executive board who gave an iftitah speech and prof. dr. abdul mukti, m.a., general secretary of muhammadiyah central executive board who became a keynote speaker. another speaker was a representative of the clerical authority in muhammadiyah, prof. dr. h. syamsul anwar, m.a., chairman of the general assembly of tarjih and tajdid of the muhammadiyah central executive board, and representatives of health practitioners who are also deputy chairmen of the mccc, dr. ahmad muttaqin alim, sp.an. in order to make religious guidance in line with health protocols, and easily understood by members of the organization and the wider community, the library and information council of the central board of muhammadiyah also made graphic and digital information through flyers and memes of short versions of the eid al-adha guidance and sacrificial rituals during the pandemic which were disseminated through the muhammadiyah official social media channels: the persyarikatan muhammadiyah facebook page, twitter @muhammadiyah, instagram @muhammadiyyah, and the official website www.muhammadiyyah.id 3. integration and interconnection of religion, science and culture in religious praxis the religious guidance during the pandemic time published by the central board of muhammadiyah is an example of how religious and scientific approaches are used to solve problems at the intersection of religion and [ 17 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 health. viewed from scientific integration and interconnection perspective, as developed by amin abdullah, integration and interconnection between religion, science, and religious praxis culture of muhammadiyah during the emergency period of the covid-19 pandemic can be found in three models: semipermeable, intersubjective testability, and imaginative creation. the semipermeable model has been illustrated in the discussion processes and the birth of religious guidance during the pandemic. muhammadiyah is an islamic organization that has provided organizational and religious guidance from the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. the central board of muhammadiyah established the mccc, tasked with coordinating the implementation of the covid-19 handling program and actions. the members of the mccc are representatives of muhammadiyah leaders from various majlis, both directly related to health, social, and educational matters in addition to religious matters. religious guidance discussion meetings not only involve majlis related to religious matters, but also other majlis that handle the fields of health, education, communication, and information as well as other related assemblies. the mccc press release on religious guidance during the covid-19 pandemic was carried out by involving the health advisory council, the tarjih and tajid majlis, and the tabligh majlis. if the issues are education-related, the mccc also involves the primary and secondary education majlis and the higher education research and development majlis. this shows the way the fields of religion and science/health greet each other, complement each other, and have dialog with each other. in turn, this semipermeable process continues to examine each other and even results in intersectional creativity as shown in the following description. intersubjective testability appears in the discussion and decision-making process which always considers the dimensions of religion and science. the religious and scientific perspectives are not only discussed to address the pandemic but are also used to examine each other religious arguments are viewed from scientific considerations and scientific arguments are analyzed with religious considerations. while discussing the eid al-fitr prayer 1441ah during the pandemic, one of the chairmen of the central board of muhammadiyah explained the decision made initially would provide an option to pray in an open field for areas not affected by the pandemic, and the elimination of prayers in the affected areas. but considering that at that time the number of positive cases of covid-19 in indonesia continued to increase and there was no guarantee that there were areas or regions in indonesia that were completely free from the spread of the new coronavirus, finally the ability for eid prayer in an open field was withdrawn. this decision signifies [ 18 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 how health science is used as a reference for religious arguments about the recommended eid prayer in an open field in normal times. examples of scientific considerations examined with religious arguments are religious guidance to enter a new reality or new habit adaptation. since the beginning, muhammadiyah has reminded the government to be careful and responsible in changing the regional status from the pembatasan sosia bersaka besar psbb [large-scale social restriction lssr) to be looser with the term “new normal’’. the easing of the lssr allows people to carry out socio-economic activities while still implementing strict health protocols: wearing masks, washing their hands, maintaining distance, and not creating crowding. during this ongoing pandemic, people have been encouraged to pray at home. however, along with the pressure from the community and the widespread desire of the congregation to carry out congregational and friday prayers in-person in mosques and prayer rooms, the health-science arguments were examined with religious considerations regarding congregational prayer orders. finally, religious guidance emerged to introduce a new reality or adaptation of new habits from the central board of muhammadiyah which allows public prayer rooms and mosques to hold congregational and friday prayers while implementing strict health protocols as well. the creative imagination model can be found in the recommendation to convert sacrificial animals’ funds to help handle covid-19 instead, which is channeled through the muhammadiyah alms agency (lazizmu). creative imagination can also be seen in the congregational prayer guidance with a minimum distance of one meter between congregants and performing prayers wearing masks. it then became permissible to perform friday prayer in one place into several sessions due to limited space and the large number of congregants. there are also online activities, study and recitation, online family takbir competitions, online preacher competitions, and more digital activities. among these progressive online worship activities organized by muhammadiyah is an online friday prayer through zoom. this activity was initiated by a group of muhammadiyah activists who came together in the ma’arif institute as a form of embodiment of the opinion of ustdaz wawan gunawan, lc., m.ag., one of the members the majlis tarjih and tajdid of the central board of muhammadiyah, and an associate professor at the sharia and law faculty of uin sunan kalijaga yogyakarta regarding this online friday prayer during the pandemic. ustadz wawan’s opinion regarding the argument for allowing online friday prayers has been written firstly on his facebook, and then republished on the ibtimes news channel since april [ 19 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 2020. 2 this innovation of religious activities resulting from the process of integration and interconnection between religion and science in religious guidance during the covid-19 period was originally designed for a temporary emergency. however, along with the repeated implementation, the community and members of the organization began to acclimate to the new method, which gradually has become a new culture and tradition. in the future, the use of digital technology in religion will be even more widespread as cultural shifts begin. the integration of religious and scientific reasoning into muhammadiyah religious guidance (as reflected in the edicts and circulars of the central board of muhammadiyah) received appreciation from mark woodward, an american scholar of indonesia who has done a lot of research on islam in indonesia. on his facebook page, woodward wrote religious holidays in the plague year lessons from the indonesian muhammadiyah movement which later went viral on multiple social media platforms. according to woodward, the muhammadiyah’s ability to combine religious and scientific considerations to provide guidance for worship at home as well as positive religious guidance (safe, healthy, and compliant with health protocols) can be a valuable lesson for churches in the united states that have rejected calls by local authorities to temporarily close places of worship and hold mass at home. woodward’s 2 ibtimes.id is a news and opinion channel that carries the idea of moderate islam which is managed by muhammadiyah youths. although ibtimes.id does not have a structural relationship with muhammadiyah, its managers are muhammadiyah activists whose ideas are in line with muhammadiyah (progressive islam). wawan gunawan has been writing opinions in the fikih column about online friday prayer since april 2020, respectively: “is it possible to perform friday prayer in congregation online?” (12 april 2020, https://ibtimes. id/mouldkah-shalat-jumat-berjamaah-online/) and “once again, no problem with friday prayers online” (4 may 2020, https: // ibtimes .id / once-again-no-problem-online-fridayprayer /). according to wawan gunawan, the implementation of online friday prayers is a continuation of the online eid al-fitr prayer, which was held on 1 shawwal 1441 on may 24, 2020, attended by 3 families, ustadaz wawan who lives in yogyakarta as a preacher and imam, as well as two other families outside yogyakarta. at the suggestion of the congregants, some of whom live in jakarta, the first online friday prayer was held on may 29, 2020. initially there were only tens of congregants in attendance but gradually the number grew to hundreds. when i joined the friday prayer online via zoom on january 1, 2021, more than 150 zoom accounts were participating, and some of the zoom events were followed by family members totaling 2-3 worshipers. on february 16, 2021, suaramuhammadiyah.id announced the majlis tarjih fatwa about online friday prayer. one of the conclusions on the tatwa states: “as far as searching the various literatures, majelis tarjih and tajdid have not found a strong argument or reason to replace friday prayers with online friday prayers. therefore, without reducing respect for different opinions, majelis tarjih and tajdid have not been able to accept online friday prayers.” because the majlis tarjih does not recommend online friday prayer, many congregations left whatsapp groups. however, on friday, march 5th, about 290 accounts still participated in the online prayer, indicating they did not obey the fatwa. [ 20 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 article was also published on ibtimes.id.3 the positive and active role of muhammadiyah’s humanitarian jihad in responding to the covid-19 pandemic by integrating religion, science and culture shows that religion and religious communities can problem solve ongoing problems when working together. this can reduce the tense voice of the religiophobia group who often accuse religion, particularly muslims, of being the culprit or the source of civilization’s problems. in the conclusion of his study comparing the response to the covid-19 pandemic between muhammadiyah and jamaah tabligh, burhani wrote, “the activities of muhammadiyah during the pandemic challenge those who see religion as the antithesis of science” (burhani, 2020: 8). sukidi’s opinion in the kompas daily (02 january 2021) wrote that the proactive work of muhammadiyah in responding to the pandemic by integrating religion (islam) and science “is a logical consequence of muhammadiyah’s ideology which adheres to rational and pro-science islam.” the muhammadiyah’s religious guidance during the pandemic can be said to be a total effort to overcome the covid-19 outbreak from three perspectives: from religion, from science, and from culture. this effort is different from secular groups that only rely on a scientific perspective, or a conservative religious group that only explores religious and spiritual ways to deal with the pandemic. responses of muhammadiyah members and the challenge of religious authority during the vuca era 1. types of responses in ramadan of 1441 ah, in several whatsapp groups that i personally am a part of, there were those who continued to post messages both in writing and in pictures about religious activities in their public praying rooms or mosques during the pandemic. their message is often accompanied by the statement “fear only allah, sickness and death have been predetermined by allah swt.” those who often posted prideful messages regarding the continued activity of congregational worship in places of worship, also often post news about covid-19 from a conspiracy theory perspective. they considered appeals and laws to worship at home as a form of certain groups to silence muslims. at the end of ramadan 1441 ah, social media and several whatsapp groups affiliated to muhammadiyah also spread memes that read “covid-19 loyalty 3 see https://ibtimes.id/religious-holidays-in-the-plague-year-lessons-from-the-indonesian-muhammadiyah-movement/. [ 21 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 test” with a man’s face wearing a red beret typical of kokam and wearing a mask. below the masked face were three hashtag signs that read: #we_are_with_the central board’s edict #eid_prayer_at_home #fight_covid_and_prevail judging from the context of the time and its content, the meme was disseminated in response to the widespread invitation to attend the eid alfitr prayer in an open field in several areas with the muhammadiyah symbol on the flier ironically. in fact, it is clear the central board of muhammadiyah has issued calls and guidance for worship during the emergency pandemic, one of which calls for eid prayers to be performed in their respective homes and eliminating eid prayers in an open field, mosques, and other open places where congregant groups gather. the response of the members of the organization to the calls and guidance of worship during the pandemic period from the central board of muhammadiyah can be mapped into four categories: first, the group that obeys it: sami’na wa atha’na (we hear, and we obey); second, the group that subtly refuses for specific reasons; third, the group that opposes and even delegitimizes the guidance, and the fourth group that adheres to creative activities that do not violate health protocols. in general, the response of urban members of the organization and in muhammadiyah’s charities falls into the category of the first group that obeys the central board of muhammadiyah’s appeal to worship at home. mosques and public praying affiliated to muhammadiyah, and which are in the environment of muhammadiyah education and health institutions do not hold congregational worship. this first group explicitly announced to the congregants that the mosques and prayer rooms were temporarily closed and called for worship to be performed at home. in addition to making announcements on social media, they also put up a memorial banner at the gate of the mosque announcing the mosque was temporarily closed to the public. to keep the mosque and prayer room alive, the call to prayer is still recited by replacing “hayaa ‘ala shalah” with “shalluu fii buyuutikum” or “shalluu fii rihaalikum”. second is the group that subtly refuses the guidance from the central board of muhammadiyah. they still hold congregational worship at the mosque for various reasons, claiming that the area is still in the green zone, as there are no cases of covid and is considered safe, for example. another reason is that [ 22 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 worship still follows health protocols by not using carpets or requiring for congregants to bring their own prayer mats, congregants keeping at least a onemeter distance from each other, required mask wearing, washing hands with soap before entering the mosque, body temperature checks for congregants, no gathering or lingering in the mosque, and prohibition for the elderly and children from participating. the third group is those who oppose and even delegitimize muhammadiyah’s guidance for worship at home. ironically, the rejection and even “opposition” to the guidance of the central executive board were sponsored by the leadership at the sub-branch or branch levels. despite the central executive board’s calls for temporarily not holding congregational five-time prayers, friday prayers, tarawih prayers and breaking the fast together in mosques or public praying rooms, some mosques and prayer rooms still are holding religious activities as usual without paying attention to health protocols. when the call forbidding eid prayers at the mosque or in an open field, there were conflicting leaflets from muhammadiyah branch leaders, complete with the organization’s logo, inviting congregants to attend eid prayers in an open field. the fourth group is those who respond positively to the central board of muhammadiyah guidance that proactively and creatively creates a “new culture”, combining advances in science and technology with religious activities. this group is creative in creating opportunities. when there are calls for social and physical distancing, religious activities that were used to hold offline are transformed online using various platforms such as pengajian online, family takbir video competition, online preacher competitions, and online friday prayer. the excitement of the members’ response to the covid-19 emergency prayer guidance from central board muhammadiyah sometimes arises not due to inaccurate information management, not the content. this can be seen in the qurbani worship guidance during the pandemic from the central board muhammadiyah. on june 21, 2020, online media tempo.co published an article entitled “muhammadiyah: no need to slaughter sacrificial animals, funds for covid-19” (tempo.co, 21 june 2020). the news received immediate responses from sympathizers, activists, cadres and muhammadiyah leaders, not only at the grassroots but also at the middle level. in several online communication platforms, such as whatsapp, the news, whose title was quite provocative, especially the phrase “no need to slaughter sacrificial animals’’ became the theme of discussion for several days. there are those who discuss it from the perspective of fiqh of worship, not a few who discuss it from socioeconomic perspectives. [ 23 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 among the fiqh of worship perspective that responded to the news was the question: has majlis tarjih reviewed it comprehensively? is the value of the donation service for handling covid-19 commensurate with slaughtering qurban animals? from a socio-economic perspective, there are concerns that the guidance to eliminate the slaughter of qurban animals will harm local breeders, as eid al-qurban is an annual “big harvest” for cattle and goat breeders. it is feared that the guidance will reduce the turnover of the sale of livestock. there was also a response that by slaughtering the sacrificial animals was also part of the way muhammadiyah members and muslims helped reduce the impact of the pandemic, especially in terms of socio-economic and health. so far, many parties have received blessings from the economic chain of qurbani worship, not only breeders, but also professional beauticians, seasonal sacrificial animal traders, and butchers. the distribution of qurbani meat to people in need is also considered as an effort to increase gizzi and protein intake so that they have strong immune systems. in one whatsapp group whose members consist of several cross-majlis leaders at the central level, a statement emerged from members of the community empowerment council (majlis pemberdayaan masyarakat) which stated that the news in tempo about slaughtering quran animals on eid al-adha during the pandemic was a form of guidance that did not favor to the fate of breeders in difficult times. one of the board members of the cadre education council (majlis pendidikan kader) said that what was made by the tarjih council was not empirical. one of the members of the tarjih majlis who was in the whatsapp group explained that the news at tempo.co was invalid, because it did not come from the official decision of pp muhammadiyah. in the news, it was also explained that the source was a “draft” which had not yet become an official decision. majlis tarjih and tajdid have indeed discussed the guidance for qurbani worship during the pandemic, but the final ruling has not been officially disseminated because it still must be approved at the muhammadiyah central leadership level. but in essence, this member of majlsis tarjih explained the guidance for qurbani worship during the pandemic refers to the guidance on disaster fiqh which has become the official decision of pp muhammadiyah. the main principle is to prioritize the benefit, the good and the convenience in times of abnormal situations caused by a disaster. the covid-19 outbreak that has hit the world is currently categorized as a non-natural disaster. [ 24 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 2. challenges of religious authority in the vuca world. the various responses of community members to muhammadiyah religious guidance during the pandemic have raised the question of how much is heard and obeyed of muhammadiyah’s fatwas and religious guidance. if the fatwa and its guidance are no longer being heard by its members, will muhammadiyah experience degradation in terms of religious authority? why can religious authority fade in the organizational environment known for being reformist and modern? is such a condition of disruption triggered by vuca (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity)? what should muhammadiyah and similar organizations do to maintain their religious “authority” in this vuca period? in the past decade, in organizational and leadership studies, especially in the business sector, it is often stated we are currently in the vuca period, a term that describes a period marked by volatile turmoil, which results in uncertainty, complex and overlapping relationship, causing ambiguity4. one of the triggers for this vuca situation is disruption of information, the product of technological advances. in religious life, vuca has ushered in the emergence of a new muslim community, which is not bound by the affiliations of schools of thought and religious organizations. their way of observing religion is fluid, hybrid, and eclectic. they will choose which teachings and fatwas are more suited to their moods and situations. amid the vuca situation and the strengthening of this hybrid way of observing religion, people respond by choosing which teachings and guidance are deemed suitable to their specific conditions amid the abundant religious information in the digital space. unfortunately, the abundance of digital religious information has not been accompanied by the strengthening of digital literacy and adequate religious literacy. as a result, people tend to only draw “conclusions’’ or practical guidance that suits their mood, without looking in more detail at the quality of such conclusions which should come with strong evidence. in other words, residents pay more attention to the aspects of fiqh while are less concerned with the ushul fiqh. 4 “the term [vuca] was originally coined by the american military to describe the geo-political situation at that time. however, due to the similarity in meaning, the term vuca is now being adopted by the business world. … more specifically, volatility means a very fast dynamic change in various aspects such as social, economic and political. uncertainty means that it is difficult to predict issues and events that are currently happening. complexity is the disruption and chaos that surrounds every organization. ambiguity is defined as the heavy burden of reality and meaning that mingles from various existing conditions or a state of suspension and the clarity is questionable. “ http://binakarir.com/volatility-uncertainty-complexity-ambiguity-vuca/. (accessed on june 28, 2020). [ 25 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 this condition occurs because many members of the organization experience lack of modernism. indications in this direction can be seen from, for example, the fact that despite the muhammadiyah central executive board’s circular calling for its members to pray at home during the covid-19 pandemic, some disobey and ignore it. the reasons for disobedience to the appeal are varied. there are those who feel their area is safe from the pandemic, there also are those who feel incomplete when praying at home during ramadan, there still are also those who view the religious arguments used as a reference by the central board of muhammadiyah are less convincing, as well as other reasons that basically show “disobedience” to the organization’s leadership. reluctance to comply with the central leadership’s circular in some grassroots circles implies that the religious thoughts of muhammadiyah members are quite varied. at the grassroots level, there is a trend of religion based on habits that has led to conservatism. this happens because the members of the organization focus on studying primarily studying fiqh while forgetting about ushul fiqih; stay too much following himpunan putusan tarjih (collection of tarjih’s decision on religious ritual) and stripping off its manhaj tarjih (the method and paradigm of tarjih). as a result, some members forget the taisir fiqh which provides leniency and ease of worship in abnormal situations. in fact, in religious thought, the majlis tarjih and tajdid have provided a methodological tool that combines the burhani, bayani, and irfani approaches so that the religiosity of muhammadiyah members can always be in accordance with the times. conclusion muhammadiyah’s tagline islam berkemajuan (islam with progress) has illustrated how they have responded to the covid-19 pandemic: combining religious reasoning and scientific reasoning. the religious circulars and guidance issued by the central board of muhammadiyah are always based on religious and health science considerations. the ad hoc institution formed to deal with covid-19 mccc, is filled with a team of representatives from various backgrounds such as health experts and paramedics, disaster management activists, fundraising agency representatives, public policy experts, as well as competent religious scholars and experts. this shows that scientific integration and interconnection has been practiced in muhammadiyah religious praxis. this integration and interconnection of religion, science, and culture in the muhammadiyah’s religious guidance and praxes occurs, not only in the level of semipermeable, but also in intersubjective testability and even creative imagination. this fact confirms that muhammadiyah is a rational and pro[ 26 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 science religious movement. this finding also illustrates that the activism of religious organizations, if based on proper religious reasoning and managed “professionally” as indicated by the muhammadiyah, can become the problem solver. however, the difference in religious reasoning between those at the level of the central board leadership and the organization’s leaders below it and its members at the grassroots has resulted in various responses to the religious guidance during the pandemic. the emergence of voices and messages on social media that doubt the religious guidance from the central board of the organization can be an indication that the religious authority of this progressive islamic mass organization has begun to fade. this condition occurs, for one thing, because it is triggered by the vuca (volatility uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity rapid change, uncertainty, complex, ambiguity) situation currently facing society. confronting this dilemma, all religious organizations, not only muhammadiyah’s, need to get out of the vuca trap with the new paradigm of vuca (vision, understanding, clarity, adaptability/agility), which is a clear vision for dealing with rapid changes, a comprehensive understanding of various changing situations, clarity of problems and the challenges faced, as well as the ability to be flexible in responding to various challenges. bibliography abdullah, m. a. 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(2020). optimis menghadapi pandemi covid-19: catatan kajian dan respon muhammadiyah (yogyakarta: mccc). villegas, d.  (2018). “from the self to the screen: a journey guide for auto-netnography in online communities”, journal of marketing management, 34:3-4, 243-262, doi: 10.1080/0267257x.2018.1443970 woodward, m. (2020). “religious holidays in the plague year – lessons from the indonesian muhammadiyah movement”. dalam https://ibtimes. id/religious-holidays-in-the-plague-year-lessons-from-the-indonesian-muhammadiyah-movement/ (diakses 15 juli 2020). internet sources: cnn indonesia. (2020). “muhammadiyah tak sepakat konspe new-normal,” https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20200608141304-20-511043/muhammadiyah-tak-sepakat-dengan-konsep-new-normal. (accessed on 12 september 2020). fatwa tarjih. “hukum sholat jumat online, bagaimana hukuknya?”. https:// fatwatarjih.or.id/hukum-shalat-jumat-online/ (accessed 4 march 2021) kumparan news. (2020). “pemerintah akui salah gunakan istilah ‘new-normal’ saat pandemi,” in https://kumparan.com/kumparannews/pemerintah-akui-salah-gunakan-istilah-new-normal-saat-pandemi-1tmjcnpxi4y. (accessed 12 september 2020). suaramuhammadiyah.id. (2020). “fatwa tarjih hokum sholat jumat online”. https://www.suaramuhammadiyah.id/2021/02/16/fatwa-tarjih-hukum-shalat-jumat-online/ (accessed 20 march 2021). tempo.co. (2020). “muhammadiyah: tak perlu potong hewan qurban, dana untuk covid-19,” https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1356051/muhammadiyah-tak-perlu-potong-hewan-kurban-dana-untuk-covid-19 (accessed on 30 june 2020). https://covid19.muhammadiyah.id/tuntunan-sholat-idul-adha-di-tengah[ 31 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 pandemi-covid-19/ (accessed on 24 june 2020). https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1356051/muhammadiyah-tak-perlu-potong-hewan-kurban-dana-untuk-covid-19 (accessed on 21 june 2020). http://binakarir.com/volatility-uncertainty-complexity-ambiguity-vuca/ (accessed on 28 june 2020). unpublished documents: edaran pimpinan pusat muhammadiyah nomor 03/i.0/b/2020 tentang penyelenggaraan salat jumat dan fardu berjamaah saat terjadi wabah coronavirus disease (covid-19). upublished document. edaran pimpinan pusat muhammadiyah nomor 06/edr/i.0/e/2020 tentang tuntunan ibadah puasa arafah, idul adha, kurban dan protokol ibadah kurban pada masa pandemi covid-19. unpublished document. surat maklumat pimpinan pusat muhammadiyah nomor 02/mlm/ i.0/h/2020 tentang wabah coronavirus disease (covid-19). unpublished document. [ 32 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1904 [ 3 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 mapping the religious response of the disaster-hit community: (redefinition of relationship between human, god, nature and religion in disaster construction) ibnu mujib university of budi utomo, malang abstract this paper  would like to  map the  religious response  in a post-disaster community.  in an academic  discourse,  a post-disaster community  is one with abnormal  conditions, including  how it  defines  aspects  of divinity  in  their religious  perspective. thus,  the complexity of  issues that  encompass  a  disaster-hit community will shape the worldview, perspective, and the understanding of the relationship between human, god, nature, and religion, serves as the basic assumption of this research. so, there are several points that will be introduced in  this paper  including: first,  the disaster  typology  from the perspective of the experts; second, the debate between the divine law and the law of nature in the context of disaster; and third, the religious response of the disaster-hit community over the history of the events of disaster. the research shows some important findings including the emergence of various forms of response about the events of disaster and their relation to human, god, nature, and religion itself. since the concepts  of disaster  appear from a  post-disaster  society,  on one  side  also require relationship  which is  able not only  to  respond to  disasters  but also to provide  constructive  solutions  to the survival  of the post-disaster community. therefore, the stronger the religious normative doctrine of a person, the more difficult to bring closer to the context his survival not to mention life improvement. nevertheless, in the majority of other communities that culturally experienced  two  sides of mass  dilemma  i.e.  the theological  concept of  submission, patience and gratitude in the religious worldview of post-disaster community as the disaster not only happened to a person but also to many people. kaywords:  response,  disaster, relationship, human, god, nature and disaster introduction a historic event and full of mystery, in fact, it occurs in a wide range of space and time that is unexplained when and where the event will take place. an expert in religion argued that the disaster occurs as a result of the separation of man from the devine principles (schuon, 1995: 43). another scholar, peter [ 4 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 curson defined a disaster as an event with high magnitude related to the period of normal human experience (curson, 1989: 8). disaster is also interpreted as a phenomenon primarily associated with natur and separated from human’s daily experiences and ordinary human activities (hewitt , 1983: 6 ; anderskov, 2004: 10 ). the three definitions above explain the nature of disaster described as a condition for the abnormality of nature and human. this  abnormal condition,  on the one hand, brings the  impacts to  social environment  and  psychological  condition of human beings,  and on the other hand causes vulnerability resulting in things that are not only related to ownership and  economic  resources  but  also to the  population growth,  urbanization  and changes in  human behavior  (curson, 1989: 4).  even  in another sense, disaster  also  has an impact that  stimulates the  imagination  in creating  various  backgrounds of speculation  on human  (curson, 1989: 1). disaster also appears to result in abnormality to facilities and social structure, and other destruction including deaths, mental disorder, disability, loss of property, or in the form of damage to social processes, such as production systems, division of labor, norms and social roles , national and international  politics, as well  as  in the form of hope,  motivation and opinion (blaikie, 2002: 299). here,  abnormality of nature  has given rise to  changes in  human behavior, evidenced by the  feeling of  fear, anxiety, worry,  and many people  even start to search for god through prayer,  plead for  help,  even  blame  each other,  not only  blaming  the  victim  but  also  blaming  god, where both expressed with different forms of acceptance and compliance. the form of  blaming  the  victim  can take various forms, for example  a singer named ebit g ade with his “maybe god is beginning to get tired of seeing our behavior,”  bimbo  and later  sherina with their lyric that roughly  reads: “your curse is so profuse, it is indeed our fault.” in religious sermons, we also hear of the same tendency  in responding to disaster.  even  illustrations  of mourning songs often played on tv stations, for example, almost always lead to cynical tones. meanwhile, even groups of people also blame god. an article in the new york times entitled «where was god?” indicated that people are starting to  question the  direct  intervention  and effect  the  instant  of god’s activities. in  monotheistic  religions, the reasons  people gave  for  the justification of the occurrence  of disaster  are based on many things. some  people refer to it as a form of god›s punishment because of human sins. some also call it a warning because  god occasionally  wants  to see the strength of  faith  of his servants. a more extreme disaster is also referred to as a test from god to [ 5 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 his servants. the third way of thinking is a reflection of the typology in this study will connect at a symbolic relationship between religion and the disaster. in  another perspective, the reason for  the above  justification  is not always running smoothly. voltaire (a leading french philosopher), for example, questioned the justice when disaster struck lisbon (1755), approximately onethird  of the population  became victims.  voltaire’s  anger  was demonstrated by one of the lines in his poems that reads, “please show me the justice of this structure when innocent people die, and when innocent people are punished like  a sinner?”  (muhammad,  illous, 2006).  however,  voltaire’s  view  was appreciated by many --in the tradition of islam—it is mentioned that damage on land and at sea is due to human action, as in the word of god: corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so he may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]. (qs. arrum 30: 41) according to the history,  for example  the story of prophet lot,  as  revealed in the qur’an where it is mentioned that disaster occurred to the people of prophet lot because of homosexuality. despite the historical  interpretation surrounding the story, accompanied by the emergence of homosexual myth for the first time on earth, it is revealed that god destroyed the place inhabited by the people of prophet lot by overturning the mountains. there are several verses that mention that such events were done by god. in another example, it concerns the history of the process of creation of nature. in this case god said  that he  ruled,  and created  the universe, with all  its contents  and  set the rules  and certain  laws  in it.  according to  fazlurrahman, because  the determination these rules, the nature became autonomous. just as the law of gravity in which this law confirms that something falls not because of the weight of the object but due to the pull of the earth’s gravity. therefore the tsunami is part of the laws of nature (sunnatullah) which was created in advance. the debate  is  now centered on what exactly  are the role  and position of relationship between human, god, nature and religion in the construction of disaster? if all power lies under god, how does he answer the question about disasters? on the one hand, god is most loving and most compassionate, but on the other hand, he  lets if not creates  evil  and disaster  which caused  massive  loss of life.  two  contradictory  relationships  need to be described in accordance with the respective context. what about the role of god as most forgiving when innocent people are struck by disaster? or the does disaster give room for the activity of soul searching that could lead us to a stronger faith? it has also caused a crisis or theological confusion over the [ 6 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 nature of  god’s  double  standard.  other  problems  also  arise  when humans become passive due to the construction of “world view” about the autonomy of god becomes dominant in the human response to disaster. portrait of a typology of disaster prior to reviewing the mapping of shift religious behavior of the society, this study began with the discussion of the portrait of and various types of disaster as a tool  to measure  the response and to provide different  interpretations. various issues of interpretation of disaster can be seen clearly in the behavior that indicates  numerous interpretations.  there are  three categories of  disaster. first , that the disaster is a process that occurs everywhere as a common natural process . this group looks at the disaster as a natural process that naturally occurs. tsunami waves, floods, earthquakes , fires , and even landslides happened due to physical changes of the earth. earthquakes are also a process of shifting earth fault. volcanic eruption is also a regular volcanic event. so are floods, this is only a problem of risk management of the flow of water. fires also occur as an ordinary negligence that can happen to anyone. including the tsunami, which is also a normal effect of the sea floor movements that create longitudinal and transverse waves. human asserted that during a hurricane in the uk in 1987, the conception of nature as a controlling factor gained the affirmation: “nature has been acting destructive, irresponsible, destroying itself and dragging everything with it. the end of the world occurs at this point and no one can stop it, broken glass, falling objects and all the noise cannot be tolerated, every living thing has come to a stop” (homan, 2003: 150). it is also pointed out that disaster is part of the natural process that follows its own laws including the huge flood that hit the people of noah which was a model of ancient tsunami. destruction of the prophet lut’s people, landslides that claimed a lot of lives, the event when moses crossed the red sea, the destruction of pompei population were regarded as victims of disaster that could occur due to the rules of nature. the stories of the past are also part of the natural process that occurs when the laws of nature apply. therefore, all that happened is a natural event, not related to the moral and human behavior. people with this perspective also assume that nature is neutral and not affected by the attitudes and behavior of human beings. second, disaster is viewed as the representation of god’s law (god made disaster). this group defines a disaster as a process that emerges from the punishment of god to sinful people. in the terminology of the stages of human thought in religion there are at least three (3) categories, the first stage is the [ 7 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 common man or the so-called ordinary people; the second stage, the believers, people in position of believing in god almighty and his messengers; and the third stage is pious followers of religion i.e. those who are able to perform and execute the laws of god with sincerity. this is in contrast to august comte who referred to the stages of human religious thought beginning with the theological stage, where the earliest period of human phase began with theological passion. in this context, disaster is more likely to be interpreted as god’s punishment, which is imposed after humans break the rules and laws of god. as quoted from john garvey when responding to the earthquake in lisbon in 1755, where god used the horrible tragedy (such as tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, etc.) to punish humans (garvey, 2005: 10). a little different from the above concept, in the hindu tradition, the forms of disaster are called karma, or “karmaphala” that is, as god’s punishment caused by human actions, either bad or good. in this case there are constant human efforts to tame the nature, be it, in the sky, land or water. for example, when we cut down trees, destroy mangroves etc. and such action will cause an imbalance in the natural process of ecology, which is similar in the tradition of buddhism that views disaster as an imbalance that occurs in nature. the disaster also has a meaning other than punishment. it is often cited by groups of people whose status in the terminology of religion are known as the disbelievers. these people react to disaster with nrimo (accepting something as a fate). in contrast, the believers interpret disaster as a trial, in which each god will judge a person’s patience in dealing with disaster. third, disaster is seen as human error (man-made disaster). this section explains that disaster is a direct or indirect result of human behavior and human error. this section also suggests that the environment is not neutral to humans. environment will give a response back depending on the morals, practices or behavior of each human being. therefore, all disasters, calamities, or natural events that occurred in relation to what humans have done. look at what we have done to the environment, for example, hundreds of kilometers of mangroves on the coast of sri lanka are gone. look at what happened in jakarta or aceh, ulele and on other coastal areas in many parts of the world. we have turned those natural areas into a real estate or shrimp ponds. an islamic contemporary thinker said that man is vicegerent on earth so environmental balance should be maintained, nothing is eternal, not even hell, and only god is eternal. when viewed from the patterns of the flood disaster that hit the people of noah, it demonstrates that this type of disaster could be god’s punishment to those who disobey him. the destruction of the people of prophet lut is a form of god’s wrath on the homosexuals. the destruction [ 8 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 of the city of pompeii is a reflection of god’s anger at moral depravity of the population therewho liked to exchange wives and practice prostitution, visit brothels. the forms of disaster because of the human error category are among others war, industrial catastrophe, nuclear disaster and political interference, illegal logging will cause flooding, etc. hewitt, for example, classified the types of disaster into three categories: first, natural disasters (the atmosphere, hydrology, geology, and biology); second, technological disasters (harmful objects, destructive process, mechanical, and productive); and third, social disasters (war, terrorism, civil conflict, and the use of goods, processes, and technologies that are harmful) (oliver-smith, 2002:) the focus of this study is on the first category as a subject of religious studies because it can be explained that the second and third categories are not too difficult to understand as human errors (man-made disaster) that no longer require the analysis of religious approach. with regard to a series of catastrophic events, irwan abdullah covered disasters in various places ranging from the form, scene, year to the causes and impact, such as those that occurred in the mainland of china (1333), japan (1891, 1923), the philippines (1645, 1867, 1877, 1879, 1892), indonesia (1815, 1883, 1963, 1994, 2004, 2006), to africa (1973-1985) , central america (1970), and united states (1906, 1991, 1992, 2005), in the forms of war, drought, famine, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, landslides, erosion, earthquakes, nuclear explosions, epidemics , physical damage, loss of property, disability, mental damage as well as damage to the structures and social systems (abdullah, 2006: 11). according to irwan, the debate about the relationship between nature and culture has been initiated by the pattern of their interaction that gave birth to a lot of new understandings of dependence and independence of man against nature, and vice versa. initial views see that nature is something that is separate from man who has undeniable power, so that the natural environment has defined the identity of human, including the category of “the others” due to differences in deterministic environment for human adaptation. in religious approach, more disasters are shown in a mysterious incident in conjunction with the ruler and creator of the universe. frithjof schuon in his book the transformation of man asserted that all human misery (disaster) is the result of our separation from the principles of god. do disastrous apply for a penalty, trial or test, in which the target group penerimanyapun also very varied and diverse. so do not be surprised if many people are discussing this in the category of post-disaster god debate. disasters can also be found in other forms, such as death, mental disorder, [ 9 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 disability, loss of property, or in the form of breakdown of social structures and social processes, such as production systems, division of labor, norms and social roles, national and international politics, as well as in the form of expectations, motivations and views (blaikie, 2002: 298). the result of a disaster can also be found in the human behavior change especially related to religious observance, for example, how a religious man is increasingly appreciating the values of the religious spirit, or how disasters even begin to stop him from being religious. moreover, even man’s view of god as most loving and forgiving has also changed. human response to the elements of god as the creator and the merciful discussion about human perception of god especially in the wake of disaster always bears various meanings, explanations, even categories according to the level of world view which develops in humans, and sometimes also by the environmental and community background that change human’s perception of god. one of the world views --even human perception is that god is the sole creator of the universe/nature that is so beautiful, spacious, and full of a variety of values. another perception sees god as most loving, which is a trait that is more pro-life. an example that can be shown is that essentially all human needs have been answered by god. a sense of happiness, security, abundant fortune, even when humans become sick under certain circumstances, it is also interpreted as the love of god, because a sick man can take the wisdom of his life journey. it is all an inner experience that man has created through various struggles in life. two of the traits of god are being a creator and being compassionate. this means that all of god’s creation should be maintained and must be kept with the spirit or the properties of affection of god, not just man as his creation, but also applies to nature and the environment. if we try to hold with the concepts of god over man as a caliph for example, certainly, it is not the creation of the caliphate with the identity of a particular physical form, but the caliphate is a creation of god on man’s role on earth. as a caliph, humans have turned the role of nature and all its contents, keeping in touch with each other so as not to break or have conflict. if the role is in accordance with the proper function, the task of the caliphate is on the right track. the contextualization of man as a caliph is a substitute of god’s work on earth. on the one hand, man has a creation capital, on the other hand, he has to subdue and consult the creator. however, this perception has shifted later after which man’s role is precisely controlled by the theological regime particularly religious ideology, in which [ 10 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 human beings are not liberated again as a substitute for god’s work on earth. he is in a power loss, while god behind this reality is believed to be a decisive actor in the decisions of human life yesterday, today and in the future, like a puppet controlled by the puppeteer. humans have set back to see god, in which god is formulated according to the size of a prehistoric society. similarly, god is aware of the task, the rules of law given to human to run his task on earth. this divine consciousness is described in the qur’an that as “allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” this illustration gives a lesson in human submission that the impact on the real destiny in the context of disaster resulted in the lack of creative response, while, it is a prerequisite or an absolute indication that a people can only be changed if they themselves are willing to change. such is the nature and role of god’s compassion shown to humans through revelation. related to human perception on playing god in a post-disaster condition, many of the disaster victims who have lost a child, family wealth, etc. now have become helpless to move back to normal life, but what happens is they subject to the fate that shadows life after the earthquake/tsunami. prolonged trauma is also part of the shadow of destiny and a sense of innocence in responding to disasters. it can be explained that human perception of the role of god as the creator and the merciful is derived from human inner experience that is felt when individuals are under normal conditions. the question is how is the current human condition in abnormality? will he feel the same when he is in an abnormal condition such as a disaster? abnormal conditions often present a variety of new forms, i.e. the shifting paradigm of the meaning or certain religious symbols. human perception of god in post-disaster condition (not normal) is different from that under normal condition. at the same time, it is undeniable that a disaster is always followed by a series of questions both philosophical/cosmological and theological. the philosophical-cosmological thought attempts to link the various phenomena of the natural world with the “anger of the gods” as a result of an imbalance in the structure of the cosmos. on the other hand, theologically christians see it as the issue of the implementation of the infinite divine power, which in islamic theology is called “destiny or divine decision based omnipotence” or “trial of god” and therefore should be accepted wholeheartedly with sincerity and submission. meanwhile, hinduism understands disaster as part of the process without end (samsara); in contrast to buddhism which understands it as dukkha, “part of the circle of human life: suffering, desire, action, result, known as the “four great truths” which form the basic structure of human suffering. [ 11 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 haidar bagir (2005) in an article in kompas daily stated that crime is the effect is required of virtue. virtue is not possible without an absolute evil that comes from it. fire, for example, is a good for cooking, keeping us warm, and many other good purposes but at the same time a fire has the power to destroy valuable things in certain circumstances. then, crime is an inevitable consequence of the existence of some good; abolishing it means at the same time eliminating the cause of it which is good-whose positive values exceed the negative. contrary to the solution described in the first category, this type of solution, along with three subsequent solutions, do not reject the basic components of theistic teachings. all of the natures of god are maintained and considered absolute; crime is also recognized as a fact in society. many seek to justify that god causes or allows crimes. haidar argued that crime is also a necessary means to good. according to this view, evil is always the case in order to bring something better than the existing ones. slapping a child, for example, is a crime, but is useful to discipline him. earthquakes, floods, fires, and other disasters are also a crime, but all of them have good effects, such as lowering the population, teaching people how to face suffering and distress that may lead to events both in relation to the universe as a whole and kindness we do not (or may not) understand as a favor. with such perspective, this type of solution is referred to as the “defense of the higher good”. nelson pike (“good and evil”, ibid) (1964: 111) is one of the well-known supporters of the 20th century to the “defense of the higher good”. pike stated that this solution does not come “from an acquisition that an excellent form will prevent suffering, if it could”. pike argued that something could be good even though at the same time it gives rise to crime, but it should “have a strong moral reason” to do so: for example, a father who gives his son a spoonful of bitter medicine should not be blamed because he is doing so in order to cure his son of disease. taking medicine is an unpleasant experience for the child and, therefore, is a kind of evil, but it is a means for the higher good: to restore the health of a child. thus, a father, although responsible for giving drug to his child, is free of errors that lead to crime: he has a “strong moral reasons”. pike found that the same argument can be applied to god. god who has knowledge of the suffering experienced by certain creatures and has the power to prevent such suffering-but he still does not prevent it. however, god cannot be accused of doing evil: god who causes or does not prevent a crime actually has the aim of producing higher good for individuals who experience crime, or for the universe as a whole. in other words, if god prevents some crimes, he also prevents some higher good. nevertheless, to some people, the analogy between man and god could give [ 12 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 rise to further questions. it is difficult for a father, with his human limitations, to treat diseases without giving his child bitter medicine. however, god is considered to have absolute power and, therefore, must be able to generate good without having to use a means of crime or damage. the problem is that if it has become a framework that should be accepted, it will present similar form of inconsistency on the nature of god or god is in the status of double standard, and at the same time will give birth to confusions over the theological dogma of the religion one practices. new paradigm of disaster theology the phenomenon of religion or post-disaster religiosity has changed in many ways. one of them is human understanding of god. god is always defined as the omnipotent or capable of controlling the entire universe (the ultimate reality). in addition to god as creator, he is also merciful. in this sense, god does not take sides on any position, whether people are on his orders, dissidents, or even someone enjoying the pleasure against the rules outlined by god in his scriptures. in addition, god is also interpreted as the creator of destruction. the most recent understanding of this, at least, is represented as the most recent understanding in the wake of structural damage of natural, social, or material as the impact of the disaster. human understanding of god in the post-disaster time appears in various ways, not only the response of the clergy, but also the indigenous groups to the smallest entity of social structure. it is normal that when disaster strikes, the majority religious community, including from muslims, christians, and catholics usually holding a joint prayer with the aim to prevent the disaster from happening again in the future and for victims to immediately return to normal life. in contrast to the hindu tradition, although also having the same goals, they have their own way of giving offerings through typical rituals and ceremonies, which are dedicated to the gods believed to be the god of destruction maker. unlike the indigenous groups, in java, for example -through the javanese culture stakeholders, the representation is also shown in a unique way that is usually delivered shortly before the arrival of the disaster. including when there is a mystical sign of the coming of pagebluk (disease) that will befall the society, suddenly the pandeta sri sultan hamengku buwono ordered to prepare lodeh (vegetable dish)with 9 nine types of fruit or vegetable as a preventive therapy of disaster that might come later. such mystical or even religious therapies can be viewed as the logical form of a series of human religious experience that is always repeated over and even its existence is [ 13 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 never questsined, although its development is manifested in the forms of myths that are always attached to the rituals. this sort of phenomenon will also experience the dynamics and development, and if observed, the rites performed at mount merapi will have different ways, kinds of rite, meaning even there are certain forms of ceremonial rites performed for earthquake safety. to tell the difference between the two is not only the significance or mystical symbols in them, but they also have a systemic network which runs continuously between the macrocosm (nature), myth and rituals (pall, 2000). disaster: spirit for mass repentance and improvement of life what exactly is the repentance? it is usually done by human when they realize that they have done a lot of mistakes and sins in the past. therefore, in general, repentance is done after trial occurs. however, the orientation of the repentance is that in future one no longer makes the same mistake. according to ignas kleden (kompas, march 13, 2007), if someone made a mistake, and the mistake was big enough, then in the consciousness of the person concerned appeared at least three psychiatric reactions to his actions. on the first level, the person will experience internal battle within his mind, loss of balance, and suffering from disharmony that made him feel his life is in vain. in the following stage, disharmony will bring people to repentance, which is a kind of hope that what has happened should not happen again. however, according to kleden, as behavior, regret is still oriented to the past, particularly to crimes or mistakes that have been done, which are expected not to occur again. perhaps, because of the sins committed and errors made, indonesia is increasingly getting worse today. in fact, indonesian society is in a position that is increasingly suffering from disaster. no wonder novelist andre vitchek cited by azyumardy azra wrote that indonesia is now replacing bangladesh and india as the most vulnerable countries in the world in terms of natural disasters that claim so many human lives. according to him, indonesia has now become a “mass killing field” because since the tsunami in aceh in december 2004, indonesia has lost more than 200,000 of its citizens in a variety of natural disasters; this figure does not include those killed in highway and communal conflicts, such as in poso. with that figure, disaster victims in indonesia in the last three years were more than those killed during the iraq war, or civil war in sri lanka, or in peru. (kompas, march 13, 2007). regarding the fact, theoretically tylor asserted that the conditions of human abnormalities have resulted in many things, one of which is a sense of regret. repentance is a process of transformation or normative forms of remorse which [ 14 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 is referred to as feedback on the condition of abnormalities or irregularities that cause human beings to be in chaotic state. it is this state, tylor said, in its primitive culture forming part of the myth or myths that at the same time always accompany the rite activities, where it is present and formed by an order from the chaos caused by the condition of the regular macrocosm. the sequence of the macrocosm, chaos, myth and rites according to tylor occurs continuously in the process of human religiosity even in prehistoric times (tylor, 2000: 31). as a result, in line with what azyumardi azra found that sort of thing is not very effective, for example the national repentance ritual, istighosa, mass recitation, ruwatan can only bring momentary psychological serenity; because religion does not provide instant solutions to problems face by humanity. we can simply understand what is presented by azra in a statement above. nevertheless, the problem is that the spirit--including mental affairs or in the context of repentance-always brings human internal factors intensely. nobody can determine the level of one’s spirituality. humans are basically open in various levels of spirituality; first the spirit associated with steps formulated by a. comte namely, first, the theological level; second, metaphysical level, third what he calls positivistic level. it is on this third level that humans try to provide space on revitalization efforts in the post-disaster life, rather than accepting destiny that tends to be passive and less responsive to management of disaster. communal disaster has created a new meaning that constitutes a total change of normal human condition into an abnormal structure. the case of the earthquake and tsunami that hit aceh in december 2004 can be made as a frame of reference in view of the meaning of a disaster. according to the data the incident took more than 236,116 human casualties (tim satkorlak nad, 2005). it did not stop there. thousands of social sectors (housing, education, health, religion and culture), infrastructure such as transportation, communications, water and sanitation and production sectors such as agriculture, fishing industry and trade, were also destroyed (bappenas, 2005) also have been victims of this tsunami. an earthquake of 8.9 on the richter scale not only caused destruction to material buildings and residential population and other social facilities but also resulted in the loss of economic opportunities, and mental injuries suffered by the people of aceh in general, have also left problems in aceh recovery process in the future. a number of social problems began to emerge, especially for those who are still alive, some disturbed deterioration of health, loss of family, loss of property including residential and business, as well as loss of evidence [ 15 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 of ownership of the property, such as land certificates, deed of purchase, vehicle register, certificates of deposits and shares (ismail, 2005: 7). not to mention the presence of a variety of institutions such as ngo’s both local and international, where their arrival not only provided programs of recovery, but also sometimes brough with them values of the different cultureas everyone has a cultural different sensitivity. however, what’s interesting is that the complexity or the crucial issues that disaster has basically become the event that was not borne individually, but felt together among victims on the one hand, not to mention a sense of empathy that came through various donations that also indicated that they are not alone. on the other hand, disaster led to a form of inter-individual choices in determining the fate of their victims after the disaster. the reaction was not only marked by the completion of the physical problems but also targets nonphysical issues, including the relation to changes in lifestyle of the people after the disaster. in an ideal and normal dimension, the desire to choose a better way of life is chosen by many people on the one hand, but on the other hand, the trauma that has not been fully gone has led to a new stage in the form submission to the creator. it should be underlined that the two sides of the mass dilemma experienced by the victims of disaster have agreed upon the concept of the nrimo theology in the religious world view of the post-disaster community. the dynamics in determining and selecting religious concepts in a postdisaster condition also appear in various ways. when observed, we can come up with three ways that people respond to disasters such as nrimo, patience and gratitude. the concept of nrimo is an attitude of total submission without any concrete/tangible efforts. this attitude is backed by a normative selfawareness of disaster actors in understanding the complexity of the problems surrounding them by laying the foundations of a short-term expectations called survival strategy. however, the concept of nrimo then may shift toward guarantees and collective sources. with the new mobility, many people came to help, and social organizations are also involved. with a variety of existing mobility at the same time it has generated a new spirit and imagination to form a future related to them, even the significance of their lives were also determined by the presence of diverse complexity that would affect their psychological background. similarly, other attitudes or responses will continue to experience a change in its context respectively. conclusion discussion about religion and other disasters is not the same with regard to the [ 16 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 viewing disaster from two perspectives at once, i.e. scientific perspective and religious perspective. the scientific perspective views nature as the objective world. facts are subject to the laws of nature. however, humans do not see nature only as facts, but also as the world they live in. the religious perspective, however, views nature in relation to reality and existential appreciation. it means that nature is not a factual truth, but it is seen as a formula of a transcendental truth. both generate the meaning of the same truth, though at a certain stage there are relationships that mutually determine a context of disaster. similarly, tsunami, from a scientific perspective is an event that can be objectively calculated geologically. on the other hand, the religious perspective sees tsunami as an existential and transcendental encounter with things that cannot only be measured with geological formula, but in the religious context, it is beyond rationality. in this context, moltmann indicated that the perspectives of theology and religion will face two kinds of crisis: relevance crisis and identity crisis: that the more theology and religion try to maintain the traditional and rigid dogma, the more theology and religion will side with the context, and thus it becomes less credible. on the contrary, theology and religion put themselves as the “panacea” to end the suffering, unfortunately when theology and religion itself failed to respond to disaster-then theology and religion will lose their identity. thus both these crises ultimately have the potential to bring up an attitude of distrust between the two. hence, the concepts that come from a post-disaster community, on the one hand, also require relationships that are not only able to respond to disaster but also provide constructive solutions to the survival of the community in the wake of disaster. such a concept depends on how human beings explain the relationship between religion and disaster, whether disaster is regarded as a punishment, trial or test. all three will give produce a wide variation in understanding the disaster. when disaster is understood as a divine punishment, then the disaster is tangible as a form of karma for human errors made in the period of life. in contrast to the caliphate concept proposed by m. iqbal in interpreting disaster, among others, he explained that when god has given trust, mandate to man, then man cannot be held responsible for his mistakes, let alone as whole. “good and evil” written by nelson pike, at least provides another color in interpreting the context of disaster (the defense of the higher good). it is a concept that does not come from “a notion that an excellent form will prevent suffering”. however, this argument indicates that something can be good even at the same time it gives rise to crime, provided that it should have a [ 17 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 strong moral reason to commit it. it is similar to the analogy of drugs given to a sick child. despite the bitter taste, medication will help heal the sick child. therefore, the study of theology and disaster has made it clear that the autonomous power of god for the disaster must rely upon strong moral reasons, so the power is uncontested even by other moral reasons. nonetheless, it should be realized that the complexity and the buzz of crucial issues of disaster, on the one hand, have become an event that is not only suffered by individuals, but it has been perceived as a shared calamity among the victims, not to mention a sense of empathy which is present through various donations that also indicates that they are not alone. on the other hand, disaster leads to a form of inter-individual choices in determining their fate of after the disaster. the reaction is not only marked by the completion of physical problems but also targets on non-physical, including its relation to changes in lifestyle of the people after the disaster. in an ideal and normal dimension, the desire to choose a better way of life is chosen by many people on the one hand, but on the other hand, the trauma that has not been fully gone has led to a new stage in the form submission to the creator. it should be underlined that the two sides of the mass dilemma experienced by the victims of disaster have agreed upon the concept of the nrimo theology in the religious world view of the post-disaster community. references abdullah, irwan. 2006. ”dialektika natur, kultur dan struktur: analisis konteks, proses, dan ranah dalam konstruksi bencana” in pidato pengukuhan guru besar fib-ugm, nov. unpublished paper. andreskov, c. 2004. ”anthropology and disaster.” www.anthrobase.com bagir, haidar. 2005. membincang keadilan tuhan (teodice) dalam bencana tsunami di aceh, kompas 02/02/. benson, herbert & william proctor. 2000. keimanan yang menyembuhkan: dasar-dasar respons releksasi, bandung: kaifa. blaikie, p. 2002. ”vulnerabilityand disaster” in v. desai and r. potter (eds) the companion and to development studies. london: arnold. durkheim, email. 1992. the elementary forms of the religious life. new york: free press. eva illous, 2006. from the lisbon disaster to oprah winfrey suffering as identity in the era of globalization. garvey, john. 2005. is god responsible? the tsunami and other disaster. commonweal; academic research library. [ 18 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 1 june 2015 hardiman, budi. 2002. “posisi agama dan sains, in artikel seminar “the future of religion-science dialogue”. jakarta: universitas paramadina. (rabu, 13/12). kompas. hewitt, k. 1993. interpretation of calamity, new york: allen and unwin. homan, j. 2003. “the social construction of natural disaster: egypt and the uk,” in natural disasters and development in a globalizing world, edited by m. pelling, london: routledge, 141-156. ismail, mawardi. 2005. “beberapa masalah sosial dalam proses rehabilitasi dan rekonstruksi provinsi nad,” one day workshop, reconstruction and reconciliation for aceh: where to go? organized by. tim aceh bangkit, gadjah mada university february 22. muhammad, gunawan. tuhan pasca tsunami. jakarta: freedom institute dan jaringan islam liberal, (www.islamlib.com). pike, nelson. (ed). 1964. good and evil. new jersey: prentice hall, englewood cliff. pro quest eco-disester or god’s wrath? indians react to tsunami.14/08/2006 putra, heddy shri-ahimsa . 2000. “peringatan, cobaan, dan takdir: politik tafsir bencana merapi”, masyarakat indonesia jilid xxvi, no. 1. satkorlak provinsi nad (serambi indonesia, sabtu 19 februari 2005) schuon, frithcof. 1995. transfigurasi manusia, refleksi antrosophia perenialis. yogyakarta: qolam press. sholeh, muh dan imam musbikin. 2005. agama sebagai terapi, telaah menuju ilmu kedokteran holistic. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. smith, oliver and hoffman, s. m. 1999. the angry earth: disaster in anthropolohical perspective, new york: routhledge. sola scriptura, kanisius, vol. 1, no 2 februari-maret 2007 tylor, eb. 2000. “animisme dan magic,” in daniel l. pall seven theory of religion, yogyakarta: qolam press. www. tutur.web.id/analisis bencana, july 19, 2006. [ 93 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 women in public sphere after the implementation of islamic sharia in aceh sri roviana faculty of islamic education. universitas ahmad dahlan, yogyakarta email: rovianamitra@yahoo.com wening udasmoro faculty of humanities, universitas gadjah mada, yogyakarta email: udasmoro@ugm.ac.id euis nurlaelawati faculty of sharia and law, universitas islam negeri sunan kalijaga, yogyakarta email: euis.nurlaelawati@uin-suka.ac.id abstract this article discusses several activities intended for acehnese women after the implementation of islamic sharia. activities aimed at women in public spaces have an impact on the marginalization and narrowing of women’s public spaces. this article also explicitly provides an overview and analysis of what actually happened to acehnese women so that it appears that there is a problem of the domination of male power over women based on religious, cultural, and political arguments. the purpose of this article is for the public to understand that the aceh government has made policies aimed at women in the public sphere with the support of wilayatul hisbah, which has an impact on the marginalization of women. it is found that after the implementation of islamic law in 2001 until now, in aceh, there have been domestication of women with various regulations (qonuns) as well as text interpretations which are used as legitimacy by the power of conservative ideology on progressive understanding. this article makes aceh a focus area. this article is based on the literature as a secondary source as well as interviews with experts. keywords: women, domestication, public sphere, islamic law introduction aceh in 2005 is aceh which has changed from before the tsunami. the application of islamic law from 2001 to 2004 has greatly affected women’s daily lives. the headscarf and the way to dress the acehnese people are regulated in the qanuns of islamic law. conflicts between gam and the aceh government and residents often occur (afrianty 2017). however, after the 2005 tsunami [ 94 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 hit aceh, there were significant changes in people’s lives. many acehnese people no longer question islamic law and gam. the community members are busy reconstructing houses that were hit by the tsunami waves, work affairs, and declining welfare. social conflicts have decreased because they are no longer the primary concern of community members, especially between gam and the government. after the transformation of gam power from malik mahmud in 2005 to zaini abdullah, there was a power struggle to unite the gam forces in aceh, even though this was difficult to happen (jones 2015). however, the condition of women remains disadvantaged politically, economically, and culturally. in the public sphere, women are still unable to occupy an equal position with dominant men, have power and become a reference in decision making. therefore, what is needed is not only for women to be in the public sphere but also for progressive thinking because of institutionalized conservatism’s dominance. however, for women to be involved in decision-making, supportive, progressive, and affirmative political conditions are needed to become the power of civil society. this is because women are part of politics and religious power. women are not only objects of political decisions of power (sirry 2010). in reality, in aceh, women are an essential part of the “object of control” for implementing islamic sharia. aceh women, in many cases, are marginalized. sharia perda policies tend to be characterized by policing from a male perspective. there is a close relationship between the sharia perda, which characterizes aceh’s specialty, and acehnese women’s experiences. this can be seen from the vital perspective of men in policing women through sharia qanuns. the forms of restraint are in the form of several mandatory hijab recommendations, prohibition of khalwat, prohibition of watching entertainment that displays genitals, separate class rules for men and women, prohibition of riding behind one’s back while sitting facing the front, prohibition of wearing tight trousers (stretch) when members of the community. entering government offices, prohibition of sitting at the same table without a mahram, prohibition of watching cinemas, concerts with mixed seating arrangements for men and women, and prohibition of watching films deemed inconsistent with sharia(perempuan 2010, 10–13). such conditions have been going on since aceh province after enacting the special autonomy law (law number 22/1999 on regional autonomy), which enforces several regional regulations of a local nature, for example, aceh qanun no. pervert), which indirectly leads to the regulation of the female body. the formal implementation of islamic sharia in various regions [ 95 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 is characterized by making women the target of sharia regulations, such as khalwat regulation (qanun khalwat). women do experience a robust process of marginalization in many ways in their daily lives. socializing, sitting, dressing, and traveling are also objects of the special autonomy law. shariatisation and domestication of women in public sphere shariatisation and domes regarding women’s position in the public sphere, several countries with a majority muslim population, such as morocco, tunisia, egypt, and al-jazeera, have made changes in interpreting sacred texts are considered to restrict or place women in the public sphere. this, of course, affects the reinterpretation of sacred texts and fiqh, which places women in a marginal or domesticated position. therefore, it is necessary to re-examine the construction of islamic sharia in aceh of women in public spaces (cherif 2010). interpretation of sacred texts related to islamic law needs to be carried out by scholars because, in many cases, women cannot get full access to engage in public activities. even for problems related to private matters, many women cannot get their rights to the fullest, such as marriage, dowry, and divorce. in terms of participation, women do not get the same opportunities as men. likewise, in marriage, for example, the matter of dowry, the dominant role is men. women only receive what is given from men. the saddest thing is the understanding that dowry is the money a woman buys to become his wife. this is, of course, related to issues of gender justice. the woman is entirely in the control of a man. even though there have been many changes in understanding several texts, the facts on the ground still prove that marriage’s dominant problem is the male party. this will be seen in the issue of inheritance(shaughness 2009). even the problems of women in indonesia, including in aceh, are also related to transgender (queer) problems as part of society. transgender issues in indonesia, including in aceh, are not unreal. they are real but often get unequal treatment from actors who enforce islamic law(davies 2010). transgender (queer) is seen as a group of people who are “less perfect,” even though they are god’s creatures who were both born on earth. they are part of the diversity of society in islam. the diversity of the people of aceh should get the attention of government officials. the state is not allowed to treat its citizens in a discriminatory manner. based on religious reasons, however. women become subordinate to men. the rights to file for divorce were also lost. in the matter of polygamy, women also experience a very powerless position. a divorce suit is considered as “belonging to men,” not women. the issue of [ 96 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 polygamy is a daily problem in indonesian muslim communities, including in aceh (nurmila 2009). nurmila clearly explained that many women were polygamous because of the issue of male sexual desire, not because of fundamental reasons such as the permission of a wife who had pregnancy problems, chronic illness so that she could not conceive, and other religious reasons. men practice polygamy often without the knowledge of their first and second wives. women refuse to be polygamous, so they choose divorce (nurmila 2009, 108–12). here scholars in muslim countries have reinterpreted islamic law as applied in society. this is also done in aceh because some women’s problems have become marginal due to the wrong interpretation of islamic sharia. after all, men feel authoritative. (cherif 2010, 114). the issue of women has become a concern of many muslim scholars because it is an important issue. if it is not paid attention to, it will foster conflict between islamists and progressives in understanding sharia. important issues regarding women can affect the family, society, and the regulations to be established in society. the muslim community, especially women, become citizens who experience discrimination on religion-based regulations. even though there was a tug of war about political interests. as happened in iran, the problem of the headscarf, tunisia, al-geria, is full of political power interests. something like that can happen in muslim countries like indonesia. therefore, it is necessary to integrate a progressive understanding of islamic sharia with society’s needs (moghadam 2003). changes in the interpretation of islamic sharia, which are interesting to note, are matters relating to the perspective on islamic sharia in economics, sociology, history, and political science studies. this is related to women’s position in having their rights as women, which are sometimes less accommodated in the public sphere. many studies and researches reveal that the essence of women’s problems is connected to economic problems, the influence of religious understanding by elites and politicians to affect society at large. women are influenced by their position in public organizations and employment opportunities. public opinion is awakened that women activists are less obedient to religion and justice regarding their rights as citizens. from all views like this, it is clear that men’s perspective (point of view) is affected by gender bias in seeing women. this is detrimental to women’s rights in the public sphere(mesquita dan downs 2005). we can pay attention to islamic sharia’s main objectives implemented in aceh after the political reform in 1998, which took place since 2001, namely when special autonomy was implemented until now. the government of abdurahman wahid (gus dur) gave a “gift of islamic sharia” to aceh as a [ 97 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 political gift to dampen the desire for independence and separation from indonesia(ichwan 2013; kloos 2013). presumably, enforcement of islamic sharia in aceh, as a form of resistance against the central government that is considered infidels, not sharia run correctly (ichwan 2013). the implementation of islamic sharia has several objectives; first, islamic sharia as a solution to the conflict between aceh and the jakarta (central) government. the central government implemented islamic sharia as an independent policy obtained by aceh due to economic exploitation, human rights violations, politics, and natural resources. islamic sharia is also a concern for the central government in the free aceh movement (gam) to demand aceh’s independence. second, the implementation of islamic sharia in aceh is expected to reduce the horizontal social conflicts. conflict due to criminal problems such as rape, prostitution, and drunkenness. therefore, islamic sharia is implemented to maintain public morality in aceh so that there is no deviation of power and deviant behavior from society. islamic sharia is applied to create justice and create good relations between the center and the regions (aceh). third, islamic sharia is implemented because it adopts original elements from the acehnese people with a religion that the people of aceh believe. this is because, objectively, aceh is a province with a majority muslim population (98.2%) of the total population of aceh (abubakar 2005, 129). regarding the implementation of islamic law, unfortunately, there are differences between sharia enforcers and ordinary people who are the object of sharia targets. the implementation of islamic sharia is a concern of many scholars because of frequent deviations between ideal goals and practice. contradictions over the implementation of islamic sharia are a particular problem in aceh (icg 2006). in terms of the implementation of islamic sharia, it is not only happening in indonesia. it has also occurred in sudan, morocco, tunisia, and malaysia as a global phenomenon of islamism since the iranian islamic revolution. since the 2000s, islamism has grown to indonesia as a movement of islamic populism. it is political than many scholars engaging (hadiz 2016). in indonesia, a muslim country in the world, discussion on islamic law is very popular. the discussion on the defense of islamic sharia by muslim scholars has been quite intensive. of the total muslim population countries in the world in 45 muslim-majority countries, 30 of them are in the territory of countries where muslims are a minority, especially in non-muslim countries. religion, such as the hijab (veil), is a study that continues to develop until now. the muslim population is in a very diverse area, and they wear muslim clothes, carry out [ 98 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 islamic rituals, and want to be part of public activities such as being active in politics and working to continue to get attention so that muslim women do not get discriminated against politically, economically and culturally. therefore, there is a need to place muslim women visible in public political activities (offenhauer dan buchalter 2005). the placement of women in public spaces equal between men and women when linked to a sociological perspective can be found there is a progressive feminist perspective that provides space for women to be active in the public sphere. women have the same rights in politics as men. in the study of feminist sociology, women’s issues must continue to be a concern, becoming a present and future discipline so that women do not experience political marginalization. this is a kind of migration from women’s studies into women’s studies (gender studies) to become mainstream(delamont 2003, 114–17). the issue of a veil similar to a veil can be categorized as cultural. however, currently, there is an islamic deculturization movement that is sweeping the islamic community. islamic expressions that coincide with culture can be found in the sasak muslim community in lombok, kutai muslims in east kalimantan, banjar muslims in banjarmasin, and muslims yogyakarta java. it is not easy for them to leave traditions passed down from generation to generation because, in society, nothing is against islamic law. therefore, when there was a prohibition from wahhabism to express islam culture, they could not accept wahhabism that had developed in the last ten years. some javanese, kalimantan, and lombok muslims have to give up their cultural identity in wearing long beards, wearing turbans, robes, and hijabs. there is a struggle between indonesian muslims and wahabism in indonesia. this includes aceh, which promotes islamic sharia in society (hamdi 2019, 108). in wahabi’s own body, there is conflict. they do not support each other but go their separate ways. this has led to claims that they are the most correct in preaching islam. this is also the case for wahhabism in south kalimantan, east kalimantan, yogyakarta and aceh. some conflicts between fellow wahhabists give a sign that islam is not a single religious sect. some belief in what is considered to be his missionary mission. even the majority of wahabi congregations support the existence of religious purification and purification in the field of fiqh. in the case of the unavailability of wahabi to accommodate local traditions, it shows that wahabism does not care about the local context. this locality causes wahabism to conflict with the people of aceh, yogyakarta, and banjarmasin (hamdi 2019, 176). the development of wearing the headscarf with the hijab (covering his face) is one of the impacts of understanding wahabism developed in aceh. at [ 99 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 first, acehnese women wore the hijab as javanese women wore a veil with visible and visible hair. however, in its development, women’s headscarf is the headscarf which is often referred to as the syar’i hijab. there are various prohibitions against women, such as riding motorized vehicles straddlingly, women getting involved in politics, women going out at night. all of this is the influence of wahabism that has developed in aceh because in the view of wahhabism women are not taught or ordered to be active in the public sphere. women must cover all their limbs because women’s bodies and even women’s voices are understood as genitals(abubakar 2005). related to the veil, which has recently become a trend among indonesian muslim women by some islamic groups, exceptionally moderate islamic groups, such as muhammadiyah and nu, do not teach muslim women to wear the veil is a serious debate. the veil is understood by moderate muslim groups as a culture of arab society and not sharia because there is no valid basis (authentic) either in the qur’an or in the hadith that instructs muslim women to wear the veil instead of women wearing a headscarf or hijab. (gunawan dan ilyas 2018). several essential notes regarding wearing the headscarf, veil, and various women’s accessories in aceh described in this section can be said to be a model or method of domestication of women in the public sphere with forced religious reasoning arguments. a conservative version of religious reasoning and even wahabism dominated in aceh during the implementation of islamic sharia, so it seems clear that women must be controlled and laid off. women are not in the public sphere but in the domestic sphere, which is considered their nature. problems of marriage, child care, divorce all place women in a subordinate condition to male superiority. women not working in public, but domestic the wahhabis in aceh believe that women are not allowed to be active in the public space. women do not work as breadwinners. in the view of the wahhabis, women are housewives and do not leave the household. women to work in the domestic sphere. meanwhile, men are in the public domain. such placement can be said to be a struggle for public space (contested public sphere). things like that happen in muslim-majority countries such as bangladesh, malaysia, and indonesia. this kind of battle is a struggle for identity between men and women in the political space (spiegel 2010). the position of women in islam has never been as low as often depicted in public space. islam came to elevate the dignity of all humankind. especially [ 100 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 women. the promotion of women in islam had taken place when islam was revealed to the ignorant arab society. they consider women as “half-human” so that they are like merchandise that can be exchanged for plus and rented just like that between fellow men and tribal (ethnic) heads. islam came to liberate such things with humanity’s teachings, which implements the teachings of monotheism that free human beings from all kinds of shackles born of human beings. tawhid is a concrete form of islamic respect for women that is only poorly understood in depth. there is a lot of gender bias in understanding the values of humanity in the teachings of tawhid. however, most understand that monotheism is a principle of islamic teachings that is only related to human worship of god alone. there are no other dimensions(mulia 2008, 112–13). considering such matters, it is necessary to reinterpret various principal values in islam so that this religion is understood textually and for the benefit of certain groups. here, it is necessary to have ijtihad carried out continuously according to the changing conditions of the times. ijtihad must not stop being practiced so that islam becomes a religion that is genuinely following the context of its era. most muslims agree with the need for ijtihad, but there are problems when many conditions are treated to carry out ijtihad work. especially if you reach the degree of ijtihad as an absolute mujtahid, almost nowadays no scholar understands various fields of science according to their context. however, the principle that must be adhered to is that ijtihad is highly recommended in islam. with ijtihad, women can be avoided from the marginalization of sharia(mulia 2008, 114). fitzgerald, specifically gives attention to religious studies that discuss women’s issues related to family problems. as a social institution, the family needs to be rethought because there are very drastic changes when it comes to stating that a family must consist of a father-mother and children. families also face challenges when partners experience demographic distancing, namely a distance between countries, between islands, between provinces, or between regions. is the family living in one “common house,” or is the family a moral-ethical bond between those who love each other, care for each other, or communicate is also a family building? this is where family issues get a serious challenge because of the drastic changes(fitzgerald 2003). problems of daily life in communities such as in aceh are closely related to morality and ethics issues. as part of indonesia’s muslim community and the world, those who have references to al-quran and the sunnah of the islamic community (muslim community) are measured by moral standards referred to in the holy book as a necessity. family arrangements, children, and inheritance are always referred to in the scriptures’ teachings that have [ 101 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 been believed. therefore, women who get half the share of men in terms of inheritance, women who are sometimes used as second wives, and women who take care of children, not working outside the home, are all referred to in the scriptures’ moral standards, which are understood textually. muslim communities (muslim communities) taking care of the family are different from other religious groups such as christianity or catholicism. al-qur’an is the entire norm referred to by muslims with various versions of their understanding. in such conditions, the moral-ethical standards of taking care of the family undergo sociological changes(leaman 2013, 110). al-qur’an is used as spirituality in taking care of family, children, education, human relations, and political matters. there is a textual understanding that women are not allowed to become part of political parties. if you have a political party, you must have the permission of her husband. suppose the husband does not allow his wife to be involved in political parties or practical politics. in that case, women automatically have to give up their intention to get involved in practical politics. al-qur’an as a whole becomes a reference to become a strength in family and society. this is the political power of the qur’an, which is the knowledge of most muslims(leaman 2013, 11). in such a context, acehnese women receive slightly different treatment from men. men are leaders for all conditions and all walks of life. meanwhile, women cannot be leaders for men, even though there have been many female leaders, including female kings and female pre-independence fighters such as malahayati, cut nyak dien, even though in aceh’s history and cut meutia. in the latest development, women’s position after the implementation of islamic sharia has become a kind of complement to men who are considered fighters and leaders of all levels of society. many acehnese women have always been active in the public sphere and have no religious problems. however, during the development of the gam era and post-reformation, women’s positions experienced a decline in roles that were degraded by the political interests of the power elite (dijk 2013). sharia is textually understood as the path to god for a muslim. in its current expanded meaning, sharia is a guide to social, moral, religious life and a direction for life as a whole. sharia is considered a holy guide taken from the qur’an and sunnah, the traditions of the prophet muhammad, the agreement of the scholars and qiyas, which is an analogy which is a way of deducing the opinions of experts on a problem. sharia is not a set of legal values that can be interpreted more broadly and flexibly so that humanity can carry out creativity due to the times’ changing contexts. sharia should be interpreted broadly so that muslims are not confined to it(drexler 2009, 163–64). [ 102 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 in the al-qur’an, amina wadud said, if it is understood comprehensively, not half-heartedly, and with male bias, it will be found how much islam respects women. islam significantly contributes to uplifting the dignity of women. many verses in the koran deal with revering women. women are not placed as “second humans” because of menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth. alqur’an significantly contributed to transforming religious values into human values based on tauhid as understood by progressive scholars such as hasan hanafi, rifat hassan, fatimah mernisi asghar ali engineer. al-qur’an pays close attention to the reformation of a conservative understanding(wadud 2007, 188). the two streams of understanding of the text of the qur’an have an impact on the existence of two understandings that continue to develop until now among the muslim community. between the two often can not meet to understand a single verse that is the basis of the law establishes a legal issue. conservative groups understand it as a general and universal proposition, while progressive groups understand the proposition to be often particular and casuistic. therefore, the law’s inference needs to be done so that the established law benefits humanity and muslims in particular. as hussein muhammad said, this is quoting imam as-syatibi that the particular text limits the existence of the general text. therefore, it cannot be a universal text, used as a legal guide as long as there is still a specific text used as a legal basis(muhammad 2016, 125). domestication of women means that women do not have income that can support their families. the impact of this is that many women are financially and economically dependent on their husbands. it becomes a severe problem when the husband does not have sufficient income or income for his family. what is often done by wives is borrowing from neighbors who have excess funding or finances; as ana said, her husband is not economically sufficient for the family but forbids his wife to work outside the home. it is said that the wife must work in the house, namely taking care of the children, cleaning the house, and following the husband’s orders(nurmila 2009, 133–34). motherhood is main, not work (state ibuism) being a mother is almost synonymous with taking care of a child, breastfeeding, raising, and looking after it. the mother is not someone who works outside the home but works inside the house (domestic domain). this kind of picture is what develops in society in general, as in aceh. there are moral standards applied in the context of the family based on religious, cultural, and social reasons or values applied to families in southeast asia, including in indonesia. [ 103 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 these values are part of reducing a woman’s relationship with outsiders, especially in matters of public affairs, such as for work. (platt, davies, dan bennett 2018). one of the most basic forms of the ideology of ibuism built by a political regime power is accepting the condition if a wife or mother is polygamous by her husband. a good wife’s position is if she is willing to accept it happily because that is what is considered a mother who is willing to understand her husband’s condition. this has developed especially among conservative ulama and wahabism-salafism developed in indonesia and the middle east(chin 2018). in many cases, in indonesia, including in various novels that scholars have written, supiyah was written by nia dinata, yb mangunwijaya’s burungmanyar kuntowijoyo’s kutbah di atas bukit are novels that describe the roles of women in the arena. the public, however, is considered less following indonesian tradition. in our tradition (indonesia), many people state that the woman is the mother of children. the woman is the backbone of child care and safeguards the family assets that her husbands have sought. there is strong criticism of such a perspective, but it remains a hindrance in everyday reality. the woman is still a wife, not an activist in the public field(chin 2018, 13). nia dinata, then wrote a manuscript for a post-1998 feature film, dia, aku, supiyah, and share of husband, giving an illustration of how indonesian women, in the post-reform era, had to be willing if their love for their husbands had to be given up because her husband married another woman of his choice. this theme is controversial because it contains very sharp criticism of social reality. after all, many men take more wives, but their economic situation does not meet the requirements of an economically capable family, so they have to go into debt. husbands who practice polygamy are more likely to be encouraged because of their sexual desire, not for anything else, even though they sometimes look for religious reasons as justification. (chin 2018, 55). living in polygamy for some men is again happiness because that is the idea of domesticating women. meanwhile, even polygamous women are not happy to show happiness in public. in short, women must have the ability to have two faces: in front of their husbands and in front of the public as a happy partner, even though they have mentally rebelled. because of this, many traditional, patriarchal and conservative societies say that a woman must make her husband happy with all the conditions she faces every day in her household. (chin 2018, 56). such an understanding is called an understanding that islam heavily influences [ 104 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 the middle east. such understanding developed since the middle ages of islam, until recently in indonesia. therefore, it is necessary to get attention and then reinterpret several islamic laws (fiqh), which are used as guidelines for breaking the relationship between husband and wife or the relationship between men and women in indonesia. this is because many things in saudi arabia did not happen in indonesia as a pluralistic country with different islam from saudi arabia. if there is no reinterpretation based on islamic law, it is feared that islamic law itself will conflict with social reality(hefner 2008). many women in countries with large muslim populations, such as kosovo, turkey, tunisia, morocco, algeria, and pakistan, experience political marginalization because political regimes do not provide adequate space for women. many women who want to get involved in politics experience “blockages” or are demoted in the middle of the road because of the general perspective that exists in the country, and these women are not as heads of state or heads of public affairs. in contrast to men, who are considered the head of public affairs and the public world belongs to men(rolland 2015). control over women becomes an ideology of marginalizing women by a political regime. regimes that lack attention to gender justice are based on a framework of sexuality. political or public participation by women, such as in egypt, tunisia, morocco, and indonesia, indirectly criticizes the understanding that women cannot participate in the public sphere. since the reformation took place in indonesia, women’s involvement in politics has been pushed to reach 30%. this implies that many women are involved in practical political activities both in political parties (legislative) and in the executive (rolland 2015, 13). many women involved in socio-religious organizations such as nasyiatul aisyiyah (na), fatayat, and muslimat engage in practical political activities because they think that women themselves must take women’s political roles. this is done because many things related to women are understood and experienced by women, so that women have a lot to take part in it. women can no longer be restrained from participating in practical political activities even though they have been heavily involved in socio-religious organizations (syamsiyatun 2007). the view of na activists, why they are actively involved in political activities, is practical because there is authentically no ban on women not being active in political parties. authentically it is even said that men and women have the same role and position in terms of political transactions (matters related to politics). neither the qur’an nor the hadith of the prophet has any prohibition on women being active in political parties or public activities. if anyone [ 105 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 forbids women from being active in political parties or public activities, it is because they understand the qur’an and hadith following the common interests (syamsiyatun 2007, 4). few groups of scholars or muslims think that if women are active in political parties or public activities, it will damage society. however, this view is a view that has no solid foundation because, in the holy book and the hadith of the prophet, men and women are given the potential to become leaders. the issue of ijtihad in interpreting the text states that men are women leaders need to get the attention of many parties so that gender injustice can be gradually eliminated. from there, there was no longer any discrimination against women in public affairs. the idea of a reinterpretation of the scriptural text, which is considered unfair to women, is carried out by progressive scholars in almost all muslim countries. however, some conservative scholars still maintain a textual understanding of the text’s sound as a part that does not need to get interpretations or take progressive scholars. (syamsiyatun 2007, 8) with such a view, it is necessary to carry out activities that give space to women. apart from the political approach, the cultural approach in islam needs to be given attention because, so far, the cultural approach has not been given attention(noor 2015). in the case of indonesian islam, it is as stated by farish. a. noor, the indonesian muslim middle class’s presence has changed the indonesian muslim community’s social demographics. the approach to religion, which was primarily textual and conservative, has turned into contextual and more progressive, especially among the urban middle class. there is indeed a controversy over the discourse on islam. one party wants islamism in the private domain, but on the other hand, there is a transformative spirit in the public sphere. this is the bright spot for the rise of moderate islam and indonesian cultural islam after the reformation took place in 1998 (noor 2015). the idea of “laying off women” as mothers while men are public humans indirectly explains indonesian islamic reviewers. indonesian islam is currently having a contest (contestation) between textual islam which wants the islamization of the public space by laying off women. as well as the deislamization of public space as a free space for anyone, including women. the struggle for public space in aceh is carried out by reducing women’s public roles and providing the most comprehensive possible space for men. after implementing islamic sharia, it is evident that this kind of condition is taking place in aceh. it has received a severe response from acehnese women activists from both socio-religious organizations and muslim scholars(ansor 2016). politically changing conditions in aceh cannot be separated from islamism’s power, which leads to the desire to formalize islam in the public sphere. [ 106 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 islamism itself is a political force that can distill substantial islam itself. islamism is a political movement, not islam itself (tibi 2012). islamism is a movement that is closer to a political movement than a cultural movement. it is just that post islamism, in fighting for its ideas, often uses cultural methods such as organizing educational activities, community assistance, and other religious activities such as recitation, istighotsah, and tabligh akbar. all of what is done is a movement to make framing in the community that formalization matters are more critical than essential things because the people are more easily directed to things that are formal than substantial. (tibi 2012, 8). control female sexuality, freeing men as amina wadud said, women are menstruating, pregnant, giving birth, and breastfeeding. therefore, women have limitations and are physically weak, so they need to get special treatment, namely being sent home. meanwhile, the man does not experience all of that, so that he has the freedom that women do not have. women become creatures that seem less human. it is known that men and women are only clothed in terms of women getting menstruation, getting pregnant, and giving birth. meanwhile, what men can do, women can do too. the dimensions of sexuality are often equated with gender issues to be understood interchangeably(husein 1994; moghissi 2005). women in southeast asia are more “laid off ” because this is what is considered the most following the traditions and values that have been constructed to society. the applied moral standards have received support from the political regime and religious authorities, thus directing women to always “maintain morals” moral force, namely by not leaving the house much because leaving the house will bring harm to the women themselves. women at home have automatically been seen as contributing to the development of public morality(platt, davies, dan bennett 2018, 3). with such conditions, it is making women’s sexuality truly controlled by society and the state. the freedom for women to choose a partner and marry, get a decent job, support community development, and support the family’s economy is challenged by the community’s moral standards. there is a contradiction between the desire to encourage women to take part in the economic arena and the moral will that leads to the “moral panics” of society if women are active outside the home as one of the family’s economic pillars strength. this is the contradiction of sexuality perpetuated to this day in patriarchal societies(platt, davies, dan bennett 2018, 11). women are under strict moral control because they are in a position to be [ 107 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 monitored by social mechanics laws (a social mechanism), maintaining the completeness of the rituals applied and social transformation due to the demands of change. if women are active in public activities, then the family experiences morality-ethical problems, women will be considered the cause. however, if the family economy experiences problems due to the husband (spouse) being unable to meet their needs, it is also considered the cause of the household’s breakdown. this causes the conflict between the operational needs of the public and domestic indonesian women to continue to be a problem. between public morals and the growth of gender justice are two things that are mutually confronted and strongly differentiated(brenner 2011). in fact, from the new order government to the reform order until now, many women activists were very active in social activities, active in nongovernmental organizations (ngo’s), and socio-religious institutions. since 2004, many women have been involved in political parties because they meet the 30% quota for women. they continue to move people from villages to villages and within the migrant community. however, social control as part of control over women continues even though it is clandestine, reducing women’s activity hours by telling women to reduce their curfew. (brenner 2011, 14). the presence of women in the public sphere should be seen as part of what is said to be the democratization of the private space so that women are given the freedom to express their will either in the public space or in the private space. if many women want to get involved in politics, it is practically not deterred. women are involved in making a living, become construction workers. manual laborers still get their rights. even if there are women who will not be involved in the public sphere, but in the domestic sphere, everything must be seen as part of a democratic choice between men and women. such objective conditions for women are essential to obtain. because so far, women who will be active in the public arena must get approval (permission) from their husbands. even though she is excellent, independent, intelligent, thoughtful, and so on, that woman is considered her nature to be a companion to her husband. the woman is not a leader. the women in the household are the wives and the caretakers of the household. meanwhile, the man as her husband is the leader. the existence of men and women who are different in domestic roles and public roles is considered natural, even sunatullah. such is the view of some of the muslim community’s views on women so that gender justice for women is still a struggle that has not become an actual reality in the muslim community (blackwood 2007). the issue of control over women’s sexuality continues to be perpetuated as [ 108 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 a government regime’s political policy. in indonesia since the soeharto era, the ideology of ibuism has become very popular. what is called good and great women are women who are only successful in managing the household, including children and husbands, safeguarding family assets, not those who are active in public activities? this is an ideology that has continued to develop until recently, so that when you see that women are active in the public world, but their families have a little problem, it is a mother (a woman) who will be the culprit, even though her husband is also active outside the home as well as her children. (blackwood 2007, 4–5). domination over women using an unfair ideology of gender equality, being a woman sexually is in a very marginal position. the growing public opinion reinforces women’s marginalization from the public sphere due to sexuality that women have been married by men because they are good women. she is considered successful and significant by the wider community not because of her prowess as a public official, a reliable breadwinner, a manager, or a political party leader. women are married in a tradition that develops because they can appear as pious, simple, obedient women and are considered to maintain the integrity of their families (blackwood 2007, 15). from there, it is clear that the position of men is more dominant than women in sexuality. men have much broader freedom than women, even though there are many “great” women in society. women’s lack of freedom can even be seen in marriage, which must be obedient to the family, especially men. the choice of whose spouse in many societies is still the authority of the male family. women are directed according to the choice of the male family. even if women can choose their partner, if later there are family problems, then women will be accused of being the cause because they do not obey the family-controlled by men, either husband or male siblings. in the scriptural text, men and women have an equal position. women can be leaders over men. on the other hand, men can become female leaders with various criteria such as having a leadership spirit, being fair, honest, responsible, and role models. this is referred to in islamic activists and contemporary muslim scholars such as ali bin abdul razik, hasan hanafi, nurcholish madjid, abdurrahman wahid, and mohammed arkoun. however, in practice, women’s position in public leadership is still questionable for reasons that are theological and ideological in nature, such as fears of moral damage and national decline, which are said to be due to (elius 2010). we can see how many women are active in the public arena. in the islamic world we can see aisyah, zainab, umm salamah, umm kulsum, khadijah very active in the public world. they become narrators of hadith, become [ 109 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 military fighters, become businessmen, all of which are in the public sphere. meanwhile, in indonesia, it can also be said that women who were active in military warfare, such as tjut nyak dien, cut meutiah, ra. kartini and rahmawati, the wife of soekarno, are active in the political-public stage, which do not get a hitch. meanwhile, lately, there have been obstacles for women to be active in the public world because men have far more rights than women to be active in the public sphere. women are domestic spaces(elius 2010, 5). men get freedom sexually. meanwhile, women are held hostage because of their sexuality. many women’s organizations with religious affiliations such as aisyiyah, muslimat, nasyiatul aisyiyah, fatayat, perempuan sarikat islam (islamic women) cannot change the overall image that the issue of sexuality does not necessarily mean that women must be controlled. women do not have to be laid off while men are free to carry out social and public activities. women’s leadership can also be seen in several prosperous areas, such as in kebumen, karanganyar, klaten, banten, tangerang, and bone, led by the governor and the mayor / regent of women. however, women still cannot be considered free in public politics in contrast to men. it can also be seen the success of active women in public spaces, such as volleyball, basketball, badminton, marathon running, swimming, and beautiful jumping. the women managed to become champions and bring fragrance to this nation and country. however, it is said that women’s success in the world of sports is not considered to be their principal obligation. the principal obligation of women remains in the household. the success of women in sports is considered “the sacrifice of men for women.” meanwhile, if men succeed in achieving achievements, it will be considered as something they should be. this is a gender-biased ideology that is perpetuated by societal culture and politics(hoodfar 2015). the presence of women in various sports contested does not necessarily mean that the position of women is elevated in rank. especially in conservatives’ view, that sport is a colonial activity. it does not reflect part of islamic culture except swimming, archery, and horse riding, which the prophet said was taught for muslims’ health. even though women are getting the attention of conservative clerics, such a thing is not following islamic principles. women are involved there, but because the various sports that are contested are considered not following islamic law or islamic traditions. this is a challenge among indonesian muslims and southeast asian muslims (hoodfar 2015, 55–56). [ 110 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 conclusion all of the explanations presented above show serious challenges related to gender equality in a democratic political regime. the relationship between gender justice, which positions women as equal to men in terms of work, both public and domestic, and family management is the aspiration of women activists in aceh and women in indonesia in general. this is a concern because for a long time, since the new order took place until now, the gender justice that women activists expect has not been going well. there are theological, cultural, and political difficulties when women are positioned equally with men, even though religious arguments give women a noble place. from the explanation that has been stated, the position of women is in a discriminatory space. because the interpretation of islamic sharia does not provide expansive space for women. many interpretations of religious holy texts related to islamic law shut down women from being active in the public sphere. various regulations such as the forced wearing of the hijab, the obligation to wear islamist clothes, the prohibition of wearing trousers, the prohibition of riding motorbikes, the prohibition of leaving the house with men who are not mahram and working in the public domain are models of control over women carried out by the sharia police. however, what is interesting is that women still do whatever is prohibited by wilayatul hisbah. everything that women do can be a form of “women’s resistance” against islamic sharia in aceh. with the condition of women in the public sphere being discriminated against due to the existence of the implementation of sharia politics, which received support from the political regime as well as religious leaders, religious leaders, and conservative religious groups, finally, aceh women’s movement activists then fought over public space as a resistance to the policies of the political regime. the involvement of women in public activities is a common thing. even when many women are active in the public sphere, become breadwinners in offices, become teachers, lecturers, work in factories and become politicians, this is the most crucial challenge in looking back at the division of roles between men’s roles and women. men are no longer dominant in taking public roles. meanwhile, women are only placed in domestic roles. it is necessary to involve men in domestic roles because women have been involved in domestic and public roles. women’s role in the end row between domestic roles and public roles is very burdensome for women. it is time to deconstruct the differentiation of roles between men and women. today, women are asked to take domestic roles, even though the family economy is messy, lacking and wallowing in debt to sustain the family. it is [ 111 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 time for men to be brave enough to allow women 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suzanne. 2011. “private moralities in the public sphere: democratization, islam, and gender in indonesia.” american anthropologist 113(3): 478–90. cherif, feryal m. 2010. “culture, rights, and norms: women’s rights reform in muslim countries.” the journal of politics 72(4): 1144–60. chin, grace v s. 2018. “state ibuism and one happy family: polygamy and the ‘good’ woman in contemporary indonesian narratives.” in the southeast asian woman writes back, springer, 89–106. davies, sharyn graham. 2010. gender diversity in indonesia: sexuality, islam dan queer selves. london: routledge. delamont, sara. 2003. feminist sociology. new dehli: sage publikation. dijk, kees van, ed. 2013. regime change, democracy and islam: the case of indonesia. belanda: universiteit leiden. drexler, elizabeth f. 2009. aceh, indonesia: securing the insecure state. university of pennsylvania press. elius, mohammad. 2010. “islamic view of women leadership as head of the state: a critical analysis.” arts faculty 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[ 112 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 fitzgerald, timothy. 2003. the ideology of religious studies. london: oxford university press. gunawan, wawan, dan hamim ilyas. 2018. interview on 14 februari 2018. yogyakarta. hadiz, vedi r. 2016. islamic populism in indonesia and the middle east. cambrigde university press. hamdi, saipul. 2019. “de-kulturalisasi islam, khilafah islamiyah, dan konflik sosial dalam dakwah wahhabi di indonesia.” kawistara 9(2): 164–78. hefner, robert w. 2008. “islamic law in contemporary indonesia: ideas and institutions.” journal of law and religion 24(1): 287–92. hoodfar, homa. 2015. women’s sport as politics in muslim contexts. london: women living under muslim laws london. husein, amina wadud. 1994. wanita dalam al-qur’an. bandung: pustaka bandung. icg. 2006. islamic law and criminal justice in aceh. ichwan, moch nur. 2013. “alternatives to shariatism: progressive muslim intellectuals, feminists, queers and sufis in contemporary aceh.” regime change, democracy and islam: the case of indonesia: 137–79. jones, sidney. 2015. “political power strugles in aceh.” ipac report no.16. kloos, david. 2013. “strengthening local leadership , sharia, custom, and the dynamics of vigilante violante in aceh.” in regime change, democracy and islam: the case of indonesia, ed. kees van dijk. leiden: universiteit leiden, 202–35. leaman, oliver. 2013. controversies in contemporaray islam. london: routledge. mesquita, bueno de, dan downs. 2005. “development and democracy.” foreign affair 84(5): 77–86. moghadam, valentine m. 2003. “engendering citizenship, feminizing civil society: the case of the middle east and north africa.” women & politics 25(1–2): 63–87. moghissi, haideh. 2005. feminisme dan fundamentalisme islam, penerjemah maufur. hlm. 29. icip dan lkis, yogyakarta. yogyakarta: lkis. muhammad, husein. 2016. perempuan islam & negara: pergulatan identitas dan entitas. jakarta: qalam nusantara. mulia, musda. 2008. menuju kemandirian politik perempuan: upaya mengakh[ 113 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 iri depolitisasi perempuan di indonesia. kibar press. noor, farish a. 2015. “popular religiosity in indonesia today: the next step after ‘islam kultural’?” al-jami’ah: journal of islamic studies 53(2): 283–302. nurmila, nina. 2009. women, islam and everyday life: renegotiating polygamy in indonesia. london: routledge. offenhauer, priscilla, dan alice r buchalter. 2005. “women in islamic societies: a selected review of social scientific literature.” in federal research division, library of congress washington, dc. perempuan, komnas. 2010. atas nama otonomi daerah: pelembagaan diskriminasi dalam tatanan negara-bangsa indonesia. jakarta: komnas perempuan. platt, maria, sharyn graham davies, dan linda rae bennett. 2018. “contestations of gender, sexuality and morality in contemporary indonesia.” asian studies review 42:1, 1–15(1): 1–15. rolland, abby m. 2015. muslim women political leaders and electoral participation in muslim-majority countries. spring. shaughness, kate o. 2009. gender, state and social power in contemporary indonesia: divorce and maririage law. london: routledge. sirry, mun’im. 2010. “the public expression of traditional islam: the pesantren and civil society in post‐suharto indonesia.” the muslim world 100(1): 60–77. spiegel, anna. 2010. contested public spheres: female activism and identity politics in malaysia. springer science & business media. syamsiyatun, siti. 2007. “muslim women’s politics in advancing their gender interests: a case-study of nasyiatul aisyiyah in indonesia new order era.” al-jami’ah: journal of islamic studies 45(1): 57–89. tibi, bassam. 2012. islam dan islamisme. ed. alfatrhri adlin. bandung: mizan. wadud, amina. 2007. “insight the gender jihad: women’s reform in islam.”: 188. [ 114 ] al albab: volume 10 number 1 june 2021 doi: 10.24260/alalbab.v10i1.1970 [ 79 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 indonesian baha’i community’s perspective on gender equality samsul hidayat iain pontianak email: samsulhidayat@iainptk.ac.id abstract the conception of gender for indonesian context is understood socially, politically, culturally and even religiously biased. gender equality, which is always regarded as respect for women, is actually a detrimental action for women themselves. this work seeks to explain the concept of gender equality in indonesian context from the perspective of the baha’i faith and find out the views of its followers about the role of women in gender equality. this is also to describe the principles of the teachings of the baha’i faith in promoting the awareness of women’s equal role in indonesia. the article is based on research that falls under the descriptive qualitative research cluster using a gender study approach. the data were collected using observation, in-depth interviews and sources from previous studies. the work suggests that the followers of the baha’i faith view the differences between men and women only from biological factors that exist in both sexualities. those differences are merely due to the cultures of the people so that the understanding about gender equality becomes a biased concept. this is because the people in indonesia observe to a patriarchal ideology which considers men to be superior and versatile while women are weak and marginalized in terms of social situation. the baha’i community believe that god create humans from the same source, namely dust, so that no humans would exalt over the others. humans are the same and equal between men and women. keywords: baha’i community; gender equality; indonesia introduction gender is a very sensitive topic of discussion in a country that holds patriarchal values (male domination). discussion of gender from the past to the present has become a central topic of discussion in placing the role of women in everyday life, both from religious and social relations. the concept of gender in indonesia is still overlapping, especially with regard to women’s role in public, so that women are hampered in playing their role for change in society.1 the 1 sarah apriliandra and hetty krisnani, “perilaku diskriminatif pada perempuan akibat kuatnya budaya patriarki di indonesia ditinjau dari perspektif konflik,” jurnal kolaborasi resolusi konflik 3, no. 1 (2021): 1–13. [ 80 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 discourse of seeking claims has raised its own problem, seeing that there is still a gender bias that places men as superior in society.2 differences in the context of the distribution of the roles of men and women in society are generally discussed in several theories. first, the nature theory distinguishes men and women in a biological context, making a difference in the position of women in the social perspective (relationship). second, the nurture theory that holds that social differences are distinguished by the culture of the local community3. the two theories above are a reference in the bias in understanding gender among indonesians particularly regarding in giving roles to women. the role of women in indonesia has yet to achieve equality between men and women.4 women have not been able to awaken due to restrictions on their environment which diminated by patriarchy.5 this concept has marginalized women in gender roles, especially in the public sphere. this issue can be viewed broadly from two sides; first from the external side where there is a contradiction in understanding of patriarchy; second, from the internal side where women who limit themselves in playing a role in the public realm.6 external factors will set boundaries for women so that it is difficult for them to actualize their role in public. the role of women is quite strategic in social relations because they provide a balance in the role that men are unable to play, such as taking care of children and being a nurturing educator in general, even though men can take care of children and protect them, they will not be as good as women. the patriarchal concept only views men as hard workers while women are not, or in other words, women are weak and men are strong (superior) even in public, women have a limited role.7 therefoe, there is a significant gap in society and there is a sense of inequality. efforts or studies to promote equality between men and women in indonesia have been carried out since 1970.8 however, to date, little has been achieved. the issues of gender equality not only concern the social, economic, political 2 sumadi, “ideologi bias gender dalam lembaran fikih populer di indonesia,” al afkar,journal for islamic studies 1, no. 1 (2018): 1–15. 3 mutmainnah, “kesenjangan gender ditinjau dari persepektif islam.,” gender equality: internasional journal of child and gender studies. vol 5, no. 2 (2019). 4 ingesti lady rara prastiwi and dida rahmadanik, “polemik dalam karir perempuan indonesia,” jurnal komunikasi dan kajian media vol 4, no. 1 (2020). 5 fransisca jallie pattiruhu, “critical legal feminism pada kedudukan perempuan dalam hak waris pada sistem patriarki.,” culture & society: journal of anthropological research. vol 2, no. 1 (2020) 6 farida hanum, kajian dan dinamika gender, (malang: intrans publishing wisma kamitro., 2018). 7 ibid. p. 212 8 mutmainnah, “kesenjangan gender ditinjau dari persepektif islam.” [ 81 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 or legal matters but have also extended to the religious matters. the baha’i faith has a concept of equality. even the concept of gender equality in the teachings of the baha’i faith upholds women. the baha’i prophet said, “don’t you know why we have made you all from the same dust? so that one does not elevate himself above the other”9 therefore, baha’i adherents obey him and uphold equality between men and women. however, in indonesia women still face discrimination and their role is second to men.10 even though this country is known for its rule of law, the fact is that discrimination still occurs against women. however, the majority of religions in indonesia uphold the dignity of women, especially those in islam. similar research was conducted by hikmatir pasya and muhammad haekal hakim (2016) entitled gender compatibility (a critical study of gender equality).11 furthermore, another study was conducted by erna ermawati chotim (2020) entitled gender equality and empowerment of women in indonesia: desire and inevitability of a pragmatic approach (study of cirebon smes home made products).12 from the two studies above, several points can be drawn, such as: a) inequality in the concept of gender, be it related to economic, social or religious matters; b) understanding of gender is still too general; 3) the indonesian government’s dilemma to make a decision on gender equality. these facts serve as the basis for gender research in indonesia from the perpective of the baha’i teachings. most research on gender equality has been carried out to date and it has not well-received by indonesian women. some people still view women from a biological perspective (gender), and there are those who view them from the socio-cultural side of society that has patriarchal views, so that women do not get freedom in social relations or in relations between communities, even in the public eye.13 even though in the field there are some women who have the same role, even more than men. however, people’s mindset has not changed from time to time. the importance of gender studies is from various cultures, customs and even religions. however, the current researcher looks at gender equality from the perspective of the baha’i faith, which sees women from the 9 “kalimat tersembunyi, sabdah baha’ullah” (n.d.). 10 louisa yesami krisnatalia, “perempuan, ham dan permasalahannya di indonesia.,” binamulia hukum vol 7, no. 1 (2018): pp. 71-80. 11 and hakim muhammad haekal pasya, hikmatiar, “konformitas gender (studi kritik atas konsep kesetaraan gender),” jurnal studia quranika 1, no. 1 (2016): 1–28. 12 erna ermawati chotim, “kesetaraan gender dan pemberdayaan perempuan di indonesia: keinginan dan keniscayaan pendekatan pragmatis (studi terhadap ukm cirebon home made),” akselerasi: jurnal ilmiah nasional 2, no. 1 (2020): 70–82. 13 ratna dewi, “kedudukan perempuan dalam islam dan problem ketidakadilan gender.,” noura: jurnal kajian gender dan anak. vol 4, no. 1 (2020). [ 82 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 perspective of its teachings. the explanation makes this article important in the study of gender in indonesia, from the perspective of baha’i teachings. this work is inspired by the raise of some questions on the concept of gender from the perspective of the baha’i teachings, as well as the views of the baha’i adherents in seeing gender in indonesia today, and the changing trends of the times. this is what this research seeks to explain so as to present positive values that can be taken for future changes. every religion has a perspective on gender equality, but this article seeks to examine gender from the perspective of the baha’i faith which is relatively new after islam. gender issue in idonesia gender issue have been discussed with many topics such as discrimination against women, patriarchy, violations of human rights against women and subordinated role of women in indonesia. ade irma sakinah and dessy hasanah siti a. (2017) discuss a strong patriarchal culture in indonesia,14 showing that men have better position compared to women so they are discriminated in this country. this article shows that patriarchal culture is a barrier for women to play a role in society, so that its concept and practice have become gender bias which causes injustice to women. the gender bias that occurs in indonesian society is a frightening phenomenon that has inspired women to voice emancipation. from this, women are increasingly losing their freedom. mutmainnah (2019) talks on gender disparity from an islamic perspective15 and indicates that the concept of gender in islam is still an organic issue because the interpretation of the qur’an is not comprehensive so that the existing classical understanding in society is still quite common, resulting in discrimination and exclusion of women still occurring among religious communities who should be able to apply religious recommendations and understandings contained in the qur’an. a lot of people view gender as issues that are merely concerned with discussing sex (gender) given the position of women especially for men who believe in the patriarchal system. islam has clear definition on the role of women, but in practice, it is still a taboo and a lot of men claim that women are only weak creatures that are dependent on men. however, women are capable of doing what men can do, so this point of view has refuted by the role women play. another study which is in line with the research above was conducted by 14 ade irma sakinah dan dessy hasanah siti a, “menyoroti budaya partiarki di indonesia.,” jurnlal social work, vol 7, no. 1 (2017): p. 71-80. 15 mutmainnah, “kesenjangan gender ditinjau dari persepektif islam.” p. 1-7 [ 83 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 louisa yesami krisnalita (2018) which discusses women, human rights and their problems in indonesia.16 the discussion in this article explains about women’s discrimination because indonesia currently still adheres to the patriarchal ideology which places women second to men, so that it extends to human rights which is still an issue in indonesia, which makes women’s rights clash with the laws and culture of the local community. in addition, because of the discrimination that exists among women, many women do not get their roles in citizenship positions. subsequent research was conducted by wery gusmansyah (2019) entitled dynamics of gender equality in political life in indonesia.17 from this research several points were drawn which became the discussion topics, namely: a) women being marginalized in public; b) women being ostracized in the political sphere; c) women being disfavored by the concept of gender itself. a study discussing gender in the workplace was conducted by maulida nurul innayah and bima cinintya pratama (2019) entitled challenges and opportunities for women in the work environment.18 this research shows: a) restrictions on women from advancing to higher positions in the work environment; b) perceived implicit quotas for women in employment positions. studies on the role of women have been done including the one by aisyatin kamila (2020) entitled “women’s role as the backbone of the family in increasing children’s learning motivation amid the covid 19 pandemic”19. the points of her work include that; a) women play a role in giving understanding to the nation’s children; b) women play a role in giving affection and understanding to children. similar research was conducted by zainuddin abdullah (2021) entitled “the role of women in the world of education from the hamka perspective”.20 the points of this research are; a) women have the basis as being effective to become a leader b) women with the role they play have the right to get what they deserve in the public sphere. a study on the baha’i community conducted by (2018) entitled conflict resolution between the baha’i community and muslims: a case study in pati, central java.21 this 16 louisa yesami krisnatalia, “perempuan, ham dan permasalahannya di indonesia.” pp. 71-80 17 wery gusmansyah, “dinamika kesetaraan gender dalam kehidupan politik di indonesia,” hawa 1, no. 1 (2019): 1–18. 18 maulida nurul innayah and bima cinintya pratama, “tantangan dan kesempatan wanita dalam lingkungan kerja,” jurnal manajemen 13, no. 2 (2019): 1–8. 19 aisyatin kamila, “peran perempuan sebagai garda terdepan dalam keluarga dalam meningkatkan motivasi belajar anak ditengah pandemi covid 19,” jurnal konseling pendidikan islam 1, no. 2 (2020): 75–83. 20 zainuddin abdullah, “peran perempuan dalam dunia pendidikan perspektif hamka,” al amin: jurnal kajian ilmu dan budaya islam 4, no. 01 (2021): 115–135, http:// stitalamin.ac.id/jurnal/index.php/alamin/article/view/87. 21 moh rosyid, “resolusi konflik umat baha’i dengan muslim: studi kasus di pati, [ 84 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 study recorded that the baha’i adherents in socializing with muslims; a) the baha’is distribute books on the baha’i; b) they administer education regardless of religious background and gender; c) self-introduction or self-existence. this work employs the theories of nature (biological) and nurture (cultural society). the theory of nature was first brought up by carol gilligan22 and alice rossi who was the first to put it forward in the field of gender.23 this theory has experienced a very significant growth because it develops not directly discussing gender, but discussing religiosity. however, after undergoing more complex changes, at first this theory was associated with classical scientists. sometimes this theory is also associated with rousseau, kant, and hegel, but charles darwin24 is considered to be the founder of this theory scientifically and it is supported by gregor mendel’s theory of heredity.25 in the end, this theory was diverted by feminism discourse towards biological essentialism after the 1980s which was marked by the re-acceptance of the concept of differences in gender roles. coupled with the concept of ecofeminism,26 this argument is able to bring the concept of nature to become more dominant. the initiators of this theory aimed to create social harmony, fair equality in diversity.27 furthermore, the nurture theory views women from social relations, both in the local community and in the wider community. nurture theory was developed by several figures, such as margaret mead, virginia woolf, simone de beauvoir,28 sigmund freud,29 hilary m. lips, ann oakley,30 nancy chodorow, judith butler.31 in this concept, scientists disagree by looking at differences male and female from a biological perspective or in terms of gender, when jawa tengah,” jurnal multi kultural dan multireligius 17, no. 02 (2018). 22 carol gilligan, in a different voice: psychological theory and women’s development (cambridge, massachusetts, & london: harvard university press, cet. 38), 2003. 23 ibid. p. 98 24 gregory a. kimble, “evolution of the nature-nurture issue in the history of psychology” dalam robert plomin and gerald e. mcclearn (ed.), nature, nurture, & psychology (washington dc: american psychological association), 1993. p. 5 25 ibid 26 ibid pp. 181-183 27 ibid p. 225 28 “beauvoir, simone de dalam catherine villanueva gardner, historical dictionary of feminist philosophy, (maryland: scarecrow press, 2006), 28-31.,” (n.d.). 29 worell, judith, encyclopedia of women and gender: sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender. california: academic press., 2002. 30 ann oakley dan bukunya sex, gender and society (1972) dianggap sebagai peletak konsep nurture dalam diskursus gender. lihat “gender” dalam jane pilcher and imelda whelehan, fifty key concepts in gender studies, (london, california, & new delhi: sage publi, 2004. 31 moh khusa’i, “problem denifisi gender: kajian atas konsep nature dan nurture.,” kalimah: jurnal studi agama dan pemikiran islam. vol 11, no. 1 (2013). [ 85 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 looking at the perspective of gender it will lead to sex, and this is what makes these scientists disagree as they tend to look at it from the social perspective (community culture). these two things will be the analytical tools in writing this article in the context of indonesia, so that this research will look at it from a biological point of view or from a cultural or social side which becomes the society’s concept on women as being secondary from the perspective of the baha’i faith. this study falls under the descriptive qualitative research cluster.32 qualitative research means there is an effort to transfer and understand the meaning of what is happening in various individuals or groups. the research process involves questions and procedures that must be carried out by presenting field data directly obtained from the followers of the baha’i faith regarding their perspective on gender in indonesia, as well as data obtained from their teachings or from their holy books. this study used a gender approach.33 the data were collected using interviews with the followers of the baha’i faith, an assessment of baha’i teachings in the context of gender. in addition, the data were analyzed using data condensation,34 that is, all documents obtained in accordance with the theme of the discussion, and in the process were written into a form of work, then simplified by description and abstraction. data display,35 which is display of data that have been formatted in a written form and then processed into a systematic narrative according to the themes that have been grouped. then, temporary conclusions36 were drawn. gender concept in indonesian baha’i gender is a point of view towards men and women, be it from a biological point of view (sex) or from the role of women between the two, as well as from their innate characteristics (masculinity and feminism) that exist in men and women.37 that exist in society. however, this does not rule out the possibility 32 a muri yusuf, metiode penelitian kualitatif, kuantitatif dan penelitian gabungan, edisi pertama, jakarta, (jakarta: kencana., 2019). p. 328 33 asriana harahap dan hilda wahyuni, “studi islam dalam pendekatan gender.,” jurnal gender dan kajian anak. vol 5, no. 1 (2021): p. 45. in research this gender approach is a research analysis that discusses women either from their discrimination or from their high regard. 34 miles. m. b., huberman, a, m., & saldana, qualitatif data analysis; metheds sourcebook (third edit). (sage publications, ins., 2014). p. 8 35 ibid p. 8 36 ibid p. 9 37 gusri wandi, “rekonstruksi maskulinitas: menguak peran lakilaki dalam perjuangan kesetaraan gender,” kafa’ah : jurnal ilmiah kajian gender vol v, no. 2 (2015). [ 86 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 that these differences lead to discrimination against women.38 there are many forms of discrimination against women that cause them to fight back (emancipation of women) for their rights and roles in society.39 in addition, religion also plays a role in solving problems of gender but religious people seem to be silent about matters regulated in religion. in fact, religion is at the forefront of discriminating against the role of women. however, this is different from the view of the baha’i teachings. the baha’i faith originated in persia in the 19th century which was founded by mirza husayn ali nuri who held the title of baha’ullah (glory of god), the baha’i faith adheres to a monotheistic style which emphasizes the unity of mankind. this religion stands alone and is not affiliated to any other religion. the purpose of this religion is to unite all religions and people in the principle of the oneness of god and a form of spiritual transformation in human life, and baha’i adherents believe in the truth of religions that have come down before, such as judaism, christianity and islam. so that spiritual life must always be improved including economic and social life in a balanced way.40 the principles of baha’i include believing in the existence of god, and the same god who sent down all religions, proof that god has messengers who sent prophets, and humans themselves.41 several literature sources explain that the historical traces of the birth of the baha’i faith began with the bab movement during the shiite dynasty. the pioneer of the bab movement was the ithna ‘asharia group, which is one of the shiite sects. ithna ‘asharia believes in the twelfth imam after hadrad’ ali who is expected to be the figure of imam mahdi. meanwhile, the ithna ‘asharia subsect itself, known as shaikhiyyah and led by ahmad al ahsa -i (1751-1826) was the pioneer of the bab movement itself. before ahmad al ahsa-i died he had appointed kazim rasyti (1789 1843) as his successor. after kazim rasyti died, ali muhammad, who was his main follower, declared himself the babsavior who was then regarded by his followers as the figure of imam mahdi.42 on the course of its journey, the baha’i faith entered indonesia and now it has followers. in the context of indonesia, the bahai’i religion has views on the 38 suwarno, “diskriminasi gender dalam kebijakan pesantren (study di pesantren al-muhamad cepu),” dar el-ilmi: jurnal studi keagamaan, pendidikan dan humaniora, vol 5, no. 2 (2018). 39 olivia roselina sihotang, “bentuk-bentuk kekerasan verbal terhadap perempuan nelayan di selambai kelurahan loktuan kecamatan bontang utara kota bontang.,” ejournal sosiatri-sosiologi, vol 7, no. 2 (2019). 40 samsul hidayat, “stereotif mahasiswa iain pontianak terhadap agama baha’i,” jurnal studi agama-agama, 7, no. 1 (2017). p. 59 41 “majelis rohani nasional baha’i indonesia, agama baha’i (jakarta: majelis rohani nasional baha’i indonesia)” (2013): 5. 42 niyaz, sufi a.q, “the babi and baha’i faith, islam international publication: united kingdom.” (1960). [ 87 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 local community and even indonesia itself, one of which is a view on gender. the baha’i adherents see indonesia as experiencing a setback, because of rules that are detrimental to the position of women’s roles, which is most visible in the costumes (clothing) that govern indonesian women and differentiate between women and men, because the two are not different. things that men can do; women can also do it. there is no need to discriminate in roles and functions as they are indonesian people and god’s creations. baha’i adherents view differences only in biological (sexual) context other than that there are no more differences. existing rules actually harm women and cause setbacks for the country. the baha’i view is that a country will progress if it upholds the dignity of women and ensure women play their role in society and the state.43 should this be fulfilled, the discrimination against them will no longer exist. at present the role of women is not only to function at home and to take care of the house but must move further forward as part of the society in general. there is no denying that there are things that women can do where men cannot do, so in life they complement each other in their roles.44 the needs of the roles of men and women to get things done are crucial in various perspectives, giving rise to better perspectives as well. in this case, changes are needed. the baha’i adherents view that men and women are like the wings of a bird where the bird cannot fly with only one wing, so it is necessary to complement each other. when the two do not meet at one point then the bird will fall. so are humans. if women are marginalized, the country will be difficult to develop and progress, and it will even experience a setback in civilization. the decline in the role of women in indonesia which is visible in the fields of economics, law, politics and education, even the society sees women as secondary to men. indonesian women have been struggled for their dignity since the colonial times which was pioneered by kartini, especially in the field of education.45 however, the concept and culture that have been practiced for so long are difficult to break. people who discriminate against women in religious communities who practice teachings in their religion, in fact do not always do things in accordance with what is in their religious teachings, and even religion is at the forefront of discriminating against women, for example those who wear clothing that is not in accordance with the religious teachings 43 “interview with adherents of the baha’i faith in view of gender equality in indonesia.” (n.d.). 44 rina, “interview with the views of baha’i faith in indonesia on gender equality,” (n.d.) 45 ulmi marsya, dan johan faladhin, “belenggu patriarki pada peran laki-laki bangsawan jawa dalam film kartini karya hanung bramantyo,” jurnal populika. vol 7, no. 1 (2019): p. 80. [ 88 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 are immediately discriminated. this creates other issues in which as people are demanded to comply with the dress code of a certain religion. they forget about the role of women who are equal to men, and again women have become victims of people with a shallow mindset. women are often disadvantaged in many sectors in society. first, in the economy. in this case, women are favored when applying for jobs as they are considered weak, unproductive and unequal to men.46 women who are discriminated at work become marginalized. second, in politics; very few women are active in politics because of the restrictions imposed on them. women only have been under-represented in politics with only 30%, despite the amendment of law no. 12 of 2003 article 65 paragraph 1 that stipulates to provide space for women in political parties.47 women are still in a disadvantaged position because despite the number of men and women is almost the same, women have fewer opportunities in politics. however, there are still many roles for women that have not been fulfilled and unfortunately they also do not make the most of these opportunities either. third, the laws concerning women also do not favor them. fourth, education that puts males first. although currently there are many women who enjoy education, it is difficult for the community’s mindset to change to move forward and accept the role of women in society. the existing curriculum only answers the needs of the market, not the needs of society, so women are again marginalized.48 the patriarchal concept has placed women’s role as being secondary because the needs of the market puts men first, so that women have little space to move in making changes. baha’i community’s points of view on gender equality gender transformation from time to time is the responsibility of all human beings, not just a handful of humans. followers of the baha’i faith of the opinion that gender equality in indonesia must be addressed, many things are gender biased, as it is always women who get discriminated. violence that occurs against women and the perpetrators are men. for example, violence against women and children is becoming a serious issue at this time, because of the government’s low attention to discrimination against women and it also exacerbated by the attitude of society which gives a negative stigma to women because of the concept held fast by indonesian people.49 in addition, the lack of institutions that deal with the problem shows unawareness of the importance 46 farida hanum, kajian dan dinamika gender. p. 219 47 ibid p. 212 48 ibid p. 199 49 ibid p. 205 [ 89 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 of protecting women. marginalization of women has always haunted the direction of women’s movements. indonesian women must awaken to fight for a better treatment of them and discrimination against them should be stopped. women should have significant roles to play and they should even become pioneers of change. marginalization of women must come to an end. the teachings of the baha’i faith on gender equality have been widely discussed, one of which is in the words of baha’ullah, «don’t you know why we have made you all from the same dust? so that one does not elevate himself above the other”50 it indicates that we should never discriminate against one another, men or women, nor should we marginalize people based on gender. followers of the baha’i faith believe that the differences are merely biological. it is clear that humans are created from the same dust, with the same degree. the visible equality makes the baha’i adherents think about change regarding world peace. baha’ullah denounces matters related to race or differences, and promotes respect of each other.51 these differences will only cause divisions between humans, both men and women. transformation of changes the baha’is assume that equality of men and women is an aspect of human reality and not a condition to be achieved for the common good. what makes humans human, the dignity and glory attached to them, is no different between men and women. the search for meaning, purpose, community, capacity to love, to be created, to endure knows no gender.52 the differences are only human assumptions, basically all human beings are the same. because of the complexity of civilization and development, people feel different and the ability to explore and apply civilization causes this to happen. the baha’is provide the assumption that today’s world must change from childhood to maturity which will unite humans in the framework of peace. the assumptions in society result in a cultural and social norm, so that it is embedded in the mindset of a patriarchal society about women that they are below men. the obvious pattern of gender equality in the baha’i faith that, especially social relations, is education. the baha’i religious view of education is that it is a sector that must be promoted and equality must be obtained in it. people must invest in educational processes that foster the development of human intellectual and spiritual powers, and this model must promote the unity of humanity and 50 “the hidden sentence, delivered by baha’ullah.” (n.d.) 51 umi rojiati, “manajemen komunikasi sosial penganut agama baha’i.,” communicatus: jurnal ilmu komunikasi, vol 3, no. 1 (2019). pp. 10-11 52 “baha’i internasional community, 1 march 2015.” (n.d.). [ 90 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 the equality of men and women.”53 from education humanity can learn what is needed in society, be it change or hope. men and women must get equal education, even women must be prioritized in education, because women will guide their children as agents of change for future changes. the baha’i faith not only promotes social education but also religious education as the foundation of life both in the world and the hereafter. the teachings about religious education must be instilled from an early age, so religious education is as important. “religion offers an understanding of human existence and development that opens up one’s eye from rocky paths to distant horizons, and if true to the transcendent spirit of its founders, religion will serve as one of the more powerful forces for creating new and beneficial patterns for individual and collective life. ”54 it is from education that humanity gets knowledge. education is a necessity for society to achieve equality between men and women because there is no difference between the two, and the rights and obligations are equal. the striking difference between men and women in indonesian society is due to the wrong mindset, because basically all humans come from the same source, namely prophet adam. the concept of baha’i religious teachings regarding gender equality is a significant discussion in a society that adheres to patriarchal views because it is contrary to the concept that has existed since long ago, and that it is contrary to customs that have been in practice for quite a long time in society. violence against women makes the baha’is realize that they should do something across all lines and sectors. this is a challenge in itself and must be fair to the rights and obligations of men and women since the tendency to be fair or unfair, to act with violence or with kindness, to be dishonest or trustworthy, is usually shaped at home. this habit is then carried over into every social interaction. if make siblings are allowed to have control over female siblings,55 it will become a mindset and will be practiced throughout their life as they have learned the concept of patriarchy from an early age and view women as weak, and must be subordinate to men. such mindset should be abolished in social and religious life. in exploring the issue of gender equality and the role of women from a baha’i perspective in indonesia, several standpoints can be explained. first, fundamental equality. men and women have fundamental rights, abilities, and potential equality. this means that women have the same rights to get an education, engage in social and political activities, and participate in community development as men. this point emphasizes the need to address 53 “baha’i internasional community, 21 february 2020” (n.d.). 54 “baha’i internasional community, 24 november 2015” (n.d.). 55 “baha’i internasional community, 3 march 2017” (n.d.). [ 91 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 gender inequality and provide space for women to contribute to society fully. second, elimination of discrimination. the need to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. this includes overcoming social and cultural norms that limit women in carrying out their roles and potential. in the indonesian context, this may mean addressing barriers such as child marriage, gender-based violence, limited access to equal education and employment opportunities, and raising awareness of women’s rights. third, empowerment of women. baha’is emphasize empowering women as the key to achieving societal progress and prosperity. empowering women through inclusive education, skills training, access to resources, and social support can help women reach their full potential. the baha’i perspective also encourages changes in women’s perceptions and roles in the family and community, recognizing the importance of women’s active involvement in decision-making and leadership. thus, in exploring the issue of gender equality and the role of women in indonesia, baha’i puts forward fundamental equality, elimination of discrimination, and women’s empowerment as important principles that can promote social and spiritual progress in society. conclusion the baha’i faith views the difference between men and women merely in human biology. what makes humans different is merely their gender and the characteristics that are attached to both. however, that is not a reason to marginalize women as being weak and secondary to men. both men and women are equal in terms of the rights as human beings or obligations to themselves or to society in general. indonesia is still facing gender bias in responding to the differences between men and women because the country adheres to a patriarchal ideology and must change as they develop from childhood to maturity, so that the existing marginalization of women must come to an end. limited space makes it difficult for women to work in the fields of politics, education, economy and culture. the teachings of the baha’i faith regarding gender equality have become teachings that must be upheld in fighting for gender equality rights and giving women freedom to express themselves in life. this article recommends that the baha’i perspective emphasizes that men and women have essential equality in their rights, abilities, and potential. the implication is that women’s empowerment is considered important to ensure that their basic rights are recognized and met fairly, and that they have equal opportunities to develop themselves and contribute to society. empowering women does not only mean providing equal opportunities, but also changing [ 92 ] al albab: volume 12 number 1 june 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i1.2646 people’s views on the role of women in the family, community and society at large. in the baha’i perspective, women are considered to have the same ability to become leaders, decision makers, and active contributors in all areas of life. bibliography abdullah, z. 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[ 245 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 religion-state relation within the suryalaya qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah tariqa asep salahudin iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya email: asepsalahudin@gmail.com try riduwan santoso iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya email: tryriduwan165@gmail.com norhayati binti hj abd karim fakulti bahasa arab, universiti islam sultan sharif ali email: norhayati.abdkarim@unissa.edu.bn akhmad robittul hilmi iailm suryalaya tasikmalaya email: arhilmi@iailm.ac.id abstract the assumption that a tariqa group opposes worldly attainment and power is incorrect; their engagement in practical politics stems from a moral duty to uphold the state’s unity and integrity. this article delves into the political communication established by a sufi figure, abah anom, aiming to reinforce the teachings of the tariqa and its relevance to religion and the state. employing a descriptive qualitative approach through literature review, this research obtained data from various documents such as lecture texts, announcements, and photographs. the findings reveal two strategies employed by abah anom to reinforce the relations between religion and the state. first, a focus on spiritual growth, emphasizing practice and religious knowledge as guiding principles. second, the maintenance of relations with state leaders, fostering legitimacy as responsible citizens. this study concludes that the relations between religion and the state that constitute part of the teachings of the qodiriyah naqsabandiyah tariqa (tqn)serve as a means to advocate and position itself within muslim communities and government, aligning with both religion and state objectives. furthermore, it suggests that the roles of the kyai extend beyond a broker of culture; the kyai also plays the role of a broker of politics to preserve harmony among religious groups and uphold the state’s unity and integrity. keywords: religion-state relation; suralaya qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah; tariqa [ 246 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 introduction islamic boarding schools based on the tariqa [a school or order of sufism] serve not only as centers for islamic spiritual education but also as hubs for fostering the cultural, economic, social, and political aspects of society (rahman nurul amin & panorama, 2021). these pesantren institutions manifest as political spaces, exemplified by the dynamic relationships between ulemas [religious scholars] and the government. an example of this was witnessed at the islamic boarding school founded by habib luthfi bin yahya in pekalongan, central java, during a significant event from july 27th to 29th, 2016. here, an international ulama conference was convened. organized by jam’iyah ahlith tariqah al-mutabarah an-nahdiyah in collaboration with the indonesian ministry of defense, this gathering involved representatives from 37 countries and centered on the theme, “defending the nation: concept and urgency in islam.” the conference underscored the crucial role of the tariqa ulemas in upholding the security and stability of global religious communities. this illustrates that tariqas should convey not only spiritual teachings but also political messages, positioning themselves as political entities engaging in dialogues with the government. to date, numerous studies have explored the political movements within the tariqa, often emphasizing how kyais engage with the government (abdurahman, 2019). several studies also delve into kyai’s resistance against colonial rule in the pursuit of independence. kyais, recognized as cultural brokers, wield influence over social norms and behavior in daily life (salahudin, 2016). gertz (1989, 2003) categorizes javanese society into three distinct social groups: abangan, priyayi, and santri. the santri’s identity is intricately linked to the kyai, who has great influence over the social order (sairin, 2012). the significant role of the kyai lies in shaping national character through religious and patriotic teachings, instilling the belief that love for one’s country is integral to faith (siraj, 2016). the kyai’s instructional methods not only emphasize spiritual devotion but also conveys a love for the homeland within their teachings (samrudi & abd. hadi faishol, 2022). consequently, the kyai leadership has made significant contributions to indonesia’s mental and moral development, striving towards a fair, prosperous, and harmonious society. the tariqa kyai group, contrary to being synonymous with passive escapism amid changing times (hakim, 2021), tends to adopt an activist stance, actively engaging in social and political movements (thohir, 2014). while the foundational purpose of tariqa institutions is to cultivate societal ethics centered around religious spirituality and esoteric power, these objectives inevitably intersect with the realm of practical politics. on the other hand, [ 247 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 there are also individuals within this group who opt for a more confined approach, making choices within the domain of value politics. (mulyati & nihayah, 2020). sayyed hossen nasr (1979: 132) argues that a sufi is an active participant in a spiritual path and is intellectual in the real meaning in this word. contemplation in sufism, the higest form of activity and in fact sufis have always integrated the active and contemplative lives. hence, the role of sufis is not solely confined to being agents of the spiritual path but extends to being agents of change, particularly in strenngthening social and political movements within the ummah. (rosi, 2020). this article seeks to analyze the sufistic da’wah movement embodied by kh ahmad shohibul wafa tajul arifin, exploring how it synergizes the teachings of the tarekat qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah [hereafter referred to as the tqn] with religious and state affairs. in addition to being the spiritual teacher of the tqn suryalaya, abah anom was also actively involved in practical politics, particularly in presidential elections during the new order era (sadono, 2021). the involvement of kyais in the tariqa, exemplified by abah anom, is not arbitrary; it is rooted in moral encouragement and signifies a commitment to religious principles and civic duties. the harmonious synergy of the tqn teachings with religious and state aspects reflects an earnest endeavor to uphold unity among citizens. consequently, abah anom’s political communication serves as a form of da’wah and political negotiation, contributing to the evolution and propagation of tqn teachings. until now, numerous studies have examined the engagement of tariqa kyais in practical politics during the era of struggle against colonialism. however, this study focuses on the nuances of political communication among tariqa kyais during the eras of independence and the new order regime, specifically delving into the strategies employed by figures like abah anom (ridho et al., 2021). political communication stands as a crucial agenda for negotiating with legitimate authorities, aimed at fostering unity within the ummah and cultivating harmonious relationships between ulemas and the ummah. moreover, it serves as a crucial element of da’wah, positioning tariqa kyai as allies of the government in harmonizing religious practices within both religious and state domains, rather than adopting an anti-worldly attainment stance. consequently, the political communication developed by abah anom represents a means of establishing the tqn’s legitimacy within indonesia’s religious and state affairs. (rohimat, 2021). this qualitative descriptive study aims to analyze the dynamics of abah anom’s political relations, focusing on socio-political aspects. the research delves into abah anom’s narrative and behavior in promoting the tqn by integrating [ 248 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 religious and state teachings. data were obtained from various documents, including photographs, speech texts, lectures, and the tqn teaching guidebooks. the study used a literature-based approach, gathering documents from the suryalaya islamic boarding school to explore its development during the abah anom era and his relations with the new order government. the data analysis employed a critical approach, considering historical, social, and political dimensions and establishing connections between the text and the context of the period under study. religio-social, religio-political the tariqa finds itself within the pendulum of the religio-social and religiopolitical systems. religio-political manifests as a form of social interaction within the political sphere of a specific society or community, characterized by a religious ideology. this interaction embodies key features: (1) integralism; (2) the presence of a religious control mechanism within the community; and (3) the influence of the main actor or murshid (ajid thohir, 2014: 85). the tariqa’s movements exhibit a continual synergy, adapting to evolving social conditions. these movements are intrinsically linked to the active participation of tariqa groups in social and political transformations within society. tariqa members consistently uphold harmony by adhering to both religious and state directives. (van bruinessen, 1992; zainurofieq, 2021)dari syair perang menteng, menceritakan perlawanan orang palembang terhadap pasukan belanda yang dikirim untuk menaklukkan kota mereka pada tahun 1819. perang ini dikenal dengan nama komandan pasukan belanda, muntinghe, yang dimelayukan menjadi menteng. sang penyair melayu menggambarkan bagaimana kaum putihan (\"haji\". in the political landscape of “nusantara” [the indonesian archipelago], the oppressive rule of the dutch east indies posed a significant challenge for the qadiriyah naqsabandiyah tariqa across java, including regions like banten, kediri, blitar, gedangan, and sidoarjo. in response, the tariqa not only closed ranks internally but also forged unity with the people to carry out jihad fisabilillah [fight in the path of allah} against the invaders. this collective effort highlighted a resistance against colonialism, which is viewed as contrary to both religious and humanitarian principles. according to clifford geertz, the period between 1820-1880 witnessed a substantial rebellion among the santri in indonesia. this rebellion encompassed several significant events; first, the padri rebellion in sumatra; second, the diponegoro rebellion in java; third, the banten rebellion spurred by dutch forced labor, and the rebellion in aceh led, among others, by teuku umar. (geertz, 1992: 27). [ 249 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 the synergy of kyais, with their charismatic religiosity, and the mysticalpsychological inclination of the javanese people, who held a belief in the anticipated arrival of a righteous queen, created a social momentum that played a crucial role in this conflict. kartodirjo noted that nearly all radical movements in the interior of java, opposing dutch colonialism, were consistently intertwined with collective notions centered around the emergence of the fair queen, nativism (a yearning for an independent past) and millenarianism (aspiration for a liberated state without oppression). the messianic anticipation of the righteous queen found its cultural-theological orientation in the figures of the tariqa leaders who staunchly supported these movements. this alignment with the tariqa’s teachings, focused on three pillars: (1) setting an example; (2) spiritual elevation; and (3) the pursuit of ideal conditions. benda provided further explanation. “the rise of colonialism led to ulama and kyai assuming the roles of educators and promoters of islam, gradually becoming pivotal figures in rural communities. this significance extended beyond mere numerical increase, impacting people both psychologically and ideologically. particularly for farmers, weighed down by mandatory crop contributions, forced labor, and taxes, the propagation of the religion of allah became a refuge and a source of solace, offering a means of escape from their burdens.” tqn suryalaya in the dynamics of nationshood following indonesia’s sovereignty, the suryalaya islamic boarding school significantly engaged in national affairs. previously, it influenced wiranatakusumah v to abandon his plan of forming the pasundan state due to his discontent with the central authorities. the school’s role in preserving indonesia’s unity embodies a commitment to upholding the tqn doctrine, emphasizing adherence to religious principles and loyalty to the sovereign state. the di/tii ideological islamic movement had a substantial presence across ciamis, tasikmalaya, and garut. abah anom, along with his brothers and soldiers, formed a fortification that aimed to promote peaceful islam. this initiative stressed the importance of aligning obedience to the state with obedience to religious principles, evident in the regular recitation of the tariqa’s manifesto, called tanbih, during religious ceremonies. there was also concerted effort to heighten political-religious awareness, particularly among individuals previously associated with the pki’s left movement. consequently, using spiritual-based rehabilitation methods, like inabah, facilitated efforts to raise awareness about important issues such as napza addiction within these communities. (nurhamzah cs et al., 2021). [ 250 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 during the early days of the new order, indonesian society held a negative perception of the tariqa. the emergence of the di/tii movement in west java further marginalized islamic mass organizations. abah anom, however, played a significant role in bridging this gap, actively engaging with the new order government. besides being associated with golongan karya, he also held a position in the mpr representing this group. notably, the new order era depicted the tariqa as supportive of the state, marking a shift in perception. the concepts of religion and state, under this regime, allowed greater freedom in promoting the teachings of the tariqa to broader muslim communities. this approach fostered a more harmonious relationship between religion and the state, moving away from confrontation to collaboration. (abbas & danial, 2022). sundanese identity, indonesian identity abah anom, as a murshid teacher, displays a genuine appreciation for the local sundanese culture. the tariqa’s teachings, while carrying a universal message, are intricately woven into the fabric of sundanese traditions. consequently, the tariqa bears a distinct and strong local cultural identity. abah anom has not only incorporated sundanese thought as the foundation for constructing the tariqa paradigm but has also rooted his approach to indonesian politics in sundanese cultural awareness. this integration is evident in the “tanbih” manifesto, which vividly captures the nuances of sundanese life through its use of metaphors, all while underscoring its commitment to indonesian politics. [ 251 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 the illustration above describes the profound interconnection between sundaneseism, islam (tariqa), and indonesianness, portraying them as crosscultural expressions. it embodies a dialectic of complementary thoughts, emphasizing that cultural greatness does not derive from a monolithic perspective but rather from an open, cosmopolitan, and inclusive approach. the ethos presented encourages the accommodation of all possibilities for development, fostering a spirit of receiving and giving without the need to assert recognition. as articulated by kh baban ahmad jihad, “in the past, pangersa abah sepuh (k.h. abdullah mubarok ibn nur muhammad, ra) and pangersa abah anom (k.h. a. sohibul wafa tajul arifin, ra) conveyed the teachings of the qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah tariqa predominantly in the sundanese language. this is evident in various works such as the collection of early morning lectures, tanbih, and ancient sundanese poetry, for example, layar putri, kunosari, panambih lembur singkur, gelenyu, téjamantri, salaka domas, panambih saropangan, mangu-mangu, goyong, panambih sukanagara, dangdanggula, rumangsang degung, rakitan degung, tepiswiring, bayubud, budaya, malihwarni, kapaksi, gaya, mangari, kentar ajun, kentar miring, pancaniti, pager ageung, pagunungan, kentar cisaat, pangesahan, kulu-kulu setra, adu manis, katalimbeng, ditilar, pangrungrum, lumengis, bogoh teu sapikir, sumambat, sungkawa, kinanti kaum, sumolondo and langendria.” kh baban further said that “religion does not have to clash with culture; on the contrary, religion and culture reinforce each other. religion becomes inseparable from its cultural roots, and culture finds its divine vision.” identity is shaped through interactions with ‘lian’ [the others] presenting a reformulated look that is more contextual. this process involves preserving aspects of the old culture deemed relevant, while revising or discarding elements of tradition that have become obsolete. this paradigm is the cornerstone of the development undertaken by the tqn suryalaya. political communication of tqn in state affairs gabriel almond (1960) argued that a political system invariably involves political communication conducted by formal (structural) entities as well as non-formal practitioners within society (cultural). “all of the functions performed in the political system, political socialization and recruitment, interest articulation, interest aggregation, rule making, rule application, and rule adjudication, are performed by means of communication.” rusadi kartaprawira highlights that political communication serves as a means of expressing political thoughts within both society and the government sector. [ 252 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 it acts as a channel, facilitating dialogue and deliberation to convey and negotiate political aspirations. miriam budiardjo further emphasizes that political communication is instrumental in channeling diverse opinions and community aspirations, organizing them through a combination of interest aggregation and interest articulation which are subsequently advocated as public policy objectives. denton and woodward, as cited by pawito (2009), define political communication as “public discussion regarding the allocation of public resources,” specifically pertaining to the distribution of public income, official authority, regulations, and official sanctions imposed by the state. this definition assumes an interactive relationship between the state and the people or public. in practice, political communication channels can take various forms, including mass communication, face-to-face interactions, interpersonal exchanges, and organizational processes. the scope of political communication encompasses communicators (activists, politicians, professionals), messages, persuasion techniques, media, audiences, and the resulting consequences. in the context of the new order state, abah anom emerged as a significant figure in the political landscape. he garnered considerable support from high-ranking officials and golkar, an affiliation he maintained since the organization’s foundation. the widespread influence of his leadership extended across various regions, including java, singapore, east sumatra, west kalimantan, and lombok (bruinessen, 1992). a noteworthy political ijtihad (individual interpretation) consistently upheld by abah anom throughout his life was his strategic alignment with the new order regime. this alignment was interpreted as an internal form of da’wah communication, an endeavor described by someone close to him as an attempt to transform “golkar” into “golkir” (dhikr group). the tqn suryalaya developed a close relationship with the ruling power, specifically with the cendana [soeharto’s residence]. abah anom’s closeness to the center of political power was not driven by a pursuit of personal power; rather, it was a deliberate effort to foster a coexistence between religion and the state without mutual suspicion. one of his sons, k.h. baban ahmad jihad (rido, 2011: 16), affirmed this approach, stating: “the closeness between the qadiriyah naqsyabandiyah suryalaya and the cendana [soeharto’s residence], established by abah anom, indeed holds remarkable significance. this connection prompted a strong desire to extend support, particularly in material assistance, to the islamic [ 253 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 boarding school. however, our approach aligns closely with abah’s counsel to exercise caution and vigilance, fostering closeness without any attached expectations. he emphasized the importance of continual giving without seeking in return—a principle we have persistently upheld, even in his absence. i must address a recent policy shift regarding the madrasah that we oversee, which now receives government assistance. it is crucial for everyone to understand that this aid is rightfully allocated by the government, similar to the support provided to other educational institutions. this clarification is essential, considering past speculations and busy discussions implying a departure from the practices during abah anom’s era. the truth is, the aid program is part of the government initiatives, and our role is to accept the program without any further involvement. nonetheless, our commitment to abah’s principle of ‘giving instead of asking’ remains unwavering.” the data highlights that abah anom’s closeness within the new order’s political sphere was not solely driven by personal aspirations or those of suryalaya islamic boarding school. it was primarily about fostering a strong relationship between the ulema (religious scholars) and the umara (government authorities) to synergize indonesian human development. abah anom’s intentions went beyond seeking personal power or positions; rather, they were inclined toward balancing and fortifying religious values within the state’s policy framework. additionally, he consistently prayed for the physical and mental well-being of the country’s leaders, emphasizing the importance of their health in preserving the unity and continuity of the indonesian state. communication of value politics abah anom’s political messaging, within liddle’s framework of political thought, leans towards substantivism rather than scripturalism, exhibiting accommodative political behavior. this approach underscores the significance of islam as a value rather than a rigid ideology, with islamic values being presented in a manner adaptable to the new order government (liddle, 1997: 100-127). charismatic leaders often encounter a dilemma when navigating the dynamics of power. situated as elites of the people, charismatic leaders require legitimacy from their constituents. however, as representatives of the people, they must navigate interactions with bureaucracy and government authority. confronted by an expanding bureaucratic elite exercising control through a corporative logic, charismatic leaders face the challenge of either embracing the government’s logic, risking co-optation and potential loss of [ 254 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 legitimacy from the people, or adopting a critical stance that entails certain political risks. alternatively, there’s the prospect of a charismatic tariqa leader successfully gaining legitimacy from the people while concurrently engaging with government corporatism. (mahmud sujuthi, 2011: xx). sociologically, abah anom serves as a point of reference for the ummah and the nation, with his political references grounded in morality. this implies maintaining proximity to power, such as with golkar, while still retaining legitimacy from the people. this delicate balance was evident in various public events, such as manakiban, ngaras, khataman ceremonies, and natura parades, attended by individuals from diverse backgrounds. these gatherings provided not only moral guidance but also insights into the murshid’s political vision, often articulated in the form of “edicts,” especially during the later period of abah anom. consequently, every activity carried a moral message embedded with positive values and local wisdom. (rahman et al., 2022). this political stance, particularly during the new order era, sparked controversy among certain groups. however, for his fellows, this political choice is adhered to with unwavering fidelity, in keeping with the traditions of the tariqa. the disciples emulate the murshid not only in matters of worship but also in all aspects of life, including his political choices. moreover, the tqn suryalaya firmly holds the view that the state is as crucial as religion, as evident in the tanbih. obedience to the state is considered to be equal to obedience to religion, establishing a parallel position between the two. jeungna sim kuring nu jadi pananyaan thariqah qadiriyah naqsabandiyah, ngahaturkeun kagegelan wasiat ka sadaya murid-murid poma sing hade-hade dina sagala laku lampah, ulah aya carekeun agama jeung nagara. eta dua-duanana kawulaan sapantesna samistina, kudu kitu manusa anu tetep cicing dina kaimanan, tegesna tiasa ngawujudkeun karumasaan terhadep agama jeung nagara ta’at ka hadirat ilahi nu ngabuktikeun parentah dina agama jeung nagara 1 we also serve as a platform where individuals inquire about the qadiriyah naqsabandiyah tariqa, imparting a sincere advice to all students: exercise caution in all matters, refrain from actions that contradict religious or state regulations. adhere to both appropriately, reflecting the demeanor of individuals who maintain faith. such an attitude not only demonstrates compliance with religious and state directives but also fosters a genuine willingness to embrace the divine presence of god, affirming the principles 1 this text is an excerpt of the “tanbih” which is always recited at the manakiban event and other suryalaya’s formal events. [ 255 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 upheld in both religion and the state. essentially, the politics of the tqn suryalaya are predominantly oriented toward moral values and ethics. abah anom stands as a moral figure, serving as a role model, an exemplar, and a cultural landmark. he consistently reminds leaders of their responsibilities while emphasizing his ethical role in safeguarding the interests of the people in their daily lives. according to hiroko horikoshi (1987: 78), abah anom’s political approach resembles that of a volunteer and an agent capable of selecting and guiding cultural values to empower society. this political volunteer function extends to reinforcing vulnerable points in the local system’s framework, connecting it with the broader system. often, abah anom acts as a buffer or mediator between conflicting groups, maintaining the necessary driving forces of community dynamics. the kyai, leader of the ummah, wields political influence, particularly within their ummah. moderately-accommodative approach in terms of relations between power and the state, the tqn suryalaya has adopted a more accommodative and moderate stance. this choice aligns with the tariqa’s principles, emphasizing ethics over ideology and presenting “religion” as a moral force. the political-religious communication fostered by the tqn suryalaya extends not only between schools of thought but also across religions and diverse beliefs. in a scientific oration on the 105th anniversary of the suryalaya islamic boarding school, one of the tqn suryalaya fellows, nazarudin umar, highlighted that the tariqa’s communication aims not only to build a harmonious relationship between humans and god but also fosters harmony among people regardless of differences in beliefs, tribes, and countries. additionally, it promotes harmonious relationships between humans and nature and animals. the tariqa’s teachings are so inclusive that people from various backgrounds, including officials and ordinary individuals, naturally come together. contrary to the notion that modernity diminishes the roles of charismatic leaders, charismatic leadership in politics is asserted to be even stronger than leadership based on procedural and rational authority (coser, in gordon, 1991: 488). recognizing the significant influence charismatic tariqa leaders wield in shaping people’s behavior, it becomes apparent why traditional leaders of this nature generally appeal to both bureaucracy and politicians (jackson, 1990: 307). blessings represent expressions that surpass mere actions and verbal communication. [ 256 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 the close association with power during the new order era was a murshid ijtihad, aimed at bringing islam closer to power when, in reality, power at that time was highly hegemonic, and few were interested in carrying out da’wah from within. abah anom opted to be within the vortex of power politics without getting entangled in it, as evidenced in “ranggeuyan mutiara” (string of pearls) at the end of the “tanbih.” ulah ngewa ka ulama sajaman ulah nyalahkeun kana pangajaran batur ulah mariksa murid batur ulah medal sila upama kapanah avoid harboring resentment towards modern scholars. refrain from criticizing the teachings of others. abstain from scrutinizing the students of other teachers. maintain your demeanor even when faced with adversity. (source: book “tanbih abah sepuh 1956”) these words in “ranggeuyan mutiara” emphasize the importance of adopting a humble attitude and nurturing a hospitable character. abah anom promotes an islamic message that engages in a dialogue with national politics, establishing a strong connection between religious values and everyday politics. in abah anom’s teachings, religion is seamlessly integrated with statehood, viewing the tariqa as a means to experience pluralism. nasaruddin umar (2014) asserts that this inclusive attitude applies the universality and cosmopolitan aspects of islam, making islam a source of blessing for the entire universe. he further highlights the significance of suryalaya in fostering diversity, contributing to the mitigation of social tensions and conflicts prevalent in society. the suryalaya islamic boarding school, according to umar, places a strong emphasis on upholding humanity, respecting all individuals irrespective of their religion, nationality, or social class.2 additionally, abah anom imparts values such as sincerity, humility, and the prioritization of the brotherhood of faith to his followers. the analysis by kompas research and development (october 14, 1996) underscores that abah anom’s political decision to support the golkar secretariat since its foundation in 1963 was not made without a deep understanding of the dynamics of political life. this decision, and the subsequent establishment of a personal “closeness” between abah anom and president soeharto, is considered a political ijtihad. the enduring relationship 2 delivered by nasaruddin umar on 5 september 2010 [ 257 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 between abah anom and president soeharto is compared to the political stance taken by kh ahmad siddiq, the former rais aam of pbnu, during the opening of the nu congress in krapyak yogyakarta (1989). in that event, siddiq firmly stated nu’s acceptance of pancasila as the principle of the nation and state, providing a thorough foundation for the decision and inspiring the development of “harmonious” relations between the government and islam. this has contributed to a gradual reduction in suspicion towards islam as a social group. the political alliance between the government and religious leaders is exemplified by the amicable relationship with islamic boarding schools (witro, 2020)this does not make indonesia as an islamic country. the relationship between religion and state in islam is fairly interpretive and it nowadays still becomes a debate. the government system applied in this country is democratic. besides, there has to freedom for the ulama in preaching without being limited by space and time. a number of ulama are currently being persecuted and intimidated that impacts to the lecture to be either stopped, postponed, or even canceled. at this part, the role of the umara (government. this symbolizes the strengthening of ties between the ulema and the umara. on september 5, 2004, coinciding with the 99th anniversary of the suryalaya islamic boarding school, megawati soekarnoputri, accompanied by golkar party figures akbar tandjung, pramono anung, and several functionaries from the golkar party and pdip, visited abah anom. megawati, then serving as the president, and her entourage traveled from the halim perdanakusuma air force base using an f-100 aircraft owned by merpati nusantara. upon arrival at husein sastranegara airport in bandung, the president and her entourage proceeded to suryalaya. in her address, megawati mentioned her longstanding awareness of pondok suryalaya, stating, “there is no other purpose than to stay connected.” additionally, the president sought prayers for abah anom, wishing him ease in guiding the nation through the current crisis. pramono anung clarified, “the visit was, without a doubt, a friendly one. they prayed for each other.” megawati also expressed concern for abah anom regarding his efforts to address the drug issues. in the 2009 presidential election, specifically on friday, june 26, 2009, jusuf kalla visited abah anom. similarly, president kh abdurrahman wahid also paid a visit. even long before that, during the era of the new order regime, gus dur, a known representative of civil society, made multiple visits to abah anom. he urged abah anom to mend relations with president soeharto, recognizing that abah anom, as a kyai, not only held a “special route” to the palace but also commanded great respect from the then-powerful president. [ 258 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 according to martin van bruinessen (1992), abah anom was a kyai with a personal closeness to suharto. abah anom played a role in “islamizing” soeharto, shifting the emphasis from what was perceived as a more dominant “kejawen” appreciation. suharto regularly sought abah anom’s advice on religious teachings and dynamics, even in the final stages of his power. abah anom, a spiritual teacher, was unwavering in his commitment to ngumawula ka wayahna (serving without limits), serving as a pillar for every complaint (jadi gunung pananggehan), and never ceasing to serve (homo tuna sumujud). he remained a reliable listener for all the problems faced by the people. moertono (1995) defines an ongoing tug-of-war between kyai and rulers. despite the authorities wielding substantial, integrated, diffuse, technocratic, bureaucratic, and at times, repressive power, it cannot be overlooked that kyai have played a crucial political role from the pre-independence era to the present, navigating various dynamics. 3 endang turmudi (2004) emphasizes a strong interdependence between the community and kyais, encompassing various aspects of life, including politics. kyais are perceived to hold superior cultural and structural positions. ali maschan moesa (1999) highlights their knowledge superiority and the precedence of actions that impel kyai to attain self-perfection and endeavor to perfect others (al-kamâl wa al-takmîl). max weber (1968) categorizes this as charismatic leadership rooted in personal authority. in this context, ulemas act as patrons to their followers (clients) in a paternalistic relationship. berger (1991) argues that religion serves as the sacred canopy, an instrument to fortify politics in all human actions. kyais not only serve as leaders of islamic boarding schools but also wield power within and hold prestige in society (geertz, 1981). initially rooted in cultural spheres, kyais have adapted to the fast-paced sociopolitical dynamics, extending their influence into politics. this transformation occurs through mutual symbiosis, where kyai receive government support. simultaneously, the political elite gains religious moral legitimacy from kyais, a legitimacy crucial for expanding their authority. 3 further studies on aspects of the kyai leadership both for himself and in the context of relations with the state can be read in zamaksyari dofier, tradisi pesantren (jakarta: lp3es, 1982); clifford geertz, “the javanese kiai, the changing role of cultural broker” in comparative studies in society and history, vol. 2; hiroko harikoshi, kiai and social change, (jakarta: p3m, 1987); endang turmudi, perselingkuhan kiai dan kekuasaan (yogyakarta: lp3es, 2003); bisri effendi, an-nuqayyah: corak transformasi sosial di madura (jakarta: p3m, 1990) and arifin mansur noor, islam in an indonesian world: ulama of madura (yogyakarta: gajah mada press, 1990) [ 259 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 papayung (tent) tariqa it appears that the tqn’s religious and state political communication centers around efforts to make religion a papayung for society right from the onset of crises such as drought, chaos (bancang pakewuh), anxiety (harengreng), and full of worry (loba karingrang kahariwang). this religio-politics is not only involved but engages deeply with the life of society. it represents a religion that ascends to the heavens of transcendence and simultaneously delves into the roots of humanization, similar to “word of purity” (kalimah thayyibah), which is consistently expressed either loudly (jahar) or subtly (khafi). this form of religious politics avoids being trapped in doctrinal fanaticism, as evidenced in the tanbih: “ari sebagi agama, saagamana-saagamana, nurutkeun surat alkafirun ayat 6: “agama anjeun keur anjeun, agama kuring keur kuring”, surahna ulah jadi papaseaan “kudu akur jeung batur-batur tapi ulah campur baur”. geuning dawuhan sepuh baheula “ sina logor dina liang jarum, ulah sereg di buana”. lamun urangna henteu kitu tangtu hanjakal diakhirna. karana anu matak tugeunah terhadep badan urang masingmasing eta teh tapak amal perbuatanana.dina surat annahli ayat 112 diuynggelkeun anu kieu :”gusti allah geus maparing conto pirang-pirang tempat, boh kampungna atawa desana atawa nagarana, anu dina eta tempat nuju aman sentosa, gemah ripah loh jinawi, aki-kari pendudukna (nu nyicinganana) teu narima kana ni’mat ti pangeran, maka tuluy bae dina eta tempat kalaparan, loba kasusah, loba karisi jeung sajabana, kitu teh samata-mata pagawean maranehanana”. regarding religious matters, it is left to each individual’s belief, bearing in mind surah al-kafirun verse 6: “your religion is for you, my religion is for me.” this verse emphasizes the importance of avoiding disputes, promoting harmony and peace, and respecting each other without interference. let us reflect on the wisdom passed down by our ancestors: “we should conduct ourselves wisely, in an orderly manner, and peacefully; failing to do so will lead to regrets—first in terms of income, then personal remorse, and ultimately, it will be futile.” the suffering one experiences is often a consequence of one’s own actions. surah an-nahl verse 112 provides a meaningful example: “allah has given the analogy of a town or village that was once safe, peaceful, and prosperous. yet, its residents rejected the blessings of allah, leading to famine, suffering, and fear due to their own attitudes and deeds.” the inclusiveness of religion-state politics stems from an acknowledgment of the inevitability of diversity as a social reality, requiring tolerant attitudes. [ 260 ] al albab: volume 12 number 2 december 2023 https://doi.org/10.24260/alalbab.v12i2.2756 differences are not seen as sources of conflict but rather as opportunities to enhance spiritual experiences. abah anom’s teachings emphasize this appreciation for spirituality, extending beyond the spiritual realm and manifesting in real-life situations. this philosophy is not confined to metaphysical considerations but is transformed into a political practice, embodying both “politics” and “the politically-related aspects.” conclusion the political communication of the tariqa group, exemplified by abah anom, goes beyond the scope of da’wah and political negotiations for the tariqa’s teachings. it aims to legitimize the tqn and establish its position in state affairs. the relationship abah anom cultivated with state leaders reflects a collaboration between the ulema and the umara, working together to foster religious harmony and uphold the unitary state of the republic of indonesia. this effort aligns with the tariqa’s doctrine, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a balance between religious teachings and obedience to the state. abah anom’s political communication carries implications for the government’s perception of the tqn teachings, which might be seen as antidevelopment and anti-worldly attainment. therefore, abah anom’s approach serves as a form of da’wah to integrate the tqn teachings into both religious and state affairs in indonesia. following abah anom’s passing, political dynamics continued to evolve, requiring prompt, adequate, and visionary responses from the suryalaya islamic boarding school and the broader tqn fellows. the teachings of abah anom need to be interpreted progressively and contextually to ensure the continued relevance of the tqn in an ever-changing political landscape. the political arena, characterized by power struggles and various means, stands in contrast to the world of the kyai. the crucial role played by kyais within the state requires an independent stance, ensuring that their existence contributes significantly and long-term to the nation’s development and the welfare of its ummah. this study serves as a reflective critique, challenging the perception of tariqa groups as exclusive and detached from worldly affairs, even being perceived as anti-government. it recognizes the significant transformation of the tariqa movement, acknowledging its direct involvement in practical politics. the participation of kyais and tariqa communities in political activities is not a contradiction to the teachings of the tariqa but is seen as a beneficial collaboration between kyais and the government for the country’s development. 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[ 233 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 contestation of religious public space: christians vs muslims cases in papua zuly qadir muhammadiyah university of yogyakarta abstract the land of papua has often been associated with the papua independence movement (gpm), in addition to the independent papua organization (opm) which has been known since the 1990s. the battle between the civil society of papua against the military seems to keep happening. killing and shooting each other has always been a public discussion and media coverage. however, the thing that escapes people’s attention is a contestation that occured between the adherents of the religion of the indigenous papuans who claim to adhere to christianity, known as the ‘mountain people’, and the muslims, known as the coastal and inland people who are regarded as non-natives of papua. the contestation took place observably in public spaces like the streets, mountains, fields and various religious activities that involved mobs such as kebaktian kebangkitan rohani (spiritual awakening mass) among the christians, as well as talbligh akbar (huge gathering) among the muslims where they bring in speakers from outside papua as an attraction. such contestation has been going on since 1998 that sometimes triggered massive demonstrations and bans on religious activities as well as the establishment of a muslim school. in the papuan society, a lot of trouble is religious matters, coming both from the internal and external followers. to data were obtained through direct observations, in-depth interviews with a number of key informants, literature study and written documents related to the issue. the data were processed using interpretative approach as commonly used by clifford and geertz in the socio-anthropological tradition or social sciences in general. key words: freedom of religion, public contestation, papua introduction the annual  report on  freedom of religion  and  belief  issued by the wahid institute 2013 stated that from january through december 2013, the number of violations or religious belief reached 245 cases of intolerance. these cases were made up of 106 events (43 percent) involving the state actors and 139  cases  (57%) by  non-state actors.  meanwhile the  total  number of acts of violence  and intolerance  reached  280 cases,  where  121  of them  (43%) were  done by the state actors and 159  cases  (57%) by  nonstate actors. (the wahid institute, january 2014) [ 234 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 based on the  fact delivered  by the  wahid  institute  above,  there is a fundamental  question  to be answered  by  every citizen  who claims to have religious belief: what causes violent behavior and actions that violates the constitution concerning freedom of religion to occur? isn’t freedom to adhere to religious beliefs a human right that cannot be replaced in indonesia, but why does public contestation related to religion always  take place and tend to lead to physical violence and murder? based on the data, the state was often criticized as it has actually been regarded as a «failed state» in protecting its citizens to practice a religion and worship. therefore, if a state is considered a failed state especially in terms of protecting the freedom of belief and worship, it is an uncontested fact, especially with regard to the minorities. papua  became the spotlight  which this study will focus on. papua road map written by  muridan  widjojo,  s.  et al, and  other  works of  widjojo  (2009,  2001) and  the papua way – dinamika laten & refleksi 10 tahun otsus papua (laten dynamics and reflection on 10 years of papua special autonomy by  anthony  ayorbaba  (2011)  highlighted  how the  papua conflict  should be approached  in order to get  the best solution for  papua and the government.  in the meantime,  as far  as  the author  knows  there are only  two  written works that really focused on religious conflicts that occurred in papua, i.e. christian warta and a thesis by cahyo pamungkas (2008). cahyo pamungkas study was entitled: papua islam dan otonomi khusus: kontestasi identitas di kalangan orang papua (muslim papua and special autonomy: identy contestation among the papuans) (2008) discussed how the discourse of islam and christianity is used in the formation of the discourse papua and indonesia. further, cahyo pamungkas (2008: 174175) by using bourdieu’s analysis of the discourse of capital, habitus, and domain concluded: first, the  papuan  muslims  in the subordinate  position are trying to  get recognition of  their cultural  identity  which  is flexible  in the midst of  the ongoing special  autonomy.  second,  the subordinate  position  of the  papuan  muslims  in  the realm of  the islamic  diversity  on the land of papua contested credentials with muslim immigrants through construction of papuan identity  politics as  represented in  the islamic  discourse  of blessing on papua and peace on the papuan land discourse as well as other praxis on the advocacy  of human rights violations.  third,  muslims  the subordinate position  in papua  in  the realm of politics and diversity  in papua contested their identity with the papuan christians  through  discourses  that islam  is part of the  customs of the  indigenous  papuans  and  the praxis [ 235 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 of  mediation  between  muslim settlers  with  christian  papuans  related to the  question of the  establishment of  places of worship and  islamic schools.  conclusion  of this study  is a strategy  by muslim  papuans  to get recognition of their cultural identity will be carried out by formulating their true flexible identity,  i.e.  combining  islam  and  papua,  contesting its cultural  identity  with muslim  settlers  and christian  papuans  in the  arena of identity politics in the land of papua, as well as internal consolidation through the creation of the papuan muslim assembly  (mmp). the above mentioned research  is interesting and  intelligent,  but like  other researchers, they only  focused on the  contestation  discourse  of religious identity  in the frame  of the state relational discourse  hegemony  with  the existing religious conflict. this sort of subordinating approach to religion as an entity and the reality of politics in the shadow of the dominant discourse of  the state, which  in  the post-war period  of the new order, religion was capable of transforming back to be a dominant and hegemonic discourse on the lives of  communities and  even  countries.  this occurs because it is  a  transcendental  role  as  sacred  canopy  of rationality  of individual  and communal  political  action.  thus,  through  this understanding, it is possible to  explain  how religion becomes  a dominant  discourse  between the society and the state that potentially generate the emergence of vertical and horizontal  conflicts  in  this  state of pancasila.  this  constellation  has not been  explained by  cahyo  pamungkas  in depth. that is  why  there are muslims in papua who favor the status quo, while the christian immigrants tend to melt in the discourse about papua. generally, research with ethnic groups and religion as the object and subject of the study has been widely conducted by many, either in the form of theological or practical  studies.  each  successive  researcher  presents various  findings  that inform the specificity and diversity of the community in the performing religious rituals in everyday life. unfortunately, religious conflicts sometimes cause not only a large number of  casualties, but also  serious damage to the material possessions which are looted  and burned.  in the  case of  a conflict  in jayapura and papua in general, the overall ethnic and religious conflicts seem to find synergy of the issues of immigrants versus native people. santoso (2002) explained the social construction on the reasons underlying the  political-religious  violence  in  situbondo.  according to him,  the destruction of the church was an attempt to channel public discontent against the  attitudes and decisions of  authorities.  the social construction  of the perpetrators’  argument regarding the  actions of  the church  was that it deserved to be destroyed due to justification in the name of religion in order [ 236 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 to maintain religious identity (santoso, 2002: ix-x). in line with santoso,  research conducted by ratnawati  (2003), showed  that the conflict of ambon on january 19, 1999 was the tip of the iceberg of a long history of  religious conflict which was engineered by a  certain group  who the fought for land ownership and economic power  in the community of the moluccas. however, eventually ratnawati concluded that the tragedy showed that the  people  of ambon  lacked  the skills needed to  manage  religious differences  and  other differences  in society,  including  the power  to refuse outsiders who intended to destroy the harmony in the community. she concluded that the ambon tragedy was an example of the failure of the state to build a multicultural society (ratnawati, 2003: 10-13). meanwhile,  still in  the same case,  asyumardi  azra  (2003)  argued  that religion  played an important part  in the  communal  conflict  in maluku, though the it noticeable later. he asserted that there was another factor that created  hostility and  conflict between the  two religious groups.  when  a dispute  occurred between the  religious groups  (muslims and christians), religion  was used  as a tool for a mob  to legitimize  acts of violence.  in addition, mass riots in maluku came from competition in contested economic resources and the distribution of political power that was disproportionate in the local bureaucracy between the muslim and the christian community, at least in the last two decades. another important factor was the failure of the police and military authorities in tackling the conflict thus it turned out that the they also became the perpetrators the religion-affiliated clash (azra, 2003: 69-71) likewise  research  by bartels  (2011)  on  the maluku  conflict, concluded that the most important thing in the case of a religious conflict in maluku is due to a world religion that does not offer much that can support a resolution of the conflict. maluku was like a bag of gun powder that could explode any time if  ignited.  this happened because there were  some  major obstacles, such  as the  muslims  did not fully  accept  the ambon muslim  immigrants, and that  muslims and christians  in ambon,  with the  new autonomous region made possible by  new  regulations,  could agree  to jointly  be  more assertive against the outsiders (bartels, 2011: 141-142). this is a conclusion of some studies that address the problem of conflict in several parts of indonesia, including  papua  in  a diverse  perspective.  from there,  we get a  picture of  that  conflict of religion occurred  and it is the real thing, including  in papua due to contested public spaces as indicated by this article [ 237 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 contestation of public space in theory and concept the theory of  “construction  and reproduction  of culture” which was  put forward  by abdullah (2006)  will be used  here.  abdullah  revealed that the  community  can longer be understood  as  a  whole  entity  resulting from  a process  of differentiation  that occurs  in various forms,  such as  (1)  the process of  community  boundaries  obscuration caused by  incoming and  outgoing  migration  that takes place in  various communities;  (2)  weakening  cultural  boundaries  that  lead to  socialization process to experience a shift; (3) weakening compliance due to the loss of local leadership in a community (abdullah, 2006). cultural processes that cannot be avoided  will pose for potentially  conflict,  beginning with the  existence of tensions. the theory  is a continuation of  the theory of  phenomenology that was proposed  to view the paradigm of  social facts.  approach to  the derivation  of  phenomenology  is a theory of  social construction  which  was conceived  by peter  l.  berger and  thomas  luckmann (1990).  berger and luckmann saw that the effort to understand the social construction is done by defining a reality and knowledge. the fact is implied in the social association expressed through communication via language, cooperation through forms of social organization and so on. the society is a fact of objective and subjective reality at the same time. as the objective reality, society is beyond the human self and should deal with it, whereas  as the subjective  reality,  individuals  within  the community  are an integral part. in other words, the individual is a shaper of society and the community  is  forming  the individual.  the fact  is  not singular  but plural, which is  why it is called objective and  subjective fact. objective  reality  is a reality  that exists  outside of the  human self,  and  subjective  reality is a reality which is within the human (berger and luckmann, 1990: 66-225). by looking at  it that way,  this study  looks at how  individual  religiosity  and social construction of jayapura is formed, so the currently it tends to crystalize toward primordialism, not only ethnicity or religion but also the symbiosis of ethnicity and religion  into one. this phenomenon is also marked by a shift in values and social order in the study of nationalism (nurkhoiron, 2005: 31). primordialism  discussed  in  society,  that has  a  diversity of  customs  and cultures,  is an  inevitability.  currently, the development  of community values often practiced by the community members in line with the birth of religious doctrines with the new strengthened understanding that leads to  a notion  and  claims are constantly  being developed  and deployed.  meanwhile, the process of  the development of  diversity  is [ 238 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 also  growing.  therefore,  when  religious education  is  not applied  either through family or institutions of formal education, it will lead to a problem that can result in conflict in society. in addition, public space such as the theory of approach put forward by jurgen habermas can show that any public arena always has a fight  (contestation) between  groups of people.  their  interplay  among  the community  is to gain influence and win the fight. therefore, there is almost no public arena that is not related to contestation, including contestation which emerges from the religious dimension. jayapura as a contestation of public space jayapura  in terms of  number of  religions  shows  a trend that christianity  (protestantism) is becoming the  religion of  the most widely  embraced by  the population with  the number of  followers is approximately 118,981.  islam  is  the second  religion  embraced  by more or less 95,506 followers, and christianity (catholicism) with 45,109 followers , buddhism 1,845 followers, and hinduism 1,569 followers (bpsjayapura, 2012: 74). this data clearly shows that in fact the christian religion is observed by the majority of the people of papua. the religious proportion of the population in jayapura that can be  used  as a representation  of papua,  where  the number of christians and muslims show an increasing number of followers, can be used as an indication of the geographical and political consciousness of people of papua, and  the christians  in general feel threatened  by  immigrants  and islam.  muridan  widjojo,  s  (2009: 17)  a researcher  from  lipi, explained that  in 2011,  the composition of  the  newcomers  was more  than  the native papuans, so it gave rise to concern particularly for the indigenous people of papua, who are predominantly christian, especially with regard to the issue of islamization. jayapura in the 2000 census, according to the statistical data, gave a real picture of a very rapid population growth which was intertwined with religions. if the focus of  the attention devoted to  the composition of  the  population  based on  religion  by comparing the number of christians (protestants)  and muslims.  in the city of  jayapura, the  adherents  of islam were the second biggest with a number of 70,072 followers or 45,05% of the total population which was 155,548. the majority were christians (protestants) with a total number of 75,288 followers or 48,40%. the third place was the catholics with 8,968 or 5,77%. muslims were predominantly newcomers reaching 121,837 followers and  the indigenous muslim population  was  4,958.  while  native papuan christians (protestants and catholics) were 149, 272 followers and christian [ 239 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 immigrants  were  62,996  followers (crcs, 2010:  14-15).  the composition of  the  population  based on  religion  could not be separated from  the presence of  the massive migration of  settlers  from outside papua, and thus the  presumption  of  islamization  and  christianization  in papua  in some contexts is very complex. in the social life of religious dynamics in jayapura, especially after the reform movement that swept indonesia experienced ups and downs. this happens due to a number of fundamental changes in the social life of jayapura. when the reform era  came, the courage  of  both the natives  and  immigrants  seemed to be  seen  in a variety of  life practice  like  the  improvement of  migrants’ economic condition  and  the  rise of  the demands of  the indigenous population  that began to  become marginalized population.  the tension  was  inevitable  where previous  suspicions  began to  resurface  in the minds of  the natives  about  the immigrant population  being in control of local resources.  suspicion of  the presence of  immigrant  population expansion and  control  strengthened  among  them,  even to the  claim of the rise of islamisation through public sector such as the control of economic and educational resources. in  fact, many  people  from jayapura  still  embraced  local  belief  as  the conviction of their religion. they believe that the local religion is something that has been firmly established before the days of independence even from the days of  dutch colonialism  in the past.  however due to  the  mission carried out by  the dutch colonialism, there have been a lot changes to the religions we embrace today.  even  since the  new order  regime  came to power, indonesian society could only embrace the official state religions such as  protestantism,  catholicism,  islam, hinduism, buddhism,  and not other religions. crucifix and home church the cross  is now a  prominent  landmark  in the city of  jayapura.  in several corners of the city,  this symbol can be found with many different sizes and variations. such symbols can be seen clearly on top of the hill, at the corner of the street, atop a small island in the bay of jayapura, even on an entrance gate of a village street. this phenomenon, for researchers is relatively new. in contrast to  the phenomenon of  the  pondok natal (christmas lodge)  that has long been  there  and decorated  christmas celebrations  every year  in jayapura. the phenomenon, according to several informants, appeared after the  2000s. it is  interesting to  be traced  even further, especially  with regard to the emergence of this phenomenon and its connection to the relationship [ 240 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 between christianity and other religions in jayapura. in addition to the cross symbol, some places now jayapura are also decorated in typical  christian  names,  and this  visual  phenomenon, now  extended  by making sites such as the island of metu debi, which was declared a site of the evangelists on the land of the tabi, on sunday, march 10, 2013 with the slogan “it is god who chose and set metu debi as the start of a new civilization for the people of tabi.» historical origin of the awareness about religion in papua seems to affect or at least gives the new awareness to muslims in papua to know the history of their existence in papua. then the papua islamic history books came into existence such as one by wanggai  (2009) and athwa (2004) or the jayapura  mosque  committee  effort  as already  described in  the earlier chapter  .  the writing of  this history  can be viewed  as an attempt  of reconstruction  and reproduction of  the myth of  the validity of a group over something,  in this case the people of papua and their land. the history constructed and reproduced by the church, where the church is depicted along with the papuans who are impoverished, persecuted, chained and  even eliminated of their  rights and  dignity  as  the original owners  of papua by the government and along with the anti-islamization sentiment (not to mean anti islam), have been able to make the identity of the real papua a single  start  to unfold.  however,  the muslims  in  their efforts to reconstruct their own history in papua could not be practically regarded as useless or even created a  desperate  situation in  papua.  the establishment of  the  muslim  council of papua (mmp) is one of the significant impacts of the new his torical consciousness response toward islam and papua. even muslim immigrants of yemeni descent, thahaal muhammad  al-hamid, was able to fight side by side in harmony for the sake of peace and independence of papua. the other extreme movement is the growing trend of islamic liberation theology which is carried out by the new generation of muslims of papua, ismailasso, going hand in hand with the liberation theology which is carried out by the churches of papua since 1995. according to the  observations of the  researcher,  after the year 2000, the construction of  the monuments (crucifix) in jayapura (even across cities  in papua) was  triggered by the  consciousness  regarding  the relevance of christianity as the papuan identity. the advent of the christian identity of papua like this is in fact the result in the wake of the euphoria to the emergence of a discourse of raperda manokwari as the city of gospel, as a counterpart of the discourse construction of mosque and islamic center around manokwari in september 2005 proposed by one of the candidates for deputy governor to gain the sympathy of muslim voters in west papua. [ 241 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 according to the  icg  report  on 19th october, the leaders  of the church, through the agency of cooperation between the churches district of  manokwari  (bkag),  issued a joint statement  of a “deep concern” over  the establishment  of  governments that  “discriminatory  and unjust”  to the development  of christianity in  indonesia. they cited  991  attacks on  churches  across  indonesia  since  indonesia’s independence  in 1949 until  today;  the pattern of intimidation against christians and attacks on  pastors and  churches;  material losses  experienced by  churches and christian schools; the trauma suffered by christians in the area of conflict such as  in ambon and  poso;  and discrimination  law  through the  “joint decree of two  ministers.”  the arrival of  the gospel  on 5 february  1855 in  mansinam  island, said  the  joint statement,  was  «a milestone  to the start of  a new  civilization  on the land of  papua,  opened a”  dark  curtain” and instill confidence through sacrifice and martyrdom of the missionaries. the church and home-based religious instruction in brief,  from  the icg  report, it is  found  that what happened  in jayapura  with  a proliferation of  home  churches,  was an influence  from  the influx of pentecostal  charismatic groups churches, also known as  the neopentecost. the churches and  the group  are known for  controversy,  not only  because  they claim  to attempt to convert the muslims, so  as to cause conflict  with  the muslim community, but also  because sometimes  they receive the material and moral support from the government or military, so it keeps them away  from local church groups. not only muslims, devotees of other church  denominations are also  threatened  and this  would jeopardize the their financial donations. active in several cities in papua, in terms of  doctrine  and practice of  religion, the  charismatic and  pentecostal movements are almost identical, and they practice “a quality way of worship is  a dynamic and  expressive way which is  physically  demonstrative»  and therefore their devotion in small houses and village halls often causes noise to the neighbors nearby. the small home church is characteristic of the activity of those who are likely to meet in cells or prayer groups who move from one place to another. these cells are used for recruiting new members, just like radical muslim groups that rely on a  small  study  group to identify  members that  might be  recruited.  when it reaches a sufficient number of members, they could set up a particular church or a study group. this is the factor that makes the church quickly mushroom in the villages of  jayapura.  most  charismatic churches  consider themselves to be between denominations. so, they want more formal organization. [ 242 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the charismatic  church  emphasizes on  the holy spirit and  divine healing.  they believe  the holy spirit enters  the people  after  they are baptized  and give  the gift of  speaking in  tongues, where a person  is suddenly pulled out foreign words or language which has never been learned before. this is one of their methods because of its apolitical and taught “the theology of success”, by linking belief, wealth, and success. believers are the ones who are rich; poverty, sickness or sufferings are a sign of lack of faith. as depicted by a priest, “if sinners have a toyota, then the pious will certainly get a bmw”. this doctrine is become popular in papua as it is so intertwined with the religion  of melanesian  people  of papuan  native,  i.e.  cargo  cult:  “cult of object”, which connects  the arrival of  foreigners  in hopes  to  gain access to the merchandise and spiritual salvation. its apolitical nature, is similar to the salafi, that also  tend to be  aggressive and provocative  in the  expression of proselytization. the rumor  about and the promise of  aid to the  church  by the  local government after the victory of the governor and the mayor of jayapura in papua, as reported by the informants (and members of the papua task force and dprp, interviewed on 3rd june 2013) appeared to be a hot issue among the  churches particularly regarding the internal  distribution.  the case  became complicated  concerning  the distribution of  aid  because of  the mushrooming neo-pentecostal and charismatic churches. to date, the church (protestant) is dependent on donations from its followers. toa (loud speakers), adzan, and talbligh akbar in reality, the  toa  (loud speakers)  also have long been  used by  several churches in jayapura, for example  in areas  such as  hamadi  as reported by the papuan task force and youth members of the dprp interviewed on 3rd june 2013 and also shared by amirullah, a research colleague from the state college of islamic studies (stain)  who spent  quite a while  in the region. however,  from  the experience  of an  informant  who had  lived in  jayapura for decades, it was revealed that  before the year  2000  no  churches used  a loudspeaker (toa) with the sound that could be heard from outside. these issues are now brought to discussion by kh masdar farid masudi (in donesia mosque council) in the event of a talbligh akbar (huge gathering of people listening to a sermon)  themed  khawarij dan dajjal salafi, wahabi amalan sunnah yang dianggap bid’ah (sunnah which is considered heresy) at al  ikhlas  mosque mekarsari,  eastern bekasi,  onsunday  may 26,  2013.  he said, “if a person is interested in listening to a sermon or recital of the verses of the holy qur’an, then they should go into the mosque. in addition to disturb[ 243 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 ing peaceful of surrounding, the sermon, according to masdar, contains information that will open the secret and the rules of islam. it’s like we are stripped in public. so people know all the good and bad about us”. in jayapura, the toa at mosques can also be regarded as intolerant especially when the adzan is called with loud sound, and before the adzan (call of prayer) is called, long tahrim is read out. the problem with the noise from the view of the church is the reality that exists outside of papua, especially in java, where toa loud speakers from the mosque have dominated the sound and without pauses except  from sunrise to noon. there is a habit now before the adzan is called five  times a day, not only  loud  tahrim can be heard  but recorded recital of the qur’an, praise to god, can also be heard out loud. the voice of children  learning  the qur’an  and  sermons  (friday  or  other day),  always comes out of mosque when the time has come to do so. obviously this is very disturbing not only to people of other faiths, but also to the muslims themselves. in addition, muslims  also  do the same thing  through  the activities of  talblighakbar  with a variety of  themes.  such activities are held  almost every  month, organized  by  religious organizations  in jayapura.  the talbligh akbar is carried out with almost the same pattern with the christian mass. the organizers usually invited speakers from outside papua particularly a preacher from java.  muslims  flock  to the event venue  on  the  transport that is  also  prepared by  the organizers. the deployment of  largescale  mass  is  possible  due to the  wide range of facilities prepared by the organizing committee. the activities are often held in public places such as the trikora square, mandala square, ptc entrop, and other public places. ustadz  fadlan  is one of  the most  popular  among the  muslims  that frequently  comes to papua  to give a talbligh  akbar.  ustadz  fadlan  is a native of papua (fak fak), where  its muslim population  is nearly the same as christians. christian spiritual mass vs talbligh akbar islam after the reform, religious activities that involve a lot of people kept increasing and  in the midst of the highs and lows of  christian-islamic  relations  in jayapura. the christian spiritual activities, for example, are always held each month. this has become a regular agenda in addition to worship services and is also interspersed with free medical treatment. christians flock from all corners of the city. transportation is prepared; banners can be seen almost in every part of the city;  pamphlets and information  are disseminated through the  mass media. this activity is highly anticipated by people because it is held openly in a public place  such as  the  mandala square,  ptc  entrop,  trikora  square, [ 244 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 and other public places by inviting speakers from java, even from overseas. the christians in  papua  until now  have yet to have a bishop  of native papuan origin. this also indicates a ‹pressure› or the watchful eye of the government. this led to a prolonged situation of sentiment full of bias in the mind of the church. the church have to adapt as they are working under the government of indonesia that sympathize with the muslims more than they do with the christians (mujiburrahman, 2006). as much as 80% of the religious  aid from the government went to the muslims, even though the muslims are the monority. the government transmigration program has made it possible for the muslim high ranking senior official to enter the local administration. in addition the iron fist approach on the side of the military and the police toward the opposition and even innocent papuans has also worsened the situation. anyone trying to show their papuan identity is oppressed and sometimes punished. jayapura in the wake of various religious phenomena that occurred lately showed a correlation between  the muslim  reaction  in jayapura  with the events  that occurred outside of the city, particularly  the enactment of  perda  evangelical  perda (regional law) in manokwari.  muslims  in jayapura did not address the matter quietly. some of the muslim leaders held a meeting sponsored by  indonesia  muslim  intellectuals  (icmi)  papua to prepare for possible strategy should the law be actually passed. this shows that the role of  religion  is very significant  because it is always  positioned as  an encouragement  among  believers.  description in this chapter  is focused on how religion emerges as a shared entity based on the papuan identity. it is based on the condition that the praxis of religious harmony in jayapura is in contrast to the discourse of peace stated by elite theologians. conclusion based on the study  that has been  conducted,  it can be concluded that the reality between religion and public (political) space  in the context of jayapura is indispensable to each other. what’s happening in religious circles also occurs in politics. in terms of social life, it indicates that both religion and politics, in the social life of the community come together to meet. religion becomes very sacred, but at the same time very easy to ‘sell’. the permissive culture of the society provides a space for people to take a variety of forms of culture that come from the outside. people welcome new ideas as a result of the emergence of a new culture, copying everything that fits their way of life and later acknowledging as their own. this excessive claims turn out to be an arena to show influence and power that gives rise to conflict among [ 245 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 the people in jayapura. this situation is worsened by migrants coming from papua bringing their own culture which is different from the local culture. public  space  for religious  struggle  in jayapura  occurs in  various  forms  of  symbolic nature. it even takes form as  practical  politics such as competition for local government offices in the region between christians and muslims. the public space is a religious arena to present religion in the society so that the adherents can show their belief in the middle of a pluralistic community. references abdullah, irwan, dkk. 2008. dialektika teks suci agama strukturasi makna agama dalam kehidupan masyarakat. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. abdullah, irwan. 2006. kontruksi dan reproduksi kebudayaan. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar. andito.1998. keberagamaan, wacana agama dalam dialog bebas konflik. bandung: pustaka hidayah. aritonang, jan sihar and karel steenbrink. 2008. a history of christianity in indonesia-studies in christian mission. leiden-boston: brill. astrid, s. 1994. kebudayaan jayawijaya dalam pembangunan bangsa. jakarta: pustaka sinar harapan. athwa, ali. 2004. islam atau kristenkah agama orang irian? jakarta: pustaka da’i. azra, azyumardi. 2003. “kerusuhan-kerusuhan masal yang terjadi di indonesia baru baru ini: kemunduran nasionalisme dan kemunculan separatism” dalam konflik komunal di indonesia saat ini. leiden-jakarta: inis dan pbb. ______. 2003. “merajut kerukunan hidup beragama antara cita dan fakta, dalam jurnal harmoni: jurnal multikultural dan multireligius, vol ii no. 7, juli-september. jakarta: puslitbang kehidupan beragama, badan litbang agama dan diklat keagamaan departemen agama ri. badan kesatuan bangsa provinsi papua. 2005. undang-undang repulik indonesia, no 21 tahun 2001 tentang otonomi khusus bagi provinsi papua. berger, peter l dan thomas luckmann. 1990. tafsir sosial atas kenyataan. risalah tentang sosiologi pengetahuan. jakarta: lp3es. ______. 1991. langit suci, agama sebagai realitas sosial the sacred canopy. jakarta: lp3es. bourdieu, pierre. 1991. language and symbolic power. cambridge: harvard university press. [ 246 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 budiman, hikmat. 2007. hak minoritas dilema multikulturalisme di indonesia. jakarta: yayasan tifa. cholil, suhadi. 2013. “kata pengantar”, dalam agus indiyanto (ed.). agama di indonesia dalam angka: dinamika demografis berdasarkan sensus penduduk tahun 2000 dan 2010. yogyakarta: crcs ugm. mujiburrahman, mengindonesiakan islam, pustaka pelajar 2010 mujiburrahman. 2006. feeling threatened: muslim-christian relations in indonesia’s new order. amsterdam: amsterdam university press. nasikun. 2006. sistem sosial indonesia. jakarta: rajawali press. noorsalim, mashudi. 2007. hak minoritas multikulturalisme dan dilema negara bangsa. jakarta: yayasan tifa. nurkhoiron. 2005. “agama dan kebudayaan: menjelajahi isu multikulturalisme dan hak-hak minoritas di indonesia”, dalam hikmat budiman (ed.).  minoritas, multikulturalisme modernitas dalam hak minoritas: dilema multikulturalisme di indonesia. jakarta: yayasan interseksi / the interseksi foundation. pamungkas, cahyo. 2008. “papua islam dan otonomi khusus: kontestasi identitas di kalangan orang papua”. tesis. jakarta: program pascasarjana sosiologi universitas indonesia. parekh, bhikhu. 2008. rethinking multiculturalism: keberagaman budaya dan teori politik. yogyakarta: kanisius. perwita, a.a banyu. 1996. “konflik antaretnis dalam masyarakat global dan relevansinya bagi indonesia,” dalam analisis csis tahun xxv no.2 maret-april. jakarta: csis. purwanto, bambang. 2006. gagalnya historiografi indonesiasentris. yogyakarta: ombak radam, haloei noerid. 1987. religi orang bukit. yogyakarta: yayasan semesta. ratnawati , tri. 2003. “mencari kedamaian di maluku: suatu pendekatan historis politis”, dalam konflik komunal di indonesia saat ini. leiden-jakarta: inis dan pbb. ronald, petocz g. 1987. konservasi alam dan pembangunan di irian jaya. jakarta: pttemprint. ronowidjojo. cornelius d. ‘peran umat kristen dalam pembentukan sosok & karakter bangsa’. makalah sumbangan diskusi partisipasi kristen di bidang politik, kerja-sama dpc piki pematang siantar dan stt hkbp, pematang siantar 30 november 2012. roy, olivier. 1995. the failure of political islam. cambridge: harvard university press. rumere, zeth dan ot loupatty. di tanah orang papua. papua: yayasan timo[ 247 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 3 number 2 december 2014 tius papua-yayasan hapin belanda. russell, bertrand. 2008. bertuhan tanpa agama. yogyakarta: resist book. santoso, thomas. 2002. kekerasan agama tanpa agama. jakarta: pustaka utan kayu. [ 91 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 christian torajan youth in perceiving aluk to dolo erin gayatri centres for religious and cross-cultural studies, gadjah mada university email: gayatri.erin@yahoo.co.id abstract the fascinating influence of world religion has given important impact to the existence of indigenous religion such as aluk to dolo within the life of the christian torajan youth who live in yogyakarta. aluk to dolo as one of indigenous religions in indonesia, in fact, is almost in the position of weak as its followers are decreasing in its region of origin, tanah toraja of sulawesi. it is found that only one leader is still remaining in toraja accompanied by the practice of rambu solo which is also still being maintained in the region. this work is based on the view of the youth toward alok to dolo as the youth play an important role to determine and negotiate the inheritance of their religion including indigenous religion within their life. this article examines how christian torajan youth perceive christianity and aluk to dolo. data collection is conducted through depth interview and focused group discussion with a group of christian torajan youth members who stay in yogyakarta for their studies. they are affiliated to torajan student organizations and torajan tribal church in yogyakarta. this work concludes that torajan students perceive the aluk to dolo as pendamping agama or the companion of religion they practice (christianity) besides perceiving it as their cultural home base. in other words, they mean the aluk to dolo for cultural practices supporting their christianity practice in their life. it is also found that the decreasing of the practice of alok to dolo by the students is more caused by three factors including the distance to the origin land, the influence from the toraja tribal church, and the literatures having influence in their believe. as student, although the christian torajan youth are close and more influenced by literatures in christianity (church), they also practice the teachings of the local religion to keep their cultural identity. keywords: torajan, christianity, youth, aluk to dolo, domination, church introduction some layers of identity have shaped people for a long time through generations. culture and religion as part of identity elements are also flux into identity formulation process (barbara stark in kymlicka and norman 2000, 199). therefore, every generation will always bring those elements as its characteristic. the transformation process of identity heavily depends [ 92 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 on how the verbal and nonverbal communication are done within a certain community. in a verbal way, people use the writing and oral communication. this way is inherited to the portion of identity which contains culture and religion in the idea and thought. in a nonverbal setting, people use gestures, body language, symbols, dialeg, intonation and so forth. this long process influences culture and religion resulting the interwoven threads which is difficult to be re-unraveled. regarding from where the influence of culture and religion comes from, it seems like the everlasting complexity of hybridity around the people within the community. indeed, people would commonly attempt to look for their authenticity within the culture or religion. in many cases, the level of culture and religion in one community hasto be debated: which one is part of the culture and which one is part of religion. the perenialistic philosophy suggests that culture is the medium and the space for religion to enter into the society (f. schuon, 1976). how the guidance from the esoteric one turns into ecsoteric other. however, religion itself formulates culture among the human and non-human later. it has drawn us to the encounter between culture and religion. furthermore, it is interesting to see the encounter between religion (indigenous) and religion (world religion) where those have interwoven with particular culture in the previous particular religion. as the phenomenon in the world, the encounter between indigenous religion and world religion negotiates each other. in the particular region of south sulawesi, many narratives provide the history of indigenous religion encounter with a world religion. for instance, the early belief of buginese-makassarese encountered with islam, ammatoan encountered with islam, and the early belief of torajan encountered with christianity and so forth. hence, those phenomenon result some kind of conditions that show how the process of negotiating between indigenous religion and world religion was run. the scholars use terms of complementary, contestation, syncretism, persistent, and intermingle to explain the result of the encountering. some diversities of conditions such as many bissues in the palaces of south sulawesi have been killed for the political (feodal) and religious reason (infidel) (pelras 2006, 339). ammatoan people who were muslim in animistic ways, whi practice islamic teachings , but they never leave their local traditional belief called patuntung (samsul maarif, 2014). we can see it in the way they treat the nature using patuntung. in some forests, there is particular time to visit it and take the natural resources as enough as for their needs. further, they keep the concept of god, patuntung, in their everyday rituals. the ammatoan does not try to contrast and problematize between islam and patuntung instead of harmonize [ 93 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 them. probably one of the reason is because the ammatoan region is quite safe from the modernization which influences toraja regions as the favourite tourism destination. the christianity in toraja also has resulted a scholar of theology there who has big influence among the christian people in toraja towards their local belief. conversely, javanese muslim who doing islam and kejawen concomitantly create the particular character of islam in indonesia (c. geertz 1960; woodward 1988; a. beatty 1996; hilmy 1998; m. khusen 2005; suwito 2007). commonly, in the case of islam kejawen, people practise such -the offering to the nature or what they perceive as the spirit around them, while islam has shaped them in some ways. people who practice islam kejawen in yogyakarta do not need to feel threaten for being muslim kejawen as long as the sultan and kraton still practice many rituals as the inheritance of their ancestor. hinduism in bali has its own concept which considering three important aspects of relation between hinduism and local tradition. the concept is called desa kala patra, meaning place, time, and condition. scientifically this concept is highly inclusive and tolerance. those three words portray the principle of hinduism in viewing the local tradition in a particular place, time, and condition. it is not wondering why hindu bali does not try or force itself to be similar with the hindu india’s characteristic. almost the ritual of hindu bali is the assimilation process between hinduism and traditional local belief there. therefore, michel picard (1997) stated that we could not deny that hindu has been characterized, yet it is too narrow to say that bali is merely hindu because the traditional local belief has a big portion in bali. . some of indonesian scholars has studied about the process of dialogue between world religions, national politics, and indigenous religion (atkinson, 1983; kipp and rodgers, 1987). they presented how the construction of religion in indonesia is determined by political consensus and the domination of world religions. for example , the redefinition of sumbanese spirit worship as a “religion” came from the christianity church and indonesian government for a tourism reason (atkinson, 1983 ; scarduelli, 2005). m. adams (1993, 55) has examined how indigenous and christian notions not only coexist but intermingle and at times compete in the christian torajans. in this paper, i attempt to see how youth christian torajans perceive both the indigenous and christianity notions today. what i mean as youth christian torajan here is a group of students from the descendent of torajan tribe. their age is between 19-23 years old, and christianity is their religious faith. my concern is the youth christian torajans who study in yogyakarta where they interact with the other cultures and conditions that probably affect their perspective on [ 94 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 aluk to dolo and christianity1. discussing the encounter between indigenous religion and world religion can lead us to see how the state treats and polarizes official religions and traditional local beliefs. that negotiation arrived and used in youth perspective of religion and local tradition. i wonder how if people who were affiliated to indigenous religion or penghayat kepercayaan can mention their belief in the identity card earlier, probably they who declare their traditional local belief will not feel threatened. for example, suku anak dalam in jambi who has converted to islam because they do not have any choice, they have to convert to islam for send their children into school and get subsidy from government. they have lost their livelihood because the forest where they live becomes oil palm plantation now. i decide to choose youth as the subject of this paper because they become the starting point in seeing the continuity or dis-continuity of a religion and tradition. they are challenged in threating their local tradition which has been internalized and their new modern world that could not be avoided. for instance the suku anak dalam tribe have to break some mores in order to get the modern education outside their region. however, i have to underline that the matters between aluk to dolo and christianity have to be considered in the first time in the encountering between both religions. meanwhile, as the third generation of christian torajans, they face different discussion from the first encountering. the encounter between aluk to dolo and christianity the early toraja has been limited to the lowland of politic, culture, and religion, even though toraja has the relative relation to luwu that has maintained a kingdom. toraja and luwu have the same idea about to manurun ancestor, yet different in some terms (waterson 2006, 70). in the beginning, torajan totally has hold aluk to dolo (the ways of the ancestors) religion. it has guided the torajan in their way of life. m. adams (1993) argued that indigenous religions in insular southeast asia are oriented towards practice than philosophy. therefore, when people want to understand the aluk to dolo religion, it has to be understood through their rituals. in the sense of aluk to dolo, torajan practices two kinds of rituals such as rambu tuka’ (rituals of life) and rambu solo (death rituals). in the past, those rituals have depended on the social strata. the higher the strata, the higher is the cost of ritual. however, now it has been shifted, as it is more determined by the economic resources like a migration of 1 this article is based on interview and group discussion data conducted in yogyakarta with the a group of youth christian torajans (gerardo, davis, devi and hedwik) who affiliate in the torajan students forum in yogyakarta. two of them (devi and hedwik) were born and raised in kalimantan which is mean that they are descendent of torajan but live in the different culture. while gerardo and davis were born and raised in toraja. [ 95 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 christian torajan who send their money for ritual needs (volkman 1979, 1). dutch colonialism came to toraja in 1905, then in 1913 christianity entered to the toraja through the first missionary namely rev. a.a. van de loosdrecht2. a form of proselytising by the dutch missionaries in toraja is by underlying the similarities of christianity and aluk to dolo. they drew a parallel view between christian and torajan beliefs. they depicted the god of christianity and puang matua as the creator figure of toraja mythology by same structures. other efforts to persuade the torajan in order to convert to christianity were through education, employment and prestige (bigalke 1981, 152). finally, christianity has come to toraja for a century, and 90 % of torajan has converted to the christianity, 5 % still has been affiliated to aluk to dolo, and 5 percent has been muslims (john liku-ada’ 2014, 180). however, i want to underline that it is quite difficult to categorise torajan who is no longer doing aluk to dolo rituals, torajan who is still doing some part of rituals, or torajan who is still totally applying aluk to dolo in their life. based on the interview and group discussion with the youth christian torajan, people who have converted to the pentecostalism are forbidden to do the ritual neither rambu tuka’ nor rambu solo (contestation model). whereas, torajan who hold protestantism and catholic are allowed to do both rituals, yet they are forbidden to do gambling in the silaga3 and sibitte4 as part of the ritual process (intermingle or complementary model). in the contestation and complementary model, torajan faces two different demands: what is ordered and disordered in aluk to dolo and christianity. then, people who totally still hold aluk to dolo mostly live in the forest (pangngala’) in which they are more than 5 % from all the total of population in toraja (persistent model). today, the religious leader of aluk to dolo is the only one called ne’ tato’ dena’. according to religiosity of torajan above, first i argue that it can be different between the encounter of indigenous religion and world religion, the purposes of colonialism, and proselytising suggested by the government rules particularly about identity card or public administration matters. virtually, in 1969 aluk to dolo has been recognised as official religion affiliated to hinduism (m. adams 1993, 56). when i interview gerardo, he explained that he has seen his aunty who has hinduism religion in her identity card, yet only she practices aluk to dolo in her daily life. that event shows that there is no significant debate -when torajan at that time has used hinduism only 2 he was killed at the age of 32 years and buried in toraja land, 1917. many perspectives came to explain why he was killed. church and torajan believe that it was because some people ban missionaries who offer new religion in toraja. 3 silaga is compete the buffalo 4 sibitte is compete for the chicken [ 96 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 for administration purposes. it was similar with the case of ammatoan who still holds their traditional belief while the government recognizes them as the muslim especially in the census matter. in maarif (2014, 151), ammatoan does not has such controversy between islam and patuntung among them, as maarif explained both are complementary and all-encompassing each other. christian torajan youth in perceiving aluk to dolo and christianity recently in 2013, christian torajan and other christians celebrated a century of gospel in toraja. it has reflected how the relation between aluk to dolo and christianity to date. related to the people that i have interviewed, all of them are the third generations of christian torajan. it means that their grandmothers and grandfathers have converted into christianity when they were young. christian torajan youth is a group of students consisting of the descendent of torajan people. they are aged around 19-23 year old holding christianity as their religious faith. gerardo told me that his grandfather has become local missionary incorporating with the dutch missionaries. however, his grandfather in that time has had an important role in aluk to dolo rituals. therefore, he has still inherited insights of aluk to dolo from his family and the environment in toraja when people doing the rituals. gerardo fluently has explained what aluk to dolo through the meaning of every part of the ritual. he stated that people who want to understand what aluk to dolo is, they can join prominently the ritual of rambu solo. it is because through the ritual, torajan relates to their ancestor who will be to membali puang and grace of their descendent. broadly, the cosmology of torajan is explained in their rituals. until today, gerardo still believes that aluk to dolo is his ancestor religion and he has to inherit it to his generations. after his death, his generations must do rambu solo ritual for him. virtually he got confused when he can relate between puya and heaven, or puang matua and god. he said, one day there has been a pastor who has attempted to explain that puya is not the last destiny of christian torajan. people have to reach the heaven after arrived in puya. gerardo told that he does religious activities both in aluk to dolo and christianity. he does not problematize where they will arrived after death, even though other people problematize it as duality. interestingly, gerardo the only informant who strictly will maintain the ritual of rambu solo. it has related to the social strata in toraja where gerardo has the highest social strata called puang (dignity). importantly, when gerardo still believes aluk to dolo as religion, davis, devi and hedwik perceive aluk to dolo as the culture or religious companion [ 97 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 (pendamping agama). when they mention term “agama”, they always refer to christianity as the world religion instead of aluk to dolo. they are more influenced by the values and thoughts of christianity. they “rationalize” the reason why they should not totally believe the mythology of aluk to dolo. devy and hedwik, born and raised in kalimantan, the more know about toraja and aluk to dolo after joining torajan student forum. one of the reasons that they asserted is how the number of buffalo sacrificing can determine whether people are easier or more difficult to reach puya or heaven. how about the good deeds and bad deeds of people which should be the main factor of people go to the hell or heaven. in the ritual of rambu solo, they will not force their families or generations to do it for them after death. many cases has proved that ritual of rambu solo has forced and burdened the family for the costs of the ritual. moreover, after rambu solo ritual, the family has many debts because all of the animal and the other things that people bring to the ritual are counted as debts. when the family could not return the same gifts one day, they will be ashamed (siri’) in the society. when the family have not yet had enough money, the death body is only assumed as to makula (the one who has fever) (tsinjilonis 2000, 5), so that the family only focuses to collect the many for the ritual. one of the books written by the descendent of the torajan (father) and dutch (mother) who born and raised in jakarta city, he has criticised the demand of customary law for him and his family in toraja where they have to do rambu solo ritual with the high costs as a form of honour to his father who has the high social strata in toraja (saroengallo, 2008). pragmatically, he did not live with that customary law and have to obey it. suddenly, it is difficult for him to unite his modern perspective and his status as the descendent of torajan whose high social strata. the discourse between aluk to dolo and christianity when i asking those students what does it mean to be a torajan? they responded that to be torajan they should have three principles: smart (manarang), brave (barani), and rich (sugi). those principles originate from the ancestor, and those are in line with the ritual of aluk to dolo virtually. indirectly, they argue that torajan cannot be separated from aluk to dolo. however, usually people perceive that aluk to dolo is merely rambu tuka’ and rambu solo while many values and the way of life of torajan regularly has been disappeared from torajan. in addition, they are affiliated to torajan student forum (ikapmajaya; ikatan keluarga pelajar mahasiswa toraja yogyakarta) where they can learn each other about the identity of torajan. in addition, they are affected by the environment of yogyakarta as the city of education. they meet new people and new cultures that lead to reflection of [ 98 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 their identity as torajan. they are demanded to contextualize aluk to dolo today. the youth christian torajan does not want to lose aluk to dolo in their life, but they want to reform some of rituals which are no longer relevant in the modern society, such the high cost of rambu solo. through the third generations of youth christian torajan, it can be seen how the discourse that they got to understand and perceive aluk to dolo and christianity can be a starting point why they tend to be influenced by christianity and aluk to dolo in their life. firstly, aluk to dolo is only practiced in toraja whereas youth christian torajan in jogja is in distance from toraja. thus, there is discontinuity of aluk to dolo in which it has the risk whether it still has the space in youth christian torajan in yogyakarta or not. moreover, devy and hedwik who were born and raised in kalimantan have twice risk even though they always come to toraja when their family holds some events. secondly, toraja has the tribal church (gereja kristen toraja) which is the second largest tribal church after hkbp (huria krsiten batak protestan). one of the churches is located in yogyakarta where almost youth christian torajan worship there and are affiliated to that church community. their environment is mostly shaped by christianity that affects their belief. thirdly, as the student, youth christian torajan interact with religious texts/ literatures that mostly provided by texts of christianity. gerardo mentioned two interesting books namely reinterpretasi & reaktualisasi budaya toraja: refleksi seabad kekristenan masuk toraja (reinterpretation & reactualization of toraja culrute: reflection of a century christianity in toraja) and aluk to dolo menantikan kristus: ia datang agar manusia mempuanyai hidup dalam segala kelimpahan (aluk to dolo waiting for christ: he comes so that human live in abundance). briefly, those books represent the discourse about how aluk to dolo is a less or incomplete religion, then christianity comes in order to complete it. relate to that kind of discourse, people are regardless how torajan applied aluk to dolo in their everyday life. through the world religion’s perspective, people have determined what is appropriate to be called religion and culture or local practice (huston smith, 2006). from those books i found some narratives that portray aluk to dolo and christianity in two opposite sides. there is a new statement why rambu solo has been allowed by the missionaries in the past is because torajan deeply internalise the ritual and it would be the obstacle for the spreading of christianity if the missionaries banned it. furthermore, some subtitles in the second book above such as masalah agama dan transendensi mutlak (liku-ada’ 2014, 130) which problematize how torajan make the creator (puang matua) less-transcendent in that idea because they depicted god very [ 99 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 anthropomorphically. in this case, the western context about supernatural always does the dichotomy between the natural and supernatural (m. jindra, 2003;m. klass, 1995). in addition, the subtitle alukta bukanlah ritual explains that aluk to dolo is the universal truth which is in accordance with christianity and does not need ritual virtually. also, there is no contrast between religion and culture. whereas as i mentioned above that to understand aluk to dolo we have to understand its ritual. the other term which underlines the opposite between christianity and aluk to dolo is within subchapter of aluk to dolo versus christianity in the first book. briefly, in a century when christianity has come to toraja, the church states that aluk to dolo especially rambu solo is problematic because the value of rambo solo has shifted from harmonisation to the prestige and wealth. i have argued before that through the world religion perspective, the church only assesses rambu solo as the representation of aluk to dolo and ignores the other values in the everyday religion of the torajan because rambu solo is only hold when a torajan dies. the church has to find other concept of rambu solo as a replacement of the role of aluk to dolo in doing rambu solo because the pastor only involve it in the pray time (bert tallulembang 2012, 96). as the same case in north sumatera, karo people who do rituals and give offerings to the sinabung mountain are perceived as an infidel by the church. moreover, they are punished by not to practise it anymore. importantly, some cases have indicated that there has been shifting ideas in the concept of inculturation and contextualisation in christianity in which it did not problematize some rituals that people do in the past. then, gradually christianity reduce that traditional local belief especially in the rituals as the way of people expresses their belief. tanudjaja (200) portrays that contextualisation is a mission strategy to invite local people attention and thought that there is no contrast between their local traditional belief and christianity. meanwhile, bajo people who practice islam and sea religion5 can express both in a ritual. when bajo people give the offering to mba mo dilao, they start with praying “basmalah” as the influence of islam. however, a problem comes from the people in the land outside bajo people and the government. they perceive bajo as doing shirk, superstition, polytheist in practice (baskara, 2016). thus, the government has suggested muslim preacher to guide bajo people to purify their islam and advise gradually to leave their traditional local belief. in addition, similar to toraja, mostly the rituals in bajo people become the commodity of tourism. so, the 5 sea religion or agama laut is a concept for bajo people who live on the sea and believe that the reincarnation of their ancestor named mbo ma dilao have a big power and keep the sea. bajo people doing sea nomads where for particular time they move from one to the other place in the sea. [ 100 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 question is whether the rituals are practiced because of their traditional local belief or merely for the tourism demands. conclusion religion is a journey. the religiosity of a person is determined by where he/she was born and raised and where he stands now. the encounter between aluk to dolo and christianity is resulted from three models: contestation where some rituals in aluk to dolo are forbidden, complementary where the church is also involved in rambu solo ritual, and persistent where a little number of torajan still totally believes and practices aluk to dolo in their life. four youth christian torajans who study in yogyakarta tend to leave the ancestor religion, aluk to dolo, and consider it as a culture. the only reason i found why youth torajan who was born and raised in toraja still believes and wants to continue aluk to do in their life because of the high social strata that they have. when youth christian torajan leaves toraja to study in yogyakarta, there has been a shifting idea in the way they perceive religious matters. yogyakarta provides christianity environment more widely which leads the youth christian torajan to be more active in the torajan christian church. as a student, youth christian torajan is more rational in the way they perceive aluk to dolo and christianity. the discourse and discussion about those religions are more influenced by christianity that sees aluk to dolo through world religion perspective in which the concept of god, spirituality, heaven and mystic have to be an essence and not merely a function. youth christian torajan demands to reform the rambu solo ritual from the high costs to be more economical. moreover, some of them do not want to be buried using rambu solo ritual because it will burden their family later. however, many values or the way of life of torajan in aluk to dolo need more inquiries, because aluk to dolo is not only about rambu tuka’ and rambu solo. bibliography: adams, k. m. (1993). the discourse of souls in tana toraja (indonesia): indigenous notions and christian conceptions. ethnology, 32(1), 55-68. baskara, b. (2016). islam bajo agama orang laut: yogyakarta. javanica. beatty, a. (1996). adam and eve and vishnu: syncretism in the javanese slametan. journal of the royal anthropological institute, 271-288. bigalke, t. w. (1981). a social history of “tana toraja” 1870-1965. unpub lished [ 101 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 phd (doctoral dissertation, thesis, university of wisconsin-madison, ann arbor microfilms). christou, m. (2006). an ethnographic interpretation of the smoke rising and smoke descending ceremonial attire of the sa’dan malimbong toraja: university of nebraska. lincoln. geertz, c., mahasin, a., & rasuanto, b. (1983). abangan, santri, priyayi: dalam masyarakat jawa (no. 4). pustaka jaya. jakarta. hilmy, m. (1998). cultural acculturation of javanese islam: a critical study of the slametan ritual. al-jami’ah, 12(62). jindra, m. (2003, november). natural/supernatural conceptions in western cultural contexts. in anthropological forum (vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 159166). taylor & francis group. khusen, m. (2005). contending identity in the islamic ritual: the slametan among surinamese javanese muslims in the netherlands. al-jami’ah: journal of islamic studies, 43(2), 283-308. kymlicka, w., & norman, w. j. (eds.). (2000). citizenship in diverse societies. oxford: oxford university press. liku-ada, j. (2014). aluk to dolo menantikan kristus. yogyakarta: gunung sopai. maarif, s. (2014). being a muslim in animistic ways. al-jami’ah: journal of islamic studies, 52(1), 149-174. morton, k. (1995). ordered universes: approaches to the anthropology of religion. oxford: oxford university press. pelras, c., abu, a. r., & arsuka, n. a. (2006). manusia bugis. nalar: forum jakarta-paris: école française d’extrême-orient (efeo). saroengallo, tino. (2008) ayah anak, beda warna!: anak toraja kota menggugat: jakarta. tembi. picard, m. (1997). cultural tourism, nation-building, and regional culture: the making of a balinese identity. tourism, ethnicity, and the state in asian and pacific societies, 181-214. scarduelli, p. (2005). dynamics of cultural change among the toraja of sulawesi. the commoditization of tradition. anthropos, 389-400. schuon, f. (1999). language of the self. world wisdom books. smith, h. (2007). a seat at the table: huston smith in conversation with native americans on religious freedom. univ of california press. [ 102 ] al albab volume 7 number 1 june 2018 suwito, n. s. (2007). slametan dalam kosmologi jawa: proses akulturasi islam dengan budaya jawa in jurnal ibda. purwokerto: p3m stain purwokerto. tallulembang, b. (2012). reinterpretasi & realtualisasi busaya torajai: refleksi seabad kekristenan masuk toraja. yogyakarta: gunung sopai. tangdilintin, l. t. (1978). toraja dan kebudayaannya: kantor cabang ii makassar, lembaga sejarah & antropologi. tanudjaja, r. (2000). kontekstualisasi sebagai sebuah strategi dalam menjalankan misi: sebuah ulasan literatur. veritas 1/1, 19-27. tsintjilonis, d. (2000). death and the sacrifice of signs:‘measuring’the dead in tana toraja. oceania, 71(1), 1-17. volkman, t. (1979). the riches of the undertaker. indonesia, (28), 1-16. woodward, m. (2010). java, indonesia and islam (vol. 3). springer science & business media. [ 217 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 architecture of peace in ambon: reading dynamics of peace after ten years of conflict saidin ernas state institute of islamic studies (iain) ambon email: ernassaid@gmail.com abstract the dynamics of peace in ambon have been getting stronger during the last ten years, but to what extent this phenomenon can be considered as a solid basis for peace, would require a critical analysis. this paper is the result of field research on peace in ambon using the theory of “peace architecture” developed by luc reychland (2006). the results of the analysis obtained several important conclusions. first, the peace process in the city of ambon has been going on in a participatory manner in various aspects of life. second, in an architectural perspective as put forward by reychland, the peace in ambon has sufficient potential to develop into a structure of peace which is getting stronger. it is characterized by the strengthening of an increasingly inclusive dialog and communication between citizens, as well as the effectiveness of public arenas such as markets, offices, schools and coffee shops as a medium of integration. it is also supported by the accommodative practices of economic and political transformation. third, in line with the positive development, the public still need to be reminded of radical religious ideas and identity politics that are harmful to the sustainability of peace. keywords: architecture of peace, maluku conflict, inclusive communication, ambon. introduction the conflict that occurred in maluku over the period 1999-2004, eventually came to an end after going through a process of a long and winding road of dialog. especially after malinopada agreement in 2002 which managed to push the muslims and christians to come to terms (ernas, 2012).1 slowly, social relations between people in ambon city were once again re-established. since 2005, violence in ambon city has increasingly been pressured to lowest point possible as indicated by the absence of violence between religious groups. in addition, peace groups began to grow, both at the level of local government, 1saidin ernas, policy of social conflict resolution; implementation of the malino agreement, journal of govermant and politics, volume 3, number 2, august 2012. [ 218 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 civil society, and educational institutions. the latest social phenomena occurring in ambon, certainly could be a positive sign of peace but whether it became a solid foundation for building harmony and peace, would require specific study on the latest developments in the city of ambon, especially with rgard to the architecture of peace that has been established in this city. the study of the architecture of peace is very important to analyze the process of change that has occurred in the wake of the conflict. for the architectural concept of peace is not only about social integration of plural society of different religions and ethnicities in a common identity or assimilation between minorities and dominant groups, but as discussed luc reychland (2006: 7),2 it can also show substantial things like communication increasingly inclusive, integrative aspects of the environment, local leadership that increasingly promoting peace and other forms of social and political structures that ensure the growth of authentic, inclusive and democratic social relations. the study on the architecture of peace can also be used to examine the extent to which new morality has grown to support harmony and peace in society. biku parehk3 (2008: 118) called it a moral contract that binds people in a balanced social system (social equilibrium). communal conflict in ambon with all the impacts it has caused should serve as an a crucial experience to develop a structure of peace that is more authentic and participative in the life of society, so that peace and social harmony can have strong roots. just to comapre, the structure of peace and harmony is also a goal of the strugles that are trying to be achieved by the towani tolotang as hasse j. (2016) reported from his work based on his project in south sulawesi. this article is basically an attempt to conduct a critical evaluation of the dynamics of peace in ambon that have been established over the last ten years, and to analyze its sustainability in the future. this paper is part of research reports on contemporary dynamics of peace in ambon city. the field data collection was carried out throughout july and november 2015, using data collection methods commonly used in qualitative studies, such as field observations, interviews, documentary studies and focus group discussion (fgd) (denzin & lincoln, 1994).4 more than 20 people have been interviewed in the field research. the data collected were then analyzed using interactive descriptive models offered by abdullah 5. first, 2 luc reychland, researcher peace building architectur. (leuven: centre for peace research and strategic studies, 2006), p. 7 3 biku parekp. rethinking multiculturalism, keragaman budaya dan teori politik. (yogyakarta: kanisius, 2008), p. 118 4 n.k. denzin dan ys. lincoln, handbook of qualitative research, (california: sage publication. 1994), p. 12 5 irwan abdullah, handout pengantar metodologi penelitian kualitatif. (yogyakar[ 219 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 examining and reducing the data that have been collected in the research and thematically grouped according to topics of the main questions in the study. second, displaying the data and examining the data connection to the external context, such as social environment, culture, economics, religion and even politics. third, giving a final conclusion on the displayed data. furthermore, these data are grouped based on the problems of research and described in writing, so as to produce a full understanding. discourse theoretical architecture of peace luc reychland (2006), discuseds the theory of architecture of peace in his book entitled “ researcher building peace architecture”. reychland’s study refers to post-conflict community life, which in the context of ambon is contextual enough to be applied, especially on reychland’s four variables that determine whether a peace process has a chance to grow to a more positive trend.6 first, the function of the (effective) communication channel that enables the process of discussion, clarifications, and corrections to the dissemination of information or rumors that could potentially lead to tensions between conflicting groups. formally, communication channels can be found in the form of citizen forums, village consultation meetings, and so forth that regularly bring together people from various circles. however, informal forums are also available through gathering places such as coffee shops, food stalls, and alternative media groups which could have a much more important role. to reychland, peace is a situation that must be created, but the process of peace-building must take place within an inclusive communication system. in contrast, in other writings reychland (1999) mentioned that peace that is built in an exclusive manner and controlled by hegemonic languages foster a fragile peace building7. second, integrative their social environment that is psychologically capable of creating a climate that allows inter-group interaction in the community. several social scientists such as putman (1993) and varsney (2003) referred to integrative social environment, as discussed by reychland, as part of social capital that should exist in society. putnam divided social capital into two forms, bonding and bridging. the former refers to the tendency of social groups to establish patterns of relations that are limited to one group identity, while the latter refers to the pattern of relations that connect different social ta; sekolah pascasarjana ugm. 2007), 21-217 6 luc reychland, researcher peace building architectur. (leuven: centre for peace research and strategic studies, 2006), p. 21-37 7 luc reychland. democratic peace-building and conflict prevention: the devil is in the transition, (leuven; university press, 1999) p. 24. [ 220 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 groups.8 this is confirmed also by varsney (2003) who formulated the same pattern of social relations which he called civic association, which is patterned with multi-ethnic relations, well-organized civic network or everyday civic network.9 third, the community leaders support peace in adequate proportion (critical mass of leadeship). according reychland public figures from various fields such as religious, political, economic, cultural, and media have an important role in maintaining peace. maluku conflict generally indicates that the escalation of conflict into violence occurs because mass mobilization was driven by influential leaders, either personally or backed by those who have political-economic resources. therefore, the presence of leaders supporting the peaceful situation with critical mass is essential to prevent the escalation of conflict. critical mass according to ahnaf (2013), refers to the strength of the influence of pro-peace leaders who are more powerful than than the those pro-conflict10. fourth, the realization of socio-political structure that supports the realization of justice in society. peaceful community has a stable political and economic situation. therefore reychland stressed the importance of economic and political transformation of the system to support the establishment of peace. although this is the ideal situation with relative level of success, it is important to notice that a peaceful situation (in the sense of free from physical violence) will not last long without the creation of social structure, political and economic justice. basically, social systems imagined by reychland (2009) through the pillars of peace that he described, intends to keep the social dynamics of the community in equilibrium, so that conflicts and social deviation in the community may continue to be controlled by a established social system.11 the divided ambon city according to some writers, as put forward by syafuan rozi (2006), the ambon conflict dramatically occurring throughout 1999 and 2004,12 has resulted in 8 robert putnam, making democracy work.(princeton; 1993), p. 163-181. 9 asutosh varshney, etnic conflict and civic life: hindus and muslims in india. (new haven: yale university, 2003). 10 mohammad iqbal ahnaf, mengelola keragaman dari bawah, ko-eksistensi santri-tionghoa di lasem kawa tengap. (yogyakarta; sekolah pascasarjana ugm, 2013), p. 191 11 george ritzerdan douglas j. goodman. sociological theory, translated by nurhadi, “teori sosiologi; dari teori sosiologi klasik sampai perkembangan mutakhir teori sosial moderen”. (yogyakarta: kreasi wacana, 2009), p. 258. 12 syafuan rozi, et al. kekerasan komunal; anatomi dan resolusi konflik di indonesia. (yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar dan lipi, 2006), p. 12 [ 221 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 thousands of deaths, injuries, and destruction of various public facilities and people’s homes. in addition, the impact of the conflict also resulted in the division of the maluku people into two communities, namely muslims and the christians. people who had lived and settled in a village consisting of diverse ethnic, racial and religious groups were displaced and separated, and gathered together or fused with their respective communities. after malino agreement implementation in 2002, the city of ambon has so far been slowly conducive, characterized by decreasing intensity of the conflict , weapon destruction, construction of public facilities and the return of refugees who had been displaced in various places (both in the city of ambon and other areas outside the maluku). however, the refugees faced the reality of trauma and fear to return to their homes and meet neighbors of different religions. so, generally the refugees chose a new settlement with homogeneous population, as reported by subakir et al (2008).13 christian refugees went back to the predominantly christian settlements, as well as muslim refugees who started to build their house in the settlements that are 100% muslim. most refugees initiated barter with those of different religion to acquire new homes in the settlement of the same religion. muslim communities generally inhabit the areas in waihaong, silale and scattered batumerah village whose inhabitants are increasingly crowded. some houses had to be built on the slopes of mountains and hills with safety concern and damaging the environment and preservation of nature. batu merah village which is not big was forced to accept thousands of refugees looking for a new place to live in the muslim village. meanwhile, the christian communities chose to live in the subdistrict of nusaniwe, such as latuhalat, amahusu, kudamati, batu gantung, wainitu and mangga dua. christian areas include karang panjang, ahuru and several other places in the areas of galala and paso in the subdistrict of baguala. in fact, the christian area looks wider than that occupied by the muslim community, but it still has crowded settlements. social segregation created sociologically is very worrying indeed. settlements built on group identities which are homogeneous and exclusive are unhealthy and will easily give rise to suspicion and social problems that may lead to the conflict. the reason is no other group will serve as a catalyst for the issues of conflict and dispute that arise in the community. in fact, it is expected that in a neighborhood where residents have different religions, social integration would occur and the opportunity to protect each other is higher. petter blau and schwartz (1984) mentioned the importance of heterogeneous situation to 13 subair, et al. segregasi pemukiman berdasarkan agama. (yogyakarta; graha guru, 2008), p. 73 [ 222 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 strengthen the dual loyalty in civic life14. it is as a consequence of being in the same dwelling. through heterogeneous relations, community members can maintain and protect each other. at the beginning it was mentioned that the ambon conflict presents an interesting dynamic, where the social system formed after the conflict tends to find a new pattern in the relations among the people. slowly but surely, the people of ambon (muslim and christian) try to find new forms of awareness about peace. that realization led to new forms that can be identified as an architectural model of peace formed in a divided society of the city. starting with the economic pressures, people have to make personal contacts and groups in the economic centers such as the market, and then shift to offices and other public arenas. at the same time the awareness began to appear to strengthen the of harmony in the midst of differences. society seeks to revitalize cultural symbols to find new values that can strengthen social equilibrium. then public awareness came closer for them to be together and help each other. this section will elaborate the architectural forms of peace that comes as part of what was mentioned by luc reychland (2006) in his description of the architecture of peace. dialog as a model of inclusive communication it seems that social segregation that is still strong, has raised a new awareness in the community to find ways to communicate with each other. such communication takes the model of inclusive dialog, both to discuss shared interests and obviously looking for opportunities to learn from each other. the dialog process was pioneered by religious groups, civil society, the academic community and even political forces. meanwhile, the youth community of various groups of hobbies and interests also began to promote peace movement, such as the phenomenon of peace journalism, pro-peace photographers, fans of hip-hop, etc. these groups are quite active in conducting dialog to create an active model of harmony. religious institutions in ambon have increasingly facilitated intensive interfaith dialogs. specifically, among the maluku protestant church, which officially made the concepts of inter-religious dialog as part of religious services.15 education and training curriculum for christian priests in maluku, began offering intensive study on inter-religious dialog: islam and christianity. 14 see research by peter michael blau dan joseph e. schwartz,crosscutting social circles: testing a macrostructural theory of interrelation(orlando: academic press. 1984) 15 interview with rev jecky manuputy. ambon, 19 september 2015. [ 223 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 no longer a study of comparative religion containing a slightly apologetic perspective. the strength of civil society that flourished in post-conflict period, also appears as a force which campaigns for the active model of harmony, as shown by a number of theologians and activists who joined the agency elai-em. since 2005 a number of activists of the institution have been focusing on consolidating public dialog related to various social problems, including religious theological issues. holding a public dialog to build mutual perception of some contemporary issues rolling in everyday public discourse in ambon city, such as hiv / aids, corruption and waste management. in addition, it also conducted a limited variety of interfaith meetings, to examine and map the development of the security situation from time to time. activist of the el-ai-em, wakano abidin said that the efforts to establish a dialog is a way to grow the characters, tolerant and religious life in ambon as part of an active harmony16. the participation of people from different groups of religion in religious events such as the mtq (qur’an recital festival), pesparawi and participation in securing houses of worship during the muslim holiday and christmas is a real form of active harmony. the community members are not only willing to respect differences, but also engage in concrete action to institutionalize the values of harmony as a way to build a tolerant life together. the emergence of local people “ peace provocateurs “ there are a number of elites in society who became patrons and leaders who are respected and followed by society, as pointed out by eisenstadt &roniger (1984).17 therefore reychland (2006) looked at the important role of local elites as a decisive variable in maintaining peace 18. in other words, the presence of actors for peace consisting of elites ambonese will increasingly be enlightening in proportion to increasingly being critical mass of leadership which is an essential part of describing the architecture of peace in ambon city today. local leaders who act as ‘provocateurs’ of peace can be found in two groups, formal and informal leaders. formal leaders usually are powerful figures in the world of politics and government, holding certain formal positions. 16 interview with abidin wakano, ambon, 28 august 2015 17 eisenstadt, s. n and l. roniger, patrons, clients and friends;interpersonal relations and the structure of trust in society(cambridge university press london, 1984) 18 luc reychland, researcher peace building architectur. (leuven: centre for peace research and strategic studies, 2006), p. 21-37 [ 224 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 however, this does not limit them playing an important role in promoting peace. meanwhile, the informal leaders are community leaders who lead traditional and religious institutions. during the conflict in maluku, many public figures, especially informal leaders, became sponsors of war and unrest. they became highly respected figures because they led ‘battle’ and assistance posts on behalf of ethnic groups. these leaders mobilized people in the conflict, and became leaders in the field. the presents of such informal leaders caused imbalance in the ratio between pro-conflict and propeace figures, so the efforts to strengthen peace froze. however, after the conflict was over, an interesting phenomenon occurred; informal leaders of pro-conflict successfully returned to their village of origin, gave room for the emergence of pro-peace figures, especially those coming from customary and religious leadership. indigenous leaders who are referred to here are the “kings” who lead the customary “lands” (villages) in ambon city, such as the batu merah king, soya king and passo king, and galala king. after the conflict, these appeared as a local leaders of the pro-peace. they strived to offer local knowledge as part of the social capital of peace in ambon city. they took the initiative to revitalize the concept of local fraternity such as pela and gandong to be more contextual and actual regarding social changes in the post-conflict period. this has been manifested in the panas pela inter-village rituals which were performed systematically after the conflict. the cultural approach is one of creative options to encourage a peace process that contain transformative values for local communities in ambon. for example, promoting a return to the spirit of pela and gandong among the younger generations through educational practices in schools such as in the activities of angkat pela antar-sekolah (promote pela between schools) or angkat pela antar kampus (promote pela between campuses) initiated by a number of schools and universities in ambon last year. these activities aimed to introduce the values of local wisdom to the younger generation since early age, as well as to strengthen brotherhood among the students. even in practical terms, it also serves as a school social capital to prevent possible conflicts between students (brawl). meanwhile, the role of religious leaders in ambon city also cannot be ignored, either from islamic circles that joined mui or leaders in the protestant church of maluku. generally they start to improve [ 225 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 dialog and mutual understanding and build new concepts to achieve tolerance between islam and christianity. chairman of the christian moluccan protestant church, jhon ruhulesin, rev jecky manuputty, rev lies marantika, etc. the leaders who led the church began to adopt the message of peace in the sermons material and church activities. they sometimes also ask for input and views of muslim leaders to the strategic policies of the church. the most prominent muslim groups are youth groups led by figures such as abidin wakano and youth leaders in waehaong and negeri batu merah. according to abidin wakano, some islamic leaders also began to develop the idea of the need to build unity for a better life together. however, there are several obstacles related to the quantity, structure of the islamic religious organizations that are still rigid and controlled by elders who still tend to be conservative and it poses an obstacle to the peace process. meanwhile, academics in higher educational institutions such as iain, stakpen and ukim also had a role in the search for academic concepts and ideas to support the fragile peace in maluku. good relations between local elites will make an important contribution to strengthening peace architecture. they indirectly establish peace in the configuration of the social network in ambon. the existence of public arena and social assimilation other efforts to bridge the social segregation are to build an integrated social climate in the community. it is in fact difficult, because as discussed earlier, the conflict has divided the people of ambon city in settlements separated by religion. so, to build social integration as understood in the structuralfunctional paradigm, is not easy. putnam (1993) argued that a possible step is to build a ‘bridge’ in the split society. a free public arena can also serve as an assimilating bridge. public arenas that have an important role in ambon the the market, offices, schools and centers of the informal meeting of residents in the form of a coffee shop that naturally strengthen the structure of growing peace. at this moment, there are more than 112 new coffee shops in ambon. coffee shops such as lela coffee shop, sibu-sibu, joas, and hatukau are favorite and always crowded with people of all walks of life in ambon city from morning to evening. in these coffee shops, the residents of ambon both from christian and muslim communities as well as other ethnic groups and social status [ 226 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 meet, just hanging out with colleagues, having business talks, or even lobbying political deal among local politicians. in local elections, for example, the elections of governor and mayor, the declaration of peace often takes place at coffee shops. this phenomenon above indicates the strengthening of public arena as a place of encounter for diverse social and political groups, and therefore should be maintained and enhanced. in many places the division of public arena based on communal identity plays an important role in the formation of mutual suspicion and hatred. this is because the distance or the demarcation of space restricts communication between different ethnic and religious groups. without communication space that allows corrections and clarifications on negative information or knowledge on the other, the seeds of hostility can easily grow back and develop into communal clash. however, it is increasingly difficult to develop in ambon, as it is now naturally clarified in intensified interaction in public arena. transformation of accommodative economic and political system another thing offered by reychland (2006) to see the architectural context of peace is an attempt to build the economic structure that empowers all groups of society, particularly local communities in ambon that have been marginalized by a hegemonic economic structure. the transformation of the political economy in question here is the extent to which the local economic and political structures in ambon has undergone substantial change of conditions before and during the conflict to a new order of awareness and open spaces of participation and legitimacy to all groups in ambon. as far as what can be observed, it seems that what mentioned above is still difficult to go through radical changes, because the system of informal economy in ambon city is still dominated by immigrants from bugis, makasar, buton and sumetara. the group is still the dominant traders in the local economic activities. bugis and makassar dominate the textile market, while goods of basic necessities are still likely controlled by buton merchants and the restaurant sector is still under control of people from west sumatra (padang). ambonese who want to enter into the economic activities mentioned are very few. however, there has been a shift in views among the native ambonese. they are interested in engaging in informal economic activities, although the number is still lacking. even the christian communities of ambon are slowly willing to be involved in non-formal economic activities. they began to engage in [ 227 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 trading activities in local markets such as in mardika and batu merah. they offered a variety of local snacks, fish and a variety of vegetables and fruit harvested from their farm or collected from butonese farmers around ambon. the awareness to improve work ethic and leave the ambtenar mentality behind apparently grew more in socio-economic practices in ambom city today. even admirably local communities in ambon also started to work various jobs which in the past had been taboo to do. for example, working as pedicab driver was regarded as a low class job that had been done by groups of migrants from bugis and buton. currently many native ambonese are found on the main streets in the city offering pedicab ride, motorcycle taxi and city transportaion. the context of systematic changes in local politics is shown by the growing political consensus to create a distribution of political power that involves all parties. local consensus in ambon always demands politicians of different faiths to share a role in political offices and local bureaucracy. top jobs as mayor and deputy mayor for example are always assumed by political figures of different religions, such as the current mayor is held by richard louhanapesy (christian) and syam latuconsina (muslim). besides filling positions in the bureaucracy, more aspects of balance are considered based on religious distribution. the point is political consensus about the balance based on religion, driving the transformation of politics, so that it is not hegemonic and only de facto controlled by one particular religious group. it also aims to eliminte political jealousy which can trigger antagonism and conflict within society. as discussed above that one of the roots of the conflict in maluku is the fact that the political power struggle that used religious setting. campaign of pluralism and multiculturalism pluralism and multiculturalism are basically two new discourses emerging in response to various conflicts in the name of religious, ethnic and interest groups that occurred in the past decade. pluralism and multiculturalism are basically not only related to the diversity of religions, ethnicities and cultures, but also related to equality. the emergence of pluralism based on the effort to eliminate the truth claim which often leads to a process of getting rid of the other group. in the context of ambon today, attempts to bring pluralism and multiculturalism as a conceptual framework for building peace in the city has also been increasingly done by various institutions, such as ngos, religious institutions and colleges. such institutions are trying to internalize the discourse of pluralism and multiculturalism both in the context of academic and practical terms in the local people’s life. they make it as a campaign [ 228 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 theme, religious slogan, a vision of institution or cultural conversations in public arenas and, of course, in the academic world. there is even a university formally adopting both of the concepts as part of the institution’s vision and mission. pluralism is demonstratively used by malaku protestant church (gpm) in framing religious dialogs. pluralism is usually paired with the practices of local wisdom such as pela and gandong. when celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2015, the gpm’s main theme was pluralism as outlined in the text of the church and public campaign.19 the discourse of pluralism is considered as the extraction of the experience of protracted conflict. lis marantika of maluku protestant church (gpm) said that promoting pluralism at the maluku protestant church is in line with the spirit of the brotherhood in our sacred religious and moral messages20. what lis marantika said certainly supports empirical justification if one looks at the whole process of the transformation of post-conflict maluku protestant church which significantly continues the program to encourage an understanding of pluralist religious practice in maluku. for gpm leaders, ambon and maluku society can set pluralism as a new narrative to glue themselves in diversity. and the process is done through egalitarian dialog, and the revitalization of the values of local wisdom in maluku that is progressive and contextual in the interpretation of the scripture texts. in line with the church, a christian college21, maluku christian university (ukim), is also doing campaigns of being a “campus of brotherhood”, which according to its president is a campus that will provide knowledge to all students regardless of religion and ethnicity22. meanwhile, the muslims continue to campaign on the concept of multiculturalism as a social discourse to express the spirit of brotherhood. even the state institute of islamic studies (iain) ambon incorporates multiculturalism as the primary vision and a central theme that frames the entire academic activities. multiculturalism has been adopted in the academic curriculum of all study programs, student activities and other academic activities. as part of the implementation of the vision of multiculturalism, in 2015 a number of students from the department of sociology of religion iain ambon sent interns to the maluku protestant church (gpm). the internship at the church is one of the important breakthrough by any iain in building students’ understanding and knowledge of diversity and difference. 19 term of reference(tor) of the these for 80th anniversary of gpm maluku held at dobo aru islands, september 2015. 20 interview with rev lis marantika. dobo, 3 september 2015. 21 as to compare, syahmidi (2014) also reported that education of multiculturalism is also condected by a chatolic school in palangka raya to promote multicultural education. 22 interview with agustinus batlajery. ambon, 11 september 2015 [ 229 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 by learning the difference directly (by experiance), students are expected to have an attitude and character that respects differences and can be friendly to other groups who have different beliefs. as a form of multicultural practice, in 2015 and for the first time in the history of the college, iain ambon admitted christian students. according to dr. subair who is also chairman of the department of sociology of religion at iain ambon, academic activities to foster a multicultural insights will be increased. it has even been planned for 2016, and will encourage student exchange programs between stakpen and iain ambon. the program is to send students to follow the lectures in the curriculum where there are similarities between iain ambon and stakpen ambon after a decade of conflict in maluku, it appears that the architectural concept of peace as envisioned by luc reychland (2006) has been created gradually and naturally. this increases the trust between citizens. trust has allowed different and segregated groups in society to be no longer involved in acts of violence or to attack each other based on religious motives. criminal occurrences will not be easy to trigger communal violence anymore. in the context of substantive peace architecture, it certainly does not deny the existence of conflict and tension as a social phenomenon present in society. but as is the case in a democratic society, conflict simply serves as a form of social dynamics. a good social system would be able to keep competition and contestation from leading to destructive conflict. future developments will be neutralized through the structures of peace that has been created in the community. as discussed in this study, the architecture of peace in question is inclusive communication systems, media blending, pro-peace local leaders and socio-political and economic structures that are accommodating and fair for everyone. these are the peaceful social developments in the city of ambon, although everyone should always be aware of the potential conflict. challenges of religious radicalism and political identity although this article has shown various positive developments on peace in ambon city and new values attached to them, along with that there are still some potential conflicts that need to be watched , particularly related to the threat of religious radicalism and practices of political identity. among islamic circles, radicalism network still has institutionalized cultural roots since the conflict occurred. movements built by radical groups such as laskar jihad and mujahideen still leave bases of [ 230 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 inherited cultural religious worldview that tends to be exclusive.23 these groups were born of the ex-combatants who did not return to their home. they settled in ambon and built new religious movements and groups different from the religious movement that existed during the conflict. according to the records of national counter terrorism agency (bnpt), this movement call itself salafi that simply cannot be categorized as a terrorist movement, but in the long run, if not handled with care, it will lead to a radical exclusivism which is hard and rigid24. although not too prominent, in christian circles there are also religious groups that have a religious view which tends to be exclusive as well. they display the christian understanding which is likely to be different to the one developed by the maluku protestant church. exclusive christian groups tend to be aggressive and are considered less tolerant. yance z. rumahuru said that this group comes from the radical charismatic and pentecostal christian church that are usually aggressive in their mission25. the pretext is looking for the lost sheep in maluku. in fact, sometimes they also denominate other christians who are not like-minded. however it seems that this group is not dominant, so their religious views are less thriving in religious discourse in maluku. in addition to religious radicalism, another challenge that needs to be watched is the phenomenon of identity politics. identity politics is basically a part of the efforts of ethnic, religious communities, and cultures to be accommodated in the local political system. but it’s worrisome when displayed in ambon which is recovering from the wounds of conflict. the phenomenon of identity politics can bring back religious and ethnic sentiments easily leading to violent mobilization. patterns operationalization of identity politics can be encountered in the reality as what happened in the community indicated by the number of conflicts of interest and the phenomenon of sectoral ego in ambon, among others: first, identity politics is shown by the rampant issue of ethnicity and symptoms primordialism promoted through religious issues and ethnicity in important moments such as local elections and legislative elections. similarly, native and immigrant ethnic issues also contain majority and minority sentiments. second, 23 see tulisan eko prasetyo, memahami wajah para pembela agama,potret gerakan islam dalam pusaran arus global. (yogyakarta: insist,2002). 24 laporan bnpt dan policy brief, memperkuat inisiatif islam moderat dan mendorong peran gerakan salafi tentang isu anti-terorisme di maluku. tt, 25 interview with yance z. rumahuru. ambon, september 2015 [ 231 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 in the context of identity politics maluku, it also uses the religious ‘expression’ that contains the tendency of “geting rid” of other groups who are considered minorities. based on both of the operationalization patterns, identity politics seems likely to distort the inclusive religious insight being built in malukue especially in the last decade, and efforts to increase the political role of local groups in ambon city continue to take a political identity setting.26 local elections have teased elite and political actors to consolidate political interests in the name of religion and ethnicity that is actually quite dangerous for peace building. conclusion this study indicates that although there are still many problems related to the construction of peace, current social dynamics give hope that the architecture for peace is intensifying in the city of ambon. in connection with these dynamics, there are some records that can be used as an important conclusion. first, the process of peace building in the city of ambon has been going on in a participatory manner in various walks of social life, politics, economy and culture. second, in the perspective of peace architecture imagined by reychland, the peace in the city of ambon has a good potential to develop into a structure potential of getting stronger in the future. it is characterized by the strengthening of the models of increasingly inclusive social dialog and communication between people especially those initiated by religious institutions, civil society and traditional institutions. the development of new public arenas such as markets and coffee shops are also becoming increasingly important assimilation media to bring together people from various religious groups in the city of ambon. meanwhile, the emergence of peace leaders from both muslims and christians who campaign on the values of brotherhood and peace has become a positive example for the people to make peace with those of different religions and cultures. third, this study also warns that although the architecture of peace in ambon is getting stronger and evolves to a more positive trend, the people of ambon should be wary of the growth of radical religious ideologies that to a certain extent still exist in public life both among muslims and christians. at the 26 dirk tomsa, electoral democracy in devided society; the 2008 gubernatorial electon in maluku, indonesia. journal of south east asia research, 17, 2, pp 229–259, 2008. [ 232 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 same time, the charm of identity politics that emerged in the local political momentum such as general elections and local elections must also be addressed with caution, because it can indirectly bear primordial and ethnocentric attitudes that are harmful to the development of peace in the future. references ahnaf, mohammad iqbal. 2013. mengelola keragaman dari bawah, ko-eksistensi santr-tionhoa di lasem kawa tengah. yogyakarta; sekolah pascasarjana ugm. bertrand, jacques. 2004. nationalism anda ethnic conflict in indonesia. new york: cambridge university press. blau, peter michael & joseph e. schwartz. 1984. crosscutting social circles: testing a macrostructural theory of interrelation. orlando: academic press. denzin, n.k. & ys. lincoln. 1994. handbook of qualitatif research. california: sage publication. eisenstadt, s. n and l. roniger. 1984. patrons, clients and friends;interpersonal relations and the structure of trust in society. london: cambridge university press. ernas, saidin. 2012. “policy of social conflict resolution; implementation of the malino agreement.” in journal of govermant and politics, volume 3. nomor 2. j., hasse. 2016. “dinamika hubungan islam dan agama lokal di indonesia: penagalaman towani tolotang di sulawesi selatan.” in wawasan. vol. 1. no. 2. p: 179-186. l. eck, diana. 2001. new religious america; how a cristian country has become the world most religiousy diversity nation. new york: the continum internastional publishing. parekh, biku. 2008. rethinking multiculturalism, keragaman budaya dan teori politik. yogyakarta: kanisius. pranawati, rita. 2011. kebebasan beragama dan integrasi sosial. jakarta: center for study of religion and culture (csrc). prasetyo, eko. 2002. memahami wajah para pembela agama,potret gerakan islam dalam pusaran arus global. yogyakarta: insist. [ 233 ] a l a l b a b volume 5 number 2 december 2016 putnam, robert. 1993. making democracy work. usa: princeton. reychland, luc. 2006. researcher peace building architectur. leuven: centre for peace research and strategic studies. ------------1999. democratic peace-building and conflict prevention: the devil is in the transition. leuven: university press. ritzer, george. 1992. sosiologi ilmu pengetahuan berparadigma ganda. jakarta; rajawali press. rozi, syafuan (at al.). 2006. kekerasan komunal; anatomi dan resolusi konflik di indonesia. yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar dan lipi. subair (at al.),. 2008. segregasi pemukiman berdasarkan agama. yogyakarta: graha gur. syahmidi. 2014. ‘implementasi pendidikan multikultural dengan model kepemimpinan demokrasi kepala sekolah menengah atas katolik st. petrus kanisius palangka raya. in jurnal studi islam dan masyarakat. vol. 8. no. 2. p: 156-183. tomsa, dirk. 2008. “electoral democracy in devided society; the 2008 gibernatorial electon in maluku, indonesia.” in journal of south east asia research, 17, 2, p: 229–259. varshney, asutosh. 2003. etnic conflict and civic life: hindus and muslims in india. new haven: yale university. [ 103 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 trans-religious identity from the edge? promoting interfaith dialogue among transgender community in yogyakarta achmad fawaid iai nurul jadid paiton probolinggo email: fawaidachmad@gmail.com abstract transgender issues, including those who have been called as ‘waria’, are diverse, complex, and evolving, particularly in indonesia where the most inhabited people are muslims commonly bringing with them any sexual and, sadly, religious streotype to waria as marginal(ized) individuals. this paper aims to raise a question of our primordial understanding and religious experience on the existence of transgender community. it focused on an empirical study of kebaya (keluarga besar komunitas waria yogyakarta), yogyakarta’s center for transgendered, which is an ngo developed by transvestites in yogyakarta to strunggle against prejudice, acceptance, and hiv aids. this study is not specificly to analyze their social relation, but importantly how the ngo became a shared space of interfaith dialogue and a representation of religios life among transgender people in yogyakarta, including the ways they build socio-cultural-religious relation with other people and religious figures. it would be analyzed under socio-anthropological approach to religion by which this study reflect them as a part of certain community who had special position in terms of interreligious dialogue. the implication of this study suggests that interfaith dialogue is possible, not only among the inner-circle of mainstream religious believers, but also among and from the edge community: from those who often feel ostracized within today’s trans-population in indonesia. keywords: transgender community, interreligious dialogue, kebaya introduction the relationship between transgender and religion varies widely around the world. religions range from condemning any gender variance to honoring transgender people as religious leader. in indonesia, promoting interreligious tolerance, dialogue, and sympathy among transgender people are challanging but too risky, since the most conservative muslims and believers in this country had accused them as having to do with sexual orientation rather than identity.2 what’s special about transgender people is their self-understanding 2 koeswinarno, “islamic response to transexuality in indonesia”, a paper presented in southeast asian consorsium on gender, sexuality, and sexual health, (salaya, thailand, 2003), [ 104 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 and self-expression when it comes to gender with religion. there are two general types of binary gender (male and female), and waria is regarded as the third gender. however, the term waria, in some extents, is problematic. it could be related to the extent to which waria is socially perceived in the certain communities. in the toilets of trs (taman remaja surabaya), for instance, waria’s identity seems to be adjusted with male (pria), not female (wanita). there are only two toilets there indicating: “wanita” dan “pria/waria”.3 it means that waria is not a kind of gender category apart from both of them. tom boellstroff refers waria to male transvestites or male transgender.4 transgender people also include persons with intersex conditions, such as external genitalia not easily classified as male or female, variant development of internal reproductive organs or variations in sex chromosomes.5 consequently, they have inflexible attitude; their bodies are men, but the ways they walk, talk, and dress up are like women. 6 ben murtagh, in genders and sexualities in indonesian cinema (2013), quoted a pyschiatrist’s definition of the three types of transgender, or commonly called in indonesia as wadam or banci: the first is the transsexual (transexualisme) group, that is those who have the body of men but the souls of women. the second is the transvestite group (transvestisme), who are those who have the bodies of men but get sexual pleasure by performing the activities of women or those who have feminine characteristics. the third group is known as wadam kaleng, or banci kaleng. that is men who wear women’s clothes for profit or who merely have an adventurous spirit.7 p. 2. the short of it is that islamic law forbids men to dress and adopt the mannerisms of women, and vice versa. unsurprisingly, the image of a bunch of transsexuals facing mecca with their dicks dangling underneath their jilbāb gives some parts of islamic society the heebie-jeebies. not only in islam, the conservative christian people commonly note that the book of genesis in the hebrew scriptures (a.k.a. old testament) describe how god created adam as a male and eve as a female. many conservatives feel that god restricted each gender to specific roles in the family, faith group, government, and other areas of life. they may feel threatened by thoughts of a newborn being created by god as being of one gender and then having that person change gender later in life: ‘gender confused’. 3 tom boellstroff, “playing back in the nation: waria, indonesia transvesties”, cultural anthropology. vol. 19, no. 2 (may, 2004), p. 182. 4 ibid, p. 161-162. 5 chris glaser, “gender identity and our faith community,” a guide for advocacy, published by human right campaign. online download: http://www.hrc.org/resources/ gender-identity-and-our-faith-communities-a-congregational-guide-for-transg. (the last access: august 15th, 2016). this guide had strongly contributed to idea of this paper in terms of promoting trans-religious identity among transgender community. 6 koeswinarno, hidup sebagai waria (yogyakarta: lkis, 2004), pp. 1-5 7 ben murtagh, genders and sexualities in indonesian cinema: contructing gay, lesbi, and [ 105 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 shortly, the term waria is an amalgamation of the indonesian word for woman, wanita, and the word for man, pria, which has been coined to describe the transgendered population in indonesia. these days in yogyakarta society has buttonholed its warias into a specific category of entertainers (namely buskers and street artists), beauticians and sex workers, because they are deemed socially unacceptable in other professions. waria’s life in indonesia has a long story. a historical tradition of gemblak or ludruk in east java suggests that there were women acted by men. in such tradition, they have a cultural position in the light of art performance, but they have socially been marginalized because they are often associated with prostitution.8 today it is ironically recognized that there is lack of exact calculation on amount of waria in yogyakarta. firstly, no institutions, either private or state, carefully collected data of waria. the social board (dinas sosial) of yogyakarta never made an inventory database of their life. secondly, the main organization of waria, known as iwayo (ikatan waria yogyakarta),9 has not been followed by majority of waria in yogyakarta, as it is difficult to get an access about numbers of waria. thirdly, waria is a community with high mobility, since many warias in yogyakarta are immigrants from other cities. the social rejection highly contributed to the unacceptable and marginalized condition of waria. there is also politization of identity in which waria has insufficient bargaining position to be voter or political leader. the unclear card identity, difficult profession, social stereotype, and small amount of quantity are common causes of social distrust to them in the level of political government.10 the human right is another issue mostly associated to waria. the discrimination to them has still occurred, as some ngos which concern waria identities on screen, (abingdon, oxon, new york: routledge, 2003), p. 33. 8 koeswinarno, waria dan penyakit menular seksual, (yogyakarta: pusat penelitian kependudukan ugm, 1996), pp. 12-14. 9 the (f)actualization of waria in yogyarkata society occurred in june, 1980. at that time, an artist, the late yoyok aryo succeed to gather waria around yogyakarta and contacted persatuan wartawan indonesia (pwi) yogyakarta branch on june 13th, 1980 to declare community of diy waria. however, program’s intensity of community slowly decreased until it transformed into newer community called iwayo (ikatan waria yogyakarta) leaded by christine tambroni. main focused agenda of this community is social agendas for waria. koeswinarno, ibid, pp. 64-65. later, on december 18th, 2006, due to massive cases of hiv/ aids suffered waria, kebaya (keluarga besar komunitas waria) was built to deal with it. this ngo also advocates empowerment and protection to waria with hiv/aids. 10 koeswinarno, “islamic response to transexuality in indonesia”, a paper presented in konsorsium on gender, sexuality, and sexual health in southeast asia, salaya, thailand, 2003. this work focused two major studies: islamic law and muslims’ social response to the existence of waria, and their influence on production of social streotype to the boarder transgender community in indonesia. [ 106 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 about humanity and gender attempted to advocate them for better social relation. however, social discrimination has been unfinished hitherto. among these crucial issues, there is rarely discussed one: inter-religious issue. it is important to notice that waria is commonly regarded as people with transgender characteristics, hiv/aids, and other social stereotypes, such as bancing, bencong, and the like. however, it is considerable to question on their religious life. are they religious community? how do they conduct interreligious dialogue with elites of religious groups? these questions are inteded to stimulate further exploration of their religious lives. it has been also guide-assistance for this research in perceiving waria in the light of religious perspective. waria are positioned as people who have certain religious values and practices. however, there are some exceptions by which waria are commonly called as “non-religious” or “confused-religious” or “blasphemed-religious” people with the different ways. this research is aimed to study whole population of waria in yogyakarta. the samples are represented into community based waria, kebaya (keluarga besar komunitas waria), an ngo concerning about empowerment of waria and dealing with hiv/aids care. the former and executive of the community, mami vk, has argued that kebaya is historically an extension of iwayo (ikatan waria yogyakarta) built on may 1st, 1983. in kebaya, there are four members with different religions.11 however, as mami vk said, they have full respect to their own religious experiences among each other. the inter-religious issue is sensitive but important problem to discuss in a relation with waria community in yogyakarta. this is sensitive due to fact that in recent development, the members of kebaya are still difficult to worship outside of their own community, so it is important to discover how they interact with the others in the context of religious activities. this research is aimed, one of them, to portray this issue. literature review the research themes concerning with waria, or transgender in general, have been commonly discussed in the field of medical, political, social, and cultural aspects. however, interreligious issues withing this spectrum of literatures are rarely under main analysis. some sources are highly contributing to this research. koeswinarno’s seminal works, hidup menjadi waria (2004)12 and waria dan penyakit menular seksual (1996) are primary sources initially 11 they are sr, aj, and wn (moslems) and kr (christian). 12 koeswinarno, hidup sebagai waria (yogyakarta: lkis, 2004). [ 107 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 exploring waria’s life in yogyakarta. a major theme of these books is sociocultural arena related to future of waria. for koeswinarno, waria has low social acceptance as “normal” community, so they should reformulate their strategies to survive in the future. there would be two remaining choices: become homosexual or genital circumscision. this book is important in building the initial framework for this study, but koewinarno does not discuss in more details the inter-religious experiences of waria in yogyakarta. in gender, sexualities in indonesian cinema: constructing gay, lesbi, and waria identities on screen (2003), ben murtagh explores how lesbian, gay, and transgender subjectivities have been portrayed, and understood, in indonesian cinema from 1971 until 2008, such as gadis metropologis, istana kecantikan, and arisan!. by queer viewing of these film, murtagh resulted in a valuable contribution to understand gender and sexuality in indonesia that will be rewarding read for all those interested in indonesia, film, and queer subjectivities. in analysing films and revealing audience viewing strategies, murtagh shows that films cannot simply be criticised as negative presentations or praised as positive ones, but rather that complexity characterises both production and viewing strategies. in chapter 2, murtagh explores portrayals of waria is removed to assert maeness over performative feminity. although the films selected reveal a kind of normalness about being waria, murtagh frames waria as asexual figures of fun, and consequently has little concern with their religious life. meanwhile, tom boellstorff, in his article “playing back the nation: waria, indonesian transvestites” (2004)13 has clearly explained social relation of waria in taman remaja surabaya (trs). boellstrof perceived waria’s subjectivity in the contested point of identity between male (pria) and female (wanita). for boellstorff, trs is a space in which waria identity is socially admitted. boelstorff provides an example of toilet in trs which is initially named with “wanita” dan “pria” in the nameplate, and now it has been changed into “wanita” dan “pria/waria”. the result pointed out that in indonesia; waria’s subjectivity is commonly based on their performance, not their identity status. in this article, boelstorff also clarifies a little bit of waria’s perception about their god. for him, waria believed that “become waria” is a gift from god which can’t be refused. this article is important for this research, but it does not futher explore the ways waria involved with interreligious dialogue with elites of religious groups. next year, after the previous article has been published, tom boellstorff did 13 tom boellstor ff, “playing back in the nation: waria, indonesia transitives”, cultural anthropology. vol. 19, no. 2 (may, 2004), pp. 159-195. [ 108 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 additional research of waria in the light of homosexuality in indonesia. his article “between religion and desire: being muslim and gay in indonesia” (2005)14 provide an exploration of gays’ perception and position in religion. boellstorff attempts to discuss homosexuality in relation with religion, but the subject of his study is not waria, but gays. for boellstorff, gay community has been more influenced by orthodoxy of islamic doctrine which positioned them as part of sodom. however, some of them have argued that what happens in them is a destiny that neither can’t be changed nor refused. in some extents, this article is helpful for building a theoretical framework for this study in drawing a relationship between waria and religion, but in other extents it does not explain interreligious dialogue in which gays have been involved in their daily basis. this research is exactly at position to provide a landscape of waria’s religious patterns and their participation in building an interreligious dialogue with elites of religious groups. regarding with some relevant literatures above, this study suggests that social stereotype, as koeswinarno (2004) argued, is very influential on the ways waria perceives their god. this study is also affirmative to murtagh and boellstorff ’s works that waria believed that “become waria” is a blessed gift from god. however, this study resulted in different hypothesis from what murtagh and bollstorff did. in the case of sin, for instance, not all waria believe that “become waria” is a gift; some of them have been doubly said that “become waria” can be sinful under certain circumstances. this study also takes a different position from these sources in its analysis on how waria have conducted interreligious dialogue with elites of religious groups. a short capture of kebaya development and institution in yogyakarta kebaya is the only center for transgendered people with its mission on empowerment of waria in social, cultural, and health care. kebaya is an extension of iwayo (ikatan waria yogyakarta) built on may 1st, 1983. the transformation of iwayo into kebaya are result of the fact that iwayo did not really concerned about hiv/aids issues in waria community. the ngo with its notarial deed no. 38/22 january 2007 is aimed to reach a main goal: “waria yogyakarta would be free from hiv/aids”. this institution is based at gowongan lor jt iii/148 yogyakarta, approximately 30 meters from crossroads of yogyakarta monument. like other ngos, kebaya is organized in the structural division, including consultant (gkr hemas, dr. 14 tom boellstroff, “between religion and desire: being muslim and gay in indonesia”, american anthropologist, new series, vol. 107, no. 4 (december, 2005), pp. 575-585. [ 109 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 yw, s. ph. d.), director/manager (mami vk), field coordinator (am), case manager (rm), finance (ys), and field officers (yr, wa, ta, sa, sa). kebaya has been supported by its members’ subsidies. it also builds institutional relationship with some funding, such as unaids, hivos, and gf. among many programs of kebaya, the empowerment of waria with odha (orang dengan hiv aids/people with hiv aids) is the most important. this community has conducted care-support treatments and vct test regularly in the six areas of waria communities in yogyakarta.15 in the scientific level, kebaya has involved with both individual and collective researches about waria by means of making relation with some universities in yogyakarta. it has also produced a documentary film about waria and waria photo exhibition. religious life kebaya did not have a special program to cover religious based activities as well as religious background of every waria in the six places of yogyakarta. such agenda is challenging in the sense of that waria life could be regarded as “mysterious” or “non-panoptical”. instead of taking clear identity, today’s debate is on adequacy of legal identity of gender in their identity cards. however, it does not mean that kebaya has no concerns with religious practices. pesantren al-fatah is one of islamic organizations together with kebaya for development of waria. this islamic institution is specialized for giving islamic education to waria. some lecturers of uin sunan kalijaga have been involved in this institution. 16 the senin-kamis school (“mondaythursday” in indonesian, the two days of the week school is in session) is another religious institution founded in 2008 as a safe place for transgender muslims to practice their faith without judgement or ridicule.17 additionally, kebaya also builds some initiatives of interreligious dialogue with some elites of religious groups. this is what will be further discussed on the special chapter. generally speaking, the interreligious dialogue between 15 in the data base profile, kebaya stands with eight waria communities, such as kricak community (sidomulyo) with 39 members, badran community with 19 members, lempuyangan and solo street community with 33 members, sleman community with 25 members, bantuk community with 42 members, and other communities with 71 members. what makes this database unique is because it only includes of name, place, and date of birth, home town, last educational level, and occupation. there is no information about religion in the data base. kebaya team, “database pendampingan waria lsm kebaya diy per-31 mei 2011”, yogyakarta: lsm kebaya (unpublished). 16 one of uin sunan kalijaga lecturers actively involving in al-fatah islamic institution is muzayyin, brother of abdul muiz ghazali, an activist of nahdlatul ulama indonesia. 17 more details on the senin-kamis school of waria are available on hannah brooks, “warias, come out, and plaaayayay”, p. 1. [ 110 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 kebaya members and religious elites is not formal one in the ceremonial events. it takes a form of personal encounter between both of them. kebaya located at the housing in which most residents are muslims. kebaya building takes a place near to the muslim family houses. my interview with mami vk and some residents resulted in a fact that there is relatively no conflict between kebaya members and their neighbors. rather, the neighbors have high tolerance with the existence of this ngo in participating some empowerment events of waria in yogyakarta. there are four members living in this base camp. three of them are muslims, and another one is christian. however, they are seemingly accommodated in harmonious relation each other. moreover, for them, talking about “religion”, is something “strange”, because the religion is a private bussiness. “waria religion as trans-identity”18 how to define waria religion? the term waria religion is not intended to indicate that waria’s religion is different from religion which other people formally embrace. instead, this term is used to emphasize the importance of religion for waria and to show that waria has own transcendental spirit just like other religious people. the waria religion, here, is defined as trans-religious identities and patterns practiced by waria as well as the ways people responded them in social context. to further explain waria religion in a relation with interreligious dialogue, the first thing to do is to draw out their religious experiences in the term of worship, sin, and destiny, and then to seek for practical possibilities in which they are involved in interreligious dialogue with other waria, society, and elites of religious groups. worship the transgender people, including waria, tend to define worship as personal activity. although worship also has social impact, they find it risky to get this chance. it comes from the difficulties as well as dilemmas to perform worship in public places, such as in mosque or church. mami vk told about how difficult for him, and other warias, to perform friday prayer in the public mosque. 18 conceptually, term ‘waria’s religion’ is modified from term agama pelacur popularized by nur syam in his agama pelacur: dramaturgi transendental (yogyakarta: lkis, 2011). in this book, syam tried to discover religious life of a prostitute using social dramaturgy analysis. this subtitle is also trying to explain religious experience of waria, but the targeted output is about how the experience influences waria in building interreligious dialogue with elites of religious people. [ 111 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 that is the problem (about performing prayer in mosque). i am confused how to behave. we don’t perform friday prayer not because we don’t want to do it. we just think about how other people feel and think of us while performing friday prayer. instead of being focus in prayer, they will feel bothered enough.19 it suggests an unfinished social problem in waria’s daily worship activity. friday prayer for every moslem male is ‘obliged’ not to perform because of social stereotype. however, the statement we just think about how people feel and think of us while praying implies a concession that every muslim shouldn’t do due to equality doctrine of all human being while practicing prayer. because of worship they perform tends to regard with their personal intimacy with god, command to perform worship is not obeyed with sense of compulsion at all. “for me, religion is about pleasantness in performing worships,”20 mami vk said. it also suggests that that waria, in some extents, is more religious than common religious people. during observation, mami vk seems never force or commands other warias to perform prayers even though mami vk was born in a strong religious family. “you all are moslems, so just do the prayers,” is that mami vk kept saying to kebaya’s members. it points out that actually waria’s religious responsibility to god is strong enough. although they are marginalized in social life, they still consider and do believe in god’s existence as an ultimate source for every gift and things they have now. sin warias have different interpretation of a sin. at least, based on their interpretation, they can be divided into two categories, i.e. those who consider that being waria is sinful, and others who think that it doesn’t matter to be waria (in other word, the later category seems to consider that waria is a blessed destiny). the former group is mainly influenced by islamic doctrine of lot’s story and sodom people. although some verses talking about prophet lot’s story are still problematic, they really influence the way waria look at themselves as well as interpret the meaning of sin especially in taking sexual intercourse with the same sex.21 19 interview with mami vk, on february 20, 2014, at kebaya basecamp. 20 interview with mami vk, on february 20, 2014, at kebaya basecamp. 21 due to islamic perspective, zina or adultery is generally defined as illegal relationship between men and women, while anal sex which is usually performed with the same sex is sinful. however, sinful aspect of those two practices need to be further discussed and explained, [ 112 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 well, based on lot’s story, we are not sodom people. sodom consists of gay and lesbian instead of waria. those people wanted to take sexual intercourse with angels, but we don’t want the same. we liked to do it with handsome men. it is undeniable about strange feeling when i listen to the story. feeling guilty and sinful is probably true, but it is the destiny. then what should we do?22 it suggests that lot’s story still influences on the ways waria makes a meaning, understand, and interpret a sin. here, essence of sin is specially interpreted in a matter of sexual relation no matter what the condition beyond the relation is, such as amounts of sexual partners or treatment during the sexual activity. however, there is also waria who interprets the sin in practical frame. in our short conversation, wn told: i think it depends on your deeds. generally, all religions dislike us. however, in a matter of sinful or not, it is all about choice. if both parts in any relation are willing to do, there is no sin then. but, taking sexual intercourse with several partners may be sinful, because it is also bad for health. 23 a reasons behind such consideration of “sinful” waria is strongly practical. according to wn, a matter of sin in being waria depends on how waria interacts with the partner. when both parts are glad and willing for the relationship, the sin can be decreased or erased at all. meanwhile, for wn, waria can also get sin if for not keeping god’s blessing by taking sexual intercourse with several partners which is so risky to suffer hiv/aids. destiny this is actually regarded with previous depiction on whether it is sinful to be a waria. in this case, warias usually assume that ‘being waria’ is not sinful, because it is a destiny even a god’s blessing. god created them as warias for his own will and they can’t neither deny nor reject it. refusing god’s gift is precisely a sinful thing, because god has determined them to be waria. so that’s why, there is no reason to say that being because al-quran only mentions lot’s people instead of sodomi or gomorrah. meaning to say, homosexual relationship is excluded in sinful actions category. stephen o. murray and will roscoe, “conclusion”, islamic homosexuality: culture, history and literature, eds. murray and roscoe, new york: new york university press, 1997, p. 307. 22 interview with sr, february 20, 2014, at kebaya base camp. 23 interview with wn, february 20, 2014, at kebaya basecamp. [ 113 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 waria is a sinful one. i am not willing to be a waria, but this is god’s gift. i never tried to change my self into a woman, but since i was a child, i had had feminine characters. therefore, i just want to keep the body and soul god gave me. there are few people who intentionally change penis into vagina, such as dorce. i don’t want to be like them. this is a god’s gift, i will never change it. i will keep it as always.24 what mami vk told above suggests that being a waria is not sinful, because it is god the most merciful’s blessed gift. as a waria, mami vk believes that none dreamed or wanted to be waria, but since we was born, we was as we is and our fate is nothing but being a waria. therefore, mami vk just receives and keeps everything on his hand. for mami vk, sinfulness is not being a waria, but trying to change what god gave into something else which is different. being a waria is a fate and everyone gets the fate has to receive what god wants them to be. about it, mami vk firmly said. if i changed my genital, would i get pregnant? is it possible for me having womb? i wouldn’t, would i? when the angel asked me where the god’s gift is, i will not able to answer if i had removed it. otherwise, if i pass away, i will not care whether i will be showered in a way people use for female corpse or male one. i don’t care at all.25 mami vk’s conviction about destiny is really important here, especially about waria’s self confidence. considering “being waria” as a destiny even blessing is a kind of last fort they have when they regret about themselves as well as what they done so far. this is also closely related with how they interpret sexuality essence as a part of desire, because everyone has a desire and denying it is just a sinful one. waria and interfaith dialogue kebaya is an active ngo involved with contributing and building interfaith dialogue with society, other warias, and elites of religious people at yogyakarta. surely here, the dialogue has three definitions. firstly, dialogue and meeting 24 interview with mami vk, february 20, 2013, at kebaya basecamp. 25 interview with mami vk, february 20, 2013, at kebaya basecamp. [ 114 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 of different perspective; secondly, concrete and real meeting with religious people; and thirdly, self-empowerment to open with the others in dialogue. by attending face to face dialogue, waria has actually involved in multi-perspective dialogue, between waria’s perspective and religious people’s perspective. there are two perspectives used in defining interreligious dialogue. the first is coming from st. sunardi’s idea in “the dead end of religious dialogue in indonesia” (2001).26 for sunardi, today’s idea of dialogue is very limited. in indonesia, the interreligious dialogue tends to be elitist, in which this activity is commonly undertaken and coordinated by the governmental institutions, including minister of religious affairs. consequently, the dialogue is merely aimed to protect the believers from proselytism (p. 67). according to sunardi, the interreligious dialogue is ideally directed one of them, to make an encounter between religious communities and society. such dialogue can advance not only religious consciousness, but also social collectiveness to deal with social issues in indonesia. the second is mansour fakih’s idea of social transformation in his wellknown jalan lain: manifesto intelektual organik (2002).27 in this book, fakih has not directly mentioned “dialogue” as part of transformative movements. he has emphasized the importance of critical attitude to social change. what is expected from the interreligious dialogue should be aimed to achive such goal: social transformation. in fakih’s perspective of transformation, the interreligious dialogue is not merely regarded in normative way as a social encounter among religious communities. such dialogue should be pragmatic in the sense of social transformation. for this purpose, those who are involved within the interreligious dialogue should have critical position to dominant party in social relation. the community of waria, for instance, is not merely guided to have dialogue, but also to empower them to have self-recognition about the importance of dialogue for social transformation. additionally, kebaya also attended interreligious dialogues with various communties. some of them are kyai, pastor, and fpi. having each other’s interest, those communities tried to have interreligious dialogue with kebaya as an institution contributing to an empowernment of waria in various aspects. for the purpose of social transformation, kebaya has actively been involved in empowering waria for self-recognition in building the interreligious dialogue with other religious community. 26 sunardi, “the dead end of religious dialogue in indonesia”, interface 4, 1 mei 2001, pp. 55-65. 27 mansour fakih, jalan lain: manifesto intelektual organik, (yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar bekerja sama dengan insist press, 2002). [ 115 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 waria and kiai the history of kebaya can’t be separated with personal experience of mami vk who often involves in founding and leading it up to now. during our interview, i could infer that personally vinolia has a close relation either with kyai or pastor. in the midst of process for getting having self-identity, for instance, mami vk ever visited a house of kyai in yogyakarta. the kyai openly and warmly welcomed him and said, “it is ok to be waria as long as you do well for others”. however, not everyone accepts existence of waria. some elites of religious people are still wondering waria’s status in hereafter. some radical kyais also often underestimate them by saying that waria only deserves place in hell to be tortured there. once upon a time, mami vk visited a religious figure and asked him to be repentant. when he ordered us to read a verse, one of use was able to read it because he is alumnae of tebuireng islamic boarding school. however, we were still blamed and accused.28 dealing with this issue, mami vk usually strengthens herself by visiting islamic boarding schools welcoming her well. fortunately, not every elite of religious people treat them badly. “kyai hm was even more opened and welcomed us better,” mami vk said. hm is a leader of pesantren senin-kamis in notoyudan, ngampilan, yogyakarta. the institution accepts waria, gay, and lesbian to be student living and studying there. this islamic boarding school is initiated by iwayo before it turned into kebaya. waria and pastor besides kyai, kebaya members are also active in building interreligious relation with pastor. they actively involved in some meetings and events of seminari school at jakal (kaliurang road). at that time, mami vk, discussed with some pastors and academicians about waria’s position in christianity. it is a real stage to reduce socio-religious stereotype of waria. moreover, one of pastors visited kebaya just to ask them about homosexuality. he came there because he was asked by his fellow about that issue, and he felt that kebaya members know this more than himself. according to mami vk, 28 interview with mami vk, february 20, 2013, at kebaya basecamp. [ 116 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 kebaya was really appreciative welcoming the pastor to discuss each other about homosexuality and christian. in addition to personal level, kebaya also attended many agendas of waria empowerment by inviting elites of religious people, including pastors, to actively involve within it. for mami vk, those programs are significant not only to provide a positive athmosphere among waria’s life, but also to make peace interreligious building of dialogue with pastor. waria and fpi fpi (front pembela islam/front of islamic defender) is also included in interfatih dialogue with waria in yogyakarta. it seems surprisingly since that instead of having dialogue, fpi in other areas often involved in sweeping waria, as recently happened in solo and jakarta. however, in yogyakarta, kebaya’s proactive action in socialisation of waria’s identity had a significant aspect for fpi’s acceptance on them. uniquely, mami vk has a close relation with a staff leader of fpi, namely hr, as it is far easier and safer for attending various events regarding with waria in yogyakarta. i well befriend with some of fpi members. one of them is hr. i comfortably attended waria contest in front of banteng vredeburg because there is no worry for fpi’s sweeping. in kaliurang, there was a seminar talking about lesbian swept by fpi and i was there for giving acknowledgment. i found no bad or rough treatment. later, i told hr about this and he just said: “it is better for your friends to be like you, having achievements and skills.” i just answered, “everyone is different. they have own advantages and disadvantages. not everyone must be like me”.29 institutionally, kebaya doesn’t have close and formal relation with fpi, but personally mami vk befriends with some members of fpi. it surely leads to more serious interreligious dialogues, especially for discussing how waria is considered by fpi members who tend to be rather radical. for mami vk, kebaya is in fortune because it lies in yogyakarta which is largely known as a city of tolerance even though there are recently issues concerning with local government policy to eliminate some ethnic groups, such as papuan. mami vk assumes that yogyakarta is special than other cities. it also supports harmony between kebaya and fpi up to now. “in other cities, waria is usually swept and raided, but it doesn’t happen in yogyakarta. 29 interview with mami vk, february 20, 2013, at kebaya basecamp. [ 117 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 that makes yogyakarta special. i am sure everywhere here is safe. meanwhile, in jakarta and solo, it is difficult to get a safe place for us,” mami vk said in end of our interview. promoting interreligious dialogue there is lack of empirical adequacy to restrict the interreligious dialogue merely as encounter between waria and religious elites. more importantly, the ultimate goal is to make waria be aware of the importance of the interreligious dialogue in their daily lives. for this purpose, mansour fakih’s perspective of transformation, as mentioned before, should be implemented in considering about the degrees to which kebaya’s empowerment to waria has effectively worked in the context of interreligious dialogue. some programs are considered as successful in empowering waria to involve themselves within interreligious dialogue. the following is a short depiction of each program and parameter on how far these programs are aimed to make them recognize the importance of building the interreligious dialogue. gong xi fat chai parade the procession is carried out for one year in every imlek. this is one of kebaya programs of empowernment in appreciating kong hu chu community. the program is intitutionally aimed for normative celebration between waria and kong hu chu, but it has substantively provided an important effort to increase waria’s consciousness of the importance of interreligious dialogue. through getting involved in the parade, waria can socially encounter with kong hu chu community, whose are also minority of social relation in indonesia. mami vk has stated that this procession has not merely dominated by the kebaya as the main coordinator. this institution has only facilitated and coordinated the meeting of waria in yogyakarta and attempted to seek for their own creative plans about the parade. this parade is expected to be one of the strong factors in building relationship between waria and kong hu chu. however, in the broader perspective of interreligious dialogue, this program has provided a space for dialogue among them. it means that gong xi fat chai parade has included idea of ‘selfempowerment’ in order to get waria involved in the interactive participation with kong hu chu. they can recognize about their needs to not only actively participate together, but also to develop themselves in building a better interreligious dialogue. [ 118 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 waria’s reunion in cooperation with gki semarang kebaya can be regarded as one of cultural institutions in yogyakarta which actively involves in development of plurality and interreligious tolerance. waria’s reunion is a program held by this ngo to empower waria in better understanding this religiosity. interestingly, this program is resulted from the cooperation between kebaya and gki (gereja kristen indonesia/christian chruch of indonesia) semarang. waria’s reunion is initially aimed to strengthen a network of inter-waria in yogyakarta and semarang. however, it is strongly believed that this program can cultivate a progressive consciousness to build the interreligious dialogue. the reason is that this program has included one of big christian communities in semarang. it means that the interreligious dialogue can also be built through alumni networks. this is why that kebaya is very enthusiastic to not merely gaining a social beneficial from empowerment of waria within the own community. this ngo has efforts to build a network of interreligious community. as like as gong xi fat chai parade, the implementation of reunion is creatively handled by waria. it is a space for them to build an interfaith dialogue with christian community in gki semarang. by doing this program, waria is expected to have religious consciousness about the importance of reunion not only for strengthening the network, but also for empowering themselves in the context of interreligious dialogue. further analysis god and personal intimacy this research points out that waria’s relation with god is still in personal level. meaning to say, worship is still just interpreted as personal intimacy only so that it is performed in private places.30 they know how importance worship is, but it is not number one priority in interpreting god. they perform prayer, but they don’t force others to do as they do, as well as to perform worshipping in public places. it suggests that social stereotype really influences how they interpret and see god. waria like to meet the god in lonely places where others can’t reach the place and find them out. mami vk and his friends’ decision not to perform friday prayer is a proof that a matter of social acceptance really troubles waria. 30 further explanation about personal intimacy can be read in joe masterlo’s article, “intimacy: religion vs. spirituality”, http://www.joemasterleolcsw.com/2012/01/21/intimacyreligion-vs-spirituality/, accessed on march 12, 2013. [ 119 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 besides that, they accentuate religion on pleasantness in performing worship. this leads them to think that worship is a private matter of each individual. it is important to notice that they do worship as men. in performing prayer, they often use kopiah while in pilgrimage, they also act as men. here, mami vk plays a good role by forcing waria to consider themselves as men and not to lie to their selves by considering that they are women. interpreting god is often regarded with a matter of sin and destiny. on these two issues, kebaya members are in different opinions about how god really treats them. in one hand, they are still bothered by orthodoxy doctrine about people of lot’s story regarded with them. this makes them less confidence to talk about god especially in a matter of their personality. meanwhile, on the other hand, some of them consider that being waria is not sinful because it is god’s gift. for those who think like this, being waria is even a blessing because god had determined them to be as they are since they were born. refusing it is refusing god’s blessing they have received. this is such an undeniable destiny. one time, mami vks was asked, “does god think that you are a man, woman, or waria?” he simply answered, “god considers me as waria, neither man nor woman. being waria is what god wants about me”. although this statement represents that they are the third gender beyond man and woman, actually they can’t refuse or reject the fact they are normal men with feminine mind and thought in talking about sin and destiny. “personal” interreligious dialogue since it was firstly born and run, kebaya has not been actively involved in building formal interreligious dialogues with elites of religious people. however, this doesn’t mean that they never been involved in this kind of dialogue. in some chances, as it was explained before, they had dialogues with some elites of religious people. they are also often considered as more knowledgably one to talk about homosexuality instead of elites of religious people. however, interreligious dialogue in kebaya is still in personal scope. the dialogue is not formally and directly facilitated by kebaya yet. it run and occurred individually, as what mami vk experienced due to his board connection. he has good and intense communication with kyai, pastor, as well as fpi member. this close relationship facilitates him to be in intense interreligious dialogue with them all. however, as mami vk said, kebaya is not proactive yet in building [ 120 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 interreligious dialogues, and they just give a feedback so far. meaning to say, they don’t be proactively involved by visiting elites of religious people to talk to them formally and intentionally. perhaps, the reason is because they feel it is enough to live their life without having to talk and interact with elites of religious people. consequently, they are more often visited instead of going somewhere to visit anybody. besides that, interreligious dialogue of kebaya only happened in yogyakarta so far. those who visit kebaya are also from yogyakarta only. this indicates that interreligious dialogue in this ngo is still in local level. discussed topic is also about one same thing, i.e. homosexuality. in various moments, as what mami vk and his followers did in seminari yogyakarta and befriended with fpi, priest and pastor, kebaya is also institutionally involved, although it is still facilitated by personal relationship and friends’ link of mami vk. mami vk is playing important role here in building and keeping interreligious relationship between waria and elites of religious people. additionally, one thing to be concerned with interreligious dialogues is about minimum involvement of al-falah islamic institution coordinated by this ngo. mami vk herself admitted that kebaya doesn’t intervene anything about it. if any buddy’s here want to stay at the boarding, we please them. i don’t force them at all. it was them who choose to stay here (kebaya) or get living outside. i find no problem on that. i don’t also intervene managerial of institution. i will attend in social programs but for educational or religious program, i seldom attend.31 it is noticable to infer that interreligious dialogue kebaya attended is still in personal level, especially what happens to mami vk and his close relationship with some elites of religious people. surely, mami vk has important role in keeping interreligious relation, besides his own skill and achievement enabling him to easily interact with society. he is a good beginning for building more serious interreligious dialogue in larger scope. “critical” interreligious dialogue the critical dialogue assumes that empowerment of waria is aimed not only to involve waria in making responsibility for the others, but also to make themselves be aware of building an interreligious dialogue. the idea of ‘critical’ 31 interview with mami vk, february 20, 2013, at kebaya basecamp. [ 121 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 is coming from mansour fakih’s notion about transformative movement in society. this movement which is known as ‘organic intellectual’ acquires the communities’ efforts to have critical attitude for social transformation. in relation with waria, the critical dialogue is defined as waria’s efforts in making them open with other people without having influence from external factors, such as their involvement in ngo. it means that kebaya has a facilitating function to increase their consciousness in building the interreligious dialogue with the others. this is one of important steps for social transformation of waria in specific and social community in general. the gong xi fat chai parade and waria’s reunion in cooperation with gki semarang is two of transformative agendas administered by kebaya to make waria having collective consciousness to build an interreligious dialogue with other religious community. furthermore, their institutional dependency on kebaya can be decreased by means of their involvement in these progressive programs. this critical movement which is aimed to create a social transformation has reflected itself within waria’s creativity in developing their own activities of both programs. in addition to increase their self-rule, this movement is hopefuly to make waria be aware of the importance of their active participation in interreligious dialogue. indeed, it is too far to expect a “big result” from such programs. however, what kebaya has done through these programs has reflected their efforts to be critical to themselves and their social community. for mansour fakih, this is “another way” (jalan lain) for every social institution, including kebaya, not only to strengthen waria’s social independency, but also to guide them in humanizing themselves in the context of interreligious dialogue. their involvement within these critical programs of empowerment is also a challenge to common institutions and educational policies which side with majority and discriminate minority groups. instead of cultivating a spirit of interreligious dialogue, such institution has commonly been directed to create the single definition of the plurality and religiosity. regarding with this ironical condition, the concept of “interreligious dialogue” should be re-interpreted in broader spectrum. it is possible to build an interreligious dialogue if people who involve within this dialogue are not only able to be actively involved in the personal dialogue with religious elites, but also can empower themselves in making a critical interreligious dialogue for social transformation. [ 122 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 conclusion and suggestion in social life, waria is often considered as abnormal people. however, their religious experiences as well as interreligious religion of their life are rarely exposed. social stereotype runs without looking waria as religious people who also worship god. few attentions on the religious aspect often make them more marginalized because if covers them and their life more and more, so they become more mysterious. actually, waria community members also have their own religious experiences. they also have own interpretation about god, worship, destiny, as well as sin. they worship in a deep personal intimacy. they also consider him as one essence wanting and determining them to be as they are. in spite of difference opinions on whether becomes waria is sinful, waria’s relation with god is still limited in private public. in interreligious dialog, kebaya actively involved many times. being facilitated and promoted by mami vk, this ngo has tried to build good and harmonic relation with kyai, pastor and fpi. although the dialogue is still in local scope, what mami vk has done so far is a good start to the better condition. kebaya has further efforts to build social transformation through critical interreligious dialogue. this is carried out, one of them, by means of implementing two programs of empowerment, namely gong xi fat chai and waria’s reunion in cooperation with gki semarang. although they take ceremonial forms, both of them are expected to increase their attempts in building an interreligious dialogue. through these programs, they are not only facilitated to have dialogue with religious elites, but also to encourage themselves in building their own interreligious dialogue. for the next time, interreligious dialogue of this ngo should be broadened into community level, not personal only, so that religious experience can also be known by waria outside the ngo.[] bibiliography brooks, hannah. 2011. “warias, come out and plaaayayay”, http://www.vice. com/ read/warias-come-out-and-plaaayayay-0000007-v18n10. the last access: 15th, august 2016 fakih, mansour, jalan lain: manifesto intelektual organik, yogyakarta: pustaka pelajar bekerja sama dengan insist press, 2002. glaser, chris. 2008. “gender identity and our faith community.” a guide for ad[ 123 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 vocacy, published by human right campaign. online download: http:// www.hrc.org/resources/gender-identity-and-our-faith-communities-a-congregational-guide-for-transg. the last access: august 15th, 2016. koeswinarno, hidup sebagai waria, yogyakarta: lkis, 2004. koeswinarno, “islamic response to transexuality in indonesia”, a paper presented in southeast asian consorsium on gender, sexuality, and sexual health, salaya, thailand, 2003. koeswinarno. 1996. waria dan penyakit menular seksual. yogyakarta: pusat penelitian kependudukan ugm. boellstorff, tom, “playing back the nation: waria, indonesia transvestites”, cultural anthropology, vol. 19, no. 2 (mei, 2004), pp. 159-195. boellstorff, tom, “between religion and desire: being muslim and gay in indonesia”, american anthropologist, new series, vol. 107, no. 4 (dec., 2005), pp. 575-585. tim lsm kebaya, “database pendampingan waria lsm kebaya diy per-31 mei 2011”, yogyakarta: lsm kebaya (unpublished). syam, nur, agama pelacur: dramaturgi transendetal, yogyakarta: lkis, 2011 murray, stephen dan will roscoe, “conclusion”, islamic homosexualities: culture, history, and literature, (eds. murray dan roscoe), new york: new york university press, 1997, pp. 302-319. murtagh, ben. 2013. genders and sexualities in indonesian cinema: contructing gay, lesbi, and waria identities on screen. abingdon, oxon, new york: routledge. masterleo, joe, “intimacy: religion vs. spirituality”, http://www.joemasterleolcsw.com/2012/01/21/intimacy-religion-vs-spirituality/, diakses pada 12 maret 2013. sunardi, “the dead end of religious dialogue in indonesia”, interface 4, 1 mei 2001, pp. 55-65. [ 124 ] al-albab volume 6 number 1 june 2017 [ 191 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 struggle for new media of peace and tolerance: a close look to the usage of internet in defining and building young muslim community in indonesia imam malik ridwan surya university abstract as for religion, internet has become a very important aspect in people’s everyday live, especially for those who seek information and further understanding about religion; internet is a way in and out to do so. while in one side internet has been a great help in providing sources and opportunity to learn religion in a new way, it also has a negative potential for the growing numbers of radicalism and religious extremism. various researches and studies have bought up large data showing that these negative effects of internet bring bad influences to religious believers. nevertheless, the ability of internet in providing and spreading information are also a way out in bringing back religion to its ideal path, that is to evoke peace and welfare among people. internet is then used as a field for dakwah (proselytizing) to spread more peaceful as well as relevant information on religion and its related topics. online dakwah is therefore meant to initiate peace and non-violent ways in understanding and practicing religion in real life. focused targets for the dakwah are youth as the most active users of internet, as well as government to initiate and implement such policies to keep internet clean from violence and extremism. keyword: islam, dakwah, internet, new media the media is a double-edged sword. it can be a frightful weapon of violence when it propagates messages of intolerance or disinformation that manipulate public sentiment, but there is another aspect to the media. it can be an instrument of conflict resolution, when the information it presents is reliable, respects human rights, and represents diverse views. it is a media that reduces conflict and fosters human security (ross howard: 2002: 1). introduction indonesia is a country with the largest muslim population in the world, this country is also one the world’s biggest internet users; 82 million of its populations are internet active users.2 techinasia reported that indonesia 2 http://kominfo.go.id/index.php/content/detail/3980/kemkominfo%3a+penggu[ 192 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 has the second-largest population of facebook users (35,4 million) and the fourth-largest population of twitter users with more than 4,8 million of them are actively use it in their daily life, and not to mention the high number of users in other social medias. the big number of social media in indonesia is in one hand worrying for it is also potentially targetted by radical and extremist movements since many of media users tend to spend their time by going online rather than offline. the latest study of the berkman center for internet and society at harvard university released that 30 million teenagers can have access to internet without parents knowing their activities in it. it somehow danger them since extremists are ‘creative’ enough to use technology to spread their ideology through videos, tweets and postings released by them.3 today, the internet is a contested terrain, used by left, right, and center of both dominant cultures and subcultures in order to promote their own agendas and interests.4 in indonesian case, internet has been a key role in creating and sustaining political legitimacy, resistance, and identity formation among islamic radical fundamentalists. power and ability owned by internet can even allow users to access global sources of information while interpreting that information in local identity contexts through key nodes and sources.5 thus, it emerges real action to promote and campaign on new internet media encountering and eradicating radicalism, especially among young generation in indonesia. nevertheless, there has been no systematic and massive program carried out by goverment to overcome this challenge. this paper, therefore, is meant to argue that civil society should be empowered by creating new alternative and more creative internet used media to encounter radicalism, especially in muslim community. based on my research study and experience in developing peace building through internet internet can be well used to uphold a soft campaign on deradicalization and spread the essence of islamic teachings on peace and tolerance as a basic way of dakwah. youth and islam in indonesia as a society to consider religion as an important part in life, indonesian people na+internet+di+indonesia+capai+82+juta/0/berita_satker#.vgwlt9ksxm4 (accessed on 12/04/ 2015). 3 the jakarta post, august 07, 2014 (accessed on 10/04/2015) 4 richard kahn and douglas kellner, “new media and internet activism: from the ‘battle of seattle’ to blogging” in new media society 2004; 6; 87, london: sage publications. p.94 5 to see the research on islamic radicalism and anti-ameracanism in indonesia, read further merlyna lim, islamic radicalism and anti-americanism in indonesia: the role of the internet, policy studies 18,2005 published by the east-west center washington. [ 193 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 often access internet to obtain as much as information related to religious issues, either for terms of doctrine, history, or movements/organizations linked -or deliberately linkedto religion. it is certainly a good sign, easy access to internet helps people to get information about religion easily. although people need to also be aware to negative sides of internet, the nature of the internet -which is free and not limited by space and time— has made many kinds of information, including those negatives ones, widely spread without reliable filter. the emergence of too many accounts that spread religious-like information on internet is also vulnerable to the interests that are counter-productive to the enlightenment in islam. those unfiltered information has been proved to spread stories that are still in doubt for its validity. some of those are even impressed to spread slander, hostility towards others, and hatred toward groups outside their own. in fact, if we refer back to the original purpose of the spreading of islam, or islamic dakwah movement, negative effects of dakwah as we encounter these days are clearly deviant from its original purpose (to spread peace and prosperity). basically, the dissemination of islam or dakwah is aimed to change the attitude or behavior of people, of the uncivilized become civilized, of the depraved to the good (akhlaq al karima). this refers to one hadith of the prophet who once said that he was sent to earth to enhance human morality. in essence, the primary purpose of the spreading islam is in fact to establish good and friendly personality that can benefit to others. however, as the time passed, dakwah begins to shift and seem to have other purposes than the formation of individuals to have a certain good or personal piety. in fact, in an effort to spread the teachings of islam, radical and extremist groups tend to use exclusiveness as the main spirit of it, that is to consider other groups as enemy and thus must be fought. this phenomenon shows that the spirit of the early dakwah of islam –that is to establish and improve human behaviorhas shifted away and fell in a puddle of exclusivism and profane oriented motives, like political or economic motives. one example for it is the case of the refusal of some islamic organizations to against ahok or tjahaya basuki purnama from becoming governor of jakarta in 2014 merely over his identity of being christian and chinese in the same time, where both identities are not in favor for this group. the need for an effective medium of dakwah for youth most of active internet users in indonesia, especially those who use internet [ 194 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 as a medium to learn about islam, are youth. based on the research (that i was invovled in) conducted by the center for religious studies and nationalism surya university in the first half of 2014 in 18 cities involving 46 youth respondents (aged 18-24 years), 95.7% of youth use social media actively, and that 58.7% of them actively follow online studies on islam. 78% of respondents expressed their interest to participate in online dakwah, 59% of them admitted that dakwah in social media has an impact on the attitude of the youth. this shows that social media can be used as an effective medium for dakwah. some respondents stated that dakwah through social media is more readily accepted because there is no element of coercion, compulsion to either to accept the contents of dakwah, or to come to particular locations where dakwah is taking place; they can also perform a variety of reactions to the dakwah they do not agree or enjoy with, starting from simply ignoring, closing the sites, or react by posting certain comments online to it. this suggests that the stigma of coercion on the value, indoctrination, and coercive dogmatism do not occur in the method of islamic learning through social media. furthermore, the awareness of literacy also emerged from some internet active users who became respondents for this research: they stated that dakwah can be done not only through direct verbal methods, but also through writings, like writing in social media. with the role of social media, dakwah can deliver fresher and not coercive information needed, readable at any time, thus no body needs to be felt like they are forced to come to certain places such as teaching in mosques. other interesting findings in the research are that respondents indicate the interest of the younger muslim generation to use social media sites and have a better education, by paying more attention to the reference and valid literacy that can be accounted for anytime they learn about islam online. this suggests that islamic learning islam through social media sites also need to select certain accounts to be used as reference, which is to avoid anonymous accounts that sometimes spread nothing but hatred. the risk of misuse of accounts by some actors who have counter-productive intentions must also be realized by users of social media, one respondent said that: “the indonesian younger generation tends to agree to anything said by religious leaders that they trust without questioning and being critical of to it”. this indicates that the tendency of muslim community in indonesia still has a high dependency on religious leaders. therefore, religious leaders need to adjust to this condition. the last question given to respondents was “in your opinion, how to perform [ 195 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 dakwah that is effective and suited to the younger generation in social media?”. answers were found to be very diverse. all respondents said that the mission should be done in creative ways such as short stories, videos, nice tweets, images, comics, comedies, and online discussion forums.6 initiating peace and non-violence medium of dakwah internet and religion are two things that cannot be separated from people’s life. brenda e.b. even claimed that the internet has evolved into a fertile ground for the development of religion.7 it is not excessive, because according to lorne l. dawson, internet gives many things for the benefits of religious purposes,8 such as: a. spreading messages to the whole world. things that can be spread out through internet facility are religious views and beliefs of an individual. people will then easily access the message for later consideration and may be taken with a mixed reaction. b. building a new community. flagship facility of the internet is its ability to continue to make its users communicate over long distances, either personally or in group form. religious communities and anyone who are studying religion can create or join to a cyber-community that focuses on religious issues. c. fusing the limits of space and time. internet users, especially religious experts, gain a great help from internet in disseminating their studies and views on religious teachings throughout the world, regardless of limits in space and time. thus their views can easily be accessible to many more people. d. performing religious rituals in cyberspace. with the development of technology, the internet provides a facility that allows many people to do a variety of rituals in the virtual world, but of course it is in a total different meaning. e. develop a more open understanding in religion. the abundance of information about religion and its teaching available on the internet allows in6 imam malik and yuni chairani, 2014a, laporan hasil penelitian penggunaan social media sebagai media pembelajaran islam, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university, p.12-16. 7 brenad e. brasher. 2001. give me that online religion. san francisco: josseybass. p.11 8 lorne l. dawson. 2004. “doing religion in cyberspace: the promise and the perils”. in the council of societies for the study of religion bulletin. 30, no. 1, pp. 3-9. see also: syarif hidayatulah dan zulfikar s. dharmawan, 2004. islam virtual: keberadaan dunia islam di internet. ciputat: penerbit mifta. [ 196 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 ternet users to get more and more insight that can be used as reference material for self-reflection, comparison, and strengthening of faith, so that understanding on religion can be more open. however, vigilance toward new media is also worth maintaining, as mara einstein states that internet is also a fertile ground for religious businessmen.9 this is one thing that encourages many people to post or download information related to religion, the internet provides almost limitless freedom for anyone to do anything. internet can change a taxi driver to become propagators without undergoing any selection for it. ‘virtual religious’ leader can easily gather the congregation with no bother of going in and out of certain community area to preach. here is where the problem starts; when everyone can easily be cleric, who then is the students? dawson and cowan predict that particular problem that is likely to arise from this phenomenon is the crisis of authority and authenticity on religion itself.10 truth meaning of religious teachings are no longer owned by those who have a broad knowledge of religious and social piety good, as the criteria of a religious leader who must have a noble character and extensive knowledge in all disciplines of religion.11 internet has therefore no filter for thoughts and writing to pop-up, this can dangerously confuses the minds of the internet users to distinguish what is true and what is not. however, regardless of anxiety and vigilance over it, the internet remains a very effective medium to perform dakwah. respondents in this study seemingly do not feel too bothered about “who said what”, they will tend to follow the contents of dakwah on the internet as long as they: • do not patronize • are not too rigid and raw • use light language • are linked with youth daily lives and issues that are happening • consider the psychology of the younger generation 9 mara einstein. 2008. brands of faith: marketing religion in a commercial age. new york: routledge. 10 lorne l. dawson and douglas e. cowan, ed. 2004. religion online: finding faith on the internet. new york: routledge. 11 there are many categories given by the scholars and muslim thinkers regarding to the conditions and criteria for someone to be a preacher. some of which can be viewed at: muhammad rajab al-shatiwi. 1990. al-da’wah al-islamiyya al-kitab fi daw’i wa al-sunnah, cairo: dar al-tiba’ah al-muhammadiyyah. muhammad amhazun. 2003. manhaj al-nabi min khilal fi da’wah al-sirah al-sahihah. cairo: dar al-ssalam., ‘abdullah nasih’ ulwan, 2004. lineage madrasah al-du’at. cairo: dar al-ssalam. ‘abd al-karim zaydan, 2001. usul alda’wah. beirut: mu’assah al-risala. [ 197 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 • concern the most to aspects of tolerance that does not offend other religions • contains motivation and call on the virtues therefore, dakwah via internet should be done in a sustainable manner and with above consideration, that is to pack dakwah with creative works, such as video, images, animations and any other forms, and contain teachings that concern to aspects of tolerance and non-violent acts, use light and understandable language, and contains of motivation and call on virtues.12 one of the current new media that promote peace and non-violent dakwah in indonesia is a website named www.jalandamai.org. it is a website and social media network accounts to campaign peace, tolerance, and anti-violence acts. in its young age, jalandamia.org has become a kind of brand to overshadow campaigns on peace and anti-violence initiated by the center for religious and nationalism studies and digicom of surya university in cooperation with bnpt (national counter-terrorism agency). after studying the relationship of students/youth inclination in new media as well as the way they learn and gather information, jalandamai.org decided to provide a variety of service models. in addition to providing short-grain writings that are reflective and focus on exploration of differences, jalandamai. org also provides video monologue full of meaning packed in speed drawing form. jalandamai.org also provides services on islamic learning and technology through edmodo app linked in jalandamai.org page. the ultimate goal of jalandamai.org is to form reliable understandings of readers to become persons that accept differences and always provide benefits to others and continue to express the attitude of peace and non-violence. to show a firm stance on the vision of peace and non-violence is an important action because silent on violence is the unspeakable support for it.13 concluding remark the internet and its linkages to other media have enabled the realization of new networking. radical groups use the internet as a trawling tool to reach potential members at local, national, and global levels. indonesia, as one of the 12 imam malik and yuni chairani, 2014b, laporan hasil penelitian persepsi generasi muda terhadap video kampanye islam damai sebagai bentuk dakwah kreatif, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university, p.11-12. 13 to know more in detail, see further the website of jalandamai.com and see also the report on peace and non-violence media perceived by young generation in indonesia, imam malik and yuni chairani, 2014c, persepsi generasi muda muslim mengenai toleransi terhadap keberagaman agama di indonesia, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university. [ 198 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 largest social media users, has been a target of dessimination for radicalism and the transnational radical movements, especially for young generation. to overcome this challenge, government has to optimalize its programs on deradicalization, specifically through internet media. one of the effective ways is to promote and campaign peace and non-violence acts through internet by involving young people since they are “the real players” of today’s media. this will influence and empower civil society since “the real public sphere and the power of civil society” today is in virtual sphere-the internetwith all elements on it.14 therefore, young generation have has to take account as the main subject to strenghten the power of civil society such as what has been developing by muslim youth through jalandamai.com. references al-shatiwi, muhammad rajab. 1990. al-da’wah al-islamiyya al-kitab fi daw’i wa al-sunnah, cairo: dar al-tiba’ah al-muhammadiyyah. amhazun, muhammad. 2003. manhaj al-nabi min khilal fi da’wah al-sirah al-sahihah. cairo: dar al-ssalam., abdullah nasih’ ulwan, 2004. lineage madrasah al-du’at. cairo: dar alssalam. brasher. brenad e. 2001. give me that online religion. san francisco: jossey-bass. dawson, lorne l. and douglas e. cowan, ed. 2004. religion online: finding faith on the internet. new york: routledge. ____________. “doing religion in cyberspace: the promise and the perils”. in the council of societies for the study of religion bulletin. 30, no. 1 einstein, mara. 2008. brands of faith: marketing religion in a commercial age. new york: routledge. hidayatulah, syarif and zulfikar s. dharmawan, 2004. islam virtual: keberadaan dunia islam di internet. ciputat: penerbit mifta. kahn, richard and douglas kellner, “new media and internet activism: from the ‘battle of seattle’ to blogging” in new media society 2004; 6; 87, london: sage publications. malik, imam and yuni chairani, 2014a, laporan hasil penelitian penggunaan social media sebagai media pembelajaran islam, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university (tidak diterbitkan). 14 merlyn lim, “informational terrains of identity and political power: the internet in indonesia” in antropologi indonesia 73, 2004. p.10. [ 199 ] al albab borneo journal of religious studies (bjrs) volume 4 number 2 december 2015 ______, 2014b, laporan hasil penelitian persepsi generasi muda terhadap video kampanye islam damai sebagai bentuk dakwah kreatif, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university (tidak diterbitkan). ______, 2014c, persepsi generasi muda muslim mengenai toleransi terhadap keberagaman agama di indonesia, jakarta: center for religious studies and nationalism surya university (tidak diterbitkan). lim, merlyn. “informational terrains of identity and political power: the internet in indonesia” in antropologi indonesia 73, 2004. lim, merlyna. islamic radicalism and anti-americanism in indonesia: the role of the internet, policy studies 18,2005 published by the east-west center washington. zaydan, abd al-karim, 2001. usul al-da’wah. beirut: mu’assah al-risala. the jakarta post, august 07, 2014 (accessed on 10/04/2015) http://kominfo.go.id/index.php/content/detail/3980/kemkominfo%3a+pengguna+internet+di+indonesia+capai+82+juta/0/berita_satker#.vgwlt9ksxm4 (accessed on 12/04/ 2015).